Joseph Smith's Bible Translation and Effective Evangelism, by Kurt Van Gorden

just a real quick note here my name is Kurt Van Gordon I'm the director of two missions one mission is the Utah gospel mission that began in Salt Lake City in 1898 under Reverend John D Nutting and the Salt Lake City Ministerial Association I've been running that mission recruiting missionaries to come into the state from south to north east to west we've done short term missions here since 1979 that I've been running that mission I'm also the director of another mission called the did I do something wrong do not okay we're using this mic and like this one's okay now I apologize and the other mission is Jude three missions where we reach out to other people and other cults I was never a latter-day saint I was a member of another cult called the children of God and came out of that in 1972 and it was through my Mormon grandmother after I left the children of God I had my own prophet Moses David Berg in Huntington Beach California I actually met him in in Dallas Texas in 1972 and joined that group thinking it was just another extension of the Jesus Movement and spent half a year with it and then realized after reading the Word of God that I was being deceived by this prophet okay he's sending another mission another message to me what about doing wrong and I didn't know green from orange and so I left this group called the children of God went to Ohio where I grew up and sat down with on the advice of my mother she said just give the pastor one chance your childhood pastor to sit down and talk with you about your involvement in this group and she didn't call it a cult right away Time magazine was calling a cult we were all denying it and I sat down with my boyhood pastor we had our own collection of scriptures about as thick as this and it was called mo letters Moses David Berg wrote his own letters called mo letters and we thought they were Scripture modern-day scripture so you see the parallel here so I sat down with my pastor and he said do you mind if I look at these so I gave him a set of him and I thought well I'm going to teach you something about the Spirit of God I'm going to teach you something about who God is what a prophets all about real smart out like young man and then the pastor sat down and said can I write on these and what was interesting about this pastor is he sat down on the couch beside of me instead of sitting over a desk lecturing me so we sat down side by side with these mo letters he began reading it and he said you mind if I write on this I said no go ahead and he'd read a paragraph and he flipped through a few pages in his Bible he'd write a Bible verse down and they'd read a little bit more and look at his Bible he write another Bible verse down it read a little bit morning writing and he just continued doing this after a pager to I began to sweat bullets and I realized you're in trouble hurt you don't know your Bible like this man knows his Bible all you knew were these mo letters and so he said to me what I'm gonna ask you to do is this I'm gonna ask you to open up those mo letters that you have and read the section that I put a line by and then we're going to open the Bible together and I want you to read just as loud the Bible verse that I put me side of it so I read that verse from my prophet and I then read the Bible verse that went along side and I saw that it contradicted but I wasn't going to let him know and so I did the next one and again I saw a contradiction but I wasn't going to tell him and the next word in the next and the song went on for about a half a dozen times did I just burst into tears I said pastor what's wrong what's wrong with me a my fault am I going to hell and he said no you're not going to hell you've been deceived you've been deceived by a false prophet and so it was through that method that he got me out of the children of God I've been using that method ever since to win Mormons to the Lord Jehovah's Witnesses to the Lord children of God people to the Lord and many others I understand your feelings those of you who are extra hope as witnesses the next Mormons Oh coming out of a group and actually longing to still be in it for weeks and months after you come out of it that's an emotional tie that you have because when the children of God would come through town I too would see them dancing in the park and I'd go contact this pastor said strangest thing I just feel like I wouldn't join a begin but I know intellectually I know it's wrong but in my my heart I just love these people and want to be with him he said let's turn that into evangelism we grabbed her Bibles we went down there and we saw them singing and playing their guitars and we sat down with him and started sharing with them like he shared with me and that's when the Lord started that ministry that I had today to people in the cults well I had Jehovah's Witness relatives and a Mormon grandmother Mormon grandmother so i'ma go in this group and come out of this group so she must have thought well he's right for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints listen the young missionaries over to and they're about his age and and he'll converts it to my faith so I sat down with more of a missionaries and that was in the days when they had these these flip charts and mr. Broun whoever he was and they had these fit charts and they would say mr. Brown I was Curt and they'd say you see this prophet writing Scripture you remember these flip charts and this was Moses the way he wrote Scripture we're here to tell you about another prophet they showed rosa smith with golden plates and say that this is our prophet who wrote scripture much like Moses wrote Scripture back in the days of old wouldn't it be nice to know that God has a living but beating his church today I said been there done that and they looked at me they said what and I said well I was in a group called the children of God and I had my prophet I've already had a prophet like that and it didn't work and this wasn't working for them but this time so then they go to the next part of the flipchart they start telling me about additional scripture and I said been there done that I had my mo letters and that was my additional scripture just like you have your additional scripture with the Book of Mormon and the pearl of great price and the Doctrine and Covenants so it was after I went through the missionary lessons that I realized there was more than one cult out there it wasn't just the children of God but my grandmother was in a cult she was in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints following a false prophet just like I did following after the scriptures of this false prophet just like I did and so I wanted to witness to my grandmother and my mother who was a Baptist we got together got some book that you got Walter Martin's book kingdom of the cults called him up got to know him by phone from Ohio and ended up working for him for a number of years and I'm the oldest living editor of water Martin's book still editing his books and writing his books with his family and it's been a ministry I've been doing since the 1970s now in our message today I'm going to be sharing with you about the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible but before I do that I'd like to have you turn in your Bibles if you have them with you today to Matthew chapter 24 and verse 3 this is a very important passage which I think parallels a lot of what we're dealing with here in this kind of a conference there was a time on the amount of all of that that Jesus sat down and his disciples came to him and a seven verse three we know as he sat on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately said to him tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of your coming and at the end of the age two questions with three parts when shall these things be what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age jesus answered and said to them in verse four take heed that no man deceive you do you find it interesting my friends that in the group that I was in the children of God was a new cult the unification Church is a new cult with its own profit its own scripture the ISKCON International Society of Christian consciousness came to America with their prophet and their new scriptures you have the other cults that have sprung up since then asked and life spring so the mind control and all the other new cults in our age and what did Jesus say was the sign of the last days take heed that no man deceive you the first sign that Jesus gave that we are in the last days is deception he talks about other things as signs of the times and we have a lot of good Bible teachers who are telling us about the signs of the times but many of them are missing the most important one which is the first one that Jesus gave and that is deception shall be all around you verse 11 says this and many false prophets will rise up and deceive many as a sign of the times we have prophets all around us especially with the New Age movement prophets and prophetesses all around us deceiving many as a sign of the last days and verse 24 begin in the same chapter for false Christ's and false prophets will rise up and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect here we have the message of Jesus three times he said and repeated in the same chapter as what shall be the sign of your coming what shall be the end of the age when when will we know that these things take place and the answer was watch out it's a warning deception shall be all around you there will be false Christ's false messiahs there will be false prophets what we're going to be talking about today is Joseph Smith's translation as a prophet of God and did he actually match a legitimate translation of the Hebrew from the Old Testament Aramaic from the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament I have several of the Mormon scriptures here with me and James in his last message he forgot to do this he asked me if he could borrow he talked about the lectures of faith quite a bit he asked if he could borrow this and show it to you and he forgot to do it so I'm gonna do it for him that I have one of the 18 1918 editions on my book table and this is for sale of the Doctrine and Covenants with the lectures of faith still being published in it so anybody that may want that for their library I have that along with other books you'll see at the book tables you've got some wonderful resources out here aside from what James had already given to you in your last lecture I have several of the older research volumes like the general discourses history the church and different things like that available for you for your further studies the works of Joseph Smith though that we're going to be looking at today is what's commonly called two different names the inspired version where Joseph Smith sat down with his own Bible and retranslated it from the King James Version into what's called the inspired version this one that I have is a parallel call of the King James on one side and the inspired version on the other this was prepared by the reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints back in their day and now called the community of Christ and then the Joseph Smith translation called jst in the footnotes of the common volume of the King James scripture by the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints many of you have recognized this some of you probably even own one of these where in the footnotes again aside from cross references with the other Mormon scriptures they have a jst in capital letters which is the reference for the Joseph Smith translation so in effect Mormon missionaries and Mormon believers have two translations in one they have the King James at the top and then the Joseph Smith translation which is their preferred translation at the bottom before we get into examining the Joseph Smith translation to go through a small ground laying example of why we believe in the Bible as God's Word you have your handout you can follow along with me on this of what is the Bible first philosophers have said for many years that Christian Jews circular logic because we use the Bible to prove the Bible you ask the Christian a question about the Bible they quote the Bible you ask them how they know that's true they quote the Bible and you asked him another question about that being true and they quote the Bible and it's a mistake of philosophers to say that when you are quoting one passage of the Bible and another passage of the Bible if you're using circular reasoning you're using the Bible to do to defend itself but what they fail to understand is the lie the Bible is a library of books a library of 66 books penned by 44 authors over a span of 1,500 years with Moses being at the beginning at 1400 and 25 BC and John the Apostle being at the end with the book of Revelation at 95 ad one thing I always tell people when I teach them to go out and witness or take them witnessing with me and we do our mission work is that God is the author of this text get it in your mind get in your heart get in your soul that you don't want to say that Paul was the author you don't want to say Matthew was the author you don't want to say that Moses was the author God is the author Matthew was a writer Moses is a writer Jobe was a writer God is the author so always one of direct people to that point that God is the author of this library of books it was written in rather a unique way for a collection of books on three continents Asia Africa and Europe and it was also written in three languages Hebrew small portion of it and Aramaic the Book of Daniel and parts of the Book of Daniel and then Greek for the New Testament and it has a unified message of one story and that is God's redemption of mankind the books are divided into 39 books for the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament and the Old Testament is further divided by the Jewish people into three parts the law which sometimes is referred to as the Torah the prophets which are sometimes divided into the major prophets and the Minor Prophets or the earlier prophets and the later prophets former and latter and then the writings the writings being the poetical books the five roles also would be one description of or the historical now Jesus acknowledged I want to point this out to you Jesus acknowledged what I'm sharing with you right now if you look in your Bibles at Luke chapter 24 and verse 44 he gives these same three portions of the Old Testament scripture that I just mentioned to you Luke 24 verse 44 then he said to them these are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses that's one and in the Prophet that's two and the Psalms which would be also the other word for the writings that's three concerning me so what Jesus is telling the people is the old Old Testament hire Old Testament all three portions as you have divided it is all about me as Calvary Chapel has as their statement it's all about Jesus you'd look at the Old Testament and you can say it's all about Jesus that's what he's saying he's sitting it's all about me Jesus also attested to the Jewish arrangement of the Old Testament when he spoke of the death of Abel and Zechariah this is a good attestation of the Old Testament my friends of what Jesus said here is there any proof that the 39 books that we have are the same books that Jesus used yes I just gave you one but I'm gonna give you another Luke chapter 11 and verse 51 one thing I will mention as you're turning to that are looking at that is that the Jewish people had 24 books in their Old Testament because they didn't divide first and second Kings they just had Kings they didn't divide first and second Samuel they just had Samuel they didn't divide first and second chronicles they just had chronicles same books but they just had less of a division than what we have so they had 24 we have 39 of the same writings but here's what Jesus said I want to point this out for a reason Luke 11 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple yes I say to you it shall be required of this generation listen friends Genesis the first person killed was Abel from the blood of Abel Chronicles was the last book of the Jewish arrangement the last person killed Zechariah the blood of zechariah so you have Jesus attesting to the same books that we have from Genesis to chronicles was the order of the Jewish Scriptures same books that we have we just ordered them historically chronologically rather than the way they had them the New Testament contains four Gospels the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles through the church and the New Testament writers were directed by the Holy Spirit we see this in two passages from Jesus again in John chapter 14 and verse 26 and John chapter 16 and verse 13 jesus said in John 14:26 but the helper the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things listen to this and bring to your remembrance all things I have said to you how trustworthy is the Bible then he will bring to your remembrance do you have any question then that Matthew remembered what he was supposed to remember why do we have just those stories of magic because that's what the Holy Spirit caused him to remember he will bring it to your remembrance why did Mark write what he wrote because the Holy Spirit guided him to remember those things move the same thing John the same thing of what I've said to you and then in chapter 16 and verse 13 however when he the Spirit of Truth has come he will guide you unto all truth for he would not speak of his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come so again the inspiration of the Holy Spirit guiding these writers of the New Testament Jesus promised this I often say to latter-day saints or anyone else that I'm witnessing do you do you think that Jesus broke his promise he promised that this is what would be recorded and when we deal with the question of is the Bible reliable I sit down with Mormon missionaries many times we have one Mormon missionaries to the Lord while they're on their mission people say that can't be done it's been done I can introduce you to them we had one young man who was so thirsty for the Lord I happen to be on the mission up here in Utah we had our workers with our mission who had just left Utah and gone back to California and you know how the Mormon missionaries work they have their companion the companion is supposed to keep each other out of trouble and it didn't work with this couple and that's another arrangement by the Lord where this one young missionary by the name of Dean in Orange County just came to the door of one of our returned missionaries we have our own returned missionaries and knocked on the door and this young lady answered the door and she had all the study notes and everything she had gone through with her training and she said just a minute I'll be right back she ran to get her notes and I teach people the same thing that I'm teaching you now never be afraid to sit down with your notes in front of a Mormon missionary or a Jehovah's Witness they sit down with their watchtowers in front of you they we had this idea we have to memorize everything no you don't get your confidence in your notes write notes in your Bible I tell people to do that all the time if your Bible is not if it's too good to write in then buy a cheaper one that's easier to write in for you one more budgeted and so this missionary knocked on the door and his companion though this is the interesting part of the story was distracted because he had fallen for a girl which they aren't supposed to do on the mission so he was really antsy to see this girl as much as he could and that left Dean to be able to talk with our returned missionaries so they sat down with their notes from our Bible classes and just explained to this these two missionaries ones daydreaming the other ones listening and the one listening is the one who ended up accepting Jesus but it was through a series of interesting events we would they would call me up say hey this is where we're at on this and I'd say well let me photocopy some things I'm over at BYU I photocopied he's send them down to you send him duck this is back in the days of photocopying instead of internet and I'd send it down to them and they'd give it to Dean and they'd go over to his apartment and he'd be taking the garbage out they arranged this they'd slip it under the garbage can and he'd go take the garbage up pick up the information and take it back in to his room and read it and he would go through this time after time after time and you know what it is for a Mormon missionary to turn with honor and if they don't return with honor that's dishonor so this was getting to Dean to the point that he was perplexed about what he was going to do so he thought I'll start sending my father these same documents he started sending the photocopies to his father in Michigan and so after a series of weeks this went on and they said we think he's closed and I said well this is great what keep praying and eventually Dean just came to his knees and said I am repenting of Mormonism it was a Faust offer and following a false prophet he's still on his mission and I wouldn't leave my mission but I don't know how to do it I'm gonna call my father well he'd been sending all these documents to his father he gets on the phone with his father and he says dad I have something to tell you his dad said no I've got something to tell you son dad said no I've got something to tell you first no you're my son I'm gonna tell you I want you to come home well why would you want me to come home I'm not done with my mission because we have talked to a Baptist pastor here in Michigan we found out that Mormonism is wrong with these documentary centers and we're leaving the church and he said hallelujah I'm leaving the church too and they all left together went back to Michigan and I'm not kidding you this divided the entire Ward this is one group after another after another group just started coming out in a chain reaction because someone was was not unafraid to take their own notes and share it in front of it more of a missionary so we've seen more of missionaries count aboard on their mission I share these things with him just like I'm sharing with you that the Holy Spirit promised that these things would be reliable and I asked him that do you believe Jesus broke his promise they don't want to say he broke his promise so this gives them a problem jesus promised that so the writers knew that they were directed of God Luke chapter 1 and verse 3 Luke said it this way it seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding well this is rich in the Greek and that's from the New King James Version is what I'm preaching from today having a perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write to you and order the account most excellent Theophilus so he had a perfect understanding directed by God the Holy Spirit Peter said that Paul's writings were Scripture now you got to understand this Peter and Paul one time we're dogs but by the end of it Peter was then saying all of Paul's epistles are equal to Scripture this lays a foundation we have one apostle telling us as the church listen to Paul because he's another apostle and he wrote Scripture so nobody nobody has to question whether Paul was authored by God or authorized by God to write Scripture as our brother or our blood brother Paul according to the wisdom given him and 2nd Peter 3:15 is were in that has written to you as also in his epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction as they do the rest of Scripture so Peters telling us that Paul's writings are equal to the rest of Scripture and what we find here is that what Joseph Smith translated in the Joseph Smith inspired version or the Joseph Smith translation he wrestled with the very things that Peter talked about here he wrestled with the ideas of what Paul laid out and he changed several of these in his own translation now why do we believe the Bible over any other work that's a good question well for one it's the only place where God said or is said to have spoken and then he verified it through unmistakable evidences these things are not based upon myths we find that out in Scripture they're based upon eyewitness accounts we find that out in Scripture and the scripture even tells us that there are many infallible proofs of the things that God did 2nd Peter chapter 1 and verse 16 is one of the verses I give to you but we did not follow cunning devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we're eyewitnesses of his majesty Luke chapter 1 verses 1 & 2 Luke wrote and as much as many have taken to him to set an order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us we have two accounts then Luke and Peter telling us that we are eyewitnesses of these things and they know the eyewitnesses of these things so they aren't myths they aren't fables what you have in your hand is the real deal 1st John John was one of the eyewitnesses he said this I want you to listen to 1st John chapter 1 and verses 1 & 2 the way he explains it is so rich that which was from the beginning which we have heard see the senses he's using which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled he's using the senses here the hearing the sight the handling concerning the word of life the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the father who was manifested to us and then Acts chapter 1 in verse 3 officer written by Luke concerning Jesus and his appearances he also presented himself alive after his sufferings by many infallible proofs so if you were to ask the Apostles what's the proof you have they were infallible one touch the print of the nails beside it was told by Jesus reached forth your hand and touch it infallible proofs another time he appears in a closed room infallible proofs was seen by them but for 40 days speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God now the purpose of the Bible is that tell us the story of God's plan for man's Redemption through Jesus Christ its purpose centers upon Jesus Christ and his mission his salvation is the reason for why these things are recorded we find that in John chapter 20 and verse 30 if you ever want to know why the Bible was written or at least we could say this about the book of John since it's recorded there in chapter 20 and verse 31 but these things are written why was this written these things are written that you might believe now listen many other things could have been written John tells us also but why were these things written that's the question so that you would believe this is what I use is the argument of sufficiency that the Gospel of John alone because it records this is enough it is sufficient enough without any other books for you to believe the argument of sufficiency these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ if John needed more to be said he would have had more chapters but this is the sufficiency argument this much was written these things were written that you would believe we used to say it this way about the Jehovah's Witnesses when we talked with him about John 1:1 were the add the word the indefinite article a how many arguments to the need how many verses do they need if they don't accept that verse well 12 verses convince them were 100,000 verses convince them see this is the sufficiency argument John wrote what he wrote that you may believe in the name of the son of God and believing you may have life in his name we call the Bible the Word of God because God's words are found in it it says so itself in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 in verse 16 all scripture all encompassing all Scripture is given by faith the new tous that's the greek word by god's breathing so you can't even say a word to me without breathing that's how we project our voice that's what words use here failure who knew toast that it's God's breath to you that's what the Word of God is it's his voice to you it says breath to you if stea peñitas we use the word inspiration to translate it this way and it is profitable for four things count them profitable for doctrine you want to know where your doctrine comes from it's right here in the Word of God it's profitable for reproof that means to give a defense to give an answer for reproof for correction if you need to be corrected you go here you don't go to psychology not first anyway you don't go to all the other sources that mankind can dream up for correction you go to God's Word of corrects us and for instruction and righteous you want to be instructed in the ways of God you go to the Bible you don't go to Sunday school manuals even you don't go to magazines you don't go to movies it'll go to Christian radio you go to God's Word for instruction and righteousness for reasons he gave us for His Word existing so what does God say about his word he magnifies his word above his own name Psalm 138 verse 2 think of that how high is the name of God how valuable is the name of God he magnifies his word above his own name think of your name what do you put above your own name see this is what God said he said you like my name I'm putting my word above it he magnifies it above his own name Psalm 12 verse 6 his word is pure Isaiah chapter 59 in verse 21 people talk about the gathering of the books together for the collection of the 66 books that we have he says it's going to be this way for generation to generation he will preserve it is what Isaiah chapter 59 in verse 21 tells us he will preserve it from generation to generation that means nothing's going to be lost out of it all of the books that people talk about being missing for the Bible are not missing books they're only historical references so there's nothing missing what is supposed to be here God has preserved and Jesus already sanctioned the Old Testament that we already have the same books it cannot be altered without discovery proverbs chapter 30 and verses 5 and 6 this one is one of my favorites if you want to turn to this proverbs chapter 13 verses 5 and 6 every word of God is pure he is a shield to those who put their trust in him do not add to his words lest he rebuked you and you be found a liar that's rich do not add to his words look here's 2 editions I'm going to show you that Joseph Smith translations do not add to his word lest he reprove you and you be found a liar he's not going to be me that reproves you I can do the research to find it but it's really God reproving him as God reprove him Mary Baker ready with her science and health with keys of the scripture where she adds to God's Word it's God who approves the watchtower society where they've added to the New World Translation and changed God's Word it's God who approves Joseph Smith where he adds to his work and each one of them are found a liar I can't say it any kinder than God said it if that's unkind and blamed God and that's another thing when I witness to people and I read God's Word I don't water it down any I don't try to say something nicer than what God said I figured God's the the the all loving one if he says liar I see and liar he says thief I say thief now try it don't try to change it or water it down and God says they're liars I tell them one of the missionaries that my God says you're your prophet is a liar because he added to God's Word well they don't like that but that's the truth it stands forever Matthew chapter 5 and verse 18 Jesus said this I say to you oh I love this one too I say to you till heaven and earth pass away not one jot not one tittle well by any means pass from the law until it's fulfilled see Jesus fulfilled it all now things way to pass from it's going to stand and we find in first Peter 1:25 but the word of the Lord endures forever now why is this important for me to lay this kind of a foundation before we get into the Joseph Smith translation if the Word of God is false that we have no basis for our faith so I wanted to give you a ground for your own faith here first Corinthians 15:14 where Paul's speaking of the resurrection and he writes this and if Christ is not written risen if Christ is not risen then our preaching is empty and your faith is in vain what he's saying is this word is true all those infallible proofs are true because if that thing is false then you have nothing to preach Terry long has nothing to say up here I have nothing to say up here all of it's just empty words and you don't even have a faith how do you like that your faith is vain it's empty if Christ did not raise from the dead if these things are not true to all the prophecies that look forward his resurrection and all the fulfillment that he had of those prophecies and his actual resurrection and ascension all those things are true and if they aren't then I have nothing to say to you that's how true the Word of God is that's how important this is so if the Word of God is true also then the world does need to repent just like any one of us who are believers has before him now the beginning of the Joseph Smith translation my wife and I have been to Independence Missouri several times I visited the headquarters of the reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints today known as the community of Christ and I've personally seen and handled Joseph Smith's 1828 Bible that he wrote all of the inspired editions too and I've also seen the tablet that goes alongside of that where some of the changes that he made in his read translation of the Bible were so volumous that he was not able to even put it into column of his 1828 Bible so he had a tablet that went alongside he write the verse out and then write out whatever he wanted to change in the Bible so seeing his writing tablet that accompanies it I've seen his handwritten notations I've seen where his pen strikes through Bible verses strike through Bible words and that writes new words above it below it in the margin and I've seen the additions that he penned alongside of it now what gives a man the confidence to take his pen to the Bible as my wife used to say more modern take white out to the Bible but take his pen to the Bible and retranslated to rewrite it as what Joseph Smith did without any Hebrew for the Old Testament without any Aramaic in Daniel without any Greek for the New Testament well first we have to consider why Joseph Smith would do this his premise is based upon the insufficiency of the Bible remember how I talked about the sufficiency argument and I'm going to give you the insufficiency argument of Joseph Smith in the Mormon articles of faith number 8 many of you are aware of this but I'm going to repeat it where Joseph Smith wrote this in 1843 we believe the Bible to be the Word of God as far as it is translated correctly we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God now this becomes an escape clause for most Latter day Saints whenever they run into Bible difficulties well it's just not translated correctly they don't check it out they don't look at the Greek they don't look at the Hebrew they don't look at any manuscript evidence they just say off the cuff not translated correctly why because have difficulty now that's what it really comes down to in daily practice but I want to point something out in this insufficiency argument it didn't begin with the Wentworth letter that this was quoting from long before Joseph Smith published the articles of faith he had reasons to doubt the sufficiency of the Bible the book of Mormon itself questioned the Bible's sufficiency in first Nephi chapter 13 verses 24 through 29 where Smith with Joseph Smith claimed translate in 1828 in 1829 and then he published it in 1830 States set a record meaning the Bible in this verse were some Mormons we even say it's more strictly the New Testament in this verse will come forth for the mouth of its singular a Jew the Jew is identified by Samoan writers like Hugh Nibley and others of the Mormon scholars as meaning Jesus a Jew that brings forth the fullness of the gospel then the twelve disciples handed this statement from this Jew of this fullness of the gospel from this Jew to the Gentiles this is what this 5 verse passage talks about but then the Great and abominable church gets a hold of it and corrupts it and takes away as quoting from the book of Mormon many parts and covenants that are plain and precious end of quote here we have the missing parts of the Bible so Smith already had in the Book of Mormon a reason to doubt the sufficiency of the Bible prior to writing the articles of faith so don't begin with the articles of faith begin with the Book of Mormon in 1830 actually 1829 when he was translating in second Nephi chapter 29 and verses 2 through 4 we also find another doubt cast upon the sufficiency the Bible when it predicts the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and in verse 2 it says this including it and my word shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth for a standard unto my people which are of the house of Israel verse 3 and because my word saw his forth many of the Gentiles shall say a Bible a Bible we have a Bible and there cannot be any more Bible listen to this in verse 4 this is the Book of Mormon but thus says the Lord Lord God o fools you know this is the only place I've ever found where God calls believers in the Bible fools for believing the Bible and that's the Book of Mormon now thinking why did the Latter day Saints not use your Bible as much as the Book of Mormon because they're already told if you believe this is all there is you're a fool and God said that Oh fools they shall have a Bible and it shall proceed forth from the Jews mine ancient covenant people and then again in 2nd me five twenty nine ten wherefore because that ye have a Bible you need not suppose that it contains all my words neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written now this forms a basis again for Joseph Smith to doubt the sufficiency of the Bible there's another area of his history where he has room for doubting the Bible and that's his first vision story of 1820 now aside from the lectures I can give on the varying accounts of the first vision for the sake of argument well give him the benefit of the doubt of the 1820 vision in the pearl of great price Joseph Smith's history chapter 1 and verse 36 he states at the aims of Moroni I came to him and said these words after telling me these things he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament he first quoted part of the 3rd chapter of Malachi and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy though with a little variation from the way that reads in our Bibles so he has reasons to doubt the Bible is valid Book of Mormon says it's not valid and Moroni said it wasn't valid it's different in other words now in that kind of an argument you have Joseph Smith in this story again granting him the premise of his 1820 vision he has Moroni is either telling the truth or lied about the Bible or he has to choose well maybe the Bible is wrong Moroni is right and that's the dilemma that he tries to give to his people now after publishing the Book of Mormon in March of 1832 Smith began re translating the Bible three months later in June of 1830 when he wrote the book of Moses that's found in the pearl of great price chapters one through six and then the final chapters were written later in December of 1830 when Sidney Rigdon joined in which is the next point that I make the Campbell like preacher and convert to Mormonism Sidney Rigdon joined with Joseph Smith he met him in November of 1830 and then met with him on December 10th and a few days following that meeting Joseph Smith's already prophesying over him saying in a revelation from Doctrine and Covenants section 35 that Sidney Rigdon is going to help him translate the Bible Sidney Rigdon already went to seminary already understood the Bible and already knew some of the languages so he was the primary candidate for helping him retranslate the Bible but it also may explain why some of the Campbell Light doctrines and notions and persuasions were found in the Joseph Smith translation which incidentally matched some of the same Campbell ight persuasions that are found in the Book of Mormon now how was the Book of Mormon I'm sorry how was the Joseph Smith translation translated since Smith did not know Hebrew Aramaic or Greek well he admitted that much that he didn't know these three languages as a matter of fact the history of the church states that his first lesson in Hebrew was some two and a half years after he finished his translation of the Bible that's history the church vol 2 pages 318 and 383 so one way to convince his followers and evidently himself that his translation was valid was de credit to a power of God how did he do it by the power of God don't need manuscripts or don't need Heber don't need Greek so Joseph Smith's New Testament actually in the same pen that wrote the sections of I saw crossed out and they handwritten tablet that went with it his manuscript for the New Testament actually has in his own writing translated by the power of God now this indicates that Smith thought that this was a finished work it was accomplished by God's power which is why also in 1867 when the reorganized church published their first edition of the Joseph Smith translation the title page said that it was corrected the Bible was corrected by Joseph Smith through the spirit of Revelation now in our following study the verses were going to look at from this we're going to test this spirit of revelation because it's either going to vindicate Joseph Smith and prove that he's a true prophet or it's going to prove that he's a phony and fraud in his translation and that it's false now I've proven true then it complements his role as prophet seer and Revelator but if it is found to be false then it does the opposite it shows him to be misguided by this spirit of prophecy it's an evil work it's wicked it's sin that violates what we read in proverbs chapter 30 verses five and six he's found to be a liar and it also would cast doubt upon his other translation and his other works now using the Joseph Smith translation to evangelize Mormons how do I do it I've given you already a few hints at this but today's latter-day Saint has this official King James Version that I'm holding up here in front of you published by the Mormon Church in its footnotes the reader will find an occasional jst in capital letters which indicates where the Joseph Smith translation improved upon the King James translation and it is in fact the Joseph Smith translation that's different from the King James as the preferred translation says it was translated by the gift and power of God now some portions this is an interesting part of this some portions of Joseph Smith's translation were so volumous that they had to add an appendix to the back here's Genesis where it couldn't fit in the footnotes of Genesis but they had to add chapter and verse in the appendix for Genesis Isaiah Exodus Isaiah Matthew all the way to the book of Revelation where they add chapter and verse after chapter and verse of additional scripture that Joseph Smith added to the Bible that's not supported by any Hebrew in the Old Testament and not supported by any Greek in the New Testament now this can be useful this volume in witnessing to latter-day saints I have one latter-day Saint to the Lord by using their own edition of the Bible the Bible though as we've gone through our ground laying work when properly defended especially in light of the Hebrew Greek text is an important source for winning Mormons to Jesus what I mean by this is that you've got software available where you can get interlinear translations of the Greek right in front of their eyes you've got software that does the interlinear Hebrew you've got online versions if you don't have software you can always go online and find interlinear translations and in that way every time you give a Hebrew word or a Greek word from the Bible from your own memory perhaps from your own Bible teachers who give you Hebrew and Greek then you're defending the Bible from its original translation and original source that's what we call good apologetics now don't let the more of and beat you down with the eighth article of faith instead when they begin to quote it well that part is true insofar as it's correctly translated I let them quote it I want to hear them say it because I asked them would you like to know if it's correctly translate and that's when I take them to the interlinear Hebrew or the interlinear Greek so they can look at it with their own eyes even though they won't understand the Hebrew even they will not understand the Greek they do trust for some reason they do trust the interlinear when I show to them and it age you and being able to provide a good witness I'll tell you about a man named Bruce real fast and a man in my home his name was Bruce he was a latter-day Saint I've been witnessing to him for a while and I decided to go through the Joseph Smith translation with him and show him why Joseph Smith failed as a prophet and he should not trust you as a Smith if he failed with the Bible then it was just automatic that Bruce was going to say he failed with the doctrine of covenants the pearl of great price in the Book of Mormon itself so as he was going through the Bible I enjoyed this man because he loved looking at my Greek interlinear he'd never seen one before and I could read the Greek to him but I didn't try to show off or anything like that but I would just pointed the Greek terms I had my Strong's Concordance so he could look it up himself and I just spent hours and hours invite him over for dinner he's been in and times to fellowship together and just talk about the scriptures and as he was blowing through that I said you know well I have an idea why don't you call your bishop because he started doing this eighth article of faith on me what's perhaps incorrectly translated as true insofar as this correctly translated as why don't you call your bishop he hasn't seen the interlinear and asked him about this this one verse we had a verse we were stuck on and he was absolutely certain now but that was correctly translated the way the King James had it instead of the way Joseph Smith gave his retranslation of it so I said I will venture to say that when you call your bishop he will not even crack it open he would not even look at it he would just quote the eighth article of faith to you verbatim and tell you just to brush it aside because it's true insofar as it is correctly translated and he called his bishop and he said I have a question about a Bible verse well first Bishop said where are you he's talking about Greek into Linear's and all this and what are you doing Bruce is so he told him what he was doing is studying with me and he asked the bishop this question about this Bible verse that was stumping him but then he had straightened out just by looking at the Greek with me and as just as quickly as that his bishop said well that's only true insofar as is correctly translated they said thank you very much any hung up he said I'm ready to listen more and through that evening we studied together he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior so you see people will be hungry for God's Word I've often said about people in the cults whether it's Mormons or JoVE as witnesses or any of them and just like I was with the children of God that people who are in the cults are searching for Jesus but someone handed in the counterfeit and we have to see it in that way it's much different than the person who doesn't even care but these people care enough to at least join something but somebody handed them a counterfeit now next comes the fun part this is where we compare the Joseph Smith translation to the Hebrew Greek text of the Bible the possibilities of what you can go through with the latter-day Saint on this is endless all you really need to do is get a copy of the King James translation and just go through looking for the jst s at the bottom or if you want to do a shortcut just go to that appendix and study those compare them to your Bible and you'll see where he added to and took away from the Word of God none of it is supported by the Hebrew Greek so the possibilities are almost endless as far as where you can turn and show them where Joseph Smith did not translate according to what the original languages were now one note that I particularly find useful and I used this in a debate with Van Halen rid of him on radio out here he came down to California to Biola University with his late cohort bill Forrest and debated Robert Pasadena myself at Biola University and I used this Joseph Smith translation during the debate and it did score a pretty interesting point because they didn't have any answer to come back with and that is if he turned the Song of Solomon in the Joseph Smith translation you'll find a note in there Solomon Psalms chapter 1 and most Mormons will argue for an open Canon of Scripture that's one of the things that banned Hill was arguing for during this debate because without an open can of Scripture they cannot justify the existence of the Book of Mormon they cannot justify the existence of the Doctrine and Covenants great price so while we were in this debate I told the Mormon panel that you actually have a greater problem than I do you keep challenging me on why we have 66 books in our Protestant Bible and this is one of the arguments of anthill projected but I said I want to challenge you why do you have 65 books in your Bible he said oh I don't have 65 books in your in my Bible and I said well let's turn to the Song of Solomon Joseph Smith wrote in his manuscript that's right here in your own version I'm using his Bible by now that the jst manuscript states that the songs of Solomon are not inspired Scripture so you can just take that tear it out it's not inspired according to Joseph Smith it doesn't belong there and now you've got 65 books we spent the rest of that time debating why he had 65 books instead of why I have 66 it's one of my favorite ones to deal with now there are some categories that I've given you in your outline of these are just categories I can give you for ease of your outline and these are sake you can fill these in filled in the blanks with all kinds of other passages as you study this but one of the categories I can give you is Joseph Smith had additional doctrines he added to the Bible through his inspired translation now this includes both false doctrines and doctrines that are misplaced and what I mean by misplaced doctrines New Testament doctrines that are somehow put into the book of Genesis as if Adam believed in them and and so forth now an example of this I've given a couple of three examples here is racism is a false doctrine but Joseph Smith added it to the book of Genesis it's not in the Hebrew this is not supported by the Hebrew manuscripts but Genesis chapter 7 and verse 10 the inspired version says and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan and they were despised among all people now this racism that he added to the book of Genesis every latter-day Saint would have to say that's authentic that's valid that's a good source as because Joseph Smith was wrestling with the racist problem at the time and they came up with all kinds of theories about the black people on the earth and one of them was that the blackness was on them because of a curse upon Cain and that's Genesis 7:10 but not found in any Bible that you would validate because it's not in the Hebrew manuscripts another one that he added another doctrine additional doctrine is Adam was baptized in water you may not know this but they claimed that he was baptized in the name of the only begotten Son later on named in that same verse as Jesus Christ so Jesus Christ is mentioned in the book of Genesis according to Joseph Smith Genesis chapter 6 and verse 53 are quoted from the Joseph Smith translation and he also said to him if that will turn unto me and hearken unto my voice and believe and repent of all thy transgressions and be baptized even in water in the name of my only begotten son who is full of grace and truth which is Jesus Christ two Greek words somehow end up in Genesis in the Hebrew text and the only name which shall be given under heaven whereby salvation shall come under the children of men and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost so now I got baptized in the Holy Ghost asking all things in his name so now he prays in the name of Jesus and whatsoever ye shall ask it shall be given you another doctrine it's a misplaced offer to a New Testament doctrine a series of New Testament doctrines that are misplaced as additional doctrines by Joseph Smith in his translation there's a good to witness with because when you use these you sit down with him you say find out in the Hebrew you pull out your your Hebrew interlinear you show in the verses it's absent those texts don't even exist that he wrote you not finding any manuscripts in all the entire world you also find another section I have here called contradictory doctrines these are sort of interesting I have fun with these because these are in the footnotes of Genesis if you were to turn to this in the volume that I have here today Genesis 6 6 which is also found in Moses 8 5 of the pearl of great price Joseph Smith in his inspiration by the spirit of prophecy in the spirit and power of God change the word God or Lord I mean change the word Lord to the word Noah so the question is you put them side by side who repented did the Lord relent or did Noah repent well he didn't like the idea that the Lord relented so he put Noah in there now what does the Hebrew manuscripts say iave says the Lord there's no question about it and so you find Joseph Smith changing the Lord to Noah again you look at the manuscripts there's no manuscript on earth that has the word Noah in there but yet Joseph Smith changed it under the inspiration of his spirit of prophecy spirit of Revelation Exodus 10 20 Judah Smith did not like that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so he changed it and if you look in the Exodus 10 20 of the Joseph Smith translation notes you will find that it says during the Smith translation jst changed to Pharaoh he has Pharaoh hardening his own heart trying to make it consistent perhaps with his own thoughts on this but it's wrong it does not have that in the Hebrew text when you look at your Hebrew text on your computers online or if you've got hard copies of the Hebrew Old Testament you will see that it is not in there Matthew chapter 4 and verse 1 a New Testament when I give you now this these are just different examples there's dozens of these you as you do your own research on this and each one any one of them can become a valid point of sharing with a latter-day Saint about Joseph Smith did he really have the authorization of God to change the Bible Jesus was led by the spirit in the wilderness we all know about the trials and temptations of Jesus by the devil your text will say that he was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil what Joseph Smith didn't like that so in your Joseph Smith translation it has the footnote jst that he didn't get tempted to the devil but to be with God he was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be with God not to be tempted of the devil well again you look at the Greek interlinear you use any resource you have on the Greek let them look at this is by the way with the one that really convinced Bruce this fellow I told you about but he saw that that was too much of a change he said there's a big difference between the devil and God I said Bruce you're right a big difference and he said that says that that does say devil there and he had no question about it that it was not the word for God face in the text and this is very convincing to many people who are willing to study this Romans chapter 4 I like this one a perverse about faith and grace he adds works to it sticks the word works in there romans 4:16 you are justified how are you justified well here's what it says you were justified by faith is what the Bible says he adds the words and works here justified by faith and works to the Smith corrected the Bible on Grace it contradicts the Bible agrees now additional words another section I give you you can do again your own studies on these by additional words what I mean is these are words that do not even belong in the biblical text just like many of the chapters that he added to it but it's sort of a different twist on it there are some two parallel Book of Mormon terms which Smith is obviously trying to say well the Bible doesn't match the Book of Mormon but if they toss a book of Mormon term into the Bible then maybe somebody will think that the Bible and the Book of Mormon agree so one example is a term not found in the Bible whose secret combinations there was a lot of business going on in that day anti-masonic newspapers are published all over the country I have one of these from 1805 there was a lot of things about combinations and it's good thing it wasn't it other conspiracy theories like conspiracy theories like JFK or or the Illuminati or all of these other UFOs and all the other conspiracies that people come up with but they had their own and that was secret combinations well that ends up in his translation it was in the newspapers in the day secret combinations found in the Book of Mormon 3rd Nephi 7 verses 6 to 9 and then you find Joseph Smith bringing this into this translation of the Bible in Genesis 537 also in the pearl of great price which is from Genesis chapter 5 in the Joseph Smith translation for from the days of Cain there was a secret combination this would be like secret handshakes much like they do in the temple secret combination and their works were in the dark and they knew every man and his brother now Smith also had another term that he used called choice seer which has not found in any Hebrew text in the books of book of Genesis but in Genesis chapter 50 verses 26 and 27 he uses it twice there and there's two verses from the Book of Mormon the second Nephi three six and seven that is quoted then by Joseph Smith and to the book of Genesis as if Moses knew what was going to be said in the book of second Nephi and he uses the same verse with choice here used twice Cain is another example and Cain said concerning himself he was a master main head well what does that sound like Master Mason and so anti masonry going on in that day and again like the secret combinations that he was against and this again Campbell lights were this way too they were always against the lodges and always against Freemasonry and this is where I believe Sidney Rigdon added his hand to it Cain became a master Mayhem now in Genesis 5:16 also found in Moses 531 of the pearl of great price and Cain said truly I am a man the master of this great secret that I may murder and get gain wherefore Cain was called master man and he glorified in his wickedness words that Joseph Smith invented and placed into the Bible to try to justify his beliefs not supported by the Hebrew you bring out the Hebrew and you don't find any chapter like this any verse like this in the Old Testament and then exodus 33:20 in the Joseph Smith translation well this was one of the that is so large you'll find it only in this back portion of the Joseph Smith translation under the book of Exodus one of those larger portions but one that no less is interesting to look at where he adds this thou canst not see my face now we know that in chapter 33 of Exodus Moses goes up on Mount Sinai God said you cannot see my face and live well Joseph Smith because of his visions I wants to add something to this thou canst not see my face at this time you see I underlined that at this time he adds because he doesn't believe the Word of God the way the Hebrew manuscript says it but rather his adjustment to the Hebrew manuscript now there's another way you can look at it and that is the additional chapters and verses Joseph Smith added endless verses just in Genesis 50 it was well over 800 words that he added to that one chapter but in this one he has a very unique verse concerning himself now I find it interesting that he writes the Book of Mormon and he talks about himself prophesized about himself in the Book of Mormon he has his per great price with the first vision of Joseph Smith and he prophesies of himself through that revelation that he's going to be the one that brings this hidden book to the earth and then why not the Bible and now he adds a portion to the book of Genesis where Moses prophesies of Joseph Smith coming by name in chapter 33 of Genesis 50 there is no chapter 50 verse 33 in the Hebrew text but Joseph Smith added it just by pure invention he says this and that seer will I bless and they shall seek to destroy him or they who they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded for this promise I give to you for I will remember from remember you from generation to generation and his name shall be called Joseph and it shall be after his the name of his father and he shall be like unto you for the thing which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand shall bring my people under salvation so he writes about himself in Genesis 50 and verse 33 you also have the entire so Moses in the pearl of great price and the book of Matthew in the pearl of great price that are part of the Joseph Smith translation a lot of people aren't aware of that but the pearl of great price the bulk of it is the very Joseph Smith translation before they began publishing it in their King James Version now this is one of my favorite ones as a young Baptist I told you my story of salvation as young Baptists I was still learning the Word of God would have met with the Mormon missionaries and and of course the first time I met with my grandmother sent them over I was real quick to turn to Revelation chapter 22 and verse 18 as a young Baptist boy I was going to tell them a thing or two and say to them chapter 18 and 19 prophecies against you for John wrote these words I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book if anyone adds to these things God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part from the book of life and from the holy city and from the things that are written in this book and I got harbored by the Mormon missionaries when I read that they just decimated me because I didn't realize I wasn't reading it thoroughly that had only dealt with that book the prophecy of this book John's writing the book of Revelation which is the only prophetic book he was referring to there so how do you deal with this in the Joseph Smith translation quite simply and it's fun because I'm going to show you all the places where Joseph Smith added to the book of Revelation and all the places that he took away from the book of Revelation and I love showing this to latter-day saints the highlighted yellow I'll have this at my book table you're welcome to come and look at it and I've got over 40 places where I put plus signs I show it to more militias just like I'm showing to you say all these plus signs or additions all these subtractions are delicious or deleted and let me show you this Smith did both he added to and he didn't do one or the other he did both he added to and took away from the book of Revelation itself so I like to sit down with Mormons now and I don't trick them or anything but I I read to my said kinda read a verse to you from the book of Revelation well they think they know what I'm going to say and I read to them out of their own Bible here the book of Revelation chapter 22 and verses 18 they start sitting on the edge of their chair just getting inches closer to me they're ready to pounce on me and as you know I realize I stopped them before the princess now that doesn't pertain to the whole Bible and they look at me and they say it doesn't I said no it doesn't pertain to the whole Bible that pertains to the book of Revelation now can you answer a question I turn in the back of it where it says Joseph Smith translation and I say all these portions as if you were a latter-day Saint all these portions of the book of Revelation can you explain how those were added to and then I go back to revelation 22:18 what will be added to him the plagues in this book I said I feel sorry for that man that added to this because those plagues are added to him and then when you show them the things that are taken away hey God wrote it I believe it that settles it if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part from the book of life where's Joseph Smith then I say it's impossible for him to be in heaven because Revelation chapter 22 verse 19 says if he took away from the book of Revelation and I've said that tomorrow missionaries you know I've never had any of them hit me I've had him disagree with me yet thank you you're a bad subject I never have I actually have never had him actually get angry with me yet they just sit there stoic and they're thinking about it how can we justify him adding to and taking away from the book of Revelation that is one of the most powerful witnesses of my whole message to say the best to last and that's revelation 22:18 and 19 from this volume that should encourage you to go to Deseret Industries if you want and buy one of these just to use it for witnessing from the book of Revelation alone and as a matter of fact they give them to you if you tell him you're not a member from give this to you so the witness that you can do from Revelation is very important and I tell these young men I don't want to see you end up in the same way and now you have to make a choice this is where I bring home to the plan of salvation you need to make a choice if you walk out of my home believing you're a prophet with these additions then you have added two of my consent because you're saying every conference you're saying what I sustain these scriptures so you now have added to it by your sustaining of it and you've also taken away by your sustaining of it and when I do that right square their eyeballs get big because that's what they have done they have consented to Joseph Smith's transition they may not have taken their pin like I saw in Independence Missouri and strike verses out or add to it but their consent is the same and I asked them which one of these things do you want to happen to you I testify to you anyone who adds to these plates will be at and by that time they're ready to pack and leave or they're ready to repent we've had Mormons in repent at that point I really have I've had them look at revelation with me and I have had them repent of Worman ISM I tell them you need to repent of it just like how to repent on the shoulder to God you need to repent a Worman to this false doctrine that's false doctrine I take them out when they repent I take them out and get him a new Bible I don't want to have this unless you're going to use it to witness after they get saved but I think might get him a new Bible if I can they need something reliable and I start to educate them and help them and understand the Word of God as God gave it so that's how in my message today Joseph Smith violates the Hebrew he violates the Greek and they are violating the same when they sustain it so that's how you use this for your witness thank you god bless

Channel: Aaron Shafovaloff

Views: 18,885

Keywords: capstone, conference, kurt, van, gorden, joseph, smith, jst, mormonism, lds, mormon

Id: rowzaskHngQ

Length: 75min 29sec (4529 seconds)

Published: Sun May 09 2010