|
DIRECTORY
Home
General LDS Information
Basic LDS Beliefs
LDS Videos
Critics' Questions
Submitted Questions
Scriptures/LDS Literature
Genealogy/Family
LDS Temples
Missionary
Music and Arts
LDS Online Stores
Priesthood, Humor, Miscel.
Site Map
Suggest a Site
Now accepting banner ads!
|
|
JON - is there reference from Joseph Smith that the LDS Church will splinter or be reduced or shifted like wheat in the last days by intellectual men trying to point out errors in the church using History and Current Changes to programs. If so, I would like to know them to show that these are the last days and signs of prophecies coming true
JOEL -
Nothing really that specific, but there are some statements of a coming apostasy by Joseph Smith.
Joseph Smith was inspired to retranslate Matthew 1:22 to the following:
"For in those days there shall also arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the covenant"
President Harold B Lee commented on his words:
"He added these significant words: 'who are the elect, according to the covenant.' Unless every member of this Church gains for himself an unshakable testimony of the divinity of this Church, he will be among those who will be deceived in this day when the 'elect according to the covenant' are going to be tried and tested. Only those will survive who have gained for themselves that testimony." (Harold B. Lee, in Conference Report, Oct. 1950, p. 129.)
Joseph Smith said :
"Woe, woe be to that man or set of men who lift up their hands against God and His witness in these last days: for they shall deceive almost the very chosen ones! . . .
". . . False prophets always arise to oppose the true prophets and they will prophesy so very near the truth that they will deceive almost the very chosen ones." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith)
From the D&C:
"Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh;
And the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth.
And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people;
For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant;
They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth fold and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall." (D&C 1: 12-16)
Joseph Smith also said:
'That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly that that man is [on the way] to apostasy; and if he does not repent, [he] will apostatize, as God lives.' [TPJS, pp. 156-57.]
Heber C. Kimball, while serving as a counselor to President Brigham Young, reported:
“I will give you a key which Brother Joseph Smith used to give in Nauvoo. He said that the very step of apostasy commenced with losing confidence in the leaders of this church and kingdom, and that whenever you discerned that spirit you might know that it would lead the possessor of it on the road to apostasy.” (Deseret News, Apr. 2, 1856,)
In an account from Mosiah Hancock, he quotes a prophesy form Joseph Smith:
"…you will travel west until you come to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. …you will live to see men rise in power in the church who will seek to put down your friends and the friends of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Many will be hoisted because of their money and the worldly learning which they seem to be in possession of; and many who are the true followers of our Lord and Savior will be cast down because of their poverty." (Mosiah Hancock Journal, p.19)
And a prophesy from the D&C given to Joseph Smith:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.
Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord.
And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord;
First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord. (D&C 112:23-26)
"Upon my House shall it begin" suggesting that a latter-day apostasy will begin within the membership of the church.
|
|
|
