Friday, August 28, 2026

Clarification Regarding Hebrew Ordinances


I recently gave a presentation at The Family of God General Conference in Colorado where I presented and discussed the Hebrew translation of Covenant of Christ. As part of that presentation I showed the sacrament and baptismal ordinance prayers in English and Hebrew. As an aid to understanding the necessary adaptations to ancient Hebrew, I also gave back-translations from Hebrew to English.

I believe I may have inadvertently created some misunderstanding, so I want to clarify three points:

  1. The Hebrew-language wording has been approved by God for use in ordinances. in order to make the ordinance function in the target ancient language with its limited vocabulary, linguistic limitations, and cultural differences.
  2. The back translations I gave from Hebrew to English were simply to help illustrate the meaning and feeling of the ancient Hebrew vocabulary for ordinances, which in turn can increase our appreciation and understanding of the ordinances themselves. These back translations were my own work and are not approved for use in the ordinances, indeed have never been appropriate for English language usage.
  3. Ordinances performed in English should exclusively use the wording found in Covenant of Christ, The Book of Mormon, or The Stick of Joseph, which have all been approved by the Lord for use.

I hope this clarifies the matter, and I apologize if I caused any misunderstanding or gave the impression that my back-translations were approved or intended for use in ordinances, especially as an alteration to be used by modern English speakers. That would be offensive to God and a violation of commandments given to us in our own vocabulary, language and culture. 

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1 comment:

  1. Jay ToddAugust 28, 2026 at 3:17 PM

    This is one of the more remarkable public acts of humility and rejection of supposed authority I’ve seen among us, perhaps only exceeded by one other. You could have posted nothing and let this just play out and who would have known any different?

    This has the effect on me of renewed hope that some few might become determined to actually obey the Lord and not place their own wills above His.

    “My will is to have you love one another”.

    I feel great love for me (and us) that you’d choose to post this publicly.

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