Are You Calling Joseph Smith a Liar?

What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers.

—Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6:410–411

Think about this:

Joseph Smith stated publicly and repeatedly that he only had one wife. According to his public statements, he sought to root out and eliminate polygamy. The public record shows that he did so at every opportunity.

The LDS church and others claim that Joseph was privately married to a large number of women and had sexual relations with them, including a 14 year old.

Therefore, if you believe the LDS position that Joseph was a polygamist, you necessarily also believe he was a base liar, deceiver, hypocrite and practitioner of the worst sort of adulterous wickedness, because of his public statements.

Further, if you also claim Joseph was a prophet of God, you must therefore accept the proposition that it’s acceptable for "prophets of God" to engage in deception, lies, hypocrisy, and private wickedness.

Further, if you then accept modern Presidents of the LDS church, up to and including Thomas Monson, as prophets of God, by your very definition of "prophet," you not only give them license, but actually expect them to lie to you, deceive you, and practice private wickedness.

Them’s the facts, folks. You can’t have it both ways. If Joseph was a polygamist, he was a liar and a hypocrite. If you call him a prophet, you have redefined the word "prophet" to include the worst sort of deceiver. When you apply that word to modern leaders, you are, in fact, proclaiming your expectation to be deceived by them. Think about that when you raise your hand to sustain them.

But there is another way to view things.

What if Joseph Smith was telling the truth? What if the historical records after his death were influenced, even altered, to promote the views of Joseph’s successors? What if, whatever it was Joseph was doing, it didn’t involve sexual relations with multiple women? 

There’s a VERY strong case to be made for this view. The essay linked below explores the historical record, and makes the case that Joseph told the truth, did not practice sexual polygamy, and was unfairly framed by his successors after his death.

My personal belief is that Joseph was telling the truth. I do not accept the proposition that he lied and deceived about polygamy—but told the truth about the Book of Mormon, angelic visitations, the first vision, and other issues which I KNOW to be true. 

What’s your position? 

Do you believe Joseph was a polygamist, and therefore a liar? Or do you believe Joseph was an honest man, and unfairly blamed for the acts of his successors? 

This is important. 

No, this is vital. 

If you believe Joseph is a liar, then on what foundation do you place your testimony of revealed scripture, the restoration of the gospel and modern prophets?

It's time to clear Joseph's name. It's time to recognize the truth of the historical record. And if the LDS Church continues to call Joseph Smith a liar—you, and I, and all of us have to make a choice. I've made mine, and I'll stand with Joseph Smith. 

What is yours?

Will you join the chorus of Joseph's accusers? Or will you doubt the LDS version of "history?"

I know this is uncomfortable. I know it's not easy. Believe me, I've been there. But the test is always the same. Do you value the truth, or do you cherish the security of being a follower, and pretending you don't have to search out truth for yourself? 

Your eternal life hangs in the balance. Please take the search for truth seriously.

Note: I am not the author of this paper, but I do agree with its premise. 

The author wishes to remain anonymous.

Cursed are all those that shall lift up the heel against mine anointed, saith the Lord, and cry they have sinned when they have not sinned before me, saith the Lord, but have done that which was meet in mine eyes, and which I commanded them.

—D&C 121:16

Fellowshipping Together

Applying the gospel of Jesus Christ requires fellowship. Bearing one another's burdens, mourning together, comforting those who need comfort, and standing as witnesses to each other—all require a group of believers who work together to apply the gospel. (Mosiah 18:8-9) Christ taught his followers to gather for worship, sacrament, and teaching. (3 Nephi 18:1-13, 22)

Such a group is great blessing to believers who need to love and be loved, feel supported and understood, be nourished with the good word of God, and receive opportunities to serve. Second only to a family, a fellowship is where Christ's teachings move from theory into practice.

A new website is now available to those who are interested in preserving the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith, and desire to find a fellowship. Here's the link to it:

www.FellowshipLocator.info

I know personally of many people who are awakening to our current situation, seeking the Lord, and hoping to find like-minded believers with whom they may share an often-difficult journey. I've received numerous emails from people feeling alone, looking for fellow sojourners.

Therefore, I hope all the existing fellowships, no matter how small, will register on the site so others can find them.

          Brightly beams our Father's mercy

          From His lighthouse evermore,

          But to us He gives the keeping

          Of the lights along the shore.

          Dark the night of sin has settled,

          Loud the angry billows roar;

          Eager eyes are watching, longing,

          For the lights along the shore

          Trim your feeble lamp, my brother!

          Some poor sailor tempest tossed,

          Trying now to make the harbor,

          In the darkness may be lost.

          Let the lower lights be burning!

          Send a gleam across the wave!

          Some poor fainting, struggling seaman

          You may rescue, you may save.

Scripture Overhead, Part 4: Leviathan and the Dove

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

—Revelation 19:9

God is most certainly speaking through the ordinances of the sun, moon and stars, exactly as ordained from the foundation of the world. This fourth and final blood moon in the tetrad is incredibly rich in its symbolism and message. By way of introduction, here are a few observations:

1. There is far more symbolism in this last blood moon than there was in the first three. We can only cover a small portion of what is represented, and we'll do it in multiple posts.
2. If you’re serious about understanding the Lord’s message, you’ll necessarily have to spend some time in study and prayer about these things. I can give you a few places to start, but the rest is between you and the Lord.
3. Parts of the message deal with events that have not yet happened but are coming. Because prophecy is best understood in retrospect, we’ll leave those things out of our discussion, perhaps revisiting them after they happen.
4. God is utterly, completely amazing in the intelligence, beauty and cleverness with which He has prepared this message from the foundation of the world. I lack the words to even express God’s intelligence, power and might. I’ve been repeatedly left thunderstruck and speechless as I’ve studied what God has written in the sky.

So how’s that for an introduction? Now a request: If you want to understand what we’re going to cover, it’s really important that you review the first three blood moons first. Seriously. Go do that. You’ll be glad you did. Here are the links:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

..........

OK, back now? Here we go. 

The Time

Sunday, September 27, 2015. 8:11 PM, Mountain Time. (Note that this was September 28 in Europe and the Middle East.) This was the first day of the Jewish feast of Sukkot.

Themes:

This blood moon has many more layers of meaning than the last three, and a number of themes appear repeatedly. As we proceed, watch for the following:

The number 40

Groups of 3

Sukkah booths

Feasts

Repentance 

Nineveh

Water

Fire

The Location

Click to Enlarge

Three Celestial Bodies: The moon appeared in the Eastern sky, inside a triangle formed by three planets: Uranus, Neptune, and the minor planet Vesta.

Three Constellations: In the second blood moon of this tetrad, the moon appeared inside Pisces. But in this instance, the moon has moved out of Pisces and toward Aquarius, at the end of  the tail of Cetus, the whale. Hence, the moon appeared between the three constellations Pisces, Aquarius and Cetus.

The Players

The Moon: Because it's the closest full moon to the autumn equinox, this moon would commonly be called a “Harvest Moon.” This was also a perigee moon, or “Supermoon,” meaning it was at its closest point to earth in its orbit. The moon thus appeared about 30% larger in area than usual, and shined about 30% more light than usual in conjunction with this eclipse. The next such perigee eclipse will be in October, 2033. If this harvest-super-blood moon were a text message, it would be WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS!

Pisces: This constellation portrays two fish, connected together by a band or net. It signifies the gathering of fish into the gospel net.

Aquarius: Traditionally displayed as a man carrying a water pot, this constellation’s earliest known identification was with the Babylonian god Enki—“Lord of the Earth,” the God of intelligence and creation. Pouring out his pot symbolizes a dual outpouring of both water and fire. His symbolic number is 40.

Cetus: This constellation represents a great fish, whale or sea monster.

Uranus: This is the ruling planet of the constellation Aquarius. It personifies the heavens and the night sky, representing the “Father Sky” or Father of Heaven. It is the seventh planet from the sun.

Neptune: This is the ruling planet of the constellation Pisces. It is named for the god of freshwater and the sea in Roman mythology. He was traditionally honored every year on July 23 and 24 with a festival that included construction of tree-branch huts. (This will become significant as we go along.)

Vesta: This celestial body is classified as a minor planet and is the brightest asteroid visible from earth, It’s named for the virgin goddess of the hearth, home and family in Roman religion. Vesta is symbolized by the sacred fire that burned at her hearth and temples.

OK, now that we have our list of players, let’s start discussing the messages in this final blood moon. 

Act One: The Sukkah and the Sea Monster

This blood moon appeared on the First Day of Sukkot, the week-long Jewish Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (also called the Feast of the Ingathering.) During this week of celebration, observant Jewish families construct a “sukkah,” which is a temporary outdoor hut or booth, having at least three sides, and topped with tree branches, in which the family prays and eats their meals. Some even sleep in their sukkah for the week. This feast commemorates the huts inhabited by the Israelites during their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness, as well as recognizing with gratitude the time of gathering and harvest. This is a feast of rejoicing.

The cutting and gathering of branches to cover the roof of the sukkah brings to mind Jacob 5, where we read about both pruning the bitter branches and gathering the natural branches into their mother tree. These verses are far more relevant to our day than we might imagine:

Wherefore, let us go to and labor with our might this last time, for behold the end draweth nigh, and this is for the last time that I shall prune my vineyard. Graft in the branches; begin at the last that they may be first, and that the first may be last, and dig about the trees, both old and young, the first and the last; and the last and the first, that all may be nourished once again for the last time. 

And the branches of the natural tree will I graft in again into the natural tree; And the branches of the natural tree will I graft into the natural branches of the tree; and thus will I bring them together again, that they shall bring forth the natural fruit, and they shall be one. And the bad shall be cast away, yea, even out of all the land of my vineyard; for behold, only this once will I prune my vineyard. (Jacob 5:62-63, 67-69)

Therefore, the first message we must recognize is that the time of the final pruning and gathering is upon us. The harvest is soon at hand.

A curious Jewish tradition holds that when the Messiah comes, he will slay a great sea monster or fish, called Leviathan, and use its flesh to prepare a sumptuous feast in Jerusalem for the righteous. Such is reflected in Isaiah’s prophetic symbolism:

In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isaiah 27:1)

Tradition holds that this great, final feast will be served in a vast sukkah, which will be covered with the stretched skin of the great fish. Hence, odd as it may sound, the final prayer of the Feast of Sukkot is recited as follows:

“May it be your will, Lord our God and God of our forefathers, that just as I have fulfilled and dwelt in this sukkah, so may I merit in the coming year to dwell in the sukkah of the skin of Leviathan. Next year in Jerusalem!”

Click to Enlarge

The farewell prayer of the feast, then, expresses the hope that the Messiah will come, Israel will be gathered, and all will rejoice together at a great feast in the Holy City.

The constellation Cetus, the great whale or sea monster, represents Leviathan. The Harvest Moon perched on Cetus’s tail, then, tells us of gathering, harvest, and a final feast of rejoicing. The symbolism of the gathering of Israel and the wedding feast at the coming of the bridegroom should not be lost on us. 

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. (Matthew 22:2-10)

Those who were invited to the wedding feast of the king’s son refused to come. They rejected and even slew the servants sent to invite them. The king, of course, is the King of heaven, and his son is Christ. His servants are the prophets, and they are nearly always rejected and even slain. It happened four generations ago with Joseph Smith, and it has happened again in our day. Thus, the King has prepared the destruction of those who rejected him, and the invitation is now open to all who are willing to come. YOU are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Will you attend?

Act Two: Ninevah and Nahum

The warning of destruction brings to mind an ancient prophet who warned the world’s largest and most powerful city of God’s coming judgment. That prophet was Nahum and that city was Ninevah, capital of Assyria. Nahum issued a warning that will be, unfortunately, familiar to anyone who has been following the blood moon signs of our time. Let’s read some portions of his warning from Nahum Chapter 1. For reasons that will become obvious, I’ll be quoting his warnings in reverse order:

 14 And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile. 

This warning refers to the sowing of seed, which culminates in the separation of the wheat from the tares. You may recall this same primary message in Blood Moon 1.

 13 For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. 

The burst bonds point us directly to severing the bands of Pisces and the message of Blood Moon 2.

 10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 

The plaited thorns remind us of Christ’s crown; the drunkards of Ephraim were the subject of God’s warning in Blood Moon 3. Drunkards and Crowns, indeed.

Now that we’ve seen the first three blood moon warnings, in order, in Nahum’s prophecy, we can read his summary of the fourth:

 6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. 

 7 The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. 

 8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

The pouring out of fire and flood points us to the 4th blood moon, which, as we will see in a future blog post, is filled with imagery of fire and water. But the prophecy also contains an invitation to know the Lord—a theme which is also contained in this blood moon. 

In other words, Nahum nailed it. 

His prophetic warning to a proud and wicked nation 2600 years ago precisely parallels the warnings written by God in the heavens for us in our day. The parallelism of the symbols should not go unnoticed by us, just as surely as the coming destruction will not be escaped by those who refuse the invitation to the wedding feast.

But Nineveh was actually warned by three prophets: Nahum, Zephaniah, and Jonah. Nahum was the last. Jonah was the first.

Five days before this blood moon sign, on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement which—coincidentally—fell this year exactly on the Autumn Equinox), observant Jews everywhere would have read the entire book of Jonah out loud, in Hebrew, at afternoon prayer, in recognition of the opportunity to repent and gain forgiveness. 

The moon perched on the tail of Cetus, the great whale, points our minds to Jonah as well. As you may recall, Jonah was sent to Nineveh to call the great city to repentance. Nineveh was, at the time, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and likely the mightiest and largest city in the then-known world. 

Jonah fled his commission and ended up cast into the sea and swallowed by a great fish or whale. After three days in the fish’s belly, Jonah repented and was vomited by the fish onto dry land. Jonah then obeyed the Lord, delivering the message that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days. 

After delivering his message, Jonah went to the East side of the city and built, yes, a Sukkah, where he sat to watch what would become of Nineveh. 

This blood moon, rising in the East, on the first day of the feast of Sukkot, on the tail of the great fish, points directly to Jonah and Ninevah. This is a call to repent, individually, institutionally and nationally. It is a warning that destruction has already been scheduled.

Against all odds, Ninevah repented in sackcloth and was spared for a time, because they heeded a true messenger. However, Nineveh later returned to wickedness, rejected prophetic warnings, and was erased from the face of the earth. Despite being the largest and mightiest city in the world, it was supplanted and destroyed by Babylon, with its very location becoming wiped out and unknown for centuries. Repent or be destroyed. The choice is clear.

Jonah's Last Testimony

We cannot leave Jonah and move to our next topic without adding the following footnote:

In April, 2014, the Lord ended all claims of the LDS church leadership to hold priesthood, as the entire leadership voted unanimously to make their rejection of the Lord’s servant final. By rejecting the Lord’s servant, they also rejected the Lord’s call to repent.

Just as Jews commemorate their ancestors’ sojourn in the wilderness with a feast, Mormons commemorate their ancestors’ sojourn in the wilderness with Pioneer Day parades and celebrations each July 24, (oddly, the day of Neptune's traditional celebration with tree-branch huts.)

The first such celebration, after the rejection of the invitation to the wedding feast, was held on July 24, 2014. While celebrity church leaders waved at adoring parade crowds, and expensive parade floats boasted of success and prosperity, ISIS blew up the tomb of the prophet Jonah, at Nineveh, in Mosul, Iraq. It was on exactly the same day, folks. You just can’t make this stuff up. The invitation to repent has been rejected, and the evidence of the invitation has been destroyed. The timing was not coincidence.

Act Three: The Sign of Jonah

Our discussion of Jonah brings us into our next act with a curious statement made by the Savior:

And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 

For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 

The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. (Luke 11:29-32)

When the wicked generation of Christ’s day sought a sign of Him, He told them the only sign offered would be the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah was in the fish for three days and came forth, Christ was in the tomb three days and came forth. Both of these men hailed from Nazareth. Both went forth crying repentance in the greatest empires of their day.

We live in a generation every bit as wicked as the one that crucified our Lord. And so, yet again, the Lord has given us the sign of the prophet Jonah, written in the Eastern sky overhead. But there’s more to consider. 

The name “Jonah” in Hebrew, literally means “dove.” Therefore, a valid reading of the Lord’s statement in Luke, is that there shall be no sign given this wicked generation, but the sign of the dove. 

The original sign of the dove was given when Christ obeyed the Father’s will and submitted to baptism. By this, He signified His obedience, showed His humility, and fulfilled all righteousness. The Father testified to the truth of the event by sending the sign of the dove. Said Joseph Smith:

“The sign of the dove was instituted before the creation of the world, a witness for the Holy Ghost, and the devil cannot come in the sign of a dove…The Holy Ghost cannot be transformed into a dove; but the sign of a dove was given to John to signify the truth of the deed, as the dove is an emblem or token of truth and innocence.” (TPJS, p. 276). 

If the sign of the dove represents the Holy Ghost testifying of truth, we ought to ask ourselves what truth heaven is proclaiming in our day. What does the super blood moon sign proclaim? What could be so important that the sign of the dove has appeared again in the East?

Continued in Part 5...Coming Soon.

And after that cometh the day of my power; then shall the poor, the lame, and the blind, and the deaf, come in unto the marriage of the Lamb, and partake of the supper of the Lord, prepared for the great day to come.

—D&C 58:11

Everyone that Thirsteth, Come Ye to the Waters

Christ freely offers salvation to all. Those who desire to come unto Christ through baptism should not be denied, nor should they be required to pay money, bear testimony of a man, abstain from coffee, or hail from suitable parents. 

In declaring His Doctrine, our Lord was very specific in laying out the qualifications for baptism. 

I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me. And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. (3 Nephi 11:32-33)

Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them. (3 Nephi 11:23)

All He requires is that you believe, repent, and desire baptism. Seeing our day, He cautioned about adding other requirements:

And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them. (3 Nephi 11:40)

He didn't leave room for anyone to declare any more or any less than He did. To do so, "cometh of evil." If His word were open to change, He would not have added the additional warning.

And he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile. (2 Nephi 26:33)

To ensure there is no question, an additional page has been added to BornOfWater.org, clarifying the the Lord's requirements for baptism. All are invited to come and receive authoritative baptism according to the Doctrine of Christ. None are denied.

Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. (2 Nephi 9:50)

Joseph Smith's Monogamy

I highly recommend this paper on Joseph Smith and the likelihood that he never practiced polygamy. I am not the author, and do not know who the anonymous author is. But he or she has done a great service to the legacy of Joseph Smith.

Click to Download

Given the dubious historical evidence, it's unfortunate that the LDS Church chooses to portray Joseph Smith in such a negative light. But I suppose it's also understandable that the alternative of admitting 170+ years of gross error and historical dishonesty would be unthinkable.

On an unrelated note, for those who have asked, I'll be discussing the 4th blood moon soon.

Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

—Matthew 23:13

What do you know about the Pharisees? 

Sure, we’ve all heard of them, and we’re aware that Jesus had nothing good to say about them, but who were they? What did they believe? And why did they find themselves on the receiving end of Christ’s sharpest criticisms?

I think the topic of Pharisees is extremely timely, and one with which we all ought to be familiar. If Christ went to some trouble to warn us about Pharisees, we ought to attempt to understand His warning, particularly as we might apply it to ourselves and our worship.

And so, here’s a quick primer on Pharisees and Pharisaism.

The name “Pharisee” comes from the Hebrew and Aramaic parush or parushi, which means "one who is separated." The Pharisees prided themselves on being separated, not only from the Gentiles, but also from other Jews who did not believe the same way. The Pharisees extended the temple-based rules for ritual purity outside the temple and attempted to live the rules in everyday life, thus separating themselves from other Jews.

At the time of Christ, the Pharisees were only one of four major schools of Jewish thought, but were in charge of the temple and the general religious practices of Jerusalem, under Roman rule. After the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, the other major Jewish sects disappeared, and the Pharisees remained to form the basis of Rabbinic Judaism. All mainstream forms of Judaism today consider themselves heirs of Rabbinic Judaism and, ultimately, the Pharisees.

Much more could be said, of course, but history isn’t the point. Let’s move on to the Pharisaic beliefs so objectionable to Christ that He pronounced Wo after Wo upon them.

I recently read an excellent little volume by Jewish scholar Nehemia Gordon, called The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus. Having been raised an Orthodox Jew, Gordon is well familiar with the legacy of the Pharisees, which he now rejects. He compiled a list of what he called “The Five Iniquities of the Rabbis,” which is to say, of the Pharisees. I found it VERY useful in understanding the thoughts, teachings and traditions of the Pharisees, which Christ found so objectionable.

Here are the 5 Iniquities:

1. Two sets of Scripture 

All Jews accept Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) as God’s word, given through Moses. But the Pharisees also accept a second, oral tradition passed down from prior leaders. The iniquity is that the Pharisees view the Oral tradition as equal with, or even superior to, God’s written word in scripture. They favor later innovations over prior revelation, which is to say, they follow “living teachers over dead ones.”

2. Absolute Authority of Leaders to Interpret Scripture 

No matter what the scripture plainly says, the interpretation of the Rabbis is the final word. End of discussion. If the Rabbis say right is left, and left is right, then that is the truth, and all evidence to the contrary is invalid. And if two Rabbis flatly contradict each other, both are right. If you read the scripture yourself and find it plainly contradicts what the Rabbis teach, you are wrong.



According to tradition, even the voice of God, speaking forth from heaven, is not enough to overrule the Rabbis. This idea is based on the belief that God has given Torah from heaven to man on earth, and therefore it now belongs to man on earth, and not to heaven. It is no longer heaven’s concern, or any of heaven’s business, thank you.

Nephi warned about a similar situation among latter-day churches:

And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men; (2 Nephi 28:5)

It kind of reminds me of a question posed at my disciplinary council when I was excommunicated. Someone asked me, “Who has the authority to interpret scripture?” (Emphasis on the word “authority.”) I replied, “The Holy Ghost.” 

That did not go over well. 

Evidently, I gave the wrong answer. 

3. Irrational Interpretations 

This refers to the belief, above, that however the Rabbis interpret scripture is the only correct way. Thus, by pulling snippets of scripture out of context, the Rabbis could claim the scriptures said exactly opposite what they actually said, and the people were compelled to believe them because the Rabbis’ interpretation could not be questioned. In his book, Gordon used an example of such a scriptural “sound bite” as follows:

You shall not go after the majority to do evil, neither shall you testify in a matter of strife to incline after the majority to pervert justice. (Exodus 23:2)

This verse clearly directs that we must not follow the majority in forming an opinion or testifying on a matter of judgment. We must testify of truth, even if we must do it alone. But the Rabbis grabbed the following snippet out of that verse, and taught it as doctrine:

...incline after the majority...

Hey, stick with the majority and you’ll be safe. They were indeed quoting scripture when they referenced their sound bite, but they assigned it exactly the opposite meaning God had given it. They then used it as justification to insist that the majority view is the only correct one, and anyone who disagrees with the majority—that is to say, the Pharisees—is wrong.

There’s a lesson here for us; we ought to be careful when we quote snippets of scripture outside their context—giving them an entirely different meaning than what is found in scripture. Hastening the work, indeed.



4. The Traditions of Men 

The Pharisees tended to elevate social traditions into commandments. A common example is the skull cap, or Yarmulke, worn by observant Jewish men even today. There is no commandment anywhere in scripture that a man must wear such a head covering. But it became a tradition during the middle ages, and is now elevated to a commandment among the orthadox, complete with rules about how many steps a man can take with his head uncovered. 

God has made no such requirement about any head covering, or any dress code, for that matter. And yet, the tradition is held to be the very commandment of God, and to violate it is to sin. 



In a similar vein, we have this warning for our times:

And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers. (D&C 93:39)

False traditions, taught as truth, actually destroy light and truth. It’s vital to know the difference between truth and tradition. Truth will save you. Tradition will damn you.


5. Man-made Rules 

The Pharisees simply made up rules for the congregation to keep. An example used by Nehemia Gordon has to do with washing the hands before eating. Among Pharisaic Jews, there was (and still is!) a very specific way and order in which the hands were to be washed, and the following prayer was to be recited while washing them:



Blessed art thou, Lord, king of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to wash the hands. 


It’s a fine prayer and all, but it’s also a lie. Anyone who cared to check would find nowhere in scripture that God commanded the washing of hands. But few cared and few checked. The Pharisees explained that it was commanded by the Rabbis, and obeying the Rabbis is obeying God, so it was a commandment of God. Thus, when Jesus disobeyed this man-made rule, they took issue with Him:

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 

But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? (Matthew 15:1-3)

God commanded that nothing be added to His law (Deut 4:2, 12:32.) Jesus knew this and pointed out the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. Remember, the Pharisees observed all sorts of man-made, non-scriptural laws about what to eat and drink, how to dress, how to prepare food, how to observe the sabbath, how to swear oaths, how to put on shoes, and a thousand other bits of minutiae. None of these rules came from God. They have no saving power. And yet, the Pharisees continually sought to condemn Jesus for failure to keep their man-made rules. Ultimately, His public condemnation of them led them to have Him killed.

And so there you have it—a crash course on Pharisees and how they departed from God’s word. 

Unfortunately, in the contest of Jewish ideas, Pharisaism won. All modern Jewish practice harks back through Babylon, to the Pharisees at the time of Christ. The five iniquities listed above still hold complete sway among mainstream Jewish sects. (But I should mention a tiny minority of fringe Jews reject the Rabbis today, and seek to only obey God’s word given through true prophets.)

I just wrote this up as an aid to those who may wonder. Since Jesus went to great pains to warn us, I think it’s important to understand what Pharisees actually believe, so you can identify any Pharisees you might happen to cross paths with this weekend. Christ said to beware of their teachings, and you never know where you might encounter one—whether at church, on TV, or even in the mirror.


In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

—Luke 12:1-2