| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 1 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Since Mormons believe the President of the LDS Church is a “prophet” to whom God reveals the future and His will for mankind, they believe they have information that no one else on earth has. But what does Mormon history reveal about some of these prophecies? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 2 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| The Profile of a Prophet is the title of an article by Hugh B. Brown in the LDS magazine Ensign for June 2006. The article is a discussion about Joseph Smith being a true prophet. But does he pass the biblical test for a true prophet? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 3 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Mormonism’s founding prophet, Joseph Smith said, “When a man goes about prophesying, and commands men to obey his teachings, he must either be a true or false prophet.” What does history show about Joseph Smith’s own prophecies? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 4 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Early Mormon leaders often criticized other churches for not having current revelation and new scripture. But what happens when we look at revelation in Mormonism’s history? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 5 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| President Ezra Taft Benson, the thirteenth LDS Prophet said, “The ultimate test of a true prophet is that when he speaks in the name of the Lord, his words come to pass.” How well did he do in regard to this test? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 6 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| On July 12, 1843 Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, recorded a revelation about plural marriage that wasn’t published in the Doctrine and Covenants until 1852. But Joseph Smith had been practicing polygamy since around 1831. Who did Mormons resolve that conflict? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 7 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Mormons take great pride in being a “temple building people.” Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, claimed the Lord told him to build temples in four specific locations. Were they built? If so, are they among the Temples which LDS use today? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 8 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Christians believe when God says something it is true. If God’s word can’t be trusted, nothing and nobody can be trusted! That is why it was considered a heinous crime in the Old Testament if someone claimed to be a prophet with a message from God when his message was not from God. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 9 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, claimed to be a prophet and many of his prophecies have been "canonized" as LDS scripture in the Doctrine & Covenants. But a careful look at Smith’s prophecies in the Doctrine & Covenants shows that many of them didn’t happen as he predicted. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 10 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Mormons use Amos 3:7 to teach that prophets are necessary today because God reveals all He is going to do through them. But is that what Amos said? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 11 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| When a man claims to be a prophet of God, his message will reveal whether or not his claim is true. Since prophets claim their messages come from God, a prophet’s message may also reveal something about his God. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 12 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Because Joseph Smith was the founding Prophet of Mormonism his messages are very important to Mormons. And his words in the Doctrine and Covenants are canonized LDS scripture, so they are infallible to most Mormons. In this article we will look at three more of Smith’s revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 13 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| The Mormon Church claims to be “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” and that they alone have the authority or priesthood that God recognizes to do His work. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 14 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Joseph Smith, Mormonism’s founder, often said his messages were “revelations from God” and began many of them with the words “Thus saith the Lord.” Since Smith was a prolific writer and speaker, there is a lot of material available to study and see if they are God-given. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 15 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Joseph Smith claimed the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants were revealed to him by the same Lord Jesus who is seen in the New Testament. So, we should expect to see the Lord exercise the same kind of foreknowledge in Joseph Smith’s revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants that He did in the Bible. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 16 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young gave prophecies about the same people – some of which were contradictory, and some of which never came true. So, did God lie to them, or were they lying about receiving prophecies from God? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 17 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| In Doctrine and Covenants 124:22-23 George Miller, Lyman Wight, John Snider and others are given a prophecy to “…build a house unto my name, such a one as my servant Joseph (Smith) shall show unto them, upon the place which he shall show unto them also….” But this house (Nauvoo House) was never built. Why does that present problems for Mormons? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 18 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| On January 19, 1841 in Doctrine and Covenants Section 124 “the Lord” commanded LDS to build a Temple as well as the Nauvoo House in Nauvoo, Illinois. But Mormon history reveals that temple was never built. Why is that a problem for Mormons? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 19 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Doctrine and Covenants Section 124 is dated January 19, 1841. Verse 1 says, “Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph Smith, I am well pleased with your offering and acknowledgments, which you have made; for unto this end have I raised you up, that I might show forth my wisdom…” The last five articles discussed some of the problems in Doctrine and Covenants 124. This article summaries the issues raised in the previous five articles. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 20 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Moving into Doctrine and Covenants Section 125, Marvin Cowan reveals even more problems in prophecies from and about Mormonism’s founder. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 21 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Mormonism began as the result of a vision that Joseph Smith claimed he had in 1820 when he was 14 years of age. He also said the angel Moroni began visiting him in 1823 and visited him once a year until he translated the Book of Mormon. Following Smith’s example, many of his early followers also said they were visited by angels or had revelations. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 22 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| The Mormons often refer to Joseph Smith’s so-called “Civil War Prophecy to show that he was a true prophet. But author Marvin Cowan shows why the prophecy itself makes that position problematic. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 23 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| How did Joseph Smith's personal diary become LDS scripture? Was everything in his diary inspired or only parts? How do the LDS determine the answer to those questions? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 24 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Joseph Smith said the Lord named their church the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because they were living in the last days and gave prophetic statements “revealed to him by the Lord” that sound like he would be alive at the time of Christ’s return. How do Mormons explain these prophecies? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 25 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Joseph Smith, the founding Prophet and first President of the Mormon Church, was a polygamist. He claimed God revealed to him that he and other LDS men were to have more than one wife. That revelation was “recorded on July 12, 1843” and is now Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 26 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Polygamy was so important in early Mormonism that their first seven Prophets or Presidents and thousands of members were polygamists. “The Lord” commanded Joseph Smith and other LDS men to have more than one wife in Doctrine and Covenants Section 132, which was recorded on July 12, 1843. That is the only LDS scripture that clearly teaches polygamy, but it also teaches celestial (eternal) marriage and those two LDS beliefs are so intertwined that it is not easy to separate them. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 27 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| The current heading of Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 says it is a “Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Nauvoo, Illinois, recorded July 12, 1843,… However, from the time it was first published in the Doctrine and Covenants until 1921, the heading said, “Revelation on the Eternity of the Marriage Covenant, including Plurality of Wives. Given through Joseph, the Seer,… July 12, 1843.” Why the change? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 28 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 has 66 verses, most of which focus on Joseph Smith and “the new and everlasting covenant” of eternal marriage and polygamy. These verses state that all who have this “new and everlasting covenant” revealed to them must obey it or be damned and no one can reject it and enter God’s glory. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 29 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Joseph Smith called Doctrine and Covenants 133 a revelation, but unlike his other revelations in the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants in 1835, it was put in the Appendix and labeled “Section C” (100). At that time it was not considered the same as other Mormon scripture. But that changed in 1921. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 30 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| How and why did an article that was an appendix in the Doctrine and Covenants become a revelation? Did these “revelations” contradict other teachings from Mormon prophets? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 31 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Four articles first appeared in the Appendix of the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. Two of those articles were deleted entirely from the next edition while the other two articles were eventually moved into the main part of the book. Such changes might not raise questions in an ordinary book, but Mormons are taught that the Doctrine and Covenants is revealed scripture from God. If that is true, couldn’t God make up His mind where these articles belonged? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 32 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| In the January 2009 Ensign, the LDS Sunday school General Presidency said “The Doctrine and Covenants (is) a marvelous book of revelation that was written in our day and for our day.” But is that true when the newest content in the Doctrine and Covenants is President Kimball’s 1978 statement about a revelation he said he had allowing black men the LDS priesthood? |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 33 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Joseph F. Smith, the sixth LDS Prophet, claimed he had a vision about the redemption of the dead on October 3, 1918. But his vision didn't become LDS scripture until 1976 when LDS leaders added it to the Pearl of Great Price. So, for 58 years, from 1918 until 1976, it was just an interesting document by an LDS Prophet, but it was not scripture. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 34 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Mormons teach that one of the signs of the true church is that it will have prophets who provide current revelation. Since LDS claim to be the one true church, they also claim to have prophets and current revelation. But between 1918 when Joseph F. Smith died and the present time, LDS have had ten Presidents or Prophets who did not add one revelation to the Doctrine and Covenants! |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 35 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Joseph Smith, Mormonism's founder, said he received Doctrine and Covenants 132 as a revelation from God commanding him and other Mormons to have a plurality of wives. That "revelation" is still in the current edition of the Doctrine and Covenants because Mormons believe it came from God even though they may not be living as polygamists. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 36 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| Before June 1978, black males of African descent could join the LDS Church, but couldn't hold any office in either LDS priesthood, nor could they receive the LDS temple rites required to enter the highest level in the Celestial Heaven after death. |
| Prophets in Mormonism - Part 37 |
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| By: Marvin W. Cowan |
| For 148 years, Mormonism taught that black people of African descent were cursed and could not have the LDS priesthood and the mark of that curse was their black skin. Why were black people of that lineage cursed before 1978 while those living after 1978 are not cursed? And why did Kimball's 1978 "revelation" remove the curse, but leave the mark of the curse? |