Have we inquired of the Lord if he
wants us to do all this editing and changing? Are we under
condemnation because we haven't accepted the Book of Mormon as Joseph
gave it to us? Every word may have significance that we don't
understand.
For example: I was reading in 3 Nephi 6
of the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon and it says, “Beware of
false prophets, who come in you
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” I
wondered if “in” should be changed to a “to”. I went and
checked the LDS version and saw it was written the way I remembered,
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you
in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
[emphasis added].
I heard the Lord saying, “Hold on
Jennifer, don't be too quick to think that word needs to be changed.
Where is the kingdom of God?”
I said, “In me.”
He asked, “Where is the kingdom of
the devil?”
I answered, “I guess that would be in
me also.”
“So where are the false prophets?”
I replied, “They would be in me.”
“And what is the context of this
verse?”
“Lord, you just taught, 'And why
beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest
not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy
brother, let me pull the mote out of thine eye; and behold, a beam is
in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of thine
own eye: and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy
brother's eye.'”
You see, the LDS church altered one
preposition and the meaning of the scripture was changed. The Lord
wants me to look inside my heart for the false prophets that deceive
me. He wants me to look at my false beliefs that are disguised in
sheep's clothing. He wants me to know that I have power to cast the
ravening wolves out of my own heart. He teaches against criticizing,
condemning, and judging my brother, so those people out there must not be the false
prophets that concern him.
Note: I stand corrected. It was the RE that changed the word from the original version not the LDS church. The conversation I had with God was real and has impacted the way I see false prophets, but the scripture is read correctly in the LDS version. This leads to another interesting thought . . . How can God use an error in scripture and teach a true principle?
Note: I stand corrected. It was the RE that changed the word from the original version not the LDS church. The conversation I had with God was real and has impacted the way I see false prophets, but the scripture is read correctly in the LDS version. This leads to another interesting thought . . . How can God use an error in scripture and teach a true principle?
