Saturday, March 12, 2011

Name... That.... PROPHET!!!

Recently at another blog, I found an interesting post that presented a little project. As is known, the Latter Day Saint movement has been severely splintered and fragmented since the time of its modern origins. Numerous people, at some time or other, have claimed to be the leader of a legitimate section of the movement. Of these people, a smaller but important contingent have presented putative revelations, scriptures, and assorted messages in prophetic tones. Joseph Smith Jr., of course, is one such person, but there are many others. So the question is, how easy would it be to distinguish between their messages if they're presented anonymously? The original post I'm referencing quoted sections from four sources. What's better than four? FOUR FOURS! So I've made it sixteen. The challenge is to determine, without looking at the attributions, which one(s) are from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and which one(s) are not.

Part of my interest in experiments like this is that some LDS missionaries have suggested to me that it's possible to immediately distinguish a true revelation from a false one simply by how one feels when reading it, or by praying about it. Whatever means one wishes to use to discern the different, I ask that no reader of this post follow the link at the end or do any Internet searches or read any of the comments on this post until having made an attempt to discern between mainstream LDS revelations and heterodox LDS revelations. This especially goes for those who believe that they have an even somewhat reliable method of determining whether something is a true revelation.

The first of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

Hearken! Oh ye inhabitants of the earth. Listen together and open your ears, for it is I, the Lord God of all the earth, the creator of all things that speaketh unto you. Yea, even Jesus Christ speaking by the voice of my servant whom I have called and chosen to be a light and a covenant to the world in these last days. [...] Ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.

The second of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

I, the Lord, am soon to send the shaking of the earth in a place in thy land not known as a usual place of violent shaking, unto the loss of many lives. Let it be known that I, the Lord, have sent my message to government officials to free my servant [...] to cause my people to receive back their lands and homes, and you heed me not. Thus I shall cause a great destruction in the land [...] to the loss of life and to your awakening, that when I, the Lord, speak, let my word be fulfilled, lest you become as a people only worthy to be swept off my land of Zion; for verily I say unto you, this earth is mine, and I have caused my people to receive a preparation work for my glorious coming on earth to establish my Zion, and they are my people. [...] Though you deny me, know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I send to you my word at this time, to receive my word that I shall cause my servant on earth to deliver to thee a message of warning, that I, the Lord, will no longer uphold thee as a nation...

The third of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

This proclamation shall be made to all the kings of the world, to the four corners thereof, to the honorable president-elect, and the high-minded governors [...] For, behold, I am about to call upon them to give heed to the light and glory of Zion, for the set time has come to favor her. [...] And that I may visit them in the day of visitation, when I shall unveil the face of my covering, to appoint the portion of the oppressor among hypocrites, where there is gnashing of teeth, if they reject my servants and my testimony which I have revealed unto them.

The fourth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

And this voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. [...] 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. [...] Therefore I, the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, have called upon my servants and spake unto them from heaven, and gave unto them commandments that they should proclaim these things unto the world....

The fifth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

Hearken unto me, O ye elders of my church. Lo! I have seen your efforts in my cause, and they are pleasing unto me. [...] Press onward, ye elders and people of my church, even my little flock, and as I have spoken to you in times past, so will I again speak to you as my friends, inasmuch as you speak in my name...

The sixth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

The field is white already to harvest, and the laborers are few, but I will be with you to grant discernment and wisdom as you move forward. These are portentious times and the Adversary is at hand to thwart your efforts in building up my Kingdom in these last days. But if you continue in faith believing and unity of purpose, Satan will be bound up and my work will continue with you, my faithful remnant. The Church is commended for the efforts being made to bring to pass my Kingdom on earth, even Zion, and I will be with you always.

The seventh of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

This from your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who hath redeemed all mankind who will respond to my message of salvation; which shall go forth again to all surviving nations, they who will respond to my word and preserve my people who shall go among them to deliver my message of salvation in a day soon at hand. And nothing can stay my hand, saith the Lord, for all nations shall know that I have spoken it. And as my word is fulfilled, though the wicked among you deny me still, I shall preserve mine elect and establish my Zion until all nations shall know that I am doing my work on the earth as I have promised.

The eighth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

Listen to the voice of Christ your Lord and your God and your Redeemer, and write the words which I shall command you concerning my Church, my Gospel, my Rock, and my Salvation. Behold, the world is ripening in iniquity and it must needs be that the children of men are stirred up unto repentance, both the Gentiles and also the House of Israel, for behold I command all men everywhere to repent...

The ninth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

The greater your love, the greater your work shall be before the Lord. Preach the gospel, teach the people repentance, that they may live in all righteousness before God, and that the temple must be built by people whose hearts are filled with love, and whose hearts are pure and their hands clean. God will not accept the work of men who are filled with evil, selfishness, and strife, this is an abomination before him.

The tenth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

These are the mockers of the last time, who walk after their own lusts, whose mouth speaketh the great swelling words, having mens' persons in admiration because of advantage who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. These are the shepherds who have fed themselves and not fed the flock who have made themselves fat and the flock lean. These are the idols whom this people will yet throw to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for the fear of the Lord shall come upon them and the Majesty of the Lord shall smite them; now he has arisen to shake terribly the earth.

The eleventh of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

And now, O Daughter of Zion, the land of robbers, the empire of many nations, shall gather her troops against thee, to look upon thee, and to defile thy dominion: but they have not known the thought of the Lord; neither have they understood his counsel; for he shall gather them as sheaves of the floor. Arise and thrash, for I will make thy power iron: the tread of thy foot shall crush: thou shalt break in pieces many people, and shall consecrate their spoil unto God, and their dominion to the Lord of the whole earth. Babylon the Great shall perish before thee [...] for in her is found the blood of Saints and Prophets; and the spoil of the children of God in the midst of her: and she hath drank of the cup of the indignation, and the fury of God, with all the nations of the Gentiles.

The twelfth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

Behold I, the Lord, am God. I created the heavens and the earth and all that things that in them is, wherefore they are mine. And I sway my scepter over all the earth and ye are in my hands to will and to do that I can deliver you out of every difficulty and affliction according to your faith and diligence and uprightness before me, and I have covenanted with my servant that earth nor hell combined against him shall not take the blessing out of his hands which I have prepared for him if he walketh uprightly before me....

The thirteenth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

The earth shall be filled with the light I bring - keep it sacred - the words I bring. Mankind chooses the way he would go, progressing his own destiny. The Lord knoweth man's heart and those deceiving, not true to the trust of righteousness.

The fourteenth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

Thus saith the Lord: All commandments that I give must be obeyed by those calling themselves by my name unless they are revoked by me or by my authority [...] Have I not given my word in great plainness on this subject? Yet have not great numbers of my people been negligent in the observance of my law and the keeping of my commandments, and yet have I borne with them these many years [...] I the Lord do not change and my word and my covenants and my law do not....

The fifteenth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, even the beginning and the end. I have uttered my voice, and it shall be obeyed, and I testify unto you, O ye rebellious shepherds of my flock that I have given this revelation unto my servant [...] according to the commandment which I have received of my Father. [...] The cries of my people have come up into my ears for redress, and, as I live, I will burst their bands asunder, and give unto them an abundant deliverance. I will supply their needs both in food and raiment; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people; and I will leave them no more, for my bowels have yearned with pity towards them. O! ye saints who trust in me, let your hearts be comforted, for I have raised up unto you a mighty deliverer....

And finally, the sixteenth of the prophetic proclamations reads as follows:

Hearken unto my words and behold I will make known unto you what ye shall do [...] Behold ye are holden for the one even so likewise thine adversary is holden for the other wherefore it must needs be that ye pay no more money for the present time until the contract be fulfilled...

My table of answers, which also includes a link to the post from which I obtained the idea for this as well as a few of the selections, is here. So, how accurately can you distinguish between the mainstream LDS prophets and the others?

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