Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Mormon 9:7-10

Moroni continues to address the non-believer in this day. He speaks in words similar to his father’s about those who deny things such as revelations. “Yea, wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 29:6).

There are many churches who reject the concept of modern day revelation. The heavens are sealed, they tell us. All we need is the words of the Bible, nothing more.

The also deny gifts of the spirit. Paul listed spiritual gifts.

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
“And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
“And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
“For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
“To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
“To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:4-10).

Joseph Smith made it clear we reject the claim these gifts are in the past. In the 7th Article of Faith he wrote, “We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.”

Those who deny these things knows neither Christ’s gospel and the scriptures. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29).

The scriptures make it clear that God does no change. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

“For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him” (1 Nephi 10:18),

“I perceive that it has been made known unto you, by the testimony of his word, that he cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong; therefore, his course is one eternal round” (Alma 7:20).

“For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity” (Moroni 8:18).

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Psalms 90:2).

“But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. (Psalms 102:27).
  
“While you can’t avoid alterations in your person—appearance, size, voice, gait, and so forth—as you progress through the infamous seven ages of man as stipulated by the insight of a Solon or a Shakespeare, you would like your better qualities to hang on for a while and defy time. Actually they do: steadiness and durability are the marks of the highest and best qualities of character, as in God himself, who exhibits no ‘variableness neither shadow of changing’ (Mormon 9:9).”[1]

Moroni let us know if anyone has come up with a god who changes or vary his laws, this god is not a God of miracles. He will show us the one true God.

“In God there exists no ‘shadow of changing’ (Mormon 9:9). Unlike man, ‘God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary from that which he hath said’ (D&C 3:2). His thoughts do not reflect our thoughts, nor his ways our ways (Isaiah 55:8).”[2]



[1] Approaching Zion - 14: Change out of Control,. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
[2] Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Avraham Gileadi, Maxwell Institute website.

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