Hey kids! Me again, did you know that Joseph Smith, the false prophet who founded Mormonism, fixed the Bible for us to? Don’t be surprised if you hadn’t heard. It is a little publicized thing. They like to say that they use the King James Version, but they don’t really believe it is accurate. “8 We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.”
For not having the internet to look up Hebrew sources, for having to rely on hand copied manuscripts in the original languages and for not having discovered as many ancient manuscripts the old KJV translators did a pretty good job. I wonder what happened to Joe Smith’s translation? Well, I think we know. By this time he had already gone on paper and proclaimed many false prophecies and new doctrines and once you’ve done that without studying the Bible you have to go back and change one or the other. Can you guess which one he chose to change? I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with heretic, oh you caught me it doesn’t rhyme with heretic. That’s right he changed the Bible! What audacity! Hadn’t he heard of the Septuagint? Hadn’t he heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls? Nope, the Dead Sea Scrolls weren’t dug up until the middle part of the last century, and apparently he didn’t even bother looking at the Septuagint, which was the Bible for the true Church as early as the 3rd century B.C. The books we have in the Old Covenant were compiled and translated from Hebrew into Koine Greek, then later as the progressive revelation continued, the other books were added. So this is the Bible the Church used and the Apostles quoted, but it wasn’t good enough for Joseph Smith! Nope, he had to support all of his heresy.
So today I thought we would take a look at just a few differences in the Book of Genesis. We will also look at the consequences.
Genesis 1:1 JST “And it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this heaven and this earth; write the words which I speak.”
Genesis 1:1 NASB “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Hebrew Genesis 1:1 “בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃” or bə-rê-šîṯ (In the beginning) bā-rā (created) ’ĕ-lō-hîm; (God) ’êṯ haš-šā-ma-yim (the heavens) wə-’êṯ (and) hā-’ā-reṣ. (the earth)
And finally the KJV that J.S. didn’t think supported his false prophecies and doctrines enough so he just changed it to make it fit better.
Genesis 1:1 KJV “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Can you see a difference yet? Pretty obvious he didn’t use any manuscripts to translate from. Matter of fact he didn’t even claim that he did. Nope, he just studied the Bible and changed it the way he claimed it was revealed to him to change. You read correctly, he used personal revelation as his means for rewriting the GOD’S WORD. Remember, the Mormons claim the Bible is not translated correctly and that is why they can just disregard it when it doesn’t support their doctrine. I would compare the first verse to the other translations, but there is no need to. It doesn’t match at all. Let’s see if it gets any better in the next few verses.
JST Genesis 1:2-8
“2 I am the Beginning and the End; the Almighty God. By mine Only Begotten I created these things.
3 Yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest.
4 And the earth was without form, and void; and I caused darkness to come up upon the face of the deep.
5 And my Spirit moved upon the face of the waters, for I am God.
6 And I, God, said, Let there be light, and there was light.
7 And I, God, saw the light, and that light was good. And I, God, divided the light from the darkness.
8 And I, God, called the light day, and the darkness I called night. And this I did by the word of my power; and it was done as I spake. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
And now the NASB
2The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
6Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
And the Hebrew,
וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְהֹ֑ום וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י אֹ֑ור וַֽיְהִי־אֹֽור׃
וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָאֹ֖ור כִּי־טֹ֑וב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָאֹ֖ור וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃
וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לָאֹור֙ יֹ֔ום וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר יֹ֥ום אֶחָֽד׃ פ
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ בְּתֹ֣וךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם׃
וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־הָרָקִיעַ֒ וַיַּבְדֵּ֗ל בֵּ֤ין הַמַּ֙יִם֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ מִתַּ֣חַת לָרָקִ֔יעַ וּבֵ֣ין הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָֽרָקִ֖יעַ שָׁמָ֑יִם וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר יֹ֥ום שֵׁנִֽי׃ פ
And now the KJV
1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
The First Day: Light
3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
The Second Day: Firmament
6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
So as you can see, he didn’t even care about staying true to what was originally delivered to us as the very Word of God. He did violence to the word just like the enemy of God that he was. If he was a true prophet of God his work would have been the same as the other works, but it isn’t. These works, except the KJV predate the time when Joseph Smith says the apostasy happened. Remember, the Mormons claim that after the death of the last Apostle the Church fell into complete apostasy, never mind all of the Christians who maintained their faith all over the world in the face of persecution and martyrdom. He either didn’t know that these texts were out there or predated his claims that the Church was apostate or he didn’t care. I think, he didn’t know.
So in verse 2 he lies and says that God said, “I am the Beginning and the End; the Almighty God. By mine Only Begotten I created these things.” You might ask yourself, “What is so wrong with that?” Well you’d have to understand Mormonism a little bit to get why he did this. You see Mormons believe that God the Father actually has a flesh and blood body and he is married to a Mother Goddess, who through copulation with him produced many offspring. Two of them would be the Mormon Jesus and his brother Satan. When he says, “by my only begotten I created these things.” He means that Jesus reformed matter that was already in existence. He shaped into what he wanted to make. If you notice J.S. rewrote Genesis to make it look like God was saying all these things directly to Moses. This is to support their book of Moses which is completely fiction.
It really starts to get weird in chapter three. There we see Satan and Jesus arguing over who gets to redeem mankind and protect his free agency? I’m not making this garbage up. You can read it for yourselves;
Genesis CHAPTER 3 JST
Rebellion of Satan — Man’s agency, temptation and fall.
1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying, That Satan whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning;
2 And he came before me, saying, Behold I, send me, I will be thy Son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor.
3 But behold, my beloved Son, which was my beloved and chosen from the beginning, said unto me: Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.
4 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him; and also that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten I caused that he should be cast down; and he became Satan.
5 Yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive, and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.
6 And now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which I, the Lord God, had made.
7 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, for he had drawn away many after him; and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God; wherefore, he sought to destroy the world.
I know, right!? What the what!? Here is the real word of God;
1Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'” 4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make [one] wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
There are so many changes it is hard to know where to start. If I had more ambition I’d attack his abuse of the book of Isaiah. Comparing it to the entire book of Isaiah recovered from the Dead Sea Scrolls would be fun, but lots of work. For now, I will leave you with this to ponder, why would a true prophet of God make so many false prophecies and contradict the Bible so often he would have to write his own to support it? Why would you want to believe that God was once a man who through Mormonism became an exalted man then eventually a god who only re-ordered matter to make things? Why would you not worship the one true God who has never been made because he always existed? He was never a sinful man like the Mormon god once was. The true God made everything from nothing. He transcends all other things. The Mormon god is subject to the gods that sired him and they are subject to the ones who sired them and so on and on back eternally. Does that sound like the one true God, worthy of worship to you?
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