Inspiration. 

How do we know true inspiration from false inspiration?

Verbal Inspiration - or Thought Inspiration

God communicated His messages not through mechanical dictation but through acts and words that men and women could understand. The prophets who heard God speak directly to them conveyed these messages through the thought processes of their day, and through the idioms and analogies that their hearers could understand.

Understanding the revelation/inspiration process correctly prevents distressful concern when people see in the Gospels clear differences between reports of the same event, even the same messages of Jesus. Nothing disturbs some sincere students more than to observe the different ways Bible writers describe the same event, quote the same conversation, or report the parables of Jesus. Even having two versions of the Lord‘s Prayer, as recorded in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, upsets those who mistakenly believe that the Bible writers wrote, word for word, as the Holy Spirit dictated.

Please note: As we will see later in this article - 

Prophets, NOT Words, Are Inspired

Verbal, inerrant inspiration implies that the prophet is a recording machine, transmitting mechanically and unerringly God‘s message. Belief in mechanical inspiration forbids differences in reporting a message or event. Verbal inspiration requires prophets to transmit the exact words supplied by the heavenly Guide even as a court stenographer types what is being said by the witnesses. No room is given to prophets to use their own individuality (and limitations) in expressing the truths revealed to them.

One of the obvious problems for those who believe in verbal inspiration is what to do in translating the Bible, either from Old Testament Hebrew/Aramaic or New Testament Greek, into other languages. Herbert Douglass, Messenger of the Lord,  preface 

“Inspiration or revelation” in this paper is to be viewed as receiving something from a supernatural intelligent source. Note the definition from Wikipedia.

Revelation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities.

There are many persons who claim inspiration/revelation from sources outside of human intelligence. We have only two possibilities: Divine or demonic. 

This article will try to show the methods of several "claimed inspired" works and/or beliefs and then will discuss Biblical inspiration. Are they really all given the same way, or are there differences that can provide an intelligent differentiation we can trust?

The author attempted to get all documentation from objective and/or supporting sources - and NOT the critics - of these ‘inspired revelations’.

Table of Contents

Madame Helena Blavatsky -          page 2

Alice Bailey -                                  page 3

Mohammed, founder of Islam-       page 4

some Hindu writings -                    page 5

Maria Valtorta, - the mystic -          page 5

Aleister Crowley -                           page 6

Ignatius Loyola - Inquisition/Jesuits, Spiritual Exercises/ Formation - page 7

Helen Schucman (Course in Miracles)  - page 8

Stephanie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series - page 8

Ernie  Knoll -                                 page 10

the Halstead family -                     page 13

Summary of the 11 examples above - page 16

The Bible -                                    page  17

Joseph Smith Jr. -                         page  24

  Page 1

In current research it’s been found MECHANICAL DICTATION - or VERBAL INSPIRATION - to be the primary source of non-Biblical inspiration . 

Throughout this article 'VERBAL INSPIRATION' 

will be referred to as DICTATION

Madame Helena Blavatsky

The Theosophical Society was officially formed in New York City, United States, in November 1875 by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others. Its initial objective was the "study and elucidation of Occultism, the Cabala etc.

These are Madame Helena Blavatsky’s words:

Now, no one has any right to hold me responsible for what any one may say, but only for that which I myself state orally, or in public print over my signature. And what I say and maintain is this: Save the direct quotations and the many afore specified and mentioned misprints, errors and misquotations, and the general make-up of Isis Unveiled, for which I am in no way responsible, (a) every word of information found in this work or in my later writings, comes from the teachings of our Eastern Masters; and (b) that many a passage in these works has been written by me under their dictation. In saying this no supernatural claim is urged, for no miracle is performed by such a dictation. Any moderately intelligent person, convinced by this time of the many possibilities of hypnotism (now accepted by science and under full scientific investigation), and of the phenomena of thought-transference, will easily concede that if even a hypnotized subject, a mere irresponsible medium, hears the unexpressed thought of his hypnotizer, who can thus transfer his thought to him--even to repeating the words read by the hypnotizer mentally from a book--then my claim has nothing impossible in it. Space and distance do not exist for thought; and if two persons are in perfect mutual psycho-magnetic rapport, and of these two, one is a great Adept in Occult Sciences, then thought-transference and dictation of whole pages, become as easy and as comprehensible at the distance of ten thousand miles as the transference of two words across a room.

Blavatsky, by her own words, received her materials by dictation

Page 2

Alice Bailey

This article is intended mainly for those attracted to the New Age books of Alice A. Bailey. Her claim is that her teachings came from the same Occult Brotherhood that taught HP Blavatsky, the founder of the modern Theosophical Movement....Bailey's guide professed to be the same Djual Khool that was one of HPB's teachers. Bailey also declared that her guru was the same Master Koot Hoomi that Blavatsky knew. 

Channels such as Bailey are sincere and convinced that their inner voices and visions are real Masters. Unhappily, sincerity is no protection from delusion. In 1884 Master KH wrote to a psychic of that time, giving an explanation for the befuddling of a channel or seer.

According to Theosophical writings, Djwal Khul is said to work on furthering the spiritual evolution of our planet through the teachings offered in the 24 books by Alice Bailey of Esoteric Teachings published by The Lucis Trust; he is said to have telepathically transmitted the teachings to Bailey and is thus regarded by her followers as the communications director of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom.

Djwal Khul's name first appeared in the work of Madame Blavatsky, a co-founder of the Theosophical Society and author of "The Secret Doctrine"

In 1919 Alice Bailey (1880–1949), severed her links with the Theosophical Society for various reasons and later began writing books she described as being telepathically dictated to her by Djwhal Khul whom she referred to as "The Tibetan"[8] (later associated with the initials D.K.). According to Bailey, her D.K. was the main author behind Blavatsky's "The Secret Doctrine".[9][10][11][12] Bailey stated that after initial resistance, she was eventually persuaded by the quality of what she had written in 'dictation' in the first few weeks work with DK to continue to write down the communications from this source. She wrote for 30 years, from 1919 to 1949.

In a preface included in many of Bailey's books, Djwal Khul, in the dictations described by Bailey, refers to the fact that he has been reported to be an abbot of a Tibetan monastery and the spiritual preceptor of a large group of lamas. She wrote that he lived in Northern India, near the borders of Tibet. Other than that the books do not include personal details about Djwal Khul and the dictated content focuses on his esoteric teachings.

Bailey's work and her books with Djwal Khul were published by the Lucis Trust, an organization she set up with her husband, Foster Bailey. Over time, Djwal Khul's name has appeared in the writings about Ascended Masters (a phrase not used or sanctioned by either The Tibetan^{[dubious – discuss]} or Mrs. Bailey) of various New Age organizations (of debatable credibility according to some^[ such as the Ascended Master Teachings of Elizabeth Clare Prophet, who claims that she has channeled Djwal Khul as well as the other Mahatmas, such as Koot Hoomi and the Master El Morya, among many others, resulting in dozens of volumes of transcriptions. The leaders of these groups described themselves as having direct contact with him and other "Masters of Wisdom", and to be working as their disciples on the physical plane.

FYI, Alice Bailey’s written work has had a major impact on the philosophy and polices of the United Nations. She started a company called Lucifer Trust which was later changed to Lucis Trust.

Alice Bailey by her own words, received her materials by dictation.

Page 3

Mohammed - founder of islam

Some religions have religious texts which they view as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired. For instance, Orthodox Jews believe that the Torah was received from Yahweh on biblical Mount Sinai, and Muslims believe the Qur'an to have been revealed to Mohammed word by word and letter by letter.[1][2] 

Muhammad's Call to Prophecy and the First Revelation;  from a copy of the Majmac al-tawarikh (Compendium of Histories), ca. 1425; Timurid. From Herat, Afghanistan. In The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Muslims believe that God (Arabic: ألله Allah) revealed his final message to humanity through Muhammad via the angel Gabriel.[32] Muhammad is considered to have been the Seal of the Prophets and Muhammad's revelations, the Qur'an, is believed by Muslims to be the flawless final revelation of God to humanity, valid until the Last Day. The Qur'an claims to have been revealed word by word and letter by letter.

1. ^ Beale G.K., The Book of Revelation, NIGTC, Grand Rapids – Cambridge 1999. = ISBN 0-8028-2174-X
2. ^ Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp 7-8.

Mohammed received his work by dictation - word by word and letter by letter.

Page 4

Hinduism

In Hinduism, some Vedas are considered apauruṣeya, i.e. "not human compositions", and are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti, i.e. "what is heard". 

Parts Hinduism are “not of human composition” thus the human mind was not involved in the composition.

The development between the Vedas and the development of Hinduism is ... who , at the request of Vyasa, wrote down the text to Vyasa's dictation. ... Some historians say that Hinduism had received its roots over 5,000 years ago.

Maria Valtorta

 (14 March 1897 – 12 October 1961) was a Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet, considered by many to be a mystic. She was a Franciscan tertiary and a lay member of the Servants of Mary who reported reputed personal conversations with, and dictations from, Jesus Christ.[1][2]

 The 15,000 handwritten pages produced by the mystic Maria Valtorta were represented as direct dictations from Jesus, while she attributed The Book of Azariah to her guardian angel.[3][4]

Maria Valtorta received direct DICTATIONS from a being calling itself "Jesus."

Page 5

Aliester Crowley

The Book of the Law, written by Aliester Crowley, was said by him to have been dictated by three successive Egyptian deities. 

There is one commandment in the Book of the Law. 

It states: “Do what thou wilt in the whole of the law"

(end of Wikipedia excerpt)

How did the satanist, Aleister Crowley, receive his messages? A.Crowley was one of the most evil persons ever.  Even his own mother called him “the beast”.

...on April 8th, 9th and 10th of 1904 e.v., between noon and 1 p.m., Crowley received The Book of the Law (Liber Legis). This book was dictated to Crowley in Cairo by a Praeter-human Intelligence named Aiwass whom Crowley later came to recognize as his own Holy Guardian Angel. The book proclaimed that Crowley was the Prophet of a New Aeon (New Age).

 http://www.aleistercrowleyfoundation.net

The Aleister Crowley Foundation website claims his writings

 were obtained by dictation.

Page 6

Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits/Inquisition and Spiritual Exercises/Formation

Spiritual Exercises are the foundation of Spiritual Formation, a modern form of spiritism sweeping all religions. It is direct communication with demons.

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius

www.newadvent.org/cathen/14224b.htm - View by Ixquick Proxy - Highlight

"The Text of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, translated from the original .... by painters, who represent Ignatius writing from the Blessed Virgin's dictation.

Another tradition concerns the part taken by the Blessed Virgin in the composing of the "Exercises" at Manresa. It is not based on any written testimony of the contemporaries of St. Ignatius, though it became universal in the seventeenth century. Possibly it is founded upon earlier oral testimony, and upon a revelation made in 1600 to the Venerable Marina de Escobar and related in the "Life of Father Balthazar Alvarez". This tradition has often been symbolized by painters, who represent 

Ignatius writing from the Blessed Virgin's dictation.

Ignatius Loyola - Manresa Jesuit Retreat House

www.manresa-sj.org/stamps/1_Loyola_3.htm - View by Ixquick Proxy - Highlight

featuring an icon of St. Ignatius by Monastery Icons ... mosaic at the entrance of the Hermitage of the Mary Magdalene in Azpeitia. ... is based on a drawing of Ignatius Writing the Spiritual Exercises at Manresa by Fr. Francisco de Paula Morell SJ ... the Spiritual Exercises being dictated to …

These  Spanish Cinderellas pictured:

• Ignatius' portrait by A. Sanchez Coello at the Postulatio Generalis S.J., Rome,
• an image of the Loyola castle,
• a stained glass at Loyola of the Wounding of Ignatius at Pamplona
• a composite of the Coullaut-Valera statue and a view of the Sanctuary
• a statue of The Conversion of Inigo de Loyola by Lorenzo Coullaut-Valera, in his bedroom at Loyola,
• Loyola Castle,
• a stained glass at Loyola by the brothers Maumejean, of Ignatius taking leave of his home to set out for Montserrat, the Spiritual Exercises being dictated to Ignatius by Our Lady, the image from the French Archives of the Society of Jesus at Vanves appears in The Jesuits: a Multibiography, by Jean Lacouture,
• a stained glass window of Ignatius and companions pronouncing their vows at Montmartre,
• the death of Ignatius,
• a stained glass at Loyola by the brothers Maumejean, of Ignatius as soldier and saint.

Written history is vague on this, but oral Catholic sources recognize Loyola received his “Exercise” by dictation from “Mary”

Page 7

Helen Schucman, author of Course in Miracles 

A Course in Miracles [ACIM] is a religious sect created by research psychologist Helen Schucman who claimed Jesus dictated A Course in Miracles ACIM to her. The essence ACIM is allegedly love and forgiveness. Currently, there are millions of adherents.

http://acim.org/Scribing/about_scribes.html

Helen Schucman, Ph.D., was a clinical and research psychologist, who held the tenured position of Associate Professor of Medical Psychology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. A Course in Miracles was "scribed" by Dr. Schucman between 1965 and 1972 through a process of inner dictation. She experienced the process as one of a distinct and clear dictation from an inner voice, which earlier had identified itself to her as Jesus. Helen Schucman's scribing of A Course in Miracles began with these words: "This is a course in miracles, please take notes.”

A Course in Miracles [ACIM] author Helen Schucman, by their own web statement, received her materials by dictation.

Page 8

Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight Series

"I woke up (on that June 2nd) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately." --Stephenie Meyer, her first dream that launched the Twilight saga.

"I actually did have a dream after Twilight was finished of Edward coming to visit me — only I had gotten it wrong and he did drink blood like every other vampire and you couldn’t live on animals the way I’d written it. We had this conversation and he was terrifying." --Stephenie Meyer, her second dream after her first Twilight book was finished. 

First dream..

...right where I wanted it to be, was a tiny town called "Forks." It couldn't have been more perfect if I had named it myself. .... In researching Forks, I discovered the La Push Reservation, home to the Quileute Tribe. The Quileute story is fascinating, and a few fictional members of the tribe quickly became intrinsic to my story.

All this time, Bella and Edward were, quite literally, voices in my head. They simply wouldn't shut up. I'd stay up as late as I could stand trying to get all the stuff in my mind typed out, and then crawl, exhausted, into bed (my baby still wasn't sleeping through the night, yet) only to have another conversation start in my head. I hated to lose anything by forgetting, so I'd get up and head back down to the computer. Eventually, I got a pen and notebook for beside my bed to jot notes down so I could get some much needed sleep. It was always an exciting challenge in the morning to try to decipher the stuff I'd scrawled across the page in the dark.

Page  8

Did the author of the Twilight series channel the story from the demonic world? (Godlike Productions)

I believe Stephanie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series, unknowingly got the story from the demonic world - it was channeled to her. I don't think this upsurge of vampire literature and movies/shows is a coincidence. It's just another planned attack from Satan.  

"Meyer claims that she was compelled to write Twilight after the story was first communicated to her through a dream in June of 2003. Meyer admitted:

"I woke up (on that June 2nd) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods.One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B ) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately… I typed out as much as I could remember, calling the characters 'he' and 'she.'" (Source:www.stepheniemeyer.com)

"This dream was so significant to the Twilight saga, that Meyer produced a transcript of her dream in Chapter 13 of her book, Twilight, entitled "Confessions." Meyer claims that sometime after she "received" the revelatory dream she heard incessant voices in her head that wouldn't stop until she would type [sounds like demon possession to me], "Bella and Edward [the vampire] were, quite literally, voices in my head. They simply wouldn't shut up. I'd stay up as late as I could stand trying to get all the stuff in my mind typed out, and then crawl, exhausted, into bed … only to have another conversation start in my head."

"So furiously did Meyer's dark occult story pour forth that she said at times, .."I couldn't type fast enough." She finished the dark tale, though it was her first book, in just three months. Meyer has also said, "I'm greatly looking forward to finally having Twilight on the shelves, and more than a little frightened, too...

There is not obvious  dictation taking place but rather forceful dreams requiring her to write what was given her.

The “fruit” of her work has caused a surge of interest in the dark side and a following of wicca, potions, covens, ghostly movies., and real vampirism. 

This is not inspiration from God.

Page 9

Ernie Knoll, a Seventh Day Adventist- dreams from the “Herald”

"What Becky and I are doing with the ministry is exactly as He has planned. There is no error in anything we have done. These are messages that He has sent to His people. He is the author and inspiration of not only the dreams, but also the correspondence and the website. The 4 His People Ministry is very important." E Knoll.

Ernie would frequently quote Act 2:17  and Joel 2:28 before and during his presentations to prove the supernatural source of his dreams came from God.

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” Acts 2:17

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” Joel 2:28

Through vivid dreams (can be found on the internet) where the Herald ( an angel?) took him places - flying - and told him messages and ‘revelations of the future’.

The ‘fruits’ of these actions were revealed in:

1. Repeated lies - over several months - about the existence and communication with: Candace, a converted prostitute and the Great Commission. Both of these were fabricated on Ernie Knoll’s computer.
2. Substantial editing of dreams as noted by Linda Kirk. Editing was done by the webmaster - not Ernie
3. The lack of concern for Biblical truths or Spirit of Prophecy validation of his dreams,and an almost total concern for his dreams.
4. Linda also learned that Ernie has almost no religious contacts, shares no literature, or does anything to help and bless others where he is. He just stays to himself; has dreams; and, we will learn later, is either elated or worries.
5. Predications did not come true.
6. “You (Ernie) said that you told people whenever you got a chance that you were receiving dreams from God. This did not sound like witnessing at all to me, but rather a way to exalt yourself.”  Linda Kirk
7. ...lack of humility. When one of the elders asked questions in a very humble manner, he said that you responded rather defensively, justifying your (Ernie’s)position, and discounting his questions. He was concerned about the light-hearted, almost joking manner in which you talked about heavenly things.”

Page 10

The following is copied from a letter by Linda Kirk who was closely connected the Ernie and his wife, Becky, in their ministry.

In an “actual tape-recorded statements by Ernie. He stated that, until December 2006, he was a “nominal Adventist” who did not have a “close relationship with Jesus.” He would work long hours, six days a week, and “wasn’t observing the health message at all.” He had no contact with Adventists throughout the week or on Sabbath. “I was putting work before God.”  “But, fully a year and a half before December 2006 (in the “spring of 2005”), Ernie received his first two dreams. He continued being a ‘nominal Adventist’ for a time [after that],—and then several events occurred in his life and he began hating God.”

On the night of December 9, 2006, Ernie had some kind of illness and thought he was going to die that night—and he seemed to reach a climax in his hatred of God at that time. So he told God to kill him that night. Quoting Ernie’s recorded words:

“Before I got sick, I was a nominal Adventist. After I got sick, we lost everything, we lost our house, all of our personal belongings, the fine cars that we had, all of our earthly treasures that we think about now, we lost them all because I could not support our family. And so we lost all that, and I took all that out on God and at first started off asking Him why this was happening, and then over the course of two years I started blaming Him for everything that was happening.

“And on December 9th, I remember going to sleep that night asking God to take my life, that I was unhappy, and I know that He says that He loves me but I did not feel loved. And I begged Him and I had been begging Him to please come down and talk to me like He does the other prophets and the other people in the Bible. But I never felt like He would ever come down. I didn’t feel like there was any love, no love. Actually I felt hate, I felt like God hated me. And I could not figure out why He would hate me. What had I done to do this? Well, that night, December 9, I said good night to you (Becky), I was also saying good-bye and I went to sleep after many hours of prayer.

Page 11

“At this juncture in Ernie’s narrative, his wife, Becky, said, ‘Can you share with us what you were praying that night?’ Ernie replied:

“That night I was asking God, bluntly, to end my life. I was asking Him just to stop it, that I did not feel the love that I thought a person would feel, and of course you can tell that it is hard for me to relate this, because this is not a story or something you’d watch on TV or some story you’d read out of a book. This was my real life; this is what I’ve experienced. But that night I went to sleep, and the next morning I woke up. Sunday morning I woke up and I had just finished having this tremendous dream!”

This is utterly astonishing! After having spent a number of years in Adventist Church membership, on the very night that Ernie’s hatred of God reached its climax,—he received a dream from a supernatural being, that he was to be a prophet to the Advent people, and was going to receive more dreams which he should share with them! Can anyone really believe that such dreams are coming from God?...

Later in the letter, Linda mentions that, in addition to hating God, he told Him to kill Him that night. —He also challenged Him to talk to him “like He did the other prophets.” What an open-door invitation for Satan to contact him that night! This is what Linda said:

“When you went to bed on the night of December 9, 2006, you were discouraged, angry at God, and wanting to die. You challenged God to prove that He loved you, by coming down and talking to you like He did the other prophets.”

We will later learn that, even at the present time, Ernie expresses little interest in the study of either the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy, and says God has other ways to communicate truth to him.

Ernie says Christ appeared to him—Earlier in the letter, Linda said that it would be expected that, although he said that “Christ” appeared to him that night, it could easily be Satan that was speaking to him.

“Think about this: Since, at the personating of Christ, Satan will ‘bear the appearance of Christ in every particular,’ ‘His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people’ (5T 698, GC 624).

Ernie Knoll’s ‘fruits’ tell the truth of his ‘inspiration’. The dreams were not from God.

Please keep in mind - and we will study shortly - Prophets, Not Words, Are Inspired

Page 12

Beware of Angels  by Roger Morneau

• the account of the Halstead family’s decent into larceny and murder.

 "Roger Morneau, a former occultist, who converted to SDA,  reveals tactics Satan used to entice members of a fourth-generation Seventh-day-Adventist's study group, into a downward spiral of heresy and crime. "Satan's angels had cleverly impersonated God's angels" eventually convincing Lynn Green and her group to do their every bidding.  At the start, the angels included some truth, but  over several years instructions became more ridiculous and unbelievable, as the deceived were blinded to the vanity and error of their deceptive messages.

They [evil angels]are highly intelligent and very crafty as per the video. Roger Morneau wrote a book called 'Beware of Angels' where he interviewed a couple of women who had murdered someone because angels told them too, literally. They had 'visitations' and were convinced they were a special hand picked group, but didn't test them and hence were badly deceived, even to the point of killing innocent people. 

 In the book "Beware of Angels", Roger Morneau tells the story of an Adventist prayer group who were deceived by fallen angels. Demons posing as beautiful angels from God deceived the group into committing vandalism, theft and murder. They even had a false Second Coming in which "Jesus'" feet did not touch the ground. This "proved" to the group that this was the real Jesus but convincing them to break the Ten Commandments did not.
No interpretation of scripture is private and there is no private Second Coming to a favored group. They were seeking supernatural attention to feel more favored and they found it.

Page 13

From the book, Beware of Angels by Roger Morneau

page 66 

“While Richard and Jodie Halstead were living with David Greene, Sr., they were introduced to a group of Seventh-day Adventists, who were meeting with a ms. Jean Ketzner in Canyonville, Oregon; the purpose of this group was to become more ‘in tune’ with God. In other words, the group sought to hear or see God or His angels. Jodi and Richard communicate to Sharon and her sister, Deborah, what they were learning in this group.  Both sisters expressed interest in what was being discussed and learned.

“In 1983 Sharon came to the belief that Lynn Green was able to receive the word of God either directly from God or through His angels. Sharon claimed that in 1983 Lynn Greene told her that God wanted Sharon and Deborah to move to the Grants Pass area...

“ In the same year, Sharon and Deborah came to the belief that Leo, Sharon’s younger son, could see and hear God, or His angels. In particular, Leo was able to hear and see an angel that was known as Naked Truth. This gift supposedly was confirmed by Lynn Greene, and by John Gentry, who in January 1985 became Sharon’s live-in boyfriend. Sometime between 1984 and 1988 Leo lost this gift. However, Leo regained this gift by August of 1988....

page 67

“This belief about communicating with God and His angels and also obeying God and His angels became quite profound in Deborah and Sharon. Subsequent search warrants executed at their residence...found papers on which questions concerning all manner of items, including religion, and also questions about everyday activities. These questions had written answers that apparently had been received from God or His angels.

“What would occur is that the person who had the question would inquire of the person who had the gift, Leo or someone else, and then that person would inquire of God or His angels and repeat what God or the angel had to say. The response would be written down by the question, and the person would be expected to obey explicitly the response given.

“From September 1988 through November 1988 Leo claimed he had the ability to see if someone was ‘totaled’.

“Totaled means that a person has been overcome by evil spirits or demons. The spirit of that person would no longer exist. The body, now a shell, was filled with evil."

“Leo [ age 9 ] further claimed that to take items from a ‘totaled’ person was not stealing or otherwise wrong. Further, the taking from the adversary, i.e., the ‘totaled’ person, was simply reclaiming what the Lord intended for the righteous. The same principle applied to destroying property belonging to ‘totaled’ people.....Destroying a ‘totaled’ person was not viewed as being wrong because you were not destroying a human being.

Page 14

page 73

Fascinated With New Light

The Halstead  sisters were victimized, taken advantage of, by demonic spirits, because satan is now removing restrictions that have held a vast number of his angels in check for more than 200 years. To understand the implication of this, we explore  further something that I alluded to previously. 

When during the late 1970s certain evangelical Christians became fascinated with what they referred to as “new light,” concepts that they felt had been withheld from Christians for too long, they started to press God for new knowledge and insights.

Other individuals became obsessed with the idea that the time was right to ask God to allow them to see and talk with angels that would instruct them in new and better ways of serving Him.

A desire for self-exaltation prompted many of these requests. It gave people an unconscious feeling of superiority and security to think that they could learn hidden things from a supernatural being. That they could have direct channels with God.  Proving the existence of Gd, knowing more than others do, can be as addictive as any drug. At the same time it opens the way for satan’s angels to appear to certain persons and claim to have come from heaven itself. Little by Little such false angels went about perverting the gospel of Christ….

pages 74-75

Voices From God

Some of the material that came to me through my church family told of individuals being instructed by angels about things that would enrich their Christian walk and help prepare people for the soon coming of Jesus. People accepted alleged revelations on new ways of understanding and pleasing God, especially when it came through children in their early teens or younger. Many individuals did not hesitate to accept the teachings as coming from God, concluding that it would be totally impossible for young children to have conceived such things in their own minds.

Over a period of 5+ years evil angels led a group of Christian believers from a thrilling experience of communication with heavenly beings and being ‘chosen’ to prepare for Jesus’ return to committing multiple murders.  

These ‘fruits’ were NOT from God.

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Summary:

As noted here most of the persons in this presentation received their inspiration through dictation.

They are:

Helena Blavatsky  - promoted satan in all her writings

Alice Bailey - writings highly influenced the UN. Founded “Lucifer Trust”

Mohammed - Islam - opposed to and attempts to destroy Christianity.

some Hindu writings -

Maria Valtorta - a mystic Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet

Aleister  Crowley - evil. satanist.

Ignatius Loyola - Founder of the Jesuits, Inquisition and “spiritual exercises”

Helen Schucman (Course in Miracles) - atheist who received major changes in Jesus teachings

Other forms of ‘inspiration/revelation’ are:

Channeling - Stephanie Meyers - Twilight   - promoted substantial increased interest and practice in vampire behavior and reading

Vivid dreams  - Ernie Knoll - communication with the ‘Herald’ barely false understandings of truth. Lies, deception and reduced interest in Scripture.'

Actual words and sighting - Lynn Greene and the Halstead sisters - direction by angels resulted in larceny and multiple murder.

These are not dictation - but  other forms of demonic communication.

“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”  Matthew 7: 20

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How is the Bible inspired?

Prophets, Not Words, Are Inspired

For thought inspirationists, God inspires the prophet, not his or her words. xxxi16 Thought inspirationists read the Bible and see God working through human beings with their individual characteristics. God provides the thoughts, and prophets, in relaying the divine message, use whatever literary capacity they possess. xxxii17 Trained scholars will report a message or describe an event much differently than will a sheepherder. But if both are inspired by God, the truth will be heard by the educated and unlearned alike. This is the way the Bible was written, all writers using their best words to express faithfully the message they had received from the Lord.

Revelation in the revelation/inspiration process emphasizes the divine act that discloses information.

The simple answer is that God's control was always with them in their writings, such that the Bible is nothing more than "The Word of God in the words of men" (McDowell 1990:176). 

This means that God utilized the culture and conventions of his penman's milieu, a milieu that God controls in His sovereign providence. Thus history must be treated as history, poetry as poetry, hyperbole and metaphor as hyperbole and metaphor, generalization and approximation as what they are, and so forth. Differences between literary conventions in Bible times and in ours must also be observed: Since, for instance, non-chronological narration and imprecise citation were conventional and acceptable and violated no expectations in those days, we must not regard these things as faults when we find them in Bible writers. When total precision of a particular kind was not expected nor aimed at, it is no error not to have achieved it. Scripture is inerrant, not in the sense of being absolutely precise by modern standards, but in the sense of making good its claims and achieving that measure of focused truth at which its authors aimed.Herbert Douglass, Messenger of the Lord,  preface 

How was it given?

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21

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Another Definition of Inspiration:

In 2 Timothy 3:16, we are told that all Scripture is inspired. The word used for inspiration is theopneustos which means "God-breathed," implying that what was written had its origin in God Himself. In 2 Peter 1:21 we read that the writers were "carried along" by God. Thus, God used each writer, including his personality to accomplish a divinely authoritative work, for God cannot inspire error.

The Bible speaks many times of its inspiration: In Luke 24:27,44; John 5:39; and Hebrews 10:7, Jesus says that what was written about him in the Old Testament would come to pass. Romans 3:2 and Hebrews 5:12 refer to the Old Testament as the Word of God. We read in 1 Corinthians 2:13, "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit." This is corroborated in 2 Timothy 3:16, as we saw above. In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul when referring to that which he had written says, "...you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God..." Peter speaks of the inspiration of Paul's writings in 2 Peter 3:15-16, where he maintains that, "...Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters..." Earlier, in 2 Peter 1:21 Peter writes, "For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along [moved] by the Holy Spirit." And then finally in Revelation 22:18,19 the writer John, referring to the book of Revelation states, "...if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life…"

Charles Wesley summarizes this high view of inspiration brilliantly when he says:

 "The Bible must be the invention either of good men or angels, bad men or devils, or of God. However, it was not written by good men, because good men would not tell lies by saying 'Thus saith the Lord;' it was not written by bad men because they would not write about doing good duty, while condemning sin, and themselves to hell; thus, it must be written by divine inspiration" (McDowell 1990:178).

The Textus Receptus is literally inspired and inerrant. The prophets, not the words, were inspired. We greatly respect the reliability of God’s Word, although we do not advocate the theory of inspiration by dictation.  Note: Inspiration always refers to the original writings, not the processes of copying and translating.

The Bible was written as God’s Words expressed through the minds of men.

Another view of Biblical Inspiration

Men penned the words but they were inspired words that came from God’s Spirit to man. The Bible teaches us all Scripture is inspired of God, both the Old and New Testament.

The key explanation is that it is God breathed (Theopnuestos). God moved inspired men; prophets or scribes to write the words down. So it is not by their own initiative, they were not dictation machines either. Inspiration refers to the writings, from inspired writers. God instructed them and it is God’s communication to mankind, in other words the origin is found in God. 2 Pet 1:20-21, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”  Prophecy as well as the writings are all from God as the source. God watched his word to make sure we would receive it accurately.

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The Bible is a compilation of 66 books written by men under God's control through his Holy spirit that spans over 1500 years through different authors. Written in three different languages by more than 40 authors from a variety of backgrounds and cultures (1400 BC Moses - 90 AD John the apostle). 
 The Old Testament deals consists of 39 inspired books written by Kings, prophets, leaders and even shepherds that covers Israel's history and prophecy on the coming promise of the Messiah in nearly every book.

There were 400 Years of silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament period (Jesus birth). God did not speak, nor send prophets until Zacharias, John the baptizer’s father was contacted by an angel and God began to work again. John the baptizer was the last of the Old Testament prophets who would announce the coming of the new dispensation of the new covenant by the Messiah.

The New Testament consists of 27 documents written by his appointed apostles and those under their leadership in the known language of the day; Koine, common Greek. The New Testament makes known the person of Christ and the establishment of the new covenant, the church and the age to come. We can know Christ is the prophesied Messiah because Old Testament prophesies place his coming before the destruction of the temple.

The New Testament is grouped into four categories. 

1) 4 Gospels (biographical narratives)

2) The Acts of the Apostles (what the apostles did in mission work and in the church)

3) Epistles (instruction and correction to the church)

4) Revelation of Jesus Christ (prophecy)

1) Gospels - The 4 gospels give record of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension. Matt, Mk and Lk. Are referred to as the synoptic (similar) Gospels. The gospel of John is the complimenting gospel. John years later gave more information on who Christ was.

2) Acts - Chronicled by Luke a physician, historian and a companion of Paul. Luke documents the birth of the church and its establishment in Judea, Samaria and Roman Empire. Based on acts of the apostles actions from the Holy Spirit.

  3) 21 Epistles – letters written to churches established on the apostles missionary journeys and individuals giving instruction on the doctrine of Jesus Christ and living by the Spirit.

4) Revelation of Jesus Christ - Reveals Jesus Christ in His glory. The Revelation in this book shows Jesus as 
the coming lion, King of kings and judge over all the earth, with victory.

The Bible is consistent and forms a cohesive unified message of God's dealings with mankind. Its message is without contradiction it is the most historically accurate ancient text known to man. The Bible speaks on the subjects of origins of man, evil, fall, redemption. Nature and mans purpose. Satan who introduces evil, his war 

against God and believers and his final judgment. Jesus Christ who is the focus of the written revelation. Salvation given by the divine plan of God. The eternal being God who lives forever never changes, his sovereignty, describing his attributes, his omnipotence, his omniscience, omnipresence, holiness, righteousness, and love.

The Bible claims to be the inspired Word of God, inerrant and infallible in all its teachings. it contains no errors on teaching and instruction. It is proven by the manuscripts prophecy and archeology. No archaeological discovery has ever disproved the accuracy of the Bible, each discovery continues to verify the Bible as being accurate in its content. 

The constant theme throughout the Scripture: God, for His own glory has offered mankind whom He made in his image and likeness to be heirs to His eternal kingdom. To redeem His people from sin and death; the Bible 
reveals this plan of redemption from our beginning to its completion. The Bible is the story of God having grace upon man, redeeming people for the praise of His glory.

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Another view

How can the Bible be God's Word when human beings wrote it?

By Dr. Paul M. Elliott

2 Peter 1:21 explains that the text of the Bible "never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

The Nature of the Bible

In this passage, Peter makes two points. His first point, in verses 16 through 19, concerns the witness and testimony of the apostles. They saw Jesus Christ with their own eyes. They saw all the Old Testament prophecies about His first coming fulfilled. And Peter himself, along with James and John, was on the mountain and saw Jesus Christ transfigured before them, and they heard the voice of God the Father from Heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." In other words, Peter is saying, the facts verify prophecy.

But then he goes on to say, in verses 20 and 21, that there is something even more important - something we must understand first. And that is the nature of prophecy itself. And not only the nature of prophecy, but also the nature of Scripture as a whole. Notice how Peter says it: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture." Prophecy is a part of Scripture, so what is true of prophecy is true of Scripture as a whole. "Knowing this first," he says, "that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

Getting the Whole Picture

Some people quote verse 20 by itself - "No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation..." But that's not the complete thought. Verses 20 and 21 form a single thought, and verse 20 is not complete without verse 21.

The word "for" at the beginning of verse 21 links the two verses together. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." Verse 21 explains verse 20.

We also need to take a closer look at some of the words that are used here in our English Bibles. In some cases, it's difficult for translators to find a concise way of saying in English all that is said in the original Hebrew or Greek. 2 Peter 1:20-21 is one of those cases.

The Meaning of "Is"

Both the Authorized Version and the New King James use the word "is" in verse 20. "No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation." Some other versions render it "comes" or "came about." Those words are closer to the original, but still not quite the full force of the original. In the original language, the word (a form of the Greek ginomai) actually speaks of how Scripture "originated" or "came into existence." Unlike the infamous incident involving an American president, we cannot waffle on the meaning of "is" to obscure truth! The words of Scripture originated not in the mind of sinful man, but in the mind and counsels of the holy God.

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The Meaning of "Interpretation"

Another word we need to understand more carefully in verse 20 is the word "interpretation." This is the only place in the entire Bible where this particular Greek word, epilysis, is used. The word in the original language has to do with "determination" - the way in which something is determined to be true or not true. So the idea of verse 20 is this: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture originated as the result of any private determination of what is true or not true."

In fact, it would be closer to the original language to say it like this: "Knowing this first, no prophecy of Scripture originated in the human writer's own personal determination of what is true or not true." And if we say it like that, we see better how it connects to verse 21: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture originated in the human writer's own personal determination of what is true or not true - for this reason: Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

In other words, Scripture is not a mere collection of the words and ideas of men. It did not originate in man's understanding of things. The Bible is not the record of man's views, man's perspectives, man's opinions, or man's interpretation of events. Sinful man did not decide what is true and what is not true. "Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

Written by "Driven" Men

There is one other word we need to examine in order to understand these verses completely, and that is the word "moved" in verse 21: "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by (a form of the Greek verb phero) the Holy Spirit." Some Bibles render it "carried along," and that is closer to the original. But it is still not the full force of what is being said. The word translated "moved" or "carried along" is better yet translated, "driven along" - driven along by an outside force.

The same word is used in the book of Acts, chapter 27, where we read the account of the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul and those who were with him. They were on their way through the Adriatic Sea when a huge storm came up. It went on for over two weeks. The ship was so badly beaten by the wind and the waves, that it was ready to break up and sink. The captain and the crew made desperate efforts to save the ship. They took down the sails. They ran cables under the ship to try to keep it from breaking apart. And finally, they threw the cargo overboard to try to lighten the ship and keep it from sinking. They did everything they knew how to do in order to save the ship. But still the storm raged on.

Because the wind was so fierce, Luke tells us in a very graphic way, they stopped trying to steer the ship. So, he says, "we let her drive" (Acts 27:15), and "we were driven" (verse 17). The word is once again a form of phero in both cases. There was nothing else they could do. They just gave up and let the ship be driven along by the mighty wind. And that is the very same word used 2 Peter 1:21 - "holy men of God spoke as they were driven along by the Holy Spirit.”

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Revelation and Inspiration

2 Peter 1:20-21 states the two great doctrines concerning the nature of Scripture. The first great doctrine is that the text of the Bible, the content, the very words, are revelation - words from the mind of God, not merely the mind of man. And the second great doctrine is that the way in which the Spirit of God used men to record the words is inspiration - men driven by the Holy Spirit.

The Only Supernatural Book

So, here is what Peter is telling us: We must never think of Scripture as a collection of the thoughts and ideas of men. But more than that, when we read the Bible we must always keep in mind the fact that the men who wrote the words of the Bible were driven by the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit came upon them. And without obscuring their personalities in the writing, He gave them the very words to write. He drove them along as they wrote.

The writers themselves constantly acknowledge this. It's always "thus says the Lord" - "the burden of the Lord" - "the word of the Lord came to me" and so on. And often, we find that they actually wrote the message against their own will. And sometimes, Peter tells us in his first epistle (1 Peter 1:10-12), they didn't entirely understand what they were writing, because they were writing something for a later time. But they were driven to write the Word of God.

The Bible is absolutely unique among all books. The Bible is God's Word, even though human beings wrote it.

The Bible is almighty God speaking directly to man. Every other book in this world contains the conflicting - and constantly changing - opinions of men. But the words of the Bible are the very words of God. The Bible is a supernatural book from beginning to end - the only supernatural Book.

The Christian's Sole Authority

And because the Bible is God's revelation given by inspiration, certain other facts follow in an unbreakable chain of logic. 

1.) The Bible is inerrant, because God, the Author, is inerrant. 

2.) The Bible is infallible, because God, the Author, is infallible. 

3.) The Bible is therefore absolutely reliable - not only in matters of doctrine, but also when it speaks of matters of history, science, and geography. And this is because God, the Author, and God alone, is absolutely reliable. He cannot lie. He cannot, and would not, give us a record that is in any way untrustworthy. 

4.) The Bible contains no contradictions, because God, the Author, is not double-minded. 

5.) Because the Bible is the only book from God, the Bible is uniquely authoritative for the individual Christian, and for the church as a body of believers.

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The final view, and the view of orthodox Christianity, is the view of plenary, verbal inspiration. The word plenary means "complete or full," and verbal means "the very words of Scripture." So plenary, verbal inspiration means that every single word in the Bible is the very word of God. The passage quoted above (2 Timothy 3:16-17) uses a unique Greek word, theopneustos, which literally means "God-breathed." Scripture is literally "breathed out" of the mouth of God. Furthermore, in another biblical passage, we see that “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

This passage gives us an indication as to how God inspired the human authors. We see that men spoke (or wrote) "as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." The verb "carried along" is used to speak of a sail being filled by a wind and carrying a boat along the water, which is fitting since the Greek word for "spirit" is also used for "wind." When the human authors were putting pen to paper, the Holy Spirit "carried them along" so that what they wrote were the "breathed-out” words of God. This means that while the actual writings retain the personality of the individual authors (and that is obvious if you read the works of Paul compared to James or John or Peter), they contain the actual words of God.

In closing, it should be noted that there are some things that inspiration is not:

1. Inspiration is not robotic dictation (not to be confused with the dictation method mentioned above). The personality of the human authors is present in each of the writings.

2. The fact that individual personalities are present in the writings does not mean that God's "control" over them was not perfect. The Holy Spirit superintended the process so that the words written were the exact words God wanted, despite the fallibility of the human authors.

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Mormonism

To my friend, G.W. 

If you have come this far I believe God’s Spirit has lead you here.

We have tried to be thorough, accurate  and objective in my statements below. Being objective is by far the harder part as we come 'to the table' with my understandings and beliefs. For what it is worth, We put our faith and understanding to similar tests and are still ‘accepting tests’ when they are placed in front of us. That is part of the journey we are on  - and believe you are also. We consider you as our brother and hope you will accept what we've written as an act of brotherly love and not as an effort to hurt or cause you pain.

Please forgive me if this hurts you.

As Robert L. Millet, professor of ancient scripture and emeritus Dean of Religious Education at BYU recently said:

“The issue isn’t Adam god; the issue isn’t Mountain Meadows Massacre; the issue isn’t plural marriage. The issue facing the religious world today is:

‘Was Joseph Smith called of God?’. And that’s the single most important issue to determine.”

We agree.

Therefore, research was done at length from the very early beginnings of Mormonism, for if a foundation is not sound then the whole structure is corrupted. Below is just a small portion, or abstract, of whathas been found. 

 “Come let us reason together, saith the Lord...” Isaiah 1:18

We have prayed, questioned and studied, and have to the best of our ability followed the Lord’s counsel.

Mormon researchers have been excommunicated from their church for their writings. Strangely, we could find no indication of those writers presenting falsehoods, lies or inaccurate facts in their writings. Rather these writers caused a displeasure of the Mormon leadership because they revealed facts that might cast doubts or concerns about the veracity of Joseph Smith’s revelations and credibility. Please correct us if we been mistaken.

Our First Concern.

Young Joseph Smith Jr. by many accounts was a treasure seeker of precious things. And by those same accounts he used a method of divination with a rod and/or a seer stone.

"In the early years of his life, Smith was a treasure seer who divined where precious things were hidden. As he acquired a prophetic mantle, he used the same methods, including seer-stone gazing, to produce his church’s foundational scripture, the Book of Mormon, and his first fifteen revelations." - From Signature books - promoting Mormonism.

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From Joseph Smith’s  Biography. 

...Stories of Smith's divining abilities interested a visitor from eastern New York, who believed the Spaniards had left buried treasure on his property. So in 1825, Smith and his father traveled east in order to assist in locating the buried treasure, at a fee of three dollars a day.

The two lived at a farm in Susquehanna Valley in Pennsylvania while a party of diggers, who all chipped in for Smith Jr.'s fee, searched for the Spanish treasure just over the border near Damascus, New York. Unfortunately, no treasure was ever found, and especially after Smith suggested that the treasure had sunk deeper due to "enchantment," his employers lost their faith in Smith's gifts and believed him to be a charlatan. His father then returned home to Palmyra, but Smith stayed behind. He had fallen in love with Emma Hale, a schoolteacher.

Ms. Hale was initially aloof to his advances, but Smith was persistent. While wooing her, Smith worked as a farmhand and went to school part-time. When Emma finally warmed to him, Smith encountered another obstacle - her father. He was one of the diggers who felt fooled by Smith and he refused to allow his daughter to marry him. In 1826, formal charges were filed against Joseph Smith due to the divination scandal, accusing him of being an imposter. Isaac Hale was among the witnesses who testified against him. 

“Now this is not all, for you have another gift, which is the gift of working with the rod: behold it has told you things: behold there is no other power save God, that can cause this rod of nature, to work in your hands...

From the 1833 Book of Commandments 7:3  - in 1835 - Doctrine and Covenants 8:6-7

However, the 1835 edition of Doctrine and Covenants changes the phrases “gift of working with the rod” and “this rod of nature” to the “gift of Aaron”.

Definition of Divination:

div·i·na·tion

ˌdivəˈnāSHən/

noun

1. the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.

2. the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aid of supernatural powers.

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All quotes below are from the JST (Joseph Smith Translation) Bible (and are exactly the same as in the KJV):

Deuteronomy 18:9-12

9 When thou art come into the a land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

 10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with  familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations  the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. JST

Deuteronomy 18:14

 14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto  observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. JST

2 Kings 17:17

17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil  in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.  JST

1 Samuel 6:2  

2 And the Philistines [the enemies of God’s people] called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.   JST

Micah 3:6,7

  6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

 7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God. JST

The Bible forbids divination because it involves lusting for secret knowledge that God has not chosen to reveal. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29) KJV.   Divination is an ongoing attempt to gain forbidden knowledge.

Divination works because of the operation of evil spirits. Otherwise God would not have given such stern instruction as noted above. Evil spirits are willing to give out some factual information as long as it serves their purpose of telling a bigger lie. People get sucked into the occult because of the accuracy of the secret information they gain.

Joseph Smith Jr, for years before his well known experiences, was practicing divination, against the will of God and despite God’s warnings.    That in itself is reason for considerable alarm.

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Our Second Concern.

Who was Joseph Smith attempting to contact Sept 21, 1823?

Messenger and Advocate. Vol 1. page 42, 78,79   1834-35

A letter from Oliver Cowdery refers to those first publications and it is on pages 78 and 79 of the second issue that strange wording is used by Joseph Smith in his search for a “divine encounter”.

“You will recollect that I informed you, in my letter published in the first No. of the Messenger and Advocate, that this history would necessarily embrace the life and character of our esteemed friend and brother, J Smith Jr. one of the presidents of this church, and for information on that part of the subject, I refer you to his communication of the same, published in this paper. I shall, therefore, pass over that, till I come to the 15th year of his life. “It is necessary to premise this account by relating the situation of the public mind relative to religion, at this time: One Mr. Lane, a presiding Elder of the Methodist church, visited Palmyra, and vicinity. Elder Lane was a talented man possessing a good share of literary endowments, and apparent humility. There was a great awakening, or excitement raised on the subject of religion, and much enquiry for the word of life. Large additions were made to the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist churches. … Then strife seemed to take the place of that apparent union and harmony which had previously characterized the moves and exhortations of the old professors, and a cry — I am right — your are wrong — was introduced in their stead. “In this general strife for followers, his mother, one sister, and two of his natural brothers, were persuaded to unite with the Presbyterians. … “After strong solicitations to unite with one of those different societies, and seeing the apparent proselyting disposition manifested with equal warmth from each, his mind was led to more seriously contemplate the importance of a move of this kind.” 

(Oliver Cowdery continues the narrative below, on page 78-79:)

 “You will recollect that I mentioned the time of a religious excitement, in Palmyra and vicinity to have been in the 15th year of our brother J. Smith Jr.’s age — that was an error in the type — it should have been in the 17th. — You will please remember this correction, as it will be necessary for the full understanding of what will follow in time. This would bring the date down to the year 1823. “I do not deem it necessary to write further on the subject of this excitement. … “And it is only necessary for me to say, that while this excitement continued, he continued to call upon the Lord in secret for a full manifestation of divine approbation, and for, to him, the all important information, if a Supreme being did exist, to have an assurance that he was accepted of him. “… On the evening of the 21st of September, 1823, previous to retiring to rest, our brother’s mind was unusually wrought up on the subject which had so long agitated his mind … all he desired was to be prepared in heart to commune with some kind of messenger who could communicate to him the desired information of his acceptance with God. “… While continuing in prayer for a manifestation in some way that his sins were forgiven; endeavoring to exercise faith in the scriptures, on a sudden a light like that of day, only of a purer and far more glorious appearance and brightness burst into the room … It is no easy task to describe the appearance of a messenger from the skies … But it may be well to relate the particulars as far as given — The stature of this personage was a little above the common size of men in this age; his garment was perfectly white, and had the appearance of being without seam. Though fear was banished from his heart, yet his surprise was no less when he heard him declare himself to be a messenger sent by commandment of the Lord, to deliver a special message, and to witness to him that his sins were forgiven, and that his prayers were heard;"

Considering the above statement, did Joseph Smith Jr. doubt the existence of a “Supreme being”? 

Was  Joseph Smith Jr. wanting to “commune with some kind of messenger who could communicate to him the desired information of his 'acceptance' with God”?

This early (1834-35) account did not  mention the promise of James 1:5 as some histories state. (If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5)

 Is this possibly an open invitation for the evil forces of satan to step in?  Hadn’t Joseph Smith Jr for years played/worked with divination to search for treasure and possibly used evil forces to do so?

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Our Third Concern 

About the eleven witness of the Golden Plates.

"As I, the author, personally was told many years ago, in early 1971 when studying with Mormons, the plates were seen - “with the eyes of faith.”

Only Joseph Smith Jr. claimed he actually saw the plates. Is the documentation here shared with you true - or is it false?

In a way, this really does not matter because as I understand, the "plates" were never directly used to write or translate the Book of Mormon as written in our Fourth Concern below."

Our Fourth Concern.

The means of obtaining the information for the Book of Mormon was as follows in red.

From Wikipedia

During the Second Great Awakening, Joseph Smith, Jr. lived on his parents' farm near Palmyra, New York. At the time churches in the region contended so vigorously for souls that western New York became known as the "burned-over district" because the fires of religious revivals had burned over it so often.[18] Western New York was also noted for its participation in a "craze for treasure hunting."[19] Beginning as a youth in the early 1820s, Smith was periodically hired, for about $14 per month, as a scryer, using what were termed "seer stones" in attempts to locate lost items and buried treasure.[20] 

Smith's contemporaries described his method for seeking treasure as putting the stone in a white stovepipe hat, putting his face over the hat to block the light, and then "seeing" the information in the reflections of the stone.[21]

Smith did not consider himself to be a "peeper" or "glass-looker," a practice he called "nonsense."[22] Rather, Smith and his family viewed their folk magical practices as spiritual gifts.[23] Although Smith later rejected his youthful treasure-hunting activities as frivolous and immaterial, he never repudiated the stones themselves nor denied their presumed power to find treasure; nor did he ever relinquish the magic culture in which he was raised.[24] He came to view seeing with a stone in religious terms as the work of a "seer",[25] and indeed, in his view a seer was even greater than a prophet.[26]

[original research] 

Joseph Smith's first stone, apparently was the same one he used at least part of the time to translate the golden plates, was chocolate-colored and about the size of an egg,[27] found in a deep well he helped dig for one of his neighbors.[28] This stone may still be in the possession of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[29]

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David Whitmer was an early Mormon who claimed he was present when Joseph Smith translated the golden plates. Below is his description of what occurred:

“I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone in a hat, and put his face into the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that would appear the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principle scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear.  Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.”

Emma Hale Smith, Joseph Smith’s wife, was his first scribe. She wrote the following to their son Joseph Smith III:

“In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close to him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us.”

Isaac Hale, the father of Emma Hale Smith, said of Joseph Smith in an 1834 affdavit:

“The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with a stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the Book of Plates were at the same time hid in the woods.”

Michael Morse, Emma Smith’s brother-in-law, gave another first-hand account of Smith’s translation technique:

“When Joseph was translating the Book of Mormon [I] had the occasion more than once to go into his immediate presence, and saw him engaged at his work of translation.  The mode of procedure consisted in Joseph’s placing the Seer Stone in the crown of a hat, then putting his face in the hat, so as to entirely cover his face, resting his elbows upon his knees, and then dictating word after word, while the scribes - Emma, John Whitmer, O. Cowdery, or some other wrote it down.

Aren’t these four witnesses supportive of Mormon belief and doctrine?

So what is the means by which Joseph Smith Jr. received his ‘revelations’ ?

DICTATION?

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The abstract studies I have recently shared with you the last couple months, have revealed how inspiration and revelation are received - and are summarized below.

Ignatius Loyola - Founder of the inquisition and “spiritual exercises” - dictation

Helen Schucman (Course in Miracles) - atheist who received major changes in Jesus teachings - dictation

Aleister  Crowley - evil. satanist. - dictation

Maria Valtorta - a mystic Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet - dictation

Mohammed - Islam - opposed to and attempts to destroy Christianity. - dictation

some Hindu writings - dictation

Helena Blavatsky  - promoted satan in all her writings - dictation

Alice Bailey - writings highly influenced the UN. Founded “Lucifer Trust” - dictation

Other forms of inspiration are:

Channeling - Stephanie Meyers - Twilight   - promoted substantial increased interest and practice in vampire behavior and reading

Vivid dreams  - Ernie Knoll - communication with the ‘Herald’ barely a false understandings of truth. Lies, deception and reduced interest in Scripture.

Actual words and sight - Lynn Greene and the Halstead sisters - direction by angels resulted in larceny and multiple murder.

Dictation is not evident in the three examples above - but “by their fruits you shall know them” 

There are many other examples of channeling and automatic writing but they ALL are originated from demonic sources.

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The 44 authors of the Old and New Testament written over a span of 1500 years was given by inspiration from God - through the minds of man. 

“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”   2 Peter 1:20 and 21 JST, KJV

That is evidenced by the personality exhibited in each writer work by their style and structure. 

God did NOT and DOES NOT use dictation to reveal His Word. 

The JST supports this as evidenced by all the scripture quotes in this paper. 

As noted above, almost ALL ‘revelation and inspirational’ in the previous abstracts, except for the Bible, was received through dictation and was NOT from God the Father or His Son, or the Holy Spirit. The remaining examples are obviously not from God.

In this study, witnesses state Joseph Smith Jr received his Book of Mormon one word at a time, letter by letter as revealed on the brown stone deep in his hat. Our question is, did Joseph Smith’s revelation come to him by dictation? We believe that is the case.

Just a thought - Is it possible, Joseph Smith Jr’s  choices and decisions  placed him in a position that caused him to be deceived?  

Given Joseph Smith Jr’s many years of treasure seeking by divination, given his quest to commune with some kind of messenger, considering the manner in which he received and recorded his writing, letter by letter and word by word, do you think there are valid and reasonable concerns about the foundations of mormonism?

There are other concerns regarding Joseph Smith Jr and his life choices and words, but that is not for this discussion. This study is about ‘beginnings’. The very beginning of any movement is the foundation of that movement. And if the foundation is not sound and founded on God’s principles and will - the structure is not sound.

As Robert L. Millet, professor of ancient scripture and emeritus Dean of Religious Education at BYU recently said:

“The issue isn’t Adam god; the issue isn’t Mountain Meadows Massacre; the issue isn’t plural marriage. The issue facing the religious world today is:

‘Was Joseph Smith called of God?’. And that’s the single most important issue to determine.”

We still agree.

And Jesus said in Matthew 7: 24-27

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

"It often takes more courage to change one's opinion than to stick to it."  Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)  Physicist and philosopher

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UPDATE 

Regarding the Mormon faith, I heard it said a couple weeks ago that Moroni  appeared and spoke to young Joseph Smith and directed him to the golden plates. It was told to Joseph that Moroni lived in the late fourth and early fifth century, died, and then reappeared to Joseph the night of September 21,(Fall equinox)1823 as an angel.

 That lead me to a study in the Joseph Smith Translation (JST)/KJV Bible about death and immortality. This  appearance and communication  of Moroni with Joseph Smith occured before the Mormon faith was established.

The Mormon faith was established because of this encounter.

As before, I want to go to the very beginning of Mormon doctrine to find the truth. I used only the JST for the following texts. It is a bit scrambled (back and forth ) because I wanted to show a continuity of the topics in the inspired Word.

As  noted, all verses have been copied from the JST. Please feel free to check them yourself. Let me know where there is error.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7

Note: Body + Breath = Living Soul

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Ezekiel 18:20

Note: Souls will die.

Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Psalms 104:29                                                 

Note: Living Soul - Breath = Dead Body

All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; Job 27:3  

Note: Spirit = Breath

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:26

Note: Body - Spirit = Death

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.  Ecclesiastes 12:7 

 Note: At death, the spirit (breath) returns to God.

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:  Genesis 3: 3&4   

Note: satan still wants us to think we are immortal- that we will never die.

 15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;  16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.  1 Timothy 6: 15&16                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Note: Only God is immortal.

 5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.  6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9: 5&6                                                                                                                                                                                                      Note: Life does not continue after death!

 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. Ecclesiastes 9: 10

For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?  Psalms 6:5

3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. 4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Psalms 146: 3&4

The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. Psalms 115: 17

Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;  Psalms 13:3    

Note: In the Bible, death is a sleep.

 11 These things said He [Jesus]: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.  12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.   John 11:11-14                                                                                                                               Note: Jesus called death a sleep.

 10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?  11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:  12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens beno more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. Job 13: 10-12 

21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. Job 13:21  

Note: The dead don’t know what the living are doing.

 28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,  29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.  John 5: 28&29                                          Note: The dead are in their graves until the resurrection.

 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpof God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4: 15&16                                                                                                                                                                         Note: If the dead were already in Heaven, there would be no one to resurrect!

 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?  1Corinthians 15: 51-55                                                                                                                                                                                                               Note: When Jesus comes, He gives us immortality [everlasting life]

 35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:  36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Luke 20: 35&36 

Note: In Heaven, no more death!

 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Revelation 20:14  

Note: When satan and his followers are thrown into the lake (see Rev 20:10) death is also destroyed.

26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:26

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21:4

 5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. Revelation 22:5     

Please consider this. If these verses are inspired and from God - and I believe they are - how could Moroni have spoken to young Joseph Smith?  If not Moroni, - then who?

UPDATE:

Did Joseph Smith Plagiarize?

Now, the question is probably asked; ‘Why isn’t Ellen G. White mentioned?” . Good question. 

Click here for that information