Author: dgarrett

Chapter 3: Zwingli

Part 2: From Apostates to Apostles

Although he was the first of the reformers, Zwingli decided not to merge his movement with Luther. The success and acceptance of Luther’s reforms gave great encouragement, motivation and inspiration to Zwingli. His focus on going back to the original teachings of the Bible, coincided with the invention of the printing press. By 1520, there were 18 German, 2 Dutch, 11 Italian and 4 Bohemian translations of the scriptures circulating.

As the common people gained access to the original teachings of Christ, the discrepancy between them and what was currently being taught by the Roman Church became very evident. 

Zwingli came under the influence of Erasmus, a learned Greek Humanist while at the University of Vienna and Basle. Erasmus believed the best course of reform was to publish the Greek New Testament at Basle and present the Church Fathers with copies. Both Erasmus and Zwingli believed that all good heathens could be saved as well as Catholics. They also believed they were personally influenced by the Holy Spirit in their endeavours. 

By 1516 Zwingli had been appointed as Vicar at Einiedelin, which was a place that drew large numbers of people to see the “Black Madonna.” As many as 100,000 came annually, thus Zwingli was able to preach to many pilgrims. Many miracles were attributed to this image of the virgin Mary. At the entry way, an inscription had been posted: “Here the full forgiveness of all sins may be obtained”. Zwingli thought such notions were all “superstitious absurdities”, and preached accordingly. 

In 1518 Zwingli was elected as the of the principle of the Church in Grossmunster in Zurich, a prosperous town of about seven thousand people. Here he began to teach from all the books of the New Testament, except Revelation, which he did not accept as written by John.

It is interesting to note that while both Luther and Zwingli could not accept the abuses of the Roman Church nor agree with many of their teachings, they nonetheless accepted the dogmas and creeds of the Roman Church. The false assumptions of Augustine proved to be a stumbling block to the Reformers, just as they had been to the early Church Fathers. They too, could not arrive at the true principles. As a result, they likewise became intolerant of others and cruel in their behavior. Zwingli’s teachings were basically moral doctrines and he stuck to that which he could prove from the New Testament. He therefore rejected everything that was not specifically authorized by those scriptures. His conclusion was in complete contrast to Luther who allowed anything that was not expressly forbidden by the New Testament.

The Roman Church did not oppose Zwingli at first, even when he ranted against the sale of Indulgences. The Officials of Zurich and even the Arch Bishop of Constance supported him against any action from Rome. Gradually though, Zwingli’s criticisms included the doctrine of Purgatory, the intercession of saints, monasticism and fasts. He convinced the City Council in Zurich to issue an order that preachers should teach only that which is found in the New Testament. As in Germany, civil authority was given the right to exercise religious control, which previously had been exclusively the right of the Bishop.

This was the first instance of civil authority eroding the authority of the Bishop in episcopal matters. It was to become common practice in Switzerland. This crack in the concrete, that went on to cause a complete fracture of the foundation of the Roman Church, started here with this subordination of the Church to the State. Zwingli was able to convince the willing ministers of the Cantons (townships) to abolish Roman worship including images, relics, frescoes and ornaments. Thus, the silver and gold crosses, the robes and tapestry were removed – and Zwingli justified the vandalism. 

The reaction was predictable. The Catholic Townships would not tolerate the behaviour of the reformist protestants and they clashed in the town of Kappel. Zwingli was among the protestants who were defeated in the battle and he was killed. His body was quartered and burned for treason and heresy, and his ashes scattered. While this stopped the protest movement in German speaking Switzerland, the rest of the country continued its protest under the leadership of John Calvin.

Chapter 4: John Calvin

Part 2: From Apostates to Apostles

John Calvin was educated like other nobility at the best Universities available. He studied humanities, theology and law in France at Noyon, Paris, Orleans and Bourges. He was not a priest although he did work to pay his tuition by doing some of the functions of a Chaplain. Somewhere along this course, he came in contact with Lutheranism and converted to Protestantism. He preached in Paris along with Nicholas Cop regarding the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He was denounced by French Parliament and fled the city and went to Noyon. Later he returned to Paris, where the Catholic Church had just executed 24 followers of Luther. 

So brutal and inhuman was their torture and desecration that Calvin, Marot, Olivetan and other future reformers, left France altogether and went to Basle in Switzerland. Here Calvin translated his book, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, into French. In it he defended the beliefs of the Evangelicals and attacked the practices of the Roman Church.

In 1536, Geneva was finally freed from control by the Duke of Savoy. The Bishop of Geneva declared a resolution to live by the teachings of the Bible. He invited Calvin to be teacher and pastor of the Church in Geneva.

What followed was a step-by-step reform of the religion, customs, and manners of the people through the cooperation of the Protestant Church and civil authorities, under the influence of Calvin. All holidays except Sunday were abolished. Sacrament was to be administered monthly, and to be certain it was observed, agents were appointed to report the unworthy for discipline and excommunication. A catechism and confession were approved by council. Cards, dancing, and theatre were forbidden. Too much display at a marriage ceremony could result in imprisonment. Citizens had to attend sermons, listen with respect and be home before nine o’clock. Council began to object, suggesting Calvin should force only less-stringent regulations, as were enforced in Bern. He refused. The council forbade Calvin to preach and forced him to leave the city. 

Calvin moved on to Strasbourg where he continued preaching and writing. He married and became pastor of a congregation of French refugees. In 1541, the party that opposed him in Geneva fell into disfavor and he was recalled. 

Over the next 20 years Calvin reorganized the administration of the Church. Disputes were settled by the ministers but if they failed to agree, the matters were turned over to the civil authorities thus replacing the Bishops entirely. The last source of authority in replacing officers and matters of discipline now became the State. Likewise, any offense or transgression of the moral laws of the Church, were offenses and acts of civil disobedience, punishable by law. Anyone accused of heresy now received the death penalty. 

Because of his acceptance of the doctrines created by Augustine, Calvin became cruel, vindictive and oppressive – just as the other reformers had done and the Catholic Church before them. Though the Catholic Church had lost its tight grip on the spiritual necks of people, it had not changed in the least degree. Calvin was still convinced God was responsible for everything but sin. Man was predestined to be a sinner or saved, therefore he had not the slightest ability to change any of it. The reformers were also convinced that revelation had ceased, and that priesthood and authority were irrelevant. What they did not recognize was that the Church was cut off from its lifeblood and nothing that the reformers could do would change any of that.

Completely dead churches in an unsolvable impasse, unwilling to settle their differences, stood face-to-face. There they remained, different from each other and waiting for someone to blink. What was very apparent was this was not the right time, nor the right place, nor right conditions for the restoration. The restored gospel could never have survived or taken hold. God knew that and so his hand continued it’s slow but careful preparation of the right place, time and person by whom he could reveal the truth to a world that would be ready to hear.

CHAPTER 5: The Age of Reformation 

Part 2: FROM APOSTATES TO APOSTLES 

As the reformation flood gates of the early 1600’s began to swing wide, the great surge of change, once started, could not be stopped. Like the stone “cut without hands” foretold in Daniel 2: 34-35,44-45, it rolled down the mountain breaking all the kingdoms before it.

Yet from among all the clattering and eager voices of the protestant reformers, why do we not hear uttered those familiar and reassuring words which always accompanied the pronouncements of ancient Prophets and Apostles: “Thus sayeth the Lord”?

Or how about “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you,” as recorded by Moses? (Exodus 3: 14) 

These men, these great, courageous reformers who stood up against the power of the Catholic Church, did so at the peril of their lives. Many paid the ultimate price. They were dedicated, faithful and sincere. Any one of them could have claimed to have received revelation by the direct voice or personal appearance of God, even if it had come through his Son Jesus Christ. But none did because none of them had actually witnessed such thing. Their mandate was, as far as they understood, to reform the Catholic Church, not to replace it.

The early Church philosophers of course did not accept such a thing as literal “revelation” either. Without such revelation, they had stumbled and strayed from the teaching of Christ. They thought they could discover the mysteries and knowledge of God entirely on the strength of their own intellect and sought for consensus through debate. The speculation that followed, the disharmony, the savage and brutality of the wars, the sub-sequence errors and terrors that were imposed upon the children of God that ensued in the name of the Church, proved they had been terribly wrong.

Now the reformers faced the challenging task of sorting errors and truths from The Bible. But no one could be sure which interpretation and which writings were 100% the pure word of God. Without that knowledge how would they know the will of God, and the very purpose of man? 

Neither nations nor civilizations can survive without purpose. History has shown that their citizens must have a clear understanding of that purpose or they will begin to behave in a competitive and destructive manner. That invariably brings about their destruction and down fall. We are witnessing this very occurrence in our highly scientific world today. To understand our purpose, we must have the answers to the three basic questions.

1/ Where do I come from?
2/ Why am I here? 
3/ Where do I go after death?

John, an Apostle of Jesus Christ declared, “And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hath sent.” (John 17: 3)

This is not a cliché. It is the key stone of all our education. We rise to our glorious potentials or fall to our utter ruin based on our understanding of John’s challenging statement.

Without the sure knowledge there is a God, we assume we have only to be answerable to ourselves. We can readily see the destructive evidence of such belief – this lack of accountability to God – throughout all history. Even today it is being acted out in the streets and governments of our own society.

The greater part of the world stands confused and confounded by the thousands of Churches that professes to have all the answers. Only a pitiful few have the courage to confess they have mostly none of them. Our collective behaviour is a litmus test that appears to be indicative of gross failure.

1/ Am I made from nothing and return to nothing? (Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.)
2/ Am I free to choose my own future or has God predetermined whether I am either inherently good or incurably evil?
3/ If God created me good, why do I have temptations to do evil?
4/ If God created me evil why does he punish me when I behave accordingly?
5/ How evil can I behave and still inherit a place in heaven?
6/ Will God forgive me in my sins or from my sins?
7/ Do little children who die before baptism not merit Heaven?
8/ Why do so many evil people end up rich while good and honest people always seem to be poor? 

Because the reformers had only a few scriptures and their own intellect to work with, they left these may such questions unanswered.

Since God had ceased to reveal himself or his will to man after Christ had been crucified and all the Apostles killed off, the Church of Jesus Christ, for all intents and purposes, had ceased to exist. With the destruction of the temple and the corruption of early Church teachings, all knowledge about the following topics were lost as well:

1/ Revelation from God.
2/ The role, structure and administration of his priesthood.
3/ The knowledge of the nature of God and the individual roles of the members of the Godhead.
4/ God’s relationship to us as our Father in Heaven (as Christ taught when instructing us to pray in Matthew 6: 9-13).
5/ The purpose of Earth life.
6/ The atonement of Jesus Christ.
7/ The role of the Holy Ghost.
8/ The purpose and plan of salvation for mankind.
9/ Continuation of revelation and scriptures.
10/ The critical role of temple worship.
11/ Salvation for those who died without the knowledge of Christ.
12/ Ordinances for salvation.
13/ The knowledge of kingdoms in God’s glory.
14/ God’s and man’s co-eternal nature.
15/ God’s cosmic creations and their relationship to us.
16/ Man’s per-mortal existence. 

Why do we not have answers to these questions?

God cannot reveal himself to man until such time as man is willing to soften his heart to accept Him.

So, it was not God who needed to change and grant this knowledge. Rather it was mankind who needed to change his thinking about God and prepare to receive this information.

Our thinking determines our behaviour. Without revelation, men have no motivation or means by which they may understand the will of God or to know what changes God has in mind for him.

Even as the age of reformation dawned, mankind still had much to do and a long way to go before he would be ready to hear from God again.

Chapter 6: The Final Restoration – Preparation for The Second Coming

Part 2: From Apostates to Apostles 

The door that Luther had opened was, as Winston Church observed:

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Now, more than 500 years later, we are still watching the beginning of the end of the old order unfold. The mere utterance of the name of the Roman Catholic Church no longer strikes terror in the hearts of the beholders. The Great and Mighty “Harlot” had fallen and her power over Kings and Empires is rendered impotent. Rising from the ashes of the corpse, phoenix like, are the children to who she gave birth – millions of faithful Catholics and protestants who now turn their love of Christ into deeds of compassion and service to humanity. Responding to the biblical teaching and voice of the Master from Galilee, they are motivated by a desire of obedience, faithfulness and love. This is the option they have chosen to prove themselves as followers of Christ.

Each generation gets their opportunity to prove themselves and decide which they want:  evil or good, liberty or bondage. Our generation today has no less of an opportunity. And I believe each and every generation of children will be afford their opportunities as well.

When Christ came to Earth for his mortal experience, there were many different Churches and voices calling from the shoals and rocks. His voice was one among many. Those who responded to him came and followed him with nothing but their faith. The call has been sounded again in our day, but now with more urgency. 

Never have the two sides (good and evil) been more divided, more driven, more subtle, and more persuasive. It is the same on-going drama. The scene changes, the players changed but the challenge is the same. And we will play our role accordingly. Here we stand, for good or bad, in trembling and fear, just as all others have done before us. It is now our turn.

The question from the mid-fifteenth century has evolved from “What is God like?” to “What is God?” The secular mind believes there is no God. It regards all regulations, laws and standards as having been man-made. And what man made for his convenience then, they reason, other men can un-make for their convenience today. 

Many of today’s generation sees families as financial death pits and marriage as the ultimate prevention of their freedom of expression. Morals are optional. Sex is okay between whomever and with whatever gender. They ignore the experience of those civilizations that have plowed this field before – those that discarded the social, moral and wisdom of centuries – and ultimately threw away the safeguards of civic security carefully crafted for human happiness and survival. They abandoned themselves to depravity and self-fulfillment. In the end, every society that embraced this lifestyle, self-imploded. We are on track to repeat the process. There are no exceptions. As Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out, “The dice of God are always loaded.”  

This time the Church is beyond reformation from the top as Martin Luther attempted to achieve. These days, such Churches have become redundant. They lie prostrate, empty and ignored. 

When Christ came for the first time and was born in Bethlehem, there were people who had been waiting 4000 years – since the time of Adam and Eve – for his coming. Yet when he finally came, for the vast majority of the world he came and left unnoticed. It was a non-event. They were not expecting his birth to be in an animal stable, in a remote town, to unknown parents. 

His death, on the other hand, was much more newsworthy because of the controversy he caused while alive. Everybody had heard of the itinerant teacher Jesus. Perhaps they knew him by his other names, Joshua, Christ, or the Messiah. No matter which they called him, they knew him for good and for evil.

Rome had heard of him through their local Military Procurator, Pontius Pilot. Pilot was eager to appease the local Jewish authorities by signing the order for his execution. Herod, the Roman appointed Jewish King had heard of him, and attempted to execute him when the opportunity arose. 

The great number of his followers, both converts and the curious alike, had followed him night and day to hear him speak. Jesus had prophesied that he would rise from the dead (Luke 9: 22) and when he did, his name became even further renown.

Forty days after his resurrection, Christ was with his apostles on the Mount of Olives. When he ascended into Heaven, his stunned apostles watched in disbelief as he disappeared from their view. Meanwhile, two men in white apparel stood among them and asked:

“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” All this was carefully recorded in Acts 1: 11.

The world has been hanging onto this promise since that event. The second coming of Christ has been the theme of two millennium of intense anticipation. All Christians prayed as Christ had instructed them in Luke 11: 2:

“Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come…” 

John foresaw this restoration as recorded in Revelation 14: 6-7:

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every enation, and kindred, and tongue, and people…”

A modern Apostle, Mark E. Peterson, expressed these words regarding the period of preparation for receiving the Savior at his coming in his September 29, 1974 speech, The Great Prologue:

The restoration of the gospel should be seen “in the true perspective…a perspective of some two thousand years.”

1/ It involved the discovery of a new continent and its colonization of a select people.
2/ It encompassed wars between world powers of two centuries, even the renaissance of medieval Europe.
3/ It followed an awakening of mankind stimulated in the Dark Ages.
4/ It required struggle for the fundamental element of personal freedom.
5/ A fight for both religious and political liberty was fought over hundreds of years.
6/ The first establishment of Human rights began with the Magna Carta, 1215 A.D. and is continuing even to today.

Do you understand the steps that were taken? There was a great apostasy in the Eastern Hemisphere, then the preservation of the western Hemisphere. Next Columbus and the colonization movement. The revolutionary war to set the colonist free. Then a constitutional form of Government which guaranteed religious freedom, free speech and free press. All these events were acts of God leading up to one thing: The restoration of the Gospel.

“It was only half a dozen years or so after America was established as a free constitutional nation that one of the great spirits in the preexistence was sent to earth to be born Dec 23, 1805 in a little farmhouse: His name was Joseph Smith.”

The scene was now set to begin the fulfillment of the promise: “(He) shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1: 11.

In the spring of 1820, a young boy in his fifteenth year, named Joseph Smith, went into a grove of trees near his Father’s farm in his search for answers to his prayers regarding which church he should join. He records:

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other – This is my beloved son. Hear Him.” (Joseph Smith History 1: 16)

The Heavens had finally reopened. Jesus Christ had returned in a like manner as he had departed. He spoke to Joseph. The promised day of Salvation had dawned on the earth. The restoration of all things had begun.

Chapter 7: The Word of the Lord

Part 2: Apostates to Apostles

There are so many voices in our day expressing total disbelief in any God. When asked for evidence there is no God, they collectively say, “The evidence for there being no God is the lack of evidence to prove he exists.” Their total case is based upon no one being able to find scientific evidence that God exists. In all arguments such as this, it has been established in law that: “Evidence that something does not exist simply because we have not found evidence it does, is not tenable simply because we lack the knowledge and ability at the moment to search the entire universe or any other possible place to say with absolute certainty”.

This is especially evident when we are finding new information almost daily by new means which we simply did not have before. In many cases this new information or evidence refutes that which we held to be certain beforehand and we have had to change our conclusions accordingly. There was a time when scientific researchers believed for many centuries that the earth was flat, that we were the centre of the universe, that the stars we can see in the heavens were no more than 20 or so miles away. When I went to school some 70 years ago, we were taught by people who believed they knew for a certainty that the Atom was the smallest particle in existence. This certainty is not accepted today because information and evidence has since been discovered to the contrary.

So far as the case for the non-existence of God because of the absence of evidence to prove otherwise goes, it would be completely embarrassing and unacceptable in any of field, without evidence.

On the other hand, there are firsthand witnesses who have seen God. (Their testimony is recorded in scriptures like the Bible.) There is evidence of his existence because we see around us the existence of his creations. As well, the natural laws and order that surround us would be only random chaos without a creator. There are laws, order and consequences to everything. There are more evidences of the existence of God than there are to the contrary. Many people unable to accept the being of a God are willing to recognize his works and manifestations by attributing them to a mythical substitute figure, “Mother Nature,” confessing something or someone must be in charge in light of all the evidence.

The same holds true about the astounding and inexplicable communication process we call reading and writing. All things in our humanistic society are rationalized and attributed to man’s searching desires to experience more and know more. He claims personal responsibility for developing these attributes and skills over long periods of evolution. He points proudly to his primitive scribbles and quaint letters as proof of his wobbling march towards today’s complex lines and circles, despite evidence to the contrary.

Two of the oldest records we have today of our ancient ancestors are referenced in the Book of Abraham and the Book of Moses. These two books are currently found in the Pearl of Great Price.

The first, Book of Abraham was found in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, in the 1800’s, brought to America by a Michael Chandler and purchased by The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. 

In Abraham 1: 31 it reads:
But the records of the Fathers, even the Patriarchs, concerning the rights of the Priesthood, the Lord my God preserved them in my own hands; therefore a knowledge of the beginning of creation and also of the planets and of the stars as they were made know unto the Fathers, have I kept even unto this day and I shall endeavour to write some of these things upon this record for the benefit of my posterity that shall come after me

The second, the Book of Moses, was revealed by God to the latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith on June, 1830.

Moses 6: 3-6 reads as follows:
And God revealed himself unto Seth and he rebelled not but offered an acceptable sacrifice unto God, like his brother Able. And to him was born a Son and he called his name Enos. And then began these men to call upon the name of the Lord and the Lord blessed them, And a book of remembrance was kept in the which it was recorded in the Language of Adam, for it was given unto many as called upon god to write by the spirit of inspiration. And by them, their children, were taught to read and write having a language which was pure and undefiled.

What these ancient records verify is that the Ancient Patriarchs and their children actually read and wrote. And they recorded what God spoke to them. Clearly at this early period in our history, they were not scribbling or bumbling about. They had a fully developed spoken and written language. The fact that we have little record of it does not negate that evidence.

In the meanwhile, it would be tragic for all if we trivialized what they were commanded to record. 

1/ The Nature of God
2/ Our Relation to Him and His Relationship to Us
3/ The Purpose of Earth Life and the Plan of our Salvation

Such information would be a great enlightenment to the children of God in our world today, as we search for more than what we know about God and his son, Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 8: Errors and Omissions

Part 2: FROM APOSTATES TO APOSTLES

While the European world was experiencing a Renaissance in all fronts – science, culture, art and explorations – the field of religious thought was not. The new ideas and inventions spawned by this rebirth were resisted and rejected by religious leaders. 

The Church was under the control of powerful political rules and even more powerful families who would not tolerate this freedom of thought. Such thinking was anathema for anyone who attempted it. The result was stagnation and withdrawal because a religion that does not address alternative ways of thinking and acknowledge the current spiritual needs of the people as well as old traditional values, begins a long downwards death spiral. Consequently, scientific and mystic (religious) minds remained on opposite sides of just about every issue, including progress.

Slowly but surely the pressure from the reformers was achieving its intended goal: to break the Church’s iron fist grip on every aspect of every living soul within its long, long reach. Alternative and progressive thinking brought fresh hope to the common folk, whose affairs in this world and in the world to come, depended on people and circumstances they did not understand and over which they had no control.

In spite of all the forces arrayed to stop it, the recovery of lost and disappeared bodies of scriptures began to surface from the murky waters of the past.

Nephi, an ancient American prophet and a descendent of the old prophets of Israel, explained the problem and the need for undefiled records in his prophesies:

1 Nephi 13: 24-26, 29

And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book [The Bible] proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.
Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God.
And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.
And after these plain and precious things were taken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles… thou seest—because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God—because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.

It appears that the books of the Bible (those which the reformerswere left with in the late 1500’s) had been tampered with during the early centuries of the Church under Roman and Greek influences. Many of the original and precious truths had been deleted. Now, with the printing press available, thousands of copies of these altered accounts were being distributed worldwide. 

An example of some of the changes that had been made to the ancient writings can be seen in the determination Greek and Roman philosophers had to demystify the mysteries of God. While originally an arm of religion, this philosophy metamorphosed into an irreligious study to find a believable alternative answer to mankind’s existence. The five main fields (Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics) soon eclipsed religious thought and influenced it to a point that one could barely tell metaphysics from theology, except for the historical element of the later.

Many of the Church fathers such as  Augustine, Pelagious, Origen, Justin Martyr, etc. were heavily influenced by the thinking of the school at Alexandria, and used their arguments to achieve acceptance of the Christian thoughts. It is because of this philosophy, in a large degree, that we find Church Fathers agreeing that God was pure spirit matter and existed everywhere in everything. Therefore, the Church Fathers could not accept the idea that God went places – when he already was in all places.

Also, the church’s views on spirit and physical matters, along with their understanding of God, was badly skewed by Augustine who spent years studying under the Manicheans. Augustine believed that God was pure spirit and abhorred physical matter. His conclusion was that everything spiritual was good, while everything physical was evil.

This approach was problematic. For instance, the birth of Jesus (who was of God status yet born of the woman Mary), became not only impossible but repugnant. Likewise, the resurrection of Jesus was incomprehensible. After struggling all one’s life and enduring the curses of a physical, imperfect and impure body, it was sort of a strange reward that when you finally discarded and rid yourself of it – it was decreed your body would be given back to you to live in for all eternity. Surely, this would be the greatest ironies of all of God’s mysterious ways!

We see the evidence of how deeply rooted this philosophically-sourced concept had become by the formation and acceptance of the Chalcedonian Creed in 451 A.D. This creed attempted a compromise between the scriptures of Christianity and the speculative thoughts of the Greek philosophers.

It is not to understand how the drift from the teachings of Jesus Christ occurred. If Holy Scriptures differed from currently popular and accepted views, it was not the well-educated, popular and prestigious philosophers who miraculously changed their minds. It was, of course, the less-convincing scriptures whose written words could easily be manipulated by less-obvious nip and tucks. Thus, the scribes made wholesale omissions, corrections and additions to help the two sides blend their views. 

Fortunately for us, like in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15: 11-32), as soon as we began to repent and show a desire to return to God, he reached out to prepare the way for us to do so…

As the reformers were scrutinizing the Bible for answers regarding contradictory doctrines and commandments, God was preparing for something much bigger. Lost manuscripts, inscriptions on clay and metal were being discovered in numerous, unlikely sites. All this was a forerunner for restoring his gospel and preparing a people to receive their Saviour upon his second arrival.

Chapter 9: Discovery of Lost Scriptures

Part 2 From Apostates to Apostles 

1. Enoch

Enoch was the seventh of the Great Patriarchs who lived prior to the great Flood. While his name is mentioned several times in the Bible, we have all but noting regarding who he was and what he did. (See Genesis 5: 18-24, Luke 3: 37, Hebrews 11: 5 and Jude 1: 14-15) While it appeared the life and times of Enoch had been lost to the centuries, still rumors persisted that a Book of Enoch remained somewhere on earth.

The Book of Enoch

In 1773, while attempting to discover the source of the Blue and White Nile Rivers in Egypt, James Bruce of Scotland found himself in Ethiopia rummaging about in their archives, a permission he had not anticipated but had been granted by the generous hospitality of the King of Ethiopia.

It was there Bruce discovered some Abyssinian Manuscripts which also happened to include three copies of the Book of Enoch. On the pretense of borrowing them for study, he was allowed to take them from the monastery in which they had been stored for centuries.

Instead, Bruce hastily made his way to a waiting ship with Monastery guards hot on his heels. He managed to slip away and set sail for Europe. Knowing he had made the discovery of the century, he headed straight for Paris where one copy of the book was deposited in the Royal Library. Next he presented a copy to the Bodleian Library at Oxford in England. He kept the third for himself.

Instead of receiving fame and glory, Bruce earned only contempt and silence from his peers. The books were held by the Libraries in silence and all went on as if nothing had happened. It wasn’t until later that they received some of the attention they surely deserved. 

As for Bruce, the skeptical world accepted neither his claims of discovered the source of the Nile’s famous rivers or the discovery of the Book of Enoch. The world was no more interested in knowing anything about the mysteries or the contents of the Book of Enoch than they had been when they were sealed about 1700 years earlier.

The Book of Enoch: Richard Laurence Translation

In 1821, 48 years after the Bruce claims, Richard Laurence, a Bishop of Cashel, Ireland had heard about the Enoch copy at the Oxford Library. He was able to convince the authorities to allow him to read the Book. However, they were not interested to have him reveal anything about Enoch. They did allow him to read it but would not allow him to remove it from the room in which it was kept. Neither was a candle provided by which to read the old dusty manuscripts. In spite of all this opposition, Lawrence was able to laboriously copy the book by hand in the light of a drafty window. He worked years alone in the dampness. All his hard work and sacrificing finally bore fruit when his first edition proved so popular, it sold out quickly.

Translations of this version of the Book of Enoch are referred to as the Ethiopic Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch.

Enoch – as mentioned in The Book of Moses

About nine years later (between June 1830 and February 1831), Joseph Smith, living in the small rural town of Palmyra, New York, also recorded an account of the life of Enoch found in the Book of Moses, Chapter 6: 26 to Chapter 7: 69 —  a total of 111 verses. It consists of the experiences of Enoch when he was caught up in the Heavens with God. The account is very detailed and riveting.

According to this record, the Lord promised Enoch that if he would have the faith to obey, then God would protect him, and if he opened his mouth God would give him utterance. Enoch records his experiences in Moses 7: 3-69 and gives a complete description of being able to see the creations of God throughout the heavens. God further shows Enoch the souls that will reside on this earth and their future. From that humble start, Enoch goes through a transformation of character and begins to preach. He is so successful that he converts all the people of his city and it becomes a Holy City or Zion. Eventually they are translated as a group, removed to another realm where they are to prepare for the coming of Christ.

While the account in the Book of Moses is similar to the Ethiopian version, it is not identical. It is much more detailed and contains more dialogue between Enoch and God.

This fact that the Ethiopian copy and the Joseph Smith extract differ, did little to convince the enemies of Joseph Smith that he had not written the Book of Moses and The Book of Mormon himself. The ministers, preachers and clergy of his day simply assumed Joseph Smith was lying or engaged in a game of one-upmanship.

Given the difficulties Richard Laurence had obtaining access to the original Book of Enoch and the distances from Ireland to New York, coupled with the fact that the two never met or corresponded and that copies of Laurence’s book didn’t reach the vicinity of Palmyra until 1838-39, long after Joseph’s Enoch had been completed, it should be evident to anyone who bothered to check that Joseph’s claim to revelation should at least be considered.

Other Copies of the Book of Enoch

Later, more copies of the Book of Enoch surfaced. In 1857, manuscripts were discovered in St Petersburg, but the fact that there was an account of Enoch among them was not immediately noticed. This copy is considered the oldest and best account and is called “The Slavonic Enoch”. (It is also sometimes referred to as the Second Book of Enoch or 2 Enoch.) Only one translation was made of this manuscript and that was in 1896. (Click here for more information about the Ethiopic and Slavonic Books of Enoch.)

In 1927 Hugo Odeburg published a copy of the Book of Enoch, now called Third Enoch, which was originally in Hebrew.

In 1949 a Book of Enoch was discovered in the caves near the Dead Sea. It was given to Father J. T. Milik, but he kept the book hidden for twenty-seven years not allowing anyone access to it. Dated as written in the third century A.D., it includes the names of Mahijah  and Mahujah  – names recounted only in one other place, in the book produced by Joseph Smith. (See Moses 6:40 and Moses 7:2)

Why Might the Book of Enoch Have Become “Lost”?

It is understandable why Enoch’s writings were removed from canonized scripture when we consider the teachings of the early Christian Church Fathers. Having come to the false conclusion that Earth was the centre of God’s creations, they simply could not endure the constant references by Enoch to a Physical God who came and went and dwelt somewhere in the Cosmos. Every attempt to reconcile the Heavens and everything that in them were, ended up in contention amid the council members. To end this conflict his detractors determined to exclude his records from the Bible and even expunged his name altogether. From about the time of Origen and Hilary, Enoch had disappeared from all Christian and Jewish scriptures except where necessary for the continuity of genealogy and the begats. 

Along with Enoch went all references to the premortal life experience, the grand councils in Heaven, the war between Satan and God, the war in Heaven which resulted in Satan’s rejecting God’s plan for the salvation of his children. The knowledge that Christ accepted the plan and volunteered to become our saviour. That which was lost included the necessity for a saviour, the understanding of the atonement, the special mission of Christ and the Holy Ghost, the plurality of other worlds, the great plan laid down for the progress of the sons and daughters of God our Father, and reference of the life after mortal death. All gone. All made to disappear.

At this point in history the discovery has little to no effect on mainstream Christian Churches who are still struggling after 70 years, with the problem of how to approach the discrepancy of information contained in the materials recovered from the Dead Sea Caves and how to reconcile that with what is being taught as doctrine in their own Churches. Meanwhile millions of copies of the Book of Moses, which contains the story of Enoch, have been printed and distributed freely to the world since its first formal publication in 1851.

2. Noah

The only record actually claiming to be part of the “Book of Noah” is a fragment of a record written as a chapter in the Book of Enoch which contains details about Noah’s birth. A translation of this fragment reports that his father, Lamech, was afraid of Noah because of his appearance. He ran to his Father, Methuselah saying…

“I have begotten a strange son, diverse from and unlike men, resembling the sons of God in Heaven. The hair of his head and his long locks were as white as wool and his eyes beautiful. The colour of his body is whiter than snow and redder than the bloom of a rose, and his eyes like the rays of the sun and he opened his eyes and lighted up the whole house.”

Methuselah called upon his father, Enoch, “from the ends of the earth” to calm Lamech. Enoch convinced Lamech that the babe he had begotten was mortal. None the less he commanded Lamech to call the boy, “Noah, for he shall be left to you and he and his sons shall be saved from the destruction that shall come upon the earth in his days.” 

This account is not in our scriptures. The physical description of Noah does lead one to believe he was Albino or in any other way physically extraordinary (Genesis 5: 29).

3/ Abraham

The first mention of Abraham (known at first as Abram) in the Bible is found in Genesis 11: 27. The genealogy that proceeds the narrative is very accurate but also very short of details. It is obvious that something is missing. Abraham is considered to be the father of the three great religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). But the information recorded in the Old Testament leaves many unanswered questions:

1/ How did Abraham’s brother die before his Father? (Genesis 11: 28)
2/ Where had Abraham spend the first 75 years of his life? (Genesis 12: 4)
3/ Did Abraham lie when he told the Pharaoh that Sarah was his Sister? (Genesis 12: 11-13)
4/ Why did God command Abram to “Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy Father’s house, into a Land that I shall shew thee”. (Genesis 12: 1)
5/ Why was Abram’s name changed to Abraham? (Genesis 17: 5)
6/ How did Abraham come to be favored of the Lord? (Genesis 12: 2-3)

This story, as told by the Essenes and later passed to the Gnostics, is also found in various Midrashim (ancient commentaries) of the Jewish Talmud.

Abraham was born about 50 years before the death of Noah, in the days of the world’s worst and bloodiest tyrant, Nimrod. The society over whom he ruled had become a cesspool of immorality. Paranoid that the appearance of a new start in the sky indicated foreboding disastrous news, all Nimrod’s court soothsayers informed the King that this rare phenomenon was a sign that a new king had been born that would overthrow him. Hence the narcissistic Nimrod decreed that all children under the age of 2 were to be slaughtered. Abram/Abraham’s parents, Terah and his wife, had been notified by God before the birth of their child that he was special. He, like Jesus, had a specific role to play in God’s large scheme of human affairs. It was known in the community that Terah’s wife had just given birth to a baby boy, and so he was on the King’s list of parents who were expected to deliver the child up to be executed as per the decree of Nimrod. Terah was well known in the courts of Nimrod because his craft as a builder of idols had brought him to the attention of the King. Now, in a desperate decision between serving Nimrod or saving his son, Terah conceived of a desperate plan. One of Terah’s household female servants had also recently given birth to a son. Terah substituted that child for Abram/Abraham. That child was therefore brought before Nimrod and it was brutally murdered before Terah’s very eyes. Meanwhile the real Abram/Abraham was secreted away by his mother, to be raised by Seth, one of the sons of Noah.  (See: Abraham, Abraham’s Early Life and Nimrod and Abraham.) The story goes on to record the re-appearance of Abram/Abraham some 50 years later at the home of his Father in Ur – about the time when the Bible begins its telling of Abraham’s life story.

Other account have been discovered in more modern day, including The Apocalypse of Abraham and the Book of Abraham.

These accounts seem to provide plausible answers to questions and confirm parts of Abraham’s story, such as how he received the Priesthood of God. (It was passed from Adam until the flood, and via Noah and his son Shem to Abraham.)

Recently, scholars John A. Tvedtnes, Brian M. Hauglid and John Gee have compiled information gleaned from Christian, Jewish and Muslim sources and published their comparisons in a collection of books called “Studies in the Book of Abraham”. 

The common stories they relate tell of the struggles and adventures of Abraham and his wife Sarah who emerge from the sins and carnage of their times to become the leaders of their tribes, and prophetically are appointed and anointed to become the rulers of all nations in the future because of their righteousness and obedience. It also contains the accounts of the Earth’s spiritual and physical creation, the dramatic and life-changing events in the Garden of Eden, and the necessity for the fall of Adam and Eve, all of which were lost to the world. 

4/ Moses

The Biblical record of Moses does not stand alone. His life and writings are also recorded in the Torah and the Quran. Moses was a great political leader, a military commander, scholar, writer, historian, shepherd, emancipator, prophet of Gods, revelator, miracle worker, legislator, judge, and pioneer. In the Pearl of Great Price, the Book of Moses starts with a resounding confirmation of the willingness of God to speak to man.  Moses finds himself on an exceedingly high mountain when God appears, not as a spirit of an incomprehensible nature. Instead, “…he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his presence.” (Moses 1: 2)

What We Gain From This Additional Information

We learn a lot about God and his prophets from the pages of these ancient writings. Yet this additional information is not unique in teaching us about the true nature of God.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Genesis 1: 26-27:

We have to wonder how the Christian churches failed so badly in their understanding of God when the very unaltered books they were referencing for the information, and that they recognized and canonized as scripture, had already spelled out in words impossible to misunderstand. We are created in God’s image. In no way does this demean or take away anything of the sacred nature and personality of God. What it does do is clarify our relationship to him and our potential as human offspring of noble, Godly parents.

We are Children of our God and have as our origin nothing short or less than we come from the courts where Gods dwell. We literally are children of our Heavenly Parents.

For as many as are led by the spirit of God, are the sons of God… Ye have not received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry” Abba, Father. The spirit itself beareth witness that we are the children of God: And if Children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ…
Romans 8: 14-17

Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence, shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of our spirits and live?
Hebrews 12: 9

The Lord instructed us to pray: Our Father, which art in Heaven…
Matthew 6: 9

Jesus saith unto her” Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, and say unto them,  I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”
John 20: 17

How much confusion and bloodshed could have been avoided if the early church fathers had stayed true to the teachings of Christ? Would man have been so willing to compete with such volatile indignation against his brother? Would he have so been as willingly to despise and kill knowing each person’s blood he spilled was that of his spiritual brother or his spiritual sister? All this critical knowledge removed and lost. No wonder man stumbled and became as brutish as the savage animals in the wilds. As predicted, the Children of God, not knowing their origins or destinies, became natural men and women, enemies to God. (Mosiah 3: 19-20)

Chapter 10: Revisiting the Word of God

Part 2: Apostates to Apostles

Vulgate to the King James Bible

During the subsequent 300 years following the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and after the persecutions of the Christians had ceased, many scrolls, parchments and other records were in circulation. They were written in Hebrew, Coptic, Greek and Latin. Many were authentic and verifiable, while others were of suspicious origin and even fraudulent. As the language of the people changed from Greek to Roman, a great need arose for scripture based in the language of the people.

In 382 A.D., under the direction of Pope Damascus, Jerome reluctantly accepted the daunting commission to produce a New Latin Version of the scriptures. Daunting because he recognized he would be judging ancient books by various authors scattered all over the known world and attempting to edit, correct, approve or disapprove them. Challenging because he knew he would be antagonizing almost everyone by assuming a position of ultimate authority of not only these sacred writings and their meanings, but of correctly translating them from their original languages. On the positive side, he saw his work as a means of making the scriptures available to the common people in their own tongue. Hence the name “Vulgate” which means language of the common people. Secondly, he felt a clearer and more accurate edition would enhance the preaching of the priests. And thirdly, he hoped it would give the ascetics or hermits a common reference record for their serious study of the words of God. 

Jerome went to Bethlehem for the Hebrew texts for his translation of the Old testament and to the Greek for his translation of the New Testament. Nonetheless he counselled with many experts, scholar and rabbis to gain their opinions before he began his translations. This work of Jerome served as the standard scriptures for the Catholic Church until its revision, called Sixto-Clement Project in 1592, under Pope Clement VIII.

Books included in the original Vulgate are those found in many translations of the Bible today, plus the following:
Tobias (or Tobit)
Judith
Wisdom (or Wisdom of Solomon)
Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach)
Baruch
Letter of Jeremiah
Additions to Daniel: Song of the Three Children, Story of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon
1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees
Apocrypha: Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras

Apocrypha

The word Apocrypha means “doubtful authorship”. Jerome was of course faced with the huge and difficult problem of what to accept as authentic Holy Scripture and what to reject as Apocrypha, or not authentic. Even some of the texts which he accepted into his New Latin Scriptures Edition, were cut out by scholars when it was revisited 1200 years later at the Council of Trent in 1563 

Alcuin Bible

When Charlemagne came to power in the late 8th Century, he appointed Alcuin, the greatest teacher England had produced to that date, to revise the Vulgate. Over the years soppy copying and other “gross blunders” had crept into the many wide-spread copies resulting in non- uniformity. The corrections were mostly minor and Alcuin’s Bible, as it became known, was a genuine attempt to bring the texts back to the purity of the works of Jerome.

Paris Bible

Before the 13th century, Bibles were typically produced in multiple volumes. It simply could not be written in a single tome due to its size and the materials used. However, with the rise of universities and the demand for copies of the Bible, a system was developed by Stephen Langton who taught at the Paris University. It allowed the entire Bible to be produce in a carriable-size single book. This was accomplished by organizing the individual books of the Bible into chapters, while showing them in double columns on each page. The heading on the top of the pages indicated which book was being viewed. This volume became known as the Paris Pocket Bible and became the standard format for manuscripts throughout Europe. Mass-produced, this single volume version ranks as one of the most important developments in the history of the Bible. It introduced many of the format elements of the Bible that are still in use today.

Wycliffe Bible 

There was great opposition to the Bible being printed in the language of the common people. The Church had total power over the lives of the people. First by the military authority of the Emperor and secondly through threats of eternal damnation through the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Pope.

The reasoning was founded on the belief that it was the Church, through the Pope or Priest, who determined a man’s salvation. But if the people possessed the power and knowledge which comes from the truth in the Bible, and sufficient literacy to read it for themselves, they could look to salvation through Christ and bypass the clergy altogether.

The motivation of the translators was not a struggle for power. Rather they wished that every man could have the knowledge to find his own salvation through the reading of the words of Christ in his own language

A group of men banded together under the direction of John Wycliffe between 1382 – 1395. Known as the Lollards, this group of pre-reformation protesters rejected many of the Catholic teachings. At the time most people could not read and therefore had only a minimal knowledge of the Bible. Even that was gleaned through what was orally read to them from the pulpit by Priests. Wycliffe worked from the Latin Vulgate to make an English translation. Though not authorized, this Bible became very popular. But Wycliffe paid for its creation with his life. Burned at the stake, his remains were later exhumed and thrown into the river.

There were two versions of Wycliffe’s translations. The first was made while he was alive. The second is a revision of the first made ten to twelve years later by John Purvey, another member of the Lollard’s group. These translated versions did not have much effect upon the efforts of the later translators, because of the fact he had used the Vulgate from which to translate instead of going back to the Hebrew and Greek texts. But the efforts of Wycliffe and Purvey did help ignite the flames of the reformation and set the stage for the later King James translation of the Bible.

Gutenberg Bible

The Gutenberg Bible was the first bible to be produced using the newly-invented Gutenberg printing press.The printing of the first Bible in the 1450’s was a big event. While it was not the first book printed, it was the first major printing of any book in Europe. Whereas books had taken years to laboriously write or copy by hand, Gutenberg was able to produce 180 copies in 3 years. That is 60 a year or 5 per month, which is more than 1 per week. Each double sheet had 42 lines per page. To do this production, he used movable metal type. This set off an explosion of printed material which could be cheaply, mass produced and quickly distributed to an audience of hungry, eager and waiting people.

Erasmus Bible

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) was a scholar and contemporary of Martin Luther. Instead of taking sides with either the Catholic Church or the reformer Martin Luther, he condemned them both with equal intensity. Erasmus’ intention was to make a collation between the Greek and Latin texts and in the process translated the first Greek translation of the New Testament.
– His first edition unified the Greek and Latin traditions.
– His second edition was used by Martin Luther for his translation of the Bible in the German language.
– His third edition was used by William Tyndale in his first translation of the Bible into English.
– His Fourth edition included a translation of Revelations.

– His fifth, published in Latin was quickly translated into many other languages.

In 1550 Robert Stephanus (also known as Robert Estienne) printed a version of the  Erasmus text with a critical apparatus (showing variant readings in various manuscripts) which proved invaluable to scholars and future translators alike.

Luther Bible (1522-1534)

It was Martin Luther’s goal to enable every German speaking Christian to read the Bible in his own language. Using the translation of Erasmus, second Edition, Luther translated directly into German without reference to the Latin Vulgate.

To Romans 3: 28, Luther added the word “alone”. This rendered the thought as follows: “Man is justified without the help of the works of the law, alone by faith.” It actually reflected what most translators of his time believed. 

He was contemptuous of the Books of Esther, Hebrews, James, Jude and the Revelations of John. But these influences of his translation were perhaps unintentional.

Most of the Germanic tribes spoke their own dialect and could not communicate with each other. The German language that he employed raised the level of language German people spoke and was a unifying force upon them as a German people nationally. He not only broke the dominance of the Catholic Church but influenced the translations of Tyndale and Coverdale.

Tyndale Translations 1530-35

While Tyndale did not produce a Bible as such, he did translate the entire New Testament and 50% of the Old Testament from Greek and Hebrew texts and had them mass produced and distributed before he was executed. As a result, these translations were used by John Rogers and Myles Coverdale. to publish the book under the pseudonym Matthew Bible. In addition, it was Tyndale’s translations that influenced every English translation that occurred thereafter.

Tyndale’s last words were in a prayer that God “Would open the King of England’s eyes” which was of course, what happened, evidenced by the printing of the Matthew Bible shortly thereafter.

Coverdale Bible

Printed by Myles Coverdale in 1535, it became the first complete English translation of the Bible. Using translations of Tyndale, Martin Luther, and his original translations from the Vulgate, the publication received official Royal consent making it also the first translation of the Bible in English to receive such distinction.

Matthew Bible 

Printed in 1537 by John Rogers under the pseudonym “ Thomas Matthew”, it contained the New Testament as translated into English by William Tyndale and as much of the Old Testament as he had been able to translate before he was burned at the stake, and the translations of Myles Coverdale from German and Latin. It also contained the Apocrypha, except the Prayer of Manasseh. 

Thus, the Matthew Bible forms a vital link in the history of the Bible’s translation into English. It was the work of three individuals, working from different sources and in different languages. Both John Rogers and William Tyndale were burned at the Stake while Myles Coverdale was employed by Thomas Cromwell to work on the Great Bible of 1539 and was thus spared.

Much of this work was used for the compiling of the King James Version and it was William Tyndale’s beautiful and masterful use of the English language that we treasure as we quote his epic phrases from our current King James Bible. 

The Great Bible

So called, because of its size. King Henry the VII ordered such a copy of The Great Bible to be set up in each English Church in 1539, to be read in services and to be accessed and read by its parishioners. It was chained so that it could not be carried away. The first authorized English version of the Bible, it contained the words of Tyndale so far as he had able to complete his translations into English (The same Tyndale who had been burned at the stake for his translations which were now to bring him fame.) The untranslated balance, including the Apocrypha, was translated by Myles Coverdale from the Latin Vulgate and German sources. It is also sometimes referred to as Cromwell’s Bible or Cranmer’s Bible (after Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury) because of Cranmer’s notation in the preface in the book.

Geneva Bible 

Under the reign of Queen Mary I, a group of Protestant scholars fled to Geneva to avoid persecution. Led by William Wittingham, the group consisted of such men as  Myles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman, Thomas Sampson, William Coby and Anthony Gilby, began another English translation that would become known as the Geneva Bible. Wittingham focused on the New Testament and Gilby on the Old Testament.

The tone of the translation was much more assertive and forceful. In the margins was an elaborate system of commentary and notes. There were study aids: Maps, illustrations, indexes of names and topics, tables and an introduction before each chapter. It was also more affordable and of convenient size.

One of the illustrations of Adam and Eve showed Adam with an Elizabethan mustache and goatee. When Adam and Eve discovered their nakedness, it reported they made “breeches” to cloth themselves. This of course was later corrected by changing the word to “aprons”. Despite these humorous anachronisms the book’s popularity soon swept away the Great Bible when it was finally allowed into England in 1579.

Bishop’s Bible

Citing excuses such as the notes and comments of the Geneva Bible, which they detested, the Bishops complained it was too Pro-Calvinistic. In addition, they objected because the Great Bible had been partially translated from the Vulgate rather than the original Hebrew and Greek, which rendered it “severely deficient”.

As a result, the High Church Bishops of the Church of England began a move to make and circulate their own version of the Bible. In 1568 the Church of England gave its authority for them to do so. The version became known as the Bishop’s Bible. After a great deal of kerfuffle, tinkering and jiggering, their finished product still resembled The Great Bible. Their arguments didn’t achieve their aims and the end product was equally unconvincing. 

The Bishop’s Bible failed to replace the Geneva Bible with all its aids, notes, comments, illustrations and chapter introductions. These were the very things that appealed to the many faithful who were becoming familiar with the Bible for the first time. The Bishop’s Bible was not reprinted and was replaced by the new King James Version in a few short years.

Douay-Rheims Bible 

In the face of mounting pressure from the Protestant reformation, an attempt was made by English exiles to a college in Douai, France, to fortify English Catholics in upholding their own faith. A translation of the Vulgate into English was published 1592. Called the Rheims-Douay Bible it underwent a correlation with the Bishop’s Bible. Then in 1610, because of the heavy Latin context, a New Version was made by Bishop Richard Challoner taking the King James Version as its base. Further Revision was done by Bernard McMahon between 1783- 1810 in Dublin. 

McMahon’s version is the source of the modern generation of translations such as: 
The Jerusalem Bible
New American Bible Revised Edition
Revised Standard Edition
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Douay-Rheims Bible is still the Bible of choice of most traditional, English-speaking Catholics today.

King James Bible 1611

When James the VI of Scotland, became James I of England, upon the death of Queen Elizabeth, he inherited a Kingdom that resembled a spent battlefield of religious wars between Protestants and Catholics. Competitors and dissidents, even their favored versions of scriptures, meant to be the source of guidance to peace and understanding, were contested or rejected, flaunted or slandered. There seemed to be no common ground. James instinctively recognized that if he was to rule at all he would have to first untie this Gordian Knot. The Puritans were threatening to form a new country, the Protestants were in favour of exterminating all Catholics, the Royalists decreed Kings were meant to rule by Biblical sanction and would not accept any concession of their position The Catholics smouldered with bitter hatred since their demise under Queen Elizabeth I and longed for their repatriation. The scriptures they favoured were symbolic icons of their differences, so when it was suggested at the first council of religious leaders in 1603 that a new Bible should be created which united them all, James seized upon the idea as the solution.

Brilliantly, King James commissioned 54 or so of the top religious scholars, drawn from the ranks of all the contesting groups, except the Catholics. They had been pushed from their favored position thanks to Queen Elizabeth’s rival to the throne,  Mary Queen of Scots, and because of the carnage “Bloody Mary” had inflicted on England in the name of the Catholic faith, they would not be granted an opportunity to repeat it again.

The selected scholars were divided into 6 groups and each was given a section of the Bible to focus on. Drawing on all the resources and previous translations now in their possession, the task took eight years before the restrictions in their mandate had been met. 
1/ No bothersome notes were in the margins.
2/ A clearly understood, common-use language was employed. 
3/ The text was accurate.
4/ It embodied the responsibilities inherent in the calling of mortal kings, making them answerable to God.
5/ It had appeal to all ranks of society from the highest to the lowest.
6/ It would stand as THE word of God unto Man. 

In all it was possessed of only one gross error, it was shot through with spelling and clerical mistakes. The most glaring of all caused it to be given the nickname of “The Wicked Bible” because a reference in Exodus 20; 14 omitted the word “not“  from the seventh commandment. It read as follows: “Thou shalt commit adultery.”

While it amused most readers, the printers were heavily fined. 

The King James Version did not become the most popular Bible overnight. Many continued to read the Geneva Bible because of it aids, maps and commentary. The Bishop’s Bible, while favoured by the Bishops, had far too many Latin words for the common man to understand, so it presented no competition at all. Yet by the late 1600’s the King James Version had just about replaced all other versions. Most of the translations used were from William Tyndale – he who was so tragically and cruelly put to death for his never-failing determination to make the Bible available to everyone. The King James Version has been edited and revised several times, including in 1769, 1881, 1901and 1952.

After these many years, it still remains the most published book in the English language and has become embedded in the English language. It has been termed “the greatest monument to English prose” and praised for its simplicity, its dignity, its power, its happy turns of expression, the music of its cadences and the felicities of its rhythms.”

It was complicit in the uniting of all English-speaking nations including the Americas. We owe its compilers and translators an immense debt of gratitude and appreciation. It must be a great sense of satisfaction for each of them to know that through their work, words and sacrifices God spoke to their fellow men — in their day and continuing still even today.

Chapter 11: The Dead Sea Scrolls

Part 2: From Apostates to Apostles

The Dead Sea Scrolls are the wave of records to come forth “out of the dust”. Discovered in 1947 by some Bedouin shepherds who were climbing the hills by the Dead Sea while tending their goats, it wasn’t too long before everyone was combing the hills around Qumran to cash in on the money archaeologists were willing to pay for even the smallest scrap of parchment. Along the journey from discovery to publication, many precious records were lost to underground dealers and treasure hunters before a committee was formed to protect and preserve the discoveries, and to legitimize the appraisal and translating process of the over 800 documents discovered – so far.

Even now, the world has yet to know the extent of what had been uncovered. An elite and secretive group of religious scholars managed to acquire authority over the translation and printing of any of the materials and has held them from the world. For forty years, they were successfully able to deny anyone accept themselves permission to have access to the scrolls or even photograph them. That monopoly was broken in 1991 when the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) took control of the project. Since then a tsunami of scrolls and texts have been released to an amazed and confused public. With the publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the knowledge regarding the conditions surrounding Christianity in its infancy during the first Century, has been greatly enhanced.

Included in the scrolls and texts are the following:
The Book of Isaiah
Community Rules
Habakkuk
War Scroll
Thanksgiving Hymn
Genesis
Testimony of Levi
Exodus
Leviticus
Deuteronomy
Judges
Samuel
Ezekiel
Psalms
Micah
Zephaniah
Jubilees
Words of Moses
The Three Tongues of Fire
New Jerusalem
Festival Prayers
Daniel
Job
Ruth
2 and 3 Apocrypha of Daniel
Apocrypha of Moses
Apocrypha Prophecies
Book of Giants
Enoch
Temple Scrolls
Copper Scrolls

(See them at: https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/featured-scrolls)

One of the most fascinating questions about the scrolls is the question, who exactly hid them? Uncovering who these people were, what they believed, and why they buried their records, provides a whole new frame of reference in which to understand and appreciate the scrolls themselves.

Known today as the Qumran community, the excavation of their city ruins was started shortly after the discovery of the scrolls. Slowly, there emerged evidence of a group of faithful Jews who can be best described as “Messianic elite.” They had separated themselves from the evil of their fellow men to purify themselves in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah. For some considerable time (some experts have placed their existence from 200 B.C. to 70 A.D.), they had inhabited desert camps where they were literally expecting to be joined by “Heavenly Hosts”. 

Theories abound regarding the origin of the inhabitants. For instance, they were Zealots because they could easily have been part of or the same group who eventually were besieged and met their end at Masada. Or Essenes, Sadducee or Jewish Christians. Regardless, they had established a very pious community just fifteen miles from Jerusalem, calling themselves “saints”. With strict rules of membership, their organization was founded by a leader whose name is never mentioned but who is referred to in the scrolls as the “Teacher of Righteousness”, the mouthpiece of God. He was evidence that the “last days” or the “end of times” of that epoch was upon them. All the prophecies of Habakkuk, Micah, Haggai and Zechariah were about to be fulfilled. After the death of the first Righteous Leader, every prophet after him was called by the same title. They practised baptism (total immersion), the use of the Urim and Thummin is mentioned, and names such as Bishop, The Twelve and Priesthood are referenced. 

The effect of the Dead Sea Scrolls upon the teachings of traditional Churches has so far been very minimal. Still, much information has been gleaned. Prior to their discovery, scholars used medieval texts as their references. Now the Dead Sea Scrolls provide writings penned 1000 years earlier. With this new resource, much has been learned about the transition period between the Old and New Testaments, along with the history of various Christian religious sects of the first century. We have learned about their ancient scribal practices, and their inclusion of notes in the texts. With the exception of the Book of Esther, every other Old Testament Book is represented in findings from the caves of Qumran. Other Apocryphal records have also been discovered including Tobit (or Tobias), Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus), Letter of Jeremiah, Baruch, Enoch and  The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, along with the Gospel of Thomas.

The people responsible for hiding and preserving the Dead Sea Scrolls have marked similarities with the people who recorded The Book of Mormon:

1/ Both left their communities and went into the dessert to avoid the evil and corruption of their societies.
2/ Both believed the judgment of God was about to fall on their peoples.
3/ Both strictly obeyed the Law of Moses.
4/ Both followed a righteous spiritual leader
5/ Both leaders had the Priesthood of God.
6/ Both required baptism by immersion for new followers.
7/ Both waited for the imminent coming of their Messiah.
8/ Both kept records of their experiences, which became scriptures.
9/ Both buried these records to come forth in the latter days.

Both groups show that God speaks to more “other sheep” than previously thought. These groups also recorded God’s words and regarded them as scriptures. A comparison of their records serve to show the drift by modern day traditional churches in their understanding of God from how it was understood during that earlier time.

The Law of Moses required two witnesses to bear testimony for a statement to be considered as authentic. The Book of Mormon (the record of the house of Joseph) and the Bible (the record of the house of Judah) in fact fulfill not only that requirement but also the prophecy of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 37: 16, 19  explains as the two sticks (scrolls or records) witnessing the truth of the Gospel come together in the hands of the people they shall reunite and rebuild their two kingdoms into one mighty nation.

Ezekiel 37: 15- 22
The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions;
And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and cone king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:

SUMMARY

Since the end of persecutions of the first century to the middle of the 16th century, the scriptures remained a sealed book. Written in a language spoken by a select few and access to its pages controlled, it remained locked to the very people it had been written to serve. 

Only after many brave and inspired men gave their lives and their liberty, did the holders of the records begin to grudgingly give up their priceless treasures. The translators, the reformers and the teachers all paid a high price for the scripture’s redemption before the words of those books could fill the world with their glorious messages of faith, hope and salvation. 

Today the Bible is printed in more than 200 languages and is distributed to every nation in the Free World to prepare God’s people for the time when the Savior shall return to claim them. Then every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. 

Today many Christian churches have turned off their lights and closed their doors while millions of their members have gone home with hearts that have waxed cold. Nonetheless, the light and truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and is going forth like described Nebuchadnezzar’s dream which Daniel interrupted as follows:

Daniel 2: 44 – 45
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Today, we bear our witness that the Book of Mormon is a “record of the people of Nephi and also the Lamanites. Written to the Lamanites who are a remnant of the house of Israel: and also to the Jew and Gentile”, containing the message to the house of Joseph and the house of Judah. Its express purpose is to bring them and their fellows, the House of Israel, together to their promised Messiah, even Jesus Christ. 

We witness to the world that these prophecies are being fulfilled and will continue to unfold until the Savior himself appears and ushers in his millennial reign. 

Chapter 12: Bringing forth the Ancient Record Called the Book of Mormon

Part 2: From Apostates to Apostles 

New Testament: John 10: 16
“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring , and they shall hear my voice : and there shall be one fold and one shepherd”

Book of Mormon: 3 Nephi 15: 11-17, 19-24
“And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words, he said unto those twelve whom he had chosen: Ye are my disciples; and ye are a blight unto this people, who are a remnant of the house of Joseph.
And behold, this is the land of your inheritance; and the Father hath given it unto you.
And not at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell it unto your brethren at Jerusalem.
Neither at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell unto them concerning the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out of the land.
This much did the Father command me, that I should tell unto them:
That other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
But, verily, I say unto you that the Father hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you.
And verily, I say unto you again that the other tribes hath the Father separated from them; and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of them.
And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching.
And they understood me not that I said they shall hear my voice; and they understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice—that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost.
But behold, ye have both heard my voice, and seen me; and ye are my sheep, and ye are numbered among those whom the Father hath given me.”

Two of the most astounding discoveries that have occurred in recent time has been the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Both these records were different from all other discoveries in the sense they had been deliberately buried by a group of people who were witnessing the destruction of their civilizations and were determine to preserve their records so that they would come forth in the future and be a guide and direction for those living in the last days. 

Both accounts laid hidden for centuries to come forth untouched, in their purity. Consequently, they were protected from the tampering and tinkering of scribes and religious scholars who might have bend or distort the writings to comply with ever-changing philosophies. 

One may wonder why these ancient writings remained hidden for so long. The loss of the true gospel of Christ had been the cause of religious intolerance, persecution and bloodshed. The world needed a reformation for centuries. Instead, history reveals the records remained in the hands of a few who used them as an instrument of power and control. With so little direct access to scriptures, for all intents and purposes, they remained a sealed book written in languages only the rich and educated could read.

The world had to wait until a time when favourable conditions would allow the records to emerge without the threat of them – and those who believed their words — being destroyed.

The first of these favourable conditions was the weakening of the controlling power of the Catholic Church. Martin Luther was able to survive where other reformers had been executed for challenging the authority of Rome. This opened the door for others to follow.

The second was Political freedom. In all cases in the European theatre, Monarchs and Kings determined which Church was the authorized representative of God, which Bible was to be used and in which language it would be read. Each made its own creed and any persons who failed to show obedience to these decrees would suffer severe penalties. And it was there, in the wild frontier of 19th century New England, that old and new intermingled. Settlers from the old country brought their traditional and reformed faiths. Many were based upon the doctrines established by Augustine. Confessions, obedience to the Pope and priest, the Holy Trinity, everlasting punishment, salvation for some, damnation for others. Those that died could expect to dwell in Heaven or Hell, saved through grace alone, or condemned to the burning of everlasting fires.

It was not until America was discovered and settled, and a New Constitution written that the opportunity to set up the restored gospel became a reality. Only in such a time could new ideologies be brought forth with a hope of surviving. Here, at last, was the freedom to choose for one’s self and not suffer death for religious expression.

The young American Nation was the most favourable place in the world at that time for the lost Gospel of Christ to be restored. Yet even with that freedom, the price was high, and tolerance low, for bringing about the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, as Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum discovered. They paid with their lives, while those who followed suffered banishment.

The Book of Mormon covers about 1000-year period (from 600 BC to 400 AD) of the history of a specific civilization in ancient America. At that point their civilization was wiped out.

Joseph Smith, a farm boy in upper State New York, was directed by God to go a hill not far from his parent’s property, where records of that ancient civilization had been deposited by its last surviving prophet.

Engraved on plates (flattened gold sheets), the record was comprised of 15 main divisions or books. Joseph Smith translated the writings despite having little formal education and absolutely no experience in any language other than the American Frontier English.

Joseph attributes the astonishing achievement of translating the gold plates to assistance he received from God, which included the use of “seerer stones” also called the Urim and Thummin. (In Hebrew the term means “light and perfection”.) An instrument prepared of God to assist man in obtaining revelation from the Lord, references to their existence anciently can be found in Exodus 28: 30, Leviticus 8:8, Numbers 27: 21, Deuteronomy 33: 8, 1Samuel 28: 6, Ezra 2: 63 and Nehemiah 7: 65. 

Joseph Smith was not a scholar or philosopher. In the process of translating the record, restoring the Priesthood and organizing Christ’s Church, Joseph had many questions. He wrote down the answers he received, and they were eventually published in a book called the Doctrine and Covenants. Along with instructions regarding the restoration of Christ’s Church and Priesthood, Joseph was also given information about the application of principles, rules and the commandments.

Of interest to us all is the differences of doctrinal understanding between traditional Christian Churches and that of Joseph’s translation of the ancient record and his modern revelation – which have subsequently been carried on through the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints. The following list outlines many of those differences. Although it is quite extensive, it is by no means complete.

1/ The necessity of a living prophets and continuous revelation from God.
2/ The concept of a plan of salvation whereby mankind may qualify for salvation.
3/ The concept of personal progression which began before this earth life.
4/ The knowledge that man is co- eternal with God: Man did not come into existence at the time of his earthly biological birthday.
5/ The knowledge that we are literal children of a Heavenly Father and Mother.
6/ The knowledge that there are necessary ordinances for salvation instituted by God — but they of themselves will
not save us. Instead these ordinances are part of process that will, through the testing of our obedience, bring us closer to Christ and help us become more like his character.
7/ All of God’s commandments, laws and ordinances are for the eternal growth of mankind and not for the punishment or the penalizing of his children.
8/ God is a loving and patient parent whose “work and glory is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of mankind.”
9/ The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages. The Father and the Son have bodies of flesh, as we have, but the Holy Ghost is a being of spirit matter.
10/ Men will be punished for their own sins and not the sins of Adam and Eve. (See: Article of Faith 2)
11/ God speaks through prophets and reveals his will through them for the salvation of his children. As in days past, he speaks to his chosen prophets today and will always do so unless we become disobedient and reject his prophets. In which case, God will withdraw his spirit, and miracles will cease. 
12/ When God speaks to his prophets, they are commanded to record what he says. These records are called scriptures. All such scriptures are for our edification and are considered binding. We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal and that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. (See: Article of Faith 9)
13/ Part of the great work for the salvation of mankind is the work done in the God’s temples. There, all ordinances necessary for the salvation of man can be done, for one’s self as well as for those who have died before hearing the gospel. Work is done by proxy for those who for one reason or another were unable to do this important work for themselves.

The mandate given to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and its followers is to go throughout the world and bring the message of the restoration of these truths to all persons of all nations. (See Matthew 28: 19-20) As a result, the Church’s population has grown from a handful in 1830 to over 16 million in 2016. This is still a small percentage of the world’s population. Obviously so much has yet to be done before we see the time when “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ.”

Over 80,000 missionaries are voluntarily fulfilling this mandate throughout the world today as witnesses and examples to the truthfulness of this divine message. They invite all to come unto Christ.

Doug Garrett