Demonic & Ungodly Names in the Book of Mormon 4

12 April

demonic-names-in-the-book-of-mormon1There are many doctrinal issues that must be looked at when someone’s leaving Mormonism. For me the last thing I wanted to accept in my heart is that my beloved heritage would subject itself and the members to anything spiritually degrading and demonic.

In light of that it never occurred to me as a Mormon the names in the Book of Mormon were in such opposition to what the Lord has shown us in His word. My discovery came about after my exodus while studying a few points on Masonry for an article I was writing for Ed Decker at Saints Alive.

I recognized one of the names in Masonry was also in the Book of Mormon and it began an investigation that opened my eyes beyond what I’d ever thought or imagined when it came to the spiritual problems within Mormonism.

As I read over the names used in the Book of Mormon from its index I compared them with names in the Bible and discovered the trickery Joseph Smith had employed. I found no less than fifty-seven names in the Bible that referred to foreign gods, people, places or things that had been changed by Smith to represent something other than what God described to us.

On the heels of my discovery I wrote about three of those names and after it was published I received requests to share more of what I had found.  This is the fourth installment and this time around we’re looking at four items.  Links for the other three articles are provided at the end.

Above all else I pray that when a Mormon reads this they’ll look up the information for themselves and seek to know the truth.

I publish these things not out of animosity or to bash the Mormon people. On the contrary, my heart hurts for them and they deserve to have the truth presented to them in a manner that glorifies the Lord!!

With Love in Christ;

Michelle Grim

Aminadab

Book of Mormon Aminadab

Helaman 5:36, 38-41; “And it came to pass that he turned him about, and behold, he saw through the cloud of darkness the faces of Nephi and Lehi; and behold, they did shine exceedingly, even as the faces of angels. And he beheld that they did lift their eyes to heaven; and they were in the attitude as if talking or lifting their voices to some being whom they beheld. 38 And they said unto the man: Behold, what do all these things mean, and who is it with whom these men do converse? 39 Now the man’s name was Aminadab. And Aminadab said unto them: They do converse with the angels of God. 40 And it came to pass that the Lamanites said unto him: What shall we do, that this cloud of darkness may be removed from overshadowing us? 41 And Aminadab said unto them: You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.”

Commentary on the Book of Mormon Vol 5: pg 217-218; “Now, among the crowd was a Nephite dissenter, an apostate from the true Church, named Aminadab. This man, happening to turn his face in the direction where the two prophets stood, beheld that their faces shone with a glorious light and that they were conversing with someone who appeared to be above them, for their eyes were turned Heavenward.”

Ark_of_the_Covenant_19th-centuryBiblical Amminadab

Aaron’s father-in-law

Exodus 6:23; “And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.” 

Father of Nahshon, who led tribe of Judah in the wilderness

Num. 1:7; “Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.” 

Ancestor of David

Ruth 4:19; “And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab.” 

Ancestor of Jesus

Matt. 1:4; “And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon.”

Luke 3:33; “Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda.”

Head of a family of Levites

1 Chron. 15:10; “Of the sons of Uzziel; Amminadab the chief, and his brethren an hundred and twelve.”

Helped carry the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem

1 Chron. 15:11-15; “And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, 12 And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. 13 For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order. 14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. 15 And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD.”

The Aminadab in the Book of Mormon was a Nephite dissenter who had aligned himself with the Lamanites and became a guard at one of their prisons.

In our text example above we read how Lehi, who supposedly died between 588-570 BC and Nephi, who died circa 544 BC, shows up as spirits to talk to people. Aminadab supposedly said these things circa 30 BC, long after both Nephi and Lehi had died.

This means Aminadab was a participant in necromancy by telling the crowd they should talk to the “voice”, meaning the dead men Lehi and Nephi, so the dark cloud would go away.

The Bible strictly forbids talking to dead people – the story of the witch Endor and King Saul is one example in 1 Sam 28:10-14 and then we see how Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke 16:19-31 there is a schism in heaven preventing anyone from coming here to talk to people.

Also take note of what it says in the Torah which contains the Law. In Deuteronomy we find that God abhors the act of participating in this sort of behavior. In this text it also mentions that we’re to avoid having our sons or daughters to pass through fire which is something the Ammonites were known to do for their foreign god Mulek.

Why were these Nephite people surrounded by fire?

Deut. 18:9-12; “When thou art come into the 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.”

Once again this shows how Joseph Smith took the name of a person, place or thing (this time a person), changed the identity and produced a story for the Book of Mormon.

You can see this in our examples from the Bible I’ve listed above that gives us clear and definitive descriptions of a few different people with the name “Aminadab”. Each of them were busy going about the business and work of God and not participating in the abominable things God warns us not to do.

When you look at the history of the Book of Mormon names for various subjects we’ve found that Smith has taken those names and twisted the stories around to confuse the Mormon people.

This example shows how Aminadab went against God and led people into necromancy which is forbidden by God, but in the Book of Mormon this is supposedly an approved behavior. The Bible doesn’t allow this in any shape or form whatsoever.

Instead of using stories in the Bible to point to God, Smith once again exchanged the truth for a lie. Romans 1:20-25.

Ethem

Book of Mormon Ethem

Ether 11:11; “And Ethem, being a descendant of Ahah, did obtain the kingdom; and he also did do that which was wicked in his days.”

Biblical Ethem

Exodus 13:20; “And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.”

Numbers 33:6-8; “And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. 7 And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they pitched before Migdol. 8 And they departed from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.”

In this example of how Joseph Smith changes names and meanings of people, places and things we’re taking a look at Ethem or Etham.

Now biblically speaking, Etham was the second or third stop for the Israelites after they fled Egypt. In a few bible dictionaries the name “Etham” is referred to as “fortress”. While the exact location isn’t known most scholars agree it was pretty close to the Red Sea and most probably the city of Pithom.

I looked at Easton’s Bible Dictionary, Smith’s Bible Dictionary, Holman’s Bible Dictionary, Fausset’s Bible Dictionary, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Old Testament, Illustrated Dictionary and Concordance of the Bible, from the publisher of G.G., The Jerusalem Publishing House and Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.

Of course this isn’t the story Joseph Smith would want you to know about so he created a new one for the Book of Mormon. In the story about the Jaredites, Ethem was an evil king.

The Dictionary of the Book of Mormon describes him this way;

“A wicked king of the later Jaredites, living, most probably, in the eighth century before Christ. He was the son and sucessor of Ahah. In Ethem’s days, many prophets came and prophesied that unless the Jaredites repented the Lord would utterly destroy them from the earth. But the people hardened their hearts and repented not; and the prophets mourned over their depravity and withdrew from among them. Ethem was as his people, and did wickedly all his days; and when he died he was succeeded by his son Moron, who was like unto his father.”

Smith’s use of the name is another example of how he chose to take the focus from God’s word and then utilized it to confuse members of the Church.  I say this because of the number of incidents we find in the Book of Mormon who “coincidentally” carries the same name, but with a different meaning.  If this had taken place a few times or even a dozen times it really wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

However, as I mentioned earlier I found 57 names of people, places and things in the Book of Mormon that have been changed to mean something other than what the Bible has said. Many of those times, the name of an evil person in the Bible has been used to define a righteous, God-fearing man or the name of a holy person in the Bible is used as an evil city in the Book of Mormon.  When used in this manner along with the repetitive words such as “and it came to pass” it’s easy to see Smith’s true intentions.

In the Bible we have maps of cities, writings and shards of clay with writings showing what was going on and sometimes we even have archaeological finds like the Gate of Ishtar. Nothing like this has ever been given to show any evidence the Book of Mormon is true.  Nothing.

Lehi

Book of Mormon Lehi

1 Nephi 1:4; “For it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, (my father, Lehi, having dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days); and in that same year there came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem must be destroyed.”

Map-Ancient-Near-EastBiblical Lehi

Judges 15:14; “And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.”

The story of an unknown Israelite by the name of Lehi makes his appearance right off the bat in the Book of Mormon.

Supposedly this unknown Israelite from the tribe of Manasseh is a prophet of God from Jerusalem in 600 BC just like Jeremiah. And while Jeremiah was warning the people to stay put because hard times were a-coming, Lehi on the other hand, told his sons and daughters and a few family friends to start packing their bags because they were going to a new “Promised Land” known as America.

And just as the stories of the prophets differed from each other, so do the stories of the name Lehi.

In the Bible Lehi is a place name meaning chin or jawbone. It’s the place/city where Samson slew more than 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. Judges 15:16-17;

“And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. 17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi.”

Lehi, Israel is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Jerusalem.

Interestingly enough (or not) when archaeologists began an excavation in 2005 of a collapsed area, the discovery of a cavern was made while looking for artifacts.

A mosaic from roughly 600 BC was found depicting a ship sailing on the waters. There are no descriptions of what the ship is named or where it’s going so it could be a story about a ship on the Sea of Galilee for all we know. As you can imagine the LDS Church has tried to draw parallels between this cavern and the Book of Mormon story of Lehi.

Arab folk stories in that area talk of a man by the name of Lehi before the year 500 BC who “just disappeared” from the area.

The parallels that the Church seems to want to draw are based on speculation. There’s no written history of a man by the name of Lehi in the area and if we’re going to draw parallels we need to look at all the evidences provided from antiquity.

The area has been called Lehi because of what Samson did. In Hebrew this word is

lechŒòy,pronounced lekh-ee’. It’s known as the House of Lehi or Beit Lehi.  In this same area by the cavern is also a well. It’s believed this is the spring from which Samson drew water.

I’ve shared this story for a specific purpose. There’s nothing to fear when we trust in the Lord. That’s the first thing to remember. Secondly, whenever something in the world comes up like this my phone will start ringing from new ex-Mormons who begin to panic thinking this is proof the Church is true.

So let’s look at the evidences we have. If by some coincidence there was a man by the name of Lehi who got on a ship and sailed away with his family what does it mean when you look at the Bible?

The Bible tells us that God told Jeremiah to proclaim to the Israelites no one was to leave the area. The Israelites thought that by escaping to Egypt it would secure their safety from the marauding Babylonians. To their horror, they were killed once they got there because the invasion included not only Israel, but Egypt as well.

So that’s the second thing. The Lehi in the Book of Mormon was preaching something other than what God told the people to do in the Bible through His prophet Jeremiah.

The third thing to remember is who the supposed Nephites were worshipping. Their god is not the same god of the Bible the Israelites had been worshipping for more than 4,000 years. Their behavior didn’t reflect that of true Israelites in their worship, their language, nor in their basic living conditions.  (Eating raw meat was strictly forbidden yet they did that as well.)

And the last thing to remember is the lack of evidence. This is one item – a mosaic – in a town called Beit Lehi that was named after the jawbone of a donkey.

Lehi in the Book of Mormon as we just learned, is a story of a man not recorded anywhere in history but the books published by Joseph Smith and the Mormon Church. From the Dictionary of the Book of Mormon it says;

“A Hebrew prophet, of the tribe of Manasseh, whom the Lord called to warn the Jews of their coming captivity in Babylon. Lehi was a man of considerable means, and of good repute among the Jews. He had dwelt in Jerusalem all his life, though, from the influence that the language of the Egyptians appears to have had on him, it is not improbable that he was brought, in some way, in intimate contact with that people. In the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah (B. C. 600), the Lord gave Lehi a number of prophetic dreams and visions, and, in compliance with the admonitions of those manifestations, he went forth among the Jews proclaiming the sorrows that would inevitably be theirs if they did not repent and return to the Lord…

When he reproved them for their wickedness and abominations, they grew angry with him; and when he talked of the coming of the Messiah and the redemption of the world, they mocked him…

When Lehi received the command to depart, he immediately set about fulfilling it, and taking with him his family and such goods and food as he could carry he left the doomed city…”

Here again is another example of how Joseph Smith changed the meaning of a name into something it isn’t. There’s no hard evidence Lehi existed or that he was a prophet in Jerusalem in 600 BC.

What we do know is the way the story of this word “Lehi” has the same history with Joseph Smith that many others do. There’s no proof of its existence and the story opposes what God commanded the Israelites to do.

Ether

Book of Mormon Ether

Ether 1:1-2; “And now I, Moroni, proceed to give an account of those ancient inhabitants who were destroyed by the hand of the Lord upon the face of this north country. 2 And I take mine account from the twenty and four plates which were found by the people of Limhi, which is called the Book of Ether.”

Biblical Ether

Judges 15:20-21, 42; “This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families. 21 And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the coast of Edom. 42 Libnah, and Ether, and Ashan.”

The overall impressions we get from this example are two diametrically opposed descriptions of whom or what Ether is.

In the Bible ‘Ether is a village in Judah.

eh’ther

There’s no extensive information about the city of ‘Ether in the Bible other than it was allotted to Simeon in the Tribal Territory of Judah. Its name has been translated as both “abundant” and “smoke of incense”. See Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and Easton’s Bible dictionary respectively.

Tribal territories of IsraelMost scholars agree it was located in the low country or the lowlands of Judah below Hebron and east of Beersheba which is now Tel Athar. See Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius as well as Nave’s Topical Bible, Faussett’s Bible Dictionary, and Easton’s Bible Dictionary.

For the Mormon, Ether was a prophet who witnessed the final destruction of his people the Jaredites. He supposedly came from a royal bloodline they refer to as “Jared”.

Joseph Smith took the name of Ether and used it as a name for a prophet of the Jaredites who helped build the Tower of Babel, then sailed to America and lived until 590 BC when they were all killed off in a war.

According to Smith, Ether wrote the story of his people on golden plates while living in a cave. At the end of all the battles they (Jaredites) fought, only Ether and one other guy by the name of Coriantumr survived. Ether subsequently buried the plates in the ground in or near Cumorah where they were discovered in 123 BC by the Nephites.

Fast forward to circa 400-421 AD and the last Nephite prophet Moroni decided to take the 24 golden plates written by Ether and make an “abridgement” to them. After doing so, he buried those plates with plates the Nephites had been writing for a thousand years. Ironically, Moroni was the last surviving person of his tribe as well. All other Nephites died off in the wars they fought with the Lamanites.

Dictionary of the Book of Mormon:

Ether

“The last great prophet of the Jaredites, to whom we are indebted for the history of that race, for it is an abridgement of Ether’s writings, made by Moroni…

He lived to record the utter destruction of his people at Ramah, (Cumorah) with the sole exception of Coriantumr, who survived as a witness to the unfailing word of God. We are not told whether Ether died or was translated. We incline, from his own words (Ether 15:33), to the latter opinion. When he had finished his record, he hid the twenty-four golden plates on which it was engraven, in the place in which they were afterwards found by the people of King Limhi (B. C. 123).”

Link for other articles in this series is here.

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One Response to “Demonic & Ungodly Names in the Book of Mormon 4”

  1. Mr.Me October 21, 2015 at 12:36 am #

    The 1800’s were a demonic time considering the fact that many were involving with black magic, witchcraft, kabala, & rituals to summons spirts. & this doesn’t surprise me at at all about the manufactured Book Of Mormon in what Joesph Smith invented simply by learning the cultic systems in Francis Barrett’s book The Magus! Joesph Smith owned a copy of the Magus and even was one of only 13 people to attend Francis Barrett’s class to teach his book!
    I challenge anyone who reads this comment to do the the research and actually read the Magus, however if your LDS just keep in mind that of you research you will with out doubt leave the Church!

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