LDS Sunday School OT Lesson 35

01 April

old-testament-gospel-doctrine-teachers-manual-35570000When my kids were little we were avid fans of the show “America’s Funniest Videos”.  As the show portrays time and again the disastrous results of some of the things people thought were novel ideas you can’t help but watch the outcome of their soon to be calamities.

That’s what it was like when I opened the link to get a quick idea about this lesson.  Its title told me it’s a train wreck waiting to happen and there’s disaster written all over it.

God Reveals His Secrets to His Prophets

The lesson opens up with and is built upon two passages of scripture that are vitally important for Christians to understand where the Mormons are coming from; Amos and Joel. Joseph Smith was adamant these two passages were talking about him specifically.

Amos 3:6-7; “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? 7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets”.

Joel 2:28-29; “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit”.

After explaining why it was important that Joseph change two words in the Amos passage above they were reminded the Joseph Smith Translation was an example of how God reveals his secrets to his servants.  There was little to no historical value shared about anything going on in Israel at the time or why the Lord had chosen these two men. Their messages of hope and warning were overshadowed by one person – Joseph Smith.

No mention is made of how Joel symbolically used the locust invasion to warn Israel of the Assyrians who’d be marching in to destroy Israel. Neither was there any meat to Amos’ warning of a spiritual famine because it all led back once again to Joe.

They were then reminded of how important it is to listen to the prophet today and asked if they could tell a stranger what the prophet had recently said.

After those bullet points were covered they’re instructed to sing “We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet” and to share something in their lives on how the prophet’s words had helped them personally.

All this reminded me of my experience in East Berlin back in the ‘80’s.  Communism was still alive and well during my last visit there and one thing struck me while on that visit.  It felt like I was back in Utah.  Everyone had the same look on their face and no one made eye contact as I walked past and smiled. They all seemed to be in some sort of daze with a glazed look over their eyes masking their true identity.

The prophecies of Amos and Joel are remarkable when you look at and accept they’re from God!!  The promise of hope for the people that God won’t leave them is written all over their warnings even though they had to deliver the messages of upcoming doom.

Sadly for the Mormons they’ve believed the lies of a false prophet who’s taken them down a road of idolatry much like the Israelites did when they were worshiping their own set of false gods.

Pray that when they’re in that class they don’t check their brains in at the door before they sit down to go through this one.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

1 Cor 1:18

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