Ezekiel 13:6-9 “They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. 7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. 9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”

 Helaman 14:20 “But behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.”

Matthew 27:50-53 “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”

Luke 23:44-45 “And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.”

For the next couple of days we’re taking a look at events that took place at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, and comparing them with what Joe Smith wrote down as ‘inspired’ canon.

When I looked over the biblical passages the other day, I read them as I always have, and never thought anything else about it. Afterwards, however, I thought about it again, but this time something gave me pause as I began thinking for a moment about the three major events in these two passages.

Today we’re looking at timing.

Joe Smith claimed the entire earth went dark for three days. That’s quite a stretch from what the Bible says!

First of all, there’s no written documentation anywhere, in any historical records, stating the entire earth went dark for three days at this time. What you’ll find on the internet are boatloads of websites dedicated to the myriad of theories suggesting several apologies for this theory.

However, for the Mormon I repeat, there are no hardcore, evidence filled data portals, containing the needed evidence this actually happened. Nothing. Zero. Zilch.

When you look at historical data, you’ll find several diaries from across the Middle Eastern region of an event that took place at the time of the renowned Egyptian Exodus of the Israelite slaves. Exodus 10:21-23

The books of those who were keeping records at this particular time in history, wrote about the same phenomenon taking place. Total darkness covered the earth for three entire days. The Bible states it was so dark you could actually feel it.

The miracle in the darkness at the time of Jesus’ death comes in the fulfillment of prophecy found in Amos 8:9 –

“And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.”

Either Joe Smith confused the two events, or he purposefully lied about them. In either scenario, it reveals he’s a false prophet. The earth was darkened for three hours, not three days.