36b - "A Bible, We Have Got a Bible and We Need No More Bible" - A Book of Mormon Prophecy is Fulfilled in Our Day!

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TODAY'S THEME



559-545 B.C.2 Nephi: 29: 6 Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?

7 Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?

8 Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. (emphasis added)



The Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon Stand Side by Side -by Greg K. Olsen



As the title of this blog post refers to, "A Bible, We have Got a Bible and We Need No More Bible" is a prophecy made by a Book of Mormon prophet about a commonly held religious bias held by many in our day in the world's history. How did Nephi know this truth? He knew it because he possessed the spirit of prophecy and revelation that allowed him to speak the words of Jesus Christ that had been revealed to him. Jesus knows all there is to know about past, present and future thoughts and actions of all mankind.

TODAY'S THEME is just a portion of the scripture I'd like you to read. The entire chapter 29 of II Nephi was revealed by the pre-mortal Jesus Christ to His prophet Nephi, son of Lehi through the power of His gift of Revelation and Prophecy. This was done sometime during the years: 559 to 545 B.C.

2 Nephi 29:1-14

I would like you to focus on verse 13 of Chapter 29. I will quote it here.

13 And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews. (emphasis added)

We learn from the Lord's words in verse 13, that the Holy Bible, or as He puts it, the "words of the Jews" is only one of the books that contain His holy word. We do now have the Book of Mormon and the Bible which contain His word. We do not yet have the words contained in the books that the lost tribes of Israel wrote.

Now I would like you to read and listen to the chapter that follows the one you just read.


2 Nephi 30:1-18

Thank you for reading and listening also to chapter 30. I'd like to emphasize the first six verses of that chapter by suggesting that you read them again here. With highlighted italics I then will clarify Nephi's words as to how they apply to our day and time.

The resurrected Lord Jesus Christ also prophesied of the re-establishment of His Church in the Latter-days among the Gentiles (non-Israelites) who would have driven their descendants (the Native Americans) from their established lands. He told them that the record of their people from the time they left Jerusalem until there ceased to be prophets among them to continue recording their history, would be an important means of restoring His Gospel in the Latter-days. This of course was to become: The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

2 Nephi 30: 1 AND now behold, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you; for I, Nephi, would not suffer that ye should suppose that ye are more righteous than the Gentiles shall be. For behold, except ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall all likewise perish; and because of the words which have been spoken ye need not suppose that the Gentiles are utterly destroyed.

2 For behold, I say unto you that as many of the Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not repent shall be cast off; for the Lord covenanteth with none save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of Israel.

3 And now, I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and the Gentiles. For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and be written unto the Gentiles, and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed.

4 And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews.

5 And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers.

6 And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and a delightsome people.

I will now call upon the writings of a great "Mormon" scholar, Hugh W. Nibley, Phd. who was on the faculty of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah for many years. He died within the last three or four years.

Hugh W. Nibley, Phd

In a book, "The World and the Prophets" by Dr. Hugh W. Nibley, an expert on the history of early Christianity, (taken from a series of radio lectures he delivered on KSL (Salt Lake City, Utah) Radio in 1954) very astutely (he studied the original documents in their original languages of Greek, Latin and others) points out that those same things the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ warned the Nephites about,

Book of Mormon, 3Nephi 29: 6 Yea, wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost! (emphasis added)

actually also apply directly to the ancient Christian Church and to those churches that later came from them and make up the Christian churches of our day. Today's Christian churches do not believe in present day revelation, prophesy, use of the gift of tongues, nor in healing, nor in the blessings of the gift of the Holy Ghost in their personal lives.

I quote from Professor Nibley's book cited above, the following: (excerpts from Chapter 8, pages 63-64) I found Dr. Nibley's book in a Salt Lake County Library (Utah, USA) but if you would like to listen to the recording of his very intense and interesting entire lecture series, you can order your own copy of the CD.  The World and the Prophets 

The Gnostic library in Egypt has not so much revived as accelerated the study of the most baffling and portentous episode in church history, the rise of the Gnostics. The latest survey of the whole field, an impressive corroborative work by a number of Dutch scholars, sees in the Gnostic crisis the end of the primitive church and the moment at which 'Christianity enters upon a new phase of its history.' (ref. cited) In this great revolution of the second century, the whole orientation of the church changed completely. What brought this about? It was the ceasing of prophetic voices. the continuing demand in the church for the spiritual gifts, specially the gift of prophecy, gave rise to an army of quacks and fakirs who, though discredited in time, left their mark permanently and conspicuously on the Christian church. These were the Gnostics, so-called."

"Paul had prophesied that 'whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away' (I Corinthians 13:8)"

"Here the so-called original text uses the identical word for the failing of prophecies and the vanishing of knowledge, katargethesontai, 'to be taken out of circulation,' 'to be made inoperative,' used both times in the future indicative. There is no sense of contingency here; the whole statement is simple and emphatic: 'Such prophecies as there are shall be stopped; such tongues as there are shall be made to cease (pausontai) such gnosis as there is shall be done away with.' These gifts were not simply to fade away; they were going to be taken away.

They were already weak enough; We have these gifts now only in a limited form, Paul explains in the following verses, and then he makes the significant remark: 'But for the present time there remain 'faith, hope, and love, these three.' The colorless 'and now' of the King James is not fair to the emphatic nuni day, 'but at this time' of the 'original,' and while the 'abideth' of our English Bible emphasizes the quality of lasting and reliable firmness the original menei does not mean 'to be firm' at all, but simply to stay behind.

The emphatic 'these three' that remain is in obvious contrast to the three that are going to be taken away, namely, the gift of prophecy, the gift of tongues, and the gnosis--the greatest gift of all."

"Gnosis means the act of knowing, and in some contexts it can be translated simply as "knowledge." But not when Paul uses it! His frequent use of the word leaves us in no doubt as what it conveyed to the early Christians. for them it was exactly what we would translate as "a testimony of the gospel." 'But I think any price is worth paying for the supreme value of the gnosis of Christ Jesus my Lord,' writes Paul to the Phillippians (3:8), 'for which I have sacrificed everything, counting all but dung in comparison with acquiring Christ as my fortune." How often we have heard such expressions as that--'I would not exhange my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ for all the wealth in the world!' . . ." (Emphasis added)

Blogger's Summary:

After asking you to read and listen to the words of the great prophet, Nephi, you should realize that through Nephi's prophesying, the Lord is telling each of us in His Book of Mormon that we should not say the Bible is the only source of God's words.

We are told very clearly that there is a great purpose for the Lord having had a modern-day prophet, Joseph Smith translate the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ for the definite purpose of showing that the Book of Mormon will make it very understandable that Christ's true church must believe in and use the great Christian gifts of prophecy, the gift of tongues, and the gnosis. (testimony kind of knowledge)

I do not blame any of you readers who may have mistakenly felt sure that any of the Christian churches of our day are truly representative of what Christ's church was, originally, by His own direction and that of His holy apostles. However, with the assistance of the quote (ICorinthians 13:8) from the Apostle Paul I made above, and from the Book of Mormon prophets such as Nephi and many others and especially of our Lord, Jesus Christ who personally appeared to the Nephites and personally used those gifts, (Prophecy, Revelation and Spiritual knowledge), the certain truth comes out clearly: that the Catholic Church and all the churches that emerged from the Great Restoration are not representative of Christ's Church that was originally set up.

The very insightful views of Hugh W. Nibley, can help you rejoice in our Savior having chosen to re-establish His Church in our day and time: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This allows the gifts of prophecy, Revelation and Spiritual knowledge to once again be made available to even the least of the members of Christ's one and only authorized church.

I have inserted below a drawing of an experience from the life of Dr. Nibley. He was an non-commissioned officer in US Army Intelligence and was involved in the D Day Attack on Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. If you look closely at the drawing you will see a book in his right hand. That book would be the Book of Mormon. He actually carried it with him in his pocket or pack sack (and studied it regularly) throughout his lengthy time of dedicated service in Europe during World War II.

Slightly Modified Drawing: Chris Maggio

Hugh W. Nibley on Normandy Beach on D-Day of World War II

I end this post by reminding you of the re-establishment of Jesus Christ's Church in 1830. I have posted for you the following paintings which illustrate key events that occurred during the bringing forth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

By the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation, I, an ordinary member of that church tell you that I know that Jesus Christ's Church which He personally established and which was directed by Him through His apostles after He ascended into Heaven as a resurrected being, has been re-established in our day. I know the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ was given to us, along with the Holy Bible, to lead us in the direction the Lord wants us to move in.

I urge you, when you feel the Spirit influencing you, to contact the full-time missionaries of this church to teach you and consider following the Lord's commandment of being baptized by those having authority from Christ.

If you want my assistance in locating the nearest mission office of this church, please use my e-mail address given below to ask for my assistance. If you e-mail me your city and state and nation I will let you know by return e-mail their address and phone number. They will be happy to assist you as you desire.



Joseph Smith's Vision of the Father and the Son -Tom Lovell



The Angel Moroni Appears to Joseph Smith -by Tom Lovell



Joseph Smith Translating the Book of Mormon -by Del Parson

  The Book of Mormon's Inspired Translation
(A) Book of Mormon Prophecy Is Fulfilled In Our Day. . .

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This website is not owned by or affiliated with the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church.


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I deeply appreciate your readership and hope you found very beneficial, that which was presented to you in this blog post.If you have any questions about what you have read or viewed in this post or in any previous posts of mine, or if you even have a curiosity about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and or its teachings, please e-mail me. I'm Neil and my e-mail address is: jneilmelva@gmail.com. If you contact me I'll get back to you just as soon as possible.

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Neil Birch