2 Nephi 26

This verse contains highly similar elements from two separate KJV bible verses. Both this verse and Numbers 16:30 have "the earth" "swallow them up". Also this verse and Matthew 21:44 mention something that will "fall on" / "fall upon" and "grind him to powder" / "grind them to to powder".

2 Ne 10:3 explicitly tells us that Christ is Jesus’ name, yet here it is clearly being used as a title. The problem is that Christ is from the Greek “Christos” meaning the anointed one. Nephi would have been using the Hebrew “Messiah,” a title meaning “the anointed one.”

Also, this seems very Trinitarian, explaining “that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God.”

Some defend some seemingly Trinitarian Book of Mormon references as not contradicting current Mormon godhead doctrine (see The Doctrine of God the Father in the Book of Mormon), but in context of doctrine taught in the “Lectures on Faith” how sound is this defense?

From the “Lectures on Faith” that used to be in the Doctrine and Covenants until the 1921 edition: “The Father being a personage of spirit, glory, and power, possessing all perfection and fulness. The Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, is a personage of tabernacle . . . He is called the Son because of the flesh . . . He, possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit that bears record of the Father and the Son.” “Questions and Answers for Lecture 5?

1. Q—How many personages are there in the Godhead? A—Two: the Father and Son (Lecture 5: 1).
2. Q—Do the Father and the Son possess the same mind? A—They do . . .
3. Q—What is this mind? A—The Holy Spirit” (Lecture 5).

Reading this in context, I think it’s clear that “familiar spirit” has nothing to do with the occult. To the contrary, it sounds as if it is a description of how something that is correct or good might seem familiar. However, many Christians are put off by the term “familiar spirit” in this verse since they understand the term this way:

“A familiar spirit is a demon that is summoned by a medium with the intention that the spirit summoned will obey his or her commands” (“What is a familiar spirit?”).

And they understand the Bible to teach that one should not go after familiar spirits.

“The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people” (Leviticus 20:6).

I think the meaning of “familiar spirit” in this verse is not the same as used in the definition and in the Leviticus verse both listed above, but I can see how many devout Christians concerned with literal demons and other magic would have problems with a verse like this especially given Joseph Smith’s history of dabbling in the occult.

It would seem to be important for the LDS Church to provide full financial disclosure if only for accountability to this verse. LDS apostles and prophets receive money from the Church. Some reports are that it is quite a bit of money, but we don’t know the details since they will not disclose this information.

Since I wrote the few sentences above, MormonLeaks provided documentation that as of January 2014, the base living allowance given to LDS general authorities was $120,000 annually (DeseretNews Article and MormonLeaks documents).

2 Ne 26:24, 27-28

Some think the Church prohibited some from partaking of his salvation because it was “revealed” to the prophet that children of a parent in a sam-sex marriage should be forbidden from receiving any LDS priesthood ordinance including baptism, according to President Russell M. Nelson (Deseret News and CBS News).

According to the LDS Church, “Baptism symbolizes our birth into the kingdom of God. It is a pivotal event in our eternal progress. Just as we cannot have mortal life without physical birth, so we cannot enter the kingdom of God except by being born of the water and of the Spirit” (The Covenant of Baptism).

But then, the LDS Church announced in April 2019 that someone had repented of this revelation, so now these children can be baptized (Church News).

It would seem to be important for the LDS Church to provide full financial disclosure if only for accountability to this verse. LDS apostles and prophets receive money from the Church. Some reports are that it is quite a bit of money, but we don’t know the details since they will not disclose this information.

Since I wrote the few sentences above, MormonLeaks provided documentation that as of January 2014, the base living allowance given to LDS general authorities was $120,000 annually
(DeseretNews Article
and
MormonLeaks documents).

“Set themselves up for a light unto the world.” Reminds me of the constant admonition to obey the prophets in things like the 14 fundamentals of following the prophet and “when the prophet speaks . . . The debate is over”
(Obedience to the Prophets,
and
“The Debate Is Over”

ellipses as found in the original).

It would seem to be important for the LDS Church to provide full financial disclosure if only for accountability to this verse. LDS apostles and prophets receive money from the Church. Some reports are that it is quite a bit of money, but we don’t know the details since they will not disclose this information.

Since I wrote the few sentences above, MormonLeaks provided documentation that as of January 2014, the base living allowance given to LDS general authorities was $120,000 annually
(DeseretNews Article
and
MormonLeaks documents).

Joseph seemed to practice this more or less like stated here. However, not too long after Joseph’s assassination, Brigham Young banned Black people from the priesthood and from the temple. The priesthood and temple ordinances are critical items for LDS progression. The temple ordinances are salvific, so weren’t Black people prevented from coming unto God until 1978 according to LDS teachings?

(to see how the Church currently portrays the justifications of Brigham Young and other apostles and prophets for this ban, see Race and the Priesthood)