 All right, so my outline is delayed. That's okay So first I'm gonna tell you how not to test the prophet You're like what? How not to test the prophet? Well, if you go and evangelize to Mormons They call themselves Latter-day Saints They'll basically say You know, you got to pray about it. You got a It's it's it's your emotions as you're feeling you got to have that burning in your bosom But scripture says that we're not that our emotions and feelings are not reliable and The Lord does not give that as a test if you simply go to Jeremiah chapter 17 Verse 9 a familiar text Lord says the heart is deceitful above all things and Desperately wicked who can know it if you compare the heart to all things It's above all things in reference to its deceitfulness Right, that's what the text is saying and who can know the depths of the depravity of man's heart Your emotions are not reliable It's not a good test to test a prophet You also have in Jeremiah 16, which I like this passage better and Sorry verse 10 verse 10 to 13 it says it shall be when you show this people all these words and They say to you why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? Then you shall say to them because your fathers have forsaken me says the Lord They have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them and have forsaken me and have and not kept my law And you have done worse than your father. So what can be worse than? idolatry It's this he says Each one follows the dictates of his own evil hearts So that no one listens to me You see that so instead of what they tell you to do is listen to your heart. Don't listen to God and That's what elders, you know elder Jimmy elder Johnny. That's what they're gonna tell you to do. They're gonna tell you to Basically appeal to your heart and see what your heart says. What does your emotion say? But God doesn't give that as a test to test whether or not It's a if a prophet is from God This is the test this is one of the tests that God gives us and so go to Deuteronomy 18 so you have Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy the last book in the Torah in chapter 18 This is the test that God gives us to test whether or not a man is From God or not or speaking on behalf of God and go to verse 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me From your mitts from your brother from your brethren him you shall hear According to all you desired of the Lord your God in Orab in The day of the assembly saying Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God nor let me see this great fire anymore lest I die and The Lord said to me What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren and will put my words in his mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command him And it shall be that whoever will not hear my words Which he speaks in my name. I will require of him So it speaks to us about Man's responsibility, but look what it says in verse 20 it says but the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name Which I have not commanded him to speak or Who speaks in the name of other gods that prophet shall die And if you say in your heart, how shall we know that the word which the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord if the thing does not happen or come to pass That is the thing which the Lord has not spoken and the prophet has spoken it presumptuously And you shall not be afraid of him So it gives us a test and that test there is prophecy So let's do a little compare and contrast shall we let's look at old testament prophets and we'll also look at Christ in reference to prophecy and then also let's compare that with the prophets of The book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and see which one holds water Now this is good for Believers in reference to it built your faith when you think of these prophecies When you think of these prophecies and how God fulfilled them and how they came to pass For the non-believer It should be absolutely terrifying and in reference to avenge them You can take someone through this you can take someone first to Deuteronomy 18 Here's one the tests of a prophet and then just say well, let's test your prophet Let's see how your prophet stands And let's see if he is worthy to die And there they were to be stoned to death So let's do a little compare and contrast But before we do that go to isiah 41 You have the wisdom literature and then you have isiah And go to isiah 41 sorry verse 20 First scripture says That they may see and know and consider and understand together That the hand of the lord has done this And the holy one of israel has created verse 21 Present your case says the lord bring forth your strong reasons says the king of jaco Let them bring forth and show us what will happen Let them show the former things what they were that we may consider them and know the latter ends of them or declare to us Things to come Show the things that are to come hereafter That we may know that you are gods Yes, do good or do evil that we may be dismayed and see it together Indeed you are nothing In reference to these idols and your work is nothing and he who chooses you is an abomination in other words God puts the test out that he declares Uh the beginning from the ends that he's sovereign all over all over history That when god declares something it comes to pass and that reveals to us that he is god That he is truly who he says he is That when he says something it is fulfilled and it comes to pass And those other guys Well, they're not gods and as it says in Deuteronomy, they're just demons Right now mike is passing an outline And i'm gonna have to go through this quickly because i don't have that much time But you can with the outline itself You can do the research It's fine to have it you can do the research on your own And again, it's better to know the truth than the lie And god proves himself that god is true and that every man is a liar Like these false prophets all false prophets are liar Are liars and they just speak presumptuously You could probably think of several false prophets Who are still living today Who made predictions and did not come to pass But that just proves that they are not of god And how many times does a false prophet need to make a false prophecy in order to be a false prophet? One Just one And for that one they deserve death God is sovereign and he's in control of all things and he declares the beginning and the ends He's the first and the last Let's stick around in isaia for a little bit And let's look at the prophet isaia go to chapter 39 and verse Five Then isaia said to hezekiah hear the word of the lord of hosts Behold the days are coming when that That is in your house And what your fathers have accumulated until this day shall be carried to Babylon Nothing shall be left says the lord He's predicting the Babylonian captivity Which does not take place In isaia's lifetime what takes place later. Not only does isaia predicts the captivity of Babylon or Babylonian captivity He also predicts the person who restored them after the captivity by name Go to isaia 44 I'm not going to read the whole passage Go to verse 28 of 44. It says Who says of Cyrus he is my shepherd He shall perform all my pleasure Saying to Jerusalem you shall be built And to the temple your foundation shall be laid So not only does he mention the king's name who's going to restore them after the Babylonian captivity He also mentions what he's going to do In reference to the temple and that is fulfilled in Ezra And then you also have Nehemiah Nehemiah builds the walls and then in Ezra tells the story of the building of the temple And that was done by the decree of Cyrus By the way, Cyrus was not a Jew, but he was a Persian That speaks to the sovereignty of God Now let's compare that with the prophet Nephi You might not know him. That's good Because he is one of the prophets mentioned in the book of Mormon This guy right here. So If you have your book of Mormon Turn to Nephi um first Nephi And i'm just going to read these if you want a copy of these Just let me know all right Nephi chapter 13 and this is Verses 26 to 27 After they go forth by the hand of the 12 apostles of the land of the lamb From the Jews on to the Gentiles Thou seeth the formation I think he had like a Old king James at the time and he was Borrowing the language from there Thou seeth the formation of the great abominable church which is Most abominable above all other churches for behold They have taken away from the gospel of the lamb many parts which are plain and most precious And also many covenants of the lord have they taken away Verse 27 of first Nephi chapter 13 And all this Have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the lord That they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men And he goes on to say in chapter 14 verse 3 And that great pit which hath been Digged for for them by the great Abominable church Which was founded by the devil and his children That he might lead away the souls of men Down to hell ye That great pits which hath been digged For the destruction of men shall be filled By those who digged it Onto their Utter destruction sayeth the lamb of god not the destruction of the soul Say it be the casting of it into That hell which haths No ends Okay What he was saying there is that The bible is going to be corrupt and there's going to be things Uh Taken away from the bible and not just you know little things here and there He says from the gospel Plain and most precious he's talking about things that are vital that are going to be lost from scripture Well, there's several issues with that several problems one is The testimony of the new testament manuscripts We don't just have one manuscript, but we have Thousands of manuscripts of which we can check to see If those things were lost Now on top of that If I remember correctly christ said that not even the gate of hades will prevail against this church So declared that the gospel was lost for 2000 years Approximately That's basically saying that hades did prevail And that would in turn make jesus christ a liar, but we know from the historical evidence and You know the testimony of the holy spirit that he is not a liar That his word is yes in amen Micah makes a prophet makes a prophecy. We're not going to go there, but he says that christ is born in Bethlehem And the gospels testify that jesus christ was born in Bethlehem in Alma Chapter seven Verse 10 not in your bible. This is not is still in the this is in the book of Mormon He says that jesus christ was born in Jerusalem Not in Bethlehem So he fails Now in the doctrines and covenants Which is another writing of uh Which is You know writing of joseph smith And he claims that it's from god And i'm going to read this is doctrines and covenants Uh chapter 87 And i'm going to read verses one to four and verse eights There This king james language is throwing me off Verily thus stayeth the lord concerning the wars that will surely come to pass Beginning at the rebellion of south carolina Which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls And the time will come that war will be poured out upon All nations Beginning at this place in reference to south carolina Notice it to all nations For behold the southern states shall be divided against northern states and the southern states will call on other nations Even the nation of great britain As it is called and they shall also call upon Other nations in order to defend themselves against other nations And then war shall be poured out upon all nations And it shall come to pass This is verse four if you have your book if you have your doctrines and covenants And it shall come to pass after many days slaves shall rise up against their masters Who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war Verse eight Wherefore stand ye in holy places and be not moved until the day of the lord come For behold it cometh quickly sayeth the lord amen Several issues with that um Some Mormons will or those of the lds how do you want to call him? We'll say this is in reference to the civil war Several issues The civil war doesn't involve all nations And if and others would say well, maybe it's in reference to war, you know world war one or world war two Well, the issue with that would be it would have to start in south carolina Yeah Yep Yep, so issues And so this would make joseph smith a false prophet Now let's compare that to one of jesus christ's prophecies if you go to matthew 24 Verses one and two Which reads Then jesus went out And departed from the temple and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple And jesus said to them jesus said to them Do you not see all these things? Surely i say to you not one stone shall be left here upon another That shall not be thrown down In 8070 Titus came in And ransacked jewsland on top of that he destroyed the temple Incredible with incredible fires and heat Where they were able to push the stones off the temple mount And so leaving and they were thrown down off that And not one stone shall be left there upon another You can actually go to Jerusalem Presently and see the temple and its present state and how the The stones from the temple are now on the ground are off the mount have been tossed Over they're heavy stones but you can imagine if you have a roman army Like titus did you're able to do that And was titus Or a jew? No No, so he had No No idea about this Prophecy And why would he even want to fulfill it? Um So that's uh, that's a prophecy by jesus christ now let's compare that again to joseph smith And this is in doctrines and covenants which is part of the pearl of great price for those who are falling along If you go to chapter 84 and this is verses one through five And i'll read it A revelation of jesus christ onto his servant joseph smith Junior and six elders as they united their hearts and lifted their voices on high Ye the word of the lord concerning his church Established in the last days for the restoration of his people As he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets And for the gathering of the saints to stand upon mount zion Which shall be the city of new jerusalem Verse three which city shall be built beginning at the temple lots Which is appointed by the finger of the lord and the western boundaries of the state of missouri And dedicated by the hands of joseph smith jr And others with whom the lord was well pleased Verily this is the word lord that the city new jerusalem shall be built By the gathering of the saints beginning at this place the place that he's talking about is missouri Even the place of the temple which temple shall be reared in this generation So it's talking about in joseph smith's lifetime For verily this generation shall not all pass away until In a house So it says shall be built onto the lord and a cloud shall rest upon it Which cloud shall be even the glory of the lord which shall fill the house so you have Well, maybe three criteria of this prophecy given by joseph smith It's going to begin with joseph smith. It's going to be in the state of missouri within the western boundaries Which i think the doctrine of the comons used to say independence missouri but doesn't say independence anymore just says missouri and dedicated You know in a temple shall be built there and it's within his generation There is no temple in missouri Specifically independence missouri The lie is bare The Mormons were actually kicked out So they were not able to build their temple So Failed Now let me show you a prophecy given by our lord about himself Go to matthew chapter 17 i'm not going to read all of them But i'm going to kind of jump around a little bit for sake of time Verse nine of chapter 17 Now as they came down from the mountain jesus commanded them saying Tell the vision to no one until the son of man is risen from the dead In matthew chapter 16. He references himself as the son of man So this is a prophecy given by christ about himself about his death and his resurrection Go to verse 12 same chapter But i say to you that elijah has come already and that he did not know Did not know him but did um to him whatever they wish likewise the son of man is Also about to suffer at their hands Verse 22 Now while they were staying in gallilee jesus said to them The son of man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men And they will kill him And the third day he will be raised up Uh chapter 20 verse Verses 17 through 19 Now jesus going up to drusselm took the 12 disciples Aside on the road and said to them behold We're going up to drusselm and the son of man will be betrayed To the chief priests and to the scribes And they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the gentiles to mock And to scourge and to crucify and the third day he will rise again Go to chapter 26 Verse 2 you know that after two days is the Passover And the son of man will be delivered up to be crucified. So he gives a time reference Also in reference to his crucifixion his death In verses 20 To 35 you have the lord supper of which he says This man over here is going to betray me Not only does he give that prediction, but you also in reference to peter Right verse 33 Well, you also have verse 31 where they scatter Right when the shepherd Dies on the cross Verse 33 peter answered and said to him Even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble Jesus said to him assuredly I say to you that this night before the rooster crows You'll deny me three times specific time frame of which it happens specific person And it is fulfilled Yeah, so it's not just you know With uh, he's the prophet of prophets So with that passage is telling hey, if I foretell the if I foretell the future and it comes to pass You know believe that I am Yahweh I am the lord Before abraham was I am And so what's the What's the purpose in all of this well god is true And every man is a liar And what does this mean for A vanishing what does this mean for for anything? Well, if god has fulfilled his The prophecies and they came to pass the way he said that they would come to pass That means all those other things in reference to heaven hell and future judgment are also true as well That his fulfills prophecies guarantee future judgment and I was about five minutes a little over time, but uh Just recently I was I was speaking to someone And I was giving proof on How the bible is reliable In reference to prophecy and how specific prophecy was And how god is not a god like a You know revealing prophecy like a nostradamus type prophecy, which is like vague and just out there in spacey And you can kind of move the letters around and twist some things and It's then fulfilled That's not the prophecy that the bible speaks of it's very specific It gives names it gives places it gives times But I was I was saying to this person that If If god's words are true here Then that speaks that his Second coming in his future judgment is also true That god's gonna have to judge every every one of us By our works And In In compare us to his um His holy standard and You know if that's You know what he says is true I don't I don't have to argue it. I don't have to You know Prove it god gives us the proof and his word is true. So You know if you're to die right now You will die in your sins and you will have to face god's undiluted wrath on judgment day