For anybody who doesn’t know already, “Joseph Smith, the first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made a “new translation” of the Bible, using the text of the King James Version (KJV). This work differs from the KJV in at least 3,410 verses and consists of additions, deletions, rearrangements, and other alterations that cause it to vary not only from the KJV but from other biblical texts.” (Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (JST)) So what do you think about what Joseph Smith did to the King James Version Bible? Are you ok with it or does it disgust you like it does me? Truly, what He did to change the Bible is so evil in the sight of God. On the other hand it is seen as totally fine in the sight of the Mormon people at large. They don’t care one bit that Joseph changed the Bible, especially different books like the Book of Revelation. They say that he was inspired by God to get the Bible back to the original state, which is a flat out lie. Therefore, as this is a non-issue in their eyes, they also cannot see any problems with how Joseph changed the verses below in Revelation…
Revelation 1:1 (KJV)
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Revelation 1:1 (Joseph Smith Translation)
1 The revelation of John, a servant of God, which was given unto him of Jesus Christ to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass, that he sent and signified by his angel unto his servant John,
As you can see above, “the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him” was changed to “the revelation of John, a servant of God, which was given unto him of Jesus Christ“. There are some big differences with the two translations. For example, in the KJV Bible, the revelation is given by God to Jesus Christ who then passes it on to John through an angel. Whereas, in the JST, the revelation is given to John directly by Jesus Christ. The KJV version depicts John as the receiver of the revelation, but compared to the JST, it is different in how he received it. On the hand, the KJV identifies the contents of the book of Revelation as “the revelation of Jesus Christ”, where the JST identifies the contents of this book as the “revelation of John.” So the variations revolve around who is given the revelation and who delivers it to John. This is big distinction in how this happens in comparing the two translations. Now please note that I say translations lightly since the Joseph Smith Translation is not a translation at all but a change to the King James Bible.
Lastly, this change to the Book of Revelation is very problematic and causes confusion. The same goes with the entire JST as a whole, which adds to, deletes from, rearranges, and alters the KJV Bible. This is especially true when comparing what took place with Relation, chapter 22, verses 18 through 19. This is where we are warned against adding to or subtracting from the book of Revelation. We will read these verses in a minute. But also know that changing what the Bible says is corrupting it and taking away from its true meaning from God. For this reason, we are told in the verses in Revelation that if a person is found to have changed this book, God’s plagues will be upon him/her and their name will be removed from the Lamb’s book of life. What comes next is in Revelation, chapter 20, verses 12 through 15, which teach that if our name is not in the book of life, then we will be cast in the lake of fire. Therefore, this is Joseph Smith’s final destination. These are the wages of his crimes when it comes to changing the Bible. You can read those verses in Revelation below…
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19)
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:12-15)
