The Iron Rod Podcast
The Iron Rod Podcast
Iron Rod 030 - Elijah and John the Baptist
/

D&C 2 tells us that the Priesthood will be revealed by the hand of Elijah. But the scriptural record tells us nothing about Elijah conferring priesthood by hand to Joseph. The one conferral of priesthood by the hand of an angel we have record of is John the Baptist conferring the priesthood of Aaron. In this episode, we look at the scriptural links between Elijah and John the Baptist and discuss radical concepts introduced in the Inspired Version of the Bible. We kick the episode off with an email from a bishop, and a discussion about birthday parties.

Birthday parties:

Matthew 14:1-11

Mark 6:21-29

Matthew 23:5-7

Matthew 20:25

 

D&C 2

James 5:17-18

JST Genesis 14:26-32

Helaman 10:5-12

Helaman 11:4-6

Joseph Smith History 1:68-74

D&C 110:12-16

Luke 7:28

John 1:19-22

Mark 9:1-13

Luke 9:30

Matthew 17:1-13

Luke 1:15-17

D&C 84:28

D&C 98:16

Hebrews 9:27

D&C 45:60-61

D&C 42:14-15

D&C 43:56-58

HC 1:341, 4:425

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

18 comments on “Iron Rod 030 – Elijah and John the Baptist

  1. Stébane Jul 1, 2019

    I know it’s off the topic, but my brother shared a video on Facebook of a 5-Minute fireside of Tad Callister, who was the Sunday School General President until recently, which appeared to me as a proof of the state of blindness in which the church is today.
    Just within the first minute he states talking about leaving the Lds Church:

    “Once you leave this church, however, it ruins you for any other church because you just know too much.”

    Doesn’t that sound arrogant to you? WE the Lds church KNOW too much! Wow I couldn’t believe he just said that in the beginning of that video.

    Thanks from Quebec City, Canada for all the work you do with the podcast, your blogs and MD for your reformatted scriptures!

    • Thirsting Jul 2, 2019

      Can you argue with that?

      For the most part those that go through seminary and serve mission may know more than the average Christian church goer.

      • I think the problem is that because we have been given so much light we treat it lightly and don’t ever use it so that in fact we have less light than many other Christians who actually take the Bible seriously and study it. Most mormons believe that “modern revelation” takes precedence over the scriptures to such an extent that they rarely if ever read them prefer to read the watered down milk of the “prophets” than the actual word of god. So, yea I think the average mormon despite owning a set of scriptures with far more light and knowledge than the average Christian actually knows and understands them less than the average Christian does, because rather than searching the scriptures for truth they rely on the interpretations of men claiming to be prophets. Thus, we simultaneously have more light but less understanding than other christians.

        • Stébane Jul 6, 2019

          Exactly what I meant to say. I condemn also the arrogant attitude, Alma 5:54.

        • Jessi H Jul 8, 2019

          Well put, Paul. I’ve thought the same thing. It’s sad, really.

  2. Great podcast. Do you have more info on the podcast you mentioned that breaks down the JST record and how it came about?

    • Searcher Jul 8, 2019

      Hi Matt:
      We may do one in the future. Emma preserved the JST manuscript and refused to give it to Brigham. She evidently hid it in a false bottom of a wooden chest. As you may know, Joseph tried to get the Saints to contribute to the publication, but they failed to do so. He said that when it went to the world it would be in one volume alongside the Book of Mormon. There are so many amazing truths contained in the JST including about the nature of God. I highly suggest that you obtain a copy from the Community of Christ.

      • Jessi H Jul 8, 2019

        I remember reading that she stitched it between the layers of her skirts at some point, as well. Pretty amazing.
        I’d be very interested to listen to an episode on this subject.
        Also, you can read the JST on the CoC’s website Centerplace.org. I often have it open in one tab and BibleHub in another while I do word searches on lds.org. Oh! And, you’re right, Searcher, when you mentioned that the church has recently made it more difficult to do searches. Not cool.

        • Watcher Jul 8, 2019

          Jessi

          I have also been experiencing ongoing problems with the LDS search engine.

          Here are three other online searching options

          One was devised by two BYU professors, one is provided by an RLDS group, and Gazelem sent me yet another option

          https://scriptures.byu.edu/#::s

          http://www.restoredgospel.com/Scriptures/Search.asp

          http://www.wordcruncher.com/Rinstall.html#Win

          • I emailed the LDS search engine team a month ago about the changes. Their first response was that they hadn’t made any changes to the search engine. (hmmm). I responded with specific examples and screen shots showing the problems. In their second response they admitted that they had already discovered some problems and they were going to fix them. Still waiting to see any of the fixes they said were coming.

          • Nathan Jul 11, 2019

            This is another scripture search tool that allows searching of the Joseph translation/inspired version plus other scriptures
            It also has the inline comparison of the KJV and Inspired Version – http://www.scripturetoolbox.com

  3. David Jul 7, 2019

    Does D&C 27:5 – 12 change this philosophy? It clearly shows Elias, John the Baptist and Elijah all as separate individuals. Vs 7 indicates Elias is Gabriel, but I’m not sure that the Elias in vs 6 is the same Elias that appeared unto Zecharias (vs 7 footnote)

    • Watcher Jul 8, 2019

      Hi David

      I have covered this apparent discrepancy before in my blog. The way section 27 currently shows up in the D&C is problematic. It is a composite of more than one revelation and it has problems with punctuation that changes the intent and meaning of the narrative. When read in it’s original form it does not identify John the Baptist and Elijah as separate personalities, just the opposite. I will see if I can see one of my posts and provide the link.

  4. Guys- love the content. Thank you for producing this. Re Section 110 and the Kirtland Temple. An account of the vision of the Savior, Moses, Elias and Elijah was apparently included in the JS History that Willard Richards was writing in Nauvoo. Link to JS Papers is below. The history entry for April 3, 1836 was written before Joseph was killed. JSP also references a letter from WW Phelps to his wife telling her about Malachi’s prophecy and JS experience in temple. This was all news to me. I believed that the Warren Cowdery account was only discovered in Utah in 1850s and that JS and OC didn’t discuss this vision. But it appears they must have before JS was killed because it is in the JS-History.

    Clay

    https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-b-1-1-september-1834-2-november-1838/182

    • I hadn’t heard of these pre-1850s accounts. I’ll definitely need to do a little sleuthing. The first thing I do notice is that this account had already removed the language about a future endowment in the Kirtland temple. The rabbit hole just got deeper.