"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gosepl to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water." ~ Revelation 14:6-7

     Upon the highest spire of the majority of the LDS Temples of the world, an angel stands with a trumpet in hand declaring the everlasting gospel, that it has been restored. It is a message to very nation, kindred, tongue and people. In his other hand on the Washington D.C. Temple he holds a depiction of the golden plates of the Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ, a witness that Jesus is indeed the Savior of the whole world and that his everlasting gospel brings salvation and the resurrectin to all men that they will through him live immortally being renewed body and soul.

This angel is the Angel Moroni, and on the first Nauvoo temple's spire he was depicted horizontally flying with trumpet in one hand and the Book of Mormon in the other—'He having the everlasting gospel to preach unto the people of the world.'

Yet the Traditional Christian world and perhaps the world at large so states and asks, 'A Bible? A Bible? We have Got a Bible, and we need no more Bible." To such a perception Lehi seems to give a first best answer to why another book of scripture when quoting or paraphrasing from the prophecies of Joseph as had upon the plates of brass. Now this is a revelation to Joseph of Egypt from the Lord which Lehi sites, it is also in the JST Bible chapter 50. And one may note well how it parallels that which is stated to Ezekiel later ( Ezekiel 37).

"'Wherefore, the fruit of thy [Joseph's] loins shall write; and the fruit of the lions of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bring them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants,' saith the Lord." ~ 2 Nephi 3:12

Now how many churches have come of the Bible? And whose opinion or doctrine of the most fundamental type of things is true or false? Take Baptism, is it required? At what age is it to first be performed such as infant baptism? Is it done by sprinkling of by emersion? This is but a very fundamental performance of which Jesus has stated, 'Except a man be born of the water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' (John 3) Certainly each of the 'conflicting' various doctrines as taught by the various Traditional Christian churches can be true. It must be noted that many are wrong or false. Each sect of course will present that their doctrines and doctrinal interpretations are the truth of the matter. But whose? And that is were young Joseph Smith was at. Each in their various camp meetings proclaiming that theirs was the true gospel and therefore the others were but spouting false doctines. The end design of the restored true gospel was to lay down all such contentions, confounding their false doctrines as the truths of the writings of those of Joseph and the writings of Judah as they would grow together bringing by their joint truth a unity of true doctrine and establish peace in gospel understanding.

Now the LDS Church does put forth that the Book of Mormon is the stick of Joseph/Ephraim, and the Bible is the stick of Judah, that when they are joined together they will become one. This is happening today, but the writings of those of Joseph are only in part the Book of Mormon, it being taken from various sources itself and abridged even further. Such as the plates of brass of Laban are to seen as the extended writings of the loins of the seed of Joseph as it is that which was kept by those who were of Joseph, Laban himself and his family being of Joseph and thus they were the keepers of the plates of brass. But that is only such ancient writings which date back to Adam and in many instances do parallel the record of the Jews. And even then the writings of the loins of Joseph are not complete as even those other such added scriptures of the LDS Church ought to be but seen as such further and modern day records of those of the seed of Joseph particularly the Doctrine and Covenants of the restored gospel today. Certainly as charged, it is Ephraim, Israel and his companions who are particularly responsible taking the forth the restored gospel and the blessings of Abraham to be upon all the nations of the earth, every nation, kindred, tongue and people who ever has or will live upon this temporal second estate. The ordinances for the dead are being performed in the temples, the gospel is being preached to those spirits 'in prison' that they might be judged according to men in the flesh. The Lord's Salvation is Universal and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ does provide the means and the way. One states, surely you don't make believe that all such ordinance work and preaching to the dead who ever have lived can actually tack place, do you? The answer to which is quite simple, 'What do you think the thousand year Millennium is for? We are not just going to be sitting around doing nothing. The temples we are told will be in operation night and day. That 'scratching of the surface work' we are doing today is just that, it is a work which ushers in and prepares a foundational beginning for that which will continue on for a thousand years until all the work is properly done and complete.

But enough about that, lets get back to the Angel Moroni. Speaking of that record supplied by the descendants of Lehi, Lehi and those of the Book of Mormon being of the house of Joseph and his companions, Lehi was told that the writer of that book would be of his loins. That main major compiler and abridger of the Book of Mormon was Lehi's descendant Mormon, whose name the title of the book honors. (See Commentary 2 Nephi 3:16-18) And though some have according to the extents of their understandings speculated upon who the 'writter' of the record and his 'spokesman' so prophesied are, to my understanding Elder Bruce R. McConkie has come closest in his book 'A New Witness to the Articles of Faith' page 425/426. Therein he very logically sets forth that the true 'writter' of the Book of Mormon is none other than Mormon, Joseph Smith being merely translator and Oliver Cowdery for the most part being the transcriber of that dictated translation. Yet I'd venture one step further and persent Moroni as his father's 'spokesman', he being that angel referenced in Revelation 14:6-7 and as depicted upon the tops of our temples. In support of this conclusion I have written my referenced commentary to 2 Nephi 3:18 and I will here further note that the Doctrine and Covenants section 27 verse 5 does but state that 'the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim are committed to Moroni'. From that angel did Joseph Smith receive the golden plates and unto his care he did return them again to a room filled with such other unabridged records that included such as the plates of brass as well.

Now that respository was prepared by and/or under the direction of Mormon (Book or Mormon, Mormon 6:6). The 'few plates' which made up the golden plates of the Book of Mormon, which were kept by Moroni to complete; were also so stored by Moroni in a single stone box in the side of that Hill of Cumorah from which Joseph Smith obtained them under the direction of the visitations to Joseph by the Angel Moroni, the son of Mormon and the last to engrave upon those plates of gold. That gosepl which the angel had to preach to the world was that contained in the record and records of the writings of those of the loins of Joseph. I would not suppose that Angel Moroni's work is completed as he still holds the keys to that/those record(s) of Joseph denoted as the stick of Ephraim. More of those records will come forth, likely I would suppose during the Millennium, but I am not the one who governs their timing. Among those records will be the 'large plates of Nephi', the 'plates of brass' obtained from Laban, and also those plates and records of Ether of the Jaredites; among many other such records. Certainly this is a wealth of gospel knowledge beyond that contained solely in the Bible. And that angel having the everlasting gospel to preach referenced in the book of Revelation did not merely have the Bible to re-reveal as a part of his mision. His mission, Moroni's mission as that angel, has the whole of the records of Joseph known as the Stick of Ephraim in his charge that as time and the Lord directs, he has to reveal and certainly he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

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