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2006-08-28

Who gets worshipped by name of Jesus?

I've been wondering this for some time, but no where is it made clearer to me than Moses chapter 1 and Moses chapter 4: Who gets worshipped by name of Jesus?

Moses 1-4 makes it abundantly clear that there is one God only whom we are to Worship (at least if we follow the example of Moses). It also sets forth Satan's plan and Jesus's plan in a very clear way. Satan goes by the names the Only Begotten, the redeemer, in other words, the Savior, Jesus Christ. It is his goal to have people worship him instead of the True God. Jesus Christ has a different goal. He wants people to worship and glorify the Father, the same as Moses insisted on doing.

When someone "Worships" "Jesus" it seems that they are demeaning the character of Jesus Christ by trying to "tempt" him to deviate from his Father's plan. Since he is not going to sin by accepting such worship, it leaves two possibilities: 1 - Satan presumes the role and gladly serves as an object of worship. 2 - Out of mercy of someone's ignorance of this, Jesus redirects the misguided Worship to God the Father.

The endowment, and Joseph Smith's first vision, among other accounts, teach us that at least in some cases, the first person ready to answer a prayer is Satan. Discernment is necessary to pass by Satan and arrive at God.

The Book of Moses, (The Joseph Smith Translation version of Genesis) is one of the first works Joseph Smith produced after the Book of Mormon was published in 1830. It must have had a large influence on early LDS theology. In making this inspired translation, Joseph was restoring many plain and precious things that had been lost from the Bible, and in comparing Moses with Genesis, one finds that the main thing removed was this information about the Council in Heaven, Satan's plan, Satan's attempt to undermine Moses's pattern of worship, etc. The theological statements here are amazing, and they constitute what was "plain and precious" in this case, because the remainder of the material (except for the information about multiple planets and possibly aliens) is largely the same as otherwise found in the Bible.

Worship God.

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