"by their fruits ye shall know them"

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Trucker
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"by their fruits ye shall know them"

Post by Trucker »

When Jesus visited the Nephites, he said the same thing to them that he said to the people in Jerusalem:

15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.
3 Nephi 14

There are lots of claims of authority and succession in mormon denominations. Lots of claims to be the legitimate successor to Joseph Smith (Strang, JS III, Ridgon, Temple Lot, etc) and claims to be have the keys or authority after the church has gone into apostasy or become condemned (Snuffer, FLDS, AUS, Remnant Church). So how can one know? Based on the size or success of the church? Investigate the chain of authority? Of course praying to know is probably always the best, but Jesus told us to look at their fruits in order to know who are the false prophets. Straight from Jesus, and repeated in different books of scriptures to different people is a pretty solid teaching.

False prophets bring forth corrupt fruit. Full stop. Claims of authority don't trump that.

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