In June 1830 Joseph Smith, Jr began a project to re-translate the Bible. The
main work of revising, correcting, or translating the Bible was done during the
three-year period from June 1830 to July 1833. During this time Joseph and his
scribes went through the Old and New Testaments of the King James Version and
produced nearly 500 pages of manuscript, containing thousands of variant
readings and new passages. On March 7, 1831 Joseph was specifically commanded
by the Lord to re-translate the New Testament.
When he was finished it was considered an inspired
translation and much of the plain and precious things removed from the Bible
were restored. He declared: “I believe the Bible as it read when it came from
the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers,
or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors.” (DHC, vol. 6, p.
57.)
In May 1833, towards the end of Joseph’s re-translation of
the Bible he received a revelation on the testimony of John:
Verily,
thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his
sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and
keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am; And that I am
the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world; And that I
am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one—The Father
because he gave me of his fulness, and the Son because I was in the world and
made flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men. I was in the world
and received of my Father, and the works of him were plainly manifest. And John
saw and bore record of the fulness of my glory, and the fulness of John’s record is hereafter to be revealed.
And
it shall come to pass, that if you are
faithful you shall receive the
fulness of the record of John. I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship,
and know what you worship, that you
may come unto the Father in my name,
and in due time receive of his fulness.
(Doctrine and Covenants 93:1-6; 18-19; emphasis added)
Is this the testimony of John the Baptist or the testimony
of John the Beloved or is it John the Beloved writing or revealing the testimony
of John the Baptist?
Regardless of whose testimony this is we are given a
beautiful promise that if we are faithful we will receive the fullness of the
record of John.
Is this a collective “you” or an individual “you”? Can more
than one person receive the “fullness of the record of John”? If so, could their accounts be different
based on their hearts, their desires and their own knowledge? If this
revelation is received through vision could each person who receives the vision
see different things or an emphasis on different things? (For example Lehi’s vison of the Tree of Live
versus Nephi’s vision)
Does the Lord mean that the while Joseph was re-translating
the Bible God had not revealed to him the fullness of John’s record?
In May 1833 when the Lord told Joseph that the fullness of
John’s record was yet to be revealed did
God mean a new translation from the original Greek or a revelation?
Sometime in 2016 Denver Snuffer was asked to take a look at
a project which a group of individuals were working on to print scriptures
which contain, among other writings of Joseph Smith, his inspired translation
of the Bible. Following are Denver’s
words on this subject:
"When
I was asked to take a look at the project I had the impression that a new
translation of John's Gospel was needed and ought to replace the missing texts.
I asked a qualified Greek Scholar to undertake that project and he declined.
But the impression remained that it needed to be done.
"I
made it the subject of prayer and was told to do the work. I spent a few days
working with an English-Greek New Testament, the JS Translation of John, and a
Greek Lexicon before becoming hopelessly discouraged by the many options and
choices. I prayed about it before retiring for the night and essentially quit.
I explained that it would take years for me to accomplish this, and that I was
not going to be able to solve the riddles of the text. I went to bed assuming I
was done with it.
"In
the middle of that night I was awakened and given the solution to every dilemma
I had been facing in the work on the text. So the next day I continued on from
where I had abandoned the work and, to my surprise, everything was opened to my
mind so clearly and continuously that the entire project was completed in less
than three weeks. The light of heaven opened the material in a way I had never
thought of nor had previously attained to in considering the Gospel of John. At
times it progressed so rapidly that I was unable to finish one part before the
next came rolling out. Many new and different things were added, and at least
one thing was dropped entirely because it was not part of John's original
composition. Because of the rapid way it rolled out, once I finished the text I
went back to clean up a lot of what had been left as incomplete sentences,
run-on sentences, missing words (particularly conjunctions) and cryptic or
inadequate explanations. The intent of the writer, John, was revealed,
including why some things were included in the text and the manner he wrote.
"When
it began it was an attempt at a "translation" but by the time it was
completed it was clearly a "revelation" and not merely a translation
of a text. Therefore the result does not have my name on it, because I cannot
claim any credit for the content. I failed in what I was attempting. What
resulted came from heaven." Denver Snuffer
In the hours of February 5 to 6, 2017 The Testimony
of St. John was quietly and without fanfare or announcement, uploaded to the
website denversnuffer.com.
There are differences between this newly revealed account
and the inspired version of Joseph Smith, Jr.
Does this mean that one of the men is wrong and the other is right? Could it be that when Joseph was
re-translating God kept hidden the fullness of John as it was not yet time for
the fullness to be revealed just as Doctrine and Covenants 93 suggests?
Today there are those who have taken the scriptures
seriously, and as a result the Lord is offering more. We live in amazing times, the Heavens are
open for business once again!
Those who have ears will hear:
