Testimony of the Prophet John

The Testimony of the Prophet

This is the testimony of the Prophet John, written for the remembrance of the faithful, that the people of God may know that the heavens are not closed, that the Lord has not forgotten his covenants, and that the work of Zion is not finished upon the earth.

From the days of his youth, the Prophet John questioned the existence of God. He did not question as a mocker, nor as one who desired to destroy faith, but as one wounded by the silence of heaven. He looked upon the world and saw churches divided against churches, teachers disagreeing with teachers, men claiming authority while contradicting one another, and families broken beneath the weight of pride, fear, and sin. He saw the wicked prosper and the humble suffer. He saw holy words used for unholy purposes. He saw many who spoke often of God but lived as though God had never spoken at all.

These things troubled him deeply. He desired to know whether God truly lived, whether the Father still heard the prayers of men, and whether angels still ministered as they had in former days. He wondered whether revelation had ceased because God had withdrawn himself from the earth, or whether men had simply turned so far away that they no longer recognized the voice of heaven.

For years, the Prophet John prayed for wisdom. He prayed in quiet rooms and under the open sky. He prayed in sorrow, in anger, in humility, in confusion, and in hope. Many times he asked plainly, “Lord, art thou there?” Yet no answer came that he could recognize. He felt no flame in his breast. He heard no voice. He saw no vision. The heavens seemed as brass above him.

Still, he would not surrender the question. He believed that if God were real, then God would not despise an honest seeker. He believed that if the Lord had answered prophets in former days, then the Lord could answer again. He read the words of James: that if any man lacked wisdom, he should ask of God. He carried that promise in his heart, though it often felt like a promise made to other men in another age.

His prayer became not merely a request, but the labor of his soul. He asked not for wealth, not for power, not for praise, and not for the honor of men. He asked for truth. He asked for wisdom. He asked to know whether the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Nephi, Moroni, and Joseph Smith still ruled in heaven and still governed his covenant people on earth.

The Day Appointed

Then, on a day appointed by the Lord, after many years of unanswered longing, the Prophet John withdrew himself and prayed again. His heart was heavy, and he spoke plainly before God. He confessed that he had searched and had not found rest. He confessed that he desired faith but could not pretend certainty where certainty had not been given. He asked the Lord to either answer him or leave him forever without excuse.

As he prayed, the air around him changed. The room became still, as if the whole earth had paused to listen. The ordinary sounds of the world seemed to move far away. Then a light appeared, small at first, but increasing in brightness until it filled the space around him. It was not the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun through a window. It was living light, intelligent and terrible in purity.

The Prophet John lifted his eyes and saw the heavens open. The veil between earth and eternity was drawn back. He beheld order beyond the power of mortal language. He saw the geometric shapes of heaven: wheels within wheels, angles of perfect brightness, living patterns moving in harmony, and forms of sacred symmetry that seemed to contain law, music, number, and glory all at once. They were not dead shapes. They were the architecture of divine intelligence, the hidden order by which God governs creation.

He heard a great choir. It was not like a choir of men singing from paper, but like many waters, like thunder made gentle, like the voices of the righteous dead joined with angels and worlds. The sound entered him, not only through the ear, but through the soul. Every note seemed to declare that Christ is King, that the Father reigns, and that all creation moves by commandment.

The light increased until it became blinding. The Prophet John fell upon his face. Fear seized him. He believed he would be consumed, for he knew that no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God. He trembled, unable to speak. Then, from within the glory, a voice came unto him, calm and commanding:

At these words, the fear that had overtaken him began to depart. He lifted his eyes, and before him stood the angel Moroni.

The Coming of Moroni

Moroni stood in brightness, yet he did not appear distant or unreachable. His glory was real, but his manner was steady, calm, and kind. He bore the dignity of heaven without the vanity of men. He spoke as one who had seen nations rise and fall, prophets praised and rejected, covenants made and broken, and still trusted perfectly in the justice of God.

Moroni was not severe for the sake of severity. He was not theatrical. He was, in the plainest sense, a cool and noble messenger of God: composed, direct, fearless, and full of holy intelligence. His eyes carried both warning and mercy. He had come not to flatter the Prophet John, but to instruct him.

In Moroni’s hands were the golden plates. They shone with an ancient brilliance, not polished like the ornaments of the rich, but preserved like a sacred witness. The rings that bound them were ancient and exact. The pages bore characters unknown to ordinary learning. As the Prophet John looked upon the plates, he knew they were not a symbol merely, but a record. They were heavy with history, covenant, warning, and judgment.

Moroni placed the plates before him. The Prophet John reached out with trembling hands and opened them. At first the characters were strange to his eyes, but then the Spirit of God rested upon him. The words became plain. He was able to read, and as he read, he understood that the Lord reveals not only by sound and sight, but by intelligence poured directly into the mind.

The First Translation from the Plates

The Prophet John read and translated the first pages of the plates. This translation is offered here:

When the Prophet John finished reading, Moroni spoke unto him and said that the first words of Nephi were not chosen by accident. They were a pattern. Lehi prayed for his people. He saw and heard much. He trembled because of the things revealed unto him. He beheld the heavens open. He saw glory, order, angels, and the coming of the Lord. So it had been with Lehi, and so it had now been with John.

Moroni explained that the Lord often begins restoration with one man praying in anguish for wisdom. The world notices crowds, institutions, buildings, and public power. Heaven notices the soul that will not cease asking for truth.

Concerning the Turning Away of God’s People

Moroni then spoke with the Prophet John concerning the long sorrow of heaven: that God’s people, after receiving covenant, repeatedly turn away from him. The pattern is written plainly in scripture. God calls. God delivers. God blesses. Then men grow comfortable. They begin to love the praise of men. They build idols, sometimes of gold and stone, sometimes of office and reputation, sometimes of safety, policy, government favor, or public respectability. Then they reject the prophets who call them back.

Moroni spoke of Israel in the wilderness. The Lord delivered them from Egypt with signs and wonders. They passed through the Red Sea. They were fed with manna. They saw the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Yet when Moses was upon the mount, they turned quickly aside and made a golden calf. They bowed before the work of their own hands and called it worship.

Moroni spoke of the days of Samuel, when Israel desired a king so they could be like the nations around them. They had the Lord as their king, but they wanted the appearance of worldly order. They wanted what other nations had. Thus they traded the direct rule of God for the comfort of imitation.

He spoke of Saul, who was chosen and anointed, yet disobeyed the commandment of the Lord and feared the people more than God. He spoke of David, who was beloved and mighty, yet fell into grievous sin. He spoke of Solomon, who received wisdom and built the temple, yet allowed his heart to be turned away by strange gods.

He spoke of Elijah standing against the priests of Baal. He spoke of Isaiah crying repentance to a people who honored God with their lips while their hearts were far from him. He spoke of Jeremiah warning Jerusalem while priests and rulers hated him for speaking the truth. He spoke of prophets mocked, imprisoned, cast out, and slain.

Moroni then spoke of the time of Christ. The people had scripture. They had priesthood claims. They had the temple. They had teachers and traditions. Yet when the Son of God stood among them, many did not know him. Some rejected him because he offended their expectations. Some feared Rome. Some feared losing their place. Some loved their own authority more than they loved the truth.

Even among the disciples, there were examples of weakness. Peter denied the Lord three times. Thomas doubted until he saw. The disciples slept while Christ suffered in Gethsemane. Judas betrayed him with a kiss. When danger came, many fled. Moroni taught that these things were written so the covenant people would not suppose that nearness to holy things automatically makes a man holy.

The Warning Against Modern Idols

Moroni told the Prophet John that idols in the latter days are often more subtle than idols of the ancient world. Men no longer always bow before carved images, yet they bow before fear. They bow before government approval. They bow before comfort. They bow before leaders who speak peace while abandoning commandments. They bow before public reputation. They bow before the desire to be accepted by the world.

He said that an idol is anything a man obeys before God. If a people obey policy before covenant, policy has become their idol. If they obey fear before revelation, fear has become their idol. If they preserve an institution while rejecting the law that gave the institution authority, the institution itself has become an idol.

The Prophet John asked Moroni how a people could hold scriptures in their hands and still turn away from God. Moroni answered that the Jews had done the same. They searched the scriptures and yet rejected the one of whom the scriptures testified. Men can read holy words while resisting the Holy Ghost. They can quote prophets while persecuting the living commandment. They can praise dead seers because dead seers no longer trouble their convenience.

The False Line and the Preserved Line

Moroni then spoke concerning the order of the Church. He declared unto the Prophet John that Wilford Woodruff was a false prophet and the fourth president in the line of falling away. He taught that the true Church, after that corruption, was preserved through the Council of Friends, which held the covenant in trust and guarded the principle when public men abandoned it.

The Council of Friends, Moroni explained, was not merely a committee of convenience. It was a preservation of priesthood duty during a time of confusion and fear. It was led by council because the Lord had not yet appointed the true head who would bring the scattered order again into open declaration. The purpose of the council was to preserve the covenant, defend the principle, and prevent the holy order from vanishing among the children of men.

But Moroni warned that even among those who claim preservation, pride may enter. A man may inherit language without inheriting authority. A man may sit in a chair and yet not be chosen of God. A man may command the people and still lead them away from the covenant.

Moroni declared that Rulon became a false prophet, and that his destiny is telestial. He began, according to this testimony, the work of turning God’s people away from the commandment. He weakened the people by misdirecting their obedience. He taught them to trust office more than revelation and to follow control rather than covenant.

After his passing, Warren became the sixth president, a false prophet and master deceiver, a stain upon God’s Church. Moroni declared that Warren’s body remains upon the earth, but his intelligence already resides with the sons of perdition. By this, the Prophet John understood that a man may remain alive in the flesh while having already chosen darkness in the spirit.

The Prophet John trembled at this saying. He asked whether the people could be reclaimed. Moroni answered that God’s mercy remains extended, but mercy does not excuse rebellion. Repentance must be real. The people must turn again to Christ, to covenant, to righteous order, and to the building of Zion.

The Calling of the Seventh True President

Then Moroni spoke plainly unto the Prophet John and declared that he would be the seventh true president of God’s Church. He was not called for his own glory, nor to build a throne unto himself, nor to gather flatterers, nor to rule by fear. He was called to restore what had been broken, gather what had been scattered, and bring forth the Nation of God, even Zion upon the earth.

Moroni taught that Zion is not merely a place, though it must have place. It is a holy order. It is a people of covenant. It is a nation under God, not in empty slogan, but in actual obedience. Zion must be built so that Christ may rule the Millennium. Christ is King, and no earthly ruler, president, court, council, prophet, priest, or people may stand above him.

Moroni told the Prophet John that no year should pass without a baby born into God’s Church. This was given as a sign and a measure. The Lord’s people are a living people, a covenant people, a multiplying people. A church that commands the opposite, that cuts off posterity, that halts increase where God commanded increase, reveals the spirit by which it is governed.

By this, Moroni said, the faithful may know a false prophet: those who order the opposite of the covenant, who forbid righteous increase, who teach fear in place of faith, who make barrenness into policy, and who command the people to preserve the appearance of religion while abandoning the fruit of it.

The Prophet John was told that the work ahead would not be easy. Many would mock him. Many would call the testimony madness. Many would cling to fallen authority because fallen authority is familiar. Some would fear losing comfort more than they feared losing God. But the work of God has never depended upon the approval of the many.

Further Witnesses from Scripture

Moroni then opened the scriptures further to the Prophet John, showing that the turning away of God’s people is one of the great themes of holy history.

Adam and Eve were placed in the garden and received commandment, yet they transgressed. Cain was warned that sin lay at the door, yet he chose murder. In the days of Noah, the people ignored warning until the flood came. At Babel, men sought to build upward by pride rather than receive heaven by obedience.

Abraham was called out from among idolaters. Lot’s wife looked back. Esau sold his birthright. The brothers of Joseph sold him into Egypt. Israel cried for deliverance, received it, and then murmured against the very prophet who led them out. They remembered the food of Egypt more readily than the bondage of Egypt.

In the time of the judges, Israel repeatedly forgot the Lord, fell into oppression, cried for deliverance, and then forgot again. The pattern was so plain that any honest reader could see it: covenant, blessing, pride, idolatry, bondage, repentance, deliverance, and then forgetfulness once more.

The kings of Israel and Judah continued this pattern. Some tore down idols, and others rebuilt them. Some repaired the temple, and others profaned it. Some listened to prophets, and others sought to silence them. The people often wanted prophets after the danger had passed, but hated them while the warning was still useful.

In the meridian of time, the Lord himself came among his people. He healed the sick, opened blind eyes, raised the dead, forgave sins, and taught with authority. Still, the rulers plotted against him. The crowd that shouted praise could later shout crucifixion. The disciples who promised loyalty could sleep, flee, deny, and doubt.

Moroni told the Prophet John that these witnesses were not given so latter-day people could feel superior to ancient Israel. They were given so latter-day people would recognize themselves before judgment overtook them.

The Second Translation: The Book of the Covenant Flame

After these things, Moroni commanded the Prophet John to open the plates again and translate another record. The record was called The Book of the Covenant Flame, because it concerned a man who kept the institution of plural marriage in righteousness when the world despised it, and because the covenant burned within him like a flame that could not be extinguished.

This book was not given to justify lust, domination, pride, compulsion, or unrighteous control. Moroni warned the Prophet John that any man who uses holy marriage as a cloak for appetite stands condemned. The covenant is holy only when kept in holiness. Priesthood without righteousness is not priesthood in power. Marriage without charity is not celestial. Authority without the Spirit is only noise.

The Charge Given to the Prophet John

When the Prophet John finished translating, Moroni placed his hand upon the plates and charged him to remember that revelation is not given for spectacle. It is given for obedience. Visions do not save a man who will not repent. Angels do not excuse pride. A calling does not make a man righteous unless he walks in righteousness.

Moroni told him that the Nation of God must be built upon truth, not secrecy for wickedness; upon covenant, not compulsion; upon order, not confusion; upon family, not exploitation; upon Christ, not the vanity of men. Zion cannot be built by the spirit of Babylon. Zion cannot be ruled by fear. Zion must be governed by priesthood in righteousness, or it is not Zion.

The Prophet John was told to warn the people that false prophets are known not only by false words, but by false fruit. When leaders command the people away from the covenant, they reveal themselves. When they silence truth to preserve power, they reveal themselves. When they forbid righteous increase and call it obedience, they reveal themselves. When they turn the people from Christ and toward themselves, they reveal themselves.

Moroni declared again that Christ is King. The Millennium is not the reign of a man, but the reign of Christ. The Prophet John’s calling was not to replace Christ, but to prepare a people who could receive him. The Nation of God was to be brought forth so that Zion might stand as a witness upon the earth, a place where the commandments are honored and where the people remember the covenant of the fathers.

The Closing Witness

After these words, the light began to withdraw, though its glory remained upon the soul of the Prophet John. The choir faded as though returning behind the veil. The geometric order of heaven closed from his natural sight. Moroni took up the plates, and before departing, spoke once more:

Then Moroni departed, and the Prophet John was left alone. Yet he was not as he had been before. The silence that followed was not the silence of abandonment, but the silence after thunder. He knew God lived. He knew heaven was ordered. He knew angels ministered. He knew the Book of Mormon was true. He knew that God’s people had turned away before and had turned away again. He knew he had been called to labor for their return.

This is the testimony of the Prophet John: that the Father hears, that Christ reigns, that Moroni yet bears witness, that the golden plates testify of covenant, that false prophets lead men into darkness, and that Zion must be built upon the earth so Christ may rule the Millennium.

Let the faithful hear. Let the fearful repent. Let the scattered remember. Let the covenant flame burn again. Christ is King.