Why Are There So Many Religions in the World?

An ancient record purportedly written by Moses which surfaced in 1830 contains some records written by Moses and also by Enoch. There are three other Enoch fragments which contain some of these same writings.  The records, if true, settle the question once and for all as to when the Gospel of Jesus Christ was first upon the earth, and why there are so many religions in the world. Moses is quoting records written by Enoch, and Enoch refers to a "book of remembrance we have written among us, according to the pattern given by the finger of God; and it is given in our own language" (vs. 46). Enoch is referring to this book of remembrance "which was recorded in the language of Adam" (vs. 5) and he explains that because Adam fell, "...we are; and by his fall came death...and (we) are shut out from the presence of God." 

Enoch then says that 

God called "upon our father Adam 

by his own voice, 

saying I am God...

and he also said unto him: 

if thou wilt turn unto me, and 

hearken unto my voice, and 

believe, and 

repent of all thy transgressions, 

and be baptized, even in water, 

in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, 

who is full of grace and truth, 

which is Jesus Christ...

ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost..." (vs. 51-52 emphasis added). 

It is recorded that Enoch is speaking the words of God as spoken by God to Adam, which Adam recorded in this Book of Remembrance (vs. 47).

Here is Adam (and make note that there are no written records before Adam*), being told of Jesus Christ, long before the mortal Jesus was born in the flesh, long before any of the world religions--Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or Muslims--even existed! And not only is Adam told of Jesus Christ, but he is given the gospel of Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism (of water and of fire), being born of the Spirit. The record also tells us that Adam was "caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water and was brought forth out of the water" (vs. 64). After being baptized with water, Adam then "heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost" (vs. 66).

*All of us belong to the family of Adam. It has been said that all the world is no further removed from Adam than 40th cousins. All of our genealogy can eventually be traced back to Adam. There are no written records of anyone living before Adam.

According to this record, Adam taught these things, and many believed, but many did not believe, and perished in their sins. Hundreds of years later when the "children of men were numerous upon all the face of the land...Satan had great dominion among men, and raged in their hearts;..." (Vs 15). The result was that the majority of the generation of Adam did not repent and would not hearken unto the voice of God and rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ which had been given to Adam and Eve. 

Many years later, Enoch, who was "taught in all the ways of God" (vs 21), heard a voice from heaven saying "Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people and say unto them--Repent, for thus saith the Lord; I am angry with this people...for their hearts have waxed hard, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes cannot see afar off" (vs. 28). This voice from heaven also said to Enoch, "And for these many generations, ever since the day that I created them, have they gone astray, and have denied me, and have sought their own counsels in the dark; and...(they) have not kept the commandments, which I gave unto their father, Adam" (vs 28), which commandments are repentance, baptism by water and by the Holy Ghost, and enduring in repentance to the end in faith in Jesus Christ.

If this remarkable account is true, then it is easy for us to understand why there have been and are so many churches, religious systems and philosophies on the earth. Everyone on earth is descended from ancestors who fully accepted the way of Jesus Christ to happiness through His Gospel. But, as with the case of the children of Adam and Eve, the majority of the people rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ, would not repent, and therefore the true Gospel was not passed on to their children. As a result, the Lord raised up righteous men like Enoch to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who would listen. Enoch, who had been taught by his father "in all the ways of God" (vs 41) called upon men to repent and many did, but again the majority rejected his message and did not repent, and as a result the floods came and they were destroyed, except Noah and his family, after Noah called upon all men to repent.

The generations of those who refused to repent (which means to turn to Christ) and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ were left with many other religions, churches and philosophies to choose from, but 

every religion, 

church 

and philosophy on earth 

has descended from, 

is a reaction to, 

or was created for want of 

the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

But notwithstanding, every religion, church and philosophy which has something good in them, received that goodness from Jesus Christ and the heritage He has left on the earth from the beginning when the true Gospel of Jesus Christ was introduced to Adam.

So the only question for anyone desiring to know is this: Is this record an accurate and true account? And remember that just because you may not initially believe it, your unbelief does not make it not true. The question is not whether you believe it, but whether or not it is true. And you can also ask if there is a way for you to know if the words spoken by Enoch are, as Enoch says, the words of God? 

Fortunately, there is an experiment that is as scientific as any experiment can be. And this experiment is best conducted without asking the source of Moses' record because the source is irrelevant to this experiment. By utilizing this experiment you can know if these words which Enoch spoke, and which have been recorded, are as Enoch said, the words of God. 

You begin by awakening and arousing your faculties and by exercising a particle of faith. A particle of faith is no more than just a desire to believe in a manner that you can give place in your heart for the words of God spoken by Enoch, which I will call the Word.

Now compare the Word to a seed. Allow the seed or Word to be planted in your heart. If the seed is a good seed, and if you do not cast it out by your unbelief, it will begin to swell within your heart and you will recognize that the seed is a good seed because it is beginning to grow. Your understanding will begin to be enlightened, and you will know that the seed is good. It is the Word that will have swelled within your heart and enlightened your understanding, and therefore you will know that the Word is true, i.e., the seed is good.

For more detail on this experiment see: Is It a Good Seed?

You can then do the same with all the words of God spoken by Enoch which are found in Moses 6 (see attached), and know for a surety that Enoch did speak the words of God, and that the events spoken of actually happened. The Word is light, is good and is discernible and you can taste the light. This is direct communication from God to you through His recorded words. You are no longer dependent on knowledge from others, but receive your knowledge directly from God, through His words. In this same way one can know that the Restored Gospel given through Joseph Smith is the same Gospel given to Adam and Eve after they left the Garden of Eden.

We can then look at each dispensation (a time when the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority to perform the ordinances was on the earth), and know that Adam's dispensation was the first, and Enoch's was the second. Additional searching will tell you that Noah's was the third dispensation, Abraham's was the fourth, and Moses' was the fifth. We then come to the sixth dispensation which began when Christ came to earth as the mortal Jesus. 

The seventh and last dispensation is the restoration of the same Gospel of Jesus Christ given to Adam, through the prophet Joseph Smith. In each of these dispensations the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was on the earth, but in each case the majority of the people rejected it, thereby leading to generations of millions of people without the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All other religions, churches and philosophies are the result of either rejecting, not having, or perverting the true and only Gospel of Jesus Christ, which was on the earth in the beginning, and is now on the earth for the last and final time before the second coming of Jesus Christ.

"And Christ hath said (from the beginning, through all of his prophets and throughout each dispensation) Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved" (Moroni 7:34). "And now, my beloved brethren... these things (these words) are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true..." (Moroni 7:35 emphasis added).

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Chapter 6: Selections from the Book of Moses as found in the Pearl of Great Price

1 AND Adam hearkened unto the voice of God, and called upon his sons to repent.

2 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son, and he called his name Seth. And Adam glorified the name of God; for he said: God hath appointed me another seed, instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

3 And God revealed himself unto Seth, and he rebelled not, but offered an acceptable sacrifice, like unto his brother Abel. And to him also was born a son, and he called his name Enos.

4 And then began these men to call upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord blessed them;

5 And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration;

6 And by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled.

7 Now this same Priesthood, which was in the beginning, shall be in the end of the world also.

8 Now this prophecy Adam spake, as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and a genealogy was kept of the children of God. And this was the book of the generations of Adam, saying: In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

9 In the image of his own body, male and female, created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created and became living souls in the land upon the footstool of God.

10 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his own image, and called his name Seth.

11 And the days of Adam, after he had begotten Seth, were eight hundred years, and he begat many sons and daughters;

(verses 12-20 trace the genealogy from Seth to Enoch over several hundred years)

21 And Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begat Enoch. And Jared taught Enoch in all the ways of God.

22 And this is the genealogy of the sons of Adam, who was the son of God, with whom God, himself, conversed.

23 And they were preachers of righteousness, and spake and prophesied, and called upon all men, everywhere, to repent; and faith was taught unto the children of men.

(Verses 24 &25 are more genealogy.)

26 And it came to pass that Enoch journeyed in the land, among the people; and as he journeyed, the Spirit of God descended out of heaven, and abode upon him.

27 And he heard a voice from heaven, saying: Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people, and say unto them--Repent, for thus saith the Lord: I am angry with this people, and my fierce anger is kindled against them; for their hearts have waxed hard, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes cannot see afar off;

28 And for these many generations, ever since the day that I created them, have they gone astray, and have denied me, and have sought their own counsels in the dark; and in their own abominations have they devised murder, and have not kept the commandments, which I gave unto their father, Adam.

29 Wherefore, they have forsworn themselves, and, by their oaths, they have brought upon themselves death; and a hell I have prepared for them, if they repent not;

30 And this is a decree, which I have sent forth in the beginning of the world, from my own mouth, from the foundation thereof, and by the mouths of my servants, thy fathers, have I decreed it, even as it shall be sent forth in the world, unto the ends thereof.

31 And when Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?

32 And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good.

33 Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you.

34 Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me.

35 And the Lord spake unto Enoch, and said unto him: Anoint thine eyes with clay, and wash them, and thou shalt see. And he did so.

36 And he beheld the spirits that God had created; and he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye; and from thenceforth came the saying abroad in the land: A seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people.

37 And it came to pass that Enoch went forth in the land, among the people, standing upon the hills and the high places, and cried with a loud voice, testifying against their works; and all men were offended because of him.

38 And they came forth to hear him, upon the high places, saying unto the tent-keepers: Tarry ye here and keep the tents, while we go yonder to behold the seer, for he prophesieth, and there is a strange thing in the land; a wild man hath come among us.

39 And it came to pass when they heard him, no man laid hands on him; for fear came on all them that heard him; for he walked with God.

40 And there came a man unto him, whose name was Mahijah, and said unto him: Tell us plainly who thou art, and from whence thou comest?

41 And he said unto them: I came out from the land of Cainan, the land of my fathers, a land of righteousness unto this day. And my father taught me in all the ways of God.

42 And it came to pass, as I journeyed from the land of Cainan, by the sea east, I beheld a vision; and lo, the heavens I saw, and the Lord spake with me, and gave me commandment; wherefore, for this cause, to keep the commandment, I speak forth these words.

43 And Enoch continued his speech, saying: The Lord which spake with me, the same is the God of heaven, and he is my God, and your God, and ye are my brethren, and why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven?

44 The heavens he made; the earth is his footstool; and the foundation thereof is his. Behold, he laid it, an host of men hath he brought in upon the face thereof.

45 And death hath come upon our fathers; nevertheless we know them, and cannot deny, and even the first of all we know, even Adam.

46 For a book of remembrance we have written among us, according to the pattern given by the finger of God; and it is given in our own language.

47 And as Enoch spake forth the words of God, the people trembled, and could not stand in his presence.

48 And he said unto them: Because that Adam fell, we are; and by his fall came death; and we are made partakers of misery and woe.

49 Behold Satan hath come among the children of men, and tempteth them to worship him; and men have become carnal, sensual, and devilish, and are shut out from the presence of God.

50 But God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent.

51 And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh.

52 And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you.

53 And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden.

54 Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world.

55 And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good.

56 And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment.

57 Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.

58 Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying:

59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;

60 For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified;

61 Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.

62 And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time.

63 And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me.

64 And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.

65 And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.

66 And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;

67 And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.

68 Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen.