April 24, 2018
Exodus 22:18
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
That is Jehovah supposedly instructing Moses on the dangers of magic.
What tragedies could have been avoided if the original text of second book of the Pentateuch had been transmitted to us correctly, or the text not corrupted by some fool. You would think there was some pandemic of sorcery in Egypt or the land of Canaan at the time. I realize Pharaoh had his magicians, but I don't think they were a threat to humanity. There are also some misogynistic issues with GOD apparently ordering the death of witches but not warlocks.
There are estimates of 200,000 executions of witches between 1500 and 1800. Although no witches were burned in North America during the infamous Salem witch trials (they were hung), they were burned in Europe. Killing any supposed witches is unacceptable and unscriptural. Satan must have relished all the suffering this one mistake in the Old Testament has caused.
Now Dennis Prager, in his new commentary on the Book of Exodus, has to account for this concept and explain how GOD would come up with such a stipulation, when GOD said no such thing.
I am grateful to Joseph Smith for using his gifts of seership and translation to correct thousands of mistakes in the Bible, especially this one. Even the 15 pretenders in Salt Lake City are smart enough not to have themselves sustained as "translators." All of them from Brigham Young to today do not equal even one Joseph Smith, or one Hyrum Smith, or one Emma Smith.
The corrected text reads:
Thou shalt not suffer a murderer to live.
That should end all discussion of witch hunts and eliminating capital punishment.