What is a Morman (to those who don’t know us), or, what is a Mormon?

What is a Morman or who are the Mormans?

In short, a Morman is a husband who overachieves at housework. 🙂

In reality, it’s a misspelling. When people hear the word Mormon, it may sound to them like Morman because they haven’t seen the word before. To my knowledge there isn’t anything about Mormans in history except an ancient king’s name and a battle in France.

What is a Mormon or who are the Mormons?

A Mormon is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Members of the LDS church have been nicknamed “Mormons” since the beginning of the church in 1830 due to the publication and use by the church of The Book of Mormon as another book of scripture. Members of the church believe that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and the dealings of prophets from the ancient Americas with God. We view several sections of the Bible as support for this belief.

Joseph is a fruitful bough

First, in Genesis 49 when Jacob (Israel) was blessing his sons before he died, he blessed his son Joseph with these promises:

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Mormons view this promise to Joseph that he would be blessed to have his descendants (branches) go over the ocean (wall to a desert people) to a land of everlasting hills (the Americas have a chain of mountains that runs the height of the North and South Americas). In the Americas, his descendants would flourish and Joseph would be separated for a time from his brothers, the same way he was sold into Egypt but eventually reunited with them. Anciently, the reunion of the family provided a physical salvation during the time of great famine in the land. In the latter days, there is a famine as well, but a spiritual one.

Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

Joseph provides salvation from spiritual famine | Two sticks are joined

In our day, we believe the parallel to this will be that Joseph’s descendants provide a spiritual salvation to the rest of the House of Israel just as Joseph provided a temporal salvation anciently. This happens through the record of Joseph which was prophesied by Ezekiel to come forth in the latter days.

Ezekiel 37
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

A few verses further, after Ezekiel declares that God will gather the children of Israel, he says,

24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

Two things to note here.

First, the stick of Judah is the record of the Jews, or as we call it, the Bible. The record of the stick of Joseph is the Book of Mormon which contains the writings of the prophets who were among Joseph’s descendants who came to the America’s during the time of Jeremiah in the Old Testament (about 600 B.C.).

One fold and one shepherd

Second, the reference to Israel having one shepherd is something Jesus mentioned as well. In John 10 we read:

14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Who were the other sheep Jesus mentioned? They were not the gentiles because Jesus clearly said to the gentile woman whom he initial refused to bless:

Matt 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

So who are the lost sheep who were not of the fold of Judah (the tribe inhabiting the land Jesus lived in)? They were the other of the 12 tribes. The Book of Mormon fully reveals this when Jesus visited the Americas after his resurrection. You can read the account here and what he told the people (Jesus tells the ancient Americans they were the other sheep he mentioned).

So to conclude, Mormons are a group of people who believe God had more to say to his children on earth than what some others presently believe. God didn’t quit speaking just because a group of men who got together around 300 A.D. decided God had quit. 🙂 The name Mormon comes because one of the ancient prophets in the Americas who lived around 400 A.D. compiled the history of his people onto a set of metal plates containing the most precious teachings and it was called The Book of Mormon just as one would refer to the Book of Isaiah or Books of Moses for those prophetic writings. Today, there are prophets on the earth again who receive revelation from God. Joseph Smith was the first of these who also translated the Book of Mormon into English as part of his divine calling.

What is the Mormon religion?

Following ALL of the teachings of Jesus Christ that have been given to prophets in any day and age and location of the world.