Four Witnesses of Christ

I recently heard that the prophecy by Moses concerning Christ is in all four standard works.  In Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses wrote, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.”  In the New Testament, this is quoted by Peter, and then this is added, “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among my people” (Acts 3:22-23).  It appears that he was quoting Deuteronomy 18:19, but the reading is a little different now in the Old Testament.  It is this last sentiment—that those who reject this prophet, who is the Savior, will be destroyed or cut off—which is found in all of our standard works.  In the Book of Mormon it is repeated twice.  Nephi wrote: “And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people” (1 Nephi 22:20).  Later when the Savior came among the Nephites He told them, “Behold, I am he of whom Moses spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people” (3 Nephi 20:23).  In the Doctrine and Covenants we read this: “And upon them that hearken not to the voice of the Lord shall be fulfilled that which was written by the prophet Moses, that they should be cut off from among the people” (D&C 133:63).  Finally, in the Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith wrote that this scripture from Acts was quoted to him by the angel Moroni: “He quoted also the third chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely as they stand in our New Testament. He said that that prophet was Christ; but the day had not yet come when ‘they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people,’ but soon would come” (JSH 1:40).  So the idea that is present in all of these accounts is that those who will not hear the voice of Christ will be cut off.  Also, we see that all of them contain the witness that this prophet mentioned by Moses was indeed Christ.  In Acts that was Peter’s whole point in quoting the prophecy.  After Nephi quoted the verse he testified, “And now, I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel” (1 Nephi 22:21).  Christ declared in 3 Nephi that the prophecy was of him, and the angel Moroni told Joseph that the prophecy was about Christ.  In the D&C reference the statement is not as explicit, but it is there since the text refers to those who will not hearken “to the voice of the Lord,” thus equating “that prophet” with the Lord.  So all of these witnesses together firmly declare that we must hearken to the voice of Christ or be cut off from among the people of God.