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To: Normandy; Elsie; All
As far as PEOPLE coming back from the dead...

One more note...perhaps to "ALL" as much, if not more, as you personally, Normandy.

I at least want to commend you Normandy for highlighting a key aspect of infrequently discussed Mormon doctrine: That, yes, indeed: Mormon theology deems Moroni as one of the class of "people"...a person.

Now why is that significant in my eyes?

Well, unless you've researched Mormonism indepth...do you know how hard it can be to find Lds leaders who emphasize Moroni the ghost appearing in the shadows to one man...versus the gobs & gobs & gobs of Mormon docs describing Moroni as an "angel?"

ALL: You, see in Mormonism, Moroni is both. He is both...
... a resurrected being in heaven (or near Kolob or wherever);
he is also that "personage" who appeared to Joseph Smith ... whom I reference as such as a "ghost." And...in that "role" he is also deemed an "angel." And not only in the classical sense that "angel" = "messenger" but is really an "angel."

So, when I found a quote like Lds "apostle" Mark Petersen from sixtytwo yrs ago given at THE General Conference of Mormons for that Spring...one that acknowledged Moroni being a personage who came back from the dead..." that is worth highlighting.

Exactly why again...why beyond pointing to some mere trivial nuance in Mormon theology???

Here's why:

Reason #1

When we turn to Joseph Smith's personal polygamy apologetic to his first wife Emma ... one he wrote well AFTER the polygamous fact to try to get Emma to submit to his sleeping around... he included these four verses...please note the highlighted portions:

15 Therefore, if a MAN marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world. 16 Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. 17 For THESE ANGELS DID NOT ABIDE MY LAW; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever. (d&c 132:fifteen to eighteen)

Did you all catch v. sixteen's highlight? Smith is referencing beings...angelic beings...who "did NOT abide my law."

Question: What do Christians call angelic beings who failed to abide God's law??? Yup. That's right! Demons!!!

Yet...Joseph Smith says the spiritual schematic for the Mormon gods is that they are indeed served by these angelic beings (read demons) who "failed to abide" God's law!!!

(I think when God sovereignly allowed spiritual competition as found in the Book of Mormon, he made the demons insert a few "truth in advertising" clauses imbedded into the Mormon "scriptures")

So...Guess what? Moroni is an angelic being of this camp of angelic beings who failed to abide God's law! A demon of demons!

And, btw, leave it up to demons to wind up playing down to the hilt a failure to "abide" God's law...thinking they can somehow continue to serve eternally as servants of the divine! D&C 132 has demonic hands written all over it!!!

Reason #2

My personal belief after studying paranormal activity indepth is that most socalled appearances of "ghosts" are merely demons in disguise. The fact that Samuel's spirit was brought up in the Old Testament means I don't believe anybody can speak with certainty on this subject to apply to all cases...

Yet if Mormons believe that Moroni is both a ghostly (resurrected) figure and an angel, why is that of import?

Simply this: There's a motto in consumer buying: "Buyer, beware."

Most of the world will be a bit (or a LOT, depending upon where you are culturally) more skeptical of messages portending to come from ghosts.

Historically, people have been more open to receiving messages from angels ... both for better (biblical angels of God), or worse (occultism at large).

So when the Mormon PR machine ramped up, 'twas much easier for the Mormon church to literally TRUMPET Moroni as his "angelic" side...
...vs. Moroni the suspected ghost...
...or even the weird Mormon theology of Mormon the Book of Mormon prophet who died who resurrected who became an eventual angel. (Sounds like pop "angelogy" like "It's a Wonderful Life" of angels getting wings after having been men on earth)

On that latter note, it seems always the cults that "weirdify" angels. JWs say Jesus was Michael the Archangel who became a man who became God's son...becoming a "sort of" quasi demigod...but who isn't Jehovah God.

Mormons say men were...
...eternal intelligences (D&C 93)
...who then underwent a birth in the beyond as "spirits"
...who then were transferred to this earth to become men and women
...and then some become gods (married temple Mormons);
...and some become angels;
...and others remain men and women.

And the above description, btw, includes the Mormon Jesus. Like the JW God, the Mormon Jesus doesn't become God Himself...but his spiritual evolution in Mormon eyes was the same up to "son of God" status as Lucifer's...hence the first part of this occultic article. But Lds do think He is the "Jehovah" of the OT.

49 posted on 10/29/2014 9:10:35 AM PDT by Colofornian
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To: Colofornian

I consider any messenger sent from God to be an angel, and Moroni, once a man on earth, to be one.


64 posted on 10/29/2014 11:11:00 AM PDT by Normandy
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