They succeeded in killing Joseph, but he had finished his work.He was a servant of God, and gave us the Book of Mormon.He said the Bible was right in the main, but, through the translators and others, many precious portions were suppressed, and several other portions were wrongly translated; and now his testimony is in force, for he has sealed it with his blood.As I have frequently told them, no man in this dispensation will enter the courts of heaven, without the approbation of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jun.Who has made this so?Have I?Have this people?Have the world?No; but the Lord Jehovah has decreed it.If I ever pass into the heavenly courts, it will be by the consent of the Prophet Joseph.If you ever pass through the gates into the Holy City, you will do so upon his certificate that you are worthy to pass.Can you pass without his inspection?No; neither can any person in this dispensation, which is the dispensation of the fulness of times.In this generation, and in all the generations that are to come, everyone will have to undergo the scrutiny of this Prophet.They say that they killed Joseph, and they will yet come with their hats under their arms and bend to him; but what good will it do them, unless they repent?They can come in a certain way and find favor, but will they?
--JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES, vol. 8, p. 224
I never, ever realized how misguided and deceived these poor people are!!!
I could see, I guess, relatively uneducated folks during the 1880s through the early 1900s, going along with this stuff.
I mean, I know people even today who actually own bibles but would rather believe what someone else tells them it says!
Today, however, we have such advanced science, archeology and technology that we can prove and disprove so many lies and scams.
Even the BYU DNA project itself, now proves beyond a reasonable doubt, that North American, Central American and South American Indians are NOT related to the ancient Hebrews, as the LDS (Mormon) Church has claimed from its beginning. How do their leaders now explain to their members about what Joseph Smith said was written in their Book of Mormon, about those people being the "lost tribe" being from Israel but we now no that's not at all true?
All of those peoples trace their long dead ancestors to the Far East not the Holy Land!
I recently saw a video of a guy showing the anchors off the coast of Cyprus, where the bible claims Paul's ship was shipwrecked some 30-60 years after Christ was crucified. Sure enough, there they are, just as the bible says.
No one can find anything at all related to both the stories from the Book of Mormon, much less the hill in New York, where Jos. Smith said he found his golden plates in the early 1800s!
If the bible is to be believed and Jesus told us the truth, the kind of "savior" Mormons preach and believe in, guarantees them to go to hell after they die, not to some Mormon heaven!
Thanks for telling us everything you've told us.