(Chris Detrick/The Salt Lake Tribune)
Posted on 01/20/2006 10:28:11 AM PST by TFFKAMM
Dan Brown clearly enjoys playing with legends, history, symbols and secrets. And readers' minds. In his best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, Brown wove all these - real and imagined - into a breathless mystery about Christianity, Mary Magdalene and the Divine Feminine that has spawned an industry of de-coders eager to separate fact from fiction.
Now that he has turned his attention to the mysteries of Freemasonry, the centuries-old fraternal order, the new book also might deal with Mormonism.
But rather than announce the Da Vinci sequel in a news release, Brown embedded tantalizing clues to its subject on the book's jacket. Written in typeface that is slightly larger and bolder than the rest (it requires a magnifying glass to find them all) are the words: is there no help for the widows son.
"O Lord, my God, is there no help for the widow's son?" was used historically as a Masonic distress call, but when journalist David Shugarts plugged it into Google, the first hit was a 1974 speech given by an LDS Institute of Religion teacher, Reed C. Durham, at the University of Utah.
Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, reportedly began to utter the call as he fell from a second story window after being fatally shot by a mob in a Carthage, Ill., jail in 1844, Durham said.
In an electrifying presidential address to the Mormon History Association meeting in Nauvoo, Ill., he traced close parallels between Smith's account of digging gold plates out of a New York hillside and Masonic tales of Enoch and buried treasure. Smith wore a "Jupiter talisman," or what his wife called "his Masonic jewel," and LDS temple ceremonies bear a striking resemblance to Masonic rituals, he said.
The
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The Winding Staircase, like all Masonic symbols, is illustrative of discipline and doctrine, and opens to us a wide field of moral and speculative inquiry. (Chris Detrick/The Salt Lake Tribune)
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speech was so controversial that Durham's superiors in the LDS Educational System forced him to issue a public apology.
The speech was never published but was surreptitiously taped and has floated around on the Internet for years.
It may have also caught Brown's attention, Shugarts speculates, and may provide one plot twist in Brown's next book, tentatively titled The Solomon Key. Brown confirmed in a speech last year that the book's mystery will be set in Washington, D.C., where many architectural features were drawn from Masonry, and will feature the same lead character, Harvard-professor-turned-detective Robert Langdom.
Getting a jump on the novel's historical context, Shugarts has written Secrets of the Widow's Son: The Mysteries Surrounding the Sequel to The Da Vinci Code.
He provides a broad history of Mormonism, including its brush with Masonry in the 19th century. It also offers nuggets about Masonic history such as these: At least eight signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons, as were 13 U.S. presidents including George Washington. A Freemason released Paul Revere from British custody on the night of his famous ride, after he determined that Revere was a Mason. Mozart's "Magic Flute" and Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King were written as Masonic allegories.
The Washington Monument and a similar monument on Bunker Hill in Boston, were not just coincidentally shaped like an Egyptian obelisks, but intentionally designed to honor Masonic allusions to ancient Egyptian mystical wisdom.
Much of the symbolism is mathematical, even geometrical, which could explain why the fraternity has attracted rationalists such as Voltaire, Goethe, Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain.
"We've heard from Masons
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One of the rooms in the Temple. The Salt Lake Masonic Temple was completed in 1927 and was built in 1 year, 3 months, and 22 days. The architect of the temple was Carl W. Scott and George W Welch. (Chris Detrick/The Salt Lake Tribune)
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that they feel that [Brown is] going to do them justice," says Dan Burstein, who wrote the introduction to Shugarts' book. "He seems to be favorably disposed to thinking of Masons as an important historical underground movement, pushing the world towards democracy and enlightenment."
Today there are nearly 2 million Masons in the United States, with 2,250 members in 29 Utah lodges.
"We have a lot of Mormons who are Masons in this state, but we don't know exactly how many," says Ridgley Gilmour, Grand Master of Utah Masonic Lodge. "Anyone with a belief in God can petition to join but we don't ask what religion they are."
Gilmour was adamant the Masonry is not a "secret society," but a fraternal order with large-scale charitable giving built on deeply held American values of family, God and country.
"The only secrets we have are little signs and passwords which we use because it's an ancient custom, and, frankly, it's fun,'' Gilmour says.
It remains to be seen how much Mormon history will feature in the novel, (Brown's wife reportedly was raised in the LDS Church) but if the reaction to Durham's 1974 speech is any indication, any link between the two could be controversial in Utah.
For his part, Nicholas S. Literski, an active Mormon and Mason living in Nauvoo, thinks Latter-day Saints misunderstand the similarities. But they are significant.
"Everybody wants to obsess over supposed similarities in ritual," he says. "But that's just one aspect. Everything about Joseph and his family was tied into Masonic legends."
The Mormon connection: Smith's father, Joseph Smith Sr. joined a Masonic lodge when the family moved to Palmyra,
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N.Y., in 1816. Later, Smith's brother Hyrum also joined. From them, Smith heard the story of a lost sacred word that was engraved upon a triangular plate of pure gold. The word was the name of God.
It makes sense that he would go searching for such treasure in the large American Indian burial mounds near his home, says Literski, author of the forthcoming book, Method Infinite: Freemasonry and the Mormon Restoration.
And when Smith reported finding an ancient record written on plates of gold, he used "distinctively Masonic language to describe the experience," Literski says.
The church, which claimed to restore ancient truths of Christianity lost through the ages, attracted many members of the Masonic fraternity who traced their own roots back centuries and had similar esoteric teachings.
By the 1840s, many Mormon leaders in Nauvoo, including Smith and apostles Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, became Masons and organized a lodge there under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. It wasn't long before nearly every male member of the church in the area had joined. At the same time, Smith introduced LDS temple rituals that included secret handshakes, signs and symbols like the all-seeing eye, the compass and square (tools of the mason's trade) and the sun, moon and stars that echoed Masonry.
Soon, though, other Masons felt that the Mormons were dominating the fraternity. In 1842, the Nauvoo Lodge was suspended. Many Mormons believed that Masons contributed to the murder of their prophet.
Antagonisms built up between the two groups. In Utah in 1860, Masonic lodges were established but they prohibited Mormons from joining. At the same time, Young forbade Mormons from joining and refused to allow any Mason to hold
priesthood leadership positions in the church, Literski says.
It wasn't until 1984 that LDS President Spencer W. Kimball removed the prohibition against Latter-day Saints becoming Freemasons. Later that year, the Grand Lodge of Utah removed its own ban on Mormon membership so that, in the ensuing years, many Latter-day Saint men have returned to this part of their heritage.
In the novelist's mind: Shugarts says it was not his intention to be a plot spoiler for Brown's sequel. He couldn't do that if he wanted. But he did offer a primer on Masonry and Mormonism for those who will want to explore, as they did with Da Vinci, just how much of what Brown writes is really history.
"I had to push out in every direction possible," Shugarts said in a phone interview from his Connecticut home. "I read five books about Mormon history and thousands of Internet Web sites. I tried to be thorough and fair."
Though he only dedicated four or five pages to Mormons in a 200-page book, he's already heard from unhappy Latter-day Saints who accuse him of misreading or a biased approach to LDS history, a charge he rejects.
"Prior to embarking on my research, I had no particular opinion of Joseph Smith or the details of the founding of the [LDS ]Church," he wrote to one critic. "But I had met a few Mormons and they always impressed me as fine people. After delving into the story of Joseph Smith, I understood a lot more about LDS. I remain impressed that Mormons are fine people."
It will be interesting to see if Brown sees them that way as well. Literski isn't worried.
"He'll weave a good conspiracy," Literski says, "but no matter how inventive Dan Brown gets in terms of the connection, he will fall short of just how deep
that story does go."
Even in Smith's day, there were Masons who believed the legends were historical truth and saw Freemasonry as a deeply spiritual, mystical quest. Other, more sophisticated members, discounted the old stories, wanting to refocus it along the lines of a charitable and benevolent institution.
The Smiths were about as far into mysticism as you can get, Literski says. "Joseph was rebuilding Solomon's temple with all the legendary baggage that came along with that."
Seeing the relationship between the two groups forces Mormons like Literski to revise his ideas about how God interacts with a prophet.
"You cannot understand what is going on in Joseph's mind unless you can know what he is seeing, hearing, feeling and touching," he says. "That gives me a stronger position of faith than would this idea that revelation is ex nihilo. Joseph was not a puppet."
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Contact Peggy Fletcher Stack at pstack@sltrib.com or 801-257-8725. Send comments on this article to religioneditor@sltrib.com.
I guess you don't see it at all...
When someone is resentful and bitter even scripture will state the Holy Ghost is not present only man reasoning which is a limited tool.
I also know atheist who don't believe but they don't have an ax to grind they just don't believe and many live better lives than some profest Christians.
When I saw Marvin J. Ashton among his lump I know this is a sweet gentel soul and that sweet spirit radiated from that him!
And this Packham is in the gall of bittness to even pick on Ashton!
CoCo you can post all the claims you want, it don't mean or change a thing my dear!
Thank you anyway answering!
A simple correction.
Anybody who is a believer in God through faith in Christ by the plan of God the Father established in eternity past would pay heed to the admonishment at the end of the Revelation of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus as communicated to His disciple John by His angel.
Interesting point that you bring up,..do you really mean to imply Joseph Smith lied when he claimed to come face to face with the Father and the Son, which would be in contradiction to the last few verses in Deuteronomy?
BTTT
How much more orthodox or rightly judging could a Jew possibly be conceived?
I believe there are 2 different groups of Church of Latter Day Saints. The Reorganized Church correctly points out to the schismatic Utah group that court decisions have proven their veracity. The Missouri (Reorganized) Church rejects the name Mormon, however, the larger group from Salt Lake City is frequently associated with the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the name 'Mormon'.
I'm sure there are others on the thread better able at typing a fascinating history of their church, although discerning fact from fiction is sometimes difficult because many of that same group convolute false historical claims with truth.
Not two different wills, rather our Loed and Savior Christ Jesus has provided for us an example of how man has an appropriate relationship with God the Father. Faith is non-meritorious of the one expressing it. This lack of merit frees God's justice from preventing His righteousness from exhibiting whatever grace He chooses.
When Christ exhibits that same faith in the Father, so also are we to exhibit the same faith in the Father in all things.
There is a degree of truth when one says Mormonism revolves around everything Christ did. The significant problem is that faith in God must run THROUGH our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus,...not about and around Him. Acts 3:22 comes to mind.
The former Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is now known as the Community of Christ church. Their headquarters are in Missouri. The first president of this church was Joseph Smith's son, Joseph Smith III. The presidency was handed down from father to son until W Grant McMurray was elected as president. He was the first non-Smith descendant to be the president. He resigned on 2004 after some improprieties. Their beliefs and the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have diverged over the past 150 years. In 2000, they voted to change their name to the Community of Christ church. Here is their website Community of Christ
(Emma Smith, Joseph Smith's wife stayed in Illinois after Joseph Smith was killed. She did remarry. Most of the members of the LDS church followed Brigham Young to Utah.)
The history of the splinter groups from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints can be found here. Schismatic Groups The groups did start splintering off in 1831 or so, many years before Joseph Smith was assassinated.
Good... this year, i hope maybe you'll get some more time to relax both at Lodge AND at the Range...8^)
Color country,
It is apparent to me that you are sincere in your beliefs, if to my view a little misguided.
I know you think you are older than I am, let’s go with that for a minute, does that mean you are always right, must I wait to be the oldest to ever be right? Once I am the “Oldest of all living”, am I always right?
Age has nothing to do with matters of philosophy, or religion.
In response to your “post about lies: I know how television interview shows work, you and the interviewer are in a room, there is a camera running for 4 to 8 hours. They ask all sorts of things, and push different agendas, buttons and or ideas, trying to get “something interesting”. After the interview is over, days can be spent editing those hours down to about 17 minutes of “show” there is no way to avoid some contextual error. I would need to read the entire transcript to know really what was being said and why. If the interviewer had approached these questions preceded by specific questions, I might well have given the same answers. I would have been trying to convey the truth. I would have failed, because of editing.
Simply put not everyone in the church is ready for some truths, just as a 3 year old is not ready to drive. So, no, not everyone in the church believes every doctrine taught by the church. Polygamy is not doctrinal at this time because we have received a commandment (Official Declaration #1, Doctrine and Covenants), forbidding it at this time. (It’s illegal, and we follow the laws of the land, and I don’t think we are righteous enough to live this way.) Will plural marriage exist in the celestial kingdom? Yes, this practice is not offensive to god as he ordained it in many instances in the past for righteous men.
This earth is a type and a shadow. When cows have calves, do they grow up to be chickens? When cats have kittens do they grow up to be mice? When gods have children, will they not grow up to be Gods? If we are the children of god is this not what this means? God our father was specific in his choice of title. He did not say god our Creator, or parent or Progenitor, or Mother, but God our Father. Jesus Chris, and Adam were in the “Express image of God”. They were male; does God have extra organs just so they could appear “Normal”? This is illogical in the extreme. True doctrine is never illogical when viewed from God’s perspective. If God calls us his children that is what we are. If God says he is our father, then that is what he is. There is no room for misunderstanding here to confuse anyone who is not “stuck” with a belief stronger than their faith.
I have received a witness, one that stays sharp in my mind as the years dim and other memories fade, this witness stands sharper then reality itself. God lives. His son Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the father and stands at the right hand of God. There is no other way to God, but through the atonement of Jesus Christ. The church of Jesus Christ Of latter day saints is the true church, restored to its fullness and glory in these the latter days. I believe this to be true with all my heart, might mind and soul, because God told me so, and in a way that I dare not deny. No mere mortal can shake my faith because I know from whence my testimony comes. I truly hope that your faith in what you believe will lead you to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and that you will hear the words “Well done my true and faithful servant” when your time comes to meet him. I appreciate you attempt to share that faith with me, and will not “bash” with those of sincere heart as you seem to be.
>>A simple correction.
>>
>>Anybody who is a believer in God through faith in Christ by the plan
>>of God the Father established in eternity past would pay heed to the
>>admonishment at the end of the Revelation of our Lord and Savior
>>Christ Jesus as communicated to His disciple John by His angel.
Revelations was written before the Gospel of Saint John, was a separate book, and was not meant to end all revelation. The warning about adding or subtracting to/from this book refers to the book of revelations itself, not to the bible, which did not exist at that time. Deuteronomy has a similar warning at the end of it which shows that revelation was not ending there either.
>>Interesting point that you bring up,..do you really mean to imply
>>Joseph Smith lied when he claimed to come face to face with the
>>Father and the Son, which would be in contradiction to the last
>>few verses in Deuteronomy?
I do not know exactly which verses you are talking about, please be more specific. As a general rule: No, Joseph Smith did not lie when he said… Whatever :-) Please do not put words in my mouth; I don’t know where they’ve been. (GRIN)
I assume you are referring to http://scriptures.lds.org/deut/34 where Moses is complaining that there arose not a prophet in Israel like unto himself, someone that god new face to face? Nope, Moses was right when he wrote that for Joseph Smith had not yet been raised up as a prophet (Not for centuries).
I was talking about Deut 4:2 http://scriptures.lds.org/deut/4/2#2 which is very similar to Rev 22:19 http://scriptures.lds.org/rev/22 Which many use to say there can be no more revelations from God. (I think the argument is silly, God has always talked to those with faith, and he does not change…)
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to correct an unclear post.
" Often, just behind the facade of things is a huge hunk of gorgeous convoluted magic you would do well to lick."
Typical Markie-boy spew alright! ....
>>I know well, what it is, I understand it fully....it is not biblical....it is
>>not what traditional Christians would call "Christian." To my Biblical
>> understanding it is "Anti-Christian."
I am truly sorry some feel that way (Some because you are not alone in your feelings about this). However, I believe we are Christians, and will try to the best of my ability (as your posts indicate you understand the limited nature of man to be perfect) to be a Christian in every way including my behavior on this forum.
>>It is probably better for me not to try to challenge your faith....for you
>>it is necessary at this time.
Although I feel a tinge of the “Crutch” Statement in what you say, I see religion, not as a crutch (Which implies injury, or deformity) but a as a Ladder, allowing me to reach places I could not with my feet planted only on the ground.
Thank you, for not attempting to shake what I hold dear.
May your path be smooth, and straight before you, go swiftly, go with God.
Thank you Delphi, and may God sustain you.
Interesting comment. How does that square with these scriptures, which talk about marriage in the afterlife?
That was always a sticking point for me when I was a Mormon. One of the last adult Sunday School classes I attended was a discussion about sex in heaven...some were pointing out that since we would produce "spirit children," wouldn't it make sense that it would be sexual reproduction.
AND since heaven would be pleasurable, didn't it make sense that we would have marital relationships in heaven?
This was during the time I was seriously questioning their dogma, and it was one of the final straws. Again, it's just one of the many unbiblical teachings of the LDS. Then again they've been given the fullness of the gospel through continued "revelation."
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