William Law. The second most powerful man in the Mormon Church in 1844.
Posted on 09/24/2009 10:46:07 AM PDT by delacoert
Dear Seeker of Truth,
I am a former Mormon missionary and apologist (defender of the faith). I wrote a book defending the Church against anti-Mormon attacks ("The Gainsayers" 1989).
I spent many years of my life in research, hoping to find evidence for The Book of Mormon, and to counter anti-Mormon claims. I studied Book of Mormon archaeology and also Mormon history far more intensively than 99% of other Mormons. I did this because I wanted to defend the Church. Ultimately, I discovered the truth. I resigned from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1996.
Below is a list of 22 FACTS that Mormon Church does NOT want you to know. In fact, most Mormons themselves don't know many of these facts. Only Church leaders, Mormon historians, and a few Mormon apologists know most of the things I will reveal to you in this publication. 99% of rank-and-file Mormons do not know most of the 22 FACTS I will reveal to you here.
The following 22 FACTS are NOT disputed by the Mormon Church! These are FACTS that any Mormon historian will acknowledge if you ask him. If he does not fear his job, he will freely acknowledge them.
If you know these facts, and still wish to join the Mormon Church, that's up to you. But I think it is only fair that you should know the following 22 FACTS.
Joseph Smith publicly denied all his life that he was ever a polygamist. Yet, he had 33 wives, including his own foster daughters, the Lawrence sisters, aged 14 and 16. Joseph Smith was also "married" to women who were already married and living with other men at the time, men who apparently did not know their wives were married to Joseph Smith. In May of 1844 he declared:
"What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one." (History of the Church 6:411)
At that time, Joseph Smith had at least thirty "wives". He only provided for three of them (his public wife Emma and his two foster-daughters who lived with him). The other women were either very young girls still living at home, or they were the wives of other men living with those men.
Here are more denials, from the pens of Joseph Smith, while he was "married" to many different women:
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The men who accused Joseph Smith of being a polygamist, and have many wives, during the time he publicly denied he was a polygamist, and stating repeatedly he was against polygamy and had only one wife, were:
*John C. Bennett. Former "Associate President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". Former Mayor of Nauvoo. Close friend and associate of Joseph Smith. Bennett seduced a number of women and some young men in Nauvoo, and was eventually disfellowshipped.
*William Law. The Second Counsellor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Law claimed Joseph stole money, was a liar, thief,a possible murderer, and polygamist. Joseph called Law a "liar" and insisted he (Joseph) was not a polygamist.
*Sidney Rigdon. Former First Counsellor in the First Presidency. Accused Joseph Smith of trying to seduce his daughter Nancy. In letters and comments to others accused Joseph Smith of being a polygamist and a "fallen prophet".
*Brigham Young. Chief Apostle and successor to Joseph Smith. Denied in 1845 that the Mormons practiced polygamy. However, in 1852, in Utah, admitted to the world that the Mormons DID practice polygamy in Nauvoo, and that Joseph Smith was a polygamist with many wives in Nauvoo.
The diaries and statements of over 70 people, all Mormons, have been gathered, all of which state that they were the wives of Joseph Smith, or that Joseph Smith asked them to give him their daughter as a wife, or that they were told by Joseph Smith, personally, that polygamy was of God; all during the time Joseph Smith pubicly declared polygamy to be a "false doctrine" and excommunicated anyone who taught polygamy openly.
Joseph Smith married five pairs of sisters: Delcena and Almera Johnson, Eliza and Emily Partridge, Sarah and Maria Lawrence, Mary Ann and Olive Grey Frost, and Prescinda and Zina Huntington. Patty and Sylvia Sessions were mother and daughter.
This is what the Old Testament says about a man marrying a mother and her daughter:
"And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness, they shall be burnt with fire both he and they; that there be no wickeness among you." (Leviticus 20:14)
All of these women are listed as "the wives of Joseph Smith" on the website Ancestry.com under the genealogy of Joseph Smith. Ancestry.com is sponsored by the Mormon Church.
Mormons are told from birth that Joseph Smith was a martyr, that he voluntarily went to Carthage Jail in June of 1844 to surrender his life for the truth "as a lamb to the slaughter"; knowing he would die for the truth. They are not told the "reason" he was arrested. Most Church teachers simply tell young Mormons that Joseph Smith was arrested on "trumped up charges"; not telling them what the charges are. Mormons youth believe this, without question, that Joseph Smith was arrested and killed merely because he was the head of an unpopular religion. The truth is this:
In 1844 a Mormon named Lawrence dies. He has two orphaned daughters, Sarah and Maria, ages 14 and 16. Before his death, Lawrence names the two leaders of the Church at that time, Joseph Smith, and his first counsellor in the First Presidency, William Law, to be the Guardians (i.e. Foster-Fathers) of the two girls. Who better men to trust than the two closest men to God on earth? Lawrence leaves his daughters about $1800 in cash and holdings, a huge sum at that time.
William Law, the first counsellor in the First Presidency of the Mormon Church, then claims the following. He claims that Joseph Smith "married" both the daughters to himself (Joseph), who were living the Smith home at the time. That's right! Joseph Smith married his own foster-daughters! Law also claims that Joseph Smith appropriated their inheritance money for himself. William Law then discovers that Joseph Smith has many more secret "wives". He concludes that Joseph has "fallen". He privately confronts Joseph Smith, who tells him polygamy is of God and that Law just had to accept that. This is at the same time Joseph Smith is publicly denying he is a polygamist, and also excommunicating anyone who publicly teaches polygamy.
William Law then forms a cabal with some other apostate Mormons to depose Joseph Smith and take over the Church (Law is First Counsellor, the second highest Mormon Church office). Members of this cabal include some of the highest men in the Church at that time. Most of the Apostles were away on missions to England. The cabal plan to either get Joseph Smith arrested and sent away, or publicly disgraced so that Joseph Smith would resign as Prophet. There is no evidence they plan to kill him, or that any of them had anything to do with his assassination. They plan to appoint David Whitmer as the new Prophet of the Church.
David Whitmer was one of the "Three Witnesses" to The Book of Mormon. It was on a Whitmer farm that the Book of Mormon was translated. It was at another Whitmer farm that the Church was founded in 1830. Whitmer left the Church in 1838, claiming that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had a "band of Danites" who were stealing from Gentiles (non-mormons) and that Cowdery had threatened his life for revealing that fact. Whitmer left and settled in Richmond, Missouri. He tried to start another "Church of Christ" but his efforts proved fruitless. The cabal in Nauvoo decided to wrest the Church away from Joseph Smith, and have Whitmer appointed the new Prophet. The group decide to publish a newspaper called "The Nauvoo Expositor" which will, in a few issues, expose Joseph Smith as a secret polygamist, thief, liar, tyrant, and "fallen" prophet (not false, but "fallen"). They buy a printing press, and issue the first edition of The Nauvoo Expositor.
Joseph Smith, as mayor of Nauvoo, imediately orders the Nauvoo Expositor to be closed, and orders the Town Marshall to take the plates for the publication into the street and destroy them. The Marshall obeys, and the type and printing press is carried out into the street and destroyed with large hammers. William Law and the other members of the cabal (all of them Mormons in high Church positions) say they they received many death threats, and had to leave Nauvoo for their own safety.
The governor of Illinois then issues an arrest warrant for Joseph Smith, because he has illegally shut down an opposition newspaper. Joseph Smith does not go quietly. He first calls up the 3,000 strong Nauvoo Legion, and asks them to prevent his arrest at all costs. The Governor issues a new arrest warrent for treason against the State, because only HE (the Governor) can call up a State Militia for action, and the Nauvoo Legion is part of the State Militia of Illinois. He issues a direct order for the Nauvoo Legion to stand-down. Joseph Smith then flees to the Territory of Iowa, but a number of close friends of his accuse of him of being a coward. Joseph Smith reluctantly returns to Nauvoo and surrenders himself to the Sheriff of Hancock County, who takes him to Carthage, the county seat. At Cathage Jail, Joseph Smith procures a smuggled-in firearm, and also writes letters asking the Nauvoo Legion to come to Carthage and rescue him from jail.
On June 22nd, 1844, a mob painted in black face gathers outside of the jail, then storms it. They kill Hyrum Smith, and wound John Taylor, a Mormon apostle. Joseph Smith fires at the mob with his gun, wounding two. When he is out of bullets, he gives the Masonic sign of distress (raising both arms into squares and saying, "O Lord My God! Is there no help for the widow's son?" Masons promise to come to the aid of other Masons whenever they hear this). Joseph Smith gets out "O Lord My God..." but is shot before he can finish saying the rest. Even though there are Masons in the mob, none come to his aid. He tries to escape out a window, but is shot from the ground. He falls out the window to the ground, and is shot again repeatedly until he is dead.
Joseph Smith had NO intention of dying in Carthage. He did everything to try to prevent that. He tried escaping to Iowa, but was called a "coward" by his closest friends and supporters. He tried calling up the Nauvoo Legion to prevent his arrest. He then wrote to Nauvoo from the jail asking the legion and Marshall of Nauvoo to come get him out of jail! At first he thought the "mob" outside was his rescue party. As the mob stormed the jail, he shot two of the mob members with a "12 shooter" designed by a Mormon named Browning, father of the famous gunsmith.
The reason why Joseph Smith was arrested is because he illegal shut down a newspaper which was revealing that he was secretly a polygamist; a fact that the Mormon Church has admitted as FACT since 1852.
Joseph Smith falling to his death after being shot in the second story window of Carthage Jail (June 22, 1844).
Young Mormons are taught that Joseph Smith translated The Book of Mormon in the following manner: he read the symbols on the Gold Plates, prayed about each symbol, then received "Revelation" and then dictated what he received to Oliver Cowdery, who wrote down what Joseph Smith told him in English (B)
The truth is, according to later statements of Martin Harris, Emma Smith, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, and Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith had a "seerstone" (a small egg-shapped chocolate colored stone found in a well). He put the seerstone in his hat, covered his face with the hat, and dictated the Book of Mormon to his scribes. The "Gold Plates" were nowhere near when he did this, according to witnesses.
The Book of Mormon claims that the "Lamanites (lay-man-ites), the American Indians, are the descendants of Lehi (lee-high), a Jew. Yet, DNA studies of American Indian tribes reveal they had not one Semitic "gene" in their DNA, no Semitic ancestry whatsoever. The American Indians are Asians, like the Chinese. They have "mongolian folds" in their eyelids as other Asians. They have a "Mongonlian dot" on their tailbones like other Asians. Their hair, languages, skin, eyes, culture, religion, and DNA are all Asian, with NO SEMITIC GENES whatsoever!! They are closely related to the Tuvan people of Siberia. The Book of Mormon teaches that "Lamanites" (i.e. American Indians) have dark skin because God "cursed their skin with darkness" so that the white-skinned Nephites (nee-fights) would not intermarry with them.
There is no archaeological evidence for The Book of Mormon. The book says that the Nephites had horses, sheep, goats, oxen, asses, but there is no evidence that oxen, sheep or asses (donkies) existed in the New World before Columbus. Horses in America were too small to ride, and went extinct about 10,000 years ago, long before Book of Mormon times. Not one pot-sherd of "Nephite" civilization has ever been unearthed. NothingZ.
Had the Nephites existed for 1000 years in America, in the millions, they would have tens of millions of oxen, goats, asses, and sheep over this time period. Yet, in The Book of Mormon is true, one must believe that all these animals went exinct in America before Columbus, and did not leave behind one bone or fragment.
Some of the places mentioned in The Book of Mormon, such as Angola, Kishkumen, Oneida, Morin, Alma, Ramah, Jacobugath (Jacobsburg), were names of villages that existed in the time of Joseph Smith, but not in ancient America when the Nephites allegedly existed.
Mormonism began with the "Angel Moroni" who hid the Gold Plates in the "Hill Cumorah". Coincidentally, "Moroni" is the capital of the "Comoro Islands" off the coast of East Africa. In the 19th century, when The Book of Mormon was produced, the Comoro Islands were called the Camore (pronounced "Cumorah") Islands.
Mere coincidence?
There have been black Mormons since 1832, although very few of them until after 1978. There is no evidence that Joseph Smith was racist. He allowed black Elders (as long as they were free men), and invited blacks to worship in the Nauvoo Mormon Temple.
But that would change with Brigham Young.
From 1848 until 1978, "Negroes" were banned from all Mormon Temples and the Mormon priesthood (which every Mormon male must hold to get to the Celestial Kingdom). Mormon prophets during this time taught that "Negroes" were the inferior and "cursed" children of Cain, and the "mark of Cain" was a black skin, flat nose, and kinky hair. Here are just a few quotes from Mormon Church leaders (there are hundreds of quotes):
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Oliver Cowdery, Second Elder, co-founder of the Mormon Church: "Let the blacks of the south be free, and our community is overrun with paupers, and a reckless mass of human beings, uncultivated, untaught and unaccustomed to provide for themselves the necessaries of life-endangering the chastity of every female who might by chance be found in our streets-our prisons filled with convicts, and the hang-man wearied with executing the functions of his office!" (Messenger and Advocate, Sept. 11, 1833) Brigham Young second President and Prophet:
"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. . . . Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which was the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another cursed is pronounced upon the same race--that they should be the "servants of servants;" and they will be until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree (Journal of Discourses, 7:290; emphasis added) John Taylor, third President and Prophet:
Wilford Woodruff, who became the fourth President and Prophet of the LDS Church:
"What was that mark? It was a mark of blackness. That mark rested upon Cain, and descended upon his posterity from that time until the present. To day there are millions of the descendants of Cain, through the lineage of Ham, in the world, and that mark of darkness still rest upon them."(Millennial Star, 51:339; emphasis added).
George Reynolds (Apostle):
"We will first inquire into the results of the approbation or displeasure of God upon a people, starting with the belief that a black skin is a mark of the curse of Heaven placed upon some portions of mankind. . . . We understand that when God made man in his own image and pronounced him very good, that he made him white. We have no record of any of God's favored servants being of a black race. . . . George F. Richards (Apostle):
“The Negro is an unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin. But that is as nothing compared with that greater handicap that he is not permitted to receive the Priesthood and the ordinances of the temple, necessary to prepare men and women to enter into and enjoy a fullness of glory in the celestial kingdom [i.e., godhood].” (Conference Report, April 1939, p. 58) Joseph Fielding Smith (10th President of the Mormon Church):
"Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race. A curse was place upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so while time endures. Millions of souls have come into this world cursed with black skin and have been denied the privilege of Priesthood and the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel. These are the descendants of Cain. Moreover, they have been made to feel their inferiority and have been separated from the rest of mankind from the beginning… we will also hope that blessings may eventually be given to our Negro brethren, for they are our brethren--children of God---notwithstanding their black covering emblematical of eternal darkness." (The Way to Perfection, 101-02; emphasis added). Bruce R. McConkie (Mormon Apostle):
"In a broad general sense, caste systems have their root and origin in the gospel itself, and when they operate according to the divine decree, the resultant restrictions and segregation are right and proper and have the approval of the Lord. To illustrate: Cain, Ham, and the whole Negro race have been cursed with a black skin, the mark of Cain, so they can be identified as a caste apart, a people with whom the other descendants of Adam should not intermarry. (Gen. 4; Moses 5.)" (Mormon Doctrine, p.114)
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In 1948, Prof. Lowry Nelson, a liberal Mormon professor, wrote to the Mormon Church First Presidency on June 16, 1947:
"The attitude of the Church in regard to the Negro makes me very sad. I do not believe God is racist."
The First Presidency wrote back to him on July 17th, 1947, saying:
"From the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith even until now, it is has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by any of the Church leaders, that the Negroes are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel.
"Furthermore, your ideas, as we understand them, appear to contemplate the intermarriage of the Negro and White races, a concept which has heretofore been most repugnant to most normal-minded people from the ancient partiarchs till now. God's rule for Israel, His Chosen People, has been endogamous. Modern Israel has been similarly directed.
"We are not unmindful of the fact that there is a growing tendency, particularly among some educators, as it manifests itself in this are, toward the breaking down of race barriers in the matter of intermarriage between whites and blacks, but it does not have the sanction of the Church and is contrary to Church doctrine.
"Faithfully yours,
[signed]
George Albert Smith J. Reuben Clark, Jr. David O. McKay
The First Presidency"
On August 17th, 1951, the Mormon Church's "First Presidency" issued their official Statement of the First Presidency on the Negro Question in which they stated:
“The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become Members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the Priesthood at the present time." (quoted in Mormonism and the Negro, p.16)
That "statement" was the official statement of the Church, signed by all three members of the First Presidency. You simply can't get any more "official" than that.
Beginning in the early 1960s, the Mormon Church increasingly came under criticism for the BAN on Negroes from the priesthood and temples. Universities refused to play sports for Brigham Young University (BYU). Mormon efforts to proselyte in Nigeria were overturned because the Mormon Church was deemed "racist". Many white Americans were refusing to listen to the Mormon missionaries, because the Church was perceived as a "white racist" Church. This perception grew with time.
In 1978, because of external and internal pressures, the Mormon Church president ended this BAN, but never repudiated the "Curse of Cain Doctrine" that Negroes are the cursed children of Cain, and that Cain was changed from a white man to a black man because he killed his brother Abel.
Most Mormons under the age of 20 have never been taught this, and believe YOU ARE LYING if you tell that their Church taught "The Curse of Cain Doctrine" for 130 years. The Mormon Church leaders now want this covered-up, and tell non-mormons, "We never taught that. A few Members believed it, but it was never official doctrine!" That is a BIG LIE. The Curse of Cain Doctrine was taught by the highest Mormon leaders in General Conference, in official letters of the First Presidency, and elsewhere, for 130 years. At no time did they ever call it "opinion". They always referred to it as "a doctrine of the Church". Now, they are trying to cover this up. This is called "The Curse of Cain Cover-Up".
In 1978, the Mormon Church was told that it may lose all Federal Grants to BYU students. Church leaders were also told that the Church might lose its "tax exempt" status, because of the priesthood-ban/temple-ban on blacks. Had the Church lost its tax-exempt status, all of its properties and holdings would be taxed, and Mormon tithe-payers would no longer be able to deduct their donations to the Church from their income taxes.
Also, the Church was building a Temple in Brazil, only to discover that 65% of all white Brazilian Mormons had Negro blood in them; thus disqualifying them from the Priesthood. But all these men had already been ordained to the Priesthood, and included many bishops and Stake Presidents! What to do? Mormon Church President Spencer W. Kimball then claimed a "Revelation" from the Lord ending the 130 year old "ban" on black Mormons holding the priesthood or enterning Mormon Temples. But he did NOT repudiate the "Curse of Cain" doctrine!
The Curse of Cain Doctrine has NOT yet been repudiated by Church leaders. To repudiate it publicly would mean that the current "Living Prophet" must say that all former Mormons Prophets got it wrong!
Instead of "repudiation" Mormon leaders have opted for "equivocation"; to make misleading statements which deceives the hearer.
Since 1978 black Mormon males are allowed all the priesthood offices, and black Mormons may enter Mormon temples for all the ordinances. The Mormon Church today has 20,000 black Mormons in the U.S., and 200,000 in Africa, and thousands more in the Caribbean. Very few of them know about the Curse of Cain legacy. They are simply never told about it.
On an Australian TV program called "Compass" in 1997, Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley was asked: "What is the reason why blacks were banned from the priesthood and temples before 1978?" Hinckley replied, "Ah...ah...I don't know what the reason for that was!"
He lied.
Hinckley worked for the Church since 1934. He was an Apostle during the 1960s and early 1970s when the the "Negro Question" was discussed almost at every meeting with other Church leaders. He was taught by others, and and taught others, the Curse of Cain Doctrine hundreds of times during his life.
That wouldn't be the first time, nor the last.
African-American and black African converts to the Mormon Church are NEVER told about the Curse of Cain doctrine. If they ask the reason "WHY" blacks were banned from the Mormon Priesthood and Mormon Temples before 1978 they are told, "We don't know why, the Lord never revealed the reason why!" It is suggested now by Mormon apologists that the "reason" was that whites simply were not "ready" for blacks in the priesthood and temples (i.e. white Mormons were too prejudiced against blacks so the LORD, wanting to save blacks from this prejudice, banned them from Mormon temples and priesthood until 1978).
For 130 years, Mormon leaders boldly declared the "reason" why blacks were "banned" was because:
1) They were the ACCURSED and INFERIOR children of Cain, and inherited his "mark". (The Curse of Cain Doctrine)
2) They were "less valiant" in the War in Heaven, and thus were punished by being born in the lineage of Cain.(The Less Valiant Doctrine)
All Mormon leaders from Brigham Young to Spencer W. Kimball taught these two doctrines and referred to them as "doctrines of the Church". Church leaders are now trying to back-peddle on this, and saying, "Golly, we just don't KNOW the reason why!"
Oliver Cowdery was from Vermont. He was a cousin of Joseph Smith Jr. In the mid 1820s he went to Batavia, New York, and worked as a scribe on a book, with William Morgan, called Freemasonry Illustrated; the first anti-Masonic book in the United States. Morgan disappeared, presummably killed by angry Freemasons. Another anti-Mason called Timothy Monroe, was found drowned in Lake Erie. William MORgan and Timothy MONroe became the two "martyrs" of the growing Anti-Masonic Party, which was a new and growing political party in the country. The Anti-Masonic Party referred to Freemasonry as "secret combinations" that would try to overthrow Christianity and the new Republic. Oliver Cowdery was an early Anti-Mason.
After Morgan disappeared, possibly fearing his own safety, Cowdery fled New York State and hid with relatives in Ohio; some of whom lived in the same area as Sidney Rigdon, then a Cambellite preacher in Mentor, Ohio. At the time (1825-27) Rigdon was telling some of his closest friends that a new book of scripture would soon come forth that would unite Christian America, covert the native Indians to Christ, and explain what happened to the mound-builders who had created the thousands of mounds around the eastern part of the country.
After his Ohio stay, Oliver Cowdery went to visit his cousins, the Smith family, living outside of Palmyra, New York. According to Mormon history, this is when Oliver first heard about the visions of Joseph Smith Jr. and that Joseph had "gold plates" containing the Book of Mormon. Cowdery became a scribe to Joseph Smith, and eventually Cowdery became the only other witness along with Joseph Smith, in seeing angels (John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John) restoring the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods to the earth.
Cowdery claimed he wrote The Book of Mormon, except for a few pages only, as the words of the book fell from the lips of Joseph Smith Jr.
Oliver Cowdery became the "Second Elder" of the new "Church of Christ" established in 1830, a year after the Book of Mormon was published. He was the Number 2 Man in the entire Church.
In 1836, in Kirkland, Ohio, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery, try to open a new bank called the "Kirkand Safety Society Bank". But they could not get a bank charter. So, they formed the "Kirkland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company". Mormons believed that this new "joint-stock association" was formed by the LORD Himself. They all invested heavily in it. But, only after four months, the KSSABC failed; along with 40% of all financial institutions did, in the "Crash of 1836".
Cowdery was NOT happy! He lost all his money in the KSSABC. He then came out and started telling others that he "found" Joseph Smith having sex with Fanny Algar (his nanny) in a barn. Cowdery referred to it as "a dirty little affair".
Oliver Cowdery, the man who assisted Joseph Smith in translating the Book of Mormon, was excommunicated from the Church in 1836, for claiming that Joseph Smith had committed adultery with Fanny Alger; a young 16 year old girl who worked in the Smith home as a nanny.
Cowdery then moved to Monroe, Michican, and was was soon involved in a counterfeiting venture called "The Bank of Monroe".
In those days, private banks printed their own currency. To be "legal tender" the bank notes had to be based on the "gold standard". This means, for example, a $5 bank note represented $5 worth of gold the bank had. The banks were legally required to print up only as many notes as they had gold to back up the notes. Otherwise, it was counterfeiting. The Bank of Monroe had no gold whatsoever. It was a pure counterfeiting scheme; a pure FRAUD to make money. The cashier of the Bank of Monroe was Oliver Cowdery. He deliberately and knowingly forged phoney money. This is not disputed. All Mormon historians know this, and will acknowledge this freely.
The question now is this...
Can his testimony regarding seeing angels with Joseph Smith be trusted?
A $3 from the Bank of Monroe, signed by Oliver Cowdery (1837)
Oliver Cowdery (c.1840)
All Mormon historians KNOW that Oliver Cowdery was a counterfeiter. He pawned off Bank of Monroe currency to people and he KNEW at the time that this currency was NOT backed up by gold. It was worthless. He knew it was.
Should we trust Oliver Cowdery when he said that he saw angels along with Joseph Smith?
After being excommunicated, Cowdery wrote a pamphlet titled A Defense of My Grounds for Separating Myself from the Latter-day Saints, wherein he claimed that the "John the Baptist" who ordained him and Joseph Smith to the Aaronic Priesthood in 1829 "had the voice" of Sidney Rigdon (i.e. he was suggesting to the Reader that Rigdon had deceived him and he was merely an innocent dupe instead of a guilty co-conspirator in religious fraud).
For many years Cowdery tried his hand at being a printer or lawyer, but he was not successful in any endeavor.
In 1847, penniless and with a horrible reputation in the "real" world, Cowdery returned to the Mormon Church, were he was viewed by most Mormons (those who did not know him in the beginning) as a celebrity, and he was promised by Brigham Young to be appointed the "Apostle to the Gentiles". He would get a farm, pension, a high Church position (honorary but dignified), and would be a "rock star" to most younger Mormons who never knew his reputation in the Ohio days of the Church. But he died enroute to Utah of pneumonia.
In 1830, he was the Second Elder, and Joseph Smith the First Elder, of the Mormon Church.
The only two men that claimed to see angels or supernatural visions along with Joseph Smith were Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon; a man whom we shall soon meet.
In order to get to the Celestial Kingdom, Mormons are taught they must go through the "Temple Endowment Ceremony". This is a Masonic-like secret ritual where Mormons must learn secret words, handshakes, and jestures they are told they must use to pass-by sentinel angels on the way to the presence of God the Father in order to receive their Exaltation (becoming Gods and Goddesses) after death. Mormons wear white clothing during the Endowment.
The Endowment Ceremony has changed greatly since it was introduced by Joseph Smith in 1843. Brigham Young made a lot of changes and additions. In the old Endowment Ceremony men and women were washed nude from head to toe (in separate areas), then covered with olive oil from head to toe. This was changed to merely touching certain points with water and oil, then simply sprinkling them with an olive branch.
The original Endowment Ceremony was an eight hour ordeal. Then it was two hours. Finally, just about one hour.
Most of the "Signs and Tokens" form the Endowment Ceremony have parallels to those found in Masonic rites. Joseph Smith became a Master Mason in Nauvoo, although the Book of Mormon says that the Devil originated "secret combinations" and that the Devil leads men by the neck with a flaxen cord (2 Nephi 26:22). In the first degree of Masonry, the candidate is led about blind folded, with a rope made of flax tied around his neck.
In the Masonic Oaths once promises to have their throat cut, their heart torn out, and their bowells torn out and fed to birds if they reveal the secrets of Freemasonry. No Mason takes this as literal, but merely "symbolic"; like a Christian would view Jesus' words, "If they right hand offend thee, cut it off" and "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out". NO Christian would take this literal. In like manner, no Mason takes the Masonic Oaths literally. The old Mormon Temple oaths were exactly the same as the Masonic Oaths, but they were changed over the decades; watered-down considerably and finally removed completely in 1990.
The Book of Mormon was once called "The Anti-Masonick Bible" because it was filled with Anti-Masonic rhetoric common with the Anti-Masonic Party of the day; a group that Oliver Cowdery belonged to before he helped Joseph Smith.
Before 1990, Temple Patrons (the name given to Mormons who attend the Temple Endowment Ceremony) had to perform a rite called "The Five Points of Fellowship" with a high priest who played the part of "The Lord" standing behind a white veil. This comes directly from Masonic Rite called "The Five Points of Fellowship" that Joseph Smith learned when he was inducted into Freemasonry in Nauvoo:
In the pre-1990 Mormon Endowment Ceremony Mormon Temple Patrons (men and women) had to "meet the Lord through the veil on the five points of fellowship". They had to embrace a Mormon high priest (playing the part of God) behind a white veil. This ended in 1990, after many young female Patrons complained to Church leaders that the old male Mormon high priests were getting "too frisky" with them during the Five Points of Fellowship part of the Endowment Ceremony.
Before 1990, in the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony, Mormons had to make a "sign" of their right thumb passing across their neck in a cutting motion to symbolize what would happen if they revealed the secrets of the Mormon Temple (i.e. their throats being cut).
While this was always viewed as "symbolic" and NEVER taken as a literal threat, this part of the Endowment Ceremony was dropped from all Mormon temple ceremonies in 1990 without explanation from Mormon Church leaders. The Book of Moses, another Revelation to Joseph Smith, teaches that the Devil has men "swear by the throat" (Moses 5:29).
Before 1990, Mormon women in the Endowment Ceremony had to swear obedience to their husbands. This too was removed in 1990, without explanation.
The Endowment Ceremony includes a "film" where actors play God, Jesus, the Devil, Adam and Eve, and Peter, James, and John. Before 1990, there was another charactor in the film, a Protestant minister who was portrayed as a hirling of Satan; who hired the minister to preach. He was removed in 1990, without explanation.
Before 1970, dudring the Mormon Endowment Ceremony one of the actors in the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony said the Devil was "black". That comment was removed in 1970.
If the Endowment Ceremony was a Revelation from God, then WHY did it need to be changed?
Joseph Smith prophesied "in the name of the Lord and let it be written" that Christ would return in 1891. He prophesied this on two separate occassions. In February of 1835, Joseph Smith addressed a group of Mormon elders who were going to march to Jackson County, Mission (Zion) to defend other Mormons from Missour mobs:
"President Smith then stated that the meeting had been called, because God had commanded it; and it was made known to him by vision and by the Holy Spirit. He then gave a revelation of some of the circumstances attending us while journeying to Zion...our trial, sufferings; and said God had not designed all this for nothing, but He had it in remembrance yet; and it was the will of God that those who went to Zion, with a determination to lay down their lives, if necessary, should be ordained to the ministry, and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, or the coming of the Lord, which was nigh—even fifty-six years would wind up the scene." History of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 182.
Add 1835 to 56 and one gets 1891.
In Volume 7 (the Index) of the Documentary History of the Church, published by the Church, under "Second Coming" one reads this:
"Joseph said would be in 56 years V2:182"
On April 6th, 1843, Joseph Smith wrote:
"I was once praying earnestly upon the subject, and a voice said unto me, My son, if thou livest till thou art 85 years of age, thou shalt see the Face of the Son of Man--I was left to draw my own conclusions concerning this & took the liberty to conclude that if I did live till that time He would make His appearance or I shall go where He is--I prophesy in the name of the Lord God--& let it be written, that the Son of Man will not come in the heavens till I am 85 years old, 48 years hence or about 1890." (Diary of Joseph Smith, April 6, 1843, quoted in The Revelations of Joseph Smith, p.345)
Add 1843 to 48 years and one comes to 1891.
Some Mormon apologists call this "Not a prophecy at all, he was just giving an off-the-cuff remark!"
Others say, "Well, Jesus WOULD have come if Joseph Smith lived to age 85, but since he didn't, the Lord did not come. The prophecy was conditional".
But that doesn't work. The prophecy did NOT say: "The Lord shall come IF you live to 85". The prophecy said: "The Lord shall come in 48 years from now (1891), and if you (Joseph) live till then, you'll see His face!"
When confronted with this, Mormons reply, "Well, its NOT a false prophecy. It would have happened then, but we weren't ready for it!" The Bible says that the sign of a false prophet is ONE prophecy that does not come to pass:
"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:22)
How many UNfulfilled prophecies can a "true" prophet give? The Bible says: NONE!
Today, the Mormon Church reveres Brigham Young as the successor of Joseph Smith, and a Prophet of God. Yet, the Mormon Church repudiated most of the unique doctrines of Brigham Young, and is in the process of repudiating more. Brigham Young taught:
*Negroes are the cursed and inferior children of Cain and cannot hold the Priesthood or enter Mormon temples until the curse is removed. (JD 7:290)
*The Civil War will NOT free the Negroes (JD 10:250)
*Interracial couples should be killed along with their children. (JD 10:110)
*Mary was the daughter/wife of God the Father. (JD 4:218)
*Some sins must be atoned by having the sinner killed and his own blood spilled on the ground. (JD 4:215-221)
*The Sun and Moon are inhabited just as this earth. (JD 13:217)
*The Millennium commenced in 1845 (T&S 6:12:956)
*Only polygamists become gods. (JD 3:266)
*Nobody can enter the Celestial Kingdom without Joseph Smith's permission. (JD 7:289)
*The Latter-day Saints will go back to Jackson County, Missouri, and build the City of Zion before all those alive in 1832 have passed-away (JD 6:956)
*All his published sermons should be considered as Scripture.(JD 13:264)
*Adam is the Father of our spirits and the father of the spirit and body of Jesus Christ. (JD 1:50-51)
Mormon Church leaders have, in recent decades, repudiated just about all of these doctrines, and seem in the process of repudiating them all.
Brigham Young, the 2nd President of the Mormon Church, taught that Adam was the Father of our spirits, and the Father of the spirit and body of Jesus Christ. This is known as "The Adam-God Doctrine". Today, if a Mormon teaches that, he is excommunicated. He also taught that the Sun and Moon were inhabited just like earth, and that the City of New Jerusalem would be built in Jackson County, Missouri, before all those living in 1832 were dead. He also taught that the Civil War would NOT free the Negro, whom he believed was under a "curse" to be the servants of whites until God removed the curse. He legalized African and Indian slavery in Utah in 1850 which only ended with President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
If Mormon Church leaders said "Brigham Young was a false prophet" that would undermine their own authority, because they are the successors of Brigham Young. So, they have it "both ways". They have the "best of both worlds". They continue to call Brigham Young a "Prophet of God" but, at the same time, they repudiate most of his teachings.
Brigham Young, the 2nd President of the Mormon Church, owned a beer hall in Salt Lake City. He also owned distillerites and tobacco farms in southern Utah, and sold tens of thousands of dollars of whisky and tobacco to Gentiles (non-mormons) each year, at the same time he was ordering Mormons NOT to buy or sell to Gentiles (jen-tiles). At the same time he commanded Mormons NOT to buy or sell from Gentiles (non-mormons) in Utah, he was in fact selling massive quantities of wine, beer, whiskey, and tobacco to Gentiles in Utah Territory and elsewhere.
William Hickman, a former bodyguard of Brigham Young, later wrote a book wherein he claimed that Young ordered the murders of many people who defied him or insulted him in some way.
During the time of Brigham Young, half of all Utah Mormon females were the plural wives of Mormon leaders, from bishops on up. It was not uncommon for a 60 year old Mormon bishop to be married to his first wife, about his age, but also to several teen-age girls, and a widow woman and her daughters, all at the same time!
Mormon leaders justified polygamy by saying God commanded it,and that it "eliminated prostitution" (really...they said that). Reality was just the opposite. Seymour B. Young, a Presiding Seventy and one of the many sons of Brigham Young (he had 56 children), wrote in 1871:
"Salt Lake City has for the first time in its history houses of ill fame almost on every corner." (Mormon Hierarchy 2:767)
Many of the brothels were owned by Brigham Young.
Half of all Mormon men in Utah could not find a girl for marriage, because Mormon leaders had married 50% of them. One 58 year old Mormon bishop who was courting a 15-year old Mormon girl found the girl kissing a 17-year old boy in a barn. He had the boy castrated. The boy went crazy and was sent to an insane asylum. Nothing happened to the bishop. Things such as this were not uncommon in Utah at that time.
A former friend of Brigham Young, Thomas B.H. Stenhouse, left the Church and wrote a book titled "Rocky Mountain Saints" claiming that Brigham Young stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Tithing Office each year; a place where mostly poor Mormon farmers would give 10% of their income to the Church for the care of the poor and the building of the Kingdom of God on earth. Brigham Young died one the wealthiest men in America at that time. Where did he get all the money? Did Church President pay that well?
Mormons claim theirs is the fastest growing Church in the world and that growth is a "sign" from God that the Church is true. Non-sense. The Mormon Church is growing much slower than the SDA Church, the Jehovah's Witnesses, or the Assemblies of God, among many more. For example, the Mormon Church grows at about a rate of 4% per year, while the Assemblies of God grows at a rate of about 9% per year. Why do Mormons think they have the fastest growing religion on earth? Are the Assemblies of God and the other churches "TRUER" than the Mormon Church? All of them are growing MUCH faster, and with far fewer missionaries.
For many decades Mormon leaders taught that God the Father, an exalted white man with a human body, came down and had sex with Mary, one of his spirit-daughters, in order to produce the body of Jesus. Mary was a "virgin" in the sense that she had sex with God and not with man. Mormon leaders taught that sex with God was the same as a man having sex with his own wife. They taught Mary is the daughter-wife of God the Father. This "Heavenly Incest Doctrine" has never been repudiated. Many older Mormons, over the age of 50, still believe this doctrine. Many younger Mormons have never heard of it.
There have been tens of thousands of Mormon women in the past ten years who have claimed their Mormon fathers raped them when they were young girls or teens. Beginning in the early 1980s, many women were discovering they could "sue" their fathers for sexual exploitation when they were young girls or teens. Many Mormon women were coming forward with allegations against their fathers. Many of these men were now high priests, some of them bishops or former bishops. Some Stake Presidents, high counsellors, or formerly so.
The LDS Church had to start an "800" number for these women to call; NOT because they were so concerned with the "problem" but because they wanted to keep the women from going to the Press or Court, which would embarass the Church. At first these men denied all, but when two or more daughters came forward with the same allegations, local Church authorities started to hold Church Courts on these men. Most were not excommunicated, but simply put on Church "probation" (a slap on the wrist). I know of dozens of cases where Mormon women told thier bishops that their good Mormon fathers raped them as children or teens, just to have the bishop call these women "liars".
Mormon men want to become God the Fathers, and, in Mormonism, God the Father is an exalted white man who, along with multiple wives, sometimes "steps down from His throne" to have sex with a spirit-daughter, to produce a Savior for a fallen world he has created. This sort of doctrine seems to "inspire" many Mormon fathers to "jump the gun" and begin at home what they plan to do in the eternities.
In 1843 a group of men in Kinderhook, Illinois, decided to deceive Joseph Smith and prove him a false prophet. They forged small bell-shaped plates of brass, covered them with rust and symbols, then buried them, then dug them up again (inviting Mormons to the dig) and took them to Joseph Smith to translate. Joseph Smith claimed to "translate a portion of them" and found them to contain a genealogy of a Jaredite (a Book of Mormon people) back to Pharoah, son of Ham. This is known as the "Kinderhook Plates Hoax". How can a true Prophet translate phoney brass plates?
Only a phoney prophet can translate phoney plates.
Mormon prophets have taught, and Mormen men believe, that they shall have many wives in Heaven, including some of their own spirit-daughters. Obedient Mormon women must accept this, or never be resurrected. Mormon males are told they will have the right to resurrect their wives in the resurrection. If a Mormon women is disobedient to her husband, the husband may leave her in the grave. Since Mormon men believe they will have many wives in heaven (including perhaps some of their own spirit-daughters) so leaving a disobedient wife in her grave does not mean Mormon men will be alone for eternity. Mormon women MUST accept this, and be faithful and active in the Mormon Church all their lives, or face NEVER seeing their children or loved ones again for all eternity.
The Mormon Church claims it outlawed "plural marriage" (polygamy) in 1890. This is NOT true! Church leaders and their friends and family continued to engage in plural marriages up until the 1920s; although it became increasingly rare. At the same time, Church leaders denied they were authorizing any plural marriages. They saw this as "Lying for the Lord"; which for Mormons is perfectly justified deception.
Even though the Mormon Church publicly condemns polygamy, Mormon men believe they will have many wives in the Celestial Kingdom.
According to Sarah Pratt, wife of Mormon apostle Orson Pratt, Joseph Smith tried to seduce her while Orson Pratt was on a mission to England. According to Nancy Rigdon, the sixteen year old daughter of Sidney Rigdon, a leading Mormon at the time, Joseph Smith tried to seduce her too.
According to Oliver Cowdery, who was the co-founder of the Mormon Church along with Joseph Smith, he caught Joseph Smith having sex with Fanny Alger in a barn. Fanny was a 16 year old nanny that took care of the Smith children, in Kirkland, Ohio, in 1835.
Most Mormons are not aware of this. Mormon historians are aware of it, but say, "He had the authority to do this because the Lord commanded him to take additional wives".
Yet, all his life, Joseph Smith publicly declared "he was NOT a polygamist". He even had Mormons who preached polygamy excommunicated, publicly! He publicly renounced polygamy many times, and declared he had only one wife in all his writings and public statements. At the same time, he was "marrying" as many women as he could, all young and beautiful, in secret ceremonies, telling the women to "tell nobody". Some of these women already were married, with husbands at home.
Doctrine and Covenants section 132, which commands plural marriage, was never published during Joseph Smith's lifetime. It did not appear until 1856, 12 years after the death of Joseph Smith.
Mormons are told that Joseph Smith did not WANT to take additional wives, but an angel with a flaming sword appeared to him and threatned to kill him if he did not obey. What else could he do?
In May 1844, Joseph Smith boasted he had "done more than any man" in holding the Church together, more than Paul OR JESUS ever did. He said: "I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet." -Joseph Smith, Jr., History Of The Church, VI:408-409
According to the Mormon Church, The Book of Mormon was written by an ancient Nephite prophet named Mormon, who lived somewhere in the American continents, about 350 to 400 A.D. He wrote on tablets of gold an abridgement of the "Record of the Nephites". His son, Moroni, finished the work and hid the gold plates (tablets) in a hill in upstate New York, near the Joseph Smith farm in Manchester, New York. As an Angel, Moroni told Joseph Smith in 1826 where to find the gold plates, and Joseph Smith, by the power of God, translated this record into The Book of Mormon.
However, according to numerous witnesses who lived at the time of Joseph Smith, including the widow and daughter and brother of one Rev. Solomon Spalding, formerly of Pittsburg. Rev. Spaulding was a disabled minister who had several failed business ventures. Constantly in need of more money, he wrote novels, hoping to publish and sell them as a means of additional income. One was called "Manuscript Found at Conneaut Creek" (rediscovered at Oberlin College in 1901). He could not publish that novel, so he wrote a later novel that was called "Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon" (he wrote the novel because he needed MORe MONey); a reworking of the first manuscript. He took the manuscript to a printer in Pittsburg, who said he would publish it if Spaulding paid for its printing. Spaulding spent the next year or so trying to find a backer to print the book, and both would share the profits, but he died before he could find a financier.
After Spaulding died, the printer left the manuscript on a shelf in the printing office, collecting dust. According to Spaulding's widow and daughter and brother, the Book of Mormon was based upon the second novel by Solomon Spaulding called "Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon". They swore in affidavit that the novel contained an account of the "Nephites" and "Lamanites" and the names "Lehi" and "Mormon" and "Moroni" were included in the work. They claimed that Sidney Rigdon stole this manuscript from a printer's office in Pittsburg in 1822, added a lot of additional "religious" materials, and with it wrote The Book of Mormon, with Joseph Smith being the "front man" for this venture. Both Spaulding's widow and his daughter testified of this in sworn affidavits. Mormon apologists claim that the memories of Spaulding's widow and daughter were faulty and that they merely confused The Book of Mormon with Solomon's lost manuscript.
Spaulding's first manuscript, "Manuscript Found at Conneaut Creek", was rediscovered in 1901 at Oberlin College. This first manuscript has no parallel to The Book of Mormon. Spaulding's widow and daughter claim that it was his SECOND manuscript, the one stole by Rigdon, that formed the basis for The Book of Mormon.
Did Sidney Rigdon write The Book of Mormon based upon Spaulding's second manuscript? We don't know for sure. The Manuscript disappeared. But we DO know this, that the "Lectures on Faith" (part of the Doctrine and Covenants before 1904) which purportedly were authored by Joseph Smith, were in fact authored by Sidney Rigdon. Mormons scholars did computer "word studies" on the "Lectures on Faith" and discovered they were penned not by Joseph Smith, but by Sidney Rigdon. Joseph Smith claimed that the "Lectures on Faith" were a Revelation to him, but in fact they were written by Sidney Rigdon, a former Cambellite preacher. The Book of Mormon confirms Cambellite doctrine as true, such as free will, no infant baptism, baptism by total immersion, one must be born-again to be saved, salvation by grace, etc.
The Book of Mormon teaches Campbellism! Sidney Rigdon was a Campbellite preacher. The Book of Mormon contains many teachings that "Mormonism" of today does NOT teach, such as:
*There is only ONE God Who is a Great Spirit (Alma 11:26-30)
*The Father and the Son are "one God" (Alma 11:28)
*Hell is eternal in duration (Jacob 3:11, 2 Nephi 19:16)
*One must be "born again" to inherit the kingdom of heaven (Alma 5:24)
*Salvation is by grace alone (2 Nephi 7:42)
*Once a person is dead it is too late for them to repent and they are eternally judged (Alma 34:34, 2 Nephi 9:38, Mosiah 2:36-39).
*Mary conceived via the Holy Ghost and is called a "virgin" both before and after Jesus is born (Alma 7:10)
*Polygamy is sinful and an abomination before God (Jacob 2:24).
The Book of Mormon teaches pure "Campbellism"; new a form of American Protestantism in the U.S. at the time of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, who was a Campbellite minister. Today, Campbellism is called "Evangelical Christianity" and is currently the most popular form of Protestant Christianity in the world.
Before Campbellism, Protestant Christians believed they must be "good" to be saved, that the Blood of Jesus washed their sins away only if they believed and understood a number of doctrines, led moral lives, were baptized in the proper way, and were in "good standing" with a Protestant Church. One had to die in a "state of grace" to be saved (i.e. being obedient to one's minister and contributing financially to the local church and active in it). Otherwise, they would burn in Hell forever. They believed many things which "Evangelical Christians" would find "legalistic" or even "heretical" today.
However, in the 1820 there arose one Alexander Campbell, a Baptist preacher, who, along with his brother, started a new Movement of Christians called the "Christian Resoration Movement". They rejected any name but "Christian" or "Disciples of Christ". They rejected the need for baptism, or the belief in creeds, or belonging to an organized Protestant Church, or even living a morally clean life as "prerequisites" for salvation. They taught that God's grace alone saves us via the "born again" experience based upon a formula of a "conviction of sin" then repentence, then calling upon the Lord for salvation, then being "born again". The Campbellites believed that they were restoring "Primitive Christianity" to the Earth. They believed that it was wrong to call oneself "Baptist" or "Lutheran" or "Calvinist" because these were the names of men. They taught that they should only call themselves "Christians". All was considered "radical" and even "heretical" by most of the Protestant churches at the time. Another Baptist minister who joined the new "Christian" movement was Sidney Rigdon.
Mormons do NOT believe ANY of the Campbellite doctrines found in The Book of Mormon, even though The Book of Mormon clearly teaches them. Mormons are taught to believe:
*There are many Gods and Goddesses.
*Hell is NOT eternal in duration.
*Salvation is a "reward" of God for those who have received the ordinances of the Church along with obeying Church leaders to the end of their lives.
*Once a person has died they still have the opportunity to repent, be baptised, and to be saved and exalted.
*The Father and the Son are two separate Gods.
*Mary did NOT conceive by the Holy Ghost, but rather "conceived" when God the Father came down and "joined" with her and "sired" Jesus in the same way that mortal men sire mortal sons.
*Polygamy is NOT sinful if commanded by the LORD, and faithful Mormon men "may" become polygamists in heaven.
Although The Book of Mormon says "ye must needs be born again" Mormons totally ignore this and believe that being "saved" by grace is "foolishness". They believe they save themselves and exalt themselves via their own "worthiness" (i.e. righteousness) by being active faithful Members of the Church throughout their lives.
It is highly ironic that Evangelicals REJECT The Book of Mormon, which clearly teaches Evangelicalism while at the same time Mormons say they believe that The Book of Mormon is "the Word of God" while, at the same time, they REJECT most of its doctrines; believing and teaching just of the opposite of what the Book of Mormon teaches in many instances!
The Book of Mormon contains NONE of the later teachings of Joseph Smith, such as God once being a man, one must know certain secret "signs and tokens" to be Exalted, Hell is only temporary, men and women may become Gods and Goddesses, salvation for the dead, baptism for the dead, etc.
Joseph Smith got many of his "Navuoo Doctrines" from his two Hebrew teachers, both Sephardic Jews who taught him doctrines from the Kaballah (Mystical Judaism).
Lorenzo Saunders, a boyhood friend of Joseph Smith, later claimed that Rigdon was on the Smith farm in 1826, four years BEFORE Rigdon claims to have met Joseph Smith or heard of The Book of Mormon. Was Rigdon the author of The Book of Mormon and the true founder of Mormonism? Spaulding's daughter, his widow, and a physician named Dr. Cephas Dodd, who was Spaulding's friend and neighbor, all swore in affadavits that The Book of Mormon was based upon Spaulding's "Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon"; a manuscript, with no copies, that was taken from the Patterson Print Shop in Pittsburg at the time Rigdon used to visit his friend (a printer named Lambdin) at that shop.
Spaulding's widow and daughter and brother testified that Solomon and Sidney knew each other, something declared impossible by Mormon apologists for many years. Yet, the following from the Pittsburg newspaper for 1816, shows letters at the post office for Rigdon and Spaulding:
In 1816, Pittsburg was a small village.
After loosing "guardianship" to the Church to Brigham Young after the death of Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon founded his own "Church of Christ" back in Pittsburg, claimed and wrote many "Thus saith the LORD" Revelations. But he eventually was defrocked by his own followers, who abandoned his Revelations as untrustworthy, but retained belief in The Book of Mormon. That Church still exists today, and is called "The Church of Jesus Christ" and has 12,000 members worldwide.
Rigdon, in later life, abandoned by his own followers for being deceitful, abandoned religion altogether.
In 1884, R. W. Alderman swore an affidavit stating that he met Martin Harris (friend of Joseph Smith and financier of the first edition of The Book of Mormon) at a snowed in hotel in Mentor, Ohio, in 1852. Harris had been excommunicated in Kirtland Ohio in 1836 for calling Joseph Smith a "fallen prophet" because Joseph Smith's bank ("Kirkand Safety Society Anti-Banking Company") had failed; ruining most of its investors, including Harris. Alderman claims that during the night (they shared the same hotel room because they had to) Harris admitted to him that Sidney Rigdon was the true author of The Book of Mormon, having stolen a manuscript from a print shop in Pittsburg. He said:
"Harris was there, and in conversation told me he saw Jo Smith translate the 'Book of Mormon,' with his peep-stone in his hat. Oliver Cowdery, who had been a school-teacher, wrote it down. Sidney Rigdon, a renegade preacher, was let in during the translation. Rigdon had stolen a manuscript from a printing office in Pittsburgh, Pa., which Spaulding, who had written it in the early part of the century, had left there to be printed, but the printers refused to publish it, but Jo and Rigdon did, as the 'Book of Mormon.' Martin said he furnished the means, . . . .'"(Davis, Scales, and Cowdery, Who Really Wrote The Book of Mormon?, 1977, p. 145)
Others who swore affidavits saying the exact same thing as Alderman were:
*Matilda Spaulding Davison (Solomon Spaulding's widow)
*John Spaulding (his surviving brother)
*Marth Spaulding (wife of John Spaulding)
*Henry Lake (business partner of Solomon Spaulding)
*John N. Miller (employee of Solomon Spaulding)
*Oliver Smith (employee)
*Nehum Howard (next door neighbor of Solomon Spaulding)
*Artemus Cunningham (neighbor and friend)
*Aaron Wright (neighbor and friend) *Dr. Cephas Dodd (Spaulding's neighbor and physician)
All "swore" on the Bible that the names "Lehi" and "Nephi" and "Lamanites" and "sword of Laban" were all contained in "Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon"; Spaulding's second "lost" manuscript.
Mormon apologists tell people that "the Spaulding-theory of the origin of The Book of Mormon is DEAD" because "Spaulding's manuscript Manuscript Found was re-discovered in 1901 in the basement of Oberlin College, and it has nothing in common with The Book of Mormon!"
Even most Mormon apologists are unaware that Spaulding wrote two manuscripts not one only:
*The First Manuscript: "Manuscript Found at Conneaut Creek" (found at Oberlin in 1901)
*The Second Manuscript: "Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon" (left at the Patterson Printing Office in Pittsburg and "lost" or stolen by Rigdon).
It is true that the first manuscript has little or no resemblance to The Book of Mormon, but nobody ever claimed it did in the first place! Still, there is some similarity in some "wording" between the first manuscript and The Book of Mormon, such as this:
We cannot compare the second manuscript with The Book of Mormon, because the second manuscript (like the first) had no copies, and the original was stolen, by Sidney Rigdon, if one is to believe the widow, daughter, brother, and physician of Solomon Spaulding.
At least a dozen people swore in affidavits before Justices of the Peace (like notarized statements today) that knew for a FACT that Sidney Rigdon stole a manuscript titled "Manuscript Found from the Wilds of Mormon", written by the late Rev. Solomon Spaulding, from a printing shop in Pittsburg around 1816-1822, and this manuscript formed the "basis" for The Book of Mormon story.
Where they "all" LIARS?
None of these dozen people made money from their affidavits. None of them wrote books. On the other hand, the three men intimately involved in the coming forth of The Book of Mormon (Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, and Oliver Cowdery) hoped the Book of Mormon would become a best-seller, and tried to sell the book for $5 per copy (the equivolent of $75 today). When that failed, Joseph Smith had Oliver Cowdery go to Canada to try to sell the copyright of The Book of Mormon. Of course, nobody was interested. The Book of Mormon read, as Mark Twain would later write, "chloroform in print". It put people to sleep (many Mormons born into the Church still have never read the book cover to cover!). Reading The Book of Mormon from cover to cover is such a grueling ordeal that even Mormon missionaries are given a year to accomplish this herculean task.
When selling The Book of Mormon failed, the three friends (Rigdon, Smith, and Cowdery) open up a bank in Kirkland Ohio. It fails! Oliver Cowdery, angered at Joseph Smith, tells others that he caught Joseph engaged in sex with Fannie Alger, Joseph's nanny. Cowdery is disfellowshipped from the Church, and moves to Michigan.
In Monroe, Cowdery opens up an illegal bank and issues bank notes he knows are worthless (bank notes in those days were considered legal tender "if" they were backed by gold coin...the Bank of Monroe notes were not backed by gold coin) then flees Michigan to avoid the law. Rigdon and Smith flee to Missouri to avoid Ohio authorities who want to jail them for openning a non-chartered bank in Kirkland.
Can you see the Big Picture here?
In Missouri, apostate Mormons all claim that Joseph Smith formed an organization called "The Danites" in order to "spoil the Gentiles" (i.e. steal from non-mormons). One of those who makes this claim is John Whitmer, one of the "11 Witnesses" of The Book of Mormon. The Danites also threaten apostate Mormons to leave the state or face death.
In response to that and other things, the Missourians start a war against the Mormons, and Joseph Smith is arrested. He is rescued, and the Mormons flee to Illinois where they build Nauvoo. Joseph Smith gets rich selling the land to his followers, and builds a mansion, a red-brick store, and the "Nauvoo House" for the boarding of strangers, all in his name. In Nauvoo he becames a Freemason, which shocks some older Mormons who know the The Book of Mormon teaches against "secret combinations".
Soon after becoming a Freemasonry Joseph Smith introduces the Endowment to a select few Mormon friends, which he calls "Celestial Masonry". He also introduces more and more of these "friends" to the concept of polygamy; which he is, at the same time, publicly condemning.
Joseph Smith and William Law are appointed "Guardians" of two young sisters. When Law discovers that Joseph is sleeping with both of them, and has confescated their inheritance, he confronts Joseph, who tells him basically, "Get used to it!" Law then plots to publicly expose Joseph Smith as a "fallen prophet" and then take over the Church with David Whitmer (who left the Church during the Kirkland years) as the new "Prophet".
And the rest, as they say, is "history".
Martin Harris, the financier of the first edition of The Book of Mormon, who called Joseph Smith a "fallen prophet" after the Kirkland Bank failure of 1836, did return to the Mormon Church. At age 80, in financial ruin and with no money or pension, he asked Brigham Young to take him in. He died in Utah a few years later.
Both Rigdon and Harris had, in their lifetimes, referred to Joseph Smith as "a fallen prophet".
The Mormon Church prides itself that it has "no paid ministry"; suggesting that being paid to preach is a great sin. However, in 1834, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon asked their followers for salaries of $1000 a year each, a huge sum at that time equaling about $80,000 per year today, at a time when Mormons were very poor. Today, Mormon leaders are paid very good salaries, which are "secret" (why?). Mormons leaders also sit on various "Boards" of companies owned by the Church and supported by tithing money. They receive huge amounts of "fees" from attending a few Board meetings per year. Again, the amount they receive is "secret". Why? Rank-and-file Mormons are expected to pay tithing plus "fast offerings" plus every Ward (congregation) has various "funds" in addition to that such as the "Building Fund" the "Missionary Fund" etc.
The average faithful Mormon pays about 20% of his income (before taxes) to the Church in tithing/offerings/funds. Mormon families are also expected to send their sons on two-year missions, and pay for this out of their own pockets.
Why do Mormon leaders keep the financial statements of the Church "secret"? What do they want to hide?
Why are Mormons asked to "sustain the Brethren" as "Prophets/Seers/Revelators" twice each year in General Conference when in fact they DO NOT prophesy, they DO NOT see supernatural visions, and they DO NOT receive "Thus saith the LORD" Revelations?
Why are Church financial records "secret"?
What are they trying to hide?
In April of 1980, a Mormon named Mark Hofmann claimed to discover some old Mormon documents. At first, these documents seemed to confirm Mormon history. Hofmann sold his documents to Mormon collectors and to the Mormon Church itself, for great sums of money.
However, Hofmann soon began "discovering" old Mormon documents that made Joseph Smith and Brigham Young look very, very bad! Hofmann secretly sold many of these documents to Gordon B. Hinckley, who was the Acting President of the Church at that time (the other members of the First Presidency being senile). Hofmann sold many documents SECRETLY to President Hinckley, face to face, over a five year period, for great amounts of money.
The Church arranged for Hofmann a $185,000 "secret loan" from First Interstate Bank so that Hofmann could purchase a collection of damning letters from one of the original apostles of Joseph Smith, so they could hide the documents and keep them out of public knowledge.
In October 15th 1985, two Mormons, Steve Christensen and Kathy Sheets were blown up and killed by pipe-bombs. The next day, Mark Hofmann himself was seriously injured by a pipe-bomb, while getting something out of his car.
Police and ATF immediately suspected Hofmann as the bomber. They proved that Hofmann dropped his own bomb while taking it out of his car. When they told this to President Hinckley, he replied: "You're got the wrong man! Hofmann is innocent!"
After Hofmann was arrested for double-homicide, his bishop and entire Elder's Quorum in the Ward he belonged to wrote and signed a letter attesting Mark was innocent. Mark's father then claimed he received a Revelation from God: Mark was innocent. During the months Hofmann was out on bail, and back in his home Ward on Sunday, many people, during Fast and Testimony Meeting (first Sunday of every month) came up and testified that they "knew Mark was innocent just like they knew the Church was true." Why? God told them so!
About a year later, after massive amounts of investigation and forensic work, investigators proved that Hofmann had FORGED the documents. They were all fakes he created in his basement. To avoid the death penalty, Hofmann eventually confessed to the forgeries and murders. He murdered Christensen and Sheets as a way to cover-up his forgery scheme. He was on his way to murder a third innocent person, when he accidently dropped his own bomb! He has been in the Utah State Prison since 1986, and will probably be there the rest of his life.
A number of books were written about this, including "THE MORMON MURDERS". CBS was planning to do a miniseries on "The Mormon Murders" but Mormon Church lawyers met in closed door sessions with CBS executives, and then CBS dropped plans to make the miniseries.
Mormons are taught from birth that "The Brethren" are Prophets/Seers/Revelators, and that they can read the hearts and intents of all people, and that nobody can "fool" them because they are men of God.
Why couldn't any of the leaders of the Church use their Spirit of Discernment to "discern" that Hofmann was deceiving them?
In 1838 Joseph Smith bought some Egyptian papyrus, brought to him by a man who had inherited this papyrus from his uncle who had been to Egypt. Joseph Smith claimed the papyrus included "The Book of Joseph of Egypt" and "The Book of Abraham" and some epitaphs. He "translated" some of the Book of Abraham from the papyrus, and this "Book of Abraham" now forms part of Mormon scripture, along with the Book of Mormon and the "Doctrine and Covenants" and "The Book of Moses".
The original papyrus was lost after the Mormons left Nauvoo, Illinois.
But, in 1967, an Egyptian-American professor, Dr. Aziz Atiya, discovered the original papyrus owned by Joseph Smith in the 1830s in the University of Chicago museum.
Dr. Atiya (who was not a Mormon) was a professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Utah. He knew that the Mormon Church would want the papyrus. The University of Chicago sold the papyrus to the Mormon Church. But when Egyptologists translated the papyrus, they discovered that it was a pagan document called "The Breathing Permit of Horus". The story of Abraham or Joseph could not be found anywhere in the papyrus.
Mormon apologists have tried dozens of different "explanations" to explain how Joseph Smith could have translated "The Book of Abraham" from "The Breathing Permit of Horus"; a book which leads the soul of the deceased to the Underwould where he is judged by the god Osiris. The heart of the deceased is weighed in a balance, and if his heart is heavier than a feather, his soul is given to the crockadile god to be eaten.
If Mormons ask about The Book of Abraham origins they are told "See your bishop". The bishop tells them, "Look, don't worry about it! Just pay your tithing, attend your meetings, and you'll be blessed!" If they ask twice, they are warned they may face a Church Court, and they are told, "Worthy Members of the Church don't ask such questions!"
Most faithful Mormons believe they are in the Only True Church, and the "evidence" for this is the "blessings" that God has given them. For example, a Mormon male who marries a young sexy female will think this is God's "reward" for him being an active faithful Latter-day Saint. A Mormon female who procures a successful Mormon male as a husband, believes the same thing. Mormon men who get job promotions and are successful in business, believe these are further "proofs" that God is "blessing" them for being active in the Only True Church.
One wonders how Atheists or men outside of the "One True Church" ever marry attractive women or have success in career or business! ;^)
Mormons who seek answers to Anti-Mormon claims are viewed by Church leaders as "not having the Spirit" because they "must be" leading secret immoral lives, that is why they are "doubters" and "questioners". They are told that "if they were faithful" they wouldn't be asking questions. To all such questions they receive the same answer....
Mormons are constantly admonished to "Follow the Brethren"; which means to obey them, do what they command you to do, without question. Mormons are taught from birth that the only way they will become Gods and Goddesses, and be with their loved ones for all eternity, is to UN-questionably obey and follow their Church leaders.
Joseph Smith claimed that an Angel named Moroni appeared to him in a vision in 1823 and showed him where there were gold plates deposited which contained a history of the Nephites in America.
The Gold Plates were given back to the Angel Moroni, thereby denying the world evidence of their existence in the first place.
Mormons are taught from birth to "have faith". Have faith that the Gold Plates existed. Have faith that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God. Have faith that their leaders are men of God. Have faith that Church leaders are uncompromisingly honest and totally trustworhty living Prophets who will lead them to the Celestial Kingdom. Mormons are told that only unquestioning faith in "The Brethren" will get them "blessings" on earth and Exaltation with the Gods in Heaven.
While there is no evidence the Gold Plates every existed, there is ample evidence that, before Joseph Smith became a "Prophet" he was known as "Joseph Smith the Glasslooker".
In the days of Joseph Smith, many farmers in that part of New England believed that the Spaniards and British pirates (like Blue Beard, Captain Kidd, etc.) had buried treasures in gold and silver throughout the area. Stories such as these ran wild. Naturally, con-man (called "Jugglers") arose claiming to be able to "see" where these hidden treasures were buried, either with maps, with divining rods, or, occassionally, with "seerstones".
A "Seer" was not an uncommon thing in Upstate New York in the days of Joseph Smith. There were many who claimed to find certain stones whereby is a "seer" looked at the stone, in the dark, they would able to "see things such as where lost property could be located, or, in some cases, where buried treasure was. Joseph Smith Jr. was one of those who claimed to have this ability. This is the seerstone he used:
Joseph Smith never denied he was a "glasslooker". Too many people knew he was. Many neighbors and acquaintances of Joseph Smith later testified in affidavits that Joseph would use his "seerstone" to hunt for buried treasure, but no treasure was ever found because a "charm" was on the treasure that if anyone hit the treasure chest with their shovel, it would sink down into the earth again, and this process would repeat itself.
Those that looked for buried treasures via "seerstones" were called "glass-lookers" (i.e. "glass" being the old Yankee English word for crystal or any shining stone). The "con" usually didn't pay well. In return for digging for buried treasure, Joseph Smith made $14 a month, plus room and board. Very little, but it beat unemployment! In those days there was no welfare, no foodstamps, and no "poor house".
In 1827, Joseph Smith was arrested in Bainbridge, New York, for being a "glasslooker" which under the law was a form of "juggling". What we call "con-men" today were then known as "jugglers".
The following is from the Court Docket of one Justice Neeley, who presided over a preliminary hearing after Joseph Smith was arrested:
It is a undisputable FACT that Joseph Smith was arrested for "glass-looking" four years before he founded the Mormon Church. The best evidence shows he never went to trial, but was given a tongue-lashing by the Justice, then the case was dismissed because Josiah Stowell, the defendant in the case, refused to admit that Joseph Smith "juggled" him. Stowell testified that he gave money to Joseph Smith voluntarily, and that it was not Joseph's fault that no treasure was found.
Peter Ingersoll later swore an affidavit (not part of the case) wherein he claimed to see heard the following take place between Joseph Smith and Isaac Hale, Joseph's father-in-law. Joseph was staying at the Hale home while in Harmony Pennsylvania as a boarder (Harmony PA and Bainbridge NY are very cloese to each other). He later eloped with Emma Hale. A few months later Emma wanted her personal things from her father's house, so Joseph hired his childhood friend and neighbor Peter Ingersoll to go with him to get Emma's things and bring them back to Palmyra.
Peter Ingersoll (family neighbor and friend of Joseph Smith) Affidavit, Palmyra, Wayne County. N. Y. Dec. 2, 1833:
"In the month of August, 1827, I was hired by Joseph Smith, Jr. to go to Pennsylvania, to move his wife's household furniture up to Manchester, where his wife then was. When we arrived at Mr. Hale's, in Harmony, Pa. from which place he had taken his wife, a scene presented itself, truly affecting. His father-in-law (Mr. Hale) addressed Joseph, in a flood of tears: "You have stolen my daughter and married her. I had much rather have followed her to her grave. You spend your time in digging for money -- pretend to see in a stone, and thus try to deceive people." Joseph wept, and acknowledged he could not see in a stone now, nor never could; and that his former pretensions in that respect, were all false. He then promised to give up his old habits of digging for money and looking into stones. Joseph told me on his return, that he intended to keep the promise which he had made to his father-in-law; "but," said he, "it will be hard for me, for they will all oppose, as they want me to look in the stone for them to dig money." And in fact it was as he predicted. They urged him, day after day, to resume his old practice of looking in the stone." (first published in Mormonism Unveiled, 1834)
Affidavit of Isaac Hale (Joseph Smith's father-in-law), given at Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania on 20 March 1834:
"Emma wrote to me inquiring whether she could have her property, consisting of clothing, furniture, cows, &c. I replied that her property was safe, and at her disposal. In short time they returned, bringing with them a Peter Ingersol[l], and subsequently came to the conclusion that they would move out, and resided upon a place near my residence. Smith stated to me, that he had given up what he called "glass-looking," and that he expected to work hard for a living, and was willing to do so." (ibid.)
William Stafford, a neighbor and fellow treasure seeker:
"Joseph, Jr., could see, by placing a stone of singular appearance in his hat, in such a manner as to exclude all light; at which time they pretended he could see all things within and under the earth, — that he could see within the above mentioned caves, large gold bars and silver plates — that he could also discover the spirits in whose charge these treasures were, clothed in ancient dress." (ibid.)
Mormons apologists respond that the man who gathered this affidavits was one Philastus Hurtburt, a man with a horrible reputation as a womanizer. Be that as it may, none of the witnesses ever came forth to say that they were misquoted in Mormonism Unveiled even though the book was popularly read in the areas where they lived.
It is a common technique among Mormon Apologists (and anti-Mormons as well) to "kill the messenger"; to try to discredit anyone who brings forth evidence against their side.
Joseph Smith was asked if he was ever a "money-digger" and this was his reply:
"Yes, but it was not a very profitable job for him, as he only got fourteen dollars a month for it." (Elder's Journal 1:28-29)
He once wrote that the stories of his money-digging arose because he worked to try to find a silver mine on the Stowell farm, could not find it, and told Stowell to give it up. The the affidavits don't support this. They support the notion that Joseph Smith Jr. belonged to a "gang" of money-diggers (one was his father) and that he pretended to see where buried treasure was, but the treasure would always "slip" down into the group when a spade (shovel) hit the chest; causing the "charm" (spell) over the treasure to sink the box out of reach.
Statements from others, at the Bainbridge hearing, and also from neighbors of Smith in and around Palmyra, confirm this. They say that Joseph Smith pretended to know the location of buried treasure, would put his seerstone in his hat, cover his face with the hat (to block out light), and then tell others where to find treasure. Then he and a group of money-diggers would dig for the treasure, but find nothing, and Joseph would reply that the treasure was "charmed" (i.e. a spell had been cast over it) so that everytime the diggers would hit the chest with their shovels the treasure would sink farther down into the earth. Hard for us to believe today, but, to uneducated superstitious farmers living in the early 19th century, this seemed plausible.
If the statements and affidavits of neighbors of the Smiths can be believed, the Smith family was very poor. Joseph Sr. and his sons hired themselves out as day-laborers to other farmers all around western New York State. But, in many parts of the year, there simply was no work. At age 14 Joseph Jr. found a stone while digging a well for the Chase family. He started to claim to "see" things in the stone. Either he, or his father, decided to "use" this to get more work. Joseph Sr., with some of his friends, and Joseph Jr., would travel all over western New York State in certain parts of the year, hiring themselves out of "money-diggers"; with Joseph Jr. as the "seer" in these operations.
We don't know if Joseph Sr. forced the lad to do this, or if it was Joseph Jr.'s idea all along. One thing for sure: they never found any buried treasure.
In 1826, in Bainbridge, New York, the sons of Josiah Stowell had Joseph Jr. arrested for "glass-looking". No trial was held (as some Anti-Mormon falsely claim); only a preliminary hearing to see if there was enough evidence to go to trail. Joseph Jr. was NOT found guilty! The case was dismissed, because Joseph Stowell basically refused to press charges.
One of the witnesses, Addison Austin, testified that when he was alone with Joseph he asked him if he could see buried treasure in the ground with the seerstone. Austin testified that Joseph replied:
"To be candid, between you and me, I cannot, anymore thanyou or any body else; but any way to get a living." ("Mormonites" Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, April 9, 1831, p.120)
Many years later, perhaps in another candid moment, Joseph Smith Jr. wrote:
"During this time, as is common to most, or all youths, I fell into many vices and follies; but as my accusers are, and have been forward to accuse me of being guilty of gross and outrageous violation of the peace and good order of the community. I take the occasion to remark that, though as I have said above, 'as is common to most, or all youths, I fell into many vices and follies.'" (A Comprehensive History of The Church, vol. 1, p. 70).
If Joseph Smith Jr. could lie about seeing buried treasure in a seestone in order to make money (although he made very little doing this), is he capable for lying about seeing God and Gold Plates to make alot MORE money?
Joseph Smith was once asked what "Mormon" meant. Joseph replied that "Mormon" meant "MORE GOOD". For Joseph Smith Jr, more women, more property, more titles, more praise, more adulation, more blind followers, and MORe MONey was "MORE GOOD"!
There is evidence to suggest that in 1825, Oliver Cowder, a scribe and friend of William Morgan, fled New York State. Morgan had been kidnapped, and was presumed dead, killed by Masons angry at his coming expos´e of their secret rites. His scribe, Cowdery, fled to Ohio where some of his relatives lived, painfully close to where Sidney Rigdon was living and preaching, and secretly writing a new book of scripture that would unite Christian America under one "Church of Christ". Somehow they met, and Cowdery told Sidney of his helping Morgan write a book. Rigdon saw in Cowdery a helper. Cowdery then must told Rigdon he had a cousin in Palymra, who saw treasures in the Earth. Rigdon, an avid student of the Bible, must have then thought of the following verse in the Bible:
"Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven." (Psalms 85:11)
By 1829 The Book of Mormon was published, with the Campbellism of Rigdon, the anti-Masonic rhetoric of Cowdery, and even a few "jabs" from Joseph Smith at his old money-digging buddies:
"And these Gadianton robbers, who were among the Lamanites, did infest the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to ahide up their btreasures in the earth; and they became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again." (Mormon 1:18)
Joseph Smith learned as a very young man that lies could get you things you needed to live, and to live well.
Most of us cannot imagine lying about speaking with God in order to "get gain", but, the world is full of such men, and women! How many TV preachers have said "God told me that you needed to send me YOUR MONEY to show faith in Him!"? There have been hundreds, and many thousands of them if you count the small timers! There have been religious charatans since the world began, from the village Shaman who pretended to speak to spirits, to the phoney Spiritualists of the 19th century who used to ring bells under tables with their toes in the dark, to the modern day with the television "faith healers" who tell people "Jesus has HEALED you!" then the people go home and die of cancer a few weeks or months later.
The world is FULL of religious charlatans, who use the name of God and/or Jesus to PULL THE WOOL over the eyes of others, all for sex, money, and power. And most of them are all too successful! The successful ones have "charisma".
And I'm very sorry to say (and I mean that sincerely), but Joseph Smith Jr. was one of them. He was incredibly successful, because he had what ALL THE OTHER religious charlatans and ALL CON-MEN and succesfful politicians also have: "charisma". People were naturally attracted to Joseph Smith because he was "charismatic". All con-men are. That's why they are successful. That is why Sidney Rigdon chose Joseph Smith to be his "front man"; because Joseph Smith had charisma, and Rigdon did not.
Joseph Smith Jr., the poor farm boy who often could not afford shoes, found that pretending got you things: money, women, power, praise, property, adoration, etc. He counted on that. Like all religious charlatans, he counted on the fact "he" was "smart" and the religious people were "gullible". He counted on that.
But, what Joseph Smith had NOT counted on, was the Law of Karma, which eventually caught up to him at Carthage Jail, Illinois, on June 24th, 1844.
Conclusion
What I have written in these 22 FACTS is pure truth that are all recognized, accepted, and are UNdisputed by Mormon historians! They will admit to you every FACT herein. They will admit:
*Joseph Smith was a polygamist and had up to 33 wives but he publicly denied many times he was a polygamist, and always publicly condemned polygamy.
*Joseph Smith secretly married his own foster-daughters; the Lawrence sisters.
*Joseph Smith secretly married a mother and her own daughter, in violation of Levitical Code.
*Nancy Rigdon and Sarah Pratt both claimed Joseph Smith tried to seduce them (Sarah Pratt being married at the time to Orson Pratt who was on a mission for the Church in England)
*Joseph Smith illegal closed down the Nauvoo Expositor after it honestly and accurately reported that he was a secret polygamist; his closing down the paper and destroying the Expositor property is the reason that is why he was arrested.
*Joseph Smith tried to flee Nauvoo to avoid arrest, but returned after his closest supporters accused him of cowardace.
*Joseph Smith shot two members of the mob; he did not go "as a lamb to the slaughter" as Mormons are taught.
*Joseph Smith tried giving the Masonic "Grand Hailing Sign of Distress" before being shot.
*Joseph Smith translated a portion of the phoney Kinderhook Plates.
*Joseph Smith was arrested in 1826 in Bainbridge, New York, as a "juggler" (i.e. the term then used for "con-man"); for claiming to see buried treasure in his seerstone.
*Joseph Smith's "Book of Abraham" cannot be found in the papyrus (re-discovered in 1967) he said it was translated from.
*Oliver Cowdery was a counterfeiter.
*Brigham Young owned distilleries, a beer hall, and tobacco farms, and rented out houses as brothels in Salt Lake City.
*T.B.H. Stenhouse, a former friend of Brigham Young, later wrote a book claiming Young stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in tithing money from the Tithing Office each and every year.
*Brigham Young died one of the wealthiest men in America; where did he get the money?
*Brigham Young's former bodyguard, Bill Hickman, "claimed" Young had people murdered who got in his way.
*About a dozen people close to Solomon Spaulding, sware in affidits that The Book of Mormon is based upon "Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon" (his second manuscript called "Manuscript Found") by Rev. Spaulding; a book "lost" from the Robert Patterson Printing Office in Pittsburg.
*R.W. Alderman swore in in 1884 affidavit that Martin Harris told him in 1856 that Rigdon wrote The Book of Mormon based upon a manuscript he stole from a printing office in Pittsburg in 1822.
*Solomon and Sidney were both in Pittsburg in 1816, a small village at that time.
*Ancient America never had oxen, nor asses, nor sheep as The Book of Mormon claims the Nephites had (in the millions)
*Not one Nephite artifact has been recovered, and not one Nephite city has been unearthed to date.
*The American Indians are Asians and have no Semitic ancestry whatsoever: not one Semitic "gene" in their DNA.
*There have been many changes in the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony, as recently as 1990.
*Many of the rites in the Mormon temple were taken directly from Masonic Rites such as the "Five Points of Fellowship" (removed in 1990).
*Brigham Young legalized slavery in Utah in 1850, and several Mormon apostles owned black slaves.
*Brigham Young and other Church Presidents and Apostles taught from 1848 until 1978 (130 year period) the Curse of Cain Doctrine; that "Negroes" are "cursed" and "inferior" and the children of Cain and were "less valiant" in the War in Heaven.
*The Church ended the priesthood-ban on June 8th, 1978,after it was discovered that 65% of white Brazilian Mormon priesthood-holders had Negro blood in them, and after the U.S. government made threats to end the Church's tax-exempt status if they continued to "discriminate" against blacks.
*Joseph Smith's closest friends and associates in the Church, David Whitmer, Martin Harris, John C. Bennett, Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, William Law, all claimed at one time or another that Joseph was an adulterer, a liar, a polygamist, and "fallen prophet".
*Brigham Young taught many doctrines which the Mormon Church today calls "false"; such as the Adam-God Doctrine.
*Mark Hofmann, the forger-bomber, FOOLED Mormon Church leaders, including Gordon B. Hinckley, for five years; selling the Church forged documents which the Church immediately tried to hide from the public.
*Joseph Smith's 1891 prophecies concerning the second coming of Christ failed.
Will Mormons accept these FACTS? No! By no means! As the saying goes, "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still!. The vast great majority of Mormons won't even read this. And the few who do, 90% of them will dismiss this with a wave of the hand as "all lies".
But....they are not lies....they are PURE TRUTH!
All these are indisputable facts, which Mormon historians will acknowledge and the Mormon Church will NOT deny. Mormons who ask questions such as these are told, "Don't worry about it! Just pay your tithing, attend your meetings, and you'll be blessed!" If they keep asking they are threatened with a Church Court. If excommunicated, the Mormon believes he will never become a God, and never see his loved ones again after death.
If you wish to still join the Mormon Church after knowing all this, then do so. It is a great place to raise a family. If you are conservative, non-smoking/non-drinking middle-class white American, you can find much happiness in the Mormon Church. Really...you can. The Church has excellent social programs for youth, young adults, singles, and married couples. Just don't ask too many questions!
But, of course, most Mormons NEVER ask! They simply blindly obey their leaders. They believe their leaders are the closest men to God on earth, and would NEVER lie to them!
Not one in 1000 Mormons will ever read this article! They will ignore it, out of hand. As soon as they see it is "Anti-Mormon" they will dismiss it without reading it, they will ignore it, without a second thought! They will dismiss me as a "liar" and "adulterer". They'll close their eyes, and their ears.
But the TRUTH is....I'm NOT lying. Mormon historians KNOW what I've said is true. They know. Rank-and-file Mormons don't know, and Church leaders want to make sure they'll never know..."for their own good" of course!
I tried for 25 years to find "evidence" that The Book of Mormon was true, that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet, and that the current leaders of the Mormon Church are "Prophets/Seers/Revelators". I wanted the Church to be TRUE! But, I found the opposite. It took me years to admit this to myself. I finally did.
Like me, most Mormons reading this will go into "denial"; perhaps for years. Perhaps for the rest of their lives.
But...you don't have to follow my lead!
If you can obey Church leaders blindly (and most Mormons do and think themselves quite righteous for doing so), and do what they say and NOT what they do, you can be very happy in the Mormon Church. I mean that sincerely.
But, as for me, I must follow the Truth, wherever that path leads me.
Mighty big boast. I read your prophets saying otherwise
“[There is] no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. If Joseph Smith was verily a prophet, and if he told the truth...no man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God
- Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, v. 1, p. 190
"No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith...every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are"
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 7, p. 289
"For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the ‘Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men."
- Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, v. 3, p. 282
"He that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fullness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti-christ"
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 9, p. 312
"If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him [Joseph Smith]; if we enter our glory, it will be through the authority he has received. We cannot get around him [Joseph Smith]"
- Apostle George Q. Cannon, Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide, 1988, p. 142
But lets not stop there-
“And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven.…Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.” —Alma 11:37
Please make note and post accordingly in the future brother niv. Otherwise, having been informed, you will be violating the 9th commandment.
I’m sorry that you have been deceived and taught lies. You are in terrible danger.
Elsie POSTED a LOT of stuff BEFORE this.
Got any comments about STATEMENTS that MORMON leaders have made over the years?
Would Christ’s true church exclude anyone from entering His temple unless they followed the rules set up by the MORMON hierarchy?
(One CANNOT find the 'RULES' in ANY writings that the MORMONs call 'scripture')
As a whole, Flds are more MORMON like, thean those who claim they are the ONLY one's with the RIGHT to call themselves MORMON.
Ha!
I had a '64 Dodge Dart that I put a couple of HEMI 426 emblems on!
This long deaD thread has RISEN from the DEAD!
(And Haitians believe in VOODOO and the UNdead!!!)
(Yeah, well, just read the headlines in the past several weeks about what those truly in Christ have suffered in Egypt & Northern Nigeria...and it's not just mere "door damage")
First of all, why would Adam need a "plan of salvation" if the most prestigious Mormon university is named after somebody who taught for over 25 years that "Adam is God???"
Secondly, do you want the short bubble-burster version as to why it's not possible for the Mormon "retro salvation" plan to work, or the longer version?
Well, here's both: Elsie said it in a simple nutshell about three months ago: Logically; this is IMPOSSIBLE, for all of the NAMES of these people are NOT accessable and will NEVER be accessable. THEREFORE; the MORMONic ritual of Baptism for the Dead is a definite FALSE teaching.
Here, was my longer version recaptured below...note especially what I've bold-faced:
Are you serious? You think pre-Gutenberg printed records will drop out of the sky, or be dug up etched in golden plates in Hill Cumorahs all over the world? You seriously think that the vast records of people in the Dark Ages and before the Dark Ages, down to their very birth name (required for Lds baptisms), will be found? (If not, then drop this silly idealism of "saving" whoever has ever lived!!! It's a false ideal part of a false hope of a false gospel. You & Lds leaders make this magnanimous appeal to "fairness" that ALL will have the opportunity to receive the gospel in the after-life, except Mormons then never seem to get around talking about the "fine print" of their claims & this legal obligation...* "uh, it's kind of dependent upon us finding all their birth records & such...you know B.C...early A.D....dark ages...unliterate people...etc. etc. etc.")
It’s a terrible discredit to label LDS with the ole “Believe as we or go to hell” stigma...
Lds believe that "...hell...is a temporary state in which spirits will be taught the gospel & have the opportunity to repent & accept ordinances for them that are performed." (True to the Faith, 2004, official Lds publication, p. 81)
Now what's wrong with this statement?
(1) It negates Hebrews 9:27 "For it is appointed for man to die once, and then the judgement"
(2) It creates a false sense of security for earthly man: "Oh, I can repent AFTER I die"
(3) In light of what I said above -- the vast majority of Dark Ages & before will never have their records found, how can the Lds church turn around and say this is MANDATED for EVERY spirit before they can be judged? Joseph Smith taught that "ALL those who have not had an opportunity of hearing the Gospel, and being administered unto by an inspired man in the flesh, MUST have it hereafter, BEFORE they can be finally judged. (Lds Presidents book on Smith, p. 471)
(4) Lds assume not only can they arrange eternal relationships with God and Jesus Christ post-death, but they can do marital match-making for the deceased. (Someone start the Halloween Morg music): "In the temple, we can perform ALL the ordinances necessary for the exaltation of those who have died. This includes temple marriage." (Official Lds teaching pub -- Gospel Principles, p. 248) [Yeah, all: Think of The Addams family performing ghoulish eternal wedding rituals for the dead]
(5) It treats mere men as "saviors". Citations from former lds "prophets":
...we are the only people that know how to save our progenitors, how to save ourselves, and how to save our posterity in the celestial kingdom of God;...we in fact are the saviours of the world..." (Lds "prophet" John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, vol.6, p.163).
"... mortals have to be saviors on Mount Zion, acting by proxy for the dead." (LDS "prophet" Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection, p. 325)
"We know something about our progenitors, and God has taught us how to be saviors for them by being baptized for them in the flesh, that they may live according to God in the Spirit." (LDS "prophet" John Taylor, March 20,1870, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, 3/20/1870)
Let me ask you this Q: What would you say to the following statement: "As a whole, fLDS are more Mormon like, then those who claim they aren't. ???
Agree? (If not, why not?)
And in light of this, what do you think of this?
Sept. 8, 1998 airing of Larry King Live show:
KING: But when the word [polygamy] is mentioned, when you hear the word, you think Mormon, right?
HINCKLEY: You do it mistakenly. They have no connection to us whatsoever. They don't belong to the church. There are actually no Mormon fundamentalists.
So, there ya go. The Mormon "prophet"
speaking on behalf of the Mormon "god"
claiming that Mormon fundamentalists don't exist.
They are mere phantoms.
So. If Hinckley could say: "Fundamentalist Mormons are not Mormons." Then I'm not sure how anybody could get riled up -- without also getting riled up @ Hinckley -- about the statement, "Mormons are not Christians."
Lds "prophets" are not the only ones at liberty of establishing definitions and distinctions.
Their religion obviously isn’t big on ‘Turning the other cheek’.
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Especially if one family member leaves the LDS.
They are often shunned, including having their “bishops” encourage divorce if the spouse “apostatizes”.
The “exact same path” to salvation ?
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Yes. They all believe that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone by grace, through faith.
They all agree on the PERSON, WORK, and NATURE of Jesus Christ. The LDS do not.
Most of the differences are minor practical or organizational issues, not major doctrinal disagreements.
Please show me proof that God does not have a physical body.
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You OBVIOUSLY do not read Hebrew (or Greek), do you?
All of the verses the LDS use for God having a body in the OT, either are anthropomorphisms or refer to the Shekinah (shining glory of God).
And then there is always this verse from the mouth of Jesus.
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
In the Greek, there is no article before spirit (pneuma), which emphasizes the quality. In English it would be an equivalent of a predicate nominative.
Furthermore, the word pneuma occurs first in the sentence which places an emphasis on it. God = Spirit, not ‘a’ spirit, or “has a spirit” (JST), He consists solely of spirit.
That long series of quotes does not prove they’re not Christian
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No, their doctrine proves that.
I do know they would not say Christ was conceived by a sexual act,
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Wrong. That is exactly was has been taught (and still is according to my LDS friends)...
Let me help you with your knowledge of LDS teachings. Here are several quotes by LDS leaders (as recent as ET Benson in the 1980’s)
Here is the statement of BY’s that JFS supports:
“When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family; and when he (Christ) took a tabernacle, it was begotten by his Father in Heaven, AFTER THE SAME MANNER as the tabernacles of Cain, Abel, and the rest of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same
character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven.” (JoD 1:50-51, also “Answers”, vol. 5, p. 121).
To illustrate more clearly that BY meant that Christ’s conception was actual physical sex, here is another of his statements: “The birth of our Savior was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of NATURAL ACTION. He partook of FLESH AND BLOOD—was begotten
of his father, as we were of our fathers.” (JoD, vol. 8, p. 115).
Here are a few more quotes from the 1962 Gospel Doctrine Sunday School Lesson Manual “Gospel Living in the Home,” p. 16-17: “Jesus Christ is the Son of Elohim both as spiritual and bodily OFFSPRING; that is to say, Elohim is LITERALLY the Father of the spirit of Jesus Christ and also of the BODY in which Jesus Christ performed his mission in the flesh...” (as quoted from ‘The Articles of Faith’ by James E. Talmage, p. 466).
“We are told in the scriptures that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God in the flesh....how are children begotten? I answer, just as Jesus was begotten of his Father. The Christian denominations believe that Christ was
begotten not of God, but of the spirit that overshadowed his mother. THIS IS NONSENSE. Why will they not believe the Father when He says that Jesus Christ is His Only Begotten Son? Why will they try to EXPLAIN THIS TRUTH AWAY and
make mystery of it?” (as quoted from Joseph F. Smith, ‘Box Elder Times,’ Sep. 22, 1914).
“When the time came that His first-born, the Saviour, should come into the world and take a tabernacle, the Father came himself and favored that Spirit with a tabernacle instead of letting any other man do it. The Saviour was begotten by the Father of His spirit, by the same being who is the Father of our spirits, AND THAT IS ALL THE ORGANIC DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JESUS CHRIST AND
YOU AND ME.” (as quoted from ‘Discourses of Brigham Young,” 1925 edition, p.
77).
“The fleshly body of Jesus required a Mother as well as a Father. Therefore, the Father and Mother of Jesus, according to the flesh, must have been associated in the capacity of husband and wife; hence the Virgin Mary must have been, for the time being, the lawful wife of God the Father: we use the term lawful wife, because it would be blasphemous in the highest degree to say that He overshadowed her or begat the Savior unlawfully........He had a lawful right to overshadow the Virgin Mary IN THE CAPACITY OF A HUSBAND, and beget a Son.......Whether God the Father gave Mary to Joseph for time only, or for time
and eternity, we are not informed. It may be that He only gave her to be the wife of Joseph while in this mortal state, and that He intended after the resurrection to again take her as one of his own wives to raise up immortal spirits in eternity.” (Apostle Orson Pratt, “The Seer,” Oct. 1853, p. 158).
Pratt’s statement is supported by one from Brigham Young: “The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband.” (Deseret News, Oct. 10, 1866).
: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in THE MOST LITERAL SENSE. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was SIRED by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father.” (Teachings of ET Benson, p. 6).
“If none but gods will be permitted to multiply immortal children, it follows that each God must have one or more wives. God, the Father of our spirits, became the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. “(Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, page 158)
“I will say that I was naturally begotten; so was my father, and also my Savior Jesus Christ. According to the Scriptures, he is the first begotten of his father in the flesh, and there was nothing unnatural about it. (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 8:211)
Apostle and one of the best defenders of their errors was Bruce R. McConkie taught, “And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events, for he is the Son of God, and that designation means what it says” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 742).
How about Adam and Eve ?
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What about them? There is nothing in Genesis that states God has a body of flesh and bone.
Of course God is a spirit - so are you.
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No, GOD is a SPIRIT, we are mortal humans.
Not the same in the least.
else how could she still be a virgin - as is clearly stated ?
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By changing what “virgin” means.
When I was LDS, they taught that she REALLY wasn’t a virgin, that the word used meant she was only a “young woman of marriageable age”, thus not necessarily a physical virgin.
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