I heard they also shot to death Joseph Smith's kitten, and shaved his Beagle puppy too.
Posted on 07/07/2008 3:34:44 AM PDT by Gamecock
Members of the LDS Church often make a big issue of the fact that their ancestors faced terrible persecutions during the early years of the LDS movement. To most people, Missourian sites like Independence, Liberty, Far West, and Caldwell County mean very little. Yet to the faithful Latter-day Saint, these places carry a great amount of significance.
It is true that the Mormons were driven from several states before finally arriving in what is known today as the state of Utah, and this violence can never be condoned. However, with all of the talk of the persecution early Mormons faced, there is rarely any discussion as to the role played by the Mormons in those early years. To be sure, the average Mormon has no idea that both sides had their share of abuses in human rights. To many Latter-day Saints, their forebears were simply innocent victims.
It would be wrong to say that the Mormons were treated badly simply because they had theological disagreements with their new neighbors. In his book The Mormon Hierarchy - Origins of Power, former LDS historian D. Michael Quinn wrote,
"Fear of being overwhelmed politically, socially, culturally, economically by Mormon immigration was what fueled anti-Mormonism wherever the Latter-day Saints settled during Joseph Smith's lifetime. Religious belief, as non-Mormons understood it, had little to do with anti-Mormonism. On the other hand, by the mid-1830s Mormons embraced a religion that shaped their politics, economics and society. Conflict was inevitable" (p.91).
On page 82 of the book, The Story of the Latter-day Saints, LDS historians James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard wrote, "Impressed by the Mormon image of group solidarity, some old settlers expressed fears that as a group the Mormons were determined to take over all of their lands and business."
In his book, The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, historian Stephen C. LeSueur notes that "non-Mormon land speculators could not hope to compete with the Mormons, who were purchasing large tracts of land with Church funds," and that the huge immigration of Mormons to the area also "threatened to displace older towns as the political and commercial centers for their counties" (p.3).
Arrogance on the part of the Mormon settlers certainly did not help the situation. As Allen and Leonard write,
"The Saints themselves may not have been totally without blame in the matter. The feelings of the Missourians, even though misplaced, were undoubtedly intensified by the rhetoric of the gathering itself. They were quick to listen to the boasting of a few overzealous Saints who too-loudly declared a divine right to the land. As enthusiastic millennialists, they proclaimed that the time of the gentiles was short, and they were perhaps too quick to quote the revelation that said that 'the Lord willeth that the disciples and the children of men should open their hearts, even to purchase this whole region of country, as soon as time will permit" (The Story of the Latter-day Saints, p. 83).
Smith's leadership didn't help ease the tension. For instance, when First Counselor Sidney Rigdon gave a fiery "Fourth of July Oration" (1838) that threatened the state of Missouri with what he called a "war of extermination," Smith made this speech into a pamphlet. Also adding to the Missourians distress were the rumors of Mormon "Danites," a secret band of Mormon hit men known to intimidate non-Mormon "Gentiles" and LDS dissenters.
The acts of violence brought against the Mormon settlers and the fact that the Mormons felt they would not receive proper redress compelled them to retaliate. Writes LeSueur,
"Although Mormon military action was generally initiated in response to reports of violence, the Mormons tended to overreact and in some instances retaliated against innocent citizens. Their perception of themselves as the chosen people, their absolute confidence in their leaders, and their determination not to be driven out led Mormon soldiers to commit numerous crimes. The Mormons had many friends among the Missourians, but their military operations undercut their support in the non-Mormon community" (The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, p.4).
LeSueur believes much of the blame for the "plundering and burning committed by Mormon soldiers in Daviess County" can be laid at the feet of Joseph Smith himself.
I have heard Latter-day Saints justify these actions by saying the frustrations experienced by the Saints would seem to warrant retaliation. While I may sympathize with their desire to "respond in kind," we must keep in mind that in doing so the moral high ground is lost. Once you lower yourself to the level of your enemy, you can no longer claim to be guiltless in the situation. This, unfortunately, is what many Mormons do.
Attempts to get along in Missouri proved fruitless. Both sides blamed the other, and each claimed to be the defender rather than the aggressor. The violence came to a head in late 1838 when a group of Missouri militia, led by Captain Samuel Bogart, moved through Ray County disarming Mormon settlers and ordering them to leave. Reports circulated among the Mormons that Bogart's men had burned and plundered several Mormon homes in their two-day march. Though there is no evidence to support this claim, LeSueur writes that it was readily believed by Mormon leaders (p.133).
On October 24, two Mormon spies were captured by Bogart's men and taken to their camp on Crooked River. In response, a band of over 50 Mormons, led by LDS Apostle David Patten, engaged in a firefight with Bogart's men. When the Mormons drew their swords and charged the camp, the militia fled, leaving one dead and another man wounded. Patten himself was mortally wounded in the battle. Two Mormon soldiers, coming upon the wounded and unconscious militiaman by the name of Samuel Tarwater, mercilessly mutilated the man's face with their swords and left him for dead.
When listing the atrocities brought against the LDS people in Missouri, the massacre at Haun's Mill always seems to come to the forefront. Speaking of the persecution faced by Mormons in the past, LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
"We have staggered under the iron fist of persecution during our whole latter-day history, and we know that hatred and ill will and death will continue to be spewed out upon us until the coming end of the world. We have been driven and scourged and slain; the blood of our prophets stains Illinois; at Haun's Mill the innocent blood of the martyrs for truth cries unto the Lord of Hosts; and on frozen and desolate hills, across half a continent, lie the lonely graves of suffering saints who chose death in preference to the creeds of compulsion of a decadent Christendom" (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, pp. 656-657).
McConkie's dramatic rhetoric fails to take into account the fact that the Haun's Mill massacre took place just one week after the battle of Crooked River. Quinn writes:
"A generally unacknowledged dimension of both the extermination order and the Haun's Mill massacre, however, is that they resulted from Mormon actions in the Battle of Crooked River. Knowingly or not, Mormons had attacked state troops, and this had a cascade effect… upon receiving news of the injuries and death of state troops at Crooked River, Governor Boggs immediately drafted his extermination order on 27 October 1838 because the Mormons 'have made war upon the people of this state.' Worse, the killing of one Missourian and mutilation of another while he was defenseless at Crooked River led to the mad-dog revenge by Missourians in the slaughter at Haun's Mill" (Origins of Power, p.100).
The Mormons would eventually be forced to leave Missouri and settle in Nauvoo, Illinois. Controversy, however, would not disappear. When Smith became the target in a newspaper known as the Nauvoo Expositor, he ordered the destruction of the press. This action caused no small disturbance, and in order to insure order, Smith called out his standing army (The Nauvoo Legion) and placed the city under martial law. Illinois Governor Ford felt the only way the problem could be solved was by a trial to be held in Carthage, the county seat. Although Smith was in the process of fleeing to the west, he was persuaded by friends to turn himself in. A gripping tale of persecution and unjust imprisonment is told during the tour of the Carthage Jail. The guide tells how Joseph Smith claimed that he was going to Carthage as a "lamb to the slaughter" (D&C
135:4). However, such a description of Joseph Smith's final moments is hardly close to the truth, as John Taylor's account in volume seven of the Documentary History of the Church shows:
"Elder Cyrus H. Wheelock came in to see us, and when he was about leaving drew a small pistol, a six-shooter, from his pocket, remarking at the same time, Would any of you like to have this?' Brother Joseph immediately replied, `Yes, give it to me,' whereupon he took the pistol, and put it in his pantaloons pocket. The pistol was a six-shooting revolver, of Allen's patent; it belonged to me, and was one that I furnished to Brother Wheelock when he talked of going with me to the east, previous to our coming to Carthage…I was sitting at one of the front windows of the jail, when I saw a number of men, with painted faces, coming around the corner of the jail, and aiming towards the stairs. The other brethren had seen the same, for, as I went to the door, I found Brother Hyrum Smith and Dr. Richards already leaning against it, They both pressed against the door with their shoulders to prevent its being opened, as the lock and latch were comparatively useless. While in this position, the mob, who had come upstairs, and tried to open the door, probably thought it was locked, and fired a ball through the keyhole; at this Dr. Richards and Brother Hyrum leaped back from the door, with their faces towards it; almost instantly another ball passed through the panel of the door, and struck Brother Hyrum on the left side of the nose, entering his face and head. At the same instant, another ball from the outside entered his back, passing through his body and striking his watch. The ball came from the back, through the jail window, opposite the door, and must, from its range, have been fired from the Carthage Greys, who were placed there ostensibly for our protection, as the balls from the firearms, shot close by the jail, would have entered the ceiling, we being in the second story, and there never was a time after that when Hyrum could have received the latter wound. Immediately, when the ball struck him, he fell flat on his back, crying as he fell, `I am a dead man!' He never moved afterwards. I shall never forget the deep feeling of sympathy and regard manifested in the countenance of Brother Joseph as he drew nigh to Hyrum, and, leaning over him, exclaimed, `Oh! my poor, dear brother Hyrum!' He, however, instantly arose, and with a firm, quick step, and a determined expression of countenance, approached the door, and pulling the six-shooter left by Brother Wheelock from his pocket, opened the door slightly, and snapped the pistol six successive times; only three of the barrels, however, were discharged. I afterwards understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed, died, I had in my hands a large, strong hickory stick, brought there by Brother Markham, and left by him, which I had seized as soon as I saw the mob approach; and while Brother Joseph was firing the pistol, I stood close behind him" (pp. 101-103).
Having taken this tour twice (once in 1980 and another in 1998), I noticed that both times the mention of the smuggled gun was left out. In fact, when the subject of the gun was brought up in the 1998 tour by a Christian in the crowd, we were told that it was not smuggled (it was "brought in") and that the shootout was not a "gun battle." This is an incredible game of semantics. The fact that Smith did try to defend himself disqualifies him from being described in the same manner as our Lord during His arrest, trial, and death (Acts 8:32).
After Smith's demise, things would be quiet for a time. Eventually, however, troubles between the Mormons and their Gentile neighbors would resurface. With little hope to see things resolved, plans were being made by the LDS leadership to leave Illinois. On August 23, 1845, a strategy was approved for an expedition beyond the Rocky Mountains. The first company, composed of 143 men, 3 women, and 2 children, would leave in mid-April. Three and a half months later they would arrive in the Salt Lake Valley.
Even with my strong views regarding the errors of the Mormon faith, I will be the first to denounce religious persecution, as it is properly defined, against any people, Mormons included. I say properly defined because many Mormons feel that any verbal disagreement with their faith is a type of persecution. However, it gets a little tiring to hear of Mormons constantly pointing to their 19th Century persecutions as if this is some sort of sign of God's divine approval on the LDS Church. If violence against a certain faith were the only way to determine truth, then certainly the Mormons themselves would have to recognize that our Christian faith was just as viable as theirs. Can a Mormon, off the top of his head, recall when the last Mormon was killed just because he was a Mormon? Certainly we have heard of Mormons being tragically killed while serving missions, but these cases involve circumstances other than true martyrdom (robberies, car accidents, being mistaken for CIA agents, etc). On the other hand, it is not uncommon to hear of Christians around the world who are being killed because they refuse to denounce their belief that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. While martyrdom seems to be a thing of the past for the Mormons, it is a common occurrence among those who have placed their total trust in the Jesus of the Bible.
Interesting point, jonesie. That "victimhood" has been a major part of the mormon phyche for over one hundred and fifty years, and you can see it play out on FR over and over again.
Rather than address the fallacies in the religion, the first defense of some apologists is to howl "bigot", "prejudice" and "liar".
The most disgusting thing is when Smith is compared as a "martyr" to Christ and other actual Christian martyrs.
BTW, speaking of martyrs, I just read that Warren Jeffs has been moved from prison to a hospital in Nevada.
Well, Elsie, the subject here is violence, as you can well see from the title of the thread. It appears to be a SkyPilot trick to attempt to divert the conversation to something else entirely. Can you provide a defense to the lynch mob that murdered Joseph Smith or are you just here to make noise?
We need to not take the bait, not swing at the obvious pitches in the dirt. We need to realize that using the terms “bigot” “prejudice” and “liar” or falling to insults is the first sign of a crumbling argument in discussions of fact, and reacting in similar fashion dilutes ones own position, not in fact, for that stays constant, but in the eyes of the unknowing and unaware. We need to react not with emotion, but simple rebuttal.
We need to remember we are right, and act in a mature and logical way, something that position affords us the luxury to do.
Here is a very fine account of all the lies told to the saints by some of them most imaginative liars on the planet.
I do find a description of the book, one that continues from the link you posted with a simple Google search:
"Book will fill you with a love and appreciation of the prophet Joseph Smith and all the things he suffered to establish the Church. Being a compilation of historical data on the personal testimony of Joseph Smith, his greatness, his persecutions, and prosecutions, conspiracies against his life, his imprisonments and his martyrdom."
I guess we can take from that what we may...
When the book came out in 1952, it was quoted with amazing emotion from the pulpit in my little home town of Hooper Utah. I put up the link to AbeBooks because one can see from the list of offerings that it is not considered a collectors piece by the apologists or the numbers would not be $35-$100.
Virtually everything in the book is anecdotal with virtually no proof sources for things said. Just wonderful urban legends spoken in an emotional way.
I probably gave most of my 2 1/2 minute talks directly out of the book as a kid.
I heard they also shot to death Joseph Smith's kitten, and shaved his Beagle puppy too.
The Inverted Pentagram is and has been an evil symbol just as an Inverted Cross is used in Satanic rituals.
LDS propaganda sites like this one try and justify the use of this Satanic and Masonic symbol.
http://www.templestudy.com/2008/02/04/the-ancient-pentagram-a-christian-symbol/
That is from a sight that supports that, and is even sympathetic towards Mormon Masonic used of the symbols (the Knight's Templar crowd)!
"Knights Templar" and Masonicupright pentagram represented summer, while the inverted or points down pentagram was a representation of winter. It is rumored that Lévi formed two illustrations of the pentagram. The first, his good orientation, featured the five points of a man within the points of the Pentagram. This is called the microcosmic man and represents the four elements, earth, wind, fire and water represented as the man's limbs with his head representing the spirit. Next to the Microcosmic Man, he is alleged to have drawn the inverted pentagram as the goat's head or Baphomet. In so doing, he formed for the first time, a differentiation between good and evil symbolized by the pentagram. The Baphomet sigil or simply Baphomet has become the official symbol of The Church Of Satan, which was started by Anton Szandor La Vey in 1966. Satanists and pseudo-Satanists have used this sigil all over the world. The illustration below shows the two sketches attributed to Lévi. While this illustration has been connected to Lévi, our research shows the earliest use of this image was in "A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural" by Maurice Bessy originally published in French in 1961 and making its first English translation in 1964, many years after the death of Lévi.
Now, look at the other Masonic symbols on the Nauvoo Temple besides the Satanic Inverted Pentagram.
Given this, are you still trying to tell us all the Inverted Pentagram, just like the Inverted Cross, is not a Satanic symbol?
Éliphas Lévi claimed that one point upward represents the good principle and one downward, the evil.
ELiphas Levi: February 11, 1810 - May 31, 1875 -- A prolific writer on Magical Freemasonry, he has been called, "the last of the Magi." Born, Alphonse-Louis Constant, and trained for the Roman Catholic priesthood, Lévi is best known for his Doctrine of Transcendental Magic (1855), Ritual of Transcendental Magic (1856) and History of Magic (1860), all written before his brief association with Freemasonry.
Mephistopheles, in Goethe’s Faust (1808) calls the pentagram a witch’s foot as a charm to guard against evil but doesn't determine its alignment.
It can be seen, then, that the pentagram has evolved, from a pre-Christian symbol for a Mesopotamian city or later symbol for health or the heavens, to an early Christian symbol for Christ Transfigured, or truth, and then to a medieval talisman to guard against evil. [The key is the symbol is a medieval TALISMAN, as in ‘occult symbol‘.]
Over six hundred years after the suppression of the Knights Templar, one Éliphas Lévi took it upon himself to determine the value of the pentagram and equate it with the Baphomet. He termed the Baphomet, "the Goat of Mendes" and included a fanciful illustration of it as a frontispiece to his Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic in 1861.7 Although his frontispiece illustration depicts a one-point-up pentagram, he is also credited with being the first to arbitrate that the one-point-down image represented the Baphomet.
|
To: Elsie
Well, Elsie, the subject here is violence, as you can well see from the title of the thread. It appears to be a SkyPilot trick to attempt to divert the conversation to something else entirely. Can you provide a defense to the lynch mob that murdered Joseph Smith or are you just here to make noise? 102 posted on Wednesday, July 09, 2008 9:47:25 AM by Old Mountain man (Official FR PITA) |
|
To: Elsie
Most excellent. I will have to print this off, with the cited post, as well as a few others and take it to my lunch today with the former LDS member in from one of my ministries groups.
103 posted on Wednesday, July 09, 2008 10:32:35 AM by ejonesie22 (Haley Barbour 2012, Because he has experience in Disaster Recovery.)
|
Well, what is your defense for the dastardly protestant lynch mob that murdered Joseph and Hyrum Smith?
Indeed, I just got back. It was very informative, confirmed much of what I have seen here since this has become of interest to me. Be liked your grid BTW, great chuckles of “familiar acknowledgment” as he put it. Seems you may have inadvertently created a new training tool for the Smith family...
I am so glad that you think you are right. What was your defense of the dastardly protestant lynch mob that murdered Joseph and Hyrum Smith again?
Well if it is anecdotal with no proof, the term “historical data” should perhaps not be applied.
Given the subject matter, I feel for you using it for a talk as a kid. Seems a bit much, but I guess it would depend on the age...
If you do I will give it to you.
It was indefensible.
Yes, that is what I said, I agree with you.
Indeed it was totally and completely wrong and the incorrect way to handle the situation. Time and history would have been better served if Joseph Smith's actions were made part of actual court record to add to the body of proof against him.
Now, would you like to answer factually for his acts,the ones that landed him in trouble in the first place, as well as numerous others? Would you also like to actually answer the very well thought out questions that have been put to you time and time again, or grumble off something less useful to the discussion as is your SOP...
Which question? I will not answer questions as to symbols on buildings on this thread.
As to which of Joseph’s actions led to the murder of him and Hyrum, it apparent that a printing press was smashed. Are you people now implying that is a capital offense? Are you now implying without any shred of fact that Joseph and Hyrum smashed the press alone?
How do you know there were no MOmrons in that lynch mob, genius? Bwahahahaha ... Joey was incarcerated due to accusations made BY MORMONS who were JOey’s closest advisers! Was the mob violence appropriate execution of Joey? Absolutely not. It violated the premise that we are a nation of laws.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.