Posted on 12/31/2010 4:12:00 PM PST by Colofornian
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"...a discourse delivered by Joseph Smith July 19-1840....
"...When the seed of these 12 Olive trees are scattered abroad they will wake up the Nations of the whole Earth. Even this Nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground and when the constitution is upon the brink of ruin this people will be the Staff up[on] which the Nation shall lean and they shall bear the constitution away from the very verge of destruction." (The Historians Corner, BYU Studies, Vol. 19, No. 3, p. 391-392)
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In the book, Discourses of Brigham Young...we read:
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When the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for the "Mormon" Elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it. 2:182.
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Will the Constitution be destroyed? No; it will be held inviolate by this people; and, as Joseph Smith said, "The time will come when the destiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread...7:15. (Discourses of Brigham Young, pp. 360-361 and p. 469)
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Joseph F. Smith, sixth president of the LDS Church, wrote in Gospel Doctrine, p. 403:
...Joseph Smith...predicted that the time would come, when the Constitution of our country would hang as it were by a thread, and that the Latter-day Saints, above all other people in the world, would come to the rescue ...
In the book Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 618-619 we read:
The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith there would be an attempt to overthrow the country by destroying the Constitution. Joseph Smith predicted that the time would come when the Constitution would hang, as it were, by a thread...
(Excerpt) Read more at utlm.org ...
To Whom It May Concern:
Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes, from Salt Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission, in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that forty or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past year, also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught, encouraged and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy
I, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our Temples or in any other place in the Territory.
One case has been reported, in which the parties allege that the marriage was performed in the Endowment House, in Salt Lake City, in the Spring of 1889, but I have not been able to learn who performed the ceremony; whatever was done in this matter was without my knowledge. In consequence of this alleged occurrence the Endowment House was, by my instructions, taken down without delay.
Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise.
There is nothing in my teachings to the Church or in those of my associates, during the time specified, which can be reasonably construed to inculcate or encourage polygamy; and when any Elder of the Church has used language which appeared to convey any such teaching, he has been promptly reproved. And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.
WILFORD WOODRUFF
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
President Lorenzo Snow offered the following:
I move that, recognizing Wilford Woodruff as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the only man on the earth at the present time who holds the keys of the sealing ordinances, we consider him fully authorized by virtue of his position to issue the Manifesto which has been read in our hearing, and which is dated September 24th, 1890, and that as a Church in General Conference assembled, we accept his declaration concerning plural marriages as authoritative and binding.
The vote to sustain the foregoing motion was unanimous.
Salt Lake City, Utah, October 6, 1890.
Hebrews 11:35-40
35. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37. They were stoned ; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- 38. the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. |
~ Wilford Woodruff, 4th LDS President
Elsie, it’s called expediency and is a measure of what the “believer” considers to be truly important as opposed to what he has said in the past was truly important.
On that note, here's the first in a planned series. The LDS assert that God was once a man and had to gain the attributes of godhood. This heretical teaching is easily substantiated in Mormon lore via direct quotes from the founder of Mormonism and subsequent leadership in the LDS.
Here are direct quotes from LDS founders, followed by the reason this is blaspemous/heretical garbage:
"I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three God's." (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 370.).The Bible dictionary says that God is The Supreme Governor of the universe and the Father of mankind. We learn from the revelations that have been given that there are three separate persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. From latter-day revelation we learn that the Father and the Son have tangible bodies of flesh and bone, and that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit without flesh and bone (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22-23).
Paul says that which is earthly is in the likeness of that which is heavenly. Hence if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that He had a Father also? I despise the idea of being scared to death at such a doctrine, for the Bible is full of it. I want you to pay particular attention to what I am saying. Jesus said that the Father wrought precisely in the same way as His Father had done before Him. As the Father had done before? He laid down His life, and took it up the same as His Father had done before. (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 373)
I will go back to the beginning, before the world was, to show what kind of a being God is. What sort of a being was God in the beginning? Open your ears and hear, all ye ends of the earth; for I am going to prove it to you by the Bible, and to tell you the designs of God in relation to the human race, and why he interferes with the affairs of man. God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret. (Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3, 1844)
This is heretical teaching on par with the greatest heretics in Christian Church History! It is a gnarl of lies designed to support the Mormonism blasphemy that gods in a troika over earth are merely one of many gods:
In the very beginning the Bible shows there is a plurality of Gods beyond the power of refutation. It is a great subject I am dwelling on. The word Eloheim ought to be in the plural all the way through--Gods. The heads of the Gods appointed ONE God for us... (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 372)
For those only vaguely familiar with Christianity, and Judaism, all of the universe and all variations of THE universe came forth from The One God Who is greater than and exists independent of time and space. In the beginning means at, and through the CREATION. There was no 'before' preceding Creation because Time is also a created dimension, as is space a created dimension. Without time events do not occur, without space things do not exist. Even Angels exist in a spatio-temporal realm but we were not made in such a way as to be able to perceive this other spatio-temporal realm in our present state. At the very start of John's Gospel, we find:
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; this one was in the beginning with God; all things through him did happen, and without him happened not even one thing that hath happened. Youngs Literal Transalation from the original Greek
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.KJV [THE WORD was God in the beginning, and the WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us. INSOFAR as the flesh can hold 'godness', Jesus, The Word through Whom and by Whom all things were created, was made flesh and dwelt among us! Jesus was and is God with us, the Hope of Glory.]
In the Hebrew scriptures (in The Torah) we read:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
And in the New Testament we read Jesus offering:
Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
And those who were trying to trip up Jesus fully understood this as they replied to Jesus regarding The One God Whose name is in Hebrew a plural form,
Mark 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
There is no three gods making up a 'godhead' as Smith taught. There is only God, as Paul puts it while explaining the glorious truth of justification through faith not works:
Romans 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Pulling together two passages from Paul's teaching, we read and understand that God and Jesus are the same, not two separate bodily beings as Joseph Smith claimed with his re-hashed vision(s) and his heretical teachings:
1 Corinthians 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. [Paul is reasoning with the Christians in Galatia who were being led astray by false teachings that God and Jesus are the same GOD, as Jesus IS God Who took up flesh and dwelt among us!]
Finally, Paul in writing to Timothy is sharing the most fundamental truth with Timothy. And Paul had at that point lived his life teaching this One truth, suffering immensely for staying true to this One truth, and sharing it as the most precious thing he could pass to Timothy whom he much loved in the faith:
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Mormonism teaches an layering of lies which are all designed by an evil genius who is the father of lies. These layered lies assert that:
--the god of Mormonism was once a man and had to earn the attributes of godhood;
--that this god, once he earned the position of godhood, was then selected by a council of gods to be the god over earth;
--that this god had one or more goddess wives who sired untold billions of spirit children into existence, one of whom, the jesus of Mormonism, became a god like the Mormonism god through earning the attributes of godhood and becoming one of three in the Mormonism godhead troika;
--that this jesus of Mormonism has a spirit brother sired by the Mormonism god and his goddess(s), satan, the now fallen angel.
Such lies are designed to demote The One God into nothing greater than a progression of gods back through some temporal fairyland, with the jesus of Mormonism having been created by union of a god and goddess, and jesus's father god having been created in the same way, etc. This is so similar to the polytheism of ancient Greece and Rome, with gods and goddesses creating through sex a series of mortals and gods and goddesses! THIS IS NOT CHRISTIANITY. This is blasphemy fabricated through a series of twisted lies about God and Jesus and The Holy Spirit.
The concept of a trinitarian nature of God is soundly taught through the Bible. Is it any wonder that Mormonism apologist seek to poo poo the trinitarian concept of God and try to imply it is the creation of Constantine? The conceptualization existed long before Constantine. It can be found coded in the Tanakh and taught in the New Testament. But in order to make room for a series of heretical lies which give support to the blasphemy which denies Whom God IS, the apologists must denigrate the truth of the trinitarian nature of God.
1John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
What’s with the Toga?
They’ve IGNORED scripture, and CONTINUE to IGNORE there OWN scripture - found in D&C 132.
Elsie Elsie... queen of the tabloid style propaganda.
As usual, your non-issue is addressed at the links provided. You’ll likely continue to ignore that fact though since it doesn’t fit your agenda.
Happy New Year!
That's the heart of the matter.
The heresies are so grievous. They contain a seed that is more than just error, a seed that blinds.
So which is it? A non-issue or something you earnestly advise digging deep to understand?
The cognitive dissonance is amazing. Or is it something else? Something approaching duplicity?
Mitt isn't the only one to watch out for...
The Manchurian Candidate (Jon Huntsman hints about 2012 run)
Glenn Beck had Huntsman on last week and was falling all over himself in adoration.
This popular prophecy of Smith's is explained in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism:
LDS attachment to the Constitution has been further encouraged by an important oral tradition deriving from a statement attributed to Joseph Smith, according to which the Constitution would "hang by a thread" and be rescued, if at all, only with the help of the Saints. Church President John Taylor seemed to go further when he prophesied, "When the people shall have torn to shreds the Constitution of the United States the Elders of Israel will be found holding it up to the nations of the earth and proclaiming liberty and equal rights to all men" (JD 21:8). To defend the principles of the Constitution under circumstances where the "iniquity," or moral decay, of the people has torn it to shreds might well require wisdom at least equal to that of the men raised up to found it. In particular, it would require great insight into the relationship between freedom and virtue in a political embodiment of moral agency. (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.1, 1992)
Thanks for posting all those comments Nana...good job!
Meant to ping you
Hmmm...Even if you could actually locate a responsive Mormon, don't wait breathlessly for them to be able to locate an answer!
I can imagine the scene now. PD has a 14 yo son. He comes home one day and says, "Dad, my friend, Joey says these nameless beings appeared to him & told him all those Christians are 'corrupt' & all their creeds are putrid & they're all wrong & we all need to move to Ohio & then to Missouri & then to Illinois & then to Utah. And he only wants 10% of your income & only 11 of his followers will actually need to give him their wives."
PD: "OK. I'll start packing."
(Can you spell, g-u-l-l-i-b-i-l-i-t-y?)
Ping ... this is NOT a non-issue. This different definition of God, the god of Mormonism is central to the non-Christian nature of Mormonism.
pingaling ... now, back to football as Alabama deconstructs the Michigan State Spartans.
1John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
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so is
3 Nephi 11 (These are the words of the Lord and should you contend with this scriptures it is not with me but with the Lord!
28 And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.
29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.
30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.
31 Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will declare unto you my doctrine.
32 And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.
33 And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God.
34 And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned.
35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one.
37 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.
38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.
40 And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.
41 Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth.
Mark 10
17 ¶ And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Roman 12
4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
John 17
21 That they all may be ONE; as thou, Father, art in me, and I IN thee, that they also may be ONE IN US: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, EVEN AS WE ARE ONE!
23 I in them, and thou in me, I IN THEM, AND THOU IN ME that they may be made perfect in ONE; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Rather them than Mao, yes?
What's your point?
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