From the article:
Louise Y. Robison wrote a piece in the November (1938) Relief Society Magazine which seems to capture the very essence of the Mormon church:
"To know positively that our Father and His Son Jesus Christ did visit the earth and restore the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith...--this knowledge is more precious than life." (p. 768)
Yet, in all frankness, didn't Jesus Christ "visit the earth" via His embodiment as a babe in Bethlehem? Given that He stayed here a full 33 years -- verses the unnamed entities Joseph Smith said visited him briefly one day as a 14 or 15 year-old boy -- wasn't that 33-year visit "more precious than life" to the "Joy to the World" recipients?
You see, the following is often one of the missing keys re: any attempt to understand Mormonism. Mark it well:
In fact Bethlehem is so snubbed from the very roots of Mormonism that Joseph Smith even inserted "Jerusalem" as Jesus' place of birth in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 7:14)!
The book of Colossians in the Bible is at the heart of the Christian Gospel:
Jesus is the embodied deity, the One who came and dwelled bodily, "pitching an incarnational tent" among us...
D&c 325 Test #2 [Merry 'SMITHMAS!' BYU class says Joseph Smith is both 'Rod' and 'Root' of Jesse]
This thread explains how this same BYU prof, Sidney B. Sperry, promoted the idea in his commentaries that Joseph Smith himself usurped the Messianic prophecies belonging to Jesus Christ in Isaiah 11:1-10. If you've ever sung @ Christmas time:
"Oh come, Thou rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny From depths of hell Thy people save And give them victory o'ver the grave", from the Christmas hymn "Oh come, Oh come Emmanuel" then you have lauded the Messiah as the "Rod of Jesse" -- a prophecy reinforced by the apostle Paul in Romans 15:12.
Yet Sperry had the audacity to claim that Joseph Smith was both the "rod of Jesse" as well as the "root" (stem) of Jesse.
If you click on the link above, you'll find Sperry's 1944 and 1966 articles touting this in post #1.
And the Mormon Church sanctioned this interpretation in multiple ways:
* It published it in their "Gospel Manual" church curricula;
* It published it under its Deseret Book Co. title in a Sperry Symposium 1989 book in the chapter written by BYU prof Rodney Turner;
* It cited Sperry's 1966 article in its Doctrine & Covenants study manual.
* And Deseret News -- owned by the Mormon Church -- touted it in a December 2010 article.
Oh come, Oh come EmmanSMITHuel????
What did Jesus and the New Testament writers say about this?
* Believing Jesus is believing God (see John 12:44; John 14:1)
* Receiving Jesus is receiving God (see Mark 9:33)
* Seeing Jesus is seeing God (see John 12:45; John 14:9)
* Knowing Jesus was knowing God (see John 8:19, 24; John 14:7)
* Honoring Jesus is honoring God (see John 5:23)
* Hating Jesus is hating God (see John 15:23)
* He who denies the Son, will be denied before the Father (see Matthew 10:33)
* He who confesses the Son, is confessed before the Father (see Matthew 10:32)
* To have God is to have the doctrine of Christ (2 John v. 9)
* 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3)
Well, guess what, "Brother Sperry"? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the Manifested Living Word, already accomplished that!!!
In essence, Joseph Smith, and all ensuing Mormon leaders, somehow claimed or at least assume that Jesus Christ failed in that mission outlined in those Biblical verses cited above...That Jesus somehow failed to HIMSELF BE the perfect vision of the Father for people to believe, receive, see, know, honor, and confess in embracing the doctrine of Christ Himself!
Hence, they prop up a few-minutes of unnamed entities appearing to Smith (For example, read Joseph Smith History 1 in the Pearl of Great Price and you will see no proper names given...no mention of God, Jesus Christ, Son of God...just one generic reference to a "son" portending to be the son of the other unnamed guy).
It’s truly terrifying that intelligent people can be convinced of so obvious a lie. Not only wasn’t Joseph Smith a prophet, he was a liar, thief, cheat, loony and an all-around scoundrel. It would be like someone building a new religion today around the writings and sayings of Whitey Bulger.
I do not believe Joseph Smith was any more a Prophet than the man in the moon.
Also i have been to other churches who claim they have Prophets.
I do not go to these type of Churches, in fact i do not go to any Church who has any books except the Bible.
I will allow more than one version of the bible as long as every thing is verified by the KJV.
I also do not go to any Church who calls Sunday the Sabbath.
That is the ONLY reason why seemingly "smart" and prosperous people fall for this perversion of the truth - it IS a spiritual blindness perpetuated by Satan's lie that man can become God. I had very real concerns and hesitations in voting for Romney this past presidential election. As horrid as a choice Barrack Obama was, the thought that putting a man who could be so blinded to truth as to fall for a con game and dedicate his life to leading ever more souls into that game, bothered me more. I did vote for Romney as the "lessor of two evils" and I deeply regret I had to do so. I sincerely hope I never have to hold my nose to vote for a Republican like him again.
the mind explodes
According to this BYU article: “Praise To The Man”: A Review Of The Annual Joseph Smith Memorial Sermons, what Sperry spoke about on this 17th of December in 1947 was the so-called Mormon "First Vision" and Mormonism's concept of God:
"The primary role of the First Vision in the Restoration leads us to what Sidney B. Sperry called 'the first and in many respects, the most important contribution of Joseph Smith in this realm . . . his concept of God...'”
Perhaps few citations size up the "Smithmasizing" occurring at regular interventions in the Mormon Church than to pluck a citation from a 1938 Relief Society Magazine article published by the Mormon Church.
As Mormons came off their centennial celebration of its church in 1930, and began ramping up for the centennial recognition of Joseph Smith's death (1944), Joseph Fielding Smith, the great nephew of Joseph Smith, compiled the "teachings" of Joseph Smith in a book published in 1938 under Deseret News Press called Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
That same year, Louise Y. Robison wrote a piece in the November Relief Society Magazine which seems to capture the very essence of the Mormon church:
"To know positively that our Father and His Son Jesus Christ did visit the earth and restore the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith...--this knowledge is more precious than life." (p. 768)
Yet, in all frankness, didn't Jesus Christ "visit the earth" via His embodiment as a babe in Bethlehem? Given that He stayed here a full 33 years -- verses the unnamed entities Joseph Smith said visited him briefly one day as a 14 or 15 year-old boy -- wasn't that 33-year visit "more precious than life" to the "Joy to the World" recipients?
You see, the following is often one of the missing keys re: any attempt to understand Mormonism. Mark it well:
**********************************
Mormon leaders keep on doing this:
Lds "Prophet" Ezra Taft Benson superceded Jesus' Incarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection and His Ascension as what/Who we are to "bear testimony" about in place of Joseph Smith's 'First Vision':
"The First Vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith is bedrock theology to the Church...You should ALWAYS bear witness to the truth of the First Vision."
Source: Benson's address given in Salt Lake City, May 20, 1984, p. 2, as recorded in Ezra Taft Benson, Addresses 1943-89, Church Archives – and cited in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p. 547
“In fact Bethlehem is so snubbed from the very roots of Mormonism that Joseph Smith even inserted “Jerusalem” as Jesus’ place of birth in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 7:14)!”
Alma 7:14 14 Now I say unto you that ye must arepent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.