As of late I have been on the message boards talking about the Mormons versus the FLDS. This brings traditional Mormon ladies out of the wood work defending their church. You can tell by reading their messages that they are resiting the things they were taught to say to people like me, the “Mormon hater” or the term the Mormons conjured up, “Anti-Mormon” and my favorite from one of these fine LDS women called me an angry spider. God bless her for not calling me the F word as so many of these Mormons have called me. Though I have to admit there is this one lady online that really believes in her churches teachings and I have to admit, she has gained my respect. It seems we agree to disagree and fight for our own personal truths.
Still to see how some of these people respond to the real truth reminds me when I was a teenager and I asked my Bishop what to do when someone tells me my church is not true. He told me the same thing I see these bloggers say. Nothing has changed and as I was exploring this phenomenon, of how Mormons defend themselves, I came across this article I really wanted to share.
Enjoy
What You need to Know About Mormons- but they probably won't tell you
© Isaiah Bennett, May 1997 REDIMIR 1997-1998
"Good morning, sir. I'm Elder Lamb and this is Elder Sanders. We're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we have an important message for you. May we come in?"
If you let them in, you've invited them to begin the process of "discussions," six canned lessons they've been trained to deliver and leading, ideally, to baptism into the Mormon Church.
They'll begin by telling you the Heavenly Father has a plan for your eternal happiness. Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith are central figures in this plan of salvation. Prophets, both ancient and modern, reveal the purpose and will of God. The Book of Mormon is additional scripture testifying to the message.
The lessons last about an hour each and are spread over four to six weeks. On their second and subsequent visits, the young missionaries will urge you to repentance, faith in their doctrines, baptism into their church, and moral living. Only their church, they say, can lead you to true righteousness and ultimate salvation. All other so-called Christian churches profess creeds abominable to the Lord and offer only counterfeit holiness.(1) Shortly after the death of the Apostles, Mormons claim, the pure Christian faith was overtaken by false doctrine and vanished totally from the earth. This "apostasy" was reversed and the true Church was restored in 1830 in upstate New York by the boy-prophet, Joseph Smith.
If you live a life obedient to LDS dictates, you can progress to the point of perfection. You will become like God and return to Him in His highest heaven. Provided your spouse, children and parents live equally dedicated lives, you will spend eternity with them as a family.
Requirements for this eventual "exaltation" include living the "Word of Wisdom," or abstaining from coffee, tea, alcohol, and tobacco; tithing, or paying to the Church one-tenth of your income; fulfilling all Church responsibilities; and dedicating all your energy to spreading the Mormon gospel.
Not an unattractive message, on the face of it. Some spiritual seekers are drawn by the Mormon challenge of sacrificial living and giving. Ignorant of the orthodox Christian teaching on salvation and eternal life, many suffering the loss of a loved one find consolation in the Mormon teaching on eternal families. Culling an occasional spiritual kernel from the Book of Mormon, prospective converts conclude both it and its ecclesiastical publisher present irrefutable divine truths.
But Mormons, whether missionaries, neighbors, or colleagues, are trained to present only the "milk" beliefs, the bland and less offensive teachings designed to hook the unsuspecting. The "meatier" doctrines are kept back for later, much later. Indeed, many faithful members know little or nothing of their Church's fundamental tenets.
Here's the rest of the story
I.God the Father is a glorified man, possessing a physical body. That is, the Almighty Lord was once born of human parents in some other universe. He lived a Mormon way of life, repented of His sins, died, and was eventually raised by His God and installed as God of this world.
Mormons justify this belief by mishandling and misunderstanding such biblical texts as Gen. 1:26-27; Ex. 33:11; Deut. 4:34; Ps. 33:18; and Nahum 1:3. Most of these passages, and others like them, refer to the "arm," "eye," and "feet" of the Lord.
However, other passages speak of God's "feathers" and "wings" (Ps. 91:4). Or they refer to Him as a "consuming fire" (Deut. 4:24) or a "rock" (Deut. 32:4). In all these examples, the inspired writers simply communicate in human words and human images the inexpressible power, presence, and love of the infinite God.
Latter-day Saints force the context of Gen. 1:26-27. Since man is made in God's image, they argue, God must look like a man! But though the Genesis passage states God created man both male and female, Mormons insist that God the Father is a male. The fact is, "the image of God" refers not to some literal correlation of body parts but to the spiritual similarities shared by Him with all His rational creatures (angels and human beings). In other words, we are made in God's image because we, like Him, can choose and can love. We are endowed with such moral and intellectual qualities as holiness, wisdom, justice, and truth. By these, we enjoy spiritual fellowship, even sonship, with the Father and "pattern" of our spirits.
When confronted by Mormons with their belief in an almighty Heavenly Father, ask them about His origins. Was there ever a time He didn't exist? Was He always God? Did He ever commit sin?(2) If He has a body of flesh and bones, where is it?(3)
Help Latter-day Saints to see the true nature of God: He is infinite Spirit (John 4:24); a spirit does not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39); God is not a man, even an exalted one (Numbers 23:19; Hosea 11:9); God was always God, He is immortal, and He is all-holy (1 Tim. 1:17); no one can see the "face" of God and live (Ex. 33:20; John 1:18).
II. There are many Gods. Mormons will tell you they believe in one God, Whom they call the Heavenly Father. They worship and pray to Him alone. He is the only God to Whom they relate. But -- referring to Gen. 1:26-27 and 1 Cor. 8:5 -- Latter-day Saints insist the ancient Jewish patriarchs and prophets, along with St. Paul and the other Apostles, believed in a plurality of Gods.
If you press them, they respond: "Look, God Himself taught Mormon doctrine. See here, God says, 'Let us make man in our image [Gen. 1:26].' He was talking to His Son Jesus Christ and the spirit-man, the Holy Ghost. Right there, then, you've got three Gods! Those three Gods oversee our universe. The Father is supreme, the other two are His helpers."
At first blush, the Mormon apologist has confused three distinct Persons of the Trinity with three separate Gods. But it gets worse. St. Paul, they maintain, knew of other Gods when he wrote to the Corinthians: "For there be [those] that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many and lords many), But to us there is but one God. . . ." (I Cor. 8:5-6). Therefore, Mormons assert, there are as many supreme Gods as there are worlds. Brigham Young taught that the number of Gods and worlds is uncountable.(4) The LDS Church, however, occupies itself with only the one (or three?) Gods of this world and leave it to inhabitants of other universes to worship and obey their respective Gods.
As for the Genesis citation, no Jewish or Christian commentator sees the least hint of polytheism in the use of the plurals "us" and "our." While the Hebrew word for God, Elohim, is in plural form, and therefore must be replaced by plural pronouns, the rest of the passage is in the singular: "God created (singular verb) man in his own image. . . ." Various interpretations are consistent with the biblical revelation of monotheism. For example, the Lord may have simply used the "plural of majesty" -- rather like a monarch and, until recently, the Pope, who often referred to himself as "We." Or, God may have been addressing His heavenly court of angels, who also possessed the image of God in that they were rational beings endowed with knowledge, will, and immortal life. Further, Christians may comfortably conclude the Father was indeed communicating with the Son and the Holy Spirit, Who, as mighty God, exist dynamic and creative from all eternity.
St. Paul did not teach a plurality of Lords and Gods. He merely commented that there are entities that are called gods. Whether he was referring to the crass idols of Zeus or Hermes, or craftier masters such as greed and pride, he -- and we -- know that men have created and will continue to create other gods and lords, displacing the one true God. We do not merely limit our adoration and service to one God among millions: we don't, in fact, know of any other God.
You can help the Mormon see the fallacy of multiple infinite beings. While not explicitly presented in the Bible, the doctrine of the Trinity is imbedded in scripture's insistence on one only God and its equally clear teaching that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are Persons possessing equal majesty, power, and Lordship. They are not united solely in purpose or will, as Mormons assert, but in very Being. Read chapters 42-45 in the book of Isaiah to find crystalized the ancient Hebrew belief in one God. Christ and His followers confirm monotheism in John 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:4; Gal. 3:20; Eph. 4:6. The Son is called God throughout Christian scripture. See John 20:28 and Heb. 1:8. Similarly, the Holy Spirit is confessed as God: Acts 5:3-4 and 2 Cor. 3:17. If the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet there is only one God, then only the truth revealed in the Blessed Trinity can explain scripture's doctrines.
III. A man can become God. He can't become God of this world, mind you, since that position is already filled. But a man who lives as a faithful Mormon in this life, fulfilling all obligations imposed on him by the LDS Church, may progress to Godhood in the next life. He will be given his own world to populate and rule, together with his heavenly wife or wives (including, usually, his own earthly Mormon spouse).
Spencer W. Kimball, Mormon prophet during the 1980s, declared to a group of college students: "Each one of you has it within the realm of possibility to develop a kingdom over which you will preside as its king and God. You will need to develop yourself and grow in ability and power and worthiness, to govern such a world with all of its people."(5) So, having achieved divinity, a man will do for his own creation all that the Heavenly Father has done for him. In turn, he will be worshipped as God by the children he procreates, just as he now adores and obeys God the Father.
Because Mormons see God as an advanced and perfected man, they conclude that their members enjoy a similar progression. They confuse Christ's admonition to "be perfect" (Matt. 5:48) with "become a God." In fact, since there is but one God, man's perfection lies in becoming fully conformed to the divine image in which the first Adam was created. He is to become a perfect man, aided by the grace brought by the Second Adam.
Try to get Latter-day Saints to see that an earthly parent-child analogy cannot apply to our relationship with the Lord. An earthly father's task is to raise his son to become self-supporting and independent, autonomous in his own life's decisions. It's not so between us and God. We'll never achieve His status; we'll never grow apart from Him; we'll always need Him. Yes, we shall enjoy fully His communicable attributes of eternal life, love, and goodness. Like a bar of iron, we'll glow with divine fire. (See 2 Pet. 1:4.) The boundaries between perfect humanity and divine glory may appear blurred. But they won't be eliminated. We'll always be His perfected children, never His equal.(6)
IV. Jesus Christ: half-God, half-man.(7) Mormonism teaches that matter is eternal. That which we call "spirit" is really just highly refined matter. Therefore, God didn't create from nothing; He merely "organized" pre-existent matter. This includes the "spirit" form of His Son, Jesus Christ, Whom the Heavenly Father and one of His heavenly wives created as their first-born. (Lucifer and his minions, together with every other person, were similarly conceived in the heavens, thus making us all Christ's junior brothers and sisters.)
Two thousand years ago, the Heavenly Father looked with favor upon His daughter, the Virgin Mary. He visited her in His flesh-and-bones male body and had sexual intercourse with her. The result was Jesus Christ in His mortal body. Since Mormons say they believe Mary was a virgin when she conceived her Son, LDS theologians have had to redefine the definition: a virgin is a woman who has not had sex with a mortal man; since God the Father was by then an immortal man, no loss of virginity occurred, though "normal and natural" intercourse took place.(8) An early
Mormon apostle taught that God the Father and Mary were "associated together in the capacity of Husband and Wife."(9)
Many Latter-day Saints believe Christ was married and had children. Because marriage is the only way a man can become a God in the next life, should not the Lord have taken a wife (or wives) and shown us how to live worthily? Since the blessings of marriage are crowned by the birth of children, Christ is said to have had several. While such notions were taught openly during the presidencies of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the current membership is cautioned not to throw such spiritual pearls before scoffing swine.(10)
Latter-day Saints will not worship Christ. They are forbidden to pray to Him. All prayer is directed to the Father only, in the name of the Son. Because they don't understand the true nature and Persons of God, Mormons confuse the divine and human natures of His Son. For them, He must be a lesser God, since He (and the Holy Ghost) were formed by the Father and are subjected to Him in all things. Though both now Gods, Christ and the Holy Spirit became Gods later than did Heavenly Father and are totally dependent upon Him Who created them.
Biblical verses supporting the Holy Trinity and the full deity of the three Persons are also useful here, to establish that Christ is mighty God from all eternity. He accepted and expects adoration. He received Thomas' worship ("My Lord and my God," John 20:28) without demurral. See also Matt. 2:11; 28:9, 17; John 9:38; Rev. 5:14.
Keep in mind that Mormons maintain these doctrines are part of the pure truth revealed by God in every age to His Church. Abraham, Moses, Isaiah and all the prophets knew and taught God had a physical body, knew and taught a plurality of Gods, knew and taught that men can evolve into Gods, and knew and taught a subordinate Christ. The same is true for the first Apostles, chosen by Christ two thousand years ago. Such glorious doctrines were lost, the Mormon Church declares, because the Catholic Church, after having replaced the true Church of Christ, removed many "plain and precious" truths from the scriptures. The world was thus enthralled in the blackness of apostasy until the Lord restored all these teachings in 1830.
V. In the Mormon Temple, God gives men all the secrets necessary for salvation. It's in their temples, Latter-day Saints are told, where the full purity of these restored teachings is revealed. The temple ceremonies, written by Joseph Smith soon after he became a Freemason and containing many Masonic parallels, are said to replicate the rituals performed in the temples of Solomon and Herod.
Only those worthy to enter the temple may return to God after death. About 20% of Mormons hold "recommends," cards permitting them entrance to the temple and performance of the secret ceremonies. The so-called "restored" gospel teachings presented above are emphasized in a visual manner by a video.
I've been through the "endowment" ritual several times. It takes about 90 minutes. The words and actions never vary. The temple patron hears the Gods' plan for creating the world and mankind; he makes "covenants" with the Lord to support the Mormon Church in every way he can; he promises not to speak critically of Mormon leaders and to avoid loud laughter; he will live a righteous and faithful life.
Throughout the presentation, the patrons are taught special "signs" and "tokens," consisting of various arm gestures and handclasps, each having sacred names. Participants also don special clothing and head coverings during the endowment.
Temple attendance is obligatory for ultimate salvation. Even if you live a good, holy, Mormon life, assenting to its doctrines and participating in church activities, you cannot enter the presence of God without giving Him, after death, the same signs and tokens and code names learned in the temple. Since these are forbidden to be spoken of outside temple walls, those who desire eternal life must pay the price to enter the temple.(11)
While a Mormon, I lived a life worthy of the temple. I tried hard to be interiorly prepared, as well, praying and often fasting before attending an endowment session. But never did I "feel" the promised "Spirit of the Lord" within its walls or during its banal ceremonies. They were rote, repetitious, lifeless and even silly. (Some fundamentalist Protestant detractors pretend to uncover bizarre satanic or sexual overtones to the temple rituals. Nothing is further from the truth. Since being purged, in 1990, of most anti-Catholic references and threats of disembowelment for revealing their secrets, the temple ordinances are now rather bland and, except for their theology, rather inoffensive.)
God doesn't appear to be the focus of temple work. There is practically no prayer as such. Each patron is required to listen to the instructions, learn the signs and names and repeat them accurately. Since the teachings, signs and gestures never vary, the ceremony becomes quickly familiar. Those who attend do so in the belief that their performance here will enable those who were not Mormons on earth the chance to become Saints in "spirit prison." Some Mormons even boast of going through three or four sessions a day and thus "saving" three or four dead friends or relatives.
Mormons need to know that God is Lord of all. He has revealed Himself fully in His Son (Heb. 1:2), Who Himself charged His Apostles to preach the gospel until the end of time (see Luke 10:16: 2 Tim. 2:2; 4:2-4). He does not hide Himself from His people, but desires they all be saved. He taught the truth openly (Matt. 26:55; John 8:2) and founded a Church to hand it down to every generation (2 Thes. 2:15; 3:16).
There's no need for temples to teach us the secret way to salvation: that path was made clear by the Light of the World and is in every age illuminated by His Body, the Church. Christ's promises of power and permanence, once made, are irrevocable. (See Matt. 16:18; 28:20; John 14:16, 26; 16:13; Eph. 5:29.) The Catholic Church has preserved the purity of Christian faith and life: no "former" truths need be "restored" and secretly "revealed."
Mormonism is "pretty poison." It attracts largely by holding back its offensive doctrines and leading instead with its strong suit of family values and patriotic devotion. But "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death" (Prov. 14:12).(12) The "good fruit" of Mormonism is bought with counterfeit theology.
Changes in mormon's practices
1. BLACKS: "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. . . . That curse will remain upon them, and they never can hold the Priesthood or share in it until all the other descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the blessings of the Priesthood and the keys thereof." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:290-291). "The descendants of Adam" are his white descendants. Though not all white men have been converted and received the Mormon priesthood, in 1978 then-prophet Spencer W. Kimball received a "revelation" canceling the Lord's previous edict to Young and admitting men of color to the priesthood and temple. Proselytizing successes in Brazil and other "dark" countries may have helped the Lord change His mind.
2. POLYGAMY: "I understand the law of celestial marriage to mean that every man in this Church, who has the ability to obey and practice it in righteousness and will not, shall be damned, I say I understand it to mean this and nothing less. . . ." (Pres. Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses 20:31, 1878.) "Celestial marriage" refers to polygamy. Twelve years later, in response to governmental pressure and desiring Utah statehood, the Mormon prophet officially "suspended" plural marriage. A practice once proclaimed crucial for salvation now would merit its proponents excommunication.
3. ABORTION: "There is no excuse for abortion unless the life of the mother is seriously threatened." (Gospel Principles [a basic manual for church members], 1988, p. 241.)
"There is seldom any excuse for abortion. The only exceptions are when -- 1. Pregnancy has resulted from incest or rape. 2. The life of health of the woman is in jeopardy in the opinion of competent medical authority; or 3. The fetus is known, by competent medical authority, to have severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth." (Gospel Principles, 1992, p. 251.) Bowing yet again to societal pressures, the Mormon Church, between 1988 and 1992, discovered additional excuses to permit the killing of the unborn. Very few Mormons realize their tightly "pro-life" church offers such accommodating loopholes.
NOTES:
1. See Joseph Smith - History 1:19. This is found in the Mormon book of scripture The Pearl of Great Price.
2. Mormon apostle Bruce R. McConkie taught that the Father "worked out His own salvation by obedience to the same laws" He has since given us. A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p. 64.
3. On a planet near the star Kolob, Mormons maintain. See Abraham 3:3 in The Pearl of Great Price.
4. Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 22.
5. Cited in Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual, p. 29.
6. When pushed, Mormons will say we can never achieve God's status, we'll never be equal to Him. That's just an attempt to soften the offense of this doctrine. What they mean is, as men go on to become Gods, this reflects additional majesty to the Heavenly Father. Since the present God has had a long head-start, we'll never catch up to Him in power and glory, since He advances as we do. But a Mormon man, once on the path of progression, may one day arrive at the level God is at now. Then, his own sons, becoming Gods in their turn, will push him even further along, into the eternities.
7. According to a text published by the LDS Church for use by college-age students, Jesus Christ was "the only man born to this earth half-Divine and half-mortal." The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, p. 10.
8. See Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, vol. I, p. 314 and Mormon Doctrine, pp. 546-547.
9. Orson Pratt, The Seer, pp. 158-159.
10. See apostle Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 2:210 and 4:259-260. Also, President Jedediah M. Grant, Journal of Discourses 1:346.
11. "Pay the price" is not restricted to cash contributions, though to be temple-worthy you have to give the church 10% of your income, plus additional offerings.
12. See also 2 Cor. 11:14: "Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."
A Quick Look at the Book of Mormon
According to Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon is more correct than the Bible (History of the Church, Vol. 4, page 461) and contains the truths of Mormonism. However, if that is true, then why does the Book of Mormon contradict Mormon theology?
This is because the theology of Joseph Smith didn't really start to go off the deep end until after the Book of Mormon was printed. To harmonize their changing theology with their written scripture, the Mormons gradually redefined common Christian words. That is why the definitions of Mormon words are different than those of Christianity. See Terminology Differences between Mormons and Jehovah's Witness for more information on this.
The Book of Mormon Verses Mormon Doctrine
The Book of Mormon does not contain Mormonism. It is more Christian than it is Mormon. Mormon theology is about many gods, god being a man, men and women potentially becoming gods, but the Book of Mormon is basically Christian in its teachings.
The following information is in the Book of Mormon. Compare it to Mormon doctrine and see the differences. It is obvious that Mormonism grew and was pasted together as it developed. It is not internally consistent and it is self-contradictory.
The Book of Mormon Verses Mormon Doctrine
Book of Mormon says:
There is only one God
Mosiah 15:1,5; Alma 11:28; 2 Nephi 31:21
Mormon Doctrine says
Mormonism teaches there are many gods.
Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 5
Book of Mormon says:
The Trinity is one God
Alma 11:44; Mosiah 15:5; 2 Nephi 31:21
Mormon Doctrine says
The Trinity is three separate gods.
James Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 35. 1985.
Book of Mormon says:
God is unchanging
Mormon 9:9,19; Moroni 8:18; Alma 41:8; 3 Nephi 24:6
Mormon Doctrine says
God is increasing in knowledge.
Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 120.
Book of Mormon says:
God is spirit
Alma 18:24,28; 22:9,11
Mormon Doctrine says
God has the form of a man.
Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3.
Book of Mormon says:
Eternal hell
Jacob 3:11; 6:10; 2 Nephi 19:16; 28:21-23.
Mormon Doctrine says
Hell is not eternal.
James Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 55.
Book of Mormon says:
Polygamy condemned
Jacob 1:15; 2:23,24,27,31;3:5; Mosiah 11:2,4; Ether 10:5,7
Mormon Doctrine says
Polygamy was taught and practiced.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p. 266
12 Essential Mormon Doctrines not Found in the Book of Mormon
If the Book of Mormon is the "most correct book of any on earth" (History of the Church, vol. 4:461), then why does it not contain essential Mormon doctrines such as...
Church organization
Plurality of Gods
Plurality of wives doctrine
Word of Wisdom
God is an exalted man
Celestial marriage
Men may become Gods
Three degrees of glory
Baptism for the dead
Eternal progression
The Aaronic Priesthood
Temple works of washings, anointing, endowmants, sealing.
The founder of Mormonism said the Book of Mormon was the most correct book of any book, including the Bible (History of the Church, Vol. 4, page 461), and that a man could get closer to God by following it than any other book. Yet, essential Mormon doctrines aren't even found in it.
This is because the Book of Mormon is nothing more than a fictional account made up by Joseph Smith. It wasn't until after the book had been printed that the additional heretical doctrines of Mormonism started to develop. That is why the Book of Mormon sounds so Christian -- at first.
This is because the theology of Joseph Smith didn't really start to go off the deep end until after the Book of Mormon was printed. To harmonize their changing theology with their written scripture, the Mormons gradually redefined common Christian words. That is why the definitions of Mormon words are different than those of Christianity. See Terminology Differences between Mormons and Jehovah's Witness for more information on this.
The Book of Mormon Verses Mormon Doctrine
The Book of Mormon does not contain Mormonism. It is more Christian than it is Mormon. Mormon theology is about many gods, god being a man, men and women potentially becoming gods, but the Book of Mormon is basically Christian in its teachings.
The following information is in the Book of Mormon. Compare it to Mormon doctrine and see the differences. It is obvious that Mormonism grew and was pasted together as it developed. It is not internally consistent and it is self-contradictory.
The Book of Mormon Verses Mormon Doctrine
Book of Mormon says:
There is only one God
Mosiah 15:1,5; Alma 11:28; 2 Nephi 31:21
Mormon Doctrine says
Mormonism teaches there are many gods.
Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 5
Book of Mormon says:
The Trinity is one God
Alma 11:44; Mosiah 15:5; 2 Nephi 31:21
Mormon Doctrine says
The Trinity is three separate gods.
James Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 35. 1985.
Book of Mormon says:
God is unchanging
Mormon 9:9,19; Moroni 8:18; Alma 41:8; 3 Nephi 24:6
Mormon Doctrine says
God is increasing in knowledge.
Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 120.
Book of Mormon says:
God is spirit
Alma 18:24,28; 22:9,11
Mormon Doctrine says
God has the form of a man.
Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3.
Book of Mormon says:
Eternal hell
Jacob 3:11; 6:10; 2 Nephi 19:16; 28:21-23.
Mormon Doctrine says
Hell is not eternal.
James Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 55.
Book of Mormon says:
Polygamy condemned
Jacob 1:15; 2:23,24,27,31;3:5; Mosiah 11:2,4; Ether 10:5,7
Mormon Doctrine says
Polygamy was taught and practiced.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p. 266
12 Essential Mormon Doctrines not Found in the Book of Mormon
If the Book of Mormon is the "most correct book of any on earth" (History of the Church, vol. 4:461), then why does it not contain essential Mormon doctrines such as...
Church organization
Plurality of Gods
Plurality of wives doctrine
Word of Wisdom
God is an exalted man
Celestial marriage
Men may become Gods
Three degrees of glory
Baptism for the dead
Eternal progression
The Aaronic Priesthood
Temple works of washings, anointing, endowmants, sealing.
The founder of Mormonism said the Book of Mormon was the most correct book of any book, including the Bible (History of the Church, Vol. 4, page 461), and that a man could get closer to God by following it than any other book. Yet, essential Mormon doctrines aren't even found in it.
This is because the Book of Mormon is nothing more than a fictional account made up by Joseph Smith. It wasn't until after the book had been printed that the additional heretical doctrines of Mormonism started to develop. That is why the Book of Mormon sounds so Christian -- at first.
The Role of Women in Mormonism
Author's name: Jessica Longaker
The Bibliography is on the bottom of this page
Religious Studies 263 March 27, 1995
Women and Mormonism
Many religions have recently begun changing in an attempt to equalize the roles and responsibilities of men and women. Mormonism is one of the exceptions. The Mormon position on women has changed little since the early 1800's, when the official view was that "woman's primary place is in the home, where she is to rear children and abide by the righteous counsel of her husband" (McConkie 844). This attitude, coupled with the doctrine of polygamy and the absolute power claimed by the men of the church, created a legacy of profound sexism which modern Mormonism has been unable to escape.
Mormonism has created an ingenious system of oppression, in which opposition towards men is tantamount to arguing with God. The Mormon religion makes no distinction between clergy and laity, at least with regard to men (Laake 9). All Mormon men are ordained as members of the "priesthood," with the absolute authority to preach the gospel, bestow blessings, prophecy, perform healings and baptisms, and generally speak for God. "Their priesthood gives them the right to advise and instruct the Saints (i.e., Mormons), and their jurisdiction extends over all things spiritual and temporal" (Snowden 134).
At age twelve, boys become members of the Aaronic, or lesser priesthood, and at nineteen become eligible for the Melchezedek, or higher priesthood. Members of either priesthood are higher authorities on everything than are non-members. Women are, of course, excluded from the priesthood. This practice in effect says that a woman's prepubescent son is more qualified to advise her than she is to advise him. The official explanation is that women are kept from having the priesthood because women are more spiritual than men, therefore, men need to have the priesthood to teach them how to be better people (Johnson 86). Women are also told that, because they have the all- important ability to bear children, men need the power of the priesthood merely to remain equal with them.
The most notorious example of Mormon treatment of women is, of course, the practice of polygamy. In early 1843, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church, announced to the press that, despite rumors to the contrary, the Latter-Day Saints did not practice polygamy and believed it was an abomination (Wallace 53). He spoke the truth as far as the vast majority of Mormons was concerned, for polygamy is expressly forbidden in the Book of Mormon. However, Joseph himself had been married to at least eleven women besides his legal wife by 1843. (Wallace 52). The first of these, in 1835, was a seventeen year old orphan who had been taken in by his wife, Emma Smith. Joseph apparently married all of these women without the knowledge of either his wife or his fellow Mormons (Wallace 52).
On July 12, 1843, Joseph Smith declared that God had given him a new revelation concerning marriage and he revealed it to his brother and other high-ranking male church members. This revelation from God, at one point, specifically instructed "mine handmaid Emma Smith, Joseph's wife" to accept this doctrine and allow Joseph to have as many wives as he liked, as long as they were all "virtuous and pure" (Snowden 191). Emma Smith was a very strong-willed woman, and Joseph was so frightened of her wrath that he sent his brother Hyrum to inform her of God's plan. Emma was understandably scornful, and threw Hyrum out of her house (Wallace 55). Later, she managed to obtain a written copy of the revelation, and while in Joseph's presence, tossed it directly into the fireplace. However, the damage had already been done. Joseph is said to have been married to twenty-seven wives at the time of his death (Snowden 282). Emma left the church after his death and later denied that her husband had ever practiced polygamy (Wallace 65).
There were many reasons given for the practice of polygamy. The one most popular during the time was, of course, that God had commanded it, through Joseph Smith. The Mormon belief is that polygamy is holy and was practiced commonly in ancient times until people began spreading false religions. Adam, in his previous, spiritual existence, had many wives, of whom Eve was just one (Wallace 291). Jesus was also a polygamist "who was married whereby He could see His seed before He was crucified" (Hoekema 56), and his wives were Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdalene. Mormon Doctrine states that the president of the church had to suspend the practice of polygamy in 1890 because of the conditions at the time, but "obviously the holy practice will commence again after the Second Coming..." (578).
There were other justifications for polygamy. Mormons were often fond of stating that they were better than "Gentiles," as non-Mormons are called, because their system of polygamy kept them from committing the sin of adultery. Polygamous marriage was supposed to "make possible the procreation of enough bodies for thousands of spirits which have long awaited incarnation" (Snowden 141). Some Mormons today explain that many men died from war and disease, and all of the extra women needed husbands to support them. A less sympathetic view of polygamy was voiced by Sir Richard Burton on a visit to Utah. He said, "The..motive for polygamy in Utah is economy. Servants are rare and costly; it is cheaper and more comfortable to marry them" (Wallace 94).
Polygamous marriage is basically essential to Mormon theology. Mormon Doctrine states that God was once a human man, and "He is now a glorified, resurrected Personage having a tangible body of flesh and bones" (250). As a matter of fact, "all gods first existed as spirits, came to an earth to receive bodies, and then, after having passed through a period of probation on the aforesaid earth, were advanced to the exalted position they now enjoy" (Hoekema 38). After death, a good Mormon man who has followed a few certain rules is catapulted to this same status and receives his own planet to populate and rule over (Fife 103). To receive this honor, a man must be "married for eternity" in the Mormon temple. This special marriage is binding after death as well as until it.
"Celestial" marriage, as this eternal marriage is often called, is essential for Mormon women. Without being celestially married to a holder of the priesthood, a woman cannot be "saved" (Green 154). Mary Ettie Smith, a Mormon woman who left the church and Utah in 1856, said that "women do not amount to much in themselves," and that women in those times were often celestially married to men they had no intention of ever living with, so that they could have a man who would be able to get them into heaven (Green 154).
In the temple marriage ceremony, women are given secret names known only to their husbands, for identification purposes, so their husbands can pull them through to "the other side" after death (Laake 118). During the marriage ceremony, until 1990, men made their temple covenants directly to God, while the women had to make their temple covenants to their husbands (Laake 328). This means that while male temple workers representing God lead the men through the cloth representing the veil between worlds, husbands, symbolically, lead their wives through. Women also promise to obey their husbands in everything as long as their husbands obey God (Laake 108). As part of the ceremony, women also receive their endowments. These are sacred ordinances and promises which make a person eligible to enter the highest level of heaven, and Mormons receive them on their first visit to the temple (Laake 93). Men usually receive their endowments when they enter the temple to become a priesthood holder or go on a mission, but women enter the temple for the first time to be married.
After death, while their husbands are creating and ruling over planets, the women have the questionable honor of bearing his "spirit children" for eternity. These spirit children descend to their Father's planet to inhabit bodies as mortals, who are then ruled over by him. Mormon Doctrine states that these celestially married men and women "will live eternally in the family unit and have spirit children, thus becoming Eternal Fathers and Eternal Mothers" (516). A man who has multiple wives can beget many more spirit children, making him much more powerful. Birth control is, of course, very strongly discouraged. Ambitious Mormon men must beget many children with as many wives as possible, for "their glory (in heaven) is in proportion to the number of their wives and children" (Snowden 141).
Mormons believe that all humans are literally the spirit children of God who are momentarily inhabiting fleshly bodies. This creates a philosophical problem for them, for how could their spirits have been begotten by a Father without a wife? Therefore, in addition to the Father in Heaven, there is "a Woman of like glory, perfection, and holiness" who is "associated with him as a Mother" (McConkie 516). This seems quite unusual for such a patriarchal religion, and indeed, there is almost nothing written about Her. There is also no explanation for God's disregard for his own commandments on polygamy.
It is hard to deny the effect of polygamy on the thousands of women who lived with it. Anne Eliza Webb, one of Brigham Young's wives, wrote of her mother, "Polygamy...was the most hateful thing in the world to her, and she dreaded and abhorred it, but she was afraid to oppose it, lest she be found fighting against the Lord" (Wallace 62). This was the main reason so many women grudgingly accepted polygamy. The elders of the church assured these women that those who refused to practice polygamy would be damned, and since the men spoke for God, the believers had to comply (Wallace 74).
Polygamy effectively reduced women to mere commodities. Heber C. Kimball said, "I think no more of taking another wife than I do of buying a cow" (Wallace 101). Missionaries, who were almost always men, made a special effort to convert women, and these newly converted women were encouraged to come to Utah. After leaving their families and homes, and depleting their savings to come to "paradise," they discovered the doctrine of polygamy.
If a man felt his wife was not behaving properly, he could always find a more compliant one. Because all women must be married to go to heaven, the pressure to conform to the expectations of men was incredible. If a man was not content with his wife, Brigham Young "recommended...that he take a plural wife or two -- since this was a sure cure for a shrewish and recalcitrant female" (Fife 101). The system did not even provide the camaraderie one might expect from a household full of women, for wives were often in competition for attention. Technically, the first wife had to approve subsequent wives (Wallace 82), but few women chose to risk the wrath of their husbands and the church elders by refusing someone.
Polygamy was officially suspended by the President of the church in 1890, twenty-eight years after polygamy was declared illegal by the U.S. government, and thirteen years after a U.S. court had ruled that polygamous marriages were not valid (Wallace 368). Ann Eliza Webb had filed for divorce from Brigham Young in 1873, forcing the government to take a stand on the continuing practice of polygamy. The court ruled that she could not receive a divorce, since she was never legally married (Snowden 287).
The church has since become militant about preventing polygamy; anyone found practicing it is immediately excommunicated, and those who preach it are ostracized (Johnson 76). However, polygamy is still in practice in the church, just in a less obvious form. If a woman's husband dies, she may, after a suitable mourning period, marry another man as long as she marries him "for time", or only until death. After death, she will be brought into heaven to be with her first and true husband for eternity. However, if a man's wife dies, he may marry again celestially, thus providing for himself a polygamous family in heaven. The government may be able to thwart the holy practice of polygamy on earth, but they can do nothing about it in heaven.
Because of the doctrine of celestial marriage, it is very difficult for Mormon women to obtain divorces in the church. Women are told that "divorce is usually the result of one or both not living the gospel", and that a woman who wants a divorce is "untrue to the covenants she has made in the house of the Lord" (Laake 176). Legal divorces are no problem to obtain, but they create many problems in the religious life of a Mormon; a church divorce is almost impossible. After a civil divorce, a woman's temple recommend is rescinded (Laake 193).
In other words, she is considered unworthy to enter the temple, until she can prove to the heads of the church that the divorce was not caused by adultery. This is done by describing one's sexual activities very exactly in a series of letters to the male church authorities (Laake 194). Believers must submit to this humiliating rule in order to avoid spending eternity with their ex- husbands, because they must be able to enter the temple to obtain a "cancellation of sealing" (Laake 210). This cancellation is required if a woman wishes to remarry in the temple, for women can be celestially married to only one man at a time. Men are not required to undergo any of this to get their temple recommends back, and they, of course, have no need to cancel the celestial marriage to one woman in order to marry a second (Laake 223).
Many Mormon men in their late teens choose to go on a mission for the church, to preach the gospel in a foreign land. This practice, in addition to increasing the church's membership, serves an additional purpose by increasing the devotion of these men to Mormonism. Once a man has spent two years of his life in a foreign country for his faith, deprived of any contact with television, music, and women (for this is required), he will almost certainly never leave the church. He has sacrificed too much, and he cannot afford to disbelieve in the religion that caused it. This system also works in the same way with regard to women, for they are the ones left behind. While a woman's boyfriend or fiancé is off preaching for two years, she spends those years waiting for him. Not only will she believe more strongly in the religion which he left her for, but she will feel more devotion for the man. He must be the right man for her, because she has waited so long for him.
Mormon women today are still brought up to believe that the most important thing they can do is "to marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority" (McConkie 118). Deborah Laake, who was excommunicated in 1993 for writing Secret Ceremonies, states that "it had been repeatedly impressed on me that if I failed to marry a faithful Mormon man...in a Mormon temple, I would be denied access to the highest level of Mormon heaven" (Laake 4).
The temple marriage is so important "that a longing for romance on earth should not be allowed to interfere with it" (Laake 77). Twenty-one year old Mormon men returning from missions are told they should be married within six months (Laake 51).
Girls and boys are also told that a good and proper Mormon home is a patriarchal one. A handbook written for fourteen year old boys states that, "The patriarchal order is of divine origin and will continue throughout time and eternity" (Laake 39). Husbands conduct family prayers, bless their wives and children, and generally control the household. They also are in charge of "family home evening", one night per week set aside for family prayer and togetherness. The Mormon belief is that Eve's roles in life, those of help-meet and child-bearer, set the pattern for all of her daughters (McConkie 844). Girls are told that God wants them at home (Laake 153), and boys are never taught to clean up after themselves, since when their mothers stop doing it for them, their wives will take over the job. These ideas, at least, have not changed at all since the nineteenth century.
Mormons, and particularly Mormon girls, are commanded to remain completely chaste until marriage. Girls grow up believing that their virginity is what makes them worth marrying (Laake 195), and they are told that "If you sully your body by allowing boys to touch it in forbidden ways...no good man will ever want to marry you" (Johnson 74). According to Mormon Doctrine, "Loss of virtue is too great a price to pay even for the preservation of one's life--better dead clean, than alive unclean" (McConkie 124). In order to enter the temple for the all-important marriage ceremony, Mormons must undergo a rigorous interview by their bishops about the intimate details of their sexual history to ensure their purity (Laake 86). Mormon colleges today have dress codes for women which forbid shorts, short skirts, and other articles of clothing that could possibly incite a young man's lust.
Mormons, like most religions, believe that the woman in a relationship bears the guilt for any sexual wrongdoing. Girls are told that if they "let" a man touch them, he will not respect them, even though he is the one doing the touching. One Mormon woman's date, at the front door of her house at the end of a perfectly sinless night, ordered her to enter her house, fall on her knees, and pray for forgiveness for the sins that she had made him want to commit (Johnson 79).
The strict chastity demanded by the church often clashes with the fact that girls are taught please their husbands and the other men in their lives. This lesson makes it very difficult to maintain the strict chastity required of women. What does a girl do when the man she is dating, whom she is supposed to obey because he is inspired by God, wants to do more than kiss her? In Mormon-dominated Utah, in 1978, seventy percent of the teenage brides were pregnant at their weddings (Johnson 39).
However, the Mormon church is more tolerant of unwed mothers or pregnant brides than it is of divorced women (Laake 217). No matter how sinful the circumstances, a pregnant woman is fulfilling God's plan and her purpose in life, by providing a body for one of the many spirits waiting to be born. Bearing children is the main purpose of a woman in this life; Sonia Johnson stated that, "I'd been conditioned to believe that if I didn't have babies, I wasn't worth much. Having children was what women were made for" (Johnson 42).
The Mormon church of today is still clinging to the beliefs of the nineteenth century; ideas which are becoming more outmoded every day. A few women in the Mormon church are trying to make a difference, but they are usually swiftly excommunicated (Laake 342; Johnson 351). In Mormon magazines, which are full of advice for women from the heads of the church, the message has changed in response to the feminist movement. In 1964, advice on marriage and divorce was fairly dispassionate; by 1972, these topics were addressed with increasing panic and harshness (Laake 175). Feminists are described as "the Pied Pipers of sin who have led women away from the divine role of womanhood down the pathway of error" (Laake 176). Obviously, the Mormon church is not going to alter its views on women in the immediate future. It is questionable whether it is even possible for Mormonism to equalize the roles of men and women, because the oppression of women is so integral to the religion. Men and women cannot truly become equal in the church, for the basic tenets of Mormonism are so fraught with sexism that equality would change the religion beyond recognition.
Bibliography
The Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1981. First English edition, 1830.
Fife, Austin and Fife, Alta Saints of Sage and Saddle. Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press, 1980.
Green, N. W. Mormonism: Its Rise, Progress, and Present Condition, Embracing the Narrative of Mrs. Mary Ettie Smith. Hartford, Belknap & Bliss, 1870.
Hoekema, Anthony A. The Four Major Cults. Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1963.
Johnson, Sonia From Housewife to Heretic. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1981.
Laake, Deborah Secret Ceremonies, a Mormon Woman's Intimate Diary or Marriage and Beyond. New York, Dell Publishing, 1993.
McConkie, Bruce R. Mormon Doctrine. Salt Lake City, Bookcraft Inc., 1966.
Smith, Joseph The Prophet Joseph Smith's Testimony. Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Snowden, James H. The Truth About Mormonism. New York, George H. Doran Co., 1926.
Wallace, Irving The Twenty-seventh Wife. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1961.
The Bibliography is on the bottom of this page
Religious Studies 263 March 27, 1995
Women and Mormonism
Many religions have recently begun changing in an attempt to equalize the roles and responsibilities of men and women. Mormonism is one of the exceptions. The Mormon position on women has changed little since the early 1800's, when the official view was that "woman's primary place is in the home, where she is to rear children and abide by the righteous counsel of her husband" (McConkie 844). This attitude, coupled with the doctrine of polygamy and the absolute power claimed by the men of the church, created a legacy of profound sexism which modern Mormonism has been unable to escape.
Mormonism has created an ingenious system of oppression, in which opposition towards men is tantamount to arguing with God. The Mormon religion makes no distinction between clergy and laity, at least with regard to men (Laake 9). All Mormon men are ordained as members of the "priesthood," with the absolute authority to preach the gospel, bestow blessings, prophecy, perform healings and baptisms, and generally speak for God. "Their priesthood gives them the right to advise and instruct the Saints (i.e., Mormons), and their jurisdiction extends over all things spiritual and temporal" (Snowden 134).
At age twelve, boys become members of the Aaronic, or lesser priesthood, and at nineteen become eligible for the Melchezedek, or higher priesthood. Members of either priesthood are higher authorities on everything than are non-members. Women are, of course, excluded from the priesthood. This practice in effect says that a woman's prepubescent son is more qualified to advise her than she is to advise him. The official explanation is that women are kept from having the priesthood because women are more spiritual than men, therefore, men need to have the priesthood to teach them how to be better people (Johnson 86). Women are also told that, because they have the all- important ability to bear children, men need the power of the priesthood merely to remain equal with them.
The most notorious example of Mormon treatment of women is, of course, the practice of polygamy. In early 1843, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church, announced to the press that, despite rumors to the contrary, the Latter-Day Saints did not practice polygamy and believed it was an abomination (Wallace 53). He spoke the truth as far as the vast majority of Mormons was concerned, for polygamy is expressly forbidden in the Book of Mormon. However, Joseph himself had been married to at least eleven women besides his legal wife by 1843. (Wallace 52). The first of these, in 1835, was a seventeen year old orphan who had been taken in by his wife, Emma Smith. Joseph apparently married all of these women without the knowledge of either his wife or his fellow Mormons (Wallace 52).
On July 12, 1843, Joseph Smith declared that God had given him a new revelation concerning marriage and he revealed it to his brother and other high-ranking male church members. This revelation from God, at one point, specifically instructed "mine handmaid Emma Smith, Joseph's wife" to accept this doctrine and allow Joseph to have as many wives as he liked, as long as they were all "virtuous and pure" (Snowden 191). Emma Smith was a very strong-willed woman, and Joseph was so frightened of her wrath that he sent his brother Hyrum to inform her of God's plan. Emma was understandably scornful, and threw Hyrum out of her house (Wallace 55). Later, she managed to obtain a written copy of the revelation, and while in Joseph's presence, tossed it directly into the fireplace. However, the damage had already been done. Joseph is said to have been married to twenty-seven wives at the time of his death (Snowden 282). Emma left the church after his death and later denied that her husband had ever practiced polygamy (Wallace 65).
There were many reasons given for the practice of polygamy. The one most popular during the time was, of course, that God had commanded it, through Joseph Smith. The Mormon belief is that polygamy is holy and was practiced commonly in ancient times until people began spreading false religions. Adam, in his previous, spiritual existence, had many wives, of whom Eve was just one (Wallace 291). Jesus was also a polygamist "who was married whereby He could see His seed before He was crucified" (Hoekema 56), and his wives were Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdalene. Mormon Doctrine states that the president of the church had to suspend the practice of polygamy in 1890 because of the conditions at the time, but "obviously the holy practice will commence again after the Second Coming..." (578).
There were other justifications for polygamy. Mormons were often fond of stating that they were better than "Gentiles," as non-Mormons are called, because their system of polygamy kept them from committing the sin of adultery. Polygamous marriage was supposed to "make possible the procreation of enough bodies for thousands of spirits which have long awaited incarnation" (Snowden 141). Some Mormons today explain that many men died from war and disease, and all of the extra women needed husbands to support them. A less sympathetic view of polygamy was voiced by Sir Richard Burton on a visit to Utah. He said, "The..motive for polygamy in Utah is economy. Servants are rare and costly; it is cheaper and more comfortable to marry them" (Wallace 94).
Polygamous marriage is basically essential to Mormon theology. Mormon Doctrine states that God was once a human man, and "He is now a glorified, resurrected Personage having a tangible body of flesh and bones" (250). As a matter of fact, "all gods first existed as spirits, came to an earth to receive bodies, and then, after having passed through a period of probation on the aforesaid earth, were advanced to the exalted position they now enjoy" (Hoekema 38). After death, a good Mormon man who has followed a few certain rules is catapulted to this same status and receives his own planet to populate and rule over (Fife 103). To receive this honor, a man must be "married for eternity" in the Mormon temple. This special marriage is binding after death as well as until it.
"Celestial" marriage, as this eternal marriage is often called, is essential for Mormon women. Without being celestially married to a holder of the priesthood, a woman cannot be "saved" (Green 154). Mary Ettie Smith, a Mormon woman who left the church and Utah in 1856, said that "women do not amount to much in themselves," and that women in those times were often celestially married to men they had no intention of ever living with, so that they could have a man who would be able to get them into heaven (Green 154).
In the temple marriage ceremony, women are given secret names known only to their husbands, for identification purposes, so their husbands can pull them through to "the other side" after death (Laake 118). During the marriage ceremony, until 1990, men made their temple covenants directly to God, while the women had to make their temple covenants to their husbands (Laake 328). This means that while male temple workers representing God lead the men through the cloth representing the veil between worlds, husbands, symbolically, lead their wives through. Women also promise to obey their husbands in everything as long as their husbands obey God (Laake 108). As part of the ceremony, women also receive their endowments. These are sacred ordinances and promises which make a person eligible to enter the highest level of heaven, and Mormons receive them on their first visit to the temple (Laake 93). Men usually receive their endowments when they enter the temple to become a priesthood holder or go on a mission, but women enter the temple for the first time to be married.
After death, while their husbands are creating and ruling over planets, the women have the questionable honor of bearing his "spirit children" for eternity. These spirit children descend to their Father's planet to inhabit bodies as mortals, who are then ruled over by him. Mormon Doctrine states that these celestially married men and women "will live eternally in the family unit and have spirit children, thus becoming Eternal Fathers and Eternal Mothers" (516). A man who has multiple wives can beget many more spirit children, making him much more powerful. Birth control is, of course, very strongly discouraged. Ambitious Mormon men must beget many children with as many wives as possible, for "their glory (in heaven) is in proportion to the number of their wives and children" (Snowden 141).
Mormons believe that all humans are literally the spirit children of God who are momentarily inhabiting fleshly bodies. This creates a philosophical problem for them, for how could their spirits have been begotten by a Father without a wife? Therefore, in addition to the Father in Heaven, there is "a Woman of like glory, perfection, and holiness" who is "associated with him as a Mother" (McConkie 516). This seems quite unusual for such a patriarchal religion, and indeed, there is almost nothing written about Her. There is also no explanation for God's disregard for his own commandments on polygamy.
It is hard to deny the effect of polygamy on the thousands of women who lived with it. Anne Eliza Webb, one of Brigham Young's wives, wrote of her mother, "Polygamy...was the most hateful thing in the world to her, and she dreaded and abhorred it, but she was afraid to oppose it, lest she be found fighting against the Lord" (Wallace 62). This was the main reason so many women grudgingly accepted polygamy. The elders of the church assured these women that those who refused to practice polygamy would be damned, and since the men spoke for God, the believers had to comply (Wallace 74).
Polygamy effectively reduced women to mere commodities. Heber C. Kimball said, "I think no more of taking another wife than I do of buying a cow" (Wallace 101). Missionaries, who were almost always men, made a special effort to convert women, and these newly converted women were encouraged to come to Utah. After leaving their families and homes, and depleting their savings to come to "paradise," they discovered the doctrine of polygamy.
If a man felt his wife was not behaving properly, he could always find a more compliant one. Because all women must be married to go to heaven, the pressure to conform to the expectations of men was incredible. If a man was not content with his wife, Brigham Young "recommended...that he take a plural wife or two -- since this was a sure cure for a shrewish and recalcitrant female" (Fife 101). The system did not even provide the camaraderie one might expect from a household full of women, for wives were often in competition for attention. Technically, the first wife had to approve subsequent wives (Wallace 82), but few women chose to risk the wrath of their husbands and the church elders by refusing someone.
Polygamy was officially suspended by the President of the church in 1890, twenty-eight years after polygamy was declared illegal by the U.S. government, and thirteen years after a U.S. court had ruled that polygamous marriages were not valid (Wallace 368). Ann Eliza Webb had filed for divorce from Brigham Young in 1873, forcing the government to take a stand on the continuing practice of polygamy. The court ruled that she could not receive a divorce, since she was never legally married (Snowden 287).
The church has since become militant about preventing polygamy; anyone found practicing it is immediately excommunicated, and those who preach it are ostracized (Johnson 76). However, polygamy is still in practice in the church, just in a less obvious form. If a woman's husband dies, she may, after a suitable mourning period, marry another man as long as she marries him "for time", or only until death. After death, she will be brought into heaven to be with her first and true husband for eternity. However, if a man's wife dies, he may marry again celestially, thus providing for himself a polygamous family in heaven. The government may be able to thwart the holy practice of polygamy on earth, but they can do nothing about it in heaven.
Because of the doctrine of celestial marriage, it is very difficult for Mormon women to obtain divorces in the church. Women are told that "divorce is usually the result of one or both not living the gospel", and that a woman who wants a divorce is "untrue to the covenants she has made in the house of the Lord" (Laake 176). Legal divorces are no problem to obtain, but they create many problems in the religious life of a Mormon; a church divorce is almost impossible. After a civil divorce, a woman's temple recommend is rescinded (Laake 193).
In other words, she is considered unworthy to enter the temple, until she can prove to the heads of the church that the divorce was not caused by adultery. This is done by describing one's sexual activities very exactly in a series of letters to the male church authorities (Laake 194). Believers must submit to this humiliating rule in order to avoid spending eternity with their ex- husbands, because they must be able to enter the temple to obtain a "cancellation of sealing" (Laake 210). This cancellation is required if a woman wishes to remarry in the temple, for women can be celestially married to only one man at a time. Men are not required to undergo any of this to get their temple recommends back, and they, of course, have no need to cancel the celestial marriage to one woman in order to marry a second (Laake 223).
Many Mormon men in their late teens choose to go on a mission for the church, to preach the gospel in a foreign land. This practice, in addition to increasing the church's membership, serves an additional purpose by increasing the devotion of these men to Mormonism. Once a man has spent two years of his life in a foreign country for his faith, deprived of any contact with television, music, and women (for this is required), he will almost certainly never leave the church. He has sacrificed too much, and he cannot afford to disbelieve in the religion that caused it. This system also works in the same way with regard to women, for they are the ones left behind. While a woman's boyfriend or fiancé is off preaching for two years, she spends those years waiting for him. Not only will she believe more strongly in the religion which he left her for, but she will feel more devotion for the man. He must be the right man for her, because she has waited so long for him.
Mormon women today are still brought up to believe that the most important thing they can do is "to marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority" (McConkie 118). Deborah Laake, who was excommunicated in 1993 for writing Secret Ceremonies, states that "it had been repeatedly impressed on me that if I failed to marry a faithful Mormon man...in a Mormon temple, I would be denied access to the highest level of Mormon heaven" (Laake 4).
The temple marriage is so important "that a longing for romance on earth should not be allowed to interfere with it" (Laake 77). Twenty-one year old Mormon men returning from missions are told they should be married within six months (Laake 51).
Girls and boys are also told that a good and proper Mormon home is a patriarchal one. A handbook written for fourteen year old boys states that, "The patriarchal order is of divine origin and will continue throughout time and eternity" (Laake 39). Husbands conduct family prayers, bless their wives and children, and generally control the household. They also are in charge of "family home evening", one night per week set aside for family prayer and togetherness. The Mormon belief is that Eve's roles in life, those of help-meet and child-bearer, set the pattern for all of her daughters (McConkie 844). Girls are told that God wants them at home (Laake 153), and boys are never taught to clean up after themselves, since when their mothers stop doing it for them, their wives will take over the job. These ideas, at least, have not changed at all since the nineteenth century.
Mormons, and particularly Mormon girls, are commanded to remain completely chaste until marriage. Girls grow up believing that their virginity is what makes them worth marrying (Laake 195), and they are told that "If you sully your body by allowing boys to touch it in forbidden ways...no good man will ever want to marry you" (Johnson 74). According to Mormon Doctrine, "Loss of virtue is too great a price to pay even for the preservation of one's life--better dead clean, than alive unclean" (McConkie 124). In order to enter the temple for the all-important marriage ceremony, Mormons must undergo a rigorous interview by their bishops about the intimate details of their sexual history to ensure their purity (Laake 86). Mormon colleges today have dress codes for women which forbid shorts, short skirts, and other articles of clothing that could possibly incite a young man's lust.
Mormons, like most religions, believe that the woman in a relationship bears the guilt for any sexual wrongdoing. Girls are told that if they "let" a man touch them, he will not respect them, even though he is the one doing the touching. One Mormon woman's date, at the front door of her house at the end of a perfectly sinless night, ordered her to enter her house, fall on her knees, and pray for forgiveness for the sins that she had made him want to commit (Johnson 79).
The strict chastity demanded by the church often clashes with the fact that girls are taught please their husbands and the other men in their lives. This lesson makes it very difficult to maintain the strict chastity required of women. What does a girl do when the man she is dating, whom she is supposed to obey because he is inspired by God, wants to do more than kiss her? In Mormon-dominated Utah, in 1978, seventy percent of the teenage brides were pregnant at their weddings (Johnson 39).
However, the Mormon church is more tolerant of unwed mothers or pregnant brides than it is of divorced women (Laake 217). No matter how sinful the circumstances, a pregnant woman is fulfilling God's plan and her purpose in life, by providing a body for one of the many spirits waiting to be born. Bearing children is the main purpose of a woman in this life; Sonia Johnson stated that, "I'd been conditioned to believe that if I didn't have babies, I wasn't worth much. Having children was what women were made for" (Johnson 42).
The Mormon church of today is still clinging to the beliefs of the nineteenth century; ideas which are becoming more outmoded every day. A few women in the Mormon church are trying to make a difference, but they are usually swiftly excommunicated (Laake 342; Johnson 351). In Mormon magazines, which are full of advice for women from the heads of the church, the message has changed in response to the feminist movement. In 1964, advice on marriage and divorce was fairly dispassionate; by 1972, these topics were addressed with increasing panic and harshness (Laake 175). Feminists are described as "the Pied Pipers of sin who have led women away from the divine role of womanhood down the pathway of error" (Laake 176). Obviously, the Mormon church is not going to alter its views on women in the immediate future. It is questionable whether it is even possible for Mormonism to equalize the roles of men and women, because the oppression of women is so integral to the religion. Men and women cannot truly become equal in the church, for the basic tenets of Mormonism are so fraught with sexism that equality would change the religion beyond recognition.
Bibliography
The Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1981. First English edition, 1830.
Fife, Austin and Fife, Alta Saints of Sage and Saddle. Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press, 1980.
Green, N. W. Mormonism: Its Rise, Progress, and Present Condition, Embracing the Narrative of Mrs. Mary Ettie Smith. Hartford, Belknap & Bliss, 1870.
Hoekema, Anthony A. The Four Major Cults. Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1963.
Johnson, Sonia From Housewife to Heretic. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1981.
Laake, Deborah Secret Ceremonies, a Mormon Woman's Intimate Diary or Marriage and Beyond. New York, Dell Publishing, 1993.
McConkie, Bruce R. Mormon Doctrine. Salt Lake City, Bookcraft Inc., 1966.
Smith, Joseph The Prophet Joseph Smith's Testimony. Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Snowden, James H. The Truth About Mormonism. New York, George H. Doran Co., 1926.
Wallace, Irving The Twenty-seventh Wife. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1961.
Here is your own copy of "And it didn't Come to Pass"
By Ed Decker
One of the most amazing ironies of Mormonism hinges on its central tenet that it was founded by Joseph Smith, who claimed that he was called of God to re-establish Christ's true Church on the earth. The Mormons revere Joseph Smith as a true prophet of God and the holy man upon whom God himself laid this authority to administer God's people and usher in this last dispensation of time. If his claims to having seen God and Christ and receiving his prophet-hood and authority from them were really true, two very important things would follow.
First, the Christian world would have to recognize that the "New Testament" era was over. To understand this one needs to understand the place of the "office" of prophet. The calling of the Old Testament prophet was "One to whom and through whom God spoke....their messages were very largely the proclamation of the Divine purposes of salvation and glory to be accomplished in the future." (Vine's Expository Dictionary, page 904). They were the pointers to Jesus!
In Luke 16:16, the Lord clearly stated, "The Law and the Prophets were until John: Since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." The time for declaring the forthcoming of the Kingdom was over; the kingdom itself was now to be declared by the Son himself!
Hebrews 1: 1-2 makes it even clearer. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds." This was said after Christ had risen and the church was in operation. No prophet was appointed to be the head of the church and spokesman for God. Christ had fulfilled that empty office in His own right when he said, "It is finished." Yet as we read in Corinthians, notice that the gift of prophecy was active in the Church....but not anywhere in the headship of the church.
So, if Joseph Smith was now the spokesman through whom God would now issue His orders, then the established order of New Testament government would have to be ended, and the church step into a New (and everlasting?) Covenant that was NOT foretold by Christ, by whom God was to speak to us in New Testament times.
Second, If this were to be true, then we could step back from the "every man presseth into it" and listen to the instruction and counsel of the prophet and trust and obey the words from his mouth as though they came directly from God. However, in order for us to take that step of obedience, we should be wise enough to take the Biblical tests of a prophet, as given in the Bible and put this new era prophet to the same simple tests by which every Old Testament prophet was judged. We need to do that with Joseph Smith.
One would think that any member of a "restoration" church which bases its very existence on its own personal latter-day prophet, would be able to give any willing listener a long litany of "true prophecies." At least one would expect to find dusty volumes of such prophecies abounding in church libraries throughout the new kingdom. Yet, in Mormonism, they don't exist in mind or matter. While some who claim both scholarship and membership have written books on the subject, they are not received by the church in any official capacity, especially since much of the work is contrived and pure blather.
If you doubt that the true Mormon avoids such discovery like the plague, just ask any Mormon you know to extemporaneously recite their 5 or 6 favorite Joseph Smith prophecies. You will rarely get past one or two of the most commonly used "faith promoting" stories that are hardly kingdom shaking stuff.
One such story that really did come true( if Joseph actually gave it) was a "word" given to Orrin Porter Rockwell.. -->"OrrinPorterRockwell"-->, a Joseph Smith body guard and church assassin, to whom Smith promised a quiet death in bed if Porter never cut his hair. Old Porter killed a lot of men through the years and we are told he died in bed.
It is a continued source of amazement that when the LDS missionaries share the joys of having a church led by a living prophet and are asked to produce a list the prophecies of their living prophet or any of their deceased prophets, including Joseph Smith, they cannot produce any such list. You would expect that any reasonable, thinking person would flee from such foolishness as though the very demons of Hell were after them. Yet, over seven million people will testify that they "Know" by personal revelation, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.
It is our position that he meets the test of Scripture as one of the foretold false prophets who would come in the last days. Herein are a significant number of the prophecies of Joseph Smith. We had to dig them out of the LDS closet. It wasn't easy work Judge them for yourself.
THE FALSE PROPHECIES OF JOSEPH SMITH
Remember, in the light of the following list, that according to Deuteronomy 18:20-22, it only takes one false prophecy to make a prophet false, just as it only takes one murder to make a person a murderer. As you read the many false prophecies of Joseph Smith, keep this Biblical teaching in mind.
1) THE ABRIDGEMENT OF D&C 137.. -->-->"D&C137".
Although there are actually dozens of false prophecies we could begin with, we thought it might be appropriate to begin with one which has come to new found prominence in recent years. In 1976, the 137th section of Doctrine & Covenants (D&C) was submitted to the general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a vote to be "sustained" as scripture. It is a narrative of a vision supposedly seen by Joseph Smith in Kirtland, OH in 1836.
What the members who voted on this new addition to scripture were not told by "the Brethren," is that whole paragraphs (216 words) of the actual revelation as recorded in The History Of The Church.. -->"TheHistoryOfTheChurch"--> had been conveniently left out of the version to be included in the D&C. The reason for these omissions was that four obviously false prophecies were contained in the part of the revelation which was censored out. These were prophecies so obviously false that even the average LDS reader would pick them up. Therefore they went down the "black hole" of Mormon history.
What exactly were in these missing parts? Well, if you go to the official history of the LDS church published by the church's own publishing company, you will be easily able to find the missing prophecies. Here is what is not in the new D&C 137:
[Joseph Smith:] "....I saw the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb, who are now upon the earth, who hold the keys of this last ministry, in foreign lands, standing together in a circle, much fatigued, with their clothes tattered and their feet swollen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, and they did not behold him. The Saviour looked upon them and wept.
I also beheld Elder M'Lellin.. -->-->"ElderMíLellin" in the south, standing upon a hill, surrounded by a vast multitude, preaching to them, and a lame man standing before him supported by his crutches; he threw them down at his word and leaped as a hart, by the mighty power of God.
Also, I saw Elder Brigham Young.. -->"BrighamYoung"--> standing in a strange land, in the far south and west, in a desert place, upon a rock in the midst of a bout a dozen men of color, who appeared hostile. He was preaching to them in their own tongue, and the angel of God standing above his head with a drawn sword in his hand, protecting him, but he did not see it.
And I finally saw the Twelve in the celestial kingdom of God. I also beheld the redemption of Zion and many things which the tongue of man cannot describe in full"
Now, if this were true, it was a truly inspiring and wonderful declaration! Unfortunately, for the LDS faithful, a short look at the official history of the church reveals the false prophecies contained therein.
First of all, Smith claimed to see his (original LDS) Twelve apostles all in the celestial kingdom. This is difficult to imagine, since there was already division between Smith and the majority of the Apostles, beginning with discord in Kirtland, Ohio. The first portion of the "missing words" shows his less than subtle rebuke of their resistance to his will. "...fatigued....tattered...eyes cast downward....The Saviour looked upon them and wept." Smith was calling them to get into line and submit themselves to his full authority. That's the carrot offered in the last portion, "I finally saw the Twelve in the Celestial Kingdom of God."
However, his "thus saith the Lord" must have had little effect on them, since at least seven of the twelve under discussion were soon excommunicated or apostasized from the church: John F. Boynton.. -->"JohnF.Boynton"--> & Luke S. Johnson.. -->"LukeS.Johnson"--> (1837), Lyman Johnson.. -->"LymanJohnson"--> (1838), William E. M'Lellin.. -->"WilliamE.MíLellin"--> (c.1838), Thomas B. Marsh.. -->"ThomasB.Marsh"--> & Orson Hyde.. -->"OrsonHyde"--> (1838), and William Smith.. -->"WilliamSmith"--> (1845)
How could they have ever attained the celestial kingdom under those conditions? They couldn't! They were not only accursed by their very acts of apostacy or excommunication, but fell victim to the LDS Church's own scriptural denunciation. D&C 84.40-41.. -->"D&C84.40-41"--> clearly states:
"Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved. But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth there-from, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come."
Although a few of these men later returned to the church, none of them were even close to the standards necessary for attainment of that highest degree of glory. The majority remained apart for life. Therefore, the prophetic utterance, "I finally saw the Twelve in the Celestial Kingdom of God." was obviously false. It would have been false even if only one Apostle remained outside the fold.
Second, the vision of M'Lellin preaching and working miracles in the south never came true because he apostasized from the church without ever doing it! (see above).
Third, Although Brigham Young.. -->"BrighamYoung"--> did bring the Mormons west and was a great colonizer and orator, the vision of Brigham Young preaching to "men of color" in their own language, in some strange and faraway place in the southwest never took place eitheróor at least there is no trace of it in the very detailed records and diaries concerning his reign as prophet.
Finally, "Zion.. -->ìZion"-->î (Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"-->.) was never redeemed, has never been redeemed in the 150+ years since the prophecy was made. (see below, for more on Zion). Is it any wonder that the Brethren chose to remove whole chunks of this "inspired" revelation? Four false prophecies for the price of one!
2) THE BUILDING OF THE NEW TEMPLE.
In D&C 84.. -->"D&C84"--> (esp. vs.2-5, 31, 114-115), Smith prophesied in 1832 that a temple would be built by the generation then living in Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"-->. during THAT generation. Allowing the widest possible latitude of 100 years for a generation, that still leaves the prophecy unfulfilled over 50 years late!
There still is no temple in Independence; although one is being commenced by the RLDS Church.. -->"RLDSChurch"-->, a splinter off of Mormonism which the LDS church contends is a false cult! Not only that, the temple lot which Joseph Smith dedicated as the "only true site" has been owned for generations by a third Mormon splinter sect; and the Utah Mormons couldn't build a temple there if they wanted to!
3) THE NAUVOO HOUSE.
In D&C 124.56-60.. -->"D&C124.56-60"-->, Smith prophesied that the Nauvoo House.. -->"NauvooHouse"--> in Nauvoo, IL... -->"Nauvoo,IL."--> would be in his family forever (1841). It did not remain in his family, and is not owned by them today. This makes for a very false prophecy.
4) OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES.
In the Pearl of Great Price.. -->"PearlofGreatPrice"--> (PGP), Joseph Smith-History.. -->"JosephSmith-History"--> (JSH) 1.40-41, (1823) Smith claimed that the angel Moroni.. -->"Moroni"--> told him that the prophecies in Isaiah 11 were "about to be fulfilled," and that those in Joel 2 were "soon to be" fulfilled. More than 165 years have passed and that interpretation of prophecy has not yet come to pass. Those prophecies certainly will be fulfilled, but Joseph Smith and his angel sure got their dates wrong!
5) CONVERSION OF THE INDIAN PEOPLES.
In D&C 3.3.. -->"D&C3.3"--> (1828) it says, "Remember, that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men." This verse is considered sacred scripture by Mormons; and that means that Mormons, logically, must apply it to their history and Joseph Smith's prophecies. If Smith's prophecies were frustrated, then those prophecies were the work of men, not of God!
D&C 3.16-20.. -->"D&C3.16-20"--> says that the Lamanites (Indians) will be converted. For a century and a half, the LDS missionaries have been trying to convert their "Lamanite.. -->ìLamanite"--> brothersî and have not done so. The vast majority of Indians are not Mormons, and most of the few who become LDS turn inactive. This has obviously not been fulfilled, after many years and spending vast amounts of money on programs to convert Indians.
6) WHITE AND DELIGHTSOME INDIANS.
Speaking of the Lamanite.. -->"Lamanite"-->s, the Book of Mormon.. -->"BookofMormon"--> (BOM) contains a prophecy about them which can easily be put to the test. 2 Nephi 30.6.. -->"2Nephi30.6"--> prophesies that the Indians who converted would turn "white and delightsome" a few generations after joining the church. This is what is written in the original, handwritten manuscript of 2 Nephi 30. It is in the original 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon.
However, in 1840, Joseph Smith, evidently thinking to correct the "most correct book ever written," ordered the phrase changed to "pure and delightsome." Then later, Brigham Young.. -->"BrighamYoung"--> ordered it changed back to "white and delightsome." Then in 1981, it was again changed back to "pure and delightsome", even though the correction does not clean up the parts of the BOM where they are turned from white and delightsome to "dark and loathsome."
A honest reader would have to speculate that since over 160 years have passed (4 Biblical generations) since Indians began joining the church, that at least some of them would have to turned at least a little whiter. None of them have; and this is evidently why they changed the verse without so much as a word of explanation.
7) GATHERING TO ZION.
D&C 57.1-3.. -->"D&C57.1-3"--> (1831) identifies Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"--> as the center place of Zion.. -->"Zion"-->, the gathering place of the saintsóit is "the land of promise." This revelation failed because, according to D&C 3.3 cited above, any work which is of God could not be frustrated. This "gathering" in Zion was really frustrated, because the Mormons tried to gather there and were physically driven out! To this day, there are few Mormons there; and actually many, many more RLDS members by far! If God was behind this revelation, then the Mormons could not have been driven out by men.
8) CONFOUND YOUR ENEMIES.
In D&C 71.6-10.. -->"D&C71.6-10"-->, the following prophecy was given: "For unto him that receiveth it shall be given more abundantly, even power. Wherefore, confound your enemies; call upon them to meet you both in public and in private; and inasmuch as you are faithful, their shame shall be made manifest. Wherefore, let them bring their strong reasons against the Lord. Verily, thus saith the Lord unto youóthere is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and if any man life his voice against you, he shall be confounded in mine own due time."
Mormons have never fulfilled this prophecy, in fact they shun it and constantly disobey it. There are over a hundred organized ministries to Mormons in the orthodox Christian church, just like ours; and no Mormon prophet or apostle has ever been willing to meet with us, in public or in private to "confound" us. Indeed, very few Mormons of any sort will meet with us, unless they are already having doubts about the Church and want some straight answers.
We have been bringing our "strong reasons" against the false god of Mormonism now for decades and official Mormondom has slunk away and refused to answer us, even though we have continually called for dialog. To the best of our knowledge, no minister to the Mormons has ever had his "shame" made manifest. If anything, there are more of us out there slugging away against the Zion empire than ever before!
The "weapons" we have used against the LDS have been primarily the Bible, and also its own published material. It is evident that these weapons have indeed prospered against the Church. We are seeing literally thousands of Mormons leave the Church for Jesus, because of the impact of our Biblical witness. We have seen the convert rate.. -->"convertrate"--> per LDS missionary drop from a high of 7.9 converts in 1982 to 6.5 converts per year (1987 figures). It is evident that our weapons are prospering and that the Church is adamantly refusing to obey its own prophecy and "confound" us. Instead, it is doing its best to pretend to ignore usóan altogether different thing!
9) THE EARTH SHALL SHAKE AND REEL AS A DRUNKEN MAN.
D&C 88.87.. -->"D&C88.87"--> (1832) prophesies that "...not many days hence the earth shall tremble and reel as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face...and the moon shall be bathed in blood; and the stars shall become exceedingly angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from a fig tree."
Now over 58,000 days have past (as of 1991) since that prophecy was given. By any reasonable standard, "not many days" could not be construed to be more than 58,000 days; and yet none of these things have occurred. This prophecy has obviously failed.
10) THE WORD OF WISDOM.
The Mormons are noted for their Word of Wisdom.. -->"WordofWisdom"--> revelation which forbids them from drinking liquor, coffee or tea, or to smoke. This is in D&C 89.. -->"D&C89"-->. Many Mormons do not realize that there is also a prophecy in it in vs.18-21: "And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in the navel and marrow to their bones; and shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; and shall run and not be weary and shall walk and not faint, and I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen."
The fact is that this promise isn't working Although most Mormons diligently keep this Word of Wisdom.. -->"WordofWisdom"-->, they do not find any treasures of knowledge. They certainly run and become weary; and they certainly become faint at times from walking. In fact, many of the highest leaders of the LDS church (who presumably are keeping this commandment) are sick and dying of degenerative diseases. The entire First Presidency just a few years ago was so ill with blindness, Parkinson's disease and cancer that a Third Counselor to the Prophet had to be called to take over.
The destroying angel certainly is not passing the Mormons by; as it did the children of Israel in the Passover. Mormons die just like everyone else. Although they try hard to keep the LDS god's commandment, he does not seem to be keeping his end of the bargain, or else Joseph Smith is a false prophet!
11) ZION SHALL NOT BE MOVED.
D&C 101.17-20.. -->"D&C101.17-20"--> (1833) prophesies: "Zion.. -->ìZion"--> shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered. They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion. And all these things that the prophets might be fulfilled. And behold, there is none other place appointed than that which I have appointed; neither shall there be any other place appointed than that which I have appointed for the work of the gathering of my saints."
First of all, the Mormons were driven out. Secondly, those who were driven out never returned with their children to come to their inheritances. Thirdly, a little over a decade after this, the "gathering" place of the saints was transplanted to Utah, even though the LDS god declared that "neither shall {future tense} there be any other place appointed." Three strikes, and Joseph Smith is out!
12) THE UNITED ORDER.
In D&C 104.1.. -->"D&C104.1"--> (1834) a prophecy is given concerning the LDS institution, the "United Order.. -->ìUnitedOrder"-->î (a theocratic, communistic method of distributing and controlling property and goods): "…I give unto you counsel and a commandment, concerning all the properties which belong to the order which I commanded to be organized and established, to be a united order, and an everlasting order for the benefit of my church, and for the salvation of men until I come..."
LDS history reveals that this "everlasting" order had to be disbanded soon after because it failed. It is obvious that today Mormons do not practice a communal approach to property. If anything, they are in favor of capitalism and against communism. This is one of the most blatantly false prophecies of Joseph Smith.
13) DESTROYER SENT FORTH.
A prophecy was given in D&C 105.13-15.. -->"D&C105.13-15"-->: (1834) "Therefore it is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season, for the redemption of Zion. For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for…I will fight your battles. Behold, the destroyer I have sent forth to destroy and lay waste your enemies; and not many years hence they shall not be left to pollute mine heritage, and to blaspheme my name upon the lands which I have consecrated for the gathering together of my saints."
Note that the LDS god says "I have {already accomplished} sent forth…" the destroyer. History shows that the enemies of the Mormons were not destroyed or laid waste. They still haven't been to this day! The "destroyer" must be slow! This is another prophecy that was frustrated (D&C 3.3) because the Mormons were still persecuted after this and were driven out of "Zion" about 5 years later!
14) THE DREADFUL DAY OF LORD IS NEAR.
In D&C 110.16.. -->"D&C110.16"-->, (1836) we find this prophecy: "…the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors." Over 150 years have passed, and that "dreadful day of the Lord" has not come. Another failed prophecy!
15) THE TREASURE OF THE CITY IS YOURS.
D&C 111.. -->"D&C111"--> has a very strange revelation about treasures in Salem, MA.. -->"Salem,MA"-->: "I have much treasure in this city for you, for the benefit of Zion, and many people in this city, whom I will gather out in due time for the benefit of Zion.. -->"Zion"-->, through your instrumentality…and it shall come to pass in due time that I will give this city into your hands, that you shall have power over it, insomuch that they shall not discover your secret parts; and its wealth, pertaining to gold and silver shall be yours. Concern not yourselves about your debts, for I will give you power to pay them… And the place where it is my will that you would tarry, for the main, shall be signalized unto you by the peace and power of my Spirit, that shall flow unto you. This place you may obtain by hire. And inquire diligently concerning the more ancient inhabitants and founders of this city. For there are more treasures than one for you in this city."
Neither Joseph Smith nor other LDS leaders ever found any treasures in Salem. They did not take control of Salem, nor have any Mormons since. The "many people" were never gathered out, as only 13 were baptized out of the whole city. The silver and gold prophesied was never found. They returned to Kirtland, OH.. -->"Kirtland,OH"--> without funds to pay their debts! This prophecy fails on every count!
16) THOMAS MARSH'S "GREAT WORKS"?
A personal prophecy was given to Thomas B. Marsh.. -->"ThomasB.Marsh"--> on July 23, 1837 and recorded in D&C 112.3-12.. -->"D&C112.3-12"-->. At the time this prophecy was given, Marsh was the leader of the 12 apostles of the LDS church.
Here are key excerpts from it: "…thou [Marsh] shall bear record of my name, not only unto the gentiles, but also unto the Jew; and thou shalt send forth my word unto the ends of the earth…for I, the Lord, have a great work for thee to do, in publishing my name among the children of men…thou art chosen, and thy path lieth among the mountains, and among many nations. And by thy word many high ones shall be brought low, and by thy word, many low ones shall be exalted. Thy voice shall be a rebuke unto the transgressor; and at thy rebuke let the tongue of the slanderer cease its perverseness. Be thou humble, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers. I know thy heart, and have heard thy prayers concerning thy brethren…pray for thy brethren of the Twelve. Admonish them sharply for my name's sake, and let them be admonished for all their sins, and be ye faithful before me unto my name…"
In fact, Marsh was excommunicated from the LDS church less than two years later. Although he rejoined the church about 20 years later, he never did any of the mighty works listed in the above prophecy. For most of his 20 year absence he was, in fact, a bitter enemy of the Mormon church.
17) THE MYSTERIOUS MISSION OF DAVID W. PATTEN
Speaking of personal prophecies, here is a failed one in D&C 114.1.. -->"D&C114.1"--> (1838) "…thus saith the Lord: It is wisdom in my servant, David W. Patten.. -->"DavidW.Patten"-->, that he settle up all his business as soon as he possibly can, and make a disposition of his merchandise, that he may perform a mission unto me next spring, in company with others, even twelve including himself, to testify of my name and bear glad tidings unto all the world.
Sadly, Patten was killed before he could fulfill this prophecy. Mormons have two arguments against this fact. One is that Patten was actually being called on a mission to the spirit world after death. Although that is a very creative response, the verse itself contradicts it since 1) he was to go on the mission with eleven other men, none of whom were killed before spring; and 2) the verse says his mission was to "the whole world." That could hardly be just the spirit world.
The other argument is that he wasn't worthy of the mission so the Lord killed him. The problem with that assertion is that Joseph Smith himself proclaimed that "Brother David Patten.. -->"DavidPatten"--> was a very worthy man, beloved by all good men who knew him…and died as he had lived, a man of God, and strong in the faith of a glorious resurrection…one of his last expressions to his wife wasóëwhatever you do else, O! do not deny the faith.' These explanations do not hold water! The prophecy is false!
18) REMEMBER OLIVER GRANGER?
Another personal prophecy of Smith's which fell to the ground was D&C 117.12-15.. -->"D&C117.12-15"-->, which says, in part: "…I say unto you, I remember my servant Oliver Granger.. -->"OliverGranger"-->; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord…"
You ask 99 out of 100 Mormons who Oliver Granger is, and they will give you a blank look. His name is supposed to be in everlasting remembrance from generation to generation, and yet most Mormons have never heard of him.
19) DID JOSEPH TRIUMPH OVER HIS FOES?
This section of D&C 121.. -->"D&C121"--> is prefaced in the LDS church introduction by being identified as "Prayers and Prophecies written by Joseph Smith the Prophet, while he was a prisoner in jail in Liberty.. -->"Liberty"-->…î Note what is said in part in vs.5-15, "…My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes…And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and seasons, and to blind their minds, that they might not understand his marvelous workings; and take them in their own craftiness…And not many years hence, that they and their posterity shall be swept from under heaven, saith God, that not one of them is left to stand by the wall…"
This prophecy promises that Smith and his church would triumph over all their foes. This never happened. They had just been driven out of their "Zion.. -->ìZion"-->î in Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"-->. Smith was to die by the hands of his foes, about five years later. The entire church was run out of the state about eight years later and had to flee to Utah.. -->"Utah"-->! Can this be triumphing over your enemies?
Even in Utah, the power of the church was ultimately broken by the federal government who forced the church leaders to submit to government authority and to do away with their cherished doctrine of plural marriage! More recently, the church was forced to succumb to outside pressure again and change its racist position on the blacks or else lose its tax-exempt status. Likewise, its strong anti-abortion stand has been also reversed. Is this triumph?
We need to ask: When did God change the times and seasons on us (vs.12)? When did he blind the minds of Smith's enemies? When were every one of Smith's enemies "swept from under heaven"? In fact, most of them long outlived him!
20) THE INTEGRITY OF GEORGE MILLER
In D&C 124.20-21.. -->"D&C124.20-21"-->, (1841) we find the following revelation: "…verily, I say unto you, my servant George Miller.. -->"GeorgeMiller"--> is without guile; he may be trusted because of the integrity which he has to my testimony I, the Lord, love him. I therefore say unto you, I seal upon his head the office of a bishopric…that he may receive the consecrations of mine house, that he may administer blessings upon the heads of the poor of my people, saith the Lord. Let no man despise my servant George, for he shall honor me."
In spite of this endorsement from "the Lord," George Miller was excommunicated seven years later. Another prophecy frustrated (D&C 3.3) by the work of men?
21) WHERE WAS JOSEPH'S VICTORY?
D&C 127.2.. -->"D&C127.2"--> contains the following prophecy, similar to the one noted above in 18: "…for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I will triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it."
This also promises that Smith would triumph over his enemies. Obviously he did not do so as they murdered him and drove his remaining church from pillar to post.
22) WAS EMMA SMITH "DESTROYED?"
One of the most significant sections of the Doctrine and Covenants is D&C 132.. -->"D&Cìì132"-->, which deals with the plural marriage.. -->"pluralmarriage" -->(polygamy) revelation. However, it also contains many false prophecies! "(v.6) And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant [i.e.. polygamy or plural marriage], it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness there must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God.…(v.52-54) …let mine handmaid, Emma Smith.. -->"EmmaSmith"--> [Joseph's first wife] receive all those [wives] that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure and have said they were pure shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.…and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be ruler over many things; for he hath been faithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him. And I command my handmaid, Emma Smith.. -->"EmmaSmith"--> to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment [of plural marriage.. -->"pluralmarriage"-->] she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my lawÖ..(v.62) And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore he is justified."
Where do we begin? First of all, plural marriage.. -->"pluralmarriage"--> was an "everlasting covenant" that only lasted about 50 years. It was officially done away with in 1890. How can something everlasting stop? Obviously false! Secondly, according to v.6, everyone who is not living in plural marriage in the LDS church is damned. That means that almost all Mormons except for 30,000 or so "fundamentalists" today (who still keep the original commandments of plural marriage) are damned!
Verse 53 says that Joseph Smith would be strengthened henceforth. That depends on one's definition of "henceforth," as he was shot dead by his enemies less than a year later. That usually doesn't strengthen one.
Verse 54 threatens Emma Smith.. -->"EmmaSmith"--> with destruction is she doesn't let Joseph have all of his wives without complaint and acknowledge the divine origins of plural marriage. Emma never did these things. She fought against the plural marriage doctrine; and yet she lived to ripe old age; and Joseph was shot just months later. Emma was so opposed to polygamy, that she went off with Joseph's son, Joseph Smith III.. -->"JosephSmithIII"--> and started the RLDS church.. -->"RLDSchurch"-->, which denies that Smith ever taught polygamy. That pretty well blows that prophecy out of the water!
23) THE "LAST TIME" THE MISSIONARIES WENT OUT
In D&C 33.3.. -->"D&C33.3"-->, (1830) a "revelation" given through Joseph: ìFor behold, the field is white already to harvest; and it is the eleventh hour, and the last time I shall call laborers into my vineyard." Now this was in 1830, and it is quite evidently false for LDS missionaries are being "called" every day to go on missions. If the last time missionaries, who are certainly laborers in the field of harvest if anyone is, were to be called was 1830, then how can the LDS church call missionaries today and believe this scripture to be true?
24) "SOME REVELATIONS ARE OF THE DEVIL"
In the work, An Address to All Believers in Christ, David Whitmer.. -->"DavidWhitmer"-->, (one of the "Three Witnesses.. -->ìThreeWitnesses"-->î to the Book of Mormon.. -->"BookofMormon"-->) related that in the winter of 1829-1830, Joseph Smith sent Hiram Page.. -->"HiramPage"--> and Oliver Cowdery.. -->"OliverCowdery"--> on a mission to Toronto, Canada.. -->"Toronto,Canada"--> to sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon.. -->"BookofMormon"-->. This mission was ordered by a revelation that Smith claimed he had received from God.
Unfortunately, both the mission and the revelation were utter failures. This is yet another false prophecy. Oddly enough, when Smith was asked why the revelation had fallen to the ground, he "…enquired of the Lord about it, and behold, the following revelation came through the stone: ëSome revelations are of God: some revelations are of man: and some revelations are of the devil.' So we see that the revelation to go to Toronto and sell the copy-right was not of God, but of man."
But the question must be asked, if the "prophet" Joseph Smith cannot tell which of his revelations are from God and which are not; why should we trust any of them? It is a very flimsy proposition at best!
25) ANY NATIONS BOWING TO THE MORMON GOSPEL?
D&C 49.9-10.. -->"D&C49.9-10"--> (1831) gives us a false prophecy, redolent with arrogance: "Wherefore, I say unto you that I have sent unto you mine everlasting covenant.. -->"everlastingcovenant"-->, even that which was from the beginning. And that which I have promised I have so fulfilled, and the nations of the earth shall bow to it; and, if not of themselves, they shall come down, for that which is now exalted of itself shall be laid low of power."
This "everlasting covenant.. -->ìeverlastingcovenant"-->î is term used constantly in Mormonism to refer to the LDS version of the gospel and specifically to the idea of temple marriage. Now we have yet to see any nations "bow" to the principles of the Mormon gospel, and it has been almost 160 years as of this writing, since the prophecy was given.
In fact, since this prophecy, various governments (whether rightly or wrongly) have driven the Mormons out of various states, forced them to give up their doctrines of celestial plural marriage and white racism, forbidden them to preach their weird gospel in many lands.
None of these governments or nations, including the US (which was the particular subject of death curses from the LDS temples for almost a century) have been "brought low" for not bowing down to Mormonism.
26) "I, THE LORD, PROMISE THE FAITHFUL AND CANNOT LIE…"
Joseph Smith prophesied in D&C 62.1,6, & 9.. -->"D&C62.1,6,&9"--> (1831) that "…the faithful among you should be preserved and rejoice together in the land of Missouri. I, the Lord promise the faithful, and cannot lie… Behold, .the kingdom is yours. And behold, and lo, I am with the faithful always…"
There are some serious problems with this prophecy as well. The "faithful" weren't preserved; they did not rejoice together in Missouri (in fact, they were run out of the state); and the "kingdom" was not theirs and God certainly did not appear to be with them. Official LDS history shows how this prophecy failed!
27) WERE ALL THE PROMISES OF DOCTRINE & COVENANTS FULFILLED?
Even the celebrated first section of D&C (1831) does not emerge without a false prophecy of massive proportions. Section 1, verse 37 states: "Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled." We have already shown over twenty places in the D&C where the prophecies were not fulfilled. There are yet more to come.
28) WAS JESUS LATE?
D&C 133.17.. -->"D&C133.17"--> (1831) prophesies: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight, for the hour of his coming is nigh." This prophecy was given nearly 160 years ago, and has still not occurred. That is stretching the meaning of the word "nigh" to the breaking point!
29) THE CIVIL WAR PROPHECY
This is a long one, but it needs to be looked at closely because the Mormons [especially the LDS missionaries] like to claim this prophecy as one of Joseph Smith's true prophecies, and it just doesn't bear close scrutiny!
In D&C 87.18.. -->"D&C87.18"-->, (1832) we read: "Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina.. -->"SouthCarolina"-->, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls; And the time will come that war will be pour out upon all nations, beginning at this place. For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain…and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations; and then war shall be poured out upon all nations.
"And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshalled and disciplined for war. And it shall come to pass also that the remnants who are left of the land will marshal themselves, and shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation.
"And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations.
"That the cry of the saints, and the blood of the saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies. Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen."
This prophecy was given on Christmas Day, 1832, in appearance almost 30 years before the Civil War.. -->"CivilWar"-->. Although the prophecy looks good on the surface, it must be realized that at the time this was brought forth, South Carolina.. -->"SouthCarolina"--> was already involved in many rebellious acts, and this fact was available in the papers of the time. Congress had passed a tariff in July of 1832 that South Carolina had declared unacceptable.
It was during the Christmas season that the nation's press expected and wrote about the impending outbreak of civil war, beginning with this rebellion in South Carolina. Even the U.S. Army was on alert. With these facts at hand, it didn't take much of a seer to predict the unfolding events. Even a paper published by the Mormons themselves contained such news!
However, the war did not come to pass. The entire prophecy was shelved and never appeared again during Joseph Smith's lifetime. The first two editions of the History of the Church did not include it even though it was in the original manuscript. It reappeared in 1852 when the war again seemed imminent.
Aside from the dating problems, the scope of the prophecy is not in balance. In just one item, the prophecy states that war would begin locally and pour out upon all nations and shall be the direct cause of an international global war. Even the great World War I did not encompass all nations, and it was 50 years after the Civil War and had no possible relationship to it! This is a definite false prophecy that did not come to pass.
Former Mormon Dick Baer has pointed out there are at least 20 elements in this prophecy, and for it to be a true prophecy, all of those elements would have to have come to pass. In human terms, those odds are 1 in 1,048,576óa truly remarkable achievement, had Smith pulled it off. Obviously he did not.
In another example, verses 4 through 6 state that the slaves shall rise up, the remnants left in the land shall rise up against the Gentiles (non-Mormons) and the bloodshed, famines, plagues (caused by this great war) shall bring with God's wrath, "...a full end of all nations." This did not happen. In fact, Smith only got two elements out of 20 right, and those were based on current events and common sense. Sorry, this is a bad one!
30) PESTILENCE AND EARTHQUAKE IN THE US?
Here is an explicit false prophecy (1833) from official Church history: "And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake shall sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land…flee to Zion before the overflowing scourge overtake you, for there are those now living upon the earth whose eyes shall not be closed in death until they see all these things, which I had spoken, fulfilled."
Obviously, none of these dire predictions have come to pass, and it has been over 150 years since they were given. No one is now left alive from that generation. The scope of the warning was centered on the generation in which the Mormons were still calling on their converts to leave their homes, cities and countries and Come to Zion. They have long since stopped this mandatory migration to the center of Mormonism. That generation had passed by before the end of the 19th century.
31) DID ZION FAIL?
D&C 97.19-20.. -->"D&C97.19-20"--> (1833) prophesies: "Surely, Zion .. -->ìZionì-->is the city of our God, and surely Zion cannot fall, neither be moved out of her place, for God is there and the hand of the Lord is there; And he hath sworn by the power of his might to be her salvation…"
This makes Smith a false prophet or God too weak to keep his promises. "Zion" fell and the Mormons were driven out of Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"--> in 1838-39!
32) WAS ZION REDEEMED AFTER "A LITTLE SEASON?"
D&C 100.13, 15.. -->"D&C100.13,15"--> (1833) states: "And now I give unto you a word concerning Zion.. -->"Zion"-->. Zion shall be redeemed although she is chastened for a little season.…Therefore, let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly, and to the sanctification of the church."
Again, over a century and a half has passed without this prophecy coming to pass. That would be stretching the idea of "a little season" beyond the point where the English language has any meaning at all.
33) SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT WRONG?
In a letter to "the Exiled Saints in Missouri," Joseph Smith declared: "Therefore this is my counsel, that you retain your lands [in Missouri], even unto the utmost, and employ every lawful means to seek redress of your enemies; and pray to God day and night to return you in peace and safety to the lands of your inheritance; and when the judge fail you, appeal unto the executive; and when the executive fail you; appeal to the president; and when the president fail you, and all things also fail you but God alone, and you continue to weary Him with your importunings, as the poor woman did the unjust judge. He will not fail you to execute judgment upon your enemies, and to avenge his own elect that cry unto Him day and night. Behold, He will not fail you. He will come with ten thousand of his saints, and all His adversaries shall be destroyed with the breath of His lips.
Unfortunately for the Mormons, none of these things came to pass; nor have they yet. They did not retain their lands in Missouri. The god of Mormonism never destroyed their enemies; and in fact those very same enemies drove them out of the state! The only thing Smith got right was that they would petition all the authorities and be turned down. 25% accuracy doesn't cut it according to Deuteronomy 18:20-22.
34) THE MARCH OF ZION'S CAMP
In D&C 103.15.. -->"D&C103.15"-->ff, there is a prophecy concerning Zion's Camp.. -->"ZionísCamp"-->. It begins: "…(v.15) Behold, I [God] say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power…(v.19) Therefore, let not your hearts faint…(v.20) Mine angels shall go up before you , and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land…(v.24) And inasmuch as mine enemies come against you to drive you from my goodly land, which I have consecrated to be the land of Zion, even from your own lands…ye shall curse them; and whosoever ye curse, I will curse, and ye shall avenge me of mine enemies."
Leaving aside for a moment the totally un-Biblical theology of all this (Jesus told us to pray for our enemies, not to curse them; and nowhere does God ask His people to avenge Him!), this is still a failed prophecy. Zion's Camp was an armed crusade of Mormons sent out by "revelation" to go to Missouri .. -->ìMissouriì-->and rescue their fellow Latter-day Saints there. Actually, the march of Zion's Camp failed miserably, and so did the prophecy of God's presence going before them and cursing their enemies!
35) THE MOVE TO JACKSON COUNTY
In a letter to the High Council (8/16/1834), Joseph Smith declared, "…I shall now proceed to give you such counsel as the Spirit of the Lord may dictate…[you are to have the churches] use every effort to gather to those regions and locate themselves, to be in readiness to move into Jackson County.. -->"JacksonCounty"--> in two years from the eleventh of September next, which is the appointed time for the redemption of Zion.. -->"Zion"-->…î
Well, the churches did not move into Jackson County on September 11, 1836. Nor was "Zion" redeemed at that time; as church history itself shows. Was the Holy Spirit wrong, or just Joseph?
36) THE KIRTLAND "ANTI-BANKING SOCIETY"
A false prophecy from the Latter-day Saint Messenger and Advocate, "This place [Kirtland, OH.. -->"Kirtland,OH"-->] must be built up, and will be built up, and every brother that will take hold and help secure these contracts [for land] shall be rich."
This one fell with a "crash!" The Mormons were driven out of Ohio .. -->"Ohioì-->and no-one became rich by helping to secure those land contracts. Ironically, most of the men who helped Smith lost their shirts and Smith himself went bankrupt because of his "funny-money" scheme in the Kirtland Anti-banking Society.. -->"KirtlandAnti-bankingSociety"-->.
37) NASA, PHONE JOSEPH SMITH!
Joseph Smith, not content with banking; also tried his hand at exo-biology and astronomy. He declared in 1837: "Inhabitants of the Moon.. -->ìInhabitantsoftheMoon"--> are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the Earth, being about 6 feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker Style & and quite general in Style, or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally near a thousand years. This is the description of them as given by Joseph Smith the Seer.
Although Mormons will try and deny that Joseph Smith ever really taught this nonsense, they will find it confirmed from Brigham Young.. -->"BrighamYoung"-->; who also taught it; and added that there were people also living in the sun! Obviously, modern science has condemned these prophecies to the ashcan of bad science fiction!
38) THAT POOR TEMPLE IN MISSOURI!
Another prophecy about the temple being built in Missouri .. -->"Missouriì-->is in D&C 115.1, 7-12.. -->"D&C115.1,7-12"-->: ìVerily, thus saith the Lord…Let the city, Far West.. -->"FarWest"-->, be a holy and consecrated land unto me; and it shall be called most holy, for the ground upon which thou standest is holy. Therefore I command you to build a house unto me, for the gathering together of my saints, that they may worship me. And let there be a beginning of this work, and a foundation, and a preparatory work this following summer;…Thus let them from that time forth labor diligently until it shall be finished, from the cornerstone thereof unto the top thereof, until there shall not anything remain that is not finished."
The temple has never been built, although the cornerstone was laid in 1838. Since this work has been frustrated for over a century and a half, it must be a work of men, not of God (D&C 3.3). The very best one can say about Joseph Smith and company is that they failed miserably in obeying their god's commands.
39) THE MARCH TO JACKSON COUNTY
Joseph Smith is quoted (1839) in "Reed Peck's Manuscript".. -->ììReedPeckísManuscriptîî--> as prophesying that: "…within three years they [the Mormons] should march to Jackson County.. -->"JacksonCounty"--> and there should not be a dog to open his mouth against them." The Mormons didn't march into Jackson County by 1842óin fact, they still haven't.
40) THE "ASTONISHING" ANSON CALL?
An 1842 prophecy of Joseph Smith from the "Anson Call Diary.. -->ìAnsonCallDiary"-->î [discussing the Rocky Mountains] declared that: "…there are some of these standing here that will perform a great work in that land…There is Anson [Call], he shall go and assist in building cities from one end of the country to the other and you shall perform as great a work as has ever been done by man, and the nations of the earth shall be astonished and many of them will be gathered in that land and assist in building cities."
As it happens, Anson Call.. -->"AnsonCall"--> did assist in settling Millard County, Utah in the southern part of the state. However, none of the "cities" in that region are particularly large or noteworthy. Nor did Call ever build cities from one end of the country to the other. He did not do anything which "astonished" the nations; nor did he do "as great a work as has ever been done by man."
41) JESUS' RETURN
Joseph Smith made this reference to the Second Coming.. -->"SecondComing"--> of Jesus: "Were I going to prophesy, I would say the end [of the world] would not come in 1844, 5 or 6, or in forty years. There are those of the rising generation who shall not taste death till Christ comes.
"I was once praying earnestly upon this subject, and a voice said unto me, "My son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years of age, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man." I was left to draw my own conclusions concerning this, and I took the liberty to conclude that if I did live to that time, He would make His appearance. But I do not say whether He will make His appearance or I shall go where He is. I prophesy in the name of the Lord God, and let it be writtenóthe Son of Man will not come in the clouds of heaven till I am eighty-five years old."[48 years hence or about 1890…]
Interestingly enough, this passage is taken from Smith's diary; and modern LDS "historians" have removed the phrase "48 years hence or about 1890" because it so clearly demonstrates the falsity of the prophecy .
Obviously, none of the "rising generation" ever saw Jesus' coming. Jesus certainly did not come in "about 1890." A century has passed since that date; and Smith's prophecy lies dead and buried along with that "rising generation."
42) THE POTSHERD PROPHECY
Although Mormons like to vaunt their patriotism, Joseph Smith was not very fond of the US government. In 1843, he declared: "…if the government, which received into its coffers the money of citizens for its public treasury, cannot protect such citizens in their lives and property, it is an old granny anyhow; and I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri .. -->"Missouriì-->and punish the crimes committed by her officers, that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left…"
One of the most amazing ironies of Mormonism hinges on its central tenet that it was founded by Joseph Smith, who claimed that he was called of God to re-establish Christ's true Church on the earth. The Mormons revere Joseph Smith as a true prophet of God and the holy man upon whom God himself laid this authority to administer God's people and usher in this last dispensation of time. If his claims to having seen God and Christ and receiving his prophet-hood and authority from them were really true, two very important things would follow.
First, the Christian world would have to recognize that the "New Testament" era was over. To understand this one needs to understand the place of the "office" of prophet. The calling of the Old Testament prophet was "One to whom and through whom God spoke....their messages were very largely the proclamation of the Divine purposes of salvation and glory to be accomplished in the future." (Vine's Expository Dictionary, page 904). They were the pointers to Jesus!
In Luke 16:16, the Lord clearly stated, "The Law and the Prophets were until John: Since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." The time for declaring the forthcoming of the Kingdom was over; the kingdom itself was now to be declared by the Son himself!
Hebrews 1: 1-2 makes it even clearer. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds." This was said after Christ had risen and the church was in operation. No prophet was appointed to be the head of the church and spokesman for God. Christ had fulfilled that empty office in His own right when he said, "It is finished." Yet as we read in Corinthians, notice that the gift of prophecy was active in the Church....but not anywhere in the headship of the church.
So, if Joseph Smith was now the spokesman through whom God would now issue His orders, then the established order of New Testament government would have to be ended, and the church step into a New (and everlasting?) Covenant that was NOT foretold by Christ, by whom God was to speak to us in New Testament times.
Second, If this were to be true, then we could step back from the "every man presseth into it" and listen to the instruction and counsel of the prophet and trust and obey the words from his mouth as though they came directly from God. However, in order for us to take that step of obedience, we should be wise enough to take the Biblical tests of a prophet, as given in the Bible and put this new era prophet to the same simple tests by which every Old Testament prophet was judged. We need to do that with Joseph Smith.
One would think that any member of a "restoration" church which bases its very existence on its own personal latter-day prophet, would be able to give any willing listener a long litany of "true prophecies." At least one would expect to find dusty volumes of such prophecies abounding in church libraries throughout the new kingdom. Yet, in Mormonism, they don't exist in mind or matter. While some who claim both scholarship and membership have written books on the subject, they are not received by the church in any official capacity, especially since much of the work is contrived and pure blather.
If you doubt that the true Mormon avoids such discovery like the plague, just ask any Mormon you know to extemporaneously recite their 5 or 6 favorite Joseph Smith prophecies. You will rarely get past one or two of the most commonly used "faith promoting" stories that are hardly kingdom shaking stuff.
One such story that really did come true( if Joseph actually gave it) was a "word" given to Orrin Porter Rockwell.. -->"OrrinPorterRockwell"-->, a Joseph Smith body guard and church assassin, to whom Smith promised a quiet death in bed if Porter never cut his hair. Old Porter killed a lot of men through the years and we are told he died in bed.
It is a continued source of amazement that when the LDS missionaries share the joys of having a church led by a living prophet and are asked to produce a list the prophecies of their living prophet or any of their deceased prophets, including Joseph Smith, they cannot produce any such list. You would expect that any reasonable, thinking person would flee from such foolishness as though the very demons of Hell were after them. Yet, over seven million people will testify that they "Know" by personal revelation, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.
It is our position that he meets the test of Scripture as one of the foretold false prophets who would come in the last days. Herein are a significant number of the prophecies of Joseph Smith. We had to dig them out of the LDS closet. It wasn't easy work Judge them for yourself.
THE FALSE PROPHECIES OF JOSEPH SMITH
Remember, in the light of the following list, that according to Deuteronomy 18:20-22, it only takes one false prophecy to make a prophet false, just as it only takes one murder to make a person a murderer. As you read the many false prophecies of Joseph Smith, keep this Biblical teaching in mind.
1) THE ABRIDGEMENT OF D&C 137.. -->-->"D&C137".
Although there are actually dozens of false prophecies we could begin with, we thought it might be appropriate to begin with one which has come to new found prominence in recent years. In 1976, the 137th section of Doctrine & Covenants (D&C) was submitted to the general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a vote to be "sustained" as scripture. It is a narrative of a vision supposedly seen by Joseph Smith in Kirtland, OH in 1836.
What the members who voted on this new addition to scripture were not told by "the Brethren," is that whole paragraphs (216 words) of the actual revelation as recorded in The History Of The Church.. -->"TheHistoryOfTheChurch"--> had been conveniently left out of the version to be included in the D&C. The reason for these omissions was that four obviously false prophecies were contained in the part of the revelation which was censored out. These were prophecies so obviously false that even the average LDS reader would pick them up. Therefore they went down the "black hole" of Mormon history.
What exactly were in these missing parts? Well, if you go to the official history of the LDS church published by the church's own publishing company, you will be easily able to find the missing prophecies. Here is what is not in the new D&C 137:
[Joseph Smith:] "....I saw the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb, who are now upon the earth, who hold the keys of this last ministry, in foreign lands, standing together in a circle, much fatigued, with their clothes tattered and their feet swollen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, and they did not behold him. The Saviour looked upon them and wept.
I also beheld Elder M'Lellin.. -->-->"ElderMíLellin" in the south, standing upon a hill, surrounded by a vast multitude, preaching to them, and a lame man standing before him supported by his crutches; he threw them down at his word and leaped as a hart, by the mighty power of God.
Also, I saw Elder Brigham Young.. -->"BrighamYoung"--> standing in a strange land, in the far south and west, in a desert place, upon a rock in the midst of a bout a dozen men of color, who appeared hostile. He was preaching to them in their own tongue, and the angel of God standing above his head with a drawn sword in his hand, protecting him, but he did not see it.
And I finally saw the Twelve in the celestial kingdom of God. I also beheld the redemption of Zion and many things which the tongue of man cannot describe in full"
Now, if this were true, it was a truly inspiring and wonderful declaration! Unfortunately, for the LDS faithful, a short look at the official history of the church reveals the false prophecies contained therein.
First of all, Smith claimed to see his (original LDS) Twelve apostles all in the celestial kingdom. This is difficult to imagine, since there was already division between Smith and the majority of the Apostles, beginning with discord in Kirtland, Ohio. The first portion of the "missing words" shows his less than subtle rebuke of their resistance to his will. "...fatigued....tattered...eyes cast downward....The Saviour looked upon them and wept." Smith was calling them to get into line and submit themselves to his full authority. That's the carrot offered in the last portion, "I finally saw the Twelve in the Celestial Kingdom of God."
However, his "thus saith the Lord" must have had little effect on them, since at least seven of the twelve under discussion were soon excommunicated or apostasized from the church: John F. Boynton.. -->"JohnF.Boynton"--> & Luke S. Johnson.. -->"LukeS.Johnson"--> (1837), Lyman Johnson.. -->"LymanJohnson"--> (1838), William E. M'Lellin.. -->"WilliamE.MíLellin"--> (c.1838), Thomas B. Marsh.. -->"ThomasB.Marsh"--> & Orson Hyde.. -->"OrsonHyde"--> (1838), and William Smith.. -->"WilliamSmith"--> (1845)
How could they have ever attained the celestial kingdom under those conditions? They couldn't! They were not only accursed by their very acts of apostacy or excommunication, but fell victim to the LDS Church's own scriptural denunciation. D&C 84.40-41.. -->"D&C84.40-41"--> clearly states:
"Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved. But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth there-from, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come."
Although a few of these men later returned to the church, none of them were even close to the standards necessary for attainment of that highest degree of glory. The majority remained apart for life. Therefore, the prophetic utterance, "I finally saw the Twelve in the Celestial Kingdom of God." was obviously false. It would have been false even if only one Apostle remained outside the fold.
Second, the vision of M'Lellin preaching and working miracles in the south never came true because he apostasized from the church without ever doing it! (see above).
Third, Although Brigham Young.. -->"BrighamYoung"--> did bring the Mormons west and was a great colonizer and orator, the vision of Brigham Young preaching to "men of color" in their own language, in some strange and faraway place in the southwest never took place eitheróor at least there is no trace of it in the very detailed records and diaries concerning his reign as prophet.
Finally, "Zion.. -->ìZion"-->î (Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"-->.) was never redeemed, has never been redeemed in the 150+ years since the prophecy was made. (see below, for more on Zion). Is it any wonder that the Brethren chose to remove whole chunks of this "inspired" revelation? Four false prophecies for the price of one!
2) THE BUILDING OF THE NEW TEMPLE.
In D&C 84.. -->"D&C84"--> (esp. vs.2-5, 31, 114-115), Smith prophesied in 1832 that a temple would be built by the generation then living in Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"-->. during THAT generation. Allowing the widest possible latitude of 100 years for a generation, that still leaves the prophecy unfulfilled over 50 years late!
There still is no temple in Independence; although one is being commenced by the RLDS Church.. -->"RLDSChurch"-->, a splinter off of Mormonism which the LDS church contends is a false cult! Not only that, the temple lot which Joseph Smith dedicated as the "only true site" has been owned for generations by a third Mormon splinter sect; and the Utah Mormons couldn't build a temple there if they wanted to!
3) THE NAUVOO HOUSE.
In D&C 124.56-60.. -->"D&C124.56-60"-->, Smith prophesied that the Nauvoo House.. -->"NauvooHouse"--> in Nauvoo, IL... -->"Nauvoo,IL."--> would be in his family forever (1841). It did not remain in his family, and is not owned by them today. This makes for a very false prophecy.
4) OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES.
In the Pearl of Great Price.. -->"PearlofGreatPrice"--> (PGP), Joseph Smith-History.. -->"JosephSmith-History"--> (JSH) 1.40-41, (1823) Smith claimed that the angel Moroni.. -->"Moroni"--> told him that the prophecies in Isaiah 11 were "about to be fulfilled," and that those in Joel 2 were "soon to be" fulfilled. More than 165 years have passed and that interpretation of prophecy has not yet come to pass. Those prophecies certainly will be fulfilled, but Joseph Smith and his angel sure got their dates wrong!
5) CONVERSION OF THE INDIAN PEOPLES.
In D&C 3.3.. -->"D&C3.3"--> (1828) it says, "Remember, that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men." This verse is considered sacred scripture by Mormons; and that means that Mormons, logically, must apply it to their history and Joseph Smith's prophecies. If Smith's prophecies were frustrated, then those prophecies were the work of men, not of God!
D&C 3.16-20.. -->"D&C3.16-20"--> says that the Lamanites (Indians) will be converted. For a century and a half, the LDS missionaries have been trying to convert their "Lamanite.. -->ìLamanite"--> brothersî and have not done so. The vast majority of Indians are not Mormons, and most of the few who become LDS turn inactive. This has obviously not been fulfilled, after many years and spending vast amounts of money on programs to convert Indians.
6) WHITE AND DELIGHTSOME INDIANS.
Speaking of the Lamanite.. -->"Lamanite"-->s, the Book of Mormon.. -->"BookofMormon"--> (BOM) contains a prophecy about them which can easily be put to the test. 2 Nephi 30.6.. -->"2Nephi30.6"--> prophesies that the Indians who converted would turn "white and delightsome" a few generations after joining the church. This is what is written in the original, handwritten manuscript of 2 Nephi 30. It is in the original 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon.
However, in 1840, Joseph Smith, evidently thinking to correct the "most correct book ever written," ordered the phrase changed to "pure and delightsome." Then later, Brigham Young.. -->"BrighamYoung"--> ordered it changed back to "white and delightsome." Then in 1981, it was again changed back to "pure and delightsome", even though the correction does not clean up the parts of the BOM where they are turned from white and delightsome to "dark and loathsome."
A honest reader would have to speculate that since over 160 years have passed (4 Biblical generations) since Indians began joining the church, that at least some of them would have to turned at least a little whiter. None of them have; and this is evidently why they changed the verse without so much as a word of explanation.
7) GATHERING TO ZION.
D&C 57.1-3.. -->"D&C57.1-3"--> (1831) identifies Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"--> as the center place of Zion.. -->"Zion"-->, the gathering place of the saintsóit is "the land of promise." This revelation failed because, according to D&C 3.3 cited above, any work which is of God could not be frustrated. This "gathering" in Zion was really frustrated, because the Mormons tried to gather there and were physically driven out! To this day, there are few Mormons there; and actually many, many more RLDS members by far! If God was behind this revelation, then the Mormons could not have been driven out by men.
8) CONFOUND YOUR ENEMIES.
In D&C 71.6-10.. -->"D&C71.6-10"-->, the following prophecy was given: "For unto him that receiveth it shall be given more abundantly, even power. Wherefore, confound your enemies; call upon them to meet you both in public and in private; and inasmuch as you are faithful, their shame shall be made manifest. Wherefore, let them bring their strong reasons against the Lord. Verily, thus saith the Lord unto youóthere is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and if any man life his voice against you, he shall be confounded in mine own due time."
Mormons have never fulfilled this prophecy, in fact they shun it and constantly disobey it. There are over a hundred organized ministries to Mormons in the orthodox Christian church, just like ours; and no Mormon prophet or apostle has ever been willing to meet with us, in public or in private to "confound" us. Indeed, very few Mormons of any sort will meet with us, unless they are already having doubts about the Church and want some straight answers.
We have been bringing our "strong reasons" against the false god of Mormonism now for decades and official Mormondom has slunk away and refused to answer us, even though we have continually called for dialog. To the best of our knowledge, no minister to the Mormons has ever had his "shame" made manifest. If anything, there are more of us out there slugging away against the Zion empire than ever before!
The "weapons" we have used against the LDS have been primarily the Bible, and also its own published material. It is evident that these weapons have indeed prospered against the Church. We are seeing literally thousands of Mormons leave the Church for Jesus, because of the impact of our Biblical witness. We have seen the convert rate.. -->"convertrate"--> per LDS missionary drop from a high of 7.9 converts in 1982 to 6.5 converts per year (1987 figures). It is evident that our weapons are prospering and that the Church is adamantly refusing to obey its own prophecy and "confound" us. Instead, it is doing its best to pretend to ignore usóan altogether different thing!
9) THE EARTH SHALL SHAKE AND REEL AS A DRUNKEN MAN.
D&C 88.87.. -->"D&C88.87"--> (1832) prophesies that "...not many days hence the earth shall tremble and reel as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face...and the moon shall be bathed in blood; and the stars shall become exceedingly angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from a fig tree."
Now over 58,000 days have past (as of 1991) since that prophecy was given. By any reasonable standard, "not many days" could not be construed to be more than 58,000 days; and yet none of these things have occurred. This prophecy has obviously failed.
10) THE WORD OF WISDOM.
The Mormons are noted for their Word of Wisdom.. -->"WordofWisdom"--> revelation which forbids them from drinking liquor, coffee or tea, or to smoke. This is in D&C 89.. -->"D&C89"-->. Many Mormons do not realize that there is also a prophecy in it in vs.18-21: "And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in the navel and marrow to their bones; and shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; and shall run and not be weary and shall walk and not faint, and I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen."
The fact is that this promise isn't working Although most Mormons diligently keep this Word of Wisdom.. -->"WordofWisdom"-->, they do not find any treasures of knowledge. They certainly run and become weary; and they certainly become faint at times from walking. In fact, many of the highest leaders of the LDS church (who presumably are keeping this commandment) are sick and dying of degenerative diseases. The entire First Presidency just a few years ago was so ill with blindness, Parkinson's disease and cancer that a Third Counselor to the Prophet had to be called to take over.
The destroying angel certainly is not passing the Mormons by; as it did the children of Israel in the Passover. Mormons die just like everyone else. Although they try hard to keep the LDS god's commandment, he does not seem to be keeping his end of the bargain, or else Joseph Smith is a false prophet!
11) ZION SHALL NOT BE MOVED.
D&C 101.17-20.. -->"D&C101.17-20"--> (1833) prophesies: "Zion.. -->ìZion"--> shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered. They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion. And all these things that the prophets might be fulfilled. And behold, there is none other place appointed than that which I have appointed; neither shall there be any other place appointed than that which I have appointed for the work of the gathering of my saints."
First of all, the Mormons were driven out. Secondly, those who were driven out never returned with their children to come to their inheritances. Thirdly, a little over a decade after this, the "gathering" place of the saints was transplanted to Utah, even though the LDS god declared that "neither shall {future tense} there be any other place appointed." Three strikes, and Joseph Smith is out!
12) THE UNITED ORDER.
In D&C 104.1.. -->"D&C104.1"--> (1834) a prophecy is given concerning the LDS institution, the "United Order.. -->ìUnitedOrder"-->î (a theocratic, communistic method of distributing and controlling property and goods): "…I give unto you counsel and a commandment, concerning all the properties which belong to the order which I commanded to be organized and established, to be a united order, and an everlasting order for the benefit of my church, and for the salvation of men until I come..."
LDS history reveals that this "everlasting" order had to be disbanded soon after because it failed. It is obvious that today Mormons do not practice a communal approach to property. If anything, they are in favor of capitalism and against communism. This is one of the most blatantly false prophecies of Joseph Smith.
13) DESTROYER SENT FORTH.
A prophecy was given in D&C 105.13-15.. -->"D&C105.13-15"-->: (1834) "Therefore it is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season, for the redemption of Zion. For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for…I will fight your battles. Behold, the destroyer I have sent forth to destroy and lay waste your enemies; and not many years hence they shall not be left to pollute mine heritage, and to blaspheme my name upon the lands which I have consecrated for the gathering together of my saints."
Note that the LDS god says "I have {already accomplished} sent forth…" the destroyer. History shows that the enemies of the Mormons were not destroyed or laid waste. They still haven't been to this day! The "destroyer" must be slow! This is another prophecy that was frustrated (D&C 3.3) because the Mormons were still persecuted after this and were driven out of "Zion" about 5 years later!
14) THE DREADFUL DAY OF LORD IS NEAR.
In D&C 110.16.. -->"D&C110.16"-->, (1836) we find this prophecy: "…the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors." Over 150 years have passed, and that "dreadful day of the Lord" has not come. Another failed prophecy!
15) THE TREASURE OF THE CITY IS YOURS.
D&C 111.. -->"D&C111"--> has a very strange revelation about treasures in Salem, MA.. -->"Salem,MA"-->: "I have much treasure in this city for you, for the benefit of Zion, and many people in this city, whom I will gather out in due time for the benefit of Zion.. -->"Zion"-->, through your instrumentality…and it shall come to pass in due time that I will give this city into your hands, that you shall have power over it, insomuch that they shall not discover your secret parts; and its wealth, pertaining to gold and silver shall be yours. Concern not yourselves about your debts, for I will give you power to pay them… And the place where it is my will that you would tarry, for the main, shall be signalized unto you by the peace and power of my Spirit, that shall flow unto you. This place you may obtain by hire. And inquire diligently concerning the more ancient inhabitants and founders of this city. For there are more treasures than one for you in this city."
Neither Joseph Smith nor other LDS leaders ever found any treasures in Salem. They did not take control of Salem, nor have any Mormons since. The "many people" were never gathered out, as only 13 were baptized out of the whole city. The silver and gold prophesied was never found. They returned to Kirtland, OH.. -->"Kirtland,OH"--> without funds to pay their debts! This prophecy fails on every count!
16) THOMAS MARSH'S "GREAT WORKS"?
A personal prophecy was given to Thomas B. Marsh.. -->"ThomasB.Marsh"--> on July 23, 1837 and recorded in D&C 112.3-12.. -->"D&C112.3-12"-->. At the time this prophecy was given, Marsh was the leader of the 12 apostles of the LDS church.
Here are key excerpts from it: "…thou [Marsh] shall bear record of my name, not only unto the gentiles, but also unto the Jew; and thou shalt send forth my word unto the ends of the earth…for I, the Lord, have a great work for thee to do, in publishing my name among the children of men…thou art chosen, and thy path lieth among the mountains, and among many nations. And by thy word many high ones shall be brought low, and by thy word, many low ones shall be exalted. Thy voice shall be a rebuke unto the transgressor; and at thy rebuke let the tongue of the slanderer cease its perverseness. Be thou humble, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers. I know thy heart, and have heard thy prayers concerning thy brethren…pray for thy brethren of the Twelve. Admonish them sharply for my name's sake, and let them be admonished for all their sins, and be ye faithful before me unto my name…"
In fact, Marsh was excommunicated from the LDS church less than two years later. Although he rejoined the church about 20 years later, he never did any of the mighty works listed in the above prophecy. For most of his 20 year absence he was, in fact, a bitter enemy of the Mormon church.
17) THE MYSTERIOUS MISSION OF DAVID W. PATTEN
Speaking of personal prophecies, here is a failed one in D&C 114.1.. -->"D&C114.1"--> (1838) "…thus saith the Lord: It is wisdom in my servant, David W. Patten.. -->"DavidW.Patten"-->, that he settle up all his business as soon as he possibly can, and make a disposition of his merchandise, that he may perform a mission unto me next spring, in company with others, even twelve including himself, to testify of my name and bear glad tidings unto all the world.
Sadly, Patten was killed before he could fulfill this prophecy. Mormons have two arguments against this fact. One is that Patten was actually being called on a mission to the spirit world after death. Although that is a very creative response, the verse itself contradicts it since 1) he was to go on the mission with eleven other men, none of whom were killed before spring; and 2) the verse says his mission was to "the whole world." That could hardly be just the spirit world.
The other argument is that he wasn't worthy of the mission so the Lord killed him. The problem with that assertion is that Joseph Smith himself proclaimed that "Brother David Patten.. -->"DavidPatten"--> was a very worthy man, beloved by all good men who knew him…and died as he had lived, a man of God, and strong in the faith of a glorious resurrection…one of his last expressions to his wife wasóëwhatever you do else, O! do not deny the faith.' These explanations do not hold water! The prophecy is false!
18) REMEMBER OLIVER GRANGER?
Another personal prophecy of Smith's which fell to the ground was D&C 117.12-15.. -->"D&C117.12-15"-->, which says, in part: "…I say unto you, I remember my servant Oliver Granger.. -->"OliverGranger"-->; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord…"
You ask 99 out of 100 Mormons who Oliver Granger is, and they will give you a blank look. His name is supposed to be in everlasting remembrance from generation to generation, and yet most Mormons have never heard of him.
19) DID JOSEPH TRIUMPH OVER HIS FOES?
This section of D&C 121.. -->"D&C121"--> is prefaced in the LDS church introduction by being identified as "Prayers and Prophecies written by Joseph Smith the Prophet, while he was a prisoner in jail in Liberty.. -->"Liberty"-->…î Note what is said in part in vs.5-15, "…My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes…And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and seasons, and to blind their minds, that they might not understand his marvelous workings; and take them in their own craftiness…And not many years hence, that they and their posterity shall be swept from under heaven, saith God, that not one of them is left to stand by the wall…"
This prophecy promises that Smith and his church would triumph over all their foes. This never happened. They had just been driven out of their "Zion.. -->ìZion"-->î in Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"-->. Smith was to die by the hands of his foes, about five years later. The entire church was run out of the state about eight years later and had to flee to Utah.. -->"Utah"-->! Can this be triumphing over your enemies?
Even in Utah, the power of the church was ultimately broken by the federal government who forced the church leaders to submit to government authority and to do away with their cherished doctrine of plural marriage! More recently, the church was forced to succumb to outside pressure again and change its racist position on the blacks or else lose its tax-exempt status. Likewise, its strong anti-abortion stand has been also reversed. Is this triumph?
We need to ask: When did God change the times and seasons on us (vs.12)? When did he blind the minds of Smith's enemies? When were every one of Smith's enemies "swept from under heaven"? In fact, most of them long outlived him!
20) THE INTEGRITY OF GEORGE MILLER
In D&C 124.20-21.. -->"D&C124.20-21"-->, (1841) we find the following revelation: "…verily, I say unto you, my servant George Miller.. -->"GeorgeMiller"--> is without guile; he may be trusted because of the integrity which he has to my testimony I, the Lord, love him. I therefore say unto you, I seal upon his head the office of a bishopric…that he may receive the consecrations of mine house, that he may administer blessings upon the heads of the poor of my people, saith the Lord. Let no man despise my servant George, for he shall honor me."
In spite of this endorsement from "the Lord," George Miller was excommunicated seven years later. Another prophecy frustrated (D&C 3.3) by the work of men?
21) WHERE WAS JOSEPH'S VICTORY?
D&C 127.2.. -->"D&C127.2"--> contains the following prophecy, similar to the one noted above in 18: "…for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I will triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it."
This also promises that Smith would triumph over his enemies. Obviously he did not do so as they murdered him and drove his remaining church from pillar to post.
22) WAS EMMA SMITH "DESTROYED?"
One of the most significant sections of the Doctrine and Covenants is D&C 132.. -->"D&Cìì132"-->, which deals with the plural marriage.. -->"pluralmarriage" -->(polygamy) revelation. However, it also contains many false prophecies! "(v.6) And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant [i.e.. polygamy or plural marriage], it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness there must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God.…(v.52-54) …let mine handmaid, Emma Smith.. -->"EmmaSmith"--> [Joseph's first wife] receive all those [wives] that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure and have said they were pure shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.…and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be ruler over many things; for he hath been faithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him. And I command my handmaid, Emma Smith.. -->"EmmaSmith"--> to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment [of plural marriage.. -->"pluralmarriage"-->] she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my lawÖ..(v.62) And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore he is justified."
Where do we begin? First of all, plural marriage.. -->"pluralmarriage"--> was an "everlasting covenant" that only lasted about 50 years. It was officially done away with in 1890. How can something everlasting stop? Obviously false! Secondly, according to v.6, everyone who is not living in plural marriage in the LDS church is damned. That means that almost all Mormons except for 30,000 or so "fundamentalists" today (who still keep the original commandments of plural marriage) are damned!
Verse 53 says that Joseph Smith would be strengthened henceforth. That depends on one's definition of "henceforth," as he was shot dead by his enemies less than a year later. That usually doesn't strengthen one.
Verse 54 threatens Emma Smith.. -->"EmmaSmith"--> with destruction is she doesn't let Joseph have all of his wives without complaint and acknowledge the divine origins of plural marriage. Emma never did these things. She fought against the plural marriage doctrine; and yet she lived to ripe old age; and Joseph was shot just months later. Emma was so opposed to polygamy, that she went off with Joseph's son, Joseph Smith III.. -->"JosephSmithIII"--> and started the RLDS church.. -->"RLDSchurch"-->, which denies that Smith ever taught polygamy. That pretty well blows that prophecy out of the water!
23) THE "LAST TIME" THE MISSIONARIES WENT OUT
In D&C 33.3.. -->"D&C33.3"-->, (1830) a "revelation" given through Joseph: ìFor behold, the field is white already to harvest; and it is the eleventh hour, and the last time I shall call laborers into my vineyard." Now this was in 1830, and it is quite evidently false for LDS missionaries are being "called" every day to go on missions. If the last time missionaries, who are certainly laborers in the field of harvest if anyone is, were to be called was 1830, then how can the LDS church call missionaries today and believe this scripture to be true?
24) "SOME REVELATIONS ARE OF THE DEVIL"
In the work, An Address to All Believers in Christ, David Whitmer.. -->"DavidWhitmer"-->, (one of the "Three Witnesses.. -->ìThreeWitnesses"-->î to the Book of Mormon.. -->"BookofMormon"-->) related that in the winter of 1829-1830, Joseph Smith sent Hiram Page.. -->"HiramPage"--> and Oliver Cowdery.. -->"OliverCowdery"--> on a mission to Toronto, Canada.. -->"Toronto,Canada"--> to sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon.. -->"BookofMormon"-->. This mission was ordered by a revelation that Smith claimed he had received from God.
Unfortunately, both the mission and the revelation were utter failures. This is yet another false prophecy. Oddly enough, when Smith was asked why the revelation had fallen to the ground, he "…enquired of the Lord about it, and behold, the following revelation came through the stone: ëSome revelations are of God: some revelations are of man: and some revelations are of the devil.' So we see that the revelation to go to Toronto and sell the copy-right was not of God, but of man."
But the question must be asked, if the "prophet" Joseph Smith cannot tell which of his revelations are from God and which are not; why should we trust any of them? It is a very flimsy proposition at best!
25) ANY NATIONS BOWING TO THE MORMON GOSPEL?
D&C 49.9-10.. -->"D&C49.9-10"--> (1831) gives us a false prophecy, redolent with arrogance: "Wherefore, I say unto you that I have sent unto you mine everlasting covenant.. -->"everlastingcovenant"-->, even that which was from the beginning. And that which I have promised I have so fulfilled, and the nations of the earth shall bow to it; and, if not of themselves, they shall come down, for that which is now exalted of itself shall be laid low of power."
This "everlasting covenant.. -->ìeverlastingcovenant"-->î is term used constantly in Mormonism to refer to the LDS version of the gospel and specifically to the idea of temple marriage. Now we have yet to see any nations "bow" to the principles of the Mormon gospel, and it has been almost 160 years as of this writing, since the prophecy was given.
In fact, since this prophecy, various governments (whether rightly or wrongly) have driven the Mormons out of various states, forced them to give up their doctrines of celestial plural marriage and white racism, forbidden them to preach their weird gospel in many lands.
None of these governments or nations, including the US (which was the particular subject of death curses from the LDS temples for almost a century) have been "brought low" for not bowing down to Mormonism.
26) "I, THE LORD, PROMISE THE FAITHFUL AND CANNOT LIE…"
Joseph Smith prophesied in D&C 62.1,6, & 9.. -->"D&C62.1,6,&9"--> (1831) that "…the faithful among you should be preserved and rejoice together in the land of Missouri. I, the Lord promise the faithful, and cannot lie… Behold, .the kingdom is yours. And behold, and lo, I am with the faithful always…"
There are some serious problems with this prophecy as well. The "faithful" weren't preserved; they did not rejoice together in Missouri (in fact, they were run out of the state); and the "kingdom" was not theirs and God certainly did not appear to be with them. Official LDS history shows how this prophecy failed!
27) WERE ALL THE PROMISES OF DOCTRINE & COVENANTS FULFILLED?
Even the celebrated first section of D&C (1831) does not emerge without a false prophecy of massive proportions. Section 1, verse 37 states: "Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled." We have already shown over twenty places in the D&C where the prophecies were not fulfilled. There are yet more to come.
28) WAS JESUS LATE?
D&C 133.17.. -->"D&C133.17"--> (1831) prophesies: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight, for the hour of his coming is nigh." This prophecy was given nearly 160 years ago, and has still not occurred. That is stretching the meaning of the word "nigh" to the breaking point!
29) THE CIVIL WAR PROPHECY
This is a long one, but it needs to be looked at closely because the Mormons [especially the LDS missionaries] like to claim this prophecy as one of Joseph Smith's true prophecies, and it just doesn't bear close scrutiny!
In D&C 87.18.. -->"D&C87.18"-->, (1832) we read: "Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina.. -->"SouthCarolina"-->, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls; And the time will come that war will be pour out upon all nations, beginning at this place. For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain…and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations; and then war shall be poured out upon all nations.
"And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshalled and disciplined for war. And it shall come to pass also that the remnants who are left of the land will marshal themselves, and shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation.
"And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations.
"That the cry of the saints, and the blood of the saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies. Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen."
This prophecy was given on Christmas Day, 1832, in appearance almost 30 years before the Civil War.. -->"CivilWar"-->. Although the prophecy looks good on the surface, it must be realized that at the time this was brought forth, South Carolina.. -->"SouthCarolina"--> was already involved in many rebellious acts, and this fact was available in the papers of the time. Congress had passed a tariff in July of 1832 that South Carolina had declared unacceptable.
It was during the Christmas season that the nation's press expected and wrote about the impending outbreak of civil war, beginning with this rebellion in South Carolina. Even the U.S. Army was on alert. With these facts at hand, it didn't take much of a seer to predict the unfolding events. Even a paper published by the Mormons themselves contained such news!
However, the war did not come to pass. The entire prophecy was shelved and never appeared again during Joseph Smith's lifetime. The first two editions of the History of the Church did not include it even though it was in the original manuscript. It reappeared in 1852 when the war again seemed imminent.
Aside from the dating problems, the scope of the prophecy is not in balance. In just one item, the prophecy states that war would begin locally and pour out upon all nations and shall be the direct cause of an international global war. Even the great World War I did not encompass all nations, and it was 50 years after the Civil War and had no possible relationship to it! This is a definite false prophecy that did not come to pass.
Former Mormon Dick Baer has pointed out there are at least 20 elements in this prophecy, and for it to be a true prophecy, all of those elements would have to have come to pass. In human terms, those odds are 1 in 1,048,576óa truly remarkable achievement, had Smith pulled it off. Obviously he did not.
In another example, verses 4 through 6 state that the slaves shall rise up, the remnants left in the land shall rise up against the Gentiles (non-Mormons) and the bloodshed, famines, plagues (caused by this great war) shall bring with God's wrath, "...a full end of all nations." This did not happen. In fact, Smith only got two elements out of 20 right, and those were based on current events and common sense. Sorry, this is a bad one!
30) PESTILENCE AND EARTHQUAKE IN THE US?
Here is an explicit false prophecy (1833) from official Church history: "And now I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake shall sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land…flee to Zion before the overflowing scourge overtake you, for there are those now living upon the earth whose eyes shall not be closed in death until they see all these things, which I had spoken, fulfilled."
Obviously, none of these dire predictions have come to pass, and it has been over 150 years since they were given. No one is now left alive from that generation. The scope of the warning was centered on the generation in which the Mormons were still calling on their converts to leave their homes, cities and countries and Come to Zion. They have long since stopped this mandatory migration to the center of Mormonism. That generation had passed by before the end of the 19th century.
31) DID ZION FAIL?
D&C 97.19-20.. -->"D&C97.19-20"--> (1833) prophesies: "Surely, Zion .. -->ìZionì-->is the city of our God, and surely Zion cannot fall, neither be moved out of her place, for God is there and the hand of the Lord is there; And he hath sworn by the power of his might to be her salvation…"
This makes Smith a false prophet or God too weak to keep his promises. "Zion" fell and the Mormons were driven out of Independence, MO.. -->"Independence,MO"--> in 1838-39!
32) WAS ZION REDEEMED AFTER "A LITTLE SEASON?"
D&C 100.13, 15.. -->"D&C100.13,15"--> (1833) states: "And now I give unto you a word concerning Zion.. -->"Zion"-->. Zion shall be redeemed although she is chastened for a little season.…Therefore, let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly, and to the sanctification of the church."
Again, over a century and a half has passed without this prophecy coming to pass. That would be stretching the idea of "a little season" beyond the point where the English language has any meaning at all.
33) SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT WRONG?
In a letter to "the Exiled Saints in Missouri," Joseph Smith declared: "Therefore this is my counsel, that you retain your lands [in Missouri], even unto the utmost, and employ every lawful means to seek redress of your enemies; and pray to God day and night to return you in peace and safety to the lands of your inheritance; and when the judge fail you, appeal unto the executive; and when the executive fail you; appeal to the president; and when the president fail you, and all things also fail you but God alone, and you continue to weary Him with your importunings, as the poor woman did the unjust judge. He will not fail you to execute judgment upon your enemies, and to avenge his own elect that cry unto Him day and night. Behold, He will not fail you. He will come with ten thousand of his saints, and all His adversaries shall be destroyed with the breath of His lips.
Unfortunately for the Mormons, none of these things came to pass; nor have they yet. They did not retain their lands in Missouri. The god of Mormonism never destroyed their enemies; and in fact those very same enemies drove them out of the state! The only thing Smith got right was that they would petition all the authorities and be turned down. 25% accuracy doesn't cut it according to Deuteronomy 18:20-22.
34) THE MARCH OF ZION'S CAMP
In D&C 103.15.. -->"D&C103.15"-->ff, there is a prophecy concerning Zion's Camp.. -->"ZionísCamp"-->. It begins: "…(v.15) Behold, I [God] say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power…(v.19) Therefore, let not your hearts faint…(v.20) Mine angels shall go up before you , and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land…(v.24) And inasmuch as mine enemies come against you to drive you from my goodly land, which I have consecrated to be the land of Zion, even from your own lands…ye shall curse them; and whosoever ye curse, I will curse, and ye shall avenge me of mine enemies."
Leaving aside for a moment the totally un-Biblical theology of all this (Jesus told us to pray for our enemies, not to curse them; and nowhere does God ask His people to avenge Him!), this is still a failed prophecy. Zion's Camp was an armed crusade of Mormons sent out by "revelation" to go to Missouri .. -->ìMissouriì-->and rescue their fellow Latter-day Saints there. Actually, the march of Zion's Camp failed miserably, and so did the prophecy of God's presence going before them and cursing their enemies!
35) THE MOVE TO JACKSON COUNTY
In a letter to the High Council (8/16/1834), Joseph Smith declared, "…I shall now proceed to give you such counsel as the Spirit of the Lord may dictate…[you are to have the churches] use every effort to gather to those regions and locate themselves, to be in readiness to move into Jackson County.. -->"JacksonCounty"--> in two years from the eleventh of September next, which is the appointed time for the redemption of Zion.. -->"Zion"-->…î
Well, the churches did not move into Jackson County on September 11, 1836. Nor was "Zion" redeemed at that time; as church history itself shows. Was the Holy Spirit wrong, or just Joseph?
36) THE KIRTLAND "ANTI-BANKING SOCIETY"
A false prophecy from the Latter-day Saint Messenger and Advocate, "This place [Kirtland, OH.. -->"Kirtland,OH"-->] must be built up, and will be built up, and every brother that will take hold and help secure these contracts [for land] shall be rich."
This one fell with a "crash!" The Mormons were driven out of Ohio .. -->"Ohioì-->and no-one became rich by helping to secure those land contracts. Ironically, most of the men who helped Smith lost their shirts and Smith himself went bankrupt because of his "funny-money" scheme in the Kirtland Anti-banking Society.. -->"KirtlandAnti-bankingSociety"-->.
37) NASA, PHONE JOSEPH SMITH!
Joseph Smith, not content with banking; also tried his hand at exo-biology and astronomy. He declared in 1837: "Inhabitants of the Moon.. -->ìInhabitantsoftheMoon"--> are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the Earth, being about 6 feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker Style & and quite general in Style, or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally near a thousand years. This is the description of them as given by Joseph Smith the Seer.
Although Mormons will try and deny that Joseph Smith ever really taught this nonsense, they will find it confirmed from Brigham Young.. -->"BrighamYoung"-->; who also taught it; and added that there were people also living in the sun! Obviously, modern science has condemned these prophecies to the ashcan of bad science fiction!
38) THAT POOR TEMPLE IN MISSOURI!
Another prophecy about the temple being built in Missouri .. -->"Missouriì-->is in D&C 115.1, 7-12.. -->"D&C115.1,7-12"-->: ìVerily, thus saith the Lord…Let the city, Far West.. -->"FarWest"-->, be a holy and consecrated land unto me; and it shall be called most holy, for the ground upon which thou standest is holy. Therefore I command you to build a house unto me, for the gathering together of my saints, that they may worship me. And let there be a beginning of this work, and a foundation, and a preparatory work this following summer;…Thus let them from that time forth labor diligently until it shall be finished, from the cornerstone thereof unto the top thereof, until there shall not anything remain that is not finished."
The temple has never been built, although the cornerstone was laid in 1838. Since this work has been frustrated for over a century and a half, it must be a work of men, not of God (D&C 3.3). The very best one can say about Joseph Smith and company is that they failed miserably in obeying their god's commands.
39) THE MARCH TO JACKSON COUNTY
Joseph Smith is quoted (1839) in "Reed Peck's Manuscript".. -->ììReedPeckísManuscriptîî--> as prophesying that: "…within three years they [the Mormons] should march to Jackson County.. -->"JacksonCounty"--> and there should not be a dog to open his mouth against them." The Mormons didn't march into Jackson County by 1842óin fact, they still haven't.
40) THE "ASTONISHING" ANSON CALL?
An 1842 prophecy of Joseph Smith from the "Anson Call Diary.. -->ìAnsonCallDiary"-->î [discussing the Rocky Mountains] declared that: "…there are some of these standing here that will perform a great work in that land…There is Anson [Call], he shall go and assist in building cities from one end of the country to the other and you shall perform as great a work as has ever been done by man, and the nations of the earth shall be astonished and many of them will be gathered in that land and assist in building cities."
As it happens, Anson Call.. -->"AnsonCall"--> did assist in settling Millard County, Utah in the southern part of the state. However, none of the "cities" in that region are particularly large or noteworthy. Nor did Call ever build cities from one end of the country to the other. He did not do anything which "astonished" the nations; nor did he do "as great a work as has ever been done by man."
41) JESUS' RETURN
Joseph Smith made this reference to the Second Coming.. -->"SecondComing"--> of Jesus: "Were I going to prophesy, I would say the end [of the world] would not come in 1844, 5 or 6, or in forty years. There are those of the rising generation who shall not taste death till Christ comes.
"I was once praying earnestly upon this subject, and a voice said unto me, "My son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years of age, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man." I was left to draw my own conclusions concerning this, and I took the liberty to conclude that if I did live to that time, He would make His appearance. But I do not say whether He will make His appearance or I shall go where He is. I prophesy in the name of the Lord God, and let it be writtenóthe Son of Man will not come in the clouds of heaven till I am eighty-five years old."[48 years hence or about 1890…]
Interestingly enough, this passage is taken from Smith's diary; and modern LDS "historians" have removed the phrase "48 years hence or about 1890" because it so clearly demonstrates the falsity of the prophecy .
Obviously, none of the "rising generation" ever saw Jesus' coming. Jesus certainly did not come in "about 1890." A century has passed since that date; and Smith's prophecy lies dead and buried along with that "rising generation."
42) THE POTSHERD PROPHECY
Although Mormons like to vaunt their patriotism, Joseph Smith was not very fond of the US government. In 1843, he declared: "…if the government, which received into its coffers the money of citizens for its public treasury, cannot protect such citizens in their lives and property, it is an old granny anyhow; and I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri .. -->"Missouriì-->and punish the crimes committed by her officers, that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left…"
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