Real Mormon Truth

Protect Your Dead From the Mormons

2012-02-05T07:27:00.001-07:00

Today I thought I would start by offering just a very small list of the famous dead people Mormons have baptized. It will be in a list format so you can cut and copy it for your needs. If you want to add more to this please let us know so we can always be updating.

Mormon list of baptized Dead

◦Jews that died in concentration camps
◦Anne Frank and even Hitler
◦Jesus Christ April 8, 2010
◦Harry Caray · 2011-01-27
◦Nancy Spungen · 2011-01-18
◦Richard Burton · 2010-12-14
◦Frank Zappa · 2010-10-15
◦George Orwell · 2010-10-11
◦Truman Capote · 2010-10-02
◦Eazy-E · 2010-09-09
◦Candy Barr · 2010-07-29
◦Charles Taze Russell · 2010-07-12
◦Josephine Baker · 2010-07-02
George S. Patton · 2009-11-09
◦Freddie Mercury · 2009-05-05
◦Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi · 2009-05-04
◦Jim Varney · 2009-05-04
◦Stanley Ann Dunham · 2009-05-04
◦Elvis Aaron Presley · 2009-05-04
◦Arthur Gary Bishop · 2009-05-10
◦Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig · 2009-05-08
◦John Wesley · 2009-05-07
◦Martin Luther · 2009-05-06
◦Liberace · 2009-05-06
◦Lawrence Welk · 2009-05-30
◦Samuel Clemens · 2009-05-16
◦Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson · 2009-05-12
◦Nikola Tesla · 2009-05-11
◦Eugene Wesley Roddenberry · 2009-05-10
◦Nicole Brown Simpson · 2009-06-08
◦Paul Lynde · 2009-06-06
◦Ervil LeBaron · 2009-06-04
◦"Benny" Hill · 2009-06-01
◦"Abbie" Hoffman · 2009-06-01
◦Frank Sinatra · 2009-06-16
◦Jim Jones · 2009-06-12
◦Cabell "Cab" Calloway · 2009-06-12
◦Martin Luther King Jr. · 2009-06-11
◦John Wayne Gacy · 2009-06-10
◦Timothy McVeigh · 2009-07-01
◦Sammy Davis, Jr. · 2009-07-01
◦DeForest Kelley · 2009-06-30
◦Grandison Newell · 2009-06-27
◦Dean Martin · 2009-06-26
◦Jimi Hendrix · 2009-07-07
◦Kurt Cobain · 2009-07-07
◦Che Guevara · 2009-07-07
◦Johnny Carson · 2009-07-06
◦John Lennon · 2009-07-05
◦George Fox · 2009-07-11
◦Marty Feldman · 2009-07-10
◦Anna Nicole Smith · 2009-07-10
◦Edgar Allan Poe · 2009-07-09
◦Marilyn Monroe · 2009-07-08
◦Jim Morrison · 2009-08-05
◦Jim Thorpe · 2009-08-05
◦Edgar Rice Burroughs · 2009-08-03
◦Myles Coverdale · 2009-07-25
◦Ann Lee · 2009-07-14
◦Jim Backus · 2009-08-24
◦P.T. Barnum · 2009-08-20
◦The Notorious B.I.G. · 2009-08-19
◦Aaliyah · 2009-08-19
◦Tupac Shakur · 2009-08-18
◦Sid Vicious · 2009-08-28
◦John F. Kennedy · 2009-08-28
◦Matthew Shepard · 2009-08-26
◦Alan Hale, Jr. · 2009-08-25
◦Bob Denver · 2009-08-25
◦Harold Lloyd · 2009-09-04
◦Buster Keaton · 2009-09-03
◦Gregor Mendel · 2009-09-02
◦Ellen Gould White · 2009-08-31
◦James Doohan · 2009-08-30
◦Thomas Aquinas · 2009-09-11
◦Sitting Bull · 2009-09-09
◦Robert Johnson · 2009-09-08
◦Keith Moon · 2009-09-07
◦Charlie Chaplin · 2009-09-05
◦Tomas De Torquemada · 2009-09-17
◦Mary Jo Kopechne · 2009-09-16
◦Vlad the Impaler · 2009-09-14
◦Attila the Hun · 2009-09-14
◦Constantine the Great · 2009-09-12
◦Huey Newton · 2009-09-25
◦Lucille Ball · 2009-09-23
◦Desi Arnaz · 2009-09-23
◦Jimmy Hoffa · 2009-09-22
◦Johnny Cash · 2009-09-19
◦James Dean · 2009-10-05
◦Ferdinand Marcos · 2009-10-02
◦Jerry Garcia · 2009-09-30
◦Amelia Earhart · 2009-09-29
◦Pancho Barnes · 2009-09-28
◦William Tyndale · 2009-10-14
◦St. Francis of Assisi · 2009-10-13
◦Perry Como · 2009-10-10
◦Laurence Olivier · 2009-10-09
◦Marlon Brando · 2009-10-07
◦Sam Kinison · 2009-10-20
◦John Birch · 2009-10-19
◦André the Giant · 2009-10-19
◦Malcolm X · 2009-10-17
◦Red Skelton · 2009-10-15
◦Wally Cox · 2009-10-30
◦Jackie Gleason · 2009-10-29
◦Karl Marx · 2009-10-27
◦Bob Hope · 2009-10-25
◦Henny Youngman · 2009-10-25
Montgomery · 2009-11-07
◦Nat "King" Cole · 2009-11-06
◦Dr. Thomas Neill Cream · 2009-11-04
◦Peter Cushing · 2009-11-02
◦Patsy Cline · 2009-11-18
◦Minnie Pearl · 2009-11-17
◦Josephine Baker · 2009-11-16
◦Foster Brooks · 2009-11-14
◦General John J. Pershing · 2009-11-11
◦Pocahontas · 2009-11-26
◦Wayland Flowers · 2009-11-25
◦Harpo Marx · 2009-11-23
◦Chuck Connors · 2009-11-22
◦Hunter S. Thompson · 2009-11-20
◦Bob Ross · 2009-12-03
◦Bram Stoker · 2009-12-02
◦Red Adair · 2009-12-01
◦Robert Reed · 2009-11-30
◦Brian Jones · 2009-11-28
◦Thelonious Monk · 2009-12-13
◦Elmore James · 2009-12-12
◦King Arthur · 2009-12-10
◦Pope John Paul II · 2009-12-08
◦Victor Borge · 2009-12-07
◦Arthur Guinness · 2009-12-27
◦Nostradamus · 2009-12-22
◦Oral Roberts · 2009-12-17
◦J. Paul Getty · 2009-12-16
◦John Candy · 2009-12-15
◦Timothy Leary · 2010-01-05
◦Imhotep · 2010-01-04
◦Al Jolson · 2010-01-02
◦Sundance Kid · 2009-12-31
◦Butch Cassidy · 2009-12-29
◦Alice B. Toklas · 2010-01-14
◦Gertrude Stein · 2010-01-13
◦Joan of Arc · 2010-01-11
◦Ralph Waldo Emerson · 2010-01-10
◦Henry David Thoreau · 2010-01-07
◦Donna Reed · 2010-01-27
◦Merle Oberon · 2010-01-24
◦Wolfman Jack · 2010-01-22
◦Thomas Henry Huxley · 2010-01-20
◦JFK Jr. · 2010-01-17
◦Michael Hutchence · 2010-02-09
◦Horatio Alger · 2010-02-06
◦Buddy Holly · 2010-02-03
◦Lewis Carroll · 2010-02-02
◦Aristotle Onassis · 2010-01-31
◦Ernest Hemingway · 2010-02-20
◦Frank Lloyd Wright · 2010-02-16
◦Giordano Bruno · 2010-02-15
◦Babe Ruth · 2010-02-13
◦Fulton Sheen · 2010-02-10
◦Saint Ambrose · 2010-03-15
◦Lee Harvey Oswald · 2010-03-09
◦Karen Carpenter · 2010-03-02
◦Buffalo Bill Cody · 2010-03-01
◦James Mason · 2010-02-21
◦John Maynard Keynes · 2010-03-30
◦Steve McQueen · 2010-03-26
◦Everett Ruess · 2010-03-24
◦Óscar Romero · 2010-03-18
◦Shemp Howard · 2010-03-17
◦Betty Page · 2010-04-25
◦Joseph Lister · 2010-04-14
◦Fred Rogers · 2010-04-07
◦Jacques-Yves Cousteau · 2010-04-04
◦Buddy Ebsen · 2010-04-02
◦Joey Ramone · 2010-05-20
◦Mary Kay Ash · 2010-05-12
◦Ignacio Zaragoza · 2010-05-05
◦Bing Crosby · 2010-05-03
◦Jack Ruby · 2010-04-28

Intolerance in the Book of Mormon

2011-12-21T13:36:00.002-07:00

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/bom/int/long.html

613 Mormon Rules No time for God

2011-10-31T10:52:00.002-07:00

Well here we go, how does a Mormon have time to love God when they have so many rules they must follow. Please take note of some of these rules. The Book of Mormon makes it clear that Mormons only receive grace after they do all they can do. In the Book of 2 Nephi 25:23 it says: "... it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." It is hard to believe that these people believe in some of these things such as Do not marry a divorced woman, Be Perfect, Only use church approved Bible, No Surrogate Motherhood, Do not affiliate with the occult (I guess Masonry doesn't count, oppps Joe Smith bad bad boy), No Cremation, Be white skinned like unto the Nephites, Believe that the Book of Mormon is the word of God but that the Bible may not be translated correctly....well I will let you read these. After you get done with the rules, can you tell me Mormons are Christians? NOT!

Check out their rules good grief!

Finally the Facts

2011-06-24T07:05:00.002-07:00

Mormons are going to be upset. In fact, they are going to do what they all tend to do so well, they are going to lie and say none of it is true…I have found a document that is powerful written by an Ex-Mormon. Please read it here. http://bit.ly/whytylerleft
Mormons are going to be upset.

That is because they are so reluctant in telling the truth of the real truth of the orgins of their religion. They will be reluctant to tell you that the God they worship was not always God. "We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 345)

They do not want to tell you that they believe Jesus Christ is the spirit brother of Satan: "The appointment of Jesus to be the Savior of the world was contested by one of the other sons of God. He was called Lucifer, son of the morning. Haughty, ambitious, and covetous of power and glory, this spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become the Savior of mankind." (Milton R. Hunter, Gospel Through the Ages, pg.15)

Please do you think they want you to know they think Jesus Christ was a polygamist! "I discover that some of the Eastern papers represent me as a great blasphemer, because I said, in my lecture on Marriage, at our last Conference, that Jesus Christ was married at Cana of Galilee, that Mary, Martha, and others were his wives, and that he begat children." (Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 2:210)

The document I just read, holds nothing back, and it is well written. Most Mormons will say it is people trying to discredit their church, but Mormons are convinced of the lies, and more and more ex-Mormons are speaking out. Be sure to read http://bit.ly/whytylerleft

People will Say and Do Anything to Persecute Us

2011-06-08T17:22:00.002-07:00

Indeed it is interesting to have a Mormon family when you are not a Mormon and run a blog like this. I am always searching out and researching things, and finding out Mormon facts that honestly I do not want to know. I just sometimes do not want to know how low a religion can stoop down, but alas, I find myself doing it mainly to help others either escape from this cult, or prevent them from being part of this cult. Either way, I feel very blessed that I am able to help people with the truth.

Truth is interesting in Mormonhood. When I was a child Mormon, we were taught how to lie about Mormons. Church officials would tell us people would ask us many questions, and our job was not to tell the truth, but we were given a line to tell people. I have forgotten about those days when we were brainwashed as children on how to talk about Mormons when people asked certain questions. I always said it feels like a lie, but I was told it was not a lie, that it was a way to protect me and my family. Oh yeah brainwashing trick number 142, the threat of you being held responsible not to spill the beans because your family would be at risk.

I had to try it on. I asked my Mormon mother what she thought about Christ being baptized. At first she said we don’t do stuff like that, someone broke into the databank and out that there to persecute us. Okay this was one of the lies I was taught to say, that people set up Mormons all the time to persecute them. That was like lie number 2 or 3 out of all the lies. That was a line we had memorized, “People will say and do anything to persecute us” Here are some examples;

The question: So do Mormons really have three Kingdoms?
Your response: People will say and do anything to persecute us.

The Question: Do Mormons really baptize dead people?
Your Response: People will say and do anything to persecute us.

The question: Do men really die and get their own planet?
Your response: People will say and do anything to persecute us.

Okay you get the idea and this was our training I knew more about how to avoid answering questions than I did about the gospel according the Joseph Smith. Now yesterday I asked my mother so I heard in April of last year you Mormons baptized Jesus Christ. Her response…yep, "People will say and do anything to persecute us." I could almost mouth it. She then said “I don’t have to talk about this to you.” (that is another response Mormons are trained to say.)

Hmm okay fine by me. But she called the next day and said, “by the way how could we baptize Jesus if we believe he is still alive?” I said, “Well who knows you all just go around baptizing anything with a name.” To which she said, "well we would not do that." To which I said, “really?” said, “we only baptize those who wished to be baptized, to which I said, “ then why did you all baptize all the Jews who died in concentration camps for their belief system. Did they all say they wanted to be baptized Mormon as they were being incinerated?" To which she said….yep, “People will say and do anything to persecute us.” I think that time I did mouth it...

So with that said, yet another good Momron family telling the lies they tell so well and being so brainwashed that they have no clue what the church is and is not hiding from them. And this ladies and gentlemen is another report from an Ex-Mormon that just got tired of saying…. “People will say and do anything to persecute us”

Now don't buy it watch the video with the hidden camera called
Lying for the Lord

Jesus is Now a Mormon

2011-05-27T06:52:00.004-07:00

I think Jesus would disagree that he wanted to be baptized Mormon. But as you know, Mormons love to baptize the Jews, and Jesus was a Jew and Mormons say no Jew shall be left unbaptized.

Researcher Helen Radkey has discovered what she believes to be records for proxy temple ordinances performed on behalf of Mary (Jesus’ mother), Jesus Christ, and Mary Magdalene. Ms. Radkey writes,

“’Mary Mother of Jesus,’ the spouse of ‘Joseph’ ‘of the House of David…’ was baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS Church by proxy on December 9, 2009 in the Idaho Falls Idaho (LDS) Temple. She was subjected to initiatory temple ordinances on December 16, 2009; an endowment ceremony on December 26, 2009; and a sealing to parents on January 7, 2010—all rites occurred in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple.”

While Ms. Radkey found “Joseph” listed as Mary’s spouse, the submission form indicated Mary’s “Husband #1″ was “God the Father.”

Ms. Radkey says her research also turned up recent proxy temple ordinances on behalf of Jesus Christ, though he is identified in the records as “Jesus Christian” and “Jesus Cristian.” Ms. Radkey explains the records show that Jesus was baptized by proxy on April 8, 2010, and after initiatory and endowment ordinances, was finally sealed to his “spouse” “Mary Magdelena” on April 9, 2010 – all at the Salt Lake City Temple. The same proxy ordinances were performed for “Mary Magdelena” on the same dates in the same LDS temple.

Ms. Radkey found a record for “Heavenly Father” as well:

“There was a separate listing in New Family Search, on March 2, 2010, for ‘Heavenly Father’ with his ‘personal identifier’ given as 21JV-899. Details of any marriage sealing of ‘Heavenly Father’ to ‘[The Virgin] Mary [The Virgin]‘ were marked ‘Not available.’ Individual LDS ordinances for ‘Heavenly Father,’ like baptism, confirmation, initiatory and endowment rituals, were tagged ‘Needs more information.’

“By March 10, 2010, roughly a week later, the name of ‘Heavenly Father’ had vanished from record 21JV-899, and ‘Heavenly Father’ was no longer listed as Mary’s spouse on record 9HFF-PVQ for ‘[The Virgin] Mary [The Virgin].’ …

“Record 21JV-899 for ‘Heavenly Father’ now shows ‘[Unknown Name] (-) Living.’ The LDS ordinance section of this entry currently reads: ‘This individual is living, and his or her ordinances cannot be displayed. To obtain this information, have the person contact his or her ward or branch clerk.’”

I would be surprised if the LDS Church approved (or would ever approve) proxy temple ordinances for Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ, so please don’t misunderstand me to be suggesting that these records and ordinances had official sanction. However, doesn’t this make you wonder?

■ What led any Mormon to think and act on the notion that Jesus Christ needs proxy temple ordinances like baptism by the “proper authority,” endowments, and temple marriage? According to Mormonism, if Jesus is a god he’s already obtained those essential requirements for exaltation, hasn’t he?
■ Why would Jesus’ mother need proxy ordinances performed on her behalf? If temple ordinances were part of the early Christian church (as the LDS Church claims) wouldn’t Mary have participated in her own ordinances while she was living?
■ What would cause someone to identify Mary’s “husband #1″ as God the Father? Is this the logical conclusion to which a Mormon has come based on the teachings of Brigham Young and other early LDS leaders?
■ As Ms. Radkey asks, “Why was ‘Heavenly Father’ listed in New FamilySearch—not only as the spouse of Mary—but as a living being who could possibly need LDS ordinances?
Does LDS doctrine naturally lead to this kind of thinking about God?

Well be warned, a Mormon will baptize anything dead, even Jesus, which PROVES Mormons are not Christian as most Christians beleive Jesus rose from the Dead. Oppsss yet another Mormon flaw.

Ref

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2510002/posts

http://blog.mrm.org/2010/07/everyone-needs-lds-temple-ordinances/

http://forums.carm.org/vbb/archive/index.php/t-66638.html

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=189999

http://www.goddiscussion.com/31455/lds-church-reaches-agreement-regarding-posthumous-baptisms-other-questions-about-proxy-baptisms-raised/

Mormon Ads

2011-01-19T08:21:00.003-07:00

Those Mormon ads are getting out of control. They are plastered all over the TV and radio. It surely appears Mormons are desperate for members because they are even using the name MORMON which in all reality MORMONS hate. So this is showing how desperate they are. THERE IS HOPE fighting against these ads. EX-Mormons everywhere are now coming up with their ads and they are so awesome I wanted to share.
These are from the I'm and Ex Mormon Campaing.

I’m and Ex Mormon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_595463&feature=iv&v=oAyZazDpYKs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bup4ydQ7jFQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTDXHjUy-As&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrODZL8m9Dg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6nAJ8boRpU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng-cn6cK6GA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYDaoCSCoJg&feature=related

Utah's Dark Reality

2010-11-11T09:49:00.002-07:00

This was taken form the wepage life after ministries I think it is so important to learn why the Mormons have high suicide rates, high antidepressant rates and the public should know. Thanks for writing this.

Utah's Dark Reality
If life in Utah is so transforming, shouldn't that be reflected in the CDC statistics? (Note: Utah is 70% Mormon)(these stats recorded in 2004)

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) the leading cause of death in America is heart disease, with suicide ranking eleventh. [1] Compare that with what the Utah Department of Health says. They report the leading cause of death for males between the ages of 15-44 as suicide. The Utah External Injury Data System says that from 1992 to 1999 there were 7,713 suicides alone. Eleven of those were between the ages of 0-9 years of age. [2] The rate of suicide in Utah for females between the ages of 15-44 is four times the national average. With this being said, the CDC has been “unable to explain the regional variation of suicide”. About 20 percent of successful suicides have occurred in the 13-21 year old age bracket. The Utah Department of Health has declared it an “epidemic”. For the past four decades now, Utah has ranked in the top ten for numbers of suicides in the nation. [3] What is equally disturbing is that the other nine states are located in the intermountain west and Alaska. [4]

Just think about this for a moment, you’ve got more than a handful of little people who have witnessed such horrific events in their short lives and have learned this is the only way out…

Between 1996-8 the Office of Vital Records and Statistics reported that suicide accounts for 27 percent of deaths in intentional and unintentional deaths in Utah. There were 3,399 deaths in this category. That means there were more than 917 suicides in that two to three year time frame.

A news report on BYU NewsNet states Sterling C. Hilton, assistant professor in the statistics department, as saying “the natural tendency is to assume that since Utah has a predominantly Latter-day Saint population, (70% of the population is LDS), the church must contribute to the level of depression and suicides in Utah.” Newsnet said that Hilton and others performed a study that said just the opposite is true of what the statistics show. “No evidence suggests that church demands and pressures on its members account for the high suicide rate in Utah," Hilton said. [5]

This has to be one of the most insidious comments I have heard in a long time. How could there possibly not be any connections? I lived as a Mormon for 30 years. The demands in Mormonism are so great that it is nothing short of arrogance to assume that there isn’t a connection. The Mormon Church itself said in the book Eternal Man; ‘Suicide is just a change of scenery’. [6]

Newsnet went on to say “the church activity level of the men studied was determined by whether or not they had the appropriate priesthood calling for their age. In other words, if a 16-year-old had been ordained to the office of a priest, he was considered active. The study does not account for the higher suicide rate in Utah overall, a statistic that has baffled sociologists for decades.” I truly believe that they need to bring in some objective mental health advisors to take a hard look at it and tell them the truth, or better yet, call me!

It probably has something to do with the quest for godhood and knowing you can’t go to heaven if you’re not perfect. The following from Mormon Doctrine is just one example of what goes on in the mind of a typical Mormon:

“Christ is the example. "He received a fullness of truth, yea, even of all truth" (D. & C. 93:26), so John tells us. That is, the attribute of truth was perfected in him in the eternal sense and there was not anything which he did not know. If men become perfect, they must do so on the same basis, progressing until they gain all truth, all knowledge, and all the attributes of Deity in their perfection. (D. & C. 93:20-28.) Only those who keep all the commandments and for whom the family unit continues in eternity will merit perfection. (D. & C. 131:1-4; 132:16-32.) This kind of perfection comes not by the Levitical Priesthood (Heb. 7:11), nor can we without our worthy dead attain unto this high status. (Heb. 11:40.)”. Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 568.

Professor Hilton also emphasized the point that the “entire Intermountain West Region of seven or eight states has above-average suicide rates”, as if that justifies Utah. They quote Hilton as saying that Utah was at the lower end of the scale in the region”. That’s like telling one of my kids that I won’t punish them because their friend told the bigger lie! Can you just imagine if God worked on that kind of a scale? Where would you be in eternity?

Dan Judd, author of Religion, Mental Health, and the Latter-day Saints found that suicide rates at BYU are lower than other college campuses, and contends that it's spurious to assume that depression or suicides are linked to the church. He also mentioned that “Nevada pulls the region much higher, and I think possibly westerners have more access to weapons and firearms”. [7]

Perhaps it has something to do with the high usage of anti-depressants Mr. Judd. Eli-Lilly dispenses 62% more Prozac in Utah than any other state. More Utahns take Prozac-style drugs than in any other state, according to a study conducted in June of 2001 by Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management firm. [8] The study indicated that Utah residents average 1.1 prescriptions per person per year of medications such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil. The national average is 0.7.

"Oregon and Maine also had above average anti-depressant usage, but those states' percentage of overcast days and average length of winter could explain the increased number of depressed residents," said Jim Jorgenson, director of pharmacy services for the University of Utah. No such weather explanations exist in Utah, which has a high percentage of sunny days and average winter duration, he said.

Jorgenson said Utah women, the group accounting for the largest percentage of anti-depressant use, ‘are under larger amounts of stress than their counterparts in other states because of large family size in Utah’. He also said ‘some experts believe pressures on time and emotions could explain the high Prozac usage among Latter-day Saints’. Judd offered an additional hypothesis after stressing that Utah's usage of anti-depressants does not indicate there is a higher lever of depression in the state.

"Utahns are more educated per capita than residents of other states," he said. "So instead of trying to ignore mental problems or medicate it on our own with alcohol or something else, we tend to seek professional help. We try to address our problems through legal legitimate ways." [9] Many intelligent people get depressed. Depression doesn’t mean you’re stupid and what a stigma to place upon someone who deals with this personally!

In addition, why the discrepancy between deaths that lead to eternal destruction, i.e. suicide and the ‘one and only true church’? Shouldn’t the Church be the ones to show the importance of life if they’re really the ‘only true church’? The so-called ‘experts’ that are taking a look at this have their heads in the sand on this one. This is not the way of escape! Suicide is certainly a change of scenery but it’s definitely not one that God would want for these people!

In an interview in the Deseret News, reporter James Thalman said; “Air Force Lt. Col. David Litts, a medical doctor and special assistant on suicide to the surgeon general, suggests that Utahns [sic] need to evaluate whether the culture is pro-treatment or stigmatizing, a key factor in the suicide rate. He also suggests taking a look at the local "faith systems…is there a way for people who think they have failed to be forgiven and get that second chance? Faiths need to find a way to let people gracefully re-establish themselves after they've made a mistake.” [10]

So basically what this doctor has said is that they might want to take a look within the infrastructures of the Church. And because he probably can’t say it out loud for political reasons, I will; you have a higher chance of committing suicide if you’re a Mormon than if you live elsewhere or believe in anything else. It makes me fear for my family! What are the chances that they’ll get out alive? According to this report, they are slim. Seventy seven hundred people is the size of a decent sized town in America!

And if this weren’t bad enough there’s even more bad news for Utah. The Department of Justice and the Bureau of Justice statistics released their annual reports on the national crime index for the nation. [11] Once again Utah didn’t score so well.

Each time I do my research and reports on the crime index of violent crimes, namely forcible rape, Salt Lake City always reports in with an abnormally higher percentage rate. I ask the question again; why?

I compared Salt Lake City with four other metropolitan cities in the nation and their percentages of forcible rape. They are: Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City and Miami. The rates are based on a population per 100,000.

Los Angeles: 36.9
Miami: 25.3
New York: 20.9
Seattle 26.2
Salt Lake City: 58.4

No folks, 58.4% is not a misprint! If living in the most ‘holy’ lands of Salt Lake Valley means being under mighty hand of God, then why are the statistics showing otherwise?

UTAH RANKS 16TH OUT OF 50 FOR MUREDERED FEMALES

According to the Utah Domestic Violence Council, “in 2001, the national homicide rate among female victims murdered by males in single victim/single perpetrator incidents in the United States was 1.4 per 100,000. Utah’s rate was 23% higher than the national rate. In 2001, Utah ranked 16th in the United States in the rate of female victims murdered by males in single victim/single perpetrator incidents. During that year, 18 of these homicides occurred. This is 1.7 homicides per 100,000 population.” In addition to this they also stated that “domestic violence is one of the fastest growing and most serious violent crimes in Utah today.” [12] Normally taking 16th place wouldn’t be so bad, however this state supposedly has all the answers! The prophets have said that when ‘they speak, the thinking has been done’, (Ensign, 6/42).

Mike Haddon, research director at the Utah Commission of Criminal and Juvenile Justice is quoted on BYU Newsnet in regards to the forcible rape issue:

"Is it a reporting issue or are there more victimizations here in Utah for some reason?" he said. "What is it about our culture that would make us more prone to be victims of this kind of crime, or are we more willing to report this kind of crime because of our culture? Those are answers that are really difficult to get at… Utah is lower than the national average in other violent crimes’. [13]

As I stated before, this does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out! How can you possibly believe that what you are studying at home for your foundation of faith and life not lead to these kinds of statistics? If you believe that a man’s only way to heaven is through becoming a god and the only way to godhood is having multiple wives then doesn’t that drive the urge for male dominance out of control? When you’re told as a woman that it’s best to stay home with all of the kids, have a perfect home for your husband to come home to, be up to your elbows in flour when your kids get home from school, wouldn’t that drive you to be contemplating suicide?

‘That exaltation which the saints of all ages have so devoutly sought is godhood itself. Godhood is to have the character, possess the attributes, and enjoy the perfections which the Father has. It is to do what he does, have the powers resident in him, and live as he lives, having eternal increase.’ Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 321.

We are begging the people of Utah to rethink their beliefs. By showing in a concise manner the statistics of rape, suicide and other problems within the boundaries of the ‘Zion Curtain’ hopefully it’ll wake up the people.

1 – http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm - CDC

2 – Utah Department of Health statistics.

3 – Utah Department of Health. John A. Workman, B.A., William McMahon, M.D Douglas D. Gray, M.D., Jennifer S. Achilles, M.A.,

4 – CDC Data wonderbase

5 – BYU NewsNet

6 – Truman G. Madsen, Eternal Man, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1966], 26.

7 – Troy Goodman, Salt Lake Tribune/Scripps Howard News Service

8 – ibid

9 – BYU NewsNet

10 – Deseret News, reported by James Thalman, April 16, 2002

11 – Bureau of Justice Statistics Data Online – www.ojp.usdoj.gov

12 – Utah Domestic Violence Council 2004 Annual Report

13 – BYU Newsnet, as reported by Julie Cunningham, Oct. 29, 2002

Ex Mormons Speak

2010-10-24T07:47:00.003-07:00

Mormons do not want you to hear this. However, many Ex-Mormons are now willing to break the silence that they have been programed. Mormons used to have to take a blood oath to keep their rituals secret, but more and more Mormons are leaving the church trying to live their life again after living in a cult for so long.

So here is a radio show that is in two parts and ex-Mormons risk telling the truth. Yes they will be called liars by Mormons, and hero's by people trying to leave the church.

Part One

Part Two

The Real Story about Joseph Smith and His Death

2010-08-02T16:26:00.003-07:00

I always felt it was interesting about the two faces of Joseph Smith. I knew as a young child that Smith was a crook and a pedophile. That he used God to be with young teen women. In fact, it was interesting how the literature shows Smith, was a great guy who did so much for so many people, yet, Smith was into mysticisms and Masonic practices, and he was a money-digger who engaged in fortune telling.

You wont hear people talk about the militia he formed, or that he destroyed a printing press and burned down the building that it was in. You won't hear that he shot and killed two men with a gun he had smuggled into the jail. And you won't hear that he had 48 wives.

You wont hear that he believed there are people that lived on the moon, or that God is from the planet Kolob, or that he had 3 different stories about his so called first vision. You wont hear that Mormons baptized the Jews from the holocaust and even baptized Hitler, along with all the Popes that have long passed. Nope you wont hear any truth from a Mormon.

Here, Ex Mormons work hard on giving you the truth. Here is a great video about how Smith really died.

Magic Mormon Underwear

2010-08-02T16:09:00.001-07:00

When I waws a child, my parent wore the magic Mormon underwear. We were not allowed to fold them, we were not allowed to look at them. In fact, my father sat in his chair every night in his Mormon panties and we were not allowed to look back at him because of his underwear.

My mother said we would never know what the symbols stood for unless we either got married in the temple and were special enough to wear the Mormon panties, or when we died.

I vowed to never wear them and I never have and I also vowed I would learn the meaning behind the occultish symbolism. Well here is a video that explains it with a little humor as well, so enjoy.

Twilight, Mormon Vampires?

2010-07-13T13:37:00.002-07:00

I was shocked to see that Stephenie Meyer, author of tweenage best-selling books “Twilight” is a Mormon. Who would have guessed? I suppose it would make perfect sense. After all, their prophet Joseph Smith loved the occult.

If you recall, Smith had a vision, well several visions and he kept making revisions of his original vision, in fact three revisions to his first vision, but hey, that is beside the point. The point here is we have another copy cat. Seems like Meyers claims that the concept for the “Twilight Saga” series of books came in a vision. The active Mormon mommy has never published a word before pitching her idea to an agent who got her a $750,000, three-book deal. My question would be how much did Joseph Smith get for his vision?

I suppose the other question here is why is it that Mormons have so many visions? Hmmmmm. I must say though Meyers vision is making her millions of Mormon bucks. We can only hope she is giving her 10%.

My other thought is why would Mormons use vampires as an outlet to spread the word? I find it odd. In a religion that says Harry Potter should not be watched by Mormons, they are saying blood sucking dead is okay. I suppose that would make sense since Mormons have a great relationship with the dead and do ceremonies baptizing millions of dead non-Mormons yearly.

Still I cannot help but believe if author JK Rowling who did all the Harry Potter books was a Mormon, the Mormons would fine with the Harry Potter series. Their double standards make it okay to teach youth about vampires and werewolves. In fact you would think they would find Harry Potter okay since it is about the occult, which Smith and his mother practiced.

Vampires though, this would make good Mormon sense. After all, they are obsessed with the dead. Mormons are very affluent with the dead. Mormons actually believe that through Mormon prayer and dunking for the dead that dead people can receive salvation.

They associate very much with the dead. The Pastor of the First Satanic Church, and the author of the Satanic Bible, is Anton LaVey. In his Satanic Bible, LaVey lists, under "In fernal Names," one of them as "Mormo," which is the God of the living dead, and the king of the Ghouls.

Come on folks. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The Mormon Church is the owner of the largest Genealogy center in the world, and they deal directly with the dead ancestors of the living. Heck even Mormon missionaries have had a hard time in China, and it is not because of it’s communists rule. It is because the word Mormon in Chinese means Gates of Hell.

So does Twilight send hidden Mormon messages? Some say yes, I think it just shows how obsessed they are with the dead and the occult. It is obvious that Mormonism is part of the Illuminati's end-time religion. All of these religions and occultists have a common denominator--FREEMASONRY! Mormon founder, Joseph Smith, was a 33rd degree Freemason.

So Meyer is barking up the right tree. Showing what Mormons really believe in. Let’s see what the next Mormon vision will be shall we!

SEX and the Mormon Church

2009-02-12T08:41:00.001-07:00

The Restoration Means God Leads the Mormon Church

"Living prophets are leading this church today. The greatest security of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes from learning to listen to and obey the words and commandments that the Lord has given through living prophets. I would hope that the world would understand the importance of having a living prophet on earth today. In my own lifetime, through association with prophets, I have observed how they are prepared by the Lord. Their purpose is to bring us the will of the Lord for our times. I give my testimony that the prophets of this day have the qualities of the prophets of old and the other prophets of this dispensation. Each of these prophets has humbly and prayerfully sought to know and follow God?s will in his personal ministry. We declare with soberness, and yet with the authority of God in us vested, we have a prophet today. The President of the Church, as a prophet, is God?s representative on earth and is appointed to lead His church."
-Apostle Robert D. Hales, "Hear the Prophet?s Voice and Obey," Ensign, May 1995, Page 15

Now look what those leaders have done over the last 150 years. Ask yourself, are these men really God's representatives on the Earth?

The following historical events regarding sex and marriage in the church have been compiled from the extensive historical church chronology from D. Michael Quinn's book "The Mormon Hierarchy : Extensions of Power" For references, refer to the book.

Jan 14, 1848 - Brigham Young instructs Seventy's meeting: "For the first act of adultery you may forgive a man, but if a man beds with a woman and does it 10 times he is guilty."

11 Mar, 1848 - Benjamin Covey is excommunicated for having sexual intercourse with two girls "less than Twelve years of age" who are his foster daughters. He is rebaptized and serves as bishop of Salt Lake City Twelfth Ward from 22 February 1849 until 1856.

1 Feb, 1849 - First counselor Heber C. Kimball tells Sunday meeting that plural marriage "would end he said when the Church had gone to the Devil or the Prieshood taken from this people - then God would give it to another people."

3 Mar, 1849 - At council of Fifty meeting, Brigham Young speaks concerning theives, murderers, and sexually licentious: "I want their cursed heads to be cut off that they may atone for their crimes." Next day, the council agrees that man has "forfeited his Hed," and decides it would be best "to dispose of him privately." Instead, they allow him to live.

29 April, 1849 - First Presidentcy and Quorum of Twelve make following decisions concerning sex in marriage "not to unite with woman in view of impregnation till 7 days after the cesation of the menstrual discharge in order for the most healthy procreation. Also that after childbrith if delivered a son she should continue 40 days in her purification [without sexual intercourse with her husband]. If daughter she [the new mother] should be 70 days separated as unclean for a man. As to sexual connexion during pregnancy, do just as they please about that - suit themselves." This is the earliest known LDS discussion of what is appropriate in sexual relations of married couples. These rules are based on Book of Leviticus, rather than on current medical writings.

15 Jan, 1851 - First of Brigham Youngs' five formal divorces from plural wives. He is only one formally divorced while serving as church president. Joseph Smith informally ended several plural marriages, and four LDS presidents are formally divorced as apostles (John Talor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow and Joseph F. Smith)

19 Jar, 1851 - Utah legislature enacts law against "Sodomoy" by "any man or boy," but removes sodomoy from criminal code on 6 Mar. 1852, without explanation. As governor Brigham Young signs both laws. Due to absence of sodomy statue, Utah judge drops charges against soldier for raping LDS boy in 1864. Young claims Utah's legislators never criminalized sodomy and he declines to instruct them to do so for the next twlve years. Utah legislators criminalize sodomy in 1876 only because federally appointed governor asks them to adopt entire criminal code of California which has five-year imprisonment for sodomoy. For next twenty years LDS judges give 3-6 months of improsoniment to those convicted of homosexual rape, the same sentencing given to young males and females convicted of consensual fornication. Mormons of this era give no known explanations for any of these legislative and jurdicial actions/inactions.

17 MAr, 1851 - Brigham Young speaks in favor of Madison D. Hambleton who is being tried for shooting and killing man at LDS church services, immediately after closing prayer. The man "seduced" wife of Hambletone who is "acquitted by the Court and also by the Voice os the people present." Hambleton later becomes sheriff in Utah.

18 Oct, 1851 - Trial of confessed murderer (and newly returned-missinary) Howard Egan. His lawyer Apsotle George A. Smith popularizes phrase "mountain common law" and argues: "The man who seduces his neighbor's wife must die, and her nearest relative must kill him!" Fifteen minutes later jury finds Egan not guilty of murder. Church authorities print Smith's closing argument in Deseret News, in two church pamphlets, and later in Journal of Discourses 1:97. Egan is one of Brigham Young's enforcers.

24 July, 1853 - Brigham Young preaches, "The Father came down in his bodily tabernacle and begot Jesus."

19 Feb, 1854 - Seventy's president Jedediah M. Grant preaches: Did the Prophet Joseph want every man's wife that he asked for? He did not...."

16 July, 1854 - First counselor Heber C. Kimball recommends decapitation for adulterers and preaches from the pulpit concerning "unclean" women: "we wipe them out of exsistence."

8 Oct, 1854 - In what Apostle Wilford Woodruff describes as "the greatest sermon that ever was deliveed to the Latter Day Saints since they have been a people," Brigham Young announces from the pulpit: "I believe in Sisters marrying brothers, and brothers having their sisters for Wives. Why? because we cannot do otherwise. There are none others for me to and the opposite idea has resulted from the ignorant and foolish traditions of the nations of the earth." Young's secretary George D. Watt has already married his own half sister as a plural wife. Her letter to Young shows that he was initially "unfavorable" toward allowing them to marry, but this sermon reveals theological basis for Young's authorizing Watt's brother-sister marriage and the three children born of their union.

27 Apr, 1855 - Lieutenant in Colonel E. J. Steptoe's command in Salt Lake City writes to friend about his romance and near seduction of one of the wives of Brigham Young's son Joseph (who is on a mission): "Mary [Ayers] Young and I had to give up. Brigham sent me word that if I took her away he would have me killed before I could get out of the Territory. He is a man of his word and little matters of this sort are concluded, I had better not do it, although I went back to the city purposely to get her. We wrote each other affectionate notes."

27 Mar, 1857 - Brigham Young permits woman to select faithful elders to act as "proxy" to father children for her sexually impotent living husband. Young performs polyandrous ceremony "for time," and the relationship lasts for several years producting two sons, (1858, 1861). Mother's legal husband raises boys with her, and later tells them he loves them as much as if they were his natural sons. Both boys grow up to become devoted Mormons and polygamists. This is last knon case of authorized polyandry.

2 June, 1857 - Brigham Young says from the pulit, "I feel to sustain him," when informed that the bishop in Manti. Waren S. Snow, has castrated twenty-four-year-old Welchman, Thomas Lewis, for undisclosed sex crime. "Just let the matter drop, and say no more about it," Young writes Snow in July about the castration, "and it will soon die away among the people." Snow's counselor confides to his diary that this poor young man "has now gone crazy."

14 June, 1857 - At a prayer circle of the First Presidency and apostles, Brigham Young refuses to seal three young girls (ages 12 and 13) to "Father James Allred" (age 73) because they "would not be equally yoked together" in marriage.

27 Jan, 1858 - Judge Hosea Stout describes with no disaproval how Mormons "disguised as Indians" drag a man "out of bed with a whore and castrated him by a square and close amputation."

5 Apr, 1858 - Bishop of Payson, his brother the Sherriff, and sevral members of their LDS congregation join in shooting to death twenty-two-year-old Henry Jones and is mother, Mrs. Hannah Jones Hatch, for committing incest by which she has a daughter. The men also kill infant and also castrate brother/father. Perpetrators are indicted next year, but not brought to trial. When indicted again in 1889, Deseret News article criticizes trial of this "antiquated Payson homicide" as anti-Mormon crusade gainst those who were justifiably "digusted and greatly incensed" against "the brutal mother and son." Former sherriff is convicted of murder, former bishop is acquitted.

12 Sep, 1858 - Church historian's office notes discovery this morning of severed head of Provo woman who has been at U.S. military camp for a week. Six weeks earlier another woman's head is discovered. These are earliest verified examples of someone taking literally the repeated teachings of Mormon leaders that apostates and adulterers should have their heads "cut off" as "blood atonement" for their sins.

2 Jan, 1859 - Brigham Young begins custom of having all Mormon congregations sit with women on north side of center aisle, men on south side, and children on front benches. This seating arrangement lasts for decades, remains in temples to this day.

8 Oct, 1859 - Brigham Young from the pulpit tells bishops to give Melchizedek priesthood to eighteen-year old boys, even if they "have been sowing their wild oats for years."

8 July, 1860 - Brigham Young preaches from the pulpit, "Children are now born who will live until every son of Adam will have the privledge of receiving the principles of eternal life." He also preaches, "The birth of our Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action."

23 Feb 1862 - Brigham Young preaches from the pulpit that the concept of Mother in Heaven is as essential as concept of Father in Heaven.

1 Aug 1862 - Brigham Young writes to a local bishop: "my advice is for bro james T.S. Allred to marry the Indian girl in question. It is written that 'not many generations shall pass away before they become a white and delightsome people.'" Dozens of men marry Native Americans as plural wives in pioner Utah and Arizona.

12 Apr, 1866 - Deseret News reports murder of S. Newton Brassfield on 2 Apr. He legally maries plrual wife of absent Mormon missionary, and Deseret News editorializes that "the illegaly married couple would probably have been suffered to prusue their way to their own liking," except that she filed for custody of her children. Deseret News also reports Brigham Young's sermon about the murdered Brassfield: "Were I absent from my home on a mission, I would rejoice to know that I had friends there to protect and guard the virtue of my household; and I would thank God for such friends."

19 Aug, 1866 - Brigham Young preaches from the pulpit: "Mary, the wife of Joseph, had another husband. On this account infidels have called the Savior a bastard... he was begotten by God our Heavenly Father." She was a polyandrist, like the women he authorized in 1857.

11 Dec, 1866 - Brigham Young, Jr. writes in his diary that "a nigger" is found dead in Salt Lake City with this note pinned to the cropse: "Let this be a warning to all niggers that they medle not with white women."

10 Jan, 1868 - Deseret News Editorial: "In this Territory we jealously close the door against adultery, seduction and whoredom. Public opinion here pronounces the penalty of death as the fitting punishment for such crimes."

4 Feb, 1868 - Deseret News editorializes that "it is a pity" LDS father did not succeed in killing his daughter's lover when the father "drew a revolver and shot him down in the court room."

5 MAr, 1868 - Deseret News article titled "Served Him Right" reports that a Gentile is given "sound thrashing" when he visits LDS meeting to see young woman.

15 Aug, 1869 - Apostle George Q. Canon preaches from the pulpit: "We close the door on one side, and say that whoredoms, seductions and adulteries must not be committed among us, and we say to those who are determined to carry on such things: WE WILL KILL YOU..."

27 Oct, 1869 - Brigham Young preaches at Lehi, Utah that "by marriage Lot's two daughters were sealed to him, and will be his to all eternity." Young adds that it might one day become necessary to seals a man's daughter to him as a wife, "but it is not likely ever again to occur." There are verified instances of LDS leaders performing polygamous marriages between men and their foster-daughters or step-daughters, but not actual daughters.

18 June, 1870 - First counselor George A. Smith tells Salt Lake School of the Prophets about "the evil of Masturbation" among Utah Mormons. Apostle Lorenzo Snow says that "Plural Marriage would tend to diminish this evil self-pollution," and he believes that "indulgence on the part of men was less in Plural marriage than in Monogomy." Elder George Reynolds (Secretary to Brigahm Young) also tells the School that "where Monogomy was the Law, it compelled a more frequent (sexual) cohabitation than is right and proper." Mormon medical books of the time advise sexual intercourse only once a month.

11 Sep, 1871 - Counselor Daniel H. Wells tells Grantsville School of the Prophets that "a great many of our young men are abusing themselves by the habit of self-pollution: or self abuse, or as the Bible terms it, Onanism," which he regards as "one great cause why so many of our young men were not married, and it was a great sin, and would lead to insanity and a premature grave." Polygamy is likelier cause for prevalence of bachelorhood in ninteenth-century Utah. First, every national census lists more males than females in Mormon population. Second, 10 to 40 percent of Mormon men marry polygamously which demographically requires bachelorhood in Utah's majority population of males.

16 Dec, 1871 - Seymor B. Young, son of senior Seventy's president, writes: "Salt Lake City has for the first time in its history houses of Ill fame almost on every corner."

27 Feb, 1872 - LDS publication Millenial Star editorial titled, "Motherhood of God," repeats a child's question: "Why don't you tell me about the Heavenly Mother? Don't she give us anything?" Editorial speaks of those who "yearn to adore her" and expresses approval of praying to "Father and Mother God." Editorial conclusion: "When we draw nearer the Divine Man, lo! we shall find a Divine Woman smiling upon us...In the Father's many mansions, we shall find her and be satisfied."

7 Mar, 1875 - Apostle Joseph F. Smith's wife writes to him that "you know how brother (Apostle) [Albert] Carrington thinks a deal of women." In Dec. 1882 Apostle John Henry Smith writes President John Taylor that maid at British Mission headquarters "found Bro. Carrington lying upon the lounge and Sarah Kirkman lying upon top him." Upon Brigham Young's inquiry about other women in 1873 and John Taylor's inquiry about Sarah Kirkham in 1883, Carrington denies serious wrongdoing. he is not excommunicated until 1885 when protests from Sarah's husband become too insistent to ignore.

24 June, 1876 - Brigham Young confides that it is "a curiousity to him that men could commit adultery and still retain the spirit of the Lord as he had witnessed on one occasion. The man is now dead."

26 Sep, 1877 - Grand Jury describes Salt Lake County probate court as a "divorce mill" which granted 300 divorces in previous twelve-month period, primarily on "grounds of incompatibility of temperment, different aims and objectives in life." Eighty percent of divorced couples come to Utah for divorces from such places as San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Terre Haute, and St. Louis. Report finds that 13 percent of divorces are granted same day of complaint, total of 25 percent within week of application, and total of 85 percent are granted within a month of aplication. Report continues, "And your committee have good reason to beleive that other country probate courts of the territory are likewise engaged in this class of divorce business, to an equal if not greater extent." Two months later U.S. senator Dawes introduces bill to remove divorce from jurisdiction of Mormon probate courts and limit divorce cases to federally-appointed non-Momron judges.

13 June, 1878 - LDS political newspaper Salt Lake Herald's editorial on "Unhappy Marriages" begins: "We cannot say how many divorces the (Mormon) Utah probate courts have granted during the last few years, but the number is enormous, amounting to perhaps thousands."

8 Oct, 1881 - First Counselor George Q. Cannon tells general conference: "We hear now of men having got married to cover up certain things; of children born wonderfully soon after marriage in some of our setlements, and perhaps in this city no less than in our rural settlements."

31 Mar, 1883 - Apostle Brigham Young Jr. tells stake priesthood meeting: "There are many girls in Utah who have never had an offer of marriage from a man of the Church... Girls who marry outsiders are not worthy of the Sacrament."

9 Oct, 1883 - In several hours of meeting with stake presidents, First Presidency and apostles give instructions about "Masturbation...self-pollution of both sexes and excessive sexual indulgence in the married relation." This is the first-known Mormon referene to female masturabation.

7 Nov, 1885 - Quorum of Twelve excommunicates Apostle Albert Carrington "for crimes of lewd and lascivious conduct and adultery" with several women dating back to 1871. This is the first time since 1842 that a general authority is excommunicated for sexual misconduct, and its publication on 10 Nov. stuns the community.

27 Mar, 1886 - Polygamist husband confides in his personal diary: "How delicate is the position of a man in plural marriage who loves his wives and who in turn is loved by them. Every move he makes, in his relation or intercourse with them, is an arrow that pierces deep into the heart of one or other of them... A thousand thoughts and plans may come into his mind, but there is only one true solution. He must please God. In doing this, it may be hoped that by and by, he may also somehow please them."

15 July, 1886 - Apostle Lorenzo prophecises from the pulpit that in the future "brothers and sisters would marry each other in this church. All our horror at such a union was due entirely to prejudice, and the offspring of such unions would be as healthy and pure as any other. These were the decided views of President Young, when alive, for Bother Snow talked to him freely on this matter."

27 Dec, 1886 - Sarah M. Granger Kimball, counselor in Relief Society General Presidency teaches from the pulpit that "her brother Lafayette Granger and the late Bishop George Miller in conversation once with the prophet Joseph smith were told by him that when Mary the mother of Jesus was on her way to the hill country she was met by God the Father and the Angel Gabriel and the latter performed the marriage between Father (God) and Mary."

21 July, 1887 - Apostle Franklin D. Richards: "God the Father came down in his tabernacle of flesh and bone and had (sexual) association with Mary, and made her pregnant with Jesus."

27 Feb, 1889 - LDS politcial newspaper Salt Lake Herald's article titled, "FAILED MARRIAGES," regarding "the report of the Labor Commissioner Wright, presented last week, on the statistics of marriage and divorce in the United States from 1867 to 1886 inclusive," with following: In 1870 Utah had highest rate of divorce out of all states and territories. In 1870 Utah's rate was one divorce per 185 marriages. National averages was 1:664. States with lowest divorce rates are South Carolina at 1:4,938, Delaware at 1:123,672, New Mexico at 1:16,077, North Carolina at 1:4,938, and Louisiana at 1:4,579. In 1880 Utah had tenth highest rate of divorce out of all states and territories. In 1880 Utah's rate was one divorce per 219 marriages, wich was more than twice the national average of 1:479. In twentieth century, divorce rates for LDS temple marriages starts out three times higher than this "divorce mill" rate for early Utah civil marriages.

13 Mar, 1890 - Plural wife writes to her husband: "We are more like lovers than husband and wife for we are as far removed from each other - there is always the embarrassment of lovers and yet we have been married more than 37 years."

8 Sep, 1890 - Apostle John Henry Smith preaches from the pulput that "married people who indulge their passions for any other purpose than to beget children, really comitted adultery."

1 Oct, 1890 - An apostle asks "how the Son of God was begotten," and Lorenzo Snow tells apostles, "that he was begotten just the same as you and I were or as our sons today are."

2 Dec, 1890 - Apostle Lorenzo Snow tells the Quorum of Twelve that "he expects to see the day when a man's blood is shed again for the crime of adultery."

24 Mar, 1891 - Utah's chief justice Zane writes: "Polygamy has demoralized the people of Utah. I presume there are more sexual crimes here in proportion to the population than anywhere else."

6 Mar, 1892 - Stake president "condemns the practice that existed among the Saints to some extent of taking means to restrict the number of their children to only two or three."

20 Sep, 1896 - Seventy's president J. Golden Kimball preaches: "There are 500 girls who are public prostitutes in Salt Lake City. Some of these are daughters of Latter-Day Saints."

5 Nov, 1896 - Apostle Lorenzo R. Snow's youngest plural wife bears his last child in Canada. At age 82 he is the oldest general authority to father a child.

15 Jan, 1897 - Apostle Brigham Young Jr. temporarily resigns as vice-president of Brigham Young Trust Co. because first counselor George Q. Cannon allows its property to become "a first class" brotherl on Commercial Street (now Regent Street), Salt Lake City. Apostle Heber J. Grant is invited to its opening reception and is stunned to discover himself inside "a regular whore-house." This situation begins in 1891 and for fifty years church-owned and controled real estate companies lease houses of prostitution.

7 Oct, 1898 - At general conference Apostle John W. Taylor reports that in one rural area in Utah, 80 percent of LDS marrages involve pre-marital sex.

14 June, 1900 - First Presidency and apostles agree to give $3,600 to Brigham Y. Hampton for his prior "detective work" in which he paid prostitute to allow him and nearly thirty LDS "Home Missionaries" and policemen to spy on anti-Mormons engaging in sex acts in Salt Lake City brothels in 1885. Although first counselor denies it at this meeting, in private meetings of First Presidency George Q. Cannon refers to Hampton's brothel work as "services rendered the Church" and "work in behalf of the Church." Hampton has been set apart as a Salt Lake temple worker since 1893, and another coordinator of brothel spying is the temple doorkeeper (1893-1910).

10 July 1901 - Apostle Anthon H. Lund reports to apostles that during six-month period, 58 percent of LDS marriages in rural ward were "forced."

7 Nov, 1901 - First Presidency decides and announces that there is "no rule in the church forbidding cousins to intermarry" and that first cousins can have temple marriages if they present civil license. General authorities such as Brigham Young, Williard Richards, Joseph F. Smith and Abraham H.Cannon married their first cousins as legal and plural wives.

23 Nov, 1902 - Apostle John W. Taylor tells stake priesthood meeting that "those who have sexual intercourse with their wives or touch any dead body are unclean until the evening, and therefore during that day should not enter the temple or officiate in any ordinances of the gospel."

26 Mar 1903 - Joseph F. Smith tells apostles "there would be no daughters of perdition" in final judgment. General authorities authorize rebaptism without church discipline for young man who confesses "secret crime he committed in having to do with animals."

7 July, 1903 - Apostle Rudger Clawson tells other apostles "that the practice of self-abuse existed to an alarming extent among the boys in our community who attended the district schools, and also, he doubted not, the church schools. He felt that the boys and girls should be properly instructed in regard to this evil."

25 Oct, 1905 - Public criticism of Joseph F. Smith's remarks that Father Damien of Hawaiian leper colony was immoral before his death. LDS church president is convinced that leprosy is contracted through sexual contact.

9 May, 1913 - First Presidency learns that James Dwyer, co-founder of Salt Lake City's LDS University (now LDS Business College), has been "teaching young men that sodomy and kindred vices are not sins..." Dwyer's daughter, actress Ada Dwyer Russell, is already in long-term relationship with lesbian poet Amy Lowell. Dwyer's bishop and stake president want to excommunicate him, but First Presidency allows Dwyer, now in his eighties, to voluntarily "withdraw his name" from LDS church membership.

29 Sep, 1914 - Quorum of Twelve learns that mission president has "discovered that 15% of the missionary Elders in the Netherlands during the past two years, have been guilty of imoral practices, and that a much greater percentage of Elders have ben exposed to these evils."

8 June, 1941 - First Councelor J. Reuben Clark tells annual general conference of youth and their leaders: "When I was a boy it was preached from the stand, and my father and my mother repeated the principle to me time and time again. They said, 'Reuben, we had rather bury you than have you become uchaste.' And that is the law of this true Church."

26 Jan, 1842 - First Councelor J. Reuben Clark tells reporter for Look Magazine: "Our divorces are piling up." Church Historian's Office in 1968 compiles divorce statistics since 1910 for temple marriages, "church civil" marriages, and "other civil" marriages. Although temple marriages have lowest divorce rate of the three categories, in 1910 there was one "temple divorce" for every 66 temple marriages performed that year., 1:41 in 1915, 1:34 in 1920, 1:27 in 1925, 1:30 in 1930, 1:23 in 1935, 1:27 in 1939, 1:17 in 1945, 1:31 in 1950, 1:30 in 1955, 1:19 in 1960 and 1965. Last rate for temple divorce is almost ten times higher than Utah's civil divorce rate century earlier.

2 Oct, 1952 - Second Counselor J. Reuben Clark warns women of Relief Society general conference against "self-pollution," prostitution, and "homosexuality, which it is tragic to say, is found among both sexes." He cautions LDS women against allowing homsexually oriented males to use them as male-substitutes in dating or marriage: "I wonder if you girls have ever reflected on the thought that was in the mind of the man who first began to praise you for your boyish figures." Clark also tells the ladies, "I forebear to more than mention that abomination and filth and loathsomeness of the ancients - carnal knowledge with beasts." Church Relief Society magazine publishes this talk in full.

21 May, 1959 - Executive committee of Church Board of Education discusses "the growing problem in our society of homosexuality." Spencer W. Kimball reports that David O.McKay has said "that in his view homosexuality was worse than heterosexual imorality; that it is a filthy and unnatural habit."

12 Feb, 1964 - First Presidency letter that all prosepctive missionaries "found guilty of fornication, of sex perversion, of heavy petting, or of comparable transgressions should not be recommended until the case has been discussed with the bishop and stake president and the visiting General Authority."

7 Jan, 1969 - First Presidency secretary Joseph Anderson answers letter about "the Church's stand pertaining to birth control," with the concluding statement: "After all, however, the bretheren recognize that this is a personal matter involving the individuals concerned, and concerning which they must make their own decision."

14 April, 1969 - First Presidency makes official statement on birth control which omits any reference to their own feelings about birth control as "a personal matter," and states: "We believe that those who practice birth control will reap dissapointment by and by," and repeated earlier letter's emphasis on "self control as a dominant factor" in marriage.

9 June, 1978 - First Presidency letter instructs that interviews of married persons "should scrupulously avoid indelicate inquiries," yet also emphasizes: "Married persons should understand that if in their marital relations they are guilty of unnatural, impure or unholy practices, they should not enter the temple unless and until they repent and discontinue any such pratices." This reverses position of First Presidency proir to Spencer W. Kimball's ascendancy.

17 June, 1978 - Church News headline "Interracial Marriage Discouraged" in same issue which announces authorizaton of priesthood for those of black African descent. Sources at church headquarters indicate that Apostle Mark E. Petersen requires this emphasis.

Sep 1981 - Branch presidents at the Missionary Training Center in Provo receive 21-point handout to help "both male and female" misionaries avoid masturbation. Point 19: "In very severe cases it may be necessary to tie a hand to the bed frame with a tie in order that the habit of masturbating in a semi-sleep condition can be broken." In May 1995 article about masturbation, national magazine "Details" publishes seventeen of the recommendations and identifies Apostle Mark E. Petersen as author of "Steps in Overcoming Masturbations: A Guide to Self-Control." In 1996, spokesman at LDS headquarters denies that Elder Petersen authored this document and denies that it was ever distributed.

5 Jan, 1982 - First Presidency repeats its 1978 instructions for "interviewing married persons," but adds: "The First Presidency has interpreted oral sex as constituting an unnatural, impure or unholy practice."

15 Oct 1982 - First Presidency instruction to all stake and mission leaders that many letters from church members "indicate clearly that some local leaders have been delving into private, sensitive matters beyond the scope of what is appropriate.... Also, you should never inquire into personal, intimate matters involving marital relations between a man and his wife." Letter continues that even if a church member volunteers such intimate information, "you should not persue the mater but should merely suggest that if the member has enough anxiety about the propriety of the conduct to ask about it, the best course would be to discontinue it." In response to widespread complaints from married couples being asked if they have oral sex, this returns First Presidency stance to what it was prior to presidency of Spencer W. Kimball, now incapacitated.

4 Mar, 1983 - Salt Lake Tribune reports lawsuit filed in February against LDS church for $28 million. A father blames LDS bishop for contributing to his sixteen-year-old son's suicide for conseling his son "that masturbation is a terrible sin.. and being a normal adolescent in the puberty state, KIP ELIASON became increasingly less able to reconcile his sexual desires with the strict doctrines of the said LDS Church. He became filled with self-hate."

15 Apr, 1983 - "University Post: The Unofficial Newspaper of Brigham Young University" reports interview with director of Standards Department. He acknowledges that students suspected of cheating, illegal drug use, stealing, or homosexuality are expelled from BYU if they refuse to take polygraph examination. BYU Security has licensed polygraph examiner.

4 Apr, 1987 - First Counselor Gordon B. Hinckley tells priesthood session of general conference that "marriage should not be viewed as a therapeutic step to solve problems such as homosexual inclinations or practices..." This reverses decades-long church policy formulated by Spencer W. Kimball.

9 Aug 1991 - Salt Lake Tribune article, "Of LDS Women, 58% Admit Premarital Sex."
Date: Dec 31 12:16
Author: Deconstructor

Oh for The Love of God How Many Gods do Mormons Have?

2009-02-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

THE MORMON GODS, PAST AND PRESENT

If our ideas about God are wrong then we'll be wrong about our other doctrines too, because ultimately all our beliefs stem from our view of God.

THE FIRST, ORIGINAL LDS GOD

Most Mormons are unaware that the LDS church has worshipped three different Gods at various times since their inception. Should they wish to do so, they can check up on this fact for themselves in the LDS archives.

For the first twelve years of their existence, the LDS church believed in, prayed to and worshipped the trinitarian spirit deity. This fact is borne out by their teachings in the 1835 printing of Doctrine and Covenants:
"..... We shall, in this lecture speak of the Godhead: we mean the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are two personages..... They are the Father and the Son: The Father being a personage of spirit, glory and power: possessing all perfection and fullness: the Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, a personage of tabernacle..... And he being the only begotten of the Father ..... possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit.." (1835 Doctrine and Covenants, Lecture Fifth of Faith, 5:1-2, pages 52-53, First edition.) (Writer's italics)
The Book of Mormon (written by Joseph Smith at the start of the same time period), also teaches the trinitarian deity; that there always had been only one God in existence, that He was God over all, that He was a spirit being, that He was the first God and would be the last, and that there were no other Gods:
And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit? And he said, Yes. And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and on the earth? And he said Yes ........ (Alma 18:26-29)

..... Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God..... (Alma 11:44)

..... the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one ..... (3 Nephi 11:27)

..... to dwell in the presence of God in his kingdom, to sing ceaseless praises with the choirs above, unto the Father, and unto the Son, and unto the Holy Ghost, which are one God..... (Mormon 7:7)

Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered, No. (Alma 11:28-29)

..... there is but one God (Alma 11:35)
It will be noted that Alma 11:44 and 3 Nephi 11:27 quoted above, use the terms Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost interchangeably, and do not differentiate between the two. However, Joseph Smith changed his mind radically concerning his doctrinal stance some time after he had written the Book of Mormon, and in line with his changed doctrines the LDS now teaches that the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit are two separate entities. (There is a link provided at the bottom of this page, to a relevant article entitled, "The LDS Holy Spirit, and Holy Ghost.").

Mormon doctrinal books teach that the Holy Ghost is a spirit personage who, like their God the Heavenly Father, can only be in one place at any one time (LDS Apostle McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, page 359); whereas the Holy Spirit "fills the immensity of space", and permeates all nature (Gospel Doctrine, Volume 1, page 94).

THE SECOND MORMON GOD

There were no contradictions in LDS literature on the doctrine of God for the first twelve years. In those days Mormonism was similar to protestant Christianity. Then round about 1842 Joseph Smith decided to change his whole theological set-up. This effectively transformed Mormonism into a completely new religion with unbiblical doctrines, teachings and practices that were exclusive to the LDS alone. It also put them fairly and squarely into the category of a non-Christian religion. Not only that, their new teachings contradicted their own Book of Mormon, which they maintained was the most correct book on earth.

Joseph Smith broke the news that he had turned his back both on the God they had been worshipping as well as on his own former teachings, in this way:
"We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see ..... God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 345, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith).
In the LDS publication, "Times and Seasons," volume 5, pages 613-614, he reiterated that God was only an exalted man (with a body of flesh and bone), and that ordinary, mortal men could also become Gods. His teachings on this revolutionary, new God are also well documented elsewhere in LDS literature. Here are a few examples:
God is a perfected, saved soul enjoying eternal life. (Second Counselor in the First Presidency, Marion G. Romney, as per Salt Lake Tribune, April 3, 1977.)

The Father is a glorified, perfected resurrected, exalted man who worked out his own salvation by obedience to the same laws he has given to us so that we may do the same (LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie, in "A New Witness for the Articles of Faith," page 64)

God and man are of the same race, differing only in their degree of advancement (Mormon Apostle, Dr. John Widtsoe (1872-1952), in "Gospel Through the Ages," page 107).

God, angels, and men are all of the same species, one race, one great family (Mormon Apostle Parley P. Pratt, in Key to the Science of Theology, 1978 Edition, page 21).

..... in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods (Joseph Smith, History of the Church 6:474).

How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods .... (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:333).
This radical change in Smith's theology, which was based on his doctrine of eternal progression, is one of the main reasons why Doctrine and Covenants contradicts the book of Mormon in so many places, and also why the Pearl of Great Price contradicts the Book of Mormon. But you will never stumble across the truth as to why these discrepancies exist by listening to the imaginative excuses that are put forward by the LDS church. They are merely smoke screens designed to prevent their membership from realizing that the contradictions are there simply because their doctrines, and the teachings of their prophets, have consistently and radically changed over the years.

This is also the reason why their teachings don't fit in with those of the Bible. The LDS excuse in this case is that evil people removed all the Mormon teachings from the Bible. However, every bit of so-called "proof" that they have put forward to back up this false claim has been decimated by evidence to the contrary. Furthermore, no evidence has ever been found anywhere, in any form, that so much as suggests that there was any knowledge of Mormon doctrine prior to the existence of the LDS church. And the truth of the matter is that the teachings on the deity that the LDS church followed for the first twelve years of their existence are still in the Bible.

THE THIRD MORMON GOD

Brigham Young, the second president and prophet of the LDS church, introduced the teaching that not only was the LDS God an ordinary, exalted man of flesh and bone, but that he was one man in particular, i.e. Adam (see Journal of Discourses, Volume 1, pages 50-51 and Deseret News June 18, 1873). The LDS tries to cover this up by insisting that his sermon was wrongly reported. But that wasn't the only time that he proclaimed that Adam was the LDS God. According to the LDS's own records, he taught this doctrine extensively and consistently over a period of about twenty five years.
Speaking in the Tabernacle on the morning of October 8, 1861, Young remarked: "I will give you a few words of doctrine, upon which there has been much inquiry, and with regard to which considerable ignorance exists. Br. Watt will write it, but it is not my intention to have it published therefore pay good attention, and store it up in your memories. Some years ago, I advanced a doctrine with regard to Adam being our father and God, that will be a curse to many of the Elders of Israel because of their folly. With regard to it they yet grovel in darkness and will. It is one of the most glorious revealments of the economy of heaven, yet the world holds it [in] derision. Had I revealed the doctrine of baptism from the dead instead [of] Joseph Smith there are men around me who would have ridiculed the idea until doomsday. But they are ignorant and stupid like the dumb ass." (Manuscript Sermon, "A Few Words of Doctrine," Brigham Young Collection, Church Historian's Office, Salt Lake City.)
In all fairness one must admit that this was a very unpopular teaching. And apparently Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt opposed the Adam God doctrine right from the start. But the LDS has a strict rule, and that is that nobody criticizes their prophet, as he is divinely led by God. They also extend this same rule to their other leadership. Whenever their members have questioned this, they have been assured that God will never permit the prophet or the leadership to teach false doctrine or to lead the LDS church into error, or words to that effect. Apostle Pratt was duly warned that he was on the brink of apostasy. When that didn't bring an end to his opposition, he was sent on a mission to the eastern United States, effectively removing him from the Salt Lake area.

But that didn't stem the opposition to this doctrine. In the November and December issues of their "True Latter-Day Saint Herald," the RLDS Church printed a refutation of Brigham's Adam-God doctrine, using the same arguments and scriptures that Pratt had. And they went as far as to urge the LDS church to return to the true God. In his diary under the date of February 3, 1861, John D. Lee, adopted son of Brigham Young, recorded the following:
"Eving attendd Prayer meeting & instructed the Saints on the points of Doctrine refereed to by the true Latterday Saints Herald & their Bombarding Pres. B. Young for Saying that Adam is all the god that we have to do with & to those that know no better, it is quite a stumbling Block... " (A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee, The Huntington Library, 1955, Volume 1, page 293.)
As soon as Brigham Young passed away so did his divinely revealed doctrine on the LDS God being Adam. It was soundly refuted by the church leadership and is still a source of great embarrassment to them. So much so that they have done their utmost to cover it up, to the extent of denying outright that there ever had been any such doctrine in the LDS church.

After Young's death, they reverted to worshipping their second God, i.e. an ordinary, exalted man of flesh and bone.

These three contradictory teachings on the Gods the LDS worshipped, each of them taught by their own prophets for many years, cannot all be correct. At least two of the three teachings, involving two of their prophets, must be wrong. Why then does the LDS church persistently maintain the facade that God would never permit their leadership to teach them error?

The LDS prophet Brigham Young had declared that God Himself had revealed this doctrine on Adam being their God, to him. And as the LDS has taken a very firm stance on this revelation on God being wrong, it is akin to their having declared him to have been a false prophet. To cover this up, they insist that Brigham Young was wrongly quoted. However, their own records invalidate this excuse.

In Joseph Smith's case, he claimed from the start that he was leading the LDS church under God's guidance, and that as God's prophet, when he spoke it was the same as if God had spoken. For twelve years he taught them to follow the biblical trinitarian deity, and maintained that God was a spirit being. But then, supposedly also under God's guidance, he persuaded them to turn their backs on their first God and instead worship a different deity — a fallen, redeemed man of flesh and bone. This means that he was radically wrong in one of these cases, and in turn proves him to have been a false prophet.

If you will examine the Bible carefully, you will note that God's true prophets never ever gave false revelations. It was only false prophets who did so. In fact, the Bible teaches that this is the way to discern whether or not a prophet has been sent by God (Deuteronomy 13:1, 18:22).

The fact that the first two LDS prophets were in serious error concerning the deity they worshipped, invalidates their claims about the LDS being the "true church," divinely led, and the sole possessor of God's truth. And if their first two presidents were false prophets, how do they know that the same isn't true of all their other prophets? How can they be sure that their first prophet, Joseph Smith, wasn't sent by the devil to start up a false church and lead them astray? None of the doctrines he introduced lined up with what had already been revealed to us by God Himself, and Smith's Mormon gospel of salvation bears no resemblance to the gospel preached by Christ's own apostles in the New Testament.

THE LDS STORY ABOUT THE PRESENT MORMON GOD

The Mormon God, whose name is Elohim, had exactly the same origins as did ordinary mankind, and was also once a sinner who'd needed salvation. In line with the LDS doctrine of eternal progression, at first he'd existed in the form of mere intelligent matter, along with the rest of the inhabitants of the universe. Then when his turn came, he progressed to the level of a spirit being. He did this by being born to an already existing God through one of his plural wives, all of whom had bodies of flesh and bone.

This poses several serious problems, one of which is that our offspring are always genetically exactly like us, in that like always begets like. This idea of the LDS's Heavenly Mother and Father with bodies of flesh and bone producing offspring who were of a different species or class, i.e. only spirit beings, is really weird. It makes us suspect that the doctrine of eternal progression was nothing more than a very imaginative invention of Joseph Smith.

After living in this prior spiritual existence with his Heavenly Father and Mother, Elohim reached the stage where he needed to progress. So he went through the birth process all over again, this time to human parents, both of whom already had bodies of flesh and bone, and who were living on a fallen planet just as we are now. This time he was born with a body of flesh and bone, and his previously biological father in heaven then became his God. (His new human parents were previously his brother and sister, as they had also been spirit children of the same Heavenly Father.)

Because Elohim was an ordinary, sinful, human being he also needed a Redeemer, but in line with LDS doctrine, this was only to ensure that his body would be resurrected after death. In exactly the same way as Mormons do today, he too had to earn his right to personal salvation from sin by living in obedience to LDS laws and ordinances. And one of the requirements for godhood was that he had to be married polygamously for time and eternity in an earthly temple. (He was permitted to marry as many women as he desired, the aim being to reproduce as prolifically as possible, and thereby strengthen his future kingdom.) Then after he had gained the requisite amount of knowledge required for the task, he was exalted to godhood.

Although he is now in the heavenlies, Elohim is not a spirit being, but an exalted man with a body of flesh and bone. He lives on a planet called Kolob with his harem of plural wives. They have bred a myriad of spirit children, consisting of the whole of mankind plus all the angelic beings, including Satan and the demons. And they will continue breeding for eternity. The Lord Jesus was their firstborn. Some time after that the earth we live on now was formed, so that Elohim's spiritual offspring could also be born to human parents and take on bodies of flesh and bone, to enable them to progress eternally, hopefully to godhood, in the same way as he himself had done.

As well as being our actual biological father from a previous heavenly existence, i.e. our "Heavenly Father," Elohim is now also our God. And although he's only one amongst an innumerable number of other gods that exist in the universe, all of whom achieved their godhood the same way as he did, he is the only God with whom we have to do. However, they teach that there is an exception to this. The God of the Israelites was not Elohim, but Jehovah, who was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the LDS law of eternal progression decrees that it is necessary to obtain a body of flesh and bone and also to have been married polygamously in a Mormon temple for time and eternity in order to progress to godhood, the LDS Jesus Christ managed to skip these steps and gained godhood anyway because of his intelligence (See the article on the LDS Christ, listed on the home page.)

Before we carry on, we need to understand that according to Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (and all the other dictionaries too) the word "eternal" means without beginning or end of existence, ceaseless and unchangeable. But in order to try to make their unbiblical deity, who was not always a God, fit in with biblical terminology, the LDS teaches their followers that the word "eternal" is only God's title, and not His description. So just as you would call someone "Mr." Jones, they call their God who was not eternally a God but was once an ordinary man, by the designation "Eternal" God. Along the same vein, when they talk about eternal life they are referring to the type of life lived by a God whose title is "eternal."

THE MORMON GOD IS NOT OMNIPRESENT

According to LDS Apostle John Widtsoe, the Mormon God's omnipresence is fulfilled through the Holy Spirit, which is not to be confused with the Holy Ghost (Evidences and Reconciliation's, pages 76-77). And Brigham Young said:
"Some would have us believe that God is present everywhere. It is not so" (Journal of Discourses 6:345).
Then too, LDS Apostle James Talmage stated that neither God the Father, nor any other member of the Godhead, can be physically present in more than one place at one time. (The Articles of Faith, page 39). Joseph Smith taught:
"The idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man's heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false" (Doctrines and Covenants 130:3).
Yet again the Book of Mormon contradicts Joseph Smith's teachings on the second LDS God and also the teachings of Doctrine and Covenants, maintaining that the Lord does dwell in the hearts of the righteous. But bear in mind that it was published by Joseph Smith at the time that he too had accepted the biblical teaching that God was Spirit. Here is what he wrote in the Book of Mormon before he'd turned to the worship of an exalted man of flesh and bone:
"And this I know, because the Lord hath said he dwelleth not in unholy temples, but in the hearts of the righteous doth he dwell" (BOM Alma 34:36).
Contrary to present LDS teachings, the Bible teaches that because God is Spirit (John 4:24) He is omnipresent; meaning that His presence is everywhere simultaneously. The following verses from the Bible disprove the present LDS teaching:
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? (1 Kings 8:27, KJV)

Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:23-24, KJV)

THE LDS GOD IS NOT A UNIQUE, INFINITE BEING

Mormons maintain that we are of the same species as God. Therefore, any sinful, fallen man is able to progress to godhood through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the LDS church, in the same way as God did. Brigham Young delivered a message in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on August 8,1852, in which he said:
"The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods like Himself" (Journal of Discourses 3:93).
Both the Journal of Discourses and the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith record that, on April 6, 1844, the LDS prophet Joseph Smith preached to a congregation of 20,000 saying:
"Here then is eternal life; to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God the same as all Gods have done before you" (Journal of Discourses 6:4; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 346, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith).
However, both the Bible and the Book of Mormon very clearly teach that there is, and always has been, only one God, that there were no Gods before Him and that there will be none after Him:
I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me (Isaiah 46:9, KJV).
..... before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. (Isaiah 43:10, KJV).
I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. (Isaiah 44:6, KJV).
"Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered, No." (BOM, Alma 11:28-29)
"..... there is but one God" (BOM, Alma 11:35)

Joseph Smith Lied

2009-02-10T08:09:00.002-07:00

I saw this blog recently by a fellow I have seen around the net named Jesus boy. I actually have seen some great research done by this person and this one was so great I had to share it on my blog.

Joseph Lied….AGAIN
By Chris - Jesus’ Boy

Here is the exact wording of his draft - word for word including spelling mistakes:
marvilous even in the likeness of him who created him (them) and when I considered upon these things my heart exclaimed well hath thewise man said the (it is a) fool (that) saith in his heart there is no God my heart exclaimed all all these bear testimony and bespeak an omnipotant and omnipreasant power a being who makith Laws and decreeeth and bindeth all things in their bounds who filleth Eternity who was and is and will be from all Eternity to Eternity and when I considered all these things and that (that) being seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit and in truth therefore I cried unto the Lord for mercy for there was none else to whom I could go and to obtain mercy and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in (the) attitude of calling upon the Lord (in the 16th year of my age) a piller of fire light above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me and I was filled with the spirit of god and the (Lord) opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph (my son) thy sins are forgiven thee. go thy (way) walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life (behold) the world lieth in sin and at this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned asside from the gospel and keep not (my) commandments they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them acording to th[e]ir ungodliness and to bring to pass that which (hath) been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Ap[o]stles behold and lo I come quickly as it [is] written of me in the cloud (clothed) in the glory of my Father and my soul was filled with love and for many days I could reioice with great Joy and the Lord was with me but [I] could find none that would believe the hevnly vision nevertheless I pondered these things in my heart about that time my mother and but after many days Joseph Smith’s Handwritten First Vision (click on the link to the left and see the photographic evidence for yourself)

So if the above version is true why did Joseph change it 6 years later?
If the 1838 account is true, why did he write this draft?
conclusion - obviously both were lies.

Below we can see the major differences between the 1832 account and the 1838 account.

1832
personages = Smith claimed only a vision from Jesus
Seeking God = Bible reading stirred Smith to seek God
Churches wrong = Smith already knew this

1838
personages = Smith claimed a vision of both the Father AND the Son.
Seeking God = A revival motivated Smith to seek God Churches wrong = ‘two personages’ informed Smith that all the churches are wrong

Joseph Smith, Nov. 1835 - “…I received the first visitation of Angels when I was about 14 years old…” Personal writings of Joseph Smith, page 84 [It should be noted that this entry has been changed in the History of the Church, Vol. 2, pg. 312. It now reads "my first vision" instead of "visitation of Angels"]

So in this latest account of the first vision we see Jospeh Smith claiming that it was many angels that visted him.

Now here comes the interesting part: What saith the future leaders of mormonism? what saith his family regarding the alleged first vision?

Brigham Young - “The Lord did not come with the armies of heaven … but He did send his angel to this same obscure person, Joseph Smith jun., who afterwards became a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and informed him that he should not join any of the religious sects of the day, for they were all wrong” Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 171 (1855)

Wilford Woodruff - “The same organization and Gospel that Christ died for … is again established in this generation. How did it come? By the ministering of an holy angel from God, out of heaven, who held converse with man, and revealed unto him the darkness that enveloped the world … He told him the Gospel was not among men, and that there was not a true organization of His kingdom in the world” Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 196 (1855)

Orson Hyde - “Some one may say, ‘If this work of the last days be true, why did not the Saviour come himself to communicate this intelligence to the world?’ Because to the angels was committed the power of reaping the earth, and it was committed to none else.” Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p. 335 (1854)

George A. Smith - “…he [Joseph Smith] went humbly before the Lord and inquired of Him, and the Lord answered his prayer, and revealed to Joseph, by the ministration of angels , the true condition of the religious world. When the holy angel appeared , Joseph inquired which of all these denominations was right and which he should join, and was told they were all wrong” Journal of Discourses, vol. 12, p. 334 (1863)

George A. Smith - “[Joseph] was enlightened by the vision of an holy angel. When this personage appeared to him, one of the first inquiries was ‘Which of the denominations of Christians in the vicinity was right?’ “ Journal of Discourses, vol. 13, p. 78 (1869)

John Taylor - “None of them was right, just as it was when the Prophet Joseph asked the angel which of the sects was right that he might join it. The answer was that none of them are right.” Journal of Discourses, vol. 20, p. 167 (1879)

George Q. Cannon - “But suppose that the statement that Joseph Smith says the angel made to him should be true-that there was no church upon the face of the earth whom God recognized as His, and whose acts He acknowledged-suppose this were true…” Journal of Discourses, vol. 24, pg. 135 (1889)

William Smith - “He accordingly went out into the woods and falling upon his knees called for a long time upon the Lord for wisdom and knowledge. While engaged in prayer a light appeared in the heavens, and descended until it rested upon the trees where he was. It appeared like fire. But to his great astonishment, did not burn the trees. An angel then appeared to him and conversed with him upon many things. He told him that none of the sects were right…” William Smith On Mormonism , By William Smith, Joseph Smith’s brother. pg. 5 (1883)

” The angel again forbade Joseph to join any of these churches, and he promised that the true and everlasting Gospel should be revealed to him at some future time. Joseph continues: ‘Many other things did he (the angel) say unto me which I cannot write at this time’ “ Church Historical Record, Vol. 7, January, 1888

Brigham Young - ” Do we believe that the Lord sent his messengers to Joseph Smith, and commanded him to refrain from joining any Christian church, and to refrain from the wickedness he saw in the churches, and finally delivered to him a message informing him that the Lord was about to establish his kingdom on the earth…” Journal of Discourses, Vol. 18, pg. 239

I don’t know about you but i find it strange that Brigham Young who knew Joseph personally, aswell as others knew nothing of a visitation by God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: Joseph LIED

For more of Jesus Boy's great blogs check out his Mormon section
http://testallthings.wordpress.com/category/mormonism/

JOSEPH SMITH’S INVOLVEMENT WITH OCCULT

2009-01-30T13:30:00.001-07:00

JOSEPH SMITH’S INVOLVEMENT WITH
MAGIC, MASONRY, AND THE OCCULT©
How Joseph Smith put it all together

Joseph’s Magic Hat

Joseph Smith’s claim of receiving gold plates from a holy angel, has attracted over ten million converts to the Mormon Church, a church which doubles its population every 10 to 12 years at the rate of 840 new members a day.

Where are these amazing gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated? Since they are not on exhibit to confirm their reality, one might humorously say, Joseph must have said “abracadabra” and pulled them from a hat! Laughable; but, in a way, that’s exactly what he did!

Instead of translating directly from the alleged plates, he would put his face into the darkness of a hat which contained a seer stone, and the translation of what he called “Reformed Egyptian Hieroglyphics” would appear. This was a practice known as crystal-gazing or scrying. In following this procedure, Smith claimed that “spiritual light would shine”:

A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and beneath it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear.

Although Smith didn’t say abracadabra, his mother admitted the family practiced this magic incantation:

Let not the reader suppose that . . . we stopped our labor and went at trying to win the faculty of Abrac, drawing magic circles, or soothsaying, to the neglect of all kinds of business. We never during our lives suffered one important interest to swallow up every other obligation.

“Abrac,” is a Jewish Kabbalistic word. It comes from Abracadabra and Abraxis, a word placed upon amulets to work magic. The first four letters, A-b-r-a, are acrostics taken from the first letter of four Hebrew words, Ab which means Father; Ben which means Son, and Ruach Adsch which means Holy Spirit. When written in a triangular form on parchment and hung around the neck, it acted as a charm to heal tooth aches and other ailments.

Masonry, at that time, claimed the use of this faculty and since Joseph’s brother, Hyrum, was a Mason, the family probably learned it from him or from the many books on magic, available at that time.

Joseph and the Occult

Besides seer stones, Joseph’s involvement with the occult also included divining rods, magic circles, sacrifice of animals, and witchcraft.

The family’s involvement in witchcraft was confirmed by Fayette Lapham who, after visiting the Smiths, wrote:

[Joseph’s father] was a firm believer in witchcraft and other supernatural things; and had brought up his family in the same belief.

While one may view this as shocking, one needs to understand the climate of his culture. Belief in magic was not unusual. Mormon Historian, B.H. Roberts, acknowledged that Smith’s family believed in “fortune telling . . . warlocks and witches,” and added that “to be credulous in such things was to be normal people.”

Joseph’s Use of Peep Stones and Divining Rods

Peep stones
Joseph learned to how to use “peep stones” from his father. Joseph Smith, Sr., placing them in a hat, would receive revelation on buried treasure locations. Known as a “money-digger,” he hired out to locate these caches. An affidavit by David Stafford confirmed that “the general employment of the Smith family was money digging and fortune telling.”

Joseph, therefore, naturally followed in his father’s footsteps. Even long before he claimed to find the gold plates of the Book of Mormon through his peep stone, he was finding buried treasure and deciphering ancient writings. In one instance, according to William R. Hein, he gazed into his stone, and:

He saw Captain Kidd sailing on the Susquehanna River during a freshet, and that he buried two pots of gold and silver. He claimed he saw writing cut on the rocks in an unknown language telling where Kidd buried it, and he translated it through his peep-stone.

According to Brigham Young and Martin Harris, it was through a peep stone found in the well of a Mason Chase that Smith located and translated the gold plates. This is, of course, contrary to his later story where he said that it was an angel who directed him to the gold plates.

The stone found in Mason Chase’s well, was first used during Joseph’s occupation as a money-digger. Mormon history refers to it as the “brown” stone. Joseph Smith’s father, when interviewed by Fayette Lapham, said, “Joseph spent about two years looking into this stone, telling fortunes, where to find lost things, and where to dig for money and other hidden treasure.” He also used peep stones to read palms. The Mormon practice of giving patriarchal blessings is, no doubt, the outgrowth of Smith’s fortune-telling practice.

He also had a white stone called the Urim and Thummin. It is with this stone, rather than the brown one, that he claimed to translate the Book of Abraham.

Divining rods
Joseph learned from his father how to use a divining rod in detecting metals and buried treasures. Often called a “mineral rod,” it was similar to dozing for water with a hazel branch.

Mormon leaders have suggested that Smith gave all that up after he started his church. But, this isn’t so. The use of divining rods and peep stones continued after the Mormon Church was established and was carried into his temple ceremony.

According to James Collin Brewster, the Smith family “anointed the mineral rods and seer stones with consecrated oil, and prayed over them in the house of the Lord in Kirtland.” The ritual consisted of putting on temple robes and asking yes or no questions of the mineral rod. If it moved, it meant yes. If there was no movement, it meant no.

To validate the Church’s continued use of a divining rod, Joseph produced a revelation from God: Addressing Oliver Cowdery, the revelation stated:

Now this is not all, for you have another gift, which is the gift of working with the rod: behold it has told you things: behold there is no other power save God, that can cause this rod of nature, to work in your hands.

Since this later proved embarrassing to the church, the revelation was altered to read: “You have another gift, which is the gift of Aaron.” Church leaders probably felt this would sound more acceptable. But, since a divining rod in those days was also known as a “Rod of Aaron,” it was still an occult term.

Joseph’s Use of Magic Circles

The magic circles Joseph’s mother mentioned, in their use of the “faculty of Abrac” to find treasures, were the same as witches use.

For example, William Stafford, a contemporary of Smith tells how Joseph said there was a buried chest of gold watches guarded by an evil spirit. To pacify the spirit, he ordered stakes set up in the form of a circle. He then sent a man to obtain a long knife, or sword, and to march around the spot with drawn weapon to guard against any satanic assaults. (Treasure spirits were usually considered evil and were thought to have the power to kill a person unless appeased by magic circles and blood sacrifices.)

In this activity, Joseph and his father worked in conjunction with each other. Often, while his father was performing this service for customers, Joseph would be in the house using his peep stone to keep track of what the evil spirit was doing. William Stafford again gives an account:

Joseph, Sr. first made a circle, twelve or fourteen feet in diameter. This circle, said he, contains the treasure. He then stuck a row of witch hazel sticks, around the said circles, for the purpose of keeping off the evil spirits. Within this circle he made another, of about eight or ten feet in diameter. He walked around three times on the periphery of this last circle, muttering to himself something which I could not understand. . . .[He then] asked leave of absence, and went to the house to inquire of young Joseph the cause of our disappointment. He soon returned and said, that Joseph had remained all this time in the house, looking in his stone and watching the motion of the evil spirit - that he saw the spirit come up to the ring and as soon as it beheld the cone which we had formed around the rod, it caused the money to sink.

Joseph’s Participation in Animal Sacrifice

Animal sacrifice was part of the treasure divining business. At that time, it was understood that there were both good and bad spirits guarding treasures. According to magic books, “white animals [were] sacrificed to the good Spirits and black to the evil.”

Therefore, Smith procured a black sheep for one occasion, claiming it was the only way to appease the evil spirit of a particular treasure. They were to cut its throat and lead it around in a circle while bleeding. Smith even sacrificed a dog on one occasion.

Mr. Stafford, the owner of the sheep, was later asked by M. Wilford Poulson, if Smith stole a black sheep from him. Stafford’s response was:

No, not exactly . . . he did miss a black sheep, but soon Joseph came and admitted he took it for sacrifice but he was willing to work for it. He made wooden sap buckets to fully pay for it.

A nephew of William Stafford testified:

Jo Smith, the prophet, told my uncle, William Stafford, he wanted a fat, black sheep. He said he wanted to cut its throat and make it walk in a circle three times around and it would prevent a pot of money from leaving.

JOSEPH’S OCCULT PRACTICES USED IN HIS CHURCH AND TEMPLE CEREMONY

In addition to Smith’s peep stones and divining rods, he also carried animal sacrifice into his new religion. For example, he refused to let Willard Richards be ordained an apostle unless a lamb was first slaughtered and sacrificed in the temple.

Joseph soon incorporated animal sacrifice into his new priesthood. He stated:

It is generally supposed that sacrifice was entirely done away when the Great Sacrifice [i.e.] the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was offered up, and that there will be no necessity for the ordinance of sacrifice in [sic] future; but those who assert this are certainly not acquainted with the duties, privileges and authority of the Priesthood, or with the Prophets. . . . These sacrifices as well as every ordinance belonging to the Priesthood, will, when the Temple of the Lord shall be built, and the sons of Levi be purified, be fully restored and attended to in all their powers, ramifications, and blessings. . . . It is not to be understood that the law of Moses will be established again with all its rites and variety of ceremonies; this has never been spoken of by the prophets; but those things which existed prior to Moses’ day, namely, sacrifice, will be continued.

Joseph’s Belief in Magic Medallions and Astrology

When Smith was killed, a Jupiter Talisman was found on his body. Displaying Hebrew characters, it was shaped like a silver dollar and made of silver or tin and carried the sign of the spirit of Jupiter.

Former director of the LDS Institute of Religion at the University of Utah, Dr. Reed C. Durham, Jr. identified it from a magic book available in Smith’s time. He explained that Jupiter was known to the Egyptians as Ammon; Zeus to the Greeks. Jupiter, in the presence of his priest, supposedly performed the most ancient form of marriage, marriage for time and for eternity (sound familiar?).

Since, astrologically speaking, Jupiter stood for many of Smith’s own personal ambitions, he probably selected it for that reason. The Jupiter ambitions consisted of “high positions, [having] one’s own way,” achieving status, and acquiring the “dignity of a natural ruler.” Also of interest, is the fact that in Astrology, Thursday is Jupiter’s day--and for sixty years Mormon fast meetings were always on Thursdays. So also were the Lodge meetings of the Mormon Masons.

Dr. Durham tried to lessen the negative impact of Joseph having the Jupiter medallion, by confirming its appropriateness:

It carries the sign and image of Jupiter . . . And in some very real and quite mysterious sense, this particular Table of Jupiter was the most appropriate talisman for Joseph Smith to possess. Indeed, it seemed meant for him, because on all levels of interpretation: planetary, mythological, numerological, astrological, mystical cabalism, and talismatic magic, the Prophet was, in every case, appropriately described.

Dr. Durham further explains that the magical “purpose of the Table of Jupiter . . . was to be able to call upon the celestial intelligences, assigned to the particular talisman [and] to assist one in all endeavors.” By Invoking the names of these inscribed gods, he said, it guaranteed the possessor of “riches and favor, and power, and love and peace . . . honors, and dignities, and councils . . .”

It also gave one “the power of stimulating anyone to offer his love to the possessor of the talisman.” Certainly, Joseph would need this kind of help in his money-digging ventures, not to mention his spiritual wifery doctrine where he had to convince a woman to become his plural wife while still married to her lawful husband.

Joseph wasn’t the only one in his family involved in this. His brother, Hyrum, also practiced magic. He possessed parchments containing pentagrams and pentacles used in gaining power over spirits and had a Masonic pouch to hold these parchments. He also carried a dagger with the Seal of Mars.

Joseph’s Occult Practices Continued by the LDS Church

Did succeeding church presidents continue in occult practices after Joseph died? Some of them did. Brigham Young wore a chained bloodstone about his neck for those occasions “when [he went] into unknown or dangerous places.”

Brigham Young inherited Oliver Cowdery’s divining rod. This was the rod, or cane, he was often seen with after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley. It was with it that he pointed out where the Salt Lake Temple would be, saying “this is the place”.

Occult symbolism was important to the leaders. When Brigham Young and John Taylor supervised the making of a woodcut seal for the twelve apostles, they copied occult symbols from Jacob Boehme’s Theosophical Works--a book used for two hundred years by Christian Kabbalists and Rosicrucians.

Attitude of the Modern LDS Church

How do present day leaders respond to all this? Mostly, they try to suppress the incriminating evidence. But, when it does leak out, their rationale is to justify it as did Arturo de Hoyos. He writes:

One cannot help but wonder the reason why the Prophet Joseph Smith, and his brother, Hyrum, the Patriarch would possess articles such as they did unless they actually believed that these items did possess some sort of supernatural power, or that they were a “key” to receiving power or protection. Is it possible that just as the Masonic ritual, which Joseph termed the “apostate endowment” retained principles of truth, that these Pentacles which have come down through the ages to be asscociated [sic] with witchcraft, black magic, and the occult as a whole yet contain elements of truth which were recognized by the Prophet?

Joseph’s Necromancing and Contact with the Dead

In addition to Joseph’s occult interests, he was also a necromancer (contact with the dead). Long before he decided to say it was an angel who guarded the gold plates, he said it was the “bloody ghost” of a Spanish spirit. The following was his first story:

Smith said he had a dream in which he was shown the location of an iron box containing gold plates. He went there, found the spot, but claimed he was knocked down three times attempting to remove the stone covering the treasure. He described his experience to two individuals who later published it in the Amboy Journal. Quoting what Smith told them, they described Smith’s frustration:

“Why can’t I get it?” . . . and then he saw a man standing over the spot, which to him appeared like a Spaniard, having a long beard coming down over his breast to about here. [sic](Smith putting his hand to the pit of his stomach) with his (the ghost’s) throat cut from ear to ear, and the blood streaming down, who told him that he could not get it alone; that another person whom he, Smith, would know at first sight, must come with him, and then he could get it.

Smith related the same story to his father, how the ghost told him the valuable treasure contained information soon to be revealed to the world.

As the story developed over the years, the bloody ghost soon became a nameless angel, then an angel named Nephi. Then, finally, Moroni.

Joseph Plagiarizes from the Masonic Legend of Enoch to use in the Book of Mormon

Masonry also played a significant role in the Book of Mormon story. As Smith learned more about Masonic beliefs, he began to weave them into his buried treasure tale. (Although Joseph Smith was not inducted into the Masonic Lodge until March 15, 1842, after his Book of Mormon story, his knowledge of Masonic lore was probably acquired earlier from his brother Hyrum who was a Mason. Books were also in print containing Masonic stories.)

He particularly borrowed heavily from a Masonic myth called the Legend of Enoch. To those familiar with Mormon history, the parallels are self-evident:

Enoch’s legend describes God giving a secret doctrine to Adam in a dream. Adam is shown, in this dream, a gold plate engraved with unknown characters. Among these characters is the Tetragrammaton, the holy name of God.

Based upon what he saw in his dream, Adam makes a similar plate of gold and copies the sacred characters on to it. He hands it down to his son, Seth, who guards it carefully and also passes it on. Finally, it reaches Enoch.

Enoch, then receives a vision of the future. He foresees a world-destroying flood and is shown that the holy treasure will eventually be kept in a secret cavern inside Mount Moriah.

He then proceeds to build an underground cavern to preserve the treasure from the eventual flood. Placing a stone door over the cavern, he erects two pillars, one of marble the other, brass. Upon the marble pillar he engraves the story of the treasure and the history of the Tower of Babel in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

On the second pillar of brass, he engraves the history of creation and the principles of Masonry. Upon the top of the brass pillar he places a metal ball which miraculously solves problems and gives direction. The legend concludes by stating that the treasure will be found by one of Enoch’s Israelitish descendants.

Now, jumping from Enoch to the future King Solomon--after the flood--Solomon’s masons, while building the King’s temple on the hill Moriah, come across pieces of the treasure, although not yet the gold plate. They turn their findings over to the King. Solomon then places the treasure in a secret underground vault beneath the temple, just as Enoch saw in his vision. Solomon instructs the three men to go back to the ruins and see if they can find more of the treasure.

Upon doing so, they come across the stone covering Enoch’s cave. After three attempts to descend into the cave, they finally obtain the gold plate, noticing that “the brilliancy of the plate and jewels are of themselves sufficient to give light to the cavern.”

Delivering the gold plate to King Solomon, he places it in his underground vault along with the breastplate of the High Priest of Israel and the Urim and Thummin. Solomon then changes the status of the vault from “secret” to “sacred” and allows only a few to see the plate.

The following summarizes the comparisons:

Joseph’s Motive in Producing the Book of Mormon

Was Smith’s only objective in producing the Book of Mormon, to promote the Masonic Legend of Enoch? No. There were three other contributing motives.

The first . . . Smith simply loved to con people and took advantage of his imaginative powers. His mother tells how Smith would often entertain the family for hours relating stories of how the ancient Americans dressed and acted, about their cities, warfare and religion long before he came up with the idea of writing the Book of Mormon.

His enjoyment at fooling people was well known, and reported in affidavits by Smith’s contemporaries. For example, after a rain shower, Smith discovered some white sand. He “tied up several quarts of it [in his ‘frock’] and then went home.” His family was eager to know what he had. Smith later told Peter Ingersol:

At that moment I happened to think about a history found in Canada, called the Golden Bible; so I very gravely told them it was the Golden Bible. To my surprise they were credulous enough to believe what I said.

The second motive? He wanted to answer the big question of the day--are the Indians transplanted Israelites?

This was a hot topic. As early as 1634, Joseph Mede was questioning the origin of the Indians. By 1650 writer Thomas Thorowgood decided they were the Lost Tribes of Israel. In 1775 and 1816 Elias Boudinot and James Adair brought the idea to the forefront again. Newspapers in Smith’s locale also speculated on the origin of the Indians.

Then, in 1823, Ethan Smith wrote, View of the Hebrews, in an attempt to explain the absence of a recorded history for the American Indians. Although Smith borrowed much from Ethan Smith’s book, his idea for the Book of Mormon in the first place, was probably triggered by a magician named Walters:

[Walters] had an old copy of Cicero’s Orations, in the Latin language, out of which he read [in] an unintelligible jargon, which he would afterwards pretend to interpret, and explain, as a record of the former inhabitants of America, and a particular account of the numerous situations where they deposited their treasures previous to their final [destruction].

Joseph, spurred on by public interest in the subject and influenced by both Walters and Ethan Smith’s book, hit on the idea that he would be the one to provide the recorded history.

But, this required some ingenuity. If his story was going to cover Lamanite settlements in South America and Nephites in Central America, how was he going to get their sacred records to the state of New York, three thousand miles away, for him to find fifteen hundred years later? Obviously, he had to invent a character who would carry them there.

But, common sense asks why the character Mormon, or his son Moroni, would travel three thousand miles on foot when they could have buried the plates closer to home? In addition, how could they have transported as many heavy gold plates as Smith describes?

The third motive? The Book of Mormon provided Smith with an outlet for his fascination with Masonic mysteries.

However, it gradually grew to be more than just fascination. Smith admits, in a letter to John Hull, that what he really wanted was to produce a truer and higher level of Masonry. Not just for the United States, but world-wide. Intrigued with this concept, he began using Masonic vocabulary in his sermons, such as the “nail in a sure place,” later to become part of the temple ceremony. He also interjected the motifs of the sun, moon, planets and stars. (These motifs, however, didn’t originate with Masonry. They were a blend of Rosicrucian, Alchemic, Kabbalistic and Hermetic symbols of which the sun and moon were part.)

Joseph’s Use of Masonic Emblems

In the temple in Salt Lake City, and large conference rooms were fashioned like Masonic Lodges and temples, and Masonic emblems were used extensively. This was because Smith believed “the whole earth was compared symbolically to a Grand Masonic Lodge, the counterpart of which was the Grand Lodge in the eternal regions of Glory.”

The temple displays the Masonic All-seeing Eye, used by many ancient religions. Occult literature reveals it as the Diva, or the Cyclopean Eye, the ancient third eye of spiritual insight used by the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Greeks and other pagan religions. Later, it was adopted by Hermetic philosophers as “the sacred emblem of a perpetual divine and uncreated intelligence.” In the Christian context, it was changed to mean the eye of Jehovah. Mormons, today, claim the latter.

On the temple walls one can also see the Masonic phrase, “Holiness to the Lord,” as well as the compass and clasped hands. Even the weathervane of the Nauvoo temple, with its small angel, exhibited the square and compass.

The Beehive emblem was also utilized later as a symbol for the Mormon State by Brigham Young. This emblem, used in earlier centuries by Christian Hermetics, later entered Freemasonry.

Contrary to what many assume, the beehive did not represent physical industry. Metaphorically, it represented one’s inner soul, with the industry of the bee illustrative of the spiritual labor required for the alchemic transmutation of the individual, or dark matter, into gold. This is the basis for the Mormon belief that one may be transformed into a god. Herman R. Bangerter explains that if one is worthy of wearing the symboll of the square and compass on his or her garments, and continues faithfully in the service of the Master, he will receive the spiritual light, which will enable him or her to unite the physical and the spiritual, and through the process of Divine Alchemy, change the mortal corruptible body into a Celestial Body and thereby have eternal life. In the St. George, Utah Tabernacle (not the temple), there still remains, on a mock fireplace, a round circle resting on the horizontal arm of a cross. Occult writer Madame Blavatsky explains in her Secret Doctrine, that this is the “Venus’ looking-glass,” a symbol of human procreation and also the “sacred cross of Egypt” as carried in the hands of the gods, the Pharaohs and the mummified dead.

In the temple ceremony itself, there is the apron, special handshakes, oaths and penalties, the five points of fellowship, special garments with markings of the square and compass, and giving of a new name--all taken from Masonry.

Probably the most astounding admission by a Mormon scholar on Joseph’s plagiarism of Masonry, was Dr. Reed Durham, Jr.:

The Mormon ceremony which came to be known as the Endowment, introduced by Joseph Smith to Mormon Masons, had an immediate inspiration from Masonry. This is not to suggest that no other source of inspiration could have been involved, but the similarities between the two ceremonies are so apparent and overwhelming that some dependent relationship cannot be denied. They are so similar, in fact, that one writer was led to refer to the Endowment as Celestial Masonry.

While members of the Mormon Church believe every jot and tittle of Mormonism, especially the temple ceremony, was received by revelation, one is reminded of Dr. Durham’s admission about the similarities to Masonry, “To explain them only as coincidence,” he says, “would be ridiculous.”

Joseph’s Use of “Clangs”

To purposely disguise any Masonic connection to his new religion, Smith used clangs--word-inventions intended to mask words.

For example, according to the Tanners, it is believed he incorporated “the first three letters of Moriah (M-O-Riah) . . . and the last three letters of Solomon (SoloM-O-N)”, to come up with Mor-mon, which is both the name of his sacred book and the name of its main character.

Another clang is Mahonri Moriancumer, the name of a character in the Book of Ether. According to Dr. Durham, the last name, Moriancumer, could easily be “a compound of ‘Moriah,’ the sacred hill where Solomon stored Enoch’s treasure--and ‘Cumorah,’ the sacred hill where the new Enoch [Smith] found his treasure plates.”

Moriancumer’s first name, Mahonri, according to Walter F. Prince, is “clang” for Masonry. This is achieved by replacing the s in Masonry with an h and changing the y to i. Therefore, Mahonri Moriancumer, “divested of ‘clang’ is Masonry Moriah Cumorah.”

Joseph’s Desire for Occult Revelation and Secret Ceremonies

The reason Joseph was so attracted to Masonry, was because he believed the Masonic ceremony contained rituals and doctrines practiced by the ancient Eleusinians and the Greek mystery religions. He was convinced they contained secrets handed down from Adam. Dr. Durham acknowledged this by saying that Joseph Smith accepted Masonry because ”he recognized true Ancient Mysteries contained therein.”

Smith, however, chose not to stick with the Masonic Lodge, but start his own. Why?

He became convinced that Masonic teachings, handed down from the Hermetic Magi, Babylon, Chaldea, Egypt and the Kabbalah, had been distorted over time. He felt that further back, there was an original truth, a purer Masonry. Joseph’s objective was to get to the very root of things and have a religion he could claim contained the most primordial doctrines--ones that originated as close to the beginning of time as possible.

Dr. Durham further confirmed this by saying that Smith “believed he was restoring Masonry’s original pristine brilliancy, and re-creating the original Mysteries of the ancient Priesthood.” Smith also incorporated ideas from the ancient Eleusinian mysteries gleaned from the Encyclopaedia Britannia and other available sources in 1837.

What other aspect of the shrouded teachings and doctrines of these cultic mysteries, fascinated Joseph? They could only be passed on to those made worthy through ritualistic ceremonies.

These ancient rituals included washings and anointings, oaths and penalties, a new name, special garments, covenants of chastity, achieving godhood and special passwords to enable one to pass by the sentries who guard the gates of heaven.

Most of these ancient ceremonies were taken up with initiates watching live actors in a drama--not much different from today’s temple ceremony. (Temple participants today, view most of the drama by watching actors in a movie.)

The idea of the temple drama was originally used in the Rosicrucian order, then incorporated into French Masonry in 1750. Known as allegorical “mystery plays”, they taught rituals which were “fundamentally Hermetic-Kabbalistic”. Of further interest is the 28th Degree of the Scottish rite, also known as “the Rite de Perfection,” which was “administered in a room painted like a vast garden, with open fields, forests, and mountains.” Similar murals adorn Mormon temple walls.

In a way, Smith’s desire to find God’s original revelation, was a noble endeavor. However, the deceit of the whole matter was that the ideas gleaned from the ancient mystery cults, including the Kaballah, he passed off as revelation from the Holy Ghost:

Now, I ask all who hear me, why the learned men who are preaching salvation, say that God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing? The reason is, that they are unlearned in the things of God, and have not the gift of the Holy Ghost . . . But I am learned, and know more than all the world put together. The Holy Ghost does, anyhow, and he is within me, and comprehends more than all the world; and I will associate myself with him.

Joseph was very taken up with the Jewish Kaballah (the mystical, esoteric tradition of Judaism, claiming the original knowledge Adam received from God). His diary admits that he studied with a Jewish convert, Alexander Neibauer who had an extensive library on the Kabbalah. (”Freemasonry adopted portions of the Kabbalah into its third degree, the Royal Arch, and into some of the higher grades.”)

Faithful members believed his new insights were revealed from God. A year after his study with Neibauer, at the funeral of a man named King Follett, he began teaching some of these complex insights, gleaned from the Kaballah and other sources, his more famous one being the following:

[In the beginning] the head God called together the Gods and sat in grand council to bring forth the world . . . The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is [co-eternal] with God himself . . . God . . . is an exalted man . . . we have got to learn how to be gods . . . the same as all gods have done before.

Also influenced by the Kabbalistic concept that sacred revelation was progressive and open-ended, he felt he could receive a higher and more advanced revelation of God, and he thus began to receive his own revelations.

Many argue that Joseph Smith was uneducated, a statement promoted by Mormon leaders.

But, he was no dummy. He may have been illiterate in the beginning, but he became an avid learner while Neibaur tutored him. Smith had Latin, Hebrew, German and Greek New Testaments. Whether he could read them all is debatable; however, LDS history says he could read the German New Testament.

A look at the Modern LDS Church

Today’s Mormons argue that while all this may be true about Joseph Smith, the Church today no longer believes all that “superstitious stuff” “They have high morals, excellent ethics and standards, etc.”

But, there is something missing in this presumption. Mormonism’s foundation rests upon a man which God, in Deuteronomy 18:9-14, warns about:

Let no one be found among you . . . who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.

Further, two Presidents of the Mormon Church said, ”Joseph Smith is the foundation of this church,” and “Mormonism . . . must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith,” If so, it is, therefore, important to examine the life and claims of Joseph Smith closely. If he, as the foundation of their church, is proved false, then all the doctrines of Mormonism must also be false.

Some may continue to argue, “At least Mormons believe in Christ!”

But, even the most radical cults preach Christ. Mormonism, typical of other cults, teaches that faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross is not “enough” for salvation. Brigham Young taught that full salvation (exaltation in the highest heaven) can only come through acceptance of and final say-so of Joseph Smith, not through the grace of Christ:

No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith. Every man and woman must have the certification of Joseph Smith, Junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are.

[There is] no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him [Joseph Smith] . . . we cannot get around him.

Even non-Mormons might be tempted to say, “Well, let’s not hold Joseph Smith against the Mormon Church--look how far they’ve come! They no longer believe in divining rods or peep stones, and present day leaders certainly don’t engage in occult practices like animal sacrifice and magic circles.”

But the issue is not that they don’t practice them anymore. The issue is--that is what their church was built upon!

A true church must line up with all of God’s Word. Can we imagine God allowing his Old Testament prophets to indulge in magic and occult activities? In this respect, Smith’s reputation was so bad that he was refused membership in the Methodist Church.

When Joseph Smith asked to join the Methodist church the preacher, unaware of his occult activities, put his name on the rolls. Eventually, however, a board member, Joseph Lewis, heard about it and objected. He said, “Joseph’s manner of life rendered him unfit to be a member.” Smith was asked to withdraw unless he wanted to recant, confess, and reform himself. Smith refused. Later, in the Amboy paper, Lewis, along with a local preacher, Joshua McKune, explained:

We thought it was a disgrace to the church to have a practicing necromancer, a dealer in enchantments and bleeding ghosts . . . his occupation, habits and moral character were at variance with the discipline [and] his name would be a disgrace to the church.

Therefore, it makes no difference whether Mormons have high ethics or profess a belief in Christ. If the foundation is not built upon Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone, it’s false.

Often it is asked: “Why don’t Mormon leaders wipe the slate clean and tell the truth to their members about Joseph Smith? Why don’t they gradually get rid of unbiblical beliefs and build their church around their high ethics and a Biblical belief in Jesus?”

But, Mormon leaders find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Knowing, as they do, the facts about Joseph Smith, they realize that if they admit to them, they chance destroying the faith of their members. Therefore, out of necessity they have to continue white-washing the image of Joseph Smith and extolling the divine foundation of the church.

As a result, Mormons continue to be deceived, along with many unsuspecting converts, who are not told certain Mormon doctrines up front, but led to believe they are joining another Christian church.

One must not be gullible but discerning, like the Bereans in Acts 17 who were praised by Paul because they tested everything he said by the Scriptures.

First Thessalonians 5:21says one must prove all things and hold fast to that which is good. Is the following good?

SUMMARY

· Joseph was involved in the use of peep stones, divining rods, witchcraft, astrology, blood sacrifices, necromancy, and magic circles.

· Joseph continued to rely upon these methods when he started his church, incorporating them into his temple ceremony along with rituals from ancient mystery religions.

· Everything Smith introduced into his new church, he passed off as divine revelation and requirements for salvation.

· To translate the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham, he used the same peep stones used as a money-digger and palm reader.

· Many of the events pertaining to the Book of Mormon, were taken from the Masonic Legend of Enoch.

· Joseph Smith told conflicting stories on how he found the plates:

1. He found them through a brown seer stone (according to Brigham Young and Martin Harris).
2. Joseph claimed he received them from a Spanish ghost.
3. Joseph claimed he received them through a dream
4. Joseph claimed they were received from a nameless angel.
5. Then, through an angel named Nephi.
6. Lastly, through an angel named Moroni.

No individual, knowing the truth about the Mormon Church’s occult background, could possibly follow Joseph Smith as a prophet or embrace his teachings.

*Copyright 2003. This article cannot be copied and used in a professional publication without express permission of the author.

Joseph Smith Just plain Crazy!

2009-01-30T13:07:00.001-07:00

Joseph Smith boasted that he did more than Jesus to keep a church together.
"God is in the still small voice. In all these affidavits, indictments, it is all of the devil--all corruption. Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on the top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet . . . " (History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 408-409).

Joseph Smith said the Book of Mormon was more correct than the Bible.
"I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." (History of the Church, Vol. 4, page 461)

Joseph Smith made a false prophecy (one of several).
". . .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 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 . . . " (History of the Church, Vol. 5, p. 394.)

Joseph Smith said mothers have babies in eternity and some are on thrones.
"A question may be asked, ‘Will mothers have their children in eternity?' Yes! Yes! Mothers, you shall have your children." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, page 10). "Eternity is full of thrones, upon which dwell thousands of children reigning on thrones of glory, with not one cubit added to their stature." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 10).

Joseph Smith said there are many Gods.
"Hence, the doctrine of a plurality of Gods is as prominent in the Bible as any other doctrine. It is all over the face of the Bible . . . Paul says there are Gods many and Lords many . . . but to us there is but one God--that is pertaining to us; and he is in all and through all" (History of the Church, Vol. 6, page 474). "In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 5).

Joseph Smith said the Trinity is three gods.
"I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods." (Teachings of Prophet Joseph Smith p. 370).

Joseph Smith said God was once a man.
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens...I say, if you were to see him to-day, you would see him like a man in form -- like yourselves, in all the person, image, and very form as a man....it is necessary that we should understand the character and being of God, and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity, I will refute that idea, and will take away and do away the veil, so that you may see....and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3).

Joseph Smith said our greatest responsibility is to seek after our dead.
"The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead" (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, page 7).

Joseph Smith said that there are men living on the moon who dress like Quakers and live to be nearly 1000 years old. Since he was wrong about the moon, is it safe to trust him regarding the way to Heaven? (The Young Woman's Journal, Vol. 3, pages 263-264. See reprint in Mormonism -- Shadow or Reality? by Jerald and Sandra Tanner, page 4.)

Soul Robbing AKA Baptizing the Poor Dead

2009-01-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

The Mormons really have a thing for dead people. I mean they really like dead people…..so much in fact that they have been have been known to marry dead women and to baptize dead people. The latter practice has gotten them in tons of trouble with Jews, Catholics and Christians alike to stop this soul robbing.

Quick Mormon soul robbing Facts:

They do not limit their soul robbing to known Mormon loved ones.

They've soul robbed most known Native American tribal chiefs.

They've soul robbed every entry they could find in every encyclopedia.

They've soul robbed names they have gleaned from tombstones, from obituaries, from old city hall records, from English Church Christening logs, from immigration entry records, and from my parents' genealogy records.

The Mormon church has paid cash for names to Russian museums. This, much to the consternation of officials in the Russian Orthodox Church.
They soul robbed Holocaust victims and Nazis in the same rites and dead dunked Hitler three different times.

George Washington was one of the first people they soul robbed.

Baptism is the first ceremony performed in behalf of the dead in the temple. This is performed in the beautiful very expensive font is mounted on the full sized statues of 12 golden oxen, located in the temple basement. (A little odd don’t you think to stash 12 golden Ox and millions of names of non Mormons?)
Typically 200-300 baptisms are performed per hour, with LDS teenagers serving as proxies to introduce them into the temple rituals and vicarious Ordinance work at an impressionable age.

The Mormons have no respect for the dead and this practice should be outlawed. Please think about writing to congress and doing everything you can to stop this soul robbing of innocent people. The dead should not have to pay because Mormons cannot get enough living people to join their church.

Despite the out cry from a spiritual public for Mormons to stop soul raping the dead, Mormons refuse to comply. So let's continue to take what is "sacred" to Mormons and expose them so people can continue to seek the truth and save the dead from the evil clutches of the Mormons.

Mormons Pleasing the Family not The Lord

2009-01-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Recently my brother baptized his 8 year old daughter as a Mormon. He had my parents come to town so that my father could participate in this Mormon ritual. Indoctrination in Mormonism begins in early childhood. Mormon children are taught that they must obey all the commandments. They are taught that they obey priesthood authority,(aka men) attend church, study the scriptures, pay a full ten percent tithing of all their allowance and gift money, avoid people and places where you might find temptation, (such as all non-Mormons) then you will be able to keep all the commandments. If you are not able to keep all the commandments, then it is because you have failed and have done something wrong.

I find it odd my brother would allow his child to be baptized. After all, just a few weeks prior to her baptism, my brother had told me he did not buy into what the church believed in. He stated he did not understand all of the teachings, even though he is an Ex-missionary. He too has a hard time buying into the baptism for the dead, aka soul robbing. He finds it difficult to believe that God is from a planet Kolob, and that his prophet Joseph Smith believed in the marriage of many women, or that he believed in men in the moon. He was unaware of many of the Mormon beliefs.

He did not know about Mormons and spirits which in a nut shell says everyone on earth now was a spirit in the pre-existence. When we die, our spirits are separated from our bodies and if we were good they go to "spirit paradise." If we were bad they go to "spirit prison." The spirit world exists as a place for spirits to go while awaiting the second coming.

I really get that he struggles with the belief that Mormons believe in multiple Gods and multiple worlds. Yep. Mormons believe that God created multiple worlds and each world has people living on it. They also believe that multiple Gods exist but each has their own universe. We are only subject to our God and if we obtain the highest level of heaven MEN can become gods.

I did not even bother to tell him that Brigham Young said that gold and silver grow the same way the hair grew on his head grows. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourse, 1852, p 219) Or that Brigham Young taught that the sun and moon were inhabited! In fact he said there was no doubt about it, either! ( Journal of Discourses, 1880, p 271)

Poor thing I am not sure if he could take the truth. In fact I am not sure he cares.

Anyhow so my brother, who is Mormon because it is what makes his mother, father and wife happy, jumped into the water to baptize his daughter in the name of………errrr ahhhhhh I am not sure he even knows. What he does know is he made his parents very proud, and his daughter got lots of presents and even a party because she did as she was told.

I guess what is sad, is that Mormons who do not fully believe in the crap that is shoved down their throats, will still go to their bishop, tell the bishop the lies they need to hear to get a temple recommend or whatever they need to dunk their children into the well of deception..... aka baptism. My brother does NOT like going to church, he on several occasions has shared he doesn't buy into the whole Mormon thing, however, it is people like him who baptize children and go to temples.

Well I guess I say good for him. He is showing himself and the world that Mormons will lie in the name of their Mormon God. Perhaps because my brother will never be honest to our parents how he feels about the church, he is seeking his own type of revenge on the church, or perhaps it just goes right past him, and as always, he just does as he is told, even though he is 38.

No matter. I think it is important to get information out about these good Mormon people and how they will lie and soul rob to please their God or in my brothers case to keep family peace. Yes the one thing my poor brother believes in is pleasing family.

2009-01-07T09:53:00.003-07:00

Vatican letter directs bishops to keep parish records from Mormons
By Chaz Muth

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In an effort to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah.

An April 5 letter from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, obtained by Catholic News Service in late April, asks episcopal conferences to direct all bishops to keep the Latter-day Saints from microfilming and digitizing information contained in those registers.

The order came in light of "grave reservations" expressed in a Jan. 29 letter from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the clergy congregation's letter said.

Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the step was taken to prevent the Latter-day Saints from using records -- such as baptismal documentation -- to posthumously baptize by proxy the ancestors of church members.

Posthumous baptisms by proxy have been a common practice for the Latter-day Saints -- commonly known as Mormons -- for more than a century, allowing the church's faithful to have their ancestors baptized into their faith so they may be united in the afterlife, said Mike Otterson, a spokesman in the church's Salt Lake City headquarters.

In a telephone interview with CNS May 1, Otterson said he wanted a chance to review the contents of the letter before commenting on how it will affect the Mormons' relationship with the Catholic Church.

"This dicastery is bringing this matter to the attention of the various conferences of bishops," the letter reads. "The congregation requests that the conference notifies each diocesan bishop in order to ensure that such a detrimental practice is not permitted in his territory, due to the confidentiality of the faithful and so as not to cooperate with the erroneous practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

The letter is dated 10 days before Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 U.S. visit, during which he presided over an ecumenical prayer service attended by two Mormon leaders. It marked the first time Mormons had participated in a papal prayer service.

Father Massa said he could see how the policy stated in the letter could strain relations between the Catholic Church and the Latter-day Saints.

"It certainly has that potential," he said. "But I would also say that the purpose of interreligious dialogue is not to only identify agreements, but also to understand our differences. As Catholics, we have to make very clear to them their practice of so-called rebaptism is unacceptable from the standpoint of Catholic truth."

The Catholic Church will eventually open a dialogue with the Mormons about the rebaptism issue, Father Massa said, "but we are at the beginning of the beginning of a new relationship with the LDS. The first step in any dialogue is to establish trust and to seek friendship."

The two faiths share intrinsic viewpoints on key issues the United States is facing, particularly the pro-life position on abortion and an opposition to same-sex marriage.

However, theological differences have cropped up between Mormons and Catholics in the past.

In 2001 the Vatican's doctrinal congregation issued a ruling that baptism conferred by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cannot be considered a valid Christian baptism, thus requiring converts from that religion to Catholicism to receive a Catholic baptism.

"We don't have an issue with the fact that the Catholic Church doesn't recognize our baptisms, because we don't recognize theirs," Otterson said. "It's a difference of belief."

When issuing its 2001 ruling, the Vatican said that even though the Mormon baptismal rite refers to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the church's beliefs about the identity of the three persons are so different from Catholic and mainline Christian belief that the rite cannot be regarded as a Christian baptism.

Latter-day Saints regard Jesus and the Holy Spirit as children of the Father and the Heavenly Mother. They believe that baptism was instituted by the Father, not Christ, and that it goes back to Adam and Eve.

Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald -- vicar general of the Diocese of Salt Lake City -- said he didn't understand why the Latter-day Saints church was singled out in this latest Vatican policy regarding parish records.

"We have a policy not to give out baptismal records to anyone unless they are entitled to have them," Msgr. Fitzgerald said of his diocese. "That isn't just for the Church of the Latter-day Saints. That is for all groups."

Though he said the Salt Lake City Diocese has enjoyed a long-standing dialogue with the Latter-day Saints, Msgr. Fitzgerald said the diocese does not support giving the Mormons names for the sake of rebaptism.

Mormons have been criticized by several other faiths -- perhaps most passionately by the Jews -- for the church's practice of posthumous baptism.

Members of the Latter-day Saints believe baptizing their ancestors by proxy gives the dead an opportunity to embrace the faith in the afterlife. The actual baptism-by-proxy ceremony occurs in a Mormon temple, and is intended to wash sins away for the commencement of church membership.

Jewish leaders have called the practice arrogant and said it is disrespectful to the dead, especially Holocaust victims.

"Baptism by proxy is a fundamentally important doctrine of the Latter-day Saints," Otterson said. "We have cooperative relationships with churches, governments -- both state and national -- going back to the last century. Our practice of negotiating for records and making them available for genealogical research is very well known."

Father Massa said he is not aware of aggressive attempts to obtain baptismal records at Catholic parishes in any of the U.S. dioceses.

He also said the Catholic Church will continue to reach out to the Mormons and carry on the efforts of understanding that have already begun, especially in Salt Lake City.

"Profound theological differences are not an excuse for avoiding dialogue, but a reason for pursuing dialogue," Father Massa said.

DESPITE THE FACT THE JEWS AND CATHOLICS HAVE ASKED KINDLY FOR MORMONS TO NOT BAPTIZE THEIR DEAD, THEY CONTINUE THE PRACTICE OF SOUL ROBBING.

Mormons and Tithing: Robbery in the name of God

2008-12-30T07:49:00.001-07:00

Mormons and Tithing
I found this article and some comments about Mormons and their tithing ritual. I remember even as a small child having to "give" 10% of my allowance. I was not offered a choice it was demanded from the Mormons.

Members of The Mormon church are required to hold annual tithing settlements to declare their tithing faithfulness. Why is tithing more important than chastity? Why not hold annual "chastity settlements" or "honesty settlements" or "doing good to our fellow man settlements." Why is a 10% admission charge required for entry into the temple and eventually into the CK?

Most other faiths and other non-profit organizations publish their financial statements. The LDS church never reveals to members what their money is being spent on. There is no reason this shouldn't be done in the form of public financial statements as it is done in other religions and as it was done in the church's past. Members are expected to be responsible to the church in their tithing; shouldn't the church be just as forthcoming with where their money is spent?

In 1997, Time magazine estimated that the net worth of the LDS church was at the minimum $30 billion. (Some estimates put the net worth at $50 billion today.) The church is already rich, so why does it need money from poor members? Couldn't an organization this wealthy allow its poorest members to forgo the 10% tithing requirement? Why doesn't the church give more money to charity rather than spend all that cash on more multi-million dollar temples, shopping malls, TV/radio stations and cattle ranches in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Florida and Nebraska?

In order to receive any assistance from the Bishop's Storehouse, a member in financial difficulty must first be declared a "full tithe payer". Why does someone who is hungry have to prove their "worthiness" to eat? When Jesus fed the multitude with the loaves and fishes, did he conduct "worthiness" interviews first?

Comment1:
Most other faiths and other non-profit organizations publish their financial statements. The LDS church never reveals to members what their money is being spent on. In an address at BYU, Gordon B. Hinckley gave a talk with a sub title of Trust and Accountability. See http://unicomm.byu.edu/about/foundation/documents/hinckley.htm
Now just how is the church suppose to be accountable when they do not publish their financial statements? Now what is wrong with this picture.

Comment2:
I can't think of any other religion that shakes down members for contributions the way the Mormons do. Yes, other churches pass around baskets and pressure you into giving money. But the Mormons require (yes, it is required) that members attending a meeting with the bishop at the end of the year to state, on the record, if they have paid a full tithe. If you have not, for any reason, you will be lectured on the need to repent and come back into compliance with the law of tithing.

Comment 3:
I think tithing settlement is a complete invasion. I bristled every time I had to do it. It just reinforces the fact that you have to pay your way into the temple and into the "celestial kingdom". Back when I was a member, my bishop once withheld my recommend because I was a month behind on paying my tithing. I was working my ass of in ward and stake callings, taking my kids to church every week by myself, doing my visiting teaching, etc., but he felt I wasn't worthy to go to the temple, that I was "stealing from the lord." I missed my cousin's wedding because I didn't have the recommend. I was devastated and completely embarrassed to miss the wedding. I was so ashamed because of the things the bishop said to me. I am so relieved to be out of that mental, emotional, financial trap

Comment 4:
..."Tithing is an important test of our personal righteousness. President Joseph F. Smith (1838-1918) said: "By this principle it shall be known who is for the kingdom of God and who is against it. … By it it shall be known whether we are faithful or unfaithful" (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 276)." To think, according to the Mormon church, your faith and righteousness/worthiness depends upon how many sheckles you divvy over to God. How utterly absurd!

Comment 5:
In 1997, Time magazine estimated that the net worth of the LDS church was at the minimum $30 billion. (Some estimates put the net worth at $50 billion today.) The church is already rich, so why does it need money from poor members? Couldn't an organization this wealthy allow its poorest members to forgo the 10% tithing requirement? Why doesn't the church give more money to charity rather than spend all that cash on more multi-million dollar temples, shopping malls, TV/radio stations and cattle ranches in Florida and Nebraska? In order to receive any assistance from the Bishop's Storehouse, a member in financial difficulty must first be declared a "full tithe payer". Why does someone who is hungry have to prove their "worthiness" to eat? When Jesus fed the multitude with the loaves and fishes, did he conduct "worthiness" interviews first?

Are Mormons Selfish?

2008-12-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Okay so listen we know that Mormons worship a false prophet, and we know Mormons believe all men will become Gods of their own planet thus they believe in more than one God. We also know that this planet has 7 billion people and we can hardly feed ourselves yet the Mormons are big breeders and do not believe in birth control or saving this planet.

In addition, most of us understand that Mormons are so insecure with their religion they need to go around saying the are the ONLY true church and that they are the "chosen" and "elite". In addition to all this, we get that Mormons believe in tithing, no they just cannot pass the basket, they need to keep a record, and then call you in once a year and let you know whether you have been naughty or nice handing over your hard earned money to the Mormon corporation.

So this brings up a question. Are Mormons selfish?
Many will say, heck no, why they take care of their own. Believe me, this is true. Mormons will take care of their own, but that sadness comes with Mormons will not take care of non-Mormons. Because they are the chosen and the elite, they have no regarded for non Mormons. In fact they disregard non Mormons so much, that they wait for non-Mormons to die, and then hunt them like prey so they can baptize them Mormons. Actually there should be a law, but Mormons can use their selfishness to baptize whom ever, including the likes of Hitler, Elvis, Ann Frank and believe it or not it showed up on their records Mickey Mouse.

With that said, it is the holiday season and so I went down memory lane. As a Mormon youth, Christmas was about getting. Mormons shopped and shopped and shopped, even if they could not afford food on their table, they shopped.
It was all about giving, so that they could get. Ahhh and the Mormon guilt. Who could forget that. Even as a youth, if I had a cold and was sick, I was forced out of the house to go sing Christmas Carols at fellow Mormon homes. Of course if I mentioned we sing songs for an old people’s homes or an agency, they became upset with me. How dare I want to use these precious youthful Mormon voices for anything other than for other Mormons. The same went with donations. Mormons just do not like to donate to non-Mormon agencies. I used to tell my mother as a teenager, that I would like to donate to the food bank, my parents would not hear it! A good Mormon would NEVER give their money to a non-Mormon organization.

Of course you could imagine my joy when I finally quit the church and lovingly give to a variety of organizations as often as I can without shame or guilt.
Now, if I can only un-baptize all the dead relatives they baptized, I would be inb 7th heaven (or in the case of Mormons, one of the three Kingdoms of heaven!)

Could You Write that Book?Could you write a book that satisfies these requirements? It certainly proves something about the Book of Mormon…

2008-10-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Could you write a book that satisfies these requirements? It certainly proves something about the Book of Mormon…

1. Write a history of ancient America covering a period of from 2200 B.C.E. to
400 A.D.? Why ancient America? Because that’s what the Book of Mormon claims to
be about silly.

2. You must start telling tales that resemble this book to your family at least ten years before you write it.

3. You must be primarily self-educated. If you are formally educated, it may or may not make it more difficult to write, that will obviously depend on your
individual “education,” but don’t worry about learning how to spell, since . . .

4. You must include at least 3000 grammatical and spelling errors, even if you use a secretary to transcribe your dictation. Now this is going to be really
hard, because where are you going to find such an ignorant secretary. Good luck on that one.

5. Your “history” must be 531 pages long, and must use the phrase “and it came to pass” 3,856 times.

6. You must come up with a good explanation as to why filler such as “and it came to pass” would be so frequently repeated if your history is supposed to have come from gold plates where space was at a premium.

7. Once your book is published you are only allowed to change it 3500 times for grammatical and spelling errors and 500 times for doctrinal, historical or other
substantive inconsistencies.

8. Your “history” must replace the actual millions of inhabitants of the ancient Americas during this time period with fictitious nations, including one nation
founded by refugees from the mythical tower of Babylon who came to the Americas on a giant barrel-like barge with holes in the top and the bottom (don’t ask) of
the barge and two other nations founded by “jews” who know next to nothing about Jewish dietary or religious practices.

9. You must describe the inhabitants of America and their religious, economic, political and social and cultural institutions in such way that they don’t in any way represent the religious, political, social and cultural institutions of the actual inhabitants of ancient America. Even make up some names of coins that were never used by the actual inhabitants of America. Throw in some animals and crops that are only in the Americas post-Columbus and make up some funny names
of non-existent animals too, like cureloms.

10. Make sure you plagiarize from more than one section of the bible, and from various other sources, so that your claim that many ancient authors contributed
to the book can be trumpeted by apologists.

11. Make up a story about a dead guy coming to America and killing millions of inhabitants and burying cities in the ocean and under the earth. Call him Nosferatu or Lestat. No just kidding — you must actually call him Jesus.

12. Claim that your inconsistent and grammatically awkward prose (except for the plagiarized parts which are somewhat better written) is not fiction, but a true
and sacred history.

13. Include in your book 54 chapters dealing with wars that bear no resemblance to the actual wars that took place in the ancient Americas. Make sure that at least some of these wars include the nonsensical accounts of million man armies. Ignore the problems associated with the logistical support for such a large army. Also include million men armies fighting to the last man and their bones and steel weapons disappearing from the face of the earth. Include 21 historical chapters which bear no resemblance to actual history, try and include some
inconsistencies here too, like people reappearing in the narrative after they have already died.

14. You must include 55 chapters on visions and prophesies. At least one of the “visions” must be an almost verbatim recital of a dream that some member of your family, preferably your father, told to you as a boy. Some of the prophesies must be plagiarized directly from the bible, but others must “prophesy” about things that have already happened between the time of the supposed prophesy and the present, so that you can show how accurate the “prophecies” of your book are. Except for the “prophecies” about events that have already taken place,
which must be laden with details, all prophecies should be very vague. Never do anything stupid like prophesy that Christ will come in 1891, the civil war would
start in the 1830’s or that people live on the moon and dress like Quakers, that would be quite a problem for you.
15. Included in your narrative will be bogus modes of travel that were never used in ancient America, bogus descriptions of clothing and clothing materials
that were never used in ancient America, bogus descriptions of crops that never existed in ancient America and bogus types of government as well.

16. You must invent 280 names. Well, not really invent, you can take some from the bible, some from the apocrypha, some from maps, etc. Some should be inside
jokes (Moron, Ether), some should be silly (anti-nephi-lehite, curelom), some should so forgettable that you refer to them obliquely (brother of jared) and some should come from the occult practices you were taught by your parents (Laman).

17. Every objective scholar who looks at your work and examines its claims to be a history of the ancient Americas must denounce it as a fraud. (OK, this one was
easy, but you deserve a break after so many hard ones in a row.)

18. Claim that your book is the word of God. Then start a religion with doctrines contrary to the book. (Don’t worry, this is actually much easier than it sounds.)
19. Throw in all kinds of absurd, impossible and contradictory statements. (If you need help with this see Ether 15:31, Mosiah 21:28 and 2 Nephi 19:1 for some
examples to get you started.)

20. No one but you or the members of the religion you founded must believe your claims that the book is of divine origin. To cover for the fact that you cannot
produce the gold plates, make up a story about the gold plates upon which the record came being “taken up into heaven” and get 11 people who are related to
you and/or with a financial interest in your book to say that they saw the plates before they disapperared. Make sure that you refer to the dead guy that
takes the plates back “to heaven” by at least two different names.

21. Get four dishonest and shifty characters to claim that they too had an magical dead guy come down from “heaven” to “testify” to them about your book.
Each of these witnesses must have a financial stake in the book.

22. Make sure that something in your book fulfills some vague biblical prophesy. (And yes, I know vague and biblical prophesy are redundant and repetitive.)

23. Thousands of men with a vested financial interest in the religion you founded, including many who are criminals and who lie under oath to congress,
must accept your book (and your teachings that contradict the book) for over 100 years. In fact, you must make sure that every man who leads your church for the
first 100 years must be a criminal. Make sure that you commit every one of the following crimes: treason, sedition, murder, perjury, conspiracy to commit
murder, bigamy, statutory rape, fraud, conterfeiting, illegal banking, assault, and bribery. Send some of your followers on missions and have sex with their
wives while they are away too. Make sure that every man that leads your church for the next 100 years commits at least 3 of the above crimes.

24. Since your book is filled with inconsistencies which easily demonstrate it as fraudulent, you must include an appeal to magical thinking at the end of the
book, or no one will follow you.

25. You’ve got to then get a bunch of believers in your fraudulent history to, a few of them glady, but most of them under some form of coercion, give up two
years of their life to con others into beleiving your bogus history. Have sex with some of their wives while they are away. Call this sex “celestial marriage.”

26. Some of these salesmen must even pay their own way. Now some of them will, over the course of these two years, come to the realization that your book is a
fraud, but over half of them must stay in your church.

27. You must derive your financial riches from the book and the religion which you found upon its teachings (and no we must not forget about the doctrines that
contradict the teachings of the book). Despite making several fortunes over the course of your life by conning the believers of your book out of their hard
earned money, you will waste it all and flee at least two states due to your financial improprieties and declare bankruptcy at least once. And along the same
financial vein, you must also steal money from your foster daughters. And while you’re at it, have sex with some of them too.

28. When your financial cons and sexual scandals cause problems for your family and followers, you must blame everything on religious persecution and leave
town. You must ingraine this into your followers so that they carry this false persecution complex with them unto the third and the fourth generations. You must teach all the leaders of your movement to have sex with the wives and the daughters of those with lower callings in your church. You must have sex with 14 year old girls and cause that any follower of yours that does not want to have sex with 14 year old girls to be removed from any leadership position in your church. (Yes David Koresh did this too, but he never wrote a book and he’s not
about to write one now is he?)

29. Your book must result in a people whose unlawful practices will be referred to as barbaric by both the Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States
of America.. (If you live somewhere other than the US, similar organizations of the country where you live will suffice) You must include in your religion
covenants that require your people to blindly obey orders to murder non-members of your cult. Your book must result in a people that will kill and steal from
any who dare visit territory controlled by your followers. Your people must murder at least 20 children in cold blood.

30. Start right now, and spend a year writing the first draft of this book. Then complete the second draft in three months, BUT YOUR SECOND DRAFT MUST BE WRITTEN WITHOUT REFERENCE TO THE FIRST DRAFT. Before starting on the second draft, you
must let the only copy of the first draft go to someone who does not believe you saw god, or that you saw any dead guys, or that dead guys gave you any gold
plates. Then come up with a good explanation as to why, since the plates were supposedly translated by the power of god, god didn’t just help you write the
same words over again.

31. Then get someone in the pay of the religion you founded to write a dishonest
“challenge” to “prove” your book isn’t fiction (even though it is). THEN, get someone else to spend a couple of hours coming up with a silly parody showing
what a dishonest hack the author of the first challenge was.

COULD YOU WRITE THAT BOOK?

Questions all Mormons Should Ask Themselves

2008-06-26T12:53:00.005-07:00

Really, honestly...I am not a bible thumper....Matter fact, I am not all that Christian. Really I just believe in a loving God. Though I have read the bible many times mainly I was forced to read the bible, however, as an adult I read it just to read it. Recently though on a "born again" type of page, I saw these questions, and I was clearly impressed with the research this person must have gone through to ask these questions. In fact so impressed that I thought I would share their questions with my raeders. So enjoy and pass the questions along..........

Questions all Mormons Should Ask Themselves

1. If Gods are individuals who have passed through mortality and have progressed to Godhood, how has one person of the Trinity (the Holy Spirit) attained Godhood without getting a body? (See Acts 5:3,4)

2. If Gods are individuals who have passed through an earth life to attain Godhood, how is it that one person of the Trinity (Jesus Christ) was God before He received a body or passed through earth life? (Matt. 1:23 and Hebrews 10:5)

3. If the Book of Mormon really contains the fullness of the Gospel, why does it not teach the doctrine of “eternal progression”? (See D&C 20:8,9)

4. God said, “Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any”. How can there be Gods who are Elohim’s ancestors? Surely an all-knowing God would know this and wouldn’t speak falsehoods. (See Isa. 44:8 and Journal of Discourses Vol. 1, pg. 123)

5. How can any men ever become Gods when the Bible says, “Before me there was no god formed, neither shall there be after me”? (Isaiah 43:10)

6. If Adam is the “only God with whom we have to do”, did Adam create himself? (Journal of Discourses Vol. 1, pg. 50, 51)

7. Joseph Smith stated that without the ordinances and authority of the priesthood no man can see the face of God and live (D & C 84:21, 22). He also said that he saw God in 1820 (Joseph Smith 2:17). Joseph Smith, however, never received any priesthood until 1829 (D&C 13). How did he see God and survive? In which was he in error: his revelation in D & C 84:21, 22 or his experience in the grove?

8. If a spirit is a being without a body (See Luke 24:39), why do Mormons teach that God the Father has a body of flesh and bones? (See John 4:24)

9. If the Father is Elohim and Jesus is Jehovah (as the Mormons teach), how does a Mormon explain Deuteronomy 6:4, which in the Hebrew says, “Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah”?

10. If the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the Gospel, why doesn’t it teach that God was once a man?

11. If Mormonism is the restored church, which is based upon the Bible, why are Mormon leaders so quick to state that the Bible is “translated wrong” when faced with some conflict between the Bible and Mormonism?

12. If Jesus was conceived as a result of a physical union between God and Mary, how was Jesus born of a virgin? (Journal of Discourses Vol. 1, page 50)

13. Why did Christ not return in 1891 as Joseph Smith predicted? (History of the Church, Vol. 2 page 182).

14. Journal of Discourses Vol. 2, page 210 says Jesus was being married to Mary and Martha in Cana. Why then was he INVITED to his own wedding? (John 2:1,2)

15. Why does the Mormon church teach that there is no eternal hell when the Book of Mormon teaches that there is? (I Nephi 14:3, II Ne. 9:16;28: 21-23, Mosiah 3:25, Alma 34:35, Heleman 6:28 and 3:25,26).

16. How can Mormons teach that the repentant thief was not saved when the Book of Mormon states that Paradise is where the righteous go? (Luke 23:43, Alma 40:12, 16)

17. How did Nephi with a few men on a new continent build a temple like Solomon’s while Solomon needed 163,300 workmen and seven years to build his temple? (See I Kings 5:13-18 and II Nephi 5:15-17)

18. If the book of Mormon is true, why hasn’t a valid geography been established for the book?

19. Why was Joseph Smith still preaching against polygamy in October 1843 after he got his revelation in July 1843 commanding the practice of polygamy? (D & C 132; and History of the Church Vol. 6, page 46, or Teachings of the Prophet, page 324)

20. If Lehi left Jerusalem before 600 B.C., how did he learn about synagogues? (See II Nephi 26:26)

21. If the Book of Mormon is true, why do Indians fail to become white when they become Mormons? (II Nephi 30:6 – prior to 1981 revision)

22. What kind of chariots did the Nephites have in 90 B.C. some 1500 years before the introduction of the wheel on the Western Hemisphere? (Alma 18:9)

23. How do Mormons account for the word “church” in the Book of Mormon, about 600 B.C., which was centuries before the beginning of the Church on the day of Pentecost? (I Nephi 4:26)

24. How do Mormons account for the italicized words in the King James Version (indicating their absence in the Hebrew and Greek) being found in the Book of Mormon? (A comparison of Mosiah 14 and Isaiah 53 will provide at least 13 examples)

25. How did the French word “adieu” get into the Book of Mormon? (Jacob 7:27)

26. Was it right or wrong for Solomon to have many wives? (See Jacob 2:24; D & C 132:38,39) Which is it?

27. If polygamy was a provision for increasing population rapidly, why did God give Adam only one wife?

28. D&C 129:4, 5 says, “When a messenger comes saying he has a message from God, offer him your hand and request him to shake hands with you. If he be an angel he will do so, and you will feel his hand.” How can this test distinguish between an angel of God and a Jehovah’s Witness missionary…or a Mormon Elder.

29. If Joseph Smith was a true prophet, why did he fail to realize that “Elias” is the N.T. form of the name “Elijah”? (D & C 110:12,13 and 1 Kings 17:1 and James 5:17) How could Elijah (Elias) have appeared to Joseph Smith in the Kirkland Temple as two different people?

30. If children have no sins until they are eight years old, why are they baptized at age eight to wash away non-existent sins? (See Moroni 8:8)

31. How could the Garden of Eden have been in Missouri when the Pearl of Great Price declares that it was in the vicinity of Assyria and had the Euphrates and Hiddekel Rivers in it? (See P of GP Moses 3:14 and D&C 116 and 117; Genesis 2:8-15)

32. Brigham Young said, “The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy”. (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, page 269) Why did the Mormons yield to the pressure of the government and stop practicing polygamy?

33. Heber C. Kimball stated, “We are th people of Deseret, she shall be no more Utah: we will have our own name”. Why did this prophecy fail? (J of D. Vol. 5, page 161)

34. How did Joseph Smith carry home the golden plates of the Book of Mormon, and how did the witnesses lift them so easily? (They weighted about 230 lbs. Gold, with a density of 19.3 weighs 1204.7 lbs. Per cubic foot. The plates were 7” x 8” by about 6”. See Articles of Faith, by Talmage, page 262, 34th Ed.)

35. When Christ died, did darkness cover the land for three days of for three hours? (See Luke 23:44 and III Nephi 8:19, 23)

36. If the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, why have the Mormons changed it? (There have been over 3,000 changes in the Book of Mormon, exclusive of punctuation changes)

37. If God speaks through a prophet, why do Mormons vote on whether or not to receive and authorize it?

38. It has been established that the “Sensen” manuscript was simply a common Egyptian burial papyrus. Why do the Mormons still accept the Book of Abraham which was translated from that manuscript?

39. Why is it that no other writings have been found in the language of “Reformed Egyptian”, the supposed language of the Book of Mormon plates? Is there evidence that such a language really existed?

40. Joseph Smith said that there are men living on the moon who dress like Quakers and live to be nearly 1000 years old. Since he was wrong about the moon, is it safe to trust him regarding the way to heaven? (See The Young Woman’s Journal, Vol 3, pages 263, 264.)

41. Why do Mormons not study Hebrew and Greek so that they can intelligently discuss the accuracy of the translation of the Bible?

42. Joseph Smith prepared fourteen Articles of Faith. Why has the original No. 11 been omitted?

43. According to Hebrews 7:24, the Melchizedek Priesthood is not transferable. Why do Mormons pass it from one to another?

44. If Mormonism came as a revelation from God, why are the Mormon Temple Oaths almost identical to the oaths of the Masonic Lodge?

45. Why did the Nauvoo House not stand forever and ever? (D&C 124:56-60)

46. If genealogies are important, why does the New Testament tell Christians to avoid them? (I Timothy 1:4; Titus 3:9)

47. The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin”. Why did Brigham Young say that there are some sins which can be atoned for only by the shedding of ones own blood.

48. God rejected the fig leaf aprons which Adam and Eve made. Why do Mormons memorialize the fall by using fig leaf aprons? (Gen. 3:21)

49. If baptism for the dead was a Christian ceremony, why did Paul use the pronoun “they” rather than “we” or “ye”? Why did he exclude himself and other Christians when referring to it? (I Cor. 15:29)

50. Why does the Mormon church teach that the broad way leads to the Terrestrial Heaven when Jesus taught that it leads to destruction? (Matthew 7:13, 14)

What Mormon Missionaries WON'T Tell You

2008-06-26T09:47:00.001-07:00

Most of us have had a Mormon Missionary knock at our door. If you have ever invited them in and listened to a presentation of their beliefs, you probably found most but not all of what they said very similar to those beliefs held by Christians. However, while trying to convince you that your Church is wrong and the Mormon Church is right, there are several points they intentionally leave out. Below is a list of Mormon beliefs the missionaries will be reluctant to tell you about:

They will be reluctant to tell you that the God they worship was not always God.
"We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 345)

They will be reluctant to tell you that they believe Jesus Christ is the spirit brother of Satan:
"The appointment of Jesus to be the Savior of the world was contested by one of the other sons of God. He was called Lucifer, son of the morning. Haughty, ambitious, and covetous of power and glory, this spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become the Savior of mankind." (Milton R. Hunter, Gospel Through the Ages, pg.15)

They will be reluctant to tell you that, according to Mormonism, Jesus Christ was a polygamist.
"I discover that some of the Eastern papers represent me as a great blasphemer, because I said, in my lecture on Marriage, at our last Conference, that Jesus Christ was married at Cana of Galilee, that Mary, Martha, and others were his wives, and that he begat children." (Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 2:210)

The grand reason of the burst of public sentiment in anathemas upon Christ and his disciples, causing his crucifixion, was evidently based upon polygamy, according to the testimony of the philosophers who rose in that age. A belief in the doctrine of a plurality of wives caused the persecution of Jesus and his followers. We might almost think they were 'Mormons'" (Jedediah M. Grant, Journal of Discourses, 1:346)

They will be reluctant to tell you that for at least half a century church leaders were teaching that Adam was really God and the only God with whom we have to do.
"Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is Michael, the Archangel, the Ancient of Days! about whom holy men have written and spoken--He is our Father, and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:50)

"I have learned by experience that there is but one God that pertains to this people and he is the god that pertains to this earth--The first man. That first man sent his own son to redeem the world..."(Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 4:1)

They will be reluctant to tell you that Brigham Young, who held the office of President of the Mormon church longer than any other man, taught that men must practice polygamy in order to become Gods.
"The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy." (Journal of Discourses 11:269)

They will be reluctant to tell you that the book of Mormon fails to contain any Mormon doctrine
Many portions of this Mormon Scripture even contradicts Mormon theology.

They will be reluctant to tell you about their secret temple ceremonies which, until April 1990, portrayed Christian ministers as hirelings of Satan. Nor will they tell you about the sacred underwear they are wearing which, they believe, actually protects them.

They will be reluctant to tell you that Mormon leaders have taught that Jesus was conceived by way of a sexual relationship between God and Mary.
"..how are children begotten? I answer just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father. The difference between Jesus Christ and other men is this: Our fathers in the flesh are mortal men, who are subject unto death: but the Father of Jesus Christ in the flesh is the god of Heaven" (Joseph F. Smith, Family Home Evening Manual, 1972, pg. 125)

They will be reluctant to tell you that they believe the bible has been corrupted throughout the centuries and cannot be trusted fully by itself.
"I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph smith, pg.327)
"But the Bible has been robbed of its plainness; many sacred books having been lost, others rejected by the Romish Church, and what few we have left, were copied and recopied so many times, that it is admitted that almost every verse has been corrupted and mutilated to that degree that any two of them read alike." (Orson Pratt, The Seer, pg.213)

They will be reluctant to tell you that the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, which they claim to be both sacred and without error, contradict each other many times.
For example, in the Book of Mormon, God called David and Solomon's act of polygamy an abomination, whereas in the Doctrine and Covenants He claims to justify it. Jacob 2:24 in the Book of Mormon says, "Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord." Section 132:1 in the Doctrine and Covenants, however, states: "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines."

They will be reluctant to tell you that they use Christian terms with Mormon meanings.
For example, a Mormon would probably agree with you that a person must be born again. To the Mormon, however, "born again" is a process which begins with water baptism. Another example are the words "salvation" and exaltation," which are synonymous in the Christian's mind. However, general salvation to the Mormon merely means the resurrection which everyone in the world will receive at death. Exaltation, or individual salvation, is the reward earned by the Mormon by following the laws of the Moron church. "Eternal Life" to the Mormon means Godhood. Regarding the word "scriptures," the Christian thinks of the Holy Bible while the Mormon could be thinking of not only the Bible but the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price as well.

They won't want to tell you that in order to gain entrance into the highest form of Mormon heaven, the Celestial kingdom, you must accept Joseph Smith, Jr. as a prophet of god. Faith in Jesus alone, Mormonism teaches, will force you to spend eternity in a lower form of heaven.

Tenth LDS President Joseph Fielding Smith stated in his book, doctrines of Salvation, that there is "No salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. The word "salvation," used in this context, must really mean "exaltation" because former Mormon apostle Bruce R. McConkie stated in his book Mormon Doctrine that general salvation is given to everyone regardless of belief. Personal salvation or exaltation to the highest form of Mormon heaven comes only by accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet of god and by following the laws of the LDS church.

They will be reluctant to tell you that their founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., made many false prophecies which, according to the Bible, would classify him as a false prophet rather than a true prophet of God.

For instance, in 1835 Smith claimed that the Lord would again come in just 56 years. We would gather from this "prophecy" that Jesus Christ would again come to earth on or before 1891; no doubt Joseph Smith was incorrect (History of the church 2:182). In 1832 Joseph Smith claimed he had a revelation concerning the building of a temple in Independence, Missouri. According to section 84, verses 4 and 5, of the Doctrine and Covenants, he stated this "temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily this generation shall not pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it..." to this day the spot consecrated by Smith fails to be the sight of a great temple, but instead is covered with a well-kept lawn. In fact, the Mormon church does not even own the land.

What You need to Know About Mormons-but they probably won't tell you

2008-05-08T08:13:00.003-07:00

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

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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.

The Role of Women in Mormonism

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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.

Here is your own copy of "And it didn't Come to Pass"

2008-05-06T15:51:00.002-07:00

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…"

Brief Facts of Mormon History

2008-05-05T12:22:00.001-07:00

The Luciferian church of Joseph Smith, know as Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, epitomizes the Nicolatine spirit of CONTROL which the Lord says that He hates. (Rev 2:6&15) Joseph Smith's deal with Lucifer, was so successful because he promised to give the followers of his Mormon religion what they wanted most, to be a god or goddess.

The facts of Mormon history begin in Bainbridge, New York, in 1826. Joseph Smith, after almost being jailed for his many attempts to make easy money by helping people find buried treasure, sought a less risky way to turn buried treasure into money. There are verifiable records of the Bainbridge, New York, March 20, 1826 trial, where young Joseph Smith was found guilty of fraud, using the SAME method by which he later told Mormon faithful he translated Maroni's golden plates into the Book of Mormon. That 1826 trial on charges of "glass looking" really scared him. The judge appears to have been practical enough to not insist on going through with the whole thing if Joseph Smith agreed to leave town. Joseph Smith did leave the area, but that irrefutable record of his tracks of fraud remain there. The facts remain in spite of the many Mormon books written to say otherwise, including modern fraud to attempt to cover over and hide the pits of FRAUD from which Joseph Smith was digged in the 1820's of upstate New York legal history.

Joseph Smith came up with an ingenious plan to use his great skills as a story teller, and the idea of buried treasure, to make easy money and avoid the legal risk, which he came to know quite up close and personal. The idea was to write what he would promote as a true story about magic, religion, and buried treasure that he could sell. His genius was to make it an essential feature of that story that the buried treasure never be found. He had often learned the hard way that not finding the buried treasure is not a good experience for anyone.

Joseph tried to sell the Book of Mormon manuscript but could not find a buyer. Joseph knew that getting the books printed and selling individual copies was really hard, and slow, work. The method Joseph chose was to use the story's novel twists to find a place on the lucrative preachers' circuit. In that time of American history a good preacher was the closest thing we might imagine of a pop rock star today.

Joseph Smith's plan did not work out because he had to learn to be a great public speaker. Only a very few people who believed his story could afford to buy a copy of his book. None of the few who believed Joseph's story had enough money to buy the copyright. That led Joseph Smith to found his own church based upon his story.

Due to the success of the Luciferian church which he founded, many good paying jobs came his way. He was Mayor of Nauvoo which rivaled Chicago at that time for largest Illinois city. Joseph Smith even became commander in chief of a large military force. By founding his Luciferian religion he quickly came to be able to put many of his family and friends into nice paying positions as well.

Over time Joseph Smith refined and polished his story to sound more Christian. He stopped the magical stories and instead told stories about how God the Father, Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, as well as most of the key figures from the Old Testament, visited him on a regular basis. He did bring on one notable entirely new player that was sort of an angel that he called Moroni, and a host of smaller part fictional prehistoric American prophets. Moroni was supposed to be one of God’s prophets from the Americas.

Joseph Smith was always interested in religion, and while writing his story he answered a lot of questions that had troubled him about religion. Why do little children need to be baptized? How can a loving God permit evil to exist? Why do poor people suffer so much during this life? And after becoming a religious leader, Joseph Smith spent a lot of time thinking about other spiritually oriented questions, like if families will be together after death. What happened before we came to this earth. Joseph Smith does exhibit gifting from Lucifer, beyond normal intelligence and genius, for continuing to weave ever more complex stories. His stories were appealing to his audience. His stories attracted a steady stream of new converts to his church. However, the majority left once they got to know him and saw how he conducted himself.

There was quite an obvious difference between the morals he preached and the morality he practiced. To this day that remains the hallmark of the Mormon religion, and in their heart every Mormon knows that truth. However in a time of such rapidly eroding moral values and common decency, masses are drawn even to a fraudulent sham of biblical morality.

Joseph Smith began to have some big problems of his own making. He was NUMBER ONE and everyone in the Mormon church knew that. Joseph was thereby presented with many sexual opportunities. Joseph Smith could NOT resist. He could preach moral purity, but Joseph Smith obviously could NOT live and practice what he preached. When he got caught, he made an even bigger mistake. Instead of repenting and asking to be forgiven, Joseph Smith allowed his story telling abilities, demonically inspired beyond genius, to take over. What he told those who had to know because they were the ones who caught him, is that God had told him to have sex with those women, and that this was a sacred secret. Joseph Smith told them that NO ONE must be told about this sacred secret. The sacred secret was so secret that lying was justified to protect it.

Once Joseph's closest friends knew the sacred secret, they wanted to find out if God would tell them the same thing. As God’s prophet, it was Joseph Smith's job, and he had to find that out for them. Joseph Smith needed their cooperation. So, God allowed many of them in on the game, or the sacred secret, as prophet Joseph Smith called it. Eventually, the rumors about this sacred secret, became very widespread as a result of some women who refused to cooperate. The sacred secret was going to be quite public and no secret, and there certainly never was anything sacred about it.

Almost everyone in the community and surrounding area heard about the adultry and polygamy. However because the NUMBER ONE prophet of the church said it was a sacred secret, this resulted in a lot of sacred lying. It actually even became known as "Lying for the Lord" Joseph Smith said that God told them all to lie in this way because the “people were not ready” to hear about the new sexual mores that had been revealed to Joseph Smith and his closest associates, and the women they religiously propositioned.

The honest evaluation of prophet Joseph Smith, outside the narrow confines of the Mormon church finds LYING to be one of Joseph Smith's most often practiced bad habits. Joseph Smith's way of not telling the truth, was to use God as his excuse whenever he could not wiggle out any other way. The not so secret and not at all sacred secret, put his followers who were practicing the sacred secret in a tough position. The rumors and eye witnesses said one thing, and Joseph Smith and closest associates denied it for over ten years.

Joseph Smith created an illegal bank and tricked a bunch of his followers into investing in it. Joseph Smith's bank went bankrupt and a whole bunch of people left because of it. Joseph Smith and his close associate Sidney Rigdon, had to flee the jurisdiction to avoid law suits and jail. It took Joseph Smith quite a while to recover from that, but he did. The honest history regarding Joseph Smith while showing obvious failure regarding truth and
sexual morals, shows the founder of the Luciferian Mormon religion to be very creative and resilient. Joseph Smith moved the whole community to Nauvoo, Illinois, and started over there.

When things were getting difficult regarding the sex stuff in Nauvoo, Joseph attempted to solve the problem by destroying a printing press that was going to spread the news. However, at the same time, news got out that he had recently had himself secretly ordained as King of the Earth. Joseph Smith had promised a whole bunch of people, including many non-Mormons, that they would be the Princes of the Earth if they kept his secrets and helped him become King of the Earth. The combination of the sex stuff, ordering his followers to destroy the printing press, and the “King of the Earth” business made some people so angry, and afraid, that they killed him. Joseph Smith did not die as a martyr, but in a blazing gun fight, where Joseph single handedly killed two and wounded a third.

In actual fact, Joseph Smith, founder and number one prophet of Mormonism was not what he appeared to be. That remains the same for the Church he founded today. Joseph Smith's church is NOT Christian though it likes to pretend to be. Joseph Smith quite frequently was proven to be lying about important matters, and could not, and should not be trusted.

There was a power vacuum after Joseph Smith was killed in that gun fight. There was quite a large number of Mormons who were accustomed to being led by a strong leader. There were many who claimed to be Joseph Smith's successor. Some of Joseph Smith's followers accepted members of his family as their leaders, who had the best claim to Joseph Smith's authority based on what Joseph said and did. However, the largest group followed Brigham Young, who was by far the best showman after Joseph Smith died, and hands down best organizer.

Brigham Young changed a lot of things, and made some crazy rules. His primary genius was to move his people somewhere where they had no other options. Once in isolation, with lots of land to give away, Brigham Young could attract new recruits with all kinds of fancy promises. The poor of Europe flocked to him. Once in Utah, or Arizona, or Idaho, they really had no options in the days of Brigham Young. Brigham Young, though he was not in the same league with Joseph Smith as a story teller, was brilliant as an organizer. Young certainly understood how to exercise power.

Brigham Young put a large group of people down in the middle of the desert. Of necessity they had to find a way to survive. The Mormons found how to survive by working to exhaustion building irrigation canals, AND helping each other religiously, and developed a close to air tight community in the adversity of the desert. Most of those who followed Brigham Young to the desert were, fine people who had deep faith in God, and their prophet leaders. The Mormon followers of Brigham Young demonstrated amazing ability to overcome adversity and seemingly impossible situations. The kind of community they developed was essential to be able to survive in such a wilderness. Many communities similar to the Mormons failed in places where it was not such a wilderness. All working to a point of exhaustion, and religiously helping each other was the reason for success, much more so than what the Mormons like to call a mandate from God.

Even in Utah the Mormon sex problem was still causing trouble. Eventually, the US put so much pressure on the Mormons that Mormon prophets had to proclaim that God changed His mind. The Mormon prophets were forced to say that Mormon men were only allowed to have one wife. If they wanted to have sex with more than one woman, they would have to do like everyone else by sneaking around. For a while the Mormon polygamists did just that, practicing the hallmark of Joseph Smith's Luciferian religion they openly proclaimed not to have sex with their polygamous wives. But, since Joseph
Smith had established the precedent a long time for doing this, it seemed OK. The Mormon theology is ripe with its practices that the end justifies the means. When the Mormon leadership gets caught their historic first resort is to say God has told them to do it. The Mormons had so long seen their leaders say one thing and do another especially in relation to Mormon polygamy that in fact, though kept a secret, Mormon polygamy continues to this day.

Once the Mormons, at least publicly could get the sexually weird polygamy thing dispensed with, they found freedom to go more mainstream, and international in scope.

Eventually the totally controlled, air tight, community Brigham Young had established in Utah broke down. As non-Mormons moved in they brought newspapers, books, and now a days television, satellites, and finally the Internet pumped increasing amounts of information into Mormon communities in Utah and elsewhere. This access of the followers of Joseph Smith's Luciferian religion caused people to question Mormon leaders and their authority with greater frequency. However the intellectuals and scientists were the great threats to the Mormon control. Some of the greatest threats to the Mormon religion even taught for a while at BYU.

The Mormon prophets fought this in every way they could. They told their followers not to look at anything that questioned the Mormon way because it was like cancer. The Mormon leaders revised and rewrote Mormon history, particularly regarding the Mormon foundational events which we are trying to briefly, and accurately report here. History of the Mormon church revised by its leadership will have little resemblance to the verifiable facts presented here. In many ways true history of the Mormons and Mormon history of the Mormons are so different as to be hard to believe as being the same subject.

Mormons have sent out armies of innocent young people who have been taught to push emotional buttons by having their own emotional buttons pushed. The so-called Mormon missionaries only know one very distorted version of the Mormon story. The Mormon story they are taught is very misleading and believed so completely that they frequently break into tears while testifying that they "know" it is true. The Mormon leaders increasingly tried to control the information that was discussed in Mormon meetings adopting brainwashing techniques used by organization like the Jehovah's Witnesses. They write the only acceptable lesson manuals, encouraging teachers not to look outside their scriptures, and their explanations, and their official lesson manuals. They tell them how they must think as Mormons. Mormons therefore become increasingly inward looking, islands of Mormonism in a broader culture, whether in Utah or elsewhere.

However, in spite of its wealth and power, and abilities to control the way Mormons are supposed to think, more and more Mormons are leaving Mormonism entirely, or become marginal participants. The Mormon prophets responded to all of this by redefining Mormonism. It was no longer the church of weirdoes practicing polygamy. Now it is the church of the traditional family, of man, woman and lots of kids. It today presents the very dangerous image that it is the church of Family Values. That represents a much more serious threat to disillusioned Christians, to those with a zeal for God but not according to knowledge, and to the great numbers who are frustrated by antichrist government sponsored and forced IMMORALITY. So today Mormonism represents a MUCH stronger delusion than it did with its foundations of polygamy and the Book of Mormon.

Joseph Smith's story also known as the Book of Mormon is RIDICULOUS in the light of archeological, historical, biological, and linguistic evidence. The facts of the DNA evidence TOTALLY DESTROYS the Book of Mormon and proves the Book of Mormon to be 100% pure Joseph Smith FRAUD.

The history of Mormonism from the beginning till now is marked by fraud and hypocrisy. In Mormonism, the end justifies the means. Mormon spousal abuse and financial fraud is far worse than the general population statistics, but the vast majority of Mormons do not know the truth of that secret. Mormons will display family values, and try to make a show of serving others. The Mormons pride themselves to DISPLAY, or put on a show, of many qualities that most people would think are good. However they very much overestimate how "good" they are in these terms relative to other groups of humans.

While Mormons say they are happy, Utahans (70% Mormon) either leads outright or is close to the statistical top in the US in personal bankruptcies, antidepressant drug use, rape, commercial fraud, multi-level marketing participation, spouse abuse and spouse murder. These are clear signs of a group of human beings who are under more stress than those to whom they are being compared. The pressures within the Mormon community could and should be considered Luciferian religious BONDAGE just like Islam. Sadly, though Mormons do not really believe in hell. ESPECIALLY SAD is the fact that unless they can get out of Joseph Smith's Luciferian religion, they are most certainly bound to some day find their souls bound in the everlasting burnings where Lucifer's great prophets Joseph Smith and Mohammed are both found today.
(http://www.dccsa.com/greatjoy/mormons.html)

Occultic and Masonic Influence in Early Mormonism

2008-05-05T12:11:00.003-07:00

Mormons tend to refuse to believe that Smith was very deep into the occult. I came across this article and thought it to be one of the better articles I have read. I know Mormons will find fault with this article, however I found this to be one of the better articles. To view pictures of their symbols and gather more informationvisit this web site....Enjoy http://www.inplainsite.org/html/masonic_and_mormon_symbols.html

Occultic and Masonic Influence in Early Mormonism
By Joel B. Groat Copyright © 1996 Institute For Religious Research.

Mormonism's Link to Occultism

Both Joseph Smith and his father were involved in the occult practice known as "money digging." This involved special rituals and ceremonies which were performed for the purpose of obtaining buried treasure thought to be guarded by evil spirits. Accounts of money digging during the late 1700s and early 1800s are documented in Alan Taylor's article "Treasure Seeking in the American Northeast, 1780-1830", published in American Quarterly, 38 [Spring 1986], pp. 6-34. This article specifically mentions Joseph Smith, Sr., and Jr., on pages 10-12, giving examples of their money digging activities. LDS seminary teacher Grant Palmer also documents the Smith family's occult beliefs and practices, as well as those of their close associates, in his book An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, (SLC, Signature Books, 2002, pp. 175-195).

Joseph's Involvement in Occultism. Joseph Smith, Jr.'s role in the quest for treasure was especially important since he had a seer stone. Joseph would place this small, special rock in his hat then pull the hat up to his face to block out all light. By doing this he claimed he could see supernaturally, and would help those who were digging by locating the place where the treasure was buried and observing the spirits that were guarding it. Joseph Jr., himself admitted to being a money digger, though he said it was never very profitable for him (History of the Church, V. 3, p. 29). He and his father's money digging continued until at least 1826. On March 20th of that year Joseph was arrested, brought before a judge, and charged with being a "glass-looker" and a disorderly person. The laws at that time had what was known as the "Vagrant Act." It defined a disorderly person as one who pretended to have skill in the areas of palmistry, telling fortunes or discovering where lost goods might be found. According to court records Justice Neely determined that Joseph was guilty, though no penalty was administered, quite possibly because this was a first offense (Inventing Mormonism, Marquardt and Walters, SLC: Signature Books, 1994, pp. 74-75).

Occultism and the Start of Mormonism. Shortly after this Joseph discontinued money digging but kept his seer stone. It was with the seer stone that he claimed to both find the plates and later produce the Book of Mormon. This was known by early converts but has since been replaced with later accounts of an angelic visitor. This transition was aided by downplaying the fact that Moroni was a dead Indian warrior, and by referring to him as an angel. Former BYU professor and historian D. Michael Quinn writes:

During this period from 1827 to 1830, Joseph Smith abandoned the company of his former money-digging associates, but continued to use for religious purposes the brown seer stone he had previously employed in the treasure quest. His most intensive and productive use of the seer stone was in the translation of the Book of Mormon. But he also dictated several revelations to his associates through the stone (Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, D. Michael Quinn, Signature Books, SLC, 1987, p. 143.

This fact is supported by LDS author Richard S. Van Wagoner who found,

This stone, still retained by the First Presidency of the LDS Church, was the vehicle through which the golden plates were discovered and the medium through which their interpretation came (Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess, Signature Books, SLC, 1994, p. 57).

Thus we see that historians have documented a continuity between Joseph's early occultic practices and the origins of Mormonism. This link extends to the development of the LDS Temple ceremony.

Occultic Parallels in the LDS Temple Ceremony. Historian D. Michael Quinn has done extensive research on rites and ancient mysteries related to occultism. He states,

By drawing only on authorized descriptions of the endowment by LDS leaders, I believe it is possible to see within historical context how the Mormon endowment reflected the ancient and occult mysteries far closer than Freemasonry (Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, p. 186).

Quinn then outlines the following ten essential characteristics common to both occult rituals and the Mormon Temple ceremonies:

They are revealed by God from the beginning, but distorted through apostasy.

They place an emphasis on the worthiness of initiates.

They include washings and anointings, a new name and garments

They emphasize vows of non-disclosure.

There are both "lesser" and "greater" rituals.

They feature presentation of the ritual through drama.

They contain an oath of chastity requiring strict purity and virtue of the participants.

They feature prominent use of the sun, moon and stars as key symbols.

The purpose of the ritual is to assist mortals to attain to godhood.

They employ titles and offices of prophets, priests and kings to those in leadership.
After presenting this material Quinn comments,

To be sure Masonic rituals also shared some similarities with the ancient mysteries, but these were not linked to any concept of heavenly ascent, which was fundamental to both the occult mysteries and to the Mormon endowment. Therefore, what similarities may exist between Freemasonry and Mormonism seem more appropriately to be regarded as superficial, whereas the ancient occult mysteries and the Mormon endowment manifest both philosophical and structural kinship. (Ibid., p. 190).

Mormonism and Masonry

Masonry's influence on Mormonism and Joseph Smith has been noted by a number of historians. Some of the areas impacted by Masonic lore and ritual include the Book of Mormon, Joseph's personal life, and the LDS temple ceremony.

Masonic Themes Related to the Book of Mormon. John L. Brooke in his book The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844, noted the following in reference to the story of the discovery of the gold plates and the narrative structure of the Book of Mormon:

Freemasonry provides a point of entry into this very complex story. As it had been in Vermont, Masonic fraternity was a dominant feature of the cultural landscape in Joseph Smith's Ontario County .... The dense network of lodges and chapters helps explain the Masonic symbolism that runs through the story of the discovery of the Golden Plates. Most obviously, the story of their discovery in a stone vault on a hilltop echoed the Enoch myth of Royal Arch Freemasonry, in which the prophet Enoch, instructed by a vision, preserved the Masonic mysteries by carving them on a golden plate that he placed in an arched stone vault marked with pillars, to be rediscovered by Solomon. In the years to come the prophet Enoch would play a central role in Smith's emerging cosmology. Smith's stories of his discoveries got more elaborate with time, and in June 1829 he promised Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris that they would see not only the plates but other marvelous artifacts: the Urim and Thummim attached to a priestly breastplate, the 'sword of Laban,' and 'miraculous directors.' Oliver Cowdery and Lucy Mack Smith later described three or four small pillars holding up the plates. All of these artifacts had Masonic analogues.

... Smith's sources for these Masonic symbols were close at hand. Most obviously, Oliver Cowdery would have been a source, given that his father and brother were Royal Arch initiates; one Palmyra resident remembered Oliver Cowdery as 'no church member and a Mason.' ... A comment by Lucy Mack Smith in her manuscript written in the 1840s, protesting that the family did not abandon all household labor to try 'to win the faculty of Abrac, drawing magic circles, or sooth-saying,' suggests a familiarity with Masonic manuals: the 'faculty of Abrac' was among the supposed Masonic mysteries (Refiner's Fire, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 157-158).

However, it wasn't until later in life that Joseph's involvement became more personal.

Joseph's Personal Involvement in Freemasonry. Mormon Apostle John A. Widtsoe stated:

Many of the Saints were Masons, such as Joseph's brother Hyrum, Heber C. Kimball, Elijah Fordham, Newel K. Whitney, James Adams, and John C. Bennett .... With the acquiescence of the Prophet, members of the Church already Masons petitioned the Grand Master of Illinois for permission to set up a lodge in Nauvoo .... it was March 15, 1842, before authority was given to set up a lodge in Nauvoo and to induct new members. Joseph Smith became a member (Evidences and Reconciliations, 1 volume, pp. 357-358).

Joseph Smith admitted to being a Mason in his History of the Church, volume 4, page 551. Under the date of March 15, 1842 it reads: "In the evening I received the first degree in Free Masonry in the Nauvoo Lodge, assembled in my general business office." The record for the next day reads, "I was with the Masonic Lodge and rose to the sublime degree" (page 552).

How did Joseph's Masonic membership affect the development of the Mormon Church? The most significant area appears to be in the development of the Mormon temple ceremonies. As noted above, Joseph became a Mason on March 15, 1842 and "rose to the sublime degree" the following day. Less than two months later, on May 4, 1842, Joseph introduced the temple endowment ceremony (History of the Church, Vol. 5, pp. 1-2).

Masonry and Mormon Temple Ceremonies. The pervasive influence of Freemasonry in Mormon Temples is expressed well by LDS historian Dr. Reed Durham. Dr. Durham, who has served as president of the Mormon History Association, provides a number of interesting parallels between the two. He gives these as evidence for Masonry's clear influence on Mormonism.

I am convinced that in the study of Masonry lies a pivotal key to further understanding Joseph Smith and the Church. . . . Masonry in the Church had its origin prior to the time Joseph Smith became a Mason .... It commenced in Joseph's home when his older brother became a Mason. Hyrum received the first three degrees of Masonry in Mount Moriah Lodge No. 112 of Palmyra, New York, at about the same time that Joseph was being initiated into the presence of God . . The many parallels found between early Mormonism and the Masonry of that day are substantial...

I have attempted thus far to demonstrate that Masonic influences upon Joseph in the early Church history, preceding his formal membership in Masonry, were significant. However, these same Masonic influences exerted a more dominant character as reflected in the further expansion of the Church subsequent to the Prophet's Masonic membership. In fact, I believe that there are few significant developments in the Church, that occurred after March 15 1842, which did not have some Masonic interdependence. Let me comment on a few of these developments. There is absolutely no question in my mind that the Mormon ceremony which came to be known as the Endowment, introduced by Joseph Smith to Mormon Masons, had an immediate inspiration from Masonry. This is not to suggest that no other source of inspiration could have been involved, but the similarities between the two ceremonies are so apparent and overwhelming that some dependent relationship cannot be denied. They are so similar, in fact, that one writer was led to refer to the Endowment as Celestial Masonry.

It is also obvious that the Nauvoo Temple architecture was in part, at least, Masonically influenced. Indeed, it appears that there was an intentional attempt to utilize Masonic symbols and motifs ...

Another development in the Nauvoo Church, which has not been so obviously considered as Masonically inspired, was the establishment of the Female Relief Society. This organization was the Prophet's intentional attempt to expand Masonry to include the women of the Church. That the Relief Society was organized in the Masonic Lodge room, and only one day after Masonry was given to the men, was not happenstance .... included in the actual vocabulary of Joseph Smith's counsel and instructions to the sisters were such words as: ancient orders, examinations, degrees, candidates, secrets, lodges, rules, signs, tokens, order of the priesthood, and keys; all indicating that the Society's orientation possessed Masonic overtones.

.... I suggest that enough evidence presently exists to declare that the entire institution of the political kingdom of God, including the Council of Fifty, the living constitution, the proposed flag of the kingdom, and the anointing and coronation of the king, had its genesis in connection with Masonic thoughts and ceremonies .... it appears that the Prophet first embraced Masonry, and, then in the process, he modified, expanded, amplified, or glorified it .... The Prophet believed that his mission was to restore all truth, and then to unify and weld it all together into one. This truth was referred to as 'the Mysteries,' and these Mysteries were inseparably connected with the Priesthood .... Can anyone deny that Masonic influence on Joseph Smith and the Church, either before or after his personal Masonic membership? The evidence demands comments ...

There are many questions which still demand the answers .... if we, as Mormon historians, respond to these questions and myriads like them relative to Masonry in an ostrich-like fashion, with our heads buried in the traditional sand, then I submit: there never will be 'any help for the widow's son' (Mormon Miscellaneous, October 1975, pp. 11-16, as cited in Changing World of Mormonism, Jerald and Sandra Tanner, 1981, pp. 546-547).

These statements demonstrate that much of the religious ritual within Mormonism finds its origin in both occultism and Freemasonry. It is not surprising that there is an overlap between occultism and Freemasonry within Mormonism since Masonry itself draws from occult lore and ritual. What becomes obvious is that Joseph neglected the Bible's clear prohibition regarding occult involvement. This is found in Deuteronomy 18:9-12 which states in part,

... thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shalt not be found among you any one that ... useth divination, or is an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits [demons], or a wizard, or a necromancer [one who communicates with the dead]. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD.

Resources

The following resources contain a more extensive treatment of Joseph Smith's magical and occultic practices and worldview:

John L. Brooke, The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844, Cambridge University Press, NY, 1994, 421 pages. This non-Mormon author is an associate professor in the Department of History at Tufts University.

Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, (Signature Books, SLC, 2002, 281 pages). Palmer is an LDS seminary teacher and three-time director of LDS Institutes of Religion in California and Utah.

D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, Signature Books, SLC, revised and enlarged edition 1998, 646 pages. This work is comprehensive and thoroughly documented. The author is a former BYU professor and one of the most respected historians of Mormonism.

Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism, Magic and Masonry, Utah Lighthouse Ministry, SLC, 1983, 97 pages. This former Mormon husband and wife research/publishing team are well-known for their carefully documented critiques of Mormonism.

Interesting Quotes from Brigham Young

2008-05-04T07:11:00.002-07:00

Interesting Quotes from Brigham Young
the Second Prophet of the Mormon Church

Brigham Young said your own blood must atone for some sins.
"There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it . . . " (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, page 247; see also, Vol. 4, pp. 53-54, 219-220.)

Brigham Young said you must confess Joseph Smith as a prophet of God in order to be saved.
"...and he that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fullness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is Antichrist." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 9, p. 312).

Brigham Young said his discourses are as good as Scripture.
"I say now, when they [his discourses] are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible . . . " (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, p. 264; see also page 95.)

Brigham Young said he had never given any counsel that was wrong.
"I am here to answer. I shall be on hand to answer when I am called upon, for all the counsel and for all the instruction that I have given to this people. If there is an Elder here, or any member of this Church, called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who can bring up the first idea, the first sentence that I have delivered to the people as counsel that is wrong, I really wish they would do it; but they cannot do it, for the simple reason that I have never given counsel that is wrong; this is the reason." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16, page 161.)

Brigham Young compared his sermons with scripture. "I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom...I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, p. 95.)

Brigham Young said you are damned if you deny polygamy.
"Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p. 266). Also, "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, page 269).

Brigham Young said you can't get to the highest heaven without Joseph Smith's consent.
"...no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 289).

Brigham Young said God was progressing in knowledge.
"God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 120).

Brigham Young boasted.
"What man or woman on earth, what spirit in the spirit-world can say truthfully that I ever gave a wrong word of counsel, or a word of advice that could not be sanctioned by the heavens? The success which has attended me in my presidency is owing to the blessings and mercy of the Almighty . . . " (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 12, p. 127).

Brigham Young said that we are obligated to keep all the laws and ordinances of God.
"Some of you may ask, ‘Is there a single ordinance to be dispensed with? Is there one of the commandments that God has enjoined upon the people, that he will excuse them from obeying?' Not one, no matter how trifling or small in our own estimation. No matter if we esteem them non-essential, or least or last of all the commandments of the house of God, we are under obligation to observe them." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, p. 339).

Brigham Young said Jesus' birth was as natural as ours.
"The birth of the Savior was as natural as the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood--was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, p. 115).

Brigham Young said that God the Father and Mary 'do it.'
"When the time came that His first-born, the Saviour, should come into the world and take a tabernacle, the Father came Himself and favoured that spirit with a tabernacle instead of letting any other man do it." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, Page 218.) "The birth of the Savior was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood -- was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, page 115). Note: the late Bruce McConkie who was a member of the First Council of the Seventy stated "There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events..." (Mormon Doctrine, by Bruce McConkie, page 742.)

Brigham Young said that Jesus was not begotten by the Holy Spirit
"I have given you a few leading items upon this subject, but a great deal more remains to be told. Now, remember from this time forth, and for ever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, page 51).

Brigham Young taught that Adam was God.
"Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is Michael, the Archangel, the Ancient of Days! about whom holy men have written and spoken -- He is our Father, and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non professing, must hear it, and will know it sooner or later." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, page 50).

Brigham Young made a false prophecy?
"In the days of Joseph [Smith] it was considered a great privilege to be permitted to speak to a member of Congress, but twenty-six years will not pass away before the Elders of this Church will be as much thought of as the kings on their thrones." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 40.)

Brigham Young comments about 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....Cain slew his brother. Can might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, page 290).

"In our first settlement in Missouri, it was said by our enemies that we intended to tamper with the slaves, not that we had any idea of the kind, for such a thing never entered our minds. We knew that the children of Ham were to be the "servant of servants," and no power under heaven could hinder it, so long as the Lord would permit them to welter under the curse and those were known to be our religious views concerning them." (Journal of Discourses, Volume 2, page 172.)

"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." (Journal of Discourses, Volume 10, page 110.) (http://www.carm.org/lds/quote_by.htm)

I say wow what a guy Brigham Young, please catch my sarcasm.

Mormons Condemn Other Religions

2008-05-04T07:06:00.003-07:00

Mormons do not like it when their Church is labeled a cult. This bothers them and they want desperately to be accepted as Christian by the Christian community. The Mormon church spends a great deal of time and money on public relations with the aim of portraying a loving, family oriented, non-condemning Christian denomination or any others. But there is a great differences in doctrine between Mormons and Christians and continue to pronounce the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a non-Christian cult.

The battle continues and Mormons try to claim that they do not go around condemning other religions like "anti-Mormons" do. They say they are forgiving, tolerant, good Christian people who don't have anything against anyone. They claim they are being more Christ-like.

Their desire for a good image is understandable. But the question remains. Does the Mormon church condemn other religious systems? The answer is definitely, "Yes." Let's look at Mormon writers and see what they have said.

Joseph Smith said . . .

(Regarding Joseph Smith's alleged first vision where celestial personages appeared to him.) . . .) "My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right — and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt . . ." (Joseph Smith, "History of the Church, Vol. 1, page 5-6.)

"What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world." ("Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith," Compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, page 270.)

(In questions directed to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. . .)
First -- "Do you believe the Bible?"
If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do."
Third — "Will everybody be damned, but Mormons?"
Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings, page 119.)

Brigham Young said. . .

"But He did send His angel to this same obscure person, Joseph Smith jun., who afterwards became a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and informed him that he should not join any of the religious sects of the day, for they were all wrong." (Brigham Young, "Journal of Discourses," Vol. 2, page 171. - 1855)

John Taylor said . . .

"We talk about Christianity, but it is a perfect pack of nonsense....Myself and hundreds of the Elders around me have seen its pomp, parade, and glory; and what is it? It is a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol; it is as corrupt as hell; and the Devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century."( Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, page 167 - 1858)

"Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (J.D.", Vol. 10, page 127. - 1863)

James Talmage said . . .

"A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". ("The Articles of Faith," Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, Utah. P. 182.)

Bruce McConkie said . . .

"With the loss of the gospel, the nations of the earth went into a moral eclipse called the Dark Ages." ("Mormon Doctrine," Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, Utah, page. 44.)

Joseph Fielding Smith said . . .

"Again, following the death of his apostles, apostasy once more set in, and again the saving principles and ordinances of the gospel were changed to suit the conveniences and notions of the people. Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." ("Doctrines of Salvation," page 266.)

The Book of Mormon says. . .

"And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth" (1 Nephi 14:10).

"And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, whose foundation is the devil, then, at that day, the work of the Father shall commence. . ." (1 Nephi. 14:17).

The Doctrine and Covenants says . . .

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face" (Doctrine and Covenants, 112:23).

When the Mormon missionaries come to the door and do their "gospel" presentation, they mention an apostasy and the need for a prophet, their prophet, to restore the true Teachings of Jesus. Of course, these 'restored' teachings are completely false.

Nevertheless, the Mormon church clearly condemns other religious systems. Those Mormons who complain about poor treatment should familiarize themselves with their teachers' words. (http://www.carm.org/mormon.htm)

Don't forget they boast they are the only true church! I believe if you have to boast all the time, then you are trying to convince people.....if it is so true why do they work so hard convincing, perhaps they are trying to convince themselves?

Mormonism Is it a Cult?

2008-05-02T15:05:00.007-07:00

With the unbelievable news of the FLDS, which are fundamentalist Mormons, the main stream Mormons are screaming, “We are not involved!” and “they are nothing like LDS.” But the sad sad truth is the FLDS took its original teachings from Joseph Smith. Smith, a gold digger, pedophile, and an occult leader did indeed create a cult. To this day many people follow his teachings from his belief in men on the moon that live to be 1,000 years old, to God being from the plant Kolob, to men becoming Gods on their own planet, to yes, even Smith thinking he did more for man than esus Christ. So is Mormonsim a cult? You decide. I have gathered quite a bit of information throughout the internet, research, and books.

HOW THEY DO THIS

Their leader/s may claim a special, exclusive ministry, revelation or position of authority given by God.

They believe they are the only true church and take a critical stance regarding the Christian church while at the same time praising and exalting their own group, leader/s and work.

They use intimidation or psychological manipulation to keep members loyal to their ranks. This could be in the form of threats of dire calamity sent by God if they leave; certain death at Armageddon; being shunned by their family and friends etc. This is a vital part of the mind control process.

Members will be expected to give substantial financial support to the group. This could be compulsory tithing (which is checked); signing over all their property on entering the group; coercive methods of instilling guilt on those who have not contributed; selling magazines, flowers or other goods for the group as part of their "ministry".

At the same time bible-based cults may ridicule churches that take up free-will offerings by passing collection plates and/or sell literature and tapes. They usually brag that they don't do this. This gives outsiders the intimation that they are not interested in money.

There will be great emphasis on loyalty to the group and its teachings. The lives of members will be totally absorbed into the group's activities. They will have little or no time to think for themselves because of physical and emotional exhaustion. This is also a vital part of the mind control process.

There will be total control over almost all aspects of the private lives of members. This control can be direct through communal living, or constant and repetitious teaching on "how to be a true Christian" or "being obedient to leadership". Members will look to their leaders for guidance in everything they do.

Bible-based cults may proclaim they have no clergy/laity distinction and no paid ministry class - that they are all equal.

Any dissent or questioning of the group's teachings is discouraged. Criticism in any form is seen as rebellion. There will be an emphasis on authority, unquestioning obedience and submission. This is vigilantly maintained.

Members are required to demonstrate their loyalty to the group in some way. This could be in the form of "dobbing" on fellow members (including family) under the guise of looking out for their "spiritual welfare".

They may be required to deliberately lie (heavenly deception) or give up their lives by refusing some form of medical treatment.

Attempts to leave or reveal embarrassing facts about the group may be met with threats. Some may have taken oaths of loyalty that involve their lives or have signed a "covenant" and feel threatened by this.

Refugees of the group are usually faced with confrontations by other members with coercion to get them to return to the group.

Cult: Characteristics of the Mormon Church

1. Teaching that the doctrine of the Mormon Church is reality, the doctrine is to be accepted, not understood.

2. Reality is black and white, good and evil, spiritual world versus physical word. As an example, the Mormon Church cult is the only true church on the face of the earth.

3. Mormon Church members are taught to feel part of an elite corps. Following and accepting church doctrine insures members eternal life and a delightful life in heaven.

4. The Mormon Church promotes a sense of community with love and friendship, with special flattery and attention to new members

5. Mormon Church members are manipulated through fear and guilt, fear that if they don’t practice church doctrine faithfully, that they will fail to reach the highest levels of heaven, fear that if they don’t wear their garments, that they will not be protected by God.

6. Mormon Church members are taught that any problems that they may have are due to their own inadequacies. If they are having marital, financial or other difficult problems, it is because they are not following church doctrine, or are not praying enough. Guilt, fear and shame are present in the minds of Mormons, if they are not loyal, and fail to follow the church doctrine.

7. Unlike non-cult organizations, Mormon Church members find it difficult to leave, when they find out that church teachings are false, or otherwise become disenchanted with the church. Terrible things may happen to them, and their family if they leave. Those who do leave, often lose their family, friends and other social contacts within the Mormon community.

But wait......
Do you belong to an organisation that .- has lots of meetings?
- keeps you so busy you don't have time to think?
- has an infallible leader?
- expects purity?
- has rigid principles?
- expects confessions?
- speaks a cliché-ridden language?
- is at odds with the world?
- has simple answers to most of life's questions?
- makes you feel secure?
- makes you feel more special than non-members?
- frowns on expressions of doubts?
- claims absolute truth?
- expects significant financial contributions?
- is reluctant to allow you to leave?
- controls information about its own history?
- always says you are free to choose?

SOME ABUSES OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS:-

ABUSE OF INDIVIDUALITY
They adopt a "groupness" mentality. They are not permitted to think for themselves apart from the group and only accept what they are told.

ABUSE OF INTIMACY
Relationships with friends, relatives, spouses, children, parents etc are broken or seriously hampered.

ABUSE OF FINANCES
Pressure to give all you can to the group. In non-communal groups, members usually live at the lower socio-economic strata, not because of a lower income level, but because they are always giving money to the group for some reason.

"US VERSUS THEM" MENTALITY
Isolation from the community in general. Anyone and everything outside the group is seen as "of the devil" or "unenlightened" etc. Their enemies now include former friends; the Christian church; governments; education systems; the media - the world in general. Those who are involved with these in any way see such involvement as a "means to an end".

ABUSE OF TIME AND ENERGY
The group controls and uses almost all the members time and energy in group activities. They are usually in a constant state of mental and physical exhaustion.

ABUSE OF FREE WILL
They must unquestioning submit to the groups teachings and directions and their own free will is broken. Their "will" actually becomes the groups "will" without their realizing it. This is done either by coercive methods including low protein diets and lack of sleep, or over a period of time through intimidation. Both methods make heavy use of "guilt".

RESULTS OF THIS ABUSE

PERSONALITY CHANGES
Relatives will say they no longer recognize the person.

From a warm, loving personality will come heaped abuse, rejection and feelings of hate. The cult member sees himself as "righteous" in comparison and this comes across in their attitude toward all outsiders.

LOSS OF IDENTITY
They cannot see themselves as individuals apart from the group. Some even change their name as a rejection of their former life.

PARANOID - WE ARE BEING PERSECUTED
Any time you say anything negative about the group, whether justified or no, it is regarded as "persecution". Any criticism of the individual is also seen as persecution only because they are the "true Christian" or "enlightened" one - not because they, as an individual, have done the wrong thing. However, at the same time they will feel free to criticise whatever you believe, say and do because they are "the only ones who are right".

SOCIAL DISORIENTATION
They lose their ability to socialize outside the group. This can go so far as to not being able to structure their time or make simple decisions for themselves when they leave.

Their world-view alters and they perceive the world through their leaders eyes. They become very naive about life in general.

SEVERE GUILT COMPLEXES
They are made to feel guilty of everything they did before entering the group and are to strive to be "good" and "worthy" for "eternal life". Misdemeanors are made into "mountains" so that members are in a constant state of guilt for infringing even the most minor rules. Guilt comes because they aren't doing enough; entertaining doubts or questions; even thinking rationally for oneself.

This guilt is piled upon pile with new rules constantly being laid down about what is sinful and what is not. Illness may be seen as lack of faith - more guilt. Emotional illness may be seen as proof of sin in your life - more guilt.

Signs of Cults

1. claim contact with heaven or the cosmos

2. claim God has chosen a leader as His divinely chosen representative

3. give royal or divine status to the leader

4. insist their society mirrors the divine structure of heaven

5. claim to be God’s chosen people

6. build temples to practice sacred ordinances

7. produce sacred literature

8. proclaim a bigger and better canopy than Christianity’s”

Summary of Mormon Teaching

2008-05-02T09:14:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you just find a great article about true Mormonism and a wonderful summary of its teachings. This is a great one by Paul J. Bucknell....enjoy

Mormonism teaches that trillions of planets scattered throughout the cosmos are ruled by countless gods who once were human like us. They say that long ago, on one of these planets, to an unidentified god and one of his goddess wives, a spirit child named Elohim was conceived. This spirit child was later born to human parents who gave him a physical body. Through obedience to Mormon teaching, death, and resurrection, he proved himself worthy and was elevated to godhood as his father before him. Mormons believe that Elohim is their Heavenly Father and that he lives with his many wives on a planet near a mysterious star called Kolob.

There the god of Mormonism and his wives, through endless Celestial sex, produced billions of spirit children.(2) To decide their destiny, the head of the Mormon gods called a great heavenly council meeting. Both of Elohim’s eldest sons were there, Lucifer and his brother Jesus."

"A plan was presented to build planet Earth where the spirit children would be sent to take on mortal bodies and learn good from evil. Lucifer stood and made his bid for becoming savior of this new world. Wanting the glory for himself, he planned to force everyone to become gods. Opposing the idea, the Mormon Jesus suggested giving man his freedom of choice as on other planets.

The vote that followed approved the proposal of the Mormon Jesus who would become savior of the planet Earth. Enraged, Lucifer cunningly convinced one-third of the spirits destined for earth to fight with him and revolt. Thus Lucifer became the devil and his followers the demons. Sent to this world, they would forever be denied bodies of flesh and bone. Those who remained neutral in the battle were cursed to be born with black skin. This is the Mormon explanation for the Negro race.(3) (read more on blog how Mormons feel about blacks)

The spirits that fought most valiantly against Lucifer would be born into Mormon families on planet Earth. These would be the lighter-skinned people, or ‘white and delightsome,’ as the Book of Mormon describes them."

"Early Mormon prophets taught that Elohim and one of his goddess wives came to the earth as Adam and Eve to start the human race. Thousands of years later, Elohim in human form once again journeyed to earth from the star base Kolob, this time to have physical relations with the Virgin Mary in order to provide Jesus with a physical body.(4) Mormon Apostle Orson Hyde taught that after Jesus Christ grew to manhood, he took at least three wives– Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdalene. Through these wives the Mormon Jesus supposedly fathered a number of children before he was crucified. Mormon founder Joseph Smith is supposedly one of his descendants."(5)

According to the Book of Mormon, after his resurrection Jesus came to the Americas to preach to the Indians, who the Mormons believe are really Israelites. Thus the Jesus of Mormonism established his church in the Americas as he had in Palestine. By the year 421 A.D., the dark-skinned Israelites, known as the Lamanites, had destroyed all of the white-skinned Nephites in a number of great battles.

The Nephites’ records were supposedly written on golden plates buried by Moroni, the last living Nephite, in the Hill Cummorah. 1400 years later a young treasure-seeker named Joseph Smith, who was known for his tall tales, claimed to have uncovered the same gold plates near his home in upstate New York. He is now honored by Mormons as a prophet because he claimed to have had visions from the spirit world in which he was commanded to organize the Mormon Church because all Christian creeds were an abomination. It was Joseph Smith who originated most of these peculiar doctrines which millions today believe to be true."

"By maintaining a rigid code of financial and moral requirements, and through performing secret temple rituals for themselves and the dead, the Latter-day Saints hope to prove their worthiness and thus become gods. The Mormons teach that everyone must stand at the final judgment before Joseph Smith, the Mormon Jesus, and Elohim.(6)

Those Mormons who were sealed in the eternal marriage ceremony expect to become polygamous gods in the Celestial Kingdom, rule over other planets, and spawn new families throughout eternity. The Mormons thank God for Joseph Smith, who claimed that he had done more for us than any other man, including Jesus Christ. The Mormons claim that he died as a martyr and shed his blood for us so that we too may become Gods."

Footnotes:
1) From the film The God Makers Text quoted from 'What You Need to Know About Mormons' by Ed Decker, Harvest Pub, 1990, pp.48 -61.
2) "God is an exalted man who once lived on an earth and underwent experiences of mortality.... His marriage partner is our mother in heaven. We are their spirit children, born to them in the bonds of Celestial marriage." [ACCM, p.129-130]. "Have all the people born in this world first been conceived as spirit children–been fathered by Elohim? Of course." pp. 50-51
3) "The Lord forgave them any preexistence punishment in 1978, and now they too can hold the priesthood– which actually was the real punishment, not the skin color. And now blacks can marry in the temple." p. 53
4) "We do believe in the virgin birth.... Mary was certainly a virgin before she was overshadowed by Heavenly Father." pp. 54-55
5) "None of that is currently taught by any authority in the Church. ... Joseph Smith, through personal revelation, told several of the early leaders that they were descendants of Jesus. The rest comes from old speeches in the Journal of Discourses which we don’t accept as doctrinal today." Decker, p. 55.
6) "Joseph Smith holds the keys to this dispensation– he is its head and will be throughout all eternity. Of course he will be at the judgment bar, but I can assure you that he is there as your friend to plead your case if need be. But nobody will go to the Celestial Kingdom without his express approval." p. 60 {Come unto Christ, The Melchizedek Priesthood Personal Study Guide (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1983-1986) pp. 139-145.

Reflecting on Momronhood

2008-04-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

When my parents joined the Mormon church they were so excited about the church they rushed to my grandparent’s house and asked them if they would take the lessons to learn how to become good little Mormons. My grandmother protested. “Don’t ever ask us again.” She would shout. “I want nothing to do with that religion, it’s the devils work.” My grandmother was already afraid of God and she did not want to be introduced to a religion that believed in a much more demanding God, especially a God from a different planet. My mother continued to ask her mother to please consider it, but my grandmother protested and asked my mother to respect her wishes. Funny, my mother never did respect her wishes. When my grandparents died, my mother rushed to the church and had them baptized as a Mormons-against their dying wishes.

Mormons took the records of dead people and then would baptize the dead and put them on the church roster. They do this often against a dead persons will. Well I can tell ya my grandparents had no desire to be Mormons, but their own daughter did it anyhow. Mormons I suspect like to yell, “Look how many Mormons we have.” Only problem was, many of them were already dead when they were declared Mormon.

I thought it was wrong. How could you take a dead person and then baptize them? The Mormons baptized the Jews who died in the concentration camps and then baptized Hitler to boot. I call this adding a little salt to the Jewish wound. I would ask my fellow Mormons if they could legally do that. They told me it was Gods Law and that when the end of the world came, only Mormons would survive. They explained that those who died, would rise from the grave and walk, therefore, they had to baptize everyone to be Mormons, even the dead. If Mormons did not track down and baptize the dead, then they would suffer the consequences along with the dead person. That was a spooky thought for me, thinking that my grandmother would rise from her grave, skin falling off of her and walk around. She’d probably go right up to my mother and smack her for baptizing her in the first damned place!

I knew that I did not want to be a Mormon. I was only nine and knew what I did and did not want. I felt doomed having to live a life waiting for the second coming of Christ and then have to hang out in some cemetery so I could walk with the rest of the dead Mormons. I would have dreams that involved dead people chasing after us, just like Night of the Living Dead, only it was Night of The Living Mormons.

Please someone wake me up! I would tell my mother that I was having bad dreams that dead Mormons were stalking us and that it made me feel crazy in my head. She refused to listen. “You’re too young to know what God wants from you, and you’re too young to know what crazy is.” I never felt I was too young to know what crazy was, after all, I was raised by a crazy family. I knew exactly what crazy was.

Because the Mormons thought they were the only true church and had to be exclusive. The all night poker parties my parents used to have were replaced by canning and baking bread. Most of the friends we had were being exchanged for Mormons. Nearly everything we did as children was being traded in for activities that the Mormons provided. I would begin to miss my old friends, and my old life. The brain washing had begun.

Three months after my parents started going to church and taking the Mormon lessons, we were baptized. I did not want to be baptized, but my parents not only demanded it, they used guilt. Each time I said I don’t want to be baptized, a herd of Mormons would appear at the door telling me that my parents and God had a plan for me, and if I was to make it to heaven, and see my parents, I would need to be baptized or pay the consequences in the after life. “You can be baptized now, or baptized when you’re dead,” I rushed into the bathroom at the church, put on the silly grown, plugged my nose and was submerged in a fountain that looked like a large bathtub. I was a Mormon and was baptized by guilt.

Now speaking of being dunked....my parents forced me to go to the Mormon temple and be baptized for the dead when I was fifteen. For weeks, I would have nightmares about this event. I told my parents that the temple gave me the creeps and that I did not feel right being baptized for dead people against their will. I told them that since I was nine years old that whole baptizing dead people scared the crap out of me and I would rather not do it.

My mother would run to the Bishop and scream,” What do I do wrong, how did I fail as a mother?” The Bishop would remind me that I was a big disappointment to my family. I still refused to go. Finally, my mother would get one of her many illnesses and tell me, “It’s your fault I am sick, if you would only go get baptized for the dead.” I would argue stating, “No it’s not my fault you are sick because you’re not sick. You never are sick, you just make it up. You’re a @%$&*%@ hypochondriac just like your mother!”

That got me a month restriction and a trip to the temple as my punishment. They packed us like sardines on a big Greyhound bus and shipped a large group of teens to the Temple. I walked in the temple and a chill ran down my spine. I thought at first I could run away and escape, but the temple was filled with all these people dressed in weird costumes and I felt paralyzed in fear. I thought if there really were aliens out there like from Kolob or something and they would swoop down and save me. But the aliens never showed up, and none of my hero’s appeared in my daydreams either. There was no turning back and I was forced to participate in this ritual.

After I was dunked fifteen times the ritual was completed and I was responsible of baptizing fifteen dead people against their will. What if they were to rise from the dead and kick my ass? I felt like I had received the worse punishment ever. I would dream nightly of these fifteen people yelling at me. They would start to chase me, and I barely could escape. Thank goodness their skin was falling off because it slowed them down from capturing me and torturing me.

To this day my mother reminds me that if I die before she does, she will have me baptized and I will be saved once again. She also reminds me even though I had myself excommunicated, I will be left on the church records and since Mormon God can read, I will be directed to one of their magical kingdoms.... oh what fun!

MORMON BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD

2008-04-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

1) Joseph Smith taught that baptism for the dead was necessary for perfection.
Doctrines & Covenants 128:15-16 And now my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers--that they without us cannot be made perfect -- neither can we without our dead be made perfect. And now, in relation to the baptism for the dead, I will give you another quotation of Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:29: Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?

Correction: Baptism for the dead was a pagan practice in ancient Corinth.

1 Corinthians 15:29-30 Otherwise, what will they (pagans in Corinth) do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they (pagans in Corinth) baptized for the dead? And why do we (Christians in Corinth) stand in jeopardy every hour?

2) Joseph Smith taught that baptism for the dead was the final mystery.

Doctrines & Covenants 128:18 I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands. It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other--and behold what is that subject? It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time. And not only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times.

Correction: The final mystery is that Gentiles can be saved through the grace of God.
Ephesians 3:1-7 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles; if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
1 Peter 1:20-21 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

3) Mormons believe that their ancestors can gain salvation through a proxy baptism .

All ordinances for the dead had to wait until after Jesus Christ had gained the victory over death, and then to Peter and his brethren the authority to officiate in behalf of the dead was revealed. Unfortunately, there is little written in the New Testament giving the history of such ordinances having been performed. Paul has given us the clearest insight in his first epistle to the Corinthian saints wherein he spoke of baptism for the dead, implying that this principle was very well understood. Answers to Gospel Questions, Volume 2, Joseph Fielding Smith.

Correction: There is no salvation after death.
Hebrews 9:27-28 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Here is a list of those who were baptized by Mormons, feel free to add to my list.
Hitler, and most the jews that died in the camps, Anne Frank, Buddha, all the Catholic popes, Shakespeare, Einstein, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Joan of Arc, Josef Stalin, King Herod, Al Capone, Carl Sagen, Charles Schulze, Simon Wiensenthal the nazi hunter, and (yes it showed up on church records briefly) Mickey Mouse

The last days of Joseph Smith's life

2008-04-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

In The Mormon Hierarchy : Origins of Power, Michael Quinn recounts the last days of Smith's life:

1. Smith denounced polygamy, destroyed polygamy revelation"Smith was, in fact, willing to destroy the original manuscript of the 1843 polygamy revelation. Based on "Many (some of whom are now living)" in Utah, Joseph F. Smith wrote that the prophet "consented for her [Emma Smith] to burn the paper containing the original copy of the revelation." An obscure 1853 publication also reported that the original text of the polygamy revelation "by Joseph Smith's command was burned."" (Quinn page 147) Quinn references Letter of Joseph F. Smith to William E. McLellin, 6 Jan. 1880, fd21, box 5, Scott G. Kenney Papers, Manuscripts Division, Marriott Library.
"Emma Smith remembered that the prophet did more than consent to the revelation's destruction. According to her 1847 account, while alone in their Mansion House bedroom, Smith "told her that the doctrine and practice of polygamy was going to ruin the church" and then he burned the revelation. Clayton's diary shows just before the prophet returned to Emma [that night], he told his secretary to burn the Council of Fifty's minutes. It makes sense that while he was alone with her the night of 23 June 1844, only hours before surrendering for trial, he directed his attention to destroying the written evidence of polygamy." (Quinn page 147) For the Emma quote, Quinn references William E. McLellin letter to Joseph Smith III, 10 Jan. 1861 and July 1872, archives, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For the Clayton reference, Quinn refers to Clayton diary 22 June 1844 with an explanation referring to other Clayton journal entries.

2. Smith ordered apostles to get rid of their garments"Heber C. Kimball said Smith sent word to the apostles on the east coast to destroy their garments they had received in the endowment since 1842." (Quinn page 147) Quinn references History of the Church 6:519 which mentions the letter, and Heber C. Kimball's diary, 21 Dec. 1845, found in the book "Smith, An Intimate Chronicle, page 224"

3. Smith removed his own garments, instructed other to do the same"Smith removed his own endowment "robe" or garment before he went to Carthage Jail and told those with him to do likewise. His nephew Joseph F. Smith later explained, "When Willard Richards was solicited [by Smith] to do the same, he declined, and it seems little less than marvelous that he was preserved without so much as a bullet piercing his garments."" (Quinn page 146) Quinn references Heber J. Grant journal sheets, 7 June 1907, LDS Archives.

4. In Carthage Jail, Smith drank wine“Before the jailor came in, his boy brought in some water, and said the guard wanted some wine. Joseph gave Dr. Richards two dollars to give the guard; but the guard said one was enough, and would take no more. “The guard immediately sent for a bottle of wine, pipes, and two small papers of tobacco; and one of the guards brought them into the jail soon after the jailor went out. Dr. Richards uncorked the bottle, and presented a glass to Joseph, who tasted, as brother and the Doctor, and the bottle was then given to the guard, who turned to go out.” (History of the Church, Vol. 6, page 616)

"Sometime after dinner we sent for some wine. It has been reported by some that this was taken as a sacrament. It was no such thing,; our spirits were generally dull and heavy, and it was sent for to revive us.... I believe we all drank of the wine, and gave some to one or two of the prison guards." (John Taylor, in History of the Church, Vol. 7, page 101)

5. Smith sent an order to the Mormon Nauvoo Legion to attack Carthage jail “immediately” to free him"The morning of 27 June, Smith sent an order (in his own handwriting) to Major-General Jonathan Dunham to lead the Nauvoo Legion in a military attack on Carthage "immediately" to free the prisoners. Dunham realized that such an assault by the Nauvoo Legion would result in two blood baths - one in Carthage and another when anti-Mormons (and probably the Illinois militia) retaliated by laying siege to Nauvoo for insurrection. To avoid civil war and the destruction of Nauvoo's population, Dunham refused to obey the order and did not notify Smith of his decision. One of his lieutenants, a former Danite, later complained that Dunham "did not let a single mortal know that he had received such orders (from Smith)."
"[Later that same day] Around 5 p.m., more than 250 men approached the Carthage Jail. When informed of this by the panicky jailer, Joseph Smith replied: "Don't trouble yourself, they have come to rescue me." (Quinn, Page 141) Smith quickly discovered that the mob wasn't his rescue army. After exchanging gunfire with the mob, Smith was killed.

6. Smith did not give his life, or die as an innocent martyr. Smith shot three men the night of his death at Carthage Jail and with his last breath attempted to use a Masonic distress signal to prevent his death.

Why the need for secret death oaths in the LDS Temple?

2008-04-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

The Prophet Joseph Smith Condemned Oaths of Secrecy"I would further suggest the impropriety of the organization of bands or companies, by covenant or oath, by penalties or secrecies; but let the time past of our experience and sufferings by the wickedness of Doctor Avard suffice and let our covenant be that of the Everlasting Covenant, as contained in the Holy Writ and the things that God hath revealed to us. Pure friendship always becomes weakened the very moment you undertake to make it stronger by penalty oaths and secrecy."- The Prophet Joseph Smith, "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith," p. 146

Death Oaths Made by All Mormon Temple Patrons Prior to the 1930's:

ADAM : "We, and each of us, covenant and promise that we will not reveal any of the secrets of this, the first token of the Aaronic priesthood, with its accompanying name, sign or penalty. Should we do so, we agree that our throats be cut from ear to ear and our tongues torn out by their roots."

ADAM: "All bow your heads and say Yes."
TEMPLE PATRONS: "Yes." (All patrons sit down.)

PETER: "The brethren and sisters will now stand, push back the seats, place the robe on the left shoulder, and receive the Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood. We and each of us do covenant and promise that we will not reveal the secrets of this, the Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, with its accompanying name, sign, grip or penalty. Should we do so, we agree to have our breasts cut open and our hearts and vitals torn from our bodies and given to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field."

"All bow your heads and say yes."
TEMPLE PATRONS: "Yes." (All patrons sit down.)

PETER: "We and each of us do covenant and promise that we will not reveal any of the secrets of this, the First Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood, with its accompanying name, sign or penalty. Should we do so, we agree that our bodies be cut asunder in the midst and all our bowels gush out."
"All bow your heads and say yes."
TEMPLE PATRONS: "Yes." (All patrons sit down.)

Death Oaths Made by All Mormon Temple Patrons from the 1930's until April 1990:
Mormon Temple Death Oath #1:

ELOHIM: "All arise." (All patrons stand.)

ELOHIM: "Each of you make the sign of the First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, by bringing your right arm to the square, the palm of the hand to the front, the fingers together, and the thumb extended. This is the sign. Now, repeat in your mind after me the words of the covenant, at the same time representing the execution of the penalty."
"I ________, think of the new name, covenant before God, angels and these witnesses that I will never reveal the First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, with its accompanying name and sign, and penalty. Rather than do so, I would suffer my life to be taken."
(Patrons perform the action as the Officiator guides them.)
"That will do." (Patrons sit down.)

Mormon Death Oath #2:
PETER: "The sign is made by bringing the right hand in front of you, with the hand in cupping shape, the right arm forming a square, and the left arm being raised to the square. This is the sign. (The officiator demonstrates.)
The Execution of the Penalty is represented by placing the right hand on the left breast, drawing the hand quickly across the body, and dropping the hands to the sides. I will now explain the covenant and obligation of secrecy which are associated with this token, its name, and sign, and penalty, and which you will be required to take upon yourselves."

PETER: "All arise. (All Patrons stand.) Each of you make the sign of the Second Token of the Aaronic priesthood by bringing the right hand in front of you, with the hand in cupping shape, the right arm forming a square, and the left arm being raised to the square. This is the sign."

Now, repeat in your mind after me the words of the covenant, at the same time representing the Executing of the Penalty."

"I, _________, think of the first given name, solemnly covenant, before God, angels, and these witnesses that I will never reveal the second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, with its accompanying name, and sign, and penalty. Rather than do so, I would suffer my life to be taken."

(Patrons perform the action as the Officiator guides them.)
"That will do." (All patrons sit down.)

Mormon Temple Death Oath #3:
PETER: "All arise. (All patrons stand.) Each of you make the sign of the First Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood or Sign of the Nail by brining the left hand in front of you with the hand in cupping shape, the left arm forming a square; also by bringing the right hand is also brought forward, the palm down, the fingers close together, the thumb extended, and by placing the thumb over the left hip. This is the sign."

Now repeat in your mind after me the words of the covenant, at the same time representing the Execution of the Penalty:"

"I solemnly covenant in the name of the Son that I will never reveal the First Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood or Sign of the Nail, with its accompanying name,and sign and penalty. Rather than do so, I would suffer my life to be taken."

(Patrons perform the action as the Officiator guides them.)

"That will do." (All patrons sit down.)

Even today, Mormon Temple patrons make the oaths of secrecy above, although without the gruesome penalties.Also, all Mormon Temple Patrons today still make an oath to sacrifice their lives and all they posses for the church:

TEMPLE NARRATOR:
(All patrons stand.) "And as Jesus Christ has laid down his life for the redemption of mankind, so we should covenant to sacrifice all that we possess, even our own lives if necessary, in sustaining and defending the Kingdom of God."

All arise. Each of you bring your right arm to the square. You and each of you solemnly covenant and promise before God, angels, and these witnesses at this alter that you will observe and keep the Law of Sacrifice, as contained in the Old and New Testament, as it has been explained to you. Each of you bow your head and say "yes.""

TEMPLE PATRONS: "Yes."

ELOHIM: "That will do." (All patrons sit down.)

TEMPLE NARRATOR: (All patrons stand.) "Each of you bring your right arm to the square. You and each of you covenant and promise before God, angels, and these witnesses at this altar, that you do accept the Law of Consecration as contained in this, (The Officiator holds up a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants again.), the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, in that you do consecrate yourselves, your time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed you, or with which he may bless you, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the building up of the Kingdom of God on the earth and for the establishment of Zion."

Each of you bow your head and say "yes."
TEMPLE PATRONS: "Yes."
PETER: "That will do." (All patrons sit down.)

So why does God need death oaths in the temple covenants?
If these death oaths were necesessary for exhaltation, then why were they removed from the covenants?

Is it any wonder that faithful Mormons will give up everything, including their own family members and integrity to the cause of the church?It's likely that death oaths were originally introduced into the endowment ceremony in order to conceal the secret practice of polygamy in Nauvoo.
For details, see:http://www.i4m.com/think/temples/temple_legacy.htm
Why else would God need us to make death oaths of secrecy or loyalty?

Quick Mormon Facts Part 1

2008-04-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

Masonic Origin:
The Mormon temple ritual (the "endowment") is very similar to the Masonic initiation ceremony of the 1840s. Joseph Smith (the Mormon prophet) introduced it to his followers two months after he himself was initiated into Freemasonry.

Changes:
The endowment ceremony had to be "restored" to the original and pure form that it had in Adam's time, according to Smith, because the Masons had "corrupted" the ceremony by removing and changing many parts. Since the 1840s, the Mormon prophets have continued to change it from the pure form given by Joseph Smith, by removing and changing many parts.

Secret Handshakes:
The most secret part of the endowment ritual is learning the four secret handshakes and passwords that Mormons believe will be required for admission into the presence of God.

Death Oaths:
Until 1990, the endowment ritual included oaths of secrecy in which the initiates mimicked the taking of their own lives (by slitting the throat and by disembowelment) if they ever revealed the secret handshakes and passwords.

Everything for the Mormon church:
One of the oaths included in the endowment ritual is a promise to give everything you have, including your life, to the Mormon church, if asked. (This oath was invoked recently to persuade some reluctant Mormons to help finance the campaign for the initiative against same-sex marriage in California.)

Other Oaths:
As part of the ritual, Mormons also take an oath to obey the "Law of Obedience" (to obey church leaders) and to "speak no evil of the Lord's anointed [i.e., the church leaders]."

Families Together?
Since only worthy Mormons can enter the temple, Mormon temple weddings exclude non-Mormon family members, even parents of the bride and groom. No music, no poetry, no photographs are allowed during the short wedding ceremony in the temple. (Although the bride may wear a traditional white wedding gown, she must wear the ritual temple clothing over the gown.) Although Mormons teach "family togetherness," in practice many Mormons shun family members who leave the church, and a Mormon spouse who no longer believes is often divorced. In other words, Mormonism often breaks families up.

Polygamy ("Plural Marriage"):
Although Mormons officially abandoned the practice of polygamy in 1890, it continued to be practiced in secret well into the 20th century and is still part of their doctrine (see the Mormon scripture Doctrine & Covenants, Section 132). It is still possible, under certain circumstances, for a Mormon man to be married in the temple "for eternity" to more than one wife. Thus, there will be polygamy in Mormon Heaven.

Racism:
Until 1978, persons with any trace of black African ancestry were not permitted to enter a temple, even if they were otherwise "worthy" members of the church.

Your Ancestors Are Now Mormons?
Most Mormons attending the temple rituals are doing so as proxies for the dead, in order to qualify the dead for admission to the Mormon heaven. Probably most of your ancestors have already been posthumously inducted into the Mormon church. The Mormons have done this for millions of dead people (this is the primary purpose of their extensive genealogical research), including deceased presidents of the U.S., many Catholic saints, and even Adolf Hitler.

Mormon Underwear:
Mormons who have been through the endowment ritual are required afterwards always to wear special white underwear (the "garment") with Masonic markings. They believe that this protects them from physical harm and from Satan.

Contradictions?
Although the Mormon holy book The Book of Mormon, published in 1830, was said by Joseph Smith to include the "fulness of the Gospel," it says not a single word about the endowment or about doing proxy rituals to save the dead. In fact, it specifically says that you must be saved before you die, otherwise it's too late. (Alma 34:34, 2 Nephi 9:38)

Prevalent Cult Characteristics.

2008-04-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

LDS as well as FLDS church takes on many prevalent cult characteristics.

1. In Temple recommend interviews, members are told that the interviewer represents Jesus and should answer all questions as if they were talking to Jesus. This is a break down of barriers designed to condition the member to completely submit to church’s authority

2. Naked touching in the temple washing and anointing ritual also breaks down barriers, creates submission to church authority [This eternal ordinance was changed in Jan 2005 see mormon366.htm ]

3. New name, suggests reassignment of identity

4. Temple endowment experience is hypnotic, produces a relaxed, even sleepy alpha like state for receptivity to church indoctrination, oaths, instruction, commitment. Similar to Moonie repetitive indoctrination sessions where chanting, singing, and long periods of lecturing happen.

5. Secret signs, tokens, passwords to get into Mormon heaven. If one does not have this exclusive information, they will be denied access past certain angels along the way back to God's presence. This is an element of control designed to produce exclusivity

6. Requirement to wear church approved underwear night and day, conditioned to believe they possess special protections. Another design to control via exclusivity

7. Strict tithing requirements. Yearly face to face confrontation with a high church authority to declare to him (as the lord’s representative) how much money the member was able to give to the church. Encouraged to give everything that the lord blesses you with even ones time, talents to the building up of the LDS church. In addition to tithes, generous fast offerings are encouraged. Giving to other charities or worthy causes outside the church is heavily discouraged. The member intuitively knows that the tithing, fast offering, missionary funds and perpetual education funds must be donated to first... and only THEN should outside charities be considered. This cult characteristic, to me, falls under extreme duress to give only to the church organization. The member is even told that if the tithing is not "honest" they will literally burn up at the Lord's 2nd coming.

8. Outsiders not permitted to enter the temple. Exclusivity.

9. Members believe Jesus literally walks the halls of the temples and no other buildings on earth receive this privilege. There is only Faith promoting rumors to back this up of course. Yet it is a very strong and widely held belief in the church that this is so.

10. There is a blatant Us vs. Them mentality. The LDS testimony conditions members to “know” based on feelings that they are the only ones on earth with the Truth or approved plan of God. Everyone else is wrong and must be saved or baptized into the LDS church. This doctrine goes as far as to maintain that every living human who has ever lived in this earth must be baptized. While logically impossible, the doctrine is widely believed. God will figure it out. This rationality is supposed to support this impossibility

11. LDS church has more evidence to prove it false than it does to prove it true, yet members see this as a test of faith and God’s way of strengthening his "Elect". Or members have been conditioned to never look at this material. Very similar to the Moonie approach that outside information was evil and falls under satanic origins. Anything that could potentially deprogram a Moonie was satanic. Family members, spouses, newspaper articles, radio... you get the idea.

12. Members are encouraged strongly to never look at “anti” literature. Yet early apostles encouraged the discovery of truth and preached openly that truth would stand up to highest degree of scrutiny. This was before damning evidences to the church's platform of ideology was widely known or even challenged. During this era, the church had a sense of infallibility as the saints were securely sequestered in the desert of Utah. Completely isolated from the outside world.

13. Bishop interviews are obsessed with sexual purity for youth & missionaries. Adults have been told which sexual acts are permissible and which are not. Though, this is not consistent throughout the church. Young people must disclose any sexual acts, even minor ones. This young person (male or female) believes they are talking to Jesus Christ's representative in these interviews. Lying to the bishop is equated to lying to Jesus.

14. Missions are extreme examples of Cult experience.

A. 80 hrs a week free labor (Missionary makes no money) in fact the missionary pays largely for his own meals, lodging, transportation and clothing out of his own pocket. The missionary is told that the 2 years in service is a "tithing" of the first 19 years of his life that God gave him/her.
B. When not working in field one is encouraged to read scripture & pray constantly
C. High amounts of self-indoctrination and mass indoctrination at zone, district meetings. Guilt tactics are used. If low recruit numbers are happening, the missionary is frequently blamed. Reasons for low recruit numbers are tied to unlikely reasons such as a lack of dedication or commitment to mission rules or even a suggestion that too many missionaries were masturbating too frequently in the past month. This is a gross abuse of mind control.
D. Encouraged to frequently recite scripture and hymns, carry a prayer in ones heart at all times so as to fortify ones efforts to keep rules, remain "sanctified to the cause" and not have impure thoughts or masturbate.
E. No outside influences, no TV, no radio
F. Must always be with companion except for showers and toilet
G. Confined to one area, not permitted to go outside geographic boundaries
H. Extreme limited contact with family, letters once a week, no phone call home but twice a year
I. Primary job is to recruit new members, give the prospect milk and NO meat doctrine. Deception (by only telling the rewritten version of the church's history and doctrine) is encouraged most often without the missionary NOT knowing he is testifying to untruths.
J. Every person met is sized up as potential recruit,
K. Current members are badgered for referrals for new recruits, friends and neighbors
L. Loaded language, acronyms. Outsiders cannot follow many regular LDS conversations

15. If one ever leaves the church, they are told and conditioned to think they will be sent to outer darkness in the afterlife. There is a fear of imminent damnation if they leave the group.

16. One man (the prophet figure) speaks for God. Members see this as extremely positive as they believe the prophet will never lead them astray. When confronted that prior prophets in history have been wrong or even preached harmful doctrine that was widely held up as God's word (racial discrimination) the member quickly dismisses this. This is supported by the perceived good works the church produces and the notion that Mormonism produces good people and strong families.

Men On The Moon

2008-04-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

As incredible as it may seem, LDS publications bear testimony that Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, and Brigham Young, second Prophet of the Church, taught the moon was inhabited. In an 1892 LDS publication under the heading "THE INHABITANTS OF THE MOON," this interesting information is given by Oliver B. Huntington.
"Nearly all the great discoveries of men in the last half century have, in one way or another, either directly or indirectly, contributed to prove Joseph Smith to be a Prophet.
"As far back as 1837, I know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do -- that they live generally to near the age of 1000 years.

"He described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style. "In my Patriarchal blessing, given by the father of Joseph the Prophet, in Kirtland, 1837, I was told that I should preach the gospel before I was 21 years of age; that I should preach the gospel to the inhabitants upon the islands of the sea, and to the inhabitants of the moon, even the planet you can now behold with your eyes." (The Young Woman's Journal, published by the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations of Zion, 1892, vol. 3, pp. 263-64)

Huntington also told of founding prophet/president Joseph Smith’s teaching regarding the moon:
“The inhabitants of the moon 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 are quite general in style, or 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 the Seer, and he could “see” whatever he asked the father in the name of Jesus to see. The Journal of Oliver B. Huntington, Volume 3, Page 166

Here's Brigham Young's statement:
Oliver B. Huntington recorded in his diary:
"The inhabitants of the moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the earth, being six feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker style and are quite general in style or 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, and he could see whatever he asked the Father in the name of Jesus to see" - Journal of Oliver B. Huntington, Vol 2, p 166, emphasis added from Brigham Young:

"I will tell you who the real fanatics are: they are they who adopt false principles and ideas as facts, and try to establish a superstructure upon, a false foundation. They are the fanatics; and however ardent and zealous they may be, they may reason or argue on false premises till doomsday, and the result will be false. If our religion is of this character we want to know it; we would like to find a philosopher who can prove it to us. We are called ignorant; so we are: but what of it? Are not all ignorant? I rather think so. Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon? When we view its face we may see what is termed "the man in the moon," and what some philosophers declare are the shadows of mountains. But these sayings are very vague, and amount to nothing; and when you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the most ignorant of their fellows. So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain. It was made to give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and so will this earth when it is celestialized. Every planet in its first rude, organic state receives not the glory of God upon it, but is opaque; but when celestialized, every planet that God brings into existence is a body of light, but not till then. Christ is the light of this planet." - Journal of Discourses Vol. 13, p.271.

Oliver B. Huntington, who was a close associate of Joseph Smith and remained a faithful Mormon his whole life, had this to say:

Astronomers and philosophers have, from time almost immemorial until very recently, asserted that the moon was uninhabited, that it had n atmosphere, etc. But recent discoveries, through the means of powerful telescopes, have given scientists a doubt or two upon the old theory. Nearly all the great discoveries of men in the last half century have, in one way or another, either directly or indirectly, contributed to prove Joseph Smith to be a prophet. As far back as 1837, I know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do, that they live generally to near the age of a 1000 years. He described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style. In my Patriarchal blessing, given by the father of Joseph the Prophet, in Kirtland, 1837, I was told that I should preach the gospel before I was 21 years of age; that I should preach the gospel to the inhabitants upon the islands of the sea, and–to the inhabitants of the moon, even the planet you can now behold with your eyes. Young Woman’s Journal, Volume 3, pages 263-264, 1892