This is the ten part series I wrote in summer 2012, compiled and revised and completed and in one place. What a monumental load off and wash of my hands.
And
many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. Matthew 24:11
Then
the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded
them, neither spake unto them: they
prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the
deceit of their heart.
Jeremiah 14:14
The Mormon church was
founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, who the Mormons regard as their Great
Prophet. He lived in America from
1805-1844. Smith claimed to have had
numerous visions, to have been visited by an angel named Moroni, and to have
been guided by Moroni to the text of the Book of Mormon, which was engraved in
hieroglyphs on golden plates hidden under a rock in a hillside. The Book of Mormon claims to be another
testament of Christ, but it reads like bad fiction, and there is absolutely
zero archaeological evidence to support any of the history it purports. Since many points of Mormon doctrine directly
contradict the Bible’s authority, and since Mitt Romney believes this grand
lie, I thought it meet in this election year to dissect the false religion by
comparing it to true Christianity.
My sources were the
2007 PBS Documentary, The Mormons, which can be viewed online here; The book, THE MORMON EXPERIENCE: A HISTORY OF THE LATTER DAY SAINTS; and the
Latter Day Saints website.
When Joseph Smith was
fourteen he claimed to have been plagued by the question of which of the many
sects of Christianity was the true church of Christ. He went into a grove of trees near where his
family lived in Palmyra, New York, where he prayed aloud for God to answer
him. There are numerous versions of the
event—the story evolved over the years as required to support the evolution of
the Mormon church. (Read one of the
accounts of the vision in Smith’s own words here.) The essence of the event was thus: Brilliant light flooded the trees, and the
forms of two men appeared hovering before Smith. One was God and the other Jesus Christ. God looked at Smith, pointed to Jesus, and
said: “This is my Beloved Son! Hear him!”
This is in direct
contradiction to Jesus Christ, who said:
No man hath seen God at any time,
the only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared
Him. John 1:18
Did Jesus Christ really
contradict himself by appearing with God before Jesus Christ? Read on and decide for yourself.
Smith maintained the
presence of mind to ask which sect was the true one that he should join. The answer that he received from God and
Jesus was that he should join none of them, as they were all abominations, and
their adherents corrupt. God and Jesus
went on to tell young Joseph that he would later be used as an instrument to
restore the true church to the earth.
How monumentally
arrogant, to claim that after Jesus was crucified and the last apostle died,
that every church and all its congregants founded in His name were abomination
in his sight—for EIGHTEEN CENTURIES!
Smith’s claim renders Christ irrelevant to the billions who lived and
died during those eighteen hundred years.
And that Smith was the chosen one to bring clarity back to the
world—would a precocious prophet truly be so shamelessly bold?
For
whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall
be exalted. Luke
14:11
So after his visitation
from God and Jesus, what did the pubescent, self styled prophet Joseph Smith
do? Did he study the Scriptures, wherein
it is written: Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than
choice gold? Proverbs 8:10
No. Did he seek and pray for wisdom, because it
is written: How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen
than silver! Proverbs 16:16
No. Did he become a true follower of Jesus Christ? because it is written: Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Peter 1:18-19
No, he commenced on his
lifelong quest for his true god—the gold.
Rather than seeking the
divine, he sought to divine. He dreamed of finding buried treasure, and
with his father began to search their farm and the land around Palmyra for
gold—by which search Smith’s heart revealed its true lusts after earthly
wealth.
The large Smith clan
had a reputation for being superstitious ‘money diggers.’ They tried to divine the location of treasure
hidden in the earth using peep stones:
magical stones which, when placed in an upside down hat and gazed in
upon, revealed secrets to a special few blessed with the ability to see
them. Joseph Smith claimed to be just
such a seer, and armed with a hat and
some rocks, he started selling his services as a treasure hunter.
As throughout his life
Smith was an abomination to the Lord. There shall not be found among you any one
that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth
divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.Or
a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.For
all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD. Deuteronomy 18: 10-12
Although Joseph Smith
received his first ‘revelation’ when he was fourteen, he never recorded a final
account of it until 1838, when he was 33.
The Mormon church had existed for eight years, and he’d had plenty of
time to tailor the event to his needs.
So did his second momentous encounter have years to incubate in his
imagination before he offered a final version of it.
After money digging for
a couple of years, Smith claimed he realized he’d gone astray and lost his
way. In 1823, when he was seventeen, he
repented, and one night in his room offered up to God a prayer for
forgiveness. It was answered that night
by the appearance of the angel Moroni.
He was the last prophet of a race that had vanished from ancient
America. He revealed to Smith the
existence of a collection of golden plates containing the history of the
religion of his people. Moroni explained
that he and his father, Mormon, had engraved them with Egyptian hieroglyphs
many centuries before. Moroni told
Joseph that he was chosen to go get them.
Moroni appeared three
more times that night and the following morning, and directed Smith to the
location of the plates that very afternoon.
Smith went to a hill ‘convenient to the village of Manchester,’ and on
the slope found a round stone beneath which was hidden a stone box containing
the golden plates and an instrument for translation: two transparent stones fixed like eyeglasses
to a breast plate that Moroni identified as the Urim and Thummim used by
ancient Israelite prophets. He tried to
remove the objects from the box but could not, and was chastised by the angel
for ignoring the commandments of God and intending to use the plates to get
rich. Moroni commanded him to return to
the hill once every year ‘until the time should come for obtaining the
plates.’ Then the angel departed.
Most mormon temples
have huge golden statues of Moroni mounted atop their spires. Here is a good link for a few photos and more
information about how the statues fit into LDS tradition.
Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is
in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth. Thou shalt not bow down
thyself to them, nor serve them: for I
the Lord thy God am a jealous God. Exodus
20:4-5
Furthermore it is also
written: The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or the gold
that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. Deuteronomy 7:25
Smith’s twenty first year
brought several major life events. He
had returned to the hill Cumorah once every year, and on the fifth visit, when
he was twenty one, he was able to take the plates away with him.
That same year Smith
was brought to court. Treasure divining
and money digging were illegal activities, and Smith had hired himself out to a
man named Josiah Stoal, also of New York, to find the location of a silver mine
in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. The charge
was brought by Stoal’s relatives, who wanted to prevent their kinsman from
wasting any more money on Smith. The
charge was classified a misdemeanor, and at least twelve witnesses were issued
subpoenas. There are varying accounts of
the outcome. In some, Smith was
acquitted by Stoal’s testimony, in others, he either escaped or was convicted
and left town.
Also in his twenty
first year he married Emma Hale, who Smith had met while searching for the
silver mine in Susquehanna. Following
the trial Joseph and Emma left New York for Pennsylvania, to translate the
golden plates. Their trip was financed
by a prosperous local farmer named Martin Harris, who had heard of the golden
plates and taken great interest. Smith
had worked for Harris in the past; Harris gave the couple fifty dollars for
their trip then followed them shortly thereafter.
The translation of the
plates was a process of dictation from Smith to his wife or Harris. Smith positioned himself behind a curtain,
then upturned his hat, placed the seer stones therein, and thrust his face into
the darkness of the hat, making a point to exclude all light before ‘reading’ the Book of Mormon aloud.
Then
Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness
come upon you: for he that walketh in
darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. John
12:35
In a series of
revelations over the course of the months of the translation, Joseph received
the account of the ancient peoples of the Americas. Their history begins with that of the Hebrews. Around 600 BC, at the time Israel was being
carried into its captivity in Babylon, a prophet Lehi and his family were
divinely inspired to leave Jerusalem just before the conquest and journey to
the Indian Ocean. There they built boats
and sailed to the west coast of the Americas and resettled. They spent the ensuing centuries—when not
engaged in war with one another—building elaborate cities and temples. Conflict eventually divided them into two
tribes, the Nephites and the Lamanites.
The Nephites were
descended from Nephi, a son of Lehi.
They were at first a righteous people.
The Lamanites descended from Laman and Lemuel, Nephi’s rebellious
brothers. The Lamanites are described as
cursed by God with a skin of blackness for their wickedness and
corruption. Immediately after the
crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus Christ appeared to both tribes to announce
that he was come to organize his church.
For two centuries the two tribes co existed in peace; then strife arose,
and they warred until the fifth century, when the Lamanites destroyed the
backsliding Nephites—Moroni’s tribe.
The Book of Mormon
asserts that the Lamanites were the ancestors of the North American peoples. Notwithstanding that archaeologists have
found no shred of evidence that the Nephites and Lamanites ever existed, and
that scientists have genetically determined that Native Americans are primarily
descended from northeast Asians, and Polynesia people descended from southeast
Asians. But the Book of Mormon asserts
many things that simply are not true—it is a work of FICTION.
And
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they
receive not the love of truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
After completing the
translation of the golden plates, Smith returned them to the angel Moroni,
which made it conveniently impossible for him to ever validate his claim by
producing them. Instead for proof he
offered several witnesses who swore to having seen the plates. One of these was a man named Oliver Cowdery,
one of Smith’s earliest followers. One
day in May of 1829, Smith and Cowdery went into the woods to pray to God
specifically regarding ‘baptism for the remission of sins.’ Their prayer was answered by the appearance
of a being who identified himself as John the Baptist. John placed his hands on their heads and
conferred unto them the ‘priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the
ministering angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and of the baptism by
immersion for the remission of sins.’
If they were lying—and
the truth states that they were—then how great the lie! And to make God, Jesus and John the Baptist
part of it…how much greater the condemnation!
Smith and Cowdery
immediately baptized each other, then commenced to baptizing proselytes.
Publication of the Book
of Mormon was financed by Martin Harris, and the book was published in
1830. On April 6, 1830, Smith’s Church
of Christ formally established itself in Fayette, New York. Joseph Smith boldly proclaimed that ‘his was
the one true church since the death of Christ’s apostles.’ The arrogance is staggering, to state that
eighteen centuries of civilization had lived without the true church of Christ;
that all of mankind was lost until Joseph Smith came to bring them light.
Then
if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
For
there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Matthew 24:23-24
As Smith’s church
slowly grew he sent out missionaries (a euphemism for reconnaissance scouts) to
Ohio, then in 1871 led seventy five followers to Kirtland where they joined a
preacher named Sidney Rigdon and his congregation of one hundred.
Let
them alone: they be blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind,
both shall fall into the ditch. Matthew 15:14
There Smith used the
basic and effective psychological ploy of telling his congregants what they
wanted to hear. To this end he started
referring to them as ‘latter day saints.’
Again, Smith usurped God’s authority when he sanctified others.
But
with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s
judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self.
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
Therefore
judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to
light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the
hearts: and then shall every man have
praise of God.
1 Corinthians 4:3-5
Once settled in
Kirtland, Smith sought to grow his church by sending missionaries to fan
throughout America seeking converts.
But
woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to
make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of
hell than yourselves.
Matthew 23:15
The church grew
gradually in Kirtland, and in December of 1832, Smith convened nine priests in
prayer, and they claimed to have received a revelation that spanned two days in
which they were told the only way into the presence of God was through the
temple. Very true…
What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of
the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19
…yet Smith’s
understanding of that seems wildly misinterpreted. Instead he and his followers constructed not
a Christian church in Kirtland, but a temple inspired by the Old Testament, ‘a
house of God and a school for the Prophets, dedicated unto the Lord from the
foundation thereof, according to the order of the priesthood.’ Comprised of a lower and upper court spanning
three stories, the edifice was a combined place of worship, school and Mormon
office, as well as a place of secret rituals of anointing and blessing that
connected the latter day saints to God.
Following consecration of the temple, Mormons claimed to have
experienced three months of miracles within its walls, which they likened to
Pentecost. They heard rushing of wind,
and angelic choirs; they witnessed angels fly in through the windows, and God
standing beside Joseph Smith.
In the Bible, New
Jerusalem appears in revelation.
And
I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. Revelation 21:1
Joseph claimed to receive
all knowledge through revelation, and proclaimed to his followers that new
Jerusalem, or the city of Zion, was to be located in Independence, Missouri,
where one of his followers had purchased a tract of land. In a vision he saw it as the gathering place
of the saints in the last days, and that he was to build a temple there. He also began teaching his followers that the
garden of Eden was also in the site in Independence, which begs the question: where are the rivers? And Assyria and Ethiopia?
And
a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted,
and became into four heads.The
name of the first is Pison: that is it
which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;And
the gold of that land is good: there is
bdellium and onyx stone.And
the name of the second river is Gihon:
the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.And
the name of the third river is Hiddekel:
that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. Genesis 2:10-14
**********
About the Bible, Joseph
Smith wrote: “We believe the Bible to be
the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.”
About
itself, it is written in the Bible: You
shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish
ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I
command you.
Deuteronomy 4:2
The Mormons staunchly
professed the authority of the Bible, and were quick to quote its verses,
particularly those that supported their doctrine. But the Book of Mormon protected them from
the passages that ran contrary to their beliefs by proclaiming: many ‘plain and precious things’ had been
lost or expurgated from the Scriptures.
In this manner anything in the Bible that contradicted doctrine was
explained away as mistranslation, which arrogantly questions God’s ability to
keep the word perfect in any language over any length of time.
When a commandment or
sentiment of particular importance appears in the Bible, it is frequently
repeated for emphasis. So it is when
warning men of the dangers of tampering with the word of the LORD.
Every
word of God is pure: he is a shield unto
them that put their trust in him.Add
thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. Proverbs 30:5-6
Despite the stern
warnings contained in its pages, and despite the fact that he knew neither
Hebrew nor Greek (the languages in which the Old and New Testament were
written), from 1830-1833 Joseph Smith undertook to ‘translate’ the Bible,
which, according to his claim, had been circulating in mistranslation for
eighteen centuries. Working from the
King James translation, and guided by revelation, Smith produced the Joseph
Smith Inspired Translation of the Bible.
Despite all its preposterous and glaring shortcomings, the Mormons still
link to it on their website here.
To get a little
sampling of Joseph Smith’s butchery of the Scriptures I decided to do a side by
side comparison of some verses from the Gospel According to Saint John. Here are three for you to decide if Smith’s
handiwork qualifies as adding to or removing from the word of God.
King James version,
John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
Joseph Smith’s Inspired
Translation, John 1:1: In the beginning
was the gospel preached through the Son.
And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son
was with God, and the son was of God.
King James version,
John 1:16-17:
16And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.17For
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The Joseph Smith
Inspired Translation of those two verses is so clumsy and verbose that it
becomes three verses. John 1:16-18:
16For in the beginning was the Word, even the
Son, who is made flesh, and sent unto us by the will of the Father. And as many as believe on his name shall
receive of his fullness. And of his
fullness have all we received, even immortality and eternal life, through his
grace.17For the law was given
through Moses, but life and truth came through Jesus Christ.18For the law was after
a carnal commandment, to the administration of death; but the gospel was after
the power of an endless life, through Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son, who
is in the bosom of the Father.
And here is Smith’s
reworking of the very verse that refutes and disproves his contention that God
Almighty himself appeared to Joseph Smith on several occasions. Notice how it is conveniently altered to be
availed in support of Smith’s claim.
King James version,
John 1:18: No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in
the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Joseph Smith Inspired
Translation, John 1:19: And no man hath
seen God at any time, except he hath borne record of the Son; for except it is
through him no man can be saved.
Now let us turn to the
very last words of the Bible, where the warning about tampering with the Word
is yet again made crystal clear and gravely dire.
For
I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book,
If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written in this book:
And
if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and
from the things which are written in this book.
He
which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.The
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen. Revelation
22:18-21
The Mormons are adamant
that the Scriptures are the word of God.
I agree, and it is plainly written therein that the false prophet Joseph
Smith went on to suffer from plagues and deprivation and all the punishments
for blasphemy.
**********
But
the prophet, who shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not
commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even
that prophet shall die.And
if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not
spoken?When
a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, that is
the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken
presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid
of him. Deuteronomy
18:20-22
Since Joseph Smith
feared not to make bold in regarding himself a prophet, it naturally followed
that he issued prophecies to bolster his masquerade. These are recorded in the Doctrines and Covenants, one of the sacred Mormon texts, which was largely dictation of his
‘revelations’ by Joseph Smith.
Some of the prophecies
did come to pass, and others did not; and some were ambiguously worded. This has led to their being used by both his
supporters and detractors: his
supporters cite the prophecies that came to pass, or yet may still, as evidence
verifying that Smith was divinely inspired, while his detractors cite the
failed prophecies in their denunciations.
But since every last
one of Christ’s prophesies have fulfilled with uncanny accuracy, and since
Smith claimed to be the chosen prophet to establish the one true church of
Christ on earth, which had been astray for eighteen centuries, since the death
of the last of the apostles, we ought to expect the same from Smith; for if
that were the truth then so would have been every word out of his mouth, and it
is fair to hold him to a standard of perfection.
For anyone interested
in exploring it, there is a Wikipedia page which details many of Smith’s
prophesies and their outcomes. I am just
going to present three here which corroborate my understanding that Smith was a
false prophet.
1)
“Yea, the word of the Lord concerning
his church, established in the last days for the
restoration of his
people, as he had spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of
his saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New
Jerusalem. Which city shall be built,
beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in
the western boundaries of the state of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of
Joseph Smith, and others with whom the Lord was well pleased.” From a revelation through Joseph Smith,
received in Kirtland, Ohio, September 22nd and 23rd, 1832
as it appears in Doctrines and Covenants, 84:2-3
That never came to
pass, and the Mormons were driven out of Missouri in the late 1830s.
2)
“Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning
the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina,
which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls; and the
time will come that the war will be poured 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, as it is called,
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.” From a revelation received by Joseph Smith on
December 25th, 1832, as it appears in Doctrines and Covenants, 87:1-3
This is another clearly
false prophesy. Mormons point to the
civil war as the fulfillment of this prophesy, but the Civil War started in Virginia,
not South Carolina, and did not escalate other nations and eventually all
nations.
3)
“I was once praying very earnestly to
know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the
following: Joseph, my son, if thou
livest until thou art eighty five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son
of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on this
matter.” April 2, 1843, as it appears in
Doctrines and Covenants, 130:14-15
Joseph
Smith died at age 39 in a gunfight with authorities while incarcerated in
Illinois in 1844. The Mormons deny this
being a failed prophesy, as Smith did not live to be 85, but I say that his
death was like the fulfillment of another biblical prophecy, in that the Lord
made the same example of Smith as He did of Hananiah.
Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto
Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou
makest this people to trust in a lie.
Therefore thus saith the LORD; behold, I will cast thee from off the face
of the earth: this year thou shalt die,
because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD. Jeremiah 28:15-16
**********
In
the Mormon church the Three Witnesses are the three men, Oliver Cowdery, Martin
Harris and David Whitmer, who signed a statement attesting that they had seen
firsthand the golden plates of the Book of Mormon. False witnesses are plentiful throughout
history and in the Bible.
Now the chief priests, and elders,
and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
But found none: yea, though many false
witnesses came, yet found they none. At
the last came two false witnesses, And said, This fellow said, I am able to
destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. Matthew 26:59-61
In
1835 Joseph Smith established the Quorum (i.e. Council) of the Twelve Apostles,
by asking the Three Witnesses to name the twelve, who were to be the ruling
authority of the church. Because every
false Christ needs to surround himself with twelve apostles to bolster the
authority by which he deceives his followers.
By
1838 the Mormon population of Kirtland had risen to 2000. Joseph Smith founded a bank and launched
other business enterprises. It was
actually a brilliant business model:
bring fresh strangers into town while receiving their money, whether
through tithes or in the stores and the bank.
It’s like sitting and fishing all day while others keep stocking the
lake. Smith also claimed to have started
the bank in response to a command from God.
Warren
Parrish, who had been an officer in Smith’s bank and member of his
congregation, and who had renounced Mormonism, was quoted in The Painesville
Republican on February 22, 1838 as saying:
“I have listened to him (Smith) with feelings of no ordinary kind, when
he declared that the audible voice of God instructed him to establish a banking
anti-banking institution, which like Aaron’s rod shall swallow up all other
banks—the bank of Monroe excepted—and grow and flourish and spread from the
rivers to the ends of the earth, and survive when all others should be laid in
ruins.”
It
is a natural thing that the prophet chosen to restore the church which had been
fallen for eighteen hundred years since the death of the last apostle should
open a bank. Judas Iscariot was the
apostle who handled Jesus Christ’s finances.
For some of them thought, because
Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have
need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. John 13:29
Like
Judas, Joseph Smith was beholden to his love of money, the root of all evil;
and like Judas, Joseph Smith was an unclean man who betrayed Jesus Christ.
For he knew who should betray him;
therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
John 13:11
And
both Judas and Joseph Smith betrayed the Lord for money: Judas for the infamous thirty pieces of
silver; and Smith by propagating false truths about Jesus Christ in the name of
God, for ready cash in tithes and bank deposits.
The
bank eventually collapsed, and lots of people lost lots of money. There were also numerous rumors of sexual
improprieties involving Smith, including affairs with other men’s wives. These rumors were later effectively validated
in 1842, when Smith announced his revelation of God’s commandment to engage in
‘celestial marriage,’ a euphemism for polygamy, which he proclaimed that
certain special individuals were permitted to practice, himself being one. In his revelation Joseph Smith claimed that
God commanded that “his people live in plural marriage, and that by doing so
they would progress to the highest level of heaven as gods.”
Joseph
Smith had as many as thirty wives, ten of whom were married to other men. He pressured these women, telling them it was
the Lord’s will, that he was the Lord’s prophet, and that if they were to
please God they had to comply. He told
them that blessings would come not only to them, but to their whole family, and
that they would all be blessed by being sealed together in this relationship
with the prophet.
Brigham
Young, who took up Joseph Smith’s mantle and led three thousand Mormons on the
long and harsh migration to Utah, was a staunch advocate of polygamy who had
more than fifty wives and produced fifty seven children. Here are a couple of quotes to give you a
glimpse into the mind of the second great prophet of the latter day
saints.
“The
only men who become gods, even the sons of God, are those who enter into
polygamy.” Brigham Young, Journal of
Discourses, volume 2, p. 269
“No
man or woman in this dispensation will even into the celestial kingdom of God
without the consent of Joseph Smith.” Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
vol7, p. 269
That
is false prophets passing bad doctrine down the generations.
In vain do they worship me,
teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. Matthew 15:9
Mormons
also believe that marriage is for eternity.
Jesus answered and said unto them,
Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
For in the resurrection they
neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in
heaven. Matthew
22:29-30
It
is no surprise that practicing a false religion which abused Jesus Christ, and
defrauding people of their money, and having carnal relations with other men’s
wives, had aroused enough anger in the community that Joseph Smith and his
followers were forcibly driven from Kirtland by the middle of 1838. They continued westward, and tried to settle
in Smith’s prophesied ‘promised land’ of Independence, Missouri, but they were
met with such violent opposition there that on October 27, 1838, Missouri
Governor Lilburn Boggs took the extraordinary measure of issuing ‘Executive
Order 44,’ or, the Mormon Extermination Order, which read, in part: “Mormons had committed open and avowed
defiance of the law…had made war upon the people of this state…and the Mormons
must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State
if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond description.’
The
Mormons continued their westward migration, and settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, in
1839, where Joseph Smith had purchased 18,000 acres of land. That’s a huge tract of land for a man to
purchase who worked no trade and had just had his attempt at starting a bank
fail. Since the money the bank took in
and lost went somewhere, Smith seems more like a thief than a prophet.
In
Nauvoo, the Mormons who had followed Joseph Smith were joined by European
converts, and they set out to build a city and create a society in preparation
for Christ’s return. The population grew
quickly, and by 1844 had swelled to twelve thousand, which rivaled Chicago. In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith was described as
obsessed with increasing his military and political power. He scripted the Nauvoo city charter to grant
himself greater authority. He was
elected mayor and had himself appointed Chief Justice of the city court. He was named Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo
Legion, an armed militia. He created a
church council of fifty which sought to establish a theodemocracy,’ and to that
end the council elected Joseph Smith prophet, priest and king of the coming
millennial monarchy (doubtless a reference to Christ’s one thousand year reign
after the devil is bound up in Revelation 20).
In 1844 Joseph Smith launched a third party candidacy for President of
the United States.
The
earthly titles Smith held and the powers he sought were in disregard of Jesus
Christ, who taught: Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be
your servant. Matthew 23:10-11
In
Nauvoo, Joseph had two major ‘revelations.’
The first was the aforementioned one regarding ‘celestial
marriage.’ The second was that of the
baptism of the dead, in which he explained to his congregation that God gave
Mormons the authority to baptize deceased family members into the church, so
that they would be reunited in the bliss hereafter.
This is yet another Mormon doctrine
that is in direct contradiction to that of Jesus Christ, who said: Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. Matthew 8:22
There
are two prevalent interpretations of this scripture, either of which can be
applied to the bizarre Mormon practice of baptism for the dead. The first is that it means to let the
‘spiritually’ dead human beings bury the ‘physically’ dead. For their practice of the rite of baptism for
the dead, and for the rest of their doctrine, Mormons are indeed ‘spiritually’
dead. The second interpretation is to
take the scripture literally (the interpretation which this author has always
believed to be the meaning of the verse).
In this case the Mormons can be considered to tamper with that which
Christ forbid.
A
fee was charged for the performing of this rite, which revenue generating
practice continues in the Mormon church unto this day. There was a recent scandal in the Mormon
church where it came to light that they were using their ritual baptism for the
dead to convert dead Jews to Mormonism.
This bizarre twist on their bizarre practice came to light when a
request was made to baptize Jewish holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who is still
living.
It
is also written in the Scriptures: And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto
them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that
mutter: should not a people seek unto
their God? for the living to the dead?
To the law and to the testimony:
if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no
light in them. Isaiah 8:19-20
Because
Mormons contravene the law of Moses, and controvert the gospel of Christ, there
is no light in them. The Bible says so.
When
Christ went to the cross it was in complete submission to his enemies, to whom
he had done no wrong. God was glorified. When Joseph Smith met his death it was as a
deluded thing and a power mad bully. A
false prophet was slain.
On
June 7, 1844, a man named William Law published the first and last edition of a
newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor.
Law was a former Mormon, and in his newspaper he accused Joseph Smith of
polygamy and of coercing young women into sexual relationships; and of wielding
dictatorial political powers. The Nauvoo
city council quickly declared the newspaper a public nuisance, and on June 10th
Smith ordered the city marshal to destroy the newspaper and its printing
press. Residents of surrounding counties
were horrified by this act, so contrary to the constitution held so sacred, and
there were calls for Smith to be put to death.
Warrants were issued for his arrest on the charge of treason. On June 18th Smith ordered 5,000
members of the Nauvoo legion to arms and declared martial law.
The
governor of Illinois became involved, promising Smith protection in exchange
for surrender, and on June 25th Smith and his brother Hyrum turned
themselves in to authorities, and were incarcerated in a jail in Carthage,
Illinois. On June 27th a
vigilante mob of 200 men attacked the jail.
As they approached one of the nervous jailers informed Smith of what was
happening. Deluded to the end, Smith
told the jailer that they were rescuers come to liberate he and Hyrum. A gunfight ensued—Smith was armed with a
pepperbox pistol that someone had given him earlier in the day—and Smith and
his brother were shot dead. God was not
glorified; a devil was exterminated.
I have seen also in the prophets of
Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit
adultery and walk in lies: they
strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his
wickedness; they are of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as
Gomorrah. Jeremiah
23:14
**********
I am black, because the sun hath
looked upon me.
Song of Solomon 1:5
For
almost a century and a half from its inception, the Mormon church was
shamelessly ingrained with racism. Even
after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, until 1978, for colored people to be fully
allowed into the Mormon priesthood. And
while outwardly they have acquiesced to God, and federal law, it’s difficult to
imagine that racism doesn’t dwell to this day in many Mormon hearts.
The
foundation was laid with Joseph Smith’s cockamamie fictional history of the
righteous Nephites and the wicked dark skinned Lamanites, and as it evolved the
doctrine of the Mormons traced the evil black people to the first men.
The
best way to illustrate this is to let their own mouths testify against
themselves.
“Cain
slew his brother. Cain 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 was the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and
then another curse is pronounced upon the same race—that they should be the
‘servant of servants,’ and they will be until that curse is removed, and the
Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree.” Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 7:290
“After
the flood we are told that the curse that had been pronounced upon Cain was
continued through Ham’s wife, as he had married a wife of that seed. And why did it pass through the flood? Because it was necessary the devil should
have representation upon the earth as well as God.” John Taylor, Mormon prophet and third
president of the LDS. Journal of
Discourses 23:204
“And
the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon
their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and
rebellion.” The Book of Mormon, Alma
3:6
“The
Lord segregated the people both as to blood and place of residence. At least in the cases of the Lamanites and
the negroes we have the definite word of the Lord Himself that He placed a dark
skin upon them as a curse—as a punishment and as a sign to all others. He forbade intermarriage with them under
threat of the extension of the curse….”
Mark Peterson, LDS Apostle, from an address given at BYU called, Race
Problems, As They Affect The Church.
“Cain,
Ham and the whole negro race have been cursed with a black skin, the mark of
Cain, so they can be identified as a caste apart, a people with whom the other
descendants of Adam should not intermarry.”
Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p.14
Which
all means that the Mormon church would not recognize the marriage of MOSES and
Zipporah.
And Miriam and Aaron spake against
Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. Numbers 12:1
Having
justified themselves by their own tradition, the Mormons went on to become very
nonchalant about their racism.
“Millions
of souls have come into this world cursed with black skin and have been denied
the privilege of the Priesthood and the full blessings of the Gospel.” From, The Way To Perfection, by Joseph
Fielding Smith, tenth LDS president, from 1970-1972
“There
is not a man, from the President of the United States to the editors of their
sanctorums, clear down to low bred letter writers in this Territory, but would
rob the coppers from a dead nigger’s eyes, if they had the opportunity.” George Smith, LDS Apostle, from the Journal
of Discourses, 5:110
“But
let them apostasize, and they will become gray-haired wrinkled and black, just
like the Devil.” Brigham Young, Journal
of Discourses, vol 5, p. 32
“I
would not want you to believe we bear any animosity toward the negro. Darkies are wonderful people, and they have
their place in our church.” Look
Magazine, October 22, 1963, p. 79
Jesus
was surely a darkie. Unless the angels
protected him with sun block everywhere he went in the desert, including the
forty days in the wilderness when he was tempted by Satan. Can you really call Jesus cursed and then
hope for his salvation?
Wherefore I say unto you, All
manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
shall not be forgiven unto men. Matthew 12:31
According
to the Scriptures we all have the same father—
And call no man your father upon
the earth: for one is your Father, which
is in heaven.
Matthew 23:9
—and
therefore we are all brothers and sisters.
If a man say, I love God, and
hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he who loveth not his brother whom he
hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 1 John 4:20
**********
The
Mormon church was dragged kicking and screaming along with contemporary
America, gradually renouncing polygamy, while opposing civil rights and equal
rights before accepting them. Even until
today their racist and bigoted hearts still periodically reveal
themselves. Boyd Packer, the current
president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints stated that the three greatest threats to the church were
homosexuals, feminists and intellectuals.
“The dangers I speak of come from the gay lesbian movement, the feminist
movement (both of which are relatively new), and the ever present challenge
from the so called scholars or intellectuals.”
From a talk to the All-Church Coordinating Council, May 18, 1993.
Each
year more than 50,000 Mormon missionaries set out on a two year journey to win
converts to the faith. These
missionaries are referred to as God’s Army.
Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and
when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Matthew 23: 15
Today
the Mormon church’s greatest love is money.
Over the years of its existence the church’s financial growth was fueled
by sacred taxation. To be of good
standing all Mormons must tithe ten percent of their gross income. Today the church assets are well over thirty
billion dollars, and it is the wealthiest church per capita in the United
States. The Mormon church is unusually
secretive about the vastness of its wealth and the extent of its holdings. Most large American religious groups give
financial accounting to their members, but the details of the Mormon finances
are not revealed even to its members, much less the rest of the world.
No man can serve two masters: for
either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:24
The
LDS church’s extensive multi-billion dollar business empire includes ownership
in media entail newspapers, radio stations, a television station, a publishing
and distribution company, extraordinary real estate holdings that include
malls, parking lots, office parks and residential buildings, livestock and
agricultural interests including citrus, sod and timber, great stock
portfolios, agribusiness, mining, insurance, manufacturing, movie production,
defense contracting, retail stores and banking.
They built a two billion dollar mega mall in Salt Lake City, and a
highly lucrative Polynesian Theme Park in Oahu, Hawaii. Despite forbidding their own membership to
gamble, the LDS church has been heavily invested and influential in the Nevada
gaming industry since the great expansion of Las Vegas in the 1950s.
There
is no denying the enormity of the church Joseph Smith founded, and the
economic, political, spiritual and cultural power it wields. And these millions truly believe Joseph Smith
to be the great prophet he claimed to be.
Even him, whose coming is after the
working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the
truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send
them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
Joseph
Smith once arrogantly stated: “I have
more to boast of than 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 work as I.”
History of the Church, vol 6, pp. 408-09.
In
speaking of the Second Coming of Christ, it is written in 2 Thessalonians
2:3-4: Let no man deceive you by any means:
for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth
in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
While
of this false prophet’s ridiculous claim Jesus simply said: the
servant is not greater than his Lord.
John 13:16
One
final note. From his youth Mitt Romney
was groomed for prominence in this bogus, mammon worshiping church. He went from missionary to bishop and finally
to stake president, serving as the highest ranking Mormon leader in Boston—the
equivalent of a Roman Catholic cardinal.
