When Jesus Condemned Joseph Smith and The Mormons

When I was a teenager, I was told that mine was a “chosen generation.” I heard it in church, I heard in seminary, and I heard it from the mouth of the living prophet, Ezra T. Benson,

“Youth of Zion, do you realize you are living in the days of the fulfillment of these signs and wonders? You are among those who will see many of these prophecies fulfilled. Just as certain as was the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews, so shall these words of the Savior be certain to your generation…We have every confidence that you, ‘the rising generation,’ will not falter. I repeat: You were valiant spirits reserved for this exceptional time. You have but one choice: To rise to the task of history’s most significant hour!” (“Prepare Yourselves for the Great Day of the Lord,” September 16, 1980. Emphasis added.)

My generation’s got about 20 more years, but I believed it then. So did a lot of kids my age. I once attended a fireside where the speaker informed us that when I reached the other side of the veil the spirits beings would ask me, “Who was the prophet while you were alive?” And I’d say, “The John Birch Society. I mean, Ezra Taft Benson!” (He signed my mission call.) The assembled spirits would look upon me with reverence and awe because I was alive during the most wicked time in world history. This was evidence that I was previously one of the “noble and great spirits” who were “held in reserve for the “last days.” I was special. I would then do my best Moses and part the sea of spirits on my way up to the Celestial Kingdom, basking in the glory of my own righteousness and chosenness.

Or so the story went.

Unfortunately, at a 2018 Worldwide Youth Devotional, President Russell M. Nelson stripped the title from me and my generation and anointed a new chosener one,

“Our Heavenly Father has reserved many of His most noble spirits—perhaps, I might say, His finest team—for this final phase. Those noble spirits—those finest players, those heroes—are you.” (Emphasis added. I’m sure the youth of the year 2063 will hear the exact same thing.)

The finest team of heroes for final phase? Time to temper my disappointment at my demotion and take my vitamins because we’re headed for some interesting times, I guess. I’m rooting for a comet, asteroid or meteor strike. That sounds fun. Maybe the Yellowstone volcano finally blows and wipes out the West, plunging us into a nuclear winter.  Speaking of nukes, I live in Oregon. A lot of locals, me included, wouldn’t be opposed to nuke wiping out Portland. Should that happen, I’m running towards the mushroom cloud. I don’t want to stick around long enough to grow a third arm out of my forehead or leak orange goo from my eyes.

IS IT THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT? 

The “last days,” The End Times™ and the presumed imminence of the “Second Coming” are baked into the core of Mormonism. And to be fair, most mainstream Christian churches, too. It’s a shame modern Christianity has become a paranoid Doomsday Cult obsessed with sign-seeking, “Bible Prophecy” (did you know the Bible talks about Covid-19?Hm.), interpreting scripture through the evening news, and looking for the “Mark of the Beast”—bar codes, microchips, vaccines and whatever, or whomever, the boogie man is twenty years from now—instead of repenting and serving their fellow human beings.

As founder of the faith, Joseph Smith’s apocalyptic worldview and revelations have passed down to us. He, like most religious visionaries, was seduced by apocalyptic texts like Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew 24 (the “Little Apocalypse”) and The Revelation. He heavily borrowed the imagery of these books when composing his revelations as hellfire, brimstone, death and destruction abound. He took what Richard Bushman called a “hyperliteral view” of the Bible, including the Revelation, and he very strongly believed we were in the very literal “last days.” A February 1831 revelation instructed the elders to “labor ye in my vineyard for the last time—for the last time call upon the inhabitants of the earth.” Then in January 1833 he prophesied “in the name of Jesus Christ” that there were people then living who would witness the desolating sicknesses, horrors and destruction immediately preceding the Second Coming of Jesus. He made this prophecy in the wake of the 1832 cholera breakout. New York City was hit particularly hard, and half the city’s population reportedly fled to the countryside. Those who didn’t gather to Independence, MO, a.k.a. “Zion,” Joseph said, would be destroyed. Cholera outbreaks were unfortunately common throughout the rest of the 19th century and into the 20th, but Jesus never came.

It seems this is a very, very long final phase.  Perhaps God had to wait for His finest team, whomever they are, to enter mortality.

WHO ARE THESE CHILDREN COMING DOWN?

The concept of a “chosen generation,” whether it was my generation, the current generation, or future generations in perpetuity, is tied to the concept of a “chosen people.” That’s us, literal Israelites with a divine mandate to spread the gospel and gather our lost and scattered Israelite brothers and sister to the LDS church. (Cue the “Saturday’s Warrior” theme song: “Who are these children coming down, coming down like gentle rain though darken skies. With glory trailing from their feet as they go and endless promise in their eyes!”)

Our role in this latter-day drama was determined during the Great Divine Council. We are here now in the “final phase” because we were the righteous spirits who chose Jesus’ plan over the devil’s plan during the “war in heaven.”  I remember stories about developmentally disabled children who were part of the Satan’s personal escort out of heaven. God gave them their disability to protect from Satan’s personal vendetta. (You’ve heard that one, right?) Some of us were so righteous that that we were foreordained as high priests (Alma 13 makes no such claim) and others as rulers and prophets. About five weeks before he died, Joseph Smith reportedly said,

“Every man who has a calling to the world, was ordained to that very purpose in the grand Council of Heaven— I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that grand Council.” (May 12, 1844. He again quotes Matthew 24 in this sermon.)

Joseph F. Smith wrote a revelation shortly before his death which makes similar claims,

“The Prophet Joseph Smith, and my father, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and other choice spirits who were reserved to come forth in the fulness of times to take part in laying the foundations of the great latter-day work…I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God. Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.” (D&C 138, emphasis added. I do not believe this is an authentic revelation.)

But what about the premortal fence-sitters? Harold B. Lee (who died the day I was born) wrote,

“The privilege of obtaining a mortal body on this earth is seemingly so priceless that those in the spirit world, even though unfaithful or not valiant, were undoubtedly permitted to take mortal bodies although under penalty of racial or physical or nationalistic limitations. Between the extremes of the ‘noble and the great” spirits,’ (the LDS) whom God would make his rulers, and the disobedient and the rebellious, who were cast out with Satan, there were obviously many spirits with varying degrees of faithfulness. May we not assume from these teachings that the progress and development we made as spirits have brought privileges and blessings here according to our faithfulness in the spirit world?” (Decisions for Successful Living, pp. 164-165. Emphasis added.)

Allow me to translate this for you: if you were born in Africa or have developmental challenges, you weren’t valiant (unless you part of Satan’s escort). You may have chosen the Plan of Salvation, but you didn’t choose Christ. (Thankfully the Church no longer teaches this nonsense.) On the other hand, if you’re a healthy, Caucasian, American, Latter-Day Saint, congratulations. You had progressed far enough in premortality that you had the privilege of birth into an LDS family as a child of the covenant. And if you were extra righteous and holy, you were foreordained to be a prophet or ruler in the Kingdom of God.  We are here now, you and me, in the “final phase” to prepare the world for Jesus’ return. All is well in Zion, yea, Zion prospereth!  We have many multitudes of great and spacious buildings, half of Florida, and $100 billion dollars in cash and assets to prove it…right?

WHEN NARRATIVE CONFLICTS WITH “THE MOST CORRECT BOOK”

I hate to break it to the LDS faithful, but if we read the Book of Mormon carefully, and understand our place in it, we see that Jesus and the Nephite prophet-writers had a very different view of us. It’s not all sunshine and unicorns. Quite the contrary, in fact. Who are we? We read in the book’s title page that it’s written primarily to the remnant of the Lamanites, secondarily to the Jews and Gentiles, and that it would come forth “by way of the Gentile.” We are neither Lamanites nor Jews. There’s only one other option. Who brought forth the Book of Mormon? We did. At Bountiful Jesus said,

“…that these sayings which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the Gentiles, that through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of [the Jews] seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer.” (3 Nephi 16:4)

Who were “these things” manifested to? Us. 600 years earlier Nephi wrote that,

“…many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles (via the Book of Mormon), and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed—And at that day shall the remnant of our seed know that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the covenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer.” (1 Nephi 15:13-14).

The Latter-Day Saints are the only people that consider the Book of Mormon scripture. If the Latter-Day Saints are literal Israelites, then who’s delivering the Book of Mormon to the remnant of Lehi? Would God use non-Mormon “Gentiles” who don’t accept the Book of Mormon as scripture to gather Israel when that’s allegedly our job? Notice that neither Nephi nor Jesus say that scattered Israel will join the LDS church, or any church, and receive “the ordinances of exaltation,” but that they would come to a knowledge of Him and His gospel. Again, this is the Book of Mormon’s expressed purpose: to convince the Jew and Gentile that “Jesus is the Christ—The Eternal God,” not to testify of Joseph Smith’s “prophetic calling” or the prove the LDS church is “true.” There’s not a hint of a latter-day “restoration” of Christ’s gospel, church (or priesthood) found in the Book of Mormon as those things have always existed.

So, no matter what anyone claims, and a lot of people have claimed a lot of things about the Saints’ biological and spiritual heritage, the Latter-Day Saints, in the majority of cases, are the Gentiles of the Book of Mormon. If your patriarchal blessing declares an Ephraimite lineage, I’m afraid I have some bad news: you’re not. You’re a Gentile. Here’s what Jesus had to say about us, the future Gentiles, when he came to Bountiful. Read this carefully,

“At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them...And I will show unto thee, O house of Israel, that the Gentiles shall not have power over you; but I will remember my covenant unto you, O house of Israel, and ye shall come unto the knowledge of the fulness of my gospel. But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel.” (3 Nephi 16:10-13)

I understand hyperbole is a common feature of scripture, but this is nonetheless a stunning indictment. Prideful above all the people of the whole earth? Lyings, deceits, hypocrisy, priestcraft, secret abominations and murders?  Surely not God’s covenant people.  He must have been talking to the non-Mormons. Again, I have bad news. Unfortunately for us, Getile wickedness is a common theme in the Book of Mormon. If Jesus’ words are insufficient (they shouldn’t be), we have additional witnesses. The Nephite prophet-writers also expressed their concern and warned us by occasionally interjecting into the narrative to address us specifically. Mormon, for example, after recounting Christ’s visit to Bountiful echoed His warnings,

“Hearken, O ye Gentiles, and hear the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, which he hath commanded me that I should speak concerning you, for, behold he commandeth me that I should write, saying: Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel. (3 Nephi 30.)

Moroni twice interjected into the Jaredite record,

“And this [record] cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God—that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done.” (Ether 2:11)

“Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain (remember this)—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be. Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you.” (Ether 8:23-24)

If we accept the Book of Mormon as an authentic, prophetic record, there are two specific warnings in these verses. Firstly, that the Saints would reject the fullness of the Gospel and full of all manner of wickedness. Secondly, a secret combination would destroy them from within.  Most people I know believe the latter warning refers to our day and our generation. I don’t know that I agree with that. There may be a modern application, but I believe the warning is given to that first generation of Saints. When we consider the evidence, the historical record sees the fulfillment of both prophetic warnings. As they usually do, all roads lead back to Joseph Smith.  Because the Latter-Day Saints didn’t read the Book of Mormon, they missed the warnings.

REJECTING CHRIST’S DOCTRINE AND THE FULLNESS OF HIS GOSPEL

What is the Gospel?  When the Saints say, “Joseph Smith restored the Gospel,” they’re referring to the religious system they believe Christ established during His mortal ministry. That’s a logical interpretation, but it’s also incorrect. We have no account of the Latter-Day Saint religious system (hierarchies, ordinances, and most LDS doctrines) among the Jerusalem (New Testament) or Bountiful (Book of Mormon) churches. It’s much simpler than that. When Jesus appeared at Bountiful, He laid out his Gospel and doctrine in very plain terms,

“And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things. And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.”  (3 Nephi 11)

“More or less than this” means precisely that. Do we take Jesus at His words or not? Bruce R. McConkie wrote an 850-page tome titled Mormon Doctrine. Prospective LDS missionaries from the Utah church have a handbook called “Preach My Gospel.” Lesson 5 teaches the missionaries about priesthood and organizations (hierarchies), eternal marriage, and temple and family history, including proxy baptism. The manual lists 10 scriptures to study on the last subject, but none are from the Book of Mormon. What do we make of Joseph’s the revelations and doctrines? Are these things part of Christ’s gospel? If not, where do they come from? There’s only one very uncomfortable answer.

Later, Jesus explained His Gospel—the Good News— to the Nephite disciples,

“Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works…And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world….And this is the word which he hath given unto the children of men. And for this cause he fulfilleth the words which he hath given, and he lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words. And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end. Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day. Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do. (3 Nephi 27)

Did Jesus perform proxy ordinances or temple rituals? Did He perform eternal marriages/sealings? Did He give anyone the priesthood? Did he even mention the priesthood? No, no, no, no and no. He instructed to disciples to do what they had seen Him do: pray, serve and partake of the sacrament. The Nephite church had elders to shepherd the flock, teachers to teach, and priests to perform the sacrament. The twelve disciples were the missionaries. It was a flat organization without a “prophet/president” to reign over the church. That’s all it is, and it’s always been this simple. The early Church started off well-enough. The original Articles and Covenant of the Church of Christ (D&C 20) more or less adopted the same principles: faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost. (The Articles were revised for publication in the 1835 D&C). Church offices were defined but weren’t conflated with “priesthood.” Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were named “elders of the church.”  That’s all fine and good. Things were going well. However, it didn’t take long for Joseph Smith to introduce new doctrine and principles into the Church, a process that greatly accelerated with Sidney Rigdon’s arrival in December 1830.  With Smith under Rigdon’s wing, Mormonism took a radically different trajectory, which included an ever-expanding hierarchy and the introduction of “priesthood,” multiple attempts to establish a holy city (Independence and Far West), prophecies of fiery infernos, temple ordinances and worship, more heavenly visions and “keys,” three degrees of glory, an “anti-bank,” proxy baptism, and Mormonism’s crowning achievement, exaltation and divinization. Man no longer needed Jesus, man needed to be Jesus,

“…all will agree in this that [Christ] is the prototype or standard of salvation, or in other words, that he is a saved being. And if we should continue our interrogation, and ask how it is that he is saved, the answer would be, because he is a just and holy being; and if he were anything different from what he is he would not be saved; for his salvation depends on his being precisely what he is and nothing else; for if it were possible for him to change in the least degree, so sure he would fail of salvation and lose all his dominion, power, authority and glory, which constitutes salvation; for salvation consists in the glory, authority, majesty, power and dominion which Jehovah possesses, and in nothing else; and no being can possess it but himself or one like him.” (Lecture on Faith 7)

Excuse the modern-day lingo, but this is bananas. We’ll set aside the blasphemous and patently absurd notion that the Infinite and Eternal God, the Great Creator of Heaven and Earth and the Author of Salvation, is a “saved being” who could’ve lost His creation for another time, but one can see why Mormonism isn’t considered a mainstream Christian church. This new brand of Mormonism, which might be more appropriately be called “Josephism” or “Smithism” (some refer to the “Smith-Rigdon” movement), pushed the Book of Mormon further and further to the outskirts. When the Kirtland High Council commissioned the Doctrine and Covenants in 1834, the compilers of that work, including Joseph Smith, were mandated by the Council to include passages from the Book of Mormon and the Bible. The final product, however, was comprised of Joseph’s revelations and the Lectures on Faith, which were primarily penned by Rigdon and signed off on by Smith.  It’s not a surprising development as Joseph Smith abandoned the Book of Mormon not long after it was published. I’ve spent eight years looking for one recorded sermon in which Joseph Smith teaches from, references, or alludes to doctrines from the Book of Mormon. I have found nothing.

Then in an 1840 letter to the Twelve in England, Joseph wrote of what would become one of Mormonism’s defining doctrines and one of the four-fold missions of the Church,

“I presume the doctrine of ‘baptism for the dead‘ has ere this reached your ears and may have raised some inquiries in your minds respecting the same. I cannot in this letter give you all the information you may desire on the subject; but aside from knowledge independent of the Bible, I would say that it was certainly practiced by the ancient churches.”

Joseph establishes proxy baptism as “doctrine.” We have no evidence the ancient church practiced proxy baptism (I’ll address 1 Corinthians 15:29 in my proxy baptism post) and to my knowledge Jesus never commanded anyone to “redeem the dead.” That was the central purpose of His mission. As King Benjamin explained, “his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned.” (Mosiah 3:11). The Atonement is broad enough that it provides for every contingency. Jesus doesn’t need our help. I view the introduction of proxy baptism as the final nail in Mormonism’s coffin as it represents a complete repudiation of the Christ’s Atonement, or the Gospel. In LDS theology, the Atonement was a necessary but insufficient sacrifice. The work of salvation was now the domain of man. Every time we perform we a proxy baptism, we essentially tell Jesus, “Sorry, You weren’t enough. Let us help you.” We consider ourselves “saviors on Mt. Zion.” Read that again and think about it for a minute or two. Nephi’s prophecies of the day the Book of Mormon came forth seem to be at least partially confirmed,

“And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men.” (2 Nephi 28:5)

There’s a tendency in circles I run to lay the blame for all of Mormonism’s woes at the feet of Brigham Young. I often hear pejorative accusations against “The Brighamite Church” or “the Brighamites.” Someone once tried to convince me that Brigham Young instigated proxy baptism and that the Nauvoo Temple was actually Brigham Young’s Masonic Temple. He’s a convenient scapegoat because of his later actions as head of the Utah church, which are often just as troubling as Joseph’s. He was a tyrant, an adulterer, and gave himself over $1,000,000 in interest-free loans from the tithing coffers. Brigham Young was the richest man west of the Mississippi. The problems with the Kirtland, Independence and Nauvoo churches, however, lay squarely on Joseph Smith.  The record shows that Joseph Smith abandoned the simplicity of the Gospel in favor of a Gnostic Mystery Religion. “Gnosis” means knowledge and Gnosticism is the belief that salvation is acquired through a form of esoteric or secret knowledge, or in Joseph’s case, “personal revelation,”

“A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us and give us knowledge of the things of God.”

Contrast Joseph’s statement with King Benjamin,

“I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world. And this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you.” (Mosiah 4:7-8. Notice this statement leaves no room for “exaltation.”)

Whose soteriology will you trust? Joseph Smith’s or the Book of Mormon’s? The choice is yours.

SECRET COMBINATIONS

After the failure of Zion’s Camp, the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society, and the Mormon War of 1838, some members of the Church began to see through Joseph’s shiny, prophetic veneer. Recall that Jesus warned the object of the secret combination was to get financial gain. This is a problem that has plagued Christianity for centuries upon centuries and it’s almost invariably the leadership that pilfers the church coffers. Joseph Smith was no different. In February 1831 Joseph attempted to manipulate the church into financially supporting him,

“And again, I say unto you, that if ye desire the mysteries of the kingdom, provide for him food and raiment, and whatsoever thing he needeth to accomplish the work wherewith I have commanded him.” (D&C 43)

Let’s not beat around the bush. This is spiritual extortion. Money for revelations. In 1834 Bishop Whitney “forgave” $3,600 in debt owed by Smith, Rigdon and Cowdery ($129,000 in 2023) as result of the United Firm’s failure.  According to Whitney, Joseph said it was “God’s will” that Whitney absorb the debt. I’m sure it was. Later, Smith and Rigdon tried to secure a $1,100 yearly salary (the average person was earning about $15 a week), which the Kirtland High Council initially approved, but then rightfully rejected. They were instead given 80 acres of farmland. The tithing revelation of 1838 was produced the same day Joseph Smith had the first installment of a $4,000 attorney bill due ($131,000 in 2023). The revelation states that tithing was for the “debts of the presidency,” meaning Smith and Rigdon, who were given first choice of the consecrated goods. Of course they were. In 1841 Joseph produced a revelation introducing an investment scheme for the Nauvoo House in which he and his posterity would have perpetual residence. Being a prophet is a really good gig if you can get it. If Joseph Smith were alive today, he’d be a televangelist. I have no doubt.

Shortly after leaving the Saints in 1839, John Corrill, who had served in several leadership capacities, including assistant to Bishop Partridge in Missouri, penned a pamphlet detailing his time with the Saints titled, A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I’ve read the entire pamphlet, and I recommend you do, too. Corrill is calm, measured and relays the facts as he saw them, including the financial issues. He writes,

“If Smith, Rigdon and others, of the leaders, had managed wisely and prudently, in all things, and manifested truly a Christian spirit, it would have been very difficult to put them down. But their imprudence and miscalculations, and manifest desire for power and property, have opened the eyes of many, and did more to destroy them than could possibly have been done otherwise. My opinion is, that if the Church had been let alone by the citizens, they would have divided and subdivided so as to have completely destroyed themselves and their power, as a people, in a short time…”

He then addressed the Saints,

“I have left you, not because I disbelieve the bible, for I believe in God, the Saviour, and religion the same as ever; but when I retrace our track, and view the doings of the church for six years past, I can see nothing that convinces me that God has been our leader; calculation after calculation has failed, and plan after plan has been overthrown, and our prophet seemed not to know the event till too late. If he said go up and prosper, still we did not prosper; but have labored and toiled, and waded through trials, difficulties, and temptations, of various kinds, in hope of deliverance. But no deliverance came. The promises failed, and time after time we have been disappointed; and still were commanded, in the most rigid manner, to follow him, which the church did, until many were led into the commission of crime; have been apprehended and broken down by their opponents, and many have been obliged to abandon their country, their families, and all they possessed, and great affliction has been brought upon the whole church. What shall we say to these things? Did not your prophet proclaim in your ears that the day was your own, and you should overcome; when in less than a week you were all made prisoners of war, and you would have been exterminated, had it not been for the exertions and influence of a few dissenters, and the humane and manly spirit of a certain officer?” (The “certain officer” was Alexander Doniphan, Brigadier General of the Missouri Militia, who refused to summarily execute Joseph Smith after a kangaroo court in 1838.)

Corrill, of course, has been branded with the Scarlet A (“Apostate”), but he is far from the only person to criticize Joseph and church leadership. Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, David and John Whitmer, and many others broke with Joseph Smith. Nine of the twelve original apostles called by the Book of Mormon witnesses were excommunicated before Joseph Smith died, most during the so-called “Kirtland Apostasy.” These were mostly sober men of sober mind with an insider’s view of the Church’s inner workings, not apostates. (There were a few scoundrels, such as William McLellin.) They had very legitimate reasons for questioning and challenging Joseph Smith and the direction of the church. But Joseph Smith didn’t take kindly to challenge. Those in power rarely do.

By Nauvoo (1839-1840), a new Joseph Smith emerges. The apocalypticism and Zionic aspirations of the early church had mostly subsided, but he could never escape the Missouri failures, which remained at the forefront of his thoughts the rest of his life. In 1840 Joseph travelled to Washington D.C. to appeal the Saints’ case, but President Van Buren reportedly said, “What can I do? I can do nothing for you. If I help you, I will come in contact with the whole state of Missouri.”  The failure of the government to address the Missouri issues seems to have spurred a more militant and belligerent stance and prompted his run for the U.S. presidency. Yet as he consolidated more and more power, the religious, political and economic affairs of the church continued to spiral. It’s during Nauvoo period that most of the bizarre and esoteric LDS doctrines emerge or are fully fleshed out. It’s in Nauvoo Joseph that sauntered around town in military attire and where some of the Saints referred to him as “General Smith.” There was also plenty of internal strife, too, as people jockeyed for power and accusations of polygamy and adulty flew. Then there was John C. Bennett. Oh, boy. It’s the stuff of nightmares.

It may be unfair to write or suggest, but it seems to me that by Nauvoo Joseph Smith was a psychologically—and spiritually—broken man. The effects of stress on the mind are well-documented and there was a lot of stress, failure and death between 1831 and 1840. A lot of it was provoked, but not all. There were definitely injustices perpetrated against the Saints, such as the Hawn’s Mill massacre. That said, I don’t know that Joseph was in full command of his faculties. He wasn’t robot. He, like all of us, was a human being subject to the follies of being human.

Hindsight being 20/20, you can start to see the pending disaster unfolding like a slow-motion car crash. A Unitarian Minister from nearby Quincy, Illinois named George Moore wrote in his journal after visiting Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo home,

“As I came out, I found two large cannon, mounted in his yard. Can this be a prophet of God, thought I, who must have cannon for a guard, and must convert all his followers into soldiers—into a “Nauvoo Legion”—and excite in them a warlike spirit? What a return in this to Judaism, nay to Judaism, but to barbarism? And yet this imposter (for I cannot call him any thing else) has his thousands of followers. Nauvoo contains a population of from 5 to 10,000—being variously estimated—and the converts to this system, if system it may be called, are coming in by hundreds. How happens it that an ordinary man by such ordinary means can exert such an influence and sustain himself? It is strange, it is passing strange—it is wonderful—and yet so it is. It shows this most certainly, that there is a great deal of credulity in man.”

These don’t strike me as the behaviors of a rational and healthy man. Moore wasn’t alone in his opinions of Joseph Smith. Shortly before Joseph’s death, two New England bluebloods, Charles Francis Adams (son of the sixth U.S. President, John Quincy Adams) and Josiah Quincy III (then president of Harvard University) visited Nauvoo. After meeting Joseph, Adams observed that, “prophet seems to have drawn his ideas largely from the Jewish system” (rather than the Christian system of the Book of Mormon and New Testament) and then offered the following appraisal of Joseph’s character,

“There is a mixture of shrewdness and extravagant self-conceit, of knowledge and ignorance, of wisdom and folly in this whole system of this man that I am somewhat at a loss to find definitions for it. Yet it is undoubted that he has gained followers at home and abroad—and boasts of having twenty-five thousand at Nauvoo and two hundred thousand in the Union. This is an extravagant estimate, but the number must be large. His theological system is very nearly Christian Unitarianism—with the addition of the power of baptism by the priests of adults to remit sin, and of the new hierarchy of which Smith is the chief by divine appointment. After tea, as we expected the steamer to take us off in the night, we returned to the wretched quarter we left in the morning—and bade goodbye to the prophet, who accompanied us to them in his carriage. On the whole I was glad I had been [to see Joseph Smith]. Such a man is a study not for himself, but as serving to show what turns the human mind will sometimes take. And hereafter if I should live, I may compare the results of this delusion with the condition in which I saw it and its mountebank apostle.” (“Mountebank” is a person who deceives others, especially in order to trick them out of their money.)

Later in life, Quincy echoed Adams original conclusion,

“I should not say quite all that struck me about Smith if I did not mention that he seemed to have a keen sense of the humorous aspects of his position. ‘It seems to me, General,’ I said, as he was driving us to the river, about sunset, ‘that you have too much power to be safely trusted to one man.’ ‘In your hands or that of any other person,’ was the reply, ‘so much power would, no doubt, be dangerous. I am the only man in the world whom it would be safe to trust with it. Remember, I am a prophet!” The last five words were spoken in a rich, comical aside, as if in hearty recognition of the ridiculous sound they might have in the ears of a Gentile…”

In 1844 Joseph Smith was President of the Church; Prophet, Seer and Revelator; President of the High Priesthood; Mayor of Nauvoo; General of the Nauvoo Legion; Trustee-in-Trust of the church; and had spent years devising schemes aimed at accumulating and preserving wealth. (Joseph also illegally deeded property to his children the day before filing bankruptcy.) He had total control over the Saints’ religious, civic, military and financial doings. That is a lot of power consolidated into one man. I think there’s a reason Jesus’ church is flat organization. Few, if any, are immune to the temptations of power and control once in positions of leadership. Assuming Quincy accurately remembered Joseph’s words, it’s curious that this is the same man who wrote,

“We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence many are called, but few are chosen.” (D&C 121:35-36, March 1839).

He’s right, but apparently lacked the self-awareness to include himself. Quincy’s recollection end with his well-known valedictory,

“I have endeavored to give the details of my visit to the Mormon prophet with absolute accuracy. If the reader does not know just what to make of Joseph Smith, I cannot help him out of the difficulty. I myself stand helpless before the puzzle.”

Then, a few weeks later on June 7, 1844, William Law published the first and only issue of The Nauvoo Expositor.  Law and his fellow “dissenters”—the Church has appropriately moved away from the more inflammatory “apostate”—list 15 resolutions highlighting their points of theological, political and economic contentions with Joseph Smith and the Church. If we consider the words of Jesus, Mormon and Moroni, Law’s resolutions read like a confirmation of their prophecies. Here’s a sample of those resolutions,

Resolved 2nd  …and inasmuch as they have introduced false and damnable doctrines into the Church, such as a plurality of gods above the God of this universe (The King Follet Discourse) and his hability to fall with all his creations (Lecture on Faith 7); the plurality of wives, for time and eternity; the doctrine of unconditional sealing up to eternal life (King Follet Discourse), against all crimes except that of shedding innocent blood, by a perversion of their priestly authority and thereby forfeiting the holy priesthood…”

Resolved 3rd, That we disapprobate and discountenance every attempt to unite church and state; and that we further believe the effort now being made by Joseph Smith for political power and influence, is not commendable in the sight of God. (Joseph tried to establish a “theodemocracy” with the Council of Fifty serving as the governing body.)

Resolved 4th, That the hostile spirit and conduct manifested by Joseph Smith, and many of his associates towards Missouri and others inimical to his purposes, are decidedly at variance with the true spirit of Christianity, and should not be encouraged by any people, much less by those professing to be the ministers of the gospel of peace. (In D&C 124:50, 52 Joseph Smith pronounced a curse on the Missourians for three and four generations.)

Resolved 6th, That we consider the religious influence exercised in financial concerns by Joseph Smith, as unjust as it is unwarranted, for the Book of Doctrine and Covenants makes it the duty of the Bishop to take charge of the financial affairs of the Church, and of all temporal matters pertaining to the same. (Joseph was “Trustee-in-Trust” of the Church)

Resolved 7th, That we discountenance and disapprobate the attendance at houses of revelling and dancing; dram-shops and theatres; verily believing they have a tendency to lead from paths of virtue and holiness to those of vice and debauchery. (The Nauvoo City Council gave Joseph Smith a license to sell as much alcohol as he wanted in the Nauvoo House, despite the prohibitions mentioned in the Word of Wisdom several years earlier.)

Resolved 10th, That, notwithstanding our extensive acquaintance with the financial affairs of the Church, we do not know of any property which in reality belongs to the Church (except the Temple) and we therefore consider the injunction laid upon the saints compelling them to purchase property of the Trustee-in-trust for the Church (Joseph Smith), is a deception practiced upon them; and that we look upon the sending of special agents abroad to collect funds for the Temple and other purposes as a humbug practiced upon the saints by Joseph and others, to aggrandize themselves, as we do not believe that the monies and property so collected, have been applied as the donors expected, but have been used for speculative purposes, by Joseph, to gull the saints the better on their arrival at Nauvoo, by buying the lands in the vicinity and selling again to them at tenfold advance; and further that we verily believe the appropriations said to haave been subscribed by shares for the building of the Nauvoo House (See D&C 124) to have been used by J. Smith and Lyman Wight, for other purposes, as out of the mass of stock already taken, the building is far from being finished even to the base. (At the time the Expositor was published, nearly three and a half years had passed since the original revelation mandating the Nauvoo House, which was never completed.)

Resolved 11th, That we consider all secret societies, and combinations under penal oaths and obligations, professing to be organized for religious purposes, to be anti-Christian, hypocritical and corrupt. (A reference to the semi-secret political body called Council of Fifty, also known as “The Kingdom of God,” in which Joseph Smith was anointed “King of Israel.”)

Resolved 12th, That we will not acknowledge any man as king or law-giver to the church; for Christ is our only king and law-giver. (See above.)

These are all factual statements supported by the historical record. Book of Mormon Central, while acknowledging several of the charges are true, makes the incredible claim that Joseph’s later theological innovations are found in the Holy Bible,

“The charges made in the Expositor are a mixture of truth and exaggerated falsehoods. Joseph had recently introduced new teachings about the nature of God in the King Follet discourse and other sermons. He had also begun introducing and permitting eternal marriage, including plural marriages, to a small number of close associates. Recognizing the controversial nature of plural marriage, the teachings were kept private because such personal matters were not punishable under Illinois law unless they were ‘open and notorious.’ The teaching of being sealed up to eternal life was also introduced—with conditions. All these teachings are found in various places in scripture, primarily in the Holy Bible, which Joseph quoted at length when introducing the teachings.”

I don’t know of any passages in the Bible that teach God was once a man who eternally progresses among a pantheon of Gods, that plural marriage is sanctioned or commanded by God, makes any reference to “eternal marriage,” or the unconditional sealing up unto eternal life against all sin. They certainly aren’t found anywhere in the Book of Mormon. One of the most striking differences between the Follet Discourse and the Book of Mormon is God’s eternal nature.  In the Follett Discourse Joseph said that “we have imagined that god was god from the beginning of all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil so you may see.” (“Eternity,” by definition can’t have a beginning.) Joseph’s god, whom he calls “Elohim” (the Hebrew noun for “God,” which is always singular when referring to YHWH, or Jesus, the God of Israel) was a man who existed on an earth-like planet and became God, the father of Jesus. However, in the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin, who claimed the authority of an angel, said,

“For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.” (Mosiah 3:5)

Whose God do we believe in?  These two Gods can’t co-exist. Joseph had already rejected the Atonement (the Gospel) with the introduction of proxy baptism and then began to teach a new God. How can he be anything other than a fallen prophet? I don’t think he was a prophet to begin with (it was never his calling), which is why his doctrine is inconsistent, often incoherent, and just about always contradictory to the Book of Mormon. Given just how far Joseph strayed, it perhaps gives new meaning to the fact that the Book of Mormon writers’ prayers “were also in behalf of him that the Lord should suffer to bring these things forth.” (Mormon 8:25)

The publication of The Nauvoo Expositor marked the beginning of the end. In retaliation, Joseph declared the paper a “public nuisance” and ordered the printed copies be destroyed. Was it really a “public nuisance” or a case of “the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center?” (1 Nephi 16:2) The mob that accompanied the sheriff then destroyed the printing press, resulting in Joseph’s arrest and incarceration on charges of treason. He should have left it alone. Law and the other dissenters had legitimate concerns and made them known as they had every right to do. Joseph once said he liked the privilege to believe what he wanted to believe. He should have allowed people the privilege to say what they want to say, “public nuisance” or not. Besides, he was hardly innocent. The financial misdeeds are very well-documented. At any rate, three weeks later Joseph and Hyrum Smith were dead. The aforementioned George Moore wrote upon hearing the news,

“The war alarm has sounded through our city. At day-break, on this morning, the bells were rung and the citizens called out to attend a meeting at the courthouse. The news had come down in the boat that Joe Smith and his brother Hyrum had been killed in the prison at Carthage. Threats had been made by many of the Mormons to destroy the towns of Carthage and Warsaw, and it was supposed that their whole body might be infuriated so as to be ready to do anything. This was stated at the meeting in the courthouse. Also, that the governor went yesterday to Nauvoo with 60 men to see the Mormons and quiet them, and to receive the arms of the state in their possession…

“How truly did Jesus say, “They that take the sword shall perish by the sword!” Smith has taken up the sword to defend himself—has ever inculcated the war spirit among his followers—and now behold the result! A dreadful and appalling result, but still the direct consequence of his military system. If they had been a peaceful sect, and had never used arms as a religious body, they would have received ample protection in their religion. But how could this be expected from an imposter?”

A dreadful and appalling result, indeed. The story of the martyrdom is more complex than Moore’s interpretation, as such things usually are. The Saints’ militarism undoubtedly paid a part, but it was one of many parts that led the unjust and unwarranted murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, murders for which no one was ever held accountable. Joseph Smith made plenty of mistakes, but none of them warranted his and Hyrum’s assassinations. But this was the inevitable ending. I wonder what would have happened had Joseph lived another 30 years or 40 years. I don’t see a scenario which Mormonism ends well.

Immediately following his death, the hagiographies began with John Taylor writing Joseph Smith “has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.” I disagree. Joseph Smith didn’t do anything for the salvation of man. Jesus had already done it all. This is His work.

Not all post-mortems were as rosy as Taylor’s. George Davis of Alton, Illinois wrote,

“The great aim of Joseph Smith was evidently to clothe himself with the most unlimited power, civil, military and ecclesiastical over all who became members of his society…. [He stated] that God had revealed to him, that the Indians and Latter Day Saints, under Joe as their King and Ruler, were to conquer the Gentiles, and that their subjection to this authority was to be obtained by the sword! From this revelation, he enforced upon them that it was necessary he should be crowned King, and…was accordingly CROWNED KING under God, over, the immediate house of Israel. This ceremony was performed in [1844], by a council of fifty…. [That] the whole earth was to become under subjection to him…. accordingly, Joe swore them all to present secrecy, under the penalty of death.”

It’s unfortunate Joseph didn’t understand that he and the Saints were the Gentiles in the Book of Mormon. David Whitmer similarly wrote,

“A true and humble follower of Christ will never have any desire to lead or be first, or to seek the praise of men or brethren. Desiring any prominence whatever is not humility, but it is pride; it is seeking praise of mortals instead of the praise of God. Joseph received a revelation that he should be the leader; that he should be ordained by Oliver Cowdery as ‘Prophet Seer and Revelator’ to the church, and that the church should receive his words as if from God’s own mouth. Satan surely rejoiced on that day, for he then saw that in time he could overthrow them…They were like the children of Israel wanting a king, and God gave them a king, but it was to their final destruction (see Mosiah 29:16-17)…We had all confidence in Brother Joseph, thinking that God had given him so great a gift as to translate the Book of Mormon, that everything he would do must be right. This is what I thought about it. You see how we trusted too much in man instead of going to God in humility…” (An Address to All Believers in Christ)

David Whitmer could not be more correct. Hardly a day goes by where I don’t hear someone appeal to Joseph Smith as the ultimate authority, as if he were God’s ventriloquist dummy. I know a lot of people who say “Joseph Smith said” as tactic to end debate. I’ve been called a pharisee and apostate more times than I can count because I have the apparent gall to even raise a question about Joseph Smith. We talk a lot about not trusting in the arm of flesh, but when it comes to Joseph Smith, we throw that out the window. We trust his every word without ever stopping to consider the possibility he might have been wrong about some things, because he most certainly was. If you choose to govern your life based on the teachings and doctrines of Joseph Smith, you had better be darn sure what he taught was true. Serving as the Book of Mormon translator does not automatically and necessarily grant Joseph Smith prophetic insight into other points of doctrine, nor does it make infallible. We have to stop thinking that way. Measure the doctrine, not the man. Bad men can tell the truth and perceived good men can tell lies.

Ultimately, the story of Joseph Smith and Mormonism—the story of the Gentiles—is a tragedy.  It’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback and blame this thing or that thing, this person or that person. The truth, as I see is, is the there’s plenty of blame on all sides and tragedy was inevitable. Religious visionaries, apocalyptic revelations, Utopian pursuits, hubris, money, power, greed, sex and secret combinations are a recipe for disaster.  Mormonism couldn’t have ended any other way.

It’s an even bigger tragedy that the Church’s downfall was prophesied in the book it claims as its foundational text. Looking at the early years of the church, and particularly the Nauvoo period, I think it’s manifestly obvious that Jesus’, Mormon’s and Moroni’s prophecies were fulfilled. Even John Corrill was prophetic, though he passed in 1842, not seeing the Saints “divide and subdivide.” He said he saw nothing to convince him God was their leader and that they would eventually destroy themselves. They did. The rot always comes from within. It’s the old “pride cycle” we read so much about in the Book of Mormon. Jesus said that if the Saint rejected the fullness of His gospel, he would withdraw it from them. Well, they did reject the Book of Mormon and the Gospel and set up secret combinations and consequently forfeited God’s guidance and protection. I think it’s reasonable to conclude that Moroni’s warning about “secret combination” among the Gentiles was directed at the body of the Latter-Day Saints, warning them of their leadership. It’s always the leadership.

After Joseph’s death, the Church splintered. Sidney Rigdon, James Strang, William Smith, Brigham Young and a few others all made succession claims and the Saints rallied behind their preferred candidates. To this day claims of authority and heirship to the throne persist as every schismatic movement within Mormonism can be reduced to one question: who gets to be in charge?  For most of us in the Latter-Day Saint tradition, that was Brigham Young.

THE SALT LAKE CITY CHURCH COMETH

The disaster of Nauvoo should have stirred the Saints to solemn repentance, just as the Nephites had when they were chastened by the Lord. Instead, the Salt Lake City church continued in wickedness, particularly with polygamy. This post is long enough already, so suffice to say the Saints did not repent and the leadership continued in iniquity. We shouldn’t brush the Mountain Meadows Massacre under the rug, either. It’s a stain on our history. Battles with the Federal government continued. The Edmonds Act of 1882 and the Edmonds-Tucker Act of 1887 both sought to eliminate polygamy. Several church leaders were imprisoned for breaking the new laws. The 1887 act “dissolved the corporation of the church and directed the confiscation by the federal government of all church properties valued over a limit of $50,000.” The Feds weren’t playing around.

President Cleveland said in his 1885 inaugural address,

The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation rest upon our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by parental care, regulated by parental authority, and sanctified by parental love. These are not the homes of polygamy…There is no feature of this practice or the system which sanctions it which is not opposed to all that is of value in our institutions. There should be no relaxation in the firm but just execution of the law now in operation, and I should be glad to approve such further discreet legislation as will rid the country of this blot upon its fair fame. Since the people upholding polygamy in our Territories are reenforced by immigration from other lands, I recommend that a law be passed to prevent the importation of Mormons into the country.”

The Church finally surrendered in 1890 with Wilford Woodruff’s Manifesto. It had no other choice. But despite claims polygamy was no longer practiced, it continued well into the 20th century.  In 1903 Reed Smoot, an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve, was elected Senator by the Utah Legislature. (Yes, that’s how is supposed to work.) Smoot wasn’t a polygamist, but his appointment was nonetheless contested by many in Congress.  Three years of hearings ensued, and ultimately Smooth retained his seat as the two-thirds majority vote needed to unseat him failed. The papers and petitions from Reed Smoot Hearings, as they are called, are famous for taking up 11 feet of space in the National Archives, the largest such collection.

Near the conclusion of the hearings in Washington D.C., Senator Julius Burrows took the floor and gave a lengthy address to those in attendance. The entire address is worth reading, but I want to point out a certain passage here that bears more than a passing similarity to the words of Jesus at Bountiful,

“We have authentic information that more than 1,500 Salt Lake Mormons took the following oath in the Temple of God at Nauvoo: ‘You do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, His holy angels, and these witnesses, that you will avenge the blood of Joseph Smith on this nation, and teach your children, and that you will from this time henceforth and forever begin and carry out hostilities against this nation, and to keep the same intent a profound secret now and forever. So help me God.’ The rulers of the Salt Lake church hypocritically pretend to venerate the name and character of the prophet Joseph Smith, that they may retain their popularity among that people who believe that he was a true prophet. These rulers are apostates from the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which church Joseph Smith was president of. They teach and practice polygamy. Surely your honorable body will not lend your aid to legalize adultery and all manner of wickedness. These men have left their country for their country’s good. They have left it that they might escape the punishment which their crimes have invoked. They have been guilty of murders, treason, robbery, counterfeiting, swindling, blasphemy, and usurpation of power, both political and ecclesiastical. This is the character of the man (Joseph F. Smith, I believe) who is the political and ecclesiastical governor of the Salt Lake colony. The Salt Lake settlement is like Sodom and Gomorrah. Save the rising generation of that land from being trained up in such a sink of corruption, blasphemy, and treason. The practice of polygamy by this hand of apostate Mormons received further confirmation in the official report of the Indian agent for the Territory of Utah, dated March 29, 1852, in which it was stated: ‘Among these men (speaking of the Mormons) was Willard Richards, who kept a harem of some dozen or fifteen women, to all of whom he is wedded. He is acting secretary of state and postmaster of the city.’” (Julius C. Burrows, of Michigan, Address to the United States Senate, Tuesday, December 11, 1906)

Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe not. It seems a little too on the nose to be accidental, but you’ll have to decide that for yourself.

THE IMPLICATIONS

What does this mean for us? Quite a bit, actually. We don’t hear a lot about the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon in the Salt Lake City church. Everyone knows it exists. I know of three alleged translations, but they’re clearly fabrications. We don’t have the real thing yet. What’s in the sealed portion that could benefit us? What “greater things” did Jesus teach while at Bountiful? As one who knows what’s in the Brother of Jared’s record, let Moroni explain,

“And when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth.  For he had said unto him in times before, that if he would believe in him that he could show unto him all things—it should be shown unto him; therefore the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things. And the Lord said unto him: Write these things and seal them up; and I will show them in mine own due time unto the children of men. And it came to pass that the Lord commanded him that he should seal up the two stones which he had received, and show them not, until the Lord should show them unto the children of men. And the Lord commanded the brother of Jared to go down out of the mount from the presence of the Lord, and write the things which he had seen; and they were forbidden to come unto the children of men until after that he should be lifted up upon the cross; and for this cause did king Mosiah keep them, that they should not come unto the world until after Christ should show himself unto his people.

And after Christ truly had showed himself unto his people he commanded that they should be made manifest. And now, after that, they have all dwindled in unbelief; and there is none save it be the Lamanites, and they have rejected the gospel of Christ; therefore, I am commanded that I should hide them up again in the earth. Behold, I have written upon these plates the very things which the brother of Jared saw; and there never were greater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared. Wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to write them; and I have written them. And he commanded me that I should seal them up; and he also hath commanded that I should seal up the interpretation thereof; wherefore I have sealed up the interpreters, according to the commandment of the Lord. For the Lord said unto me: They shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity and become clean before the Lord. And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are. And he that will contend against the word of the Lord, let him be accursed; and he that shall deny these things, let him be accursed; for unto them will I show no greater things, saith Jesus Christ; for I am he who speaketh.” (Ether 4:1-8)

All things? All of God’s revelations? That is a mighty and powerful promise, a promise contingent upon Gentile repentance—our repentance. I’ll be honest, I want those revelations in a bad, bad way. My guess is that they contain a full account of creation, the purpose of the universe, and a vivid description of the afterlife. We don’t really know what that looks like. The fact that we don’t have these revelations, if they are real, signifies we have not sufficiently repented. Otherwise, we would have them. But here’s the problem: we believe we’re God’s holy and righteous people. What could we possibly have to repent of? We’re in the business of building temples, saving our dead and sending missionaries out to gather Isarel. We’re the chosen people. All is well in Zion! Yea, Zion prospereth! We need to take off our blinders.

I offer the following recommendations,

• A complete repudiation and disavowal of plural marriage and sealings.  Russell M. Nelson is sealed to two women.
• A cessation of proxy baptism. It is useless and a poor use of time, money and resources which should spent on the living.
• A cessation of temple building for endowments and proxy ordinances. I’m not opposed to the idea of a temple as a sacred space, but it should be place open to everyone for learning, study and contemplation.  No “recommend” required. It doesn’t need to cost tens of millions of dollars, either.
• Complete financial transparency, including the publication of all financial records, salaries, assets, sales, acquisitions, etc., on the Church’s website.
• No purchases, acquisitions or sales can be made without a majority vote of the Church. This is our money.
• The removal of Section 132 from the D&C, along with any other dubious revelations.
• Acknowledge the Books of Abraham and Moses are the invention of Joseph Smith

Feel free to add anything else in the comments.

CONCLUSION

I felt nothing but sadness in writing this post. I don’t celebrate the church’s failure or Joseph Smith’s downfall. I’m not anti-LDS. I want the church to succeed and to fulfill its promise. Mormon history is my history. My roots go all the way back to Kirtland. My maternal fifth great-grandfather, Alpheus Gifford, joined the Church in 1831. He was ordained a priest and then took five copies of the Book of Mormon back to his home in Tioga County, New York. He sounds like my kind of guy. He baptized Heber C. Kimball in 1832 (I apologize on behalf of the family), moved to Jackson County in 1833, and is buried in Nauvoo.  He once allegedly spoke in tongues.

I think about him and the early Saints who got caught up in Joseph’s religion. I think the lay members of the church were mostly victims, just as they are today. I think a lot about Emma and her children and Lucy Mack Smith. By the summer of 1844, Lucy had lost her husband, five sons (Alvin, Don Carlos, Hyrum, Joseph and Samuel), four of them in relation to Mormonism, and numerous grandchildren. This is a grief impossible to even begin to understand. I think about the honest and pure in heart, both in the old church and today’s church who are shackled by the incorrect traditions of our fathers. (We’re certainly a lot like the ancient Israelites, but not in a good way.) I think about the dearth of the miraculous in the Church. Faith, true faith—the ability of move mountains, heal the sick, raise the dead—can only come by believing what is true. It certainly doesn’t come by “priesthood power.” Faith in falsehoods will never produce results. It can’t.

It’s fashionable among my friend group to criticize current LDS church leaders, but they, too, are mostly victims. Yes, there are some bad apples (I won’t name names), but they inherited this tradition just as we did.  I think most of them are fine human beings who genuinely love the Lord and do their best with what they know. I don’t doubt that for a second. I would put the Mormon people up against any other group of people and feel very good about my odds. I love the LDS people. They are some of the best people on earth.  I think that if change ever does happen, it will happen among the people.  It will be on a ward, neighborhood or family level.

That said, I’m not overly optimistic it will ever change because that would require a reappraisal of Joseph Smith, “The Lord’s prophet” and disavowing many of his revelations and doctrines.  Because Mormonism is built on the back of Joseph Smith and not Jesus Christ or the Book of Mormon, if Joseph falls, Mormonism falls. But we have to rip the band-aid off and let some fresh air heal the wound. As Jesus said,

“But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel. And I will not suffer my people, who are of the house of Israel, to go through among them, and tread them down, saith the Father. But if they will not turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, I will suffer them, yea, I will suffer my people, O house of Israel, that they shall go through among them, and shall tread them down, and they shall be as salt that hath lost its savor, which is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of my people, O house of Israel.” (3 Nephi 16:13-15)

Hopefully it’s not too late and these promises apply to us just as they applied to that first generation of Saints.

I think they do.