‘The church established by Christ died spiritually due to apostasy and false doctrines. The Lord's church would be re-established and again act as a link with heaven’. (Last Judgement @33 & True Christian Religion @647) ...
‘One of the great errors of Christianity is justification by faith alone. People will be judged for their actions as well’. (True Christian Religion @340 & Heaven and Hell @427) (Mormons & Mormons: Smith) Steve Benson, board post 23rd July 2013, ‘Reaction in Scandinavia to Joseph Smith’s Plagiarisms: Sweden’s Bored’
Joseph Smith claims that when he was 17 years old, the angel Moroni repeatedly appeared to him one night in his small, upstairs, log cabin bedroom, keeping him up through the wee hours with his surprise drop-ins – during which time he bombarded the bewildered kid with directions to, and glorious information about, gold plates buried in a hill behind his house.
Yeah, right.
Joseph happened at the time to be sharing this bedroom of his (and the two beds in it) with [four or] five other brothers ...
You couldn’t move your foot or swing an elbow in your sleep without bumping into any angels or brothers who happened to be in that tiny room with you. Steve Benson, board post 24th February 2006, ‘Moroni, Can’t You See My Brothers Are Sleeping?’
Mormonism’s founding flake was – to put it bluntly – a walking, talking testament to mental illness whose personal psychological issues, combined with his genetic pre-disposition to brain disorder, produced a dingbat with a head in a hat who manifested classic signs of being deranged, strange and unarranged. Steve Benson, board post 8th March 2011, ‘Joseph Smith: Polygamist Prophet of the Lard From the Mental Ward – Manically Depressed, Epileptic, Paranoid, Hallucinator and/or Alcohol Abuser’
Visitations of John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John conferring the priesthood apparently were not known in the church until sometime after 1834. If restoration of priesthood was such a significant event, wouldn’t Joseph have mentioned it earlier? ‘I never heard that an Angel had ordained Joseph and Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood until the year 1834, 5, or 6 — in Ohio ... I do not believe that John the Baptist ever ordained Joseph and Oliver ...’ – (David Whitmer, Early Mormon Documents 5:137). ‘I joined the church in 1831. For years I never heard of John the Baptist ordaining Joseph and Oliver. I heard not of James, Peter, and John doing so ... I never heard of it in the church for years.’ (William McLellin, An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins pp.224-25) ...
The first mention of Melchizedek Priesthood in the scriptures of the church is Doctrine and Covenants 68, which was recorded in November 1831. Verse 15 says, ‘Wherefore they shall be high priests who are worthy, and they shall be appointed by the First Presidency of the Melchizedek Priesthood, except they be literal descendants of Aaron’. Nowhere before 1831 is there any such notion of a Priesthood of Melchizedek on the records of the church. Eric Davis, board post 26th October 2009, ‘Melchizedek Restoration is Entirely Missing'
And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth. And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. I Nephi 14:10-11
The city council passed a resolution declaring the printing press on the hill a ‘nuisance’; and ordered it destroyed ... About sundown the police gathered at the Temple ... and after organizing, proceeded to the office and demolished the press and scattered the type. William Clayton
Before the jailor came in, his boy brought in some water, and said the guard wanted some wine. Joseph gave Dr Richards two dollars to give the guard; but the guard said one was enough, and would take no more. The guard immediately sent for a bottle of wine, pipes, and two small papers of tobacco; and one of the guards brought them into the jail soon after the jailor went out. Dr Richards uncorked the bottle, and presented a glass to Joseph, who tasted, as brother and the Doctor, and the bottle was then given to the guard, who turned to go out. History of the Church p616
Elder Cyrus H Wheelock came in to see us, and when he was about leaving drew a small pistol, a six-shooter, from his pocket, remarking at the same time, ‘Would any of you like to have this?’ Brother Joseph immediately replied, ‘Yes, give it to me’, whereupon he took the pistol, and put it in his pantaloons pocket.
... He, however, instantly arose, and with a firm, quick step, and a determined expression of countenance, approached the door, and pulling the six-shooter left by Brother Wheelock from his pocket, opened the door slightly, and snapped the pistol six successive times; only three of the barrels, however, were discharged. I afterward understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed, died. ibid. VII
When the enemy surrounded the jail, rushed up the stairway, and killed Hyrum Smith, Joseph stood at the open window, his martyr-cry being these words, ‘O Lord My God!’ This was not the beginning of a prayer, because Joseph Smith did not pray in that manner. This brave, young man who knew that death was near, started to repeat the distress signal of the Masons, expecting thereby to gain the protection its members are pledged to give a brother in distress. E Cecil McGavin, Mormonism and Masonry p17
In the spring of 1838, the heads of the church and many of the members had gone deep into error and blindness. I had been striving with them for a long time to show them the errors into which they were drifting, and for my labors I received only persecutions. In June, 1838, a secret organization was formed, Dr Avard being put in as the leader of the band; a certain oath was to be administered to all the brethren to bind them to support the heads of the church in every thing they should teach. All who refused to take this oath were considered dissenters from the church, and certain things were to be done concerning these dissenters, by Dr Avard’s secret band. David Whitmer
The main reason why the printing press was destroyed, was because they published the Book of Commandments. It fell into the hands of the world, and the people of Jackson County, Missouri, saw from the revelations that they were considered by the church as intruders upon the land of Zion, as enemies to the church, and that they should be cut off out of the land of Zion and sent away. The people seeing these things in the Book of Commandments became the more enraged, tore down the printing press, and drove the church out of Jackson County. David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ p54
Joseph Smith, acting as mayor, ordered the city marshal to destroy the newspaper and press without delay and instructed the major general of the Nauvoo Legion to have the militia assist. Shortly after eight o’clock that evening, citizens and legionnaires marched to the Expositor office and smashed the press, scattering the type as they did so. This act infuriated the non-Mormons of Hancock County, who saw it as a final act of contempt for their laws. Dallin H Oaks & Marvin S Hill, Carthage Conspiracy p15
WRIT ISSUED UPON AFFIDAVIT BY THOMAS MORRISON, JP, STATE OF ILLINOIS, HANCOCK COUNTY ... Whereas complaint hath been made before me, one of the justices of the peace in and for the county of Hancock aforesaid, upon the oath of Francis M Higbee, of the said county, that Joseph Smith Samuel Bennett, John Taylor, William W Phelps, Hyrum Smith, John P Greene, Stephen Perry, Dimick B Huntington, Jonathan Dunham, Stephen Markham, William Edwards, Jonathan Holmes, Jesse P Harmon, John Lytle, Joseph W Coolidge, Harvey D Redfield, Porter Rockwell, and Levi Richards of said counts, did on the 10th day of June instant, commit a riot at and within the county aforesaid, wherein they with force and violence broke into the printing office of the Nauvoo Expositor, and unlawfully and with force burned and destroyed the printing press, type and fixtures of the same, being the property of William Law, Wilson Law, Charles Ivins, Francis M Higbee, Chauncey L Higbee, Robert D Foster, and Charles A Foster.
These are therefore to command you forthwith to apprehend the said ... to answer the premises, and farther to be dealt with according to law.
Given under my hand and seal at Carthage, in the county aforesaid, this 11th day of June A.D. 1844 [Signed] THOMAS MORRISON, J P
Joseph Smith ordered the actual destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor printing press, he provided his enemies with a clearly legitimate means of arresting him for violation of the law. They seized upon this to inflame the public even more, and this led directly to assassination.
Some people may be disturbed by the suggestion that Joseph Smith acted illegally in this instance, but it is important to understand that under the tense pressures of the times he, too, may have made a mistake. James B Allen, assistant Church historian, Brigham Young University, Today March p10 1976
The press in the United States is looked upon as the great bulwark of American freedom, and its destruction in Nauvoo was represented and looked upon as a high-handed measure, and manifests to the people a disposition on your part to suppress the liberty of speech and of the press. Thomas Ford, Illinois Governor to Joseph Smith in Carthage jail, cited Fawn M Brodie ‘No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, The Mormon Prophet’
Nauvoo was a scene of confusion last night. Some hundreds of the Brethren turned out and burned the printing press, and all the apparatus pertaining to the office of the opposite party; this was done by order of the City Council. They had only published one paper, which is considered a public nuisance, but I do not know whether it will be considered so in the eyes of the Law or not. They have sworn revenge, and no doubt they will have it. Vilate Kimball, letter to husband Heber