WHAT LEAD TO ME TO REMOVING MY MEMBERSHIP FROM THE LDS CHURCH
Foremost, I have am an avid reader of anything that I am lead to read by the spirit. Joseph Smith said: "A man is saved (LDH: Saved from what? Ignorance) no faster than he gains knowledge . . . (TPJS p. 217)
Through I have read a wide variety of books in the past 30+ years, my three main lines of reading, as I was directed by the spirit, have been about the spirit world, alien life to this planet, and early LDS Church history and doctrine. No one can accuse me of not doing my homework. If you know me well, you know that most of the times you've seen me I have had a book in my hand along with a yellow high-lighter.
An interesting thing happened about August of this year, 2007, when I was directed by the spirit to re-read very quickly many books I had read previously in these three catagories from years past. So within in about 6 weeks, I read constantly between patients at work and late into the night at home. This became my top prioritiy as I was prompted by my familiar spirit guides through the veil.
When I got through many of these books, I had a "oh my gosh!" situatation where I finally understood what the spirit had been showing all these years along with a spiritual confirmation. I woke up from being hypnotized for all these years then I had a feeling of peace within myself like I've never felt before. Things were not as I was I thought they were as far as my world of mormonism, The next few weeks were very lonely weeks. I felt all alone with the information I had been shown. Then, the doors opened and old friends emailed me to say that they had also come to the same conclusion some months earlier.
Now I will share with you bits of that information that led me out of organized religion that I believe was created and thrust upon mankind by the anunnaki or self made gods of this world.
HOW DID WE AS HUMANS GET HERE?
From a young age, I was fascinated by aliens and UFO books. I accumulated a collection of hundreds of these books. What was it all about? What was I trying to be told? Then about 20 years ago I was led to purchase a paperback book called THE TWELTH PLANET by Zacharia Sitchin. This book brought a lot of these other UFO books into perpective. The earth has been visited many times and that there was a collection of thousands of records penned in cuneiform on wet clay tablets which are found in museums throughout the world which tell the story.
The Anunnaki (also transcribed as: Anunnaku, Ananaki) are a group of Sumerian and Akkadian deities related to, and in some cases overlapping with, the Annuna (the 'Fifty Great Gods') and the Igigi (minor gods or the Biblical "Watchers"). The name is variously written "da-nuna", "da-nuna-ke4-ne", or "da-nun-na", meaning something to the effect of 'those of royal blood' or 'princely offspring' or "heaven and earth" (Anu-na-ki) The Annunaki appear in the Babylonian creation writings known as, Enuma Elish.
The anunnaki live on a planet call Nibiru that orbits through our solar system every 3500 years. Because of worsening conditions dealing with their atmosphere, a team was sent to earth in search of gold, since with gold, it could be broken down microscopically and put high into orbit to reflect harmful rays and at the same time would keep in the warmth of their planet. This would be why gold become highly valued by mankind. It was highly valued by their gods.
According to later Babylonian records, the head of the Anunnaki council was the Great Anu, (rather than being just a sky god, Anu in Sumerian actually means "sky"), of Uruk and the other members were his offspring. His place was taken by Enlil, (En=lord, lil=wind,air), who at some time was thought to have separated heaven and earth. Why do people point to the sky as to where heaven or God is? It's because their home planet can be seen in the sky every 3500 years as it passes by.
Anu's 2 sons along with others came to earth in their space ships. They worked 6 days setting up camp in the area known to us as mesopotania. It was declared by Enki that they would rest on the seventh day and that from then on, the seventh day would be a day of rest from their weekly chores. Thousands of years later when the anunnaki became gods over mankind, this day of rest was changed from a day of rest to what we now know today as the sabbath, God's day.
There was an ongoing dispute between Enlil of Nippur and his half brother Enki of Eridu regarding the legitimacy of Enlil's assumption of leadership. Enki, (En=lord, Ki=Earth), in addition to being the god of fresh water, was also god of wisdom and magic, regarded by some as an alchemist. When the Igigi or the biblical "Watchers" went on strike and refused to continue to work maintaining work in the gold mines of the area we know today as Aftrica. On the Shappatu (Hebrew. shabbat, Eng. sabbath) Enki manipulated DNA of lower man like animals and thus created humankind to assume responsibility for the tasks the gods no longer performed. The tablets depict what appears to be genetic manipulation. They describe how the Anunnaki took the "life essence" of the primitive people of the earth, and combined them with their own essence to create a more civilized version of man. The first class of modern man was black and put to work in the gold mines of africa to take over the work of the anunnaki Igigi. In our day and age, the balcks are known as the servants of mankind it being said that they had sinned in the pre-existence as some early LDS prophets have put it. The biblical story of Adam and Eve is told in the Sumerian caly texts that predate the bible by thousands of years. It tells the story of the creation of Adapa and putting him in the garden of the gods or the anunnaki to see if he could learn to keep and tend to the god's garden. He was intelligent. The next step was to create a female counterpart and to see if they could propogate their kind. She was created by Adapa showed no interest. Enki, who had created mankind by DNA manupulation went into the garden and tried to get Adam to engage in sex with Eve but when his words fell on deaf ears, he went to Eve and got her interested. Thus the word "knowing" from the bible indicating sexual relations was now introduced to Adapa/Adam and Eve. They came to "know" even as the gods or anunnaki did. They could dupicate themselves. Enki's brother Enlil came into the cool of the garden and saw what Enki was doing. He didn't like the idea of this new species over-running the planet and had them expelled out of their garden where they would have to learn to provide for themselves. Enki is known as the snake in this story. The symbol of the interwined snakes on the pole, used by the American Medical Association, is an ancient one. The interwined snakes depict DNA and the wings depicted his ability to fly. It was the symbol that Enki used for himself. Thus Enki became the snake, according the hebrew, in the Genesis story. Enlil would be known in the old testament as Jehovah, the angry god that thrusts Adam and Eve out into the lone and dreary world.
For me, this explained the bipolar god of the old testiment known as Jehovah. He was loving one minute and the next ready to destroy the whole of mankind like at the time of the flood. This was later revealed to me that we were talking about two different people mixed into one character. Enki who created and loved mankind and his bother Enlil who mostly hated mankind and wanted them totally destroyed. The fear of the "Lord" (Jehovah) is constantly stressed throughout the Old Testament. He is expected to reward those who worship him and are not delinquent in their observance of the ritual law, by gratifying their worldly desires for material gains and worldly power. One cannot help but note that this cruel, bloodthirsty, and selfish ‘god’ bears a striking resemblance to the capricious gods of Sumeria. Research indicates that the Hebrew Bible, far from being an infallible historical text authored by the "Supreme Being," is a heavily revised compilation of at least two entirely separate works. Fused together in the Book of Genesis are two separate works known to scholars as the northern "E" and southern "J" traditions, which are supplemented by additional revisions and inserts. In "E" (the Elohist passages) resides the pre-Judaean tradition of the northern peoples who exalted the Most High God El and the subordinate Elohim (Shining Ones). The "J" or "Jehovist" passages describe a totally alien entity, the evil and contending Jehovah (YHWH), the "Lord". According to Max J. Dimont in Jews, God and History: "In the 5th century B.C. Jewish priests combined portions of the ‘J’ and ‘E’ documents, adding a little handiwork of their own (known as the pious fraud), which are referred to as the ‘JE’ documents, since God in these passages is referred to as ‘Jehovah Elohim’ (translated as ‘Lord God’)."This is why within the Bible we encounter contradictory and conflicting images of the Supreme God. We find Jehovah, a tribal god, masquerading as the Supreme Being. The first chapters of Genesis describe an awesome struggle between two rival powers. There is the Most High God and His Elohim (plural gods) who create through their own manifest spirit; and the malevolent Lord God, Jehovah, who created a synthetic being composed of dirt. Though later called the One God, the early Hebrews knew Jehovah as only one of many Elohim. They quoted the Song of Moses to distinguish between the Most High and the usurper Jehovah:
When the Most High (El) gave the nationstheir heritage,When He divided mankind,He fixed the territories of the peoplesAccording to the number of the sons of God;But Jehovah’s (YHWH) share was his people,Jacob was his inherited possession. (Deuteronomy 32:8)
After the tower of Babel, we read that the language of mankind was changed. The tower of Babel was actually a launch tower that one of the anunnaki was having built for his own accord. The Anunnaki or the high council of the gods decided to prevent this from happening again by taking the large population in the region and distribute it and themselves throughout the earth, each becoming the god to that region of people. Religion and the fear of god destroying the unfaithful was thrust upon mankind as a means to keep them in line with the wishes of the gods/anunnaki. Initially, the offspring of the anunnaki and an earth woman, known as a demi-god, was chosen as a priest-king-prophet who would speak to their anunnaki parent (acting as god) personally and then tell the people his wishes. Thus we see why today we have so many different gods and religions through the earth.
The best of the books speaking about this is from the author Zecharia Sitchin, a russian born jew who has written a host of books based on his translations of the Sumerian clay cuneiform tablets which predate our Bible by thousands of years.
Our Bible had its beginnings at about 850 BC. The hebrew were a people unable to write and keep recoreds that were conquered and taken captive to Babylon previous to 850 BC. Here they educated some to become scribes and for the first time, a small select group of hebrew men could now write. Part of taking people out of their own lands was to break the ties with their own beliefs and practices and to adopt those of its captors.
Years later when Babylon was itself conquered, the hebrews were released and let to return back to their own lands. Now with the ability to write, they put to writing the stories of their god. The creation of Adam and Eve, the story of the flood ect. The only problem was, these stories were plagerized by the hebrew from the Babylonians whose record tell these same stories but pre-date the Bible by thousands of years. Then again, the Babylonians plagerized their stories from the Sumarians which were written down thousand of years earlier. Today we have sitting in museums around the world, clay cuneiform tablets from Sumeria that have been dated to be over 6,000 years old with a very interesting footnote at the bottom of many of them which says that this (ancient) record was a copy from an even more ancient record!
Enki and Ninmah - Creation of Man as Slave for the gods
Many religions cannot shake the old myth that the gods grew weary feeding, clothing, housing and entertaining themselves. As a result they created mankind to make sacrifices, create temples and create grand musical presentations to entertain and appease them so they did not harm mankind. The Christian view, on the other hand, is that God came to relieve mankind of the burden which is defined as "anxiety created from religious rituals." When worshippers perform in song, instrument, dance or sermon they are involved in the works of human hands. Their art is acquired and performed at the expense of great work. However, Jesus said that He would like it for us to pray in our closet, give our charity so that no other hand knows how much and to whom we give and said that "worship is in spirit (in the mind where the kingdom is) and in truth."
In those days, in the days when heaven and earth were created; in those nights, in the nights when heaven and earth were created; in those years, in the years when the fates were determined; when the Anuna gods were born; when the goddesses were taken in marriage; when the goddesses were distributed in heaven and earth; when the goddesses ...... became pregnant and gave birth; when the gods were obliged (?) ...... their food ...... for their meals; the senior gods oversaw the work, while the minor gods were bearing the toil. The gods were digging the canals and piling up the silt in Harali. The gods, dredging the clay, began complaining about this life. At that time, the one of great wisdom, the creator of all the senior gods, Enki lay on his bed, not waking up from his sleep, in the deep engur, in the flowing water, the place the inside of which no other god knows. The gods said, weeping: "He is the cause of the lamenting!" Namma, the primeval mother who gave birth to the senior gods, took the tears of the gods to the one who lay sleeping, to the one who did not wake up from his bed, to her son: "Are you really lying there asleep, and ...... not awake? The gods, your creatures, are smashing their ....... My son, wake up from your bed! Please apply the skill deriving from your wisdom and create a substitute (?) for the gods so that they can be freed from their toil!" At the word of his mother Namma, Enki rose up from his bed. In Hal-an-kug, his room for pondering, he slapped his thigh in annoyance. The wise and intelligent one, the prudent, ...... of skills, the fashioner of the design of everything brought to life birth-goddesses (?). Enki reached out his arm over them and turned his attention to them. And after Enki, the fashioner of designs by himself, had pondered the matter, he said to his mother Namma: "My mother, the creature you planned will really come into existence. Impose on him the work of carrying baskets. You should knead clay from the top of the abzu; the birth-goddesses (?) will nip off the clay and you shall bring the form into existence. Let Ninmah act as your assistant; and let Ninimma, Cu-zi-ana, Ninmada, Ninbarag, Ninmug, ...... and Ninguna stand by as you give birth. My mother, after you have decreed his fate, let Ninmah impose on him the work of carrying baskets." 6 lines fragmentary Enki ...... brought joy to their heart. He set a feast for his mother Namma and for Ninmah. All the princely birth-goddesses (?) ...... ate delicate reed (?) and bread. An, Enlil, and the lord Nudimmud roasted holy kids. All the senior gods praised him: "O lord of wide understanding, who is as wise as you? Enki, the great lord, who can equal your actions? Like a corporeal father, you are the one who has the me of deciding destinies, in fact you are the me." Enki and Ninmah drank beer, their hearts became elated, and then Ninmah said to Enki: "Man's body can be either good or bad and whether I make a fate good or bad depends on my will." Enki answered Ninmah: "I will counterbalance whatever fate -- good or bad -- you happen to decide." Ninmah took clay from the top of the abzu in her hand and she fashioned from it first a man who could not bend his outstretched weak hands. Enki looked at the man who could not bend his outstretched weak hands, and decreed his fate: he appointed him as a servant of the king. Second, she fashioned one who turned back (?) the light, a man with constantly opened eyes (?). Enki looked at the one who turned back (?) the light, the man with constantly opened eyes (?), and decreed his fate allotting to it the musical arts, making him as the chief ...... in the king's presence. Third, she fashioned one with both feet broken, one with paralysed feet. Enki looked at the one with both feet broken, the one with paralysed feet and ...... him for the work of ...... and the silversmith and ....... ( 1 ms. has instead: She fashioned one, a third one, born as an idiot. Enki looked at this one, the one born as an idiot, and decreed his fate:
he appointed him as a servant of the king.) Fourth, she fashioned one who could not hold back his urine. Enki looked at the one who could not hold back his urine and bathed him in enchanted water and drove out the namtar demon from his body. Fifth, she fashioned a woman who could not give birth. Enki looked at the woman who could not give birth, and decreed her fate: he made (?) her belong to the queen's household. ( 1 ms. has instead: ...... as a weaver, fashioned her to belong to the queen's household.) Sixth, she fashioned one with neither penis nor vagina on its body. Enki looked at the one with neither penis nor vagina on its body and give it the name "Nibru eunuch (?)", and decreed as its fate to stand before the king. Ninmah threw the pinched-off clay from her hand on the ground and a great silence fell. The great lord Enki said to Ninmah: "I have decreed the fates of your creatures and given them their daily bread. Come, now I will fashion somebody for you, and you must decree the fate of the newborn one!" Enki devised a shape with head, ...... and mouth in its middle, and said to Ninmah: "Pour ejaculated semen into a woman's womb, and the woman will give birth to the semen of her womb." Ninmah stood by for the newborn ....... and the woman brought forth ...... in the midst ....... In return (?), this was Umul: its head was afflicted, its place of ...... was afflicted, its eyes were afflicted, its neck was afflicted. It could hardly breathe, its ribs were shaky, its lungs were afflicted, its heart was afflicted, its bowels were afflicted. With its hand and its lolling head it could not not put bread into its mouth; its spine and head were dislocated. The weak hips and the shaky feet could not carry (?) it on the field -- Enki fashioned it in this way. Enki said to Ninmah: "For your creatures I have decreed a fate, I have given them their daily bread. Now, you should decree a fate for my creature, give him his daily bread too." Ninmah looked at Umul and turned to him. She went nearer to Umul asked him questions but he could not speak. She offered him bread to eat but he could not reach out for it. He could not lie on ......., he could not ....... Standing up he could not sit down, could not lie down, he could not ...... a house, he could not eat bread. Ninmah answered Enki: "The man you have fashioned is neither alive nor dead. He cannot support himself (?)." Enki answered Ninmah: "I decreed a fate for the first man with the weak hands, I gave him bread. I decreed a fate for the man who turned back (?) the light, I gave him bread. I decreed a fate for the man with broken, paralysed feet, I gave him bread. I decreed a fate for the man who could not hold back his urine, I gave him bread. I decreed a fate for the woman who could not give birth, I gave her bread. I decreed the fate for the one with neither penis nor vagina on its body, I gave it bread. My sister, ......." 2 lines fragmentary Ninmah answered Enki: 9 lines fragmentary (Ninmah's answer continues) "You (?) entered ....... Look, you do not dwell in heaven, you do not dwell on earth, you do not come out to look at the Land. Where you do not dwell but where my house is built, your words cannot be heard. Where you do not live but where my city is built, I myself am silenced (?). My city is ruined, my house is destroyed, my child has been taken captive. I am a fugitive who has had to leave the E-kur, even I myself could not escape from your hand." Enki replied to Ninmah: "Who could change the words that left your mouth? Remove Umul from your lap ....... Ninmah, may your work be ......, you ...... for me what is imperfect; who can oppose (?) this? The man whom I shaped ...... after you ......, let him pray! Today let my penis be praised, may your wisdom be confirmed (?)! May the enkum and ninkum ...... proclaim your glory ....... My sister, the heroic strength ....... The song ...... the writing (?) ....... The gods who heard ...... let Umul build (?) my house ......."
Ninmah could not rival the great lord Enki. Father Enki, your praise is sweet!
The sumerian records answer all the questions I ever had about the old testament. How did Adam and Eve come about. Who were the sons of god that took earth women to wife. Who built the pyramids and other megalithic structure around the world. what was the vehicle of chapter one of Ezekiel and the chariot of fire that took Elijah? What was the cloud that the children of Israel followed and glowed at night?
To finish this part of my script, I bear testimony that there is a creator God but that God is not any of the the anunnaki gods who are the gods of the old testament or new. God does not require worship. He created us and only wants us to be happy. We come to earth to learn. Everyone and anyone that wants to learn and grow must come to this or some other planet to incarnate and have experience. Not just one earth life, but many lives. Like school in our life, every level of schooling has lessons to learn and they continue even after we graduate until the day we die. As androgenous spirits, we are both sexes and as such, we come to earth at one time as men and other times as women. In this way, we have walked in the shoes of both sexes. It also explains why some born in one body express the desire to be of the opposite sex and are known as being gay or lesbians. Knowing this, I am so much more unjudgemental about such people. They have the perfect life for themselves and as such, they will learn things they need to learn. Who am I to judge?
Early mormon teachings speak about eternal lives or commonly called multiple mortal probations. Brigham Young said that this truth was taught to him by Joseph Smith. There is much to be found on the subject in early church documents. I have a 3" thick binder full of it from early mormon literature. Unforuntely, these have been weeded out by modern leaders of the church would would have you believe that you have one shot at this thing called mortality and that based on how you do, you will go to the telestial, terrestial or celestial kingdom. Here again we have the fear of God pushed upon us. I personally find the mormon concept of heaven as rediculous as Islamic beliefs of being a martyr and going to heaven and receiving 72 virgins but if you believe it, you will go there, so powerful are our thoughst and even more powerful with the combined beliefs of many. Nevertheless. With time, all false beliefs will be broken down and you will find it just a myth of the mind.
THE SPIRIT WORLD AND IS THERE REALLY A HEAVEN?
Early in the game I was lead to an interesting man named Robert Monroe. He was a successful businessman who happened to start having out of body experiences without trying to have them. In his many travels out of the body and into the spirit world, he met many individuals one of which told him how to build a machine that used sound to put the brain into a zen state that would help others to experience out of body travel. He ended up organizing a place called the Monroe Institute which invited paying guests to come and experience what he had done for years naturally. Many of his graduates returned year after year. His most trusted devoted subjects became a group of spirit world explorers known as the Monroe Institute Explorer Team. This next story is about what they found out about what heaven was:
Christianity and Heaven / by Bruce A. Moen / a member of the Monroe Institute Explorer Team
It's not my intent to change anyone's beliefs about anything. I only share what I've found during my exploration of the non-physical world to encourage others who are interested in discovering the truth to explore on their own. What I write about is my personal, direct experience. Any of us is free to explore the non-physical world and find the truth for ourselves. That people have a way out of Hell is not my belief, it's what I observed and learned while exploring our existence as human beings beyond the physical world.
It was while exploring the "hells" of Focus 25 (A focus is the same thing as a dimension or a level within the spirit world) that a tour guide explained how this had happened to him. He explained that people enter these "hells" because their beliefs and activities during a physical lifetime matched those in the "hell" they were attracted to. Max for example, was an emotional sadist during his lifetime. Max's "hell" is the title of a chapter in my second book and that chapter is available as a free article elsewhere on this website. When I found Max he was living in a place that looks very much like our physical reality. The major difference was that everyone there had an emotional sadist's energetic like him. During their lifetimes they had taken on the energetic make up of emotional sadism, sort of 'magnetized' themselves in that way. When they died they were drawn like a magnet into the "hell" in Focus 25 containing many others 'magnetized' in the same way. Every man, woman and child there was actively trying to inflict as much emotional pain as possible on everyone else there. Much more detailed information on these Focus 25 "hells" will be in my fourth book.
You see, there are many different "hells" in Focus 25, each attracting and holding individuals in a place where everyone shares the same energetic makeup. There are "hells" for thieves, murderers, sadists, the greedy, many, many different Hells. Some in these "hells" are able to change their energetic makeup as a result of being in their "hell". This is what happened to the tour guide who was showing me around. He'd been living in a "thief's hell" for a very long time and had been stuck in several others throughout his existence. In "thief's hell" he had gradually become fed up with the life style of constantly stealing and being stolen from by others. Over time he decided to stop taking part in stealing from others as he realized the futility of it all. No matter how much he stole, it was all in turn stolen from him.
Someone, a Helper, who was watching his activities from outside his "hell," waited for just the right moment to enter and offer him a back door out of his "hell." The Helper who came in knew all the games and scams played by its inhabitants. He came in and began playing a well known scam on the tour guide, that of a an inexperienced, naive, thief who would be an easy mark for someone more experienced. The tour guide had recognized the scam immediately, realizing this was no naive thief, but a very skilled one pretending a role just to steal from him. Not to be out done my guide had reverted to his thieving ways and began plotting to take advantage of this game and beat the newcomer to the punch. He'd play along with the 'naive thief' game just long enough to decide what to steal from him and then pounce. But when his opportunity came the tour guide remembered the futility of a life of stealing and couldn't go through with his plan. He truly gave up stealing as a way of life and this changed his energetic makeup. At that moment he was expelled from "thief's hell," spit out like some vile tasting food that "hell" couldn't stand to have in its mouth.
The Helper who'd entered to assist him was waiting for the tour guide outside "thief's hell." The Helper explained who he was, why he entered the "hell," why he'd run the 'naive thief' game and why that "hell" had expectorated him. He then explained some of the options now open to the tour guide. He could return to "thief's hell" to continue that lifestyle if he wished, he could incarnate in physical reality again, he could come to work in the Rehabilitation Center in Focus 27, there were several options. The tour guide had opted to do as the Helper had done, he decided to learn to help others out of their "hells." That was what those at the Rehab Center in 27 did with their time in the Afterlife. So the tour guide who led my exploration of the Hells of Focus 25 was now a Helper working to free others. Part time, he gave visitors like myself tours of these "hells" as a way of trying to pass the information back to physical reality. As to being kicked out of Heaven for doubting, that's not my belief, it's what I observed and learned about during other Afterlife explorations of what are called the "Hollow Heaven's" of Focus 25. Maybe "Fake Heavens" would be a better name to describe these places, but those I met in the Afterlife called them "Hollow Heavens," so I stick with their label.
My tour guide this time had been a preacher in a small, rigid, fundamentalist, Christian religion during his most recent physical lifetime. When he died he found himself in a "Hollow Heaven," populated only by people who had also been members of his earthly religion. When he entered he believed he was in the real Heaven since it fit his beliefs about what the real Heaven would be. Everything was free for the asking. No one was required to work or toil for food, clothing, a house, or anything. There was just one catch and it was that catch that led to his being kicked out of this "Hollow Heaven."
The catch was that in order to remain in this land of plenty, this "Hollow Heaven," you had to continue to espouse, practice and obey the rules and beliefs of this fundamentalist Christian religion as they had been taught during your earthly life. The penalty for breaking the rules, or doubting any of the religion's beliefs was to be cast out of this "Hollow Heaven." Rule breakers were 'cast into outer darkness,' in other words, they were sent to Hell. As a newly arrived preacher in this version of Heaven my tour guide had been assigned a church and congregation where he was to continue preaching his religion's beliefs and rules as taught and practiced on earth. It was his duty to report any infractions and if necessary perform the casting out ritual, sending rule breakers to Hell. Within his congregation were a man and a woman who were blatantly breaking the rules regarding unmarried people who were 'living in sin' as we might say. The earthly rules clearly stated that a man and a woman had to be married in order to share themselves with each other the way these two did. But every time my tour guide, as the preacher, approached these two to get them to obey the rules by getting married they refused.
They truly loved each other and pointed out to the preacher that the Bible clearly stated Jesus words on this issue saying, no one is taken or given in marriage in the Kingdom of Heaven. Every time the preacher confronted them they pointed to Jesus word in the Bible and told him they would not go against the word of their Lord and Savior to satisfy a rule of the church they say as an error. But the rule while living physical lives had been that marriage was required, and in order not to be cast out all earthly rules and beliefs had to be obeyed. This left the preacher in quandary as to what to do. If he didn't enforce the rules and get these two people to marry, he himself could be cast out into Hell. Finally, in an effort to humiliate the couple into obeying rule my guide, as the preacher, had ordered them to stand during a church service in front of the entire congregation. He berated them for living in sin, saying, you must marry or you will be cast out of Heaven into outer darkness. His effort at humiliation back-fired, the couple walked to the front of the church and addressing him and the entire congregation, refuse once again, stating their reasons. They told all present that if they had to give up their love for each other in order to stay in Heaven they would rather be sent to Hell. This left the preacher with no alternative other than to perform the casting out ritual right then and there in the church. The entire congregation witnessed the couple's disappearance as they were cast out. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that the act had at least put the fear of god into the rest of his congregation.
After the service the preacher/tour guide retired to his office and was down on his knees praying to Jesus. He asked for understanding that would relieve his guilt at having sent these two people to Hell for the sin of loving each other so deeply. He saw the conflict between the rule of his religion and the Biblical word of Jesus. A bright light began to shine in his office behind him and when he turned around to see what it was, there was Jesus standing before him. Jesus said, "The Love of Christ is for all, even to these the least of them." After Jesus disappeared the resulting conflict between the rules of his religion he was sworn to enforce and the message of Love from Jesus was even more difficult to reconcile.
The preacher/tour guide sought out the advice of other preachers in his "Hollow Heaven," trying to understand how Jesus could advocate breaking the rules. His fellow preachers told him it couldn't have been Jesus who appeared in his office. It had to be Satan, disguised as Jesus, they said. They admonished him not to follow the word of Satan lest he be deceived and deceive his congregation also. But according to the church doctrine of his small, Christian sect, Satan entering Heaven also broke the rules. Once in Heaven everyone was supposed to be safe from Satan's reach as there was no way, according to church doctrine, that Satan could enter Heaven. But that Satan had entered Heaven to deceive him was the only explanation even the old-time, venerated preachers and founders of his religion could offer. It was the only way they could explain how the doctrine based on their Biblical interpretation could be correct.
After much soul searching and more visits by Jesus, who always delivered exactly the same words, the preacher/tour guide began to preach Jesus' message of Love to his congregation. In his sermons he often referred to the cast out couple as an example of those deserving of the forgiveness and Love of Christ. This also broke the rules as those cast out were never to be spoken of again by anyone in this Heaven. The congregation grew. The preacher/tour guide's sermons became popular and spread. He knew it was only a matter of time until the strength of his convictions would be tested. Then, one Sunday, two venerated, old-time preachers came to his church to attend a service. During his sermon, after mention of the cast out couple, the two preachers stood up and interrupted the sermon. In front of the entire congregation they demand he stop preaching the word of the great deceiver, Satan. He found their effort to humiliate him into submission rather ironic. He response to them was that if he had to deny the word of Jesus Christ to stay in this Heaven he would rather be cast out right then and there. Leaving them no alternative, the two old-time preachers moved forward and performed the casting out ritual in front of the entire congregation. They all witnessed his disappearance from the pulpit. From the looks on their faces, the two old-time preachers knew they'd put the fear of god into any on the congregation inclined to follow the preacher/tour guide's blasphemy.
Expecting to find himself in "hell," the preacher/tour guide was surprised when Jesus appeared in the surrounding blackness. After a tour of the real Heaven, Jesus explained that he'd been in a "Hollow Heaven," what that meant, and some of his options for the future. In the real Heaven people were entirely free to explore anything they desired. The preacher/tour guide decided to move to the House of God Center in Focus 27 and work at freeing others. This House of God Center was a place where many who had been preachers, or priests or rabbi's and others worked together to assist those trapped in the Hollow Heavens of Focus 25. As part of this work Jesus and the preacher/tour guide had reentered his Hollow Heaven many times. They started by appearing together to members of his former congregation he knew had legitimate doubts about the rules and beliefs.
They appeared in private to people in their homes and on long walks along the road, in private to others. Each time they answered questions and gave the message of Jesus Loving forgiveness. This of course also broke the rules. Once someone had been cast out from this Hollow Heaven they were never supposed to be able to return from their sentence of eternity in "hell." My tour guide explained that things really got interesting when he and Jesus began appearing before the congregation during Sunday church services. They loved to play a scene in which the preacher/tour guide first appeared, hovering above the altar, surrounded by a cloud of angelic light. Then Jesus would appear beside him and addressing the congregation say, "this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased." That stopped when the old-time preachers came back on Sunday and ordered everybody out of this, 'House of Satan' as they called it. In front of the whole congregation the old-timers cast out the entire building. Since then, my tour guide explained, he's continued to act as a Helper from the House of God Center in Focus 27 to free others from the "Hollow Heavens" of Focus 25.
When you ask how what I've found in my Afterlife explorations compliments what is said in the Bible. Your question reminds me of what happened to Galileo as a result of his explorations. Galileo used a telescope to search the heavens for the truth about planetary motion. He came to understand the it was the earth that revolved around the sun, not the other way around. This conflicted with the doctrine of a certain Christian church, based on its interpretation of the Bible. According to their interpretation the Earth was at the center of God's universe and everything, including the Sun, revolved around the Earth.. That Christian church forced Galileo to recant the truth he'd discovered by threatening to execute him as punishment for his blasphemy. To their credit a little over three hundred years later, in the 1990's, the Catholic Church finally forgave Galileo for the sin of repeating the truth he discovered with his telescope.
Now, perhaps you're not a member of that specific Christian Church, but in my experience all churches attempt to interpret for their follows what the Bible means and what resulting rules they must live by. If all these church's interpretations are correct, why does each Christian church's interpretation conflict so much with that of other Christian churches? Doesn't such conflict indicate that someone has an incorrect interpretation? The question then becomes, which Christian church is right? Does anybody know the answer to that one?
So, again, when you ask me how my findings in my Afterlife explorations compliment what is said in the Bible we are back to asking, "complimenting whose interpretation of the Bible?" Yours? Mine? The Catholics? Lutherans? Baptists? Fundamentalist Christians? All I have done is to learn to explore the Afterlife existence of we human beings and report my experiences. Metaphorically, I've found a telescope that allows me to peer into the heavens to explore for the truth. I don't claim to have found it. I can only report what I see there through the veil of my own misunderstandings. But that's the best part of using this telescope, you don't have to take my word for what's there or anyone else's word for that matter. You can learn to explore human existence beyond the physical world and search for the truth yourself.
You ask me to explain how the Bible doesn't say that those who are unsaved suffer eternal punishment in Hell. Which interpretation of which Bible makes that claim? Which Christian church claims this and what interpretation of the Bible did they use to make that rule. What about other Christian churches who claim a different doctrine based on a different interpretation? How are we to know which Christian church has the completely correct interpretation for any given question when so many of them disagree deeply some kill each other over it? Are the Irish Catholics right or the Irish Protestants?
As an example, the Christian church I grew up in had a simple rule, based on its founder's interpretation of the Bible. To get to Heaven you had to be baptized, no baptism, no Heaven. In fact, they believe if you die unbaptized you go to eternal punishment and suffering in Hell. Has to do with their belief in something they call, original sin. This simple rule leads to some incredibly ridiculous, yet firmly believed, outcomes. It is the belief of that Christian church that unbaptized, new born babies who die go to eternal punishment and suffering in "hell." As a youth being taught this belief I was flabbergasted! Than an innocent baby who lived one second in this world and died should be punished in "hell" for eternity because a baptism wasn't performed by someone else made absolutely no sense to me! That was a Christian church and that was their interpretation of the Bible's meaning regarding original sin and baptism.
Following there logic to its ridiculous extreme, a volunteer murderer should be present at the birth of every baby. To insure it gets to Heaven, all Christian's goal, the baby should be born, baptized and then murdered as quickly as possible to insure it can't sin and will go to heaven.
Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous in your life? But if you're a Christian who believes in original sin, and that getting to Heaven by the rules is the goal, this ridiculous plan guarantees immediate, safe passage to Heaven for every infant murdered. Surely there must be something wrong with the Bible interpretation that requires baptism in order to get into Heaven. But that is the interpretation and belief the Christian church I was raised in!
In my Bible, Jesus Christ said his new commandment is to Love you neighbor as yourself. I find it difficult to understand how such a Loving God would disobey his own commandment or ever consider eternally punishing anyone for anything.
Well, I've probably spent too much time stuffing my foot in my mouth and handing out ammunition. Feels like the wood being piled up around my feet is up to my knees, so I'll leave it at that.
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Another very intersting writer is hynotherapist, Michael Newton, PhD, who created The Michael Newton Institute for Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy. While taking a patient into rememerance of a past life, he accidently tripped into the life between lives or the spirit world. He ended up teaching many other hypnotherapists how to get there with their clients. What he found was that it didn't matter if you were christian, moslem, athiest or whatever. Everyone told the same story about what the spirit world was like.
The Transition After Death / Michael Newton, PhDThere are souls who have been so severely damaged they are detached from the mainstream of souls going back to a spiritual home base after death. Compared to all returning entities, the number of these abnormal souls is not large.There are two types of displaced souls: those who do not accept the fact their physical body is dead and fight returning to the spirit world for reasons of personal anguish, and those souls who have been subverted by, or had complicity with, criminal abnormalities in a human body. The first type we call ghosts. These spirits refuse to go home after physical death and often have unpleasant influences on those of us who would like to finish out our human lives in peace. These displaced souls are sometimes falsely called demonic spirits because they are accused of invading the minds of people with harmful intent.Those subverted by criminal abnormalities do undergo separation in the spirit world, and this happens at the time of their orientation with guides. They are not activated along the same travel routes as other souls and will go into seclusion upon reentering the spirit world. These souls don't appear to mix with other entities in the conventional manner for quite a while.Because wrong-doing takes so many forms on earth, spiritual instruction and the type of isolation used is varied for each soul. The nature of these variations apparently is evaluated during orientation at the end of each life. The relative time of seclusion and reindoctrination is not consistent either. For instance, I have had reports about maladjusted spirits who have returned back to earth directly after a period of seclusion in order to expunge themselves as soon as possible by a good incarnated performance.All souls, regardless of experience, eventually arrive at a central port in the spirit world which I call the staging area. Once past the orientation station there seems to be no further travel detours for anyone entering this space of the spirit world. Apparently, large numbers of returning souls are conveyed in a spiritual form of mass transit. Spirits are brought in, collected, and then projected out to their proper final destinations similar to a central terminal of a metropolitan airport that has the capacity to fly people out in any direction. The most outstanding characteristic of this world is a continuous feeling of a powerful mental force directing everything in uncanny harmony. People say this is a place of pure thought.After souls arrive back into their soul groups, they are summoned to appear before a Council of Elders. While the Council is not prosecutorial, they do engage in direct examination of a soul's activities before returning them to their groups.Group placement is determined by soul level. After physical death, a soul's journey back home ends with debarkation into the space reserved for their own colony, as long as they are not a very young soul or isolated for other reasons. The souls represented in these cluster groups are intimate old friends who have the same awareness level. Members of the same cluster group are closely united for all eternity. These tightly-knit clusters are often composed of like-minded souls with common objectives which they continually work out with each other. Usually they choose lives together as relatives and close friends during their incarnations on earth.The Levels of Soul GroupingsThe Beginner SoulThere are two types of beginner souls: souls who are truly young in terms of exposure to an existence out of the spirit world, and souls who have been reincarnating on earth for a long period of relative time, but still remain immature.I believe almost three-quarters of all souls who inhabit human bodies on earth today are still in the early stages of development. Souls end their incarnation on earth when they reach full maturity.
The beginner soul may live a number of lives in a state of confusion and ineffectiveness, influenced by an earth curriculum which is different from the coherence and supportive harmony of the spirit world. Less developed souls are inclined to surrender their will to the controlling aspects of human society, with a socio-economic structure which causes a large proportion of people to be subordinate to others. The inexperienced soul tends to be stifled by a lack of independent thinking. They also lean towards being self-centered and don't easily accept others for who they are. Every soul was once a beginner.The Intermediate SoulOnce our souls advance into the intermediate ranges of development, group cluster activity is considerably reduced. This does not mean we return to the kind of isolation that occurs with novice souls. Souls evolving into the middle development level have less association with primary groups because they have acquired the maturity and experience for operating more independently. These souls are also reducing the number of their incarnations.These souls are at last ready for more serious responsibilities. The relationship we have with our guides now changes from teacher-student to one of colleagues working together. Since our old guides have acquired new student groups, it is now our turn to develop teaching skills which will eventually qualify us for the responsibilities of being a guide to someone else.This is a significant stage for souls in their development because now they are given increased responsibilities for younger souls. The status of a guide is not given to us all at once, however.
As with many other aspects of soul life, we are carefully tested. The intermediate levels are trial periods for potential teachers. Our mentors assign us a soul to look after, and then evaluate our leadership performance both in and out of physical incarnations.Only if this preliminary training is successful are we allowed to function even at the level of a junior guide. Not everyone is suited for teaching, but this does not keep us from becoming an advanced soul. Guides, like everyone else, have different abilities and talents, as well as shortcomings. By the time we reach the advanced level, our soul aptitudes are well known in the spirit world. We are given occupational duties commensurate with our abilities. Different avenues of approach to learning eventually bring all of us to the same end in acquiring spiritual wholeness.The Advanced SoulI believe that people on earth who possess souls which are both old and highly advanced are scarce. A person whose maturity is this high doesn't seek out a regression therapist to resolve life-plan conflicts. In most cases, they are here as incarnated guides. Having mastered the fundamental issues most of us wrestle with daily, the advanced soul is more interested in making small refinements toward specific tasks.We may recognize them when they appear as public figures, such as Mother Teresa; however, it is more usual for the advanced soul to go about their good works in a quiet, unassuming manner. Without displaying self-indulgence, their fulfillment comes from improving the lives of other people. They focus less on institutional matters and more on enhancing individual human values.The mark of an advanced spirit is one who has patience with society and shows extraordinary coping skills. Most prominent is their exceptional insight. This is not to say life has no karmic pitfalls for them, otherwise they probably wouldn't be here at all. They may be found in all walks of life, but are frequently in the helping professions or combating social injustice in some fashion. The advanced soul radiates composure, kindness, and understanding toward others. Not being motivated by self-interest, they may disregard their own physical needs and live in reduced circumstances.Returning to the PhysicalThere comes that time when the soul must once again leave the sanctuary of the spirit world for another trip to earth. This decision is not an easy one. Souls must prepare to leave a world of total wisdom, where they exist in a blissful state of freedom, for the physical and mental demands of a physical body. Once back in the spirit world, souls have misgivings about even temporarily leaving a world of self-understanding, comradeship, and compassion to go to a planetary environment of uncertainty and fear brought about by aggressive, competing humans. Despite having family and friends on earth, many incarnated souls feel lonely and anonymous among large impersonal populations.The rejuvenation of our energy and personal assessment of one's self takes longer for some souls than others, but eventually the soul is motivated to start the process of incarnation. While our spiritual environment is hard to leave, as souls we also remember the physical pleasures of life on earth with fondness and even nostalgia. When the wounds of a past life are healed and we are again totally at one with ourselves, we feel the pull of having a physical expression for our identity. Training sessions with our counselors and peer groups have provided a collaborative spiritual effort to prepare us for the next life. Our karma of past deeds towards humanity and our mistakes and achievements have all been evaluated with an eye toward the best course of future endeavors. The souls must now assimilate all this information and take purposeful action based upon three primary decisions:
Am I ready for a new physical life?
What specific lessons do I want to undertake to advance my learning and development?
Where should I go, and who shall I be in my next life for the best opportunity to work on my goals?
Once a soul has decided to incarnate again, the next stage in the return process is to be directed to the place of life selection. Souls consider when and where they want to go on earth before making a decision on who they will be in their new life. While some spiritual locales for life selection are difficult for my subjects to describe, they use remarkably similar descriptions. He is told it resembles a movie theater which allows souls to see themselves in the future, playing different roles in various settings.
In this place of life selection, our souls preview the life span of more than one human being within the same time cycle. When we leave this area, most souls are inclined toward one leading candidate presented to us for soul occupation. However, our spiritual advisors give us ample opportunity to reflect upon all we have seen in the future before making a final decision.After souls have completed their consultations with guides and peers about the many physical and psychological ramifications of a new life and body choice, the decision to incarnate is made. It would be logical to assume that they would then go immediately to earth. This doesn't happen before a significant element of preparation occurs. The space souls go to for this in the spirit world is commonly called the place of recognition, or recognition class. I am told the activity here is like cramming for a final exam.One of the last requirements before embarkation for many souls is to go before the Council of Elders for the second time. The spirit world is an environment personified by order and the Elders want to reinforce the significance of a soul's goals for the next life. Some return to their spirit group after this meeting to say goodbye while others say they leave immediately for reincarnation. Those souls getting ready for embarkation to earth are like battle-hardened veterans girding themselves for combat. This is the last chance for souls to enjoy the omniscience of knowing just who they are before they must adapt to a new body.
Most cultures of the world believe in reincarnation. Not so much progressing from a bug to a higher animal and eventually to a human, but just reincarnating as a human upon the earth. As I mentioned earlier, early mormon teaching by Joseph Smith and other early church leaders reflected a belief in this. Most religions other than christians believe this.
This fact creates many problems within the doctrines of mormonism. Multiple lives means multiple wives. Who do you end up with in Mormon Heaven? The polygamist would believe you would end with all of them if you got into the celestial kingdom. If we indeed have multiple lives, eventually everyone is going to get it right and graduate. So, who ends up with who?
Additionally, what Michael Newton and others have found is that we are androgenous beings meaning that we are bisexual beings. One earth life we might come as a man but the next as a woman. How do you better understand a woman than being born and living as one or being born a man to understand being a man? In the end, we each make a final choice as to which sex is our favorite. It's like eating both vanilla and chocolate ice cream and then sticking with one of them as our favorite. Talking about early doctines of the LDS Church lets go into the final part of the triad of the subjects I was shown to read and study.
JOSEPH SMITH, A GENIUS, A MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIES (a secret masonic organization) AND A MANIPULATOR OF THE SAINTS BY WAY OF SUPPOSED REVELATION
Joseph came from a very spiritual family. His mother and her 2 sisters were furtune tellers and had many spiritual experiences as well as Joseph Smith Sr. The whole family was involved in White Magic which is very well documented my mormon historians including D. Michael Quinn in his book: EARLY MORMONISM AND THE MAGICAL WORLD VIEW. A recommended book to read to see how much of white magic has been literally adopted into the LDS Church and runs your belief system. Many people back in the 1800's who had spiritual gifts got into using natural drugs as a means of inhanceing their gifts. Joseph was one of those. A very interesting website to read is: www.mormonelixirs.org which was set up by a good friend of mine. Dr. Robert Beckstead, MD who is an emergency room doctor from Idaho. A little from that website:
Abstract
Did hallucinogens facilitate Joseph Smith's visions & those of early Mormon converts? In his 1975 book, Hearts Made Glad, Lamar Petersen carefully documented the use of intoxicants by Joseph Smith and early converts to the LDS Church. While mostly interested in the consumption of various fermented and distilled alcohols, Petersen also noted strange behaviors associated with the sacramental use of what seemed to outside observers to be medicated wine. It appears that soon after the Church was organized in New York and later in Ohio, members partook of wine in sacrament meetings which occasioned visionary states and strange behaviors not typically associated with alcohol consumption or intoxication. It is my thesis that beginning at a young age, Joseph Smith experimented with psychedelic plants and that many of Joseph Smith revelations and much of his behavior can be attributed to the use of psychedelics. Following Joseph Smith�??s death, the pragmatic Brigham Young had no interest in psychedelic material, or was unaware of its use, and hence it did not become a part of Utah Mormonism. However, James Strang and Fredrick M. Smith (Joseph Smith's grandson and president of the RLDS Church) perpetuated the use of psychedelics in their branches of Joseph Smith's original movement. The use of psychedelics by the Strangites and the RLDS Church could not be sustained.
Introduction
According to the official web site of the LDS Church, in the spring of 1820, Joseph Smith offered a simple prayer that set into motion a series of events leading to the restoration of the true Church and the truth about life’s greatest questions.1 But for many early LDS coverts, learning about truth was a second rank endeavor. Instead, seeking for a personal visionary experience was primary. According to LDS scholar, Richard Bushman, early Mormon converts were “seekers” whose
… greatest hunger was for spiritual gifts like dreams, visions, tongues, miracles, and spiritual raptures.2
These early Church members sought direct experience with God and believed that Joseph Smith had the power to grant their desires. Confidence in their Prophet was not misplaced. Between 1829 and 1836, under the supervision of Joseph Smith, many early Mormon converts enjoyed heavenly visions and spiritual raptures. While the nature of these visions are a matter of debate, there is no doubt as to the amazing number of visions experienced by Joseph Smith and early converts during these seven years.
However, after Joseph’s death in 1844, the great visionary period of Church history came to an end.3 The only vision recorded in Church of Jesus Christ of LDS scripture (D&C 138 )is that of Joseph F. Smith dated October 3, 1918. Since 1918, there has be no visionary expereince recorded by any of the subsequent presidents of the LDS Church. Interestingly, the vast majority of Mormons living today believe that Joseph Smith-like visionary and revelatory experience continues amongst the living "General Authorities" of the Church, but in secret. However, an Apostle of the LDS Church admitted in 1985 that he had never had such an experience and he was unaware of anyone living who had. (Inperson interview of and LDS Church Apostle by the author)
So stark was the dearth of visionary experience that in 1864, twenty years after Joseph Smith's death, members would ask Mormon Apostle George A. Smith,
... why it is that we do not see more angels, have more visions, that we do not see greater and more manifestations of power?4
The mystery seems to center around Joseph Smith himself. According to Richard Bushman, it was Joseph Smith himself that connected converts to heaven by some power that he possessed, a power that remains a mystery to this day.5
Indeed, after the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, the only vision recorded in LDS history is that of Joseph F. Smith dated October 3, 1918. (D&C 138)
But is Joseph Smith’s spiritual power to connect converts with heaven really beyond our ability to investigate and understand? Over the last 50 years Joseph Smith-like spiritual power has come under examination by an ever-increasing number of anthropologists, religious historians, ethnobotanists and ethnomycologists. It now appears that spiritual power comparable to that of Joseph Smith can be acquired in the course of consuming visionary plants, mushrooms and cactus. Otherwise known as psychedelics and hallucinogens, when these visionary materials are taken in a religious setting, they are often referred to as entheogens. An entheogen is any substance, such as a plant or drug, taken to occasion a heavenly vision or spiritual rapture.6 Entheogens can induce visions during an altered state of waking consciousness and out-of-body and near death eperiences.
How important are entheogens to the world’s great religions? In 2000, Robert C. Fuller, a leading historian and interpreter of American religious life wrote that the use of entheogens
… is one of the most mysterious and important subjects in all religious history. Entheogens have figured prominently in the mystical practice of some of the world’s greatest civilizations. They have been widely employed in shamanic society and their use continues today throughout the world. They alter consciousness in such a profound way, that … their effects can range from states resembling psychosis to what are perhaps the ultimate human experiences, union with god or revelations of other mystical realities. 7
The psychobiology of non-pharmacologic and pharmacological induced altered states of consciousness is now a matter of scientific research. Michael Winkelman writes,
Vision-inducing plants ("hallucinogens") are important in many societies, evoking powerful emotional, psychological, cognitive, religious, spiritual, therapeutic and political reactions. These substances' psychophysiological properties shape cross- cultural similarities in patterns of use and experiences, while political factors shape their cultural desirability. Neurological studies illustrate that common effects are based in intervention in serotonergic neurotransmission. Effects upon neural, sensory, emotional, and cognitive processes stimulate integrative information processing, justifying a new term-"psychointegrators." Psychointegrators disinhibit sensory and emotional processes. They stimulate systemic integration of brain information-processing functions, enhancing integration of limbic system self and emotional dynamics with neocortical processes. Their therapeutic applications are reviewed from perspectives of cross-cultural and clinical studies. (Abstract from: Psychointegrators: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Therapeutic Effects of Hallucinogens, Michael Winkelman. Arizona State University Tempe, AZ)
Just how legitimate are visions and raptures occasioned by entheogens? Religious historian Huston Smith wrote that the use of entheogenic material is able to occasion an “experience that is indistinguishable from, if not identical with” those of religious mystics.8 For instance, in an article published in Life Magazine May 13th 1957, R. Gordon Wasson, the “father of ethnomycology”, reported the discovery of a divine mushroom that could easily occasion visions and ecstasies. Wasson wrote,
On the night of June 29, 1955… I shared with a family of Indians a celebration of "holy communion" where "divine" mushrooms where first adored and then consumed.9
Wasson then reports,
Now I am seeing for the first time, seeing direct, without the intervention of mortal eyes … vistas beyond the horizons of this life, to travel backwards and forwards in time, to enter other planes of existence, even to know God.10
But Wasson's experience isn't an isolated example of psychedelics ability to reproduce a transpersonal, religious experience. In 1961, Huston Smith ingested peyote cactus and made a similar report.
I noted mounting tension in my body that turned into tremors in my legs … I [began] experiencing … the clear, unbroken Light... I was now seeing … with the force of the sun, in comparison with which everyday experience reveals only flickering shadows in a dim cavern… [I saw] worlds within worlds.11
In a 2000 essay, Huston explains that through an etheogen, he experience the ultimate reality.
The personal word is this: I was initiated to the entheogens through Timothy Leary and psilocybin in his home in Newton on New Year's Day, 1961. The day didn't change my woridview, for the Great Chain of Being had already moved to the center of my convictions through thirty years of jnanic work with the great religions. What the day accomplished, you will not be surprised to hear, was to enable me for the first time to experience the respective levels of the Chain, all the way to its top. The dominant effects of the experience were two: awe (which I had known conceptually as the distinctive religious emotion but had never before experienced so intensely) and certainty. There was no doubting that the Reality I experienced was ultimate. That conviction has remained.11b
From the 1950’s to present, an increasingly large volume of data has been assembled in the quest to understand the use of entheogens in important religious and mystery traditions. Hebrew, Mexico, Central and South America, India, China, Siberia, Europe, and ancient Greece, Christian and Alchemical mythic-religious systems often refer to visionary plants or fungi.15 The result has been a maturing theory of entheogens and the origins of religion. In September 2006, Michael S. Hoffman summarized what is now believed by many to be the relationship between religion and entheogens. 12
The entheogen theory of religion holds that the main origin and ongoing wellspring of religion is visionary plants… [such as] Peyote … Datura … and Amanita muscaria mushrooms. Visionary plants have been commonly used around the world throughout the history of religion and culture,13 including the various forms of Western Esotericism.14
More recently, in a the premier issue of Time and Mind, Benny Shannon, Professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel).
In his book Poisons sacrés, ivresses divines (which, to my knowledge, has not been translated into English), Philippe de Félice (1970 [1936]) reviews various cultures throughout the world and notes the use of psychotropic substances in them. The use of such substances, most of which fall in our contemporary Western culture under the label �??drug,�?� has in many traditions been considered sacred. Indeed, de Félice points out that in many religions, both in the old world and in the new, the use of such substances was (and often still is) central. The substances, or the plants from which they were produced, were deemed holy and at times even divine. De Félice puts forward the hypothesis that the use of psychotropic substances is deeply embedded in human culture and intrinsically intertwined with what he characterizes as the most basic human instinct�??the search for transcendence. Thus, he proposes, the use of psychotropic substances is at the root of perhaps all religions. (Time and Mind Volume 1�??Issue 1�??March 2008, pp. 51�??74)
In the patients to successfully treat mental disorders and the anxiety associated with the diagnosis of cancer. The Fox News Networks broadcast a segment about the psychedelic substance "Psilocybin" and asked the question "Can this dangerous party drug help extend the life of terminally ill patients?" The cases of two patients were reviewed followed by a short statement of the principle investigator, Dr. Charles Grob professor of Psychiatry at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Grob makes this additional comments
It might even facilitate a powerful psychispiritual or even mystical experience which does appear to have a therapeutic impact.
If entheogens can shed light on some of the world’s most important religions, including possibly early Christianity, is it possible that they may also shed light on the rise of Mormonism, America’s most successful religion? In order to address this question, it seems reasonable to consider the motive, opportunity and evidence to suggest that Joseph Smith employed entheogens to occasion heavenly visions and spiritual rapures.
Motive to Administer Entheogens
What would motivate Joseph Smith to use entheogens? One possible answer is that without entheogens, most visions and raptures come only after years of disciplined meditation or severe physical austerity. Ake Hultkranz, retired professor of comparative religion16 explains that the popularity of entheogens … is partly due to the fact that visions are rendered easily accessible, and fasting, isolation, and self-torture17 are unnecessary.
Terence McKenna, speaker and philosopher, is widely know known to be experience in the use of psychedelics and the meditative arts. McKenna believes that medative and other spiritual practices were developed as tools to enhance and guide the psychedelic experience. His views in a small discussion group are summarized (with minor editing) as follows:
Q. Are you against meditation in favor of the psychedelics experience? A: If by meditation you mean lying down or sitting up and close your eyes, I do that a lot and I like it but would never confuse it with the psychedelic enterprise. I think they are completely different realms of human activity. With meditation, you don't hallucinate. [Some may] say you do, but they aren't very convincing. [And when you fail to hallucinate with meditation] the monks rush over and explain that you are doing it wrong.
Q. Do you think you have the same revelatory experience with meditation? A: I really don't. All these spiritual techniques are not substitutions for the psychedelic experience but trade offs. I think that all of these techniques ... work incredibly well in the presence of psychedelics leading me to suppose that what these are are tools that were developed in the paleolithic world of psychedelic magic and all we have now is all these tools but we don't have the original engine that drove them. I am very bored by spiritual practice unless I've taken a psychedelic; then mantric chanting is beyond the power of mind to encompass or describe. [Psychedelics] seems to be a general functional enhancement [of spiritual techniques]. Acoustical driving (druming) is also a tried and true tradition. Its not about the exclusivity of methods but the combinations of method. What you want to do is beat your drum while sitting in yum, yum [position] while stoned on "x", while at the holy mount, while the astrological configuration is correct and then line it all up and push it through, that's the way to do it.
While most will not achieve a "revelatory experience" with meditation alone, there are techniques which may facilitate such experiences in a limited number of devotes. For instance, William Buhlman has developed several out-of-body meditation techniques that has been successful in some cases. Techniques developed by Stephen LaBarge are able to produce lucid dreams. In lucid dreaming, the dreamer becomes conscious during the dream and in some cases may be enveloped in a religious epiphany. Joseph Smith is known to have used a seer stone to see buried treasure and to "translate" the Book of Mormon. The technique is called scrying and as discussed by Clay L. Chandler, is another technique to enter revelatory realms.
However, these techniques are relatively unreliable for most seekers and often takes years of practice to produce meaningful revelatory resuts. It is becoming apparent that meditation, fasting and religious ceremony may not be primary causes of visionary states and spiritual raptures but instead in many cases play a supportive role for the use of entheogens. Michael Hoffman notes
Meditation, shamanic drumming, and liturgical ritual were developed as activities to do in the plant-induced [visionary] state, not as methods of inducing the [visionary] state in the first place.18
In other words, if Joseph Smith employed entheogens, he met the requirement to place himself and early Mormon converts in the express lane to spiritual powers without the need for years of meditation, repetitive religious ritual or severe physical austerities.
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I'll leave you do go to the website and read the rest of it. Some astonding info that the leaders of the LDS Church would not want you to read as it might open your eyes.
The LDS Church paints Joseph Smith as a backward uneducated boy. I like what B. H. Roberts, First Council of Seventy and LDS Church Historian from 1901 until his death in 1933 said about Joseph. He (Joseph) was well educated - as his father was a professional teacher. We read about Joseph at a young age reading the Bible. This is a hard text for an uneducated person to read. Additionally, Elder Roberts had a problem with some of the translation of the Book of Mormon:
However, the issue of translation raises a problem of internal consistency in Book of Mormon Authorship. In order to make sense of applying a wordprint analysis, one must assume that the "translation process was both direct and literal, and that each individual author's style was preserved" (p. 179). However, for B. H. Roberts to explain nineteenth-century anachronisms and King James Bible quotations he had to assume that "Joseph's vocabulary and grammar are as clearly imposed on the book as a fingerprint on a coin" (p. 13). If the expressions and ideas in the Book of Mormon are partly the result of Joseph's attempt to communicate the translation, then the nineteenth-century theological ideas and biblical quotations can be explained as a result inherent in the translation process. If these expansions are indeed Joseph's, however, then they should reflect his wordprint. To assume that Nephi had access to a King James Bible or that he was acquainted with nineteenth-century Arminian theology in the sixth century B.C. is beyond the bounds of competent scholarship. Yet this is precisely what must be assumed if the wordprint is to be taken seriously. Even given this criticism, however, the results of the wordprint study must be explained. Perhaps the wordprint analysis tells us more about computers than about the Book of Mormon. Yet, we are told by witnesses to Joseph translating the Book of Mormon that he would look into his seerstone in his top had and a figure would appear and then a translation of that symbol that he would read. The words would not disappear until the scribe wrote it down properly. So, why does the Book of Mormon have the King's English in the multiple Bible passages quoted in the Book of Mormon? Opps!
Joseph had the habit of marrying other men's wives for eternity while still married by civil law to their husbands and he expected full rights of marriage which included sex. It is interesting how the LDS people criticize men like ex-mormon Jim Harmston of the True and Living Church (TLC of Manti) and Warren Jeffs of the FLDS Church, both self proclaimed prophets and polygamists. They have been citicized for the revelations that they have had that are self-serving and taking additional wives, some of which are in their teens. A closer look at Joseph Smith would put him right into the same boat as these two gentlemen on all counts since Joseph Smith also took wives in their mid-teens. They learned from the best of con-men. Joseph Smith.
There is another piece of evidence you might consider in examining Joseph Smith's sexual behavior. The following excerpt is from a love letter Joseph Smith wrote when he wanted to arrange a liaison with Newel K. Whitney's daughter Sarah Ann, whom Smith had secretly "married." It reveals Smith's cloak-and-dagger approach to his extramarital affairs:
"... the only thing to be careful of; is to find out when Emma comes then you cannot be safe, but when she is not here, there is the most perfect safty. ... Only be careful to escape observation, as much as possible, I know it is a heroick undertakeing; but so much the greater friendship, and the more Joy, when I see you I will tell you all my plans, I cannot write them on paper, burn this letter as soon as you read it; keep all locked up in your breasts, my life depends upon it. ... I close my letter, I think Emma wont come tonight if she dont, dont fail to come to night, I subscribe myself your most obedient, and affectionate, companion, and friend. Joseph Smith." - Joseph Smith / Handwritten Letter
- Faithful Mormon Prescindia D. Huntington, who was Normal Buell's wife and simultaneously a "plural wife" of the Prophet Joseph Smith, said that she did not know whether her husband Norman "or the Prophet was the father of her son, Oliver." And a glance at a photo of Oliver shows a strong resemblance to Emma Smith's boys.(Mary Ettie V. Smith, "Fifteen Years Among the Mormons", page 34; also Fawn Brodie "No Man Knows My History" pages 301-302, 437-39)
- Faithful Mormon and wife of Joseph Smith, Sylvia Sessions (Lyon), on her deathbed told her daughter, Josephine, that she (Josephine) was the daughter of Joseph Smith. Josephine testified: "She (Sylvia) then told me that I was the daughter of the Prophet Joseph Smith, she having been sealed to the Prophet at the time that her husband Mr. Lyon was out of fellowship with the Church." (Affidavit to Church Historian Andrew Jenson, 24 Feb. 1915)
In total, 13 faithful latter-day saint women who were married to Joseph Smith swore court affidavits that they had sexual relations with him. Joseph was less than honest with his wife Emma on his many marriages which were performed behind her back:
- Joseph Smith's personal secretary records that on May 22nd, 1843, Smith's first wife Emma found Joseph and Eliza Partridge secluded in an upstairs bedroom at the Smith home. Emma was devastated.William Clayton's journal entry for 23 May (see Smith, 105-106)
- Smith's secretary William Clayton also recorded a visit to young Almera Johnson on May 16, 1843: "Prest. Joseph and I went to B[enjamin] F. Johnsons to sleep." Johnson himself later noted that on this visit Smith stayed with Almera "as man and wife" and "occupied the same room and bed with my sister, that the previous month he had occupied with the daughter of the late Bishop Partridge as his wife." Almera Johnson also confirmed her secret marriage to Joseph Smith: "I lived with the prophet Joseph as his wife and he visited me at the home of my brother Benjamin F." (Zimmerman, I Knew the Prophets, 44. See also "The Origin of Plural Marriage, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., Deseret News Press, page 70-71.)
Did Joseph Smith emotionally blackmail women into marriage?
"When that principle was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith ... he did not falter, although it was not until an angel of God, with a drawn sword, stood before him; and commanded that he should enter into the practice of that principle, or he should be utterly destroyed, or rejected, that he moved forward to reveal and establish that doctrine." - Prophet Joseph F. Smith, "Plural Marriage for the Righteous Only-Obedience Imperative-Blessings Resulting", Journal of Discourses, Vol.20, p.28 - p.29
So it says, but Joseph was already educated in plural marriage due to his associations with the Philadelphies, a secret masonic organization who believed in temples, eternal marriage and plural marriages. Joseph was practicing plural marriage long before he and Oliver came across passages in the old testament speaking of old testament prophets who practice plural marriage. It seems that between stories of angels with drawn swords that would take his life if he didn't make it with a host of women and getting revelations to suit his needs, many women fell for it as well as many of his top leaders who submitted to Joseph, their wives, to be married celestially to him complete with full rights of sexual intercourse with his new wives. What racket. Have a revelation, have sex with anyone you want.
A TALE OF TWO MARRIAGE SYSTEMS: PERSPECTIVES ON POLYANDRY AND JOSEPH SMITH by Samuel Katich
Perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects of Joseph Smith is that of his plural marriages to women that were already married to other men. This paper examines the forms of marriage in practice and looks at each of the women and men involved in the relationships in an attempt to better understand these unique marriages. Joseph Smith was eternally married to what currently are argued to be between eight and eleven already married women. If we consider only those eight marriages that can be adequately documented, we find that six of the marriages occurred within an eight-month period between late October 1841 and June 1842. Two more marriages occurred early in 1843. The women ranged in age from 20 to 47, with an average age of 29. Of those eight marriages, five were to women who had Mormon husbands and three were to women married to disaffected members or non-Mormons. Three of the women's first marriages to Mormon husbands and two of the marriages to non-Mormons lasted until death. The other three remaining marriages ended later in life after Joseph's death in 1844. In all cases the women continued to live with their first husbands.
Henry Jacob's Wife, ZinaPrescindia's twenty-year-old sister Zina was living in the Joseph Smith home when Elder Henry B. Jacobs married her in March 1841. According to family records, when Zina and Henry asked Joseph Smith why he had not honored them by performing their marriage, Smith replied that "the Lord had made it known to him that [Zina] was to be his Celestial wife." Believing that "whatever the Prophet did was right, without making the wisdom of God's authorities bend to the reasoning of any man," the devout Elder Jacobs consented for six-months-pregnant Zina to be sealed to Joseph Smith 27 October 1841. Some have suggested that the Jacobs's marriage was "unhappy" and that the couple had separated before her sealing to Joseph Smith. But, though sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity, Zina continued her connubial relationship with her husband Henry Jacobs. On 2 February 1846, pregnant with Henry's second son, Zina was re-sealed by proxy to the murdered Joseph Smith and in that same session was "sealed for time" to Brigham Young. Faithful Henry B. Jacobs stood by as an official witness to both ceremonies.("History of Henry Bailey Jacobs." By Ora J. Cannon, page 5-7. also see "Recollections of Zina D. Young" by Mary Brown Firmage)Zina and Henry lived together as husband and wife until the Mormon pioneers reached Mt. Pisgah, Iowa. At this temporary stop on the pioneer trail, Brigham Young announced that "it was time for men who were walking in other men's shoes to step out of them. Brother Jacobs, the woman you claim for a wife does not belong to you. She is the spiritual wife of brother Joseph, sealed up to him. I am his proxy, and she, in this behalf, with her children, are my property. You can go where you please, and get another, but be sure to get one of your own kindred spirit" (Hall 1853, 43-44). President Young then called Jacobs on a mission to England. Witnesses to his departure commented that he was so emotionally ill they had to "put him on a blanket and carry him to the boat to get him on his way".("Short Sketch of the Life of Henry B. Jacobs" By Ora J. Cannon)Henry returned from his mission and settled in California. But he was still in love with his wife Zina, now a plural wife of Brigham Young. Henry's letters to his wife Zina were heartrending. On 2 September 1852 he wrote: "O how happy I should be if I only could see you and the little children, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh." "I am unhappy," Henry lamented, "there is no peace for poor me, my pleasure is you, my comfort has vanished.... O Zina, can I ever, will I ever get you again, answer the question please." In an undated Valentine he added: Zina my mind never will change from Worlds without Ends, no never, the same affection is there and never can be moved I do not murmur nor complain of the handlings of God no verily, no but I feel alone and no one to speak to, to call my own. I feel like a lamb without a mother, I do not blame any person or persons, no--May the Lord our Father bless Brother Brigham and all purtains unto him forever. Tell him for me I have no feelings against him nor never had, all is right according to the Law of the Celestial Kingdom of our god Joseph [Smith]." ("Short Sketch of the Life of Henry B. Jacobs" By Ora J. Cannon)
Joseph Smith actively claimed direct revelation in acquiring polyandrous wives. For instance, he told Mary Rollins Lightner that an angel had instructed him to marry her behind the back of her non-Mormon husband Adam. Shortly before he led Nancy Marinda Hyde, whose husband Orson he had sent on a misson to Palestine, into two polyandrous marriages, first with Willard Richards, and then with himself, he dictated a "thus saith the Lord" revelation telling her to "hearken to the counsel of my servant Joseph in all things whatsoever he shall teach unto her." He also proposed to Sarah Kimball, telling her that God had commanded him to do so. When Sarah refused and told her non-Mormon husband Hiram, Joseph dictated a revelation threatening to _curse_ Hiram for "forming evil opinions" about him. Accounts left by some of Joseph's polyandrous wives show that he told them God had told him He had "given" them to him. Todd Compton and others have extensively documented these and other instances of Joseph's revelatory propositioning of already-married women.To reject the inspiration of Joseph Smith's polyandrous marrying is thus to reject several of his revelations, including angel visitations and "thus saith the Lord" dictations, and thereby to undermine his general credibility as a revelator. If Joseph Smith couldn't accurately distinguish an angel from a hallucination, or an angel of God from an angel of darkness, or if he merely made up self-serving "revelations," how can _any_ of his revelations be swallowed down uncritically? At minimum, a rejection of Joseph's polyandry revelations destroys the presumption that a revelation reported by Joseph Smith is genuinely from God. Each revelation, then, would need to be judged individually and accepted or rejected on its own merits.Is this providence or convenience? Joseph dictates the part of the Book of Mormon that mentions three special witnesses while all three are there with him. They beg Joseph to ask God if maybe they aren't the ones. When he finally gives in, Joseph immediately gets a revelation that says, if they have faith, rely on God's word and have full purpose of heart, they will see not only the plates but numerous other wonderful things. So they go to the woods and first spend a prolonged time in prayer. Nothing happens. They pray more. Nothing happens. Martin Harris volunteers to leave the group because he senses the others think he was the reason nothing was happening. As soon as Harris leaves, the others see the angel and plates, though there is no mention of any of the other items that had been promised. According to Joseph Smith's history, Joseph then goes to find Harris, and while praying together, Harris cries out, "Tis enough, tis enough; mine eyes have beheld; mine eyes have beheld;" (Ibid, p. 55). Even in this there is a conflict of testimony, for according to Harris, "I never saw the gold plates, only in a visionary or entranced state. ...In about three days I went into the woods to pray that I might see the plates. While praying I passed into a state of entrancement, and in that state I saw the angel and the plates." (Anthony Metcalf, Ten Years Before the Mast, n.d., microfilm copy, p. 70-71). Once again, in spite of the revelation that claimed they would see the plates as well as many other marvelous things, all they testified to seeing was an angel holding the plates. However, later in life, in an interview with Zenas Gurley, David Whitmer would testify that he saw "the Interpreters in the holy vision.") When Harris was asked if he saw the plates with his naked eyes, he would later admit he only saw the plates with a spiritual eye. (Wilford C. Wood, Joseph Smith Begins His Work, Vol. 1, 1958, introduction. This is a photomechanical reprint of the first edition [1830] of the Book of Mormon. It also contains biographical and historical information relating to the Book of Mormon.)
It becomes apparent from Harris' testimony and that of others, that this was a "visionary experience".
Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith were third cousins (Oliver Cowdery: The Elusive Second Elder of the Restoration, Phillip R. Legg, p. 17), and Cowdery also shared what must be considered a magical, mystical mindset. D. Michael Quinn in his book, Early Mormonism & the Magic World View, states, "Cowdery's use of a divining rod, however, does suggest that before 1829, he may have also had at least some knowledge of and experience with as trology and ceremonial folk magic" (p. 35). Brigham Young related a story from the life of Oliver Cowdery in which Cowdery claimed that he and Joseph Smith walked right into the Hill Cumorah with the gold plates of the Book of Mormon and put them back on a table. In this huge cave were piles of gold plates and a sword with writing on it (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 19, p. 38.).
While this experience with a cave of gold plates sounds more like a vivid dream, it was referred to as the gift of "second sight," or "seeing with the eyes of understanding. According to Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery had already seen the gold plates in a vision before becoming Joseph's scribe (Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, p. 8.). Martin Harris, before his experience as one of the three witnesses, told Joseph Smith, "Joseph, I know all about it. The Lord has showed me ten times more about it than you know." (Interview with Martin Harris in Tiffany's Monthly, 1859, p. 166).
David Whitmer's testimony varied as to the objective versus the subjective nature of the experience, but he also spoke of the angel and gold plates in visionary terms. In 1885 he was interviewed by Zenas Gurley. Gurley asked if Whitmer knew that the plates were real metal. Whitmer said that he did not touch or handle them. He was then asked if the table they were on was literal wood or if the whole thing was a like a vision. Whitmer replied that the table had the appearance of literal wood as shown in the vision, in the glory of God (Zenas H. Gurley, Jr., Interview with David Whitmer on January 14, 1885).
So, according to their own testimonies, all three witnesses describe a mystical, visionary, almost dreamlike experience in which they claim they saw an angel with the gold plates. And, contrary to the LDS church's portrayal, David Whitmer is the only one who saw the plates for the first time that day in the woods, since Oliver and Martin had apparently already seen them in a vision before that day. According to his own testimony, Martin Harris didn't see the angel with plates until he was alone in the woods three days later. This does not appear to be the factual, unquestionably objective event the Mormon church often portrays it to be.
The testimony of the eight other witnesses who claimed they handled actual plates, also has problems in several areas. The Mormon church always pictures all eight of them standing together in the woods, with Joseph showing them the plates. But according to the testimony of John Whitmer who was one of the eight witnesses, Joseph showed them to four people at one time in his house, and then later to four other people (Deseret Evening News, 6 August 1878, Letter to the editor from P. Wilhelm Poulson, M.D., typed transcript, p. 2). It is notable that these eight men fall naturally into two groups of four. The first group is comprised of four brothers of David Whitmer, who himself was one of the three witnesses: Christian, Jacob, Peter jun., and John Whitmer. The second four are Joseph Smith's father, Joseph's two brothers (Hyrum and Samuel) and Hiram Page, who was married to the Whitmer's sister, Catherine. Another sister, Elizabeth, married Oliver Cowdery. So, all the witnesses, except Martin Harris, were closely related to one another.
Another significant historical point regarding the eight witnesses comes from a letter dated April 15, 1838. It was written by a former Mormon leader named Stephen Burnett. In that letter, Burnett told how he heard Martin Harris state in public that Harris never saw the plates with his natural eyes but only in vision or imagination, and the same was true for Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer. Martin Harris went on to say that the eight witnesses never actually saw the plates either, and therefore, were hesitant to sign the statement, but were persuaded to do so.
According to the letter, Burnett and several other men publicly renounced the Book of Mormon. After they were done speaking, Martin Harris got up and said he was sorry for anyone who rejected the Book of Mormon, for he knew it was true, and said he would have never told them that the testimony of the eight witnesses was false if it had not been picked out of him, and that he should have left it as it was (Stephen Burnett, Letter in Joseph Smith Papers, Letter Book. Copy and typed transcript on file in office of Institute for Religious Research.) While some LDS scholars and apologists have tried to brush aside this testimony as "hearsay," it is corroborated by a letter cited in Wayne C. Gunnell's 1955 BYU dissertation. This letter, written by George A. Smith to Josiah Fleming and dated March 30, 1838 (a couple of weeks earlier than the Burnett letter), describes a similar scene with Martin Harris, Boyington, Parish, and Johnson, all of whom are mentioned in the Burnett letter.
The situation is further complicated by some puzzling statements made by the witnesses themselves. Only three of the eight witnesses made separate statements that they had handled the plates. They were Joseph's two brothers, Hyrum and Samuel, and John Whitmer. Hyrum and Samuel's statements are further qualified by their brother William who, in an interview, also claimed to have handled the plates. He said, "I did not see them uncovered, but I handled them and hefted them while wrapped in a tow frock and judged them to have weighed about sixty pounds. ... Father and my brother Samuel saw them as I did while in the frock. So did Hyrum and others of the family." When the interviewer asked if he didn't want to remove the cloth and see the bare plates, William replied, "No, for father had just asked if he might not be permitted to do so, and Joseph, putting his hand on them said; 'No, I am instructed not to show them to any one. If I do, I will transgress and lose them again.' Besides, we did not care to have him break the commandment and suffer as he did before." (Zion's Ensign, p. 6, January 13, 1894, cited in Church of Christ broadside)
John Whitmer's statements were the most detailed -- both the 1878 statement mentioned earlier and his 1839 statement to Theodore Turley where he said, "I now say, I handled those plates; there were fine engravings on both sides. ... they were shown to me by a supernatural power" (History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 307). Now if these were physical plates, presented to the eight witnesses while Joseph Smith held them on his knee, why did Whitmer qualify his statement by saying it happened by means of a supernatural power? One can only wonder why there was a need for a supernatural presentation of physical plates. Unless, of course, the Whitmer family was also shown the plates under a cloth, but was encouraged to see them with their eyes of faith. This, however, contradicts John Whitmer's 1878 interview where he states that his group of four were handed the plates "uncovered into our hands, and we turned the leaves sufficient to satisfy us." (Poulson letter to Deseret Evening News, previously cited, p. 2).
Just as puzzling is Hiram Page's testimony regarding his part as one of the eight witnesses. While he makes a veiled reference to "what I saw" he never mentions seeing or handling the plates, but instead emphasizes that Joseph had to have supernatural power to write such a book. He also says, "And to say that those holy Angels who came and showed themselves to me as I was walking through the field, to confirm me in the work of the Lord of the last days -- three of whom came to me afterwards and sang a hymn in their own pure language; yes, it would be treating the God of heaven with contempt, to deny these testimonies." (Ensign of Liberty, 1848, cited in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol 7:4, Winter 1972, p. 84.)
Statements like these raise serious questions about the witnesses, and what exactly happened with Joseph Smith. Yet, we still have the statements from the Mormon church that none of them ever denied their testimony of the Book of Mormon. This may be the case, but there is a possible exception. A reference in an LDS poem published in Times & Seasons, Vol. 2, p. 482, speaks of Oliver denying the Book of Mormon. Oliver Cowdery did later become a member of the "Methodist Protestant Church" in Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio. Before joining, it appears he made a complete and full renunciation of Mormonism. He later served as a Superintendent of the Sabbath-School, and Secretary of a church meeting and was recognized as a charter member (Affidavit quoted in The True Origin of Mormonism, by Charles A. Shook, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1914, pp. 58-59, cited in Case Against Mormonism, Vol. 2, p. 16; also The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, by D. Michael Quinn, Signature Books, 1994, p. 545).
Oliver Cowdery did return to the Mormon church and was rebaptized in October of 1848, but there are questions as to his motivation for joining and how long he remained a member after rejoining. Some Mormons were suspicious of his motives and against his rebaptism. There is interesting evidence that indicates Cowdery was never completely reconciled to the Mormon church. The Gospel Herald of November 1, 1849 carried the following comments: "You will observe also that they make no mention of Oliver Cowdery filling up their organization. The truth is, he is not the sort of man for them. It was a singular fit of mania by which he was led off after them, and seems to have lasted him but a few weeks . . . they would not trust power in his hands a single moment." (Cited in Case Against Mormonism, by Jerald & Sandra Tanner, 1968, p. 28)
Oliver Cowdery died, not in Utah, but at the home of fellow witness David Whitmer, who had also left the Mormon church. Whitmer makes it clear that Cowdery "died believing as I do to-day," which included a belief that Joseph was a fallen prophet, and that the Doctrine and Covenants contained false revelations (An Address to All Believers in Christ, 1887, pp. 1-2).
Martin Harris is also said to have rejoined the Mormon church and died in full fellowship, affirming his commitment to the Book of Mormon. Yet sources contemporary with Martin Harris referred to him as "feeble both in body and mind" (Des Moines Daily News, Oct. 16, 1886, cited in Case, p. 31). In fact, Anthony Metcalf who interviewed Harris wrote, "Harris never believed that the Brighamite branch of the Mormon church, nor the Josephite church, was right, because in his opinion, God had rejected them; but he did believe that Mormonism was the pure gospel of Christ when it was first revealed, I believe he died in that faith" (Ten Years Before the Mast, Anthony Metcalf, p. 73, microfilm copy).
Mormon writers have also acknowledged that Harris was religiously unstable, saying, "Martin Harris was an unaggressive, vacillating, easily influenced person" (E. Cecil McGavin, The Historical Background for the Doctrine & Covenants, p. 23, cited in Case, Vol. 2, p. 33). Wayne C. Gunnell in his 1955 BYU thesis on Martin Harris wrote, "Martin's motives in being baptized at that time are not known, but the data of later events would indicate a lack of sincerity." Gunnell goes on to quote a letter written in 1844 by Phineas Young to Brigham Young, "Martin Harris is a firm believer in Shakerism, says his testimony is greater than it was of the Book of Mormon" (Martin Harris - Witness and Benefactor to the Book of Mormon, Wayne C. Gunnell, BYU thesis, 1955, p. 52).
It is very significant that Joseph Smith himself called into question the moral integrity of at least four of the eleven witnesses. In History of the Church, vol. 3:232 he wrote: Such characters as McLellin, John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, are too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them." Because they had dared leave the Latter-day Saint church, these men and others were later driven away after being accused of being "united with a gang of counterfeiters, thieves, liars and blacklegs of the deepest dye, to deceive cheat and defraud" (Senate Document 189, 1841, p. 9). In all fairness to the witnesses, this appears to be character assassination with the intent of discrediting these men in the eyes of other Mormons. That way other people would think twice about leaving the Mormon church or listening to any further testimony from these witnesses.
According to historical evidence, the Mormon church's customary portrayal of the witnesses as eleven men of rational and critical mindsets, unquestioned honesty and integrity and unwavering commitment to the Mormon church and the Book of Mormon is far from true. Joseph Smith himself questioned their integrity, and many of them left the church and did not return.
There are also some questions left unanswered, such as, were there really gold plates, or did Joseph produce a prop which he kept covered in a cloth and allowed only certain relatives to see and lift? He had four years between when he announced he discovered the gold plates, and when he actually claimed to get them out of the ground. When did Joseph, Harris, Whitmer & Cowdery first find out there would be three special witnesses? The D&C records two different times when Joseph claimed to receive a revelation regarding BOM witnesses. The first came at the request of Martin Harris in March of 1829 (D&C 5). It warned Joseph not to show the plates except to those whom God commanded (vs. 3). This revelation went on to say that three witnesses would be given special power to see the plates, but "to none else will I grant this power" (D&C 5:13-14). According to this revelation, there would only be three witnesses.
Yet, in Joseph Smith's History of the Church, Vol. 1, pp. 52-53 previously cited, Joseph and Oliver did not discover there would be three witnesses until they were translating the Book of Mormon in late June of 1829 - at least three months later. A little while after this (no date is given) Joseph took it upon himself to show what he claimed were the BOM plates to the eight witnesses who were all related to one another. Joseph had them sign a testimonial. Apparently, showing the plates to his father and brothers did not require the power of God, but supernatural power was needed for showing them to John Whitmer. There was also no revelation giving him permission to show the plates, just a private meeting. At least one source indicates that Joseph showed the plates to two groups of four on separate occasions in his house, while other accounts say that all eight were together out in a grove.
One of the problems with relying on the Witnesses for the authenticity of Mormonism is the testimony of David Whitmer given later in life. In his Address to All Believers in Christ, page 27, Whitmer declares, "If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to 'separate myself from among the Latter-day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, so should it be done unto them.' 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."
This quote creates a quandary. If we accept Whitmer's testimony regarding his experience with the angel and the gold plates, then we must also accept his testimony that God also declared the current Mormon church is in a fallen state. To disavow the revelation he received stating that the Mormon church since 1838 has "gone deep into error and blindness" means we must hold as suspect his testimony to the Book of Mormon. Whitmer inseparably links the two events.
Even if the majority of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon did not deny their testimony of the book itself, this does little to support Mormonism today. Current Mormon doctrine on the nature of God, the priesthood, use of temples, baptism for the dead, and men becoming gods, is nowhere contained in the Book of Mormon. By 1847 not a single one of the surviving eleven witnesses was part of the Mormon church. Five of these witnesses joined The Church of Christ started by William McLellin, and Oliver Cowdery indicated he was supportive of this group, though he never joined. (D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy - Origins of Power, Signature Books, 1994, p. 188). If these men were alive today, they would be considered apostates who had turned their back on the Spirit of God. They would be cut off from the LDS church and condemned to outer darkness, regardless of whether or not they still believed in the Book of Mormon.
What are the facts? Eleven men claimed to witness the existence of plates they believed were the source for the Book of Mormon. Three of these men admitted the experience was subjective and visionary. Each of the first three witnesses saw the plates in a vision for the first time in a different place and time. The other eight witnesses were closely related to Joseph Smith either by blood or marriage. Only three of them claimed to see and handle that which had the appearance of being plates of gold, and could testify Joseph did have something that resembled plates with etchings after signing their name to the testimony document. Many of these witnesses left Joseph Smith and the organization that he started, believing at best that he was a fallen and false prophet. Joseph Smith himself, called into question the general character and reliability of several of these men. This, in spite of the fact that they were close friends and family of Joseph Smith.
These historical facts highlight another thread of Mormon history that has been misrepresented by LDS Church leaders. The witnesses' testimonies as a whole are presented as objective, solid, and irrefutable, but upon close examination are seen to be subjective, ambiguous and, at times, contradictory. The traditional portrayal of a tightly woven story of Mormon origins is slowly being unraveled by the historical evidence, much of which is now being compiled and published within the Mormon community itself.
Addendum:Another thread of the traditional Mormon story that is seriously misrep- resented by the LDS church has to do with the discovery and translation of the supposed gold plates of the Book of Mormon. The testimony of those who were closest to Joseph Smith state uniequivocally that Joseph never used the plates while doing the translation, he used his seer stone in his hat to both discover and translate the Book of Mormon. (Richard Van Wagoner & Steve Walker, "Joseph Smith: 'The Gift of Seeing,'" in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 15:2, Summer 1982, p. 53) If the plates were never used in the translation process, why the need for wit nesses? Why focus so much attention on gold plates in the first place? We attempt to answer these and related questions in the post entitled "Problems with the Book of Mormon Story."
Does this prove the plates were a true historical artifact versus a prop Joseph put together. No. The witnesses could only testify as to appearance, and Joseph Smith himself was later duped by forged plates in the Kinderhook incident.
On May 1, 1843, the Mormon Church's own publication, Times and Seasons, reprinted an article which claimed that a "resident in Kinderhook" dreamed "three nights in succession" that in a mound near his home "there were treasures concealed." Ten or twelve men dug into the mound and "found SIX BRASS PLATES." The plates were later brought to Nauvoo. In a letter written from that city, dated May 2, 1843, Charlotte Haven said that when Joshua Moore "showed them to Joseph, the latter said that the figures or writing on them was similar to that in which the Book of Mormon was written, and if Mr. Moore could leave them, he thought that by the help of revelation he would be able to translate them." (Overland MonthlyHYPERLINK "../images/overlandmonthlyp630.gif", Dec. 1890, page 630)
There is definite proof that Joseph Smim claimed he had translated a portion of the plates. The evidence comes from the diary of William Clayton, Joseph Smith's private secretary. Clayton wrote the following:
"I have seen 6 brass plates... covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates. Prest J. has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found and he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth." (William Clayton's Journal, May 1, 1843, as cited in Trials of Discipleship — The Story of William Clayton, a Mormon, page 117)
The information in Clayton's journal was deemed so important that it was used as a basis for the story of the Kinderhook plates which is printed in the History of the Church. The following is attributed to Joseph Smith:
"I insert facsimiles of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook . . . I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth." (History of the Church, Vol. 5 page 372)
Since Clayton's journal was apparently used as the major source for the statement attributed to Joseph Smith in the History of the Church, it shows that the highest leaders of the church at the time the History was compiled believed that Joseph Smith did, in fact, "translate a portion" of the plates. It is evident that President Brigham Young and other church leaders seriously believed in Joseph Smith's work on the Kinderhook plates for at least eleven years after the plates were discovered.
In 1854, eleven years after Joseph Smith translated a portion of the plates, the account was written into the "Manuscript History of the Church." Book D-1. It is obvious that the Mormon leaders would never have added this material to the Manuscript History unless they thought it was true.
According to Dr. W. Wyl's book, a "Mormon elder" told him that in "1858" the Apostle Orson Pratt said that he "was well convinced the plates were a fraud." (Mormon Portraits, 1886, page 211) Nevertheless, the story became an important part of Joseph Smith's History of the Church, and is still found in that work!
On January 15, 1844, the Mormon publication, Times and Seasons, boasted that the Kinderhook plates helped prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon:
"Why does the circumstance of the plates recently found in a mound in Pike county, III., by Mr. Wiley, together with ethnology and a thousand other things, go to prove the Book of Mormon true? — Ans. Because it is true!" (Times and Seasons, Vol. 5, page 406)
Significantly, over seven pages in the History of the Church are devoted to the Kinderhook plates. These pages not only contain the statement that Joseph Smith translated a portion of the plates but also drawings of the plates (see Vol. 5, pages 372-379)
At the time of the Civil War the Kinderhook plates were lost. Some time in the 1960s, however, M. Wilford Poulson, who taught at Brigham Young University told us that he found one of the original plates in the Chicago Historical Society Museum, but it was mislabeled as one of the original gold plates of the Book of Mormon. The plate that he found has been identified as no. 5 in the facsimiles found in the History of the Church. While Professor Poulson's research led him to believe that the plate was a forgery, in 1962 Welby W. Rides, who was President of the BYU Archaeological Society, hailed the discovery as a vindication of Joseph Smith's work.
In 1965, however, George M. Lawrence, a Mormon physicist, was given permission to examine and make "some non-destructive physical studies of the surviving plate." In his report Lawrence wrote: The dimensions, tolerances, composition and workmanship are consistent with the facilities of an 1843 blacksmith shop and with the fraud stories of the original participants."
Unfortunately, some Mormon scholars would not accept his work as conclusive. In 1980, however, the Mormon scholar Stanley P. Kimball was able "to secure permission" to have some experts make "some very sophisticated analytical" tests on the plate. Professor Kimball described the results of the tests in the official Mormon Church publication, The Ensign, August 1981, pp. 66-70:
"A recent electronic and chemical analysis of a metal plate... brought in 1843 to the Prophet Joseph Smith... appears to solve a previously unanswered question in Church history, helping to further evidence that the plate is what its producers later said it was - a nineteenth-century attempt to lure Joseph Smith into making a translation of ancient-looking characters that had been etched into the plates....
"As a result of these tests, we concluded that the plate... is not of ancient origin....the plate was etched with acid; and as Paul Cheesman and other scholars have pointed out, ancient inhabitants would probably have engraved the plates rather than etched them with acid. Secondly, we concluded that the plate was made from a true brass alloy (copper and zinc) typical of the mid-nineteenth century: whereas the 'brass' of ancient times was actually bronze, an alloy of copper and tin."
In The Mormon History Association Newsletter, June 1981, Stanley B. Kimball was quoted as saying:
"The time has come to admit that the Kinderhook Plate incident of 1843 was a light-hearted, heavy-handed, frontier-style prank, or 'joke' as the perpetrators themselves called it. That from the beginning anti-Mormons seized upon the incident to discredit Joseph Smith should not deter us from consigning the episode to the limbo of faked antiquities and to place forever the Kinderhook Plates on the bosom of the Cardiff Giant."
The implications of this matter are very serious indeed. As noted above, both the Clayton journal and the History of the Church claim that Joseph Smith "translated a portion" of the Kinderhook plates and found that they contain the history of "a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt..." Besides these references, there is other contemporary evidence that Joseph Smith "translated a portion" of the plates. On May 7, 1843, Apostle Parley P. Pratt wrote a letter containing the following:
" 'Six plates having the appearance of Brass have lately been dug out of the mound by a gentleman in Pike Co. Illinois. They are small and filled with engravings in Egyptian language and contain the genealogy of one of the ancient Jaredite back to Ham the son of Noah" (The Ensign, August 1981, page 73)
The reader will notice that Apostle Pratt's account agrees with that published in the History of the Church in stating that the Kinderhook plates contain information about a descendant of "Ham."
If Joseph Smith had not been murdered in June, 1844, it is very possible he might have published a complete "translation" of these bogus plates. Just a month before his death, it was reported that he was "busy in translating them. The new work which Jo. is about to issue as a translation of these plates will be nothing more nor less than a sequel to the Book of Mormon..." (Warsaw Signal, May 22, 1844)
The fact that Joseph Smith was actually preparing a translation of the plates is verified by a broadside published by the Mormon newspaper, The Nauvoo Neighbor, in June, 1843. On this broadside, containing facsimiles of the plates, we find the following: "The contents of the plates, together with a Fac-simile of the same, will be published in the 'Times and Seasons,' as soon as the translation is completed."
One Mormon scholar has argued that the "brevity" of Joseph Smith's translation of the Kinderhook plates "precludes the possibility" that Joseph Smith's' abilities as a translator" might be "called into question." We cannot agree with this conclusion. Joseph Smith's work on these fraudulent plates casts serious doubt upon his ability as a translator of Mormon scriptures like the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham.
In order for Smith to derive as much information as he did from the Kinderhook plates it would have been necessary for him to have "translated" a significant number of words. The reader will remember that the History of fhe Church says that he translated "a portion of them." Since Joseph Smith made a false translation of both the Kinderhook plates and the Book of Abraham found in the Pearl of Great Price, it casts a serious shadow of doubt over his work on the Book of Mormon. James D. Bales made this perceptive observation regarding the importance of the Kinderhook episode:
"What does it all add up to? Does it merely mean that one of the 'finds' which the Latter Day Saints believed supported the Book of Mormon does not support it, and that there is no real blow dealt to the prophetship of Joseph Smith? Not at all, for as Charles A. Shook well observed - in a personal letter to the author - 'Only a bogus prophet translates bogus plates.' Where we can check up on Smith as a translator of plates, he is found guilty of deception. How can we trust him with reference to his claims about the Book of Mormon? If we cannot trust him where we can check him, we cannot trust him where we cannot check his translation... Smith tried to deceive people into thinking that he had translated some of the plates. The plates had no such message as Smith claimed that they had. Smith is thus shown to be willing to deceive people into thinking that he had the power to do something that could not be done." (The Book of Mormon? 1958, pages 98-99)
It is very clear from the evidence that we have presented that professor Hamblin was very far from the mark when he stated that "Joseph Smith was only mildly interested in the Kinderhook plates." The plates were, in fact, very important to Smith, and he obviously desired to use them to help validate his own Book of Mormon.
It seems very strange that Joseph Smith did not detect that he was being set up. As we mentioned above, the church's Times and Seasons reprinted an article from another paper concerning the matter. The article was taken from the Quincy Whig and contained information that should have tipped Joseph Smith off that he was falling into a trap. To begin with, the perpetrators had a story which was somewhat similar to the account of Smith's discovery of the gold plates. The reader may remember that before Joseph Smith found the plates, he had three visitations from the angel in one night. According to the article cited in the Mormon publication, Times and Seasons, a "young man by the name of Wiley, a resident in Kinderhook, dreamed three nights in succession, that in a certain mound in the vicinity, there was treasures concealed." (Times and Seasons, Vol. 4, page 186)
When the treasure diggers dug into the mound they "found SIX BRASS PLATES, secured and fastened together by two iron wires...'(Ibid., page 187) In 1842, Joseph Smith said the Book of Mormon plates were "bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole." (History of the Church, Vol. 4, page 537) Although the Book of Mormon plates were supposedly made of gold, the text of the book itself frequently mentions that the Nephites also had "the plates of brass" (see 1 Nephi 3:12) which contained sacred writing. The Kinderhook forgers undoubtedly did not have access to any significant amount of gold, and even if they did have some gold they probably would not have trusted Joseph Smith with it. Consequently, they used brass plates to entice Smith to make a translation.
Like the Book of Mormon, the brass plates had "characters or hieroglyphics" on them which nobody was able to read. The article suggested that bones found in the mound might have belonged to "a person, or a family of distinction, in ages long gone by, and that these plates contain the history of the times, or of a people, that existed far - far beyond the memory of the present race." (Times and Seasons, Vol. 4, page 187)
Not surprisingly, Joseph Smith agreed with the suggestion that the bones might have belonged to a person or persons of importance and that the writing contained a history of an ancient people that had become extinct. The reader will remember that he asserted that he translated a portion of the plates and found that "they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth." (History of the Church, Vol. 5 page 372)
This certainly fits with Joseph Smith's pattern of exaggerating the importance of things he encountered. Forexample, in Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? pages 1-2, we demonstrated that Smith claimed the hill within just a few miles of his house known to Mormons as the Hill Cumorah was no ordinary hill. On this very hill two of the greatest battles in history were fought. Both the Nephite and the Jaredite civilizations met their fate on this relatively small hill in New York. When the Mormons went to Missouri, Joseph Smith said that the Garden of Eden was there, and he also claimed to find the very altar on which Adam offered sacrifices! While traveling toward independence, Missouri, Joseph Smith discovered the "skeleton of a man." As noted earlier, this was no ordinary skeleton. It was revealed to Joseph Smith by "the spirit of the Almighty" that "the person whose skeleton" was before him was "Zelph," a "white Lamanite" and a "man of God," who was killed during the "last great struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites." (History of the Church, Vol. 2, pp. 79-80)
In 1835, a man came to Kirtland, Ohio, with some mummies and Egyptian papyri. Joseph Smith purchased both the mummies and the papyri and made some startling statements about what he had obtained. Josiah Quincy, who visited Joseph Smith at Nauvoo, reported the following:
" 'And now come with me,' said the prophet 'and I will show you the curiosities.'... There were some pine presses fixed against the wall of the room. These receptacles Smith opened, and disclosed four human bodies, shrunken and black with age. 'These are mummies,' said the exhibitor. 'I want you to look at that little runt of a fellow over there. He was a great man in his day. Why, that was Pharaoh Necho, King of Egypt!' Some parchments inscribed with hieroglyphics were then offered us.... 'That is the handwriting of Abraham, the Father of the Faithful,' said the prophet. 'This is the autograph of Moses, and these lines were written by his brother Aaron. Here we have the earliest account of the Creation, from which Moses composed the First Book of Genesis.'... We were further assured that the prophet was the only mortal who could translate these mysterious writings, and that his power was given by direct inspiration.' (Figures of the Past, as cited in Among the Mormons, edited by William Mulder and Russell Mortensen, New York, 1958, pages 136- 137)
The reader will notice that Joseph Smith made the astounding claim that he found the very "handwriting of Abraham"on one of the papyrus documents. He claimed, in fact, that this document contained the Book of Abraham and that God gave him the power to translate it. This book is now accepted by the Mormons as scripture and is one of the four standard works of the church.
After his death the papyri were lost. Consequently, Egyptologists were not able to examine Smith's translation. In 1967, however, the church announced that the papyri had been rediscovered in Metropolitan Museum of Art. Not long after the papyri were brought to light a number of prominent Egyptologists examined them and found that they were all pagan documents which were buried with mummies.
One of the rolls of papyrus which Joseph Smith claimed was written by Joseph of Egypt was actually the Egyptian "Book of the Dead." The Egyptologist James Henry Breasted said that the Book of the Dead is "chiefly a book of magical charms." (Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, 1969, page 308)
Mormon writers have admitted that this is the case. On page 9 of the Newsletter and Proceedings of the Society for Early Hisroric Archaeology, Brigham Young University, March 1, 1968, we find this statement: "The Book of the Dead is a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary texts consisting of spells and incantations understood to assist the soul of the departed dead during his perilous journey through the afterlife. It would presumably be pagan in spirit and have nothing to do with any scripture written by Abraham."
The papyrus scroll Joseph Smith "translated" as the "Book of Abraham" turned out to be nothing but the Egyptian "Book of Breathings." The Book of Breathings is just a condensed version of the Book of the Dead. According to Egyptologists, the papyrus scroll Joseph Smith obtained was not written until near the time of Jesus Christ - about 2000 years after the time of Ahraham! This, of course, completely nullifies Joseph Smith's statement to Josiah Ouincy that the papyrus contained "the handwriting of Abraham." Interestingly, the same false claim appears in the introduction to "The Book of Abraham" which is found in the current printing of the Pearl of Great Price: "The writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus."
While the names of at least fifteen Egyptian gods or goddesses are mentioned on the papyrus, Egyptologists have not found a word about either Abraham or his religion. For more information on the Book of Abraham see our book Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? pages 294-369-D.
Joseph Smith published his translation of the Book of Abraham in the Times and Seasons in 1842. Since the science of Egyptology was only in its infancy at that time, his detractors were unable to disprove Smith's claims concerning the Book of Abraham. As early as 1860, however, the Egyptologist T. Deveria did work with the very poor facsimiles printed in the Book of Abraham and discovered significant evidence that Joseph Smith did not have the slightest idea of what the Egyptian papyrus contained. It was not until 1957, however, that Egyptologists were able to see actual photographs of the papyrus. It was not long after that that they were able to demonstrate that Joseph Smith's purported translation was spurious.
It was about a year after the publication of the Book of Abraham that Joseph Smith began his "translation" of the Kinderhook plates. Although we do not know whether the author of the article in the Quincy Whig had any knowledge of the hoax to entrap Joseph Smith, it almost seems that there was a deliberate attempt to get the Mormon prophet interested in making a translation of the plates. In the Quincy Whig article cited in the Mormon publication, Times and Seasons, we find what appears to be an appeal to Joseph Smith's ego:
"Some pretend to say, that Smith the Mormon leader, has the ability to read them. If he has, he will confer a great favor on the public by removing the mystery which hangs over them. We learn there was a Mormon present when the plates were found, who it is said, leaped for joy at the discovery, and remarked that it would go to prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon - which it undoubtedly will....
"The plates above alluded to, were exhibited in this city last week, and are now, we understand, in Nauvoo, subject to the inspection of the Mormon Prophet. The public curiosity is greatly excited, and if Smith can decipher the hieroglyphics on the plates, he will do more towards throwing light on the early history of this continent, than any man now living.' (Quincy Whig, as cited in Times and Seasons, Vol. 4, pages 186-187)
On June 30, 1879, W. Fugate wrote a letter in which he confessed the hoax:
"I received your letter in regard to those plates, and I will say in answer that they are a humbug, gotten up by Robert Wiley, Bridge Whitten and myself....
"We read in Pratt's prophecy that 'Truth is yet to spring out of the earth.' We concluded to prove the prophecy by way of a joke. We soon made our plans and executed them. Bridge Whitton cut them out... Wiley and I made the hieroglyphics by making impressions on beeswax and filling them with acid and putting it on the plates." (The Kinderhook Plates, by Welby W. Ricks, reprinted from the Improvement Era, Sept. 1962)
Whether or not the writer of the article in the Quincy Whig knew the plates had been forged, it is obvious that Joseph Smith fell for the bait, hook, line, and sinker. Since Joseph Smith did not know the difference between ancient and modern brass plates, as the evidence clearly shows, and was oblivious to the fact that the hieroglyphics were forged, we cannot have any confidence in his work. While the Mormon leaders are supposed to have special powers of discernment, Joseph Smith certainly did not demonstrate a capability to discern when he was being tricked. Even the present leader of the church, the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, was taken in by Mark Hofmann's forgeries and actually bought some of these documents for the church! In one instance he paid Hofmann $15,000 for a forged letter which was purportedly written by the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith. For a complete treatment of the Kinderhook affair see our book, Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? pages 111-115, 125G-125I.
Joseph Smith's mother said in her book about Joseph that he had the ability to tell great stories in vivid detail which kept the family entertained.
Notes on "The Golden Pot" / An influence of the making of the Book of Mormon? Grant H. Palmer
I have received inquiries from people seeking additional information and clarification on my "Moroni and the Golden Pot" chapter, found in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins. I both hoped for and expected such a discussion. I have never believed that "The Golden Pot" was the only influence upon Joseph Smith's angel and golden-plates story. In my book, I have written that "regardless of where the motifs in the New York narrative came from, most of them, including the basic storyline, were already present in some form in the environment."1 "The Golden Pot," other treasure motifs, and his own personal experience all influenced Joseph Smith's narrative.
The Cumorah Cave and "The Golden Pot"
Fifty-one of Palmyra's leading citizens said the Smith family was "famous for visionary projects."2 One of these centered on a nearby glacial drumlin, later called Hill Cumorah. Orsamus Turner said there were "[l]egends of hidden treasure" associated with the hill and Martin Harris said that "money [was] supposed to have been hidden [there] by the ancients." This is what drew the Smith family to the hill.3 Between 1820 and 1827, both father and son were digging at and having experiences with Cumorah's guardian spirit. Before, during, and after the golden plates saga, the Smiths were engaged in seeking its treasures.4 There is solid evidence that, during this eight-year period, Joseph Smith and his father both claimed to have seen into the caves of the surrounding hills using second sight. The family freely shared these experiences with others.5 Katherine, Joseph's sister, said that Joseph "went frequently to the hill and upon returning would tell us, 'I have seen the records.'"6 Lucy Smith and Henry and Martin Harris all heard from Joseph that it was by means of a seer stone that he was able to view the records hidden in the hill.7 Over time, Cumorah's cave became increasingly important to the family. Joseph Jr. informed Orson Pratt: "[T]he grand repository of all the numerous records of the ancient nations of the western continent was located in the hill [Cumorah], and its contents under the charge of holy angels."8 According to the Smiths, Moroni was the hill's primary guardian.9
The magical worldview of the Smith family and the mystical world of the "The Golden Pot" story are remarkably similar. Archivarius (meaning archivist) Lindhorst is the principle guardian of the treasures at his "ancient residence," just as Moroni is the primary guardian of Cumorah's treasures. Young Anselmus has a working relationship with Lindhorst that centers around his house. Joseph Smith has a recurring relationship with Moroni at the latter's cave headquarters. Anselmus and Joseph Smith can conveniently walk to their nearby house and cave in a short time. The house and cave both open upon their approach. Anselmus is greeted by Lindhorst and Smith is greeted by Moroni. Both of these beings are the last archivists of their respective civilizations.10 They are in charge of vast treasures including numerous "rolls of parchment"11 and from the destroyed civilization of Atlantis on one hand and plates of precious metal from the Jaredites and Nephites on the other hand.
Anselmus and Joseph meet with their guardians both inside and outside of their house or cave. Anselmus meets with Lindhorst "in the garden," in "high groves with trees," in the azure room where "the grove opens," and under trees in meadows.12 Lucy Smith said "the angel would meet [Joseph] in the garden," in a "sacred grove," and under a tree in a meadow.13 Lindhorst appears in majestic form in "his damask dressing gown which glittered like phosphorus."14 He also appears as a nice old man on the streets of Dresden and elsewhere15 with "white" hair, dressed in a "gray gown" and wearing "his three-cocked military hat."16 He also protects Anselmus against the evil "spirits" who seek his treasure on the equinox17 and treats Anselmus to "show and tell" sessions at a nearby café, providing instant "fire" by snapping his fingers and telling about his historical past.18 Moroni similarly appears in a majestic form in a "robe" that was "exceedingly white and brilliant."19 He also appears along Palmyra roads as a nice "old man going to Cumorah" and elsewhere with "white hair," dressed in "gray apparel," wearing a "military half cocked hat." Moroni protects Joseph against evil "spirits" who seek his treasure on the equinox. Moroni plows a field at the Whitmer farm and is seen about their sheds. Leman Copley, an early church member, said Smith told him and Joseph Knight Sr. that he saw and conversed with "Moroni" as "an old man" traveling to "Charzee." Joseph said Moroni claimed to have a monkey in a box and that for "five coppers" he could see it.20 Moroni meets Joseph and tells him about his past. The witnesses "went into a grove" to behold the angel and the gold plates. They are also shown other artifacts and watch as Moroni returns them to "the cave." Later, the gold plates are returned to the "cave" by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.21
It is also significant that both the house and cave contain a number of high and large chambers that are filled with Egyptian artifacts, illuminated golden treasures, swords, and fine furnishings. Within these vast libraries are seeric devices, breastplates, gilded books, and tripods containing priceless artifacts from the ancient past.22 Both guardians defend their treasures at all costs. They appear as frightful old men, as a "transparent, white serpent [covered] with blood," a "toad" (or something that looked "like a toad"), and a "bleeding ghost" [whose] "clothes were bloody," all for the purpose of keeping the treasures from the unauthorized.23 There is really only one important variation in all these descriptions: Anselmus sees all this in dreams, whereas Joseph Smith said they took place in reality.
A Brief Synopsis of "The Golden Pot"
"The Golden Pot" fairy tale is about Anselmus, a young man who has a split personality. His real life is dull, ordinary, and without meaning. Life in his fantasy dreams is exciting, unordinary and full of import. Anselmus is a theology student, but he usually prefers his fantasy world to his studies. His friends, such as theology professor Paulmann, the professor's daughter Veronica, and the college registrar Heerbrand all regard him as essentially "mad." When Anselmus is in fantasy, Paulmann becomes Archivarius Lindhorst, the last archivist of Atlantis. Hoffmann clearly tells us that Lindhorst does not live in the flesh but has "existence in the world of spirits."24 Veronica becomes Serpentina, one of Lindhorst's three daughters, who appear as little green snakes. Herrbrand seemingly has no counterpart but may be a portrayal of Anselmus at times. A nice old woman named Liese is in the story; she becomes an old witch in the fantasy dreams.
An important key to this fairy tale is that whenever Lindhorst, Serpentina, or the old witch are mentioned, Anselmus is in his dream world. Sometimes his dreams include real people mixed with the fantasy figures. After Vigil Eight, Anselmus, who "has long been mente Captus," increasingly withdraws until in Vigil Twelve he is completely removed "to the mysterious [Atlantean] land of wonders."25 In other words, he commits suicide. After Vigil Eight, except for a few flashbacks, there is no connection between the fairy tale and Joseph Smith's account of obtaining gold plates.
Vigil One:The First Vision of the Evening—Receiving a Message
In early evening on Ascension Day, Anselmus is under an elder tree meditating about his shortcomings as one of God's future ministers. He passes into a dream experience and sees the three daughters of Lindhorst, each in the form of a green snake in the elder tree. One of the daughters, Serpentina, speaks to Anselmus, but he does not fully comprehend. Only after his fourth vision does the message become clear.26 Lindhorst is nearby in his study, across the river, listening and aware of what is transpiring but does not speak to Anselmus.27
Vigil Two:The Second Vision of the Evening—Called to "Translate" Rare Documents
Upon awakening from his first fantasy dream, Anselmus is thought to be drunk or a bit crazy, especially in the eyes of his friends Paulmann, Veronica, and Heerbrand. They invite Anselmus to Paulmann's house to shake off his vision. Now late but still at the Paulmann house, Anselmus has a second dream experience. In this dream (and we know it's a fantasy because the fairy-figure Lindhorst is present), Heerbrand informs Anselmus that Lindhorst needs a secretary to copy the ancient records of his Atlantean civilization. Interested, Anselmus agrees to visit Lindhorst the following morning. Still in his dream, Anselmus does so. On the way he: (1) thinks about the generous salary and gift (a seeric pot) that he will receive; (2) encounters an evil witch, who tells him telepathically that he will fail in his assignment; (3) is frightened by the old witch at Lindhorst's doorstep; (4) and is abused by "a white serpent," who is Lindhorst in one of his frightful forms. Paulmann, finding Anselmus "lying quite senseless at the door" (in other words, still dreaming), returns him to his home.28 Thus, "on returning to his senses, he [Anselmus] was lying on his own poor truckle-bed." Paulmann is there when he awakes and again thinks Anselmus is "mad."
Vigil Three:The Third Vision of the Evening—Hearing the History of Atlantis
Still in bed, Anselmus dreams he is at a café with Heerbrand. They listen to (fairy-figure) Lindhorst give a brief historical account of his life, which includes the founding of Atlantis by his ancestors. Anselmus agrees to copy Lindhorst's Atlantean manuscripts, promising to come "tomorrow" (his second try) and commence the work no matter what the obstacles.
Vigil Four:The Morning Vision (4th)—The Message Becomes Clear
Again under the elder tree, "no sooner had he [Anselmus] seated himself on it than the whole vision which he had previously seen as in a heavenly trance again came floating before him. It was clearer to him now than ever." Anselmus believes this is confirmation that everything the "glorious dreams have promised me of [in] another higher world shall be fulfilled."
Anselmus is so excited that he thereafter spends "every evening" under the elder tree. One evening Lindhorst appears and chastises him, asking him why he has not come to do the scribal work as promised. Anselmus says that it was because of the frightful experiences on Lindhorst's doorstep. Lindhorst tells him, "I have waited for several days in vain." Anselmus again promises to come "tomorrow."
Vigil Five:Waiting for the Fall Equinox
Vigil Five opens with Anselmus having for "two days been copying manuscripts at Archivarius Lindhorst's." Lindhorst likes the work the young man is doing, but it is too soon to know if he will be suitable for the Atlantean history project. "We will talk of it this time a year from now," it is decided. Meanwhile, a nice old woman named Liese induces Anselmus's fiancée, Veronica, to venture out on a fall equinox adventure. The old woman will conjure Anselmus and assure a happy future for them, but only if Veronica is present. Loving Anselmus, and desperate "to rescue him from the phantoms, which were mocking and befooling him," Veronica agrees.29 When the fall equinox arrives, we see Liese become an old witch in Veronica's fantasy dream. The witch's true motive is to kill Anselmus, her competition, and obtain the seeric pot for herself.30
Vigil Six:Another Visit—A Period of Probation
In another dream, Anselmus reaches Lindhorst's house and the door swings open on its own. Lindhorst appears and takes him through the following rooms: (1) "the garden" room or "greenhouse," with various birds, flowers, and trees; (2) several other decorated rooms all containing "glittering wondrous furniture and other unknown things"; and (3) a blue room containing "palm-trees" with glittering "leaves"—each leaf "a roll of parchment."31 In the middle of the blue room, resting on a tripod of Egyptian lions, is an Egyptian breastplate; resting on it is a seeric golden pot. Anselmus is most excited about the seeric device. Continuing, they arrive at a "library" where Anselmus will work. Lindhorst hands him an Arabic manuscript to copy and explains that "while laboring here, you are under going a season of instruction." As Anselmus finishes each manuscript, Lindhorst hands him another, then another, and so forth. Anselmus is promised that if he is successful, he will work in the blue room. The young man gains confidence, encouraged by Serpentina. At day's end, Lindhorst is obviously pleased with his protégé's work and appears in a majestic form to praise and compensate him. Excited about his work, Anselmus no longer thinks about getting rich.
Vigil Seven:On the Equinox—Anselmus Passes His Test
The old woman and Veronica now "undertake the adventure of the Equinox." They "went at midnight" and "conjured certain hellish spirits" by drawing a magic circle and performing certain other rituals. When Anselmus is conjured up, the old woman reveals herself to be the evil witch and issues a command to her "hellish spirits" to "Bite him to death." Lindhorst arrives in the form of an eagle to save Anselmus and send the crone home. Using a "bright polished metallic mirror," Veronica sees her fiancée "sitting in a stately chamber" (the blue room rather than the usual library) with the strangest furniture and diligently writing at a desk encircled by "large books with gilt leaves." Veronica wakes "as from a deep dream" in which she has learned that Anselmus has passed his probationary test.
Vigil Eight:"Translating" the Atlantean History
Anselmus was seen by his fiancée on the equinox in the room with the golden pot, breastplate, and special records. But in Anselmus's dream, Lindhorst makes him wait a few more days before "translating" the Atlantean records. As an apprentice—while on probation—Anselmus was a scribe only. However, now that he has seen the higher purpose of his assignment, beyond the money, he will leave the common library and the work of copying of manuscripts and graduate to the blue room and a more difficult assignment. In the blue room, Lindhorst pulls a leaf from one of the many palm trees in the room, "and Anselmus saw that the leaf was in truth a roll of parchment, which the Archivarius unfolded, and spread out before the Student on the table." The writing is a mixture of Arabic, Coptic, and some in an unknown tongue. Anselmus "directed his eyes and thoughts more and more intensely on the superscription of the parchment roll; and before long he felt, as it were from his inmost soul, that the characters could denote nothing else than these words: Of the marriage of the Salamander with the green snake," a reference to Lindhorst's distant ancestors who founded Atlantis. Continuing beyond the superscription, Anselmus begins to write the story of Lindhorst "and his history." He receives the translation in the form of inspirational whispers from Serpentina, an Atlantean, while Anselmus is in a state of dreamy musings. At the end of the first day, when Anselmus "awoke as from a deep dream, the copy of the mysterious manuscript was fairly concluded; and he thought, on viewing the characters more narrowly, that the writing was nothing else but Serpentina's story of her father [Lindhorst] in Atlantis, the land of marvels." "Day by day" Anselmus continues to write or "translating" Lindhorst's history in this manner. In other words, he is not merely transferring foreign characters from one document to another but is receiving understanding, knowledge, and meaning.
Similar Quotes from Smith and "The Golden Pot"
I use the 1827 Carlyle translation, the version available to the Smith family, for the following quotations. Modern translations vary in nuance and are less usefull for comparison with the Joseph Smith narrative. The quotes below follow the chronology of the E. T. A. Hoffmann story. Each numbered item contains a quote first from Hoffmann, then from the Smith family.
1. "Through all his limbs there went a shock like electricity" / "produced a shock that affected the whole body," "occasioned a shock or sensation, visible to the extremities of the body."32
2. The script was "partly Arabic, strange characters, which do not belonging to any known tongue" / "some unknown tongue; with few exceptions, the characters were Arabic."33
3. Anselmus is dressed "at variance with all fashion" / Joseph Smith wore "old fashioned" clothing that was dark and mostly "black."34
4. Anselmus is abused by a "transparent, white serpent.[covered with] blood" / "something like a toad," "looked some like a toad," a "bleeding ghost" whose "clothes were bloody."35
5. "A brief" overview of the Atlanteans and the source from which they "had sprung" / "a brief sketch" of the Nephites and the source from which "they sprang."36
6. Sitting in "deep thought" under an "elder tree" by a "green kindly sward," Anselmus looked "ill" / in "deep study" under an "apple tree" by a "green sward," Joseph looked "sick".37
7. "Why did you not come to me and set about your work" / "I had not been engaged enough in the work."38
8. They "will talk of it a year from now" / "come again in one year."39
9. They "act strictly by the Archivarius' directions" / "attending strictly to the [Moroni's] instruction."40
10. "The door opened" / "a door ["the hill"] opened." 41
11. "The garden" room contains "high groves and trees," the "blue chamber" is "a large apartment," and the "workroom" library is a particularly "high room" / "large and spacious chambers," "a room about 16 ft. square," "a large and spacious room," "chambers."42
12. Rooms without "windows" where a "dazzling light shone[; he] could not discover where it came from" / "brilliantly lighted, but did not notice the source."43
13. A seeric device of "the fairest metal [and] diamond; in its glitter shall our kingdom of wonders" be seen / "two large bright diamonds set in [metal]," "diamonds set in silver."44
14. One could "see the marvels of the Golden Pot" / "see anything; they are Marvelous."45
15. The library was "lined on all sides with bookshelves, and [there] stood a large writing table" / "the room had shelves around it," "a large table that stood in the room."46
16. "You are undergoing a season of instruction" / "received instruction and intelligence."47
17. "Kneeling," Veronica heard "hateful voices [that] bellowed and bleated, yelled and hummed" / Emma "kneeled" and heard "devils began to screech and to scream, and made all sorts of hideous yells."48
18. Gone from "midnight" until "daylight" / from "twelve o'clock" until "breakfast."49
19. Attacked by "hellish spirits" / "Lucifer[s] spirits," "host of devils."50
20. "[T]he Archivarius would hand him another" document when "Anselmus had finished the last letter" / "The angel brought each plate [to Joseph] and took it way as he finished it."51
21. "Parchment leaves" / "piece of parchment."52
22. The source document is "scarcely needed / only "when he was inexperienced."53
23. Lindhorst appeared in a "gown which glittered like phosphorus," / Moroni's "robe [was] exceedingly white and brilliant," "garments were white above all whiteness."54
24. Lindhort is "the Prince of the Spirits" / Moroni is "the prince of spirits."55
25. Lindhorst's hair is "white," he wears a "gray gown" and "three-cocked military hat" / Moroni's hair is "white," he dresses in "gray apparel" and wears a "military half cocked hat."56
For a discussion of other motifs in Smith's story of the golden plates and E. T. A. Hoffmann's story of the golden pot, see An Insider's View, 147-170
The problems in the early history of the LDS Church are numerous. Modern-day LDS general authorities have told the saints not to read any of the dead prophets because in my opinion they will find a church so foreign to them compared to the church today. Instead, the saints today are encouraged to read the faithful, sanitized history of the church where the facts have been altered and sanitized enough to make them easy to swallow remembering to have faith in all things you don't understand or that if it's a mystery, we shouldn't delve into it. I pushed past those cautions made by church leadership and read early church history and books about early church doctrine for years. I too just accepted things I didn't understand by saying that with faith and in time, I'll understand it all. In the meanwhile, the crap I was reading just kept piling up.
Here's a very interesting link by a friend of mine who has also left the church, Dr. Robert Beckstead: www.mormonelixir.org The research done makes a case that Joseph Smith was spiking the sacramental wine with natural Psychedelic Substances to Facilitate Visionary Experiences for himself and the church membership. It's an interesting read.
CHRIST AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVIOR OR WAS HE PART ANUNNAKI?
And the holy ghost came upon Mary, a thirteen year old child, and she conceived a son she named Jesus who would be heralded in the years to come as the savior of this world and would take upon himself the sins of this world. We have since learned as mormons that in reality, God the father had sex with his own daughter and she conceived a demi-god son named Jesus. The 3 wisemen followed a star for months while other historians say years, to find this Jesus. This story smacks of the anunnaki who loved to take earthwomen as wives and produce demi-god offspring using these children as their prophets and kings upon the earth to do their bidding and to keep control of the people. Additionally, I saw it strange that wisemen could follow a star from a far land to find Jesus a little strange. Perhaps this new star was nothing more than a beam of light from the flying discs of the anunnaki that led the wisemen to Jesus. A well orchestrated story for the purpose of manipulating mankind well into the future until this Jesus returns in his 2nd coming to continue the manipulaton of mankind. In his youth, Jesus was taken to Egypt, a well organized stronghold of the anunnaki god Marduk. The land of Moses, the land of pyramids, the ark of the covenant and many strange gods only until you know and understand the story of the anunnaki. The resurrection of Christ is nothing new to the anunnaki. Their records tell of technology to raise the dead. A great way to have people be indebted to you is tell them that you are taking upon youself all their sins if you but repent and that you are breaking the bonds of death so you can live again. I've lived a multitude of times upon this earth. Many of those times were well before the death and resurrection of Christ and the same goes for you. We are eternal beings already blessed from creation with eternal life. No one has to pay for anyone elses sins. As we make mistakes in this life, we take what we learned or the mistakes we made and take them into our next moratity to work them out. In this way we are paying for the sins we committed and will continue to pay for them which is nothing more than carrying them with us from mortality to mortality until we get it right. We had a saying in chiropractic college that if you failed neuroanatomy 3 times and then on the 4th try passed the class, what would you call that student? A chiropractor. We all eventually get it right even if it takes what seems endless courses of morality on this or other planets.
Does religion play a good part in people's lives? Yes and no. Yes, in as much as it teaches many good principles to make a moral people and society. No, as it uses fear of hell, damnation or the displeasure of a god for ones incorrect actions in this life. Like ones belief in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus, with time, one outgrows things. We can be a moral and honest person and not take part in organized religions. I'm happy to be out of it which now gives me another day to enjoy as I see fit since the 7th day of rest was initially just that, a day of rest from working hard for the other 6 days of the week. I no longer pay tithing but I have learned from years of paying it to be a giving person. I give as the spirit prompts me. I always have. Listening and obeying these promptings is the key to happiness in this and every other life we live in morality.
Does God hear our prayers? Mormons believe in a God that is so powerful, that he can hear the prayers and know the needs of his billions of children upon the earth and in the spirit world. We have made him out to be a supergod of gods. Then again, within mormonism, there are some practical saints that have god to be less than superhuman. That he has an organization set up to hand things such as prayer requests and needs unspoken from the heart. Some would call this the Holy Ghost that only mormons have the gift or right to though it may occassionally have a part in the lives of non-mormons. This is laughable. This would make God a god of favorites since mormons are but a very minority in the world today. In reality, we each have beings on the other side of the veil that hear our needs via prayer or the righteous desires of our hearts or just know the path we need to go on for things to happen in our lives and for us to learn those lessons we have come to earth to learn. All people of the world have the same access to these beings equally. So, does God personally hear our prayers? No, but He knows our needs and has set up an organization to hear those needs and to help us grow to achieve what we need to in each mortalitiy until we graduate from earthly mortalities.
There is a true God. He is not the god of the old testament or the new. He is not mentioned in any of the scriptures. He is the true creator. He does not require worship, our money or anything else from us. He has not set up men or the arm of flesh to be our leaders here on earth. He wants us to be happy and to grow in that happiness. This is done by coming into mortality after mortality until we get it right and to learn love and have charity for others.
THE WORDS OF LORD ENKI (taken from: THE LOST BOOK OF ENKI / Zecharia Sitchin - translator) (BTW: Enki is an alien, he's not my lord - DOC)
The words of Endubsar, master scribe, son of Eridu city, servant of the lord Enki, great god. In the seventh year after the Great Calamity, in the second month, on the seventeenth day, I was summoned by my master the Lord Enki, great god, benevolent fashioner of Mankind (he manipulated DNA to create man), omnipotent and merciful. Here are the prophetic words of Enki so similar to those in the book of Revelation but written and recorded thousands of years earlier:
"In the future shall it be judged, for at the end of days a Day of judgment there shall be. On that day the Earth shall quake and the rivers shall change course, and there shall be darkness at noon and a fire in the heavens in the night, the day of the returning celestial gods will it be. And who shall survive and who would perish, who shall be rewarded and who will be punished, gods and men alike, on that day shall it be discovered; for what shall come to pass by what had passed shall be determined; and what was destined shall in a cycle be repeated, and what was fated and only 12 by the heart's will occurring for good or ill shall for judgment come . . . Of all that, Endubsar, to the people you shall tell. And there was a pause and a silence. And I, Endubsar, bowed to the ground and said: But how will I know what to say? And the voice of the lord Enki said: The signs will be in the heavens, and the words to utter shall come to you in dreams and in visions. And after you there will be other chosen prophets. And in the end there will be a New Earth and a New Heaven, and for prophets there will be no more need. And then there was silence, and the auras were extinguished, and the spirit left me. And when I regained my senses, I was in the fields outside Eridu. Seal of Endubsar, masters scribe.
(Spoken and recorded on clay tablets over 6,000 years ago)
This is all but a sliver of what I've read and keep on reading day by day, learning what those through the veil of forgetfulness would have me know. For all to know if you ask.
If the LDS Church or any other man made church still floats your boat, stay aboard and enjoy.
Doc / L. De Lynn Hansen
