Chapter IV

The Theology of the Movement

The Book of Mormon

 A brief analysis of the Book of Mormon shows that there were four classes of record plates allegedly revealed to Joseph Smith.

 1.      The plates of  Nephi, which as the text of the book makes clear, were of two kinds.

a. the larger plates:  These were devoted to the secular history of the people.

                        b. the smaller plates:  These were devoted to the sacred records.

2. The plates of Mormon, containing an abridgment from the plates of  Nephi, made by Mormon,  with  many  commentaries  and  a  continuation  of  the  history by himself,  and with further additions by Moroni, son of Mormon.

3. The plates of Ether, containing a history of the Jaredites, which account was abridged by Moroni, who inserted comments of his own, and incorporated the record with the general history under the title, book of Ether.

4. The brass plates of Laban, mentioned throughout the Book of Mormon, are alleged to have  been  brought  by  the  people  of   Lehi from Jerusalem, and containing Hebrew Scriptures  and  genealogies,   many  extracts   from   which   appear   in   the  Nephite records.

 In an attempt to validate the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith put forth this claim:

... I commenced copying the characters off the plates.  I copied a considerable number of them, and by means of the Urim and Thummin I translated some of them... Mr. Martin Harris came to our place, got the characters which I had drawn off the plates, and started with them to the city of New York.  For what took place relative to him and the characters, I refer to his own account of the circumstances, as he related them to me after his return, which was as follows:  “I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Charles Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments.  Professor Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian.  I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said that they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters.”1

There is a problem.   Joseph  Smith’s  claim,  that  Professor  Charles  Anthon of Columbia University, validated his translation, is completely false.  Professor Anthon  made  no  such statement.  E. D. Howe, a contemporary of Joseph Smith, wrote Professor Anthon concerning Smith’s claim, and a copy of the professor’s reply to Mr. Howe is reproduced  in  Martin’s Kingdom of the Cults.

New York, N.Y., Feb. 17, 1834
Mr. E. D. Howe
Painseville, Ohio

 Dear Sir:

     I received this morning your favor of the 9th instant, and lose no time in making a reply.  The whole story about my having pronounced the Mormonite inscription to be “reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics” is perfectly false.  Some years ago, a plain, and apparently simplehearted farmer, called upon me with a note from Dr. Mitchell of our city, now deceased, requesting me to decipher, if possible, a paper, which the farmer would hand me, and which Dr. Mitchell confessed he had been unable to understand.  Upon examining the paper in question, I soon came to the conclusion that it was all a trick, perhaps a hoax.  When I asked the person, who brought it , how he obtained the writing he gave me, as far as I can now recollect, the following account:  A ”gold book,” consisting of a number of plates of gold, fastened together in the shape of a book by wires of the same metal, had been dug up in the northern part of  the state of New York, and along with the book an enormous pair of “gold spectacles”!  These spectacles were so large, that, if a person attempted to look through them, his two eyes would have to be turned towards one of the glasses merely, the spectacles in question being altogether too large for the breadth of the human face.  Whoever examined the plates through the spectacles, was enabled not only to read them, but fully to understand their meaning. All this knowledge, however, was confined at the time to a young man, who had the trunk containing the book and spectacles in his sole possession.  This young man was placed behind a curtain, in the garret of a farmhouse, and , being thus concealed from view,  put on the spectacles occasionally, or rather, looked through one of the glasses, deciphered the characters in the book, and, having committed some of them to paper, handed copies from behind the curtain, to those who stood on the outside.  Not a word, however was said about the plates having been deciphered “by the Gift of God.”   Everything in this way, was effected by the large pair of spectacles.   The farmer added, that he had been requested to contribute a sum of money towards the publication of the “golden book,” the contents of which would, as he had been assured, produce an entire change in the world and save it from ruin.  So urgent had been these solicitations, that he intended selling his farm and hand over the amount received to those who wished to publish the plates.  As a last precautionary step, however, he had resolved to come to New York, and obtain the opinion of the learned about the meaning of the paper which he brought with him, and which had been given him as part of the contents of the book, although no translation had been furnished at the time by the young man with the spectacles.  On hearing this odd story, I changed my opinion about the paper, and, instead of viewing it any longer as a hoax upon the learned, I began to regard it as part of a scheme to cheat the farmer of his money, and I communicated my suspicions to him, warning him to beware of rogues.  He requested an opinion from me in writing, which of course I declined giving, and he then took his leave carrying the paper with him.  This paper was in fact a singular scrawl.  It consisted of all kinds of crooked characters disposed in columns, and had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him at the time a book containing various alphabets.  Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman letters inverted or placed sideways, were arranged in perpendicular columns, and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various compartments, decked with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican Calendar given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way as not to betray the source whence it was derived.  I am thus particular as to the contents of the paper , inasmuch as I have frequently conversed with my friends on the subject, since the Mormonite excitement began, and well remember that the paper contained anything else but “Egyptian Hieroglyphics.”  Some time after, the same farmer paid me a second visit.  He brought with him the golden book in print, and offered it to me for sale.  I declined purchasing.  He then ask permission to leave the book with me for examination.  I declined receiving it, although his manner was strangely urgent.  I adverted once more to the roguery which had been in my opinion practiced upon him, and asked him what had become of the gold plates.  He informed me that they were in a trunk with the large pair of spectacles.  I advised him to go to a magistrate and have the trunk examined.  He said the “curse of God” would come upon him should he do this.  On my pressing him, however, to pursue the course which I had recommended, he told me that he would open the trunk, if  I would take the “curse of God” upon myself.  I replied that I would do so with the greatest willingness, and would incur every risk of that nature, provided I could only extricate him from the grasp of the rogues.  He then left me.

     I have thus given you a full statement of all that I know respecting the origin of  Mormonism, and must beg you, as a personal favor, to publish this letter immediately, should you find my name mentioned again by these wretched fanatics.

Your respectfully,
Charles Anthon, LL.D.
Columbia University.2

When  the  Mormons  are  ask  to show verification of the Book of Mormon, there is none

produced.   Certain  questions  must  be  asked  and  answered.   Of   what  language  was  the autographs written?  How many manuscript copies of the autographs, in the original language, are  in  existence  today?    Who  is  the  author?    What evidence is there that the author ever existed?  Until  these  questions  are  answered  there  remains  no  validation  for  the Book of  Mormon.

 God, A Polygamous Married Man

 That God (Elohim) was once a man who advanced himself to Godhood with his many wives is a teaching  of  Mormonism  that  cannot  be  accepted as Biblical.  Walter Martin quotes from recognized Mormon sources fully portraying their meaning of the doctrine of God.

Thelma Geer, a forth generation Mormon, was taught all these doctrines and in her own words she records:

Along with all other informed Mormons I believed in a “Father in heaven who was begotten on a previous heavenly world by His Father.”  The God of Mormonism was once a helpless, burping baby—born to Mormon parents who brought Him up to “live worthy of the Gospel” and to obey all the mandates that Mormon gospel proposes.  And so at the age of eight, the child-God supposedly had to undergo baptism by immersion for the remission of His sins, imposition of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost and confirmation of His church membership.  All of which supposedly placed him in the kingdom of His God!  After having thus been cleansed from all His sins, “born of water” by baptism, and  “born of the Spirit” by the imposition of hands, our fledgling God was ready for further advancement.

                        At about the age of twelve, God the Father was ordained a deacon, just as all worthy twelve-year old Mormon boys are.  This, the first of several degrees of the Latter-day Saint priesthood, was a giant step in His progress to Godhood....

                        At last, He was allowed to learn Mormon priesthood secrets which hitherto had been withheld because only mature, worthy “Temple Mormons” can bear the “strong meat” of Mormonism’s secret doctrines and practices.... He could now have His wives and children sealed to Him for His eternal glory.  Therefore, in special Temple rites the newly enlightened future God was married and sealed for eternity to numerous wives, just as all Mormon men must do in order to eventually become Gods.4

 Heavenly Mother

 Not only do Mormons believe in men becoming Gods, but they also believe their women will  become  heavenly mothers.  A  woman  must  be sealed   to  her  husband  in   marriage for eternity.  Thelma Geer writes concerning this sealing of  Mormon women. 

                        My heavenly mother was just as real and important to me as my heavenly Father.  She seemed more intimate and dearer to me, for I presumed that God the Father was away much of the time from our particular mansion.  Jealously I fancied Him striding masterfully across His vast heavenly domain, visiting and making love to His other wives, begetting other spirit children.

The Mormons sing a hymn and a prayer expressing the doctrine of a heavenly mother. 

In the heavens are parents single?
No, thought makes reason stare.
Truth is reason, truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a mother there.

There at length when I’ve completed
All you sent me forth to do
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

 Joseph Smith as Mediator

      Jesus said in John chapter ten that the shepherd  enters in by the door, but a thief and a robber climbs up some other way.  The Mormons have accepted a thief  and a  robber when they believe that the blood of the “martyred” Joseph Smith would atone for their sins. The conclusion of one of their hymns expresses the teaching perfectly [“long shall his blood which was shed by assassins plead unto heaven.  Earth shall atone for the blood of that man.”].5  Another  Mormon  hymn  glorifying  Joseph Smith, as “Mediator,” is one entitled, “The Seer Joseph, The Seer”.

Of noble seed, of Heavenly birth
Came to bless the Saints on earth...
For Saints, the Saints his only pride
For them he lived, for them he died...

Unchanged in death with a Saviour’s love
He pleads their cause in the courts above...
He died, he died for those he loved
He reigns, he reigns in the realms above...

He waits on Zion’s shore
To welcome the Saints forevermore.    6

Thelma Geer says:

I knew the songs and stories of Joseph Smith and I knew them well.  I had heard them day and night for half a lifetime . Whereso’er Mormon people congregate, Joseph Smith’s spirit seems to pervade the air as they tenderly talk of his lowly birth, his life, his ministry,his death, his worth.7

The Virgin Birth

 Brigham Young taught that Elohim and Adam were one and the same person, and that Elohim in human form had a sexual encounter with the virgin Mary, to bring about the conception of Jesus Christ.

 When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness.  He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.  And who was the Father?  He was the first of the human family.... Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in heaven. ...8

Not all Mormons believe in the Adam — God theory,  but they do believe that Elohim in human form had a sexual encounter with the virgin Mary. Thelma Geer gives her account of learning about the virgin birth.

 ... I knew very little about Jesus’ birth, and I was too embarrassed to ask for there seemed to be something clandestine about Jesus’ conception.

One night before I was old enough to understand the how and wherefore of childbirth, as I sat quietly in the fireplace corner, I overheard the visiting Mormon missionary telling my father about when “God overshadowed Mary.”  When Papa discovered my presence, he sternly ordered me from the room.  Then I realized that the Mormon missionary’s recital of Jesus’ birth had not been  meant  for  my  little  girl  ears. I  had overheard a Mormon priesthood  secret.9

She continues to say.

For years, though I tried to forget the incident and my embarrassment and shame, the question was always there -how was Jesus conceived and why the mystery?

I believed, along with all other Mormons that Jesus is merely one of God’s billions of sexually begotten sons.  He supposedly was the first one born in heaven to God and His wives, and “the Only Begotten in the flesh.” I did not then know of Mormonism’s secret teaching that God came to earth with a body fleshly body and “overshadowed” Mary coursing her to conceive.”10

Jesus and Satan, Sexually Begotten Sons of God

 Not only do Mormons believe that Jesus was conceived sexually, but they believe that Jesus and Lucifer are brothers, conceived as spirit children in the preexistence, by Elohim.

 Thelma Geer states:

We Mormons believed also that Lucifer and Jesus were brothers; both had been sexually sired and born in heaven.  (“The Devil is a spirit son of God who was born in the morning of pre-existence.” says Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 192.)  And that a “Council of the Gods,” where plans were being made for the redemption of mankind., both Jesus and the devil offered to become the Saviour.  Because Jesus’ plan supposedly profferedfreedom of choice and Satan’s scheme did not, the Council elected Jesus to be the Redeemer  of the world instead of Lucifer.  However, even the devil could have been the Saviour if he had forulated the better plan.11

 Blood Atonement

 The Mormons teach that the atonement of Jesus Christ was ineffective for some sins.  This doctrine states that there are some sins that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ cannot atone for, and that the one that is committing the sin must have his own blood shed to atone for that sin.  The reality  of  this  teaching is the belief that one’s own blood being shed for sin is better than the blood of the Lord God and Savior, Jesus Christ being shed for sin.

Brigham Young said concerning the marriage covenant:

There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt.  The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; 12

 He also said:

...And you who have committed sins that cannot be forgiven through baptism, let your blood be shed, and let the smoke ascend, that the incense thereof may come up before God Os an atonement for your sins...13

The late president Joseph Fielding Smith, and  grand-nephew of Joseph Smith Jr., said concerning  the “blood atonement” doctrine.

 Are you aware that there certain sins that man may commit for which the atoning of  blood of Christ does not avail?  Do you not know, too, that this doctrine is taught in the Book of Mormon? 

     But man may commit grievous sins — according to his light and knowledge — that will place him beyond the reach of the atoning blood of Christ.  If then he would be saved he must make sacrifice of his own life to atone — so far as in his power lies — for that sin, for the blood of Christ alone under certain circumstances will not avail.

    Do you believe this doctrine?  If not, then I do say you do not believe in the true doctrine of the atonement of Christ....14

He continues:

Joseph Smith taught that there were certain sins so grievous that man may commit, that they will place the transgressors beyond the power of atonement  of Christ.  If these offenses are committed, then the blood of Christ will not cleanse them from their sins even though they repent.  Therefore,their only hope is to have their own blood shed to atone, as far as possible in their behalf.

This is scriptural doctrine, and is taught in all the standard works of the Church Mormon Scriptures.15

 Mormon apostle, Bruce McConkie attempts to deny that the doctrine of  Blood Atonement, was ever taught, much less practiced.  After spending much time arguing the issue he concludes by saying: 

But under certain circumstances there are some serious sins for which the cleansing of Christ does not operate, and the law of God is that men must then have their own blood shed to atone for their sins.16

 He then continues:

                        This doctrine can only be practiced in its fullness in a day when the civil and ecclesiastical laws are administered in the same hands.17

McConkie  is  right  in  his  assessment of  this doctrine of Blood Atonement as taught by the Mormon church.  What  he  has  failed  to mention  is  that  under the Territorial Governor of  Utah,  Brigham  Young,  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  laws  were administered by the same hands.  The  Mormon   priesthood  ruled  totally  unchallenged  and  unencumbered during the 1850’s.