Secrets Mormons Don't Want You To Know (4 page)

Secret 50

“The book of Mormon is more correct than the Bible…”
¹³⁷

“Almost all of the doctrines of the gospel are taught in the Book of Mormon with much greater clarity and perfection than those same doctrines are revealed in the Bible. Anyone who will place in parallel columns the teachings of these two great books on such subjects… will find conclusive proof of the superiority of the Book of Mormon teachings.”
¹³⁸

“Joseph Smith himself declared:

“I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct book of any on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
¹³⁹

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19:7)

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17)

Secret 51

A Mormon apostle admits the Book of Mormon has a familiar spirit:

“…the only way a dead people could speak ‘out of the ground’ or ‘low out of the dust’ would be by the written word, and this the people did through the book of Mormon. Truly it has a familiar spirit…”
¹⁴⁰

Every time the Bible mentions familiar spirits, it is referring to demonic forces. See Leviticus 20:27, 1 Samuel 28:7-8, 1 Chronicles 10:13, 2 Chronicles 33:6, Isaiah 19:3, Isaiah 29:4.

Secret 52

“What does the Lord require of the people of the United States? He requires them to repent of all their sins and embrace the message of salvation contained in the Book of Mormon, and be baptized into this church… What will be the consequences if they do not embrace the Book of Mormon, as a divine revelation? They will be destroyed from the land and sent down to hell… There is no other alternative; they must either embrace the Book of Mormon as a divine revelation, or be cut off…”
¹⁴¹

“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” (John 12:48)

Secret 53

“The Book of Mormon claims to be a divinely inspired record… It professes to be revealed to the present generation for the salvation of all who will receive it, and for the overthrow and damnation of all nations who reject it.

“The nature of the message in the Book of Mormon is such, that if true, no one can possibly be saved and reject it; if false, no one can possibly be saved and receive it.”
¹⁴²

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21)

Secret 54

“There is no salvation outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
¹⁴³

“…You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
¹⁴⁴

Former Mormon president Ezra Taft Benson stated:

“This is not just another Church. This is not just one of a family of Christian churches. This is THE Church and kingdom of God, THE only true Church upon the face of the earth…”
¹⁴⁵

“This is ‘the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth’ (D. & C. 1:30) the only organization authorized by the Almighty to preach his gospel and administer the ordinances of salvation, the only Church which has power to save and exalt men in the hereafter… There is no salvation outside this one true Church, the Church of Jesus Christ.”
¹⁴⁶

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the sole repository of this priceless program in its fullness… In order to reach the goal of eternal life and exaltation and godhood, one must be initiated into the Kingdom by baptism, properly performed; one must receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of authoritative hands… one must be endowed and sealed in the house of God… and one must live a life of righteousness, cleanliness, purity, and service.”
¹⁴⁷

“The true gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to earth in the last days through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith. It is found only in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
¹⁴⁸

“This Church is the ensign on the mountain spoken of by the Old Testament prophets. It is the way, the truth, and the life.”
¹⁴⁹

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Secret 55

“…I retired to the woods… I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God when… I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head… When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages… standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other. This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! ”
¹⁵⁰

“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” (Matthew 24:23-24)

See also Mark 13:5, 21-22, 2 Corinthians 11:14-15.

Secret 56

After having declared martial law and ordered the destruction of a printing press that exposed Joseph Smith’s polygamy:

“Joseph and Hiram Smith were arrested on charge of treason, and committed to await examination.”
¹⁵¹

“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves…” (Hebrews 13:17)

Secret 57

Although most Mormons believe Joseph Smith died as a “lamb to the slaughter,” like Jesus, he went out in a blazing gunfight, killing two men before he died. Lambs do not fight for their life with their six shooters blasting.

Mormon president John Taylor said of Joseph Smith:

“He, however, instantly arose, and with a firm, quick step, and a determined expression of countenance, approached the door, and pulling the six-shooter left by Brother Whellock from his pocket, opened the door slightly, and snapped the pistol six successive times; only three of the barrels, however, were discharged. I afterwards understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed died.”
¹⁵³

“Thou shalt not kill.” (Exodus 20:13)

Secret 58

“Joseph deceived Emma when he proposed to 14 year old Helen Mar Kimball as a plural wife. She agreed to marry Joseph because he told her that it ‘will ensure your eternal salvation and exaltation and that… of your father’s household and all of your kindred.’ She remarked, ‘I willingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a reward.’”
¹⁵⁴

“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)

Secret 59

Oliver B. Huntington wrote in a Mormon magazine:

“As far back as 1837, I know that he (Joseph Smith) said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do—that they live generally to near the age of a 1000 years.”
¹⁵⁵

Huntington also wrote:

“The inhabitants of the moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the earth, being about 6 feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker style and are quite general in style or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally, near a thousand years. This is the description of them as given by Joseph the Seer, and he could ‘See’ whatever he asked the Father in the name of Jesus to see.”
¹⁵⁶

Are Mormons still defending this outrageous belief? In 1995, Mormon author Stephen W. Gibson wrote that Joseph Smith’s beliefs could not be discounted simply because “…a handful of astronauts didn’t see any inhabitants in the tiny area they viewed when they landed on the moon decades ago…” He insisted that “…man has no scientific or revealed knowledge of whether or not there are inhabitants on the earth’s moon.”
¹⁵⁷

Secret 60

“My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join… I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right… and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt…He again forbade me to join with any of them…”
¹⁵⁸

“That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

See also 1 Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20; 3:21, Acts 2:47, Matthew 28:18-20.

Secret 61

“How, it may be asked, was this known to be a bad angel? By the color of his hair; that is one of the signs that he can be known by…”
¹⁵⁹

Secret 62

“Every spirit that confesses that Joseph Smith is a Prophet, that he lived and died a Prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true, is of God, and every spirit that does not is of anti-Christ.”
¹⁶⁰

This is a twisting of 1 John 4:2-3, removing Jesus Christ and replacing Him with Joseph Smith:

“Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist…” (1 John 4:2-3)

Secret 63

“…I have more to boast of than any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.”
¹⁶¹

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

Secret 64

“Now, I ask who hear me, why the learned men who are preaching salvation say that God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing? The reason is, that they are unlearned in the things of God. …But I am learned, and know more than all the world put together.”
¹⁶²

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

(Romans 12:3)

Secret 65

“A murderer, for instance, one that sheds innocent blood, cannot have forgiveness.”
¹⁶³

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”

(Colossians 1:14)

Secret 66

“If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation.”
¹⁶⁴

Joseph Fielding Smith said:

“There is no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet of God… If Joseph Smith was verily a prophet, and if he told the truth...no man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
¹⁶⁵

“It is because the Lord called Joseph Smith that salvation is again available to mortal men.”
¹⁶⁶

“…no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith… every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are—I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent.”
¹⁶⁷

Former Mormon apostle George Q. Cannon declared:

“If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him [Joseph Smith]; if we enter our glory, it will be through the authority he has received. We cannot get around him [Joseph Smith].”
¹⁶⁸

“Every spirit that confesses that Joseph Smith is a Prophet, that he lived and died a Prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true, is of God, and every spirit that does not is of anti-Christ.”
¹⁶⁹

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

See also Matthew 1:21, Luke 2:11, John 1:12; 3:17, 36; 10:1,9, Acts 4:12; 16:30-31, 1 Timothy 2:5, Philippians 2:10-11, Hebrews 7:25, 1 John 3:23; 5:12, Jude 25.

Secret 67

“As historian Richard L. Bushman has written: ‘There had always been evidence of it (‘money-digging in the Smith family’) in the hostile affidavits from the Smith’s neighbors, evidence which Mormons dismissed as hopelessly biased. But when I got into the sources, I found evidence from friendly contemporaries as well, Martin Harris, Joseph Knight, Oliver Cowdery, and Lucy Mack Smith. All of these witnesses persuaded me treasure-seeking and vernacular magic were part of the Smith family tradition, and that the hostile witnesses, including the 1826 trial record, had to be taken seriously.’”
¹⁷⁰

Brigham Young University historian Marvin S. Hill also admits:

“Now, most historians, Mormon or not, who work with the sources, accept as fact Joseph Smith’s career as village magician.”
¹⁷¹

“Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you…” (Jeremiah 27:9)

Secret 68

Joseph Smith was known to use seer stones and divining rods. He even had a magic Jupiter talisman on him when he died.
¹⁷²
He used seer stones to look for buried treasure in the earth. He was arrested and brought before a Justice of the Peace on March 20, 1826 and formally charged and found guilty of “glass looking.”

“There shall not be found among you any one that… useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

Secret 69

“I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr. in November, 1825. He was at that time in the employ of a set of men who were called ‘money diggers;’ and his occupation was that of seeing, or pretending to see by means of a stone placed in his hat, and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pretended to discover minerals and hidden treasure… young Smith… asked my consent to his marrying my daughter Emma. This I refused… he was a stranger, and followed a business that I could not approve… while I was absent from home [he] carried off my daughter… they were married…

ln a short time they returned… Smith stated to me that he had given up what he called ‘glass looking…’ He also made arrangements with my son… to go up to Palmyra… after this, I was informed they had brought a wonderful book of plates down with them…

The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the ‘money diggers’ with the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the book of plates was at the same time hid in the woods!”
¹⁷³

“…be sure your sin will find you out.”

(Numbers 32:23)

Secret 70

The 1833 printing of the
Book of Commandments,
(now called the Doctrine and Covenants) openly spoke about Joseph Smith’s use of his divining rod: