Holy Joe: How Smith Preached Egalitarianism and Zion Yet Threatened Hell in the Book of Mormon

I have often struggled to grasp how Joseph Smith could be so self-centered and manipulative at times yet put into the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants so many verses encouraging compassion and egalitarian equality. 

First, everybody is complex. Second, Joseph Smith was synthesizing everything around him and so it makes sense that like an AI program, he'd include a lot of New Testament ideas on how all are one in Christ, etc. After all, as a preacher that was his new career after all, his job was now quoting and interpreting the Bible. 

The issue was solved in my mind when I considered how the Book of Mormon is very manipulative in its use of Hellfire and Brimstone language. D&C 19 was composed in 1829 before the publication of the Book of Mormon and admits that the hell threats were meant to manipulate, the word hell being "more express than other scriptures, that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men, ..." (verse 7). That is not exactly compassionate, kind of a "dick" thing to do to his readers who at the time in the 1820s and 1830s lived in an environment where most people believed in hell. So we know that Joseph Smith was intending the hell threats to cause psychological terror (again, "that it might work upon the hearts of the children of men") in order to induce conversion, especially when according to Dan Vogel, Joseph Smith was a Christian Universalist all along when composing the Book of Mormon. This means that Smith was lying about hell to manipulate his readers, intending to cause psychological stress and harm in order to mentally coerce them to convert. We see the same manipulative mind control tactics later on when he manipulates women into becoming his plural wives through the threat that the girl's failure to comply would result in her and her family not entering the celestial kingdom. 

The article Nehor’s Universalism Problem—and Ours by Michael Austin points out:

... Universalism was almost as controversial on the American frontier as Mormonism. The doctrine of universal salvation was roundly criticized by Catholics, who believe that baptism is required for salvation, and by most Protestants, who believed that those who did not believe in of follow Christ would be damned to the biblical hell. But the strongest rejection came from the moral pragmatists, who argued that that the idea of hell is necessary to keep people from doing bad stuff[1]. Pretty much everybody hated the Universalists.  

Including, it seems, the Nephite Church. Through Nehor, the Book of Mormon condemns Universalism in terms that most nineteenth-century Christians would immediately recognize. Nehor preaches the standard 19th century Universalist shtick and, as if to prove that Universalism is a slippery slope to murder (because, hey, why should anyone refrain from killing people if there is no hell to burn in for all of eternity) kills a popular Nephite hero named Gideon who tries to stop him.

Note the deceptiveness on the part of Joseph Smith as a marketer of the Book of Mormon here. Smith secretly believes in Universalism but in order to make his book marketable and influence his readers to convert, he goes so far to as to create evil characters who are Universalists! 

The article The Concept of Hell by Larry E. Dahl covers just how often hell is mentioned in the Book of Mormon and how a permanent hell is mentioned. To make this point even stronger here are several verses from the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith composed while he personally did not believe what he was preaching in the text, but saying all of this about hell to cause fear and stress and manipulate his readers. The LDS Guide to the Scriptures under Hell lists these verses:

Go into hell, into that fire that never shall be quenched, (Mosiah 2:38).

The rich man in hell lifts up his eyes, being in torment, (D&C 104:18).

There is a place prepared, yea, even that awful hell, 1 Ne. 15:35.

The will of the flesh giveth the spirit of the devil power to bring us down to hell, 2 Ne. 2:29.

Christ prepared the way for our deliverance from death and hell, 2 Ne. 9:10–12.

Those who remain filthy go into everlasting torment, 2 Ne. 9:16.

The devil cheateth their souls and leadeth them away carefully down to hell, 2 Ne. 28:21.

Jesus hath redeemed my soul from hell, 2 Ne. 33:6.

Loose yourselves from the pains of hell, Jacob 3:11.

To be taken captive by the devil and led by his will to destruction are the chains of hell, Alma 12:11.

The wicked are cast into outer darkness until the time of their resurrection, Alma 40:13–14.

The filthy would be more miserable to dwell with God than to dwell in hell, Morm. 9:4.

This website rightly points out that Smith was indeed threatening his readers with an eternal hell:

The Book of Mormon and the Eternality of Hell

... the following Book of Mormon passages speak of the eternality of hell for not only the most wicked but for anyone and everyone who either rejects the gospel of Jesus Christ during their mortal life – who or fails to live up to it’s demands.

1 Nephi 14:3:

And that great pit, which hath been digged for them by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children, that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell — yea, that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction, saith the Lamb of God; not the destruction of the soul, save it be the casting of it into that hell which hath no end.

1 Nephi 15:29, 35:

And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful hell, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked…

And there is a place prepared, yea, even that awful hell of which I have spoken, and the devil is the preparator of it; wherefore the final state of the souls of men is to dwell in the kingdom of God, or to be cast out because of that justice of which I have spoken.

2 Nephi 2:29:

And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom.

2 Nephi 9:12, 19:

And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel…

O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.

2 Nephi 28:19-23:

For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger, and perish;

For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.

And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well — and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.

And behold, others he [the devil] flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none — and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance.

Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.

Jacob 7:18:

And he spake plainly unto them, that he had been deceived by the power of the devil. And he spake of hell, and of eternity, and of eternal punishment.

Alma 5:6-10:

And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?

Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them.

And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not.

And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.

And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?

Helaman 6:28:

And also it is that same being who put it into the hearts of the people to build a tower sufficiently high that they might get to heaven. And it was that same being who led on the people who came from that tower into this land; who spread the works of darkness and abominations over all the face of the land, until he dragged the people down to an entire destruction, and to an everlasting hell.

Moroni 8:13:

Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.

Supporting Book of Mormon Texts

And while the following verses do not speak of the actual eternality of hell, they lend additional proof that “hell” [as taught by] the alleged prophet “Mormon”, formed a book that speaks so extensively about the subject. This is not an exhaustive list.

2 Nephi 1:15:

But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

2 Nephi 24:15:

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

2 Nephi 26:10:

And when these things have passed away a speedy destruction cometh unto my people; for, notwithstanding the pains of my soul, I have seen it; wherefore, I know that it shall come to pass; and they sell themselves for naught; for, for the reward of their pride and their foolishness they shall reap destruction; for because they yield unto the devil and choose works of darkness rather than light, therefore they must go down to hell.

2 Nephi 28:15:

O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!

2 Nephi 33:6:

I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.

Jacob 3:11:

O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of hell that ye may not become angels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death.

Alma 13:30:

And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of hell, that ye may not suffer the second death.

Alma 14:6:

And it came to pass that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and he also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which he had caused among the people by his lying words; and his soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about by the pains of hell.

Alma 26:13-14:

Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?

Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.

3 Nephi 12:22, 30:

But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire… For it is better that ye should deny yourselves of these things, wherein ye will take up your cross, than that ye should be cast into hell.

Holy Joe (Part 2): Excerpts from Dan Vogel's Book "Charisma Under Pressure": Smith as Narcissistic Utopian Doomsday Preacher & "Faith Healer" (in the 1830s)

 

In my blog series titled Holy Joe, I started with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The following are several pieces of evidence demonstrating more evidence of Smith's acting like a televangelist faith healer like Benny Hinn. This from the historical record, provided by a respected historian. 

Joseph Smith as Charismatic Utopianist Earning A Living as Doomsday Preacher

The following is taken from the ebook Charisma under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839 by Dan Vogel. These excerpts are from Location: 408, 412, 422, 432, 460, 507, 572, 926, 946, 991, 1610, 1700, 1815, 1826-1837:

Smith possessed another quality that drew followers to him, a trait that goes hand-in-hand with charisma—narcissism. Who better to display unshakeable self-confidence and voice their opinions with absolute certainty than a narcissist? ...

...  According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), those who suffer from narcissistic personality disorder display the following traits: “a grandiose sense of self-importance”; “requires excessive admiration”; “a sense of entitlement”; “a lack of empathy”; tends to be exploitative, manipulative, and arrogant.[79] Personally, I am skeptical of any specific diagnosis. Not only is it speculative, but it is also unnecessary. It is possible to have narcissistic traits without having the disorder. The distinction may be only a matter of degree.[80] What interests me is how Smith’s narcissism may have contributed to his charisma and made him appealing to others as a leader. ...

 

... I believe there can be no better example of how Smith was “preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love,”[81] than his vision of a utopian Zion, where the “pure in heart” shall dwell.[82] ...

Just a side note here, it is interesting that a lot of charismatic Christian cult leaders have been utopianists. See these articles:

•  Religious Utopian Societies

• Searching For Utopia: Religious Fundamentalists' Long Quest For A 'Godly' Community by Rob Boston

• Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate were supposed to be utopias. How did it go so wrong? When a dream becomes dystopia By Amos Barshad.

What this means to me is that a cult leader is often complex, as seen in the articles above, wherein the charismatic leader is often seeking noble intentions with a genuine desire to change the world for the better and create a moral utopia; yet in the process of that drive for utopia there is often a desire to control others by the narcissistic leaders who come to believe only they themselves are to be the mouthpiece of God. Back to excerpts from Vogel book:

... This [narcissism] may have been a lifelong character trait [in Joseph Smith] as Samantha Payne, who attended school with Smith in Manchester, New York, recalled that even then he had a reputation as a “braggadocio.”[85] ...

 

The narcissist’s grandiosity masks an underlying vulnerability in self-esteem, which, according to the DSM-V, makes them “very sensitive to ‘injury’ from criticism or defeat. … They may react with disdain, rage, or defiant counterattack. … Though overweening ambition and confidence may lead to high achievement, performance may be disrupted because of intolerance of criticism or defeat.”[92] One of Smith’s close friends, Benjamin F. Johnson, said that although Smith could be “Social and Eaven Convivial at times He would alow no arogance or undue liberties—and criticisms Even by his associates was Rarely acceptable & Contradiction would Rouse in him the Lion at once.” Continuing, Johnson recalled, “For by no one of his Fellows would he be Superseeded, or disputed, and in the Early days at Kirtland & Elsewhare ware [more] than once for their Impudence helped from the Congregation by his foot.”[93]

 

What is it about the followers that attract them to the narcissistic charismatic leader? Recent studies show that many people are attracted to the narcissist’s projection of grandiose self-confidence, power, enthusiasm, and lack of self-doubt, at least initially.[94] In the 1970s Austrian-American psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut and others began studying narcissism and found that a symbiosis existed between charismatic leaders and followers, that both were attempting to alleviate deep-seated feelings of inadequacy—the leader by attracting adulation for his false persona and the followers by attempting to draw strength from an idealized powerful figure.[95] This relationship was not unlike what Sigmund Freud called transference. ...

 

... [Smith’s initial] mission [was the] building [of] a utopian New Jerusalem in the American wilderness. Smith began his career just as it seemed to some in America that their nation had turned away from God and was ripe for destruction. ...

 

To those who could not accept the outcome of the 1828 election and believed America was on the high road to destruction, Smith held out the option of establishing a western theocracy as a refuge for God’s children. This was a radical and revolutionary plan, to be sure, but charismatic leadership tends to be such a force. As Weber observed: “The bearer of charisma enjoys loyalty and authority by virtue of a mission believed to be embodied in him: this mission has not necessarily and not always been revolutionary, but in its most charismatic forms, it has inverted all value hierarchies and overthrown custom, law and tradition.”[115]

Smith’s New Jerusalem was intended to fill the entire earth, eventually. In June 1833, a month before the Mormons were driven out of Jackson County, Smith and church leaders in Ohio sent Bishop Edward Partridge and other officials in Missouri a master plan for the city of Zion to be built in Independence, which included a one-square-mile grid, and declared: “Where this square is thus laid off and and supplied lay off another in the same way and so fill up the world in these last days and let every man live in the City for this is the City of Zion.”[116] Smith’s vision could not be any bigger, or any more impractical. From the start, Smith was on a collision course with reality.

 

Communal living provided Joseph  Smith with a comfortable living as religious seer and revelator of God's will, but such communal living also proved problematic in capitalist America, which we see from these excerpts from Vogel's book:

... Smith did not want to accept Copley’s offer. At this time, he needed to stay near his new converts and deal with problems associated with religious excesses and communal living. After all, that is why he moved to Ohio. Instead, the revelation directed the church to provide for Smith’s and Rigdon’s housing needs: “It is meet that my servant Joseph should have a house built in which to live & translate & again it is meet that my Servant Sidney should have a comfortable Room to live in.”[17] ...

Once the consecration of property was made [in the communal utopian LDS system or the United Order as voluntary consecration of property], there was no retrieving one’s former holdings should there be a loss of faith—“Behold thou shalt conscrate all thy properties that which thou hast unto me with a covena[n]t and Deed which cannot be broken & they Shall be laid before the Bishop of my church … & it shall come to pass that the Bishop of my church after that he has received the properties of my church that it cannot be taken from you.”[26]

 

... McLellin distinguished between everyone owning everything in a cooperative—which seemed to him mandated by the New Testament and Book of Mormon—and the bishop owning everything and distributing the property and money according to what he determined was everyone’s need ...

 

... [In the LDS scripture] Moses 7:2 [an expansion of Genesis 5:22–24] ... [it] mentions that “Enoch walked with God: and he was not: for God took him.” Smith expanded the account in Genesis to include Enoch’s founding of a city named Zion, which was so powerful that it was feared by the armies of the nations. Like some of Rigdon’s followers in Ohio, Enoch’s Zion was a utopian communal organization ...

 

The purpose of reviewing these prophecies was to motivate Smith’s followers about their mission to establish the New Jerusalem as a means of escaping the “great tribulation” of the last days—“Not many years hence ye Shall hear of wars in your own lands wherefore I the Lord have said gether ye out from the Eastern lands [and] assemble ye yourselves together.”[64] ...

 

... the institution [Smith] was attempting to organize .... would include the founding of a New Jerusalem theocracy. ...

 

In time, states Weber, charisma must be “routinized” or institutionalized; that is, less reliant on the personality of the leader, who must constantly prove he possesses such authority, and more dependent on the authority derived from legal ordination and office within an institution that increasingly defines authority in legal-rational terms.[96] ...

 

In dealing with charismatic challengers like Cowdery, Page, and Hubble, [Smith] drew on his charisma either to declare the supremacy of his revelations or to denounce their revelations as Satan-inspired. In this instance, because the threats were ongoing, he relegated church discipline to other officers. Thus the revelation stated: “Unto the Bishop of the Church & unto such as God shall appoint & ordain to watch over the Church & to be the Elders unto the Church are to have it given unto [them] to decern all those gifts lest there shall be any among you prophecying & yet not be of God.”[98]

So far we can see that in the early 1830s, its clear to me from reading Vogel's book (and other histories of Smith), that Joseph Smith was seeking to produce a utopian socialist-like community, which made him similar to the narcissistic cult leader Jim Jones. This drive by Smith to create a utopian Zion was spurred on by the urgency in the deluded belief that it was the end of days which many people thought in Joseph's day. We can't know if Smith literally believed it was the end of days or not, for as I covered in Holy Joe (Part 1) Smith often promoted religious ideas in order to motivate his followers when he himself did not believe on those ideas. For example, he used the terrifying idea of a permanent Hell in the Book of Mormon to "work upon the hearts of the children of men" (D&C 19:7), while he himself did not believe in a permanent Hell (see D&C 19). 

Note as well that Joseph Smith dictated a revelation, D&C 60, with verse 2 stating, “But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them.” Note the use of the fear of God's wrath to motivate his missionaries to preach the Mormon gospel. D&C 60, verse 14-15 then states, "And after thou hast come up unto the land of Zion, and hast proclaimed my word, thou shalt speedily return, proclaiming my word among the congregations of the wicked, not in haste, neither in wrath nor with strife. And shake off the dust of thy feet against those who receive thee not, not in their presence, lest thou provoke them, but in secret; and wash thy feet, as a testimony against them in the day of judgment." Note here, how Smith provides an outlet for their hurt or frustration being rejected as preachers with a revenge ritual where those who reject them will get what's coming to them in the final judgment.  

We do know that by 1844 Smith clearly did not believe in an immanent Second Coming, which I cover in my blog post here. So it is possible that Joseph Smith did not believe in a soon Second Coming but used this belief in the 1830s to motivate his followers to form Zion, which Zion did believe in as a utopianist. Yet it is also possible, that in the early 1830s Joseph Smith literally believed in his calling to form Zion before the Second Coming of Christ and that he thought of himself as special enough, superior enough in his spiritual gifts, to be God’s chosen vessel to lead the formation of the New Jerusalem (Zion) on earth before the Second Coming. 

Joseph Smith and Benny Hinn

Now we come to behavior that mirrors faith healers like Benny Hinn. This is from Vogel's book at Locations: 2166, 2186, 2194, 2233, 2328, 3880:

 Faith Healing

 

On the evening of March 29 twenty-nine-year-old Warner Doty, a zealous Mormon missionary, died after being blessed by Joseph Smith. According to the Painesville Telegraph, “So fully did he believe in the divinity of Smith, that he had been made to have full faith that he should live a thousand years—this he confessed to a near relative some four weeks before his decease.” When he was suddenly attacked with a typhoid-like illness, “no persuasion could induce the young man to have a physician called, so strong was he impressed with the supernatural powers of Smith.” Smith at first refused to give him a blessing, saying on the way to Doty’s house that “he received a command not to go to Doty’s and ‘cast his pearl before swine.’” However, two days later Smith blessed Doty, promised he would get well, and advised against calling a physician. When Doty’s condition worsened and death appeared imminent, Doty’s relatives sent for a Dr. Brainard, who “pronounced his disease past remedy, and told the mormon doctors that their superstitions had probably been the means of the young man’s death.” ...

 

The Book of Mormon concluded with an exhortation to its readers to “deny not the gifts of God,” including tongues, prophecy, and healing.[18] A July 1830 revelation [see D&C 24:13] instructed Cowdery to “require not Miracles except I shall command you except casting [out] Devils healing the sick … & these things ye shall not do except it be required of you by them who desire it.”[19] ...

 

Painesville Telegraph reported in December 1830 that “these newly commissioned [LDS] disciples have totally failed thus far in their attempts to heal.”[21] ...

 

Smith appeared to heal Elsa’s rheumatic arm. From reading the Book of Mormon, Elsa became convinced that Smith could heal her.[33] ...

 

When the doctor came to Emma’s bedside, “he bled her” and then delivered the twins.[53] Whitney said that afterward he saw the doctor on his way home, and that in conversation he “laughed heartily about Jo’s revelation that the Mormons should not employ physicians.” The doctor apparently was familiar with the law of the church dictated by Smith the previous February, which directed that the sick were to “be nourished in all tenderness with herbs and mild food & that not of the world & the Elders of the church two or more Shall be called & shall pray for and lay their hands upon them in my name & if they die they shall die unto me.”[54]

... [in early September 1831] Eventually the elders succeeded in bringing many back into the fold, aided by the performance of faith healings.

Coerced Compliance to Obey the United Order in the 1830s:

The wikipedia article on the LDS United Order (April, 2025) states:

  The Latter Day Saint United Order was more family- and property-oriented than the utopian experiments at Brook Farm and the Oneida Community. Membership in the United Order was voluntary, although during a period in the 1830s, it was a requirement of continued church membership.[citation needed] Participants would deed (consecrate) all their property to the United Order, which would in turn deed back an "inheritance" (or "stewardship") which allowed members to control the property; private property was not eradicated but was rather a fundamental principle of this system.[3] At the end of each year, any excess that the family produced from their stewardship was voluntarily given back to the Order. The Order in each community was operated by the local bishop.

 Also see the article The Order of Enoch (United Order).

The following are excerpts from Vogel's book at Locations 2429, 2440, 2849:

On May 20 Smith dictated a revelation that commanded Partridge to organize the Colesville branch at Thompson into an economic cooperative. Compliance was mandatory, for the revelation commanded obedience to the law of consecration and threatened “otherwise they will be cut off.”[75]

 

... As the revelation commanded: “Let my Servent Edward receive the properties of this People … & let my Servent Edward receive the money as it shall be laid before him according to the covenant.”[78] Knight confirmed that he and others from New York “were Cald upon to Consecrate our properties.”[79] ...

 

Copley struggled with the law of consecration. “Brother Copley would not Consecrate his property,” Knight remembered, “therefore he was Cut of[f] from the Church.”[46]

Priesthood as missional sainthood:

 Loc 2722:

One purpose of the gathering and bestowal of additional authority was to energize the missionary force Smith was about to send out.

More alleged faith healings and alleged exorcisms and Smith's growing political power:

Locations 2762-67, 3388:

Whitmer wrote that “Joseph the Seer … commanded the devil in the name of Christ and he departed to our Joy and comfort.”[22] ...

 

According to Booth, Smith was unable to heal Murdock’s hand as well as the leg of another elder who had come to the meeting with a crutch.[24] These events went unreported in the surviving accounts of those who remained believers in Smith’s prophetic calling. ...

 

The promise of Jesus’s return depended on how fast the elders could perform their missions, and their missions were not only to make converts but to funnel them into Smith’s Zion—a program that would no doubt increase Smith’s political power.

Smith rejected the more rational and sober position of the Campbellites who believed that God ended the "spiritual gifts" in modern times: 

Loc 3095:

Rigdon introduced the Mormon prophet to the Reverend Walter Scott, one of the leading ministers in the Campbellite movement. The two men soon clashed over the subject of spiritual gifts existing in the latter-day church. In his official history, Smith recalled: “Before the close of our interview, he manifested one of the bitterest spirits against the doctrine of the New Testament, (‘that these signs shall follow them that believe,’ as recorded in the 16th chapter of the gospel, according to St. Mark,) that I ever witnessed among men.”[2] Of course, Mark 16:17—“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”—was oft-quoted by the believers in charismatic Christianity, and it was a passage Smith had placed in Moroni’s mouth in the Book of Mormon (Mormon 9:24) ...

This excerpt above from Vogel's book is important because today New Testament scholars point out that this section of Mark is not found in the original manuscripts of Mark. It turns out this verse was added in to the end of Mark years later by someone other than the author of Mark. This is why many Christians do not interpret this passage literally nor take it seriously. This is important, because many gullible Christians throughout the centuries and up to today, have taken this verse literally and as a result many have died of snake bites from snake venom poisoning them. The fact that Smith canonized this forged verse in Mormon 9:24, is problematic to say the least. This puts Smith in the same camp of not just ridiculous faith healing televangelists like Benny Hinn but also in the same camp of dangerous snake handling crazy type Christians who die from handling venomous snakes.

Learning all of this it definitely changes my perception of Smith. For while he definitely became a more a humanistic type Christian by 1840, most of the Scriptures he produced were of the crazy and dangerous "faith healing" and Hell-threatening variety. So that the attempt of more humanistic Mormons to focus more in the humanistic rationalist elements of LDS Scripture becomes problematic: given the persistent and consistent charismatic supernaturalism (end-times delusion, demonophia, and exorcisms) in Smith's Scriptures. Thus, Joseph Smith was less humanist philosopher and actually more of a doomsday, hellfire and brimstone, faith healer type preacher. 

Holy Joe (Part 1): Joseph Smith's Utopian Vision & The Book of Mormon as His Claim to Scryer Fame and A Tool for Fire and Brimstone Preaching

Historian Dan Vogel argues that Joseph Smith's narcissistic personality traits led him to believe that he would be a conduit of God's powers to create a utopian community before the end of days. According to Vogel, Smith was a pious fraud, meaning that he was sincere at first in his Christian convictions, being basically arrogant enough to think that he was channeling God's will; but also arrogant enough to believe that he was justified in any deception or fraudulent means necessary to induce faith and belief in order to accomplish his goal of basically "saving the world" from sin and destruction. 

Joseph Smith's early agenda was to form communistic community before the end of days based on the social model of the New Testament, which was a sincere effort to form communal unity. Unfortunately, because he was narcissistic and I think suffered delusions of grandeur, he sought greater and greater  control over his people more and more in his attempt to form a communal Zion. So like many cult leaders, from Jim Jones to David Koresh, believing narcissistically that they had been chosen to save the world and bring order, I think Smith really believed (in the beginning especially, or up to around 1838) that he needed to manipulate people into joining his united utopia.

The first step in his vision of a utopian society was gaining authority to speak for God. By pretending to unearth gold plates, Joseph Smith publishing the Book of Mormon in 1830 which Smith claimed was a history of Native Americans who the books says are Jews. Even the LDS Church agrees today that this is false. The LDS Church admits Joseph Smith was wrong about Native Americans being Jews, but the LDS Church defends their scripture by arguing that the characters in the Book of Mormon were among the Native Americans but have since disappeared from any scientific detection. The first Mormons however had no idea that Joseph Smith's claim that the Book of Mormon were about Jewish Native Americans was a false claim. At that time in the 1830s, Joseph Smith's holy book had resolved a question at that time as to the identity of Native Americans. Thus, Smith had proven his status as a seer and revelator like the apostle Paul.

After Smith published the Book of Mormon and started a church in 1830, new members saw him as an authoritative seer and revelator, so from there Smith began to claim more and more revelations revealing the will of God. In Smith’s mind, he alone was chosen to be the mouthpiece of God and so he claimed to channel the voice of Jesus like a spirit-possessed shaman just like the apostle Paul. This was a natural progression from Smith's earlier career as a deceptive money digger with his father who I think had led him to believe he had real powers of scrying as a teenager. Based on the historical record, it's clear to me that Smith and his father likely truly believed in scrying and the powers of a seer stone, but that some degree of trickery was justified in this process of earning a living money digging for lost treasures. For many years as a teenager Smith honed his craft of using the seer stone and attempting to locate lost treasure by claiming to "see" where it is found through the seer stone which acted like a crystal ball. Then he transformed this skill set into a new career by using the seer stone prop to induce faith in an actual alleged treasure he claimed to unearth in the form of gold plates which became the Book of Mormon. 

So Joseph Smith's treasure digs as a teenager cannot be ignored, for it shows that he was capable of deception and used his authority to see in the stone as a way to lead a group of treasure diggers, as a springboard for later claiming that as a Christian seer and revelator he had the authority to lead a new group of now Christian disciples.

The fact that Joseph Smith himself claimed that the Book of Mormon is about the Native Americans and even revealed revelations in D&C sections 28, 30, 32, and 52: where he even referred to some Native Americans in Missouri as "Lamanites" is the clearest proof of Smith's pious fraud, for even the LDS Church acknowledges that today's Native Americans are not the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon!

After I realizing Joseph Smith was a pious fraud and the Book of Mormon cannot be a true history of Native Americans, I realized that when Joseph Smith converted one of my great grandmothers who was Native American, it occured to me that Smith had sold her a lie regarding her ancestry, deceiving her and distracting her from her real heritage. For her people had their own history and religious history which was not based on the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith's teachings at that time in the 1800s that she was a Jew with cursed dark skin. In my google document I titled The Book of Mormon as both a Product of 19th Century Racism as Pseudepigrapha (a False History of Native Americans) while Simultaneously containing an Anti-Racist Message based on Christian Ideals of "All are One in Christ", I cover how yes the LDS apologists are correct that in the end the Book of Mormon does seek to overcome the Protestant racism of the time by declaring Native Americans (the "Indians" as they were called in the 1800s) are actually Israelites and a remnant of the Chosen People, thus white Protestants should not shun them as alleged "savages" (as they were thought of at that time by many); but should overcome their own racism like Jacob tells the Nephites. So yes there is some redeeming value in the Book of Mormon as an anti-racist text given the racist time period of the 1800s. However, what I cover in my document is the glaring proof that Smith was selling falsehoods. Now perhaps, through sincere belief and self-delusion, Smith sincerely believed God inspired him to produce a history of Lamanites and Nephites as a pious fraud; or he knowingly made it all up knowing it was an outright religious deception because he was more of a con artist; either way, the fact is Joseph Smith knowingly and/or self-deludedly lied to Native Americans in his day and sought to replace their actual ancestral identity and religious heritage with a fake history that they are instead Israelites from Jerusalem who were once white/pure and by becoming "Mormon" they could become pure again. 

What I show in  my document is that while the current LDS Church now backing away from Joseph Smith's claim that all Native Americans of his day were Lamanites and now post 2013 (via the essay Race and the Priesthood) the LDS Church has now officially disavowed their racist past; despite this, the fact is that every LDS Leader who spoke on the "skins" of Native Americans before about 1978 consistently taught that Lamanites (Native Americans) are Israelites with a literal cursed dark skin pigmentation. In other words, the historical record supports the conclusion that Joseph Smith himself more than likely taught that Native Americans were Jews with cursed dark skin and this idea was then taught by every LDS prophet and apostle who spoke on the subject until the LDS Church disavowed this idea in 2013. To put this in perspective, this would be like someone like myself who has Scandinavian ancestry being told by a religious guru claiming to unearth a religious history of my Icelandic and Swedish ancestors where our own history and heritage as mighty Vikings is false and actually we were once a pure sun tanned people but were cursed with pale white skin by a deity; and only by joining the cult of the guru can we become pure and holy with a sun tan! Most people of Caucasian ancestry, would consider that insulting and absurd. Well that is by analogy very close to what Joseph Smith was doing to Native Americans with is Book of Mormon. 

Even if Smith himself did not believe the "skin of blackness" passages in the Book of Mormon are about skin color, but were meant as metaphors, we are still talking about the idea of God cursing a people! As this person online puts it:

The BOM tells us that the Lamanites were cursed with being "cut off from the presence of the Lord" and to be "loathsome", "idle", and "full of mischief and subtlety" (2 Nephi 5:20, 22, 24). The BOM also makes it clear that this curse would continue through the generations of the Lamanites (2 Nephi 5:23). This seems incredibly wrong for God to do: it's one thing for God to curse and punish sinners, but to punish the children who haven't done anything wrong? Not only does punishing an innocent person seem wrong, but by cutting them off from his presence, isn't God setting up the Lamanites for failure? Doesn't this curse make it more likely for the Lamanites to be unrighteous? None of this feels acceptable to me.

According to the LDS Guide to the Scriptures:

 In the scriptures, a curse is the application of divine law that allows or brings judgments and their consequences upon a thing, person, or people primarily because of unrighteousness. Curses are a manifestation of God’s divine love and justice. They may be invoked directly by God or pronounced by His authorized servants. Sometimes, the full reasons for curses are known only to God. In addition, a cursed state is experienced by those who willfully disobey God and thereby withdraw themselves from the Spirit of the Lord.

The Lord may remove curses because of the individual’s or people’s faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel (Alma 23:16–18; 3 Ne. 2:14–16; A of F 1:3). ...

 

... Because the Lamanites would not listen to the Lord, they were separated from the presence of the Lord and cursed, 2 Ne. 5:20–24.

 

All are invited to come unto God, 2 Ne. 26:33.

 

The Lord shall curse those who commit whoredoms, Jacob 2:31–33.

 

The Nephites to receive a greater curse than the Lamanites unless they repent, Jacob 3:3–5.

 

Rebellious people bring curses upon themselves, Alma 3:18–19 ...

 

Korihor was cursed for leading people away from God, Alma 30:43–60.

 

The Lord cursed Nephite lands and riches because of the people’s iniquities, Hel. 13:22–23 (2 Ne. 1:7; Alma 37:31).

 

The Lord cursed the wicked Jaredites, Ether 9:28–35.

 

Christ’s Atonement removes the curse of Adam from little children, Moro. 8:8–12.

 

Those who turn away from the Lord are cursed, D&C 41:1.

 

The earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link between fathers and children, D&C 128:18 ...

So basically, just like the Revivalist Preachers of Smith's day who used various methods of emotional manipulation to gain converts, Smith used the same tactics.  In the above quotes from LDS scripture, we see the constant talk of God cursing people. So the Book of Mormon talking about cursing an entire ethnicity, Native Americans, would have scared readers of the Book of Mormon into seeking to avoid a similar cursing, whether that cursing was meant as a literal change in skin color or not. For Smith also used the language of Hell to scare readers of the Book of Mormon into obedience and compliance, which is made clear in a revelation Smith gave to Martin Harris in D&C 19: wherein Smith admits such language of Hell in the Book of Mormon was designed to "work upon the hearts of the children of men" (verse 7). In other words, Smith used Hell-fire threats to deliberately scare and manipulate his readers of the Book of Mormon (who in the early 1830s were mostly Protestants who feared an actual eternal Hell); so that they'd be scared into converting to his new Mormon religion. 

I have found that many LDS members have no idea just how often the Book of Mormon actually attempts to scare readers with Hell fire threats. As the LDS article The Concept of Hell by Larry E. Dahl explains:

... The word hell appears sixty-two times in the text of the Book of Mormon. Thirty-three times it stands alone, without modifiers or explanation of what it means, as in, “And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell” (Alma 30:60). Twenty-nine times the word hell is used with descriptive modifiers, for example, “depths of hell” (1 Nephi 12:16), “hell which hath no end” (1 Nephi 14:3), “awful hell” (1 Nephi 15:29, 35; Alma 19:29; 54:7), “sleep of hell” (2 Nephi 1:13), “gates of hell” (2 Nephi 4:32; 3 Nephi 11:39–40; 18:13), “pains of hell” (Jacob 3:11; Alma 14:6; 26:13; 36:13), “chains of hell” (Alma 5:7, 9–10; 12:11; 13:30; 26:14), “child of hell” (Alma 11:23; 54:11), “powers of hell” (Alma 48:17), “everlasting hell” (Helaman 6:28), “hell fire” (3 Nephi 12:22; Mormon 8:17), and “endless hell” (Moroni 8:13).

Numerous times in the Book of Mormon other terms or phrases are used to mean hell, and these terms add to our understanding of what hell really is. For example, note Nephi’s explanation, which he received from an angel, of the river of filthy water in his and his father’s visions of the tree of life:

“And they said unto me: What meaneth the river of water which our father saw?

“And I said unto them that the water which my father saw was filthiness; and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water.

“And I said unto them that it was an awful gulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God.

“And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful hell, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked.

“And I said unto them that our father also saw that the justice of God did also divide the wicked from the righteous; and the brightness thereof was like unto the brightness of a flaming fire, which ascendeth up unto God forever and ever, and hath no end” (1 Nephi 15:26–30; see also 12:16–18). ...

 

Other terms or phrases used in the Book of Mormon to refer to hell are “eternal gulf of misery and woe” (2 Nephi 1:13), “kingdom of the devil” (2 Nephi 2:29; 28:19; Alma 41:4), “spiritual death” (2 Nephi 9:12), “awful monster” (2 Nephi 9:10), “lake of fire and brimstone” (2 Nephi 9:19, 26; 28:23), “misery and endless torment” (Mosiah 3:25; Moroni 8:21), “awful chains” (2 Nephi 28:22), “everlasting chains of death” (Alma 36:18), “slumber of death” (Jacob 3:11), “deep sleep” (Alma 5:7), “second death” (Alma 13:30), “place of filthiness” (1 Nephi 15:34), “endless night of darkness” (Alma 41:7), “misery which never dies” (Mormon 8:38), and “dregs of a bitter cup” (Alma 40:26). ...

 

Several of these terms appear to say that hell is a permanent condition. ... Clearly the Book of Mormon teaches of a permanent hell for the devil and his angels and for those who, at the final judgment day, are found to be “wicked” or “filthy still”—rebellious, defiant, incorrigible enemies of God, having chosen to follow Satan rather than Christ. ...

 

For the humanistic New Order Mormon type, this is hard to ignore, for Smith very clearly used such language of Hell and the Devil and curses in a very literal way to scare and manipulate people into blind obedience and compliance. Joining his church was the only way to feel safe, as Smith as holy seer and revelator was the only one who could allegedly reveal God's will (see D&C 21: 1–5), thus his way became the way to salvation and purity; to not join his church as "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth ...” (D&C 1:30) was to risk being subject to "chains" of the Devil and being cursed and going to Hell! No wonder his LDS Church grew so fast!

So it does not matter if Smith as a sincere converted Christian in the 1820s was trying to also sincerely convert Native Americans to "save their souls" -- and also convince white Protestants to not be racist and shun the "Lamanites" with a message of "all are one, black and white, ...." -- because despite Smith's plausibly pious intentions, the actual fraud of replacing the true identity of the Native Americans with a false history of their people and convincing them they were cursed is incredibly immoral in my view. Note again that the cursing of the Lamanites, whether by a change in skin color or as a mere metaphor as the withdrawal of God's Spirit (as LDS apologists now argue post 2013), this alleged "cursing" is still about a deity cursing an entire group of people so they became filthy and idle, etc., according to the Book of Mormon. 

At the end of the day, the Book of Mormon starts to looks like Joseph Smith using the legend of the day that Native Americans are Jews, as a way to bolster his own Protestant Christian opinions on issues like infant baptism, the Fall, atonement, and the Trinity, etc. As Alexander Campbell put it in 1831, in the Millennial Harbinger, page 13:

This prophet Smith, through his stone spectacles, wrote on the plates of Nephi, in his book of Mormon, every error and almost every truth discussed in N. York for the last ten years. He decides all the great controversies ‑ infant baptism, ordination, the trinity, regeneration, repentance, justification, the fall of man, the atonement, transubstantiation, fasting, penance, church government, religious experience, the call to the ministry, the general resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize, and even the question of freemasonry, republican government, and the rights of man. All these topics are repeatedly alluded to.

In other words, Smith was willing to intentionally or unintentionally lie about an entire people to preach his own version of Protestant theology contained in the Book of Mormon. For even if Smith believed he was spiritually channeling a real history of Jews (of Lehi and his family) who left Jerusalem to come to America, it was in fact a lie nonetheless, for we know today that Native Americans are not Jewish. So consciously or unconsciously, Smith did lie and deceive the Native Americans of his day. So right off the bat Smith began as a fraudulent hell-fire and brimstone preacher presenting new scripture as a false history of Native Americans; so whether he was sincerely pious or not, his claims were deceptive and wrong and his methods to gain converts were controlling and manipulative from the beginning. 

 Back to Blog Series on Holy Joe

 

Holy Joe (Blog Series)

 

• Holy Joe (Part 1): Joseph Smith's Utopian Vision & The Book of Mormon as His Claim to Scryer Fame and A Tool for Fire and Brimstone Preaching

• Holy Joe (Part 2): Excerpts from Dan Vogel's Book "Charisma Under Pressure": Smith as Narcissistic Utopian Doomsday Preacher & "Faith Healer" (in the 1830s)

• Holy Joe: How Smith Preached Egalitarianism and Zion Yet Threatened Hell in the Book of Mormon

LDS apostle Orson Hyde's Arguments on "Miracles" in 1836 Disproves Modern Mormonism

The apostle Orson Hyde wrote the following in his 1836 pamphlet A prophetic warning to all the churches… (emphasis added; words in brackets added by me):

Again: Paul said, God set some in the church, first apostles; secondly, prophets, thirdly, teachers; after that miracles; then gifts of healing, helps governments, diversities of tongues. -- To one is given by the spirit, the word of wisdom; to another, faith by the same spirit; to another, the word of knowledge by the same spirit; to another the gifts of healing; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues." This seems to have been the gospel and order of worship which Paul advocated and established: and said "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Do the gentile [and LDS] churches, of this day, preach and practice the above order? or have they lost it? They certainly have lost it. And have they not great reason to fear that a curse instead of a blessing will rest upon them. If the Jews were broken off because of unbelief, what must the Gentiles expect, who have not continued in the goodness of the Lord? It really appeared to me that every person who is not biased by most unhallowed prejudice, can see that the churches [including modern LDS] of this day bear but a faint resemblance to those which existed in the days of the Apostles. Whence arises this difference? Do we live under a different dispensation from what they did? If we do, when was the dispensation changed, and by whose authority? If we do not, why not preach and practice the same things which they did? ... 

 

... The great body of the clergy [including LDS] are acting without authority from God at this time. My reasons for saying so, are these. 1st. The sick are not healed under their hands. 2. They do not confirm those whom they baptize by the laying on of their hands for the gift of the Holy Spirit: and why? because they are not authorized so to do: Yet it appears, that they rather impeach the system of heaven, than their own course in relation to it. But I say, let God be true, and every man a liar. Christ's doctrine was a doctrine of miracles, and healing the sick; and John the Apostle, says: "Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ; he hath both the Father and the Son." Again: Christ said unto the Jews, "He that is of God, heareth God's words. Ye, therefore, hear them not because ye are not of God." How, I ask, can the clergy of this day, be of God; and yet deny all miraculous powers? How can God be with them when they have not abode in the doctrine of Christ?

When Orson Hyde wrote this the LDS church was more Pentecostal in temperament (from about 1830-1837). Between 1830-1837, Joseph Smith was claiming to receive constant revelations from the voice of Jesus. Joseph Smith and LDS leaders were constantly claiming to heal the sick and even trying to raise the dead at this time. People would literally stand up in gatherings and try to prophesy or literally speak in tongues (technically called glossolalia), while today most LDS consider this speaking gibberish.

 Overtime, this speaking in tongues (glossolalia) became too chaotic and it was removed as a frequent practice between 1837 and 1899. In other words, back then pre-1837, LDS members were more Pentecostal in worship style and more superstitious; they expected their prophet to be an actual prophet, seer and revelator. Meaning back then Joseph Smith acted out the role of a literal seer, claiming to be able to see the future. He acted as a literal revelator, receiving constant revelations that were canonized as the "word of God" in LDS scripture. People were expected to literally be healed of sickness and even death through miraculous healings. Today, most Mormons go straight to the doctor! 

Yes, some Mormons today are more believing in supernatural intervention than other LDS members. But the mainstream LDS Church, and even other Book of Mormon churches outside of Utah, do not really think that you should pray over somebody rather than taking them to the doctor. Nobody actually tries to "speak in tongues" (glossinalia) and have an interpreter of the miracle of glossinalia in a meeting. Instead, Mormons say that what "speak in tongues" really means is that you can learn a foreign language as a missionary. But this is not what the Apostle Paul meant by "speaking in tongues," he meant a literal random spirit-inspired gifted ability to a speak foreign language or the language of angels without learning it beforehand. 

So I would argue that Orson Hyde's arguments against the Protestants of his day -- when they rejected the idea of prophets, seers, and revelators and Pentecostal-type glossonalia and other miracles -- can now be applied to the LDS Church today. In other words, LDS leaders no longer act as seers or revelators like Joseph Smith did, and they do not prophesy and do not actually (i.e. provably) heal the sick or raise the dead.

The fact is we are just too rational and scientific today with our modern educations, cell phones,  computers and AI, and all the advancements in science, to believe in such superstitious ideas. We know that the idea of someone spontaneously speaking a foreign language without ever attempting to learn that language is superstitious nonsense. We know that God does not heal amputees. We know that miracles do not happen as described in the New Testament. We know this because we continue to go to the doctor instead of only praying over people; and those who don't take for example their children to the doctor and just pray for them instead of also seeking medical attention, can be accused of child endangerment or negligect for putting children in danger of dying or becoming ill without medical intervention. Such parents who do refuse to take their children to the doctor and instead just pray over them can be put in jail for committing a crime. The fact is we are less superstitious and credulous nowadays after living on the other side of Pasteur, Darwin, and Einstein, etc.  

The fact is being a "saint" today (an alleged "holy one"), who has the alleged power to practice glossonalia and heal amputees or prophesy the future or reveal the literal words of Jesus to be printed in scripture, is no longer really believed in and clearly not practiced by modern LDS leaders and members. The fact is, nobody believes in any of that anymore.

 We know that demons don't cause disease, but germs or viruses do, etc. So somebody does not need a priesthood-holding saint to perform an exorcism, but better hygiene or medical intervention.

To deal with this obvious end to exorcisms, miracles, etc., due to the rise of modern science, things like glossonalia has become learning a foreign language; alleged prophets no longer act as revelators of new scripture but now warn people to not use the word "mormon" for example.

 There are no more actual healings or provable miracles, only prayers over those after we take them to the hospital. Prayer now acts as a  psychological comfort and maybe a placebo effect; but no one who is educated and sane today expects "miracle prayers" to trump medical intervention. Sure we may pray for someone after taking them to the hospital, but we don't not take someone to the hospital and pray over them instead: for that would be considered insane nowadays, and likely illegal when it comes to children, which is the view even among most Christians. 

To learn more about how in the early Mormon Church, the alleged miracle of speaking in tongues (glossinalia) was a common and expected practice among LDS members, and how it was later eventually weeded out from common practice, see the article: Speaking in Tongues in the Restoration Churches by Lee Copeland (PDF link).

Stealing Our Identities and Selling a Mask Back To Us

In my introduction, I talked about how I was not really given a genuine choice but was indoctrinated into accepting the identity of a saintly Priest (or "preisthood holder"), starting when I was just 12 years old! 

In my blog post on pro-creatorhood, I discuss how after one begins their new journey post-sainthood, one can now grow toward their authentic selves and add style to their character as a creative artist. 

I then ran across the following that sunstantiates what I wrote in those posts.

From Book of Mormon: DNA and the Lamanites:

Until DNA science confirmed what scientists had long believed about how the Americas were populated, the prophets of this church were clear that Native Americans were the direct descendents of the Lamanites. The video we highlighted above, People of Destiny, was released in 1988 and is literally released to who the church calls “Lamanites.”

At the end of the video they have testimonies from members, and here is one quote that makes me feel uncomfortable to hear:

"We have learned about a man named Lehi, about his son Nephi, and Jacob. We have grown to love these men very much and learn from the Book of Mormon that we are their descendents. That we come from them. And because we loved them so much we have named our sons after them.”

This is simply untrue, and the Book of Mormon is taking the identity of both Native Americans and Polynesians and replacing it with a story that is not true or real. Imagine being told that your ancestors were so wicked that their skin turned a darker color, and that’s how you know that you’re descended from them. Then imagine that this is used to get your to join a church that takes our time, money, and identity from you only to find out that the very basic premise of the Book of Mormon is not true.

The same website here then makes this excellent point:

Stealing Our Identities and Selling Them Back To Us​

In the overview about race and the scriptures of Mormonism [see link above] I included a video of a Polynesian woman who talked about how their identities were now tied to being the descendants of the Book of Mormon people, which is a horrible teaching from the church that steals their true history and cultural identity. 

The reality is that while the church directly steals the true history of the ancestors of Native Americans and Polynesians with the Book of Mormon, they also take our identities away from us as well. We are taught that we were the chosen elect in the pre-existence that fought the adversary’s plan and as such were able to obtain a mortal body to experience this life before we return to the Celestial Kingdom… if we do everything the church requires in the meantime.

When we go to the temple we are given a series of handshakes that we will need to return back to the Celestial Kingdom along with a “new name” that I was taught was the name I was called in that pre-existence. These teachings absolutely strip our real history and identity from us in order to sell the promise of exaltation back through obedience to the church.

My experience in the temple was a horrible one which I’ve detailed elsewhere, but I did not know when I received my “new name” that every other man in the temple that day received the same one. I was led to believe this was a name given by revelation only to find out years later that it was literally a name pulled off an index card and that every other man that day was apparently also called that name before receiving these mortal bodies.

It’s just one of the many ways that the church chips away at our identity so that we willingly give it to the church, and the church then holds the promise of exaltation over head by using that very identity that they’ve created. This would be OK if the church was true, but it’s not.

The idea of the pre-existence was created with the Book of Abraham, which as we’ve shown in the Book of Abraham overviews was a completely incorrect translation by Joseph Smith and used outside sources to provide a vehicle for Joseph Smith’s evolving theology including the idea of a pre-existence.

All of these ways that the church tries to provide us an identity that they can then use against us can be very harmful whenever you begin to question the central truth claims of the church, and the moment that we give our identity to the church it becomes that much more difficult to get it back once we start to see that the church is not what it claims to be. 

Patriarchal blessings are another area where the church attempts to shape your identity by revealing what tribe you're from, but as I covered in the overview on revelations these patriarchal blessings have been proven false over and over again. Yet how many members will refer back to these blessings throughout their lives even though they are often cookie-cutter blessings that will be almost identical to anyone else who receives one from the same patriarch? It is a very easy way for the church to take our identity and replace it with one that is completely tied to the church.

As I said above, before I joined the Mormon church I never for a second thought I would not be with my family upon death, yet in Mormonism Joseph Smith created that problem to sell you the solution. The same can be shown with the church as a whole, where they create this new version of heaven (Celestial Kingdom) in order to sell you the solution which is complete obedience to church leaders until we die.

In selling us the solution, they are asking for us to do the following: 

• Covenant to full obedience to the church, including a promise to give everything to the church (not God) in the temple

• 10% of your income for life to a church with a $140 billion investment fund

• Wearing church-required underwear with Masonic symbols on them every day for the rest of your life

• Following the Word of Wisdom which forbids healthy drinks such as coffee and tea while allowing energy drinks, soda, and sugary drinks

• Telling leaders about our private, intimate details in order to be declared worthy or unworthy

• Following prophets even when they are proven wrong by science, society, or their own revelations just years later

 

I know I sound flippant here, but the reality is that the church uses Joseph Smith’s treasure digging techniques in that they are constantly telling you that the reward is just around the corner if only you’ll continue to fund and obey their commands, except instead of buried treasure it’s eternal rewards that can never be proven false unlike Joseph’s treasure digs.

I could not have said it better. Today, I realize that despite any good intentions on the part of Joseph Smith as a pious fraud (as Dan Vogel describes Smith, as basically a sincere deciever); I cannot escape the most logical conclusion, which is that Joseph Smith was seeking to replace people's authentic identities. For example, through alleged revealed scripture, Smith tried to replace the real ethnic identity of Native Americans with a fake one by falsely calling them all Lamanites based on the obviously make-believe characters in the Book of Mormon. This was/is a tragedy given they have their own ethnic identity which he affectively stole from them. 

Even if Joseph genuinely believed he was channeling divine revelation with the Book of Mormon, that makes him at best delusional and it still makes him responsible for being the deliverer of a false ethnic history to an entire group of people. Thus his credibility as a "prophet, seer, and revelator," is ruined right there.

 Smith also sought to replace the identity of his other non-Lamanite converts with still a new "Mormon" identify by calling them "Latter Day Saints." Thus they were now given a new worldview of it is the ladder days, which was obviously untrue. This feeling of urgency with an expected return of Christ in their lifetimes led the early Mormon Saints to accept more and more control over their lives and losing their genuine selfhood more and more. Just two of the controlling aspects of their lives was wearing garments and bearing testimony constantly, which subconsciously programmed them mentally to embrace their new saintly identity.

I think Smith was a person who was ultimately seeking power and control over others. So that even if he had some good intentions in this process of creating a utopian Zion; I can't help but see as well an attempt on his part to control others which I think boosted his own ego by giving him a feeling of power over others. 

I now want nothing to do with any attempt by others to control me through a false identity and controlling "covenant path" to sainthood.

I have taken control of my own life and my own identity. 

Recommended Articles and Websites

 

• Assessing the Mormon Church Using Steven Hassan’s BITE Model for Cults

• 613 Rules for Members of the LDS Church

• Dialogue Journal Articles on Joseph Smith