Biblical Concept: Comparative Religions, Mormon Bigotry
From their
own words:
Questions
put to Joseph
Smith:
"'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people
under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the
day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied]
'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work
righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).
Joseph
Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the
same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in
settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity
generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence
of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).
Brigham
Young stated
this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called
Christian world was grovelling in darkness"
(Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens
as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant
people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand?
...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" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other
Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians
as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).
Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics
and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord
denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth
by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to
receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate
churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they
repent" (The Seer, p. 255).
Orson Pratt
also
said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first
century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then
until now" (Journal of Discourses
, vol.18,
p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for
a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have
lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian
Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of
people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long
apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches
in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).
President
John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the
devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity
of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or
authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom."
(Journal of Discourses , 10:127).
James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates
that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by
the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).
President Joseph
Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false
order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it
had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in
spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For
hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness,
until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of
salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed
to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for
commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).
More
recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear:
"Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except
among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol
3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate
darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in
general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity
holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually
all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before
the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a
spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with
the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism
is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian
Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the
apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of
that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).
President George
Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known
respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations
which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their
creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon"
(Gospel Truth, p.324).
President Wilford
Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the
Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such
a Gospel, I
would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).
_______
"He (Joseph Smith) is the man through whom God has
spoken... yet I would not like to call him a savior, though in a certain capacity he was a god to us, and is to the
nations of the earth, and will continue to be."
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:321
"You call us fools; but the day will be, gentlemen and
ladies, whether you belong to this Church or not, when you will prize brother
Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Living God, and look upon him as a god..."
- Herber C. Kimball, Journal of
Discourses 5:88
"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]"
- (as quoted in 1988 Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide,
p. 142)
There is "no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. 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"
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p.190
"I tell you, Joseph holds the keys, and none of us can get into the celestial kingdom without passing by him. We have not got rid of him, but he stands there as the sentinel,
holding the keys of the kingdom of God; and there are many of them beside him.
I tell you, if we get past those who have mingled with us, and know us best,
and have a right to know us best, probably we can pass all other sentinels as
far as it is necessary, or as far as we may desire. But I tell you, the pinch
will be with those that have mingled with us, stood next to us, weighed our
spirits, tried us, and proven us: there will be a pinch, in my view, to get
past them. The others, perhaps, will say, If brother Joseph is
satisfied with you, you may pass. If it is all right with him, it is all right
with me. Then if Joseph shall say to a man, or
if brother Brigham say to a man, I forgive you your sins, "Whosoever sins
ye remit they are remitted unto them;" if you who have suffered and felt
the weight of transgression—if you have generosity enough to forgive the
sinner, I will forgive him: you cannot have more generosity than I have. I have
given you power to forgive sins, and when the Lord gives a gift, he does not
take it back again."
- Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p.154-155
"It is because the Lord called Joseph Smith that
salvation is again available to mortal men.... If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there
would be no salvation,"
- Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 396, 670
They succeeded in killing Joseph, but he had finished his
work.
He was a servant of God, and gave us the Book of Mormon.
He said the Bible was right in the main, but, through the
translators and others, many precious portions were suppressed, and several
other portions were wrongly translated; and now his testimony is in force, for
he has sealed it with his blood.
As I have frequently told them, no man in this dispensation will enter the courts of heaven, without
the approbation of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jun.
Who has made this so?
Have I?
Have this people?
Have the world?
No; but the Lord Jehovah has decreed it.
If I ever pass into the heavenly courts, it will be by the
consent of the Prophet Joseph.
If you ever pass through the gates into the Holy City, you
will do so upon his certificate that you are worthy to pass.
Can you pass without his inspection?
No; neither can any person in this dispensation, which is
the dispensation of the fulness of times.
In this generation, and in all the generations that are to
come, everyone will have to undergo the scrutiny of this Prophet.
They say that they killed Joseph, and they will yet come
with their hats under their arms and bend to him; but what good will it do them, unless they repent?
They can come in a certain way and find favor, but will they?
Brigham Young,
--JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES, vol. 8, p. 224
_______
"You see some classes of the human
family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits,
wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence
that is generally bestowed upon mankind.
The first man that committed the odious
crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of
the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and
that would have put a termination to that line of human beings.
This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which
is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and
then another curse is pronounced upon the same race--that they should be the
'servant of servants', and they will be, until that curse is removed."
Brigham Young-President and second 'Prophet' of the Mormon Church,
1844-1877- Extract from Journal of Discourses.
Here are two examples
from their 'other testament', the Book of Mormon.
2 Nephi 5: 21 'And he had caused the cursing to come upon
them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had
hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint;
wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they
might not be enticing unto my people, the Lord God did cause a skin of
blackness to come upon them.'
Alma 3: 6 'And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set
upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression
and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob and
Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men.'
|
August 27, 1954 in an address at Brigham Young University (BYU),
Mormon Elder, Mark E Peterson, in speaking to a convention of teachers of
religion at the college level, said:
"He is not
just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people
eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman
car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same
theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it
appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be
satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage." "That is his
objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us
away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that we will open our arms and
embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we
used to say about sin, 'First we pity, then endure, then embrace'...." (Rosa Parks would
have probably told Petersen under which wheel of the bus he should go sit.) 1967, (then) Mormon President Ezra Taft Benson "The Communist
program for revolution in America has been in progress for many years and is
far advanced. First of all, we must not place the blame upon Negroes. They
are merely the unfortunate group that has been selected by professional
Communist agitators to be used as the primary source of cannon fodder." We are told that on
June 8, 1978, it was 'revealed' to the then president, Spencer Kimball, that
people of color could now gain entry into the priesthood. According to the
church, Kimball spent many long hours petitioning God, begging him to give
worthy black people the priesthood. God finally relented. |
Sometime before the 'revelation' came
to chief 'Prophet' Spencer Kimball in June 1978, General Authority, Bruce R McConkie had said:
"The Blacks are denied the
Priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the
Almighty.
The Negroes are not equal with other
races where the receipt of certain blessings are concerned, particularly the
priesthood and the temple blessings that flow there from, but this inequality
is not of man's origin, it is the Lord's
doings."
(Mormon Doctrine, pp. 526-527).
When Mormon 'Apostle' Mark E Petersen spoke on 'Race Problems- As
they affect the Church' at the BYU campus in 1954, the following was also said:
"...if the negro accepts the
gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the
blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, he can and will enter the
celestial kingdom. He will go there as a
servant, but he will get celestial glory."
When Mormon 'Prophet' and second
President of the Church, Brigham Young, spoke in 1863 the following was also
said:
"Shall I tell you the law of God
in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed
mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God is
death on the spot. This will always be so."
(Journal of Discourses,
Vo. 10, p. 110)
Yeah; Native Americans are althroughout
the Book of MORMON; too.
“I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people
today ... they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.... For years
they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and
delightsome, as they were promised.... The children in the home placement
program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.
At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old
daughter were present, the little member girl-sixteen-sitting between the dark
father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her
parents—on the same reservation, in the same hogan,
subject to the same sun and wind and weather.... These young members of the
Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness.
One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were
donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be
accelerated.
(Improvement Era,
December 1960, pp.922-23). (p. 209)