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Early Mormonism

Laying the Foundation

      Mormonism stands or falls on the word of just one man—its prophet— Joseph Smith Jr. If Joseph Smith lied, if there was no "revelation", if he is proven a false prophet, then Mormonism is "another gospel"—a tragic lie.

      The following information is taken from books considered rare or difficult to find. Dr. William Wyl's Mormon Portraits (1886) in particular, infuriated the Mormon Church. Dr. Wyl was a well-known and highly respected German physician, who visited Salt Lake City with no intent to attack the Mormons and came away appalled at all he had seen and heard. He wrote, "I do not wish to insult anybody in this book, or to hurt anybody's feelings. I desire to do my simple duty as a writer. That is all; to do it as a critic and observer, having the courage of my opinions, and being happily free from ‘all entangling alliances.'"


"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other
than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!"
Galatians 1:8

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do
people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every
good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit."
Matthew 7:15-17

TOPICAL INDEX
Exposes
Joseph Smith Jr. and Family
Eyewitness Statements
Divine Revelation
Book of Abraham
Slavery - God's Will
Murder?

Brigham Young
False Prophecies
Doctrinal Issues
Murder?
  • Wallace Bowman
  • Jesse Hartly
  • Henry Jones
  • Book of Mormon
    Textual Difficulties
    Modern Words
    Modern Revival Scenes
    Other Modern Ideas
    Modern Discoveries
    Some Additional Self-betrayals

    Reformation of 1856
    Doctrine of Blood Atonement
    Human Sacrifice
    * "Grayed Out" titles will be added soon


    Joseph Smith Jr. and Family

    DIVINE REVELATION

    "But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I
    have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other
    gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we
    know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh
    in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the
    thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it
    presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him."
    Deuteronomy 18:19-22 (KJV)


    1. September 22 and 23, 1832:
          A revelation given through Joseph, the Prophet, at Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio.
          1. A revelation of Jesus Christ unto his servant Joseph Smith, jun., and six elders, as they united their hearts and lifted their voices on high.
          2. Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of the saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem,
          3. Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the state of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased.
          4. Verily, this is the word of the Lord, that the city of New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation;
          5. For, verily, this generation shall not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house.[1]

    This temple was never built.



    2. April 6, 1843:
          "There are those of the rising generation who shall not taste death till Christ comes."[2]

    They all died and Christ has not returned.



    3. April 6, 1843:
          "I was once praying very earnestly to know the time and coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following: ‘Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man, therefore, let this suffice, and trouble me no more in this matter.'"[3]

    Joseph died well before eighty-five, and the
    Son of Man did NOT come in 1890.



    4. May 6, 1843:
          "If the government can not protect citizens in their lives and property, it is an old granny anyhow, and I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, that unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the State of Missouri, and punish the crimes committed by her officers, that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left, for their wickedness in permitting the murder of men, women, and children, and the wholesale plunder and extermination of thousands of her citizens to go unpunished."[4]

    The "wrongs" were not redressed and the United States was NOT overthrown. Today, there is much more than a "potsherd" left.



    5. December, 1843, Re: Nauvoo Petition for status as an independent federal territory:
          "I prophesied by virtue of the holy Priesthood vested in me, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection, they shall be broken up as a government and God shall damn them, and there shall be nothing left of them—not even a grease spot!"[5] (Tan color refers to words omitted when reprinted in the History of the Church, Vol. VI, p. 116.)

    Congress denied the petition and is still in session today.


    FOOTNOTES: [1] Doctrine and Covenants, 1911, Section 84, pp. 288, 289. (Author's Italics) [2] Hyde, John Jr., Mormonism, It's Leaders and Designs, W. P. Fetridge & Company, New York, 1857, p.175. [3] Ibid. p. 174. Taken from Joseph Smith's Autobiography. [4] Ibid. p. 173. Taken from Joseph Smith's Autobiography. [5] Brodie, Fawn M., No Man Knows My History, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1957, p. 356. Taken from Millennial Star, Vol. XXII (1860), p.455.


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