Hi everyone,
Here's a subject that has caused a bit of controversy over the years - lying for the Lord. In brief, it has been claimed that if Mormons believe that the end will justify the means, it is okay for them to lie. In other words, if they believe that lying will further the kingdom of God, or that it will be good for or help further the goals of Mormonism, it is okay to lie.
The following is an excellent article by my good friend and fellow researcher Bill McKeever, of Mormonism Research Ministry, on the subject of lying for the Lord. He has a great website on Mormonism and his materials are a ready resource to those who are looking for help with Mormonism. I believe his website is http://www.mrm.org. Another website where you will find good information on Mormonism is http://www.solomonspalding.info, as well as the older site: http://www.thedigitalvoice.com/enigma. I mention both sites because some of the documents apparently haven't been transferred to the new site as yet.
So much for the commercial and now to Bill's article.
Lying for the Lord
A Review by Bill McKeever
In the October 1994 "Ensign" article entitled "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness," Mormon writer Robert J. Matthews expounds on the fact that the ninth commandment is a "strong declaration against ... gross understatements, fabrication, or the willful giving of any explanation not supported by the facts." He went on to say, "Even sharing the truth can have the effect of lying when we tell only half-truths that do not give the full picture. We can also be guilty of bearing false witness and lying if we say nothing, particularly if we allow another to reach a wrong conclusion while we hold back information that would have led to a more accurate perception. In this case it is as though an actual lie were uttered" (pg.54).
Mr. Matthews continued on page 55, "Lying and misrepresentation in all of their forms are wrong, no matter how they may be rationalized, and those who silently let these evils pass unchallenged are also doing wrong". On the following page he states, "There are many ways in which language is twisted, warped, or packaged to convey misleading thoughts."
On several occasions I have asked Christians if they have ever had a Mormon tell them that they were "Christians just like them." I think just about everyone who talks with Latter-day Saints on even an irregular basis has heard a Mormon say this. The next time this happens to you, respond by saying, "If you are Christian just like me, then I must be a Mormon just like you." No doubt the Mormon will object to such a conclusion. Why? Because Mormons don't believe like Christians.
On far too many occasions Mormons fail to clarify their positions when they speak to Christians. They will say they believe in "Jesus Christ," trust in the "scriptures," believe they are "saved by grace," and have been "born-again." They will talk about "eternal life" and things like "heaven," but they rarely explain what they mean when they use such terminology. Is this not an act of lying as defined by Mr. Matthews above? Surely if the Mormon allows that person to assume Mormonism is similar to Christianity by "holding back information that would have led to a more accurate perception," they have done exactly what Mr. Matthews says should not be done.
Holding back information is especially a problem in the foreign field. It is not uncommon for Mormon missionaries to purposely refrain from discussing doctrines which clearly separate Mormonism from the usual perception of Christianity. They are well aware that to do otherwise would risk any chance of a return visit.
In many foreign countries the local population is at a severe disadvantage. Very few books are printed in their native language which critically examines LDS teachings. In many areas they do not even have a translated set of the standard works. At best they may have a copy of the Book of Mormon (or selections). Since the Book of Mormon does not reflect modern LDS teaching on many critical issues, this only adds to the deception.
Unfortunately, when it comes to religion, full disclosure to a prospective convert is not mandatory. One of the reasons many religions flourish is because new investigators are not told the whole story. Few are aware of what they are getting themselves into. This is true of the LDS Church as well. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to masquerade as a Christian organization by suppressing information, misrepresenting history, and redefining Christian terminology. We challenge the Mormon Church to quit being dishonest with prospective converts, either in this country or abroad. We ask that the LDS Church tell people up-front what Mormonism really teaches. They owe it to their investigators to explain those doctrines which make Mormonism unique, and distinct, from biblical Christianity. In other words, they should quit twisting language and conveying misleading thoughts and follow your own admonition, "if we tolerate lying to any degree, we are accessories to deception" (pg.57).
contact@mrm.org
Unless otherwise noted, you are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute our text, audio, and video in any format provided that you do not alter the content in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. Translations faithful to the original meaning in other languages are also permitted and encouraged. For web posting, a link to our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by Mormonism Research Ministry.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Ex-Mormon Foundation Update
Hi folks,
I just found this update on the "exmo" foundation annual conference and wanted to share it with you. As you will see, it tells where you may either watch or listen to the various seminars and breakout sessions at this year's conference. Take it from me, this year's conference was great, and possibly the best of the three I've attended so far, with the possible exception of when I spoke at the 2007 conference, ha ha! Seriously, the 2009 conference was superb, so check out the exmo website and go through all of the many links to their media and other files.
Art
Monday, Oct 26, 2009, at 07:59 AM Exmormon Foundation's 2009 Conference Presentations Now Online! Posted By Chad Spjut
Hello fellow Exmos! I wanted to let you all know that the audio and video presentations from the Exmormon Foundation’s 2009 Conference are now online. You can download or listen to them here: http://exmormonfoundation.org/audio20... or you can watch the presentations online at the Foundation’s Youtube page here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ExmormonF... This year’s conference was one filled with wonderful insights and information with presentations discussing questions surrounding authorship of the Book of Mormon by Craig Criddle Ph.D, to Richard Packham’s presentation on Joseph Smith’s language problems in the creation of Mormon scripture and doctrines, to Charles Larson’s recounting of his journey out of Mormonism and into the world of post-Mormon authorship, and LA Times reporter and author, William Lobdell as he discuses the “Truth About Exmormons & Others Who Lose Their Faith.” The debut of the new independent documentary “In the Shadow of the Temple” was also a great success, and more information about the film can be found on the Foundation’s website at http://www.exmormonfoundation.org or by visiting the Perpetia Productions site here: http://www.intheshadowofthetemple.com... For those of you who were unable to attend or for those who just want to listen again, I’m sure you will enjoy all of the presentations. All the best, Chad C. Spjut, President, The Exmormon Foundation p.s. If you are interested in becoming involved and helping out the Foundation, please visit here for more information: http://exmormonfoundation.org/join.ht...
I just found this update on the "exmo" foundation annual conference and wanted to share it with you. As you will see, it tells where you may either watch or listen to the various seminars and breakout sessions at this year's conference. Take it from me, this year's conference was great, and possibly the best of the three I've attended so far, with the possible exception of when I spoke at the 2007 conference, ha ha! Seriously, the 2009 conference was superb, so check out the exmo website and go through all of the many links to their media and other files.
Art
Monday, Oct 26, 2009, at 07:59 AM Exmormon Foundation's 2009 Conference Presentations Now Online! Posted By Chad Spjut
Hello fellow Exmos! I wanted to let you all know that the audio and video presentations from the Exmormon Foundation’s 2009 Conference are now online. You can download or listen to them here: http://exmormonfoundation.org/audio20... or you can watch the presentations online at the Foundation’s Youtube page here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ExmormonF... This year’s conference was one filled with wonderful insights and information with presentations discussing questions surrounding authorship of the Book of Mormon by Craig Criddle Ph.D, to Richard Packham’s presentation on Joseph Smith’s language problems in the creation of Mormon scripture and doctrines, to Charles Larson’s recounting of his journey out of Mormonism and into the world of post-Mormon authorship, and LA Times reporter and author, William Lobdell as he discuses the “Truth About Exmormons & Others Who Lose Their Faith.” The debut of the new independent documentary “In the Shadow of the Temple” was also a great success, and more information about the film can be found on the Foundation’s website at http://www.exmormonfoundation.org or by visiting the Perpetia Productions site here: http://www.intheshadowofthetemple.com... For those of you who were unable to attend or for those who just want to listen again, I’m sure you will enjoy all of the presentations. All the best, Chad C. Spjut, President, The Exmormon Foundation p.s. If you are interested in becoming involved and helping out the Foundation, please visit here for more information: http://exmormonfoundation.org/join.ht...
"Reformed Egyptian" is evidence for the Book of Mormon?
Hi folks,
I couldn't pass this one up. In yet another article at Mormontimes.com there is an article which has as its headline: Reformed Egyptian is Evidence for the Book of Mormon. It goes over the usual events, like Martin Harris visiting Prof. Anthon - the Pratt version of course, with Anthon first allegedly saying one thing and then another regarding the strange characters that Harris showed him which Smith claimed were from an ancient language. Here's the link to the story:
http://www.mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/michael_r_ash/?id=11383
Enjoy!
Art
I couldn't pass this one up. In yet another article at Mormontimes.com there is an article which has as its headline: Reformed Egyptian is Evidence for the Book of Mormon. It goes over the usual events, like Martin Harris visiting Prof. Anthon - the Pratt version of course, with Anthon first allegedly saying one thing and then another regarding the strange characters that Harris showed him which Smith claimed were from an ancient language. Here's the link to the story:
http://www.mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/michael_r_ash/?id=11383
Enjoy!
Art
"Lost" Book of Commandments Witnesses Found
Hi all,
I just saw an interesting article at Mormontimes.com about the "lost" witnesses to the Book of Commandments being found. In the latest book on the writings of Joseph Smith, the list was published (names being "modernized" - what does that mean?). Anyway, here's the url for the article:
http://www.mormontimes.com/studies_doctrine/church_history/?id=11397&preview=1.
I wonder what Craig Criddle thinks of this? I noticed a comment by someone who had looked at the article, where the person remarks that it looks like some signatures may have been erased or something. I wonder why anyone would do anything like that? It does sort of look that way, at least from the photograph they show in the article.
Comments and/or questions?
Art
I just saw an interesting article at Mormontimes.com about the "lost" witnesses to the Book of Commandments being found. In the latest book on the writings of Joseph Smith, the list was published (names being "modernized" - what does that mean?). Anyway, here's the url for the article:
http://www.mormontimes.com/studies_doctrine/church_history/?id=11397&preview=1.
I wonder what Craig Criddle thinks of this? I noticed a comment by someone who had looked at the article, where the person remarks that it looks like some signatures may have been erased or something. I wonder why anyone would do anything like that? It does sort of look that way, at least from the photograph they show in the article.
Comments and/or questions?
Art
Friday, October 23, 2009
Sheep Stealing
Hi folks,
With permission from a good friend and fellow researcher, I want to share the following article with you regarding a tactic my friend and others have come to call "sheep stealing", and would like to get your comments.
Art
Sheep Stealing: How the Cults Infiltrate Christian Churches
By Kurt Van Gorden
Jesus set forth the imperatives for pastoral care by telling
Peter, "Tend My lambs," "Feed My sheep," and "Tend My
sheep" (John 21:15-17). In 33 years as a missionary, I have
encountered cult representatives who view the Christian
Church as their special place to proselytize for new converts.
Among these I have found the Unification Church, The Way
International, and a smattering of others, but few groups can
match the Mormons in entering Christian churches for
proselytizing purposes. When I became a minister, a wise
pastor once told me, "Notice that the cults are never the first
on any mission field. They wait for Christian missionaries to
spend their resources and then they follow us and steal our
sheep." That observation has proven true over and over.
At one time, the Unification Church, founded by Sun
Myung Moon, encouraged their members to join Christian
Churches incognito to gain new converts. Sitting in the back
of the church and making friends was the first step. Once this
recruiting method was initiated, they worked themselves into
voluntary positions and occasionally they became Sunday
school teachers. This I witnessed and wrote about in the late
1970s through the mid-1980s, to help pastors prevent a
potential problem. Although these members (called Moonies
or Unificationists) actively pursued Christians for Moon’s
new gospel, they were not actually missionaries. They were
rank and file members doing their duty for their leadership.
Another group I encountered was The Way International,
which tried this approach among young Church people in
Orange County, California. Their missionaries, the WOW
(Word Over the World) ambassadors, began showing up at
Christian concerts to invite concertgoers to their Twig Bible
studies. The church asked me to help them identify this
group and stop them from preying upon their youth. Part of a
shepherd’s work is to "guard what has been committed to
your trust" (2 Timothy 6:20), which in this case was to guard
the unaware youth from false doctrine and spiritual predators.
The Mormons have a history of aggressively infiltrating
Christian churches to convert Christians. When I was on a
Christian mission in Copenhagen, Denmark, I found that the
Danish Mormon church began in 1850 through this same
method. Mormon missionaries began attending a Baptist
Church without identifying themselves or their purpose. Yet
one member of the mission group was a Mormon Apostle
from Salt Lake City, Utah, Erastus Snow, who completely hid
his Mormon rank and affiliation from the Baptist pastor.
Snow had been commissioned at a Mormon Church
conference six months earlier to begin a Scandinavian
mission. The unsuspecting Baptist congregation became their
target. The Mormons sat in the back of the Baptist Church
and quietly befriended the members. Once they gained their
confidence, they gradually introduced Mormonism into their
discussions. Within three months of arriving, they swept all
but a handful of members into Mormonism, thus organizing
the first Danish Mormon church.
This is sheep stealing through dividing and conquering.
In response to this, a Danish Lutheran bishop, Reverend Peter
Kierkegaard (the brother of the famed philosopher Søren
Kierkegaard), published the first Scandinavian pamphlet to
warn other Christian Churches about the errors of
Mormonism (About and Against Mormonism, 1855).
Proselytizing happens to large and small churches.
Seldom do we get an insider’s glimpse of this like what I
have seen in letters from active Mormons.
A Mormon from Pomona, California, wrote to me boasting about baptizing
several Baptists and Calvary Chapel members into the
Mormon Church. He wrote this because he knew that I
taught at Calvary Chapel, Evangelical, and Baptist Churches.
Quite sadly, I found out that what he wrote was true. He
covertly entered Calvary Chapels and Baptist Churches to
befriend members and convert them.
One time I saw this same man sitting toward the back of
a large Calvary Chapel where I was preaching. I took that
opportunity to publicly warn the congregation that he was
roaming among them in search of his next convert.
Mormonism was my subject that day, so I quoted his letter
from the pulpit as one who targets Calvary Chapels. The
Bible urges us to "note those who cause divisions and
offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and
avoid them" (Romans 1:16). This we must do.
Jesus had little regard for sheep stealers. He called them
wolves in sheep’s clothing and hirelings, who pretend to be
real Christians when they are nothing of the sort (Matthew
7:15; John 12:10; Acts 20:29). We should view them through
Christ’s eyes and see their true nature. A wolf can be nothing
other than a wolf by nature and sheep are sheep. A wolf does
not become a lamb by wearing sheep’s clothing. His motive
and purpose does not change with a change of clothing.
In another example, a Mormon missionary admitted by
letter that he was recruiting for the Mormon church at a
Christian single’s group. When the pastor confronted him, he
outright lied to the pastor until the pastor showed him his own
letter. Caught in embarrassment, he then apologized, only to
turn around and repeat the same thing at a later time in the
same church! This is aggressive sheep stealing.
Dr. Steve Johnson, a pastor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
wrote about this on a blog:
A number of years back our Singles Sunday School class had a visit from a
Mormon, who did not identify himself as such. He attended a class
taught by one of our singles.
After the class, the Mormon wrote a letter to the class teacher, seeking to
recruit him to Mormonism. The class teacher passed the letter on to me. Later, I
arranged a meeting with this Mormon. I asked him if he had been proselytizing
members of our church. He said, ‘Absolutely not.’ At that time I took his letter out
of my pocket and said, ‘Would you like me to read you your recent letter to the class teacher?’
He turned beet red and apologized.
I told him that he was welcome to propagate his views off our property and
outside our meetings, but if he thought we'd allow him to come to our meetings to
recruit people to Mormonism, he was sadly mistaken. He apologized. Three years
later the same guy attended a Bible Study sponsored by our class and tried to do a
similar thing.
The Mormon’s letter to the single’s teacher at Dr.
Johnson’s church, is quoted and reproduced below. It serves
as an example for how this operation works inside a Christian
congregation. It states:
Dear Xxxx,
I enjoyed your lesson last Sunday. You are an excellent teacher. That is a
great gift. I am a missionary for my Church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints (L.D.S. or Mormons) and so I wanted to share of the things which I have
learned to be true. There are many other things that I could send, but hopefully I
will be able to give them to you later. The book "Marvelous Work and a Wonder" is
an excellent book to explain about the Church. The second book also good
because prayer is important to knowing the thing which you read are true.
The men who wrote these essays on prayer are all apostles and prophets
which have been chosen for this dispensation by the Lord. But you don’t need to
take my word for it the Lord will tell you himself. As it says in the Book of Mormon,
Moroni 10:3 . . . [see text below] . . ..
So I would challenge you to pray for answers to these questions.
1. Has God restored his authority through the Holy Priesthood and
established a Prophet for us in this day? A prophet as surely as was Abraham,
Moses, and Isaiah.
2. Is the Book of Mormon the word of God as important to us in this day as
the Bible, both Old and New Testaments?
I know that these things are true as I have received personal revelation to
know this. I would like to make myself available to you for further explanation and
instruction. We have a set of discussions which take no less than 5 hours to
present. I feel that you might be uncomfortable about this because of your
experience with the group in Houston.
I am at your service in Jesus Christ’s name,
Sincerely.
Xxx Xxxxxxx
Running parallel with these infiltration programs, we
now see a new arena where Mormons are being openly
invited by Christian Churches under the guise of dialog.
I have attended these meetings (largely sponsored by the
Mormon-owned Brigham Young University), where Dr.
Robert Millet, of BYU, and Rev. Greg Johnson, of Utah, role-
play a rehearsed conversation designed to get Christians to
lay down their defenses.
What is the result? I have personally talked with Christians who have become baptized
members of the Mormon Church through these meetings.
Christian Churches, without knowing it, become hosts to
the sheep stealing by inviting Mormon speakers, like Dr.
Millet, to freely speak without refutation by Rev. Johnson.
Furthermore, the unique power of Christ’s gospel is left
undefended by Johnson. He quickly silences Christians if
they point out differences or defend historic Christianity.
This charade becomes sheep stealing with a welcome sign.
False teachers send their workers forth to steal sheep
from Christian churches and they often hide their motive and
purpose from Church leadership. This article serves to warn
pastors about wolves in sheep’s clothing who seek to convert
the weak and unaware Christians from their congregations.
Pastors are charged with the duty of feeding and tending the
sheep, which includes their protection and sound apologetics.
Utah Gospel Mission P.O. Box 780 Victorville, CA 92393
www.UtahGospelMission.org
Kurt Van Gorden is a contributing writer to several books on cults, world religions, and
the occult with Drs. Walter R. Martin, Ronald Enroth, Norman Geisler, Josh McDowell,
Ravi Zacharias, and Alan Gomes, in addition to writing Mormonism (Zondervan, 1995).
He directs two missions to the cults, Jude 3 Missions and the Utah Gospel Mission,
which was founded in 1898. www.UtahGospelMission.org missioneditor@homail.com
© 2009—Utah Gospel Mission. Permission is granted to reproduce without changing.
[The Mormon Church has also targeted Christian ministers as converts through a
"fellowshipping" program (c.f., Ensign, June 1976, 52). The story of fourteen ministers who I dealt with this at length in my chapter, "Mormonism," in Geisler and Mieister, Reasons for
converted to Mormonism is found in Gibson’s From Clergy to Convert (Bookcraft, 1983). Faith: Making a Case for the Christian Faith (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007).]
With permission from a good friend and fellow researcher, I want to share the following article with you regarding a tactic my friend and others have come to call "sheep stealing", and would like to get your comments.
Art
Sheep Stealing: How the Cults Infiltrate Christian Churches
By Kurt Van Gorden
Jesus set forth the imperatives for pastoral care by telling
Peter, "Tend My lambs," "Feed My sheep," and "Tend My
sheep" (John 21:15-17). In 33 years as a missionary, I have
encountered cult representatives who view the Christian
Church as their special place to proselytize for new converts.
Among these I have found the Unification Church, The Way
International, and a smattering of others, but few groups can
match the Mormons in entering Christian churches for
proselytizing purposes. When I became a minister, a wise
pastor once told me, "Notice that the cults are never the first
on any mission field. They wait for Christian missionaries to
spend their resources and then they follow us and steal our
sheep." That observation has proven true over and over.
At one time, the Unification Church, founded by Sun
Myung Moon, encouraged their members to join Christian
Churches incognito to gain new converts. Sitting in the back
of the church and making friends was the first step. Once this
recruiting method was initiated, they worked themselves into
voluntary positions and occasionally they became Sunday
school teachers. This I witnessed and wrote about in the late
1970s through the mid-1980s, to help pastors prevent a
potential problem. Although these members (called Moonies
or Unificationists) actively pursued Christians for Moon’s
new gospel, they were not actually missionaries. They were
rank and file members doing their duty for their leadership.
Another group I encountered was The Way International,
which tried this approach among young Church people in
Orange County, California. Their missionaries, the WOW
(Word Over the World) ambassadors, began showing up at
Christian concerts to invite concertgoers to their Twig Bible
studies. The church asked me to help them identify this
group and stop them from preying upon their youth. Part of a
shepherd’s work is to "guard what has been committed to
your trust" (2 Timothy 6:20), which in this case was to guard
the unaware youth from false doctrine and spiritual predators.
The Mormons have a history of aggressively infiltrating
Christian churches to convert Christians. When I was on a
Christian mission in Copenhagen, Denmark, I found that the
Danish Mormon church began in 1850 through this same
method. Mormon missionaries began attending a Baptist
Church without identifying themselves or their purpose. Yet
one member of the mission group was a Mormon Apostle
from Salt Lake City, Utah, Erastus Snow, who completely hid
his Mormon rank and affiliation from the Baptist pastor.
Snow had been commissioned at a Mormon Church
conference six months earlier to begin a Scandinavian
mission. The unsuspecting Baptist congregation became their
target. The Mormons sat in the back of the Baptist Church
and quietly befriended the members. Once they gained their
confidence, they gradually introduced Mormonism into their
discussions. Within three months of arriving, they swept all
but a handful of members into Mormonism, thus organizing
the first Danish Mormon church.
This is sheep stealing through dividing and conquering.
In response to this, a Danish Lutheran bishop, Reverend Peter
Kierkegaard (the brother of the famed philosopher Søren
Kierkegaard), published the first Scandinavian pamphlet to
warn other Christian Churches about the errors of
Mormonism (About and Against Mormonism, 1855).
Proselytizing happens to large and small churches.
Seldom do we get an insider’s glimpse of this like what I
have seen in letters from active Mormons.
A Mormon from Pomona, California, wrote to me boasting about baptizing
several Baptists and Calvary Chapel members into the
Mormon Church. He wrote this because he knew that I
taught at Calvary Chapel, Evangelical, and Baptist Churches.
Quite sadly, I found out that what he wrote was true. He
covertly entered Calvary Chapels and Baptist Churches to
befriend members and convert them.
One time I saw this same man sitting toward the back of
a large Calvary Chapel where I was preaching. I took that
opportunity to publicly warn the congregation that he was
roaming among them in search of his next convert.
Mormonism was my subject that day, so I quoted his letter
from the pulpit as one who targets Calvary Chapels. The
Bible urges us to "note those who cause divisions and
offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and
avoid them" (Romans 1:16). This we must do.
Jesus had little regard for sheep stealers. He called them
wolves in sheep’s clothing and hirelings, who pretend to be
real Christians when they are nothing of the sort (Matthew
7:15; John 12:10; Acts 20:29). We should view them through
Christ’s eyes and see their true nature. A wolf can be nothing
other than a wolf by nature and sheep are sheep. A wolf does
not become a lamb by wearing sheep’s clothing. His motive
and purpose does not change with a change of clothing.
In another example, a Mormon missionary admitted by
letter that he was recruiting for the Mormon church at a
Christian single’s group. When the pastor confronted him, he
outright lied to the pastor until the pastor showed him his own
letter. Caught in embarrassment, he then apologized, only to
turn around and repeat the same thing at a later time in the
same church! This is aggressive sheep stealing.
Dr. Steve Johnson, a pastor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
wrote about this on a blog:
A number of years back our Singles Sunday School class had a visit from a
Mormon, who did not identify himself as such. He attended a class
taught by one of our singles.
After the class, the Mormon wrote a letter to the class teacher, seeking to
recruit him to Mormonism. The class teacher passed the letter on to me. Later, I
arranged a meeting with this Mormon. I asked him if he had been proselytizing
members of our church. He said, ‘Absolutely not.’ At that time I took his letter out
of my pocket and said, ‘Would you like me to read you your recent letter to the class teacher?’
He turned beet red and apologized.
I told him that he was welcome to propagate his views off our property and
outside our meetings, but if he thought we'd allow him to come to our meetings to
recruit people to Mormonism, he was sadly mistaken. He apologized. Three years
later the same guy attended a Bible Study sponsored by our class and tried to do a
similar thing.
The Mormon’s letter to the single’s teacher at Dr.
Johnson’s church, is quoted and reproduced below. It serves
as an example for how this operation works inside a Christian
congregation. It states:
Dear Xxxx,
I enjoyed your lesson last Sunday. You are an excellent teacher. That is a
great gift. I am a missionary for my Church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints (L.D.S. or Mormons) and so I wanted to share of the things which I have
learned to be true. There are many other things that I could send, but hopefully I
will be able to give them to you later. The book "Marvelous Work and a Wonder" is
an excellent book to explain about the Church. The second book also good
because prayer is important to knowing the thing which you read are true.
The men who wrote these essays on prayer are all apostles and prophets
which have been chosen for this dispensation by the Lord. But you don’t need to
take my word for it the Lord will tell you himself. As it says in the Book of Mormon,
Moroni 10:3 . . . [see text below] . . ..
So I would challenge you to pray for answers to these questions.
1. Has God restored his authority through the Holy Priesthood and
established a Prophet for us in this day? A prophet as surely as was Abraham,
Moses, and Isaiah.
2. Is the Book of Mormon the word of God as important to us in this day as
the Bible, both Old and New Testaments?
I know that these things are true as I have received personal revelation to
know this. I would like to make myself available to you for further explanation and
instruction. We have a set of discussions which take no less than 5 hours to
present. I feel that you might be uncomfortable about this because of your
experience with the group in Houston.
I am at your service in Jesus Christ’s name,
Sincerely.
Xxx Xxxxxxx
Running parallel with these infiltration programs, we
now see a new arena where Mormons are being openly
invited by Christian Churches under the guise of dialog.
I have attended these meetings (largely sponsored by the
Mormon-owned Brigham Young University), where Dr.
Robert Millet, of BYU, and Rev. Greg Johnson, of Utah, role-
play a rehearsed conversation designed to get Christians to
lay down their defenses.
What is the result? I have personally talked with Christians who have become baptized
members of the Mormon Church through these meetings.
Christian Churches, without knowing it, become hosts to
the sheep stealing by inviting Mormon speakers, like Dr.
Millet, to freely speak without refutation by Rev. Johnson.
Furthermore, the unique power of Christ’s gospel is left
undefended by Johnson. He quickly silences Christians if
they point out differences or defend historic Christianity.
This charade becomes sheep stealing with a welcome sign.
False teachers send their workers forth to steal sheep
from Christian churches and they often hide their motive and
purpose from Church leadership. This article serves to warn
pastors about wolves in sheep’s clothing who seek to convert
the weak and unaware Christians from their congregations.
Pastors are charged with the duty of feeding and tending the
sheep, which includes their protection and sound apologetics.
Utah Gospel Mission P.O. Box 780 Victorville, CA 92393
www.UtahGospelMission.org
Kurt Van Gorden is a contributing writer to several books on cults, world religions, and
the occult with Drs. Walter R. Martin, Ronald Enroth, Norman Geisler, Josh McDowell,
Ravi Zacharias, and Alan Gomes, in addition to writing Mormonism (Zondervan, 1995).
He directs two missions to the cults, Jude 3 Missions and the Utah Gospel Mission,
which was founded in 1898. www.UtahGospelMission.org missioneditor@homail.com
© 2009—Utah Gospel Mission. Permission is granted to reproduce without changing.
[The Mormon Church has also targeted Christian ministers as converts through a
"fellowshipping" program (c.f., Ensign, June 1976, 52). The story of fourteen ministers who I dealt with this at length in my chapter, "Mormonism," in Geisler and Mieister, Reasons for
converted to Mormonism is found in Gibson’s From Clergy to Convert (Bookcraft, 1983). Faith: Making a Case for the Christian Faith (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007).]
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
2009 Ex-Mormon conference Photo's
Hi all,
Here are some photo's I took at the 2009 Ex-Mormon Conference. A great time was had by all. Too bad I didn't think about taking more photo's until it was too late. Next year.
Enjoy!
Art
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Craig Criddle and Spalding
Hi all,
During the recent LDS General Conference, someone by the name of Elder Holland delivered a rant against those who would question the divine origin and authenticiy of the Book of Mormon. Included among the targets of his anger was the Spalding-Rigdon theory for the origin of the Book of Mormon, along with his calling it "pathetic".
Shortly after I got back from the conference, I was asked to do a quick edit job on a Wikipedia site that contained a description of that "pathetic" theory, as well as a misleading description of Craig Criddle's breakthrough research. I made some corrections and apparently just in the nick of time, because a good sized chunk of the article appeared in a column at "Equality Time", a blog about things Mormon.
Here is the freshly edited Wikipedia piece that concerns itself with Spalding:
Solomon Spaulding – Manuscript FoundThis summary is taken in whole from Wikipedia. Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorshipFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship is the theory that the Book of Mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding. This theory first appeared in print in the book Mormonism Unvailed,[1] published in 1834 by E.D. Howe. The theory claims that the Spalding manuscript was at some point acquired by Sidney Rigdon, who used it in collusion with Joseph Smith, Jr. to produce the Book of Mormon. Although publicly stated that it was through reading the Book of Mormon that Rigdon joined the Mormon church,[1] the Spalding–Rigdon theory argues that the story was a later invention to cover the book's allegedly true origins.Spalding manuscript and the Book of MormonWhile living in Conneaut, Ohio, in the early nineteenth century, Solomon Spalding (1761–1816) began writing a work of fiction about the lost civilization of the mound builders of North America. Spalding shared his story, entitled Manuscript Story[2] with members of his family and some of his associates in Conneaut, as well as his friends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Amity, Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he lived prior to his death. However, Manuscript Story was not published during his lifetime. In 1832, Latter Day Saint missionaries Samuel H. Smith and Orson Hyde visited Conneaut, Ohio, and preached from the Book of Mormon. Nehemiah King, a resident of Conneaut who knew Spalding when he lived there, felt that the Mormon text resembled the story written by Spalding years before. In 1833, at the urging of Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, King, Spalding's widow, his brother John, and a number of other residents of Conneaut signed affidavits stating that Spalding had written a manuscript, portions of which were identical to the Book of Mormon.Origins of the theoryThe Spalding theory of authorship first appeared in print in Eber D. Howe's 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed. Howe printed collection of affidavits collected by Hurlbut. Hurlbut had heard of an unpublished romance novel by Solomon Spalding as he was touring Pennsylvania giving lectures against the Latter Day Saint church. Hurlbut concluded that the description of the story in the manuscript bore some resemblance to that of the Book of Mormon.[3] A contemporary of Hurlbut's, Benjamin Winchester, states that Hurlbut "had learned that one Mr. Spaulding had written a romance, and the probability was, that it had, by some means, fallen into the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and that he had converted it into the Book of Mormon." Upon learning this, Hurlbut determined to obtain the manuscript.[4] Hurlbut learned that Sidney Rigdon had once resided in Pittsburgh and that the manuscript had once been there, and subsequently "endeavoured to make the finding of the manuscript take place at Pittsburgh, and then infer, that S.R. [Sidney Rigdon] had copied it there."[5]Author Dan Vogel suggests that Hurlbut was not the originator of the Spalding-Rigdon theory, noting that Hurlbut pursued this in response to what he had heard about the manuscript and suggests that had Hurlbut been the inventor of the theory "he would not have made strenuous efforts to recover Spalding's manuscript."[6][edit] Statements from Spalding's neighbors and relativesEight of the affidavits acquired by Hurlbut from Solomon Spalding's family and associates stated that there were similarities between the story and the Book of Mormon.[7]An example is the statement of Solomon Spalding's brother John, which declared that Spalding's manuscript "gave a detailed account of their journey from Jerusalem, by land and sea, till they arrived in America, under the command of NEPHI and LEHI. They afterwards had quarrels and contentions, and separated into two distinct nations, one of which he denominated Nephites and the other Lamanites." Spalding's widow told a similar story, and stated that "the names of Nephi and Lehi are yet fresh in my memory, as being the principal heroes of his tale."[8]Author Fawn Brodie expressed suspicion regarding these statements, claiming that the style of the statements was too similar and displayed too much uniformity. Brodie suggests that Hurlbut did a "little judicious prompting."[9]However, an article published in the Hudson Ohio "Observer", (Masthead of Vlll:15 - June 12, 1834), tells a different story. In the article, the editor interviewed some of the Conneaut witnesses, who then told the editor the same thing that they told to Hurlbut, even though they had every opportunity to say anything they wished. The significance of the article is that it appeared shortly after Hurlbut's trial in April 1834 and around six months before Howe's book, "Mormonism Unvailed", was published, thus refuting the claims that the witnesses had been coached by Hurlbut or that he had inaccurately reported their testimony.Howe's response to the Spalding manuscriptHurlbut obtained a manuscript through Spalding's widow, and showed it in public presentations in Kirtland, Ohio, in December 1833.[citation needed] Hurlbut then became embroiled in a legal dispute with Joseph Smith. Subsequently, Hurlbut delivered the documents he had collected to Howe. Howe was unable to find the alleged similarities with the Book of Mormon that were described in the statements and instead argued in Mormonism Unveiled (1834) that there must exist a second Spalding manuscript which was now lost. Howe concluded that Joseph Smith and Sidney Ridgon used the Spalding manuscript to produce the Book of Mormon for the purpose of making money.[10][edit] Responses to the theoryIn 1840, Benjamin Winchester, a Mormon defender who had been "deputed ... to hunt up the Hurlbut case,"[11] published a book rejecting the Spalding theory as "a sheer fabrication." Winchester attributed the creation of the entire story to Hurlbut.[12]Regarding Sidney Rigdon's alleged involvement, Rigdon's son John recounted an interview with his father in 1865: My father, after I had finished saying what I have repeated above, looked at me a moment, raised his hand above his head and slowly said, with tears glistening in his eyes: "My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] is true. Your mother and sister, Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but one story."[13]In 1884, a Spalding manuscript known as Manuscript Story was discovered and published, and the manuscript now resides at Oberlin College in Ohio.[14]. This manuscript appears to bear little resemblance to the Book of Mormon story, but some critics claim it contains parallels in theme and narrative.[citation needed] The second "lost" manuscript purported to exist by Howe has never been discovered.A 2008 computer analysis of the text of the Book of Mormon compared to writings of possible authors of the text shows a high probability that the authors of the book were Spalding, Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery; concluding that "our analysis supports the theory that the Book of Mormon was written by multiple, nineteenth-century authors, and more specifically, we find strong support for the Spalding-Rigdon theory of authorship. In all the data, we find Rigdon as a unifying force. His signal dominates the book, and where other candidates are more probable, Rigdon is often hiding in the shadows".[15] This study did not include Joseph Smith as one of the possible authors, arguing that because of Smith's use of scribes and co-authors, no texts can be presently identified with a surety as having been written by Smith.The Stanford group (Jocker et al., 2008) found a strong Spalding signal in Mosiah, Alma, the first part of Helaman, and Ether. The Spalding signal was weak in those parts of the Book of Mormon likely produced after the lost pages incident (1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, some of the middle part of 3 Nephi, Moroni). They found the Rigdon signal distributed throughout the Book of Mormon (except for the known Isaiah chapters), and a weak Pratt signal in 1 Nephi. They also found a strong Cowdery signal in mid-Alma and weaker Cowdery signals in locations that contain content similar to Ethan Smith's "View of the Hebrews".Previous wordprint or computer studies have come to different conclusions (for a history of such studies from the perspective of a LDS group, see http://en.fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon/Wordprint_studies). A 1980 study done by John Hilton with non-LDS colleagues at Berkeley concluded that the probability of Spaulding having been the (sole) author of book of Nephi was less than 7.29 x 10-28 and less than 3 x 10-11 for Alma[16].In the Stanford group (Jocker et al., 2008) peer-reviewed publication in the "Journal of Literary and Linguistic Computing", they reviewed the (non-peer reviewed) Hilton study and pointed out numerous flaws in it.They (Jocker et al., 2008) found that the Book of Alma is a mixture of Rigdon, Cowdery, and Spalding. The Hilton study does not indicate what text they used for Alma. If one lumps all the signals for Rigdon, Cowdery, and Spalding together, one is left with a corrupt signal that does not match Spalding.
We must do everything we can to preserve accurate descriptions of Spalding-Rigdon material, as well as anything critical and/or favorable to the LDS, so as not to create misleading information.
Questions or comments?
Art
During the recent LDS General Conference, someone by the name of Elder Holland delivered a rant against those who would question the divine origin and authenticiy of the Book of Mormon. Included among the targets of his anger was the Spalding-Rigdon theory for the origin of the Book of Mormon, along with his calling it "pathetic".
Shortly after I got back from the conference, I was asked to do a quick edit job on a Wikipedia site that contained a description of that "pathetic" theory, as well as a misleading description of Craig Criddle's breakthrough research. I made some corrections and apparently just in the nick of time, because a good sized chunk of the article appeared in a column at "Equality Time", a blog about things Mormon.
Here is the freshly edited Wikipedia piece that concerns itself with Spalding:
Solomon Spaulding – Manuscript FoundThis summary is taken in whole from Wikipedia. Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorshipFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship is the theory that the Book of Mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding. This theory first appeared in print in the book Mormonism Unvailed,[1] published in 1834 by E.D. Howe. The theory claims that the Spalding manuscript was at some point acquired by Sidney Rigdon, who used it in collusion with Joseph Smith, Jr. to produce the Book of Mormon. Although publicly stated that it was through reading the Book of Mormon that Rigdon joined the Mormon church,[1] the Spalding–Rigdon theory argues that the story was a later invention to cover the book's allegedly true origins.Spalding manuscript and the Book of MormonWhile living in Conneaut, Ohio, in the early nineteenth century, Solomon Spalding (1761–1816) began writing a work of fiction about the lost civilization of the mound builders of North America. Spalding shared his story, entitled Manuscript Story[2] with members of his family and some of his associates in Conneaut, as well as his friends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Amity, Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he lived prior to his death. However, Manuscript Story was not published during his lifetime. In 1832, Latter Day Saint missionaries Samuel H. Smith and Orson Hyde visited Conneaut, Ohio, and preached from the Book of Mormon. Nehemiah King, a resident of Conneaut who knew Spalding when he lived there, felt that the Mormon text resembled the story written by Spalding years before. In 1833, at the urging of Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, King, Spalding's widow, his brother John, and a number of other residents of Conneaut signed affidavits stating that Spalding had written a manuscript, portions of which were identical to the Book of Mormon.Origins of the theoryThe Spalding theory of authorship first appeared in print in Eber D. Howe's 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed. Howe printed collection of affidavits collected by Hurlbut. Hurlbut had heard of an unpublished romance novel by Solomon Spalding as he was touring Pennsylvania giving lectures against the Latter Day Saint church. Hurlbut concluded that the description of the story in the manuscript bore some resemblance to that of the Book of Mormon.[3] A contemporary of Hurlbut's, Benjamin Winchester, states that Hurlbut "had learned that one Mr. Spaulding had written a romance, and the probability was, that it had, by some means, fallen into the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and that he had converted it into the Book of Mormon." Upon learning this, Hurlbut determined to obtain the manuscript.[4] Hurlbut learned that Sidney Rigdon had once resided in Pittsburgh and that the manuscript had once been there, and subsequently "endeavoured to make the finding of the manuscript take place at Pittsburgh, and then infer, that S.R. [Sidney Rigdon] had copied it there."[5]Author Dan Vogel suggests that Hurlbut was not the originator of the Spalding-Rigdon theory, noting that Hurlbut pursued this in response to what he had heard about the manuscript and suggests that had Hurlbut been the inventor of the theory "he would not have made strenuous efforts to recover Spalding's manuscript."[6][edit] Statements from Spalding's neighbors and relativesEight of the affidavits acquired by Hurlbut from Solomon Spalding's family and associates stated that there were similarities between the story and the Book of Mormon.[7]An example is the statement of Solomon Spalding's brother John, which declared that Spalding's manuscript "gave a detailed account of their journey from Jerusalem, by land and sea, till they arrived in America, under the command of NEPHI and LEHI. They afterwards had quarrels and contentions, and separated into two distinct nations, one of which he denominated Nephites and the other Lamanites." Spalding's widow told a similar story, and stated that "the names of Nephi and Lehi are yet fresh in my memory, as being the principal heroes of his tale."[8]Author Fawn Brodie expressed suspicion regarding these statements, claiming that the style of the statements was too similar and displayed too much uniformity. Brodie suggests that Hurlbut did a "little judicious prompting."[9]However, an article published in the Hudson Ohio "Observer", (Masthead of Vlll:15 - June 12, 1834), tells a different story. In the article, the editor interviewed some of the Conneaut witnesses, who then told the editor the same thing that they told to Hurlbut, even though they had every opportunity to say anything they wished. The significance of the article is that it appeared shortly after Hurlbut's trial in April 1834 and around six months before Howe's book, "Mormonism Unvailed", was published, thus refuting the claims that the witnesses had been coached by Hurlbut or that he had inaccurately reported their testimony.Howe's response to the Spalding manuscriptHurlbut obtained a manuscript through Spalding's widow, and showed it in public presentations in Kirtland, Ohio, in December 1833.[citation needed] Hurlbut then became embroiled in a legal dispute with Joseph Smith. Subsequently, Hurlbut delivered the documents he had collected to Howe. Howe was unable to find the alleged similarities with the Book of Mormon that were described in the statements and instead argued in Mormonism Unveiled (1834) that there must exist a second Spalding manuscript which was now lost. Howe concluded that Joseph Smith and Sidney Ridgon used the Spalding manuscript to produce the Book of Mormon for the purpose of making money.[10][edit] Responses to the theoryIn 1840, Benjamin Winchester, a Mormon defender who had been "deputed ... to hunt up the Hurlbut case,"[11] published a book rejecting the Spalding theory as "a sheer fabrication." Winchester attributed the creation of the entire story to Hurlbut.[12]Regarding Sidney Rigdon's alleged involvement, Rigdon's son John recounted an interview with his father in 1865: My father, after I had finished saying what I have repeated above, looked at me a moment, raised his hand above his head and slowly said, with tears glistening in his eyes: "My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] is true. Your mother and sister, Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of [the Book of Mormon] was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but one story."[13]In 1884, a Spalding manuscript known as Manuscript Story was discovered and published, and the manuscript now resides at Oberlin College in Ohio.[14]. This manuscript appears to bear little resemblance to the Book of Mormon story, but some critics claim it contains parallels in theme and narrative.[citation needed] The second "lost" manuscript purported to exist by Howe has never been discovered.A 2008 computer analysis of the text of the Book of Mormon compared to writings of possible authors of the text shows a high probability that the authors of the book were Spalding, Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery; concluding that "our analysis supports the theory that the Book of Mormon was written by multiple, nineteenth-century authors, and more specifically, we find strong support for the Spalding-Rigdon theory of authorship. In all the data, we find Rigdon as a unifying force. His signal dominates the book, and where other candidates are more probable, Rigdon is often hiding in the shadows".[15] This study did not include Joseph Smith as one of the possible authors, arguing that because of Smith's use of scribes and co-authors, no texts can be presently identified with a surety as having been written by Smith.The Stanford group (Jocker et al., 2008) found a strong Spalding signal in Mosiah, Alma, the first part of Helaman, and Ether. The Spalding signal was weak in those parts of the Book of Mormon likely produced after the lost pages incident (1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, some of the middle part of 3 Nephi, Moroni). They found the Rigdon signal distributed throughout the Book of Mormon (except for the known Isaiah chapters), and a weak Pratt signal in 1 Nephi. They also found a strong Cowdery signal in mid-Alma and weaker Cowdery signals in locations that contain content similar to Ethan Smith's "View of the Hebrews".Previous wordprint or computer studies have come to different conclusions (for a history of such studies from the perspective of a LDS group, see http://en.fairmormon.org/Book_of_Mormon/Wordprint_studies). A 1980 study done by John Hilton with non-LDS colleagues at Berkeley concluded that the probability of Spaulding having been the (sole) author of book of Nephi was less than 7.29 x 10-28 and less than 3 x 10-11 for Alma[16].In the Stanford group (Jocker et al., 2008) peer-reviewed publication in the "Journal of Literary and Linguistic Computing", they reviewed the (non-peer reviewed) Hilton study and pointed out numerous flaws in it.They (Jocker et al., 2008) found that the Book of Alma is a mixture of Rigdon, Cowdery, and Spalding. The Hilton study does not indicate what text they used for Alma. If one lumps all the signals for Rigdon, Cowdery, and Spalding together, one is left with a corrupt signal that does not match Spalding.
We must do everything we can to preserve accurate descriptions of Spalding-Rigdon material, as well as anything critical and/or favorable to the LDS, so as not to create misleading information.
Questions or comments?
Art
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Rules of the road
Hi again,
In the course of discussing things, tempers may flare, but I'm asking and telling everyone that abusive language and behavior will not be tolerated. Everyone has an opinion and that's fine, but express it in a non-abusive way, okay?
Thanks!
Art Vanick
In the course of discussing things, tempers may flare, but I'm asking and telling everyone that abusive language and behavior will not be tolerated. Everyone has an opinion and that's fine, but express it in a non-abusive way, okay?
Thanks!
Art Vanick
The 2009 Ex-Mormon Conference and Spalding
Why don't we start off with an event I just attended and go from there. Last Friday I once again attended the Annual Ex-Mormon Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, and had a terrific time. The presenters were perhaps the best I've seen yet (since I presented there two years ago :-)), in spite of the fact that attendance was down from last year. It was also the busiest I've been so far, between meeting with new colleagues, talking with old "exmo" friends, videotaping a session that ran concurrently with another one, and also two very personally gratifying conversations with some folks I've known for awhile.One of the highlights was the presentation by Craig Criddle on his research into various word patterns and phrases that were common to both the Book of Mormon and known samples of Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith, Pratt, and Solomon Spalding, the man whom we believe, based on over 30 years of research, wrote the basis for the Book of Mormon.I guess at this point I may need to answer a few questions, starting with who I am. My name is Art Vanick and I am one of three co-authors who wrote "Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? - The Spalding Enigma", published by Concordia Publishing House in 2005. It is the second of two books in which I participated with my two co-authors, the first book being published in 1977 with the help of Dr. Walter Martin. I did some of the research for the 1977 book but was not one of the authors. Now for the next question: who was Solomon Spalding and how was he connected with the Book of Mormon?Solomon was a down and out retired Congregationalist minister who toward the end of his life turned to writing with the hopes of providing a financial legacy for his poor family. He made two attempts at least two attempts at writing - Manuscript Story, which he ended abruptly, and Manuscript Found, which he submitted to several publishers and which finally found acceptance by the Patterson Print Shop. The book was mediocre, however, and so Spalding was required to raise the necessary amount of money to cover the printing cost, which he attempted to do but died before he was able to do it, so the manuscript lay in the print shop. This brings us to the next question - what does Spalding have to do with the Book of Mormon?The Spalding manuscript was taken or otherwise acquired by a man named Sidney Rigdon, who was said by many to have frequented the print shop where Spalding's manuscript was located. At some time after he got the manuscript, he met with Oliver Cowdery and his cousin, Joseph Smith, and the three of them over a period of about three years edited and otherwise rewrote Spalding's manuscript and turned it into what is now known as the Book of Mormon.The next question is how old is the Spalding-Rigdon theory? The answer is older than the Book of Mormon itself, and possibly goes back to a accusation that was attributed to Spalding and his wife, who supposedly accused Sidney Rigdon of taking Manuscript Found as early as 1814.In any case, it is quite probably the oldest and definitely tne most severely attacked of all of the non-Mormon theories for the origin of the Book of Mormon. I say this because it has not only been attacked by Mormons but also by non-Mormons and also various "Smith-only" Christian groups who insist that Smith had to have written the Book of Mormon.Our book, all 562 pages of it, attempts to solve the Spalding Enigma from a historical perspective. It's basically a historical "whodunnit" where we attempt to show via as much evidence as possible, how the principals in the story get together and do what we claim they do.We have been joined in recent times by others who have gone at the same problem from other viewpoints, like Tom Donofrio and Craig Criddle, whose presentation at the 2009 exmo conference has elevated the Spalding claims several notches, as had Tom's.Well, that's about it for now. It's Friday and that means "pizza and movie night" at my household. Join in as the spirit moves.Art
October 16, 2009 7:06 PM
October 16, 2009 7:06 PM
Friday, October 16, 2009
Welcome to Art's Enigma
Hi all,
Welcome to Art's Enigma - my new blog! I've never done a blog before so excuse any mistakes, at least until I get my bearings on things. Feel free to discuss whatever comes to mind, although I plan to discuss the subject of Mormonism a lot, though I'm sure that politics and other topics will also creep in from time to time.
Art
Welcome to Art's Enigma - my new blog! I've never done a blog before so excuse any mistakes, at least until I get my bearings on things. Feel free to discuss whatever comes to mind, although I plan to discuss the subject of Mormonism a lot, though I'm sure that politics and other topics will also creep in from time to time.
Art
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