Hi everyone,
My friend Richard and I recently did another interview and this one was about the many versions of Joseph Smith's First Vision. As with the other interviews, we had way too much material for the hour, in spite of trying to squeeze in as much data as possible. It was a real education, even though I had looked at the different versions before. What leaped out at me this time was the fact that the first few versions of Smith's First Vision were essentially what one might call "evangelical" in nature. What do I mean? First of all, Smith claimed initially that it was through long and diligent study of the Bible that he became convinced that all churches were in error, much in the same way that other restoration-type churches came to similar conclusions and then as a result attempted to "restore" authentic Christianity through their teachings. Also, in the early versions of the First Vision, Jesus tells Smith that his sins are forgiven and he is very happy for it, though he soon has a lapse and falls back into his sin-filled life. But none of this is how the currently accepted and canonized version of the First Vision reads. Why? It's very simple - if Smith had indeed relied solely on the Bible to tell him that all churches were in error, then there wouldn't be any need at all for the Book of Mormon, no exclusivity of Mormonism over any other restoration-type church, in short, nothing to make Mormonism special enough for Smith to use it as his ultimate scam.
The latest interview is available at the KFUO AM archives of the show called Studio A, hosted by Roland Lettner.
Thoughts and/or comments?
Art
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Out of Mormonism
Hi everyone,
I've had the privilege of being on the radio twice in the past two weeks with a great ex-Mormon friend named Richard, and we have discussed a number of important facts and some of the big lies of Mormonism.. It takes courage to do what Richard has done and I admire him greatly for it. He has also been extremely helpful to me in educating me about the Mormon mindset and what it is like to be a Mormon. I am constantly amazed at just how different the Mormon world and world view are from reality and expecially from Christianity.
Something else that has been made abundantly clear to me since getting involved with the Ex-Mormon Foundation is how much ex-Mormons have suffered in their leaving "the church", whether at the hands of church leadership, family, friends, and even in many cases, business relationships. So many people hurt because of a misguided egomaniac and his phony "revelations", as well as the many other at times convenient revelations and pronouncements since the religion first came into being.
Oh, I suppose that to the random Mormon who might visit this blog I'm just another angry "anti" on a rant about his or her beloved church, but it has gotten far more personal than just venting my spleen about percieved wrong-doings by an organization that I call a false religion. This religion has wantonly destroyed possibly thousands of people just because those people couldn't find the answers to the questions they had and because of that, made the incredibly difficult decision to leave, or who perhaps were forced to leave because they could no longer abide the lies of the church they had come to trust with their earthly and spiritual lives. Because of this and other reasons, I have put effort over the last thirty-something years to try to expose the lies of Mormonism and I believe that God has blessed that effort with a measure of success. As it says in the Bible, heaven rejoices when even one individual is saved, so if I can help even one person leave Mormonism and find the truth, I am truly blessed.
To those who have left Mormonism and feel that God is just a myth, I am sorry that you feel that way, yet I think I am beginnig to understand why you feel the way you do. You see, the God I worship is not the same God of Mormonism, nor is the Jesus of Mormonism the same Jesus I have worshipped all of my life. Because of that, it has been difficult for me to understand why many who have left Mormonism - people who were devout Mormons, now have little or no room for the God I worship. I haven't had to deal with endless rituals, priesthood ceremonies, temple recommends, secret underwear, or any of the other trappings of Mormonism. I've just known about a God who loved me so much that He sent His Son to earth to lead a perfect life and die a miserable death and then rise again so that I could be made blameless before Him. Not only that, but because of what Jesus did, there was quite literally nothing that I could do to save myself, but that was a good thing because Jesus did everything for me, freeing me to live a life where I could tell others about what He did for me and for the rest of the world.
I am not trying to recruit people into Christianity nor lecture anyone as to how they should live, but am rather trying to tell in my own meager way what Christ has done for me and to say that He can do it for those who have left Mormonism too.
I tried to attach the two interviews to this post but was unsuccessful. If you want to hear the interviews, go to the KFUO AM website, which I believe is kfuo.org, and check the archives of the Studio A radio show with Roland Lettner. Other interviews that I have done with Roland are also available in the archives, and some are also available at our website: http://www.solomonspalding.info/.
As a side note, has anyone been watching the "Big Love" series on HBO? I wonder what the background is of the screenwriters? The show seems to very accurately for the most part, portray both mainstream Mormonism as well as the fundamentalist polygamous groups. In fact, some of the polygamous people in the show seem to be eerily similar to known polygamous leaders from the past and present. So, if any of you have any comments about Big Love, feel free to share them with us, okay?
Art
I've had the privilege of being on the radio twice in the past two weeks with a great ex-Mormon friend named Richard, and we have discussed a number of important facts and some of the big lies of Mormonism.. It takes courage to do what Richard has done and I admire him greatly for it. He has also been extremely helpful to me in educating me about the Mormon mindset and what it is like to be a Mormon. I am constantly amazed at just how different the Mormon world and world view are from reality and expecially from Christianity.
Something else that has been made abundantly clear to me since getting involved with the Ex-Mormon Foundation is how much ex-Mormons have suffered in their leaving "the church", whether at the hands of church leadership, family, friends, and even in many cases, business relationships. So many people hurt because of a misguided egomaniac and his phony "revelations", as well as the many other at times convenient revelations and pronouncements since the religion first came into being.
Oh, I suppose that to the random Mormon who might visit this blog I'm just another angry "anti" on a rant about his or her beloved church, but it has gotten far more personal than just venting my spleen about percieved wrong-doings by an organization that I call a false religion. This religion has wantonly destroyed possibly thousands of people just because those people couldn't find the answers to the questions they had and because of that, made the incredibly difficult decision to leave, or who perhaps were forced to leave because they could no longer abide the lies of the church they had come to trust with their earthly and spiritual lives. Because of this and other reasons, I have put effort over the last thirty-something years to try to expose the lies of Mormonism and I believe that God has blessed that effort with a measure of success. As it says in the Bible, heaven rejoices when even one individual is saved, so if I can help even one person leave Mormonism and find the truth, I am truly blessed.
To those who have left Mormonism and feel that God is just a myth, I am sorry that you feel that way, yet I think I am beginnig to understand why you feel the way you do. You see, the God I worship is not the same God of Mormonism, nor is the Jesus of Mormonism the same Jesus I have worshipped all of my life. Because of that, it has been difficult for me to understand why many who have left Mormonism - people who were devout Mormons, now have little or no room for the God I worship. I haven't had to deal with endless rituals, priesthood ceremonies, temple recommends, secret underwear, or any of the other trappings of Mormonism. I've just known about a God who loved me so much that He sent His Son to earth to lead a perfect life and die a miserable death and then rise again so that I could be made blameless before Him. Not only that, but because of what Jesus did, there was quite literally nothing that I could do to save myself, but that was a good thing because Jesus did everything for me, freeing me to live a life where I could tell others about what He did for me and for the rest of the world.
I am not trying to recruit people into Christianity nor lecture anyone as to how they should live, but am rather trying to tell in my own meager way what Christ has done for me and to say that He can do it for those who have left Mormonism too.
I tried to attach the two interviews to this post but was unsuccessful. If you want to hear the interviews, go to the KFUO AM website, which I believe is kfuo.org, and check the archives of the Studio A radio show with Roland Lettner. Other interviews that I have done with Roland are also available in the archives, and some are also available at our website: http://www.solomonspalding.info/.
As a side note, has anyone been watching the "Big Love" series on HBO? I wonder what the background is of the screenwriters? The show seems to very accurately for the most part, portray both mainstream Mormonism as well as the fundamentalist polygamous groups. In fact, some of the polygamous people in the show seem to be eerily similar to known polygamous leaders from the past and present. So, if any of you have any comments about Big Love, feel free to share them with us, okay?
Art
Thursday, February 11, 2010
"The "Everlasting Gospel" and Sidney Rigdon
Hi folks,
With the new evidence connecting Sidney Rigdon with Solomon Spalding and the production of the Book of Mormon, I thought I would post an article that some may not have heard about before. It's actually a chapter from a book and it talks about something called the "Everlasting Gospel". I think you will find it interesting.
Art
CHAPTER IX
"THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL"
Having presented the evidence which shows that the historical part of the Mormon Bible was supplied by the Spaulding manuscript, we may now pay attention to other evidence, which indicates that the entire conception of a revelation of golden plates by an angel was not even original, and also that its suggester was Rigdon. This is a subject which has been overlooked by investigators of the Mormon Bible.
That the idea of the revelation as described by Smith in his autobiography was not original is shown by the fact that a similar divine message, engraved on plates, was announced to have been received from an angel nearly six hundred years before the alleged visit of an angel to Smith. These original plates were described as of copper, and the recipient was a monk named Cyril, from whom their contents passed into the possession of the Abbot Joachim, whose "Everlasting Gospel," founded thereon, was offered to the church as supplanting the New Testament, just as the New Testament had supplanted the Old, and caused so serious a schism that Pope Alexander IV took the severest measures against it.1
The evidence that the history of the "Everlasting Gospel" of the thirteenth century supplied the idea of the Mormon Bible lies not only in the resemblance between the celestial announcement of both, but in the fact that both were declared to have the same important purport -- as a forerunner of the end of the world.-- and that the name "Everlasting Gospel" was adopted and constantly used in connection with their message by the original leaders in the Mormon church.
_________________________
1 [John W.] Draper's "Intellectual Development of Europe," Vol. II, Chap. III. For an exhaustive essay on the "Everlasting Gospel," by Renan, see Revue des Delcx Mondes, June, 1866. For John of Parma's part in the Gospel, see "Histoire Litteraire de la France" (1842), Vol. XX, p. 24.
-------- THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL 75 --------
If it is asked, How could Rigdon become acquainted with the story of the original "Everlasting Gospel," the answer is that it was just such subjects that would most attract his attention, and that his studies had led him into directions where the story of Cyril's plates would probably have been mentioned. He was a student of every subject out of which he could evolve a, sect, from the time of his Pittsburg pastorate. Hepworth Dixon said, "He knew the writings of Maham, Gates, and Boyle, writings in which love and marriage are considered in relation to Gospel liberty and the future life."1 H. H. Bancroft, noting his appointment as Professor of Church History in Nauvoo University, speaks of him as "versed in history, belles-lettres, and oratory.2 Mrs. James A. Garfield told Mrs. Dickenson that Rigdon taught her father Latin and Greek.3 David Whitmer, who was intimately acquainted with the early history of the church, testified: "Rigdon was a thorough biblical scholar, a man of fine education and a powerful orator."4 A writer, describing Rigdon while the church was at Nauvoo, said, "There is no divine in the West more learned in biblical literature and the history of the world than he."5 All this indicates that a knowledge of the earlier "Everlasting Gospel" was easily within Rigdon's reach. We may even surmise the exact source of this knowledge. Mosheim's "Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern" was at his disposal. Editions of it had appeared in London in 1765, 1768, 1774, 1782, 1790, 1806, 18I4 and 1826, and among the abridgments was one published in Philadelphia in 1812. In this work he could have read as follows: --
"About the commencement of this (the thirteenth) century there were handed about in Italy several pretended prophecies of the famous Joachim, abbot of Sora in Calabria, whom the multitude revered as a person divinely inspired, and equal to the most illustrious prophets of ancient times. The greatest part of these predictions were contained in a certain book entitled, 'The Everlasting Gospel,' which was also commonly called the Book of Joachim. This Joachim, whether a real or fictitious person we shall not pretend to determine, among many other events, foretold the destruction of the Church of Rome, whose corruptions he censured with the greatest severity, and the promulgation of a new and more perfect gospel in the age of the Holy Ghost, by a set of poor and austere ministers, whom God was to raise up and employ for that purpose."
_________________________
1 "Spiritual Wives," p. 62.
2 "Utah," p. 146.
3 Scribner's Magazine, October, 1881.
4 "Address to All Believers in Christ," p. 35.
5 Letter in the New York Herald.
-------- 76 THE STORY OF THE MORMONS --------
Here is a perfect outline of the scheme presented by the original Mormons, with Joseph as the divinely inspired prophet, and an "Everlasting Gospel," the gift of an angel, promulgated by poor men like the travelling Mormon elders. The original suggestion of an "Everlasting Gospel" is found in Revelation xiv, 6 and 7: --
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting in gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
"Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water."1
This was the angel of Cyril; this the announcement of those "latter days" from which the Mormon church, on Rigdon's motion soon took its name.
That Rigdon's attention had been attracted to an "Everlasting Gospel" is proved by the constant references made to it in writings of which he had at least the supervision, from the very beginning of the church. Thus, when he preached his first sermon before a Mormon audience -- on the occasion of his visit to Smith at Palmyra in I830 -- he took as his text a part of the version of Revelation xiv, which he had put into the Mormon Bible (I Nephi xiii. 40), and in his sermon, as reported by Tucker, who heard it, holding the Scriptures in one hand and the Mormon Bible in the other, he said, "that they were inseparably necessary to complete the everlasting gospel of the Saviour Jesus Christ." In the account in Smith's autobiography, of the first description of the buried book given to Smith by the angel, its two features are named separately, first, "an account of the former inhabitants of this continent," and then the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel." That Rigdon never lost sight of the importance, in his view, of an "Everlasting Gospel" may be seen from the following quotation from one of his articles in his Pittsburg organ, the Messenger and Advocate, of June 15, 1845,
_________________________
1 "Bisping (after Gerlach) takes Rev. xiv. 6-11 to foretell that three great events at the end of the last world-week are immediately to precede Christ's second advent: (1) the announcement of the "eternal' Gospel to the whole world (Matt. xxiv. 14); (2) the Fall of Babylon; (3) a warning to all who worship the beast. . . Burger says this vision can denote nothing but a last admonition and summons to conversion shortly before the end." -- Note in "Commentary by Bishops and Other Clergy of the Anglican Church."
-------- THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL 77 --------
after his expulsion from Nauvoo: "It is a strict observance of the principles of the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ, as contained in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Book of Covenants, which alone will insure a man an inheritance in the kingdom of our God."
The importance attached to the "Everlasting Gospel" by the founders of the church is seen further in the references to it in the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," which it is not necessary to cite,1 and further in a pamphlet by Elder Moses [Martin] of New York (1842), entitled "A Treatise on the Fulness of the Everlasting Gospel, setting forth its First Principles, Promises, and Blessings," in which he argued that the appearance of the angle to Smith was in direct line with the Scriptural teaching, and that the last days were near.
_________________________
1 For examples see Sec. 68, 1; Sec. 101, 22; Sec. 124, 88
With the new evidence connecting Sidney Rigdon with Solomon Spalding and the production of the Book of Mormon, I thought I would post an article that some may not have heard about before. It's actually a chapter from a book and it talks about something called the "Everlasting Gospel". I think you will find it interesting.
Art
CHAPTER IX
"THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL"
Having presented the evidence which shows that the historical part of the Mormon Bible was supplied by the Spaulding manuscript, we may now pay attention to other evidence, which indicates that the entire conception of a revelation of golden plates by an angel was not even original, and also that its suggester was Rigdon. This is a subject which has been overlooked by investigators of the Mormon Bible.
That the idea of the revelation as described by Smith in his autobiography was not original is shown by the fact that a similar divine message, engraved on plates, was announced to have been received from an angel nearly six hundred years before the alleged visit of an angel to Smith. These original plates were described as of copper, and the recipient was a monk named Cyril, from whom their contents passed into the possession of the Abbot Joachim, whose "Everlasting Gospel," founded thereon, was offered to the church as supplanting the New Testament, just as the New Testament had supplanted the Old, and caused so serious a schism that Pope Alexander IV took the severest measures against it.1
The evidence that the history of the "Everlasting Gospel" of the thirteenth century supplied the idea of the Mormon Bible lies not only in the resemblance between the celestial announcement of both, but in the fact that both were declared to have the same important purport -- as a forerunner of the end of the world.-- and that the name "Everlasting Gospel" was adopted and constantly used in connection with their message by the original leaders in the Mormon church.
_________________________
1 [John W.] Draper's "Intellectual Development of Europe," Vol. II, Chap. III. For an exhaustive essay on the "Everlasting Gospel," by Renan, see Revue des Delcx Mondes, June, 1866. For John of Parma's part in the Gospel, see "Histoire Litteraire de la France" (1842), Vol. XX, p. 24.
-------- THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL 75 --------
If it is asked, How could Rigdon become acquainted with the story of the original "Everlasting Gospel," the answer is that it was just such subjects that would most attract his attention, and that his studies had led him into directions where the story of Cyril's plates would probably have been mentioned. He was a student of every subject out of which he could evolve a, sect, from the time of his Pittsburg pastorate. Hepworth Dixon said, "He knew the writings of Maham, Gates, and Boyle, writings in which love and marriage are considered in relation to Gospel liberty and the future life."1 H. H. Bancroft, noting his appointment as Professor of Church History in Nauvoo University, speaks of him as "versed in history, belles-lettres, and oratory.2 Mrs. James A. Garfield told Mrs. Dickenson that Rigdon taught her father Latin and Greek.3 David Whitmer, who was intimately acquainted with the early history of the church, testified: "Rigdon was a thorough biblical scholar, a man of fine education and a powerful orator."4 A writer, describing Rigdon while the church was at Nauvoo, said, "There is no divine in the West more learned in biblical literature and the history of the world than he."5 All this indicates that a knowledge of the earlier "Everlasting Gospel" was easily within Rigdon's reach. We may even surmise the exact source of this knowledge. Mosheim's "Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern" was at his disposal. Editions of it had appeared in London in 1765, 1768, 1774, 1782, 1790, 1806, 18I4 and 1826, and among the abridgments was one published in Philadelphia in 1812. In this work he could have read as follows: --
"About the commencement of this (the thirteenth) century there were handed about in Italy several pretended prophecies of the famous Joachim, abbot of Sora in Calabria, whom the multitude revered as a person divinely inspired, and equal to the most illustrious prophets of ancient times. The greatest part of these predictions were contained in a certain book entitled, 'The Everlasting Gospel,' which was also commonly called the Book of Joachim. This Joachim, whether a real or fictitious person we shall not pretend to determine, among many other events, foretold the destruction of the Church of Rome, whose corruptions he censured with the greatest severity, and the promulgation of a new and more perfect gospel in the age of the Holy Ghost, by a set of poor and austere ministers, whom God was to raise up and employ for that purpose."
_________________________
1 "Spiritual Wives," p. 62.
2 "Utah," p. 146.
3 Scribner's Magazine, October, 1881.
4 "Address to All Believers in Christ," p. 35.
5 Letter in the New York Herald.
-------- 76 THE STORY OF THE MORMONS --------
Here is a perfect outline of the scheme presented by the original Mormons, with Joseph as the divinely inspired prophet, and an "Everlasting Gospel," the gift of an angel, promulgated by poor men like the travelling Mormon elders. The original suggestion of an "Everlasting Gospel" is found in Revelation xiv, 6 and 7: --
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting in gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
"Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water."1
This was the angel of Cyril; this the announcement of those "latter days" from which the Mormon church, on Rigdon's motion soon took its name.
That Rigdon's attention had been attracted to an "Everlasting Gospel" is proved by the constant references made to it in writings of which he had at least the supervision, from the very beginning of the church. Thus, when he preached his first sermon before a Mormon audience -- on the occasion of his visit to Smith at Palmyra in I830 -- he took as his text a part of the version of Revelation xiv, which he had put into the Mormon Bible (I Nephi xiii. 40), and in his sermon, as reported by Tucker, who heard it, holding the Scriptures in one hand and the Mormon Bible in the other, he said, "that they were inseparably necessary to complete the everlasting gospel of the Saviour Jesus Christ." In the account in Smith's autobiography, of the first description of the buried book given to Smith by the angel, its two features are named separately, first, "an account of the former inhabitants of this continent," and then the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel." That Rigdon never lost sight of the importance, in his view, of an "Everlasting Gospel" may be seen from the following quotation from one of his articles in his Pittsburg organ, the Messenger and Advocate, of June 15, 1845,
_________________________
1 "Bisping (after Gerlach) takes Rev. xiv. 6-11 to foretell that three great events at the end of the last world-week are immediately to precede Christ's second advent: (1) the announcement of the "eternal' Gospel to the whole world (Matt. xxiv. 14); (2) the Fall of Babylon; (3) a warning to all who worship the beast. . . Burger says this vision can denote nothing but a last admonition and summons to conversion shortly before the end." -- Note in "Commentary by Bishops and Other Clergy of the Anglican Church."
-------- THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL 77 --------
after his expulsion from Nauvoo: "It is a strict observance of the principles of the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ, as contained in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Book of Covenants, which alone will insure a man an inheritance in the kingdom of our God."
The importance attached to the "Everlasting Gospel" by the founders of the church is seen further in the references to it in the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," which it is not necessary to cite,1 and further in a pamphlet by Elder Moses [Martin] of New York (1842), entitled "A Treatise on the Fulness of the Everlasting Gospel, setting forth its First Principles, Promises, and Blessings," in which he argued that the appearance of the angle to Smith was in direct line with the Scriptural teaching, and that the last days were near.
_________________________
1 For examples see Sec. 68, 1; Sec. 101, 22; Sec. 124, 88
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