Mormonism: Hoax, Fraud, or True Religion???
‘Aspects of early Mormon history have been discussed and debated, but never officially by the church itself until now. The Mormon Church has been releasing essays that acknowledge that their founder, Joseph Smith, engaged in polygamy. Kristine Haglund, editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, joins Jeffrey Brown for a look at how the issue of polygamy factors in contemporary Mormonism (11 November 2014)’.
It seems obvious that Joseph Smith (aka The Prophet) was nothing but a cunning fraud and charlatan, but still the Mormon Church appears to be growing and growing. Borrowing heavily from Christian mythology, Smith the Prophet devised his own mythology. Smith’s fancies were very useful in justifying his own vices, as related by CNN’s Daniel Burke, the Prophet “Smith, wed as many as 40 wives, including some who were already married and one as young as 14 years old”.[1] On its website, the LDS Church announces simply that “[a]fter receiving a revelation commanding him to practice plural marriage, Joseph Smith married multiple wives and introduced the practice to close associates. This principle was among the most challenging aspects of the Restoration—for Joseph personally and for other Church members. Plural marriage tested faith and provoked controversy and opposition. Few Latter-day Saints initially welcomed the restoration of a biblical practice entirely foreign to their sensibilities. But many later testified of powerful spiritual experiences that helped them overcome their hesitation and gave them courage to accept this practice”.[2] How convenient and how nice for men wanting to engage in multiple sexual trysts while married and settled-down.
Elsewhere I have dealt with the Mormon doctrine as well,[3] but here is an account by the LDS Church itself: “The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel. The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians. The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after His resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come. After Mormon completed his writings, he delivered the account to his son Moroni, who added a few words of his own and hid up the plates in the Hill Cumorah. On September 21, 1823, the same Moroni, then a glorified, resurrected being, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and instructed him relative to the ancient record and its destined translation into the English language. In due course the plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, who translated them by the gift and power of God. The record is now published in many languages as a new and additional witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that all who will come unto Him and obey the laws and ordinances of His gospel may be saved. Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: ‘I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book’ In addition to Joseph Smith, the Lord provided for eleven others to see the gold plates for themselves and to be special witnesses of the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon. Their written testimonies are included herewith as ‘The Testimony of Three Witnesses’ and ‘The Testimony of Eight Witnesses’. We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.) Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah”.[4]
[1] Daniel Burke, “Church: Mormon founder Joseph Smith wed 40 wives” CNN (11 November 2014). http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/11/living/mormon-founder-polygamy/index.html.
[2] “Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng.
[3] “Mitt Romney Loves God & the Tenets of Mormonism” A Pseudo-Ottoman Blog (12 September 2012). https://sitanbul.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/mitt-romney-loves-god-the-tenets-of-mormonism/.
[4] “Introduction” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/introduction?lang=eng.
SITANBUL 
Four More Years of the Same???
Now that Alyona Minkovski has gone over to the dark side, meaning Arianna Huffington (formerly Stassinopoulos) and her YouTube minions, RT’s latest attempt to reach a younger (and more critical) audience is the show Breaking the Set, presented by Abby Martin, and it ‘is a show that cuts through the false Left/Right paradigm and pre-established narrative set in the corporate news and political establishment. Host Abby Martin undermines the mainstream media propaganda while calling out the real players behind the scenes’. And now the election season is finally over, here is Abby Martin explaining that your vote is much more than casting a choice on a ballot. In fact, you can vote in more ways than you know multiple times every day. So make it count (6 November 2012).
On the other side of the aisle is Michael Moore exhorting U.S. citizens who have continued their support for the duopoly: “Congratulations everyone!! This country has truly changed, and I believe there will be no going back. Hate lost today. That is amazing in and of itself. And all the women who were elected tonight! A total rebuke of neanderthal attitudes.
Now the real work begins. Millions of us must come together to insist that President Obama and the Democrats stand up and fight and, if the House doesn’t want to play ball, do a massive end run around them. Likewise, we have to have Obama’s back. As he is blocked and attacked by the Right, we need to be there with him. We are the majority. Let’s act like it.
And please Mr. President, make the banks and Wall Street pay. You’re the boss, not them. Lead the fight to get money out of politics – the spending on this election is shameful and dangerous. Don’t wait til 2014 to bring the troops home – bring ’em home now. Stop the drone strikes on civilians. End the senseless war on drugs. Act like a mother***** when it comes to climate change – ignore the nuts and fix this now. Take the profit motive out of things that any civilized country would say, “this is for the common good.” Make higher educational affordable for everyone and don’t send 22-year olds out into the world already in debt. Order a moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions. There are ways to create good-paying jobs – I have some ideas, if you’ve got a minute. Make your second term historical!
Finally thanks to the Occupy movement who, a year ago, set the tone of this election heart with “the 1% vs. everybody else” – and inspired Obama and his campaign to realize that there was huge popular sentiment against what the wealthy have done. And that led to Romney’s “47%” remarks which was the beginning of the end of his campaign. Thank you Mother Jones for releasing that secret tape and thank you to the minimum wage worker who did the secret taping. Thank you Sandra Fluke for enduing the insults hurled at you and becoming an important grass-roots leader. Thank you Todd Aikin for… well, for just being you. Thank you CEOs of Chrysler and GM for coming out forcefully against a Republican candidate, saying he lived in “an alternate universe” when he lied about Jeep. Thank you for Governor Cristie for being the final nail in the coffin.
And thank you Mother Nature, in all your horrific damage you caused last week, you became, ironically, the undoing of a Party that didn’t believe in you or your climate changing powers.
Perhaps they’ll believe now”.[1]
And here is ‘Abby Martin talking to activist, author and campaigner for Roots Action, David Swanson,[2] about the state of our democracy and the path toward real change’.
[1] Cfr. http://www.michaelmoore.com/.
[2] Cfr. https://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Swanson/297768373319 and http://davidswanson.org/.
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