History of the Church 3:228; “This poor man who professes to be much of a prophet, has no other dumb *** to ride but David Whitmer, to forbid his madness when he goes up to curse Israel; and this *** not being of the same kind as Balaam’s, therefore, the angel notwithstanding appeared unto him, yet he could not penetrate his understanding sufficiently, but that he prays out cursings instead of blessings. Poor ***!” – December 16, 1838
History of the Church 3:231-232; “Such characters as McLellin, John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris, are too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them. Marsh and “another,” whose hearts are full of corruption, whose cloak of hypocrisy was not sufficient to shield them or to hold them up in the hour of trouble, who after having escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, became again entangled and overcome—their latter end is worse than the first. But it has happened unto them according to the word of the Scripture: “The dog has returned to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” – December 16, 1838
An Address to All Believers in Christ, p 27; “…if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to ‘separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, so should it be done unto them.’ in the spring of 1838, the heads of the church and many of the member had gone deep into error and blindness…” – David Whitmer, 1887
2 Corinthians 11:14; “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
If you’ve been around Mormonism for any length of time the citations I’ve used today are familiar in your databank of resources. What I’ve always found interesting about this cast of characters is how they stack up to what Smith promised about ‘the one and only true church on the face of the earth’. Let’s review:
The BoM plagiarized Jesus in Matthew 16:18 and promised nothing bad would happen against the church –
3 Nephi 11:39; “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.”
On October 3, 1918 LDS prophet Joseph F. Smith prophesied the Church would never be destroyed –
Doctrine and Covenants 138:44; “Daniel, who foresaw and foretold the establishment of the kingdom of God in the latter days, never again to be destroyed nor given to other people”.
And lest we forget Smith’s infamous words in his speech a mere thirty-two days before he was murdered –
History of the Church 6:408-409; “God is in the still small voice. In all these affidavits, indictments, it is all of the devil—all corruption. Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on the top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet”. – May 26, 1844
His boasting claim was nothing but a lie! The documentations above show that many had apostatized. I wonder what private thoughts were going through the minds of those in attendance…surely they knew the truth!
By 1847 not one of the surviving eleven witnesses were Mormon. All had left the Church for greener pastures and newer gods. Compare this with the biblical standard Christianity lives. By 100 AD there weren’t any apostles left because they died – not because any of them denied Christ! Judas is obviously not amongst those – the apostles that were alive after the Lord’s resurrection all stayed true to the gospel of Christ to their dying day.
When Mormons tell everyone that people had become apostates and the body of Christ died away after Jesus’ death and resurrection, ask them about their own teachings and canon.
Somehow there’s a disconnect or double standard they live by.
And lastly, why does the Church extol the original three witnesses today if they were so hated by Smith and others back in early Mormonism?
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