Joseph Smith Papers, Letter from Parley P. Pratt to Joseph Smith, 23 May 1837; “I have at length become fully convinced that the whole scheme of speculation in which we have been engaged, is of the devil. I allude to the covetous, extortionary speculating spirit which has reigned in this place for the last season…And being convinced that you, and President Rigdon, both by precept and example, have been the principle means in leading this people astray, in these particulars, and having myself been led astray and caught in the same snare by your example, and by false prophesying and preaching, from your own mouths, yea, having done many things wrong and plunged myself and family, and others, well nigh into destruction, I have awoke to an awful sense of my situation…If you are still determined to pursue this wicked course, until yourself and the church shall sink down to hell, I beseech you at least, to have mercy on me and my family, and others who are bound with me for those three lots [of land] which you sold to me at the extortionary price of 2000 dollars…But if not, I shall be under the painful necessity of preferring charges against you for extortion, covetousness, and taking advantage of your brother by an undue religious influence.”
Jeremiah 7:9-11; “Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; 10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? 11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.”
Buried deep in the underbelly of the LDS Church’s dark past are letters written to Smith by numerous members and non-members alike. A number of these documents portray the truth of what was really going on in Mormon history and casts a different light on Mormon reality that’s filled with shadows of lies, schemes and false prophecies the average Mormon has no knowledge of. Case in point is our Mormon example today.
Stemming from the US’ financial crisis of 1837 and Smith’s shenanigans, Parley Pratt had come to the end of his patience with ol’ Joe. He wanted his money back that Smith had overcharged him for in a land deal gone wrong and for the money he’d given to Smith in the soon-to-be colossal failure of the Kirtland anti-banking scheme.
The letter Pratt wrote was received by Smith’s clerk Warren Parish, who in turn sent it in to the Zion’s Watchman, a publication by the New York Weslyan Society.
Remarkably even though Pratt didn’t trust Smith with money, he willingly chose to believe many of his prophecies and stayed Mormon until the day he too was shot and killed. While being chased by a husband who wanted revenge, Pratt had run away with another man’s wife and married Louise McLean which encouraged her husband Hector to chase after Pratt. When he caught up with Parley, he shot and killed him in Arkansas. Louise was wife #12 in Pratt’s private harem of polygamous wives.
Mr. Pratt obviously ignored the warnings in Jeremiah and chose to follow the false gods of Ba’al just as the Israelites did in Jerusalem.
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