Lying by Omission to LDS Youth about Drug Use at Kirtland Temple

Daniel 3:18; “…be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

Liahona, ‘Kirtland and the Word of Wisdom,’ July 2017; “While the early Saints lived in Kirtland, Ohio, the Lord told them to build a temple. (Read about what happened after the temple was dedicated in D&C 110.) The Lord also told Joseph Smith to start a school to teach Church leaders about the gospel. Many men at this school smoked or chewed tobacco. Joseph and Emma didn’t like the smoky, messy tobacco. When Joseph asked the Lord what to do about it, he received the revelation we now call the Word of Wisdom. You can read it in D&C 89.

Matthew 15:8; “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”

It’s been said that ‘going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to the garage makes you a car’. (Peter J. Laurence) Today Mr. Laurence’s timeless insight is exactly what’s going on here.

The article in the LDS Lihona Magazine for youth sounds nice, doesn’t it? We’re wondering why they didn’t tell all of the stories in their history for this time period. There are a few not-so-minor details they’ve omitted. For instance, did you know…?

It was widely known then, just as it is today amongst Mormon historians, that Smith, and friends used hallucinogens before their celebrations at the Kirtland Temple. The visions that opened up were a manufactured result of ingesting the local hallucinogens in the area. For more info see Restoration and the Sacred Mushroom, by Robert T. Beckstead. While Mr. Beckstead’s report is lengthy, it’s well worth the read. His is just one of dozens of reports on this issue. Also noteworthy is how the wonderful visions everyone experienced abruptly stopped when Smith died…

Another historical event glaringly absent is why Smith had the ‘revelation’ from God that produced the Word of Wisdom.

While they were indeed meeting for the ‘School of the Prophets’, the true story is that Emma had tired of cleaning up their messes, and said something to Smith. When he relayed the incident onto those in attendance, someone told him to have a revelation limiting the use of Emma’s tea drinking habit. To no one’s surprise, the Mormon god acquiesced. See Word of Wisdom & LDS Hypocrisy for more info.

Once again, the Church is lying by omission. We pray that as these kids see the info they’re provided, it’d prompt them to dig further into the Church’s sordid past. If they’re going to bring up events about their past, why don’t they tell the whole story?