Salt Lake Tribune, January 6, 1880 “The people of the rest of the country are our enemies…. We believe in honesty, morality, and purity; but when they enact tyrannical laws, forbidding us the free exercise or our religion, we cannot submit. God is greater than the United States, and when the government conflicts with heaven, we will be ranged under the banner of heaven and against the government…Polygamy is a divine institution. It has been handed down direct from God. The United States cannot abolish it. No nation on the earth can prevent it, nor all the nations of the earth combined…I defy the United States; I will obey God.” — John Taylor
Articles of Faith 1:12 “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”
Proverbs 12:10 “The righteous is merciful even unto his beast, but the piety of the wicked is cruel.”
You can see by the tone of Mr. Taylor’s speech, the Church didn’t take too kindly when outsiders poked their noses into Utah’s private utopia.
Congress had already passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in 1862, and after Lincoln’s death the push to reinforce U.S. laws was given new life. Feds amended the law twenty years later in 1882 with the Edmunds Act, and amended it yet again in 1887. Because the Church had people in DC, they were immediately aware of any news pertaining to their status. See Edmunds-Tucker Act article for more info.
At the time of this speech, the 1882 amendment was like a foreboding dark cloud, waiting to dump its bad news on their God-inspired lifestyle. Taylor’s speech was one of several brimstone and hellfire sermons the Church published as an attempt to keep their polygamous activities afloat. If you want to get a feel for what it was like during those days, Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, is a great read.
What the Mormons didn’t seem to care about was the other ‘god-inspired’ commandment doled out by Joseph Smith known as the 12th Article of Faith. Apparently that flew in the face of their immediate need for sex, and keeping all those wives.
Worse yet was the fact they called themselves a Christian organization, and used God’s word to excuse their outlandish behavior.
Their tangled web of lies continued in this fashion until they finally abandoned it publicly in 1904. My family is but one example of how this played out.
If they truly cared about God, the US, and being honest, their track record would read much differently than it does today.
Our question today is this –
Why haven’t they denounced the behavior of past prophets, and asked God to forgive them for lying, and disobeying His word?
As an FYI, Taylor gave this speech on January 4, 1880, two days before the Trib’s report was published. We’ll be looking at other aspects of this in the future because it presents some thought provoking dilemmas for the Church even today.
With Love in Christ;
Michelle
“Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the King supreme. Or unto GOVERNORS AS UNTO THEM THAT ARE SENT BY HIM FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF EVILDOERS “POLYGAMISTS” AND AND FOR THE PRAISE OF GOD (1 Peter 2:13,14)
When the Mormons (John Taylor) talk about rebellion against the US Govt, they are talking about rebelling against the very government, that I personally believe, was set in place and ordained by the Lord God himself.
Great research. My LDS daughter has told me, she doesn’t care what I can prove, she loves being mormon. So, there is that, sadly.
I know what you mean, Sandra. Unfortunately, she thinks like so many Mormons. Mormons (for the most part) have spent very little time in the Bible because they are not encouraged to do so. The Mormon Church knows there are words (God’s Words) in the Bible that contradict everything they have been told. The Mormons don’t want to outright prohibit the use of the Bible, so what they do is, put together study guides for people to use when reading the Bible. That way, the members are, in fact, reading the Bible, but only in the way outlined by the church
The quote here is simply false. Here is a link to the actual speech as posted by the Mormon Research Ministry, another group that aims to “expose the lies of Mormonism.” Notice almost nothing in the Taylor quotes appears in the actual speech. You might want to check your sources before you publish idiocies.
https://jod.mrm.org/21/61
As for America being founded by God, you’re free to believe that. But much like your corruption of the Bible to fit your beliefs when quoting Peter, the worship of America is simply blasphemy. No true Christian believes such filth.