Acts 5:41-42; “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. 42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”
By 1860, approximately 65,000 Saints were comfortably settled into the valleys of the Wasatch Front.1
Everything they owned was either packed into wagons and handcarts or simply carried for the trek west. The ‘everything’ included the inventory of their hearts. Upon their arrival into Utah, the seedlings of mocking Christianity in Nauvoo were simply unpacked and replanted in the rich soils of Utah.
Having no outside influence allowed the new fledgling religion to take hold where roots could grow deeply into the rugged mountainsides. And take root it did. Without outsider influence pressing upon them, the gene pool of philosophical thought was rather shallow.
Sermons deriding Christianity served as fertile ground for intolerance to grow in the hearts of early Utah Mormonism. Countless speeches on the ‘whores of Babylon’ were delivered by LDS leaders without the benefit of cross-checking historical references, and few, if any of the locals took notice.
Today we’re looking at one of those sermons and comparing it with historical facts.
Below is an excerpt of a speech by John Taylor on the body of Christ, and a list of 18 extraordinary Christians who left an indelible mark on the world in the 19th century.
Our questions today are as follows:
Who invented the Christianity of the 19th century, God, or Satan?
If you’re LDS, whom do you believe?
Journal of Discourses 6:167; “There is not nation now that acknowledges that hand of God; there is not a king, potentate, nor ruler that acknowledges his jurisdiction. We talk about Christianity, but it is a perfect pack of nonsense. Men talk about civilization; but I do not want to say much about that, for I have seen enough of it. Myself and hundreds of the Elders around me have seen its pomp, parade, and glory; and what is it? It is a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol; it is as corrupt as hell; and the Devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work that the Christianity of the nineteenth century.” – John Taylor, Salt Lake City, January 17, 1858
Compare Taylor’s words with a few of the great 19th Century Christians and ask the Mormon you know for their opinion!
_____
Francis Asbury (1745–1816), founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church
William Wilberforce (1759–1833), worked to abolish slavery in the British Empire
Henry Thornton (1760-1815), banker, philanthropist, reformer and Member of Parliament
Richard Allen (1760–1831), founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denomination (1816)
William Carey, (1761-1834) British missionary to India. Known as the “father of modern missions”
Nathan Bangs (1778–1862), editor of the Christian Advocate, president of Wesleyan University
Charles Grandison Finney (1792–1875), preacher in the Second Great Awakening, advocate of “New Measures” – he and a small group of other Christians were early leaders of the Abolitionist Movement .
Carl Gustav Boberg (1859–1940), wrote the hymn ‘How Great Thou Art’ in 1885
Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813–1843), Scottish preacher and minister of St Peter’s, Dundee
Joseph M. Scriven (1819–1886), Irish poet, moved to Canada and wrote What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Fanny Crosby (1820–1915), blind American writer of many famous hymns including “Blessed Assurance” – It’s estimated that she authored 8,000 – 9,000 hymns.
William Henry Green (1825–1900), chairman of the Old Testament committee for the American Standard Version (1901)
Robert Pearsall Smith (1827–1899) and Hannah Whitall Smith (1832–1911), leaders in the Holiness movement
William Booth (1829–1912) and Catherine Booth (1829 –1890), founders of The Salvation Army.
James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905), British missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission
Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892), English Baptist preacher and advocate of Calvinism
Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899), American evangelist, pastor and educator
David Liviingstone (1813 – 1873) Explorer, missionary, doctor, staunch abolitionist
1.History of Utah, p. 484, Hubert Howe Bancroft
With Love in Christ –
Michelle ✟
“Having no outside influence allowed the new fledgling religion to take hold where roots could grow deeply into the rugged mountainsides”.
This is nothing new, another good example of this was Jim Jones and The People’s Temple. The members sold and packed up all they owned to seclude themselves in Guiana. This should be red flag, and a classic sign of cult behavior.
And with remarks that Christianity is the “Whore of Babylon” and “a perfect pack of nonsense”… My question is, did Christians exclude the LDS church from the lunch table, or did they exclude themselves???
-Melissa
Well, when you look at what happened and when, there were many who spoke out against Mormons. A good example is how the Church was run out of town from NY to Ohio, Missouri to Illinois and finally UT.
It wasn’t because they worshiped a new god, rather, it was because of their behavioral problems like polygamy, killing people, aka, blood atonement, etc.
[…] 19th Century Christianity Corrupt as Hell? * John Taylor […]
Mountain meadows massacre: Wasn’t Young involved in this? What a character!!! Who would want a prophet/president like Young?🙏🙏🙏🙏✝️✝️😇😇
M.J.
To MJ –
The mere thought of his name makes me cringe. He was one scary guy.
Talk about scary – have you ever seen the movie September Dawn? It’s abt him and the MMM.
No I haven’t.
M.J.
when/if you can check it out on Netflix or YouTube. Beware tho – it’s rather violent. My husband Kirk and I took his mother to see it and she never had a prob w/ that kind of stuff. On our way home she said it was shocking. For her that was big!
I have a few books to recommend. Just for a good overview of Joe Smith and the LDS, Fawn Brodie’s “No man knows my history” is a good place to start. But since Mountain Meadows came up, I’ve read several books about it but these are the three best:
The Mountain Meadows Massacre, by Juanita Brooks
White Flag: America’s First 9/11, by Wayne Atilio Capurro
Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows, by Will Bagley
Those are all fantastic books! Thanks for giving us that list!