Mormonism
As we begin our brief study on the next
cult, Mormonism or Latter Day Saints, it would be good to
repeat the dictionary definition of
cult:
1. A system or community of religious
worship and ritual,
2. A religion or religious sect generally
considered to be extremist or bogus
3. Obsessive devotion or veneration for
a person, principle, or ideal, especially when regarded as a fad.' taken from The American Heritage Dictionary.
These definitions accurately describe the cults we will be covering especially definition 2. for the majority of
the cults found in the USA have an obsessive devotion or veneration for a
person, the one who began the cult and established the system of beliefs held
by the adherents/members. This is especially true of Mormonism/Latter Day
Saints.
It all began with Joseph Smith in 1827 who claimed that a man named
Moroni who lived about 42 A.D. received a sacred record and was told to bring
it forth in the latter days! Smith says when he was 14 years old a heavenly
messenger name Moroni appeared to him and revealed the existence of engraved
golden plates hidden in a hill between Palmyra and Manchester, New York.
Four years later, on September 22, 1827 the plates were said to be
delivered to Smith along with instruments called 'interpreters' (Urim and
Thummim) by which he translated the cryptic characters supposedly found on the
plates into the Book of Mormon which was published in 1830.
Joseph Smith, a man of great superstitions, was born in 1805 to a father
who sold blessings, and a mother who was a fortune-teller. Joseph Smith was a
man of great immorality which he attempted to dignify by fabricating a religion
which exalts polygamy as it was one of the first three principles.
He had forty-nine wives and was imprisoned there by the farmers whose
daughters he had taken in polygamy. He died in 1844 when the farmers mobbed the
jail and murdered him.
Brigham Young, who was Smith's successor, and later a prophet of
Mormonism, was born in 1801 and died in 1877. In 1837 he was elected one of the
twelve apostles. When Smith was murdered in 1844, Young was chosen president of
the Mormon 'church' and was expelled from Illinois which led to their journey
to the west where he founded Salt Lake City.
He had seventeen wives and forty-seven children. There was a split
between the 'Josephites' and the 'Brighamites' and the Josephites, followers of
Smith established headquarters in Independence, Missouri and called themselves
'The Reorganized Church of the Latter Day Saints'.
Both still claim that Joseph Smith was the greatest prophet next to
Jesus Christ, both regard the Book of Mormon to be inspired so both are
considered Mormons. The word Mormon means 'both' which refers to their belief in
the book of Mormon and the Bible which is based on a perversion of Ezekiel
37:19, 20.
This passage refers to the 'stick of Joseph' and the 'stick of Judah'
which has been twisted to mean the Book of Mormon and the Bible which is never
mentioned or even hinted at in the Word of God! Both have taught and practiced
polygamy when permitted and list twenty-two doctrines upon which they both
agree.
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