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BRIGHAM YOUNG
Total Articles:
16
Brigham Young was the 2nd prophet of the LDS Church, serving as president from 1847 to 1877. Known as the "Lion Of The Lord", he was a polygamist who taught that Adam was God. Most of his teaches are dismissed.
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I just finished viewing the video Promontory, which was produced by PBS station KUED recounting the final construction phases of the transcontinental railroad, which of course took place in Utah.
Brigham Young entered into deals with the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads, providing hundreds of Mormon men as much-needed laborers in the final rush to complete the line. The original agreements were that the men were to be paid in cash, a very scarce commodity in drought and grasshopper-plagued Utah. Very little of that cash was ever seen or paid, and the whole thing turned into a massive swindle.
It's interesting to observe that BY's powers of prophecy and discernment did not alert him to the fact that many of the railroad executives were essentially crooks. The Union Pacific Railroad was on the brink of bankruptcy, and its executives had to have known they could never pay the amounts they promised.
In the end, the Union Pacific offered $700,000 worth of railroad equipment to cover a debt of over $1,000,000. This hardware was used to build a branch railroad from Salt Lake City to the main line, which had bypassed the city. This of course also meant that hundreds of individual laborers never saw any of the cash they were promised for their work. Why in the world the continued to follow BY is beyond me, though to a large extent many of them were "trapped" in Utah.
| Is this still TSCC's stand or has this been discredited along with BY's view of quakers on the moon?
http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/Mormons/convertajew.html
According to Brigham Young, "who knows the mind of God," no true Jew can be converted into a true Christian. He informs his fellow Latter-day Saints that the divine will declares that "it is impossible to convert the Jews, until the Lord God Almighty does it." In what is to be considered "as good Scripture as is couched in the Bible" Young declares that God alone, not the Latter-day Saints missionaries, is to bring about the conversion of Jews. He states that any attempt to convert the Jewish people short of Gods personal direct intervention in the conversion process is an exercise in futility. As we will see below, Latter-day Saints missionaries are, in fact, instructed by Young not to attempt to convert Jews. What is more, his instructions are that "the Elders" are to have nothing to do with the Jewish people at all but are to "leave them to live and die in their sins and ignorance."
| Ramping Up The Revision Of History After Nauvoo
Article Archived: Wednesday, Mar 9, 2005, at 07:47 AM
Stored Under Topic: BRIGHAM YOUNG
Outside Link To Article: RIGHT CLICK - COPY LINK LOCATION
Original Author Of Article: Feeling Henry Jacobs | TOP | |
Joseph Smith set in motion a culture where truth and honesty was very low on the list of priorities, in my opinion. His example gave license to the leaders under him to say and do whatever they needed in order to protect their kingdom.
But Brigham Young took things to a new level once he isolated the members in the Mexican territory and solidified himself as the all powerful Oz. But how was BY as successful as he was at "scrubbing" the records of things threatening and replacing them with the revised history members take for granted today?
My question is this: John D. Lee(a JS and BY insider of sorts) noted the following disposition of his personal journal:
"Most of my journals, written up to 1860, were called for by Brigham Young, under the plea that he wished the Church historian to write up the Church history, and wished my journal to aid him in making the history perfect. As these journals contained many things not intended for the public eye, and especially very much concerning the crimes of Mormon leaders in Southern Utah and elsewhere, and all I knew of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and what led to it, they were never returned to me. I suppose they were put out of the way, perhaps burned, for these journals gave an account of many dark deeds."
Early Utah historians - Did BY make it a policy to collect journals from members who had been around since the early days, in order to "make the history perfect"? Is there anything written about such a practice?
Also, why did BY never seem to need any firewood in the winter?
| Brigham Young Daguerreotype Donated To BYU - Amazingling His Masonic Pin Not Censored
Article Archived: Friday, Jul 22, 2005, at 08:54 AM
Stored Under Topic: BRIGHAM YOUNG
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | TOP | |
Today's Deseret News reports that one of the earliest-known images of Brigham Young, probably taken by Marsena Cannon, has been donated to Brigham Young University archives. The image dates from the early 1850s and is worth $25,000 to $40,000.
As noted in the article, a woodcutting of the image appeared in a popular publication, specifically, the Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, established by Frederick Gleason in May 1851 (for a look at the woodcut as it appeared in the Companion, see here). The woodcut was done by Frank Leslie, who was the former superintendent of the engraving department of the Illustrated London News. The woodcut accompanied a positive story on the church and Brigham Young. Circulation of the Companion was around 100,000 at the time (Holzapfel and Shupe, Brigham Young: Images of a Mormon Prophet (Eagle Gate and BYU Religious Studies Center, 2000), p. 125).
Brigham Young is seen wearing a dark vest, which suggests that the image was taken during the winter (white or tan cotton vests were worn during the summer) (Ibid., p. 105). As seen in several other early images of him, he is wearing a silk neckerchief featuring a floral print (Ibid., p. 122). He also wears a watch chain and a Masonic pin. He is clean shaven in keeping with the style of most men during the early 1850s (Ibid., 104). The daguerreotype presents a mirror image of Young (his hair was parted on the left) (Ibid., p. 122).
Editor Note: The LDS Church has used this particular picture in their manuals and church archives for decades, however, they censor it by cropping off the lower half of his chest - removing any notion of a masonic pin.
| Mormon Inc. Would Like To Pretend That Even Brigham Young Was No Polygamist
Article Archived: Thursday, Jul 28, 2005, at 10:42 AM
Stored Under Topic: BRIGHAM YOUNG
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | TOP | |
In its ongoing policy of ignoring, whitewashing, and even downright revisionist history regarding its past, it seems to me that Mormon Inc. is engaged in a bold attempt at convincing its membership that Brigham Young was no polygamist.
A good example is the Brigham Young Priesthood Manual of some years ago. After hearing that there was no mention of polygamy in the entire thing, I had to prove it for myself. So I dug up a copy and thumbed through it. Yup... not only is there no mention of BY's polygamy, but it even talks about Brigham Young's "wife", in the singular, in some of the biographical stuff. Hmmmm....
I spotted another example during my latest trip to Zion. Please forgive me, but I wound up tagging along with DW and in-laws to the Church History Museum. Halfway through the visit I came across a painting by William Major. It's a portrait of Brigham Young and one of his wives. I found a description of this particular piece on some website (you could probably google it). Anyway, it's described as follows:
Major, who crossed the plains in 1848, was the earliest painter in the Utah Territory. His most famous painting, begun in Winter Quarters and completed in the Salt Lake Valley, depicts Brigham Young and his family in the stagelike interior of an imaginary English mansion, an attempt to transplant to the American frontier a British art tradition that goes back to Gainsborough.
In the museum, on the little card next to the painting, was a description that used the phrase "... Brigham Young and his family..." Now maybe this is nitpicking, but the painting clearly shows BY, one wife, and a couple of kids. Would it be too much to ask for a little historical accuracy here, maybe a "Brigham Young and part of his family..." or similar???
So after that, I spent the rest of my time in the museum, looking for evidence of Mormon polygamy. Admittedly, I didn't get to every exhibit on every floor (it was crowded as hell). But I saw a good part of it, and never once found any mention of polygamy.
So, what gives??? Does the church heirarchy think we're so dumb that we're going to forget all about that multiple wives thing? And what about the rest of the world? The mention of Brigham Young's name to your average member of the Great Unwashed immediately conjures up images of.... multiple wives! So, WTF??? Does the Church REALLY think that its revisionist history can wipe the memory of early Mormonism's association with polygamy from the collective consciousness of the world? Talk about yer myopic megalomania.
Good luck, Gordo.
| I posted this as part of another thread, but maybe it deserves it's own thread. I gathered the stats in response to Jessica Truax's account of visiting the Beehive House, where she was fed a line of bullshit about BY and his wives, including the classic tripe about widows.
So I went to familysearch.com, looked up BY and did some arithmetic. These probably aren't all of BY's wives, but it's enough of a list to show a pattern.
Brigham Young was born in 1801.
In 1824 he married Miriam Angeline Works, who was 18.
In 1834 (before the new and everlasting covenant was made public) he married Mary Ann Angell, who was 26.
In 1842 BY married Lucy Ann Decker, aged 20.
The next year he married 19-year-old Harriett Elizabeth Cook. He also married Augusta Adams, a 41-year-old divorcee.
In 1844 43-year-old BY married Clarissa Ross (30), Louisa Beaman (29), Susannah Snively (29), Clarissa Clara Decker (16) and Emily Dow Partridge (20) who was one of Joseph Smiths widows.
In 1845 BY married another widow of JS, Sophronia Gray Frost (29) and sisters Mary and Margaret Pierce (22 and 24).
In 1846 BY married Margaret Maria Alley (21), Ellen Rockwood (17), Emeline Free (20), Martha Bowker (24), Rebecca Greenleaf Holman (22), Naamah Jenkins Carter (25), Elizabeth Fairchild (18) who later divorced him, Mary Ann Turley (19), Diana Severence Chase (19), Nancy Crissie (66), Maria Lawrence (41), JS widows and sisters Rhoda and Hepzibah Richards (62 and 51) and Zina Diantha Huntington, former wife of Henry Jacobs and widow of JS.
In 1847 46-year-old BY married 17-year-old Lucy Bigelow and her 20-year-old sister Mary Jane, who divorced BY and married 4 more times.
In 1849 BY married 45-year-old Eliza R. Snow, another JS widow, who managed to survive five years without a husband.
In 1850 he married Eliza Burgess (45).
In 1853 he married Eliza Babcock (25) who later divorced him.
In 1856 BY married 26-year-old divorcee Harriet Emeline Barney.
In 1863 BY married Harriet Amelia Folsom (25).
In 1868 67-year-old BY married Mary Van Cott (24) and Ann Eliza Webb (24) who divorced him.
In 1870 BY marrried the widow Lydia Farnsworth (62).
So when they say polygamy was practiced in order to take care of widows and old maids, that's partly right in BY's case -- but the widows were JS's polygamous wives. And clearly BY marrried some hens that were out of their prime, but he more than compensated with young women and a few teenagers. After all, you gotta have wives who can procreate.
| One of the curious items of early Utah history was Brigham Young's effort to introduce a new alphabet, known as the Deseret Alphabet, into Mormon use. Western historian David Bigler observed:
"Old Testament ideas on land ownership and marked ballots were not the only indications that Utah's earliest settlers were bent on creating a society altogether unlike the rest of the country. Soon after arriving in the Great Basin they even undertook to create a new method to write the English language.
"In 1854 the University of Deseret, predecessor of the University of Utah, introduced the Deseret Alphabet, consisting of thirty-eight characters to conform with the basic number of sounds in the English language. The curious set of symbols was created by 39-year-old George D. Watt, an expert in Pitman shorthand and the faith's first English convert.
"Aimed to reform the representation of the English language, not the language itself, the new phonetic system offered a number of advantages. First, it demonstrated cultural exclusivism, an important consideration. It also kept secrets from curious non-Mormons, controlled what children would be allowed to read, and in a largely unlettered society that included non-English speaking converts, eliminated the awkward problem of phonetic spelling. For such reasons, for nearly two decades Brigham Young pushed the new alphabet on reluctant followers. The church-owned Deseret News at Great Salt Lake City, Utah's first newspaper, published portions of its 1859 editions in the distinctive system. And the University of Deseret's board of regents at one time voted $10,000 to print text books in the alphabet for students in classrooms across the territory.
"Like the law of consecration, however, the Deseret Alphabet never achieved widespread acceptance, despite repeated attempts by Young to promote the system. On some things, the people of Utah quietly overruled their strong-minded leader." (Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847-1896, by David L. Bigler, Arthur H. Clark Co., 1998, p.56)
LDS historian Thomas G. Alexander explained:
"An alphabet of thirty-eight characters was designed to present each sound of the English language. ...The Deseret alphabet proved to be an "expensive failure," but the project indicated the extent to which Utah's community leaders borrowed from outside systems in order to meet a pressing need to introduce phonetic orthography for the English language." (Things in Heaven and Earth: The Life and Times of Wilford Woodruff, a Mormon Prophet, by Thomas G. Alexander, Signature Books, 1991, p.210)
LDS scholar Stanley B. Kimball commented:
"No one knows the origin of its strange characters, but certainly Watt's knowledge of phonography was fundamental. After the thirty-eight-character alphabet (including the Latin letters C, D, L, O, P, S, W) was devised, the committee had a type font cast in St. Louis and some printing was done with it. A First Reader, in an edition of 10,000 copies, was published, as well as 10,000 copies of a Second Reader, and 8,000 copies of part of the Book of Mormon were also printed. The experiment was finally abandoned in 1869, a year after Heber's death. There is no evidence that Heber [Kimball] ever learned the alphabet." (Heber C. Kimball, by Stanley B. Kimball, p. 206)
Preaching on October 8th, 1868, Brigham Young advised:
"There are a few items I wish to lay before the Conference before we dismiss, which I think we shall do when we get through our meeting this afternoon. One of these items is to present to the congregation the Deseret Alphabet. ...The advantages of this alphabet will soon be realized, especially by foreigners. Brethren who come here knowing nothing of the English language will find its acquisition greatly facilitated by means of this alphabet, by which all the sounds of the language can be represented and expressed with the greatest ease. As this is the grand difficulty foreigners experience in learning the English language, they will find a knowledge of this alphabet will greatly facilitate their efforts in acquiring at least a partial English education. It will also be very advantageous to our children. It will be the means of introducing uniformity in our orthography, and the years that are now required to learn to read and spell can be devoted to other studies." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 12, p.298, Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 8th, 1868.)
Western historian Hubert H. Bancroft reported:
"At a meeting of the board of regents, held in October 1853, Parley P. Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, and George D. Watt were appointed a committee to prepare a small school-book in characters founded on some new system of orthography, whereby the spelling and pronunciation of the English language might be made uniform and easily acquired. A further object was exclusiveness, a separate people wishing to have a separate language, and perhaps in time an independent literature. ...Finally, at a session held in December of this year, characters were adopted, under the style of the Deseret alphabet, the number of letters, or rather sounds, being thirty-two, of which the so-called vocal sounds were eleven, including six long, with short sounds to correspond, four double and one aspirate, and twenty-one articulate sounds. Thus the long sound of the letter e in meter was represented by a character resembling the Greek sigma reversed, the double sound of woo in wood by one resembling omega, the aspirate by phi, andthe articulate sound of f by rho. While these characters are apparently borrowed from the Greek, this is also the case in the plates from which the book of Mormon is said to have been translated, where the letters pi, rho, tau, phi, chi, some of them as in manuscript, and others as in printed Greek, can be distinctly traced.
"Type was ordered, and with a view to durability, made so as to contain neither the top nor tail extensions of the letters. At a meeting of the board of regents, held in March 1854, some of it was presented to the members; and between that date and 1869 were published in the Deseret alphabet a primer, the book of Mormon, and the first book of Nephi. Some attempt was made to introduce into the public schools books thus printed, but without success. The tailless characters, and the monotonous evenness of the lines, made the words difficult to distinguish, and it was found impossible to insure uniform pronunciation and orthography. Within a few years the alphabet fell into disuse, and is now remembered only as a curiosity." (History of Utah:1540-1886, Hubert H Bancroft, ch.26, 1889, pp. 712-714)
In a recent article in the Salt Lake Tribune we read:
"Convinced residents of his utopian world needed an easier way to write English, Young poured thousands of dollars into developing the Deseret alphabet, despite more pressing needs like growing crops and building homes. ...
"The new alphabet had 38 characters....But while the idea sounded grand, the alphabet failed entirely.
" 'It was another of Brigham Young's bold and audacious experiments,' University of Utah History Professor Dean May said. ...
"It was also extremely expensive to typeset the new characters and only four books were ever published: two elementary school readers, one partial Book of Mormon and one full Book of Mormon." ("The Deseret Alphabet Died With Brigham Young," by Vania Grandi, Salt Lake Tribune, Dec. 2, 2000, p. D8)
| I know that TBMs who have heard of Brigham Young's teachings stating that Adam is God--the very God we are supposed to worship--like to dismiss it as nothing more than an eccentric opinion held by Brigham Young, even though he preached this over the pulpit in his capacity as Prophet, Seer and Revelator.
Just one man's opinion. Nothing more to see here. Just let's move along and forget about it.
In another variation of Mormon magical thinking, they seem to think that such incantations can make a problem (so drastically wrong as misidentifying the god who is the subject of their worship) magically disappear.
But the Adam-God theory is indeed a much bigger problem than any of them let on and a powerful reason why any intellectually honest Latter-day Saint's "testimony" of prophets and all of the true priesthood/revelation/authority claims of Mormonism should be completely destroyed.
Think about it. The prophet, seer and revelator, the man who, according to Mormon doctrine, was the only man on earth authorized to exercise all of the keys of the priesthood, the only man on earth authorized to deliver messages and commandments to the world on behalf of god, didn't know who his god was. He instructed his followers to worship as god--the only god they should worship--a being who wasn't really entitled to such worship. He instructed his followers to believe that Adam was the father of Jesus. (It is the position of subsequent Mormon leaders that the Adam-God theory is not correct.)
Okay, how much clearer does it have to be? The Mormon Prophet Brigham Young--essentially the founder of the LDS Church that has its headquarters in Salt Lake City and which is currently headed up by Gordon B. Hinckley--misidentified god. The Mormon prophet thought he was worshipping Adam, while subsequent prophets claim that it was another being that should have been worshipped. If a Mormon prophet, presiding as god's mouthpiece over the Church for about 30 years cannot even accurately identify the god whom Mormons worship, what possible value is there in having a prophet?
In other words, the Mormon prophet was so clueless that he would not have been able to identify the correct god out of a group of people in a police-station line-up.
If the Mormon prophet had been a contestant on the game show "Tell the Truth", he would have identified Frank Abignale as god.
If the Mormon prophet was playing the "Deities and Impostors" category on Jeopardy and the name "Wayne Newton" came up in the box for $400, he likely would have responded by saying, "Alex, who is is our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do?"
It is really simple. It is so fundamental that I cannot understand why more Mormons do not recognize it. It's like they are standing and directly facing a gigantic billboard just a few feet away from them with a message from the entire universe stating: "Get a clue! Mormonism is a colossal fraud!" And they just stand there telling each other: "Someone said there was a billboard with a message here. Do you see it? I sure don't see it."
They say the Mormon Prophet will never be allowed to lead people astray. Astray? How much more astray can you get than when you are taught to worship the wrong god?
Now hear the blowhard Briggy speak for himself:
Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is MICHAEL, the Archangel, the ANCIENT OF DAYS! about whom holy men have written and spoken--HE is our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing, must hear it, and will know it sooner or later. They came here, organized the raw material, and arranged in their order the herbs of the field, the trees, the apple, the peach, the plum, the pear, and every other fruit that is desirable and good for man; the seed was brought from another sphere, and planted in this earth. The thistle, and thorn, the brier, and the obnoxious weed did not appear until after the earth was cursed. When Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, their bodies became mortal from its effects, and therefore their offspring were mortal. When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family; and when he took a tabernacle, it was begotten by his Father in heaven, after the same manner as the tabernacles of Cain, Abel, and the rest of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve; from the fruits of the earth, the first earthly tabernacles were originated by the Father, and so on in succession. I could tell you much more about this; but were I to tell you the whole truth, blasphemy would be nothing to it, in the estimation of the superstitious and over-righteous of mankind. However, I have told you the truth as far as I have gone. I have heard men preach upon the divinity of Christ, and exhaust all the wisdom they possessed. All Scripturalists, and approved theologians who were considered exemplary for piety and education, have undertaken to expound on this subject, in every age of the Christian era; and after they have done all, they are obliged to conclude by exclaiming "great is the mystery of godliness," and tell nothing.
Journal of Discourses, Vol.1, p.51, Brigham Young, April 9, 1852
| You will notice that Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner was still married to Adam Lightner (married 11 Aug 1835) when she married Joseph Smith (17 Jan 1842).
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
Mary Lightner was also seven months pregnant with Adams child when she married Joseph Smith. George Algernon Lightner was born 22 Mar 1842, two months after Mary married Joseph Smith (17 Jan 1842). She also went on to have seven more children with Adam Lightner after marrying Joseph Smith.
Florentine Mattheas Lightner 23 Mar 1844
John Horace Gilbert Lightner 9 Feb 1847
Elizabeth Lightner 3 Apr 1849
Mary Rollins Lightner 9 Apr 1850
Algernon Sidney Lightner 25 Mar 1853
Charles Washington Lightner 17 Mar 1857
Adam Lightner 28 Oct 1861
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
Zina Huntington was also pregnant:
She would have been about 6-months pregnant with Henry Bailey Jacobs son.
Marriage(s):
Spouse: Joseph SMITH (AFN: 9KGL-W2) Family
Marriage: 27 Oct 1841
Nauvoo, Hancock, Il
1.Sex Name
M Zebulon William JACOBS (AFN:234B-S6) Pedigree
Born: 2 Jan 1842 Place: Nauvoo, Hancok, Il
Died: 22 Sep 1914 Place: Salt Lake City, S-Lk, Ut
Buried: Place: Salt Lake City, Cem. S-Lk City, Ut
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
She also married Brigham Young while still married to Jacobs and eight months pregnant with Henry Chariton Jacobs.
Spouse: Brigham YOUNG (AFN: 3ZD8-KC) Family
Marriage: 2 Feb 1846
Nauvoo, Hancock, Il
2. Sex Name
M Henry Chariton JACOBS (AFN:1875-4N) Pedigree
Born: 22 Mar 1846 Place: Chariton, Lucas, Iowa, Iowa
Died: 14 Oct 1915 Place: Ogden, Weber, Ut
If you look up Brigham Young you will find the following.
-Morris Whitesides dies one month after Brigham Young marries his wife Margaret Pierce.
-Diana Severance Chase marries William Montgomery Shaw while still married to Brigham Young.
-Brigham Young marries Harriet Emeline Barney while she is still married to William Henry Harrison Sagers.
-Mary Jane Bigelow is married to four other men while still married to Brigham Young.
-Brigham Young marries Ann Eliza Webb while she is still married to James Leech Dee.
-Brigham Young marries Lydia Farnsworth while she is still married to Elijah Mayhew.
-Mary Ann Turley marries John James Cook while still married to Brigham Young.
-Elizabeth Fairchild marries at least two other men while married to Brigham Young.
-Eliza Babcock marries Brigham Young while still married to Dominicus Carter.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
| The Minimum Requirement To Achieve Godhood In Mormonism Is Two Wives
Article Archived: Friday, Jun 9, 2006, at 08:11 AM
Stored Under Topic: BRIGHAM YOUNG
Outside Link To Article: RIGHT CLICK - COPY LINK LOCATION
Original Author Of Article: Randy J. | TOP | |
The minimum requirement of wives for an obedient priesthood holder in Young's day to have was two:
"Now, where a man in this church says, I dont want but one wife, I will live my religion with one, he will perhaps be saved in the Celestial kingdom; but when he gets there he will not find himself in possession of any wife at all. He has had a talent that he has hid up. He will come forward and say, Here is that which thou gavest me, I have not wasted it, and here is the one talent, and he will not enjoy it but it will be taken and given to those who have improved the talents they received, and he will find himself without any wife, and he will remain single forever and ever." (Deseret News, Sept. 17, 1873)
The upshot being that if a man died having only one wife, then that one will be taken away from him in the CK and be given to a more righteous polygamist. That would prevent the deprived dude from continuing his seed forever and being a god of his own planet. So he might attain the CK, but he would spend eternity as a "ministering servant" to polygamous god-types.
| Lot Smith was a major in Brigham Young's Utah militia, and was given specific orders by "Secretary of War" (and Young's counselor in the church presidency) Daniel H. Wells to disrupt Johnston's Army and prevent them from entering the Salt Lake valley.
The church's 1974 edition seminary lesson manual, "The Restored Church," took two pages (328-9) to recount those activities, including:
"General Wells sent Major Lot Smith, with a small company of men, to intercept the supply trains then advancing from South Pass and to either turn them back or burn them...Smith was remarkably successful in his mission and destroyed and immense quantity of supplies intended for the 'Army.'...From the burning of supply trains Lot Smith turned to the business of running off cattle from the army encampments. From his successive raids, 1,000 head of cattle were sent into Salt Lake Valley."
Why don't you post this quote from the church's own seminary lesson manual on the FAIR board, and ask the moderators if it's "inflammatory" to them?
After that, maybe you'd like to clue them in to the fact that because of those raids and theft of U.S. army property, Brigham Young and 60 other Mormon leaders were indicted for treason against the U.S. government. The Mormons got off by working out a "plea bargain" wherein Young agreed to step down as territorial governor, as well as ordering his men to cease their criminal activities against the government.
| Blacks Are "Uncouth, Uncomely, Disagreeable, Sad, Low In Their Habits, Wild"
Article Archived: Thursday, Jun 29, 2006, at 07:20 AM
Stored Under Topic: BRIGHAM YOUNG
Outside Link To Article: RIGHT CLICK - COPY LINK LOCATION
Original Author Of Article: Infymus | TOP | |
Brigham Young stated the following about blacks:
"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable, sad, low in their habits, wild, ad seemingly without the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be and the Lord put a mark on him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then other curse is pronounced upon the same race - that they would be the "servant of servants;" and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree." Journal of Discourses, Volume 7, pages 290 291
The "Modern" Mormon Church dismisses Brigham's statement saying he was "speaking as a man", however, Brigham stated that whatever he says was scripture:
"I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the Children of men, that they may not call scripture!" Journal of Discourses, Volume 13, page 95.
Today Mormonism is systematically re-writing it's doctrine to eliminate racist teachings. "White and delightsome" is being changed to "Pure and delightsome".
Question: When Joseph Smith was "translating" the golden plates, why didn't Jesus Christ pop in and say, "Hey Joseph, um, don't use white, use pure". Today Mormon Apologists are all over this topic saying that Joseph really meant to say PURE. Yet - Joseph did not say PURE, he said WHITE.
The Book of Mormon continues to teach that God curses those who disobey him by turning their skin dark or black.
Mormonism was and has always been a racist church. No matter how hard it works to bury teachings of its racist leaders - we will always be here to show the world the truth.
| You say stuff like "History can't be known" when the history isn't coming down the way you want it to. We can know a lot about a lot of things. The last defense of the crackpot is that the so-called experts have disagreements among themselves over some details so we can dismiss everything any experts agree on.
Funny how they will gladly dismiss as unreliable a whole body of research that has been checked and rechecked countless times but will extoll a method of finding "truth" (testimony) that, by their own admission, fails to work correctly in the majority of the cases where it is used. I'm sure they don't accept the spiritual confirmations that polygamists get or that Catholics get when they pray to the Virgin Mary or to Saint X. I'm sure they don't accept the testimony of Muslims that Muhammed was the last prophet of God or that the Quran came directly from God.
They even don't accept Brigham Young's revelations as being from God. Brigham's Adam-God doctrine [he NEVER referred to it as a "theory"] was, according to BY, revealed to him by God. When Orson Pratt argued against it using the scriptures BY told him he was wrong and he should go to the Canyons to pray and get a testimony of it. Nowdays the Church has officially declared BY's Adam-God doctrine as false.
If science and scholarship are not perfect that does not mean that it can't be trusted in anything. Mormonism has proven, however, that revelation from God and "testimonies" even of prophets, seers and revelators cannot be trusted.
My question to any TBM is this--"If Brigham Young's own testimony can't be trusted, why are you so sure yours can be trusted? What makes you better than Brigham Young?"
| Mormon Contribution To The Civil War - Some History
Article Archived: Monday, Jul 17, 2006, at 07:27 AM
Stored Under Topic: BRIGHAM YOUNG
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Original Author Of Article: runfromsafety | TOP | |
Brigham Young used the prospect of the impending civil war as leverage in his push for Utah's statehood or automomy if not granted. Shortly after South Carolina seceded from the union in Nov 1860 he made a number of statements, reported in the press, that if stathood was refused now, that Utah would have to go it's own way. He wrote "in these hurrying times, Utah, after patiently waiting so long, may not feel disposed to again trouble congress with a petition for admission [to the union]".
After five more southern states seceded from the union, Young become even more brazen.. "We are very thankful that congress has not admitted us into the union as a state. However we shall continue to tease them on that point so long as they pretend to legislate for the past union (he believed that as there were now less states, legislation was invalid), but hope they will not admit us, unless they give us our present boundaries".
The southern states made overtures for Utah's support, but Young said to the apostles "he did not wish Utah mixed up with the secesion movement". There followed quite a few political assertions of Utahs automomy. After Lincoln's innauguration, Young pressed him to appoint mormons as Utah's federal officials (including appointment of himself as governor), but later backed down on this probably fearing a backlash from the southern states. Most believe that he grossly underestimated the seriousness of the North-South struggle as he continued to play politics to secure what he wanted for Utah.
An interesting aside to this (given that 40% of Californias population at the time came from slave states, with talk of secesion there too) is in 1852 Brigham Young legalised african-american slavery. Even though free blacks lived in Utah in the 1850's, there were about 70 slaves. In view of that situation Utah sought to reassure the union when Young said "Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the constitution and laws of our once happy country". Behind the scenes though, he was still playing both sides.
As the confederates had some significant wins on the western end Union generals recognised that the ultimate confederate goal was to conquer California and draw Utah into the confederacy. There followed threats of secesion from Utah (to be called the "State of Deseret") if their statehood application was refused. Young was elected governor of the State of Deseret - a kind of shadow government along side the federally appointed territory goverment. Young learned that Utah's acting governor had asked the US secretary of war "to raise and officer and regiment here, for three months, or until US troops can reach here". He responded by telling congress that the mormons were self governing - the implication being that if Utah did not get statehood, they'd govern themselves.
There followed federal legislation to disincorporate the LDS church, invalidate Utah legislature laws, and prevent and punish polygamy. Young leaned more by this time to secession from the union, although he kept these thoughts very confidential. Secesion would depend on the confederacys success at keeping the union forces at bay in the west. At this time, the union started having some significant victories in the west. Federally appointed authorities in Utah exerted their authority. Young referred to the federally appointed governor as "no better than a sack of cow shit".
3,000 troops were requested as a prelude to declaring martial law in Utah and the quashing by force of polygamy. Young ordered 1,500 of his own men to surround his residence. The only thing that saved this powder keg from igniting was that the troops were needed elsewhere.
Young told a congregation that he refused to allow any mormons to serve in the union military while there were troops camped in his city.
During the first half of the civil war, LDS authorities routinely condemed the Unions leaders and maintained a public attitude of aloofness. They awaited the outcome of a conflict they hoped would permanently cripple the federal government. Utah also became a haven for draft dodgers from both sides.
In the summer of 1863 the mormon-federal conflict cooled down considerably with some consilatory remarks from Lincoln, and the appointment of some new (although still non mormon) federal officials.
In March 1865 first presidency counsellor Heber C Kimball said "The North will never have the power to crush the south - no never. The Lord will give the South power to fight the North until they will destroy each other". At this time every major city in the south was in ruins or had been captured, and despite this stunning piece of prophecy a month later the confederacy surrendered unconditionally.
So... the bottom line is that the mormons were too busy protecting their own interests to contribute to the civil war effort, playing one side against the other waiting to jump to whatever camp won in the end.
This topic is very well covered by Quinn in "The Mormon Heirachy - Extensions of Power" from which most of the above information comes (in very condensed form).
| Brigham Young, Mormonism's Second Prophet Stated Emphatically - No Jew Would Ever Convert To Christianity
Article Archived: Saturday, Dec 23, 2006, at 08:20 AM
Stored Under Topic: BRIGHAM YOUNG
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Original Author Of Article: Infymus | TOP | |
This is what Brigham Young had to say about the Jewish peoples:
From the Mormon book "Journal Of Discourses"
". . . You may break their iron bands, and set them at liberty, and but few of them will receive the Gospel.
Why is this? Because their fathers heard the Gospel, and most of them rejected it; and the curse of the Almighty is upon them, and upon their posterity until they have wrought out their salvation by suffering; for the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. A nation which has had the privilege of receiving the everlasting covenant, and has rejected it, will be saved in the kingdom of God, but it will be among the very last which will receive the Gospel. Perhaps you will marvel at this. It is no marvel to me, because I perceive natural principles and sound reason for all these providences of the Almighty. All His providences to His people upon the face of the whole earth, are perfectly philosophical. Then recollect, there is a chance for all who are honest in heart. What shall we do with those who are dishonest? Let them remain with the good until the time comes to cast them away, and gather out the good.
We might say much on this point, showing you why things are as they are concerning the inhabitants of the earth receiving or rejecting the Gospel. Do you suppose they believe in Jesus Christ at Jerusalem? Can you make a Christian of a Jew? I tell you, nay. If a Jew comes in to this Church, and honestly professes to be a Saint, a follower of Christ, and if the blood of Judah is in his veins, he will apostatize. He may have been born and bred a Jew, have the face of a Jew, speak the language of the Jews, and have attended to all the ceremonies of the Jewish religion, and have openly professed to be a Jew all his days; but I will tell you a secret--there is not a particle of the blood of Judaism in him, if he has become a true Christian, a Saint of God; for if there is, he will most assuredly leave the Church of Christ, or that blood will be purged out of his veins. We have men among us who were Jews, and became converted from Judaism. For instance, here is brother Neibaur; do I believe there is one particle of the blood of Judah in his veins? No, not so much as could be seen on the point of the finest cambric needle, through a microscope with a magnifying power of two millions. This is a secret that you will perhaps find out, in a coming day, to your satisfaction. The Lord knew how to preach to the Jews, and told them what the truth was. You may as well undertake to command the most degraded of these Indian tribes, and give them arms and accoutrements, and try to put them through the regular military exercise, as to preach to the Jews to make them believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jerusalem is not to be redeemed by the soft still voice of the preacher of the Gospel of peace. Why? Because they were once the blessed of the Lord, the chosen of the Lord, the promised seed. They were the people from among whom should spring the Messiah; and salvation could be found only through that tribe. The Messiah came through them, and they killed him; and they will be the last of all the seed of Abraham to have the privilege of receiving the New and Everlasting Covenant."
And now you understand why Daniel C. Peterson stated the following on a Jewish Website this past week:
"I would respond that we Latter-day Saints do, quite unapologetically, insist that Jews "are not worthy enough to receive G-d's eternal blessing" "on their own."
| Priesthood Views On Slavery And The Blacks, By Brigham Young
Article Archived: Thursday, Jul 19, 2007, at 08:15 AM
Stored Under Topic: BRIGHAM YOUNG
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Original Author Of Article: Brigham Young | TOP | |
Excerpts from PRIESTHOOD VIEWS ON SLAVERY AND THE BLACKS, An Address delivered by Gov. Brigham Young to the joint session of the Utah Legislature, Salt Lake City, February 5, 1852:
"On February 5, 1852, Governor Brigham Young gave a very significant address before the Joint Session of the Legislature in Salt Lake City. The content applied to both government and church, and the message was presented not as opinions or possibilities, but "in the name of Jesus Christ" by a prophet of God.
Brigham Young clearly explained (1) the correct nature of slavery, (2) the political and religious status of the Negro race, (3) the importance of obedience to God's laws, and (4) the strict order of the Holy Priesthood.
Presented in this pamphlet are two accounts of this 1852 address: one as reported by George D. Watt and included in the Brigham Young Papers, and the other as recorded by Wilford Woodruff in his extensive journals.
PRIESTHOOD VIEWS ON SLAVERY AND THE BLACKS, Brigham Young
George D. Watt, professional stenographer, recorded most of the sermons in the Journal of Discourses, as well as many other civic and religious addresses and sermons. This particular one delivered by Brigham Young became even more significant after 1978."
"The principle of slavery I understand, at least I have self-confidence enough and confidence enough in God to believe I do. I believe still further that a great many others understand it as I do. A great portion of this community have been instructed and have applied their minds to it, and as far as they have, they agree precisely in the principles of slavery. My remarks in the first place will be upon the cause of the introduction of slavery. Long ago mama Eve, our good old mother Eve, partook of the forbidden fruit and this made a slave of her. Adam hated very much to have her taken out of the garden of Eden, and now our old daddy says, I believe I will eat of the fruit and become a slave, too. This was the first introduction of slavery upon this earth; and there has not been a son or daughter of Adam from that day to this but what were slaves in the true sense of the word. That slavery will continue until there is a people raised up upon the face of the earth who will contend for righteous principles, whowill not only believe in, but operate with every power and faculty given to them to help to establish the Kingdom of God, to overcome the devil, and drive him from the earth; then will this curse be removed. This was the starting point of slavery.
Again, after Adam and Eve had partook of the curse, we find they had two sons, Cain and Abel, but which was the oldest I cannot positively say; but this I know: Cain was given more to evil practices than Abel, but whether he
was the oldest or not matters not to me. Adam was commanded to sacrifice and offer up his offerings to God that placed him into the garden of Eden. Through the faith and obedience of Abel to his Heavenly Father, Cain become jealous of him, and he laid a plan to obtain all his flocks; for through his perfect obedience to Father he obtained more blessings than Cain; consequently he took it into his heart to put Abel [out] of his mortal existence. After the deed was done, the Lord inquired for Abel and made Cain own what he had done with him. Now, says the grandfather, I will not destroy the seed of Michael and his wife, and Cain, I will not kill you nor suffer anyone else to kill you, but I will put a mark upon you. What is that mark? You will see it on the countenance of every African you ever did see upon the face of the earth or ever will see. Now I tell you what I know: when the mark was put upon Cain, Abel's children were in all probability young; the Lord told Cain that he should not receive the blessingsof the Priesthood, nor his seed, until the last of the posterity of Abel had received the Priesthood, until the redemption of the earth.
If there never was a prophet or apostle of Jesus Christ [that] spoke it before, I tell you, this people that are commonly called Negroes are the children of old Cain. I [3] know they are; I know that they cannot bear rule in the Priesthood, for the curse on them was to remain upon them until the residue of the posterity of Michael and his wife receive the blessings the seed of Cain would have received had they not been cursed, and hold the keys of the Priesthood until the times of the restitution shall come, and the curse be wiped off from the earth and from Michael's seed. Then Cain's seed will be had in remembrance and the time come when the curse should be wiped off. Now, then, in the Kingdom of God on the earth, a man who has the African blood in him cannot hold one jot nor tittle of Priesthood. Why? Because they are the true eternal principles the Lord Almighty has ordained, and who can help it? Men cannot, the angels cannot, and all the powers of earth and hell cannot take it off; but thus saith the Eternal I am, what I am, I take it off at my pleasure, and not one particle of power can that posterity of Cain have until the time comes that says he will have it taken away. That time will come when they will have the privilege of all we have the privilege of and more.
In the Kingdom of God on the earth the Africans cannot hold one particle of power in government. The subjects, the rightful servants of the residue of the children of Adam, and the residue of the children through the benign influence of the spirit of the Lord have the privilege of seeing to the posterity of Cain; inasmuch as it is the Lord's will they should receive the spirit of God by baptism, and that is the end of their privilege; and there is not power on earth to give them any more power. You talk of the dark skin. I never saw a white man on earth. I have seen persons whose hair came pretty nigh [4] being white, but to talk about white skins, it is something entirely unknown, though some skins are fairer than others. Look at the black eye and the jet black hair we often see upon men and women who are called white; there is no such things as white folks. We are the children of Adam, who receive the blessings, and that is enough for us if we are not quite white.
But let me tell you further, let my seed mingle with the seed of Cain, and that brings the curse upon me and upon my generations; we will reap the same rewards with Cain.
In the Priesthood I will tell you what it will do. Were the children of God to mingle their seed with the seed of Cain it would not only bring the curse of being deprived of the power of the priesthood upon themselves but they entail it upon their children after them, and they cannot get rid of it. If a man in an unguarded moment should commit such a transgression, if he would walk up and say cut off my head, and kill man, woman and child it would do a great deal towards atoning for the sin. Would this be to curse them? No, it would be a blessing to them; it would do them good that they might be saved with their brethren. A man would shudder should they hear us talk about killing folk, but it is one of the greatest blessings to some to kill them, although the true principles of it are not understood.....
...I am as much opposed to the principle of slavery as any man. In the present acceptation or usage of the term, it is abused. I am opposed to abusing that which God has decreed, to take a blessing, and make a curse of it. It is a great blessing to the seed of Adam to have the seed of Cain for servants....
...suppose we summons them to appear here, and here declare that it is right to mingle our seed with the Black race of Cain, that they shall come in with us and be partakers with us of all the blessings God has given to us. On that very day, and hour we should do so, the priesthood is taken from this Church and Kingdom, [7] and God leaves us to our fate. The moment we consent to mingle with the seed of Cain, the Church must go to destruction; we should receive the curse which has been placed upon the seed of Cain, and never more be numbered with the children of Adam who are heirs to the priesthood until that curse be removed. Therefore, I will not consent for one moment to have an African dictate me or any brethren with regard to church or state government..."
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