Mormon Bloggers

The following is a published article that attempts to reason why Joseph Smith is a false prophet, and why Mormonism does not teach, preach, and believe in the Christ of modern Evangelical Christianity. Again, this is coming from Christian Apologetic Research Ministry. It was an email that was received and responded too. Before we get [...] AKPC_IDS += "250872,";Popularity: unranked [?] Read More →

This summer, I’ve been re-reading John Adams, the brilliant biography by Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough.  This time, I’ve found refuge and relief from the current idiocy coming out of Washington.  I commend the book to all of you who may be having similar thoughts about current events.  It will do wonders to calm your troubled hearts in the tumult of opinions and the war of words. If it weren’t so true, the attached cartoon would be funnier.  There was no attempt to spell out every contingency that would arise in America when the writers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States laid it all out in writing.  Such was never their intent.  Instead, they relied upon the moral purity of the people who would come after them.  Yes, moral purity.  Thomas Jefferson, holding the pen that wrote the Declaration of Independence, later wrote:  “Experience hath shewn,... Read the rest of this entry »

A large percentage of Mormon Missionaries are sent to a foreign land, and the majority of them, and even some that stay state-side, are asked to learn a new language.  This is the next in a series of posts on learning the language of your mission. This language learning series will be good for both future and current missionaries striving to better master their mission language. Receiving the Gospel In Their Own Tongue The Lord declared to Joseph Smith that “every man shall hear the fullness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power” (D&C 90:11). Regardless of the language you are called to teach in, whether it be your native tongue or not, you have been “ordained unto this power.” If your have been called to learn a foreign language, part of your calling is to learn to speak your mission language well so that you can help others come unto Christ. In order for investigators to feel the truth of your message and... Read the rest of this entry »

The Prophet Joseph Smith had a favored descriptive term for the tactics of his opponents, saying that they traded in “making a man an offender for a word.”  In the parlance of the early 19th century, this essentially meant twisting the words of an individual so that they appeared to be precisely what they were not in order to discredit them.  The Prophet’s words came back to me this week in reference to the Shirley Sherrod scandal. By now this mess has cluttered the airwaves for enough news cycles to induce vomiting in all but the most hardened news consumer, so my recounting for posterity (whom I delusionally flatter myself may one day read this stuff) will be brief.  Shirley Sherrod, a black woman working for the Department of Agriculture in programs to aid rural farmers in the State of Georgia was caught at a taped event of the local chapter of the NAACP allegedly admitting that she was less than helpful to white farmers who treated her with an air of “superiority.” Within... Read the rest of this entry »

Joseph Smith (1805 – 1844) A few years ago in recognition of the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1805 on December 23rd, our stake held a youth fireside at the end of the year honoring the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I was asked to be the keynote speaker. I assembled many notes for that talk, most of which I never used.  This morning I discovered them in a deeply buried archive file on the computer, and share them here with the readers of this page.  Joseph Smith was a remarkably candid and forthright speaker and writer.  He pulled no punches, it appears to me, particularly in his own self-appraisals.  Most of what I have gathered below comes from his History of the Church compilation (hereafter HC), some 3,200 pages in total.  (Many of these statements have also been compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.)  Today legislation in Washington can be cobbled together approaching that many pages with ease and... Read the rest of this entry »

The Book of Mormon contains the fulness of the gospel. Gospel is a word one hears tossed loosely about in our modern world, but its meaning is defined in numerous ways. One fact remains — the word is linked with scriptures and churches.  The Hebrew definition is simple.  It is usually translated as ”glad tidings of great joy.” The Greek translation is “good news.” So what is the “good news” all about?  It’s the redeeming blood of our Savior Jesus Christ as the integral centerpiece of a “plan” given to us by Heavenly Father.  The plan involves creation, birth, the fall, the atonement, redemption from the fall and our eventual return to Him.  Principles and ordinances of the gospel are involved.  We are invited again and again to enlist our full participation and involvement in the plan. Many of these principles and ordinances are called “saving principles and... Read the rest of this entry »

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Go Ahead – Just Write The Book of Mormon. . . Joseph Smith some 170 years ago said he translated some gold plates that were given to him by an angel by the gift and power of God. Supernatural, to be sure! Some people, however, still doubt the authenticity of The Book of Mormon. Many of Joseph’s critics continue to explain the book’s existence some other way. So the next time you confront one of those doubters, send them to this blog.  Even if you doubt it yourself, print it, read it, then ask yourself if you can come up with a better explanation than Joseph did: Business affairs had to be settled on Monday, but on Tuesday, April 7, 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery sat down in earnest to begin the translation. In Oliver, Joseph had a twenty-two year old, vigorous, young man who could work long and tedious hours and someone who had already consulted the Lord about the plates. The next three months, April through July 1829 would be some of the most significant in the... Read the rest of this entry »

July 1, 2003 This is an article prepared by Hugh Nibley for the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Jake (our son, then serving as a missionary in the Brazil Porto Alegre Mission) asked in a recent e-mail whether or not the ancient temples administered the same ordinances as our temples today. The answer is partially shrouded in incomplete ancient records, but the usual question from investigators is this: Did Joseph Smith restore temple worship as it originally existed, or did he borrow from all the fragments that had been handed down through the ages, such as the Masonic rituals?  The belief that man can become as God is part and parcel of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nibley in his usual style is a little obtuse and hard to follow for the casual reader, but the kernel of his article appears in the next to last paragraph.  The references to CWHN are the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley throughout. There is no question in his mind that Joseph delivered a perfect... Read the rest of this entry »

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Most members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have heard about something called “The White Horse Prophecy,” but few understand its origins and implications. In this recent political campaign cycle an unwise Idaho gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Rex Rammell, the Tea Party’s darling, was forming groups encouraging others to study ”the White Horse prophecy” in depth.  Only priesthood brethren were invited and were instructed to go home and tell their wives.  In advance of the primary election, on January 6, 2010, the Church was compelled to clarify the matter with this statement: Two weeks ago The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement regarding the so-called “White Horse prophecy” in response to news inquiries regarding comments made by an Idaho politician. The matter has received additional coverage in the news media of late and so we reiterate that... Read the rest of this entry »

This is the season of the year when we remember our America heritage, but only if we are aware of it. Pilgrims Detail of Edgar Parker’s Embarkation of the Pilgrims “They knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country.” — William Bradford The Pilgrim saga began with a group of religious dissidents who believed it was necessary to separate from the Church of England. Persecuted in England, these “Separatists” moved to Holland in 1607/1608. The group, joined by other colonists recruited by the venture’s financial backers, began the move to America in 1620. Bacon’s Landing of the Pilgrims Early Plymouth records refer to all passengers from the first four ships as “First Comers.” These ships were the Mayflower (1620), the Fortune (1621), the Anne and the Little James (1623). The term “Pilgrim” was not generally used until the early... Read the rest of this entry »