Priest's response:

The so-called Church of Jesus Christ, in reality, has nothing to do with the real Church. This is a totalitarian sect founded in 1979 in Boston (USA) by Protestant pastor Thomas (Kip) McKean. This sect founded its branches in many countries outside of America, including in Kyrgyzstan.

In its doctrinal doctrines, the church of Christ differs little from other Protestant movements, with the exception of one element: the system, the so-called mentorship. Its essence lies in the fact that "Christ was obedient to God the Father until death on the cross", which means that every Christian must be absolutely obedient to his spiritual mentor. The system of mentorship in the church of Christ is structured as follows. The person who converts you on the street and invites you to the meetings of this church becomes your mentor from that moment on. Now you will be obliged, under his guidance and supervision, not only to learn the doctrinal doctrines of the sect, but also to coordinate with him all aspects of your personal life: with whom to be friends, how to spend your free time (which now, as a rule, will not be), where to go to study who to marry, and so on. Your mentor reports to a more authoritative mentor, such as the leader of a Scripture study circle (the grassroots level of the organization). The leaders of the Conversations are under the direction of the evangelists, and those under the direction of the elders. And so - until the very end, to a small group of people who surround Kip McKean himself, and whom he grazes himself. At the top of this pyramid is McKean himself, who has no mentor. “To disobey a mentor means to disobey Christ himself” - says the fundamental principle of the sect. As a result, an authoritarian regime is created, in which the actions of each adherent of the sect are strictly controlled, and a single type of character and behavior is formed: everyone becomes little piles of makkins. There is a kind of spiritual cloning going on. It is in this principle of discipleship that the totalitarianism of the Church of Christ is expressed.

A mentoring system emerged among evangelical movements in the West in the middle of the 20th century. But over time, most evangelicals rejected it, for it began to bear the appropriate fruit. For example, an article published in 1990 in an evangelical magazine stated:

The movement quickly became elitist and exclusivist. At the core was the belief that every "sheep" should be accountable to a "shepherd." Thus, all the "sheep" were assigned to the "shepherds", many of whom were young, immature, often extremely self-confident and, moreover, filled with pride because of the newfound authority. The result was multiple catastrophes and indescribable tragedies. At the whim of the "shepherd" families had to move from city to city. Churches were divided... Critics cited numerous examples of "pastors" demanding their "sheep" to ask their permission for every meeting with a loved one, for changing jobs, and, indeed, for any act that they were about to undertake.

In the same magazine, the pastor, who had previously been one of the prominent mentors, wrote:

Mentoring was a mistake. I repent. I apologize... Discipling was an unhealthy submission that resulted in perverted and unbiblical obedience to human leaders... For the wounds and humiliations I have caused to many, I repent with deep sorrow and ask for forgiveness...

Indeed, in the real, historical Church of Christ - Orthodoxy, the practice of eldership exists to this day. But only a few can become real mentors, people who have conquered their passions, experienced in spiritual life, who have received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit from God. As a rule, these are monks, and there are very few novices who completely surrender to their leadership. But the devil is the ape of God, as Saint Basil the Great said. He only plays ape, distorts what the Lord has established in His Church, and thereby brings harm and death to the deceived.

The Church of Christ in Boston once allowed renowned psychologist Dr. Flavill Yeakley to psychologically test its members, unaware of what would come of it. The result was such that they greatly regretted it: 95 percent of the sect members experienced a sharp change in personality. The essence of these changes is this. There are innate character traits that do not change - for example, extraversion or introversion, rationality or intuition, prudence or impulsiveness. This in itself is neither good nor bad. However, if these fundamental properties of character suddenly begin to change, for a person this turns into the most negative consequences: nervous breakdowns, depressions, neuroses and, ultimately, suicide.

Starting his research, Dr. Yeakley expected that the distribution of adherents according to psychological personality types would more or less correspond to the percentage in society. To his surprise, he found that the sect had a very high percentage of personality changes, with a tendency towards one type of personality. And the longer the “experience” of the sectarian was, the more likely it was that he would be in this particular personality group. The study irrefutably proved that it is the inborn, stable personality traits that change in the members of the Church of Christ, which, in principle, cannot change (for example, sanguine people usually do not become melancholic, etc.). However, according to the results of the same testing, they changed among Scientologists, members of Moon's church, Hare Krishnas and other sectarians. This gives strong personal mental shifts, which often lead to serious illnesses and disorders, not to mention the fact that they create additional difficulties for the rehabilitation of those members of sects who return to normal life.

Yeakley writes:

The results of the psychological examination...incontrovertibly prove that for some reason the members of the church of Christ give up their innate psychological type and try to become copies of someone else...There is something in the methodology of mentorship that produces this unhealthy development. Whatever it is, it must be eliminated... They cannot deny that all psychological types disappear and are transformed into one specific type. They cannot deny that members are being reshaped in the image of a single group norm. They cannot deny that this personal abuse is derived from the mentoring methodology.

One must be ready to assist in the rehabilitation of many former sectarians who, due to their participation in the movement, will be severely traumatized, both psychologically and spiritually. It is most likely that these problems will develop when the young people in this movement reach the middle of life. Psychological type falsification (an attempt to change your personality and make you take on the personality of another person) leads to a major mid-life crisis. As a result, serious problems will arise: complete emptiness, deep depressions and a whole bunch of other psychological and spiritual problems, which will be very difficult to resolve.

As you can see, dear Natalya, the Church of Christ is a very dangerous sect, entry into which can cause significant psychological harm to a person, not to mention the issues of a saving relationship with God and the acquisition of eternal life, which in a sect divorced from the true Church, it is not possible to realize.

Russell Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made an important announcement Thursday. The statement said that Church leaders intend to make every effort to ensure that the full name of the Church is used instead of abbreviations and nicknames.

“The Lord has put into my mind the importance of the revealed name of His Church, which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” President Nelson said in a statement. “We have a certain work to do—to bring ourselves into harmony with His will. Over the past few weeks, many Church leaders and heads of departments of the Church have taken the necessary steps in this regard.”

The updated style guide encourages the avoidance of abbreviations such as "LDS" and the nickname "Mormon" as alternatives to the name of the Church in phrases such as "Mormon Church", "LDS Church" or "Latter Day Saint Church".

The announcement and leadership changes have raised many questions about the future of prominent church organizations such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, LDS Business College, and the Mormon Canal. The new change also reflects a more dramatic cultural and linguistic shift than any previous attempt to inspire members of the Church to avoid the term "Mormon," which has had a difficult reputation in Church history.

It is curious to note that the statement was made available through one of the official Church websites - mormonnewsroom.org ( Mormon News). This site, and others, possibly including the Church's main site, lds.org, will be given updated names, representing a challenging change for the Church.

Monumental change

Details are yet to be released, but the statement says that over the next few months, Church websites and materials will be changed in line with President Nelson's direction.

For many years, the term "Mormon" has been used in the official names of websites, media channels, and international brands. An example is the "I am a Mormon" campaign, during which members of the Church were encouraged to share their life stories, ending with "... and I am a Mormon."

In addition, the term is part of the daily life of members of the Church.

Patrick Mason, chair of church research at Claremont University, says there are big changes coming within the Church.

He notes that members of the Church quickly adjusted to the new term "ministering ministry" introduced in April, but says that abandoning the term "Mormon" would require about more effort.

“There has always been some ambivalence about the term, and it seems to me that the problem lies in the practicality of how to get around the word Mormon. This word is over two hundred years old. It is better known than the term preferred by the Church."

According to Mason, the new terminology will take root among the members of the Church, but will find less response outside it. However, Mason states that focusing on the right name for the Church will resonate around the world.

History

Ever since its restoration in 1830, the Church has had an uneasy relationship with the term Mormon. Church leaders have long rebuked antagonists for referring to the Church as "Mormon," but in recent decades the nickname has become more tolerant.

Joseph Smith received the full name of the Church by revelation in 1838. Prior to that, it was called the Church of Jesus Christ, and then the Church of Latter-day Saints.

At various times in the history of the Church, leaders have called for the use of the full, official name.

In 2001, Elder Dallin Oaks stated that he did not mind being called a Mormon, but did not want to be referred to as belonging to the "Mormon Church." At the same time, the First Presidency issued an official decree urging Church members to use the official name or abbreviations that included the name of Jesus Christ.

In 2011, Elder Boyd Packer said, "It's one thing for others to call this Church Mormon and us Mormons, and quite another for us to call it that."

Six months later, Elder Russell Ballard, who today serves as president of the Quorum of the Twelve, declared that the title "Mormon" was acceptable. At the same time, he urged that the term "Mormon Church" be avoided.

“It is by this name [(full name of the Church, approx. translator)] The Lord will call us on the last day. It is this name that will distinguish His Church from the rest,” stated Elder Ballard.

He revisited the topic in 2014, additionally urging the term "LDS Church" to be avoided.

Today, with President Nelson and President Oaks in the First Presidency, and President Ballard as the head of the Twelve, this topic is once again relevant. President Nelson emphasized that this time the Church would do its best to approve the use of an official name.

Updated style guide

The Mormon News website notes the following points:

• When first mentioning the Church, it is preferable to use its full name: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• When abbreviated reference is needed, the terms "Church" or "Church of Jesus Christ" are recommended. The term "restored Church of Jesus Christ" is also accurate and recommended.
• The term "Mormon Church" has long been applied to the Church by the media, but it is not an official name and the Church does not recommend its use. Therefore, the use of the abbreviation "LDS" and the epithet "Mormon" as an abbreviation for the Church should be avoided. The expressions "Mormon Church", "LDS Church", and "Church of the Latter Day Saints" are undesirable.
• When referring to members of the Church, the terms "members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" and "Latter-day Saints" are preferred. We ask you not to use the term "Mormons".
• The word "Mormon" and its derivatives are appropriate in proper names, such as "Book of Mormon," or in historical expressions, such as "Mormon Road."
• The term "Mormonism" is a misnomer and should not be used. When describing the doctrine, culture, and lifestyle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the precise term “the restored gospel of Jesus Christ” should be preferred.
• When referring to individuals and organizations that practice plural marriage, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should be identified as not affiliated with groups that practice polygamous marriages.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands out among all the religious cults and sects operating in the United States with its extremely amazing history, which all students of the religions of the American continent would do well to know.

Mormons, as they are most commonly known, are divided into two main groups - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Independence, Missouri. Today, more than a century and a half after the movement's founding, Mormons number over 5.3 million, are major stockholders in America's agricultural and industrial potential, are vigorously engaged in many types of missionary service, and are fierce rivals with evangelical Christianity. The first group, which will be the focus of this chapter, claims to have over 5.1 million members by April 1983.

The reorganized church has over 200,000 members worldwide and has even achieved recognition as a "fundamentalist sect" in some parts of the world.

The reorganized (Missouri) church, which denies the word "Mormon" itself, is only briefly described in this chapter, but there is no doubt that it has gained a strong position in recent decades and includes zealous ministers who constantly irritate the church in Utah by pointing out court rulings that it is the true Mormon church, and the church in Utah is simply schismatic.

Since its founding, the Mormon Church has been characterized by prosperity, zeal, and an amazing missionary spirit. Before the outbreak of World War II, more than two thousand of its missionaries made efforts in active, multifaceted ministry around the world. In the post-war period, the Mormons actively and widely expanded propaganda, and today they have more than 26,000 active missionaries in their ranks.

Joseph Smith - American false prophet, founder of the pseudo-Christian sect "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Mormons)

However, the extreme missionary activity is explained by the interesting fact that the Mormon church targets the most gifted young people, boys at the age of nineteen and girls at the age of twenty-one, calling them to dedicate two years of their lives to missionary service without the material support of the church. In some cases, parents help the youth during these two years, but it is important to note that about once every half a month, seventy to ninety young men and women enter the path of such activity. The number of Mormons is increasing every year by almost 200 thousand, and the birth rate among Mormons is approximately 28.1 per thousand (whereas the average birth rate in the United States is 15.9 per thousand). Mormon growth since 1900 is amazing. 1900 - 268.331; 1910 - 393.437; 1920 - 526.032; 1930 - 672.488; 1940 - 862.664; 1950 - 1.111.314; 1960 - 1.693.180; 1970 - 2.930.810; 1980 - 4.633.000.

According to Mormon teachings, they should keep their bodies in the best possible condition, be careful about using tobacco, alcohol, and even tea, coffee, and other caffeinated drinks, up to and including Coca-Cola. The Mormon Church strictly requires all of its members to adhere to the Old Testament commandment of tithing, which resulted in church donations of approximately $2 billion in 1982, for example, which is quite impressive for such a relatively small organization. For example, in April 1978, Reader's Digest published an eight-page advertisement for church events, the first of which, costing $12 million, was addressed to approximately fifty million readers of the magazine. In 1975, the Associated Press estimated the income of this church at least three million per day, with 60% of this fee tax-free.

The reader should remember that Mormons are investing this money prudently - to strengthen their church, becoming the owners of a rapidly growing amount of real estate used for commercial and ecclesiastical purposes. "Saints" now have more than twenty active temples, to which will soon be added about twenty under construction or projected on all continents of the earth. Brigham Young Mormon University in Utah is proud to have 27,000 students on its two campuses.

Relying on the donations of their zealous, missionary-oriented members who practice a practical "good works" religion and righteous living, Mormons spend millions of dollars each year to spread the teachings of their primary prophets, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, to any audience, regardless of church affiliation.

In addition to regular tithes, the Mormon Church also calls for so-called "fast offerings." This unusual practice suggests that on the first Sunday of each month, church members eat only one meal instead of three, and the amount received is given to the church as a voluntary contribution to support the needy and the hungry.

Since education is highly valued among Mormons, it is not surprising that they launched a system of introductory and theoretical courses for university and college students, which reached more than 300,000 people. The church has more than fifty schools outside the United States, most of which are located in Mexico or the South Pacific.

Mormonism is thus not just a cult that appeals to the uneducated, as Jehovah's Witnesses do for the most part. The emphasis on education leads to an abundance of propaganda literature that comes out from under the printing presses at the rate of several million copies each year. Mormons are famous for building chapels and temples. Temples are used for weddings "in heaven", the baptism of the dead and other rites with the souls of the dead (only in 1982, about 4.5 million sacred rites were performed on the dead). Temples are forbidden to enter by Gentiles (as Mormons call non-Mormons), temples are unique structures, usually extremely exquisite in architecture and decoration.

Along with a heightened focus on education, Mormon religious activities include sports, hobbies, drama, music, home economics courses for future wives, dance, and theater festivals. The Mutual Improvement Association sponsors a huge number of such causes, literally thousands and thousands of dance and other events designed to attract and entertain young people. Mormon dances begin with a prayer and end with the singing of a hymn. Mormons use everything man can to make the church truly a second home for children and youth. The absence of juvenile delinquency is a striking feature of the Mormons and testifies to their success, which is centered on church work.

However, statistics from the state of Utah, where at least 70% of Mormons live, show divorce, child abuse, teenage pregnancies and suicide rates there above the national level and on the rise.

As an example of the importance of missionary work, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir became known to all radio listeners. It has 350 choir members and has 810 hymns in its repertoire.

He recently celebrated 50 years of radio work. For those who want to dismiss the Mormons as having little influence in the US, it would be good to remember that among the celebrities listed in the Who's Who in America guide, Mormons have more followers than any other religion. The same applies to honorable scientific societies in our country. Mormon leaders have influence in almost every rung of American power. The most prominent of these is former Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson, one of the Twelve Apostles who leads the Mormon Church. Secretary-Treasurer David Kennedy (using members of his cabinet as church plenipotentiary), Treasurers Angela Buchanan and Ivy Baker Priest, Secretary of Education Terrell Bell, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, Marine Representative S. Eccles, three United States Ambassadors to Scandinavia, a dozen US senators, not to mention others, dispel doubts about the influence of this organization. Mormons are indeed a significant political and social force to be reckoned with.

Historical overview

Church organization

The organizational and general management of the Mormon Church is carried out by the Committee of General Authorities. It is led by the First Presidency, which consists of the 88-year-old "prophet" Spencer W. Kimball and two assistants. The Presidency is assisted by the Council of the Twelve Apostles. The First Quorum of the Seventy and His Presidency, and the "Leading Episcopate" and the Patriarch of the Church. All power is in the hands of the Mormon priesthood, which is divided into Aaronic (junior) and Melchizedek (elder) and which includes essentially every active male Mormon over the age of twelve.

Administratively, the Mormon Church consists of territories divided into parishes and stakes, with the latter consisting of approximately five hundred to a thousand people.

Each parish is headed by a bishop (bishop) and two assistants. Wards are organized into stakes, each stake being overseen by a stake president and his two assistants, who in turn are assisted by twelve senior officers who make up the "stake high council." Today, the Mormon Church has approximately 8,900 wards, about 1,400 stakes, 2,000 branches, and 180 missions. These structures form a powerful coalition promoting mutual aid among Mormons. It is worth mentioning that during the depression of 1929, the Mormon "stock company" felt quite confident, so that few Mormons experienced a lack of life's goods.

Mormons continue to treat their missionary work with great zeal. Their missionaries are dogmatic, they constantly quote the Bible, and many true Christians, unfortunately, have to fall silent under the pressure of the quick-witted and well-read students of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, who create the illusion of a perfect knowledge of the Scriptures in front of uneducated Christians who are utterly amazed and amazed by their arguments.

Like most cults, Mormonism survived an era of persecution and persecution, but, unlike many other cults that prefer the saying "who remembers the old," Mormons tried at times to protect their prophets, which put them in a difficult position more than once.

Mormons generally have sound moral character. They are generally friendly, almost always hospitable, extremely dedicated to their family and the teachings of their church. But, unfortunately, the vast majority of Mormons know almost nothing about the obscure historical and theological origins of their religion. Sometimes they are visibly amazed when their eyes are opened to the unattractive and wholly un-Christian foundations of their church. This little-known facet of Mormonism is the other side of the coin that numerous Mormon historians have either hidden from the people for years or distorted in an attempt to dismiss the undeniable and unpleasant evidence of history. It is these testimonies that the author will consider in order for the readers to have a complete picture of the religion of Joseph Smith.

Early Mormon History

The seeds that would later bear fruit in the form of the Mormon religion sprouted in the head of Joseph Smith, Jr., the "prophet" who was better known to the people of Palmyra, New York, in 1816 simply as Joe Smith.

He was born in Sharon, Vermont on December 23, 1805, the fourth child of Lucy and Joseph Smith. The entry of the future Mormon prophet into the world was marked by two historical "blows" on him in the form of his father and circumstances.

Joseph Smith Sr. was a mystic who spent most of his life in search of an imaginary treasure, with a particular fondness for the legendary adventures of Captain Kidd. In addition, he sometimes indulged in monetary fraud, which at least once brought him into conflict with local authorities. This fact is, of course, well known to any informed student of Mormons, and it came to light in the testimony of Judge Emeritus Daniel Woodard of Windsor County, Vermont, a former neighbor of the Smith family. Judge Woodard later testified in the Historical Magazine of 1870 that Smith Sr. was clearly a treasure hunter and "also colluded with one Jack Downing in counterfeiting money" but managed to get away with it.

The mother of the future prophet, to the same extent as her husband, became a product of her era and environment, being extremely religious and believing in the most banal superstitions. Lucy Smith has published an "authorized" book entitled Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith and His Ancestors through Many Generations.

Published by the Mormon Church in Liverpool, England, however, the book was vehemently condemned by Brigham Young, Smith's closest associate, who essentially banned it, pointing out "numerous errors" and explaining that "if anyone is thinking of publishing these sketches, then one must first carefully check ".

It was out of the question that Mrs. Smith would do such a job, and Mrs. Corey became the ghostwriter in her place, diligently recording what later became known as "the story of Joseph Smith as told by his mother." In the course of the story, we will touch on this work, as well as the personal memoirs of Joseph Smith Jr. For now, we will simply mention that the Mormon Church and Smith's own mother had disagreements regarding the prophet's family life, background, and religious habits.

I now return to the central figure, Joseph Smith Jr. The year 1820 was destined to be the year of the prophet's call to ministry, for it was then that a miraculous vision appeared in which God the Father and God the Son materialized and spoke to the young Smith while he was fervently praying in the woods near his home.

The Prophet recounted the incident in detail in his book, The Pearl of Great Price (Joseph Smith, History 1:1-25), where he reported that these two "persons", not entirely approving of the Christian church, and for this reason of the whole world, pointed out the need to revive true Christianity and allegedly chose him, Joseph Smith Jr., as the herald of the new era.

It is interesting to note that the vision did not make any noticeable changes in the life of Joseph Smith, as he continued to search for treasures with his father and brother, who made it their goal to unearth the treasures of Captain Kidd, following the instructions of magic stones, magic wands, or simply their own desire.

Fairy stones were supposed to be miraculous stones which, when placed in a hat and shielded from light, represent lost objects or buried treasure. And magical wands are branches that themselves turn in the direction of gold, water, etc.

History tells us that the Smith family never succeeded in this tortuous and painstaking pursuit of treasure, but numerous ditches in the vicinity of Vermont and New York provide irrefutable evidence of indiscriminate attempts to dig something up.

In subsequent years, the "prophet" extremely regretted these ridiculous expeditions of his youth and even denied in writing that he had ever dug up treasures at all.

Joseph Smith himself once said: “In October 1825, I was hired by an old gentleman named Josiah Stole, who lived in Chenango, New York. He heard something about the silver mines of the Spaniards in Harmony, Saskihanna County, Pennsylvania. Before working with me, he was already trying to find these mines. When I moved in with him, he included me among his workers in search of silver mines. I worked for about a month without success, and in the end we decided to abandon That's where the very common story that I was a treasure hunter came from."

This may be enough to explain the prophet's complete failure in the search for treasure to those who are faithful to him and ignorant of history, but for those who know the facts, it immediately becomes clear that Joseph Smith played uncontrollably with the truth, to say the least. worse, because in fact it often turned out that there was no truth in his words. The main source of skepticism about the prophet's explanations, however, is nothing less than in the records of Lucy Smith herself, his mother, who recounts the course of the same events as follows: "Stole himself came to Joseph, having heard that he could see hidden for the human eye of a thing" (Linn, The Story of the Mormons, p. 16).

Other evidence, in addition to Mrs. Smith's (that is, the most reliable), undoubtedly proves that the prophet suffered from the mania of "magic stones" and personally excavated, leading countless treasure-hunting expeditions, Joseph proclaimed that supernatural forces helped him in these searches.

To remove any doubt from the reader regarding Smith's treasure hunt and use of "magic stones", we will cite three of the most reliable sources which, in our opinion, will dispel any doubt that Smith was considered a treasure trove by all who knew him personally. It should also be remembered that Joseph Smith, Sr., in an interview published in the Historical Magazine in May 1870, clearly stated that the prophet in his youth was an enthusiast of magic stones, a treasure digger and, moreover, that he predicted fate and found lost objects with the help of these magic stones, using their supernatural power.

Father Joseph's account of his rather strange activities is reinforced by the testimony of the Rev. Dr. John Clark, who mentioned that the Smith family "thoroughly studied" the whole area.

"Long before the idea of ​​a 'golden bible' entered their minds, Joe was usually the instigator in search of buried money. He put a special stone in his hat that showed him where to dig."(Gleanings by the Way, 1842, p. 225).

The March 20, 1826, New York v. Joseph Smith trial records indicate that Smith had "a certain kind of stone, which he looked at from time to time to determine the location of treasures buried in the bowels of the earth ... and several once looking for Mr. Stole." Therefore, the court ruled that the defendant was guilty of treasure digging.

Joseph Smith Jr. in 1820 announced a heavenly vision in which he was called a prophet anointed by the Lord to serve in a new age, but the appearance of the angel Moroni, who shook Smith's bed and initiated the epic of Joe with ghostly "golden plates", the text of which became later the Book of Mormon, refers to 1823 only.

According to Smith's own account of this extraordinary revelation, which is recorded in The Pearl of Great Price (Joseph Smith, History 1:29-54), the angel Moroni, the glorified son of one Mormon, the man for whom the famous book is named, appeared before the bed Joseph and repeated his revelation three times to the shocked treasure hunter. Smith did not write anywhere about what happened for several years, but even this does not explain the contradiction that he allowed in the retelling of the words of the angel. This contradiction occurs chiefly in the early editions of the Pearl of Great Price, where the former Moroni is already named as a messenger, and still later, with equal prophetic certainty, Joseph refers to this messenger as Nephi, a completely different person from the Book of Mormon! This embarrassing inconsistency in the system of "divine revelation" was later corrected by painstaking Mormon scribes who took great pains to remove all historical and factual inaccuracies difficult to explain in the writings of Smith, Young, and other early Mormons.

In modern editions, however, both "revelations" agree that they call Moroni the "heavenly messenger," and the Mormons themselves do not see much difference in whether Nephi or Moroni gave Smith the revelation.

In 1827, Smith claimed to have found the golden plates on which he claimed to have written the Book of Mormon. Shortly after this historic find on Mount Cumorah near Palmyra, New York, Smith began translating the hieroglyphs of the "altered Egyptian language" in which this book was written, using "Urim and Thummim," a sort of miraculous spectacle given by the prudent angel Moroni. supplied the newly minted seer Smith. Later we will touch on Smith's work in "translating" these sheets and the difficulties faced by Martin Harris, his wife, and Professor Charles Anton, a renowned scientist. We will now proceed with the story of events, the essence of which is quite obvious to anyone who is in any way familiar with the qualities of the character of Joseph Smith. The modified Egyptian language does not exist, as all the leading Egyptologists and philologists who have been approached with this question claim. However, the Mormons themselves do not doubt its existence at all.

When Joseph was busy translating the plates (1827-1829), a certain Oliver Cowdery, an itinerant schoolteacher, met Smith at his father-in-law's house (who let Joseph into the house for his daughter's sake) and accepted the religion of the prophet, soon becoming one of the "scribes" who wrote down Joseph's words are translated from the plates, although he himself had never seen these plates. Over time, Smith and Oliver became real friends, and the process of "translation" and spiritual zeal reached such heights that on May 15, 1829, heaven could no longer hold back their joy and Peter, James and John sent John the Baptist himself to the inconspicuous state of Pennsylvania with an urgent order anoint Joe and Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood.

This miraculous event is described in "The Pearl of Great Price" (Joseph Smith, History, 1:68-73). It is not difficult to guess that then Oliver baptized Joe, and Joe Oliver. They blessed each other and foretold events that were "soon to come."

The prudent Smith did not expand on the prophecies, since Mormon prophecies were not usually fulfilled at the scheduled time, and this probably explains Smith's reticence in the presentation of details. From the ever-blessed state of Pennsylvania, which gained immortality by anointing Smith to the priesthood of Aaron by John the Baptist himself, Joe returned to the home of Peter Witmer in Fayette, New York, where he remained until he completed the "translation" of the plates and the Book of Mormon was published. under copyright protection in 1830. On April 6 of that year, the prophet, in the company of his brothers Hyrum and Samuel, Oliver Cowdery, David and Peter Witmer, Jr., officially registered a "new religious society" called the Church of Christ (later renamed the Church of Latter-day Saints and eventually the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). This is how Mormonism, one of America's most contagious cults, got its start.

After this "significant" event, the "prophet" called a conference on June 1, 1830, which was attended by 30 people. There plans were made for missionary activity and new elders were ordained to serve the Indians. In August 1830, an active preacher, Parley Pratt, was converted to Mormonism, and in September, Sidney Rigdon, a very strong Campbellite preacher from Ohio, "received enlightenment" and converted his congregation to the religion of Smith, which was the beginning of the Mormons' expansion outside the states of New York and Pennsylvania.

Sidney Rigdon and Parley Pratt, it should be noted, from the very moment of their "conversion" were doomed to fame in the Mormon hierarchy, as well as Orson Pratt, and it is their writings, along with the works of Young, Orson Pratt, Charles Penrose and James Talmadge, that are still used today. Mormons as fundamental. The role of Sidney Rigdon in the fate of the Mormons we will touch upon later, but for now I will only note that he was later accused of apostasy and excommunicated from the Mormon Church, mainly for a sermon delivered in 1833 in Jackson County, Missouri.

Reading a sermon, Rigdon, in a fit of incendiary eloquence, took up arms against the inhabitants of the county, in fact giving the whole state a pretext to start a war with the "saints", who subsequently suffered severe persecution and were expelled from the state in November 1833.

Of course, inciting discord did not particularly contribute to the rise of Sidney among his fellow believers, and the sermon itself began to be bitterly called "Sidney's salty sermon" because it was based on the place in Matthew, which speaks of salt that has lost its strength. The shattering "prophet" Smith's "from within" criticism is an excellent example of a clear controversy, which should be known to all who are inclined to deify the dubious qualities of the first Mormon prophet.

Soon after the Fayette fellowships, the Mormons made their center in Kirtland, Ohio, where in 6 years their number reached 16,000. It was from Kirtland that Smith and Rigdon attempted to make a dash for Jackson County, Missouri. For Joseph and Sidney, persecution was not a new thing, however, here it came to an attempt to dump them in tar and feathers, a punishment that seemed to have long sunk into oblivion. In Missouri, Smith purchased a 63-acre property, christened it "sacred land," and mapped out the exact site where he said the temple of Zion, the earthly seat of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, would eventually be erected. It is curious to note that one of the minor offshoots of Mormonism today owns this land and claims that it once refused an offer from the church in Utah to buy this "holy place" for $5 million.

The first stake of Zion was established in Kirtland, and the first quorum of the twelve apostles was elected, led by the First Presidency of three, led by President Joseph Smith. The main reason for moving to Ohio was the extreme unpopularity of Smith and his revelations among people who knew him well, who considered his religion a fake and showed no hope of "conversion". Smith, of course, secured the "revelation" of God that the place where the center of the church should be changed.

From 1831 to 1844, the "prophet" he claims received more than 135 direct revelations from God that helped build Kirtland and later the Mormon capital at Nova, Illinois. Smith's infamous practice of plural marriage took hold in Kirtland and was later confirmed by "divine revelation." Sometimes ignorant people claim that Smith was not a polygamist, but then they should look at the famous Berea Collection in the New York Public Library, whose plump volumes of primary sources say otherwise, and they were written by Mormons of both sexes who themselves lived a similar life and frankly testified to the debauchery of Smith and the leaders of the Mormon church.

Gradually, of course, polygamous relations seeped into the entire Mormon Church, so that the United States government had to threaten the church with total dispossession and dissolution in order to stop the widely ingrained practice.

In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff officially abolished polygamy as a practice of the Mormon Church, thereby at the very least sacrificing Mormon religious beliefs for their political and economic survival, a fact that is increasingly the subject of debate among modern Mormons.

But the fact remains. In Kirtland, Nowu, Jackson County, Mormons took advantage of the opportunity to convert misguided people who had not yet heard of the prophet's qualities to the Smith religion. In New York, Smith was given the most unattractive characteristics, which was partly a consequence of acquaintance with the qualities of his character. Pomeroy Tucker, in his classic The Rise, Formation, and Growth of Mormonism (New York, 1867), collected a number of properly recorded testimonies from neighbors of the Smith family and especially acquaintances of Joseph Smith, Jr. According to the unanimous assessment of witnesses of the time, Joseph Smith Jr. was known for "a habit of exaggeration and insincerity ... Owing to the extravagance of his statements, his word was treated with less confidence, the more he was known. He could express the most obvious fiction or bizarre absurdity with (p. 16) One of the most interesting testimonies about the youth of Joseph Jr. was given by E. D. Howe, his contemporary, who made grandiose studies during the life of Joseph, which no Mormon historian could convincingly dispute. Smith dared not answer Howe's arguments, although he knew them, so great was the strength of the contemporary testimony, Howe produced a document signed by sixty-two residents of Palmyra, New York, which no serious Mormon scholar can dismiss:

We, the undersigned, have been acquainted with the Smith family for a number of years when they have lived nearby, and we do not hesitate to declare that we consider them to be lacking in moral qualities that could give them public confidence. They were especially famous for their illusory projects, they spent a lot of time excavating treasures that, in their opinion, were buried in the ground, and to this day traces of their constant search for hidden treasures have been preserved near their house. Joseph Smith Sr. and his son Joseph were especially distinguished by their lack of moral character and adherence to vicious habits.

Perhaps someone will say, after reading this, that it is not fair to listen to only one side. You need to know what people who are well Mormons think. The answer is the curious fact that there are no credible testimonies favoring Mormonism from people of that time who personally knew the Smith family and Joseph, but only wise Mormon chroniclers who cast their penetrating eye on the events of a hundred years ago and are able to seriously challenge the testimonies of neighbors, Joseph's father-in-law and many people who have parted ways with Mormonism, who knew what was happening and captured facts that Mormon historians cannot refute.

As the Mormons grew and prospered in Nova, Illinois, and their practice of plural marriage became known within the Mormon camp and beyond, distrust of the Prophet Smith grew, especially after one of his former assistants, John Bennett, spoke openly about the practice of polygamy in the New. When the prophet (or "general," as he liked to be called at this stage of his career) could no longer stand the mounting criticism and tried to use force against an anti-Mormon publication called the Novu Observer, the state of Illinois intervened. The "Prophet" and his brother Hyrum were imprisoned at Carthage, Illinois, before being tried for robbery at the Observer's office, but on June 27, 1844, a mob of two hundred men stormed the Carthage jail and massacred Smith and his brother Hyrum brutally. , forcing the apparently unwilling prophet to prematurely assume the halo of a martyr, thus securing him the title of a true "seer" in the annals of Mormon history.

After the assassination of Joseph Smith, the vast majority of the Mormons came under the jurisdiction of Brigham Young, who was then 43 years old and who had already led the Mormons to a safe place away from the angry Missourians. In 1846, Young announced that the "saints" would leave Nova as well. In 1847. after a torturous march through the deserts of the Southwest, Young led the first group of Mormons into the Great Salt Lake Valley and shouted "Here it is!" staked out the fate of the "saints". They were in what would later become the state of Utah.

Brigham Young led the Mormon Church for more than thirty years and, in a tradition that has survived to this day, inherited the God-ordained mantle of the first prophet. And after him, every Mormon president enjoyed the same authority as Joseph Smith and Briam Young - by unchanging prophetic succession. The "sign from heaven" that made the Mormons feel like they owned the Great Salt Lake Valley was given to them in June 1848, when the Mormons' first crop was saved from a locust infestation by a cloud of swooping gulls. Thus, according to the Mormons, God clearly testified to His favor with the Church of Latter-day Saints.

We will not go into the life of the Mormons under Brigham Young in great detail, which will greatly shorten this book, but only note that Smith gave the movement an initial impetus, while under Brigham Young it gained the necessary strength to be considered a "decent" religion. Young himself was a multifaceted personality, and one cannot understand the theology of Mormonism without knowing what a huge influence the personality of the "prophet" Young and his teachings had on him. Smith and Young, along with successive presidents, shaped modern Mormon theology, but it cannot be properly understood without knowing anything about Brigham Young.

Young was a man of indomitable courage, not without cunning, prone to bouts of cruelty, which Mormon historians deliberately do not recall. One manifestation of his eagerness to subdue Utah was the order to exterminate over a hundred non-Mormon immigrants, now known as the infamous "Mountain Meadow Murder." For reasons known only to him, Young commissioned Bishop John Lee in 1857 to destroy a train of apparently helpless settlers, which Bishop Lee faithfully did, and for which, twenty years later, he was arrested, tried, and executed by the government of the United States as a foul act of totalitarianism.

In his noteworthy book, The Confessions of John Lee, which remains a thorn in the side of Mormon history, Lee acknowledged his role in the atrocity but swore that he was acting under the orders of Brigham Young. The testimonies of Lee himself and some of his assistants involved in the massacre point incontrovertibly to Yang's leading role. As we study Mormon theology, we will see that this was not contrary to Young's character. It was the law in Utah, but as the wise saying goes, "Power corrupts, and full power corrupts completely."

Today's Mormonism is far from many of the principles and attitudes of its founders. But he certainly remains true to their core tenets, although, as in the case of plural marriage, when these norms came into conflict with state norms or political ambitions, the Latter-day Saints wisely ignored (or, as they usually say, "rethought") the instructions of the first two prophets.

Mormon history is long and complex. It is truly a labyrinth of writings, testimonies, sworn statements, photographs, rumors, opinions, and the true picture emerges only after a long analysis of the testimonies of contemporaries. Ordinary Mormons cannot be treated without sympathy and attention. They are for the most part sincere, generous, and diligent both in confessing and in spreading their faith.

One can only regret that they took at face value the carefully edited "history" of the origin and development of Mormonism instead of paying attention to sources that not only contradict, but completely refute the lies of their historical reconstruction. It is to be hoped that as the reader unfolds the drama of Mormonism and what it is about, the evolution of Mormonism and the fallacy of the gospels of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. History has issued a verdict condemning Mormon "evangelism," especially the one sponsored by Smith and Young. There is extensive documentation that most Mormons ignore, but facts are even more stubborn than Mormons.

Theology of Mormonism

The New Revelation - The "Bible" of Mormons

Along with the English translation of the "King James" Bible, which Mormons recognize as part of the Word of God wherever it is "correctly translated," they include the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Mormon in their canon, calling it all "true scripture." ". This chapter will focus on the Book of Mormon because it is central to Mormon theology and history.

There is already a huge amount of research on the Book of Mormon published, and I have tried to build as much as possible on the documented information available to me. Determining the authenticity of information is not easy, so I chose only the one whose reliability was beyond doubt and which is available today in leading scientific institutions - at Stanford University, Union Theological Seminary, in the Department of Research of the Library of Congress, at the New York Public Library and others). It is difficult to give a complete overview of the complex structure of the Book of Mormon, and I encourage readers to also consult other studies on the subject if they are interested.

History of the ancient people

The Book of Mormon claims to be the history of two ancient peoples in the Americas. According to the Mormons, the first of these peoples left the construction of the Tower of Babel (approximately 2250 BC in Mormon calculus), crossed into Europe and then reached the east coast of modern Central America. The second people, according to the Mormons, left Jerusalem about 600 BC before its fall and the Babylonian captivity of Israel. According to the Mormons, this group crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed on the western coast of South America. As for the Book of Mormon, it is a collection of major events from the history of these peoples. The author of the book is believed to be a prophet named Mormon. The book is a translation of an abridged text of the history of these civilizations and the history of the Jaredites, abridged by Moroni son of Mormon, taken from the record of Jared found in the time of the second people.

The Jaredites were destroyed for their atrocities and as punishment for their apostasy. The second nation that arrived in America around 600 B.C. was made up of righteous Jews led by a leader named Nephi. This people eventually suffered the fate of the Jaredites. He was divided into two warring camps - the Nephites and the Lamanites (Indians).

The Lamanites were cursed for their sins, and a sign of this curse was their dark skin.

The Mormon Record says that Christ came to the Americas, revealed Himself to the Nephites, preached the gospel to them, and gave the commandments of baptism and the sacrament. The Nephites, unfortunately, changed their righteousness more than the Lamanites, who defeated the first at Cumorah in about A.D. 385.

Almost fourteen centuries later, Mormons claim, Joseph Smith Jr. dug up a short Mormon record engraved in "corrected Egyptian hieroglyphs" on gold plates, and with the help of "Urim and Thummim" (supernatural spectacles) translated the text from "corrected Egyptian" into English. . Thus was born the Book of Mormon, published in 1830, which bears the name of Joseph Smith Jr. as "author and owner." There are four classes of plates that Smith is credited with discovering: (1) the plates of Nephi, (2) the plates of Mormon, (3) the plates of Ether, (4) the group of plates referred to in the Book of Mormon as the "plates of brass" or the plates of Laban. The plates of Nephi contain mostly secular history, although the "small plates" of Nephi are "filled with sacred writings." The second set of plates is Mormon's abridgement of the plates of Nephi, with Mormon's explanations and historical additions by his son Moroni.

The third category of plates is the history of the Jaredites, also abridged by Moroni, who, however, added his own notes to it. They are now known as the book of Ether. The fourth set of plates is believed to have been brought from Jerusalem and is included as passages in the Nephite Records. They are replete with quotations from Jewish scriptures and genealogies.

Joseph Smith is supposed to have received the plates from the hands of Moroni, "raised from the dead" in 1827.

Purpose of the Book of Mormon

Typically, Christian theologians, archaeologists, and anthropologists are confused as to what the purposes of the Book of Mormon are. The reason for this is the many difficulties it presents in the light of already accepted facts. Nevertheless, we will consider how the Mormons themselves state its task:

"The principle of divine and civil law is the proposition: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall stand firm" (2 Cor. 13:1). The Bible, the history of the deeds and providence of God regarding people in the eastern continent, is one witness to the truth. The book Mormon is another witness of the same level, she points to the providence of God in the main and extremely important work of redemption, and also in general regarding the laws of nature and testifies that His purposes were not limited to the Eastern world. "God loved the world" (John 3: 16) and not part of it, and cared for the people of the vast Western continent in the same way.The throne of mighty nations, he experienced the consecration and care of his Father.The stated (in the introduction) purpose of the Book of Mormon is universal: to bear witness to the world of the truth and divinity of Jesus Christ and His salvation through the gospel He gave. He preached the gospel to Jews and Gentiles. The house of Israel rejected the Messiah and, as a result, was neglected, scattered, and its rulers are overthrown. The good news, which he did not accept, was preached to the Gentiles. Since then, Israel has remained in disbelief in Christ and. without the help of God's chosen people. The prophecies of the Bible often speak of the revival of Israel in the last days to the glory of God, the unification of Israel and the final settlement in the ancient homeland of Palestine. The coming of the hitherto unknown Book of Mormon was foretold by biblical prophecy, and it itself convincingly provides us with additional revelation from God about the Messiahship of Jesus Christ and covenants with the forefathers. She repeatedly predicts the restoration, union, and other blessings of Israel. The God of Israel was to make a "new covenant" with this people - not the old Mosaic covenant, but another, later one, according to which he would rise as a nation in his holy land (see also Jer. 31:34; Ezek. 20:33-38 and etc. - The Bible predicts the same). The Book of Mormon offers Old Testament prophecies of the same kind, proclaiming them through the mouths of the chosen people. She claims to be part of the new covenant with Israel.

She quotes the verses of the 29th chapter of Isaiah and interprets their hidden meaning. She points out that as a result of her revelations, Israel will come to realize Christ's message of salvation, that Israel will no longer be afraid, but will find safety and the greatest blessing by divine grace; that the result of her revelation will be the physical blessing of Palestine, redeemed from barrenness to fertility, which will be able to provide for the people of the poor, as in ancient times. Undoubtedly, after the appearance of this book, Palestine experienced a blessing. The earth bears fruit. Jews are allowed to return and found cities, develop industry and agriculture. Many Jews, in accordance with the prediction of this book, accept Christ. Proponents of this book argue that the fulfillment of the prophecies in this book cannot be the fulfillment of any other prophecy. The book also tells that the remnants of the peoples who once inhabited America in ancient times, scattered across North, Central and South America - the Indians - coming to the light of the revelations of their ancestors, will be converted and receive a part in the covenant concluded with their forefathers. She speaks of their transition from primitive life to enlightenment. It proclaims that the pagans who occupy their land will know the grace of coming out of a state of degeneration. That's just part of the purpose of this book.

The gospel of the holy apostle John 10:16 contains a statement of Jesus Christ made by believers in the divinity of the Book of Mormon. He said, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold, and them I must bring, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd." Citing the words of Christ proclaiming: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 15:24), they believe that since Jesus did not appear to the Gentiles, but "salvation from the Jews," or Israel (John 4:22 ), the promise of the "other sheep" was fulfilled in the appearance of Christ to the Nephites.

Thus, for Mormons, the Bible itself predicts the appearance of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon interprets Old Testament prophecy and claims to be part of the new covenant with Israel. She is also considered "another witness" to the truth of the Christian gospel. Unfortunately for Mormons, this witness often contradicts the revelation of the Bible, as we will see later. The book undeservedly elevates itself, being devoid of any internal evidence, reliance on science or history, so consider it "part of the new testament", to put it mildly. not serious.

The evidence of science against the "Book of Mormon"

In an attempt to reinforce and substantiate the claims of the Book of Mormon, Mormonism's supreme authority, Joseph Smith Jr. made an attempt that, if successful, would have given considerable weight to the Mormons' claims regarding their "bible." Thankfully, this act of Smith has provided us with an important witness in the case against Mormonism.

Smith told the story in The Pearl of Great Price (Joseph Smith—History 1:62-64, 1982 ed.), and it is useful to read his account: “I started copying hieroglyphs from sheets. I copied a significant number of them and translated some of them through the Urim and Thummim ... Dr. Martin Harris came to us, took the transcribed and went with him to New York. What happened then, I will tell by in his own words after his return: "I came to New York and showed the hieroglyphs with their translation to Professor Charles Anton, a gentleman known for his literary knowledge. Professor Anton said the translation was correct, more correct than any other translation from the Egyptian known to him. Then I showed him the not yet translated hieroglyphs, and he said that they were Egyptian, Chaldean, Assyrian and Arabic scripts and authentic hieroglyphs"(part 2, art. 62-64).

So, according to Joseph Smith, Martin Harris, his colleague, obtained positive feedback from the scholar Professor Charles Anton of Columbia University regarding the translation that Smith allegedly made from the "altered Egyptian language" on the plates provided to him by Moroni. The only hitch is that Professor Anton himself never said anything of the sort, moreover, he wrote a detailed letter to Mr. E. Howe, a contemporary of Smith, who did the most thorough research on the life of the Mormon prophet and the origin of their teachings. Nobody refuted Howe himself, for which he is so disliked by Mormon historians and many Mormons. Upon learning of Smith's history with Professor Anton, Howe wrote to Columbia. The professor responded with a letter cited here as a classic example of Mormon debunking and as evidence that Mormons themselves want to get rid of as quickly as possible.

Dear Sir!

I received your message in the mail this morning, to which I am replying immediately. The story, according to which I recognized the Mormon characters as "altered Egyptian hieroglyphs", is a fabrication from beginning to end. A few years ago, an inconspicuous, rustic-looking farmer came to me with a letter from our town from Dr. Mitchell, now deceased, and asked me to decipher, if possible, the notes that he handed me and which Mitchell himself could not make out. After reviewing the text, I quickly came to the conclusion that it was a hoax or a hoax. When I asked the person who brought them where he got these papers from, I, as I now recall, learned in response that a "golden book" was dug up in upstate New York, consisting of many gold sheets bound with wire from the same material, and along with the book huge "golden glasses"! These glasses were so large that when a person tried to look through them, both of his eyes fell on only one of the eyepieces, and for a human face they were clearly large. Whoever looked at the sheets through the glasses could immediately not only read them, but also fully understand the meaning. And this discovery belonged to one young man: a chest with a book and glasses was at his sole disposal. This man, behind a curtain in the attic of a farmhouse, hidden from view, put on his glasses or, more often, looked through one of the panes, deciphered the hieroglyphs of the book, and after writing down the translation on paper, passed a copy behind the curtain to those standing outside. Not a word was said about the fact that the sheets were read with the help of the "gift of God." All done thanks to the big glasses, the farmer added that he was asked to contribute money to the publication of the "golden book", the meaning of which, he was assured, would change the whole earth and save the world from destruction. He was so persuaded that he decided to sell the farm and give the proceeds to those who wanted to publish the sheets. To make sure, he went to New York, wanting to know the scientist's opinion about what was written in the paper he brought with him, which he was given as a copy of part of the book, although without the translation of a young man with glasses.

After listening to this strange story, I changed my mind about the document and, ceasing to consider it a hoax, suggested that someone was trying to lure money from the farmer, which I warned him about, advising him to get rid of the scammers. He asked me to give him a written statement, which of course I refused to do, after which he took his papers and left. In fact, papers I call a single scroll. It consisted of a variety of hook-shaped characters arranged in columns, and was clearly written by a person who had before his eyes a book with various alphabets. Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and curlicues, Latin letters, inverted or placed on the side, were arranged in vertical columns, and under all this was a roughly drawn circle, divided into sectors marked with strange signs, and clearly copied from the Mexican Humboldt calendar, but so, so as not to give out the source from where it was taken. I clearly reviewed what was in the document and often talked about it with friends after the Mormon hype began. I remember well that the document contained anything but "Egyptian hieroglyphs". Some time later, the same farmer paid me a second visit. He brought a printed "golden book" and offered to buy it. I refused. Then he suggested that I keep the book for analysis. I refused to take it, although he behaved extremely insistently. I once again pointed out to him the possibility of cheating with him and asked what had become of the gold plates. He replied that the sheets with large glasses were in the chest. I advised him to take the chest to the authorities to have a look. He said that the "curse of God" would fall on him if he did so. When I tried to convince him to do just that, he agreed to open the chest if I took the "curse of God" upon myself. I replied that I was ready to do it with great pleasure and would take any risk of this kind, just to wrest it from the hands of crooks. Then he left.

I have fully described everything I know about the rise of Mormonism, and I ask you to do me a personal favor by immediately publishing the letter as soon as these unfortunate fanatics mention my name again.

Sincerely,

Charles Anton, PhD

Columbia University

Professor Anton's letter dispels all doubts and destroys the constructions of Smith and Harris. One cannot help wondering how the part shown to Professor Anton Martin Harris, copied by Joseph Smith himself from the Book of Mormon, had "Egyptian, Chaldean, Assyrian, and Arabic" letters, while the Book of Mormon itself claims to be written "altered Egyptian" language spoken by the Nephites. And if the language of the Book of Mormon was not known to "no other people," then how was Professor Anton to judge the correctness of Smith's translation? To date, no one has yet been able to detect even the smallest signs of a language called "altered Egyptian", and all respected linguists who have studied the evidence provided by the Mormons have dismissed them as invented.

archaeological evidence

The Book of Mormon allegedly reports the emergence and development of two great nations. What their life was like, properly draw some parts from the book itself: "The whole face of the earth was covered with buildings, and the people were almost as numerous as the sand of the sea"(Mormon 1:7).

"... Rich in elegant woodwork, buildings, machines, as well as iron, copper, bronze and steel, producing all kinds of tools for agriculture ..."(Jarom 1:8, 2 Nephi 5:15).

"... Having grain, silk... livestock: bulls, cows, sheep, pigs, goats... also horses and donkeys... elephants..."(Ether 9:17-19).

"They multiplied and spread ... that they began to cover the face of the whole earth - from the south sea to the north and from the western sea to the east"(Helaman 3:8). "Two million brave men were killed" (Jaredians)(Ether 15:2). "... About their shipping and shipbuilding, about the structure of their temples, synagogues, sacred shelters"(Helaman 3:14; see also 2 Nephi 5:15–16 and Alma 16:13). "... My ten thousand were mown... and they... fell, each with his ten thousand"(Mormon 6:10-15).

"... Sabers ... swords ... chest armor and shields to protect the hands ... armor helmets"(Alma 43:18-19, Ether 15:15).

In 3 Nephi 8:9-10, 14 and 9:4-6, 8, the cities and the inhabitants sank into the depths of the sea and the earth. In addition to the previous account from the Book of Mormon, which testifies to the enormous spread of the culture of both peoples, the Book of Mormon lists approximately 38 cities, from which it follows that both of these civilizations, according to all the laws of archaeological science, should have left many traces. But everything turned out just the opposite. Mormons are still unable to explain why archaeological research not only does not confirm the Book of Mormon in terms of the existence of these peoples, but also provides a fair amount of evidence that speaks of the impossibility of what is stated in their scripture. The following letter was sent to Rev. R. Brown, pastor of the Hillcrest Methodist Church, Friedrichsburg, Virginia, a zealous student of Mormons and their views. Dr. Brown, in the course of research, turned to the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University in New York. The answer received is of the greatest importance. He talks about the lack of truth and accuracy in the Book of Mormon in terms of archeology and anthropology.

Dear Sir!

I apologize for the delay in replying to your letter of January 14, 1957. We often have to answer questions about the Book of Mormon... I can say that I do not believe in the truth of any of the indications of the history of the American Indians from the Book of Mormon and I believe that the vast majority of American archaeologists will agree with me. This book is false from a biblical, historical, and scientific point of view. As for Dr. Charles Anton, I do not know who he is, and we will clearly disagree in our views, as the "Latter Day Saints" (Mormons) claim. I am not aware of the influence of Egyptian writing on both the Book of Mormon and American Indian history.

Yours sincerely

W. Duncan Strong (signed)

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington is also raising its voice against the "archaeological achievements" of the Book of Mormon, a highly authoritative voice that Mormons can hardly ignore.

The Smithsonian has never used the Book of Mormon as a scientific source in any way. Institute archaeologists find no connection between New World archeology and the subject of the book. The physical type of the American Indians is basically Mongoloid, it is closely related to the peoples of eastern, central and northeast Asia. Archaeological evidence indicates that the ancestors of modern Indians moved to the New World (probably along the isthmus, which was supposedly located on the site of the Bering Strait during the last ice age) by small transitions, starting from the time of 25-30 thousand years ago. We now know that the first to enter the continent from the east were the Vikings, who arrived in northeastern North America around A.D. 1000. Nothing indicates that they reached Mexico or Central America. One of the main factors supporting the conclusions of scientists about the extremely small influence (if any) of the peoples of the Old World on the development of the civilization of the American Indians is that in the New World until 1492 there were no main agricultural crops and domestic animals of the Old World (with the exception of dogs). ). Before Columbus, the Indians did not have wheat, barley, oats, millet, rice, cows, pigs, chickens, horses, donkeys, camels, etc. The domesticated dogs of the Indians came with their ancestors from Northwest Asia. The sweet potato is distributed in both hemispheres, but apparently grew first in the New World and from there it came to the Old through the Pacific Ocean. Iron, steel, glass and silk were not used in the New World until 1492 (with the exception of unburned iron from meteorites). Copper nuggets were used in various places before Columbus, but smelting was limited to southern Mexico and the Andes region, where gold, silver, copper and their alloys were smelted at the end of prehistoric times, but not iron.

There is a possibility of cultures penetrating across the Pacific Ocean into Central America and the northwestern coast of South America several centuries before Christianization. However, any contacts between the hemispheres appear to be the result of random attempts made from eastern or southern Asia. There is no way to be sure that they were at all. It is certain that there was no contact with the ancient Egyptians, Jews or other peoples of Western Asia or the Middle East.

No respected Egyptologist or other specialist in Old World archeology, and no expert in New World history, has found or ever reported any links between the archaeological remains of Mexico and Egypt.

Reports of the discovery of Egyptian, Hebrew, or other Old World writing in the pre-Columbian New World often appear in newspapers, magazines, and sensational publications. None of these reports have been confirmed by renowned scientists. No written sources of origin prior to 1492 related in form to the Old World have been found in any part of the American continent.

It is clear from the text that the cities mentioned in the Book of Mormon are imaginary, that elephants never existed on the continent, and that the metals indicated were not found in any place inhabited by New World civilizations of that time.

Here it is no longer theologians, but generally recognized expert archaeologists who are trying to debunk the Mormons, declaring a contradiction in their book with the achievements of science. Mormon missionaries are usually reluctant to discuss these facts, but the facts do not cease to exist, and the facts are from the most reliable sources.

Mongoloid factor

One of the main tenets of Mormon theology is that the American Indians are the descendants of the Lamanites and that they are of Semitic origin, i.e. Jews. As we have seen, this position is found throughout Mormon literature, and if there is evidence to refute the relationship of Indians and Semites, then the whole story of Nephi and his journey to America in 600 BC. becomes a fantasy.

Therefore, there are good reasons to heed the findings of anthropologists and geneticists. And they claim that the various physiological features of the Mediterranean peoples (which include the Jews or the Semites) are not found or almost never found among the Indians! They do not have correlations by genotype, but by phenotype, the Indians are considered Mongoloids, and not Mediterranean Caucasoids.

So, if the Lamanites, as the Book of Mormon states, were the descendants of Nephi, who was a Mediterranean Caucasian Jew, then his descendants, the American Indians, must necessarily have a genotypic blood relationship with him and inherit the features of the phenotype, that is, have an external resemblance.

But everything is just the opposite. American Indians, according to anthropologists, are not of Semitic origin; they are Mongoloid in phenotype. A close examination of anthropology and such authors as W. Boyd (The Role of Genetics in Anthropology) and Bentley Glass, talented geneticists at Johns Hopkins University, shows that the claims of the Book of Mormon are not consistent with the achievements of these sciences. There is simply no evidence to suggest that the American Indians (Lamanites, in Mormon terms) are in any way related to the people Nephi supposedly belonged to (the Semites).

Corrections, inconsistencies and errors

There is a sea of ​​information on the materials of the Book of Mormon, pointing to various kinds of plagiarism, anachronisms, false prophecies, and other unpleasant phenomena associated with it. We will try to give the main, most documented data.

Since the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, its first edition has undergone various "corrections." Some of them are worth mentioning. The book of Mosiah (21:28) says that "King Mosiah had a gift from God", and in the first edition this king is called Benjamin, a blunder corrected by prudent Mormon scribes. This is clearly not a typographical error, as there is nothing in common between the names Mosiah and Benjamin. That is, either God made a mistake when He shared His Word, or Joseph when he translated it. And the Mormons do not want to recognize either one or the other and, so to speak, stumble before the contradiction.

1 Nephi 19:16-20:1 contains more than fifty corrections from the "inspired Book of Mormon" edition, such as deleting words, changing spellings, adding words, and rewriting phrases. Very strange methods of dealing with the Word of God!

In Alma 28:14-29:1-11 there are more than thirty discrepancies from the original, and on page 303 of the original edition, the phrase "yes, bequeath to them those commandments that never change" just crossed out. (Alma 29:4).

US. The 25th edition of the 1830 Book of Mormon declares: "And the angel said to me: This is the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father." And in later editions we read: "And the angel said to me: This is the Lamb of God, yea, the Son of the Eternal Father!" The Roman Catholic Church will read with admiration on p. 25 of the original edition of the Book of Mormon, one of their dogmas is that Mary is the mother of God: "Behold, the virgin that you see is the Mother of God."

Noticing this unfortunate intrusion into the realm of Catholic theology, the tactful editors changed 1 Nephi 11:18 as follows: "Behold, the virgin you see is the Mother of the Son of God." The cases cited are only a fraction of the approximately 4,000 word changes in the Book of Mormon, some of which were made as early as 1981, and the reader can see that it cannot be recognized as the Word of God. Scripture says: "The word of the Lord endures forever"(1 Pet. 1:25), and our Savior asked: "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth"(John 17:17). The Word of Scripture is true. The Book of Mormon is clearly wrong on so many occasions that they cannot be considered mere coincidence.

In addition to various "revisions", the Book of Mormon also contains borrowings from the King James Bible, anachronisms, false prophecies, and factual errors that cannot be brushed aside. They are worth mentioning, although many of them are already known to students of Mormonism.

The "Certificate of Three Witnesses" (Oliver Cowdery, David Witmer, and Martin Harris) at the beginning of the Book of Mormon states that "an angel of God, descending from heaven, brought them and laid them before our eyes, so that we looked and saw the plates and engravings on them... ".

Here it will be very appropriate to recall that Martin Harris, in a conversation with Professor Anthon regarding "translated" from those wonderful plates, denied that he had seen them at all. When he was "pressed", he declared that he saw them only with the "eye of faith", and here he noticeably diverged from the revelation received from the prophetic messenger. Mormons are extremely reluctant to recall that all three of these witnesses later renounced Mormonism, and Mormon contemporaries called them "thieves and swindlers."

In early Mormon literature, we find three articles by Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum denouncing the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, which in itself raises doubts about their honesty.

Borrowings from the King James Bible

A close examination of the Book of Mormon reveals that it contains at least 25,000 words from the King James Bible. And borrowing phrases, sometimes quite long ones, has been a bone in the throat of Mormons for many years.

Comparison of Moroni 10 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 2 Nephi 14 and Isaiah 4, 2 Nephi 12 and Isaiah 2 shows that Joseph Smith freely used the Bible to support the so-called "revelation" from the gold plates. Mosiah chapter 14 is a rewrite of Isaiah chapter 53, and Nephi 13:1-18 is a copy of Matthew 6:1-23.

Mormons naively believe that if Christ had come to the Americas after His resurrection and preached to the Nephites. He would use exactly the words that are written in the Bible. They also believe that Nephi brought copies of the Hebrew Scriptures with him to America and explain the quotations from the Old Testament with this. The problem here is that the miraculous plates on which the revelation was recorded contained a text that almost coincided with the King James translation made in 1611, a thousand years after their appearance. Such reasoning of the Mormons undermines all confidence in them, and only they themselves believe in it. There are other forms of borrowing from the 1611 Bible, including paraphrasing of verses. One of them (1 John 5:7) is reproduced in 1 Nephi 11:27,36. The hitch with this verse is that scholars consider it to be a late insert, missing from the main New Testament copies, but introduced into the Bible translation in question, which Smith redid without knowing the details.

Another example of this type of error is found in 3 Nephi 11:33-34, an almost direct quotation of Mark 16:16, a verse that many New Testament scholars see as the addition of an overzealous scribe to the gospel. But Joseph Smith did not know about this either, so he even copied translation errors, proving once again that God did not give any revelation on the golden plates. It is worth mentioning two more borrowings from the King James Bible that hit the Mormons from the rear.

In Acts chapter 3, Peter paraphrases Deuteronomy 18:15-19 in his classic sermon. In coming up with the book of 3 Nephi, Smith put this paraphrased text into the mouth of Jesus when Christ allegedly preached to the Nephites. The little thing that escaped the "prophet" was that at the time of Jesus' instruction, the sermon itself had not yet been delivered by Peter.

In addition, 3 Nephi makes Christ a liar when, in chapter 20 verse 23, Christ attributes Peter's words to Moses as a direct quotation, but Peter actually rendered Moses' speech in a very different way. Smith cared little for such discrepancies, making obvious mistakes.

Second, the Book of Mormon, following the King James Bible, mistranslates Isaiah 4:5 "For over all that is honored there will be protection" (cf. 2 Nephi 14:5). Modern translations of Isaiah give the correct translation of "protection," not "protection." The Hebrew word chuppah does not mean protection, but a protective curtain or canopy. translators of King James, whose work he used.* In the Russian translation in both cases - the Bible and the Book of Mormon - we see the word "veil" - Approx.

There are a number of other errors. Revised Standard Version in Is. 5:25 translates "and their corpses shall be as rubbish in the streets", faithfully conveying the meaning of the Hebrew word "suchah", and the King James Bible says, "And their bodies were torn to pieces in the middle of the streets." The Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 15:25) repeats King James text word for word, and with it a mistake in translating the word suchah, depriving himself of any opportunity to be an authority.

Anachronisms and contradictions

The Book of Mormon not only constantly borrows the text of the King James Bible, but distorts so many facts and issues in world history and the history of the Jews. The Jaredites obviously made glass windows in their wonderful ships that crossed the ocean, and "steel" and "compass" were known to the Nephites despite the fact that they had not yet been invented, which again shows the paucity of knowledge of Joseph Smith in history and Jewish customs. Laban, one of the characters in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 4:9), uses a steel sword, and Nephi says that he broke his steel bow (Mormons refer to Psalm 17:35), but modern translations of the Scriptures show that the disputed word The Old Testament (since there was no steel then) is better translated as "copper".

Mormons sometimes try to prove that Nephi had a compass (which didn't exist then either) by referring to the verse of Acts. 28:13, translated as "And there we took a compass ...", but modern translations, however, refute their subterfuge, giving the correct translation "and from there we turned ..."

In addition to these anachronisms, the Book of Mormon contains not only contradictions with the Bible, but also with other revelations of the same God, whose word it supposedly is. The Bible says that the Messiah of Israel will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and the Gospel of Matthew (2:1) tells of the fulfillment of this prophecy. The Book of Mormon (Alma 7:9-10) tells us: "... The Son of God descends on the face of the earth. And behold. He will be born of Mary in Jerusalem, in the land of our forefathers...". Jerusalem in the Book of Mormon refers to a city (1 Nephi 1:4), as does Bethlehem, so there is a contradiction.

There are a number of cases where God is unfaithful to Himself, if He is nevertheless considered the inspiration of the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrine and Covenants, and other writings of Joseph Smith.

For example, in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 12:2 and Moroni 8:11), remission of sins is considered a consequence of baptism: "Blessed are those who ... will be baptized, for ... they will receive a remission of their sins ... Behold, baptism is for repentance in fulfillment of the commandments for the remission of sins."

And the Doctrine and Covenants (part 20, verse 37) states the opposite: "All who humble themselves and truly show by their deeds that they have received from the Spirit of Christ for the remission of sins, will be baptized into His church."

This heavenly revelation has sowed confusion in the Mormon Church, and Mormon theologians pointedly avoid any serious discussion of this controversy. Joseph Smith did not limit himself to this contradiction alone.

A classic example of his throwing was polygamy.

"God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave him Hagar as a wife. Why did she do this? That was the law. And many people came from Hagar ... So you also go and do the work of Abraham; obey my law and you will be saved"(Doctrine and Covenants 132:34,32).

And the Book of Mormon, in turn, categorically states: “Therefore, I, the Lord God, will not suffer that this people should do as they did in ancient times ... For no man among you shall have more than one wife; and not one concubine shall he have; for I, the Lord God I praise the chastity of women"(James 2:26-28).

It seems that Joseph churned out revelations whenever he felt like it. In the latter case, Smith's reputation and actions indicated that he was driven by sexual desire.

The confusion in the content of his "inspired" revelations is completed by the differences between the two parts of the "Pearl of Great Price" - the book of Moses and the book of Abraham.

"I am the Beginning and the End, God Almighty; by My Only Begotten I created it; yea, in the beginning I created the heavens and the earth on which you stand"(Moses 2:1).

The book of Abraham undermines monotheism by stating: "And then the Lord said: let us come down. And they came down at the beginning, and they. Gods, formed and clothed heaven and earth"(Abraham 4:1).

The problems of Mormon false prophecy have been touched upon by many excellent scholars, but it should be said here that Smith borrowed extensively from various newspapers and magazines. And one of his most famous prophecies about the Civil War was based on materials published at that time in the state of New York. In the Doctrine and Covenants, Smith declared (part 87): "After the rebellion of South Carolina... the Southern States will call on other nations, even the people of Great Britain... and then the war will engulf all nations... And... the slaves will rise up against their masters... and that the remnants... will greatly annoy pagans."

Although the Civil War did break out shortly after Smith's death (1844), England did not turn against the United States. "All nations" did not go to war as prophesied. The slaves did not rise up against "their owners", and the "remnants", by which the Indians were meant, were themselves trampled down by the pagans, defeated and imprisoned in reservations.

In this case, the prophet Smith showed his extreme shortsightedness, as in the Doctrine and Covenants 124:22,23,59, where he prophesied that he would become the owner of the house he built in Nova, "for ever."

In fact, neither Joseph nor the seed "after him" occupied "from generation to generation" the house in Nova, which was destroyed after Smith's death, and the Mormons moved to Utah.

These and other examples indicate that Smith was not only a bad scribe, but also a false prophet, and his prophecy about the restoration of Israel makes it clear that he expected the Millennium while still alive, while the prophecy of Ezekiel 37 began to be fulfilled in 1948, more than 100 years after his death. When analyzing the Book of Mormon, a natural question arises. Where did it come from if it was clearly not from God? Numerous Mormon scholars have answered this question, including E. Howe, Pomeroy Tucker, and William Lynn.

They all agree that the Book of Mormon is probably an adaptation of the writings of Solomon Spelling, a former church minister who is known for his biblical novels similar in content to the Book of Mormon. The Mormons counter with a smile, referring to one of Spelling's originals, entitled "History of the Manuscript," which was found over a century ago in Hawaii and differs in many ways from the Book of Mormon.

But in his excellent work, The Book of Mormon? (pp. 138-142) Dr. James Bales makes an important observation, which also agrees in every detail with the results of my work over the past decade:

It has long been argued that there is a connection between the Book of Mormon and one of Solomon Spaulding's historical writings. Latter-day Saints, of course, deny it.

What happens if the Latter-day Saints are right and the Book of Mormon and Spaulding's writings really have nothing to do with each other? Even if so, it still does not prove that the Book of Mormon is of divine origin. It is possible to be mistaken about the author or authors of the Book of Mormon, and yet believe that it was not inspired by God. One can easily prove its earthly origin. And this, in the end, is the main thing. The fundamental question is not who wrote it, but whether it was written under the direction of God. We know that it was written by people, and these people were not led by God.

Similar was the case with "Science and Health", the textbook of "Christian Science" churches. Mrs. Eddy stated that she wrote this book inspired by God. Other people claim that she simply revised and supplemented Quimby's manuscript, and everything seems to be in their favor. But what if the latter fails to defend their point of view? Will this prove that Science and Health is inspired by God? Not at all. This will prove that she has nothing to do with Quimby. And it will not prove that its author is not someone else who wrote not from God. No matter what person or people wrote Science and Health, it is a book of human, not divine, origin. In the same way, the Book of Mormon is human, not inspired by God, although we are not able to find out what kind of person was its author.

No one claims that the entire Book of Mormon was written by Spelling, nor that he put his theology into it, which bears the imprint of the influence of Smith, Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon (for evidence, see Shook - Shook, The True Origin of the Book of Mormon, pp. 126). However, there is reason to believe that certain things, including many borrowings from the Scriptures, were added to one of Spaulding's manuscripts, and this work later became the Book of Mormon (see the testimony of John Spaulding, Solomon's brother, and Martha Spaulding, John's wife). This confirms that Spaulding was the author of the historical part (E. D. Howe, Mormonism Unveiled, 1834, pp. 278; Shook, The True Origin of the Book of Mormon, pp. 94).

Mormons claim that the discovery of one of Spaulding's books proves that his manuscripts did not form the basis of the Book of Mormon.

"I hereby declare that Spaulding's manuscript was found in 1884 and is now in the library of Oberlin College, Ohio. Research has shown that it bears no resemblance to the Book of Mormon. The theory that Solomon Spaulding was the author of the Book of Mormon can now be treated seriously only as a museum exhibit"(William Morton, op. cit., p. 6).

There are three errors in the above paragraph, namely, first, that Spaulding had only one manuscript, second, that the manuscript found in 1884 is considered by some to be the basis of the Book of Mormon, and third, that the manuscript in Oberlin does not resemble the Book at all. Mormon.

(a) Spaulding wrote more than one manuscript. This was discussed by D. Hulbert and Clark Brayden before the Honolulu discovery of the manuscript (Charles Shook, op. cit., p. 77). Spaulding's daughter also claimed that her father wrote "more than one novel" (Elder George Reynolds, The Myth of the "Manuscript Found", Utah, 1833, p. 103). The found manuscript is a rough, unfinished sketch.

(b) The Honolulu essay is titled "History of the Manuscript", not "Found Manuscript". It fell into the hands of opponents of the Mormons in 1834, but they did not claim that it was the basis of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon was thought to be based on another of Spaulding's writings.

(c) Although the "History of the Manuscript" was not considered a "Found Manuscript" converted into

The Book of Mormon, there are many similarities between it and the Book of Mormon. Their similarity is explained in such a way that the "History of the Manuscript" was apparently Spaulding's draft, from which he created the "Found Manuscript".

Howe in 1834 published an exact synopsis of the Oberlin manuscript and gave the original to witnesses who found many similarities in it with the Book of Mormon. They then (in 1834) declared that the manuscript found by Hulbert, the one now in Oberlin, although written by Spelling, was not the one in which they found something in common with the Book of Mormon. They further stated that Spaulding himself warned them that he had changed the original plot, making the plot more ancient and starting the story in the style of old scriptures, so that the whole story appeared more archaic. This evidence is backed up by the similarity between the "Oberlin manuscript" and the Book of Mormon.

That is, in fact, it turns out that the Mormons tried to use the manuscript, obviously not the one that Smith later copied and supplemented to the size of the Book of Mormon, so that the eyewitnesses would get confused and not find the source - the “Found Manuscript”, with the help of which Smith fabricated the text of the Mormon bible.

Dr. Bales rightly observes (pp. 146-147):

There are so many similarities that it is impossible not to notice. Internal evidence combined with the eyewitness account presented in Howe's book and cited in Shchuk. discover that Spaulding reworked the History of the Manuscript. And this reworking, known as the "Found Manuscript," became the basis of the Book of Mormon, at least historically. The theological materials of the source were used in the same way.

However, in everyday conversations and public speaking, there is no point in getting into the question of the author of the Book of Mormon. The main issue here is whether the Book of Mormon is of divine origin. Some Mormons seem to think that if they prove there is no connection between Spelling and the Book of Mormon, they will take a huge step towards recognizing its divinity, but this is not so. It should be shown, by referring to the materials of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, that the latter is not of divine origin.

Let's not forget that even the "History of the Manuscript" contains 75 similar elements to the current Book of Mormon, and this alone cannot be simply brushed aside. At the end of the analysis, one must compare the text of the Book of Mormon with the Bible, and as a result it will be revealed that the first does not speak as "law and revelation" (Is. 8:20), that it must be rejected as a fake, on which a double curse has been imposed (Gal. 1 :8-9).

Joseph Smith himself, the author of the "revelation", was given an excellent characterization (retribution for his deeds) in the Word of God almost thirty-three centuries before his birth. Let Mormons remember these words: “If a prophet or a dreamer arises among you and presents you with a sign or a miracle. And that sign or miracle that he spoke to you about will come true, and he will say, moreover, “Let us go after other gods, which you do not know, and we will serve them.” : Then listen not to the words of this prophet, or this dreamer; for by this the Lord your God tempts you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

follow the Lord your God, and fear him; keep His commandments, and listen to His voice, and serve Him, and cling to Him. And this prophet or that dreamer must be put to death because he persuaded you to depart from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and delivered you from the house of slavery, wanting to divert you from the path in which the Lord your God commanded you to go. ; and so cut off the evil from among you. If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son, or your daughter, or your wife in your bosom, or your friend, who is to you, is like your soul, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods, whom neither did you know your fathers." To the gods of those peoples who are around you, close to you or distant from you, from one end of the earth to the other: Then do not agree with him and do not listen to him; and do not let your eyes spare him, do not have pity on him and do not cover him; But kill him; your hand must be on him first to kill him, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death; for he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God. who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage"(Deut. 13:1-10).

The Book of Mormon defies the Bible by identifying itself with the Word of God and His revelation, and the punishment for doing so is not only sobering but also terrifying: “And I also testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will put on him the plagues about which it is written in this book: And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his participation in the book life, and in the holy city, and in what is written in this book. He who bears witness to this says, "Yes, I am coming quickly! Amen. Yes, come. Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:18-20).

The above words should not be understood as a prohibition against associating with Mormons. Rather, they should define our historical and theological positions, so that we can show with tact and delicacy the depth of differences between us. Even the famous witnesses to the "truth" of the Book of Mormon have a reputation tarnished by Smith himself - he wrote two articles against them, and his brother Hyrum one, which speaks of their dubious qualities and unreliability as witnesses.

It was Joseph Smith who went on a theological war against Christianity when he put into the mouth of God words that branded all movements as "wrong", their faith as "abomination", and the Christians themselves as "apostates who are in the form of God, but reject His authority"(Smith - History 1:19).

The attitude of society towards the Mormons was far from loyal, the history of persecution against them (mainly due to Smith's offensive speeches and the practice of polygamy) began simultaneously with their history. They, and not the Christian church, sowed confusion. We do not condone the instigators of the persecution, but early persecution was instigated by the Mormons (for example, the expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri).

So, we can safely commit the "bible" of the Mormons to the judgment of history, and their theology to the everlasting Word of God. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't tell the truth about them. Let us firmly remember that the sincerity of the Mormon faith is not a reason to refuse criticism of their creed or its poisoned source - the Book of Mormon and the "revelations" of Joseph Smith. Truth must be spoken with love, that is to say!

Continuation

Martin Walter

Kingdom of cults. St. Petersburg: Ed. SP "Logos", 1992.

"Religious security of Russia"

The text was prepared within the framework of the project “Dynamics of the Religious Situation and Confessional Identity in the Moscow Region”. The project uses state support funds allocated as a grant in accordance with Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 68-rp dated April 5, 2016 and on the basis of a competition held by the National Charitable Foundation.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the largest organization related to the Mormonism movement that emerged in the first half ofXIXcentury in the United States based on the preaching of Joseph Smith and the new sacred text, the Book of Mormon.

History

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)arisesinUSAin 1830 year. It was then that the founder of the movement, Joseph Smith, published The Book of Mormon.

According to the founder of the movement himself, at the age of 14 (in 1820) he had his first vision in which God the Father and Christ appeared to him. It was revealed to D. Smith that he should not join any of the existing churches, since the teaching of each of them is wrong: "they preach the commandments of men as teachings that have the form of the divine, but deny its power."

Then, in 1823, an angel named Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and announced that the covenant God had made with the people of Israel would soon be fulfilled, that the work for the Second Coming would soon begin, and that Smith himself had been chosen by God to carry out the purposes of the latter. In addition, Moroni revealed to Smith that not far from where he lives, on a hill, there are hidden golden plates underground, on which the new scripture is written. Joseph Smith will have to find these plates and translate the text into English.

In 1827 Smith was allowed to take these sheets and received instructions on how to translate them. According to Smith, the text was written in "altered Egyptian" hieroglyphs, and the translation was done either with special glasses or with special stones (called "Urim and Thummim"). Smith placed the plates and stones in the cylinder, while translating the translated text was reflected in the stones. The sheets themselves were always hidden from view. According to the doctrine, only 11 people personally saw these gold plates and left written statements about it, known today as the “Certificate of Three Witnesses” and “Certificate of Eight Witnesses”.

The Book of Mormon went on sale on March 26, 1830, and on April 6, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded.C1831 to 1838 the community settled in the city of Kirtland (Kirtland), Missouri. The headquarters of the organization was located here and the first temple was built here, however, due to conflicts with local residents and the administration, the followers of the church left this place. In 1839, a new, dynamically growing religious community settled in Nauvoo (Nauvoo), Illinois.

In 1844, Joseph Smith was accused of polygamy in the Nauvoo Expositor. Smith himself denied this accusation, but the city council (J. Smith himself was its mayor) ordered the destruction of the printing press and the circulation of the newspaper, which was the beginning of a serious conflict both within the community and with the non-Mormon population of the district. The result of the conflict was the imprisonment of J. Smith and his murder (along with brother Hyrum).

After the death of J. Smith and his brother, it was not clear who would lead the movement. There was a so-called succession crisis, and the main contenders for the post of leader were Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon and James Strang. As a result, Brigham Young became the leader of the movement, and then the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was he who organized the resettlement of the Mormons in Utah and the construction of the city of Salt Lake City, where the headquarters of the movement is located to this day.

Mormons in Russia

According to Mormon sources, the history of the movement in Russia began as early as 1843, when two preachers were sent to Russia, but after the death of Joseph Smith they were recalled. Then, in 1895, the family of Johan M. Lindelof was baptized as a Mormon from Sweden in St. Petersburg. However, this information is not confirmed by other sources.

The modern history of Mormons in Russia begins in 1989, when a US embassy employee was authorized to hold meetings of the organization's members in his apartment. The first missionaries arrived in Leningrad in January 1990. In 1990 a parish was organized in Vyborg. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially registered in May 1991.

Administrative division church is carried out as follows: territories around the world are divided into regions (areas), most regions are subdivided into stakes (stakes), which includes a certain number of arrivals (wards, a parish usually has 300 or more church members) or smaller parishes (branch). Local wards are led by bishops, while branches are led by presidents, and the stake is also led by a president. In the parish, the work of all auxiliary organizations is organized to help believers.

Moscow is the center of the Eastern Europe region, which, in addition to Russia, also includes Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

population

Currently, the number of Mormons worldwide exceeds 15 million, of which more than 6 million live in the United States. According to church statistics, there are about 23,000 Mormons in Russia.

Today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is missionary in more than 170 countries, and the Book of Mormon has been translated into 93 languages. There are 156 churches in the world, the nearest to Moscow are in Kyiv and Helsinki.

creed

Canon of sacred texts (the so-called exemplary works (standardworks)) The Churches of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints form four books. Bible (for English-speaking countries, the King James translation is used; in Russia, the text of the synodal translation is used), the Book of Mormon (TheBookofMormon), Doctrine and Covenants (DoctrineandCovenants) and Pearl of Great Price (ThePearlofGreatprice). It is important to emphasize that this canon is open because Mormons believe in continuous revelation.

The Book of Mormon describes the events associated with several nations that inhabited the North American continent. According to the book, they were numerous, had their own written language and were at a relatively high level of technical development. It tells of the Nephites and Lamanites who inhabited the Americas from 600 B.C.E. e. by 400 n. e. It also tells of the rise and fall of the Jaredites, who, according to the text of the Book of Mormon, arrived in America from the Middle East shortly after the destruction of the Tower of Babel 1 .

The book tells how the prophet Nephi and his family left Jerusalem around 600 BC. It was this prophet and his descendants who were commanded to keep a record of their people. The Book of Mormon is an abridged version of this record. After arriving in America, Nephi's family was divided into two opposing groups. The Nephites, a righteous and God-fearing people, were led by Nephi, while the Lamanites followed Nephi's older brothers, Laman and Lemuel. The Lamanites have opposed the Nephites throughout history, and the Book of Mormon describes the first as black people 2 .

The Doctrine and Covenants originally (first published in 1835) consisted of two parts. The first was a series of texts on the basic teachings of the Church (the so-called Lectures on Faith, which were dropped in 1921), and the second was a collection of important "covenants." However, over time, the first part was removed, and in its modern form the book contains "revelations" received by the founder of the Church, Joseph Smith, several revelations received by other prophets, as well as "Official Declarations 1 and 2."

The peculiarity of the "Official Pronouncements" is that they were originally statements of the presidents of the Church and were officially accepted as part of the scripture a little later. "Official Declaration 1" (appeared in September 1890 and part of the scripture was adopted on October 6, 1890) was published by President Wilford Woodruff. In it, the Church officially renounced the practice of polygamy. The statement was the result of pressure from the US Congress.

Official Statement 2 (became part of the scripture on September 30, 1978) was issued by the First Presidency. The statement lifts restrictions on people of all races and colors from receiving the priesthood.

"The Pearl of Great Price" is composed of five parts: "Selections from the Book of Moses", which is part of the Book of Genesis in the translation of J. Smith; The Book of Abraham contains a translation of several Egyptian papyri (claimed to contain the writings of the patriarch Abraham); "Joseph Smith - from Matthew" - part of the Gospel of Matthew in the translation of J. Smith; "Joseph Smith– History”, which presents autobiographical excerpts from the life of J. Smith before the emergence of the Church; "The Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" are basic creeds that were partly set forth in a letter from J. Smith in 1842 (published in the Mormon Times and Seasons, March 1, 1842). They are a detailed commented list of 13 articles of faith.

Followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that their organization is a restored early Christian church founded by Jesus Christ. From their point of view, this original church disappeared as a result of the so-called. the great apostasy that took place after the death of the apostles. Only J. Smith received the command of God to restore the true Church. Members of the organization consider faith in Jesus Christ and the atonement to be the basis of their religion. The teachings of the organization have both similarities and differences from the teachings of the main Christian denominations. Representatives of the latter do not recognize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christian, but the Mormons themselves consider themselves Christians.

Mormons refer to God as Heavenly Father or Elohim, Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of all people. During his lifetime, Jesus showed with all his word and example how exactly people should live, loving God and neighbor. Through His suffering and death on the cross, Jesus made atonement and saved all people from sin. Moreover, Jesus overcame death by his resurrection, and for this reason, all believers after death will have the same opportunity. It is Christ who is the God, Lord, Jehovah of the Old Testament, and for forty days after the resurrection he taught the people in America the same truths as the apostles in Israel.

Mormons do not adhere to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are viewed as separate persons, united only by intentions.

Jesus Christ was the first spirit born of the Father, so he is, in fact, a brother to every person. Initially, people were created by Father Elohim as spiritual beings, however, since further development was impossible only in heaven, people moved to earth and acquired physical bodies. In the physical world, each person is tested and reaches perfection and ultimately divinity, using the right of free choice. From the Mormon point of view, the fall of man was not a crime, but rather a boon for people: it opened the way for them to eternal progress. After the end of the world and the resurrection, each person, depending on the deeds performed during life, will fall into one of the three kingdoms: celestial, terrestrial, and telestial, which are said to be like the sun, moon, and stars.

Resurrection, from the point of view of the Mormons, will be bodily, moreover, they believe that the spirit is also matter, but more subtle. It is for this reason that God the Father and Jesus Christ are also material, dwell in space and time, and are characterized by both bodily needs and spiritual passions.

In general, it should be noted that the formation of the Mormon theological system has not yet been completed, since the revelation is still ongoing.

Rites and priesthood

The ordinances of the 3 Mormons are divided into two groups: the ordinances necessary for exaltation and the ordinances of instruction and comfort. The first group includes: baptism, the sacrament, the gift of the Holy Spirit or confirmation (the laying on of hands on a newly baptized person, after which he becomes a member of the church), ordination to the Melchizedek priesthood, endowment (endowment) 4 , temple (heavenly) marriage and sealing. The last three ordinances can only be performed in the temple. The sealing ordinance assumes that the family relationships that existed between people before death will continue forever and after, so husbands and wives, as well as children and parents, can be sealed. In addition, Mormons believe that it is possible to perform a vicarious baptism of a deceased family member if he died not a Mormon, and therefore did not have the opportunity to learn the true doctrine. It is for this reason that Mormons take the search for relatives very seriously and make the most detailed genealogical lists. For Mormons, it is the family that occupies the most important role in human life and is the main unit of society both on earth and in eternity.

The second group of sacraments includes: the naming and blessing of children, ministering to the sick, consecration of oil, patriarchal blessing, father's blessing, consecration of graves.

All the sacraments can only be performed by a priest, who becomes all men (women are not eligible to hold posts intended for priesthood holders, but can hold other leadership positions) who have reached the age of 12 - this is the so-called Aaronic Priesthood (12 years - deacon, 14 years - teacher, 16 years - priest). Upon reaching the age of 18, men acquire the Melchizedek priesthood. All the ordinances necessary for exaltation can only be performed by those who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood (with the exception of baptism, which a man can perform from the age of 16).

From a Mormon perspective, the organization is run by Jesus Christ, who reveals his will to the president of the church. Mormons believe that the president is a prophet, seer, and revelator. The current president since 2008 is Thomas S. Monson. The president has two advisers and an assistant, and together these three make up the First Presidency, the highest governing body. The second most important governing body of the Church is the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who are assisted in government by the Quorum of the Seventy. As the name suggests, the quorum is 70 members, and there have been eight such quorums since 2005. Members of the First and Second Quorums are considered the highest authority in the Church, and for this reason, they can work anywhere in the world where the Church exists. The members of the other quorums are the area seventy, and their authority is limited to the region in which they operate. Only men who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood can be members of any of these organizations.

The governing body of the Aaronic Priesthood is the Presiding Bishopric. The bishop and two assistants also report to the First Presidency.

In addition to these main organizations, there are a number of auxiliary organizations: the primitive society (helps parents teach children and prepare boys to receive the Aaronic priesthood), the Relief Society (members of the society are all women over 18 years old, and if they are married or single mothers, then under 18 years; the main goals are service and help in the family), Sunday School (intended for all children from 12 years old), Young Men Society (it consists of young people from 12 to 18 years old (Aaronic Priesthood), promotes the development of young men in the church) , Young Women (helps parents prepare girls for marriage and keeping the covenant of the church).

However, both men and women can be missionaries. The church carries out a broad missionary program that is aimed at preaching and providing humanitarian assistance around the world.

Social work

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns several educational institutions, the largest and most famous of which is Brigham Young University in Utah, USA.

In addition, the church publishes the Liahona magazine, which is also published in Russian. The journal is published in translation into 50 languages.

Today there are 8 meeting houses on the territory of Moscow and the Moscow region. On the territory of Moscow:

Parishes Arbatsky and Sokolnichesky (Middle Ovchinnikovsky lane, 14).

A small parish (brunch) Universitetsky (Malaya Pirogovskaya street, 13).

Parishes of Moscow (for English-speaking parishioners) and Rechnoy (Leningradsky prospect, 80 building 37).

Parish Khamovnichesky (street Moskvorechye, 21 building 2).

A small parish (brunch) of Perovo (Orekhovo-Zuevsky proezd, 20).

On the territory of the Moscow region:

Zelenogradsky parish (Zelenograd, building 1117A).

A small parish (brunch) Podolsky (Podolsk, Ulyanov street, 1).

The center of the Eastern Europe region is located at ul. Vrubel, 1, building. one.

CONTACTS AND REGISTRATION

(NGO register, Moscow region)

Local religious organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Moscow

(registry of NCOs, region "Ministry of Justice")

Centralized religious organization "Religious Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia"

LITERATURE

Davies D. J. An introduction to Mormonism. Cambridge University Press. 2003

Eliason E. A. Mormons and Mormonism: an introduction to an American world religion. University of Illinois Press, 2001.

Jackson A. Mormonism Explained: What Latter-day Saints Teach and Practice. Crossway Books, 2008.

Shipps J. Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1985

R. Safronov

1)It should be noted that research institutions (for example, the Smithsonian in 1996 and 1998, the National Geographic Society in 1998) have issued official statements that the Book of Mormon is a religious document, and the institutions themselves have not been able to find any archaeological evidence to support the stated information in the Book of Mormon. Today, the Book of Mormon is not considered a historical source in academic and scientific circles due to the lack of originals, physical evidence, or the apparent correspondence of the contents of the book with the geography of the American continent and the history and culture of its peoples.

2) The Mormons themselves believed that the Lamanites were the indigenous population, however, the Book of Mormon does not state that, apart from the peoples described in it, there were no other peoples on the territory of America

3)The ordinances refer to the rituals and ceremonies that the Lord has ordained for the salvation and well-being of man. Thus, a sacrament is a physical act that symbolically represents a spiritual experience.

4)Receiving all the ordinances in the house of the Lord that are necessary after a person leaves this life so that he can return back to the Father.

Caution: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sect (Mormons).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) is a dangerous sect of American origin.

Unlike Christians who affirm the unity of God, Mormons practice polytheism(polytheism), although they do not like to admit it.

According to the teachings of the Mormons, it is permissible to kill people:“Will you love that man or woman enough to shed their blood? I can give you many examples where people were righteously slaughtered to atone for their sins ... the wickedness and neglect of the nations forbid this principle from being fully implemented, but the time will come when the law of God shall be in full operation" (Chairman Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 44, pp. 219, 220).

The sacred books of the Mormons are the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, the Bible. However, they trust the first three unquestioningly, while the Bible is often questioned. “I believe that the Bible that everyone reads, after it has come out from the pen of its real authors, ignorant translators, careless scribes, or malicious and corrupt priests, contains many errors” (Teachings of the Prophet J. Smith, p. 327).

The teachings of this sect are far from safe. Mormon preachers are taught to use deception when recruiting new members. "So you don't need to tell the truth first?" I asked the sisters who taught me. They smiled and nodded in the affirmative. This approach confused me. After all, the 13th creed of the Mormons seems to speak of the need to be honest" (Yulia DIDENKO, "Why I left the Marmon community"). The section, guided by which Mormon missionaries are rubbed into trust (according to the Mormon wording "establish trusting relationships"), includes includes 3 points:

Meet.

Build relationships based on common ground, which means emphasizing the concurring views of the interlocutor and hushing up differences.

Show empathy.

The Mormon sect is widely known for its archival data collection activities. which they lead in all countries where they preach their doctrine. Since 1992, the Mormons began to actively work with the archival departments of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Armenia in order to copy archival documents. By signing a contract with the State Archival Service of Russia, the Mormons gained access to the archives of Astrakhan, Tula, Tver, Tobolsk, Kazan and copied many parish registers and other documents. The goal of the Mormons is the mass copying of all archival information in Russia. The Legal Opinion of April 9, 2002 ends with the following conclusion: Providing the Genealogical Society of Utah (USA) (a religious association of Mormons) with Russian archival materials in any form, including through providing the organization with the opportunity to microfilm Russian archives, is unacceptable and illegally. However, Mormons continue to collect information, often in violation of the law. On numerous occasions, Mormon preachers were detained on the territory of closed military installations. According to the newspaper "Kaliningradskaya Pravda" dated September 23, 2000: " The Mormon sect is actively used by the US and German intelligence agencies as a cover for carrying out intelligence activities to collect classified information (socio-political, economic and military nature) on the territory of Russia, interfering in internal political processes taking place in the country, inciting inter-confessional hatred. Foreign missionaries pay special attention to reconnaissance penetration into special regime military facilities, establishing direct contacts with military personnel. A certain part of young Mormons returning to the United States after missionary work ... enters the service of the CIA and the US FBI. "The Mormons also need the names of dead people from the archives for their ritual -" posthumous baptism "of people. This is how they replenish the lists of members of their sect. Hardly whether a Russian person can calmly relate to the blasphemy committed against the memory of his ancestors.

In my time the Mormon sect was known for its plural marriage practiced in it.

After a series of scandals, most Mormons abandoned this practice, but they still believe that people who become gods (the goal of any Mormon's life) should have many wives. "Those Only Ones who became Gods, even Children of God, are those who were polygamists." (Chairman Brigham Young. Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, p. 269). Every Mormon man dreams of becoming a god after death, taking possession of the planet and living on it with a harem made up of women posthumously married to them in temple rites.

There are Mormon congregations and meeting houses in Saratov and the region. The doctrine is being actively promoted. Mormons use dishonest and unethical methods to attract young people. Now the Mormons intend to build a temple in the center of Saratov (Gorkogo Street, 65) where religious ceremonies will be held, including "baptism of the dead" and "marriage with the dead." Such ritual use of the names of our dead is akin to satanic abuse of cemetery graves. To conduct these blasphemous ceremonies, sectarians from all over Russia will come to Saratov, they will buy more and more Saratov land and involve our fellow citizens in the sect. The location of the future sectarian building in the immediate vicinity of the Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God and the Muslim mosque is especially offensive for representatives of traditional religions. It is probably not without reason that the place for the future sectarian structure was chosen near the regional government.

In 1857, in Utah, the Mormons who settled there, on the orders of their "prophet" Brigham Young, committed a massacre of non-Mormon settlers. More than 120 people (mostly women and children) were brutally murdered ("Mormon prophet responsible for the worst massacre in US history").

We will not allow this story to be repeated in Saratov!

External Church Relations Service
Saratov diocesan administration