Secrets Mormons Don't Want You To Know (10 page)

“…and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a
pure
and a delightsome people.”
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Secret 161

The following is from a letter from the National Geographic Society that refutes Mormon claims about the Book of Mormon:

“I referred your inquiry to Dr. George Stuart, the staff archaeologist of the Society. He informed me that neither the Society nor any other institution of equal prestige has ever used the Book of Mormon in locating archaeological sites. Although many Mormon sources claim that the Book of Mormon has been substantiated by archaeological findings, this claim has not been verified scientifically.”
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Secret 162

“Your recent inquiry concerning the Smithsonian Institution’s alleged use of the Book of Mormon as a scientific guide has been received in the Smithsonian’s Department of Anthropology.

“The Book of Mormon is a religious document and not a scientific guide. The Smithsonian Institution does not use it in archeological research. Because the Smithsonian Institution receives many inquiries regarding the Book of Mormon, we have prepared a ‘Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon…’

“1. The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in any way as a scientific guide. Smithsonian archeologists see no direct connection between the archeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book.”
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Of all the millions of people in the world, I held it a privilege to be one of those born into a Mormon home.

I cherished my Mormon heritage, thinking I was very special to God because he had placed me into a family who belonged to “the only true church”
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and I knew this put me ahead of many people in my advancement towards becoming a goddess, along with my husband becoming a god over our own world.
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I started attending the LDS church as an infant and received my name and blessing by the hand of my father when I was three months old. The only religious training I had was the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As a Mormon, I was taught that there were millions of gods, but we served the God of this world, whose name is Elohim,
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who lived near the planet Kolob.
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We were taught he was once a mortal man who, through obedience to Mormon laws and ordinances, was exalted to the status of godhood,
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just like his father before him, and his father before him, to eternity past.
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Elohim is a polygamist.
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The number of wives he has is unknown. These wives bore to him billions of spirit babies. These spiritual children lived with him and his wives in a pre-existent realm.

We were taught that the pre-existence was a place where every human being born on earth lived as one of these spirit children.
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Elohim saw that his children needed to advance farther, so he decided it was time for them to take a physical body upon the earth to undergo the experiences of mortality.

Thus, Elohim called together a council of the gods to decide the destiny of all those who would be sent to earth. Two of Elohim’s sons were there: Jehovah (the first born and the Mormon Jesus) and Lucifer.

As Mormons we believed Jesus and Lucifer were spirit brothers, as well as spirit brothers to all mankind.
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I was taught that Lucifer presented his plan to be the savior of the world. Getting the glory for himself, he would redeem all mankind, without allowing one soul to be lost.
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Jesus said he would give men their free agency of choice as on all other worlds before.

The council of the gods rejected Lucifer’s plan and accepted Jesus’ plan. Angered, Lucifer led a rebellion in heaven where he convinced one third of Elohim’s spirit children to rebel with him.

He became Satan and was cast out. One third of the spirit children who rebelled with him became the demons and were sent to earth, where they were denied physical bodies forever.
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Mormon theology states that during this war in heaven, all the spirit children of Elohim who were unfaithful and not valiant came to earth cursed with black skin.
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Those who were more noble were born into Mormon homes.
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Therefore, I felt it was my reward from God to be born in these last days into a white Mormon home.

My Mormon Childhood Training

As a child, I would sit in my primary class and sing the songs, “I Am a Child of God” and “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission,” hoping that someday I could fulfill a mission for the Mormon church.

At the age of eight, as with almost every Mormon boy or girl, I was baptized by immersion for the remission of sins
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by my father, who, having the “proper authority,” held the Melchizedek priesthood.

According to Mormonism, only Mormon men have been bestowed with the authority to baptize and marry. Their priesthood consists of two parts; the Aaronic and the Melchizedek.
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I was then confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Even as a child, I was eager to learn about the Mormon church, which I was told was the only true church upon the face of the earth.

Joseph Smith (the founder and first “prophet” of the LDS church) at the age of fourteen claimed to have wanted to know what denomination he should join, having heard of Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist faiths.

He went into the woods to pray. There he said he had a vision in which two personages he claimed were God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him he must join none of the Christian Churches for they were all wrong, their creeds were an abomination in God’s sight and their professors were all corrupt.
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After he received this vision, he said an angel named Moroni visited him and told him where to find some gold plates. It was from these plates which he supposedly translated the Book of Mormon.
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Joseph Smith was also supposed to restore the church to the earth.
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So on April 6, 1830, he started his church known as “The Church of Christ,” later known as “The Church of the Latter Day Saints,” now known as “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
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The early Mormon church leaders introduced several unique doctrines never before found in Orthodox Christianity. Their teachings included:

1. Polygamy: the practice of having more than one wife at the same time. They also taught that the god and Jesus Christ of Mormonism are polygamists.
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2. Blood atonement: the literal shedding of the blood of the sinner instead of relying on the shed blood of the Saviour, Jesus Christ.
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3. They also taught that there are millions of gods and that men may become a god.
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One of my favorite sayings was, “As man is, God once was, as God is, man may become…
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After the Nauvoo Expositor exposed the teaching of the plurality of wives, Joseph Smith ordered the destruction of their printing press.
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For this he was sentenced to the Carthage jail. While he was in jail a mob broke in and killed him.

I was taught that he was a martyr, that he sealed his testimony with his blood and that he said he was “led like a lamb to the slaughter…
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I compared his death to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. He was considered one of the saviors of mankind.
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But history proved that Joseph Smith did not go like a lamb to the slaughter. He shot three men; killing two and injuring the third in a gun battle before he was shot and killed.
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I was never taught that he killed anyone. I only learned the things that made him look wonderful. My teachers always seemed to leave out the facts, making him out to be more than just a mere human being. I placed him on a pedestal. He became the standard for what I wanted my husband to be, and his perfection was what I wished to achieve in my life.

I idolized Joseph Smith as the man God had chosen to bring the gospel and the church back to the earth. He was more important to me than Jesus Christ. When I attended the LDS church, our main focus was on Joseph Smith and what he had done for us. I was taught that if it had not been for him, there would have been no salvation.
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I was taught more about Joseph Smith and the Mormon “prophets” than any of the prophets in the Bible. Even during our monthly fast and testimony meetings, almost everyone’s testimony would speak of their belief that the LDS church was true and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. But seldom, if ever, were any praise or thanks given to the Lord for the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross for our sins.

I was taught that the Bible was the Word of God as far as it was translated correctly.
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I didn’t want to read the Bible, because I did not know which part I could trust. I believed that the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price were the only books I needed because Joseph Smith had written them, and I thought they were trustworthy.

Polygamy Enters My Family

I was a sixth generation Mormon. My great, great, great grandfather, Milo Andrus, converted to Mormonism on March 12, 1832, just two years after the Mormon church began. He was acquainted with Joseph Smith and knew Brigham Young well. (Brigham Young later became the second “prophet” of the LDS church.)

My grandpa Milo was present when the official announcement about the doctrine and practice of plural marriage was made. Although he did not want to live as a polygamist, Brigham Young told him it was required of him. He eventually took plural wives at the expense of his marriage, as his first wife would not live polygamy. He had a total of eleven wives and fifty-seven children.
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My family all belonged to this “only true church.” My father and mother were very devout Mormons. My dad was a member of the High Council. He and my mother saw to it that I attended church regularly, although I never had to be forced to go.

I thought the world of my parents. My dad was a truck driver, so I didn’t get to see him very often. When he was home, he was either sleeping or reading. He had a set of the
Journal of Discourses
which contain the early Mormon teachings. This is what he read most of the time.

While reading these early LDS church writings, my dad’s views started to change. He realized that the Mormon church of today is not what it was like in the beginning. Some of the doctrines, and even their stand on who God is, had changed.
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As a truck driver, my dad had several routes to southern Utah. This is where he met up with a group of Fundamentalist Mormons, who believe and practice the early teachings of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and still live polygamy. My dad studied with them as often as he could.

They expounded the early teachings and explained to my dad that they believed Wilford Woodruff, the fourth “prophet” of the LDS church, went astray by signing the Manifesto stopping polygamy.
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Because of that, they had broken away from the mainstream Mormon church and formed their own church with their own “prophet.” Yet they all still claim to be the “only true church.”

After spending time with this group, and after a lot of personal study, my dad thought it was only right that he become a polygamist. Brigham Young taught that only those who enter into polygamy become gods.
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Joseph Smith called polygamy the “New and Everlasting Covenant,” and said all those who are not living it would be damned.
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While I was an 11-year-old child, my 53-year-old father brought home a 15-year-old girl and told us that he had to take her as his second wife in order to fulfill the law of eternal progression towards his own Godhood.

One day we were a happy family, and the next devastation struck our household. I thought she was my babysitter. Imagine my surprise when I learned she was going to be my “mother.” I could not understand why my dad thought he needed another wife.

The Fruit of Polygamy Appears

I had never heard my parents argue—until that night. My mother cried as my father tried to get her to accept this girl into our home.

I laid in bed in fear, not knowing what the future would hold. I think my dad was surprised that my mother did not welcome this girl into our home with open arms. While it was a shock to the rest of us, he had already settled it in his mind that he must live polygamy. He had never told us of his secret meetings with this polygamist sect or of his findings as he studied the early Mormon doctrines.

Fear, hurt and anger hung over our house. My parents continued to fight, unable to settle their differences. And so, although I think my dad must have loved us, he left us to follow the early LDS teachings.

He went to live in Colorado City, Arizona, which is a polygamist community. My dad “married” this 15-year-old girl as his second wife and a short time later “married” her sister, having a total of three wives.

My mother was left alone to raise her seven children. I was the youngest. Three of us were still at home when he left. I am now the seventh of sixteen children, due to my dad’s polygamist relationships.

My mother was hurt terribly and was very depressed after her husband left her. She had lived her life for her him, and he had promised her everything—even eternity together.
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She was so devastated it was hard for her to function. She stayed on the couch, unable to go on. I got myself to and from school but when I came home, she would always be on the couch.

My sisters and I had to take on several responsibilities that were sometimes hard to handle. But through this ordeal, it was my mom who was hurt the most. Although she did not agree with my dad taking plural wives, she did not divorce him. She thought she still needed him because Mormons are taught that the men call their wives out of the grave and receive them into the celestial kingdom
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(The highest level of the three degrees of the Mormon heavens).

I was still unsure why my dad thought he needed to “marry” other women. He said it was because he was being a true Mormon. I thought I was a true Mormon, but I had never been taught in my ward (a local Mormon congregation) that I needed to live polygamy.

The Search For Truth Begins

I needed to find out for myself what had actually been taught on this subject so I could understand what had taken my dad away from me. I studied the Book of Mormon on my own, the book Joseph Smith said was the “most correct book on the earth.”
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Surely I would find my answers here, I thought.

I continued reading until I found what I was looking for. The Book of Mormon states that polygamy was abominable (Mosiah 11:2 and Jacob 2:24) and that God commanded man to have only one wife and no concubines (Jacob 2:27).

I was so excited! I had found something that would prove to my dad that what he was doing was wrong and he could come home. So I wrote him a letter with the verses I had found, hoping that shortly I would see him come back home.