Heart of the Matter: Where Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity

This is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology., where Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity, face to face. Show 21 BOM 47 – Peeling the Onion – A
May 22nd, 2012

And I’m Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion., your host. We praise the True and Living God for allowing us to participate in this ministry. May He be with you (and us) tonight.

Announcements

FIRST, we meet every week for Church at the University of Utah. Once at 10 and once at 2:30. Go to www.C-A-M-P-U-S.com for information. Beginning June 3rd we will be adding a third gathering from 7-9pm for kids aged 16 -24. Beginning June 11th we will launch a Monday Night Bible women’s study held at the Downtown SLC Denney’s from 7-9. Go to www.C-A-M-P-U-S.com for more information.

AM 820 the Truth is a great Christian radio station here in Utah. Check them out – especially on Sundays from 1-2 when they replay episodes of (da-da-da-da!) . . . Heart of the Matter! AM 820 da Truf!

We strongly endorse the Transitions Program and those churches that have implemented it in the state. Transitions is a system or model for helping believers help Latter-day Saints come out of their former faith and into a saving relationship with the Lord. You and or your church or pastor can find out more about becoming “Transitions Trained” by going to www.ldstransitions.com.

Once your church has been “Transitions Trained” we will announce it on the program at the first of every month so people in their area can know that that church knows what they’re doing in helping the LDS transition into a walk with the Lord. It’s not that a church needs this program, but it helps others to know they are in tune with the nuance of leaving Mormonism and becoming Christian.

Summer Promotion

We are inviting anyone interested in saving some bucks AND getting some excellent resource tools all in one to consider an amazing “summer offer”! We’re calling it The Great Summer Promotion of Products – take a look! Listen, this is a great deal for all involved – really. Five very effective products in your hand at half the retail price. Want to take advantage of it? Go to www.hotm.tv and you’ll see everything you need! www.hotm.tv

Speaking of websites, let me take a minute to remind you all to make a visit to all of our ministry sites. These include: www.bornagainmormon.com, www.c-a-m-p-u-s.com, www.hotm.tv, and www.exmormonfiles.tv. There are literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of HOURS of information available FOR free – again for the propagation of viable “INFORMACION” . . . because “informacion” is the ONLY way to reach past the grasp of power, money, appearances, and marketing.

Speaking of websites, many of you are aware that we produce a program called the Ex Files, hosted by Bishop Earl. In this half hour show (which airs on Fridays from 8 to 8:30) Bishop Earl interviews people who have left Mormonism not for atheism, not for another religion, but for a personal, saving relationship with the Lord. Tune in either to the website or to the show on Friday nights and hear some amazing and touching stories.

From the Word

How about a moment “From the Word?” Chapter six of John brings me to one of my pet peeves of modern day Christianity and her recently adopted half-sister, Mormonism. In chapter six Jesus had just fed the masses with miracle loaves and fishes. The crowd loved it and verse 15 says

15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

What did Jesus come to do and by what method did He come to do it? Save an already condemned world from sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace., right? Reconcile the fallen world to Holy God, right? Was He successful? Absolutely. And by and through His propitiation He satisfied the demands of justice . . . all men and women have to do is receive His eternal offering of grace through faith.

The world has been forgiven, has been reconciled, has been propitiated by and through His shed blood. So what ought to be the central message Christians have for the world? That salvation is at hand, in the sole person of Jesus Christ, accessed by grace through faith, right? Is it our duty or call as believers to rid the world of sin . . . ?

Heavenly Versus Earthly Kingship

Fight against it in the streets . . . ?

Verse 15 seems to indicate that when they sought to make Our heavenly King “an earthly king,” a leader of political prowess, a fighter against human sin, He departed alone into the wilderness. This was not His call and it is NOT ours. The Christian mandate is to share the Good News with all who will hear as faith comes by hearing the Word.

From the moral majority to the Westborough Baptists, much of the Body has lost its way, making moral reformation and fighting sin its main mandate. In the process, instead of being a warm and inviting light for lost sinful people to come to out of a cold indifferent world, we have become a glaring, probing search-light focused on ferreting out sinful lifestyles, and legislating morality. This has NEVER been the Christian call.

And what is the result of Christians – especially American Christiandom – making it their objective? Look around. It’s freakin’ sickening the garbage we’ve accepted as a body of believers in order to rectify the world. I would boldly suggest that before it is too late that true believers begin to publicly refuse to cast dispersions on this fallen world and its inhabitants but instead share Jesus and the love He gave to save them.

Examination of The Book of Mormonion

Run “From the Word” intro here

GRAPHIC of verse 15.

And with that, let’s have a word of Prayer.

PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER

So, we have harvested the Book of Mormonion. Tonight we will begin peeling it back. I went over to Utah Lighthouse Ministry and picked up a photocopy of a first edition. First and foremost we have to realize that this is the real Book of Mormon – the “revised versions” that came later, the “edited editions,” the scrubbed up copies floating around today, set in chapter and verses, are only there to mirror Holy writ.

But the real Book of Mormon, translated, according to Joseph Smith, by the gift and power of God, (again, translated by the Gift and Power of God Himself) who supposedly delivered every letter of every word is the only real representation of Joseph’s Mormonion . . . and it is this we are going to examine.

Witnesses and Testament

Now, what many people (members included) do not realize about the original BOM is the testimony of the three and eight witnesses were placed at the back of the book and that the first edition came with a note from Joseph Smith which served as a pre-emptive strike against the possibility that the lost 116 pages might pop up and show the publication a fraud. This note is not included in versions of the Book of Mormon today. But this is what Joseph Smith included in the first printing:

(Show insert of the removed paragraph here)

Notice a couple of things as we read this explanation from Smith. First, it came from Joseph Smith himself, and not from the “gift and power of God” nor from the golden plates. Does it read like it came from an unlettered hayseed? See, if Joseph was the unintelligent, uneducated, hayseed the LDS try and paint him as and if the Book of Mormonion was written by God Himself, we ought to see a marked difference between the text of the book and this paragraph. Do we? Or does Joseph’s explanation read more like . . . the Book of Mormon?

Additionally, notice that the paragraph begins fairly normal (in terms of linguistics) but by the time it’s done Joseph is writing as if God Himself was talking! And again, in the manner and style of speech the rest of the Book of Mormon is presented in.

As a side note along these lines, many LDS say that the Chiasmus found in the book of Mormon prove it came from an ancient record but they ignore the fact that the Doctrine and Covenants (which Joseph himself spoke into existence from his own imagination and mouth) ALSO contains Chiasmus – proving that Joseph had an ability to naturally dictate and speak in the manner ancient scripture is presented.

Next, let’s take a look at the title page found in the first edition Book of Mormonion.

(Show BOM Title page here and read it)

There are three things to notice here. First, we must recall that Joseph Smith was a young man when he compiled this fraudulent book (between the ages of 21 and 23). He had been raised a Christian on biblical teachings – from both the pulpit and from his mother – and he was

The Purpose of the Book of Mormon

Presenting to the world “another witness” which would help clarify many of the doctrinal debates alive and well in Christiandom at the time. In other words, the Book of Mormon was not aiming at being a book of original doctrines and teachings, like the Pearl of Great Price or Doctrine and Covenants. It was supposed to be a better Bible, fashioned after biblical principles, and bringing clarification on Bible issues argued over by the churches of his day. This MUST be understood when trying to understand and examine the book and its allure – even today.

So let’s look at the Title page. Here we will notice the presence of a doctrinal position that was as much Christian then as it is now. Go with me to the second paragraph, toward the end. Listen to what Joseph wrote: “And also to the convincing of Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD . . .”

Standard fare for any Christian today but this is NOT believed by present day Mormonism for subsequent revelations to Joseph will actually deny that Jesus is the Eternal God. Secondly, because of Sandra Tanner’s work, we can also see the changes made to the Title page. (Shawn refer to “changes photocopy”) Five of the changes were grammatical, including changing the line: “And now if there be faults, it be the mistake of men” which was changed to read, “And now if there are faults they are the mistakes of men.” But also, where it reads “Joseph Smith, Junior is Author and Proprietor,” in the first edition, modern editions changed this to say “Translated by Joseph Smith, Jun.”

The Book of Mormon's Intentions

Finally, in the two paragraphs presented here we read the purpose of this supposed translation of an Ancient Record. In the first paragraph it tells of a people who came from Israel and ultimately became the American Indians. To them the paragraph states that this book was . . . “Written to the Lamanites, which are of the House of Israel . . .”

In the second paragraph, it tells of a people who supposedly came from the time of the Tower of Babel to the Americas. And to them the book was kept “. . . to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel how great things the LORD hath done unto the House of Israel.” In March of 1842, as reported in the LDS publication Times and Seasons, pages 708-709, Joseph Smith himself said, regarding the Book of Mormon:

“We are informed by these records that America in ancient times has been inhabited by two distinct races of people. The first were called the Jaredites and came directly from the tower of Babel. The second race came directly from the city of Jerusalem, about six-hundred years before Christ. They were principally Israelites, of the descendants of Joseph. (The first group, which Joseph called) The Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Israelites came from Jerusalem . . . (and) the principle nation of the second race fell in battle towards the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country.”

Joseph Smith's Teachings

This is what the founding prophet of Mormonism, who they continue to revere today, said about the people of the Book of Mormon “the remnant (of the people who came from Israel) are the Indians that now inhabit this country.”

From the Title page of the Book of Mormon and what Joseph Smith himself said about the book, we can safely and accurately state the following things about it FROM THE ONSET:

The single most prevalent premise for the entire book of Mormon’s existence was to show that lost tribes from ancient Israel came to the American continent and their descendants became, in time, the American Indian. That the book includes supposed prophesies about Columbus, Jesus, the strength of the United States, a history of a split nation of two peoples, wars, robbers, murders, and even a visit of the Lord to this continent is ancillary to the fact that the Book of Mormon claims to be an actual history of two actual groups, one from the tower of Babel and the other ancient Israelites, and then actually came to the Americas by boat, and they actually (from the mouth of their founding prophet) left a remnant that actually became the American Indian.

In light of this, and our quest to determine if the Book of Mormon is legitimately a book of “ancient origin” (because if it’s not, it and its author are religious frauds) we must recognize a

Origins of the American Indians

First, was the question as to the origins of the American Indians a topic of conversation during Joseph Smith’s life or was the Book of Mormon original in this idea? Perhaps more importantly, if theories about American Indian origins did exist have those 19th century hypothecations been proven wrong in our day and age? In other words, if the Book of Mormon contains answers, solutions, and hypothecations as to the origins of the American Indians that did NOT exist during his lifetime we have good reason to embrace it. But, if Joseph’s book not only contains information that was both popular and discussed in his day AND – LISTEN – AND these hypothecations have been proven false, the book is a fraud.

Author David Persuitte summarized it well: “The veracity of the Book of Mormon is largely dependent upon the veracity of the idea that the Native Americans are descendents of the Israelites.” As a quick aside, take note that there is not a single professional anthropologist or archeologist (who is a non-Mormon, of course) that accepts or promotes the idea that any American Indian – let alone all of them – came from Israel.

Theories Before the Book of Mormon

So let’s first ask, Was the idea that native Americans came from the Lost Ten Tribes (or the Nation of Israel) first introduced in Joseph’s Book of Mormonion? We know, from previous programs, that the idea of the American Indians coming from Israel was popularized in a book written well before Joseph’s Book of Mormon by Oliver Cowdery’s family pastor, Ethan Smith. It is called View of the Hebrews. But the idea that the Native Americans came from the lost tribes of Israel was discussed LONG before even Pastor Ethan Smith wrote his hypothesis.

Now the Bible has led many people for more than a millennia to wonder about the whereabouts of the Lost ten Tribes. As a result whenever an unusual or nomadic people popped up or was discovered, the popular question would be among Bible readers was, “Do you think they are part of the lost ten tribes?” I mean, not too long after Columbus discovered the Americas people were talking about the natives being part of the lost ten tribes! Ideas orbiting and touching on this had existed in books going all the way back to 1567!

By the time the Seventeenth century pulled up and honked, several noted thinkers and writers had either published or openly wondered whether American Indians descended from Israel. These writers included: Antonio de Monezinos, Rabbit Manasseh ben Israel, Thomas Thorowgood, John Eliot, Samuel Sewell, Roger Williams, and even William Penn. These thinkers planted the seeds which ultimately blossomed over the lives of Joseph’s grandparents and parents.

Key Contributors to the Idea

In 1775, James Adair wrote, “The History of the American Indians.” Not only did he write of the theory, but Pastor Ethan Smith borrowed heavily from Adair in compiling his own book, View of the Hebrews. Another proponent of the idea was Elias Boudinot, who, in 1816, wrote a book called, “A Star in the West; or, a humble Attempt to Discover the Long Lost Ten Tribes of Israel” fourteen years before Joseph’s Book of Mormonion. A guy named Josiah Priest wrote, The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed in New York in the year 1825, before Joseph claimed to have even received the golden plates. In this book Priest cites all sorts of excerpts from even more books which talked about the American Indians coming from the tribes of Israel. Even the newspapers and magazine, prior to Joseph printing the Book of Mormonion, printed articles on the subject!

In Joseph Smith’s own hometown newspaper (The Wayne Sentinel) printed an article in 1825, five years before the Book of Mormon was printed, from a guy named Mordecai M Noah, a Jew, who proposed the idea that the American Indians were descendants of the Israelites. But here’s the clincher: These ideas and notions, popular in Joseph Smith’s day but exempt from being proven false, have today, through science and research, been shown to be wrong. In other words, by Joseph not only producing a book with a phony history of the American Indians (an idea he took from popular conversations of his day) he simultaneously produced a book that was built on the misconceptions of his day! This fact absolutely relegates the Book of Mormon to being a 19th century work of fiction and NOT something from an ancient source.

Now, before we go to the phones, go with me back to the title page of Joseph’s Book of Mormon. Remember the two groups it said it was a record of?

Israelites and the Theory of American Indians

Israelites who supposedly became the American Indians and another group that came over to this land around the time of the Tower of Babel. So let’s also ask, “Was this idea, that people came to the America’s around the time of the Tower of Babel also bantered around in Joseph Smith’s day? Looking all the way back to 1652 we find the idea presented in print by Sir Hamon lEstrange. And in the 18th century Samuel Mather and Pierre de Charlevoix published books trying to prove the same. So just like the lost ten tribe theory that was bantered about and found its way into Joseph’s Book of Mormonion, so did the theory on people coming to the American from the Tower of Babel times!

Look at this, folks. We just cracked the book wide open without reading one word from it’s supposed history.

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Mormonism and Biblical Christianity

Emails

In a letter to the Editor of the SLC City Weekly…

Two Ward Newsletters this week.

• people who have never been LDS do not understand the burden placed on the backs of the members.
• Having been LDS and a Christian I can tell you from first-hand experience that Mormonism operates off the same principles as other man-made systems and is far-afield from the rest and peace of biblical Christianity.

Our dear friend and brother Jeff, a former Mormon, was traveling in a distant Utah town with his wife and passing an LDS ward house noticed something that caused him to actually do a u-turn.