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*[[Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Index/Chapter 8#Response to claim: 147 - The author claims that "Twenty-first century Mormonism" promotes the idea that Cain, Abel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah lived in Missouri|Response to claim: 147 - The author claims that "Twenty-first century Mormonism" promotes the idea that Cain, Abel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah lived in Missouri]] | *[[Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Index/Chapter 8#Response to claim: 147 - The author claims that "Twenty-first century Mormonism" promotes the idea that Cain, Abel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah lived in Missouri|Response to claim: 147 - The author claims that "Twenty-first century Mormonism" promotes the idea that Cain, Abel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah lived in Missouri]] |
Claims made in "Chapter 7: Woe In Ohio" | A FAIR Analysis of: One Nation Under Gods A work by author: Richard Abanes
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Claims made in "Chapter 9: March to Martyrdom" |
Claim Evaluation |
One Nation Under Gods |
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The author claims that "Twenty-first century Mormonism" promotes the idea that Cain, Abel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah lived in Missouri.Author's sources: *No source provided.
Did Oliver Cowdery accuse Joseph of having a "dirty, nasty, filthy affair" with Fanny Alger?Author's sources: Oliver Cowdery, letter to Warren Cowdery, January 21, 1838.
Did Joseph allow the formation of the Danites?Author's sources: *Hill 75.
- William Edwin Berrett, The Restored Church, 198.
- Sampson Avard, Correspondence, Orders, 97-98.
- Winn, 123.
- David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 27-28.
The Danites were a brotherhood of church members that formed in Far West, Missouri in mid-1838. By this point in time, the Saints had experienced serious persecution, having been driven out of Kirtland by apostates, and driven out of Jackson County by mobs. Sidney Rigdon was publicly preaching that the Saints would not tolerate any more persecution, and that both apostates and mobs would be put on notice. The Danite organization took root within this highly charged and defensive environment.
The Danites are sometimes confused with the “Armies of Israel,” which was the official defensive organization that was tasked with defending the Saints, and which was supported by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. This is complicated by the fact that members of the Danite organization also served in the “Armies of Israel.”
Regardless of their original motives, the Danites ultimately were led astray by their leader, Sampson Avard. Avard attempted to blame Joseph Smith in order to save himself. Joseph, however, clearly repudiated both the organization and Avard.
Did Sidney Rigdon give public approval to the Danites during a speech he delivered on June 17, 1838?Author's sources:
- Winn, 124.
- Reed Peck, Reed Peck Manuscript, 3.
Rigdon's speech was directly targeted at dissenters within the Church, and strongly implied that they should leave.
Leland H. Gentry,
The first official encouragement given to removing these "dissenters" from Caldwell County came in the form of a speech given by Sidney Rigdon on Sunday, 17 June 1838. Familiarly known in church history annals as the "Salt Sermon," Rigdon's address remains one of the controversial events of the period.[1]:423
Gentry notes John Corrill's description of the sermon,
President Rigdon delivered from the pulpit what I call the "Salt Sermon;" 'If the salt hath lost its savour, it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men,' was his text; and although he did not call names in his sermon, yet it was plainly understood that he meant the dissenters or those who had denied the faith. He indirectly accused some of them with crime.[2]
The Danites were led by Dr. Sampson Avard, and the group appears to have been formally formed about the time that Sidney Rigdon gave his “Salt Sermon” in Far West, in which he gave apostates an ultimatum to get out or suffer consequences.[1]:4 According to Avard, the original purpose of the band was to “drive from the county of Caldwell all that dissented from the Mormon church.”[3]:25 Once the dissenters had left the country, the Danites turned their attention to defending the Saints from mobs.
Author's quote: "Such historical revisionism is typical of Mormon historians, who must at all costs, preserve the integrity of early Mormon leaders."Author's sources: Author's opinion.
The author is expressing his negative opinion as if it were fact.
Did Joseph write in his private journal that he was aware of the Danite's purpose? Were these words then crossed out so that they wouldn't appear in the history of the Church?Author's sources: Joseph Smith, Missouri Journal, 1838, March to September, under July 27, 1838. Reprinted in Jessee, The Papers of Joseph Smith, vol. 2, 262.
27 July 1838 Friday
July 27th some time past the bretheren or saints have come up day after day to consecrate, and to bring their offerings into the store house of the lord, to prove him now herewith and se[e] if he will not pour us out a blessings that there will not be room enough to contain it,167 They have come up hither Thus far, according to the ord[e]r of the Dan-Ites, we have a company of Danites in these times, to put to rights physically that which is not righ[t], and to clense the Church of verry great evils which hath hitherto existed among us, inasmuch as they cannot be put to rights by teachings & persuaysons,168 This company or a part of them exibited on the fourth day of July They come up to consecrate, by companies of tens, commanded by their Captain over ten.[4]
See also Leland Gentry, The Danite Band of 1838, BYU Studies 14/4 (1974): 421—50.
Author's quote: "The Missourians actually seemed committed to continuing their pursuit of a peaceful co-existence with the Mormons."Author's sources: *Author's opinion.
The claim is absurd. The Missourians had drawn up a manifesto calling for the Mormons to be driven out.
Did Latter-day Saints plan to "take over" by voting?Author's sources: Author's opinion.
Author's quote: "...calling their attention to the fact that the Saints were 'horse thieves, liars, counterfeiters, and dupes.'"Author's sources: LeSueur, 61.
According to the author, after driving the Saints from their homes, Bogart started to threaten the Saints "in their own territory."Author's sources: *Author's statement.
Author's quote: "...the evidence clearly revealed that Joseph had directed most, if not all, of the illegal activities in which the Saints had been engaged."Author's sources: Author's opinion.
Notes
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