Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Chapter 5

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Claims made in "Chapter 4: Smith's Golden Book"
A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: Richard Abanes
 Claims made in "Chapter 6: No rest for the Righteous"

Claims made in "Chapter 5: People of Zion"

Mormon high priests possessed the authority to bestow salvation. Such authority had always been viewed by Christians as belonging to God alone.
—One Nation Under Gods, p. 99.

∗       ∗       ∗
Page Claim Response Author's sources

83, 517n2 (HB)
  • The book states that the "Mormon church" was formally organized in New York.
  • There is no church called the "Mormon Church." "The Church of Christ" was formally organized in New York.
  • N/A

517n2 (HB)
  • The official name of the Church's changed from The Church of Christ to The Church of the Latter Day Saints and then to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  • No source provided. (Marquardt source refers to the location of the church organization)

86, n22-23 (HB)
  • Did "anti-Christendom" become a "defining feature of Mormonism?"
  • Did the Church denounce Christianity as "satanic?"

86, n24-25
  • Does the Church continue to teach that "all Christian churches are corrupt?"
  • Does the Church teach that "Satan sits in the place of God in Christianity?"

87, 517n26
  •  Author's quote: "Smith's long association with occultism also helped draw spiritual 'seekers' into Mormonism because his affinity for the paranormal enabled other occultists to easily identify with him."

87, 520n31 (HB) 518n31 (PB)
  • The book claims that "many" of the early members of the Church used seer stones. Among these are mentioned "Jacob and David Whitmer, Hiram Page, Philo Dibble, W.W. Phelps, Lucy Mack Smith, and Elizabeth Ann Whitney."

88
  • Were seer stones used by Latter-day Saints "well into the late 1800s" because Joseph didn't "condemn them?"
  • No source provided.

89, 518n47
  • Was a revelation changed to conceal Oliver Cowdery's use of a divining rod?
  • Book of Commandments (VII:3), 19.

89, 518n49
  • Did Joseph give Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball divining rods "as a symbol of gratitude for their loyalty."
  • Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer, 248-249.
  • Anthon H. Lund, Anthon H. Lund Journal, under July 5, 1901 quoted in D. Michael Quinn, BYU Studies, Fall 1978, vol. 18, 82, cited in Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 87.( Index of claims ).

89
  • Did Joseph's family own a "magic dagger?"
  • Note: In Becoming Gods, the author calls this a "magick dagger."
  • Mars dagger
  • William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. [{{{url}}} off-site]
  • No source given.

89-90, 519n53-57
  • Did Joseph's family own "three homemade magical parchments?"
  • Note: In Becoming Gods, the author calls these "magick parchments."
  • The text mentions the ""Holiness to the Lord,"" the ""Saint Peter Bind Them,"" and the ""Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah"" parchments without showing how they are related to the Smith family.
  • Magick parchments
  • William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. [{{{url}}} off-site]

89
  • Did Joseph have a "Jupiter talisman" with him the day he died?
  • No source given.

519n58 (PB)
  • The author states: [I]n 1998, Apostle David B. Haight "reinvoked the astrological principle that people should 'do nothing without the assistance of the moon'" (Quinn, Early Mormonism, 291).

 [needs work]

  • The author does not include Quinn's primary source for this statement from Elder Haight.
  • Quinn's statement from Mormonism and the Magic World View (p.291):

"Without mentioning astrology Apostle David B. Haight in 1998 reinvoked the astrological principle that people should 'do nothing without the assistance of the Moon'. (See ch 3)" (Endnote 412)

Quinn's endote, however, says nothing about Elder Haight:

Endnote 412: "Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, 279:Barrett, The Magus, 1:148; also Patrick Curry, Prophecy, and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Press 1989),11"

"Haight's remark 'do nothing without the assistance of the moon was made during his lecture at the 168th Annual General Conference. But when the transcribed text of the speech was made available online through the LDS Church's official Internet site, the phrase had been deleted."

 [ATTENTION!]:The phrase is not in the recording of the talk either. Relevant portion of transcript of conference talk recording to be added and moved to subarticle in Becoming Gods

92
  •  Author's quote: "There is no question that [Mormonism] began as a doomsday sect led by an end-time prophet."
  • Author's opinion.

95, 522n74 (HB)
  • Did Martin Harris claim that "all temporal and spiritual power would be given over to The Prophet Joseph Smith?"
  • Chandler, reprinted in Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996–2003), 5 vols, 3:222–223.

99, 521n97
  • The author states that Joseph claimed that his revision of the Bible "not only deleted mistakes in the Bible's first book, but also re-inserted a great deal of material that supposedly had been excised from it by corrupt and evil men."
  • The endnote does not provide a reference for this claim—it simply states that the text is now included in the Pearl of Great Price as the Book of Moses.
  • No reference is provided for the claim that Joseph said that information he was adding was originally removed by "corrupt and evil men."

99, n100
  •  Author's quote: "Mormon high priests possessed the authority to bestow salvation. Such authority had always been viewed by Christians as belonging to God alone."
  •  The author's claim is false
  • Latter-day Saints have always believed that salvation can only be obtained through Jesus Christ.
  • Joseph Smith, Far West Record, October 25, 1831. Quoted in Lauritz G. Peterson, "The Kirtland Temple," BYU Studies (Summer 1972), vol 12, 401; cf. Brooke, 193-194.

Further reading

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{{To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition}} To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition edit
{{To learn more box:''Under the Banner of Heaven''}} To learn more about responses to: Under the Banner of Heaven edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Beckwith and Parrish}} To learn more about responses to: Beckwith and Parrish edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Benjamin Park}} To learn more about responses to: Benjamin Park edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith}} To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon}} To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: ''Big Love''}} To learn more about responses to: Big Love edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Charles Larson}} To learn more about responses to: Charles Larson edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Christopher Nemelka}} To learn more about responses to: Christopher Nemelka edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Colby Townshed}} To learn more about responses to: Colby Townshed edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Contender Ministries}} To learn more about responses to: Contender Ministries edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Crane and Crane}} To learn more about responses to: Crane and Crane edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: D. Michael Quinn}} To learn more about responses to: D. Michael Quinn edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Dan Vogel}} To learn more about responses to: Dan Vogel edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: David John Buerger}} To learn more about responses to: David John Buerger edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Denver Snuffer}} To learn more about responses to: Denver Snuffer edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Dick Bauer}} To learn more about responses to: Dick Bauer edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Ed Decker}} To learn more about responses to: Ed Decker edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Ernest Taves}} To learn more about responses to: Ernest Taves edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: George D Smith}} To learn more about responses to: George D Smith edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Grant Palmer}} To learn more about responses to: Grant Palmer edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Hank Hanegraaff}} To learn more about responses to: Hank Hanegraaff edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: James Brooke}} To learn more about responses to: James Brooke edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: James Spencer}} To learn more about responses to: James Spencer edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: James White}} To learn more about responses to: James White edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner}} To learn more about responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD}} To learn more about responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: John Dehlin}} To learn more about responses to: John Dehlin edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jonathan Neville}} To learn more about responses to: Jonathan Neville edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Kurt Van Gorden}} To learn more about responses to: Kurt Van Gorden edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery}} To learn more about responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Loftes Tryk aka Lofte Payne}} To learn more about responses to: Loftes Tryk aka Lofte Payne edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Abanes}} To learn more about responses to: Richard Abanes edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Van Wagoner}} To learn more about responses to: Richard Van Wagoner edit
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