The early Mormon leaders often made statements which, by today's standards, were far removed from what the Mormon church would publicly teach or promote today, as these statement would appear to be too divisive or even heretical. Most Mormons are also ignorant of the teachings and statements of their own church founders and leaders from the distant past, upon which today's LDS church is founded. Though these statements can still be found in Mormon literature, they are usually not actively promoted or discussed, especially by the Mormon missionaries. However, such statements need to be examined in order to see the true nature and beliefs of the LDS church.
“Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the ‘whore of Babylon’ whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness.” Orson Pratt, (Apostle,) The Seer, page 255.
“It [orthodox Christianity] is a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol (sic); it is as corrupt as hell; and the Devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century.” John Taylor, (4th Prophet,) Journal of Discourses, Volume 6, page 167.
“The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our
children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and
blood - was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers.” Brigham
Young, (2nd Prophet,) Journal of Discourses, Volume 8, page 115.
Holy Bible -
["The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power
of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be
called the Son of God.'" Luke 1:35-37]; ["The virgin will be with child
and will give birth to a son....." Matthew 1:23]; [American Heritiage
Dictionary - virgin - a person who has not experienced
sexual intercourse."]
“Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that normal
men are begotten by mortal fathers.” Bruce R. McConkie, (Apostle,)
Mormon Doctrine, page 547.
Holy Bible -
"For by him (Jesus) all things were created, things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things were created by him and for him." Colossians 1:15,16.
“God himself was one as we are now, and is an exalted man...I say,
if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form - like
yourselves, in all the person, image, and very form as a man. We have imagined
and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea,
and will take away the veil, so that you may see.” Joseph Smith,
(1st Prophet,) History of the Church, Volume 6, page 305.
Holy Bible -
"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that
he should change his mind." Numbers 23:19.
 |
 |
“If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would
be no salvation. There is no salvation outside of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.” Bruce R. McConkie, (Apostle,) Mormon Doctrine
(1966), page 670.
Holy Bible -
Salvation is found in no one else [Jesus Christ], for there is no other
name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12.
“I have more to boast of than ever any man had, I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.” Joseph Smith, (1st Prophet,) History of the Church, Volume 6, page 408-409.
“God made Aaron to be the mouth piece for the children of Israel, and He will make me be god to you in His stead, and the Elders to be mouth for me; and if you don’t like it, you must lump it!” Joseph Smith, (1st Prophet,) Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 363.
“I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I
have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of
Gods...the doctrine of a plurality of Gods is as prominent in the Bible
as any other doctrine. It is all over the face of the Bible. It stands
beyond the power of controversy.” Joseph Smith (1st Prophet,) History
of the Church, Volume 6, page 474.
Holy Bible -
"Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I,
am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior." Isaiah 43:10.
“Here then is eternal life - to know the only wise and true God;
and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and
priests, to God, the same as all Gods have done before you...” Joseph
Smith, (1st Prophet,) History of the Church, Volume 6, page 306.
Holy Bible -
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows
that when you eat of it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God...." [Satan the deceiver],
Genesis 3:4,5.
“No one can tell whether even one verse of either the Old or New Testament conveys the ideas of the original author.” Orson Pratt, (Apostle,) Journal of Discourses, Volume 7, page 28.
 |
 |
"When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this world. He is Michael, the Arch-angel, and Ancient of Days! about whom holy men have written and spoken - He is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do." Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, pp 50-51.
However.....
"We warn you against the dissemination of doctrines which are not according to the scriptures and which are alleged to have been taught by some of the General Authorities of the past generatons. Such, for instance, is the Adam-God theory. We denounce that theory and hope that everyone will be cautioned against this and other kinds of false doctrine." Spencer W. Kimball, Deseret News, 10/9/1976.
"Some people have supposed that the doctrine of plural marriage was a sort of superfluity, or non-essential to the salvation of mankind.....I want here to enter my protest against this idea, for I know it is false.....When that principle was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith.....and angel of God, with a drawn sword, stood before him and commanded that he should enter into the practice of that principle, or he should be utterly destroyed.....I understand the law of celestial marriage to mean that every man in this Church, who has the ability to obey and practice it in righteousness and will not, shall be damned. I say I understand it to mean this and nothing less, and I testify in the name of Jesus that it does mean that." Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, vol. 20, pp 28-31.
"The only men who become Gods, even the sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy." Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 11, p 269.
"If a faith will not bear to be investigated; if its preachers and professors are afraid to have it examined, their foundation must be very weak." George Albert Smith, Journal of Discourses, v. 14, 1871.
"I say to the whole world, receive the truth, no matter who presents it to you. Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter-day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test." Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 16, p 46.
"I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually." Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 13, p 95).
"What! are Christians [orthodox Christians] ignorant? Yes, as ignorant of the things of God as the brute beast." John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, v. 6, p 25)
"Therefore each who enters the kingdom must of his own free will
accept all of the laws and be obedient to them, finding himself in complete
accord with all. Anything short of this would cause confusion. Therefore
the words of James are true. Unless a man can abide strictly in complete
accord, he cannot enter there, and in the words of James, he is guilty
of all. In other words if there is one divine law that he does not keep
he is barred from participating in the kingdom, and figuratively guilty
of all , since he is denied all." Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers
To Gospel Questions, v. 3, p 26.
Holy Bible -
["For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not
from yourselves - it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can
boast." Ephesians 2:8,9]; ["Therefore, since we have been justified through
faith, we have peace with God....." Romans 5:1.]
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits
enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret." Joseph Smith,
Journal of Discourses, v. 6, p 3.
Holy Bible -
"O Lord, are you not from everlasting?" Habakkuk 1:12.
Shed your own blood
“Joseph Smith taught that there were certain sins so grievous that man may commit, that they will place the transgressors beyond the power of the atonement of Christ...Therefore their only hope is to have their own blood shed to atone...” Joseph Fielding Smith, (10th Prophet,) Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 1, page 135.
"Let me suppose a case. Suppose you found your brother in bed with
your wife, and put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified,
and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the kingdom of
God. I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances,
I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through
her heart, and I would do it with clean hands." Brigham Young, Journal
of Discourses, v. 3, p 247.
 |
 |
Prophecies
"The Church and kingdom to which we belong will become the kingdom of our God and his Christ, and brother Brigham Young will become President of the Unites States." [Voices responded, "Amen."] Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, v. 5, p 219).
".....that those who went down to Zion, with a dertermination to lay down their lives, if necessary, should be ordained to the ministry, and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, or the coming of the Lord, which was nigh - even fifty-six years should wind up the scene." Joseph Smith, History Of The Church, v. 2, p 182).
"Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people.....for the gathering of his saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem. which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others.....Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation." Joseph Smith, Doctrines And Covenants, 84:2-5, 31; prophecy given September 22 and 23, 1832.
However.....
"It is also reasonable to believe that no soul living in 1832 is
still living in immortality on the earth." Joseph Fielding Smith,
Answers To Gospel Questions, v. 4, p 112. It has now been 171 years
since Joseph Smith gave the prophecy that the temple would be built in
that generation. Since the Mormons have not even begun work on this temple,
it appears that there is no way possible for Joseph Smith's prophecy to
be fulfilled.
Strange Teachings
"Gold and silver grow, and so does every other kind of metal, the same as the hair upon my head, or the wheat in the field; they do not grow as fast, but they are all the time composing or decomposing." Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 1, p 219.
"Does the earth conceive? It does, and it brings forth.....Where did the earth come from? From its parent earths.....The earth is alive. If it was not, it could not produce." Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, v. 6, p 36.
"If you want to know what to do with a thief that you may find stealing, I say kill him on the spot, and never suffer him to commit another iniquity." Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 1, p 108.
"Nearly all the great discoveries of men in the last half century have, in one way or another, either directly or indirectly, contributed to prove Joseph Smith to be a Prophet. As far back as 1837, I know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do -- that they live generally to near the age of 1000 years. He described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style." O. B. Huntington, The Young Woman's Journal, p. 263.
"Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines
of an evening, called the moon?...when you inquire about the inhabitants
of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard
to them as the ignorant of their fellows. So it is in regard to the inhabitants
of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you
think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain."
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 13, p. 271).