Updates and Comments.
Last updated: May 2012.
You can email the author with sensible comments or questions:
jim@themormondelusion.com
I will always endeavour to personally and confidentially respond to enquiries when I can.
May 2012. Back to the beginning: I published TMD Volume 5 in February of 2012, almost exactly six years after first discovering the truth behind the Mormon Church. As I look back to when my journey started, with the unwanted and completely accidental discovery of polyandry, I realise that it has been one continuous devastating journey of discovery that just never seemed to end. I wondered where the lies and deception would stop – and they didn’t.
Mormonism turned out to be one big (and thoroughly provable) lie. Writing has been my personal therapy and it has been an intense time, coming to terms with the truth and adjusting to an evidence-based world view – which common sense and reason alone suggest should be everyone’s aim to begin with. Any religious ideas should be adapted to fit known science and any new evidence that becomes available. You cannot reject scientific evidence in favour of known fiction. If new evidence conflicts with old belief then evidence wins; the belief is wrong as it is based on faith in something that someone else claims is true without any evidence to substantiate it.
I had Jehovah’s Witnesses at the door (yet again) the other day. The guy insisted my scientific view was based on the words of men whereas he accepted the word of God. The reality is actually just the opposite. I only accept properly validated, peer reviewed, tested and accepted scientific evidence rather than anyone’s words or opinion – and even then, I will readily alter my perspective based on new evidence and understanding – whereas, unless a god has personally appeared to him and addressed him and he has witnesses and evidence to prove it, he meant he accepts the words of men who wrote centuries ago, sitting around campfires in the desert making up stories, many of which were derived from earlier pagan ideas. Where they conflict with science – he rejects the science – he confirmed that they still do not accept evolution as a proven fact. They still erroneously believe such scientific ‘theory’ remains hypothesis rather than proven beyond dispute. They simply do not understand the scientific meanings attached to ‘theory’. I am not sure how they apply that to the theory of gravity but I suggested they should ‘float away’ (as per Tim Minchin). I pointed out that even the Pope accepts evolution as a fact but JW’s don’t seem to like the Pope very much. There is absolutely no viable evidence that any so-called scripture was ever given by any god to humans – and that applies to more religions than just Christianity and Judaism. It also seems very odd that Christians hijacked Jewish scripture and manipulated it to fit their new and radical ideas. It is also a fact that if a god does exist and did give what became the Old Testament to humans, he is an absolutely horrid god. Richard Dawkins summed it up well when he said:
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. (Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion p. 31).
When I published TMD Volume 1, volumes two and three were already somewhat written and in the Preface to the first volume I said the following:
“My full-time research began, lasting over three devastating, soul destroying years, which only faithful members, who have made similar discoveries about the lies within Mormonism, can fully appreciate. The depths of despair that are encountered by such discoveries are hard to imagine or explain. Day after day the nightmare continued and the heartbreak was relentless. Not only does the Mormon Church hide the truth concerning polygamy, but as it turns out, almost everything else has been completely fabricated or falsified to suit the Mormon fairy tale. The overall picture the Church presents is entirely false.”
At the time, I had no idea that the past would continue to haunt me and that a further three years would be required in order to accomplish the task of more fully exposing the hoax behind the Mormon Church. Six years, five books and one booklet later, perhaps I have finally got the fact that we were all so cruelly deceived out of my system. I do hope so as anguish is not a pleasant companion. However, I have to admit that Volume 5 was written not so much as therapy but as a project I felt might help others as I had a good grasp of what is taught today compared with the historical facts – and the Doctrine and Covenants had always bothered me. It just didn’t sit right and a great deal of mental manipulation was required in order to accept it as from the Lord. Thus writing about it was, for once, more enjoyed than endured – something which has been a comfort to me.
I went on in the Preface to Volume 1 to describe my conclusions at that time. Several years later, that initial position hasn’t changed; rather it has been reinforced and verified over an over again. This is from TMD Vol. 1 Preface:
Joseph Smith perpetrated what was arguably the biggest hoax of the nineteenth century.
“Smith is a proven fraud. He was convicted for being a con artist. He lied about visions, revelations, scriptures, gold plates and his ability to translate them. His Book of Mormon was a work of fiction, full of plagiarism and impossibilities. He included extinct animals and left out the ones that did exist. He included crops not available in the era, leaving out ones that were the staple diet of Native Americans, not to mention the impossible use of the wheel and of chariots which needed horses to pull them. Smith had no idea that horses went extinct long before the time of his story, so he included them in his book. He spoke of, yet to be invented, glass windows, steel, money and technology.
His Book of Abraham was a work of pure fiction; the papyri he claimed to translate, now conclusively proven to be Egyptian funerary text written about 50 BCE - 50 CE. Smith claimed it was actually penned by Abraham in his own handwriting, some two thousand years earlier – a physically impossible feat.
Smith wrote an associated Egyptian alphabet and grammar which was suppressed for one-hundred-and-thirty years. Since it became available, that too has proved to be complete and utter nonsense. The Church accepts that but attempts to excuse it.
Smith’s revelations were entirely his own ideas, many verifiable aspects remaining unfulfilled. They were often altered, deleted or added to at will, long after the supposed revelations were given. He was a womaniser, a cheat and a liar. He founded and then almost immediately abandoned an illegal bank, defrauding people of their money and property. He put everything in his wife’s name, securing wealth and property and later he deliberately tried to renege on his financial responsibilities by filing a fraudulent bankruptcy. He organised paramilitary groups and incited people to riot and murder. For much of his short adult life, he was in effect, an outlaw – with a price on his head.
He secretly and illegally practiced polygamy and also polyandry, mostly kept hidden from his first wife Emma. He encouraged selected others to do likewise, and excommunicated anyone who copied him without his explicit permission or who correctly accused him of practicing it. He constantly lied about having plural wives to the general public and members alike, to the very end, in public speaking and in newsprint. Even worse, he lied in false scripture, first published as Section 101 in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants. It claimed monogamy the standard rather than polygamy and remained in place until 1876.
Finally killed in a shootout whilst in prison awaiting trial for treason, when Smith himself shot and wounded three men, Smith’s overall character was the modern equivalent of Dawkins’ description of the God of the Old Testament. The two go very well together.
If Smith’s God turns out to be real and if Smith was called, all he did being sanctioned of or commanded by this God, then the Mormon Church can keep them both. They are more akin to the Christian idea of Satan than of a supreme being who loves his creations and his supposed faithful prophet. I want nothing to do with either of them. It is absolutely certain no such God as Smith’s exists. Smith was nothing more than an opportunist, a con artist and an impostor.”
April 2012: The Last Mormon Polygamist…
TMD Vol.1:213-4.
The last known polygamous marriage, if it can legitimately be called that, within the senior Church hierarchy, was between Apostle Richard Roswell Lyman and a woman other than his legal wife. Lyman, whose father and grandfather had both also been polygamous Apostles, was born 23 November 1870 and was married to Amy Cassandra Brown on 9 September 1896 by Joseph F. Smith. He was ordained an apostle on 7 April 1918 at age forty-seven. Seven years later, in 1925, Lyman began a relationship with another woman, who he had recently restored to fellowship following her earlier polygamous marriage to another man. Her name may have been Roberta Flake, according to Ancestral File. Not trusting anyone else to officiate, Lyman and Roberta secretly ‘exchanged vows’ together, as had so often been the practice during the 1800s. Lyman thus considered it to be a valid polygamous marriage. He continued his role as an Apostle for the next eighteen years whilst, according to the law of the land and also by then, absolutely the law of the Church as well, living in a state of adultery.
Between 1925 and 1943, when Apostle Lyman’s adulterous lifestyle first became known, the Prophet was Heber J. Grant. During that period, between Grant’s counselors and the Twelve Apostles, a total of twenty-one men had been in office, all sustained as prophets, seers and revelators. Four of these men would later go on in their turn of ‘Apostolic Succession’ to become the President of the Church: George Albert Smith; David O. McKay; Joseph Fielding Smith and Harold B. Lee. Church members are taught that all leaders have the Power of Discernment. That is the ability, especially in interviews, to perceive the heart and mind of the individual being interviewed, determining whether they are telling the truth and if their life is in order and in close harmony with the Lord. This applies not only to the Prophet and the apostles but also to every leader down through to Stake Presidents and Bishops. Indeed, it applies to every worthy Melchizedek Priesthood holder, within the realm of his own family, as ‘patriarch’ of the home. What then is the excuse for these twenty-one prophets, seers and revelators to have missed, for eighteen years, the consistent adulterous relationship of a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles? God did not have the spirit once ‘whisper’ to any one of his servants that Lyman was ‘living in sin’ in an adulterous relationship during all those years. No doubt he personally felt that he was living the true law of God and the Church.
So much for the power of discernment we were all taught exists at every level in the Church. These men were all sustained as ‘prophets, seers and revelators’ yet for eighteen years they did not have the ability between them to ever ‘see’ anything wrong in Lyman’s life. Finally, the truth was discovered in 1943 but not revealed by any God. Lyman and Roberta were excommunicated. They were then both in their seventies. The Quorum of Twelve put a one line announcement in the newspapers, simply stating that his excommunication was for “violation of the law of chastity”. Richard Lyman was the last apostle of the Mormon Church to have been excommunicated. For many years, some of the Twelve feared that Lyman would take up with one of the fundamentalist groups. However, he did not do so and was rebaptised on 27 October 1954 aged eighty-three. (Quinn 1997:183 & n.73-74). His first wife, Amy, did not die until 5 December 1954, so presumably Roberta died prior to 1954, as after all that time, and also being excommunicated, it is unlikely that he would have stopped cohabiting with her during her lifetime. Lyman died, as a Church member, on 31 December 1963, aged ninety-three.
9 March 2012: A new video has been released by http://www.moretruthfoundation.com/
I have carefully reviewed the "Top Ten Mormon Problems Explained" video and can confirm that it is historically accurate and factual in every respect, consistent in detail with my own independent research and findings. It is well worth any investigator or questioning member spending an hour and twenty one minutes on this to obtain the simple truth behind the lies perpetuated by the Mormon Church. This is a must see for those still seeking the reality behind the hoax perpetrated by Joseph Smith.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ac_fLUHiBw&feature=youtu.be
March 2012: I thought I would share a paragraph from an outstanding book recently reccomened by a friend. It was written by an English convert in the 1850's and is on a par with 'Tell it All' by Fanny Stenhouse. I highly recommend this book. Google for PDF file sources.
“The post-office is in the hands of Brigham and his confederates, so that he knows the mind of every letter writer there. He was heard to say to the congregation, at the beginning of last year, "There are many of you who have written complaining letters to England; I know you all. Did you think I'd let them go I have nearly a wagon load full of them behind my house!" That is the way he gets his revelations. In the Journal of Discourses, vol. iii., he says, " Know ye not that I have my threads strung through all this Territory, so that I know what each man is doing?" Each faithful Saint is required to sign a deed of consecration, whereby he makes over to the Church, for ever, his houses, land, wives, children, and everything he possesses, so that when he leaves, he leaves alone. His effects are Church property. Salt Lake Valley is divided into wards, over each of which is placed a bishop, whose council forms a court of justice. The character of the people of Utah is what might be expected. 'Brigham is the principal broker, brewer, and blackguard. Heber C. Kimball thus speaks of the Saints: "There are many of you here, who would cut my throat and Brigham's too, if you dare." Brigham says, "Rake all hell with a small-tooth comb, and you cannot find greater devils than the Elders in this city!" Of the bishops he says, "You old grey-headed know-nothings, you are doted; you are—shall I say, hard-shells No; you are poor old soft-shell fogies, that a few pounds of tea or sugar will buy."— Journal, vol. iii., p. 241. They live by worrying each other.”
(Mr. Hawthornthwaite’s Adventures among the Mormons as an Elder, During the Last Eight Years. 1857. Published by the author in Manchester, England).
24 February 2012: TMD Volume 5 is now available. See 'Home Page' for details.
February 2012: With luck, TMD Volume 5 should be available later this month. It will contain new and interesting detail concerning Joseph Smith and his concoctions – many of which we just do not notice as members. For example, we are informed in Section 115 that the Lord revealed the name of his Church. We accept the information without question. Yet when you dig a little deeper, information comes to light that brings the whole idea of deity being involved into serious question…
D&C Section 115. 26 April 1838. Far West, Missouri. Added to the D&C in 1876.
After eight years and at least one-hundred-and-fifteen ‘revelations’ plus several claimed visions since the Lord supposedly re-established his true Church – he finally makes up his mind what to call it. “For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (v.4). Mormons are taught to believe that the Church should be named after Christ – or else it is not his church. This is one sign of it truly being the Lord's Church.
The truth is that Joseph Smith didn't seem able to decide what he wanted to call his new Church and his God certainly didn't tell him what to name it when it was first inaugurated in 1830 - or at any time during the following eight years. The organisation was informally known as the 'Church of Christ' during 1829, compatible with the name of the church in the Book of Mormon, which Smith had just written.
The new Church was legally instituted with that name on 6 April 1830. It became the 'Church of the Latter Day Saints' in 1834, so it no longer contained the all important name of Christ. Later, it was to change to the 'Church of Jesus Christ' and next to the 'Church of God' - once agian losing 'Christ' from the title. Now. God finally gets round to saying it should be called "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (See TMD Vol. 4:120-1).
Why did God not reveal that in 1830 and get things right from the start? If God had been in control of Smith’s marvellous restoration, surely one of the very first things He would have attended to would be to reveal the name that He wanted for His Church? Yet God waited eight years and gave Smith well over one-hundred revelations before revealing the correct name. Smith was human and making things up as he went along, but if this was truly a restored Church, among all the early ‘revelations’ would God not have given this name in time for the legal institution of his Church in April of 1830? Of course he would, and the fact he not only didn’t, but that it had five different names over an eight year period gives a very clear picture of what was really going on.
To suggest the Lord would not have given his chosen name to the restored Church from day one is simply absurd. Far from the ultimate name now being an evidence of its truth, the history behind the name provides evidence of the hoax and it condemns Smith - and his church as farudulent, right form the start.
January 2012: Happy New Year everyone.
In reviewing the use of early biblical ideas, in addition to it being perfectly obvious these days that no such character as Adam ever existed – unless he was someone out of Africa many tens of thousands of years earlier than the Bible suggests – there are many other problems not faced either by Christianity in general or by the Mormon Church in particular. I want to mention just one.
The Bible, and Smith’s Book of Moses, both casually mention something entirely impossible which was transposed into the endowment ceremony. It originates from Genesis 3:19. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground…”
In Moses 5:1, Joseph Smith follows the same general idea:
1. And it came to pass that after I, the Lord God, had driven them out, that Adam began
to till the earth, and to have dominion over all the beasts of the field, and to eat his bread
by the sweat of his brow, as I the Lord had commanded him...
The Mormon temple endowment incorporated the same teaching right from the start – and it is still more or less the same today. Note that Smith even has God speaking in the first person. I can categorically state that if God really was speaking, then He is an absolute liar – harsh though that may sound.
Among the major problems that exist, if we were to accept God really did say some of the things He is recorded as saying to a ‘first man’ regardless of when he existed, is one so obvious that we tend to miss it entirely.
The reality of course is these were all Hebrew ideas that had been written, relatively speaking, not very long before Christ and thousands of years after the claimed events. They are just stories – legends, and incorporated into them were aspects familiar to the Hebrews but which were impossible in association with early (never mind the very first) humans.
For countless thousands of years, early humans did not tame fire. Grasses had not been cultivated in order to create cereals. Neither yeast or leaven was known – yet God tells the very first man that although he will sweat for it – he will eat bread. He did not explain how to cultivate the right grasses in order to obtain the first wheat kernels nor did he explain anything about fire or teach him how to cook. Early humans did not use fire, they did not have cereals and they certainly knew nothing of cooking. Hebrew concepts were used to make their ‘Adam and Eve’ story work. There have been countless other ‘creation’ stories; many equally as implausible and we readily reject them as mythical. In the case of the Bible myth, whatever God did say to a first human, if He ever said anything at all, it had nothing to do with ‘bread’ which was still tens of thousands of years away from first being invented.
In Mormon temples, God still tells Adam he will eat bread. Joseph Smith introduces ‘flocks’ far too early in his Book of Moses. Genesis talks of flocks and herds somewhat later. In the earliest days, when humans were still hunter–gatherers, livestock was wild and there were no flocks or herds or domesticated animals of any description. Dogs (originally the wolf) may have been the first animal to be domesticated.
The secret of discovering the truth is often to start with the known scientific and historical facts and then compare them with religious ideas – deleting the impossible aspects one by one and see what is left.
It is not much of anything in my experience.
December 2011: Today, I am starting the final chapter of TMD Volume 5. In a couple of weeks, editing will begin and proof readers will take it all apart and I will start rewrites and put it back together in a more readable fashion. How strange it feels to have written five volumes about a hoax Church that I once considered the one true religion. As I look back on my journey, it is hard to believe I have come so far, discovered so much, and left so many behind – including so many friends and family that I loved so much. Christmas is not the same of course; not because I don’t believe in gods any longer, the festival is of pagan origin anyway and I just enjoy the season; but because my children and grandchildren will gather and I will not be invited as I am considered an evil influence.
I have often stated that truth and integrity are the most important things in life but sometimes the price of standing for that is high and it is hard to cope with the fallout. People are really the most important thing in life, and love really should be unconditional, but when family and friends reject you because you accidentally stumbled across the truth and they refuse to even consider the evidence, then what can you do but love them and leave them to their own devices?
I am grateful to everyone who has read my work and would wish all TMD readers everywhere a very Merry Christmas, and for those who may think that is no longer PC, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah - or just have a good break from work. As we are retired, every day is like Christmas these days, in that we can do what we like. It's a lovely time of life and we are lucky enough to live in a quiet and peaceful area, close to beautiful countryside, woodland drives, several beaches and cliff walks. So, I write, and I try to explain exactly why the Mormon Church cannot possibly be true. When it all becomes too much to bear, we are ten minutes away from 'getting away from it all' and we can still be home in time for tea. Meanwhile 'The Mormon Delusion, Volume 5' concerns the Doctrine and Covenants and will be available in the spring. It will contain a number of things never before seen in any other writing.
November 2011: It is probably time to formally announce that despite the fact I had considered myself finished with writing about Mormonism, early this year I found myself seriously thinking about the Doctrine and Covenants and how difficult it had been for me as a member to accept some of the things Joseph Smith claimed to have ‘received’ as actual words from the mouth of the Lord. I decided to review a few sections that had bothered me and sure enough, if God and/or Jesus spoke like that, then they were (and I am not overstating this) completely illiterate. I found myself looking for actual prophecies that might be located in the D&C; they are few and far between, many are just repeated and none were ever fulfilled.
That includes Smith's supposed Civil War prophecy of 1832 (fully discussed in TMD Vol. 3:309-12) which Mormons invariably cite as a typical Smith prophecy when asked about such things. Trouble had been brewing for many years and everyone expected war to break out the following year. It was in the papers almost daily and Smith just repeated what others were saying. The fact that it did not happen for almost another three decades and Smith added nonsense that never transpired, shows just how much he knew about the future – which was nothing at all. I was surprised at the many things I did not ‘see’ as a member. This led to a detailed analysis of the ‘Lectures of Faith’ (now termed Lectures on Faith) and a foray into the D&C Sections in the original chronological order in which they were recorded – the result of which is that TMD Volume Five will be published next year. It covers an analysis of the Lectures and every Section of the D&C, except a few already reviewed in TMD Vol. 3 which are noted and cross referenced, so almost all the material in this fifth volume will be new to the reader.
As an analyst, I found myself listing certain aspects that did not fit with reality. None of it really sits well with common sense or reason of course but evidence that Smith made up the things he recorded came to light in several different aspects of his writing. Smith’s deity makes some consistently obvious mistakes which are human rather than supernatural in nature. Smith’s God spoke in very mysterious ways for a God. These have become several (at present five) different summary sections at the end of the book, entitled ‘The Final Analysis’. It has been an interesting journey. Well, it still is, as there are still a few chapters to go before editing begins. The volume should be available by spring of 2012 and it should finally complete the series – although of course I have said that before!
October 2011: In my recent publication ‘The First Vision – The Joseph Smith Story’ (also available to read free on the side bar), I mention the fact that in his 1838 ‘Official Version’, Joseph Smith claimed to have had his 1820 Vision in Manchester, two years after his family moved there from Palmyra. They actually still lived in Palmyra at that time and did not move to Manchester until 1822, two years after the claimed event. The Church appears to be aware of the discrepancy, as it tries to cover the problem by pretending Palmyra and Manchester were effectively in the very same place.
On the Mormon ‘Scripture’ website there is a ‘Chronology of Church History’ - see:
http://lds.org/scriptures/history-maps/chronology.p24?lang=eng&query=new+jerusalem
- under ‘1820, Early Spring’ you will find this statement.
“The Prophet Joseph Smith received the First Vision in a grove of trees in Palmyra and Manchester Townships, New York, near his home (see JS—H 1:15–17).”
Note that it says “in a grove of trees in Palmyra” - and then adds “and Manchester...”
Yet this is what JS—H 1:15-17 really says:
“In about four years after my father's arrival in Palmyra he moved with his family into Manchester, in the same county of Ontario.” Smith goes on to say the vision occurred “some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester.” This is a very clear and specific statement by Smith.
There is no mention of Palmyra and Manchester as the Mormon ‘Chronology of Church History’ suggests. Palmyra and Manchester were actually several miles apart and were not connected townships coexisting in the very same location. Smith categorically states where it was and does not suggest trekking the several miles back to Palmyra in order to have his vision. Why would he? He could not have been in a grove of trees in Palmyra and Manchester at the same time as the Church now appears to claim.
It is this kind of surreptitious manipulation of words that assists Mormons to gloss over the facts and not dig down to discover the underlying truth. Obfuscating the truth is far easier than explaining it. It is a subtle way of 'lying for the Lord' – a game the Mormon Church has played continuously throughout its history.
September 2011: Last month a reader, Tom Jenson, commented that when he came across my note in TMD Vol. 1, which explains that having received my complaint, the Church removed an untrue statement about Zina D. H. Young from her official biographical sketch, he checked on line and found it was still there. This I found quite interesting as I knew the offending sentence had been removed from the lds.org web site. Before reviewing the outcome of further investigations into this, let’s first look at what I claimed in TMD Vol. 1:133-34. This is an extract...
In evidence of the way the Mormon Church continues even now, to lie and cover up the difficult and embarrassing aspects of its outrageous history, the following is from the official Church website. It is the ‘Biographical Sketch’ of Zina, appearing because she was General Relief Society President in her later years in Salt Lake City, from 1888 to 1901, the year in which she died.
Zina D. H. Young, a midwife and an educator, worked closely with Eliza R. Snow in the Relief Society. In 1870 Brigham Young called Sister Young to promote silk production among the women of the Church as part of the Church’s emphasis on home industry and self sufficiency. During her presidency the Relief Society affiliated with the United States National Council of Women and campaigned for women’s suffrage. Sister Young continued the Relief Society’s emphasis on health care, grain storage, education, and compassionate service. Widowed by her first husband, she raised two sons from that marriage, one daughter from her later marriage to Brigham Young, and four of Brigham Young’s other children. (Zina D. H. Young Biographical Sketch. Available at: www.lds.org under the heading of ‘Relief Society’). (Emphasis added).
The official Church sketch clearly states that Zina was widowed by her first husband. He actually died in 1886, nine years after Young, who died in 1877. It says she raised two sons from that marriage, with the clear implication that she did so after Henry had died. They were actually aged forty-four and forty years old respectively when Henry died. It says Zina had a daughter from her later marriage to Brigham Young.
They had married in 1844 and in the Temple in 1846, forty years before Henry died, whose death was, as mentioned, nine years after Young died. Zina’s daughter by Brigham Young, Zina Presendia, was born 3 April 1850. Make of the sketch what you will; in one sentence, there is a complete fabrication of the truth, with the facts altered dramatically in order to create a modern day lie and cover up the real and embarrassing truth of the past. That lie is available to view on the Church web site today, where the Church incredulously creates the warm and fuzzy out of the dark and devious.
Note: Since writing the above, in a communication with an apostle of the Mormon Church, dated 28 May 2008, I questioned why they still include such lies in their propaganda and suggested that integrity demands they remove it. Whilst I did not receive a response or even an acknowledgement of the correspondence which included that comment, I note that the offending sentence: “Widowed by her first husband, she raised two sons from that marriage, one daughter from her later marriage to Brigham Young, and four of Brigham Young’s other children” has now been removed, as of September 2008, and the statement ends with the word ‘service’. I am pleased that the Church has done so, but the question remains: why was it there in the first instance? It would have been nice to have received a response confirming receipt of my letter, noting they were going to accept the criticism and remove the lies. All other RS Presidents listed, continue with the mention of a husband, but despite the first few being plural wives, no mention is made of their husbands’ other wives. Zina now appears as the only one without mention of a husband other than by inference, referred to throughout as ‘Sister Young’.
********************END OF EXTRACT ********************
The link that Tom discovered was not to the official bio, but actually a 2004 ‘poster’ of Relief Society Presidents and it does indeed include the complete original bio for Zina, just as recorded in the above extract, retaining the offending sentence. Subsequently, when preparing this for posting and rechecking the links – the entire bio has been completely changed to a more accurate account in a 2009 version - the year after I made my complaint. It seems they forgot to remove the original poster. This is the original link Tom found:
http://lds.org/pa/images/RSPresidentsPoster2004web.pdf
This is the updated link. The new text is below.*
http://lds.org/pa/pdf/rs/RSPresidentsPoster2009web.pdf
The official Church page for Relief Society Presidents is at this link:
http://lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,8269-1,00.html
Click on Zina, or use this direct link to her bio which has been changed:
http://lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,5511-1,00.html
Zina’s bio was here in full before my complaint but the final statement has since been removed, as discussed in TMD Vol. 1. Discovery of the existence of the online poster made it interesting as we now have visual evidence of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ position, thus verifying the sentence that has been deleted from the official bio. However, it has now been completely removed from the poster in a new edition and replaced with the following text. As long as the 2004 version exists we have verification of the facts. This is the 2009 version.
* Zina D. H. Young was a nurturer and a healer within and beyond her family circle. She married Henry Jacobs (with whom she had two sons), was sealed to Joseph Smith, and later married Brigham Young (with whom she had a daughter). She also reared as her own the four children of Clarissa Ross Young, who had died. A competent midwife, she delivered hundreds of babies and ministered to the sick with faith and compassion. She traveled with Eliza R. Snow to strengthen Relief Society women and programs, supervised women’s participation in Utah’s silk industry, supported medical training and suffrage for women, and visited branches of the Relief Society in the Sandwich Islands, New York, and Canada. As the society’s general president from 1888 to 1901, she helped build bridges to women of other faiths by attending women’s congresses at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and supporting Latter-day Saint women’s membership in the National and International Councils of Women. She assembled women for the first general conference of the Relief Society and exhorted them to gather often to strengthen the bonds of sisterhood.
Who would have thought that we would catch the very moment (2009) when the Church changed the bio and became just a little more (although not entirely, as they still don't admit Zina's marriage to Young was polyandrous or that Jacobs died after Young) honest about the past. Note also that the new bio also admits Zina's marriage to Joseph Smith - after she married Jacobs. This was the first of Zina's two polyandrous marriages. My thanks to Tom for locating the 2004 poster.
********************
Last month also saw the publication of a new booklet on The First Vision. It mirror the article on the side bar and is made available in hard copy for those who would like to share the thuth behind the initial message that Mormon missionaries teach. It is also available as an inexpensive download with permission to copy and share (see copyright conditions). See the Home Page and my bookstore for more details.
August 2011: The article on 'The First Vision', available on the side bar, has now been thoroughly updated and a number of references have been added. This will shortly be available in booklet form (or in Mormon terms, a 'tract') for those who want to share the historical facts with friends or missionaries when they come knocking. I will post again later this month with a link when it is published.
When I was a young Branch President in the Mormon Church, I was a hard working carpenter with little time for much outside of work, meetings and raising our very young and fast growing family. I was always tired but we were very happy. Our dedication was such that when my wife was having our third child, which was to be a home birth, and was heavily in labour, I asked if she thought she would have the baby before midnight. When she replied that she didn't think it would be that soon, I said – great, well I'm off to my Branch Presidency meeting – and I went. (The baby was born in the early hours of the following morning). Dedication knew no bounds and my wife understood and approved of my dedication, or what I later realised was selfishness.
My favourite time of day was always last thing at night as we crawled into bed and snuggled down. I could hear traffic in the distance and felt safe at home in bed with no worries until the next day when it would be a very early start and off to work again for another ten hour day. I remember one morning running late and as a work mate arrived to take me to work, my sweet wife, who had yet to learn everything about cooking, thrust a welcome fried egg sandwich into my hand for me to eat on the journey. As we set off, I took a big bite of the sandwich and egg yolk spattered all down my front. My friend nearly ran off the road laughing. I still enjoyed the sandwich but had to endure the day looking very yellow and being teased about the incident. Cherished memories of my first love Jan who died almost a decade ago now.
Forty-five years later, children are long grown up and gone, my working life done and dusted five years ago, and equally, the Mormon Church done and dusted from my life several years ago (something I am still coming to terms with), and happily married once again; my favourite time of day is actually this moment – late morning on a cool relaxing day (as is every day now) with no worries about tomorrow, or any day, or any thing for that matter, with a mug of coffee (something I once considered a sin severe enough to keep me out of the Celestial kingdom) and a chocolate digestive, as I write about memories to anyone who cares to know about them – and if that is no one, it doesn’t matter. I have lived and loved; I have made mistakes and I have made some good decisions. At the end of the day, I found the truth and it is all so simple and so obvious to me now. I try to share it as effectively as I can for those seeking knowledge and an understanding of the hoax that Mormonism was and is.
I still enjoy snuggling down at night, but as I don’t have to set an alarm clock in order to get up and go anywhere in the morning, I don’t enjoy it half as much as this moment each day. All I have to do is remember to wake up each morning. Until I forget to do that, this time of day is coffee time! Absolutely perfect – and I will die happy.
July 2011: Several people have been discussing my "The Bible Delusion" article (available under the 'Books/Links/Article' tab) during the last month, which turned my mind again to the Bible. Not that I have any desire to research or write more about that as there is so much already available. However, it has occurred to me that sometimes humour can be a key to understanding. This especially hit home when one of my friends on facebook (and my apologies for not recalling who posted this – I just filed a copy without reference) posted the following. It is not only very clever, there is of course a serious side to it.
"In her radio show, Dr Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, penned by a US resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny as well as informative:
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination ... End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.
1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I'm confident you can help.
Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Your adoring fan.
James M. Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, Dept. Of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education University of Virginia
(It would be a damn shame if we couldn't own a Canadian :) "
June 2011: Last year, I wrote the following post in ‘The Others’ forum on facebook regarding faithful Mormons writing to ex-members:
I have read several posts recently on various threads where people have shared emails from the faithful who criticised them for leaving the Church which they ‘know’ (and always claim that we also still really know) is true. I have had some myself and responded in a similar attempted conciliatory manner in the past. It is interesting how predictably similar they always are and how they are so cruel and critical, telling us they are amazed at how far we have fallen, when all each of us did was to reluctantly follow our conscience. I guess it would be rude to just say “piss off you arrogant, ignorant, deluded Mor(m)on” and we are (or at least try to be) better than that. I have concluded there is little point in responding at all really, as each person must of necessity experience their own personal epiphany before they can see and accept and then have the courage to act on the truth.
At the end of the day, this is the stark reality.
We say we left the Church when we discovered the unwanted but unfortunately fully evidenced truth behind the hoax and that we resigned for the sake of integrity.
This is interpreted as – we left the Church when we sinned or were offended or we refused to obediently follow the brethren.
We say we very reluctantly had to face, accept and deal with the truth, no matter what the consequences, as truth and integrity are the most important things in life.
This is interpreted as – we fell under the influence of Satan and we rejected the spirit and the truth. There is no integrity in following the adversary. We are lost souls.
We may respond with a little of the evidence in an area which we know is conclusive – among the hundreds of claims made by the Mormon Church that have been exposed as fraudulent.
This will be rationalised away as misinformation or even that it doesn’t matter and all will be made clear in the hereafter. We shall see who is right in the next life.
Many of us have concluded that there is no such thing as a God, and if we are correct then there will not be a hereafter in which to conclude such discussions. Who wins?
This is why my web site and my books all contain risk warnings to ward off the faithful. It led me to coin the quote which appears on my home page. I believe it is accurate.
As long as people want the Mormon Church to be true,
more than they are willing to face the possibility that it is not,
they will not entertain evidence or reason.
Delusion becomes a choice.
(Jim Whitefield 2010).
**************************
In order to understand the psychology behind various aspects that comprise the Mormon delusion, I highly recommend reading William Kempton's writing on the subject which I came across in May of 2011.
http://postmormon.blogspot.com/2011/05/understanding-mormon-brain-why-its-so.html
The article addresses how the three different modules of the brain are affected and controlled. An excerpt should help entice you to read the whole article.
"The Mormon Corporation takes over the primitive reptilian brain by training the Mormon’s fight or flight system to respond with anxiety to any material deemed critical of the LDS Faith. The Mormon system also hijacks the entire Limbic system (the mammalian-brain: the seat of emotion) by programming the Mormon to interpret all pleasant emotions as evidence that Mormonism is true, and all negative emotions about Mormonism as “satanic” or “evil.” Mormons are also kept mostly isolated from outside influences, causing the mammalian brain to form a tighter bond with fellow LDS group members, to the point that leaving the group feels like losing one’s whole identity as their sense of self becomes merged with the group. Thus Mormons are hijacked emotionally and nervously. Mormons then form bonds or friendship that are wrapped up in LDS mythology to the point that to doubt the LDS mythos is to sever one’s relationships which for us human mammals can be quite painful. The most powerful “hold” the LDS system has on most Mormons is through the dogma being tied up in family cohesion. The mental programming in the Mormon head is, “to leave Mormonism is to lose one’s family in the eternities.” This hijacks the natural bond between parent and child which is the ultimate form of manipulation."
This article explains so well, exactly what exMormons come to fully understand and appreciate but sometimes have great difficulty expressing and explaining. It helps us to understand what happened to us as members and what is still happening to those who will not listen to common sense and reason.
May 2011: I am still constantly amazed at the many kind messages I regularly receive from readers of my books and articles. We just returned from a few days away and among the messages awaiting me, one simply said: "Just wanted to let you know, your page on "The First Vision" was the best one I've ever read regarding the topic. Thanks." (The First Vision article is available to read on the side bar). The number of readers who have contacted me with their comments - and sometimes to share their own story and journey out of the Church - has truly surprised and deeply touched me. I am delighted that my work has been appreciated by so many people and I have been encouraged by the generous feedback and kind comments regularly received. It has meant a great deal to me.
April 2011: I am starting to settle into a routine that does not include intensive reseach into the truth behind Mormonism. After almost five years of full time research and writing, it is gratifying to feel my work is done and that the truth is firmly established. To turn my mind to other things is both refreshing and of course healthy. There is much more that could be said and more books that could be written. However, all the major issues are included in the four volumes that comprise 'The Mormon Delusion' and if anyone studies them, along with all the references, it will be absolutely impossible (for any sane person) to then conclude that the Mormon Church is true - unless that is, they read with a deliberately closed mind and preconceived notion that they already 'know' the Church is true and regardless of any evidence, common sense and all reason, that stand will not be compromised. Then the delsion is in complete contol of the brain, objectivity has been suppressed and black will be called white, regardless of the absurdity. Such people should not even be reading my work. All the evidence will be rejected out of hand without conscious consideration. Conclusive proof of a point will lead to pathetic excuses followed by the retort that it doeasn't matter, the Church is still true.
I honestly don't know how someones 'testimony' could survive the journey through my work, as all testimony is demonstrably based on a provably false premise and no God could or would ever proclaim to any individual through supposed ethereal means (feelings) that such lies are in fact the truth. That would be impossible, leaving only wishful thinking and delusion as the basis of any so-called testimony. Such a thing is very hard to admit to and face and rather than do so, some people will deny the truth in favour of what has then become proven fiction. Nevertheless, those of us who have trodden the unwelcome path and discovered, faced, accepted and dealt with the truth can 'testify' that Joseph Smith provably created no more than a cruel hoax. That new 'testimony' is not based on feelings. It is not a result of sin nor of being influenced by the adversary. It is based on solid and irrefutable evidence of the facts alone, much of which is provided by Joseph Smith himself in his own contradictory personal writings in his journals, claimed revelations and so-called scripture. My work must be read objectively, and with a mind open to the evidence which must then be weighed against prior held belief in the cold light of day. If conclusive evidence establishes the truth and if that truth offends a prior held belief, then it is the belief that is wrong. Cognitive dissonance must be overcome in favour of the evidence, and belief must be reconsidered in light of proof of the truth. Conclusive evidence trumps faith in provable fiction. Faith may go beyond reason - but not beyond evidence. Case closed.
For those who, like me, are atheistic in their thinking, the following obscure thougfht came to me recently:
One reason why the probability of God is close to zero
may be that humans simply do not deserve such a thing.
Just a thought.
March 2011: I am pleased to report that sales of all volumes of my work continue to increase. Whilst I don't ever expect to become a 'best seller' of any description, it is most gratifying that so many people seem to not only be buying my books, but that they often take the time to let me know how much they enjoyed them. It has been quite an unexpected pleasure, as when I published Volume 1 in 2009, I only expected to sell about a dozen copies! Thank you to everyone who has not only read my work but for recommending it to others. Word of mouth has been the key element in sales.
For the first time in two years, since the launch of this web site, when I mentioned the polite exchange I had with an active member (see March 2009 below), I have had a message (on facebook - so it may not be associated with this site) from someone I don't know; clearly an active Mormon, who doesn't begin to understand what people go through when they discover the truth and leave the Church. We have all seen these stereotypical messages before and it amazes me just how strikingly similar they all are. Whilst he is completely ignorant about my work – both content and purpose – he is obviously just as sincere as he is deluded, so I tried to explain things as best as I could.
This was his message:
you really need to get a life! i mean seriously, if you dont believe in this religion then why do you waste your time earnestly trying to disprove it. i mean the effort you go through. jim you obviously have been a member before, what is it that has got you so emotionally attached to this religion? maybe you've taken offense from a member, disagreed with a church principle or perhaps lost a love one, all obvious triggers which bring the weak to crumble in pride, arrogance or disappear.
whatever it is you all need to do something with your life. if you don't believe in the gospel then thats fine, but i believe and have the right to believe that you are rejecting the one thing that can bring you true happiness, you are fighting against the one thing you know to be true!
if a church member has offended you forgive him as the church directs, its not the church who has offended you its the person. if its a principle just think all shall be revealed in the next life. if its a loss in the family, think of the disappointment they may be suffering as they see you destroy nothing but yourself.
god wants you to be happy! because i know that you are not! i really do feel sorry for you :(
This was my attempt at a conciliatory reply:
Do I know you Jack? I don't understand why you are addressing me. I also have no idea how you came across me if you are an active member. My web site and my books all have risk warnings, so active members who wish to remain faithful do not read my work - which is not aimed at nor intended for such people. Likewise, I do now have a facebook page for my work at the request of readers but the topic is clear and members should avoid it. I do not approach nor argue with members - I respect their position and do not intend for them to be affected by my findings unless they choose to investigate the truth. As you have approached me - for whatever reason, I will at least explain the position as you have clearly not read any of my books or my web site.
Indeed, I was a member for forty-three years and held many Ward, Stake and Regional callings. I ultimately left the Church in March 2003 for no other reason than I could not hold to a belief in God. It was something I had always subconsciously struggled with and it was my problem and mine alone. For the next three years I just tried to get on with my life and - as you suggest should be the case, I simply left the Church behind and I also left it alone. It never even occurred to me to look at why the Church may not be true.
Then in March 2006, I quite accidentally stumbled across conclusive evidence that Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, if not others, all participated in things which friends in the Quorum of Twelve confirmed to me personally were completely contrary to doctrine. They could neither justify nor theologically explain the position but admitted to the evidence. That devastating discovery led to almost five years full time research which uncovered a pattern of lies and deception concerning every aspect of the Church from the beginning - falsified scripture, falsified Church history and a conspiracy to deceive members from the start. This is all in my books; it is not opinion and it is not supposition. It is conclusive evidence from inside the Church which modern day apostles cannot deny yet cannot justify or explain. I will not mention any actual evidence to you as my intention was never to destroy the testimony of the faithful. I published my work in the hope that one day some of my active children may find the courage to read it and also when I discovered that there are tens of thousands of people like me who discover the awful truth about the Church each year and feel they have to resign for the sake of integrity. These people simply seek details regarding the underlying evidence against the hoax that Smith perpetrated and which is still perpetuated today. It is as simple as that. My work is analytical and I am well read and respected by people in the ever growing exMormon community.
As a member, you will have no idea of the grief someone feels when they come to know for a fact through documented evidence that Smith was a fraud. It is devastating and something not easily faced or dealt with. It is not something people want. Many of us lose family and friends, who like you mistakenly believe we have been offended or that we must have sinned in some way. I want you to imagine for a moment - if you felt that you knew for an absolute fact, just as much as you feel it is true, that the Church was false - what would you do? Pretend and stay - or face and deal with what for you was the awful truth that you had been wrong? Many people have that decision to face and it is not out of choice, it neither easy nor pleasant. It is devastating and destroying. It takes a huge amount of courage, it takes strength and it takes integrity. It costs more than you could ever imagine. Please try to understand that.
The devastating truth is that the things we took to the Lord in prayer, from which we perceived we gained our testimony, are demonstrably false - ergo, no God could possibly confirm them true. It was all a delusion, it is as simple as that. I am sure each of us would rather that it not be the case but unfortunately it is. So - there we are. I hope that answers your question. As a faithful member, you should have avoided my web site and my books - they are not for you, unless you have already had your own epiphany and suspect there is something wrong. If that ever becomes the case then you will find all the answers to your questions in the four volumes I have published. If not, then stay well away. I do not advertise to members and you should not be bothering with the likes of me. I am sorry you misunderstood the position. Keep your testimony and go on your way unharmed.
February 2011: January saw the successful publication of TMD Volume 4. 2010 was a long year in respect of research and writing the manuscript followed by the lengthy process of editing and proof reading undertaken by my good friends, Jean Bodie and John Bleazard. The book was finally released on schedule in January 2011 and has been an immediate success. Although the books will not appear on Amazon et al for several weeks while they make their way through the distribution channels, purchases direct from the publisher at TMD Lulu bookstore have been very encouraging. Luckily, the discount facility that Lulu now allows authors has made it possible to offer lower prices than will generally be available elsewhere. I have decided to retain the current offers for the foreseeable future. After less than three weeks, Volume 4 hardback and paperback versions are both already in the top 37% of sales in Lulu’s extensive catalogue of over two-hundred-and-sixteen-thousand titles.
Meanwhile, Volumes 1 and 2 paperback versions are now in the top 10% of Lulu sales. Volume 1 hardback is in the top 11%; Volume 3 paperback in the top 12%; Volume 3 hardback in the top 16%; Volume 2 hardback in the top 17%. Many people are now purchasing the new eBook versions which of course add to overall sales but count separately. Nevertheless, eBook versions of all four volumes, after only three weeks of availability are already climbing the Lulu ladder and Volumes 1-3 are between 71% and 80% whilst Volume 4 is already at 64%.
I deeply appreciate all the support and comments from readers and am glad my work is being read by so many people. Considering it is mainly by word of mouth, as no real advertising has been undertaken, it is quite remarkable that sales are climbing and people around the world are finding my books. Please feel free to leave ratings and reviews. I get many encouraging emails and private comments but reviews are few and far between.
Just to update the situation regarding “The ICO v. The Mormon Church” (see below for previous notes on this), the latest development is that Church lawyers responded to the ICO in January stating that irrespective of the ICO explanation to the Church and their instruction to the Church to comply, it is still their view that as the data was sent to SLC, it is out of their control and jurisdiction, so they don't have to provide copies. The ICO already advised the Church that this is not the case and instructed them to comply. So, the Church is still wasting huge amounts of tithing money on lawyers rather than just sending a few pieces of paper from SLC to the UK in compliance with UK and European law. The ICO is now considering its response. The case continues...
For anyone who had an interest in my friend Vernon's case where the Church excommunicated him even though he had never disobeyed a single Church commandment, please scroll down to see my Later update under the July 2010 post.
12 January 2011: TMD Volume 4 was published today. Full details appear on the Home Page. My grateful thanks to everyone who supported and encourged me throughout the journey.
January 2011: We almost completed Volume 4 editing and proof reading in December; there are just a couple of chapters and the appendices to go. Hopefully, publication will happen on schedule later in January. Meanwhile, regarding the ongoing investigation into the Mormon Church by the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) here in the U.K., regarding their attitude to the DPA (Data Protection Act) they have now instructed the Church to explain itself to them and also to comply with my friend's request for documents to which he is entitled under U.K. law. Please see my comments on this issue under 'October 2010' below. I have added the story to the Preface of TMD Volume 4, along with the following paragraph.
As I write this added paragraph (January 2011), the ongoing investigation into Mormon Church non-compliance in respect of the DPA by the ICO on my friend’s behalf is now starting to bite. The ICO does not pursue cases that they do not consider a breach of law. The ICO has confirmed that Church leaders are being asked to explain themselves to the ICO; to provide my friend with the information he requested and to address his request as a matter of priority. The letter that my friend received from the ICO indicated that if the Mormon Church in England really does have no control over the data asked for, then their breach is even more serious, considering the EU contractual clauses that they entered into. The Church has been instructed to comply.
December 2010: I managed to complete the indexing for TMD Volume 4 during November; a thankless but essential task. The book is complete and currently being edited and proof read by my good friends Jean Bodie and John Bleazard. As ever, I am truly grateful for their eagle eyes and careful reading. It seems no matter how hard you try to get a final manuscript just right, there are still errors that need to be found by fresh pairs of eyes. Only yesterday, Jean discovered that I called God 'Cod' in an Appendix. I thought it fishy that I had missed that. Excuse the poor sense of humour.
November also saw the launch of a new web site hosted by Dan Johnson. He is making a series of short, two or three minute, video clips, where various exMormons briefly explain their decision. It is well worth a visit and can be located via this link:
I AM AN EXMORMON
November 2010: My grateful thanks to the Exmormon Foundation for inviting me to speak at Conference in Salt Lake City in October and also to everyone who was so kind about my presentation and my work. It was lovely to meet everyone and put many faces to some familiar names. Sorry I wasn’t able to bring more copies of my books and thank you to everyone who has subsequently purchased them from Lulu. I will offer an introductory discount for Volume 4 when it is published (in January 2011).
There is always something you forget to say, and for anyone who was there – when I was talking about Zina Huntington, I had meant to mention the method Joseph Smith used to persuade her to enter their polyandrous relationship. Whilst he had tried a direct approach twice (as I mentioned) to get her to marry him when she was a teenager, following her marriage to poor Henry Jacobs, Smith didn’t even approach her himself. He sent Zina’s brother, Dimick, to tell her that an angel with a drawn sword had stood over him and threatened to kill him unless Zina married him! That has to be the most outrageous chat-up line I have ever heard. It’s funny when you think about it, but it’s also sad that it really did happen and that she believed it… She should have said no – and that would have helped matters along! That would have been quite a novel end to Smith – the only human ever stabbed to death by an angel sent from God to do so… gullibility just isn’t a suitable word and I can’t think of one that fits the scenario at the moment.
The Foundation will upload my presentation to YouTube in a few days time once they have sequenced the PowerPoint material with the talk. I will put the sequence of links on my Home Page when they become available and the links will also appear on the Foundation website. Meanwhile I have posted a link to the live stream on my Home Page. Check back regularly if you want to see the presentation with integrated PowerPoint detail. Because such a presentation, due to the very nature and intensity of the detail, cannot include all the background references, should anyone need a specific reference to a point, please email me and I will be happy to provide it.
October 2010: I have been working on TMD Volume 4 and developing a final draft which will hopefully result in publication in January 2011. I will post details on my Home Page when things are finalised. What prompted the new book was a realisation that the Mormon Church teaches its lies to investigators and suppresses the truth in missionary discussions. A review of the missionary lessons reveals how and why this is cleverly achieved. The truth would drive investigators away before even considering the Church.
Over the last year or two, a couple of friends have been pursuing the Church in the U.K. for copies of documents to which they are legally entitled. Rather than just comply with British law and send copies of the documents (which would cost the Church nothing), they naturally refused for various reasons ranging from confidentiality; entitlement; couldn’t locate them; they are in the States and no longer ‘available’ here; they comply with European Law rather than British law etc. My friends appealed to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) for information and advice and their entitlement was firmly established. Some documents have now been obtained but a few are still outstanding. We await final details of the case which has been lodged with the ICO.
Meanwhile, much of the response material came from Church appointed lawyers rather than Church admin staff, and we thought it must be costing a lot of money which was being wasted for no reason whatsoever. One of my friends discovered the following video of a talk given by a Church lawyer at the J. Reuben Clark Law Society Conference early in 2010. This is a transcript of part of it.
In the last month in the UK alone I think we've spent... err, well, for two individuals... two former members of the church who don't want to leave the church alone but want to be aggravants to us... have filed complaints with the regulatory authorities in the UK and I've spent close to 80,000 dollars in legal fees to respond to these. They're demanding copies of their membership records, of course they were disciplined so now they're demanding copies of their disciplinary courts... proceedings... so... councils. That's a problem we're facing... and that's just in one little... it's not a little country but it's two individuals and look at the cost and the aggravation it's caused us. So we're going to see more in the data privacy area... that's why I mention more disclosure in the content and information.
The First Presidency feels that that (disciplinary records) is very privileged... and we cannot disclose that unless we get First Presidency approval. That's how sensitive this type of information is with respect to the Brethren, so this is a big deal for us as we go around the world. (Addressing Issues for Good Around the World - William F. Atkin).
http://www.law2.byu.edu/news/item.php?num=676
So, the Church spent close to $80,000 of tithing money in one just month on legal advice which my friends had already provided in copies of legislation obtained directly from the ICO. All the Church had to do was send the requested paperwork and spend no money at all. They will comply because the law demands it and they cannot do otherwise. It may also cost them a lot more money. And these are men who are supposed to represent God, honesty and integrity, and have the power of discernment. All they really needed was just a little common sense and reason. Modern Church leaders appear to lack that just as much as they lack any more integrity than Joseph Smith and his cohorts had. There is none. It is faithful tithe-paying members who have to finance the arrogant stand that Church leaders take on such issues. They always did think they were above the law. Nothing changes in Mormonism.
September 2010: During July and August, I reviewed all three volumes of TMD and added a few snippets, altered a few aspects to better explain them, and with the assistance of my friend, John Bleazard, who has kindly reviewed each book for me, amended some (hopefully) final spelling and grammatical errors. The Third Edition of Vol. 1 and Second Editions of Vols. 2 & 3 were published on 1st September 2010. Contrary to my earlier decision not to write anything further, something has transpired to make me change my mind and I will mention more about that in a month or two. Suffice it to say for now that there will after all be a ‘Volume 4’ available early in the new year. Watch this space, as they say.
Meanwhile, I have recently been reviewing and considering some Book of Mormon absurdity…
Joseph Smith claims the following was written between 600 and 592 BCE. In the text, Smith has Nephi see the future apostle, John, who is to write material in the book which will “proceed out of the mouth of the Jew” but he gets caught by his own ignorance about the New Testament. Either that or the visiting angel got it all wrong!
In v.21 the angel claims John will write “many things that have been” which must of timeline necessity refer to the period prior to 600 BCE. You will be hard pressed to find any such historical detail in John other than in the first five verses of Chapter 1 which speak briefly of the creation – but offer nothing new compared to extensive Old Testament coverage. Likewise, Revelation is entirely futuristic.
1 Nephi 14:18 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!
19 And I looked and beheld a man, and he was dressed in a white robe.
20 And the angel said unto me: Behold one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
21 Behold, he shall see and write the remainder of these things; yea, and also many things which have been.
22 And he shall also write concerning the end of the world.
23 Wherefore, the things which he shall write are just and true; and behold they are written in the book which thou beheld proceeding out of the mouth of the Jew; and at the time they proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, or, at the time the book proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, the things which were written were plain and pure, and most precious and easy to the understanding of all men.
24 And behold, the things which this apostle of the Lamb shall write are many things which thou hast seen; and behold, the remainder shalt thou see.
25 But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write; for the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them.
26 And also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things, and they have written them; and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord, unto the house of Israel.
27 And I, Nephi, heard and bear record, that the name of the apostle of the Lamb was John, according to the word of the angel.
Note that, as in many other instances throughout his writing in the Book of Mormon, Book of Abraham and the D&C, Smith has God or angels ‘correcting’ themselves, apparently to clarify what they have just said. V.23: “they are written in the book which thou beheld proceeding out of the mouth of the Jew; and at the time they proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, or, at the time the book proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew,...”
This style of explaining things is typical of something created on an ‘as you go along’ basis in English ‘speech’ (Smith was supposedly effectively ‘reading aloud’ what God put in his hat), but not usually in the written word. It is definitely not typical of what someone would write when carefully recording what someone (in this case an angel) has actually said; especially as this was supposedly written in reformed Egyptian hieroglyphs. No known hieroglyphs account for such ‘rephrasing’. They just do not work that way. They are picture-signs used to convey the sound (and meaning) of the ancient Egyptian language and not to incorporate retractive explanations. It would actually be almost impossible for any hieroglyphs, reformed or not, to accommodate such retraction.
If you imagine someone carefully inscribing each hieroglyph on to gold plate, it quickly becomes apparent that the process would not allow for having to retract and re-explain a statement. The very idea is preposterous. However, imagine Smith making it up as he went along, pretending to see the words in his hat; then you can appreciate his constant ‘corrections’ in the way things are explained. If you consider Nephi a real prophet, carefully inscribing details of what an angel told him, then the supposed translated text that Smith provides becomes an impossible consideration.
Also, note that whilst most of the verses are written in the future tense, Smith temporarily forgets to do this and this part is written in the past tense, as looked at from the time of Smith when he wrote it. If Nephi had been writing it, it would have been in the future tense as John was yet to be born and the events yet to happen. The hoax is exposed, as ever, in any number of ways.
Apart from the fact that v.26-27 claim others had seen and written things (pre-600 BCE) which will one day be revealed – who knows when, Smith has Nephi learn that the future apostle John will write what he (Smith) already knows is in the Bible. It is therefore not difficult to predict what will be in it. However, his lack of knowledge about the history of the New Testament plunges his Book of Mormon claim into deep and problematic water. The book did not proceed out of the mouth of the Jew (v.23-34); it proceeded out of the mouth of the Romans, long after the time of Christ.
Smith (or Nephi if you must) is probably referring to the book of Revelation and possibly the Gospel of John. What Smith did not know was the truth behind those books. He thought John actually wrote them, just as many Christians still do today. However, the fact of the matter is that is not the case at all, proving Smith’s assertions about Nephi entirely false. The apostle John never wrote anything down at all.
The New Testament includes books ascribed to people who did not write them; the books being written and rewritten, decades to even centuries after the supposed time of Jesus Christ, by people who never knew or even met him. The Gospel of John, which is relied upon heavily in Mormonism, is accepted by many theologians as an unhistorical document, written to describe what they would have liked the Saviour to have been like, rather than a remotely true or reliable account of an individual who actually lived. The book of Revelation is often quoted within Mormonism. It is a book considered by many theologians to have been written by a madman and it was not originally included in the Bible at all. It only later managed to squeeze its way in by the skin of its teeth – on a very narrow vote – in the fourth century CE and it was very reluctantly included when the canon of the Bible was assembled from approximately fifty gospels and literally hundreds of epistles available. Orthodox churches still do not use Revelation for scripture readings during worship. The inclusion of Revelation was and still is actively disputed, but Mormons use it to their convenience. And here, Smith seems to think John wrote it. He most certainly did not. Ergo, the Book of Mormon is nonsense.
August 2010: Something came to mind the other day; while I was researching an entirely different subject; regarding pigs and dogs in the Book of Mormon. I am not sure where the thought came from but I first noted Ether 9:18. The surrounding verses are also interesting of course, as things mentioned did not exist in the Americas at that time. I have highlighted the ones which provably did not exist. For example, linen (fine twined or not), is made from flax which did not exist there during the Book of Mormon period, as established by all soil core samples ever taken from anywhere you care to mention. There are many other references to animals and crops in the Book of Mormon, but this one is funny because Smith managed to get everything entirely wrong. He was either completely ignorant about such things or he was including a joke at the expense of believers in his fictional narrative.
Ether 9:17. Having all manner of fruit, and of grain, and of silks, and of fine linen, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things;
18. And also all manner of cattle, of oxen, and cows, and of sheep, and of swine, and of goats, and also many other kinds of animals which were useful for the food of man.
19. And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms. (God forgot to translate the last two, via Joseph Smith’s hat, into English).
Whatever Smith (or anyone else for that matter) may have thought cureloms and cumoms may have been; as none of the other animals in the above list actually existed in the Americas at the time; undoubtedly they didn’t either. Full lists of animals and crops that did and did not exist in the Americas, compared with Smith’s Book of Mormon claims, can be found in TMD Vol. 2. Chapter. 12.
Against all the odds, out of everything he listed in each area in the Book of Mormon, Smith only got one of the crops and one of the animals correct. Even then, the animal is the dog, which, although referred to a few times in the Book of Mormon, ironically, it doesn’t categorically claim there were any actually in the Americas or that they domesticated any. It is the only animal he mentions at all that actually was there. When nomadic hunter-gatherers crossed the Bering Strait from Asia to North America, at least 12,000-14,000 years ago, they had dogs with them.
From TMD Vol.2. Ch.12. Pp. 225-26...
In 3 Nephi 7:8 there is a reference “…like a dog to his vomit, or like a sow to her wallowing in the mire”. (Incidentally; pigs are not dirty; they cannot sweat, so they roll in mud to keep cool). References to the habits of domestic dogs and sows (Smith separately claims in the BOM that they did have swine), infers knowledge and existence of them in America in 30-33 CE. It is perfectly clear that Smith plagiarised the phrase from the KJV – “The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her own wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:22). Not only did domestic sows not exist in the New World in 30 CE, but the phrase that Smith virtually copied from the New Testament was actually written later (the earliest claimed date for 2 Peter being written is 63-64 CE); thirty years after this time, on the other side of the world.
July 2010: Details of the October 2010 Exmormon Foundation Conference are now available. Just click on the following link:
October 2010 Exmormon Foundation Conference Schedule
I will be presenting on the Saturday morning. For those planning to attend, I look forward to seeing you there. The weekend promises to be full of variety and worthwhile information. More importantly, we will be able to mix and meet with hundreds of people who, like us, have discovered and had to face and deal with the devastating truth behind Mormonism. We are not alone in our struggle to come to terms with the truth or in our travels along the road to recovery.
June saw the publication of a book of poetry by my friend Vernon Moyse. Vernon (who, like me, also lives in England), was a Mormon for many years and although gay, he faithfully remained celibate, in line with Mormon theology. Vernon was baptised in 1992 and was excommunicated in March 2010 when he entered a civil partnership with his companion of forty years. He committed no moral sin nor did he violate any commandment or other Mormon mandate that would have required discipline. He simply entered an entirely celibate and perfectly legal arrangement which enabled better management of taxes, pensions and inheritances for both Vernon and his partner. It also added the comfort of companionship plus the safety and security of living with a companion during their now latter years and declining health. (I wouldn’t want to suffer a heart attack or some such when completely alone).
Vernon’s latest (fifth) book of poetry is entitled ‘The Mormon Gay’ and it recounts in poetic form his recent trials and tribulations which led to his exit from the Church. He also includes poems written earlier; expressing his initial euphoria upon discovering what he then perceived as the truth within Mormonism; to give overall perspective to his journey. Here is an ex Mormon who did absolutely nothing wrong, legally, morally or theologically. His relationship always remained celibate in accordance with Mormon theology which determines it is only acting upon such feelings or impulses that is sinful or actionable. Vernon’s only ‘transgression’ was to formally enter a perfectly legal civil partnership which is not a marriage. The arrangement is little different to that of two missionaries cohabiting during their mission. An appeal to the First Presidency to overturn the disciplinary council decision was withdrawn by Vernon before it was considered, when he concluded that the Church could not be true and decided to publish his poems which surrounded the case. The book is available worldwide from Lulu.com (including a download version) and will appear on Amazon et al in a few weeks time.
Later update: Irrespective of Vernon withdrawing his appeal to the First Presidencey, it seems that the local Stake President did not forward the request and the First Presidency did review and uphold the decision to excommunicate Vernon. It seems that the Mormon First Presidency is not willing to abide by its own 12th Article of Faith: "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." Vernon obeyed the law. He used appropraite legislation to enable better tax and pension as well as inheritance advantages. A civil partnership is not a marriage and he did not violate a single Church law or rule that should have called his membership into question. Vernon remained celibate. Thus the First Presidency confirmed their predudice and bias by excomunnicating someone solely on the basis of them availing themselves of something perfectly legal and which in and of itself does not violate any known Church rule. Clearly members now have to be obedient to rules they have no idea even exist.
June 2010: For some reason, my work seems to have become more widely known and recognised than I ever imagined would be the case and I receive emails almost daily from people who have just read or who are currently reading my work, thanking me for the analytical style and rich content. Some people are newly questioning whilst others have been out of the Church for quite some time and adding to their library. Some are descended from early polygamous families and have paid a high price for leaving the fold. I am pleased that without exception, everyone who has read my books and then contacted me has felt my work to have been worthwhile.
Whilst I originally only set out to provide the apostles with evidence of Smith’s fraud and his polyandry, and then continued writing as a form of therapy when so much evidence of the conspiracy and lies continued to unfold, I did not at the time ever anticipate that it would ultimately lead to the publication of three volumes. Even then, as mentioned elsewhere on many occasions, I ultimately published my research in the hope that some of my children may one day find the courage to read my work and come to understand the truth. I hoped that along the way one or two others may also be helped in their quest for the truth. It now appears that my work is being appreciated across the world as people from different countries are reporting that they are finding accurate and fully evidenced answers to their questions about various aspects of the Church in my books. It is gratifying to be of help to those who are seeking the truth.
Meanwhile, during May, the number of ‘testimonies’ against the Church continued to grow as more academics, authors and others contributed their thoughts to the exmormonscholarstestify.org web site I mentioned last month. The witness statements are compelling as they are not just based on faith, such as is the case for the mormonscholarstestify.org web site. The significance of this is that whilst the ‘so-called’ Church member testimonies are no more than statements of personal belief, founded on faith in provable fiction, containing no actual evidence on behalf of any provable truth, the ex-Mormon statements contain real evidence and references which are building into a formidable compilation of actual 'testimony' in the form of 'witness statements' against the possibility of any God ever being involved with the Mormon Church at any stage.
The lies and deceptions perpetrated and perpetuated by the Church are discussed from many different very persuasive perspectives. At the end of May, one such testimony was added by the author, Ed Bliss, who comments that his witness against the Church stems from what is not in the Book of Mormon rather than what is in it. He comments that no Mormon doctrine whatsoever appears there and suggests a single source where Smith may have subsequently located all his new doctrinal concepts after the Book of Mormon was published. The Book of Mormon story itself of course mirrors ‘View of the Hebrews’ which Joseph Smith had ready access to. I would recommend visiting the web site regularly and reading testimonies that appear there: www.exmormonscholarstestify.org
May 2010: During April I was contacted by the host of a web site from Brazil, regarding some aspects on which I have written. It transpires there is very little available for questioning members and investigators of Mormonism in their native language of Brazilian Portuguese. Following discussions, I agreed that a translation of some chapters from TMD Volume 2, involving the Nephi/Moroni contradictions could be undertaken and posted for the benefit of Brazilian Portuguese speaking people. I do hope this will assist in making more information available to the people of Brazil. It is ironic that while I am assisting people to find the truth behind the Church so they can negotiate their way out of their delusion, one of my own grandchildren has just started his mission for the Church in Brazil in order to convert more people into it. A link to the web site can be found, along with a note in Brazilian Portuguese, under the ‘Books/Links/Article’ tab. The translated text should appear on the web site in a few weeks time.
Meanwhile, a new web site has recently appeared in response to the Church inspired 'mormonscholarstestify.org' web site. It seems the Mormon Church thinks its members so gullible that if they see that lots of so-called ‘clever’ people believe in it, then it must be true. In order to provide a balance to this, someone who is actually still a member at the time of writing has created an alternate web site at: www.exmormonscholarstestify.org to show that there are equally, many academics, authors, historians and ex Church leaders who have discovered the truth and resigned from the Church for the sake of integrity. Either that or they have been excommunicated for so-called apostasy – that is, for publishing the truth which the Church claims ‘is not helpful’. The ‘testimonies’ of such people are starting to appear and the new site will rapidly build into a sizable ‘counter’ to the absurdity of the whole idea that the Church seems to have about this. I have provided my own ‘testimony’ on the new web site and hope that members will visit there and see just how much of a nonsense idea it is that academic testimonies can provide ‘evidence’ of the truth of the Church.
The fact of the matter is that most of the Mormon academics just ‘testify’ of the truth they believe which in and of itself is completely meaningless. Many of the ‘testimonies’ provided on the exMormon equivalent site are by comparison, filled with real evidence which is so compelling, much would stand up in a court of law if tested. The new web site is a grand idea and a formidable set of ‘witnesses’ to the truth are coming forward. The difference is, they don’t just ‘testify’ that the Church is not true; they provide compelling evidence as to why it cannot be true by any stretch of the imagination. Some are in the ‘expert witness’ category and their evidence should be taken far more seriously than any academic Mormon testimonies that contain no substantive ‘evidence’ at all. Remember; fact trumps faith and in light of conclusive evidence, faith must be reevaluated.
April 2010. I don’t post much to ex-Mormon bulletin boards these days but during March I was intrigued by the discovery that Mormon apologists have effectively, for once, attacked the Church rather than its detractors over an issue that seems completely pointless and does nothing to support the Church or its leaders and everything to discredit it and them respectively. This was achieved by their claim that the heading to a chapter in the Book of Mormon is in fact misleading and that the Nephites did not actually have 'coins' as such after all. As everyone I knew in the Church had always, along with me, believed and accepted what our leaders had stated in writing in the header which ‘explained’ the BOM text, I wondered what on earth they were trying to achieve. I had also written about Nephite coins in TMD Volume 2, so I took the time to write and post an article on some Ex-Mormon web sites about the apologists’ attack, which they conveniently posted as a video on You tube, the link for which is available in my article. The resulting article, along with an extract from TMD Vol. 2 relative to Nephite coins, has now also been posted on this web site and can be located by clicking on the ‘Nephite Coins’ tab above.
Also, ‘The Bible Delusion’ notes have now been updated. I decided not to write a further volume on this subject for various reasons as explained in the article. 'The Bible Delusion' notes now also appear under the 'Books/Links/Article' tab on the sidebar.
March 2010. It seems more and more that the internet is helping people to understand the truth behind the Mormon Church, when until that point they were not even questioning their beliefs. When members are approached by people who have discovered the truth, their findings are usually rejected out of hand. Faith prevails. However, when someone quite accidentally discovers something uncomfortable on the internet and then does some further personal research, the truth seems to more readily dawn on them. They may then approach someone who already knows the truth, to confirm their suspicions once and for all. In the last month or so, remarkably, this has happened to several of my own friends who then approached me. Subsequently, several resignation letters have been sent in and the Church has a few less members than it did.
I wonder how many more people will be added to the list over the years and when the net Mormon membership will actually reduce year on year. My own analysis shows (see TMD Vol. 2) it is starting to level off and considerably more missionaries are needed to maintain the same small annual growth. This is then reduced by a number of people resigning. Of course, overall membership is still exaggerated by all the ‘lost’ members who are counted on record until they reach one-hundred-and-ten years of age, when only then are they considered to have died. Additionally, for the last decade or so, the Church has included 'children of record'; those under the age of eight, previouly not included, to futher bolster the figures. So, who knows, perhaps decline is already underway. Whatever the case, the Mormon Church will ultimately follow in the footsteps of such as the Methodists and Presbyterians who are less popular now and in rapid membership decline. Time will tell. The truth is out there and it is now only a few clicks away.
February 2010. During the last month I have had several further interesting discussions with people who are coming to terms with the truth surrounding Mormonism. It is still gratifying to have been of some small help to those who are searching for the truth. I was also somewhat astonished when I received an invitation from the ExMormon Foundation asking me to speak at their Conference in Salt Lake City in October of this year. I had not anticipated further travels from England to Salt Lake, since my resignation from the Church a few years ago. Who would have thought that I would return there in such a role as this? It is an honour to be asked and for anyone planning to attend, I look forward to seeing you there and I hope to present well and do justice to the request.
January 2010. From December 2009, all TMD volumes have been further corrected with some minor layout, spelling and grammatical updates. Signed copies can be obtained direct from the author. Please email for current prices, including forward postage:
jim@themormondelusion.com
Reed Cowan's documentary film, "8: The Mormon Proposition" will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival later this month. It will undoubtedly spark a huge debate regarding the Mormon Church's highly organised influence and huge undisclosed financial support of 'Proposition 8' in California. Follow the link below to see details of the documentary and view the film trailer. It is very compelling.
8: The Mormon Proposition
17 December 2009. I agreed to donate royalties received via Lulu sales from Nov 5th to Nov 30th to Reed Cowan's project to help complete his documentary film which provides evidence of Mormon Church financial and organisational involvement in support of Prop 8 in California. The Mormon Church did not divulge huge financial support or the highly organised surreptitious lobbying it undertook which ultimately helped to succeed in overturning the previous legal position which in turn took away the civil rights of many individuals who are not associated with the Church. What the Mormon Church did regarding 'Prop 8' appears both illegal and immoral. It is but a small contribution, but the amount raised was £57.80 (Approx $95.89). A donation of $100 was transferred to Reed Cowan's project today.
October/November 2009. One advantage of POD (print on demand) books such as TMD is that it allows for updating the content at any time. At present, another read through is being undertaken in order to be sure any that outstanding errors are eliminated as far as possible. Those discovered have been in preferred layout and grammar and barely noticeable, but as a perfectionist, I would like the books to read well and to flow as smoothly as possible.
September 2009. I have recently received a number of very kind, complimentary and personal emails from people who have read and appreciated my work. The stories are always similar, sharing empathy and explaining their own pain at the discovery of the truth about the Mormon Church. Invariably, readers had concluded the Church could not be true before they read my books and in my work they found some final and conclusive evidence as to why. I am very grateful for the emails - for the empathy and the thoughts. I wrote my books as a form of therapy following my devastating discovery of the truth the Church conspires to hide from members. I hoped that some of my children who are active Mormons may one day find the courage to read my work. I also hoped it might help others in their discovery of the truth and it is extremely gratifying to learn that it has begun to do so. Thank you to those who have written to me expressing such kindness. I have individually replied.
16 August 2009. A Second Edition of Volume 1 was published today following Jean Bodie's meticulous efforts in proof reading and reviewing the First Edition of the book. The result is better flow and removal of some typos which should now make it a more enjoyable read. There is no material difference to the First Edition other than a few minor historical errors which have now been corrected, and the addition of a little information regarding Mormon temple work for deceased Fundamentalists. Added details appear under the 'TMD Volume 1' tab above, so anyone who has the First Edition can review the addtions to Chapter 16.
August 2009. During the last few months, I have had emails from several questioning Mormons who found answers in my work which confirmed their doubts. The stories and anguish are real and heart breaking. Also, it seems, whilst they come to know the truth, some are just not ready to face it and deal with it, for the sake of family relationships and in order to retain friends and a social circle. Some have indicated that they are working on an exit from the Church but are meanwhile first trying to gradually and gently help spouses and family members see the truth, while they will still listen, before they make a formal stand. This is very sensible and understandable. Others however, appear to ignore the truth and continue to hide in the delusion, as they want it to be true more than they want to accept the evidenced facts.
Those who do face and deal with the unwanted truth are brave and often suffer severe consequences as family and friends reject them as apostates. I dedicated my first volume to my first deceased wife and my mother, who would both have been devastated had they discovered the truth before they died. My second was dedicated to my children, two of whom rejected the gospel and live 'normal' lives, and six of whom are faithful Mormons who I doubt will ever read my work. The third book is dedicated to those brave people who not only discover the truth, but who then stand up and are counted, regardless of the consequesnces. This is the dedication:
Dedication
This work is dedicated to those who once knew the joy of believing
beyond any doubt that they had found
within Mormonism, the one true religion
only to discover at some later stage they had been deceived.
To those who had to reluctantly face and deal with
the unwanted and at first unbelievable
but ultimately undeniable truth.
Many who discover the truth, consciously decide to ignore it,
reverting to their delusion for the supposed sake of family and friends;
crawling back into and hiding in the ‘Matrix of Mormonism’, ignoring reality.
To those brave people who acted on the truth;
experiencing the unimaginable suffering, trauma
and consequences, which affect relationships within family
and a circle of friends; standing up and being counted
for the sake of integrity –
I dedicate this work and wish them a speedy, effective and complete
recovery from Mormonism.
July 2009. Volume 3 published 18 July 2009.
June 2009. I had the pleasure of meeting Jean Bodie this month. Visiting family in England, Jean and her husband Jim found time for us to spend a lovely day together before their flight back to Canada where they live. Jean has been diligently helping with proof reading and editing my work and to meet her in person was an absolute delight. It is strange how different paths cross throughout our lives. Jean also discovered and had to face the awful truth about the Mormon Church and like me has been dealing with the trauma ever since. Her assistance in ensuring my work is as accurate and effectively written as possible has been invaluable. We are nearing the end and Volume 3 will be out soon.
May 2009. TMD Volume 2 is now available to purchase from Lulu.com and will shortly become available from Amazon and other outlets. My grateful and heartfelt thanks once again go out to Jean Bodie who kindly offered to proof read and help with the final edit of Volume 2. This extremely difficult journey has been made easier at the publishing stage with Jean's kind help, eagle eye and sense of proportion. I have deeply appreciated Jean's hard work which has resulted in a far better finished product than would otherwise have been the case.
April 2009. I am grateful for the positive feedback regarding TMD Volume 1 and particularly want to thank Jean Bodie for her careful reading and minor corrections which will appear in the next edition.
March 2009. I recently had a polite and interesting exchange of emails with an active member of the Mormon Church. One misconception he had was that authors such as myself write the material we do in order to make money. Just to clarify matters, very few authors make much of anything financially from their efforts. It's a bit like being a recording artist. Very few make substantial returns. Most never 'make it' so to speak. In this 'limited interest' genre, no author is ever likely to recoup the costs of the time, research and publication of their work, nor in my experience is it their objective. Authors have to sell a great many books to actually gain financially and books on Church history do not exactly make any 'best seller' lists, even when written by more prominent authors. There is relatively little interest outside the community who have left the Church and those who are seriously questioning their faith.
It takes years of research to produce such work and in my case I doubt very much that I will ever get back even a small percentage of the costs I have incurred. The motivation (and I am sure this applies to most if not all others who write such material) is purely and simply a compulsion to publish the truth for those who seek it.
In my own case, it has been my therapy as I try to somehow come to terms with the awful truth that the things I accepted as real in my life were no more than a complete fabrication, established for the sole purpose of satisfying the appetites (money, power and women) of Joseph Smith. My hope is that one day, some of my family may find the courage to read my work, learn and accept the truth. I hope a few others may also benefit from my writing along the way.
To recoup the costs of three years of full time research and writing would require sales of many thousands of copies of my work. Realistically, some people may be surprised to learn; many books such as this, sell no more than a few dozen to perhaps a few hundred copies. Few get into the low thousands and none sell more than that. With just a few dollars per book in royalties, it is easy to calculate the amount an author may expect in return for his or her efforts. Please be assured that writers of Mormon history who expose the truth are motivated by anything but money.
Another interesting thing mentioned by this member was that he could accommodate the lies concerning early polygamy and also the lies after the Manifesto, accepting there really was a 'greater good' behind it all. This I simply cannot understand, but clearly he is not alone in his ability. This is not a measure of faith, it is evidence of a very deep seated delusional state. Personally, I could never have accommodated any such thing as a member of the Church and I hold Church leaders to the same standards 'expected' of rank and file members - i.e., Articles of Faith 12 & 13 - to say nothing of the standard I hold any God to, Mormon or otherwise.
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