Excellent post.
I’m more convinced than ever that the lds is a factory for lying.
Early church leaders publicly denied committing polygamy. Although the practice began by the mid-1830's, it wasn't announced even to the average members of the church until 1852. One reason offered is that God had told Joseph Smith that the world wasn't ready to hear about the commandment to practice polygamy. And it was a commandment. The LDS prophet Brigham Young said:
"Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned;and I will go still further and say, take this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord has given,
and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned.
Brigham Young - Journal of Discourses 3:266 (July 14, 1855).
In 1998, LDS prophet Gordon B. Hinckley appeared on the Larry King show and was asked about polygamy. He said:
"When our people came west they permitted it on a restricted scale."
Of course, polygamy was practiced before the LDS came west to Utah. And there were no limitations on the scale of practice in Utah.
It's like my post here, where a group of LDS not 'officially' affiliated with the LDS Church corrects the media on what Mormons believe. Although the site told the media on 1/5/2012 that there were 'zero' instances on LDS.org where the concepts that Mormons would become gods over their own planets was taught, I found eighteen instances, including Church Educational System manuals for children (4-11), youth (14-18), college students, couples considering marriage, and a doctrinal announcement by the prophet and quorum of twelve. I link another post in which I provide links to this teaching from the LDS Gospel Principles guide on the LDS.org site, quotes from prophets, articles from LDS magazines on the LDS.org site, and so on.
How can this be?
There is a sense of us versus them. The Missouri Wars were a two-sided affair but Mormons have been taught that was entirely persecution. I've linked the history taught to LDS youth. It's hidden behind a portal that you need a LDS password to access; gentiles aren't supposed to see it.
Cynics call what the Mormons do "Lying for the Lord." You can Google what ex-Mormons have to say about it.
A member of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve (an Apostle of the LDS Church), Dalin Oaks, gave a famous speech justifying some kinds of lying - because there are appropriate lies. He said:
" My heart breaks when I read of circumstances in which wives and children were presented with the terrible choice of lying about the whereabouts or existence of a husband or father on the one hand or telling the truth and seeing him go to jail on the other. These were not academic dilemmas. A father in jail took food off the table and fuel from the hearth. Those hard choices involved collisions between such fundamental emotions and needs as a commitment to the truth versus the need for loving companionship and relief from cold and hunger. My heart also goes out to the Church leaders who were squeezed between their devotion to the truth and their devotion to their wives and children and to one another. To tell the truth could mean to betray a confidence or a cause or to send a brother to prison. There is no academic exercise in that choice!
I think too many Mormons have taken his message out of proportion and believe that denial or lying to protect the church is justified. They are supported by the teaching of LDS Apostle Boyd K. Packer in his famous speech, The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect, in which he instructed LDS historians to write "faithful" history that did not include facts that were harmful to the testimony of LDS members, or that showed the church, its leaders, or its history in a bad light. He said they would not have salvation if they did. It was, and had been, enforced with disenfellowshipment and excommunication.
As Packer said: "Some things that are true are not very useful."
Mormon Cult Deception Method:
1. Convince you of their sincerity
2. Trick you into expressing faith first in the Book of Mormon by praying and asking for a sign (this takes you off the objective ground of Biblical truth and puts you into subjective ground of feelings - where you will have to forever remain to stay in mormonism.)
3. Convince you that the Bible has errors in its translation - though they won't tell you what is an error...
4. Trick you into expressing faith in the prophet Joseph Smith - totally based on feelings and not facts, evidence or logic
5. Trick you into expressing faith in the Restoration of the “Gospel” - totally made up need and a contradiction of the Bible's promises to the Church (see Galatians Chapter one)
6. Get you all the way into the baptismal font.............................................................
7. ONLY THEN... you will learn the true DEVIANT doctrines of
Mormonism. At this point, it is too late! You only have
feelings as a basis of truth! You will believe anything...........................................................
Such as the following “truths” taught in mormonism ...
The 3 Mormon Earth gods:
... The mormon “Heavenly Father” used to be a man, but became God. You will have to swallow that God could sin!
... The Jesus of mormonism was a created spirit being who became one of the three mormon earth gods
... The mormonic Holy Spirit is also a created spirit being. He doesn’t have a body because he is on probation! Yes, he was naughty. He sinned.... In short, the mormon earth gods are sinful, created spirit beings. But there is more...
The FOURTH Mormon Earth God (plus 5th, 6th, 7th, etc.):
...The Mormon Heavenly Mother God
Yes, sadly, believe it or not, it turns out there is a mormonic “Mother God”
... SHE and the father god have celestial sex and produce offspring continually
... SHE is eternally pregnant
... SHE pops out spirit children who will some day get a human body on earth
... SHE is probably not alone. Mormons still believe and teach eternal polygamy.The Mormonic Pantheon of gods:
... There are BILLIONS or TRILLIONS of mormon gods on other planets.
Hindus have approximately 350 million gods. They are
pikers compared to mormons.How do they get so many gods? They manufacture more all the
time:... Any mormon male can be a God with his own planet, plural mother goddesses, and spirit kids to worship him.
... Becoming a mormon god means lots of works to attain the god-level. This is why you see mormons working so hard. Now you know why.
... Speaking of levels, heaven has three levels.
... All the trillions of gods in the mormon pantheon get together regularly over spring break in Kolob Beach to “counsel together”What will your life be like as a mormon?
... you have to give 10%?
... You will give up the total sufficiency of the death of Christ for your sins and rely on your own "worthiness" - which the Bible calls "filthy rags"
... your bishop is there to ask if you gave your FULL tithe
... your bishop is also there to ask many probing, personal, embarrassing questions
... Did we mention you will
... you will have to complete Masonic Temple rituals that involve strangers touching your private parts
... you will forever have to base your life on the false foundation of feelings that contradict the clear teaching of the Bible
... You will have to wear magic underwear 24/7/365Once inside the Morg, you have to accept it ALL to move up the chain towards Godhood. ... It is nothing more than a Celestial Amway Organization
THAT IS THE REAL MORMON/LDS