God's Ordinances Do Not Change

(In response to the church's recent changes to the endowment ordinance)

Within the perameters of LDS theology, changing ordinances is contrary to God’s revealed will.

Joseph Smith said, ““Ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed.” Ironically, the LDS Church cited this quotation in the August 2001 Ensign, pp. 22., after all ordinances in the church had already been changed from their original wording or form, for decades.

Joseph Smith also said, ““Now, the purpose in Himself in the winding up scene of the last dispensation is that all things pertaining to that dispensation should be conducted precisely in accordance with the preceding dispensations...He set the temple ordinances to be the same forever and ever and set Adam to watch over them, to reveal them from heaven to man, or to send angels to reveal them.” Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 4 pp. 208

Unfortunately, ordinances in the Church have been changed numerous times since the death of Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith isn’t the only prophet to condemn the alteration of sacred ordinances. In a prophecy of the Latter-days, Isaiah said:

“The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants: they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, set at nought the ancient covenant.” -Isaiah 24:5, Gileadi Translation

This whole business of changing ordinances in the LDS church is blatant hypocrisy. The LDS church has consistently preached that a primary feature of the Great Apostasy was the alteration of ordinances. Here is one of many, many instances the LDS Church has taught that principle:

“...God is unchangeable, the same yesterday, today, and forever...The great mistake made down through the ages by teachers of Christianity, is that they supposed they could place their own private interpretation on scriptures, allow their own personal convenience to become a controlling factor, and change the basis of Christian law and practice to suit themselves. This is apostasy.” -Prophet’s Message, Church News, June 5, 1965

So only Mormons are allowed to change ordinances? Other Christians who do it are apostates, but not Mormons? Okay.

The LDS Church is embroiled in apostasy, stemming from its very leadership, on down to the common lay member. The doctrines and ordinances, as well as the structure and practice of priesthood roles, have all been corrupted since Smith’s day. Every ordinance in the Church today is different from the way it was revealed to Joseph Smith. The wording of the baptismal prayer was changed, the sacrament has been changed from wine to water, both in the wording of the prayer and the substance used to represent Christ’s blood. All of the temple ordinances have been changed, and they have undergone the most severe and egregious abridgments. This is very serious. The conditions of a covenant are eternal in nature, and are set forth by God, not by man. To alter a covenant he has decreed is eternal and unchangeable, and then to participate in the changed ordinances as if they are an actual covenant, is to make a mockery of God. This is the very same sin that Cain committed when he made an unapproved sacrifice before God.

Few in the church accept it, but the primary purpose of the Book of Mormon is to warn us of this Latter-day institutional apostasy. The warnings are broad in their scope. They range from how the church handles tithing and the treatment of the poor, as well as alterations to the gospel and the acceptance of popular, paid priests who fail to prophesy to the people. It covers the persecution of those who are close to God and challenge the false leaders of the Church. It warns of political and wartime sins of our generation, and so much more.

I would recommend becoming intimately familiar with scriptural prophesy, particularly in Isaiah and The Book of Mormon. I would recommend spending hours digging through Joseph Smith’s writings and sermons. I would encourage becoming familiar with Church History as contained in the original sources (as opposed to potentially doctored compilations and commentaries). The Book of Mormon warns us that if we are fooled by the false traditions of our fathers, we cannot fully turn to God and be saved. That book would not contain such warnings if it were not going to be an issue in the Latter-day Church.

“Yea, it [day of secret combinations and works of darkness] shall come in a day when the power of God shall be denied, and churches become defiled and be lifted up in the pride of their hearts; yea, even in a day when leaders of churches and teachers shall rise in the pride of their hearts, even to the envying of them who belong to their churches…

“…O ye wicked and perverse and stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain? Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled…

“…Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.

“And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.” (Mormon 8:28–36)

“Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation…” (Ether 8:24)

Joseph Smith Was Not A Polygamist

One thing I have grown extremely weary of is folks, both Mormon and otherwise, smearing a prophet's name by calling him a polygamist. I admit that it is hard to sort fact from fiction regarding the LDS church. Anti-Mormons lie about the LDS Church incessantly. The LDS Church itself lies about its history and doctrine virtually every time certain topics such as church organization, priesthood authority, Joseph Smith's teachings about ordinances, leadership fallibility, and as concerns this article, Joseph's polygamy, as well as many other topics.

Fortunately, recent research and increased public availability of historical documents has helped to strip away the lies and justifications that Brigham Young and his successors have used to justify their own adulterous lives. Joseph didn’t do any of the gross stuff the LDS Church claims he did. No plural wives, no sexual encounters with teenage girls. The Cochranites who infiltrated the church in Nauvoo were polygamists, and to justify their adultery, they began to publish perjurous claims and articles claiming Smith had been preaching polygamy to the Mormons. Tragically, the apostles of Smith’s time allowed themselves to be influenced by the Cochranites, and their adulterous shenanigans eventually led to Joseph Smith’s murder. If you’re LDS, this will sound crazy to you. That’s because the Church is unwilling to admit the falsifications of documents, historical research, etc., that have been revealed as a result of research and the contents of the Joseph Smith Papers (it’s bizarre that the LDS Church are unwilling to acknowledge the damning content contained within those papers, since they are the ones who commissioned the project and published them).

Here is what Smith himself wrote about claims that he was a polygamist:

"I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives.... I am innocent of all these charges.... What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers." (History of the Church, Vol 6., pp. 410–411)

Joseph also received a revelation, now canonized as Doctrine & Covenants 111, which states: “Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that one man should have one wife…” (verse 4)

Many claim Joseph was merely attempting to save face, but this is not true. There are many things that need to be examined to sift through the false claims and libel surrounding Joseph Smith to uncover who he really was. Let’s go over a few of the items here.

1. Who were the Cochranites? The Cochranites were followers of Jacob Cochran, a religious leader from the East Coast of the United States. Cochran introduced to his followers the concept of “spiritual wifery”, his name for plural marriage. For a time, his ideas gained some traction in America. This movement began as early as 1816, fourteen years before Joseph Smith even organized a church (Joseph Smith was only 10–11 years old in 1816).
2. Mormon missionaries, including some of the apostles, served missions among the Cochranites. It seems that these proselyting Mormons were converted to polygamy more than the Cochranites were converted to Mormonism. These missionaries brought some of the Cochranites home to the Mormon settlements with them — plural wives and all. Brigham Young had an adulterous relationship with a woman in Boston and brought the involved woman on as his second wife. You can read about the ensuing divorce from her former husband here: Adultery of Brigham Young
3. Expulsion of Polygamists from Nauvoo. Joseph Smith was so opposed to polygamy, that he essentially went on a legal crusade against polygamists, particularly those who justified their polygamy by claiming Joseph himself was one. Among those Joseph expelled from Nauvoo were John Bennett, the mayor of Nauvoo, and a group of men led by William Law, Joseph Smith’s counselor in the First Presidency. One of Joseph’s affidavits against these men reads: “…at sundry times, in the City of Nauvoo, county aforesaid, one Chancy (sic) L. Higbee has slandered and defamed the character of the said Joseph Smith, and also the character of Emma Smith, his wife, in using their names, the more readily to accomplish his purpose in seducing certain females ..." (The People Versus C. L. Higbee, Hancock County Courthouse Archives). It’s interesting to note that this court case took place in a non-Mormon, government court, in which he risked being framed as a polygamist. He won the court case, despite his religious movement not being considered very favorably by U.S. government and people in general.
4. In my opinion, Joseph Smith’s death is one of the most powerful evidences that he was not a polygamist. The LDS Church conveniently forgets to point out to its members that the men who raised the mob to kill Joseph Smith were the men Joseph defeated in the aforementioned court case. These were men who practiced polygamy, claimed Joseph Smith revealed it to them, then were expunged from the community for fraud. These were men who were so attached to the idea that their polygamy ought to be justified or at least allowed to continue, that they decided Joseph Smith had to die for refusing to acquiesce. Joseph Smith knew there was a conspiracy against his life, so he prepared to flee from Nauvoo. Despite his followers shouting in the streets that they would protect him, they called him a coward for attempting to get away. Even his wife, Emma, called him a coward. Joseph Smith said, “If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself,” and he decided to stay in Nauvoo. Joseph probably wasn’t only referring to those calling him a coward, but to those who were conspiring to kill him. William Law, the Higbee brothers, and the apostles who had adopted polygamy, were all people he had considered friends. They wanted him dead. Knowing what was ahead, Joseph decided to stay in Nauvoo. In other words, he allowed himself to be captured and killed, by polygamists who were out for revenge when he expelled them for polygamy. Joseph was falsely accused, arrested, and attacked by a mob raised by polygamists. They shot him to death. Immediately after his death, polygamy-practicing Mormons, led by Brigham Young, reorganized the structure of the church to promote themselves to the head of he church. Smells kinda fishy.
5. What about Doctrine & Covenants section 132? This is the supposed revelation the modern LDS church claims was given to Joseph Smith making the practice of polygamy church-approved and generally acceptable among Mormons. An interesting claim, since it never showed up until Brigham and his followers suddenly produced it in 1852, eight years after Joseph Smith had been killed. With the release of the Joseph Smith Papers, the world has been able to discover that the supposed revelation was not written in Joseph Smith’s handwriting or in the handwriting of any of the scribes Joseph Smith used during his lifetime.
6. What about Joseph Smith’s other wives? We have their names and everything, don’t we? Supposedly. But there are several catches involved here. First, Joseph’s real wife, Emma Smith, was pregnant and bearing children for basically the entirety of their marriage. She bore nine children during Joseph’s short life. Obviously Joseph was a virile and fertile man. So where are Joseph’s other children by his other wives? Oh wait, there never were any. Seems kinda weird for a fertile man who supposedly was bedding something like forty other women. Maybe he wasn’t having sex with anyone else? Or did he just get really, really lucky? It’s doubtful he could have been so sexually active with so many people and never produced a child in such escapades. What’s more, apparently nobody in Nauvoo actually knew Joseph Smith had any other wives, or who those wives were, because no record of who they are turned up until decades later, when the polygamist Mormons were safe and settled in far away Utah. At this time, Mormons were coming under fire, religiously and politically, for openly practicing polygamy. Joseph Smith’s own children and grandchildren were trying to straighten the record of their father’s slandered reputation, and they called out the Mormons for spreading a lie that their dad had been a polygamist. Suddenly, dozens of Utah women came out of the woodwork and basically said, “I was his wife!” “Yeah, me too!” and Brigham Young started pumping out previously unseen and unheard of documents that were supposedly records of the sealing ordinations (temple weddings) that had taken place between these mysterious women and Joseph Smith.

There are many other points of research which have been analyzed and published. It’s an area of topic worth looking into, as it is about time society gave up their sadly false understanding of an American who was truly great and good. But the LDS leaders had to justify their adultery somehow, so they made Joseph Smith their scapegoat. As Joseph Smith’s grandson, Israel Smith, said: “Joseph Smith was the greatest victim of fraud and conspiracy of the last 500 years. Nothing like it in recorded history. He was simply lied about when something had to be done to justify ... Utah Mormon polygamy.” Considering all this, it’s no surprise that Joseph Smith produced a revelation in which God said the Mormons were no longer on his “good” list. This revelation was received in 1832 — the same year some Mormons began practicing polygamy. Coincidence? Probably not. Here are the words God gave to Joseph Smith:

“And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things which you have received — Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole Church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. And they shall remain under condemnation until they shall repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them…” (D&C 82:32–56)

So the Mormons are condemned the same year they begin practicing polygamy, and are told they have taken the things they have received lightly. What things? The Book of Mormon. What does that have to do with polygamy? Well for starters, that book has this passage in it:

“For the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord…Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.” (Jacob 1:23–28, Book of Mormon)

Interesting. God condemned the entire Mormon religion because its members began to practice polygamy, and did so the same year polygamy came into the church, and God cited the reason as their ignoring the commandments, both in the Book of Mormon and elsewhere. You know what else is significant? There was never a revelation in which God lifted the condemnation. Though the LDS church eventually abandoned polygamy (for political reasons, not religious — Mormons still look forward to the day they suppose polygamy will be restored), they have never let go of their false and abominable, slanderous alteration of history in support of polygamy. They continue to idolize men who adulterated and continue to adulterate the word of God.

In short, the current LDS church has no understanding of Joseph Smith or his religion. They are something else almost entirely, except in name, despite their incessant claiming that they are the church Smith founded. According to the revelations he received, Joseph Smith doesn’t agree with modern Mormons on that point.

I urge anyone who has questions on this topic to look into it. The book, “Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy” is a good start.

Give to the Poor, Not to the Church (Pt. 1)

A year ago, I sat in a dark-suited man's office, my two kids crawling around and playing, impatient to leave. My wife was not there. She had decided our family was over. I was heartbroken, and had no idea how to deal with the sledge-hammer of devastating events which followed in the wake of her decision.

The man spoke. He asked why his counselor had not allowed me to pass the temple recommend interview.

"I'm in the middle of divorce. I have no money left. I am losing my home because I cannot pay rent. I have been hungry all summer because I cannot afford food."

The balding man looked at me. His face was stone.

"Do you pay your tithing?" he said.

"I don't have any money. If I pay tithing, not only will I lose my apartment as I already am, but I will get further behind on payments and accrue additional debt. I already can't pay my lawyer anymore."

"So you don't pay tithing?" The man continues to look at me from behind his heavy wooden desk.

"No, I do not pay tithing anymore. I can't."

"Then you don't have faith. Tithing is an official policy."

I don't know what to say. Eventually, I respond with, "How can I pay tithing with nothing?"

"If you had faith, you'd pay tithing before you worried about rent or food or divorce costs."

I was baffled. I paid tithing before all this happened, despite being in poverty even then. The promise that paying tithing before anything else is a force which manufactures financial miracles certainly didn't come to fruition when I was suddenly slapped with a horrible divorce initiated by a vindictive wife who wanted everything she could possibly take from me. Besides, this supposed "promise" was to be found nowhere in scripture, and no where in the revelations.

"You can no longer go to the temple," the man continued. "And you won't be going to your brother's wedding."

At a loss for words, I simply nodded. The meeting ended.

I have never given my money to the church again. There are people who need it more than those old men who are so obsessed with building their castles of marble and gold. Never again will I be duped into believing salvation is bought with money. 

Clearly, the prophets of the Book of Mormon truly saw our day. The leaders of the church do turn the poor out of their places of worship and grind their faces by demanding money for the sake of fine sanctuaries (2 Nephi 28:13), and for building churches up unto themselves to get gain (4 Nephi 1:26).

A Revelation

As a fourteen year old boy, only becoming somewhat aware of the evils that exist in the world, I found myself despairing. I was discovering I was capable of greater sin than I had ever supposed. I was truly beginning to feel the effects of mankind's spiritual separation from God and Heaven. I was sorrowful. I went to my room, knelt beside the foot of my bed, and plead with God for help and forgiveness. I was worried about my spiritual future.

After praying, I climbed into bed and fell asleep. At some point during the night, I began to dream. In my dream, I was a fully grown man. I was in the wilderness with a bunch of other men, who were clearly American. We were under what seemed to be some sort of makeshift structure held up with logs. There were no walls, but there was a roof, which protected supplies such as ammunition and food from the rain. All of us there were armed with rifles. We wore jackets and hats to protect us from the wet weather. Our makeshift structure was surrounded by beautiful, green woodland.

Suddenly, a cry went up and the men readied themselves for a fight, raising their rifles and shouting, running toward what was the front of the structure. Some men left the cover of the roof and positioned themselves in the woods. In the distance, enemy soldiers came into view. They were far enough away that I cannot describe to you their appearance, other than that they wore earthen, camouflage type colors.

Guns roared. The men who were with me were dying. Before long, while I still stood protecting supplies under the roof of the structure, I was shot and fell onto my back in the dirt. I was still conscious, but soon, one of my companions was shot and fell on me. As far as I could tell, everyone else who was with me had been killed. In that moment, I faded away.

Suddenly, the dream became so vivid, it was more powerful even than real life, and not by just a little bit, but immensely so. The sensations were so incredibly tangible that they not only existed on the surface, like so many of the sensations in this life, but flowed through my entire being like wind through the air. I was no longer in the flesh, but was rather in the spirit. The sensation that was carried through me like a gentle wind can only be described as sincere, overpowering peace. In the same instant that this sensation overcame me, a brilliant light, which was pure white with a crystalline blue as an outer bloom, opened from the darkness before me. I could literally feel myself moving into a different plain of existence. I was happy. Happier than I think any word among mortals can convey. And I anticipated my destination. I couldn't wait to see it. The light grew brighter and closer, and then the vision ended.

I opened my eyes, and found myself sitting upright upon my bed, looking upward. The feeling of peace, and an overwhelming sense of sacredness, was still over me. It was tangible. It was not a mental conclusion to a mere night-dream. It was real, and I knew it was more than a simple dream. I knew it was from God. I knew that I would live to see a violent conflict on American soil, and assumed I would die in the conflict, though now I believe that true repentance and true companionship with God could alter my course to a higher calling.

My study of the scriptures eventually opened to my mind the state of those who die, based on their worthiness. The Book of Mormon relates the indescribable joy of those who pass away with a conscience that is clear before God. I knew that God had shown me what that is like, at least initially. Of course, He didn't show me what was on the other side of the veil. Just what it was like to leave the body witness the beginning of moving into the next realm. Even this cursory experience was greater than anything I have yet experienced in the world.

This is one of several prophetic dreams I have received, but this one was the most powerful as far as feeling a real connection to the Spirit and Heaven.

Of Wizards That Peep and Mutter

An old man steps from the darkness, dressed in the fineries of his time, black and white. He grins. A lot. A great hall looms before him as thousands and millions besides pause to hear his voice. 

The thousands and millions do not know it, but he is afraid.

"I have powers," he assures them. "Powers which you are forbidden to hold, or to witness. They are too great for you. My friends and I, we are too good for you."

No one says a word. They continue to listen. 

The old man is still afraid.

"I have gifts," he assures them. "They are very expensive, but they are available to all of you, for a price. These gifts are better than anything you have. If your child goes hungry, it matters not. Pay me for these gifts, or you will die forever."

The audience takes note. Don't pass up the gifts. Pay up.

"I have friends in high places," the man assures them. "They will do my bidding. They are better than you. They know more than you are allowed to know. If you speak ill of me or of them, they will retaliate."

The audience fears him. They will obey, and many shall never utter a disagreement.

"I am perfect," the old man says. "I don't make any mistakes, you can count on it. Some say I make mistakes. They are evil, fear them. Adam and Eve? Mistakes. Jonah? Big mistakes. Peter? Plenty of mistakes. Joseph Smith? He was stupid and unschooled in our wisdom, though he did God's work.

"I don't make mistakes, and I am learned and wise. Don't worry about me. Don' t think about it. I'm incapable of fallacy."

The old man speaks God's sacred name. 

"Amen," he says.

He steps back into the darkness, not to be seen again for months.

The thousands and millions say, "We are a great people, for we have perfection at our head."

They walk into the streets. Scrawny men with shaggy beards ask for money and food. Children languish without fathers. Fathers sit behind bars, though they did not offend God. All these and more cry up to God for deliverance.

"We have not got any money," the thousands say, and walk by. They are priests, they are officials in the fine buildings.

Then they give thousands and millions in money to the old man in the darkness, and the old man buys them expensive gifts. Castles of marble and gold are built around the world as a testimony of his greatness.

Some have no money, and they give not to the old man, for they suffer hunger and are in want of shelter. They beseech the old man, saying, "Pray, let us enter your castles. We wish to know God as well as the others."

"Have you any money?" The old man asks.

"No," they say. Some say their money was stolen. Others that they have nowhere to find or earn money. Others that great tragedies cost them all they had.

"You do not love me enough," says the old man, and slams the doors of his castles in their faces, then lifts his hands to God in prayer.

"We thank thee that we are a chosen people," he says.

And two books open, and in their pages, written over and over again, are the words,

"You are a people chosen by yourselves to be delivered up unto the flood of fire."

And the old man covers his ears and sends his minions to destroy all those who read those words from the books.

Blunder #1

September, 2014.

Evergreen, CO

As the snow falls softly on the house-crested wilderness, I gaze into the mountains. There, amid the glowering fog, stand a thousand layers of dark pines, fading into the haze. Nearby, an elk bugles.

For some reason, I fail to take a walk.

Of Souls and of Winters

Winter is on the horizon. This season has a strange power unlike any other; its chilled breezes tend to flow into my mind and heart before it is felt or seen physically. For me, winter is as much a season of the soul as it is a tide of change in nature, and it rises within the breast before it creeps upon the face of the earth.

I suppose this may be unique to me (though it may not). As a teen I was bound far less to my rationale than to my heart. Moving with my family into a wide, open landscape in rural Idaho expanded winter into a vast and endless vista, and had a deep impact on my inner emotional landscape; the experience occurred parallel to losing hope in befriending and loving a girl who had become important to me over the course of the most recent months. To a young, bereaved romantic, it was a winter of the soul, and the snowy, windswept Idaho countryside was an illustration of the emptiness I refused to escape.

This period was not without its warmth. In the frozen brooks and rills of rural Idaho, a quiet peace pervaded. A reverence would fall over my mind; among the towering skeletons of trees, as I was standing on a frozen pond next to a copse-crowned islet, I was in the temple of God. The permanent whisper of the valley wind was like a still small voice, simultaneously encouraging peace and urgency. Such whispers still echo within me when I reflect on those winters.

As the years have passed, the true Spirit of God has wrought wonders in the various winters of my life. Through the tribulations of mortality, I have found that the darkest of nights and the coldest of days become temples of God when we open our hearts to the Healer of Souls and let him dwell there and do His work within us. As a teen, the Idaho winter became a friend to which I could relate, a hostile landscape in which God's hand could be seen, felt, even held. Now, though I am yet inexperienced and have decades of winters to tread through, I view winters as a symbol of Christian suffering and saintly ecstasy. At what time in the year is a fire valued more than in winter? When, in the course of human experience, does a blanket, a house, or a housemate become so evidently necessary, and therefore, so evidently Heaven-sent, than in the months of winter?

So it is that the suffering of mortality becomes the darkness in the which Light, which emanates from Christ, stands out in stark contrast against all of our opposition. Christ is the master of such seasons, and we can expect each season to come in its due course "while the earth remaineth." May we ever turn to Him in "seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night [which] shall not cease." (Genesis 8:22)