Kathy Kliffs notes on the History of the Morman Church. The NUTS and bolts of it all.

In my last post, I made reference to my belief that the Mormon religion is a cult. And how my son is disappointed with the many Christians in his life that seem to be backing Romney just because he is the Republican Candidate. When the political conventions were done, and the 2 candidates that were put before us voters became official, I had a major sense of doom and gloom. That tight feeling you get in your gut when your know that you screwed up. The feeling that, we as a nation had dropped the ball so long ago and stopped paying attention to what is truly important. Was this feeling a divine experience for God? I don't think so. More likely too much soda, pizza, and the fact that I tend to over think things.

Anyways, if you think that the Mormon church is just another Christian organized denomination, think again. If you think that like the Baptist, Methodist, Catholics, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, we are all the same except for our service styles. Your wrong. This is how the Mormon Church was birthed.

NY, early 1800's there was much unrest in the Christian Church. The Catholics, Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterians, all believed that they were the true church, and the others ones were false. 14 year old Joseph Smith Jr., wanted to know which denomination was the true doctrine. So he went into the woods, to inquire of the Lord. That is when God the Father and God the Son, appeared to him in a vision telling him that they were "all wrong and corrupt". This account can be found in his own words, in the Mormon book, "Pearls of Great Price, Joseph Smith history 1:1-25" Look it up. Google it. Three years later in 1823, the angel Moroni appeared beside his bed and told him of a book written on gold plates, that would provide "the fullness of the everlasting gospel." Later he dug these plates up and translated them using 2 stones that are called "Urim" and "Thummim".

It would be important to mention here that Joesph's Dad was a mystic, and treasure hunter. Dictionary.com's definition for the noun form of mystic is...a person who claims to attain, or believes in the possibility of attaining, insight into mysteries transcending ordinary human knowledge, as by direct communication with the divine or immediate intuition in a state of spiritual ecstasy. Websters has a definition being 2. A practicer of occult or mystical rites. He used divination...the practice of attempting to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge by occult or supernatural means. Joseph Sr. used these practices to aid in his search for treasures. It is said that his mom, Lucy had extreme religious views and was very superstitious.

Joseph Jr. used the stone to translate what would be now known as the Book Of Mormon. He would sit behind a curtain and dictate what would appear on "seer stones" to someone outside of the curtain. That scribe would write it down. The stones are not unlike the ones he and his father would use to find buried treasure. Seer or peep stones are still a popular practice in the occult and witchcraft today. Martin Harris a friend of Joseph Jr., took a sample of the plates and translation to an expert, (Professor Charles Anthon) in ancient writing to see if the writings were genuine, and reported back that it was. Later a letter was written by Anthon rebuking those claims and stating that samples he saw were anything but "Egyptian hieroglyphics."

In 1830, the Book Of Mormon was published by Smith and the Mormon Church was founded. The Church grew in large numbers, despite the fact that they were ostracized for many of the teachings. New teachings were added to the doctrine as Smith continued to receive his 'revelations'. In 1833, the Book of Commandments was published later to be known as Doctrine and Covenants.

In 1843, in the town of Nauvoo, Illinois; where Smith was Mayor, the town newspaper began publishing some of these doctrines including that controversial one, polygamy. Smith felt he had unlimited power so he tried forcibly shut the newspaper down. He was then arrested, due to the pressure of the non-Mormon church. It was there that he died during a gunfight that ensued when 200 of these citizens stormed the jail. It is also said that he was armed as a six-shooter had been smuggled into him. He is regarded as a martyr by the Mormon community.

It is here that the Mormon church was divided into two sections. Brigham Young led a very large group to Salt Lake Valley, Utah, where polygamy became a formal practice of the church. This Sect is called, The church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, and is still headquartered in Utah. Emma, one of Smith's first wives, whom was never crazy about the whole polygamy thing, stayed in the mid west and formed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with her son, Joseph III. This Section of the church is headquartered today in Independence, Missouri. Some now call this branch The Community Of Christ. Smith could have had 8-28 wives. Historians can't seem to agree.

I invite you check out the history of the Mormon church yourself. Not to take what I have said here as 'gospel' for the lack of a better word. Google, read books, ask questions. Next I will talk about what I think (my opinion) really happened that day in 1820.