Misunderstood Gospel Doctrine: 101 Myths Among the Latter-day Saints

 

        A more doctrinally accurate Second Coming of Jesus Christ painting, thanks to a red sharpie.

Introduction:

This is NOT an anti-Latter-day Saint blog post. Rather, it is a clarifier of misunderstood church doctrine and church history, the result of more than 48 years of research by the Author.

By far the two most common incorrect doctrines that church members propagate are: 1. That every person who has ever lived will have their temple work ultimately done; and 2. That Jesus Christ forgave the Jews while hanging on the cross, making scriptures that mention that event as the ultimate in universal forgiveness.

Joseph Smith stressed that erring in doctrine does not prove that someone is not a good person... and we all error at times in doctrine. (Joseph Smith, “History of the Church,” 5:340.)
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are often among the most trusting and gullible people in the world. They also sometimes believe in doctrines they find on the Web that they should know are false and not even worth reading. A big problem too is they sometimes then teach these untruths to other Church members – even in official meetings – especially in fast meetings.

The core problem is that too many Church members these days don’t read the Standard Works – or at best, only read The Book of Mormon over and over.

These members are clueless on what doctrines are found in the Old Testament, the Doctrine and Covenants and/or the Pearl of Great Price, in particular.

President Harold B. Lee, stated very prophetically about the danger of scriptural ignorance in the Ensign Magazine of December 1972:

“I say that we need to teach our people to find their answers in the scriptures. If only each of us would be wise enough to say that we aren’t able to answer any question unless we can find a doctrinal answer in the scriptures! And if we hear someone teaching something that is contrary to what is in the scriptures, each of us may know whether the things spoken are false—it is as simple as that. But the unfortunate thing is that so many of us are not reading the scriptures. We do not know what is in them, and therefore we speculate about the things that we ought to have found in the scriptures themselves. I think that therein is one of our biggest dangers of today.”

Now church members’ believing some, or most of the errors in belief that this book strives to correct or clarify would likely not hinder one’s exaltation, but during one’s eternal progression, all errors in belief will obviously be corrected.

This book does not pretend to contain all the errors of doctrine which members may incorrectly believe, but is just a sampling of what likely exists.

And, if you are a very curious person (like the Author), then there is only one way to ultimately know everything – live the Gospel through your fullest ability and qualify for the top Celestial Kingdom. Only by residing there will one ultimately ever know all things and all learn all mysteries (see D&C 76:7-10).

NOTE: This book contains some of the Author’s own opinions, logic and extrapolation and thus all items may not necessarily be official doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

ADAM AND EVE

1.  Adam and Eve did not sin in the Garden of Eden by partaking the fruit.

According to Elder Bruce. R. McConkie, there are special situations where it is possible to break or transgress a law and not sin. (“Mormon Doctrine,” Bookcraft, 1966, p. 804.)

In addition, the Standard Works refer to Adam and Eve partaking of the forbidden fruit as a transgression, not a sin. (2 Nephi 2:22). Also, the Second Article of Faith states that man will be punished for his own sins and not for Adam’s transgression.

President Joseph Fielding Smith elaborated further when he stated that it wasn’t a sin to bring to pass man’s mortality, a condition necessary for eternal progression. (“Answers of Gospel Questions,” Deseret Book, 1979, 2:214.)

Before partaking of the fruit, Adam and Eve were innocent in the Garden of Eden and did not know good from evil. (Moses 4:11).

Most other Christian churches believe that partaking of the forbidden fruit was a sin and hence most of the confusion in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Notwithstanding, God had to set up seemingly conflicting commandments in the Garden of Eden so that Adam and Eve would have the freedom to choose. Obviously, God could not directly have made Adam and Eve mortal, because he is perfect and mortality is an imperfect condition.

 

2.  Much more than just Adam and Eve fell from a Terrestrial state, when they partook of the forbidden fruit.

Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden shortly after they partook of the forbidden fruit and became mortal. Also, quickly or slowly, the Earth and all living things on it switched to a mortal or telestial state too.

According to Elder Bruce R. McConkie, all forms of life fell too. In addition, the Earth itself literally fell from where it was organized (near Kolob) and moved to its present location.

Coincidence or not, the Earth and its solar system are currently located on the edge of the galaxy, about as far away from the center as possible.

Sources: Bruce R. McConkie, “Mormon Doctrine,” Bookcraft, 1966, page 268; Brigham Young, “Journal of Discourses,” 17:143 (from a discourse on July 19, 1874.); Isaiah 13:13; and N.B. Lundwall, “The Vision,” Bookcraft, 1951, page 146.

 

3.  Cain and Abel were not Adam and Eve’s first children.

 The world's first earthly parents had earlier children who did not obey the Commandments of God ("God's Greatest Gift," by Elder Theodore M. Tuttle, Deseret Book, 1976, page 62; Also see Moses 5:12-16).

                                    Animals at a farm in Davis County, Utah.

ANIMALS

4.  Animals cannot sin or repent.

Although sometimes church members may believe in evil animals, Joseph Fielding Smith said animals cannot sin or repent because they have no conscience. ("Man, His Origin and Destiny," Deseret Book, 1954/1973, pages 204-205.)
Logically, animals would require belief and baptism, if they were under the same obligations as man is.
Scriptural references of corruptible things being destroyed at the Second Coming of Christ (D&C 101:24) likely refer to changes from a telestial world to a terrestrial state.
Animals will be resurrected, though (D&C 77:3).

 

 

APOCRYPHA

5.  The Book of 2^nd Esdras in the Apocrypha does not contain reliable prophecies about the Latter-Days.

Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have apparently recently seized upon verses from the Book of 2^nd Esdras in the Apocrypha as being Gospel and clearer and more prophetic than the Book of Revelation and the Doctrine and Covenants about what happens in the last days.

These questionable teachings are even on some popular LDS member's pages on Facebook - and yet few seem to be even questioning their validity ....

Before anyone buys into this kind of risky doctrine, they should consider the following:

The Prophet Joseph Smith said much of the Apocrypha is true and much of it is false. (See D&C 91:1-2). Without the spirit, it is not possible to determine which is which. The scriptures also stated it was not needful for the Prophet to re-translate any of the Apocrypha. Why? Likely because there was nothing important enough there. The Prophet also wanted to run for President of the United States. If the Esdras sections of the Apocrypha actually contain the future history of U.S. Presidents (as some claim in an “eagle's feathers” treatise), it is hard to accept that Joseph Smith didn’t note that somewhere – and yet he didn’t.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said time and time again that Church members should read the Book of Mormon -- a book of scripture written for us and our day. He said nothing about reading the Apocrypha. It is the Book of Mormon that is the book for the American continent. The Sealed Plates of the Book of Mormon likely do have a detailed history of the world from the beginning to the end, so why would Esdras have a small section of that in it?

It is simply hard to believe that Ezra, who wrote the book of Esdras in the Apocrypha, could be so detailed in his so-called foretelling of the American Presidency and future of the USA, when no other scripture -- including the Doctrine and Covenants -- is even close to being as detailed. And, the Lord's style simply ISN'T to give man such detailed accounts of things to come -- and certainly not a presidential timeline.
This book isn't the only one to question the teachings in Esdras. For example, ldsscriptureteachings.org states:

"The apocalyptic tone of II Esdras is impressive and appealing. Not all of the content, however, is trustworthy. It tries to describe some very questionable signs of the Second Coming as follows:

…infants a year old shall talk, and women with child will bring forth untimely infants at three or four months, and they will live and dance…

…[in that day] wild animals will go outside their [dens], and women in their uncleanness will bear monsters. (2 Esdras 6:21; 5:8)"

Also, the same blog states:

"The Second Book of Esdras teaches false doctrine about Father Adam, blaming him for the consequences of the Fall."

Plus, who was the author of Esdras? He was Ezra, a scribe and priest for the Jews. Not likely a prophet ... and why did he get such revelation that was certainly not in any way pertinent to his calling?

Doesn’t D&C 50:13 apply here to Ezra?

(“Wherefore, I the Lord ask you this question—unto what were ye ordained?”)

Or, even if Ezra was writing down a prophet’s words, who was that prophet?

Finally, if you search Ezra the Jewish scribe on Google, it is clear that many scholars believe his writings are counter to other Biblical doctrines and Esdras may not have actually been fully written when Ezra was even still alive, but may have been written later on. Some scholars even question Ezra’s sanity during some of his writings.

Bottom line: Some Church members are too hasty to believe such fringe and shaky doctrines these days, especially with the easy access to them via the Web.

Some of these same Church members likely haven't even read the Old Testament, or the Pearl of Great Price and yet they jump to The Apocrypha? If they don't know what's in the Standard Works, then how can they judge authenticity for The Apocrypha? 
Lastly, Robert J. Matthews, Brigham Young University professor, said, "When compared with the scriptures, the Apocrypha is less fruitful soil for spiritual growth without greater than usual assistance from the Spirit … While historians and scholars can find much in these documents of importance to their research, average Church members will receive a greater spiritual return on their investment of time by reading the Bible and the other standard works than they will by reading the Apocrypha." (Ensign magazine, December, 1983, page 70.)

   This variation Bigfoot photo by Darrell Duane Smith shows the creature with red eyes, a sometimes description of what the author believes to essentially be a “demon” -- the opposite of an angel.

                                                                                                (Darrell Duane Smith photo collection.)

BIGFOOT

6.  Whatever Bigfoot is, it is definitely not Cain, from the Old Testament.

Whatever “Bigfoot” may be, and real or not, one thing is a clear scriptural fact – he is not Cain from the Biblical Book of Genesis. 

The scriptures simply prove Cain died thousands of years ago.

Anyone reading Genesis 4:15 should be able to realize that God did not make Cain immortal. Cain could be killed (since God warned everyone not to kill Cain, or be cursed worse).

“And the Lord said unto him, therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.” (Genesis 4:15).

Unless God is a liar, Cain, though a son of perdition, could be killed and was therefore not translated, or given any special longevity.

Therefore, there’s no way then Cain could have survived old age or the flood.

And, Genesis 4:23-24 tells of Lamech, who killed an unidentified man.

“If Cain shall be avenged seven fold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.” (Genesis 4:24).

So, it is possible that Lamech may have actually killed Cain sometime later, because first Lamech referenced the penalty for killing Cain and then said he felt his own death should carry a higher penalty than killing Cain did.

Any way you look at it, Cain is long since dead.

Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints starting believing Cain to be Bigfoot (also called Sasquatch), in the winter of 1980, after there was a flurry of Bigfoot sightings in South Weber, Utah.

Those many, and high publicized sightings of Bigfoot, referenced with pages 127-128 of Spencer W. Kimball’s book, “Miracle of Forgiveness,” seemed to support Cain as Bigfoot.

                                Another variation of Bigfoot, a person in costume.

                                                                                          (Darrell Duane Smith photo collection.)

“Miracle” states an account by Elder David W. Patten (one of the early apostles in Joseph Smith’s time) and his strange experience, where he met "a very remarkable person who had represented himself as being Cain."

Patten’s account states:

“As I was riding along the road on my mule, I suddenly noticed a very strange personage walking beside me. … His head was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle. He wore no clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin was very dark. I asked him where he dwelt and he replied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very miserable creature, that he had earnestly sought death during his sojourn upon the earth, but that he could not die, and his mission was to destroy the souls of men. About the time he expressed himself thus, I rebuked him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, and commanded him to go hence, and he immediately departed out of my sight. …"

Elder Kimball offered no insight on the Elder Patten incident – he just threw it in his book, as a sort of odd tidbit.

Church members who have at best only done a casual reading of Genesis, could logically, yet erroneously conclude that Bigfoot must be Cain, once they know of Elder Patten’s incident.

And, no area of the world has more church members residing in it, than the populous Wasatch Front, where the 1980 Bigfoot sightings took place.

Plus, Cain as Bigfoot makes Bigfoot supernatural and conveniently explains why no one has been able to document or capture Bigfoot.

This Elder Patten tale is also not the only LDS tale of a possible encounter with Cain either. In the 1920s, E. Wesley Smith, mission president in Hawaii (Not Temple President, as some accounts wrongly state), described (in the "Papers of E. Wesley Smith" in the LDS Church Archives) being attacked by a large, hairy creature. He drove it off by the power of the priesthood. Later, when he described the attack to his brother, Joseph Fielding Smith, he was told it was Cain and was given a copy of the Patten encounter.
According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of October 18, 2015, there was also an account of LDS Missionaries in Mexico during the 1920s meeting a large, dark, hairy creature who claimed to be Cain. 
Decades later, missionaries in Georgia were attacked by a huge dark black man who their mission president later told them was Cain.
Since Cain died, he would have ended up in the spirit world, where all dead people go. Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, himself went there when he died. Christ left the spirit world after three days, being resurrected.

That’s the only way to exit the spirit world is to be resurrected too, so Cain would still be there – likely in the prison section of the Spirit World.

Why did David W. Patten’s visitor claim to be Cain?

Even the devils, the one-third of the host of heaven cast out for rebellion, recognize that Cain will be the supreme evil being one day. Having a body of flesh and bone one day through eventual resurrection will mean that Cain will rule over a body-less Satan. (“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” page 169.)

That’s because anyone with a body has power over a spirit. A spirit, like a devil, only has power over us as we permit it.

Anyway, if a devil is going to impersonate the big shot of evil, that’s Cain.

Why did Joseph Fielding Smith tell his brother Cain had attacked him?

It is likely that then Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith knew of the Elder Patten account, but did not study the Cain situation through – he just assumed incorrectly it was Cain in both cases, as that’s such an easy, convenient answer. That’s likely the same faulted logic still used by most church members today too.

 

BOOK OF ABRAHAM

7.  Kolob is not where God dwells, just the closest revealed place.

According to Abraham 3:6, Kolob is “near” unto God and thus not where he actually dwells. That location hasn’t been named.

“And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.”

 

8. Grammatically, it should have best been “Nigh” unto Kolob in the hymn, not “Hie.”

OK, the Author’s eyebrows raise whenever he sees the title of a song in the Church Hymn book, "Hie unto Kolob." (page 284).
Its title is simply NOT grammatically correct and perhaps not doctrinally correct either.
(Some Church artwork is not doctrinally correct either, so this should come as no real surprise.)
Based on the Book of Abraham 3:1-4, 9, the song takes an incorrect title.
"Hie" is not "Nigh."
"Hie" in Old English means "to quickly, hasten, hurry," according to Webster's Dictionary. "Hie" is NOT found in the Book of Abraham.
"Nigh" means "nearly, almost," according to Webster. "Nigh" is found in the Book of Abraham.
"And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord's time; which Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest."  (Abraham 3:9).
That's what the scriptures states, "nigh" twice.
Brother Phelps may have aided the Prophet Joseph Smith in the translation of the Book of Abraham, but he indirectly helps to perpetuate an incorrect belief among Latter-day Saints today.
Phelp's song essentially says to hurry to Kolob, as if Kolob is the eternal goal of church members.
The problem is that most church members incorrectly believe Kolob is where God actually dwells.
In fact, Kolob is simply the name of a great star that is nearest where God dwells (Abraham 3:3) and not actually the place where God dwells.
(We are given no specific name as to God's residence, except perhaps highest level of the Celestial Kingdom.)
Abraham chapter 3 is more than an astronomy lesson.
The Lord is saying to draw near unto him, like Kolob is.
And, anyone who strives for eternal perfection -- required for becoming like God -- knows you can't hurry, or hasten that process. It take time and goes precept by precept.
Also, a man can’t be perfect in this life. (Jesus Christ was the only perfect person to have ever lived on Earth.) So, the Lord may also be implying to become as "nearly, almost" as perfect as you can in this life -- thus coming nigh unto Kolob.
In still another beef about a hymn, a second song is "Come, Come, Ye Saints" (Hymns, pages 30 and 326.)
A key phrase in that rousing Mormon Pioneer rendition is "All is well, all is well."
Why is that particular phrase in that song?
Had the hymn's writer, William Clayton, not read the Book of Mormon enough or what?
"Wo be unto him that crieth All is well!" (2 Nephi 28:25).
Was Clayton oblivious to that verse or what?
Why did he have to use the phrase exactly as mentioned in the Book of Mormon in the hymn?
Clayton's original name for the hymn was actually "All is Well," later changed to "Come, Come, Ye Saints." So, at least that's one improvement in the song over the years and likely evidence that there’s at least a minor problem with the "all is well" phrase.
Now it is not that there is not a desire for things to have been well with the Mormon Pioneers, early church members, or even today's Saints.
Clayton could have used a different word, instead of "well" in the song.
"All is clear"; "all is serene"; "all is great"; or "all is best" could have been possible substitutes.
Normally, as in "nigh unto Kolob," it may be best to quote scripture, but not when it is clearly a negative, as with 2 Nephi 28:25.
Hymn No. 7, "Israel, Israel God is Calling" is another Song that seems to have a problem. Clearly, the most key words in this rousing hymn are: "Come to Zion." That should be the song's title, not "Israel, Israel God is Calling."
There is already a precedent for doctrinal changes in Hymns. "I am a Child of God" had a one-word change from "know" to "do," after a suggestion by then Apostle Spencer W. Kimball.
Songs aren't necessarily written to be doctrinal essays and perhaps should not be analyzed as such. They are rousing musical renditions to honor God and evoke his Spirit. That is their purpose. Absolute correct doctrine in a hymn is a priority much further down the line of importance ... but it is still always good to know correct doctrine. Hence this analysis.

BOOK OF MORMON

9. Joseph Smith did not translate the Isaiah portions in the Book of Mormon directly from the Golden Plates.

The Book of Mormon's Isaiah portions were translated differently than the rest of the sacred book.
In other words, Joseph Smith directly and divinely translated most of the Book of Mormon from the Gold Plates exactly as it was written by its ancient prophets.
However, the Biblical Isaiah portions were NOT translated in that manner.
Generally, the Prophet Joseph Smith used the King James portions of Isaiah, already in the Old Testament, to convey the original Book of Mormon message.  Exceptions were when the Prophet felt the existing Isaiah verses didn't accurately convey original meaning. (Source: Richard Lloyd Anderson, "By the God and Power of God," Ensign Magazine, September 1977, pages 84-85; and also "Mormon Doctrine," page 423).
However, that being said, the Book of Mormon is to be a "familiar voice" to its investigating readers (Isaiah 29:4/2 Nephi 26:16-17).
It thus can't be too overwhelming doctrinally explicit.
So, some more drastic changes in the Isaiah texts were not made by Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon, but were later made in the Inspired Version of the Bible (Compare Inspired Version. Isaiah 50:5-7 with 2 Nephi 7:5-9; and also compare I.V. Isaiah 52:15 with 3 Nephi 20:45).
This does not make the Book of Mormon any less "true," as it is correct for its purpose to be a "familiar voice" and keystone of the Faith.

 

10. The Book of Mormon almost didn’t begin with “I Nephi…”

No, there were earlier books, in the portions Martin Harris lost. The missing first book was "The Book of Lehi" and Mormon made abridgments from that book, as the Lord knew what would be lost in the future. ("Voice from Cumorah," The New Era Magazine, November 1974, page 17/"Book of Mormon Compendium," by Sidney B. Sperry, Bookcraft, 1968, page 44.)

 

                                            This is Bountiful, Utah's own "Hill Cumorah."

11. There is a second American “Hill Cumorah,” in Bountiful, Utah.

The famous Hill Cumorah, located just south of Palmyra, New York, is one of the shrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was here that Saints believe Joseph Smith was divinely directed to find the buried Golden Plates that were later translated into the Book of Mormon, the cornerstone of the faith.
Bountiful, Utah, too, has a Hill Cumorah.
Bountiful, named after a city mentioned in the Book of Mormon, has its Hill Cumorah on the city's southeast side, east of Bountiful Boulevard at about 3800-4300 South in the Foothill/Summerwood Drive area. It's on the opposite side of town from the Bountiful LDS Temple.
The unofficially named Bountiful Hill Cumorah, some 2,300 miles away from the original, was first called that by Bountiful resident Wilford C. Wood, who owned property there.
"He thought the hill resembled the Hill Cumorah," Wilford W. Cannon, a grandson of Wilford C. Wood, said. Bountiful City officials in the 1990s began referring to it as Hill Cumorah too.

"The city's slant on it is that it is a historical name and it is easily recognized by most of the city staff," Tom Hardy, Bountiful city manager, said. "We do have a water tank on the south side of the hill and we have informally called it the 'Cumorah tank,' although it is not an official designation."
The water tank is a 1.5 million-gallon, 110-foot diameter, concrete structure.
This Hill Cumorah is well known by residents who live in that area of town and by old-timers, but most others are likely unaware of it.
LDS Church President David O. McKay spoke at a special fireside on the meadow behind the Bountiful hill in July of 1956.
According to the Davis County Clipper newspaper of July 27, 1956, leaders of the Bountiful and South Davis stakes at the time "were treated to an exceptional evening's entertainment" on July 19 of that year.
"The affair took place at Wilford Wood's 'Hill Cumorah,' a hill on his property in Val Verda which closely resembles the original in New York. Special guests for the occasion were President and Mrs. David O. McKay. President McKay gave the more than 500 listeners an inspirational talk on divine authority," The Clipper newspaper reported.
Wood, who died in 1968, had a passion for historical sites. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was also instrumental in the church's acquisition of several key historical sites.
Among other purchases, he bought a portion of the Nauvoo temple lot on February 20, 1937, on behalf of the church and also the Liberty Jail in Independence, Mo. He made the jail site purchase on June 19, 1939. Joseph Smith, the church's first prophet, and four other church leaders were imprisoned for more than four months in the jail, starting in December of 1838. The church now has a visitor center on the site.
Best viewing options of the hill are at North Canyon Park on Bountiful Boulevard or from as far away as portions of 400 East in Centerville. A large residence now graces the south end of the hill, but Cannon said the north end is committed to remain an undeveloped park area.
Source: Deseret News, by the Author, on July 25, 2003.

 

BOOK OF MOSES

12. The Book of Moses and Book of Genesis do not comprise two different accounts of the Earth’s creation.

The Book of Moses is simply an extraction from Joseph Smith’s “Inspired” revision of the Bible, but it is how the first chapters of the Book of Genesis were supposed to be, before mistranslations and corruptions. The Book of Genesis in the King James version gives Latter-day Saints common ground with other Christians, but as Saints, they have access to much more information on the creation than any other faith.

Source: https://rsc.byu.edu/scriptures-modern-world/joseph-smith-translation-bible

Also, “The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible; plus, a panel discussion, with S. Kent Brown, Victor L. Ludlow, Robert J. Matthews and C. Wildfred Griggs.

 

13. This is the wickedest of all God the Father’s earths.

Read Moses chapter 7 and you realize there are other earths out there, maybe even some in a similar existence of mortal probation like our earth right now.
Our earth is the wickedest of all earths, according to Moses 7:36.

And, speculating now, what might these other, less wicked earths be like?
Intriguing possibilities for thought and perhaps the basis for a good novel someday.
Likely these other earths are much more boring in many respects than ours.
They may have never had a world war, invented nuclear weapons or have a preoccupation with TV shows and movies either.
If our earth really contains both the wickedest and the most righteous souls of all, as a balance, then are these other earths more average?
Our earth is certainly a low end telestial world these days and yet these other earths are more terrestrial level status.
They may have had more scientific development than we have in some areas, not opting to go weapons development crazy. Murder might be rare on these other earths.
Also, church members might be the norm there, at least as widespread as Catholicism is on our earth. That could perhaps foster a kind of Utah "zion curtain" kind of atmosphere globally on these other earths.
How would it feel as Saints, to be the majority and not minority?
Here are some other thoughts on what these other earths might be like:
1. It is doubtful there would be a Las Vegas on other earths, or much gambling.
2. There are probably no X-rated movies or much porn on the Internet.
3. There's likely a continual prohibition of alcohol drinking and to consume it there is probably in the league of cocaine usage on our earth.
4. Men likely far outnumber women in the workforce. Many more women are housewives, and as such, there is less unemployment.
5. Travel may be powered by something other than fossil fuel. People on other earths are likely far more proactive in regards to pollution and have less accent on economic gain. Homes might generally smaller and more modest.
Jesus Christ was crucified on our earth and these other earths logically must know that and of our existence, because only here were there wicked enough people to kill him.

BRIGHAM YOUNG

                           This is the famous hearse at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion attraction.

14. The Disneyland “Hearse” is not Brigham Young’s.

 “There’s always room for one more” could be the unofficial slogan for Disneyland’s popular Haunted Mansion attraction. That phrase could also apply to the growing population of urban legends, including the incorrect belief that the white, horse-drawn hearse in front of the Haunted Mansion, in Anaheim, California, is the same one that carried Brigham Young’s body from his funeral to his burial place in 1877.
Glen M. Leonard, director of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Museum of Church History and Art, said historical records are conclusive that the hearse couldn’t possibly have been used for Young.
“Historical evidence shows no hearse was used,” he once told the Deseret News.
However, Leonard agrees that it’s possible the hearse may have gone to California from Utah, where it could have been used in Salt Lake City, though probably after President Young’s time.
Dozens of Internet sites claim the Haunted Mansion hearse was used for Young. Some Disneyland visitors even report that tour guides occasionally tell guests the hearse carried Young. Other Web sites debate the issue. All it takes is a “haunted mansion and hearse” subject search on the Web to find these sites.
Leonard said Young’s will was explicit about his funeral and burial. President Young died in the Lion House on August 29, 1877, and his body was carried on a platform by clerks and employees, as prescribed in the will, to the Tabernacle for the funeral. Afterward, the same pall bearers hand-carried the casket up South Temple, through Eagle Gate and to the small private cemetery at First Avenue.
No wheeled vehicle was used in the transport of the body for the few blocks it needed to be transported.
Disneyland sources even express some doubt about the hearse’s Brigham Young connection.
“It is documented to the extent that it can be documented,” John McClintock, a regional publicity manager for Disneyland, told the Deseret News. “It is at least a widespread belief that the hearse carried Brigham Young. . . . However, the proof is hardly indisputable.”
Disneyland acquired the hearse from a Malibu collector, Dale Rickards, who had nothing to trace the ancestry of the wagon. Apparently, there were once some documents of authenticity, but when the previous owner of the hearse, Robert “Dobie Doc” Cottle of Las Vegas, died, the papers apparently disappeared.
There are also rumors of a Young family from the Salt Lake area owning the hearse before Cottle got it, but no one’s been able to verify that either. That possible “Young” connection could be the source of the Brigham Young link.
The Disney Archives had no additional information available on the hearse.
To Disneyland, the hearse is a prop, and there is no official sign that connects it to Brigham Young. In fact, the manufacturer’s plate on the hearse is missing, so its origin cannot be verified.
McClintock said the Haunted Mansion continues to be one of the park’s more popular attractions, and since many Utahns frequent Disneyland, the hearse and a possible Brigham Young connection are discussed frequently.
(Notwithstanding the Brigham Young myth, there is one actual tie to Utah – and Latter-day Saints – for the Haunted Mansion. When actor Kurt Russell narrated an insider’s look at the newly opened Haunted Mansion in 1970 for Disney’s “Wonderful World of Color” TV series, he was accompanied on the tour by none other than the Osmond Brothers from Utah.)

Source: two articles by the Author, in the Deseret News, one on February 23, 2001 and another on February 24, 2017.

 

CALLING AND ELECTION

15. A person can fall/sin after having their “calling and election made sure.”

Church members who incorrectly believe exaltation is absolutely guaranteed after a "Calling Election is Made Sure" rely on the common title of such an event, rather than doctrine.
The more correct term would be "Calling and Election Made More Sure," in line with "A more sure word of prophecy." (2 Peter 1:19, History of the Church, 5:389).
Joseph Smith taught (“History of the Church,” 6:252-253) that a man can fall from grace after having a calling and election made -- if he commits unpardonable sins (denying the Holy Ghost or committing murder or adultery).
Further such doctrine is taught in “History of the Church,” 5:291-292 and 6:81, 253.
Some lesser sins mean a judgment in the flesh will happen, followed by being turned over to the buffeting of Satan (D&C 20:32-33, 132:26-27).

 

CHURCH

16. The Church’s name is not totally unique, but has a doppelganger.

There is another church, that broke off from the main Latter-day Saint Church, with an exceedingly similar name (and copyright) to this title: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (No “The” and no hyphen, with an upper case “D”.)

The small, "Strangite" church, mainly in the Wisconsin area, is a break off from the original Church, but has legal rights to the title written in this paragraph.

This church was started by William J. Strang, June of 1844 and its members (less than 200 active as of 2025) believe he was the legal successor to Joseph Smith. Their main church building is in Burlington, Wisconsin. There are also branches of this church in Artesia, New Mexico and Castell, Texas.

A person the Author talked to years ago visited the main chapel in Burlington. She said she saw a giant portrait of Joseph Smith on the wall and next to that was an identically sized portrait of William J. Strang.

Go to Google and search for "Strangite" and click on their Web Site to see that almost identical church title pop up, or access the Web address below.

Source: https://www.ldsstrangite.com/about-us.html

                         The 28-story LDS Church Office Building in downtown Salt Lake City.

17. The Church Office Building in downtown Salt Lake was originally planned to be 38 stories tall, not just 28 stories.

The 28-story Church Office Building for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints soars above North Temple Street, where it has been the nerve center for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than four decades.
However, the 420-foot tall building was originally planned to be much taller.
Although the Joseph Smith Memorial Building directly honors the first president of the church, the Church Office Building was originally envisioned to do so too — with a planned 38 floors, to commemorate the 38 years of Joseph Smith's life.
The 38 floors didn't materialize — for a variety of reasons — or the building would have soared more than 500 feet high.
So what happened to the additional 10 stories?
J. Howard Dunn, who was in charge of project development for the Church's building committee, said in a 1962 Church News article that the plans were changed and eight stories were scrapped to better meet mechanical requirements of the engineering department. Heating and air conditioning for the skyscraper would best be handled in 14-story units, beginning above the first two floors. At that time, the high-rise was to be 30 stories. Later, two more stories were also eventually deleted from that plan.
The building height was reduced for two other reasons as well: First, construction began on the Granite Records Vault in Little Cottonwood Canyon in 1960 and reduced the downtown office building space needed; second, departing missionaries were to be housed elsewhere, again reducing required space.
The original building plans had called for housing space for up to 430 outgoing missionaries in the first few floors of the Church Office Building. As it turned out, missionaries were housed across the street to the north in an old school until the Missionary Training Center opened in Provo in 1978. (Missionaries were fed in the Church Office Building cafeteria in the early 1970s though.)
The Church Office Building cost $31.4 million (the equivalent of about $200 million today). The new building led to the substantial widening of North Temple and State streets, too.
"The building is designed for immediate and future needs of the church," Mark B. Garff, chairman of the church building committee, told the Deseret News in 1969.
George Cannon Young designed the building, which was under design as early as 1961. The old Deseret Gymnasium, 37 E. South Temple, had to be relocated across the street to where the Conference Center is now. Some Church Business College buildings and other structures also had to be moved to make room.
Work on the three-story, underground, 1,400-space parking structure — Utah's largest building excavation at the time — began first in 1962 and was finished by about 1967. The extracted dirt, 250,000 cubic yards, provided fill material for original I-15 construction in Salt Lake County.
When completed, the Church Office Building also allowed the church to temporarily house all General Authorities there while doing a substantial remodel of the Church Administration Building, 47 E. South Temple.
Source: The Deseret News, April 1, 2010, a story by the Author and Scott Taylor.

LDS Church members wearing crosses was fairly common before the year 1950. This is an author family photo (his maternal grandparents), of the Ray and Lida Rigby family in 1946, in Grace, Idaho.

18. Wearing crosses used to be fairly common in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 A family photograph of the Author’s supports the idea that until about the early 1950s, church members wearing a cross was not discouraged, although it was not nearly as common a practice as in other Christian churches.

The accompanying photograph, dated 1946, is of the entire Ray and Lida Rigby Family (the Author’s maternal grandparents) from Grace, Idaho. The Author’s aunt, Maurine Rigby (Myer), is in the lower right of the picture, is wearing a large cross.
It was the 1950s when apparently both wearing crosses and having facial hair began to be shunned in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
(We're talking church policy here, not necessarily doctrine, in both practices.)
A cross symbol is certainly not anti-Christian. It is mentioned a lot in the Bible as a symbol of the Saints back then.
It is doubtful that the Prophet Joseph Smith ever saw a cross on a church in his day, as Protestant churches didn't adopt the cross as a symbol until the decades after his death. (Initially, Protestant churches viewed the cross as purely Catholic, something they wanted to stay away from.)
-There's also some "lip" service to the cross in the Church. For example, the Christian song in the Hymn book, page, 250, "We are all Enlisted," states in its second verse: "Rally round the standard of the cross."

Note that the Author is not recommending that Latter-day Saints wear crosses. But, logically and ideally, the prime Latter-day Saint symbol to wear might be an empty sepulchure (tomb), instead of a cross, to celebrate the resurrection and an empty grave, instead of just the death of Jesus Christ.

CREATION

19.  Adam and Eve were placed on the Earth during the Seventh, not the Sixth Day of the creation.

Doctrine and Covenants 77:12 states:

“Q. What are we to understand by the sounding of the trumpets mentioned in the 8^th chapter of Revelation? A. We are to understand that as God made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he finished his work, and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of the earth, even so, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all things, and shall redeem all things, except that which he hath not put into his power, when he shall have sealed all things, unto the end of all things; and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years—the preparing of the way before the time of his coming.”

Thus, Adam and Eve arrived on Earth on the seventh day, not the sixth.

This creates some doctrinal inconsistencies, but nothing else has been revealed about the subject.

 

 20. Eve was not actually created from Adam’s rib and life on Earth did not start from evolution, but was transplanted here from other worlds.

All statements regarding Adam’s rib and Eve are purely symbolic and figurative, according to Elder Bruce R. McConkie. ("Mormon Doctrine," Bookcraft, page 242.)

Sometimes man loves to complicate things. Take the creation of the Earth for example. You've got all those evolution theories and even so-called scientific principles out there, claiming humans only came about after millions of years of natural evolution on this planet.
If you believe in God and the Gospel, why accept such ideas?
Science at one time wrongly believed the earth was flat and the center of the universe. One day, all mankind will see how simple it was that life came to be on earth….
(Now creating the planet and preparing the earth to receive life is another matter and a much more complicated process, for sure.)
If you believe what Brigham Young (Deseret News, April 30, 1856, “Journal of Discourses,” 3:319; 7:285) and Joseph Fielding Smith (“Answers of Gospel Questions,” 5:170-171; "Man, His Origin and Destiny," Deseret Book, pages 276-277) said man (Adam) came to Earth directly out of Heavenly Father's presence.
The "dust of the earth" references are purely symbolic.
Thus, essentially mankind was transplanted, as was all life. No need for evolution. All creatures on earth already existed elsewhere.
Brigham Young once taught that God the Father created Adam and Eve by births in the pre-mortal realm. They were his direct off spring (Deseret News, May 7, 1862; “Journal of Discourses,” 11:122; 9:282).
At another time, President Young said God the Father has a dual capacity for procreation (Deseret News, September 4, 1872; “Journal of Discourses,” 15:137, 9:283).
This means that God the Father can produce spirit children (like we were) when he desires and that seems to be mostly what he does.
However, when he wants to start a new earth, he creates a man that is more like him -- flesh and bone.
This means these children are not immortal or resurrected, but rather "unmortal," (as President Joseph Fielding Smith said in the Church Section of the Deseret News on March 2, 1935). Adam and Eve would have lived forever, if they had not partaken of the forbidden fruit.
But they made themselves mortal and that's how we eventually came to be.
Simple isn't it?
We are literally God's children on two levels. The only "evolution" required was for Adam and Eve to choose to make themselves mortal.

 

21. The “Big Bang” never happened, to start the universe.

Eternity is forever and we, as mortals, cannot grasp that endless concept. Therefore, the so-called “Big Bang” never had to happen, as the universe has always been in some stage of existence.
Whenever the Author ponders eternity, his mind rebels and lets me know it can't comprehend that idea.
However, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: "That which has a beginning will surely have an end, take a ring, it is without beginning or end -- cut it for a beginning place and at the same time you have made an ending place ... so it is with God." ("Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” page 181.)
Thus, there has always been a God.
Our God, the Father, has his own Father and so forth backward into eternity. There is a plurality of endless Gods.
There's no "Big bang" needed here -- that's man's atheist-leaning cop out for understanding.
Somehow, a "God" has always existed. If not, there will be an end.
The universe has always been here in some degree.
Joseph Smith also stated that "God himself could not create himself." And, he stated that the spirit of man has always existed.
(“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” page 354.)

DOCTRINALLY CORRECT

22. Artwork in church buildings is not always doctrinally correct.

There’s some great, inspiring artwork out there in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, sometimes the best of art takes significant liberties in accuracy. That factor is almost expected.
Artwork doesn't have to be totally doctrinally correct to be spiritually uplifting, but it is nice to always know correct doctrine.

The popular painting of Christ with angels in the clouds that hangs in many temples is also not perfectly doctrinally correct as Christ will be dressed in red at the Second Coming, not white.

The Doctrine and Covenants 133:48 states:

“And the Lord shall be red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treadeth in the wine-vat.”

In addition, there's one popular artist who uses people she knows to paint and represent church prophets and their families.
One Sunday some years ago, the Author was puzzled over who was represented in a painting at the entrance to the Relief Society Room in his ward meetinghouse. His wife said, "That's Joseph and Emma!"
The Author replied, "It can't be ... doesn't look anything like them."
Sure enough, this popular artist gets by with such liberties, as she apparently uses people she knows to be the likeness of historic figures she paints.
(And it isn't just artwork in the Church that can be doctrinally incorrect, so can some popular hymns be so.)

In addition, “Doctrinally correct” is a relative term and can mean “correct for its purpose,” not always universally correct.

Too often members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints think in narrow terms.
For example, doctrine is strictly correct or it isn't. Right?
Maybe not!
Take the popular painting of Jesus Christ in the clouds, with a fleet of angels, as he returns for his Second Coming. Drawn by a world-renowned artist, who also happened to be a Seventh-Day Adventist, this drawing is now a key fixture in many LDS Temples, like Bountiful and Layton. Church leaders commissioned the painting and apparently lengthened Christ's hair in it, as well as down-played angel wings.
However, this drawing is still strictly not doctrinally correct. Is that a problem?
 “Correct” relates to purpose in the church and church leaders seem to think this painting can so evoke the spirit of the Lord, that the fact that it isn't absolutely doctrinally correct doesn't matter in that context.
Doctrine and Covenants 133:48 clearly states that Christ's apparel will be red in color at his Second Coming. Several Biblical scriptures, like Isaiah 63:2 concur.
So, an image doesn’t have to be fully doctrinal correct, to still promote the spirit. And, this is only the tip of the iceberg of such purpose vs. doctrinally correct in the church.
Also, the Book of Mormon is said to be the most correct book on the earth (History of the Church, 4:46.).  So, why are some of the incorrectly translated verses of Isaiah in the Old Testament still repeated in the Book of Mormon, though some were corrected by Joseph Smith in his "Inspired Version" of the Bible?
Again, it has to do with purpose. The Book of Mormon is correct for its purpose, to be a familiar voice like the Bible (Isaiah 29:4 and 2 Nephi 26:16) -- a solid missionary tool -- but not so different it turns away investigators to the Gospel.
Confused?
"Correct" doctrine  simply isn't always black and white, at least in a telestial world.
As long as a church member lives worthy, studies and keeps the spirit, these inconsistencies in doctrine won't be stumbling blocks, but will be harmonious, though probably not to the outside world itself.

EARTH

23. The Earth itself is a single living entity and is a “she.”

According to Doctrine and Covenants 88:25-26, the Earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom and shall die, be quickened and the righteous will inherit it.

Elder Parley P. Pratt stated that the Earth has a spirit, just like our physical bodies do, in “Key to the Science of Theology,” (Deseret Book, 1965, pages 127-128.)

President Joseph Fielding Smith also taught that the Earth is a living body. (“Doctrines of Salvation,” (Bookcraft, 1954) volume 1, p. 72.

Doctrine and Covenants 88:45 states:

“The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God.”

Note that the Earth is referred to as a “her” and the sun as a “he.”

There is a huge amount of attention today to so-called “climate change.”

Doctrine and Covenants section 123, verse 7 states:

"The whole earth groans under the weight of its (mankind's) iniquity."

(To groan is in response to pain or despair, based on dictionary definitions.)

Since the Earth is a living thing, abides a celestial law (and man does not), could it be that man’s collective sins – now worse than in the Days of Noah – be what is causing climatic shifts on the planet? Perhaps. Doctrine and Covenants 88:87-89 also mentions the Earth’s groaning, because of man’s sins.

 

 

ETERNAL PROGRESSION

24. There is no eternal progression from Kingdom to Kingdom in the eternities.

Some church members falsely believe that eternal progression in the three degrees of glory is along the same tracks.
So, if one starts in the Telestial Kingdom, eons later, you will be where the Celestial Kingdom dwellers started, though they have now moved further ahead proportionally.
However, Joseph Fielding Smith said this concept is false, because Celestial progression is unlimited and progression is limited in the other two kingdoms. ("Doctrines of Salvation, Bookcraft, 1955, 2:31-32.) Progression in the kingdoms is therefore along different tracks.
Furthermore, D&C 76:109, 112 states that Telestial kingdom dwellers can never go where God and Christ dwell.
In addition, Spencer W. Kimball stated also that there is no advancement from kingdom to kingdom ("Miracle of Forgiveness," Bookcraft, 1969, 243-244.)

Other sources: “Doctrines of Salvation,” 2:73, 288; Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4; Deseret News, November 6, 1999.

 

25. Males and females will not exist in all the Kingdoms of Glory.

Male and females will only exist in the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom.
Joseph Fielding Smith said all the powers of procreation will only exist in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom, meaning only males and females exist there.
Everywhere else, there will be sexless beings. ("Doctrines of Salvation," Bookcraft, 1955, 2:73, 288.).
This correlates with Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4 that states only residents in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom can be married and procreate.

26. Earth time runs much slower than Celestial time.

Albert Einstein formulated a "theory" of relativity, but to God much of it may not be a theory, but a practical way God does important things.
For example, take the time and space inversion component of the “Theory of Relativity.”
Examine Facsimile No. 2, the Figure one explanation from the Book of Abraham and one will find this startling material: "Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the Celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to celestial time, which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years, according to the measurement of this earth ..."
Interchanging a day (time) with a cubit (physical measurement) is time/space inversion. (And this scripture was written long before Einstein came along.)
To God then, does time becomes a short physical measurement -- one step or less?
Perhaps.
Also, the above verse states one day in Kolob equals a thousand years on earth.
Does that mean that the theory of relativity's time dilation effect is used by God to better serve his purposes? Does it mean that no one in the Pre-Earth life waits more than a week to be born, because time is moving so much faster on Earth?
If so, some may have waited perhaps waited just minutes in the Celestial realm to be born after their mother was born.
If Kolob is traveling near the speed of light, time moves much more slowly there than on Earth. Thus, our earthly test can be done in a fraction of time.

                             The grave of Eldred G. Smith in the Salt Lake Cemetery.

Now this isn't the first to touch on this subject - the book, "Science and Mormonism" by Melvin A. and M. Garfield Cook, Deseret Book, 1968) did.

Also, the church's last general patriarch, Emeritus Patriarch Eldred G. Smith, talked about time dilation and our time in mortality in his April 1966 General Conference talk, "Can You Abide Two Hours?" (Improvement Era, June 1966, pp. 512-513.

 EXCOMMUNICATION

Church News section of the Deseret News, October 16, 1943.

27. The names of “excommunicated” members are a private matter today, but in the 1940s and into the 1950s, excommunicated members’ names were published in the Church News section of the Deseret News.

If someone is excommunicated (renamed a “withdrawal of membership” in current LDS Church terminology) from the Church today, only the main ward and stake leaders usually know about it. In the 1940s and into the early 1950s, it was standard practice for the church to publish excommunication lists (and full names) in the Church News section of the Deseret News.

Even in the late 19^th Century, notices of people being excommunicated were sometimes published in newspapers, though the terminology was “cut off” from the church. Example: the High Council of the Weber Stake of Zion stated that Orville F. Atwood, of the Hooper Ward of this Stake, was cut off from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for apostasy. (Ogden Herald, March 11, 1884.)

So, it has gone from public to private policy.

Sources: Church News section of the Deseret News, October 16, 1943; December 11, 1943; and February 9, 1946.

 

28. A few General Authorities have been excommunicated in modern times.

For example, there was one Apostle (Richard Roswell Lyman) excommunicated for a violation of chastity in the 20^th Century, on November 12, 1943 – and a member of the Quorum of the Seventy (George P. Lee), excommunicated on September 1, 1989, for apostacy and conduct unbecoming for a church member.

Historically, since the Church was organized in 1830, a total of 23 General Authorities have been excommunicated. Of those, 17 were apostles; 19 of them were born before 1850; and nine of those excommunicated returned later to the church and were rebaptized – including Elder Richard R. Lyman. Three other General Authorities have been disfellowshipped (and all of those later returned to the church).

In addition, some mission presidents have been released early for bad behavior over the decades. For example, in 1980, the mission president for Sydney, Australia was sent home and disfellowshipped for teaching plural marriage (although not actually practicing it) to his missionaries.

Sources: Deseret News, November 13, 1943, p.1; “Deseret News Church Almanac 1986,” p.53; “Deseret News Church Almanac 1990,” pages 40-64; and the Author’s own private interviews.

FORGIVENESS

29. Christ has not forgiven the Jews yet.

There is one single scripture that is misused far, far more often than any other, possibly church-wide.
One Utah ward averages about two Sacrament meetings a month where this certain scripture is totally used incorrectly.
Here is perhaps this myth No. 1, that just doesn't seem to go away:
  "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do … (Luke 23:34).
This New Testament scripture is used frequently, yet erroneously in Sacrament talks and lessons on forgiveness, to support always forgiving everyone unconditionally. (Although that is what the rest of the Christian world believes.)
Doctrinal fact: Jesus Christ wasn't forgiving everyone at the crucifixion by saying this.
Joseph Smith added to the verse through the Inspired Version of the Bible: "(Meaning the soldiers who crucified him)".
Christ has yet to forgive all. He only forgave the soldiers who were acting under military orders ... The Jews he has yet for forgive.
And, yes, we are required to forgive everyone.
D&C 64:8-11 is the best scripture to support universal forgiveness.
The key problem?
Far too many church members only read the Book of Mormon over and over again. They have never read the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, or the Old Testament and have no clue about the Prophet Joseph Smith's teachings.
As such, they find this popular New Testament scripture on forgiveness and have no clue what it is really stating.
Yes, erroneous doctrine is still taught at times in Church meetings.

Ghosts (as in deceased persons) do NOT inhabit the tangible Earth, or cemeteries, like Kaysville, Utah's.

GHOSTS

30. “Ghosts” are definitely not deceased persons, but rather devils impersonating them, as in they are the One-Third of the host of Heaven kicked out of God’s presence, in the pre-Earth life.

Like the Bigfoot and UFO phenomenon, there is certainly something out there that could be characterized as ghosts or spirits.
However, in Church doctrine, these can't possibly be deceased people. Ghosts as the world calls them, are simply demons, the hosts of Satan, looking to deceive man.
These demons have spent since the time of Adam watching the earth and its mortal residents. They could easily impersonate a dead person, since they might have observed/tempted that person throughout much of their life.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie agrees in his book "Mormon Doctrine," (page 312) that ghost appearances are probably of devils, not former mortal residents of earth. These devils have never had a body.
When any person dies, they do not linger around us. They go straight to the spirit world, a separate dimension from us. The spirit world is divided into a paradise for the righteous and a hell/prison for the wicked.
Some righteous people might temporarily and for a good purpose be able to show up in an earthly person's dream or vision, but the plan of salvation would be flawed to let evil people linger around earth after their death.
What do these devils have to gain by impersonating deceased persons? By so doing, they can draw people away from divine sources and make them think that séances and spirit contacting can lead to revelation. These evil spirits have watched the lives of people, so they can impersonate them, perhaps even mimic their appearance.
 They may even tell people some true things, but their true objective is to lead us away from God.
Why pray to God for guidance, if you can contact the dead and take their more exacting and enticing advice?
The Bible calls contacting the dead "spiritualism" and that it is an offense to God (Leviticus 19:31 and 1 Samuel 28). It is a form of sorcery and has no basis in the gospel.
The dead cannot be contacted by any earthly means. They are separate from the world. Rare and brief dreams/visions by worthy family members are the only cases where the dead would return and then only briefly and one-time.
If some people would spend as much effort trying to gain true revelation as they do contacting the so-called dead, they would likely exalt themselves.
And, the only ones who can really contact the dead are other dead people. Church members and believers in the spirit world do missionary work the majority of the time there. The good are busy with that, while others are too busy repenting or being in torment to return to earth, even if they could, which they can't.
As a sidelight, no one except God or inspired persons can read a person's thoughts (D&C 6:16). Devils can't read our thoughts. They can put thoughts or temptations in our minds, though.

         Noah's_Ark_on Mount Ararat_by_Simon_de_Myle, from Wikipedia Commons.

GREAT FLOOD

31. Noah and his family were not the only righteous people on the Earth before the Great Flood.

Other righteous people were saved and taken, by translation, away with the City of Enoch. Noah and his family remained to perpetuate the human race on Earth ("The Signs of the Times," by Joseph Fielding Smith, Deseret Book, 1952, pages 6-7; Moses 7:18-69 and Doctrine and Covenants 38:4.

 

32. The Great Flood was actually an act of mercy by God, not an act of vengeance.

 According to President John Taylor, the Flood was an act of mercy, not God's anger. With the Flood, God halted the wicked people’s rule and their sinful effect on future generations. The world started again with a clean slate. (John Taylor, “Journal of Discourses,” 19:158-159).

 

33. The Tower of Babel was not built to reach heaven, but rather because the people at the time lacked confidence in God’s promise not to flood the Earth again.

 A casual reading of Genesis Chapter 11 might convey the idea that the people of that day were trying to reach heaven, but verse four states “let us make a name,” implying that their motives were arrogant and worldly.

Indeed, Joseph Smith’s Inspired Version of the Bible (Genesis 11:6) states that “the people harkened not unto the Lord” and so rebellion, pride and ungodly were the people at that time.

Cleon Skousen states in his “First 2,000 Years” book (Bookcraft, 1953, page 250), that the people at the time lacked confidence in God’s promise to never flood the world again. In essence the Tower of Babel was built to escape the judgment of God, should the Earth be flooded again.

Dr. Hugh Nibley, Brigham Young University professor, stated that the tower was to be a symbol of man’s mastery over nature and that there was some evidence that all of man’s knowledge at the time also be placed inside the tower. (From “Setting the Stage – The World of Abraham, Part 9,” Improvement Era Magazine, October 1969, p. 93).

 

HYPNOTISM

34. Hypnosis can compromise agency for some people. Thus, members are discouraged from participating in hypnosis for entertainment purposes.

However, hypnosis can be used to treat diseases or mental disorders, under the direction of competent medical professionals.

Source: General Handbook of the Church, 38.7.6.

 

                                          Statute of Joseph and Emma Smith.

JOSEPH SMITH

35. Joseph Smith defended himself at Carthage jail.

The Prophet fired several shots at his attackers. He had a pistol in the jail and one account said he shot four times and brought a man down every time. (“History of the Church,” 6:607-608 and 6:617-618.

Brigham Young later said Joseph Smith wounded three of his assailants (“History of the Church,” 7:31).

 

36. Joseph Smith did not actually see his late brother, father, mother, plus Abraham and Adam already residing in the Celestial Kingdom during a vision, in present time.

That was a vision of the future, not the present.

Source: "Answers to Gospel Questions,” 1:48 and Church News section of the Deseret News, January 5, 1937, p. 7.

37. Joseph Smith did ordain a successor to himself.

He ordained his brother, Hyrum Smith, though Hyrum would not leave his side and was also killed.

Source: “History of the Church,” 6:546.

 

JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES

38. The Journal of Discourses is more accurate doctrinally than many members realize.

The Journal of Discourses is not some shady, unreliable source of doctrine.
Put in context with an early, doctrinally evolving church, the "J.D." is not something to be shunned, or ignored, but rather embraced.
Sure, there are some speculative and opinion kinds of doctrines found within its 26 volumes, but then there was no Correlation Committee back then either!
Talks were often impromptu in the 1800s.

And, scribes obviously made some errors too.
The Journal of Discourses are generally under-rated and yet offer glimpses of pioneer life in Utah and reveal what doctrines the church leaders and members at the time of the mid-19th Century were wrestling with.
In recent years, occasionally, an official church manual has quoted from the Journal of Discourses.
Now to be accurate, all the J.D. is are re-prints of talks by church leaders as originally published in the Deseret News.
(A “game” played in many past church manuals would be that instead of listing the more easily found Journal of Discourses as a reference, the actual Deseret News reference would be cited instead, as if that was more accurate ... when it was the same thing.)
Scribes, or clerks, (like George D. Watt), tried to write down the talks of leaders, like Brigham Young, and they were printed in the Deseret News for a wider, regional church audience to read.

                                The grave of George D. Watt, in the Salt Lake Cemetery.

The 26 volumes of Journal of Discourses compiled many of those talks. It was Brother Watt who received clearance from the First Presidency to publish the Journals, mainly as a way to provide him income, but also to send these talks overseas, to church members in Great Britain.
(Note that Watt was years later excommunicated from the Church.)
A comparison by the Author of many of the key Journal of Discourse talks, particularly those by Brigham Young, with the Deseret News, found no disagreement between the two.
However, once in a while, the Author noticed that Brigham Young would come back a week later in the Deseret News and state he thought he was misquoted, or didn't make a point clear the talk prior and then he would briefly try to clarify or correct it.
 Those "corrections/clarifications" are NOT included in the Journal of Discourses, however.
Today's church leaders have found it wise to not speculate like their 19th Century counterparts did in the Deseret News/Journal of Discourses.
But anyone who takes a shot at the accuracy of the Journal of Discourses is also taking a swing at the accuracy of the Deseret News.
No newspaper, even today, is free from errors, but even the opinion pages in newspapers spur thought and reflection.
So, keep reading the Ensign and General Conference Ensigns, today's counterpart for the old Journal of Discourses.
Yet, if one has the time, they will not regret reading the Journal of Discourses, for the doctrinal rewards they offer.
Source: “Voice in the West, Biography of a Pioneer Newspaper” (the Deseret News), by Wendall J. Ashton, 1950, pages 68-69.

Note: the Author spent hours comparing many key doctrinal sections of the Deseret News of the 19^th Century with the Journal of Discourses accounts and found them to be identical. The only differences were that a few times Brigham Young would add some comments of clarifications to what he had said weeks earlier in the Deseret News – and those comments were not included in the Journal of Discourses.

 

                  The Prophet Joseph Smith made some Latter-day prophecies.

LAST DAYS

39. The U.S. Constitution will definitely “hang by a thread” in the last days, but it may or may not be saved by the Priesthood.

There is no first-hand account of how Joseph Smith said this -- it is all recollections only.

The version the Author prefers is by Elder Orson Hyde, who said if it is to be saved at all, the Elders of the church will save it. Not that it has to be saved necessarily.

(Current events prove that at times the Constitution may already be “hanging by a thread.”)

Source: Deseret News, January 13, 1858, or “Journal of Discourses,” 6:152.

40. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will not be huge in numbers during the last days.

Some church members seem to believe the church will grow by many, many millions and millions in the last days. However, nowhere in the Scriptures does it indicate that the Church will be "large" in the last days.
In fact, the Book of Mormon indicates that the Church will be world-wide in the last days and yet its members "few" because of the wickedness of the world (1 Nephi 14:12). 
So, this isn't about "failure" in any way.
It may well be that the Lord is doing one last surge in preaching, before conditions really get bad before the Second Coming.
Eventually, the full-time missionaries will be called home and then the Lord preaches his own sermons with natural disasters (Brigham Young in Journal of Discourses, 8:123).
Just because a missionary may not convert, or baptize someone on their mission doesn't mean he or she is a failure.
Noah likely converted relatively few in his years of preaching (and any he did left by way of the translated City of Enoch).
The Lord gives everyone a chance to hear the truth in the last days.

 

                                                Downtown Salt Lake City.

41. Salt Lake City will not be the most wicked city in the world during the last days.

Heber C. Kimball said it would "classed among the wicked cities of the world."

Source: Deseret News, May 23, 1931.

42. All Latter-day Saints will not walk back to Jackson County, Missouri in the last days.

The reality is that some Saints will walk back, but not all.

Graham W. Doxy, a member of the Seventy, addressed the myth of all Saints walking back to Missouri in an Ensign Magazine article titled, “Missouri Myths.” (Ensign, April 1979, pages 64-65.) He stated that it was logical that a few church members would go back to Missouri to assist in latter-day preparations, but that there was a scriptural support for a mass exodus.

Brigham Young stated that the Church would remain in the Salt Lake Valley forever, if it remained righteous and that just a portion of the priesthood would go and build up a center stake in Zion, presumably Missouri. (“Journal of Discourses,” 11:16, from comments made on December 11, 1864.)

Elder Orson Pratt said that not all Saints would return to Jackson County, but a large congregation would. (“Journal of Discourses,” 15:364-365, from comments made on March 9, 1873.)

President Lorenzo Snow stated that some Saints would return to Jackson County in the last days. (“Journal of Discourses,” 18:374, from an address made on April 9, 1877.)

 

LOST TEN TRIBES

43. The Lost Ten Tribes are a separate and unknown group of people.

Some church members incorrectly believe that the Lost Ten Tribes are Russians, or some other group of Earth-bound people.
However, Elder James E. Talmage taught that the Lost Ten Tribes are hidden away and an unknown body of people ("Articles of Faith," Deseret News Press, 1968, page 340).
Joseph Smith taught that these tribes reside in some unknown region of the north (“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith," Deseret Book, 1976, Page 85).

44. The Lost Ten Tribes are truly “lost,” as in living in an unknown place right now and perhaps even the prophet doesn’t know where they are.

The Lost Ten Tribes are lost unto man, but not God. That’s what all the modern prophets and church leaders have stated over the decades. Why the prophet may not even know where they are involves an experience by the Author. On June 25, 1973, the Author and hundreds of other departing full-time missionaries were in the Solemn Assembly Hall of the Salt Lake Temple in a meeting with the Prophet Harold B. Lee and he opened it up to questions and answers. One missionary asked President Lee where the Lost Ten Tribes were and the Prophet responded with, “Elder, if they weren’t lost, we’d know where they are.”

                        There will be no alcohol during the Millennium.

                                                     Photograph from Wikipedia Commons.

MILLENNIUM

45. Alcohol will not exist during the Millennium.

You may not agree with this deduction, but the Author strongly suspects that alcohol will not exist in the millennium, after Jesus Christ returns to the Earth and the planet is transformed to Terrestrial ("Garden of Eden") conditions.
Alcohol is the world's most used/abused and dangerous drug and it is sad for the so many people who all but center their lives around its use -- at least socially.
So, those who rely on alcohol had better be prepared for a total lack of the drug after the Second Coming.
(The consumption of alcohol is against the Church's Word of Wisdom doctrine, D&C 89.)
In the Garden of Eden, there appeared to be no decay and so it is really doubtful that the fermenting process will exist then in a Terrestrial type of world.
It is possible a scientist could find another way to artificially create a form like alcohol then, but that's about it.
Alcohol is logically simply a telestial world substance.
So, there you have it, the ultimate and eternal prohibition is coming!
(Plus, remember: The Second Coming is not the end of the world. It is only the end of the wicked and the end of wicked practices.)

Source: “Mormon Doctrine,” by Bruce R. McConkie, page 303.

 

46. No one will be eating meat during the Millennium.

Meat eating will not exist during the 1,000 years of peace on Earth. Animals, like lions and tigers, will presumably become vegetarians and will lay down with sheep in peace. Isaiah 11:7 states that the lion shall eat straw, like the ox. There is some sort of physical change here, where everything from bears to man will no longer need or have a desire to be carnivorous. Hunting will no longer be a sport or allowed and guns will be unnecessary. What purpose lions, tigers and the like will have then is unknown. Will they become large pets? Perhaps.

 

47. Jesus Christ and other resurrected beings will not live on the Earth during the Millennium, they will just visit it, when necessary.

The Earth will only be a Terrestrial world during the Millennium.
As such, Jesus Christ and other resurrected beings -- Celestial Dwellers -- will only visit the Earth, as needed, to govern and administer to it. They will not reside here.
Source: Joseph Smith, in “History of Church,” 5:212.

MISSIONARIES

1946 Missionary Handbook.

48. Full-time missionaries used to be able to engage in swimming during their mission time.

Why are full-time missionaries in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints NOT allowed to go swimming?
 The myth is that it is because "Satan has power over the water." Who is teaching young people this incorrect doctrinal reason? Seminary teachers? Sunday School instructors? Both?
While it is true that all  missionaries cannot go swimming, the Author has different reasons why and believes they hold up far better than the Satan reason.
  
    The Satan reason is based on Doctrine and Covenants section 61, particularly verse 19, where "the destroyer" is seen in a vision riding with power upon the waters.

(Joseph Smith and 10 Elders of the church were traveling in canoes down the Missouri River when this revelation was received.)

 First of all, nowhere in Section 61 is "Satan" specifically mentioned. Most readers just assume that the destroyer is Satan, but he is likely not -- and that is the myth that teachers in the church have perpetuated for decades.

  In Doctrine and Covenants 105:15, it states: "Behold, the destroyer I have sent forth to destroy and lay waste mine enemies..."

 Thus, the destroyer is sent directly by God and if he is Satan (an enemy to God), how can he destroy himself?

So, whoever the destroyer is, it is likely NOT Satan. (It is possible that the destroyer may be nature -- storms, earthquakes -- and the like, which God controls.)

 This D&C section also addresses missionaries for the church, that they are to go two-by-two and prepare for the Second Coming.

  Nowhere does it say that missionaries should not go swimming.
In fact, verse 6 states that "all flesh is in mine hand, and he that is faithful among you shall not perish by the waters."
  If anything, verse 5 states that the Lord has decreed in anger many destructions upon the waters -- especially "these waters"  (the Missouri River).
  Verse 16 is the key verse in Section 61: "And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart."
  That's likely a prophecy for the future.
--Anyway, a copy of the official "Missionary's Hand Book" of the Church from 1946, by President Heber J. Grant, addresses missionaries and swimming.
  On page 27 it states, "Mixed swimming should be avoided."
 That's all it states about swimming. Swimming was allowed by missionaries in 1946, just not with females.
  The prohibition against missionaries and swimming came about later, probably in the late 1950s.
In some missions today, like the Hawaii Mission, mission rules clearly state that the mission's boundaries end where the sand of a beach begins.
However, in other missions, like Oregon, full-time missionaries sometimes preach at the beach and so all mission rules regarding that must not be the same.
Thus it is policy, not doctrine why full-time missionaries are not supposed to go swimming.

-Notwithstanding the 1946 Missionary Handbook also quoted the late President Joseph F. Smith (who died in 1918): "It is not a good thing, neither is it at all wise, for our elders to go out on excursions on dangerous lakes, or streams, or bodies of water, just for fun. They had better stay away. The Lord will protect them in the discharge of their duties."
Thus, missionaries by an early 20th Century admonition, were advised to not run rivers or take any pleasure boating excursions on any "dangerous" bodies of water.
 The true reasons why missionaries can't swim are likely two-fold:
1. A rise in immodest bathing suits, starting in the 1950s. (So, it may really be about "Satan having power over the swimsuit designers!")
If missionaries can't swim, they generally won't go near the beaches and see the immodest sunbathers.
2. An increase in missionaries drownings -- particularly in foreign lands. Elders preach in far away nations and on time off, may spot a neat little island at the edge of the ocean, and think they should try and swim there.
Not knowing local dangers or currents, a significant number of missionaries have drowned in such situations of ignorance.
  Swimming pools are relatively safe (though immodest apparel can be there too and swimmers sometimes drown in swimming pools also), but again a blanket rule against ALL swimming was applied some 60 years ago to all missionaries, certainly because of immodest apparel concerns and accident dangers more than anything about Satan's so-called power over water.
 In conclusion: The context of D&C 61 focuses on TRAVEL upon the water, by boat (not swimming). 
Some Church members need to question such prevalent myths, rather than instantly buy into them, or perpetuate them further.
-Pure obedience-wise, ALL full-time missionaries may NOT go swimming because that's been the inspired rule for many decades.

 (Missionaries are also discouraged from participating in other risky activities, like rock climbing, due to the danger ...)

 

49. “Blue Reports” existed for Returned Missionaries, until at least some time in the late 1970s.

“Blue Reports” were filled out by a mission president on all returning full-time missionaries and then sent to Church headquarters, a practice that continued into at least the late 1970s. This card was a “subjective” review by the mission president. After a missionary was released, they were sent to Church Headquarters, the First Presidency. The reports were used as a reference in cases where a returned missionary might seek church employment, or private employers might ask the Church about a particular returned missionary in later years.

Ratings on the report were excellent, good, fair or poor in categories like diction, personality, gospel knowledge, resourcefulness, making friends, willingness to do missionary work, trustworthiness and neatness in appearance and dress.

In addition, conformity to mission rules and any known improper relationships with the opposite sex were included on the Blue Reports.

The Author was only aware of the existence of Blue Reports because of a personal letter that a former missionary of his mission received from Elder Marion D. Hanks of the Seventy in the late 1960s – and that letter was still circulating about the England-Bristol Mission when the Author served there in the mid-1970s.

Still curious some years later about these Blue Reports, the Author sent a letter to Elder Hanks asking about them. Soon after, the Author received a call from Elder Hanks. He said the letter was true, but was surprised it was still circulating years later. He then said the Church no longer uses Blue Reports, because they were deemed too subjective and didn’t allow for the fact that a returned missionary could change and improve behavior in later years. So, as of the late 1970s, they were discontinued.

Source: Personal telephone call by Elder Marion D. Hanks, to the author, on July 28, 1986.

NEW TESTAMENT

50. If you can believe in the Gospel, all things are actually not possible, despite what a mistranslated New Testament scripture states.

God can do the impossible to us -- heal, restore life, etc. However, despite what Mark 9:23 in the King James version of the Bible says about all things being possible to God, or he who believes, that verse was not translated correctly.
Joseph Smith's Inspired Version restored that verse in Mark to say that we can do anything God says we can do. Not that God, or we can do anything and everything.
God doesn't and can't create something from nothing. He reorganizes existing material; works within his perfect understanding of natural law -- but can't break those laws himself.
God also won't force us to obey his laws or do anything contrary to the Gospel principles.
Now, we don't want to bring God down to our level. He certainly can do things we consider impossible. He's light years advanced of man, but God himself was once a man like we are now and therein rests our hope of slowly advancing, precept by precept to be more like him.

Source: Joseph Smith’s Inspired Revision of the Bible, Mark 9:23.

 

51. John the Baptist was actually not the “least in the Kingdom of God.”

Despite what Matthew 11:11 in the King James Bible states, Joseph Smith taught that what the Savior was really teaching here was: "He that is considered the least among you is greater than John the Baptist and that is I myself." (See "Teachings of Joseph Smith," pages 275-276.) Christ was speaking to skeptics and answered them appropriately, that he was greater than John the Baptist, though they considered Christ, the least in the Kingdom.

52. “Talents” mentioned in New Testament parables are money, not talents, as in abilities.

 Just see any Biblical footnote and D&C 60:2-3 and D&C 82:18.

53. We should be wise servants, not wise as serpents.

We should be wise as serpents, Matthew 10:16 in the King James Bible states. Joseph Smith's Inspired Version of the Bible corrected this reference to say "wise servants." Makes more sense, since the serpent was the lone creature Satan could control in the Garden of Eden.

(But note that D&C 111:11 still uses the term "wise as serpents" and so that must still be correct in certain usages.)

54. Jesus Christ did baptize some followers during his Earthly ministry.

According to John 4:3 in Joseph Smith's Inspired Version of the Bible, Christ did baptize some converts, though not as many as his disciples did.

 

55. An unspecified number of wise men visited Christ shortly after his birth, not necessarily three wise men.

“Some wise men,” or “the wise men” are the only terms in the New Testament. No number of how many wise men there were is specified. “Three” just because the traditional number over the centuries.

Source: Matthew 2 and the other accounts of Christ’s birth.

 

56. Women were not to rule in the church during Christ’s Earthly time, not that they could not speak in the church.

1 Corinthians 14:33, King James Version, states “speak in the church,” but Joseph Smith’s Inspired Revision changed “speak” to “rule,” meaning women cannot hold the priesthood, but can speak in Church, though they can’t govern in the Church.

 

57. Simon Peter actually wanted to kill a high priest while trying to defend Jesus Christ, in a New Testament account.

According to Heber C. Kimball, Peter tried to kill the priest (John 18:10-18), but missed and only took off his ear.

Source: Deseret News, December 2, 1857.

 

58. Christ taught that some wicked men at the judgment bar never really knew who he was during mortality, not that Christ won’t know these men.

Matthew 7:21-23 was rewritten in Joseph Smith’s “Inspired Revision of the Bible to clarify that it is such evil men who didn't ever really know Christ. Jesus Christ knows who all men are.

 

59. A “holy kiss” was not originally stated in the New Testament.

A “Holy Salutation” is the correct term, used in Joseph Smith’s “Inspired Revision of the Bible, Romans 16:16. A “salutation is a gesture or utterance as a greeting.

 

60. Jesus Christ spoke in parables to hide doctrine and meaning from the unworthy, not just so a story could have a simple meaning.

Christ spoke in parables in order to hide the true meaning of teachings from the unworthy. Parables meant only the spiritually enlightened listener could understand his sermons. (Inspired Revision, Matthew 13:12, 21:35/"Mormon Doctrine," by Bruce R. McConkie, Bookcraft, 1966, page 553.)

 

61. The resurrected Jesus actually didn’t care if Mary touched him, when he appeared to her.

He didn't want Mary to "hold" (or detain him), according to the Inspired Version, John 20:17.

 

62. It is actually the “Testimony” of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament, not their Gospel of, according to Joseph Smith, in his Inspired Revision of the Bible.

Source: Joseph Smith’s Inspired Version of the Bible.

 

63. When Satan tempted the mortal Christ, it was the Spirit of God, not the Devil, who lifted him up to a tall mountain.

According to the Inspired Version, "The Spirit" lifted Christ up, not Satan (Inspired Version, Luke 4:1-2.

 

64. There was no corn on the cob type of corn mentioned in the New Testament. At that time, only the Americas had corn on the cob.

According to the Later-day Saint Bible Dictionary, “Seven different words in Hebrew and three in Greek have been translated as “corn” in the KJV. They are words referring to the cereal grains used for food, such as wheat or barley. Corn in English refers to the cereal grains most common in a given region, such as wheat in England, oats in Ireland and Scotland, or maize (Indian corn) in Australia, Canada, and the U.S. Thus “ears of corn” in the English of the KJV would be called “heads of grain” in the United States. Indian corn (maize) was known and used only in the Western Hemisphere prior to the discovery of America; it is not the corn of the Bible.”

Thus, “corn” is likely grain, when used dozens of times in the King James Bible.

 

OLD TESTAMENT

65. One book in the King James Bible is not inspired scripture.

Joseph Smith’s Inspired Version of the Bible clearly states that the book, “Songs of Solomon” is not inspired scripture. (It is probably akin to the Apocrypha, at best.)

 

66. The Old Testament did not originally state that witches were to be put to death.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints only believe the Bible "as far as it is translated correctly" (Eighth Article of Faith).
LDS Church members believe in modern and continual revelation and have additional Scriptures from God.
Yet, perhaps the worst single word mistranslation in the entire Bible is found in the Old Testament.
The Kings James Version, Exodus 22:18 states: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
The Prophet Joseph Smith did a partial restoration of the Bible in his "Inspired Version" (also called "Inspired Translation").
Here's what the Joseph Smith version of Exodus 22:18 states:
"Thou shalt not suffer a murderer to live."
One single wrong word may have prompted the Salem Witch trials and related murders over the centuries.
One single word, if it had been correct, would have also given more support for capital punishment ... still a hot issue in the 21^st Century.
While the Book of Mormon is the best asset to help a person gain a testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel and that Joseph Smith was a modern prophet of God, the Inspired Translation of the Bible by Jospeh Smith also proves its worth as a supplemental testimony builder.

67. Lamb and lion will lie down together in the Millennium. While that’s true, no such scripture exists that states that specifically.

"The Spirit of God," a very popular LDS hymn on page 2 of the current Hymn book, states in verse No. 4:
"How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion shall lie down together without any ire."

The confusion comes not just from "The Spirit of God" hymn, but also because many LDS Chapels contain a popular painting depicting a lamb and a lion laying down together peacefully.
This analysis is not to doubt that the day will actually come in the millennium when all animals -- and all of God's creations -- will be at peace -- but simply that after hearing a song so often and seeing a painting can alter one's memory of what scriptures specifically state.
Yes, the day will come after Christ's return in the Second Coming, that a lamb and a lion will be able to co-exist peacefully. That is not the issue here.
Isaiah 11:6 (King James Version) mentions a WOLF and a lamb together; and also a leopard and a kid laying down together  -- not a lion.
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." (Isaiah 11:6)
Isaiah 65:25 has similar wordage.

 

PIONEERS

                                                         The mouth of Weber Canyon.

68. The original group of Mormon Pioneers didn’t initially intend to enter the Salt Lake Valley by way of Emigration Canyon, but rather via Weber Canyon.

A Weber Canyon entrance into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake was the direct access for the Mormon Pioneers and is where they would have traveled, if they could have.
Weber Canyon was a section of what was then called the Hastings Cutoff. An 1846 map made by T.H. Jefferson identified the Devil's Gate area as "Granite Canyon."

The wild Weber River roared over rocks in a deep, narrow crevice at the bottom of Devil's Gate. The canyon was only wide enough to handle the river, let alone wagons. 

Heinrich Lienhard, a frontiersman in Jefferson's frontier party, described his wagon passage through Devil's Gate as the wildest part of his journey across the wilderness of the west. 
In his diary account for August 6, 1846, he recorded:

            Devil's Gate in Weber Canyon today is just an obscure, side road, off the Freeway.

                                                                                                          Photograph by Whitney Arave.

"The Weber River had broken down the steep, high Wasatch Mountains; it was a deep cleft through which the waters foamed and roared over the rocks.

"We ventured upon this furious passage, up to this point decidedly the wildest we had encountered, if not the most dangerous. We devoted the entire forenoon and until fully one o'clock in the afternoon to the task of getting our four wagons though. . . .

"In going back for each wagon we had to be very careful lest we lose our footing on the slippery rocks under the water and ourselves be swept down the rapid, foaming torrent."

That same year, the Allen and Avery group recorded its passage through the "Granite Canyon" area and for them it required grueling teamwork and sturdy rope to hoist wagons and oxen through the narrow passage. 

(However, the Granite Canyon name on that early map apparently wasn't scary enough for the Mormon Pioneers. After all, they had likely thought that the Devil himself may have stirred people to force them westward. So, the `devil' was a perfect name for a natural gorge that prevented safe wagon passage to their promised land -- and it was the more unpleasant cousin of the "Devil's Slide," 23 miles to the east, that they had passed by days earlier.)
 The legendary Porter Rockwell led some advance Mormon Pioneer scouts in a survey of lower Weber Canyon.

They found the gorge at Devil’s Gate even worse than Hastings had described it. 
Source: “Pioneers had a devil of a time in Utah,” by the Author, Deseret News, December 17, 2002.

 

69. Not one of the original Mormon Pioneers died en route to the Salt Lake Valley.

All 143 men, three women and two children who left Winter Quarters on the 111-day, first and vanguard pioneer trek of 1847, made it safely to Salt Lake City.

Source: Deseret News, July 24, 2008.

 

                   The Miles Goodyear Cabin, in Ogden, is Utah's oldest home.

70. The arriving Mormon Pioneers were not the only white people in Utah territory in 1847.

There were at least six other white men living in the greater Salt Lake area at the time the first Mormon Pioneers arrived.

Most histories of early Utah would have you believe that Miles Goodyear was the lone non-Native America living in Utah territory when the Mormon Pioneers arrived in 1847.
However, there may have been at least FIVE others living in the region before the pioneers, bringing the total to 6.
Details on these five men are sketchy, but according to a Deseret News article from Dec. 15, 1906, under the headline of: "Utah Legends, Indians, Trappers and Pioneers" ...
1. A mountain man, Peg Leg Smith was living in the Bear Lake Valley (half in today’s Utah and half in Idaho) before the pioneers arrived there. He told the settlers many Native American tales about Bear Lake and also operated a trading post at Dingle (Idaho), on the north end of the valley.
2-3. Two brothers, by the last name of Goodall operated a horse and goat ranch in the Ogden "Flats" area and had to be bought out too, like Goodyear did.
William H. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball's oldest son, was sent by Brigham Young in 1848 to buy out the Goodall's. They apparently had 750 horses grazing on 10 square miles. Kimball moved the horses to Antelope Island ("Church Island"). Although no purchase price to the Goodall's was recorded, they told Kimball that they had secured the land from Mexicans, who had started a mission there.
4. Barney Ward was also mentioned as another mountaineer who was living in the Ogden area when the pioneers arrived. He dealt in tobacco and liquor sales, products not much in demand by pioneer settlers.
(-In addition, Ogden Canyon supposedly originally contained a dugout and a cabin that was reputed to have been built by Peter Skene Ogden.)
5. Finally, "Daddy Stump," another non-Native American, was living on Antelope Island when the Mormon Pioneers started exploring the Isle in 1848. That’s also the first mention of the man. Stump, believed to be a mountain man and perhaps also known as a bear killer, had built a small cabin and had a small orchard of peaches on Antelope Island. (Improvement Era Magazine of 1907.) 
Daddy Stump has other historical references, as does Peg Leg Smith, but the other three men remain mysterious, with the single mention in history. Sadly, the 1906 Deseret News article did not list its source or sources on the men's existence. But assuming there is some accuracy to the account, then the area was certainly not deserted when the pioneers arrived, as is so often envisioned.
Source: Deseret News, July 21, 2018.

71. Brigham Young did not say “This is the Place,” when he entered the Salt Lake Valley.

He stated: “It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on.”

However, there is still some doubt. Jeffrey Carlstrom and Cynthia Furse, in their book "A History of Emigration Canyon," note there is "considerable room for doubt that Young ever made this famous pronouncement." That's because no firsthand accounts of it exist.
Wilford Woodruff is credited with recounting what President Young said, but that was in 1880, 33 years after it happened and about three years after President Young had died.
Other source: “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter.

          The original "This is the Place" monument, northeast of the larger, newer monument.

72. There is a second This is the Place monument -- the original version -- much smaller than the modern one, and located about 400 yards northeast of the larger, newer marker.

This Is the Place Monument is not located exactly where Brigham Young made his famous statement. Unfortunately, history didn't leave us with an exact location. However, when the first and the original monument on the site was dedicated on July 25, 1921, Elder B.H. Roberts, a member of the Seventy and a church historian, cited a journal of President Woodruff that "proved conclusively that there can be doubt that the spot now marked by this concrete monument is very near to the actual place."

The current, newer and much larger monument was placed in 1947.

Source: Deseret News, July 24, 2009.

 

                         There is a "Lone Tree" monument in downtown Salt Lake.

73. The Salt Lake Valley was not a treeless area, or a place with “one lone tree,” when the first Mormon Pioneers arrived. There were many trees along the creek beds.

There was a "lone tree" in the barren Salt Lake Valley when the Pioneers arrived in 1847. It is simply pioneer legend that paints such a grim picture of the Salt Lake Valley — barren, harsh and a desert, save a lone cedar tree. In reality, say historians, the valley was well-watered, with tall grasses and trees along the many stream banks.
"One of the greatest myths of the church is that the valley was total desolation," said the late Dr. Stanley Kimball, a Utah historian. No pioneer diary accounts he ever found supported the desolate valley idea.
Most of the paintings depicting the valley when the Mormon Pioneers arrived look more like the west desert area than the Wasatch Front.
Richard Jackson, professor of geography at Brigham Young University, did extensive research in the 1970s on what the Salt Lake Valley was really like when the pioneers arrived.
"Briefly, there was not a lot of timber in the valley according to pioneer diarists, but there was clearly some, especially along the creeks," he said.
But regardless, the pioneers did not have an easy time in Utah, and some people still feel the desert of Salt Lake did "blossom like a rose."
"Settling the Utah area in the 1840s and '50s was a challenge," Glen Leonard, director of the Museum of Church History and Art, states on the church Web site, lds.org.
"They had left a lush farm area and came to an arid region. The soil was good, but the water was scarce. The seasons were short. So, Brigham Young wisely scattered the people out into small communities so that they had the natural resources — the water and the soil — and the community resources, the well-organized communities with different skills and talents, and then he just challenged them to make the desert blossom like a rose. And they did."
How did the myth of the lack of trees in the Salt Lake Valley of 1847 start?
Richard Jackson, professor of geography at Brigham Young University, said that idea developed in later years, probably for three reasons:
"First, as the settlers celebrated the 24th of July, the oratory often included a certain amount of hyperbole about the magnitude of the trip across the plains, settling and developing the Salt Lake Valley, etc. As with most reminiscences, the story tends to grow with the retelling, so the Salt Lake Valley became ever more arid in those accounts," he said.
"Secondly, by the 1850s and 1860s when these myths became common, the only land not being farmed or built upon was in fact the worst land that was more arid and so later arrivals concluded that the entire valley found in 1847 by the pioneers was basically the same as the remaining marginal lands in the valley.
"Thirdly, as Brigham Young and the leaders encouraged the settlers to go south to Dixie, etc., the idea that Salt Lake Valley was a treeless desert implied that the farms and city that the settlers had developed with the help of the Lord could be replicated in the more marginal sites he was encouraging settlers to move to," Jackson concluded.
The late Stanley Kimball, a Utah historian, once said he also believed it came about after the desirable valley filled up — consciously or subconsciously to foster the idea that it had been tamed and to encourage people to settle in Dixie and other frontier areas.
Besides paintings, the biggest myth supporter is perhaps the "Lone Cedar Tree" monument in Salt Lake City, in the median on the south side of the intersection at 600 East and 300 South.
The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers erected this monument on Pioneer Day in 1934 to honor what was supposedly the only cedar tree in the valley when the 1847 pioneers arrived. Some original pioneers are reputed to have sung hymns and prayed by the tree.
One problem with that story is that the pioneers followed the Donner Party trail to about 1700 South, then headed to a small grove of cottonwood trees near today's 300 South State Street — missing the "Lone Cedar Tree."
Vandals cut the so-called Lone Cedar Tree down on September 21, 1958. A related controversy ensued with the DUP when the media said the tree's status was a fraud anyway.
A new plaque was added to the monument in 1960 and is still there today — for anyone to see and decide from themselves if the tree's legendary status holds merit.
For historical balance, here's more accounts supporting the Salt Lake Valley as being a desolate area, when the original Mormon Pioneers arrived:

Not very pioneer expressed excitement over the first view of the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847. For example, one pioneer, Mrs. Harriet Young said, “Weak and weary as I am I would rather go a thousand miles farther than remain in such a forsaken place as this.” (From "Utah in Her Western Setting" book, by Milton R. Hunter, page 118).)

After all, none of the previous emigrants to the west (outside of Miles Goodyear or a few trappers) had thought the Great Salt Lake Valley was worth settling in. To many, it was a country that God forgot. (From “Brigham Young the Colonizer,” by Milton R. Hunter, page 11 and page 27.)

Despite all this information, there is a "Lone Tree" monument in Salt Lake City, honoring an old single, pioneer era tree, located at 600 East, between 300 South and 400 South.

Other source: Deseret News, July 24, 2004, by the Author.)

 

74. Brigham Young did not deliver the first ever sermon in Utah Territory, July 1847.

According to the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper of July 24, 1921, it was delivered by Apostle Orson Pratt, on July 24, 1847, soon after the first group of pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.
Elder Pratt based his talk on two verses from the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, Chapter 52, verses 7-8:

7. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

8. Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion."

Note that LDS Church President Brigham Young was too ill that day to give a discourse and only made a few comments after Elder Pratt's sermon.
Elder Pratt's discourse was an inspiration to the pioneers, since they had all safely made the trek to the Salt Lake Valley.
(And, on July 24, 1921, some Church members met in Parley's Canyon, named after Elder Pratt's older brother, Parley, and held a campfire reunion to honor Orson Pratt and other pioneers. Many of this group were descendants of Pratt himself.)

 

75. Handcart travel comprised an extremely low number of pioneer transportation to Utah.

There were no more than 4 percent of the estimated 70,000 people who immigrated to Utah Territory between 1847 and 1869 (when the railroad was opened) who came by handcart. Thus, handcarts are not anywhere near the norm in numbers. Despite this small number, many, many wards every summer sponsor handcart-trek events for their young men and young women. Sadly, however, the participants are rarely ever told about the astonishing low number of handcart using pioneers.

Source:  Deseret News, July 24, 2008.

 

 

Handcarts are iconic pioneer symbols in Utah, despite their low actual usage, in the old West. This handcart image is used by the Rainbow Gardens Greenery Restaurant, in Ogden.

76. Handcarts themselves didn’t carry everything a handcart company relied on.

There were ox-driven wagons accompanying all handcart companies.

All handcart companies traveled with supply wagons that carried tents, extra food and other provisions too, according to Orton. One wagon was allocated for about every 100 members of a handcart company.
Source: Deseret News, July 24, 2008, by the Author.

 

77. No Mormon Pioneer companies ever hired guides to take them westward.

The Mormon Pioneers universally were unique in one other way — no Mormon Pioneer parties hired guides to take them west. Mormon Pioneers did all the advance research they could and then relied in the church leaders with them for guidance.
Source: Deseret News, July 24, 2008, by the Author.

 

PRE-EARTH LIFE

78. Satan’s plan as proposed in the pre-Earth life was a flat-out lie and would not have worked.

Satan simply could not have delivered what he promised in the Pre-Earth life.

According to Elder Dean L. Larsen, it was all just a lie. (Ensign Magazine, September 1981, p. 22.)

It was a grandstand play, designed to get attention, appeal to emotion and encourage the doubtful or undecided Spirits to go along with.

Satan could not have gotten everyone to follow God’s commandments by force, since thought would still have been independent. Compulsion was not a means for true obedience. (That belief was echoed by Robert Murray Stewart in the Church News section of the Deseret News on March 20, 1937, p.7.)

Furthermore, Satan’s plan was simply a power-grab. He wanted God’s “honor,” which was his power (Doctrine and Covenants 29:36) and basically strived to overthrow God the Father. Satan ended up being cast out of heaven and he took one-third of the host of heaven with him. Logically, if he had somehow gained God the Father’s power/honor, it likely would not have lasted long, because the universe is based on law and order. Having none, Satan’s universe would likely then collapse into total darkness and chaos and all of man’s progression would be permanently halted forever.

 

SALT LAKE TEMPLE

                              The Salt Lake Temple, in a pencil drawing by Steven Arave.

79. The Salt Lake Temple’s original plans called for two Angel Moroni statues – one each on the eastern and western spires.

The original plans for the Salt Lake Temple called for two Angel Moroni statues, one on each end. However, only the east Angel became a reality.  In the "Brigham Young" room at Cove Fort is an early drawing of the Salt Lake by Truman Angell (temple architect) that clearly shows angel statues on each end.

 

80. Elevators were a known mechanical device when the Salt Lake Temple was built and so no miraculous space was reserved for them.

Rumors still circulate that some shafts in the temple were provided for elevators -- even before that technology existed. Truman O. Angell, Sr., temple architect visited Europe in 1856, just when elevators were coming into use there. So, he knew about them. But it just turns out that the west center tower in the Salt Lake Temple was a convenient place for two elevators.

Source: The Design, Construction, and Role of the Salt Lake Temple, by Richard O. Cowan, Brigham Young University’s Religious Studies Center.

On the Web at:

https://rsc.byu.edu/salt-lake-city-place-which-god-prepared/design-construction-role-salt-lake-temple

 

SEAGULL MIRACLE

                          The Seagull monument on Temple Square.

81. Brigham Young was not in Utah Territory when the seagull miracle happened.

President Young had returned to Winter Quarters and was only notified of the miracle by a letter.

Source: Encyclopedia of Mormonism, by Richard W. Sadler.

On the Web at: https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Seagulls,_Miracle_of

 

82. Some church members did not realize the seagulls eating the grasshoppers was a miracle, until months later, when the story grew and eventually became a legendary event.

Source: “Was the ‘Miracle of the Gulls" Exaggerated? LDS Historians Explain,” by Trent Toone, in LDS Living, July 23, 2018.

 

      Mormon Crickets were numerous in Pioneer times on Great Salt Lake marshlands.

83. Other, Anti-Insect Miracles happened in Northern Utah a few years after the Salt Lake area event.

Perhaps the most famous miracles in Mormon Pioneer history occurred in June-July of 1848 when the first crops in the Salt Lake Valley were threatened by a plague of insects, what would later be called “Mormon crickets.”

Starting in May, the crickets started eating the wheat, corn, beans, pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, melons and other crops – and continued to do so for a month.

After many prayers by the pioneers, a white cloud of seagulls flew in during early June and started devouring the crickets. 

However, this was not a one-day event. The birds came daily for about three weeks, eating insects, drinking water and then regurgitating before eating more of the insects. The remainder of the pioneer crops were saved.

This timely appearance of gulls was described in a letter of June 9 to Brigham Young, who was back East at the time: "The sea gulls have come in large flocks from the lake and sweep the crickets as they go; it seems the hand of the Lord is in our favor." 

(However, for some pioneer settlers, it apparently required months of time afterward for this to be heralded as a miracle.)

The Seagull Monument on Salt Lake’s Temple Square commemorates that event.

However, the early Layton-Kaysville area apparently benefited from what may also be a similar miraculous event.

Grasshoppers, rather than the more famous Mormon crickets, caused the majority of the insect damage in pioneer Utah. (Crickets were hardly a nuisance in Utah after 1850.)

During the summer of 1854, grasshoppers threatened to destroy all the crops of settlers in the Layton-Kaysville area. 

This insect horde rose one morning like a low, dark cloud. However, huge wind gusts soon came from the eastern canyons and carried the grasshoppers out over the Great Salt Lake. 

Millions of dead insects later washed up on the shores of the lake and most of the settlers’ crops were spared.

While gusting canyon winds occasionally occur in winter, early spring or late fall, they are very, very unlikely to happen in the summer, according to northern Utah weather records.

In fact, historically, this is the lone recorded canyon wind gusting event in the summer months (June, July and August) for Davis County. From mid-May to early September, these winds have otherwise never blown.

The same windy “miracle” also repeated at least twice, though in Salt Lake County.

A year later, in 1855, in the western area of Salt Lake County, swarms of grasshoppers also threatened settlers’ crops. Once again, a providential wind came along and blew the insects into the Great Salt Lake.

The same thing happened again during 1868 in Salt Lake.

 After noticing the quantities of dead insects in the lake in 1868, Benjamin LeBaron wrote, "I consider this later deliverance from the grasshoppers just as great and miraculous as the former 1848 rescue from the ravages of the black crickets."

The years 1854-56, 1867-72, and 1876-79 are believed to have been the worst years of grasshopper infestations in Northern Utah during the pioneer era.

Sources: “Encyclopedia of Mormonism;” “Utah’s Weather and Climate,” by Dan Pope and Clayton Brough; http://historytogo.utah.gov  and “Davis County Land of Peace, Beauty and a Quality of Life,” by the Davis School District, 1994.

 

SECOND COMING

                                       A rainbow in Arches National Park.                        Photo by Liz Arave Hafen.

84. Rainbows are more than just a sign that God won’t flood the world again, they will also help predict the Second Coming of Christ.

Spot a rainbow after a rainstorm or by a waterfall and you will usually simply be amazed by its simple beauty.
Scientifically speaking, a rainbow is an optical/meteorological phenomenon, where a spectrum of light appears in the air when the sun shines into droplets of moisture in the atmosphere.
No mystery here. It is a cause and effect event.
But rainbows are one of the greatest earthly signs that God has ever used to convey his promises.
After the Biblical Great Flood, God declared the rainbow to be a sign that he would never flood the Earth again (Genesis 9:11-17).
Now whether the rainbow made its first appearance then, or if God simply said the rainbow, an existing phenomenon, would be his sign, is unclear.
Anyway, the rainbow is one of the simplest and easiest to spot signs of the impending end of the world ("end of the wicked") in the last days.
Joseph Smith taught:
"The inhabitants of the earth are asleep; they know not the day of their visitation. The Lord hath set the bow in the cloud for a sign that while it shall be seen, seed time and harvest, summer and winter shall not fail; but when it shall disappear, woe to that generation, for behold the end cometh quickly." (“Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith," page 305.)
Also by Joseph Smith:
"I have asked of the Lord concerning His coming; and while asking the Lord, He gave a sign and said, "In the days of Noah I set a bow in the heavens as a sign and token that in any year that the bow should be seen the Lord would not come; but there should be seed time and harvest during that year: but whenever you see the bow withdrawn, it shall be a token that there shall be famine, pestilence, and great distress among the nations, and that the coming of the Messiah is not far distant." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith," page 340.)
So, the year you do not see the rainbow, the end of the world is not far away.
How could rainbows disappear? God withdrew all light for three days following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 8:21) and while that seems scientifically impossible, it happened.
Perhaps, there's some scientific law he will use to prohibit rainbows.
Otherwise, if there was enough fog, smoke, and/or haze around, that might prevent rainbows from being seen.
Still, it is not a matter of how God is going to withhold the rainbows, simply that he will do it.

85. Jesus Christ will be dressed in all-red attire, not white color at the Second Coming.

Doctrine and Covenants 133:46-48 states of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ:

“And it shall be said: Who is this that cometh down from God in heaven with dyed garments; yea, from the regions which are not known, clothed in his glorious apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?

And he shall say: I am he who spake in righteousness, mighty to save.

And the Lord shall be red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treadeth in the wine-vat.”

 

SIN

86. Sin is rather subjective, based on circumstances.

According to a blockbuster, but usually unheralded teaching by the Prophet Joseph Smith:

“That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another. God said, 'Thou shalt not kill'; at another time He said, 'Thou shalt utterly destroy.' This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire.” (From “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” page 256, Deseret Book, 1979.)
This is clearly one of Joseph Smith’s greatest ever teachings.

There is probably not one single one of the Ten Commandments that doesn’t have exceptions to be righteously transgressed, either from events of Saints in the Standards Works, or in Church History.

Of course, the key is having divine revelation to ever break them righteously! Joseph Smith’s teaching are not an excuse to break commandments, but clearly outline that we must have revelation if we are to always try to do right.

Right and wrong are not black and white and are more shaded than we imagine. That's the ultimate reason why we should not judge others ....
Personal revelation is one of the keys to a righteous life. 

                     Latter-day Saint funerals are often held in a decreased member's chapel.

SPIRIT WORLD

87. The Deceased are not truly called “Home,” despite countless such references in Latter-day Saint funerals.

How can you go “home” to where you've never been before and to where it is only a temporary residence -- the spirit world? No, this is a misleading doctrine that is frequently taught at Latter-day Saint funerals.

(The only support for the spirit world being “home” would be that a newly decreased person might have many relatives or friends living there already – and thus the place will feel like “home.”)

88. You can repent in the Spirit World, although it is much, much more difficult.

A person can repent in the Spirit World. However, Elder Apostle Melvin J. Ballard said in a talk in the Ogden Tabernacle on September 22, 1922, that it is 10 times harder to repent in the spirit world.

Doctrine and Covenants 45:17 also states that it is a “bondage” not to have one’s body in the Spirit World.

Source: “The Vision,” by N.B. Lundwall, Bookcraft, 1951, p.46-48. 

89. Jesus Christ is not in the Spirit World.

There was a widower of a few years -- and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – who spoke and reflected on his wife's passing at a Sacrament meeting that the Author attended. His wife had said that she looked forward to meeting Jesus in "Paradise" (the Spirit world) -- and her departed family members.
No one had the heart to correct he, nor his late wife's incorrect understanding directly.
Yet, a significant number of newspaper obituaries of Church members wrongly declare that a deceased person has gone back to their Heavenly Father, or Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is NOT present in the Spirit world, nor does he likely visit there.
Why?
Because he could only spend three days there, as a spirit, after his mortal death.
It is the world of spirits after all and only spirits can reside or visit there. All inhabitants do live by faith there, much as they do here. To have Christ, or God the Father there defeats the purpose of the Spirit world – and you have to be a spirit to reside or visit in the Spirit World.
Yes, the Holy Ghost and Light of Christ can be felt in the Spirit world by the repentant, but that's all. Even prayer is likely present in the Spirit world.
No deceased person likely meets Christ or God the Father until they are at the judgment bar, or after they are resurrected.

 90. A deceased person’s memory of life before birth is not instantly or automatically restored in the Spirit world.

One of the most common myths about the spirit world is that our knowledge of life before birth is instantly restored after death.
That is simply not true. Think about this, if it were true, why would people in the spirit world need to be taught the basics of the gospel, for they knew all this in the pre-earth life and even chose to come to earth to be tested?
Elder Melvin J. Ballard, an apostle from 1919-1939, taught that the dead don't know any more when they die then they did alive, except that they have now passed through the process of death.
A popular vintage church video production, "Man's Search for Happiness," contains the error that knowledge of life before birth will be restored after death. Yes, it will eventually be restored, but not immediately. Such restoration is probably based on worthiness.
There is no shortcut to hearing the gospel -- you hear it from the elders in this life or the next, or not at all.
If you refused to hear the message on earth, it is likely you will not want to hear it there either.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie also said that the same attitudes, knowledge, habits, etc. a person has are all carried to the spirit world.
Joseph Fielding Smith also taught that residents of the spirit world can exercise both faith and repentance. (Church News section of the Deseret News, January 5, 1935, p. 7.)
Notwithstanding, we all likely speak the same language in the spirit world and so perhaps the same language skills (Adamic language?) we had in the pre-earth life are instantly restored to us, though.

 

91. The Spirit World is located on Earth.

Both Brigham Young and Parley P. Pratt stated in 19^th Century discourses that the Spirit World in actually on Earth, though invisible and unreachable by man. President Young said that residents of the Spirit World can see us, but that we can only see them, if the Holy Spirit opens our eyes.

Elder Pratt stated that there is a veil drawn between the mortal Earth and the Spirit World.

Sources: Deseret News, August 27, 1856, p.195, from a sermon delivered on June 22, 1856. Also, Parley P. Pratt in “Key to the Science of Theology,” Deseret Book, 1978, p. 80; Ensign Magazine, January 1977, p.49; and Doctrine and Covenants 88:25-28.

 

92. There are only adults in the Spirit World.

Every resident in the Spirit World is an adult in age – they are no children, or seniors there. All spirit world residents are adults, according to President Joseph Fielding Smith, "Answers to Gospel Questions," 1:60. Even those who died as babes are adult in appearance, though visions of deceased persons may make them appear as about the age when a person last saw them on earth.

 

93. When a person dies, their spirit is naked, lacking clothes.

When we die, our spirit is naked, yes without clothes! Just as we entered the mortal world naked, our spirit is initially naked -- and it appears that someone (perhaps a family member or friend?) is dispatched to meet a spirit just before he or she enters the spirit world and gives them a robe to wear.

Source: “Wilford Woodruff, History of His Life and Labors,” as recorded in his daily journals. Prepared for publication by Matthias F. Cowley, September, 1909. Reprinted by Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 7^th Printing, 1978, 541.

 

TEMPLE WORK

                                   The Salt Lake Temple.                    

                                                                                                                  Photo by Liz Arave Hafen.

94. All Temple Work for all of God’s children will not ultimately be done.

According to President Joseph Fielding Smith, every person who has ever lived won’t need their temple work done simply because it will be known during the Millennium who is and who isn’t a Celestial Kingdon qualifier. And, all ordinances in the Church apply to entrance into the Celestial Kingdom. If one is going to a lower kingdom, they don’t need their temple work done.

President Smith said we only try to do everyone’s work now, because we lack the revelation to know for certain who needs it performed. Also, obviously a lot of the temple work done relates to our own ancestors and we show our faith in them, by doing their work, and it also helps us spiritually to do the work.

(However, a word of caution – once you know this truth, you should not be tempted to use it as an excuse to not do as much temple work as you otherwise would!)

Note too, that resurrected beings won’t return in the Millennium to do their own temple work, as only mortals can perform such work, for themselves, or others. (Joseph Fielding Smith, “Doctrines of Salvation, Bookcraft 1955, 2:178.)

Sources: Joseph Fielding Smith in the Church News section of the Deseret News, January 5, 1935, pages 6-7; Also, “Doctrines of Salvation,” Bookcraft, 1965, 2:191 and 2:251-252; Bruce R. McConkie, “Mormon Doctrine,” Bookcraft, 1966, p.501; Church News, August 27, 1988, p. 3.

 

95. There are unexplained variances in the sequence of events in the various accounts of the creation.

The day-by-day sequence of events relating to the creation of the world in the Temple endowment account and the accounts of it found in the standard works are not identical. No, the sequence of days in the creation are different in the temple than the scriptures. Elder Bruce R. McConkie noted that in the Ensign magazine, June 1982, p. 11 and said those who attend the temple frequently will know the "why" for these differences.

96. A “Temple Ship” was proposed to sail the Seven Seas in the late 1960s, though it never materialized.

During a visit for official research with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the second floor of the Church History Building, one of the church employees assisting the Author stumbled across a rare find --- something that he had never heard of before ...
The Church at one time considered creating a temple on a large ship.
It could sail to countries where there was no temple and offer the blessings of the sacred structure to church members who could reach the coastline ports.
The special ship would feature a celestial room in its center, where normally the large dining room on a cruise ship is. With lodging, water, dining facilities, etc., this idea had merit, as self-contained traveling temple, complete with hotel rooms for temple patrons.
This was a proposal made in the late 1960s.
It never happened, but it was studied. In fact, a suitable ship was available for purchase for $2 million and another $2 million could have made it temple worthy.
Now days, temples are scattered all over the world. So, a sailing temple would likely not be needed today.
A temple on the seven seas ... who knew?
-What doomed this unique idea?
None other than boundary issues.
According to Church policy, temples have to be located inside a stake's boundaries.
Since the temple was roving and could not be tied to any specific stake of the Church, the project was considered not doctrinally correct.
Could they not have made the sailing ship an exception to the stake boundary policy? Yes, but again that didn't happen either.
President Joseph Fielding Smith was said to have studied the idea for a temple ship, but could find no precedent where it could be exempt from the policy of a temple having to be inside a stake. So, he said no to the idea in 1970 and that was it.
So, the "USS Celestial" never set sail.

                 The Layton, Utah Latter-day Saint Temple, where sealings regularly take place.

97. Children are actually sealed through their parents, not so much to them.

Many church members appear to incorrectly believe that they will have their children in the eternities -- that their children are sealed to them.
In the ultimate sense, according to Joseph Fielding Smith, (“Doctrines of Salvation," Bookcraft, 1955, 2:173-176) a child is sealed into the "Family of God," into one unbroken chain that will stretch back to Adam.
Children are more accurately sealed through their parents, not to them.
Only husband and wife are sealed together.
Just like in this life, our children eventually have their own spouse and move away to create their own new family.
Surely our earthly children will enjoy an extra special connection and relationship with us, but only husband and wife are sealed together for eternity. 

 

TITHING

                                 An LDS Church tithing/donation form from the early 21st Century.

98. There is no such thing as a “part tithe payer.”

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a part-tithe payer. 
On the financial reports of the church, there are full-tithe payers and then all others make a donation to the church.
A member is either a full tithe payer, or they are "non-tithe" payers and make a donation to the church.
D&C 85:3-5 states that the true membership roll of the church only includes full tithe payers.
Tithing is so important, in fact, that according to D&C 64:23, it is a principle than alone can elevate a member to Terrestrial status enough so to avoid being burned at the Second Coming.

TRAGEDIES

99. The Hauns Mill Massacre would not have happened, if the Church members there had followed Joseph Smith’s advice.

Joseph Smith clearly said that the disaster would not have happened and that no church members would have been killed, if they had followed his advice and moved out.

Source: “History of the Church,” 5:137, August 1842.

100. The Martins Cove handcart disaster would not have happened if the participants had heeded the advice of experienced men, before leaving the Midwest too late in the season.

This handcart disaster is a good example of man's mistakes and misjudgment.
"There are several causes for the unhappy disaster which overtook these two handcart companies," Milton R. Hunter 
wrote in his "Utah in Her Western Setting" history book (pages 395-396). “The emigrants themselves were somewhat foolhardy in their over-enthusiasm to reach Utah. Much of the blame is due those officials who permitted them to start on their journey so late in the year, contrary to the instructions of Governor (Brigham) Young, which were so emphatic on this subject."
Hunter also said adjustments were made in the next handcart companies so none ever left so late in the season -- and had better equipment. 

           Coffee is against the Word of Wisdom, for more than health reasons.

                                                                                      Image from Wikipedia Commons.

WORD OF WISDOM

101. The Word of Wisdom is more than just a health code.

 A seldom talked about purpose/benefit of the Word of Wisdom is to separate and make the Latter-day Saints distinct from the world. It helps to separate Latter-day Saints from the rest of the world.

This is just like the ancient Israelites' health code separated them from the world, particularly with Leviticus Chapter 7 ... But too many Church members only read The Book of Mormon and have never studied the Old Testament.
The Word of Wisdom isn't just about health …

Members can argue health studies all they want, or feel fine if they drink a decaff coffee, tea or even cola. But the spirit of "separation from the world" in the Word of Wisdom is one of its purposes too. A wise church member would say no to any coffee, tea or cola – and also stays out of any coffee shop (or bar) period – and seeks to avoid the “appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22).