Documental sobre la iglesia mormón

God Makers = The Lies of The Mormon Church (1980)

Riqueza y poder, mentiras, poligamia, asesinatos, manipulacion, ritos satánicos, sexo ... esto y más en 48 minutos

Incluye el  cuentito mormon:  sexo eterno y muchas mujeres para los hombres; las mujeres a  tener hijos eternamente y servir a los hombres.

Video en http://www.archive.org/details/God_Makers

Articulo de la revista Time. Incluye la fortuna de los mormones.

KINGDOM COME

By DAVID VAN BIEMA;S.C. GWYNNE AND RICHARD N. OSTLING/SALT LAKE CITY Monday, Aug. 04, 1997

In Salt Lake City, Utah, on a block known informally as Welfare Square, stands a 15-barreled silo filled with wheat: 19 million lbs., enough to feed a small city for six months. At the foot of the silo stands a man--a bishop with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--trying to explain why the wheat must not be moved, sold or given away.

Around the corner is something called the bishop's storehouse. It is filled with goods whose sole purpose is to be given away. On its shelves, Deseret-brand laundry soaps manufactured by the Mormon Church nestle next to Deseret-brand canned peaches from the Mormon cannery in Boise, Idaho. Nearby are Deseret tuna from the church's plant in San Diego, beans from its farms in Idaho, Deseret peanut butter and Deseret pudding. There is no mystery to these goods: they are all part of the huge Mormon welfare system, perhaps the largest nonpublic venture of its kind in the country. They will be taken away by grateful recipients, replaced, and the replacements will be taken away.

But the grain in the silo goes nowhere. The bishop, whose name is Kevin Nield, is trying to explain why. "It's a reserve," he is saying. "In case there is a time of need."

What sort of time of need?

"Oh, if things got bad enough so that the normal systems of distribution didn't work." Huh? "The point is, if those other systems broke down, the church would still be able to care for the poor and needy."

What he means, although he won't come out and say it, is that although the grain might be broken out in case of a truly bad recession, its root purpose is as a reserve to tide people over in the tough days just before the Second Coming.

"Of course," says the bishop, "we rotate it every once in a while."

For more than a century, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints suffered because their vision of themselves and the universe was different from those of the people around them. Their tormentors portrayed them as a nation within a nation, radical communalists who threatened the economic order and polygamists out to destroy the American family. Attacked in print, and physically by mobs, some 30,000 were forced to flee their dream city of Nauvoo, Ill., in 1846. Led by their assassinated founder's successor, they set out on a thousand-mile trek westward derided by nonbelievers as being as absurd as their faith.

This year their circumstances could not be more changed. Last Tuesday, 150 years to the week after their forefathers, 200 exultant and sunburned Latter-day Saints reached Salt Lake City, having re-enacted the grueling great trek. Their arrival at the spot where, according to legend, Brigham Young announced, "This is the right place" was cheered in person by a crowd of 50,000--and observed approvingly by millions. The copious and burnished national media attention merely ratified a long-standing truth: that although the Mormon faith remains unique, the land in which it was born has come to accept--no, to lionize--its adherents as paragons of the national spirit. It was in the 1950s, says historian Jan Shipps, that the Mormons went from being "vilified" to being "venerated," and their combination of family orientation, clean-cut optimism, honesty and pleasant aggressiveness seems increasingly in demand. Fifteen Mormon Senators and Representatives currently trek the halls of Congress. Mormon author and consultant Stephen R. Covey bottled parts of the ethos in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which has been on best-seller lists for five years. The FBI and CIA, drawn by a seemingly incorruptible rectitude, have instituted Mormon-recruitment plans.

The Mormon Church is by far the most numerically successful creed born on American soil and one of the fastest growing anywhere. Its U.S. membership of 4.8 million is the seventh largest in the country, while its hefty 4.7% annual American growth rate is nearly doubled abroad, where there are already 4.9 million adherents. Gordon B. Hinckley, the church's President--and its current Prophet--is engaged in massive foreign construction, spending billions to erect 350 church-size meetinghouses a year and adding 15 cathedral-size temples to the existing 50. University of Washington sociologist Rodney Stark projects that in about 83 years, worldwide Mormon membership should reach 260 million.

The church's material triumphs rival even its evangelical advances. With unusual cooperation from the Latter-day Saints hierarchy (which provided some financial figures and a rare look at church businesses), TIME has been able to quantify the church's extraordinary financial vibrancy. Its current assets total a minimum of $30 billion. If it were a corporation, its estimated $5.9 billion in annual gross income would place it midway through the FORTUNE 500, a little below Union Carbide and the Paine Webber Group but bigger than Nike and the Gap. And as long as corporate rankings are being bandied about, the church would make any list of the most admired: for straight dealing, company spirit, contributions to charity (even the non-Mormon kind) and a fiscal probity among its powerful leaders that would satisfy any shareholder group, if there were one

Yet the Latter-day Saints remain sensitive about their "otherness"--more so, in fact, than most outsiders can imagine. Most church members laughed off Dennis Rodman's crack about "f_____ Mormons" during the N.B.A. championships. But the subsequent quasi apology by Rodman's coach Phil Jackson that his player hadn't known they were "some kind of a cult or sect" deeply upset both hierarchy and membership. Perhaps, however, they should learn to relax. Historian Leonard J. Arrington says the church, along with the values it represents, "has played a role, and continues to play a role, in the economic and social development of the West--and indeed, because of the spread of Mormons everywhere, of the nation as a whole." And in a country where religious unanimity is ever less important but material achievement remains the earthly manifestation of virtue, their creed may never face rejection again.

The top beef ranch in the world is not the King Ranch in Texas. It is the Deseret Cattle & Citrus Ranch outside Orlando, Fla. It covers 312,000 acres; its value as real estate alone is estimated at $858 million. It is owned entirely by the Mormons. The largest producer of nuts in America, AgReserves, Inc., in Salt Lake City, is Mormon-owned. So are the Bonneville International Corp., the country's 14th largest radio chain, and the Beneficial Life Insurance Co., with assets of $1.6 billion. There are richer churches than the one based in Salt Lake City: Roman Catholic holdings dwarf Mormon wealth. But the Catholic Church has 45 times as many members. There is no major church in the U.S. as active as the Latter-day Saints in economic life, nor, per capita, as successful at it.

The first divergence between Mormon economics and that of other denominations is the tithe. Most churches take in the greater part of their income through donations. Very few, however, impose a compulsory 10% income tax on their members. Tithes are collected locally, with much of the money passed on informally to local lay leaders at Sunday services. "By Monday," says Elbert Peck, editor of Sunstone, an independent Mormon magazine, the church authorities in Salt Lake City "know every cent that's been collected and have made sure the money is deposited in banks." There is a lot to deposit. Last year $5.2 billion in tithes flowed into Salt Lake City, $4.9 billion of which came from American Mormons. By contrast, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with a comparable U.S. membership, receives $1.7 billion a year in contributions. So great is the tithe flow that scholars have suggested it constitutes practically the intermountain states' only local counterbalance in an economy otherwise dominated by capital from the East and West coasts.

The true Mormon difference, however, lies in what the LDS church does with that money. Most denominations spend on staff, charity and the building and maintenance of churches; leaders will invest a certain amount--in the case of the Evangelical Lutherans, $152 million--as a pension fund, usually through mutual funds or a conservative stock portfolio. The philosophy is minimalist, as Lutheran pastor Mark Moller-Gunderson explains: "Our stewardship is not such that we grow the church through business ventures."

The Mormons are stewards of a different stripe. Their charitable spending and temple building are prodigious. But where other churches spend most of what they receive in a given year, the Latter-day Saints employ vast amounts of money in investments that TIME estimates to be at least $6 billion strong. Even more unusual, most of this money is not in bonds or stock in other peoples' companies but is invested directly in church-owned, for-profit concerns, the largest of which are in agribusiness, media, insurance, travel and real estate. Deseret Management Corp., the company through which the church holds almost all its commercial assets, is one of the largest owners of farm- and ranchland in the country, including 49 for-profit parcels in addition to the Deseret Ranch. Besides the Bonneville International chain and Beneficial Life, the church owns a 52% holding in ZCMI, Utah's largest department-store chain. (For a more complete list, see chart.) All told, TIME estimates that the Latter-day Saints farmland and financial investments total some $11 billion, and that the church's nontithe income from its investments exceeds $600 million.

The explanation for this policy of ecclesiastical entrepreneurism lies partly in the Mormons' early experience of ostracism. Brigham Young wrote 150 years ago that "the kingdom of God cannot rise independent of Gentile nations until we produce, manufacture, and make every article of use, convenience or necessity among our people." By the time the covered wagons and handcarts had concluded their westward roll, geographic isolation had reinforced social exclusion: the Mormons' camp on the Great Salt Lake was 800 miles from the nearest settlement. Says Senator Bob Bennett, whose grandfather was a President: "In Young's day the church was the only source of accumulated capital in the territory. If anything was built, it had to be built by the church because no one else had any money."

In the first century of corporate Mormonism, the church's leaders were partners, officers or directors in more than 900 Utah-area businesses. They owned woolen mills, cotton factories, 500 local co-ops, 150 stores and 200 miles of railroad. Moreover, when occasionally faced with competition, they insisted that church members patronize LDS-owned businesses. Eventually this became too much for the U.S. Congress. In 1887 it passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act, specifically to smash the Mormons' vertical monopolies.

But there is an additional aspect to the Mormons' spectacular industry and frugality. Their faith, like several varieties of American Protestantism, holds that Jesus will return to earth and begin a thousand-year rule, this glory preceded by a period of turmoil and chaos. During the dark years, church members understand that it is their destiny to sustain a light to help usher in the kingdom to come. In their preparations to do so, they shame even the most avid of secular survivalists. Church members are advised to keep one year's food and other supplies on hand at all times, and many do. The wheat-filled Welfare Square grain elevator fulfills the same principle. Of the millennium, President Hinckley says, "We hope we're preparing for it. We hope we'll be prepared when it comes.

But Hinckley qualifies that: "We don't spend a lot of time talking about or dreaming about the millennium to come; we've always been a practical people dealing with the issues of life. We're doing today's job in the best way we know how." From the beginning, the Saints' millennial strain was modulated by a delight in the economic nitty-gritty. Of some 112 revelations received by the first Prophet and President of the church, Joseph Smith, 88 explicitly address fiscal matters. And although the faithful believe the "End Times" could begin shortly, their actual date is (to humankind) indefinite, and certain key signs and portents have not yet manifested themselves. Rather than wild-eyed fervor, most church moneymen project a can-do optimism.

Or, in their higher echelons, a case-hardened if amiable professionalism. A primary reason for the church's business triumphs, says University of Washington sociologist Stark, is that it has no career clerics, only amateurs who have been plucked for service from successful endeavors in other fields. (In fact, there is no ordained clergy whatsoever: the term priest applies to all males over age 12 in good standing in the church, and "bishops," while supervising congregations, are part-time lay leaders.) Religious observers point out that this creates a vacuum of theological talent in a church with a lot of unusual theology to explain. But the benefit, notes Stark, is that "people at the top of the Mormon church have immense experience in the world. These guys have been around the track. Why do they choose to invest directly? Because they are not helpless. They are a bunch of hard-nosed businessmen." Rodney Brady, who runs Deseret Management Corp., has a Harvard business doctorate, served as executive vice president of pharmaceutical giant Bergen Brunswig and from 1970 to '72 was Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Similar figures fill the church's upper management: Tony Burns, a "stake president" (the rough equivalent of an archbishop), is chairman of Miami-based Ryder Systems, the truck-rental empire

And then there is Jon Huntsman. Currently a powerful "area authority," Huntsman may at some point make official church fiscal policy. But right now he is exemplary of the Mormon gift for not only making a buck but also spending it on others. An enthusiastic missionary as a young man, at age 42 he was asked to serve as "mission president" for a group of 220 young proselytizers in Washington. He took leave from his company and moved his wife and nine children with him. When his stint was up, they headed back to Utah, and Huntsman resumed building the $5 billion, 10,000-employee Huntsman Chemical Corp., which he owns outright. Ten years ago, Huntsman shifted his company's mission from pure profit to a three-part priority: pay off debt, be a responsible corporate citizen and relieve human suffering. Thus far, his company has donated $100 million of its profit to a cancer center at the University of Utah. It has also built a concrete plant in Armenia to house those rendered homeless by the 1988 earthquake, and it is active in smaller charities ranging from children's hospitals to food banks. Since the shift, says Huntsman, "we have a far greater spirit of accomplishment and motivation. Our unity and teamwork and corporate enthusiasm have never been higher." And he still puts in his 15 to 20 hours a week as a lay clergyman. He concludes, "I find it impossible to separate life and corporate involvement from my religious convictions."

And that, of course, begs the question: Just what, exactly, is the belief underlying those convictions, the rock upon which faith and empire are built?

Mormon theology recognizes the Christian Bible but adds three holy books of its own. It holds that shortly after his resurrection, Jesus Christ came to America to teach the indigenous people, who were actually a tribe of Israel, but that Christian churches in the Old World fell into apostasy. Then, starting in 1820, God restored his "latter-day" religion by dispatching the angel Moroni to reveal new Scriptures to a simple farm boy named Joseph Smith near Palmyra, N.Y. Although the original tablets, written in what is called Reformed Egyptian, were taken up again to heaven, Smith, who received visits from God the father, Jesus, John the Baptist and saints Peter, James and John, translated and published the Book of Mormon in 1830. He continued to receive divine Scripture and revelations. One of these was that Christ will return to reign on earth and have the headquarters of his kingdom in a Mormon temple in Jackson County, Mo. (Over time, the church has purchased 14,465 acres of land there.)

There is a long list of current Mormon practices foreign to Catholic or Protestant believers. The best known revolve around rituals of the temples, which are barred to outsiders. At "endowment" ceremonies, initiates receive the temple garments, which they must wear beneath their clothing for life. Marriages are "sealed," not only until death doth part, but for eternity. And believers conduct proxy baptisms for the dead: to assure non-Mormon ancestors of an opportunity for salvation, current Mormons may be immersed on their behalf. The importance of baptizing one's progenitors has led the Mormons to amass the fullest genealogical record in the world, the microfilmed equivalent of 7 million books of 300 pages apiece.

Members of the church celebrate the Lord's Supper with water rather than wine or grape juice. They believe their President is a prophet who receives new revelations from God. These can supplant older revelations, as in the case of the church's historically most controversial doctrine: Smith himself received God's sanctioning of polygamy in 1831, but 49 years later, the church's President announced its recision. Similarly, an explicit policy barring black men from holding even the lowest church offices was overturned by a new revelation in 1978, opening the way to huge missionary activity in Africa and Brazil.

Mormons reject the label polytheistic pinned on them by other Christians; they believe that humans deal with only one God. Yet they allow for other deities presiding over other worlds. Smith stated that God was once a humanlike being who had a wife and in fact still has a body of "flesh and bones." Mormons also believe that men, in a process known as deification, may become God-like. Lorenzo Snow, an early President and Prophet, famously aphorized, "As man is now, God once was; as God now is, man may become." Mormonism excludes original sin, whose expiation most Christians understand as Christ's great gift to humankind in dying on the Cross.

All this has led to some withering denominational sniping. In 1995 the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) issued national guidelines stating that the Mormons were not "within the historic apostolic tradition of the Christian Church." A more sharply edged report by the Presbyterians' Utah subunit concluded that the Latter-day Saints "must be regarded as heretical." The Mormons have responded to such challenges by downplaying their differences with the mainstream. In 1982 an additional subtitle appeared on the covers of all editions of the Book of Mormon: "Another Testament of Jesus Christ." In 1995 the words Jesus Christ on the official letterhead of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were enlarged until they were three times the size of the rest of the text. In Salt Lake City's Temple Square, the guides' patter, once full of proud references to Smith, is almost entirely Christological. "We talk about Christ a lot more than we used to," says magazine editor Peck, whose journal's outspokenness has earned him an edgy relationship with the church. "We want to show the converts we are Christians."

And not just the converts. In an interview with TIME, President Hinckley seemed intent on downplaying his faith's distinctiveness. The church's message, he explained, "is a message of Christ. Our church is Christ-centered. He's our leader. He's our head. His name is the name of our church." At first, Hinckley seemed to qualify the idea that men could become gods, suggesting that "it's of course an ideal. It's a hope for a wishful thing," but later affirmed that "yes, of course they can." (He added that women could too, "as companions to their husbands. They can't conceive a king without a queen.") On whether his church still holds that God the Father was once a man, he sounded uncertain, "I don't know that we teach it. I don't know that we emphasize it... I understand the philosophical background behind it, but I don't know a lot about it, and I don't think others know a lot about it.

It would be tempting to assign the Mormons' success in business to some aspect of their theology. The absence of original sin might be seen as allowing them to move confidently and guiltlessly forward. But it seems more likely that both Mormonism's attractiveness to converts and its fiscal triumphs owe more to what Hinckley terms "sociability," an intensity of common purpose (and, some would add, adherence to authority) uncommon in the non-Mormon business or religious worlds. There is no other major American denomination that officially assigns two congregation members in good standing, as Mormonism does, to visit every household in their flock monthly. Perhaps in consequence, no other denomination can so consistently parade the social virtues most Americans have come around to saying they admire. The Rev. Jeffrey Silliman, of the same Presbyterian group that made the heresy charge, admits that Mormons "have a high moral standard on chastity, fidelity, honesty and hard work, and that's appealing."

There are limits to Mormon sociability. In 1993 the church capped a harsh campaign of intellectual purification against dozens of feminists and dissidents with the excommunication of D. Michael Quinn, a leading historian whose painstaking work documented Smith's involvement with the occult and church leaders' misrepresentation of some continued polygamy in the early 1900s. The current crackdown, some analysts believe, stems from fears of loss of control as the church becomes more international. Most think it will get worse if, as is likely, the church's hard-line No. 3 man, Boyd Packer, someday becomes President. Some wonder how the strict Mormon sense of hierarchy, along with the church's male-centered, white-dominated and abstemious nature, will play as the faith continues to spread past the naturally conservative mountain states.

Yet it is hard to argue with Mormon uniformity when a group takes care of its own so well. The church teaches that in hard times, a person's first duty is to solve his or her own problems and then ask for help from the extended family. Failing that, however, a bishop may provide him or her with cash or coupons redeemable at the 100 bishops' storehouse depots, with their Deseret-brand bounty. The largesse is not infinite: the system also includes 97 employment centers, and Mormon welfare officials report that a recipient generally stays on the dole between 10 and 12 weeks, at an average total cash value of $300. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the system is its funding, which does not, as one might expect, come out of tithes. Rather, once a month, church members are asked to go without two meals and contribute their value to the welfare system. The fast money is maintained and administered locally, so that each community can care for its own disadvantaged members.

"Our whole objective," says Hinckley, "is to make bad men good and good men better, to improve people, to give them an understanding of their godly inheritance and of what they may become." And he intends to do it globally. In what will undoubtedly become the hallmark of his presidency, he is in the process of a grand expansion, the organizational follow-up to the massive missionary work the church has long engaged in overseas. To gather the necessary capital for it, Hinckley has decelerated the growth of Mormon domestic investments: although still on the increase, their pace is far below that of previous decades, and the church has extracted itself from such previously Mormon-heavy fields as banking, hospitals, private schools and sugar. The church authorities have removed the tithe from the authority of local administrators and pulled every penny of it back to Salt Lake City for delegation by a more select and internationally minded group of managers.

No one thinks the push abroad, and the complementary balancing act domestically, will be easy. Says Bradley Bertoch, a venture capitalist (and nonpracticing Mormon) who specializes in attracting money to Utah: "The church needs to recruit adequate labor to drive its business growth beyond the borders of the U.S. But at the same time it has to make sure that it doesn't lose control of the home ground. It's the same problem of resource allocation in new markets faced by any multinational."

Will it succeed? Will the generations of young Mormon men who have so avidly evangelized beyond the borders of their country be followed by a fiscal juggernaut that will make the church as respected a presence in Brazil or the Philippines as it is in Utah, Colorado or, for that matter, America as a whole? Assessing the church's efforts at overseas expansion, author Joel Kotkin has written that "given the scale of the current religious revival combined with the formidable organizational resources of the church, the Mormons could well emerge as the next great global tribe, fulfilling, as they believe, the prophecies of ancient and modern prophets."

Hinckley puts it another way. "We're celebrating this year the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Mormon pioneers," he says. "From that pioneer beginning, in this desert valley where a plow had never before broken the soil, to what you see today...this is a story of success." It would be unwise to bet against more of the same.

--Reported by S.C. Gwynne and Richard N. Ostling/Salt Lake City

Fuente: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986794-1,00.html

Video: God Makers

God Makers: la verdad sobre los mormones

16.07.07

Un amable "lector", me deja este vídeo para que lo vean aquellos interesados en "La verdad sobre los mormones", que es su título en español. Un punto de vista, el de sus autores, muy documentado. Si quieres verlo más grande, haz click en los enlaces y pasa a la página original.
El reportaje americano se llama "God Makers" ("Hacedores de dioses", o creadores de dios).

Son 57 minutos de extraterrestres, "dioses vivos", Satanismo, ocultismo, masonería, un racismo a ultranza, estafas millonarias, suicidios y todo lo que las peores sectas-estafa pueden traernos. Si quieres más artículos míos sobre los mormones, te recomiendo en ésta misma bitácora: 

. 

Video en http://blogs.periodistadigital.com/politicamenteacorrecto.php/2007/07/16/god-makers-la-verdad-sobre-los-mormones

Una secta peligrosa?

Carta a un mormón

10.07.07

CATEGORÍA.

En febrero de 2007 recibí la cortés epístola de una amable lectora ofendida por mi inclusión de los mormones entre las “Sectas Peligrosas”. Le contesté, y mi respuesta terminaba así:
"Lo que sí le prometo es escribir lo antes posible algo para que los mormones puedan reflexionar y que justifique la inclusión en esa categoría de "sectas peligrosas". En el caso mormón, son "secta", y son "peligrosa" sobretodo para ellos; para ustedes, los adeptos. Le aseguro que también el resto de organizaciones sectarias se creen elegidos de Dios".
Hoy empezaré a dar cumplimiento a mi promesa. Esta es la respuesta que le mandé, con algunas ampliaciones al final.

Estimada Sra.
Siento haberla molestado incluyendo el mormonismo entre las sectas peligrosas; como verá hay otras muchas, y todas son consideradas por sus adeptos como estupendas. Lamentablemente no he podido todavía escribir sobre algunas pero si entra usted en cualquier artículo de sectas (excepto "nazis-eta") verá que siempre incluyo un párrafo que hace la diferencia entre la secta y las personas. Es el caso de los mormones.
Las sectas que clasifico son solo aquellas sobre las que tengo información suficiente, y en la mayoría he leído atentamente sus libros sagrados y demás publicaciones (el Libro del Mormón, Perla de gran precio e Historia de la Iglesia en cuanto a mormones).
El caso del mormonismo es algo especial. La psicosis delirante, inmoralidad y megalomanía delincuente de su fundador me hace particularmente doloroso que personas de buena fe sigan cayendo en semejante estructura. Simplemente intente usted, indagar un poco en sus propios textos: de los once testigos de Joseph Smith, todos dejaron la secta salvo los familiares; y de ellos, también dos hijos de Smith la abandonaron por la reorganizada de los Ultimos Días.
Pese a su obediencia masónica en la logia de Navoo desde el 15 de marzo de 1842 (como los 5 primeros presidentes: Smith, Young -que le robó la sucesión a Smith III- Taylor, Woodruff y Snow), nada impidió que fuera condenado y finalmente asesinado por fieles hartos de que se acostara con sus esposas, ni su "divinidad" le sirvió tampoco para defenderse prefiriendo liarse a tiros antes del linchamiento e hiriendo a 4 personas. Para el profeta-estafador puede que fuera maravilloso acostarse con más de 200 mujeres -muchas esposas de sus sectarios- o que, no contento con las madres hiciera sus orgías madre-hijas, pero evidentemente hasta sus más fanáticos seguidores acabaron pensando que les tomaba el pelo como tontos.
Todo ello queda muy lejos de las afirmaciones del profetoide sobre que era todopoderoso, o como dice en el volumen VI de Historia de la Iglesia, superior a Dios:

"Dios es mi hombre de confianza, mi mano derecha".

Siendo usted mujer, la secta es si cabe aun más destructiva y peligrosa, y me alegraré si -como han hecho infinidad de relevantes mormones- la abandona algún día. Si no es así, nada impide su felicidad, el espíritu humano es demasiado grande como para ser aniquilado por estafas. De hecho, algunos mormones cuentan con mi más sincera admiración (es el caso de Orson Scott Card). No dudo que, antes o después, si tienen tiempo, todos los mormones terminan dejando la impostura y abandonan la propagación de falacias, salvo si la secta les reporta beneficios que no encontrarían fuera. Los casos más relevantes se dan en la comunidad científica que, por lo menos, deben admitir cómo mentía Smith sobre sus delirantes (y falsas) traducciones de papiros egipcios, su totalmente inventada –y falsa también- historia arqueológica de América (ni una de las 200 ciudades inventadas por Smith ha dejado rastro arqueológico alguno), además de esas novelas de ficción que hizo pasar por revelaciones.
Finalmente, no sé en qué “sección” del mormonismo se encontrará usted, pues la supongo al corriente de que la actual secta de Salt Lake City ni siquiera respetó las decisiones de su fundador, y fue otro listillo, el tal Brigham Young, quien se nombró nuevo profeta saltándose la misma voluntad de su testamento (17 enero 1844) donde dejaba a su hijo Joseph Smith III como sucesor legítimo:

“Él será mi sucesor en la presencia del Alto Sacerdocio; un vidente, un revelador, un profeta para la Iglesia. Su designación le pertenece por mi bendición, y también por derecho”.

Parece que ni Young ni nadie de los actuales mormones le dieron mucha importancia a la voluntad del “profeta” Smith. Es raro, si de verdad creen lo que este notorio estafador decía de sí mismo:

“Soy el único hombre que ha conseguido mantener unida toda la Iglesia desde los tiempos de Adán... Ni Pablo, ni Juan, ni Pedro, ni Jesús lo consiguieron nunca”.

No quiero dejar de hacer una mención a otro tema que me parece especialmente sangrante: el racismo.
Los mormones de Joseph Smith tomaron lo peor de otras religiones anteriores. Así, su difusión por la espada y las llamadas del gurú a saquear, robar y usar la violencia para extender sus ideas solo serían comparables a las del mismo Mojamé, y si no alcanzan el salvajismo de este último puede que sea solo una cuestión de tiempos. Sin embargo, no es la primera pero sí de las más acentuadas sectas que hacen hincapié en un profundo racismo. En 1 Nefi 11-13 Smith ya inventa que, según él:

“vi una virgen que era sumamente hermosa y blanca”

lo cual es bastante raro para una mujer semita, judía palestina, del siglo primero. No tendría importancia si no supiéramos que “los malos” de su historia son esos inexistentes “lamanitas”, el pueblo maldito que reúne todos los vicios, y que –cómo no- la marca de su maldición era la piel oscura... Eso sí, cuando se vuelven buenos

“les fue quitada su maldición y su piel se volvió blanca” (Nefi 2-15).

¡Mal asunto para los nativos americanos!
¿No le parece?

Fuente: http://blogs.periodistadigital.com/politicamenteacorrecto.php/2007/07/10/carta-a-un-mormon

Falsedad, manupilación y fortuna de los mormones

Propósito de la secta Mormón

28.04.08

Una amiga de la bitácora plantea la siguiente cuestión:
Si tan seguro estoy de que los mormones son un movimiento sectario dividido a su vez en distintas sectas que se excluyen:
¿Cùal seria el proposito de tal engaño y quién o quiénes se beneficiarían?
Se puede ser claro pero no simple. Los movimientos sectarios nunca son simples. Intentaré explicar algunas cosas pero, de momento, reflexiona sobre esto: no soy yo quien dice que el mormonismo es un fraude, porque está probado hasta la saciedad que lo es; lo que yo digo es que funciona como una secta. Es una secta.
El Libro de Mormón fue una novela de ficción escrita por Solomon Spaulding, novela que Smith le robó a los 10 años de su muerte (un caso parecido a la Cienciología) e hizo pasar por "revelación divina". A los testimonios del hermano de Salomón, John Spaulding, y de Martha, su esposa, se suman los peritos calígrafos Howard Davis, Wayne Cowdrey y Donald Scales, quienes certificaron que era la misma escritura.
Wesley P. Walters, en ‘Nueva luz sobre la primera visión de José Smith’ (Institute Research Religious) probó el fraude José Smith, aunque mucho antes, en 1826, ya fuera condenado como estafador por el Juez Albert Neely:

Smith fue condenado bajo los cargos de ‘ser una persona desordenada y un impostor por el uso de una piedra ‘vidente’ para descubrir tesoros escondidos’

Smith apenas sabía leer y escribir en correcto inglés, mucho menos "traducir" inexistentes jeroglíficos egipciós en una grafía inventada o comprender hebreo y griego antiguos. Nunca existió ese idioma llamado “jeroglíficos reformados egipcios”. Ni un lingüista en el mundo lo confirma. Sencillamente no existe tal idioma.
En 1835 profetizó el fin del mundo para 1891... De momento, aquí estamos.
No existe ni una de las 38 ciudades de América Central del Libro de Mormón. Durante un siglo han buscado ruínas con "cemento" y fósiles de caballos o vacas en América... Pero no hay.
En 1938 anunció que en el condado de Jackson, Missouri, estaba el Edén de Adán y Eva. Todavía andan buscándolo.
No hay conexiones genealógicas entre el pueblo hebreo y los indios. Las migraciones a América y sus étnias están más que estudiadas hoy día. Es absurdo relacionar una raza mongoloide con caucásicos o semitas.
La división en capítulos y versículos de la Biblia no se aplicó hasta cientos de años después del 421, fecha inventada para las planchas de oro, pero las citas del Antiguo y N.T. son exactamente las de la Biblia Rey Jaime de 1611, incluyendo las cursivas agregadas para la claridad del texto.
El Libro del Mormón, tan "perfecto", lleva unas 4.000 correcciones desde la primera edición; cada vez que los nuevos líderes deben adaptar el fraude a los nuevos vientos.
De los 11 "testigos" en la portada del libro, 8 abandonaron la secta por "fraude, mentira y otros crímenes", mientras que el sucesor de Smith, Young, su esposa Ema o su hijo Smith Jr la abandonaron para fundar otras.
En 1840 formó su ejército, la ‘Legión de Nauvoo’, del que Smith era su General. Se construyó el gran Templo para recibir a Jesucristo en el Apocalipsis de 1891 (‘History of the Church’, volumen 2, pág. 182), pero no parece que los mormones tomaran muy en serio las profecías del estafador asesino.
Su "misión" en el mundo es una técnica de márketing piramidal al más puro estilo USA. El razonamiento mormón se basa en un metódico lavado de cerebro, lo único capaz de hacer olvidar que, según Smith, Dios le mandó instituir la poligamia; que tuvo 47 "esposas oficiales", 8 de ellas entre 14 y 19 años, además de las casi 200 mujeres y niñas concubinas. En 1831 la secta se instaló Kirtland (Ohio), donde ordenó 12 nuevos apóstoles y profetizó la Nueva Sión en Independence, Missouri. Al poco tuvo que huir de Kirtland condenado por estafa y se instaló en Independence por poco tiempo, pues fueron expulsados por su agresivo proselitismo y los desórdenes con los vecinos.
En 1838 cambió por el pueblo de Far west, donde impuso el diezmo obligatorio. Smith fue condenado a muerte por homicidio y tuvo que huir otra vez, a la ciudad de Commerce, Illinois, que rebautizó como Navoo.
Un grupo de ex-sectarios fundó el diario ‘Nauvoo Expositor’ denunciando la inmoralidad de Smith. El líder prohibió su circulación, confiscando sus bienes y luego quemándolo con sus tropas (Legión de Nauvoo), que asaltaron y quemaron la sede del diario. El gobernador de Missouri tuvo que intervenir enviando el ejercito regular. El líder, junto a su hermano Hyrum y dos colaboradores -William Richards y John Taylor- dió con sus huesos en la cárcel. El "mártir" y su hermano fueron linchados, pero Smith asesinó a tiros a 2 de sus atacantes. Quienes le lincharon eran mormones hartos de que "el líder" se acostara con sus mujeres e hijas... Se desconoce el lugar exacto donde fueron enterrados sus restos.
Así, hoy olvidan que según su profeta el fin del mundo, el Apocalipsis, debía llegar en 1891; que una raza de cuáqueros con mil años de edad vive en la Luna. Que en 1833 predijo la destrucción inmediata de Nueva York, Albany y Boston si no se hacían mormonas; que en el Polo Norte hay una tierra cálida donde viven las 10 tribus perdidas de Israel o que la guerra entre el Sur y el Norte se extendería "por todas las naciones".
Lo que cuenta es "el líder", y cuando se cambia de líder se maquilla la historia y doctrina anterior, los que no están de acuerdo con el liderazgo son amenazados o expulsados. Sus empleos y familia corren peligro, pues dependen del mormonismo. El miedo a estudiar fuentes autentificadas, a leer ex-mormones arqueólogos y demás libros de quienes descubren sus fraudes es típico en grupos sectarios.
Basan su salvación en José Smith, en Smith Jr. o en Brigham Young para negar a continuación, cuando les interesa, lo que sus "profetas" hicieron o dijeron.
No hay una fe, hay un presidente y otros líderes que tienen sujetos a millones de seguidores.
¿Quiénes se benefician?
Hay muchos y distintos niveles de "beneficio", desde el liderazgo tiránico hasta el abuso sexual, pasando por el dinero. En 1872 Utah ingresó en la confederación USA, donde está prohibida la poligamia, así que quienes decidieron seguir la "doctrina" de Smith refundaron la "Iglesia del Primogénito de la Plenitud de los Ultimos Tiempos", estableciéndose en México y considerando herejes a Brigham Young y los que se apartaron de esa "revelación divina": la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias (SUD). David Whitmer fundó la Iglesia Reestructurada de Jesucristo de los santos de los Ultimos Dias; la esposa de José Smith, Ema Hale Smith, inventó la Iglesia Reorganizada de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias; José Smith Jr, hijo y sucesor "legítimo" del fundador, creó la Iglesia de Cristo. Hoy existen unas 14 sectas escindidas de la original. En USA la poligamia se lleva en secreto o se termina en la cárcel, como el líder espiritual de la la Iglesia Fundamentalista de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Días, Warren Jeffs, que el pasado mes de noviembrefue condenado por un tribunal de Utah a diez años de prisión por complicidad en la violación de una niña de 14 años.

(PD / Agencias) 22/abril/2008 .- Las autoridades del estado norteamericano de Texas han comenzado a realizar las pruebas de ADN a los 416 niños rescatados de la secta poligámica de un rancho de la localidad de Eldorado para establecer los parentescos entre los miembros de la secta y determinar la custodia de los menores.
Estas pruebas podrían resultar claves en la investigación que siguen los tribunales de Texas sobre los presuntos abusos sexuales que se cometían dentro de esta secta escindida de los mormones, ya que se cree que muchos de los niños nacieron cuando sus madres eran menores de edad.
(...) El mayor caso de protección de menores de la historia de Texas comenzó a principios de este mes, cuando los servicios sociales del estado recibieron una llamada de una joven que decía tener 16 años y que aseguró que los miembros de su secta la habían obligado a casarse con un hombre de 50 años y que estaba embarazada de su segundo hijo.

Esa pretendida revelación divina y dogma, la poligamia, la recibió Smith para legitimar a posteriori sus excesos y conducta sexual desordenada, pero la aprobación oficial de la poligamia es cosa de Young en 1852. En 1882 el Congreso norteamericano prohibe la poligamia y en 1894 el presidente mormón Woodrof desaconseja esta práctica entre sus fieles. J. Fielding, el sexto presidente mormón, la prohibió en 1904, lo que no afecta a los "mormones auténticos", aquellos que siguen las doctrinas de Smith.
Brigham Young, el que usurpó su título al hijo de Smith, fue un violento y despótico líder, un racista militante que reveló e impuso que los negros eran descendientes de Caín, eternamente malditos y destinados a la esclavitud. La poligamia, así como el racismo extremista fueron dejados de lado -en apariencia- para seguir chupando del bote y no perder los privilegios en USA, que es nombrada como "Tierra Prometida". Todo muy en la línea del protestantismo y la masonería USA, donde la fe y el nacionalismo son "blancos" por esencia irracional.
Los mormones han impulsado una de las mayores bases de datos genealógicos del mundo... ¿Para qué? Para vender muchísimos "bautismos" por los difuntos... Cada miembro debe ir encontrando antepasados y "bautizarlos" sin detenerse jamás. Con el diezmo, los bautismos y el entramado de empresas los mormones son una de las sectas más ricas.
El 4 de agosto de 1997 la revista TIME publicó algunas cifras:
Su activo asciende a 30 billones de dólares. Si fuera una corporación sus entradas se calcularían en casi 6 billones anuales brutos, lo que la sitúa por encima de multinacionales como Nike. Tienen el Rancho ganadero más grande del mundo, Deseret Cattle and Citrus, Deseret Ranches of Florida: 126.000 hectáreas y valorado en 850 millones de dólares hace 10 años; también el 2º rancho más grande de Nebraska, el Nebraska-Farmland Reserve Inc-Rex Ranch; son los mayores productores de nueces en América (Ag Reserves Inc), la décimo cuarta mayor cadena de radio en América, Bonneville International Corp, y la aseguradora Beneficial Life Insurance Co, con un activo de 1.6 billones de dólares junto a una interminable lista de grandes negocios por todo el globo.
El diezmo, ese 10 por ciento de los fieles, produce miles de millones de dólares al año: en 1996 fueron 5.200 millones de dólares.
¿Qué hacen con ese dinero? ¿Ayuda a los necesitados de Calcuta? ¿Asociaciones como Manos Unidas? No, inversiones.

Fuente: http://blogs.periodistadigital.com/politicamenteacorrecto.php/2008/04/28/p162274

Doctrinas que los mormones tratan de ocultar. Vida al hacerse mormón.

DOCTRINAS ANTIGUAS DE LOS MORMONES

Se han abandonado muchas doctrinas que fueron una vez enseñadas por la iglesia y sostenido como fundamentales, esenciales y "eternas". No importa si estamos de acuerdo o no con los cambios que ha hecho la iglesia; el punto es que la iglesia que profesa ser de Dios y “eterna” toma una posición un una instancia y la posición opuesta en otra instancia, todo el tiempo profesando tener la palabra del Dios. Algunos ejemplos son:

- La doctrina del Adán-Dios (Adán es Dios el Padre);
- La Orden Unida (todos los bienes de los miembros de la iglesia deben ser guardado en común, con título en la iglesia);
- Unión plural (poligamia; un hombre debe tener más de una esposa para lograr el grado más alto de cielo);
- La maldición de Caín (la raza negra no se da derecho a tener el sacerdocio de Dios porque se maldice; esta doctrina no fue abandonada hasta 1978);
- Expiación de Sangre Propia (algunos pecados - apostasía, adulterio, asesinato, unión interracial - deben ser pagado por el vertimiento de la sangre propia del pecador, preferiblemente por alguien designada para hacer tal por las autoridades de la iglesia);

DOCTRINAS ACTUALES QUE SE TRATAN DE OCULTAR

El Mormonismo incluye muchas otras doctrinas inusuales que probablemente no le digan hasta que usted ha estado en la iglesia durante mucho tiempo. Estas doctrinas no se revelan a los investigadores o a los nuevos convertidos porque no se considera a esa gente todavía lista para tener más que "leche" como doctrina. Los Mormones también realizan probablemente que si los investigadores supieran de estas enseñanzas inusuales, no se juntarían la iglesia. Además de ésos mencionados en otras partes de este artículo, los siguientes son significativos:  

•  
  • Dios era una vez un hombre como nosotros.
  • Dios tiene un cuerpo tangible de carne y hueso.
  • Dios vive en un planeta cerca de la estrella Kolob .
  • Dios ("el Padre Celestial") tiene por lo menos una esposa, nuestra "Madre Celestial," pero ella es tan santo que no debemos discutirla ni rogar a ella.
  • Podemos convertirnos como Dios y ser dueño de nuestro propio universo.
  • Hay muchos Dioses, gobernando sus propios mundos.
  • Jesús y Satanás ("Lucifer") son hermanos, y ellos son nuestros hermanos - somos todos hijos espirituales del padre divino
  • Dios el Padre concibió a Jesucristo mediante relaciones sexuales con María, que era temporalmente su esposa.
  • No debemos rogar a Jesús, ni debemos intentar sentir una relación personal con él.
  • El "Dios" ("Jehová") del viejo testamento es la misma persona que se conoce como Jesús en el nuevo testamento.
  • En el grado más alto del Reino Celestial algunos hombres tendrán más que una esposa.
  • Antes de venir a esta tierra vivimos como espíritus en una "pre-existencia", durante la cuál fuimos probados; nuestra posición en esta vida (si nacemos a los Mormones o a los salvajes, o en América o África) es nuestra recompensa o castigo para nuestra obediencia o desobediencia en esa vida.
  • La piel oscura es una maldición de Dios, el resultado de nuestro pecado, o del pecado de nuestros antepasados. Si una persona con piel oscura es suficientemente santo, su piel se volverá más blanca.
  • El jardín de Edén estaba en Missouri. Toda la humanidad antes de la gran inundación vivió en el hemisferio occidental. El arca de Noé transportó él y los otros sobrevivientes al hemisferio del este.

¿COMO SERA SU VIDA SI SE HACE MORMON?

Si usted decide hacerse un miembro de la iglesia de los SUD, usted debe estar enterado de cómo será su vida en la iglesia. Aunque usted se encontrará aceptado con gusto por una gente sana, activa y generalmente animada, muchos de los cuáles son muy felices en el Mormonismo y no podrían imaginar sus vidas sin ello, hay otro lado

• Le recordarán continuamente que para entrar en el grado más alto de cielo ("el Reino Celestial”) usted tendrá que pasar con la ceremonia de la investidura en el templo y tendrá que tener su unión a su esposo mormónico "sellado." (si su esposo no es mormónico, o si no se casa, usted no puede entrar en el grado más alto de cielo.) Para conseguir el permiso de tener estas ceremonias realizadas en el templo, usted debe demostrarse ser un miembro fiel y obediente de la iglesia y debe hacer todo lo ordenado por las autoridades de la iglesia, desde el profeta hasta los líderes al nivel local. Usted tendrá que pasar una entrevista personal con las autoridades locales de la iglesia que le preguntarán de su vida privada y sus actividades religiosas y sociales.  
• Se requerirá que usted done por lo menos diez por ciento de sus ingresos a la iglesia como diezmo. Otras donaciones se le pedirán al presentarse la necesidad. Usted nunca verá una contabilidad de cómo este dinero sea gastado, o cuánto la iglesia recibe, o cualquier cosa relacionada con la condición financiera de la iglesia; la iglesia guarda como secreto sus finanzas, incluso de sus miembros.  
• Se requerirá que usted deje el uso del alcohol, del tabaco, del café, y del té.  
• Se esperará que usted satisfaga cualquier asignación del trabajo que le sea dado. Estas asignaciones pueden ser de enseñar clases, mantener expedientes, trabajar limpiando edificios, hacer servicio trabajando en una granja, ayudar en el cuarto de niños en domingo - cualquier trabajo que necesite ser hecho. Cada tarea que usted se realiza con éxito le hará elegible para otros, con más responsabilidad y más demandas sobre su tiempo. Los miembros que realizan estos trabajos, incluso ésos que implican el asesoramiento pastoral delicado, no reciben ningún entrenamiento formal cualquiera (no hay clero pagado o entrenado). Le dirán que Dios le ha llamado a sus asignaciones. Muchos mormones encuentran mucho de su tiempo libre ocupado con el trabajo de la iglesia, intentando satisfacer las asignaciones numerosas que se les han dado.
• Se esperará que usted sea 100% obediente a las autoridades de la iglesia y que haga cualquier cosa que ellos le digan. "Siga al profeta" es el lema, y significa seguir sin duda o pregunta. Se desalienta la discusión de si un decreto de arriba esté correcto o no. Se esperará que usted tenga fe que los líderes no pueden posiblemente conducirle en un camino extraviado. Incluso si le dicen algo que contradice lo que pudo haber dicho un profeta anterior, le dirán "un profeta vivo toma precedencia sobre un profeta muerto."
• Usted podrá "votar" sobre los que han sido llamados a posiciones de autoridad sobre usted, pero la votación estará por la demostración de manos en una reunión pública. Votarán para solamente un candidato a cada oficina (el "llamado por Dios"). La votación es por lo tanto casi siempre unánime al favor del candidato propuesto.
• Le aconsejarán no leer ningún material cuál no sea "promoviendo para la fe," es decir, cuál puede ser crítica de la iglesia o de sus líderes, o cuál puede colocar a la iglesia o a sus líderes en una luz desfavorable.
• Le aconsejarán no asociarse a los "apóstatas," es decir, los mormones anteriores. (Le preguntarán en su entrevista de "dignidad" acerca de esto.)  
• Si usted es soltero, le animarán que se case con un buen mormón cuanto antes. Cuando usted se casa, si se casa en una ceremonia de boda en el templo Mormón, los miembros de su familia y sus amigos que no sean mormones no se permitirán atender a la ceremonia, porque solamente se permite a los mormones "dignos" entrar en el templo.
• Si usted no sigue una vida en celibato, usted puede ser excomulgado.  
• Si usted es un varón sobre 12 años de edad y "digno" (es decir, si usted es obediente, asista a las reuniones, no masturba,  etc.), usted será ordenado a uno de los niveles del sacerdocio, y si usted continúa siendo fiel y obediente, usted avanzará gradualmente a través de los niveles del sacerdocio. Si usted es femina, usted recibirá las ventajas de la autoridad del sacerdocio solamente indirectamente, por su padre o su marido Mormón. El papel de la mujer Mormona es ser una esposa y una madre y obedecer y honrar su marido (o padre).  
• Si usted se demuestra ser un miembro obediente y fiel, eventualmente le considerarán digno de "recibir su investidura" en un templo Mormón. No le dirán por adelantado exactamente qué debe esperar en esta ceremonia muy larga, excepto que los detalles del ritual son secretos (los Mormones prefieren decir que son "sagrados," pero los tratan como si fueran secretos). Como parte de esa ceremonia le requerirán jurar un número de juramentos, la pena para la violación de los cuáles no se especifica ya pero hasta 1990 se especificaba que la pena era muerte por varios métodos sangrientos, tales como rajar su garganta de oído al oído. Le darán las muestras y las contraseñas secretas que se requieren para entrar en cielo. (aunque la mayoría de los mormones que no han recibido la investidura saben muy poco sobre la ceremonia, la ceremonia completa está disponible ahora en el Internet para el Mormón y el no-Mormón igualmente.) Después de recibir la investidura le requerirán usar una ropa interior especial siempre.  
• Si usted decide en algún momento que se equivocó en juntarse con la iglesia y entonces la deja, usted probablemente encontrará (juzgando  las experiencias de otras que lo han hecho) que muchos de sus amigos Mormones le abandonarán y evitarán. Si usted no puede convencer a los miembros de su familia que salgan de la iglesia con usted, usted encontrará que la iglesia ha dañado o destruido las enlaces de su familia y su relación con ellos puede nunca recuperarse.

Considere muy cuidadosamente antes de que usted se comprometa, y recuerde que cualquier duda que usted pueda tener ahora probablemente aumentará después.
Examine cuidadosamente ambos lados de la historia Mormona. Escuche las historias de los que han tenido una experiencia Mormona infeliz, no apenas esos mormones que puedan hablar en forma muy positiva de la vida en la iglesia.  
Los misioneros Mormones frecuentemente son encantadores y entusiásticos. Tienen una historia atractiva que contar. Al principio su historia suena maravilloso. Pero recuerde el viejo refrán, "Si algo suena demasiado bueno para ser verdad, probablemente lo es!" Tenga cuidado de no caer en la trampa de creer algo simplemente porque usted quisiera que fuera verdad. Los Mormones pueden decirle que los que critican la iglesia estén mintiendo, torciendo la verdad. Si usted examina las fuentes usadas por los críticos, sin embargo, usted descubrirá que la fuente de la mayoría de su material es de escrituras Mormonas oficiales o semioficiales. Usted debe examinar también esas fuentes.
¿Es el Mormonismo una "secta"? Muchos expertos en cultos religiosos ven en el Mormonismo las mismas características fundamentales de las sectas que han encerrado a otros, aunque la mayoría de la gente piensa en "secta" solamente como grupos pequeños y desconocidos. Utilice una "lista de comprobación de una secta" para evaluar el Mormonismo, o cualquier grupo, antes de juntarse con el grupo.


Fuente: http://edificandolafe.obolog.com/secta-mormona-171339 

Ceremonias de mormones basadas en rituales masónicos (no cristianos)

The Occult Practice of the Mormon Temple Ceremony

Real Evidence Why Mormonism Can't Be Christian

I know that by even discussing this topic, I will deeply upset any LDS who might come upon this Hub. I know any LDS reading this won't believe that I'm truly sorry for upsetting anyone. I don't take any satisfaction in doing so. However, when I was in the cult The Way International (TWI) I sometimes would have friends, or loved ones boldly even in many cases, bluntly tell me the truth of the gospel. They would tell me the truth about the teachings of the cult I was in. While at the time, I was "offended" and very angry when they would do such a thing - in retrospect, I'm SO GLAD THEY DID.
However - I am aware, that this type of Hub/blog is going to turn away LDS rather than turn them to the one true Living Lord our God. I understand that. Sadly I understand why that will happen. This Hub will contain a link that in specific detail explains why the Mormon Temple Ceremony is not only NOT Christian, it's not Jewish/Old Testament and completely UN Biblical - but it is literally a ceremony filled with occult practices. Because what a Mormon does in this ceremony is completely secret - so secret they are forbidden to speak about it to anyone, even their own spouse - the fact I will be posting a link to what goes on in this "secret" ritual is going to be very offensive to any LDS who might come across this Hub. Nowscape is the place to go to see this creepy ceremony the Mormons perform in various fashions.
So if what is written here is offensive to the Mormon reader - I'm honestly sorry - but the truth WILL set you free -- and the fact is - this ceremony has never been a Christian or Jewish ceremony. Ever. And the fact is, I'm actually not writing this for LDS - I'm writing this for someone like me - back in 1982 - who was searching for God. I was seeking something I wasn't quite sure of, but I knew in an abstract sense - I wanted to have a relationship with God. In my search - I stumbled upon a group of very nice people who told me - by opening their Bible - that I could have a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus Christ - and from that first encounter with a family friend, I was hooked. The problem was - I was hooked and drawn into a cult called The Way International.
Today - I have long been set free from the brainwashing I experienced in that cult. Praise God! And I have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I've always said, God had to break me to make me who I am today! And I wouldn't change a thing! So I write for God - and I write because I know the Lord saved me from this cult so that I would have the true experience of knowing what it is like to be brainwashed - just like Mormons are - to be so blinded spiritually - that you can see the world through eyes that have a veil over them. I write because I want to warn others - DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH THE CULT OF MORMONISM. If you're searching and considering the Mormon Church - that is NOT the place to find the TRUE Lord Jesus Christ - the ONLY Savior who can save you.
Why can't you find Jesus in the Mormon Church. Well - the Bible tells us:
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Joh 14:7  If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Joh 15:26  But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me:
Joh 15:27  and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
And I guarantee - this is not at all a comprehensive report about the importance of TRUTH when it comes to the worship of Jesus Christ. Without knowing the Lord IN TRUTH - a person CAN NOT KNOW HIM. The Holy Spirit - what John refers to in 15:26 is a SPIRIT IF TRUTH. Thi is the very spirit who lives inside every single Born Again believer in Jesus Christ has living inside them. The Holy Spirit can not live inside anyone who does not know the TRUE living Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Period. So if someone ONLY knows the Mormon Jesus - they do not know the Lord in Truth. EVEN IF someone goes through the "sacred" Mormon Temple Ceremony and believes in the Mormon gods with all their heart. Passionate belief does not a a salvation make.
For example - if I believed that Jesus Christ was a Yorkshire Terrier - it does not matter that I call this little Yorkie JESUS. It doesn't matter that I go to the alter of this Yorkshire Terrier and pray with ALL MY HEART to this Yorkshire Terrier. It -- unfortunately - means NOTHING that I have such passion I worship this dog every single day of my life. Even if I perform "miracles." Jesus TELLS us this Himself:
Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
If an LDS Church member actually took the time to read this far - I ask that you consider something. If I'M wrong - I'll stand before the Lord on judgment day with an "Ooops! MY BAD!" and if Mormon teachings are correct - I'll only end up on a lower Mormon level of heaven. I won't get that planet to rule over. If YOU - as a Mormon who ONLY knows the Mormon Jesus Christ - are wrong - then your very soul is in peril for eternity.
What most of the public don't understand is the Temple Ceremony is not only important for Mormons because they are supposed to pray for the dead so that they may be "baptized" - but all Mormons are supposed to be married in the Temple. In order for this to happen however, Mormons MUST tithe -so essentially - they must pay for their salvation. As getting married to another Mormon in the Mormon Temple Ceremony is the only way to the highest Mormon Salvation.
The other very, very troubling part of this is - Mormons believe they are "progressing" gods. Gods in "embryo". The Temple Ceremony - as you can read by going to Nowscape - is also to marry to Mormons in a very occultic filled ceremony including receiving "secret" names that the husband call the wife "through the veil" as this is the ONLY way a Mormon woman can see salvation according to the Mormon Church.
Once called through the veil - (this is after death) the husband and wife will finally become gods - she will be a goddess and she will rule -- with her husband - over a planet earth - just like the earth we all live on now. She is going to have "spirit babies" - i.e. - this goddess will always be pregnant - so she can give birth to populate their planet.
So other than the fact that Mormons believe they can become gods someday rulling over their own planet earth - ignoring the Temple Ceremomy that is filled with occult and Masonic rituals that have ZERO basis in the Bible - but the fact that Mormons believe they can become A GOD alone disqualifies them from being a Christian organization.
If you think these people are nice people - the Mormons who are trying to get you to join their church - they probably are. But they're brainwashed. When I was in the cult I was in someone literally said to me, "Could you BE any nicer?!" I was "nice" but I was brainwashed.
Mormons believe the cult teachings of Mormonism and are trying to lead you and your soul to the very depths of hell. Don't be fooled by the nice facade of Mormonism. Find a legitimate main-stream Christian organization you can feel comfortable with and seek the true Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He can't be found in Mormonism. Jesus can and will be found in the Bible - He's there - no matter who you are, no matter what you've done. Just turn to the only one who can save you - Jesus Christ. No church can save you. Only the TRUE Lord - Jesus Christ.

Sitio con historias de ex mormones (recovery from mormonism)

Recovery from Mormonism

A site for those who are

Questioning their faith in the Mormon Church

And for those who need support

As they transition their lives to

a normal life.

Fuentes: http://www.exmormon.org/

Bases falsas de la iglesia mormón

FALSE FOUNDATIONS OF THE MORMON CHURCH

(officially known as the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)

1. Joseph Smiths account of his heavenly vision in 1820 (published in Times and Seasons, 1842). In it God and Jesus told him that all churches were corrupt and that Gods restored church would be established through him. He was also told not to join any of those apostate churches. Truth: At least 5 earlier written drafts of the first vision exist and the knowledge of these highly conflicting versions have been repressed by Mormon leaders because they conflict with the currently accepted version. The Lewis brothers wrote that Joseph Smith originally told them that the heavenly visitation was in a dream, not a vision. (letter of Hill & Joseph Lewis, April 23 1894). The first account says that there was only one heavenly person, the second says there were many, the third says there were two. (The Changing World of Mormonism, Tanner and Tanner, pp 10, 149-155). Joseph Smith later wrote that the vision "was the cause of great persecution...and this was common to all the sects" even though a modern revue of all the local newspapers of that time turned up no hints at all of all the other churches persecuting him. (No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie p 23) Also, in spite of having allegedly being told not to join any church, he temporarily joined the Methodist church in 1828. (BYU Sudies, Spring 1969 p 384) 2. The gold plates which Joseph Smith allegedly received from an angel and translated with the use of a seer stone from "reformed Egyptian" to English which told of a group of Jews sailing to America in 600B.C. where they established a civilization and were known as "Nephites". The translation became entitled The Book Of Mormon. Truth: We have no testimony from anyone other than 11 mormons that the gold plates ever did exist, and they are nowhere to be seen now. He didn't translate to reformed Egyptian because no such language is known of by archaeologists. In direct contradiction to the bible, it states that Jesus was bom in Jerusalem (Alma 7:9-10) and not in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1) and that the darkness after Jesus crucifixion lasted 3 days (Helaman 14:20) and not 3 hours (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33). Also there has not been found any archaeological evidence to validate the existence of the Nephite civilization that supposedly lasted 1000 years. Because of this obvious lack, some mormons grasp at straws and even claim that the ancient temples in the Yucatan peninsula were built by the Nephites even though archaeologists say that they were built around 1000 AD which is 600 years past the date of the end of the supposed Nephite civilization. John C. Sorenson, Chairman of Brigham Young University Anthropology Department describes some of the most popular books among Mormons on the subject of archaeology and geography as "naive", "harmful", and as "cut-and-paste.. efforts". He also said "There is plenty of evidence that the Latter Day Saints are gullible on many subjects, not just this one." ("Instant Expertise on Book of Mormon Archaeology" in BYU Studies Spring 1976 pp 429-432) Mormon archaeologist professor Dee F. Green said "The first myth we need to eliminate is that Book of Mormon archaeology exists" (Dialogue op. cit., Summer 1969 pp 77-78). Dr Richard Phales, author, lecturer, and archaeologist, said "We have never excavated one single artifact that even remotely relates to this alleged civilization that the Mormons claim existed in the U.S., Central America, and S. America" (video, The God Makers, 1982 Jerimiah Films). Allegedly two groups (numbering 3 and 8) of Mormons saw the gold plates. The first group of 3 were also the ones who ordained all of the first 12 apostles to the Mormon church. All 3 eventually renounced Mormonism and were called by Joseph Smith "too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them'' (Joseph Smith: History of the Church Vol 3 pg 232) and "liars, cheats, and blacklegs". Only 3 of the 11 stayed in Mormonism, all 3 being Smiths. Most of the 11 were known to be very unstable and unreliable, always having fantastic visions and jumping from one religion to another (The God Makers, Decker & Hunt p102). Also, the Book of Mormon suspiciously contains hundreds of quotations from the King James version of The Bible (and even whole chapters; compare Isaiah chapters 2-14 to 2 Nephi chapters12-24, Isa 48-49 to 1 Nephi 20-21, Isa 50-51 to 2 Nephi 7-8). The alleged prophet Nephi allegedly made the gold plates in 600-500 B.C. but the King James version wasn't published until 1611 AD. Either Nephi lacked enough to write about and so magically transported to the future to copy out of the bible, or Joseph Smith copied out of the King James Bible (which was available to him) in order to enhance his fictitious story with the words of true prophets in order to fool those who weren't familiar enough with their bible to know that it had been copied. J S made it very obvious that he did copy from the bible by keeping the same bible chapter divisions and verse numbers and also kept the same words italicized! J S was also found out to be a fraudulent "translator" of ancient manuscripts by 3 men in 1843 who brought to him six thin brass plates which they had made to look like ancient plates with phony hieroglyphics on them. J S began to "translate" them using his seer stone and said they "contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh.'' After the death of J S the 3 men made public the hoax which was then confirmed by experts. University of Chicago professor James Breasted wrote: "The Kinderhook plates are, of course, childish forgeries, as the scientific world has known for years. ... Where we can check up on Smith as a translator of plates, he is found guilty of deception. How can we trust him with reference to his claims about the Book Of Mormon?" (The Book Of Mormon? James Bales 1958 pp 95, 97-99) Martin Harris, the financier of J S when he was ''translating" the gold plates, asked J S for a list of the egyptian characters found in them (because J S would let no one look at the plates) so that he could have them checked out by a professor and hopefully have his doubts alleviated. Charles Anthon, professor of Greek and Latin at Columbia College, studied them and later wrote that the paper "consisted of all kinds of crooked characters disposed in columns, and had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him at the time a book containing various alphabets. Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman letters inverted or placed sideways, were arranged in perpindicular columns, and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle divided into various compartments, decked with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican calendar by Humbolt, but copied in such a way as not to betray the source whence it was derived" (No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie p 51). Joseph Smith said "Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none." (Teachings of the Prophet, Joseph Smith p 71)
3. The Pearl Of Great Price, another "translation" of Joseph Smith from Egyptian papyrus which he said was the Book of Abraham. This papyrus he purchased from a touring exhibitor of Egyptian artifacts. Truth: Dr Charles Crane, author, college professor, and expert on Mormon archaeology, said "Joseph Smith did not get right even one word in this whole translation. In fact he took one little letter that looks like a backwards "e" and translated it into 76 words." (The God Makers video). Dr Richard Phales said "...the Book of Abraham. That manuscript disappeared until 1967. It has now resurfaced. Several famous egyptologists have now looked at it, translated it, and found that it doesn't have anything to do with the time of Abraham at all. " (The God Makers video)
4. The Doctrines and Covenants, another of Joseph Smiths main texts. Truth: This book had to be revised to keep from showing 3 prediction/prophecies of Joseph Smith that did not come true as he predicted. This coverup is only one of many by the "Church" to hide the truth from its members. Two years after its first printing as The Book of Commandments in 1833, it underwent 65,000 changes although the first edition was supposedly direct word-for-word revelations from God. (see the notarized photostat copies in Joseph Smith Begins His Work Vol 1 & 2). Section 132 contains the doctrine of polygamy (marrying many women). Interestingly enough, this doctrine wasn't taught until after it was becoming fairly well known that Joseph Smith was having sexual relations with other church members wives. (The God Makers, Decker & Hunt pp 152-153). He eventually had at least 27 wives, many of which were already married. (Historical Record Vol 6 May 1887).

The Word of the Lord vs Mormon Theology

God says "I am the Lord and there is no other; besides me there is no God" Isahiah 45:5 "Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me." Isahiah 43:10 (see also Isa 44:6 and 45:21)

Joseph Smith said "where I have preached on the subject of diety, it has [been on] the Duality of Gods." (Teachings of the Prophet, Joseph Smith p 370)
M. Conkie said "there is an infinite number of holy personages, drawn from worlds without number, who have passed on to exaltation and are thus Gods." (Mormon Doctrine, McConkie pp 576-577)

Mormons teach in direct contradiction to the word of the Lord that God, the father of Jesus, is only one of many men that have attained Godhood by being perfect, and that Mormons can do the same.

God says "I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst" Hosea 11 :9
Jesus said "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth". John 4:24 "handle me and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have" Luke 24:39

Joseph Smith said "God himself, the Father of us all was once a man like us." (History of the Church, Vol 6, Joseph Smith p 305). "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!" ( Teachings of the Prophet, J. F. Smith p 345). "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as mans" (Doctrines and Covenants 130:22).

Mormons wrongly teach that God is not spirit but rather a flesh and bones man that is sexual, had sex with Mary to have Jesus (Doctrines of Salvation, J. F. Smith Vol 1 p 18), and has all along been creating spirits for this world by having sexual intercourse with his celestial female companion (Life Everlasting, Crowther p 340)!

False Prophecies and Declarations of the False Prophet JOSEPH SMITH

1. He declared that the Garden of Eden was located in Jackson County Missouri although the bible says that out of Eden flows four rivers, one being the Euphrates, one flows into Ethiopia, and another flows into East Assyria. (Genesis 2:1014)
2. He prophecied in 1835 that Jesus Christ would return within 56 years. (History of the Church Vol 2 p 182).
3. He prophecied that at his second coming, Jesus Christ would return to Independence Missouri in spite of the bible stating "Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east" (Zechariah 14:34).
4. He declared that the moon was inhabited by people about 6 feet tall who dressed like Quakers and lived to be 1000 years old. (The Young Womans Journal, Oliver B. Huntington 1892 Vol 3 p 263).
5. He prophecied that both a city and a temple were to be built in western Missouri before his death. (Doctrines and Covenants 84:15, 31). Neither were built before his death and even now have still yet to be built.
6. He prophecied "In a few years the government will be overthrown and wasted" (History of the Church Vol 15 p 394).
7. He prophecied "not many years shall pass away before the U.S. shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation; pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land" (History of the Church Vol 1 pp 315-316).

The Mormon War of 1838

Joseph Smith taught, organized, and encouraged his followers to rob, murder, and plunder those who opposed them. He said "Know ye not, brethren, that it will soon be your privilege to take your respective companies and go out on a scout on the borders of the settlements, and take to yourselves spoils of the goods of the ungodly Gentiles? For it is written, the riches of the Gentiles shall be consecrated to my people, the house of Israel; and thus you will waste away the Gentiles by robbing and plundering them of their property . . . I would swear a lie to clear any of you; and if this would not do, I would put them or him under the sand as Moses did the Egyptian". (History of the Church, Vol 3, pp 180-181). Sampson Avard, leader of the mormon troops, testified in the trial that "I consider Joseph Smith Jr, as the prime mover and organizer of this Danite band." (Senate Document 189, 26th Congress, 2nd Session pp 21-25). He also said the Danites had looted the towns Gallatin and Millport. At the end of October 1838 the mormon troops surrendered to the Missouri State militia. Imprisoned, Joseph Smith and his men were charged with "treason, murder, arson, burglary, robbery, larceny, and perjury" (The History of the Church Vol 1 pp 498-499). Hyram and Joseph Smith escaped by bribing the sheriff. (No Man Knows My History p 255).

Mormonism: Hooked On A Feeling

What is even more incredible than all that you've just read is that when a mormon is confronted with all this evidence that exposes the Mormon church as a man made religion, the mormon says "l don't care. I prayed to know whether Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and then I felt that he was. I have a burning in the bosom that tells me the Mormon Church is true." Incredible! Even though there is no true reason to accept any of their religion if you really look into what they believe, they think a feeling is proof enough. That is in spite of the fact that God is a God of reason. (God said "Come, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet I will make them white as snow.") Jesus also told his disciples to "Be gentle as doves, but wise as serpents". John the apostle also told the church "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1 ). Jesus also said, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." (Matthew 7:15). There is no evidence at all that anything Joseph Smith taught was true! Yet God always gives evidence. "Gods eternal power and divinity have become visible, recognized through the things he has made" (Romans 1:20). Examples of God's evidence; *God parted the Red Sea and guided his people by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. *God gave to Moses for his people the Ten Commandments etched in stone. *God caused the walls of Jericho to fall down after the Israelites circled them for 7 days. *God sent his son Jesus in the flesh as evidence of his enduring love. *Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes for a crowd of listeners that were hungry. *We have all kinds of physical evidence for the truth of God and Jesus but none for Joseph Smith, and yet the Mormons want others to leave behind all common sense and believe their stories based on a feeling! The humble truth is that we humans have such a large capacity for self deception. We tend to believe in that which we think will fulfill us despite all reasonable evidence. For example How many of us have gotten an "In Love" feeling with someone who we just knew was "the one" for us. And then we invested ourselves totally in that person in order to fulfill our love fantasy. All the while we ignored our own common sense and refused to consider the obvious evidence of why that person wouldn't be such a great mate. And then, of course, things gradually went downhill and we eventually got our hearts broke. Moral of the Story: listen to your common sense!

Mormon converts have obviously wanted so badly to of finally found the "true Church" that they subconsciously created their own gut feeling that felt good and right. This feeling, they were told, was the proof that the Mormon Church is the one true church and that they now have the opportunity to "make the grade" in Gods sight. They then go for it, without knowing all the deception that created the Mormon Church. Once in and fully committed few people make it out because they are continually brainwashed and are told that to question any of it is to sin. My hope and prayer is that this information will save you the time and trouble that others have had to endure.


Fuente: http://webspace.webring.com/people/nu/um_8596/mormon.html