“I know the truth – give up all other truths!” – Maria Tsevatayeva, 1892-1941.
Jean Ritchie, in her book, The Secret World of Cults, as well as conspiracy theorists like David Icke and Ivan Fraser in The Truth Campaign, have been doing a splendid job of exposing the background to the patriarchal religions and their scriptures, however, these religions and their “holy books” have spawned many cults and sects, all with their own version of the truth, a truth often inspired by the same negative consciousness and sources.
One such source, which comes to mind, is the Book of Mormon, which has some very disturbing and downright racist scriptural material within its pages. The Church of Mormon, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as it is also known, and as it disguises itself when advertising and recruiting converts, was founded by Joseph Smith, who as a 14-year old farm worker, living in western New York State, claimed to have received a vision when praying in the local woods. The Church history reveals how he saw God and Jesus and was instructed not to join any official church but to wait for future guidance.
Several years later, an angel called Moroni appeared to him and told him he would find a set of gold plates in a nearby hillside. These plates were inscribed with the history of an American civilisation, which had been founded by 3 of the Biblical Lost Tribes of Israel. The story had been written by a scribe and scholar called Mormon and buried in the hill by his son, Moroni, the last of the Nephite race, and who was now resurrected as an angel. The rest of his people, it is told, and who were also Israelites themselves had all been killed in battles with the Red Indians.
Joseph Smith went and found these tablets, which were written in “reformed Egyptian” and with “divine” assistance translated them into English. After doing this he gave the plates to the angel, who rather conveniently dematerialised, taking the tablets with him and thus removing any actual physical evidence to back up Smith’s story. Whether this really happened or not, one thing that can be pointed out is that the whole story has parallels with many accounts of modern-day UFO experiences, and visions and manifestations of “divine” beings, such as the Virgin Mary.
Before the plates were taken by the angel 8 men are said to have seen them and their testimonials are printed in copies of the Book of Mormon. The text reveals how Jesus survived his crucifixion, and after his resurrection, he came to America to preach and appoint a new set of disciples. It also provides details of all the battles that led to the wiping out of the Nephites.
Archaeologists who have searched, with excavations and by other means, for proof of any of these past towns or battlegrounds described by Smith, have so far consistently failed to find any evidence whatsoever.
Nevertheless, the Mormon Church has over 7,000,000 members and holds an enormous amount of power and wealth. The church owns the Beneficial Life Insurance Company, which is the second largest financial institution west of the Mississippi in America. It is the largest shareholder in the Los Angeles Times newspaper and controls many local radio and TV stations. It further owns a large part of Hawaii, most of Utah, many hospitals, farms, department stores, and the Marriott Hotel chain, where guests find the Book of Mormon replaces the usual Gideon Bibles in the bedrooms. 40 percent of the residents of Salt Lake City are Mormons and the numbers are growing.
The church has many strange rituals and ceremonies, which bear a strong similarity to Masonic rites, and this is not surprising because both Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were Masons. Joseph Smith actually became a Master Mason in 1842. One of their bizarre beliefs involves the wearing at all times of a one-piece under-garment, which is thought to protect the wearer from evil. Devoted Mormons will not even remove the garment for washing unless they have already put on another over the top. These garments have sacred markings stitched on them including a compass and a square.
So far the description of the Mormons may sound pretty harmless but there is a much more sinister side to it, as mentioned in the beginning of this article. In Children of the Matrix David Icke states:
The Mormon buildings are adorned with Illuminati symbols. The inverted pentagram, the most obvious of Satanic symbols, can be found on the Temple at Salt Lake City, on the Mormon museum nearby, and on other Mormon properties. The pentagram is used in rituals to summon demons in Satanism, and in its inverted form, is said to be the sign of “Satan”, the Goat of Mendes, or Baphomet.
If this were not enough to reveal its dark side and source of inspiration, the scriptures and teachings are positively racist, and repeatedly state that true believers are all “fair-skinned.” Joseph Smith wrote:
Is it not a reasonable belief that the Lord would select the choice spirits to come through the better grades of nations? Moreover, is it not reasonable to believe that less worthy spirits would come through less favoured lineage? Does this not account in very large part for the various grades of colour and degrees of intelligence we find in Earth?
Orson Pratt, an early leader of the Church, and personally chosen by Smith as one of the original apostles, wrote that God had not kept his spirit children “in store for 5 or 6 thousand years past, and kept them waiting…all this time to send them among the Hottentots, the African Negroes, the idolatrous Hindoos, any other of the fallen nations that dwell upon the face of the Earth.” (NB: It is believed that the spirit children of God incarnate into babies born on Earth.)
The scriptures themselves have even more blatant racism: Chapter 12 of the First Book of Nephi, Verse 23, states: “And it came to pass that I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations.” (my italics used for emphasis)
Then again in Chapter 5 of the Second Book of Nephi, in Verse 21, we read: “And he caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity, for behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceeding fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing to my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.”
Verse 22 continues in similar vein: “And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.”
If that isn’t bad enough, Verses 23 and 24 state:
And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed, for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it and it was done. And because of their cursing, which was upon them, they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey.
Just like the Biblical pronouncements of the Lord God of the Old Testament, again we have a chosen people, and a curse for those less fortunate. With religious scriptures that contain such material in their “holy books” it is perhaps not surprising that we have had so much suffering, misery and inhumanity throughout the ages? Such words and ideas are hardly those of a loving creator!
Sources:
The Book of Mormon
Ritchie, Jean (1991), The Secret World of Cults, Angus and Robertson (UK)
Icke, David (2001), Children of the Matrix, Wildwood, MO: Bridge of Love
