Unchained

Preface

I suppose I should preface this with the fact that the world is full of people who believe, whole heartedly in provable nonsense. Most religions are absurd (Islam!). I wrote an anti-Mormon book many years back, which I didn’t publish due to the fact that I’m surrounded by friends and family who have made it the foundation of their lives. They are magnificent people, so I figured, let it go at that. It was Lucas Miles’s book, “Pagan Threat,” that pushed me over the edge. Interestingly and seemingly prophetic, my grandchildren are Lucas and Miles! I don’t embrace any illusion that Mormons will read this and change their ways, but it’s been such a gigantic aspect of my life, I’ve decided it’s time to exhale, at the risk of losing friendships. The book I wrote is long gone, but the memory remains. So:

Born a Mormon

I have a gigantic interest in religious ideology based, for the most part on a rather unusual upbringing. I was born into one of only two LDS families, in an LDS town in Utah, an LDS state. My father had grown up in the same town in the same situation. My grandfather ran the local drugstore which was also an authentic, old fashioned soda fountain, candy, magazine, gifts and liquor store. In spite of being non-Mormon grandfather’s store, Nivison Drug, was very successful so dad was anchored in Richmond, UT.

He went to University of Utah in SLC where he met my mother, a hard-core, “My family crossed the plains with Brigham Young,” LDS gal, who he married. One of my greatest blessings! In any case, to avoid the discrimination that my dad had experienced, they raised me as a Mormon. I was probably around 6 years old when I first learned there was such a thing as a non-Mormon. My mother was still a church goer and so I was raised as a Mormon and I bought into the club, heart and soul.

I’m an old man now, 70 years old, as I write this, so I grew up during the Civil Rights era in the 60s. One day in Sunday School the teacher gave a lesson about why Black America was having such trouble. They are suffering the Curse of Cane. They are descendents of Cane and the black skin is the Mark of Cain. One day they will become righteous, their skin will lighten, “white and delightsome” their scripture reference, and they will be allowed to hold the priesthood, which at that time, they were not. At that time they were still seen as animals, tearing up thier own neighborhoods and so on.

I told my father about this lesson and he practically exploded! Thus I began my evenings watching the news with my dad explaining what was really going on. “They aren’t tearing up their neighborhoods, they’re trying to tear up the racist reality they are being forced to live in.” He talked about MLK, Jr. and the principle of judging people by their character, rather than the color of their skin. I saw the light and realized my friends who considered Black Americans to be sub-human, had been guided by Satan, not God.

I continued to go to church, for my mother’s sake, to the point that I got ordained a Deacon, the lowest level of the Aaronic Priesthood, but my faith had completely disintegrated. I soon quit going at all as I evolved completely into the outlaw lifestyle I now saw as freedom. Breaking all the rules (without hurting anyone) and marching towards becoming a Biker (NO! Not the spandex variety).

Birth of an Outlaw

An accident took my leg and scrambled my brain at around fifty years of age which led to me going to university. A concept I’d been making fun of since childhood. I began in studying Music Therapy, but my fascination with religious ideology led me away from studies in Music Therapy into Folklore and, eventually, a PhD in Occultism and Mythology. An unbrella under which almost everything ideological resides. The most popular of the Folkloric genres is heroic outlaws. A genre which includes such notables as Eric the Bruce, Frank & Jessie James (ancestors of mine), Donald Trump, Joseph Smith, and the greatest of all, Jesus Christ.

Before the accident I had written an anti-Mormon book, which I didn’t publish due to the fact that I have so many close friends and family to whom their faith is the absolute undeniable truth. Which leads to my pointing out that whatever one thinks of the faith, the LDS people tend towards true humanitarian purpose. Magnificently good people who have bought into a lie.

There are those, many, in fact, who believe Mormons will go to Hell. I don’t even come close to falling into that ideology. I’m sure there will be correction in the next life but I doubt it will be punishment. 

I also experienced a form of recidivism when one of my lifelong outlaw friends approached me after years of being separated, me in SLC managing in a metal processing plant, he attending university in Idaho. 

One day, after returning to Richmond, my phone rang and it was my old friend Zan asking if he could come and visit. “Good Hell! Of course! You don’t have to ask permission to come visit me.”

Knock knock knock, Zan at the door with his 12 year old son. “Your not gonna believe why I’m here.”

“Whatever. I’ve know you long enough to know nothing about you would be unbelievable.”

“Well, we’re your home teachers.”

He had me. I didn’t believe him. But he came in and sure enough, he was my home teacher with a goal of bringing me back into the church. We had many long, fabulously interesting discussions which I’m sure were deathly boring to his son. He never quoted any Mormon scripture. Our discussions were centered on Mormon appologists such as Dr. Hugh Nibley and Kleon Skousen, brilliant people who dealt with their own doubts by investigating and creating explanations. Zan was the most intelligent human being I ever knew and so, I caved in, went back to church, gave up my sinful lifestyle, got a temple reccomend, got sealed to my wife in the Temple and was back on the road to the Celestial Kingdom. It was the temple that opened my eyes. The ceremonies were very bizarre, Masonic symbolism everywhere, including upon the magic underwear (garments). At the time, my Mormon friends acted as if they were unaware of any similarity to Freemasonry. It is now openly admitted but seen as Mormonism being a correction of Masonic principle which had deteriorated.

But What of the “Prophet?”

OK, down to business:

Joseph Smith was born on the 23rd of December in 1805 in Sharon Vermont, from where his family moved to Palmyra, New York during a time of religious revival. Much of what we know of him is purely folklore, which doesn’t make it untrue, but it is known that he was arrested before the publishing of the Book of Mormon. Smith was brought before a local justice of the peace in Bainbridge, New York. He was accused of being a “glass looker,” with testimony indicating he claimed to find hidden treasures using a stone placed in a hat. 

The stories began years before that. Joseph Smith claimed to have experienced a vision in the woods when he was fourteen years of age. He claimed to have seen the Father and Son. There are those who argue that the Bible says The Father can’t be seen, but that is not the case. There are numerous references of persons seeing The Father, none of which, however the witness was a young teenager, but it has been testified to in the Bible.

It is difficult to imagine a teenager praying in the wilderness, being visited by God the Father, Jesus Christ and many other spirits (depending upon the different stories he told) and then going for 12 years without reporting it. He claimed to have reported it to a minister shortly after it happened, but there is no evidence that such was the case.

It was during this time he was accused of being a “glass looker” and a disorderly person by Josiah Stowell his employer in 1826 the results of the trial are unclear, but it did occur. This is the discovery by Wesley P. Walters of an original document which is more than 140 years old. This document, found in Norwich, New York, proves that Joseph Smith was a “glass looker” and that he was arrested, tried and found guilty by a justice of the peace in Bainbridge, New York, in 1826. The discovery by Wesley P. Walters of an original document which is more than 140 years old. This document, found in Norwich, New York, proves that Joseph Smith was a “glass looker” and that he was arrested, tried and found guilty by a justice of the peace in Bainbridge, New York, in 1826. published in Fraser’s Magazine in 1873. From the following from that publication:

STATE OF NEW YORK v. JOSEPH SMITH.

Warrant issued upon written complaint upon oath of Peter G. Bridgeman, who informed that one Joseph Smith of Bainbridge was a disorderly person and an imposter. Prisoner brought before Court March 20, 1826.

Prisoner examined: says that he came from the town of Palmyra, and had been at the house of Josiah Stowel in Bainbridge most of time since; had small part of time been employed by said Stowel on his farm, and going to school. That he had a certain stone which he had occasionally looked at to determine where hidden treasures in the bowels of the earth were; that he professed to tell in this manner where gold mines were a distance under ground, and had looked for Mr. Stowel several times, and had informed him where he could find these treasures, and Mr. Stowel had been engaged in digging for them. That at Palmyra he pretended to tell by looking at this stone where coined money was buried in Pennsylvania, and while at Palmyra had frequently ascertained in that way where lost property was of various kinds; that he had occasionally been in the habit of looking through this stone to find lost property for three years, but of late had pretty much given it up on account of its injuring his health, especially his eyes making them sore; that he did not solicit business of this kind, and had always rather declined having anything to do with this business.

Josiah Stowel sworn: says that prisoner had been at his house something like five months; had been employed by him to work on farm part of time; that he pretended to have skill of telling where hidden treasures in the earth were by means of looking through a certain stone; that prisoner had looked for him sometimes; once to tell him about money buried in Bend Mountain in Pennsylvania, once for gold on Monument Hill, and once for a salt spring; and that he positively knew that the prisoner could tell, and did possess the art of seeing those valuable treasures through the medium of said stone; that he found the (word illegible) at Bend and Monument Hill as prisoner represented it; that prisoner had looked through said stone for Deacon Attleton for a mine, did not exactly find it, but got a p— (word unfinished) of ore which resembled gold, he thinks; that prisoner had told by means of this stone where a Mr. Bacon had buried money; that he and prisoner had been in search of it; that prisoner had said it was in a certain root of a stump five feet from surface of the earth, and with it would be found a tail feather; that said Stowel and prisoner thereupon commenced digging, found a tail feather, but money was gone; that he supposed the money moved down. That prisoner did offer his services; that he never deceived him; that prisoner looked through stone and described Josiah Stowel’s house and outhouses, while at Palmyra at Simpson Stowel’s, correctly; that he had told about a painted tree, with a man’s head painted upon it, by means of said stone. That he had been in company with prisoner digging for gold, and had the most implicit faith in prisoner’s skill.

Arad Stowel sworn: says that he went to see whether prisoner could convince him that he possessed the skill he professed to have, upon which prisoner laid a book upon a white cloth, and proposed looking through another stone which was white and transparent, hold the stone to the candle, turn his head to book, and read. The deception appeared so palpable that witness went off disgusted.

McMaster sworn: says he went with Arad Stowel, and likewise came away disgusted. Prisoner pretended to him that he could discover objects at a distance by holding this white stone to the sun or candle; that prisoner rather declined looking into a hat at his dark coloured stone, as he said that it hurt his eyes.

Jonathan Thompson says that prisoner was requested to look for chest of money; did look, and pretended to know where it was; and prisoner, Thompson, and Yeomans went in search of it; that Smith arrived at spot first; was at night; that Smith looked in hat while there, and when very dark, and told how the chest was situated. After digging several feet, struck upon something sounding like a board or plank. Prisoner would not look again, pretending that he was alarmed on account of the circumstances relating to the trunk being buried, [which], came all fresh to his mind. That the last time he looked he discovered distinctly the two Indians who buried the trunk, that a quarrel ensued between them, and that one of said Indians was killed by the other, and thrown into the hole beside the trunk, to guard it, as he supposed. Thompson says that he believes in the prisoner’s professed skill; that the board which he struck his spade upon was probably the chest, but on account of an enchantment the trunk kept settling away from under them when digging; that notwithstanding they continued constantly removing the dirt, yet the trunk kept about the same distance from them. Says prisoner said that it appeared to him that salt might be found at Bainbridge, and that he is certain that prisoner can divine things by means of said stone. That as evidence of the fact prisoner looked into his hat to tell him about some money witness lost sixteen years ago, and that he described the man that witness supposed had taken it, and the disposition of the money:

And therefore the Court find[s] the Defendant guilty. Costs: Warrant, l9c. Complaint upon oath, 251/2 c. Seven witnesses, 871/2 c. Recongnisances, 25 c. Mittimus, 19 c. Recongnisances of witnesses, 75 c. Suboena, 18 c.—$2.68.” (Fraser’s Magazine, February, 1873, pp. 229-30)

There were two other cases which were dismissed: Attempting to defraud Martin Harris and Being a “disorderly person” for pretending to find hidden treasures by means of a stone. This all well before his proclamation of the vision.

Interesting to note, Dr. Hugh Nibley, the person most primarily responsible for my returning to the faith, wrote around 20 pages denouncing the Bainbridge Court Record and said were it proven to actually exist, it would be, “the most devastating blow to Smith ever delivered.” However, once proven true Nibley had no more to say about it.

Another matter of import is Freemasonry. Early Mormons who were Masonic: Joseph Smith Sr., father of Joseph Smith Jr., Hyrum Smith, brother of Joseph Smith Jr., Samuel Smith, brother of Joseph Smith Jr., William Smith, brother of Joseph Smith Jr., Brigham Young, second president of the Mormon Church, John Taylor, third president of the Mormon Church, Wilford Woodruff, fourth president of the Mormon Church, Lorenzo Snow, the fifth president of the Mormon Church, Sidney Rigdon, first counselor to Joseph Smith, William Law, second counselor to Joseph Smith, John C. Bennett, assistant to the First Presidency, Heber C. Kimball, first counselor to Brigham Young, Willard Richards, second counselor to Brigham Young, Newell K. Whitney, Presiding Bishop Orson Pratt, Mormon apostle, Parley P. Pratt, Mormon apostle, Orson Hyde, Mormon apostle, Orrin Porter Rockwell, Joseph Smith’s bodyguard, Lyman Johnson, Mormon apostle, Erastus Snow, Mormon apostle, William Marks, Nauvoo Stake President, William Clayton, Joseph Smith’s secretary/scribe and over a thousand other Mormon men. At the end of 1841, a large group of LDS Masons in Nauvoo organized what would become the first four Masonic Lodges in Mormon communities. Joseph Smith applied for admission as soon as the first lodge was formed and was raised to the degree of Master Mason in March 1842, the highest degree in Freemasonry. He was initiated on March15, then made third degree by the Grandmaster. Made a third degree Mason, “Mason on Sight,” a very rare event. Nauvoo Lodge’s dispensation was revoked due to irregular Masonic work, failure to bring its record books to the Grand Lodge for inspection, making men Masons without regard to character, and not requiring candidates to become proficient in one degree before advancing to another.

All of this is along the wayside, what interested me was the Masonic symbols. Investigation lead to me learning about the relativity between Masonic symbolism and Mormonism. For example, less than two months after becoming a Mason, Joseph Smith administered the endowment for the first time. Many suspect the murder of Joseph and Hyrum was done by Masons angery about Smith stealing their ritual for his Endowment ceremonies and calling it his “revelation from God.” Thereare those who refer to the Endowment as “Celestial Masonry.” The temple endowment contains elements that are undeniably derived from Masonic ritual, including tokens, names, signs, grips and penalties for revealing the secret rites. The magic underwear (Garments) sport Masonic symbols, on the right breast was square, on the left a compass, in the center a small hole (the navel mark), another one on the right knee (the knee mark. Interestingly they were like long johns, full length sleeves and leggings, They’ve since been abreviated which goes against Joseph Smith’s declaration,

“The Lord has given unto us garments of the holy priesthood, and you know what that means. And yet there are those of us who mutilate them, in order that we may follow foolish, vain and (permit me to say) indecent practices of the world. In order that such people may imitate the fashions, they will not hesitate to mutilate what which should be held by them the most sacred of all things in the world, next to their own virtue, next to their own purity of life. They should hold these things that God has given unto them sacred, unchanged, unaltered from the very pattern in which God gave them. Let us have the moral courage to stand against the opinions of fashion, and especially where fashion compels us to break a covenant and so commit a grievous sin.”

In 1918 The First Presidency of the Church sent a message to the bishops saying:

“FIRST: The garments worn by those who receive endowments must be white, and of approved pattern; they must not be altered or mutilated, and are to be worn as intended, down to the wrist and ankles, and around the neck. Please inform all to whom you issue recommends that these requirements are imperative… The Saints should know that the pattern of endowment garments was revealed from heaven, and that the blessings promised in connection with wearing them will not be realized if any unauthorized change is made in their form, or in manner of wearing them.”

This is an ongoing project, so if you’re interested, keep checking back for there is much more to be written.