Yearly Archives: 2024

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“Some people have to have a world of evidence before they can come anywhere in the neighborhood of believing anything, but for me when a man tells me that he has seen the engravings which are upon the plates... I am convinced. I couldn't feel more satisfied and at rest if the entire Whitmer family had testified.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872 | wasmormon.org
“Some people have to have a world of evidence before they can come anywhere in the neighborhood of believing anything, but for me when a man tells me that he has seen the engravings which are upon the plates... I am convinced. I couldn't feel more satisfied and at rest if the entire Whitmer family had testified.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872
A Mormon acquaintance once pushed Mark Twain into an argument on the issue of polygamy. After long and tedious expositions justifying the practice, the Mormon demanded that Twain cite any passage of Scripture expressly forbidding polygamy. "Nothing easier," Twain said. "No man can serve two masters." | wasmormon.org
A Mormon acquaintance once pushed Mark Twain into an argument on the issue of polygamy. After long and tedious expositions justifying the practice, the Mormon demanded that Twain cite any passage of Scripture expressly forbidding polygamy. "Nothing easier," Twain said. "No man can serve two masters."
“The [Book of Mormon] seems to be merely a prosey detail of imaginary history with the Old Testament for a model followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament. The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint old fashioned sound and structure of our King James translation of the scriptures. The result is a mongrel, half modern glibbness and half ancient simplicity and gravity. The latter is awkward and constrained, the former natural, but grotesque by the contrast. Whenever he found his speech growing too modern, which was about every sentence or two, he ladeled in a few such scriptural phrases as, "exceeding sore," "and it came to pass," etc. and made things satisfactory again. "And it came to pass," was his pet. If he had left that out, his bible would have been only a pamphlet.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872 | wasmormon.org
“The [Book of Mormon] seems to be merely a prosey detail of imaginary history with the Old Testament for a model followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament. The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint old fashioned sound and structure of our King James translation of the scriptures. The result is a mongrel, half modern glibbness and half ancient simplicity and gravity. The latter is awkward and constrained, the former natural, but grotesque by the contrast. Whenever he found his speech growing too modern, which was about every sentence or two, he ladeled in a few such scriptural phrases as, "exceeding sore," "and it came to pass," etc. and made things satisfactory again. "And it came to pass," was his pet. If he had left that out, his bible would have been only a pamphlet.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872
“All men have heard of the Mormon Bible, but few, except the elect have seen it or at least taken the trouble to read it. I brought away a copy from Salt Lake. The book is a curiosity to me. It is such a pretentious affair and yet so slow, so sleepy, such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872 | wasmormon.org
“All men have heard of the Mormon Bible, but few, except the elect have seen it or at least taken the trouble to read it. I brought away a copy from Salt Lake. The book is a curiosity to me. It is such a pretentious affair and yet so slow, so sleepy, such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872
“The [Book of Mormon] is a curiosity to me. It is such a pretentious affair and yet so slow, so sleepy, such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872 | wasmormon.org
“The [Book of Mormon] is a curiosity to me. It is such a pretentious affair and yet so slow, so sleepy, such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872
“[The Book of Mormon] is chloroform in print. If Joseph Smith composed this book, the act was a miracle. Keeping awake while he did it, was at any rate. If he, according to tradtion, merely translated it from certain ancient and myteriously engraved plates of copper, which he declares he found under a stone, in an out of the way locality, the work of translating it was equally a miracle for the same reason.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872 | wasmormon.org
“[The Book of Mormon] is chloroform in print. If Joseph Smith composed this book, the act was a miracle. Keeping awake while he did it, was at any rate. If he, according to tradtion, merely translated it from certain ancient and myteriously engraved plates of copper, which he declares he found under a stone, in an out of the way locality, the work of translating it was equally a miracle for the same reason.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872

Gender in Terrestrial & Telestial Kingdoms or The TK Smoothie

Joseph Fielding Smith taught in his definitive Doctrines of Salvation that only celestial resurrected individuals will be able to procreate. He clarifies that individuals in the Telestial Kingdom would lack male or female genitalia, contrasting with those in the Celestial Kingdom, who would retain their reproductive organs for eternal procreation. This doctrine of salvation led …

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“Procreation limited to celestial bodies... Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and the power of procreation will be removed.” - Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS Church President, Doctrines of Salvation | Those in the Telestial and Terrestrial Kingdoms will lack genitalia, while those in the Celestial Kingdom will retain theirs for eternal procreation. Leading to the term “TK Smoothie,” which alludes to the smooth, featureless region of those in the lesser Telestial and Terrestrial Kingdoms, likened to a Barbie or Ken doll. | wasmormon.org
“Procreation limited to celestial bodies... Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and the power of procreation will be removed.” - Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS Church President, Doctrines of Salvation | Those in the Telestial and Terrestrial Kingdoms will lack genitalia, while those in the Celestial Kingdom will retain theirs for eternal procreation. Leading to the term “TK Smoothie,” which alludes to the smooth, featureless region of those in the lesser Telestial and Terrestrial Kingdoms, likened to a Barbie or Ken doll.
"Mortality is a master class in learning to choose the things of greatest eternal import. Far too many people live as though this life is all there is. However, your choices today will determine three things: where you will live throughout all eternity, the kind of body with which you will be resurrected, and those with whom you will live forever." - Russell M. Nelson, LDS Church President, October 2023 | wasmormon.org
"Mortality is a master class in learning to choose the things of greatest eternal import. Far too many people live as though this life is all there is. However, your choices today will determine three things: where you will live throughout all eternity, the kind of body with which you will be resurrected, and those with whom you will live forever." - Russell M. Nelson, LDS Church President, October 2023
Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS Church President, Doctrines of Salvation Volume 2, Page 288 - “Procreation limited to celestial bodies... Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and the power of procreation will be removed. I take it that men and women will, in these kingdoms, be ... neither man nor woman.”
Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS Church President, Doctrines of Salvation Volume 2, Page 288 - “Procreation limited to celestial bodies... Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and the power of procreation will be removed. I take it that men and women will, in these kingdoms, be ... neither man nor woman.”
Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS Church President, Doctrines of Salvation Volume 2, Page 287 - “Procreation limited to celestial bodies... Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and the power of procreation will be removed. I take it that men and women will, in these kingdoms, be ... neither man nor woman.”
Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS Church President, Doctrines of Salvation Volume 2, Page 287 - “Procreation limited to celestial bodies... Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and the power of procreation will be removed. I take it that men and women will, in these kingdoms, be ... neither man nor woman.”
“Procreation limited to celestial bodies... Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and the power of procreation will be removed. I take it that men and women will, in these kingdoms, be ... neither man nor woman.” - Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS Church President, Doctrines of Salvation Volume 2, Pages 287-288 | wasmormon.org
“Procreation limited to celestial bodies... Some of the functions in the celestial body will not appear in the terrestrial body, neither in the telestial body, and the power of procreation will be removed. I take it that men and women will, in these kingdoms, be ... neither man nor woman.” - Joseph Fielding Smith, LDS Church President, Doctrines of Salvation Volume 2, Pages 287-288
"The celestial law requires one-tenth of all a man’s substance which he possesses at the time he comes into the church, and one-tenth part of his annual increase ever after.  If it requires all a man can earn to support himself and family, he is not tithed at all.  The celestial law does not take the mother’s and children’s bread." - Orson Hyde, LDS Apostle, Millennial Star, January 1, 1847 | wasmormon.org
"The celestial law requires one-tenth of all a man’s substance which he possesses at the time he comes into the church, and one-tenth part of his annual increase ever after.  If it requires all a man can earn to support himself and family, he is not tithed at all.  The celestial law does not take the mother’s and children’s bread." - Orson Hyde, LDS Apostle, Millennial Star, January 1, 1847
"DON'T SPEAK EVIL OF LORD'S ANOINTED. There is one thing that the Lord has warned us about from the beginning and that is not to speak evil of the Lord's anointed. He has told us that any member of the Church who indulged in this is liable to lose the Spirit of God and go into darkness. The Prophet Joseph said time and again that it was one of the first and strongest symptoms of apostasy." - George Q. Cannon, LDS Apostle, October 6, 1896. Deseret Weekly | wasmormon.org
"DON'T SPEAK EVIL OF LORD'S ANOINTED. There is one thing that the Lord has warned us about from the beginning and that is not to speak evil of the Lord's anointed. He has told us that any member of the Church who indulged in this is liable to lose the Spirit of God and go into darkness. The Prophet Joseph said time and again that it was one of the first and strongest symptoms of apostasy." - George Q. Cannon, LDS Apostle, October 6, 1896. Deseret Weekly
“He said there were many that had a great deal to say about the ancient order of things as Solomon and David having many wives and concubines, but it is an abomination in the sight of God. If an angel from heaven should come and preach such doctrine, some would be sure to see his cloven foot and cloud of darkness over head, though his garments might shine as white as snow. A man might have one wife but concubines he should have none.” - Hyrum Smith, Levi Richards Journal | wasmormon.org
“He said there were many that had a great deal to say about the ancient order of things as Solomon and David having many wives and concubines, but it is an abomination in the sight of God. If an angel from heaven should come and preach such doctrine, some would be sure to see his cloven foot and cloud of darkness over head, though his garments might shine as white as snow. A man might have one wife but concubines he should have none.” - Hyrum Smith, Levi Richards Journal
“Joseph told associates that an angel appeared to him three times between 1834 and 1842 and commanded him to proceed with plural marriage when he hesitated to move forward. During the third and final appearance, the angel came with a drawn sword, threatening Joseph with destruction unless he went forward and obeyed the commandment fully.” - Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo, Gospel Topic Essay | wasmormon.org
“Joseph told associates that an angel appeared to him three times between 1834 and 1842 and commanded him to proceed with plural marriage when he hesitated to move forward. During the third and final appearance, the angel came with a drawn sword, threatening Joseph with destruction unless he went forward and obeyed the commandment fully.” - Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo, Gospel Topic Essay
“A grand and glorious principle had been revealed, and for years had slumbered in the breast of God’s Prophet, awaiting the time when, with safety to himself and the Church, it might be confided to the sacred keeping of a chosen few. That time had now come. An angel with a flaming sword descended from the courts of glory and, confronting the Prophet, commanded him in the name of the Lord to establish the principle so long concealed from the knowledge of the Saints and of the world—that of plural marriage.” - Heber C. Kimball | wasmormon.org
“A grand and glorious principle had been revealed, and for years had slumbered in the breast of God’s Prophet, awaiting the time when, with safety to himself and the Church, it might be confided to the sacred keeping of a chosen few. That time had now come. An angel with a flaming sword descended from the courts of glory and, confronting the Prophet, commanded him in the name of the Lord to establish the principle so long concealed from the knowledge of the Saints and of the world—that of plural marriage.” - Heber C. Kimball

Spencer Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight

Spencer grew up immersed in the Mormon faith, surrounded by the teachings and traditions that defined his childhood. Born into an intensely religious family in Michigan, he was the quintessential believer—faithful, devoted, and utterly convinced of the church’s truth. For him, the church was perfect, unchangeable, and divinely guided. He couldn’t imagine leaving. But life …

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The Drawn Flaming Sword of Polygamy – Spiritual Abuse and Manipulation

Joseph Smith secretly practiced polyandry and polygamy, or what the church later called plural marriage. The church freely admits this today (when forced) whereas previously it was all denied as anti-mormon lies. A strange hill to die on since the church is well known for practicing polygamy for decades in Utah. The church was hesitant …

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