Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Now THAT'S a coincidence.

It kind of reminds me of L. Ron Hubbard quote, "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion."

I mean it is almost as if these two were charlatans who recognized how easily manipulated people were by noticing the sway that previously established religions had over their actions, and purse strings. 

But nah, that's just crazy talk.

28 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:52 AM

    One Nation Under Gods and No Man Knows My History, two books that will tell you all you need to know about the LDS church and the people behind it.

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    1. Hope there's a complete account of Mountain Meadows!

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  2. Anonymous2:56 AM

    If you are still a member of one of these cults after knowing the background of the founders, what does that say about your intellect?.

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  3. I don't doubt the likelihood a bit, but I would prefer a source to back it up.

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    1. Anonymous5:43 AM

      Need a source? Cool new invention called Google

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    2. Anonymous7:29 AM

      I just gave you two books you an either buy or just Google. Lazy much?

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    3. Anonymous9:35 AM

      Here you go (and from my hometown, no less):

      http://truthandgrace.com/mormonjoearrest.htm

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    4. Anonymous9:37 AM

      From the above link:

      'The documents, which have recently been turned over to the Chenango County Historical Society, include legal bills from separate charges filed against Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, now the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The religious founder, the bills show, was arrested three times in the county between 1826 and 1830. County Historian Dale Storms said the cases involved Smith’s involvement in “glass looking,” or searching for treasure, and “being a disorderly person.” '

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  4. Super Fan In Atlanta3:54 AM

    Wow! I also just read the story of how their underwear became "magical". Seems as though the two founders of this con-religion was walking down a road and had a disagreement of sorts and the lead con killed the second in charge con. To cover for the homicide, he told his people back at camp that they were attacked and the only reason the second con died was because he wasn't wearing his enchanted undies.

    This would be fun research if it were not so sad that people take it so seriously.

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  5. Anonymous5:43 AM

    Could Mormon stand for More Money?

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    1. Anonymous3:14 PM

      Wow! I think you're on to something!




















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  6. Anonymous6:53 AM

    Every Mormon man I've worked with has been lazy and a liar. Interesting to watch them.

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  7. Another fun fact: the second "m" is silent.

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    1. Anonymous10:28 AM

      My family is Mormon, I quit as soon as I left home.
      At Christmas my cousin sent a note to another relative to say she would be riding with the Mormons,my parents, to attend a family celebration... she accidentally spelled it morons.
      Naturally I laughed my ass off!!!!!

      Mormon church is just following a long tradition of religions, makeup a good story while lifting the wallet out of the back pocket of the ignorant.
      Just look at Christianity, there is no proof, other than a book wrote by those who would benefit from its existence.It is more plausible that Jesus never existed then the idea of being condemned to eternal hell if you are not "saved".
      Many ancient people wrote or orally handed down stories trying to explain the world around them. Why are people so quick to dismiss those belief systems?and elevate their own??

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  8. Anonymous8:18 AM

    Joseph Smith was on the run from the law more than once. He was arrested for questioning in Missouri, but bribed the guards and escaped.

    After the failure of the Kirkland Bank, which he operated illegally, he had 200+ bank fraud lawsuits filed against him.

    Of course, he ended up in prison over destruction of private property (a printing press). He allowed himself to be arrested, confident that his private army would come to break him out, if he commanded them to.

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  9. Anonymous9:04 AM

    Not to always be mentioning her, but ex-Gov Palin has a small religious following herself. She has crafted a false political resume, constructed a false "frontier" persona and people send her enough money to live quite comfortably. Her story of Trig's origins isn't too much different than Smith's magical tales, minus the seer stones.

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  10. Grrrr !9:08 AM

    I apologize in advance for the length of this post but it REALLY pisses me off that the Mormon Church is based on the lies and bullshit pewed by its founder, convicted con man Joseph Smith !

    Of all the bizarre things he commanded his followers to do, polygamy (aka “plural wives”) strikes me as one of the most vile. By the time of his death, Smith had “sealed himself” to an astonishing 55 women -- some ALREADY MARRIED to other men ! -- ranging in age from 14 to 58.

    The following excerpts only cover some of these women and are taken from “The Wives of Joseph Smith.”

    http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/

    Part 1

    Between the years 1841 and 1843, Joseph would marry more than thirty wives. He kept the practice veiled from the public and from his (first) wife, Emma. When she discovered that he was taking additional wives, she struggled to accept it.

    Joseph kept his marriage to Fanny (Alger) out of the view of the public, and his wife Emma. Chauncey Webb (father of another of Smith’s wives) recounts Emma’s later discovery of the relationship: “Emma was furious, and drove the girl, who was unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the prophet, out of her house”.

    Book of Mormon witness, Oliver Cowdery, felt the relationship was something other than a marriage. He referred to it as “A dirty, nasty, filthy affair...” To calm rumors regarding Fanny’s relationship with Joseph, the church quickly adopted a “Chapter of Rules for Marriage among the Saints”...

    After marrying Joseph, Lucinda (Morgan Harris) continued to live with (her husband) George. This was typical of Joseph’s other polyandrous unions. It is uncertain if Lucinda’s first husband, George, was aware of the marriage.

    Joseph and Louisa (Beaman) were married on April 5, 1841 ... To help keep the union secret, Louisa wore a man’s hat and coat as disguise.

    Zina (Huntington Jacobs) declined Joseph’s proposal and chose to marry Henry (Jacobs). They were married on March 7, 1841. Zina later wrote, that within months of her marriage to Henry, “[Joseph] sent word to me by my brother, saying, ‘Tell Zina, I put it off and put it off till an angel with a drawn sword stood by me and told me if I did not establish that principle upon the earth I would lose my position and my life’”. Joseph further explained that, “the Lord had made it known to him she was to be his celestial wife.” Zina chose to obey this commandment and married Joseph on October 27.

    Presendia (Huntington Buell) married Joseph Smith on December 11, 1841. Joseph had married her sister, Zina two months prior.

    Sylvia (Sessions Lyon) married Joseph Smith on February 8, 1842, when she was 23 years old. It is uncertain if her husband, Windsor, was aware of the marriage, but she did continue to live with him. Brigham Young taught that “if the woman preferred a man higher in authority, and he is willing to take her and her husband gives her up-there is no Bill of divorce required...it is right in the sight of God”. Brigham also explained that the woman, “...would be in a higher glory”.

    (Helen Mar Kimball’s story is especially upsetting – she was only 14 when she caught Joseph Smith’s roaming eye.) "[He explained] the principle of Celestial marrage...After which he said to me, ‘If you will take this step, it will ensure your eternal salvation & exaltation and that of your father’s household & all of your kindred.[‘] This promise was so great that I willingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a reward. None but God & his angels could see my mother’s bleeding heart-when Joseph asked her if she was willing...She had witnessed the sufferings of others, who were older & who better understood the step they were taking, & to see her child, who had scarcely seen her fifteenth summer, following in the same thorny path, in her mind she saw the misery which was as sure to come...; but it was all hidden from me.” Helen’s mother reluctantly agreed and in May of 1843, Helen married Joseph Smith.

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  11. Grrrr !9:12 AM

    Part 2 - "The Wives of Joseph Smith" excerpts

    (Flora Ann Woodworth was only 17 when Smith married her – again, without telling his first wife.) Emma, became aware of the relationship when she recognized a gold watch that Joseph had given to Flora as a gift. On August 22nd Clayton recorded: “She was demanding the gold watch of F[lora]. (Smith) reproved her for her evil treatment. On their return home she abused him much and also when he got home. He had to use harsh measures to put a stop to her abuse but finally succeeded.”

    Patty (Bartlett Sessions) was 47. Her daughter Sylvia had married Joseph a month earlier on February 8. It is unclear if Patty’s first husband, David, was aware of the marriage.

    (19-year-old) Melissa (Lott) later recalled the wedding vows, “You both mutually agree to be each other’s companion, husband and wife, observing the legal rights belonging to this condition, that is, keeping yourselves wholly for each other, and from all others during your lives." Joseph’s wife, Sarah Ann Whitney, remembered similar vows, with an exception for Joseph who, of course, had many other wives: "...reserving only those rights which have been given to my servant Joseph by revelation."

    On August 18th, several weeks after the marriage, Joseph Smith wrote a letter to his new bride (17-year-old Sarah Ann Whitney) and her parents. He was hiding from the law at a home on the outskirts of Nauvoo: “...my feelings are so strong for you since what has passed lately between us...it seems, as if I could not live long in this way; and if you three would come and see me...it would afford me great relief...I know it is the will of God that you should comfort me now in this time of affliction...the only thing to be careful of; is to find out when Emma comes then you cannot be safe, but when she is not here, there is the most perfect safty...burn this letter as soon as you read it; keep all locked up in your breasts...You will pardon me for my earnestness on this subject when you consider how lonesome I must be...”

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  12. Grrrr !9:14 AM

    Part 3 -- "The Wives of Joseph Smith" excerpts

    (Lucy Walker later described the deep emotional and spiritual conflict Smith’s enforced beliefs caused her.) “What do you have to Say?” Joseph asked. “Nothing” Lucy replied, “How could I speak, or what would I say?” Joseph encouraged her to pray: “tempted and tortured beyond endureance until life was not desirable. Oh that the grave would kindly receive me that I might find rest on the bosom of my dear mother...Why – Why Should I be chosen from among thy daughters, Father I am only a child in years and experience. No mother to council; no father near to tell me what to do, in this trying hour. Oh let this bitter cup pass. And thus I prayed in the agony of my soul.”

    Joseph told Lucy that the marriage would have to be secret, but that he would acknowledge her as his wife, “beyond the Rocky Mountains”. He then gave Lucy an ultimatum, “It is a command of God to you. I will give you untill to-morrow to decide this matter. If you reject this message the gate will be closed forever against you.” Lucy said, “This arroused every drop of scotch in my veins...I felt at this moment that I was called to place myself upon the altar a liveing Sacrafice, perhaps to brook the world in disgrace and incur the displeasure and contempt of my youthful companions; all my dreams of happiness blown to the four winds, this was too much, the thought was unbearable.”

    Now, bearing the burden of her own eternal salvation and that of her family, and with a deadline approaching, Lucy prayed more fervently for an answer. She couldn’t sleep the entire night. Just before dawn, and Joseph’s deadline, she “received a powerful and irristable testimony of the truth of the mariage covenant called 'Celestial or plural mariage'” and "I afterwards married Joseph as a plural wife and lived and cohabitated with him as such." Lucy married Joseph on May 1, 1843. At the time, Emma was in St. Louis buying supplies for the Nauvoo hotel. Lucy remembers, “Emma Smith was not present and she did not consent to the marriage; she did not know anything about it at all.” Of the relationship, Lucy said, “It was not a love matter, so to speak, in our affairs, -at least on my part it was not, but simply the giving up of myself as a sacrifice to establish that grand and glorious principle that God had revealed to the world.”

    Joseph introduced select men to the endowment ceremony. He taught that it was necessary for exaltation. Women would also be receiving the endowment and Joseph wanted his wife, Emma, to be the “Elect Lady”: the first women to receive the endowment. She would then disseminate it to the other women. The endowment requires a wife to be obedient to her husband. Because Emma was resisting plural marriage, Joseph would not let her participate in the endowment, thus risking her own exaltation as well as delaying ceremonial endowments for other women. Carrying this burden, Emma agreed to let Joseph marry additional wives; provided she could select them. Unaware of their marriage to Joseph months earlier, Emma selected her live-in helpers, Emily and Eliza (Partridge). Emily recalls, “I do not know why she gave us to him, unless she thought we were where she could watch us better... To save the family trouble Brother Joseph thought it best to have another ceremony performed...[Emma] had her feelings, and so we thought there was no use in saying anything about it so long as she had chosen us herself...Accordingly...we were sealed to JS a second time, in Emma’s presence.” Within a week, Emma received her endowment.

    But Emma’s surrender waned. Emily remembers: “We remained in the family several months after this...She sent for us one day to come to her room. Joseph was present, looking like a martyr. Emma said some very hard things ...She would rather her blood would run...than be polluted in this manner...Joseph came to us and shook hands with us, and the understanding was that all was ended between us. I for one meant to keep this promise I was forced to make.”

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    1. Anita Winecooler5:28 PM

      As my grandmother used to say "what a pot of minestrone"!!! The thing that always struck me about this "uniquely American" based Cult is that they're meticulous record keepers on Ancestry. With all them wives, brothers marrying in laws, etc. Now I see the need for such record keeping.These three posts were about just one man and his bevy of beauties.
      I thought in breeding was to keep money in the family, this Joe Smith dude kind of proves that correct.

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    2. Grrrr !10:36 PM

      Y'know how the Mormon's ancestry "thang" seems so benign ?

      Well, one reason they're so obsessed with those records is that they perform certain of their nutty religious rituals -- baptism, "sealing," etc. -- on DEAD PEOPLE of OTHER faiths.

      Like, for at least 20 years they've been baptizing Jews who died in the Holocaust and when that first became public knowledge, some Jewish leaders voiced their extreme opposition to the LDS Church.

      Well, the Mormon elders were, like, "Oh ? That's a problem ?" And the rabbis were all, "YES, to us it's a problem, so please .... stop doing it, k?" And the Mormons were all, "Hey, no prob ! Sorry, dudes..."

      Well, 5 years later ? It's revealed the Mormons were STILL doing it -- that they had, most likely, never STOPPED doing it. (aka LYING ?) So the Jewish leaders say to the Mormon leaders, "Ummm, guys ? REALLY ... please ... CUT IT OUT. Will ya?" And the Mormons were all, "Oh, man, it was just a clerical mistake ! Sorry ! We'll knock it off ... swear."

      So ... 5 years later ...? Same fucking thing ! Only then the Jews found out they weren't the only ones the Mormons were baptizing and "sealing" (a ritual that bonds souls together for all eternity -- husbands and wives, whole families to each other, etc.) ...

      No ... the Mormons were also performing those rituals on HIGH-RANKING NAZIS !!!! In fact, they'd "sealed" ADOLF HITLER and EVA fucking BRAUN !!!!

      http://www.avotaynu.com/mormon.htm

      http://utlm.org/onlineresources/hitlertemplework.htm

      Just one reason my name is --

      Grrrr !

      P.S. Love YOUR name, BTW. Perhaps you're related to the Winecoolers whom we had the pleasure of meeting in Cannes a few seasons ago ? Moe and his lovely wife, Gimya ? Charming couple ... wobbly but charming ...

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  13. Anonymous9:33 AM

    Actually, there's no official record of whether or not Joseph Smith was convicted of that charge. He certainly did not admit to it, as the above graphic would suggest. The records of the official note taker at the trial's say that Smith was "discharged for lack of evidence." That's not to say that I believe an angel appeared to him or anything like that. But if we want to convict him, we need truth, not "smears."

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  14. With all the other questionable events in Joseph Smith's cult formation, I wouldn't be surprised to be told he was a metalsmith, and culled gold jewelry from early followers sufficient to melt down, to mold those gold tablets he "found".

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  15. Anonymous10:29 AM

    Religion requires blind faith for a reason... question everything!

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  16. Anita Winecooler5:34 PM

    So he believed in magic tricks? Soothsaying? Whew! We dodged a bullet with The Romney Klan. Maybe he would have won if he promised a car elevator in every house?
    Almost every religion has the same attitude when it comes to women and marriage. They're basically property and baby makers.

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  17. They killed him in the end, no surprise he was hounded to his death. Can't imagine why they were scared of the Mormon religion back then, and going by some of the comments in here, people still are today. I find that astounding.

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  18. I can't believe how ignorant some people are. @Anita I had two children, how does that make me a baby maker and a property of the church? People should just shut up until they educate themselves.

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  19. Anonymous6:26 PM

    JOSEPH SMITH WAS YOUNGER THAN 21 WHEN HE CREATED THE LDS CHURCH, IDIOTS!

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