Today I want to talk about a disturbing thing I have learned about the Mormon exodus. Brigham and his followers traveled to Utah without 3 important documents:
1. The original manuscript of the Book of Mormon.
This was put into the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House. When it was taken out years later it had suffered water damage so that roughly 25 percent of the text remains. That would fit approximately with the remaining truth left in the modern LDS church. Most of what is left is erroneous, but a fraction of it is still viable.
2. The printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon.
This was retained by Emma Smith and given to the Reorganized Church (now The Community of Christ). They still have it, and in my opinion they have a just claim to it because of their fidelity to what is in the text.
3. The manuscript of the Joseph Smith revision of the Bible.
Same basic story as #2.
This astounds me! But as I thought about it occurred to me that this is wonderfully appropriate. The wagons came West without the foundational documents of the religion. Why bring the texts with the truth, when you are just going to make most of it up when you get there?
Sure, the pioneers had copies of the Book of Mormon. They apparently were not reading those copies, because Jacob 2 is a clear warning against the dangers of polygamy. (And no, verse 30 is not a loophole, but that is another blogpost.) The Lamanites' physical survival was promised and delivered by the LORD because they did not practice plural marriage. That is why I feel the Community of Christ rightfully owns the best remaining copy of what Mormon edited and Joseph translated.
The tragedy of traveling to a new land without correct information reminds me of the Mulekites. They came to the Americas without any sacred texts and basically lost all cultural connection with the Old World. Divine intervention in the form of King Mosiah's people stumbling upon them was the only thing that kept them from disappearing altogether.
I have learned from Royal Skousen's work on the original text of the Book of Mormon that the Mulekites should be called Mulochites (or Molochites). This was because King Zedekiah was so abominable that he named one of his sons after the pagan god Muloch (Moloch). Muloch was the god that required child sacrifice in a furnace! There may be a connection being getting blinded by your enemies and trading the law of Moses for the god Muloch.
Zedekiah was literally blinded for his abominations. Brigham Young was figuratively blinded. Brother Brigham's blindness was his lust for power, sex, and money. I am personally blinded by my own fallen nature. Only the word of GOD can heal any of us from spiritual blindness. Nothing but divine truth can get us through the mists of darkness on the way to the Tree of Life.
The word "sophistry" came to mind when I read the LDS chapter heading to Jacob chapter 2. It states "the Lord commands that no man among the Nephites may have more than one wife." If you take out the words "among the Nephites" you get the actual truth. That idea was just as clearly explained in the original section 101 of the Doctrine and Covenants, but that got removed in 1876 in favor of a hodgepodge of misinformation, section 132.
Anyone considering joining the LDS church should please pray specifically to know whether the church is truly approved by GOD. Praying to know whether the Book of Mormon is true has nothing to do with religion. Do not conflate the truth of one concept with the validity of a second. I think the Book of Mormon is true, but I think Brigham's version of Mormonism is false. The Bible being true does not make the entire Christian world true. Our prayers need to be more focused or we risk lumping things together that are meant to be considered individually.
What are the lessons for we present-day wanderers in this worldly wilderness?
First, take your scriptures with you wherever you go.
Second, if you are not sure about something, ask GOD.
Joseph Smith asked GOD for revelation and got it.
Brigham Young left those revelations behind: physically and mentally.
