Editorial.
OUR WESTERN WORK
Our field force for some months has been the smallest for some years. But new workers already engaged and others in prospect will enlarge the force, it is hoped, to normal, with all three outfits busy very soon. The editor expects to be in the West from early July until November, helping the new men get started and doing as much actual missionary work as possible himself. The force is yet short several men, and we ask the prayers of God’s children for the full number; and also that strange opposition from some who ought to be strong helpers may be melted away. The cause of getting the true gospel to hundreds of thousands in our own land who will get it no other way ought to be enough to enlist the strongest sympathy and co-operation of every Christian.
CHRISTIANITY TRULY SCIENTIFIC
“Science” is a great word to conjure with these days. But its use is ordinarily limited to physical things, as if those were the only ones that were scientific. Yet a moment’s thought will convince any one that since “science” properly means that which we know, or suppose we know, the spiritual things made by God are fully as scientific as the lesser creations, the physical ones. We want very much in the next few issues of our little paper to help someone to see how the great beliefs of the Christian Church, which it has gotten from the Word of God, are each and all truly scientific, and as demonstrable in their realm as physical experiments of any kind in theirs, though not physically evident, as spiritual things naturally cannot be.
“WHENCE CAME THE RED MAN?”
This is the title of one of the issues of our Reorganized or Josephite friends, of which a copy lies before us; and its view is also that of Utah Mormonism. On the front cover page is a picture of an imaginary Indian in full headgear, and on the third page is the cut of Frederick M. Smith, President of Josephitism, with this inscription below:
“This is the prophet and leader of the church. Many of the Indians know him well. He has spent much time among them and has great faith in the future of the Indian people.”
The main part of the print in this booklet is taken up with giving the professed story from the Book of Mormon of how the ancestors of the Indian came across the Pacific in a “curious” ship which they had been told by God how to build, so shaped that it would ride in water in all kinds of weather, and “no waves could enter it, even in time of storm.”
This seems to be a mixing of two accounts of vessels in the Book of Mormon; in one of which there is one vessel and in the other eight; and the second is the most complete. These vessels had trouble about air, as is told as follows in the book of Esther, 2:20. Consulting their God he replies:
“Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air, thou shalt unstopp the hole and receive air. And if so be that the water come in upon thee, behold, ye shall stop the hole, that ye may not perish in the flood.”
Remembering that these vessels were filled with animals and people, their difficulties for air and with inrushing water are evident enough to make the whole ridiculous.
The story goes on to tell how there was a great earthquake on this continent when Christ was crucified in Palestine, and that later he came over here and appointed apostles, “built his church as he had done at Jerusalem,” and ascended to heaven also here. Then the accounts were written on plates and later discovered by Smith, who was “commanded to establish God’s church again among men.” “The preachers who worked for their salaries fought the new church bitterly,” etc. — the old slander against the ministry!
Without a mention of Utah Mormonism, the account tells how the “Reorganized church of Jesus Christ” brings the Book of Mormon and restores it to the Indians, etc. Inside the first cover page is the following, in bold type:
“God, the Great Spirit, is the maker and keeper of all nations. He has revealed himself to all peoples and has left his witness among them. The Indians have a history that tells how God first brought their fathers to America, and how his son visited them and taught them the true religion, and this story was written on plates of gold and preserved for the Indians of today. The Book of Mormon is that history. Will you read its story?”
But perhaps the strangest thing about this booklet is its use of the false “Caractors” cut, which was shown in Light, first issue, April, 1922. This is so transparent a fraud and has been shown up so fully, that one has scant belief in the intellectual honesty of those who pass it off in this day upon the almost defenseless Indian, or any one else, as real truth. We give here the cut, from page 6 of our tract “Why I Could Never Be a Mormon,” below. The booklet we are reviewing does not make the impression of sincere honesty in its publishers or writers; one is compelled to question these seriously, no matter how distasteful such thought may be. These matters have been so often and fully exposed and exploded that no one has any right to parade them any more as truth.
Those who would investigate about the Book of Mormon doctrines about the Indian can do so easily through our tract, No. 18, “American Anthropology Disproving the Book of Mormon,” by Rev. C. A. Shook (5c). This booklet shows that the verdict of
science is directly contrary to the dozen main assertions of the book on this subject, leaving no leg whatever for them to stand on. Hence the Josephite book on the origin of the Indian is wholly baseless in its historical facts as well as in its “Caractors.” The late Prof. George F. Wright, an expert in American anthropology, said of the Mormon claims about the Indian that they “are made without any regard for the facts.” This is exactly true.
Another Surprise
As the above was being written the mail brought the last Josephite or Reorganized paper, “The Saint’s Herald.” And in it, prominently displayed, is this same old “Caractors” cut again, to prove the Book of Mormon, when it plainly disproves! Any ten-year-old child can read the most of the “Caractors” when pointed to him separately; we have had many a Mormon child do this at once on first seeing the page. And by turning the cut bottom up another set becomes plain, along with the “Jos” for Joseph Smith; and by turning end-wise still another is plain; and in the whole there is not one “letter”—aside from simple angles and lines—that resembles “Egyptian” at all. And taken as a whole the unlikeness to Egyptian is about as marked as it could well be. What is the use of perpetuating such a plain imposition as Mormonism bases on this untrue idea and these cuts to prove it? Yet this cut exhibits the foundation of the whole system!
To show the contrast between real Egyptian of both kinds and the make-believe “reformed” Egyptian, we give the cut of real Egyptian below, taken from the famous Rosetta Stone, and the “Caractors” also. “Thine own mouth condemneth thee, not I.”
Turning the page bottom up makes clear the fraud of several letters in lines 2 to 7; turning endwise shows several more. The falsity of the claim that the “plates” were engraved in America about 400 A.D. is further shown by the fact that the English language was unknown till hundreds of years later than that date. This cut is photo-engraved from the Mormon book “Reminiscences of Joseph the Prophet” (Salt Lake City, 1893); similar ones are found in other Mormon books.
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When LIGHT was starting, a friend feared there would not be matter enough to fill it. We assured him that there would be no lack. If he could see the piles of matter waiting to be told about, and the stacks of books needing to be quoted, he surely would have no fears of famine for copy! But we do wish that multitudes more were getting the good of it after all the work of editing and printing is done!
PRESIDENT GRANT FAILS AS A “PROPHET”
In the Deseret News, dated Sept. 25, 1902, we find the official report of a Conference address by “Elder Heber J. Grant,” who was then in charge of the new Mission of Mormonism in Japan, and had come by special permission of his superiors to attend this meeting. In this address he uses these words:
“I have the assurance in my soul that there is to be a wonderful work accomplished in Japan; that there will be many, yea, even thousands of that people that will receive the gospel of Jesus Christ”—meaning the false gospel of Mormonism, which he went to proclaim.—Heber J. Grant, Sept. 1, 1902.
This mission continued until about 1924, its discontinuance being reported by this same Heber J. Grant, now President, “Prophet, Seer and Revelator” of all Mormonism, in his address at Conference in April, 1925. The reason for its stoppage was given as that there had been almost no results! so that it was not worth while to continue!
If Mr. Grant had been asked, after his first statement, no doubt he would have averred that he spoke by the Spirit of God; and his words indicated such belief. But the outcome belies any such idea; for the Spirit does not direct untruths; his statement was not even the clever guess that sometimes passes for a real prophecy. If we had time we would like to gather the evidence from even Mormon books, showing that nothing ever put forth as prophecy by Mormonism has really been such, and that like this one, very often such utterances were complete failures even as guesses, which any logical person might make without thinking of them as from God in the least. We may remark here that the “prophecy” oftenest referred to as proof of Joseph Smith’s divine gifts is plainly one instance of absolute failure instead. We refer to the so-called “prophecy” about the Civil War. The most of it has never been fulfilled, and fulfillment has now been impossible for sixty years; while the smaller part which might be thought to have been fulfilled was never spoken, even according to its own dates, until events had transpired making it a rather easy guess. Study up the history and see!—South Carolina in the eighteen-thirties.
I. THE SCIENTIFIC TRUTH ABOUT THE BIBLE
1. REVELATION FROM GOD IS ANTECEDENTLY PROBABLE. “Our Father which art in heaven” means not only the divine creation of our beings, but His continued care and meeting of all necessities beyond our own powers.
Surely God could not rightly be called “Father” if he had left us to go through this life, like children in a darkened woodland infested with beasts and full of pitfalls and evil diseases, without giving us definite instructions for the journey upon which an eternity of glory or despair depended. Satan himself could do little worse than that would be. Every instinct of love would impel our real Father to give all needed instruction, while leaving enough to our judgment to develop reason and choice. No earthly parent would think of leaving his child without guidance, even for a short journey thus. And as God is infinitely better than we, His doing otherwise is inconceivable. He MUST have given such revelation; and it must have been in permanent form, to meet the recurring needs of succeeding generations of his children. Human beings can learn much by experience; but experimenting with poison, when older persons already know what it is, is not rational, and would be likely soon to result in having no one left to save from poison. So with the poison of sin; and there is needed a spiritual and moral pharmacopeia as well as medical. Is there any book which shows itself to be this one from God? There are several which claim to be from him; how shall we tell the right one?
2. THE MARVELOUS CHARACTER OF THE BIBLE PROVES IT TO BE JUST THAT BOOK. No other volume approaches it; it is more than human and is holy, hence it must be divine. The things we need to know for life’s journey and cannot find out by ourselves are all there recorded. Its divinity is shown in its revelations of absolutely new religious truth; in its fulfilled genuine prophecies; in its unequalled moral standards, precepts and examples for all classes, without exception; in its entire consistency; in its scientific accuracy coming from an era of human ignorance of such matters; in its unapproached devotional value, and in other ways. The test of life proves it; no soul ever sought earnestly to live its precepts and life without being transformed in character toward that of God; just in proportion as communities and nations take on its standard of life they improve in every way. They never yet beyond its ideals, as they might do were it merely a human book. A human origin for such a book is beyond possibility.
3. THE MARVELOUS HISTORY OF THE BIBLE PROVES IT FROM GOD. It dates in portions from perhaps 3,400 years ago down to over 1,800; it has been the object of attack from world-power persecutions which would have annihilated any lesser book; it has survived other attacks, the apathy and unintentional misuse of friends, as well as the poison of theories emptying it of its divine spiritual content and seeking to rob its believers of faith in it as from God by inspiration at all. But its baptism by blood and fire in the early persecutions only made it more dear to its believers and separated other books from it; tests in early infidelity again clarified and strengthened belief in it; and skepticism today, whether in or out of the pulpit, will eventually have the same effect. It is the Word of God; and its most powerful enemy is neglect by its friends.
4. THE UTTERANCES OF MODERN PHYSICAL SCIENCE PROVE IT, WHEN STATED. Though geology and astronomy were unknown when the Bible was written, its statements in these regards are shown true remarkably by found multitudes of records in stone, tablets, ruins, etc., wonderfully confirming its accounts. Former statements of supposed “science” as to these points have been shown untrue; regarding others we should remember this fact and not regard “science” as proven against the Bible.
4. CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE PROVES THE BIBLE FROM GOD. We believe that food nourishes us, because that is its effect on every normal body which tests it rationally. Just as truly the spiritual nature is nourished by the very Word of God. There is practically no other source for this but the Bible and truths derived from it, or possibly in small measure sometimes perceived by those who have not had the blessed Book. The measure of spiritual life and power in a man is usually just about the measure of his daily familiarity with the Word of God; that is God’s way, and must be man’s way if he is to be strong and sensitive in the things of God and his own higher nature. Other books claiming supernatural origin have nothing of this effect. Use the Bible wisely and devotionally and you cannot be spiritually weak or sickly; you will become “fat and flourishing” in the things of God and the higher life, maturing the highest character for both worlds. No other book tells us truly of any other world, or of the way to get to heaven after this life is over. And its truthfulness on these points, which we cannot test out in this life, can be judged sure by the results of tests which we can make on earthly things. The Bible method of testing is the actual, scientific one given to Nathaniel by Philip after he had himself tested Christ; “Come and see!” (John 1:46.) Never a soul tested Bible salvation without finding it true; it never fails!
5. THE BIBLE STATEMENTS ABOUT ITSELF PROVE THAT IT IS THE WORD OF GOD, NOT THE WORDS OF MEN. “As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began.”—Luke 1:70. “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”—John 5:39. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”—II Tim. 3:16. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”—II Peter 1:21. “When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not AS THE WORD OF MEN, BUT AS IT IS IN TRUTH, THE WORD OF GOD.”—I Thess. 2:13.
Many other points which we cannot dwell on here, are very important in this scientific statement about the Word of God. Among these we can only mention its wonderful unity of thought and teachings; its wonderful unity of doctrine during the 1600 years taken to produce it through holy men of old; the miracles recorded; and others. Its teachings were not current when given, but given because necessity from their lack made them imperative; altogether making proof of character vastly superior to any book or collection by any mere man or company of men.
(The reader will find this subject treated somewhat fully in our booklets, Nos. 9, 11, 20 and 25, which will be sent on order. See List.)
6. CONCLUSION. The Bible being thus God’s book, the only course for any one is to accept it as such, use it devotionally as that Word to his own soul and guide his life by its teachings. The world would quickly be revolutionized for the better if all Christians would adopt this practice! As to other books claiming divine character, not one of them contains a single religious truth not in this book, and not one has any such evidence otherwise; most of them are plainly concocted for the personal ends of their originators, and their claims are otherwise plainly deceptive. We need give them no attention save to disprove them to their victims and replace them with the real Word of God itself, the Bible.
FOUNDING A CHURCH ON “DOGMA”
Some time ago we stepped into the office of an old Seminary friend in a large city, whom we had not seen for a good while. After inquiry as to what he thought of a proposed semi-union of two churches having very different beliefs on an important point of Christ’s teaching, the brother replied: “Well, I don’t know; but one thing we have learned, we can’t found a church on dogma.” We questioned this statement at once. And the more we think of it the more it seems that the opposite is nearer the truth, using the word “dogma” in the sense of true doctrine. Otherwise, why is the Bible so full of injunctions to love the truth, and statements that some would be lost because they loved not the truth, that believers shall be sanctified through the truth, and many other like expressions of the imperative importance of gospel truth as distinguished from the heathen or Jewish error with which it was in conflict. Why did Christ himself, in Matt. 16:12, tell his disciples so pointedly to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees”; and in verse 18 tell Peter who had just voiced the doctrine of the deity of Christ, that “upon this rock will I build my church”? Of course we well know the poor grammar of Romanism in this passage, making the feminine noun in Greek, “petra,” meaning underlying ledge of rock, refer to petros, Peter, masculine, meaning a piece of the foundation rock of the divine Christ; and also of the Mormon equally wrong interpretation, making “petra” refer back to the fact of revelation and teach that the church was to be founded on their doctrine of “continuous revelation” through priests, etc. But Christ says nothing of either kind. He can mean only that his church, by whatever name it may be called, will always found itself on the eternal truth of his own Godhead! And so church history has always found it; no matter how divided on lesser things, here the church has always been one, if it was entitled to be called by his name at all; this belief is the fundamental of its existence.
It looks to us as if the position of the brother is thus seen to be fundamentally unsound and dangerous. Furthermore, is it not true that all the great denominations have prospered about in proportion as they have been true to the great truths of the Gospel? We do not refer to the little, divisive things, on which the Word is not itself plain—left obscure enough, probably, to stimulate thought and Bible study. But show us a church which has not held strongly to these great truths which are emphasized in the Bible and which has been a power for God and mankind! We are sure it cannot be done! And is not even this also true; that the best way to get followers, even for a maniac cult, is to emphasize its peculiar beliefs till people feel that
they are important and will hold to and strive for them among others? This is surely true of Mormonism, made root and branch out of erroneous doctrines as far as all its peculiarities are concerned; true of Christian Science, with its vagaries of higher grade; true of every cult that can be mentioned. Of course so; the old question “How can two walk together except they be agreed” is psychology enough to explain this—and to contradict the philosophy of our friend.
And the prevalent but rather cheap cry against “doctrine” and “theology” is shown in its true light by such facts. Theology and doctrine, if true, are just as scientific as gravitation, though in a different sphere; and no less important to souls that must be guided by some doctrine, and will go wrong if they do not have the right kind. The trouble with those who go astray into religious fads is first of all, usually, that they are not rooted and grounded in the real true doctrine of Christ, and have not fully received Him who is the Incarnate Truth. We need nothing, it often seems to us, more than a new emphasis on the old, great, majestic truths of the Bible which in all ages have made the Church whatever it has been, of power for good; the truths for which the martyrs died, and to spread which they had lived for Him.
And we are sure that the trouble with many objectors is that they have lost somewhat of reverence for the Source of truth in these things, the very Word of God. Losing that, the foundation is gone; keeping and using it rightly, we keep all the best, and make it grow more beautiful daily.
PROVES TOO MUCH!
We read recently the statement reported as made by a prominent minister, that Christ could not have been born of a virgin, because he never mentioned the fact, as he would have done had it been true. Such a preacher ought to read his Bible a little more and use his prejudice less. We have looked the matter over somewhat carefully, and find no mention by Christ that he was ever born at all. Hence he could not have been born, according to this man. Similar is the statement that such birth could not be true because “only two gospels mention it.” But the others do not mention his birth at all, hence again He never was born, according to such brilliant logic. The account of the virgin birth in the only gospels which begin with the birth at all is as plain as words could make it, and that is enough for any loyal soul. But if one determines to reject all miraculous elements in the Bible beforehand, he must of course take refuge in such pettifogging arguments as these, and practically throw away his whole Bible. Brigham Young in his company, however, as he stated emphatically that Christ was not born of the virgin by the Holy Spirit. But his alternative is perhaps a little more ghastly than that of illegitimacy, to which other rejecters of the Bible doctrine are driven.
NOTES FROM A FRIEND IN UTAH
An intelligent looking woman, whose husband had been for 20 years a bishop, said: “I believe everything in the Book of Mormon, but I tell you I don’t believe very much in the Bible.”
Another lady argued that “God is a man” because “we are created in the image of God.” “He has body parts and passions.” (This is extremely common; also the following): “As God once was so we are now. As God is now so we may become.”
The Mormon theology is not all simple but it is so contradictory to the simple Bible doctrines of sin, faith, repentance, etc., that it would take them two generations to undo the false impressions that have purposely been made on the minds of children, even if they try to undo them; but they are not even trying.
A high school teacher who professes to teach Bible also, says “I believe the Bible to be the word of God so far as it is translated correctly.” He then proceeded to try to prove that very much of it is not translated correctly but admitted he did not know how to tell which are the incorrect portions. A Greek or Hebrew scholar would have had a good laugh. He could not confuse translations and interpretations. He could not translate at all.
CONDENSED SUMMARIES
OF THE WORK DONE, LITERATURE USED, AND EXPENSES, FOR THE YEAR 1926 AND FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE FIELD WORK IN JUNE, 1901.
IN THE WEST
Calls made mostly in the regular colporter visitation………..6,811
Invitation calls, about………………………………………………5,753
(These calls were mostly made in families, containing about 60,000 people.)
Settlements visited this year………………………………………77
(Of these about 50 were destitute of Christian work.)
Our special gospel meetings held………………………………173
(In 54 of the 77 places visited.) Total attendance at these meetings…………………………….14,815
(Average attendance 85.63, largest, 3 of 500 each)
Pages of gospel literature carefully used, mostly ours……631,749
Bibles, Testaments and portions sold or given……………….664
Gospel song books sold……………………………………………..97
Vital Teachings, sold, 43; Bible Calendars……………………..34
Miles traveled in autos and wagons, about…………………..2,246
Miles traveled on foot, about………………………………………1,500
OUTSIDE OF UTAH-IDAHO REGIONS
Addresses by the Secretary, 26; attendance, 3,600; literature used or sold from the office, about 595,090 pages, including 17,050 copies Light. Miles traveled by rail east and west, about 9,700.
TOTAL SUMMARIES, 1901 TO 1926, INCLUSIVE, IN THE UTAH REGION
Total number of colporter visits made………………………291,070
Total number of invitation calls made……………………….119,895
Total of all calls, about……………………………………………..410,965
Total number of different settlements visited, about…….816
(Of these we held meetings in about 757 places.)
About 688 of the 816 were destitute of Christian work.)
Total number of meetings held……………………………….4,795 Total attendance at these meetings…………………………..384,086
(Average attendance, 80.1, largest, 1,000)
Pages of literature used, mostly our special kinds….32,330,125
Total Bibles and portions sold and given…………………….31,415
Total song books sold………………………………………………6,706
Miles traveled by autos and wagons, about 46,410,
probably 99,000 more on foot and horseback, total…..145,410
OUTSIDE OF THE UTAH REGION
The totals of this work are as follows: Addresses by the Secretary, 911; circulation of his articles, etc., in the press, about 5,000,000; literature used or sold from the office, about 7,047,490 pages, including about 106,000 copies of Light; miles traveled by rail, about 170,000.
Total cost of above (both east and west)………………..$81,020.79
Total pages of literature used, east and west, about….38,758,635
Weight of this literature, over 27.27 tons, besides the unknown weight of 32,330 Bibles, portions, etc.
MORMONISM IN FOREIGN LANDS.
Since our last Annual some investigating has been done in Germany regarding the need of our tracts translated into German, and the call is clear. There are nearly or quite 1,000 Mormon emissaries working in lands outside of the United States, and tracts in different languages ought to be available for spreading the truth in every land where needed. For instance, there are about twenty organizations of Josephite Mormonism in the Society Islands, and Utah Mormonism has others also; there are several Josephite organizations in the Hawaiian Islands, and some 14,000 Utah Mormons, with an expensive “temple,” for neither of whom does anything seem to be doing at present; many of these, if not most of them, cannot use the English language. Some one there, it would seem, ought to translate one or two of our tracts and have them printed; we would gladly help if possible. We shall be glad to receive gifts for any foreign language literature. An American church with missionary work in Germany is interested, and our Annual Meeting voted to co-operate in any way possible to the end sought.
“UNCLE SAM’S” CENSUS AND OURS
When Uncle Sam wants to know whom and what he has in his big country, he takes his census—every ten years. Exactly so when we want to know what there is in Utah and its surrounding regions as to religious things, the only real way is by some means to take the census and find out. No theorizings in study or editorial chairs can imagine the facts out; if one tries that he gets only imaginings as his result, though he may think them facts and mislead many by circulating them. Take the census and find out! Make your suppositions stand the test of the recorded facts in black and white!
The Utah Gospel Mission has been taking different censuses for over 25 years in all the Mormon regions, and keeping records of them all. The writer himself has done much of this in perhaps 300 places, and has the records of all the other work for all this time. Our opinions on all kinds of Mormon subjects are based on the results of such canvasses and on official utterance of Mormon leaders down to date. If there is any more accurate way we would like to know it, and tell “Uncle Sam” that his census figures aren’t the best, as some have said of our knowledge lately. But as the government would laugh rightly at us, so do we at such critics, who would substitute guesses for ascertained facts. The reader can believe implicitly anything we put forth as fact; if we do not know, we say so and give the best estimate possible to all our knowledge of the case. And our statements are not influenced by any theories or wishes whatever—any more than our statement that twice two was four would be. Nor have we even sought to become an expert in these things; faithful experience in the work to which God called us long ago has simply compelled familiarity with all the religious facts of the case, and others closely related. We do not see how any real Christian heart can know of the religious need in our field and not ache to help personally, and by his means if personal work is impossible. We wish greatly for help both in the field and eastern work, to do what we have learned is waiting to be done to help our fellow beings out of error and into personal salvation in Christ, as many of them have never known any such experience.
A large family is that noted in the obituary of a Salt Lake man recently: Thirteen children still living, sixty grandchildren, twenty-seven great-grandchildren; besides two brothers and one sister. The man came to Utah the year polygamy was announced; whether he embraced that doctrine we know not, but he was a bishop’s counselor for many years, and thus an esteemed member of the Mormon belief and so in those days a polygamist.
The best reply to the late sinful propositions about marriage which we have seen is this from Bishop W. T. Manning of New York, writing to their author:
“I beg to say that for Christians the moral standards given to the world by Christ are not debatable.”
This is a ringing utterance, and very many need to remember it.
MISREPRESENTATIONS ABOUT MORMONISM: HOW TO KNOW THE FACTS
There are two ways to infallibly test the ideas of the few who are urging that great changes have taken place in Mormonism recently. No one would be more glad than the writer to see real proof of such; but we are compelled to stand by the facts, which we have had almost unequalled opportunity to ascertain for at least 25 years past. One infallible test is the utterances of the men who represent the Mormon system, in their official deliverances. The Deseret News publishes these weekly, generally two in each Saturday issue. The last General Conference of Mormonism was held in the Tabernacle last April; and the report of the service April 3, by Apostles Ivins and Nibley, contains the most emphatic denials of the changes intimated above, with apparently definite proofs. These are given as larger tithing than ever before, fewer apostasies than years ago according to the actual records; and more overwhelming proof of the “prophet” Joseph than ever before: with the old twistings of Isaiah and Ezekiel and affirmations of the Book of Mormon that we have had for—well, “for ages,” we almost said! It was also said that “darkness covers the earth today, spiritual darkness, in the absence of the knowledge of God”—this referring to our Bible idea of God as darkness, and defending the pagan one of many gods, etc., in Mormonism. The radio sermon in the same issue teaches the same false doctrine of God in a deceptive way. The service on April 24 teaches baptism for the remission of sins and as the door into heaven; marriage next in importance; the duty of marriage in their temples for eternity; thus eternal begetting of children in heaven—”a continuation of posterity forever and ever”; and thus becoming Gods—”then shall they be Gods.”
If these utterances of the greatest authorities of Mormonism, within the past two months, are not proof enough that Mormonism has NOT changed appreciably, we would like to know what under the heavens could be such proof! There is nothing worse in all Mormonism than is stated or implied in these recent utterances; and they are published by the highest authorities. And this Conference is no exception; the same things are taught over and over, and their text-books for religious study give the same. THESE ARE MORMONISM TODAY. Just as they have been for the nearly ninety years since the worst of them were first broached in Doctrine and Covenants, contrary to the Book of Mormon. Really, instead of getting better,
Mormonism started far better than it has been for years, in doctrines. Our friends who are apostles of the opposite view cannot possibly have any such acquaintance with Mormon literature as is necessary in order to arrive at the truth. They are attempting to teach others without first adequately learning the facts themselves.
The only other way to find out the facts is to get long and varied personal experience with the people themselves regarding their own beliefs. This must not be with just a few, and still less can it be limited to any class or location or employment; for Mormonism embraces 500,000 people, mostly of the common sort; and what THEY believe will be the real test of what Mormonism is by contact with its people. One might find a few individuals holding views contrary to much of Mormonism, and looking forward to greater changes than their own. But to represent these few “intellectuals” as the Mormon people and system would be as false as to represent them as either angels or vicious—essentially FALSE and deceptive. This seems just what these friends have done. And the opposite has sometimes been done, also. We repudiate both. Fairness ought to be the first mark of a true Christian. These particular friends seem not to have taken either the first method suggested above nor the second one. We suggest familiarizing themselves with Mormon doctrine, and then associating long with common Mormons, and often attending their meetings, as we have done perhaps 1,000 times. During the past summer and fall, and in Idaho, we heard all the above and worse beliefs taught, as has been already stated in these columns. See especially December’s issue. Nearly every “good” Mormon we meet believes and advocates such views. How can they do otherwise when compelled by the authorities to study them weekly in Brigham Young’s book issued for this purpose? And how can the young help believing the same things also, compelled to use the like book “Rational Theology”? Instead of changing perceptibly in such matters, the SYSTEM is set with all its power against that very thing. And our work is almost the only one that is trying to reach the whole people with the opposite and true beliefs. Why should there be any opposition to such work? And so far as there has been change in the people (and there has been much, though not in the system), it must have come mainly through our work, because ours is the only kind that has reached the most of them at all! Why then, slur the cause of what they proclaim as good?
HE HAD NO SONG,
Or,
Trying to Get to Heaven Without a Saviour
Several years ago, as I was passing out of meeting one evening, a lady sought me and asked me to go with her and see her husband who was quite sick. On the way she told me he was anxious about his soul, knowing he would soon have to die. When I entered the room I found him sitting in an easy chair, as he could not lie down without coughing. After a few words about his bodily sufferings, I asked him about his soul; did he think his sufferings would end when his body yielded and death came?
“Well,” he said, “I think my chances for getting to heaven are pretty good.”
I felt he was not real; so I said: “Do you believe heaven is a reality?”
He said “Yes.”
“Is it true there is a hell?”
He replied, “Yes, I believe it.”
“And you have an immortal soul that will soon be in one or the other of these places forever.”
“Yes,” he said, earnestly.
“You just now said you thought your chances for heaven were pretty good; you believe heaven is a reality, and hell is a reality, and your precious immortal soul will soon be happy in heaven forever. You must have some reason for it. Will you please tell me what it is?”
His voice was weak and I waited for his answer as it came slowly. It was this: “Well, I’ve always been kind to my wife and children, and I have not intentionally wronged my fellow men.”
“That’s all very good,” I said, “and it is nice to be able to say that; but now tell me, what kind of a place do you think heaven is, and what do they do there?”
“Well,” he said, “I think there is no sin or sorrow there. It must be a happy place, and I think they sing there a good deal.”
Turning to Rev. 1:5, I said: “Yes, they do sing there, and I’ll just read you a song they sing. It is this: ‘Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.’ You see, they are praising their Saviour, the one who loved them and died for them. I’ll read it again. ‘Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.’ I want you to take notice: they have not a word to say about what they have done. It is all about what He has done. He loved them and died for them. Now, suppose you were up there and had got there in the way you say, because you had been good to your family, and so on. There would be one sinner in heaven that had never been washed from his sins in the blood of Jesus; you could not join in the song they sing, could you?”
I waited for an answer. His head had dropped and his eyes were turned to the floor. I shall never forget his look as he raised his head and turned to answer me. It was as one waking out of a life dream. He was now coming face to face with eternal realities and his only reply was:
“Well—I—never—thought—of—that—before.”
But I said: “God has and He has written a verse for persons just like you, who are willing to take their chances, as you said, on their good works, and are deceiving themselves by the false hope of getting to heaven in that way. I’ll read the verse. It is the 4th verse of the 4th chapter of Romans: ‘Now unto him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt.’ Let me explain this: When you were well and could work, you received your wages because you had earned them. You were under no special obligations to the man that paid you. You would come home to your wife and say, ‘Here is what I made to-day.’ You could talk about what you had done, and what you had got and you would not have a word to say about the man who paid you. That is just what God means by that verse. ‘Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.’ If you could get to heaven by what you have done, there would be no grace about it. You would know nothing of God’s love as shown in Jesus. You could not sing ‘Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,’ for you would be there without a Saviour and you would have no song. Do you think you could be happy?”
He was now ready to give up his ground, and for the first time frankly owned what his wife had said, that he was anxious about his soul and wanted to have the question settled. He fully confessed that in spite of all the good he claimed, he was a sinner and needed a Saviour. It was with joy I read to him this Scripture (I Tim. 1:15) “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” He repeated, “To—save—sinners!—to—save—sinners!”
“Yes,” I said, “to save sinners—not to help sinners to be saved, but to save sinners. He is not a helper, but a Saviour, and God’s word is to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly; his faith is counted for righteousness. And again, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'” He did believe. I left him that night, after reading other scriptures to him, with a new hope—not based on what he had done, but believing what God says about what Christ has done.
I called the next morning to see him. As I entered he looked up with joy in his face and said: “Oh, I’ll have a new song now! It will be ‘Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.'”
He was with us about a week afterward, and asleep, happy in the Lord.
Reader, will you be able to sing that song? Or will you have to say, “I am tormented in this flame”? It will be one or the other. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark 16:16. Again: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. And again, “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24.
J.H.W.
Nutting, John D., ed. The Utah Gospel Mission, Vol. VI, No. 1, Whole No. 21. Cleveland, OH, Apr.–June. 1927. PDF.
The above was transcribed with the help of ChatGPT. Administrative details, subscription information, and publication listings have been removed for brevity.
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