First let me apologize. User SusanHere accused me as being a poser and falsifying LDS doctrine. A simple search of here posts reveals that she is an active, apologetic MORmON. My apologies for having her on the board distorting what the LDS church believes. She admits she is LDS here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/36876/1.ashx
User Tula had the following question:
" A lot of the Mormon beliefs are not known by the lesser members of the Church. Only those in the highest positions are supposed to know all of the secrets of Joseph Smith and his founding of this religious sect. Smith made a lot of prophecies about the end of the world as we know it. He said that there would be a conflagration in the US and that the people worth saving would run to the mountains in Utah,Nev., Montanna, Wyoming and become one with the Mormon people. That would be what would save them from destruction. He prophesied that the next battle would be on our own shores, brother against brother as in the Civil War, State against State and City against City.
Smith also said that the Mormons would unite the world under one ruler. "Is all of this a general belief?
I saw on news that a lot of Katrina victims who had been told they were being flown to Texas were instead diverted and flown to Utah. Do the Mormons see this as prophecy coming true that "people are flocking to Utah"? Other than the food banks they have always had, what are they doing as far as promoting propaganda about the end?
Thanks. Really curious and interested.
Tula.
There is a lot of LDS church history that has been sanitized for church consumption. A lot of wierd crap that went on in Joseph and Brighams day. The church has a large collection of historical documents, which they keep under lock and key. There have been problems about church historians who have access to this stuff becoming disaffected and losing their positions. 20 years ago or so, copies of part of William Clayton's (Joe's personal secretary) journal got out. Very damning stuff in there. The church membership, generally has no knowledge of such. Lesson manuals and web sites are scrubbed of evidences of additional wives, of alcohol and tobacco consumption by Joe. (See josephsmith.net)
Yes, JS made prophecies regarding the end of the world. I personally like the ones where he tells WW Phelps that he would not die before the second coming. Or how the rising generation would not pass before the second coming or how the temple in Missouri would be built in his generation (Are you getting all this SusanHere??)The church used to gather centrally. First in Kirtland Ohio. Then when Joseph's illegal bank went belly up, he had to flee Ohio. The central gathering place then became Independence Missouri. The Mormons, and some of my ancestors, abused themselves there, manipulated the political process, were engaged in land speculations, telling people they would be the new owners and controllers of the whole area. Generally just pissed off the Missourians. The Missourians responded with some nasty violence of their own. The Mormons were driven out. JS attempted a military solution by organizing Zion's Camp... a paramiltary group. They were to reassert their rights to the land. (Missouri is where the garden of eden was, you know). The effort failed.
After being driven from Missouri, they settled in Nauvoo Illinois. Typically, the first saints at the new gathering place would gobble up the land to be resold at specualtive prices to newly arriving saints. This was after Joe and co. had large swaths for themselves already. The closer you were to Joe, the higher your property value. Joseph's Myth used lots adjoining his large lot as enticements for already married women to marry him "celestially". Anciently, Kings preferred married women, because they didn't need to hide their pregnancies, like they would a single girl. Joseph lied about his polygamous / polyandrous relationships. It was all kept very hidden and even denied at the pulpit. (Are you still getting this down, SusanHere? Do you need citations, names, references??) Counselors and apostles who disagreed were excommunicated and thus sent to hell over this. Their names and reputations disparaged for telling the truth. In the spring of 1844, Emma, Joseph's first wife, had enough of the polygamy. She put her foot down. Some 20+ women (wives) were kicked out of the Mansion House in Nauvoo. She then did something tactically brilliant. As President of the women's Relief Society, she began telling women that they would be approached by church leadership to become plural wives. She instructed the women to listen to what "the brethren" said at the pulpit, but not to listen to anything they said in private (like polygamy). This pissed off a very horny LDS leadership. The Relief Society was immediately disbanded to stop her efforts. This is why, there is a 22 year gap between Emma's leadership and the next Relief Society president, Eliza Snow. See http://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,5009-1,00.html. Another interesting item on that page ... click on Zina Huntington Jacobs Smith Young biography. It says that Zina was widowed by her first husband. (Henry Jacobs). It's a lie. Zina is another fascinating story Morgs have no idea about. Zina Married Henry Jacobs and had a son. Before they wed, Joe had been propositioning her to be a plural wife. She refused. Several years later, he succeeded in convincing her to marry him-- "celestially", of course. He said he had been visited by an angel with a "flaming sword" who would kill Joseph if he didn't marry Zina. (This story and the promise of saving your whole family in the Celestial Kingdom by marrying Joe, were used repeatedly and is seen in the journals and letters of his many wives) So she was married to Henry and Joe at the same time. Many morg robots will say "Yes, but they didn't have sex". They are ignorant that many of these women kept journals and wrote letters.. and remained faithful to their dying day. THEY admitted having sex with both their husband and Joe. I don't know if they made it a threesome or not. http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org has great biographies on these women. Some knew a certain child was joes. Others wondered who the father was.
Anyway, back to Zina and Joe. Things start coming unglued in 1844. William Law, Joesph's first counselor was excommunicated because he rejected polygamy. He published one edition of the Nauvoo Expositor. Read it. It was a very mild condemnation of Joe and his Polygamy. William Law states in it that he still thinks the Book of Mormon was true, but that Joseph needed to repent for this polygamy thing. The article and exposure of polygamy infuriated Joe. A Mormon mob was assembled and William Law's press was destroyed. Joe was arrested, sent to Carthage, MO (remember the missourians??) There he died in a mutual gunfight. Most morgs are taught that he went as a lamb to the slaughter, not knowing he had secreted and used firearms in the melee.
Thus began the rush to leadership. Morg leaders were falling over themselves saying they were the next leader. Joseph's brother Samuel (also one of the 12 apostles) was one of them. Within a month of Joe, Samuel, also died mysteriously. The last sMyth brother William (also an apostle) said he thought Samuel had been poisoned. I don't know if he said WHO he thought did it...just that he thought he had been poisoned. Brigham Young had William excommunicated. (I guess it depended on who hit the excommunication button first). Anyway, things were not going well in Nauvoo. The Saints then prepared to flee to the next gathering place, which would be Utah.
Before they left Nauvoo, they completed building the Nauvoo temple. The Church, in it's records, then begins referring to Zina, not as Zina Jacobs, but as Zina Smith. Brigham and the other apostles gobbled up the polygamous wife spoils of Joe. Most already married wives were also divided, or they left the church. In the case of Patty Bartlett Sessions, Brigham said she should stay with her original husband. (She was older). At some point, Zina or Brigham approached Zina's husband Henry and told him that they wanted her to be married to Brigham (in the temple). It is not known if Henry knew the full implications of this at the time. He agreed and actually witnessed his bride being married to Brigham. Zina was 8 months pregnant at the time (Feb 1846). It is speculated that they had told Henry that this new marriage would be like the one she had with Joe. Henry and Zina continued to live together after her "marriage" to Brigham. She gave birth and in the summer, Brigham called Henry on yet another far away mission. While on a mission, Zina moved in with Brigham. There was no divorce. Zina later became the third Relief Society president. Henry mourned her loss and tried to get her back all his days. He died a faithful member.
South Carolina and New Hampshire had already had unsuccessful secessionist movements. Slavery was a big issue and secessionist sentiment in South Carolina was brewing again. (In 2007, there is yet AGAIN, a secessionist movement in South Carolina). Joseph did correctly foresee secession in South Carolina. It was evident all over in the papers of the day. He also predicted a conflagration like the civil war. But again, North vs South wasn't a heated argument that developed overnight. It was evident in the papers. His "civil war" prophesy was supposed to include plagues and earthquakes and the complete dissolution of government (so we could go back to Missouri). Sorry SusanHere, it didn't happen. In all fairness, one prophcy of Joe's has come to pass. On March 10, 1844. HC 6:249-254, TJS p 341. Joseph Smith prophesied that the Lord would NOT come in any year in which a rainbow appears. --So far so good. He must be a prophet.
So the Saints gathered to Utah. They continued gathering to Utah. If I remember correctly some time in the mid 20th century, they started telling people to remain where they were and build zion there. It is widely held that when the crap hits the fan, stake centers will be a place of gathering and refuge.
Tula, I hope this answers your question and gives a little insight into the history of my cult.