This link was in another post (don't remember whose so I can't give them credit)...

Anyway it is about how the Mormons say they're growing, but not talking about those who are leaving.

http://morningstarpost.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/mormon-church-losing-members-in-record-numbers-around-the-world/

This comment begs the question...did you Ex mos know this?? That Joseph Smith was considered to have dabbled in the occult? It sure makes sense based off of what I have seen with how the mormon leaders talk.

"According to official church history, Joseph Smith translated The Book of Mormon using an instrument known as a Urim and Thummim. But now church leaders have been forced to come clean and admit that Smith and most of his family, who, it was well-known and well-documented in the day, was a student of witchcraft and delved into the black arts, used what is known as a peep stone. A magical object used by Satanist to discover buried treasure and to cast spells."

Don't know that I'd call it Satanist, and maybe he didn't even realize what he was messing with, but yes, definitely, he and his daddy were dabbled in the the occult.

He was in to magic. Some people think watching Harry Potter is "dabbling in the occult". Some Christians think that what he did was "satanic". When you know that satan doesn't exist, then it is just superstition.

If the author's sources are indeed legit this is a big deal. A Q12 apostle thinking about leaving? Wow.

I wonder who that might be? They all come across so brainwashed.

He would seem to be the least entrenched, but it's just a guess.

+1

Read D. Michael Quinn's "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View." Also "The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology" by John L. Brooke.

The Smiths were into all sorts of folk magic, astrology, alchemy and anything else they thought my lead to good fortune and easy money.

This person is supposedly a journalist and spells Mormons Mormon's? He thinks the plural of Mormon is Morman's? Maybe he should take some English lessons (lesson's to him) and try again. Seriously people, is the apostrophe just too complicated for you?

They are usually written by different people.
A task often left to interns or the bottom rung folks. (Not that many of them aren't smarter than the top rung, but...)

Would love to have an edited version of this piece WITHOUT the references to JS's involvement in "Satanism" and "Satan" mentions.

Me thinks that any TBM just might not get past that...otherwise i would love to send it to TBM friends and family.

Anybody here know the author???

Or so it seems to me...

I don't know the author but other articles appear legitimate.
*shrugs*

“Most members have no idea what is held in the vaults of the Church, and if they did, they’d run, not walk, to the nearest exit."

Yup.

Why would the church hang onto incriminating evidence instead of destroying it? I'm not saying they don't have secrets stored away, only asking what sort of personality disorder would make one do it.

I dunno. Why did the Nazis? Why does anybody?

Besides, Grant Palmer was allowed to see all that stuff back in the day when certain people had free run of the 1st Presidency Vault. The guy who ordained me elder used to be one of the caretakers of the vault.

Good lord people...this blog has zero credibility. Unsubstantiated sources, unidentified author, an empty About page, crappy editing, and a total archive of ten random articles. Sorry, but this site has been slapped together and the article reads like a hack-job to me...I wouldn't get too excited.

This.

Common sense is key. Use your own discretion on this piece. Smells like fish and shat!! To me.. ;)

As Stray Mutt noted, Michael Quinn's book "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View" exhaustively details it. Before Quinn, Jerald and Sandra Tanner published lots of info about it, some of which you can study at

http://utlm.org/topicalindexc.htm#Money-Digging%20and%20Magic

Some pro-Mormon works even mentioned the issue---Joseph Smith's mother, Lucy, noted in her bio that Joseph, in his pre-church youth, possessed a "key" by which he could see items which could not be detected by the "natural eye." That "key" had to be his "peep-stone(s)", because during that era (1822-26) Joseph had not yet claimed to have received the "Urim & Thummim." Lucy also mentioned in passing that their family "engaged in the faculty of Abrac," meaning magical practices.

Here again is a link to an old post of mine wherein I quote Mormon scholars Richard Bushman and Leonard Arrington re: Joseph Smith's magical practices:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.religion.mormon/TLEKrfzHlG4/gAePh6fltbMJ

The most important takeaway as concerns the legitimacy of Mormonism is that Smith was taken to court in March of 1826 on charges of defrauding an old man by charging him money and pretending that he could see treasure buried on the old man's land. And just a year and a half later, Smith was pretending to translate the golden plates by the same method: putting his "seer stone" into his hat, sticking his face in, and pretending to see the English translation of the writing.

Great links. Quinn's Early Mormonism and the Magic World View was one of three books that blew me out of the water and out of the church. And get this...I bought it at the BYU bookstore back in the late 80s.

.....unknowingly carrying books which tell the truth about church history, and stop offering them when somebody realizes it. As I recall, Deseret Book carried Grant Palmer's book when it came out.

Morningstar.

Wake up