STRANGE MORMON TEACHINGS

Our training in the pre-existence:

The March 1996 Ensign, page 30, (also see D&C 138:56; Gospel Principles, page 9-11, 19, 23) has the following about our alleged premortal existence as spirits and our alleged attendance at The Council in Heaven.

The purpose of the council was to prepare us for our earthly experience. We were taught all that we would need to know to return to Heavenly Father's presence one day.

Why would this training be needed? The Mormon Church teaches that our spirits forget what happened to them when placed into a body (Gospel Principles, page 11). I don't know of anyone (Mormon and non-Mormon) who remembers his/her premortal life lessons and training. I don't remember mine. Do you remember yours? Adam and Eve forgot their premortal instruction (March 1996 Ensign, page 31).

The man calls his wife from the grave:

Some that have been married in a Mormon temple for time and eternity remember being taught that the man knows his wife's secret name and on resurrection morning he uses it to call her from the grave. One written source for this teaching can be found in Mormon Doctrine Plain and Simple, by Chas. W. Penrose, 1888, published by The Juvenile Instructor Office, Salt Lake City. A copy can be found in the New York City Public library. Page 51 has:

In the divine economy, as in nature, the man "is the head of the woman," and it is written that "he is the savior of the body." But "the man is not without the woman" any more than the woman is without the man, in the Lord. Adam was first formed, then Eve. In the resurrection they stand side by side and hold dominion together. Every man who overcomes all things and is thereby entitled to inherit all things, receives power to bring up his wife to join him in the possession and enjoyment thereof.

Where is the city of Manti?:

Joseph Smith had the following to say about the ancient City of Manti (as in the Book of Mormon):

The camp passed through Huntsville, in Randolph County [Missouri], which has been appointed as one of the Stakes of Zion, and is the ancient site of the City of Manti.... (The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, "History of Joseph Smith", Vol. 16, p. 296)

The index of the Book of Mormon under Manti, Land of, has: "most southerly land of Nephites" and under Manti, City of, it has: "chief city in land of Manti." All this information then leads to the conclusion that the Land of Manti is allegedly in the State of Missouri, in the United States. Mormon historian and Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, in his book Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 3, pages 239-241, came to the same conclusion.

In September 1996 my wife and I traveled to Huntsville, Randolph County, Missouri. The business area is about one third the size of Palmyra, NY. Its people are as friendly as any we have ever met. We had a chance to discuss what Joseph Smith said (we left a copy of The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, "History of Joseph Smith", Vol. 16, p. 296). The town museum was open and several people there were also included in our discussion. This museum has no evidence of the ancient city and none of the people we spoke with had ever heard the story. In the future Phyllis will do a more detailed report.

In spite of evidence like this LDS scholars have and are working hard to prove that Book of Mormon lands are in the Yucutan Peninsula in Mexico and Guatemala, the ancient Maya Indians.

John Farkas

Berean Christian Ministries; P.O. Box 1091; Webster, NY 14580

Oct. 1996

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