Mystery of Blasphemies

14 January

John 17:3, 8 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.”

The passage above comes from John’s gospel, and depicts what is known as ‘The High Priestly Prayer’. It’s the longest prayer of Jesus, and is also referred to as the ‘Farewell Discourse’. Most unfortunately, it’s the same passage (specifically, vs. 3) Brigham Young  often used as an argument for his blasphemous Adam-God Theory.

With all this in mind, we’re looking at an infamous event in Mormonism where Brigham delivered a sermon on February 7, 1877 at the temple in St. George, Utah; ‘The Lecture at the Veil’. As you’ll see, the title of our article is a play on words of how Brigham referred to his ‘unique’ beliefs about God.

The reason why we’re referencing this is because of Young’s scurrilous interpretation of scripture, and the picture it painted regarding the Lord’s character. For many years his teachings were what Mormons were taught, and what they believed about God.

This lecture has been held in the vaults at the Salt Lake Temple, and a copy is held in the St. George Temple as well. It’s listed as “L. John Nuttall Papers; BYU Special Collections, Mss 188, Letterpress copy book #4, p. 290”.

Brigham Young had his secretary, L. John Nuttall, write his notes down so they’d have copy of what needed to be said during the temple ceremony. Fortunately, Mr. Nuttall meticulously kept a copy of his notes, and included them in his personal diaries.

Today writings of his diaries can be purchased through bookstores,  or you can find it online at numerous sites. Archives.com is what we’ve used here. Alongside Mr. Nuttall, Elder JDT McCallister was in attendance and helped in  providing materials needed to write notes as Brigham Young spoke.

For the sake of brevity, we’re only looking at part of this lecture. We highly encourage everyone to check out the rest of what Young had to say. We feel it’s imperative for everyone to understand, and see for themselves just how sacrilegious this man was. The Church may have denounced the ‘Adam-God Theory’ in many public forums, however, the ideological tenants are still firmly entrenched in LDS canon today.

Shockingly, Joe Smith gave an ominous warning to members how the Mormon god would ‘lead them along’ through the ideas he introduced. … oh dear…

Doctrine and Covenants 78:16-18 “Who hath appointed Michael your prince, and established his feet, and set him upon high, and given unto him the keys of salvation under the counsel and direction of the Holy One, who is without beginning of days or end of life. 17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you; 18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.” [emp. mine]

FYI ~ spelling as in original ~

The Journal of L. John Nuttall, Wednesday, February 7, 1877, pp. 4-5 “In the creation the Gods entered into an agreement about forming this earth. & putting Michael or Adam upon it. these things of which I have been speaking are what are termed the mysteries of godliness… …We were once acquainited [acquainted] with the Gods & lived with them but we had the privilige of taking upon us flesh that the spirit might have a house to dwell in. we did so and forgot all and came into the world not recollecting anything of which we had previously learned. …

when Adam and those that assisted him had completed this Kingdom our earth he came to it. and slept and forgot all and became like an Infant child. it is said by Moses the historian that the Lord caused a deep sleep to come upon Adam and took from his side a rib and formed the woman that Adam called Eve-this should be interpreted that the Man Adam like all other Men had the seed within him to propagate his species. but not the Woman. she conceives the seed but she does not produce it. … consequently she was taken from the side or bowels of her father. this explains the mystery of Moses’s [sic] dark sayings in regard to Adam and Eve…

…Father Adam’s oldest son (Jesus the Saviour) who is the heir of the family is Father Adams first begotten in the spirit World. who according to the flesh is the only begotten as it is written.

(In his divinity he having gone back into the spirit World. and come in the spirit [glory] to Mary and she conceived for when Adam and Eve got through with their Work in this earth. they did not lay their bodies down in the dust, but returned to the spirit World from whence they came.

I felt myself much blessed in being permitted to associate with such men and hear such instructions as they savored of life to me-”

We’re wondering … does this mean Brigham believed Adam was Eve’s father, and exactly who fathered Jesus?

Can you imagine yourself sitting in that lecture? I for one, cannot. Incredibly there were many who did, and given the date provided it probably means my grandparents were there. How very sad.

Pray for those who are active in the Church today and most certainly have come upon the odious teachings from the D&C 27:11

“And also with Michael, or Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the ancient of days”.

One more item of note – a very good article with lots of references can also be found at Adam-God and the Endowment Ritual. This is where we originally found the info for this article.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

1 Cor 1:18

Tags: ,

No comments yet.

Leave a Reply