Miscellaneous References
Joseph Smith was not a martyr. He died in a gunfight shooting at those trying to kill him. Now I am not saying it is wrong to
defend yourself when a mob comes to kill you. I am saying however that he was not a martyr.
Doctrine & Covenants 135:4
When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his
assassination, he said: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience
void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I SHALL DIE INNOCENT, AND IT SHALL YET BE SAID OF ME--HE WAS
MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD."--The same morning, after Hyrum had made ready to go--shall it be said to the slaughter?
yes, for so it was--he read the following paragraph, near the close of the twelfth chapter of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and
turned down the leaf upon it:
Read the account and ask yourself does this sound like a lamb led to slaughter or a martyr to you?
History of the Church, Vol.6, Ch.34, p.617
It is said that the guard elevated their firelocks, and boisterously threatening the mob discharged their firearms over their
heads. The mob encircled the building, and some of them rushed by the guard up the flight of stairs, burst open the door, and
began the work of death, while others fired in through the open windows.
In the meantime Joseph, Hyrum, and Elder Taylor had their coats off. Joseph sprang to his coat for his six-shooter, Hyrum for
his single barrel, Taylor for Markham's large hickory cane, and Dr. Richards for Taylor's cane. All sprang against the door, the
balls whistled up the stairway, and in an instant one came through the door. Joseph Smith, John Taylor and Dr. Richards
sprang to the left of the door, and tried to knock aside the guns of the ruffians.
Hyrum was retreating back in front of the door and snapped his pistol, when a ball struck him in the left side of his nose, and he
fell on his back on the floor saying, "I am a dead man!" As he fell on the floor another ball from the outside entered his left side,
and passed through his body with such force that it completely broke to pieces the watch he wore in his vest pocket, and at the
same instant another ball from the door grazed his breast, and entered his head by the throat; subsequently a fourth ball
entered his left leg. A shower of balls was pouring through all parts of the room, many of which lodged in the ceiling just above
the head of Hyrum.
Joseph reached round the door casing, and discharged his six shooter into the passage, some barrels missing fire. Continual
discharges of musketry came into the room Elder Taylor continued parrying the guns until they had got them about half their
length into the room, when he found that resistance was vain, and he attempted to jump out of the window, where a ball fired
from within struck him on his left thigh, hitting the bone, and passing through to within half an inch of the other side. He fell on the
window sill, when a ball fired from the outside struck his watch in his vest pocket, and threw him back into the room.
After he fell into the room he was hit by two more balls, one of them injuring his left wrist considerably, and the other entering at
the side of the bone just below the left knee. He rolled under the bed, which was at the right of the window in the south-east
corner of the room.
While he lay under the bed he was fired at several times from the stairway; one ball struck him on the left hip, which tore the
flesh in a shocking manner, and large quantities of blood were scattered upon the wall and floor.
When Hyrum fell, Joseph exclaimed, "Oh dear, brother Hyrum!" and opening the door a few inches he discharged his six
shooter in the stairway (as stated before), two or three barrels of which missed fire.
Joseph, seeing there was no safety in the room, and no doubt thinking that it would save the lives of his brethren in the room if
he could get out, turned calmly from he door, dropped his pistol on the floor and sprang into the window when two balls pierced
him from the door, and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell outward into the hands of his murderers,
exclaiming. "O Lord, my God! "
Blood Atonement
Journal of Discourses, Vol.3, p.247, Brigham Young, March 16, 1856
You say, "That man ought to die for transgressing the law of God." Let me suppose a case. Suppose you found your brother in
bed with your wife, an put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be
received into the kingdom of God. I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances, I have no wife whom I
love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands. But you who trifle with your
covenants, be careful lest in judging you will be judged.
Every man and women has got to have clean hands and pure heart, to execute judgment, else they had better let the matter
alone.
Again, suppose the parties are not caught in their iniquity, and it passes along unnoticed, shall I have compassion on them?
Yes, I will have compassion on them, for transgressions of the nature already named, or for those of any other description. If
the Lord so order it that they are not caught in the act of their iniquity, it is pretty good proof that He is willing for them to live;
and I say let them live and suffer in the flesh for their sins, for they will have it to do.
There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The
blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or
later, and every man and woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants. To what degree? Will they have to go to hell?
They are in hell enough now. I do not wish them in a greater hell, when their consciences condemn them all the time. Let
compassion reign in our bosoms. Try to comprehend how weak we are, how we are organized, how the spirit and the flesh are
continually at war.
Journal of Discourses, Vol.4, p.53, Brigham Young, September 21, 1856
There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, and if they
had their eyes open to see their true condition, they would be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the ground, that the
smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins; and the smoking incense would atone for their sins,
whereas, if such is not the case, they will stick to them and remain upon them in the spirit world. I know, when you hear my
brethren telling about cutting people off from the earth, that you consider it is strong doctrine; but it is to save them, not to
destroy them.
Journal of Discourses, Vol.4, p.219, Brigham Young, February 8, 1857
Now take a person in this congregation who has knowledge with regard to being saved in the kingdom of our God and our
Father, and being exalted, one who knows and understands the principles of eternal life, and sees the beauty and excellency of
the eternities before him compared with the vain and foolish things of the world, and suppose that he is overtaken in a gross
fault, that he has committed a sin that he knows will deprive him of that exaltation which he desires, and that he cannot attain to
it without the shedding of his blood, and also knows that by having his blood shed he will atone for that sin, and be saved and
exalted with the Gods, is there a man of woman in this house but what would say, "shed my blood that I may be saved and
exalted with the Gods?"
Blood atonement was indeed practiced by the early Mormon Church. Also other forms of punishment such as whipping and
castration were practiced. Documentation for this can be found in Mormonism Shadow or Reality? by Sandra & Jerald Tanner
in Chapters 25 and 36. What I want to point out here is that one needs not spill their own blood to atone for their sins.
I Jn 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His
Son cleanses us from ALL sin.
To the Mormon Reading this Book
Words cannot express how grateful I am to be able to fellowship with my Dad in the Lord and to know with certainty that I will
see him in heaven. My Dad never disowned me even though I gave him every reason to. In my teenage years I rebelled and
made life miserable for my parents and my Uncle Philip and Aunt Louise as well.
For this I will always be ashamed and I wish I could change my past but I can't. When I first accepted Jesus as my Lord around
1985 I thought my Dad would be pleased but he wasn't. He told me that I might as well not go to church at all because I was
going to the wrong one. This caused me a lot of confusion and drove me into an in depth search for truth. I had people telling
me Mormonism was wrong and my Father telling me it was the only truth. I fired questions at people from both sides. For the
most part the Mormons I questioned simply told me to pray about it and accept Mormonism as truth. I was greatly disappointed
that they had no answers. Some such as my Dad tried to answer but the answers were not concrete in scripture (the Bible) or
facts. The Christians who told me Mormonism was wrong however came up with concrete answers to my questions. Maybe not
immediately but they took the time to search for the answers and were patient with me as I continued to fire more questions at
them.
To change what you have been taught all of your life is a struggle. I still do not claim to know the answer to everything in fact I
know very little, but I do know this; the Bible is trustworthy and when it disagrees with me it is I that am wrong and not the Bible.
Granted when you first see that the Bible disagrees with you it is a struggle to let go and it makes you search and study for
conformation that you really are wrong. If the Bible says you are wrong then you are wrong and you must adjust your beliefs
according to it not to what someone else has told you is truth nor even according to what you feel. Prov 14:12 tells us" There is
a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." We are also warned against false teachings and false
Christs and false prophets. Mt.24:24, Gal.1:8, as we can see in Jn.8:24 it is extremely important to know who Jesus really is.
I am reminded of a couple of things I can remember my Dad saying on more than one occasion. He used to say "I know the
Church is true and I would stake my life on it" he was of course referring to the Mormon church. He was indeed staking his life
on it as well as his eternity. If you are L.D.S then you also are staking your eternity on the idea that it is true. If ,we are right and
the L.D.S church is not true then you are making a fatal error. This book was done out of love and concern and I hope you can
see that even if you do not like what it says. But to not share the truth with you would be a sin in itself. PLEASE PRAYERFULLY
CONSIDER AND STUDY. Your eternity depends on it! I also remember my Dad saying that "If the Mormon Church is not true
than there is no truth." he now knows that is not true. The Bible is indeed the word of God and contrary to what the L.D.S
authorities have said it is very trustworthy.
I feel that it is important to say that if you leave the Mormon church and do not turn to the Jesus in the Bible and trust in him and
his written word, you have gained nothing. In fact you lost out although if you really believe Mormon doctrine you will not make it
to heaven. The church itself is full of good well-meaning people. With their friendship at least you can live a better life. The
Mormon Church has a good social structure, which helps to make it successful.
Terminology from different people makes discussion rather confusing many will say Jesus is the Son of God, but what does
that mean to them? The Jehovah Witness says this means he is Michael the Archangel who is a god but not the Almighty God.
The L.D.S authorities tell us this means he is a God who is the son of Elohim and the brother of Lucifer as well as our elder
brother in the spirit world. The Bible tells us that he is part of the Godhead, God in human form, the creator and the only God
that exist. 1 Jn.5:7, Phil.2:5-11, Jn.1:1&14, Col.1:15, Col.1:13-17, Is.43:10, Is.44:8.
I have found when talking to people that are opposed to what I believe whether from going door to door are people whom I have
encountered at work. They may ask me questions in which I do not know the answer and I will search for the answer. When I
find the answer it increases my faith. I propose the same to you if my Dad and I are both wrong show us where and we will be
forever grateful. If you do indeed posses the truth looking into these matters will only increase your faith. However if you do not
posses the truth looking into these matters will destroy your faith in Mormonism as it did for my Dad and I. I did indeed pray as
to whether the Book of Mormon was the word of God. Every time I prayed this False prophecies by Joseph Smith came to
mind. I feel God answered my prayer in this way. My Dad and I differ a little on what disturbed us and caused us to reject
Mormonism. Still what matters most is what I replaced it with. My Dad and I replaced it with truth and a wonderful relationship
with a person not a church. My relationship with Jesus is greater than anything I experienced as a Mormon. He is not just a
doctrine, but a person who wants to have a real meaningful relation with you as well.
Meant with Love
Robert Kiser
Resources
The majority of the quotes by L.D.S authors that were used can be found in the L.D.S Collectors Library on CD Rom by
Infobases. Infobases Inc. 305 N 500 W, Provo, Utah 84601-2644, Phone (801) 375-2227.
There is one book that I would highly recommend for anyone that is serious about studying Mormonism. The book is
"Mormonism Shadow or Reality" by Jerald & Sandra Tanner the book is 576 pages and full of direct quotes from L.D.S
authorities. On the Internet go to: www.utlm.org (The Tanners)
Joseph Smith was not a martyr. He died in a gunfight shooting at those trying to kill him. Now I am not saying it is wrong to
defend yourself when a mob comes to kill you. I am saying however that he was not a martyr.
Doctrine & Covenants 135:4
When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his
assassination, he said: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience
void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I SHALL DIE INNOCENT, AND IT SHALL YET BE SAID OF ME--HE WAS
MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD."--The same morning, after Hyrum had made ready to go--shall it be said to the slaughter?
yes, for so it was--he read the following paragraph, near the close of the twelfth chapter of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and
turned down the leaf upon it:
Read the account and ask yourself does this sound like a lamb led to slaughter or a martyr to you?
History of the Church, Vol.6, Ch.34, p.617
It is said that the guard elevated their firelocks, and boisterously threatening the mob discharged their firearms over their
heads. The mob encircled the building, and some of them rushed by the guard up the flight of stairs, burst open the door, and
began the work of death, while others fired in through the open windows.
In the meantime Joseph, Hyrum, and Elder Taylor had their coats off. Joseph sprang to his coat for his six-shooter, Hyrum for
his single barrel, Taylor for Markham's large hickory cane, and Dr. Richards for Taylor's cane. All sprang against the door, the
balls whistled up the stairway, and in an instant one came through the door. Joseph Smith, John Taylor and Dr. Richards
sprang to the left of the door, and tried to knock aside the guns of the ruffians.
Hyrum was retreating back in front of the door and snapped his pistol, when a ball struck him in the left side of his nose, and he
fell on his back on the floor saying, "I am a dead man!" As he fell on the floor another ball from the outside entered his left side,
and passed through his body with such force that it completely broke to pieces the watch he wore in his vest pocket, and at the
same instant another ball from the door grazed his breast, and entered his head by the throat; subsequently a fourth ball
entered his left leg. A shower of balls was pouring through all parts of the room, many of which lodged in the ceiling just above
the head of Hyrum.
Joseph reached round the door casing, and discharged his six shooter into the passage, some barrels missing fire. Continual
discharges of musketry came into the room Elder Taylor continued parrying the guns until they had got them about half their
length into the room, when he found that resistance was vain, and he attempted to jump out of the window, where a ball fired
from within struck him on his left thigh, hitting the bone, and passing through to within half an inch of the other side. He fell on the
window sill, when a ball fired from the outside struck his watch in his vest pocket, and threw him back into the room.
After he fell into the room he was hit by two more balls, one of them injuring his left wrist considerably, and the other entering at
the side of the bone just below the left knee. He rolled under the bed, which was at the right of the window in the south-east
corner of the room.
While he lay under the bed he was fired at several times from the stairway; one ball struck him on the left hip, which tore the
flesh in a shocking manner, and large quantities of blood were scattered upon the wall and floor.
When Hyrum fell, Joseph exclaimed, "Oh dear, brother Hyrum!" and opening the door a few inches he discharged his six
shooter in the stairway (as stated before), two or three barrels of which missed fire.
Joseph, seeing there was no safety in the room, and no doubt thinking that it would save the lives of his brethren in the room if
he could get out, turned calmly from he door, dropped his pistol on the floor and sprang into the window when two balls pierced
him from the door, and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell outward into the hands of his murderers,
exclaiming. "O Lord, my God! "
Blood Atonement
Journal of Discourses, Vol.3, p.247, Brigham Young, March 16, 1856
You say, "That man ought to die for transgressing the law of God." Let me suppose a case. Suppose you found your brother in
bed with your wife, an put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be
received into the kingdom of God. I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances, I have no wife whom I
love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands. But you who trifle with your
covenants, be careful lest in judging you will be judged.
Every man and women has got to have clean hands and pure heart, to execute judgment, else they had better let the matter
alone.
Again, suppose the parties are not caught in their iniquity, and it passes along unnoticed, shall I have compassion on them?
Yes, I will have compassion on them, for transgressions of the nature already named, or for those of any other description. If
the Lord so order it that they are not caught in the act of their iniquity, it is pretty good proof that He is willing for them to live;
and I say let them live and suffer in the flesh for their sins, for they will have it to do.
There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The
blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or
later, and every man and woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants. To what degree? Will they have to go to hell?
They are in hell enough now. I do not wish them in a greater hell, when their consciences condemn them all the time. Let
compassion reign in our bosoms. Try to comprehend how weak we are, how we are organized, how the spirit and the flesh are
continually at war.
Journal of Discourses, Vol.4, p.53, Brigham Young, September 21, 1856
There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, and if they
had their eyes open to see their true condition, they would be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the ground, that the
smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins; and the smoking incense would atone for their sins,
whereas, if such is not the case, they will stick to them and remain upon them in the spirit world. I know, when you hear my
brethren telling about cutting people off from the earth, that you consider it is strong doctrine; but it is to save them, not to
destroy them.
Journal of Discourses, Vol.4, p.219, Brigham Young, February 8, 1857
Now take a person in this congregation who has knowledge with regard to being saved in the kingdom of our God and our
Father, and being exalted, one who knows and understands the principles of eternal life, and sees the beauty and excellency of
the eternities before him compared with the vain and foolish things of the world, and suppose that he is overtaken in a gross
fault, that he has committed a sin that he knows will deprive him of that exaltation which he desires, and that he cannot attain to
it without the shedding of his blood, and also knows that by having his blood shed he will atone for that sin, and be saved and
exalted with the Gods, is there a man of woman in this house but what would say, "shed my blood that I may be saved and
exalted with the Gods?"
Blood atonement was indeed practiced by the early Mormon Church. Also other forms of punishment such as whipping and
castration were practiced. Documentation for this can be found in Mormonism Shadow or Reality? by Sandra & Jerald Tanner
in Chapters 25 and 36. What I want to point out here is that one needs not spill their own blood to atone for their sins.
I Jn 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His
Son cleanses us from ALL sin.
To the Mormon Reading this Book
Words cannot express how grateful I am to be able to fellowship with my Dad in the Lord and to know with certainty that I will
see him in heaven. My Dad never disowned me even though I gave him every reason to. In my teenage years I rebelled and
made life miserable for my parents and my Uncle Philip and Aunt Louise as well.
For this I will always be ashamed and I wish I could change my past but I can't. When I first accepted Jesus as my Lord around
1985 I thought my Dad would be pleased but he wasn't. He told me that I might as well not go to church at all because I was
going to the wrong one. This caused me a lot of confusion and drove me into an in depth search for truth. I had people telling
me Mormonism was wrong and my Father telling me it was the only truth. I fired questions at people from both sides. For the
most part the Mormons I questioned simply told me to pray about it and accept Mormonism as truth. I was greatly disappointed
that they had no answers. Some such as my Dad tried to answer but the answers were not concrete in scripture (the Bible) or
facts. The Christians who told me Mormonism was wrong however came up with concrete answers to my questions. Maybe not
immediately but they took the time to search for the answers and were patient with me as I continued to fire more questions at
them.
To change what you have been taught all of your life is a struggle. I still do not claim to know the answer to everything in fact I
know very little, but I do know this; the Bible is trustworthy and when it disagrees with me it is I that am wrong and not the Bible.
Granted when you first see that the Bible disagrees with you it is a struggle to let go and it makes you search and study for
conformation that you really are wrong. If the Bible says you are wrong then you are wrong and you must adjust your beliefs
according to it not to what someone else has told you is truth nor even according to what you feel. Prov 14:12 tells us" There is
a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." We are also warned against false teachings and false
Christs and false prophets. Mt.24:24, Gal.1:8, as we can see in Jn.8:24 it is extremely important to know who Jesus really is.
I am reminded of a couple of things I can remember my Dad saying on more than one occasion. He used to say "I know the
Church is true and I would stake my life on it" he was of course referring to the Mormon church. He was indeed staking his life
on it as well as his eternity. If you are L.D.S then you also are staking your eternity on the idea that it is true. If ,we are right and
the L.D.S church is not true then you are making a fatal error. This book was done out of love and concern and I hope you can
see that even if you do not like what it says. But to not share the truth with you would be a sin in itself. PLEASE PRAYERFULLY
CONSIDER AND STUDY. Your eternity depends on it! I also remember my Dad saying that "If the Mormon Church is not true
than there is no truth." he now knows that is not true. The Bible is indeed the word of God and contrary to what the L.D.S
authorities have said it is very trustworthy.
I feel that it is important to say that if you leave the Mormon church and do not turn to the Jesus in the Bible and trust in him and
his written word, you have gained nothing. In fact you lost out although if you really believe Mormon doctrine you will not make it
to heaven. The church itself is full of good well-meaning people. With their friendship at least you can live a better life. The
Mormon Church has a good social structure, which helps to make it successful.
Terminology from different people makes discussion rather confusing many will say Jesus is the Son of God, but what does
that mean to them? The Jehovah Witness says this means he is Michael the Archangel who is a god but not the Almighty God.
The L.D.S authorities tell us this means he is a God who is the son of Elohim and the brother of Lucifer as well as our elder
brother in the spirit world. The Bible tells us that he is part of the Godhead, God in human form, the creator and the only God
that exist. 1 Jn.5:7, Phil.2:5-11, Jn.1:1&14, Col.1:15, Col.1:13-17, Is.43:10, Is.44:8.
I have found when talking to people that are opposed to what I believe whether from going door to door are people whom I have
encountered at work. They may ask me questions in which I do not know the answer and I will search for the answer. When I
find the answer it increases my faith. I propose the same to you if my Dad and I are both wrong show us where and we will be
forever grateful. If you do indeed posses the truth looking into these matters will only increase your faith. However if you do not
posses the truth looking into these matters will destroy your faith in Mormonism as it did for my Dad and I. I did indeed pray as
to whether the Book of Mormon was the word of God. Every time I prayed this False prophecies by Joseph Smith came to
mind. I feel God answered my prayer in this way. My Dad and I differ a little on what disturbed us and caused us to reject
Mormonism. Still what matters most is what I replaced it with. My Dad and I replaced it with truth and a wonderful relationship
with a person not a church. My relationship with Jesus is greater than anything I experienced as a Mormon. He is not just a
doctrine, but a person who wants to have a real meaningful relation with you as well.
Meant with Love
Robert Kiser
Resources
The majority of the quotes by L.D.S authors that were used can be found in the L.D.S Collectors Library on CD Rom by
Infobases. Infobases Inc. 305 N 500 W, Provo, Utah 84601-2644, Phone (801) 375-2227.
There is one book that I would highly recommend for anyone that is serious about studying Mormonism. The book is
"Mormonism Shadow or Reality" by Jerald & Sandra Tanner the book is 576 pages and full of direct quotes from L.D.S
authorities. On the Internet go to: www.utlm.org (The Tanners)
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