THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE ADVANCED BIBLE STUDIES SERIES “DEFENSE OF THE FAITH”
Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
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The following is an excerpt from the Advanced Bible Studies Series course on Defense of the Faith, which is available from Way of Life Literature. (It is best to order them by phone at 866-295-4143, but they can also be ordered from the newly redesigned online order form at the Way of Life web site, http://www.wayofife.org.)
There are currently 20 titles in the series, and any of them can be special ordered in large print and in ring coil binding. We don’t believe that you will find better quality, more truly life-changing Bible courses from any other source. They are based strictly upon the King James Bible and the powerful word studies assist in the understanding of the KJV but never cast doubt upon it. They are thorough and comprehensive. They are very practical and have the objective of producing well-equipped Christian soldiers that have a solid understanding of the Bible. They stress holy and obedient Christian living and separation from worldliness and error, exalt evangelism and the New Testament church, and promote world missions. They emphasize the crucial differences between law and grace and positional and practical sanctification, and they continually fortify the student’s understanding of the life-changing doctrines such as justification, substitutionary atonement, and eternal security. The courses are non-Calvinistic and interpret Bible prophecy literally. The student will be prepared to stand against the wiles of the Devil and to refute the major theological heresies of our day. One pastor said the books “are extremely helpful for any Christian, no matter where they are spiritually; the practical application is extremely helpful and edifying.”
The Advanced Bible Studies Series can be used as private study guides for the individual Christian, as Sunday School lessons, as textbooks in Bible colleges, as part of a home schooling curriculum, as study material in jails and prisons, for discipling new (or older) Christians, and as refresher study material for Bible College graduates.
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THE REASONS FOR DOUBTING JOSEPH SMITH’S ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF MORMONISM.
1. Smith had a very poor reputation in his community. Many testimonies of the citizens were published in the 1800s after Smith founded the Mormon Church. The following examples are representative of dozens that were collected:
“I was acquainted with the family of Joseph Smith, Sen., both before and since they became Mormons, and feel free to state that not one of the male members of the Smith family were entitled to any credit, whatsoever. They were lazy, intemperate and worthless men, — very much addicted to lying. In this they frequently boasted of their skill. Digging for money was their principal employment. In regard to their Gold Bible speculation, they scarcely ever told two stories alike” (Parley Chase, affirmed before Frederick Smith, Justice of the Peace of Wayne County, Dec. 11, 1833).
“These circumstances and many others of a similar tenor, embolden me to say that Joseph Smith Jr., is not a man of truth and veracity; and that his general character, in this part of the country, is that of an impostor, hypocrite and liar” (Rev. Nathaniel C. Lewis, Methodist Episcopal Church, affirmed and subscribed, before Charles Dimon, Justice of the peace, March 20th, 1834, reprinted by Daniel Kidder, Mormonism and the Mormons, 1842)
“… Joseph Smith Jr., resided near me for some time after this, and I had a good opportunity of becoming acquainted with him, and somewhat acquainted with his associates, and I conscientiously believe from the facts I have detailed, and from many other circumstances, which I do not deem it necessary to relate, that the whole 'Book of Mormon' (so called) is a silly fabrication of falsehood and wickedness, got up for speculation, and with a design to dupe the credulous and unwary — and in order that its fabricators may live upon the spoils of those who swallow the deception” (affidavit of Isaac Hale, Joseph Smith’s father-in-law, affirmed to and subscribed before Charles Dimon, Justice of the peace, March 20th, 1834, reprinted by Daniel Kidder, Mormonism and the Mormons, 1842).
2. Prior to writing the Book of Mormon, Smith was convicted by a court of law of deceiving people with a “peek-stone” that he claimed could locate hidden treasure.
a. On March 20, 1826, Joseph Smith was tried and found guilty of deceiving people in New York by claiming he could find hidden treasure through a peek-stone. He was convicted by Justice Albert Neely in Bainbridge, New York.
b. This was first published in Fraser’s Magazine in 1873, but the Mormon church for years claimed that it was not true.
c. In 1971, Wesley P. Walters located the original court records in the basement of a government building in Norwich, New York.
d. These documents prove beyond doubt that Smith was a convicted “glass looker.” The court ascertained “That at Palmyra he [Smith] pretended to tell by looking at this stone where coined money was buried in Pennsylvania, and while at Palmyra had frequently ascertained in that way where lost property was of various kinds…”
3. Following is a description of one of Smith’s ventures with his peek stone:
“On a wilderness-hill — now a part of Jacob J. Skinner's farm — his peek-stone discovered a ton of silver bars which had been buried by weary Spaniards as they trudged up the Susquehanna. An expedition for their recovery was undertaken as soon as Smith could muster enough followers to do the work. Unlike St. Paul, Joe did not work with his own hands, and he did not hesitate to be chargeable to any one. Several round excavations were made on the crown of a hill, the largest of which was about thirty-five feet in diameter and of about the same depth. The water was drained toward the south, and a shanty covered the hole from the eyes of the scoffers and the profane. The diggers had proceeded with great labor, and were just ready to grasp the silver, when the charm moved it three hundred feet to the north-east. Joe tracked it with his peek-stone to its hiding-place. It was not so far under the surface this time — only about twenty feet — and the faithful again worked with a will. … the silver again flitted away, and alighted fifty feet beyond the big hole. They determined to capture it if they ran the hill through a sieve. The third hole had been sunk fifteen out of the necessary twenty feet when the treasure once more jumped to the other side of the big hole. Then the prophet had a vision: the blood of a black sheep must be shed and sprinkled around the diggings. Black sheep were scarce, and while they waited for one the faithful obtained their needed rest. At length, no sheep appearing, Joe said that a black dog might answer. A dog, therefore, was killed, and the blood was sprinkled on the ground. After that the silver never went far away. Still, it waltzed about the big hole in such a lively manner that frequent tunnelling to effect its capture availed nothing. At last the prophet decided that it was of no use to dig unless one of their number was made a sacrifice. None of the faithful responded to his call, and thus the magnificent scheme was abandoned. Oliver Harper, one of the diggers who furnished the money, was soon afterward murdered. The prophet thought this might answer for a sacrifice: he again rallied the diggers, but the charm remained stubborn and would not reveal the silver” (Frederic Mather, “Early Days of Mormonism,” Lippincott’s Magazine, August 1880).
4. Smith used the very same peek-stone to translate the Book of Mormon.
a. Smith claimed that after he translated the first 116 pages using the Urim and Thummim, his friend Martin Harris lost the manuscript. In reality, Harris’s wife had taken the manuscript and hid it or burned it, because she did not want her husband to continue giving money to Smith (Mather, “Early Days of Mormonism”).
b. After that, by his own testimony, he continued the translation with the aid of his peek-stone. He would put the stone in his tall white stovepipe hat, then put the hat over his face and allegedly read the words off to his scribe. In this way he produced The Book of Mormon. It was exactly the same method that he had previously used to magically seek the location of hidden treasure.
(1) Consider the following testimony of Smith’s father-in-law, Isaac Hale:
“I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr. in November, 1825. He was at that time in the employ of a set of men who were called ‘money-diggers;’ and his occupation was that of seeing, or pretending to see by means of a stone placed in his hat, and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pretended to discover minerals and hidden treasures. ... Smith, and his father, with several other ‘money-diggers’ boarded at my house. ... Young Smith gave the ‘money-diggers’ great encouragement, at first, but when they had arrived in digging, to near the place where he had stated an immense treasure would be found—he said the enchantment was so powerful that he could not see. ... After these occurrences, young Smith made several visits at my house, ... and WHILE I WAS ABSENT FROM HOME, CARRIED OFF MY DAUGHTER, INTO THE STATE OF NEW YORK, WHERE THEY WERE MARRIED WITHOUT MY APPROBATION OR CONSENT. ... In a short time they returned ... Smith stated to me, that he had given up what he called ‘glass-looking,’ and that he expected to work hard for a living. ... He also made arrangements with my son Alva Hale, to go up to Palmyra, and move his (Smith’s) furniture &c. to this place. ... Soon after this, I was informed they had brought a wonderful book of Plates down with them. ... THE MANNER IN WHICH HE PRETENDED TO READ AND INTERPRET, WAS THE SAME AS WHEN HE LOOKED FOR THE MONEY-DIGGERS, WITH THE STONE IN HIS HAT, AND HIS HAT OVER HIS FACE, WHILE THE BOOK OF PLATES WERE AT THE SAME TIME HID IN THE WOODS!” (affidavit of Isaac Hale, affirmed to and subscribed before Charles Dimon, Justice of the peace, March 20th, 1834, reprinted by Daniel Kidder, Mormonism and the Mormons, 1842).
(2) David Whitmer, one of Smith’s witnesses, also testified that Smith translated the Book of Mormon with his peek stone:
“I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing” (An Address To All Believers In Christ, by David Whitmer, p. 12, quoted by the Tanners).
(3) Joseph Smith’s wife, Emma, testified the same thing to her son. Emma testified in a letter written March 27, 1876, that the entire Book of Mormon was translated by the use of a stone.
“In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, after sitting by the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us” (Emma Smith, The Saints’ Herald, May 19, 1888, p. 310).
5. Smith’s peek-stone or “seer stone” has been seen and acknowledged by many Mormon authorities.
a. Early Mormon church leader Orson Pratt testified of Smith’s peek stone: “…sometimes Joseph used a seer stone when enquiring of the Lord, and receiving revelation” (“Report of Elders Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith, Concluded,” Deseret Evening News, 23 Nov, 1878).
b. Brigham Young showed the stone to the regents of the University of the State of Deseret (later named University of Utah) on February 25, 1856. One of the regents, Hosea Stout, described it in his journal as “a silecious granite dark color almost black with light colored stripes somewhat resembling petrified poplar or cotton wood bark … about the size but not the shape of a hen's egg” (Stout Diary, February 25, 1856).
c. In 1887, a bodyguard of church president John Taylor reported that he had seen and handled the seer stone: “On Sunday last I saw and handled the seer stone that the Prophet Joseph Smith had. It was a dark color, not round on one side. It was shaped like the top of a baby's shoe, one end like the toe of the shoe, and the other round” (Samuel Bateman diary, August 17, 1887, Lee library).
d. In 1888, fifth Mormon President Wilford Woodruff placed the stone on the altar of the Mormon temple in Manti, Utah. “Before leaving I Consecrated upon the Altar the seers Stone that Joseph Smith found by Revelation some 30 feet under the Earth [and] Carried By him through life” (Wilford Woodruff's journal, May 18, 1888)
e. Mormon Bishop Fredrick Kesler wrote in his diary in 1899 that President Lorenzo Snow showed him the seer stone: “...showed me the Seerers Stone that the Prophet Joseph Smith had by which he done some of the Translating of the Book of Mormon with. I handeled it with my own hands. I felt as though I see & was handling a very Sacred thing. I trust & feel that it will work in his hands as it did in the Prophet Joseph Smiths hands” (Fredrick Kesler diary, February 1, 1899, Marriott Library).
f. Sixth Mormon President Joseph Fielding Smith confirmed that the seer stone is in the possession of the Mormon church: “The statement has been made that the Urim and Thummim was on the altar in the Manti Temple when that building was dedicated. The Urim and Thummim so spoken of, however, was the seer stone which was in the possession of the Prophet Joseph Smith in early days. This seer stone is now in the possession of the Church” (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p. 225).
g. In the early 1980s, Mary Brown Firmage (a descendent of Brigham Young) was allowed to see the seer stone. She reported: “The stone was not chocolate brown but rather the color of brown sugar. It was 3-4 inches long, 2 inches wide, and had a hump in the middle which made it perhaps 2 inches thick at the thickest point. It was flat on the bottom and had three black, concentric circles on the top 1/2 inch. Below the circles were many small black circles. The stone was not transparent” (Mary Brown Firmage interview with Richard Von Wagoner, Aug. 11, 1986; Von Wagoner papers, Marriott Library).
5. The 11 witnesses who claimed to have seen the golden plates are highly suspect.
a. Three were from Smith’s own family (including his father and brother), which had a poor reputation in their community and which had a motive to support Joseph’s religious views. Together with Joseph, his father and brother were involved in treasure searching with divining rods and seer stones.
b. Oliver Cowdrey and Martin Harris used divining rods to search for hidden treasure. (This was admitted by D. Michael Quinn, Mormon writer, in Brigham Young University Studies, Fall 1978, p. 82.)
c. Cowdery, Harris, and David and John Whitmer were forced to leave the Mormons in 1838 when they had settled in Missouri. They were charged by Joseph Smith with being evil men, and they, in turn, charged Smith and the Mormons of great wickedness. For example, in a letter dated December 16, 1838, Joseph Smith said that “John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris are too mean to mention” (History of the Church, vol. 3, p. 232). They were charged with being “counterfeiters, thieves, liars, and blacklegs of the deepest dye.” Cowdery joined the Methodists.
d. Hiram Page had his own peek-stone by which he gave “revelations.”
e. The witnesses had a reputation of being gullible and some of jumping from one religious movement to another. For example, Martin Harris was first a “Quaker, then a Universalist, next a Restorationer, then a Baptist, next a Presbyterian, and then a Mormon” (E.D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 1834, pp. 260-61, cited by the Tanners). After that he was a Shaker and then a Strangite! Altogether, Harris changed his religious convictions at least 13 times.
f. Hiram Page, David and John Whitmer, Martin Harris, and Oliver Cowdery were also witnesses for a man named James Jesse Strang, who claimed that he, too, had translated plates with Urim and Thummim. He started his own movement, and Harris went to England on a mission for the Strangites.
6. The accounts in the Book of Mormon have proven to be untrue. It contains what is purported to be the account of an ancient civilization in America that descended from the Hebrews and to which Jesus Christ appeared after His resurrection.
“The two main groups in the Book of Mormon are the Nephites and Lamanites. The story tells of a family group led by an Israelite prophet named Lehi. He is warned by God to flee Jerusalem at 600 B.C. He and his family make their way to the southern part of Arabia where they build a ship to sail across the Pacific Ocean to America. Two of his sons, Nephi and Laman struggle for leadership. This leads to the division of the group into two warring factions, the Nephites (usually the good guys) and Lamanites (usually the bad guys). The last battle between the two groups, in 421 AD, wipes out almost all of the Nephites. Moroni, the last surviving Nephite, buries the records of his civilization in the hill Cumorah. Hundreds of years later, Joseph Smith is directed to the spot by Moroni (some records say Nephi), now a resurrected being who has become an angel” (Tanner, “Book of Mormon Overview”).
a. Testimony of the National Geographic Society. In a letter dated January 11, 1990, the Research Correspondent for the National Geographic Society testified: “The Society has never used the Book of Mormon to locate archaeological sites, and we do not believe that any of the places named in the Book of Mormon can be placed geographically by the evidence of archaeology. So far as we know there is no archaeological evidence to verify the history of early peoples of the Western Hemisphere as presented in the Book of Mormon.”
b. Testimony of the Smithsonian Institute. In 1996, the Department of Anthropology of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., issued a similar letter: “The Book of Mormon is a religious document and not a scientific guide. The Smithsonian Institution has never used it in archeological research and any information that you have received to the contrary is incorrect. Smithsonian archeologists see no direct connection between the archeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book.”
c. Many of the things mentioned in the Book of Mormon were not in North America at that time: “The Book of Mormon mentions: wheat (Mosiah 9:9), horses (1 Nephi 18:25), chariots (Alma 18:9-11; 20:6; 3 Nephi 3:22), cows (Enos 21), elephants (Ether 9:19), silk (Alma 1:29; 4:6; Ether 9:17), linen (Mosiah 10:5; Helamon 6:13; Ether 10:24), money-pieces of gold and silver (Alma 11:3-20), steel (2 Nephi 5:15; Jarom 1:8; Ether 7:9). None of these items were here before the Spaniards [in the 15th century]” (Tanner).
7. Joseph Smith was a braggart
“Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet ... When they can get rid of me, the devil will also go” (Joseph Smith, sermon, Sunday, May 26, 1844, Nauvoo, Missouri, History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 408, 409).
“But I am learned, and know more than all the world put together. The Holy Ghost does, anyhow, and he is within me, and comprehends more than all the world; and I will associate myself with him. … I have now preached a little Latin, a little Hebrew, Greek, and German; and I have fulfilled all” (Smith, April 7, 1844, History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 302-317).
“I have got all the truth which the Christian world possessed, and an independent revelation in the bargain, and God will bear me off triumphant” (Joseph Smith, June 16, 1844, History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 473-479, emphasis added).
8. Smith carried a magic talisman
When Joseph Smith was shot to death, he had in his pocket a magic charm representative of the pagan god Jupiter. This was documented in 1974 by Dr. Reed Durham, director of the LDS Institute of Religion at the University of Utah. He gave the evidence in a speech before the Mormon History Association on April 20, 1974.
a. Durham testified that the talisman carried by Smith, which is the shape of a silver dollar, was described in a magic book printed in England in 1801.
b. Jupiter was the Greek god Zeus.
c. The occultic talisman was used to gain “riches, favor, power, love and peace” as well as to gain the affection of women. That certainly sounds like the type of talisman that Joseph Smith would carry!
9. Smith was a liar and an adulterer
a. In a sermon on Sunday, May 26, 1844, Smith testified that he had only one wife, whereas in reality he had dozens! Consider what he said: “What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one” (Joseph Smith, May 1844).
b. In reality, Smith had privately proclaimed to his inner circle that previous marriages were null and void and that previously married women were free to take new marriages.
c. Smith himself had some 48 or so wives and several other Mormon leaders also had contracted multiple new wives.
10. Smith’s claim to be able to perform miracles was bogus.
a. Example. “He did, however, announce that on a certain evening, about twilight, he would walk on the water. The place of his selection was watched by Gentile boys until one of Smith’s followers was seen to construct a bridge of planks just under the surface. Watching their opportunity, the boys removed the outer planks. Before the prophet made the attempt to walk he exhorted his followers to have strong faith. When his bridge suddenly gave way he swam ashore and said, ‘Woe unto you of little faith! Your faith would not hold me up’” (Frederic Mather, “The Early Days of Mormonism,” Lippincott’s Magazine, August 1880).
b. Example. “However much he might fail in discovering material treasures, Smith’s hold upon the religious infatuation of his followers grew more and more strong. John Morse, an aged convert to Mormonism, had recently died, and Smith was sent for to restore him to life. After looking at him Smith declined, because it would be a pity to have him suffer rheumatism and die again so soon! This was something like Brigham Young’s refusal to restore a lost leg to one of his Mormons, on the ground that if he did it the man would be obliged to walk on three legs all through eternity!” (Mather, “The Early Days of Mormonism”).
11. Smith’s claim to be able to read ancient languages was bogus.
“That the prophet was not well advanced either in Greek or English appears from a story related by the Rev. Henry Caswall, who visited Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1842. He had with him a copy of the Psalter in Greek, which he handed to the prophet and asked him to explain its contents. Smith looked at it a few moments, and then replied, ‘No, it ain’t Greek at all, except perhaps a few words. What ain’t Greek is Egyptian, and what ain’t Egyptian is Greek. This book is very valuable: it is a dictionary of Egyptian hieroglyphics.’ Pointing to the capital letters at the beginning of each verse, he said, ‘Them figures is Egyptian hieroglyphics, and them which follows is the interpretation of the hieroglyphics, written in the reformed Egyptian. Them characters is like the letters that was engraved on the golden plates.’ Upon this the Mormons began to congratulate Mr. Caswall on the information he was receiving. ‘There!’ they said, ‘we told you so: we told you that our prophet would give you satisfaction. None but our prophet can explain these mysteries.’ The prophet then attempted to buy the book, on the ground that it could be of no use to Caswall, because he did not understand it” (Frederic Mather, “The Early Days of Mormonism,” Lippincott’s Magazine, August 1880).
12. The Book of Abraham Deception
a. In 1835, Smith claimed that he had translated a papyrus written by Abraham some 4,000 years ago. Titled “The Book of Abraham,” it was accepted by the Mormon Church as scripture and was published as part of the Pearl of Great Price.
b. Long thought to have been lost in the Chicago fire of 1871, Smith’s collection of papyri was discovered by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and returned to the Mormon church on November 27, 1967.
c. A careful examination by linguists proved that Smith’s “translation” was bogus. His “translation” of less than four lines from the papyrus became 49 verses of more than 2,000 words in English!
“When Egyptologists translated this piece of papyrus, they found that it contained absolutely nothing concerning Abraham. Instead, it turned out to be a pagan funerary text known as the ‘Book of Breathings,’ a work which actually evolved from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The Book of Breathings did not come into existence until the later stages of Egyptian history — just a few centuries before the time of Christ. Like the Book of the Dead, it was buried with those who died in ancient Egypt. It is filled with magic and pagan gods. It was obviously written by a very superstitious people, and is quite different from the religion taught in the Bible. The fact that the papyrus Joseph Smith used as the basis for his Book of Abraham is in reality the Book of Breathings cannot be disputed because the name ‘Book of Breathings’ appears clearly on the fourth line of the fragment. In 1968 two Egyptologists from the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, Professors John A. Wilson and Klaus Baer, identified the papyrus as the ‘Book of Breathings.’ The papyrus says, “After (his) two arms are [fast]ened to his breast, one wraps the Book of Breathings, which is with writing both inside and outside of it, with royal linen, it being placed (at) his left arm near his heart, this having been done at his wrapping and outside it. If this book be recited for him, then he will breath like the soul[s of the gods] for ever and ever.’ In one case Joseph Smith derived 177 English words out of the word ‘Khons’ — the name of an Egyptian moon god! It is impossible to escape the conclusion that the Book of Abraham is a product of Joseph Smith’s imagination” (Tanner, The Fall of the Book of Abraham).
13. The Kinderhook Plates Forgery
a. Shortly before May 1, 1843, a man brought six brass plates containing a semblance of Egyptian writing to Joseph Smith, claiming that he had discovered them in a mound of dirt through guidance he had received in a dream.
b. Smith was excited about the plates and claimed that he would translate them through revelation. He soon claimed that he had succeeded in translating a portion of the writing and that the plates “contain the history of the person with whom they were found and he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth” (William Clayton’s Journal, May 1, 1843, as cited in Trials of Discipleship — The Story of William Clayton, a Mormon, page 117). This same thing is stated in the official early history of the Mormon church (History of the Church, vol. 5, p. 372).
c. On January 15, 1844, the Mormon publication Times and Seasons even claimed that the plates helped prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon: “Why does the circumstance of the plates recently found in a mound in Pike county, III., by Mr. Wiley, together with ethnology and a thousand other things, go to prove the Book of Mormon true? — Ans. Because it is true!” (Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 406).
d. In fact, the plates were a forgery by some men who wanted to play a trick on Smith. On June 30, 1879, W. Fugate wrote a letter in which he confessed the hoax: “I received your letter in regard to those plates, and I will say in answer that they are a humbug, gotten up by Robert Wiley, Bridge Whitten and myself” (Welby Ricks, The Kinderhook Plates, reprinted from the Improvement Era, Sept. 1962, cited by Tanner).
e. The plates were lost during the Civil War, but in the 1960s, one of them was found in the Chicago Historical Society Museum. Extensive scientific tests have proven that it is a forgery. Thus, Smith was again caught lying about his ability to translate ancient languages. (See Jerald and Sandra Tanner’s excellent research into this matter in Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? A summary of this research is available on the web at http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/kinderhookplates.htm).
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The previous is an excerpt from the Advanced Bible Studies Series course on Defense of the Faith, which is available from Way of Life Literature. (It is best to order them by phone at 866-295-4143, but they can also be ordered from the newly redesigned online order form at the Way of Life web site, http://www.wayofife.org.)
There are currently 20 titles in the series, and any of them can be special ordered in large print and in ring coil binding. We don’t believe that you will find better quality, more truly life-changing Bible courses from any other source. They are based strictly upon the King James Bible and the powerful word studies assist in the understanding of the KJV but never cast doubt upon it. They are thorough and comprehensive. They are very practical and have the objective of producing well-equipped Christian soldiers that have a solid understanding of the Bible. They stress holy and obedient Christian living and separation from worldliness and error, exalt evangelism and the New Testament church, and promote world missions. They emphasize the crucial differences between law and grace and positional and practical sanctification, and they continually fortify the student’s understanding of the life-changing doctrines such as justification, substitutionary atonement, and eternal security. The courses are non-Calvinistic and interpret Bible prophecy literally. The student will be prepared to stand against the wiles of the Devil and to refute the major theological heresies of our day. One pastor said the books “are extremely helpful for any Christian, no matter where they are spiritually; the practical application is extremely helpful and edifying.”
The Advanced Bible Studies Series can be used as private study guides for the individual Christian, as Sunday School lessons, as textbooks in Bible colleges, as part of a home schooling curriculum, as study material in jails and prisons, for discipling new (or older) Christians, and as refresher study material for Bible College graduates.
