The following is a quotation from the LDS "History of the Church", 1950 edn., Vol.6, p.424. It is taken from the "Millennial Star", Vol.23, p.720, 'History of Joseph Smith', which contains an extra sentence. The sentence edited by the Church history has been underlined:

"At one, p.m., I rode out with Dr. Richards and O.P.Rockwell. Called on Davis at the Boat. Paid Manhard $90. Then went to John P. Greene's and paid him and another brother $200. Drank a glass of beer at Moessers.. Called at William Clayton's, while Dr. Richards and O.P.Rockwell called at the Doctor's new house. Returned home at 4.30 p.m."

Other similar delations were made from the "History of the Church" and it is a simple matter to check it up. See HC 5:450 and compare with Millennial Star(MS) 21:283 where a sentence showing how Joseph Smith provided some of the brethren with whisky was deleted.

The same was done in respect of smoking for many of the leading brethren continued their tobacco addictions long after the "Word of Wisdom" was received. See HC 6:614 and compare with MS 24:471 where you will see that Joseph Smith instructed a brother Markham to take Dr. Richards "a pipe and some tobacco". LDS Apostle Richards continued smoking to his dying day according to a biography written about him (Intimate Disciple: A Portrait of Willard Richards, SLC, 1957, p.620).

Whilst we may forgive anyone for an indiscretion we cannot tolerate the falsification of history whose aim is to present a false image of early Mormonism. Worse, in the case of Willard Richards, not only was a deletion made but "MEDICINE" was substituted for "pipe and tobacco".

There are a number of excellent works which document thoroughly the utterly mutated and mutilated version of LDS history their official "History of the Church" is. I have had postings and emails sent to me assuring me of the complete felicity of the history as portrayed by the LDS hierarchy. It is utterly false. These facts should be borne in mind when reading the postings of our LDS friends.

Though I could go on for many hours, nay indeed write an entire book on the subject, I am not a full-time apologist as some of the posters give the impression of being. I will conclude with some comments on another mutilated section of the Doctrine & Covenants, namely Section 121.

D&C 121 is a writing of Joseph Smith to Bishop Edward Partridge while he was languishing in Liberty jail in 1839 and by the LDS church's own admission consists of "edited letters" of Jos. Smith (Ensign, January 1985). Brigham Young instructed LDS Apostle Orson Pratto to edit these correspondences and create a section for the 1876 edition of the D&C. Irrespective of whether Jos. Smith would have been in agreement with the doctrine or not is the fact that Young and his conspirators set about to deliberately deceive the LDS people and the world as to the actual contents of what Joseph Smith wrote. We may check the original letters in the Times & Seasons where they remain in their unadultereated orginal state (T&S May 1840, Vol.1, pp.99-103 & July 1840, pp.131-134. 3,700 words have been deleted from the original in the T&S and in such a way as to give the impression that Smith wrote doctrines to Patridge that he did not.

I shall give some extracts. That which was not in the original has been set in [square paranetheses] and material that has replaced it has been set in (ordinary parentheses) after the original.

v.28: "A time [to come in the which] (when) nothing shall be withheld [whether there be one God or many gods] shall be manifest."

v.29. "[All thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon] (To all those) who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ."

v.32. "According to that which was ordained in the midst of the [Council of the] Eternal God [of all other gods] before this world was, that should be reserved...."

The issue, as I have said, is not whether Joseph Smith was a polytheist (for that is plain from other writings) but of something much more fundamentally important, for it begs a vital questions: Can we trust the Mormons to tell the truth?.

I maintain that we cannot. Their official series, "History of the Church" has been deliberately mutilated to create "faith-promoting" history. Many of their historical reprints, such as Luch Mack Smith's book, the autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, have been severely edited to give a false view of their history. We have seen, moreover, that not only are their historical records deliberately distorted but also their revelations without any indication in their publications that any editing has taken place. They have even had the audacity, without any sort of manuscript justification, perverted chunks of the Bible to suit their own pre-conceived doctrines in the good tradition of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society and their mutilated "New Word Translation". I site but one example to male my point, a key scripture on the Deity of Christ, in John 1:1. You may judge for yourself the intent behind Joseph Smith's alterations (JST):

KJV: "In the beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Word [Logos] was with God, and the Word [Logos] was God." (John 1:1).

JST: "In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was of God" (John 1:1).

I have no objection to someone commenting on the Word and if Joseph Smith had wished to say that the Word could (in addition to its other meanings) also refer to "the gospel" I would give him the liberty to express such an opinion. But to deliberately mutilate the text in such as way as to lead readers of his Bible "translation" to doubt THE central doctrine of the Christian faith, namely, the incarnation of the one and only Eternal God as a man, is to identify him, inspite of his " brilliant" theology, as anti-Christ.

So I repeat, the question is ultimately about INTEGRITY. And if the Mormon prophets can be shown to be dishonest, as we have done, how on earth can we be expected to trust them in anything else? For no matter how clever a man may be, and no matter what feelings he may have towards his own followers (as Wayne has waxed eloquent upon), if the man is a liar, THEN HE IS SIMPLY NOT OF GOD. For we are told, explicitly, in the New Testament, that liars shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.

You have seen for yourselves the materials and how they have been perverted. You have seen on this BB how Joseph Smith, according to W, made only "prophecies of hope" which means we may not ultimately have any confidence in any literal claims that Mormonism may make. For it is all based on vain hope. No matter how eloquent our LDS friends have been, no matter how ingenious their theoliogies (and they are gifted men to be sure), no matter how strong their subjective "testimony", if it is built upon claims whose factual basis has been repeatedly distorted in order to conceal the naked truth, the fact remains that we are dealing with the spirit of deception. And I for one could not trust in such - ever.

That is why I have more respect for the RLDS who have thrown open their history for scrutiny, even though the hierarchy have been hypocritical in maintaining the myth for the purpose, we must suppose, of retaining power. As a former RLDS too I have found their behaviour most instructive.

I suggest, therefore, as do my brethren in NCCG, that the spirit of Mormonism is the spirit of the fallen nephilim angels. They were deceivers of the first order, proclaiming themselves to be gods, and under this cloak of deception justified their taking the daughters of men to wife to pollute the genetic inheritance of man. They are still at it.

There have been smokescreens ad nauseam on this BB, but such cannot be tolerated. We must all get to the roots of the truth, in the mucky soil, and forget the leafy heights of abstract and esoteric doctrine. If the root is bad, then so is the rest.

Doctored history, doctored revelations, inconsistent versions of the 'First Vision', constantly changing doctrines (Book of Mormon Modalistic Monarchism vs. Nauvoo Polytheism), etc. As their own scripture says, "the guilty take the truth hard" (1 Nephi 16:2) which they have ingeniously inverted to make the outside world fit the crime while they themselves conspire to suppress the facts by redefining language and reality so that none but the "initiated" may understand.

I thank God that Jesus of Nazareth came as a humble carpenter and not as an occult Magus as many of the Mormonism's defenders on this site have tried to be. I have had everything dishonest man could invent to blacken my name on this BB by the defenders of Smithism: I have been told my name sounds like 'Satan', that I was never a Mormon and lied about my membership, that I was a total ignoramus, that I have ambitions to be a second 'Joseph Smith' (God forbid!), that I want to create a 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Mark II' (what a nightmare), that all evangelical Christians are confused morons who do not understand the difference between a carrot and a carbuncle, that my opinions are like 'manure', and so on. These are the ways not just of Mormons but all cultists who are trying to defend the indefensible with their lives. They have tasted the candy-coated nephilim lie, pronounced it "good", and poisoned their minds.

I can well imagine the kinds of replies this posting will receive. I am leaving the board for a short while in order to catch up with neglected duties at home and at work. But I wonder if anything will have changed when I returned? Probably not. But I live in hope.

"There is nothing which is secret save it shall be revealed; there is no work of darkness save it shall be made manifest in the light; and there is nothing sealed upon the earth save it shall be loosed" (2 Nephi 30:17, borrowed from Ephesians 5:13).