By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

---

In Matthew 7:15-16 Jesus is reported to have said:

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

While Joseph Smith and Brigham Young claimed to be prophets who were restoring God’s true Church to earth, they brought forth some very questionable fruits. Joseph Smith gave a revelation commanding the practice of polygamy while the Mormons were in Nauvoo, Illinois. He also gave a revelation which sanctioned cursing and taking vengeance on his enemies. This planted the seeds for the blood atonement doctrine which Brigham Young openly taught in Utah. In addition, Brigham Young violated the command, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) when he publicly proclaimed in 1852 that “our father Adam . . . is our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, page 50). The journal of L. John Nuttall shows that he was still teaching this doctrine just before his death (see photograph in Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? page 178-D). On June 8, 1873, he even claimed that God Himself had revealed the Adam-God doctrine to him:

How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter-day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me—namely that Adam is our father and God . . . (Deseret Weekly News, June 18, 1873)

Fortunately, the present leaders of the Mormon Church have declared the Adam-God teaching to be false doctrine and have made it clear that neither polygamy nor blood atonement should be actually practiced at the present time. In the 1979 printing of his book, Mormon Doctrine, Apostle Bruce R. McConkie made these comments concerning the blood atonement doctrine:

President Joseph Fielding Smith has written: “Man may commit certain grievous sins . . . that will place him beyond the reach of the atoning blood of Christ. . . . Joseph Smith taught that there were certain sins so grievous that man may commit, that they will place the transgressors beyond the power of the atonement of Christ. If these offenses are committed, then the blood of Christ will not cleanse them from their sins even though they repent. Therefore their only hope is to have their own blood shed to atone, as far as possible, in their behalf.” (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, pages 133-138. )

This doctrine can only be practiced in its fulness in a day when the civil and ecclesiastical laws are administered in the same hands. It was, for instance, practiced in the days of Moses, but it was not and could not be practiced in this dispensation, except that persons who understand its provisions could and did use their influence to get a form of capital punishment written into the laws of various states of the union so that the blood of murderers could be shed. (Mormon Doctrine, page 93)

While many of the Mormon leaders have tried to hide the fact that Brigham Young taught the Adam-God doctrine, the Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote a letter to Eugene England in which he frankly confessed that “President Young” taught the doctrine:

. . . I am a great admirer of Brigham Young and a great believer in his doctrinal presentations. . . . He was a mighty prophet. . . .

Nonetheless, as Joseph Smith so pointedly taught, a prophet is not always a prophet, only when he is acting as such. Prophets are men and they make mistakes. Sometimes they err in doctrine . . . Sometimes a prophet gives personal views which are not endorsed and approved by the Lord.

Yes, President Young did teach that Adam was the father of our spirits, and all the related things that the cultists ascribe to him. This [i.e., Brigham Young’s teaching on Adam], however, is not true. He expressed views that are out of harmony with the gospel. (Letter by Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, dated February 19, 1981, pages 5 and 6; photographically reproduced in LDS Apostle Confesses Brigham Young Taught Adam-God Doctrine)

[Bold in quotations is added for emphasis and does not appear in originals.]

On page 7 of his letter, Apostle McConkie went so far as to say that if Mormons follow the “false portions” of Brigham Young’s doctrines, they are in danger of losing their souls:

I do not know all the providences of the Lord, but I do know that he permits false doctrine to be taught in and out of the Church . . . If we believe false doctrine, we will be condemned. If that belief is on basic and fundamental things, it will lead us astray and we will lose our souls. . . . people who teach false doctrine in the fundamental and basic things will lose their souls. The nature and kind of being that God is, is one of these fundamentals. I repeat: Brigham Young erred in some of his statements on the nature and kind of being that God is and as to the position of Adam in the plan of salvation, but Brigham Young also taught the truth in these fields on other occasions. And I repeat, that in his instance, he was a great prophet and has gone on to eternal reward. What he did is not a pattern for any of us. If we choose to believe and teach the false portions of his doctrines, we are making an election that will damn us.

According to Apostle McConkie’s reasoning, Brigham Young could teach the Adam-God doctrine and go “on to eternal reward,” but those who accept this doctrine today stand in danger of losing their souls!

It is easy to understand the growth of the Mormon fundamentalist movement when we look at the way the Mormon Church handles its problems. The Adam-God doctrine was swept under the rug until the evidence became so strong that Apostle McConkie had to face it. While McConkie now concedes that Brigham Young taught false doctrine with regard to Adam being “our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do,” he still clings to plural marriage and blood atonement as true doctrines. Although he maintains that these two doctrines should not be practiced at the present time, he does claim that “plural marriage . . . will commence again after the Second Coming of the Son of Man . . .” (Mormon Doctrine, page 578).

A Mormon who seriously studies the teachings of the first two presidents of the Church and tries to follow McConkie’s logic is faced with some very serious problems. Some of the doctrines taught by these early prophets are supposed to be true, and a faithful Mormon is required to practice them. Other doctrines are true but they cannot be practiced at the present time. In fact, a person who practices Joseph Smith’s teaching concerning polygamy will be excommunicated from the Church. As if this is not confusing enough, Apostle McConkie confesses that sometimes the Mormon prophets “err in doctrine” and that if we follow them into error, “we are making an election that will damn us.”

Many Latter-day Saints who have studied the early history of their Church have ended up in the fundamentalist camp because they cannot see why a “prophet” would restore doctrines which cannot be practiced today. They feel that since Joseph Smith claimed God commanded the practice of polygamy, it must be practiced even though it is against the law. Although we do not believe in the teachings of Joseph Smith or Brigham Young, we can understand why many believing Mormons turn into fundamentalists. After all, if the teaching of baptism became unpopular with the world, we would not expect Christians to give it up just so they could get along with the world.

In any case, the Mormon fundamentalists bring us face to face with the real teachings of the founders of Mormonism. Most Mormon fundamentalists believe in polygamy and the Adam-God Doctrine. Many of them believe in the theory of blood atonement, but they have no desire to actually practice it. Ervil LeBaron and the Laffertys, on the other hand, restored the violence and bloodshed of early Utah. If these men had lived in the 1850s, they could have worked hand in hand with Brigham Young as he put his blood atonement doctrine into practice. Orrin Porter Rockwell, Bill Hickman, John D. Lee and a number of other men caused a great deal of blood to flow in early Utah (see Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? pages 444-450, 493-515). These murderers were protected by the Mormon Church for many years. Brigham Young once boasted: “We have the meanest devils on the earth in our midst, and we intend to keep them, for we have use for them; . . .” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, page 176) Ervil LeBaron and the Lafferty brothers would have been right at home with Brigham Young and his “destroying angels.”

At any rate, the brutal and senseless murders which have been committed since 1972 serve as reminders of the danger of trusting in the teachings of the early Mormon leaders. If we rely on Joseph Smith and Brigham Young we are liable to end up believing in blood atonement, plural marriage and the Adam-God doctrine. These doctrines should be recognized for what they are—i.e., the “evil fruit” which Jesus attributed to “false prophets.” If, on the other hand, we put our trust in Jesus, he will produce his “good fruit” within us:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law
(Galatians 5:22, 23)

---

---

---