By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

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After we published the last issue of the Salt Lake City Messenger we received the following letter:

I’ve read your articles and in spite of everything you said I testify I know the Book of Abraham is the Word of God. If I was President McKay I would order that Grant S. Heward be assassinated.

In a letter dated July 20, 1968, this same man stated: “God knows I don’t really want the murder of Mr. Heward.” Instead, he had another solution. He felt that the President of the Church should order that the papyrus be destroyed:

I’ve come to the conclusion that the manuscript found was not the manuscript the Prophet Joseph Smith used. I think it is a forgery to force the Church to give the Negroes the Priesthood. If I was President McKay I would have the manuscript destroyed. (emphasis added)

We do not feel that this man is typical of the Mormon people. In fact, his letters show evidence that he is not a well-adjusted person. Nevertheless, his thinking concerning the Book of Abraham is somewhat similar to that of many other Mormons. They would not go so far as to suggest that the papyrus or Grant Heward be destroyed, but they feel that the Book of Abraham is the “Word of God” and that any evidence to the contrary must be ignored. Dr. Nibley’s suggestion that the papyrus might have a second meaning is almost as ridiculous as the idea that it is a “forgery.” And his suggestion that we ignore the evidence furnished by the papyrus and judge the Book of Abraham by its similarity to a number of old apocryphal writings is preposterous. The Mormon people cannot afford to wait for “years” while Dr. Nibley searches through these old “legends.” Now is the time to face this problem. The evidence furnished by the original papyrus is very clear. The Book of Abraham is a spurious work. It has no historical basis, and it is plain that it is the work of Joseph Smith’s imagination! Truth now demands that the Mormon people repudiate this book and the anti-Negro doctrine contained in its pages.

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