Mormonism and Masonry

The Mormon Expressions podcast recently did a series on Mormonism and Masonry (Episodes 144, 145, 149, and 152) in which someone who calls himself George Miller (I got the impression this was a pseudonym) proposes that Masonry had a much bigger influence on Mormonism than has been previously thought. He is planning on publishing his findings, but unfortunately this will take years. Since most of his ideas can't be found anywhere else, I decided to provide a summary here.



Background

Even though there are numerous men who belong to both the Mormon and the Masonic organizations, only superficial similarities have been discovered thus far because both organizations have changed quite a bit over time. To truly understand Mormonism's dependance on Masonry, one needs to have a thorough knowledge of the state of both traditions during the early 19th century in New England.

During Joseph Smith's time, anti-Masonic sentiment was on the rise. In fact, the Anti-Masonic Party, the first "third" political party in the United States, was founded at this time. The reason for the hostility was something called the Morgan Affair in which a man named William Morgan was kidnapped by Masons near Canandaigua (a city very close to Joseph Smith's hometown) because he threatened to publish an expose on the Masonic Royal Arch degree. There had been previous exposes done on Freemasonry before this, but the Royal Arch degree hadn't yet been revealed to the public. Morgan ended up disappearing and was presumed murdered, which gave rise to the anti-Masonic sentiment of the time. Joseph Smith likely knew William Morgan and went to the same lodge as him. Incidentally, Joseph Smith later made William Morgan's widow one of his polygamous wives.

Masonry was a Smith family tradition. Joseph Smith's father Joseph Sr. and his brother Hyrum were Masons, as well as three of his uncles. Blue Lodge Masonry in particular was on the rise during Joseph Smith Sr.'s time with three new lodges being built within a 25 mile radius of Joseph Smith Jr.'s birthplace.

Universalism was also important to the Smith family. Both Joseph Smith Sr. and his father Asael Smith were Universalists. Hosea Ballou, who has been called the Father of American Universalism, lived just 10 miles away from the Smith family home. The Smith family interest in both Masonry and Universalism were not mutually exclusive. In fact, during Joseph Smith's time, the Masonic lodges contained a disproportionate number of Universalist members. Hosea Ballou even gave orations in Masonic lodges in which he interpreted Masonic rituals in terms of Jesus becoming God.

The Book of Mormon has often been considered anti-Universalist, but it really isn't. Mormonism embraces the central Universalist idea that there is no Hell and everybody goes to Heaven. There are also other similarities. For example, Ballou's Treatise on Atonement talks about the trinity in a way that's similar to the Mormon Temple ceremony.



Antiquities of Freemasonry

In 1823, a Mason named George Oliver wrote a book called The Antiquities of Freemasonry. The reason he wrote the book was because there was a need to rewrite Masonic history when the Ancients and the Moderns (two rival forms of Freemasonry) combined. He was against the idea that the mystery cults in Egypt that revered Osiris and Dionysius practiced true Freemasonry, so he came up with the idea that there was a spurious form of Masonry. True Masonry was founded by God, while spurious Masonry was founded by Satan.

While there's no solid proof that Joseph Smith owned a copy of this book, the New York Masonic lodges which Joseph Smith and his family attended had several copies of it before Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon, so he was very likely familiar with it.

According to Antiquities of Freemasonry, God was a Freemason and He initiated Adam into the priesthood. Masonry was then passed down over the generations to Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem (also known as Melchizedek), Abraham and down through the Jewish line to Solomon. Then it was passed on through to Christianity. Satan started spurious Masonry which he taught to Cain. This was also passed down the generations to Lamech. Spurious Masonry led to the Deluge, but survived in Noah's son Ham and eventually got passed on to the pharaoh of Egypt who stole the secrets of Masonry, but didn't get it quite right.

In Mormonism, God is a priesthood holder and He initiated Adam into the priesthood which got passed down through the generations. This idea couldn't have come from the Bible because the Bible mentions the priesthood only sparsely. Just like the Antiquities of Freemasonry, Joseph Smith's Book of Moses parallels Cain and Lamech's spurious Masonry with Enoch's true priesthood or speculative Masonry. In fact, everything in the Book of Moses that doesn't come from the Genesis account comes from Antiquities of Freemasonry. For example, both contain a scene in which Adam calls his posterity together that isn't found in the Bible.

Many have considered the Book of Mormon to be anti-Masonic, but it really isn't. The evil "secret combinations" of the Book of Mormon thought to represent Masons, actually represent spurious Masonry, while the priesthood in the Book of Mormon represents true Masonry. After all, Nephi builds the Temple of Solomon.

Joseph Smith tells us in the Book of Mormon (Alma 7:17-18) that Melchizedek's people had gone astray, but he brought them back. This isn't mentioned anywhere in the Bible, but it is mentioned in Antiquities of Freemasonry (p. 148-50, 154, 161-163).

The Book of Mormon also tells us that a pure bloodline is important and stresses the fact that Nephi and his posterity are direct descendants of Joseph. This idea is not found in the Bible, but again is an important one in Antiquities of Freemasonry.

Antiquities of Freemasonry tells us Enoch had an underground temple, a fact which is hinted at in the Masonic Royal Arch degree. The story goes that a group of Masons uncovered a keystone underneath the rubble of the Jewish Temple after it had been destroyed by the Babylonians. They discovered that the keystone was connected to an underground arch. They ended up descending 9 levels and found a gold plate on a pedestal with the true name of God written on it.

According to Mormon tradition, Joseph Smith found Golden Plates containing the Book of Mormon by digging into the Hill Cumorah and he even refers to the plates as the "keystone" of his religion on the title page of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith then returned the Golden Plates along with some other items to a cave in the Hill Cumorah. Accorinding to the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon, Moriancumer (perhaps a reference to the Hill Cumorah) is the name of the place where the Jaredites settled for a time. George Miller supposes that Joseph Smith thought the Temple of Enoch was located under the Hill Cumorah.

There was a legend amongst New York Masons at the time that a war would soon break out. The legend goes that a Mason would make the grand hailing sign of distress and be rescued by an Indian. It was a Masonic rumor that the Native Americans possessed a degraded form of Masonry. This parallels the claim made by the Book of Mormon that the Native Americans had a degraded form of the priesthood.



The Book of Abraham

In July 1835, Joseph Smith purchased four mummies (an old female, a young female, a male, and a deformed mummy) and accompanying papyri from a man named Michael Chandler.

The old female's papyrus (Book of the Dead Belonging to Tshemmin), which was written in red and white ink, was translated by Joseph Smith into the Book of Joseph. This papyrus contained a picture of a snake whispering into a woman's ear (which Joseph Smith thought represented Eve) as well as two pillars which Joseph Smith called the "Pillars of Enoch." He claimed this phrase came from the writings of Josephus, but Josephus never uses this term. The "Pillars of Enoch" is a phrase exclusive to Freemasonry.

The male mummy came with an excerpt from the Hor Book of Breathings which Joseph Smith translated into the Book of Abraham. The Book of Abraham is based on the Biblical account, however there is also additional material. Just as with the Book of Moses, all the additional material comes from Antiquities of Freemasonry.

For example, both books tell us about the assassination attempt made on Abraham and the idea that the Egyptians modeled their worship on the religion of the ancients. They both tell us that Abraham was an expert in astronomy (although Joesphus does too). Also, Abraham is described as having great knowledge, but seeking greater knowledge. He was a follower of righteousness, but was going to be a greater follower. These descriptions are both found in Masonic ritual.

Also, Antiquities of Freemasonry tells us that Abraham was initiated into Freemasonry when he visited Shem (also known as Melchizedek). This is hinted at by Joseph Smith. The name Melchizedek literally means King of Righteousness and he was also the King of Salem (or literally "King of Peace"). Melchizedek was a prophet, priest, and king like Adam, Moses, and others. The phrase "prophet, priest, and king" was a common phrase around Joseph Smith's time, however the Catholics, Church of England, and others only used it in reference to Jesus. Joseph Smith and the Masons were the only ones who used the phrase for other people.

Joseph Smith believed that prophet, priest and king were degrees one could graduate to as evidenced by a speech he gave on July 16th, 1843. In this speech, he gave up the title of prophet and bestowed it upon his brother Hyram, saying that Hyram would become a prophet by birthright. (Both Masons and Mormons of the time stressed the importance of primogeniture.) Willard Richards wrote in reference to this talk that Joseph Smith would be a priest now and a king by and by.



Further Similarities

Much like the different degrees of Freemasonry, Joseph Smith taught there were different levels of the priesthood: Levitical, Melchizedek, and Patriarchal. The similarities don't stop there. Both Mormonism and Masonry contain the ideas of lineal priesthood, the preexistence, and the idea that there is more than one world with people on it.

While writing the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith referred to the priesthood as the Order of Melchizedek. Then in Kirkland, he calls it the Order of the High Priesthood. Then finally in Nauvoo, he calls it the Holy Order of the High Priesthood. This corresponds with the Masonic Order of Melchizedek degree (in which the initiate plays the role of Abraham as he visits Melchizedek) since the name of this degree was changed to the Order of the High Priesthood, then finally to the Holy Order of the High Priesthood.

The structure of the Mormon church in Joseph Smith's time was divided into stakes and wards (or branches), which correspond to grand lodges and lodges in Masonry. The head of a lodge is called the Worshipful Master and he has both a Senior and Junior Warden. This corresponds to Mormonism's Bishop attended by a First and Second Counselor. Mormonism divides its members up into different ranks and callings much like a Masonic lodge.

The phrase "seek and they shall find, and to knock that the door may be opened" is common in Masonic ritual. This phrase is also an important one to Joseph Smith.

In Missouri, Joseph Smith decided to try his hand at his own Masonic organization outside the confines of official Masonry in the form of the Danites who modeled their oaths and covenants on Freemasonry.

Masons were interested in magic and theurgy (the process of becoming a god). Joseph Smith's mother wrote in her diary that the Smith family practiced magic and specifically uses the phrase "Faculty of Abrac" which comes from the Masonic document called the Leland Manuscript. The writings of Henry Cornelius Agrippa (which were reprinted in a book called The Magus) were big with the Smith family, perhaps because Masons of the time considered Agrippa to be the founder of Freemasonry in France.

In his book, Mormonism and the Magic World View, D. Michael Quinn painstakingly details all the evidence that Joseph Smith was an occult practitioner. However, the Smith family descendants referred to Smith's magical dagger, lamens and jupiter talisman as Masonic.

Joseph's Jupiter Talisman (created with instructions from Agrippa's book) was called "Joseph's Masonic Jewel" by Joseph's family. According to Masonic legend, Hiram Abiff (who was said to be the chief architect of King Solomon's Temple) had a "jewel" or medallion on which was carved the Secret Name of God and he died with it on him. Jupiter was one of God's names and Joseph's talisman had many other names for God written upon it. According to Joseph's first wife Emma, he died with the Jupiter medallion on him just like Hiram Abiff.

The rods which Joseph Smith and other early Mormons used for treasure digging are also Masonic in origin. In Antiquities of Freemasonry, Moses's rod was said to be a branch Adam took from the Tree of Life. It was said to be carved to resemble the head of a snake. One of Joseph Smith's canes matches this description (Joseph Smith walked with a limp ever since he was 7 due to a surgery). So even Joseph Smith's interest in magic was derived from Masonry.



Adamic

In Masonry, it is said that the language spoken by Adam is the Universal Language. Antiquities of Freemasonry claims that Enoch made the Adamic written language.

Joseph Smith was interested in the Adamic language as evidenced by some of his writings. The 1832 Kirkland Revelation Book contains a few Adamic words God revealed to Joseph Smith. His revelation titled A Sample of Pure Language wasn't included in the Doctrine and Covenants for some reason, but we do have a sample of the Adamic written language from a letter Joseph Smith's scribe W. W. Phelps wrote to his wife. Joseph Smith would sometimes refer to glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, as the Adamic language.

Masonic legend has it that Enoch's gold plate was written in the Masonic Royal Arch Cipher. Agrippa's book contains a cipher that looks exactly like the Royal Arch Cipher except it's all assigned Hebrew letters. Joseph Smith created his Adamic language by combining the Royal Arch cipher with Agrippa's cipher. Further, he combines symbols together like Agrippa did to make further meanings.

Antiquities of Freemasonry states that pharaoh stole the Adamic writing system but changed it. The Adamic language was phonetic and symbolic, while the Egyptian language was only symbolic. This means the pure Adamic writing system would be a reformed version of Egyptian. Joseph Smith tells us the Book of Mormon was written in reformed Egyptian. A document called the Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language explains how Joseph Smith translated it.



The Endowment

Joseph Smith originally created the Relief Society (an organization for female Mormons) with the intention of making it into a Masonic lodge. However, after his first wife Emma found out about his polygamous marriages, she took over the Relief Society in order to use it against him.

Female Masonry is unheard of today, however after the Morgan Affair, female degrees were initiated in the "burned over" district of New York where Joseph Smith was from. One was called the True Kindred degree and was based on the Biblical Book of Ruth. Another was called the Heroines of Jericho degree and was based on the Biblical story of Rahab, the prostitute who helped the Israelites destroy her hometown of Jericho. This degree included something that looks like the Five Points of Fellowship (which was removed from the Mormon temple ceremony in 1990). We know this was practiced amongst the Mormons because Zena Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young, one of Joseph Smith's plural wives and later a plural wife of Brigham Young, wrote in her diary in June 1844 that "now I understand the Kindred Degree of Masonry."

Masonry was a big part of Mormon life during the Nauvoo period. There were 3 lodges in Nauvoo itself with 2 others nearby. In fact, there were more Masons in Nauvoo than all the rest of Illinois combined within one year of its founding. (You can still visit the Nauvoo lodge to this day, although modern Mormons embarrassed by their Masonic origins refer to it as a "Cultural Hall" and claim it was used for dances.) This is because Joseph Smith wanted every Mormon to go through all the Masonic degrees. He saw Masonry as a stepping stone to the endowment ceremony of the Mormon temple. In fact the symbols used in the endowment such as the secret handshakes only make sense to a Mason.

Joseph Smith intended the endowment ceremony to be an appendant body to the Blue Lodge degrees of Masonry which required Mormon membership (just as the Knight Templar degrees require one to be a Christian). The endowment (or Josephs's Rite) uses the same signs and tokens. It's a recapitulation of what came before. He makes the implicit Christian interpretations of the Blue Lodge and Royal Arch degrees explicit in the Mormon endowment ceremony. It's representative of when one becomes a prophet, priest, and king or heir like Christ in Heaven. Hosea Ballou thought the same thing. What Joseph Smith did with the endowment wasn't far off from how the typical Christian Mason of the time interpreted the Royal Arch degree.

Salem Town, a Royal Arch Mason, interpreted the Masonic rituals of passing through the veil, receiving a new name, being annointed, and placed upon a throne, as Christian allegory. So it was common to associate Masonry with Christianity. However, after the Morgan Affair, preachers distanced Christianity from Freemasonry.

The grips, passwords, and penalties of the Mormon endowment ceremony are taken word for word from Masonry, although the keywords are different. Salem Town said the apprentice and fellow-craft degrees were symbolic of Adam's expulsion from Eden. The three Blue Lodge and four Royal Arch degrees were interpreted by Masons as creation scenes in 1825. When opening a lodge (which is symbolic for the universe itself) the Worshipful Master (Elohim) talks to the Senior Warden (Jehovah) who talks to the Junior Warden (Michael) who then tells everybody and then they all return and report. These all correspond to endowment scenes.

Calling and election are part of the Royal Arch degree. The fourth degree of Masonry is interpreted as receiving your own Urim and Thummim as well as a new name. Masonry's goal, according to Antiquities of Free Masonry, is to weld together the chain of brothers throughout time. In Joseph Smith's time, Royal Arch Masons as well as Mormons wore white aprons on which they sewed green leaves during their ceremonies.

The Mormon operation at the veil is a Masonic catechism - there's one almost exactly like it in the Royal Arch ritual. In Joseph Smith's original ritual, multiple veils were passed through symbolizing the advancing from degree to degree as one moves through the rooms of the temple, just as in the Royal Arch ritual. Joseph Smith's idea of three degrees of glory was also taken from Masonic ritual.

There were three different designs for the Nauvoo Temple. The Masonic symbols appear on the final draft, after Joseph Smith becomes a Mason. The sunstone, moonstone, and five pointed star on the temple are definite Masonic symbols. The weathervane on top of the temple is an angel flying over a Masonic square and compass and wearing the robes of a Royal Arch Mason.

The bronze doorknobs and beehive of the Salt Lake City Temple are directly modeled on Masonic symbols. In describing them, Brigham Young almost quotes a Masonic ceremony word for word. On either side of the doors in the Mormon Temple, there are little alcoves which used to contain statues of Joseph and Hyram Smith just like the statues of the patron saints of Masonry, John the Baptist and John the Revelator, found in Masonic buildings. Brigham Young used to refer to the Mormon endowment ceremony as Celestial Masonry. In fact, the original plans of the Salt Lake Temple contained even more Masonic symbols, particularly a square and compass around all the windows.



Conclusion

According to John Taylor, who was in prison with Joseph Smith when he was murdered, Joseph Smith gave the Masonic grand hailing sign of distress right before he died, which isn't a surprise, since Joseph Smith had a history of using the grand hailing sign of distress when he was in trouble. A year earlier, when Joseph Smith had been jailed, he made this same sign and some Masons helped him out legally to get him out of jail. He even eludes to the grand hailing sign of distress in Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language. Joseph Smith's last words before he died, "Oh Lord, my God" was the beginning of the hailing sign (Oh Lord, my God, is there no help for the widow's son?). While modern Mormons balk at this, no Mormon of the time disputed that Joseph Smith was giving the grand hailing sign of distress as he died.

During the Utah period, Mormons were barred from becoming Freemasons because they broke the law by practicing polygamy. Brigham Young and others from the original generation of Mormons knew the Mormon church was based upon Masonry. The Utah state flag contains the Masonic beehive symbol and Utah's currency in the early days contained the Masonic All Seeing Eye. You can still see Masonic symbols in Utah cemeteries to this day. The Daughters of the Utah Pioneer Museum in Salt Lake City contains numerous Masonic artifacts which belonged to early Mormons.

However, the next generation of Mormons who were barred from participating in Masonry lost touch with their roots, and Masonry has been slowly disappearing from Mormon culture ever since. In 1900, it became Mormon church policy to prohibit Mormons from being Masons. Recently in the 1980s, the Utah Masonic lodge started to allow Mormon members once again and Mormon policy changed to allow Mormons to be Masons. The two organizations are now on good terms, although they've diverged from each other quite a bit and hence no longer have as much in common as they once did.

Do the Dead Sea Scrolls prove the Book of Mormon is true?

The Dead Sea Scrolls contain the earliest known copy of the Hebrew Bible (which Christians refer to as the Old Testament). Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest copy of the Old Testament written in Hebrew were the Masoretic texts (c. 1000 AD). The Dead Sea Scrolls predate the Masoretic texts by over a thousand years, with some of the scrolls dating to as early as 100 BC.

Although there are copies of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint dated to as early as the 4th century, this was written in Greek, not Hebrew. The King James Version of the Bible is based on the 10th century Masoretic texts since it was thought that the  Septuagint mistranslated the original language in several places.

The Dead Sea Scrolls contain the entire book of Isaiah as well as parts of every canonical book in the Hebrew Bible except for Esther, along with several Apocryphal writings. While there are numerous spelling and grammatical differences, the Dead Sea Scrolls are essentially the same as the Masoretic texts for the most part. However, there are a few major differences.

For example, Psalm 145 is an acrostic poem. The first verse begins with aleph, the second verse begins with beth, and so forth all the way through the Hebrew alphabet. However, the Masoretic text is missing the verse that should begin with nun. This lost verse was found again in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Growing up as a Mormon, I heard the claim that the Dead Sea Scrolls proved that Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible was correct and that the King James Version of the Bible was translated incorrectly. There's no question that the KJV contains numerous translation errors, however, do the Dead Sea Scrolls validate Joseph Smith's Translation?

The short answer is no. Joseph Smith's version of Psalm 145 is exactly the same as the King James Version (specifically Blayney's 1769 revision of the KJV). He didn't notice that a verse was missing.

The Dead Sea Scrolls give us an extra verse before verse 1 of 1 Samuel 11, which I will call "verse 0":

Nahash king of the Ammonites oppressed the Gadites and the Reubenites viciously. He put out the right eye of all of them and brought fear and trembling on Israel. Not one of the Israelites in the region beyond the Jordan remained whose right eye Nahash king of the Ammonites did not put out, except seven thousand men who escaped from the Ammonites and went  to Jabesh-gilea" (1 Samuel 11:0)

This verse is missing from both the King James Version and the Joseph Smith Translation. Reading the following passage in the KJV or the JST makes it seems like Samuel ripped his own mantle:

And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. (1 Samuel 15:27, KJV & JST)

However, the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal that it was actually Saul who did the ripping:

And as Samuel turned about to go away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. (1 Samuel 15:27, DSS)

In 1 Samuel 17:4, the DSS give the height of Goliath as "four cubits and a span" which is over 7 feet tall. The Masoretic text, which was written a millennium later, gives his height as "six cubits and a span" which would make him over 9 feet tall. It's only natural that some stories grow with the telling. Again, the JST is exactly the same as the Masoretic-based KJV.

As an aside for fans of Antiquities of the Jews, (Go Team Josephus!), Josephus' account of first and second Samuel matches the Dead Sea Scrolls version more closely than either the Masoretic text (MT) or the Septuagint (which is commonly abbreviated as LXX for some reason). This provides some evidence that the writings of Josephus are indeed based on an earlier version of the Hebrew Bible than we currently possess.

Next, let's go back to where it all began:

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. (Genesis 1:9 KJV & JST)

The Dead Sea Scrolls add an extra sentence:

And God said, let the waters underneath the heavens be gathered together in one gathering, and let the dry land appear. And it was so.  And the waters under the heavens gathered to their gatherings and the dry land appeared. (Genesis 1:9 DSS)

Joseph Smith didn't get this one right either, however the LXX does give the longer version of the verse, making it more accurate than the Masoretic in this case. Another instance where the LXX matches the DSS, but the Masoretic does not is Psalm 22:16 where the DSS has "they have pierced my hands and feet" while the Masoretic has "like a lion are my hands and feet" which is just crazy talk.

Another example of this can be found in Deuteronomy 32:8 where both the DSS and the LXX have "according to the number of the sons of God" while the Masoretic (and therefor the KJV and JST) have it as "according to the number of the sons of Israel" which actually doesn't make sense when put into context:

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:8)

This verse, as the KJV and JST have it, tells us that all the nations of the world are children of Israel. The original Dead Sea Scrolls version implies the older Jewish theology that the world was divided up into different nations each with its own god who was the son of the most high God.

The paragraph where Joshua constructs an altar is located at Joshua 8:30-35 in the KJV and JST. The LXX puts the paragraph a little bit later (Joshua 9:7-8), but in the DSS, the paragraph is located at the beginning of Joshua 5. The only source that agrees with the Dead Sea Scrolls in this case is Josephus. (Go Josephus!)

Exodus 1:3 has "Joseph and Benjamin" in the DSS, but the KJV and JST both leave out Joseph. Judges 6:7-10 are not found in the DSS and are therefor a later insertion, but again the JST blindly follows the KJV.

The DSS version of Psalms is radically different from the version we have today with the psalms appearing in a different order, some psalms missing, and 15 new psalms. The JST actually differs from the KJV when it comes to Psalm 32:

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. (Psalm 32:1 KJV)

Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and who have no sins to be covered. (Psalm 32:1 JST)

Unfortunately, it doesn't match with the DSS version, because Psalm 32 is missing from the DSS entirely, as are psalms 70 and 90 (Joseph Smith copies the KJV exactly for these two). Joseph Smith does completely rewrite Psalms 11, 14, and 24, unfortunately, the DSS versions of these psalms are basically the same as the KJV.

There are a few minor differences between the DSS and the Masoretic text in Psalm 138:

To David, I will praise you with all my heart, before God I will make your music. (Psalm 138:1 Masoretic text)

To David, I will praise Yahweh with all my heart, before Yahweh God I will make your music. (Psalm 138:1 DSS)

If I walk in among trouble you will revive me, over the anger of my enemies you will send your hand you will rescue me, your right hand. (Psalm 138:7 Masoretic text)

If I walk in the middle of trouble you will revive me, over the anger of my enemies you will send your hand you will rescue me, your right hand. (Psalm 138:7 DSS)

Joseph Smith didn't notice these small differences, but he does rewrite the next verse.

Yahweh will end on behalf of me, Yahweh, your mercy is for eternity, the works of your hands will not sink. (Psalm 138:8, the same in both Masoretic and DSS)

The Lord will perfect me in knowledge, concerning his kingdom. I will praise thee O Lord, for ever; for thou art merciful, and wilt not forsake the works of thine own hands. (Psalm 138:8 JST)

Perhaps the most major difference between the JST and the KJV is that the JST completely removes the Song of  Solomon. However, it is included in the DSS. The DSS lack Esther, however the JST includes it.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'll give a few more examples from the book of Isaiah. The Book of Mormon quotes from Isaiah quite extensively so it was obviously a very important book to Joseph Smith.

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14 KJV & JST, also 2 Nephi 17:14)

You can't tell from the KJV, but in the Masoretic text, the final verb in this verse is "she will call" indicating that the virgin (or young woman as it's more correctly translated) is the one who names the son. In the DSS, the verb "he will call" is used instead.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6 KJV & JST, also 2 Nephi 19:6)

Instead of "The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" the DSS has "Elgibor, the father of Ad, ruler of Hashalom." The reason this is so different is due to minor manuscript differences. The name Elgibor in the DSS gets changed to "mighty God" in the Masoretic text simply by inserting a space ("el gibor" means "God is a warrior"). Similar minor differences change "father of Ad" into "everlasting Father" and "ruler of Hashalom" into "ruler of peace".

The Masoretic text translates Isaiah 53:11 as "from the labor of his soul, he will see, he will be satisfied". The Dead Sea Scroll text translates to "from the labor of his soul, he will see light and he will be satisfied". The JST again follows the KJV.

Joseph Smith and Josephus

Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus relates the history of the Jewish people from the creation of the world up to the intertestamental period. Josephus' version of events is mainly based on the Old Testament and Apocrypha, however he departs from them often. Interestingly, Joseph Smith seems to have borrowed from Josephus in his own version of the Bible since he differs from the Bible in many of the same ways Josephus does.


1. In Genesis 5:4, Adam and Eve don't have daughters until after the birth of Seth. However, in both Josephus and the Josephs Smith Translation of the Bible (JST), Adam and Eve have daughters at the same time Cain and Able are born.

Adam and Eve had two sons...they had also daughters. (Antiquities of the Jews 1:2:1)

And Adam knew his wife, and she bare unto him sons and daughters...and from that time forth, the sons and daughters of Adam began to divide, two and two, in the land. (Gen. 4:2-3 Joseph Smith Translation)

2. Although there's no mention of it in the Bible, both Josephus and Joseph Smith tell us that Cain became the leader of a wicked organization.

But Cain was not only very wicked in other respects, but was wholly intent upon getting...He augmented his household substance with much wealth, by rapine and violence; he excited his acquaintance to procure pleasures and spoils by robbery, and became a great leader of men in wicked courses. (Antiquities of the Jews 1:2:1-2)

And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, and he gloried in his wickedness. And Cain went into the field, and Cain talked with Abel, his brother. And it came to pass that while they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. (Genesis 5:16 Joseph Smith Translation, also Moses 5:31-32)

As an aside, this passage of Mormon scripture is quoted in the video game Assassin's Creed II. A later passage in the Mormon scripture called The Book of Moses makes it clear that this was the founding of a secret Satanic society:

For Lamech having entered into a covenant with Satan, after the manner of Cain, wherein he became Master Mahan, Master of that great secret which was administered unto Cain by Satan; and Irad, the son of Enoch having known their secret, began to reveal it unto the sons of Adam. Wherefore Lamech, being angry, slew him, not like unto Cain, his brother Abel, for the sake of getting gain, but slew him for the oath’s sake. For, from the days of Cain, there was a secret combination, and their works were in the dark, and they knew every man his brother. (Moses 5:49-51)

3. The Bible makes no mention of Noah's life being in danger, but both Josephus and Joseph do.

For the tradition is that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what they did; and being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their acts for the better: and seeing they did not yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid they would kill him, together with his wife and children. (Antiquities of the Jews 1:3:1)

And in those days there were giants in the earth, and they sought Noah to take away his life...For it repenteth Noah that I have created them; and he hath called upon me, for they have sought his life. (Genesis 8:6,15 Joseph Smith Translation)

4. The Bible doesn't tell us that Abraham had astronomical knowledge, but again, both Josephus and Joseph do.

In the tenth generation after the Flood there was among the Chaldeans a man [Abraham] righteous and great, and skillful in Celestial Science. (Antiquities of the Jews 1:7:2)

And it is given unto thee [Abraham] to know the set time of all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God. (Abraham 3:10)

Also, Fascimile 3 in the Pearl of Great Price depicts Abraham instructing the king of Egypt in the "principles of astronomy".


5. In Genesis, Jacob gives a blessing to his son Joseph upon his deathbed dealing with his descendants. He does not praise Joseph himself in the Bible, but he does in Josephus' version:

Now when Jacob had lived seventeen years in Egypt, he fell into a disease, and died in the presence of his sons; but not till he made his prayers for their enjoying prosperity, and till he had foretold to them prophetically how every one of them was to dwell in the land of Canaan. But this happened many years afterward. He also enlarged upon the praises of Joseph, how he had not remembered the evil doings of his brethren to their disadvantage. (Antiquities of the Jews 2:8:1)

The Joseph Smith Translation also has Jacob praise Joseph:

And Jacob said unto Joseph when the God of my fathers appeared unto me in Luz, in the land of Canaan; he sware unto me, that he would give unto me, and unto my seed, the land for an everlasting possession. Therefore, O my son, he hath blessed me in raising thee up to be a servant unto me, in saving my house from death; In delivering my people, thy brethren, from famine which was sore in the land; wherefore the God of thy fathers shall bless thee, and the fruit of thy loins, that they shall be blessed above thy brethren, and above thy father’s house; For thou hast prevailed, and thy father’s house hath bowed down unto thee, even as it was shown unto thee, before thou wast sold into Egypt by the hands of thy brethren; wherefore thy brethren shall bow down unto thee from generation to generation, unto the fruit of thy loins forever; For thou shalt be a light unto my people, to deliver them in the days of their captivity, from bondage; and to bring salvation unto them, when they are altogether bowed down in sin. (Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis 48:5-11)

6. According to the Bible, Moses died a natural death. According to Josephus, he did not die, but was taken up to God.

As he was going to embrace Eleazar and Joshua, and was still discoursing with them, a cloud stood over him on the sudden, and he disappeared in a certain valley, although he wrote in the holy books that he died, which was done out of fear, lest they should venture to say that, because of his extraordinary virtue, he went to God. (Antiquities 4:8:48)

The Joseph Smith Translation of Deuteronmy 34 leaves the account of Moses's death as is, however, the Book of Alma tells us Moses was taken up to God. 

And when Alma had done this he departed out of the land of Zarahemla, as if to go into the land of Melek. And it came to pass that he was never heard of more; as to his death and burial we know not of. Behold this we know, that he was a righteous man; and the saying went abroad in the church that he was taken up by the Spirit, or buried by the hand of the Lord, even as Moses. But behold, the scriptures saith the Lord took Moses unto himself, therefore, for this cause we know nothing concerning his death and burial. (Alma 45:18-19)

7. In the Bible, Abraham's wife Sarai was his half-sister. In the writings of Josephus and Joseph Smith, Sarai is his niece.

Now Abraham had two brethren, Nahor and Haran; of these Haran left a son, Lot; as also Sarai and Milcha his daughters, and died among the Chaldeans, in a city of the Chaldeans, called Ur; and his monument is shown to this day. These married their nieces. Nahor married Milcha, and Abram married Sarai. (Antiquities 1:6:5)

And it came to pass that I, Abraham, took Sarai to wife, and Nahor, my brother, took Milcah to wife, who were the daughters of Haran. (Abraham 2:2, note: this scipture was changed in 1981 so current Mormon scripture does not have Abraham marry his niece.)

D. Michael Quinn tells us in Early Mormonism and the Magic World View that the Palmyra bookstore and library had copies of Josephus during Joseph Smith's time. We also know Joseph Smith read Josephus while he was in jail the night he was murdered. It's likely that Joseph Smith was influenced by the writings of Josephus, however many of the places where he diverges from the Bible could have come from other sources as well.


Main source for this post:
http://bycommonconsent.com/2010/01/06/bcc-papers-51-cranney-josephus/

The Book of Pukei

The Book of Zelph is probably the most extensive parody of the Book of Mormon, however, it's not the first. That honor belongs to the Book of Pukei which was printed in 1830, just months after the Book of Mormon was published. Abner Cole printed the Book of Pukei in his Palmyra newpaper The Reflector using the pseudonym Obadiah Dogberry Esq.

Cole was a critic of the newly formed Mormon church, but he wasn't just repeating rumors. His newspaper was printed in the same office where the Book of Mormon was being printed. He not only had access to the Book of Mormon before it was published, he also printed extracts from it in The Reflector between January 2 and January 22, 1830. He was forced to stop when the Smith family threatened to sue him for copyright violation.

Cole appears to have gotten the title for the Book of Pukei from an article appearing in a Rochester newspaper called The Gem of Literature and Science, May 15, 1830: "The book comes before the public under the general title of the "Book of Mormon," arranged under different heads, something as follows. The book of Mormon -- containing the books of Nephi, Nimshi, Pukei, and Buckeye -- and contains some four or five hundred pages."

Chapter 1 of the Book of Pukei deals with Luman Walters, an early Mormon convert who used a seerstone to search for hidden treasure on Abner Cole's property. Joseph Smith Sr. and Joseph Smith Jr. also participated in the treasure hunt. It's no wonder Abner Cole disliked Mormons if they charged him money to look for treasure that wasn't there.

Luman Walters also tried unsuccessfully to find treasure on the Hill Cumorah, but said that Joseph Smith Jr. would be successful. That was the very hill where Joseph Smith Jr. said he found the Book of Mormon. This may be what Cole is referring to when he says that Walters passed his mantle to Smith.

Parts of the Book of Pukei may be confusing unless you know that treasure hunters during Joseph Smith's time thought that treasures had guardian spirits who would move the treasure to a different place if the person seeking it was unworthy.

THE BOOK OF PUKEI. -- Chap. 1.

1. And it came to pass in the latter days, that wickedness did much abound, and the "Idle and slothful said one to another, let us send for Walters the Magician, who has strange books, and deals with familiar spirits; peradventure he will inform us where the Nephites, hid their treasure, so be it, that we and our vagabond van, do not perish for lack of sustenance. 

2. Now Walters, the Magician, was a man unseemly to look upon, and to profound ignorance added the most consummate imprudence, -- the summons of the idle and slothful, and produced an old book in an unknown tongue, (Cicero's Orations in latin,) from whence he read in the presence of the Idle and Slothful strange stories of hidden treasures and of the spirit who had custody thereof. 

3. And the Idle and Slothful paid tribute unto the Magician, and besought him saying, Oh! thou who art wise above all men, and can interpret the book that no man understandeth, and can discover hidden things by the power of thy enchantments, lead us, we pray thee to the place where the Nephites buried their treasure, and give us power over "the spirit," and we will be thy servants forever. 

4. And the Magician led the rabble unto a dark grove, in a place called Manchester, where after drawing a Magic circle, with a rusty sword, and collecting his motley crew of latter-demallions, within the centre, he sacrificed a Cock (a bird sacred to Minerva) for the purpose of propiciating the prince of spirits. 

5. All things being ready, the Idle and Slothful fell to work with a zeal deserving a better cause, and many a live long night was spent in digging for "the root of all evil." 

[6.] Howbeit, owing to the wickedness and hardness of their hearts, these credulous and ignorant knaves, were always disappointed, till finally, their hopes, although frequently on the eve of consummation -- like that of the hypocrite perished, and their hearts became faint within them. 

7. And it came to pass, that when the Idle and Slothful became weary of their nightly labors, they said one to another, lo! this imp of the Devil, hath deceived us, let us no more of him, or peradventure, ourselves, our wives, and our little ones, will become chargeable on the town. 

8. Now when Walters the Magician heard these things, he was sorely grieved, and said unto himself, lo! mine occupation is gone, even these ignorant vagabonds, the idle and slothful detect mine impostures. I will away and hide myself, lest the strong arm of the law should bring me to justice. 

9. And he took his book, and his rusty sword, and his magic stone, and his stuffed Toad, and all his implements of witchcraft and retired to the mountains near Great Sodus Bay, where he holds communion with the Devil, even to this day. 

10. Now the rest of the acts of the magician, how his mantle fell upon the prophet Jo. Smith Jun. and how Jo. made a league with the spirit, who afterwards turned out to be an angel, and how he obtained the "Gold Bible." Spectacles, and breast plate -- will they not be faithfully recorded in the book of Pukei? 

THE BOOK OF PUKEI. -- Chap. 2.

Contents. -- 1. the idle and slothful reverence the prophet. -- 2 The prophet reveals to them the first appearance of the spirit. -- 3 Its adminition and promises. -- 4 Description of the spirit. -- 5 Mormon -- the ten tribes. -- 6 Their migration -- wars -- extinction. -- 7 Gold Bible and contents. -- 8 spectacles -- breastplate -- Oliver, &c. 

1. And it came to pass, that when the mantle of Walters the Magician had fallen upon Joseph, sirnamed the prophet, who was the son of Joseph; that the "idle and slothful" gathered themselves together, in the presence of Joseph, and said to him, "lo! we will be thy servants forever, do with us, our wives, and our little ones as it may seem good in thine eyes." 

2. And the prophet answered and said, -- "Behold! hath not the mantle of Walters the magician fallen upon me, and I am not able to do before you my people great wonders, and shew you, at a more proper season, where the Nephites hid their treasures? -- for lo! yesternight stood before me in the wilderness of Manchester, the spirit, who, from the begining, has had in keeping all the treasures, hidden in the bowels of the earth, 

3. And he said unto me, Joseph, thou son of Joseph, hold up thine head; do the crimes done in thy body fill thee with shame? -- hold up thine face and let the light of mine countenance shine upon thee -- thou, and all thy father's household, have served me faithfully, according to the best of their knowledge and abilities -- I am the spirit that walketh in darkness, and will shew thee great signs and wonders." 

4. And I looked, and behold a little old man stood before me, clad, as I supposed, in Egyptian raiment, except his Indian blanket, and moccasins -- his beard of silver white, hung far below his knees. On his head was an old fashioned military half cocked hat, such as was worn in the days of the patriarch Moses -- his speech was sweeter than molasses, and his words were the reformed Egyprian. 

5. And he again said unto me, "Joseph, thou who hast been surnamed the ignoramus, knowest thou not, that great signs and wonders are to be done by thine hands? knowest thou not, that I have been sent unto thee by MORMON, the great apostle to the Nephites -- Mormon who was chief among the [lost] ten tribes of Israel? 

6. Knowest thou not that this same apostle to the nephites conducted that pious people, who could not abide the wickedness of their brethren, to these happy shores in bark canoes, where after fighting with their brethren the Lamanites, a few hundred years, became wicked themselves, when God sent the small pox among them, which killed two thirds of them, and turned the rest into Indians? 

7. Knowest thou not, thou weak one of the earth, that this same Mormon wrote a book on plates of gold, in the language I now speak, of and concerning the aforesaid Nephites and their brethren the Lamanites, and their treasures, (including a box of gold watches on which thou shalt hereafter raise money,) and knowest thou not, that thou art greater than all the "money-digging rabble," and art chosen to interpret the book, which Mormon has written, to wit, the gold Bible? 

8. "And lo! I answered the spirit of the money diggers saying, how can these things be, as I can neither read nor write? And he said unto me[:] 'I will give thee a breast plate, to keep thee from evil, and I will send thee an assistant, even Oliver, the pedagogue.' 

Walters claims that Cicero's Orations in latin tells stories of hidden treasures (Pukei 1:2). He can't actually read Latin, but just pretends that he can. This may be a jab at Joseph Smith's claim that he could read Egyptian hieroglyphs before they had been deciphered. In 1835, Joseph Smith obtained an Egyptian papyrus and claimed it contained the Book of Abraham. In modern times, it has been discovered that the papyrus is actually from an ancient Egyptian funerary text called the Book of Breathings.

"The spirit, who afterwards turned out to be an angel" (Pukei 1:10) may be a sly reference to the fact that Joseph Smith's account of his vision kept changing over time. The "root of all evil" referred to in Pukei 1:5 is of course money.

Delusions

However strange to relate, about fifteen persons, in this city have been led away by these false doctrines, have been baptised and joined the Mormon church. And some of these persons have set out for the promised land, the place of refuge for the house of Israel, and for all the Gentile world, who will take warning and flee thither for safety. [FOOTNOTE #1: This place is situated in Jackson county, Missouri, ten miles from the town of Independence.] Two individuals who have gone, are defenceless females. They had acquired by their hard industry $2300, one of them having $800, the other $1500, which they have given up to go into the general stock. One of these females was in a consumption, and her friends thought she would not live to reach her destined place. Her afflicted sister told me, that if she had been buried here, before she had been led away by these errors, and had left satisfactory evidence that she was prepared to die, her grief would have been far less than it is now. The remaining persons who were baptised and joined the church, and contemplate going to the west, possess between $3000 and $4000, which they also are going to put with the general fund, and which they can never draw out again, should they get sick of Mormonism and wish to return home to their friends.

Thus are our friends swindled out of their property and drawn from their comfortable homes, to endure the perils of a journey about two thousand miles, by these ignorant fanatics; and when arrived at their earthly paradise, to become the miserable dupes of these temporal and spiritual lords.

from Prefatory Remarks by Joshua V. Himes

Boston, Aug 14. 1832

"Delusions. An Analysis of the Book of Mormon with an Examination of Its Internal and External Evidences, and a Refutation of Its Pretenses to Divine Authority" by Alexander Campbell was written just two years after the Book of Mormon was published and it's still one of the best refutations to the Book of Mormon to this day.

The Nephites, like their father, for many generations were good christians, believers in the doctrines of the Calvinists and Methodists, and preaching baptism and other christian usages hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born!

Perhaps the biggest stumbling block to the belief that the Book of Mormon is an ancient document is its Christian nature. If it really was written by ancient Jews hundreds of years before Christ, why is it so completely Christian? One possible answer Mormons can give is that Nephi and his descendants had access to ancient scriptures which are now lost to us. The Old Testament contains no references to Jesus whatsoever, but scriptures that the Nephites had such as Zenos, Zenock, Neum, Ezias, and Joseph of Egypt contain extremely explicit references to Jesus. The Nephites had these records and were therefore able to be good Christians hundreds of years BC. Unfortunately, the Nephites seem to have misplaced these records since they weren't among the plates that Joseph Smith translated. Nevertheless, the Nephites are not only good Christians, they are also good Jews:

Enos gave the plates to Jarom, his son. In his time 'they kept the law of Moses and the sabbath day holy to the Lord.'

However, the fact that the Nephites are simultaneously good Christians and good Jews presents some difficulties for the text:

King Benjamin assembled the people to sacrifice according to the law around the new temple; and he enjoined upon them, at the same time, the christian institutions, and gave them a Patriarchal valedictory. After they had heard him speak, and had offered up their sacrifices, they fell down and prayed in the following words: 'O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ, that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ the son of God, who created heaven and earth and all things, who shall come down upon the children of men.' Then the spirit of the Lord fell upon them and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins.' p. 162.

Apparently, the Nephites were unable to gain forgiveness for their sins by the blood of Christ alone, so they had to perform animal sacrifices as well. Perhaps the reason they still had to perform animal sacrifice was because Christ hadn't been born yet, so invoking his atoning blood didn't work on its own.

This Joseph Smith overlooked in his impious fraud, and makes his hero Lehi spring from Joseph. And just as soon as his sons return with the roll of his lineage, ascertaining that he was of the tribe of Joseph, he and his sons acceptably 'offer sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord.' - p.15. Also it is repeated, p. 18 - Nephi became chief artificer, ship-builder and mariner; was scribe, prophet, priest and king unto his own people, and 'consecrated Jacob and Joseph, the sons of his father, priests to God and teachers - almost six hundred years before the fulness of the times of the Jewish economy was completed. p.72. Nephi represents himself withal as 'under the law of Moses,' p. 105. They build a temple in the new world, and in 55 years after they leave Jerusalem, make a new priesthood which God approbates. A high priest is also consecrated, and yet they are all the while 'teaching the law of Moses, and exhorting the people to keep it! - p.146,209. Thus God is represented as instituting, approbating and blessing a new priesthood from the tribe of Joseph, concerning which Moses gave no commandment concerning priesthood. Although God had promised in the law of Moses, that if any man, not of the tribe and family of Levi and Aaron, should approach the office of priest, he would surely die; he is represented by Smith as blessing, approbating, and sustaining another family in this approbated office. The God of Abraham or Joseph Smith must then be a liar!! And who will hesitate to pronounce him an imposter? This lie runs through his records for the first six hundred years of his story.

According to the law of Moses, only descendants of the tribe of Levi can be priests, yet in the Book of Mormon, descendants from the tribe of Joseph have the priesthood. Either the Nephites didn't really keep the law of Moses as they claimed, or the Bible is incorrect. Since Mormons believe the Bible wasn't translated correctly, this actually presents no difficulties. This same answer can be used to answer Campbell's next objection:

This ignorant and impudent liar, in the next place, makes the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, violate his covenants with Israel and Judah, concerning the land of Canaan, by promising a new land to the pious Jew.

If a company of reprobate Jews had departed from Jerusalem and the temple, in the days of Zedekiah, and founded a new colony, it would not have been so incongruous. But to represent God as inspiring a devout Jew and a prophet, such as Lehi and Nephi are represented by Smith, with a resolution to forsake Jerusalem and God's own house, and to depart from the land which God swore to their fathers so long as they were obedient; and to guide by a miracle and to bless by prodigies a good man in forsaking God's covenant and worship - is so monstrous an error, that language fails to afford a name for it. It is to make God violate his own covenants, and set at nought his own promises, and to convert his own curses into blessings. Excision from the commonwealth of Israel, and banishment from Jerusalem and the temple, were the greatest curses the law of Moses knew. But Smith makes a good and pious Jew the subject of this curse, and sends him off into the inhospitable wilderness, disinherits him in Canaan, and makes him more happy in forsaking the institutions of Moses, more intelligent in the wilderness, and more prosperous in adversity, than even the Jews in their best days, in the best of lands, and under the best of all governments!!! The imposter was too ignorant of the history of the Jews and the nature of the covenants of promise, to have even alluded to them in his book, if he had not supposed that he had the plates of Moses in his own keeping, as he had his 'molten plates' of Nephi. To separate a family from the nation of Israel, was to accumulate all the curses of the law upon that family. - Deut. xxix.21.

Israel was the promised land for the Jewish people. The god of the Old Testament never would have commanded a righteous Jew to forsake it. According to the Old Testament, there can be only one Temple, the one in Jerusalem. The temple in the New World is not legitimate. Jews who were exiled from Jerusalem were not able to worship, yet this difficulty is never mentioned in the Book of Mormon.

Smith makes his pious hero Nephi, 600 years before the Messiah began to preach, and disclose these secrets concerning the calling of the Gentiles, and the blessings flowing through the Messiah to Jews and Gentiles, which Paul says were hid for ages and generations, 'which in these ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto us the holy Apostles and prophets, by the spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel.' Smith makes Nephi express every truth found in the writings of the Apostles concerning the calling and blessing of the Gentiles, and even quotes the 11th chapter of Romans, and many other passages before he had a son grown in the wilderness able to aim an arrow at a deer. Paul says these things were secrets and unknown until his time; but Smith makes Nephi say the same things 600 years before Paul was converted.

The Book of Mormon quotes from the Old Testament quite a bit which is explained by Nephi's taking the Hebrew record with him when he fled Jerusalem. When Jesus appears to the Nephites, he says a lot of the same things he said in the Gospels. However, there's no explanation for why Nephi borrows ideas and quotes from Paul's epistle to the Romans hundreds of years before it was written. Compare Romans with Jacob from the Book of Mormon:

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33)

Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. (Jacob 4:8)

Also in Romans 11, Paul compares gentiles joining the Israelite faith to branches being grafted onto an olive tree. Nephi uses the same comparison:

And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree...For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? (Romans 11:17,24,33 )

Yea, even my father spake much concerning the Gentiles, and also concerning the house of Israel, that they should be compared like unto an olive-tree, whose branches should be broken off and should be scattered upon all the face of the earth...And after the house of Israel should be scattered they should be gathered together again; or, in fine, after the Gentiles had received the fulness of the Gospel, the natural branches of the olive-tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel, should be grafted in. (1 Nephi 10:12,14)

Campbell goes on to point out that the Book of Mormon addresses issues which, coincidentally, were important during Joseph Smith's lifetime:

This prophet Smith, through his stone spectacles, wrote on the plates of Nephi, in his book of Mormon, every error and almost every truth discussed in N. York for the last ten years. He decides all the great controversies - infant baptism, ordination, the trinity, regeneration, repentance, justification, the fall of man, the atonement, transubstantiation, fasting, penance, church government, religious experience, the call to the ministry, the general resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize, and even the question of freemasonry, republican government, and the rights of man. All these topics are repeatedly alluded to. How much more benevolent and intelligent this American Apostle, than were the holy twelve, and Paul to assist them!!! He prophesied of all these topics, and of the apostacy, and infallibly decided, by his authority, every question. How easy to prophecy of the past or of the present time!!

Next, Campbell brings up the style in which the Book of Mormon is written:

The book professes to be written at intervals and by different persons during the long period of 1020 years. And yet for uniformity of style, there never was a book more evidently written by one set of fingers, nor more certainly conceived in one cranium since the first book appeared in human language, than this same book. If I could swear to any man's voice, face or person, assuming different names, I could swear that this book was written by one man. And as Joseph Smith is a very ignorant man and is called the author on the title page, I cannot doubt for a single moment that he is the sole author and proprietor of it. As a specimen of his style the reader will take the following samples - Page 4th. In his own preface: - 'The plates of which hath been spoken.' In the last page, 'the plates of which hath been spoken.' In the certificate signed by Cowdery and his two witnesses, he has the same idiom, 'which came from the tower of which hath been spoken;' page 16, 'we are a descendant of Joseph.' 'The virgin which thou seest is the mother of God.' 'Behold the Lamb of God the Eternal Father,' p. 25; 'Ye are like unto they,' 'and I saith unto them,' p.44. 'We did arrive to the promised land;' p.49, 'made mention upon the first plate,' p.50.

The main reason I stopped believing in the Book of Mormon myself was the fact that it was obviously written by a single person. Unlike the Bible, which is composed of many different writing styles, and presents many different theologies and schools of thought, the Book of Mormon is the same all the way through.

Nephi 2400 years ago hears the saying of a Pagan who lived 634 years after him - 'The God of nature suffers.' p.51. 'The righteous need not fear, for it is they which shall not be confounded.' p.58. Shakespeare was read by Nephi 2200 years before he was born - 'The silent grave from whence no traveller returns,' 61. 'Your own eternal welfare' was a phrase then common in America, p.62. 'Salvation is free' was then announced. 'That Jesus should rise from the dead' was repeatedly declared on this continent in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. And at the same time it was said, 'Messiah cometh in the fulness of time that he might redeem the children of men from the fall;' p.65. 'The fall' was frequently spoken of at the Isthmus of Darien 2400 years ago.

Actually, it wasn't Nephi, but rather the prophet Zenos who predictively quotes from Dionysius the Areopagite:

And all these things must surely come, saith the prophet Zenos. And the rocks of the earth must rend; and because of the groanings of the earth, many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the Spirit of God, to exclaim: The God of nature suffers. (1 Nephi 19:12)

“Either the God of nature is suffering, or the entire mechanism of the world is going to be destroyed to return to its ancient state of chaos!” is a quote from a letter to Polycarp attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, a pagan convert of Paul's according to Acts 17:34. However, all the writings of Dionysius are actually forgeries from the fifth or sixth century. It seems the prophecy of Zenos is mistaken.

I'm not convinced that Nephi was quoting Shakespeare, although the wording is similar. 2 Nephi 1:14 has "the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can return" while Hamlet, Act III, Scene I has "The undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns"

And the righteous need not fear, for they are those who shall not be confounded. But it is the kingdom of the devil, which shall be built up among the children of men, which kingdom is established among them which are in the flesh. (1 Nephi 22:22) 

Campbell claims Nephi is quoting from someone else here, but I wasn't able to find the reference.

"Delusions" wasn't a detailed analysis of the Book of Mormon. In fact, it originally appeared as a newspaper article. Obviously, there are far more critical examinations of the Book of Mormon available today. For example, we know the Book of Mormon quotes from nearly all the books in the New Testament, not just Romans chapter 11. Despite its brevity, "Delusions" raised several questions about the Book of Mormon's authenticity which are still valid today.

Does the name Alma prove the Book of Mormon is true?

During Joseph Smith's lifetime, Alma was known as a feminine name only, however it's used as a masculine name in the Book of Mormon. After Joseph Smith's death, one of the Bar Kokhba documents discovered in the Judean desert used the name Alma as a masculine name. Joseph Smith couldn't possibly have known that decades after his death a document would be discovered proving that Alma was used as a masculine name in ancient Judea. Does the fact that the Book of Mormon uses Alma as a masculine name prove that it's true?

The masculine name Alma first appears in the Book of Mormon chronology about 170 BC, but doesn't appear in Judea until about 150 AD. According to the Book of Mormon, the ancestors of the Native Americans left Jerusalem around 600 BC and had no contact with the outside world until Columbus. Is it possible that the name Alma goes back to 600 BC even though there's no evidence that it was used as a masculine name until seven hundred years later?

It's possible. However it's also possible that Joseph Smith mistakenly thought that Alma was a masculine name even though it was known to be only a feminine name during his lifetime.

Another thing to consider is that the Book of Mormon is written in English while the Bar Kokhba letters are written in Hebrew. The two languages use completely different alphabets, so an exact translation is impossible. "Alma" may indeed be the best English language translation for the Hebrew name that appears in the Bar Kokhba letter, but it's not the only way it can be translated.

We also need to consider the possibility that Joseph Smith simply got lucky. There are 337 proper names in the Book of Mormon. 149 of these are found in the Bible, leaving 188 names unique to the Book of Mormon. Of these 188 names, only one of them, Alma, has turned out to be an ancient Hebrew name. The remaining 187 names, although some sound vaguely Hebrew, are not known to be ancient Hebrew names. Unless we uncover some more ancient documents verifying other names used in the Book of Mormon, the most likely scenario is that Joseph Smith simply made up a bunch of Biblical sounding names and happened to get one right.

The Book of Zelph: Another Testament to the Book of Mormon

"And my father did strike the gravedigger's head with such might that the gravedigger's eyeballs did also pop out of their sockets, even like unto popcorn popping on an apricot tree." (1 Laban 4:8) 

The Book of Zelph, a parody of the Book of Mormon, takes its name from a little known incident in Mormon history. In 1834, Joseph Smith raised a militia and marched to Missouri to "redeem Zion". Along the way, the militia uncovered some bones and an arrowhead in a mound. Joseph Smith declared that the bones belonged to Zelph, a white Lamanite general. (Incidentally, Zelph's arrowhead was last known to be in the possession of Brigham Young's daughter Zina Young Card.)

In the beginning of The Book of Mormon, God commands Nephi to kill Laban, for "it is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief." (1 Nephi 4:13) Hence, the Book of Zelph begins with Laban the Younger following Nephi and his family to the American continent seeking revenge against Nephi for murdering his father. He brings some Asian whores with him, thus explaining why Native Americans have Asian rather than Hebrew DNA, a fact modern Mormons have difficulty explaining.

The 13th chapter of 1 Nephi in The Book of Mormon contains specific prophecies about how the Book of Mormon ends, the coming of Jesus, Columbus, and the American war for independence. The Book of Zelph contains even more specific prophecies about Columbus, American independence, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Watergate, the Cold War, Desert Storm, the 2000 election controversy, 9/11, the Iraq War, and the gay marriage debate.

There is a character in the Book of Mormon named "the brother of Jared" (After the Book of Mormon was published, Joseph Smith said his real name was Mahonri Moriancumer). Likewise, there is a character in the Book of Zelph named Moriantum-Ala-Soditardswez who is called "the son of Abitch" for short. The Book of Mormon mentions animals called cureloms and cumoms, but it is unknown what type of animals they are supposed to be. The Book of Zelph makes fun of this by having people use cureloms and cumoms in chariot races and even has a character named Dances with Cureloms. In the Book of Mormon, Jacob 7:27 ends with the phrase, "Brethren, adieu." The Book Zelph takes this to the extreme ending numerous chapters in foreign languages. For example, 1 Laban 8:61 ends with "Wherefore, adios amigos."

The Book of Mormon often refers to white skin as "delightsome" and dark skin as "loathsome" and a curse. The Book of Zelph reverses this: "Wherefore, it was that Lemuel's dark skin, which was a curse from Nephi, doth makest him exceedingly good at satisfying the desires of women, which thing is a filthy abomination unto the Nephites, but which thing doth makest Lemuel, and us, exceedingly grateful unto Nephi for the curse." (2 Laban 7:22)

Those who believe the Book of Mormon is true like to point out that the Book of Mormon contains chiasmus just like the Bible. Thus, the Book of Zelph also contains chiasmus (Poems, Chapter 6). The Book of Poems also contains hidden acrostic messages which come up later in The Son of Abitch Code (a parody of the Davinci Code.)

My favorite part is when the Nephites try to get the Lamanites to join a pyramid scheme, poking fun at the fact that multi level marketing is rampant in Utah.

"And it came to pass that the wife of Arragornia did unveil her business plan, even did she teach it to me and mine daughters. And she spake her business plan, and it did involve us each teaching the plan to five other people, who would then teach the plan to five more people each, and so forth. And if we do follow the plan, yea, the wife of Arragornia doth promise us exceeding wealth, yea, even beyond our wildest dreams." (Whores 2:40-41) 

The only people who will appreciate this book are former Mormons with a juvenile sense of humor. Faithful Mormons will be quite offended, while people who don't know that much about Mormonism won't get the jokes. The Book of Zelph is a good parody of the Book of Mormon which made me laugh out loud more than once.