I grew-up being indoctrinated in the faith known as Mormonism, and as a teenager I began to understand that several things didn’t add-up and lost my faith in a religion that to me, seemed to be of man and had nothing to do with God other than enriching the hierarchy of the Church leadership. Since I was a Mormon at one time I believed that I was well versed in Mormon history, but after watching the new H2 History Channel last night titled “Ten Things You Don’t Know About” which related to Mormon history, I realized there are many teaching that are not taught to members of the church, and according to polls on H2, approximately 80% of the general population remain in the dark about the true history of the Mormons. Some of these facts are sad, others are despicable, and one or two items are downright hilarious (to me) when I look back and remember the strict moral guidelines that the average members of the church are forced to adhere to. We subscribe to these History Channels and NatGeo to increase our knowledge and understanding of history and science and I hope that you find these facts as interesting as I did, whereas I’m sure that Mitt Romney and Mormons in general will not appreciate me attempting to convey their sordid past to the rest of the general public whom do not have the time or ability to view the H2 History Channel.

1.  The Mormon Church Is The Richest and Fastest Growing Church Per Capita In the United States

This is a fact that needs little or no commentary from me, and how they obtained some of their riches will be revealed as you go down through the list.

2.  Joseph Smith Was A Treasure Hunter

Joseph Smith was the founder of the Mormon Church. The family of Joseph Smith moved five times and finally settled in Palmyra, N.Y.  His father dabbled in a form of Fortune Telling known as Scrying in which a “Peep Stone” or Crystal were used to locate buried treasure. At thirteen years old, Joseph Smith also began scrying for buried treasure. He became known as a pretty good scryer; his method to find treasure was much like his father’s and he placed crystals in a top-hat and would then place his face directly into the hat which he claimed gave him visions of where the treasure was buried.

In 1825, he was hired by a Pennsylvania farmer who believed that Spanish Conquistadors had mined silver on his land. He was paid a generous salary, given room and board, however did not find any silver and was subsequently arrested and brought-up on charges for being a “disorderly person” and an “imposter;”  he was subsequently convicted of the charges. There is no record available whether or not he was fined or punished for said conviction. The conviction put an end to his treasure hunting and he formally renounced scrying. Eighteen (18) months later, he claimed to find another buried treasure and this one would change history!

3.  Book of Mormon says American Indians Were Jewish

In 1823, Joseph Smith stated that he was visited by an Angel named Moroni who told him that there were ancient texts written on solid gold plates which were hieroglyphs buried 1,400 years earlier on a nearby hill hidden (buried) under a rock. He found the hill and located the Golden Plates buried under a rock as the Angel had stated; he was also given a pair of “spectacles” by an Angel that allowed him to translate the plates to a friend, and this is the origin of the Book of Mormon.

Joseph Smith was able to convince another friend to sell his farm and publish the 588 page Book of Mormon; soon thereafter he incorporated the Church and within a year he had over a thousand followers. (In this particular time in our history, most churches were teaching “fire and brimstone” whereas Joseph Smith taught his followers that “they were the chosen ones of God” which seemed to make his teaching far more effective to people than continuously being bombarded by the thought that they were sinners and bound for Hell if they didn’t change their ways.)

4.  Masonic Rituals Inspire Mormon Rituals

Joseph Smith stated that all of the rituals incorporated in the Church doctrine were via direct communication with God; however, many of those rituals resemble those of the Freemasons. (Smith himself was a Mason and achieved the rank of “Master Mason.”) Without visual aids as I watched on H2, I won’t go any further into this piece of trivia except to mention that Mitt Romney is a 33rd Degree Mason himself.)

5.  Mormons Are Targets of Genocide

In 1831, Joseph Smith told his followers that God had commanded him to move to a new “Garden of Eden” located in Jackson County, Missouri. The people of Missouri resented the large influx of Mormons into their State and subsequently “tarred and feathered” their men, burnt down their houses and other infrastructure, and raped dozens of Mormon women. The Mormon’s retaliated by raiding non-Mormon towns, burning down their buildings and stealing their food supplies. In 1836, Missouri’s Governor Lilburn Boggs issued the following infamous order that was to be carried out by the State Militia:

“The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated… Or driven from the State if necessary for the Public Peace – their outrages are beyond all description.” LINK

Days later, the State Militia conducted a surprise attack against a Mormon settlement that became known as the Haun’s Mill Massacre. Most of the Mormons escaped into the surrounding woods, although seventeen (17) Mormons and one (1) Mormon friendly individual were slaughtered on the spot before they could escape. In order to ensure that no more Mormons were murdered by the Missouri Militia, Joseph Smith led his people into nearby Illinois where they founded the town of Nauvoo.

6.  Joseph Smith’s Wife Threatens to Take Multiple Husbands

Unbeknownst to the majority of people, especially those of the Mormon faith (IMO), Joseph Smith had the tendency to fall in love with lots of women. It struck him that God would not care based on his belief that something that felt so good that it had to be right. How could God frown on something that was so pleasurable? With that mind-set, he began to practice polygamy and made it a proclamation so that other Mormon men could engage in the same practice.

Well, his wife Emma wasn’t buying it so she threatened to take on multiple husbands herself. (Evidently, that didn’t stop Joseph Smith or other Mormon men from engaging in “what felt so good it had to be right,” thus the practice of polygamy became one of the Doctrines of the Church.) Joseph Smith’s polygamy proclamation infuriated non-Mormons and set-off a fierce struggle between Mormons and non-Mormons. When Smith was arrested for destroying an opponent’s printing-press, a mob stormed the jail and murdered him on June 27, 1844.

(I’ve always wondered how Mormons are able as a majority to remain faithful to their wives in a percentage that exceeds the norm for non-Mormons… Maybe they have taken-up Emma’s philosophy in demanding multiple husbands if their husbands are unfaithful. LOL )

7.  Mormons Agree To Leave The United States

After the murder of Joseph Smith, nine (9) defendants were brought to trial for the crime and all nine of them were acquitted. This inflamed the Mormon community and once again, violence erupted between Mormons and non-Mormons. (Brigham Young, who was also a polygamist, was one of several that competed to lead the Mormons after the death of Joseph Smith. Rather than a “proclamation from God,” Brigham Young won the election by the Mormon community to take-over leadership of the Church.) The Governor of the State of Illinois brokered a ceasefire if the Mormons agreed to not only leave the State of Illinois, but the United States. The Mormons agreed.

Brigham Young decided they should move to a barren region of the Mexican Territory now known as Salt Lake City where they believed they would be safe from interference from the States or the U.S. government. After they were there for scarcely a year and after the conclusion of the Mexican/American War, the United States annexed the territory where Salt Lake City was located. Brigham Young then applied for Statehood; the U.S. Congress granted the Mormons “territorial status” and named it the Utah Territory because of the Ute Indians whom lived there far before the Mormons became its primary residents.

Brigham Young was appointed Governor of the new territory, and even though he was in title a “Governor,” he was more of a King and his word was the law of the land. Not only was he the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he was adored by his followers and they came to believe that he was a Prophet with a direct line to God. Not even the President of The United States held that kind of power….

8.  U.S. Deploys Troops To Subdue The Mormons

Joseph Smith was morally opposed to racism; Brigham Young did not share Smith’s views and believed in an ideology that today would be considered racist and under his leadership, Utah became a Slave Territory.

In 1857, when James Buchanan came into office, The Utah Territorial Legislature announced that it would not enforce any laws that it deemed unjust and that it would eject any Federal Official that didn’t live-up to the Mormons moral standards. President Buchanan then set out a laundry list of alleged treasonous activities by the Mormons, and in May of 1857, he sent 2,500 heavily armed Federal Troops to subdue the Utah Territory. President Buchanan believed that declaring war against a common enemy that everyone hated, the Mormons; he would be able to unite what was quickly becoming a divided country between North and South.

9. Mormons Massacre 120 Innocent Pioneers

In 1847, a wagon-train with approximately 145 pioneers arrived in Utah. There were rumors circulating in Salt Lake City that some of the pioneers participated in the Haun’s Mill Massacre and some of them were involved in murdering Joseph Smith, their beloved Prophet and founder of the Church. On September 6, 1857, a group of Paiute Indians and Mormons disguised as Indians attacked the group in a valley called Mountain Meadow.

The pioneers were able to circle their wagons and withstand the siege for five (5) days. After the initial attack failed and the siege lasted longer than expected, the Paiute Indians decided they wanted nothing more to do with it at which time the Mormon Militia was called-in whom decided to kill every last one of them who were still alive. After the Mormon Militia arrived, they sent in a Peace Emissary (Sic) that stated they were there to protect the pioneers from the Indians. The Mormon Militiamen marched the pioneer men out of the encampment in single-file and after about 30 minutes, the leader of the Militia screamed out “Halt, Do your Duty!” Each of the Militiamen then shot, at point-blank range, each and every one of the pioneers they were supposedly protecting from the Indians. Within a matter of minutes, all 120 of the pioneers they had marched from the camp were dead…

10.  Mormons Own Brothels

Mormon doctrine prohibits prostitution, but by the late 1800′s, Salt Lake City has become one of the largest cities in the West, and like other cities and settlements in the West, Brothels were common. The Brothels in Salt Lake City served a clientele that was mainly non-Mormon. Most of the Madames did not own the Brothels, but instead paid rent to their Mormon Landlords.

In 1847, the Mormon leadership figured-out a clever way to use their involvement in the Sex-trade to fight the government’s crack-down on Polygamy. They would hire prostitutes to entrap Federal Government Officials like the Utah Territorial Governor who was known to enjoy Ladies of the Night. They could then argue that prostitution was against the moral values of Christianity and it was the government whom were the hypocrites, not them. The strategy didn’t work and the government continued the crack-down on Polygamy.

Under pressure from the Federal Government, Church President Wilford buckled and in 1890, he subsequently revealed that “God had changed his mind on the whole question of Polygamy and now considered it morally wrong.”  The U.S.Congress then admitted Utah as a State with the express condition that a ban on Polygamy was written into the State Constitution.

11.  Mormon Banks Finance Mob-Owned Hotels and Casinos in Las Vegas

In 1954,a small Mormon backed bank called the “Bank of Las Vegas”  loaned money to the Sahara, the Fremont, and the Stardust, all of which had one thing in common; they were all Mob-owned by Mafia Kingpins like Frank Costello and Myer Lansky. Legitimate sources of money to build the Mob’s Casinos has not been available until the Bank of Las Vegas allowed them to access “Legal Money” which until that time had never been available to them.

Everyone made out; the Mormons made millions of dollars in cash and tithes and the Mob was able to access “Legitimate Loans” which had eluded them in other areas of the nation. The windfall in tithes came from a large community of Mormons who worked in the casinos and lived in Las Vegas. (The rank and file membership of the Mormon Church are known as some of the most trustworthy people in the United States and are highly sought-after by many of our alphabet agencies, especially the FBI, and they still maintain a commanding presence in Las Vegas Casinos)

12.  Another Politically Motivated Revelation From God by The Mormons

This entry I did not glean from the H2 History Channel, but is an opinion of my own. I remember when blacks were demonstrating around Temple Square in Salt Lake City, as they believed they were being discriminated against by the Mormon Church. (Blacks were allowed to attend Church Services, but were not allowed to hold the Priesthood even though they were devout Mormons and lived the strict lifestyle as dictated by Mormon doctrine.) The protests were big news in Salt Lake City and the Mormons were trembling with anger, and to this day, I remain unaware if their protests were reported upon by the Mainstream News Media. I had already lost my faith in the Mormon Church and spoke with my Mother and Grandmother about the situation, inquiring whether or not they believed the Church would reverse their stand on admitting Blacks to the Priesthood. Both replied “Absolutely Not! God doesn’t change his mind because of politics.”

I was not impressed and bet that within a month or two, another “Revelation from God” would be handed-down to the President of the Church, and much to my shock and surprise, the revelation I expected didn’t take months, but came within a few days. I look upon this in the same manner that I view Brigham Young’s revelation that “God changed his mind on Polygamy” when the United States Congress refused to admit Utah as a State until they agreed to ban Polygamy as a Church practice and incorporate it into the State Constitution. I also find it unsettling that someone appears to be trying to re-write history on Wikipedia. Please follow this LINK to see why I’m questioning the so-called facts that appear on their site in regard this issue.

Author’s Note:

This article was not written in an attempt to bash Mormons, but to disseminate past historical facts that the majority of the nation still remains unaware of, most of which I, who grew-up being indoctrinated as a Mormon, never was aware of myself. As anyone who operates a Casino in Las Vegas will attest to, the majority of the rank and file membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have a reputation of being some of the most trustworthy people in the world – and I believe that is 100% correct. Those who follow their doctrine don’t drink alcohol, coffee or anything else that contains caffeine, they attend Church and church-related functions on such a regular basis that it was one of the reasons I decided to leave the faith myself because it left little or no personal time for me or my family and I found that to be unacceptable.

The Church also has its own “Welfare” system and they look-down on members that apply for Social Services, because in reality, Mormonism is a religion where they take care of their own to a degree that would shock those who know little or nothing of the real intricacies that involve being a Mormon. I was Baptized when I was 12 years old, and even though I have never been excommunicated from the Church, that may change soon after the publication of this article. I also do not believe that the Mormon religion is a cult any more than any other religion, and for those whom believe that their religion is the one and only path to Heaven, I would suggest that our personal behavior and belief that we have a duty to help one another while not causing other people harm is probably a far easier way to reach Heaven is such a place exists.