The First Anti-Mormon Literature

stephenstrent7
Jul 2
16 min read

The Ohio Star from around 1830-1850

Where Science Meets the Doctrine and Covenants, for the Come Follow Me lesson June 30 – July 6 Doctrine and Covenants 71-75

Doctrine and Covenants section 71 was received “…at Hiram, Ohio, December 1, 1831… The brethren were to go forth to preach in order to allay the unfriendly feelings that had developed against the Church as a result of the publication of letters written by Ezra Booth, who had apostatized.”

Doctrine and Covenants 71:4, 6-8 states, “Wherefore, labor ye in my vineyard. Call upon the inhabitants of the earth, and bear record, and prepare the way for the commandments and revelations which are to come…For unto him that receiveth it shall be given more abundantly, even power. Wherefore, confound your enemies; call upon them to meet you both in public and in private; and inasmuch as ye are faithful their shame shall be made manifest. Wherefore, let them bring forth their strong reasons against the Lord.”

I posted on June 1 that the dedication of the Independence Temple site apparently “…occurred on August 3rd, on a 160-acre ‘squatter’s claim’ of Jones H. Flournoy. ‘The Smith party worked their way through the brush and trees to the highest spot on the property. Orson Pratt recalled: ‘It was then a wilderness, with large trees on the temple block.’ His brother Parley P. Pratt remembered that the location was ‘a beautiful rise of ground about a half a mile west of Independence … it was a noble forest.’ And William L. McLellin recollected what he had been told: ‘Joseph cut his way in through this growth of trees, brush and saplings, to reach the site of the dedication for the proposed Millennial Temple.’ This location was approximately two blocks west of where Flournoy’s home was located and about one-half block southwest of his unoccupied trading post on the Santa Fe Trail.’”¹

Apparently there was no burning bush, no voice of God saying, “…put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”² There apparently was no heavenly choir singing, “How beautiful thy temples, Lord…”³ Nothing. Just a bunch of guys tramping through the wild forest and underbrush in the middle of no-where Missouri.

In one of his letters mentioned in the heading to Doctrine and Covenants 71, (letter #6, dated Nov. 14, 1831) Ezra Booth said of the event, “The laying of the foundation of Zion was attended with considerable parade, and an ostentatious display of talents, both by Rigdon and Cowdery. The place being designated as the site where the city was to commence, on the day appointed we repaired to the spot, not only as spectators, but each one to act the part assigned him in the great work of laying the foundation of the ‘glorious City of the New Jerusalem.’ Rigdon consecrated the ground, by an address in the first place to the God whom the Mormons profess to worship; and then making some remarks respecting the extraordinary purpose for which we were assembled, prepared the way for administering the oath of allegiance, to those who, were then to receive their ‘everlasting inheritance’ in that City. He laid them under the most solemn obligations, to constantly obey all the commandments of Smith. He enjoined it upon them to express a great degree of gratitude for the free donation, and then, as the Lord’s Vicegerent, he gratuitously bestowed upon them, that for which they had paid an exorbitant price in money. These preliminaries being ended, a shrub oak, about ten inches in diameter at the butt, the best that could be obtained near at hand, was prostrated, trimmed, and cut off at a suitable length; and twelve men answering to the twelve Apostles, by means of handspikes, conveyed it to the place. Cowdery craved the privilege of laying the corner-stone. He selected a small rough stone, the best he could find, carried it in one hand to the spot, removed the surface of the earth to prepare a place for its reception, and then displayed his oratorical power, in delivering an address, suited to the important occasion. The stone being placed, one end of the shrub oak stick was laid upon it; and there was laid down the first stone and stick, which are to form an essential part of the splendid City of Zion.”⁴

“The next day the ground for the Temple was consecrated, and Smith claimed the honor of laying the corner-stone himself. Should the inhabitants of Independence, feel a desire to visit this place, destined at some future time to become celebrated, they will have only to walk one half of a mile out of the Town, to a rise of ground, a short distance south of the road. They will be able to ascertain the spot, by the means of a sappling [sapling], distinguished from others by the bark being taken off on the north and on the east side. -- On the south side of the sappling [sapling] will be found the letter, T, which stands for Temple; and on the east side ZOM for Zomar; which Smith says is the original word for Zion. Near the foot of the sappling [sapling], they will find a small stone, covered over with bushes, which were cut for that purpose. This is the corner-stone for the Temple. They can there have the privilege of beholding the mighty work, accomplished by about thirty men, who left their homes, traveled 1000 miles, most of them on foot, and expended more than one thousand dollars in cash.”⁵

“Having completed the work, or rather, finding but little or no business for us to accomplish in Missouri, most of us became anxious to return home. And none appeared to be more so than Smith and Rigdon, whose plans for future subsistence were considerably frustrated. They expected to find a country abounding with the necessaries and comforts of life. But the prospect appeared somewhat gloomy, and will probably remain so for years to come. That they were disappointed, is evident from the change which appeared in their calculations.”⁶

In his letter #1 to Rev. Ira Eddy, dated Sept. 12^th, 1831, Booth had stated, “You are not, it is probable, ignorant of the designs of my most singular and romantic undertaking: suffice to say, it was for the purpose of exploring the promised land -- laying the foundation of the City of Zion, and placing the corner-stone of the Temple of God. A journey of 1000 miles to the west, has taught me…the imbecility of human nature, and especially my own weakness. It has unfolded in its proper character, a delusion to which I had fallen a victim, and taught me the humiliating truth -- that I was exerting the powers both of my mind and body, and sacrificing my time and property to build up a system of delusion, almost unparalleled in the annals of the world…On our arrival in the western part of the State of Missouri, the place of our destination, we discovered that prophecy and visions had failed, or rather had proved to be false.”⁷ In my reading of his letters, I could not identify to what specific prophecy he was referring or precisely how it had been “proved to be false”.

Ezra Booth’s major complaint in his nine letters, written to the Rev. Ira Eddy and published in the Ohio Star, was, to me, that the leaders of the Church of Christ were just ordinary men, with all the foibles of ordinary men. Back in about 2002, I was contacted by a representative of the Living Hope Ministries. I had recently been on a panel discussing DNA and The Book of Mormon. He informed me that he and others; those listed on the subsequent video, were Richard Southerton (Actor), Thomas Murphy (Actor), Joel Kramer (Director), Jeremy Reyes (Director); were making a “fair and honest” video about DNA and The Book of Mormon. He said that they had not been able to find anyone who was an active Church member, and knew something about the subject, willing to talk to them for their video. I told them that I would talk to them for three reasons: 1. I did not want them to say in their video that they could not find an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints willing to talk to them. 2. I have never backed away from discussing a topic that I felt confident and competent about discussing (I had done considerable reading on the subject by then). 3. I did not believe that their video would be “fair and honest”, and I would go on record saying that they spent two hours talking to me and that the only part that would be in their video would be about fifteen seconds: when I agreed that the DNA evidence indicated that the so-far identified ancestors of the Native Americans came from Siberia, etc., rather than the Middle East. The representative assured me that such would not be the case. I informed him that I didn’t believe him but that I was still willing to talk to them anyway. Their video, DNA vs. The Book of Mormon, was published in 2003. I was mistaken in my assessment: they included about 17 seconds of our two-hour interview, not 15 seconds, as I had estimated. I said that I agreed that the extant DNA evidence indicated that the vast majority of Native American ancestry came from Siberia, but that the genes brought into a large population by a small colony of people from somewhere else, such as the Middle East, would almost certainly not be picked up in the general population 1400 years later. As I had predicted, they cut off my interview just before the word “but”, excluding everything that followed. So much for their “fair and honest” interview. The video received scathing reviews, mainly from members of other churches, criticizing the team from Living Hope Ministries as being anything but “fair and honest”.

As part of our two-hour discussion not included in the video, was our discussion of Joseph Smith as a prophet. They asked me if it was my opinion that Joseph Smith thought that all Native Americans were descended from Lehi’s colony. I replied that, to my knowledge, that was apparently Joseph’s opinion. They then asked me, how could Joseph Smith be a prophet and not know that the Native Americans were of mainly Siberian origin.

My reply to their question was a question: did they believe that Jonah was a prophet? They all agreed that, indeed, Jonah was a prophet. I then asked them: if Jonah was a prophet, how could he believe that he could run away from God? When Jonah went to Nineveh, he gave them God’s message and then made a “booth” that he could sit under to watch the city’s destruction, because he did not believe that the people would repent.⁸ Furthermore, he was mad at God for not destroying Nineveh.⁹ Is that the behavior of a prophet? They did not answer my questions.

That film crew from Living Hope Ministries reminded me of Ezra Booth: they had some stereotypic notion of what a prophet should be like, and Joseph Smith did not fit their pre-conceived notion. In his letters to the Ohio Sun, Booth seems to have forgotten the miracle that caused him to join the Church in the first place. Furthermore, he never mentioned his personal experience with The Book of Mormon. In his nine letters, he spoke ten times of The Book of Mormon, but, in each case, in second person—describing someone else’s apparent opinion of the book’s divinity, but never, that I could find, his own experience with the book.

Booth had been a locally-prominent, respected Methodist minister when he learned about the restored Church. Susan Easton Black said, “As to his curiosity about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, it began in 1831 when reading the Book of Mormon with John Johnson. The two men ‘sat up all night reading it, and were very much exercised over it.’”¹⁰

As to the miracle, Susan Black stated, “In the company of John and Elsa Johnson, Ezra went to Kirtland to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith. Of their visit with the Prophet, Luke Johnson wrote, ‘My mother [Elsa Johnson] had been laboring under an attack of chronic rheumatism in the shoulder, so that she could not raise her hand to her head for about two years, the prophet laid hands upon her, and she was healed immediately.’”¹¹

Black continued, “After witnessing the miracle, Ezra forsook the Methodist faith and entered baptism waters…On June 7, 1831 Ezra was called to journey to Missouri with Isaac Morley… (D&C 52:23). On their westward journey, Ezra lost faith in the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith. President Joseph Fielding Smith explained: ‘Through the performance of a miracle he was baptized, and from that time he desired to make men believe by the performance of miracles, even by smiting them, or with forcible means.’ Elder George A. Smith believed Ezra’s lack of faith had more to do with money than with miracles: ‘He having formerly been a Methodist minister, commenced preaching the Gospel without purse or script, and he did so until he found, (using a common expression,) it did not pay.’ Fellowship was withdrawn from Ezra Booth on September 6, 1831. The Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, ‘I, the Lord, was angry with him who was my servant Ezra Booth . . . for [he] kept not the law, neither the commandment’ (D&C 64:15).”¹²

Matthew McBride has added more insight into Ezra Booth and the summer of 1831: “For early members of the Church, the summer of 1831 began with high expectations…pairs of missionaries departed for Missouri with high hopes. They believed the day of Jesus’s return to earth was very near and that they were traveling to locate and build a temple city in which they would gather to receive the Lord when He came. Rumors rippled that Oliver Cowdery and his fellow missionaries were on the verge of converting many American Indians. The missionaries anticipated that in Missouri ‘the objects of faith and hope, were to become the objects of knowledge and fruition.’”¹³

McBride continued, “Ezra Booth…had felt strongly prompted to join the new faith. ‘The impressions of my mind were deep and powerful,’ he recalled, ‘and my feelings were excited to a degree to which I had been a stranger.’…But by the time of his departure in June 1831, Booth had begun to doubt. The spiritual manifestations at the [June] conference did not meet his expectations, and he was upset that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon left for Missouri on a wagon, while he and Isaac [Morley] were called to walk the entire distance in the summer heat, preaching along the way…”¹⁴

“When Ezra Booth finally arrived in Missouri, he felt deflated. He and others ‘expected to find a country abounding with the necessaries and comforts of life.’ Instead, he looked around and noted that ‘the prospect appeared somewhat gloomy.’ Booth remembered Joseph Smith confidently asserting before the trip that the Church in Missouri would be large and growing, but when they arrived they found only seven new members…Joseph Smith himself might have been disappointed initially when he arrived in Missouri. The area around Independence was mostly open prairie with a few scattered trees. Far from inspiring visions of a millennial capital, the frontier town itself was ‘a century behind the times.’ For most of the elders, the reality on the ground in Missouri was a disappointment. But they would deal with that disappointment in different ways.”¹⁵

Dennis Rowley stated, “Apparently, he [Booth] expected to convert many people and perform miracles similar to Joseph’s through the power of the priesthood to which he had been newly ordained. When neither converts nor miracles were readily forthcoming and when he began to see frailties in Joseph Smith and other Church leaders…he became disaffected from the Church.”¹⁶

When Joseph Smith and his companions were in Missouri, two days before the cornerstone of the temple was laid and the temple site was dedicated, they were told in what is now Doctrine and Covenants 58:3-4, “Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.”

Then they were told, in verses 6 and 7, “Behold, verily I say unto you, for this cause I have sent you—that you might be obedient, and that your hearts might be prepared to bear testimony of the things which are to come; And also that you might be honored in laying the foundation, and in bearing record of the land upon which the Zion of God shall stand…”

Then, apparently knowing Ezra Booth’s thoughts, the Lord stated in verses 31-33, “Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled? I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing. Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above.”

McBride further stated, “In spite of disappointment and the enormity of the city building project, Joseph was determined to make a start. Together with Sidney Rigdon and others, he set to work. They consecrated the land near Independence for a place of gathering, laid the first log for a house in Zion, and set the northeast cornerstone for a temple…But Ezra Booth was unimpressed by the meager start. It was ‘a curiosity,’ he said, ‘but not worth going to Missouri to see.’”¹⁷

Doctrine and Covenants 71:7-10 had stated, “Wherefore, confound your enemies; call upon them to meet you both in public and in private; and inasmuch as ye are faithful their shame shall be made manifest. Wherefore, let them bring forth their strong reasons against the Lord…And if any man lift his voice against you he shall be confounded in mine own due time.”

McBride said, “Though Sidney Rigdon challenged Booth…to public debate…[he] declined, perhaps aware of Rigdon’s reputation as a fierce debater. Rigdon preached in Ravenna, Ohio, and in other locations, refuting Booth’s claims. Although Booth’s letters had a dampening effect on missionary work, that effect was short-lived…Tragically, Booth’s cynicism had driven a wedge not only between him and the restored Church but also between him and his earlier spiritual experiences. He ultimately ‘abandoned Christianity and became an agnostic.’”¹⁸

Perhaps, when Ezra Booth spoke of prophecy that had “proved to be false”, he was referring to the revelation given on July 20, 1831, as recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 57:1-3, “Hearken, O ye elders of my church, saith the Lord your God, who have assembled yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land, which is the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints. Wherefore, this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion. And thus saith the Lord your God, if you will receive wisdom here is wisdom. Behold, the place which is now called Independence is the center place; and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not far from the courthouse.”

The concluding statement about the Temple Lot at the Church History website for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says, “We do not know exactly how, when, or where these words will be fulfilled, but we do know that that rectangle of land in Independence is sacred. It has been dedicated to the Lord. The Lord’s revelations about that land—and the principles of gospel living that are woven into those revelations—are part of His people’s past, present, and future.”¹⁹

During the October 2024 General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson gave an address entitled, “The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again”. After he announced the construction of 17 new temples, all over the earth, he stated, “My dear brothers and sisters, do you see what is happening right before our eyes? I pray that we will not miss the majesty of this moment! The Lord is indeed hastening His work. Why are we building temples at such an unprecedented pace? Why? Because the Lord has instructed us to do so. The blessings of the temple help to gather Israel on both sides of the veil. These blessings also help to prepare a people who will help prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord! Jesus Christ will govern from both old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem ‘built upon the American continent.’ From these two centers, He will direct the affairs of His Church.” The footnotes cited for that statement are: Articles of Faith 1:10, Ether 13:3–10, and Doctrine and Covenants 84:2–4. The latter states, “Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem. Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased. Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation.”

In Matthew 24, beginning with verse 29, Jesus outlined the events associated with His second coming. He ended by stating, in verse 34, “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” The word “generation” in the King James Bible is translated from the Greek word γενεὰ (genea), meaning “a generation, which is by implication, an age”.²⁰ Thus, the word “generation” as used by Christ in both Matthew 24:34 and Doctrine and Covenants 84:4, could be understood as an age or dispensation. In my opinion, some of the events prophesied by Christ occurred within the lifetime of those listening, others, however, are yet to be fulfilled.

We tend to think of a generation as defined in Wikipedia, “A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It also is ‘the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and begin to have children.’” God’s time is not our time and His ways are not ours.

It is my opinion that Ezra Booth’s understanding of prophecy and its fulfillment was very short-sighted. He assumed that when he traveled to Missouri, he would find the prophesied glories, complete with miracle upon miracle, there in the wilderness. He apparently forgot that a thousand years, or more, are as a single day to the Lord.²¹ He forgot the statements made in Doctrine and Covenants 58. When Joseph Smith and his companions were in Missouri, two days before the cornerstone of the temple was laid and the temple site was dedicated, they were told in what is now Doctrine and Covenants 58:3-4, “Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.”

It has been my experience that many other people who have “left the Church” also suffer from similar forms of myopathy, most appear to have forgotten their testimony of The Book of Mormon and the miracles they have seen, and also seem to forget that the leaders of Christ’s Church are only human—we are all God has to work with. They seem to have forgotten the promise, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”²² Often, that promised blessing does not come without tribulation, often self-inflicted.

Trent Dee Stephens, PhD

trentdeestephens.com

stephenstrent7@gmail.com

References

1. Addams, R Jean, The Past and Future of the Temple Lot in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, 44:145-216, 2021

2. Exodus 3:5

3. Hymn #288

4. user.xmission.com/~research/mormonpdf/booth.pdf; Letter 6 - Ezra Booth to Rev. Ira Eddy] Nelson, Portage Co. Nov. 14, 1831

5. Ibid

6. Ibid

7. user.xmission.com/~research/mormonpdf/booth.pdf; Letter 1 - Ezra Booth to Rev. Ira Eddy, For the Ohio Star. Nelson, Portage County, Sept. 12th, 1831

8. Jonah 4:5

9. Jonah 4:1

10. Black, Susan Easton, Ezra Booth (1792-1873), Doctrine and Covenants Central; doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/people-of-the-dc/ezra-booth

11. Ibid

12. Ibid

13. McBride, Matthew, Ezra Booth and Isaac Morley; D&C 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 71, 73; Revelations in Context: The Stories behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants; Edited by Matthew McBride and James Goldberg; churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/revelations-in-context/ezra-booth-and-isaac-morley?lang=eng