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Author's Preface, About Mormon History
Destroying Governments and Religions
The Quote
One Nation under Gods, page xx-xxi
As for other governments and religions, according to Joseph Smith, they
"must eventually be destroyed from the earth."17
The Reference
Endnote 17, page 479
17. Joseph Smith, statement of December 30, 1842, HC (Salt Lake City: Deseret
Book Company, 1976/1980), vol. 5, 212.
The Problems
This quote is the closing sentence of a paragraph in which Abanes' asserts
that "Mormons [after the return of Christ] will reign with Christ, and every American
citizen, along with the rest of the world, will be forced to recognize Mormonism as the one true
religion." It is unfortunate that the Joseph Smith quote offered by Abanes can only support
his thesis in the watered-down, out-of-context way he presents it. Take a look at the full
quote, in context (the portion shown in bold is the portion of the quote that Abanes used):
While at conversation at Judge Adams' during the evening, I said, Christ and
the resurrected Saints will reign over the earth during the thousand years. They will not
probably dwell upon the earth, but will visit it when they please, or when it is necessary
to govern it. There will be wicked men on the earth during the thousand years. The heathen
nations who do not come up to worship will be visited with the judgments of God, and must
eventually be destroyed from the earth.
Abanes asserts that Joseph Smith stated "other governments and religions"
must be destroyed. While the quote does say something about nations being destroyed,
it says nothing about governments or religions being destroyed. Remember--the terms nations
and governments are not always synonymous, particularly in a religious sense. A
nation is best described as "a group of people," whereas a government is always political in
nature. Thus, Jesus could refer to "nations" being gathered before the Son of God and being
judged, even though a full analysis of the passage is speaking of an individual judgment of
people, not a judgment of political bodies. (See Matthew 25:31-46, particularly vs. 32.)
Further, Joseph doesn't speak of anyone being "forced to recognize Mormonism as
the one true religion." That editorial assertion is made by Abanes, without any support
from the quote. In fact, Joseph states that there "will be wicked men on the
earth during the thousand years." If religious recognition by force is expected by Joseph,
it seems inconsistent for him to acknowledge that he expects wicked men to still live
during the millennium.
Thus, Joseph speaks of the eventual demise of 'heathen peoples' who refuse to
come worship Christ during the millennium, but Abanes twists this into an indictment of
non-LDS governments and non-LDS religions. The evidence for such fraudulent twisting and
turning is not in the original words, but in the mind of Abanes as he seeks to support his
flawed thesis of an LDS Church bent on world domination.
Written by Allen L. Wyatt
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