by Pomeroy Tucker
originally published in 1867
paperback; 300 pages
It all began scarcely over one-hundred and seventy years ago in the vivid imagination of a young farm boy growing up amidst the religious fanaticism of nineteenth-century New York. Allegedly receiving a divine revelation that "all Christian churches were corrupt," Joseph Smith, Jr. set out on his mission to restore the lost gospel to mankind. Today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormons, has grown to an excess of eight million members worldwide, with hundreds of new converts every day. This massive organization is ruled from Salt Lake City, Utah by a current Mormon prophet and his twelve apostles, known affectionately among the faithful as "the Brethren." These men claim to be Smith's successors as modern mouthpieces of God, and acceptance of their teachings is believed to be essential to salvation. Was Joseph Smith really the recipient of divine revelation or was he an self-aggrandizing impostor? Is the Mormon Church really a restoration of ancient Christianity or is it instead one of the largest and most successful religious hoaxes the world has seen since the rise of Islam in the Seventh Century?
|
