One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church

Rating:
Summary: "Beware of false prophets...
Review: which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves..."
Abanes' "One Nation Under Gods" is a riveting, well-written exposition of the conception of the LDS church (and the circumstances therein), the church's polygamous era, Brigham Young's ruthless leadership, and the movement towards establishing a "kingdom of god". The chapter titled "Cover-Ups, Conspiracies, and Controversies" is an especially valuable and eye-opening section --- if the history of the church doesn't blow you away, the efforts of modern church leadership to revise said history and the ongoing effort to censor scholarly work most certainly will! In short, this book is well-documented, meticulously referenced, and beautifully presented.

Rating:
Summary: Well done
Review: Richard Abanes has written an amazing history. The research and documentation make this a first rate read. I could not put it down. As a life long student of religions and religious history I would recommend this book as one of the best I have read in years. Richard treats his subject with candor and honesty. His arguments are clear and writting style easy to read and understand. I was particularly impressed with the original sources he was able to site. Many of these sources have been hidden or suppressed by the Mormon church for years. As a psychologist I find the course of Mormon development very interesting and quite parrallel to many other cults that have arisen. The effort of Mormons to portray themselves as mainstream has always seemed disengenuous to me. This book illustrates even more so why. If you are interested in Mormonism or religious history in general you will love this book.

Dr. Darrel Ray

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable, except for its comparative religion analyses
Review: "One Nation under Gods" by Richard Abanes, imparts a clear warning of an obsessive religious sect. It easily merits 5+ stars. The majority of world-religions might've outgrown their belligerent tendencies, contented with regional dominance inside secular societies. Because of its aggressive animosity and recent history of malevolence, Mormonism is a pariah. Mormons can be rejected solely by their deeds and aspirations. Thus, this book's gravest flaw is its derivative use of comparative religion analyses.

One chart uses a shotgun approach, inefficiently comparing LDS to all major world-religions. Alas, Abanes devotes scant attention to obvious comparisons with radical Islam. Similar to Islam, Mormons have a history of glorifying their Prophet to unparalleled heights - a sort of helper-messiah. From a speech in Far West, "I will be for this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was the Koran or the sword. So shall it be with us, Joseph Smith or the sword." Sharing similar names for their gods, Mormons use "Elohim" or "Eloah", titles mistaken for names, transliterated from Hebrew. Islam uses the Arabic form, "Allah". Abanes could've also highlighted other parallels; e.g., extra scripture authored by the new prophet, storing up polygamous wives in paradise, celestial sex, and more recently an aversion to alcohol and fixations over facial hair.

Abanes instead contrasts Mormonism to Christianity. Although he states otherwise, Abanes appears to validate Christianity at the expense of Mormonism. Rejecting Mormonism as faith requires the unbiased use of Scripture. Abanes uses only selected passages to illuminate Mormonism's countless sins, and none to illuminate countless sins of Christianity. For example, Abanes cites Torah (the Law) for sins involving polygamous Mormon sisters marrying the same man, and where Mormon families contain wives of mother-daughter or even grandmother-mother-daughter combinations. However, if Christians knew to keep divine Law, these citations would be superfluous. The fact is that Christians are as much strangers to Torah as Mormons are. Albeit violating the Law is the Scriptural definition of sin [1Jo 3:4], many Christians give up reading their bible, because it's perceived to be an antiquated, unreal invention, against their everyday practices and their churches' teachings.

Unfortunately for Abanes, Mormons, and other Christians, the Jewish Messiah is the last old-style prophet (Mat 21:37). Following His resurrection, predictions are for the Word's departure [Amo 8:9-12], and for the rise of many false prophets, e.g., rabbis, popes, Augustine, Mohammed, Jeanne d'Arc, Luther, Calvin, Smith, Miller, Graham. They are predestined to confound the world [Mat 24:11]. Early messianic-believers were a Torah-observant movement within Judea; they didn't call themselves Christians - others did that [Vine's Expository Dictionary (VED): "Christian"]. After being passive to Roman invasion and being rejected by aggressive Jewish sects, the post-Apostolic Church Fathers attained social relevance by twisting their message into a partial correction for Greco-Roman mythology and mysticism. These are they who called themselves Christians. They discarded Scripture, replacing it with man-made laws, dietary observances, sabbaths, calendars, etc. [Col 2:8]. Christianity's many sects, including Mormonism, are rooted in partial corrections to corruption, not from any restoration.

Abanes must not completely comprehend the Messiah's role to restore all things. Or, that a Judaism (or other world "-isms"), sponsoring extra-scriptural and unscriptural commands, confronts the Messiah [Luk 16:31], Yahushua. Not wasting His time on Earth correcting corruption, His restoration is the call for true repentance and the promotion of the Law exactly as prescribed by Mosheh's writings [Mat 8:4]. He obeys the Law, meaning 'do not sin', and exhorts everyone else to adhere [Jhn 5:14], within the context of the Law's intent, i.e., as a subset to the two great commands [Mat 22:40]. Through His sacrifice, the repentant are assured that the 'consequences' of the Law [Col 2:14, Greek: cheirographon, handwriting - metaphor for 'penalty' Dan 5:5], i.e., death, not the Law itself [Mat 5:18], will be removed through the generosity (grace) of the Father [Rom 6:23], Yahuweh. (Here, Christians substitute "The Lord" [bible prefaces], which in turn defines "Baal" [Easton's Bible Dictionary: "Baal"].) Rather than harmonize Scriptural themes, Christians seek to undo the Messiah through misinterpretation, especially of Sha'ul's writings [2Pe 3:16]. Sha'ul wrote about spiritual self-actualization, and always in context of keeping the Law [Rom 6:15], not for self-justification, but as the given outcome of right living [Rom 3:31].

Abanes should know that faithful men of Israel wear full beards [Lev 19:27], in part symbolizing their 'freedom in the Law'. As slaves they were symbolically clean-shaven. Radical Islam is fixated on an extra-scriptural, minimum beard length. Conversely, modern Mormons fixate on unscriptural beard shaving; further codifying the Christian misinterpretation of liberty as 'freedom from the Law'. Christians reject grafting-in to a previously existing Israel [Rom 11:21]. Rather than accept invitations to enter, they embrace dispensationalism; inventing substitute Israels and worshipping substitute messiahs [Greek: antichristos], e.g., a laissez-faire "Jesus". And, instead of keeping the Law with a renewed spirit of understanding [Col 3:10], they disavow it by contriving distinctions between the moral and the ceremonial. In this endeavor they will never reach agreement, because there is no Scriptural distinction between moral and ceremonial Law [VED: "Law"], now [1Cr 5:8], or in the future [Zec 14:16].

Given his unusual intelligence, Abanes might undertake an opposing view, by looking for positive comparisons between Mormonism and Christianity. Perhaps he'll recognize Mormonism as the flower of Christian ideals. By relying on their own imaginary testimonies, revelations and consciences, Mormons fully achieve the Christian objective of sidestepping Scriptural authority. Abanes might well see that Mormon mythology presses Christian theory to its ultimate dead-end. Even more than mainstream Christians, their faith and vanity imbues them with ultimate authority to decide good and evil, unworthiness for which our parents were cast into the wilderness. Mormons ardently believe the serpent's lie that they are elohim (as gods). Their error is celebrated in the oft maligned, now largely concealed Adam-god doctrine.

Thus, there is only one true conclusion to any objective comparative religion analysis. Without the rationalizations required to support Christianity, Mormonism could not exist.