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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/Those Power-Hungry Mormons
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Those Power-Hungry Mormons
| Divining rods to Kimball and Young | A FAIR Analysis of: One Nation Under Gods, a work by author: Richard Abanes
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Distorted account of three degrees of glory |
Author's Claims
One Nation under Gods, page 95 (hardback and paperback)
I heard [Martin Harris] make this statement, that there would never be another president of the United States elected; That soon all temporal and spiritual power would be given over to the prophet Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saints. His extravagant statements were the laughing stock of the people of Palmyra.74
Author's Sources
Endnote 74, page 522 (hardback and paperback)
74. Chandler, reprinted in Vogel, vol. 3, 222-223.
Question: Did Martin Harris state that there would never be another president of the United States elected?
Albert Chandler, 68 years after the fact, claimed that Martin Harris stated that Latter-day Saints would "rule the world"
From the very beginning of the Church there have been members, and leaders alike, who have spoken their own opinions. What they have said constituted their own thoughts but did not have any official sanction.
A fuller quotation of the source will help to put Martin's comments into proper perspective. On 22 December 1898 (68 years after the fact) Albert Chandler said:
I should think that Martin Harris, after becoming a convert, gave up his entire time to advertising the [Golden] Bible to his neighbors and the public generally in the vicinity of Palmyra. He would call public meetings and address them himself. He was enthusiastic, and went so far as to say that God, through the Latter Day Saints, was to rule the world. I heard him make this statement, that there would never be another president of the United States elected; That soon all temporal and spiritual power would be given over to the prophet Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saints. His extravagant statements were the laughing stock of the people of Palmyra. His stories were hissed at, universally.
If Chandler was remembering things accurately after such a long period of time then his reminiscence only signifies that Martin Harris had an opinion on the matter
If Chandler was remembering things accurately after such a long period of time then his reminiscence only signifies that Martin Harris acted on his own to hold meetings and expressed his own private opinion about the nearness of the Millennium. The Latter-day Saints were not the only Christians who believed that God would rule the world and administer His government through righteous individuals who were associated with His kingdom.
Notes