Dear Gramps,

How can leaders of the Mormon church claim to have divine prophetic influence when they are fooled by the forgeries of Mark Hofmann. Mark Hofmann forged church history related documents such as the salamander letters that made Joseph Smith the so called prophet look bad. The church bought these forgeries for thousands of dollars and kept it secret from the rest of members of the Mormon church. Again, how can the leaders of the LDS church proclaim prophetic wisdom when they were fooled by these forgeries? Where is God to reveal the truth to them? How do you feel about the dishonesty of the church leaders in hiding said forgeries from other members of the Mormon church? Could they be keeping information about Joseph Smith’s fraudulent nature secret to this day? What say you gramps?

Anonymous, from St. George, Utah

Dear Mr. Anonymous from St. George,

First, let me ask you a couple of questions. I’m impressed with how definitive you are about the Mormon Church keeping secret the Hofmann forgeries, when nothing could be farther from the truth. I’m also impressed that you would make such an accusation when you, yourself are so secretive about who you are. Of what are you so ashamed that you dare not have your name associated with your ribald accusations? Further, if the Mormon Church kept the Hofmann forgeries secret from its members, how did you become privy to this information?

Let me see if I can list your accusations against the Mormon Church.

1. The Mormon Church was fooled by the Hofmann forgeries.

2. You refer to Joseph Smith as a so called prophet.

3. The Mormon Church kept the Hofmann forgeries secret from the rest of the members of the Mormon Church.

4. How can the leaders of the LDS Church proclaim prophetic wisdom when they were fooled by these forgeries.

5. Where is God to reveal the truth to them? (Frankly, I don’t understand this question.)

6. How do I feel about the dishonesty of church leaders in hiding the forgeries from the other members?

7. Could they be keeping information about Joseph Smith’s fraudulent nature secret to this day?

Questions 1. and 4. are related. I’ll treat them together. From your questions it is perfectly obvious that you know nothing about the principal of revelation from God to his servants. You seem to imply that God has some sort of an email connection to his prophets and continually advises them on all things that they should be doing. That is analogous to the idea that if you were a school teacher you would expect an all-knowing parent to telegraph to you all that their children are doing in school, when you could much more easily ask the kids themselves It was easy enough for the officials of the Church to work through an investigation of the Hofmann papers to determine that they were forgeries, which is just what they did.

Question 2. You refer to Joseph Smith as a so-called prophet. You are undoubtedly unread on the subject that you are condemning. Do you not know of the hundreds of prophecies that the prophet Joseph Smith has made that have already been fulfilled, and are now historical fact?

Question 3. Apparently you expected the Church to publish daily bulletins in the newspapers advising the public of their step-by-step procedures in working through the investigation of the papers. I’m sure that you do not expect such a play-by-play account of any other legal, scientific or exploratory investigation. As soon as the facts were known they were made available. Your grossly unfair accusation on this point does nothing more than reveal that you have some ax to grind against the Mormon Church. Why is it, again, that you dare not disclose your identity?

6. How do I feel about the dishonesty of church leaders in hiding the forgeries from the other members? Of course you must know in your heart that the leaders of the Mormon Church are NOT dishonest. That sort of an accusation can only come from some embittered soul, who, perhaps from his own dishonesty, may have been chastened by those in authority.

7. Could they be keeping information about Joseph Smith’s fraudulent nature secret to this day?

Again, a completely fabricated accusation, as there is not the slightest bit of evidence that could point to anything dishonest about the prophet Joseph Smith, who actually gave his life for the truth, knowing in advance that he would be martyred. It is heart-wrenching to hear him martyred anew in the face of a history that confirms him without any doubt to be all that he proclaimed that he was–called by God Himself, as was Moses, to restore again the true gospel of Jesus Christ and establish anew God’s kingdom on the earth, with the commission to warn the world and prepare the Saints for the second coming of the great Jehovah as He initiates his great Millennial reign.

Gramps