                         LDS statements concerning the Negro
                         -----------------------------------

   It was no less an authority than Brigham Young who uttered these
words, as scripture, about the Negro during the era of slavery:

    "Cain conversed with God every day, and knew all about the plan
    of creating this earth, for his father told him.  But for the
    want of humility, and through jealousy, and an anxiety to possess
    the kingdom, and to have the whole of it under his own control,
    and not allow any body else the right to say one word,what did he
    do?  He killed his brother. The Lord put a mark on him...  When
    all the other children of Adam have had the privilege of
    receiving the Priesthood, and of coming into the kingdom of God,
    and of being redeemed from the four quarters of the earth, and
    have received their resurrection from the dead, then it will be
    time enough to remove the curse from Cain and his posterity.  He
    deprived his brother of the privilege of pursuing the his journey
    through life, and of extending his kingdom by multiplying upon
    the earth; and because he did this, he is the last to share in
    the joys of the kingdom of God."
  
                                 Joseph Fielding Smith
                        quoting Young's Journal of Discourses,
                                   vol.2, pp.142-143
                     in his book "The Way of Perfection", p. 106

   To summarize Smith's quote of Young, the conditions of the curse
being removed from the Negro are as follows:

   1) When all the other children of Adam (Adam was the God of the
Mormons as Young preached at that time) have had the privilege of
receiving the Priesthood.

   2) When all the other children of Adam (Mormons) have been
resurrected.

   The question is put forth then: has every Mormon received the
Priesthood and resurrection?  If so, then the Negro nations should be
receiving the full emphasis of Mormon missionary work.  Since that isn't
the case, then the "revelation" of Young, and affirmed by Fielding Smith,
is false and the manifesto of 1978(?) is also false or in direct
contradiction of the prophets.

   The words of Wilford Woodruff, also a former "prophet, seer, and
revelator" of the LDS had this to day:

    "President Woodruff, in his journal, records the words of
    President Young as follows:

    The Lord said I will not kill Cain, but I will put a mark upon
    him, and that mark will be seen upon the face of every negro upon
    the face of the earth; and it is the decree of God that the mark
    shall remain upon the seed of Cain until the seed of Abel shall
    be redeemed' and Cain shall not receive the priesthood, until the
    time of that redemption.  Any man having one drop of the seed of
    Cain in him cannot receive the priesthood; but the day will come
    when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings
    which we now have."
  
                          "Wilford Woodruff-History of His
                              Life and Labors", p. 351

   Here we have Pres. Woodruff affirming yet again the "revelations" of
the black as uttered by the mouth of Brigham Young.  Here are some other
words from other Mormon leaders/sources that carry on the tradition of
the Mormon/Negro position:

    "Negroes in this life are denied the priesthood; under no
    circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the
    Almighty.  The gospel message of salvation is not carried
    affirmatively to them...  Negroes are not equal to other races
    where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are
    concerned...."

                                      Bruce R. McConkie
                                   "Mormon Doctrine", p.527

    "Think of the Negro, cursed as to the Priesthood...  This negro,
    who, in the pre-existence lived the type of life which justified
    the Lord in sending Him to the earth in the lineage of Cain with
    a black skin, and possible being born in darkest Africa- if that
    negro is willing when he hears the gospel to accept it, he may
    have many of the blessings of the gospel.  In spite of all he did
    in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro
    accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really
    converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of
    the Holy Ghost.  If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can
    and will enter the celestial kingdom.  He will go there as a
    servant, but he will get celestial glory."

                        "Race Problems-As the Affect the Church"
                              Address by Mark E. Petersen at
                               the Convention of Teachers of
                               Religion on the college level,
                          Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
                                     August 27, 1954


    "Frankly, sincerely, and somewhat abruptly, President Brigham
    Young has told us that the mark of Cain was a 'blackskin.'  For
    the Latter-day Saint no further explanation is required....  The
    question as to what the mark of Cain was, and is, is thus
    answered - a black skin for him and his posterity."

                                "The Church and the Negro",
                                       1967, p. 13-14

    "Cain slew his brother.  Cain might have been killed, and that
    would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This
    was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon the him, which is the
    flat nose and black skin."

                                  "Journal of Discourses"
                                        Vol.7, p.290
                                Delivered October 16, 1859

     The following, taken from an LDS Sunday School book, puts the LDS
position on the black in it's real context and meaning:

    "We will first inquire into the results of the approbation or
    displeasure of God upon a people, starting with the belief that a
    black skin is a mark of the curse of heaven placed upon some
    portions of mankind.  Some, however, will argue that a blackskin
    is not a curse, nor a white skin a blessing.  In fact some have
    been so FOOLISH AS TO BELIEVE AND SAY that a black skin is a
    blessing, and that the negro is the finest type of a perfect man
    that exists on the earth but to us SUCH TEACHINGS ARE
    FOOLISHNESS.  We understand that when God made man in his own
    image and pronounced him very good, THAT HE MADE HIM WHITE.  We
    have no record of any of God's favored servants BEING OF A BLACK
    RACE.  All his prophets and apostles belonged to the most
    handsome race on the face of the earth -Israel, who still, as
    represented in the scattered tribe of Judah, bear the impress of
    their former beauty.  In this race was born His Son Jesus, who,we
    are told was very lovely, and "in the express image of His
    Father's person," and every angel who ever brought a message of
    God's mercy to man was beautiful to look upon, clad in the purest
    white and with a countenance as bright as the noonday sun."

                                   "Juvenile Instructor"
                                       vol.3, p. 157

   As you see, even God is described as a white man as was Jesus, and
the notion of the negro being a blessed race "foolishness."  And this in
a sunday school book being taught to children.

   There are many more examples, but this gives the gist of the basis
of their doctrine: the mere utterances of men during a time of the US
where the black was regarded as no better than dirt and relegated to
slavery.  Even Petersen's words give a new twist: the Negro, if he
accepts the LDS way and is faithful, will still be slaves ("servants") in
the celestial heaven to the white exalted gods and other whites of said
heaven.  Couple that with the non-fulfillment of Young's "revelation" of
the black redemption and that it hasn't happened, and the 1978 revocation
of the tradition in contradiction to the prophet's "revelations" sets the
LDS in rather a bad light as they can't rightly explain, nor justify,
their continued racism against the black.

   Their own BOM contradicts their theology:

    "Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake
    of his goodness?  Behold I say unto you NAY; BUT ALL MEN ARE
    PRIVILEGED THE ONE LIKE UNTO THE OTHER, AND NONE ARE FORBIDDEN."
    (emphasis mine)

   
                                     2 Nephi 26:28

    "...and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of
    men; and he inviteth ALL to come unto him and partake of his
    goodness; AND HE DENIETH NONE THAT COME UNTO HIM, BLACK AND
    WHITE, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the
    heathen; AND ALL ARE ALIKE UNTO GOD, BOTH JEW AND GENTILE."
    (emphasis mine)

                                        2 Nephi 26:33

   Even former President Joseph Fielding Smith admitted there was
no "scriptural basis" for the Negro doctrine:

    "...We know of no such statement in any revelation in the
    'Doctrine and Covenants', the 'Book of Mormon' or the Bible."

                                    "The Improvement Era"
                                       Vol. 27, p. 565

   Even David O. McKay, another former president, tried to evade the
issue of scripturality by reasoning it to their "pre-existence" doctrine:

  
    "...however, I believe...that the real reason dates back to our
    pre-existent life." 

                                "Mormonism and the Negro"
                                     Part Two, p. 19
  
     The reader must agree with Smith that there is no scriptural basis,
LDS or otherwise, for their doctrine on the Negro.

   It seems that the LDS will have a lot to account for in disobeying
God's word (as the BOM is purported to be) in their doctrine on the
black.  As the above BOM verses state, no blessing of God is to be denied
to anyone who accepts God, that means the Negro is entitled to the Mormon
Priesthood just as much as the white Mormon enjoys it.  Therefore, the
LDS doctrine on the Negro is no more than a doctrine of prejudiced men,
and not of God.

   The Bible is also clear as to the blessings of God not knowing race,
creed, skin color, social status, etc.:

    "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 
    For as many of you as have been baptized Christ have put on
    Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond
    nor free, there is neither male nor female; FOR YE ARE ALL ONE IN
    CHRIST JESUS.  And if ye be Christs, then ye are Abraham's seed,
    and heirs according to the promise." (emphasis mine)

                                        Galatians 3:26-29

     Here, Paul is describing the lack of any barrier based on sex,
status, race, etc., to those who are part of Christ's church and who have
Christ as Lord.

    "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man
    with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in
    knowledge after the image of him that created him; where there is
    neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
    Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, BUT CHRIST IS ALL, AND IN
    ALL." (emphasis mine)

                                      Colossians 3:9-11

   The same declaration as in Galatians.  There are no divisions of
class, etc., in the body of christian believers.  All are equal in God's
sight and entitled to the same blessings.

   There are other scriptures to affirm this point.  See Colossians
1:20-23, 27-28, 2:9-10, and the capping scripture, Acts 10:9-33 where God
reveals that there is nothing unclean that God has cleansed (meaning
Gentiles to the Jew) and all are eligible to receive God's blessings.

   In summary: the LDS doctrine on the Negro is a farce, it has no
scriptural basis, and it is perpetuated to this day because of prejudice
and the desire of exclusiveness in the organization and to keeping the
black in the position of slave.  My interpretation is not of any part of
this.  The words are self evident, and the Greek of the New Testament is
self-explanatory.  One need only consult a Greek lexicon of the Bible and
use it with an interlinear to discover the true meanings of the Greek
texts.

                                                 Ken Simmons
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