Recently while browsing Youtube, I stumbled across this beautiful musical hymn which sent a chill, a frightening chill, up my spine. I couldn't get over just how beautiful it sounded, in fact, listen to it for yourself before continuing.
But as you listened to the words, did you not also get another feeling? A chill? Maybe a feeling that overruled the beautiful sense you first had? No doubt, and for good reason. Make no mistake, brothers and sisters, the Mormon Church holds Joseph Smith in a very bright light - not in the same veneration we give to Our Blessed Mother, for we would not dare attribute to her the same power and glorification the Mormons give to Smith.
What true Catholic, or Greek Orthodox Bishop, has at any time said of Mary or any other Saint:
"Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again."
Ascended to heaven? Not even this word, "ascended", is spoken of concerning Mary, nor any Christian. No man has ascended to the Father, Our Blessed Lord tells us, but one Man, Jesus Himself, He alone has and ever will ascend. Mary was assumed, raptured away if you will, as was Enoch and Elijah, and the body of Moses, but none of these ever Ascended. We must be quite careful in our language concerning the praises given to human beings, lest we attribute to them the same attributes which God alone holds. Some He chooses to share with us; for instance, He alone is King, yet David was called a king, He alone is the Shepherd, but this same title He gives to His Apostles, He alone is the Advocate, but He calls all men to be 'little advocates' for each other, to join their prayers and sufferings to the All-Holy Prayer and Suffering of Christ. Never shall any Pope be called a Priest After Melchizadek's Order, nor will any man ever say that he will mingle with the Gods. Ah, the Gods. By this very gross admission the souls of many Mormons will find themselves damned - and it was for this very gross admission that the Blood of Jesus was shed, and His Sacred Heart Beat with Sorrow, knowing full well the glory due to Him would be given to others, while He Himself be rejected by those whom He loves. Was it any wonder Brigham Young declared no man may enter heaven unless he have the consent of Joseph Smith? Was it any wonder the early Mormons proclaimed Smith a God, certainly not the God they could worship (unless some Revelation told them so) but a God who was worshiped on some other world? Even kings and nations will revere him, with such reverence one would be confused as to whether this man is a second God veiled in human flesh. Make no mistake: were the Revelation allegedly given to the Mormon Church, they would worship the man in the same way God is to be adored.
"Great is his glory and endless his priesthood.
Ever and ever the keys he will hold.
Faithful and true he will enter his kingdom,
Crowned in the midst of the prophets of old"
These verses are a great mockery, since it is Christ alone who holds the endless Priesthood, the Keys of Death and Hell are His, the Master-Key which is in His possession, but yet this same glory is given to Joseph Smith. It is Joseph's kingdom which he will enter - not the Kingdom of God - but Joseph's kingdom, and after reading this do you really believe such language is to be found in true Christianity?
"Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven;
Earth must atone for the blood of that man.
Wake up the world for the conflict of justice.
Millions shall know 'Brother Joseph' again"
And how will the earth atone? Is a martyr one who fights against his enemies, killing some of them? Or is a martyr one who willingly lets down his guards and lets his enemies shed his blood for the sake of Christ? Is a martyr one who goes against God's own Revelation before his death, as Joseph did by drinking wine to dull the senses even when God alledgedly said no alcoholic drink should be consumed in the Word of Wisdom? And this man is hailed with a praise so eerily similar to that given to Christ? What sacrifice will bring forth the blessings of heaven, if not the Sacrifice given at Calvary, made present at every Mass and Divine Liturgy? The sacrifices of martyrs are joined to that of Christ, but Smith's death is no sacrifice, as he is no martyr, and as he denied the very God, the very Christ, we adore and worship and pay the highest homage, his death could in no way be joined to Christ's.
Did the man who secretly wed other married women truly commune with Jehovah? This man whom history clearly and loudly declares engaged in black arts and lied so many times his 'testimony' was so confusing that "Prophets" after him had the task of trying to straighten it out to keep it credible?
But do you see how deception is arrayed with beauty? The song is beautiful, but its message is most blasphemous, and takes away any beauty the music could bring.
But here is the Music of all Ages, the Divine Music that regenerates men's dead spirits and gives life to those who are longing for something higher than themselves. When He said from the Cross, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do," the Music was sung throughout the Universe, to the point where the saints in Abraham's Bosom marveled and the angels stilled. This was not a phrase that suddenly entered His mind as He hung on the tree, but it was the very reason why He endured, the very summit of the Divine Plan. In essence, He was saying, "Father, see your only Son standing as a Ransom for many. Do not lay Your fierce hand against them, for all who are cleansed in My blood are with Me. Let this Blood which I have spilt be the Ransom which You and I and the Holy Spirit decreed would unite Mankind with Ourselves. This is why what I came to do: Father, forgive them, and remember Your only Son's blood; forgive them." These word, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do," were the opening verses of the Greatest Song ever written. And in awaiting our response, we - the Choir - do by His divine grace sing, "Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." His is the Beauty that is forever, the Beauty that is unchanging, for it is already Perfect, and His is the Music that leads us to Dance with Him the Dance of Ages, where in His arms He leads us beyond the Grave of Sin and Eternal Death to the Gateway of Glory and Eternal Life. And as He leads us in the Dance, He sings into our hearts from His Heart, "Behold, I stand at the Door and knock, and to him that hears and opens, I will enter in, and sup with him, and he with Me, and he will sit with Me on My Throne." And as He presents us to the Father, the Father and Holy Ghost and the Son sing with Perfect Unison the Final Note, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
Such a Grace is easy, and cannot be obtained by mankind in Original Sin. But to exalt men as Joseph Smith, who obtained a false glory of men, by preaching against the Church of Christ, and against the Christ who built that Church, will lead to the destruction of the soul. The man deserves no praise, neither was he a prophet, but the Man Christ, who is not only Prophet but God, deserves the Highest Form of Worship and Praise every fiber of our beings can give to Him. And the wonderful Music which comes from Himself will never fade, because He is the "Dance and will still go on."
If this does nothing except rekindle the realization that there are thousands on the wide path to hell, then this post has been good for something. Deception is clouded in beauty, a substitute for the True Beauty found only in the Passion of Christ. Not only Mormons, but all men need to know this True Beauty, offered to God the Father on our behalf at Calvary, this "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
"We will necessarily add this also. Proclaiming the death, according to the flesh, of the only-begotten Son of God, that is Jesus Christ, confessing his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into heaven, we offer the unbloody sacrifice in the churches, and so go on to the mystical thanksgivings, and are sanctified, having received his holy flesh and the precious blood of Christ the Savior of us all. And not as common flesh do we receive it; God forbid: nor as of a man sanctified and associated with the Word according to the unity of worth, or as having a divine indwelling, but as truly the life-giving and very flesh of the Word himself. For he is the life according to his nature as God, and when he became united to his flesh, he made it also to be life-giving" (Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, Session 1, Letter of Cyril to Nestorius; A.D. 431)
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