From: press2@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barry.o.olson)
Subject: McLellin Collection Suppressed PT 10 of 10
Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 03:57:55 GMT
Keywords: Tanner Nov. Newsletter/Hoffman bombings/suppresion



This is the tenth article broken down into 10 parts from Gerald
and Sandra Tanner's November "Salt Lake City Messanger" newsletter.
For those who need this info and couldn't obtain by hard-copy.
This is an FYI only production. Critique as you like.



SALT LAKE CITY MESSENGER          (Issue #83 - November 1992)
Utah Lighthouse Ministry
Po Box 1884,
Salt Lake City, Utah 84110


        Mormon Leaders Suppress "Key" Item in Murder Case
  The True McLellin Documents Found in First Presidency's Vault!



        It appears that if the Mormon Church was ever led by
revelation, it has been lacking since Mark Hofmann came into the
church offices with the Anthon transcript. The inability of
Mormon leaders to detect the religious fraud perpetrated upon
them raises a question with regard to their testimony regarding
the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. After all, if they could
not determine that Hofmann's documents -- which were supposed to
be only 150 years old--were forgeries, how can we trust their
judgment with regard to a record which is supposed to be ten
times as old?

        The reader will remember that Apostle McConkie maintained
that "the Spirit is giving direct and daily revelation to the
presiding Brethren in the administration of the affairs of the
Church." One would think that if such revelation was in
operation, Mark Hofmann would have been exposed years before the
bombings. With regard to the inability of the Mormon leaders to
detect that the Hofmann documents were fraudulent, a person might
argue that these documents were not really important spiritual
writings, and therefore the Lord did not see fit to intervene
when the General Authorities examined them. The truth of the
matter, however, is that they contained extremely important
material directly relating to spiritual affairs. The Salamander
letter, for example, changed the story of the Angel Moroni
appearing to Joseph Smith to that of a cantankerous and tricky
"old spirit" who transformed himself from a white salamander and
struck Joseph Smith. Mormon Apostle Dallin Oaks tried to
reconcile the Salamander letter with Joseph Smith's account by
saying: "One wonders why so many writers neglected to reveal to
their readers that there is another meaning of 'salamander,'
which may even have been the primary meaning... That meaning...
is 'a mythical being thought to be able to live in fire.'... A
being that is able to live in fire is a good approximation of the
description Joseph Smith gave of the Angel Moroni.. the use of
the words white salamander and old spirit seem understandable."
("1985 CES Doctrine and Covenants Symposium," pages 22-23) After
the Salamander letter was proclaimed a forgery, Apostle Oaks must
have been very embarrassed that he ever made such an outlandish
statement.

        Significantly, some of the purported Joseph Smith
writings which Hofmann sold to the church contain revelations
from the Lord himself. For instance, the Joseph Smith III
Blessing document gives this message from the Lord: "Verily, thus
saith the Lord: if he abides in me, his days shall be lengthened
upon the earth, but, if he abides not in me, I, the Lord will
receive him, in an instant, unto myself."

        Mark Hofmann also forged an 1838 Joseph Smith letter to
his brother, Hyrum, which the Mormon Church purchased in 1983.
This letter was in its entirety a revelation purporting to come
from the Lord. It begins with the words, "Verily thus Saith the
Lord," and ends with the word "Amen." The fact that Mormon
leaders were not able to recognize the spurious nature of these
revelations casts doubt upon their ability to discern the
truthfulness of the other revelations given by Joseph Smith.

        The church has always claimed that it is virtually
impossible for a person to write a revelation that would compare
with Joseph Smith's. It now appears, however, that here is
someone who can write revelations comparable to Joseph Smith's
and that it is even possible to get them past the scrutiny of the
highest leadership of the Mormon Church.

        As we have noted earlier, another thing that shows the
church's lack of revelation in times of crisis is the way the
rediscovery of the McLellin collection was handled. President
Spencer W. Kimball died about three weeks after the bombings, and
Ezra Taft Benson became the 13th prophet on Nov. 10, 1985. It was
only four months after Benson became president of the church that
the McLellin collection was found in the First Presidency's
vault. On page 250 of his book, Richard Turley affirms that this
information was reported to the First Presidency in March 1986.

        One would think that at this vital period in the church's
history President Benson, "the living prophet," would have
had the insight to inform the other members of the First
Presidency that the McLellin collection must be made
available to investigators. Instead of Benson receiving the
word of the Lord to point the church in the proper way, it
seems that the heavens were silent and the Mormon leaders
were left to their own devices. While there are probably some
Mormons who would suggest that President Benson was led
by the Lord to suppress the discovery, we believe that most
members of the church would feel that such an idea would be
unthinkable.

        Some may excuse Benson's failure in this matter by saying
that he was too advanced in age to deal with such problems. While
there may be some truth in such an argument (he was 86 years old
at that time and just recently turned 93), this explanation does
not provide much comfort to the faithful. If Benson is not really
capable of leading the church through revelation, who is in
control? Although there were six General Authorities in the
Mormon Church who were informed about this matter, none of them
stepped forward to help investigators!

        Although Apostle Dallin Oaks would have us believe that
"Criticism is particularly objectionable when it is directed
toward Church authorities," there seems to be no way to get
around the fact that they must bear a great deal of the
responsibility in the Hofmann affair. If they had been open and
forthright about historical documents, Mr. Hofmann would not have
approached them with his blackmail-like documents with the idea
of filling his pockets with the church's money. Hofmann's
knowledge of the fact that church leaders were anxious to keep
anything embarrassing from falling into the hands of church
critics set the stage for the tragic events which followed.

        We understand that Lynn Packer, the man who brought to
light the story concerning Paul Dunn's deception, was working on
the story concerning the rediscovery of the McLellin even before
we became aware of it. It is reported that his article on the
subject may appear in the November issue of _Utah Holiday_
magazine. We are looking forward to this article.

        Those who wish to know more about the Mark Hofmann case
should obtain our books, _Tracking the White Salamander_ and
_Confessions of a White Salamander_. Both books are now available
in one volume for only $6.95 (mail orders add $1.50 minimum
postage). ------
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