[The reason I added this page was because I got sick and tired of getting e-mail after e-mail from faithful Mormons who were convinced that I must have left "The Church" because I was either offended by someone or because I "couldn't live the gospel". They are so convinced that Mormonism is true that they can't conceive of the possibility that someone would leave the Church solely because it isn't true. I've told countless Mormons, "It's easier to see the truth when you stop assuming you already have it".]

Bicentennial Boy

By Mike Norton

I was born in June 1968 in Greenville, South Carolina to Gayle and JoAnn Norton. My father was as Mormon as they came. His parents were Mormons as were their parents before them and as far as I know, their parents were before them. My mother was a convert to the LDS Church around 1954 when she was just 22 years old.

We were very active in the Church and I have fond memories of going to church 3 times a week back in the early 1970's (this was before the 3 hour block now held once a week). We went to Sacrament Meeting early on Sunday morning and Sunday School in the afternoon. Primary was held after school every Tuesday, a weekly activity that I always looked forward to. One of my fondest memories as a child was going with my father and a couple of my brothers to the supermarket at a ridiculously early time one Monday morning in the mid 1970's the day after a General Conference in which more than one of the speakers had emphasized the need for a generous supply of food storage. I witnessed my father buy more food in one shopping trip than I had ever seen my mother purchase in two months. He took my brothers and I along to help push the multiple shopping carts he needed for his instant year supply of food. Needless to say, the stock in our pantry rivaled that of most small convenience stores.

There was never a time when my family was even remotely inactive in our church attendance. Both of my parents were very active and had held various callings in the Church during my youth. For a number of years my mother served as the Relief Society President and my father had held several callings in church leadership as well.

Growing up LDS meant that I would be baptized as soon as possible following my 8th birthday. The ward we lived in at the time in California tried to hold all baptisms on Sunday and the first Sunday following my 8th birthday happened to fall on July 4th, 1976, the bicentennial of America. I remember thinking that this was pretty cool. My father kept calling me "Bicentennial Boy" that day and he told me that the whole country would be celebrating my baptism that evening with fireworks. I knew that wasn't the real reason for the big celebration that day but it made me feel pretty special none the less.

I look back now and can appreciate the irony of joining a religion that discouraged intellectualism and free thinking on the same day the country was celebrating it's independence from tyranny and repression. Little did I know at that young age how far removed I was from true independence. My parents divorced when I was 12 and I had a brief fling with inactivity and smoking cigarettes when I was 15 years old due to a poor choice of friends. I was living with my mother in Colorado at this time and one of my older brothers (who I was especially fond of) found out about my smoking and church inactivity so he convinced my mother to let me move to Utah to live with him while he went to Utah State University so that he could try and whip me into shape. My mother was aghast at the thought of her precious baby smoking cigarettes and allowed my brother to do his best to try and steer me away from the path of ill refute that I appeared to be on .

I moved to Utah with my brother and in short time stopped my 6 month smoking habit and started attending church again. A short time later, at the age of 17, while working at a fast food restaurant I met 16 year old Shalise Salvesen, the girl who would one day become my wife and the mother of my children. I was instantly smitten with Shalise and, only half jokingly, asked her to marry me within a couple hours of meeting her. She said "No" and informed me that her current boyfriend wouldn't approve. She eventually came around to my way of thinking and we were married in the Logan LDS Temple on December 16, 1989, just 6 weeks after I was honorably released from serving a full time mission in Southern California.

My decision to serve on a mission was a hard one as I was desperately in love with Shalise and was convinced that she would find another guy and fall in love and have a couple of kids by the time I returned from my mission. However, after receiving what I was certain was a powerful spiritual confirmation that I should serve a mission, I turned in my papers and left for the Missionary Training Center on September 23, 1987. Of the 6 boys in my family, 4 of us served on missions. It would be an understatement to say I loved my mission. At the time I felt that it was a wonderful experience that would be impossible to replace with any other activity.

While serving my mission I became quite familiar with what is commonly termed as "anti-Mormon" material. In fact, I developed quite the reputation in the mission field for having all the answers for any anti-Mormon questions any investigators could throw our way. I would occasionally receive a phone call from some sister missionary in the mission who needed an answer to a question that an investigator had given them. I don't recall ever being stumped by one of their questions. I would even occasionally acquire the home telephone number of some of the more famous (or perhaps infamous is the more appropriate word) anti-Mormons and screw with their heads by telling them that I had seriously investigated Mormonism and had come to the conclusion that it was true and that I was going to join it. One of them eventually caught on to my little charade and called my Mission President and ratted me out. I received a stern word of warning from the President and was told that I should avoid all anti-Mormons like the plague. I took his advice seriously and didn't go near anything even resembling anti-Mormon material for at least 13 years.

Upon returning from my mission my young bride and I wasted no time in starting a family and our first daughter was born just 13 months after we were married. Over the years we added 2 more children to our family. When our oldest daughter turned 8 I proudly baptized her and did my best to convince her that she should someday serve a mission for the church herself.

My wife and I held various callings in the wards we lived in over the years, one of my favorite being that of Ward Membership Clerk in the Logan (Utah) 1st Ward. In the fall of 2001, my wife and I were co-teachers of the Gospel Essentials class in our ward. We had a fairly regular attendance of recently reactivated members, a few investigators and a couple of members who just didn't care for the more boring Gospel Doctrine class.

One day, late in September 2001 I was searching online for an original Mark Hoffman forgery with the intent of purchasing it and hanging it in my home as an interesting conversation piece. I had an unusual interest in any items of any historical significance and Mark Hoffman was certainly an interesting figure in Mormon history. In the mid 1980's Hoffman had duped the highest ranking leaders of the LDS Church into purchasing hundreds of forged and stolen documents, almost all of which had something to do with early Mormon history. His biggest scam was the now famous "Salamander Letter" which Hoffman claimed was written by Book of Mormon witness Martin Harris. The letter reported a much darker, occult-like history for the origins of Mormonism. Hoffman and his forgeries were only exposed after he had killed two people in an effort to conceal his wrong doings. Hoffman will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the greatest forgers who ever lived. Although his horrible actions are nothing to be admired, his skill at forgery and his ability to fool even the best experts for years was an impressive feat.

Being a huge history buff and a very active and believing Mormon, I thought I should put my love of history and my love of the Church together and purchase an original Hoffman forgery of perhaps a Joseph Smith or Brigham Young document.

Little did I know that this simple internet search would be the beginning of the end for me and my association with the only church I had ever known.

My internet search turned up nothing in the way of Mark Hoffman forgeries but I did happen to run across an interesting "anti-Mormon" web page that told the story of the Kinderhook Plates. Briefly, the Kinderhook Plates were phony brass plates that were made up by enemies of the church with the intention of fooling Joseph Smith in 1843. They were successful. Joseph said of the bogus plates: "I have translated a portion of them, and find that they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of Heaven and earth." (History of the Church 5:372) Frankly, this story didn't really bother me. I was quite familiar with the Kinderhook Plates story from my study of anti-Mormon material and was quite familiar with the Church's response to this claim. The Church had run a rather lengthy article about it in the Ensign back in August, 1981. However, there was something odd about the anti-Mormon article that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I went online and carefully re-read the 1981 Ensign article and then re-read the anti-Mormon article again.

Then it hit me.

I had known for years that the Church's official stand on how Joseph Smith could've translated bogus plates was that there was "no direct evidence" that he actually translated the plates and the quote mentioned above that was attributed to Joseph Smith was actually written by Church member William Clayton in his personal journal.

The 1981 Ensign article said, "Although this account appears to be the writing of Joseph Smith, it is actually an excerpt from a journal of William Clayton. It has been well known that the serialized 'History of Joseph Smith' consists largely of items from other persons' personal journals and other sources, collected during Joseph Smith's lifetime and continued after the Saints were in Utah, then edited and pieced together to form a history of the Prophet's life 'in his own words.' It was not uncommon in the nineteenth century for biographers to put the narrative in the first person when compiling a biographical work, even though the subject of the biography did not actually say or write all the words attributed to him; thus the narrative would represent a faithful report of what others felt would be helpful to print. The Clayton journal excerpt was one item used in this way. For example, the words 'I have translated a portion 'originally read 'President J. has translated a portion...'

"Where the ideas written by William Clayton originated is unknown. However, as will be pointed out later, speculation about the plates and their possible content was apparently quite unrestrained in Nauvoo when the plates first appeared. In any case, this altered version of the extract from William Clayton's journal was reprinted in the Millennial Star of 15 January 1859, and, unfortunately, was finally carried over into official Church history when the 'History of Joseph Smith' was edited into book form as the History of the Church in 1909."(Stanley B. Kimball, "Kinderhook Plates Brought to Joseph Smith Appear to Be a Nineteenth-Century Hoax," Ensign, Aug. 1981, pp. 66)

After reading the web page about the Kinderhook Plates, I realized that the Ensign article had completely (and certainly intentionally) omitted the fact that William Clayton was acting as Joseph Smith's personal secretary at the time he made that journal entry. His so called "journal" more closely resembled a journal of Joseph Smith's activities than his own.

I was a little disappointed that the author of the Ensign article, Stanley B. Kimball, who was a professor of history at Southern Illinois University, would not just intentionally omit the role that William Clayton played in Joseph Smith's life at the time he made the journal entry in question, but dismiss the important role Clayton played in Joseph Smith's life altogether by saying, "Where the ideas written by William Clayton originated is unknown". That would be comparable to a historian 100 years from now taking some comments that Al Gore might attribute to Bill Clinton and saying, "Some Democrat claimed that President Clinton said such and such but there is no direct evidence that the comment was actually made by Mr. Clinton himself." To not mention Clayton's role as the Prophet's personal secretary was, in my opinion, an omission of a very relevant fact. The popular defense to the William Clayton journal entry that Mormon apologists use now is to simply dismiss his words as unreliable. Of course they fail to mention that Clayton's journal entries were reliable enough to be changed from a second hand account into a first hand account and placed in the Doctrine & Covenants as sections 130, 131 and 132. Much like the words of Brigham Young, anything that William Clayton said that was faith promoting or in accordance with current Church doctrines were deemed reliable and good enough to be called scripture but, anything that was said or written that might be a source of embarrassment is dismissed as unreliable or it is otherwise dismissed as inaccurate. Sadly, I would soon discover that it was the norm rather than the exception for Church historians to change or simply not report anything that was not "faith promoting".

Using only Church sources I investigated the Kinderhook Plate story as best I could. I found what I determined to be undeniable evidence that Joseph Smith did indeed translate the bogus Kinderhook Plates (I have since put this information online at www.josephlied.com/what.html).

However, even with my realization that Joseph Smith was obviously capable (and willing) to make up fake "translations" of things that he claimed were ancient texts, I was hardly willing at that point to toss my entire testimony of the church out the window. I was willing to accept the fact that Joseph Smith was a man who had an ego that wouldn't allow him to simply say "I can't read it" when given something that was purported to be ancient text. After all, Joseph Smith wasn't perfect. I remember thinking, "It wasn't like he had actually completed the translation of the Kinderhook Plates and the Church was now accepting them as scripture or anything like that." However, the thought that he was even capable of making up a fake "translation" of bogus plates really bothered me. I had to know if he had done it before with something that we did accept as scripture.

At this point I decided to seriously investigate the Book of Abraham. For anyone who may read this who isn't familiar with the Book of Abraham, let me give you a brief history of this particular piece of Mormon scripture. A man named Michael Chandler was traveling through the Eastern United States with about a dozen Egyptian mummies and a couple rolls of Egyptian papyri in the mid 1830's, occasionally selling a mummy here and there. By the time he reached Kirtland, Ohio in 1835 (where the Saints were currently gathered) he had four mummies and two scrolls of papyri left. He would charge people a nominal fee to let them view the papyri and mummies. It was brought to his attention that a local man (Joseph Smith) might be able to translate the papyri. When Joseph looked at it he claimed that one scroll was an account of Abraham (the same Abraham in the Old Testament) in Egypt and that it was written by Abraham's own hand. Joseph claimed that the other scroll was an account of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by his brothers and his travails in Egypt. This was quite a find indeed. Several Church members pooled their funds and bought the papyri for $2,400 and Joseph proceeded to "translate" the papyri that contained the story of Abraham in Egypt. (See History of the Church Vol. 2, pp. 235, 236, 348-351 for a more detailed account)

The "translation" of the papyri was published in the Times and Seasons (a Nauvoo newspaper) as the "Book of Abraham". At the time Joseph Smith "translated" the papyri, the ability to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics was in its infancy so there was nobody knowledgeable enough to dispute his claims.

In 1967, when the original papyri was found in a New York museum and turned over to the Church, every single legitimate Egyptologist that studied the Book of Abraham papyri came to the conclusion that it was nothing more than funerary text taken from the Book of Breathings/Book of the Dead. Even Mormon scholars agree that "...when one compares the text of the Book of Abraham with a translation of the Book of Breathings; they clearly are not the same." (Ensign, July 1988, pg. 51)

Since 1967 the church has come up with at least 10 different theories as to why Joseph's translation doesn't match the actual translation of the papyri. The most common excuse the Church has given over the past 3 decades is the opinion that we don't have all of the original papyri that Joseph Smith worked with and it is possible that the part of the papyri that Joseph actually translated the Book of Abraham from is still lost.

In an Ensign article from July, 1988, BYU employee Michael D. Rhodes wrote: "The Prophet described the papyrus he used in translation in these words: ''The record .. found with the mummies, is beautifully written on papyrus, with black, and a small part red, ink or paint, in perfect preservation.'' (History of the Church, 2:348.) The Book of Breathings papyrus has no writing in red ink and is in an extremely poor state of preservation. It must have been in much the same condition in Joseph Smith's day when fragments of it were glued haphazardly to other totally unrelated papyri." (Michael D. Rhodes, "I Have a Question," Ensign, July 1988, pp.51)

This was yet another example of the Church intentionally omitting certain details to make the facts fit their predetermined conclusion that the Church is true. In the Ensign article written by Michael Rhodes, he quoted Joseph Smith's description of the papyri but you'll notice that he omitted something in the sentence "The record .. found with the mummies, is beautifully written on papyrus, with black, and a small part red, ink or paint, in perfect preservation." This sentence originally read, "The record of Abraham and Joseph, found with the mummies, is beautifully written on papyrus, with black, and a small part red, ink or paint, in perfect preservation."

Mr. Rhodes had to have known that by removing those four little words ("of Abraham and Joseph") and then describing the quote from Joseph Smith as the Prophets' description for "...the papyrus he used in translation..." he was completely changing the original meaning of the quote from that of a general description of all of the Egyptian papyri to just a description of the papyri from which the Book of Abraham came from. The fact of the matter is that the scroll of papyri which Joseph Smith referred to as the "Book of Abraham" was in a state of poor preservation from the moment it fell into the Church's hands and had never contained any red ink. However, "...written on papyrus, with black, and a small part red, ink or paint, in perfect preservation" perfectly describes the untranslated scroll that was referred to as the "Book of Joseph".

Also, there is rock solid evidence that the papyri remains that are currently in the Church's possession to this day are the same scraps of papyri that Joseph Smith claimed to have translated into what is now known as the Book of Abraham.

I am still confused as to why the current "prophet, seer and revelator" of the Church doesn't use his ability as a "seer" to translate the papyri that Joseph Smith clearly identified as the "Book of Joseph". If he was in fact a true "Seer", Gordon B. Hinckley should have no trouble with such a task.

After reading numerous books I had bought at a local Deseret Bookstore and the hundreds of articles that had been written over the past 30 years in Church magazines (which can now be found online at www.lds.org), I had spent upwards of 16 hours a day for over a week studying everything I could find that had been put out by the Church on the subject of the Book of Abraham and I felt sick to my stomach at the undeniable conclusion; the "translation" of the Book of Abraham was as big of a fraud as Joseph Smith's partial "translation" of the Kinderhook Plates. The only real difference between the two was the fact that the Egyptian papyri had at least been an actual antiquity. However, it was an antiquity that was 2,000 years too recent to have been "written on by the hand of Abraham" and it was only Pagan funeral text anyways.

This was devastating news to me. I had never been more depressed in my life. I briefly debated the possibility of simply keeping my new found discovery to myself. The thought of telling my wife that I had discovered that Joseph Smith was a fraud made me want to cry. Frankly, my biggest fear was that she would divorce me and remain in the Church. After all, if she refused to listen to what I had found she would never accept the truth and, with an apostate husband by her side, the Church taught that she would never be granted acceptance into the Celestial Kingdom. If she divorced me she was still young enough to find a man who believed the Church was true to hold her hand and lead her into eventual Godhood. However, I knew that the Lord had warned us about what would happen to followers of false prophets. He made it clear that they would "...bring upon themselves swift destruction."(2 Peter 2:1)

I decided to tell my wife of my growing suspicions that the Church was not true. The next day as my wife and I were driving into town I dropped my bombshell.

"What would you say if I told you I think Joseph Smith was a pathological liar and the Church isn't true?" I held my breath and waited for her response. She replied, "Why would you say that? You're scaring me", as tears began to well up in her eyes. I explained to her what I had discovered as rapidly as I could before she screamed at me and told me to shut up and stop telling her my lies. When we returned home I showed her some of the problems I had found regarding the Book of Abraham and the Kinderhook Plate translations. I also showed her some other discrepancies I had been finding in early Church history that just didn't make sense.

One of the things that I found most disturbing was the fact that Brigham Young and countless other early Church leaders had obviously not been familiar with the "first vision" story as we know it now. As I read through the Church History and the Journal of Discourses I had found numerous quotes from friends and family members of Joseph Smith that made it painfully obvious that the belief that Joseph Smith saw God and Christ in the Spring of 1820 was a doctrine that was totally unfamiliar to virtually every Mormon until nearly 1890 (see www.josephlied.com/list.html for the numerous quotes I found on this subject). I later discovered that a vast majority of the things that I was "discovering" had been found and revealed many years before by those who had discovered the truth about the church before me.

However, I was determined to not use any anti-Mormon sources for my information because I didn't want the "facts" to be skewed by those people who might have an ax to grind with the Church. Little did I know at the time that it was the church that skewed the facts to make them more "faith promoting".

There was one little "fact" that I was intentionally keeping from my wife simply because I thought it was too good to be true and I thought if I told anyone about it, even her, I might "jinx" it and this "fact" would cease to exist.

In order to explain this though, I must digress a bit. A little over 2 years earlier, at the ripe old age of 31, I noticed a slight tremor in the pinkie on my right hand. Over just a few months I noticed this tremor slowly spread to the other fingers of my right hand and, eventually, cause a tremor over my whole right hand. I noticed it would only happen when my hand was idle and I also noticed that with a little effort I could stop it from shaking for brief periods of time if I thought about it or used my hand. I had other odd symptoms that had recently started bothering me, specifically very poor balance and a stiffness in some of my joints. I went to our family doctor who had his suspicions about what it might be and he referred me to a Neurologist. The neurologist was fairly blunt and basically said, "I suspect that you either have Parkinsons Disease or a brain tumor."

He told me that at least some brain tumors can be operated on and "cured" but Parkinsons has no cure. It just gets worse and worse. After a CAT scan or an MRI (frankly I don't know the difference between the two) he ruled out a brain tumor and immediately got me on medicine (Mirapex) specifically made to help mask the symptoms of Parkinsons. Keep in mind, it was not a cure, just a cover (so to speak). I took this medication 3 times a day for a couple of years and it relieved me almost entirely of the tremors but I still had very bad balance.

On the morning of October 4th, 2001 I was less than a week into my serious investigation of the Church. At that point in my life I was CONSTANTLY praying (for fear of missing an answer to my prayers should I not be "of a prayerful mind"), looking for some sort of an answer from Heaven as to whether or not the church was true. I was having SERIOUS doubts as to the validity of Joseph Smiths claims and was feeling quite guilty for these feelings, especially since my wife and I were teaching several investigators in the Gospel Essentials class every Sunday.

I didn't want (or expect) a "still small voice" to answer my constant prayers, but rather hoping for a HUGE BOOMING VOICE from the Heavens proclaiming "MIKE, YOUR WORST FEARS ARE TRUE! JOSEPH SMITH WAS A FRAUD" or, better yet, a booming voice telling me that my fears were for naught and the Church was indeed the one true church on earth. Unlike the answers to my prayers I had received throughout my life regarding Mormonism, I wanted the answer to my prayers this time to be so undeniable that there would be NO QUESTION that it was God answering it and not just the desires of my heart.

Frankly, I wanted a miracle.

And regardless of how much it had been drilled into me in the temple that it was a "wicked and adulterous generation that seeketh after a sign", I wanted a sign. So, as I showered the morning of October 4th, I was saying a little prayer. I prayed as sincerely as I knew how, "Please Father, I think that the Church ISN'T true and I want to know if my suspicions are correct." When I got out of the shower I actually looked to see if the words "YOU'RE RIGHT" were written in the fogged up mirror.

They weren't.

Oh how I wanted an answer that couldn't come from my heart, but from God. I knew my heart wanted my head to be wrong. I so wanted the church to be true.

That was an uneventful day and evening and as I climbed into bed that night I realized that I hadn't taken my Mirapex at all that day. It was the first time in over 2 years that I had gone all day without it. Considering the fact that I also didn't have a single tremor in my hand that day, this was unusual to say the least. I went to bed knowing full well that the next day my aching joints and trembling hand would be screaming for my Mirapex (I had suspected that the "Mira" part of Mirapex stood for "miracle". It really was a wonder drug for me).

October 5th also came and went without any medication and, more importantly, no need for any medication. And the 6th. And the 7th. And the 8th. And the 9th. And the 10th. I had gone a whole week without any medicine and without a single tremor and had no problems with my balance whatsoever. Several days after I told her that I thought Joseph Smith was a pathological liar I told my wife that it had been nearly two weeks since I had taken my medication and I wasn't showing any signs of the Parkinsons Disease.

She refused to believe me. She made me stand in the middle of the room with my eyes closed to see if I would fall over (I certainly would have in the past). I even stood on one leg with my eyes closed. I kept saying to her, "I'm telling you, it's just gone". It has been over two years now. I have perfect balance, and I haven't had a tremor in my hand (or anywhere else) since October 3rd of 2001. Three years ago the biggest fear in my life was whether I would be able to play baseball with my son by the time he was a teenager. Playing baseball with Grandchildren was certainly out of the question.

For those of you who don't know, Parkinsons Disease doesn't simply "go into remission". It is a progressive disease that simply gets worse and worse as time goes on. I pretty much never use the word "cured" when speaking about my Parkinsons Disease. I simply say "I don't have it anymore." I am well aware of the fact that it may come back someday. Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps never. But, I do know this: A man who lived 2,000 years ago actually raised another man from the dead. He had been dead long enough that his body had started to stink. If that wasn't a miracle I don't know what is. On October 4th, 2001 I believe the same man who raised the dead rid my body of a disease that no man on earth can cure. He answered the prayers of my heart. I asked for an answer to a prayer and I got a miracle.

Even though I had received an answer that satisfied my heart, I still searched for more and more information to satisfy my head. 30+ years of a strong belief in Mormonism doesn't go away in just a few weeks. I continued to discover things about Joseph Smith and the early Church history that I had never known or heard of before. I found out about Joseph Smith's practice of taking women to be his wives who were currently happily married to other men. (i.e., Lucinda Pendleton in 1838 while she was married to George Harris & Zina Jacobs in 1841 while she was married to Henry Jacobs.) In fact, 9 of Joseph's first 12 wives were currently married to other men when he took them for himself. 6 of those that were married were married to active Mormon men. Not to mention Josephs marriage to 14 and 16 year old girls. (I used the Church's own genealogy web site to verify this information (www.familysearch.org). It appears as though all of these marriages (Joseph had at least 34 wives including Emma) were fully consummated.

I found out that (according to the Book of Mormon and "inspired" Church leaders) there were over 2,230,000 deaths at the Hill Cumorah in the State of New York (between the Jaredites {see Ether 15:2}and the Nephites and Lamanites {see Mormon 6:10-15}) and yet there is not a trace of archaeological evidence to support this belief even though there was supposed to be heavy use of steel swords, breastplates and helmets (see www.josephlied.com/cumorah.html for more information on this issue). I even wrote letters to the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Natural History in New York City. The heads of both of their Anthropology Departments wrote back and told me there was "zero evidence" to support the claims made by the Church regarding millions of deaths in giant battles at the Hill Cumorah in New York.

I found out that the church taught from 1835 until 1921 that God was a spirit and did not have a physical body. In the Fifth Lecture on Faith (the Lectures on Faith were part of the D&C from 1835 until 1921 and are, in fact, where we got the "Doctrine" part of the "Doctrine and Covenants") Joseph Smith taught that God was "a personage of spirit" and Christ was "a personage of tabernacle" and the Holy Ghost was the mind that the Father and Son shared. This wasn't just an opinion but it was Church doctrine from 1835 until 1921. In 1921 the Lectures on Faith were removed from the Doctrine and Covenants and section 130 was added, thus officially changing the nature of God from "a personage of spirit" to one who "has a body of flesh and bone".

I found out that the Church changed the identity of the angel (from Nephi to Moroni) that was alleged to have given Joseph Smith the gold plates over 50 years after it supposedly happened (see www.josephlied.com/nephi.html for more information).

I found out that the population growth ratio given in the Book of Mormon was as much as 50 times higher than that of the rest of the world for the same time span. That means that for every ten babies that survived childbirth in the Old World, we are to believe that 500 survived on the American continent (see www.josephlied.com/population.html for more information).

The list of major problems with church doctrine and teachings that I discovered just went on and on.

My wife still had some small doubts but was 99% sure that the church wasn't true by this time. I eventually went to our Bishop with a list of 29 serious concerns my wife and I had with church doctrine and told him that we could not continue to teach the Gospel Essentials class when we were having such a hard time believing it ourselves. He told me that he would find a replacement for us "as soon as possible". I emphasized to him that we had taught our last lesson and if we taught the class again we would take the liberty of teaching what we really knew about church doctrine.

He replaced us immediately.

Around the end of November I told my mother in a phone conversation that my wife and I were about to leave the church. She was clearly upset by this announcement. She pleaded with me to discuss our concerns with my uncle who was a professor at BYU. I told her I would be glad to and told her that I sincerely hoped that he could answer our questions and put our worst fears behind us. We so wanted the church to be true.

I corresponded back and forth with my uncle and his answers were idiotic and insulting to say the least. He repeatedly insinuated that our "desire" for the church to be false was the result of some "moral issues" in our lives. We so desperately wanted the church to be true and he was telling us that we obviously wanted it to be false so that we could rationalize our immoral behavior, whatever it might be.

I found out later that this is a very common stance that believing Mormons take with "apostate" Mormons. When I shared the contents of my uncle's e-mails with my true blue Mormon mother, she was furious. She personally wrote to my uncle and told him that we were sincerely seeking help and he just disregarded our sincerity and attacked us with false allegations of some unknown and undisclosed "moral issue".

My mother told me to ignore my obviously idiotic uncle and speak with another uncle that might be able to answer our sincere concerns and questions with some good solid answers. When I spoke with that uncle I shared the details of the phone conversation with my mother and she was greatly disheartened by his "answers". Although he was very kind and sincere, he was unable to provide anything even closely resembling reasonable or rational answers to our growing list of concerns about the legitimacy of Joseph Smith's claims.

About 3 months after I first told my 69 year old mother that we were leaving the church, she came to the painful decision herself that the church simply wasn't true. She wrote in an e-mail,

"Planning to say something to my Visiting Teacher this week. Once I tell her it will spread like wildfire around the ward and I know I will be hearing from some very disappointed people. That is OK now. They can be disappointed as much as they want...I don't know when I have felt closer to the Lord and nothing they say can change that. Thank you, Mike. If it was not for you I would still be in the dark."

Shortly after that e-mail from my mother, she asked to have her name removed from the records of the church. We submitted our request on January 6, 2002. It was on Fast Sunday. Before making our exit from the church "official" I went to the Mormon Church one last time and got up to bear my testimony. I didn't announce that the church wasn't true or anything like that. I simply got up and shared a nice little story that was appropriate for the holiday season and, in closing, I said,

"Brothers and Sisters, we have all heard the phrase 'Jesus is the reason for the season'. Well, I've got news for you. Jesus is the reason for everything. The Savior himself said "I am the way, the truth and the life...". We need to think of him all the time and not just 'during the season'.

In this day it can be harder than ever to follow the Savior. I know that one of the titles for the Lord is "Prince of Peace". I'm not sure where that came from or who exactly said it but let me read to you an interesting scripture that I found in the book of Matthew: (Chapter 10: 34-39)

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

"I know that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, our Redeemer and our God and it is my prayer that we will all remember that year round. I testify these things to you in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen."

After my wife and I, and then my Mother left the Church, my brother Tom, who is just two years older than me and also a return missionary, was quite upset with me for "leading our Mother down the path to Hell". He told me I was a fool for leaving the Church and he shared his testimony of the truthfulness of Mormonism whenever I brought the subject up. Little did he know that his own wife had felt prompted to investigate the Church's early history on her own and she had come to the same conclusion that my wife and mother and I had arrived at; it just wasn't true. After some intense investigation of his own, my brother Tom concluded that the Mormon Church was not what it claimed to be. He and his wife and four children no longer attend the LDS Church and have no intention of ever going back. They could not be happier with their decision. I'd like to share the contents of a letter my brother wrote to a good friend of his that is LDS shortly after my brother and his family left Mormonism for good. He wrote,

I am not a disgruntled ex-communicated member, or anything like unto it. I am not even "miffed". In fact....I went on a mission, got married in the Temple, and baptized 3 of my 4 kids. I have held many callings in the church. I am not "bitter", nobody offended me, and I didn't leave the Church to pursue a lifestyle not conducive with the Church teachings. I believe those are the main reasons a person will leave the church. None apply to me. I simply found the REAL truth. I don't say that with pride or boastfulness.....just hear me out:

My "testimony" in the LDS church was based in false information --the same information you have. I fear you want nothing to do with looking at the facts. So of course, as long as you maintain your walk with blinders on, you will never leave what you (think) you "know to be the true church of God." I've been where you are now. Every word and phrase you use to defend the LDS church and your faith in it, I've used. E v e r y o n e !

The foundation of my testimony was not built upon the rock of our Redeemer, but rather upon the sand of Joseph Smith's lies that were cleaned up to the sweet story we have today. It took me a very long time to realize that. It was built upon my parents testimony. When I prayed to "know if the church was true" (another LDS catch-phrase), I did so with a finite understanding of the nature of the beast. Know it our not, believe it or not, the LDS church cheapens and de-values the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Mormons talk of grace, but in no way understand it. The LDS church requires more than God in order to "be saved"! Heck, Mormons just totally re-defined what it is to BE saved. I'd tell you to read Romans 5, but I already know you'd apply a weak Mormon spin on it. My "testimony" was just warm-fuzzies (that we're told is "the Spirit"). I only new the good fruits of the church. That's all I knew to pray about! So when I prayed about the "truthfulness thereof," I had in mind a church that was not what it was.

Perhaps my warm-fuzzies were the Spirit only confirming my limited understanding of the church....but that is a typical Mormon stretched-explanation: possible, but not likely in light of the FACTS that you want nothing to do with. The Mormon church does have truth in it, but it is not in the Truth.

We are taught to identify the "Spirit" for other people~!! Think about that. It is a blatant brainwashing tactic. How can any man know what another is feeling? Mormons will tell you "It's different for everyone," but then try to tell someone else when they just "felt the Spirit."

In the MTC we were trained to tell people when they felt it! we told them when the Spirit had just confirmed the truth! We, as missionaries, were trained in "commitment patterns & questions." In court it's called "leading the witness!" I object, Your Honor! I, and probably you, have been subjected to these and other tactics our whole lives! In that, we are the same.

We teach our kids songs like, "I hope they call me on a mission, when I have grown a foot or two....."

Little children are doing "REPEAT after me" testimonies whispered in their ear as soon as they can talk!

("I know this church is true. I love my mom and dad...")

That's not brainwashing? Hello?!

God the Father doesn't ask us to know certain code phrases and handshakes to enter heaven (that are word-for-word Masonic). I don't make that statement just because those issues aren't covered in the Bible, there just not Biblical! He doesn't do or ask many of the things we were taught are essential for salvation. It's like saying the atonement wasn't good enough. God gave us clearly the recipe for our salvation, which is solely faith & grace based. Even to this day, Mormons teach that the atonement doesn't cover all sin!

Again, I didn't leave because I was "disgruntled long enough," and I didn't leave on a whim. I looked at a lot of Church supported evidence. I don't like change.....period. I hate when my wife wants to paint the walls or move the couch. I find it hard to move out of my city merely because I've been in it so long --very much like with the LDS church. Most Mormons have very few friends outside the church. When a person's entire social structure is based in the Mormon church, it becomes difficult to consider anything else. Been there. Done that.

Mormonism becomes a lifestyle. It's can be consuming (not necessarily in a bad way). There is so much expected, especially from those to whom much was given. Our involvement in the LDS church inherently makes it difficult to leave. Holding a calling of leadership can make it near impossible to leave the church! --even if you want to (believe me)! Now, like you, I didn't want to leave the church. However, as I began to see the facts and history behind our church, I was hurt, shocked, disappointed, and felt betrayed. Still, I only kinda wanted to get out, but wasn't ready.

I wasn't going to leave the church for these reasons: I told myself, "precepts taught in the church teach me to be a good man, a good husband, father, neighbor, citizen". I'd been in so long, how would I function any other way? "I'll fake it," I thought. I can't drag my wife and the kids out because everyone they love is there....etc.

However, my wife was in her own search that was largely unknown to me. She, being smarter than you and me put together, came to the same conclusion that I did --and did so on her own! I was done. My wife had found the truth too, and the lame reasons I had for staying in the church were gone. However, she was able to disconnect from the church on her own more easily than I did. The only explanation there is is that she found the truth. It's extremely hard to discover, accept, and act upon (let alone, explain to your kids). Breaking away was the most difficult thing I've ever done....short of explaining to the kids we'd made a mistake. Very very difficult. So mock me if you must....but it almost took more guts than I have to make the move.

The Gospel is great, but it's out here....not in there. And because you are a well educated person in the twenty-first century, I trust you can discover and handle the truth. At least look at what I'm reporting to be the truth to you. My wife and I are not stupid (well, at least my wife isn't). You and I can't both be right. There's too much diversity out there to believe God answered your prayer differently than millions of others. If you choose to be Christian, as I know you claim to be (as I did always) then align yourself with His Gospel. I know…....you think you are.
There is SOOOO much junk contained in the history, tradition, gospel, and ceremony of the church. You don't even need faith to see it! You just need the courage to look. Much of it could be disputed, but there's still plenty documented to burn your bosom and chap your hide! LOL.

Most of the evidence I found was supported by our own Church History and documents. Visit my little brothers website at www.josephlied.com. I'm not crazy about the name he gave his site either --I feel it'll put folks off and they won't read the content. But in fact, much to my heartache and disappointment, Joseph did lie! Did you know his "First Vision" did not include a claim to have seen the Father and Son? Look for yourself....I dare you. www.josephlied.com At least just look at the first link on the Home Page: "Where are God & Christ in the First Vision?"

Tom Norton

Since he is my brother, I have known Tom my entire life. Frankly, I thought that pride would prevent Tom from admitting that the Church wasn't true even if he did come to that conclusion. Fortunately, Tom wasn't too proud to admit that he had been duped.

A wise man once said, "It takes a big man to admit when he is wrong". If you are reading this and you are LDS, I would plead with you to seriously investigate everything that I have shared on my website. Don't take my word for it and don't dismiss it as the ramblings of some disgruntled ex-Mormon either. If you have found any factual errors anywhere on my website please bring it to my attention and I will remove it immediately.

I have no doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is completely and totally untrue. I have no doubt that Joseph Smith was who the Savior was talking about when he said,

"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matt. 24:24)

Since leaving the LDS Church I have helped numerous people see the truth and leave the false gospel of Mormonism for the real gospel of Jesus Christ as it can be found in the Bible. I will continue to help those still trapped by the lies of Mormonism just as I would never leave a burning house without desperately trying to save those still trapped inside. The false gospel of Mormonism endangers those who follow it because they reject the free gift of salvation that Christ offered us and believe that they can somehow earn salvation by their good works. Your good works should be a result of your salvation, not an attempt to gain salvation.

Sadly, my wife and I divorced after 14 years of marriage. We started marriage counseling 2 years before we discovered the Church wasn't true but were unable to work out our differences. Naturally there will be those who will say, "Ah-ha! You lost the gospel in your lives and it destroyed your marriage." Quite the contrary. Had we not been LDS we wouldn't have been in such a rush to get married so young and probably would have waited several years before we did get married. She and I are both still quite firm in our knowledge that Mormonism is not true and we still get along and deal with each other on a regular basis because of the children we have together and also because of a shared interest we have in a business. Both of us could not be happier in our decision to leave Mormonism and are better people because of it.

I am now with a wonderful woman whose father is currently (as of this writing) in the Bishopric in his local Ward. After meeting her I helped her to uncover the lies of Mormonism and she has become quite zealous in sharing the truth with her family and just about everyone she encounters who believes Mormonism to be true.

I have a passion to share the truth about Mormonism with as many people as possible. That's why I started my web site www.josephlied.com. I have even tried to get a billboard on I-15 that says, "got truth? JosephLied.com" but I can't find a billboard company that will put it up. Yet.

Sincerely,

Mike Norton

P.S. Remember, the truth is a whole lot easier to see when you stop assuming you already have it.