Brigham Young’s Teachings

(Credit to the original poster of this info on the RFM board)

JD 1:50 He taught that Adam was our God, he is the father of Jesus, Adam and Eve came to earth with celestial bodies, and Jesus was conceived the same way as Cain and Able. See also JD 5:331-332, JD 4:217-218, JD 13:271, and Mormon Doctrine 742.

JD 1:51 He said it was not Holy Ghost that made Marry pregnant or it would be dangerous to confirm females with the holy ghost today because they might get pregnant.

JD 7:290 He taught that Adam and Eve are the parents of our spirits and our physical bodies.

JD 8:361 Young gave a talk on how to chew tobacco reverently in church.

JD 9:35 Young encouraged members to grow tobacco for money.

JD 12:29 Young taught that brandy, wine, and tea are good to use if you are weary or worn out.

JD 7:289 Young taught that we need Joseph Smith’s approval to enter the Celestial Kingdom.

JD 1:219 Young taught that gold and silver grow like hair and that adobe and sand stone grow to become stronger rock.

JD 13:271 He taught that there were people living on the moon and the sun.

JD 1:106 He taught that the Indians are from the seed of Israel and their dark skin is a result of their disobedience to God.

JD 7:285-286 Young taught that Adam and Eve and everything on this planet were brought here from another planet.

JD 10:110 He taught that interracial marriages are punishable by death on the spot and it would never be allowed.

JD 2:143 He taught that blacks wouldn’t receive the priesthood until after the resurrection.

JD 7:290-291 He said that blacks will remain slaves, that it is part of their curse to remain slaves, and they will not receive the priesthood until after the resurrection.

JD 10:250 He said the slaves won’t be freed by the civil war.

JD 4:40 He said that in 26 years mormon leaders would be thought of as kings.

JD 11:112 He taught that monogamy was the cause of great evils and prostitution.

JD 11:269 He taught that the church would never give up polygamy to be admitted into the Union.

JD 4:77 Young boasts that the mormons have the best thieves, liars, con-artists an most ruthless men in the world as well has the best singers, speakers, prayers, and the best looking people in the world.

JD 5:210 He boasts of being able to find more wives than any young man.

JD 2:143 He taught that any jew converted to the church would apostatize from the church and he continued on with some very racist remarks about jews.

JD 9:142-143 He said the civil wars would last years and years, that it would empty out the population of Missouri, and the mormons would return to Missouri and reclaim their lands.

JD 3:266 He said that if you deny the importance of polygamy in your feelings you will be damned.

JD 11:269 He taught that plural marriage must be practiced to receive the highest degree in the celestial kingdom. See also JD 16:166.

JD 6:176 He taught that other religions were hatched in hell.

JD 12:315 He said people dealing with non-members will be excommunicated.

JD 4:219-220 Young taught that adulterers must be killed to atone for their sins.

JD 1:108-109 He taught that thieves should be killed.

JD 1:83 He talks about having a dream of slitting the throats of two apostates and then taught that apostates should be killed.

JD 10:109-110 Young blamed the mountain meadows massacre on the Indians even though there is proof that he knew who was responsible by this time.

JD 22:304 John Taylor said that the blacks are the devils representation on earth.

JD 13:195-202 Orson Pratt taught that monogamy was the cause of prostitution, disease, and evils.

JD 4:231-232 In 1857 Willford Woodruff taught that many people present in that assembly
would live to give the ten lost tribes their endowments after their return.

JD 21:124 In 1880 Willford Woodruff said that we live in the generation when Jesus will come.

JD 5:219 Heber C. Kimball said Brigham Young would become president of the U.S.A.

Now, if Mormons no longer believe that Brigham Young could have been a prophet of God and the true successor to Joseph Smith, then they are members of the wrong church. They would belong to the Community of Christ (RLDS) right now, because if these teachings are false now, they were false then too. Either they believe that Brigham Young was a prophet and all of his teachings were from God, or they now realize that he was not "inspired by the Lord". Brigham Young himself stated that there was never a sermon he preached that the Saints could not call scripture. The early Saints took every word he said literally, and kept record of it intentionally, because they believed he was speaking as God’s representative.
If Joseph Smith was what the LDS says he was, then he found the plates, transcribed them, and did what he was commanded by setting up the new church. What Brigham Young did from the day he took over was add his own thoughts and ideas into the mix and, as a result, apostacized from the "true church". The RLDS had it right, or the Strangites had it right when they chose J.J. Strang as their prophet after J.S. died. Or, maybe, alternatively, Joseph Smith made the entire story up in the first place!
This is straight out of the Journal of Discourses, a set of historical records made up of sermons of Brigham Young, an early prophet of the LDS church. To discredit his teachings is to admit that those who believed his words were fooled, and that they died for nothing by following him to Utah by the thousands, to establish a kingdom separate from the United States. To now say that Brigham Young was wrong and these teachings are in error is to admit that he wasn’t chosen by God to lead the true church. All of his successors, therefore, who continued to teach these same principles, were also in error and could not have been chosen by God to lead the true church. Doctrine and specific teachings on the principles of salvation and the covenants made in temple ceremonies cannot be changeable, or else apostacy will occur and all of the sacrifices of those early members will have been for nothing. They believed as they were taught, and 100 years from now, when all the sacrifice of today's members (tithing, time, adherence to teachings) means nothing because the LDS church changes its doctrine and re-writes its history to suit the times.
What good would it do to stand up for this church and give your life for it, if your posterity will not be taught the same things that are being taught in this era? What if tomorrow's prophet decides that Gordon B. Hinckley was "in error" and "was speaking as a man" on important points of doctrine? Why does the LDS church tell it's members that earlier prophetic teachings are of no consequence today, when in that time and in that day they meant everything to the early Saints who followed Brigham? They believed him as the mouthpiece of the Lord! They did anything he told them because it meant suffering and damnation if they didn’t follow the prophet. Is that the mark of the "true church"? Fear of leaving it, fear of losing your testimony, fear of being excommunicated because of imperfect acts or thoughts?

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And I get SICK AND TIRED of ignorant people telling me I am in a cult NOW! Ha! I LEFT a CULT! I know what the difference is now! I am my own boss, I set the rules, I hold rituals when and where I want, AND I don't have to pay a single dime in "tithings" to hold a little card that says I am a worthy member of the cult! Ha! I am free, I took the red pill and I am free!