The Mormon Faith & Black Folks
Question #46
Q. Didn’t Mormon President John Taylor say that blacks
were the ‘representatives of Satan’?
A. No! This is an anti-Mormon claim based upon a
misreading of one of his sermons. President Taylor was trying to answer the
question as to why God allowed the line of Cain to pass through the flood. In
other words, if the LORD was going to destroy humankind (at least the Adamites)
because of their wickedness, why allow a Cainite woman aboard the Ark and thus
the line of Cain to continue. At General Conference in Salt Lake City in 1881
President John Taylor said:
“And after the flood we are told that the curse that
had been pronounced upon Cain was continued through Ham’s wife, as he had
married of that seed. And why did it pass through the flood? Because it was
necessary that the devil should have a representation upon the earth as well as
God; and that man should be a free agent to act for himself, and that all
men might have the opportunity of receiving or rejecting the truth, and
be governed by it or not according to their wishes and abide the result; and
that those who would be able to maintain correct principles under all
circumstances, might be able to associate with the Gods in the eternal worlds.”
(Journal of Discourses 22:304)
Anti-Mormons love to quote this is their attempt to
say that Mormons believe that black folks are the ‘representatives of Satan’.
Yet, that isn’t what President Taylor said. He said that the Cainite line was
allowed to pass through the flood so that “all men” (this would include all
people of all races) can choose between good and evil. This is what the context
of the discourse clearly says.
But what did he mean by it?
We read in Genesis that God placed Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden with many trees. All of these trees bore good fruit for food;
except one. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was also placed in the
Garden, but the LORD commanded that while they could eat of every other tree,
the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden. The fruit of this
particular tree was forbidden. Its fruit was ‘the forbidden fruit’. A serpent
(snake) appears, and tells Eve that the fruit of the Forbidden Tree was more
delicious than any other. Eve partakes of it, and then so does Adam. The LORD
then curses the serpent, and says that for then on he would crawl upon his
belly and eat dust as a punishment. The LORD also curses Eve that she would
bear children in great suffering, and he curses Adam that he would have to earn
his food by the sweat of his brow.
Are these things to be taken literally, or
symbolically?
Most Mormons would interpret these things literally.
Some would not. Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie would interpret it
literally. Brigham Young and John Widstoe (to name just a few) would interpret
it symbolically. President Spencer W. Kimball believed that these things were
symbolic, and not literal. President Kimball that the ‘story of the rib’ being
taken from Adam’s side to form Eve was figurative, and not literal. Joseph
Fielding Smith would have insisted it was literal.
But regardless of whether they are symbolic or
literal, or a combination of both, the message is clear: man and woman are upon
earth to choose between good and evil. Why? Because we learn that man is a free
agent, and in order to become a God men and women must learn to choose rightly.
Thus, mortal life is a test of spirits; to see if they will choose God or the
Devil. If they choose God they will inherit Eternal Life. If they choose the
other way, they will inherit Eternal Damnation. But all are given a free choice.
We read in The Book of Mormon:
“Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should
act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be
that he was enticed by the one of the other.” (2 Nephi 2:16)
We read in The Book of Moses that Satan made a
covenant with Cain. This covenant was passed down the Cainite line until
Egyptus; the wife of Ham. Egyptus was saved on the Ark, and thus the Cainite
line passed through the flood. It is recorded in The Book of Abraham
that the the daughter of Ham and Egyptus was also called Egyptus, and that she
founded the land of Egypt. Scholars know that in ancient Egypt there were two
major priesthoods; the priesthood of Amon, and the priesthood of Set. Amon was
believed to be the Creator, the Father of gods and men. Set was called the
‘Accuser’ and the ‘Adversary’.
Theosophist and occultist Helena P. Blavatsky wrote:
“Jehovah-Adonai is a new form of the ramheaded god
Amoun or Amon who was invoked by the Egyptian priests under the name of Amen.”
(Theosophical Glossary 1:366)
Joseph Smith once said that the true name of God in
Adamic was Ahman; which means ‘Man of Holiness’.
In Genesis Satan is called a “Serpent” who speaks, and
who has legs to walk on. In ancient Egypt the god Set could appear as Nehebkau;
a serpent with human arms and legs. Another symbol of Set was the cobra.
Researcher Robert T. Mason writes that “the original priesthood of the serpent
god, Set, in ancient Egypt survived for twenty-five recorded dynasties (ca.
3200-700 B.C.E.).” (The Serpent as Divinity, p.10 online)
The very name Mormon probably comes from the
ancient Egyptian Mori-Amon (“Beloved of Amon”).
*Voodoo and African Secret Societies
It says in
The Book of Moses (a volume of Mormon scripture in The Pearl of Great Price)
that Cain made a “covenant” with Satan; swore by his “throat”. The purpose of
the covenant was the secret knowledge of how to murder “to get gain”.
In Haiti, the
official religion is Roman Catholicism, but the real religion people practice
is Voodoo. But within Voodoo are various secret societies that men belong to.
The head of these secret societies are called Bokors, and they use various
poisons to murder their enemies (or, if you pay them, your enemies), or to turn
people into the walking comatose otherwise known as “Zombies”.
According to researcher Rob Wolff the Bokors are
“Voodoo shamans who use their powers for selfish and evil ends....They are very
involved in Haiti’s vacillating governments, seeking to gain as
much power for themselves as possible whenever the diplomatic winds change.” (The
Magic of Gothic Haiti, p.4 online)
The main god worshipped by the secret African
societies is Damballa; the serpent god. The symbol of the priesthood of the
Dogon ribe of West Africa is Lebe, the serpent. Robert T. Mason writes:
“Perhaps the most impressive architecture in ancient
Africa, excepting Egypt, would be the royal city of Benin in Nigeria. The most
prominent feature of this architecture is the form of the serpent.” (The
Serpent as Divinity, p.12)
Mason also writes:
“When the Hebrews emigrated from Egypt during the XIX
dynasty they took with them a caricature of Set and gave him the title Satan
which was one of this god’s formal titles.” (The Serpent as Divinity,
p.12)
Researcher Don Nardo writes:
“The Maroons began the secret society that still
exists in Haiti today. They also passed down the West African’s knowledge of
natural drugs and poisons.” (Voodoo: Opposing Viewpoints, p.72)
Researcher Eric Belgum writes:
“The Maroons held elaborate initiations, most of which
involved severe, self-inflicted, pain. They had secret passwords and handshakes
and swore allegiance to their communities.” (????, p.73)
While there are secret handshakes and passwords in
most male fraternal societies (Freemasons, Oddfellows, Greek fraternities,
etc.) the difference between them and the Maroons is that the Maroons
covenanted one with another, and with Damballa, to “get gain” via murder.
Researcher Marcus Bach (who researched Voodoo practices in Haiti for many
years) writes of a time he attended a Voodoo ritual. In the center was a pole;
which represented Damballa, the serpent-god. Bach writes:
“As you fix your eyes on the center pole, visualizing
the serpent, Damballa, is coiled there, you are asked to recall that Damballa
is also the source of all knowledge. Coiled forever in the Tree of Life, he
tempts man to know himself. As a sign of immortality, he sheds his skin and
reappears in a new body; as a symbol of the endlessness of time he is
depicted as a snake eating its tail.
His devotees revere him so much they become his bridegroom or bride in
special Voodoo ceremonies. In Africa, where he originated, men honored him by
building snake houses beneath the tallest and most beautiful trees. In these
‘serpent chapels’ they keep a living snake which they bore on a carpet of silk
in religious processions; its writhing form encircled with a golden diadem
representing the female Aida-Wedo.
When the black man, coerced into Christianity, heard
the remarkable account of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, he imagined
that the snake was Damballa. To him the Biblical account of the temtation
was just another story of the ‘great god sex’, and if the Christian did not
understand the symbolism, the Voodooist did.” (Strange Sects and Curious Cults,
1961, p.61 italics added)
Bach goes on to write:
“Often when
the might Damballa overpowers a devotee, the person hisses like a snake,
writhes on the ground, and demands what the god himself would demand; a white
rooster or an egg.” (Strange Sects, p.68)
It may be no
‘coincidence’ that the Hebrew word for “snake” is NAQASH; which is basically
the same Hebrew word for “enchanter” (shaman/witchdoctor). The Shamans of black
Africa (and Brazil and the Caribean) “hiss” like snakes when they are possessed
by the spirit of Damballa. The ancient black shamans of India were called the
“Nagas”; which means in Sanskrit “wise” and “serpent”.
Was the talking “serpent” in the Garden of Eden a
literal “snake” or a shaman possessed by the spirit of Damballa?
What is called Voodoo, or Santeria, or Macumba, or
Umbanda or Candomble, or the various secret societies of Africa, is not limited
to the islands of the Caribbean or to secret haunts in New Orleans. Rather,
these secret societies exist throughout all of black Africa, and everywhere
black Africans have settled in the world.
*The Brazilian Religions
The most popular religion in Brazil is not Roman
Catholicism, but Spiritualism under the names of Quimbanda, Macumba, Umbanda,
and Candomble. All of these religions are based upon the African secret
societies. In Africa, as in China or ancient Rome or Greece, various gods and
goddesses are worshipped. Ancestors are also worshipped. Yet, besides these,
black Africa has a unique tradition. A Spiritualist tradition that cannot be
found in any other ancient society. These were the secret societies that
worshipped a god in the form of a serpent. When the Portuguese brought over
millions of black Africans to be slaves on their plantations, the Africans
brought with their culture and religion. Although forced to be baptized as
Catholics, the great majority of black African slaves retained their secret
religion which they practiced at night (mostly in secret) while they would
openly be ‘Catholic’ during the day. After slavery ended in Brazil in 1888, the
black former slaves became more and more open about their real beliefs, and,
over the last century, most white and mulatto Brazilians have become members
and adherents of one or more of the black African systems.
Today in Brazil there are tens of thousands of temples
dedicated to various African gods and goddesses. Almost all the mediums are
black women. The men have only administrative duties. The goal of the devotees
is to get gain (material wealth and health) by supplicating the spirits called loa.
Some of the loas are called Exus.
Rosemary Ellen Guiley writes:
“Like the followers of Candomble and Umbanda,
Quimbandistas call upon the Exus, but appeal to their identities as tricksters
and specialists in witchcraft and sorcery. ‘King Exu,’ often identified with
Lucifer, works with Beelzebub and Ashtoroth, called Exu Mor and Exu of the
Crossroads. Exu of the Closed Paths inspired the most dread in Brazilians, for
it prayers to their dark lord succeed, victims could lose jobs, lovers, and
family, become ill and eventually die, finding ‘all paths closed unless treated
by the white magic of the orishas.” (Harper’s Enclyclopedia of Mystical
& Paranormal Experience, p.36)
Just about all
the mediums in Voodoo, and all the other African secret society sects, are
female. One scholar comments:
“Even today men in Candomble perform political rather
than spiritual duties.” (Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical &
Paranormal Experience, p.335)
Researcher Ossie Stuart writes:
“In [the
Brazilian state of] Bahia women hold an important role as mediums of the Yoruba
gods” (A New Handbook of Living Religions, p.718)
Nobody knows why this is. But this might explain what
President John Taylor meant when he said that the blood of Cain passed through
the Flood in order for the Devil to have a representative on earth. Ham married
Egyptus (which means “Forbidden”). Why the strange name? Why the term
“Forbidden”? The mediums of Damballa (all female) were “forbidden” to all other
men.
Did Ham marry a priestess of Damballa?
It seems to be clear he did!
The Cainite religion (which was based upon the worship
of the Serpent) passed through the flood, and was passed down to the post-Flood
Egyptians in their temples of Set. As Greeks, Persians, and Romans and Syrians
moved into Egypt, the original Hamitic Egyptians began to move further and
further South; until the southern most of the ancient Egyptians migrated across
the great deserts and into the lands of the native African tribes. They
conquered or intermingled with these tribes; passing the Hamitic (and Cainite)
bloodline. They took with them the priesthoods of Set (Damballa). Before, the
native African tribes simply worshipped their ancestors and the forces of
Nature (and they still do today), but it was the Nubians who migrated and
brought with them their secret combinations; which still exist today and can be
found not only in black Africa, but in Brazil, the Caribbean islands, and
certain parts of the Southern United States and in almost every big city in the
U.S. as well.
All African-Americans have the blood of the Yoruban
tribe in them; a native African tribe with some ancient Egyptian blood in them
from the Nubian migrations.
The eminent American researcher of religions J. Gordon
Melton writes:
“Yoruba Religion is considered to be the ‘rain forest
version of the Ancient Egyptian Mystery System’. It is the source for
Afro-Cuban Santeria, but makes no attempt to equate its gods with Christian
saints.” (The Encyclopedia of American Religions, p.662)
African historians such as Michael Meleya writes that
the Yorubans came from Nubia about 2000 B.C. and intermarried with the native
Nigerian “Nok” tribes. (Certificate History of Nigeria, p.1 online)
African scholar and historian Olumide J. Lucue writes:
“The Yoruba, during antiquity, lived in ancient Egypt
before migrating to the Atlantic coast [of Africa].: (Precolonial Black
Africa, p.216)
Scholars know that “the original priesthood of the
serpent god Set, in ancient Egypt, survived for twenty-give recorded dynasties
(3200-700 B.C.)” (Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal
Experience, p.336)
They write:
“When the Hebrews emigrated from Egypt during the XIX
dynasty they took with them a caricature of Set and gave him the title Satan
from the hieroglyphic Set-hen which is one of this god’s formal titles.”
(Harper’s, p.12)
“Perhaps the most impressive architecture in ancient
Africa, excepting Egypt, would be the royal city of Benin in Nigeria. The most
prominent feature of this architecture is the form of the serpent.” (Harpers’,
p.12)
“In Egyptian tradition, the god Set represents the
forces of chaos and destruction, of energy misplaced. He was the manifestation
of Apep of Typhon, opposers of the power of light.” (Pagan Pantheon,
p.13 online)
The symbol of the priesthood of the Dogon tribe (which-like
most West African tribes-claims ancient Egyptian heritage) is Lebe (“The
Snake”).
Throughout black Africa there are secret societies
which have their own robes, symbols, handshakes, oaths, covenants, aprons, and
rituals. In one such society in West Africa a special house is built for
Mwetyi, the serpent-spirit. The Rev. Robert H. Nassau M.D. writes:
“Mwetyi is a great spirit, who is supposed to dwell in
the bowels of the earth, but comes to the surface of the ground at stated
seasons or when summoned on any special business. A large flat house of
paticular form is erected in the middle of the village for the temporary
sojourn of this spirit. The house is always kept perfectly dark, and no one is
permitted to enter it, except those who have been initiated into all the
mysteries of the order....” (Fetishism in West Africa, p.115)
The Yorubas called the serpent-god “Damballa”. Other
West African tribes call him “Mwetyi”. Other tribes call him by other terms.
The Hebrews called him “Satan” and Ba’alZebub (“Lord of Flies”) or “HaLayl”
(“The Shining One”). The Latin name for HaLayl is Lucis-Fere (“Light-Bearer”);
otherwise known as Lucifer.
Whether it is called Voodoo, Santeria, Candomble,
Macumba, Ubanda, Shango, Obeah, Bizango, Quimbanda, or whatever name you call
it, it is all the same. It is Spiritualism. It is the acts of mediums becoming
possessed by a spirit (loa). Spiritualism always teaches Gnosticism. The
‘spirits’ always teach it. Always. Is this mere coincidence?
On October 6, 1870, Brigham Young spoke on the
difference between Spiritualism and Mormonism. He said that “their system is
from beneath, while ours is perfect and is from above; one is from God, the
other is from the devil, that is all the difference.” (Journal of Discourses
12:266)
President Jedediah M. Grant, the Second Counselor to
Brigham Young in The First Presidency, once gave a talk he called “The Power of
God and the Power of Satan”. He said that secret object behind
Spiritualism was to destroy the Church,
and that “the result of the manifestations of the spirits (wicked spirits) will
be to combine their forces in as systematic an order as they are capable of, to
successfully resist the Priesthood of God upon the earth.” (Journal of
Discourses 2:10-11).
In 1893 Apostle George Q. Cannon wrote:
“Spiritualism professed to make it easy for all to
obtain spiritual manifestations. No faith in Jesus, no repentance, no baptism,
no laying on of hands, needed to obtain them. Purity of life was not essential.
The wicked and the reprobate, as well as those of better lives, could receive
spiritual communications. In this way, Satan used Spiritualism to counteract
the influence of the Gospel.” (Juvenile Instructor 28, 1 March 1893,
p.162)
In 1899 Apostle James E. Talmage wrtoe:
“The restoration of the Priesthood to earth in this
age of the world, was followed by a phenomenal growth of the vagaries of
Spiritualism, whereby many have been led to put their trust in Satan’s
counterfeit of God’s eternal power.” (The Articles of Faith, p.236)
In 1901, President Joseph F. Smith (6th
President of the Church) said:
“Spiritualism started in the United States about the
time that Joseph Smith received his visions from the heavens. What more natural
than that Lucifer should begin revealing himself to men in his cunning way, in
order to deceive them and to distract their minds from the truth that God was
revealing.” (Conference Reports, April 1901, p.73)
In 1966 Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“It is true that some mediums do make contact with spirits
during their seances. In most instances, however, such spirits as manifest
themselves are probably the demons or devils who were cast out of heaven for
rebellion.” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd Ed., p.759)
Spiritualism is just another name for Gnosticism.. The
ancient Gnotics taught that the creator of the material Cosmos, Jehovah, was
evil. Lucifer was good. They called Jehovah the “Ruler”. One ancient Gnostic
writing said:
“Then the Female Spiritual Principle came in the
Snake, the Instructor, and it taught them, saying...’you shall not die, for it
was out of jealousy that he [Jehovah] said this to you. Rather, your eyes shall
open, and you shall become liek gods, recognizing evil and good’..And the
arrogant Ruler cursed the Woman...and the Snake.” (The Elements of
Gnosticism, p.19)
Why did God allow Spiritualism to arise? When Moses
changed his rod into a snake, the priests of Pharoah did the same thing. Why?
Why does an All-powerful God allow such manifestations from the evil one? Why
did He send the Restored Gospel to Upstate New York, and, right behind it,
modern Spiritualism was founded in Upstate New York? Why?
The answer is simple!
He allowed it so mankind (or whatever color) may choose
between good and evil! The very purpose of our lives is to have that free
choice. This is why we are given free agency. This is why God allowed the Tree
of the Knowledge (Gnosis) of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden; so
that Adam and Eve could have a choice.
Ham’s wife Egyptus was probably a medium-indeed
probably a priestess of Damball--and based upon her channeled messages, and the
channeled messages of others, a Gnostic priesthood was established in ancient
Egypt called the priesthood of Set. The symbol of this priesthood was the
serpent. When the ancient Nubians
migrated into black Africa they took their serpent-god Damballa with them, and
they took their secret combinations with them; now referred to by scholars as
the “African secret-societies”. . Today, Damballa is worshipped by these secret
societies all over black Africa and in the Caribbean and Brazil and other
places where black Africans have settled.
Damballa has not been kind to black Africans. He could
not save them from the white slavers. His influence is Haiti has left that
country in dire poverty and ignorance for centuries. In South Africa his
influence led to the blacks being powerless to protect themselves from white
settlers.
“12 And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they
made all things known unto their sons and daughters.
13 And Satan came among them saying: I am also a son
of God; and he commanded them , saying: Believe it not, and they believed it
no, and they loved Satan more than God. And man began from that time
forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish.” (Moses 5:12-13)
One could interpret this a number of ways:
1. The children of Adam and Eve were white, and thus
the white race ‘love Satan more than God’.
2. All humans are the descendants of Adam and Eve, and
thus all humans are ‘satanic’ people.
3. All humans are natural, and in their natural
condition we love Satan more than God, but if we repent and follow Jesus this
natural condition can be reversed; this reversal being called ‘salvation’.
So, we see that even The Book of Moses can be
‘interpreted’ to mean that the white people are ‘followers of the Devil’ if we
allow it to be interpreted that way. The same is true with John Taylor’s
discourse. It is impossible to believe that he regarded black folks as
‘representatives of Satan’; since he was against slavery, and because of the
fact he never said anything else that could be construed to mean he believed
that they were his representatives. On the other hand, Taylor believed that the
‘secret combinations’ were of Satan through his covenant with Cain, and that
this covenant was handed-down through the Cainite lineage.
*The Opposing Priesthoods
Anti-Mormon
writers note that the Mormon Priesthood (really, Jesus’ Priesthood that
was restored to the earth in 1829 via the ministry of
angels) includes covenants, handshakes,
passwords, and the like. Does this mean the Mormon
Priesthood is from Satan?
No. It means that Satan copies. He also corrupts.
The Book of Abraham chapter one says that Pharoah
(presumably the first pharoah of Egypt) was “a righteous man” and that he desired
do righteousness, but being a descendant of Ham and Egyptus he had no right to
the Holy Priesthood; so he designed an priesthood order to resemble the Holy
Priesthood. This order was probably the priesthood of Amon.
Amon (also called Amen, Amun, Min, etc.) was
considered the Creator-god: the father of the gods. According to the ancient
Egyptian writer Manetho (3rd century B.C.), Moses himself was a high
priest of Amon, and that the Jewish Temple rituals are based upon some rituals
of the Temple of Amon (Complete Works of Josephus, pp.617-623). The
Hebrew God Jehovah is also supposed to have been based upon Amon (which
means “Hidden” and “Unknown”).
In opposition to the priesthood of Amon was the
priesthood of Set; called Typhon (“Serpent”) by the Greeks. Helena P. Blavatsky
writes:
“Typhon, in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, figures as
the accuser....one of Typhon’s appellations is Set; as Satan in Hebrew, means
the adversary.” (Isis Unveiled 2:438)
In Mormon scripture Satan (also known as Lucifer) is called
“the Accuser of his brethren”.
This satanic-covenant continued for many generations.
Still today we can find that covenant continuing today in black Africa, in
Haiti, in Brazil; where black female mediums are possessed by evil spirits, and
black male secret organizations control their governments and societies. Only
the Blood of Jesus can cleanse these individuals and nations from this
satanic-compact. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring this darkness to
light, and save these people from the grip of Satan.
The very purpose of The Book of Mormon is for
the convincing of Jew and Gentile that “Jesus is the Christ”. But today, New
Age Gnostic organizations like Lucis Trust (until 1939 it was called Lucifer
Trust) declares boldly that “Jesus is not the Christ”. (Book of New Age
Cults & Religions, p.242).
As Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, mankind has, in
these last days, been given a choice between two opposite.. It is the free
agency of all men to choose between them, and suffer or be rewarded in the
eternities for that decision here on earth.
Please feel free to e-mail Darrick Evenson
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