Would you join an institution that positively discriminated (discriminates) against certain sectors of society such as discriminating on the basis of race, nationality, gender and sexual orientation?

The thought that the church of Christ of latter Day Saints is making inroads into Africa drives chills down my spine. Have Africans not learnt from the disastrous encounter with the Abrahamic religions of Christianity and Is-lam?

Why is this continent so disposed to soak up any silly old belief system without fully evaluating the tenets of the belief. While the continent is right in the midst of the Abrahamic calamitous obsessions, some elements are finding "spiritual" solace in a religion invented less that 200 years ago in America.

Just as our forefathers uncritically embraced Is-lam and Christianity, so is the present generation equally embracing Mormonism and Scientology. What is happening to the African mind? Are these new converts really this vacuous about the state of reality?




The historical evidence is quite clear and unmistakable, that the Curse of Cain Doctrine was always referred to as "a doctrine of the Church" by Church leaders.

On October 8, 1947, Dr. Lowry Nelson, a Mormon professor at the University of Utah, wrote to The First Presidency and said:

“The attitude of the Church in regard to the Negro makes me very sad.I do not believe God is a racist.” (Mormonism and the Negro, p.28)

The First Presidency wrote back and said:

“We feel very sure that you are aware of the doctrines of the Church. They are either true or not true. Our testimony is that they are true. Under these circumstances we may not permit ourselves to be too much impressed by the reasonings of men, however well founded they may seem to be. We should like to say this to you in all sincerity, that you are too fine a man to permit yourself to be led off from the principles of the Gospel by worldly learning. You have too much of a potentiality for doing good and we therefore prayerfully hope that you can reorient your thinking and bring it in line with the revealed Word of God.” (Mormonism and the Negro, p.28 emphases added)

The First Presidency issued this letter on July 17th, 1947:

“From the days of the Prophet Joseph even until now, it has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by any of the Church leaders, that the Negroes are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel [i.e. the Priesthood].” (Mormonism and the Negro, p.47 emphases added)

On August 17th, 1951, the First Presidency issued it’s official Statement by The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the Negro Question which said in part:

“The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become Members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the Priesthood at the present time.
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President Wilford Woodruff made the following statement: ‘The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have.’
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Sometime in God’s eternal plan, the Negro will be given the right to hold the Priesthood. In the meantime, those of that race who receive the testimony of the Restored Gospel may have their family ties protected and other blessings made secure, for in the justice of the Lord they will possess all the blessings to which they are entitled in the eternal plan of Salvation and Exaltation.” (Mormonism and the Negro, pp.16-23 emphases added)

In 1954, Elder Mark E. Peterson, a Mormon apostle, said:

"Think of the Negro, cursed as to the Priesthood. Are we prejudiced against him? Unjustly, sometimes we are accused of having such a prejudice. But what does the mercy of God have for him? This negro, who, in the pre-existence lived the type of life which justified the Lord in sending him to the earth in the lineage of Cain with a black skin, and possibly being born in darkest Africa—if that negro is willing when he hears the gospel to accept it, he may have many of the blessings of the gospel. In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get a celestial resurrection." (Race Problems--As They Affect the Church, August 27, 1954, address at CES convention at Brigham Young University)

In April of 1963, Joseph Fielding Smith (then an apostle and later Church President) wrote the following:

"According to the doctrine of the Church, the Negro, because of some condition of unfaithfulness in the spirit--or pre-existence, was not valiant and hence was not deied the mortal probation, but was denied the blessings of the Priesthood." (JFS Letter to Joseph H. Henderson, April 10, 1963)


In 1964, in Ghana, there lived a man named Joseph W.B. Johnson. He was raised Roman Catholic, but he was a Seeker of Truth; studying all religions. He asked God which of the religions were true. A friend of his, who was not a Mormon, then gave him a copy of The Book of Mormon he was given while studying in England. Johnson read the book, and prayed to God what he should do. He claimed the following occurred:

“One early morning about 5:30 am, while about to prepare for my daily work, I saw the heavens open and angels with trumpets singing songs of praise unto God, In the course of this I heard my name mentioned thrice, ‘Johnson, Johnson, Johnson. If you will take up my work as I command you, I will bless you and your land.’ Trembling and in tears I replied, ‘Lord with they help I will do whatever you will command me.’ From that day onward, I was constrained by that spirit to from street to street, to deliver the message which we read from The Book of Mormon, I did exactly as the Lord commanded me, and immediately our persecution started.” (Mormon Identities in Transition, p.84)

Without purse or script, Johnson began to preach The Book of Mormon and the Joseph Smith Story from city to city, and from town to town, to his fellow Ghananians. He suffered great persecution. The pastors and ministers of other churches saw some of their members join into "Mormon" congregations. They told the people that the Mormons were "white racists" who hated black people, and that Mormons were behind the Ku Klux Klan, and many other untruths. Many of the people told Johnson that the Mormons were "racist" and a "cult". When educated Ghananians asked, "Why do you belong to a racist Church?" he replied, "What can I do, the Lord Himself told me it was true?"

But Johnson continued to preach, and, from 1964 until he baptized into the Church in 1978, he had made about 14,000 converts; many of whom also were baptized. He lived to see the Church in Ghana prosper, with many Stakes and a Temple.


Did god really speak to Joseph W.B. Johnson, just as he spoke to Paul?


References:
http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/blackmormon/homepage.html