We, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, have consistently been reminded by our leaders that it is the duty of all church members to stand for truth and spread the gospel of our religion when the opportunity presents itself. It is with this in mind that the following points are made; it is a fervent prayer that Latter Day Saints will keep refreshed our rich history and heritage as the one true church of the Lord:

Several years before Joseph Smith’s martyrdom, U.S. President Martin Van Buren, after hearing the injustices of the Missouri persecutions, once (in 1839) said to Joseph Smith, "your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." and "If I take up for you I shall lose(votes of) the whole state of Missouri." (HC 4:80)

Does there still exist a respect and appreciation for the revered sacrifice of the Prophet Joseph Smith? Are we seekers of truth and justice or are we as President Van Buren was, seeking political gain without any use for higher causes of righteousness and justice in our lives when they cannot be used for our own self-preservation? Are we going to call those words of Joseph Smith’s story above a lie? Do we feel there is any value to this history worth preserving? Will this great prophet’s life story of heroism and self-sacrifice soon be so distorted beyond recognition that it will be lost permanently? Have we become so frightened by the prospect of truth in our lives and in our beliefs, that we are willing to betray the greatest prophet most responsible for the blessings we take for granted today? You may think not, but consider the following:

"...God hath set his hand and seal to change the times and seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not understand his marvelous workings; that he may prove them also and take them in their own craftiness;

These words were spoken from the Lord to Joseph Smith, and we, as the collective members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are guilty of the very offenses described above to be perpetrated against him, with most of us as approving and willing participants, and with nary a word of protest. It is a very serious offense carrying severe penalties to turn against God’s prophet, Joseph Smith. Those who have accused Joseph Smith of transgression need to take heed of this scripture. The time is arriving when the light shines upon us in our church, and how great is our sorrow, how great is our shame. May the Lord bless this people to awake and repent while there is still time before God begins His judgements starting in His own house.

It is tragic, but we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are guilty of falling under the condemnation this scripture warns about. We have been weak in our beliefs, we willingly reject the whisperings of the Holy Spirit to place our blind trust in the weak arm of flesh of mortal men (2 Nephi 28:31).

(2 Nephi 28, Verse 24) "Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion! Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well!

"Yea, wo be unto him that hearken to the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!

"Yea, wo be unto him that saith: We have received, and we need no more!

"And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness; and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest he shall fall.

"Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough!"

(Verse 31) "Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost."

We, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are guilty of allowing an unprecedented attack on the character and integrity of this great man to not only prosper, but to succeed with our willing consent. Joseph Smith has come under heavy attack from this most recent generation of church members, led by church leaders themselves. Though the attack does not involve strictly all members of the church in a direct manner, the deafening silence of our membership in defense of Joseph Smith implies approval of all church members endorsing the attacks against him.

We in the church publicly associated ourselves and our church to the occult by publicly accepting an apostate named Mark Hofmann; we embraced his revisions and our new found occult identity until he was exposed as a murderer and a forger, and only then did we question those Hofmann revisions we were so eager to implement. We became as those scoffers the Bible predicted for this day; we have slandered and destroyed the credibility of those who have sought for truth to expose the apostasy rampant in our midst. We ignored the well documented evidence of our acceptance of these forgeries, and did not recant nor repent of awful transgressions revising history against the true gospel as well as the person of Joseph Smith.

Our present church membership has yielded completely to the spirit of occultism in our church, and have pursued the course laid out for us by the adversary, introducing symbols of occultism on certain church buildings. We now adorn our buildings such as the Church museum across from the Salt Lake Temple and the newly constructed Nauvoo Temple with symbols of devil worship, specifically the pentagram, known to many as the "witches star" and we have begun to proclaim it to be a historical Mormon symbol. We attempt to obscure and confuse the facts and proclaim the pentagram to be no different than our sacred temple stars, and we do this based on our shoddy research. We arrogantly defend symbols of occultism even while the Christian world raises their collective eyebrows at our people’s brazen new affiliations with the occult.

We have destroyed the respect the Mormon Church once attained throughout the world. We imagine that those truths for which Joseph Smith gave his life for, now take a different meaning today, that somehow he will approve of our distortions to the true Gospel and we will not be held accountable for our ignorance, on account of our efforts to conform to what the world wants from us. We have stood by idly and watched as God's Holy Church has become ravaged and corrupted; how can we possibly hide our shame on judgement day? How deep does the betrayal run and who will be left when that day comes that these traitors leave our church?

We proudly circulate the reports that members of God's Holy Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are praying for divine confirmation to murder innocent unborn children. In what we consider to be a much more sophisticated approach, we no longer pray for life of the vulnerable and innocent who may sit on life’s precarious edge, but we now blaspheme the Lord by praying for the right to kill these unborn, as in some Satanic ritual, if they fit accepted "exceptions", which we know are countless.

We, the current membership of the Mormon Church, willingly condone the murder of these innocent unborn children, and we righteously proclaim the right to do so - what we call "exceptions" - even while realizing that the "exceptions" are numerous and violate the conscience of all good men. How great is our failing in our mission to be a light to the world; we have joined the legions of scoffers in opposing those who question us on these evils! Our actions have been a disgrace, and we can only at this point repent of all of this and other evils and to pray for the just goodness of our Lord and Savior to be merciful unto us during the time of probation we have left. President Spencer W. Kimball stated "if there ever was a justifiable cause for abortion, it would be extremely rare indeed."

"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well - and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell."(2 Nephi 28:21.

President Benson stated it meant the Mormons in the above scripture "being led carefully down to Hell" and stressed to underline the word "carefully."

The words of Isaiah, 3 verse 12, were never more true:"As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths."

President Joseph Fielding Smith once referred to this passage in Isaiah - "Those that lead thee cause thee to err" - as referring to the Mormons.

Helaman 13:36-38 "O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us...and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them.

"Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days. But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late..."

We have distorted and convoluted the meaning of our plain and simple scriptures, allowing our religious instructors to apply vague and mysterious interpretations that confuse and demean the intellect abilities of our unsuspecting membership. We have stood by idly and failed the mission of our church, referred to in scriptures such as 3 Nephi 16:

(Verse 4) "...through the fulness of the Gentiles (current LDS people), the remnant of their seed (the American Indians), who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer."

Verse 7 "Behold, because of their (the Mormon people’s) belief in me, saith the Father, and because of the unbelief of you, O house of Israel, in the latter day shall the truth come unto the Gentiles(Mormon Church), that the fulness of these things shall be made known unto them."

Verse 10 "And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles(the Mormon Church) shall sin against my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they do all those things, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them.

"And then will I remember my covenant which I made to my people(the American Indians), O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them."

We may soon realize the gospel has been taken from the current Mormon church and built up among the American Indians as this scripture promises, and at that point we have nothing left but to pray and plead for the Lord to be merciful in our time of judgement. The Lord tells us it is time to find him while he can be found. It states in scriptures when this probationary time is over, it is too late. Should He be so merciful, our only hope is to be among those few Gentiles left in the church to be numbered with the Lamanites in building the New Jerusuleum, as in 3 Nephi 16:13 "But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel."

We, who are identified with the Gentiles in the Book of Mormon (and D&C 109:60) must agree that it is a truly merciful God that will take the fulness of the gospel and bestow it upon the American Indians, as prophesied in 3 Nephi 16, for great is the sorrow of all true Saints that this Holy Church has been so polluted and corrupted, and we are no longer a worthy people. We can only hope that a more worthy people (those of American Indian descent) than we will be swiftly grafted in and blessed so that the true points of the Gospel of the one true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints may at last be brought to light.

The time has come for us as Mormons to repent and awake to our awful situation. The time has come for true Mormons to stand in defense of their true prophet, Joseph Smith. Ours is a spiritual battle, not one of flesh and blood, to drive out the demons that have invaded our church through our prayers and lifting up our voices to be heard for the cause of truth.

All who believe in the true principles of Mormonism must in a sense leave ones Church and stand alone in the midst of ones churchmen, in defense of the Prophet Joseph Smith, against spurious attacks on the character and good name of our founder, by insinuating hellish inverted pentagrams into the history of our Church.

A FOREIGN SYMBOL IN MORMONISM, .....THAT IS, .....UNTIL NOW!

If the Mormon Church founding and Prophet was tainted by the occult, white witchcraft, practicing cunning men, peep stones, superstition, salamanders or anything like unto it, even to the least degree, as portrayed by the Mark Hofmann forgeries of late and all the other anti-Mormon literature that has ever been written against Joseph Smith from the beginning, since he saw his first vision. Then how could it possibly be the One True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

The Prophet Joseph Smith conducted himself in a noble, honest and strictly uncompromising manner befitting the dignity of the office that he upheld, even to the point of his martyrdom wherein his own life’s blood was shed thus sealing his testimony.

And yet the present leadership of the Mormon Church has embraced the occult symbols as if they were their own. WHY ARE THE PRESENT MORMON CHURCH LEADERS SO DETERMINED TO PUT THE INVERTED PENTAGRAM OUT AS A MORMON SYMBOL, SUCH AS THEY HAVE DONE ON THE RECONSTRUCTED NAUVOO TEMPLE WHEN ALL THE EVIDENCE PLAINLY PROVES THAT IT WAS NEVER USED ON THE ORIGINAL NAUVOO TEMPLE, NOR WAS IT USED ON THE KIRTLAND TEMPLE OR THE SALT LAKE TEMPLE. Even though many ignorant critics claim that there are inverted pentagrams on the Salt Lake Temple they are mistaken! Although the Temple Stars are five pointed they have a raised center point and are clearly not the evil symbol of the followers of Satan.

President Gordon B. Hinkley recently authorized the use of inverted pentagrams on the Nauvoo Temple! Not just one, but well over a hundred! Not only did he authorize them but he insisted on placing them on and in the temple, according to several reports in spite of the concerns of some the men on the temple committee. Just as he ignored handwritingexperts that declared that Mark Hofmann’s works were forgeries in the 1980's, almost 20 years ago.

Deuteronomy 18:10_12 tells us that witchcraft, and mysticisms, and the occult are abominations to God and are not to be trifled with; " There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD"

There are many more places in the Bible where God strongly condemns trifling with the occult. It is important to ask WHY IS PRESIDENT GORDON B. HINKLEY THE HEAD OF THE MORMON CHURCH PUTTING THE MOST WIDELY RECOGNIZED SYMBOL OF THE DEVIL ( THE INVERTED PENTAGRAM ) ON THE RECONSTRUCTED NAUVOO TEMPLE? Why did he so intently seek after the Hofmann forgeries, fund them, help validate them, give them credence, support Mark Hofmann, and be an apologist for the revised and completely ridiculous position that the forgeries caused in the Mormon Church? (Like defending a forgery of Mark Hofmann’s design, the white salamander as "an angel of fire") Thus, by insinuating the absurd claim that Joseph Smith was involved in the occult while forming the Mormon religion, and that he lied about the Angel Moroni being a white salamander lizard instead? Although these assertions were proven wrong in a court of law(Hofmann trial), the present day leaders to this day have not repented in public (as Church policy dictates)of these egregious errors. The membership should also know that they should repent for their sin in accepting these forgeries as the truth, for we will be judged by what we accept or reject. Each must know for themselves; one cannot be saved in ignorance.

Why would anyone put such an evil symbol on a temple of God? This makes absolutely no sense at all. Based on what? A so called preliminary sketch by William Weeks obtained over a hundred years after the fact? Some later sketches by William Weeks directly contradict the so called preliminary sketch in that they show a five pointed star with lines radiating out from the center like a temple star, with twenty lines in it instead of the five that constitute a pentagram.

Daguerreotypes (old style photo’s) absolutely do not substantiate any inverted pentagrams in the fourth floor circular windows of the Nauvoo Temple (unless you are looking at the computer enhanced picture (forgery) of the Nauvoo Temple on the Church website), nor are there any inverted pentagrams on the Kirtland Temple, the Salt Lake Temple, the Logan Temple, Saint George Temple, or the Manti Temple! Temples that were built " following as closely as possible the pattern laid out by Joseph Smith" all had no inverted pentagrams!

In the re-constructed Nauvoo Temple, in the Celestial room there are inverted pentagrams prominently displayed embroidered into the curtains! The assembly room has little inverted pentagrams all the way around the perimeter in the frieze molding. The exterior of the re-constructed Nauvoo Temple has inverted pentagrams prominently displayed in the forth floor circular windows.

It is commonly known that an inverted pentagram above a door means that all who enter herein are under the power of Satan! So logically carried to the next step does this also mean that any sacred ordinance that is performed under an inverted pentagram is of the Devil?

It is a very disconcerting thought that so many sacred ordinances performed in the reconstructed Nauvoo Temple are null and void, or possibly worse that they are sealed under Satan’s authority, in that they are completely surrounded by inverted pentagrams just as if they had drawn one on the floor and sat in the center of it to conjure up a demon!

"When an evil reaches a certain point, it becomes an evil not to oppose it" Quote from Joseph Smith.

Why is the pentagram on the newly rebuilt Nauvoo Temple?

Page updated February 26, 2002.

During the decade of the eighties there was a deliberate and determined effort to link Joseph Smith Jr. and the founding of the Mormon religion to the occult, from enemies within and outside of the L.D.S. Church. Mark Hofmann’s forgeries were leading the way.

Various historians and critics of the Church were often fond of calling themselves “intellectuals,” most notably members of the Sunstone symposium, and writers for Dialogue, and were referred to as such whenever mentioned by the media. In article after article, in newspaper clippings throughout the eighties on this subject; the word “intellectual” came up when referring to these groups. “We are the intellectuals” they would say. They would go on to say they are not limited to just what history the church sanctions like the simple minded members do. They would say that they research their information from a variety of sources, they get the other side of the story, and they are open-minded, etc.

“The white salamander letter is consistent with other evidence that Joseph Smith had his occult side.” they would go on. In a Salt Lake Tribune article, Mormon historian Richard L. Bushman urged Mormons to be tolerant “about this culture of magic invading the life of the prophet.” BYU professor Ron Walker said “We are miles beyond the question of the authenticity of the letters.” and historians “now are reconciling the significance of the documents.” These self-proclaimed “intellectuals” were all so giddy they could hardly contain themselves. We finally got the goods on those simpleton farmers (L.D.S. Church founders) now, they would all gloat.

The Hofmann forgeries have since been exposed, but unfortunately, many people in the L.D.S. Church never repented for accepting the Hofmann forgeries as authentic. Neither did the self-anointed Sunstone “intellectuals”, nor any of the other various enemies of the Church. They all still strongly desire to believe that the Church founding was influenced by the occult, and they have taken great pains to try to dissuade popular opinion that way, in spite of these forgeries being exposed.

The latest such attempt involves placing inverted pentagrams, known symbols of the occult, on the newly rebuilt Nauvoo Temple.

In the first place, most Mormons, and anti-mormons have little or no idea what a pentagram looks like. Many of them will mistakenly insist that they can be found on the Salt Lake Temple. Unfortunately they are confusing the five pointed stars found on the Temples with pentagrams. These stars can be found on many of the nineteenth century temples and have sloping lines rising from each corner to a center point. As in the examples below:

Although the pentagram has the same basic shape, it has no center point, with only five lines connecting each corner:

Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary gives the definition of a pentagram as: “a five-pointed star-shaped figure made by extending the sides of a regular pentagon until they meet, used as an occult symbol by the Pythagoreans and later philosophers, and magicians, etc.” This definition hardly fits the stars that can be found on the Salt Lake Temple. Mormons and anti-mormons alike, who refer to these stars as such are simply mistaken.  

Mormons should not be deceived by the misleading lies, that there are pentagrams on the Salt Lake Temple.  Too many times, Mormons have been caught trying to defend pentagrams as religious symbols in the Mormon religion when they clearly are not.  Unfortunately, the powers that be that have taken over  the Mormon Church, are promoting the pentagram as a religious symbol, which was not in the original Mormon religion as taught by Joseph Smith.  They are polluting the Holy Church of God as foretold in Mormon Chapter 8.

There is little evidence the pentagram ever existed on the original Nauvoo temple. Not one unaltered daguerreotype of the original temple shows a pentagram. All of the known surviving daguerreotypes do not produce a clear image of the temple. Some daguerreotypes reveal shapes in the windows which strongly suggest a design totally unlike a pentagram, and very much like the circular windows found on the St. George Temple, and various surviving paintings depicting the Nauvoo temple.

Unfortunately, some have taken upon it themselves to insert a pentagram into one of the windows on a copy of one of the daguerreotypes, where it previously didn’t exist.  A comparison between previously unaltered copy and the forged copy will easily reveal the deception.

Two different versions of the same window from the same photo. Both windows are greatly enlarged from their original size. One showing a clarity and high resolution nearly impossible for an early daguerreotype.

There are no pentagrams on any of the nineteenth century temples including the Kirtland Temple, which was built by Joseph Smith. Brigham Young used to say he tried his best to follow Joseph Smith as closely as possible. Yet, he never put a pentagram on any of the Utah temples. A Mormon Temple is the most sacred and holy building that has ever been built by mortal man. If it is not built with humility in righteousness, in honesty and truth with an eye single to the glory of God, it will not be accepted by God.

Was the Pentagram inscribed on King Solomon's Ring?

Many Mormons have claimed that the inverted pentagram was inscribed on King Solomon's ring, and that it was the official symbol of the city of Jerusalem. They claim that the pentagram was used on ancient Christian Churches in Europe.  Some have gone so far as to attach religious meaning to the pentagram on the recently re-constructed Nauvoo Temple.

Is this true?  Where did they get this information?

Unfortunately, the problem with making such claims is that they are attempting to use segments from various fables, legends, and bedtime stories and reporting them as factual.

Some say the Talmud refers to the legend of a magical ring of Solomon, engraved with a five pointed star "Seal of Solomon", given to him by the Archangel Michael, in which he uses it to subdue demonic evil spirits and force them to build the Temple at Jerusalem.  Both the Talmud and the works of Flavius Josephus, declare the ring to have a five-pointed design, but do not describe it as a pentagram.  The only work describing this as a pentagram, are certain versions of a Greek work titled "The Testament of Solomon," which is widely considered a work of fiction falsely posing as a Biblical book.

According to one of the legends from these varied books, King Solomon captures an evil Babylonian spirit named Ashmedai, who is king of the demons, which Solomon uses to build the Temple at Jerusalem.  Ashmedai steals Solomon's magical ring and throws it into the sea, and then proceeds to steal Solomon's kingdom.  Solomon later finds the ring in the belly of a fish and retakes his kingdom by exposing Ashmedai as an imposter because Ashmedai has the feet of a chicken.

According to Muslims, the Qur'an teaches that King Solomon used his magical powers to capture genies and use them to build his construction projects.  Unbeknownst to the genies, Solomon died while leaning on his wooden staff.  The genies continued to work for Solomon until a worm began to gnaw through his staff.   In the work "Thousand and One Nights",  King Solomon imprisons a genie in a bottle.  

See www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/940602_Genie.html

All of these accounts were written many centuries after King Solomon had died,  and not a single one can be sustained by the Bible.  They may be held as valid religious beliefs by certain sects and religions and should be respected as such, but they certainly should not be taken seriously by Mormons, who have the greater light of Scripture.  People can't believe that the pentagram was the official seal of Judaism without also believing Solomon used evil spirits to build the Temple.  They can't pick and choose which portions of the story to believe. 

Many Jews protest the repeated attempts throughout history by non Jews to link them to magical superstitions and the occult by the use of these symbols.  They protest the vain attempts by some who try to attach religious meaning to various symbols, without any scriptural basis.  Many if not all of these legends originated from non-Jewish sources.  One Jewish man correctly quotes Deuteronomy 18:10-14 that witchcraft, and mysticisms, and the occult are abominations to God and are not to be trifled with:

 "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. 13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. 14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do." 

And he also quotes Duet. 12:29-32. "When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; 30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods?  even so will I do likewise. 31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

see  www.seedofabraham.net/stardavd.html  

 see also  www.kehilatariel.org/articles/7_8_98.html

Mormons should also know that these commandments not to worship others Gods, apply today just as they did then; that they are not to trifle with strange beliefs outside of their religion.  All of these legends are in direct conflict with the principles taught in LDS Scripture, and should not be trifled with.  Mormons should know to trust only in the traditions revealed from God, and not try to incorporate ancient symbols into their religion, based on flawed historical research, and the opinions of man.   The Book of Mormon warns us not to put our trust in the arm of flesh.  We are building our houses on the sand if we do, and when the storm of scrutiny comes, we will not be able to stand, but will be confounded.

It seems by these accounts that the Devil has been working just as hard at disinformation throughout all of history as he is today.  The Jews in ancient times were surrounded by these strange beliefs, but were forbidden by God to trifle with any of them.  Today, there is absolutely no evidence that the pentagram was officially used as a Jewish symbol, except for these silly legends. Unfortunately, many Jews then, just like many Mormons today, were known to be susceptible to these pagan, and superstitious influences.  The Bible gives us ample evidence to the apostasy of the Jews, when the prophet Elijah sorrowed, because he alone was left of all the house of Israel who still worshipped the true and living God, and God showed him that seven thousand of the Children of Israel had not bowed the knee unto Baal.   Just seven thousand out of an entire nation is not very many!

The Emperor Constantine, was well known for sending Gladiators to their death in the arena. After the Nicene council, the Christian world was forbidden to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, but that he was the "Trinity" - the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost all in one personage, without "body, parts or passions".  To this day this concept remains as one of the primary points of contention between Latter-day Saints and Old Christendom.  More Christians and Jews were murdered in the century after the Roman Empire supposedly became Christianized, then in the years before. 

Christmas, and Easter were both Pagan holidays, before they were incorporated into the Roman Catholic Church and given religious significance, hundreds of years after the death of the Savior.  The cross, and the fish are both presumed to be pagan symbols, but are now Holy symbols of Christendom.  So having pentagrams on ancient churches, really doesn't mean anything, or add any validity to the pentagram in the least.

Latter day Saints have such a greater light with the fullness of the Gospel, it seems so sad that so many of them are quick to cling onto these things of the occult, such as pentagrams and white salamander spirits, etc.  Why is it that so many Mormons go to such extremes to believe in and promote such evil things as the Hoffman forgeries?  What purpose do they have in rejecting their own religion in favor of these slanders against the Church?

 Mormon Apostle Parley P. Pratt in an 1851 address to the American Indians said; "You are a branch of the house of Israel. You are descended from the Jews, or rather more generally, from the tribe of Joseph, which Joseph was a great prophet and ruler in Egypt.’

Early church leaders were anxious for the opportunity to convert the Indians, and stressed that the American Indians had to be converted before the foretold gathering of Israel.

The last admonition of the Prophet Joseph Smith on June 23, 1844 "This day the Lord has shown to me that which was never shown to me before, that I have thousands of friends that never pretended friendship, while others have sought to crawl into my bosom because of my good feelings towards them, and now are the vipers and do seek my life; and if they shall take it they will pursue you; they will do it anyhow....I therefore will say unto you Saints and Elders of Israel:...you will yet be called upon to go forth and call upon the free men from Maine to gather themselves together to the Rocky Mountains; and the Redmen from the West and all people from the North and from the South and from the East, and go to the West, to establish themselves in the strongholds of their gathering places, and there you will gather the Redmen to their center from their scattered and dispersed situation, to become the strong arm of Jehovah."

Other early church leaders preached on this same theme. Mormon apostle Orson Pratt stated "We [meaning the Mormons] have forgotten the forlorn condition of the sons of Joseph, the American Indians. We have forgotten the predictions of the Holy Prophets among their fathers, who so earnestly prayed to the Most High for themselves, and their children to the latest generation, Whose prayers have been recorded in eternity, and preserved in the archives of Heaven, to be answered upon the head of their posterity in the last days. We have forgotten these things and are dwelling at ease in Zion, and neglecting the great redemption of Israel [the Lamanites].

"We have learned something, we are in possession of knowledge concerning these sons of the forest. Shall we therefore dwell at ease and allow the Indians to remain in ignorance of the great truths that we are in possession of concerning them? If so, woe be to these people [meaning the Mormons], or any other people that are entrusted with the sacred things committed to our charge, and who do not use them, for the redemption of those that are unacquainted with this knowledge. How do you think their fathers would feel to see their descendants, without knowledge of God and their ancestors? And then turn and see a people in their midst in possession of the sacred records and prophecies of their fathers, and yet that people, so careless and so much at ease that they used scarcely any exertion to impart the heavenly knowledge to them [the Lamanites, informing them of their promise as the covenant people in the Book of Mormon].

"And if we do not accomplish this work of bringing this knowledge to the Israelites, we shall be accounted as salt that has lost its savor, and therefore is no longer good for anything but to be trodden under the feet of Israel, or our enemies. Who so will not extend the hand of mercy to help the Indians, will go down and lose their influence with God and all good men."

Doctrine and Covenants, Section 10:62 quote: "Yea, and I will also bring to light my gospel which was ministered unto them, and, behold, they shall not deny that which you have received, but they shall build it up, and shall bring to light the true points of my doctrine (which is the Mormon religion), yea, and the only doctrine which is in me".

A Response to History Revisionists:

The history of the Mormon Church is one that continues and forever will be scrutinized by its critics. Throughout history there has been an enormous amount of critical and inflammatory statements from many circles portraying alleged roles of Mormon leaders in various historical events. Of late, strong attempts have been renewed to link Brigham Young to the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Mark Hofmann was the most notorious revisionist of Mormon History, almost single handedly pulling off what scores of Mormon Church critics had had attempted and failed to do for numerous decades before him, that is, discredit the entire Mormon Faith by revising several key points in church history. Convincing critics of the Mormon Religion was an understandably fairly easy task, as Hofmann was merely supplying information that supported their allegations and suspicions. The "Salamander Letter", if proven true, would completely discredit and destroy the Mormon religion by establishing that the church had been founded on the practices of witchcraft and the occult, not to mention discard the credibility of its leader, the Prophet Joseph Smith.

The only opposition to the authenticating of the Hofmann papers came from a smattering of Mormon Church castoffs and an almost equally small number of distinguished handwriting experts who dared to differ from a significant number of their colleagues. The few Mormons that were moved to question the transplanted version of Mormon history were for a time universally scorned and branded as extremist religious fanatics. Had not Hofmann made the mistake of nearly killing himself in his murderous cover_up, historians today would be unanimous in dutifully recording the role of a green salamander instructing Joseph Smith in the restoration of the Mormon religion as the official version.

Although Mark Hofmann failed in his scheme, he did prove it was possible for an LDS church apostate (a personal secret at the time that he kept only to himself) to have a highly respected position in the church and attain a high position of influence on the church leadership, even to the extent of influencing members of the first presidency to act in a highly significant way. Practically speaking, he successfully convinced not only the adversaries outside of the Mormon church but also the entire membership of the church to discard the authentic version of the divine origins of the church and accept the occult version as authentic.

In hindsight, it has become quite clear that Hofmann's documents contained numerous flaws that could have and should have been uncovered before the documents became accepted. Yet curiously, his revisions to history were embraced almost enthusiastically as factual both in and outside of the LDS Church. These events also signified a departure from previous church policies of denouncing such documents as frauds to be classified in the same vein as numerous other forgeries and fraudulent information put out by enemies to the church; therefore allowing such to disintegrate under the weight of their own claims and the tests of time when held up to scrutiny. This raises some interesting questions in regards the nearly unanimous agreement among modern day "experts" who wholeheartedly endorsed the Hofmann forgeries:

How does an amateur like Hofmann so easily fool the experts? Would this not tarnish and weaken the credibility of the "experts" who were so easily fooled? If the "experts" were so easily and embarrassingly fooled in the recent past, what is to prevent them from being fooled again, or did this experience cause any of them to disavow their previous ways and pledge to conduct research on a credible level? Was there ever a public recanting of the errors of those who willingly placed themselves in public leadership positions as Hofmann's accomplices in revising history? Would the "experts" had been as easily fooled had the documents not served the purpose of discrediting the Mormon religion? Where were the revisionists when Hofmann's forgeries were accepted as fact? Did any of them at the time make a stand to thoroughly search out the truth, and if not, at what point did they reform their ways to become credible researchers? Is it possible or even likely, that information that favors the agendas of the revisionists is not thoroughly critiqued and researched as well as that which does not serve their purposes?

History has undoubtedly answered the last question: the Hofmann forgeries proved that information that fits prescribed agendas of paid "experts" may not be scrutinized and critiqued on a factual basis the same way information would be if it refutes those agendas. The same can be said of the latest information attempting to impugn the character of Brigham Young. Attempts to slander Brigham Young will not stand up to factual examination the same way mud_slinging efforts against early church leaders have consistently failed in well over 150 years of church history. When properly examined in an objective scenario, efforts to discredit and revise the Mormon religion fail under the weight of their own agendas.

Mormon Doctrine and Covenants Section 124, verse 12:

"For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait of men, whereby, they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it."