Oddpologists Series: Shawn McCraney

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Oddpologist: Shawn McCraney

At a time when expensive suits and forced smiles mar what it means to be a Christian on the television-viewing public, there are a few genuine articles left to see on it. Shawn McCraney, host of the show Heart of the Matter and a former Mormon of 40 years, is one of those rare individuals. He’s one of the most transparent hosts I’ve seen on television or the Internet. While Christendom, Inc. etiquette wants to force everyone to be emotionless zombies with perfect teeth and perfect behavior, Shawn lets it all hang out. While this modern incarnation of Christendom, Inc. prides itself on flawlessly delivered three-point sermons, Shawn occasionally stumbles and speaks exactly what’s on his mind (sometimes to great comedic effect). All the while he promotes the superiority of Jesus to any religion, creed, doctrine, or denomination — and he does it with noticeable heartfelt passion. When he doesn’t know something, he’ll tell you. When he thinks you’re full of “bull shitake mushrooms”, he’ll let you know. When you make a good point, he’ll point it out. But he isn’t above apologizing for getting overly emotional and saying something inappropriate or incorrect at times. The past seven years of his show have been some incredible viewing, especially the phone call portions from Mormons, et al. of all stripes, positions, and levels of inebriation.

So it’s his passion-filled expression and defense of the saving work of Jesus that make him the ideal candidate for the 2013 NAA Oddpologist Award*, an award I give out to unique Christian apologists who throw monkey wrenches into the cobweb covered cogs of tradition. But I present this award in a bittersweet mood, since it was his passionate delivery that has cost him his show on the airwaves just this month. Shawn’s last show, which aired on January 1st, 2013 was titled, ironically, “The Price of Truth”. Given what he witnessed of Christian support for a Mormon presidential candidate in the recent election, he diagnosed the Body of Christ as ill. After visiting some church buildings to see what was going on in them, he came out disgusted. So with 7 years of programs focusing intensely on every facet of Mormonism, Shawn decided to turn his attention to hypocrisy in evangelical Christianity in America. He was, like any conscientious doctor, intent on remedying its sickness, not spreading it. It was then that his show was pulled from the air.

Those of us who have enjoyed and supported Shawn and Alathea Ministries work over the years should definitely continue to do so. In all the zeal and enthusiasm that Shawn expresses, he never failed to lose focus of the heart of the matter… Jesus.

Congratulations, Shawn McCraney! And, remember, as the old saying goes:

When God closes a window, sometimes He slams it so fast that it breaks and He has to replace it with a brand new, bigger one.”

Something like that…

With a handshake,

Joshua Warren / NAA
20130126

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*Note: What’s an “oddpologist”?

Now, don’t let the word “odd” fool you. It’s not an insult. The word “odd” means “differing markedly from the usual or ordinary or accepted” (Merriam Webster).

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All NAA posts related to Mormonism can be found by clicking this sentence!

The First First Vision?

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Really Recommended Reading: Who Really Wrote The Book of Mormon?

Who Really Wrote The Book of Mormon?
by Wayne L. Cowdrey, Howard A. Davis, and Arthur Vanick
Paperback: 558 pages
Publisher: Concordia Publishing House (July 30, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0758605277

Synopsis

Explore letters, personal testimonies, and historical documents to discover who really wrote The Book of Mormon. Was it given to Joseph Smith by an angel or created from a work of fiction originally written by Solomon Spalding, a former Congregationalist minister? As the evidence unfolds, the authors of Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma reveal a mystery that challenges the history of the Mormon church. Who was Solomon Spalding? Was his novel connected to Joseph Smith? Explore these questions and the conspiracy surrounding the Spalding manuscript and the origins of Mormonism.

except from the Introduction

In Who Really Wrote The Book of Mormon? readers will become aware of a fascinating body of evidence that has continued to accumulate over the years and, despite efforts by pro-Mormon scholars to deny or dismiss it, has grown to such proportion that it now poses a significant challenge to history itself. At stake is nothing less than the Church’s most sacred text, The Book of Mormon. At issue is whether this long-revered book is actually a valuable, historical record of pre-Columbian North America or a deception of the first order, perpetrated upon the gullible and credulous by the very founder of the Church himself, Prophet Joseph Smith.

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NoApologiesAllowed Minireview

Not Just a Mere Book — It’s Like an Encyclopedia!

I just put down the book this afternoon and thought long and hard about how to write a worthwhile review; something that would showcase how exceptional this book is and what a valuable reference it is. Not only is it an essential tool for we Christian apologists who engage Mormons, it should also be required reading for Mormons, too, and anyone researching 19th century American literature for that matter. It isn’t just a book — it’s like an encyclopedia of Who’s Who at the core of the birth of Mormonism and the history of its deceptive “Bible”, The Book of Mormon. And since I’ve concluded that there’s no way I could write a concise review and relay all the important details of this fascinating record, I hope to at least spark your interest in it enough to make you want to buy it (see below).

558 Pages AND Concise

Even at a length of 558 pages, Who Really Wrote The Book of Mormon? is concise. Yes, “concise”. The authors didn’t waste space on unsubstantiated opinions or rhetoric or anything else that might be construed as “anti-Mormon”, a tactic that more and more Mormons are using in place of honest inquiry or considerate answers. (And even at the rare times when the authors do venture into speculation, they are clear at labeling it as such.) They went to the trouble of referencing all sorts of records of varying levels of obscurity and even legibility — tax records, census records, family histories and so on — to reconstruct the events leading up to the initial 1830 printing of the Book of Mormon and a few years thereafter. The amount of references is just incredible. I mean that. And let me be perfectly clear: I’ve never actually read a book with such an abundance of references. All summed up, there are around 130 pages of notes and references alone! And the sad fact is that in all likelihood, the majority of Mormons would relegate this incredible work of research to the “anti-Mormon” bin without once putting a crease in a page.

Detail After Detail After Detail After — You Get the Point

The sheer amount of detail that forms the content of this book is to the extent that it makes the authors seem obsessive-compulsive — and that’s a compliment! It’s rich and fully referenced.

To give you an idea of the amount of detail in this book, take a look at the section labeled “A Chronology of Elder Sidney Rigdon’s Activities: 1822 ~ 1830″ which begins on page 334. There, you will find a month-by-month record over an eight-year span of time listing the whereabouts of the infamous Sidney Rigdon. (This is important because Mormons claim that Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith did not know each other until around 1830 or 1831.)

Conclusion

I’m really at a loss for a worthy enough compliment to give this book. It was a fascinating read that forced me to stay up many late nights because I just could not put it down. (And I mean that in the most literal sense.)

As I closed the final page of the appendix, I was actually sad that this literary journey that was the reading of this amazing piece of research had come to an end. The authors set out to demonstrate that, at the very least, The Book of Mormon is the mere product of a man. They not only succeeded, but, in my opinion, they went beyond that and gave ample evidence enough to show who that man might have been. It may very well have been Solomon Spalding and his manuscript, Manuscript Found. Sidney Rigdon had the opportunity to steal it, as he was accused of by Solomon Spalding himself before he died (!), and the twisted motive to do so. In Oliver Cowdery, he found a willing “scribe” who could copy out the text with Sidney’s “doctrines” input therein. And in Joseph Smith, he found a fall guy — or so he thought.

So very well done, Wayne, Howard, and Arthur!

Next up, I’ve finally gotten a replica of the 1830 edition of The Book of Mormon. I’m anxious to see this work of fiction in all its original “splendor”, since there are about 70,000 differences between it and the current version. How interesting that there on the first page is, “Joseph Smith, Author and Proprietor.” Telling indeed!

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Get the book for HALF-OFF the cover price (just $9) at the Concordia Publishing House here:
http://www.cph.org/p-443-who-really-wrote-the-book-of-mormon.aspx?SearchTerm=who%20really%20wrote%20the%20book%20of%20mormon

Or at Amazon.com:

Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?: The Spalding Enigma: Wayne L. Cowdrey, Howard A. Davis, Arthur Vanick: 9780758605276: Amazon.com: Books

Read a 14-page sample here:
http://www.cph.org/pdf/124195.pdf

Yet Another Mormon Monstrosity

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What you would get if you fused Brigham Young, Bruce McConkie, and a modern Mormon together?

You’re looking at it.

Discussion Questions

1) Did Brigham Young teach “Adam is God”?

2) Did he teach it as “doctrine”?

3) If a so-called “prophet” teaches something as “doctrine” that a later “prophet” calls “false doctrine”, can either of them be trusted? (reference Spencer Kimball)

4) If a so-called “prophet” can be so utterly wrong about the nature of God, does that say anything about the people who would choose to follow them?

NOTE: Read the comments to this cartoon to see a most revealing aspect of Mormon culture.

Now the only question left to ask is: Why didn’t any of them consult those six-foot-tall people dressed like Quakers living on the Moon about all this?

Here is one of many documents which preserve this embarrassing fact of Mormon history, which was the source of the quote in the cartoon:

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Mormonism’s “Devil’s Tail”: The Book of Abraham

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Be offended. I was.

The devil’s tail of Mormonism, the supposed Book of Abraham, is a devil’s tale.

Joseph Smith took a now well-known Egyptian burial artifact called a hypocephalus and then connected it to the content of an ancient papyrus, which he and his associates originally claimed was the handwritten record of the biblical patriarch Abraham. The so-called Book of Abraham contained three facsimiles, the only Mormon “scripture” to contain artwork (artwork that featured representations of 4 pagan deities and a pagan priest, no less; it’s important to capture what those pagan deities looked like).

The second facsimile, incorporated in my cartoon here, was enumerated and explained at the direction of Joseph Smith, probably with help from Sidney Ridgon and others. He explained figure seven this way:

“Fig. 7. Represents God sitting on his throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-words of the Priesthood; as, also, the sign of the Holy Ghost unto Abraham, in the form of a dove.”

However, the figure is actually the ancient Egyptian deity Min or Amun wrapped in burial wrappings with, yes, an erection (known by its less overt and more obtuse term in the archaeological field as “ithyphallic“).

Interestingly, this part of the facsimile was even censored by the Mormons themselves in printings of the Book of Abraham and not fully restored until 1981. As pro-Mormon apologist Ian Barber of page F-5 of What Mormonism Isn’t wrote regarding the said figure:

“…that the explicit portrayal offended Mormon sensibilities is evidenced by the fact that the phallus has been removed from several printings of the Pearl of Great Price…”

Well, why on Earth would they want to censor something that their “Abraham” spent so much time drawing with such clarity and detail?

Other interesting “truths” that Joseph Smith revealed to the world from this piece:

1) The Mormon [g]od (one of the many) lives near Kolob. (figure 1)
2) One day on Kolob equals a thousand years on Earth. (figure 1)
3) “Oliblish” apparently is Egyptian for “Kolob”. (figure 2)
etc.

As much as Joseph Smith would have enjoyed sharing with us the true meaning of figures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 — those are all secret, even to this day. In light of the life-altering and faith-impacting information that he previously revealed (detailed above), isn’t it interesting that humanity is still not deemed ready for the translation of those additional parts? Oh, well. Maybe one of these days…

Now, understand that it is obvious that Joseph Smith didn’t know that the seated person in figure 7 had an erection. It is just as it is obvious that he had no clue what the rest of the image was about.

The Book of Abraham. And that is just one of the many reasons I have never been a Mormon nor will ever be.

By the way, does your Strong’s Concordance list “grand Key-words of the Priesthood”? Sounds very “Freemason”-esque to me…

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A Note About the “Devil’s Tail”

Here’s an excerpt from an Alan Keyes speech that explain the phrase very, very clearly and concisely. It fits this situation perfectly (and I do think that Alan Keyes is a brilliant and intelligent speaker).

“We don’t have to worry about the devil when he shows up looking like the devil. Gotta worry about him when he shows up looking like the nice guy who lives next door. Then you have to look carefully. I think it was in medieval times–what did they tell you to look for? What did they tell you to look for? The one thing the devil couldn’t hide. His tail. See, the devil is going to show up, smiling and telling you all kinds of things you want to hear, and handing you things that you think are wonderful, and seducing you with wonderful promises that the things you hope for and believe are going to come to pass. He’ll speak your language; he’ll quote your scriptures; he’ll fall down on his knees and pretend to worship your God. And meanwhile, he’ll be leading you off down a road that goes in just the opposite direction. But he’ll look good. And so they always used to say, he can’t, however, hide that tail. He’s got to find a place to put it. He can dress up like us, but at the end of the day, he’s got to find a place to put that tail. So you always want to look for the devil’s tail.”

Good advice indeed!

An Unexpected Applicant

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