The American Spectator

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/p> p> SALAMANDER SLANDER br> Re: Carrie Sheffield's Hyde Park Prophet : /p>

I would like to write in and correct a minor impression left by Carrie Sheffield in her obit of the Mormon leader Gordon B. Hinckley. When the Hoffman forgeries were purchased, the Church actually published the text of at least one of them. I remember reading it in an official Church publication, and it was very weird. Saying that the Church squirrels away historical records into vaults is correct, but the practice is for safe-keeping. For all the stories out there that claim the Church hides such things, which she did not explicitly say but can be inferred, in this case a text that was troubling, maybe even damning, was made public and not hidden from the world.

I sometimes wonder if Wikipedia is any more reliable than Hoffman, but for what it is worth, it cites the church publication that published the "Salamander Letter."

The whole thing is an ugly blot. Not nearly as ugly as the Mountain Meadows Massacre, but still quite ugly. A Mormon created lies to discredit Joseph Smith. The Church was duped by the forgeries. Being told they were authentic they bought them. Yet having something that raised doubt about Joseph Smith, the Church made it public, and asked us to still believe Joseph was a prophet of God. The forger, who I repeat was a member of the Church, went on to murder people to cover up his actions. But luckily for one of his intended victims, one of the creep's bombs went off too early, he was caught and the whole mess unraveled.

While Hinckley is one of the victims in this story, some have said his being duped means he couldn't be a prophet of God. But what prophet ever was perfect? Not Moses, or any other prophet in the Old Testament. Nor frankly were the New Testament Apostles, or Paul. That latter book makes it very clear that only one who walked this earth can claim to have been perfect and never again will there be another. And it is Jesus Christ, that perfect man, the Son of God, who suffered for us and overcame death and sin, in whom we are to place our faith.

Yes, believing that Christ is leading us today through modern day prophets and modern day revelation is one of the many things that some other Christians use to say we are in error and have been duped.

p>But still, it is a shame that a good man, who spent his life as a faithful and earnest disciple and servant of Jesus Christ, has to have his memory smeared with this tragedy. He has done so much that is good, much of it outside the Church and outside of our country. To spend so little time on what he has done, and so much on this and a handful of controversies is a horrible distortion. But it happened and even as a victim it smears his life. Yet I see his publishing the text as evidence of his living honestly and of his faith in Christ. So I felt it important to correct the possible misimpression that could be drawn from Sheffield's article. Yes the Church leaders were worried it would cast doubt on Joseph Smith and the Church. Yes they stored it in a vault. But they still published it. br> -- James Bailey

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