Walter Martin Mormonism books

Walter R. Martin (1928-1989)

Document:
Walter Ralston Martin's comments

Sources:
Maze of Mormonism (1962 ed) (1978 ed)

Notes:
The Maze of Mormonism, copyright © 1962
by Walter R. Martin. Revised second edition,
copyright © 1978 by Walter R. Martin. A limited
edition was also published by Vision House in
1978 bearing a 1977 copyright. Because of
copyright restrictions, only limited "fair use"
excerpts are presented here.

Transcriber's comments (under construction)

Martin's Homepage | his Forward in 1977 Spalding book | Martin & C.R.I.

The Maze
of Mormonism

by

WALTER R. MARTIN, M. A.
Visiting Lecturer, English Bible,
The King's College, Briarcliff Manor, N. Y.

Z O N D E R V A N P U B L I S H I N G H O U S E
GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN

Because of copyright law restrictions,
only limited "fair use" excerpts are presented here.

[ 37 ]

2 A New Revelation -- The Mormon Bible

Aside from the King James Version of the Bible, which the Mormons accept as part of the Word of God "insofar as it is correctly translated," they have added Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price and the Primary volume, The Book of Mormon, to the canon of what they call authorized Scripture. The last mentioned is a subject of this chapter since it occupies a primary place in Mormon theology and therefore must be carefully examined. A great deal of research on the part of a number of able scholars and organizations has already been published concerning The Book of Mormon, and we have drawn heavily upon whatever documented and verifiable information was available. The task of validating the material was enormous, and so we have selected that information which has been verified beyond refutation and is available today in some of our leading institutions of learning (Stanford University, Union Theological Seminary, the Research Departments of the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and various other reputable collections of primary evidence).

It is a difficult task to evaluate the complex structure of The Book of Mormon, and the reader is urged to consider the bibliography at the end of volume if he should desire further and more exhaustive studies.

THE STORY OF THE ANCIENT PEOPLE

The Book of Mormon purports to be a history of two ancient civilizations which were located on the American continent. According to the Mormon version, the first of these great civilizations left the tower of Babel (about 2,250 B. C. by

Because of copyright law restrictions,
only limited "fair use" excerpts are presented here.

A NEW REVELATION -- THE MORMON BIBLE 57

These, and other instances, indicate that Smith was not only a poor scribe but a false prophet; and his prophecy concerning the restoration of Israel to Palestine clearly reveals that he anticipated the millennium in his own lifetime, whereas in reality the prophecy of Ezekiel 37 began to be fulfilled in 1948, more than a hundred years after his death.

The question quite naturally arises in summing up the background of the Book of Mormon -- Where did the book come from, since it obviously did not come from God? The answer to this has been propounded in great length by numerous students of Mormonism, particularly E. D. Howe, Pomeroy Tucker, and William A. Linn.

All concur that the Book of Mormon is probably an expansion upon the writings of one Solomon Spaulding, a retired minister who was known to have authored a number of "romances" with Biblical backgrounds similar in construction to the Book of Mormon. The Mormons delight to point out that one of Spaulding's manuscripts, entitled "Manuscript Story" was discovered in Hawaii some seventy-seven years ago, and it differed in many respects from the Book of Mormon.

But in his excellent volume (The Book of Mormon?), Dr. James D. Bales makes the following observation which is of great importance and agrees in every detail with our research over the last decade:

It has long been contended that there is a connection between the Book of Mormon and one of Solomon Spaulding's historical romances. The Latter-day Saints, of course deny such a connection.

What if the Latter-day Saints are right and there is no relationship between the Book of Mormon and Spaulding's writings? It simply means that those who so contend are wrong, but it proves nothing with reference to the question as to whether or not the Book of Mormon is of divine origin. One could be wrong as to what man, or men wrote the Book of Mormon, and still know that it was not written by men inspired of God. One can easily prove that the Book of Mormon is of human origin. And, after all, this is the main issue. The fundamental issue is not what man or men wrote it, but whether it was written by men who were guided by God. We know that men wrote it, and that these men, whoever they were, did not have God's guidance.

This may be illustrated by Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures -- the textbook of Christian Science Churches. Mrs. Eddy

58 THE MAZE OF MORMONISM

claims to have been its author, under God's direction. There are others who claim she re-worked and enlarged a manuscript of Mr. Quimby and of a Francis Lieber. The evidence seems to prove that such is the case. But what if those who so maintained failed to prove their case? Would that prove that it was inspired of God? Not at all. It would prove only that Quimby's manuscript had nothing to do with it. But it would not prove that some other uninspired being did not write it. Regardless of what human being or beings wrote Science and Health, it is of human, not divine, origin. Just so the Book of Mormon is of human origin and uninspired, even though it were impossible to prove what particular man wrote it.

It has not been maintained that all of the Book of Mormon was written by Spaulding. Thus, it has not been claimed that the theological portions were put in by him. These portions bear the imprint of Smith, Cowdery, and Sidney Rigdon (see the proof offered in Shook's The True Origin of the Book of Mormon, pp. 126--). It is maintained, however, that some things, including a great deal of Scripture, were added to one of Spaulding's manuscripts and that his work was thus transferred into the Book of Mormon (see the testimony of John Spaulding, Solomon's brother; Martha Spaulding, John's wife: They maintained that the historical portion was Spaulding's. E. D. Howe, Mormonism Unveiled, 1834, pp. 278--, Shook, The True Origin of the Book of Mormon, pp. 94--).

The Mormons contend that the discovery of one of Spaulding's manuscripts demonstrates that it was not the basis of the Book of Mormon.

"I will here state that the Spaulding manuscript was discovered in 1884, and is at present in the library of Oberlin College, Ohio. On examination it was found to bear no resemblance whatever to the Book of Mormon. The theory that Solomon Spaulding was the author of the Book of Mormon should never be mentioned again -- outside a museum." (William A. Morton, op. cit., p. 6).
There are three errors in the above paragraph: viz. that Spaulding wrote but one manuscript; that the manuscript discovered in 1884 is the same one which non-Mormons have claimed constituted the basis of the Book of Mormon; that the manuscript in Oberlin bears no resemblance whatever to the Book of Mormon.

(a) Spaulding wrote more than one manuscript. This was maintained by D. P. Harlburt and Clark Braden before the Honolulu manuscript was found (Charles A. Shook, op. cit., p. 77). Spaulding's daughter also testified that her father had written "other romances." (Elder George Reynolds, The Myth of the "Manuscript Found," Utah, 1883, p. 104). The present manuscript story looks like a rough, unfinished, first draft.

(b) The manuscript found in Honolulu was called a "Manuscript Story" and not the "Manuscript Found." This Honolulu manuscript, The Manuscript Story, was in the hands of anti-Mormons in 1834. However, they did not claim that it was the manuscript which was the basis of the Book of Mormon. It was claimed that

A NEW REVELATION -- THE MORMON BIBLE 59

another manuscript of Spaulding was the basis of the Book of Mormon. (Charles A. Shook, op. cit., p. 77, 15, 185. The "Manuscript Found or Manuscript Story" of the Late Rev. Solomon Spaulding, Lamoni, Iowa: Printed and Published by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1885, p. 10).

(c) Although the Manuscript Story has not been regarded as the Manuscript Found, which constituted the basis of the Book of Mormon, there is a great deal of resemblance between the Manuscript Story and the Book of Mormon. These points of similarity can be accounted for upon the basis that The Manuscript Story was the first, and rough, draft of one of Spaulding's works which he reworked into the Manuscript Found.

"Howe in 1834, published a fair synopsis of the Oberlin manuscript now at Oberlin (Howe's Mormonism Unveiled, 288) and submitted the original to the witnesses who testified to the many points of identity between Spaulding's 'Manuscript Found' and the Book of Mormon. These witnesses then (in 1834) recognized the manuscript secured by Hurlburt and now at Oberlin, as being one of Spaulding's, but not the one which they asserted was similar to the Book of Mormon. They further said that Spaulding had told them that he had altered his original plan of writing by going farther back with his dates and writing in the old scripture style, in order that his story might appear more ancient, (Howe's Mormonism Unveiled, 288)" (Theodore Schroeder, The Origin of the Book of Mormon Re-Examined in Its Relation to Spaulding's "Manuscript Found," p. 5).

This testimony is borne out by the fact that there are many points of similarity between the manuscript in Oberlin College and the Book of Mormon.*

It is then fairly well established, historically, that the Mormons have attempted to use a manuscript admittedly not the one from which Smith later copied and amplified the text of what is now known as the Book of Mormon as the basis for denying what eye witnesses have affirmed, namely that it was another Spaulding Manuscript (Manuscript Found) which Smith drew upon to fabricate the Mormon Bible.

Dr. Bales is right when he states:

There are too many points of similarity for them to be without significance. Thus the internal evidence, combined with the testimony of witnesses, as presented in Howe's book and reproduced in Shook's, show that Spaulding revised the Manuscript Story. The revision was known as the Manuscript Found, and it became the

---------------
* The Book of Mormon?, by James D. Bales, Ph.D., The Manney Company, Forth Worth 14. Texas, pp. 138-142.

60 THE MAZE OF MORMONISM

basis of the in at least its historical parts. Also its religious references furnished the germs of the religious portions of the Book of Mormon.

However, in ordinary conversation, and in public debate, on the Book of Mormon, it is unnecessary to go into the question of who wrote the Book of Mormon. The really important issue is whether or not the Book of Mormon is of divine origin. There are some Mormons who seem to think that if they can prove that Spaulding's manuscript had nothing to do with the Book of Mormon, they have made great progress toward proving its divine origin. Such, however, is not the case. And one should show, from an appeal to the Bible, and to the Book of Mormon itself, that the Book of Mormon is not of divine origin. *

Let us not forget that the "Manuscript Story" itself contains at least 75 similarities to what is now the Book of Mormon and this is not to be easily explained away.

Finally, students of Mormonism must, in the last analysis, measure its content by that of Scripture, and when this is done it will be found that it does not "speak according to the law and the testimony" (Isaiah 8:20) and it is to be rejected as a counterfeit revelation doubly condemned by God Himself (Galatians 1:8, 9).

Joseph Smith, the author of this "revelation," was perfectly described (as was his reward) in the Word of God almost thirty-three hundred years before he appeared. It would pay the Mormons to remember its message:

"If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

"And the sign or wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;

"Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

"Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

---------------
* The Book of Mormon?, by James D. Bales, Ph.D., pp. 146-7.

Because of copyright law restrictions,
only limited "fair use" excerpts are presented here.

THE MAZE
OF
MORMONISM

WALTER MARTIN

Regal Books
A Division of GL Publications
Ventura, California, U. S. A.

[ 43 ]

TWO

MORMONISM'S
REVELATIONS
---
Divine Or Devilish?

According to Mormon history, Joseph Smith, Jr., was God's prophet sent to restore the gospel in our age. However, his office was aided considerably by the addition of three new "scriptures" to God's revelation previously given in the Bible. The Mormon Church maintains that there are four standard works which are revelations from God and which supposedly form the basis for all Mormon doctrine: The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, and the Bible, "in so far as it is correctly translated."

The earliest of these books, the Bible, is considered imperfect, having lost "many great and precious truths." The Book of Mormon, mentioned in Chapter 1 contains the history of the early migrants to the Western Hemisphere and the beginnings of Mormon doctrine. The second standard Mormon work, Doctrine and Covenants, is revelation contemporary with the fledgling Mormon Church. It contains revelations given through Joseph Smith (except for one by Brigham Young and the "Manifesto," to be discussed later)

Mormonism's Revelations / 59

1 Nephi 18:23-25; Enos 1:21; Mosiah 10:5; and Helaman 6:13.

The True Author of the Book of Mormon?

Widespread publicity accompanied the 1977 release of a book examining the origins of The Book of Mormon and has caused considerable consternation within the Mormon Church. Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon> by researchers Howard Davis, Wayne Cowdery, and Donald Scales, has produced substantial evidence to support the claim that The Book of Mormon actually was plagiarized from an unpublished novel which had been written before 1816 by Solomon Spalding, a retired minister who occupied his leisure time with composing stories and two novels.

When Mormonism first began its growth in the early 1830s, heated controversy arose concerning the origin of its sacred book. Its followers, standing behind their prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr., sided with him in declaring The Book of Mormon to be a new Bible, God's Word to man. Its opponents refused to believe such a story, and an investigation was undertaken in order to ascertain the true roots of the book. Spalding had died before this time (in 1816) and was unable to defend his novel himself. However, his friends, relatives, and acquaintances were very familiar with his second novel, Manuscript Found, and, upon hearing The Book of Mormon being read by Mormon preachers, immediately recognized it as essentially the long-lost Manuscript Found. Dozens of affidavits were gathered from Spalding's acquaintances and family attesting that Spalding was the source of the poorly revised tale which Smith broadcast as The Book of Mormon. Additional affidavits were gathered which confirmed the Spalding claim and which were sworn to by relatives and acquaintances of Smith and other early Mormon leaders.

However, with poor communication and little organization,

60 / THE MAZE OF MORMONISM

the publication of these testimonies was sporadic. A massive Mormon campaign to counter the facts, combined with a lack of organized rebuttal, caused the Spaulding controversy to die down before the end of the century. Many people still referred to Spalding's novel as the possible source of The Book of Mormon, but few people had the time or means of access necessary to compile all the necessary information.

Almost thirty years ago, when I was first researching Mormonism, I examined a copy of Spalding's first novel, Manuscript Story, which is still in existence and in the possession of Oberlin College in Ohio. From a careful comparison of that work with The Book of Mormon, I was convinced that Solomon Spalding was their common author. As a painter's strokes are unique, and identify each of his varying pictures, so the author's strokes of style and personal mannerisms uniquely identify each of his works. There was no denying that the two books were somewhat different, but there was also strong evidence that the same author had originated both. ³ However, I did not have the time necessary to exhaustively research the theory, and could only pray that somebody with the time and resources could do what needed to be done on this important project.

Then in 1976 I was approached by three young men who had spent three years of their lives in an intensive study of this very puzzle. Not only had they been the first to compile almost all of the testimonies relating to the Spalding affair, but they had also traced the relationship between Smith and Spalding in the person of Sidney Rigdon, one of Smith's closest confidants and a former sojourner in Pittsburgh at the time Spalding was living there. Their work was astounding, their conclusion apparently inescapable.

----------
³ See Mormon historian B. H. Roberts' analysis of parallels between The Book of Mormon and Manuscript Story at Oberlin College.

Mormonism's Revelations / 61

As the crowning touch to their work, part of Spalding's original manuscript of his second novel, which had been lost since around 1828, and which was in Spalding's own handwriting, has evidently resurfaced! Twelve pages of manuscript writing has been examined by careful handwriting analysis and attested to be in the handwriting of Solomon Spalding himself, and is a word-for-word portion of the Book of Mormon! The bitter irony to the Mormon Church is that these pages have been preserved all these years by the Mormon Church itself as a portion of the original Book of Mormon. No Church official had been able to positively identify the handwriting of that section with the handwriting of Smith or any of his known associates. And of course this would hardly have been possible if it were actually the handwriting of Solomon Spalding! The Mormon Church has issued denials of this identification but prohibits further examination of the documents in question.

A complete discussion of the Spalding origin of The Book of Mormon can be obtained by reading Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? I have included here a copy of two of the handwriting expert's testimonies identifying a portion of The Book of Mormon handwriting as that of Solomon Spalding. I have also included a chronology concerning Sidney Rigdon and his association with both Spalding and Smith (see following pages). Although Rigdon claimed that he knew nothing of Mormonism before he was approached by Mormon missionaries in late 1830, the evidence shows that he knew Smith long before that, was one of the primary instigators in the development of The Book of Mormon and the new religion, and was probably the person who took Spalding's novel from the printshop in which it lay before 1816. It was that manuscript (written by Solomon Spalding) which was added to and revised religiously and then ultimately presented as The Book of Mormon.

At least ten people testified that Rigdon knew Smith before the beginning of Mormonism (Stephen H. Hart, Rev. S. F. Whitney, Rev. Darwin Atwater, Adamson Bentley,

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