There are several versions of the story, of course, but it goes something like this....
Contrast this with Smith, who not only owned a home, but a hotel (which served the very alcohol he prohibited others from selling or consuming) and a printing company, and was the grand poobah of the local Masonic Lodge, planned on being the President of the US, made himself a General in his own army, the head of his own religion, the creator of a failed bank, and is revered as a beloved martyr even though he was killed by an angry mob that included some of his own former followers he had swindled and cheated....
While Christ came with the single focus of seeking and saving those who were lost, and being a sacrifice for our sins, Smith sought to build an empire around himself, to the point where Mormons even believe nobody goes to Heaven without his permission.
One Solitary Life vs. One Grand Impostor.
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.
Contrast this with Smith, who not only owned a home, but a hotel (which served the very alcohol he prohibited others from selling or consuming) and a printing company, and was the grand poobah of the local Masonic Lodge, planned on being the President of the US, made himself a General in his own army, the head of his own religion, the creator of a failed bank, and is revered as a beloved martyr even though he was killed by an angry mob that included some of his own former followers he had swindled and cheated....
While Christ came with the single focus of seeking and saving those who were lost, and being a sacrifice for our sins, Smith sought to build an empire around himself, to the point where Mormons even believe nobody goes to Heaven without his permission.
One Solitary Life vs. One Grand Impostor.
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