The Mark Hofmann Forgeries that Almost CHANGED Mormon History FOREVER!

Comments · 420

• WO

  @woodystube1000 · 6 months ago

  I remember as a kid/young teen right around this time, my mother drove us to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to see a church conference (prophet maybe?). As we were walking up to the gates, there were groups handing out anti-Mormon literature and asking if we had heard of the Salamander Letter, which (they said) proved the Mormon Church was false. I had never heard of it and had no idea what they were talking about. My mother, of course, immediately dismissed it out of hand. She also, obviously, had no idea what it was. I didn't hear about it again until many years later when "Murder among the Mormons" came out. From my perspective, the general membership dealt with this episode the same way they traditionally dealt with all controversial church events: don't talk about it, pretend it doesn't exist, and quickly shut down anyone who dares mention it.

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• NA

  @nathancazmersen7784 · 6 months ago

  Mark was first cousins with my grandpa. <br>The first time I heard of Mark Hoffmann was shortly after my Eagle Scout court of honor.. After receiving lots of congratulations from friends and family for the achievement, my mom gave me some sage advice that has stuck with me ever since: <br>hitting milestones or checking “boxes” like priesthood, mission service, Eagle Scout etc is wonderful, but can never be taken as an automatic indicator that you are on the right path. Also, a reminder to not trust someone automatically just because they check all those same boxes. Mark was the cautionary tale to illustrate this point, and it really stuck with me. <br>I’ve always remembered that, and I see it as an important takeaway from this episode.

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• CH

  @chrisazure1624 · 6 months ago

  I wish he had &quot;found&quot; the 116 pages before he was found out.

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• DR

  @drmay · 6 months ago

  My favorite part is where Dallin Oaks gave a talk justifying Joseph seeing a white salamander.

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• AN

  @Anybodyoutthere · 6 months ago

  I was in Frankfurt Germany in 1998 and bought a book called &quot;Mormon Murders&quot; &nbsp;at used book store in their English speaking section. &nbsp;The book flowed very well and i became very fascinated how Mark Hoffman could swindle the prominent LDS and other people.

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• LI

  @LiteratureEastandWest · 6 months ago

  “He had a massive spending problem, he was buying lots of expensive books.” 😂 😂 I was expecting something else.

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• SH

  @shakeyquant · 6 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6-AzrW_fTM&amp;t=1363">22:43</a> I grew up learning that the Tanners were liars trying to tear down god&apos;s church and realizing that Gerald questioned a document that would have helped him in the criticism of the church. At the same time Dallin Oaks with doing some crazy apologetic Chewbacca defense about the letter and I realized that not all critics are dishonest and not all church leaders are honest.

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• TH

  @themanyfacesofego · 6 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6-AzrW_fTM&amp;t=1410">23:30</a>....The greatest irony. &nbsp; &nbsp;You&apos;ve got to admire the Tanners.

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• SC

  @ScottJB · 6 months ago

  How interesting that an active member scammed the prophets, and it was EX-Mormons, the Tanners, that called him out. What does that tell us?

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• MA

  @matthewsmith9766 · 6 months ago

  An interesting aside regarding the forged Joseph Smith III blessing: the RLDS actually canonized it in their 1982 General Conference, and added it to an appendix in their edition of the Doctrine and Covenants for several years. It was removed sometime in the 90s after the realization of its provenance.

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• SI

  @Sierath · 6 months ago

  That is one of my favorite episodes of Law and Order Criminal Intent.

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• JO

  @johndove-cochran9496 · 6 months ago

  This is now one of my favorite videos. I was actually attempting to come back into the church when all of these fake documents were being reported on before anyone knew they were forgeries. &nbsp;These reports along with my wife at the time deciding she did not want to remain a member actually caused me to give up on attempting to go through the steps of repentance at that time. &nbsp;I was elated to eventually find out the documents were forgeries. But, by that time I decided against returning to the church period. &nbsp;Until now and I still don&apos;t know whether to attempt it since I am gay which opens another can of worms!

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