"For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light..."

Anti-Mormon Cast of Characters

Even before the church was organized there were those who felt they needed to attack Joseph Smith and the work he was doing. Many of these critics have not felt contrained to be accurate with the information available. These critics have ranged from the despicable to the seemingly accurate. As Robert and Rosemary Brown were drawn to investigate some of their lives and propensity for truth, they had enough information of deceit to more than fill four volumes of They Lie in Wait To Deceive. This will be a review of just some of the main characters in their charade of truth.

The Prophet Joseph Smith made the following statement to a man who wondered why those who had left the Church fought so fiercely against it: "Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigations of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant." (in "Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith, " Juvenile Instructor, 15 Aug. 1892, 492)

Some of the methods and deceit appalled even the Tanners who have been lifetime anti-Mormon authors and critics:

"we were thoroughly disgusted when we later found that a number of Mormon critics had also resorted to the idea that `the end justifies the means.' Because they firmly believed that Mormonism was built on sand and therefore dangerous to the people who accepted it, they seemed to feel that they had the right to twist the facts to make their arguments stronger. In some cases documents were actually altered to suit their purposes, and in at least a few cases the forgery of entire documents was perpetrated." [Tanner, Jerald & Sandra (1990) Covering up the Black hole in the Book of Mormon Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry p. 1]Counter Cult Movement The anti-Mormon groups from a non-Mormon scholar's perspective. Review of several individuals and groups critical of The Church of Jesus Christ. Douglas Cowan began this study as part of his doctoral dissertation.

Some of the Mormon critics include:

These critics can be balanced or compared with other non-Mormons.