Fritz Springmeier

Chapter 2.4A FAMILY AFFAIROne of the remarkable features of Jesus Christ was His abilityto discern. His perception reached far beyond the established bodyof knowledge.This chapter will begin with four astute observations by variouspeople. Then it will take a fresh chronological probing of theorigins of the Mormon religion, showing how those four observationsrelate to Mormonism and the Power.Let's begin with an observation by Mormon leader Brigham Youngat a meeting at LDS headquarters in 1845, "When we come to theconnections we discover that we all sprung back to the settlementof New England about 200 years ago. It is but a little more thanthat time when Father Smith, the Goddards, Richards, Youngs andKimballs were all in one family--as it were. We are all relations.It is only three generations back that Brother Joseph Smith'sfamily were related to this family." 1Along with this observation goes what Joseph Smith told hissixth cousins Orson and Parley Pratt in the 1830's that their"fathers and his all sprang from the same man a few generationsago." 2Observation #1: The Mormon leadership and many of the originalconverts to Mormonism came from the same progenitor.Bernard DeVoto, a scholar studying Mormonism wrote,"Some subtlety of climate, racial stock or social organizationon the frontier of New England and New York made the air fecund.A circle described on a radius of one hundred and fifty milesaround such a center as Pittsfield, Massachusetts, would includethe birthplace of ninety percent of the American sects and of aneven greater percentage of their prophets. Many prophets beforeJoseph Smith revealed God's will within that circle, and many morecame after him." 3Observation #2: 90% of America's new religions and even more ofher prophets came from a certain racial group of people located inthe geographic area defined by a circle with a radius 100 milesaround the center pt. at Pittsfield, Mass.A very controversial book arrived in 1982. This author has readthe criticism of the book, and although some of the book is purespeculation, and 1-track scholarship, this author also agrees withthat book's three authors that the bulk of the research is notrefuted by any of the critiques. To quote a small portion whichbriefly summarizes an intricate story, "We have formulated a