Notes on References and Authority Appendix 5However, the world has a right to challenge the LDS/Mormon rejection of the
authority of this author by asking, “If Joseph Smith was called in this way, then why
couldn’t this author have been also? Both make the exact same claims! You Mormons
want us to trust in and believe in your claims about something that occurred in the early
1800’s, yet you give no credence to the possibility of the same things happening in the
exact same way today! Now that’s blatant hypocrisy!”
A continued debate about the authenticity and truthfulness of this biography is
inevitable. Some will contend that the author made everything up just like Joseph Smith
did. Some will argue, as discussed above, that the author has no authority because he does
not have the proper “priesthood authority” to do such a work. Some will simply not care,
maintaining that the whole religious world is messed up, and that one more claimant of
divine authority thrown into the mix of chaos isn’t going to change anything for them.
But this book can change things for all. It presents things as they really happened, not
as the pious believers in Mormonism or their detractors want to believe happened. Those
who take the time to read this book and follow the evolution of the Mormon faith will give
the cynical, but honest, reader a different and new perspective concerning the existence of
the human race and our purpose upon this earth. More importantly, one can come to an
understanding of the existence of more advanced human beings that just might be (and, in
fact, are) interacting with us on this earth for our sake.
As mentioned above, the resurrected Joseph Smith visited the author of this
biography on June 16, 1987 and assigned him the task of translating the sealed portion of
the gold plates^4 —the same plates that contained the unsealed portion from which Joseph
translated the Book of Mormon. To accomplish this task, the author was given the Urim
and Thummim, the same instrument used by Joseph to translate the unsealed portion.^5
This translation has subsequently been published as The Sealed Portion—The Final
Testament of Jesus Christ.^6
Balk as the LDS/Mormons might about this claim, so does the rest of the world
spurn their claim of the veracity of the Book of Mormon. Ironically, the LDS Church sends out
tens of thousands of missionaries each year to proclaim the authenticity of the Book of
Mormon. They ask people to simply read the book for themselves “with a sincere heart, with
real intent”^7 to see if the book is true. Most have no desire to take the challenge and mock
the Mormons for their claims concerning the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
Yet, when this author does exactly what Joseph did and asks LDS/Mormons to
“simply read the book for themselves with a sincere heart [and] with real intent” to see if
The Sealed Portion of the Book of Mormon—The Final Testament of Jesus Christ is true, Mormons
react exactly like the world does to them. Statistics show that most of those who read the
Book of Mormon with real intent and sincerity (the few that do) become convinced that it is
highly unlikely that Joseph Smith made it up. Those few who have read The Sealed Portion
with real intent and sincerity are similarly convinced! Unfortunately, those who should be
most receptive to its truths—the LDS/Mormons—are prejudiced by their leaders and
religion beyond their ability to acknowledge it, let alone read and accept it.
Both books were translated with the same Urim and Thummim (U&T). In order for
a competent person to accept the existence of this instrument, one must understand
exactly what it is. In Joseph’s day, there was no way he could have explained how the
U&T worked, because there was no technology available with which the U&T’s operation
could be compared. But there is today!^8 The two stones that constitute the U&T operate in
unison, acting as an advanced cell phone disguised as opaque quartz rocks. They can