Recovery Board
: RfM
Recovery from Mormonism (RfM) discussion forum.
Two cultists who admired Joseph Smith:
1. Aleister Crowley,
Aleister Crowley was a famous occultist and libertine who scandalized the world with his involvement with magick, drugs and orgies in the early days of the twentieth century.
In his novel Moonchild, Crowley has the character Iliel receive a vision....including the appearance of Joseph Smith.
"And now all gave way to a most enigmatic figure[3]. It was an insignificant face and form; but the attributions of him filled all heaven. In his sphere was primarily a mist which Iliel instinctively recognized as malarious; and she got an impression, rather than a vision, of an immense muddy river rushing through swamps. And then she saw that from this man's brain issued phantoms like pigeons. They were neither Red Indians nor Israelites, yet they had something of each in their bearing. And these poured like smoke from the head of this little man. In his hand was a book, and he held it over his head. And the book itself was guarded by an angelic figure whose face was extraordinarily stern and unbeautiful, but who scattered with wide hands the wealth of life, children, and corn, and gold. And behind all these things was a great multitude; and about them were the symbolic forms of exile and death and every persecution, and the hideous laughter of triumphant enemies. All this seemed to weigh heavily upon the little man that had created it; Iliel thought that he was seeking incarnation for the sake of its forgetfulness. Yet the light in his eyes was so pure and noble and magnetic that it might have been that he saw in a new birth the chance to repair his error."
from Moonchild, by Aleister Crowley, p. 226
2. David Berg
David Berg, founder of the Children of God (which later became The Family International), a prominent cult that involved the first instances of deprogramming, practiced religious prostitution and religious pedophilia during the life of Berg. Berg had this to say about Joseph Smith and the Mormons:
"David Berg also found a role model in Joseph Smith (1804-1844), the founder of the Mormon Church and the most famous political prophet in American history. 'The life of Joseph Smith and the Mormons was a great influence,' Berg once confessed. "He was a very remarkable and admirable character in many ways.'
"Joseph Smith, like David Berg, put great emphasis on the violence of the approaching Christian apocalypse. Both men bred generations of fanatics among their followers and among their enemies."
from Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge, by Don Lattin, p. xix.
1. Aleister Crowley,
Aleister Crowley was a famous occultist and libertine who scandalized the world with his involvement with magick, drugs and orgies in the early days of the twentieth century.
In his novel Moonchild, Crowley has the character Iliel receive a vision....including the appearance of Joseph Smith.
"And now all gave way to a most enigmatic figure[3]. It was an insignificant face and form; but the attributions of him filled all heaven. In his sphere was primarily a mist which Iliel instinctively recognized as malarious; and she got an impression, rather than a vision, of an immense muddy river rushing through swamps. And then she saw that from this man's brain issued phantoms like pigeons. They were neither Red Indians nor Israelites, yet they had something of each in their bearing. And these poured like smoke from the head of this little man. In his hand was a book, and he held it over his head. And the book itself was guarded by an angelic figure whose face was extraordinarily stern and unbeautiful, but who scattered with wide hands the wealth of life, children, and corn, and gold. And behind all these things was a great multitude; and about them were the symbolic forms of exile and death and every persecution, and the hideous laughter of triumphant enemies. All this seemed to weigh heavily upon the little man that had created it; Iliel thought that he was seeking incarnation for the sake of its forgetfulness. Yet the light in his eyes was so pure and noble and magnetic that it might have been that he saw in a new birth the chance to repair his error."
from Moonchild, by Aleister Crowley, p. 226
2. David Berg
David Berg, founder of the Children of God (which later became The Family International), a prominent cult that involved the first instances of deprogramming, practiced religious prostitution and religious pedophilia during the life of Berg. Berg had this to say about Joseph Smith and the Mormons:
"David Berg also found a role model in Joseph Smith (1804-1844), the founder of the Mormon Church and the most famous political prophet in American history. 'The life of Joseph Smith and the Mormons was a great influence,' Berg once confessed. "He was a very remarkable and admirable character in many ways.'
"Joseph Smith, like David Berg, put great emphasis on the violence of the approaching Christian apocalypse. Both men bred generations of fanatics among their followers and among their enemies."
from Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge, by Don Lattin, p. xix.
plus many other things he did and believed.