The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo

by B. H. Roberts

WHAT KIND OF A BEING GOD IS.

I want to ask this congregation, every man, woman and child, to answer the question in their own heart, what kind of a being God is. * * * God Himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heaven! That is the great secret. If the veil was rent today and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by His power, was to make Himself visible, I say, if you were to see Him today, you would see Him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image and very form as a man, for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from and walked, talked and conversed with Him, as one man talks and communes with another. * * * It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another, and that He was once a man like us; yea that God Himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ Himself did, and I will show it from the Bible.

PLURALITY OF GODS ESTABLISHED BY THE LANGUAGE OF GENESIS.

I shall comment on the very first Hebrew word in the Bible; I will make a comment on the very first sentence of the history of creation in the Bible—Berosheit. I want to analyze the word. Baith—in, by, through and everything else. Rosh—the head. Sheit—Grammatical termination. When the inspired man wrote it he did not put the baith there. An old Jew without any authority added the word: he thought it too bad to begin to talk about the head! It read first, "The head one of the Gods brought forth the Gods." That is the true meaning of the words. Baurau signifies to bring forth. If you do not believe it, you do not believe the learned man of God. Learned men can teach you no more than what I have told you. Thus the head God brought forth the Gods in the grand council. * * * The head God called together the Gods and sat in grand council to bring forth the world. The grand councilors sat at the head in yonder heavens and contemplated the creation of the worlds which were created at that time. * * * In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods, and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it.

Later in dwelling on the same subject he said:

I will show from the Hebrew Bible that I am correct, and the first word shows a plurality of Gods, and I want the apostates and learned men to come here and prove to the contrary, if they can. An unlearned boy must give you a little Hebrew. Berosheit baurau Eloheim ait aushamayeen uenhau auratis, rendered by King James' translation: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I want to analyze the word Berosheit. Rosh, the head; sheit, a grammatical termination. The Baith was not originally put there when the inspired man wrote it, but it has been since added by an old Jew. Baurau signifies to bring forth; Eloheim is from the word Elio, God, in the singular number, and by adding the word heim, it renders it Gods. It read first, "In the beginning the head of the Gods brought forth Gods," or as others have translated it, "The head of the Gods called the Gods together."

SUSTAINED BY JOHN THE REVELATOR.

President Joseph Smith read the third chapter of Revelations, and took for his text first chapter, sixth verse: "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." It is altogether correct in the translation. Now you know that of late some malicious and corrupt men have sprung up and apostatized from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they declare that the Prophet believes in a plurality of Gods, and lo and behold! we have discovered a very great secret, they cry: "The Prophet says there are many Gods, and this proves that he has fallen." * * * I will preach on the plurality of Gods. I have selected this text for that express purpose. I wish to declare I have always, and in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods. It has been preached by the Elders fifteen years. I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit; and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods. If this is in accordance with the New Testament, lo and behold, we have three Gods anyhow, and they are plural, and who can contradict it?

BY THE TESTIMONY OF PAUL.

Our text says: "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father." The Apostles have discovered that there were Gods above, for Paul says God was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. * * * John was one of the men, and the Apostles declare they were made kings and priests unto God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It reads just so in the Revelation. Hence the doctrine of a plurality of Gods is as prominent in the Bible as any other doctrine. It is all over the face of the Bible. It stands beyond the power of controversy. "A wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein." Paul says there are Gods many and Lords many. I want to set it forth in a plain and simple manner, but to us there is but one God—that is pertaining to us, and He is in all and through all. But if Joseph Smith says there are Gods many and Lords many, they cry, "Away with him, and crucify him, crucify him!" Mankind verily say that the Scriptures are with them. Search the Scriptures, for they testify of things that these apostates would gravely pronounce blasphemy. Paul, if Joseph Smith is a blasphemer, you are. I say there are Gods many, and Lords many, but to us only one; and we are to be in subjection to that one, and no man can limit the bounds or the eternal existence of eternal time. * * * Some say I do not interpret the Scriptures the same as they do. They say it means the heathen's gods. Paul says there are Gods many and Lords many, and that makes a plurality of Gods, in spite of the whims of all men. Without a revelation I am not going to give them the knowledge of the God of heaven. You know and I testify that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods. I have it from God, and get over it if you can. I have a witness of the Holy Ghost, and a testimony that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods in the text.