Claimant
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Claims
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Comments
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Levi Lewis
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- Claimed that Joseph Smith, Jr. and Martin Harris said that "adultery was no crime."
- Claimed that he "knows Smith to be a liar."
- Claimed that he heard Joseph Smith say that he "was as good as Jesus Christ."
- Claimed that Joseph Smith, Jr. told him "[w]ith regard to the plates, Smith said God had deceived him."
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- Martin Harris would later be charged with slander for accusing a woman (Eliza Winters) of having a "bastard child." He was acquitted of this charge, but it is inconsistent with Lewis' claim for Martin to suffer jail and risk slander charges over an issue which he regards as "no crime." The story is implausible.
- Joseph repeatedly testified (as did others) that he had the plates, and that others and seen them. That Lewis claims otherwise is likewise implausible.
- Joseph's early private letters reveal him to be humble and painfully aware of his dependence on God. The claim about him being "as good as Jesus Christ" is inconsistent with this private, contemporary evidence.
- Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)
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Sophia Lewis
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- Claimed that Joseph Smith, Jr. said that he "was as good as Jesus Christ."
- Claimed that Joseph Smith, Jr. said that "the Book of Plates could not be opened under penalty of death by any other person but his (Smith's) first-born, which was to be a male."
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Hezekiah M'Kune
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- Claimed that Joseph Smith said "he was nearly equal to Jesus Christ."
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- Joseph's early private letters reveal him to be humble and painfully aware of his dependence on God. The claim about him being "as good as Jesus Christ" is inconsistent with this private, contemporary evidence.
- Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)
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