Yet another soul came out lately as an atheist. No names-but this soul is like others that have trod the broad and progressive path. They started out by rejecting the church’s morality and marriage doctrine, because “the ‘Spirit’ confirms the Church was wrong.” And now that same being has led them to believe there is no Spirit.

Astonishing.

When I first read the Book of Mormon I was impressed by Joseph Smith’s audacity in having Korihor say that he rejected the supernatural because an angel told him he ought. Joseph’s writerly chutzpah knew no bounds, it seemed.

But now it seems Joseph was not only a non-pareil spinner of freakish yarns, but somehow, against all expectations, his strange imaginations turned out true to life.

Dadgum, Brother Joseph.  I gotta hand it to you.

While I’m on the subject of Korihor, notice the deft way Mormon Joseph Smith ends Korihor’s life in accordance with Korihor’s philosophy, but without hanging a lantern on how tightly constructed the story is.

You recall Korihor’s philosophy:

there could be no atonement made for the sins of men,

but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature;

therefore every man prospered according to his genius,

and that every man conquered according to his strength;

and whatsoever a man did was no crime.

With a great big dose of poetic justice, Korihor got what was coming to him.

And it came to pass that as he went forth among the people, yea, among a people who had separated themselves from the Nephites and called themselves Zoramites, being led by a man whose name was Zoram—and as he went forth amongst them, behold, he was run upon and trodden down, even until he was dead.

And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell.

Anyone less masterful would have made the aptness of the terribly apt ending more obvious. Having rejected God, Korihor fared only according to the management of his creature. He had no prosperity beyond the limits of his genius.. He had nothing but his own strength to rely on.  He was run over–but a man did it, so it was no crime.

You write like a peach, J. Smith.