15th July, 2001.
Dear Native American,
First, I have been a Christian since 16, and now I am 51. Though I fell many times when young, but at 35, I fully returned to the LORD. And since then, I have not departed from LORD even for one day and has clinged to and cleaved closely to my creator.
If you have befriended with a person for long, would you not able to discern whether an essay is written by that person ?
Therefore when I read the Book of Mormon the first time (I came across the Book of Mormon when I searched for key word "kindness, mercy", about half a year ago), I immediately knew that there must be something in it, and I approached LDS Office in Hong Kong and obtained a book.
I read that book twice, and I am sure that book is REAL - that book was written around 600 B.C. to 420 A.D. by good Christians, who were your forefathers. That book is not an invention of Joseph Smith.
There are other books published by LDS, "Doctrine and Covenant" is FALSE.
Therefore my suggestion to you is that you read the Book of Mormon ONLY. (You should read the Bible, especially Old Testament too.) There are many visions and prophecies in that book which may be difficult for you, though they are true - if you do not understand that, just skip over it, and never try to interpret it. You may come back to those difficult sections when you acquire more knowledge of LORD.
When I was young, I had tried to understand prophecies, and found that THAT WAS A WASTE OF TIME AND A WASTE OF MY PRECIOUS ENERGY, and worse, it may lead me into deadly paths. Therefore, now, I live by the teachings of LORD and Jesus, and care none about prophecies. Kindness, Mercy, Honesty, Steadfast love, .... are what appeals to me, not prophecies.
Also, the Christian churches have many old books, which are not included in the Bible. NOT ALL OF THEM ARE TRUE, IN THE SENSE THAT THEY ARE FROM LORD. But "Book of Enoch 1", and "Book of Enoch 2", they are true.
Therefore one must read EVERYTHING, including the writings by me, with CAUTION.
In my personal opinion, I think Joseph Smith fell into temptations later in his life, but many people who believed in Book of Mormon and followed Joseph Smith were true Christians, the best seed from Mayflower, the puritans. Therefore LORD gave them the highest mountain in America.
From a preacher of Christainity,
Wu Siu Yan.