CES Reply: The First Book of Napoleon

This is an excerpt from “A Reply from a Former CES Employee.” The entire document can be downloaded for free.

This is a line-by-line response to Jeremy Runnells’ “Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony.” Jeremy’s words are in green, the color of life, while mine are in black, the color of darkness.

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10. Another fascinating book published in 1809, The First Book of Napoleon, is shocking.

“Shocking,” is it? The same way the parallels to the Late War are “stunning,” “staggering,” and “astounding,” and Book of Mormon similarities to local names on maps are “striking?” You offer no such adjective for your opinion on View of the Hebrews. May I suggest “flabbergasting?”

Another personal interlude, if I may. I got an MBA from Brigham Young University in 1999. And in my first year of study, my finance professor taught us how to calculate the net present value of an asset. He said there are four or five different methods to do just that.

“You know what that means, don’t you?” he asked the class.

We didn’t.

“It means,” he said, “that none of them are any good.”

In other words, if there were one simple, easy, and reliable way to calculate an NPV, there would be no need for another.

Similarly, every time you add a new volume as the supposed smoking gun of where Joseph cribbed the Book of Mormon, you weaken your argument. If there were one verifiable and undeniable source for his plagiarism, there would be no need to come up with half a dozen others. And if Joseph really was combing through such voluminous amounts of maps and literature and memorizing all these disconnected snippets and then reciting them to Oliver without referencing the texts themselves and all doing so unnoticed, he was likely even more of a genius than even most Mormons would imagine.

But okay, let’s see what’s so shocking.

The first chapter: 

1. And behold it came to pass, in these latter days, that an evil spirit arose on the face of the earth, and greatly troubled the sons of men.
2. And this spirit seized upon, and spread amongst the people who dwell in the land of Gaul.
3. Now, in this people the fear of the Lord had not been for many generations, and they had become a corrupt and perverse people; and their chief priests, and the nobles of the land, and the learned men thereof, had become wicked in the imagines of their hearts, and in the practices of their lives. 
4. And the evil spirit went abroad amongst the people, and they raged like unto the heathen, and they rose up against their lawful king, and slew him, and his queen also, and the prince their son; yea, verily, with a cruel and bloody death.
5. And they moreover smote, with mighty wrath, the king’s guards, and banished the priests, and nobles of the land, and seized upon, and took unto themselves, their inheritances, their gold and silver, corn and oil, and whatsoever belonged unto them.
6. Now it came to pass, that the nation of the Gauls continued to be sorely troubled and vexed, and the evil spirit whispered unto the people, even unto the meanest and vilest thereof…

…and it continues on. It’s like reading from the Book of Mormon. 

Actually, it’s more like reading from The Late War Between the United States and Great Britain. Do I smell plagiarism? How else could the Napoleon writers come up with the phrase “it came to pass” in verses 1 and 6? Also, both books include the phrase “for many generations” and “unto the people.” Am I supposed to assume this is merely coincidence?

This, too, is clearly written to mimic King James English. It’s supposed to be like reading from the Bible. Which it is, as much or more than it’s like reading from the Book of Mormon.

Interesting that you cite this as a first chapter, since the first chapter of the Book of Mormon, other than its KJV style, is nothing at all like this.

The first chapter:

1. I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.
2. Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.
3. And I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge.
4. For it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, (my father, Lehi, having dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days); and in that same year there came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem must be destroyed.
5. Wherefore it came to pass that my father, Lehi, as he went forth prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his heart, in behalf of his people.
6. And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much; and because of the things which he saw and heard he did quake and tremble exceedingly.

I keep waiting for the evil spirit from the land of Gaul to show up, but I wait in vain.

When I first read this along with other passages from The First Book of Napoleon, I was floored.

Didn’t want to go with “flabbergasted,” huh?

Here we have two early 19th century contemporary books written at least a decade before the Book of Mormon that not only read and sound like the Book of Mormon but which also carry so many of its parallels and themes as well.

Sound like the Book of Mormon? Sure, because these two books were deliberately designed to sound like the KJV, and the Book of Mormon also sounds like the KJV.

But “parallels and themes?” No.

Both Late War and First War are about, you know, war. It’s right there in the title. And while there’s quite a bit of war in the Book of Mormon, the religious themes of the Book of Mormon are wide and far-reaching well beyond these books’ clumsy attempts to tie religion to wartime patriotism. These goofy 19^th Century exercises in biblical mimicry don’t begin to approach the scope and breadth of Book of Mormon themes.

The following are a side-by-side comparison of the beginning of The First Book of Napoleon with the beginning of the Book of Mormon:

The First Book of Napoleon: 

Condemn not the (writing)…an account…the First Book of Napoleon…upon the face of the earth…it came to pass…the land…their inheritances their gold and silver and…the commandments of the Lord…the foolish imaginations of their hearts…small in stature…Jerusalem…because of the perverse wickedness of the people. 

Book of Mormon: 

Condemn not the (writing)…an account…the First Book of Nephi…upon the face of the earth…it came to pass…the land…his inheritance and his gold and his silver and…the commandments of the Lord…the foolish imaginations of his heart…large in stature…Jerusalem…because of the wickedness of the people.

Wait a minute. This is the “beginning of the First Book of Napoleon?” Earlier, you quoted the first six verses, which I assumed were the beginning, and they don’t sound anything like this. So which one’s the real beginning?

Turns out that in order to get this supposed parallel, you have to comb through  twenty-five pages of the First Book of Napoleon and link up unrelated short phrases by means of ellipses, and then perform a similar surgery on the Book of Mormon text. Using that method, I’ve discovered that your CES Letter was directly plagiarized from Life, the autobiography of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, which, in an astonishing parallel too remarkable to be coincidence, is the book nearest to me as I’m typing this reply. And, in what really is an odd coincidence, they both start with the same word! Am I supposed to just assume this is a coincidence?

The following are a side-by-side comparison of the beginning of Letter to a CES Director and the beginning of Life by Keith Richards. Frankly, I’m flabbergasted.

Letter to a CES Director:
Thank you… you’re going to have… a real insight… [into] the laws of the land… There is no direct evidence…I found [cocaine]… in that which is to come…

Life by Keith Richards:
Thanks and praises… you’re not going to have… a real education… on this little point of law… there is a problem here about evidence…we found cocaine in that damn car…

…and it continues on. It’s like reading from Letter to a CES Director!

Also, both the CES letter and Life mention elephants. (“There was a huge business of getting elephants on stage in Memphis.” – Life, page 12.)  Just one more coincidence, huh? You really expect me to believe that?

Tomorrow: Joseph Smith and the Trinity