{"id":3784,"date":"2016-04-15T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/?p=3784"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:40:08","slug":"ces-reply-the-first-book-of-napoleon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/ces-reply-the-first-book-of-napoleon\/","title":{"rendered":"CES Reply: The First Book of Napoleon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This is an excerpt from &#8220;A Reply from a Former CES Employee.&#8221; The entire document can be downloaded for free.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/CESReply.pdf\" target=\"_self\" class=\"emd_dl_red_darker\" download>Download CES Reply<\/a><\/div>    <style>            \r\n    .emd_dl_red_darker {\r\n        -moz-box-shadow:inset 0px 1px 0px 0px #f5978e;\r\n        -webkit-box-shadow:inset 0px 1px 0px 0px #f5978e;\r\n        box-shadow:inset 0px 1px 0px 0px #f5978e;\r\n        background:-webkit-gradient( linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0.05, #f24537), color-stop(1, #c62d1f) );\r\n        background:-moz-linear-gradient( center top, #f24537 5%, #c62d1f 100% );\r\n        filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr='#f24537', endColorstr='#c62d1f');\r\n        background-color:#f24537;\r\n        -webkit-border-top-left-radius:0px;\r\n        -moz-border-radius-topleft:0px;\r\n        border-top-left-radius:0px;\r\n        -webkit-border-top-right-radius:0px;\r\n        -moz-border-radius-topright:0px;\r\n        border-top-right-radius:0px;\r\n        -webkit-border-bottom-right-radius:0px;\r\n        -moz-border-radius-bottomright:0px;\r\n        border-bottom-right-radius:0px;\r\n        -webkit-border-bottom-left-radius:0px;\r\n        -moz-border-radius-bottomleft:0px;\r\n        border-bottom-left-radius:0px;\r\n        text-indent:0;\r\n        border:1px solid #d02718;\r\n        display:inline-block;\r\n        color:#ffffff !important;\r\n        font-family:Georgia;\r\n        font-size:15px;\r\n        font-weight:bold;\r\n        font-style:normal;\r\n        height:41px;\r\n        line-height:41px;\r\n        width:200px;\r\n        text-decoration:none;\r\n        text-align:center;\r\n        text-shadow:1px 1px 0px #810e05;\r\n    }\r\n    .emd_dl_red_darker:hover {\r\n        background:-webkit-gradient( linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0.05, #c62d1f), color-stop(1, #f24537) );\r\n        background:-moz-linear-gradient( center top, #c62d1f 5%, #f24537 100% );\r\n        filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr='#c62d1f', endColorstr='#f24537');\r\n        background-color:#c62d1f;\r\n    }.emd_dl_red_darker:active {\r\n        position:relative;\r\n        top:1px;\r\n    }<\/style>\n<p>This is a line-by-line response to Jeremy Runnells&#8217; &#8220;Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony.&#8221;\u00a0<span style=\"color: #008000;\">Jeremy&#8217;s words are in green, the color of life,<\/span>\u00a0while mine are in black, the color of darkness.<\/p>\n<p>_____<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">10. Another fascinating book published in 1809, The First Book of Napoleon, is shocking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cShocking,\u201d is it? The same way the parallels to the Late War are \u201cstunning,\u201d \u201cstaggering,\u201d and \u201castounding,\u201d and Book of Mormon similarities to local names on maps are \u201cstriking?\u201d You offer no such adjective for your opinion on <i>View of the Hebrews<\/i>. May I suggest \u201cflabbergasting?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know what that means, don\u2019t you?\u201d he asked the class.<\/p>\n<p>We didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt means,\u201d he said, \u201cthat none of them are any good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, if there were one simple, easy, and reliable way to calculate an NPV, there would be no need for another.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>But okay, let\u2019s see what\u2019s so shocking.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">The first chapter:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\">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. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\">And this spirit seized upon, and spread amongst the people who dwell in the land of Gaul.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\">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.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\">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. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\">And they moreover smote, with mighty wrath, the king\u2019s 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. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\">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&#8230; <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">&#8230;and it continues on. It\u2019s like reading from the Book of Mormon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Actually, it\u2019s more like reading from <i>The Late War Between the United States and Great Britain<\/i>. Do I smell plagiarism? How else could the Napoleon writers come up with the phrase \u201cit came to pass\u201d in verses 1 and 6? Also, both books include the phrase \u201cfor many generations\u201d and \u201cunto the people.\u201d Am I supposed to assume this is merely coincidence?<\/p>\n<p>This, too, is clearly written to mimic King James English. It\u2019s supposed to be like reading from the Bible. Which it is, as much or more than it\u2019s like reading from the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The first chapter:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I keep waiting for the evil spirit from the land of Gaul to show up, but I wait in vain.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">When I first read this along with other passages from The First Book of Napoleon, I was floored.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Didn\u2019t want to go with \u201cflabbergasted,\u201d huh?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">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. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>But \u201cparallels and themes?\u201d No.<\/p>\n<p>Both Late War and First War are about, you know, war. It\u2019s right there in the title. And while there\u2019s 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\u2019 clumsy attempts to tie religion to wartime patriotism. These goofy 19<sup>th<\/sup> Century exercises in biblical mimicry don\u2019t begin to approach the scope and breadth of Book of Mormon themes.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">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: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"> <b>The First Book of Napoleon:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Condemn not the (writing)&#8230;an account&#8230;the First Book of Napoleon&#8230;upon the face of the earth&#8230;it came to pass&#8230;the land&#8230;their inheritances their gold and silver and&#8230;the commandments of the Lord&#8230;the foolish imaginations of their hearts&#8230;small in stature&#8230;Jerusalem&#8230;because of the perverse wickedness of the people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b>Book of Mormon:\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Condemn not the (writing)&#8230;an account&#8230;the First Book of Nephi&#8230;upon the face of the earth&#8230;it came to pass&#8230;the land&#8230;his inheritance and his gold and his silver and&#8230;the commandments of the Lord&#8230;the foolish imaginations of his heart&#8230;large in stature&#8230;Jerusalem&#8230;because of the wickedness of the people. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Wait a minute. This is the \u201cbeginning of the First Book of Napoleon?\u201d Earlier, you quoted the first six verses, which I assumed were the beginning, and they don\u2019t sound anything like this. So which one\u2019s the real beginning?<\/p>\n<p>Turns out that in order to get this supposed parallel, you have to comb through\u00a0 <i>twenty-five pages<\/i> 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\u2019ve discovered that your CES Letter was directly plagiarized from <i>Life<\/i>, 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\u2019m 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?<\/p>\n<p>The following are a side-by-side comparison of the beginning of Letter to a CES Director and the beginning of <i>Life<\/i> by Keith Richards. Frankly, I\u2019m flabbergasted.<\/p>\n<p><b>Letter to a CES Director:<\/b><br \/>\nThank you\u2026 you\u2019re going to have\u2026 a real insight\u2026 [into] the laws of the land\u2026 There is no direct evidence\u2026I found [cocaine]\u2026 in that which is to come\u2026<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Life<\/i> by Keith Richards:<\/b><br \/>\nThanks and praises\u2026 you\u2019re not going to have\u2026 a real education\u2026 on this little point of law\u2026 there is a problem here about evidence\u2026we found cocaine in that damn car\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and it continues on. It\u2019s like reading from Letter to a CES Director!<\/p>\n<p>Also, both the CES letter and <i>Life<\/i> mention elephants. (\u201cThere was a huge business of getting elephants on stage in Memphis.\u201d \u2013 <i>Life<\/i>, page 12.)\u00a0 Just one more coincidence, huh? You really expect me to believe that?<\/p>\n<p><em>Tomorrow: Joseph Smith and the Trinity<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<em>Thisis an excerpt from \"A Reply from a Former CES Employee.\" The entire document can be downloaded for free.<\/em>This is a line-by-line response to Jeremy Runnells' \"Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony.\"\u00a0<span style=\"color: #008000;\">Jeremy's words are in green, the color of life,<\/span>\u00a0while mine are in black, the color of darkness._____ ... <a title=\"CES Reply: The First Book of Napoleon\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/ces-reply-the-first-book-of-napoleon\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about CES Reply: The First Book of Napoleon\">Read more<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3784"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5149,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3784\/revisions\/5149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}