Why is the pentagram on the newly rebuilt Nauvoo Temple?

During the decade of the eighties there was a deliberate and determined effort to link Joseph Smith Jr. and the founding of the Mormon religion to the occult, from enemies within and outside of the L.D.S. Church. Mark Hofmann’s forgeries were leading the way.

Various historians and critics of the Church were often fond of calling themselves “intellectuals,” most notably members of the Sunstone symposium, and writers for Dialogue, and were referred to as such whenever mentioned by the media. In article after article, in newspaper clippings throughout the eighties on this subject; the word “intellectual” came up when referring to these groups. “We are the intellectuals” they would say. They would go on to say they are not limited to just what history the church sanctions like the simple minded members do. They would say that they research their information from a variety of sources, they get the other side of the story, and they are open-minded, etc.

“The white salamander letter is consistent with other evidence that Joseph Smith had his occult side.” they would go on. In a Salt Lake Tribune article, Mormon historian Richard L. Bushman urged Mormons to be tolerant “about this culture of magic invading the life of the prophet.” BYU professor Ron Walker said “We are miles beyond the question of the authenticity of the letters.” and  historians “now are reconciling the significance of the documents.”  Apostle Dallin Oaks referred to a salamander in the context of the times as "a mythical being thought to be able to live in fire."  Oaks said: "A being that is able to live in fire is a good approximation of the description Joseph Smith gave of the angel Moroni."  These self-proclaimed “intellectuals” among others were all so giddy they could hardly contain themselves.  We finally got the goods on those simpleton farmers (L.D.S. Church founders) now, they would all gloat. 

The Hofmann forgeries have since been exposed, and the rock solid credibility of Joseph Smith and the Mormon religion remain.  Unfortunately, many people in the L.D.S. Church have never repented for accepting the Hofmann forgeries as authentic. Neither have the self-anointed Sunstone “intellectuals”, nor any of the other various enemies of the Church. They all still strongly desire to believe that the Church founding was influenced by the occult, and they have taken great pains to try to dissuade popular opinion that way, in spite of these forgeries being exposed.

The latest such attempt involves placing inverted pentagrams, known symbols of the occult, on the newly rebuilt Nauvoo Temple, where they didn't exist on the original Nauvoo Temple built under the direction of Joseph Smith.

In the first place, most Mormons and anti-Mormons alike, have little or no idea what a pentagram looks like. Many of them will mistakenly insist that they can be found on the Salt Lake Temple.  Many anti-Mormon websites currently exist, making the false claim that there are pentagrams on the Utah temples.  Unfortunately they are confusing these five pointed stars found on the Temples with pentagrams. These Temple stars are clearly not pentagrams, and can be found on many of the nineteenth century temples.  

Temple stars have sloping lines rising from each corner of the star to a raised point in the center of the star. As in the examples below:

Temple stars on the William Weeks Drawing of the original Nauvoo Temple

In contrast, the pentagram has the same basic star shape, it has no center point, with only five lines connecting each corner:

Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary gives the definition of a pentagram as: “a five-pointed star-shaped figure made by extending the sides of a regular pentagon until they meet, used as an occult symbol by the Pythagoreans and later philosophers, and magicians, etc.”  

A regular pentagon is a polygon having five equal angles, and sides.

The definition says the star-shaped pentagram is made by extending the sides of the pentagon until they meet:

When the lines are completely drawn, the points will meet, and the finished pentagram will look like this:

A pentagram is also sometimes referred to as a pentalpha, made by representing the letter "A" at each point.  These definitions hardly fit the stars that can be found on the Salt Lake Temple. Mormons and anti-mormons alike, who stubbornly refer to these stars as such are simply mistaken.

Many Mormon apologetics websites also freely and deceitfully interchange Temple stars with pentagrams to suit their purpose, as though they were the same star.  They talk about the significance of temple stars on the Salt Lake and Logan Temples, and then switch to a picture of a pentagram on the Nauvoo Temple, proudly proclaiming it the same star.

Once again, the Salt Lake Temple stars have a raised point in the center.  There is no pentagon in the center of the temple stars. 

Mormons should not be deceived by the misleading lies, that there are pentagrams on the Salt Lake Temple.  Too many times, Mormons have been caught trying to defend pentagrams as religious symbols in the Mormon religion when they clearly are not.  Unfortunately, the powers that be, that have taken over the Mormon Church, are promoting the pentagram as a religious symbol, which was not in the original Mormon religion as taught by Joseph Smith.  They are polluting the Holy Church of God as foretold in Mormon Chapter 8.

There is little evidence the pentagram ever existed on the original Nauvoo temple. Not one unaltered daguerreotype of the original temple shows a pentagram. All of the known surviving daguerreotypes do not produce a clear image of the temple. Some daguerreotypes reveal shapes in the windows which strongly suggest a design totally unlike a pentagram, and very much like the circular windows found on the St. George Temple, and various surviving paintings depicting the Nauvoo temple.

Unfortunately, some have taken upon it themselves to insert a pentagram into one of the windows on a copy of one of the daguerreotypes, where it previously didn’t exist.  A comparison between previously unaltered copy and the forged copy will easily reveal the deception.

Two different versions of the same window from the same photo. Both windows are greatly enlarged from their original size. One showing a clarity and high resolution nearly impossible for an early daguerreotype.

There are no pentagrams on any of the nineteenth century temples including the Kirtland Temple, which was built by Joseph Smith. Brigham Young used to say he tried his best to follow Joseph Smith as closely as possible. Yet, he never put a pentagram on any of the Utah temples. A Mormon Temple is the most sacred and holy building that has ever been built by mortal man. If it is not built with humility in righteousness, in honesty and truth with an eye single to the glory of God, it will not be accepted by God.