Fred C. Collier’s Church of the Firstborn is a spliter group of another Church of the Firstborn, also known as the LeBaron family, which is a Mormon polygamist group. According to Wikipedia, there were only about 100 members of Collier’s sect in 2004. So why am I bothering to give a summary of Collier’s Book of Revelations when it’s obviously so obscure? Honestly, the fact that it’s obscure is part of why I’m interested in it. Also, perhaps owing to my own Mormon upbringing, I find the idea of people continuing to write new scriptures up to the present day fascinating.

Since I tend to forget what I read if I don’t take notes, I’ve written a summary of the book’s contents. This is mainly meant to be an aid to my own memory, but I’m posting it on my blog just in case anyone else is interesting in this as well.

In an introductory section titled Regarding this Work, we learn that The Book of Revelations is a Composition of Many different Revelations which have been given throughout the Life and Ministry of Fred C. Collier, Presiding Patriarch of the Church of the Firstborn. In 1967, at the age of 18, he received a vision from God that evolution isn’t true and he received further revelations over the years. It’s light on autobiographical data, although he does mention that he worked for the IRS. He began writing The Book of Revelations in 2004.

He dedicated this book to his wives and children, indicating that he may be a polygamist, although multiple wives aren’t referenced elsewhere. I have to admit, he has done his research. He references several different translations of the Bible, as well as the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Apocrypha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, and the writings of Josephus, among others.

Reading over this, I noticed Collier likes to emphasize words in a variety of ways. Most often, he’ll capitalize a word. Sometimes, he’ll put words in quotes which don’t need to be there. When that’s not enough to draw attention to a word or phrase, he’ll utilize bold, italics, and small caps, which makes for a distracting text. Instead of following Joseph Smith’s lead by overusing the phrase “and it came to pass” he instead overuses the phrase “And now Behold I Declare unto thee”.

Bill Harwell provides a section titled About the Author written in 2008. Harwell tells us that Collier is a prophet. He agrees with Brigham Young’s teaching that Adam is God the Father. He’s not content to stop there, however. According to him, Joseph Smith is the Holy Ghost, which is a doctrine I’ve heard nowhere else. I don’t think this is mentioned in the actual text of the Book of Revelations either, so only those who don’t skip over About the Author will learn this interesting bit of doctrine.

Mainstream Mormons believe the one and only true church was lost from the face of the Earth shortly after the time of Jesus and wasn’t restored until the time of Joseph Smith. Likewise, the Church of the Firstborn was lost after the death of Joseph Smith was wasn’t restored until the time of Fred Collier, implying mainstream Mormons don’t have the true church. This makes me wonder why the true church keeps disappearing from the face of the Earth for extended periods of time, but I guess it just does.

In a long introductory section titled Regarding the Corruption of Scripture, Collier explains that Bible translations have errors and the Bible itself has been altered from its original form. He points to evidence of polytheism in the Old Testament to back up his belief that the Father and Son are two separate gods. For example, Deuteronomy 32:7-8 refers to 70 sons of El. According to him, Yahweh, the god of Israel, is the only perfect god. The gods of other nations are not perfect.

After creating the world, God got amnesia and became Adam to enjoy a day of rest in a state of innocence. The day of rest ended when he ate the forbidden fruit and lost his immortality. (He puts immortality in quotes, so I’m a bit confused what he means here.) Adam God then had 72 sons, the first and last being Yahweh/Seth. Because Adam means “man” in Hebrew, Jesus refers to himself as the son of man, or literally, son of Adam, numerous times.

Section One – Part One

We learn that Adam is God. He is also Michael the Archangel. Adam is also Adam’s Children:

For thus saith the Father: Worlds without number have I Created and Worlds without number have I Lived and Dwelt upon — for this is My Work and My Glory, to bring to pass the Immortality and Eternal Life of Adam which is My Children.

Revelations 1:1:6

Section One – Part Two

Here, he lays out his epistemology, which is basically, ask God if you want to know anything, and if you ask the right way, you’ll get an answer. If you don’t get an answer, you must have asked it wrong. Wo unto him who says we have enough word of God and don’t need any more. Also, Satan apparently hasn’t been cast out of Heaven yet:

For that time hath come that that old Serpent, Sammael shall be cast out of the heavens onto the Earth, and all his minions with him — yea even the Third Part of the Host of Heaven.

Revelations 1:2:24

Section Two

Before we get to Section Two proper, he gives us some quotes from the Bible and Mormon scripture. Most prominently, he provides his own inspired translation of Romans 1:18-32 in which he changes verse 23 (which originally condemned making idols in the image of humans and other animals) to instead condemn evolution: “they claim their descent from Apes, and Four footed Beasts and Reptiles.”

Section Two – Part One

Here we learn that God’s children have rebeled against him and Innocent Children are being taught a strawman version of evolution:

The Parents and the Teachers have Declared it — Innocent Children are Obliged to Believe: “Our Father is an Ape and We have Descended from a Monkey!” Even so do they Bestialize the Young, and the Children are left to Bereave-

Revelations 2:1:7

God is both sad and mad that His children believe in evolution instead of Him. He vows to punish them for believing in a lie He made them believe:

Wherefore are they Delivered over unto Satan, that they might receive Strong Delusion, that they might believe a Lie — that they might all be Damned who Receive Not the Love of the Truth, for I the Lord God am a God of Truth!

Revelations 2:1:22

The only proof God offers for creationism is what the Bible says and “that which thine own eyes have beheld.”

Have I not declared that in the beginning, I the Lord God Created all living things, that they might Propagate in their Own Species and Multiply after their Own Kind! Wherefore, one Species Changeth Not into another!

Revelations 2:1:30

I wonder what God means by “species”? Species can be defined morphologically, by mate-recognition, genetically, cladistically, evolutionarily, or ecologically, to name just a few. Also, where do you draw the line between species? You could say there are 400 different species of blackberry or only one depending on how much genetic variation you look for. Two animals may look similiar without interbreeding and two separate species (such as the carrion crow and the hooded crow) can produce fertile offspring. You can’t simply declare that one species can’t change into another without telling us how exactly you define species.

The mainstream Mormon church has backed off from the teaching that we’re all going to become gods someday, but honestly, I think it’s one of Mormonism’s biggest selling points. Who wouldn’t want to become a god? Collier at least embraces it:

Verily I say unto thee, all that I am, were ye Created to be, and all that I have, shall I give unto thee, if only ye shall Love Me and Keep My Commandments!

Revelations 2:1:41

He then goes on for a while about how bad it is to believe in a strawman version of evolution:

Wherefore, no man who believeth in Organic Evolution or Creation by Random Processes can Inherit Eternal Life, for they have Denied Me and all My Creations. And for This Cause are they Bastards unto Me and not Sons.

Revelations 2:1:49

Evolution isn’t a random process, of course. Beneficial mutations are passed on while detrimental mutations aren’t. Also, God acts like bastards are the opposite of sons, when in fact, a bastard is a type of son. God acts like calling someone a bastard is an insult against the offspring, when in fact, if it’s an insult at all, it’s an insult against the parents. Also, why can’t someone believe God created us using evolution? The text keeps telling us God created us, but not how. Why is it so bad to “see what our own eyes have beheld” in DNA and the fossil record and come up with an explanation for how God created us?

In the next several verses, we learn that God has sent prophets such as Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor. (Perhaps notably, the anti-polygamy Mormon prophets are left off the list.) With his strong anti-evolution stance, it’s interesting that he includes the pro-evolution Brigham Young on his list of true prophets.

We learn that God allowed Satan, son of the Dragon, to deliver revelations to deceive and that the doctrine of evolution has been among men before this world was created. He repeats a lot of his previous condemnations against evolution. In fact, many paragraphs start with “And again I Declare unto thee”, so he knows he’s repeating himself, but he goes ahead and does it anyway.

Not only is evolution wrong, but “Biology, Geology, Paleontology, Embryology and Genetics, together with all other related fields of study” have been corrupted by Satan. Geologists have the age of the Earth wrong. The elements are eternal. He says the fossil record is proof that evolution is wrong without explaining how. Similarities between species is proof they were made by “a Common Designer, using the same Technology in Creation and Not a Common Ancestor”.

Again, the world upon which ye live and the materials of which it is composed have been through Many Creations, for there is No Space in which there is No Kingdom and there is No Kingdom in which there is No Space — and all Worlds and Kingdoms are in process of Progression or Regression.

Revelations 2:1:87

My Mormon seminary teacher once gave a similar explanation for why dinosaur bones exist: they aren’t proof the earth is old, but rather are left over material from a previous creation, so I imagine this idea would resonate with many mainstream Mormons today.