The Wilcox Ads - LifeLine Ministries to RLDS

Readers of the Independence (Missouri) Examiner were presented with a series of paid advertisements from November 1973 through April 1982 often under the headline, “ATTENTION BOOK OF MORMON BELIEVERS.” These ads warned its intended audience that the Book of Mormon and its origins were not as they had been taught.

The ads were researched, written and paid for by Gene and Olive Wilcox and their little Church of Christ in Independence. The Wilcoxes had both been born into the RLDS church but had grown out of it through regular Bible studies during the 1940’s.

It would be difficult for someone to fully understand the time the Wilcoxes spent laboring over a massive number of historical records in order to be able to document the information contained in the ads. Some of the information-gathering caused them to travel to places as far away from their home as upstate New York. When read objectively, the information they compiled showed clearly that the Book of Mormon was not divinely inspired scripture, but rather a confusing, contradictory creation of man.

Gene’s death in 1982 caused their ministry to slow down and change course, but Olive continued to witness to anyone who would contact her with questions. She was a virtual “walking library” of historical information. After Olive’s passing in 1986, what started out as a ministry to Book of Mormon believers subsequently birthed multiple groups of former RLDS church members reaching out to people who continue to follow Joseph Smith’s doctrines, teachings and scriptures. LifeLine Ministries is one of those groups.

Because of the span of nine years during which the ads appeared in print, the Wilcoxes would occasionally repeat information they had presented in earlier ads. We ask that you keep that in mind as you read the entire collection which we present here:

November 1973: Have Book of Mormon Believers Been Deceived?

March 30, 1974: Joseph Smith Guilty of Glass Looking

March 28, 1976: Book of Mormon Testimonies Revealed

April 3, 1976: Was A Stone in a Hat Used to Translate the Book of Mormon?

October 2, 1976: Never Saw the Plates With Their Natural Eyes?

October 16, 1976: Book of Mormon Archaeology

April 16, 1977: How Could Egyptian Help Jewish People Preserve Hebrew?

August 20, 1977: The Lamanite Dilemma

September 17, 1977: Jeremiah in Prison in 600 B.C. Before Levi Leaves Jerusalem?

April 1, 1978: Joseph Smith’s Autobiography

April 8, 1978: Witnesses to the Translation of the Book of Mormon

August 12, 1978: Are You the Holy Priesthood?