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STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12
Total Articles:
25
Steve Benson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. editorial cartoonist for The Arizona Republic. Benson is the grandson of former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and LDS prophet Ezra Taft Benson.
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 | For All Ezra Taft Benson's Hoo-Rah Talk About Flooding The Earth With The Book Of Mormon
Friday, Nov 4, 2005, at 08:16 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | I rarely saw him actually reading it in his Church apartment or office, nor did he actually preach much from it when we were together in private, face-to-face interaction. or gathered as a clan at family reunions.
Sure, he would occasionally tell me, in person or by letter, that the LDS Church was under condemnation for not more faithfully reading and following the Book of Mormon and quote the D&C to that effect.
His office would routinely send me manuscript copies of his General Conference talks (including ones on the Book of Mormon); however, that was a routine staff procedure and involved no input or attached personalized comments to me from my grandfather.
My grandfather once wrote to me to say, among other things, that he and my grandmother Flora were reading the Book of Mormon together.
But I very rarely saw him actually doing it. I saw his scripture sets both in his apartment and his office--closed, but hardly ever open.
In reality, my grandfather sent me lots more literature and references to John Birch material and other right-wing extremist propaganda than he ever did the Book of Mormon--TONS more, in fact--and would go on at length about Communist agents in government at home and conspiracies abroad.
I suspect that my grandfather's showy, fiery Book of Mormon orations were more for general Church member consumption (and the image that attended them)--and that, moreover, these sermons were probably largely written for him by his staff and certain family members.
In short, Ezra Taft Benson sure talked a good game about delving into "the keystone of our religion" (as he called the Book of Mormon when quoting Joseph Smith about it), but in practice he was a much more religiously-devoted Bircher magazine man.
| | | "Some Things That Are True Are Not Very Useful:" For Those Who Think Mormonism Does Not Teach Its Followers To Lie About Its History, Doctrine And Leaders
Friday, Nov 4, 2005, at 08:25 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | "First Caution
"There is no such thing as an accurate, objective history of the Church without consideration of the spiritual powers that attend this work.
"There is no such thing as a scholarly, objective study of the office of bishop without consideration of spiritual guidance, of discernment, and of revelation. That is not scholarship.
"Accordingly, I repeat, there is no such thing as an accurate or objective history of the Church which ignores the Spirit. . . .
"Those of us who are extensively engaged in researching the wisdom of man, including those who write and those who teach Church history, are not immune from these dangers. I have walked that road of scholarly research and study and know something of the dangers. If anything, we are more vulnerable than those in some of the other disciplines.
"Church history can he so interesting and so inspiring as to be a very powerful tool indeed for building faith. If not properly written or properly taught, it may be a faith destroyer. . . .
"If we who research, write, and teach the history of the Church ignore the spiritual on the pretext that the world may not understand it, our work will not be objective.
"And if, for the same reason, we keep it quite secular, we will produce a history that is not accurate and not scholarly--this, in spite of the extent of research or the nature or the individual statements or the incidents which are included as part of it, and notwithstanding the training or scholarly reputation of the one who writes or teaches it. We would end up with a history with the one most essential ingredient left out.
"Those who have the Spirit can recognize very quickly whether something is missing in a written Church history this in spite of the fact that the author may be a highly trained historian and the reader is not. And, I might add, we have been getting a great deal of experience in this regard in the past few year.
"President Wilford Woodruff warned: 'I will here say God has inspired me to keep a Journal and History of this Church, and I warn the future Historians to give Credence to my History of this Church and Kingdom; for my Testimony is true, and the truth of its record will be manifest in the world to Come.' . . .
"Second Caution
"There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher Of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not.
"Some things that are true are not very useful.
"Historians seem to take great pride in publishing something new, particularly if it illustrates a weakness or mistake of a prominent historical figure.
"For some reason, historians and novelists seem to savor such things. If it related to a living person it would come under the heading of gossip.
"History can be as misleading as gossip and much more difficult--often impossible--to verify.
"The writer or the teacher who has an exaggerated loyalty to the theory that everything must be told is laying a foundation for his own judgment. He should not complain if one day he himself receives as he has given.
"Perhaps that is what is contemplated in having one's sins preached from the housetops.
"Some time ago a historian gave a lecture to an audience of college students on one of the past Presidents of the Church. It seemed to be his purpose to show that that President was a man subject to the foibles of men. He introduced many so-called facts that put that President in a very unfavorable light, particularly when they were taken out of the context of the historical period in which he lived.
"Someone who was not theretofore acquainted with this historical figure (particularly someone not mature) must have come away very negatively affected. Those who were unsteady in their convictions surely must have had their faith weakened or destroyed. . . .
"The same point may be made with reference to so-called sex education. There are many things that are factual, even elevating, about this subject. There are other aspects of this subject that are so perverted and ugly it does little good to talk of them at all. Some things cannot be safely taught to little children or to those who are not eligible by virtue of age or maturity or authorizing ordinance to understand them.
"Teaching some things that are true, prematurely or at the wrong time, can invite sorrow and heartbreak instead of the joy intended to accompany learning.
"What is true with these two subjects is, if anything, doubly true in the field of religion. The scriptures teach emphatically that we must give milk before meat. The Lord made it very clear that some things are to be taught selectively and some things are to be given only to those who are worthy.
"It matters very much not only what we are told but when we are told it. Be careful that you build faith rather than destroy it.
"President William E. Berrett has told us how grateful he is that a testimony that the past leaders of the Church were prophets of God was firmly fixed in his mind before he was exposed to some of the so-called facts that historians have put in their published writings.
"This principle of prerequisites is so fundamental to all education that I have never been quite able to understand why historians are so willing to ignore it. And, if those outside the Church have little to guide them but the tenets of their profession, those inside the Church should know better.
"Some historians write and speak as though the only ones to read or listen are mature, experienced historians. They write and speak to a very narrow audience. Unfortunately, many of the things they tell one another are not uplifting, go fat beyond the audience they may have intended, and destroy faith.
"What that historian did with the reputation of the President of the Church was nor worth doing. He seemed determined to convince everyone that the prophet was a man. We knew that already.
"All of the prophets and all of the Apostles have been men. It would have been much more worthwhile for him to have convinced us that the man was a prophet, a fact quite as true as the fact that he was a man. . . .
"The sad thing is that he may have, in years past, taken great interest in those who led the Church and desired to draw close to them.
"But instead of following that long, steep, discouraging, and occasionally dangerous path to spiritual achievement, instead of going up to where they were, he devised a way of collecting mistakes and weaknesses and limitations to compare with his own. In that sense he has attempted to bring a historical figure down to his level and in that way feel close to him and perhaps justify his own weaknesses. . . .
"That historian or scholar who delights in pointing out the weaknesses and frailties of present or past leaders destroys faith--A destroyer of faith--particularly one within the Church, and more particularly one who is employed specifically to build faith--places himself in great spiritual jeopardy. He is serving the wrong master, and unless he repents, he will not be among the faithful in the eternities.
"One who chooses to follow the tenets of his profession, regardless of how they may injure the Church or destroy the faith of those not ready for "advanced history," is himself in spiritual jeopardy. If that one is a member of the Church, he has broken his covenants and will be accountable. After all of the tomorrows of mortality have been finished, he will not stand where be might have stood.
"I recall a conversation with President Henry D. Moyle. We were driving back from Arizona and were talking about a man who destroyed the faith of young people from the vantage point of a teaching position. Someone asked President Moyle why this man was still a member of the Church when he did things like that. 'He is not a member of the Church.' President Moyle answered firmly. Another replied that he bad not heard of his excommunication. 'He has excommunicated himself,' President Moyle responded. 'He cut himself off from the Spirit of God. Whether or not we get around to holding a court doesn't matter that much; he has cut himself off from he Spirit of the Lord.'" . . .
( Boyd K. Packer, "The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,"
http://www.mormonismi.net/kirjoitukset/bkp_mantteli.shtml )
______
You get Darth Packer's drift: AT THE VERY LEAST, LIE BY OMISSION--OR YOUR HEAD WILL ROLL.
| | | Follow Your Church Leaders Or End Up Dead: The Case Of The Murdered Missionary--And How The Bensons Blamed The Victim
Friday, Nov 4, 2005, at 08:34 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | When my uncle, Reed Benson, was president of the Louisville KY mission from 1975 to 1978, a horrible and tragic crime occured on his watch--one committed at the hands of a homicidal Mormon missionary.
If I remember correctly, the murder victim (the killer's companion) had been disabled as a youth in some kind of accident (I seem to recall that it involved a collision with a train, if memory serves me right).
The young man, as a result of the accident, was permanently brain damaged but was determined to serve a mission, nonetheless.
He entered the field and was assigned to the elder who eventually killed him. The murdering missionary (who apparently "snapped" from dealing with his impaired companion) horribly abused and eventually scalded him to death in their apartment bathtub.
I recall that the murder occurred, coincidentally enough, on my Uncle Reed's birthday (we share the same birthday, by the way, which accounts for my middle name being "Reed").
I also recollect that the murderer was eventually remanded by the courts to the custody of his parents and did no prison time.
I later heard members of the Benson family talk about this incident where, unbelievably, they essentially blamed the murder victim for his own demise.
They discussed among themselves how, after he was injured in his pre-mission accident, his local Church leaders advised him not to go on a mission but that he ignored their advice and went anyway.
Subsequently, he was killed by his companion, who had a difficult time dealing with the ill-fated missionary's mental impairment (caused by the accident), which slowed the unfortunate young man down and made him an unbearable challenge to work with, at least as far as his companion was concerned.
I was astounded to hear members of the Benson family laying blame for the missionary's death on the missionary himself, saying that he had failed to follow the counsel of his local Church leaders to forego a mission and, consequently, paid with his life.
- -
For an account recently posted on this board by a then-elder in Kentucky who served as a mission assistant to Reed Benson and who describes the circumstances of the murder of an "Elder Christensen, see:
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
A so-called reunion "found list" of missionaries who served under my Uncle Reed in the Louisville KY mission contains the name of one "James Christensen" who, under the category of "Home phone," is simply listed as "deceased," with no other information provided:
http://www.topomap.to/reunion/refound...
Another website, however, "Mahonri--Finding Light in the Darkness," offers a tribute to Mormon missionaries who have died while serving their Church:
In Memoria
"We want to honor and recognize the work of all missionaries on the Parley P. Pratt Missionary Memorial, but unfortunately we do not have a complete list of those who have given their lives in the service of the Master.
"Nor do we have a complete roster of all missionaries who now face physical, emotional and intellectual challenges as a result of accident or illness suffered on their missions.
"Further, we do not have a complete list of those missionaries whose lives were taken before being able to enter the mission field. Your help in compiling a more complete account of those we would honor will be greatly appreciated."
They did, however, have the following name and brief biographical information:
James E. Christensen, 24, Kentucky Louisville, Moroni, UT 1977
At least it was more than the pathetically meager reference offered up by the Louisville KY mission's reunion website--although the list of dead on the "Mahonri" memorial webpage is followed by a bizarre observation from Apostle M. Russell Ballard:
"'Since the day of the Prophet Joseph Smith, we've had approximately 447,969 missionaries serve in the world,' Elder M. Russell Ballard said in 1989. 'Of those 447,969, (some) 525 have lost their lives while serving as full-time missionaries,' he added. 'When you contemplate that number, it appears that the safest place in the whole world is to be on a full-time mission,' concluded the member of the Twelve."
http://www.mahonri.org/special/ppplis...
Wonderful, tell that to mentally-disabled Elder James E. Christensen: dead at age 24, due--according to family members of Ezra Taft Benson defending their own--his failure to obey priesthood authority.
| | | A Typical Mormon Cover-Up: My First Inkling Of What Went On Behind Closed Temple Doors Came Not From My Family But From...
Tuesday, Nov 8, 2005, at 09:33 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | A Typical Mormon Cover-up: My first inkling of what went on behind closed temple doors came not from my family but from a convert whom we fellowshipped into the Cult.
His name was Charlie and, thanks to my younger sister initially inviting one of their kids to Primary, he and his wife were eventually baptized, along with their four daughters.
Charlie was an honest, free-speaking guy, a Korean war vet with a great sense of humor, who had a way of relating to and hitting it off with the teenage young people in our Texas ward (me being one of them at the time).
On MIA nights, for instance, instead of giving the Explorers a boring lesson out of the mind-numbing manual, Charlie would let them shoot hoops and watch "Laugh In" in their classroom, while he'd sit back, shoot the breeze and play it cool.
In short, Charlie was, like, our favorite "old" person in the ward.
After Charlie and his wife had been members for the minimal year-long wait, they went through the temple to be super-glued to each other for time and all eternity, with my parents tagging along as part of the sealing support team.
Figuring I could get a straight answer from Charlie, I asked him what it was like inside the temple.
He smiled, then started hemming and hawing (as, no doubt, visions of slit throrats and disemboweled guts began dancing through his head).
Charlie said he couldn't tell me anything because he wasn't allowed to.
I thought to myself, "Man, if Charlie can't fill me in, then who can? This stuff must be serious."
But, still, I continued to press, pleading for him to at least give me something.
Finally, Charlie relented and said that there was a play inside the temple. He said that there was this Devil character in the play who was pretty neat--but that, Charlie insisted, was all he could tell me.
Fast forward a couple of decades-plus.
Charlie and his wife have left the Cult and are today living happily ever after.
(We've had a chance to chat on the phone a couple of times since he and his wife made their own bolt from the Cult. He had kept a lot of his deep, inner feelings about Mormonism bottled up for years, even after leaving. It was good to hear him finally let loose. It was the old Charlie we kids had come to know and love. :)
| Introduction
Before somone here chokes on green pea soup shooting from their nostrils on a movie set, a reality check on alleged "exorcisms" may be in order.
Exorcisms Are Primitive Rituals Performed on People Who are Often Simply Mentally Ill
A 2001 book on the topic, Michael Cuneo’s American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty, found no reason to think that anything supernatural occurs during exorcisms.
After attending fifty exorcisms, Cuneo is unequivocal about the fact that he saw nothing supernatural–and certainly nothing remotely resembling the events depicted in the 1974 blockbuster film, "The Exorcist." No spinning heads, levitation, or poltergeists were seen, though many involved some cursing, spitting, or vomiting.
As far as science is concerned, possession is a mental health issue.
http://www.livescience.com/othernews/050830_emilyrose.html
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Belief in Exorcisms is Rooted in Ignorance of Modern Science
Belief in spirit possession flourishes in times and places where there is ignorance about mental states. . . . Psychiatric historians have long attributed demonic manifestations to such aberrant mental conditions as schizophrenia and hysteria, noting that--as mental illness began to be recognized as such after the seventeenth century--there was a consequent decline in demonic superstitions . . .
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_27/ai_95501854
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Repetition of Exorcism Tales Has Demonstrably Led to the Creation of False Memories
[Scientific experiments reported in The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied] tell a consistent story.
When people are exposed to a series of articles describing a relatively implausible phenomenon, such as witnessing a possession, they believe the phenomenon is not only more plausible but also are less confident that they had not experienced it in childhood.
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_25/ai_68966507
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Exorcisms Are Often Merely Learned Behavior
In many cases . . . supposed demonic possession can be a learned role that fulfills certain important functions for those claiming it. In his book Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions from Within, psychologist Robert A. Baker . . . notes that possession was sometimes feigned by nuns to act out sexual frustrations, protest restrictions, escape unpleasant duties, attract attention and sympathy, and fulfill other useful functions.
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_25/ai_68966516
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Superstitious Belief in Exorcisms is Encouraged by "Modern" Pop Culture
[Author Micahel] Cuneo repeatedly reminds the reader of the role of American media in the resurgence of the belief in demonic possession. Only the most willfully naive reader could overlook the role of motion pictures, TV talk shows, book publishers, and the insatiable appetite for publicity among exorcism authors and self-styled "researchers" after reading Cuneo's perceptive accounts of the rise of demonic awareness in the land of plenty.
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_27/ai_95501854
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Exorcisms Can Be--And Have Clearly Been Shown to Have Been--Faked
Possession can be childishly simple to fake. For example, an exorcism broadcast by ABC's "20/20" in 1991 featured a sixteen-year-old girl who, her family claimed, was possessed by ten separate demonic entities. However, to skeptics her alleged possession seemed to be indistinguishable from poor acting. She even stole glances at the camera before affecting convulsions and other "demonic" behavior . . . .
Of course a person with a strong impulse to feign diabolic possession may indeed be mentally disturbed. Although the teenager in the "20/20" episode reportedly improved after the exorcism, it was also pointed out that she continued 'on medication' . . . .
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_27/ai_95501854
Conclusion
Silly claims of demonic dispersals are, indeed, enough to make your head spin.
| | | Gordon B. Hinckley, In The Supremest Of Ironies, Has A Book Out Titled, "Standing For Something"--But, C'mon, What Has He Really Stood For?
Thursday, Nov 17, 2005, at 09:35 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | Applause, maybe.
Or the hanky-waving Hosannah Twist 'N Shout.
In reality, Gordon B. Hinckley has made a comfy career of standing up for nothing--but kissing up to everybody.
It's not as if Hinckley hasn't been given the chance, time and again, to rise from his righteous, revelatin' rear and at least play-act as a prophet of God.
To be sure, Hinckley has had plenty of public opportunities to step forward and make a courageous defense of Mormonism.
Instead, when given that chance, Prophet, Seer and Repudiator Gordon B. Hinckley has chosen to lean back in his Latter-day Lazy-boy and blubber-waffle his way through bland, deceptive, welcome-to-Pleasantville/Wimpoutville answers.
And, in the process, he's ended up standing Mormonism on its head.
_____
Just exactly how has Hinckley refused to take a stand for something?
Let us count some of the ways:
--Hinckley has publicly denied the bedrock Mormon doctrine of eternal progression from humanhood to godhood.
--Hinckley has publicly refused to personally affirm that he is a prophet called of God, only that devoted Mormon sustain him as such.
--Hinckley has publicly been willing only to say that he thinks God speaks through him.
--Hinckley has publicly admitted that his prophetic "revelation" comes only through personal inspiration via the Holy Ghost, which makes his "revelatory" experiences no different that those of the average Mormon layperson.
--Hinckley has publicly insisted that Mormons aren't a weird (i.e., peculiar) people.
--Hinckley has publicly admitted that he doesn't know how the major military conflicts currently raging in the Middle East will be resolved or when.
--Hinckley has publicly been unable to articulate what Mormons' civic duty is with regard to those military conflicts, even though he nonetheless says Mormonas must shoulder such a duty.
--Hinckley has publicly denied that Mormonism's long and historic record of anti-Black bigotry is anything but a momentary blip.
At best, wiggle and jiggle Gordon B. Hinckley--author of Standing for Something--will go down in Mormondumb's history as the "Gawrsh, I just dunno" prophet:
http://home.comcast.net/~zarahemla/ctr/gordon.htm
http://home.teleport.com/~packham/gbh-god.htm
http://www.irr.org/mit/hinckley.html
http://www.lds-mormon.com/gbh.shtml
http://www.lds-mormon.com/lkl_00.shtml
http://www.lds-mormon.com/60min.shtml
http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon381.htm
http://www.onlineutah.com/polygamyhinckley.shtml
http://www.truthandgrace.com/hinckley.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/ca5/real/lds2.htm
http://www.greaterthings.com/Newsletter/49_Man_as_God.htm
http://www.reachouttrust.org/articles/lds/ldshinck.htm
http://www.cesnur.org/2004/lds.htm
http://www.myfortress.org/LarryKingRobertSchuller.html
http://www.i4m.com/think/leaders/Hinckley_lame.htm
http://www.tungate.com/lk_2.htm
*****
You get the drift: "The Spirit of Gord, Like a Liar is Burning."
There are, no doubt, many more examples not cited above of how Gordon B. Hinckley has stood stoutly for nothing and firmly planted his rump on a stump for everything.
Please feel free to add your own.
| | | Light-Mindedess Over Dead Possums And Funky Garments: Stamping Out Ungodly Humor In The Fort Wayne, Indiana, Mission Home
Saturday, Nov 19, 2005, at 08:27 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | When my dad, Mark Benson, was president of the Indiana-Michigan mission in the 1970s (headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana), the expression of appropriate humor within the walls of the mission home was emphatically enforced and reverentially regulated.
The mission home was located at 4700 Old Mill Road, close to Foster Park, off of West Rudisill Boulevard, in a tired, rundown, blue-collar city which I considered at that time in my teenage life to be (for lack of a better description) the cultural armpit of the Western Hemisphere. (The desks in the study hall of our 50-year-old, dilapidated school, Southside High, were bolted to the floor, for gawd's sake).
http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=...
The home itself was a sturdy, weathered stone structure, situated in an older part of the city dotted with heavy brick mansions from a bygone era. It was surrounded by thousands of square feet of lawn, landscaped with large trees, featured thick stain-glassed windows, boasted a circular staircase up to the second floor from the spacious living room, had separate living quarters for the mission home staff and sported a large circular driveway that ran between the main house and a roomy, multi-car garage.
The mission staff worked in a step-down office located in the basement, in what was a converted wine cellar.
During the winter of 1971-72, the temperature was particularly cold. It was not uncommon for the mercury to dip well below the 0-degree mark during the harshest months. It was so cold, in fact, that one quick breath of the icy air and your nose hairs would freeze, literally.
One particularly biting, frigid morning (me being 17 years old at the time), I stepped outside and discovered a dead possum--frozen stiff, lying on its back, feet poking into the air--in the middle of the driveway. The poor critter had apparently met its doom during the previous night.
I went back inside, descended the narrow staircase into the basement office and informed the mission staff of this frozen forensic find.
Always looking for something to lighten the load of their otherwise weary and dreary workday, the elders ascended the stairs carrying their scriptures, went outside and formed a small circle around the deceased varmit, whereupon they commenced an impromptu funeral service.
In an air of mock reverence, one of the missionaries opened up his Book of Mormon and, in a slow and solemn voice, quoted some appropriate verses to mark the occasion of the possum's passing.
A eulogy to the departed creature was then offered and a prayer pronounced, as the mission staff commended the spirit of the ice-cubed critter into the hands of our precious Redeemer who, as the Holy Word says, is aware of every sparrow that falls and every possum that freezes.
I was so deeply moved by the experience that I took pictures of the ceremony, in order to preserve it for future posterity hilarity.
_____
On another occasion, members of the mission staff (apparently bored out of their minds and looking for any bit of levity to lighten the load of working long and laboriously for the Lord), cut out pictures from a Sears and Roebuck catalogue featuring young, attractive models in brightly-multi-colored, billowy, one-piece lounge wear, cuffed at the wrists and at the ankles.
They then posted the pictures on the walls of their downstairs office with captions attached, noting that this line of lingerie constituted the latest in Church-approved garments.
My dad did not regard either the possum funeral or the garmie catalogue commentary to have been at all appropriate--and firmly chastized the mission staff for having engaged in such light-minded and sacriligious behavior.
Duly chastened, the mission staff returned to its divinely-decreed drudgery.
Sigh.
Living in that place was the pits.
| | | Devastating News for the LDS Cult's Sinister Spin Machine: Mormon Church Growth Rate Is Shrinking, Not Growing
Monday, Nov 21, 2005, at 08:27 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | Below are selected excerpts from a recent news analysis that blows the cover off of Mormonism's Perpetual Public Relations Big Lie--namely, that it is supposedly the planet's fastest-multiplying church.
(Section headings have been inserted for easier reading).
Headline:
"Keeping members a challenge for LDS church
Mormon myth: The belief that the church is the fastest-growing faith in the world doesn't hold up"
by
Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune
26 July 2005
The Mormon Church Is Not the World's Fastest-Growing Church
"The claim that Mormonism is the fastest-growing faith in the world has been repeated so routinely by sociologists, anthropologists, journalists and proud Latter-day Saints as to be perceived as unassailable fact.
"The trouble is, it isn't true."
Other Religious Faiths Are Growing Much Faster Than the Mormon Church
". . . [S]ince 1990, other faiths--Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies of God and Pentecostal groups-- have grown much faster and in more places around the globe."
High Membership Inactivity Rates Plague the Mormon Church
". . . [M]ost telling, the number of Latter-day Saints who are considered active churchgoers is only about a third of the total, or 4 million in the pews every Sunday, researchers say. . . .
"[Estimated] worldwide [Mormon member] activity [is] at about 35 percent - which would give the church about 4 million active members."
The Mormon Church's Convert Baptism Rate Is Declining
"According to LDS-published statistics, the annual number of LDS converts declined from a high of 321,385 in 1996 to 241,239 in 2004. In the 1990s, the church's growth rate went from 5 percent a year to 3 percent."
The Mormon Conversion Rate Has Actually Been Measured at Zero Percent
"When the Graduate Center of the City University of New York [CUNY]conducted an American Religious Identification Survey in 2001, it discovered that about the same number of people said they had joined the LDS Church as said they had left it. The CUNY survey reported the church's net growth was zero percent."
The Highest Mormon Conversion Areas Show the Lowest Member Retention Rates
"'It is a matter of grave concern that the areas with the most rapid numerical membership increase, Latin America and the Philippines, are also the areas with extremely low convert retention . . . Latter-day Saints lose 70 to 80 percent of their converts . . .'"
The Best Indicator of Actual Mormon Member Growth Rates Is the Number of Stakes Created--and the News Is Not Good
"Perhaps the best measure of LDS Church growth is the rate of new church units, such as . . . stakes . . . Because they are staffed by volunteers, such units cannot function without enough active members.
"In 1980, The Ensign, the LDS Church's official magazine, predicted that . . . [the number of stakes would grow] from 1,190 . . . to 3,600 in 2000. . . . [T]here were 2,602 stakes worldwide at the end of 2002.
"'You can use these trends to say that the percentage is slowing, the numbers have leveled off or they are dropping.'"
The Mormon Church Is Having Difficulty Becoming a Bonafide World Religion
"One key to Mormonism becoming a world religion . . .is how well it can transcend its founding culture to become universal. . . .
"The LDS message has found a ready audience in Latin America and the South Pacific, where Mormon missionaries can tell people God did not neglect them. The Book of Mormon [tells] the story of a Hebrew family that migrated from Jerusalem to the New World and . . . of a visit to their descendants by Jesus Christ after his resurrection.
"Still, the [Mormon] church may not fare as well as other Christian religions in Africa and China, since it has no such reassurance for them . . . ."
Previous Predictions of Phenomenal Future Mormon Membership Growth Were Fanciful, Inaccurate Guesses
"In 1984, University of Washington sociologist Rodney Stark . . . estimated that if [the Mormon Church] continued to grow at . . . 30 percent, there would be 60 million Mormons by the year 2080; if 50 percent, the figure would explode to 265 million. . . .
"[Stark said,] 'The [Mormon] church liked the results and people who are against the church are desperate to figure out why it won't happen . . . Everyone takes the thing too seriously. I've tried to make clear all along that I was just trying to bring a little discipline to a lot of crazy conversations.'
"It was a game of 'let's pretend,' Stark says, when he applied [a] compound interest formula and saw huge numbers of Mormons.
"He says he never meant his projections to dictate the future of Mormonism."
_____
For the complete story, see:
http://sltrib.com/ci_2890645
| | | If The Mormon Church Is Vulnerable Anywhere, It's Vulnerable In The Area Of Sex Abuse
Thursday, Nov 24, 2005, at 09:08 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | With the latest, and quite significant, legal ruling against LDS Inc. stemming from a Seattle-area lawsuit, it would not be at all surprising to see similar allegations of sex abuse (and their attendant lawsuits) brought against the Mormon Church.
This--without exaggeration--could constitute the beginnings of an ominous and threatening legal precedent, one which could conceivably pose a real dagger-thrust not only at the heart of the Mormon Church's supposed moral legitimacy, but at its very financial solvency.
A word of advice to Mormons everywhere: Follow your money, not your prophet. It's starting to swirl down an unrighteous rathole set aside by the leading lights of your Church to pay for guilty verdicts in its name.
Did you ever think your tithing money would be used to defend God's "One and Only True Church" in cases of Mormon sexual abuse of minors and all the dirty cover-ups that followed?
You should have learned from Joseph Smith . . .
| | | Please Gaze Upon My Leg: Excuse Me, But Sheri Dew Is Just Plain Weird
Thursday, Nov 24, 2005, at 09:08 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | Channel surfing tonight, I came across her introducing Merrill Bateman at a BYU Women's Conference in 1997.
She said, and I quote:
"President Bateman's list of accomplishments is as long as my leg and, as you can see, that's pretty long."
She paused, cleared her throat, raised an eyebrow slightly and smiled--but there was virtually no reaction from the audience.
For one thing, the audience couldn't even see Sister Dew's leg, since she was standing behind a podium and, moreover, what kind of kinky-kooky Mormon fantasy world does the pent-up Sister Dew live in, where she's imagining people gawking at her leg?
It was bizarre--and should have prompted a bishop's interview, on the spot.
| | | God Tells You To Join Mormonism, God Tells You To Leave Mormonism
Wednesday, Nov 30, 2005, at 08:58 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | --God tells you to run for national office.
--God tells you to keep religion out of politics.
--God tells you to attack other countries and kill the infidels.
--God tells you to follow the Prince of Peace and turn the other cheek.
--God tells you he created the world through evolution.
--God tells you to condemn evolutionists to hell.
--God tells you he protected you when your plane crashed and you survived.
--God tells you it's a mystery why he allowed your God-praising church to be destroyed by a tornado and worshippers inside to be killed.
--God tells you he healed you because he needs you on earth.
--God tells you he didn't heal your loved one because he needs him in heaven.
--God tells you the Mormon church is true.
--God tells you that the Christian church down the street is better.
--God tells you where you put your misplaced car keys.
--God tells you to forget about the lost car keys--that without him you're lost.
Good gawd.
| | | The Media Are Beginning To Attentively Prepare For Hinckley's Death
Wednesday, Dec 7, 2005, at 08:49 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | I cannot go into the details here, but I have learned as of late that elements of the press are entering a heightened stage of alert, as they gear up for the ultimate demise of Hinckley.
Although not at this point earnestly deadline driven (pardon the pun), some suggestion was made that his death might be expected within the next few months.
Whether or not that proves to be the case, in a nutshell, the media do not want to be caught off guard, should Hinckley's passing come sooner than later.
It is common, of course, for pre-fabricated "obits" to be readied for filing as part of breaking news stories when people of note die.
In many newsrooms and broadcast booths nationwide, announcements of Hinckley's eventual death have, no doubt, already been readied for launch with pre-written articles on his life and times.
As a related aside, an earlier post noted that a Hinckley talk from decades earlier has been resurrected and reused in the current issue of the Ensign.
"Hank" wrote:
. . . This month's Ensign [First Presidency] message is a retread of a 1977 talk. I'm sure it's not surprising to most people here, and I'm sure Steve Benson has similar examples from his observations of the inner workings of Mormonism.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
_____
"Hank's: subject line of his post was "Hinckley recycles old talk . . . "
It is not necessarily true that Hinckley himself has personally recycled one of his earlier sermons for use in this month's Ensign.
At his advanced age, Hinckley may not be able to easily pull from his memory bank of past preachings or even do the touch-up inserts and additions to the text that dot the December Ensign's version.
On this matter, I speak from my own knowledge and experience with my grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson.
Toward the end of his life when he was no longer mentally or physically capable of effectively delivering his own "prophet-seer-and-revelator" sermons, writing them out or dictating to others what he wanted them to contain and convey, Ensign talks/messages attributed to my grandfather were actually cut-and-paste jobs from old files of previously delivered ETB sermons--as retrieved, reconstituted, rearranged and replayed by his ever-ready, cover-the-rear-of-our-prophet-dear office staff.
The explanation I heard given for reliance on these re-usable retreads was that the Saints could always use reminding of what they should be doing; thus, repeating a "prophet's" earlier admonitions was simply a reiteration of eternal truths for the benefit of the ever-needy Mormon masses.
OK, and if you belief that I've got some gold plates in Palmyra to sell you.
I am not saying, however, that Hinckley has necessarily reached the stage where he is effectively out of the lucid lecture loop and will, any day now, be put out to post-mortem pasture.
What I am saying is that it is conceivable the appearance of Hinckley's recycled 1977 sermon in the Ensign almost 30 years after the fact indicates that all may not be well in Zion.
I suspect that what is happening in media circles with regard to all of this is that astute (and perhaps well-informed) reporters have now begun to connect possible dots--and that the Hinckley death watch may soon begin to take on more focus, if it hasn't already.
| | | Kill Deer And Instill Fear: In The Mormon Cult, Obedience To Priesthood Authority Trumps Respect For Life Itself
Wednesday, Dec 7, 2005, at 08:51 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | When I was a teenager growing up Mormon in Dallas, Texas, an adult priesthood member in our ward took me and several other of the ward's young men on a bow hunting trip for whitetail deer in the eastern part of the state.
We ultimately came up empty-handed as far as bagging any deer was concerned--although a friend of mine pin-cushioned to death an innocent armadillo with target arrows, put the creature's mutilated body in a paper sack and secretly wrapped it up in my sleeping bag while I was out in the bush. I didn't discover its bloody corpse until I unrolled the sleeping bag out in the garage late that evening when I was dropped off home.
The "adult" ward member who took us on this mindless, ooga-ooga hunting trip--(a reasonless ritual that served no purpose except to provide young boys the opportunity to personally, and brutally, kill animals we didn't need for survival)--let us know in no uncertain terms that even though we were getting home late Saturday night, he expected us all to be up bright and early the next morning and in attendance at priesthood meeting.
In fact, he made it crystal, Liahona clear (complete with scowling visage) that if we did not show up at priesthood meeting as commanded, he would never take us hunting again.
Well, I was too damned tired to get up the next morning for priesthood meeting and, frankly, didn't care if I didn't get another chance to go "hunting" again by opting for the covers over the covenant.
I didn't tell my father of our adult leader's order that we either attend priesthood or forego any future deer-killing forays with him; I just sleepily informed my dad when he came into my bedroom on Sunday morning to get me up for priesthood that I was too tired to go.
He let me sleep in.
What skewed priorities the Mormon Cult imposes on the vulnerable children it attempts to warp into mindlessly faithful adherents.
In the Mormon mind, it's acceptable for teenage boys to venture out to slaughter wildlife for no good purpose--but if that search-and-destroy mission causes them to miss priesthood indoctrination camp the next morning, no more deer slaying for them.
Sick.
| | | Prominent Modern-Day Mormon General Authorities Who Have Known (And Who Have Secretly Fessed Up To) The Fact That Joseph Smith Was A Liar
Friday, Dec 9, 2005, at 09:53 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | When it came to the supposed truthfulness of LDS scripture:
**Apostle and First Presidency counselor Hugh B. Brown
who, according to Jerald and Sandra Tanner, admitted to Mormon amateur archaeologist Thomas Ferguson that Smith couldn't
translate ancient Egyptian.
From Ferguson's letter to the Tanners:
"According to Mr. Ferguson, Apostle
Brown had also come to the conclusion that the Book of Abraham was false and was in favor of the church giving it up. A
few years later Hugh B. Brown said he could 'not recall' making the statements Thomas Stuart Ferguson attributed to him.
Ferguson, however, was apparently referring to the same incident in the letter of March 13, 1971, when he stated: 'I must
conclude that Joseph Smith had not the remotest skill in things Egyptian-hieroglyphics. To my surprise one of the highest
officials in the Mormon Church agreed with that conclusion . . . privately in one-to-one [c]onversation.'"
http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no69.htm
_____
**Quorum of the Seventy member B.H. Roberts who, after extensive personal study prompted by questions from a missionary
in the field, concluded that the Book of Mormon was a plagiarized invention of Smith's immature mind.
From
Roberts' own writings in his landmark work, Studies of the Book of Mormon (which remained unpublished until decades after
his death):
"In light of this evidence, there can be no doubt as to the possession of a vividly strong, creative
imagination by Joseph Smith, the Prophet. An imagination, it could with reason be urged, which, given the suggestions that are to
be found in the 'common knowledge' of accepted American Antiquities of the times, supplimented [sic] by such a work as Ethan
Smith's, View of the Hebrews, would make it possible for him to create a book such as the Book of Mormon is. . .
.
" . . . [T]here is a certain lack of perspective in the things the book relates as history that points quite clearly
to an undeveloped mind as their origin, The narrative proceeds in characteristic disregard of conditions necessary to its
reasonableness, as if it were a tale told by a child, with utter disregard for consistency. . . .
"Is this all sober
history . . . or is it a wonder-tale of an immature mind, unconscious of what a test he is laying on human credulity when asking
men to accept his narrative as solemn history."
http://www.neirr.org/bomdiff.htm
| | | Seasons Greetings And Brow-Beatings From The Benson Household To Yours: Using Xmas Cards To Proselytize X-Mormons
Monday, Dec 12, 2005, at 07:57 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | Every year, without fail, my Aunt Barbara Benson Walker (oldest daughter of Ezra Taft Benson) sends us a Xmas card.
In seasons past, she has included with her Xmas card a full-page story purported to detail the Christian conversion of our nation's commander-in-chief (ain't goin' there, though).
This year (complete with its Salt Lake City return address), Barbara sent us a card with a somewhat different testimonial twist.
Her Xmas greeting featured on its cover an in-relief, white-colored house, sporting a green, snow-covered fir tree in its front yard and a full-colored American flag fluttering from its front porch.
Opening the card, the printed message read:
"Wishing you joy in your world and peace in your home at Christmastime and always.
"'God bless us everyone,'
"Love,
"Barbara Benson Walker"
Handwritten beneath this message she had penned:
"Love you,
"Aunt Barbara"
But, oh, brothers and sisters in Satan, it gets better.
Enclosed with the card was a 3 X 5 color photograph of a blonde, smiling, short-haired young man decked out in a dark formal suit, carefully-knotted tie and crisp white shirt, holding up across his chest a copy of the Book of Mormon.
On the back of this photograph was printed the following:
"Our present missionary 2005, Elder Robert Matheny Udall, Philippine Mission"
Also enclosed with Barb's barb was another color photograph--this one of my grandfather and grandmother, Ezra Taft and Flora Amussen Benson, adorning a copy of their stock testimony to non-members, composed several years ago, which read:
"Dear Friends,
"The Book of Mormon has had greater influence in the lives of our family than any other book.
"This record of scripture is the account of God's dealings with His people on the American continent. It also contains an account of the ministry of Jesus Christ to these people after his resurrection in Palestine.
"We testify that the Book of Mormon, like the Bible, is the word of God. As you read it and pray to the Lord to determine it's [sic] truthfulnesss, we are confident He will manifest the truth of it to you by the power of the Holy Ghost."
My grandparents Book of Mormon testimony was signed by the autopen of Ezra Taft Benson, as indicated by the fact that his purported signature did not match the typed names of my grandparents that ran directly beneath my grandfather's artificially-imposed name.
Ezra's autopen signature read:
"Ezra Taft Benson"
There was no signature (real or faked) from Flora.
Beneath Ezra's signature was typed:
"Ezra Taft and Flora Benson"
Besides the obnoxiously relentless Ho-Ho-Ho Mo-Mo-Mo message, the card made it clear that in the LDS Cult, equal standing is never afforded the little ladies.
Anyway, folks, have a Merry Mormon Xmas--or you'll be eternally sorry.
| | | Proof That The Missionary Language Training System In God's True Church Is Run By An Out-Of-Touch, Ignorant, Miscalculating, Dumb Deity
Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005, at 07:38 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | When I went on my mission to Japan, we did our language training at the then-Church College of Hawaii.
We had one missionary in our original Japan-bound group who could not get a handle on the language, no matter how hard he tried.
Try as he might--including going through long, grueling, specially-tutored lessons and much praying, crying and consternation--he was unable to memorize even a single discussion.
Not so good if you're trying to teach the god-in-the-trees First Vision story.
So, at their uninspired wits end, the Lord's servants in charge of this travesty ended up reassigning him to an English-speaking area of the Phillipines for the remainder of his proselytizing tour. The poor elder didn't even make it off Laie for Japan before he was stopped and rerouted to another country.
What do you bet that his elder's original mission call letter did not read:
"Dear Elder So-and-So:
"This is your prophet, seer and revelator speaking (not really but it got your goose-bumpy attention, didn't it?)
"You are hereby called to preach the Gospel to the people of Japan. You will be sent to Hawaii for two excruciating months, where you will completely and miserably fail in your inept attempts to learn the Japanese language. It will be the closest thing to a personal confidence-destroying hell you have yet experienced in your young mortal existence.
"After thus being frustrated, humiliated and wrung inside out--with all your prayers having gone for naught--you will be pulled up from your bloody knees and unceremoneiously shipped off to the Phillipines, where they speak pigeon English and where we think you can maybe, if you're lucky, handle things.
"We low-level grunts here in the Church Office Building would like to say 'God bless you as you embark on this glorious mission,' but we all know that's not how things work around this place."
Now, if the Moron God was truly on top of things, why would he have his "inspired" minions call this eager beaver, but insufficiently-equipped disaster of a missionary, to serve in Japan when it became clear almost immediately upon landing in Laie that he had hit an insurmountable roadblock when it came to working with nouns and verbs?
"Hey, Jehovah: We've got a problem here. How can your ill-prepared pitchmen serve in Japan when they can't speak Japanese? Why didn't you save us here on the ground a lot of grief by telling us this in the first place?"
So, the upshot of all of this was that the Mormon God ended up wasting everyone's time, energy and money who was involved in this Heruclean, but ultimately futile, effort to get this missionary to the point where he could conjegate simple verbs and parrot basic vocabulary.
Oh, and let's not forget the horrible emotional and mental trauma/drama that Mormonism's King of Kolob not only put the missionary through, but his family as well, trying to get him to a point of minimal language functionality so that he could carry out the divine commission he was mistakenly given.
Hello?
What part of the sentence, "Modern day Mormon revelation is a cruel, inhumane joke," don't Mormons understand?
| | | Trying To Do Editorial Cartoons For A Mormon-Owned Newspaper Can Be Trying
Monday, Dec 19, 2005, at 08:38 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | Cases in point:
--Calvin Grondahl, returned Mormon missionary and premiere editorial cartoonist for BYU's Daily Universe in the 1970s, was hired away by the Deseret News without graduating from college. (His most famous cartoon done on Provo's seminarian school grounds showed a battered and bruised BYU student under a pile of rocks, muttering to a campus policeman, "All I said was, "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone").
Cal lasted for only a few years at the Deseret News, where he finally quit in frustration and moved north to work at the Ogden Standard Examiner.
Cal left because the Desert News publisher at the time, Wendell Ashton, informed Cal that he had to choose between competing masters: either working for the Deseret News or doing cartoons that were being picked up by Sunstone magazine. (Many more of Cal's cartoons were also eventually published as collections by Signature Books).
Cal was, in fact, found guilty of having made available to a humor-starved Mormon public some hilariously irreverent cartoon anthologies--such as Freeway to Perfection and Faith Promoting Rumors--cartoons that, nonetheless, some in high Church circles actually secretly enjoyed.
For instance, Jack Goaslind (a personal family friend and eventual member of the Quorum of the Seventy) had visited our home in Arizona some years ago, during a stake-stumping sermon tour. After conference, we invited him over for lunch, where he sat on the couch and nearly laughed his head off, crowing hysterically as he eagerly read through Cal's books.
Apparently, this appreciation for the goofy and inherently spoofy side of Mormonism was not shared by the Deseret News' publisher.
Cal saw the writing on the wall and knew he couldn't last.
_____
--My grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson, initially encouraged me to try for the job at the Deseret News and even put in a good word for me there. However, I eventually began doodling cartoons down in Arizona that he found personally troubling and disturbingly out-of-line with his fiery brand of conservative thinking. (On the other hand, my grandfather also derided the Deseret News, telling me it was too liberal).
In the meantime, the editorial page editor of the Deseret News called me and asked me if I would like to come to work for the Deseret News.
He told me that they couldn't give me as much money as I was making in Arizona or as much freedom, but he did say that a benefit of moving to Salt Lake and working there would be that I'd be closer to my family. (Strike three, I thought).
I informed my grandfather that I had turned down the job offer from the Deseret News, to which he replied that it was a decision good for both me--and him.
[By the way, my syndicated editorial cartoons are still published in the Desert News, for which I would be ungrateful if I did not stand this day and give thanks. :)]
_____
--Eventually, I left the Mormon Church in a rather, ahem, outspoken and public fashion--and was thereafer removed from the pages of the Daily Universe, which refused to publish any more of my syndicated work, to which it had subscribed for a number of years.
The straw that ostensibly broke the Daily Universe's back was a cartoon I did criticizing sexual harassment of female military recruits by Army drill instructors. In explaining its decision to bid me adieu, a spokesman for the Daily Universe said my cartoons were no longer suitable for consumption by its student body.
This judgment was rendered, coincidentally enough, soon after a BYU student had written to the Lord's university student newspaper, protesting the use of tithing funds to publish the cartoons of a known apostate. (Some years later, that same individual--now a former student--wrote me to apologize and to acknowledge that he, too, was now a former Mormon. He said that his demand I be removed from the pages of BYU's house organ was a futile attempt on his part to convince himself that he was a stalwart, testimony-holding believer when, in fact, his faith was actually faltering).
_____
Being an editorial "harpoonist" in Zion's Camp can be a tricky business. :)
| | | Forget The Eyewash Offered By Hinckley: The Real Reason Why LDS Inc. Is Building More Temples In Utah
Tuesday, Dec 20, 2005, at 08:11 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | In the Saturday morning session of the October 2005 General Conference, Gordon B. Hinckley attempted to justify the flurry of even more temple building in Utah:
"We have previously announced a new temple in the southeast quadrant of the Salt Lake Valley. We have two other excellent sites in the west and southwest areas of the valley through the kindness of the developers of these properties. The first one on which we will build is in the so-called Daybreak development, and this morning we make public announcement of that. You may ask why we favor Utah so generously. It is because the degree of activity requires it." (emphasis added)
GONG!
Mormon activity rates in Utah justify more temple building?
There are at least two major reasons to question Hinckley's veracity in making such a claim.
First, how can supposedly busy-bee Utah Mormon activity rates justify Hinckley's insistence that more and more Mormon temples are needed in Utah when, in fact, Utah's Mormon population is steadily declining?
Just three months before Hinckley's defense for putting up more Utah temples, the Salt Lake Tribune reported:
"Within the next three years, the Mormon share of Utah's population is expected to hit its lowest level since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started keeping membership numbers. And if current trends continue, LDS residents no longer will constitute a majority by 2030."
_____
Second, contrary to Hinckley's assertion that the "degree of [Utah Mormon] activity requires" more temple building in the heart of lyin' Zion, is it not more likely that what is really driving urgent temple construction there is LDS Inc.'s increasing dependancy on decreasing member cash to run its corporate empire in a world where Mormonism growth and activity rates are markedly declining?
In the face of these falling rates, the LDS Cult is most likely finding itself increasingly reliant on cash infusions from its core support group: namely, its tried and true Utah Mormon fanatic fan base.
Money from Mormons is exacted through tithing. Tithing is squeezed out of Mormons who are forced to pay in order to qualify for temple (and eventually, Celestial Kingdom) admission.
Therefore, LDS Inc. is almost without question building more temples in Utah in order to shake down Utah Mormons for more money--not (contrary to Hinckley's claim) because Utah Mormon activity rates are blessedly booming.
Again, as the Salt Lake Tribune reported just three months before Hinckley's questionable justification for juiced-up Utah temple building, Mormon activity rates (and, hence, tithe-paying rates) are taking a hit Church-wide:
"The number of Latter-day Saints who are considered active churchgoers is only about a third of the total . . ."
Exacerbating Mormonism's member-generated cash-flow problem, the Cult's convert baptism rate is also dropping.
Once more, from the Salt Lake Tribune:
"According to LDS-published statistics, the annual number of LDS converts declined from a high of 321,385 in 1996 to 241,239 in 2004. In the 1990s, the church's growth rate went from 5 percent a year to 3 percent."
"When the Graduate Center of the City University of New York [CUNY] conducted an American Religious Identification Survey in 2001, it discovered that about the same number of people said they had joined the LDS Church as said they had left it. The CUNY survey reported the church's net growth was zero percent."
_____
Hinckley clearly has profits more than prophets on his mind these days.
The Mormon Cult is taking it on the chin in growth, rates, activity rates and donation rates--all of them closely-intertwined financial facts which are most likely forcing it to throw up more temples in Utah in order to suck more cash out of its core donor base that resides there.
C'mon, Gordon, how dumb do you think we are?
| | | The Allegedly Barren Salt Lake Valley: Another Mormon Lie Caught And Treed
Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005, at 07:54 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | Introduction: A Barren Valley--or a Legend Barren of Truth?
Persistently-propagandized Mormons have long claimed that when Brigham Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, he and his cohorts found the place to be devoid of trees--except, supposedly, for a single cedar, tenaciously clinging to life in a desolate wasteland that the Mormons boast to have (according to scriptural prophesy, of course) resurrected to resplendant glory.
Indeed, even today, Utah promotional shop-and-spend guides portray the Salt Lake Valley of invented 1847 fame to have been a veritable no-man's-land:
"Historically, the one-time desert wilderness [of Utah] was created by settlers seeking refuge from religious persecution, and neither barren land, nor drought or a plague of crickets could dissuade the Mormons from their purpose."
http://www.attractionguide.com/salt_l...
Uh-huh. And if you believe that, I've got thousands of cricket-gorged seagulls to sell ya.
Actually, It's All Kid's Stuff
Here's a dose of reality from a Social Studies unit designed for Utah fourth-graders (which, apparently, is a learning level still far above that of many true-believing Mormons):
"There is a myth about the Salt Lake Valley. It says that the valley was a barren and lifeless desert with only one tree when the first Mormon pioneers arrived.
"Here is what the valley was really like when the Mormon pioneers first came. Much of it had rich, good soil. Wherever sagebrush grew, the soil was good, and sagebrush grew all over the valley. There were also tall grasses. Trees and bushes grew along all the streams and flowed from the mountains to the Jordan River and into the Great Salt Lake. On the mountains were forests of pine trees.
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresou...
Chopping Away at the Tall Tale
If a basic elementary school lesson isn't enough to convince brain-gutted, gullible Mormons of the facts on the ground, LDS historian Will Bagley put the silly "Lone Tree" fable to rest, once and for all, in an article for the Salt Lake Tribune, entitled "The Lone Tree Shrine: Fact And Fiction:"
"One of the most colorful fights over Utah's history--the Battle of the Cedar Tree Shrine--concerned what the Salt Lake Valley looked like when Brigham Young first saw it . . . .
"Salt Lake City schoolchildren used to be taught that the only tree growing in the valley when the Mormon pioneers arrived was a cedar (actually, a juniper) standing in the middle of what is now 600 East just below 300 South.
"Several 1847 journals reveal this simply wasn't so. The clerk of the Pioneer Camp, Thomas Bullock, wrote that the 'very extensive valley' was 'dotted in three or four places with Timber.'
"But facts seldom get in the way of a beloved legend, especially one that celebrated the belief that the Mormon pioneers found a wasteland and made the desert 'blossom as a rose.'
"True or not, the Lone Tree tale was enshrined in bronze on Pioneer Day in 1934 when the Daughters of Utah Pioneers erected a columned 'peristyle' shrine around what was left of the cedar on the median of 600 East.
"A plaque told how the pioneers of 1847 paused beneath the shade of the lone cedar to offer songs and prayers of gratitude.
"The 1847 Mormons actually missed the tree by a mile, since they followed the Donner Party trail to present-day 1700 South and took 'a strait road to a small Grove of Cotton Wood Trees' on City Creek at 300 South and State streets.
"[Also enshrined on the marker is the exaggeration that] the tree was a favorite 'trysting place' for lovers.
"But then, on the evening of September 21, 1958 . . . someone sawed off and absconded with the Lone Tree. The Daughters' president . . . noted how hard the society worked to preserve old relics and how discouraging it was when 'vandals come along and tear down our good work.'
"That might have been the end of the story had not an enterprising reporter phoned A.R. Mortensen, head of the [Utah] state historical society.
"'Kind of secretly,' the reporter asked the state's chief historian if he believed that the cedar was the only tree growing in the valley in 1847. Mortensen burst out laughing and asked, 'Hell no, do you?'
"That afternoon the front-page of the Deseret News claimed he had called the revered Lone Tree 'a historical fraud' and 'a dead stump with little historical value.'
"These offhand remarks ignited a firestorm and brought down the wrath of . . . 300,000 Daughters [of the Utah Pioneers] on Mortensen's unsuspecting head. The controversy nearly cost him his job and led the historical society's board to denounce the 'wanton destruction' of the Lone Tree and censure Mortensen's 'unfortunate comments.' Mortensen stuck to his guns. He was, after all, right. . . .
"The Lone Stump monument still stands, graced by a 1960 plaque that acknowledged there were other trees in the valley in 1847.
"But there's a part of this tale that has never been told in print--the solution to the mystery of the stolen cedar. Not long after the desecration, Salt Lake Tribune editor Art Deck got a call telling him to check a locker at the Greyhound Depot if he wanted to know the fate of the Lone Tree. Inside the locker was a sack containing the ashes of one of Utah's most beloved landmarks."
http://www.historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/history_matters/072300.html
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Conclusion: Getting to the Root of It All
As usual, inconvenient historical facts end up proving just how easily Mormons can make, well, an ash of themselves. :)
| | | Trusting The Google God Or The Mormon God?--Dissecting Gordon B. Hinckley's Latest Media Act, "Lie Upon Lie, Decept Upon Decept" (part One Of Two )
Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005, at 07:59 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | Introduction: Hinckley Beguiles and Smiles His Way Through Another Devious Interview with the Press
In a recent conversation with Associated Press reporter Jennifer Dobner, headlined “Chat with Mormon leader,” LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley uttered some astoundingly false and misleading statements.
(For the complete text of the interview, see:
http://www.harktheherald.com/module...)
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Those of us in the ex-Mormon community are not, of course, surprised at Hinckley's misdirects and mischaracterizations. After all, he has proven himself to be the Consumate Carnival Barker of Mormonism.
Just for the record, however (and for those perhaps struggling with their Mormon testimonies in false “prophets” such as Hinckley and all his LDS predecessors), let us dissect Hinckley’s deceits--lie upon lie, "decept" upon "decept."
Below are highlighted Hinckley’s breathtakingly dishonest claims made during that interview, counter-balanced with actual, historical reality--just a click away at Google.
What will be demonstrated by this examination is how the Google God trumps the Mormon God and how, in the process, the Intenet is steadily succeeding in undermining the conniving efforts of the LDS Cult’s highest leadership to lie and deceive in public.
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HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE MORMON CULT BEING CHRISTIAN
AP: ”Why do you think the LDS Church is not perceived as a Christian church?”
Hinckley: ”Of course we're Christian. The very name of the church declares that. No one believes more strongly in the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one believes more strongly in the power of his redeeming sacrifice.
"The Book of Mormon is another witness for the divinity and reality of Jesus Christ. The more people see us and come to know us, the more I believe they will come to realize that we are trying to exemplify in our lives and in our living the great ideals which he taught.”
GONG!
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Google God Fact Check:
According to the “Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry,” Mormonism--doctrinally-speaking--clearly does not qualify as a Christian denomination:
”’Is Mormonism Christian?’ is a very important question. The answer is equally important and simple. No. Mormonism is not Christian. . . .
“The reason Mormonism is not Christian is because it, like any other cult, denies one or more of the essential doctrines of Christianity. Of the essential doctrines (Jesus is God in flesh, forgiveness of sins is by grace alone, and Jesus rose from the dead physically), Mormonism distorts two of them: the person of Jesus, and His work of salvation. [original emphasis]
”Mormonism teaches that God the Father has a body of flesh and bones (Doctrine & Covenants 130:22) and that Jesus is a creation. It teaches that he was begotten in heaven as one of God’s spirit children (See the book, Jesus the Christ, by James Talmage, p. 8).
"This is in strict contrast to the biblical teaching that he [Jesus] is God in flesh (John 1:1, 14), eternal (John 1:1, 2, 15), uncreated, yet born on earth (Col. 1:15), and the creator all (John 1:3; Col. 1;16-17). Jesus cannot be both created and not created at the same time.
"Though Mormonism teaches that Jesus is god in flesh, it teaches that he is ‘a’ god in flesh, one of three gods that comprise the office of the Trinity (Articles of Faith, by Talmage, pp. 35-40, [original emphasis]).
"These three gods are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This is in direct contradiction of the biblical doctrine that there is only one God (Isaiah 44:6,8; 45:5). . . .
”Because Mormonism errors in who Jesus is, salvation (the forgiveness of sins) does not occur and the Mormon is still in his sins. Christians are saved from their sins and judgment by putting their trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. But, faith is only as good as the object in which it is placed. The Mormon Jesus is not the one of the Bible, even though they call him Jesus, say he died for sins, and was born in Bethlehem. The Mormon Jesus does not exist. It is the nature of Jesus that is the issue. Jesus must be God in flesh, (second person of the Trinity) not ‘a’ god in flesh who is the brother of the devil. He must be uncreated, not created. He must be the creator (Col. 1:16-17). This is who the true Jesus really is: God, creator, uncreated, not the brother of the devil. [original emphasis]
”Mormon theology teaches that God used to be a man on another planet, that He became a god by following the laws and ordinances of that god on that world, and that He brought one of His wives to this world with whom He produces spirit children who then inhabit human bodies at birth. The first spirit child to be born was Jesus. Second was Satan, and then we all followed. The Jesus of Mormonism is definitely not the same Jesus of the Bible. Therefore, faith in the Mormon Jesus is faith misplaced because the Mormon Jesus doesn't exist. [original emphasis]
”Mormonism teaches that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross itself (and receiving it by faith) is not sufficient to bring forgiveness of sins. It teaches that the forgiveness of sins is obtained though a cooperative effort with God; that is, we must be good and follow the laws and ordinances of the Mormon church in order to obtain forgiveness. Consider James Talmage, a very important Mormon figure who said, ‘The sectarian dogma of justification by faith alone has exercised an influence for evil’ (Articles, p. 432), and "Hence the justice of the scriptural doctrine that salvation comes to the individual only through obedience" (Articles, p. 81). This contradicts the biblical doctrine of the forgiveness of sins by grace through faith (Rom. 5:1; 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9) and the doctrine that works are not part of our salvation but a result of them (Rom. 4:5, James 2:14-18).
”To further confuse the matter, Mormonism further states that salvation is two-fold. It maintains that salvation is both forgiveness of sins and universal resurrection. So when a Mormon speaks of salvation by grace, he is usually referring to universal resurrection. But the Bible speaks of salvation as the forgiveness of sins, not simple universal resurrection. Where Mormonism states that forgiveness of sins is not by faith alone, the Bible does teach it. Which is correct? Obviously, it is the Bible.
“Mormonism, to justify its aberrant theology, has undermined the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible. The 8th Article of Faith from the Mormon Church states, ‘We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.’ The interesting thing is that Joseph Smith allegedly corrected the Bible in what is called the Inspired Version, though it is not used by the LDS church. Though they claim they trust the Bible, in reality they do not. They use Mormon presuppositions to interpret it. For example, where the Bible says there are no other gods in the universe (Isaiah 43:10; 44:6,8), they interpret it to mean ‘no other gods of this world.’ They do not trust what it says and they often state that the Bible is not translated correctly. . . .
”Why is Mormonism a non-Christian cult? Because it adds works to salvation. It denies that Jesus is the uncreated creator. It alters the biblical teaching of the atonement. It contradicts the Christian teaching of monotheism. It undermines the authority and reliability of the Bible. [emphasis added]
”[This is not to] deny that Mormons are good people, that they worship ‘a’ god, that they share common words with Christians, that they help their people, and that they do many good things. However, Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, ‘Not everyone who says to Me, “'Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (NKJV). Becoming a Christian does not mean belonging to a church, doing good things, or simply believing in God. Being a Christian means that you have trusted in the true God for salvation, in the True Jesus --not the brother of the devil.” [emphasis added]
http://www.carm.org/lds/lds_christian.htm
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HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT MORMONISM’S FOUNDATIONAL DOCTRINE THAT THE LDS CHURCH IS THE SINGULARLY–AND ONLY–TRUE CHURCH OF GOD ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH; INDEED, HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE MORMON CHURCH HAS DENOUNCED CHRISTIANITY AS BEING UNGODLY
AP: ”In the Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith says the [Mormon] church is ‘the only true and living church upon the whole Earth.’ Where does that leave other denominations?”
Hinckley: ” This is what he said: ‘This is the only true and living church upon the face of the whole Earth which I, the Lord, am pleased.’
"Now, where does that leave other churches? We believe that all churches do great good. We believe in the virtue in the lives of other people in other churches. We acknowledge the tremendous accomplishments of other churches.
"Our position is simply this, we say, you bring all the good that you have, wherever you have acquired it, and see if we may add to it.” [emphasis added]
GONG!
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Google God Fact Check:
According to the excellent online site, “Rethinking Mormonism,” ”[w]hile some current [Mormon] church leaders portray the LDS Church as Christian, the [LDS] church actually has a long history of condemning Christianity. The [Mormon] church has also stated repeatedly that no one can be saved without the permission of Joseph Smith. . . .
“Mormon Church Condemns Christians
”’This [the Mormon Church] is not just another Church. This is not just one of a family of Christian churches. This is the Church and kingdom of God, the only true Church upon the face of the earth . . . ‘
- Prophet Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pp.164-65 [emphasis added]
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“In bearing testimony of [the Mormon Cult’s] Jesus Christ, President Hinckley spoke of those outside the [LDS] Church who say Latter-day Saints ‘do not believe in the traditional Christ:’
“’. . . The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak. For the Christ of whom I speak has been revealed in this the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. He together with His Father, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in the year 1820, and when Joseph left the grove that day, he knew more of the nature of God than all the learned ministers of the gospel of the ages.'"
- Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, LDS Church News, June 20, 1998, p. [emphasis added] . . .
_____
“’What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world.’
- Prophet Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270, [emphasis added]
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”’ . . . [A]ll the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels.’
- Prophet Joseph Smith , The Elders Journal, Joseph Smith Jr., editor, vol.1, no.4, p.60 . . . [emphasis added]
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“’With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world.’
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:199 . . . [emphasis added]
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“’The Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called.’
- Prophet Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p.196 . . . [emphasis added] . . .
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“’Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom.’
- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 10:127 [emphasis added]
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”’What! Are Christians ignorant? Yes, as ignorant of the things of God as the brute beast.’
- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 13:22 [emphasis added]
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“’What does the Christian world know about God? Nothing . . . Why so far as the things of God are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God nor the things of God.’
- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 13:225 [emphasis added] . . .
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”’He that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fullness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti-Christ.’
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p.312 [emphasis added]
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/mormon_christians.htm
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HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE MORMON CULT PRACTICE OF BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD
AP: ”The ordinance of the Baptism for the Dead has been a source of controversy. What is it that people don't understand about it and can you appreciate that some might see it as a form of religious imperialism?”
Hinckley: ”Well, if they wish to so regard it.
"But they must realize the performing of the ordinance does not mean acceptance of the ordinance. Those for who the ordinance is done do not necessarily have to accept it.”
AP: ”On the other side?”
Hinckley: ”On the other side. So there's no injury done to anybody.” [emphasis added]
GONG!
If offending the descendants of Jewish Holocaust victims (whose loved one were first genocidally exterminated by Hitler, then secretly necro-baptized into the Mormon Cult without their families’ knowledge or consent) does not constitute “injury,” then nothing does.
If the Mormon Cult promising these deeply offended Jews that it will discontinue this grossly violative practice in manhandling their dead (then failing to follow through on that promise) does not constitute “injury,” nothing does.
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Google God Fact Check
According to Cable News Network’s international reporting, Jews felt so offensively injured by the boundary-busting practice of Mormon necro-baptism that they demanded (and ultimately received) a meeting with Mormon Cult leaders in their efforts to bring about a cessation of the practice:
”Mormons meet with Jews over baptizing Holocaust victims . . . December 11, 2002 . . .
“SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP)--Mormon and Jewish leaders met Tuesday in New York City to discuss the Mormon church's apparent breach of its agreement not to posthumously baptize Holocaust victims and other deceased Jews.
“Mormon leaders requested the meeting with Ernest Michel, chairman of the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors who helped broker the 1995 agreement with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said church spokesman Dale Bills. . . .
“Baptisms for the dead are performed inside Mormon temples, with a church member immersed in water in place of the deceased person. Names of the deceased are gathered by church members from genealogy records as well as death and governmental documents from around the world.
“’For Latter-day Saints, the practice of proxy baptism is a means of expressing love and concern for those who have preceded us. It is a freewill offering,’ Bills said. . . .
“Independent researcher Helen Radkey, who prepared a report for Michel, is certain the agreement has been broken. In her research of the church's extensive genealogical database, she found at least 20,000 Jews-- some of whom died in Nazi concentration camps--were baptized after they died.
“’There shouldn't be one single death camp record in those files,’” Radkey said.
“Radkey has been researching Jews included in the Mormon databases since 1999, when she found Anne Frank and her extended family listed as being baptized.
“Also among those baptized posthumously by the church, according to Radkey's research: Ghengis Khan, Joan of Arc, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Buddha.
“Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said the Mormon church needs to rein in its members if it is serious about its pledge to stop baptizing Holocaust victims.
“’If these people did not contact the Mormons themselves, the adage should be: Don't call me, I'll call you,’ Hier said. ‘With the greatest of respect to them, we do not think they are the exclusive arbitrators of who is saved.’”
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/West/12/10/baptizing.the.dead.ap/
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Google God Fact Check:
According to the online site for National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” the Mormon Cult has re-promised to stop its dunkin-the-dead “in behalf” of Hitler's murdered Jewish victims:
Mormons Aim to Stop 'Baptism' of Holocaust Victims [by Howard Berkes] . . .
“April 12, 2005--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes another attempt to address concerns of Jewish groups who complain that Holocaust victims are showing up on Mormon baptism rolls. Mormons believe that after death, baptisms save souls. Ten years ago, Mormon leaders agreed to try to stop this practice. Now, they vow to try again.” . . .
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4586805
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Google God Fact Check:
According to the online encyclopedia “Wikipedia,” under the heading “Holocaust Victim Controversy, the Mormon Church has violated its own guidelines in performing its necro-baptisms,” the LDS Cult has a bad habit of not honoring its word on the matter:
”It is asserted that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made it a long term practice to vicariously baptize the Holocaust's Jewish victims and other prominent individuals. However, Church policy states that Church members submit their own names for these type of ordinances, and require that a surviving family member's permission be obtained for any Baptism that is to be performed of deceased individuals that have died within a certain time period (usually 50-75 years). [emphasis added]
“However, some baptisms were done for Holocaust Victims, without proper approval or permission. When this information became public, it generated vocal criticism of the LDS Church . . . from Jewish groups, who found this ritual to be insulting and insensitive. . . .
"Partly as a result of public pressure, [Mormon] Church leaders in 1995 promised to put into place new policies that would help stop the practice, unless specifically requested or approved by relatives of the victims. [emphasis added]
“In late 2002, information surfaced that members of the [Mormon] Church had not stopped this practice despite directives from the [Mormon] Church leadership to its members, and criticism from Jewish groups began again.
"The Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, is on record as opposing the vicarious baptism of Holocaust victims. Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Center holds: ‘If these people did not contact the Mormons themselves, the adage should be: Don't call me, I'll call you. With the greatest of respect to them, we do not think they are the exclusive arbitrators of who is saved.’ Recently Church leaders have agreed to meet with leaders of the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.
“In December 2002, independent researcher Helen Radkey published a report showing that the [Mormon] Church's 1995 promise to remove Jewish Nazi victims from its 'International Genealogical Index' was not sufficient; her research of the [Mormon] Church's database uncovered the names of about 19,000 who had a 40 to 50 percent chance of having ‘the potential to be Holocaust victims . . . in Russia, Poland, France, and Austria.’
“Genealogist Bernard Kouchel conducted a search of the 'International Genealogical Index,' and discovered that many well-known Jews have been vicariously baptized, including Rashi, Maimonides, Albert Einstein, Menachem Begin, Irving Berlin, Marc Chagall, and Gilda Radner.
"Some permissions may have been obtained, but there is not currently a system in place to ensure that these permissions have been obtained, which has angered many in various religious and cultural communities. [emphasis added]
“In 2004, Schelly Talalay Dardashti, Jewish genealogy columnist for The Jerusalem Post noted that Jews, even those with no Mormon descendants, are being rebaptised after being removed from the rolls. In an interview, D. Todd Christofferson, a [Mormon] church official, told the New York Times that it was not feasible for [Mormon] church to continuously monitor the archives to ensure that no new Jewish names appear. The agreement referred to above did not place this type of responsibility on the centralized [Mormon] Church leadership.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_for_the_dead
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HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE MORMON DOCTRINE OF POLYGAMY
AP: ”The [Mormon] church seems to have difficulty distancing itself from the its history of polygamy. You've said there are no fundamentalist Mormons, but these groups still practice polygamy and still claim Joseph Smith as their own. How do you resolve that dilemma?”
Hinckley: ”Well, let me just say this, the doctrine came of revelation and was discontinued by revelation. We believe in honoring, obeying and sustaining the law. And so, we have very little sympathy with those who disobey the law in this manner.” [emphasis added]
GONG!
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Google God Fact Check:
The way Hinckley slyly tells it, Mormons no longer believe that polygamy is revealed doctrine of the Mormon God.
According, however, to an online analysis of a typically-deceptive LDS press release on polygamy:
”Polygamy is still a canonized doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [emphasis added]
“Many polygamists claim that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church.
“Many members leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in order to join Mormon faiths that practice polygamy. Many other LDS practice polygamy very discretely within the [LDS] church.
“Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are descended from polygamous ancestors. . . .
“New polygamous marriages were solemnized from about 1831 until 1904. . . . After 1904 new polygamous marriages were forbidden, but LDS men still continued to cohabitate with their wives until they died, perhaps as late as 1976.
“The LDS church is one of the few Mormon faiths that caved in to the federal governments demand that polygamy be abandoned. The overwhelming majority of the other Mormon churches still practice polygamy.”
http://www.absalom.com/mormon/apostasy/polygamy.html
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Google God Fact Check:
Another Mormon-exposing website emphasizes the fact that despite excommunicating polygamist today, the Mormon Cult teaches (and its followers blindly believe) that the practice of doctrinal polygamy will eventually be reinstated by divine decree:
”Mormons and Polygamy
“A Mormon person who extolls the virtues of plural marriage . . . would be better described as a lapsed or ex-Mormon, or as just a Utah resident!, since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints generally excommunicates practicing polygamists.
”Mormons do, however, respect the principle of polygamy. They practiced plural marriage in the late 1800s, and they still believe it was ordained by God. The Mormon Prophet Joseph F. Smith felt so strongly about it that, even after our 1890 Manifesto forbidding polygamy, he allowed the practice to continue. In 1904, he even testified falsely before Congress that there had been no authorized plural marriages since 1890. [emphasis added]
”This is difficult to comprehend unless you realize how deeply engrained the principle is in the Mormon religion. They regard it as a divine order, and also still revere those early polygamists. Mormons believe their marriages were sealed for eternity and that polygamy is the order of Heaven. [emphasis added]
”Mormon leaders have taught that God has at least one wife, our Mother in Heaven, and that Jesus Christ has several wives. And Mormons still perform plural marriages in temples today . . . uniting living individuals in polygamous marriages with deceased Mormons. . . . [emphasis added]
”And although there leaders taught that polygamy would someday return, they might be turning over in their graves if they knew the effort would be spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union, which called for legalization in 1991.” [emphasis added]
http://mormonsinthe.blogspot.com/2005/05/mormons-and-polygamy.html
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Google God Fact Check:
On Jerald Sandra Tanner’s online “Utah Lighthouse Ministry” website, the following question is clearly raised--and promptly answered:
”Does the LDS Church still believe in polygamy?
”Yes, the doctrine of polygamy is still in their scriptures, Doctrine and Covenants, section 132. Mormons are instructed not to practice polygamy during this life but the practice will be permitted in heaven. Today if a Mormon man outlives his first wife (after having a temple marriage) he can marry again in the temple. This would guarantee him two wives in heaven.” [emphasis added]
http://www.utlm.org/faqs/faqgeneral.htm#18
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HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE ALLEGED OPENNESS AND HONESTY OF MORMON CULT HISTORY
AP: ”Some scholars say historical records point to discrepancies with the official [Mormon] church history. How do you reconcile the differences? And what is the [Mormon] church's position on historical scholarship?”
Hinckley: ”Well, we have nothing to hide. Our history is an open book. They may find what they are looking for, but the fact is the history of the [Mormon] church is clear and open and leads to faith and strength and virtues.”
AP: “If that's so, why have some people either been disfellowshipped or excommunicated for the things they have written?”
Hinckley: ”There have been very few of them. It's only when they begin to teach what they believe to try to influence others that action is taken against them.” [emphasis added]
AP: ”Because by extension they try to damage the church in some way?”
Hinckley: ”Try to damage the church, yes.”
GONG!
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Google God Fact Check:
As former Mormon Richard Packham states in his website article, “To Those Who Are Investigating ‘Mormonism,’” there are many items of historical reality that the Mormon Cult hides from both members and non-members:
”Since the founding of the [Mormon] church down to the present-day, . . . . [LDS] church leaders have not hesitated to lie, to falsify documents, to rewrite or suppress history, or to do whatever is necessary to protect the image of the [LDS] church. Many Mormon historians have been excommunicated from the church for publishing their findings on the truth of Mormon history.” [emphasis added]
Under the sub-heading, “What the Missionaries Will Not Tell You,” Packham details the official approach of lies and deception that the Mormon Cult employs when recounting its doctrine and “history:”
”Here is a summary of important facts about the Mormon church, its doctrine, and its history that the [Mormon] missionaries will probably not tell you. We are not suggesting that they are intentionally deceiving you--most of the young Mormons serving missions for the [LDS] church are not well-educated in the history of the church or in modern critical studies of the [LDS] church. They probably do not know the all the facts themselves. They have been trained, however, to give investigators ‘milk before meat,’ that is, to postpone revealing anything at all that might make an investigator hesitant, even if it is true. But you should be aware of these facts before you commit yourself.
"Each of the following facts has been substantiated by thorough historical scholarship. And this list is by no means exhaustive! . . .
--“The "First Vision" story in the form presented to you was unknown until 1838, eighteen years after its alleged occurrence and almost ten years after Smith had begun his missionary efforts. The oldest (but quite different) version of the vision is in Smith's own handwriting, dating from about 1832 (still at least eleven years afterwards), and says that only one personage, Jesus Christ, appeared to him. It also mentions nothing about a revival. It also contradicts the later account as to whether Smith had already decided that no church was true. Still a third version of this event is recorded as a recollection in Smith's diary, fifteen years after the alleged vision, where one unidentified ‘personage’ appeared, then another, with a message implying that neither was the Son. They were accompanied by many ‘angels,’ which are not mentioned in the official version you have been told about. Which version is correct, if any? Why was this event, now said by the church to be so important, unknown for so long? . . .
--“Careful study of the religious history of the locale where Smith lived in 1820 casts doubt on whether there actually was such an extensive revival that year as Smith and his family later described as associated with the ‘First Vision.’ The revivals in 1817 and 1824 better fit what Smith described later. . . . [original emphasis]
--“In 1828, eight years after he supposedly had been told by God himself to join no church, Smith applied for membership in a local Methodist church. Other members of his family had joined the Presbyterians. . . .
--“Contemporaries of Smith consistently described him as something of a confidence man, whose chief source of income was hiring out to local farmers to help them find buried treasure by the use of folk magic and ‘seer stones.’ Smith was actually tried in 1826 on a charge of money-digging. . . . It is interesting that none of his critics seemed to be aware of his claim to have been visited by God in 1820, even though in his 1838 account he claimed that he had suffered "great persecution" for telling people of his vision.
--“The only persons who claimed to have actually seen the gold plates were eleven close friends of Smith (many of them related to each other). Their testimonies are printed in the front of every copy of the Book of Mormon. No disinterested third party was ever allowed to examine them. They were retrieved by the angel at some unrecorded point. Most of the witnesses later abandoned Smith and left his movement. Smith then called them ‘liars.’ . . .
--“Smith produced most of the ‘translation’ not by reading the plates through the Urim and Thummim (described as a pair of sacred spectacles), but by gazing at the same 'seer stone' he had used for treasure hunting. He would place the stone into his hat, and then cover his face with it. For much of the time he was dictating, the gold plates were not even present, but in a hiding place. . . .
--“The detailed history and civilization described in the Book of Mormon does not correspond to anything found by archaeologists anywhere in the Americas. The Book of Mormon describes a civilization lasting for a thousand years, covering both North and South America, which was familiar with horses, elephants, cattle, sheep, wheat, barley, steel, wheeled vehicles, shipbuilding, sails, coins, and other elements of Old World culture. But no trace of any of these supposedly very common things has ever been found in the Americas of that period. Nor does the Book of Mormon mention many of the features of the civilizations which really did exist at that time in the Americas. The LDS church has spent millions of dollars over many years trying to prove through archaeological research that the Book of Mormon is an accurate historical record, but they have failed to produce any convincing pre-Columbian archeological evidence supporting the Book of Mormon story. In addition, whereas the Book of Mormon presents the picture of a relatively homogeneous people, with a single language and communication between distant parts of the Americas, the pre-Columbian history of the Americas shows the opposite: widely disparate racial types (almost entirely east Asian -definitely not Semitic, as proven by recent DNA studies), and many unrelated native languages, none of which are even remotely related to Hebrew or Egyptian. . . .
--“The people of the Book of Mormon were supposedly devout Jews observing the Law of Moses, but in the Book of Mormon there is almost no trace of their observance of Mosaic law or even an accurate knowledge of it. . . .
--“Although Joseph Smith said that God had pronounced the completed translation of the plates as published in 1830 ‘correct,’ many changes have been made in later editions. Besides thousands of corrections of poor grammar and awkward wording in the 1830 edition, other changes have been made to reflect subsequent changes in some of the fundamental doctrine of the [Mormon} church.
"For example, an early change in wording modified the 1830 edition's acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity, thus allowing Smith to introduce his later doctrine of multiple gods. A more recent change (1981) replaced ‘white’ with ‘pure,’ apparently to reflect the change in the [Mormon] church's stance on the ‘curse.’ of the black race. . . .
--“Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon contained the ‘fulness of the gospel.’ However, its teaching on many doctrinal subjects has been ignored or contradicted by the present LDS church, and many doctrines now said by the church to be essential are not even mentioned there. Examples are the church's position on the nature of God, the Virgin Birth, the Trinity, polygamy, Hell, priesthood, secret organizations, the nature of Heaven and salvation, temples, proxy ordinances for the dead, and many other matters. . . .
--“Many of the basic historical notions found in the Book of Mormon had appeared in print already in 1825, just two years before Smith began producing the Book of Mormon, in a book called View of the Hebrews, by Ethan Smith (no relation) and published just a few miles from where Joseph Smith lived. A careful study of this obscure book led one LDS church official (the historian B. H. Roberts, 1857-1933) to confess that the evidence tended to show that the Book of Mormon was not an ancient record, but concocted by Joseph Smith himself, based on ideas he had read in the earlier book. . . .
--“Although Mormons claim that God is guiding the LDS church through its president (who has the title 'prophet, seer and revelator'), the successive 'prophets' have repeatedly either led the church into undertakings that were dismal failures or failed to see approaching disaster. To mention only a few: the Kirtland Bank, the United Order, the gathering of Zion to Missouri, the Zion's Camp expedition, polygamy, the Deseret Alphabet . . .
"A recent example is the successful hoax perpetrated on the [mORMON] church by manuscript dealer Mark Hofmann in the 1980s. He succeeded in selling the church thousands of dollars worth of manuscripts which he had forged. The [Mormon] church and its ‘prophet, seer and revelator’ accepted them as genuine historical documents. . . . [Mormon] church leaders learned the truth not from God, through revelation, but from non-Mormon experts and the police, after Hofmann was arrested for two murders he committed to cover up his hoax. This scandal was reported nationwide. . . . .
--“The secret temple ritual (the ‘endowment’) was introduced by Smith in May, 1842, just two months after he had been initiated into Freemasonry. The LDS temple ritual closely resembles the Masonic ritual of that day. . . . Smith explained that the Masons had corrupted the ancient (God-given) ritual by changing it and removing parts of it, and that he was restoring it to its ‘pure’ and 'original' (and complete) form, as revealed to him by God. In the years since, the LDS church has made many fundamental changes in the ‘pure and original’ ritual as ‘restored’ by Smith, mostly by removing major parts of it. . . .
--“Many doctrines which were once taught by the LDS church, and held to be fundamental, essential and ‘eternal,’ have been abandoned. Whether we feel that the [Mormon] church was correct in abandoning them is not the point; rather, the point is that a church claiming to be the church of God takes one ‘everlasting’ position at one time and the opposite position at another, all the time claiming to be proclaiming the word of God.
"Some examples are:
*“The Adam-God doctrine (Adam is God the Father); . . .
*”the United Order (all property of church members is to be held in common, with title in the church);
*”Plural Marriage (polygamy; a man must have more than one wife to attain the highest degree of heaven); . . .
*”the Curse of Cain (the black race is not entitled to hold God's priesthood because it is cursed; this doctrine was not abandoned until 1978); . . .
*”Blood Atonement (some sins--apostasy, adultery, murder, interracial marriage-- must be atoned for by the shedding of the sinner's blood, preferably by someone appointed to do so by [Mormon] church authorities); . . .
”All of these doctrines were proclaimed by the reigning prophet to be the Word of God, ‘eternal,’ ‘everlasting,’ to govern the [Mormon] church ‘forevermore.’ All have been abandoned by the present [Mormon] church.
--“Joseph Smith's early revelations were collected and first published in 1833 in the Book of Commandments. God (as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, Sections 1 and 67) supposedly testified by revelation that the revelations as published were true and correct. Because the Book of Commandments did not receive wide distribution (most copies were destroyed by angry opponents of the Mormons in Missouri, where it was published), they were republished--with additional revelations--as the Doctrine and Covenants in 1835 in Kirtland, Ohio. However, many of the revelations as published in Kirtland differed fundamentally from their versions as originally given. The changes generally gave more power and authority to Smith, and justified changes he was making in [LDS] church organization and theology. The question naturally arises as to why revelations which God had pronounced correct needed to be revised. . . .
--“Joseph Smith claimed to be a ‘translator’ by the power of God. In addition to the Book of Mormon, he made several other ‘translations:’
*”The Book of Abraham, from Egyptian papyrus scrolls which came into his possession in 1835. He stated that the scrolls were written by the biblical Abraham ‘by his own hand.’ Smith's translation is now accepted as scripture by the LDS church, as part of its Pearl of Great Price. Smith also produced an ‘Egyptian Grammar’ based on his translation. Modern scholars of ancient Egyptian agree that the scrolls are common Egyptian funeral scrolls, entirely pagan in nature, having nothing to do with Abraham, and from a period 2000 years later than Abraham. The 'Grammar' has been said by Egyptologists to prove that Smith had no notion of the Egyptian language. It is pure fantasy: he made it up. . . . [original emphasis]
*”The ‘Inspired Revision’ of the King James Bible. Smith was commanded by God to retranslate the Bible because the existing translations contained errors. He completed his translation in 1833, but the church still uses the King James Version. . . .
*”The ‘Kinderhook Plates,’ a group of six metal plates with strange engraved characters, unearthed in 1843 near Kinderhook, Illinois, and examined by Smith, who began a ‘translation’ of them. He never completed the translation, but he identified the plates as an ‘ancient record,’ and translated enough to identify the author as a descendant of Pharaoh. Local farmers later confessed that they had manufactured, engraved and buried the plates themselves as a hoax. They had apparently copied the characters from a Chinese tea box. . . .
--“Joseph Smith claimed to be a ‘prophet.’ He frequently prophesied future events ‘by the power of God.’ Many of these prophecies are recorded in the LDS scripture Doctrine and Covenants. Almost none have been fulfilled, and many cannot now be fulfilled because the deeds to be done by the persons named were never done and those persons are now dead. Many prophecies included dates for their fulfillment, and those dates are now long past, the events never having occurred. . . .
--“Joseph Smith died not as a martyr, but in a gun battle in which he fired a number of shots. He was in jail at the time, under arrest for having ordered the destruction of a Nauvoo newspaper which dared to print an exposure (which was true) of his secret sexual liaisons. At that time he had announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States, set up a secret government, and secretly had himself crowned ‘King of the Kingdom of God.’ . . .
”--Since the founding of the [Mormon] church down to the present day the church leaders have not hesitated to lie, to falsify documents, to rewrite or suppress history, or to do whatever is necessary to protect the image of the church. Many Mormon historians have been excommunicated from the church for publishing their findings on the truth of Mormon history. [emphasis added] . . .
--“Mormonism includes many other unusual doctrines which you will probably not be told about until you have been in the church for a long time. These doctrines are not revealed to investigators or new converts because those people are not yet considered ready to have more than 'milk' as doctrine. The Mormons also probably realize that if investigators knew of these unusual teachings they would not join the [Mormon] church. In addition to those mentioned elsewhere in this article, the following are noteworthy: . . .
"*God was once a man like us.
"*God has a tangible body of flesh and bone.
"*God lives on a planet near the star Kolob.
"*God ("Heavenly Father") has at least one wife, our "Mother in Heaven," but she is so holy that we are not to discuss her nor pray to her.
"*We can become like God and rule over our own universe.
"*There are many gods, ruling over their own worlds.
"*Jesus and Satan ('Lucifer') are brothers, and they are our brothers - we are all spirit children of Heavenly Father.
"*Jesus Christ was conceived by God the Father by having sex with Mary, who was temporarily his wife.
"*We should not pray to Jesus, nor try to feel a personal relationship with him.
"*The "Lord" ('Jehovah') in the Old Testament is the being named Jesus in the New Testament, but different from 'God' ('Elohim').
"*In the highest degree of the celestial kingdom some men will have more than one wife.
"*Before coming to this earth we lived as spirits in a ‘pre-existence,’ during which we were tested; our position in this life (whether born to Mormons or savages, or in America or Africa) is our reward or punishment for our obedience in that life.
"*Dark skin is a curse from God, the result of our sin, or the sin of our ancestors. If sufficiently righteous, a dark-skinned person will become light-skinned.
"*The Garden of Eden was in Missouri. All humanity before the Great Flood lived in the western hemisphere. The Ark transported Noah and the other survivors to the eastern hemisphere."
http://home.teleport.com/~packham/tract.htm
_____
HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE MORMON CULT’S BIGOTED INTOLERANCE TOWARD GAYS AND LESBIANS
AP: ”The First Presidency's Proclamation on the Family issued 10 years ago set the nuclear family--husband, wife and children--apart as the idea. But family structures are changing and some of those include gay and lesbian Mormons who are parents. Is there room in the church for those families?”
Hinckley: ”Let me put it this way. Our hearts reach out to those who have this problem. We try to help them. Friendship them. Love them. Work with them. But if they violate moral standards, then they are just like anybody else. They have done that which causes the church to take action, whether they be homosexual or heterosexual.”
GONG!
_____
Google God Fact Check:
An article entitled, “The LDS Church & Homosexuality: Past and Present” (appearing on a website maintained by the “Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance”), lists the damning historical evidence against Hinckley’s claim of the Mormon Cult's supposed love and tolerance for gays and lesbians:
”Recent anti-homosexual statements and positions:
“1976: The [Mormon] Church may have been the leading religious organization in the fight against the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) which would have given equal rights to women in the US. The LDS President at the time, Spencer Kimball, said that a main concern was that the ERA would lead to changes in civil rights laws to give equal rights to gays and lesbians.
“1976: The [Mormon] Church changed its excommunication rules to allow termination of membership of persons with homosexual feelings. Previously, members could only be excommunicated for homosexual acts. This policy was later reversed.
“1976: [Mormon] Church Apostle Boyd K. Packer delivered a speech on October 2, 1976, which was directed to "young men of Aaronic Priesthood age"; i.e. to young men. His talk dealt with sexuality and the young male. It was widely distributed throughout the LDS church at the time. Packer is currently the acting president of the Quorum of 12 Apostles. With reference to homosexual activities, he is reported as saying:
“’I repeat, very plainly, physical mischief with another man is forbidden. It is forbidden by the Lord.
"'There are some men who entice young men to join them in these immoral acts. If you are ever approached to participate in anything like that, it is time to vigorously resist.
"'While I was in a mission on one occasion, a missionary said he had something to confess. I was very worried because he just could not get himself to tell me what he had done.
"After patient encouragement he finally blurted out, 'I hit my companion.'
"’Oh, is that all?’ I said in great relief.
“’But I floored him,’ he said.
“After learning a little more, my response was ‘Well, thanks. Somebody had to do it, and it wouldn't be well for a General Authority to solve the problem that way.’
“I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself.”
"([Packer’s] message has been interpreted in different ways:
“Many in the homosexual community believe that it is inexcusable for a senior official in the LDS church to imply that physical violence can be an appropriate response to an approach by a same-sex individual. A simple ‘No thanks; that is not my orientation’" would probably have sufficed.
“At least one Mormon believes that Packer's message was that anti-gay violence is justified, but only if absolutely needed to avoid becoming a victim of homosexual rape).
"Packer went on to state that the belief that a person has an unchangeable sexual orientation is a malicious lie. [emphasis added]
”1981: LDS President Kimball wrote, ‘The unholy transgression of homosexuality is either rapidly growing or tolerance is giving it wider publicity. . . . The Lord condemns and forbids this practice. . . . “God made me that way,” some say, as they rationalize and excuse themselves . . . . ”I can’t help it,” they add. This is blasphemy. Is man not made in the image of God, and does he think God to be "that way"?' . . .
“1988: [Mormon Church president] Ezra Taft Benson wrote that the Mormon male '. . . will not commit adultery "nor do anything like unto it" (D&C 59:6). This means fornication, homosexual behavior, self-abuse, child molestation, or any other sexual perversion.' . . .
“1990: A pamphlet sponsored by the First Presidency and titled 'For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God' said, "The Lord specifically forbids certain behaviors, including all sexual relations before marriage, petting, sex perversion (such as homosexuality, rape and incest), masturbation or preoccupation with sex in thought, speech or action . . . Homosexual and lesbian activities are sinful and an abomination of the Lord (see Romans 1:26-27, 31). Unnatural affection including those toward persons of the same gender are counter to God's eternal plan for his children. You are responsible to make right choices. Whether directed toward those of the same or opposite gender, lustful feelings and desires may lead to more serious sins. All Latter-day Saints must learn to control and discipline themselves." (This statement was modified in a more inclusive direction during 2001). . . .
“1991: The First Presidency of the LDS Church stated on November 14, 1991, ‘Sexual relations are proper only between husband and wife appropriately expressed within the bonds of marriage. Any other sexual contact, including fornication, adultery, and homosexuality and lesbian [sic] behavior, is sinful.’
“1994: The First Presidency issued statements condemning same-sex unions and urging its members to do what they could to oppose extending equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians.
“1994 (approximate date): A prominent LDS leader, John A Hoag, became the leader of a new group, ‘Hawaii's Future Today (HFT).’ This was the main organization which fought against same-sex marriages in Hawaii. ‘HFT’ was composed mainly of Mormon and Roman Catholic members. Many professors from Brigham Young University, a Mormon institution, testified in defense of a ban on such marriages.
“1995: Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote a definitive article in the magazine Ensign, titled ‘Same Gender Attraction.’ Some points stated in his article were:
"1. God created attraction between men and women in order to promote marriage .
"2. Any sexual activity other than that between a married heterosexual couple are grave sins.
"3. God permits Satan to tempt humans to ‘choose evil and commit sin.’
"4. The terms ‘homosexual’, ‘lesbian,' and ‘Gay’ are adjectives, (as in ‘homosexual feelings,’ or ‘lesbian behavior’) and should not be used as nouns to describe people.
"5. Some homosexual feelings appear to be caused by genes; others by experiences; others by a complex interaction between ‘nature and nurture.’
"6. A person can "resist and reform" their feelings through:
"*fasting,
"*prayer,
"*adsorbing the truths of the gospel,
"*[Mormon] church attendance and service,
"*counsel of inspired[Mormon] leaders, and
"*professional assistance.
“(These beliefs appear to be at variance with reality. Many deeply devout Mormon and other Christian gays and lesbians have fought against their homosexual feelings and have prayed for ‘deliverance’ for decades without success. The success rate of persons attempting to change their sexual orientation appears to be less than 1%).
"7. The [LDS] church and its members should ‘love the [homosexual] sinner, condemn the sin.’
"8. [Mormon] Church membership is open to homosexuals who are honestly trying to resist and change their feelings; it is closed to practicing homosexuals.
"9. ‘Our doctrines obviously condemn those who engage in so-called 'gay bashing'--physical of verbal attacks on persons thought to be involved in homosexual or lesbian behavior.’
"10. Homosexuality is not based on genetics. If it were, then 100% of identical twins of gays would also be gay.
"(Studies show that it is only a little over 50%).[Oaks] admitted that he had no specialized scientific knowledge in this area, but relied on other experts. Apparently he was misinformed by his consultants; they were apparently unaware of a function of genes called ‘penetrance.’ . . .
“1995: A group of parents of gay/lesbian children sent a letter to President Hinckley and the Quorum of the Twelve. . . . The parents mentioned:
"‘The 1992 church brochure entitled “Understanding and Helping Those Who Have Homosexual Problems” seemed to moderate the position taken by the church as it relates to the parent's role as an etiological factor in homosexuality. A 1995 document, however, published by LDS Social Services for LDS counselors and psychotherapists, attempts to re-establish the position taken by the 1981 [Mormon] church publication on homosexuality which placed most of the blame for homosexuality on poor parenting, i.e. an absent or weak father and a dominant mother.’
“(The 1995 document stated, in part: ‘It is in the three-way relationship between the parents and the child that the homosexual's family background is commonly dysfunctional. Homosexuality is, in part, a symptom of some type of relational deficit.') . . .
“1997: Three Brigham Young University students conducted a student poll at the university.
”One question asked which of four statements best describes the Mormon church's stand on homosexuality. Responses were:
–“41% chose ‘Accepts homosexually oriented persons as long as they change their sexual orientation.’
--“33% selected ‘Accepts in full fellowship homosexually oriented persons who live the Church's law of chastity.’
--“10% believed that the [LDS] church excommunicates gays and lesbians regardless of whether they are celibate or sexually active.
--“10% marked ‘other.’
--“Another question asked whether they knew a gay or lesbian student at BYU. 13% did.
--“80% said that they would not share a room with a gay or lesbian roommate.
--“42% felt that gays and lesbians should not be allowed at BYU, even if they are celibate. The BYU honor code prohibits homosexual behavior, but does not mention homosexual orientation.
“2000: In advance of the annual General Conference in Salt Lake City, UT, some Mormon parents are asking the church to review a group of 20- to 30-year-old pamphlets which they feel condemn their children as ‘latter-day lepers.’ Four brochures mentioned are: ‘To Young Men Only,’ ‘To The One,’ ‘Letter to a Friend,’ and ‘For the Strength of Youth.’
”According [to] David Hardy, a Salt Lake City attorney and former LDS bishop, the [message of these] pamphlets ‘engenders fear and loathing’ toward gays and lesbians. They also convince ‘parents to condemn and turn against their gay children, destroying real families, and drive our gay children to self-loathing, despair and suicide.’ He noted that the ‘To Young Men Only’ pamphlet described, without condemnation, a gay bashing incident. Hardy commented that it is ‘inflammatory, insensitive and troubling.’
”Gary and Milie Watts of Provo, UT said that ‘these pamphlet . . . . characterize our children and other gay and lesbian youth as selfish, perverted, abominable and under the control of Lucifer.’
"Former LDS Church President Spencer Kimball has written that ‘it were better that such a man [a homosexual] were never born.’
"Another tract places homosexuality as a perversion on par with rape and incest. The ‘To The One’ pamphlet describes it as ‘unnatural,’ ‘abnormal’ and ‘an affliction.’
”The parents told reporters, ‘We ask the[Mormon} church leadership to specifically address these pamphlets . . . and either endorse them and everything they say as current, correct and official, or cease their publication and distribution and instruct local church leaders to throw them away.’ . . .
“The LDS church issued a statement saying: ‘These are individuals who are children of God. We love them; we respect them. This [the Mormon] church is a church of inclusion, not exclusion, and we welcome them and want them to be a part of the [Mormon] church.’ . . .
“2001: A new revision to pamphlet sponsored by the First Presidency and titled ‘For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to Go’ says: ‘Homosexual activity is a serious sin. If you find yourself struggling with same-gender attraction, seek counsel from your parents and bishop. They will help you.’
“2002: An article in the February 25, 2002, edition of The Nation by Katherine Rosman, titled ‘Mormon Family Values,’ referred to two LDS pamphlets and one speech on homosexuality by a Mormon leader:
“One pamphlet allegedly says that ‘[h]omosexuality Is Sin: Next to the crime of murder comes the sin of sexual impurity.’
“Another pamphlet, available only to [Mormon] church leaders, states: ‘God has promised to help those who earnestly strive to live his commandments.’ It mentions that if homosexuals repent enough, ‘heterosexual feelings emerge.’ . . . “
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_lds.htm
| | | Drawing A Line In The Snow With The Benson Family Over Mormon Xmas Cards
Friday, Dec 30, 2005, at 08:04 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | Prior to Xmas (as many others of you fellow ex-Mos here also experienced as well), I received (as I regularly do) a “Mo! Mo! Mo! Merry Cultmas!” card from a first cousin of mine--Holly Walker Tilleman--and her husband, Karl, along with their children
Holly is a child of my aunt Barbara Benson Walker, the oldest daughter of my grandparents, Ezra Taft and Flora Amussen Benson.
As is customary with some of the more intensely-pushy Mormon evangelizers in the Walker clan, Holly and Karl unloaded their wheelbarrow of self-righteous religious dogmatic doo-doo, via their ‘greeting' card, on me once again.
This year’s stormin’ Mormon Xmas card from them was the final straw for me (as you will see in a moment), prompting me to reply to them in writing, asking that they stop their prayerful and persistent practice of attempting my re-conversion via the post office.
Below are excerpts from the most recent in their series of continuous Christmas Cult card come-ons. It was accompanied by two photographs of their family, one showing them and their children standing in front of a lake somewhere and the other one featuring them all posing in their Sunday best:
”Merry Christmas!!! . . . Our hearts are full of gratitude for blessings of family, friends, the gospel of Jesus Christ, good health, safety and God’s love and protection. . . . [Our children] have kept busy this year with school, music, sports, homework, church and the Book of Mormon challenge. We have experienced a great deal of joy and feel very grateful to our Heavenly Father.
“May the Lord’s blessings of love and peace be yours. One of our favorite promises from ancient scripture is as follows: ‘Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ: for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.’ [2 Nephi 32:3). Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to al of you, our loved ones! “
_____
Now, Holly and Karl know damn well that I am not interested in their multiple Mormon Moment missionary messages.
They know I am no longer a member of the Mormon Cult.
They know enough of how I feel about the Mormon Cult and why to realize (I would hope) that efforts on their part--or anybody else’s--to see me return to the Concentration Camp of the Cult would be unsolicited and fruitless.
Indeed, Holly and Karl are very much aware of how I openly and publicly criticized the Mormon Cult leadership (including then-first counselor in the First Presidency, Gordon B. Sneakily) for deliberately, repeatedly, self-centeredly and manipulatively misrepresenting the declining mental and physical health of my grandfather, who was so profoundly disabled in his final years that he was president of the Mormon Cult in name only.
In fact, Holly was well enough aware of my position on this matter that she wrote me a long letter back in those rather tumultuous days (a mighty Mo missive, supported by her husband Karl’s added hearty hoo-rah).
In her call to repentance, she chastized me for going to the media about the spin-doctoring engaged in by the Cult of Latter-day Liars regarding my grandfather’s actual condition.
She also took me to task for, in her opinion, shaming, disrespecting and hurting the Benson family.
Holly’s message to me was simple and direct: SHUT UP.
Below are excerpts from that letter of hers, written to me in September of 1993:
“It is my understanding that you have a difficult time believing that Grandpa could receive revelation in his state and that the leaders of the Church have deceived the members, leading them to believe that he is indeed a functioning prophet . . .
“Yes, indeed, he is aging . . . [H]e is 94 years old. There is no doubt about that . . . Indeed, it is extremely difficult for him to speak, walk and eat, etc. However, I honestly believer that he is a functioning prophet. I do not believe he performs all the duties which he once did--in fact, he can hardly do anything. BUT there is no doubt in my mind that he can let his counselors know his opinion on a certain issue, whether yea or nea [sic] , by a simple yes or no--or shake of the head or squeeze of the hand . . .
“When I was visiting him, two of the days he was very alert--his eyes were bright, his smile was charming but the other two days he seemed a little tired and not quite as responsive. So, when you see him and he’s not as responsive as you would have hoped him to be, maybe the next time might be a better day for him. Let’s give the good man a break! . . .
“Steve . . . [w]e know that when a Prophet becomes old and even to a state where they cannot say and do anything and are totally non-responsive, who cares? It has happened before and it may happen to Grandpa also but REALLY it does not matter. It is TOTALLY irrelevant. That is why there are counselors, a Quorum of the Twelve and Councils of Seventy.
“As for the leaders’ deception, I don’t agree at all . . . President Hinckley was not deceitful at all. He was very clear and very honest. He was matter-of-fact and tactful at the same time regarding Grandpa’s condition . . .
“The saddest part of your opinions, in my view, is to see your disrespect for Grandpa. Maybe in your mind, you love him and care deeply for him and maybe you think you’re just trying to improve the system--I don’t know . . . Even if you have these opinions strongly formed in your mind, I would be careful in what you say and to whom--because to everyone else who hears, there is no respect . . .
“If you have strong feelings, I think it would be in much better taste to go to the Church officials rather than to the media, which to me and to others is a sign of great disrespect, not only to Grandpa but to all the Benson family.
“Whether you realize it or not, you are representing the family--all of us by going public with our viewpoints; and what is unfortunate is that it is totally unrepresentative of everyone’s feelings! It is one thing to have an opinion--it is another to take it to thousands and in the process of it all, break the hearts over and over again of those people WHO LOVE YOU MOST!
“If I were you, I would LET IT ALONE. You are hurting us, who are your family, MORE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY REALIZE! If you never change your opinions on these issues, that is your decision but I fail to understand why you have to try to influence others with those opinions.
“I understand that it is your profession to influence others and it is your right as an American in freedom of speech but at what price? The most valuable possession one has is their family and in my opinion you are defending your right of free speech at the expense of your loved ones.”
Karl added his stamp of approval to his wife’s letter with this brief, written comment:
“I agree!”
______
Sigh.
True-Believing Mormons--acting in meekly blind obedience to the commands of their dictatorial leaders and to the marching orders laid down in their cast-iron scriptures--know no personal boundaries, nor do they respect those of others.
This is particularly true when it comes to the state of mind-other-people's-business that clearly afflicts some members of my Benson clan (like Holly and Karl Tilleman, along with others in the same busy-body bloodline).
These folks ramrod-straight ragged on me while I was in the Cult of Joseph Smith of Lathered-Up Saints and have continued their relentless efforts since I made my bolt from that Cult--even up to this day--to recruit me back into its regimented ranks.
Enough, I say.
There comes a time when one needs to take these boundary-bashing Mormons firmly by the shoulders, look them right in the eye, speak slowly and deliberately to them as one would instruct a little child and tell them in no uncertain terms to back off.
In essence, they need to be talked to as one would address a misbehaving juvenile who is clueless about (and who gives every indication of not caring less about) how their invasive behavior is considered by those on the receiving end to be unwarranted, uncouth, unbecoming and unwelcome.
Therefore, in the spirit of water-cannoning the pious pit bulls of Mormonism when nothing else seems to work, this evening I composed the following letter to Holly and Karl:
“Dear Holly and Karl--
“I am happy to hear from you that your family is well, content and happy.
“Speaking of happy, I would like to make a request of you which, if you choose to honor and respect it (which I sincerely hope you do), would make me happy.
“For several years now, in your annual Xmas cards to me and my family, you have promoted and pushed your Mormon faith.
“Please stop this.
“As you know, I am no longer a Mormon, having voluntarily left that religion some years ago and, consequently, do not share your faith.
"To be sure, I will never again share your faith.
“Please allow me to be absolutely clear on this point, so that there will be no future misunderstanding or misconduct on your part:
“I consider Mormonism to be a non-Christian cult that is deeply deceitful, historically dishonest, chauvinistically controlling, absolutely authoritarian, pathologically anti-individual, patronizingly anti-woman, viciously anti-Gay, homophobically anti–Lesbian, racistly anti-Black, obnoxiously pro-White and inherently anti-American in its lack of tolerance and respect for pluralism, diversity and self-expression.
“Put another way, I regard Mormonism to be a clannish, backward religion, founded by a notorious charlatan named Joseph Smith who bedded other men’s wives, who slept with under-aged girls, who mistreated and abused his own spouse, who squinted at so-called 'peep stones' inside of his hat pretending to translate supposed 'ancient scripture,' who invented these alleged 'scriptures' out of the thin air of his own imagination (with the help of his co-conspiring friends), who never saw or talked to God or Jesus floating in the trees behind his house, who never communed with angels, who never dug up any golden plates, who was found guilty of fraud in a New York court for making false treasure-finding claims, whose 'sacred' temple endowment was nothing more than a clunky, amateurish rip-off of secret Masonic rites and who died in a hail of bullets from fellow Masons after being unmasked as a party to a patently unconstitutional effort to shut down a newspaper which had dared publish accounts of his philanderous, adulterous, polygamous behavior and the lies which he told his followers as he denied it all.
“Given my views on these matters, I would sincerely appreciate it if, in the future, you would cease and desist from any and all efforts to bring me back into the Mormon fold.
"In any future communications with me, I ask that you discontinue making reference to your religious faith, to your activities in relation to it and to your LDS 'scriptures'–all of which I personally find offensive, uninvited intrusions into my personal life and space.
“Should you choose to communicate with me in the future, I would be happy to know what you and yours are doing and that you all are hopefully doing well--but only as long as such reports are free from mention of your Mormonism and absent of any attempts on your part to proselytize me.
“That said, I hope that you have had a pleasant Winter Solstice, a Cool Yule and will be enjoying a wonderful, prosperous New Year.
“Best regards,
“Steve Benson
“P.S.--Please feel free to share the contents of this letter with any of your family members who you think may benefit from knowing that I do not wish to receive what amounts to a Mormon missionary door approach every time I open up a Xmas card from them. Thanks. (I’d add ‘God bless,’ but I’m an atheist).“
_____
Lordy, I hope that does the trick.
| | | Bushman's BS On JS : Desperately Seeking Sympathy By Comparing Mormonism To Other Besieged Cults
Wednesday, Jan 4, 2006, at 08:30 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | I had the pleasure of discussing with "SLCabbie" the Morg's go-to "historian" Richard Bushman's spinning song, broadcast recently on National Public Radio.
"Cabbie" made some astute observations, portions of which are shared here with his permission:
Bushman's Comparing Persecuted, Criminal, Free-Lovin' Mormons to Persecuted, Criminal, Free-Lovin' Rajneeshis
" . . . Bushman doesn't get a pass from me on . . . his distorted picture of Mormon persecution in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.
"He repeats the usual myths and likens the treatment to what the Rajneeshis suffered up in Oregon.
"Only trouble with that one is my younger sister was doing some accounting for the Rajneeshis at the time and spent a lot of time there. I followed events pretty closely because a longtime AA 'spiritual adviser' of mine also spent time there.
"It was basically a free love compound, and besides that and bringing lots of street people in to upset the political applecart, there was an incident of 'biological warfare' where the R's tried to contaminate some salad bars with something like Salmonella bacteria just before a major election.
'"They were also indicted on numerous tax and fraud charges and the Bagwhan was deported.
"Typical cult stuff. It looks to me like 'free love' in one form or another operates in many cults.
"There's probably a book there, but I'm saving my literary talents for the story of how the LDS Church buried the old Salt Lake Tribune."
_____
Joseph Smith's Alcoholic Father's Typical Attraction to Religion
"Bushman [also] made a big deal about JS Sr. and his 'religious searching' . . .
"JS Sr. was an alcoholic, and it's common among late-stage alcoholics to develop strong religious tendencies (probably because of the accumulated build-up of shame; religion affords them a catharsis)."
*****
Thanks, "Cabbie."
You're one of this board's wisest.
| | | A Mormon Apostle Claims That Despite Their Growing Ranks Of Dead And Injured, Being A Full-Time Mormon Missionary Is One Of The Safest Assignments On The Planet
Thursday, Jan 5, 2006, at 07:59 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | This, located on a website dedicated to Mormon missionaries who have been killed, who have otherwise died or who have been severely injured while on their divinely-appointed rounds to convert the planet:
"Since the day of the Prophet Joseph Smith, we've had approximately 447,969 missionaries serve in the world," Elder M. Russell Ballard said in 1989. "Of those 447,969, (some) 525 have lost their lives while serving as full-time missionaries," he added. "When you contemplate that number, it appears that the safest place in the whole world is to be on a full-time mission," concluded the member of the Twelve. [emphasis added)
_____
The website on which this astounding claim is made is called "Mahonri: Finding Light in the Darkness."
http://www.mahonri.org/special/ppplist
_____
In honor of God's young, stripped-of-life, but ever-faithful Mormon missionary Stripling Warriors killed in the line of duty, the site offers the following tribute:
In Memoria
We want to honor and recognize the work of all missionaries on the Parley P. Pratt Missionary Memorial, but unfortunately we do not have a complete list of those who have given their lives in the service of the Master.
Nor do we have a complete roster of all missionaries who now face physical, emotional and intellectual challenges as a result of accident or illness suffered on their missions.
Further, we do not have a complete list of those missionaries whose lives were taken before being able to enter the mission field. Your help in compiling a more complete account of those we would honor will be greatly appreciated. . . . .
_____
Up next comes a long list of dead or severely injured missionaries who came to be that way in the glorious field of latter-day, lead-them-into-the-font combat, after which follows this pious pitch for donations:
If you would like to make a contribution towards the recognition of a particular missionary or in the name of your family, company or business, please contact a member of the Board of Directors of the Parley P. Pratt Missionary Memorial, a project of the NextLevel Family Foundation.
The NextLevel Family Foundation (NLFF) is a non-profit organization, incorporated in the state of Utah as a 501(c)(3) charitable entity. Adonis Bronze and the Alpine Art Center & Sculpture Park are private businesses.
Neither the Missionary Memorial nor the NextLevel Family Foundation is associated with or sanctioned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . .
To share names of missionaries who may be honored on this memorial, please call David Tuttle 801 768-3933 or e-mail: dtuttle@nlevel.com or direct regular mail to 1593 N. 1400 E. Lehi, UT 84043.
_____
Rest in eternal, proselytizing peace--the hundreds of you who, in the name of your protective, loving, throat-slitting Mormon God, embarked on one of the "safest" assignments in the world.
On second thought, you are not allowed to rest.
You've got discussions to teach and quotas to reach in the spirit world of glorious missionary endeavor.
So, get up, dust yourself off and get a move on.
| | | My Reaction To The Claims Of "Former Church Insider" (re: Mormon Mafia, Inside Stories, Mark Hoffman, Steve Christensen)
Friday, Jan 6, 2006, at 08:10 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | Original Article Steve is commenting on: http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_ex...
In a now-closed thread, "Former Church Insider" made some very interesting and, in some cases, extraordinary claims.
I was asked in that thread to offer my assessment on those claims and do so below:
CLAIM: I was reading the question about Steve Christensen (who died from the bomb planted in the Judge building by Mark Hoffman) in an earlier post and felt compelled to add more to the story. Steve was a friend of a friend who grew up with the family in Bountiful. Steve was a straight arrow in his church beliefs and was a bishop at the time of his death. His father, Mac Christensen owned the Mr. Mac stores in area, and unlike his brothers, Steve decided to leave the family business to strike out on his own. He was a savvy and successful young businessman and as far as I know was a stalwart in the church in spite of his access to unseemly church records and artifacts. His death was tragic and unfortunate.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
I have a former Mormon, well-connected source who personally knew Christensen and describes him in much the same way.
_____
CLAIM: As a result of his death, his brother Stan, who manages two of the Mr. Mac stores - and a really nice guy, lost his faith in the church and became inactive - and still is to this day. As far as I know, Steve's family has been well taken care of and remains active.
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: At the time of Steve's death, the leadership of the church was in frenzy - especially PR savvy GBH, and control freak BKP. Open access by the public to the church history department (on the first floor of COB)was forever restricted by edict from BKP - with access granted only to those who had a "church" purpose for being there, with IDs and a sign in log.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
My personal conversations with Dallin Oaks and Neal Maxwell, held in Maxwell's Church office in September of 1993, indicated a real concern on their part with wanting to insure tight control over access by D. Michael Quinn and others to sensitive Church archival material--as well as a stunning and ugly willingness to smear the character of those (Quinn and Brent Metcalf, in particular) who were outspoken critics of the Church.
_____
CLAIM: This stemmed in part from the fact that there was much more to the Mark Hoffman story than is commonly known. Because Mark was the fair haired RM with a talent for digging up the good and bad documents about the Church, he was granted access to many documents and artifacts that were not accessible even to the "Quinn" type historians of the church in their full access heydays (long before they were Exed).
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: The President's vault, otherwise known as "F" vault one of a series of 6 vaults located in the Granite Mountain church site in Little Cottonwood Canyon - next to where the granite blocks used in building the SL Temple were quarried. The front of the vault complex is manned and womened by employees and missionaries who duplicate genealogical microfilms to fulfill orders from church Fam. History libraries all over the world. The six vaults are connected by a corridor protected by a many ton steel door that supposedly can withstand a nuclear blast and are located far into the mountain at the rear of the complex. Each of these 6 vaults is cavernous and contains microfilm, discs, and other data files for financial, membership, genealogical and other church records. Until the Mark Hoffman episode, access to the vault was restricted to those with official church business only (although at one time tours were conducted there for the public).
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: The biggest issue with Mark Hoffman was the Church trying to suppress the "Salamander Letter" - since Joe Smith supposedly spoke to a salamander instead of moroni. I doubt the church would have destroyed it, instead, they would have hidden it away. Why is it that the Michael Quinn types can no longer have access? The church has so many records that it doesnt even know what they have and what are they going to do, have someone go through it all and decide what to keep and what not to keep? - at the expense of someone finding out what is in there?
REACTION: Sounds credible.
Oaks personally admitted to me that the Church did not cooperate fully with a Salt Lake police subpoena regarding its William McClellin document collection because, he said, the Church unilaterally concluded that the police did not need the documents which Oaks said the Church had in its possession.
Despite claiming to me that the McClellin documents in its possession were from McClellin's younger, pro-Mormon days and were not incriminating, Oaks also told me that the Church did not even know what was actually in those documents until they were later examined by the Church during the Hofmann investigation.
In another, previous one-on-one discussion with Oaks in 1985(coming on the heels of the Hofmann bombings and arrest), he was incredibly tight-lipped, refused to speak to a reporter who was with me in Salt Lake and spoke to me stiffly from behind a desk that had been almost completely cleaned off.
_____
CLAIM: Fawn Brodie's book was based on what she had access to because of her relative David O. McKay - Why is it that the Church no longer discloses it's financial reports - because they can control and spin the information in a way that suits them. Hinkley recently said in an interview with AP that church history was an "open book". As long as it's the book that they want you to see, and not the one that exists out of reach of everyone.
Believe what you want to.
_____
REACTION: Sounds credible.
Much of what I know about the inside workings of the Mormon Church hierarchy comes from the fact that, as a member of a well-connected and powerful Church family, I was privy to inside the Cultway information which was gleaned from both my personal observations of the goings-on and from information provided to me by Church employees, Church leaders and family members.
I also know from the personal confessions of Oaks and Maxwell to me that, in fact, Church history is far from being an "open book."
_____
CLAIM: Mark Hoffman was given unfettered access to the remote "F" vault that reminded me of the warehouse in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" where the Ark of the Covenant was eventually placed. It is the only vault that contains artifacts, relics and original church documents such as pioneer journals and anything related to early church history. This is probably the most secure vault in the country - with the possible exception of the US gold reserves storage at Ft. Knox. There are rumors that the vault contains Joseph Smith's Jupiter talisman and seer stones among other items. You'd think the place would be organized and items would be stored logically, but at least at the time I saw it, everything seemed in disarray on dusty shelves and in piles. But it was evident that almost everything in there was "old".
Mark was given access to this vault and apparently had a co-conspirator who worked for him at the vault complex. It was discovered after Mark Hoffman was exposed, but never reported to anyone outside the inner circle of the inner circle of those who worked inside the church around this issue, that the church had actually paid a lot of money to Mark Hoffman for documents that it already owned, and that these documents had been taken out of the "F" vault. This was too embarrassing for the church to admit to anyone, but resulted in unbelievable restrictions to church history documents. The only access by anyone, even GA's to the "F" vault is now granted only by GBH.
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: If you'll recall in reading "Angels and Demons", the Dan Brown book, the Catholic Church also has an archives at the Vatican that no one has access to, for the same reason. Documents there have potential for harming the Catholic Church if they are disclosed in any way to the public - so they are controlled solely by the church.
REACTION: I have no sources in the Vatican (although I have a well-known, former Catholic-turned atheist friend who does).
_____
CLAIM: With regard to the Mormon Mafia - another fact about the church that is not commonly known and is a bit scary is that the overwhelming majority of church security are former CIA and FBI agents. The church's security operation is as state of the art and sophisticated as any in the world, with the possible exception of the US security agencies.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
Ray Hillam, a former BYU faculty member (for whom I worked as a teaching assistant in the 1970s and who was spied on by the Church, under direction from members of the Quorum of the Twelve, during the Wilkinson era because Hillam was considered to be a liberal threat), confirmed to me that the U.S. intelligence services recruit heavily from the ranks of LDS returned missionaries.
(I was strongly discouraged by my father from enrolling in Hillam's classes but did anyway).
I have had my own run-ins with Church Security personnel on Temple Square in my post-Mormon days. Efforts were made by Church security agents to stop me from talking to Visitor Center missionaries (who actually instigated contact with me and not the other way around). In this episode, evidence of Church security presence was pervasive and obvious, when they chose to make it known. Later on the day of my contact with these Church security agents, a member of my family was approached by a Church security employee and falsely told that I had been asked to leave Temple Square.
_____
CLAIM: Millions have been spent on encryption technology for communications. - (this resulted in part by the media monitoring church security radio traffic and reporting the death of Spencer Kimball, before the news was relayed to the first presidency). At the time of its purchase in the mid-80's for several million dollars, the church was the only owner of an encrypted communication system that was developed for and to a large extent by the CIA.
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: Many of you will remember the Clinton white house scandal involving FBI records that resulted in the suspicious death of Vincent Foster. The Clintons were digging up dirt using FBI files on their enemies.
Similarly, the church keeps records of this type on all members of the church as well as non-members whom they deem to be a potential treat to the church. The effort is ongoing and incredibly invasive - I can tell you for a fact that this particular site is monitored for people like me, by church employed hackers who easily find and identify IP addresses of those with opinions not favorable to the church, or even as you'll recall from your recommend interviews, "those who sympathize with apostates".
REACTION: Sounds credible.
Oaks informed me that the Church keeps tabs on troublesome Mormons via the so-called "Strengthening the Members Committee," and provides (he said, benignly) news clippings and other information to the bishops and stake presidents of these targeted members because, Oaks said, the local leadership is too busy to keep files themselves.
I have former Mormon friends (who were highly visible and critical of the Church, specifically D. Michael Quinn, Maxinne Hanks and Martha Beck) who had credible reasons to believe that their phones were tapped by the Church and who so informed me.
In my own experience, I have suspicions that attempts may have been made to monitor my own phone calls around the time that I was openly critical of the Church around the time of my voluntary departure from it ranks over a decade ago.
My public criticisms of Mormon Church public officials and Mormon doctrine also resulted in me being contacted by an official LDS representative, both by letter and in person, exhorting me to back off.
Two of my bishops, as well as two of my stake presidents, also requested to speak directly with me (permission granted).
Because of my public criticisms of Mormon doctrine, one of the stake presidents released me from my position as a high councilman--after he was contacted by H. Burke Peterson of the Presiding Bishopric, who called to make inquiries of my stake president about my activities.
The same stake president was also contacted by a Mormon in the Arizona legislature, who told him that I should not be holding positions of prominent authority in the Church.
The stake president assured me that neither of these contacts had any influence on his decison to release me from my high council position.
I was also contacted directly, via phone, by my grandfather during the Hofmann episode (when I drew critical cartoon commentary of official Mormon response to Hofmann's deceptions) and told to "go easy" on the Church.
Further, after I publicly accused Oaks of lying about what he actually knew regarding Boyd K. Packer's behind-the-scenes efforts to have an outspoken member of the Church excommunicated (Paul Toscano), I was informed by a faculty advisor at BYU's student newspaper, the Daily Universe, that if the newspaper printed my claims (which had already been published in the Salt Lake Tribune), the Universe would be shut down by the university's Board of Trustees--namely, by order of the Quorum of the Twelve.
_____
CLAIM: Membership records are tagged for those who are regarded as a threat to the church - particularly insiders. Those who have been in higher leadership positions, particularly at the Stake Presidency level, will know that new move-ins, or current members records will be sometimes tagged with "do not call to leadership position" notations on them.
There are numerous ways that the church screens for potential treats. Several of the most common are monitoring sites like this one, tracking computer use at porn sites by IP address, stationing "solid" members or older missionaries in places where they can observe and record license plate numbers of individuals who visit porn shops or strip clubs, to match them with members. Persons employed in companies or in the public venue where there salary information is available will have these records compared to tithing records to ensure that tithing is paid on the gross.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
I personally know a member of the Church whose temple recommend was taken away by the member's bishop because the member in question was engaged in what the bishop considered to be inappropriate internet communication with another individual. That said, however, the activities of the member were informally reported to the bishop and were not brought to the bishop's attention via any official Church monitoring channels.
From my own personal experience, local ward members spied on activities of my own family and reported these activities to local ward authority, resulting in a reprimanding contact from a local ward leader.
_____
CLAIM: All bishops and stake presidencies are subjected to comprehensive background checks by the church prior to an official call being issued. This is to protect the church from any potential embarrassment later. There have been many frustrated stake presidents over the years who have submitted the name of a potential bishop for approval, only to find out later that the church will not approve the name, for some unknown reason.
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: It is also well known that the wrong remark or comment or dress or look (take your pick) to one of the, GA's, the 12 or even their secretaries, will result in a record being tagged and that individual forever being blessed with an unknown scarlet letter on his/her record. And I do really mean it's a blessing.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
I have a Mormon Utah source who informed me that an employee of the Church-owned Deseret News eventually lost his job, in all probability for having personally offended Thomas Monson with what Monson regarded as an offensive joke.
_____
CLAIM: In my humble opinion, absent the dead bodies, the church is in many ways much the same as in the avenging angel days of Brigham Young, where church members were so tightly controlled that they feared for their lives if they decided to leave the church or leave the Salt Lake Valley.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
I have personally seen Church employees express real fear and exhibit extreme caution in what they say and do--and where they say and do it, even when far outside Salt Lake City--out of concern that they might be under some sort of Church surveillance.
_____
CLAIM: Somewhere there was a prophesy that the church would fall from within. I have seen a lot of waste, corruption, mismanagement, dishonesty, and particularly cover-ups and some of the most egotistical bastards I've ever encountered in my life at the highest levels of the church.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
A Mormon source has told me that in the process of performing employment duties in behalf of the Church, this source witnessed extravagant, wasteful, thoughtless and needless spending of tithing funds by other Church employees.
_____
CLAIM: Being a former member and convert, I just wish I'd had the internet to help me find out about the "real" moron church before the missionaries talked me into baptism. I've often wondered if my life would have been the worse for not joining, I've finally reached the conclusion that it would have been much, much better.
REACTION: I agree that it probably would have (as would have also been my own).
_____
CLAIM: Steve, [p]lease give me a way to contact you and I'd be happy to either phone you or e-mail you privately. I know mike from snow very well and was acquainted with your grandfather...happened upon him in his office when I was about to visit Howard Hunter right after Spence Kimball passed. ETB was still in his office as the head of the 12, and boy did he looking bad - had his face in hands and looked like he'd been crying....they had not switched offices yet - so my mistake walking in on him.
I've got too much to lose right now with my family, etc. by getting too deep into this. Believe me, I know a lot of folks at COB and CAB, and nothing I said in my post is fabricated - and there is a hell of a lot more that goes on up there that most people don't know about. Remember Mr. Martel Byrd - used to be over Church Security after his stint ruining the self esteem of young men and women in the Salt Lake Mission Home - what an asshole? - would you put anything past that guy?
I may not be back to a computer before morning, but will respond as soon as I can.
REACTION: Sounds increasingly credible.
| | | The Human Side Of "Former Church Insider"--And Why I Think He's Credible
Monday, Jan 9, 2006, at 07:35 AM
Original Author(s): Steve Benson
Topic: STEVE BENSON - SECTION 12 -Guid- | ↑ | There are some on this board persisting in insisting that "Former Church Insider" (FCI) is not what he claims to be: namely, a person who was once employed in important positions within the LDS bureaucracy, who came to witness--first-hand--how the Mormon Church actually operates and who is now talking openly about what he saw and heard.
In response to those skeptics--and as I have said before--I am inclined to conclude that FCI is a legitimate, credible whistleblower.
In the frequent communications he and I have had lately, FCI has given indications of his unique personality, his honest feelings and his challenging circumstances that bolster that opinion.
Below are some odds and ends from our recent correspondence, posted here with FCI's written, but conditional, permission:
"You're free to post anything I tell you in private if you'd like but, for the time being, I'd still like to stay anonymous."
_____
Very well, get out the black magic marker, so to speak, and let's proceed:
FCI's Desire to Get a Lot Off His Chest
"Sometimes my mouth runs faster than my head . . ."
". . . [M]aybe [RfM administrators] think I'm a bit over the top in my willingness to 'sing like a canary,' as one poster put it."
"I can't wait to tell the board what really goes on with the Missionary Committee and how the Lard calls those kids. What a crock. [Y]ou'll see."
_____
FCI's Inner Conflicts About Possibly Being Punished by the Mormon Church Because of His Decision to Go Public with What He Knows
"I just don't want to take the chance of being called into a SP's [stake president's] office and being blindsided before I'm completely ready to make the formal exit . . . ."
"[But] [i]f I get ex'd over all this before I'm ready, maybe it'll be a blessing and someone else can pay the [hundreds of dollars] a month [for supporting my children] . . . on missons . . . .
"My utility bills have been getting higher lately and I'm looking for some relief. [To] [t]ell the truth, [if I] . . . get ex'd, [it would] save an immediate 10%, plus [the monthly mission support expenses]--and [I'd] have my life again.
"[A]ctually it doesn't sound too bad. I'll probably be paying child support and alimony, but may still come out ahead."
"You know, the way I feel now, I'm actually looking forward to the day when I get called in.
"I'll make sure I have an attorney with me when I do, though, and maybe a friend from the press. . . . [M]aybe I'll bring him along for some fun."
_____
Wanting to Know on What Topics He Should Post: Heavy or Light
"I would love to tell the story of a loony apostate in our ward . . ."
"If this [light] stuff is too trivial, let me know. I'll just stick with the hard stuff. [T]here's much more to come, folks."
"The unfortunate result of my not being specific with the names of individuals, is that much of what I bring up will not have as much impact and is less verifiable.
"Are all GAs, for instance, off limits?"
_____
Handling Attacks from Critics on the RfM Board
"It was a bit frustrating at first to be dissed by the majority of the board.
"Like you, there are a lot of things I know and a lot of things I don't.
"However, I did take note of a lot of what went on up there and could go on for hours with stories."
"At least among a core group, it appears that my legitimacy as a former insider has been established and validated through the preponderance of material."
_____
How Mormon Church Employees Advance in the Ranks
"I've also served in leadership callings at the ward and stake level and saw some pretty bizarre things at that level, as well.
"For job security and to ensure advancement within COB [the Church Office Building], you had to hold leadership callings at the ward and stake level. [F]or some positions it was a prerequisite and I'm ashamed to say now that I would have turned down a lot of calls to those positions otherwise, had I not felt the pressure to keep myself in the good graces of my employer.
"I have never looked back [now] that I've left and know that there are a lot of folks up there like me that would jump at an opportunity to leave if they could get out."
_____
FCI's Current Level of Church Activity
"[I] . . . don't wear white shirts to Church when I go and always seem to be sick on Sundays. . . ."
"[M]aybe I'll get sick right before Church tomorrow, so I can stay home and give everyone my 'real' testimony on the [RfM] board."
"I also conveniently skip a lot of meetings that I'm supposed to be to and have happily started getting a reputation in local Church matters of not being very reliable or dependable. [S]eems to keep a lot of the local leaders guessing about me.
"[A]ctually, it's been kind of fun, because they all know . . . [that] in my previous more active life I was, and am, pretty responsible.
"My . . . bishop is afraid of me . . . [T]he guy won't even look me in the eyes . . ."
"There is a guy [I know] who works [for the Church] and is a recent convert. [H]e's going through the same
gyrations that I did and now worries about how to get out with his sanity and his marriage."
". . . My 'Friday night date' [is] one of the few (emphasis on 'few') vestiges of the Church that I can continue to live with."
"It's been a lot of years since I had a beer, but maybe soon. I'll have to break the law if I drink one in Utah, though. [M]y first one will not be a 3.2%, which is all you can get here. I'll have to bring a 'real beer' in as contraband from another state."
_____
Ezra Taft Benson
"You've been pretty outspoken about ETB. I never found ETB to be as bad as some made him out to be but when I knew him and of him, he'd become pretty senile--or at least a feeble old man--and didn't know him in his ultra-conservative heydays.
"There's nothing I would say that would be that negative, just some interesting observations.
"I did, however, know a few folks that about left the Church when [ETB] took the head of the Church.
"I was quite impressed with his 'Pride' talk and was disappointed to learn later that it may have been written by a family member who plagiarized a writing from CS Lewis (at least that's what I've heard but who knows). . . .
"I used to work closely with [name deleted] at COB, what a nice guy. I think you're related to him."
_____
An Assessment of FCI's Credibility from Another Former Church Employee
This e-mail also sent to me recently:
"Reading FCI's posts made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
"I'd bet money he was a Church employee. It sounds way too familiar."
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And not just Avon, AvoBase can sell nearly ANYTHING.
Sell your product, track your customers and your taxes - all in one easy to use application.
Download FREE today at AvoBase.com.
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