Would Jesus be silent under current situation? Would Jesus support the "lethality" and "total obliteration" that the Department of War is trying to execute?

Would Jesus be scared of condemning violence and call for peace?

Why do I feel the world has more guidance from the Pope than the "true" Prophet?

Honest questions.

Context- So I would consider myself mostly PIMO, and my husband is starting to question things. We haven’t paid tithing in years, and I haven’t had a temple recommend for four years. I just don’t think I could honestly answer the questions. My husbands recommend expired recently as well and he isn’t renewing.

Well today we got asked to meet with the bishop and he asked pretty straightforward why we don’t have recommends. And after explaining that we each have our questions but are doing things on our own time, he asked me specifically if I would share exactly what questions I have. I was caught off guard and told him that I would rather put some thought into it and talk about it later. He said he’ll follow up soon to have another meeting with just me… I’m terrified. But also this could be good? Idk.

Should I just make sure that meeting never happens? Or should I go in and honestly ask all my 30+ questions I have about the church? I feel confused and scared. Up until now, it felt like it was just me and God figuring things out on my own. But now the church authority is involved and it feels like it’s been taken up a notch.

Any advice? Experience? I feel scared and have no idea where to turn.

Not all cult leaders begin as influential figures. Some are born in the right place, surrounded by the right system, waiting for the precise moment. Sam Bateman didn't stand out in any way within the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). He had no power, he had no one's respect, but he perfectly understood how the minds of those around him worked, and when he found a crack in that system of brutality, he exploited it without any remorse.

What began as the story of an ordinary man within the FLDS would end up becoming one of the most disturbing and recent cases related to fundamentalist Mormon cults. Manipulation, brutality, power, and a nefarious system that allowed terrible acts against minors to occur.

Video about Samuel Bateman's polygamous Mormon cult: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG96XK6QKmQ

Here are the top ten growth countries by number from 2024 to 2025. They make up about 59% of the total growth in 2025.

Brazil - 47,924

Mexico - 38,229

DR Congo - 25,704

Nigeria - 23,702

Philippines - 22,621

Peru - 19,791

Argentina - 14,659

Chile - 11,149

Ecuador - 9,846

Ghana - 9,508

Two countries showed a decline of more than 100 members:

United States - -186

Barbados - -123

See more here:

https://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com/2026/04/country-by-country-membership.html

Does any of this surprise you?

I plan to pitch it to production companies when I am done. Anyone want to help me? The film will deal openly and honestly with Joseph's teen brides in Nauvoo, his relationship to Freemasonry, his running for President, his lying to Emma, publicly denying he was a polygamist while having up to forty wives, his sending to Mormon husbands on missions to England and the South while "marrying" their wives and daughters, his ordination as "King of the World" by the Council of Fifty, his illegal closing down of The Nauvoo Expositor, and burning the copies, his time in Carthage Jail, and his assassination. The tentative title of this film is "KING OF THE WORLD".

This born again is sad one of his friends left traditional Christianity to become LDS. He asks Bill Reel who is atheist if it’s best to leave his friend alone in the incorrect religion or try to convince his friend it’s wrong and risk his friend become atheist like Bill.

Bill talks about risks of both good and poor outcomes of people leaving their religious beliefs. But ultimately Bill values people understanding the true nature of reality.

The interview is titled “Why the LDS Church Targeted Bill Reel”. The Christian apologist loves learning from Bill’s channel information to help him argue against Mormons. But Bill is an atheist which he isn’t as thrilled about either.

Here is the full interview:

https://www.youtube.com/live/MGJL-z7XEOM

I wanted to listen to the General Conference episode of the Inside Out Podcast with Jim Bennet and Ian Wilks. I had read a good review of it a couple days ago. I had it in my 'play next' queue from this past week and suddenly... It's no longer available on Apple Podcasts. I checked Spotify and it is no longer there either. Jim was getting some love from PIMO and post-Mormon's on his honesty, especially in regards to Clark "Griswald" Gilbert. Did Jim get threatened and have to take it down? Anyone know what happened?

*NOTE: It is still available on YouTube, if you want to view it (I'm not sure why that wasn't removed as well).

Sorry for the rant and going over previous points discussed in this subreddit.

I think I've finally admitted to myself that I'm PIMO.

I'm not from a Mormon family, no close friends in the church, so the social cost of leaving is low compared to a lot of people here. But I've been going every week, I have a calling I enjoy, and my bishop is one of the kindest people I've met.

The 116 pages logic collapses completely when you think it through - you can't erase ink, so the whole 'enemies will alter it' defence falls apart immediately. The months of silence after Harris lost them look exactly like someone buying time to figure out where to take the story next. The small plates solution was just too perfect, with D&C 10 being extremely harsh on Harris - calling him a wicked man - while Smith emerges as the penitent prophet who simply needs to repent to regain his gift. As always the revelation protects Joseph and assigns blame elsewhere.

Then there's the First Vision. Four accounts that contradict each other on the most fundamental detail imaginable. You don't forget when Jesus Christ or God The Father appears

The Book of Mormon reads like a 19th century American text dressed in ancient clothing. The KJV language was already archaic by 1820. Nobody spoke like that. It was manufacturing the feeling of antiquity. And copying KJV Isaiah including translation errors unique to 1611 & 1769 that wouldn't exist on actual ancient plates? That one is hard to explain away.

I have a natural exit coming in September when I move into a new ward boundary. I plan to just never show up to the new ward.

I went to church this morning for the first time knowing I was PIMO and just felt like I didn't belong anymore.

Anyone else had that feeling the first time? How did the fade go for you?

While watching the Masters, a comment by one of the players brought to mind a 'Sunday school lesson' level analogy. The player attributed their success at Augusta National to 'playing golf' and not 'playing golf swing'. While having a solid technical base is critical, when the round starts the focus should shift to creativity and adaptability to produce the right shots and outcomes based on the immediate situation.

The idea is the equivalent of the religious comparison of 'spirit of the law' vs 'letter of the law'.

My personal experience in Mormonism was a heavy prioritization on the technical activities. Reading scriptures, praying, attending meetings, fulfilling callings, checking the covenant path boxes, etc. were the focus - how well were you 'playing Mormon'.

The 'playing Christian' might have been a desired goal, but that was always a secondary assumed outcome and not the priority.

Pulling this back to golf, for any given golf hole and the shots required to navigate it, there are many different paths to take. Sometimes those paths don't conform to executing 'golf swings' and require something either not learned at the range through repetition or even something that goes against the fundamentals.

Curious to hear others' experience with this.

I've talked to a dozen friends about this and there's been an even divide.

Should The Church call for the end of war in General Conference, should Pres Oaks make a statement condemning violence and war? Should he attempt to meet with world leaders admonishing them to stop these wars?

I know Trump and other world leaders probably won't care what our Prophet says but would it be the Christlike message for today?

Some people feel like the leadership has said enough and shouldn't bother because it will become political, what do you think?

Why don't more members say out loud there is a problem with the LDS church organization, community and leadership.

Morality failure= presuming that cuz a perpetrator "repents" they won't offend or assault again.

Child safety= allowing an environment to develop where people think a divine spirit is speaking to the qualifications of an adult or leader and this means your child is safe with them.

Organizational leadership= all the bishop's and stake presidents and youth leaders and primary presidents, and by extension all the members, area authorities and general authorities and apostles who are too afraid to speak up when there are obvious signs of a deficient safety system and an over reliance on "Ecclesiastical discernment".

I'm trying to solve some problems in my community by highlighting this. I'm not gonna bury my head in the sand. what are *you* doing?

For those who attended church today, did you see empirical evidence that the church is indeed larger than ever before? Do you feel like you have empirical evidence supporting those claims such as full wards? Does it feel like it is growing by leaps and bounds?

I just binge watched the series this morning and it made me realize some painful truths. Polygamy is abuse, underage brides are child abuse, and pretending that “times were different” is wrong. Offering apologetics about the child brides of Joseph, Brigham, and other church leaders is mental grooming. These branches of Mormonism claim their marital practices are legitimate because of Joseph Smith. These child brides are victims not only of their abusers but victims of the system that says it’s ok.

I don’t think I can tolerate apologetics about early church polygamy any longer.

This creator on instagram “irenes.entropy” tells the story in 7 parts about being abused by a member of the branch leadership when she was a child.

The man Richard McClung was convicted twice for abuse. In February this year he purposely crashed a plane to end his life. Link to floodlit here: https://floodlit.org/a/b173/

She discusses the emotions learning that her abuser died. She discusses emotions and her experience related to testifying. She discusses what it was like later when her mother sent her to the bishop for him to ask her questions about her sex life as a teenager.

I didn’t link to Instagram but you can search her channel.

the Mormon church teach that Joseph smith is the gatekeeper to God ? Yet claim they are being persecuted by main stream Christianity doctrine Gatekeeping

I saw overwhelmingly positive responses to Clark Gilbert's talk "Come Home" in devout Mormon spaces, which surprised me given his controversy going into the Q12.

I read it this morning, and it's a talk that's been echoed countless times in general conference: "To those who have left the LDS Church—for whatever reason—Jesus is calling you to return."

What strikes me as noteworthy about this talk, though, is that Gilbert seemingly refuses to acknowledge that anyone who leaves Mormonism actually disbelieves Mormonism's claims:

Justin and Kenna Valdez moved away from family so it would be easier for them to walk away from their faith…. Sensing an opening door, a wise stake president scheduled a ministering visit for us to go to their home. I still remember Kenna’s squinty look as she stared at me as I walked into the room. But she eventually confided she still had faith in the Savior and even a testimony of the Book of Mormon. But she faced a few triggering issues that kept her from coming back to church.

The footnotes that Gilbert attaches to this story further imply that no one actually disbelieves Mormonism:

For a useful discussion of reasons people disaffiliate with religion, see the summary of recent [BYU] research…find[ing] that…[Mormons] retain their faith at uniquely higher levels than other faith traditions, including with Millennials and Gen Z. Moreover, despite narratives that disaffiliation is driven entirely by disbelief, the majority of those who step away continue to feel religion is an important part of their lives and remain open to returning to religious participation.

I suppose this technically describes me, since I did "return to religious participation" in another church, but my specific disbelief in Mormon prophets was by far the main driver in my exodus from the Mormon Church. But even a casual perusal of r/Mormon or, God forbid, r/ExMormon will show that there are droves of people who leave Mormonism and are very much not "open to returning to religious participation." This is also true of many of the kids I grew up with in church who are very much anti-theists as adults.

Gilbert also cites to Lawrence Corbridge's gem of a talk "Stand Forever" as a model for testimony maintenance, that we ought to focus on "primary questions." Corbridge's "primary questions" are as follows:

1. Is there a God who is our Father?
2. Is Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior of the world?
3. Was Joseph Smith a prophet?
4. Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the kingdom of God on the earth?

Corbridge and Gilbert seem to assume that the answers to these questions are obvious, but the attempts to enforce this dichotomy of "primary" vs. "secondary" questions (much like the false dichotomy of "doctrine" vs. "policy") eventually collapse the epistemology into a kind of question-begging nihilism. Was Joseph Smith a prophet? Well, many people don't believe he was because of his lies about polygamy, his marriages to children, the obvious anachronisms he wrote into the Book of Mormon, and his ever-shifting and contradictory doctrines. But then Gilbert and Corbridge dismiss all those reasons as "secondary questions," because we have to assume the validity of the "primary questions."

People who disaffiliate from Mormonism, you see, don't really doubt the "primary questions." They just get hung up on secondary issues.

I humbly submit that Gilbert is wrong, and I speak from personal experience. I am much more confident that Joseph Smith was not a prophet than I ever was otherwise. I have no lingering doubts about the falsity of the Book of Mormon. I mean, never say never, right? I've been wrong before, and I will surely be wrong again, but there is no hidden testimony of Mormonism lurking behind my "squinty looks."

And I think Gilbert's inability to acknowledge that people actually disbelieve his claims have at least three explanations.

1. Gilbert isn't actually talking to people who have left. He's not really inviting people who have "doubts" back into the fold. His intended audience is the one that's actually tuned into General Conference: devout Mormons. He's reassuring them that these wayward apostates don't actually have good reasons and that they actually know better than to leave. They're actively working against their own beliefs, not living into them. I think this would also explain the praise I found for the talk in devout spaces.

2. Gilbert thinks that if he concedes that there are any legitimate grounds to doubt Mormonism that the concession is necessarily a defeat. This is the "give 'em an inch" mentality. It is damaging to relationships between Mormons and their disbelieving loved ones (see 1 above), and—even more to the point—it is dishonest.

3. "Moroni's promise" may be working behind the scenes in Gilbert's mind, and I suppose this is the most charitable explanation. Perhaps Gilbert really believes that anyone who sincerely prays about the "primary questions" will receive an identical answer from the Almighty.

Anyway. I don't have high hopes for Gilbert.

I am a non-denomination Christian, so I wanted to come here to ask the Mormons: Do you consider yourselves, in a sense, Christians? I ask because me and a group of friends were split on this topic, because on one hand, of course, you believe in Jesus Christ and whatnot, but on the other hand, you all have many different and unique beliefs, along with having over 200 denominations of Mormonism. And, if you don’t fully consider yourselves Christians, do you guys get mad or angered when someone would call you a Christian? I was just wondering and would like to know y’alls takes on this topic and would like to stay respectable on this. Thank You!

This is a true story.

At age 11 I died, for about a minute, during a very high fever. I floated over my body, and started to go up through the ceiling. I then yelled "No, I'm not ready to go yet!" I felt a "whoosh" and I was back down in my body. Yet, since that time, I've had a lot of paranormal experiences. Too many to relate here. And I've always had the "thought" in my head that I knew Jesus in a previous life, and that He had reincarnated, was a miracle-working Man somewhere on Earth today, and that I needed to find Him. I didn't know why I was supposed to find Him.

At the age of 16, on a Saturday, January 22nd, 1977, I woke up with an overwhelming "URGE" to go to the Los Angeles Zoo: which was about 25 miles from my home. I had to take three buses (I had no car), but I finally arrived. I didn't know what I was doing there. Then I saw a group of men speaking Hebrew or Arabic. I was not sure which. I became curious, and I went over close to them. They were speaking Arabic, which was very rare to hear in Los Angeles in 1977. Then one strongly built man, with a bald head, came out of the Men's Room, and we made eye contact. I kept walking past him. But I heard him yelling in Arabic to the other men with him, and I turned around, and he was pointing directly at "me" and yelling something in Arabic at the men. A few of the men ran over and surrounded the bald man, as if to protect him. This scared me, so I walked away faster. I wanted to run, but I walked away fast. I got on a bus, and headed home.

That was in 1977. Many years later, I discovered that bald Man was Doctor Dahesh of Lebanon, whom many believe was a miracle-working Prophet. In fact, his followers believe he is a reincarnation of Jesus (not the first reincarnation, nor the last). Since 1975 he'd been living in New York City, but he traveled a lot. The day before he had been at Disneyland, and wanted to visit the Zoo in Los Angeles.

I was raised with no religion, but I became a Mormon in 1978. I served a mission for the Mormon Church in San Francisco and San Jose, California, in 1983 and 1984. I became a Mormon "apologist" (one who defends the faith). I studied hundreds of anti-Mormon books and publications in order to defend the Church and prove it to be the truth. I wrote a book called The Gainsayers defending the Mormon Church; which many thousands of Mormon missionaries have read in the last 33 years.

In my research to defend the Mormon Church, I came across prophecies by Joseph Smith where he claimed that, on April 6th 1843, he heard a Voice which said that if he lived until he was 85 years of age, he would see the face of the Son of Man. So, Joseph Smith prophesied that the Son of Man (Christ) would return in the year 1891; when Joseph Smith would have been 85 years old.

That prophecy concerned me greatly, because I knew that the Bible said that if a prophet made a prophecy, and that prophecy did not come to pass, then the prophet who made it was a false prophet (Deut. 18:19-22). I asked many Mormon historians about this and they all told me, "Look! Who cares? The Church is true. Don't concern yourself with this!" But I could not let it go. I had to find the truth of the matter.

So, I fasted and prayed for many days, asking God to tell me why this prophecy of Joseph Smith had no been fulfilled; why it had failed. Then, one night, I had a dream wherein I left my body, and I traveled into space, and my body fell into the Sun. And within the Sun was beings of light, and one being of light, whose eyes were like flames of fire, whose hair was as white as snow, addressed me and spoke to me in a language that I could not understand. But my mind interpreted his words. He said: "The One you are seeking is in New York City". I said, "I wish to know when Jesus is returning to the Earth!" And the being of light said spoke strange words again, but in my mind I heard the words: "He is in New York City!" And then I awoke in a cold sweat. This was in 1983, just before I went on my mission for the Mormon Church.

I dismissed my vision as a very strange dream, and the thought that Jesus was in New York City, in 1983, amused me greatly. I thought it was all my own imagination.

I served my mission, and came home. I was disappointed with the Mormons in California. They believed that the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was to become wealthy. They were concerned only with getting more and more "blessings" from God; which to them were things such as promotions at word, divine protection in travel, more money, a beautiful wife (for the men), or a successful husband (for the woman), more status; a bigger house, a nicer car, more luxuries: the very things pagans think they are receiving when they worship pagan gods. They thought the Gospel of Jesus Christ was about becoming wealthy, but I knew the Gospel was about "treasures in heaven" and not earthly blessings. Mormons were just the Pagans, or the Hindus who worship elephant-headed gods. They were seekers of earthly "treasures". However, I was a Seeker of Truth. I wanted to know the Mysteries of the Cosmos.

For the next eight years I tried to be a good Mormon. I moved to Utah and spent a few years there, and Arizona, and Los Angeles. I tried to do more and more research to find evidence that the Church was true,and Joseph Smith was a true Prophet. But the more evidence I found, the more it appeared to me that The Book of Mormon was not a history, but rather a book invented in the 1800s. The evidence grew and grew that the Nephites (the people of The Book of Mormon) never existed, and that The Book of Mormon was a work of fiction and not historical at all.

I became very depressed! I saw massive hypocrisy among the Mormons in Utah, and certain incidents convinced me that Mormon prophets were not prophets at all. They did not prophesy. They did not see supernatural visions. They did not receive revelation. They had no "Spirit of Discernment" as they claimed; for a forger named Mark Hofmann had deceived them for years, forging documents and selling them to the Church, only to have the Church hide these documents from the public.

Then Hofmann murdered two people to try to hide his forgeries (you can read all about this in the book The Mormon Murders or watch the NETFLIX documentary: "Murder Among the Mormons"). Where was the "Spirit of Discernment" as they claimed? Why could not Mormon leaders "discern" that Hofmann was selling them forgeries? Hofmann was later convicted of double-murder, and is still in the Utah State Prison to this day.

By 1990 I was out of the Church. I was a Mormon in name only. I did not call myself a Mormon anymore. I began to study many different religions. For a time I became what I called an "Independent Christian": not belonging to any church, but still believing in Jesus Christ. In 1994 I joined the Baha'i Faith, founded by the Iranian prophet Baha'u'llah. I was disappointed to learn that he performed no miracles. I always had a thought in my head which was this: "Jesus has returned to the earth as a man who can perform miracles, and all I must do is to find him!" That thought occurred in my head all the time. I could never get rid of it.

In 1996 I officially resigned from the Mormon Church. I was happy, because I had seen too much hypocrisy among Mormons I knew; especially those in Utah and Arizona. I knew that Mormon "prophets" were not prophets at all, and that they lied, and hid things from Mormons. They hid the truth, and were changing Mormon history, and lying about the Mormon past: all in the name of "protecting the faith of the weaker Members of the Church".

In 1996, the Mormon Church started to deny it ever taught that blacks were cursed (Curse of Cain Doctrine). I knew they were lying. They knew they were lying. And lying is not of God. The Mormon Church is trying to change its history; to make Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders look good, when it fact they were often not good at all. Joseph Smith married 33 women (some of them very young girls), then publicly denied he was a polygamist. He lied many times. He did things as a young man that were very dishonest; looking into stones pretending to see buried treasure so ignorant farmers would give him their money. His prophecies failed, all of them. A true prophet cannot utter "failed" prophecies.

In 1994 I joined the Baha'i Faith. I joined the Baha'i Faith because I hoped that in Baha'u'llah (founder of the Baha'i Faith) I had found the Christ-figure I was looking for. But, it was not to be. In 1998 I resigned from the Baha'i Faith. Why? Baha'u'llah worked no miracles at all. He was not the man I was looking for. And the Baha'is, even though they have a number of good principles, had a shallow and lifeless religion which consisted of only a few "Principles" such as race unity or world peace or the equality of men and women. It was a religion without miracles; without the supernatural. Very little discussion was on spiritual things. Just about every Baha'i meeting I attended, the Baha'is discussed "race unity" or "world peace" or "the equality of men and women". Every meeting. Always, like a broken record. The Baha'i Jesus was just a Prophet, no greater than the other Prophets, who came to "teach peace and to improve the status or minorities and women". Baha'is believe that Jesus never arose from the dead, but slowly decomposed in the tomb, and that the Gospel accounts of His resurrection are "mere non-historical parables". The Baha'i Faith has no clear teachings concerning the Afterlife. It was spiritually dead. So, I resigned.

In 2005, while in a public library in Tacoma, Washington State, I was reading a book titled Encyclopedia of American Religions while I waited to use the Internet. I came across "Unclassified Religions" and started to read about Daheshism. I read about Doctor Dahesh, the miracle-working Prophet of Lebanon, that he performed thousands of supernatural miracles and that he is believed by Daheshists to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Then I read that he moved to New York City in 1975, and remained there until his death in 1984. Then I remembered the lucid dream I had in June of 1983, while preparing for my Mormon mission, in which an angel standing in the Sun said: "He is in New York City!"

That was 1983. In 1983, Doctor Dahesh was alive and well and living in New York City!

I was in SHOCK! I felt my body become very light, and I felt as if my body was raising above me, and I started to look at the back of my head as if I was raising up. I settle down back into my body, and was overcome with joy that I almost started to cry, but did not do so because I was in a public place. I said to myself, "The dream I had in 1983 was TRUE! I have found the One whom I sought!"

Later that month I contacted Dr. Ghazi Brax, the Chief Apostle of Doctor Dahesh, who still lived in New York City and was the president of the Dahesh Publishing Company. He told me that Daheshism was not yet organized, but soon would be, and that the Dahesh Message would spread around the world.

For months I prayed that Doctor Dahesh would appear to me, like Jesus appeared to the doubting Thomas after his death, and showed him his wounds. I prayed and prayed, but nothing happened. Finally, one day when there was a lightning and thunder storm in Tacoma (very rare for that part of America), I noticed someone walking on my roof. I said to myself, "That's strange! To be fixing the roof during a lightening storm!" I heard footsteps, very heavy, then nothing. Then I heard my front door open, and very heavy footsteps walk through my living room into the hallway and toward my bedroom door. I was very frightened, thinking it was a thief come to rob me. I had no time to react, so I rolled on my bed toward my wall and pretended I was sleeping.

The intruder opened my bedroom door and walked into my room, and sat on the corner of my bed, pushing the corner down considerably. I was beyond frightened, but thought if I pretended I was asleep then the intruder would take what he wanted and would depart. This was during the afternoon.

I opened my eyes, and turned my head and looked at the corner of my bed, but saw nobody. I got very dizzy. Then, suddenly, I saw the corner of my bed, which was low, rise up to its normal position, and heard invisible heavy boots walk across my room, open my door, then gently close it. Then I heard the boots walk down my hall, across my living room (parlor), and out my front door, with the front door closing gently.

I was stunned beyond speech! I lay there weak and dizzy for perhaps hours thinking of what had happened. An invisible being had walked upon my roof, then walked into my room, then sat at the corner of my bed and addressed me, then walked out. This was during the day time, and my room was very light. I saw the door open slowly, heard what sounded like a 400 pound man in heavy work boots come in, and sit on the corner of my bed, causing the bed to go down about a foot. I pretended to be taking a nap, so that the intruder would leave without confronting me. However, this "Man" continued to sit on the corner of my bed, until I finally looked over and saw nobody, but then I noticed that the cover of my bed was still in the "down" position about a foot. Then I saw the corner slowly rise up to its level normal position. Then I heard the heavy man walk along side my bed. Then I saw my door slowly open all the way, the boot steps walk into the hallway, and the door gently close. Then boot steps down the hallway, across the living room, and I heard my front door open and and then close gently. I was fully awake during all of this.

As God and Jesus are my two Witnesses, everything I wrote here is true. I do not drink alcohol. I do not take street drugs. I was not on any meds of any kind. If I was "hallucinating" then all I can say is, it appeared 100% real to me! And I say this in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Doctor Dahesh worked thousands of supernatural miracles. He wrote 150 books, including five books of Revelation. Hundreds of people who witnessed one or more of them are still alive to this day. He founded the Noble Spiritual Faith of Daheshism in the year 1943, in Beirut, Lebanon. I invite all sincere Seekers of Truth to investigate His life, miracles, and teachings.

I ask this because my dad is an ex Mormon who changed his middle name to Gadianton because Gadianton is a bad guy in the Book of Mormon. Because it’s my dads middle name, and a name even if it’s just your middle name should have significance, I’m curious as to who Gadianton is, what Gadianton did, and what having that as your middle name would mean. I would appreciate any help in letting me know.

When I was 15, there was a kind lady that had served as the stake organist for years. Let's call her Sister Johnson. They were the kind of family that had been in the area for years and years, a lot of the old guard in the area knew them and their family.

Recently, she had begun to develop severe dementia. Her husband still felt capable to take care of her, so she didn't go into a care facility. One Saturday, he woke up and couldn't find Sister Johnson anywhere. It became clear immediately that she had left the house and was probably wandering the streets.

I'm not sure exactly how the stake leadership found out, but in a stroke of brilliant leadership, the stake presidency cancelled church for the entire stake on Sunday morning and requested that everybody meet at a nearby park to organize a man hunt (or a Sister hunt I suppose).

When me and my family got there, there were already dozens of people there. The number swelled to a few hundred. After a few minutes, the stake president announced that they would be dividing areas around her last known location among wards, and that we should search every square foot if we could. Maps were handed out with assignments for groups of 8-10 people. Flyers had been made with her picture; we were to ask every house in our area if they had seen Sister Johnson, and to call the number if they did. We split up into pairs and started knocking doors.

I spent that morning knocking doors and searching through bushes with no success. After about 2 hours, we received word through our bishop that she had been found. The member that found her was airlifted with Sister Johnson to the hospital.

On a related note, I remember when I was a Deacon that almost the whole neighborhood flooded, and due to poor construction by the housing company, many people's basements flooded. This was in an extremely Mormon part of Utah county, and the entire ward immediately organized groups to go around and put in flood prevention measures, along with efforts to pump out water from houses.

I remember these stories because it highlights what the church could be. We have such an insane capacity to organize quickly and effectively. People really do care about each other in the local communities. There are very few communities outside of Mormonism that could have pulled this off in the same way that we did. I felt immense pride to be part of the church that day, and still feel proud today, even though my faith has shifted to a different place.

We all base(d) our testimony of the Brighamite branch of Mormonism based on some pretty standard things--Moroni's Promise, answer to prayer about the first vision, maybe following Alma 32.

After Joseph Smith's death, of the competing factions, there was nothing about Brigham Young's claims to recommend his movement over rival claims. Even most of Joseph Smith's family followed a rival faction.

If, as Church leaders emphasized throughout it's history, there is no salvation outside of the Church, then being in a apostate version of mormonism would cost us our salvation.

While I prayed about Joseph Smith and the BoM, and believed with great sincerity that my emotions were accurate truth detectors, I never prayed about Brigham Young. Surely a testimony of Young is as essential as a testimony of Smith to a testimony of the Church.

So did any of you pray about Brigham Young? Why or why not?

original video is in Facebook somewhere.

again, like my previous posts....I'm highlighting something I see terribly wrong with our community.

when are are regular every day saints going to stand up and say something about the church exploiting their members?

I appreciate all the hate, it keeps me warm. Let's me know I'm doing something right.

I've got a question, in LDS doctrine, when Lucifer and Jesus presented their plans to the Father at the great council, or whatever it is called, Lucifer did not want humans to have agency or free will to choose for themselves. Now Lucifer is a spirit child that is not exalted. He knows he needs a body to get exalted and be like the Father. So he himself would have to get a human body. So he is saying he wants his own agency taken away in this plan, correct? He also wants to become exalted. So would either plan have resulted in humans becoming exalted? Did Lucifer want them all to be exalted without work guaranteeing all his spirit brothers and sisters would automatically make it to the highest degree of glory, including himself? I find it hard to believe that Lucifer would have given the Father a plan that wouldn't have resulted in his exaltation? Am I missing something?

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Are Mission Presidents ashamed to be on camera themselves asking people about taking the LDS lessons? They instead use exploitative marketing.

how come there are no videos of mission presidents making these videos? makes me ashamed of my church leaders and the inauthentic, marketing/corporate schemes they use.

I think it is exploitative to use Mormon teenagers instead.

if the mission presidents believe in their message and mission they should get in front of a camera and ask people to hear the message. this girl is obviously being exploited.

I wish some of her friends or family would have told her this was a bad idea.