The Church is True… which Church?

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Mithryn

Someone proposed an idea that caught my fancy.  When members say “The Church is True” the question “Which church, the one Joseph Restored or the modern one”? can be baffling for members.  And yet the two are very very different religions.   Here is a list of changes that one /could/ wave away by stating “it was changed by revelation” but for which the member would need to cite the revelation that allowed the change for each one; as I haven’t found a revelation for anything mentioned here:

Joseph’s Day
1) New Scripture is added by prophet from ancient records continuously
2) Prophet and seer is defined by ownership and use of a seerstone.  It is displayed and used regularly
3) 12 Apostles, Prophet and first presidency are not apostles.  “First and Second Elder” are positions
4) First Vision referred to Angel Moroni or Nephi’s visit
5) Council of the Fifty handled political matters
6) New revelations and changes to doctrine announced by prophet
7) Common Consent is able to over rule even the prophet’s counsel and revelation. Sustaining is more like a vote.
8) Black people are forbidden from ever holding the priesthood in a series of revelations and speeches.  Black people not from Africa can hold priesthood anyway (Samoa)
9) Polygamy is required in this life to enter celestial kingdom.  3 wife minimum is taught enough that it is talked about all the way to Heber J. Grant
10) Word of Wisdom is optional.  Joseph drank alcohol, kept a bar, drank coffee, and wine the morning he was killed.  Pioneers took coffee at Brigham’s demand
11) One quorum of seventy
12) Bishops paid out of tithing for full time work until 1920.  Missions are not paid
13) Speculation and debate happen at general conference, including arguments
14) Saints are learning new information constantly from the prophet including locations of lost 10 tribes, and space travel
15) Tithing was based on “Interest” not on income. Wealthier paid more, poor paid less
16) Tithing and offerings stayed in stakes were donated
17) Gifts of the spirit were manifested openly in meetings (Speaking in tongues, for example)
18) Wine used for sacrament
19) Women promised to have their own priesthood
Modern Day
* New scripture is no longer translations of ancient records Seerstone is locked in vault.
* Becoming a prophet is defined by length of church service and decisions by Quorum of the 12
*15 apostles, Prophet and first presidency MUST have been apostles
* First Vision refers to Father and Son in Sacred Grove in 1820
* Apostles or PR department speak off the cuff
PR Department handles release of new doctrine
* Everyone raises their hand to sustain, very few times does anyone oppose.  If they do it is ignored.
* Black people are given priesthood through secret meeting.  Revelation is never published.  Official declaration mentions revelation but does not cite it.
* Polygamy can be in the next life (which is contrary to Brigham’s statements on the matter).  Maybe the flaming sword was just for show?
* Word of Wisdom required for temple attendance.  Church does not admit to owning wineries in St. George, or owning majority of State Liquor licenses
* 5 quorums of the seventy
* Bishops and Stake presidents are not paid.  Mission President and above are paid
* Every talk is correlated being changed in post-script if the talk varies from approved topics
* Lessons are the same 72 correlated topics year after year after year. Prophet rarely says new things
* Tithing based on income 10% of gross a lot more for poor and less of a percentdisposable income for wealthy
* Tithing is all sent to Church Headquarters
*Gifts of the spirit freak members out. Limited to testimony baring and maybe some healing in the home (not by wome
* Water used for sacrament
* Women excommunicated for asking about priesthood
Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Mormons and War

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Mithryn

A sociology student felt overwhelmed about having to write a paper for their capstone and wanting to do something on the topic of the church.  I put forward an idea that bugged me for a long time:   How did the church go from wanting to succeed from the union in 1857; to being so pro-U.S. military as to be able to alter the torture regulations and write the torture script for the CIA?

Well, the student jumped on the idea, asking if I would do the research on the Mormon history side.  I did.  And that paper exists here.

Or here:

https://cdn.fbsbx.com/hphotos-xpa1/v/t59.2708-21/10916934_10206808916687249_1350328627_n.pdf/MormonsandWar.pdf?oh=501cac04873e376f63128d410f4f48a7&oe=5510D44E&dl=1

My personal summary is a bit more inflammatory than her conclusion I think.  I think it is because members have been trained to follow the prophet no matter what he says; so if he says to go to war, they do, and if he says to not go, they don’t.  Indeed, I think that comes out towards the end when Hinkley’s support for the Iraq war is perceived as wavering in the final paragraphs of the papaer.

Regardless, we have submitted this paper to Sunstone, and I hope it is accepted.  It’s a great topic and definitely worth exploring.

Posted in Current issues, Other Religions, Politics, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Some thoughts on how the LDS church impacts men

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Mithryn

Today, as I was helping my son pick out a tie, some thoughts came to me that I wanted to jot down about what impact the church has on a man.

We talk, in the blogsphere, about how women are repressed in the LDS culture and doctrine, and certainly that is the bigger case.  But just because the house down the street is burning doesn’t mean one shouldn’t check one’s own fire alarms in between trying to help.

For example, everything that my kids bring home from primary for me has a tie on it.  In the church this is the defining characteristic of men.  It’s not my beard (Which; honestly is a lot more male than wearing a neck-cloth; just see Fred’s Ascot from Scooby-doo to know what I mean) or even my children drawing pictures of my face.  Father = tie.

My grandfather hated ties.  He said they were derived from the ropes put around slaves’ necks to show bondage to a master.  I researched it, and no; the modern tie does not in anyway derive from slaves.  It comes from the Cravat worn in the 1700’s as a starched cloth around the neck for fashion (Think of the Scarlet Pimpernel).  But yet there is something about the LDS church defining “Manhood” as wearing a tie that has a piece of owning the message to it.  I can tell it’s there, but I can’t quite define it.  It’s like if Underarmor had separate logos for men and women and taught children to only draw their logo for “Father” in weekly classes.  Mixing the marketing with the identity of the concept of “Father”.

And then there are the ideas like that a woman should only marry a return missionary; and someone faithful (meaning a super-active mormon boy; not regarding infidelity).  When my daughters talk about that it hurts.  It hurts because underneath that goal of finding a “Good man” are the shadow words “Not like your father”. It subtly calls my credence into question.

And there is also the line “Worthy priesthood holder”, that is used so often by teary-eyed stay-at-home moms.  It is certainly a pride-inducing and man-shaming concept (Because every guy who ever did anything less that perfection feels guilt when women say that), that puts a wedge between mixed-faith couples with absolutely no need.

And these items maybe more cultural than doctrinal, but growing up in the culture and a student of the doctrine and history; I think it valid to call out failings in all three areas.  Just because the Prophet didn’t say “And women will thank their husbands for being ‘righteous priesthood barers'” doesn’t mean that it has no effect on men.

A friend’s wife pointed out that I only referred to her as “My friend’s wife” and never as her own person (Yes, I’m aware I’m doing it here).  The comment was shocking; and I’ve thought long and hard about it ever since.  I am, so far, just not capable of separating the idea.  I ask myself how I came to think this way, and there is guilt in thinking of her as a separate person, guilt that flows back to mission rules about never being alone with the opposite gender and CHI instructions for dealing with members of the opposite gender and ideals about roles.

High school friends I can separate into individuals of both genders, but after my mission it is almost impossible to think of women as “Their own selves”.  Now maybe the church doesn’t have this impact on every person who serves a mission, but it had this impact on me, and I think it  worth mentioning so that individuals are aware of it and can self-investigate it to.

I know that one day, when I was serving as EQ president, I was working with a young couple who wanted to get married.  She had a history of eating disorders, and he was an artist; unable to get steady work.  I saw it as my duty to help him shepherd his artistic ability and provide for his family.  Exasperated after one conversation I commented on “What does she see in him” and someone else replied “He’s probably a good lover”.

And it hit me; the church never defines “a good lover” as a positive quality in a man.  Never, not once.  And yet women want that.  In all the lessons I had, we were never told to be romantic or to focus on a hobby.  To be interesting, creative, fun.  Never.  Provide, provide, provide.  And I still define most of my success by that metric.  “Did I provide for my family today?”

But life is about a lot more than that.  Spouses want more than that.  Female co-workers, and friends are more than that.   But that was the measuring stick I learned.

Anyway; This was probably a bit more rambling than my other posts, but it was bothering me today.  Thanks for listening while I got it out.

Posted in Current issues | 7 Comments

Heber J. Grant and his family, a timeline of the rise of the modern church

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Mithryn

Pre-Nauvoo  Rachel’s family was contacted by a missionary named Jedediah “Jeddy” Grant.  She loved to sing, which was forbidden by her family’s faith.  They were Quakers and were discouraged that she was “all levity” after joining the Mormons

Jedediah Grant marched with Zion’s camp at age 18. He served the first mission in Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia where he met Rachel Ivins’ family

William Smith married Jeddy Grant’s sister, Caroline Amanda Grant  in 1833 connecting the Smith and Grant families closely.

1842 – Rachel Ivins had Victorian era values… 20 year-old and had charm and refinement. While little is known of her daily Nauvoo activity and interests, her bosom companion was Sarah Kimball

 But in private and informal moments, he seemed distressingly “unProphet-like.”  – Rachel Ivins on Joseph Smith

“He would play with the people, and he was always cheerful and happy,” Rachel Ivins on Joseph Smith

Once while visiting the Ivinses on the Sabbath, he requested the family girls sing the popular “In the Gloaming.” Rachel believed singing and newspaper reading breached the Sabbath and responded with a mortified, “Why Joseph, it’s Sunday!”

1843 – When Joseph sought an interview with her, she believed he wished to ask for her hand in plural marriage. Her personal turmoil over this prospect must have been excruciating

[I would] “sooner go to hell as a virtuous woman than to heaven as a whore.” — Rachel’s reply if Joseph were to Propose to her

Rachel leaves the Saints for 10 years. Heber J. Grant would later say “When plural marriage was first taught, my mother left the church on account of it.” She returned to New Jersey, ailing physically as well as spiritually and planning never to mingle with the Saints again. She would be gone almost ten years.[

In Victorian symbolism, a dried white rose had an unmistakable meaning: better be ravaged by time and death than to lose one’s virtue. While Mormon leaders insisted that their plural marriage was heaven-sent and honorable, Rachel, like most women of her generation, initially rejected the practice. She was, in fact, the quintessence of the nineteenth century’s prevailing feminine ideal.

1844 – Charles (one of the publishers of the Nauvoo Expositor) and James Ivins (Rachel’s brothers and Heber’s uncles) joined Law, Foster and Higbee (this was after they learned about plural marriage, and Rachel talked to one of them about a possible proposal by Joseph Smith)

Jedediah Grant campaigns for Joseph Smith as a presidential candidate.

1845 – Jedediah Grant added to First Council of the Seventy

May 1845 – Caroline Grant dies, leaving William Smith a widower.

22 June 1845 – William married Mary Jane Rollins  who left him two months later

1846 -47 – The Bulk of Nauvoo’s population head west following Brigham Young.  About 1/4 follow James Strang. A few remain behind in Nauvoo such as William and Emma Smith.

18 May 1847 – William Smith marries Roxie Ann Grant, Caroline’s younger sister, by whom he had two more children before they separated.  This close connection may explain why William approached Rachel Ivins; and it reminded her to go west and meet up with Jedediah Grant.

May 4 and 5 1849 – George D. Grant presides at a gathering of saints at Pidgeon Creek.

May 6th, 1849 – George D. Grant leads group against indians who stole horses

May 29, 1850 – Captain George D. Grant leads volunteer calvary against indians at Skull Valley

August 8, 9 1850 – George D. Grant leads 4th company of volunteers in indian battle at Fort Utah 

1851 – Jedediah Grant’s brother Joshua Jr. Grant dies.  Jedediah Grant is made Mayor of Salt Lake by Brigham Young

1853 – Visited by William Smith back east.

April 5, 1853 – Rachel left for Utah. Arrived in Salt Lake City on 11 August, and met with Jedidiah Grant to be lodged, whom she would marry (She was thrity-two years old)

 “One could be happy in the marriage relations without love,” she reportedly advised, “but could never be happy without respect.”

1853 – Grantsville, Utah named for George Grant

1854 – Jedediah Grant added to the First Presidency under church president Brigham Young.

29 November 1855 – Brigham Young chose [Jedediah] as his counselor and as mayor of Salt Lake City. Already much married, Jeddy sought out Rachel’s hand as his seventh wife two years after her Utah arrival.  Brigham insisted she be eternally sealed to Joseph first, Rachel married Jedediah Grant for time only in the Endowment house

1856 – Mormon Reformation begins.

September 13, 1856 – In multiple “soul-stirring addresses,” Jedediah Grant called on the people to live their religion in minute detail, observe cleanliness in every sense, and set themselves, their families and communities in order. Of those who would not so conduct themselves,“let them be unto you as heathen men and publicans, and not numbered among the Saints.” http://utah.ptfs.com/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=11947

October 7, 1856 – The first rescue party to save the hand cart companies left Salt Lake City with 16 wagon-loads of food and supplies, pulled by four-mule teams with 27 young men serving as teamsters and rescuers. The party elected George D. Grant (heber J. Grant’s uncle) as their captain.

22 November 1856,  – Rachel has her son, Heber Jede Ivins Grant, nine days before “lung disease,” a combination of typhoid and pneumonia, took Jedediah Grant’s life at the early age of forty.

Heber was named by Bishop Woolley, who performed the blessing and said he knew he’d be an apostle: Preston W. Parkinson, The Utah Woolley Family (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1967), p. 126. The christening is recorded in the Thirteenth Ward Historical Record, Book B: 1854–59, 1 Jan. 1857, Church Archives.

Rachel had given away most of what she had brought from New Jersey (wealth of any kind) and the estate was divided among the wives.  She could come back east at any time if she rejected her religion

17 February 1858 – Rachel remarries for her religion and her son: Brigham told some of Jeddy’s wives to marry George Grant, Jeddy’s brother, as their new husband, they would successfully raise their children She married George on 17 February 1858, resolute in her religious obedience and hopeful for the future of her son to be a faithful Mormon.

The union was a disaster. George, once a faithful churchman, Indian fighter, and hero of the 1856 handcart tragedy was, unbeknown to Church leaders, on a downward course. His erratic and immoderate behavior, apparently due to alcoholism, soon became public. Six months after his marriage to Rachel, George “committed an unprovoked attack on Thos. S. Williams with [the] attempt to kill.” The fracas ended in a street brawl.  Heber is 2 years old

1860 – President Young dissolved the two-year-old marriage, but Rachel’s hurt never entirely healed. “It was the one frightful ordeal of my mother’s life and the one thing she never wishes to refer to,” Heber remarked in later years.

1864 – For several years she and her son remained at the Grant home on Main Street with a couple of the other widowed and now divorced wives. But the lack of money forced the sale of that property and the break-up of their extended family. With President Young’s permission, Rachel took her $500 share of the transaction and purchased a cottage on Second East Street.

The disappointed and disoriented six-year-old Heber wandered back to the Main Street home and vowed that some day he would live there again

1869 – About five years after moving to Second East Street, Rachel began serving meals to boarders out of her small basement kitchen. Alex Hawes, a non-Mormon New York Life insurance man, helped make her venture successful. Attracted by her intelligence, charm, and culinary skill, Hawes first boarded and then at his own expense outfitted a small room at the Grant’s for his use. His rent and warm testimonials to Rachel’s cooking provided her, as the boarding business increased, with a growing margin of financial security.  In addition, Alex would teach Heber the ins and outs of selling fire insurance.

Rachel was “blessed and set apart” as the Thirteenth Ward Relief Society “presidentess.”  On occasion she prophesied. She experienced uncommon faith and expression while praying. Following priesthood counsel, she used when possible articles manufactured in Utah, and when Brigham Young requested women to abandon their cumbersome eastern styles, she wore, despite ridicule from many women, the simplified and home-designed “Deseret Costume.”

“We all have trials to pass through,” she spoke from personal experience, “but if living up to our duty they are sanctified to our best good.”

1871 – At the age of fifteen, Heber J. Grant joined the insurance firms of H. R. Mann and Company as an office boy and policy clerk. After business hours he marketed fire insurance.

He is also made a member of the 70.

1875 – By nineteen, Heber J. Grant had bought out his employers and organized his own successful agency.

1876 – During his early twenties Heber broadens out into other business activities.

1877-78 – Heber J. Grant is appointed to fill the assistant cashier position at Zion’s bank

Nov 1st, 1877 – Heber J. Grant marries Lucy Stringham.  He had vowed to capture her before his twenty-first birthday and succeeded with three weeks to spare.  She would die at the age of 34 leaving 5 children between the ages of 4 and 14 (Anna, Edith, Florence, Lucy, and Rachel)

1879 – At the age of twenty-three Heber J. Grant is called to preside over the Tooele Stake.

October 1882 – Heber J. Grant called as an apostle

Believing it his personal ministry to preserve Mormon commercial influence, he launched a series of enterprises. In addition to his insurance agency, he was owner or principal investor in the territory’s leading agricultural implement concern, two insurance companies, a livery stable, a leading Salt Lake City newspaper, a bank, the famed Salt Lake Theatre, and the Utah Sugar Company, which provided Utah agriculture with its most important cash crop. There also were less successful ventures in mining and the manufacture of soap and vinegar. During the Panic of 1893 and its aftermath, his eastern loan brokering and public subscriptions maintained the solvency of his church and many Utah businesses as well.  http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/g/GRANT_HEBER.html

1880’s – successively saved ZCMI, the Salt Lake Herald, and the Utah Sugar Company from their respective problems.  He was one of five Saints who raised the legal and lobbying fees for Utah’s statehood drive.

1883 – Joshua Grant, Heber’s half-brother along with George T. Odell and Heber start the largest wagon company in Utah Grant, Odell & Company

May 26, 1884 – Married polygamously, Augusta Winters.  She was reputed to be the ablest and highest-salaried schoolmarm in the territory.

Once Augusta suggested that each of them point out the annoying habits of the other. Her husband agreed. She mentioned several of Heber’s idiosyncrasies and waited for his suggestions. There was a slight twinkle in his eye, she remembered, and then he replied, “You haven’t one.”

In the late 1880s Augusta took up residence in New York City to try and prevent Grant’s arrest on polygamy charges. Augusta bore one daughter. She accompanied Grant to Japan when he was sent to open the Japanese Mission in 1901.

She would often travel with him when he was president of the church, especially when he went to address non-Mormon audiences. She died in 1952.

May 27, 1884 – Married Emily H. Wells (grant’s next door neighbor) were among the most prominent young orators in Salt Lake society in the 1870s, both connected with the “Wasatch Literary Association”, and Grant was a counselor to Emily’s brother in the 13th Ward YMMIA presidency. The marriage of Grant and Emily was expected by all who knew them. However, Emily then announced publicly her opposition to polygamy. This caused a falling-out between Grant and Emily

Emily went to England to live at the LDS mission home to have her first child. She returned to the United States 16 months later and moved between multiple locations in Utah Territory and Idaho to avoid capture.

April 1886 – Heber J. Grant drafts his half-brother Hyrum into organizing the Grant Brothers’ Livery and Transfer Company and began a furious war to control the local cab and transfer business.  The local cab drivers were opposed to the Church, and Grant had a difficult time arranging carriages when Wilford Woodruff’s wife died.  Hence he organized a “faithful” cab service.

1887 – Edmunds act forbidding poligamy

1889 – Trying to avoid being forced to testify in pending unlawful cohabitation charges against her husband, Emily went to Manassa, Colorado, where she stayed for a year and a half. Grant accompanied her on the train-ride from Pueblo to Manassa, having been on a different train on the previous part of the journey to avoid arrest. Grant stayed two weeks, setting up for Emily the most comfortable house in the town, and leaving his mother to help Emily.[20]:5 She remained in Manassa until March 1891 when she returned to Salt Lake City.

1892 – UL&T pays its last dividend

Panic of 1893 –  Church tries to resolve it via “New deal” style solutions

Following the 1893 panic, when Salt Lake City’s tax collector, who also served as an LDS bishop, mismanaged $32,000 in public funds, Grant had led the campaign to pay off quickly his debts without embarrassing the church.

The worst of the depression occurred in the winter of 1893—94, when Utah’s urban unemployment exceeded 25 percent and some laborers in Salt Lake City marched to demand “bread or blood.”

At the same time 1,400 unruly “Commonwealers” — out-of-work Californians traveling East to protest the prevailing scarcity — were camped in Ogden City.

Rachel Ivins gives her personal stocks and properties to Heber to help him through the financial crisis.

1893 – fire guts the building of the UL&T

1896 – Abraham H. Cannon offers to buy controlling interest in UL&T.  He wanted to use it to back a railroad to LA from SLC.  His money calculations basically used the bank’s reserves to back the purchase of the bank!  Six weeks later he died leaving the bank without reserves and the railroad un-backed.

late 1897 – The church itself owed over two million dollars and was looking for another loan of like amount

May 18, 1897 – Two employees, Leon Graves and Clarence Barton, who had removed $5,200 from the UL&T vaults and fled east are caught by the police in New York City.  Graves was dead, and Barton was terminally ill. The money was replaced by Joseph A. West by mortgaging his home but a run on bank came from rumors.

May 29, 1897 – Heber J. Grant is 90k in debt at this point.

Thomas J. Stevens- brother-in-law directors and members of Ogden’s Loan and Trust company (UL&T) approach Heber to ask him to save the bank. Charles Comstock Richards and Franklin S. Richards (Sons of Ogden’s apostle, Franklin D. Richards) established the firm. UL&T paid its last dividend in 1892.

UL&T officers, directors, and leading stockholders were a “Who’s Who” of Ogden’s LDS officialdom. General Authorities Joseph F. Smith and Francis M. Lyman owned stock and served as directors. Church’s loan agent in the East that because of the Ogden bank’s links with LDS officials, its failure would “almost sure” cause eastern bankers to demand payment on existing Mormon loans. Utah law made bank officers criminally culpable for receiving deposits after an institution’s liabilities exceeded its assets.  Almost everyone in LDS hierarchy could be held criminally culpable if exposed.

May 30th, 1897 – George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, Lorenzo Snow, Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith and Grant met for three hours to consider the bank

April 3rd, 1897 – The general authorities further back the UL&T on church tithe money. In case of failure, Stevens reported, “they promised to stand behind us … so that the depositors will be paid in full.”  Meanwhile the Church controlled banks in Salt Lake City, Zion’s Savings and Bank and Trust Company and the State Bank of Utah, were to be asked if they would assume respectively the UT&L’s savings and Commercial banking business.

Late 1897 – The LDS church owes over two million dollars and was looking for another loan of almost as much

January, 1898 – Zion’s Savings loaned $5,000, to the UL&T  and the church itself eventually took a $15,000 second mortgage on the UL&T building and apparently extended the bank about $7,500 besides

May 25, 1898 – Anders Larsen, a disgruntled depositor who believed that his money had been negligently loaned, filed a lawsuit which declared the bank to be “utterly insolvent,” with “no property with which to pay its debts.” (Suit: Anders Larsen v. Utah Loan and Trust, filed May 25, 1898, Case #723, Third Circuit Court, Utah State Archives)

August 8,1898 – Rather than have the financially strapped church give aid to the bank, Joseph F. Smith proposed that Heber J. Grant be deputized to solicit money from its most prosperous members. He asked the First Presidency to call apostle Matthias Cowley to assist him and to sign a strongly-worded letter endorsing the project. “also appended a paragraph which blessed those complying with its Request” (source:  Grant, “Interesting Experience,” 2; Heber J. Grant, “President Grant’s Story about Saving the Ogden Bank,” Memorandum, box 177, fd. 7, Grant Papers; Grant, Typed Diary, August 8,1898. All diaries suggest that the climaxing meeting of the brethren was held on August 8,1898, although the extract in Grant’s Letterpress Copybook, 26:639-40 is dated two days later.) The text reads as follows:

“This letter will be presented to you by Elders Heber J. Grant and Matthias F. Cowley, and we ask you to treat as confidential all communications which they may make to you. We have called these brethren on a mission to raise the funds necessary to save one of the institutions of Zion from making an assignment. We feel that it would be a great calamity to have it fail as it would injure the credit of the Latter-day Saints as a community, and to maintain the community credit is something that should appeal to the patriotism of every true Latterday Saint. We appeal to you to render to these brethren all the financial aid that your circumstances will admit of, and also to assist them to the full extent of your ability to secure means from any of the saints residing in your Wards whom you feel are able to aid in this matter. We fully appreciate the fact that the saints have very many calls made upon them, but notwithstanding this, as sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven, we do not hesitate to appeal to you for aid in this matter, knowing that every sacrifice made in aiding any of the institutions of Zion will be sure to bring an ample reward from our Father in Heaven. We assure you that we shall appreciate very much indeed all you shall do to aid the brethren in making their mission a success”

Contributors to the UL&T:

George Q. Cannon promises $5,000 and gives 2,000 check as first installment

Grant asks $2,500 from Alfred W. McCune, a successful mining speculator and soon to be a candidate for the U.S. Senate who was not a member.  He replied “O hell, you cannot scare me with a thing like that,” when presented with the letter.  Heber gave him a pity story and he wrote a check for $5,000.  Heber later stoutly campaigned on McCune’s behalf, rumors came out that Grant had been bought.

Jesse Knight who was a short man with a walrus mustache and given to wearing Homburg hats, Knight was the son of two of Mormonism’s earliest converts, Newel and Lydia Knight.  He had a dream about a silver mine that turned out to be true.  It was called the Humbug! mine as that is what his friends told him when he explainedabout the dream.  Grant asked him for $500 and when turned down he stated:

“When you get home tonight get down on your knees and pray to the Lord to give you enlargement of the heart, and send me a check for $1,000.”

William H. Smart, a thirty-six-year-old Idaho livestock dealer who had been called to preside over his church’s Brooklyn Conference in the Eastern States Mission, had a niece Luella Cowley who was married to Matthias Cowley.  She explained that her husband had been assigned to help save the UL&T. Smart offered between the wide range of $1,000 and $20,000.

After presiding over the meetings of a stake conference, Grant typically would invite church leaders and prosperousmembers to a special meeting. After reading the First Presidency’s letter and touching upon UL&T matters (the comprehensiveness of his explanation seemed to vary with the occasion), he would then solicit an immediate and public response.

“When my name was called,” complained one participant who believed that he pledged beyond his means, “I did not feel like saying that I could not or would not do anything.

John Scowcroft of Ogden, gave $500 and promised to double the amount if his new business prospered.

George F. Richards offered $100 (to do so he was forced to sell 300 bushels of his stored grain), the  Apostle complained to Richards’s ecclesiastical superiors that he was not doing his share to save the institution which his family had founded. Grant later apologized to Richards for presuming to prescribe the bounds of another’s generosity.

George Romney, announced second thoughts about donating. After Grant’s paroxysm of temper, Romney’s business firm made good its $1,000 pledge

When one merchant grandiloquently promised “his time, his talent, [and] his substance” to the Kingdom in a public prayer [in the temple], Grant immediately closed in for a donation.  Grant was upset with the man when he replied that he didn’t expect the Lord to actually take those things.

1900 – UL&T on edge of collapse again.  For over a month the bank’s cash reserves had fallen well under the legal limit. “This bank ought to fix up its affairs,” the examiner wrote, “or go out of the business entirely.” Only his leniency forestalled immediate legal action.

Lorenzo Snow offers tithing dollars to back bank for $30,000 to get it back to within legal reserves limits.

Also during this time period: Rachel Ivins is baptized 8 times to try and restore her hearing, with church members from Idaho to Arizona fasting and praying for her.  her hearing is not restored:

“I watched in breathless silence to see the miracle performed, I saw my miracle . . . eight long agonizing times [she was baptized with no effect] . . . the vision of Aunt Rachel’s beaming smile at God’s refusal to hear her prayer gripped my soul with power to bear.” -Susa Young Gates

 

August 31, 1900 – The UL&T bank closed up business and requested depositors to call for their money.

Joseph West, recovered what he lent the bank (with interest after lawsuit).  David Eccles sold the bank for 20% increase, Grant became solvent via the Sugar company.  The LDS Church, which spent $50,000 (~$1,200,000) adjusted for inflation in subsidies and lost loans on the UL&T.

1901 – Heber J. Grant serves mission to open Japan until 1903

1902 – Joseph F. Smith reversed President Snow’s stand on alcohol being served on church properties and closed the saloon at Saltair, a move which the Protestant clergy heartily approved. Heber J. Grant had long tried to persuade Snow of this move and was key in convincing Joseph F. Smith.

June 1902 – The First Presidency and Twelve agreed not to fellowship anyone who operated or frequented saloons. In the same year, Joseph F. Smith urged stake presidents and others to refuse recommends to flagrant violators but to be somewhat liberal with old men who used tobacco and old ladies who drank tea. Habitual drunkards, however, were to be denied temple recommends.

1903 – At the age of eighty-two, Rachel Ivins retires from the Thirteenth Ward Relief Society. “I am not one,” her resignation read, “who wishes to hold on to an office when I can not do as I wish.” She thus conceded to old age what she had steadfastly refused to grant to her deafness.

1903 – Heber J. Grant sent to British mission

1906 – A strong prohibition movement developed in the United States, centered in Evangelical Protestant groups.  Elder Grant who had been part of the Reed Smoot hearings, was very aware that protestants saw the saints alcohol consumption as a reason not to allow them into U.S. Politics.

1907 – First attempt at a correlation committee

December 1907 – Reverend Dr. George W. Young of Louisville, Kentucky, assistant general superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of America, come to Utah and start the Utah Prohibition movement.

1908 – Emily H. Wells dies, (Frances, Emily, Grace and Martha Deseret were her surviving children) Augusta raises Lucyh’s family while Emily’s younger children (Frances and Emily) were brought up by older sisters.

1915 – Apostle tells Heber, the most valuable thing he ever did was convince people to put money into the “Rat hole” UT&L bank

“No matter whatever comes to you of importance, no matter what great labor you may perform, in my judgment you will never do anything greater than the saving of that bank, and having men put their money in a rat hole.” – 1915 Francis M. Lyman

http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=mormonhistory

July 28, 1914 – WWI begins

1916 – Heber J. Grant becomes president of the Quorum of the Twelve.  He places himself in the forefront in the drive for Utah prohibition and led several of the state’s World War I Liberty Bond drives.

November 1918 – Heber J. Grant becomes Prophet (until his passing in 1945).  WWI ends on Nov 11th.

Farming and agriculture, two of Utah main industries, slumped badly after World War I and deteriorated still further in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

1919 – Prohibition is adopted by 26 states.

1921 – Heber J. Grant makes adherence to the proscriptions of the Word of Wisdom an absolute requirement for entering the temple

1924 – Benjamin F. Grant, Heber’s half-brother, becomes general manager of the Deseret News.  His story is really quite fascinating including his mother leaving the church when Jedediah died.  He was abandoned by his mother as an infant and apprenticed to a stern and heavy-handed Cache County farmer at six, the boy fled to Montana as a stowaway in a freighter’s wagon at the age of twelve. The lad then traveled throughout the West as a miner, cowboy, and laborer. When B. F. arrived back in Salt Lake City at the age of about fifteen, Brigham Young extended a helping hand, giving him work and schooling. But it was not until B. F. was about forty, after bankruptcy and thoughts of suicide, that he returned to the faith of his father. B. F. concluded his career as a convincing preacher to wayward youth, as Salt Lake City’s chief of police, and then in 1924 he became general manager of the Deseret News.

1925 – When Rachel Ivins died, the Thirteenth Ward Relief Society’s liberality in cash and goods exceeded $7,750. The little money left she invested for her sisters in securities which appreciated spectacularly after her death. By 1925 the Thirteenth Ward Relief Society had assets worth $20,000 Grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=24013328

http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/supporting-saints-life-stories-nineteenth-century-mormons/2-rachel-r-grant-continuing

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/07/jedediah-and-heber-grant?lang=eng

1929 – Great depression begins.  It would last until 1939

December, 1930 – Harold B. Lee saves Christmas in his stake while only 21 years old

1933 – Nazi party begins to be a force to be reckonned with

April, 1936 – The LDS Church establishes its welfare program that materially aided government relief. (Harold B. Lee)

1937 [Updated 12/19/2016 used to say “visits the Nazi Party”] – Heber J. Grant visits a gathering of saints to build relationships two years before Germany would invade poland.  He reassured the Mormons that they should remain in Germany and build up the Church there. He promised them safety if they lived righteously. Because of missionary success, Germany was divided into two missions during this visit, West Germany and East Germany, headquartered in Frankfurt and Berlin respectively. The head of the Berlin Mission would spend missionary funds to hob-nob with the officials of the Nazi Officialdom. In Moroni and the Swashtika in the Chapter “The Quintessential Political Mission President” it is made clear that the mission was to align itself with the Nazi party including meeting and talking to those who created the racial psuedo-science.

Heber J. Grant sits center, under Nazi party flag

1937 – In General Conference, at 80 years old, Grant said he worked long hours “without fatigue and without feeling the least injury.” He attributed his excellent health, in part, to eating very little meat

1939 – the Committee of Correlation and Coordination is formed

August, 1939 – only one week before Hitler invaded Poland, all 150 foreign missionaries were withdrawn from Germany, and the members took over all the work. Joseph Fielding Smith, an Apostle and future President of the Church, prophesied that all Mormon missionaries would escape Poland and Czechoslovakia without injury and that the war would not start until they were all out. The last Mormon missionaries left Eastern Europe on August 31, 1939. Hitler’s army invaded Poland the very next day.

September 1, 1939 – Germany invades Poland

1941 – Harold B. Lee called to Quorum of the Twelve Apostles . He is 31 years old.

May 14, 1945 – Heber J. Grant Dies.  Rueben clark ran the church during last few years of Heber J. Grant’s life (And George albert smith’s)

September 1945 – WWII ends

1960 –  Under the direction of Harold B. Lee, David O. McKay’s First Presidency directed a committee of General Authorities to review the purposes and courses of study of the priesthood and auxiliaries. The work of this committee laid the foundation for present-day correlation efforts.  More details about this committee are rarely found from church sources because the correlation committee frequently edits itself out of history except to state that it is headed by the first presidency and was founded with authority.  More details to the set up and establishment are here

Posted in Timelines | 12 Comments

How shall we look when we are Damned?

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Mithryn

In Alma 14 Alma and Amulek are placed in prison for their beliefs by the ruling priests and politicians.  They face a kangaroo court trial and are smitten.  The whole group of leaders gathers around them and says a phrase that chilled me when I was younger: “How shall we look when we are damned”?  It seem almost gleeful in the idea that individuals would be damned.

Then John Dehlin and Kate Kelly were excommunicated and I read a host of Pro-LDS blogs and sites that seemed to twitter with the same feeling of gleeful damning.

And now I ask the TBM crowd, How shall John and Kate look when they are damned?

This is just a handful of the loving, “Christ-like” approaches for someone who started as very much a believer, asked tough questions, and eventually determined the truth is not in the organization.  So now all the LDS people can chitter on Sundays about how gleefully they are not as stupid as anyone who listened to Dehlin; as they discuss “How shall we look now that we are saved?”

 

Posted in Current issues, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Crime and Punishment

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Mithryn

John Dehlin is making waves throughout the blogsphere and LDS circles.  The LDS church is going to excommunicate him for being an outspoken LGBT ally, supporter of OW and for not being believing.  The trial is complete and for some reason, divine revelation takes three days to send a letter for John.  I guess God’s internet is down (Damn Comcast is everywhere these days).

Below is a short list of contemporary individuals still counted as members on the rosters of the church, and their crimes for which they were not excommunicated.

Jodi Arias killed her former boyfriend Travis Alexander on June 4, 2008. He was killed at his home in Mesa, Arizona.  He had been shot in the face and stabbed some 27 times, his throat slit from ear to ear. the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. On November 26, 2006, Arias was baptized into the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints by Travis.  Jodi was not excommunicated
Continue reading →

Posted in Current issues | 10 Comments

Ordeal by (Eternal) Marriage

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Mithryn

In honor of, and wither reverence to Geraldine McEwan (9 May 1932 – Jan 31,2015), may you solve the murders in heaven.

Miss Marple is invited out to Utah by her friend, Ann-Margaret, for a marriage of a younger cousin of Ann-Margaret.  He is a friend of Heber J. Grant, and Grant is personally paying for the wedding.  Ann-Margaret (called Margaret for short) talks all about the wedding and Utah, and being a mormon twittering rather like a bird.

At the train station they run into a man of some renown.  Ann-Margaret introduces her friend to Elder Matthius Crowley.  He has a train ticket in his pocket and is carrying a bag with him.  The introductions are brief.

Ann-Margaret takes Miss Marple to see all the sights of 1920’s Salt Lake City.

They arrive at a party where they are introduced to Ann-Margaret’s neice. The fiancé is dressed in a brown hat of the period, with a brown knit-sweater over the sharp yellow shirt; and hums to herself with excitement when not directly being spoken to.  Her dress is entirely English in appearance despite the girls western american accent.   The girl almost explodes with excitement as they discuss the wedding and she praises the young man she is going to marry.  They gaze across the party to a dapper young man dressed  in a “Beau Brummel” inspired black suit. His name is Simeon Cowdery.  He is talking to a man in a brown suit and cowboy hat as the women join them.

Niece: “This is Simeon Cowdery, my fiance.  Simeon; this is Miss Marple a friend of my Aunt Margaret”

Simeon:  “Nice to meet you.  And lovely to see you again, Ann-Margaret.  This is Elder Anthony Ivins, a cousin to Heber J. Grant, they call him the ‘Apostle Cowboy'”.

Miss Marple:  “Are you Elder? I rather thought you younger than myself”. Continue reading →

Posted in Mormon Murder Mysteries | 1 Comment

Tithing Bailout timeline

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Mithryn

Author’s note: Entries that have bullet points are Tithing related.  Bailouts do not have hyphens.  I combined entries from the tithing timeline to illustrate that changes in demands for tithing occur in and around bailouts.

1829 – Joseph plans to publish and sell Book of Mormon as a for-profit venture. He and Hyrum commits to cover $1500 while their co-stock holder, Martin Harris, would cover the remaining $1500. Joseph falls through on his debt on the 5000 books. The books were being sold for as much as $2 each and they tried to sell the copyright for $8000 in Canada. This venture, which failed, sought $7,000 – $15,000 in profits. This also included “loans” from individuals eager to see the plates – money taken, but never repaid or used for printing costs.(ie: $28)  (Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling (RSR) p47, 63)

6 January, 1836 – Black Rock Advocate, paper in New York, questions solvency of Bank of Monroe (another Mormon bank)

February 1837 – Bank of Monroe eventually absorbed by Kirtland Safety Society notes (probably off the books), debts and obligations saddled on member’s backs

1837 – Joseph ran up debts of over $73,000 attributed to the church in order to open and stock his general store as well as purchase property for himself (RSR, p329-330, 337) . The store failed. When the debts finally came due, he leveraged future church earnings to pay them  (RSR p31,430-431).

  • 1837 – Presiding bishop defined tithing as two percent of one’s net worth, after deducting debts. This was voluntary and not forced, to quote, “Believing that voluntary tithing is better than Forced taxes” (source).

July 8, 1838 – D&C 119 redefines tithing as all surplus property and then 1/10th of interest annually.

1838 – Joseph Smith and other leaders opened the Kirtland Banking Society (RSR, p329-330, 337). This was illegal on multiple counts, but Joseph still prophesied the Kirtland bank would succeed. You see, he and other leaders gave themselves stock. To get an idea of how much, Heber Kimball received $50,000 worth of stock (valued at $4 million) for a $15 investment, yet Smith and Rigdon were still the chief owners and operators.  Furthermore, $100,000 worth of KSS currency was printed while only being backed by up to $21,000 of hard currency. The bank failed. (RSR, p329-330, 337). Joseph was sued civilly and lost. It’s unclear where the money he paid for the losses came from (despite most of them being unsatisfied), but the church itself put forth $38,000 towards bail for the criminal charges (which he skipped town on and never refunded, nor were his resulting fines paid) (RSR, p329-330, 337). The bank losses were over $100,000 mostly suffered by the membership.

1839 – Joseph takes out two $25,000 mortgages against the church’s future income, not including fees. These would be payable in 10 and 20 years respectively, with a $3000 interest payment per year until maturity. Joseph urged other members to sell their property to pay for it (RSR, p31,430-431). (Note that he was not willing to offer up his own mansion to pay the interests.)

1842 – Maid of Iowa (Nauvoo) steamboat was purchased by the church for $4000 in Joseph’s name. Half of these shares were gifted to Emma by Clayton after Joseph’s death as an inheritance (RSR, p496).

1842 – The church is on the brink of bankruptcy again and federal investigators realize just how deeply Joseph was using the church coffers as his own. $73,066 in debt to creditors, $4,866 owed to the government, but only $20,000 in money and notes receivable. Joseph was denied bankruptcy for transferring funds to preferential creditors, transferring funds after the passage of the recent bankruptcy act, and concealment of assets. If Joseph had wanted out, this would have sealed his fate. The church was his only asset that could even potentially pay off such a debt.

1843 – Joseph opens a hotel and later bar out of his mansion. He had used church funds to build a hotel, expand his current house, and add a bar for his friend Porter in the lobby. He used church funds to support lavish parties. All while members were being pushed to donate more and more to the church, and the church itself was in massive debt.

August 1844 – The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued an epistle which required all Mormons to immediately pay ‘a tenth of all their property and money . . . and then let them continue to pay in a tenth of their income from that time forth.’ There was no exemption for Mormons who had already paid one-tenth of their property upon conversion. (Joseph Smith et al., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Period I: History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and . . . Period II: From the Manuscript History of Brigham Young and Other Original Documents, ed. B. H. Roberts, 7 vols. (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1902-32; 2d ed. rev. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978]), 7:251)

January 1845 – a Quorum of Twelve’s epistle reemphasized ‘the duty of all saints to tithe themselves one-tenth of all they possess when they enter into the new and everlasting covenant: and then one-tenth of their interest, or income, yearly afterwards. (History of the Church, 7:358.)

January 1845 – The Twelve voted to exempt themselves from tithing, along with the two general bishops Newel K. Whitney and George Miller, and the Nauvoo Temple Committee. This was due to their services to the church. (Heber C. Kimball diary, 29 Jan. 1845, in Stanley B. Kimball, ed., On the Potter’s Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Signature Books/Smith Research Associates, 1987), 94; Nauvoo Trustee-in-Trust Tithing and Donation Record, 220-222 (29 Jan. 1845), LDS archives. For the term general bishop and its meaning in early LDS history, see Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool and London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-86), 22: 34 (O. Pratt/1880); D. Michael Quinn, ‘Evolution of the Presiding Quorums of the LDS Church,’ Journal of Mormon History 1 (1974): 34; Dale Beecher, ‘The Office of Bishop,’ Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 (Winter 1982): 103; Quinn, Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, 69-71.)

September 1851 – A special conference at Salt Lake City voted to accept excommunication as punishment for non-payment of tithing

1864 – Brigham Young’s son, John Willard Young, spends $16,000 a year of tithing funds to live a luxurious and extravagant lifestyle in New York, while flagrantly violating commandments and ignoring his calling as an apostle. John Willard regularly petitioned church membership for additional funds to “assist with construction of the railroad,” which he promised would eventually be of great benefit to the Saints in the west; but really went to his personal expense account.  In October, 1876 General Conference Brigham declared that John Willard was to be the new First Counselor of the First Presidency of the church, despite him never showing any interest in the church previously. Joseph F. Smith, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, expressed his concerns privately to President Brigham Young.  Smith believed John Willard’s lack of actual experience and poor life decisions could upset members who knew next to nothing about the man and his credentials.  In a fit of rage, President Young scolded Elder Smith for his remarks and then promptly sent him on a five-year mission to Europe.

  • In 1868 Apostle Erastus Snow gave orders to southern Utah bishops to excommunicate everyone ‘who will not keep the word of wisdom, Pay their Tithing & donate of their substance to help bring the Poor Saints from the old country.’ A local Mormon estimated that enforcement of Snow’s instruction ‘would cause 3/4 of this community to be cut off from this church.’ (John D. Lee diary, 25 Jan. 1868, in Robert Glass Cleland and Juanita Brooks, eds., A Mormon Chronicle: The Diaries of John D. Lee, 1848-1876, 2 vols. (San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 1955), 2:96.)
  • 1880 – John Taylor declared a biblical Jubilee Year in which he forgave half of the delinquent tithing and half of the debts owed to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund. (Brigham Young sermon, 8 Oct. 1875, in ‘Semi-Annual Conference,’ Deseret Evening News, 9 Oct. 1875, [2].)
  • 1880 Policy is clear on the subject that tithing is on surplus”I require all their surplus property to be put into the hands of the bishop”
  • April 1881, President Taylor instructed stake presidents that church members now ‘must be tithe payers’ in order to have recommends for temple ordinances.25 (JD 22:207-208)
  • In 1884 Church president John Taylor limited bishops’ salaries to 8% of tithing they collected (now primarily cash), while stake presidents got 2% of tithing collected by all the bishops of the stake.

Feb, 1886 – Plan to help George Q. Cannon escape the law (train robbery) fails.  Bail set at $45,000. Taylor was worried about how to cover the $45,000 bonds, but one morning indicated that a plan for financial arrangements which would not involve either the Church or individuals had been revealed to him. President Taylor indicated that about 2 ½ years previously he had received manifestations concerning investments to be made for the creation of a fund under his sole control, apart from tithing, which would be available for emergencies. “Upon the strength of these manifestations we had purchased an interest in the Bullion, Beck and Champion Mining Company, and he now felt that the shares which we had set apart at the time of the purchase, out of which to create the fund, could now be used with perfect propriety. He had been offered twice as much as he had paid for it, and therefore felt that there would be no difficulty in raising the sum necessary to meet any obligations that others might be under on my account.”[28] On March 2, 1886, President Taylor obtained the agreement of the Quorum of the Twelve on his plan.  Of course these investments started with tithing dollars.  George Q. Cannon jumped bond, wasting the money and then turned himself in 6 months later.

1887 – Edmunds Tucker act takes property over $50,000 from Church members practicing polygamy.  Also cripples church’s ability to take out loans.  Church gives property to individuals (Typically at the top). By 1890 $500,000 deposited in non-mormon banks lost to church’s control.  $300,000 in debt from legal fees, and propery issues.

  • 1888 Wilford Woodruff established set salaries for stake presidents and provided that a stake committee would apportion 10% of collected tithing between the bishops and the stake tithing clerk.
  • Value of Land goes up 10x in Utah.  Real-estate transactions reach 100,00 daily. (https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/BYUStudies/article/viewFile/6922/6571
  • 1890 -= The collapse of London’s Baring Brothers burst the speculative bubble in Utah

September 4, 1889 – Utah Idaho Sugar company started with $15,00 capital.  Money provided by Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon and backed by Church funds (See panic of 1893) along with church officers saving the company and promising tithing futures to secure loans on its behalf.  $50,000 payment and $130,000 loan to the Dyers from tithing (Deseret Evening News, October 22, 1900).  The church also bought bonds in 1893 and sold them at a loss (Religion, politics and sugar: The Mormon church, the federal government and the Utah Idaho sugar company, 1907-1921)  Eight of the seventeen backers went bankrupt.

Autumn 1890, Dangerously overextended Salt Lake banks demanded
payment on outstanding loans.  Heber J. Grant had founded the State Bank and was its president.  Desperately needing $100,000, Grant grasped “at a straw” and
traveled east in late fall 1890.  He not only insisted
that bankers consider the State Bank’s past and future business but
also offered as security the highly regarded notes of the Zion’s
Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI), Utah’s multibranched
department store (illus. 6-3). These shares were backed up by the bank and the sugar company which where, in effect worthless.

These notes are guaranteed by thirteen Directors and also by the State Bank of Utah, which has a capital of half a million dollars. . . . These endorsers are worth at least a couple of million dollars. If two million dollars of personal endorsement, together with the endorsement of a half a million dollar bank, with the note of an institution that has never failed to meet its obligations, is not considered good I will telegraph
and secure you some additional endorsement. If you do not care to cash these notes take my advice and stop doing business with people so far away from home as Utah

1891 – Formation of the investment firm of Cannon, Grant & Company
(CG & Co.)  Grant organized the firm. He andGeorge Q. Cannon, First Counselor in the First Presidency, became
senior partners, with thirteen prominent Mormon financiers serving
as associates in the venture.9 Like the legendary Hudson’s Bay and East India companies, CG & Co. mixed private and public affairs.  A semiofficial agency of the church, with meetings conducted by President Woodruff. It signed Church-related loans, which Eastern financiers considered morally binding upon the Mormon community.

  • 1892 – Joseph F. Smith implies tithing comes before necessities and implicitly suggests that 9 dollars will go further than 10 when tithing is paid (see edit for the actual quote and sources).

December 1892-  The Church owed at least $500,000 in short-term, rapidly maturing notes and had not the slightest prospect of paying.  (Sugar company demanding tons of cash)

April 1893 – Wilford Woodruff’s presidency had spent 1 million on the temple (1/4 the cost).  Woodruff borrowed to support social projects as well. We began to feel that there was a responsibility resting upon us which required something to be done, in a small way at least, in the direction of giving employment to our people.” As a result, $1,000,000 was invested in public works projects such as the
Saltair Pavilion on the Great Salt Lake shoreline, the Saltair Railway Company (later known as the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railway),and the Utah Sugar Company. Church leaders authorized Heber J. Grant to rais means and handle stock of the sugar company

  • 1893 tithing recorded at 576,584 (A drop over $300k in three years)

June 1893- September 1893 – Panic of 1893 has struck whole nation.  Heber J. Grant saves Sugar company and Zion’s bank by entering into huge loans promising future tithing income as securities on the loan  Heber $150,000 of the most pressing loans and had secured an additional $25,000.  First presidency decides to underwrite a railroad from SLC to LA ($75,000,000)

Sometime in the 1890’s – Believing the times required that “we must help one another,” Thomas Webber, ZCMI’s manager and unpublicizied CG&Co. director issues $100,000 of ZCMI notes and given them to the Church.

  Jun 22, 1893 – W. S. “Mack” McCornick, Salt Lake City’s friendly non-Mormon demands $57,500 in loans due

  July 1 – Church fails to meet payroll.  GA’s paid completely from tithing commodities (pigs, wheat, etc).  20 Church schools closed.  Some missionaries do not have enough to return from being abroad.

leaders sent letters to local congregations directing that tithing commodities or
other property be cheaply sold and the cash sent to Church headquarters. only 19% of total tithing made it to church headquarters, the rest consumed locally to help out individuals in congregations.

  August 24, the Brigham Young Trust Company failed to pay $50,000 owed Wells Fargo

  Friday, September 1, the Mormon banks held only $20,000, a scant 3 percent of deposits.  Heber J. Grant’s brother, and cashier at the State bank wires Heber to say that the bank cannot last another two days.

  September 3, Heber J. Grant offers life to God if He will intercede for the church.  By accident he runs into John Claflin who has early news that the panic is over.  Grant gets a loan for $250,000 for two years at 6% with 50,000 of that going as a bonus to Claflin

(this section in large part from https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/BYUStudies/article/viewFile/6922/6571)

  • April 1896 General Conference, the First Presidency announced the end of salaries for local officers, in response to the decision of the temple meeting ‘to not pay Salaries to any one but the Twelve.'” (Michael Quinn, Extensions of Power)

1897 – Heber J. Grant begs for donations and buying interest in UT&L bank, a bank that would have gone under for illegal practices and not having enough money, except that if it had it would have sent most of the brethren to jail.  The church would eventually throw $50,000 at this bank (1.5 milllion); but in the mean time Heber was to raise $75,000 by pushing the worthless stock and asking for donations from wealthy members.

“When you get home tonight get down on your knees and pray to the Lord to give you enlargement of the heart, and send me a check for $1,000.”  – Heber J. Grant to Jesse Knight (Owner of the Humbug mine)

After presiding over the meetings of a stake conference, Grant typically would invite church leaders and prosperousmembers to a special meeting. After reading the First Presidency’s letter and touching upon UL&T matters (the comprehensiveness of his explanation seemed to vary with the occasion), he would then solicit an immediate and public response. (In case you wondered what special meetings of the brethren with top mormons are about, it’s about money and pushing them to donate to “worthy causes” such as buying a gutted burned building fraught with banking irregularities apostles later would call a “Rat Hole”.

  • 1898 – The LDS church is now $2.3 million (1800s $65 million now) in debt (source).  Heber J Grant is on the hook for $90,000 himself.  Many other apostles are in debt similarly.
  • 1899 – Lorenzo Snow stated that everyone must pay tithing, prompting a dramatic increase in tithe payers. This was about the same time he issued a total of $1 million in short term bonds (source). The manuals show this as a turning point for the emphasis on tithing and its connection with full membership. Also note the subtle retcon in the current manuals
  • 1900 – Lorenzo Snow commissioned a list of non-tithe payers in all stakes. “Snow told the apostles that non-payment of tithing ‘was worse than the non-observance of the Word of Wisdom’” (source).

August 31,1900 – Lorenzo Snow offers tithing dollars to back UT&L bank for $30,000 to get it back to within legal reserves limits (ends up being 50,000 loss for tithe payers or $1.5 million in today’s money).  By preventing  the collapse of the UT&L bank, he prevented the (correct) imprisonment of himself and the quorum of the 12 apostles for illegal activities

“No matter whatever comes to you of importance, no matter what great labor you may perform, in my judgment you will never do anything greater than the saving of that bank, and having men put their money in a rat hole.” – 1915 Francis M. Lyman.

  • 1901 – First Church handbook of instruction is completely about tithing and how Bishops must make sure all money gets back to SLC.
  • 1907 – The church is now free from debt.

1947 – Henry D. Moyle called as an apostle.  In 1959 he is called into the first presidency.  His term as an apostle and ideals would nearly bankrupt the church

  • 1957 – The LDS church has a $7 million surplus from tithing funds. Despite this, the LDS church manages to go $8 million dollars into debt over the next year and a half (source).
  • 1959 – The LDS church stops publishing its financial reports (source).

1960 – Henry D. Moyle beings the “Bigger church office build” and “bigger ward houses would lead to more converts” program.  He also buys up 0.2% of Florida. His optimistic building programs placed a considerable financial strain upon the church and McKay eventually relieved Moyle from many of his administrative responsibilities.

December 13, 1961 – Property Reserve Inc. founded.  This is during Henry D. Moyle’s term of buying land and he was a business man.  It’s just after the church reports having 7 million surplus in tithing funds and increases 8 million into debt over the next year.  It is also just afterwhen the church stops having to report its income.  The idea that this entity is not founded on tithing funds is laughable at this point, and yes, the City Creek Center can be shown to come from not just tithing funds as a source, but not even pioneer tithing funds but those of members in the 60’s and 70’s.  The company has no website, nor contact information outside an address and phone number

Oct, 1988 – Ezra Taft Benson and the Book of Mormon warehouse debacle (members are asked to pay twice or three times for copies of the Book of Mormon to resolve a warehouse logistics issue).

May 1991 – Gordon B. Hinkley, president of the church says:

“In the financial operations of the Church, we have observed two basic and fixed principles: One, the Church will live within its means. It will not spend more than it receives. Two, a fixed percentage of the income will be set aside to build reserves against what might be called a possible “rainy day.

April 2000– Church completes Conference center at cost of ~$300,000,000

2003 – City Creek Center land purchased by for-profit arm of the church.  mall developer Taubman Centers, Inc. to help it redesign the malls into a single project and recruit retailers to fill it. The LDS Church has stated that no tithing money was used for construction of the complex, with the project financed through the church’s commercial real-estate arm, Property Reserve, Inc.  Cost is marked at $1.5 Billion dollars (“The City Creek Center is part of an estimated $5 billion sustainable design project to revitalize downtown Salt Lake City. The City Creek Center project itself has been estimated to cost around $1.7 billion-$2 billion.”)  City creek is said to make about $230 million in sales after the first year. KUTV in SLC says the profits from the condo sales, mall leases, etc., go to the non- profit, tax exempt part of the church. The church financed the development without taking a mortgage or construction loan.  It formed a new company (City Creek Reserve Inc, with Mark Gibbons as president) which may indicate a start up loan (Based on tithing money at 0% interest) to kick of the project , allowing the church to claim “no tithing money was used” when in fact it was seed money. However the statement by the church was “City Creek Center is being developed by Property Reserve Inc., the church’s real-estate development arm, and its money comes from other real-estate ventures.”.  Interestingly enough Gordon B Hinkley stated that other arms of the church did not come close in revenue to the Non-profit tithing donations

We have a few income-producing business properties, but the return from these would keep the Church going only for a very brief time. Tithing is the Lord’s law of finance.

Financing for this type of center would be very difficult to secure today,” said Suzanne Mulvee, senior real-estate strategist with CoStar.

The profits go directly to the non-profit church, and any expenses or loss would be backed by tithing, similar to the sugar company; although most likely after the reserves of Property Reserve Inc (See entry for 1961) were consumed.

2009  – Beneficial Life. Deseret Management provided the $600 million. No tithing was used, we were assured over and over. VP quoted as saying “Even though tithing dollars were used, Beneficial Life will pay it all back”

December 18, 2011 – Elder Holland states 

“There is no money in the Church except what our members offer.”

Which has fascinating implications for the city creek mall, and all church bailouts.

2012 – Ribbon cutting ceremony of City Creek mall “Let’s go shopping” announces Thomas S. Monson.

Sometime around here the church issues new tithing slip, saying they can use tithing and other donations however they see fit:

Special thanks to /u/Curious_mormon for his tithing timeline and efforts on Joseph’s early bailouts

Posted in Church Finances, Uncategorized | 16 Comments

Scooby Doo in “All the Angles on Angels”

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Mithryn

Setting:

Mystery Machine stops in Kirtland.  Fred and Daphne talk to some fronteersy-looking men who are all wet.  The men talk about how they have just been baptized and seen an angel walking on water.  One of the men takes a fish out of his sleeve and leaves it (because the animation is easier than having him shake it out a pant leg)

Fred:  Angels that walk on water?

Daphne: I would love to see that.

Velma: (inspecting the fish and handing it to Shaggy) There is something very fishy going on here.

Shaggy: (Taking the fish) Do they have food at the baptisms? ::canned laughter::

Exposition

Daphne and Fred split up,  Velma, Scooby and Shaggy head into town to ask some questions.

Daphne meet Sylvia who says an angel will visit her that very night.  Fred and Daphne decide to wait around the woman’s house.

Meanwhile Velma, Scooby and Shaggy head into town to learn about the leader of the group.  This leads them to a store (author’s note: this would have been Nauvoo where the endowment was above the store, not Kirtland, but it was too good to pass up drawing Scooby and Shaggy via food), where Scooby and Shaggy follow their noses to a bakery.  Velma is bumped by some members coming out of the store and loses her glasses.  A man in a turban and dressed all in white with a large sword comes out behind Velma

:: commercial break::

The man in the turban puts the sword away, and gives Velma her glasses.  He introduces himself as “John” and excuses himself.

Meanwhile Scooby and Shaggy follow their noses into a kitchen where they are told the food is for people who are wearing all in white after their “initiations”.  Scooby and Shaggy use bedsheets in the store to make robes and slip in to the top floor of the store where they join an endowment.  The individuals begin to promise to give everything they have to the church

Scooby: “Ry rwon’t rant ro”

Shaggy: “Zoinks Scoob, I don’t want to give everything to this organization either!”

The officiator realizes Scooby and Shaggy don’t belong (but not that Scooby is a dog) and sends the individuals in the endowment after the interlopers.  Scooby and Shaggy run out.

Officiator: “After those interlopers!  They’ve seen too much and must be silenced!”

Cut to Fred and Daphne:

Fred and Daphne see a man dressed as an angel climbing out of the window of Sylvia’s house.  They follow him where he heads down to the river.

Cut to Scooby and Shaggy running in forest brush

Scooby and shaggy are running with their make-shift endowment clothes blowing behind them as they run.  “Quick, Scoob, hide!” says Shaggy, and they jump into the bushes.  They land on a man who has glowing paint on him.  The man is very large and squirming on planks of wood just under the surface of the water.

The man in the angel garb shows up, with Fred and Daphne close behind.  Fred says “Scooby, Shaggy, what have you found?”

Scooby:  “Ry ron’t Rnow”

Velma arrives:  “there sure are a lot of angels around her”

Shaggy: “Like, why do angels need planks of wood to walk on water?”

Daphne:  “Because this angel is none other than:”

Fred: “Joseph Smith”, pulling off the turban on the water-walking angel

Velma: “My angel is John Taylor, a close associate of Smith who dressed up as the angel guarding the tree of life”

Daphne: “Our angel is another of Smith’s followers who told that Sylvia lady she must Marry smith, but climbed out a window.”

Shaggy: “Zoinks, I mean why would an angel need to climb out a window”

Fred: And he used the angel trick to convince newly baptized people they were in the right church so they would do anything else he said, even marry him polygamously.

 

Joseph Smith: “And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for you kids and your nosy dog too.”

Author’s note:  There really is a claim of boys capturing Joseph Smith during fake walking on water: http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/NY/Otsego5.htm

That was the basis of this story fitting into the “Scooby-doo teenage” dynamic.  The number of angels and order where they appear was condensed to fit the Scooby-doo television format, but each case is from a cited source of a very human-acting angel.   It has four independent sources and has not been addressed by the church or FAIR that I can find.

Posted in Mormon Murder Mysteries | Leave a comment

Just one more thing… about the Mountain Meadows Massacre

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Mithryn

How would Columbo deal with a true mormon murder mystery (Sources and a list of events on the days in question are on the timeline):

[update 3:19 p.m. Jan 20th, 2015 – The actual Columbo was named “U. S. District Judge John Cradlebaugh” and much of what we know about the Mountain Meadows Massacre is due to his diligence and willingness to push and poke and ask questions where people were very unwilling to co-operate.  It was, in fact, his similarity to Columbo that inspired me to write this piece.  His wikipedia entry still decries him for “high handedness” and agitation of the neighbors as well as disapproval from his superiors, things that could all be said of Columbo by those he pursues]

Scene 1 – The Massacre

Individuals are guided by members to camp in a location.  Those members, dressed up as indians along with a tribe of genuine indians strike the camp and two men are killed.  The wagon train surrenders and the white mormons dressed as indians slit the throats of the men, women, and children over the ages of eight.  Those under the age of eight are placed in mormon homes for as adopted children to be raised.

Scene 2 – Brigham Young gets the report of the massacre.

Scene 3 – Columbo, his hair the usually mess, his trench coat unbuttoned, cigar in hand is surveying the temple construction site., still far from completion.  He begins to hang around Brigham, Travels to Cedar City and meets John D. Lee, Brigham’s Bodyguard for years.  Returns to Salt Lake City.

Cut to the end for sake of brevity:

Columbo: The thing is, sir, that I don’t understand is “Why did the Indians slit their necks from ear to ear?”  It’s a grisly way to kill a person.  And not just the men, no the women and children too.

Brigham:  I think you’ll find, Columbo, that the children were spared.

Columbo:  See that’s just it sir.  That’s what I keep asking myself.  These Indians see any male under the age of about twelve as a child, that ‘s when the children enter a rite of passage to become a man.  But no, whoever committed these murders, and they are grisly murders, sir; had to consider anyone above 8 as an adult.  They killed anyone older than eight.  Now do you know anyone who considers eight to be a significant age for making adult-like decisions.

Brigham:  I see what you’re getting at Columbo,  You think that the Indians weren’t Indians, and that it may have been a member of my faith because we see eight as the age of accountability?

Columbo: See, that’s why the call you a prophet.  You must have foreseen that or had God tell you.  That would make sense, then sir wouldn’t it.  I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right.  You’re faith considers kids who are eight old enough to make eternal decisions and contracts.  And some of the members of the area could have dressed up as Indians.  Thank you, sir.  Thank you.

But ya know, there is just one thing that bothers me.

 

Brigham:  What is that?

Columbo:  The members are the ones who told them where to sleep that night.  Did you know that?

Brigham:  I don’t see what you’re driving at.

Columbo: Well, it could very well be the very same members who told them where to sleep who would have committed the murders.   That would have been very convenient.  Given they wanted to kill a whole lot of people, you would want them where you could find them and gather a party big enough to attack.

 

Brigham: So?

Columbo:  So, you see sir, the person who told them where to stay was John D. Lee.  And I’ve spoken to Mr Lee.  He’s very loyal sir, but not a great big thinker on his own.  Whenever I speak to him, he talks about what leader told him to do where.

::Watches for Brigham’s response, Brigham remains cool::

Columbo: Yessir, everything he does he has an explanation of what leader he was following.  Now he is loyal sir, no doubt.  I’d even say Loyal to a fault.

 

Brigham: But he didn’t tell you a leader sent him to do this murder, did he Columbo.  Or else we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

 

Columbo:  Nossir, he did not.  It’s like it was the first original thought in his head his whole life, sir.  He talks about getting Gold for the apostles, and dodging lawmen left and right, because he is clever sir, but always doing it for some leader, and under instruction, until it comes to the massacre of a hundred men women and children.  Suddenly it’s all his idea.

 

Brigham:  I can tell you’re trying to tie it back to me, Columbo, but you’ll find no trace.

 

Columbo: Not directly, but I did find Parley P. Pratt’s widow sir.  She is here in Salt Lake City.  She arrived on X day, which is recorded in Y journal.  That’s fascinating because she would have to have taken the express to get here, sir.  And a widow like that wouldn’t have the money to pay for an express coach, which means someone paid for her to come here in a hurry.

 

Brigham:  Yes, I did.  I paid for her to come.

Columbo: And she didn’t come and go directly to a family member’s house.  No she came right to you while you were giving that big “independence” speech on July 4th.  The night before she was there with you telling you about how Parley died, wasn’t she, sir?

 

Brigham:  Yes, yes she was.

Columbo: And then you sent a man south.  A man who was making haste to convey a message to the saints in the south, and a massacre happens.

 

Brigham:  But you cannot prove I sent the order.

Columbo:  No sir, I cannot.  But I can prove that you pushed the people to the point were they would receive such an order.

I didn’t understand sir, how the Mormons think.  I thought it was like other religions where pastors spoke to the parishioners and each man wrote his own sermon.  And it is kinda like that sir, but there is something that is very different about Mormons, sir.

 

Brigham:  What are you driving at, Columbo; there are records of the local leaders making speeches that could cause a lone man to take up this action.

Columbo: Oh sure sir,  and one of those local leaders was your son even, if I’m not mistake.  But, uh, sir; the United States has had a history of fiery pastors throughout history, sir.  And very few congregation members take up a weapon and kill someone.  Even fewer do something this grisly.

No, sir, the thing that is different about the Mormons is known as the temple.  And let me tell you, it is difficult to get anyone, even exmormons to talk about what goes on in that building.

 

Brigham:  It is a place of instruction and learning, where we seal ourselves to our wives.  As you know we don’t even have one in Salt Lake City, we just have an endowment house.

Columbo:  Yessir, that’s true.  But there is a ceremony sir, called the endowment.  And it turns our asking enough questions around what goes on in there, I learned sir, there is something called the “oath of vengeance” sir.  That any Mormon who wants to go to heaven must take this oath at the very end of the temple, sir.  Now after what happened here today, I could understand if one day, later on, the Mormons were to remove the “oath of vengeance”, but here, today, when this massacre happened, each and every faithful Mormon swears to get vengeance upon the heads of those who killed Joseph Smith.  Isn’t that right sir?

 

Brigham:  The temple is filled with sacred things, I do not wish to discuss it.

Columbo: And it also has members swear to get vengeance against the U.S. Government.  Well sir, this oath of vengeance, that doesn’t sound like God to me sir.  No this “endowment” is supposed to be eternal, sir; but it wouldn’t make sense for Adam and Eve to swear to get vengeance on Joseph Smith’s killers would it, sir?  Or Abraham, or Peter the apostle, or Saint Augustus, sir?  No it would have to be written in by a man, probably someone close to Joseph, who loved him so dearly, that he could write in the requirement that everyone who listened to him would need to get revenge on a fallen friend.  What was it you said when you visited the graves of the people massacred in South Utah?  “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord”.  Isn’t that right sir.  You see, I have it here in my notebook sir,  Several people swear that you said that.

And that’s it sir.  Once you had the “Oath of Vengeance” in place, sir; you wouldn’t have to say much to have a massacre like this happen.  No, just the word that one of the killers of Joseph Smith was in the party.  Oh, maybe you intended to just have one or two people die, those directly responsible, but you see, the law doesn’t work like that sir.  If you set up a situation to kill one person, and a whole host die because of that, you’re culpable for creating the situation.

So I may not have proof that you ordered the massacre, sir, but I can show that all it would take is for you to tell your rider to the south that a killer of Joseph Smith was in the wagon train, and the rest would happen.  Because I have it on record, sir, that those responsible believed that a killer of Joseph Smith was in the train.  And certainly people around the killer of Parley P. Pratt.  That’s why you paid the express carrier to bring her here so fast, wasn’t it sir?  So that you’d have the justification and verification that individuals connected to the Death of Joseph were in that wagon train.

 

Brigham:  You’ll never get it to stick Columbo, I was pardoned of all war crimes when I surrendered to Johnson’s army.

Columbo:  Maybe not, sir.  But maybe I can get the court of popular opinion to do what the criminal court cannot.

Epilogue: By 1860, with the Union ready to split apart, interest in prosecuting the Mountain Meadows case waned.  Governor Cumming saw little reason to press for prosecution, especially in a territory where the law put jury selection entirely in the hands of Mormon officials.

“God Almighty couldn’t convict the butchers unless Brigham Young was willing,” Cumming said.

Cradlebaugh’s efforts, however, were frustrated when the federal case is essentially dropped after the U. S. marshal declared his unwillingness to execute arrest warrants without federal troops to protect him from local citizens–and that help was not provided.

Posted in Mormon Murder Mysteries, Uncategorized | 6 Comments