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LDS bishop poses as homeless man to teach lesson
AP 1 day ago By Associated Press
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At least five people asked David Musselman to leave the church property in Taylorsville, some gave him money and most were indifferent.

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — Members of a Mormon congregation in a Salt Lake City suburb encountered someone they thought was a homeless man at church on Sunday. What they did not know was the man was a bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

At least five people asked David Musselman to leave the church property in Taylorsville, some gave him money and most were indifferent.

He said he disguised himself as a homeless man to teach his congregation a lesson about compassion. To make his appearance more convincing, he contacted a Salt Lake City makeup artist to transform his familiar face to that of a stranger not even his family recognized.

"The main thing I was trying to get across was we don't need to be so quick to judge," Musselman told KUTV-TV.

He received varied reactions to his appearance at church, he said.

"Many actually went out of their way to purposefully ignore me, and they wouldn't even make eye contact," he told the Deseret News. "I'd approach them and say, 'Happy Thanksgiving.' Many of them I wouldn't ask for any food or any kind of money, and their inability to even acknowledge me being there was very surprising."

The reaction that touched Musselman the most was from children.

"I was impressed by the children. I could see in their eyes they wanted to do more," he said.

Musselman, who told only his second counselor that he would be disguised as a homeless man, walked to the pulpit during the service. He finally revealed his true identity and took off his wig, fake beard and glasses.

"It had a shock value that I did not anticipate," he said. "I really did not have any idea that the members of my ward would gasp as big as they did."

Ward member Jaimi Larsen was among those surprised it was her bishop. "I started feeling ashamed because I didn't say hello to this man ... He was dirty. He was crippled. He was old. He was mumbling to himself," she said.

It wasn't Musselman's goal to embarrass ward members or make them feel ashamed, he said. Instead, he wanted to remind them to be kind to people from all walks of life not just at the holidays, but all year long, he said.

"To be Christ-like, just acknowledge them," he said.

MelissaM wrote:I think a 100 Drunk Homeless people at church would be great! What a great opportunity to help them find resources, get their clothing and laundry needs met, feed them and share the word of God.

triple777 wrote:Really, okay lets get 100 drunk homeless people to show up at your church. These homeless people are many times mentally Ill have criminal records and does no one remember the Girl that was kidnapped by a homeless man for years. Let not be dumb. Yes, we can be friendly and nice however, in today's environment it is only smart to be weary of these type of people or you will be the next victim on the news report.

If homeless people are so great let your children and daughters go play with them in the slums were drug abuse and alcoholism is rampant. Where are the gang and gang violence is centered.

Yes, lets be civil and nice to all that come to church but if at your church you had 100 drunk and homeless and smelling foul people you could not even hold a church meeting. Primary would not be safe. What if in the meeting they were all yelling and drinking beer in the isles would we not do anything? please let's use some common sense.

In fact, I would say safety at our meeting halls is something that is so low on the priority list that if something were to happen we would be so UN-prepared that it would be chaos.

Many people just forget common sense and are shamed out of their good common sense by this act. Next time they see a homeless person they will think oh, this guy is just like our bishop friendly and mild, then they get robbed and stabbed they will wonder what happen.

Let's of course be Christlike and follow the good Shepard but lets not be stupid mindless sheep and never use our God given brains and intelligence and discernment. Those were given to us to use wisely.

Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.

triple777 wrote:
Really, okay lets get 100 drunk homeless people to show up at your church. These homeless people are many times mentally Ill have criminal records and does no one remember the Girl that was kidnapped by a homeless man for years. . Yes, we can be friendly and nice however, in today's environment it is only smart to be weary of these type of people or you will be the next victim on the news report.

If homeless people are so great let your children and daughters go play with them in the slums were drug abuse and alcoholism is rampant. Where are the gang and gang violence is centered.

Yes, lets be civil and nice to all that come to church but if at your church you had 100 drunk and homeless and smelling foul people you could not even hold a church meeting. Primary would not be safe. What if in the meeting they were all yelling and drinking beer in the isles would we not do anything? please let's use some common sense.

In fact, I would say safety at our meeting halls is something that is so low on the priority list that if something were to happen we would be so UN-prepared that it would be chaos.

Many people just forget common sense and are shamed out of their good common sense by this act. Next time they see a homeless person they will think oh, this guy is just like our bishop friendly and mild, then they get robbed and stabbed they will wonder what happen.

Let's of course be Christlike and follow the good Shepard but lets not be stupid mindless sheep and never use our God given brains and intelligence and discernment. Those were given to us to use wisely.

Let not be dumb