Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Church

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endlessQuestions
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Posts: 6426

Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Church

Post by endlessQuestions »

It was suggested to me that posting this outside of the "Apostle or Aristocrat" thread might be worthwhile, so here it is. Please feel free to let those in your networks know this has been sent if you feel so inspired. I imagine the more people know that this was sent, the more likely we are to see some kind of response (a very low probability event, but possible nonetheless):

The following message was originally sent to Brook Hales on 1/26/2023, and then sent in a series of messages to several hundred General Authorities, Auxilary leaders, and their administrative staff minutes later:

##### BEGIN #####

Brother Hales,

I apologize for the length of this message, but as an IT professional I don't want to send any attachments to your email system, since, as I'm sure we're all aware from the various corporate security trainings we complete, we're told not to click on any attachments that come from outside sources.

##### Begin message #####

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is not possible to enumerate the set of extraordinary circumstances that has led to this letter being delivered to you. Because I know that each person receiving this is busy, my hope is to keep this message concise and to the point. I think it is sufficient to say that God is good, He hears and answers our prayers, and He saw fit to provide me access to you in order to perform this task.

In late 2022 I was asked to begin circulating a set of publicly available but little-known historical Church records known as the "Record of the Life of Beverly Brough Campbell".1 As I worked through the materials I was alarmed to find that Sister Campbell casually referred to herself as the "thirteenth apostle" of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.2 I was also alarmed to find that prominent members of our Church had been paying money for access to government, business, political, and ecclesiastical leaders.3 I was especially distressed as I came to see that Sister Campbell was provided access not just to "power players" in the Church, but was also granted special dispensation to perform questionable ordinances in the temple,4 as well as access to influence the doctrines of the Church.5 Indeed, the evidence seems to indicate that Beverly was used either willingly or unwittingly as a proxy for shifting public consciousness in regards to important doctrinal concepts in an apparent attempt to prepare Church membership for changes to our most holy ordinances - specifically, the temple endowment.

I was not altogether shocked to find that Sister Campbell was surrounded by men (and potentially women) who had joined themselves to secret societies. This was because I have been, for well over a year, aware that two of those we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators have openly declared that they were willingly initiated into one of the world's most infamous secret societies - The Brotherhood of Death, more commonly known as Skull and Bones.6 What did shock me, however, was to find that a large (and growing) number of prominent church members named in Beverly's Volumes are also known to have joined and affiliated with all manner of secret societies. As I reviewed the documents and continued to research, it became clear to me that Brother Robert D. Hales (deceased) and President Russell M. Nelson weren't alone in pledging allegiance to organizations other than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - indeed, they were surrounded by and apparently purposefully collaborating with others who have made the same types of choices throughout their lives.7 There can be little doubt that these organizations support and promote teachings, practices, or doctrine contrary to those of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (it may be interesting to note that the current leaders of the Church changed the temple recommend question from "Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?" to "Do you support or promote any teachings, practices, or doctrine contrary to those of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?" in 2019, shortly after President Nelson became the President of the Church, a change which is reminiscent to the dropping of language regarding counsel discouraging affiliation with secret societies from the church's General Handbook in 1984, either right before or right after President Nelson and President Oaks were called to the Quorum of the Twelve). In short, after looking at this over a period of months, I feel I have a priesthood duty to raise an alarm - not an accusation, mind you - but an alarm, so that the Church leaders can investigate and determine what course of action might be best, if any is required.

While I am keenly aware that the appearance of evil does not prove the existence of evil, I do feel it is incumbent upon me as a disciple of Jesus Christ and a Melchizedek priesthood holder to bring the relevant facts to the attention of those who have accepted the responsibility of acting as judges in Israel and general authorities of Christ's Church. I am content to not make the same mistake that so many of our ancestors have made and attempt to do the Lord's work for Him, but instead I rest in the assurance that, no matter the outcome of these temporal affairs, God has promised to return to give us further instruction and, in due time, will come to complete His work on our planet by destroying the secret works of darkness and establishing His kingdom here upon the Earth, regardless of who is engaging in those works of darkness. If God's plan can survive Judas, I suppose it can survive just about anything, can't it? With that being said, I want to offer you my personal word that this will be the only non-solicited communication you receive from me. The Spirit has made it clear to me that my role in this is to raise a one-time voice of warning, and then go back to my gardening, if you will.

In the spirit of preparing for the return of the Lord, which our prophet, who I sustain, has encouraged us to do, I would like to do what Beverly often did, and simply offer a proposal for your consideration in light of the fact that we find ourselves in the uncomfortable situation of the appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22) having been found in the highest echelons of Church leadership and membership:

In that you preside over a church that is, by the King's decree, to be run by the law of common consent, I ask you to counsel together and agree to publicly release individual statements in which you as the members of the general leadership of the Church declare your filial allegiance to the Father of all Mankind and His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, acknowledge that the man known in our standard works as Jesus Christ is in very fact the King of Kings, proclaim your eternal opposition to Lucifer (i.e. Satan), the common enemy of all mankind, and declare that you are prepared from this day forward to serve Christ and only Christ, with no reservations, no divided allegiances, and full purpose of heart at all times and in all places. In particular I implore the man who is currently sustained as the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the prophet, seer, and revelator - the only person on the earth authorized to exercise all priesthood keys - Russell M. Nelson - to complete this task, in order to clear up the confusion that his choices as a young man have caused. (Note: if President Nelson is not in good enough physical or mental health to complete this task, I certainly understand, and would simply ask that the general membership of the Church be made aware of this condition so we can cast our sustaining or opposing vote in April with the best possible available information).

I ask that you publish these statements and make them available for public review before the 19th of March, 2023 so that all who are being asked to sustain you as prophets, seers, revelators, and General Authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints may review your declaration and come to the April 2023 sessions of the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints prepared to cast their sustaining votes with full confidence and without reservation.

Let us all remember that the Lord knows all the subtle works of the adversary and the thoughts and works of all those who follow him. Let us recall that God will not be mocked, allow His temple to be polluted indefinitely (as shown during and after His mortal ministry), or His kingdom to be overthrown. I call upon all those noble souls who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, Lord, and King to waste and wear out their lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them, as that is what our King has asked us to do. As we do so we may know with absolute certainty that God will fulfill His promises unto us, and that in a future day we will enjoy the privilege of worshiping our God without the influence of those who seek to usurp His authority, whether they be enemies from without or within (and we do know there have been, in times past, enemies within, thanks to President Lee's remarks shortly after becoming President of the Church).

While I imagine you will be advised by Church counsel not to contact me directly, I do wish to offer you my contact information should you have any questions you would like to ask. I can be reached at:

Justin Riggs
1073 Crane Court
Kingston Springs, TN 37082
720-505-1323
juriggs@gmail.com

I have attached footnotes with some of the publicly available evidence that supports the facts I have laid out in this communication for you to review. Please note there is a large corpus of evidence I am not including here, simply because I don't think it's necessary at this time.

To close I simply wish to offer a prayer, in the manner our Lord taught us while He walked amongst the children of men. I hope you will offer this prayer with me in sincerity of heart as you read it now:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever., Amen.

##### END MESSAGE #####

##### BEGIN FOOTNOTES #####

Footnotes

Note: All pages numbers are from the archive.org version of Beverly's documents

1 If you wish to do your due diligence and review Beverly Campbell's life history, copies can be found at the Church History library, church school libraries, or at https://archive.org/details/record-of-t ... h-campbell. Volume One and Two are publicly available. On January 25th I was officially denied access by the Church History Library to Volume Three, which is known as "International Affairs and Public Communication Quarterly Reports, 1985-1997". The text of the communication I received follows:

##### BEGIN MESSAGE #####

Our response to your Request # CH131554 is:

Justin Riggs,
We are unable to grant access to the International Public Affairs Office quarterly reports found in both the Beverly Campbell papers and CR 195 248 because they contain confidential, corporate information and were not intended for public release.
For more information about why an archival collection may be restricted from public research, see our access policy.
Please let us know if you have any questions.

##### END MESSAGE #####

I would imagine that any of you who would like to review this volume would probably be granted access if you requested it. I will continue working with the Church History Library to see what, if any, of this record, can be released to the public in the future. If any of you are able or willing to assist me in this, I would greatly appreciate it.

2 Page 84, Volume Two

As the “thirteenth apostle,” I learned that he (JWR note: Beverly is referring to Robert Barker, a secret society member who "initiated" (her language) Beverly into Church leadership after seeing her at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.) was my mentor from before the ERA days and throughout the remainder of his life. He was the one who included me as a member of the Special Affairs Committee of the Church long before others knew of me. He has been a quiet influence in my life, even after his death.

I will add that one reason this shocked me so much is that President Nelson had this to say about casually using the title of apostle:

""The title 'Apostle' is sacred. It has been given of God and belongs only to those who have been called and ordained as “special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world.” (D&C 107:23.) An Apostle speaks in the name of Him whose special witness he is. This hallowed title is not used in ordinary forms of address."

"Honoring the Priesthood"
By Elder Russell M. Nelson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
retrieved from: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... eng&id=p10

3 Page 448-449, Volume One

These pages contain a letter Beverly wrote to Donald L. Staheli that indicate he had written a check for $1,500 in order to have access to Chinese dignitaries, and prominent leaders of the Church, up to and including the President of the Church. The relevant quote is: "We have recelved your check for $1,500, made to Corporation of the President, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it has been forwarded to an account specifically designated for these dinners."

While soon to be Elder Staheli (he was still a businessman at the time of the letter) is singled out in this letter, it is clear from the records that dozens of prominent church members were engaged in this behavior for just this one campaign that Beverly put together.

4 The specific example I'd like to point out is scattered in a couple places in the Volumes. It centers around the temple work of Beverly's daughter Heather, who tragically died in a car accident before having any of her temple ordinances completed.

The first half of the story can be found here:

page n291, Volume Two

(JWR note: This quote is in Beverly's husband's voice)

'“When I awoke the next morning, I knew I had not had an ordinary dream... was very sobered and spoke solemnly to Beverly, describing carefully, and in detail what had taken place. We were both impressed with a great sense of urgency that Heather’s temple work needed be done as soon as possible. My great concern was that I had been shown a station where the path of these two young people would only cross once...”'

(JWR note: this is Beverly's voice)

"We spoke with both our Bishop and Stake President who had no sense of how to appropriately deal with this. We were at the Temple for the first session on Tuesday morning after which we felt impressed to talk with our dear friend and Temple President, Franklin D. Richards. As we spoke to him about our Heather's Temple work he advised that though, after a young person was twenty-one, there was a need to wait for a full year before the Temple work was done, he would take it up with President Hinckley while in Salt Lake in the summer. We left but not at peace.

On our return home the feeling of urgency did not abate. Hesitantly, we called President Hinckley and told him of our concerns and of the dream. He said that this was a decision that would have to be made by the First Presidency and that he would get back to us as soon as the decision was made. The first phone call the next morning was from President Hinckley who told us that he had spoken with the members of the First Presidency and had taken it to the Temple in prayer; and it was right for us to go ahead with Heather’s work.

He advised that he would have to telex the Temple to move forward and asked that we alert them to expect such a telex, At 5:20 p.m. President Richards called to say all was in order. Tom and Shauri joined us and at 7:40 we did the initiatory work for Heather, and at 8:00 we were in session for the endowments."

page 488, Volume One

"As we walked through the door or our home after receiving the horrendous news of Heather's death while traveling in Spain and immediately following the nightmarish trip home, the phone rang. It was you expressing condolences and assuring us “that very few die before their time”, and you felt that Heather was not one of those, How could you have known the exact time of our arrival? What comfort and healing those words brought to us.

You listened to Pierce and I as he was prompted by his dream that Heather’s Temple work needed to be done immediately, You received our request one evening and called early the next morning to say that all had been arranged. You listened, loved, counseled and helped us step by step through the next actions to be taken and ultimately it was you as the living Prophet of the Lord on earth who counseled and labored with us, with the Twelve and with the Lord until there was & sure answer and glorious conclusion relating to the actions to be taken pursuant to the message of that dream."

The second half of the story show up here. (It appears this second set of temple work was done sometime in 1986, and Elder Maxwell and President Hinckley were the primary individuals involved in procuring special permission to perform the temple sealing of Heather to an unknown partner):

Page 69

The month ended with a phone call from Elder Neal Maxwell. He had taken up the matter regarding Heather and further temple work to President Hinckley. President Hinckley had asked us to put it in writing as it was a matter which had to be taken to the First Presidency in a special Temple session, and so we did.

Page 84, Volume Two (indicating, I believe, that Beverly did what Elder Maxwell asked, and President Hinckley had approved the "further temple work")

"Doing Heather’s sealing."


5 This particular claim is harder to document, not because there is a paucity of evidence, but because the voluminous evidence is scattered throughout the books. The most egregious example of Beverly's involvement in working with others to alter the doctrines of the Church involve the actions of Eve and her role in the Garden of Eden.

Throughout the book Beverly refers to this work, to the access she was given to prominent Church members and leaders, and the encouragement she received from various sources. Perhaps the easiest way to document the end result of this would be to refer you to Beverly's books "Eve and The Choice Made in Eden" and "Eve and the Mortal Journey". Anyone wishing to read these books can find them at Deseret Book, and can then compare the things Beverly taught with the changes to the scriptures and to those changes made to the temple endowment during President Russell M. Nelson's administration shortly after becoming President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To see the influence that Beverly's positions had on President Nelson, it is only necessary to read page 86 of Volume Two, which is a letter written to Beverly from Elder Nelson. I've included the entirety of the letter here for convenience (the letter was sent on official Quorum of the Twelve letterhead and personally signed by Elder Nelson):

Mr. and Mrs. A. Pierce Campbell
Oakwood Country Club Estates
24119 South Agate Drive
Sun Lakes, AZ 85248

Dear Beverly and Pierce:

Faced with the prospects of a long airplane ride to Louisiana and back this past weekend, I took as my companion Beverly’s new book, Eve and the Mortal Journey. I read it from cover to cover and studied it thoroughly.

To say that this book was magnificent would be an understatement. It was more than that. It was moving, life-changing, motivating, and inspirational, I loved the way you went ftom chronicling the marvelous experiences of which you were a pivotal part, to one of advising people how to find happiness and strength in their lives. I loved the reference to your work with Elder Maxwell and me in China (page 7), ‘Thank you for including information on the heart as a pump (page 10). Thank you for referring to the experience I had doing cardiac surgery on Elder Spencer W. Kimball (page 37).

Your treatment of our experiences in Russia (page 50-53) was reminiscent of some of the most important days of our service together. In your veiled reference to our daughter Emily’s passing, the elegant box you contributed to her children was so very poignant (page 156). At this point in my life as I have a mixture of grieving and preparing for important duties in the future, Chapter 6 “Let Trials Pass Through You” was particularly helpful.

I loved your references to premortal acquaintanceships (pages 41 and 121), That is the way Dantzel and I have always felt about the two of you. Our friendship is deep, everlasting, and remembered from premortal scenes.

Thank you for providing a companion for me this last weekend, It was very, very special for me. I hope this note finds you well and happy.

With much love,

Russell M. Nelson

6 page 32 (p48 of the book), retrieved from https://archive.org/details/from-heart- ... 1/mode/2up

President Nelson says:

"University life was wonderful and successful. On April 3, 1944, I was elected president of the Sigma Chi fraternity. I was also later elected to the honorary societies of Skull and Bones in the junior year, Owl and Key in the senior year, the Beehive Honorary Society in the senior year, and at graduation time to the honorary scholastic societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Beta Kappa."

Elder Hales marriage announcement, published in the June 10th Deseret News reads: "Mr. Hales is attending the University of Utah, and is an affiliate of Pi Kappa Alpha and Skull and Bones".

To be clear, I am in possession of a large amount of evidence showing that the University of Utah chapter of Skull and Bones is not simply an "honorary society". A couple examples will suffice for now. In an interview that Skull and Bones members did on campus at University of Utah, the members showed up for the interview in black robes and white masks that covered their faces in order to conceal their identity. Lest one should say that back in the days when President Nelson and Elder Hales joined the ranks of this secret society things were different, I would refer you to the Utonian yearbook archives, where you can find pictures of Skull and Bones members dressed in drag, black face, referencing the Bohemian Club, and saying "Skull and Bones makes us believe in infanticide".

7 This research is still in progress. Suffice it to say that hundreds of prominent Church members and their posterity have aligned themselves with these secret societies.

##### END FOOTNOTES #####

Brother Hales, the reason this is addressed to "Brothers and Sisters" is that I am also sending a copy of this message to other members of Church leadership. I am aware that in other email communications you have indicated that when a lay member of the Church is in possession of evidence such as this, our duty is over after putting the information into the hands of Church leadership. I will be honest... I don't find that a very satisfying answer doctrinally, scripturally, or procedurally. However, I am willing to receive counsel in this regard and leave it in God's hands at this point. I don't want or need a response from anyone other than you, and the only response I request from you is an acknowledgment that the message has been received.

Thank you very much for your service, and for your attention to this matter. I sincerely appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Justin

##### END #####

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tmac
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by tmac »

EQ, I’m curious what you think will come of this letter? If you were to envision the most likely outcome/scenario, what would it be?

In the other thread I have talked about my experiences attempting to approach my local leaders, but I also have personal experience attempting to approach higher echelons as well, in a unique situation involving what seemed to be a matter of some import to the the Church at the time.

We call that whole experience “Attempting to approach the Impenetrable Fortress.”

I hope your attempts go better than ours did.

endlessQuestions
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Posts: 6426

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

tmac wrote: January 27th, 2023, 7:58 am EQ, I’m curious what you think will come of this letter? If you were to envision the most likely outcome/scenario, what would it be?

In the other thread I have talked about my experiences attempting to approach my local leaders, but I also have personal experience attempting to approach higher echelons as well, in a unique situation involving what seemed to be a matter of some import to the the Church at the time.

We call that whole experience “Attempting to approach the Impenetrable Fortress.”

I hope your attempts go better than ours did.
Well, tmac, I'm no prophet, so buyer beware on listening to anything after this sentence.

As I've mentioned several times, I was either created with, or through circumstances outside of my control have developed, a brain that immediately goes to the "worst case scenario".

So my immediate thought is, "the most likely outcome is that I will be excommunicated".

But when I take some time, and do some breathing, and pray, and try to use the keen mind God has endowed me with to work backward from there, I'd have to say, the most LIKELY outcome is that I will be ignored by the general leadership.

And possibly reprimanded by my local leadership.

And possibly be released from my calling as Ward Clerk.

I don't know.

My reading of the scriptures has taught me that God isn't all that interested in probabilities when it comes to getting done what He needs to get done. He actually seems to enjoy showing us His ability to overcome staggering odds, if we'll listen to Him and trust that He can do His own work, if He has a few people with contrite hearts and spirits, who don't engage in subtleties, and are willing to walk into the lion's den of their own accord.

So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I also have some experience with interacting with leaders of the Church outside of this, and have always found it to be an "Impenetrable Fortress" as well once you hit the level of Stake President. But, hey, my brain is already damaged, so how much harm could it do to keep banging my head against that wall, right? :)

God is good.

Nothing "needs" to happen in relation to my invitation to these leaders (although I would very much LIKE to see our leaders do something that seems like a reasonable request under the circumstances, and feels as though it would be the most natural thing in the world for them to do).

Because something has ALREADY happened, in regards to my relationship with my Lord and King.

And that's all that really matters to me.

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The Red Pill
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by The Red Pill »

I fully support your efforts and believe it is the right thing to do.

I do fear that given the nature of the current church leadership...it will be a similar outcome to the Biden DOJ, FBI "looking into" Hunter's laptop.

Atrasado
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Posts: 1768

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by Atrasado »

Justin, thanks for sending this! Some people are slowly waking up, but it is a difficult process. If even a couple of people have their hearts pricked by this, it will be great and could lead to more action. Of course, like you, I do not expect the Church to react to this; to do so officially would have a disastrous effect on them either way and that is the problem. Even the ones that have good intentions now have their lives and fortunes so intertwined with the ones that don't have good intentions that no leader who is in a position to do anything honest will dare stick their necks out. But putting things into plain terms, as you have done, just might spark someone's conscience enough to crack open the dam. We can always hope!

cwass
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by cwass »

Maybe there are a few Alma's in church leadership. Even if it is just one.

endlessQuestions
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

The Red Pill wrote: January 27th, 2023, 9:56 am I fully support your efforts and believe it is the right thing to do.

I do fear that given the nature of the current church leadership...it will be a similar outcome to the Biden DOJ, FBI "looking into" Hunter's laptop.
I share your concerns, and tried to be explicit about that in my letter.

I think Brook Hale's assertion that once a lay member of the Church has given the evidence to the Office of The First Presidency, their duty is done, is rather ludicrous. It flies in the face of all principles of justice for those being investigated to be conducting the investigation.

That's out of my hands, though.

Again, in my mind, this should be very simple.

I feel as though I've made a reasonable request based on the evidence provided - an act that literally any disciple of Jesus Christ who has a testimony should be eager to perform, in my opinion.

In fact, I'd invite each of YOU to draw up a personal statement and post it publicly (wherever you feel it would be appropriate to do so), so that no one will ever have any confusion as to who your loyalty is to. I'd also invite you to reach out to those you know and love and invite THEM to make a public declaration of allegiance to our God and Savior. And if you feel I haven't spoken plainly enough here on the forum in this regard, please feel free to invite me to be MORE explicit about where I stand on this issue, and I'd be happy to do so.

Trying to hide our allegiance because we fear the repercussions is a strategy that will inevitably fail, although it might admittedly buy one more time.

I for one want to be #1 on the list of "guys we need to get rid of in order to adopt our Luciferian plans". I want there to be absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind that if they're going to try to usurp my King's kingdom, they're going to have to go through me to do so (which, admittedly, won't be too hard).

endlessQuestions
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

cwass wrote: January 27th, 2023, 11:02 am Maybe there are a few Alma's in church leadership. Even if it is just one.
Maybe the "Alma's" don't need to come from the church leadership at all.

In fact, maybe the church leadership needs to see that there are some Alma's out here in order to know it's time to make the painful corrections that might be necessary.

Just something to think about.

endlessQuestions
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Posts: 6426

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

Atrasado wrote: January 27th, 2023, 10:15 am Justin, thanks for sending this! Some people are slowly waking up, but it is a difficult process. If even a couple of people have their hearts pricked by this, it will be great and could lead to more action. Of course, like you, I do not expect the Church to react to this; to do so officially would have a disastrous effect on them either way and that is the problem. Even the ones that have good intentions now have their lives and fortunes so intertwined with the ones that don't have good intentions that no leader who is in a position to do anything honest will dare stick their necks out. But putting things into plain terms, as you have done, just might spark someone's conscience enough to crack open the dam. We can always hope!
Hope is a beautiful word, pregnant with possibilities!

Here are all the places it shows up in our standard works. A worthy, albeit slightly lengthy, scripture study:

Ezra 10:2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

Job 8:13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:

Job 8:14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web.

Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.

Job 14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

Job 14:19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

Job 19:10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

Job 27:8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

Job 41:9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?

Psalms 22:9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

Psalms 31:24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Psalms 33:18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

Psalms 33:22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

Psalms 39:7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

Psalms 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

Psalms 42:11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalms 43:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalms 71:14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.

Psalms 78:7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

Psalms 119:81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.

Psalms 119:114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

Psalms 130:7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

Psalms 131:3 Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.

Psalms 146:5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

Psalms 147:11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Proverbs 10:28 The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.

Proverbs 11:7 When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.

Proverbs 14:32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.

Proverbs 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Proverbs 29:20 Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Isaiah 38:18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Jeremiah 14:8 O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?

Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

Jeremiah 17:13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

Jeremiah 17:17 Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.

Jeremiah 31:17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

Jeremiah 50:7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.

Lamentations 3:18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord:

Lamentations 3:24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

Lamentations 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

Ezekiel 13:6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

Ezekiel 19:5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

Ezekiel 37:11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

Joel 3:16 The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

Luke 6:34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

Acts 16:19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,

Acts 23:6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

Acts 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

Acts 26:6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:

Acts 26:7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

Acts 27:20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

Acts 28:20 For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.

Romans 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

Romans 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

1 Corinthians 9:10 Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

1 Corinthians 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

2 Corinthians 1:7 And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

Galatians 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

Philippians 2:23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.

Colossians 1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

Colossians 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Titus 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

Hebrews 6:11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:

Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

Hebrews 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

Hebrews 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1 Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

1 Nephi 19:24 Wherefore I spake unto them, saying: Hear ye the words of the prophet, ye who are a remnant of the house of Israel, a branch who have been broken off; hear ye the words of the prophet, which were written unto all the house of Israel, and liken them unto yourselves, that ye may have hope as well as your brethren from whom ye have been broken off; for after this manner has the prophet written.

2 Nephi 33:9 I also have charity for the Gentiles. But behold, for none of these can I hope except they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the strait path which leads to life, and continue in the path until the end of the day of probation.

Jacob 2:19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good--to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

Jacob 4:4 For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.

Jacob 4:11 Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh.

Jacob 7:5 And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken.

Alma 5:10 And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?

Alma 13:29 Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest.

Alma 22:16 But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.

Alma 25:16 Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a hope through faith, unto eternal salvation, relying upon the spirit of prophecy, which spake of those things to come.

Alma 27:28 And they did look upon shedding the blood of their brethren with the greatest abhorrence; and they never could be prevailed upon to take up arms against their brethren; and they never did look upon death with any degree of terror, for their hope and views of Christ and the resurrection; therefore, death was swallowed up to them by the victory of Christ over it.

Alma 32:21 And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

Alma 34:41 But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

Alma 38:2 And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end.

Alma 58:11 Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him.

3 Nephi 3:10 And I write this epistle unto you, Lachoneus, and I hope that ye will deliver up your lands and your possessions, without the shedding of blood, that this my people may recover their rights and government, who have dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government, and except ye do this, I will avenge their wrongs. I am Giddianhi.

3 Nephi 4:4 Therefore, there was no chance for the robbers to plunder and to obtain food, save it were to come up in open battle against the Nephites; and the Nephites being in one body, and having so great a number, and having reserved for themselves provisions, and horses and cattle, and flocks of every kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years, in the which time they did hope to destroy the robbers from off the face of the land; and thus the eighteenth year did pass away.

Mormon 6:4 And it came to pass that we did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents around about the hill Cumorah; and it was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains; and here we had hope to gain advantage over the Lamanites.

Ether 12:4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Ether 12:8 But because of the faith of men he has shown himself unto the world, and glorified the name of the Father, and prepared a way that thereby others might be partakers of the heavenly gift, that they might hope for those things which they have not seen.

Ether 12:28 Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me--the fountain of all righteousness.

Moroni 7:3 Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven.

Moroni 7:41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

Moroni 7:44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

Moroni 8:26 And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.

Moroni 9:25 My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.

Moroni 10:20 Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.

Moroni 10:22 And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair; and despair cometh because of iniquity.

Doctrine and Covenants 6:19 Admonish him in his faults, and also receive admonition of him. Be patient; be sober; be temperate; have patience, faith, hope and charity.

Doctrine and Covenants 42:45 Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection.

Doctrine and Covenants 121:11 And they who do charge thee with transgression, their hope shall be blasted, and their prospects shall melt away as the hoar frost melteth before the burning rays of the rising sun;

Doctrine and Covenants 138:14 All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Articles of Faith 1:13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul--We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

endlessQuestions
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Posts: 6426

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 8:34 am
tmac wrote: January 27th, 2023, 7:58 am EQ, I’m curious what you think will come of this letter? If you were to envision the most likely outcome/scenario, what would it be?

In the other thread I have talked about my experiences attempting to approach my local leaders, but I also have personal experience attempting to approach higher echelons as well, in a unique situation involving what seemed to be a matter of some import to the the Church at the time.

We call that whole experience “Attempting to approach the Impenetrable Fortress.”

I hope your attempts go better than ours did.
Well, tmac, I'm no prophet, so buyer beware on listening to anything after this sentence.

As I've mentioned several times, I was either created with, or through circumstances outside of my control have developed, a brain that immediately goes to the "worst case scenario".

So my immediate thought is, "the most likely outcome is that I will be excommunicated".

But when I take some time, and do some breathing, and pray, and try to use the keen mind God has endowed me with to work backward from there, I'd have to say, the most LIKELY outcome is that I will be ignored by the general leadership.

And possibly reprimanded by my local leadership.

And possibly be released from my calling as Ward Clerk.

I don't know.

My reading of the scriptures has taught me that God isn't all that interested in probabilities when it comes to getting done what He needs to get done. He actually seems to enjoy showing us His ability to overcome staggering odds, if we'll listen to Him and trust that He can do His own work, if He has a few people with contrite hearts and spirits, who don't engage in subtleties, and are willing to walk into the lion's den of their own accord.

So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I also have some experience with interacting with leaders of the Church outside of this, and have always found it to be an "Impenetrable Fortress" as well once you hit the level of Stake President. But, hey, my brain is already damaged, so how much harm could it do to keep banging my head against that wall, right? :)

God is good.

Nothing "needs" to happen in relation to my invitation to these leaders (although I would very much LIKE to see our leaders do something that seems like a reasonable request under the circumstances, and feels as though it would be the most natural thing in the world for them to do).

Because something has ALREADY happened, in regards to my relationship with my Lord and King.

And that's all that really matters to me.
I feel like I need to add a little bit to this response, in this manner:

Thirty days ago, what would you all have said the odds would be that God would provide me access to somewhere around 300 of the Church's leadership group?

I would have said it was somewhere around 0% if you had asked me.

You can even see me reaching out on the board, seeing if anyone had the kind of access I was seeking, hoping that God would open up the way.

And, miraculously, He did.

So let us have faith that, although it seems highly improbable that our brethren and sisters will respond in the way we hope they will, it IS POSSIBLE.

Ferrisbueller
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by Ferrisbueller »

They are fully aware of the recent events of exposing hidden works are being spread. They spy and all of your devices through apps or partnerships with Google and others.

Ferrisbueller
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by Ferrisbueller »

They have been working on a fix or response for several weeks now.

endlessQuestions
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Posts: 6426

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

Ferrisbueller wrote: January 27th, 2023, 12:53 pm They have been working on a fix or response for several weeks now.
They are fully aware of the recent events of exposing hidden works are being spread. They spy and all of your devices through apps or partnerships with Google and others.
Well, sir (or ma'am using a sir's name),

If you don't know this already, you will learn it now.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to express their opinions.

But we really only countenance those who come with evidence for their claims.

So welcome!

And I look forward to seeing the evidence you have to support your rather startling claims!

Ado
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by Ado »

I found this the other day while researching more about skull and bones. I think it's a new post by FAIR because I hadn't seen it before. It didn't do much to settle my feelings on the matter but does prove that they know about awareness of some of these hidden works being spread online.
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/ans ... _M._Nelson
Last edited by Ado on January 27th, 2023, 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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tmac
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by tmac »

endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 11:35 am
endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 8:34 am
tmac wrote: January 27th, 2023, 7:58 am EQ, I’m curious what you think will come of this letter? If you were to envision the most likely outcome/scenario, what would it be?

In the other thread I have talked about my experiences attempting to approach my local leaders, but I also have personal experience attempting to approach higher echelons as well, in a unique situation involving what seemed to be a matter of some import to the the Church at the time.

We call that whole experience “Attempting to approach the Impenetrable Fortress.”

I hope your attempts go better than ours did.
Well, tmac, I'm no prophet, so buyer beware on listening to anything after this sentence.

As I've mentioned several times, I was either created with, or through circumstances outside of my control have developed, a brain that immediately goes to the "worst case scenario".

So my immediate thought is, "the most likely outcome is that I will be excommunicated".

But when I take some time, and do some breathing, and pray, and try to use the keen mind God has endowed me with to work backward from there, I'd have to say, the most LIKELY outcome is that I will be ignored by the general leadership.

And possibly reprimanded by my local leadership.

And possibly be released from my calling as Ward Clerk.

I don't know.

My reading of the scriptures has taught me that God isn't all that interested in probabilities when it comes to getting done what He needs to get done. He actually seems to enjoy showing us His ability to overcome staggering odds, if we'll listen to Him and trust that He can do His own work, if He has a few people with contrite hearts and spirits, who don't engage in subtleties, and are willing to walk into the lion's den of their own accord.

So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I also have some experience with interacting with leaders of the Church outside of this, and have always found it to be an "Impenetrable Fortress" as well once you hit the level of Stake President. But, hey, my brain is already damaged, so how much harm could it do to keep banging my head against that wall, right? :)

God is good.

Nothing "needs" to happen in relation to my invitation to these leaders (although I would very much LIKE to see our leaders do something that seems like a reasonable request under the circumstances, and feels as though it would be the most natural thing in the world for them to do).

Because something has ALREADY happened, in regards to my relationship with my Lord and King.

And that's all that really matters to me.
I feel like I need to add a little bit to this response, in this manner:

Thirty days ago, what would you all have said the odds would be that God would provide me access to somewhere around 300 of the Church's leadership group?

I would have said it was somewhere around 0% if you had asked me.

You can even see me reaching out on the board, seeing if anyone had the kind of access I was seeking, hoping that God would open up the way.

And, miraculously, He did.

So let us have faith that, although it seems highly improbable that our brethren and sisters will respond in the way we hope they will, it IS POSSIBLE.
I have no probem exercising faith in things that are meant to be, and ordained by God to happen. What will be will be.

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pho·to·syn·the·sis
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by pho·to·syn·the·sis »

Ado wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:04 pm I found this the other day while researching more about skull and bones. I think it's a new post by FAIR because I hadn't seen it before. It didn't do much to settle my feelings on the matter but does prove that they know about awareness of some of these hidden works being spread online.
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/ans ... _M._Nelson
Interesting. Why FAIR established a glowing (wiki) review for Skull & Bones.
Last edited by pho·to·syn·the·sis on January 28th, 2023, 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

endlessQuestions
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Posts: 6426

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

pho·to·syn·the·sis wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:44 pm
Ado wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:04 pm I found this the other day while researching more about skull and bones. I think it's a new post by FAIR because I hadn't seen it before. It didn't do much to settle my feelings on the matter but does prove that they know about awareness of some of these hidden works being spread online.
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/ans ... _M._Nelson
Interesting. Why FAIR established a growing review for Skull & Bones.
Please forgive my language, but what a steaming pile of crap that answer is.

I mean, seriously. That's like F- quality work, right there.

Should we contact them and see if we can help them update their page with the "new information" that's now available?

Yes, I think we should.

Thanks for surfacing this, and sorry I missed it earlier.

It just so happens I was looking at another interesting FAIR article when this popped up.

Looks like FAIR was clear that Brigham was sporting Masonic pins in what I think have to be post-martyrdom photos, but failed to think about the fact that the Masons had BANNED Mormons, to the point of not allowing a Lodge in Utah, and that Brigham was out claiming that Masons had martyred "Brother Joseph".

Kind of weird, don't you think? I mean, if somebody murdered my leader, I wouldn't go around decades later sporting their merch, right?

Right?

Ado
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Posts: 403

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by Ado »

endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:48 pm
pho·to·syn·the·sis wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:44 pm
Ado wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:04 pm I found this the other day while researching more about skull and bones. I think it's a new post by FAIR because I hadn't seen it before. It didn't do much to settle my feelings on the matter but does prove that they know about awareness of some of these hidden works being spread online.
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/ans ... _M._Nelson
Interesting. Why FAIR established a growing review for Skull & Bones.
Please forgive my language, but what a steaming pile of crap that answer is.

I mean, seriously. That's like F- quality work, right there.

Should we contact them and see if we can help them update their page with the "new information" that's now available?

Yes, I think we should.

Thanks for surfacing this, and sorry I missed it earlier.

It just so happens I was looking at another interesting FAIR article when this popped up.

Looks like FAIR was clear that Brigham was sporting Masonic pins in what I think have to be post-martyrdom photos, but failed to think about the fact that the Masons had BANNED Mormons, to the point of not allowing a Lodge in Utah, and that Brigham was out claiming that Masons had martyred "Brother Joseph".

Kind of weird, don't you think? I mean, if somebody murdered my leader, I wouldn't go around decades later sporting their merch, right?

Right?
Yep, I agree their answer isn't much of an answer. It's skirting around the issue and sort of insulting honestly.
I agree about the masonic pins. The whole thing doesn't add up.

endlessQuestions
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:48 pm
pho·to·syn·the·sis wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:44 pm
Ado wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:04 pm I found this the other day while researching more about skull and bones. I think it's a new post by FAIR because I hadn't seen it before. It didn't do much to settle my feelings on the matter but does prove that they know about awareness of some of these hidden works being spread online.
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/ans ... _M._Nelson
Interesting. Why FAIR established a growing review for Skull & Bones.
Please forgive my language, but what a steaming pile of crap that answer is.

I mean, seriously. That's like F- quality work, right there.

Should we contact them and see if we can help them update their page with the "new information" that's now available?

Yes, I think we should.

Thanks for surfacing this, and sorry I missed it earlier.

It just so happens I was looking at another interesting FAIR article when this popped up.

Looks like FAIR was clear that Brigham was sporting Masonic pins in what I think have to be post-martyrdom photos, but failed to think about the fact that the Masons had BANNED Mormons, to the point of not allowing a Lodge in Utah, and that Brigham was out claiming that Masons had martyred "Brother Joseph".

Kind of weird, don't you think? I mean, if somebody murdered my leader, I wouldn't go around decades later sporting their merch, right?

Right?
Okay, sent the following message to the President of FAIR:

"Scott,

I'm not sure how involved you are in looking at each answer your organization provides, but the page you have up regarding Russell M. Nelson's involvement with Skull and Bones is very poorly done.

There's a group of people who have intensively researched this topic, and we could provide you with a lot of primary source documents that would more honestly and thoroughly answer the question posed. Would you like us to send you that material?

Thanks for all you do, and I look forward to hearing from you soon....

Justin Riggs
720-505-1323
juriggs@gmail.com"

I also sent a similar message to their general inbox. I'll let you know what I hear back.

endlessQuestions
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 6426

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:58 pm
endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:48 pm
pho·to·syn·the·sis wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:44 pm
Ado wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:04 pm I found this the other day while researching more about skull and bones. I think it's a new post by FAIR because I hadn't seen it before. It didn't do much to settle my feelings on the matter but does prove that they know about awareness of some of these hidden works being spread online.
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/ans ... _M._Nelson
Interesting. Why FAIR established a growing review for Skull & Bones.
Please forgive my language, but what a steaming pile of crap that answer is.

I mean, seriously. That's like F- quality work, right there.

Should we contact them and see if we can help them update their page with the "new information" that's now available?

Yes, I think we should.

Thanks for surfacing this, and sorry I missed it earlier.

It just so happens I was looking at another interesting FAIR article when this popped up.

Looks like FAIR was clear that Brigham was sporting Masonic pins in what I think have to be post-martyrdom photos, but failed to think about the fact that the Masons had BANNED Mormons, to the point of not allowing a Lodge in Utah, and that Brigham was out claiming that Masons had martyred "Brother Joseph".

Kind of weird, don't you think? I mean, if somebody murdered my leader, I wouldn't go around decades later sporting their merch, right?

Right?
Okay, sent the following message to the President of FAIR:

"Scott,

I'm not sure how involved you are in looking at each answer your organization provides, but the page you have up regarding Russell M. Nelson's involvement with Skull and Bones is very poorly done.

There's a group of people who have intensively researched this topic, and we could provide you with a lot of primary source documents that would more honestly and thoroughly answer the question posed. Would you like us to send you that material?

Thanks for all you do, and I look forward to hearing from you soon....

Justin Riggs
720-505-1323
juriggs@gmail.com"

I also sent a similar message to their general inbox. I'll let you know what I hear back.
Well, that was fast. Got word back from FAIR. They said they'd be happy to look at information that could improve their answer:

<redacted, so as to not doxx anyone>
Hi, Justin. We're always open to improvement. I'd be interested in seeing your research on this.

Thanks,
<redacted>
FAIR Volunteer (opinions given are my own and not necessarily those of FAIR or the Church)

Here's how I responded:

"Great.

Do you need it in a nice, clean package, or are you guys willing to wade through some material and pick out what you think is relevant?

The evidence largely exists on two or three threads on a discussion forum. It consists of links to primary source documents like President Nelson's autobiography, the Utonian yearbooks that have President Nelson's Skull and Bones and Owl and Key pictures, and other Utonian yearbook pictures that show that Skull and Bones isn't and wasn't just some "honors association". There are pictures of Skull and Bones members in drag, in black face, and a quote saying something to the effect of "Skull and Bones has taught us to believe in infanticide".

I should mention, many of the people doing this research are very upset, so you'll have to be prepared to wade through that if you want to see everything available.

I'm more curious than upset, so if you'd like me to curate it, I can do that and get back to you in the next few days.

I should also tell you, this is a much bigger problem than just President Nelson. We've identified probably close to a hundred prominent Church members, businessmen, politicians, academics, and leaders that joined secret societies despite their being clear counsel from the prophet's of their day to avoid such affiliations. We've also shown that language regarding secret societies was removed from the General Handbook right at the time President Nelson became an apostle, and then the temple questions were changed to be more "secret society friendly" right after President Nelson became President of the Church.

Let me know how you'd like to proceed, and we'll work to help you improve your answer. Thanks for being willing to take a look at what's out there and improve the quality of the answers on your site. I appreciate that spirit of inquiry very much!

Justin

I probably should have said, "if you want me to curate it, I'll work with the others and pull it together", because I want and will need y'alls help on this. Sorry... things are moving awfully fast right now, and I'm making some mistakes I normally wouldn't. Forgive me for that.

Hugh Akston
captain of 10
Posts: 37

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by Hugh Akston »

I’m firmly convinced that the leadership of the church is no longer on the right path, which is to say that they are at best distracted and at worst taken with the desire for worldly acceptance, praise and reward.

That said, I’m underwhelmed with these claims. If you can find instances where people self-identify as members of a collegiate club as part of their resume or the like, it’s not all that secret is it?

The University of Utah’s Great Value™ version of Skull & Bones is just another hierarchical subgroup within the goofy and slightly gay Greek system. My misgivings about the real Skull & Bones are more pronounced.


This stuff about Beverly Campbell is a nothing burger.

The phrase “banality of evil” comes to mind when I look at the various institutions, including the church, which have become corrupted or lost their way. There are certainly demonic forces at play, but overwhelmingly it’s just plain greed, envy, ignorance and pride that usurps the righteous order for chaos and then tyranny.

Our church leaders are in large part proxies for a clique of consultants/MBA types that have taken over the operation of a giant hedge fund and religious organization.

endlessQuestions
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 6426

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 3:22 pm
endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:58 pm
endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:48 pm
pho·to·syn·the·sis wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:44 pm

Interesting. Why FAIR established a growing review for Skull & Bones.
Please forgive my language, but what a steaming pile of crap that answer is.

I mean, seriously. That's like F- quality work, right there.

Should we contact them and see if we can help them update their page with the "new information" that's now available?

Yes, I think we should.

Thanks for surfacing this, and sorry I missed it earlier.

It just so happens I was looking at another interesting FAIR article when this popped up.

Looks like FAIR was clear that Brigham was sporting Masonic pins in what I think have to be post-martyrdom photos, but failed to think about the fact that the Masons had BANNED Mormons, to the point of not allowing a Lodge in Utah, and that Brigham was out claiming that Masons had martyred "Brother Joseph".

Kind of weird, don't you think? I mean, if somebody murdered my leader, I wouldn't go around decades later sporting their merch, right?

Right?
Okay, sent the following message to the President of FAIR:

"Scott,

I'm not sure how involved you are in looking at each answer your organization provides, but the page you have up regarding Russell M. Nelson's involvement with Skull and Bones is very poorly done.

There's a group of people who have intensively researched this topic, and we could provide you with a lot of primary source documents that would more honestly and thoroughly answer the question posed. Would you like us to send you that material?

Thanks for all you do, and I look forward to hearing from you soon....

Justin Riggs
720-505-1323
juriggs@gmail.com"

I also sent a similar message to their general inbox. I'll let you know what I hear back.
Well, that was fast. Got word back from FAIR. They said they'd be happy to look at information that could improve their answer:

<redacted, so as to not doxx anyone>
Hi, Justin. We're always open to improvement. I'd be interested in seeing your research on this.

Thanks,
<redacted>
FAIR Volunteer (opinions given are my own and not necessarily those of FAIR or the Church)

Here's how I responded:

"Great.

Do you need it in a nice, clean package, or are you guys willing to wade through some material and pick out what you think is relevant?

The evidence largely exists on two or three threads on a discussion forum. It consists of links to primary source documents like President Nelson's autobiography, the Utonian yearbooks that have President Nelson's Skull and Bones and Owl and Key pictures, and other Utonian yearbook pictures that show that Skull and Bones isn't and wasn't just some "honors association". There are pictures of Skull and Bones members in drag, in black face, and a quote saying something to the effect of "Skull and Bones has taught us to believe in infanticide".

I should mention, many of the people doing this research are very upset, so you'll have to be prepared to wade through that if you want to see everything available.

I'm more curious than upset, so if you'd like me to curate it, I can do that and get back to you in the next few days.

I should also tell you, this is a much bigger problem than just President Nelson. We've identified probably close to a hundred prominent Church members, businessmen, politicians, academics, and leaders that joined secret societies despite their being clear counsel from the prophet's of their day to avoid such affiliations. We've also shown that language regarding secret societies was removed from the General Handbook right at the time President Nelson became an apostle, and then the temple questions were changed to be more "secret society friendly" right after President Nelson became President of the Church.

Let me know how you'd like to proceed, and we'll work to help you improve your answer. Thanks for being willing to take a look at what's out there and improve the quality of the answers on your site. I appreciate that spirit of inquiry very much!

Justin

I probably should have said, "if you want me to curate it, I'll work with the others and pull it together", because I want and will need y'alls help on this. Sorry... things are moving awfully fast right now, and I'm making some mistakes I normally wouldn't. Forgive me for that.
Holy cow.

Well, that got awkward fast.

Here was the FAIR volunteers response to me:

"I would be interested in perusing whatever you can point me to. However, you should be aware that we are interested in debunking the idea that this was an evil secret society, rather than accepting it."

So I wrote back:

"Hmmm, well that's an interesting position to take.

Are you not interested in following the evidence to its logical conclusion and presenting the facts (for both sides of the argument)? Because I think it might be hard to debunk the idea that it was not an evil, secret society when the people involved in it show up to interviews in black robes and white masks in an effort to conceal their identity, and you see what the group has been up to when you go through the Utonian archives.

I'm also not sure I want to spend time and effort pulling things together just to have it rejected because you've presupposed an outcome. But I'd be happy to have you look at what's out there, present it as it stands in the historical record, and then argue that they were just joking around.

In fact, the easiest thing would probably be for you to do this. Go to this link:

https://collections.lib.utah.edu/search ... um_utonian

It's all the Utonians. There's some debate as to when Skull and Bones started at the University of Utah, so you'll have to start around 1905, but go through each year and just search for Skull and Bones.

Then post that new evidence on the site, and let me know, and I'll take a look and see if you missed anything."

The President got back to me, too. I think I'm going to check with him and see if this is the official position of the organization.

endlessQuestions
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 6426

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by endlessQuestions »

endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 4:07 pm
endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 3:22 pm
endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:58 pm
endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:48 pm

Please forgive my language, but what a steaming pile of crap that answer is.

I mean, seriously. That's like F- quality work, right there.

Should we contact them and see if we can help them update their page with the "new information" that's now available?

Yes, I think we should.

Thanks for surfacing this, and sorry I missed it earlier.

It just so happens I was looking at another interesting FAIR article when this popped up.

Looks like FAIR was clear that Brigham was sporting Masonic pins in what I think have to be post-martyrdom photos, but failed to think about the fact that the Masons had BANNED Mormons, to the point of not allowing a Lodge in Utah, and that Brigham was out claiming that Masons had martyred "Brother Joseph".

Kind of weird, don't you think? I mean, if somebody murdered my leader, I wouldn't go around decades later sporting their merch, right?

Right?
Okay, sent the following message to the President of FAIR:

"Scott,

I'm not sure how involved you are in looking at each answer your organization provides, but the page you have up regarding Russell M. Nelson's involvement with Skull and Bones is very poorly done.

There's a group of people who have intensively researched this topic, and we could provide you with a lot of primary source documents that would more honestly and thoroughly answer the question posed. Would you like us to send you that material?

Thanks for all you do, and I look forward to hearing from you soon....

Justin Riggs
720-505-1323
juriggs@gmail.com"

I also sent a similar message to their general inbox. I'll let you know what I hear back.
Well, that was fast. Got word back from FAIR. They said they'd be happy to look at information that could improve their answer:

<redacted, so as to not doxx anyone>
Hi, Justin. We're always open to improvement. I'd be interested in seeing your research on this.

Thanks,
<redacted>
FAIR Volunteer (opinions given are my own and not necessarily those of FAIR or the Church)

Here's how I responded:

"Great.

Do you need it in a nice, clean package, or are you guys willing to wade through some material and pick out what you think is relevant?

The evidence largely exists on two or three threads on a discussion forum. It consists of links to primary source documents like President Nelson's autobiography, the Utonian yearbooks that have President Nelson's Skull and Bones and Owl and Key pictures, and other Utonian yearbook pictures that show that Skull and Bones isn't and wasn't just some "honors association". There are pictures of Skull and Bones members in drag, in black face, and a quote saying something to the effect of "Skull and Bones has taught us to believe in infanticide".

I should mention, many of the people doing this research are very upset, so you'll have to be prepared to wade through that if you want to see everything available.

I'm more curious than upset, so if you'd like me to curate it, I can do that and get back to you in the next few days.

I should also tell you, this is a much bigger problem than just President Nelson. We've identified probably close to a hundred prominent Church members, businessmen, politicians, academics, and leaders that joined secret societies despite their being clear counsel from the prophet's of their day to avoid such affiliations. We've also shown that language regarding secret societies was removed from the General Handbook right at the time President Nelson became an apostle, and then the temple questions were changed to be more "secret society friendly" right after President Nelson became President of the Church.

Let me know how you'd like to proceed, and we'll work to help you improve your answer. Thanks for being willing to take a look at what's out there and improve the quality of the answers on your site. I appreciate that spirit of inquiry very much!

Justin

I probably should have said, "if you want me to curate it, I'll work with the others and pull it together", because I want and will need y'alls help on this. Sorry... things are moving awfully fast right now, and I'm making some mistakes I normally wouldn't. Forgive me for that.
Holy cow.

Well, that got awkward fast.

Here was the FAIR volunteers response to me:

"I would be interested in perusing whatever you can point me to. However, you should be aware that we are interested in debunking the idea that this was an evil secret society, rather than accepting it."

So I wrote back:

"Hmmm, well that's an interesting position to take.

Are you not interested in following the evidence to its logical conclusion and presenting the facts (for both sides of the argument)? Because I think it might be hard to debunk the idea that it was not an evil, secret society when the people involved in it show up to interviews in black robes and white masks in an effort to conceal their identity, and you see what the group has been up to when you go through the Utonian archives.

I'm also not sure I want to spend time and effort pulling things together just to have it rejected because you've presupposed an outcome. But I'd be happy to have you look at what's out there, present it as it stands in the historical record, and then argue that they were just joking around.

In fact, the easiest thing would probably be for you to do this. Go to this link:

https://collections.lib.utah.edu/search ... um_utonian

It's all the Utonians. There's some debate as to when Skull and Bones started at the University of Utah, so you'll have to start around 1905, but go through each year and just search for Skull and Bones.

Then post that new evidence on the site, and let me know, and I'll take a look and see if you missed anything."

The President got back to me, too. I think I'm going to check with him and see if this is the official position of the organization.
Email to the President of FAIR:

Actually, it looks like we're caught in a crossfire of messages here.
This is what <redactd FAIR volunteer> had to say:

"I would be interested in perusing whatever you can point me to. However, you should be aware that we are interested in debunking the idea that this was an evil secret society, rather than accepting it"

May I ask, is that the official FAIR position on this? Because I thought we were a religion that defined truth as "things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come", so it was a bit startling to see <redacted’s> response in black and white on my screen. I know FAIR is an apologetics site, but are they willing to ignore historical evidence that doesn't support their presupposed conclusions?

Perhaps you should touch base with him so we're all on the same page here. I did tell him where your team can go to do a large amount of research that will show the true nature of Skull and Bones on the University of Utah campus.

And I also might point out that the very first Google results regarding this topic show a group of people who came to an interview dressed in black robes and wearing masks to conceal their identities. Does that not seem an important detail to include in your research?

Thanks, and I'll look forward to receiving your response.

Justin
Last edited by endlessQuestions on January 27th, 2023, 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Being There
captain of 1,000
Posts: 2868

Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

Post by Being There »

endlessQuestions wrote: January 27th, 2023, 11:12 am
Atrasado wrote: January 27th, 2023, 10:15 am Justin, thanks for sending this! Some people are slowly waking up, but it is a difficult process. If even a couple of people have their hearts pricked by this, it will be great and could lead to more action. Of course, like you, I do not expect the Church to react to this; to do so officially would have a disastrous effect on them either way and that is the problem. Even the ones that have good intentions now have their lives and fortunes so intertwined with the ones that don't have good intentions that no leader who is in a position to do anything honest will dare stick their necks out. But putting things into plain terms, as you have done, just might spark someone's conscience enough to crack open the dam. We can always hope!
Hope is a beautiful word, pregnant with possibilities!

Here are all the places it shows up in our standard works. A worthy, albeit slightly lengthy, scripture study:

Ezra 10:2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

Job 8:13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:

Job 8:14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web.

Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.

Job 14:7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

Job 14:19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

Job 19:10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

Job 27:8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

Job 41:9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?

Psalms 22:9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

Psalms 31:24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Psalms 33:18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

Psalms 33:22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

Psalms 39:7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

Psalms 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

Psalms 42:11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalms 43:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalms 71:14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.

Psalms 78:7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

Psalms 119:81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.

Psalms 119:114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

Psalms 130:7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

Psalms 131:3 Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.

Psalms 146:5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

Psalms 147:11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Proverbs 10:28 The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.

Proverbs 11:7 When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.

Proverbs 14:32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.

Proverbs 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Proverbs 29:20 Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Isaiah 38:18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Jeremiah 14:8 O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?

Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

Jeremiah 17:13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

Jeremiah 17:17 Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.

Jeremiah 31:17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

Jeremiah 50:7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.

Lamentations 3:18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord:

Lamentations 3:24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

Lamentations 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

Ezekiel 13:6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

Ezekiel 19:5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

Ezekiel 37:11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

Joel 3:16 The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

Luke 6:34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

Acts 16:19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,

Acts 23:6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

Acts 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

Acts 26:6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:

Acts 26:7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

Acts 27:20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

Acts 28:20 For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.

Romans 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

Romans 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

1 Corinthians 9:10 Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

1 Corinthians 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

2 Corinthians 1:7 And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

Galatians 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

Philippians 2:23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.

Colossians 1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

Colossians 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Titus 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

Hebrews 6:11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:

Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

Hebrews 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

Hebrews 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1 Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

1 Nephi 19:24 Wherefore I spake unto them, saying: Hear ye the words of the prophet, ye who are a remnant of the house of Israel, a branch who have been broken off; hear ye the words of the prophet, which were written unto all the house of Israel, and liken them unto yourselves, that ye may have hope as well as your brethren from whom ye have been broken off; for after this manner has the prophet written.

2 Nephi 33:9 I also have charity for the Gentiles. But behold, for none of these can I hope except they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the strait path which leads to life, and continue in the path until the end of the day of probation.

Jacob 2:19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good--to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

Jacob 4:4 For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.

Jacob 4:11 Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh.

Jacob 7:5 And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken.

Alma 5:10 And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?

Alma 13:29 Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest.

Alma 22:16 But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.

Alma 25:16 Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a hope through faith, unto eternal salvation, relying upon the spirit of prophecy, which spake of those things to come.

Alma 27:28 And they did look upon shedding the blood of their brethren with the greatest abhorrence; and they never could be prevailed upon to take up arms against their brethren; and they never did look upon death with any degree of terror, for their hope and views of Christ and the resurrection; therefore, death was swallowed up to them by the victory of Christ over it.

Alma 32:21 And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

Alma 34:41 But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

Alma 38:2 And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end.

Alma 58:11 Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him.

3 Nephi 3:10 And I write this epistle unto you, Lachoneus, and I hope that ye will deliver up your lands and your possessions, without the shedding of blood, that this my people may recover their rights and government, who have dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government, and except ye do this, I will avenge their wrongs. I am Giddianhi.

3 Nephi 4:4 Therefore, there was no chance for the robbers to plunder and to obtain food, save it were to come up in open battle against the Nephites; and the Nephites being in one body, and having so great a number, and having reserved for themselves provisions, and horses and cattle, and flocks of every kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years, in the which time they did hope to destroy the robbers from off the face of the land; and thus the eighteenth year did pass away.

Mormon 6:4 And it came to pass that we did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents around about the hill Cumorah; and it was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains; and here we had hope to gain advantage over the Lamanites.

Ether 12:4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Ether 12:8 But because of the faith of men he has shown himself unto the world, and glorified the name of the Father, and prepared a way that thereby others might be partakers of the heavenly gift, that they might hope for those things which they have not seen.

Ether 12:28 Behold, I will show unto the Gentiles their weakness, and I will show unto them that faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me--the fountain of all righteousness.

Moroni 7:3 Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven.

Moroni 7:41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

Moroni 7:44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

Moroni 8:26 And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.

Moroni 9:25 My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.

Moroni 10:20 Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.

Moroni 10:22 And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in despair; and despair cometh because of iniquity.

Doctrine and Covenants 6:19 Admonish him in his faults, and also receive admonition of him. Be patient; be sober; be temperate; have patience, faith, hope and charity.

Doctrine and Covenants 42:45 Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection.

Doctrine and Covenants 121:11 And they who do charge thee with transgression, their hope shall be blasted, and their prospects shall melt away as the hoar frost melteth before the burning rays of the rising sun;

Doctrine and Covenants 138:14 All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Articles of Faith 1:13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul--We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

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1 Corinthians 13:7 …love hopes all things…”

The third of four clauses in 1 Corinthians 13:7 says that “…love (charity) hopes all things…” It is closely related to the previous clause “…love believes all things…” and yet distinct in its own way. Last week we learned that to “believe all things” means that we assume the best in others, that we are willing to give others the benefit of the doubt, that we are willing to overlook past sins and failures and trust that God is at work in them.

The difference is that “believing all things” has an eye to the present, to “hope all things” has an eye to the future. This word we see translated as “hope” is the Greek word “elpizo” is also translated as “trust” or “expect” depending on your translation. It is the Christian “hope”, not the finger-crossing wishing upon a start of the world, but the certain expectation of God’s people. It usually has reference to the believers confidence in salvation, as in 1 Tim 4:10 in which Paul says that “we have placed our hope in the living God who is the Savior of all people”, or in John 5:45 in which Jesus says that the Jews had tragically set their “hope” on Moses who now accused them. Often enough though it is used of human affairs, like in Romans 15:24 in which Paul says that he “hopes” to see the Roman believers on his way to Spain, or in Philippians 2:19 when Paul “hoped” so send Timothy his friends.

Here in 1 Cor 13, as we saw last week, the context is not only the realm of human affairs, as opposed to the “hope” of salvation, but it has to do with our regard for others. If we are to “hope all things” it means that we invest the same kind of confident expectation that we usually reserve for God, Himself, in the people of God. To “hope all things” means to confidently expect the long-term spiritual growth of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

To “hope all things” means that we never consider another to be a lost cause. It means that we never give up on each other, even when we see one another fall and fall hard. Christians believe that everyone that God calls will see maturity and eventually glorification. Hoping all things yields a willingness to encourage each other as fellow runners of the same race. Christians are determined that nobody is ever left behind. We understand that we are all works in progress and have confidence that we all are becoming more like Christ, even if some days it’s pretty hard to see.

When we fail to “hope all things” we consider failures of sin to be a final judgment. It is betrayed in quickness to write other off. We have critical notions of others and when they meet our expectations of their weakness, we cross them off our list and push them out of our lives. Are you like me? Do you make your mind up about some people? Do you get tired of others doing the “same old things” and just “move on”, too? Are your negative opinions of others hardened and resistant to change? Do you see everything some people do through the same critical filter?

When we fail to “hope all things” we separate. We separate because we feel we have to move on, as if the offender has fallen out of our boat and won’t recover. And what is most awful about losing hope is that is can be so silent. We usually won’t even bother to confront them in hopes of producing repentance, simply receding from them, quietly, withdrawing from their orbit. We even convince ourselves that we are actually “covering their sin in love” by staying quiet.

Like failing to “believe all things”, failure to “hope all things” is unbelief; it is unbelief in the nature of God’s work. It is unbelief that God finishes what He starts, as though He forget or walks away. We’ve made God in our image, haven’t we? Walking away is what WE do, not God.

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InfoWarrior82
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Re: Church Leaders and Secret Societies: An Open Letter That Was Sent to Several Hundred General Authorities of the Chur

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How did you get the email addresses of all the general authorities??

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