Jan. 2022: When the Church Doubled Down on Advising Members to "Trust in the Arm of Flesh"

SUMMARY: 

• In the last two weeks, Elder Ballard and BYU-I President Henry Eyring both doubled down on the church's advocacy of following the "the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders" 
• Both leaders said we would win the "war" against Covid by following said recommendations, whereas there was no mention whatsoever of Jesus Christ, who has offered to win the war for us. 
•  Both leaders presented statements with significant errors which do not square with facts and could easily mislead others. 
• This has set up a situation where the church's leaders are clearly "Denying the Lord." 
• One could even say that by the actions and statements of the Brethren, a new church has formed at "the Altar of Covid," complete with saviors, gospel, temple recommends and more. 
• In turning to man instead of God for solutions, leaders have effectively become idolatrous, which always has and always will result in a cursing. 
• Contrary to popular belief that the Brethren are simply "urging" members to take the jab, they are allowing local-level leaders to coerce members to get the jab or not allowed to worship inside church buildings (video proof included in blog post).

(Note: Since my last post, I've been wanting to publish something other than the Church and its responses to the Covid issue. However, the situation is such that if I don't address this issue now, this post will lose its timeliness. Maybe we should pray that there's a brief respite in Covid so I can get on to some other juicy insights).

This last week, the church doubled down in encouraging members to trust in the arm of flesh.

First Up: Elder Ballard

In referencing the First Presidency's August 12, 2021 announcement to the world, [1] Ballard said on January 6th:

"Following the guidelines of the federal and state medical advisers has proven to be a wise thing for members of the Church to do. The Church invites its members to be wise and prudent and do the wise thing for their families."  [2]

(While it is true that church leaders "invite" members to get the jab, as we'll see below, it's doing more than inviting; it's constraining (forcing "by imposed stricture, restriction, or limitation") [3]  -- which is a synonym of compelling or compulsion (see D&C 121:37) - members to take the jab).

The rest of the article on Ballard raises more questions:

• Ballard tells readers to "Just keep smiling" and that "things will be OK." 
• How can he pronounce these reassurances when prophecies of the future found in 1 Nephi, 3 Nephi, Mormon, Moroni, Jeremiah, Daniel and Revelations paint a diametrically opposite (a very frightening and violent) picture of the future?
• "We've been dealing with it [the pandemic] wisely." 
• Is trusting in the arm of flesh - and encouraging members to do the same - a wise course of action? 
• Where in the scriptures do we read that it's OK to trust in the arm of flesh (which includes medical experts and government leaders)?
• Are those scriptures (which instruct us not to truth in the arm of flesh) now invalidated? If so, what else has been invalidated?
• "The Church has not stopped; the Church has gone forward. We've used wisdom and good judgment" and "The Restoration has not stopped. Missionary service has not stopped. The Church hasn't stopped. We're moving forward - all in preparation for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." 
• If the Church really has "gone forward" and is "moving forward", then why does the church's own 2020 statistical report [4] show that in April 2020, the convert baptismal rate was 0.6% -- the lowest in recorded recent history?

• If the Brethren truly have "keys" of the priesthood, then where are their fruits with respect to the church's first mission - "to proclaim the gospel"? [5] 
• How is this "moving forward"? 
• How does this decline in convert baptisms reflect "wisdom and good judgment"? 
• Is this what the Savior wants - nearly zero convert baptisms?
• "President Ballard pointed to state and national statistics that indicate vaccines are helping to quell the spread of the virus." How can this be said when:
• Hospital databases show a huge increase in "vaccine"-related injuries. [6] 
• The U.K. is reporting that 4x more "vaxxed" than "unvaxxed" people are dying. [7] 
• Fully "vaccinated" surpass "unvaccinated" in Australian hospitals. [8] 
• Australia now admits Covid "vaccines" are harming people, offers up to $600,000 in compensation for the seriously injured. [9] 
• "All of the Church's general authorities and their wives have chosen to be vaccinated, not only to protect themselves but to protect others."
• This establishes a dichotomy within the church's membership: The "vaxxed" (who "protect themselves" and "protect others") and the "unvaxxed" (who do not). This has been a prime source of frustration to many members, as evidenced in many social media groups. 

Ballard's statements may sound optimistic and encouraging, but with a miniscule amount of digging, they don't hold up in light of true facts. What kind of leader encourages others with statements based on outright lies?

Second Up: Pres. Eyring (the other one)

Five days later, BYU-Idaho President Henry J. Eyring doubled down on the "trust in the arm of flesh" rhetoric:

"COVID, it appears, is testing our resolve to follow the guidance of governmental and Church authorities. But, rather than seeing an unfair and perhaps even needless intrusion on our freedom, we can embrace the trials, tests and potential victories to be had." [10] 

He then quoted the First Presidency's August 2021 letter, which states:

"We know that protection from the diseases they cause can only be achieved by immunizing a very high percentage of the population ... We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders."

Three points regarding Eyring's address:

1. "the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders" - I have yet to see any recommendations which have been wise, because many of them have changed or been proven wrong during the Covid crisis. If they were truly thoughtful, they would not be unjustifiably shunning alternative treatments (which has led to many lawsuits and even more deaths). Instead, they would be emphasizing boosting the body's God-given natural immune system (which they have publicly neglected and rejected).
2. Church leaders have often equated battling the Covid pandemic with a war. Yet in Pres. Kimball's famous June, 1976 Ensign article, "The False Gods We Worship," he states,

"We forget that if we are righteous the Lord will either not suffer our enemies to come upon us-and this is the special promise to the inhabitants of the land of the Americas (see 2 Nephi 1:7)-or he will fight our battles for us (Exodus 14:14; D&C 98:37, to name only two references of many). This he is able to do, for as he said at the time of his betrayal, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53.)

What are we to fear when the Lord is with us? Can we not take the Lord at his word and exercise a particle of faith in him?" 

3. Eyring quoted the First Presidency's announcement:

"We know that protection from the diseases they cause can only be achieved by immunizing a very high percentage of the population." 

"Immunization" is the "only" way? The same immunization that's proven ineffective even to those who have received the jab? The same immunization that's caused catastrophic adverse effects among those who received the jab?

The church has never mentioned Matthew 26:53 during the entirety of this pandemic. Nor has it mentioned the power of prayer, the Word of Wisdom and/or the role of faith in healing and preventing disease. In fact, Jesus has been found nowhere in the church's public pronouncements.

Instead, it is now proven that the Church is relying on the mistaken notion that "we can win this war" if "everyone" follows "the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders" (who themselves have never quoted the Lord in their public pronouncements. Ever.) and endorse turning only to what? "Immunizing."

This is called "Denying the Lord" (see the 2 Nephi 28 quote below).

"The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh." [11] 

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." [12] 

In fact, not any ordinary men. According to the church, the wars that are to be won over Covid rely not only on mortal men, but men who (as is agreed upon by both sides of the political aisles, and as history amply demonstrates) are very likely prone to self-aggrandizement and corruption (hence the statement "evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days" in the Word of Wisdom). [13] 

Because of this wholesale (and now very deliberate) denial of the Lord, and because there is no mention by the Brethren whatsoever of the power of faith or in the scriptures, I'm concerned - as is Dr. Scott Bradley of freedomsrisingsun.com - of the following (found in the video below, at the 8:25 mark):

"I'm so worried about so many other things one is that central to everything that's happening nowadays is a new god. I'm sorry to say that it's an altar that people have come to worship at called "The Altar of Covid," and the saviors in this new religion have become the physicians, the scientists, the researchers, the politicians and the big pharma companies." 

Carried further, I would also add that in this new religion: 

• Fear has replaced faith.
• Youth suicides have replaced youth activities.
• Adverse reactions (like death) have replaced healings.
• Loyalty to men has replaced trust in God.
• Cover-ups and redacted public documents have replaced transparency.
• "Vaccine" stations could be considered this new religion's temple.
• "Vaccine" passports are the recommend cards.
• Booster shots the new sacrament.
• The guidance of the CDC as the new gospel and, 
• The new garment to prove your devotion? You guessed it: masks. 

The Church is Now Worshipping Idols

Pres. Kimball continues in his article, "The False Gods We Worship":

"in all ages when men have fallen under the power of Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the 'arm of flesh' and in 'gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know' (Dan. 5:23)-that is, in idols."

"Whatever thing a man sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn't also happen to be the true and living God of Israel, that man is laboring in idolatry."

"In spite of our delight in defining ourselves as modern, and our tendency to think we possess a sophistication that no people in the past ever had-in spite of these things, we are, on the whole, an idolatrous people-a condition most repugnant to the Lord."

Pres. Kimball said that in 1976. Here we are 44 years later. Do you think that "we are, on the whole, an idolatrous people" statement still applies? In speaking of our time - right now -- the Lord said in D&C 1:16 (italics added):

"They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall."

The Result of all this Idolatry? Cursing.

There should be nothing safe nor reassuring about trusting in the arm of flesh to "win this war." Without the Lord of Hosts as the church's battle cry, a disastrous outcome is assured.

I find it interesting that the August 19, 2021 letter was only sent out by the First Presidency and not the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (which would have been even more powerful and convincing to church members). This may be because not all of the Twelve concur with the First Presidency's message. One of those may be Elder D. Todd Christofferson. Although I'm not a big fan of his October 2020 General Conference talk "Sustainable Societies", he did have this to say:

"I think it safe to say that when people turn from a sense of accountability to God and begin to trust instead in the 'arm of flesh,' disaster lurks. Trusting in the arm of flesh is to ignore the divine Author of human rights and human dignity and to give highest priority to riches, power, and the praise of the world (while often mocking and persecuting those who follow a different standard)."

Pres. Kimball also said,

"We must leave off the worship of modern-day idols and a reliance on the 'arm of flesh,' for the Lord has said to all the world in our day, 'I will not spare any that remain in Babylon.' (D&C 64:24.)"

Are they right? Without question. The scriptures contain a curse on those who follow man or put their trust in man's arm. In 2 Nephi 28, Nephi's final address warns the gentiles how vulnerable they are to this mistake, and how they will be cursed as a consequence. He offers hope, however, conditioned on repentance and return to following the Lord. 

"Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts." [14] 

"Oh Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yes, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm." [15] 

How this affects the local levels of the church

Pres. Ezra Taft Benson once said,

"Sometimes from behind the pulpit, in our classrooms, in our Council meetings and in our church publications, we hear, read or witness things that do not square with the truth. This is especially true where freedom is involved. Now do not let this serve as an excuse for your own wrong-doing. The Lord is letting the wheat and the tares mature before he fully purges the Church. He is also testing you to see if you will be misled. The devil is trying to deceive the very elect." [16] 

These days, what are we hearing or witnessing that does not square with the truth?

1. Members saying, "I know that taking the jab is wrong, but it's a 'Spiritual Obedience Test,' so I'll take it."
   
   Many members equate taking the jab with the Israelites' looking at the brass serpent on a pole. The serpent represented Jesus Christ -- the very same Jesus Christ who is never mentioned by medical experts, government leaders nor church brethren regarding Covid. Looking to Jesus should heal you. Instead, the jab has accumulated more adverse events than all other "vaccines" combined over the last 20 years, and many more who have taken it have still contracted Covid. Those aren't the same results as those who looked to the brass serpent and lived.

2. "Those who don't take the jab/wear a mask shouldn't attend church with those who have."

When Alma and Amulek visited the Zoramites, they observed that the people were not included in their services: 

"Therefore they were not permitted to enter into their synagogues to worship God, being esteemed as filthiness." [17] 

Later, Jesus instructed the Nephite disciples, 

"And behold, ye shall meet together oft; and ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you and forbid them not;" [18] 

And also warned his disciples, 

"They shall put you out of the synagogues" [19]  

In encouraging members to get the jab and wear masks, The First Presidency's usage of the word "urge" should not be considered as a simple recommendation or advice. Since the announcement's release, many wards and stakes have adopted it as an actual policy governing members' attendance to temples and local church meetings. I have received reports that non-adherence to these local policies has denied some members’ ability to worship alongside other church members. 

Because Church Headquarters has not clamped down on these restrictive actions, but has instead let them perpetuate, its silence and inactivity is a tacit approval of these local measures. Indeed, while the church's worldwide leaders hide behind the word "urge," many local leaders aren't. And the Brethren just let it continue.

One communication I have received was from a member who lives in a ward and stake whose leaders make it abundantly clear that people are not welcome at church if they don't mask up.

Other wards and stakes have taken things a step further.  Here is one church member's report:

"This is New Zealand, This is MY Stake .. Yes, we have mandates but other Stakes and Wards have found ways around it, so this segregation and exclusion doesn't happen,  for example; getting smaller groups of people in different parts of the chapel , holding meetings outdoors or even continue Zoom meetings for everyone until everyone can meet face to face. (It doesn't have to be this way) 

Yes, these are the NZ government mandates and rules but no the majority of people are accepting these, we have signed petitions, we have being protesting on the streets ( all religious and non religious denominations) but nobody is listening, the Main Stream Media ignore us.. nobody shows what is really happening. We are loosing our jobs (especially health workers and teachers) lots of businesses have been force to close and we are being excluded from services and some retail shops.

No, This is not the Church doings!! These are some local leaders who have chosen this way.  The Church has to abide by the law of the land. Some other leaders have chosen to find ways to abide by the law and still don't add or promote the segregation and discrimination. 

I thought to show this, so we don't "normalise" or accept this as a norm! I want to make this clear "This is not the Church" just some leaders."

Here's the video proof:

When church members feel they can no longer worship God at church/their "synagogue", and/or feel shamed into having to wear a mask or get the jab, then they will often choose to worship God at home. [20] 

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." [21] 

Sources

 1.   https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-message-covid-19-august-2021
 2.   https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-01-06/covid-19-pandemic-two-years-president-ballard-message-of-optimism-238887
 3.   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constrain
 4.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints_membership_history
 5.   https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1982/04/remember-the-mission-of-the-church
 6.   https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/internal-hospital-data-confirm-a
 7.   https://dailyexpose.uk/2021/11/17/covid-deaths-ratio-vaxxed-to-unvaxxed-41-corporate-media-should-be-censored-for-spreading-disinformation
 8.   https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/fully-vaccinated-australians-in-hospital-with-covid-19-surpass-unvaccinated_4207135.html
 9.   https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/human-body/pfizer-boss-says-two-doses-provides-limited-protection-if-any-against-omicron/news-story/9d76126d080e2010f05eb0b4ae5e0c45
10.   https://www.byui.edu/radio/interview-with-president-henry-j-eyring-and-kelly-c-eyring-about-their-devotional-address; https://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/news/the-eyrings-welcome-byu-idaho-students-back-to-campus/article_6a2773f6-b598-526b-8060-07882394a0a4.html
11.   D&C 1:19.
12.   Psalm 118:8.
13.   D&C 89:4.
14.   2 Nephi 28:31-32; italics added.
15.   2 Nephi 4 :34; italics added.
16.   "Our Immediate Responsibility", BYU Speeches, October 25, 1966.
17.   Alma 32:3.
18.   3 Nephi 18:22.
19.   John 16:2.
20.   Alma 32:5-11; 1 Corinthians 3:16
21.   2 Nephi 31:20. Italics added.

Pres. Oaks' blasting of those "silly", "political" religious exemptions

[Below is a hypothetical letter to President Dallin H. Oaks. Had this been a real letter, it never would have been delivered to him in the first place].

President Oaks,

On November 12, 2021, you participated in a University of Virginia forum. When (supposedly) asked about the appropriateness of religious exemptions in light of the Covid shots, you said:

TRANSCRIPT: 

"On the question of religious exemptions from vaccination: I agree entirely with what he said. That's why I said I didn't see a legal issue this was positive. That for me it's simply an illustration of how bad things get when you mix medical questions with political issues. You've got a bad mix of political issues and medical issues and vaccinations. 

It's interesting to me as a person legally trained and reading these controversies from a distance, as I do, without the current personal knowledge and practice that Professor Lincoln has, I just think it's silly for anybody to think that any available, reliable medical evidence untainted by political considerations would give you a reason to seek a religious exemption."

It's clear to me that you are either apathetic, ignorant or in denial of objective, scientifically-validated facts regarding the jab which are free of political considerations.

Below, I will explain to you why people want a religious exemption from the jab (which the church refuses to endorse). [1] 

I will cite sources with zero - I repeat, zero - political agenda. I will stick to clinical and scientific facts, with a tiny smattering of news headlines which are also apolitical in nature. 

More proof that the jab is neither safe nor effective…courtesy of Pfizer

• According to a confidential Pfizer trial study report (here), between 12/1/20 and 2/28/21, Pfizer received reports of 42,086 adverse events ("case reports"). Subtracting the 32,686 with unknown outcomes, 13,104 had adverse reactions which either continued in some form after the initial reactions went away, were not recovered from at the time of the report, or were fatal. 13,104 / 42,086 = 31% of those with adverse effects either continued suffering or died. A 31% adverse harm rate is unprecedented for any vaccine in history.
• Of the 34 children under age 12 who were given the injection and had an adverse event, 24 experienced serious side effects. Of those 34, 13 (38%) cases were still unresolved at the date of the report (2/28/21). [2]
• There were 75 serious reports out of 270 cases involving pregnant women (27%). It may take years for us to understand the full extent of the long-term effects to these babies (even among those who showed no immediate adverse events).

Here's the analysis:

It is a proven fact that not only was the U.S. Government informed of this data, but it also did nothing about it. That is a non-partisan statement. Meanwhile, the Church's "prophets, seers and revelators" continued to promote it as "safe and effective," a "miracle," a "godsend" and even an obedience test. [3]  Again, that's apolitical.

"And Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them" [4]

Now that you know just how destructive and even lethal these jabs are, let's examine two specific adverse events. 

Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle. Pericarditis is an inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. In both cases, the body's immune system causes inflammation in response to an infection or some other trigger. [5]

In my November 20, 2021 post, I mentioned BYU basketball player Richard Harward, whose stint on the school's team was cut short soon after getting the jab. Since then, neither the school nor the church would comment on Harward's true condition.

His story is not unique:

And the death toll rises from there.

So, what do a bunch of fainting athletes have to do with the Covid shots?

Dr. Meryl Nass is a biological warfare epidemiologist. She investigated the world's largest anthrax episode in Zimbabwe and developed a model for analyzing epidemics to assess whether they are natural or man-made. In this presentation, she mentioned: 

• "Myocarditis almost always occurs within 4 days of a shot, and sometimes on the same day."
• "It's most common in teenagers ."

As you can see by this table, VAERS reports that out of over 2 million administered dozes, clinicians expected to see 0-4 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis among 12-17 year-old injected males. Instead, they saw 128 cases. They also expected to see 1-8 cases among 18-24 year-old jabbed males; instead, it was 219.

About 5 weeks ago, scientists in Hong Kong published an academic report which found myocarditis in 1 in every 2,700 post-jabbed 12-17 year-old boys (after their second shot) -- far greater than the 1 in 18,000 in the VAERS data. Subsequent tests of soldiers by Walter Reed Medical Center found the incidence to be 1 in 220. 1 in 30 soldiers displayed cardiac damage. [6]

"How does this happen," you ask? In this video, Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi -- a German professor and expert on Immunobiology and Immunopathogens -- describes how the virus shreds blood vessels and organs, especially the heart and lungs.

Next, how can you confirm if a person who has died did so because of a Covid shot? There's only one way to find out: Consult a pathologist. Shockingly, this has hardly been done in the world. But one who has done it is Prof. Arne Burkhardt, MD. One of Germany's most experienced pathologists, Burkhardt has 40 years of experience and has published over 150 articles in journals and as contributions to handbooks.

Burkhardt found T-lymphocytes and killer lymphocytes stimulated by the Covid shots had destroyed just about every organ of the body, especially the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and brain. Microscope images showed these organs destroyed by what one could best describe as a shotgun blast of T-lymphocytes and killer lymphocytes -- a condition Dr. Burkhardt had never seen in his 40 years of pathology.

How much politics do you see in these clinical results? How can they not be taken seriously by you?

Let's see who's really putting our full-time missionaries in harm's way.

What do all these facts mean to you?

The church's full-time missionary force is right smack dab in the middle of those statistics. 

That means that in requiring those 18-24 year-old full-time male missionaries to get the jab prior to entering the MTC (which is required for all MTC entrants), you are potentially endangering their lives. [7]

Let's take a look at some of the unfortunate deaths among the church's full-time missionary force last year: [8] 

In January: 

• A 24-year-old elder serving in his home country of Haiti died after being admitted to a hospital with "health complications"
• A 19-year-old elder from Utah was killed in a car crash in Arkansas
• A 20-year-old Nigerian serving a mission in his homeland died after a "sudden health episode (unrelated to COVID-19)."

In March: 

• A 21-year-old missionary drowned in his homeland of El Salvador 
• A 48-year-old mission president in the Philippines died of an apparent heart attack.

In May: 

• An 18-year-old missionary from Utah and…
• His 20-year-old companion from Colorado were killed in a head-on collision in Denton, Texas.

In July: 

• A 20-year-old missionary from Utah and…
• His 20-year-old companion from Montana were killed in a head-on collision in New Mexico.
• A 60-year-old mission president from Argentina died of cardiac arrest after battling COVID-19 for two months. He had been overseeing the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission.

In December:

• A 24-year-old missionary serving in the Ivory Coast Abidjan East Mission, was found unresponsive by his companion shortly after waking. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. A church spokesman said the missionary's death "remains unknown at this time, but preliminary reports suggest it is the result of an undiagnosed medical condition."

All 10 of those deaths were males. Of those 10, 8 were in the 18-24 year-old demographic mentioned above. And of those 8, 3 explanations were vague and resembled those given of the young athletes' collapses and deaths. You can get away with vague "health complications" and "undiagnosed medical conditions" some of the time. But when they begin to be the norm rather than the rare exception (as we're seeing among athletes of the same demographic around the world), then yes, you have a credibility problem.

President Oaks, it's obvious that you're not seeing these apolitical news stories, apolitical clinical results and apolitical scientific analyses. However, I can assure you that the young people of the church, and their parents, are aware of these adverse events. And it's scaring the crap out of them. 

For these (and likely more) reasons, people are requesting exemptions to the shots based on their religious beliefs. Their concerns are not silly; they're (literally) deadly serious. In many cases, these members consider their bodies as temples. If the facts above are any indication (which they are), receiving the jab is a clear-cut case of defiling their temple. 

Have you always considered temple defilement "silly", or is this a recent development?

"know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you"? [9] 

In denying these people's religious exemptions (and even worse, if you consider such exemptions "silly"), you demean and debase their right to effectively protect the greatest of God's creations - their temples, their bodies - from defilement.

Who's really politicizing the jab in the church

Pres. Oaks, on August 12, 2021, you signed a news release stating that "Available vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective" and that "We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders." [10] 

The apolitical facts speak for themselves: The Covid shots are not "safe and effective", and the "wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders" have proven to be unwise and thoughtless. 

Conversely, while my statements above are apolitical, your news release was a clear-cut recycling of statements by some of the most vicious political and partisan people in our country today: 

Which goes to show that maybe it's not the people seeking religious exemptions - and the facts they use to justify them - that's silly (in a deadly way).

Maybe it's you.

P.S. I caught your usage of the term "Mormon" at the 54 second mark here, stated on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 in Rome. As much as I know Rome holds a very sacred, solemn place in the hearts of the 15 brethren, please be careful. "Mormon" is a Satanic term used to give Satan victories. Using it aligns you with Satan.

In light of the church's refusal to grant religious exemptions, let people show that they take the sanctity of His holiest temples - their bodies - seriously. 

Because no servant of God - no matter how high-ranking they may be - would ever tell you to ingest a proven poison into your temple.

Sources

 1.   https://www.deseret.com/2021/9/23/22688511/churchbeat-newsletter-lds-mormon-church-latter-day-saints-vaccine-exemption

 2.   Pfizer trial study report, p. 13.

 3.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So9X_fDZYE8&t=9s&ab_channel=Alexander

 4.   D&C 45:26; D&C 88:91

 5.   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/myocarditis.html

 6.   https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/cid/ciab989/6445179

 7.   https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/12/30/covid-outbreak-reported

 8.   https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/12/23/latter-day-saint

 9.   1 Corinthians 6:19

10.  https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-message-covid-19-august-2021

A BOLD CLAIM: The opening verses of "Upon My House" are now underway

Yesterday, news outlets reported that 91 of the church's 588 missionaries in the Provo MTC have Covid. They're now implementing additional precautions there in Provo. [52]

This raises a few questions for me:

1. Aren't the Brethren supposed to be "prophets, seers and revelators"? If so, and they foresaw this happening to the MTC, then why would they let their own missionaries get so sick? If they didn't foresee this happening to their own missionary workforce, then that raises a ton more questions.
2. Aren't missionaries supposed to have received the jab prior to entering the MTC? How can this be? Isn't the jab supposed to be "safe and effective"? With 1/6 of the already-jabbed missionaries down with Covid, it doesn't sound like the jab is very effective to me.

So, in light of these developments, I thought now might be a good time for a reality check into just how "safe and effective" the jab is which the Brethren recommended we get:

In an announcement sent to the world in August 12, 2021, the First Presidency made the first of two claims:

Claim #1: "Vaccines have proven to be safe and effective"

"To provide personal protection from such severe infections, we urge individuals to be vaccinated. Available vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective." [1]    

Let's examine both the safety and effectiveness of the Covid-19-related vaccines so far. 

"Safe"

• (12/5/21) Pfizer document concedes that there is a large increase in types of adverse events to its vaccine. [2]
• Document released by Pfizer apparently as a result of a Freedom Of Information court order in the USA reveals a vast array of previously unknown vaccine adverse effects compiled from official sources around the world.
• Pfizer concedes this is 'a large increase' in adverse event reports and that even this huge volume is under reported.
• Over 100+ diseases are listed, many very serious.
• This document was compiled by Pfizer in the very early days of the vaccine rollout in NZ but was possibly not supplied to our government.
• (11/8/21) CDC director admits to "people dying from vaccine" during an interview [3]
• (10/10/21) An excellent compilation of events surrounding Covid-related deaths [4]
• (9/28/21) Whistleblower: Nearly 50k Medicare patients died soon after getting COVID shot [5]
• United Kingdom
• (12/6/21) A still-staggering 81% of hospital deaths in the UK are of the vaccinated. [6]  [7]
• (9/24/21) UK hospital data shocks the world: 80% of COVID deaths are among the vaccinated… COVID deaths up 3,000% after vaccine wave [8]
• (11/11/21) U.K.: 4x more vaxxed people are dying than unvaxxed [9]

"Effective"

Studies

• (11/23/21) Swedish study of 4 million people found that the vaccine (1) doesn't offer protection at all, (2) its so-called protection plunged significantly after six months, and (3) those who are vaccinated are more likely to be infected and suffer severe disease than people who aren't vaccinated. [10]
• (9/30/21) Comprehensive study: Higher vaccination rates DO NOT result in lower COVID-19 infection rates [11]
• Published in Sept. 2021 in the European Journal of Epidemiology, a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal
• Examined 168 countries and 2,947 counties in the United States

US

• (10/8/21) Most vaccinated state in America now seeing massive surge in Covid hospitalizations [12]
• Biden's own administration advises against traveling to high vaccination countries because of surging Covid outbreaks there. [13]

Israel

• "Most of the population [in Israel] is vaccinated, and 90%...85-90% of the hospitalizations here are "fully vaccinated" people. Yes, unfortunately, the vaccine…as they say, the effectiveness is waning. Outbreaks in hospitals, one patient infects a large number of people. It is not just here and there." [14]
• (8/16/21) "Israel has among the world's highest levels of vaccination for COVID-19, with 78% of those 12 and older fully vaccinated, the vast majority with the Pfizer vaccine. Yet the country is now logging one of the world's highest infection rates, with nearly 650 new cases daily per million people. More than half are in fully vaccinated people." [15]

Singapore

• (9/13/21) It has already reached 81% vaccination rate (ages 12+; one of the fastest in the world to reach that level of compliance). [16]
• Still seeing chronic illness explosion [16]
• The number of patients requiring oxygen doubled [16]

Scotland

• (12/3/21) Fully vaccinated account for 9 in every 10 Covid-19 deaths since August in Scotland. [17]
• (9/14/21) 80% of Covid deaths in Scotland are occurring among VACCINATED residents. [18]

Ireland

• (11/5/21) Ireland experiencing highest number of new Covid infections in Europe despite also having highest percentage of adults "fully vaccinated" [19]

Australia

• (9/30/21) 6 out of 7 new COVID-19 deaths in New South Wales were vaccinated [20]

Africa

• (11/22/21) Africa is only 6% vaccinated, and Covid has practically disappeared. Scientists are "baffled" [21]

Schools

• (9/27/21) Almost fully vaccinated Harvard Business School shuts down after massive COVID-19 outbreak [22]
• (9/16/21) Cornell University [23]
• It has a strict vaccine mandate
• Has a 95% FULL vaccination rate
• The mandate has done little to control infections at the school
• COVID-19 cases are spiking
• The shots are not stopping the virus from spreading

"Ye shall know them by their fruits." [24]

"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." [25]

"You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul." [26]

Claim #2: "Follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders."

"We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders." [1]

What is the most underreported story of 2021? The horrific COVID policies (developed and promoted by said medical experts and government officials) that are hurting young people.

“They will be paying for our generation’s decisions the rest of their lives”: @JanCBS explains why she thinks 2021's biggest underreported story was the devastating impact of COVID policies on children pic.twitter.com/AUU1f6AFNi

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 26, 2021

What do the "medical experts and government leaders" actually do (or not do)?

Here's Rep. Jim Jordan interviewing Dr. Marty Makary (Professor of Surgery, John Hopkins School of Medicine) on Dec. 21, 2021 during a meeting of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis:

"We have we have the head guy, Mr. Fauci,  Dr. Fauci, saying "I represent science," but he's afraid to actually do the science and do the studies that need to be done to answer this question [about natural immunity] and we have to rely on international studies and your private study to get the truth to the American people."

"They [the U.S. federal government] knows the answer and don't want the American people, uh, they they know the answer and don't want the American people to know or they do know the answer and are trying to hide it." [27]

What do the scriptures and church leaders say about trusting in the arm of flesh?

(Unless the First Presidency, medical experts and governments are not mortal, the following applies to them):

"For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah." [28]

"Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils" [29]

"Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders." [30]

"Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." [31]

"O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm." [32]

"Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost." [33]

“The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh” [34]

"For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God." [35]

"And now I command you, my servant Joseph, to repent and walk more uprightly before me, and to yield to the persuasions of men no more;" [36]

Click here for General Authority statements which condemn trusting in the arm of flesh. 

My Opinion: We are now witnessing the opening verses of "Upon My House"

Are church leaders telling us to follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders? Yes.

Are these same medical experts and government leaders ignoring a course which prioritizes natural health (and enhancing the body's innate, God-given immunity capabilities) and instead promoting a man-made remedy (that's neither safe nor effective)? Yes.

Are we in the last days? Yes. 

Did the Lord say there would be evil, designing, conspiring men in the last days? Yes. 

Are these men linked to our health? Yes, via D&C 89 (aka the word of wisdom):

"Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.

Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation" [37]

What did the Lord promise those who took his word of wisdom seriously?

"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;

And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen." [38]

Wow! What promises! I believe them with all my heart and soul. I rejoice, and am thrilled, that they totally supersede and are superior to anything man can develop! I cannot praise his name loud enough, nor long enough, for these awesome promises the Lord made to you and me.

Now let's see what General Authorities have said about the word of wisdom, its awesome promises of health (and more!) and Covid:

The answer is: Nothing.

That's right: Not once has the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve nor any general authority mentioned D&C 89 in any General Conference talk nor official public pronouncement regarding Covid. They have ignored it. [39]

This is baffling because there has been a genuine, bona fide, worldwide health crisis for the last couple of years, and yet the church treats God's word regarding health with utter silence? What's the deal? 

Isn't this a prime opportunity to invite the world to put the Lord's words regarding health to the test? An opportunity to testify of the mercy and the truthfulness of his words? Isn't this an opportunity to show the world what the power of faith, and the power of true priesthood, can do to those stricken with Covid?

What an utterly blown missionary opportunity.

The words of the "wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders" are always changing. How can you possibly trust "wise and thoughtful recommendations" which are inconsistent?

Yet God's words never change. They are always consistent. You can always count on them.

"Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way? 

And if it be by some other way it is not of God.

And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?

If it be some other way it is not of God." [40]

Now let's look at the implications of the LDS church members' desire to "follow the prophet" and trust the medical experts and government leaders (instead of the neglected/ignored words of the Lord). 

In this quote, Joseph Smith directly links "depending on the prophet" with having a darkened mind:

"Prest. J. Smith rose, read the 14th Chap. of Ezekiel— said the Lord had declar’d by the prophet that the people should each one stand for himself and depend on no man or men in that state of corruption of the Jewish church— that righteous persons could only deliver their own souls— app[l]ied it to the present state of the church of Latter-Day Saints— said if the people departed from the Lord, they must fall— that they were depending on the prophet hence were darkened in their minds from neglect of themselves— envious toward the innocent, while they afflict the virtuous with their shafts of envy." [41]

Interestingly, there's another scripture that mentions the loss of one's spiritual light (and quite likely ties in with Covid):

"And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived." [42]

• "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee"
  • Is literally kai phOs luchnou ou mE phanE en soi eti, or "And light of lamp not no may be appearing in you." [43]
  • This cross-references with Jeremiah 25:10: "I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle"
• "the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee"
  • The spirit of the bride (righteous, faithful mortals) and the spirit of the bridegroom (the Lord) no longer resonate within them. [44]
• "for thy merchants were the great men of the earth"
  • The Greek word for merchants is emporoi (plural of emporos) [43] [45]
  • They -- the great and important of the earth -- are selling something. What are they selling? Keep reading...
• "sorceries"
  • Is pharmakeia (far-mak-i'-ah) - the root word for words we commonly use today, like pharmacist and pharmaceutical.
  • It not only means "drugs," but also "poisoning" and/or “the use or administering of drugs” and/or an "enchantment" [46]
• "were all nations deceived"
  • Is eplanEthEsan panta ta ethnE, or "all the nations were strayed/deceived" [43]

Next, let's move things forward a bit into D&C 112:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face." [47]

Here, we see many associations between Revelation 18:23 and D&C 112:23 AND the Joseph Smith quote from above:

And the ultimate result of all this darkness?

"Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord." [48]

(Interestingly, according to the National Institute of Health, "COVID-19 infection is accompanied by an aggressive inflammatory response with the release of a large amount of pro-inflammatory cytokines in an event known as a “cytokine storm.” The host immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus is hyperactive resulting in an excessive inflammatory reaction.") [49] A "whirlwind" is a type of "storm."

Where will these punishments emerge?

"And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord;" [50]

Where will it start?

"First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord." [51]

Or, in other words,

"depending on the prophet" --> 

means you are following the ever-changing "wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders" -- "conspiring men" -- instead of the never-changing words of the Lord -->

means that "the people" are "darkened in their minds" --> 

because of that, "vengeance cometh speedily"

which begins "upon my house"

"First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me"

I wonder who these people are "who have professed to know my name and have not known me"…

Sources

1. First Presidency, August 12, 2021; https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-message-covid-19-august-2021
2. https://dailytelegraph.co.nz/news/pfizer-document-concedes-that-there-is-a-large-increase-in-types-of-adverse-event-reaction-to-its-vaccine
3. https://www.infowars.com/posts/slip-of-the-tongue-cdc-director-says-people-dying-from-vaccine-before-quickly-correcting-herself
4. https://www.stopworldcontrol.com/downloads/en/vaccines/vaccine-death-report.pdf
5. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/nearly-50k-medicare-patients-died-soon-after-getting-covid-shot-whistleblower
6. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1036047/Vaccine_surveillance_report_-_week_47.pdf
7. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/report-fully-vaccinated-account-81-covid-deaths-uk
8. https://humansarefree.com/2021/09/covid-19-deaths-higher-than-this-time-last-year.html
9. https://dailyexpose.uk/2021/11/17/covid-deaths-ratio-vaxxed-to-unvaxxed-41-corporate-media-should-be-censored-for-spreading-disinformation
10. https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/another-major-red-flag-about-covid
11. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-021-00808-7
12. https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-state-with-highest-vaccination-rate-hit-by-virus-surge_4032144.html
13. https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-07-28-government-advises-against-traveling-high-vaccination-countries.html
14. https://grandmageri422.me/2021/09/15/israeli-doctor-kobi-haviv-fully-vaccinated-account-for-85-90-of-hospitalizations-and-former-vice-president-of-committee-from-who-professor-christian-perronne-yesterday-said-that-all-v/comment-page-1
15. Dr. Kobi Haviv, https://www.science.org/news/2021/08/grim-warning-israel-vaccination-blunts-does-not-defeat-delta
16. https://news.trust.org/item/20210913112754-w5k94
17. https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/who-no-evidence-booster-vaccines-offer-greater-protection-to-healthy-populations_4137217.html
18. https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/check-the-covid-death-chart-in-karl-denningers-new-piece
19. https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-11-05-ireland-highest-covid-infections-adults-fully-vaccinated.html
20. https://bigleaguepolitics.com/australian-public-health-official-admits-that-6-of-7-recent-covid-19-deaths-had-been-vaccinated
21. https://news.yahoo.com/scientists-mystified-wary-africa-avoids-074905034.html
22. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/27/harvard-business-school-temporarily-moves-some-mba-classes-online-to-curb-covid-outbreak.html
23. https://www.ithaca.com/news/coronavirus/cornell-sees-spike-in-cases-no-severe-disease-sticks-to-status-quo/article_95b11d7e-0ce1-11ec-bb9d-a728f02c2e99.html
24. Matthew 7:16; 3 Nephi 14:16
25. Matthew 7:20; 3 Nephi 14:20
26. Mahatma Gandhi
27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJE7Tc8YGsc
28. Psalm 44:6–8
29. Isaiah 2:22; 2 Nephi 12:22
30. Jeremiah 9:4
31. Jeremiah 17:5
32. 2 Nephi 4:34
33. 2 Nephi 28:31
34. D&C 1:19
35. D&C 3:7
36. D&C 5:21
37. D&C 89:3-4
38. D&C 89:18-21
39.   https://www.google.com/search?q=%22word+of+wisdom%22+%22covid%22&newwindow=1&rlz=1C1FHFK_enUS980US981&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1/1/2020,cd_max:12/31/2021&sxsrf=AOaemvLx9-39kElN2zm4_8v82P8Xh6zcIg:1640158647743&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiD7MqM8_b0AhVMmWoFHVBVBU0Q_AUoBHoECAEQBg&cshid=1640158672297106&biw=1920&bih=937&dpr=1
40. D&C 50:17-20
41. https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book/48#full-transcript
42. Revelation 18:23
43. https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/rev18.pdf
44. See Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 16:9
45. https://biblehub.com/greek/1713.htm
46. https://biblehub.com/greek/5331.htm
47. D&C 112:23
48. D&C 112:24
49.   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7308649
50. D&C 112:25
51. D&C 112:26
52.   https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2021-12-30/provo-mtc-implements-additional-covid-19-protocols-after-91-of-588-missionaries-test-positive-238390

Why the Church befriended the Nazis, Exed a Nazi resistor and what it all means to you...NOW

When you think of Nazis, what words cross your mind? "Evil"? "Devils"? "Monsters"? "Criminals"? 

And probably worse. 

But what if someone, or something, just as bad came along? Well, naturally, the general public would say that they would never, ever allow another Adolph Hitler to come to power. And I'd agree; Any political leader who wrote a book calling for the genocide, the extermination, of an entire world race would be appalling to us. 

But what if another Hitler were to come along who had the same intentions, the same capabilities (if not more), than the original Hitler? Could we detect him then?

Could the church, which is helmed by "Prophets, seers and revelators" who say "You keep your eyes riveted on the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. We will not lead you astray" [1] ever detect an evil, devilish Hitler and his regime?

Let's see. 

"Keep Your Eyes Riveted"

In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor. He called boycotting Jewish businesses, opened the Dachau concentration camp and established the Gestapo. In 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader and Reich Chancellor). In 1936, Germans marched into the Rhineland (previously demilitarized by the Versailles Treaty) and opened the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. On July 15 1937, they opened the Buchenwald concentration camp. [2]

Now let's say you're the President of the Church at this time (and remember: you're a prophet, seer and revelator. You know stuff most of us don't). As the one who has a direct line to God, would you travel to Germany and hang out with a bunch of Nazis? Would you get photos taken with them, add to their credibility and seek to glorify them? Or would you stay at home, and perhaps even condemn the Nazis?

Well, if you chose to avoid the Nazis and condemn them, then you would be choosing the incorrect course of action. In all actuality, the Church President at the time - Heber J. Grant - chose to spend several weeks in Germany, praising the people and Nazis at every turn. He oversaw the church when it glorified Nazi actions (and even took credit for a few of them). And it was the church Grant led which excommunicated a church member who directly opposed the Hitler regime.

"Good Citizens"

In December 1933, the Deseret News published an article with glowing descriptions of the Nazi's adoption of "Fast Sunday," Hitler's personal physical superiority by adhering to a form of the Word of Wisdom, and the praise members had been receiving "for their patriotism": [3]

A little over two years later, Nazi basketball players participated in the 1936 Olympic Games, held in Berlin. They were trained by none other than LDS elders (on the left). [4]

In his Book "Moroni and the Swastika," author David Conley Nelson stated,

"Mormon missionaries played a small but significant role in the German national basketball team's 1936 Olympic efforts. It was not enough to help a hopelessly overmatched team win even a single game, but it helped Mormons win friends among government officials and assert that the American-based sect was no foe of National Socialism. Young elders introduced basketball fundamentals to some of the athletes who had been picked to play on the German team before a professional coach could be hired. Four missionaries kept the official score books for the first round of Olympic basketball play." 

Also in 1936, the Deseret News published a picture of the European Mission President, Joseph F. Merrill, speaking at a Berlin podium adorned with a large swastika. [5]

More than 700 people attended that soiree.

The next year, in the summer of 1937, President Heber J. Grant visited both German-speaking Switzerland and Nazi Germany. [6]

Below is a picture of Pres. Grant at a banquet with the Saints in Frankfurt, Germany on July 8, 1937 - a few days before the Buchenwald concentration camp (the third one to be constructed) opened. [7]

By this time, Nazi Germany had curtailed many freedoms, including religious freedoms. More than thirty different denominations had been prohibited from preaching there. [8]

And check out that Nazi flag in the background. To the Nazis, it was displayed as a requirement of the National Socialist Government. To us, we posted it because we LDS "believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law" - evil or not.

In other words, the Nazis had already shown a significant hatred for the Jews and had curtailed the religious freedoms of thousands of people. But we were OK with all that (after all, our missionaries were competing against fewer Christian denominations for converts), and to symbolize our okay-ness, the church president plopped himself directly in front of the Nazi flag.

It is reported that there were about 870 people present at this meeting -- one of the largest groups of saints that had ever assembled in Europe." [9]

All of these efforts above were synergistic in positioning the church, its leaders and members as non-threats to the Nazis. Nelson summarized:

"From the top to the bottom of the ecclesiastical chain, Mormons in prewar Nazi Germany cooperated to survive and prosper. Many happily believed that they were favored citizens in a police state. Some ordinary congregants convinced themselves that Hitler had read the Book of Mormon and was a secret church member. Mission President Roy Welker, whose wife rode with Hitler in the Führer's limousine, told a civic meeting in Salt Lake City in 1937 that "Jews are safer today in Germany than they are in many parts of the world." [10]

As BYU professor and historian Douglas F. Tobler summarized (regarding Arthur Zander, the Hamburg Branch President and a Nazi party member), 

"He wanted to show that latter-day saints were good Germans, and there was a tremendous amount of pressure that was put on by the government and the party to quickly separate those who are who are good Germans and those who aren't." [11]

Tobler also said,

"I believe Zander put that [a pro-Nazi sign] up there [in a church building] partly as an expression of his support for the regime and partly to communicate that latter-day saints were good citizens in the Third Reich and partly perhaps to protect his own flock." 

We are told that God will "inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God." [12]

Are praising, assisting, validating and glorifying Nazis "good" things? I'd say no.

Where was the power of discernment amongst the prophet and apostles? How could they not have had any clue that Hitler, that the LDS Church wrote many praising things about, was within a few years of becoming the most evil man in history?

(Kind of reminds me of that picture of the First Presidency meeting with Mark Hofmann just before he killed two people).

That being the case, is it possible that the Lord was telling the church, its leaders and members to avoid the Nazis, and to quit giving them credibility? If he didn't, then he abrogated his responsibilities of "Standing for Something". If he did, then it looks like the Jehovah's Witnesses got the message (see below). But why not the LDS Church? 

Let's see what happened to one member who did resist the Nazis, and went on to define what a real hero is made of.

The (Nazi) Traitor in the Midst of the Church

If you're not familiar with the name Helmuth Hübener, you need to be. Click here for the Wiki article about him. Or better yet, watch these YouTubes about him. It would be well worth your time to do so.

And of course, I can't recommend enough THE definitive work on this topic, David Coney Nelson's book, Moroni and the Swastika, available here.

To summarize:

"Helmuth Hübener, a 16-year-old Mormon youth living in Hitler's Germany, exhibited unprecedented moral courage in opposing the propaganda machine of the Nazi regime in the summer of 1941. 

By all accounts, Helmuth Hübener was a remarkable boy - a worthy role model for any teenager, male or female, then or now. Unlike his peers in 1941…Helmuth acted on his discomfort with the ever growing restrictions on civil rights and personal freedoms in the totalitarian dictatorship and specifically with the treatment of Jews. Following his conscience rather than his fears, he secretly tuned into illegal German-language BBC broadcasts and discovered the distortions and outright lies in the Nazi propaganda about the progress of the war effort, as compared to the details provided by the BBC. He discretely enlisted Rudolf "Rudi" Wobbe and Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, trusted Mormon friends from his St. Georg LDS branch in central Hamburg - the largest branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in its West German Mission with over 400 members at the time - (and later also his colleague Gehard Düwer) to help him distribute leaflets typed using the branch typewriter, which he kept at home as part of his work as Branch Secretary. As noted, his resolve was fatal.

For his trouble he was arrested on February 5, 1942 (less than a month after turning 17)." [13]

What is not commonly known is that when Hübener was arrested it put the whole branch in danger. The Gestapo scrutinized the branch even more intensely, with agents frequently attending meetings and taking notes. The Gestapo naturally believed that adults in the branch had influenced Hübener and his friends to act, which it did not.

Thus, 10 days after Hübener's arrest (15 February 1942), Hübener's branch president excommunicated the young man without consulting his church superiors or holding the church court normally prerequisite for excommunication or other discipline. [14] The reason: for "intercepting and spreading foreign broadcast transmissions." [15]

"In removing Helmuth's name from the church membership rolls, and simultaneously defrocking him from the universal Mormon male priesthood, Arthur Zander had decreed that Helmuth Hübener's soul could not enter the Celestial Kingdom, the Mormon concept of Heaven. That was a steep price to pay for defaming Adolf Hitler, but apparently the Nazi Party was pleased with Zander's actions and with the attitude of his congregants. On February 24, 1942, nine days after Zander's excommunication of Hübener, the Hamburg district leader for the Nazi Party wrote to the Gestapo: "This [St. Georg Mormon] church congregation is legally recognized and stands on a firm footing with the present government." [16]

What a place to have your congregation - "on a firm footing" with Nazis!

"[Hübener was] brutally interrogated and later tortured in Gestapo prisons in Hamburg and Berlin, and then finally beheaded by guillotine in the Gestapo's Berlin Plötzensee prison on October 27, 1942 as the youngest person (at age 17) to be sentenced by Hitler's special "People's Court" and executed for conspiracy to commit treason against the Nazi regime." [13]

Hübener died with a clean conscience. He was executed for engaging in acts of heroism against a truly evil totalitarian government. Here are the last words he said in mortality:

“Now I must die, even though I have committed no crime.

So now it's my turn, but your turn will come."

"Standing for Something"? Damn straight he did.

Amidst a church which had adopted - from top to bottom -- an enthusiastic attitude towards the Nazis, it's clear to me that Hübener acted as inspired by the Spirit and was morally right in warning others about the evil Nazis.

On January 24, 1948, Pres. George Albert Smith ordered the reversal of Hübener's excommunication. [17] Hübener was later ordained an Elder and endowed by proxy on June 8, 1948. [18] So, the church and its leaders abandoned Hübener when it actually meant something, then supported him after he'd been long dead and it's the popular opinion again. How brave! While some members may see this as a good thing, it's the most awful example of how fickle, cowardly and pathetic the church's leaders really are.

The church's Hitler policy was to display allegiance to the Nazis in hopes that the church would thrive. The Nazis had power, and the church's leaders needed power in order for the church to survive in Germany. So, they aligned themselves and promoted this powerful political entity. Conversely, Jehovah's Witnesses spoke out against the Third Reich. They were sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. They suffered dearly and many were murdered. I admire them speaking out against Hitler. 

(One might think, "Well, the LDS Church had to go along to get along, in order to maintain its membership base there," but that would be wrong. If membership numbers are any indication of inspiration, the Jehovah's Witnesses (who opposed the Nazi regime) still come out on top. The LDS Church currently has around 40,000 German members [19], whereas the Jehovah's Witnesses have four times that much, or 161,931 [20]).

Still, the story of the church's very public admiration and assistance of the Nazis and its excommunication of a Nazi resistor among its membership is proof enough that the church's leaders were not in tune with God.

"I don't know what we accomplish by dredging these things up and trying to sort them out."

In 1992, BYU produced a play, Hübener, which enjoyed sellout crowds and gained national acclaim and recognition. Yet because German Mormons in Utah and Europe (many of whom were former Nazi party members and military officers) feared the play would cast them in a bad light, church leaders (specifically Dallin Oaks, then the university's president) asked the play's producer not to make the play available again. [19]  

(Today, you can get the play -- and a lot of other cool stuff -- here).

Of the play's quiet suppression, then-apostle Thomas S. Monson stated, ''Who knows who was right or wrong. I don't know what we accomplish by dredging these things up and trying to sort them out." [21]

That's called "sweeping it under the rug" -- a classic action which demonstrates an unwillingness (or perhaps inability) to learn from the mistakes of the past.

Which takes us to today.

Have the church's leaders learned from their mistakes?

Because of our natural human predilection not to learn from the past -- and church leaders' ambivalence toward learning the lessons of Nazi sympathy and Hübener's excommunication -- neither the general church membership nor its leaders are in a prime position to ensure past mistakes are never repeated. 

And as we know, God's pretty fond of teaching us the same 'ol lessons until we get them.

Today, the church is dealing with a number of interesting situations:

• Its leaders publicly support and contribute to national pro-abortion candidates.
• It publicly promotes and assists an organization which promotes abortion. 
• It publicly promotes and assists an organization which is actively, publicly developing a man-made new world order with no mention whatsoever of God nor Jesus Christ.
• It encourages "everyone" to be "good citizens" by following "the wise and thoughtful recommendations of…government leaders."
• Because these recommendations involve partaking of something proven destructive to human immune systems and their bodies in general, they have the potential to obliterate an entire class of humans (those who have taken the jab) (see here, here, here and here).
• It has threatened - and followed through with - excommunicating those who oppose its jab policies. 

As I asked earlier, what if someone, or something, just as bad as Hitler and the Nazis came along? 

Will we have the necessary discernment to detect evil?

What this all means to you...NOW

We are told in Revelation 18:23, "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived."

• "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee"
• Is literally kai phOs luchnou ou mE phanE en soi eti, or "And light of lamp not no may be appearing in you." (source)
• This cross-references with Jeremiah 25:10: "I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle"
• "the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee"
• The bride (righteous, faithful mortals) and the bridegroom (the Lord) no longer resonate within them. See Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 16:9.
• "for thy merchants were the great men of the earth"
• The Greek word for merchants is emporoi (plural of emporos) (source; source)
• They - the great and important of the earth - are selling something. What are they selling? Keep reading…
• "sorceries"
• Is pharmakeia (far-mak-i'-ah) - the root word for words we commonly use today, like pharmacist and pharmaceutical.
• It not only means "drugs," but also "poisoning" and/or "the use or administering of drugs" and/or an "enchantment" (source)
• "were all nations deceived"
• Is eplanEthEsan panta ta ethnE, or "all the nations were strayed/deceived" (source)

Because the faithful lack the light they need to detect these sorceries, Hosea 4:6 kicks in: 

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee … seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God. …"

Joseph Smith once explained how members develop darkness in their minds. He said,

"if the people departed from the Lord, they must fall -- that they were depending on the Prophet, hence were darkened in their minds, in consequence of neglecting the duties devolving upon themselves..." [22]

Or, as Brigham Young stated,

"What a pity it would be if we were led by one man to utter destruction! Are you afraid of this? I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation, and weaken the influence they could give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by the revelations of Jesus, that they are led in the right way. Let every man and woman know, themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not. This has been my exhortation continually." [23]

Question: Would true "prophets of God" encourage you to put your trust in "medical experts and government leaders" [20] -- in other words, the arm of flesh -- or in God? [24]

They've aligned themselves with "government leaders" before, and with tragic consequences.

Seems to me since church leaders are reluctant to do it, it's time for us to not be found having a lack of knowledge. We need to learn the mistakes of the past, and ensure they are not repeated today…

…before it's too late.

"To sin by silence, when they should protest,

makes cowards of men." (Ella Wheeler Wilcox,

contained in "Poems of Problems", p. 154–55)

Sources

1.   M. Russell Ballard, "When Shall These Things Be?" BYU Devotional, March 12, 1996
2.   https://www.museumoftolerance.com/education/teacher-resources/holocaust-resources/timeline-of-the-holocaust.html
3.   Deseret News, Dec. 10, 1933.
4.   "Two Modern Methods: Sports, Radio," Deseret News, January 25, 1936
5.   "Germany holds M.I.A. 'Echo of Joy' Festival" Deseret News, July 18, 1936
6.   https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4088&context=byusq
7.   Hyrum J. Smith, "President Grant in Frankfurt, Germany," Deseret News, August 7, 1937
8.   Grant, in 108th Semi-Annual Conference of the Church, p. 4
9.   Bertis Lloyd Embry, Journal, July 5 and 8,1937, typescript, Missionary Journals November 1935-July 1938, Church Archives
10.   David Conley Nelson, "Moroni and the Swastika," p. 13.
11.   https://youtu.be/ICswA1YnvA8?t=401
12.   Moroni 7:13.
13.   https://bycommonconsent.com/2014/10/27/helmuth-hubener-on-the-day-of-his-execution
14.   Barbara Beuys, "Vergeßt uns nicht - Menschen im Widerstand 1933-1945", 1987. P. 488.
15.   "Abhören u. Verbreiten ausl. Rundfunksenden."
16.   District Leader to State Secret Police, in Holmes and Keele, "When Truth Was Treason," Document 17: 175.
17.   "Helmuth Hübener Membership Record," LDS Archives.
18.   Kunkel interview, LDS Archives, 21.
19.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints_in_Germany
20.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_by_country#Europe
21.   https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/15/us/play-about-mormon-youth-s-war-on-hitler-stirs-conflict-in-church.html
22.  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pp. 237-38
23.  Brigham Young, JD 9:150
24.  https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-message-covid-19-august-2021