In a now-closed thread, poster "ETG" delivered this dire Level Red Alert to those who dare to dabble here:

"You have to be very careful for visiting sites like RFM. God will make you accountable once you visit these types of sites.

"God did make the LDS church and other religions to be a test. A test to weed out those that are gullible and can't think for themselves . . . . God needs leaders that are capable of sorting out the truth on their own and use the intellect he has given the, and don't have to rely on him for everything.

" . . . Once you have learned about the untruthfulness of the LDS church, God will hold you accountable for not using the intellect he has given you understand false teachings."

OK, don't say you haven't been warned.
_____


"ETG's" angelic appearance on this board with a flaming sword reminds me of my own ETB experience when I left the Mormon Cult several years ago.

After word got out that I had flown Mormonism's kooky coop, I received an anonymous phone tip from an unidentified flying delusional dude in California--who informed me that my grandfather ETB had appeared to him in a dream, commanding him to pass on to me that Grandpa wanted me to come back to the LDS Church.

Hold the phone.

I couldn't quite figure out why my granddad would pop up in some strange guy's dream in California, ordering him to relay a a message from beyond the veil, courtesy of ETB in the Mormon Spirit World, that it was time for me to return to the fold.

Hell, why didn't my granddad just phone me directly (after 10 p.m., even, when rates were cheaper)? Or why didn't he just appear to me on the Lord's dime in one of my own dreams to advise me of the same thing instead of employing some anonymous California Pony Express rider to dispatch the revelation?

I mean, geesh, I was his oldest grandkid, for Ez's sake.

Indeed, Grandpa and I used to hang out during his mortal days at his home, at his SLC LDS Church Administration Building office, in his condominium apartment near downtown SLC and at the family cabin up Mill Creek Canyon (where, growing up, we cleaned the place together and where he threw a live mouse into the cabin's roaring fireplace, which freaked me out).

He and I visited a lot through the years, worked together planting flowers in his backyard on Parley's Way when I was a kid; talked politics and religion in my teenage and adult years; chatted about my editorial cartooning profession (and how I needed to walk the straight-and-narrow conservative beam more devoutly in my doodlings); about Commies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (so he claimed) and about how President Eisenhower (under whom he served in Ike's Cabinet) could have actually been a dupe of the Kremlin (so he suggested, citing John Birch Society founder Robert Welch as his go-to source--which my grandfather told me was, next to the Mormon Church, the greatest tool on the planet for fighting the Communist threat).

In ETB's later years, I would sneak out of the Tabernacle during General Conference with him and the rest of the Benson clan at the high-noon rest-song break, then head over to his nearby Eagle Gate apartment to watch the rest of the session on TV while he relaxed in his easy chair.

I drew up birthday cards for him, sketched his caricature and sang along with him has he belted out his favorite songs (including "Freckles Was His Name").

He gave and lent me books from his personal library, wrote me lots of letters and offered me advice on all kinds of topics, including dating (I'll share that with this board sometime), as well as reminded me of my solemn duty to keep Benson family secrets (oops).

So, after all that, why would my grandfather show up in a Close-Encounters-of-the ETB-Kind dream to some hallucinating Latter-day Saint in California who probably had never met him, with an urgent message delivery: "Get on board and come back to the Lord, Stephen. Love, Grandpa"?

But apparently this Cali caller was convinced of his divine role in the Big Plan to restore my faith and testimony in Peepstone Joe. So much so, in fact, that he phoned me a second time to tell me that, yes, my grandfather had appeared to him in a dream to tell him to tell me that it was time to for me to get back into the Mormon Church.

So, ETG's postings reminded me of my ETB visits.

I would just like to know what heavenly messenger dropped in on ETG and commanded him (like that caller from California) to call wayward RfMers to repentance.

Please don't tell me it was ETB. :)



Edited 14 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2011 06:00PM by steve benson.

I'm speaking up for ETG because I think he/she was misunderstood. Here's an excerpt from the post:

"God did make the LDS church and other religions to be a test. A test to weed out those that are gullible and can't think for themselves,even when there is strong evidence available to know they are frauds. God needs leaders that are capable of sorting out the truth on their own and use the intellect he has given the,and don't have to rely on him for everything."

The post by ETG is in response to a poster asking "What if the LDS church really is true after all? What if it's all just a test?" I understood ETG to be saying, "Look, if God is testing you by letting you see that the LDS religion is crap, then deciding to believe that crap in spite of the evidence would mean that you failed the test. God doesn't want you to be an idiot." I don't think ETG meant to say that this life really is a test - that was just the premise in the original post ETG responded to.

. . . for those of us posting on RfM and how God conveyed to ETG that God had tapped out ETG to come to RfM and tell us God's will.

In short, ETG has been asked to provide the details of how and why he/she became God's spokesperson to the RfM bulletin board. Was it a personal visit to ETG from God in a grove of trees? An angelic appearance in ETG's bedroom? A personal burning in ETG's bosom? A rock speaking from ETG's hat? None of the above? What exactly was it?

Still waiting for an answer.

ETB might want to know, too. :)



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2011 03:43PM by steve benson.

He does not phone, because he lacks advanced telephone technology. He does not write, although once he allegedly carved something in stone with lightening, but that was only to order people around, and demand they worship him. I suppose moving in mysterious ways leaves no paper trail, and could start fires.

Where was ETB for SWK’s be kind to little animals talk?

I am not a doodle expert, but how do you walk, and doodle the straight & narrow party line at the same time? Why draw graph paper?

Eagle Gate has a vacancy. Maybe a TBM died. This is an opportunity for exmo's to take over one condo at a time.

What about the sacred songs the profits are always talking about? My grandfather used to sing Martin Luther’s greatest hits like “Ein Feste Burg is Unser Gott”. He was a farmer.

I missed the thread, but for extreme, conspiratorial apologetics, and judgment day warnings of the second coming, you can consult with the “Rapture Ready” people.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2011 04:58AM by atheist&happy:-).

at communicating with at least a couple of them out there!

Now, why can't Mo's get this kind of stuff in their General Conference anymore? If Monson & Company still offered such fun fare for mass consumption, maybe they'd get a lot more attention (higher Nielsen ratings?) ... heck, I might even tune in!

; )