Posted by:
Rubicon
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Date: April 09, 2019 02:32PM
The church has an interesting financial and corporate history. You can read about it in a interesting book called Book of Mammon which covers the organizational and financial history of the church from Joseph Smith to the present time.
As we all know the church has gone through several stages. Joseph Smith set up the church in 1830 following the state laws of the time. Later the church was incorporated in Nauvoo as a city corporation.
When Brigham Young set up his version of the church the church assets were his assets. Before the assets of the church fell under the Corporation of the Presiding Bishopric. Because the church was incorporated in Nauvoo with the presiding bishopric as the owner of the assets, Brigham couldn't claim ownership of the church property back east. Brigham tried to claim ownership of both the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples. It' also why Emma Smith had no legal claim to those properties. Legally Joseph Smith had no claim to them.
Because Brigham took ownership of the church property over from the presiding bishopric it created huge problems for the church after Brigham died. Naturally Brigham's large family thought they were entitled to their share of the assets and the church had to sue the Young family over control of the assets. A huge legal mess ensued.
In 1890 the US Government dissolved the church as a legal entity due to polygamy and Brigham's church no longer existed.
In 1919 the presiding bishop incorporated the church as a corporation of sole in Utah. A corporation of sole was invented by the catholic church so they wouldn't lose their assets to monarchs. Because Lorenzo Snow put the church on a cash tithing system the church had amassed a lot of assets and Hugh Nibley the presiding bishop was worried there would be a huge legal and financial fight when Joseph F Smith passed away so like the catholic church, he set the LDS church up as a corporation of sole where the senior surviving apostle becomes owner of the corporation.
This is how the current church is set up. Russel M Nelson is the only share holder of the church. The assets of the church are technically his to do whatever he wants. He's owner of the church until he dies and then the senior apostle becomes the next owner.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a trade mark. It's not a church. The reality is there is no church. There is just a corporation of sole owned by Russel M Nelson and a trade mark. All the church ordinances, certificates, records, temple recommends are just hocus pocus. You have no legal claim on any church assets nor does the church have any legal responsibility to help you.
So when you send a resignation letter in what you are really saying is I no longer want to volunteer my time and money to this organization and I want to be left alone. The reality is you never were a legal part of anything. They just duped you into thinking you were.
Of course this doesn't fix all the problems we face leaving the church. Upsetting family and friends. The social and family fallout. Possibly endangering our employment or standing in the community.
It's waking up and discovering you never belonged to anything but were fooled into volunteering and paying money to an incorporated organization owned by one man. Sure Russ has his pen and he's taking his vitamins. The church for profit assets are making the corporation he owned the only share of stock in money. The farms. The ranches. The commercial real estate. Everything owned by the corporation of sole most the so called members know nothing about.
We were told we belonged to the Lord's church and much was expected of us. That's all BS. We were just volunteers for a corporation donating money and time for some fake promises that never pay off until we die. Too many member think they are part of a large wealthy organization. Not so. They aren't part of anything. They can attend conference in a $440 million dollar conference center or sit in the celestial room in a $60 million temple or walk around a billion dollar mall but they have no share in those assets even if they think they do and those assets make them feel important.