--Lying for the Lord, This Time in Salt Lake City's Non-Mormon Newspaper
Read all (strike "all," replace with "some") about it:
"At 87, Mormon Leader Thomas S. Monson ‘Feeling the Effects’ of His Age, LDS Church Says"
by David Noyce
"Salt Lake Tribune"
30 April 2015
http://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/faith/2465653-155/at-87-mormon-leader-thomas-s"On Friday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released this statement — originally reported on KUER's RadioWest — about the Mormon leader's health.
"'President Monson is 87. It's natural that he and others in the Church leadership are feeling the effects of advancing age," the statement said. 'However, he spoke publicly at General Conference [last] month and attended all the meetings. He comes to the office every day, attends all First Presidency and committee meetings, leads the discussion and makes decisions.'"
If history is any judge, that is such b.s.
_____
--Mormon Cult Apostles Privately Admit That a Disabled Prophet Puts Adminstrative Decisions on Hold
In September 1993, I was told in private conversations with LDS "apostlegists" Dallin H. Oaks and Neal A. Maxwell that major Mormon Church administrative decisions were NOT being made at that time, given the inability of my grandfather to be involved in the process due to his degraded mental and physical condition.
I asked Oaks why he didn't come out publicly and set the record straight on my grandfather's actual health, especially since the LDS Inc.'s PR Department--then headed by Don LeFevre--was issuing press releases significantly misrepresenting my grandfather's actual mental and physical condition. Oaks responded by waving dismissively in the direction of the the Church Office Building (which I could see through the windows of Maxwell's office), saying, "I don't know what goes on over there in the high rise."
I then asked Maxwell why he didn't speak up on the actual state of my grandfather's health. Maxwell replied by saying he (meaning Maxwell) already had several responsibilities and "didn't need any more."
Oaks then urged me to deal with the issue of my grandfather's health through "back channels," rather than in the public square (a sure-fire remedy for deep-sixing the whole thing).
Less than a month later, during October General Conference, I encountered LeFevre in downtown SLC and asked him why he was releasing misleading statements about the health of my grandfather that clearly were not true. LeFevre told me, "All my statements have been approved by my superiors." I responded, "Don, that doesn't make them true." LeFevre simply replied, "Steve, this is a difficult job."
("The Grandson of the Prophet Ezra T. Benson (Steve Benson)," by "Cattle Mutilator," on "Recovery from Mormonism" discussion board, at
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.exmormon.org%2Fmormon%2Fmormon090.htm&ei=_v1DVeeeHrb7sASm-4HQCQ&usg=AFQjCNG9S4vl21dIp7YQlevBk-HV4AkUbQ&bvm=bv.92291466,d.cWc; see also,
"Mormon President's Health Raises Questions--Succession . . . ," by "Associated Press," 31 July 1993, at
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Farticles.latimes.com%2F1993-07-31%2Flocal%2Fme-18763_1_ezra-taft-benson&ei=2_9DVcTnMO21sASToYDQCA&usg=AFQjCNHZEnmrjcZspWW64dN9JcFO2X_s0g&bvm=bv.92291466,d.cWc)
_____
--Mormon Cult Leaders Signal the Sooner-Than-Later Demise of Prop (not Prophet) Monson, Using the Same Language They Used When ETB Was on the Edge of the End
Mormons need to wake up and smell the rotten lies coming from the rotten core of their misleading "leaders."
"Feeling the effects of age" is a designated phrase that has been used by top Mormon Cult leadership to signal the impending death of its dime-store-window mannequin displays of its presidents who are on death's doorstep.
Case in point:
Employing the EXACT SAME CODE LANGUAGE then as now, senior apostle and next-in-line for the Mormon Church presidency, Gordon B. Hinckley, sent out the word on the shortly-expected death of my then-Mormon president grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson.
The Mormon Cult-owned "Deseret News" affirmed this fact in an article that (ironically enough) was published in the wake of the death of Hinckley himself:
"Pres. Hinckley Carried Burden for Predecessors"
"by Deseret Morning News" staff
28 January 2008
More Coverage: LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley dies at age 97
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695247935/Pres-Hinckley-carried-burden-for-predecessors.html?pg=all"The duties of leading the LDS Church weren't new to Gordon B. Hinckley when he officially became church president on April 2, 1995.
"He had been filling in for his ailing predecessors for more than a decade, since he joined the First Presidency in 1981. . . .
"He was the senior General Authority at General Conferences during the declining years of Presidents Kimball and Benson but always made it a point to reassure church members of the prophet's presence. . . .
"In the April 1994 conference, less than two months before President Benson's death, President Hinckley spoke of the order of authority in Church government. . . .
[*Insert--From the First Presidency First Counselor Gordon B. Hinckley's "God is at the Helm" General Conference talk, April 1994: "People throughout the Church are naturally anxious to know of the President’s condition. President Benson is now in his 95th year. As we have previously said from this and other pulpits, HE SUFFERS SERIOUSLY FROM THE EFFECTS OF AGE AND ILLENS AND HAS BEEN UNABLE TO FULFILL IIMPORATNT DUTIES OF HIS SACRED OFFICE [emphasis added]. This is not a situation without precedent. Other Presidents of the Church have also been ill or unable to function fully in the closing months or years of their lives. It is possible that this will happen again in the future." Source:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/god-is-at-the-helm?lang=eng]
Continuing with Hinckley's remarks in the same sermon:
"President Hinckley acknowledged that President Benson was SUFFERING FROM THE EFFECTS OF AGE AND ILLNESS AND WAS NOT ABLE TO FULL IMPORTANT DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE [emphasis added]. . . .
"When President Benson called his two counselors Nov. 10, 1985, he "signed . . . powers of agency giving each of his counselors the authority to direct the business of the Church," President Hinckley said."
*NOTE: ETB DID NOT SIGN away his powers to Hinckley and Monson. He was too debiliatated to do so. An autopen was used to imitate his signature, which was then used to sign away his powers to Hinckley and Monson. My grandfather died at the end of May 1994, shortly after Hinckley had given notification in his General Conference talk that ETB was about to die. See "Signing Off on Sophistry," by Steve Benson, Recovery from Mormonism" discussion board, 15 Aoril 2012, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,475369,475369#msg-475369]
Like the "Deseret News" is presently doing in claiming that an aging Monson is still functionally running the show, Hinckley similarly claimed that Ezra Taft Benson was only physically--not mentally--disabled by age. In this deliberate exercise in cagey misinforming, Hinckley--plain and simple--lied to Mormonism's mentally-blocked members in General Conference about the extent and severity of ETB's rapidly failing health.
Observe how, in the following Mormon Cult "Church News" account of a Hinckley October 1992 General Conference talk (less than two years out from LDS President Benson's death), Hinckley mentioned nothing about ETB's deteriorating and debilitating mental condition indeed, he spoke ONLY OF HIS WEAK PHYSICAL STATE, THEREBY MISLEADINGLY IMPLYING THAT ETB WAS STILL MENTALLY FUNCTIONAL--which was not the case at all. (If ETB had, in fact, been regarded as being mentally functional enough to make adminstrative decisions as Mormon Church president, there would have been no need for a surreptious power hand-over by signature machine to Hinckley and Monson).
The precise point in Hinckley's talk where he deliberately misled Mormonims's unthinkingly faithul flock about the extent of ETB's failing health is noted in capital letters:
“President Gordon B. Hinckley's account of a dramatic experience aboard a jetliner as it approached the airport set the tone for his Sunday morning address.
“President Hinckley, First Counselor in the First Presidency, was returning from a regional conference when the captain announced that there was an emergency and asked passengers to obey crew members' instructions. An off-duty pilot, recognizing President Hinckley, told him, 'The primary control system has failed, but I think we are going to be all right. They have managed to get the landing gear down and the flaps down.'
"'Strangely, I felt no fear,' President Hinckley recalled. 'I knew that a redundancy system had been built into the plane to handle just such an emergency, and that the crew had been well-trained.'
“The congregation laughed when he said, 'I also knew that the effectiveness of that redundancy system would be known in a minute or two when the rubber hit the runway.'
“The aircraft landed without mishap. 'The crew were appropriately applauded, and some of us expressed to the Lord our gratitude,' President Hinckley related.
"'I have reflected on this experience in terms of the Church of which we are members.'
“Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, but the earthly head is the prophet, he explained, adding that while President Ezra Taft Benson holds all the keys of the priesthood, he has reached an age that places limitations on his PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES [emphasis added], as have prophets in the past.
"'Some people, evidently not knowing the system, worry that because of the president's age, the Church faces a crisis. They seem not to realize that there is a backup system. In the very nature of this system, there is always on board a trained crew, if I may so speak of them. They have been thoroughly schooled in Church procedures. More importantly, they also hold the keys of the eternal priesthood of God.'
“Each of the 15 men ordained as apostles holds the keys of the priesthood, but only the president has the right to exercise them in their fullness, President Hinckley explained.
“'We who serve as counselors recognize and know the parameters of our authority and our responsibility. Our only desire is to assist and help our leader with the tremendous burdens of his office. The Church is growing large, with more than 8 million members now. . . . The responsibilities are many and varied.
"'But I can say that regardless of the circumstances, the work goes forward in an orderly and wonderful way. As it was during the time when President Kimball was ill, we have moved without hesitation where there is well-established policy. Where there is no firmly established policy, we have talked with the president and received his approval before taking action. Let it never be said that there has been any disposition to assume authority or to do anything or say anything or teach anything which might be at variance with the wishes of him who has been put in his place by the Lord.'
“Quoting D&C 107:23-24, President Hinckley said the Council of the Twelve Apostles form a quorum equal in power and authority to the First Presidency, but they are always under the direction of the First Presidency.
“President Hinckley contrasted the work of the Lord with the process of electing government officials: 'No member of the Church in his right mind would think of applying for ecclesiastical office.' Rather, he said, Church officers are called of God by prophecy and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority.
“He expressed confidence that all General Authorities confess to the Lord their weaknesses and plead for strength and wisdom.
“He said the Brethren pray together and periodically partake of the sacrament together, and from various backgrounds and experiences, discuss problems and ways to improve and strengthen the work.
"'At the outset of these discussions, there may be various points of view. But before the discussion is ended, there is total unanimity, else no action is taken. The Lord Himself has declared that such unity is an absolute necessity.'
“He affirmed that the General Authorities would never lead the Church astray because the Lord Jesus Christ has the power to remove any found remiss in his duty or teaching that which is not in harmony with His divine will.
"'I say for each and all of us that we have no personal agenda. We have only the Lord's agenda. There are those who criticize when we issue a statement of counsel or warning. Please know that our pleadings are not motivated by any selfish desire. Please know that our warnings are not without substance and reason. Please know that the decisions to speak out on various matters are not reached without deliberation, discussion and prayer. Please know that our only ambition is to help each of you with your problems, your struggles, your families, your lives.'"
(“Built-in 'Backup' System Keeps Church on Course,” Gordon B. Hinckley, sermon at LDS General Conference,” published in “Church News,” 10 October 1992, at:
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/21783/Built-in-backup-system-keeps-Church-on-course.html**********
The writing's on the wall, so to speak (least it's in the "Deseret News"). The succession vultures are again circling--a sign in the heavens that Monson will likely be dead soon.
(Based on my own direct observations, I could say more here on the subject but will not, due to a pledge of confidentiality made in a unique situation).
Edited 17 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2015 12:50AM by steve benson.