What is the strengthening the members committee?

I need to know exactly what this committee does. I am not looking for comical answers.

It's an organization that spies on and attempts to keep reins on members who are not only thinking for themselves, but going public in some way and threatening to embarrass the church with "anti"-Mormon information. The Strengthening Church Members Committee (SCMC) works with local leaders at stake level so that it appears that the SCMC does not even exist. The committee also gives local leaders their marching orders, telegraphing orders from SLC to stake leaders regarding how to discipline a particular member.

I am afraid it is real, clandestine and gestapo in its methods. Technology surveillance, surveys of widely read newspapers and monitoring of various cable news outlets. It has a function of protecting the brethren from personal attacks (not physical)that would create doubt, controversy or embarrassment for the church. Within the LDS hierarchy it’s tentacles only spread downward passing information gathered to stake and local leaders. But just who is on the committee by name is difficult if not impossible to identify.

Gatorman

The SMC has the power to have the salt lake police department spy on you.

The particular case you're likely talking about actually pre-dates the SCMC. But the comment is still probably valid. We already know to what degree the LDS church interferes with state legislators and lawmakers, so much so that there is no attempt to keep it secret. "Politically neutral,"my ass.

I am hopeful that the SCMC has a file on all the RfM regulars, and that there are volunteers charged with compiling, on a daily basis, what we type here.

I further hope that the person or persons charged with keeping my file feels strongly about me.

I received a phone call in my place of work by an old acquaintance, who informed me they had acquired knowledge of me and were a member of this committee (they stated it by name.) /they said they recognized my story telling narrative and said ah ha that's got to be ___ from ___. After which they tracked me down and phoned me utilizing a work phone number which was within an organization without my public listed name. They expressed agreement while the church was not exactly what it seemed but said they had built their entire network business and family within it and would not have it challenged.

But I never said anything to them, reached out to them, nor directly challenged them. However they said they felt that "you are dangerous" so that showed me how a returned missionary can be completely turned inside out upside down paranoia ldsoed with their brain lassoed tied in little priesthood pipsqueaked knots strangulated their prior superior cascades of logic and for some aging testosterone challenged particularly in this case a convert whose means of individuating from their parental unit was to dive in as a completely flaming insanely t b m anything for the church sign me up convert prior to his mission, prior authority challenging intellectuals identity totally re created immerging illogically swallowed the koolaide once he'd gone on his mission, married X generation Mormon in the temple there after stamped his entire life with an lds cookie cutter. I shudder to think of the boomerang effect on some of his kids- which he was apparently so desperately worried about in that little compartment of his brain which he had left in his lds zombification effort, that he projected that fear that his kids would rebell as well against his over zealous freak out Mormon life apparatus- and he, he attempted to blame everything except his freaky phobic bizarre lds marketing job which gliched his lds gnomed out home, his lds gnomed out business, his lds gnomed out job, his lds gnomed out cookie cutter off the shelf lds wife, his lds gnomed out community network of kustomers and klient base, and his ghosted out thinking brain.
and he was afraid of loosing his lds gnomed out carved out niche for his poured out molded cookie cutter lds curriculum committee esqe collage he called himself, even though he acknowledged getting his wife his life out of a book off of a shelf.

and he didn't want anything else for anybody else. So he called me at work among my clients to threaten me. And so I, I told ___ (my husband)

In a strange way it flattered me. HOw could my lack of cooperation with layers of lds lying marketing to my generation of lds , and communication about it - cause him such terrible trepidation.

all I did was type. all I did was type & change my life.
all I did was type (as I changed my life.)

This committee very much exists. The full name of it is "Strengthening Church Members Committee". The title itself is an euphemism used to mislead the in-knowledgeable.

The head of the committee (when I personally became aware of its existence), was Boyd K. Packer, President, with Dallin H. Oaks, and Russell M. Nelson as his counselors. (Always '2-or-3 witnesses in all things', for Packer, as he was very strict for his-brand of obeying church rules).

This group has spies that work for it. In my case, a spy sent his report regarding me, by hand-delivery, to Packer. This spy's report was regarding what I had said at a public meeting held in a hotel, not on church property.

The object of the SCMC is to see that who they deem as enemies of the church are excommunicated by that person's local Bishop, or (in my case) my Stake president.

As Packer, himself, had no power--according to church rules--to meddle with the common members, he had to work through others, and in so doing, tried very hard to keep his name out of the matters he ordered others to do. (As it appears, he set a pattern for others who have followed him.)

He had my excommunication papers hand-delivered from Utah, to my Stake President (in Calif), 'suggesting' what my SP should do. The dirty job was to be done ASAP, so the person (who likely is reeling when she/he is called in to see his/her S.P.), goes in for the slaughter.

But first, they send an official you likely know to take your temple recommend away from you (which is supposed to devastate you).

All this business is kept very secret, and to be done at lightening speed so the chosen victim has no time to prepare a defense.

In addition, the process is geared so that, after the person is excommunicated, in secret, and he/she is no longer is a member of the church, the other members in this person's ward, presume that this person MUST have done something very bad to have been X'd.

This is a big part of the punishment: Blame the x'd member (as if he/she had done something next to unforgivable), and keep the reason why they were x'd secret, and thereby humiliate them, and ruin their life as best as they can, both within their family and with friends, and even (in some cases), causing a loss of the victim's job.

In my case, I went from a Stake position, to suddenly never going back to church since then. (Which, I do not miss!)

Former church friends are afraid to ask me why I don't go to church anymore, except a very few (such as my good, humble, Rel.So. teacher).

I tell friends I won't tell them why I don't go, unless they ask--and they are afraid to do this. This is true even with my kindly Rel.Soc. visiting teacher, and with whom we enjoy each other's company.
----

It's hard to fight this process, and I wish you the best in being able to defend yourself (should you ever have to).

A rough analogy in Catholicism is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is the church organization charged with keeping heresy at bay both internally and externally. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XIV, developed a rather fearsome reputation when this church office was under his control. The Mormon equivalent to him would be Boyd Packer, although Pope Benedict appeared to mellow considerably with the papacy.

How is it possible for them to keep such an organization secret.

Surely there must be something that one can trace about it that can show who are members of it or who are not. How would one even get selected for it?

Wouldn't the FBI, or CIA, or some government organization at least know about it and keep tabs on them?

At which point wouldn't something come out via the US government?

Is there somewhere that one can learn more about this stuff?

How would this apply to non-members living in the middle of Mormonville?

Would they take action against someone like me (woman non-member in the middle of the Mormons)?

There is knothing reason for FBI or CIA to get to involved lived not any reason for non-members to be concerned. There are spying (I imagine all legally) on their own members to make sure they are living up to the churches teachers. Reading through social
Media is s big part of it, although I am sure there is more.

I promise I wasn't drunk typing that, although that does sound nice right now.

Here are a couple of sources where you can see what the public knows / is allowed to know about the SCMC:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strengthening_Church_Members_Committee

https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Mormonism_and_Church_discipline/Strengthening_Church_Members_Committee


The SCMC is based on D&C 123, the synopsis of which, per the church, states:

"Duty of the Saints in relation to their persecutors, as written by Joseph Smith the Prophet while a prisoner in the jail at Liberty, Missouri. This section is an excerpt from an epistle to the Church dated March 20, 1839 (see the heading to section 121).

Here is probably the key stone, verses 4 & 5:

"4 And perhaps a committee can be appointed to find out these things, and to take statements and affidavits; and also to gather up the libelous publications that are afloat;

5 And all that are in the magazines, and in the encyclopedias, and all the libelous histories that are published, and are writing, and by whom, and present the whole concatenation of diabolical rascality and nefarious and murderous impositions that have been practiced upon this people—"

But we have to suppose that, based on the church's past, there is nothing they wouldn't do to protect the "church" and that probably covers a whole lot of territory.


I haven't searched extensively, but the following may be the last public statement about the SCMC by a GA. This was in March of 2012, when Jeffie-Baby Holland was interviewed by a BBC reporter. I found it, of all places, on Fairmormon:


"John Sweeney: What is the Strengthening Church Members Committee?

Elder Holland: The Strengthening Church Members Committee was born some years ago to protect against predatory practices of polygamists.

Sweeney: I asked what it is, not was

Holland: That is what it is…

Sweeney: So it does still exist?

Holland: It does still exist...it does still exist…

Sweeney: And it....looks at....it’s there to defend the church against polygamists?

Holland: Principally, that is still its principal task.

Sweeney: So what is its subsidiary task?

Holland: I just....suppose to....to be protective generally, just to watch and to care for any insidious influence. But for all intents and purposes, that’s all that I know about it....is that it’s primarily there to guard against polygamy. That would be the substantial part of the work. I’m not on that committee so I don’t know much about it."


Not very supportive of the notion that Jeffie knows his ass from a hole in the ground. And Jeffie makes no mention of Sec. 123. I'm sure he probably does know where his ass is; he just didn't display that talent in this exchange.

WOW. That's pretty crazy.

So, it seems from the statements it's primarily against polygamy in the LDS church but there isn't any polygamy today in the LDS church is there...it's mostly the FLDS people...

The first part makes it seem like it could be targeted towards Non-members, which would be even moreso in today's environment of the internet.

I've already used my first name (luckily just an initial for my last name though) so that's a little scary if they decide to hunt people like me living in the Morridor down.

I don't see myself as a persecutor (more like the persecuted at times), but who knows what someone else may interpret.

If you have the right name or enough money, you can be a polygamist in today's LDS Church. As far as they are concerned, you're simply living "the higher law".

But then again -- it's not really a church...

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2044048,2044048#msg-2044048



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2017 09:42PM by steve benson.