1. Church changes polygamy cartoons in children's book

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2025/02/21/lds-church-changes-polygamy/

"Only a few months after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published an illustrated explanation for children about the faith’s historic practice of polygamy, it has changed the images — and the messaging.

The revised site is much shorter and states that “usually a man should have only one wife. But sometimes the Lord commanded” otherwise.

This chapter “has been simplified to help the intended audience, specifically children, to understand that plural marriage was practiced for a time by some in the church,” spokesperson Irene Caso said Thursday in a statement, “and was discontinued in 1890.”

For the first time the official site focused on the faith’s 19th-century practice of polygamy for kids. The storybook chapter on plural marriage began with Joseph Smith and other Latter-day Saint leaders’ initial reluctance to take additional wives.

And then God told Joseph to marry other women, the account said, in addition to Emma.

“Joseph didn’t want to marry other wives. But he knew it was a commandment from the Lord,” one of the removed cartoons stated. “When Joseph asked a woman to marry him, he told her to pray about it. He wanted her to know from the Lord that it was right.”

This “commandment” was hard for Emma, another deleted panel said. “Sometimes, Emma helped Joseph decide who he should ask to marry him. Other times, Emma did not want Joseph to marry other women.”

“This doesn’t solve the problem for me,” Exponent II blogger Abby Maxwell Hansen wrote in an email. “Polygamy is still just as horrible a stain on the history of the LDS Church as it ever was, and I don’t think teaching it in a more palatable way somehow makes anything better.”

Hansen also is frustrated that the church didn’t acknowledge making the changes “because of public outcry.”

2. Church investment portfolio worth $56 billion

"That veritable mountain of U.S. stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other holdings — while only a portion of the faith’s overall wealth — is now worth a total of $56.2 billion.

Ensign Peak Advisors’ latest disclosures to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — reflecting October, November and December 2024 — show the account holds about $596 million less than it did the quarter before, when it reached $56.8 billion.

The account has bobbed in the $54 billion to $56 billion range for two years after first piercing the $50 billion threshold at the end of 2023."

"That’s according to The Widow’s Mite Report, a website devoted to documenting the church’s finances. It estimates the church’s overall wealth at about $293 billion at the close of 2024. That is up $28 billion from the previous year."

I think the investments the church has made will lose their value before the church renounces polygamy.

I am extremely confident that multiple funds similar to Ensign Peak exist throughout the world.

Many countries do not allow large sums of their currency to be shipped out of their country, nor do they allow foreign entities to hold investments in their country.

I'm willing to bet there are at least 2 Latin American, three Asian, two African,two Oceana and possibly three European funds, hidden out there

Lying by omission to the kids.

No surprise there.

No mention of mother/daughter marriages to Joey.

No mention of marrying women already married - or sending men on missions and Joey marrying their wives while they were gone.

Only tell part of the truth & at that, making sure it isn't really "The Truth".

What happened to the 200 billion stash that's been talked about for years or was that bogus?

First of all, it was $100 B. Second, the part that is reported quarterly is the stock and bonds in publicly traded companies. Privately held companies like Deseret Ranch and City Creek Centre not reported. They are managed by Ensign Peak.

The total wealth of the church, including all property and church buildings, is estimated at around $256 B. That was several years ago, so I’d add ten or fifteen percent.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2025 11:51AM by Brother Of Jerry.

Phil, you appear not to have read the final paragraph in the OP.

> "That’s according to The Widow’s Mite Report,
> a website devoted to documenting the church’s
> finances. It estimates the church’s overall
> wealth at about $293 billion at the close of 2024.
> That is up $28 billion from the previous year."