So, I have a very good friend who is a VP at her marketing company (and happens to be African-American) and one of her employees who is Mormon recently asked her to attend a "free" Gladys Knight concert. She really wanted to see the show, and told me she was going to attend. She has heard many of my stories about this religion over the years, so she was better prepared than most about what to expect at this type of thing. I warned her against going and I told her that no matter what her employee said, he really wanted to convert her or he never would have invited her.

So.....I finally heard the scoop on the concert. She told me that their marketing was brilliant. She said that in between most songs, they talked about how the hymn was written, and tried to parlay it into mainstream religion. They also talked about the "misconceptions" that people have about Mormons. They went on and on about how they truly are Chirstian and that they believe many of the same things that others believe. They talked about how they weren't different, they just had a few varying ways of looking at things.

She then said that they were asking for contact information from all of the attendees, and she assured me that she didn't provide her information. BUT, I would bet that the person who invited her DID provide the info to them. It will be interesting to find out if they start visiting her.

I told her that the saying "thou doth protest too much" fit the bill here. If someone keeps defending against something...there's got to be something to it. She told me that if I hadn't told her all of the things I had over the years - she might actually have believed what they said. I could tell she was a little skeptical of my warnings, though, even to this day.

One of the most annoying things about Mormons is that no one ever believes me when I tell them the real story about them. They always think they are such nice people, so wholesome, harmless, great values, etc. But they always end up showing their true colors eventually, and people always tell me - "I should have listened to you".

It makes me even sicker that Gladys Knight is allowing this to be done--can she be THAT clueless about her religion? (Of course, the answer is YES ... the church has done a pretty good job of hiding and distorting the truth about itself from the world at large as well as from its own members.)

I also find it disturbing that your friend, an African-American, was apparently SPECIFICALLY targeted for an invitation to attend this "concert"/PR event ... VERY disturbing! Do you know if the Mormons were asked to concentrate on inviting their African-American acquaintances?

That's one disgusting cult!

I attended the same thing last Fall 2011 in Houston, Texas.. It was at a Church in what was once a white neighborhood, but has changed to a majority of darker colors. Is it not fascinating that Gladys Knight, and the speakers who shared some microphoine time between songs, did not allow any questions from the crowd, after Gladys gave her testimony.

Mormon missionaries will ask you to have an open mind when they try to convert you but if you ask them to listen to your church teachings they immediately shut you down.

They also have a habit of going after your kids without even asking you if it's ok to aproach them. I asked them if they as parents thought it was ok to have someone aproach their kids and they said absolutely! No one talks to my kids without my permision - Hypocrasy!

Many of my ex mormon friends went on missions to poor countries and felt discusted at how they were collecting 10% tithing from people that barely had enough to eat. But "It brings you blessings".

They were telling members to ask non-member friends and investigators to the concert.
I got the impression that you couldn't attend unless you had someone in tow.

Meanwhile, Mormons from my late father's generation on back are rolling in their graves.

Hey, the One True Church® never changes, just the lies they tell about it.

It is no surprise that the Mormons want to get more racial and non white members.

Using Gladys is one way they are trying to do it. Unfortunately, methinks a lot of blacks will be gullible and preyed on, believing that Gladys is pretty cool.

I bet Gladys isn't even an active member, never was has no intention of becoming one. I think she cut a deal with the Hinckster about being part of their PR campaign in exchange for a chance to increase her sales or at least guarantee a certain number of record sales. Since her career had been in the toilet for a long while, after living a wild life.

If she only gets 1/3 of the U.S. Mormon membership to buy her music, she has a loyal fan base..

I agree, like Brandon Flowers' "I'm a Mormon" video.

ExmoMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I bet Gladys isn't even an active member, never
> was has no intention of becoming one. I think she
> cut a deal with the Hinckster about being part of
> their PR campaign in exchange for a chance to
> increase her sales or at least guarantee a certain
> number of record sales. Since her career had been
> in the toilet for a long while, after living a
> wild life.
>
> If she only gets 1/3 of the U.S. Mormon membership
> to buy her music, she has a loyal fan base..


Actually, she converted after two of her three children did. I think she is genuine. Nutty as a fruit cake, but genuine.

I was one of the four missionaries at her daughter Kenya's baptism in 1990. Gladys and one or two of the pips were in attendance as well. They were very nice and came across as down-to-earth.

Gladys didn't join the church for another seven years after that.

Point of Order -

Where are the reports of Gladys living a WILD LIFE?

I dunno what you mean by HER career "was in the toilet"?
But FYI, Her career has done what other Motown Era
artists' careers have done.... lost momentum as new
artists have emerged. She never stopped singing;
She gets regular gigs and special event ones, too!

Would like if you keep your info straight... and though
she made the choice to be JCLDS Mormon, you dont
need to insult her reputation with the extras. Just sayin'
and KEEPIN' IT REAL!

Articles around the time she converted and a bit before were published mentioning her having had a few failed marriages or relationships, substance abuse and other dysfunctional family problems. Like Glenn Beck, a desire to get away from those problems led her to discovering Mormonism, but not on her own - through her kids apparently.

I remember reading in one of these articles that she had been having trouble making music with all those problems, and that one of her kids somehow got introduced to Mormonism, which is how she got involved.

Then, the idea of her introducing Gospel music to the church via the MoTab was struck. Hinckley apparently was all over it for the positive church PR ("We have blacks!") and she ran with it.

Be very interesting to know how much she actually knows or cares about Mormon doctrine. She probably only knows about the fluff.

Agree, I'm in oz and even we recognize her as a musical legend

The brethren must be given each other high fives at their weekly meeting in the Temple.

And then she goes over to Winstar and/or Choctaw casino's for her paying gigs.

well, except for that little matter of those things that aren't really a big deal to us, called temples. It's just a place we go to feel a little closer to God. Oh, yeah, and to wear really weird clothes, and of course, to do proxy rituals for dead people. But that's just something we see a little different than other people. Sure, we learn secret passwords and handshakes that are needed to get into heaven, but it's pretty much the same thing as Christians being saved. Oh, and that underwear thing, it's just kind of like the Jews wearing yarmelkes, no big deal, there's no pressure to wear them. And sure, we make you pay 10% of your income to come to the temple but if you don't want to, you can just come to church and partake of Sunday services and no one will pressure you into anything else. Well, unless your kid wants to get married in the temple, then you might want to consider going yourself. But we don't really emphasize the temples, and other than that, we're just like all other Mormons. Oh, did we mention Gladys Knight is one of us? What more do you need to know?

Very funny, sistermary!!

"God was once a man? I don't know that we teach that, I don't know that we emphasize it."

"Eternal polygamous sex in heaven? Let's keep to the milk before the meat."

"Earring? What church would tell you how many earrings to wear in each ear? We don't FORCE you to wear only one (if you are female, none if you are male) Of course, if you want to follow the prophet . . ."

See we're just like any other church.

makes the good ole white people of the LDS church in America feel like they're progressive and not racist. I seriously doubt that she's going to make much of an impact in terms of recruiting black members. She's just like the "I'm a Mormon" PR campaign. She makes current members feel all special about themselves but I really think most people who hear that she joined the church are just going to assume she's effin' nuts.

Using celebrities reminds me of Scientology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_and_celebrities

"As founder L. Ron Hubbard put it: Celebrities are very Special people and have a very distinct line of dissemination. They have comm[unication] lines that others do not have and many medias [sic] to get their dissemination through"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2011 12:32AM by Hoggle.

I've never heard any other church have to protest that they are Christian- I've only ever heard it from TSCC and JWs (opened my door by accident once, and regretted it). Similarly, the only time I've ever heard people protest that they were 'not in a cult' was when they were in a controlling group which pretty much fitted every criteria of cult going.
Defending yourself before even being challenged on it- how many red flags should that raise?

Gladys Knight is currently working in Las Vegas. Sans Mormon undergarments, no doubt.

It is a very different Momon church for Gladys et al than it is for regular Mormons.
Much of the day-to-day crap of Mormonism never touches her. Bet she never cleaned a Mormon chapel in her life.

Interesting. If they're just like any other Christian church, then I might as well go to the Methodist church just around the corner from my house instead. Its much closer.

One thing I have found is that the local Methodist church in my neighborhood has better acoustics than the Mormon chapels. The difference between Mormonism and Christian churches including the Methodists is that nobody visits you to find out why you weren't at church. They also don't care if you decide that another congregation is more appealing than the one in your neighborhood.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2014 03:49AM by adoylelb.

I believe that the cult encourages people to invite their richest friends to whatever event whether they be black, white, shocking pink, purple and green striped, or mood indigo! Color is not an issue (even though they are racist pricks), but it is all overlooked with a big enough bank account.

Texas girl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> and people always tell me
> - "I should have listened to you".


That's the saddest part.

When I was a teen ager, Randy Bachman was touring ward buildings, giving firesides. Look how that whole thing turned out for the church. It was refreshing for me to find out years later, after I left the church, that Bachman had left too, probably before I did.

Hey if Prince can become a J-Ho why not Gladys a Mormon?

inviting me to the "free concert", and then trying to get my contact information after I feel obligated.

That stinks. It's manipulation. It shows that the whole purpose of the show was to get contacts/converts.

That's the Mormon way, how can we fool them today?

I went to a performance this spring and brought a friend who I figured would like the show (she is a black woman and grew up listening to G.K.&T.P.). I should have known it would be so M-twisted but would have probably gone anyway.

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1323892,1325096#msg-1325096

The choir was good, and the performance enjoyable (except that the last 45 minutes was G.K. & husband's test-a-money) but the church's twist and the heavy attempt at indoctrination and conversion was a knot of strings attached, even if predictable.

You assume a concert but with such propaganda, hypocrisy and innuendo (you should see the tickets, brochures and seat-forms) including the "free cd", "free BoM" and "free mishie visit" (and perma-hastle by the BBC forever), was strange. The SP even said you must be home to receive the freebies; they won't leave it on the porch because they need to find out more about you to see if you're worthy of that music & worthless book.

That is the last time I'll attend an event at a MC thinking it'll be fun, or even enlightening.