Mormon church-owned company buys huge swath of Florida land

Orlando Sentinel ^ | November 7, 2013 | Kevin Spear

[greyfoxx39]

The Mormon church stands to own nearly 2 percent of Florida by completing a deal to buy most of the real estate of the St. Joe Co. for more than a half-billion dollars.

The megapurchase was announced jointly Thursday by a corporate representative of church, which owns the nearly 295,000-acre Deseret Ranches in Central Florida, and by the real-estate and timber business, which has built several communities along the Panhandle coast.

[Colofornian]

You know my Dad, too, has noted a lot of good works that Mormons in Utah have done.

Likewise, we know of one great compliment Jesus gave to the outward "assets" of legalistic Pharisees, saying to others that unless your righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees & the teachers of the law, "you will certainly NOT enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:20).

IOW, Jesus could still use the legalistic Mormons as an object lesson for all of us -- just like He did legalistic Pharisees -- to remind us that our faith shouldn't be privately tucked away...
...that zeal is to be displayed outwardly...
...and that righteousness was never meant to be hid in a corner.

But...
...Jesus...
...later...(Matthew 23)...
...outlined the true internal vs. external "scorecard" of the Pharisees:

25"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Mtnfolk, if Jesus only looked upon outward assets, then the Pharisees & the teachers of the law...
...and perhaps SOME Mormons, too...
...passed -- or would pass -- your standards w/flying colors...
...and, by implication...Jesus then would have been mistaken to "diss" them.

Bottom line: Hey, if you're auditioning for godhood, which temple Mormons are, you better be on your best outward behavior.

[3Fingas]

No motorcycling? Well, that’s down right insane. LOL.
I would fail right there.

[MHGinTN]

I looked through the list and didn’t see ‘Do not pass GO, and do not collect 200 indulgences from the locals’.

[okie01]

Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Good advice.

I have never met a Mormon -- and I have known many, in both the workplace and private life -- who was not a hard worker, honest through and through and of estimable character.

I can't help but wonder who are these people that some others describe?

[3Fingas]

I think comparing Mormons to Wahhabis is ludicrous. Many Mormons serve faithfully in the armed forces where I cannot say the same for Wahhabis.

Seriously, there are a lot of things about LDS theology and church practices I find suspect and of which I just plain disagree. However, I have known quite a few Mormons and, to a person, I have found them to be hard working, patriotic, and family oriented. In this country, people are free to worship as they please. If they are good citizens, take care of themselves, and are a net plus for the community, who am I to judge them because they don’t share my religion.

[Elsie]

And you’ve been around a LONG time!

https://www.google.com/search?q=ponzi+schemes+in++utah&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&ie=&oe=&rlz=1I7ADRA_enUS475

[Elsie]

Warn me first if it goes to one of your wacko threads in the Religion forum.

---

BEWARE!!

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I miss ol' PD!

HE was about useless when it came to defending his faith; but at LEAST he had a bunch of links that showed interested people where to find the MILK of MORMONism...

---

Here; in his memory; is The LIST:

http://www.lds.org

http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com

[Elsie]

It mattereth not; as we got to call YOUR stuff WACKO!

—MormonDude(THAT is what matters!)

[Elsie]

Mormonism embraces MULTIPLE gods.

Oh YEAH???

Where's yer evidence???

---

(click)

Praise to the Man!

 

 

 

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!
Jesus annointed that Prophet and Seer.
Blessed to open the last dispensation,
Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.

Chorus
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

Praise to his mem'ry, he died as a martyr;
Honored and blest be his ever great name!
Long shall his blood, which was shed by assasins,
Plead unto heav'n while the earth lauds his fame.

Chorus
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

Great is his glory and endless his priesthood.
Ever and ever the keys he will hold.
Faithful and true he will enter his kingdom,
Crowned in the midst of the prophets of old.

Chorus
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven;
Earth must atone for the blood of that man.
Wake up the world for the conflict of justice.
Millions shall know 'Brother Joseph' again.

Chorus
Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

[Elsie]

What difference does it make?

Keep on seekin' on...

[Elsie]

As you posted, the hatred and continuous use of FR to express same is pathological.

CAn't we all just get along?

[Elsie]

Some urim & thummim pet rock?

---

"Now the way he translated was he put the urim and thummim into his hat and Darkned his Eyes than he would take a sentance and it would apper in Brite Roman Letters. Then he would tell the writer and he would write it. Then that would go away the next sentance would Come and so on. But if it was not Spelt rite it would not go away till it was rite, so we see it was marvelous. Thus was the hol [whole] translated."

---Joseph Knight's journal.

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"In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us."
(History of the RLDS Church, 8 vols.

(Independence, Missouri: Herald House,1951),

"Last Testimony of Sister Emma [Smith Bidamon]," 3:356.

---

"I, as well as all of my father's family, Smith's wife, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, were present during the translation. . . . He [Joseph Smith] did not use the plates in translation."
---(David Whitmer,

as published in the "Kansas City Journal," June 5, 1881,

and reprinted in the RLDS "Journal of History", vol. 8, (1910), pp. 299-300.

---

In an 1885 interview, Zenas H. Gurley, then the editor of the RLDS Saints Herald, asked Whitmer if Joseph had used his "Peep stone" to do the translation. Whitmer replied:

"... he used a stone called a "Seers stone," the "Interpreters" having been taken away from him because of transgression. The "Interpreters" were taken from Joseph after he allowed Martin Harris to carry away the 116 pages of Ms [manuscript] of the Book of Mormon as a punishment, but he was allowed to go on and translate by use of a "Seers stone" which he had, and which he placed in a hat into which he buried his face, stating to me and others that the original character appeared upon parchment and under it the translation in English."

---

"Martin Harris related an incident that occurred during the time that he wrote that portion of the translation of the Book of Mormon which he was favored to write direct from the mouth of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He said that the Prophet possessed a seer stone, by which he was enabled to translate as well as from the Urim and Thummim, and for convenience he then used the seer stone, Martin explained the translation as follows: By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet and written by Martin and when finished he would say 'Written,' and if correctly written that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language then used."
(Edward Stevenson, "One of the Three Witnesses,"

reprinted from Deseret News, 30 Nov. 1881

in Millennial Star, 44 (6 Feb. 1882): 86-87.)

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In 1879, Michael Morse, Emma Smith's brother-in-law, stated:

 

 "When Joseph was translating the Book of Mormon [I] had occasion more than once to go into his immediate presence, and saw him engaged at his work of translation. The mode of procedure consisted in Joseph's placing the Seer Stone in the crown of a hat, then putting his face into the hat, so as to entirely cover his face, resting his elbows upon his knees, and then dictating word after word, while the scribes Emma, John Whitmer, O. Cowdery, or some other wrote it down."
(W.W. Blair interview with Michael Morse,

Saints Herald, vol. 26, no. 12

June 15, 1879,  pp. 190-91.)

---

Joseph Smith's brother William also testified to the "face in the hat" version:

 

"The manner in which this was done was by looking into the Urim and Thummim, which was placed in a hat to exclude the light, (the plates lying near by covered up), and reading off the translation, which appeared in the stone by the power of God"

("A New Witness for Christ in America,"

Francis W. Kirkham, 2:417.)

---

"The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret was the same manner as when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, while the book of plates were at the same time hid in the woods."

---Isaac Hale (Emma Smith's father's) affidavit, 1834.

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[Elsie]

The following are the LYING images that MORMONism has produced, KNOWING that they represent something FALSE!!

 

 

   

[Elsie]

Ya gotta set ‘em up to give their gold teeth first...

[Elsie]

I can't help but wonder who are these people that some others describe?

Good question; just which reply are you thinking of?

[Larry Lucido]

What would Jesus say?

Get a survey and title commitment.

[Elsie]

If they are good citizens, take care of themselves, and are a net plus for the community, who am I to judge them because they don’t share my religion.

Then I can only assume that your religion is not Christianity.

THAT 'religion' has a fairly clear mandate on what to do when faced with false teachers and false prophets.

[Elsie]

#118 for those who missed it.

[1rudeboy]

What's that? Declaring a fatwa on FR? The Constitution of the United States is very clear on freedom of religion . . . instead of throwing stones [pun intended] at people who believe in it, perhaps you should read it?

[Elsie]

According to the announcement, a church entity, AgReserves Inc., will buy 382,834 acres – the majority of St. Joe's timberlands – in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty and Wakulla counties for $565 million.

That's $1,475 an acre.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Bay%2C+Calhoun%2C+Franklin%2C+Gadsden%2C+Gulf%2C+Jefferson%2C+Leon%2C+Liberty+and+Wakulla&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&ie=&oe=&rlz=1I7ADRA_enUS475#q=Bay%2C+Calhoun%2C+Franklin%2C+Gadsden%2C+Gulf%2C+Jefferson%2C+Leon%2C+Liberty+and+Wakulla&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&tbm=nws