If someone came to you and asked you how to run the LDS Church's public relations outreach, what would you advise those who make such powerful decisions to do?

Would you emphasize the good works that Latter-day Saints do while downplaying doctrinal difference to avoid misunderstanding and strife?

Or instead of leaving the doctrine to the missionaries, would you go on the offensive, pointing out anomalies in other faiths in a way that showed the strength of your religious position?

How would you use the Book of Mormon? Would you call them to repentance, as the Book of Mormon often seems to do?

Would you be defensive about your faith, holding back publicly and then responding to attacks only when they came?

Would you ignore mean-spirited public attacks on the church, forgive seven times seventy and move on?

For a church that claims a mandate to spread its gospel to the world, these questions are of no small import, and the answers likely differ depending on the circumstances.

These questions are part of the subtext of this week's terrific Mormon Media Studies symposium at BYU. The keynote speech by the University of Richmond's Terryl Givens and other presenters provided insight into this powerful issue.

An insight I gleaned from his presentation is that when Latter-day Saints provided effective rebuttals, say, to the argument that Joseph Smith is a fraud — and they do — they are arguing on the turf their opponents set out. You see this today in the argument about whether Mormons are Christian or not. It seems to be a debate that can need engagement, but it is a debate set on the terms by others who are not Mormon.

How do you engage in the public dialogue and set the agenda? One way is to focus on the things that make Mormonism distinctive as a way to create conversation that drives the discussion, keeping church opponents talking about what Latter-day Saints wish to be talking about —say the Book of Mormon or eternal marriage.

Beyond Givens' speech, what stood out in this conference is how the church has responded to its public relations challenges over the years and continues to do so today.

BYU scholar Ed Adams studied the public relations efforts of President Heber J. Grant in the years just following World War II. In the decades before Grant became president, the church faced extensive anti-Mormon press and politics. The most famous of these may be the series of anti-Mormon exposes in the muckraking magazines of the era, including Alfred Henry Louis' dark series called "The Viper on the Hearth" in Cosmopolitan magazine.

Adams argued that President Grant followed classic public relations principles in building the church — in an era when the professional practice of public relations was just emerging. For example, President Grant was willing to meet with writers and was witty and avuncular in his approach. A kind, warm caricature of a golf-playing prophet emerged that helped the church at the time.

The church also took advantage of many opportunities that emerged in the culture at the time — including many stories that had Utah ties and brought reporters to Utah.

Similarly, Susan Easton Black's work shows the history of Mormon newspapers that were, in part, efforts at public relations before there ever was a professional practice of it. Her new book of Erastus Snow's newspaper, "The St. Louis Luminary," is an example of the period.

In 1852, not long after the church began settling in Utah, it sent some of its most important leaders, including Snow, to major metropolitan areas to speak up in behalf of the church and to build up the Saints wherever they were. These apostles — John Taylor in New York, Orson Pratt in Washington D.C. and George Q. Cannon in San Francisco — became important advocates for their cause in some of the church's darkest hours. Snow's was just one effort at public relations and the press.

The writers at the symposium took different approaches to the question of how Mormons should tell their story, but all demonstrated the remarkable effort that continues today.

In the end, with another Mitt Romney campaign coming up and tickets going on sale for a new Broadway musical from the creators of South Park called "The Book of Mormon," the question of how Latter-day Saints should present their church to outsiders through public relations efforts will continue to fascinate

THE STATEMENT IS CERTAINLY FACTUAL!!

So is:

The SUN will come up tomorrow.

It ain't the FACT that even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then, but the FACT that JS made 'prophecies' that FAILED.

THAT's the FACT of what the BIBLE says:

"But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My name,
which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the
name of other gods, even that prophet will die.

And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which the
Lord has
not spoken?

When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord,
if the thing follow not,
nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken,
but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously."
Deuteronomy 18:20-22

"Behold, I am against the prophets, said the Lord,
that use their tongues and say, He said.

Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, said the Lord,
and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies
and by their lightness; yet I send them not, nor commanded them;
therefore they shall not profit this people at all, said the Lord."

Jeremiah 23:31-32

I wonder how many Christians ever really read the New Testament.

I wonder how many MORMON leaders ever really OBEYED the New Testament.

1 Timothy 3:2-3
2. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3. not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

1 Timothy 3:12
A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well.

Titus 1:6
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.

I wonder how many MORMON leaders ever really OBEYED the Book of MORMON?

THE BOOK OF JACOB
THE BROTHER OF NEPHI

CHAPTER 2

24 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.
25 Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph.
26 Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old.
27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;
28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.
30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.
31 For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands.
32 And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.

TRUTH IGNORED

Smith, Young, Taylor, Pratt, Snow, Kimball Woodruff ...

Martyrdom of Joseph Smith

From MormonWiki ( http://www.mormonwiki.com/Martyrdom_of_Joseph_Smith )

Joseph Smith, Mormon Prophet, was martyred at Carthage Jail

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) consider Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805–1844), the Church's founder, to be a true prophet, in the true biblical sense. The Prophet Joseph, who was ultimately killed by his religious and political foes, is also remembered as a martyr for the cause.

On June 25, 1844, Governor Thomas Ford of Illinois told the state militia that Joseph and his brother Hyrum were "dangerous men" (History of the Church, 5:563) and guilty of treason. To answer the demands of the governor, the two brothers went to Carthage, Illinois, to deliver themselves up to the "pretended requirements of the law" (Doctrine and Covenants 135:1). Joseph Smith said of the event, "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall be said of me—He was murdered in cold blood"

(Doctrine and Covenants 135:4).

Joseph and Hyrum were confined in Carthage Jail, along with John Taylor and Willard Richards, members of the Church administrative body known as the Quorum of the Twelve. The four men remained in the jail for two days, during which time they were treated well by the jailers and were visited by friends from Nauvoo. On June 27 a mob, made up of members of the town militia who were in charge of protecting Joseph, overran the jail. The mob, later described by John Taylor as men who were "armed" and "painted black" (Doctrine and Covenants 135:1) entered the room in which the men were being held. The room was located at the top of the stairs, on the second floor of the jail. The mob forced the room's door open and poked their gun barrels into the room. They began shooting into the room, despite efforts by Willard Richards to deflect the gun barrels with his walking stick. Hyrum Smith was shot multiple times and fell dead to the floor. John Taylor also took five balls and was saved when one hit his pocket watch. He sought refuge by rolling under the bed. Joseph Smith ran toward the window where he was shot in the back from inside the jail and shot in the chest from outside the jail. He either fell or leaped out of the window, landing on the ground near the well outside the jail, where he was again shot by members of the mob.

(See History of the Church, 6:602-618, also Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, 348).

MORMONwiki sure SANTITIZES stuff!

Where 's PICTURE of the PISTOL that was smuggled to them?

Where is even the MENTION that the Smiths managed to SHOOT others?

Martyrdom of Joseph Smith

From MormonWiki ( http://www.mormonwiki.com/Martyrdom_of_Joseph_Smith )

(Doctrine and Covenants 135:4).

(See History of the Church, 6:602-618, also Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, 348).

MORMONwiki sure SANTITIZES stuff!

Where 's PICTURE of the PISTOL that was smuggled to them?

Where is even the MENTION that the Smiths managed to SHOOT others?

Bad fruit placemarker

2 Nephi 3:12 Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins write; and the fruit of thy loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins of Judah, shall grow together,

2 Nephi 3:18 And the Lord said unto me also: I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it.

Joseph Smith Translation Gen. 50: 27 Thus saith the Lord God of my fathers unto me, A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins, and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren.

Joseph Smith Translation Gen. 50: 31 Wherefore the fruit of thy loins shall write, and the fruit of thy loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins of Judah, shall grow together

Diaboli virtus in lumbas est. Diaboli virtus in lumbas est.

He either believes or as an operative tries to get others to believe that the Native Americans were Jews, and entire civlization arose then disappeared without a trace some where between New York and who knows where man can become a god and Joe Smith was a “prophet” and stamps your ticket into heaven.

"He (Joseph Smith) is the man through whom God has spoken... yet I would not like to call him a savior, though in a certain capacity he was a god to us, and is to the nations of the earth, and will continue to be."

- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:321

"You call us fools; but the day will be, gentlemen and ladies, whether you belong to this Church or not, when you will prize brother Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Living God, and look upon him as a god..."

- Herber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 5:88

"If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by him [Joseph Smith]; if we enter our glory, it will be through the authority he has received. We cannot get around him [Joseph Smith]"

- (as quoted in 1988 Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide, p. 142)

There is "no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. If Joseph Smith was verily a prophet, and if he told the truth...no man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God"

- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p.190

"I tell you, Joseph holds the keys, and none of us can get into the celestial kingdom without passing by him. We have not got rid of him, but he stands there as the sentinel, holding the keys of the kingdom of God; and there are many of them beside him. I tell you, if we get past those who have mingled with us, and know us best, and have a right to know us best, probably we can pass all other sentinels as far as it is necessary, or as far as we may desire. But I tell you, the pinch will be with those that have mingled with us, stood next to us, weighed our spirits, tried us, and proven us: there will be a pinch, in my view, to get past them. The others, perhaps, will say, If brother Joseph is satisfied with you, you may pass. If it is all right with him, it is all right with me. Then if Joseph shall say to a man, or if brother Brigham say to a man, I forgive you your sins, "Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them;" if you who have suffered and felt the weight of transgression—if you have generosity enough to forgive the sinner, I will forgive him: you cannot have more generosity than I have. I have given you power to forgive sins, and when the Lord gives a gift, he does not take it back again."

- Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p.154-155

"It is because the Lord called Joseph Smith that salvation is again available to mortal men.... If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation,"

- Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 396, 670

I dare any Mormon to attempt to list every law emphasized by Lds.org!!! (Or even most of them!)

Heck; they can't even follow the Word of Wisdom correctly!!

THE
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS
OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

SECTION 89

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, February 27, 1833. HC 1: 327–329. As a consequence of the early brethren using tobacco in their meetings, the Prophet was led to ponder upon the matter; consequently he inquired of the Lord concerning it. This revelation, known as the Word of Wisdom, was the result. The first three verses were originally written as an inspired introduction and description by the Prophet.

1–9, Use of wine, strong drinks, tobacco, and hot drinks proscribed; 10–17, Herbs, fruits, flesh, and grain are ordained for the use of man and of animals; 18–21, Obedience to gospel law, including the Word of Wisdom, brings temporal and spiritual blessings.

1 A ^aWord OF Wisdom, for the benefit of the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the church, and also the saints in Zion—

2 To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the ^aword of wisdom, showing forth the order and ^bwill of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days—

3 Given for a principle with ^apromise, adapted to the capacity of the ^bweak and the weakest of all ^csaints, who are or can be called saints.

4 Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of ^aevils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of ^bconspiring men in the last days, I have ^cwarned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—

5 That inasmuch as any man ^adrinketh ^bwine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before him.

6 And, behold, this should be wine, yea, ^apure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make.

7 And, again, ^astrong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies.

8 And again, tobacco is not for the ^abody, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill.

9 And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.

10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome ^aherbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with ^aprudence and ^bthanksgiving.

12 Yea, ^aflesh also of ^bbeasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used ^csparingly;

13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be ^aused, only in times of winter, or of cold, or ^bfamine.

14 All ^agrain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;

15 And ^athese hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

16 All grain is good for the ^afood of man; as also the ^bfruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

17 Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain.

18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, ^ashall receive ^bhealth in their navel and marrow to their bones;

19 And shall ^afind ^bwisdom and great ^ctreasures of ^dknowledge, even hidden treasures;

20 And shall ^arun and not be ^bweary, and shall walk and not faint.

21 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the ^adestroying angel shall ^bpass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

I guess you didn’t notice that I already posted all your links and a discussionj of them ensued. You’re evidently just a spam machine. I think you have this post macroed and you paste it into any old thread about the LDS without even bothering to read it.

Makes ya look a little foolish, don’t ya think?

I scanned it briefly. Same old anti-Mormon baloney packaged a different way. I don’t really care if you post them or not.

There’s a set of fools here alright and they aren’t of the Mormon faith. And as long as they continue to spew the propaganda I will keep posting my links for the investigator to see. Have a lovely day.

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