The Church's Ranch

Florida Trend Magazine ^ | 8 January 2002 alert from friend | By Cynthia Barnett

[Rubber Duckie]

Interesting read. Who would ever guess that a Utah church are the biggest cowboys in America and the ranch is in an east coast state?

I'm wondering about the comments in the article about the Mormon's being the richest religion. It can't mean the individual members-- Utah is the nation's capital for MLM businesses like NuSkin and Amway. Other lesser known names have more salesmen than customers.

[JRandomFreeper]

ping

[Utah Girl]

Time magazine did an extensive article on the LDS church's wealth in 1997. The "wealth" is tied up in churches and temples mostly. I do know there are wealthy members (obviously), but I don't think the wealth is per-capita.

[Utah Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Utah Girl]

The LDS church also owns a couple of dude ranches and a ranch where people can go big game hunting. The animal activists are frothing at the mouth over the hunting ranch. They don't understand how a Christian church can condone hunting. LOL, President Hinckley is/was a big hunter...as are many members of the church.

[crazykatz]

I also DOUBT very highly that it is the nations's fastest growing religion.....I see new evangelical churches everywhere these days....and, there are only 2 mormom churches in my town of over 1.5 million.

Now, the Roman Catholics just built new schools and churches ALL over town!! And, the Baptists....WOW!! They are just huge here. Even the Orthodox Christians have 5 churches in my city.

I guess they think if they toot their own horn...folks will believe what they say.

Do they still believe that satan is Jesus' brother?

[Utah Girl]

Actually, the statistic is true. The church is growing at a 4.7% rate in the US and faster outside the US. What city do you live in? I'd say as a rule, there are more members out West, but there are pockets of lots of members in the East and South also.

[KirklandJunction]

Your "doubt" is based on your view of your local town?

My "town" has one church, a new church, LDS, and the nearest Baptist (or Catholic) church is about 45 miles away.

...what you see depends on where you look, eh?

[let freedom sing]

We are all brothers and sisters in God's eyes.

[Utah Girl]

Yes we are.

[Paulus Invictus]

Amway is not headquartered in Utah, but there are many other MLM scams that are.

[AppyPappy]

NO COFFEE MACHINE????

I've always wondered. Do Jehovah's Witnesses go door-to-door in Utah?

[wild peach]

My husband and I worked at Deseret for about a year and a half. I laughed out loud when I got to the part about the "65 tidy houses". The one we lived in was one of the original houses. Had to be over 50 years old, and looked like it. Also, they pay slave wages and then charge ridiculous rent on the "tidy houses". Ha!

We are not Mormon and believe me you can hear a pin drop on all 300,000 acres on a Sunday. I made a lot of noise on my way to the beach. Other than Sunday, they work like dogs. I can't believe that they would provide all the units with laptops. That would be an outrageous amount of money. All the cowboys turned in their paperwork to me and it looked like it had been in the bottom of a trailer. Some of them can even write legibly. The thing that bothered me the most was their idea that anyone that had a degree in anything from BYU was paid more even if he had never been on a horse in his life. You would not believe the guys that start out not knowing a steer from a heifer.

I also had to laugh about the "elaborate swimming hole". I could go on, but I won't bore you. Mostly they are nice people. There are good and bad everywhere you go. Ferren is a pretty nice guy too.

[wild peach]

That was the biggest surprise to me! LOL! NO COFFEE MACHINE!!!! I drank all my coffee at home. Another non-Mormon that worked in the office always brought his coffee cup to work with him. No one ever said anything. They drank gallons of Pepsi and Mountain Dew, though.

[JesusIsLord]

Cain and Abel were brothers but one of them simply didn't get it. Indeed, all humankind is related but all humankind has not received eternal life through Christ.

I John 5:7-13 reads, "7And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 8 There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has borne witness to his Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne to his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life. 13 I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Mormons are not Christians, and Christians are not Mormons. Why? Primarily because Mormons reject Jesus' diety, and reliance on him alone for salvation and eternal life.

[Utah Girl]

Yes, Jehovah's Witnesses go door to door in Utah. I've even paid them a dollar for the Watchtower magazine occasionally. I don't invite them because I'm not interested, but I have always tried to be polite...

[Utah Girl]

I was wondering how long the "Mormons are not Christians" mantra would take to turn up on this thread...

[tracer]

Please explain to me how a religion that teaches that Jesus Christ is none other than Jehovah of the Old Testament and is the Creator of the earth can be said -- even by the ignorant -- to "reject Jesus'diety [spelled "deity"], and reliance on him ["Him" is correct] alone for salvation and eternal life?"

If you bothered to attend even one LDS Sunday meeting or watch one semi-annual General Conference on television you would be amazed and probably embarrassed.....

And don't believe everything that people -- out of necessity -- read to you.....

[womanvet]

I don't understand why some say that Mormans aren't Christian. Isn't the "official" name of their religion, "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

[P-Marlowe]

I also DOUBT very highly that it is the nations's fastest growing religion

If it is included in the tally of Christian churches in general, then it is probably one of the fastest growing "denominations." Most of the growth in the Christian Church over the last decade has been in evangelical "non-denominational" churches, which of course would not be counted as fast growing denominations, since, by definition they do not fit into the category.