Posted on 07/29/2007 3:23:40 AM PDT by restornu
“We are electing a President not a Priest in Chief.”
Except Mitt was a Bishop and Stake President, and is a High Melchizedek Priest heading for his own planet complete with celestial wives. As such, he will be called on to explain whether as President he will believe Indians are decended from Jews (thus perhaps invalidating tribal claims). He’ll also be asked repeatedly about everything from crystal gazing to the planet Kolob. So get used to it.
I love that hymn and I sang O My Father at my Husband Funeral
PRAISE TO THE MAN by: William H. Whitsitt
Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah! Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.
Blessed to open the last dispensation, Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.
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 assassins, Plead unto heav'n while the earth lauds his fame.
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.
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.
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.
I am sorry for this but we are in a peculiar situation.
A cult is a group which violates the rights of its members and damages them through abusive techniques of unethical mind control. Unethical mind control happens when leaders, recruitment methods, doctrines, organizational structure, cult literature uses deception, lack of full disclosure of beliefs up front, guilt, fear and shame to gain converts and keep them in the group. The group discourages or limits free thinking based on independent investigation from all sources of information about the group, including former members and dissenting opinions about the group. Not all groups are considered cults, not even if they are based on strange beliefs. A destructive cult distingues itself from a normal social or religious group by subjecting members to deception or other psychological damage in order to keep them in the group.
What is a religious cult?
Relgious cults are primarily focused on strict adherence to religious dogma, given by a top-down leader/prophet/more enlightened person which one cannot question. Some use some holy scripture authority and some are purely inventions of their leaders and can be a combination of the two, scripture/invention via god’s authority in that leader. They use deception to appeal to potential converts and offer them a utopian way to live and define such a life in terms of rules to live by and rewards coming from total adherenece only. Once that process begins, the group can begin to define the world inside the group as exclusively worthy and outside the group not worth living, bad, misled or a dead end to destruction. Fear, paranoia, guilt and induced phobias about life outside of the group are used to keep the member in, so they’ll fear leaving such teachings. They then keep themselves in the group, in order to avoid what they’ve accepted MIGHT happen to them if they leave.
What are some of the methods Cults use?
The methods in which such cults indoctrinate members are diverse, but most cults use public “truth telling” or “testimony of the truth of the group” , swearing oaths to be faithful to the group, responsibility for recruiting other members, responsibility for teaching other members of group doctrines, a very heavy work load and most free time taken up in support of the group, doctrine over person, doctrine without questions and mandatory money giving to the group.
the four major components of mind control are:
behavior control - restrictions, rules of behavior, assignments, tasks, indoctrination in meetings, teaching or being taught. The whole realm of forcing particular behaviors in order to conform to the group.
thought control - black and white thinking, developing testimony for the truth of such absolute doctrines or group, thought stopping rituals, such as reverting to “statement of belief” or “testimony” of the truth of the group when confronted with any conflicting information or challenging information. Cults discourage questioning doctrine, making independent conclusions and free thinking. A person cannot come to their own conclusion if it is not in line with the group party line, or the person is deemed misled, unworthy or defective in their thinking. the fault is always found with the member and not the leader or doctrines.
emtional control - guilt, inducing feelings that you’ll never measure up, you’re not “worthy”. fear, by defining the “enemy” as one who is and will persecute you and normally defined in terms of forces like evil or satan. phobias can be induced with fear of the “enemy”. also, fear of discovery of a member’s questioning authority or doctrines and what consequences could be in store, like ex-communication or punishment, shame.
Information control - denying members from reading from independent sources of information to make sound and independent judgements on the group and group doctrines. Groups practice censorship in the form of producing “cult generated” faith affirming literature and restrict members from reading anything not published by the cult about the cult. All other sources of materials are labelled as “anti” and are “evil” and “of the enemy”.
How do you think the LDS faith fits into these definitions?
My neighbor is LDS and his college age son has passed on his mission time. Can he do his mission work later or is it only possible at one age?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I'm a Methodist and I bash them on FR all the time.
I heard of missionaries at all stages of life.
The first missionary I had discussions with was 25 years old at the time.
Re-lax
It’s purely informational. No big deal.
I hope your heavenly mother and father who dwell on the planet near Kolob loved it! : D
I’m sure you are a beautiful singer, I honestly wish I could hear you sometime, but I would prefer you to sing Amazing Grace.
What? No holy slack allowed? :-D
LOL! Actually, I need to repair the closure on top. Don’t need him flashing people. ;-)
And, I'm waiting for his answer to the Law of Consecration question when he is asked if his vow to " accept the Law of Consecration as contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, in that you do consecrate yourselves, your time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed you, or with which he may bless you, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the building up of the Kingdom of God on the earth and for the establishment of Zion.".
Will his loyalty be with this vow or his Oath of Office as President?
This question has been derided by apologists here before, as facetious, but Mitt's ANSWER will not be as important as the fact of the press ASKING the question will be.
A possibility as important as that will stick in voter's mind, and they will wonder about it.
Didn’t you hear? Joseph Smith has done more than any man....even Jesus Christ!
“for I will come out on the top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.”
History of the Church, Vol. 6, pp. 408-409 Address of the Prophet - His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo.
Of course they praise him. He is GREATER than Jesus Christ!
Wow that is new to me I gain my testimony before I ever met a missionary, or attended the Church.
All that I know of the Church has been a One on One with the Lord and scripture study, pondering, conversations with my Heavenly Father and receiving a witness by the Power of the Holy Ghost!
Good. He’s really worried about it.
Do you practice Open Communion (anyone may partake regardless of denomination)?
IIRC the LDS Church only recognizes one translation of the Bible. Is that still true?
LOL That’s alright I like Amazing Grace too!
“I am amazed and appalled that Free Republic can be used in this manner as a proselyting opportunity for one religious sect.”
You need to think about this a little differently. I have a long posting history of opposition to Mormonism based on real life experiences that have impinged on the political and business world (Harry Reid is one small example). As you go through these threads, I think you will find they do more damage to Mormon interests than not, because as we develop the history of Joseph Smith it becomes clear he was nothing but an adulterous, philandering, secessionist, tinpot general/King/Presidential wannabe with roots in the occult. I don’t think they are winning any converts, just the contrary.
“why I can’t ever pin down a straight answer from a Mormon. “
That’s what disqualifies Mitt, at some point he will be forced to lie. In fact, as a Bishop, he is already being forced to lie by omission, NOT speaking in detail about his faith.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.