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.

[Vigilanteman]

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

I tend to ignore them . . . or clean them off my shoe.

Even if church owned enterprises hired only their own parishioners (which they legally can't), it would still be a service to the community at large because there would be that many fewer people in line to suckle off the government teat.

Personally, I wish all the denominations with a lot more parishioners than the Mormons would make the same efforts to own and run business because then they would have a vested interest in promoting free enterprise as opposed to suckling their share out of socialism.

[Elsie]

Its university system is limited to widely respected Brigham Young, which has campuses in Utah, Idaho and Hawaii, and LDS Business College.

I hear that the ARCHEOLOGY school kinda sucks though...

[hoosierary]

“#1...That goes both ways...If you deem/judge them as “Christians” — and then don’t treat them as a “mission field” — and you thereby convince other Christians to likewise ignore them as a mission field, you are screwed before the Jesus Christ who commissions His church to go and make disciples of all ethnic groups...which includes Mormons. “

From your previous statements it appears that you view Mormons as a cult that need to be exterminated rather than a mission field, so it is very clear that you are contradicting your self on this argument.

“#2... The 80,000 Mormon missionaries deem Christians as a mission field. Why do they get a free pass from you? Their theology says that the unmarried, the non-Mormons, and the non-temple Mormons all won’t live forever with the Mormon heavenly father. “

Again you setup a straw man argument as most Christians believe that baptism is necessary to be saved. But this is not judging a person just indicating that there are certain requirements to salvation that must be met.

[Elsie]

There are a LOT of MORMONs in this thread sticking up for their church; which is admirable.

---

Too bad so many of them are headed to DAMNATION!!!!

---

"Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned;

and I will go still further and say, take this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord has given,

and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned.

Brigham Young - JoD 3:266 (July 14, 1855)

[Colofornian]

Yes, I wholeheartedly endorse Mormon tithing and them spending it on whatever they want. They seem to do a better job of spending the money productively that would otherwise go towards government cheese than our government!

Wow! Some high-flutin' elevated target of comparison you picked there!

Why...they beat out those guv folks, eh?

Fancy!

Why, next you'll probably be raving about communistic govts because they, too, currently outpace a better "return on investment" than our current Obama socialistic enterprise!

[Elsie]

Your hatred for these people is pathological.

Evidently YOU agree with what your leaders say:

---

Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).

Joseph Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).

 

 

 

Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses

, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).

 

 

President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses , 10:127).

 

 

 

James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).

 

 

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).

 

 

 

More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).

 

 

 

President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).

 

 

President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).

[Elsie]

I am sick and tired of this sh*t!

Boo hoo!

I am INCOGNITO!!!!

[ansel12]

Makes me wonder why ONLY about 15% of all MORMONs actually DO this.

I don't know, most people aren't even aware that the Mormon religion has classes of worshipers and even separate buildings for them, and that failing to give a full 10% of your income, means you are not issued the ID required for the inner secrets, and to attend the giant Temples that are so impressive, and that people mistakenly think are open to all Mormons.

[Elsie]

I'm confused.

Welcome to MormonISM!

[truth_seeker]

“Pick up a Bible and find out what Christians are supported to do with regards to false teachings and prophets”

I don’t bother my silly little head with such matters, as through my long lifetime I’ve noticed the various factions continually at war, protestants v. catholics v. others, etc.

There is a God, and I’m not it. The running battles between denominations don’t interest me very much.

Over and out.

[RFEngineer]

“Why, next you’ll probably be raving about communistic govts because they, too, currently outpace a better “return on investment” than our current Obama socialistic enterprise! “

Coloform-ian,

I don’t even know what you are talking about. Can you put it in a bigger font, perhaps add some font colors, and then maybe put your points in an exhaustive enumerated list of 300 things you dislike about what Mormons do - then maybe just maybe I will get your point.

We folks who support religious freedom are a dense bunch of Americans. Try using smaller words more emphatically, that may also help you get your point across that you choose not to be Mormon.

[Elsie]

(Hint: There's such a thing as hell; and there's such a thing as committing spiritual suicide)

WHICH hell?

The MORMON one or the Christian one?

---

 

Hell

See also Damnation; Death, Spiritual; Devil; Sons of Perdition

Latter-day revelation speaks of hell in at least two senses. First, it is the temporary abode in the spirit world for those who were disobedient in mortality. In this sense, hell has an end. The spirits there will be taught the gospel, and sometime following their repentance they will be resurrected to a degree of glory of which they are worthy. Those who will not repent, but are nevertheless not sons of perdition, will remain in hell throughout the Millennium. After these thousand years of torment, they will be resurrected to a telestial glory (D&C 76:81–86; 88:100–101).

Second, it is the permanent location of those who are not redeemed by the atonement of Jesus Christ. In this sense, hell is permanent. It is for those who are found “filthy still” (D&C 88:35, 102). This is the place where Satan, his angels, and the sons of perdition—those who have denied the Son after the Father has revealed him—will dwell eternally (D&C 76:43–46).

[Colofornian]

That would presume obviously that Mormons are not Christians of which you have already passed judgement. So if the only true Judge deems them to be Christians then you are basically screwed becuase you have already judged them in your heart.

I covered four other aspects of my response in posts #90 & #95...

Here's #5...

Of course, hoosierary, you seem to presume that Mormon leaders themselves say that Mormons -- and Christians -- worship the same Jesus. Would it surprise you to discover that they don't say that?

WHERE WE ACTUALLY 'AGREE' WITH MORMON LEADERS:

Lds speak about, believe, acknowledge, worship, and trust a 'different' Christ than most Christians do

Lds Source	Lds Leaders Say: 'Different Christ'	Bible indicates: 'Different Christ'
Lds 'prophet' Gordon B. Hinckley:	Lds "prophet" Gordon B. Hinckley: “There are those outside the Church who say Latter-day Saints do not believe in the traditional Christ. No, I don’t. The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak.” (LDS Church News, June 20, 1998) Hinckley again: As a Church we have critics, many of them. They say we do not believe in the traditional Christ of Christianity. There is some substance to what they say. Our faith, our knowledge is not based on ancient tradition, the creeds which came of a finite understanding and out of the almost infinite discussions of men trying to arrive at a definition of the risen Christ. Our faith, our knowledge comes of the witness of a prophet in this dispensation who saw before him the great God of the universe and His Beloved Son, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. ("We Look to Christ", from April 2002 General Conference.)	"The FACT IS, we do NOT depend on the Bible or on traditional biblical interpretations for our theology." (BYU professor Robert L. Millet, Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, 6:1, p. 198). Did you notice the "WE" of Millet's statement? -- and that there wasn't a storm or even a peep of protest from either Mormon leaders or Mormon grassroots objecting to this Millet statement...and I would guestimate that lack of protest encompasses ALL FReeper Mormons! In stark contrast, the traditional Christ within Christianity is... ...uniquely THE ONLY begotten Son from eternity past, not one of millions of God's pre-existent "sons"; He is uniquely Savior, not one of millions of saviors per Mormondom; He is uniquely Creator and divine and self-existent from eternity past, not one of MILLIONS of men who are somehow likewise "self-existent" from eternity past; His blood is uniquely powerful beyond men's commandment-keeping -- lest the promise Jesus made to the thief on the cross become a false prophecy; His blood is potent enough to cover ALL sins, unlike the Mormon Jesus who leaves men to "make up" for anemic blood via their own "blood atonement." He absorbed God's wrath vs. the Book of Mormon violent Jesus who took out His wrath upon thousands of residents in alleged 16 Book of Mormon cities! The violent Mormon Jesus sunk, entombed, and otherwise destroyed perhaps up to 90,000 upon His death on the Mormon cross! The Bible knows no such horrific crucifixion aftermath fairy tales...
Lds official publication Ensign; BYU Press; Lds curricula - Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide	“It is true that many of the Christian churches worship a different Jesus Christ than is worshipped by the Mormons.” – LDS publication, Ensign Magazine, May 1977, p. 26; "True and saving worship is found ONLY among those who know the truth about God and the Godhead, and who understand the true relationship men should have with each member of that Eternal Presidency." ("Our Relationship with the Lord," in Fireside and Devotional Speeches, 1981-82 (Provo: BYU Press, 1982), p. 97 -- this quote republished in official Lds curricula publication in 1983, 1986, Come unto Christ: Melchizedek Priesthood Personal Study Guide, 1984/1988, p. 45)	(See comparison charts to follow); Christians worship a Christ who can receive direct prayer (Acts 7:59; Mormons even militate vs. their own "scripture" on this -- see 3 Nephi 19:18, 24-26)
Lds "apostle" Bruce R. McConkie	"And virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Lds "apostle" Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pg.269).	The Christ of Christianity is 'mythical' per an Lds "apostle"? And Mormons imagine that they haven't somehow wielded a direct attack upon Christians worldwide? May I remind Mormons that Lds continued to publish McConkie's "Mormon Doctrine" book? (The Mormon church got ahold of the direct copyright, acquiring it from Bookcraft, and then publishing it under its direct ownership umbrella -- Deseret Book Publishing -- in 1993) McConkie's book was published/republished under 7, count 'em 7, Mormon "prophets" (McKay, Lee, Kimball, Benson, Hunter, Hinckley, Monson). Only McKay conveyed strongly that alterations needs to be forthcoming after the initial edition, and revisions were made...but not enough to keep from embarrassing the Mormon faithful ever since!

Summary bottom-line for Hoosierary's sake:

Mormon official publications say they worship a different Christ than do Christians...
...the Mormon "prophet" said they speak about, believe and acknowledge a different Christ...
...Most Christians say they worship, speak of and trust another Jesus...
...So...We would seem to all be on the same page...so why the few stragglers who are out of harmony???

[ansel12]

What???

If you have problems with your posts getting removed, then go after the moderator, not random people on the thread.

[Elsie]

So you’re on a one-man crusade to save everyone in the LDS, RLDS, FLDS and etc. from hell? Seriously?

I reserve 7000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal.

---

There are a LOT of us who do not want MORMONs to continue on the wrong path they are on.

It sure riles up those who WANT to stay on it though!

[RFEngineer]

Yes, a matrix of why you choose not to be a Mormon. This is very helpful for cross-referencing how you came to not be Mormon.

[Elsie]

You’re a raving lunatic. You should seek help.

Still got the memo I see...

Office of First President & Living Prophet®:

December 11st, 2011

 

URGENT!

Fellow MORMON Freeper Christians!!

I've been getting lots of feedback from those of you on Free Republic (spit) about a certain Colorfornicator (or something like that), who is REALLY giving us a hard time there.

 

Why not try to point out to the uninformed how OBSESSED he seems to be.

 

Let's see if we can tangle him up so much trying to defend his reputation that he'll no longer have as much time to post facts about MORMONism.

 

As always, Tommy M.

[Elsie]

I think you need to brush up on your Bible a little bit...

Darned good advice!!

---

 

Acts 17:18-19
 18.  A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
 19.  Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

 

Acts 18:11
    So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

 

 

 

 

 

Romans 15:4
 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

 

 

Romans 16:17
   I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.

 

 

1 Corinthians 4:17
   For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

 

 

1 Corinthians 11:2
 2.  I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings,  just as I passed them on to you.

 

 

Ephesians 4:14-15
 14.  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
 15.  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

 

 

2 Thessalonians 2:15
   So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings  we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

 

 

2 Thessalonians 3:6
  In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching  you received from us.

 

 

1 Timothy 1:3-4
 3.  As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer
 4.  nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work--which is by faith.

 

 

1 Timothy 1:7
  They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

 

 

1 Timothy 2:7
   And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle--I am telling the truth, I am not lying--and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.

 

 

1 Timothy 4:1-2
 1.  The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
 2.  Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

 

 

1 Timothy 4:6
   If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

 

 

1 Timothy 4:11
  Command and teach these things.

 

 

1 Timothy 6:3-5
 3.  If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching,
 4.  he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 
 5.  and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

 

 

2 Timothy 1:13
  What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

 

 

 2 Timothy 2:15-17
 15.  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
 16.  Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
 17.  Their teaching will spread like gangrene.

 

 

2 Timothy 3:16-17
 16.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
 17.  so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 

 

 2 Timothy 4:3-4
  3.  For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
  4.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

 

 

Titus 1:11
   They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach--and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

 

 

Titus 2:1
  You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

 

 

Titus 2:15
  These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

 

 

 Hebrews 13:9
 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.

 

 

 2 Peter 2:1-3
 1.  But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
 2.  Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
 3.  In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

 

 

2 John 1:10
  If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.

[hadaclueonce]

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

People!

We have bigger fish to fry than trying to prove our religion is right.

We have the Anti Crist in office, can we keep on the target?

[Elsie]

James 4:11-12
“Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Mormons, sorry, ain't our brothers.

The Christ they worship is NOT the same as the Christain community over CENTURIES has worshipped.