How the Mormons plan a city for 500,000 in Florida

theguardian ^ | Monday 30 January 2017 02.59 EST | Claire Provost

[Elsie]

From book to boom: how the Mormons plan a city for 500,000 in Florida

The Mormon church owns vast tracts of US land, and now envisages a huge new city on its Deseret Ranch – but at what cost?

[Colofornian]

They’re clean-cut, plastic people who follow a theology that makes L.Ron Hubbard seem like a respectable theologian.

:)

[Colofornian]

You guys working as a team? I live in Florida and this piece is pure BS. Outsiders? Gimme a break - these folks ARE Americans... Obama allowed the UN to bring in half a million people from 3re world hellholes to be our ‘immigrants’. Talk about ‘outsiders’....

You seem to be under the illusion that the Lds church doesn't embrace illegal immigration (to some degree):

2 LDS branch presidents in Utah deported to Guatemala, El Salvador

[Elsie]

4. Bunchs of folks deluded by the imagination of Joseph Smith and his succeeding pronouncements.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

It’s never good to let cultists go unchecked; they behave like the mafia and will abuse the locals. Also, these neurotic freaks almost pulled a revolt to give Hillary the election.

[Elsie]

Same on the inside, different feathers on the outside.

[TimeofReason]

The problem with blaming the entire church for that tragedy, is that it was carried out by a small number of Mormons in Southern Utah. They were far removed from the Church headquarters, who did not know of or approve of that atrocious action.

Besides, if that was the standard operating procedure of the LDS, then why did you have to reach back through the depths of time 160 years to prove how bad the Church is????

[Elsie]

LDS owns MOST of UTAH!

[JonPreston]

Thanks for the article. We came close to moving there when it opened but stuff happened. That 89 degrees sure sounds good!

[TimeofReason]

We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe He is the Savior of the world and still reaches out to rescue any soul who wants to be rescued. We study with great effort the writings of Christ’s life. Each year, in Sunday School, we study a different book of Scripture. One year, it is the Old Testament, then New Testament.

We also consider the Book of Mormon another Testament of Jesus Christ. It is a record of the ancestors of the Native Americans, who fled Jerusalem in 600 BC because of the people’s wickedness and threats to kill the Prophet Lehi. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah, who was at that time preaching to those people, and being abused “daily.”

If you discovered that there was more to know about this Jesus, would you have desire to learn more about Him? I want to know everything I can about Him. So, I read things like the Apocrypha, and trust that God will teach me what is true and what is not. So, investigate it yourself, instead of taking anyone else’s word for it. I invite you to read the Book of Mormon.

[ealgeone]

I agree they are a cult.

[Colofornian]

The problem with blaming the entire church for that tragedy, is that it was carried out by a small number of Mormons in Southern Utah. They were far removed from the Church headquarters, who did not know of or approve of that atrocious action.

Brigham Young was not only the prophet of his church in 1857 into the 1870s, but also territorial gov. How many Lds were convicted of this crime? One. John D. Lee.

After the massacre (in 1857), John D. Lee remained an active leader in Mormon affairs in southern Utah. However, by the late 1860s, questions about the massacre became more and more difficult to avoid, and in October 1870 Brigham Young excommunicated Lee from the Mormon Church for his role in the affair. Lee was the only one so punished and would later maintain that he became a scapegoat to take the public pressure off the more responsible Mormon leaders.

And so Lee remained a leader in the Church for THIRTEEN years before he was cut-off. Did you also know in April 1961, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints posthumously reinstated Lee's membership in the church.?

Who were among these key Mormons who led the slaughter?

* Lds Stake President Isaac Haight. Convicted? (Not on your life; it even took the Lds church 11 yrs to ex-communicate him!)

* Counselor to Lds Stake President Haight, John Mount Higbee. Convicted? (Not on your life)

* Parowan Stake President William Horne Dame. Convicted? (Not on your life; in fact, his stake presidency came after the massacre!)

* Lds bishop Philip Klingensmith. Convicted? (Not on your life)

* Future Lds bishop William Edwards. Convicted? (Not on your life; in fact, his bishop role came after the massacre!)

* Lds bishop John D. Lee. Convicted? (Yes...and the ONLY man so convicted -- and hung)

The Mormons covered it up so that NONE -- minus Lee decades later -- would be held responsible.

Excerpts from Sally Denton's 2003 book entitled: American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857 (Vintage Books, division from Random House):

George Smith, less than three weeks before the massacre, arrived in Southern Utah in late August, 1857. Smith was both an “apostle” and militia leader in the Lds church. Rachel Lee, one of John D. Lee's wives, recorded messages at the time in her diary that Smith's messages were “full of hostility and virulence.” (Denton, p. 116)

Lee's first trial resulted in a hung jury: "...the eight Mormons and one Jack Mormon favoring acquittal, the three non-Mormons leaning toward conviction" (Denton, p. 226)

Mormon leaders stonewalled witnesses. Brigham Young and George Smith both were conveniently ill...and "Of more than one hundred called, fewer than half would surface, and many of those came under duress." (Denton, p. 225)

Essentially the entirety of the Mormon church of the 1850s, the 1860s, & the 1870s covered it all up. If you had neighbors who wouldn't dare hurt a fly, but would cover up mass murder...would that somehow make you feel better 'bout them?

[freedomlover]

Don’t you also believe that Jesus is the brother of Satan?

Don’t you also believe that Jesus is not God?

Just checking.

[Berosus]

From 1986 to 1990, while making deliveries from Orlando to Melbourne, I drove past the Deseret Ranch at least once every weekend. For the first year, I did it on third shift, and a couple of times for variety, I drove through the ranch instead of past it. Boy, that was the most remote spot I visited on my courier runs! Then a few years later, I learned there were plans to build a community named Harmony between St. Cloud and Holopaw, but construction didn’t really get started before I moved to Kentucky. Harmony would be on the west side of the ranch. What ever happened to the Harmony project, and is it part of what the Mormons are planning?

[Colofornian]

Besides, if that was the standard operating procedure of the LDS, then why did you have to reach back through the depths of time 160 years to prove how bad the Church is????

Well, guess what? The Mormon violence track record was even better on Sept. 10, 1857 than it is now. And yet that didn't seem to impact Sept. 11, 1857, did it?

Also, for a better history of Lds violence, please read: "Under the Banner of Heaven" book review

See also: Mormon murderers

And, who can forget Mark Hofmann? Former wife of Mark Hofmann to tell her side of the story

[utahb52]

LDS owns MOST of UTAH!

Actually, the United States Government owns about two-thirds of Utah.

[Moonman62]

I agree. The Mormon population is growing rapidly as is the Amish (the real Amish). They may be the saviors of this country 50 to 100 years in the future.

[Colofornian]

[To Timeofreason] Don’t you also believe that Jesus is the brother of Satan?

Good question.

Don’t you also believe that Jesus is not God?

Well, Lds believe Jesus is divine, but no more divine than what the average temple Mormon can eventually become.

My Q along these lines is: Don't you also believe that Jesus was not God from eternity past? That He became a "god"?

[liberalh8ter]

I have a family member that joined LDS after a lifetime of Catholicism. Her choice and she's very happy. While I don't agree with their teachings, it hasn't changed her in any way. As a Floridian relatively close to where this land purchase took place, I'm good with it.

[Proyecto Anonimo]

Never heard about that. Here is some more ugly history... This one got John Smith killed over the Mississippi near Alton IL. The MO GOV signs an extermination order.

Missouri Executive Order Number 44, read as follows:

“
Headquarters of the Militia, City of Jefferson, Oct. 27, 1838.

Gen. John B. Clark:

Sir: Since the order of this morning to you, directing you to cause four hundred mounted men to be raised within your division, I have received by Amos Reese, Esq., of Ray county, and Wiley C. Williams, Esq., one of my aids [sic], information of the most appalling character, which entirely changes the face of things, and places the Mormons in the attitude of an open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this state. Your orders are, therefore, to hasten your operation with all possible speed. The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description. If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do so to any extent you may consider necessary. I have just issued orders to Maj. Gen. Willock, of Marion county, to raise five hundred men, and to march them to the northern part of Daviess, and there unite with Gen. Doniphan, of Clay, who has been ordered with five hundred men to proceed to the same point for the purpose of intercepting the retreat of the Mormons to the north. They have been directed to communicate with you by express, you can also communicate with them if you find it necessary. Instead therefore of proceeding as at first directed to reinstate the citizens of Daviess in their homes, you will proceed immediately to Richmond and then operate against the Mormons. Brig. Gen. Parks of Ray, has been ordered to have four hundred of his brigade in readiness to join you at Richmond. The whole force will be placed under your command.

I am very respectfully, yr obt st [your obedient servant],

L. W. Boggs, Commander-in-Chief.[2]

[Vigilanteman]

Hyperbolic crap. Utah is one of the most hospitable places on the planet, particularly in the southern part where Mormons are a super majority. And Hillary didn't even come close to winning the state. In fact, she came in third in the counties where Mormons are a super majority. Look it up.

Been there, done that and you can't fool me with your hyperbolic "cult" rants. If the Catholics or even a couple of large Protestant denominations voted like Mormons, the left wouldn't have the dominate stranglehold it still holds over large portions of society.