Tag: Tithing

  • Voluntary Offerings

    Voluntary Offerings

    Excerpt from ‘Tithing and Charitable Donations’, Church Newsroom: 1

    All funds given to the Church by its members are considered sacred. They are voluntary offerings that represent the faith and dedication of members and are used with careful oversight and discretion. They are audited regularly by independent, certified auditors.

    Excerpt from the June 1980 Ensign, First Presidency Message, Marion G. Romney: 2

    My sincere counsel to all who receive this message is: pay your tithing and be blessed.

    Tithing is not a free-will offering; it is a debt, payment of which brings great blessings.

    References

    References
    1 ‘Tithing and Charitable Donations’, Church Newsroom – https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/tithing
    2 June 1980 Ensign, First Presidency Message, Marion G. Romney – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1980/06/concerning-tithing?lang=eng
  • Contribution

    Contribution

    Excerpt from the February 8, 2020 Wall Street Journal article, ’The Mormon Church Amassed $100 Billion. It Was the Best-Kept Secret in the Investment World.’: 1

    For more than half a century, the Mormon Church quietly built one of the world’s largest investment funds. Almost no one outside the church knew about it.

    Some of that mystery evaporated late last year when a former employee revealed in a whistleblower complaint with the Internal Revenue Service that the fund, called Ensign Peak Advisors, had stockpiled $100 billion. The whistleblower also alleged that the church had improperly used some Ensign Peak funds. Officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, colloquially known as the Mormon Church, denied those claims.

    They also declined to comment on how much money their investment fund controls. “We’ve tried to be somewhat anonymous,” Roger Clarke, the head of Ensign Peak, said from the firm’s fourth-floor office, above a Salt Lake City food court. Ensign Peak doesn’t appear in that building’s directory.

    Interviews with more than a dozen former employees and business partners provide a deeper look inside an organization that ballooned from a shoestring operation in the 1990s into a behemoth rivaling Wall Street’s largest firms.

    Its assets did total roughly $80 billion to $100 billion as of last year, some of the former employees said. That is at least double the size of Harvard University’s endowment and as large as the size of SoftBank’s Vision Fund, the world’s largest tech-investment fund. Its holdings include $40 billion of U.S. stock, timberland in the Florida panhandle and investments in prominent hedge funds such as Bridgewater Associates LP, according to some current and former fund employees.

    Church officials acknowledged the size of the fund is a tightly held secret, which they said was because Ensign Peak depends on donations—known as tithing—from the church’s 16 million world-wide members. The church is under no legal obligation to publicly report its finances.

    But the whistleblower report—filed by David Nielsen, a former Ensign Peak portfolio manager—has heaped pressure on the church to be more transparent about its finances, something the church has avoided for decades.

    The firm doesn’t tell business partners how much money it manages, an unusual practice on Wall Street. Ensign Peak employees sign lifetime confidentiality agreements. Most current employees are no longer told the firm’s total assets under management, according to some of the former employees; few employees understand what the money is intended for.

    In their first-ever interview about Ensign Peak’s operations, Mr. Clarke and church officials who oversee the firm said it was a rainy-day account to be used in difficult economic times. As the church continues to grow in poorer areas of the world like Africa, where members cannot donate as much, it will need Ensign Peak’s holdings to help fund basic operations, they said.

    “We don’t know when the next 2008 is going to take place,” said Christopher Waddell, a member of the ecclesiastical arm that oversees Ensign Peak known as the presiding bishopric. Referring to the economic crash 12 years ago, he added, “If something like that were to happen again, we won’t have to stop missionary work.”

    During the last financial crisis, they didn’t touch the reserves Ensign Peak had amassed, church officials said. Instead, the church cut the budget.

    A former employee and the whistleblower in his report said they heard Mr. Clarke refer to the second coming of Jesus Christ as part of the reason for Ensign Peak’s existence. Mormons believe before Jesus returns, there will be a period of war and hardship.

    Mr. Clarke said the employees must have misunderstood his meaning. “We believe at some point the savior will return. Nobody knows when,” he said.

    When the second coming happens, “we don’t have any idea whether financial assets will have any value at all,” he added. “The issue is what happens before that, not at the second coming.”

    Whereas university endowments generally subsidize operating costs with investment income, Ensign Peak does the opposite. Annual donations from the church’s members more than covers the church’s budget. The surplus goes to Ensign Peak. Members of the religion must give 10% of their income each year to remain in good standing.

    Dean Davies, another member of the ecclesiastical arm that oversees Ensign Peak, said the church doesn’t publicly share its assets because “these funds are sacred” and “we don’t flaunt them for public review and critique.”

    Mr. Clarke said he believed church leaders were concerned that public knowledge of the fund’s wealth might discourage tithing.

    “Paying tithing is more of a sense of commitment than it is the church needing the money,” Mr. Clarke said. “So they never wanted to be in a position where people felt like, you know, they shouldn’t make a contribution.”

    References

    References
    1 The Mormon Church Amassed $100 Billion. It Was the Best-Kept Secret in the Investment World – https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mormon-church-amassed-100-billion-it-was-the-best-kept-secret-in-the-investment-world-11581138011?mod=hp_lead_pos3
  • Pay Tithing

    Pay Tithing

    Excerpt from an address by Lynn G. Robbins of the First Quorum of the Seventy, April 2005 General Conference: 1

    “No bishop, no missionary should ever hesitate or lack the faith to teach the law of tithing to the poor. The sentiment of “They can’t afford to” needs to be replaced with “They can’t afford not to.”

    One of the first things a bishop must do to help the needy is ask them to pay their tithing. Like the widow, if a destitute family is faced with the decision of paying their tithing or eating, they should pay their tithing. The bishop can help them with their food and other basic needs until they become self-reliant.”

    References

    References
    1 Lynn G. Robbins of the First Quorum of the Seventy, April 2005 General Conference – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2005/04/tithing-a-commandment-even-for-the-destitute?lang=eng
  • Law of Tithing

    Law of Tithing

    Excerpt from an address by Lynn G. Robbins of the First Quorum of the Seventy, April 2005 General Conference: 1

    “No bishop, no missionary should ever hesitate or lack the faith to teach the law of tithing to the poor. The sentiment of “They can’t afford to” needs to be replaced with “They can’t afford not to.”

    One of the first things a bishop must do to help the needy is ask them to pay their tithing. Like the widow, if a destitute family is faced with the decision of paying their tithing or eating, they should pay their tithing. The bishop can help them with their food and other basic needs until they become self-reliant.”

    References

    References
    1 Lynn G. Robbins of the First Quorum of the Seventy, April 2005 General Conference – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2005/04/tithing-a-commandment-even-for-the-destitute?lang=eng
  • Not a free will offering

    Not a free will offering

    Excerpt from the June 1980 Ensign, First Presidency Message, Marion G. Romney: 1

    Tithing is not a free-will offering; it is a debt, payment of which brings great blessings.

    I consider the payment of tithing a sound financial investment. To those who pay their tithing, the Lord has said that he will “open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

    The payment of tithing is also worthwhile as fire insurance. Through his prophets the Lord has told us that incident to his second coming, there will be a great conflagration. Malachi thus refers to it in connection with his pronouncement about tithes and offerings.

    I know from my own experience, and I bear you my witness, that there is a peace and a comfort and an assurance which comes to one who pays an honest tithing. If you ever come to a time when you don’t know how much you owe, pay a little more. It is better to over-pay than to under-pay.

    References

    References
    1 June 1980 Ensign, First Presidency Message, Marion G. Romney – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1980/06/concerning-tithing?lang=eng
  • Bankruptcy

    Bankruptcy

    Utah Ranks in the Top 10 Bankruptcy Filing States Per Capita 1

    Excerpt from the June 1980 Ensign, First Presidency Message, Marion G. Romney: 2

    Tithing is not a free-will offering; it is a debt, payment of which brings great blessings.

    I consider the payment of tithing a sound financial investment. To those who pay their tithing, the Lord has said that he will “open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

    The payment of tithing is also worthwhile as fire insurance. Through his prophets the Lord has told us that incident to his second coming, there will be a great conflagration. Malachi thus refers to it in connection with his pronouncement about tithes and offerings.

    I know from my own experience, and I bear you my witness, that there is a peace and a comfort and an assurance which comes to one who pays an honest tithing. If you ever come to a time when you don’t know how much you owe, pay a little more. It is better to over-pay than to under-pay.

    References

    References
    1 Personal bankruptcy rate in the United States as of September 2019, by state (per 100,000 population) – statista – https://www.statista.com/statistics/303570/us-personal-bankruptcy-rate/
    2 June 1980 Ensign, First Presidency Message, Marion G. Romney – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1980/06/concerning-tithing?lang=eng
  • Conversation with Brigham

    Conversation with Brigham

    Brigham Young Interview by Horace Greeley (New York Tribune editor), ‘Two Hours With Brigham Young’, Salt Lake City, Utah, July 13, 1859: 1

    My friend Dr. [John M.] Bernisel, M.C. [Mormon Church], took me this afternoon, by appointment, to meet Brigham Young, President of the Mormon Church, who had expressed a willingness to receive me at 2 P.M. We were very cordially welcomed at the door by the President, who led us into the second-story parlor of the largest of his houses (he has three), where I was introduced to Heber C. Kimball, Gen. [Daniel H.] Wells, Gen. [James] Ferguson, Albert Carrington, Elias Smith, and several other leading men in the Church, with two full-grown sons of the President. After some unimportant conversation on general topics, I had come in quest of fuller respecting the doctrines and polity [organization] of the Mormon Church, and would like to ask some questions bearing directly on these, if there were no objections. President Young avowed his willingness to respond to all pertinent inquiries, the conversation proceeded substantially as follows:

    H.G. — Am I to regard Mormonism (so-called) as a new religion, or as simply a new development of Christianity?

    B.Y. — We hold that there can be no true Christian Church without a priesthood directly commissioned by and in immediate communication with the Son of God and Savior of mankind. Such a church is that of the Latter-Day Saints, called by their enemies Mormons; we know no other that even pretends to have present and direct revelations of God’s will.

    H.G. — Then I am to understand that you regard all other churches professing to be Christian as The Church of Rome regards all churches not in communion with itself — as schismatic, heretical, and out of the way of salvation?

    B. Y. — Yes, substantially.

    H.G. — Apart from this, in what respect do your doctrines differ from those of our Orthodox Protestant Churches — the Baptist or Methodist, for example?

    B.Y. — We hold the doctrines of Christianity, as revealed in the Old and New Testaments — also in the Book of Mormon, which teaches the same cardinal truths, and those only.

    H.G. — Do you believe in the doctrine of the Trinity?

    B. Y. — We do; but not exactly as it is held by other churches. We believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as equal, but not identical — not as one person [being]. We believe in all the Bible teaches on this subject.

    H.G. — Do you believe in a personal devil — a distinct, conscious, spiritual being, whose nature and acts are essentially malignant and evil?

    B.Y. — We do.

    H.G. — Do you hold the doctrine of Eternal Punishment?

    B.Y. — We do; though perhaps not exactly as other churches do. We believe it as the Bible teaches it.

    H.G. — I understand that you regard Baptism by Immersion as essential.

    B.Y. — We do.

    H.G. — Do you practice Infant Baptism?

    B.Y. — No.

    H.G. — Do you make removal to these valleys obligatory on your converts?

    B.Y. — They would consider themselves greatly aggrieved if they were not invited hither. We hold to such a gathering together of God’s People as the Bible foretells, and that this is the place and now is the time appointed for its consummation.

    H.G. — The predictions to which you refer have, usually, I think, been understood to indicate Jerusalem (or Judea) as the place of such gathering.

    B.Y. — Yes, for the Jews — not for others.

    H.G. — What is the position of your Church with respect to Slavery?

    B.Y. — We consider it of Divine institution, and not to be abolished until the curse pronounced on Ham shall have been removed from his descendants.

    H.G. — Are there any slaves now held in this Territory?

    B.Y. — There are.

    H.G. — Do your Territorial laws uphold Slavery?

    B.Y. — Those laws are printed — you can read them for yourself. If slaves are brought here by those who owned them in the States, we do not favor their escape from the service of those owners.

    H.G. — Am I to infer that Utah, if admitted as a member of the Federal Union, will be a Slave State?

    B.Y. — No; she will be a Free State. Slavery here would prove useless and unprofitable. I regard it generally as a curse to the masters. I myself hire many laborers and pay them fair wages; I could not afford to own them. I can do better than subject myself to an obligation to feed and clothe their families, to provide and care for them, in sickness and health. Utah is not adapted to Slave Labor.

    H.G. — Let me now be enlightened with regard more especially to your Church polity [government]; I understand that you require each member to pay over one-tenth of all he produces or earns to the Church.

    B.Y. — That is a requirement of our faith. There is no compulsion as to the payment. Each member acts in the premises according to his pleasure, under the dictates of his own conscience.

    H.G. — What is done with the proceeds of this tithing?

    B.Y. — Part of it is devoted to building temples and other places of worship; part to helping the poor and needy converts on their way to this country; and the largest portion to the support of the poor among the Saints.

    H.G. — Is none of it paid to Bishops and other dignitaries of the Church?

    B.Y. — Not one penny. No Bishop, no Elder, no Deacon, or other church officer, receives any compensation for his official services. A Bishop is often required to put his hand in his own pocket and provide therefrom for the poor of his charge; but he never receives anything for his services.

    H.G. — How then do your ministers live?

    B.Y. — By the labor of their own hands, like the first Apostles. Every Bishop, every Elder, may be daily seen at work in the field or the shop, like his neighbors; every minister of the Church has his proper calling by which he earns the bread of his family; he who cannot or will not do the Church’s work for nothing is not wanted in her services; even our lawyers (pointing to Gen. Ferguson and another present, who are the regular lawyers of the Church) are paid nothing for their services; I am the only person in the Church who has not a regular calling apart from the Church’s service, and I never received one farthing from her treasury; if I obtain anything from the tithing-house, I am charged with and pay for it, just as anyone else would; the clerks in the tithing-store are paid like other clerks, but no one is ever paid for any service pertaining to the ministry. We think a man who cannot make his living aside from the Ministry of Christ unsuited to that office. I am called rich, and consider myself worth $250,000; but no dollar of it was ever paid me by the Church or for any service as a minister of the Everlasting Gospel. I lost nearly all I had when we were broken up in Missouri and driven from that State; I was nearly stripped again when Joseph Smith was murdered and we were driven from Illinois; but nothing was ever made up to me by the Church, nor by any one. I believe I know how to acquire property and how to take care of it.

    H.G. — Can you give me any rational explanation of the aversion and hatred with which your people are generally regarded by those among whom they have lived and with whom they have been brought directly in contact?

     B.Y. — No other explanation than is afforded by the crucifixion of Christ and the kindred treatment of God’s ministers, prophets, saints in all ages.

    H.G. — I know that a new sect is always decried and traduced — that it is hardly ever deemed respectable to belong to one — that the Baptists, Quakers, Methodists, Universalists, &c., have each in their turn been regarded in the infancy of their sect as the off-scouring of the earth; yet I cannot remember that either of them were ever generally represented and regarded by the older sects of their early days as thieves, robbers and murderers.

    B.Y. — If you will consult the contemporary Jewish accounts of the life and acts of Jesus Christ, you will find that he and his disciples were accused of every abominable deed and purpose — robbery and murder included. Such a work is still extant, and may be found by those who seek it.

    H.G. — What do you say of the so-called Danites, or Destroying Angels, belonging to your Church?

    B.Y. — What do you say? I know of no such band, no such persons or organization. I hear of them only in the slanders of our enemies.

    H.G. — With regard, then, to the grave question on which your doctrine and practices are avowedly at war with those of the Christian world — that of a plurality of wives — is the system of your Church acceptable to the majority of its women?

    B.Y. — They could not be more averse to it than I was when it was first revealed to us as the Divine Will. I think they generally accept it, as I do, as the will of God.

    H.G. — How general is polygamy among you?

    B.Y. — I could not say. Some of those present [heads of the Church] have each but one wife; others have more: each determines what is his individual duty.

    H.G. — What is the largest number of wives belonging to any one man?

    B.Y. — I have fifteen; I know no one who has more but some of those sealed to me are old ladies whom I regard rather as mothers than wives, but whom I have taken home to cherish and support.

    H.G. — Does not the Apostle Paul say that a bishop should be “the husband of one wife”?

    B.Y. — So we hold. We do not regard any but a married man as fitted for the office of bishop. But the Apostle Paul does not forbid a bishop from having more wives than one.

    H.G. — Does not Christ say that he who puts away his wife, or marries one whom another has put away, commits adultery?

    B.Y. — Yes; and I hold that no man should ever put away a wife except for adultery — not always even for that. Such is my individual view of the matter. I do not say that wives have never been put away in our Church, but that I do not approve of the practice.

    H.G. — How do you regard what is commonly called the Christian Sabbath?

    B.Y. — As a divinely appointed day of rest from secular labor on that day. We would have no man enslaved to the Sabbath, but we enjoin all to respect and enjoy it.

        Such is, as nearly as I can recollect, the substance of nearly two hours’ conversation, wherein much was said incidentally that would not be worth reporting, even if I could remember and reproduce it, and wherein others bore a part; but as President Young is the first minister of the Mormon Church, and bore the principal part in the conversation, I have reported his answers alone to my questions and observations. The others appeared, uniformly to defer to his views, and to acquiesce fully in his response and explanations. He spoke readily, not always with grammatical accuracy, but with no appearance of hesitation or reserve, and with no apparent desire to conceal anything, nor did he repel any of my questions as impertinent. He was very plainly dressed in thin summer clothing, and with no air of sanctimony or fanaticism. In appearance he is a portly, frank, good-natured, rather thick-set man of fifty-five, seeming to enjoy life, and be in no particular hurry to get to heaven. His associates are plain men, evidently born and reared to a life of labor, a looking as little like crafty hypocrites or swindlers as any body of men I ever met. The absence of cant or shuffle from their manner was marked and general, yet, I think I may fairly say that their Mormonism has not impoverished them — that they were generally poor men when they embraced it, and are now in very comfortable circumstances — as men averaging three and four wives apiece certainly need to be.

        If I hazard any criticisms on Mormonism generally, I reserve them for a separate letter, being determined to make this a fair and full expose of the doctrine and polity in the very words of its Prophet, so far as I can recall them. I do not believe President Young himself could present them in terms calculated to render them less obnoxious to the Gentile world than the above. But I have the right to add here, because I said it to the assembled chiefs at the close of the above colloquy, that the degradation (or, if you please, the restriction) of Woman to the single office of child-bearing and its accessories, is an inevitable consequence of the system here paramount. I have not observed a sign in the streets, an advertisement in the journals, of this Mormon metropolis, whereby a woman proposes to do anything whatever. No Mormon has ever cited to me his wife’s or any woman’s opinion on any subject; no Mormon woman has been introduced or has spoken to me; and, though I have been asked to visit Mormons in their houses, no one has spoken of his wife (or wives) desiring to see me, or his desiring me to make her (or their) acquaintance, or voluntarily indicated the existence of such a being or beings.

        I will not attempt to report our talk on this subject, because, unlike what I have above given, it assumed somewhat the character of a disputation, and I could hardly give it impartially; but one remark made by President Young I think I can give accurately, and it may serve as a sample of all that was offered on that side.

        It was in these words, I think exactly: “If I did not consider myself competent to transact a certain business without taking my wife’s or any woman’s counsel with regard to it, I think I ought to let that business alone.”

        The spirit with regard to Woman, of the entire Mormon, as of all other polygamic systems, is fairly displayed in this avowal. Let any such system become established and prevalent, and Woman will soon be confined to the harem, and her appearance on the street with unveiled face will be accounted immodest. I joyfully trust that the genius of the Nineteenth Century tends to a solution of the problem of Women’s sphere and destiny radically different from this.

            H.G.

    References

    References
    1 ‘Two Hours With Brigham Young’, September 17, 1859, Millennial Star – https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/MStar/id/23441
  • Excommunication

    Excommunication

    Excerpt from Spencer W. Kimball’s ‘Miracle of Forgiveness’, Pg. 328-330: 1

    Excommunication

    The scriptures speak of Church members being “cast out” or “cut off,” or having their names “blotted out.” This means excommunication. This dread action means the total severance of the individual from the Church. The person who is excommunicated loses his membership in the Church and all attendant blessings. As an excommunicant, he is in a worse situation than he was before he joined the Church. He has lost the Holy Ghost, his priesthood, his endowments, his sealings, his privileges and his claim upon eternal life. This is about the saddest thing which could happen to an individual. Better that he suffer poverty, persecution, sickness, and even death. A true Latter-day Saint would far prefer to see a loved one in his bier than excommunicated from the Church. If the one cut off did not have this feeling of desolateness and barrenness and extreme loss, it would be evidence that he did not understand the meaning of excommunication.

    An excommunicant has no Church privileges. He may not attend priesthood meetings (since he has no priesthood); he may not partake of the sacrament, serve in Church positions, offer public prayers, or speaks in meetings; he may not pay tithing except under certain conditions as determined by the bishop. He is “cut off,” “cast out,” and turned over to his Lord for the final judgment. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” ( Heb. 10:31 ), and especially already branded as an apostate or transgressor.

    Inasmuch as ye are cut off for transgression, ye cannot escape the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption.

    And I now give unto you power from this very hour, that if any man among you, of the order, is found a transgressor and repenteth not of the evil, that ye shall deliver him over unto the buffetings of Satan; and he shall not have power to bring evil upon you. ( D&C 104:9-10 .)

    There is a possibility of an excommunicant returning to the blessings of the Church with full membership, and this can be done only through baptism following satisfactory repentance. The way is hard and rough and, without the help of the Holy Ghost to whisper and plead and warn and encourage, one’s climb is infinitely harder than if he were to repent before he lost the Holy Ghost, his membership, and the fellowship of the saints. The time is usually long, very long, as those who have fought their way back will attest. Any who have been finally restored would give the same advice: Repent first-do not permit yourself to be excommunicated if there is a possible way to save yourself from that dire calamity.

    Ample scriptures indicate the power of proper Church authorities to judge its members in sin. The prophet Alma judged those who had been in iniquity and who confessed and repented, and waived the usual penalties.

    And whosoever repented of their sins and did confess them, them he did number among the people of the church; And those that would not confess their sins and repent of their iniquity, the same were not numbered among the people of the church, and their names were blotted out.

    And it came to pass that Alma did regulate all the affairs of the church. ( Mos. 26:35-37 .)

    The Lord had previously said to Alma:

    Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye judge according to the sins which he has committed; and if he confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also. ( Mos. 26:29 .)

    When the Lord told the Palestinians, “Judge not that ye be not judged,” he evidently was giving general instructions to the mass of humanity through the assembly gathered. In the scripture above quoted, he is talking to ecclesiastical leaders whose responsibility it is to judge the people and regulate the affairs of the Church. As an individual, the bishop or other Church leader will not judge his fellowman, but in his official position as bishop and judge he must be the judge of their actions.

    The Lord’s promise to Alma is reassuring: “Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.” ( Mos. 26:30 .)

    References

    References
    1 Spencer W. Kimball, ‘Miracle of Forgiveness’, Pg. 329-330 – https://archive.org/details/MiracleOfForgiveness
  • Not Wealthy

    Not Wealthy

    Excerpt from an April 2006 address by Thomas S. Monson, ’Our Sacred Priesthood Trust’: 1

    “I have experienced many opportunities. One occurred 21 years ago, prior to the time when the German Democratic Republic—or East Germany, as it was more commonly known—was freed from Communist rule. I was visiting with the East German state secretary, Minister Gysi. At that time our temple at Freiberg, in East Germany, was under construction, along with two or three meetinghouses. Minister Gysi and I visited on a number of subjects, including our worldwide building program. He then asked, “Why is your church so wealthy that you can afford to build buildings in our country and throughout the world? How do you get your money?”

    I answered that the Church is not wealthy but that we follow the ancient biblical principle of tithing, which principle is reemphasized in our modern scripture. I explained also that our Church has no paid ministry and indicated that these were two reasons why we were able to build the buildings then under way, including the beautiful temple at Freiberg.”

    ‘MormonLeaks: LDS Church connected to at least $32B in U.S. stock market’, KUTV News, May 30 2018: 2

    “The church — officially titled The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — does not not publish the details of its finances, but the website MormonLeaks.io released information it says connects the church to 13 LLC companies that collectively owned the stocks at the end of 2017 and provides the collective value at $32,769,914,000. One of the financial reports was from 2015.

    MormonLeaks wrote that each of the 13 companies have domains that are hosted by the LDS Church servers, that also hosts LDS.org and Mormon.org. “All of them were registered on July 21, 2016,” according to MormonLeaks, that also provided a more technical explanation. It claimed there is little doubt the LLC domains are owned the church.”

    Further Study

    MormonLeaks™ Compiles Information Connecting Mormon Church to $32 Billion of Investments – https://mormonleaks.io/newsroom/2018/05/30/mormonleaks-compiles-information-connecting-mormon-church-to-32-billion-of-investments/

    References

  • Tithes Sufficient

    Tithes Sufficient

    April 1907 LDS General Conference, Joseph F. Smith, Pg. 7: 1

    At last we are in a position that we can pay as we go. We do not have to borrow any more, and we wont have to if the Latter-day Saints continue to live their religion and observe this law of tithing, It is the law of revenue to the Church. Furthermore, I want to say to you, we may not be able to reach it right away, but we expect to see the day when we will not have to ask you for one dollar of donation for any purpose, except that which you volunteer to give of your own accord, because we will have tithes sufficient in the storehouse of the Lord to pay everything that is needful for the advancement of the kingdom of God. I want to live to see that day, if the Lord will spare my life. It does not make any difference, though, so far as that is concerned, whether I live or not. That is the true policy, the true purpose of the Lord in the management of the affairs of His Church.

    ‘MormonLeaks: LDS Church connected to at least $32B in U.S. stock market’, KUTV News, May 30 2018: 2

    “The church — officially titled The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — does not not publish the details of its finances, but the website MormonLeaks.io released information it says connects the church to 13 LLC companies that collectively owned the stocks at the end of 2017 and provides the collective value at $32,769,914,000. One of the financial reports was from 2015.

    MormonLeaks wrote that each of the 13 companies have domains that are hosted by the LDS Church servers, that also hosts LDS.org and Mormon.org. “All of them were registered on July 21, 2016,” according to MormonLeaks, that also provided a more technical explanation. It claimed there is little doubt the LLC domains are owned the church.”

    Further Study

    MormonLeaks™ Compiles Information Connecting Mormon Church to $32 Billion of Investments – https://mormonleaks.io/newsroom/2018/05/30/mormonleaks-compiles-information-connecting-mormon-church-to-32-billion-of-investments/

    References

    References
    1 April 1907 LDS General Conference, Joseph Fielding Smith – https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1907a
    2 MormonLeaks: LDS Church connected to at least $32B in U.S. stock market – http://kutv.com/news/local/mormonleaks-says-new-documents-link-lds-church-to-companies-worth-over-32-billion
  • Pay Tithing

    Pay Tithing

    December 2012 Ensign Article, ’Sacred Transformations’: 1

    “After reading these scriptures together, Bishop Orellana looked at the new convert and said, “If paying tithing means that you can’t pay for water or electricity, pay tithing. If paying tithing means that you can’t pay your rent, pay tithing. Even if paying tithing means that you don’t have enough money to feed your family, pay tithing. The Lord will not abandon you.”

    The next Sunday, Amado approached Bishop Orellana again. This time he didn’t ask any questions. He simply handed his bishop an envelope and said, “Bishop, here is our tithing.””

    ‘MormonLeaks: LDS Church connected to at least $32B in U.S. stock market’, KUTV News, May 30 2018: 2

    “The church — officially titled The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — does not not publish the details of its finances, but the website MormonLeaks.io released information it says connects the church to 13 LLC companies that collectively owned the stocks at the end of 2017 and provides the collective value at $32,769,914,000. One of the financial reports was from 2015.

    MormonLeaks wrote that each of the 13 companies have domains that are hosted by the LDS Church servers, that also hosts LDS.org and Mormon.org. “All of them were registered on July 21, 2016,” according to MormonLeaks, that also provided a more technical explanation. It claimed there is little doubt the LLC domains are owned the church.”

    Further Study

    MormonLeaks™ Compiles Information Connecting Mormon Church to $32 Billion of Investments – https://mormonleaks.io/newsroom/2018/05/30/mormonleaks-compiles-information-connecting-mormon-church-to-32-billion-of-investments/

    References

  • Transparency

    Transparency

    October 1905 Conference Report, Prophet Joseph F. Smith, Pg. 5: 1

    “I want to say further to the Saints, that your brethren to whom you have entrusted the care and management of the finances of the Church stand ready and willing, any moment,’ to answer to YOU — to Latter-day Saints, to tithepayers, to those who are in the faith of the Gospel — for our stewardship. We can give you an account of our doings to the last senine; and I defy any man on earth to point his finger to a dollar that is willfully wasted, or stolen by the servants of God. The tithing books are kept as accurately and as perfectly as any books kept in any bank. Every man that pays a dollar tithing gets his credit on the books; and if he wants to see that his credit is there he can go and see for himself. But we do not propose to open our books and show your accounts to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the land that never did pay any tithing. We do not propose to do that, if we can help it. But you Latter-day Saints who pay your tithes and your offerings, if you want to see for yourselves, that you may be eye and ear witnesses, the books are open to you, and you can come and examine your accounts any business day you want.”

    April 1906 Conference Report, Prophet Joseph F. Smith, Pg. 6,7: 2

    “I want to say to the Latter-day Saints that the year 1905 has been the banner year for the tithings of the people. You can put that down in your memorandum books, and remember it. Never in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the people contributed as much tithing as they did in 1905. And yet they have not done anything more than their duty; in fact, there are a great many Latter-day Saints that have not done their duty, as the books will show.

    In this connection I may say that a most thorough and searching auditation of the books of the Trustee-in-Trust, the books of the Presiding Bishopric, and the books of the Deseret News Company, has been made by the auditors that were appointed and sustained at our last conference. Before the conclusion of this conference we will read you their report, and I believe you will be perfectly satisfied with it. The man that complains about not knowing what is done with the tithing, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred is the man who has no credit on the books of the Church for paying tithing. We do not care to exhibit the books of the Church to such carpers and to that class of people. But there is not a tithepayer in the Church that cannot go to the Presiding Bishop’s Office, or to the office of the Trustee-in-Trust, if he desires, and find his account, and see to it that every dollar he has given to the Lord for tithing is credited to him. Then, if he wants to be more searching as a tithepayer and find out what is done with the tithing, we will set before him the whole thing, and if he has any good counsel to give us we will take it from him. But we will not — because we do not have to, and it is not the business of the world to require it open our books to the world, unless we wish to. We are not ashamed of them. We are not afraid for them to be inspected. They are honest and straight; and there is not a man in the world that will look at them, but will say so, if he is honest himself.”

    Excerpt from ’LDS Church Finances from the 1830’s to the 1990’s’, by historian D. Michael Quinn: 3

    “The combination of bad financial investments, declines in Church businesses, and the Great Depression once again pushed the LDS church into deficit spending. First Counselor J. Reuben Clark announced to general conferences that the Church had spending deficits amounting to $100,000 in 1937 and to nearly $900,000 in 1938. In President Clark’s view, voluntary disclosure of regrettable deficits was a way to encourage greater austerity on the part of the leaders at headquarters and elsewhere. During the 1940s Clark allowed the church to spend only 27% of its annual tithing revenues.

    Twenty years later, the First Presidency’s deficit spending stopped the practice of releasing detailed financial reports at April general conferences, a regular practice since 1915. During a few months in mid-1956, the Church lost a million dollars of tithing funds invested in municipal government bonds. Yet later that year, the First Presidency committed two thirds of Church income to continued investment in municipal bonds. ’08 The next annual financial report gave fewer details about expenditures of Church funds, and the Church published its last financial report in April 1959.

    By the end of 1959, the Church had spent $8 million more than that year’s income. This deficit was extraordinary in view of the fact that the Church had had surplus income of $7 million after 1958’s expenditures. To conceal the massive increase of building expenditures in the last half of 1959, which created that deficit, the Church stopped releasing even abbreviated financial reports. At the close of 1961, Apostle Harold B. Lee expressed “my stubborn resistance to the principle of ‘deficit spending,’ supposedly justified in the hope of increasing the tithing of the Church to cover the deficit,” to no avail.”

    References

    References
    1 October 1905 Conference Report – https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1905sa
    2 April 1906 Conference Report – https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1906a
    3 ’LDS Church Finances from the 1830’s to the 1990’s’, by historian D. Michael Quinn – https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/102-17-29.pdf
  • We Preach Tithing

    We Preach Tithing

    From an article published in the Deseret News, April 16, 2018: 1

    “They received a message tailored for eastern Africa, where many tribes continue to insist that grooms or their families provide a dowry or pay a price for a bride.

    “That’s not the Lord’s way,” President Russell M. Nelson told about 2,000 Kenyans and other Africans Monday night inside a large, oval, wooden event center styled after traditional huts in Nairobi, Kenya. “The Lord’s way is to be married in the temple, for time and all eternity, with your children sealed to you.”

    He added that if he’d had to pay for his wife, “I would have missed five children, because only with my last five was I out of debt.”

    They received a message tailored for eastern Africa, where many tribes continue to insist that grooms or their families provide a dowry or pay a price for a bride.

    “That’s not the Lord’s way,” President Russell M. Nelson told about 2,000 Kenyans and other Africans Monday night inside a large, oval, wooden event center styled after traditional huts in Nairobi, Kenya. “The Lord’s way is to be married in the temple, for time and all eternity, with your children sealed to you.”

    He added that if he’d had to pay for his wife, “I would have missed five children, because only with my last five was I out of debt.”
    President Nelson also said tithing can break cycles of poverty in poor nations and families.

    We preach tithing to the poor people of the world because the poor people of the world have had cycles of poverty, generation after generation,” he said. “That same poverty continues from one generation to another, until people pay their tithing.”

    The law of the tithe was followed by ancient peoples as taught by Old Testament prophets. LDS faithful believe God restored the law and its blessings for those who follow it by giving one-tenth of their income to the church.”

    From a 2012 article published in Bloomberg, ‘How The Mormons Make Money’: 2

    “According to U.S. law, religions have no obligation to open their books to the public, and the LDS Church officially stopped reporting any finances in the early 1960s. In 1997 an investigation by Time used cross-religious comparisons and internal information to estimate the church’s total value at $30 billion. The magazine also produced an estimate that $5 billion worth of tithing flows into the church annually, and that it owned at least $6 billion in stocks and bonds. The Mormon Church at the time said the estimates were grossly exaggerated, but a recent investigation by Reuters in collaboration with sociology professor Cragun estimates that the LDS Church is likely worth $40 billion today and collects up to $8 billion in tithing each year.”

    References

    References
    1 ‘Dowry is not the Lord’s way’ In Kenya, LDS President Nelson says tithing breaks poverty cycle’, Deseret News – https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900016023/dowry-is-not-the-lords-way-in-kenya-lds-president-nelson-says-tithing-breaks-poverty-cycle.html
    2 ‘How The Mormons Make Money’, Bloomberg – https://archive.org/details/HowTheMormonsMakeMoney and https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-07-18/how-the-mormons-make-money
  • Locked Door

    Locked Door

    Affidavit by seventeen year old Martha Brotherton published in the newspaper, ‘Quincy Whig’ August 06 1842, Pg 2: 1

    Martha H. Brotherton’s Sworn Testimony

    ST. LOUIS, July 13th, A. D. 1842. Gen. John C. Bennett.

    DEAR SIR: — I left Warsaw a short time since for this city, and having been called upon by you, through the “Sangamo Journal,” to come out and disclose to the world the facts of the case in relation to certain propositions made to me at Nauvoo, by some of the Mormon leaders, I now proceed to respond to the call, and discharge what I consider to be a duty devolving upon me as an innocent, but insulted and abused female.

    I had been at Nauvoo near three weeks, during which time my father’s family received frequent visits from elders Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, two of the Mormon apostles; when early one morning they both came to my brother-in-law’s (John McIlwrick’s) house, at which place I then was on a visit, and particularly requested me to go and spend a few days with them. I told them I could not at that time, as my brother-in-law was not at home; however, they urged me to go the next day, and spend one day with them — the day being fine I accordingly went. When I arrived at the foot of the hill Young and Kimball were standing conversing together. They both came to me, and, after several flattering compliments, Kimball wished me to go to his house first. I said it was immaterial to me, and accordingly went…Young suddenly stopped, and said he would go to that brother’s…Kimball turned to me and said, “Martha, I want you to say to my wife, when you go to my house, that you want to buy some things at Joseph’s store, (Joseph Smith’s) and I will say, I am going with you to show you the way. You know you want to see the Prophet, and you will then have an opportunity.” I made no reply…

    I remained at Kimball’s near an hour, when Kimball seeing that I would not tell the lies he wished me to, told them to his wife himself. He then went and whispered in her ear, and asked if that would please her. “Yes,” said she, “or I can go along with you and Martha.” “No,’ said he, “I have some business to do, and I will call for you afterwards to go with me to the debate,” meaning the debate between yourself and Joseph. To this she consented. So Kimball and I went to the store together.
    As we were going along, he said, “Sister Martha, are you willing to do all that the Prophet requires you to do?” I said I believed I was, thinking of course he would require nothing wrong. “Then,” said he, “are you ready to take counsel?” I answered in the affirmative, thinking of the great and glorious blessings that had been pronounced upon my head, if I adhered to the counsel of those placed over me in the Lord. “Well,” said he, “there are many things revealed in these last days that the world would laugh and scoff at; but unto us is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom.” He further observed, “Martha, you must learn to hold your tongue, and it will be well with you. – You will see Joseph, and very likely have some conversation with him, and he will tell you what you shall do.” When we reached the building he led me up some stairs to a small room, the door of which was locked, and on it the following inscription: – “Positively no admittance.” He observed, “Ah! brother Joseph must be sick, for, strange to say, he is not here. Come down into the tithing-office, Martha.” He then left me in the tithing-office and went out, I know not where. In this office were two men writing, one of whom, William Clayton, I had seen in England; the other I did not know.

    Young came in and seated himself before me, and asked where Kimball was. I said he had gone out. He said it was all right. Soon after Joseph came in and spoke to one of the clerks, and then went up stairs followed by Young. Immediately after Kimball came in. “Now, Martha,” said he, “the Prophet has come; come up stairs.” I went, and we found Young and the Prophet alone. I was introduced to the Prophet by Young. Joseph offered me his seat, and, to my astonishment, the moment I was seated Joseph and Kimball walked out of the room, and left me with Young, who arose, locked the door, closed the window, and drew the curtain. He then came and sat before me and said, “This is our private room, Martha.” “Indeed, sir,” said I, “I must be highly honored to be permitted to enter it.” He smiled, and then proceeded – “Sister Martha, I want to ask you a few questions; will you answer them?” “Yes, sir,” said I. “And will you promise not to mention them to any one?” “If it is your desire, sir,” said I, “I will not.” “And you will not think any the worse of me for it, will you, Martha?” said he. “No sir,” I replied.

    “Well,” said he, “what are your feelings towards me?” I replied, “My feelings are just the same towards you that they ever were, sir..” “But, to come to the point more closely,” said he, “have not you an affection for me, that, were it lawful and right, you could accept of me for your husband and companion?”

    My feelings at that moment were indescribable. God only knows them. What, thought I, are these men that I thought almost perfection itself, deceivers. and is all my fancied happiness but a dream? ‘Twas even so; but my next thought was, which is the best way for me to act at this time? If I say no, they may do as they think proper; and to say yes, I never would. So I considered it best to ask for time to think and pray about it. I therefore said, “If it was lawful and right perhaps I might; but you know, sir, it is not.”

    “Well, but,” said he, “brother Joseph has had a revelation from God that it is lawful and right for a man to have two wives; for as it was in the days of Abraham, so it shall be in these last days and whoever is the first that is willing to take up the cross will receive the greatest blessings; and if you will accept of me I will take you straight to the celestial kingdom; and if you will have me in this world, I will have you in that which is to come, and brother Joseph will marry us here to-day, and you can go home this evening, and your parents will not know any thing about it.” “Sir,” said I, “I should not like to do any thing of the kind without the permission of my parents.” “Well, but,” said he, “you are of age, are you not?” “No, sir,” said I, “I shall not be until the 24th of May.” “Well,” said he, “that does not make any difference. You will be of age before they know, and you need not fear. If you will take my counsel it will be well with you, for I know it to be right before God, and if there is any sin in it, I will answer for it. But brother Joseph wishes to have some talk with you on the subject – he will explain things — will you hear him?” “I do not mind,” said I. “Well, but I want you to say something,” said he. “I want time to think about it,” said I. “Well,” said he, “I will have a kiss, any how,” and then rose and said he would bring Joseph. – He then unlocked the door, and took the key and locked me up alone.

    He was absent about ten minutes and then returned with Joseph. “Well,” said Young, “sister Martha would be willing if she knew if was lawful and right before God.” “Well, Martha,” said Joseph, “it is lawful and right before God – I know it is. Look here, sis; don’t you believe in me?” I did not answer. – “Well Martha,” said Joseph, “just go ahead, and do as Brigham wants you to – he is the best man in the world except me.” “Oh!” said Brigham, “then you are as good.” “Yes,” said Joseph. “Well,” said Young, “we believe Joseph to be a Prophet. – I have known him near eight years, and always found him the same.” “Yes,” said Joseph, “and I know that this is lawful and right before God, and if there is any sin in it, I will answer for it before God; and I have the keys of the kingdom, and whatever I bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever I loose on earth is loosed in heaven; and if you will accept of Brigham, you shall be blessed – God shall bless you, and my blessing shall rest upon you, and if you will be led by him, you will do well; for I know Brigham will take care of you, and if he don’t do his duty to you, come to me and I will make him; and if you do not like it in a month or two, come to me, and I will make you free again; and if he turns you off, I will take you on.”

    “Sir,” said I, rather warmly, “it will be too late to think in a month or two after. I want time to think first.” “Well, but,” said he, “the old proverb is, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained;’ and it would be the greatest blessing that was ever bestowed upon you.” – “Yes,” said Young, “and you will never have reason to repent it – that is, if I do not turn from righteousness, and that I trust I never shall, for I believe God, who has kept me so long, will continue to keep me faithful. Did you ever see me act in any way wrong in England, Martha?” “No, sir,” said I. “No,” said he; “neither can any one else lay any thing to my charge.” “Well, then,” said Joseph, “what are you afraid of, sis? – come, let me do the business for you.” “Sir,” said I, “do let me have a little time to think about it, and I will promise not to mention it to any one.” “Well, but look here,” said he, “you know a fellow will never be damned for doing the best he knows how.”

    “Well, then,” said I, “the best way I know of, is to go home and think and pray about it.” – “Well,” said Young, “I shall leave it with brother Joseph, whether it would be best for you to have time or not.” “Well,” said Joseph, “I see no harm in her having time to think, if she will not fall into temptation.” “O, sir,” said I, “there is no fear of my falling into temptation.” “Well, but,” said Brigham, “you must promise me you will never mention it to any one.” “I do promise it,” said I. “Well,” said Joseph, “you must promise me the same.” I promised him the same. “Upon your honor,” said he, “you will not tell.” “No, sir, I will lose my life first,” said I. “Well, that will do,” said he; “that is the principle we go upon. I think I can trust you, Martha,” said he. – “Yes,” said I, “I think you ought.” Joseph said, “she looks as if she could keep a secret.”

    I then rose to go, when Joseph commenced to beg of me again – he said it was the best opportunity they might have for months, for the room was often engaged. I, however, had determined what to do. – “Well,” said Young, “I will see you to-morrow. I am going to preach at the school-house, opposite your house. I have never preached there yet; you will be there, I suppose.” “Yes,” said I. The next day being Sunday, I sat down, instead of going to meeting, and wrote the conversation, and gave it to my sister, who was not a little surprised, but she said it would be best to go to meeting in the afternoon. We went, and Young administered the sacrament. After it was over, I was passing out, and Young stopped me, saying, “Wait, Martha, I am coming.” I said, “I cannot; my sister is waiting for me.” He then threw his coat over his shoulders, and followed me out, and whispered, “have you made up your mind, Martha?” “Not exactly, sir,” said I; and we parted. I shall proceed to a justice of the peace, and make oath to the truth of these statements, and you are at liberty to make what use of them you may think best.

    Yours, respectfully,
    MARTHA H. BROTHERTON.

    Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 13th day of July, A. D. 1842.

    Du. BOUFFAY FREMON,
    Justice of the Peace for St. Louis county.”

     

    Additional Study

    Episode 94: Polygamy Controversies: Women Who Said No – https://www.yearofpolygamy.com/tag/martha-brotherton/

    References

    References
    1 ‘Quincy Whig’ August 06 1842 – https://archive.org/details/QuincyWhig06August1842
  • Of Age

    Of Age

    Affidavit by seventeen year old Martha Brotherton published in the newspaper, ‘Quincy Whig’ August 06 1842, Pg 2: 1

    Martha H. Brotherton’s Sworn Testimony

    ST. LOUIS, July 13th, A. D. 1842. Gen. John C. Bennett.

    DEAR SIR: — I left Warsaw a short time since for this city, and having been called upon by you, through the “Sangamo Journal,” to come out and disclose to the world the facts of the case in relation to certain propositions made to me at Nauvoo, by some of the Mormon leaders, I now proceed to respond to the call, and discharge what I consider to be a duty devolving upon me as an innocent, but insulted and abused female.

    I had been at Nauvoo near three weeks, during which time my father’s family received frequent visits from elders Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, two of the Mormon apostles; when early one morning they both came to my brother-in-law’s (John McIlwrick’s) house, at which place I then was on a visit, and particularly requested me to go and spend a few days with them. I told them I could not at that time, as my brother-in-law was not at home; however, they urged me to go the next day, and spend one day with them — the day being fine I accordingly went. When I arrived at the foot of the hill Young and Kimball were standing conversing together. They both came to me, and, after several flattering compliments, Kimball wished me to go to his house first. I said it was immaterial to me, and accordingly went…Young suddenly stopped, and said he would go to that brother’s…Kimball turned to me and said, “Martha, I want you to say to my wife, when you go to my house, that you want to buy some things at Joseph’s store, (Joseph Smith’s) and I will say, I am going with you to show you the way. You know you want to see the Prophet, and you will then have an opportunity.” I made no reply…

    I remained at Kimball’s near an hour, when Kimball seeing that I would not tell the lies he wished me to, told them to his wife himself. He then went and whispered in her ear, and asked if that would please her. “Yes,” said she, “or I can go along with you and Martha.” “No,’ said he, “I have some business to do, and I will call for you afterwards to go with me to the debate,” meaning the debate between yourself and Joseph. To this she consented. So Kimball and I went to the store together.
    As we were going along, he said, “Sister Martha, are you willing to do all that the Prophet requires you to do?” I said I believed I was, thinking of course he would require nothing wrong. “Then,” said he, “are you ready to take counsel?” I answered in the affirmative, thinking of the great and glorious blessings that had been pronounced upon my head, if I adhered to the counsel of those placed over me in the Lord. “Well,” said he, “there are many things revealed in these last days that the world would laugh and scoff at; but unto us is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom.” He further observed, “Martha, you must learn to hold your tongue, and it will be well with you. – You will see Joseph, and very likely have some conversation with him, and he will tell you what you shall do.” When we reached the building he led me up some stairs to a small room, the door of which was locked, and on it the following inscription: – “Positively no admittance.” He observed, “Ah! brother Joseph must be sick, for, strange to say, he is not here. Come down into the tithing-office, Martha.” He then left me in the tithing-office and went out, I know not where. In this office were two men writing, one of whom, William Clayton, I had seen in England; the other I did not know.

    Young came in and seated himself before me, and asked where Kimball was. I said he had gone out. He said it was all right. Soon after Joseph came in and spoke to one of the clerks, and then went up stairs followed by Young. Immediately after Kimball came in. “Now, Martha,” said he, “the Prophet has come; come up stairs.” I went, and we found Young and the Prophet alone. I was introduced to the Prophet by Young. Joseph offered me his seat, and, to my astonishment, the moment I was seated Joseph and Kimball walked out of the room, and left me with Young, who arose, locked the door, closed the window, and drew the curtain. He then came and sat before me and said, “This is our private room, Martha.” “Indeed, sir,” said I, “I must be highly honored to be permitted to enter it.” He smiled, and then proceeded – “Sister Martha, I want to ask you a few questions; will you answer them?” “Yes, sir,” said I. “And will you promise not to mention them to any one?” “If it is your desire, sir,” said I, “I will not.” “And you will not think any the worse of me for it, will you, Martha?” said he. “No sir,” I replied.

    “Well,” said he, “what are your feelings towards me?” I replied, “My feelings are just the same towards you that they ever were, sir..” “But, to come to the point more closely,” said he, “have not you an affection for me, that, were it lawful and right, you could accept of me for your husband and companion?”

    My feelings at that moment were indescribable. God only knows them. What, thought I, are these men that I thought almost perfection itself, deceivers. and is all my fancied happiness but a dream? ‘Twas even so; but my next thought was, which is the best way for me to act at this time? If I say no, they may do as they think proper; and to say yes, I never would. So I considered it best to ask for time to think and pray about it. I therefore said, “If it was lawful and right perhaps I might; but you know, sir, it is not.”

    “Well, but,” said he, “brother Joseph has had a revelation from God that it is lawful and right for a man to have two wives; for as it was in the days of Abraham, so it shall be in these last days and whoever is the first that is willing to take up the cross will receive the greatest blessings; and if you will accept of me I will take you straight to the celestial kingdom; and if you will have me in this world, I will have you in that which is to come, and brother Joseph will marry us here to-day, and you can go home this evening, and your parents will not know any thing about it.” “Sir,” said I, “I should not like to do any thing of the kind without the permission of my parents.” “Well, but,” said he, “you are of age, are you not?” “No, sir,” said I, “I shall not be until the 24th of May.” “Well,” said he, “that does not make any difference. You will be of age before they know, and you need not fear. If you will take my counsel it will be well with you, for I know it to be right before God, and if there is any sin in it, I will answer for it. But brother Joseph wishes to have some talk with you on the subject – he will explain things — will you hear him?” “I do not mind,” said I. “Well, but I want you to say something,” said he. “I want time to think about it,” said I. “Well,” said he, “I will have a kiss, any how,” and then rose and said he would bring Joseph. – He then unlocked the door, and took the key and locked me up alone.

    He was absent about ten minutes and then returned with Joseph. “Well,” said Young, “sister Martha would be willing if she knew if was lawful and right before God.” “Well, Martha,” said Joseph, “it is lawful and right before God – I know it is. Look here, sis; don’t you believe in me?” I did not answer. – “Well Martha,” said Joseph, “just go ahead, and do as Brigham wants you to – he is the best man in the world except me.” “Oh!” said Brigham, “then you are as good.” “Yes,” said Joseph. “Well,” said Young, “we believe Joseph to be a Prophet. – I have known him near eight years, and always found him the same.” “Yes,” said Joseph, “and I know that this is lawful and right before God, and if there is any sin in it, I will answer for it before God; and I have the keys of the kingdom, and whatever I bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever I loose on earth is loosed in heaven; and if you will accept of Brigham, you shall be blessed – God shall bless you, and my blessing shall rest upon you, and if you will be led by him, you will do well; for I know Brigham will take care of you, and if he don’t do his duty to you, come to me and I will make him; and if you do not like it in a month or two, come to me, and I will make you free again; and if he turns you off, I will take you on.”

    “Sir,” said I, rather warmly, “it will be too late to think in a month or two after. I want time to think first.” “Well, but,” said he, “the old proverb is, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained;’ and it would be the greatest blessing that was ever bestowed upon you.” – “Yes,” said Young, “and you will never have reason to repent it – that is, if I do not turn from righteousness, and that I trust I never shall, for I believe God, who has kept me so long, will continue to keep me faithful. Did you ever see me act in any way wrong in England, Martha?” “No, sir,” said I. “No,” said he; “neither can any one else lay any thing to my charge.” “Well, then,” said Joseph, “what are you afraid of, sis? – come, let me do the business for you.” “Sir,” said I, “do let me have a little time to think about it, and I will promise not to mention it to any one.” “Well, but look here,” said he, “you know a fellow will never be damned for doing the best he knows how.”

    “Well, then,” said I, “the best way I know of, is to go home and think and pray about it.” – “Well,” said Young, “I shall leave it with brother Joseph, whether it would be best for you to have time or not.” “Well,” said Joseph, “I see no harm in her having time to think, if she will not fall into temptation.” “O, sir,” said I, “there is no fear of my falling into temptation.” “Well, but,” said Brigham, “you must promise me you will never mention it to any one.” “I do promise it,” said I. “Well,” said Joseph, “you must promise me the same.” I promised him the same. “Upon your honor,” said he, “you will not tell.” “No, sir, I will lose my life first,” said I. “Well, that will do,” said he; “that is the principle we go upon. I think I can trust you, Martha,” said he. – “Yes,” said I, “I think you ought.” Joseph said, “she looks as if she could keep a secret.”

    I then rose to go, when Joseph commenced to beg of me again – he said it was the best opportunity they might have for months, for the room was often engaged. I, however, had determined what to do. – “Well,” said Young, “I will see you to-morrow. I am going to preach at the school-house, opposite your house. I have never preached there yet; you will be there, I suppose.” “Yes,” said I. The next day being Sunday, I sat down, instead of going to meeting, and wrote the conversation, and gave it to my sister, who was not a little surprised, but she said it would be best to go to meeting in the afternoon. We went, and Young administered the sacrament. After it was over, I was passing out, and Young stopped me, saying, “Wait, Martha, I am coming.” I said, “I cannot; my sister is waiting for me.” He then threw his coat over his shoulders, and followed me out, and whispered, “have you made up your mind, Martha?” “Not exactly, sir,” said I; and we parted. I shall proceed to a justice of the peace, and make oath to the truth of these statements, and you are at liberty to make what use of them you may think best.

    Yours, respectfully,
    MARTHA H. BROTHERTON.

    Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 13th day of July, A. D. 1842.

    Du. BOUFFAY FREMON,
    Justice of the Peace for St. Louis county.”

     

    Additional Study

    Episode 94: Polygamy Controversies: Women Who Said No – https://www.yearofpolygamy.com/tag/martha-brotherton/

    References

    References
    1 ‘Quincy Whig’ August 06 1842 – https://archive.org/details/QuincyWhig06August1842
  • Tithing and the Poor

    Tithing and the Poor

    Excerpt from “The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball”, Pg. 212,213: 1

    The poor have special need to tithe. There are people who say they cannot afford to pay tithing, because their incomes are small. They are the people who need the blessings of the Lord! No one is ever too poor to pay tithing, and the Lord has promised that he will open the windows of heaven when we are obedient to his law. He can give us better salaries, he can give us more judgment in the spending of our money. He can give us better health, he can give us greater understanding so that we can get better positions. He can help us so that we can do the things we want to do. However, if we like luxuries or even necessities more than we like obedience, we will miss the blessings which he would like to give us.

    One woman went to her bishop and wanted to pay a little tithing that she owed. The bishop said, “No, you keep it. You can’t afford to pay tithing. You need every cent that you make.” But this woman said, “Bishop, you have no right to deprive me of the blessing that I will receive if I pay tithing.” Encourage children to tithe. Now, I know that you do not have very big incomes, but remember it does not matter how little you make, you pay your tithing. Give the children a chance to learn tithing. If one of the little boys or girls earns only fifty cents in a whole year, he goes to the branch president and pays one nickel for tithing and that is just as good as the man who pays $10,000. The Lord is not looking at the amount; all he is looking at is the percentage.

    Let children see parents pay tithing. So, wouldn’t it be wonderful if every father in Zion would take his children with him to pay his tithing and let them see him give the bishop the amount of money that represents sacrifice to him, so that the children also would feel the need of it.

    The tithing principle is a solution for poverty. The cure to poverty lies in Isaiah fifty-eighth chapter and in Malachi third chapter: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. ” I hear voices asking in insolence and wonder and disbelief: “How can a scripture solve poverty and want?” Then I quote further: “And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10.) Ah! That is what we need across the tracks, in India and Pakistan, in our big cities, in disadvantaged countries — to have the heavens open. Apparently earth has not provided the answer; now shall we try heaven? The Lord has promised to open the windows of heaven. To hear the population explosion experts talk and write — those people who think themselves so wise — they would depopulate the earth so that the few left would roll in luxury rather than that all the Lord’s children could come to earth and have a body and mortality and the good things of the earth….

    References

  • No Exaltation

    No Exaltation

    Excerpt from an 1983 General Conference address by address by Hartman Rector, ‘That Ye May Have Roots and Branches’: 1

    “In other words, those who pay tithing will have roots and branches at the last day and those who do not will have neither roots nor branches. Now what are our roots? Alex Haley wrote a book about roots. Obviously our roots are our ancestors. And what are our branches? They are our children. Then those who walk in holiness before the Lord, which includes the payment of tithing, will have an eternal family at the last day. And those who do not pay tithing will have none.

    Tithing is necessary in order to receive the blessings of the temple. If a man were to keep all of the Lord’s commandments with the exception of tithing, he still could never be married for time and all eternity in the temple; thus, he would have neither roots nor branches at the last day.

    Then this becomes really serious, since there is no exaltation without your family. Without tithing there is no exaltation. As we think about it, we know this is true.”

    References

  • Exempt

    Exempt

    Excerpt from the LDS 1940 General Handbook of Instruction: 1

    Who Should Pay Tithing
    All members of the Church who have any income or increase from property, or who receive wages, salaries or gifts, should pay one-tenth of their “increase” annually. (See Doc. and Cov. 119:4.) Children eight years of age or over who have been baptized are amenable to the law of tithing and should be encouraged to tithe their earnings. They should be given an opportunity to pay some tithing each year. no matter how small the amount.

    Persons Exempt From Payment of Tithing
    Aged persons without incomes; women who have no income separate from that of their husbands; children who have no individual source of revenue; and persons dependent entirely upon federal or other relief are exempt from the payment of tithes. Those receiving federal or other relief may be considered exempt because the relief rendered is supposedly only sufficient to sup-ply their absolute needs. All Latter-day Saints should be encouraged to cultivate the spirit and practice of tithe paying when conditions are such that they are able to earn.

     

    Excerpt from the LDS 1968 General Handbook of Instruction: 2

    Who Should Pay Tithing
    Church members should pay one-tenth of their interest (income) annually into the tithing funds of the Church.

    Those without income (including wives who have no separate income from their husbands) , and those entirely dependent on relief, are exempt from the payment of tithing.

    Missionaries on full-time missions are not required to pay tithing on money received from their families or others for their support. Additional personal income should be tithed.

     

    Excerpt from the LDS 2010 General Handbook of Instruction: 3

    Who Should Pay Tithing
    All members who have income should pay tithing, with the following exceptions:

    1. Members who are entirely dependent on Church Welfare assistance.
    2. Full-time missionaries. (However, missionaries should pay tithing on personal income beyond the amount they receive for their support.)

     

  • Tithing or Food

    Tithing or Food

    Image: Elder Valeri V. Cordón, Quorum of the Seventy. 


    Excerpt from the April 2017 General Conference, Valeri V. Cordón: [footnote]Full Conference Address (video) – LDS.org[/footnote]

    “One day, during those difficult times, I heard my parents discussing whether they should pay tithing or buy food for the children. On Sunday, I followed my father to see what he was going to do. After our church meetings I saw him take an envelope and put his tithing in it.”

    The LDS Church is likely worth $40 billion today:[footnote]How the Mormons Make Money – Bloomberg, July 2012 [/footnote]

    “…a recent investigation by Reuters in collaboration with sociology professor Cragun estimates that the LDS Church is likely worth $40 billion today and collects up to $8 billion in tithing each year.”

    Recent documents reveal members of the Quorum of the 70, such as Elder Cordón, receive a base salary of $120,000/yr (from 2014): [footnote]First Q70 Living Allowance – Mormon Leaks[/footnote]

    In Accordance with approved procedures, the annual General Authority base allowance has been increased from $116,400 to $120,000. This will begin with your paycheck issued on January 10, 2014 (pay period 1).

    Detailed information on the t2014 medical benefits and related premiums was sent to you earlier by Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators.

     


     

    Crash Course:

    Full Conference Address (video) – LDS.org
    Sacred Transformations, Aaron L. West – 2012 December Ensign
    LDS Church Finances – Wikipedia
    First Q70 Living Allowance – Mormon Leaks
    Church Finances, 1947-Style – By Common Consent

  • No Paid Ministry

    No Paid Ministry

    Image: Thomas S. Monson, LDS Church President. 


    From the April 2006 General Conference address ‘Our Sacred Priesthood Trust’:[footnote]Our Sacred Priesthood Trust – LDS April 2006 General Conference[/footnote]

    I have experienced many opportunities. One occurred 21 years ago, prior to the time when the German Democratic Republic—or East Germany, as it was more commonly known—was freed from Communist rule. I was visiting with the East German state secretary, Minister Gysi. At that time our temple at Freiberg, in East Germany, was under construction, along with two or three meetinghouses. Minister Gysi and I visited on a number of subjects, including our worldwide building program. He then asked, “Why is your church so wealthy that you can afford to build buildings in our country and throughout the world? How do you get your money?”

    I answered that the Church is not wealthy but that we follow the ancient biblical principle of tithing, which principle is reemphasized in our modern scripture. I explained also that our Church has no paid ministry and indicated that these were two reasons why we were able to build the buildings then under way, including the beautiful temple at Freiberg.

    From a 2014 letter to First Quorum of the 70 addressing living allowance increase:[footnote]First Q70 Living Allowance – Mormon Leaks[/footnote]

    In Accordance with approved procedures, the annual General Authority base allowance has been increased from $116,400 to $120,000. This will begin with your paycheck issued on January 10, 2014 (pay period 1).

    Detailed information on the t2014 medical benefits and related premiums was sent to you earlier by Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators.

     

     

     


     

    Crash Course:

    How the Mormons Make Money – Bloomberg

    LDS Church Finances – Wikipedia

    Mormon Leaks

    Church Finances, 1947-Style – By Common Consent

    What does “unpaid ministry” look like? – Eric Johnson

  • Tithing First

    Tithing First

    2012 December Ensign – Sacred Transformations: ““If paying tithing means that you can’t pay for water or electricity, pay tithing. If paying tithing means that you can’t pay your rent, pay tithing. Even if paying tithing means that you don’t have enough money to feed your family, pay tithing. “[footnote]Sacred Transformations, Aaron L. West – 2012 December Ensign [/footnote]

    “…a recent investigation by Reuters in collaboration with sociology professor Cragun estimates that the LDS Church is likely worth $40 billion today and collects up to $8 billion in tithing each year.”[footnote]How the Mormons Make Money – Bloomberg, July 2012 [/footnote]

     



    Crash Course:

    How the Mormons Make Money – Bloomberg, July 2012
    LDS Church Finances – Wikipedia
  • Charity

    Charity

    It is estimated the LDS church pulls in between 5 billion dollars annually in tithing revenue alone, sans additional for-profit enterprises. [footnote]Mormons Inc. – Time Magazine [/footnote]

    From a Dallin Oak (LDS Apostle) 2016 address on religious freedom at the University of Oxford:[footnote]Transcript: Elder Dallin H. Oaks at University of Oxford [/footnote]

    “Care for the poor and needy is not optional or incidental in our Church. We do this worldwide. For example, in the year 2015 we had 177 emergency response projects in 56 countries. In addition, we had hundreds of projects that impacted more than a million people in seven other categories of assistance, such as clean water, immunization, and vision care. For more than 30 years the magnitude of these efforts has averaged about 40 million dollars a year.”

    The Deseret Morning News LDS Church Almanac gives information on historical membership records of the LDS church. The church’s reported membership as of December 31, 2015 was 15,634,199.[footnote]2015 Statistical Report for April 2016 General Conference [/footnote] The growth of 1.7% in 2015 is the lowest percentage growth since 1937.[footnote]LDS Church Growth Slows to Its Lowest Level Since 1937, But Here’s the Good News in That [/footnote]

    Though the LDS church has a robust welfare program, funded through fast offerings, the percentage of tithing funds that go towards external humanitarian causes is fairly low considerings it substantial resources. Even adjusting the estimated numbers to lean more conservative, the per-member donation would still fall under $10 annually.

    Contrast this with the recent estimated $2 billion cost of the City Creek mega-mall in downtown Salt Lake City. [footnote]The money behind the mormon message – Salt Lake Tribune [/footnote]

    Since 1959 the LDS church has not publicly disclosed its financial statements… even to its tithe payers.

     


    Crash Course:

    How the Mormons Make Money – Bloomberg

    LDS Church Finances – Wikipedia

    Mormon Leaks

  • 2012 Tithing Slip Change

    2012 Tithing Slip Change

    In 2012 there was an disclaimer added to the LDS tithing slip which reads “Though reasonable efforts will be made globally to use donations as designated, all donations become the Church’s property and will be used at the Church’s sole discretion to further the Church’s overall mission.”

    Since 1959 the LDS church has not publicly disclosed its financial statements… even to its tithe payers.


  • Closed Books

    Closed Books

    When asked about the Church’s lack of financial reporting by a reporter in 2002, then LDS Prophet, Gordon Hinkley responded as follows:

    REPORTER: In my country the…we say the people’s churches, the Protestants, the Catholics, they publish all their budgets, to all the public.
    HINCKLEY: Yeah. Yeah.
    REPORTER: Why is it impossible for your church?
    HINCKLEY: Well, we simply think that the…that information belongs to those who made the contribution, and not to the world. That’s the only thing. Yes.

    The LDS Church has not publicly disclosed its financial statements in the United States since 1959… even to its tithe payers.

    [footnote] Finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – Wikipedia [/footnote]

    Audio of the interview:


    Crash Course: