Which then makes me ask - how did we get here nearly 200 years after the church was started?
And where is 'here', exactly?
From Wikipedia:
367 temples in various phases
202 dedicated temples
193 operating
9 others undergoing renovations
4 with a dedication scheduled
48 under construction
3 with groundbreakings scheduled
110 others announced (not yet under construction)
Members of the church are beginning to say, "The second coming is approaching because we have all these temples being built! And President Nelson mentioned 'the second coming' in his last conference talk!!!"
367 temples in various phases
202 dedicated temples
193 operating
9 others undergoing renovations
4 with a dedication scheduled
48 under construction
3 with groundbreakings scheduled
110 others announced (not yet under construction)
Members of the church are beginning to say, "The second coming is approaching because we have all these temples being built! And President Nelson mentioned 'the second coming' in his last conference talk!!!"
Are we SO starved for revelation that the mere mention of Jesus coming again and announcing new Temples causes members to go into cardiac arrest? This is where we are at. Dry bones.
Why is the church is announcing and building up temples faster than ever before?
LORD bless Your people.
Lord - let your people who are dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord!
Make Your breath enter them, and they will come to life.
Attach tendons to them and make flesh come upon them
and cover them with skin.
Put Your breath in them and make them come to life.
Then they will know that
YOU are the LORD.
Let's look at the timeline:
January 2018 President Nelson called
January 2018 President Nelson called
Temple announcements
Oct. 2018 12
April 2019 8
Oct. 2019 8
NOVEMBER 2019:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints learned about the whistleblower complaint in mid-November 2019, when the complaint was filed with the IRS.
David Nielsen is a whistleblower who reported the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to the IRS and SEC for violations. Nielsen's reports focused on Ensign Peak, the LDS Church's investment firm.
What did Nielsen report?
- Nielsen reported that Ensign Peak made unlawful misstatements to the SEC to conceal tax violations
- Nielsen reported that Ensign Peak was a for-profit business that the LDS Church "bailed out"
- Nielsen reported that Ensign Peak masked itself as a charity
What was the response?
- The SEC found that Ensign Peak made almost two decades of misstatements in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
- The LDS Church admitted to "bailout" of Ensign Peak
You can watch Nielsen's story on 60 Minutes (link).
What was the church's response?
Spending spree.
Temple announcements after whistleblower
filed with the IRS:
April 2020 8 (covid restrictions)
Oct. 2020 6 (covid restrictions)
April 2021 20
Oct, 2021 13
April 2022 17
Oct. 2022 18
April 2023 35
Oct. 2023 20
April 2024 32
Oct. 2024 17
From the Salt Lake Tribune (link & link):
Oct. 2020 6 (covid restrictions)
April 2021 20
Oct, 2021 13
April 2022 17
Oct. 2022 18
April 2023 35
Oct. 2023 20
April 2024 32
Oct. 2024 17
From the Salt Lake Tribune (link & link):
New federal reports value a massive investment portfolio of stocks, bonds and mutual funds managed on behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at a five-year high of $56.8 billion.
That accounting to U.S. regulators for July, August and September of this year shows the amount about $2 billion above the previous quarter, when the immense fund run by church-owned Ensign Peak Advisors essentially traded sideways, with a scant quarter-over-quarter loss of 0.06%, or roughly $32 million and change.
That $56.8 billion total is also the most the once-secretive account has held since Ensign Peak began reporting its holdings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in early 2020.
Where does the portfolio stand now compared to previous quarters?
The latest total value is nearly 90% above where it was during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, when it plunged to $29.8 billion before staging a dramatic rebound.
It now is about 3.9% above its total for the first and second quarters of this year, when its managers reported to regulators that it hovered at about $54.7 billion.
The fund now holds shares in 1,706 investments, including, stocks, bonds, real estate trusts, index funds and other equities — a figure that managers have steadily whittled down quarter by quarter from 2,308 holdings in mid-2022.
That $56.8 billion total is also the most the once-secretive account has held since Ensign Peak began reporting its holdings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in early 2020.
Where does the portfolio stand now compared to previous quarters?
The latest total value is nearly 90% above where it was during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, when it plunged to $29.8 billion before staging a dramatic rebound.
It now is about 3.9% above its total for the first and second quarters of this year, when its managers reported to regulators that it hovered at about $54.7 billion.
The fund now holds shares in 1,706 investments, including, stocks, bonds, real estate trusts, index funds and other equities — a figure that managers have steadily whittled down quarter by quarter from 2,308 holdings in mid-2022.
How does it fit with overall church wealth?
Ensign Peak manages only a portion of the Utah-based church’s overall wealth, representing the U.S. stocks it holds directly and is required to report.
(ONLY A PORTION!!!)
In-depth analysis of public documents indicates the investment firm and affiliated funds manage assets on behalf of the global faith worth somewhere in the range of $265 billion, with around $32 billion of that in landholdings.
The Widow’s Mite Report, a website devoted to research and analysis of the church’s finances (please check out the widow's mite report), projects the church could be worth at least a trillion dollars by 2044.
In-depth analysis of public documents indicates the investment firm and affiliated funds manage assets on behalf of the global faith worth somewhere in the range of $265 billion, with around $32 billion of that in landholdings.
The Widow’s Mite Report, a website devoted to research and analysis of the church’s finances (please check out the widow's mite report), projects the church could be worth at least a trillion dollars by 2044.
(Did you catch that??? In 19 years the church could be worth at least a Trillion dollars. A trillion!!!)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will pay $289 million in cash for a massive addition to its expansive empire of farmlands, further bolstering the faith’s position among the largest U.S. agricultural landowners.
The purchase through subsidiary Farmland Reserve, set to close Wednesday, will fold into its vast real estate portfolio 46 farms covering a total of 41,554 acres in Arkansas, the Carolinas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma, as well as in Florida and Nebraska, where the Utah-based church already has large landholdings with rich farming operations.
The faith’s nonprofit farm investment company has made a spate of similarly large purchases since 2018, solidifying it as a key player in the U.S. farm sector and a leading landowner in several states — part of overall holdings of food-producing farms and ranches worldwide amounting to about 2.5 million acres or more.
In response to a Salt Lake Tribune inquiry, Rose offered an additional comment, relayed through a church spokesperson:
“By investing and operating wisely,” Rose said in the statement, “the returns earned by Farmland Reserve and AgReserves are available to support the mission of the church and its religious, humanitarian, educational, and charitable good works.”
That’s according to one reliable tally. The church is not legally obligated to publicly report its overall landholdings, which property records and public databases indicate are held through hundreds of companies internationally.
Research by the website Widow’s Mite Report indicates that with agricultural lands, temples, chapels and other ecclesiastical buildings, property held through Brigham Young University and extensive commercial real estate holdings, the church’s land portfolio could top $121 billion.
Public records reveal that huge chunks of ranch lands, farms, timber reserves, nut groves, orchards and plots of staple crops like potatoes and corn, located in pockets across the American heartland, are also some of the church’s most valuable real estate holdings.
Its commercial development at City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City tops that list at about $2 billion. But close behind — and all hovering around $1 billion in value — are its recently acquired Rex Ranch in Nebraska; Deseret Ranches and Farms and a patch of timberlands in Florida; Deseret Land and Livestock Ranch, near the northern Utah-Idaho border; and a reserve of roughly 250,000 acres of ranches and farms in Brazil.
A separate tally of large landowners by Landgate, a commercial real estate listing and data service, labels the church an “Agriculture Titan.”
The service ranks the LDS church as having the fifth largest landholdings in the U.S., behind timber and forest-product giants Weyerhaeuser, Rayonier and Sierra Pacific Industries and The Nature Conservancy. The latter is focused on ecological preservation.
Farms, ranches bought ‘for long-term value’
Announcement of the Farmland Partners purchase comes as the church is in the midst of a worldwide push to build more temples and as it faces increased scrutiny over its wealth and finances. At the same time, the church has launched a sizable growth spurt for its farm holdings, beginning well before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nebraska media outlets have reported that since 2018, Farmland Reserve has been on a buying spree in rural Garden County and four neighboring counties that made it that state’s top land purchaser at one point. Its expansion in the Cornhusker State, bolstered by this deal, has pushed its holdings of agriculturally zoned land above 370,000 acres, also among that state’s largest property holdings.
The trend drew pushback from some Nebraska farmers, with complaints the church purchases were elevating land prices and squeezing out local growers.
Farmland Reserve beat out an investment company linked to Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 2021 with a $209 million bid to buy an extensive farm operation known as Easterday Farm in southeastern Washington out of bankruptcy. That deal included ranch lands and nearly 22,500 acres of potatoes, onions, corn and wheat fields along the Columbia Basin.
Announcement of the Farmland Partners purchase comes as the church is in the midst of a worldwide push to build more temples and as it faces increased scrutiny over its wealth and finances. At the same time, the church has launched a sizable growth spurt for its farm holdings, beginning well before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nebraska media outlets have reported that since 2018, Farmland Reserve has been on a buying spree in rural Garden County and four neighboring counties that made it that state’s top land purchaser at one point. Its expansion in the Cornhusker State, bolstered by this deal, has pushed its holdings of agriculturally zoned land above 370,000 acres, also among that state’s largest property holdings.
The trend drew pushback from some Nebraska farmers, with complaints the church purchases were elevating land prices and squeezing out local growers.
Farmland Reserve beat out an investment company linked to Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 2021 with a $209 million bid to buy an extensive farm operation known as Easterday Farm in southeastern Washington out of bankruptcy. That deal included ranch lands and nearly 22,500 acres of potatoes, onions, corn and wheat fields along the Columbia Basin.
From the church's website:
Gospel Basics
Why We Pay Tithing
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints give one-tenth of their income to the Church. This is called tithing. The money is used to carry out the work of the Church throughout the world.
What Is Tithing?
One of God’s commandments is to pay tithing, which is one-tenth of our income, to His Church. When we pay tithing, we show our gratitude to God for our blessings. We show that we trust in the Lord and that we are willing to obey Him in all things.
Melchizedek—Keeper of the Storehouse, by Clark Kelley Price
Old Testament Teachings
God’s people have paid tithing since Old Testament times. For example, Abraham paid tithes (see Genesis 14:18–20). The law of tithing was also taught by ancient prophets, including Moses and Malachi (see Leviticus 27:30–34; Nehemiah 10:35–37; Malachi 3:10).
Restoration of the Law of Tithing
In 1838, the Prophet Joseph Smith asked the Lord how Church members should pay tithing. The Lord’s answer is recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 119, which says that members should give one-tenth of their interest to the Church (see verse 4). Church leaders have taught that “interest” means income.
Photograph by Jamie Dale Johnson
How to Pay Tithing
We can pay tithing by filling out the online donation form at donations.ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Or we can fill out a paper form and give the money to a member of the bishopric or branch presidency. All the money is sent to Church headquarters, where Church leaders (the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Presiding Bishopric) prayerfully decide how it will be used. (not investment portfolio managers...right? It said the First Presidency, Quorum of the 12 and Presiding Bishopric....that's the truth, right?)
Blessings
The Lord has promised that those who pay tithing will be blessed temporally and spiritually. Tithing also blesses all of God’s children with the opportunity to learn of Him and grow in the gospel.
How Tithing Funds Are Used
Tithing money is used to build up the Lord’s Church throughout the world. This includes building temples and other Church structures, printing scriptures and other materials, funding Church-owned schools, and helping with family history and missionary work. (zero mention of the poor. ZERO. When you pay tithing it says it goes to building up the Church. We must not ignore this.)
Tithing Declaration
Once a year, Church members meet with their bishop (or branch president) to tell him if they are full-tithe payers.
“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
Tithes and offerings are to feed the poor! Why have we transfigured the holy word of God? It says that it is for "food in My house" - it doesn't say it is for building and adorning of more and more and more LDS Temples.
If you are of the mindset that you are obedient to paying your tithing and you are passing the buck to the church and what they do with it is on their heads I say - NO. It is on your head.
Try asking the Lord before you pay your tithing again - "Lord, where do You want this money to go? Is there anyone who needs this money right now? If there is, will You show them to me? Do You want this money to go to the building of more temples? Where do You want this money to go?"
If it's the Lord's money - shouldn't He get to direct where it goes? Maybe He'll tell you to keep paying tithing to the church. But at least you will have given Him the opportunity to offer input on where His money should go.
I think it's time to read these verses from Mormon 8 and apply them personally - even if you are 'awakened to your awful situation'.
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem (in the Temple). You Samaritans (Mormons) worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (Are you the kind of worshipper the Father seeks? Ask Him. "What lack I yet?!")
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
I know I have spoken strongly today. As with anything I say, I'm just some dudette on the internet. Jesus is Lord and King. Ask Him and then do what He says to do.
I think it's time to read these verses from Mormon 8 and apply them personally - even if you are 'awakened to your awful situation'.
Yea, it shall come in a day when the power of God shall be denied, and churches become defiled and be lifted up in the pride of their hearts; yea, even in a day when leaders of churches and teachers shall rise in the pride of their hearts...Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money (tithing) you shall be forgiven of your sins (be able to go to the highest heaven).
O ye wicked and perverse and stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain? (Is this you? What do you gain by paying your tithing to the building up of more Temples?) Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God ('modern revelation' twists the scriptures), that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God (just read your scriptures...is the Temple mentioned in the Book of Mormon AT all?); for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled.
Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you...Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.
And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts. (if you believe this scripture - why would you then turn and pay money to a polluted church?)
For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker (do you sell yourself for your temple recommend?), why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world (holding a temple recommend so that you can appear to be a good member of the church when you go to family weddings)?
Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life (adorn was mentioned above when it came to the Temple - are you fulfilling this scripture by further adorning the temples with your tithing money?), and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not? (maybe since you have awakened you have begun to 'give' more to the poor - but you do not give all. If your money is divided between adorning the temples and helping the poor - you are holding back from giving all)John 4 (NIV)
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem (in the Temple). You Samaritans (Mormons) worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (Are you the kind of worshipper the Father seeks? Ask Him. "What lack I yet?!")
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
I know I have spoken strongly today. As with anything I say, I'm just some dudette on the internet. Jesus is Lord and King. Ask Him and then do what He says to do.
