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Throughout his life, Gordon B. Hinckley taught and testified constantly and consistently
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LIED

Ten Examples Of Lies Told By Gordon B. Hinckley

Here’s a link to a transcript of the interview: http://www.lds-mormon.com/lkl_00.shtml

I’d suggest that you read through it because there are multiple instances in which Hinckley either lied or otherwise obfuscated the truth.

Example 1: When asked by King about the church’s annual income being $5.9 billion, Hinckley responded, “Well, I don’t know about that figure, but we get along.” As the senior officer of the LDS church, with its many holdings, combined with tithing from thousands of members (or tens of thousands), it is unimaginable that Hinckley would not know whether $5.9 billion was the figure for church annual income or not.

Example 2: Hinckley says in the interview, “I have an accountability. I carry a trust that’s incumbent upon me...” He also said, “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, magistrates in honoring, obeying and sustaining the law.” The Mormon Murders and other books about Hinckley’s dealings with Mark Hoffman, and the ways in which he and other senior church officers hindered the police investigation to protect themselves and the church says a great deal about how Hinckley’s accountability and trustworthiness as a U.S. citizen, and his sense of responsibility concerning “honoring, obeying and sustaining the law.”

Example 3: In the interview, Hinckley said, “...we stand for something. We stand solid and strong for something. We don’t equivocate.” How many changes to “eternal” doctrines (e.g., polygamy, blacks and the priesthood, Adam-was-God, Blood Atonement), “eternal ordinances” (e.g., the temple endowment), and “true” church teachings (e.g., the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Hawaiian islands, and Polynesia descended from the Lamanites) have been changed or deleted from Mormonism during the past century? A great deal! So much for being a “solid” and unequivocating church. For more info., ref. http://www.utlm.org/navtopicalindex.htm and www.lds-mormon.com

Example 4: When asked by King about polygamy, Hinckley responded, “When our people came west they permitted it on a restricted scale.” What Hinckley did not say was that polygamy was practiced prior to the Mormon pioneer westward exodus. (Ref. http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no66.htm and http://www.signaturebooks.com/mp.htm). There are various books about Mormon polygamy. A search on Amazon.com will provide titles. As well, in the interview Hinckley states that, “In 1890, that practice [plural marriage] was discontinued.” It is inconceivable that, Hinckley, the president of the Mormon church, was not aware of the fact that after 1890, Mormon leaders continued to conduct polygamous marriages in Mexico, Alberta (Canada), and even on at least one ship in international waters.

Example 5: Referring to the FLDS polygamists (Mormon fundamentalists) in Utah and elsewhere, Hinckley says, “They have no connection with us whatever.” How could Hinckley, a life-time resident of Utah, not be aware that Mormon fundamentalists believe in “the Prophet” Joseph Smith, follow Smith’s “revelation” on plural marriage, and practiced Mormonism as Smith created it and it evolved in Utah in the latter 1900’s. Indeed, they believe that the LDS church has apostatized from Jesus Christ’s “true” religion, as “revealed” to Joseph Smith Jr.

Example 6: Also concerning polygamy, Hinckley said, “I condemn it, yes, as a practice, because I think it is not doctrinal. It is not legal.” First, the LDS church has never rescinded the doctrine of polygamy. It remains a part of LDS theology per Section 132 of the Doctrine & Covenants. The Manifesto of 1890 stated that church officers were to no longer conduct polygamous marriage ceremonies, and plural marriages were not to be conducted in church temples and other buildings (at least in the U.S.). For decades after 1890, the church continued to teach Latter-Day Saints that the Lord had temporarily stopped the practice of polygamy due to “the wickedness of men”, but after Christ returned, it would be re-instituted. As well, Mormons, including myself as a LDS teenager in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, were taught that if we were faithful members, we would practice polygamy in the afterlife. We were taught by the church that polygamy was essential to our “eternal salvation”, a concept that, quite understandably, no Mormon teenage girl or woman I knew got enthusiastic about. The church’s senior patriarchal leadership has never issued a declaration revoking the doctrine of polygamy or removing the verses in D&C Section 132 pertaining to that “revelation”. Born into a Utah Mormon family and fully “active” as a Mormon during his life, Hinckley was undoubtedly aware of the church’s teachings about the doctrine of plural marriage.

Example 7: When asked about the church and politics, Hinckley tells King, “The church does not become involved in politics.” As a General Authority during the 1970’s, Hinckley was fully aware of the church’s active campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment (for women). From http://historytogo.utah.gov/equalrights_.html:
“Donations to support the anti-ERA effort were solicited by ward bishops; speeches against the amendment were deemed appropriate at all church meetings, and church buildings were used as an anti-ERA literature distribution points. Church sponsored anti-ERA organizations operated in Florida, Nevada, North and South Carolina, Missouri, Illinois and Arizona.” The church was also active in supporting anti-homosexual marriage legislation (e.g., Proposition 22 in California; ref. http://www.lds-mormon.com/doma.shtml). To say that the church does not become politically involved was misleading of Hinckley.

Example 8: Regarding the church and censorship, Hinckley said, “No, we don’t censor books or films as a practice”. For years, the church published materials about Brigham Young which stated that he practiced polygamy and preached about the “doctrine of plural marriage”. But the 1997 church study guide/manual about Brigham Young excludes any mention of his polygamous marriages, and gives the reader the distinct impression that Young was married once (in fact, he had 55 wives). This is but one of many examples of non-faith-promoting facts being omitted from church materials. I doubt that the church’s propaganda film, Legacy, includes any mention of Mormon polygamy, the Kinderhook Plates (ref. http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/josephsmithkinderhookplates.htm), Joseph Smith marrying other men’s wives (ref. http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no66.htm#OTHER%20MEN’S%20WIVES) and other facts about Mormonism that would cause investigators to leave LDS visitor centres and Mormons to question their church, its leaders, and their religion.

Example 9: When asked by King about the LDS church telling Catholics (for example) to leave their church and faith and become a Mormon, Hinckley said, “I say this to other people: you develop all the good you can. We have no animosity toward any other church. We do not oppose other churches. We never speak negatively of other churches. We say to people: you bring all the good that you have, and let us see if we can add to it.” This is a dramatic change in position for the LDS church’s senior “prophet” because for generations, senior LDS leaders were outspoken that people in other religions were being deceived by Satan and led astray. Hinckley’s predecessors repeatedly declared that the LDS church was the only “true and living church of Jesus Christ” on the Earth, the only church that had God’s authority to preach the “true” gospel of Jesus Christ and administer the “saving ordinances”, and the only church through which people could receive “eternal salvation” in the afterlife. That Hinckley did not take the opportunity, on national television, to share these fundamental “truths” with viewers, and instead, gave non-Mormons a message of your-religion-is-just-fine-and-ours-is-too says a great deal about his sense of responsibility as the pre-eminent “spokesperson of the Lord”.

Example 10: With regards to how LDS women feel about not being allowed to hold the priesthood (by Mormonism’s senior male leadership), Hinckley said, “The women of the church are not complaining about it.” and “They’re happy. They sit on boards and governance in the church. I don’t hear any complaints about it.” These statements by Hinckley are misleading and side-step a disturbing reality for many LDS women: depression resulting from their 2nd-class status in the church because Mormon men refuse to allow LDS women to hold the priesthood. As a result of this gender discrimination, capable LDS women are not only denied opportunities to administer the church, they are perpetually kept in a situation of inequality to Mormon men. In short, LDS women of all ages are disempowered by Mormon patriarchy. The fact that Hinckley refuses to be honest and acknowledge these facts/realities to Mormons says a lot about his transparency, ethics, and degree of enlightenment.