LDS Church launches Easter initiative [Church around since 1830 launches second annual initiative]

Provo Daily Herald (Utah) ^ | March 31, 2015 | Genelle Pugmire

[Colofornian]

PROVO — The Christian world is preparing for its biggest celebratory week of the year: Holy Week.

To honor and testify of Jesus Christ and His life, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday will launch an Easter initiative, “Because He Lives,” through social media and other tools.

The initiative is expected to reach millions through social media, month-long displays in select LDS Church visitors’ centers, member and missionary tools, and online paid promotion on hundreds of Internet sites.

The LDS Church has often been criticized for its less-than-visual participation in Holy Week activities. Throughout Christianity the celebrations begin Sunday, known as Palm Sunday, indicating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the last supper, his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas’ betrayal, and his crucifixion and resurrection.

[SNIP]

The LDS Church launched its first Easter initiative in 2014...

[Colofornian]

So...in response to criticism...the Lds church has now decided for the second straight year...185 years after its inception...that it's best to actually have an Easter week emphasis?

You see, in the past even BYU conceded a BYU study: Disconnect between Mormons and Easter

The Mormon church-owned Deseret News went on record once saying that Easter has ”only 'lightly more planning than the Fourth of July,'

See also: Preparing for Easter through Holy Week where a Mormon writes: While the LDS community does not formally observe Holy Week, the period from Palm Sunday to Easter morning… Suddenly I realized that my observance of Easter was rather pale by comparison…

[Colofornian]

In sharp contrast to New Testament passages like Galatians 6:14 (”May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...), the Lds church has shied away from proclaiming the cross of Christ:
* No-Cross Protocol ["New" Mormon tradition]
* Sunstone speaker attempts to explain LDS 'aversion' to cross [published by Mormon church owned Mormon Times]

In 1999 (published again in 2003), the Lds church published a “New Testament Teacher Resource Manual” for its curricula educators. On page 71, they had their teachers for a class lesson: “Show or draw a cross and ask:

* Why do most churches consider this the symbol of Christianity?

* Why don't we?

Elder Gordon B. Hinckley...”...But for us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ” (in Conference Reports, Apr. 1975, 136; or Ensign, May 1975, 92).”

The Mormon church usually tries to say anything to avoid dwelling on Calvary. By its own admission, it is largely a crossless religion.

[SZonian]

The Cross is viewed as a weapon...

The analogy given to me when I asked about the absence of crosses in meeting houses...

“If Christ was killed by a gun, would you wear a gun around your neck?”

[Alex Murphy]

So...in response to criticism...the Lds church has now decided for the second straight year...185 years after its inception...that it's best to actually have an Easter week emphasis?

What did they celebrate before - "Garden Party Thursday"?

[rjsimmon]

The Cross is viewed as a weapon...

More so than even that. The cross is irrelevant to the LDS faith, believing Christ 'sweated' away the sins of man at Gethsemane.

[SZonian]

True, but this was the analogy given to me as I was investigating joining...I suspect it is still used so as to abide by the “milk before meat” tactic.

It was only later, after joining that I started becoming aware of the many discrepant doctrines and subsequently left.

[rjsimmon]

Indeed. I had heard that many times while I was a member of the LDS faith. Never liked the analogy as it is a logical fallacy.

[SZonian]

+1

[greyfoxx39]

Suddenly I realized that my observance of Easter was rather pale by comparison…

In mormonism, the date of April 6 which often is near the Christian Easter, gains importance from the "organization of the Church of Jesus Christ in this dispensation."

April 6, 1830: The Day the Church Was Organized

"The organizing of just any church may or may not be an important event, for many dozens of churches have made their appearance in the United States over the last century and a half, but the reestablishment and formal organization of God’s true church upon the earth is a happening of such vital significance and vast meaning that it should excite the interest of every human being in this day and time.

Almost anyone who has a desire can organize a church, and if he fills the requirements, he could have the church legally recognized. But it is one thing to have a church recognized by the laws of the land and something else to have it recognized by God as well. And if it is to be sanctioned and sanctified by God, it must be his church, organized under his direction."

[Elsie]

The LDS Church launched its first Easter initiative in 2014...

Mr. Millet:

 

I don't think we can ever transcend Joseph Smith or consider him to be a valued personality, but now we'll move on.

I don't think you'll see that among believers in the faith, because there are too many other things that came from him

that are the reasons why we do what we do and we are what we are. That there are unanswered questions, to be sure.

That there are things that I'm as anxious as the next guy to learn more detail on, I really want to know. But in the interim,

 it really doesn't, doesn't trouble me.

We're in the religion-making business, as you intimated earlier, only for a short time, I mean, compared to the

Christian church, which has been at this for a couple of millennia. We're about halfway to Nicaea.

And so, and so in that sense — I remember a very tender moment. I was speaking with — I've been invited

to the Salt Lake Theological Seminary, basically an Evangelical seminary, to discuss a book I had done on Jesus.

And they had read it, and they wanted me to come and just respond to questions.

And it was, it was a very enjoyable couple of hours.

 

The very last question that was asked by one of my friends there was this one.

 

He said, 'Bob, what can we do for you?'

 

And I, I wasn't ready for that question. I said, 'What do you mean?'

 

He said, 'What can we, as Evangelicals, do for our Mormon friends?'

 

And I, I guess my mind could have gone a hundred different ways, but what I came back with was this.

 

I said, 'Boy, I appreciate you asking that. I don't think I've ever been asked that.'

 

But, but I said, 'Try this. Cut us a little slack, will you? Give us a little time.

We're in the religion-making business, and this takes time. It takes centuries.

 

And, and trying to explain the faith and articulate the faith, that doesn't come over night.

We've really only been about that for 20 or 30 years.'

 

 

http://being.publicradio.org/programs/insidemormonfaith/transcript.shtml

[Elsie]

April 6, 1830: The Day the Church Was Organized

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Another important date: 26th day of November, 1923

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Corporation of the President

ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
of the
CORPORATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS
CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

STATE OF UTAH

COUNTY OF SALT LAKE

I, the undersigned, having been duly chosen and appointed President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in conformity with the rites, regulations and discipline of said Church, being desirous of forming a corporation for the purpose of acquiring, holding and disposing of Church or religious society property, for the benefit of religion, for works of charity and for public worship, under and pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 3, Title 19, of the Compiled Laws of Utah, 1917, on "Churches and Religious Societies," and all acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, for that purpose do hereby make and subscribe, in duplicate, the following

ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION

First: The name of this corporation shall be the CORPORATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

Second: The object of this corporation shall be to acquire, hold and dispose of such real and personal property as may be conveyed to or acquired by said corporation for the benefit of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religious society, for the benefit of religion, for works of charity and for public worship. Such real and personal property may be situated, either within the State of Utah, or elsewhere, and this corporation shall have power, without any authority or authorization from the members of said Church or religious society, to grant, sell, convey, rent, mortgage, exchange, or otherwise dispose of any part or all of such property.

Third: The estimated value of the property of which I hold the legal title for the purpose aforesaid, at the time of making these Articles of Incorporation, is One Million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars.

Fourth: The title of the person making these Articles of Incorporation is "PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS."

Fifth: The corporation seal shall contain the words, "Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," and an impression thereof is hereto affixed.

[Seal] [Signed] Heber J. Grant
President of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.

STATE OF UTAH
SS:
COUNTY OF SALT LAKE

On this 26th day of November, 1923, before me, Arthur Winter, a Notary Public in and for said County, personally appeared HEBER J. GRANT, who is known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregoing instrument as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and duly acknowledged to me that he executed the same as such President.

[Seal] [Signed] Arthur Winter
Notary Public
Residing at Salt Lake City, Utah.
My commission expires Dec. 1, 1923.

---

AMENDMENT TO

ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
of the
CORPORATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS
CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

 

 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
STATE OF UTAH ss.
COUNTY OF SALT LAKE

HEBER J. GRANT, being first duly sworn, deposes and says:

That he is now and for more than twenty years last past has been the duly chosen and appointed President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as such President has been since on or about the 26th day of November, 1923, and now is, the legally constituted Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter=day Saints, a corporation sole; that under and pursuant to Section 18-7-5 R.S.U. 1933 he hereby amends Article "Fourth" of said Articles of Incorporation as now of record in the proper offices of this and other states, said article as amended to read as follows:

ARTICLE FOURTH

Fourth: The title of the person making these articles of incorporation is "President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." He and his successor in office shall be deemed and are hereby created a body politic and corporation sole with perpetual succession, having all the powers and rights and authority in these articles specified or provided for by law. But in the event of death or resignation from office of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or in the event of a vacancy in that office from any cause, the President or Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of said Church, or one of the members of said Quorum thereunto designated by that Quorum, shall, pending the installation of a successor President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, be the corporation sole under these articles, and the laws pursuant to which they are made, and shall be and is authorized in his official capacity to execute in the name of the corporation all documents or other writings necessary to the carrying on of its purposes, business and objects, and to do all things in the name of the corporation which the original signer of the articles of incorporation might do; it being the purpose of these articles that there shall be no failure in succession in the office of such corporation sole.

[Signed] Heber J. Grant
President of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints,
corporation sole.
[Seal]

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 18 day of June, 1940.
[the name of Notary Public not shown on copy of amendment]

(Original in State of Utah Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah)

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ARTICLES OF AMENDMENT
TO THE

ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
of the
CORPORATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS
CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

A UTAH CORPORATION SOLE

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 16-7-5 of the Utah Code Annotated 1953 (as amended) relating to amendments of articles of incorporation of corporations sole, the CORPORATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, a Utah Corporation Sole, does hereby amend its Articles of Incorporation by adding an additional Paragraph V thereto as follows:

Upon the winding up and dissolution of this corporation, after paying or adequately providing for the debts and obligations of the corporation, the remaining assets shall be distributed to a nonprofit fund, foundation or corporation, which is organized and operated exclusively for charitable, educational, or religious and/or scientific purposes and which has established its tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has caused these presents to be executed this 19th day of November, 1973.

CORPORATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE
CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY
SAINTS, a Utah Corporation Sole

By: [signed] Harold B. Lee
Harold B. Lee, Corporation Sole

STATE OF UTAH ) ss:
County of Salt Lake )

HAROLD B. LEE, being first duly sworn, deposes and says: That he is now and ever since July 7, 1972, has been the duly chosen and appointed President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and, as such president, is now and ever since said date has been the legally constituted CORPORATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, a Utah Corporation Sole; that the original Articles of Incorporation of said Corporation Sole were executed by Heber J. Grant, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; that he, Harold B. Lee, is the successor in office to the said Heber J. Grant; that he, Harold B. Lee, executed the foregoing Articles of Amendment as said Corporation Sole.

[signed] Harold B. Lee

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 19th day of November, 1973.

[signed] Wilford W Kirton, Jr
NOTARY PUBLIC
Residing at Salt Lake City, Utah
My commission expires:
2-3-77

---

Articles of Incorporation as amended:

ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION

First: The name of this corporation shall be the CORPORATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

Second: The object of this corporation shall be to acquire, hold and dispose of such real and personal property as may be conveyed to or acquired by said corporation for the benefit of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religious society, for the benefit of religion, for works of charity and for public worship. Such real and personal property may be situated, either within the State of Utah, or elsewhere, and this corporation shall have power, without any authority or authorization from the members of said Church or religious society, to grant, sell, convey, rent, mortgage, exchange, or otherwise dispose of any part or all of such property.

Third: The estimated value of the property of which I hold the legal title for the purpose aforesaid, at the time of making these Articles of Incorporation, is One Million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars.

Fourth: The title of the person making these articles of incorporation is "President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." He and his successor in office shall be deemed and are hereby created a body politic and corporation sole with perpetual succession, having all the powers and rights and authority in these articles specified or provided for by law. But in the event of death or resignation from office of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or in the event of a vacancy in that office from any cause, the President or Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of said Church, or one of the members of said Quorum thereunto designated by that Quorum, shall, pending the installation of a successor President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, be the corporation sole under these articles, and the laws pursuant to which they are made, and shall be and is authorized in his official capacity to execute in the name of the corporation all documents or other writings necessary to the carrying on of its purposes, business and objects, and to do all things in the name of the corporation which the original signer of the articles of incorporation might do; it being the purpose of these articles that there shall be no failure in succession in the office of such corporation sole.

Fifth: Upon the winding up and dissolution of this corporation, after paying or adequately providing for the debts and obligations of the corporation, the remaining assets shall be distributed to a nonprofit fund, foundation or corporation, which is organized and operated exclusively for charitable, educational, or religious and/or scientific purposes and which has established its tex-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Sixth: The corporate seal shall contain the words, "Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," and an impression thereof is hereto affixed.

[Colofornian]

In mormonism, the date of April 6 which often is near the Christian Easter, gains importance from the "organization of the Church of Jesus Christ in this dispensation."

Well, you are on to something "key" within Mormonism: That this "ism" does ALL it can to supplant not only Christ at Christmas with Smithmas, but it usurps Christ at Easter.

#1

Yes, GF, you are right...the April 6 jumpstart date often supplants Easter.

#2

Note, how General Conference in SLC this weekend is rooting out Easter.

#3

The alleged April 3 1836 "vision" of "Elijah" supposedly appearing to Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio:

This book -- Kirtland Temple: The Biography of a Shared Mormon Sacred Space By David J Howlett -- references how for generations Mormon would make pilgrimages to the Kirtland, Ohio "temple."

Lds built a temple there in the 1830s, but it really never became operative...and then when Smith's fraud counterfeit $ & other real estate schemes fell apart, he & other Mormons suddenly abandoned everything there & moved on.

Anyway, allow me to cite Howlett from his book above:

"...most...LDS guests came to see 'where Elijah stood.' In LDS theology, Elijah held the 'keys' to baptisms and sealings of the dead, a major activity in modern LDS temples. With a reemphasis on temple rituals and the expansion of the number of temples since 1978, LDS members were keen to see the place where they believed Elijah handed Joseph Smith 'the keys' in the April 3, 1836 vision."

"The desire to 'see where Elijah stood' could have possibly been heightened by a 1985 article by an LDS astronomer, John P. Pratt, in the official LDS magazine, the Ensign. Following orthodox LDS theology, Pratt asserted that, when Elijah appeared to Smith in 1836, 'Elijah's coming had been prophesied more than twenty-two centuries earlier by Malachi.' Pratt correlated Elijah's appearance to Joseph Smith with a speculated date for the first Easter. He concluded, 'On Easter, we may not only remember the restoration of the Savior's physical body, but also the restoration of the fullness of the priesthood to the body of the church.' Thus, even Jesus' resurrection at Easter was subordinated to remembering the LDS plan of redemption that centered on temples." (p. 163)

So even the Mormon temples -- and how "redemption" supposedly occurs there -- steals from the glory of Jesus at the cross...at Calvary.
...And how Easter then in many Mormons' minds becomes a focus on "priesthood restoration" and not Jesus rising from the dead!
...And how Malachi's prophesy is moved away from Jesus Christ as a type of Elijah to Joseph Smith himself, one of the great con-artist usurpers of the 19th century!

[Colofornian]

Wow!

A prominent Mormon author, BYUTV commentator, and professor of ancient scripture and emeritus Dean of Religious Education at BYU admits:

We're in the religion-making business, as you intimated earlier, only for a short time, I mean, compared to the Christian church, which has been at this for a couple of millennia...We're in the religion-making business, and this takes time. It takes centuries. And, and trying to explain the faith and articulate the faith, that doesn't come over night. We've really only been about that for 20 or 30 years.'

Those lil' ole Utah religion-makers...and that quaint lil ' ole Internet/BYUtv/mass publishing cottage they run!

[mountainbunny]

But He wasn’t killed with a gun. He was killed in the manner in which common criminals or enemies of the State were killed: He was bodily nailed to a piece of wood, and He was mocked and jeered at in His agony.
If He stood on the small platform at His feet, He prolonged the agony. If He hung by the muscles in His arms and allowed his feet to dangle, He writhed in agony and unimaginable pain. He was put on public display, not shot in an alley somewhere, away from public attention.
He had a public, humiliating, death meant to degrade Him. It was meant to show that he was unworthy to be a subject of the worldly government.
Instead, He showed that in spite of our unworthiness, we are welcome in His eternal Kingdom.
However He died, people would commemorate it. Everyone dies, but only Christ our King rose and returned from Hell after three days.

[mountainbunny]

Not arguing with you, but to point out that diminishing the cross or calling it a mere “weapon” ignores the fact that it was a powerful weapon of the Roman state. People who were unfit for citizenship and whose death could serve as a warning were crucified in public.
Slave uprising? Crucified.
Thief, who wrecked the public peace? Crucified.
Jesus could have been killed in a private way with any weapon. But He was afforded a lengthy public death with humiliation and abject agony because He was a threat to their way of life.
And true to His word, even death could not and did not defeat Him.
I am so sorry that some people don’t understand that or diminish what occurred by calling the cross a mere weapon.
Crucifixion was meant to show the people the power of the State.
Christ’s crucifixion resulted in our Lord showing mankind til the end of time His power over death and our worldly existence.

[Elsie]

A prominent Mormon author, BYUTV commentator, and professor of ancient scripture and emeritus Dean of Religious Education at BYU...

I remember him best as...

...a failure to show up at a Crawfordsville, Indiana college (Wabash) one evening in October, 2009.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AjNeXXY--U

After driving halfway across Indiana to participate; it was kind of a fizzle.

My wife and I and a couple of other Christians in a room with a couple of young Mormons who deferred most of the evening to an older Mormon to answer questions.

[Elsie]

Instead, He showed that in spite of our unworthiness, we are welcome in His eternal Kingdom.

Mormonism teaches that ONLY worthy Mormons will be with Him in the HIGHEST level of that kingdom.

[Elsie]

 

 

 

W. W. Phelps I have a Dream William Wines Phelps, assistant president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Missouri

I Have a Dream

 

 

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William W. Phelps' grave marker.

 The back is inscribed with the words

 

There is no end to matter

There is no end to space

There is no end to spirit

There is no end to race.

 

There is no end to glory

There is no end to love

There is no end to being

There is no death above"

from the hymn

"If You Could Hie to Kolob".

Today, William W. Phelps is probably best-known for his legacy of LDS hymns, many of which appear in the current edition of the LDS Hymnal.^[6]

Just a couple...

If You Could Hie to Kolob

Praise to the Man

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Excommunicated and rebaptized

A scribe to Joseph Smith Jr., for some time, in late 1838 Phelps was one of several who bore witness against Smith and other leaders, aiding in their imprisonment in Missouri until April 1839. In June 1840, Phelps plead for forgiveness in a letter to Smith. Smith replied with an offer of full fellowship, and ended with the famous couplet, "'Come on, dear brother, since the war is past, For friends at first are friends again at last.'"^[4]

It was decided that Phelps, along with Frederick G. Williams, could be ordained as elders and serve missions abroad. Phelps served a brief mission in the eastern United States in 1841. Phelps moved to Nauvoo, Illinois where on August 27, 1841, he replaced Robert B. Thompson (who had died) as Joseph Smith's clerk. Beginning in February 1843, Phelps became the ghostwriter of many of Smith's important written works of the Nauvoo period, including General Joseph Smith's Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys of November 1843, Smith's theodemocratic presidential platform of January 1844, and The Voice of Innocence which was presented to and unanimously approved by the Relief Society in February 1844 to rebut claims of polygamy in Nauvoo arising out of Orsimus Bostwick's lawsuit accusing Hyrum Smith of polygamy and other sexual misconduct with the women of Nauvoo.^[5]

Phelps was endowed on December 9, 1843, received his "second anointing" promising him godhood on February 2, 1844, and was also made a member of the Council of Fifty. In Nauvoo, Phelps spoke out in favor of the destruction of an opposition newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor. He believed that the city charter gave the church leaders power to declare the newspaper a nuisance. Shortly afterwards, the press and type were carried into the street and destroyed. Phelps was summoned to be tried for treason with Joseph Smith at Carthage, Illinois.

During the Mormon Succession Crisis in 1844, Phelps sided with Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was again excommunicated on December 9, 1848 for entering into an unauthorized polygamous marriage, but was rebaptized two days later.^{[citation needed]} He took part in the Mormon Exodus across the Great Plains and settled in Salt Lake City in 1849. He served a mission in southern Utah Territory (as counselor to Parley P. Pratt) from November 1849 to February 1850. There he served in the Utah territorial legislature and on the board of regents for the University of Deseret (now the University of Utah). Phelps died on March 7, 1872 in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. He was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._W._Phelps_(Mormon)

[mountainbunny]

If they are worthy on their own, why do Mormons need Jesus at all?
It sounds as though they don’t.
Sad.

[Elsie]

I know that I am not worthy, and will NEVER be.

But I have been assured that when the vast crowd of whores and tax collectors go flying by; I can be in their midst...

Matthew 21:31