Should Mormons Be Sent Packing From Barbados?

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American cable TV has been flooded with the news in the last 24 hours of 52 young girls who range in ages from 6 months to 17 years old, who were held on a retreat somewhere in Texas. For the BU household this story gets more macabre when we read who was behind this abuse of young people. According to a CBS report the retreat was built by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), located near El Dorado, Texas. We are unable to comprehend how a denomination which worships God and many of the prophets Christians hold dear would engage in such an act as reported.

We have grown up with the memory of those ‘White boys’ who are to this day seen are walking or cycling through Barbadian districts peddling the word. Our research through the years has unearthed many accusations of the Mormon’s negative view of Black people. This revelation has always raised confusion in our minds because of the Black Mormon boys who to this day can be seen walking or cycling through our neighbourhoods.

In the BU household we have discussed how our predominantly Black Barbadians have reacted to White Mormon boys and Black Jehovah Witnesses knocking on our doors. Let us be honest! Many Barbadians householders are known to boast of their refusal to answer JWs when they come calling. Yet we have never heard the same boast concerning Mormons. In our minds it explains and identifies a complex which many Barbadians still harbour vis a vis White people. Last time we checked we were told that the Mormons have built churches in Barbados and have been able, believe it or not to attract Black Barbadians to their Church.

We must support the right of all PEOPLE to practice the religion of their choice. It is guaranteed under the constitution. But how can Barbadians accept the Mormon’s right to peddle their brand of religion in Barbados while there is evidence in the USA that the leaders of the Mormon Church are found to be behind many heinous crimes.

What are we missing?

32 thoughts on “Should Mormons Be Sent Packing From Barbados?”


  1. Just to be fair to the Mormons, the ones practicing polygamy nowadays are considered breakaway sects from the mainstream Mormon church, which although it did at one time approve the practice, banned church members from engaging in new polygamous marriages in the early 20th century. Those already in polygamous marriages at the time were allowed to continue in the marriage until their death.

    The remaining polygamists Mormons sects (as far as I know, none of them active in Barbados), preach that they are the ones who are holding to the true faith and it is the mainstream Mormon church which has apostatised. But that’s the nature of religion, one man’s prophet is the next man’s apostate or infidel.

    It’s true that the Mormons believed at one point that the black race was spiritually inferior to whites and could not attain the priesthood in the Mormon church. This belief of the spiritual inferiority of blacks was held in common with more orthodox Christian denominations, especially during the era of slavery, which it
    made easier to rationalise in the minds of people who proclaimed and thought of themselves as good, “God fearing” , Christian men and women.

    The Mormons maintained their position on the inferiority of blacks until 1978 when a sudden divine “revelation” from on high made Mormon church elders suddenly aware that God had now dropped the ban on blacks in the Mormon priesthood.

    Wikipedia has a write up on the “Mark of Cain” and the “Curse of Ham” business which reinforced a belief in the inferiority of blacks in Mormons and other religious denominations here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_and_mark_of_Cain#The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints

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  2. This is where I don agree with you BU.

    Note well there is a difference between the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Fundamentalist sect once led by Warren Jeffs broke away from the main church over 100 years ago. The mainstream sector of the Mormon church no longer (as of more than 100yrs) supports polygamy or any of these “heinous crimes”.

    In every religion there are alwaus fundamentalist sects in Islam there are those Fundamentlist who believe that all muslims should live under “sharia” (Islamic law) rather than Western styled laws. Many of these fundamentalists are those who support terror and act as a vocal minority of muslims who support terror. In some Islamic sects polygamy is practised and in others women are considered the property of their husband.
    (I was in Jordan last week and am in Kuwait presently) Would BU call for the expulsion of muslims from Barbados?

    In Christianity there are fundamentalists like Pat Robertson (who two years ago was quoted as saying that the US should assassinate Hugo Chavez) and George Bush who claim the US should invade other countries in the name of God. Also in Christianity there are scandals like the Catholic Priest scandal of a few years ago where it was discovered that many priests had been engaging in forced sexual acts with minors (mostly male). I am sure that BU would never call for the expulsion of the Catholic Chruch from Barbados in light of these events.

    Not that i support the mormon chruch but provided no illegal activity is taking place in Barbados, they should have the right to practise their religion in Barbados. I would expect these sorts of sensationalist headlines from BFP but frankly not from BU.

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  4. Absolutely not! We should have more control of our youth so that no one else would have that opportunity to control their minds.

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  5. Green Monkey we would like to hear some more about this divine revelation.

    From Time Magazine Jan 19, 1970:

    For the faithful male member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, few matters are as important as the Mormon priesthood. He enters its lower ranks, the deaconry, for example, at puberty. By the time he is a middle-aged adult, he may well be a high priest. Some 70% of practicing Mormon males advance all the way through the priesthood, hoping thus to assure themselves and their families of a place in the highest level of the afterlife, the celestial kingdom. But the priesthood, and with it the key to that kingdom, has been for most of Mormon history barred to anyone with the slightest evidence of Negro ancestry. Last week, in reply to charges of racism, Mormon elders reaffirmed their belief that blacks cannot be admitted to the priesthood.

    Black athletes, who precipitated much of the current discussion by protesting games scheduled with the Mormons’ Brigham Young University (TIME, Nov. 14), argue that exclusion of blacks is a form of segregation. But the church statement vigorously denies this, pointing out that Mormons themselves “know something of the suffering of those who are discriminated against.” Indeed, argue the Mormons, they believe that the U.S. Constitution was “divinely inspired,” and they uphold the right of the Negro to “full constitutional privileges as a member of society.” What is at issue, says the statement, is the Mormons’ own theology about the place of the Negro in the divine scheme, and that is protected by the First Amendment since it “falls wholly within the category of religion.”

    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878674,00.html

    Looks like as the civil rights movement in the US gathered momentum in the 60’s, the pressure began to grown on the Mormons to drop their racist attitudes towards blacks. As could be expected, they initially held out against the pressure to change their teachings, but then US colleges and universities threatened to boycott sporting and athletic events with Mormon schools like Brigham Young University and Mormon athletes began experiencing regular anti-Mormon protests at games and athletic meets denouncing the church’s attitude on race. Also the Mormon church was attempting to expand overseas (e.g. Brazil) and running into problems winning converts because of their teachings on blacks. Then lo and behold, knock me down with a feather, the Mormon elders suddenly get a revelation that God really didn’t mind blacks in the priesthood after all.

    The following snips are from Parts 3 & 4 of an on line book “The Curse of Cain? Racism in the Mormon Church” written by a husband and wife team of ex-Mormons, Sandra and Jerald Tanner.

    TUCSON, ARIZ. (UPI) — Some 3,000 University of Arizona students participated Wednesday in a two-hour rally, demanding that the school sever relations with fellow Western Athletic Conference member Brigham Young University.

    Speakers at the rally, in front of the university administration building, called for the resignation of President Richard Harvill and demanded that charges be dropped against nine persons arrested at the Arizona-Brigham Young basketball game here a week ago (Deseret News, January, 15, 1970).

    Much to the LDS Church’s embarrassment, Sports Illustrated wrote an article about the protests:

    Ending a 10-game ordeal on the road, the Cougars last week limped home to Provo, Utah with a 4–10 record, one of the worst starts in Stan Watt’s lengthy coaching career. That was depressing enough of course, but the boys from “The Y” . . . were bedeviled by a special problem: a gathering wave of protest against a recently reaffirmed doctrine of the Mormon Church that Negroes be denied admission to priesthood. As much as the Cougars would like to ignore them, the protests have grown in intensity to the point where they have almost transcended all else.

    http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/curseofcain_part3.htm

    For over a hundred years the Mormon leaders had taught that blacks could not be given the priesthood until the millenium.

    Yet on June 9, 1978, the LDS Church’s Deseret News carried a startling announcement by the First Presidency of the LDS Church that stated a new revelation had been given:

    We have pleaded long and earnestly in behalf of these, our faithful brethren, spending many hours in the upper room of the Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance.

    He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the church may receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom, including the blessings of the temple. Accordingly, all worthy male members of the church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color (Deseret News, June 9, 1978, p. 1A).

    Writing in the New York Times, June 11, 1978, Professor Mario S. DePillis observed: “For Mormonism’s anti-black policy a revelation was the only way out, and many students of Mormonism were puzzled only at the lateness of the hour.”

    SNIP

    Even though most Mormons claimed they were happy with the doctrinal change with regard to blacks, there is evidence that the revelation came as a real shock to some. Shortly after the 1978 revelation was announced a class at Brigham Young University conducted a “random telephone Survey” of Utah County residents [home to BYU and predominantly LDS community] to determine peoples’ reactions to the change. They found that 79 percent of those interviewed did not expect a change at this time. Furthermore, many people compared the news to an announcement of some kind of disaster or death:

    SNIP

    While we are pleased that the LDS Church changed its restriction on blacks, we must point out that the LDS Church is misrepresenting the statements of its past leaders in order to make the change palatable. For instance, the Deseret News, owned by the LDS Church, would have us believe that the change was a fulfillment of a prophecy uttered by Brigham Young:

    The announcement Friday fulfilled statements made by most LDS Church presidents since Joseph Smith that blacks would one day obtain the full blessings of the church, including the priesthood. Speaking against slavery, Brigham Young once told the Utah Legislature, “. . . the day will come when all that race (blacks) will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have” (Deseret News, June 10, 1978, p. 1A).

    However, the context of Young’s speech to the legislature shows that he believed it would be a sin for the church to give blacks the priesthood before the “last of the posterity of Able” had received it. He went on to say that if the church gave “all the blessings of God” to the blacks prematurely, the priesthood would be taken away and the church would go to destruction. The full text of this speech is printed in Appendix A.

    Another example of how the church misused past statements can be seen in the Church Section of the Deseret News for June 17, 1978. It claimed that “former presidents of the Church have spoken of the day when the blessings of the priesthood would come to the blacks.” The article then quoted a sermon by Brigham Young, from the Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 291, where Young promised that “the curse will be removed from the seed of Cain.” However, they did not cite the entire passage and thus took it out of context. In this sermon Brigham Young plainly taught that blacks could not receive the priesthood until all of Adam’s other descendants received it:

    How long is that race to endure the dreadful curse that is upon them? That curse will remain upon them, and they never can hold the Priesthood or share in it until all the other descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the blessings of the Priesthood and the keys thereof. Until the last ones of the residue of Adam’s children are brought up to that favourable position, the children of Cain cannot receive the first ordinances of the Priesthood. They were the first that were cursed, and they will be the last from whom the curse will be removed. When the residue of the family of Adam come up and receive their blessings, then the curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will receive the blessings in like proportion (Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 290).

    http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/curseofcain_part4.htm

    Here’s a link to the entire online book with a clickable table of contents.

    http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/curseofcain_contents.htm

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  6. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I can assure you that the Polygamist sects that are using and abusing our name have absolutely nothing to do with our church. We are now over 13,000,000 strong worldwide and our common goal is to bring souls unto Christ. There is no hidden agenda or secrets that we keep. Please take the time some day to talk to those young men, young woman or senior missionaries that you may see travelling around your town. Ask them questions you may have about the church and they will be happy to answer them straight up. Keep in mind these 52,000 plus missionaries throughout the world are there not only as volunteers but also paying their own way and commited to do so for a period of 2 years. Feel free to contact me via email if you have sincere questions about our faith. gerrysullivan61@gmail.com

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  7. Gerry let us ask you a silly question. In the same way Christianity was affected and now we have Anglican, Catholic etc why would the two groups not negotiate a name change. It would prevent much of the misunderstanding between the two from occurring.

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  8. Whilst respecting the First Amendment, however I have to say, what a load of sactimonious tosh originated by the equivalent of a snake oil shyster.

    Can any con-man have a revelation?

    Seems like the way to go, and make a million.

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  9. No knocking of the Mormon religion intended but it does seem somewhat convenient the epiphany which the group experienced about Blacks. Although we are heartened that there has been an about turn we hope that our lingering distrust of the Mormon religion is understood.

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  10. Well y0u would not catch me joining the Morman Church, no way. First of all the Book of Morman is a Book of Anancy Stories. Here you have this white man named Joseph Smith who goes into his barn and the angel Moroni appears to him and gives him the religion on gold plates that he translates into Englsih. Give me a break. I wonder where he got the name Moroni from, as it is a river in French Guyana, and there is a city there called St. Laurent du Moroni. And I think the reason they did not allow us into that church is because they know that we know that the Book of Morman is anancy stories. I ama long standing member of the Coloured Methodist Episcopal Church, and it is the true church founded by coloured people like me. The Coloured Methodist Church is now the Christian Mehtodist Church. So I say to the people of Barbados that if you do not want to go to hell stay away from the Morman Church.

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  11. Here is a mistaken belief that being in a different church sends you to hell. Unless people really understand what they read in the Bible and in any other book, they probably should stay away from making vague comments,believe me they are good and different people in any religion, if mankind did not fall, they would be no need for religion,therefore religion is only needed in our fallen state and fallen people misinterpret religion through fallen nature.Since Religion came about as a guide for fallen man it is not an absolute but only a way to get you to the point where Jesus shows by example who we should be, since Jesus said that you should be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect and Jesus became perfect as his Father in Heaven is then we were all meant to be like Jesus, it is just that Jesus was the first to accomplish that blessing given from the beginning of time, Jesus did not say you are going to hell for being in a different religion but by being sinful you go to a place in the world of spirit that you yourself created through hatred and intolerance and any other sin. Perfection is about the kind of love we have for all mankind regardless of who they are.We are not measured by religion but by how we live our lives in service to others and understanding that we are all created out of the energy of God Just think, who really started religion and understand that even the people who wrote the religion were not perfect themselves. This gives you a clue. Religion is a stage of growth and will continue to higher and higher religions until we become the true children of God in his true image and likeness then religion will no longer be necessary,that is why there is the old testament and the New Testament and it will continue to a higher religion until we reach the state ordained by God. Just because a religion existed for a thousand years does not mean it is always correct.

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  12. It does not matter if you are christian,Jew or Mormon,but if you have become a true child of God and not a slave to evil. God is our Father as written that makes us brothers and sisters.

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  13. arent we forgetting that for hundreds of years blacks were considered as less than human and used as slaves by christians?? Then around the 1800s it no longer became cool to keep slaves….yet groups like the KKK still acted in the name of God against blacks.

    no religion is without fault or a dirty historical record

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  14. You are trying to close a barn door rusted open years ago! It is no longer two white boys with pocket pen-protectors strolling about, it is usually one white and one mixed on bicycles with backpacks – plus, there are many black Mormons in B’dos now… One was in a/c’s at CBC until 2003 or so… The expression Mark of Cain means nothing to them, sad!

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  15. PS – when I say Mark Of Cain means nothing, I am saying that any self-respecting black Bajan should shun Mormonism as that Latter-Day Church refused entry to Afro-Americans on that basis, the condition of being born a Negro was given that name…

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  16. Chris good point. The good ole bible has always condoned slavery, and it still does. Seriously, if you get to children at a young enough age you can teach them to believe anything. Sad.

    What’s more sad is the fact that when these children grow up, they seldom go back and question the veracity of the brainwashing they’ve received.

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  17. Ian,

    May I give you another way to look at this? When I was growing up in a poor Black community in NY, my parents and the parents of my friends always taught me that the Whites would always try to keep the Blacks from the best things life has to offer. This is also the case with the LDS Church. I am Black and I am Mormon. I can tell you that the fact that they were so racist actually is proof that the Church is truly of God, and not theirs. True Mormon doctrine, not the garbage the McConkie wrote, shows that a curse is a separation from God because of sin, the mark of Cain and the Lamanites is spiritual darkness, and get this, that the Lord commanded numerous times for all men to be given the priesthood from the foundation of the Church with Joseph Smith.

    So now you have to separate the actual doctrine from the actions of the men. There’s a new set of DVDs by two Black Mormons that shows not only all of this, but who the Blacks in the Bible were. http://www.blacksinthescriptures.com

    Please don’t let the racist and the ignorant keep any from the best things in life.

    Searcy

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  18. Listen Angela, as 1 Corinthians 6:12, 13 states, Everything is permissiable for me–but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me–but I will not be mastered by anynting…In other words we have to approach religion as we would appraoch walking in a bad part of Bridgetown alone at night. You would not do such a thing for you could be raped and killed, and this same premise apples to religion.

    This Morman religion is totally different alright, and it will prevent you from seeing the precious face of Jesus. Long time ago when I first was in America, I was watching TV on a Sunday. I was changing the channels to get some church programs, and I came upon the Morman choir singing a lovely hymn, and right away my Guyanese cousin changed the channel. She said to me that church does not allow black people in it. That is all I knew about them, and everytime I passed one of their churches I would say to myself that church does not allow black people in it. Well I am coloured Guyanese, so that prevents me from joining that church. I never did research on that church until recently I looked up Wikipedia to see what they said about Morman, and it said waht I have said, plus it said that they have different levels of heaven and wear special underwear. I say it’s a pagan church and even the temples look pagen to me, so Angela stay away my dear, stay away, as I want to see you in heaven one day. It is different alright that Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in fact I heard the American people say it is only of late they are using the word Jesus to identify themselves, to prevent American as seeing them as a cult. I hope you don’tmine me telling you not to join them, as I have been running a long time for Jesus and I am not tired yet. I was watching a church program from Barbados one night that had the Bronx Commuunity Choir performing in Bridgetown in a beautiful church. I think it might have been a Holiness Church of God in Christ, join that church Angela and get saved an dsanctified. You can also contact Prophtess Juanita Bynum if you are in the New York area, she has a Holiness Church out there in Hempstead LI. Get Saved by getting Jesus and forget about Moroni and Morman.

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  19. And in the Mormon Bible
    2Nephi 21-24
    And he had caused the cursing to come upon them,yea,even a sore cursing,because of their iniquity.For behold ,they had hardened their hearts against him ,that they had become like unto a flint;wherefore ,as they were white ,and exceedingly fair and delightsome,that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.
    And thus saith the Lord;Iwill cause that they shall be loathsome unto my people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.
    And curse shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed;for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing.And the Lord spake ut,and it was done.
    And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety,and did seek in the wilderness for beast of prey.

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  20. Searcy, the fact that they are so racists is proof they are the true church, oh my the LDS got you on LSD. The Holy Book commands us to love our neighbour, therefore, Humankinds first duty to God is love everyone, and not project racism toward fellow humans. Look let me go before my pressure go up, it already up. Contact Bishop Jakes, Dr. Crefo Dollar, Bishop Paul White, Prophetess Juanita Bynum anybody other than those Moronites, because honey you need some Holiness people to set you straight.

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  21. Pingback: Legal Polygamy Coming To Guyana? Already Legal In Canada and Britain… Is Barbados Next? « Barbados Free Press


  22. Once again, religion rears its ugly and primitive head.

    I urge all of you – Mormons, Christians, Jews, Muslims – to see the folly of your ways and convert.

    To atheism….;)

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  24. There is an account posted on the MSNBC web site from an escaped ex-member of the polygamous Mormon sect in Texas (not affiliated with or to be confused with the Mormon LDS church operating in Bim) describing what life was like in this cult. Assuming she is telling the truth, the men running the show were a bunch of sadistic, sick minded and perverted weirdos.

    A polygamous community in Texas that follows the teaching of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints practices pedophilia, torture and child abuse under the guise of a religion, according to a woman who escaped the sect with her eight children five years ago.

    “I think it’s a form of pedophilia hiding behind a religion as a protection,” Carolyn Jessop told TODAY’s Matt Lauer from Salt Lake City on Tuesday. “There’s just a desire to control and manipulate and torture people, and religion is just used as the cover.”

    The sect Jessop escaped is the same one in Eldorado, Texas, that was raided on Monday by state police after a 16-year-old girl called authorities to report that she was being abused. The girl reported that other girls as young as 14 were being forced into plural marriages with much older men.

    SNIP

    She has written a book about her experience entitled “Escape,” and in it, she talks about being totally cut off from the world and not being allowed to watch television or read newspapers or magazines.

    “Everything you did was monitored and controlled and everybody reported on everyone else,” she said. “It was a police state. You were not allowed to make decisions in your life. I had no power over my life or the lives of my children. It was a terrible way to live.”

    The alleged control began in infancy.

    “The method he would use with infants was a form of water torture,” Jessop said of her former husband. “He would spank the baby until it was screaming out of control, and then he would hold the baby faceup under a tap of running water so it couldn’t breathe. He would do this repeatedly. Sometimes, it would go on for an hour, until the baby was so exhausted it couldn’t cry anymore. This method he called ‘breaking them.’”

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24009286

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  25. American cable TV has been flooded with the news in the last 24 hours of 52 young girls who range in ages from 6 months to 17 years old, who were held on a retreat somewhere in Texas. For the BU household this story gets more macabre when we read who was behind this abuse of young people. According to a CBS report the retreat was built by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), located near El Dorado, Texas. We are unable to comprehend how a denomination which worships God and many of the prophets Christians hold dear would engage in such an act as reported.
    ………………………………………………………………….
    BU
    Do not associate the above statement with THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. The two organisations are as different as chalk is from cheese or as day is from night. If you really SINCERELY have an honest desire to know something of the Mormon church please go to http://www.lds.org or http://www.mormonchurch.org or contact any representative from The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints.

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  26. Very Disturbing David. As far as the Mormons are concerned ,this is self explanatory. There is more.
    Jacob: 2:34 3/5
    5. Behold the Lamanites your bretheren, whom you hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins,are more righteous than you;for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord,which was given unto our father-that they should have save it were one wife,and concubines they should have none,and there should not be whoredoms committed among them.
    Jacob 2;34 3 8-9
    O my brethren,I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours,when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God.
    Wherefore a commandment I give unto you,which is the word of God,that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye reveille against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remenber your own filthiness,and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers.

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  27. This is an Old Thread, but I feat the need to speak my mind. One of the confusions is the nickname “Mormon”. Meaning they (and I) have added the Book for Mormon to their lives in addition to the old and new testaments. The confusion is that we share the same nickname, and the reorganized church has a very similar name. That said, the two are different in several way that I know of (not a scholar on this topic). Firstly, the reorganized church splintered off the Main when Joseph Smith the leading Profit was killed. The differences started over who would be the next President and leader of the church. They chose to go with Joseph’s descendants, where the majority chose to let the spirit decide.

    On the topic of polygamy, to set the record straight, polygamy has not been a precept in the church since 1890. “The church’s fourth president, Wilford Woodruff, issued a public declaration (commonly called the Manifesto) announcing the official discontinuance of the practice in 1890” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy. The churches stand is to “follow the laws of the land”, and not doing so will get you excommunicated.

    Yes, I’m Mormon; I was a convert about 18 years ago. What I fell in love with first was the “saints”, the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormon for short). While no human is perfect, and we each have our personal struggles to “walk in His footsteps” that is what I truly have seen from the members. Not “holier than thou” attitudes, just good people practicing what they preach every day. Yes, the missionaries can be “annoying”, and even I avoided them for years. What they are there for is to provide equal access to true information about the teaching of the church. Converts are great, but understanding and open communications are valuable as well.

    In my own realizations of the church, I came to learn the former history and corrective revelation(s) that changed church doctrine and granted full priesthood privileges to the black members. I happen to be white, but have never considered, or treated anyone differently because of there skin color, race, religion, education, or politics. People just are, and at least in my book should only be judged on how they act. The “natural-man” in all of us is intimidated by anything that is not identical to ourselves. It is that realization, coupled with education, and human compassion that grants us the hope that we can all just get along. Free agency is Gods test to see what choices we make in our lives, and to live with the consequences of those actions, both for now and eternity.

    True followers of any faith are those closer to God. They radiate His love with their actions, words, family, and way of life. Then there are those that falter on the path, and some that can’t even see or understand that a path exists or is needed. Simply put lead by example. As I have been (and occasionally still struggle with), all “sinners” instinctively know that there actions are wrong, and make them “less”. Less Godly, less happy, less whole… Call it what you will… just “less”. Many struggle but don’t have the personal motivations or will-power to make the changes needed to be good, or simply can’t take upon themselves the personal responsibility for their actions. Help them; let them “see” what they are missing.

    Love thy neighbor.
    God Bless you all.
    -Andy

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  28. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has a long history of racism against Blacks. Its part of their religious structure from day one. There are also many secrets that the so-called church would not tell the average person, such as their secret society rites, secret underwear… only at Wal-Mart, & much more.
    I am sick & tired of their linking the Native Americans as the missing tribe of the Jewish nation. We are not now, nor were we ever part of Israel in any form. Wheres your historical proof. History, anthropology, archeology has proven that my ppl came across the Bering Strait eons ago.. along way from Israel.
    I think Joseph Smith should have done his homework before making us the scape goat of his so-called god given truth.
    I once asked a mormon to prove the teachings of Joseph Smith to me. His reply was… I dont have to prove anything.
    What he was saying was that he couldnt prove it. When we become so brainwashed by an idea, it becomes part of us & truth to us even when it is unprovable.

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  29. i have read d book of mormon and i was convinced by the holy spirit that the book of mormon is another testament of Jesus christ.And since i join the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints in tbilisi georgia,my life has never remain the same.i want to relocate to barbardos by next year and i will like to join your parish over there.But please can you send me an invitation letter.Am in t bilisi Georgia for now but i only need an invitation from your parish.thak you

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  31. mormons love black people and see them as totally equal sons and daughters of the one God. S. Austin Johnson

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  32. There are Mormons at my not well sister’s house in Barbados under the pretense of volunteering to help her.They are trying to obtain a power of attorney for her income claiming incompetence.I know my sister is able to take care of herself.I really need these people gone.I wrote the President but do not know if they will reply or what they are up to.Very worrysome.

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