T If you read Elder Ballard’s original talk, it will make much more sense than this poorly written letter does. You can read the original talk here:
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zerinus invites us to see Elder M. Russell Ballards talk so I did and will respond to that talk.
Ballard Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; "Mormons place particularly strong emphasis on family as the basic unit of the Church and of society. We have a deep commitment to marriage (defined as a union between one man and one woman). Polygamy, a limited practice in the early pioneer days of the Church, was discontinued in 1890, some 117 years ago.
NOT-- Actually POLYGAMY was never a “limited practice” but actually was required for all Mormons in order to gain their salvation…Brigham Young declared on August 19, 1866: “The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, p.269).
NOT-- Actually polygamy was never “discontinued” in the LDS church. The current leaders of the LDS church heavily believe in polygammy and many of them have ended up with two wives or more. Now before you yell liar listen to the evidence.
Current LDS Leaders allow a living man to be sealed to another woman after the death of his wife, or after divorce. This leads to the obvious situation of establishing multiple sealings (marriages) on Earth that, according to Mormonism, will necessitate polygamy in heaven.
This doctrine was reaffirmed in October of 2007 at the funeral for the second wife of President Howard W. Hunter, the fourteenth President of the LDS Church. The Deseret News reported:
President Hinckley affirmed the eternal nature of the marriage between Sister [Inis] Hunter and the former church president, whose first wife, Claire Jeffs, died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease and is now buried beside him in the Salt Lake Cemetery.
Inis Hunter “will now be laid to rest on the other side,” he said. “They were sealed under the authority of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood for time and for all eternity,” he said, recalling the marriage ceremony he performed for them in the Salt Lake Temple in April 1990. (“Sister Hunter’s humor and cheerfulness remembered as she is laid to rest,” Deseret News, Oct. 22, 2007).
Another example of plural sealings is Apostle Russell M. Nelson 's marriage in 2006 to a BYU professor. The BYU NewsNet for April 7, 2006 announced the temple marriage of Apostle Nelson, age 81, to Wendy Watson (see [link]). His first wife died in February of 2005 and this was the first marriage for his new wife. This would mean, according to LDS beliefs, that Nelson has two wives sealed to him for eternity.
Joseph Fielding Smith, tenth president of the LDS Church, remarried twice after the death of his first wife, and in his book, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 2, p. 67, he remarked: “…my wives will be mine in eternity.”
Harold B. Lee, the eleventh president of the church, also remarried after his wife 's death and was sealed to another woman and was looking forward to a polygamous relationship in heaven. He, in fact, wrote a poem in which he reflected that his second wife, Joan, would join his first wife, Fern, as his eternal wives:
My lovely Joan was sent to me: So Joan joins Fern
That three might be, more fitted for eternity.
“O Heavenly Father, my thanks to thee”
(Deseret News 1974 Church Almanac, p. 17)
The official LDS Church Handbook of Instruction says:
Living Men — If a husband and wife have been sealed and the wife dies, the man may have another woman sealed to him if she is not already sealed. (Church Handbook of Instruction, p.72)
The church leaders realize the quagmire their doctrine of “eternal families” becomes with blended families, but don’t have any good answers when asked “Well don’t you still openly practice polygamy in this manner”?.
Ballard talk says; "Third, there are now over 13 million members in 176 countries and territories. About 6 million of these are in the United States, making us the fourth largest Christian denomination in America, and one of the fastest growing Christian faiths in the world,
HO HO HO you have got to be kidding right? I highly question his statement in the light of actual retention of LDS Members and the percentage who remain in the church. The LDS church Newspaper Deseret Morning News Published: Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008 reported: “Late President Gordon B. Hinckley once told the Quorum of the Twelve, “Brethren, when my life is finished and the final services are concluding, I am going to rise up as I go by, look each of you in the eye and say, 'How are we doing on retention?”’ Retention has become a real focus. For you don’t need an abacus to know many members have left the building.
What happened to them?”
In the United States, Mormons are departing from the faith as fast as converts are joining. Converts rarely remain active in the Mormon Church. (The official Mormon reaction to the articles stating that there are significantly less than 12 million members worldwide).
This is from a Salt Lake Tribune article Sep. 1st, 2005 quoting Merrill Bateman, a Mormon Seventy
“…He agreed the LDS Church’s worldwide membership, reported at 12 million, includes many who no longer consider themselves Mormon, but he disagreed with researchers who estimated active Mormons equal only 4 million.
Bateman said that number doesn’t count those in undeveloped countries who find it difficult to attend sacrament meetings. ‘So you might have in the neighborhood of . . . 4 [million] and 5 million members attending church at any given time, but those who are active would be more than that.’
Point. Many have left and many more will leave, it is only a matter of someone telling the truth to those who are honest enough to hear it.
Tiber diving team of 2004 (we go deeper to penetrate the darkness with the light)
