The Mormonizing Of America
By Alan on Mar 20 in Blog tagged Achieving, actors, America, American culture, apostles, athletes, authors, B, Brigham Young, children, church, David O. McKay, Donny & Marie Osmond, endowment, faith, Family, fourteen million, George Romney, Gladys Knight, Glenn Beck, government, Jimmer Fredette, Latter-day Saints, LDS, leadership, learning, marriage, Marriott, missionaries, Mitt Romney, Momonizing, Mormon, Mormonism, musicians, national stage, newscasters, NFL, Olympics, organizing, Osmonds, politicians, Presidential candidate, priesthood, progressing, prophet, religious value, religious vision, Revelator, sacrament, seer, sports, Stephen Mansfield, Steven Covey, successful, temple, Temples, The Book of Mormon, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, The Osmonds, Thomas S. Monson, upward motion, well educated, well spoken patriotic, willing to serve, worldwide | 1 Comment
The Mormonizing Of America
New York Times best selling author Stephen Mansfield
There are nearly seven million Mormons in America . This is the number the Mormons themselves use. It’s not huge. Seven million is barely 2 percent of the country’s population. It is the number of people who subscribe to Better Homes and Gardens magazine. London boasts seven million people. So does San Francisco . It’s a million more people than live in the state of Washington ; a million less than in the state of Virginia . It’s so few, it’s the same number as were watching the January 24, 2012, Republican debate.
In fact, worldwide, there are only about fourteen million Mormons. That’s fourteen million among a global population just reaching seven billion. Fourteen million is the population of Cairo or Mali or Guatemala . It’s approximately the number of people who tune in for the latest hit show on network television every week. Fourteen million Americans ate Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant in 2011. That’s how few fourteen million is.
Yet in the first decade or so of the new millennium, some members of the American media discovered the Mormons and began covering them as though the Latter-day Saints had just landed from Mars. It was as though Utah was about to invade the rest of the country. It was all because of politics and pop culture, of course. Mitt Romney and John Huntsman were in pursuit of the White House. 
Glenn Beck was among the nation’s most controversial news commentators. Stephenie Meyer had written the astonishingly popular Twilight series about vampires. Matt Stone and Trey Parker had created the edgy South Park cartoon series–which included a much- discussed episode about Mormons–and then went on to create the blatantly blasphemous and Saint-bashing Broadway play The Book of Mormon. It has become one of the most successful productions in American theater history.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen Mormons sat in the US Congress, among them Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader. Mormons led JetBlue, American Express, Marriott, Novell, Deloitte and Touche, Diebold, and Eastman Kodak. Management guru Stephen Covey made millions telling them how to lead even better. There were Mormons commanding battalions of US troops and Mormons running major US universities. There were so many famous Mormons, in fact, that huge websites were launched just to keep up with it all. Notables ranged from movie stars like Katherine Heigl to professional athletes to country music stars like Gary Allan to reality television contestants and even to serial killers like Glenn Helzer, whose attorney argued that the Saints made him the monster he was. The media graciously reminded the public that Mormon criminals were nothing new, though: Butch Cassidy of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fame was also a Mormon, they reported.
Most media coverage treated this “Mormon Moment” as though it was just that: the surprising and unrelated appearance of dozens of Mormons on the national stage–for a moment. More than a few commentators predicted it would all pass quickly.
What most commentators did not understand was that their “Mormon Moment” was more than a moment, more than an accident, and more than a matter of pop culture and fame alone. The reality was–and is–that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has reached critical mass. It is not simply that a startling number of Mormons have found their way onto America’s flat-screen TVs and so brought visibility to their religion. It is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints has reached sufficient numbers–and has so permeated every level of American society on the strength of its religious value–that prominent politicians, authors, athletes, actors, newscasters, and even murderers are the natural result, in some cases even the intended result. Visible, influential Mormons aren’t outliers or exceptions. They are fruit of the organic growth of their religion.
In 1950, there were just over a million Mormons in the world. Most of these were located in the Intermountain West of the United States, a region of almost lunar landscape between the Rocky Mountains to the East and the Cascades and Sierra Nevada Mountains to the West. The religion was still thought of as odd by most Americans. There had been famous Mormons like the occasional US Senator or war hero, but these were few and far between. There had even been a 1940 Hollywood movie entitled Brigham Young that told the story of the Saints’ mid-1800s trek from Illinois to the region of the Great Salt Lake. Its producers worked hard to strain out nearly every possible religious theme, a nod to the increasingly secular American public. Though it starred heavyweights like Vincent Price and Tyrone Power, the movie failed miserably, even in Utah. Especially in Utah.
Then, in 1951, a man named David O. McKay became the “First President” of the Latter-day Saints and inaugurated a new era. He was the Colonel Harlan Sanders of Mormonism. He often wore white suits, had an infectious laugh, and under- stood the need to appeal to the world outside the Church. It was refreshing. Most LDS presidents had either been polygamist oddballs or stodgy old men in the eyes of the American public. McKay was more savvy, more media aware. He became so popular that film legend Cecil B. DeMille asked him to consult on the now classic movie The Ten Commandments.
Empowered by his personal popularity and by his sense that an opportune moment had come, McKay began refashioning the Church’s image. He also began sharpening its focus. His famous challenge to his followers was, “Every Member a Missionary!” And the faithful got busy. It only helped that Ezra Taft Benson, a future Church president, was serving as the nation’s secretary of agriculture under President Eisehower. This brought respectability. 
It also helped that George Romney was the revered CEO of American Motors Corporation and that he would go on to be the governor of Michigan, a candidate for president of the United States, and finally a member of Richard Nixon’s cabinet. This hinted at increasing power. The 1950s were good for Mormons.
Then came the 1960s. Like most religions, the LDS took a beating from the counterculture movement, but by the 1970s they were again on the rise. There was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a symbol of Americana when Americana was under siege. There was Mormon Donny Osmond’s smile and Mormon Marie Osmond’s everything and the three-year run of network television’s Donny and Marie in the late 1970s that made words like family, clean, talented, patriotic, and even cute outshine some of the less-endearing labels laid upon the Saints through the years. New labels joined new symbols. 
A massive, otherworldly, 160,000-square-foot Temple just north of Washington, DC, was dedicated in the 1970s, a symbol of LDS power and permanence for the nation to behold. Always there was the “Every Member a Missionary!” vision beating in each Saintly heart.
By 1984, the dynamics of LDS growth were so fine-tuned that influential sociologist Rodney Stark made the mind- blowing prediction that the Latter-day Saints would have no fewer than 64 million members and perhaps as many as 267 million by 2080.3 It must have seemed possible in those days. In the following ten years, LDS membership exploded from 4.4 million to 11 million. This may be why in 1998 the Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting in Salt Lake City. The Mormons–a misguided cult in the view of most traditional Christians, most Baptists in particular–had to be stopped.
They weren’t. Four years after the Baptists besieged Temple Square, the Winter Olympic Games came to Salt Lake City. This was in 2002 and it is hard to exaggerate what this meant to the Latter-day Saints. A gifted Mormon leader, Mitt Romney, rescued the games after a disastrous bidding scandal. A sparkling Mormon city hosted the games. Happy, handsome all-American Mormons attended each event, waving constantly to the cameras and appearing to be–in the word repeatedly used by the press at the time–”normal.”
The LDS Church capitalized on it all. It sent volunteers, missionaries, and publicists scurrying to every venue. It hosted grand events for the world press. It made sure that every visitor received a brochure offering an LDS guided tour of the city. Visitors from around the world read these words: “No other place in America has a story to tell like that of Salt Lake City–a sanctuary founded by religious refugees from within the United States’ own borders. And none can tell that story better than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Largely unchallenged, the Mormon narrative prevailed.
What followed was the decade of the new millennium we have already surveyed. Mormons seemed to be everywhere, seemed to be exceptional in nearly every arena, seemed to have moved beyond acceptance by American culture to domination of American culture. At least this was what some feared at the time.
But Mormons did not dominate the country. Far from it. Remember that they were not even 2 percent of the nation’s population as of 2012. True, they were visible and successful, well educated and well spoken, patriotic and ever willing to serve. Yet what they had achieved was not domination. It was not a conspiracy either, as some alleged. It was not anything approaching a takeover or even the hope for a takeover.
Few observers seemed to be able to explain how this new level of LDS prominence in American society came about. They reached for the usual answers trotted out to account for such occurrences: birth rates, Ronald Reagan’s deification of traditional values, the economic boom of the late twentieth century, a more liberal and broadminded society, even the dumbing down of America through television and failing schools. Each of these explanations was found wanting.
The Mormon Machine
The truth lay within Mormonism itself. What the Saints had achieved in the United States was what Mormonism, unfettered and well led, will nearly always produce. This was the real story behind the much-touted “Mormon Moment.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had risen to unexpected heights in American society because the Mormon religion creates what can benevolently be called a Mormon Machine– a system of individual empowerment, family investment, local church (ward and stake level) leadership, priesthood government, prophetic enduement, Temple sacraments, and sacrificial financial endowment of the holy Mormon cause.
Plant Mormonism in any country on earth and pretty much the same results will occur. If successful, it will produce deeply moral individuals who serve a religious vision centered upon achievement in this life. They will aggressively pursue the most advanced education possible, understand their lives in terms of overcoming obstacles, and eagerly serve the surrounding society. 
The family will be of supernatural importance to them, as will planning and investing for future generations. They will be devoted to community, store and save as a hedge against future hardship, and they will esteem work as a religious calling. They will submit to civil government and hope to take positions within it. They will have advantages in this. Their beliefs and their lives in all-encompassing community will condition them to thrive in administrative systems and hierarchies–a critical key to success in the modern world. Ever oriented to a corporate life and destiny, they will prize belonging and unity over individuality and conflict every time.
These hallmark values and behaviors–the habits that distinguish Mormons in the minds of millions of Americans– grow naturally from Mormon doctrine. They are also the values and behaviors of successful people. Observers who think of the religion as a cult–in the Jim Jones sense that a single, dynamic leader controls a larger body of devotees through fear, lies, and manipulation–usually fail to see this. Mormon doctrine is inviting, the community it produces enveloping and elevating, the lifestyle it encourages empowering in nearly every sense. Success, visibility, prosperity, and influence follow. This is the engine of the Mormon ascent. It is what has attracted so many millions, and it is the mechanism of the Latter-day Saints’ impact upon American society and the world.
Mormons make achievement through organizational management a religious virtue. It leads to prosperity, visibility, and power. 
It should come as no surprise, then, that an American can turn on the evening news after a day of work and find one report about two Mormon presidential candidates, another story about a Mormon 
finalist on American Idol, an examination of the controversial views of a leading Mormon news commentator, a sports story about what a Mormon lineman does with his “Temple garments” in the NFL, and a celebration of how Mormons respond to crises like Katrina and the BP oil spill, all by a “Where Are They Now?” segment about Gladys Knight, minus the Pips, who has become–of course–a Mormon.
Mormons rise in this life because it is what their religion calls for. Achieving. Progressing. Learning. Forward, upward motion. This is the lifeblood of earthly Mormonism. Management, leadership, and organizing are the essential skills of the faith. It is no wonder that Mormons have grown so rapidly and reached such stellar heights in American culture. And there is much more to come.
President Thomas S. Monson
Prophet, Seer, and Revelator
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
For The Family
THE MORMONIZING OF AMERICA by Stephen Mansfield, © 2012. Published by Worthy Publishing, a division of Worthy Media, Inc., Brentwood, TN. 11/06/2012
New Church Website on Same-Sex Attraction Offers Love, Understanding and Hope
By Alan on Dec 07 in Blog tagged church, gay, hope, LDS, love, Mormon, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, understanding, website | Comments Off
New Church Website on Same-Sex Attraction
Offers Love, Understanding and Hope
SALT LAKE CITY —
In an effort to encourage understanding and civil conversation about same-sex attraction, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has launched the website “Love One Another: A Discussion on Same-Sex Attraction” (www.mormonsandgays.org). It features a number of videos from people who share real experiences from their own perspectives on a sensitive and sometimes emotionally charged topic.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles says the website is important because it seeks to further understanding.
Elder Oaks said that because we don’t understand everything about this subject it is wise to stick to the revealed word of God as found in the scriptures. “What we do know is that the doctrine of the Church—that sexual activity should only occur between a man and a woman who are married—has not changed and is not changing. But what is changing and what needs to change is to help our own members and families understand how to deal with same-gender attraction,” he said.
Church apostle Elder Quentin L. Cook stresses that Latter-day Saints, who devote their lives to following Jesus Christ’s teachings, should be an example to the world of expressing love and hope for those with same-gender attraction.
“As a church, nobody should be more loving and compassionate,” Elder Cook said. “Let us be at the forefront in terms of expressing love, compassion and outreach. Let’s not have families exclude or be disrespectful of those who choose a different lifestyle as a result of their feelings about their own gender.”
The website is a collection of conversations with Church leaders, Church members who are attracted to people of the same sex, and family members and friends of those who experience same-sex attraction. The website’s various sections discuss important topics such as our common ground as human beings, our family relationships, our identity and potential as children of God, how members of society treat each other, and what it means to be disciples of Christ. While the website does not endeavor to address every issue that could be addressed in relation to same-sex attraction, these candid and sincere expressions show the many human facets of a sensitive matter. Compassion comes from understanding.
One of the participants in the website explains why it’s important to address this topic:
“This is a dialogue that I feel very passionately about and one that I think we’re not used to having in the Church. It’s a dialogue that needs to come from a place of understanding and empathy rather than fear and misunderstanding.”
“I hope we will give ourselves the time and have the patience to listen and understand and not insist on everything being resolved within a certain framework of time,” Church apostle Elder D. Todd Christofferson said.
Regarding the timing of the announcement, Church spokesman Michael Purdy said, “Too often these types of big, important issues are dealt with in sound bites and often by individuals who do not have the complete picture of what the Church is doing. This website was produced over two years and puts the entire issue in context.
“The attention the Church received during the presidential election period highlighted areas of Church belief and practice that are poorly understood by the general public. We think additional context will help people better understand the Church’s position on a number of issues. Over the next few weeks we expect to be publishing more resource materials that will help address other topics.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
For The Family
Each Life That Touches Ours For Good – The Family
By Alan on Oct 13 in Blog tagged bob butts, each life, for good, love, Mormon, one another, ours, Tabernacle Choir, touches | Comments Off
Each Life That Touches Ours For Good
Sung By: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” John 13:34
To the degree our nation becomes more ethical and demonstrate Godly values daily is the degree to which we will thrive.” Robert Butts
For The Family
See Others Not As They Are, But As They May Become
By Alan on Oct 07 in Blog tagged as they are, as they may become, as thyself, love, love thy neighbor, Mormon, President Thomas S. Monson, prophet, Revelator, seer, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | Comments Off
See Others Not As They Are, But As They May Become
“So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” Matthew 18:35
”Honour thy (Heavenly) Father and Mother.” Ephesians 6:2
For The Family
“Turning The Hearts Of The Children To The Fathers”
By Alan on Sep 14 in Blog tagged Boyd K. Packer, children, Elijah, Family History, Fathers, genealogy, heart, LDS, Mormon, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Family, the prophet, twelve apostles | 1 Comment
”Turning The Hearts Of The Children To The Fathers”
“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children
to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Malachi 4:6
This work that Elijah the Prophet refers to is what we do in our Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We seal families together for all eternity. God’s work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man”. Our Heavenly Father loves us and has great things prepared for us as only a good Father would do. How Great Thou Art! We must trust in Him and do the work He has instructed us to do and to accomplish.
We are all God’s children. Sometimes we get so busy and involved in the things of this world that we forget that there is more to life and that we will live forever. We believe that we will be together again as families after this life as well. Elijah restored the sealing powers to the earth so that our families can be together for all eternity as God’s Plan of Life was designed.
Please visit our website at http://osmond.org and see if we are related. 
We love finding our relatives and seeing those among you who are our cousins. It is also inspiring to remember and read about our pioneer ancestors who showed great faith and hope as we learn of their struggles and successes and as they risked their lives forging rivers and seas, mountains and plains, driven by their faith in God and seeking truth and freedom and a better life for their families.
We are all doing the same thing today as we face the unknown and unexpected searching for the same freedoms and important things of life but in a much faster, extremely technical, and more violent and turbulent world. There is peace in store for us all though because just as Elijah returned, so will our Savior Jesus Christ. When Jesus returns, He will live with us for a thousand years in peace as our Lord and Savior.
He is “The Way”.
One day, Adam and Eve, with angelic assistance, will present to Jesus Christ a book or record containing the linked genealogy of their posterity and family history of all of God’s children that ever lived in this world. This is what Elijah was talking about when he talked about turning the hearts of the children to the fathers. We are to remember our forefathers and mothers. Just as the internet “links” certain items together, with the power and spirit of Elijah, our families can be “linked” together also. This is why genealogy and family history is the fastest growing hobby today. We were born into a family. We will die and be remembered as a family. We are being watched over from on high because we are God’s family.
This is why I enjoy publishing works that can help Strengthen The Family. .
.Alan Osmond
For The Family
EVANGELICAL FRIENDS: ARE MORMONS CHRISTIANS?
By Alan on Sep 08 in Blog tagged Apostle, Christian, evangelical, Jeffery R. Holland, LDS, Mormon, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | Comments Off
ARE MORMONS CHRISTIANS
Jeffery R. Holland, an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints answers “Christian” critics concerning the LDS churches belief in Jesus Christ and whether or not it’s Christian “enough”.
We also ask our evangelical friends to VOTE for Mitt Romney.
If you vote for Obama or write in another name in the ballot,
IT IS A VOTE FOR OBAMA!
“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 2 Nehpi 25:26
For The Family
Is There Scientific Proof Authenticating The Book of Mormon?
By Alan on Aug 28 in Blog tagged Alan Osmond, Book of Mormon, Elder Melvin J. Ballard, evidence, Hebrew, LDS, Mormon, mounds, North America, Ohio, Rod Meldrum, Suzanne Osmond, The Heartland | Comments Off
Is There Scientific Proof Authenticating The Book of Mormon?
For those what are still looking for evidence of The Book of Mormon, may I invite you to take a look at this website: http://bookofmormonevidence.org My wife Suzanne and I took a tour to The Heartland of America and have personally walked many of these areas and felt the Spirit most strongly. I also want to thank Rod Meldrum for leading much of this research!
I also invite you to take the time to read The Book of Mormon. I promise you that if you do read it with real intent and humbly ask your Heavenly Father if it is true as I did, that you will receive a warm feeling inside from the Holy Ghost that will manifest the truthfulness unto you.
A believer, (Click on the link)
Alan Osmond
Get a FREE Book of Mormon!
Willy Wilson
For The Family
Our Identity And Our Destiny
By Alan on Aug 26 in Blog tagged become, destiny, God, happiness, identity, is, LDS, man, Mormon, Tad Callister, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Family, The Plan, woman | 1 Comment
Our Identity And Our Destiny
Elder Tad R. Callister Explains:
CLICK TO WATCH!
(Excuse the commercial.)
The Plan of Happiness.
For The Family
Thank You Brian Williams – Mormons In America
By Alan on Aug 24 in Blog tagged America, beliefs, Brian Williams, garments, LDS, Mormon, principles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, truths, underwear, values | 6 Comments
THANK YOU BRIAN WILLIAMS
FROM
MORMONS IN AMERICA
We as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appreciated the opportunity to share our religious beliefs, family lifestyle, some prominent members of our Church, with a brief overview of some of our people in action with a glimpse of what is most important to us. We also are grateful for the “time” we had on network television to show ourselves as real people.
For the television exposure that we had last night on TV we say, THANK YOU!
Many people got to see some of us members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LDS, or “Mormons” as we really are. They also showed some “Jack Mormons” who are NOT WHAT WE ARE! They are those who liked our religious values for a time but for some reason, COULD NOT LIVE THEM. We also did NOT appreciate showing our sacred garments or underwear. They are NOT SECRET! THEY ARE SACRED; a reminder to us of promises we have made to our God just as as they did in ancient times and with other religions. We are NOT interested in what underwear Brian Williams was wearing and should have deserved the same consideration!
In general, we are an honest, loving, kind, hard working people who focus on The Family with long lasting values and principles. We are Chrisitans who believe in Jesus Christ and those things that He said and asked us to do in the Bible and in The Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon also contains Jesus’s visit and words He gave to His “other sheep” in North America when He appeared to them after He was crucified and resurrected. Jesus also visited outer peoples.
We are God’s Children. We believe we lived before as spirit children of God and then came to this world via “birth” to get a physical body and that we ALL will live again after this life. We believe in the Ten Commandments and NOT as the ‘Ten Suggestions’ and follow a living Prophet of God just as in olden times. We believe there are certain things that Jesus said we must do in order to be able to return to Him again like having faith and to be baptized and to receive the Holy Ghost. We believe that marriage is ordained of God and is not for just time where “death do you part”, but for ‘time and all eternity’! All of these things must be done by one who has the authority to do so having receive it from Jesus Christ or one of those whom He has had it bestowed upon. For those who have died early or did not have the opportunity to know of Jesus Christ and His commandments, their earthly ‘work’ is done for them by proxy in one of our many Temples or ‘House of the Lord’. We all go to a Spirit World when we die and it is there that those who never had the chance will learn more and have the opportunity to accept the gospel or not.
We hope that all media opportunities will continue and allow us the opportunity to share that which is dear to us and not go to those who are not of our faith or who were and cannot live our standards. Please remember, if you want to know what a Mormon believes, “ASK A MORMON!”
Everyone is invited to visit one of our churches on Sunday. All will be welcomed!
I share these things openly because, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ”,
Alan Osmond
For The Family
Prepare Every Needful Thing
By Alan on Aug 24 in Blog tagged brother, emergency, every thing, Family, Mormon, needful, now, o be wise, One Heart, prepare, sister, spiritually, water | Comments Off
“PREPARE EVERY NEEDFUL THING”
“One Heart . . .What you’re feeling is
One Heart . . . When the
Love for another makes a
Stranger your brother,
Then you’re ONE!”
Be Prepared!
http://OBWise.com
Have Water!
http://surewatertanks.com
Know some Mormons.
http://mormon.org/worship/
Prepare Spiritually!
What is the Purpose of Life?
Alan Osmond
A Mormon – For The Family
