"Well, what harm can Mormonism do?" Let me explain

If the last time you attended the Mormon Church was before the Three Hour Block Programme was introduced, I doubt you would recognise it as the same Mormon Church.

Regular ward or branch socials? Theatrical presentations and the like? Things of the past, mainly. Rummage or jumble sales, bring and buys? Banned by edict from Salt Lake City.

Remember Sunday School in the morning, with Sacrament meeting in the evening? All gone! All absorbed into the mad, frantic and spiritually sapping Three Hour Block Programme.

Why? Consolidation. All must be the same. You will be assimilated, Borg-style.

This happened because the Mormon Church is run by its civil service, by managers, not by the clergy. Because, of course, the Mormon Church has no clergy.

"Well, what harm can Mormonism do?" An interesting and fair question. Let me direct you to www.exmormon.org. Read the blogs there, read the posts, then read the heart-wrenching stories about how people struggled when they became aware that the Mormon Church was not what they thought it was. When they realised that it was part MLM, part Ponzi scheme and part corporate behemoth, without any real spirit, or soul or religion, when they realised that the name Jesus Christ over the door was a hollow mockery of Jesus Christ.

Read how families are split apart by the Mormon Church, how it sucks money, time, spirit, heart and even the last vestiges of hope from the membership, from the poor, from the downtrodden, from the needy. The very people that it should be helping, it is actually crushing and trampling underfoot.

Sometimes good people within the Mormon Church do good for others. But please do not be deluded! That is against the backdrop of the whole evil edifice that is Mormonism! The great building, the whited sepulchre built by Joseph Smith, a 19th century con artist that made Charles Ponzi seem like a no-account dilettante piker of a confidence man, when compared to Smith whose claim to fame is that his con is still operating over 180 years later!

More guilt, my dears?

Doubtless in the days and weeks after the Mormon Church General Conference the faithful and less-than-faithful members of the Mormon Church are feeling guilty or, probably, even more guilty than they did before.

They will have been convinced that they should have given the Mormon Church more of their time, more of their money, have done more to spread the word of the Gospel according to Joseph Smith to their friends, neighbours and, indeed, the rest of the world.

They will have been convinced, too, that they should "lengthen their stride", "attend the temple more", "put their shoulder to the wheel", "magnify their calling", "strengthen their testimony", "close their cover before striking" or some other such meaningless platitude.

The General Conference of the Mormon Church: A place where elderly executives of what can be described as the world's oldest MLM pyramid selling scheme or, more accurately, the world's oldest and most successful Ponzi scheme gather to shake down their victims one more time.

If you want to know the truth about Mormonism: Ask a Mormon! No. That doesn't work

But that's what Mormonism gets its members to say, isn't it?

The church says to its members: "If someone says: 'Well, I read that the Mormon church believes in such-and-such on a website called www.exmormon.org tell them to ignore that, as that site is filled with nothing but bitter Mormon haters! Tell them that the only way to learn about the truth about Mormons is to ask a Mormon!"

Now, at this point it might be worth asking why the people who use the Recovery From Mormonism board (RFM) found at the website referred to above might be described as "bitter Mormon haters."

In truth the people at RFH -and several other boards and websites for ex-Mormons or former Mormons-are not Mormon haters. But they do have a wide range of issues that might see them described as bitter towards the Mormon church. And for pretty good, solid and valid reasons.

The idea that one can only receive correct information about Mormonism from Mormons is pitiful in its naiveté.

If someone said: "Why, you should not ask other, bitter people formerly involved with an MLM downline about the MLM scheme! You must only ask the people who are currently involved with that MLM scheme!" You would think them to be a bit silly.

Or if someone is asking legitimate questions about a new financial investment that looks too good to be true, nobody in their right mind set would say: "Why, bless your heart! You do not want to be asking the police about this scheme! The only person you should be seeking information from is that lovely Mr Charles Ponzi! Or perhaps there's that charming Mr Madoff!" you would wonder at their sanity.

If you want a sales presentation, ask a Mormon. If you want a perspective on the Mormon church that the Mormon church might not want you to know, ask an ex-Mormon.