SL Trib. — “… [Russell Nelson] opened by acknowledging the pain and suffering of the global pandemic, praising the members’ “resilience and spiritual strength in the face of illness, loss and isolation.”
He celebrated the morning’s inclusion of speakers from “every populated continent on Earth.”
The blessings of the gospel “are for every race, language and people,” he said. “The Church of Jesus Christ is a global church. Jesus Christ is our leader.”
Nelson then added that “even a pandemic has not been able to slow the onward march of his truth.”
It has, however, thwarted proselytizing efforts. Convert baptisms plunged by nearly 50% last year as full-time missionaries had to be released and reassigned due to COVID-19.”
True to form, the Church hierarchy couldn’t help but contradict itself. While stating even a pandemic couldn’t slow the progress, the numbers clearly speak otherwise.
For the first time in more than a decade, the Church reported less than 100,000 membership gain for the year (2020). We’re praying the trend continues even after pandemic issues are long gone. As seen above, new converts plunged by more than 50%.
We pray that this pandemic will soon be in our rearview mirrors, and people will be safe.
The sad part in all this is how the Church has forgotten what Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20 – share the gospel. While we may be doing things a bit differently right now, the Church seems to be lost without their programs intact.
One last thing –
It’s refreshing to see how they’ve included people of color, but how do they explain this in light of their canon which still proclaims dark people are shunned by God?
Please, continue to pray for those caught in the lies, and for Jesus to intervene!
With Love in Christ —
Michelle
Don’t forget. The momon god changes his mind depending on cultural norms and the members’ murmurings. Black is the new while, I guess. Side note: my mormon daughter has three sons. Right now, her oldest son has opted out of going on a mission. He is 20. I pray, pray, pray that someone in her house will smell a rat and do some research about the lies Russell and the ‘prophets’ before him tell. Also, my daughter posted on fb that on Easter Sunday, she replayed General Conference. So sad. We are back in church for months now but before that we watched out pastor live, online. Since they don’t have a pastor who preaches the Word, they are stuck with reruns of G.C. Thrilled to learned new member numbers are down by 50%!
Whoops……I just realized my daughter watched the current GC. I assumed something that was incorrect. Excuse the part in my previous post about a GC rerun! For anyone who watched it, did they celebrate the resurrection?
For me, every GC was a rerun. Nothing really new is ever said. The speakers regurgitate the same old talking points from previous GCs. Speakers typically quote from General Authorities more often than they do from Jesus.
Persoanny, I believe the church will use the pandemic as an excuse for the lower number of convert baptisms in 2020. Church authorities (GAs) do not want to admit that other factors have contributed to the loss of convert baptisms. The internet has exposed much about the Mormon church and it’s history. The fact that most new converts leave the church within 1-2 years, has also had an impact on baptisms. Less active members and members that have officially resigned their memberships, have also had a huge influence on investigators and potential investigators. For example, where I live, there is a huge Mormon population. Many of those Mormons are less active. I remember our Bishop telling us during sacrament meeting how he had recently gone over the ward’s membership roles and was only able to recognize half of the names. When missionaries go out looking for people to join the church, many of their neighbors would (maybe) speak to them and perhaps warn them about what the church was really like and what the church really believed.
[…] The sole purpose of this talk was to degrade the Lord’s work by stating the gospel was growing at an ‘accelerated rate’. The truth is just the opposite. Their own report stated growth of the Church plunged by nearly 50%. […]