Will Wildwood Mormon Church Be Protested Today?

As of Saturday evening, one question was whether the Mormon chapel in Wildwood would be part of a global protest. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) is located at 17132 Old Manchester Road.

A group of 300-plus active and disaffected Mormons were slated to post a copy of 95 LDS Theses onto the doors of their local churches around the world between the hours of 9 p.m. Feb. 16 and 9 a.m. Feb. 17, according to a Facebook page dedicated to the event.

The protest project was organized by Mormon Reformation, a movement aimed at following protestant reformer Martin Luther, who, in 1517, posted a list of grievances on the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg. Within two weeks, it reportedly was distributed by the press throughout Germany, exposed the corruption of the Catholic Church, and started what came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. Now, the Facebook page indicates, protesters claim, it is time for a Mormon Reformation.

Mormon Reformation is a group of active and disaffected Mormons who say they seek to create change within the church, not by attacking its beliefs or lay members, but by petitioning LDS leadership to openly address its covered-up history and dishonest claims.

Organizers of the protest stated it is intended to be a peaceful and non-confrontational way to achieve the following two objectives:

1) Educating the membership of the church on controversial, revised, and hidden aspects of church doctrine, history, and fundamental claims, and

2) Influencing church leaders to officially address topics that they have dodged, dismissed, and covered up for too long.

One online posting highlighted the following 95 LDS theses or "inconsistencies:"

• The Church has changed the dates of events in the Church's canon known as the 'Doctrine & Covenants' to make Joseph's conflicting claims appear more plausible.

• In addition to the 33 single women Joseph Smith married (some as young as 14 years old), he married at least 11 women who were already married to other men, a practice known as Polyandry and not mentioned in any LDS church resource. In some cases, Joseph married the wives of men whom he had sent away on missions. Some of Joseph's marriages were secured by promising salvation or threatening damnation. Brigham Young also married other men's wives.

• Joseph Smith never mentioned in the first 12 years of the Church what has since become a defining element and cornerstone of the LDS faith, his "First Vision". However, after publishing an obituary of a 14-year old boy named James G. Marsh who experienced a vision of Heavenly Father and His Son when he was between 8-9 years old, then Joseph Smith dictated a similar "First Vision" to his scribe and published his account of it for the first time ever five years later. Joseph Smith's "revelation" of the LDS temple ceremony followed a similar mode of operation in that he received the revelation for this ceremony after joining the Mason's and experiencing their initiation ceremony performed in the Masonic Lodge—both ceremonies have very similar constructs.

• Boyd K. Packer, and other church leaders, have openly advocated obscuring and editing history by teaching us that "some things that are true are not very useful."

• The LDS Church stifles honest scholarship of Mormonism, going as far as excommunicating people who find and publish history that contradicts the Church's narrative. Such as the fact that DNA analyses disprove American natives are descendants of Middle Eastern peoples as Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon contend; and the fact no archaeological evidence to support the vast civilization described in the Book of Mormon has ever been found.

• The LDS Church’s refusal to disclose its finances, even to its tithe-paying members, despite former President Hinckley stating to Larry King that financial "information belongs to those who made the contribution."