Jana Reiss Needs to Have Her Temple Recommend Pulled

 

By Dennis B. Horne

             I have thought for years that Jana Reiss, a dissident blogger that the Salt Lake Tribune unfortunately and foolishly reposts, should have her temple recommend pulled (and also receive membership restrictions or loss). Her loud public criticisms of the church she is allegedly a member of, and of its leaders, should have long ago been cause for forfeiture of temple privileges.

            Now, she has again loudly and openly declared her opposition to paying tithing in the prescribed method, and one must be a full tithe-payer  as defined by the Church to hold a temple recommend. She states in her column for all to see:

 

            The short version of all this is that while I am still a full-tithe payer, I have not paid a dime of it to the church in 2020.

Remarkable Experiences in the Life of Elder Glen L. Rudd #10 - Some of Elder Rudd’s Thoughts on Difficult Welfare Issues

(Compiled by Dennis B. Horne)

 

            I had a rather interesting meeting with L____ W____ who was one of the directors [in the Welfare Department]. I told him I was greatly distressed with the treatment we were giving to our Deseret Industries workers. It sometimes seemed to me like we were in the business to make money, which was not the way it should be. We talked over basic concepts, and before we were through, he reversed the policy on cutting hours and furloughing some workers when sales were down. I felt that we ought to keep our people busy regardless of how we were doing financially—I still do.

 ***

            A rather sad thing happened in Welfare on the 24th. 'Two of our top men flew to an eastern city and fired our area manger there for some stupid thing he had done with Church funds. I was greatly distressed. Bishop Burke Peterson of the Presiding Bishopric heard about it and spoke to me. Bishop Peterson met with President Hinckley to talk about the situation. President Hinckley ruled against firing the man and commented that what the manager had done was, indeed, stupid, but that we should not fire good people for being stupid. So we brought the man back on the job, transferred him to another place and let him carry on for several more years as a valuable employee. I was very grateful for the attitude of Bishop Peterson and President Hinckley.

 ***

            Brother Edwards had worked closely with the First Presidency for a number of years and had been their personal financial advisor. He had also been the stake president in New York City several years earlier. I knew him to be an exceptionally important man. I had met him on several occasions so I felt we should make his trip pleasant. His wife was the sister to Camilla Kimball (President Spencer W. Kimball's wife) and was a lovely and delightful person. Their visit, which took four days and much of our time, was well worth it. I drove them to see the Waitomo caves and some other beautiful areas of New Zealand.

            We enjoyed Brother and Sister Edwards' visit. They were both 80 years old, but were bright and intelligent. A number of years ago, he had been hired by the First Presidency to make an audit of the entire welfare program—why we were in it, what we were doing, and so forth. His report was very negative and upset Harold B. Lee, Henry D. Moyle, and Marion G. Romney, and me. If the Brethren had followed his suggestions, we probably would have closed down the welfare program. He was a financial man, and welfare was not making money. Anyway, welfare survived, and I still had great respect and good feeling for this fine man and his wife.

Remarkable Experiences in the Life of Elder Glen L. Rudd #9 - Elder Rudd Corrects Some General Authorities

 (Compiled by Dennis B. Horne)  

             [Editorial Note: I was able to question Elder Rudd and learn the (deceased) names of the fine general authorities he found himself correcting (which is a nicer word than rebuking) on these exceedingly rare occasions. I inserted them in bracket. Most modern readers won’t recognize those names. Elder Rudd told me that almost the only reason he was able to correct these good brethren without fear of reprisals was because President Lee covered his back. Any time one of the brethren didn’t like something Brother Rudd did and got after him for it, he would call Elder Lee and let him know, and Elder Lee would make sure nothing happened to Brother Rudd. These were the years before Elder Rudd became a general authority himself, and was serving on the church welfare committee.]

            One of the powerful General Authorities [Elder Thorpe B. Isaacson] with whom I traveled was a very interesting man. He was high strung and was easily upset, but he always treated me with great dignity and honor.

            I enjoyed being with him very much, but on one trip, out of the state, we were stranded in the airport because our connecting flight to another city was cancelled. I remember my friend raising heck with the man at the check-in stand. I was standing next to him when he lost his temper and began to berate this poor man who was checking us in and who had nothing to do with the cancellation. The situation became so bad I walked away because I did not want to be so close to this man who had raised his voice so loud that everyone in the airport was watching.

Learning Doctrine and Hearing Apostolic Testimony from Elder Marion G. Romney

 

(Prepared by Dennis B. Horne)

            Note: the below material is my Christmas present to all those who admire Elder Romney and love his teachings and testimony. Hear them below, all messages given before he entered the First Presidency.

            Elder Marion G. Romney, who passed away in 1988, has been called an apostle’s apostle. He was one of the greatest of their number, according to those who knew him best. One of his associates among the general authorities said that, “President Romney was much greater than most people knew.” There is no question that Elder Romney, through faith and righteous living, received marvelous spiritual experiences and manifestations (that he did not describe in detail) during his ministry. These continued until the day came that he could testify, albeit indirectly, but with little question for those with ears to hear and hearts to understand, that the Lord Jesus had personally shown Himself in very deed to this pure and humble apostle (listen to the final minutes of the last talk in the below list to see what I mean.)

            Highlights from the below audio file conference talks include his apostolic acceptance speech (that was actually video and is superb); his April 1953 message when he became almost upset with those church members who taught/teach the false theory of evolution instead of the true doctrine of the origin and mission of Adam; and those select and special occasions when he humbly but forcefully bore his special witness of Jesus Christ—his language was persuasive and powerful and convincing, as was the Spirit that accompanied his testimony.

Remarkable Experiences in the Life of Elder Glen L. Rudd #8 - Elder Rudd’s Reminiscences about President Joseph Fielding Smith

 (Compiled by Dennis B. Horne)

            In May 1959, I went with President Joseph Fielding Smith and his wife Jessie to a stake conference in Kanab and across the border to Arizona to dedicate a small chapel.

            Following a long day of meetings, we began our drive home. After we had been driving for a while, the aged President Smith said he would like to drive. I was willing, but "Aunt" Jessie, as we called her, was absolutely positive that he should not drive. She had already told me earlier that if he asked, I was to tell him no.

            The two of them had quite a little debate; both were kind but very hard headed and insistent. When I could see that the debate was going nowhere, I made one of the great mistakes of my traveling experiences. I said, "Let's vote on it." Immediately, she voted that he should not drive, and he voted that he should. Which left me in the middle with the deciding vote.

            I turned to the back seat and looked at the very anxious look on his face. She, on the other hand, was giving me all kinds of signals. I finally gave the following vote: "I want the two of you to know that I have tried to live the gospel and sustain the Brethren. I have had a lot of experience in the Church; and I know the worst thing I can do is tum against the priesthood. I vote that President Smith, as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, drive if he wants to." After all, it was his car and he should be familiar with it.

Remarkable Experiences in the Life of Elder Glen L. Rudd #7 - Some Stories about Glen Rudd’s and Tom Monson’s Friendship

 (Compiled by Dennis B. Horne)

            [Editorial Note: Brother Rudd reminisces about earlier days in his life when he became friends with a man who would become the President of the Church.]

            Once a month, all the bishoprics in our stake met with the stake presidency in a lengthy meeting, after which almost everyone was most anxious to go straight home.

            But Bishop Thomas Monson of the Sixth-Seventh Ward, a young fellow of only 22 or 23 years of age, was never anxious to call it quits. Frequently, at his suggestion, we would go get our wives and end up in the local ice cream parlor to enjoy a sundae or banana split and visit about the interesting things we were doing.

            I always marveled at Tom's capacity to keep going. After those long stake meetings, I was usually ready for bed. However, those little visits together at the ice cream parlor were worthwhile and payed off greatly for each of us.

***

            The “Monson Building”

A Walk Through Time with Elder Bruce R. McConkie

(Compiled by Dennis B. Horne) 

            Note: This material constitutes my Christmas present to those who admire Elder McConkie and rejoice in his gospel teachings and testimony.

            At the October 1946 general conference, 31-year-old Bruce McConkie sat down at the Deseret News press table to take notes to be published the next day in the newspaper he worked at. He was soon tapped on the shoulder by Brother Joseph Anderson, clerk of the conference, who asked him to meet with President McKay. Brother McConkie instantly knew what was wanted. He met with Pres. McKay in the general authorities room in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, were he was interviewed and called to become a member of the First Council of Seventy.

            Then conference started and the Brethren began speaking. Brother McConkie had to concentrate on the messages to take notes because he was feeling so flustered by the call. He wrote: “During the meeting I could not look around. . . . Pres. George F. Richards was one of the speakers, and I took the notes necessary to report his sermon. It was on the divine law of love. It calmed my nerves somewhat to be forced to concentrate on the sermon and make notes for newspaper quotation.”