My bishop gave me a copy of this letter and said I could disseminate the information as I saw fit. I will scan the original copy as soon as I can find someone with a scanner and will post it on my website ASAP.
Church Educational System The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints
Spurious Statements Regarding Preparedness
To: CES Personnel (U.S. and Canada) Date: 7 May 2007 From: CES Administrators Council
Several of the following statements are being circulated and used regarding self reliance, preparedness, and impending doom:
It has been purported that President Boyd K. Packer told a group of leaders at a stake priesthood leadership meeting in 2006 that President Gordon B. Hinckley instructed the Brethren to no longer discuss preparedness since members had been counseled about it for over a hundred years. Note the following:
President Packer was not at the stake priesthood leadership meeting where he was purported to have made the above statement.
The following two resources should nullify the idea that President Hinckley no longer wants preparedness discussed:
The church recently published and distributed a new booklet titled, All Is Safely Gathered In: Family Home Storage. An excerpt of the message from the First Presidency in the booklet states: We encourage Church members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. It continues, We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and financial reserve.
Bishop Keith B. McMullin, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, gave a talk in the April 2007 priesthood session of general conference entitled, Lay Up in Store (Ensign, May 2007, 51-53). In this talk he discussed food storage and the importance of being prepared.
Another purported statement attributed to President Packer in 2006 relates to him supposedly telling his family that something serious was coming and that they should have their storage and preparedness items ready and be prepared to leave their homes.
Other similar types of statements on preparedness are attributed to Presiding Bishopric and various Church members.
Please consider the statements in relation to President Packer and President Hinckley spurious and use of all of the statements above in context with the 2004 letter from the First Presidency printed in the colored box.*
* I have included the colored box statement here:
A letter from the First Presidency to priesthood leaders, dated 13 May 2004, stated, From time to time statements are circulated among members which are inaccurately attributed to leaders of the Church. Many such statements distort current Church teachings and are often based on rumors and innuendos. They are never transmitted officially, but by word of mouth, e-mail, or other informal means.
We encourage members of the Church to never teach or pass on such statements without verifying that they are from approved Church sources, such as official statements, communications, and publications. Any note made when General Authorities, Area Authority Seventies, or other general Church offices speak at regional and stake conferences or other meetings should not be distributed without the consent of the speaker. Personal notes are for individual use only.
True spiritual growth is based on studying the scriptures, the teachings of the Brethren, and Church publications.
I got the e-mail but only shared it with one friend and put a disclaimer on it.... then deleted it.
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
Someone shared it in our Bishop's PEC meeting when I was subbing there. I'm glad this came out, I was annoyed that this brother had shared it, because it was not an official church letter, and because it just bothered me from a youth's perspective.
You don't stop preaching preparedness because each generation must prepare, and each generation deserves a fair shake at learning those principles...
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
Ray is talking about the e-mail that started the whole thing.
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
Right. This started by an email that made the rounds through a number of members, including someone in our ward council. He printed out the email and read it in PEC, in the email it states that Gordon B Hinckley expressly stated that members have been told about food storage for 100 years, and so the GAs are not to talk about it in General Conference, etc, and that the members of the church will just have to decide whether to live the commandment, or if they will let the Lord preach his own sermons. (Implying imminent destruction to all who didn't move quickly and get their year's supply...)
The thing that bothers me about these (the original email scam) things is they are probably written by wellmeaning members overstepping their own bounds out of a fear/perhaps heard a rumor, who knows, but they get started, and snowball, attempting to scare members into obeying the commandments.
You're right it doesn't negate the commandment, but at the same time, I think it's a bit like the story told in the church about the young couple going on a honeymoon and they were told by the prophet to spend their money on food storage instead... It's not applicable or sound doctrine, and no one likes to be manipulated into obeying the commandments...
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
Gotcha, I should have realized that. I have seen all those emails too, that is why I posted this response to it. Some people demand refutations, but blindly accept what they want to believe the leaders "may have said".
Any note made when General Authorities, Area Authority Seventies, or other general Church offices speak at regional and stake conferences or other meetings should not be distributed without the consent of the speaker. Personal notes are for individual use only.
I hadn't seen this before. Although, it makes sense. I'll have to watch myself in the future.
