$100 billion (yes… with a “B”) is a lot of money for the church to be hoarding. Unfortunately, the media coverage has been inaccurate in many regards and has missed some of the larger issues contained in the expose “Letter to an IRS Director” by Lars Neilsen. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has become so wealthy and powerful it seems to simply operate by its own set of rules. The size of Ensign Peak Advisors (EPA) is larger than the media has discussed and the alleged violations regarding its disbursements to City Creek Center and Beneficial Financial Group (totally $2 billion) could threaten its tax-exempt status. Also included in the expose is the whistleblower discussing with EPA director, Roger Clarke, “worst practices” which included “deleting receivables” and opening the way for “dark money” payouts EPA made to unknown entities. The actual portfolio by Nov 2019 is estimated to be closer to $124 billion. We discuss a bit of the media coverage and wrap up with talking about how the church should use that money, could use that money, and how we’d use that money. $124 billion is hard to conceptualize but we try our best. Please share if you learned anything worth sharing.
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Links:
Religion Unplugged $100 Billion Stockpile article
https://religionunplugged.com/news/2019/12/16/whistleblower-exposes-100-billion-stockpile-by-mormon-church
“Mormons, Inc. “Kingdom Come”” Time
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986794,00.html
Official church response to expose
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-statement-church-finances
Deseret News Op-ed on expose
https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2019/12/17/21026103/the-washington-post-mormon-church-whistleblower-says-billions-thank-goodness
Polynesian Cultural Center
https://www.polynesia.com/packages/
Deseret Trust Company
https://www.deserettrust.com/about-us?lang=eng
Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5918641
Temples
https://www.businessinsider.com/fancy-mormon-temples-2014-8
Reuters 2012 Mormon Money article
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-mormons/insight-mormon-church-made-wealthy-by-donations-idUSBRE87B05W20120812
Bloomberg 2012 “How the Mormons Make Money”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-07-18/how-the-mormons-make-money
Quinn on Church Finances SLTrib
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2017/10/14/historian-digs-into-the-hidden-world-of-mormon-finances-shows-how-church-went-from-losing-money-to-making-money-lots-of-it/
Dowry is not the Lord’s Way Deseret News Article
https://www.deseret.com/2018/4/16/20643748/dowry-is-not-the-lord-s-way-in-kenya-lds-president-nelson-says-tithing-breaks-poverty-cycle#anna-waithira-has-margaret-wanaki-on-her-back-as-she-lines-up-to-attend-a-special-devotional-with-president-russell-m-nelson-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-in-nairobi-kenya-on-monday-april-16-2018
List of Temples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_temples_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints#Dedicated:_2010s
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