32: BEHOLD THERE ARE SAVE TWO CHURCHES ONLY

“Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God,

and the other is the church of the devil;

wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church,

which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.”

Nephi 14:10

Which church do you belong to?

I took the below photos today of some of the advertisements being used for next week’s  Grand Opening of the LDS Church’s City Creek Center. Enormous photographic ads have been blown up to cover entire buildings.  Slogans such as GO FOR IT, MAKE IT, DISCOVER IT are cleverly intertwined with the City Creek Center name. Many of you know that I have been critical of the billions spent on what I consider the great and spacious shopping center. Many have accused me of being too critical of the Church and their use of money.  They make apologies for those in charge as they are trying to beautify the surrounding areas of the temple. So my question is this. Are we really beautifying the Temple surroundings or actually distracting from it?
Here are a few of the images:

·         An attractive “Angelia Jolie” like woman showing her slender leg sporting stiletto heels.

·         A glamorous woman in a low cut black evening gown holding a glass of wine/champagne, (not to mention that the low cut dress is not “garment friendly”)

·         Large “building-sized” images of men who look like characters from the book Twilight (which used to be one of Deseret books best selling books).

If you were hoping to be one of the first to shop at City Creek Center, you will need to buy a ticket for $50.00 to attend the City Creek Center Charity Preview Gala which is the night before the red ribbon ceremony. However, I heard the tickets are all sold out.  Sounds like it will be quite the party since this is what is being offered:

·         Continuous Entertainment 

·         Food and Refreshments throughout the Center 

·         Access to the Hospitality Suite with music, Hors d' oeuvres, and Beer and Wine 

·         Shopping throughout the evening 

Did I read that correctly?… Beer and Wine? (Well you can’t accuse City Creek of false advertising, since the woman IS holding a glass of wine.) Here is the link to more information on the Charity Gala:  http://shopcitycreekcenter.com/events

In a few weeks, we will have our World Wide General Conference. We have come a long way since the early days of the Church. Yes, we can say, “ We thank thee, O God, for we are a chosen people unto thee.” That same phrase is used in the Book of Mormon. Here is the entire verse found in Alma 31: 27-28

“Behold, O God, they cry unto thee, and yet their hearts are swallowed up in their pride. Behold, O God, they cry unto thee with their mouths, while they are puffed up, even to greatness, with the vain things of the world.

Behold, O my God, their costly apparel, and their ringlets, and their bracelets, and their ornaments of gold, and all their precious things which they are ornamented with; and behold, their hearts are set upon them, and yet they cry unto thee and say—We thank thee, O God, for we are a chosen people unto thee while others shall perish.”

It is not hard to see similarities to us today to the prideful Nephites in the Book of Mormon prior to their destruction. If a Samuel the Lamanite figure climbed on top of the wall surrounding the Salt Lake Temple and preached repentance and exposed our worldly ways.. would we also shoot arrows at him?  

Side note:

Last Friday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was honored by the Salt Lake Chamber for the City Creek Development. President Uchtdorf  and Bishop Burton both received and accepted the awards. One of the awards was a small statue of Brigham Young. Here is a link.

 http://slchamber.com/blog/drive-on-chamber-honors-lds-church-for-dedication-to-downtown-slc-10002892.htm