Remember when lightning struck the Salt Lake City Mormon Temple a couple years ago, and the Angel Moroni fell off? Apparently, that's not the whole story; the whole temple nearly fell. They are now semi-secretly rebuilding it (they are calling it "renovations"), and the workers found a giant network of tunnels underneath the temple.
Start at 11:15 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDf_ymNRk6E
The more I think about it, the more I get the feeling that these could be linked to hiding from military during the Civil War era when the federal government sent the largest army out to Utah to wipe out the saints that came out for religious freedom & refused the war that the feds of the day wanted. I am still learning all about it, though it makes sense.
Either that or they really are corrupt. I have a hard time with the corrupt thing. Government was corrupt enough during the Civil War era to kill a sitting president who freed the slaves & pushed back against federal bank ideology IIRC. Same government took out JFK. I have a really hard time accepting that a government with a history of corruption told the truth about this church.
Believe what you like, though when the US government pushes/backs a narrative, I have a hard time accepting it in almost any time era.
Our church spends hundreds of millions on humanitarian aid.
We try to practice the parable of the talents.
I won't deny the possibility for it. That said, the volunteer program, farms, ranches & store houses etc... , the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints has built up & uses to serve communities & disaster relief without the threat of tax/theft/death is one of the largest in the world.
I have no idea how much it costs to keep the lights on & pay to make sure facilities remain open (likely not billions, though I have never looked at operational costs) though if you look at the Bishop's Storehouse program they run it will give you a better idea of the amount of service & resources they freely give to others outside of their membership from the donations of their members.
There is a tremendous education push as well from their church to help people all over the world learn practical skills & how to improve their lives regardless of their chosen faith (again not sure how much it costs to run these programs & it is likely not in the billions).
There is a general belief in this church that the Lord will clean out his house first. Many assume corruption like Romney (wolf in sheep's clothing type) style individuals in any leadership roles will be eliminated. As I gain more info & insight, I continue to see an expanded view of all Christian churches that have corruption within their ranks will be cleansed once the Great Awakening pushes all the corruption into the light of day.
End of the day I think we can agree the anywhere "power & authority" is perceived, there is an easy avenue for corrupt individuals to take advantage of that system no matter where that is located & it is up to individuals to keep the organizations they choose to affiliate with in check & expose corruption anywhere it is found.
Ultimately I believe we all need to search for truth & find it anywhere we can, which is one of the tenants taught to the youth when I was young. It continues to boggle my mind that at least the great majority of the membership are not active conspiracy researchers, especially when one of the core tenants of their scriptures spells out that secret combinations/societies take blood oaths & focus on enslaving/destroying their fellow man.
I'm sure there are many really good people who are Latter Day Saints, just as there are many good people in other religious organizations. They're not the ones that should be held accountable. It is the high up leadership, just like in other large religions. Huge corruption by them is not out of the question.
No idea what "the church" is anymore, but definitely not what I grew up believing.
Just for fun https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N5OP4SKbqnM