Glutting themselves upon the labors of their dupes?

I’m delighted at the announcement of eight new temples to be built:

Pago Pago, American Samoa
Okinawa City, Okinawa
Neiafu, Tonga
Tooele Valley, Utah
Moses Lake, Washington
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Antofagasta, Chile
Budapest, Hungary

You can be certain, I think, that several of them, if not most of them, will be relatively small.  But that’s fine.  I’ve been told that President Nelson is committed to making temples more accessible to members of the Church, and especially to those of limited financial means.

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I was pleased to hear two of my favorite scriptural passages cited at this weekend’s General Conference:

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.  (Mosiah 2:41)

From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.  Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.  (John 6:66-69)

My sentiments, exactly.

I’ve seen a fair amount of harsh commentary about the leaders of the Church over the past few days, on many subjects. One rather curious topic that I saw on a quite toxic site concerned the luxurious feasts on which the First Presidency and the Twelve allegedly glut themselves between Conference sessions, while millions go hungry and while many Conference attendees subsist on sack lunches.

I can’t really speak directly to the topic of apostle-only Conference banquets, having never been a member of the First Presidency or the Twelve.  (I suspect that at least some of those commenting may themselves not have been members of those quorums, either.)  But I remember attending General Conference several years as a guest of the family of Elder L. Tom Perry, a member of the Twelve.  After the session was over, we had lunch at his fairly modest condominium, nearby.  Elder Perry’s wife was there, but he himself couldn’t make it because he was busy setting apart new Area Authority Seventies, of whom a large number had just been called (as a great number were called this weekend, too).  There being only two hours between the morning and the afternoon sessions, I doubt that Elder Perry had very much time left over to him for extravagant feasting.

These evil men, claimed one commenter on the lavish between-session feasting of the Brethren, are contributing massively to suffering and death.

Sometimes, when reading such absurdities, I wonder whether I’ve wandered into an episode of the Twilight Zone.