Entering into Conference Week

For whatever little it’s worth, I published a piece in Meridian Magazine about President Russell M. Nelson.  Many tributes to him have appeared over the last couple of days, but I was happy to be invited to contribute one of them myself.

It was a very difficult weekend for Latter-day Saints, and President Dallin H. Oaks — who is, as of Saturday night, the new leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — published something today in response to it: “Statement from Dallin H. Oaks, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.”

Here is an important announcement about calendar and schedule:  “Special Tribute Broadcast and Funeral Services for President Russell M. Nelson Announced: October general conference to proceed as scheduled”  I have, of course, been wrong once or maybe even twice before, but I’m guessing that the announcement of a new First Presidency and the calling of a new member into the Quorum of the Twelve will wait until after President Nelson’s funeral.  Which would mean that a solemn assembly will not occur until April conference of 2026.

In the meantime, I think it’s appropriate to read (or re-read) and consider the short essay in Time Magazine that turned out to be President Nelson’s last public message to the world: “Russell M. Nelson: We All Deserve Dignity and Respect.” What a contrast to the actions of the mass murderer in Grand Blanc, Michigan!

Regarding that message, here’s a good essay from the staff at Public Square Magazine:  “As Extremism Roars, the Prophet’s Final Word Was Peace: What should believers do amid extremism and grief? They choose peacemaking, refuse contempt, and honor every soul.”

And, in the same spirit, the words recently delivered in Central Asia by Elders Patrick Kearon of the Twelve and Matthew S. Holland of the Seventy have acquired a special relevance and resonance in the aftermath of that attack on a Latter-day Saint chapel in Michigan:  “In Kazakhstan, Elder Kearon Urges Peace Through Trust and Friendship: At the same gathering, Elder Holland of the Seventy calls for the preservation and respect of sacred space”

It seems increasingly evident that the Latter-day Saints who were attacked in Grand Blanc, Michigan, were assaulted, wounded, and (in at least four cases thus far) murdered because of their faith.  Because of my faith.  (See this, for example.)  According to a report that I’ve seen, the attacker demanded of at least one congregant that he declare whether he followed Joseph Smith or Jesus Christ and, when the answer didn’t come fast enough — you can easily imagine your shock at being suddenly confronted, at gunpoint, with such a question — Thomas Jacob Sanford shot him.  (Perhaps that’s what Jesus would have done?)

This is a still-unfolding story, but Tad Walch has a solid and informative piece in the Deseret News:  “An eyewitness account from Michigan: Latter-day Saints under gunfire fought to save each other: Members of the Grand Blanc Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints evacuated through the back of the building as the shooter entered the front”

By now, you may have seen the photos of the pickup truck that Mr. Sanford smashed into that Michigan stake center.  It had two large American flags attached just behind the cab of the truck, and perhaps another American flag fixed elsewhere on the vehicle.  And perhaps you’ve seen the photograph of Mr. Sanford standing before a body of glistening blue water with his unfortunate wife and his doubly unfortunate little boy.  Mr. Sanford is wearing what may be a camouflage shirt; it bears the words “Elect Trump 2020.  Make liberals cry again.”  With that and many other cases in mind, I would suggest that it’s perhaps slightly mistaken to suggest that lethal violence in today’s America comes only from leftists.

But here’s something very strange that I want to call to your attention:  Some of you may perhaps be aware of the popular MAGA influencer Candace Owens.  I can’t tell whether she’s losing her mind or is merely cynical, but she has been waxing deeply, deeply weird of late.  I’ve never paid any real attention to Ms. Owens previously, but she began to obtrude upon my world more than she had before when she started pushing the bizarre idea that Brigitte Macron, the wife of French president Emmanuel Macron, was actually born as a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux.  The Macrons are currently suing Ms. Owens for defamation, but Ms. Owens is doubling down on her allegation.  And she’s recently been suggesting (e.g., here and here) that there was a conspiracy to assassinate Charlie Kirk and that it was somehow connected with Israel.

But her latest explanation for the murder of Charlie Kirk seems to involve bees and Polish communists and that beehive on the Utah state flag, which symbolizes socialism or communism or something of that sort.  I don’t watch Candace Owens and I haven’t yet found a good standalone video of her newest theory online, but here is a video in which much of what she has to say — admittedly, it’s quite incoherent — is included by people who are laughing at her expense: “Candace Owens’ Communist Bee Cult Theory Is Wild” (notice especially the portion after about 6:00, but the part even before that is relevant)

I can easily imagine someone who is mentally or emotionally unbalanced listening to Candace Owens and concluding that the Latter-day Saints have to be stopped, especially after the Utah Mormon Communist Bee Cult killed Charlie Kirk.  Good grief, we live in a strange society these days!

By the way, in case this has put you into paranoid mode here are a couple of entertaining videos outlining possible conspiracy theories for the sinking of RMS Titanic:  “Unfastened Coins: Titanic Conspiracy” (a rigorously scientific examination that I remembered seeing but couldn’t find until “DrJ” located it for me) and “Did the Military Sink The Titanic? Crazy Titanic Conspiracy.”  Put on your tinfoil hats!