Vanka, likewise. I’ve sat in numerous tithing settlements and they are nothing like you depict. Not sure what you based your sinister tale on, but it wasn’t a typical Mormon tithing settlement.

Ted and Vanka, you ought to write apocalyptic horror novels. You’re good at it. So folks, who you gonna believe? Ted with his dire conspiracies, Vanika and her cults, or your own personal impressions of the benign and friendly Mormons you’ve known?

Once a year, around the Christmas holidays, Bishops meet with each family in their congregation for “Tithing Settlement”. The name itself is ominous: you are expected to “settle up” your tithing payments so you can be a “full tithe-payer”. You go in, usually with your entire family in tow, and sit in little chairs in a humbled position in front of the big desk of the Bishop – like a child being called into the Principal’s office. The Bishop has asked the Ward Clerk to print out your Tithing records, and he has them ready for your appointment. If the amount they have on the records seems like it is appropriate (consistent with what the Bishop knows about your job), then he asks the father (the “head of the household” and “patriarchal leader of the family”) if you are a full tithe-payer.

If he does not know how much you make, he will pretend to be friendly and inquire about your job, to get an idea how much you should be paying in Tithing. If the amount he has in his records does not seem to match what he expects, then right there in front of your wife and children, he will embarrass you, lecture you, and “call you to repentance”, pressuring you to pay a “full tithing” right then and there. They expect you to write them a check on the spot.

If you are not a full tithe payer, or you say you are, but the Bishop does not believe you, he will share that judgment with others in the Bishopric (the Bishop and two buddies who “counsel” him), as well as other people in the Ward and Stake. These are all your neighbors, mind you, so very quickly, the rumor mill spreads the word that you are unworthy and dishonest because you don’t pay as much tithing as the Bishop thinks you should pay.

And when the gossip spreads among your neighbors and fellow Ward and Stake members, then you are ostracized, distrusted, typically excluded from callings, and marginalized in the Church. And the opposite is also true. If you pay a lot to the Church, they think you are more righteous and more “blessed” than others. In this way, people can and do effectively BUY their way into leadership positions in the LDS Church!

Even if you did not know the cultish doctrines of the Mormon Church, the high-pressure Tithing program is as CULT-ish as can be!

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on the earth, but is at the present limited to an ecclesiastical kingdom. During the millennial era, the kingdom of God will be both political and ecclesiastical, and will have worldwide jurisdiction in political realms when the Lord has made ‘a full end of all nations’ (D&C 87: 6).” (LDS Bible Dictionary).

The Mormons aspire to have political dominion over the entire world! You can’t bring about and end of all nations without ending the United States of America! This makes Mormons enemies of the US and the Constitution!

That is the most important thing you can know about Mormons.

Doctrine and Covenants 87:6 says this “end to all nations” will be accomplished through war and bloodshed:

“And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed…shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations;”

The Mormon 10th Article of Faith supports this Mormon Dominionist view:

“We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.”

Mitt Romney has been raised in the LDS Church, indoctrinated with this dominionist ideology, and conditioned to “follow the Prophet” no matter what. He has made secret oaths to give his life and everything he has to build up the Mormon Church (“the Law of Sacrifice”).

In the LDS Temple “Initiatory” ritual, Mitt Romney and his wife have been secretly “anointed to become Kings and Queens, Priests and Priestesses unto the most high God, to rule and reign in the House of Israel forever”.

Not only do Mormons believe Jesus could/will appear at any moment (sooner rather than later), they believe they are “called of god” to make these prophecies happen!

Doctrine and Covenants 1:14 adds that those who refuse to be ruled by this Mormon World Government will be eliminated:

“…the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people;”

We have seen this kind of authoritarian, totalitarian, fascist, world-dominionist mentality before: In Nazi Germany, among other horrible places.

We have seen how the Mormon Church fought to undermine civil rights and equality before the law in the Proposition 8 issue in California. We saw how the Mormon Church used its wealth and influence in Hawaii to undermine legislation there. This cult will stop at nothing to achieve its world domination and impose what it considers to be “god’s will” onto the human race.

Hardly terrible.

Romney’s Mormonism is “largely unexplored”? Well, as opposed to “totally unexplored’ as is Obama’s role in his radical church, supporting extremist race hater Rev Wright for 30 years…which ABC news and other Obama poodles will only mention when forced to…