Elder Andersen met with the leaders of Zimbabwe and he said the significance of the meeting with Vice President Mohadi was to “express to him our desire to help improve Zimbabwe.” He noted that Vice President Mohadi had made a specific request for support with the development of clean-water wells in more remote areas of Zimbabwe.” Did the church help Zimbabwe or support their clean-water wells? The church did not help, but they claimed to be too poor and that the real blessings were gained through having a temple in the country that would bless the people.
Not a Wealthy People
We want to help in every way we can. We are not a wealthy people but we are good people, and we share what we have.
Elder Neil L Andersen to Zimbabwean Vice President Kembo Mohadi
Elder Andersen meets with Zimbabwe’s Vice President Mohadi, pledges support, A Historic Visit, 9 December 2018
https://news-zw.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-andersen-meets-with-zimbabwes-vice-president-mohadi-pledges-support
This phrase alone has many lies within it. Not a wealthy people? Hard to believe this when even the $5 Million fine paid for hiding money was nary a dent in the church’s wealth. Does the church share what they have? Hard to believe this when they are very tight with money. They don’t even pay for custodian or janitorial services in their meeting houses, they require local members to clean their own building! This isn’t sharing or wanting to help. The only part of the statement is that Mormons are “good people”. This is not a credit to the leaders though, Mormons are good people despite the leadership rather than because of it.
At the time of this meeting, Zimbabwe’s entire GDP was $31 billion, or in other words only one-quarter of the value of the LDS church’s $120 billion liquid assets. The church did not help with the water project. Shortly after this though, the whistleblower leaked the estimated hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth the church was hiding. Zimbabwe’s 16 million people have an average yearly income of $1,700. The LDS church could have paid the annual salary of every man, woman, and child in Zimbabwe with only one-fifth of these leaked holdings alone.
What did the church offer in terms of help to Zimbabwe? They offered a temple. Nelson expects this temple to offer “special blessings to the people of Zimbabwe”.
Elder Andersen also shared with Vice President Mohadi news that the Church planned to begin construction of the Harare Temple in late 2019, an edifice that will bring special blessings to the people of Zimbabwe.
Elder Andersen meets with Zimbabwe’s Vice President Mohadi, pledges support, A Historic Visit, 9 December 2018
https://news-zw.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-andersen-meets-with-zimbabwes-vice-president-mohadi-pledges-support
That is, to the people of Zimbabwe who join the church and donate 10% of their income to the church since these are the only people who will even be allowed entry to the temple. Let’s not talk about the fact that after all that, the people still couldn’t even have entered the temple because of the racist doctrines until 1978.
Elder Andersen was intending to meet with the president of Zimbabwe, but a scheduling conflict meant he could only meet with the Vice President. When asked about his thoughts regarding the President Andersen has this to say:
We wish him well. We are thankful for his attitude and his desire to help this country. We pray very deeply that he can be successful. We know he’s a believing man, and we pray that he will pray, and that the blessings of Heaven could be upon him, upon his leaders and the people and that there can be progress economically in this country.
Elder Neil L Andersen regarding Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa
Elder Andersen meets with Zimbabwe’s Vice President Mohadi, pledges support, A Historic Visit, 9 December 2018
https://news-zw.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-andersen-meets-with-zimbabwes-vice-president-mohadi-pledges-support
He wishes the country and the people well. He prays that the president will pray. He hopes that the blessings of Heaven will be upon the President of Zimbabwe and the people of Zimbabwe. He prays that the economy of the country will progress. What good are thoughts and prayers? What good especially when he’s sitting on a pile of money waiting for the Lord to give a whole people blessings from Heaven?
This brings to mind the parable of the drowning man, where a drowning man prays to God for the blessing of help. God sends a boat to rescue him and he tells them that he’ll be fine since he prayed and he’s waiting for God to save him. If church leaders want to insist they speak for God and they pray to God and have resources by God’s design, they are insincere indeed if they then withhold these resources to bless others especially when they profess to want to help. But we can deduce from the amount of Lying for the Lord the church leaders do that they are not sincere in their well-wishes and hopes for blessings. They want God to bless people directly, not through their efforts. That is unless it involved building another temple.
Is the church wealthy? According to whistleblowers they have around $150 Billion in liquid assets just in the investment company Ensign Peak! Even Christopher Waddell, a presiding bishop acquiesces, “We have significant resources.”
Maybe the church didn’t help Zimbabwe because they don’t like to be told what to do with their money. Rest assured, the church has money and they will decide what to do with it, it’s not up to anyone else.
What do these flat-out lies from top church leaders do for the church? Was it a slip-up or is this deliberate? Especially when telling national leaders that “we are not a wealthy people” while the church has more in its rainy day fund, than the whole county and all its citizens! Does this affect your ability to follow such leaders? Have you experienced a faith transition? Please share your story on this site, where our mission is to enable everyone to share their own Mormon story. There are over a hundred contributed faith journey stories from site visitors like you, check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org too.
More reading:
- https://news-zw.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-andersen-meets-with-zimbabwes-vice-president-mohadi-pledges-support
- https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/ecduen/we_are_not_a_wealthy_people_but_we_are_good/
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