NEW FALSE PROPHET AND THE AGENDA

 This is cool stuff.  Sounds like he is DoC:

[FYI: I would not have included this information, if the individual was not seeking a public audience.] 

Several weeks ago, I arrived at the Church History Library to bide time before a lunch appointment with some good friends. As usual, before taking my seat I walked over to the display cases at the far side of the room. As I did so, I noticed a well-dressed man in his mid-40s speaking with an elderly sister missionary. She wanted to tell him about the different items on display, but the man clearly had other plans. I overheard him say, “I am just a messenger” and I knew this was going to get interesting. “Just messengers” show up on temple square all the time and I’ve had some fun interactions with them over the past decade. 

 I walked to the front desk and asked an acquaintance what was going on. She smiled and told me that this gentleman had been trying to get copies of the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon to general authorities that morning and had finally settled (maybe with the help of security?) to bring them to the Church History Library. That is where the Church collects items after all.  

 

 A few moments later, I heard the sister missionary profess her desire to read the papers that were being left at the CHL and the man was on his way out the door. To the horror of the officials in the room (I imagine), I followed him out, introduced myself, and invited him to come back in and tell me his story. His name was Shane Baldwin and we sat together for 30 minutes. 

 A decade ago, he was convicted for some charges related to investment fraud that amounted to $14 million (he didn’t tell me the details but you can look them up). In prison, he found his faith and began entertaining angels in his jail cell. One angel told him that he would one day provide Shane with the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon. And at some point when Shane got out of prison, he received an email—apparently from the same angel—with the promised record in an attachment. And the best thing about it was that Shane didn’t even have to translate the record (although he seemed to suggest he had perhaps amended it.)  At the end of our conversation, Shane suggested a number of scriptural passages I could read to learn more about him. These were, of course, the same scriptures would-be Latter-day Saint messiahs have been reciting for two centuries. 1 Nephi 3; D&C 85; Isaiah 28; etc.  

My friends had shown up and so I thanked Shane for his time. I went to greet them and Shane got up to again leave the building. On his way out, he turned back to me and said there was another scripture I should be aware of. Hebrews 13:2. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” He then said that sometimes you speak to angels and don’t know you are doing so – implying that Shane was an angel in the flesh. (Now this is the oddest claim, because I’m a Latter-day Saint – I think everyone is an angel in the flesh.) 

This was not that unusual of an interaction. I have met One Mighty and Strongs, Davidic Servants, and Roots of Jesse over the years. Shane is just the latest of many – unaware that he is reciting the same script that so very many have recited before him. (In Terrible Revolution, I explained how Brigham Young responded to these claims when he encountered them.)

In the coming days, I noticed that Shane had started a new YouTube channel in which he is bringing in a series of ideas to shape his brand. The major theme is conspiracy. These include polygamy denialism, the Nemenhah Records (these are the sealed portion that Shane is promoting), Joseph Smith’s assassination was an inside job, etc. Michelle Stone, Jacob Isbell, Cloudpiler, and a few others have shown up on his show. 

Friends, I'm not interested in digging into this in too much detail, but I am concerned about individuals’ abilities to discern truth from error; healthy from unhealthy paths. The scripture I would point us to is Jacob 6:12 “Oh be wise – what can I say more?”

Oh and a new episodes of Angels and Seerstones will drop tomorrow.