Denver Snuffer gave his last lecture in a series of 10 in Arizona this past week. In it he finally showed the world his intentions.
First off, he's not going to start a 'church' because he's said numerous times he would not start one, but thinking like a lawyer, he encouraged his followers to create 'communities of believers' where they can meet together, preach, baptize, take the sacrament....but it's not a church. Yea right.
He said that the Lord appeared to him, again, in May 2014 and explained that the LDS church lost it's authority when they excommunicated him. He told his followers that after that date, the church has no authority to give priesthood, perform ordinances, etc. He also told them to not bother to waste their time at LDS church meetings, not to pay tithing to the church etc. Of course, it goes without saying to not bother to attend the temple to do proxy work, since they have no efficacy anymore. He said that women should not have priesthood (at least for now I assume) but that it takes seven women to sustain one man's priesthood.
He said he had power to 'bless those that bless him and curse those that curse him'. Sounds like a prophet to me. From his quoting D&C 84: 27-28, Denver seems to believe he is the modern day John the Baptist, an 'Elias', preparing the way for the second coming of Christ. He clearly believes he is the Lord's prophet now and those in the LDS church are not prophets after his 'manifestation's' proclamation in May.
So, I have to say, I am glad Denver finally came out and said what many of us have known all along. Denver is deceived into believing he is the one, 'mighty and strong' that so many fundamentalist sects have been built around. He is openly hostile now to the church. He speaks out against many LDS teachings (word of wisdom) and now is not even veiling his attacks. Will his followers admit it?
Not if the LDS Freedom Forum http://www.ldsfreedomforum.com/ is any indicator. This board is populated with diehard supporters of Denver Snuffer. Apparently they've been congregating and collecting there over the past few years and within the last 18 months, have become the majority of regular posters, including the owner and moderators. They have a private area they reserve for sharing their mutual love of DS away from the critical and prying eyes of the mainstream LDS posters.
Surprisingly, they are not happy about Denver's recent declarations. They did their best to downplay his statements and their implications after his Tuesday last lecture. They became very upset when any suggestion that Denver was starting a church was examined. They insisted that no discussion should take place until the Transcripts are available (of course when that happens, they will find some other excuse to shut down discussion.) and even questioned long time supporters who keep blogs such as Tim Malone; http://latterdaycommentary.com/2014/09/09/a-few-notes-from-the-mesa-lecture/ who took copious notes which he shared.
The fact is, now they must choose. For as long as I've been on LDSFF, his fans have had one foot in the LDS church and one foot in Denver's camp. If what Tim said is true (and I'm certain it is) then they will have to choose. They can no longer insist they can remain active, believing LDS and still follow Snuffer. He is making them have to choose and I think unconsciously, they don't like it. But, what did they expect? Snuffer is tired of being ignored and shunted aside.
He's always claimed all he wants to do is 'bring souls to Christ' but it is clear now, what he wants is to bring souls to Denver Snuffer. He will be their priesthood head, offer baptism in his non-church, ask for tithes to fulfill his vision for his non-church's efforts and teach his teachings.
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