Without Disclosing My True Identity
membership discipline problems and making pastoral visits to the homes of members. But manpower
problems developed. Repeatedly the ranks of the lesser priesthood thinned out, due in large part to the
active recruiting practices of Melchizedek Priesthood quorums seeking to keep their own units fully
manned. By standards of the higher quorum, the faithful lesser priesthood men were qualified to receive
the higher priesthood with its added blessings and responsibilities, and no reason existed for holding
these men back. Aaronic males therefore readily accepted invitations for advancement to the higher
priesthood, sometimes after just a few months of lesser priesthood service. This left the lesser quorums
with continual vacancies, and their meetings through the Nauvoo period were characterized by frequent
disruptions of labor, replacements of officers, and revised visiting assignments.” ***[Around 1909, the
General Priesthood] Committee took two important steps...to effectively establish two separate and
distinct types of teachers in the Church. First, it redefined the Aaronic Priesthood work as something for
boys to perform, and established for the first time in the Church definite ordination ages for deacons,
teachers, and priests as twelve, fifteen, and eighteen respectively.”
Also compare the following 2 statements, the first from 1992 and the later from 2011:
“Beginning with the reorganization of the priesthood in 1877, the Church established the current
practice of ordaining boys to the Aaronic Priesthood during their early teenage years, organizing them
at the ward level into priesthood quorums by age group and priesthood office, and advancing them
periodically to higher offices and eventually to the higher priesthood. The bishop of each ward presides
over the Aaronic Priesthood in the ward.” (“Aaronic Priesthood,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism Macmillan:
1992 | Harold B. Lee Library, 2011, Brigham Young University, 22 Jun. 2011
http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Aaronic_Priesthood); and “Beginning in 1877, the Church
established the current practice of ordaining boys to the Aaronic Priesthood at the ward level by age-
group and priesthood office. Young men are generally ordained deacons at the age of 12, teachers at the
age of 14, and priests at the age of 16. The bishop of each ward presides over the Aaronic Priesthood in
the ward.” (“History of the Aaronic Priesthood,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 2011,
Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 22 Jun. 2011 http://lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,5087-1,00.html);
Brigham Young stated, “‘I dare not even call a man to be a Deacon, to assist me in my calling,
unless he has a family.’ It is not the business of an ignorant young man, of no experience in family
matters, to inquire into the circumstances of families, and know the wants of every person. Some may
want medicine and nourishment, and to be looked after, and it is not the business of boys to do this;
but select a man who has got a family to be a Deacon, whose wife can go with him, and assist him in
administering to the needy in the ward.” (Brigham Young, 6 Oct. 1854, JD, 2:89.)
The Church at one point even allowed young women to collect fast offerings. (“Girls ‘Pinch-
Hit’ For Deacons,” The Deseret News, 21 Apr. 1945: 5) This can be seen at
http://news.google.com/newspapers/p/deseret_news?nid=Aul-
kAQHnToC&dat=19450421&printsec=frontpage&hl=en on “Page 14 of 26.”
(^106) Originally D&C, 119:3 (1–7). See also BOM, 2 Nephi 26:26–7.
(^107) See, e.g., Robert D. Hales, “The Divine Law of Tithing,” Ensign, Dec. 1986: 14.
(^108) D&C, 105:33.
(^109) D&C, 119:1–5. See also BOM, 1 Nephi 22:23. Since the time of the institution of tithing, “[the
modern LDS/Mormon] church has organized several tax-exempt corporations to assist with the
transfer of money and capital. These include the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, organized in 1916 under the laws of the state of Utah to acquire,
hold, and dispose of real property. In 1923, the church incorporated the Corporation of the President
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah to receive and manage money and church
donations. In 1997, the church incorporated Intellectual Reserve, Inc. to hold all the church’s
copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property. The church also holds several non-tax-
exempt corporations.” (“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia, 22 Jun. 2011, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 22 Jun. 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints; see also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finances_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints.