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General News of Monday, 16 February 2004

Govt Officials Demand Bribe - Mormon Drops Bomshell
 Minister's Daughter's Education For Land?

A hardcore Mormon, Darrick Eveson, who lives in Seattle - USA, has
told The Chronicle that the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day
Saints (Mormons) are paying bribes in Ghana and other African
countries because government officials demand them before they allow
the church to operate.

According to him, "The church is more than willing not to pay
bribes, but the government officials will not stop asking for them.
And the bribes are not `money' but, as I said, free trips and
free
education in America for their children, half of whom, will become
Mormons themselves."

In a six-page message to The Chronicle, Darrick said, "It
isn't the
Mormons or some white church in Africa who are corrupt. They want to
help you stupid niggers try to improve your lives. It is the niggers
who are corrupt by nature." In America blacks are insultingly
referred to as niggers.

The Chronicle responded that his admission that Mormons were paying
bribes to government officials in Ghana and other African countries
could not be left without comments, especially because we are
involved in the global anti-corruption fight.

"Mormons and other religious or commercial organizations who pay
bribes to public officials because they demand it are corrupt and
cannot be said to be honest.

For churches who pay bribes, the least said about them the better.
God hates corruption and any church which pays bribes cannot be of
God," The Chronicle said.

"You will not find a church in Africa which has not bribed
government officials in one way or the other. I suppose all churches
are `corrupt' in your eyes," he responded.

Darrick Eveson, who publishes pro-Mormon stories on a website he has
established for black Mormons, was responding to a series of stories
carried by The Chronicle, last year, in connection with the
controversies surrounding a trip by the then Minister for
Information and Presidential Affairs, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, and his
family to Utah and the story on the Church's ban on black
priesthood.

It will be recalled that The Chronicle revealed last year that the
Minister and his wife travelled to Utah - headquarters of the
Mormons - and were later joined by their daughter on an all-expenses
paid trip.

Investigations later revealed that the Minister, who had assisted
the Mormons by facilitating the resolution of a land title dispute
between the Mormons and the Osu Stool, sought and gained admission
for his daughter at Brigham Young University (BYU), a prestigious
university owned by the Church.

Deep throat sources told The Chronicle that the Minister's trip
and admission for his daughter were a `pay cheque' for his
assistance to the church by way of facilitating the resolution of a
dispute, whichensued between them and the Church over land title.

The Minister admitted in an interview that he facilitated the
dispute resolution but insisted that it was President Kufuor who
asked him to go to Utah and find out whether it was worth it for him
to honor an invitation he, Kufuor, had received from the Mormons.

The Minister described the trip as "official" and explained
that it
was the Mormons who invited him. The business class tickets for the
trip also came from the Mormons.

In response to a Chronicle enquiry, the Office of the President,
after consultations with the President, told the paper that the
President was not the one who sent the Minister to Utah on the
supposed fact-finding mission.

The Mormons also told The Chronicle that the reason for the
Minister's visit was to attend a conference on international law
and to learn about the church.

The Minister denied that the Mormons had given his daughter a
scholarship and added that his daughter had moved from Pennsylvania
University to BYU because she always wanted to go to a
`bigger'
university. He added that his daughter gained admission on merit.

The Chronicle however confirmed that the Minister had visited the
scholarship secretariat of BYU and even negotiated scholarships for
government public relations officers, even though that
responsibility fell within the purview of the Minister for Education.

The other stories were on the Church's anti-black doctrine, which
imposed a ban on black priesthood until 1978.

v MORMONS AND BLACKS

On the controversial issue of the Church's position on black
people,
Darrick Eveson said, "Are you angry that Brigham Young said that
black Africans are the children of Cain? Ok. Mohammed said similar
things. He once said, "Allah struck his right shoulder and out
came
a white race and then he said to paradise you go and He struck his
left shoulder and out came a black race and He said to hell-fire you
go."

According to Darrick, Mohammed `owned' a lot of black slaves
and
only freed them just before his death, adding that Joseph Smith,
founder of Mormonism, died after he advocated freeing and educating
black slaves. Darrick continued that he believes in the Curse of
Cain doctrine.

The Curse of Cain doctrine states that when Cain tried to kill his
brother Abel, God cursed him and put a mark on him so that all
people could easily identify him. That mark, according to Mormons,
was a black skin and flat nose.

As a result of this position by the Church, blacks were forbidden to
hold priesthood within the church until the ban was lifted as result
of protests against the church.

According to Darrick, many followers of the Church want the Church
to publicly repudiate the Curse of Cain doctrine but the leadership
of the Church is silent because it could generate a heated
controversy across the world.

Regarding why the Church is silent on the anti-black doctrine
Darrick said, "First Presidency taught publicly that
`Negroes' are
the descendants of Cain and Cain killed Abel, and God cursed Cain
and his descendants, that they will not hold priesthood until Abel
resurrected, had children and his children received priesthood
first."

He said that the lifting of the ban on black priesthood in 1978 did
not repudiate this doctrine but merely "lifted the ban."

Darrick said that if the Church leadership came out publicly and
said "the Curse of Cain doctrine was not true," we repudiate
it,
some Mormons will say, "But former church leaders said this was
true
and they claimed to be inspired by God. But now you say it is not
true and you claim to be inspired by God.

"How can we trust anything Church leaders tell us, because what
you
say now may be called false 10 years from now."

Darrick says it is to avoid these embarrassments that the Church
leadership will not say "the Curse of Cain doctrine was true"
or "False". This he said does not mean that blacks are not a
cursed
human species.

According Darrick, sections of Mormons are divided over the Curse of
Cain doctrine because, "There are liberal Mormons who want the
Church to publicly repudiate the Curse of Cain doctrine and
priesthood-ban legacy. There are conservative Mormons who want the
Church to publicly confirm that the doctrine and ban was of God.
Both of us want our way but the Church remains silent."

He said the troubles of Africans and black people are a result of
this Curse on Cain. He added that God is punishing Africans through
AIDS. He described Africans as "Ape Men." Darrick also
dedicated a
few paragraphs to criticizing The Chronicle for the negative stories
on Mormons in Ghana. He said if The Chronicle did not stop
publishing negative stories about Mormons in Ghana they might be
slaughtered by Ghanaians.

Source: Chronicle

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