THE MORMON ROCK OF REVELATION
Mormon Church Objects to Angel T-Shirt
TAYLORSVILLE, Utah
Associated Press
03.24.07
For a coffee shop, T-shirts of a Mormon angel with java flowing into his trumpet are selling well. But they don't have the blessing of religious leaders.
The shirts have upset the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not only is Moroni a revered figure - Mormons believe he appeared to church founder Joseph Smith - but LDS members are discouraged from drinking coffee.
The shirts show the angel Moroni, a male figure in a robe blowing a trumpet. The trumpet is turned up at an angle as coffee is poured in.
"They've been the best-selling T-shirts we've ever done," said Just Add Coffee co-owner Ed Beazer.
The church informed Beazer that the angel's image is a registered trademark.
"If they provide proof, we're going to comply," Beazer said. "We don't want to break any laws or anything."
Just Add Coffee put the image on greeting cards about a year ago and started selling the shirts before Christmas. Moroni also appeared in ads that caught the church's attention.
Church spokesman Scott Trotter said the image is a trademark.
"It was a spoof," Beazer said. "It was meant to be fun."
Are Mormons Christian? New Web Site and 7-minute Video Say ΄Yes΄
David M. Bresnahan
March 21, 2008
Salt Lake
City, Utah Are Mormons Christians? A new web site and video presentation
launched by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (known as the
Mormons) answer that question as they invite people of all faiths who want to
learn about, or strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ to judge for themselves.
Of special interest is a 7-minute online video presentation entitled "The
Bread of Life." The moving and inspirational video may be the best 7 minutes
ever spent online.
There can be no question in the mind of anyone who visits the site and views the
beautiful video presentations, reads the inspirational sermons, listens to the
music of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, or sees the beautiful artwork Mormons
are Christians. The web site provides many resources to help people develop and
strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ.
The new site located at
www.JesusChrist.LDS.org took more than a year to design and create,
according to project manager Brian Hansbrow in a release sent by the Church. He
said the site is designed to give people a deeper understanding of who Jesus
Christ is. It features articles, video clips, artwork, an interactive music page
and other sections all focused on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. (Note:
Sadly the death of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world was left out - 1
Corinthians 1:23)
Elder Russell M. Nelson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said the
web site helps to further the work begun by Jesus 2,000 years ago when He sent
His Twelve Apostles throughout the world to preach of Him.
"In those days they could talk to a few people, here and there," he said in the
release. "In our time, we've had radio, television and now we have the Internet.
And the Internet is a very excellent way of promoting the word of God." (and LDS
propaganda)
The increased discussion in the media for more than a year surrounding the
presidential campaigns about whether Mormons are Christians or not, was a major
motivating factor that brought about the web site, according to Hansbrow in the
release.
Many people are not aware that the word "Mormon" is just a nickname and that the
official name of the church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mormons believe in and use the Holy Bible and believe it is the word of God, but
they also use another book called The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus
Christ. (DNA disproves the claims of the Book of Mormon)
The Book of Mormon is also believed to be the word of God by Latter-day Saints,
and comes from the writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American
continent. The writings were on gold plates and were translated into the present
book by Joseph Smith and published in English in 1830. Members of the Church
consider Joseph Smith to be a prophet of God.
The web site is divided into four main sections. "Faith in Christ" provides help
to those who wish to learn of Christ and develop their faith in Him. It includes
easy-to-read information, beautiful pictures, and links to the scriptures and
multimedia resources.
"His Life and Teachings" helps web site visitors to learn more about the life of
the Savior and the teachings he gave. It includes sections that describe who
Jesus Christ is, the meaning of the Atonement, and what Latter-day Saints
believe about Jesus. (LDS authorities teach that Jesus Christ was married and
had children)
The third section of the web site is "Testimonies of Him." It contains the
teachings and testimonies of modern day prophets and apostles who witness to all
the world of the reality of Jesus Christ and the Savior of the World and Son of
God. This section of the site also contains information on how all people can
become a witness of Christ. (Modern day Mormon prophets have no prophecies to be
measured against)
The final section of the site is the multimedia portion which contains video
presentations that can be viewed online. Each is well produced and of very high
quality.
One visit to the new web site should clear up any remaining questions about what
Mormons believe they believe in Christ. (Muslims and Mormons believe in Jesus
Christ also but not as Christians do)
David Bresnahan is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster. He has worked in all areas of journalism and public relations since 1972. He has authored several books, hosted talk radio programs, owned a radio station, on-line newspapers, and other businesses. He is an independent journalist and public relations consultant.
New LDS ad campaign touts the 'Truth Restored' (Was Jesus Christ Lost? John 14:6)
By
Carrie A. Moore
Deseret Morning News
Friday, April 4, 2008
A new advertising campaign for the LDS Church that has been test-marketed in selected areas looks to focus public attention on "Truth Restored" as an answer to life's greatest questions.
With the 178th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints set to begin Saturday, church leaders will focus on specific doctrinal issues for church members. But the new ad campaign is designed to reach those who know little or nothing about the faith.
Developed by the church in conjunction with Brigham Young University's advertising department (Mormon Holy Spirit), the ads inside publications such as Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report and Sports Illustrated, and targeted at specific geographic markets are a departure from the faith's long-running "Homefront" series.
The new print ad campaign features people who identify themselves and their quest to find God, describing a life challenge that sent them looking for meaning in the divine. "I felt so destroyed by my addiction to alcohol and drugs," writes Jovanny Vasquez, of Bronx, N.Y., in a two-page ad that appeared in U.S. News in the Las Vegas area in August.
Appearing alongside the image of a man dancing with a woman and two children, he continues, "I prayed with all my heart to find a solution to my life. I was at the point of losing my wife and family. The God I was looking for was a merciful God. I wanted to know how to be forgiven."
At the bottom of the page, the church's logo appears in large lettering, with the phrase TRUTH RESTORED underneath in smaller type, followed by mormon.org beneath them both.
The campaign, which has adopted a slightly different format for TV, radio, billboard and Internet advertising, has been running for about eight months in four different areas of the country that correspond to designated LDS mission areas: Las Vegas; Las Vegas West; Independence, Mo., including Kansas City and Wichita; and New York Utica, which includes Albany, Syracuse and Utica.
Kevin Kelly, a former New York advertising executive and associate professor of advertising at BYU, told an overflowing auditorium at the school last week about developing the campaign with the church, with oversight from LDS general authorities on the Missionary Executive Council.
In surveys or pretesting done before the campaign began in those markets, results showed 63 percent of respondents didn't know the main claims of the LDS Church. So in an all-out media blitz, the team sought to "have people keep bumping into our message," Kelly said.
"The idea was that (our) media would do the heavy lifting, and that church members would then just answer people's questions, and if they couldn't answer then they would pull out their wallets."
The campaign includes pass-along cards for church members to carry, with answers to questions about topics including life after death, God's involvement in the world and how to keep one's family and marriage safe and secure based on LDS gospel principles.
After three months of intensive media in those markets, surveys were done again and showed that many more people than before "felt it's possible to answer life's deeper questions," Kelly said. "This was thrilling as an advertiser. People were actually looking for answers and also described the main claim of the church, that Christ's church and its teachings have been restored."
After several months, one mission president reported 76 convert baptisms that he believed were in some way attributable to or had been influenced by the campaign, Kelly said. The ads provided "identified messages that are relevant" to everyday people and increased traffic to mormon.org, he said.
Scott Swofford, director of media for the LDS Missionary Department, said the campaign was designed to target areas of the United States "that best mirror the country as a whole." It includes TV and radio spots featuring "man on the street" interviews, but simply walking up to people and asking them to sign a release and talk on camera or for radio "is almost impossible," he said.
The team called casting agencies that supply extras for film and television, told them they needed a diverse population, and had them send the extras to a street corner at a specified time, he said. "Then we asked them questions about life satisfaction that they had never heard before. They were actually questioned on camera, and it wasn't rehearsed, but these are people used to signing releases and appearing in front of cameras.
"I was shocked at how cooperative they were and how honest in their opinions," he said. "We had a wide variety of people to compare and contrast. Many of them expressed opinions that contrasted their own religious belief."
Their comments, including statements like "I would like to think God knows me," and "I don't think God cares about me," were condensed into radio and TV ads, followed by a voice-over that says, "After centuries of confusion, truth about life's great questions is now restored. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Visit mormon.org"
Swofford said the focus of the campaign is "what are things that resonate commonly among us, and does the restored gospel shed light on your question about life?" (The Mormon Gospel is not the Christian Gospel - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4)
He said eight months "is a pretty short time to decide whether the campaign is working," but the team will continue to analyze data on how it affected people who actually joined the church. "What we do know is that traffic to mormon.org increased from 200 to 300 percent from pretest levels. Of the referrals coming in, many of them are from that site, but we don't have specific numbers yet that say things have improved or changed.
"Whether the net result will be an increase in baptisms we're still trying to figure out where that is."
Early feedback from missionaries, church leaders and members in the test areas is "really enthused. ... Many reported retention (of converts) was better, and we've probably shipped over 500,000 pass-along cards."