I have just recently published my newest book: Latter-day Saint White Ops. This would make a great Christmas gift for any woman in the Church. It is available on Amazon.
Ted Koppel’s book, Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath (2016), painted a pretty dismal view of the US’s preparedness for a cyberattack. His last few chapters, however, held out some hope; you could either move to Wyoming where people already live off the grid with their piles of firearms or you could join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with our impressive preparedness program. When he asked for information about the Church’s preparedness program, he was given an all-expense-paid trip to Utah and a VIP tour of our facilities and Church headquarters. However he described our headquarters as resembling the FBI headquarters with men dressed in dark business suits, never mentioning seeing a woman at all. He never mentioned a tour of the Relief Society Building. Even though he described being treated to a lovely meal made entirely from food storage, he hardly mentioned who was responsible for not only the meal but for the entire food storage program of the family.
My book is a largely tongue-in-cheek, but in my opinion, growing up in the home of a Relief Society mother and wife, quit accurate account of the real power behind the preparedness program of the Church. It is largely autobiographical. My hometown had two church buildings: the main meeting house and the Relief Society building. Even though my mother was Relief Society President for ten years, the closest I ever got to the Relief Society building was the front steps. I have no idea what was inside. One of the main events of our community every year was the Relief Society bazar, which brought a huge amount of money into the Relief Society budget and the general Ward budget. When the Relief Society was finally absorbed into the main Church, worldwide, part of the negotiation was that the Relief Society room would have padded chairs and fancy drapes.
Some of the common discussions in our Ward Council meetings when I was bishop were: “How is it that the Relief Society President has already notified the Visiting Teachers and dinner has already been delivered to the family before the bishop even knows that anybody is sick?” “Who is running this ward anyway?” You can ask anyone in the know, when it comes to ministering – who is actually in charge? I think Ted Kopple really missed the boat during his visit to SLC; he got back on the plane and never even saw the White Ops.
Trent Dee Stephens, PhD
stephenstrent7@gmail.com
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