hatersinmyward wrote:Hmm... your church seems interesting.
Will you please describe your meeting with Dr. Dahesh?
The Testimony of Darrick Evenson
I never knew Doctor Dahesh, but I think I once met him. In 1983 I was preparing to go on a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e. "The Mormon Church"). I was fasting and praying, trying to prepare myself spiritually for the event where young men (and women) spend two years of their lives, full-time, knocking on doors and trying to make converts for the Mormon Church. At the time, I had read alot of Anti-Mormon literature, which confused me horribly. I prayed ernestly to know of the Second Coming of Christ on numerous occassions. One night, while fasting and praying, I fell asleep. In my dream I left my body and began to fly over my city and then towards the Moon. Suddenly I was jerked away and started to "fall" towards the Sun--which became larger and larger. I was getting close to the Sun, and I became quite fearful of it. Finally, I fell into the Sun, but I didn't feel anything. I emerged on the other side and was in some sort of blue sky, but there was one central white sun with other suns revolving around it, and I fell toward the central sun. As I approached the white sun a being of light stood in my way. His hair was white and combed qutie conservatively. He had no beard. His eyes were like flames of fire. He glowed, but his white robe glowed more. He looked about twenty years old. He had no beard. He began to open his mouth, and it sounded like men from a thousand choirs speaking at once. I could not understand the words, and I said, "I don't understand you!" but just as I said that a Voice in my head said, "He is in New York City!" I asked this being "When will Christ return?" and the being of light openned his mouth again and again strange words came out but in my head I heard "He is in New York City!" and then I awoke in my room in a cold sweat. I said, "Wow! That is the strangest dream I've EVER had!" I remember saying to myself a number of times, "Jesus is in New York City? How absurd! What an absurd dream!" But, I had to admit to myself that the dream appeared to be very vivid and very real.
I later served a mission, which was 18 months (shortened by the Church at that time in their attempt to draw more young Mormon men on missions--an attempt which failed). I came home, and I slowly drifted away from the Church. I had come to get to know the Mormons. I found 90% of them very materialistic, superstitious, and not particularly moral nor honest. Most Mormons see the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a "gospel of gain"; as a way to become materially successful in life as well as heavenly blessings of Godhood, many wives for men, glorious palaces and servants for the women, and the right to create and populate planets. The Mormons in California did not impress me with their spirituality. Rather, they impressed me with their love of money, their worship of success and material things, their false humility, their arrogance, their dishonesty, their immorality, their loathing of the poor and destitute, and their materialism. Most of the missionaries I served with had not a clue why they were on missions other than somebody told them they had to go. There were exceptions to this rule, but not many. I discovered Mormon leaders to be uninspired and without the spirit of discernment as they claimed.
On my mission there was a very popular Anti-Mormon film being shown called "The God Makers" by J. Edward Decker; a former Mormon who wrote a book by that title. The book sold about 400,000 copies, and the film was shown to about 12 million. It was full of lies, half-truths, mocking cartoons; mingled with truths. It was meant to anger and enrage Evangelicals against Mormons, and it succeeded. On my mission we were attacked constantly by good "Christians". Doors slammed in our faces. Spit upon. Some tried to force our bikes into the curb. A few tried to run is over. Several missionaries were beaten, many threatened with death; all from good Bible-believing "Christians". When we were spit upon, or threated, or assaulted, I would say: "Did not Jesus say to do unto others as ye would have them do unto you?" and the large angry "Christian" men would scream! "DON'T QUOTE THE Bible TO ME! That applies only to fellow Christians, and YOU ARE __NOT__ A CHRISTIAN!"
When I returned home I wrote a defense of the Mormon Church against anti-Mormon attacks called "The Gainsayers"; a book that was not published until three and one-half years later. I tried to get reactivated into the Mormon Church, but I couldn't. I saw too many contradictions in Mormonism. The "Mormonism" that Mormons believed in contradicted what The Book of Mormon taught. The leaders of the Mormon Church claim to be Prophets/Seers/Revelators, but they don't prophesy/see/revelate. They claim to have the "spirit of discernment" whereby they know the "intents of the hearts" of all they come into contact with, but a Mormon named Mark Hofmann (a secret Atheist and forger and later double-murderer) fooled them for years with his forged documents; many which he sold directly to the acting President of the Church at that time (Gordon B. Hinckley).
Mark Hofmann offering his first forgery to Mormon Church leaders (April, 1980) Hofmann would later sell dozens of forged documents to Gordon B. Hinckley (pointing), the acting President of the Church during the early to mid 1980s. Hinckley bought the documents secretly to hide them from the public and Members of the Church.
"The Brethren" (top 15 Mormon leaders) never "discerned" Hofmann! Not once! They bought his forged documents for hundreds of thousands of dollars that made Joseph Smith look bad, and hid them away in their "Vault". Then Hofmann would "leak" a photocopy of the document to the Media, and the Media would ask the Church "Do you have such-and-such a document?" and the Church would say, "Why! No!" when in fact they did. The Brethren could not "discern" Mark Hofmann, but I could. In fact, when I first saw a photo of Mark Hofmann in a Church News article in 1980, a Voice said: "He is a liar, and an Atheist!" I tried to warn Church leaders about Hofmann, but I was dismissed as a "nut". Mark Hofmann sold hundreds of forged documents to people--including directly to President Gordon B. Hinckley. Later, he killed two innocent people with pipe-bombs as a way to hide his fraud. You can read all about this in the book The Mormon Murders by Steven Neifeh and Gregory White Smith, which you can find in most public libraries in the U.S. or on Amazon.com or via most bookstores.
The Mormon Church was full of contradictions. Mormon prophets did not prophesy. Mormon leaders preach honesty all the time, but don't practice what they preach. The Mormon Church taught that everyone had to be completely honest, but at the same time Mormon leaders were directing the Church's PR department to lie about the Church's prior racist teachings (The Curse of Cain Doctrine). For 130 years (1848-1978) Mormon leaders taught that "Negroes" were the "cursed children of Cain" and all "Negroes" and even whites with "one drop of Negro blood" in them were banned from the Mormon priesthood (which every Mormon male over age 12 is supposed to hold) and they were also banned from the Higher Ordinances of Mormon Temples (upon which the Mormon hope of Godhood is based). This was taught as "a doctrine of the Church" for 130 yeras. Yet, by the early 1990s, the Church's Public Affairs Department was telling people, "Nope! The Church NEVER taught that black people were EVER cursed in any way!" When people asked, "Then why did the Church ban blacks from its priesthood and temples for 130 years?" the PR Department (acting on orders of Church leaders) would say, "Golly, we just don't KNOW what the reason for that was!" All lies! Lying in the name of Lord...every single day! I knew that was not of God!
The Book of Mormon teaches there is only One God, but the Church teaches there are trillions of Gods and Goddesses. The Book of Mormon teaches that all men and women must be "born again" to become the sons and daughters of God, but the Church teaches that all humans already are the sons and daughters of God. The Church teaches that in order to become a God or Goddess in the eternities, one has to be "morally clean"; absolutely no sex of any kind before marriage or outside of marriage. Yet, most of the single Mormon men I knew had sex all the time before marriage, and thought I was "weird" because I thought what they were doing was wrong. I was in a very small minority of single Mormon males who did not have sex. Most Mormons thought I was "weird". I thought most Mormons were "hypocrites". It was a fair trade. Many of the older Mormon men believed that when they became Gods, and got many wives, they would be creating and populating planets. Saviors would be needed for those planets, and these men believed they would have the "privilege" of going down and having sex with their most beautiful spirit-daughters in order to produce saviors for their fallen planets. This disgusted me to no end! This "Heavenly Incest" doctrine is no longer taught openly by the Mormon Church, but most older Mormon men, who were taught it growing up, believe it is one of the most noble and beautiful doctrines of the Church. I thought it absolute blasphemy that no "Man of God" could have possible taught. Mormon leaders have not taught the Heavenly-incest Doctrine openly since 1972.
From 1987 until 1989 I had a roommate, a Brigham Young University graduate, who had married a "Miss Utah". He was divorced. Over the next two years he would seduce dozens upon dozens of young Mormon girls, while at the same time he had an underage live-in girlfriend he slept with every night. He got five marriage proposals from Mormon women--some up to 18 years younger than he was. Two of them former missionaries. When I tried to tell the Mormon bishop of the young adult ward (congregation) what my roommate was doing, I was called a "liar". Anyway, a new bishop came into the ward, and tried to do the right thing by holding Church courts and telling my roommate not to come back. My roommate went to another young adult ward and did the same thing. I tried to warn other bishops of other nearby young adult wards, but I was told that "Mormon girls would never do what you are saying they did!". Two of these bishops mocked me by BULDING their eyes (I have very large eyes) and wagging their heads. I was basically called a "liar" and told that Mormon women aren't cabable of lying or in having sex in any form outside of marriage (i.e. they were sinless). I knew that was not true. The bishop who tried to clean things up was "released" after only 5 months (he was fired), and the bishop who replaced the good bishop cancelled all the Church Courts and covered-up the scandal, was promoted to the Stake (Diocese) Presidency. Every time I tried to attend Church on Sunday after that I became physically ill. I stopped going to Church.
I was under the illusion that I could "fix" the Mormon Church. I thought that I could "reform" the Church from within by writing books that would be sold in Mormon bookstores. I thought I could teach Mormons that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about getting things like sex, or cars, or good jobs, or protection in travel (as is the belief in all pagan religions), but that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was about how we treated others! It was about helping the widows, and orphans, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked--what the Salvation Army does. The Gospel was about "The Golden Rule" not about "how much gold can I get?" Most Mormons couldn't "see" that. They thought me quite "weird" even "insane" for thinking that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was solely about building treasures in heaven and not "earthly blessings" like marrying a beautiful women, or marrying a wealthy man, or getting a better job, promotions, or protection in travel. I thought that I could "teach" the Mormons over time, by writings books and having these books sold in Mormon bookstores. But, eventually, I concluded that for me to try to "reform" the Mormon Church from within would be like one small ant trying to move Mount Everest by himself. Utterly impossible! So, I gave up.
I am a Seeker of Truth. I studied all the religions on Earth I could find. I discovered that only about 1 in every 1000 or 10,000 people are Seekers of Truth. Most men are Seekers of Sex and Wealth. Most women are Seekers of Men who have or seek wealth. This is especially true of Mormon men and women. They are no different than "most men" and "most women" on this planet. Not one in 1000 of religious people are "Seekers of Truth". But, I was.
I continued to study various religions, and eventually became a Baha'i. The Baha'i Religion has alot of outstanding principles. I was a Baha'i for several years. Although that religion has many good qualities, I left the Baha'i Faith too. The Baha'is don't believe Jesus arose from the dead. He died, was buried, and that was the end of Him. Baha'is believe that although Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit and a virgin, Jesus performed no literal miracles, and when Jesus died He died and was never raised, and that the Gospels accounts of His resurrection are "mere parables" that never "really" happened. I couldn't accept that. So, I left.
I continued to study the various religions of the world. In the back of my mind I "knew" that Christ was somewhere on Earth, and that He was a man who worked miracles. Don't ask me how I "knew" that, but I just did. In the year 2005 I came across a reference to Daheshism at a public library, under "Dahesh Heritage" in the "Unclassified Religions" section of the American Encyclopedia of American Religions by J. Gordon Melton. I read of the miracles of Doctor Dahesh. I read that Dahesh moved to New York City in 1975, and that He died there in 1984. In 1983, Dr. Dahesh was alive and well living in New York City. Then, I remembered the dream I had in 1983, when the being of light told me "He is in New York City!" I was floored!
I contacted the Daheshists in America, and they sent me information. Later, I prayed that Dahesh would appear to me, like Jesus appeared to the doubting Thomas. I wanted proof. Nothing happened for three weeks. Then, one afternoon, I was lying in my bed reading during a thunder and lightning storm. Somebody with heavy boots was walking on the roof of my duplex! Odd! Then I heard nothing. Then the boots was walking across my living room, then down my hallway; like a man who weighed 400 pounds with big heavy boots. The door to my room began to open. I turned toward the wall and pretended I was sleeping. I was terrified, petrified. The man sat on the corner of my bed. If he said a word, I was going to kick him as hard as I could and run out. I was extremely afraid. Finally, after what seemed like an hour (but was perhaps alot less time), I turned over and noticed nobody there! I sighed in relief, but gasped when I noticed that the corner of my bed was still way way down as if a very heavy man was still sitting on it, but nobody was there! Suddenly, the corner of my bed slowly lifted itself to its level position, and I heard the heavy boots walking, and I saw my door open by itself and then gently close! I suddenly got extremely dizzy. I almost fainted. I heard the heavy boots walk down my hallway and then across my living room and then out my front door.
All this was in the afternoon. I was fully awake, and had been awake since 8 am that morning. My room was very light. I was not ill nor injured. I have never used illegal drugs. I was on no medications. I do not drink or smoke. The invisible entity said nothing to me, and made no sound other than the sound of heavy boots. If this was not Dahesh--coming to me in answer to my prayer--who else could it be?
I don't know why Dahesh did not appear visibly to me. I don't know why He did not say anything to me. But, this is what happened to me. I realize that my "dream" in 1983 was a vision, and that the being of light was real, and that Jesus was truly alive and well and living in New York City in 1983. My only regret is that I did not go to that city and find Him and meet Him in 1983. I should have listened to that being of light. But, eventually, I think I met Him in my room in 2005. My 25-year search for Truth was over.
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