Today’s Blog is posted by the Prophet Matthew Gill: - Who am I? Many people believe they know who I am. It has been said by many that they know me and that I can’t possibly be a Prophet because they know what I’m really like! Know man knows me! And to coin a popular phrase ‘Know man knows my history’. I’m grateful for all the opposition that I receive and that the church receives, for some reason they believe that we are important enough to write lengthy posts about and important enough to ruffle their feathers. It has come to my knowledge that again things have been said about me personally and about my family that are just NOT TRUE, let me say it again NOT TRUE. I will once again out line a few things for those people so that I have put it on record in this blog post for all those that wish to see.

I have never been kicked out of the LDS church. It simply didn’t happen that way. I was not excommunicated and I was never invited to a church court. I know that it is hard for some people to understand what with them knowing me so well, but I’m afraid that it is simply not the case. I’m sorry if that upsets some people, I’m sorry if that is not the version of my history that you seem to think is correct, but its just hard luck because it’s the truth. The fact is that I resigned my membership of the LDS church to Jason Store who was the first councillor on the Derby ward bishopric at the time. I invited him round to my house and we sat and I explained to him why I was doing it and he took my resignation in writing from me and after a warm and conflict free chat he left. About a month latter I received a letter confirming that my name had been removed from the records of the LDS church. That's how it happened. There was no church court or argument or conflict of any nature, I was not kicked out because of apostasy, I simply resigned my membership, simple really. In the same fashion my father also resigned his membership, In fact that’s how some other people who have joined the church left the LDS, once again no courts no recrimination no arguments nothing, I don’t know from what source the opposite view has come form but it’s NOT TRUE and it’s a LIE.

So that has dealt with me for the moment, let’s turn our attention to the issue that keeps being asked about Elder David Smith. Let me say once and for all on the record that Elder David Smith has never donated any amount of money to the church other than his tithing that he gives every month. He has never sold a property and given the money to the church, he has never been left any money by a relative and left that to the church, nothing of that nature has happened at all, its yet another fantastical idea of certain members of the LDS church, it’s a LIE. The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ is not at liberty to say who pays tithing and who does not, it’s a matter of data protection, plus it would be a betrayal of trust, and it’s none of your business any way.

The congregation of The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ seems to be a real concern to some people. The size of our membership seems to be really important to a lot of LDS members, why I don’t know? But some of them seem to be really hung up on how many members we have. The Latter Day church of Jesus Christ has ten members in the UK at the moment. I have never made any claim that we are bigger in the UK, I have never given the impression that we are heaving with membership in the UK. I hope that answers that problem for some of you. Although I don’t know what membership size has to do with being true or false as seems to be the assertion.

Now it seems that someone who has read the church blog site has gotten it in to their heads that I think that they are or were jealous of the Gill family in the past. I don’t know if they were or weren’t, and to be honest I don’t really care. I’m sure that there are lots of very rich people in the LDS church, I’m sure that they are extremely happy with their wealth; it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. What does bother me however is when people make comments about my family or people that are close to me that are untrue or slanderous. Once again I will make it very clear on record that my father has never been to gaol, has never been arrested for fraud and has never stolen money from people, and just in case I’m accused of hiding neither have I.

It is true that I grew up in the LDS family. I have been in many units in my time in the LDS church. I was first in Birmingham then in the old Hansdwroth unit where I was baptised in to the LDS church at age eight. My family then moved to the Tamworth unit and stayed there for many years where my father served for many years on the bishopric, in fact we moved to Tamworth when I was eight and I didn’t leave until I was eighteen. My family then moved to the Derby ward for the first time, then back to Birmingham and to the Wild Green unit. From there I married and moved to Sheldon unit in the Birmingham stake. My wife and I then moved to Derby and obviously went to the Derby ward, my mother and father followed due to the family business having to relocate due to the distance between the two families. I left the church when I was a member in Derby ward.

The final thing I want to clear up and put on record is that the church has no mentality ill people as members, none of them have learning difficulties, NONE OF THEM. I am not sure why people who claim to know some of the members in the church would say this, maybe, just maybe they have the wrong person, or they are just wrong. I know that it might be a hard thing for an LDS member to get their head around but, they could be wrong!

I hope that I have been able to put some reoccurring persecution to bed once and for all. In my heart I hope that this can be closed, but I doubt it. It’s a sad shame that these people keep asking the same questions over and over, it is a sad shame that they believe that there is something evil and sinister going on here; nothing could be further form the truth. To all our members I wish to thank you for your continued faith and prayers to our members outside of the UK, I am so proud of your commitment and your friendship, it is a great example to me of how much our message has touched you. I thank the Lord everyday that he has called me to this work and tat I am his servant in these troubling and dark times, keep the faith my friends, the journey will soon be at an end and we shall behold the Saviour in all his glory and majesty. I leave you with a wonderful quote that sums up what we have to go through, it was written by the Prophet Joseph Smith and I think relates very well to our situation: - The Saviour said . . . "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake; rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you." Now, dear brethren, if any men ever had reason to claim this promise, we are the men; for we know that the world not only hate us, but they speak all manner of evil of us falsely, for no other reason than that we have been endeavouring to teach the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God Bless you all I look forward to seeing you all very soon.