Usually when I encounter priestcraft, I don’t like to give it further life by advertising it, getting other people to check it out, etc. I don’t want to invest it with any of my mental energy — I just avoid it like the plague when I see it. However, I’ve recently crossed paths with a “crafty” company who has appeared to have set themselves up as a light unto LDS families that they might get gain — but they seek not the welfare of Zion. And for this one — I’m going to try a new approach to confronting priestcraft:
“Custom LDS Scriptures is a family business owned and operated by Heidi and Nick Galieti. In 2010, their oldest daughter turned eight and they wanted a pink set of scriptures to give as a baptism present. In the search for pink colored scriptures it was determined that there are several other people not only looking for pink scriptures, but a variety of other colors than those offered through LDS Distribution, and in a higher quality genuine leather. Not finding anyone who offered such products, Heidi and Nick set out to provide custom sets of scriptures to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and Custom LDS Scriptures was born.”
What sounds like a quaint origin story hides the fact that the Custom LDS Scriptures company:
- Has an F rating with the Utah Better Business Bureau
- Fails to respond to customers after failure to deliver purchased orders
- Leads those with unfulfilled orders through months-long delays for refunds
- Selectively deletes comments from customers complaining about their failures to deliver from the Custom LDS Scriptures facebook page.
This is the sort of money-driven behavior that I implicitly expect from Protestant Prosperity-Gospel peddlers writing books about the “Essential Teachings of Jesus” or “The Secrets To How God Can Make You Rich Like Solomon”. But I’ve decided to write about Custom LDS Scriptures because I actually considered using them to purchase scriptures for my younger children and had the initial thought that I could trust doing business with them because of our shared LDS faith. Luckily, my wife didn’t make the same error in judgment as I did — she researched them first. Is this the kind of business people should be conducting with the Word of God? Is this the kind of business Mormons should be conducting with other Mormons? I don’t want any LDS families, who are looking for a gift and thinking they can trust purchasing from an LDS company, to have contact with this level of priestcraft. It’s something that shouldn’t taint honest people who are looking to give a set of scriptures to a loved one. The world of money and commerce adulterate whatever they contact. Adulteration is literally adultery. The root of both come from the Latin for “corrupted”. It is a corrupting, contaminating, and corrosive agent. Zion, however, is the pure. That is why, in Zion, he that hath no money is told:
come buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price
The world’s lifeblood is commoditized and monetized value. It is saturated with money and commerce. Besides living secretly out in the woods, to get by in this world, we have to play the game to one degree or another. It’s a given, and it’s a level of “corruption” that I accept. However, priestcraft [which is what it’s called when people play Satan’s commoditize-and-monetize game with the things of God] should be unacceptable to every saint. People choosing to give the gift of scriptures to a loved one is a precious thing. That intention on their part should be treated with the utmost respect because that is a righteous desire. For an LDS company to get an F-rating for failing to deliver LDS scriptures to LDS customers is deplorable. It’s clear from their grade that Custom LDS Scriptures does not truly “believe that the Scriptures are books to be cherished, honored, and read from daily”.
wherefore do not spend money for that which is of no worth nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy
And do not spend money with Custom LDS Scriptures.
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LDS Anarchy 
The more I research Custom LDS Scriptures — the worse it gets:
What a disgrace.
all things belong to God. Not just scriptures. So if all things belong to God it seems like we are all guilty of practicing priestcraft.
While I certainly agree that the general practice of merchandizing and commoditizing any of God’s natural things for the monetary gain of some middle-man is generally abhorrent — the point of “priestcraft” [as a separate scriptural designation from other sins such as greed or covetousness] is that someone is doing that activity [the game of taking one of God’s “free things” and profiting off of it] with things of a spiritual nature.
The problem with people like those who run LDS Custom Scriptures is that not only are they brokering the scriptures, which other companies like Deseret Book, etc. do [that’s a separate issue and is beside the point] — their problem is that they aren’t even going through the process of business appropriately.
Not only are they charging money for the word of God [which is a commonly practiced sin that is bad enough in-and-of itself] — they aren’t even delivering the product their customers pay for [which is a sufficient “sin” in the business-world as it is].
I’d expect better from LDS Custom Scriptures — an LDS company taking money from LDS customers so they can buy LDS scriptures for their LDS friends/family, than to have them just keep the money while failing to deliver.
That’s an injustice that deserves to be called out [whether or not you think the selling of land or apples or any of the other forms of general commerce people conduct with “all things that belong to God” is sinful or not].
You must not know LDS people as well as you think, to be so surprised or shocked by cunning LDS people ripping off the naive LDS people. This has been going on since the beginning of the church and will continue as long as LDS people remain either/or in regards to Jesus’ imperative advice to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves”.
Which is really worse, a one-time taking of people’s money (which is worthless in of itself and only serves as a symbol for people’s time and effort) then not giving them the promised product (which is also of little value in of itself), or taking people’s money (even 10% of all their funds from every pay check) in exchange for something which is not the promised product but which comes with the added dishonesty of making people think that they have received the word of God?
Until we get it together (Cunning and Innocence) then neither of us are really all that smart as we suppose, nor are we harmless. On the contrary, we do a great deal of harm in our willful ignorance. Paper for paper may seem like a proper exchange but it can be deceiving. So maybe LDS Custom Scriptures is ironically and painfully honest in their deeply symbolic way of doing business. Since scriptures are wrested every day by LDS members/leadership world-wide to support LDS Custom, thereby deprecating the true value of the Word of God and its Truth, which can never be found or contained on paper or in books no matter what color or how high quality the cover and binding.
Point Blank,
That’s a good point.
Speaking of priestcraft, this is not a good sign:
New Mormon Converts Must Pay to be Baptized?
Update:
Religious texts purchased, not delivered leaves departing missionary furious
I’m curious, what do you make of this?:
Also:
(I think there is another scripture, also, that speaks of this stewardship over the scriptures, but I don’t have time to search for it.)
I wonder what it means for us to “receive more than is needful for their necessities and their wants” of the revelations and commandments?
Also, I wonder if “the avails of the sacred things” are literal profits or if that’s meant metaphorically, like an increase in fruit or fountains of water, etc.
My understanding is that it means whatever they receive in scripture sales, (which was their stewardship), above and beyond what they needed for their living expenses. In other words, the surplus that remained after they supported themselves and their families out of the income.
My understanding is that it means literal profits. The footnote says, “IE profits, or proceeds.” The 1828 dictionary entry of avails says:
I suppose the church ought to have the proceeds they gain by selling the Standard Works in a singular account (away from other profit they earn), to be used only for sacred and holy purposes pertaining to the people of the Lord who have become true inhabitants of Zion (meaning it shouldn’t even be given to the church in general — and I suppose not even putting it in a bank because then “the world” would get some of the interest earned on the profit).