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    Joseph Smith The Twenty-Fifth
    Joseph Smith The Twenty-Fifth
    Joseph Smith The Twenty-Fifth
    Ebook81 pages1 hour

    Joseph Smith The Twenty-Fifth

    By Mel C. Thompson

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    Joseph Smith The Twenty-Fifth, a new Mormon prophet, emerges in Salt Lake City, much to the displeasure of the official LDS church. He brings with him a cadre of Apostles, not the least of whom are ones named Brigham and Jason. "JS25," as he is called by those close to him, like his predecessor from the 1800s, engages in polygamy, but with a twist. He doesn't have sex with his wives. The tale also features two men having problems with their dull, married sex lives and JS25's attempts to aid them. In this book, as in other books by this author, the reader can look forward to sympathetic depictions of blasphemy, substance abuse and truth-telling.

    Smith pursues a female journalist working for the Deseret News. Meanwhile, through a conduit named "The Guru," he is being sought by a young female BYU student who has lost her faith after being exposed to her Agnostic fiancé's library of anti-Mormon literature. Also seeking his help is a Buddhist space-time traveler named Sensei who suffers from existential angst. The book is a short tale of healing, revelation, spiritual experiences and hopes fulfilled. One more than one occasion we also see interesting interventions by the President of the official LDS church. As always, there are no good guys or bad guys, just ecstatic, unresolved complexity.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMel C. Thompson
    Release dateFeb 15, 2020
    ISBN9780463456132
    Joseph Smith The Twenty-Fifth
    Author

    Mel C. Thompson

    Mel C. Thompson is a retired wage slave who survived by working through temp agencies and guard agencies. Unable to survive in the real world of full-time, permanent work, he migrated from building to building, going wherever his agencies sent him, doing any type of work he could feign competency in and staying as long as those fragile arrangements could last. He somehow managed to get a B.A in Philosophy from Cal-State Fullerton in spite of his learning disorders and health problems. Unable to sustain family life due to depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, lack of transportation and lack of income, he lives alone in low-income housing and wanders around California on buses and trains. He began writing at the age of 14 and continues till the current day. (He turns 64 in June of 2023). In his early years he wrote pathetic love poetry until, in his thirties, he was engulfed by cynicism and fell in with a group of largely antisocial poets who wrote about the underground life of drugs, sex, alcohol, poverty, prostitution, heresy, isolation and alienation. In his fortes he turned to prose and began to write religious fiction with an emphasis on the comedic aspect of theology and philosophy. He now writes short novels focusing on the attempt to find meaning in a economic world beset with money laundering, unethical marketing, contraband smuggling, human trafficking, patent trolling, corrupt contracting and every manner of spiritual and psychological desperation and degradation. When he is not writing, he wanders from hospital to medical clinic to surgical room attempting to sustain what little health he has left after a lifetime of complications resulting from birth defects and genetic problems. When he is able, he engages in such hobbies as reading, walking, yoga and meditation; and whenever there is any money left over from his healthcare-related quests, he goes to wine tastings and searches for foodie-related bargains. Before the pandemic, he spent many years gaming various travel-points systems and wrangled many free trips to Europe. He is divorced and has no children, no pets, no real estate, no stocks nor any other assets beyond the $550 in his savings account. His career peaked in the early 2000s when he did comedy gags for a radio station and had about 10,000 listeners per week. However, currently, he may have as few as five active readers on any given day. He no longer has the stamina to promote his work and only finds new readers through ran...

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      Book preview

      Joseph Smith The Twenty-Fifth - Mel C. Thompson

      Joseph Smith The Twenty-Fifth

      Mel C. Thompson

      Copyright © 2020

      To contact the author, feel free to use the contact data below.

      melcthompson@yahoo.com

      Mel C. Thompson Publishing

      3559 Mount Diablo Boulevard, #112

      Lafayette, CA 94549

      *

      The leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was convening a high court in a large conference room in their main office building in downtown Salt Lake City. They were there in order to cross-examine an already-excommunicated former church member who was known to everyone in the valley as a delusional lunatic. The mighty church would not usually be bothered by such a minor figure, but the church had lately received unconfirmed rumors that JS25 might be attempting to usurp the church's authority. They wanted to meet with JS25 and see what his motives really were. The church broke with its tradition of holding such meetings in private and held the hearing in full view of the press and select students, theologians, researchers and academicians.

      The rather talkative and somewhat animated crowd of onlookers fell into a hushed silence as the church President, along with his two Counselors and the Quorum of The Twelve Apostles, entered the small auditorium and sat behind a long table on a slightly-elevated platform in the front of the room. The silence continued somewhat awkwardly until a moment later Joseph Smith The Twenty-Fifth, commonly known as JS25, along with his two Counselors and his own Quorum of The Twelve Apostles strode into the room.

      Much to the dismay of the LDS church authorities, JS25 and his entourage seemed to bring a certain light and optimism into what otherwise seemed like a rather turgid and heavy atmosphere. JS25 turned to the crowd and smiled slightly, but even that slight smile seemed to spread a kind of festive electricity to the room. He himself was always dressed in a rather dapper way and exuded an easy self-confidence, but his Counselors and Apostles usually appeared a bit frumpy and insecure. However, today, even his Counselors and Apostles seemed infused with new life and an almost irrational excitement about being simply alive.

      It went without saying that the women in the room, even the journalists and academicians, in spite of their attempting to keep their vows of objectivity and intellectual detachment, were utterly flustered by JS25's charisma. Even the theology teachers and researchers from the Institutes of Religion, if they were female, noticed that their hearts were palpitating and that their cheeks were flushing.

      JS25, although he was not biologically related to the original Prophet, had many similar features. His gaze was penetrating, and he had a compact masculinity about him, not quite a traditional form of masculinity, but a gentler and more limber kind of manliness than one usually encounters. He wore his white shirt and his dark blue vest perfectly, and his curly, dark brown hair seemed to draw people in, make them want to be close to him. He was simply different than anyone in the room, and the contrast between him and everyone else was no small source of embarrassment to both the onlookers and the presiding church officials.

      Before pounding his gavel to announce the beginning of the hearing, the President leaned toward his favorite Counselor and said, I'll be damned, but this ragtag collection of pretenders seems to have us outgunned. The Counselor, sharing the President's concern but having no good reply, sympathetically whispered, I'm so sorry, Mr. President. Pray God will have mercy on us.

      The members of the media were overcome by their instincts and began, against the church's orders, to snap hundreds of photos of everyone in the front of the room. They knew they would regret it later if they left without a candid photo of this tense moment. And they rightly guessed that they would be forgiven for refusing to wait until the official photo session after the meeting. No serious photojournalist wanted to return to their employers with only standard photos of people deliberately posing.

      *

      The President lowered his eyes to where JS25 was seated and said, Were you merely attempting to form another breakaway group, we would not have asked you to appear here today. But rumors have reached us that you are attempting to actually take over this church itself.

      That's not at all true, replied JS25. There is no plan to supplant you as the worldly President of this institution.

      But you claim to be the true President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, exclaimed the President. How could you make such a claim if you are not seeking to take our jobs as general authorities away from us?

      I am only the spiritual leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, explained JS25. In the heavenly realm, I actually am the prophet, seer and revelator of the one true church, but I do not seek to overthrow you, nor any of your counselors or apostles. It is enough for me that God knows who the true leader of this church is.

      The President bent his ear so that he could hear his number one Counselor whisper to him. Ask him about the members. Find out what he intends to do about them. And what about the proceeds from tithing?

      The President nodded in asset and asked, Do you intend to poach members from our organization? If not, how do you intend to grow the ranks of your organization? And furthermore, do you seek a share of our tithing revenues, or do you have a plan for raising funds some other way?

      You need not worry these things either, assured JS25. I tell all of your church members to retain their membership with your denomination, the one headquartered in this very city of Salt Lake. We are neither recruiting your members to our organization, nor do we even have a church for them to go to. You and your colleagues will continue to rule the worldly church and retain your physical membership along with the tithing they bring. We don't need your members, your money or your positions of power. You may keep them all. Just be aware, spiritually, that I am the prophet in this dispensation for all of the world. That alone is sufficient.

      Then what is the purpose of your having formed your own First Presidency and a Quorum of The Twelve Apostles? inquired the President.

      "Their sole duty is to advise me if I appear to go astray and to serve as witnesses to the world that my words are true and that I am your truest prophet, seer and revelator. They are witnesses to the truth of my mission,

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