MAY 2024

FROM OUR WAREHOUSE OF LITERATURE

FOR RESEARCH ABOUT MORMONISM

Our recommended book for this month is below. It provides indispensable historic research and development of the Mormon movement.

WHERE DOES IT SAY THAT?

WHY THIS BOOK?

There is no need to say anymore about this book. The covers explain the purpose. The Table of Contents describe some of the early major developmental concepts within Joseph Smith’s Mormonism.

Contact Gary Keating, 480.209.8279, for your copy. Please provide your mailing address, phone number, and email address.

LDS CARE AND SOCIAL GROUPOur hope at this ministry is to love and support all who have ties to the LDS church. Many of our loved ones attend the LDS church, are raising children in that faith, or we ourselves grew up in the LDS religion and culture. We may have questions about the ever-changing policies and doctrine of the church. We might have friends and neighbors who are LDS and have questions about the information and changes that have recently occurred in the LDS church.We are rekindling a group that we held regularly in the early 2000s but with renewed focus and leadership. The LDS Care Group is a safe space for both former and current LDS Church members to share, encourage, wrestle, and grow in their Christian faith journeys with others who have similar life experiences, challenges, and culture. Currently, we meet near Dobson & Ray in Chandler. Please email Kristine Nelson at [email protected] if interested. Or call: 480-833-2537

The investment arm of the Mormon church revealed some of its holdings in a 13F filing on May 15, 2024. The church has amassed a portfolio of individual stocks worth $55 billion. These are the top 10 holdings of the church’s stock portfolio as of March 31.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an investment portfolio of over $100 billion that includes $55 billion invested in publicly traded stocks.

The portfolio is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the name Ensign Peak Advisors, and its ties to the church were largely unknown until just a few years ago.

The portfolio wasn’t revealed to the public until 2019, when a former Ensign Peak employee filed a whistleblower complaint, alleging that the fund shouldn’t have tax-exempt status because it doesn’t engage in any charitable activities.

In a “60 Minutes” special last year, the whistleblower said the church’s investment arm acted as a “clandestine hedge fund” disguised as a charity.

The church, widely known as the Mormon church, reports its stock holdings on a quarterly basis, and a recent 13F filing revealed its top holdings as of March 31. During the quarter, the fund added to its in mega-cap technology stocks and benefited from a stock market that hit record highs.

These are the church’s top 10 stock holdings at the end of the fourth quarter, as well as the changes in each position.

1) Eli Lily: Ticker: LLY

Market Value: $721.4 million

Change in Shares: +221,327 (+31%)

2) JPMorgan: Ticker: JPM

Market Value: $771.7 million

Change in Shares: -231,976 (-6%)

3) UnitedHealth Group: Ticker: UNH

Market Value: $811.3 million

Change in Shares: -46,678 (-3%)

4) Mastercard: Ticker: MA

Market Value: $900.5 million

Change in Shares: +15,727 (+1%)

5) Metaplatforms: Ticker: META

Market Value: $1.63 billion 

Change in Shares: +130,061 (+4%)

6) AMAZON: Ticker: AMZN

Market Value: $1.75 billion

Change in Shares: +457,246 (+5%)

7) Alphabet: Ticker: GOOGL & GOOG

Market Value: $1.95 billion

Change in GOOGL and GOOG Shares: +263,648 (+3%) and +118,983 (+3%) 

8) NVIDIA: Ticker: NVDA

Market Value: $2.45 billion

Change in Shares: +71,876 (+3%)

9) APPLE: Ticker: AAPL

Market Value: $2.63 billion

Change in Shares: +404,275 (+3%)

10) MICROSOFT: Ticker: MSFT

Market Value: $3.38 billion

Change in Shares: +148,061 (+2%)

If you are changing your email address in the future, please do not forget to make those changes in the preferences link at the bottom of the page. If you ever have questions please call Concerned Christians at 480-833-2537 or email us at 

[email protected]

We at Concerned Christians meet every MONDAY evening for an hour of prayer at 6:30 p.m. If you are not local, please set that time aside to  voice your concerns from your prayer space. If you are local and would like to attend, we ask you to call 480-833-2537 for directions. We truly look forward to meeting and praying with you in the War Room. We ask that you add Concerned Christians to your prayer list along with any other Mormon witnessing group you are familiar. The importance of intercessory prayer cannot be stressed enough. We have seen God grant many blessings to us over the years. If you have a ministry related request please send us a short email.     [email protected]

 “We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.”    

 I Thessalonians 1:2  

We pray for opportunities to speak with Christians because we firmly believe “It is easier to keep them out than to get them out.”

If you would be interested in sharing your testimony of being delivered from the LDS Corporation into the family of the triune God, please send it to [email protected] Please include contact information.

I pray this finds you well as you place your hope in Jesus. I also hope you are taking even a few minutes a day to read the Word that God left for us to know him better. Every day is like a treasure hunt; another nugget in your treasury. I pray a blessing over each of you.

Paulette Carpenito

If you are led to make a donation please go to our web site at concernedchristians.com

If you prefer to pen a check please mail it to:

PO BOX 18, Mesa, AZ 85211

Concerned Christians is a Non-Profit 501 (C) (3) organization and donations are tax deductible. We thank you for your support.