With the fourth of July fast approaching, I am reminded of an incident that happened this time of year to a Mormon couple I now count among my closest friends. Gintaras and Nancy Genys were the founders of a private Christian school in Arizona that catered mostly to the children of LDS parents who sought an education for their children free from State control.
But Nancy was unaware of how tightly the State had already gripped the parents of her students, because after she introduced those children to the factual history presented in a blog post I had written, many of those students complained bitterly to their parents. Within days those parents came to the school in the middle of the day and literally yanked their kids out. Every one of those parents who withdrew their children then rushed them into the safety of the local government propaganda mills.
Someone reported Nancy to her bishop. One thing led to another, and Nancy's search for continuing truth eventually got her and her husband forced out of the Church.
All this because she had tried to reverse some of the false traditions that had been inculcated into the children she was entrusted to teach. All she had intended to do was help break the hundred-year grip the State had on a new generation of youngsters. Everything she introduced in her lesson was documented truth. Not even a hint of falsehood.
Eventually, with most of her students gone, Nancy's school folded. For her and her husband, it was a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars, all gone in a matter of months. They lost everything they had worked for, including their home.
They also lost most of their friends. Because when you resolve to put Christ first in your life, you can expect to be ill-treated by those who think God smiles on His people when they bow to idols.
Nancy and her husband now live up here in Northern Idaho not far from my neck of the woods. She and Gintaras are as devoted to the gospel of the Restoration as ever; more so, I'd say. They have a lot less material wealth than they once did, but then they are much freer now than they used to be. Too bad we can't say the same for those former students, many of whom are now growing into adulthood still chained to the vain traditions of their fathers.
That blog post that got Nancy into so much trouble with her local Mormon community is as pertinent today as it was six years ago. And just as offensive to some folks, I reckon.
You can read it here. That is, if you dare:
"One Nation Under Babylon."
