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Code Names and Church Finances

Members of the Mormon church are expected to give ten percent of their income as tithing. It’s treated as a basic requirement of faithful membership. But even though members contribute a significant portion of their earnings, they aren’t given a clear accounting of how that money is used. 

The Utah church does not release detailed budgets, financial reports, or yearly accounting. Members of the church donate fully on trust, without the kind of transparency they would expect from almost any other major charitable organization.

Ensign Peak

This lack of transparency became harder to overlook during the Ensign Peak investigation. For years the church separated its investment funds into thirteen shell companies and failed to fulfill federal reporting requirements. 

The SEC found that this structure used by the church was designed to conceal the true size and unity of Ensign Peak’s holdings.  Per the SEC's 2023 report:

"The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Ensign Peak Advisers Inc., a non-profit entity operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to manage the Church’s investments, for failing to file forms that would have disclosed the Church’s equity investments, and for instead filing forms for shell companies that obscured the Church’s portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak’s control over the Church’s investment decisions. The SEC also announced charges against the Church for causing these violations. To settle the charges, Ensign Peak agreed to pay a $4 million penalty and the Church agreed to pay a $1 million penalty."

The fact the the church was attempting to hide its financial activities is incredibly clear in the very simple fact that none of the names used for the shell companies are in any way related to Mormonism:

    Ashmore Wealth Management, LLC
    Argyll Research, LLC
    Clifton Park Capital Management, LLC
    Cortland Advisers, LLC
    Elkfork Partners, LLC
    Flinton Capital Management, LLC
    Glen Harbor Capital Management, LLC
    Green Valley Investors, LLC
    Meadow Creek Investment Management, LLC
    Neuburgh Advisers, LLC
    Riverhead Capital Management, LLC
    Tiverton Asset Management, LLC
    Tyers Asset Management, LLC


In the Beginning


Financial secrecy using altered names is not new for the church. In the 1830s Joseph Smith established the United Firm, a small group of leaders who managed the church’s printing operations, storehouses, land purchases, and money. The structure of this firm was hidden through the use of secret names.



The United Firm functioned like a business partnership, and at a time when lawsuits and debts were common, openly naming the leaders involved could expose them to personal liability. To reduce that risk, the church replaced real names with code names in several Doctrine and Covenants sections. Leaders, cities, and even buildings were disguised. It made the Firm harder to identify in court and protected the individuals tied to it. 

The revelations that historically used code names are found in what is now Doctrine and Covenants sections 78, 82, 92, 96, 103, 104, and 105 (as organized by the Utah church). The earliest of these dates to March 1, 1832, and the last to June 22, 1834. Except for sections 103 and 105, all were published in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants with only the pseudonyms. 

From 1844 through 1869, every edition continued to print the full set of these sections using the code names alone. In later LDS printings, the approach changed. The 1876 and 1921 editions kept the pseudonyms but added the real names in parentheses. The 1981 LDS edition removed the code names entirely and used only the actual identities. 

The Community of Christ still includes the pseudonyms in its edition, offering a brief guide to their real counterparts in the section headings.



The Sections

"The Lord spake unto Enoch [Joseph Smith Jun.], ...ye should, who are joined together in this order; or in other words, let my servant Ahashdah [Newel K. Whitney], and my servant Gazelam [Joseph Smith], or Enoch [Joseph Smith], and my servant Pelagoram [Sidney Rigdon], sit in council with the Saints which are in Zion..."


"...Therefore, verily I say unto you, that it is expedient for my servant Alam [Edward Partridge] and Ahashdah [Newel K. Whitney], Mahalaleel [Sidney Gilbert] and Pelagoram [Sidney Rigdon], and my servant Gazelam [Joseph Smith], Horah [John Whitmer], and Olihah [Oliver Cowdery], and Shalemanasseh [Martin Harris], and Mehnoreson [Martin Harris], be bound together by a bond and covenant that cannot be broken by transgression except judgment shall immediately follow, in your several stewardships... in the land of Zion and in the land of Shinehah [Kirtland], for I have consecrated the land of Shinehah [Kirtland] in mine own due time for the benefit of the Saints of the Most High..."



 "...a revelation and commandment concerning my servant Shederlaomach [Frederick G. Williams] that ye shall receive him into the order..."



"...let my servant Ahashdah [Newel K. Whitney] take charge of the place which is named among you..It is wisdom, and expedient in me, that my servant Zombre [John Johnson], whose offering I have accepted...should become a member of the order..."



“…my servant Baurak Ale [Joseph Smith, Jun.] is the man to whom I likened the servant in the parable which I have given unto you… let my servant Baurak Ale [Joseph Smith, Jun.] go unto the strength of my house… gather yourselves together unto the land of Zion… pray earnestly that peradventure my servant Baurak Ale [Joseph Smith] may go with you and preside in the midst of my people…”



“…and now, concerning the properties of the order…let my servant Pelagoram [Sidney Rigdon] have the place where he now resides, and the lot of Tahhanes [Tannersville] for his stewardship… "

“…let my servant Mahemson [Martin Harris] receive the lot of land which my servant Zombre [John Johnson] obtained in exchange for his former inheritance…"

“…and let my servant Mahemson [Martin Harris] devote his moneys for the proclaiming of my words, as my servant Gazelam [Joseph Smith Jun.,] shall direct…”

“…let my servant Shederlaomach [Frederick G. Williams] have the place where he now dwells…”

“…and let my servant Olihah [Oliver Cowdery] receive the lot appointed for the Lane-shine-house [Printing Office], even lot number one, and also the lot where his father resides…”

“…and let my servants Shederlaomach [Frederick G. Williams] and Olihah [Oliver Cowdery] have the Lane-shine-house [Printing Office] and all things that pertain unto it… and inasmuch as they are faithful, I will bless and multiply blessings upon them…”

“…let my servant Zombre [John Johnson] have the house in which he lives, and the inheritance… save only the ground reserved for the building of my houses…”

“…and let him also receive those lots which have been named for my servant Olihah [Oliver Cowdery]…”

“…let my servant Ahashdah [Newel K. Whitney] receive the houses and lot where he now resides… and the lot south of the Ozondah [Storehouse], and the lot on which the Shule [Ashery] stands…”

“…all this have I appointed to my servant Ahashdah [Newel K. Whitney] for his stewardship, for a blessing upon him and his seed… and inasmuch as he is faithful in keeping my commandments, I will multiply blessings upon him…”

“…and again, let my servant Gazelam [Joseph Smith Jun] receive the lot appointed unto him… for the building of my house… and also the inheritance upon which his father lives…”

“…and this is the beginning of the stewardship I have appointed unto my servant Gazelam [Joseph Smith jun]… and if he is faithful, I will multiply blessings upon him…”

“…you shall no longer be bound as an united order to your brethren of Zion… but after you are organized you shall be called the united order of the stake of Zion, the city of Shinehah [Kirtland]…”

“…write speedily unto Cainhannoch [New York], according to that which shall be dictated by my Spirit… and I will soften the hearts of those to whom you are in debt, that bondage may be taken away…”

“…your brethren, after they are organized, shall be called the united order of the city of Zion… and they shall transact business in their own name… and you shall do your business in your own name, and in your own time…”



"…I have commanded my servant Baurak Ale [Joseph Smith], Jun to go unto the strength of my house… until my servant Baurak Ale [Joseph Smith Jun] and Baneemy [mine elders]… shall have time to gather up the strength of my house…

__________


The instinct to shield financial operations, limit visibility, and protect the institution first has been present from the start. This points to an ongoing pattern in the church’s history, where sensitive financial or organizational details are adjusted, obscured, or revealed only when leaders decide the risk has passed.

Now consider this: If Joseph Smith was willing to make up new names for existing people and places in order to mask the true nature of his writings in the Doctrine and Covenants, then whose to say that he didn't do the same thing in The Book of Mormon?


Know Your Codenames:

Test how well you remember the codenames used in the United Order revelations.

1. Who was known by the codename “Gazelam”?




2. Who was known by the codename “Ahashdah”?




3. Who was known by the codename “Pelagoram”?




4. Who was known by the codename “Alam”?




5. Who was known by the codename “Shederlaomach”?




6. Who was known by the codename “Zombre”?




7. Who was known by the codename “Baurak Ale”?




8. Who was known by the codename “Mahemson”?




9. Who was known by the codename “Olihah”?




10. In these revelations, the place name “Shinehah” refers to which real-world location?




11. “Lane-shine-house” is a codename for what?




12. “Cainhannoch” is the codename for which place?




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