And that's exactly the problem. Who knows how accurate it even is. I remember in 1979 on my mission in Bolivia, my companion received a letter from his parents that included a photo-copied letter from a "missionary in South Africa." Supposedly, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley had visited there and in answering questions in a missionary meeting, told them that the 2nd Coming would be on a Sunday morning, April 6th. The rest of the letter speculated which Sunday, April 6th it could be, and told everyone to be ready for the following one.
In the days of no computers, Internet, email, cell phones, etc., we had a rumor spread throughout the world via families that wanted to share something "cool" with their missionaries and friends. It was so bad that both the Ensign and Church News came out with a short response/article from Elder Hinckley stating he never said any of those things.
Now, in the day of computers and Internet, it can take seconds for a rumor to be spread globally. And it isn't easy to stop the spreading of such rumors, because some of them can go the rounds several times over a period of years. I've seen some rumors hit my email 5 or 6 times over a 3 year period from different people. It does NO good to share these things, as it detracts and distracts from what we should be studying in General Conference and the scriptures.
|