Hiding in Plain Sight by Ken Bowers
“Unmasking how secret combinations operate in the last days”
I read this book for book club and I wish I hadn’t. I wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy.
The book is basically a mormon version of all the same bullshit conspiracy theories you can find anywhere. (I realize that “bullshit” is a very strong term and I do not use it lightly. This is exactly what this book is.)
He begins by claiming that if you think conspiracy theorists are just nutters, then you are just mindlessly following the media, which is controlled by the conspirators. He says that if you pray about his message that God will let you know that it is true. (Which by the way, is totally against the teaching of the church.) He continues, throughout the entire book, to use scripture and quotes from church leaders taken out of context and twisted to fit his theories.
He starts his book with a chapter titled “There Is NO Conspiracy So There!” He makes a list of some of the reasons that people give for not accepting conspiracy theories and attempts to argue against them. I won’t go into detail about all of his arguments, but here are a few. He invokes Occam’s razor, claiming that everyone should accept his theory as truth because it is the simplest explanation for recent world events. After reading this book and doing a little research online, I beg to differ! There is nothing at all simplistic about Bowers’ ideas. They are extremely complicated and confusing. I personally believe that the generally accepted explanation for world events is actually the least complicated or at least a lot less complicated than his explanations. His 5th point is “We don’t have to worry about an evil conspiracy in the last days, because all we have to do is live the gospel, go to church and listen to the prophet.” He says that this thinking is wrong. I don’t even understand his reasoning here. It really doesn’t make a lot of sense.
The rest of the book is all about the different groups that are involved in the conspiracy and their plans for the future. If Bowers is to be believed, you’d better watch out because EVERYONE is part of the conspiracy. Any politician with power, the Queen, the UN, anyone with money, the entire media, the Jews, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Episcopalians, and of course the Catholics. (This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the people and groups he says are involved. Any group that any other conspiracy theorists has ever mentioned is included by Bowers.) He says that the regular members of these organizations and churches don’t realize it, but all the people at the top are secretly devil worshippers that are gradually leading the people to the same.
He claims that income tax and all social programs are evil because they are part of the plan of the conspirators. He says that this is the way they are going to control us. I’m sure that he thinks Canada is super evil because of our education and health care systems.
He makes these outrageous claims about who these people are and what their plans are but he never has a source for his information. He quotes a few books that other conspiracy theorists have written but he really has absolutely nothing concrete. I am amazed that he can make these accusations without even citing and references or sources for his information. For example “On October 4, 1965, Pope Paul IV addressed the United Nations. After the speech, Pope Paul went to the meditation room in the United Nations room and was initiated into the Illuminati.” That’s it. He makes a bold statement, claiming that the pope was a member of the conspiracy and then nothing. No source. And don’t think that there is a references section at the back, because there isn’t.
Another thing that really bothered me about this book, is that he obviously didn’t have an editor. There are so many spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, missing words etc. I think I’ve mentioned before that it bothers me when people can’t spell… He’s also not a great writer, but then again, neither am I. At least I’ve never charged anyone money to read what I’ve written!
I have not yet covered the reason I wouldn’t reccomend this book and the reason I wish I’d never read it. I did not like the feeling this book gave me. It was very dark and depressing. Even though I don’t believe anything he wrote, I still find myself watching a TV show or reading something online and wondering how it might be connected to the conspiracy. I just can’t get it out of my head. I’ve been reading Wuthering Heights to cheer me up!
Tags: conspriracy theories, Ken Bowers
December 19th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
I read Lahni’s review and am puzzled by why Lahni would have even bothered to read the book at all. Clearly, Lahni has his/her world views set and was unable and/or unwilling to explore new ideas. Might help of Lahni would turn of the TV.
Lahni writes in his/her paragraph number 4 in part: “He says…”We don’t have to worry about an evil conspiracy in the last days because all we have to do is live the gospel, go to church, and listen to the prophet.” He says that thinking is wrong. I don’t even understand his reasoning here. It really doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
I think Bowers’ statement and conclusions are very clear indeed. For the benefit of folks like Lahni who have reading comprehension problems, the author was stating that that one cannot just sit idly by with one’s head in the sand and pretend that all is right with the world. Nor can one simply listen to the head of the LDS church and get a free ride in life. Instead, Bowers is stating that instead of being a passive person in life that one has to stand up and be counted. One has to be actively involved in the world and take responsibility for our nation’s future.
I had to chuckle that Lahni complains that the book is written for a Mormon audience. Hello!?! One could have figured that out early on and Lahni didn’t have to continue to read the book.
Lahni doesn’t like the book because it talks about known international organizations which have their global agendas. Lahni prefers to ignore the writings of these organizations that they do have a global agenda and they work together to those ends. That! my dear is a classic definition of a conspiracy. Yes, there are, in fact, conspiracies in the world. That is why there are anti-conspiracy laws on the books. In the USA think of the RICO law — used to fight organized crime (ie conspiracies of bad actors to carry out crimes in money laundering, gambling, murder, drug trafficking, etc). What do you think drug cartels are? Conspiracies to grow, produce, package, ship, and distribute illegal drugs around the world. Or how about, conspiracy to commit murder which is where two or more persons plot to take the life of another. There are conspiracies all over the place! How about conspiracies to over throw governments? think recently of Honduras, Thailand, etc etc.
In the past two years, US government officials have stated that they get their ‘marching orders’ from the Council on Foreign Relations. Really? One would think they should get their orders from the American people and comply with the US Constitution. And has Lahni read the published works of the CFR? What is the agenda of the CFR? It is there for anyone willing to read it and not have their minds kept in a haze by watching mindless TV. The United Nations agendas are also available for reading but one would have to turn off the TV that Lahni seems to be content with watching rather than reading and learning the truth of things.
Yes, I understood Bowers’ statement that one cannot sit on their duff be it just going to church or in Lahni’s case watching mindless TV — but one has to be engaged in life and read the writings of the CFR, the United Nations, etc.
November 13th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
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