I was the Founding Father of the United States

Chapter 75 Mormon

It has been six months since Chen Wenbin joined the Baptist Church, starting from his arrival in Providence last July.

For the past six months, he has gone to church almost every weekend to listen to Pastor Jensen's sermons, and he also donates money and supplies to the church. He also provides free medical care to the brothers and sisters in the church.

To be honest, although he didn't believe any of Jesus's legends, he greatly admired the Baptist organization's ability to unite believers into a strong community.

In his view, this was hardly a church!

It's clearly a super complex of grassroots governance and service organizations, including community street offices, mutual aid cooperatives, militia, mental health commissars, community primary and secondary schools, and community clinics!

Moreover, Baptist pastors like Pastor Jensen were elected by all believers, and even the church's accounts were regularly made public internally... All of this made Chen Wenbin realize that a Protestant church with such grassroots organizational power was definitely a powerful force!

He cannot ignore this force just because he is a materialist; on the contrary, he should find a way to make this force work for him!

Especially during the upcoming westward and southward expansion, he would need hundreds or even thousands of middle and lower-level managers and executors to complete the plan as thoroughly as possible, and he clearly could not manage so many people efficiently and control the towns, farms and plantations scattered across the vast central plains simply by money and reputation.

In this era of underdeveloped communication technology, decentralization inevitably led to corruption, embezzlement, separatist tendencies, and external infiltration!

He needs a united and cohesive organization to carry out his will, execute his ideas efficiently, and remain loyal to him and the organization... A church of his own is the best answer he can find right now.

There are already successful examples in this regard... namely the Mormon Church, which later became the fifth largest landowner in the United States with 1700 million believers worldwide and $3000 billion in assets!

The most common impression of the Mormon Church among modern people is probably its conservative ideology and tradition of polygamy. However, Chen Wenbin happened to have watched a video introducing the Mormon Church in detail because of "Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet".

Simply put, if we set aside the early polygamous system and the bizarre doctrine of "mortals cultivating themselves into gods," the Mormon Church is definitely one of the most successful, united, and corporatized churches in the world!

In terms of church institutions, they were more radical than Protestants, with tithing being almost mandatory, which effectively guaranteed the church's financial resources.

The community is also very united and close-knit, with mutual assistance among its members, and it even has its own university, bank, hotel, and investment company.

Regarding marriage and family, due to the doctrine of "confirmation of marriage," the Mormon Church places great importance on marriage and procreation, regarding them as necessary conditions for "going to heaven" and "becoming a god."

Until the 21st century, Mormons had the highest birth rate in the world, with five or six children per family being common.

In terms of specific doctrines, the biggest difference between Mormonism and other Christianity is not polygamy, but that they believe that people can become gods through cultivation and good deeds!

Both Catholicism and Protestantism believe that God is God, and that mortals cannot reach God's level or obtain God's power.

In this respect, Mormonism and Chinese mythology are quite similar. Journey to the West says that the Jade Emperor was a mortal who went through 1,750 tribulations before finally becoming the Heavenly Emperor...

Chen Wenbin certainly couldn't completely copy the Mormon Church's practices—its early founder, Joseph Smith, was a complete purveyor of the Mormon Church. In order to openly have sex with maids, he directly created polygamy, completely overturning the table of Christianity, successfully angering other churches and politicians, and was eventually tricked into prison and killed.

Chen Wenbin's idea was to find a suitable opportunity to claim that he had received divine revelation, or to learn from Hong Xiuquan and directly exploit a loophole in the Bible, using the name of the biblical figure Melchizedek to establish a church and establish authority.

However, he hadn't figured out exactly how to do it yet. After all, the church is a double-edged sword. If used well, it can achieve twice the result with half the effort, or even exceed expectations. But if there is a slight mistake, it may bring unpredictable consequences.

For example, if religion is not strictly restricted, it may interfere with scientific development and affect social progress.

For example, the expansion of privileges within the clergy... But to achieve something great, one has to make various trade-offs, and he would rather get things done with the help of the church than end up as a tragic figure because he couldn't control the towns and plantations in the west.

Many things in the world are like getting on the train first and buying the ticket later. Learning this tool allows for adjustments afterward, but once the crucial window of opportunity is missed, it's gone forever and can never be recovered.

……

The next morning.

Just after Chen Wenbin finished breakfast, a young courtier named Scully came to Courtes House and handed him a document outlining the process for becoming a Baronet, reminding him to pay the £1095 title contribution within a month.

Chen Wenbin readily agreed and had Mary hand over the two bottles of aspirin and Mafi that he had promised to give to George III.

"...These are the medicines I mentioned to His Majesty yesterday. Aspirin can relieve pain and alleviate rheumatism, while methimazole is a painkiller, but it can be addictive if taken in excess. It should never be taken in excess unless absolutely necessary."

"Okay, Dr. Robin!"

The young court attendant took the two small glass bottles and said earnestly, "I will report the truth to His Majesty."

After he left, Chen Wenbin did not stay at home with his wife. Instead, he took John Adams and Franklin, who had just gotten up, and rode in the same spring-loaded carriage as the King to South London. Anthony also sat in the carriage with them, holding a gun.

The other three guards followed in another carriage to protect Boss Chen's safety.

Twenty minutes later, the two carriages crossed London Bridge and arrived at Southwark in South London.

This area is an important commercial and transportation hub in London, located next to the Port of London, and therefore has many pubs, inns and shops.

A significant portion of British merchant ships would depart from here, transporting British-made woolen goods, cutlery, hardware, watches, leather goods, jewelry, and soaps to colonies and European countries.

The weather wasn't very good today; it had been drizzling since morning. However, Richard had prepared a fireplace in the carriage, and Chen Wenbin and the others were all wearing warm woolen coats, so they didn't feel cold. It was just that sitting for so long made them a little sleepy.

The two carriages traveled south for about five more minutes, and the buildings on the surrounding streets became increasingly new. John Adams, sitting opposite Chen Wenbin, suddenly pointed to a three-story white marble building on the side of the street and reminded him with a smile:

"...Sir, we've arrived! Look, this is PUIC's headquarters in the UK!"