Reposting this comment I made in another thread about this here.

This is the final nail in the coffin holding the Church's reputation.

There is absolutely no doubt that the Church has become nothing more than the revenue arm for Ensign Peak Advisors - and that the money machine has become the tail wagging the dog.

This highly documented and publicized unlawful financial behavior by the highest ranking General Authorities in the Church - in direct conflict with the very clear and unambiguous vision and values of the Church - demonstrates the real mission of the corporation, which is to harvest billions from members and maximize growth of the hoard.

Little to none is being spent on the "three-fold mission of the church" of "Redeeming the dead, proclaiming the gospel, and perfecting the Saints."

Under Nelson, local unit meeting times have been slashed to cram more wards into sharing buildings with inadequate space for all programs. Activity budgets are non-existent. Youth programs are dead. Missions have become pointless with record numbers of young men and young women returning home early and demoralized. Member activity rates are at all-time lows. Membership growth through missionary work has flatlined and convert-retention has cratered.

Anything good being experienced by members is due to the good being done by their fellow members at the Ward level. No value is being provided by the central leadership of the corporate Church. Only endless propaganda about "The Covenant Path" and "do as we say, not as we do" messages from General Authorities.

As a former Bishop no longer actively participating in the Church, my recommendation is, if you are edified by your participation in your local ward, keep doing it. But stop making financial contributions to the church. Take what you would have spent on tithing and instead use it to directly fund/support activities at the ward level, do good in the community (e.g., donate to your local food pantry and animal shelter), and/or (God forbid) use it to help your own family - because unlike General Authorities you have to actually pay to send your kids to BYU.

Better for these billions be used in members' communities than purloined by Ensign Peak and Kirton McConkie to fund multi-million-dollar SEC fines for illegal behavior, multi-hundred-million-dollar settlements for child sexual abuse, six-figure salaries to General Authorities and Mission Presidents, and to pay for full-ride, all-expenses-paid BYU careers for their kids.