In my last post, I pointed out how John Dehlin neglected to release a document that disputes the narrative he wishes to spread regarding his pending Church discipline.

Specifically, he did not release an August 11 letter from his stake president until later.

Now, a perceptive observer has done a bit of forensic analysis on the documents.

This observer points out that the version 3 of the letters has the following file properties:

Version 3
Creation date: Wed 14 Jan 2015 07:55:23 PM EST
Last edit: Thu 15 Jan 2015 02:56:36 PM EST
Tool to create: Mac OS X 10.9.4 Quartz PDFContext

And, the hidden packet with the August 11 letter has these properties:

Dehlin-King correspondence
Creation date: Wed 14 Jan 2015 07:55:23 PM EST
Last edit: Wed 14 Jan 2015 09:23:30 PM EST
Tool to create: Mac OS X 10.9.4 Quartz PDFContext

I’ve bolded the key data.

It appears that the packet was originally created with the letter in it. But, it was edited to remove the inconvenient letter that might lead the press to tell the true story, instead of the story that Dehlin wanted told. But, that creation date still shows in the Dehlin-King correspondence file, which has the incriminating August 11 letter.

(And, the edit to “Version 3″ occurred before the release of Dehlin’s press release (which has a creation date of Thu 15 Jan 2015 07:00:50 PM EST).

Full details are here.

This is one more good example of what has gotten Dehlin in trouble–a lack of forthrightness, and a willingness to distort and spin information to make himself look good and the Church look bad.

Dehlin has yet to even acknowledge his deception regarding the August 11 letter, or the implications of its contents for his claims.

I wonder if the media is paying attention? Surely they can’t be OK with being used.

Files in question

• Dehlin’s version 3 is not linked on Dehlin’s site that I can see (no Aug 11 letter). [My site copy is here.]
• Dehlin’s version 4 is now here (no Aug 11 letter). [My site copy is here.]
• The Dehlin-King correspondence is here (with Aug 11 letter). [My site copy is here.] Dehlin links to it in his Jan 17 blog post with the text “letter I received on August 7, 2014 from Dr. Bryan King“. A screenshot is below:

Summary

A non-tech savvy friend asked for the “neaderthal’s” version. Here was my attempt:

1. Dehlin makes a packet containing all correspondence between him and stake president.
2. Prior to releasing his press release, he then EXCISES the 11 August letter from that packet.
3. However, he gives the game away because when he quietly releases the complete packet, we see that it has the precise creation date as the 1st (incomplete) packet. But, the 1st (“Version 3″) packet was edited at a later date than the complete packet–probably to REMOVE the offending letter.

So, he didn’t just MISS the letter. He had it, cut it out, and then snuck the original file packet back on the site after the initial round of media stories broke.