Warren Jeffs Cult

In 1844, Joseph Smith, ecclesiastical leader of the Latter-day Saints and presidential candidate, was murdered by an angry mob. This mob was fostered by the release of a newspaper questioning Smith’s practices (including polygamy), qualifications, and intentions for his potential presidency. More than 150 years later, Mitt Romney, a member of the LDS Church, launched a presidential campaign and garnered forty-two percent of the popular vote. Although these two candidates share a faith, their political roles and views are substantially different. This is representative of the significant changes in the relationship between the Mormon church and the U.S. government.

People and religion are a part of everyday life. The world is sure to be empty without the existence of God’s creation. When people and religion are viewed as different, the history, beliefs, and practice are formed unrealistically by outsider, more so than an insider. In an interview with a LDS, the author attempts to write and summarize a Mormon‘s journey through life with God and others.

One of the largest struggles for members in the church is animosity of non-members. On one hand, many express their dislike of the LDS church without even knowing what Sacrament Meeting is or the full the title of the “Mormon church” (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). On the other hand, there are a number supposed experts about Mormon doctrine. Some have belonged to the Church themselves at one point, leaving after finding unresolved dissonance between their beliefs and the Gospel. Others are often learned scholars, criticizing the Mormon doctrine to prove their own views. The following paper involves the latter of the two in an analysis of Ezekiel 37:15-17, a Biblical scripture that the LDS Church believes to refer to The Book of Mormon.

Mormonism was founded in the 1820s’ by Joseph Smith. Smith, wanting to expand his religious following migrated to Illinois where he established a settlement that included a temple of worship and a village (Green 57). In Illinois the Mormon peoples’ were met with threats, violence, and occasionally they were even killed. This was the case for their leader Joseph Smith; Smith was met with disgust from non-mormons when he attempted to run for presidency and his church riddled with scandal when the word of polygamy got out. With his tarnished reputation, Smith was ultimately murdered by an outraged mob, who then threatened other Mormons that if they did not leave they would be met with the same fate (Mormons into the West). With that warning, the Mormons picked a new leader, Brigham Young, who wanted to flee the American Border. Young set for travel with his new followers to the Great Salt Lake, which at the time was located in Mexico.

Men and women from other religions, did many things to harm as many of the mormons they could. There were mass murders, rages, attacks on homes, and massacres that were set against the mormons. One common thing done to them,was tarring and feathering them. This is where boiling tar was poured over their head, to run down their body then they were covered in feathers. Thousands were killed, or at least hurt, year after year. Many of the righteous and steadfast followers were put in jail for no reason, then starved to death, or shot. Others were killed on the spot. The Prophet, Joseph Smith, was taken from his home, and put in jail with four other mormon leaders, then him and two others were shot by a mob just days later.

From Katy Vine’s Non-Prophet, Jeffs sentencing provided the prosecution an opportunity to present evidence of other crimes and misconduct. Jeffs married 78 wives, include 24 under the age of 17. As prophet, Jeffs arranged 67 marriages of adults males to minors. At six periods, Jeffs engaged in unspecific “illicit sexual conduct.” Young men and young women are exiled by Jeffs on the basis of godless behavior. From the exiles, 300 families disassembled (Vine). In Salt Lake City, a “Lost Boy,” the title for a exiled youths, named Wayne Zitling recounts his fathers last words to him: “My dad, he kept on telling me: ‘If you don’t stop texting, or don’t stop buying Internet for your phone, you’re going to have to be kicked out of the house.’ And I called up Sam, my older brother [another FLDS exile], and he came and picked me up (Winners).” Jeffs control of Short Creek forces the tradition of child brides and banishment for rebellious behavior.

Charles Manson is one of the sickest cult murderer in the United States. He was often known to rebel since he was younger, as said by Paul Watkins. By the age of thirty-two he had been in and out of reformatories and jails plenty of times. It started off as burglaries for him to pay for a place to stay, then it started advancing according to Susan Atkins. When he went to the juvenile detention center he escaped after just one day.

God hates fags, Thank god for dead soldiers, Thank god for Hurricane Katrina, Pretty harsh right? These are all common phrases publically protested by a church called the Westboro Baptist church. You would think such comments should be illegal to chant out in public considering that gay marriage is now legal in some states and also that soldiers are out fighting for us, however members of the Westboro Baptist church feel differently.

Smith attempted to utilize first amendment religious rights to maintain the legal concept of polygamy, which was not established as legal illegal within by Illinois laws, but, unfortunately, it was established determined that free exercise rights did not extend to religion. 5 Some members of the Mormon community in Nauvoo were against the idea of polygamy and its abuse by religious leaders and thus seceded themselves to fight against the Mormon movement in Nauvoo. 6 The dissenting members that seceded filed adultery charges against Joseph Smith on the basis of plural marriage. 7 Joseph Smith was ultimately murdered by a mob when he was being held in a jail near Nauvoo, at Carthage 8 Incidentally, Thomas C. Sharp, author of the Warsaw Signal, was named as a defendant in the murder trial for of Joseph Smith, on account of his strong connection to the anti-Mormon movement. 9

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), a Mormon Church was established in 1890 when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decided to discontinue the practice of polygamy (CNN). Those that were expelled for continued polygamy practices would relocate and expand eventually becoming FLDS. Today, the Church has been associated with polygamy, sexual assault, and the arrangements of underage marriages. In fact, the current leader of the Church, Warren Jeffs, is incarcerated serving a life sentence for the sexual assault of two underage girls (CBS). Unfortunately, his abuse of children was far greater than two children, he is documented as having eighty-two wives, many of whom

Cults are the groups that exhibit intense and unquestioning devotion to a single cause. All the group members have a same goal or mission, and the group thinking helps the group members to stick on the same goal. For the Heaven Gate, their goal is to enter the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom level above human. The documentary of “Heaven Gate Cult” perfectly shows the four ways for the cult to promote their group thinking.

One of the stories that caught my attention was the Helzer brothers’ story because it happened locally. The older of the two Helzer brothers, Glenn (a.k.a. Taylor) Helzer, was the one that was in charge. He attended a “brainwashing” seminar known as “Harmony” training. After the training, he “decided that God had put him on earth to take over the Mormon church and become its true prophet” (Rich 32). Then he convinced Dawn Godman to attend a “Harmony” training. To illustrate, Dawn Godman, who was a roommate of the Helzer brothers, was “… a depressive, overweight woman …” (Rich 32). Godman was in a depressive state, which made her vulnerable and seeking a sense of purpose, which led to Taylor controlling her psychologically. The Helzer brothers and Godman abducted an elderly couple for money and killed them; in addition, killed several other people. Godman continued to follow the Helzer brothers and commit these heinous crimes because her life had purpose which was being a “disciple” to Taylor. Later, David Sullivan, an investigator, took part in the “Harmony” trainings to gain Godman’s trust. During Godman’s hearing, Sullivan showed her a hand signal which meant “… he was a trusted, heart connection” (Rich 36). Sullivan helped Godman finally realize that Taylor was not a prophet and her purpose was not to be his “disciple.” Godman, herself, ultimately, came back to reality and testified against the

Many know them as people who go knocking from door to door wanting to Evangelize, to talk to you about Jesus. Sound familiar? I didn’t know what they actually believed until I did my research. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were actually founded in Pennsylvania in the late 1800s, during a dispute taken place during a Bible study. The dispute was over some of the views within Christianity. The founder is a man named Charles Taze Russell. Thus, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were born. Their name stood out because they considered themselves as “a group of Christians who proclaim the truth about Jehovah”. Jehovah’s Witnesses main focus in on God the Father. There are over 8.3 million Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world.

The people of Macedon, especially royalty, practiced polygamy. For women, this meant that their purpose was to have children. However, while many women did give birth, they often proved themselves otherwise. Women like Olympias, Adea-Eurydice, or Berenice II held what power they were able to and used it to their advantage. These women would often operate in secret or with a man, to mask their intentions. Through various conquests, mainly instigated by Alexander the Great, Macedonian men began to marry foreign women. Other places, such as Greece, were not extremely accepting of foreigners, outlawing any kind of marriage between a citizen and a foreigner. While the people of Macedon prioritized their own culture, for their leaders to marry multiple

Investing time and energy into a spiritual practice can be draining. To better understand a practice is to study every aspect and every angel of what is to come. A woman’s journey can be difficult when they are a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints (LDS) going back all the way to 1980’s. Within Mormonism, there is the salvation and kingdom but to get there, the support of both men and women being equal does not exist unless women obey certain rules within the roles of the family, look upon the authority of one male God within their church and values the importance of this religion. Pears (1998) expresses how the examples of childhood, educations, church organization and obedience are some of the most important pieces to have in a Mormon life but most important is the patriarchy that is obeyed. It is the ultimate authority of all. To keep woman’s spirits up per say, women especially feminist women, have a very difficult time going through their spiritual journey while being Mormon.