The Mormon Dilemma: The roots come back to haunt in Texas

Greetings all.

This one I hope to be very brief. Just want to clear up a misinformation spinlet that has wormed its way into virtually every news article about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints following the recent detention of a few hundred members of one sub-branch near San Angelo, Texas.

But first, just to clarify, the name "Jesus Christ" in their name DOES NOT mean this is a Christian organization, just as the SLC Utah organization is NOT Christian. To Mormons, both LDS and FLDS, the "Jesus Christ" they refer to (a created being and brother of Lucifer, the Devil, or Satan) is far different from the Jesus Christ (Creator) of the Bible. And the God of both LDS and FLDS is NOT the God of the Bible.

And there is more, much much more, but not for here and not for today.

Crazy or wacko am I? Just look at the piles of documentation by folks who have escaped the Mormon church. See for example: http://www.saintsalive.com/

But that is not quite the topic today.

What is the question? Who "broke" from whom?

The San Angleo Standard-Times, in one early article on the detentions, said:
"The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon-based sect that broke away from the mainstream LDS more than 100 years ago and is not affiliated with the Mormon Church."

But the truth is that the modern LDS in fact broke from the original teachings of the first two leaders of Mormons, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.

A good read is My Kingdom Come (published in 2007, a year before the San Angelo, TX, mess) by Ed Decker, a former temple Mormon. Chapter 10 of this book is revealing (see p. 227):
"Joseph Smith, the self-proclaimed prophet of God and founder of the Mormon Church, used the doctine of divine revelation to legitimize his polygamous marriages to many wives at the same time. He spiritualized the immorality of his plural marriages, and declared it to be 'a New and everlasting Covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.' " [Doctrines and Covenants, Chapter 135:1-4]

Decker's book also reveals (Chapter 10, p. 228):
"Brigham Young, successor to Joseph Smith, and second prohet of the Mormon Church, vigorously proclaimed that 'the only men who become gods, even the sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy.' [Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, p. 269].

There you have it. The FLDS is in fact following the clear teachings and examples of the first two still-revered leaders of the Mormon Church.

They are in fact following what Joseph Smith called "a new and everlasting covenant."

And if you now scratch your head a bit, you will ask yourself how the "modern" Mormon Church could depart from a "new and everlasting covenant" and still revere Joseph as number one and carry their flagship university named after number two.

That, my friends, is just the teensy tip of the iceberg. In the meantime, be sure to question the potential conflict of allegiance should Mitt Romney ever ascend to national office in the United States. I won't try to give you all the dope here, becasue that work has already been done by numerous authors. You can just do the homework.

See: http://www.saintsalive.com/

Also, another recent and thorough books is:
Abanes, Richard. One Nation Under Gods, Published by FOUR WALLS EIGHT WINDOWS, New York/London, 2002. 651 pp.
Pages 475-651 of this book contains a wealth of notes and references, almost a book unto itself.

Respectfully submitted,

D.U.

P.S. You may wonder why an evolution despiser like me might take time for a note like this. I write because the Mormon Church (LDS and FLDS) teaches a radical form of evolution, in fact teaching that the one they call God has evolved, and that our own evolution is only a bit behind and following the same course. This is identical to the ultimate sin of Satan, who "desired to be like the Most High." See info on Mormonism's Law of Eternal Progression: http://www.angelfire.com/ms/seanie/mormon/adam_god.html

P.P.S. Read "Lillian's Story" in Decker, My Kingdom Come, pp. 234-249. Lillian grew up in a "fundamentalist" colony in northern Mexico, born in 1n 1955 as the fourth daughter of a polygamist named Ervil M. LeBaron. She approached Jeremiah Films in 1988 after her father had (successfully) ordered her husband killed. As Decker relates (p. 236), "She was his (her father's) secretary for ten years and worked closely with him until she realized that, in her own words, he was not only a 'pervert' but also 'demon possessed.' She recollected her earliest chldhood memories 'of secret meetings' and 'a lot of things going on behind closed doors, including wife swapping.' " On January 28, 1989, Lillian was found dead with a gun at her side. The official police report said that it was suicide. Read the book to see what Lillian said people should conclude if anything ever happened to her or to her children. Then think. Then inform.