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. John R. Llewellyn appeared on the Today Show with Matt Lauer & Katie Couric August 24, 2001; NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, May 21, 2001, on Fox News Channel's "The Edge" with Paula Zahn June 27 2002, on MSNBC March 15, 2003, on Inside Edition March 17, 2003, and on Good Morning America April 4, 2003.
Chapter One A Brief History of the Mormon Fundamentalist World Chapter Two A Profile of Each Group and the Independents Chapter Three Anti-Polygamy & Pro-Polygamy Movements Chapter Four An Inside Look at AUB Fraud Chapter Five An Inside Look at TLC Chapter Six Tom Green and His Wives Chapter Seven Bleeding the Beast for Your Tax Dollars Chapter Eight Authority versus Love in Mormon Fundamentalism Chapter Nine Four Different Attitudes Towards Polygamy Chapter Ten Are There Solutions for Polygamy Problems Chapter Eleven Rights of Children vs. Rights of Parents Chapter Twelve Decriminalizing Plural Marriage Epilogue From Tom Green to Brian David Mitchell The Potential for Violence
A Brief History of the Mormon Fundamentalist World In Utah, Arizona, and neighboring states, even into Canada and Mexico, polygamy practice stems from early Mormon beliefs. Even though not condoned since the late 1800s by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), thousands of people still practice polygamy today and claim it is the true "Mormonism." For over a century The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been known as the Mormon Church, because of their scripture book, the Book of Mormon. But according to current President Gordon B. Hinckley, prophet and leader of the LDS Church, Mormon is a pseudonym that is no longer spiritually acceptable or politically correct. He has asked the media to discontinue referring to the LDS Church as the Mormon Church. President Hinckley has repeatedly declared that these polygamists are not, and should not be, linked to the LDS Church. When members of the Church are discovered practicing polygamy, they are promptly excommunicated. But two important facts that complicate the issue should be understood -- the LDS Church still believes in the divinity of plural marriage in heaven, even while it no longer allows members to practice it on earth. And a significant percentage of faithful members of the LDS Church have ancestors who practiced polygamy. Thus, members of the LDS Church today are conflicted over the way some modern-day polygamists should be dealt with. In Utah and Arizona, members of the LDS Church can be found in government positions, law enforcement, etc., and of course they have mixed feelings about the issue of polygamists. Most people recognize that there are polygamist families who truly believe they are living as God wants them to, thus "religious freedom" comes into play. What we wish to do in this book is teach and inform our citizenry of the hidden abuses that occur, that such abuses are not found in every family, but where they are found, they must be dealt with. We can no longer turn our heads and pretend it will all go away. It isn’t going away. Because the polygamists call themselves Mormon Fundamentalists, the word "Mormonisn" is found, heard, and spoken throughout the Fundamentalist world and is necessarily included in this book. There is simply no other word to describe the belief system that underlies plural marriage as found in our part of the world. The intricate tapestry that makes up the Mormon Fundamentalist subculture can be confusing to a person unfamiliar with Mormonism. There are a number of established groups. Each "group" has its own mode of thought, and each believes it is the jewel of Mormonism, much like Sunnism and Shi’ism, the ‘Abbasids and Ba’th Party are to Islam. Therefore, I will attempt to untangle any confusion and give the reader an idea how each group or individual fits into the whole picture. Let’s examine the history of the Mormon Fundamentalist movement. The Fundamentalists rejected the LDS Church’s contention that a contemporary revelation or prophet can negate or suspend the revelation of an earlier prophet, in this case, Joseph Smith. In 1890 Prophet Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto prohibiting the further practice of plural marriage which, according to the Church, suspended that portion of the 132nd Section of the D & C that mandated the practice of polygamy. (The LDS Church scriptures are comprised of three standard works: the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants [D&C], and the Pearl of Great Price.) The Fundamentalist position is, if God has not abrogated the practice, and according to the early leaders of the Church, God said he would never abrogate polygamy, then it ought to be lived. The 1890 Woodruff manifesto ceasing the practice of polygamy is entitled "Official Declaration." The Declaration can be found in the D & C following the 136th Section. Some members of the Church at that time thought the Manifesto was a trick, a pretense that would fool the United States Government and convince them that the LDS Church was committed to ending polygamy, so Utah statehood could follow. But, in fact, it was real. Mormon Fundamentalism Develops It wasn’t until after the turn of the century that all members of the Church fully complied with the Manifesto. Then in the 1920s a group of disgruntled Mormons began to hold secret meetings debating the consequences of the LDS Church abandoning "celestial marriage." A fellow named Lorin Woolley showed up at one of the meetings with a fantastic tale, a tale which pro and con historians still endlessly explore. He claimed that in 1886 while guarding the prophet who was in hiding from federal marshals, LDS Prophet Taylor received a supernatural visitation from Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ. Joseph and the Lord placed President Taylor under covenant to keep alive plural marriage until the Second Coming. The following day, President Taylor held a meeting, which has gone down in Fundamentalist history as "The Eight Hour Meeting." From that momentous meeting, thousands of former Mormons have justified the continuous practice of polygamy in spite of the LDS Church mandate and laws of the land. By 1929 the Lorin Woolly story had been refined and edited into plausible fact so that practicing polygamists could honestly say, "I am just living my religion, I’m just carrying out the will of God, it is the only way I can hope to go to the celestial kingdom." (Mormons believe in three heavens, the telestial, terrestrial, and celestial, with celestial being the highest. Within the celestial heaven are three degrees.) Fundamentalists believe that only those who live polygamy will get to the highest degree. They refer to D&C Sections 76 and 131.) These believers in the alleged 1886 Revelation were still a clandestine group in 1929. And as with any group, a leader must surface. Lorin Woolly became that man. But in "Mormonism" a leader must also have priesthood authority (a bestowal from God), so plausible authority was invented. Non-fundamentalist historians have given the credit of manufacturing priesthood authority to Joseph Musser, who became the leader of the all Mormon Fundamentalists in the 1930s. The following scenario spiritually contrived by Musser is paraphrased: The priesthood and church are two separate entities, each have their explicit calling. The Eight Hour Meeting gave the fundamentalists the priesthood and the priesthood is to the church what the husband is to the wife. The church calling is missionary work, spreading the gospel throughout the world; the priesthood calling is to keep alive the practice of plural marriage. For years the more honorable modern day polygamist leaders like Rulon C. Allred were very supportive of the mainstream LDS Church. But in 1978 that all changed when the LDS Church issued another Official Declaration permitting male members of the Black Race to hold the priesthood. Fundamentalists were outraged. They perceived the declaration as another example of the LDS Church caving in to political pressure. It was the last straw. First the Church disbanded the "Council of Fifty," the government of God. Then they discontinued the United Order, a form of communalism. Next came plural marriage, the most sacred of all of God’s principles; and finally by giving the priesthood to the Black Race. The various fundamentalist leaders (each called himself a prophet) over the several polygamist groups were for once in agreement. They predicted that the temples would be polluted and Black men would be taking white women as wives. They believed it was the final and greatest insult to the memory of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. But behind that mask of rage, the fundamentalist prophets were delighted. It was the catalyst they had been waiting for, the excuse to supplant the Church, and wrestle away what was left of the LDS Church’s priesthood authority. The fundamentalist ranks swelled as many disenchanted, conservative Mormons defected over the Black issue. The organized groups, especially Apostolic United Brethren, built their own temples and went into competition with the LDS Church for members and tithing. However, each organized polygamist group leader claimed that the "keys" belonged to him, and according to the D & C, only one man on earth at a time can hold the keys. Priesthood authority within the Mormon concept is a nebulous concept that has power only when the laity recognizes the authority. It’s not like a stick of dynamite that the prophet carries around coercing the laity to conform or else. The authority is intangible and invisible, but it can be just as deadly as a stick of dynamite under the control of a fundamentalist fanatic like mass murderer Ervil LeBaron. Priesthood authority is a concept without force unless accepted by its followers. Authority is defined in Verse 7 of the 132nd Section of the D & C, and states that only one person on earth at a time can hold the "keys" of the priesthood. Verse 7 is the single most important passage in the Doctrine & Covenants because in that passage is vested all power. However, there is a problem: the "keys" of authority are indistinct to the senses. The only way they can be detected is by the "spirit," a supernatural manifestation, or by physical and psychological submission to authority. In order to understand the motives of Mormon Fundamentalists, one must have an understanding of the keys of priesthood authority. Only "one" man, the prophet, seer and revelator, the one holding the keys, has the authority to collect tithing, seal plural marriages for time and all eternity, and give the endowment (a temple ritual). Money, marriage, and temple are the foundation or power of Mormon Fundamentalism. It is in the temple that the endowment is given and the place where celestial marriages are sealed. The priesthood keys gives one man power over the very exaltation of those who submit to his authority. According to Verse 7, the prophet has power over every aspect of the true believer’s life, that is of course, if the prophet can convince the true believer he alone holds the coveted keys. At the present time there are dozens of men who portend to be the one holding the keys. Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the LDS Church, tops the list because he is the most powerful, but that doesn’t discourage ambitious fundamentalist usurpers from scrambling to attract a following and collect their share of the glory and tithing. It is estimated that there are between 25 and 100 thousand polygamists in and around Utah. In the author’s opinion there are no more than 30 thousand and that’s pushing it. Some pundits deliberately inflate the numbers to make it appear the polygamists are more powerful, or the problem is worse than it really is. In the early days Joseph Musser, living in Salt Lake City, was the recognized fundamentalist leader of all the people practicing polygamy, no matter where they actually lived. They referred to themselves as "living the principle." In about 1926 Leroy Johnson (also called Roy and Uncle Roy) helped pioneer a settlement in a remote, inhospitable Arizona desert called Short Creek. The town was renamed Colorado City in 1961. Their population expanded west across the Utah border and formed Hildale, Utah. It looks like one community from the air. In the early days there came a time when disagreements developed among the people and a split occurred. The debate as who was right continues to this day. Nevertheless, nearly all of the organized polygamist groups evolved either directly or indirectly from that split. A detailed explanation of all that unfolded from the very beginning is contained in The Polygamists: A History of Colorado City, Arizona by historian Ben Bistline, who lived through it all. Today there are a number of groups. The central theme of all the organized Mormon Fundamentalist groups is plural marriage, or more correctly, polygyny, and is the axis around which the fundamentalist world revolves. It is powerful dogma. If you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet, then you must believe that plural marriage is God’s word to the Mormons. It is said that Joseph Smith was an illiterate farm boy who couldn’t have invented the Book of Mormon, but in reading the writings of Joseph, unless it has been carefully edited, it is not the writings of an uneducated, inarticulate boy. Mormonism is sophisticated doctrine. Read more in the book. . .
Manifesto Focuses on Plural Wives By Jennifer Dobner The rambling prophecies of Brian David Mitchell in a 27-page written manifesto call upon his wife, Wanda Barzee, to take as many as 49 sister-wives – an act that would reward the two with countless blessings. "And thou shalt take into thy heart and home seven times, seven sisters to love and care for; forty-nine precious jewels in thy crown, and thou art the jubilee of them all, first and last," wrote the accused captor of 15-year-old Elizabeth Smart. . . . The writings follow a pattern typical of fundamentalist religious sects, particularly those founded by former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said John R. Llewellyn, a retired Salt Lake County sheriff's deputy and a well-known expert on Utah's polygamous communities. "It's his own special brand of Mormon fundamentalism," said Llewellyn, who has written four books on the topic and is working on a fifth about polygamist Tom Green, who was convicted of bigamy in 2000. "I had no idea he was that deeply involved in fundamentalism because of his Islamic dress. I guess he's improvised to give an Islamic blend to it all." Mitchell, his wife and Elizabeth were seen around Salt Lake City wearing long robes. The women also wore scarves and veiled their faces. Many of Mitchell's writings echo the words and ideas of other fundamentalists, Llewellyn said. "Fundamentalists are great copiers. And everything evolves around plural marriage and the women. As you read this, that's the central focus," said Llewellyn, who for a time was himself a member of the Apostolic United Brethren, a Wasatch Front polygamous group. "It's basically how fundamentalists justify their lifestyle." . . . . Llewellyn said Mitchell "wants to be a modern prophet. To carry on what Joseph Smith and Brigham Young did. (Fundamentalists) all want to feel like they have holy blood. They all form some kind of delusion along those lines to give them special authority.". . . . jdobner@desnews.com
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