SLAVERY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

National Geographic Magazine, September 2003:

 “The headline below is not a metaphor. This story is about slaves. Not people living like slaves, working hard for lousy pay. Not people 200 years ago. It’s about 27 million people worldwide who are bought and sold, held captive, brutalized, exploited for profit. It’s about 21ST CENTURY SLAVES.” (p.2)

“Roughly two-thirds of the world’s captive laborers –15 to 20 million people—are debt slaves [who work for years to pay the interest on a small initial loan] in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.” (p.7)

“Unlike drugs, a woman’s body can be sold over and over. Owners of Israeli brothels, like this one [pictured] in Tel Aviv, can buy young women from Moldova or Ukraine for around $4,000 each.” –“Traffickers posing as employment agents find victims in poor Eastern European towns and lure them abroad with promises of good jobs. When the women arrive — in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, the U.S. — they’re delivered to buyers who typically beat, rape or terrorize them into compliance.” (p.5)

Many more of the world’s slaves are held captive by little more than fear. Utah’s Elizabeth Smart is a case in point. Fear of harm to her family proved a better restraint than a cable tether. 

SLAVERY IN UTAH

Most of Utah’s slaves (like the kidnapped child, Elizabeth Smart) are slaves of the mind, often tethered only by the fear of damnation, ostracism, excommunication, eviction, or loss of family and career.

LDS SLAVERY

One hapless and oblivious LDS author thought he was free in Utah to write a book about the history and doctrine of Mormon “polygamy”, taking care to denounce its current practice. The Church excommunicated him, forced his wife to divorce him and persuaded his children to shun him; he lost everything. The author’s assurances that he was not practicing “polygamy” and his admonition against its practice by others were not sufficient to protect him from Gordon Hinckley’s rage at the public embarrassment that his billboards caused.

Although Hinckley publicly admitted that his church is pro-abortion, offering five official excuses for abortion (The Ensign, p. 71, Nov. 1998). Those “saints” who pretend to be pro-life must blind themselves into a state of denial, refusing to understand actual church policy. An LDS anti-abortion protester can scarcely be found in Utah, due to a fear of the consequences of thinking or acting without official church direction, making all Latter-day Saints slaves to the will of their living prophet, to the exclusion of all of his predecessors. Instead of standing against LDS pro-abortion policy, church members, like weak-willed slaves, have succumbed to the latter-day “Gadiantons” (like the Nephites before them) and have joined in the “secret murder” of abortion, by consent if not by participation.  “…beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old.”  (D&C 38:39)

FUNDAMENTALIST MORMON SLAVERY

‘Fundamentalist Mormons’ believe in Joseph Smith and the restored gospel. Like ‘fundamentalists’ of other sects, they resist changes, accommodations and liberalizations. Many ‘Fundamentalist Mormons’ believe that God cut the LDS Church off from revelation when it issued, and then years later complied with, the concocted “Manifesto” of 1890 which halted plural marriage (polygamy). Many, yet not all ‘fundamentalists’ believe in the “Lorin Woolley story”. This story was told in connection with a revelation actually received and recorded by third Mormon President, John Taylor, in 1886 and recovered by his son, Apostle John W. Taylor and presented by him as evidence at his church trial. The tale told by Woolley (which attempts to attach itself to the 1886 revelation, and which tale President Taylor never corroborated) centers around the supposed appearance of the resurrected Joseph Smith to John Taylor in 1886 and Woolley’s shaking hands with the martyred prophet. Of the five men, including Apostle George Q. Cannon, whom Woolley claims met the resurrected Joseph Smith, only Woolley ventured to tell the tale. Years later, after the other “witnesses” had all died, Woolley wrote up his problematic story. Woolley only prophesied one future event: that Joseph Smith (thought by some fundamentalists to be the “one mighty and strong” –D&C 85) would come during the administration of Heber J. Grant and take the reins of the church; Woolley’s prophecy failed, proving him a fraud. Since two, even three, witnesses are required to establish God’s word (Deut. 19:15; Matt. 18:16; 2 Co. 13:1; Ether 5:4 Book of Mormon), Woolley’s solitary claim as a witness to Joseph Smith’s resurrected state from at least 1886 and onward is of no worth. Though two, three or several men may concoct a story, the Lord always provides two, three or many witnesses to His word and work. Why would the Lord not provide a third or even just a second witness to Joseph’s alleged resurrected state? Is it possible that Woolley lied? The witnesses to the golden plates of Nephi who signed their names to their testimonies totaled eleven, three of whom also saw an angel.

Woolley claims that John Taylor told him that many men in the church would not have priesthood because their ordination prayer did not follow a prescribed pattern (conferral of priesthood, followed by ordination to office) which the historical record shows did not exist as a mandatory pattern or set prayer in Joseph Smith’s day. On March 25, 1887, Taylor even rhetorically argued in a letter to the 45th Quorum of Seventies for ordination directly to office without the mention of conferral, citing Moroni, chapter 3 as authority. Was Taylor senile, though somehow articulate to the end; had he forgotten the warning of his beloved and resurrected prophet, or had Woolley used the 1886 revelation as a loom upon which to weave his tale?

As to Joseph Smith’s alleged resurrection, just the year before Woolley formalized his tale in writing, the Reorganized LDS Church (currently “Community of Christ”) authorized the exhuming and re-interring of the bones of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma Smith in 1928. The remains were studied and photographed, and the ‘Woolley fundamentalists’ were left scrambling to justify the glaring contradiction of a resurrected man in 1886 whose skull was unearthed in 1928. Maybe the bodies were snatched and switched; maybe when you are resurrected your bones can still be in a box underground. Are not the cells and the molecules of your living body periodically replaced, could not some of those molecules be employed in a resurrection? How about tooth enamel, and why are tattoos ‘for life’ (if all bodily molecules are replaced)? Didn’t some rumor in some pioneer journal claim that Joseph and Hyrum’s remains were unearthed and spirited off to Deseret? Not according to Brigham Young. He affirmed that Joseph and Hyrum were buried in Nauvoo (DHC, vol. 7:472-3, 256; JD. 4:285-6). Why does it say in the scriptures that the graves were and will be opened in the resurrection? Why, in every single resurrection or restoration to life in the scriptures, was life restored to the bodily or skeletal remains of the deceased? Is it really such a dark mystery? Questions, questions; perhaps the most obvious question is: is the Lorin Woolley story a fabrication? All available witnesses say “yes”! The bones of Joseph and Hyrum, the letter of John Taylor, documented ordination prayers, the sermons of Brigham Young, the complete silence of all those who supposedly witnessed Joseph’s resurrected state (except Woolley), the scientific comparison of death masks, photographs of skulls (1928), contemporary Maudsley portraits, and the entire body of scriptural evidence concerning resurrection as well as the mandatory requisites of the law of witnesses and the failure of Woolley’s only prophecy all harmoniously agree! Lorin C. Woolley was a fraud!

“He [John Taylor] said that in the time of the seventh President of this Church [Heber J. Grant], the church would go into bondage both temporally and spiritually and in that day the one Mighty and Strong spoken of in the 85th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants would come.”  Lorin C. Woolley, September 1929.

Like Nebuchadnezzar’s magicians, the Musserites have tried to “gain the time” by tweaking the time requisites of this failed prophecy after Heber J. Grant died and the ‘setting in order’ never came. Woolley’s tales of levitation and secret priesthood councils and second-hand stories of his wafting off to the Yucatan to confer upon, ordain, and set apart the Yucatan mystery man, Joseph the son of Joseph, the mighty seer of lore and legend, are kept alive by the Woolley fragments for one reason: slavery. Each of the Woolleyite groups claims that its leader is the “one man” with the keys of the priesthood with the dictatorial power to receive tithes and ‘seal’ and ‘release’ marriages. The Woolley story is perpetuated for priestcraft, revenue and power by all of the “one man” groups and councils who claim succession to the exclusion of all others.

The scriptures themselves witness that all these fundamentalist fragments are an abomination, nearly as abominable as the largest fragment of them all, the modern LDS Church itself.

“7. But they also have erred through wine [“pride”, v-1], and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink [pride]; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

8. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.” (Isaiah 28:7,8)

“16. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

17. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every  mouth speaketh folly.  For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”  (Isaiah 9:16, 17)

“11. Yeah, they have all gone out of the way; they have become corrupted.

12. Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted up; because of pride they are puffed up...

14. They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men.

15. O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!” (2Nephi 28:11-15)

Who are the “humble followers of Christ”? Only those who believe in the gospel originally restored through Joseph Smith i.e. ‘independent fundamentalist Mormons’, yet even they “err because they are taught by the precepts of men”, which precepts are “false doctrines”. What “precepts of men” cause ‘fundamentalist Mormons’ to err? The Lorin Woolley story and its attendant false lines of priesthood keys, invented councils, false claims, “false doctrines”, spiritual bondage (slavery), and yes, “whoredoms”. The priestcrafters who lead some of these groups dictate to families whom their daughters should marry and, if a husband falls out of favor or doesn’t keep up his payments (tithes), these “false teachers” (false “prophets”) pronounce a divorce and ‘release’ the wife from her husband, thus promoting adultery and therefore whoredom when she remarries. Some of the whoremongers (and their councillors) who lead these groups will snatch a man’s wife on no other pretext than their false claims of higher priesthood or keys. Isaiah and Nephi foretold the universal falling away (“gone out of the way”; “gone astray”) of the LDS Church and all of its fundamentalist fragments; “All tables are full of vomit.” Their prophets and councilors will be “thrust down to hell.” 

FLDS SLAVERY

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is based out of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah and is ruled by Warren Jeffs (who is currently on the run). It is among the most pernicious of the fundamentalist Mormon fragments, keeping its flock in ignorance and slavery. If you build a house on church land and fall into disfavor, the church will try to evict you, thus confiscating your house. The constant threat of eviction hangs over any who refuse to give their sixteen-year-old daughters over to “priesthood” arranged marriages. The consequences to a family resisting ‘council’ is more pressure than most teenage girls can endure, so they marry whom they are told to. The threat of eviction or ostracism also looms over any man who refuses to relinquish his wife to the “prophet” or one of his councilors should they have an eye for her. The women of the FLDS Church are thus chattel and slaves who divorce when ‘released’ and remarry (commit adultery) when instructed, thereby committing “whoredoms” as directed by the “prophet” and his council. Men not in authority are slaves to the system as well; banishment and loss of wives awaits those who refuse to submit. Young men who, themselves, might like a wife of their own, are especially susceptible to banishment, which helps to eliminate competition for wives.

KINGSTONITE SLAVERY  (Davis County Cooperative Society and Latter Day Church of Christ)

The Kingstons are a ‘fundamentalist group’ as pernicious as the FLDS, if not as large; they do not, however, claim priesthood keys through the Woolley legend. In the 2003 “premier” issue of the now defunct ‘Fundamentalist’ magazine, Mormon Focus, the Kingstons claimed not to be a “religious organization” (p.50) and yet they have incorporated and meet as a church: the Latter Day Church of Christ. The Kingstons are very clandestine and secretive and do not proselyte but increase their numbers through incestuous procreation.  The founder, Charles Elden Kingston, is purported to have believed himself to be, whom scholars call, the “Davidic King”, of whom Isaiah prophesied (a Davidic heir other than Christ). The Kingstons maintain their ‘royal lineage’ and psychological, as well as financial, control by forced marriage to close relatives (beating one girl for refusing to stay married to her uncle). They purportedly do not marry parent to child or full siblings, yet they marry half-siblings and first cousins as well as nieces or nephews. A few men in control of the church force girls or young women into incestuous marriages and end up with many wives. Non-elite men in the group have no financial say or property and few possessions, they work as slaves to the system. If they want a wife they must search outside their church. The Kingstons sit atop a small financial empire in the western United States with several businesses which hire ‘gentile’ employees. Even exploited ‘wet-backs’ in their coal mine have tried to unionize. The potential queens and drones in the Kingston hive are supposed to content themselves with their fates: incestuous marriage for the girls; celibacy and poverty for the non-elite boys.

ALLRED SLAVERY  (Apostolic United Brethren)

This church centered in Bluffdale, Utah and directed by the “prophet”, Owen Allred, brother of murdered predecessor Rulon Allred, claims to be the one and only true priesthood line through Woolley and his successor, Musser. While this group is somewhat less dictatorial and allows more freedom of marital choice and has been more open and inclined to proselyte, nonetheless, it fulfills prophecy by promulgating “false doctrines” and thereby “whoredoms”. Like the FLDS, these “whoredoms” occur when women are convinced that their “prophet” and his council have the authority to ‘release’ them from their marriage and ‘seal’ the divorced woman to a ‘more worthy’ man (adulterer) with ‘higher priesthood’, often one of the council, turning the hapless victim of ‘priestcraft’ into an adulteress (pioneer braids or not), thus reaffirming Allred (like Jeffs) to be more procurer than prophet. Show up at the Allred meeting hall with a wife or daughter to ‘ante-up’ and they are happy to greet you; persist in showing up “stag” and you are invited to leave, secret succession and true gospel or not. The Allreds are notorious for ‘repossessing’ wives if you fail to keep up the ‘payments’ (tithing) or fall out of favor. The siren call of the quilting bee is more than some wives can resist, esteeming their marriage of lesser value than peer, ecclesiastical and family approval. Key-master Allred is ever eager to dispense relief in the form of remarriage to men of greater priesthood or more resources (access to church funds), for wives who see the grass over the hill to be greener. While the chains of emotional, spiritual and mental slavery in Allred’s church are not forged as strongly as in their competing kingdoms, they are, nonetheless, guilty of “priestcraft”, “false doctrines” and “whoredoms”, and their leaders will be “thrust down to hell”.

“29. He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion.”  (2 Nephi 26:29)

Brigham Young taught that celestial (plural) marriage would damn many (JD 13:239; 9:269).  The LDS church is damned for not merely halting its practice contrary to commandment (1886 revelation to John Taylor and 1889 revelation to Wilford Woodruff) but for persecuting and imprisoning its practitioners. 

“From this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month” (Haggai 2:18) or September 24, 1890, when the times of the gentiles were fulfilled, from that day the LDS Church has never stopped changing and abandoning the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, yielding to laws that allow abortion (shedding innocent blood), yielding to social pressure to racially integrate and changing the temple endowment to accommodate ‘women’s liberation’ and liberal sensibilities and on and on.  The LDS Church has made the U.S. Supreme Court its god, for which it will be destroyed and damned.

Plural marriage (polygamy) has damned all of the ‘Fundamentalist Mormon’ fragments, not for living plural marriage (polygamy), but for abusing its practice, for violating the 1886 revelation injunction to use “free agency”, for turning plural marriage (polygamy) into “whoredom”, for using it to “get gain”, to amass power, to commit priestcraft and to “exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men.” The leaders of these groups who do not repent of their “priestcrafts”, “false doctrines”, “whoredoms” and false claims of priesthood keys will be destroyed and damned and “thrust down to hell!”  So declared the Lord God Almighty to His true prophets.

D. Michael Bingham, January, 2004

The Skull and Bones of Joseph Smith along with those of Emma and Hyrum were exhumed in 1928 at the behest of the Keokuk and Hamilton Water and Power Company and the R.L.D.S. Church, over concerns that the grave site would be undermined by reservoir backup on the Mississippi. Emma’s grave had been placed near the location of those of Joseph and Hyrum, whose remains had been moved after lying secretly in the basement of the Nauvoo House construction site for about six months. The two actual burial sites of Joseph’s and Hyrum’s remains had been kept secret by the family due to a justifiable fear of desecration. The 1928 exhumation found the brothers’ remains near those of Emma and within the overgrown foundation stones of a small out-building that once stood near the Smith’s Nauvoo homestead where they had lain undisturbed for about 83 years. Scientific study of the skulls based on death mask computer mapping and 1928 photographs led to the conclusion that Joseph’s skull was the one most intact and that the maxilla (below the nose area) had been broken during the exhumation. Hyrum’s skull had deteriorated due to its shattering by a musket ball and because it had not been protected by a deliberately placed stone, as had Joseph’s.

 

Contemporary Maudsley Drawing

(darker areas)

 

Computer Generated Image

(based on death mask)

 

Skull Photograph

 

Maudsley Profile, Death Mask Profile and 1928

Skull Photograph Overlay (p.91, Tracie)

 

Skull Photograph and Death Mask Image Overlay

(p.59, In Search of Joseph Smith, Shannon M. Tracie)

 

 

D. Michael Bingham (available for speaking engagements) offers the book A White Stone and A World Church… for a $20 suggested donation to White Stone Foundation, and a study guide to Daniel for $4, or both for $22 (please include $2 postage). Free leaflets are also available @ P.O. Box 93, Centerville, Utah 84014. Investigate http://www.mormonfundamentalism.com/IPSindex.htm While webmaster Max Anderson researched Woolley and Truth Magazine, the reader should be cautioned that he is a shameless apologist for the fallen L.D.S. Church. Also investigate Miike’s Reality Check @ www.ephraimsforum.com (caution: web site contains balderdash).