From Marx to Maciel: What An Ex-Communist Can Teach Us About False Catholics

by R.J. Stove

(Crisis Magazine) Four years after Marcial Maciel went to his judgment, his dark legacy continues to erupt in scandal leaving one to seriously question how anyone could remain in or be associated with the Legion of Christ (L.C.).  At a time when even the dimmest male Legionary might have thought it advisable to behave in the most irreproachable manner, we learn that Fr. Thomas Williams, L.C., through a statement on May 21 by the L.C.’s General Director, Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, that Williams had fathered a child. Fr. Corcuera admits that he had known about Williams’s philoprogenitiveness ever since 2005. He did not say why it has taken till now for him to make a public statement of condemnation on the matter. And no doubt the General Director half-expects that the same fantasists and dupes who gave Maciel a clean bill of moral health during the latter’s lifetime will oblige Williams likewise.

Two websites above all, ReGAIN and Life After R.C. (“R.C.” standing for the Legion’s lay outreach, “Regnum Christi”), have played an especially significant role in revealing the extent of mindless L.C. corruption: mindless because the Legion’s ruling body seems to have gone one better than even the Bourbons through its ability to learn nothing and forget everything. In authentic allegiance to Screwtape – who never neglected the need for encouraging believers to acquire, “the uneasy intensity and the defensive self-righteousness of a secret society or a clique” – the L.C. has clearly operated on the premise that it is the Church, and that any Catholicism outside the L.C.’s own ambit is not merely dubious but, worse still, boring.

Consult, for example, Maciel’s “Unique Methodology.” This, as discovered by a Missouri Catholic named Patrice Becker and reported by her in 2010 to Pete Vere (whose co-authored books include The Tyranny of Nice), is a methodology that owes a hair-raising amount to … the Latter-Day Saints:

“Having lived amongst Mormons for over nine years, I recommend every R.C. member to read Judy Robinson’s book Out of Mormonism to discover Fr. Maciel’s methodology is not unique at all. When I confronted the leaders of the R.C. Movement at our L.C. school in the suburbs of St. Louis, I was told at first, ‘How ridiculous, R.C. is completely Catholic, and what a ridiculous accusation! How could you possibly compare it to Mormonism?’ Then I explained I was not saying the theology was like the Mormons, just the methodology. They replicated the Mormon methodology to the tee. A R.C. woman’s lifestyle in the ‘movement’ was so identical to a L.D.S. member’s lifestyle in their movement, I challenged a R.C. leader to read Out of Mormonism, and then tell me what she thought. … She called me back three days after reading Out of Mormonism. ‘You’re right’….She was horrified by the exact replication.”

Patrice confronted the Priest at the school, who after initially denying any similarity to the Mormons  then,

“Shut the door, and explained to me that the Mormons are the fastest- growing church in Mexico, so Fr. Maciel mimicked the methodology to stop the hemorrhaging from the Catholic church to the Mormons, and said they were taking what was good from the Mormon methodology, and leaving the bad, like it says to do in the Bible.”

Still the official foot-dragging continues. From Spanish blogger José Martinez de Velasco, come the following acerbic questions – among others – prompted by the Apostolic Visitation (already two years in the past) of the Legion:.... (continued)

Read More Here

Idaho says 'Five Wives' Vodka offensive to church

(KLEW-TV) SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Five Wives Vodka was named in bad taste and won't be stocked or special ordered at stores operated by the state of Idaho, regulators said.

The middle-shelf vodka is made by Ogden's Own Distillery in Utah, where the Mormon church is based. Its label carries the name and an image of five women, an apparent reference to polygamy, a practice abandoned by the church more than a century ago.

Idaho State Liquor Division administrator Jeff Anderson said the brand is offensive to Mormons who make up over a quarter of Idaho's population.

Regulators in Idaho notified Elite Spirits Distributor that the brand's concept is "offensive to a prominent segment of our population and will not be carried," according to a letter sent Thursday.

"The bottom line is, we represent everybody," Anderson added Tuesday. "It's masterful marketing on their part. But it doesn't play here."

Anderson said state stores already make hundreds of vodka brands available for sale and don't have room for another brand priced at around $20 a bottle.

Ogden's Own Distillery is trying to make the most of the rejection with a media campaign and sale of "Free the Five Wives" T-shirts.

It says the snub is unfair because a Utah beer named Polygamy Porter is available in Idaho. Anderson said Idaho doesn't decide what beer brands can be sold in grocery and convenience stores.

"We're a little dumbfounded by it all," said Steve Conlin, a partner and marketing chief for Ogden's Own Distillery. "The average person can look at our bottle and they don't find it offensive. It's certainly not obscene, which is what it would require for it to be banned."

Five Wives Vodka has been approved for sale in Utah, a state dominated by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's also available in Wyoming, another state that regulates liquor sales.

Nobody in Utah is raising a fuss over the brand, said Vickie Ashby, a spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Utah regulates all sales of hard liquor, wine and heavy beer, making the products available only at state-owned stores. Idaho and Wyoming control liquor sales with a mix of state-owned and privately-operated stores.

"We have a product that has sold nearly 1,000 cases in six months in Utah," Conlin said. "If the reaction is because of a religious concern, we think they are extremely misguided."

Link:

• Idaho says 'Five Wives' Vodka offensive to church 

Mormon "Proxy Sealing": Thomas Jefferson and His Slave Together Forever?

By Max Perry Mueller

(Slate) Thomas Jefferson’s most famous slave, and the mother of several of the third American president’s children, died in 1835, five years after Mormonism’s founding. We don’t know when news of Joseph Smith’s small but growing religious movement reached Monticello, Va., Jefferson’s grand estate where Sally Hemings spent most of her 62 years, as a house servant and eventually as Jefferson’s “paramour.” But even if Mormon missionaries had come to Monticello during Heming’s lifetime, they would, per the instructions of Smith himself, have worked first to convert the masters, and only then—with the masters’ permission—the slaves.

Heming’s chance to become a Mormon came much later, in a Mormon temple in Mesa, Ariz., 13 years after the church lifted the ban on full membership for people of African descent. On April 21, 1991, two members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entered a baptismal font. One laid hands upon another and proclaimed, “having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you for and in behalf of Sally Hemings, who is dead.”

It is critical to note that Mormons believe that this ceremony did not make Hemings a Mormon. Instead, Mormons assert that it gave Hemings the opportunity to obtain salvation. Even in the afterlife, Hemings maintains her “agency” (a key theological concept for Mormons) to decide whether or not she accepts this invitation. Joseph Smith, who ran for president in 1844 as a “Jeffersonian,” took as a sacred truth the American ideal made famous by Hemings’s master, that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Mormons believe that Hemings has more agency in the afterlife than she did while she was alive.

After the recent furor over Mormon proxy baptism, this news about Hemings should surprise no one. We should all probably take it as a given that Mormons have baptized by proxy almost every famous person—Hemings, her master Thomas Jefferson, Queen Victoria, and (yes, Maureen Dowd) even Elvis—not to mention millions of not-so famous people who have also lived and died. Many non-Mormons think this practice odd, creepy, and perhaps even horribly disrespectful. But let’s recognize, as Arun Gandhi,* grandson of Mahatma, did after learning of his grandfather’s proxy baptism, that Mormons perform this act out of love. It is a ritual that fulfills Mormons’ desire to unite the whole of humanity into one eternal family. (Many people, of course, find this explanation unsatisfying; a Jewish friend recently quipped to me, “Mormons can baptize dead Jews when Jews can circumcise live Mormons.”)

What is surprising is that the LDS Church, according to its Family Search registry, considers Hemings to be Thomas Jefferson’s wife. (One of two—the other of course being Jefferson’s legal wife, Martha, who happens to be Sally Hemings’s half-sister; she and Hemings were both the daughters of Virginia plantation owner John Wayles.) Jefferson is also listed as the father of Hemings’s children. This means that the LDS Church recognizes Jefferson’s paternity of a sizable number of his own slaves, something that Jefferson himself refused to do when it became a campaign issue during the 1800 presidential race.* (Jefferson also failed to acknowledge he fathered Hemings’s children in the detailed logs the president kept of the births and deaths among Monticello’s slave population.)

Why does this matter? Because Mormons not only believe in baptizing non-Mormons who have died—they also believe in “sealing” families so they can spend eternity together. As Matt Bowman, author of The Mormon People, explained to me: “Mormons believe that heaven consists of a great network of families bound together through a particular sacramental ritual called sealing. Parents are sealed to children, spouses to each other, ancestors to descendants.” Like proxy baptisms, these sealings occur in Mormon temples. And, as with proxy baptisms, the LDS Church has recently stipulated that only direct descendants are sanctioned to do proxy sealings—a stipulation that is not always followed, to the consternation of church leaders.

Indeed, because of Jefferson’s fame, even those faithful Mormons who have access to the Family Search database can’t see if Hemings and Jefferson have been posthumously sealed. In recent years, “various celebrities have had proxy work done for them many times over,” Bowman told me. To avoid any more headlines claiming that the Mormons have forcibly baptized Anne Frank and other historical figures with great cultural significance, Mormons are instructed to do the work only for their direct ancestors. This has not stopped a small set of over-zealous Latter-day Saints from submitting famous and historically important names for proxy baptism. As a result, Mormon authorities have begun blocking searches for particular names; the list of blocked names grows by the day.

But the database does reveal that the LDS church recognizes Hemings as Jefferson’s wife—and also that every sacred ordinance (there are others in addition to sealing and baptism) has been performed on Hemings’ behalf. With all of this evidence, I strongly suspected that Hemings and Jefferson had been posthumously sealed as husband and wife. I asked the LDS Church to confirm my hunch. And in a rare move, the Church obliged: Sally Hemings and Tom Jefferson, I was told, have been posthumously sealed as husband and wife in an LDS Temple.

***

This obviously raises number of difficult questions. The nature of the Hemings-Jefferson relationship has been one of considerable historical debate. Could love actually pass between the most influential man in America and a mixed-race slave he owned? Could Hemings genuinely consent to Jefferson’s sexual advances? Could she really say no? Because slaves were denied control over their bodies, what went on between Hemings and Jefferson—and, of course, countless other slave masters and slaves in antebellum America—is rightly regarded by most as abusive. Perhaps on rare occasions these sexual acts involved true mutual intimacy; but because of the inherent power dynamic, today we’d consider this sex forced. We’d call it rape.

Sealing a slave master to his slave is at least as troubling as the baptism of Holocaust victims, the practice of which the LDS Church has officially condemned. Just last month, LDS leaders sent out a statement to every congregation and required that it be read over the pulpit; it declared that that the Church is “committed to taking action against individual abusers [who submit names of Holocaust victims for baptism] by suspending the submitter’s access privileges. We will also consider whether other Church disciplinary action should be taken.”

Certainly these efforts are partly about public relations. But they also reflect a recognition on the part of the hierarchy in Salt Lake City that there are ethical limits to the what the LDS Church claims as its God-given mandate: to unite the whole of humanity into one eternal family through temple rituals. History—especially the history of atrocities against religious and racial minorities—must inform, and in some cases, limit this sacred work.

And just as Mormon leaders have restricted the practice of proxy baptism when it comes to Holocaust victims, they must review who is considered “married” in the Family Search database. Hemings and Jefferson are only the most sensational instance of what is, in fact, a broader concern. In the LDS Church’s earliest years, several southern slave owners converted to Mormonism. Mormon leaders encouraged these slave-owning converts to free their slaves, but several nonetheless brought their slaves to Utah when the Mormons settled in the intermountain west in the late 1840s and ’50s—and, in 1852, the LDS-dominated legislature legalized slavery in Utah, making it the only western territory where slavery was sanctioned.

In 1850, North Carolina-born Mormon convert John Hardison Redd brought his slave Venus and her enslaved children to Utah with the rest of his family. In the 1850 territorial census, Venus is listed as “black” and her children are listed as “yellow,” a common designation for mixed-race slaves. According to family history, after John Redd’s untimely death in 1858, Venus stayed with the Redds—and with the church. Though Venus left no written recollections of her own, the Redd family remembers her as a devoted Mormon who attended each Sunday’s services, often singing in the choir. One family member said that when Venus found out she could not go to the temple because she was black, she scratched her arm until blood poured forth. “See!” she is said to have proclaimed, “my blood is as white as anyone’s.”

Venus would have her day in the temple, more than a century after her own death. While a record of her proxy baptism is no longer available, on Oct. 6, 1992 she was, according to Family Search, sealed by proxy to John Redd as his wife in the Provo Temple. (Redd was also sealed to another female slave, “Chaney,” in the Spokane, Wash. Temple in August, 2006.)

If we take the Redd family’s word for it—and it’s not a given that we should—Venus probably would have welcomed the proxy baptism. Yet the same questions that Jefferson and Hemings’s union presented arise for Redd and Venus: Even if she was a committed Mormon, would she really want to spend eternity with the man that held her in bondage and enslaved their shared children?

Even more troubling is the case of Bridget “Biddy” Mason. Mississippian Mormon convert Robert M. Smith brought Biddy and her mixed-race children—as well as dozens of other slaves—first to Utah and then to the Mormon settlement in San Bernardino, Calif. In 1856, Biddy and Smith’s other slaves sued him for their freedom, arguing that since he had moved them into the free state of California, then they are “forever free.” Judge Benjamin Hayes agreed.

Mason won her freedom just in time: A year later, the Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott decision that the U.S. Congress had no right to prevent slavery in any state, and that African-Americans, free or enslaved, had no right to sue in court.

This fortunate timing forever changed the history of Los Angeles. Biddy took the last name of “Mason” (most likely the last name of her first master); newly self-christened, she quickly became an in-demand nurse and midwife. Investments in real estate made her wealthy and famous, the matriarch of black Los Angeles. She helped establish an elementary school for the city’s black children. In 1872, after a vision from God commanded her to do so, Mason founded the city’s oldest black church, the First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME). Today FAME is a megachuch of some 19,000 members and 13 corporations and a center of black pride and power in Los Angeles—which is also home to Biddy Mason Park. The city named Nov. 16, 1989, “Biddy Mason Day.”

Unlike Venus Redd, who reportedly remained with the LDS Church, when Mason gained her freedom, she built her own religious institution, one that welcomed her as a full member.

Despite this well documented history, on May 21, 2004, Bridget Biddy Mason was baptized by proxy in the Oakland, Calif. Temple, with the rest of her temple ordinances to follow in the months after. According to Family Search, Mason has not yet been sealed to Robert M. Smith. But the LDS Church’s genealogical database does recognize her as Smith’s wife (and Smith as the father of her children). The actual sealing between Mason and Smith is, according to Family Search, “ready” to be completed.

***

Two weeks ago, when the existence of such sealings was first brought to the LDS Church’s attention, communications passed quickly between high-ranking officials in both the Church History Department and the Church’s Family History Department. The sealing of Venus to John Hardison Redd was removed from the Family Search website. (Because this massive database often contains multiple entries for individuals, however, one of John and Venus’ duplicate sealings is, as of this writing, still retrievable.)

Ideally, removing these sealings from “public” view is not about the church covering its tracks. Rather, it should—and may—signal the beginning of what will be an agonizing process in which LDS Church leaders figure out what to do with such sealings. To undo them—which would require formal approval from church leaders—might serve to end the symbolic violence of such rituals, which link slave masters to slaves they sexually abused. It would also send a loud and powerful message about what is right and what is wrong when it comes to this aspect of Mormon temple practice.

When performed according to church policy, and in the true spirit of the ritual, this often misunderstood practice can be quite moving. Margaret Young, co-producer of the documentary Nobody Knows: The Untold History of Black Mormons, told me about a proxy baptism and sealing that she witnessed. Young sat with an African-American convert named Susie as she watched her two sons, who “had died violent and tragic deaths” without being baptized, receive this ritual by proxy in the Provo Temple in 1998. “For Susie, this was a redemptive experience,” Young told me, “recalling her sons’ names and, in some measure, returning them to her and to the principles she had raised them to believe.” That same day, Susie was sealed to her late husband, Arthur, with Darius Gray—emeritus president of the Genesis Group, the largest organization of black Mormons—serving as proxy for Arthur.

“This is what temple ordinances should be,” Young told me, “the hearts of the children return to their mothers and fathers, and the hearts of their fathers and mothers return to their children.”

Link:

• Hemings and Jefferson Together Forever?

Related:

• Mormon church blocks whistle-blower’s access to baptism data
• Mormon Leaders Warn Followers To Stop Controversial Baptisms
• Mitt Romney: Jesus Will Reign in Missouri and Jerusalem
• Vatican letter directs bishops to keep parish records from Mormons 
• Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith:  Response to a 'Dubium' on the validity of baptism conferred by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called Mormons

Mormon church blocks whistle-blower’s access to baptism data

(Tribune file photo) Helen Radkey is a researcher who has publicized the LDS Church's proxy baptisms of Holocaust victims and Catholic Saints. In this 2009 photograph, she goes through some of her numerous boxes of research files on the baptisms that take up part of an extra bedroom in her home.

'In an effort to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah." - CNS

(The Salt Lake Tribune) A technological crackdown, telegraphed by Mormon leaders, has effectively blocked the pre-eminent whistle-blower of controversial proxy baptisms from accessing the LDS Church’s database that chronicles so-called baptisms for the dead...

Radkey, who surreptitiously uses the account information of Mormon confidants, says the recent names she uncovered — and the swift backlash the news stirred — "shook church officials." Besides Frank, Gandhi and Pearl, the slain Wall Street Journal reporter, Radkey revealed that the deceased parents of famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal had been baptized by proxy in Mormon temples.

"Obviously, they have been very concerned about the data that has been coming out and said, ‘We have do something about it,’ " Radkey says, adding "of course" they are targeting me...  (continued)

Link:

• Mormon church blocks whistle-blower’s access to baptism data

Related:

• Mormon Leaders Warn Followers To Stop Controversial Baptisms
• Vatican letter directs bishops to keep parish records from Mormons
• Mitt Romney: Jesus Will Reign in Missouri and Jerusalem
• Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith:  Response to a 'Dubium' on the validity of baptism conferred by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called Mormons

Romney campaign says losing nomination would take 'act of God'

(MSNBC) BOSTON -- Mitt Romney's campaign gathered the national press corps in their campaign war room this morning to deliver a simple message: It would take an "act of God" for any candidate not named Mitt Romney to win the Republican nomination.

The Boston-based campaign projeceted confidence in Romney's ability to win the nomination given the emerging delegate math in the campaign following last night's Super Tuesday contests.

"We will get to 1,144 whether it's on someone else’s timeline, or on our timeline," said one top Romney aide. "We will get to 1,144 and be the Republican nominee..."

Link:

• Romney campaign says losing nomination would take 'act of God'

Related:

• Mitt Romney Told Catholic Hospitals to Administer Abortion Pills
• Mormon Leaders Warn Followers To Stop Controversial Baptisms
• Mitt Romney: Jesus Will Reign in Missouri and Jerusalem 
• Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith:  Response to a 'Dubium' on the validity of baptism conferred by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called Mormon

Mormon Leaders Warn Followers To Stop Controversial Baptisms

by Howard Berkes

(NPR) Mormons around the world are getting this warning Sunday: Stop posthumous baptisms of "unauthorized groups, such as celebrities and Jewish Holocaust victims."

"Our preeminent obligation is to seek out and identify our own ancestors," says a letter to be read in every Mormon congregation. "Those whose names are submitted for proxy [baptisms] should be related to the submitter."

Mormons who continue to embarrass the faith by submitting the names of celebrities and Holocaust victims for the proxy baptism rite will lose access to the Mormon genealogical records, the letter warns. "Other corrective action may also be taken," it says.

The letter is signed by church President Thomas Monson and his two "counselors" in the Mormon First Presidency, the top leadership of the faith...

The controversial practice has even touched the presidential campaign of Republican Mitt Romney, a faithful Mormon. Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel called on Romney to denounce inappropriate baptisms after discovering Wiesel family members had been posthumously baptized.

Romney's campaign referred questions about Wiesel's statement to the Mormon Church...

Mormon policy, as the letter restates, is to confine the baptisms to ancestors, but as recently as 2009, one of the highest-ranking leaders of the church indicated otherwise.

Quentin Cook is one of the faith's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the group at the top of church leadership. During a tour of a new Mormon Temple in Draper, Utah, Cook described the posthumous baptism practice and belief.

"We concentrate first of all on our ancestors and then for the people in the world at large," Cook told NPR...

Link:

• Mormon Leaders Warn Followers To Stop Controversial Baptisms

Related:

• Mitt Romney: Jesus Will Reign in Missouri and Jerusalem
• Vatican letter directs bishops to keep parish records from Mormons 
• Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith:  Response to a 'Dubium' on the validity of baptism conferred by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called Mormons

Dingy Reid Slams “Extreme Ideological” Amendment Allowing Catholic Groups To Opt Out of Contraception Mandate…

From Weasel Zippers:

Allowing people to exercise their First Amendment rights is “extreme” in the left’s eyes.

Via The Hill:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) set the stage for a tense vote the Senate will hold on Sen. Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) contraception amendment Thursday morning, claiming it was yet another instance of the Senate being hijacked by the far right.

“Today the Senate will vote on a extreme ideological amendment to the transportation bill,” said Reid. “[T]his amendment has no place on a transportation bill.”

The amendment would reverse the Obama administration’s ruling that health plans must offer contraception coverage, even those offered by church-related organizations. A vote on the amendment should begin just after 11 a.m. on Thursday.

Related:

• TRENDING: Romney stumbles over question about GOP contraception push
• Mitt Romney Told Catholic Hospitals to Administer Abortion Pills
• Fact-Check: Did Romney Lie About Cardinal and Contraception During Wednesday Debate?
• Fact-Check Followup: Regulations Prove Romney Wrong, Show Consequences of Emergency Contraception Decision

Princess Diana posthumously baptised as a Mormon

(Monsters & Critics) Britain's late Princess Diana has been posthumously baptised a Mormon.

The royal - who was killed in a Paris car crash in August 1997 - was 'baptised' by the church after her death, even though she didn't belong to the religion.

Diana - former wife of heir to the throne Prince Charles - was listed by her maiden name, Diana Frances Spencer, with her address as the family seat of Althorp, Northamptonshire.

Her file also includes her birth and death date, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

Other late stars to have been 'baptised' posthumously include Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth.

The Mormon Church believes that in the afterlife no one is beyond redemption, no matter how evil they were, so the list also includes Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Helen Radkey has been investigating the Mormon Church - which is one of the world's fastest growing religions with 14 million followers, almost half in the US.

Using a computer log-on passed to her by a disaffected follower, she researched the databases in the Church's Family History Library and found that the names of hundreds of thousands of dead people had been logged, so they could be baptised as Mormons.

• Link

Mitt Romney: Jesus Will Reign in Missouri and Jerusalem

Mitt Romney believes that Jesus will reign in Missouri and Jerusalem.  Set to start at 15:33:

And on abortion, "the (LDS / Mormon) church does not say that a member of our church has to be opposed to allowing (abortion) choice in society.." - Mitt Romney

Marriages dissolved, sexual relationships banned among FLDS faithful

(KSL) HILDALE — As the year comes to an end and the followers of Warren Jeffs await the apocalypse he has predicted, they're living under a challenging edict: they're forbidden to have sex until Jeffs is sprung from a Texas prison.

"He has predicted that the walls in the prison where he's at will fall and crumble," said Joni Holm, who has many relatives in the polygamous FLDS faith.

According to Holm, Fundamentalist LDS Church members also face their faith's most severe punishment, excommunication, if they conceive a child.

It's one of the strangest edicts in a season full of them. Jeffs has issued a stream of revelations, prophecies and orders to his congregation in the border community of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

Right now they have all been told that they are not to live as husband and wife. They can live in the same house, but they are not to have sexual relationships until Warren comes out and re-seals them.

–Joni Holm, relative of FLDS members

The recent edicts from Jeffs' prison cell seem to be having two contradictory effects: Many are leaving the FLDS faith in disgust, and those who stay are reported to be increasingly devoted to a man who is serving a lifetime sentence for raping underage girls.

According to numerous critics and outside observers, the imprisoned FLDS leader has sometimes acted through his brother Lyle and other times has spoken directly to his congregation over the phone from prison. He recently banned many of the things his followers enjoy: bicycles, ATVs, trampolines, even children's toys. But the sex edict reaches into the bedrooms of all his devoted followers.

According to Holm, Jeffs declared all existing marriages to be void.

"Right now they have all been told that they are not to live as husband and wife," Holm said. "They can live in the same house, but they are not to have sexual relationships until Warren comes out and 're-seals' them."

The sex ban was the last straw for Holm's brother-in-law. She said he left the FLDS fold three weeks ago after spending 39 years — his entire life — in the FLDS community.

Social service organizations are reporting a surge of people departing the FLDS group, although exact numbers are unavailable. Holm thinks about 100 members have left in recent weeks from the community of 10,000.

"They're leaving," Holm said. "Groups of them are coming out. We're getting families that are coming out now. It's only going to get worse."

She has helped such "refugees" for years, offering a place for them to live temporarily as they try to establish lives outside the FLDS community. Mike Leetham, coordinator of Utah's Safety Net organization, said there is currently a shortage of "host homes" for people trying to leave the group.

Holm said her brother-in-law confirmed reports that faithful members are meeting almost daily and being re-baptized. But they won't be considered married until Jeffs gets out of prison to personally "re-seal" them.

"Until then, they are not have any sexual relationships," Holm said. "It is now considered adultery."

If FLDS members have sex on the sly, any resulting children will be considered "sons of perdition," according to Holm's brother-in-law, and the parents will be instantly excommunicated.

The sex ban will be lifted only if Jeffs' latest prophecy comes true: an apocalypse that will bring down the prison walls and broil the human race.

"They believe that they'll still roam on the Earth," Holm said, "but the rest of us will be burned."

In recent weeks, FLDS members have reportedly faced intense, personal interviews with Lyle Jeffs to prove their loyalty and have been ordered to pay large financial assessments. Some members have been excommunicated. The process seems to be aimed at winnowing the FLDS down to Jeffs' most faithful followers.

Texas officials are investigating whether Jeffs violated his prison phone privileges by calling his congregation.

• Link

The Cross In Utah

By Fr. Erik Richtsteig at Orthometer

A common experience for Catholics and other who wear a cross or a crucifix in Utah goes something like the following:

Mormon: Why do you wear THAT?
Crossie: Wear what?
Mormon: That cross thing.
Crossie: Because Jesus died on it.
Mormon: Well if you mom was shot would you wear a gun?

It could be noose, electric chair, or guillotine, but you get the point: Utah and its majority religion are not cross friendly. Moreover, verbal attacks, teasing, and bullying of young people by classmates can be especially brutal.

But why the aversion to what orthodox Christians see as a sign of Christ's triumph over the Devil? There are several possibilities as Mormon doctrine and theology is nothing if not fluid. First, according to the Mormons Jesus is not God incarnate. He is merely our elder brother and savior. It has been taught that He didn't atone for our sins by dying on the Cross, but by weeping blood in the garden. Second, there has historically been an aversion to anything that smacks of traditional Christianity; think Protestantism on steroids. Third, a couple of years ago, The Salt Lake Tribune published an interesting article concerning some research by a professor at Cal State Sacramento. His thesis is that the extreme anti-cross attitude can be traced to President David O. McKay's virulent anti-Catholicism. My personal opinion is that while this may have intensified the opposition, it had been very present before. I base this upon anecdotes heard from both Catholics and Mormons that predate McKay.

Anyhow, this is yet more evidence that Mormonism cannot be considered Christian in an orthodox theological sense. (Also, interesting parallels can be drawn to the hatred of the cross that one finds in Islam.)

"But God forbid that I should glory except in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." -- Galatians 6:14.

(Image: murals in the sanctuary in the Cathedral of the Madeline, Salt Lake City.)

• The Cross In Utah

Glenn Beck – Mormon Historian?

From RazorsKiss:

Here’s a transcript:

22:40: Glenn: “…the Dead Sea Scrolls, you know what they are? Stu, do you know what the Dead Sea Scrolls are?
Stu: Well, of course I do…
Glenn: Now, c’mon, most people don’t.
Stu: Well, I heard of them, I don’t really know
Glenn: You don’t really know. You have no idea why they were there. Sara average person doesn’t know. Any idea, take a guess on why the Dead Sea Scrolls were there, or anything else.
Sara(?): Something religious.
Glenn: Okay, good. Even though I’ve explained this on this program a couple of times, I’m glad to see that even the people that work with me don’t even listen.
So here’s what happened. When Constantine decided that he was going to cobble together an army, he did the Council of Nicea, right, Pat?
Pat: Yea.
Glenn: The Council of Nicea, and what they did is brought all of the religious figures together, all the Christians and then they said, “Ok, let’s put together the Apostles’ Creed, let’s you know, you guys do it.” So they brought all their religious scripture together, that’s when the Bible was first bound and everything else. And then they said, “Anybody that disagrees with this is a heretic and off with their head!” Well, that’s what the Dead Sea Scrolls are. The Dead Sea Scrolls are those scriptures that people had at the time that they said, “They are destroying all of this truth.” Whether it’s truth or not is up to the individual, but at that time those people thought that this was something that needed to be preserved and so they rolled up the scrolls and put them in clay pots and they put them in the back of caves where no one could find them. They were hidden scripture because everything was being destroyed that disagreed with the Council of Nicea and Constantine. That’s what those things are.” 24:37

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Update:

From Schleitheim:

What I’m going to do is defend Glenn Beck here on what he got right. I will repost the words and strike what is incorrect. The remainder (what is either correct or at least possibly correct) will be in blue.

All right. So here’s what happened. When Constantine decided he was going to uh… cobble together an army, um, he did the uh… Council of uh… Nicaea, right, Pat? …
Council of Nicaea. Um… and what they did is brought all of the religious figures, uhh, together, all the Christians and then they said, “Ok, let’s uh, put together the Apostles’ Creed, let’s, you know, you guys do it.” So they brought all their religious scripture together, and that’s when the Bible was first bound and everything else. And then they said, “Anybody that disagrees with this is a heretic and… off with their head!” Well, that’s what the Dead Sea Scrolls are. The Dead Sea Scrolls are those scriptures that people had at the time that they said, “They are destroying all of this truth.” Whether it’s truth or not is, is up to the individual, but that… at that time those people thought that this was something that needed to be preserved and so they rolled up the scrolls and they put ‘em in clay pots and they, they put ‘em in the back of caves where no one could find them. They were hidden scripture because everything was being destroyed that disagreed with the Council of Nicaea and Constantine. That’s what those things are.

There you go. Here’s where he was spot on:

• “All right.” Can’t argue with that.
• “uh … um … uh” I won’t take exception to those. We all say them.
• “right, Pat?” Pat exists, and Beck asked him a question.
• “Council of Nicea” A real historical event.
• “Whether it’s truth or not is, is up to the individual,” Can’t really disagree with that when you’re speaking of truth in a relative sense. Some people believe the Dead Sea Scrolls contain truth, others do not.
• “rolled up the scrolls and … put ‘em in clay pots and … put ‘em in the back of caves where no one could find them.” While wrong about who “they” were, it’s quite possible the real folks behind the DSS did what Beck said. Could be someone else moved them around later. Could be any number of possibilities.
• “They were hidden scripture” No problem with that.

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Batting Around the Great Apostasy

Having a ball with some Mormon elders.

Tim Staples

Scenario:

It's a scorching hot Saturday afternoon in early September. Your wife has taken the little ones to the pool. It's just you and your oldest, ten-year-old Matthew, staying in to watch the big game. Mark McGuire has now hit 59 home runs! And the way he's been connecting, he could catch Roger Maris' thirty-seven year old record of 61 homers in today's game. Your son is decked out in his "McGuire" jersey and you've just poured ice-cold drinks for the start of the game when the doorbell rings. You hurry to the door, thinking of ways to get rid of whoever it is as quickly as possible. Opening it, however, you discover two sweat-drenched young men wearing white shirts and ties. With beaming smiles, they introduce themselves as Elders Joseph McCarthy and Leonard Smith. "We're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We'd like to offer you some free literature and talk to you about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Your Response:
For a moment you freeze, thinking to yourself, "Why now, Lord? What about the game?" Quickly, you come to your senses. "Which is more important, Maris' record being broken or the salvation of two immortal souls?" So you invite them in. As you ask them to be seated in the living room where your son is engrossed in the game, you wonder if he'll see things the way you do.

Matthew winces a bit when you tell him you must turn the game off while you talk with these young Mormons. You're delighted, however, when his disappointment changes to excitement. (All that home schooling is paying off.) Matthew wants to talk about the Faith!

Step One:
Rather than wait for their scripted presentation, you decide to cut to the chase and begin the dialogue. You start by complimenting the Mormon Church on its belief in an authoritative, hierarchical church. You comment that of all the sects that have begun in the last 480 years, only theirs even claims to have apostolic authority. According to Ephesians 4:11-15, St. Paul tells us the true Church of Jesus Christ must have "apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. . ." This leads you to the big question. "Why would I ever leave the Catholic Church which was founded by Jesus Christ and received apostolic authority directly from Him and the Apostles? This is so clearly attested to by both Scripture and many early Christian writers like St. Clement of Rome (A.D. 90), St. Ignatius of Antioch (A.D. 107), St. Irenaeus of Lyons (A.D. 180), St. Hippolytus (A.D. 200), St. Cyprian (A.D. 250), Eusebius of Caesarea (A.D. 330), St. Ambrose (A.D. 390), St. Augustine (A.D. 410), St. Jerome (A.D. 410), etc. The bishops in the Catholic Church are the successors of the Apostles and have true apostolic authority."

Elder Smith responds, "We believe the Church Jesus established fell into apostasy after the death of the last Apostle, as was foretold in the Bible in both Amos 8:11-14 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4. It has been re-established through another Testament given to Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

Step Two:
You respond with a challenge. "Let's get out a Bible and look at those two texts you just mentioned. We'll begin with Amos. Amos prophesied around 780 B.C. Among other things, he warned of the coming destruction of Israel that would, in fact, occur in 721 B.C. (because of her idolatry — cf. chapters six and seven)." The passage Elder Smith cited reads: "'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord God, 'when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. . .'"

"This text speaks of an apostasy in ancient Israel, not after the death of the last apostle in New Testament times. But even this apostasy was not total. In the very next chapter (9:8-10), Amos makes this very clear: "'Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,' says the Lord. 'For lo, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, 'Evil shall not overtake or meet us.'

"There were many incidents in Old Testament salvation history when priests and prophets were corrupt (Lam. 4:13, Ezek. 22:22-26, Zeph. 1:4, Mic. 3:5), prophets had no vision from the Lord, prophesied falsely (Lam. 2:14, Jer. 23:26-31), or at times, there were no prophets at all (Psalm 74:9). Apostasies were frequent in the Old Testament, but never total. There was always a faithful remnant."

Step Three:
Now you move to a crucial point concerning Old Testament hierarchy. In the midst of good times and bad, there was one constant in all of Old Covenant salvation history: the existence of the High Priesthood and the Levitical Priesthood as they are detailed in Exodus 28 and Deuteronomy 17. God established and gave authority to them to guide the children of Israel. The High Priest, or those to whom the High Priest delegated authority, had the power to deliver the oracle of God to His people.

Deuteronomy 17:8-12 is an example of this historical fact: "If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another any case. . . which is too difficult for you, then you shall. . . go up to. . . the Levitical priests, and to the judge who is in office in those days, you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision. Then you shall do according to what they declare. . . you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. . . The man who acts presumptuously, by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge. . . shall die."

According to Exodus 28:30, the High Priest had what was called the "Urim and the Thummim" on the breastplate of his vestments whereby he would bear the sins of the people of Israel when he went before the Lord in the temple. Through this gift of God, the High Priest would also hear the Word of God and proclaim divine oracles from God.

Even during such a corrupt time as the time of the Judges, we see this gift in operation in Israel. This was a time when "every man did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6). Yet, even then, this gift of "the Urim and the Thummim" was alive and well. And when the Israelites consulted God through "Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron," who was High Priest at the time (cf. Judges 20:18-28), they received the oracle of God through him. They may not have always consulted the Lord or obeyed Him, but He was always there for them.

In fact, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself acknowledges the existence of this hierarchy and its authority in His time. In Matthew 23:2-3, Jesus says to his disciples, "The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice." Even the Apostles must obey the scribes and Pharisees who speak in an official capacity with delegated authority from the High Priest. Note: they must do so even if the legitimate authority may be personally corrupt (see also John 11:47-52).

Elder Smith responds, "Even if the Old Testament people of God never completely apostatized, St. Paul prophesied the New Covenant people of God would in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4. He even used the word apostasia in verse 3 to describe it. He declared this apostasy must occur before Jesus would come again. And after all, didn't the Jews themselves reject the Messiah and apostatize? Doesn't this at least demonstrate that an apostasy is possible?"

Step Four:
You respond, "First of all, not all of Israel apostatized. The Apostles, Mary and the earliest disciples were mostly Jews! And remember, the Church is 'the Israel of God' (Gal. 6:16). And 'he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart. . .' (Rom. 2:28). St. Paul describes the relationship between Jews and Christians in Romans 11:18-29, but once again, I emphasize the fact that a total apostasy simply did not occur. There isn't one shred of biblical evidence that says otherwise. And to put it frankly, a total apostasy, as you describe it, is impossible in the New Testament. There are three reasons for this:

"First, the Old Testament prophecies concerning the New Covenant describe it as perpetual and indefectible. For example, Daniel 7:13-14:

'I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man [Jesus], and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.' (See also Isaiah 9:6-7 and Daniel 2:44.)

"Second, the New Testament also describes the Church as indefectible. Yes, there will be apostasies. That is what St. Paul is referring to in 2 Thessalonians. In fact, there will be a major apostasy before the Second Coming according to 2 Thessalonians 2, but never does it say a total apostasy. According to the New Testament, this is impossible! Matt. 28:19-20 says, 'And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.' A similar thought can be found in Luke 1:33, where the Angel Gabriel says of Jesus, 'And of his kingdom there will be no end.'"

Just as you finish quoting this last verse, your son says, "Daddy, what about when Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom to St. Peter? Didn't Jesus say the gates of hell would never overcome the Church?" (Cf. Matt. 16:15-19) You feel so proud, you want to jump through the roof. "Yes, son, that's an excellent point!"

Elder Joseph then responds, "Those verses merely speak of the ultimate triumph of the Church. We agree with that. But that doesn't mean there would not be an apostasy in the centuries between the time of the Apostles and now."

"I'm glad you bring that up, because that leads me to the third reason why a total apostasy is impossible," you retort. "Matthew 28:20 says the Lord will be with us, pasas tas hemaras, or 'all the days'! So there's no room for total apostasy. Christ will be teaching via his apostles and their successors all days even until the end of time!

"In Ephesians, St. Paul explicitly tells us the Church will be with us until the end of time. Ephesians 1:22 describes the Church as '[Christ's] body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.' This Church is 'built upon the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone' (2:20). She is described as being so awesome, St. Paul can say 'through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places' (3:10). The Church teaches angels!

As we saw before, this true Church must have apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers (cf. 4:11). And why, you ask? 'For the equipment of the saints. . . for building up the body of Christ. . . so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. . .' (4:12,14).

"So, God gave us the Church that we may know with certainty the truths of the Faith. That's not the only reason, but it is a central reason. But maybe the most important passage for us in Ephesians is 3:20-21:

'Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.'

"This Church that St. Paul is describing in Ephesians will be here to all generations (pasas tas geneas, 'all the generations') forever and ever. This eliminates the possibility of a total apostasy for even one generation!"

At this point, Elder Smith says it's time for them to get going, but that they'd like to come back with someone who would be better able to respond to what you're saying. You realize you may well be making progress, so you agree and you give them one last thing to think about. As you all say your good-byes, you ask them this question:

"According to Matthew 18:15-18, Jesus gives us a commandment. He says if we have a difficulty with a brother, we try and settle the difficulty with him personally. If we can't settle it, we take two or three with us and try to work it out then. Let's say the difficulty we have with our brother is over the nature of God. The question is whether or not God is a Trinity. If we still cannot settle the difficulty, we 'tell it to the Church.' If he fails to listen to the Church, he is to be excommunicated. The question is, what Church is being referred to here?"

Elder Smith responds without pause, "Jesus is talking about the true Church, which I testify to you is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

You answer, "But what if you're living in 1785, and you have this same difficulty? In obedience to Jesus, where do you go then? Your church doesn't exist yet."

There is silence. After an awkward moment, you calmly say, "Fellas, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He would never lead us astray or command us to follow error. If the true Church didn't exist on this earth for 1,700 years, then Jesus misguided millions into obeying error-filled churches with no apostolic authority. And that's ridiculous."

As you shake hands, you invite them to return anytime. Then, as they turn to leave, little Matthew says, "I hope you guys become Catholic — that would be really cool." Matthew closes the door. Looking at him with pride you say, "Yeah, that would be really cool. Now, let's go see what McGuire did!"

Tim Staples is the director of evangelization for the Catholic Resource Center in West Covina, CA.

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Mormons to build gigantic temple in front of Marian shrine in Honduras

Tegucigalpa, Jan 30, 2009 / 10:59 am (CNA).- The decision by the Mormon Church to build an enormous temple in front of the most popular Marian shrine in Honduras, Our Lady of Suyapa, has unleashed a wave of criticism and protest, according to Honduran media.

Protestors say the construction of the temple would block the famous view of the shrine of Our Lady of Suyapa as it is approached from a distance.

According to the Honduran daily La Tribuna, “Many Hondurans are concerned because they see an imminent danger that the view that the country has enjoyed of the main Catholic church of Honduras for 262 years is in jeopardy.”

Mormons, whose presence in the country is on the rise, but who have never been the object of hostility on the part of Catholics, have asked the local government for a permit to begin construction.

A large number of the faithful, however, have requested the permit be blocked. “This is about safeguarding the integrity of this national monument, and with the construction of a gigantic temple mere feet from the church of Our Lady of Suyapa, we Hondurans are obliged to conserve, rescue and protect the cultural patrimony of the country,” the protesters said.

The Marian shrine was visited by Pope John Paul II on March 8, 1983, before a crowd of more than one million.

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Jewish group wants Mormons to stop proxy baptisms

NEW YORK - Holocaust survivors said Monday they were abandoning negotiations with the Mormon church over its posthumous baptisms of Jews who were killed in Nazi death camps.

Survivors claim elders of the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have refused to systemically search for and remove the names of Holocaust victims from their master genealogical database and have failed to prevent "zealots" from adding thousands of new Jewish names to the list in recent years - including thousands lifted from Yizkor books of Jews massacred at Berdichev in Ukraine.

"We are not going to continue meeting with the Mormon Church," said Auschwitz survivor Ernest Michel, head of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, who has spearheaded efforts to scrub the Mormon lists since discovering in the 1990s that his parents were among 380,000 Holocaust victims having been baptized into the Christian faith.

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"Fact Is Fact"

"Today, after watching two episodes back to back of the "Dog Whisper" I decided to take Stella for a very long walk--into new territory. The Dog Whisper said dogs like to scope out new places--keeps the walks interesting for them.

On the way home, I noticed a little dog and owner walking toward us, so I decided to sit on a green utility box in front of a Mormon wardhouse and keep Stella calm, and let her greet the little dog in a calm manner. So here we sit, me on the box, Stella in the grass, and the owner of the other dog was happy that Stella wanted to greet her pup. We were just hangin' making new dog friends when two girls drove up in a car, and interrupted our delightful moment..."

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