Saints Alive Newsletter March 2005

In This Issue:
- An Update from Ed
- New Changes in the Mormon Temple Ritual
- Chapter Two of Ed's book My Kingdom Come

Thank you for signing up to receive my ‘randomly’ timed Updates. I have been getting a lot of emails and letters lately from Mormons and Masons who are searching for truth and our website and materials have been so helpful. Here is one that came in this morning:

Dear Ed, I am reading your book The God Makers at the moment and am very confused about belonging to the Mormon Church. I said that I would be taking my endowments in Utah this year, but having read your book has made my doubts even stronger. I had never thought of the church as being anything but Christian. I suppose that is due to my ignorance or just taking everything I was told at face value. I cannot get my head around the Temple rites being Pagan or Satanic. I have not got to that part of my teaching yet!! I know about the baptism of ones ancestors but was told that they had the right to refuse if they wanted. I know your beliefs about the dead are different but I instinctively know that we all get another chance to redeem ourselves. I was not born into a Mormon Family I am a convert. Maybe that doesn’t mean anything only that I still have an awful lot to learn about the church. Thank you for your book. I'm glad I read it. Now I will have to do a lot of soul searching…

It is an answer to my daily prayers that such contacts are being made so regularly. Someone once said that spring blooms hope eternal and I feel that is so true in the ministry this spring.

I often read and I am so encouraged by what Paul said to King Agrippa when he shared what Jesus told him in that great encounter: that He sent him to the lost to: Open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among which are sanctified by faith that is in me” Paul then said, “Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” (Acts 26: 18-19)

I don’t want to ever be disobedient to the call on my own life to share the wonderful good news of the true gospel with those brothers and sisters of mine that are lost in spiritual darkness.

I pray for that every day. I would that you pray with me for these whom Christ loves and paid the price for so many years ago.

One of the most awkward and often demeaning portions of the LDS Temple Ritual takes place during the Washing and Anointing procedure where temple workers wash and anoint with oil certain parts of the human anatomy. Many former Mormons, most of them women, have talked about the strange feelings they had during this portion of the ritual.

It is especially unnerving to the first time “patron”, who also receives his/her “new” name and the sacred Garment of the Priesthood following them washing and anointing. This procedure was first revealed to the world in the Saints Alive/Jeremiah film, “The Temple of the God Makers.” Literally, thousands of Mormons responded to the exposure of this cultic practice by leaving the church.

Now, once again, the Brethren have cleaned up their occult act, removing some of the most graphic aspects of the ritual from the Temple ceremonies which they previously claimed were divinely restored to their perfection, for time and all eternity. The ritual was changed quietly just a few weeks ago.

...... I am also an ordinance worker in the (name of city withheld) temple. I have noticed a change in the initiatory ordinance. It used to be that one went in naked except for the shield that was worn. They entered a booth, where a worker washed them, and then washed certain parts of the body (eyes, ears, bowels, loins, legs, arms etc.) They then proceeded to the anointing portion where one was anointed with olive oil and the same thing was repeated. (With all this why go to a day spa?) Finally they stepped out of the anointing booth to a booth where in they were clothed in the garment. This has changed within the last two weeks. I am wondering if this is a Church wide change? (I am assuming it is, as a friend of mine just went through Logan to get his own endowments and said it was different than his parents had told him.)

We have been asked not to discuss these changes outside the temple, and we have not been given ANY information regarding this change. I feel bad for the old people who spend so much time trying to memorize this stuff. At least for me I can quickly learn the stuff. But I wanted to let you know of the changes. They no longer wash and anoint specific parts of the body. One is washed on the forehead, and the same words are used, but those body parts are not washed. They then go to the anointing booth, where they are anointed as if given a blessing. All the same words are used, but no specific anointing. They then go and are clothed in the garment, but oddly enough they wear their one piece garment throughout the entire ceremony now. The temple gets stranger and stranger. Maybe someday we will also do away with the green little apron.

These changes are brand new (we just received this email on March 15, 2005). Not only is it interesting that the Mormon Church continues to change what it once claimed had been divinely restored to it alone but it is thrilling that this young temple worker has reached out to us with news from “inside.” It is encounters such as this and the dialog that we pray will follow that frames the mission of Saints Alive. It is why we exist – to be an outpost of truth for those in the midst of chaos.

I am sending out a chapter of this book with each Newsletter. Here is Chapter Two.

Parts of this book were originally published under the title,
The God Makers II.

Since the original book went out of print a number of years ago, I have taken the time to update it with a number of things that have surfaced since its publication years ago.

Although Mormonism is highly regarded for it social concerns, statistics from the State of Utah, whose population is overwhelmingly Mormon, indicate that Mormonism cannot produce a lifestyle that is any freer from societal ills than the rest of the country. That “Happiness is Family Home Evening” image of Mormonism doesn't go over so well at home in Utah!

Their high profile goodwill programs may include soup kitchens, aid to the homeless, flood victims, earthquake survivors and hurricane casualties, yet their "own members" often suffer neglect due to poor management practices of the LDS welfare program. Even secular welfare systems in Utah have had the same problems: Some disabled people in have had to sell everything just to survive while others have waited up to five years for payments of benefits. In early 1992, disabled Utahans claimed that the terrible management of the Utah Division of Determination Services caused delayed benefits to over 4,000 people. [1]

Bill Schnoebelen is the author of Wicca: Satan's Little White Lie, and co-author of Mormonism's Temple of Doom. He is a former Mormon and former Satanist. When interviewed for "The God Makers II" video, Bill commented:

We are seeing, in Utah, the fruits of the teachings of Mormonism reflected in social statistics. We are seeing homosexuality running rampant among people in Utah. We are seeing child abuse and teenage suicide. [2]

John Heinerman, an active Mormon at the time, is the co-author (with Anson Shupe) of The Mormon Corporate Empire and was the Director of The Anthropological Research Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. John commented on the same subject.

The Mormon Church is caught up in the dilemma of having to, for the first time, face the reality that there are major problems within its organization, with its membership that are just not going to go away. One of these (problems) is homosexuality. In 1981, homosexuality was in another category called "other moral offenses." In '82 it was taken out, and put into a category by itself.... Homosexuality has increased by 50%, 100%, 200%, and it has just gone upward.

Also adultery. The number one reason that the church excommunicates is for adultery, and its numbers are staggering and increasing every year. Another area of concern is the rising amount of child abuse within the LDS church...it is a growing problem. [3]

Among Heinerman's other concerns was the amount of prescription drug abuse and other types of crimes growing at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, which is the showcase of Mormonism:

"Here [at BYU] you have runaway abuse of prescription drugs. I quoted (in a talk I gave last night in La Mirada, California) from an FBI report that now Brigham Young University is not as safe as the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Brigham Young University has more aggravated crimes, and assaults...they smoke, and drink, and have gay clubs and lesbian clubs."

Heinerman concludes: "So what it shows is, that all is not well in Zion, and that there are major problems confronting our religion." [4]

Heinerman's comments about homosexuality at BYU were not surprising. As early as 1982, students at BYU published a two part series on LDS homosexuality and the gay lifestyle and the ways BYU and the LDS Church had chosen to deal with the phenomenon.

The report was published in an off campus student paper called The Seventh East Press. Staff Writer, Dean Huffaker presented an extremely balanced look at the collision course between homosexuality and Mormonism. Centering on the problems gays have at BYU, he interviewed "gays and homosexuals on and near campus - including a former BYU instructor, a former BYU professor, and former and current BYU students." He reported on the weekend exodus of gay BYU students to one of the most popular gay bars in Salt Lake and their regular visits to a gay bath in Salt Lake. The danger was always that BYU Security, along with its undercover agents were always trying to ferret out the gays who would be targeted for immediate disciplinary action. [5]

Huffaker reported that one homosexual, a former BYU professor named Steve, said that he struggled with the obvious inner turmoil for ten years while teaching at BYU. "While Steve was teaching at BYU, he was receiving help from the counseling center. His therapist told him that he was seeing three hundred students with the same problem." [6]

Readers of the articles were left with no doubt that the LDS Missionary program was a cradle of homosexuality. The Seventh East Press reported that in one group of 15 homosexuals alone, 13 were returned Missionaries.

The Church was stunned by the Seventh East Press' blatant disregard for the propriety or protocol one should use in dealing with church 'problems.' Those responsible for the indiscretion were called in and warned. In a follow-up issue, an article dealing with Book of Mormon discrepancies pushed church leaders past their level of tolerance. Key people within the Seventh East Press staff were transferred out of BYU and the Press died a quick and ignominious death. But, the secret was out. Mormonism was and still is a hot bed of homosexuality.

The church’s program of taking young men (and women) out of their natural environments, isolating them from all family and friends at a time when their hormones are raging at their highest levels, bunking them in extremely close quarters with one other lonely and frustrated youngster is a classic formula for trouble.

In the Spring of 1990, Evergreen, an organization of Mormons, ex-gays and friends, held a private, by invitation only meeting in Salt Lake City touting cures for homosexuality. The conference, "LDS Men Overcoming Homosexuality" attracted about 150 participants, [7] including Mormon Bishops and gay men. Obviously, there is more than just a small problem there in Utah, when gays, ex-gays and the LDS church leaders are meeting to come up with some answers to the homosexual dilemma in which they now find themselves.

In a State monopolized by a religious group that advertises marital harmony Utah’s marriage and divorce statistics are alarming. In the years reported, Utah's divorce rate was higher than the national average. [8] Fifty five thousand women were being abused annually by their partners. [9] Child abuse and neglect had increased 212 percent in the last decade, with over ten thousand new cases in one year alone. [10] Rape and sexual assault for adults had increased 93 percent during the same period. [11]

In child labor law violations, Utah ranked number one in a six state region. [12] The Utah Department of Health admits pregnancies of unwed teenagers is a growing problem. In 1988, 48% of all teen births were out of wedlock. [13] In addition, Utah's prison system was ranked fourth for rate of inmate population growth in 1989 with a 21 percent increase in the prison population. [14]

There has also been a staggering 379% increase in child sexual abuse to children under 14. Much of the abuse is incestuous, and sadly the perpetrators are given lenient sentences because of an oddity in Utah law that accommodates sexual abuse by a Mormon relative. [15] While State law provides stiff penalties for people who abuse children to whom they are not related, if a father sexually abuses his own children, the judge has the option of waiving any sentence and letting the Church step in and deal with him through their ecclesiastical system. [16]

A case in point was the appeal of Allen Hadfield in 1989. Hadfield had been convicted of sexual abuse of his 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter and was appealing to the State Supreme Court. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Hadfield’s attorney claimed that his client’s children were influenced to lie about him by a therapist. Hadfield, who is LDS, was convicted on four counts of sodomy and three counts of child abuse in a ritual satanic form.

In spite of the heinous nature of the crimes, Hadfield served only served six months on a work release program. Usual mandatory sentencing for such crimes is 10 years. But Hadfield was under church counseling. As we said above, Utah law allows judges like staunch Mormon Cullen Y. Christensen of Provo's 4th District Court to invoke an incest exception. Christensen found Hadfield qualified for probation under this exception, since he was being counseled for his deviant behavior by the church. [17]

In looking at the particular section of the referenced Utah Code, it is obvious that the Mormons manipulate even the intent of the exception. The actual wording states:

..the defendant has been accepted for mental health treatment in a recognized family sexual abuse treatment center which specializes in dealing with the kind of child sexual abuse occurring in this case.

Nevertheless, when a defendant walks into court with his Bishop and letters of affirmation by other leaders in the Mormon hierarchy and the Bishop advises the Mormon Judge that the church will handle the counseling, the deal is as good as done. The Mormon god and his priesthood authority have entered a plea on behalf of the defendant. What LDS judge would dare risk his own exaltation to godhood or his re-election by disagreeing?

Another example of the power of the Mormon religion to control decisions in Utah courtrooms was reported in an article "Did God Influence Jury? Court Asked to Decide."

The Utah Court of Appeals has been asked to determine if God's influence in a jury room is an improper interference of jury deliberations during a criminal trial. Two people charged with conspiracy to hide evidence of an office-building burning were found guilty after a male in the jury "asserted his spiritual authority in the said religion" [Mormonism] and thereby "influenced his fellow adherents to submit the question of guilt to the will of God by joining him in group prayer" claimed the defense attorney, Loni Deland. "Immediately following the prayer, the said juror expressed the "answer" to the prayer - that [the defendants] were guilty." After that, Mr. Deland said, all prayer participants changed their opinions to adhere to the will of God, and a 6-2 vote in favor of acquittal became a 6-2 vote in favor of conviction without further evidentiary considerations.

In his brief he said, "It is an undeniable fact of life in the state of Utah that one religion dominates virtually all aspects of life. The State Legislature openly acknowledges that the approval of the Mormon Church's hierarchy is a prerequisite to successful passages of proposed laws touching on that religion's tenets. It is also common knowledge that church adheres to a male-only priesthood which governs on the premise that the church president is a prophet and rules with divine inspiration and authority which flows from him to the faithful via the priesthood." Mr. Deland said that "all prayer participants changed their opinions to adhere to "the will of God,” without further evidentiary considerations" when they learned that the male juror after calling for prayer "indicated he had divine guidance that the defendants were guilty." De Land said, "the juror who asserted his spiritual authority" manipulated his client’s verdict. [19]

I have been an expert witness in a number of LDS related sexual child abuse legal cases. In every case, the church and its own system had protected the perpetrator from legal action that would have helped the victims and stopped the abuse. I one case, the perpetrator had been moved from one Ward where he had sexually abused children and to another, where he was made a Home Teacher (authorizing his authority to visit church member homes in the name of the church) for several Single Mother homes where he immediately began the abuse cycle all over again.

I have just taken you through a minefield of social problems that are out of control in Utah, problems that the LDS church pretends do not exist. The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. If it really were the only true church, operating with divine, holy revelation on a daily basis, then the LDS church, its prophet of god and its social, welfare and religious systems would have turned Utah into a virtual Garden of Eden. But it hasn't. Far from it.

Worse, because when the LDS church would rather the sins of its common people not be there, they aren't. The good LDS people live in a perpetual state of denial and when sin does push its ugly head through the roof of the house so all can see, it's then blamed on the failure of the individual to live up to the standards of the Church. The Church is always right, always pure always without spot or wrinkle. What the LDS people end up as are either robots or as broken people unable to see a way out of this paradox. Where do they go with their sin?

Years ago, in the early days of Saints Alive, I was doing a daily radio program that was broadcast into most of Utah. While the program generated a lot of correspondence in most areas, there were certain rural pockets from which where not a single letter came. Saints Alive had no idea if anyone even listened to the show in those areas. When time and scheduling problems made it impossible to maintain the daily program, it was eventually closed down.

Not long after they went off the air, I received an unsigned letter with no return address. The postmark on the envelope was from one of those ‘silent’ towns. The writer told of how she was a physically abused Mormon wife and mother who was a virtual prisoner in her own house. She shared how she had tried to get help and counseling from the local Bishop. He told her husband that she was complaining about him and that only brought on more beatings. Her own parents told her that she was not working hard enough at being a good Mormon wife. She thought about suicide often.

One day, alone at home, she turned on the radio and tuned in to the Saints Alive program, "Dialogue." She listened as my co-host Jim Witham and I talked about the love and grace and joy of knowing Christ. She gave her life to Jesus a few days later while listening to us call the lost to Calvary. The program became her one hope, her only contact with reality. She organized her schedule around those 15 minutes each day and her life became a new one, centered in Jesus, filled with peace. In spite of all the turmoil in her life, she had found joy and a solid anchor in a raging storm. She wanted me to know how much good that program had done for just one Mormon woman. She wanted me to know that Jim and I had been carrying the bulk of her heavy burden in the love and caring we had shown each day on the air.

That's the way I feel about my own role in helping to create The God Makers and The God Makers II films and books. Someone has to speak for these silent victims, someone must be their voice. Someone needs to stand up to this giant “Big Brother” masquerading as a benevolent family centered church that preaches Christ.

The reader needs to understand that when the original God Makers movie was released two decades ago, relatively little was known about Mormonism in mainstream Christianity. The film hit like a bombshell and was being shown in as many as a thousand churches per month. Scores of ministries to the cults across the country were showing the 16 mm version of the film almost non-stop for several years. Even today, more than twenty years later, the video version of the film has been one of Jeremiah Films' all time bestsellers. It is a rare church library that doesn’t have a video copy of the film on its shelf.

Today, Mormonism is no longer a quiet, quaint, little Quaker type sect tucked away in the mountains of Utah. It is a major business conglomerate/religion with its tens of thousands of missionaries wielding the power of success around the globe.

Mormon leaders may have been asleep when the first film hit, but they were ready and waiting for the new one! The first copies of the God Makers II video went out of the mailrooms at Jeremiah Films and Saints Alive without covers or jackets. Too many people were waiting to see this new look at the Mormonism of the nineties to wait. The initial response was tremendously positive. In early December, 1992, I brought the new video into Utah for three premier showings, scheduled for Salt Lake City, Brigham City and Ogden.

Even before I arrived in Utah to premier the film, its detractors pulled out all the stops. The day before I arrived, an organization called The National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ) had issued a widely distributed news release attacking the film that went out across the country over A/P wires. It was as follows:

A STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE AND THE UTAH CHAPTER: FOR RELEASE DECEMBER 10 AT 10:00 AM:
A statement by Gillian Martin Sorensen, President of the National Conference, about God Makers II:
[Contact Chris Bugbee (1-212-206-0006)]

Like its predecessor, God Makers II presents an intemperate polemic against the Mormon faith disguised as an objective documentary. Using a carefully selected mix of sensational and unsubstantiated first-person accounts, lurid allegations, and a highly subjective interpretation of Mormon teachings, God Makers II draws upon the incendiary arsenal of religious bigotry.

Frank discussion of the truth claims of different faiths is a legitimate avenue of inter-religious dialogue,” Sorensen acknowledged. “But, base appeals to fear and hatred have no place in such efforts, and must be condemned wherever they are encountered.”

“With its depiction of the Mormon Church as an evil empire founded upon sexual exploitation, predatory greed and Satanism,” Sorensen said, “God Makers II carries the odious scent of unreasoning prejudice. Let the public beware.

President Sorensen’s statement reflects the feelings and has the endorsement of the Utah Chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews,” said presiding Co-Chair Ted Speros. “A statement of our mission is to promote understanding and respect among all races, religions and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolutions and education. God Makers II is an affront to religious understanding. [20]

What the AP report did not say was that the NCCJ was the same group that claimed the very same things about the first movie, way back in 1984. At that time they claimed to have spent a major effort in researching the movie before they concluded it was "religious pornography". Yet, the NCCJ failed then and failed again to contact Jeremiah Films, Saints Alive, or any single participant for a single document to support a single statement. I would guess that their only input in a blatant attempt to discredit this film was the Public Relations office at the Mormon Church.

The NCCJ failed to identify over a dozen Mormons in the first study group, failed to mention that there wasn't a single orthodox Jew or conservative Christian on the team, either time. They also failed to state who the Mormon members of their Board presently were, or how they had managed to get this Statement ready for release in Utah on December 10th, the day before I arrived there. It had taken them nearly a year to release their report on the first "God Makers" film. This one was out within a month of the first videos being shipped out from Jeremiah Films. The Mormons could sit back and smile while this unorthodox group, led by Mormons within it, did their cleanup work. The NCCJ news release and its authors were without merit! Who gave them the authority to judge what specific lines of doctrine separate any group from Christian orthodoxy when they, themselves weren't even part of it?

The one sad part of the matter is that several other ministries to Mormons joined in with the NCCJ to take some shots at the film and at us. These groups felt we should be strictly intellectual in our statements. A lady from one such group in Utah was interviewed both in the press and on television and stated that “The things [they] object to [in Mormonism] can be laid out and documented. I can present logical reasons not to believe in Mormon claims. The Decker film appeals more to emotion in a supermarket tabloid style." [21]

The fact is, the movie clearly stood on its own merit and is more than well documented. I wanted to face these accusations in Utah. If something out of order, it was far better to face it openly and honestly right at the start. I read the NCCJ report in full and the negative public statement by the fellow Christian ministry, above, after each showing and took a vote on who was telling things straight. By show of hands the film easily won by a ratio of well over 50 to 1. The people in Utah already know Christian fact from Mormon fiction. They have to live with this dark side of Mormonism every day. The film was a welcome bit of reality.

I wish you could have been with me in Utah as the movie was shown. The audience participation times were alive and positive. There was a great, enthusiastic response in the center of the area where the film would obvious meet its severest criticism, virtually at the front door of Mormonism.

In one of the meetings, a man in the audience stood and said he had a statement to make. He said that he had been a Mormon for many years and he had just one thing to say about the movie. I fully expected to be called to repentance by the man, but was in for a surprise. The man stated that he had watched the film with great intent and "every single thing in that film is .......absolutely true!" He said that he had been gathering notes on the Church over the years and had over 1200 pages of documentation that supported the exact same things the film pointed out. He was amazed that we had not made the film from his own notes.

Someone in the audience asked him why he was still a Mormon if he believed the things the film had revealed were true. He was silent for a moment and then responded. He said that his wife was bedridden, an invalid for whom he did everything from clothing and cleaning to feeding. But, his wife was a Mormon and had told him that if he released his data, she would leave him even if she had to crawl out of the house. He told me later that he could never get anyone from the church to come to help him, even for a few hours. Yet, even though she relied on him for everything, the church had a death grip on her that was stronger than anything he could offer her.

Yes, the film was hard hitting and yes, the Mormons were less than thrilled. But this is not a witnessing tool for wooing Mormons. It is a film to warn the Christian church! To warn an apathetic church, a church that has gone back to sleep and a church who is ignoring the wolves ravaging its own flocks! It is time to wake up that slumbering church once more to the shouts of danger!

[1] The Evangel, May -June, 1992, page 10, quoting The Salt Lake Tribune, 2/13/92

[5] Huffaker, Homosexuality at BYU a two Part Series, Seventh East Press, Provo, Utah, March 27, 1982, April 12, 1982, page 1, both issues

[7] Dawn House, Evergreen Holds Private Meet for LDS Bishops, Gays, Salt Lake Tribune, May 7, 1990, page 2B

[8] Saints Alive, Update Report. Utah Divorce Rate Still High. Feb. 1990, pg 4 cites Salt Lake Tribune 1/11/90

[9] Saints Alive, Update Report. Concern about Domestic Violence Increases. March 1992, pg 3 cites Salt Lake Tribune 1/4/92).

[10] The Inner Circle. Vol. IX. JULY 92. #7. Child Abuse and Neglect Jump 20%, pg 1 cites the Utah Division of Family Service's Report 1991

[11] Saints Alive, Update Report. "Zion" Going Downhill. June-July 1992, pg 3 cites Salt Lake rape crisis center

[12] Saints Alive, Update Report. May 1990. Utah High in Child Labor-law violations cites The Salt Lake Tribune, April 24 1990

[13] Saints Alive Newsletter, Update Report. Jan. 91. pg 4. Unwed Teen Pregnancies Reaching Crisis referencing a Utah Holiday Magazine article dated 11/90

[16] Saints Alive. Feb 1990. pg 2. Utah Child Abuse rises 44% in two years, reporting on article on Child Abuse increases, Salt Lake Tribune, 1/24/90

[18] Utah Criminal Code 76-5-406.5, Circumstances required for probation or suspension of sentence for sex offense against a child, Section 1.h.

[19] Paul Rolly, Did God Influence Jury?, Salt Lake Tribune, March 17, 1988, page 4B.

[21] Peggy Fletcher Stack, Attacking LDS Church Is Way of Life For Some, Salt Lake Tribune, December 7, 1992, Section d, page 1.

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