Book Review/Summary "Church of Lies" by Flora Jessop

"Church of Lies" by Flora Jessop 

 Flora grew up in the FLDS church, which is still controlled by the infamous self-proclaimed prophet Warren

Jeffs. Today, she is a well-known anti-polygamous advocate. This heartbreaking, but ultimately triumphant, narrative begins in Flora's own words: "My name is Flora Jessop. I've been called apostate, vigilante, and crazy bitch, and maybe I am. But some people call me a hero, and I'd like to think they're right too. If I am a hero, maybe it's because every time I can play a part in saving a child or a woman from a life of servitude and degradation, I'm saving a little piece of me, too."

Flora, one of 28 children born to her father and his three wives, grew up in the bordering cities of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah. Her childhood was anything but idyllic. Abuse ran rampant in her home. Her father, someone she should have been able to count on for protection and support turned out to be the worst perpetrator of all. At age 8, her father molested her. At age 12, he raped her. 

When Flora was 14 years-old, she managed to escape her abusive situation. Her freedom, however, was short-lived. Although the woman who took her in as part of the underground railroad was kind to her, she felt lonely and scared. The outside world was foreign to her. One day, she called her uncle to come take her home. Fred Jessop was her father's half-brother and the bishop of the FLDS. Instead of bringing Flora home, she spent the next two years a captive in his home. Flora describes living in a room no larger than a closet, being beaten and tortured by her Aunt Lydia, and made to be a domestic servant in their household. 

Eventually, she was given a choice: marry or be sent to a mental institution. Again, she chose freedom. Flora's husband-to-be was her first cousin, Phillip. He and Flora had enjoyed one another's company prior to their marriage. In fact, it was the "God Squad," a secretive group of men who patrolled the town, who had seen them talking together and reported it to her Uncle Fred. In twisted FLDS logic, this alone was a cause for marriage. Phillip and Flora were given a gun-shot wedding in Las Vegas by a Justice of the Peace. 

Ironically, this arranged marriage turned out to be a source of freedom for Flora. Although she was only 16 years-old at the time of her wedding vows, she was legally married. That meant legal emancipation. Flora chose to leave three weeks later and, with the help of her husband, she moved to Las Vegas. 

An out-of-the-blue call from a producer of the show 60 Minutes changed her life forever. Although Flora was initially startled, she eventually decided to give an interview. For her, it was "...the first of many media interviews I'd do and the beginning of my lifelong passion to tell the world the truth about polygamy and its abuses." Sadly, it wasn't all roses after that for Flora. She went through a drug bing to bury the guilt and shame of her past. She survived an attempted kidnapping by her Uncle Fred. Flora's life became something of a giant road trip, traveling from place to place, and from one bad relationship to the next. Flora also found stripping to be a lucrative career option. The one joy from this period of her life was the birth of her beautiful baby daughter, Shauna. 

The next chapter of Flora's life developed into something drastically different. During this time, she fell in love with Tim, the man of her dreams, and they and their children became a family. Flora also learned that she need not hate and/or fear God. Last, this new era ushered in Flora's declaration of an all-out war against the FLDS.

 In April of 2001, Flora's baby sister Ruby Jessop was forced into an unwanted arranged marriage to her step-brother, Haven Barlow. Ruby was only 14 years-old. Flora's unsuccessful attempt to protect Ruby meant that the family had to hider her away. Thus began more than a decade-long mission to rescue her sister. Flora's search for Ruby soon led to anti-polygamy activism. She became a member of the underground railroad, helping young girls to leave their abusive Mormon fundamentalist communities. 

She began an organization called "Help the Child Brides." Later, she was recruited to be the executive director of the "Child Protection Project." One of Flora's most interesting underground railroad experiences was with two 16 year-old girls-- friends and both named Fawn-- who were leaving the FLDS. KTVK 3TV's reporter Mike Watkiss came along for the ride, filming the rescue as it was happening. Later, Watkiss created a documentary from the footage, "Colorado City and the Underground Railroad." (see video below)

Flora's book highlights some of the heart-wrenching stories of those she tried to help. Their courage to leave seemed to be a mere first step in a long process to claim true freedom. Life on the "outside" would be filled with legal battles, all while trying to recoup from their pasts and trying to acclimate to their new lives. For the young runaway girls, simple things such as a haircut and new clothes were powerful experiences. So, too, were learning to make choices for themselves. 

Last, Flora recounts the arrest, trial, and conviction of Warren Jeffs as well as the raid on the YFZ ranch compound in Texas. For her, these have been victories. They have also served to help get her message out about the horrors and abuses going on within the FLDS and other Mormon polygamist communities. The tattered tapestry of Flora's past has helped to weave a safety net for others. She chooses to be grateful for the painful experiences of her past, for they have helped to shape her into who she is today: a survivor, an activist, and a heroine. 

Though her work is far from over, Flora works tirelessly on in her quest to bring freedom to an oppressed people-- those who live not in a foreign, far-away land, but men, women, and children right in the heart of America. ~ ~ ~ As a side-note, earlier this year in January, Flora's dreams of rescuing her sister Ruby finally came true. Ruby, now 26 years-old was able to leave the FLDS with her six children, ranging in ages from 2 to 10 years of age. She recently gave her first interview with Katie Couric concerning her ordeal. We wish Flora, Ruby, and her children all the best as they begin their new lives!   -- Review by PlygKoolAid 

FLDS Respect and Honesty, and Me

How honest are the FLDS and the attorneys they hire to represent them? I have no doubts about the utter dishonesty of the FLDS and their leadership. Who is that, by the way? Is it Warren Jeffs, since he is still the "president" of the company, and it IS a company. Is he still leading the FLDS' business?

Will Warren decide if Willie Jessop will or won't be written a check for $30 million after a recent court judgement? Or will Lyle Jeffs or John Wayman? Does anyone know who is running this organized crime family at this point? Is it being run from a state prison in Texas? Is it run from the YFZ?

For those of you who have never interacted, on any real life level, with active members of the FLDS, let me share a story with you.

On February 6, 2009 I traveled to the Tom Green County Courthouse, in San Angelo, to attend a hearing regarding a 12 year-old girl child in Texas custody, who was the identified victim of sexual abuse. She was the girl remembered best as the tiny child in the arms of Warren Steed Jeffs, pictured as the recipient of a deep kiss by her new "husband."

As I was getting out of my truck that day, another truck pulled in beside me, and out came two women and a man. One of the women was dressed professionally, and the other was obviously a member of the FLDS, whom I had never met. I walked some distance behind them, and the man was walking close to the FLDS woman. The two were in discussion. The professional looking woman was lugging her purse and some bags.

As the group of three reached the steps of the courthouse, I watched the man and FLDS woman start up the steps ahead of the woman I now presumed to be his assistant, since she struggled with the bags all by herself, all the way up the courthouse steps.

When I got to the top of the steps still behind them, the security guard inside the courthouse asked me to place my bag in the bin in front of me for x-ray, which I did. Then he asked if I had a cell phone, which I said I did.Then he asked me if I was an attorney, and I replied quite clearly so the group of the three in front of me could hear, "No. I'm not an attorney. I'm an anti-polygamy activist."

You could have heard a pin drop in the lobby of the courthouse. The three had stopped speaking and were staring at me. The guard explained I had to turn over my cell phone and I would sign to get it back, if I left the courthouse. I turned it over and filled in the log. Then I walked to the end of the table to wait for my bag to come through the xray machine. And I waited. Finally I said to the guard, "Excuse me but where is my green bag?" He looked at me, suddenly seeming uncomfortable and said, "I don't know. You don't have it?"

The feeling of panic that swept over me was almost indescribable as I frantically started looking around the lobby, and finally my eyes came to rest on the back of the man with the two women. There he was, standing in front of the elevator, holding MY BAG!

"He's got it!" I yelled, and pointed. The guard looked over at him and the man looked at the elevator door which was opening, and back to me, then chuckled and started walking back towards us at the x-ray table. He extended the bag out to my reach and said it was an honest mistake and he was just trying to help his friend carry things.

I took it back, standing there clutching it, and just flabbergasted at the audacity. I had, moments before, watched him completely ignore his assistant's struggles all the way up a flight of steep courthouse steps, and sheer seconds after finding out who I was, he was in possession of my bag heading for an elevator. And I was supposed to believe it was an honest mistake, because he possessed some sort of chivalrous, gentlemanly or mannerly nature? Not by my observation, he didn't.

Upon entering the court room where the hearing was to be held, I discovered the man, who had almost absconded with my bag, and the two women with him, had taken the seats at the table reserved for defendants.  I then sat right behind them on the first row. As the court room began to fill, the man decided to stand up and start introducing himself to people, "Hello, my name is Brett Pritchard, and I represent Barbara Jessop, and you are?"

The room was becoming ever more crowded and Willie Jessop came in with an FLDS woman and they sat right behind me. Then Merril Jessop came in, and came and sat right next to me. I was behind Barbara, next to Merril and backed by Willie. Mr. Pritchard eventually looked over at me and asked me who I was, and I repeated that I was an anti-polygamy activist. He sat down in his seat, threw me a backwards glance and smiled, then jokingly asked me if I were going to jump up with a sign soon and start protesting in the courtroom. I leaned back, crossed my arms, smiled and said, "Oh, no sir. That's not my style. That's not my style at all."

That was the hearing where I watched Texas give that child to a polygamist relative. That was the hearing where I sat behind a woman who had knowingly and willingly handed her baby over to be raped by a pedophile, because she believes he is a "prophet." Did I think about reaching out and yanking her head backwards by that long braid? Heck yes! But I didn't do it.

I think the real question here, considering the record of the FLDS and those who work for them should be, 'What will they not do?'

I will leave it to the FLDS to decide what my style is, but no one, not the FLDS and not the state of Texas can say that I have not acted in a respectful manner, especially considering what I have so far got back for my efforts.

Written by: K. Dee Ignatin -  K. Dee is the Executive Director at Americans Against Abuses of Polygamy, a non profit organization.


We have other great articles she has written in the blog!

Warren Jeffs’ Batty New Writings from Jail

Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who seems determined to single-handedly keep the beleaguered U.S. Postal Service alive, has sent out his third mass mailing of “revelations” from God this year. The latest set of writings tend toward the apocalyptic, predicting that “consuming fire,” earthquakes, and illness will soon sweep the world.

“I shall cause the waters to boil, volcanoes, earthquakes, storms, the desolating sickness of an overflowing scourge, also pestilences of disease, and other destructive powers shall soon be felt by all peoples, nations, tongues, kindreds, and governing powers,” Jeffs wrote, quoting God, in his October 31 “Revelation of the Lord.”

The revelations are written in the same archaic and incoherent style that Texas Monthly’s Katy Vine noted Jeffs favored at his trial. “Let the nation humble themselves who are thus of a persecuting zeal against my holy Celestial Law of Celestial Marriage of Plural revealing,” Jeffs wrote.

As in previous writings, Jeffs took time to muse on world affairs, instructing Turkey to stand with Israel against Iran.

Jeffs, who stood trial in San Angelo, made sure the Tom Green County Commissioners received the packets. “We’ll just have to wait and see,” Commissioner Ralph Hoelscher told San Angelo Standard-Times’ Matt Waller of Jeffs’ revelations. 

Jeffs, serving a life sentence in Palestine’s Powledge Unit for child sexual assault of his underage brides, has turned his prison cell into a makeshift office where he is churning out religious texts at a record clip. In mid-November, FLDS faithful sent out thousands of copies of a different set of Jeffs’ rambling revelations, some of which wound up in the mailboxes of Texas judges, according to Harvey Rice of the Houston Chronicle.

“I looked at this and thought, either they sent this to every judge or I got some bad stuff coming my way,” Galveston County District Judge Susan Criss, who received the 247-page packet, told Rice. The Galveston County Sheriff's Office took the writings and considered conferring with a terrorism-focused FBI Task on the contents, Rice reported.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office seemed less concerned. “The threats according to Warren Jeffs seem to be coming from God . . . and there is nothing I can do about that,” a spokesman for the Utah Attorney General told Rice when asked whether his office would investigate.

Back in February, Jeffs sent a threatening letter to Obama, promising that the lord would send “great destruction” to Illinois if Jeffs were not freed, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported.

Curious if Jeffs marked your corner of the world for destruction? Back in November, the Salt Lake Tribune’s polygamy reporter Lindsay Whitehurst plotted out “the areas slated for God's wrath” on a handy (and hilarious) Google map.

Those interested in purchasing their own (keepsake?) copy can do so on FLDS.org, where Jeffs writings are listed by ISBN number. Christmas is just around the corner. 

Latest revelations from Warren Jeffs

(Source: http://www.tmdailypost.com/article/religion/warren-jeffs-batty-new-writings-jail    Written by: Sonia Smith Dec 8,  2011)

Warren Jeffs demands polygamists' support from prison

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Warren Jeffs is tightening his grip on the polygamist group he leads as "prophet" while he is in prison, demanding people abandon amenities such as toys, pets and recreational vehicles to give more money to their church, possibly to support the sect's massive ranch in Texas, a sect member said.

Members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the twin border cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., are being threatened with excommunication, potentially losing their family and property, if they do not follow through.

"Because of the lack of resources in Texas, he is trying to mandate other communities turn in their resources," said Willie Jessop, an FLDS member who is not loyal to Jeffs.

Jeffs is in a Texas prison serving a sentence of life plus 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting two girls ages 12 and 15.

That fact isn't known to the vast majority of Jeffs' followers, Jessop said.

FLDS members aren't being allowed to have things like bicycles, ATVs, trampolines or toys. There is no Internet access for faithful followers of Jeffs, and pets, or any animals that don't bring monetary gain, are forbidden, Jessop said.

In trials of FLDS members in Texas, law enforcement personnel noted that when they raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch in April 2008, searching for someone who reported being sexually assaulted, they removed more than 400 children but found no children's toys in the residential houses on the ranch.

The cash flow realized from constriction of luxuries and entertainment among the FLDS is money "to cover up the immoral conduct of Warren Jeffs, and it is corruption at the highest level," Jessop said.

Sam Brower, a private investigator who has built a career looking into the FLDS and keeps up with members, said Jeffs has given a deadline of Dec. 31 for his supporters to prove their loyalty.

Members are now required to pay $5,000 more each month, he said, an incremental amount from previous mandates to pay tithes plus $500, then $1,000, then $2,000.

The money may be going to "places of refuge," FLDS outposts around the country, Brower said. Much of the money may also be going to construction projects, he and Jessop said.

New construction continues at the Schleicher County ranch. A massive domed building with walls 30 feet high can be seen under construction.

The rules for the YFZ Ranch, which included only handpicked followers of Jeffs, seem now to be applied to all other communities, Jessop said.

"I think clearly there is an effect that will take place in Texas based on the ethnic cleansing he is trying to impose on other communities," Jessop said. "The good side of this is that it has exposed that this is not about religion. It's about taking people's lifestyle away in the name of religion.

"The bad part is, people are going broke trying to sustain the appetite of cash at the YFZ Ranch."

People no longer follow Warren Jeffs because he is beloved, they follow him out of fear, Jessop said.

The cash flow realized from constriction of luxuries and entertainment among the FLDS is money "to cover up the immoral conduct of Warren Jeffs, and it is corruption at the highest level," Jessop said.

(Matthew Waller is a reporter for the Standard Times in San Angelo, Texas.)
(Courtesy of http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/jeffs120711/jeffs120711/)

FLDS community said to be purging itself of outside influence

SALT LAKE CITY — A new crackdown on followers of Warren Jeffs by his own lieutenants, and a ban on such everyday items as children's toys, have triggered turmoil in the FLDS community. Former members of the group say a large-scale purge is underway in the twin towns of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah. Many followers of the imprisoned polygamist leader are being forced out and many others are said to be leaving voluntarily because they're disturbed by what's going on. "A lot of people are scared; a lot of people are just getting tired," said Isaac Wyler, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. "With the numbers of people that are being kicked out right now, yeah, I'd say it's a purge."

With the numbers of people that are being kicked out right now, yeah, I'd say it's a purge,

–Isaac Wyler, former FLDS member

Among the new edicts, according to Wyler, is a ban children's toys. "Also," Wyler said, "they have been told to get rid of their bicycles and trampolines." Observers say it's part of a program to cleanse and purify FLDS members, with a deadline of Dec. 31. FLDS faithful reportedly have to profess their loyalty to Jeffs and to show they're obeying his moral edicts. If they don't do so by the end of the year, they're out. Attempts to reach FLDS leaders for a statement were unsuccessful. One person who has acted as an FLDS spokesman in the past said he believes the leaders would have no comment on the new developments.

Convicted child-rapist Warren Jeffs is reportedly still pulling the strings from his prison cell in Texas. Former members say his edicts are passed on through phone calls to FLDS leaders. His brother, Lyle Jeffs, appears to be the most powerful FLDS leader outside of prison. Tensions are on the rise, according to private investigator Sam Brower who has tracked the group's activities for years. "I think Warren's getting them wound up pretty tight," Brower said. "I worry now more than I ever have before."  More than 100 used bikes are for sale at a business alongside the highway in the FLDS community. Brower said he knows an ousted FLDS member who tried to give bicycles as gifts to his estranged children who are living with their mother under FLDS control. "He brought brand new bicycles to his kids," Brower said, "An hour later they were in the dumpster."

They've completely banned Internet from Colorado City. They don't talk to anybody on the outside unless it's for business.

–Carlos Holm, relative for FLDS members

Former member Carlos Holm, who has numerous relatives in the group, said many FLDS members are quitting or expecting to be forced out by Dec. 31. Holm said FLDS leaders are cracking down on entertainment and outside sources of information, enforcing bans on DVD movies, news media content and the like. "They've completely banned the Internet from Colorado City," Holm said. "They don't talk to anybody on the outside unless it's for business reasons." He also said FLDS members were ordered to make a list of their personal possessions. "And they're supposed to write down everything they had," Holm said, "every last item in their house — from a dish-cloth to every butter knife — everything they owned. And if they owned any movies they were supposed to write that too. But they'd obviously lie about it so they wouldn't be kicked out."

FLDS families have been told to turn over $5,000 to the church, Brower said, and all members have been told they must be re-baptized by Dec. 31.

Wyler said members are required to profess their loyalty to Jeffs in personal interrogations by the end of the year. "They're going to ask them if they believe that Warren Jeffs is the prophet of God and will they obey him 100 percent, and things like that," Wyler said. Interrogations have been so intense, focusing on intimate sexual matters, that many are quitting before they're kicked out, Wyler said. "They're just leaving. They're just saying the questions they ask are way too personal and they feel violated when they're done," he said. He believes by the end of the year, hundreds will have quit or been kicked out. Typically, departing members leave behind fractured families because church leaders reassign their wives and children to faithful FLDS members. The disruption of family life could put FLDS leaders in danger, according to Holm. "There will be violence," Holm said, "because people have been, their whole entire life has been completely destroyed by Warren Jeffs."

"They're having meetings every day. (Warren Jeffs is) backing them against the wall."

–Sam Brower, private investigator

Wyler and Brower said the bans on toys and bicycles stems from printed declarations by Jeffs. He has taught that children should not be encouraged to play but should be put to work and, in the case of girls, be turned into mothers. "His purpose is to take all the joy out of life," Brower said. Wyler said a ban on toys is not a surprise, since similar bans have been in effect for years at the FLDS ranch in Texas. "They'll do anything in a cult," Wyler said. "To me, it's a cult. And the more control they gain over the people the more cultish it becomes."  Brower also worries increasing pressure by Jeffs on his own followers is a sign of a dangerous tendency. "They're having meetings every day. He's backing them against the wall," Brower said, comparing Jeffs to such notorious religious leaders as David Koresh and Rev. Jim Jones.

"It's getting really weird," Brower said. "The rabid 'Warren-ites' are taking over." On Monday, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff received a mailing of purported revelations from Jeffs. The writings claim that God wants imprisoned polygamists released. They also predict death and destruction to countries that don't "cleanse" themselves, including the United States.  Brower said he has information that three truckloads of "revelations" were mailed last week from Colorado City, presumably copies of the documents received by Shurtleff.   Email: hollenhorst@ksl.com

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(Courtesy of KSL.com Utah.)
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The Kingston Group - Now this group, you could say, "goes weird"!

Kody Brown is a Fundamentalist Mormon.We here at SWB have delved into learning about the Fundamentalist Mormons. We've looked at the F.L.D.S. - The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; and the A.U.B. - The Apostolic United Brethren; and had a few posts about Blackmore Group and Centennial. This article starts us into the "crazy and sick" world of the Kingston Group. All of these groups believe in the same basic tenets- // Mormon fundamentalism (also called fundamentalist Mormonism) is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administration of Brigham Young, an early president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Mormon fundamentalists seek to uphold tenets and practices no longer held by mainstream Mormons (members of the LDS Church). The principle most often associated with Mormon fundamentalism is plural marriage, a form of polygyny first taught by Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. A second and closely associated principle is that of the United Order, a form of egalitarian communalism.(Source: Wikipedia)

 When Incest Becomes a Religious Tenet

Practice sets 1,000-member Kingston clan apart from other Utah polygamous groups

Written by  Greg Burton 

The Salt Lake Tribune, April 25, 1999

On a dilapidated dairy farm at the end of Redwood Road in Woods Cross, the late John Ortell Kingston, would-be Utah dairy king and self-anointed leader of one of the largest polygamous clans in America, fancied himself a geneticist.
In breeding stock, he looked for high milk production. At home, the desired traits were his own. "My father experimented inbreeding with his cattle and then he turned to his children," says Connie Rugg, one of John Ortell's estimated 65 children and one of a handful of Kingston relatives who have fled the clan. Faced with the forced marriage to an uncle, Rugg left the Kingstons.
"All my life, my family told me I had to marry a Kingston," says Rugg. "I could choose, but it had to be a brother, uncle or cousin."
While the clan shares many of the beliefs of other polygamous groups in Utah, incest, for many of the Kingston leaders, is their indelible difference.
Incest draws members inward. Fear of exposure fosters a culture of distrust, some of which is directed at members who work in Kingston-owned businesses, live in Kingston-owned homes and worship in Kingston churches.
Many Kingstons -- even those who share preferred lineage from John Ortell and LaDonna Peterson, the second of his 13 wives -- live in run-down shacks at a coal yard, above warehouses near the dairy farm and in ramshackle apartment buildings and trailers.
If female, they are married off to the few, powerful prominent males: incest is the fate of many teen-age girls. If male, some of these same "worker bees" marry only once.
"My father manipulated and controlled people," Rugg says. "He wanted to control his children and grandchildren through genetics. He believed he had superior bloodlines."
Kingston clan leaders declined requests, including letters by registered mail, to comment on this story.
The church sprang from the ideas of John Ortell Kingston's father and was founded by his brother, Charles Elden Kingston, in 1935. John Ortell Kingston was the first Kingston to experiment with incest, marrying and bearing children with two half-sisters and two nieces, according to numerous ex-members of the clan.
Ex-members' claims of incest are bolstered by court records claiming John Ortell "failed either to support or acknowledge" three children by his niece, (Susan) Mary Gustafson. In an effort to recoup $15,679 in welfare, the Utah Department of Social Services filed an order declaring John Ortell the father of three of Gustafson's children.
John and Charles' brother, Merlin Barnum Kingston, married and had children with four nieces and a half-sister, say ex-members, including one of his own daughters. At least six of Merlin's incestuously conceived children in turn married half-siblings, couplings that subsequently produced children with various deformities, says Rowenna Erickson, an ex-member who left her polygamous husband.
"It makes you sick; it turns your stomach," she says. "And yet nobody wants to do anything about it. Nobody, from the police to [Utah] Gov. [Mike] Leavitt, cares that these children are abused from conception to marriage." Today, six sons and two daughters of John Ortell and LaDonna have married at least 20 half-sisters, nieces and first cousins, giving birth to a family tree that twists and tangles, and, at times, withers with children born of genetic deficiencies.
A seventh son, Hyrum Dalton Kingston, is a polygamist but has not married incestuously, according to ex-members.
Although it is a felony under Utah law for close relatives to have sex, only one Kingston -- John and LaDonna's fifth son, David Ortell -- has been criminally charged with incest.
Last year, a 16-year-old daughter of John Daniel Kingston was forced to marry her uncle, David Ortell Kingston, criminal charges allege. In a secret church ceremony conducted on the 15th day of the month, the girl became her uncle's 15th wife. He later gave the girl a ring with 15 diamonds, she testified.
He sent her to live in a coal yard with other polygamous wives and their many children in South Salt Lake, visiting her rarely and usually only to have sex, she testified.
In May, the girl said she was belt-whipped by her father inside a Kingston-owned barn in Box Elder County for fleeing the marriage, and was abandoned in the home of another of John Daniel's wives. The girl's father and mother, Susan Nelson (one of John Daniel's many wives) are half-sister and brother. They purportedly have 10 children, the girl told police.
Her subsequent recounting of the ordeal is the centerpiece of a pending trial on sex abuse and incest against her uncle, David. Her father pleaded no contest April 21 to third-degree felony child abuse and faces zero to five years in prison at his June sentencing.
Salt Lake County prosecutors' initial charge of incest against David Ortell Kingston was kindled by the victim's story of manipulation and molestation.
The clan's other numerous incestuous couplings among consenting adults, though, present a troubling scenario for law enforcement: these are crimes of a sexual nature committed in private in a closed society.
Farm Roots of Incest: Marriages in the Kingston clan must be sanctioned by Paul Kingston, current head of the church, although ex-members say Paul's brothers, Daniel, David and Jesse, exert influence over who marries whom.
The same right of marriage approval was wielded by John Ortell Kingston, who began the incestuous lineage. While building his polygamous empire, John Ortell raised pigeons and Holsteins, prized black-and-white milk cows.
"I know people who bought livestock from them because they had quality animals," says a federal investigator. "Usually the women did the milking. When an inspector would show up they'd disappear and pretty soon two men would show up."
Today, the Kingston dairy is a shamble of littered fields, slouching homes and a gray-brown barn where a few cows still roam.
It was here, on the flat hay fields that stretch from the edge of Woods Cross to the crusty shores of the Great Salt Lake, that John Ortell Kingston studied the genetics of in-line breeding. "It would have been unusual if he wasn't using artificial insemination in his herd, and by virtue of that, was probably using semen from some bulls that had been inbred," says Dennis Green, a professor of beef cattle genetics at Colorado State University.
"My guess is this man had used some of these inbreeding practices in his herd so he was probably in the camp that believed superior genetics could be propagated in a particular line," Green says. "The downside is that if you don't start with good genetics, and if there is baggage in the genes of the individual, inbreeding will uncover that baggage. When you pair up those undesirable genes, something strange will pop out."
Among the polygamous Kingstons, a number of children have been born with birth defects, among them one born with two vaginas and two uteruses but no vaginal or bowel opening. Outwardly, she appeared to have no sex organs. The girl, born to John Ortell and Isabell Johnson, was not the product of an incestuous marriage. Family members attribute the defects to the advanced ages of the mother and father -- he was 64, she was 45.
"My mother should not have produced another baby," says Rugg, also Isabell and John Ortell's daughter and the baby's full sister. "Her body tried to miscarry many, many times."
The baby, delivered at Johnson's home in 1983, was taken to Primary Children's Medical Center. Blood tests showed the infant and 25 other children from numerous women were fathered by the same man, leading to one of the largest welfare fraud-settlements in Utah history.
John Ortell Kingston paid the $200,000 settlement, but denied paternity. The settlement was reached after prosecutors obtained a judge's order to sample John Ortell's DNA to compare with the 26 children's.
Now 16, Rugg's sister was married to and subsequently left one of her half-brother's sons.
Another of Rugg's full sisters, Andrea Johnson, died in 1992 of complications of pre-eclampsia, a condition of pregnancy that was not treated until after the young girl, swollen with toxic fluid, was rushed to the emergency unit at University Hospital. The baby survived, but has cerebral palsy.
On Johnson's death certificate, attending physician James B. Burns wrote 15-year-old Andrea must have exhibited signs of hypertension "at least two weeks" before her death.
Rugg says the group feared taking Andrea to the hospital because members did not want to explain the child's troubling paternity.
Andrea's son, now 7, lives with his father, Jason Kingston -- Andrea's half-brother -- and Rosalind, his niece.
Genetics of Incest: Pre-eclampsia is a condition that can be traced genetically from one generation to the next and is prevalent among some Kingstons, Rugg says.
Several Kingston offspring of incestuous couplings also have been born without fingernails, a disease that could be linked to a number of genetically caused abnormalities, although an exact diagnosis is impossible without closer study of medical records. Since most Kingston children are born in homes under the scrutiny of trusted and secretive family midwives or clan leaders, documentation of medical abnormalities is rare, but not unprecedented.
In 1996, the now 31-year-old Kingston mother of two slow-growing children sought explanations at Primary Children's Medical Center. Initially, she tried to conceal her marital relationship.
"I didn't dare talk about it," she says. Eventually, she admitted she had married her half-brother and given birth to three children.
Two years later, a pair of geneticists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., flew to Utah where they hoped to stage a seminar for Kingston family members about the dangers of incest and birth defects, and, presumably, gain permission to study the clan.
Two minor members of the clan attended the NIH seminar, conducted in a Woods Cross hotel room -- not far from the Kingston dairy. Disappointed more family members did not attend, the scientists left.
"I tried to get people to come, but nobody would listen," says the mother, who left the group and her marriage after her sons were diagnosed with dwarfism. She says her parents, Merlin Barnum Kingston (John Ortell's brother) and Joyce Fransden, were uncle and niece. And her ex-husband's parents, Merlin and Carolyn Kingston, were uncle and niece.
"I knew I would have to marry my [half-] brother ever since I was 12," says the woman. The couple had lived together since the age of 7, when the mother of the woman's half-brother died.
The rate at which Kingstons marry each other is "frightening," she says. "It's a bomb that's going to explode."
Her half-brother is still married to another half-sister (whose parents also were half-sister and brother) and are still members of the Kingston's order.
Other possible genetic traits include: microcephaly, a malformation of the skull in which the infant has a small head (ex-members say two children with microcephaly have died and eight others are institutionalized); blindness; spina bifida; Down syndrome; kidney disease and abnormal leg and arm joints.
While none of these can positively be linked to incest without DNA testing, geneticists say most of the conditions are exacerbated by incest.
Some genes linked to conditions like microcephaly and dwarfism are "autosomal recessive," and are found among the 22-linked pairs of chromosomes that do not include the X and Y sex chromosomes, says Lynn Jorde of the University of Utah's Eccles Human Genetics Institute, a leading genetics research center.
"You don't want to jump to the conclusion and say all of these are the result of inbreeding," he says. "But just on general principles, the offspring of uncle-niece, or half-siblings have an elevated level of genetic disease. There is no doubt about that at all. So when you see all of these diseases occurring in the children, it's possible some are the result of inbreeding."
Of all the arguments against incest, says Jorde, the likelihood that genetic abnormalities will be passed to succeeding generations is the most persuasive. "We do know there are biological hazards. A fourth to half of father-daughter and brother-sister offspring have mental or physical deficiencies. It gets pretty bleak when it gets that close."
Global Incest: Worldwide, mating among first cousins is somewhat common and sometimes encouraged. First-cousin mating doubles the chances that genetic abnormalities will be passed along. Roughly 3 to 4 percent of children from couples who aren't relatives are born with genetic defects. The rate of genetic birth defects for first cousins is 6 to 8 percent.
Stillbirths and infant deaths also are much more likely when blood relatives mate. A Norwegian study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health found the risk of stillbirths and infant deaths was at least 70 percent greater when parents were first cousins rather than unrelated.
Yet in many countries, the study noted, more than one-fourth of parents are related by blood. Those countries include Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait.
Including Utah, 37 states outlaw first-cousin marriage. The 1996 Utah Legislature approved first-cousin marriages, only after age 65, or age 55 if the couple cannot conceive children.
It is possible that positive genetic traits could be passed along through human inbreeding. That apparently was John Ortell Kingston's intent, although most studies of first-cousin mating show their offspring test lower on IQ exams, Jorde says.
There is too little empirical data of uncle-niece, half-brother/half-sister mating to draw firm conclusions about the IQ, survival rates, birth defects or longevity of their offspring, he says.
"So often when you have an uncle-niece, or half-brother-sister, you have a situation where abuse is going on," Jorde says. "And when you talk about the public interest, you have to consider who pays for the consequences. If these couples are . . . mating in a way that increases genetic diseases, that the public ends up supporting, it becomes a matter of public interest."
The Kingstons are among a small number of family groups in the world who marry closer than first cousins on a regular basis.
"Incest as a policy or routine practice is rare," says Melvin Williams, a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan and a leading expert in the study of kinship systems.
Many cultures, he says, marry outside the family in order to attract the wealth of a neighboring family or to promote alliances among warring factions.
While not discounting the prevalence of genetic anomalies, Williams says modern society's aversion to incest is, to a large extent, arbitrary and prudish. A brother's aversion to courting his sister has more to do with romance than social stigma.
"It's hard to fantasize about someone if you grew up watching them go to the bathroom," Williams says. "Living with them makes them unattractive as living partners. Humans also have decided not to [commit incest] in order to distinguish themselves from other animals. Humans put a grave prohibition on incest." Social ostracism, he adds, is not necessarily a good thing.
Of the Kingstons, Williams says: "There is not much you can do about them. The notoriety will just make them zoo specimens. People are always trying to find people who are inferior and brand them as such."
Still, if children are caught up in an abusive or incestuous situation, Williams would encourage policing. "Children should not be victims of such programs."
A Secretive Refrain: On Bountiful's bench, in a wooded and fenced complex that overlooks the Great Salt Lake, Mary Gustafson, John Ortell's niece and third wife, lives with some of her children, one who is legally blind, and grandchildren.
One recent morning she defended her complicity in arranging her daughters' marriages to their half-brothers, sons of John Ortell and LaDonna.
"Those boys are the most moral, upstanding and wonderful people I know," she said, clutching a grandchild to her thin hip. "Most of what you print is lies, lies, lies."
From the porch of Gustafson's home, there is a view of fields where cattle and ponies graze, and the remnants of the Kingston dairy.
John Ortell, who died in 1987, never met the grandchild Gustafson was holding. Or two more that scampered around her feet as she talked, pleasantly but guardedly, about the Kingston clan.
When asked, a little boy and girl at the home acknowledged who their mother is.
Then, as generations of polygamous Kingston children have been taught, they demurred to questions about their father. Naming a father could expose the truth, unveil secrets of paternity and subject the clan to further scrutiny from those who don't approve of incest.
"We don't have a dad," the little boy said. Then he scooted away, smiling, aboard a plastic toy car, his feet smacking the sidewalk.

(Source: http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy25.html, picture: http://steelturman.typepad.com/thesteeldeal/2006/10/freaks.html)

***Thanks to a  commenter who sent this to me!

What are your thoughts?

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Anderson - FLDS - Daytime show and Tonight on CNN "Sister Wives"

DID ANYONE WATCH THIS TODAY? THOUGHTS? If you catch it tonight, write it up for us!

Also, Anderson is going to have more on CNN tonight- this piece is from the UK Daily Mail.

I cried so much during my wedding my dress was soaked: Horrifying ordeal of Warren Jeffs' child bride 'forced to marry her cousin'
-Elissa's mother held her hand during underage marriage ceremony
-Parents so brainwashed they were 'unable to protect' their children
A woman who was forced into marriage at the age of 14 while under the control of paedophile Mormon polygamist Warren Jeffs's cult has recounted her harrowing ordeal.
The woman, Elissa Wall, revealed how her own mother resorted to holding her daughter's hand at the altar in a bid to calm her down as she was forced to marry her 19-year-old cousin, whom she despised.
In a CNN interview, which is to be aired tonight, Elissa describes how she cried so much during the ceremony that her wedding dress was soaked with her own tears.

Traumatic: Elissa recalls the harrowing experience of being forced to marry a 19-year-old Warren Jeffs when she was only 14 on the Anderson Cooper CNN TV show
She told broadcaster Anderson Cooper: 'It was so devastating that even in the ceremony itself I'm crying to such a level that my wedding dress is soaked.
'They had my mother stand next to me and hold my hand just to get me to take my vows.'
Elissa is a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a sect led by polygamist paedophile Warren Jeffs.
She left the church and divorced her cousin husband, with whom she had no children but endured repeated miscarriages.
Jeffs was jailed last month for life after a jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting two FLDS girls - aged 12 and 15 - who he married in FLDS religious ceremonies.
As Jeffs begins his life sentence in a Texas, former members of the church have come forward to speak about the appalling abuse carried out within the sect, an extreme splinter group of the Mormon faith which believes in polygamy.
In tonight's interview, Elissa lifts the lid on the appalling abuse suffered by young members of the church - and the seemingly powerless position of their parents and other adults.

'They had my mother stand next to me and hold my hand just to get me to take my vows'

   

She explained that women - like her mother - were so brainwashed by the church's indoctrination they were unable to protect their own children.
When asked by Cooper whether anyone tried to stop the arranged marriage or help her, Elissa said: 'Before my marriage had been commanded, we had been taken away from [my father] and he didn't fight for us.
'We were given to another man's children. My mother was resold to another man, and my mother didn't have the ability to say no.
'The women, especially my mother in the position she was in, they don't have the ability to protect their children.
'I was a representation of that. She couldn't step up and say, "no, my daughter is 14". She had been trained and indoctrinated her entire life.'
She has written a memoir called Stolen Innocence, which chronicles her ordeal at the hands of the extremist group.

Wallace Jeffs - the half-brother of Warren - will also appear in tonight's show. Wallace left the church and has three of his daughters living with him - but he is worried about those left behind.
He told Cooper: 'I'm very concerned. Very concerned about them getting married underage, being abused. I believe in the faith, but I don't believe in Warren Jeffs as the prophet. He's a fraud.'
Earlier this month it was revealed that sect leader Jeffs filed a handwritten motion seeking a new trial in Texas following his conviction.

Jeffs, who headed the Utah-based FLDS, has claimed his religious freedoms were violated by the courts – a defence put forward during his trial.
In his motion, the 55-year-old said: 'The Constitutional protection for religious faith and freedom of practice not being of full protection in previous trial ... is legal grounds sufficient to rule in favor of defendant allowed a new trial.'
Scrawled on one page in a lined notebook, Jeffs's self-penned motion was dated August 23 - two weeks after his conviction.
Jeffs' filing also seeks a new hearing on the suppression of evidence from a 2008 raid on the FLDS's Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado. Church and family records gathered in the raid were the basis for the case against Jeffs and other male members of the sect.
An appeal filed by Michael Emack, the first of the sect men to be prosecuted by Texas authorities, was upheld by the state's 3rd District Court of Appeals last month.
Emack, who is serving a seven-year sentence for assaulting a 16-year-old girl, argued the raid was unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel in Austin, Texas, said authorities had sufficient grounds for probable cause.
Jeffs had been held in a prison in Huntsville, Texas, immediately after his trial, but became ill after days of fasting.
He was taken to a hospital and was said to be in a medically-induced coma prior to being moved to Galveston.
Jason Clark, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman, said Jeffs remained at a prison hospital in Galveston and was listed in stable condition.
Jeffs won't be eligible for parole until he is 100.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2040428/Warren-Jeffss-child-bride-I-cried-wedding-dress-soaked.html#ixzz1Yi3JROQ5

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2040428/Warren-Jeffss-child-bride-I-cried-wedding-dress-soaked.html#ixzz1Yi3DDiNi

FLDS - Texas - What about parents?

As I have read the stories of child sexual abuse perpetrated by Warren Jeffs at the FLDS compound in Texas, I am confronted by one stark detail: Why are the parents of the young victims not being prosecuted as an accessory to the crimes that Jeffs now stands convicted of? Certainly the parents knew of and were willing participants to these crimes! Why is the Texas attorney general apparently giving the parents a free pass?  Let's Discuss

THE LOST BOYS OF POLYGAMY

We're trying something new. We are combining posts of similar genre to make it easier to find for the new viewer. Let us know what you think. Older posts will always be on the bottom.

The Forgotten Victims of Polygamy  

"A different take on the Lost Boys; what if polygamy were legalized, what would happen to them?"

Doesn't their expressions just break your heart when you realize there are hundreds more? 

Lost Boys:  A Math Lesson

It is simple math.  With a normal male to female ratio of 1:1, in communities and societies where some men have more than 1 wife, others will have none.  

Lost boys have been pressured to leave, or excommunicated from, polygamous groups such as the FLDS, often for made up offenses such as watching TV or movies or talking to a girl.  The real reason they are banished is to remove competition for wives.  These Lost Boys are usually removed from the community during their vulnerable teen years.  They leave with little education or life skills, no money and only the clothes on their back, and very little knowledge of the outside world, which they have been taught to fear.  Their families have been told to shun them and they are left to fend for themselves.  They live in abandoned cars or behind dumpsters.  Many turn to drugs and/or crime to cope.  They have a high suicide rate.

Dan Fischer, a dentist and former FLDS member, has begun a foundation to help Lost Boys.

These Lost Boys have taught us that it is simple math.  In communities and societies where some men have more than one wife, there will be a shortage of marriageable women.  

If polygamy is legalized, what would happen in a society with an excess of marriage-minded men and a shortage of marriageable women?

We might find the answer in China.  Due to Chinese traditions, a tough one-child-per couple policy, and modern medical technology, there is a growing demographic imbalance.  In 2000, there were almost 117 boys born for every 100 girls and this ratio is increasing.  Over the next 20 years almost 40 million young Chinese men won’t be able to marry and have families because there won’t be enough wives to go around, similar to polygamous communities.

Researchers say growing numbers of lonely men will pose a threat to social order.  They say research shows that a lack of sexual affection results in an increase in violence.  Researchers are finding that Chinese women can now be pickier about who they marry:  healthier and, most importantly, wealthier.  So the young men move away to find better jobs.  The researchers say aggressive behavior is becoming more common among young men grouped together, away from women and far from home.  Crime is rising, including black markets for baby girls and abducted women, and an increase in trafficking of girls (sound familiar from the Warren Jeffs case).  Similar situations exist in parts of India and Pakistan.

Authorities have few options.  They can impose authoritarian rule; send the men off to war;  provide them with jobs on public works projects (if they have the money to create such projects) or provide them with security forces jobs.  Would that work in the U.S.?  Probably not.  But it is simple math, in communities and societies where some men have more than 1 wife, others will have none.  

Still think legalized polygamy is harmless if it could lead to consequences like this?

Discussion and comments below!

Written by Terrasola 

__________________________________________________________________

Story #1 July 2011
"Polygamy ?? Natural Ratio of Men to Women Shortage AUB Summit" 

This is a terrible tape, be forewarned. I found it fascinating that there are all these clips of the AUB Summit, (we've shown a couple) and when they get on the ONE topic I am interested in, the sound goes bad...... hence.... no answers. In my feeble mind, if Anne Wilde and others wanted this addressed, it would be presented very clear and precise. 

My transcription, minus all the quotes, starting at abt. 1:08

To begin with, there’s the perception that we have 92 wives and 500 kids. Which is absolutely not true. We did a survey not too long ago and the aver. # of plural wives is just 2 or 3. There are some that are larger, but that’s not the case, generally speaking. Another thing, when you consider a Fundamentalist Mormon that is somebody who believes ……. OF COURSE, it tears up! NO ANSWERS!!!!! All the cameramen are shown, but there are no other clips from the same Summit on you tube.

Nice. Real nice. (Saying in disgust like Christine found out about the wedding dress.)
Can anyone answer the question, what happens to the "Extra" boys, and what does the AUB say about it? Not, FLDS or others, I'm interested in what the AUB has to say about it.

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RULON C. ALLRED HISTORY

I have gone to this site many a time for reference. FreeAnd Clear mentioned it, and so we need to take a look at it and discuss. There's much more to the site, check out the bottom of the page for the listing. Great Site! Let's Discuss! And again, he's relation to about everyone by Janelle. Thanks FAC!!!

Rulon C. Allred

        August of 1935 is the first time Joseph Musser mentioned Rulon C. Allred in his journal.^[1]  Rulon had been working in Long Beach, California and met Musser while visiting Salt Lake City.  Raised an active member of the Church, Rulon Allred married Katherine Handy in the Salt Lake Temple in 1926^[2] and moved to California to attend naturopathic school, passing his medical board examination in 1930.^[3]  After opening a medical office there, they began to raise a family and build up the Church, Rulon being then called to serve as Long Beach Stake Genealogical Society President. 

After reading his father’s A Leaf in Review published that same year, Rulon felt greatly distressed and wrote a letter accusing the elder Allred of “kicking against the pricks” by opposing Church leadership and doctrines.^[4]  He also corresponded with Apostle Anthony Ivins, requesting that the Church begin disciplinary action against his father, saying that the polygamists continued to “further the work of Lucifer among many groups of the Saints in Idaho and Utah.... They have so fervently and extensively persisted in this propaganda that my Father and many of his family and also many other noble and good Saints have been deceived.”^[5]

His father was unmoved, prompting Rulon to reconsider the issues raised in A Leaf in Review including the practice of polygamy.  After prayer, fasting and study, Rulon concluded that his father was right and almost immediately became obsessed with the idea.  At that time, his wife Katherine wrote: “Rulon won’t even listen to my pleading any more.  Everything he says is in favor of polygamy.  He is like some demon possesses him.  When I try to tell him what he’s doing to me, he says I’m doing it to myself by not being willing to accept the word of the Lord.  When I really get frantic, he leaves and says he is going out into the hills to pray.  Several times he hasn’t come back until morning.  My heart it breaking.”^[6]  Rulon began to “teach polygamy to everyone” who would listen and shortly thereafter secretly married several plural wives.

Unaware of his polygamous marriages, Katherine, continued her attempts to dissuade Rulon.  On 11 March 1935, he recorded: “The rift between my wife and [me] has continually grown because of my belief in the necessity of plural marriage and because of my church work.  I believe plural marriage is an essential of the gospel ordinances... and should be lived by worthy Saints, that it is now in force and has never ceased being a law of the priesthood and must be abided by those who hope to become like God.”^[7]  It was at this time that he reported receiving a vision: “I was kneeling before the Lord in the silence of the night, and the Lord heard my prayer.  He spoke to me, and my eyes were opened to see what I would have to endure in the years to come if I had a testimony of the fulness of the gospel and the integrity to comply with its provisions.”[8]

Despite his beliefs and his clandestine plural marriages, Rulon continued to participate in Church activities and was called as a member of the stake high council a few months later, being its youngest member.^[9]  He took his new calling as a sign that God approved of his secret polygamous unions, prompting him to give his wife Katherine an ultimatum to cooperate.^[10]  In response, she filed for divorce in October of 1935 and left, taking with her their three children.

While Rulon’s Stake President was greatly concerned about Rulon’s possible involvement with polygamy, five years would pass before he was finally excommunicated from the church.^[11]  In 1941 his plural wives were also cut off from the Church.

By the time Rulon Allred visited Joseph Musser in Salt Lake City in August of 1935, he had forever eclipsed monogamy.  Joseph Musser then advised:  “Told the Allreds to get out of California as soon as possible.  This is Zion, not there.  The Asiastics [sic] will tear that coast land all to shreds, but would not be permitted to enter these valleys of the mountains; neither would the Europeans be permitted to enter from the east.  The Priesthood would keep them out.  Come here and stand in holy places.”^[12]  

In October Musser visited the Allreds in Long Beach where he spent “some three hours [of] informal talk with them revealing many of the mysteries of the kingdom.”^[13]  Joseph explained: “Some people might enter [plural marriage] for evil purposes, but that is not likely.  Only the best LDS are allowed to take more than one wife.  Every man must first prove before the Priesthood that he has the capacity, love and worthiness to assume the great responsibilities of this heavenly law.”^[14] 

Rulon Allred - “Counselor” to Joseph Musser

During the months after his first stroke in 1949, Joseph Musser was under the medical care of naturopathic physician, Rulon C. Allred.  The son of B. Harvey Allred, Rulon first met John Y. Barlow and Joseph Musser while he was living in Long Beach, California in 1935.  During a visit to Salt Lake City, he greatly impressed the two Council members with his devotion to plural marriage.  Later that year Barlow commissioned him to perform plural marriages in California and reportedly told him that someday he would become a member of the Priesthood Council.^[15]  Musser concurred and in a meeting together, Joseph positioned Allred’s left shoulder to his right shoulder and said: “You stood in this position next to me in the Spirit World, and you will occupy this position in the future.”^[16]  Some believe that Musser was indicating that someday Rulon would rise to the top tier of the fundamentalist leadership echelon.

In 1937 Musser expanded Rulon’s authority by granting him permission to perform plural sealings outside of California.  Then in the mid-1940s, he was secretly ordained a “Patriarch” and given the sealing power by Barlow and sent to build up the polygamist community at Las Parcelas, Chihuahua, Mexico.  He was told that he was subject to no other priesthood leader, save Barlow himself.^[17]  When Musser found out about the secret commission, he was in full agreement and asked Rulon to accept responsibility for answering correspondence between the Priesthood Council and any Lamanites (Mexican nationals) who had expressed interest in Truth magazine.

With Barlow’s death in 1949, Musser became the undisputed leader of all fundamentalists who followed the PRIESTHOOD leadership, having an unquestioned claim to the position of Senior Member of the Priesthood Council (Council of Friends).  Revered by many polygamists, he had championed their cause and united them through his writings in Truth.     Despite the stroke-induced handicaps, on 18 September 1950, Musser met with Rulon Allred who asked the presiding High Priest Apostle if the commission given to him by Barlow would continue, now that Barlow was deceased.  “Joseph was silent for some time.  Tears flowed down his cheeks, and he said: ‘I see it all clearly now.  I am going to do it.  I have prayed concerning this matter for a long time and thought somewhat of calling my son Guy as my Second Elder, but I was not impressed to do it.  I am going to ordain you to that calling.’  He then got up and put his feet at the side of the bed and told Rulon to kneel down and said: ‘Brother Rulon C. Allred, by virtue of my Apostleship, I lay my hands upon your head and set you apart to be my First Counselor and to stand at my side as Hyrum stood to Joseph and as Leslie [Broadbent] stood to Lorin [Woolley]...’“^[18]

Musser’s words on this occasion created confusion.  By designating Allred as his “Second Elder,” Musser was indeed telling his followers that at his death, Allred would succeed him as the leader of the fundamentalists.  But in the ordination, Musser instead set Allred apart as his “first counselor,” a calling that would apparently end with Musser’s death.  Additional questions arose involving whether or not Allred was thereafter a member of the Priesthood Council?  And if he was, what was his seniority in that Council?

Members of the Priesthood Council were distraught upon learning of the proceedings.  Although Musser’s calling Allred as his “counselor” was unprecedented, it might be acceptable if it did not affect the Council’s membership.^[19]  They universally felt that Musser could not, without their approval, call additional members of the Priesthood Council.  Frustrations escalated since they were neither consulted regarding the calling, nor invited to participate in the original ordination.  They were suspicious regarding Musser’s sanity and Allred’s motives. 

The issue of Musser calling Allred as his “Second Elder” was paramount.  Years earlier in 1934, Joseph Musser and J. Leslie Broadbent had written: “The keys to Priesthood descend either to the one designated as the “Second Elder”... or the worthy senior in ordination.”^[20]  The “either” option was becoming pivotal in determining who would eventually succeed Musser as presiding authority in the Priesthood Council.  If Allred was appointed as Musser’s “Second Elder,” did that calling bypass the seniority of the other members of the Priesthood Council?  Council members did not believe that Musser could single-handedly place Rulon ahead of them.  Two of the Council were most vehement in their resistance, Guy Musser and Legrand Woolley.  After they discussed their concerns with Musser, Joseph responded, “I will have a Second Elder...  I have asked the Lord for a counselor, and I am going to have one.”^[21]

Days later Musser attempted to persuade all the members of the Priesthood Council that the ordination was right and even repeated it in their presence, but they unanimously resisted, blaming the lapse on Musser’s poor health, his age, or the stroke.  They acknowledged that Allred could function as Musser’s “counselor” during his (Musser’s) lifetime, but that was all.  It appears that Musser relented because when Rulon asked, “Joseph, when you are gone, will my appointment be terminated?”  
Musser replied, “Yes, but you cannot supersede the other brethren in the council.  You are called as my counselor.”^[22] 

At the end of October, 1950, Musser announced in a general Sunday meetings that his chosen counselor was Rulon C. Allred, who was authorized “to take charge in places throughout the world where he, Joseph, was unable to be, and that Rulon was to act in his behalf just as though it were himself.”^[23]  This designation said nothing about succession, but it still placed Rulon above other Council members in the day-to-day activities of the PRIESTHOOD where Musser plainly presided and now, Rulon could act as his proxy.  Allred declared that two different blessings given him earlier in his life prophesied of his appointment to the Priesthood Council, denying that he took advantage of Musser’s physical ailments brought on by the strokes.

The turmoil between Musser and Allred and the rest of the Council continued until on 6 May 1951, Musser again spoke in favor of Allred’s appointment.  “I have a special work to do, a special work that has been committed to me before my termination or death...  One business that I have to present tonight is that Brother Rulon Allred be made a Patriarch and be recognized as a Patriarch in the High Priesthood, and I recognize this as coming frm the Lord...  I commend him as a member of this Council and ask you to receive him...  All who heard this message will make it manifest in the usual way.”^[24]

The vote was not unanimous.  Of the Priesthood Council, only Richard Jessop supported the motion and was willing to assist Musser who proceeded to set Allred apart to that calling right there in the meeting.  Openly opposing the action were Charles Zitting, Rulon Jeffs, and Alma Timpson.^[25]  (Louis Kelsch had been a nonparticipant for years and Guy Musser was ill that day.) 

Zitting, who undoubtedly remembered Lorin Woolley’s instructions that standing members of the Council of Friends had to unanimously approve any new members, argued that since the Priesthood Council had not previously approved of Allred, he could not be called to the Council.  In response, it was pointed out that Carl Holm and Alma Timpson had been called by Barlow without prior approval of the Council, an action that was later sanctioned by Council members.

A New Priesthood Council is Called 

The discord heightened in the months that followed until in January of 1952, Musser released all the members of the Priesthood Council and called Rulon C. Allred, Elsie Jensen, John Butchereit, Lyman Jessop, Owen Allred, Marvin Allred and Joseph B. Thompson as replacements.^[26]  In Musser’s eyes these men comprised the true Priesthood Council, displacing the old Council members who had opposed him.  Accordingly, members of the old Council were expected to follow the new Priesthood Council that Musser had just assembled.  In August Musser affirmed: “Whatever his former council did, was without authority from now on, unless he [Musser] sanctioned it and then it is done by HIS authority, not their own.”^[27]

Old Council members refused to be released so in the course of events, two Priesthood Councils existed with Joseph Musser supporting the second, newer group.  In response, his son Guy opposed his father saying: “Brother Allred is a devil.  He has tried for the last fifteen years to split up the Priesthood.  My father is incompetent and is not able to give any man the Apostleship.  Rulon has not got it.  All that follow R. C. Allred, work under a spurious Priesthood and all his work done is unauthorized...  Certain of the brethren have come to me and offered to take Brother Allred’s life if he continues to maintain his stand.  Some of the brethren have tried to put me next to father, but I am seventh in the line down.  My father cannot bypass his whole Council and put someone else ahead...  The Council of the Priesthood is united in its stand against Brother Allred.”^[28] 

Rulon C. Allred’s Opinions of Lorin C. Woolley and Joseph W. Musser

Surprisingly, Rulon Allred was at times somewhat critical of Lorin C. Woolley:  “I lived through the tail-end of Brother Lorin C. Woolley’s administration in his endeavors to keep alive the fulness of the everlasting gospel, when it had dribbled down to just a few drops in the final flow of the gospel’s message and its light and truth to the world.  Lorin C. Woolley took stands and positions that seemed to be entirely out of harmony with the spirit and the context of his responsibilities.  But he did the best he knew how with what he had.”^[29]

Rulon C. Allred felt a close kinship with Joseph Musser and in a 1975 discourse remarked:  “I rejoice to have had Brother Musser visit me once or twice since his departure.”^[30]  Notwithstanding, he recognized some weaknesses in Musser’s works: “I saw the Priesthood Items and the Truth Magazine come out.  I assisted in their publication, and I was on the staff with the members that did publish those magazines.  There were many things in them that were hostile toward the Church, that were contrary to the Spirit of truth.  But they are there.  They manifested the weaknesses of the flesh and of men.  I operated under the direction of Brother Joseph W. Musser’s tutorship for 25 years.  I saw some weaknesses in Brother Musser, but I knew him to be one of the most perfect men that I ever had the opportunity to walk the face of God’s earth with.”^[31]

Teachings of Rulon C. Allred 

Many of the teachings of Rulon Allred have been compiled in the two volume, Treasures of Knowledge.  Additional teachings have been printed in a periodical entitled, Gems. 

                          The Church President is a Prophet of God 

Rulon Allred taught that the Senior Member of the Priesthood Council is the “one” man who holds the keys of sealing mentioned in D&C 132:7:  “No marriage performed by anybody else that is not authorized by the man who holds these keys will be enduring in and after the resurrection.”^[32]  Nevertheless, he explained in 1973:  “I want to heartily sustain [Church] President Harold B. Lee [1899 ‑ 1973] as God’s prophet, because he is.  The word of the Lord commands us to sustain the President of the Church and the Quorum of the Twelve, as the prophets of God.”^[33]  “The highest authority in the Priesthood is the apostleship.”^[34]  “[The Church President] holds that apostleship.  He may hold it in a limited sense in that he cannot and did not and will not function in its fullness.”^[35] 

                      The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

We recall that fundamentalist PRIESTHOOD leaders Lorin C. Woolley (1928-1934), Broadbent (1934-1935), Barlow (1935-1949), and Musser (1949-1954) universally taught that the PRIESTHOOD organization 

presided over the Church, existing “above the Church, being God’s power on earth”^[36] and that the Church served as the “propaganda division” of the PRIESTHOOD.^[37]   Although Rulon C. Allred was heir to the offices and authority reportedly held by these very men, it appears that he did not consider himself and his Priesthood Council to be superior to the Church and its leadership:  “We are specifically instructed through John Taylor by Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ, and by Joseph Musser as well that we are not to interfere.... with the function of the Church...”^[38]  “[We] are not in a position to dictate to the Church, or to presume that we preside over [Church] President David O. McKay [1873 ‑ 1970], or that we can send missionaries into the fields of labor, or that we can in any way dictate the affairs of the Church.”^[39]  “God’s Church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”^[40]  He further explained:  “We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no matter who may decry it or who may deny it.”^[41]  “We are functioning within the spiritual confines of the Church but we are definitely outside of its legal organization.”^[42]

In early 1967 fundamentalist followers of Rulon C. Allred approached him with an important question.  LDS theology teaches that receiving a fullness of the priesthood keys also includes receiving a fullness of priesthood responsibilities, including the need to perform missionary work and temple work (D&C 128:11).^[43]  Equally, receiving specific priesthood keys includes receiving specific priesthood responsibilities such as the President of the Deacons Quorum has both limited authority (keys) and limited responsibility. 

Accordingly, there was a question regarding what authority was held by the Mormon fundamentalist leaders throughout the decades back to the five men in 1886 (mentioned by Lorin C. Woolley).  Allred explained: 

If brother Samuel Bateman and brother George Q. Cannon and brother Joseph F. Smith and brother Lorin Woolley and brother John Woolley... were given the fullness of the keys, then why is it that they were not called to set the church in order in 1928, 1929 or 1930 when they stopped living the fullness of the Gospel?  If they had the fullness of the keys, shouldn’t they preside over the Church?  Shouldn’t they send the missionaries into their fields of labor?  Shouldn’t they appoint Presidents of Temples?  Shouldn’t they call the Quorum of Twelve and appoint the First Presidents of Seventies?  The answer to the question is obvious, most certainly they should if they held the fullness of the keys...  Those men then called and those holding authority since that time were called with a special right and special dispensation, not to appoint Apostles or Presidents of Temples, or to send missionaries to their fields of labor or to do any such things...  They were to take this work up and carry it on and appoint others in their place, and to see to it that no year passed that children are not born into this covenant, and to keep the law of consecration alive.^[44] 

Intimating that the five men did not receive a “fullness of the keys” appeared to contradict fundamentalist teachings from the 1930s.^[45]  If the five men received only a “special” responsibility and a “special” authority, other questions arose: “Who then presided over all priesthood on earth?” and “Who was the ‘one’ man holding all priesthood keys as Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and John Taylor had done?”

A few weeks later Rulon provided an additional explanation explaining that John Taylor “called five men and set them apart and conferred upon them every key, power and authority that he himself possessed, ordaining them Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ...  Why did he have to give these men so much authority?  And here is the answer to your whole problem.  Not so that they could run the Church.  Not so that they could send the missionaries into their fields of labor.  Not so that they could operate the Temples or any other thing, but so that they could keep two divine principles alive which were being abandoned, Celestial Marriage, and the united order, for if he didn’t give them all this authority and here is the crux of the whole matter, a President of the Church could come along in any time subsequent to the time that this authority was conferred, and say, ‘I hold more authority than you do, and I hereby revoke the authority that John Taylor gave you’...  These men were told that they had a specific limited function to exercise.  They held all the keys but could only exercise, if you please, certain keys...”^[46] 

Apparently Rulon’s explanation satisfied his listeners.  However, Church members would point out that his teachings seem to contrast earlier fundamentalist doctrines on the PRIESTHOOD, as well as LDS scripture.  Regardless, Mormon fundamentalist leaders today generally claim to have received all priesthood keys as Joseph Smith did, but  alternately claim to have received only specific priesthood responsibilities.   

                                Missionary Work and Temple Work 

The members of the Allred Group do no missionary work, delegating that responsibility to the Church.  It appears that if a Church member were to convert to the Allred Group, he would immediately be relieved of the need to do member-missionary work.  Allred explained the specific nature of his group members:  “Our mission is to prepare a nucleus for the coming of Christ and of Adam at Adam-ondi-Ahman, for the establishment of the Kingdom of God, to answer questions and prepare the hearts of the people.”^[47]

Allred instructed in 1975: “The time is at hand when God is going to intervene in the matter, and the temples will be opened to us, and we will have our endowments and do our own work for our dead.”^[48]  However, by 1981, the AUB had constructed their own endowment houses for ordinance work.^[49]   

                  The Priesthood Authority of Church Members 

In the 1886 eight hour described by Lorin Woolley, President John Taylor reportedly remarked: “I would be surprised if ten percent of those who claim to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood will remain true and faithful to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, at the time of the seventh president [Heber J. Grant 1918-1945], and that there would be thousands that think they hold the Priesthood at that time, but would not have it properly conferred upon them.”^[50] 

 Of comfort to Church members today are Rulon’s teachings:  “The time will never come again that sufficient of the Priesthood is not with the Church to baptize and keep alive the Priesthood... the majority of the presiding brethren of the Church do hold the Priesthood, and they have had it properly conferred upon them.”^[51]  “God Himself promised... that sufficient Priesthood and ordinances of the gospel would remain with the church to bear off the Kingdom triumphantly.  God recognizes His Church and the ordinances that are properly performed there.”^[52]

A review of Rulon Allred’s teachings suggests that he emphasized different aspects of Mormon fundamentalist theology, almost to the point that the casual reader could identify contradictions between his instructions regarding the PRIESTHOOD and the ideas promoted by Lorin Woolley, J. Leslie Broadbent, John Y. Barlow, and Joseph Musser.^[53]  One prominent author in the Allred Group, Robert Openshaw, concluded that the earlier descriptions of the PRIESTHOOD as found in fundamentalist writings of the 1930s were in error.  In his monumental 602 page defense of Mormon fundamentalism entitled The Notes, he wrote:  “When Brother Joseph W. Musser wrote articles defending and explaining Priesthood in the last day, he also gave hints, perhaps more specific hints, but upon closer scrutiny it is found that although his writings led the mind along a path closer to the keys, he yet did not reveal those things that were not to be found in the written record and unbelievers were not hard pressed to find the straw contained in that purposeful creation...”^[54] 

Murdered in 1977 by followers of Ervil LeBaron, Rulon Allred’s funeral attendance was the greatest ever recorded in the state of Utah up to that time.^[55]  Subsequently, his brother Owen assumed the leadership role within the Apostolic United Brethren.

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(Source: http://www.mormonfundamentalism.com/ChartLinks/RulonCAllred.htm)