Posted on 04/06/2008 5:27:22 AM PDT by SkyPilot
Local and state officials entered the temple of a secretive polygamist sect late Saturday, said lawmen blockading the road to the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado.
The action comes hours after local prosecutors said officials were preparing for the worst because a group of FLDS members were resisting efforts to search the structure.
The Texas Department of Public Safety trooper and Schleicher County sheriff’s deputy confirmed that officials have entered the temple but said they had no word on whether anything occurred in the effort.
The incursion into the temple caps the three-day saga of the state’s Child Protective Services agency removing at least 183 women and children from the YFZ Ranch since Friday afternoon. Eighteen girls have been placed in state custody since a 16-year-old told authorities she was married to a 50-year-old man and had given birth to his child.
Saturday evening, ambulances were brought in, said Allison Palmer, who as first assistant 51st District attorney, would prosecute any felony crimes uncovered as part of the investigation inside the compound.
“In preparing for entry to the temple, law enforcement is preparing for the worst,” Palmer said Saturday evening. They want to have “medical personnel on hand in case this were to go in a way that no one wants.”
Apparently as a result of action Saturday night at the ranch, about 10:15 p.m. Saturday, a Schleicher County school bus unloaded another group of at least a dozen more women and children from the compound.
Although members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, have provided varying degrees of cooperation to the sheriff’s deputies and Texas Rangers searching the compound, all cooperation stopped once authorities tried to search the gleaming white temple that towers over the West Texas scrub, Palmer said.
“There may be those who would oppose (entry) by placing themselves between law enforcement and the place of worship,” Palmer said Saturday afternoon. “If an agreement cannot be reached … law enforcement will have to — as gently and peaceably as possible — make entry into that place.”
Sect members consider the temple, dedicated by then-leader of the sect Warren Jeffs in January 2005 and finished many months later, off-limits to those who are not FLDS members, said Palmer, who prosecutes felony cases in Schleicher County.
Palmer said she didn’t know the size or makeup of the group inside the temple.
The earlier refusal to provide access was even more disconcerting because CPS investigators have yet to identify the 16-year-old girl or her roughly 8-month-old baby among the dozens removed from the compound, Palmer said.
“Anytime someone says, ‘Don’t look here,’” she said, “it makes you concerned that’s exactly where you need to look.”
The girl told authorities in two separate phone calls a day apart that she was married to a 50-year-old man, Dale Barlow, who had fathered her child, Palmer said.
The joint raid included the Texas Rangers, CPS, Schleicher County and Tom Green County sheriff’s deputies and game wardens from the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife.
Although CPS and Department of Public Safety officials have described the compound’s residents as cooperative, Palmer disagreed.
“Things have been a little tense, a little volatile,” she said.
Authorities removed 52 children Friday afternoon and 131 women and children overnight Friday. About 40 of the children are boys, said CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner.
No further children have been taken into state custody since Friday, when 18 girls were judged to have been abused or be at imminent risk for abuse. CPS has found foster homes for the girls, Meisner said, and will place them after concluding its investigation.
Meisner declined to comment on the fate of the 119 other children and said authorities were still searching the ranch for others Saturday evening.
“They’re in the process of looking,” she said. “They’re literally about halfway through.”
“Rev. 14
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,”
An ANGEL. It says nothing about a MAN.
“Congrats on a 1,000 reply post - that’s a landmark around here!”
No kidding. And on that note, I am going to bid you folks in this thread, adieu. I grow weary of this topic, and have other things I must attend to... so anyone choosing to post questions or statements expecting a response, is wasting their time.
Night all. Might see ya around in a few days. I pop in every couple weeks or so.
Peace be with you.
which I believe DO contradict the words of Christ and the prophets which he specifically told us were true.
What is that?
You're messing up his distractions and straw men.
OK I'll settle for a verse or two that would serve as a foundation for your "suggestion."
I believe in the passage I quoted, God DID condone it.
Which means that since the same verse...and the three before it and the one after it talks about civil treatment of slaves, are you consistent in saying you believe God DID condone slavery?
I know you do - I have read your posts here.
You pose a good question: who could be foolish enough to believe this? People that are arrogant, think they have "special" revelation, authority that was never granted to them, and a "god" complex.
Thank you. I’ve been scrolling backwards looking for an update.
For almost 80 years (mid 1830s to 1913), the LDS church broke the law of the land re: polygamous marriages...to the point of even sending polygamous families to Juarez, Mexico to get hitched between 1890 & 1913. (Just as Mexicans will have "anchor" babies in the U.S. to establish citizenship for such kids, the Mormons would ship bride #2, or 3, or 4, etc. to Juarez to marry the groom-again -- establishing an "anchor" plural marriage so that when the growing families returned to the U.S., the LDS church could still claim technicalities of trying to obey the law of the land ceremony-wise...but certainly not lifestyle-wise).
So, the question would be then, in light of your earlier comment: Would you had been in favor of denying a good chunk of Mormons the right to buy private property up until 1913? (Estimates were that in the latter half of the 19th century, 15-30% of LDS families were polygamous families).
“OK I’ll settle for a verse or two that would serve as a foundation for your ‘suggestion.’”
What about the entire book of Philemon? As you accurately suggest, the verses from Exodus would also qualify as condoning the practice, though clearly not advocating it.
always gotta do more...always a temple recommend obligation to fulfill...always a temple ritual to perform...always graveyard-digging to do, whether it be baptizing spiritual corpses or overturning the next tombstone in search of a birthname to baptize the underlying said corpse...always 2 general conferences to attend...always perfection to shoot for...always a spiritual sprint--especially Sunday thru dead-tired Monday night following Family Home Evening...always more commandments to note in the D&C & BoM...always more to principles & precepts to write down from the latest Ensign mag article, or Deseret, Bookcraft or other publishing house book...always more volunteer work...always more worthiness to pursue...never knowing if the Mormon god accepts me as I am...wonderin' when the grace will ever kick in...
I believe that he might be in contention for the VP slot.
I think this mess is to remind everyone how “terrible” those “awful, nasty, child-eating Mormons” are. (I hope that my sarcasm is recognizable!)
Why do you invite people to judge your personal motivations when the Bible discourages it? (Only God knows the heart; whereas man looks upon outward appearances)
I can't speak as to why you cite the Bible so much; but we have plenty of "fruit" to handle in the case of Joseph Smith; and IF any follower of his has been tempted to follow in his footsteps, the answer to your question for some folks, anyway, would be to appear authentic. The answer, for some folks, anyway, would be that Smith wrote in 17th century English in communicating to 19th century Americans-- who didn't use "Thees" and "Thous" any more than we do in their daily life. And why might that be? (Could it be to come across as an authoritative revelator?)
I’d like to know how many men were on this compound. 400 children?
Very good (and very sad) synopsis of people trapped like a gerbil on a treadmill who don't know that their running won't save them or score "celestial points" with God.
Last week I spent some time with a guy who went to prison in the late 1980's for distribution of drugs. He was a drug addict himself, and an alcoholic.
His story of how he found Christ in prison brought tears to my eyes. Today, he is a very successful man, but he has not lost his humility before God. He helps other addicts, but he doesn't do it for himself. He does everything for Christ. Every time someone is helped, he gives all the glory to Jesus.
He knows he is accepted. He found that out while he lay naked on a concrete cot in a cell and prayed to Christ. So, he doesn't need to pursue worthiness.
His behavior and example are because of Christ in his life - not to someday confront God and claim that the Lord owes him something.
I don't know how to get this concept through to people who refuse or cannot grasp it. Perhaps this is one of those things that Paul wrote were spiritually discerned.
Did you think to read your own post before posting it?... You proved the point of ‘contending’ ... you have a confronational approach that belies something deeper which I will not take time or energy to deal with. Sorry, your accusational approach isn’t going to bait me into your alley.
I’ve never heard Mormons say there is only the Father and the Son. The LDS believe is clear in that we believe in 3 members of the Godhead. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost. You guys call it the trinity 3 in one. We call it the Godhead, 3 distinct members of the Godhead.
BTW, Trinity is not found in the bible. Godhead is, several times.
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By “you guys” I gather you mean Christians...
“Yous guys” would have beeen friendlier..
While a description of the actual Trinity is included in The Bible, the Godhead is left to one’s own interpretation...
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 1 John 5:7
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. Acts 17:29
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Romans 1:20
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9
So while we know that there are three in the Trinity, how many are in the Godhead as the mormons interpret those scriptures, is undefined...
“I think this mess is to remind everyone how “terrible” those “awful, nasty, child-eating Mormons” are. (I hope that my sarcasm is recognizable!)”
How many people in Texas government and law enforcement, and social services are involved in this conspiracy to manipulate a national election, and do you think that they will succeed in keeping this secret forever, or will it be revealed?
Do you think that the conspiracy is bigger than Texas alone, is the federal government involved, do you think the media will pick up the same suspicions that you did?
Take a read through Matthew chapter seven.
Care to show me a doctrinal statement when we don’t believe Christ is the only begotten son of God in the flesh?
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As far as I know there isnt one...
“Care to show me a doctrinal statement when we don’t believe Christ is the only begotten son of God in the flesh” caused by a sexual relationship between your god and Mary?
Care to show me a doctrinal statement when we don’t believe Christ is the only begotten son of God in the flesh?
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Correction...
As far as I know there isnt one...
“Care to show me a doctrinal statement when (the mormons)don’t believe Christ is the only begotten son of God in the flesh” caused by a sexual relationship between your god and Mary?
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