ExLDS exodus from California produced Modern American Gothic near Zion National Park in 1998.
Posted on 12/26/2011 4:04:21 PM PST by Colofornian
Imprisoned polygamist leader Warren Jeffs has reportedly issued an edict to his followers with a deadline -- renew allegiances to the Fundamentalist LDS Church or be excommunicated.
With a Dec. 31 deadline looming, non-profit groups who help those leaving Utah's polygamous communities say an ongoing exodus from the FLDS Church is turning into a "humanitarian crisis," with people walking away with no place to go.
"You've got new control where you have to give everything," James Barlow told FOX 13. "And I mean everything."
Barlow left the FLDS Church last month after refusing to give his allegiance to Jeffs. Barlow, 19, described being called before Jeffs' brother, Lyle, and asked to confess his sins and be re-baptized into the FLDS Church. Tired of the increasing restrictions on people's lives within the church, Barlow left with the clothes on his back.
"I said 'no' and walked out the door," he said. "To come out here and just fall on my head, just not have anything. Nothing... nobody to give me anything, a roof over my head."
He wound up at a home in the Salt Lake City area where his sister, Ruth, has been staying. She left the FLDS Church in September after deciding she no longer believed in the faith under Jeffs.
"I've really enjoyed the family," Ruth Barlow said in an interview with FOX 13. "They've been really good and really fun to be around. It's different than being with my own family, but it's still the same."
The siblings are being "fostered" by the group Holding Out Help, which works with those in Utah's polygamous communities. Since Jeffs went to prison, the group said it has seen a steady stream of people leaving the FLDS Church.
"They leave with absolutely nothing," said Holding Out Help's Tonia Tewell. "The first thing we try to hit is the basic needs: food, clothing and shelter."
Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for child sex assault related to underage marriages. Since he's been imprisoned, he's released a steady stream of "revelations" he claims are from God to lawmakers across the country. They include demands that he be released or the wrath of the Almighty will destroy the earth. The most recent revelations sent to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff claimed they were a "final warning."
Amongst his followers, Jeffs has reportedly made even more demands. Ex-FLDS members tell FOX 13 he has demanded that children give up toys, and adults sell things like ATVs.
"The demands range from coming up with $5,000 at the end of the month to handing over all the food stamps. I've heard they're no longer allowed to have sexual relations with their wives except to have children," Tewell said.
Tewell said she has heard of as many as 50 people a month leaving the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Some are going to a rival polygamous leader. Others, mostly young adults, are trying to find their way in the world. Holding Out Help and Utah's Safety Net Committee (a coalition of government agencies, social service agencies and polygamists) are trying to find shelter for everyone.
"We need the entire community here in the Salt Lake Valley to step up," said Tewell. "We cannot do this alone any longer."
The Safety Net Committee and Holding Out Help are setting up sort-of "foster homes" across the state. The Safety Net Committee has been holding open houses in St. George, asking people to be willing to open up their homes for children, teenagers, adults or entire families.
"Would I encourage other people to do it? Absolutely. It's been, I think, a blessing to our family," said Kristi Gower, who is hosting the Barlow siblings.
The Safety Net Committee said it would conduct background checks and has a few terms for families willing to foster those from the polygamous communities. More information can be found at holdingouthelp.org or by contacting the Safety Net Committee through Utah's Family Support Center (www.familysupportcenter.org).
James Barlow said with a New Year's Eve deadline coming, more people will likely be leaving.
"Family means everything to most of us from there," he said. "I know, to everybody I know, it means everything. That's why a lot of people haven't left. But you have to the end of the year and you're excommunicated."
source?
The day will come when those who daily kick against the prick know the truth with in their souls how they have been conducting their lives behind this cyber screen.
than there will be no cyber screen to hide behind nor a cave or a rock.
All will be held accountable for hindering the work of the Lord!
YOU???
Wanting SOURCES???
The day has alREADY come for those who continue to CHOOSE the LIES of MORMONism over the TRUTH of the BIBLE.
Flee, Resty; while you still have a bit of a soul left!
....and we feel sorry for the mormons who will be held accountable for spreading the lies of Joseph Smith!
MORMONs; who have had the truth SHOWN to them countless times, will be held accountable for advancing the work of SATAN.
ExLDS exodus from California produced Modern American Gothic near Zion National Park in 1998.
Just so you learn something, according to government statistics the average woman married at 24.5. You could marry as young as 16 with parents permission in most states. Legal age to marry was 21.
svcw to restornu
Who cares if a 14 yr could or could not get married in those days. Smith was ALREADY married, that made him at a minimum an adultery hound. Post 86
****
Wow...
Edgar Allen Poe 26
Virginia Clemn (his cousin)13
a 13 year differents
Historical and cultural perspective
Plural marriage was certainly not in keeping with the values of “mainstream America” in Joseph Smith’s day. However, modern readers also judge the age of the marriage partners by modern standards, rather than the standards of the nineteenth century.
Within Todd Compton’s book on Joseph Smith’s marriages, he also mentions the following monogamous marriages:
http://www.fairwiki.org/Joseph_Smith/Polygamy/Marriages_to_young_women#ref_compton1
OK...let's see you tie polygamy being a requirement for salvation to "Historical and cultural perspective"!
Historical evidence will prove otherwise.....
Are you in a cult?
.
What is a cult?
There are two primary definitions of a cult. The modern definition of "Cult" refers to any group that uses manipulative psychological “Mind Control” techniques to recruit and control their members. To learn more about these techniques read the CULTWATCH article "How Cults Work". Most people, except cult leaders of course, accept that using mind control is a fair reason to classify a group as a cult.
Secondly, the historical definition of a cult is any group, which claims to be a Christian group yet teaches something that is not primarily a Christian belief.
The Mormons
Their official name is “Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints”. This group claims to be Christian yet teaches things which most people would immediately recognise as very unchristian. For example, Mormons believe Jesus and Satan are brothers, and that God came from a small planet near the Star base Kolob!
What they will tell you:
Mormons are Christians. (Mormons want very much to be recognised as a normal Christian denomination.)
What they won't tell you:
They believe that God is just an exalted man.
They believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers.
They believe we can become gods ourselves.
They believe that Mormon women are to be pregnant for eternity populating their own planets.
Absolutely no archeological evidence for the Book of Mormon has been discovered (except for the part that was copied straight from the King James Bible).
Over 4000 changes have been made to the Book of Mormon since it was first published - a far cry from what Smith called "The most correct book on earth."
----------------------------------------------
Information Control ( You might want to read this part Resty...)
Those who control the information control the person. In a mind control cult any information from outside the cult is considered evil, especially if it is opposing the cult. Members are told not to read it or believe it. Only the cult-supplied information is true.
This technique is really a partner to deception. Common sense tells us that a person who does not consider all information may make an unbalanced decision. Filtering the information available or trying to discredit it not of the basis of how true it is, but rather on the basis of how it supports the party line, is a common control method used throughout history. A Christian should have nothing to fear from any source of information - after all "Falsehood runs from truth, but truth stands solid against falsehood."
Deception
A cult will use deception. The cult will not normally tell people exactly what they believe, their origins, what they practice, and what life is really like in the cult, because if people knew they would not join. This information is taught to the new recruit slowly and in pieces - a "frog in the pot" tactic.
Deception is a key pre-requisite to Mind Control. The cult must be willing to deceive people. The Bible teaches that Christians are not to use deception. Many cults know this and yet practice deception.
To learn more......
http://www.cultwatch.com/cults.html
If JS never slept with another woman other than his first wife, then why do the Mormons record the births of Joseph's other children in their ancestry records?
If you cared to do research, the information is out there.
If you can't because you are afraid of what you might find, that's should be a signal that you are in a cult.
Satan wants the Oval Office.
Polygamy and bigamy are NOT Christian. values. If this thread were about Poe you might have a point it’s not so you don’t. Try and justify all you want, the adult woman around Smith wrote about sexual escapades. I am baffled that you don’t get it.
Sniff Sniff....... .
Why do you think we put so much effort into exposing the lie the is the LDS.
The Lord’s work is never done and he will not be mocked by fools and false prophets...
The Missionaries saw you coming.
Sucker born every minute...
Cleansing of lds history - not surprising. The whole “salamander letter” scandal was an effort by the lds leaders to capture and bury unfavorable history towards the prophet (except in that case it was bogus - but shows the intent). Many other facts are buried in the vaults, with only a few items seeing the light of day - such as smith’s personal diaries providing alternative/contradictory accounts of the ‘first vision’.
Time for screen shots and downloading files.
Where's the pitchfork?
(is this an original structure from the Dixon era?)
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