Free Republic

Tucker Carlson and Glenn Beck brawled over his inflammatory rhetoric on Trump, his support of Ted Cruz, what he’s learned from the election, why Clinton lost and why he thinks Trump should be given a chance. The interview starts off with Beck denying he said Cruz was “anointed” by God to be president. Beck said, “I never said he was anointed by God to be president of the United States. I do believe that people are called, all of us are, you’re called for your job, I’m called for my job, all of us are called for a specific time....

From their brunette hair to their dress sense, twin sisters Vicki and Valerie Darger have a number of things in common. But the 42-year-olds share more than just their looks - they are both married to the same man. The sisters are in a polygamous marriage with Joe, 43, who is also wed to a third woman - their cousin Alina. The Dargers, who are fundamentalist Mormons from Salt Lake City, Utah, live together in a large family home and have 24 children between them. Vicki, currently a stay-at-home mother, has been married to Joe, who runs a construction company,...

Many naive Americans believe that Mormonism is merely another branch of protestant Christianity. Well that’s not what the founders and leaders of Mormonism believed. According to its founder, Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young, Smith’s successor, Mormons are the only true people of God on the earth. All non-Mormons and their religions are “wrong, an abomination, blind, damned, of the devil, whores, not Christians, groveling in darkness, heathens, ignorant, devoid of fact, pagan and hatched in Hell.” When Romney made a speech about his religion in 2008 he refused to distance himself from his faith and fully affirmed his Mormonism. Responding...

While some current church leaders portray the LDS Church as Christian, the church actually has a long history of condemning Christianity. The church has also stated repeatedly that no one can be saved without the permission of Joseph Smith. The church has even suggested that Islam is better than Christianity. Mormon Church Condemns Christians "This is not just another Church. This is not just one of a family of Christian churches. This is the Church and kingdom of God, the only true Church upon the face of the earth..." - Prophet Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.164-165...

In October 1946, Joseph F. Smith II, LDS Church patriarch, was released from his calling in LDS General Conference. He had not served for several months, the official reason being that he was ill, confined to his home in Centerville, Utah. What wasn’t known publicly was that Smith had been forbidden to give patriarchal blessings since May 1. In fact, after that day, his secretary never saw him again. As historian Gary James Bergera recounts in the winter 2012 issue of The Journal of Mormon History, Smith’s tenure stopped after this course of events: President George Albert Smith received communication...

“I would not vote for him just because he is Mormon. I want to know what he is going to do for the people. I want to see the compassion.” Gladys Knight is not voting for Mitt Romney. In a recent interview with BET the famed singer, herself a Mormon... You see, last time a Republican was president, he became just about the least popular person in the world. So some Mormons are a little bit nervous that having one of their own in the White House could interfere with the church’s true mission of spreading the gospel — something...

I leave and heave A sigh and say goodbye

In last week’s issue I explained that even if evidence for an early Christian community in Mesoamerica could be found, that still wouldn’t satisfy most critics or prove that the Book of Mormon is true. The task of finding the evidence of a real ancient community of New World Christians becomes difficult once we understand the complexity and nature of what might be found.First, it’s important to remember that the Nephites were “Christian” for, at the most, 400 years. Second, the Nephite-Christians were a small group of persecuted believers among a sea of non-Christian believers in the ancient Americas. Some...

SALT LAKE CITY— Utah’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force arrested 39 suspects on suspicion of dealing in child pornography after a month-long investigation. It is part of Operation FrostyLime Squeeze. The unique name stems from FrostWire and LimeWire.com, two of many file-sharing websites local police, the FBI and the Utah Attorney General cracked down on from February 28 to March 31. The most arrests came out of Utah County with many of the suspects in positions of trust and lived a double lifestyle, according to investigators. “These are your next door neighbors, pastor, scout master, teacher, the coach....

I once observed to a Mormon friend that Gordon B. Hinckley, late president of the Mormon Church, publicly lied when it suited him. No, I didn’t simply up and assault my friend’s faith. That would be bad manners. He and I discussed religion often; this happened to come up in the course of one of our conversations. “Lied?” said my Mormon friend. “Name one instance.” Without having to think hard or research, I came up with three: 1. When Hinckley served as an assistant to his predecessor, Ezra Taft Benson, he repeatedly assured church members that Benson was actively engaged...

"The right to lie in the service of your own interests is highly valued and frequently exercised"-Nero Wolfe I began this list when I was a full time employee of the LDS Church Education System (CES). I worked as a Seminary Principal/teacher, Institute teacher/Director, and Stake CES Coordinator from 1975 - 2002. My last assignment was brief. I signed a Letter of Agreement with CES to serve as the Director of the Pullman, Washington LDS Institute of Religion adjacent to Washington State University in July 2002. I resigned from CES a month later. I carry fond memories of the students,...

  Mormon youth, 12-18-year olds, are at least as mobile as any Milennial, and as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they now have access to a new iPhone app, LDS Youth, that allows them to view video messages from peers worldwide, access stories, thoughts, articles, and inspirational messages through their portable devices. With each amenity, is the share-feature, enabling youth to spread encouragement by phone among their peers and families.This app comes in conjunction with a newly updated LDS/Mormon website, Youth.lds.org (“Mormon” is a nickname for members of the Savior’s restored Church named in...

Introduction If Mormonism itself is not the "one true religion" as it claims to be, then that claim, of course is not true, and is a lie. If Joseph Smith did not really see angels, and if he did not really translate the Book of Mormon with divine help, then those claims are lies.But the purpose of this article is not to deal with those broad issues, since the amount of evidence that would be required to demonstrate the falsity of those claims (and the other broad claims of Mormonism) is more than can be dealt with in a small space. Rather,...

The majority of faithful Latter-day Saints who engage in temple work for the dead probably have never heard of the Law of Adoption. Yet, for roughly a half century, until 116 years ago, it was the forerunner of today’s large-scale church temple ordinances for the deceased, which are considered sacred and necessary in the LDS Church for afterlife progression. Gordon Irving, then associate historian for the LDS Church, wrote a fascinating piece for the spring 1974 issue of BYU Studies. Titled, “The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830-1900,” Irving explains that...

(1-1) INTRODUCTION The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that man is an eternal being, made in the image and likeness of God. It also holds that man is a literal child of God and has the potential, if faithful to divine laws and ordinances, of becoming like his heavenly parent. These truths are generally well understood by Latter-day Saints. Less well understood, however, is the fact that God is an exalted man who once lived on an earth and underwent experiences of mortality. The Prophet Joseph Smith refers to this as “the great secret.” (Times and Seasons 5:613 [...