Free Republic

BURTON, MI -- The gunman who killed at least four worshippers at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township on Sunday unleashed an unprovoked, bitter critique of the Mormon faith just days before the deadly assault. Burton City Council candidate Kris Johns said he met Thomas Jacob Sanford, who police identified as the gunman, while campaigning door to door on East Atherton Road near Center Road on Sept. 22. ((SNIP)) After a few minutes of introductions, Johns said, Sanford steered the conversation directly to the Mormon church and did not turn back, repeatedly telling him...

Multiple victims have been injured in a shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, on Sunday, according to police. The shooter is down and there is no ongoing threat to the public, according to the Grand Blanc Township Police Department. The church is currently on fire. Police are urging the public to avoid the area as emergency response efforts continue.

Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin Tyler Robinson was raised a devout Mormon — yet fired his fatal shot at Kirk just moments after the conservative influencer had glowingly praised the Church of Latter-day Saints. “I love how Mormons send missionaries around the world, I love how polite they are. … Half my team is Mormon,” Kirk, 31, said to huge cheers from the crowd at Utah Valley University moments before he was allegedly killed by the 22-year-old trade-school student. “Mormons are great people. Let me just say, I’m an evangelical Christian, but I’m not one of those guys that hates on...

The connections between Mormonism and Freemasonry are about as subtle as a neon sign in a pitch-black desert. Some people act like it’s some deep, conspiratorial discovery that Joseph Smith, the so-called “prophet,” borrowed heavily from the secret handshakes and goofy rituals of the Masonic lodge. To be clear, the term “borrowed” is just a polite way of saying plagiarized. Mormonism certainly didn’t just spring from a burning bush of divine revelation—it crawled out of the smoky backrooms of Freemason halls, clutching their symbols, their theatrics, and their obsession with secrecy like a child caught red-handed in the candy jar....

Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), who was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in the United States Senate, is the latest Republican to back Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Politico learned Sunday. Pressler, who said that in addition to casting an absentee ballot for Obama he'd donated $500 to the Illinois senator's campaign, cited the Democrat's response to the financial crisis as the primary reason for his decision. "I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve...

Some Mormon women are obsessed with something illicit. They’re phoning friends, calling in favors and paying for international shipping to get it: a sacred tank top. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has redesigned its temple garments, which are worn by faithful members under their clothes. The garments are effectively underwear that until recently, looked like white short-sleeve shirts and knee-length shorts. Now, the church has removed the sleeve on some designs, turning them into tank tops. The church is releasing the tops to its more than 17 million members around the world in phases. Last October, it...

Dr. William (Bill) Schnoebelen, a former 33rd-degree Freemason, reveals the darkest secrets of Freemasonry in this testimony interview. He shared his experiences and discusses everything from secret temple rituals and hidden ranks to the most shocking secret of all. Additionally, he shares how he and his wife uncovered a connection between Freemasonry and one of the world's largest churches. His testimony is one that you won’t want to miss as he may be the only person alive who has first-hand experience and is willing to talk about these things. Timestamps 0:00:00 - Trailer 0:01:17 - Descent into Darkness 0:11:40 -...

Netflix series American Primeval has come under fire from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-say Saints (LDS), which has branded the show "dangerously misleading." The Mormon church responded to the series in a release on Friday, calling it "dangerously misleading" and the portrayal of Young "egregiously mischaracterized." "A recently released streaming series presents a fictionalized interpretation of events in mid-19th century Utah. While historical fiction can be illuminating, this drama is dangerously misleading," the church wrote. "Brigham Young, a revered prophet and courageous pioneer, is, by any historical standard, egregiously mischaracterized as a villainous, violent fanatic. Other individuals and...

An incoming Democrat state representative in West Virginia has been arrested after he allegedly threatened to kill five of his soon-to-be Republican colleagues. Joseph de Soto, 61, was arrested by state police Thursday in Martinsburg after an investigation found that he made “several threatening/intimidating threats against government officials,” according to a statement from Lieutenant Leslie T. Goldie Jr. of the West Virginia State Police. Police did not provide additional details as to what the threats were or whom exactly they were directed towards. Local outlet WDVM reported that West Virginia Republican Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw was one of...

When the rural neighborhood of Lone Mountain, Nevada, stood up to the might of the Mormon church, they may have anticipated an explosive argument. But not literally. 'We've had people setting off fireworks,' says resident Erin LeDoe. 'It was a neighbor who lives up against the mountain. They were setting off what were basically large cannons, right outside her backyard.' Those behind the pyrotechnics are thought to be supporters of a planned Mormon mega temple - and members of the church itself. Their target was a local woman who had fiercely opposed it, along with many of her neighbors, on...

Perhaps anticipating his death, Joseph met often with apostles and other close associates to restore the temple endowment prior to the completion of the Nauvoo temple. Wilford Woodruff, later situated the temple instruction in praying for the Lord's biblical vengeance of blood of the prophets as follows:[3] I have already said that there is nothing [antagonistic to the government in the Mormon endowments] of that kind in any part or phase of Mormonism. I ought to know about that as I am one of the oldest members of the church. A good deal is being made of a form of...

https://www.youtube.com/live/BQ6m-y7Bpk4?si=_x6JVlJmgr1Ary3y $115,189,337.27 Long awaited update on the status

A highly disturbing new conference has emerged, featuring Jason Whitlock, John Rich, Voddie Baucham, Skillet’s John Cooper and Mormon Glenn Beck????! According to the promo material, Fearless Army: Roll Call 2.0 is a “gathering, celebration, and encouragement of men to put on the full armor of God to take a stand against the evil forces destroying American culture.(Ephesians)” insisting that “it’s important that men not give up meeting together and encouraging one another toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24-25)” The conference is being put on because “Jason Whitlock and John Rich “believe the best way to close the divides...

At any given point in time, Nate Oman has two bottles of wine in his kitchen, one red, one white. No more, no less. He only uses them for cooking, since he is a devout and lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which prohibits imbibing alcohol. So it may come as a surprise that the day before last Passover, Oman, a 49-year-old law professor at William & Mary, drove from his home in Williamsburg, Virginia, to Philadelphia to purchase dozens of bottles of whiskey. And vodka. And gin. And tequila. Also Fruit Roll-Ups, Entenmann’s donuts...

Matthew Gooden had not been born when his father, Shawn, began sexually assaulting two young relatives, aged eight and nine. Matthew spent the first twenty years of his life blissfully unaware of the harrowing truth, leading what he thought was a normal upbringing in the Mormon church, in which his father had risen to the rank of bishop. It was not until Gooden's arrest in September 2022 that he was exposed as the monster he was. But to his son's horror, it transpired that church leaders had known of the abuse allegations almost two years earlier, but 'kept it secret'...

A Cumberland County man and “stake president” of the Harrisburg area Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints was charged Wednesday by Pa. State Police after they say he failed to report child sex abuse accusations against a former bishop, Boy Scout leader and lawyer from central Pennsylvania. Rhett Hintze, 50, of New Cumberland, was charged with one count of failure to report or refer child abuse in connection to the July 2023 charges against Shawn Gooden, a former bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who is accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy in French...

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Since Utah became a state in the late 1800s, most of its residents have been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But according to a new study, Utah isn’t majority Mormon anymore. A paper published this month in the Journal of Religion and Demography estimates that the percentage of Utahns who identify as members of the LDS church, otherwise known as Mormons, is about 42%. That’s markedly lower than previous media reports citing the church’s numbers, which put the percentage of Mormons in Utah at around 60% as recently as 2020....

A Mormon woman who was raped has revealed how her family blamed her for the attack and punished her for 'sinning.' Kristjana Hillberg, whose family practiced mainstream Mormonism, appeared on a recent episode of the Cults To Consciousness podcast to discuss her harrowing ordeal. The now 33-year-old laid bare the details of a sexual assault that left 'blood everywhere' and revealed how it made her mom 'sick.' She was forced to 'repent' her sins to the bishop in the aftermath and she was eventually disfellowshipped from the religion. Kristjana began by telling host Shelise Ann Sola what it was like...

On this date in 1857, the Utah Territory finished the extrajudicial executions it had botched three days before. As we have detailed, Utah’s Mormon authorities had during these months of near-war against federal authorities taken prisoner a party of Californians crossing their territory — the Aiken (or Aikin) Party. On November 25, four members of that party were murdered by the Mormon guards escorting them out of the territory — killings that were quite extrajudicial, but also quite deliberately orchestrated by the state. Except, they had only killed two of the four. Although outnumbered by their attackers and miles from...

A few months before her 18th birthday, Katie Wallace hatched a plan to overdose on heroin. She and a male friend who had her hooked on the drug would do it together, ending years of misery to which the 17-year-old saw no way out. It was not the path the Mormon church, in which Katie had been raised, had ordained for her. But it was one that she holds the religion responsible for, after church leaders allegedly covered up years of rampant sexual abuse and incest within her family. For Katie, now 39, it began when she was four. Unbeknown...