Tag: Mormon Watch

Blind Obedience and Mitt Romney

Helen Radkey
photos-joseph-smith-mitt-romney
Joseph Smith and Mitt Romney

Mormon blind obedience

Since the days of the founding “prophet” of Mormonism, Joseph Smith Jr., presiding officers of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) have mandated obedience to Church officials. The LDS Church is a patriarchal religion rooted in the traditions of the Old Testament. Unquestioning loyalty to LDS leaders is an immutable demand placed on Church members — and a fundamental characteristic of Mormonism.

LDS authorities believe they have a divine right to impose their will upon others.

Mormon culture emphasizes the need for members to be obedient to the authoritarian control of Church leadership. LDS authorities believe they have a divine right to impose their will upon others. A member cannot be considered a good Mormon unless he or she is subservient to LDS leaders and demonstrates compliance with Mormon teachings. Mormons may insist they sustain Church officials on a voluntary basis, but if they do not conform to the directives of their leaders, they may be judged to be in a state of apostasy.

Blind obedience compels the subordination of individual LDS Church members to the hierarchical superstructure. It is the invisible glue that binds the LDS Church and the principal ingredient that fuels the wealthy and powerful Mormon machine. Questioning the edicts of LDS authorities is viewed as subversive behavior that undermines religious faith. Blind obedience keeps Church members in check, via an uncomplicated, orderly world, where dissent is largely prohibited and Mormons obediently do as they are told — a psychological pattern generally valued above critical thinking by faithful Mormons.

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Mormons Etch-A-Sketched Away Their Longstanding Ban on Allowing African Americans to Join Their Cult – We’re Seeing a Similar Abrupt Rewriting of History from the Romney Campaign

Jon Ponder
Rebels loyal to a Ugandan war lord watch as Elder Price belts one out in the Broadway hit "Book of Mormon"
Rebels loyal to a Ugandan war lord watch as Elder Price belts one out in the Broadway hit "Book of Mormon"

A line in the song “I Believe” from the inexplicably wildly popular musical “Book of Mormon” says, ”And I believe that in 1978 God changed his mind about black people!!” The line is a reference to the fact that in 1978, the Salt Lake City-based cult lifted a 126-year-old ban on allowing people of African descent from joining the church in any meaningful way — they could join and tithe, but they were forbidden from taking part in the secret rituals or enjoying the fruits of a righteous life in the afterlife, so why bother.

Cult dogma offered various reasons for banning black people over the years. One of the most popular of these was that Africans were descendants of Cain, whom God had punished by giving them dark skin and, presumably, curly hair.

So what happened in 1978 to change the cult’s mythology about black people? Nothing really. Cult leaders just shook their holy Etch-A-Sketch and voilà:

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UPDATED: Obama Supporters, Beware of Purported Anti-Romney, Anti-Mormon Video, ‘Who’s the Boss?’

Jon Ponder

Update and Correction: I have been in touch with a producer of the video this afternoon and have learned that my suspicions about the motives behind it were unfounded. He told me he is a supporter of Pres. Obama.

He also told me, via email, “Really, my biggest desire is that it gets people discussing the issue — and whether it’s a fair question and whether it needs to be asked. Just having the issue discussed and having daylight shined on it is a victory…”

I have posted the YouTube video here now, in case you did not see it before.

The original article follows:

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Mitt Romney Woos Evangelicals As Mormons Baptize Deceased Evangelicals

Helen Radkey

Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell
Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell
Last Saturday, Mitt Romney wooed evangelical Christians at Liberty University, founded by the late evangelical leader, Jerry Falwell. Romney was invited to deliver the commencement address at the Christian university—where it is routinely taught that Mormonism is a cult — by Jerry Falwell, Jr., chancellor of Liberty, and the son of its late founder. During his speech, Romney made the case that he is theologically and politically bound to the same belief and value system as Christian conservatives.

Jerry Falwell, Jr. explained his reason for extending an invitation to Romney this year was because of Romney’s success in his business career. Ignoring theological differences with Mitt Romney’s Mormonism, Falwell said his father often preached that “Christians should vote for the candidate whose positions on the political issues are most closely aligned with their own…”

Apparently, Jerry Falwell, Jr. does not fully understand the full-fledged doctrinal hostility the Mormon religion has toward all biblically based Christian faiths. With the uttermost secrecy behind the walls of Mormon temples—and without the permission of the closest living next of kin — Mormons are baptizing deceased evangelicals and their deceased family members by proxy.

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Florida Evangelical Leader Calls on Romney to Renounce ‘Racist’ Mormon Religion

Jon Ponder

O'Neal Dozier
O'Neal Dozier
It was not surprising that Rev. O’Neal Dozier, the spiritual leader at the WorldWide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, Fla., endorsed Rick Santorum in the Florida primary campaign earlier this year. Dozier and Santorum are both rabid anti-gay activists who have made offensive statements about gay people that are so nutty that they would be funny if they weren’t so hateful.

Santorum famously compared consensual gay relations with “man on dog sex,” and Dozier once said that homosexuality was “something so nasty and disgusting that it makes God want to vomit.”

Now Dozier, who is Santorum’s honorary Florida chairman, has become the first prominent evangelical leader in this cycle to make an issue out of GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney’s religion. In a press release last week, Dozier — an African-American who sees no irony in the fact that he has built his career by promoting anti-gay bigotry — called on Romney “to openly renounce his racist Mormon Religion,” because of passages in the Book of Mormon that are blatantly racist:

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NV Sen: Sharron Angle’s Preacher Describes Glenn Beck’s Mormon Church As a Murderous, Weird, Kooky Cult

Jon Ponder

“His religion’s a cult … The Christian community — all the Christians, theologians and scholars, all recognize that, that Mormonism is a cult. I have books in my library on cults, and it lists Mormonism right there with all these bizarre cults. Well, there must be a reason. I mean, here a member of a cult is one of the most powerful people in the United States. Doesn’t that alarm you? And his allegiance is to Salt Lake City. Something is up with that. Something’s weird. But nobody touches that. [Glenn Beck’s*] allegiance is to Salt Lake City. The Mormon church is rich, powerful, they do illegal things. They do secretive things. They’ve got all this money. They own American businesses. There’s weirdness going on there. Churches are not multi-millionaire organizations like the Mormon church. You know, there’s some weirdness with that, but nobody questions it, nobody asks one question to [Glenn Beck] and says, ‘Tell us about your faith. What does a Mormon believe?’ Ask him about the holy garments that he wears that protect him from evil. Isn’t that kooky? Ask him about getting his body parts anointed by oil. Isn’t that kooky? Ask him about when he goes to the temple and he gets baptized for dead people. Isn’t that kooky? Ask him about the hit squad of the Mormon church and why they need people to kill Mormons that go against them. Isn’t that controlling? Ask him how they shun people, then they get their family members to disown them and divorce them if they dare leave the Mormon church. Isn’t that cultish? I mean, I could go on and on. The Mormon church is a cult, and [Glenn Beck] is a powerful person in a cult, and nobody even questions it.”

– John Reed, the preacher at Sonrise Church in Reno, the home church of Nevada GOP-tea bagger Sharron Angle. *Note, however, that instead of Glenn Beck, the preacher actually referred to Angle’s opponent, Sen. Harry Reid.

Mistakes Galore As Mormons Perform Secret Temple Rites for Tiger Woods’ Family

Helen Radkey

On November 27, 2009, American professional golf champion Tiger Woods — the highest-paid athlete in the world — was involved in a mysterious car crash near his Florida home. The accident sparked rumors of domestic violence between Woods and his wife, Elin (Nordegren) Woods. Reports describing the intimate details of Tiger Woods’ alleged sex romps with a parade of women began to surface. The famous golfer has fallen from grace as the ultimate role model in sports to an allegedly pathological philanderer.

Tiger Woods was known to party and gamble at hotel casinos in Las Vegas. Coincidentally, a few weeks before his extramarital affairs became publicly known, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) performed proxy rites for the paternal family line of Tiger Woods in the Las Vegas Nevada (LDS) Temple.

LDS temple rituals are performed by living church members as proxies for the deceased. “Temple work” for the dead includes: baptism, confirmation, priesthood ordination (for males), initiatory and endowment ceremonies, sealing to spouse, and sealing of children to parents. Mormons believe these “ordinances” offer salvation to (non-LDS) deceased.

Eldrick Tont Woods (born December 30, 1975), who became known as Tiger Woods, was born in Cypress, California, to Earl Dennison Woods, Sr. (1932-2006), and Kultida (Punsawad) Woods (born 1944). Tiger Woods is the only child of their marriage, but he has two half-brothers: Earl Dennison, Jr. (born 1955); and Kevin Dale (born 1957); and one half-sister, Royce Renee (born 1961), from the 18-year marriage of Earl Dennison Woods, Sr., and his first wife, Barbara Hart Woods. Tiger Woods comes from a background rooted in Buddhism. His mother, Kultida “Tida” Woods, is a Thai Buddhist.

Earl Dennison Woods, Sr., the father and mentor of Tiger Woods, died in Cypress, California, on May 3, 2006. Earl Woods, Sr. was baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS Church by proxy in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple on November, 6, 2009. He was also “sealed” for eternity by proxy to his ex-wife, Barbara (Ann) Hart (Woods), on November 9, 2009 in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple, even though the final judgment of their divorce had been granted on March 2, 1972 in the Superior Court of California.

Barbara Ann Hart Woods, now known as Barbara Woods Gary, was the first wife of Earl Dennison Woods, Sr. Although it appears she is still living, Barbara Woods was “posthumously” baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS Church by proxy on November 6, 2009 in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple, under her maiden name, Barbara Hart. In a December 2009 online news report, Barbara Woods complains about the grievous mental suffering inflicted on her by Earl Woods, Sr. during their marriage: Did-fathers-tangled-sex-life-make-Tiger-Woods-love-cheat.

If Barbara Woods Gary is not dead, then “posthumous” Mormon rituals on her behalf are inappropriate – and why would anyone want to “seal” her forever to a deceased ex-spouse who caused her so much misery? There is no date or place of death shown on her Mormon record. Did the LDS Church member who submitted her name for LDS temple ordinances bother to check if she was alive or dead?

Miles Woods and Maude (Carter) Woods, the parents of Earl Dennison Woods, Sr., and the grandparents of Tiger Woods, were baptized and confirmed members of the LDS Church by proxy on November 6, 2009 in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple. They were “sealed” for eternity by proxy in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple on November 9, 2009. Miles Woods (1873-1943) is recorded in LDS files as Miles Woods, born 1911, Kansas, United States. His correct year of birth is 1873, not 1911. His Mormon listing gives his year of death as 1986, with no death location. Miles Woods died in 1943, not 1986. Maude (Carter) Woods (1893-1947) is described on LDS lists as “Maude” (with no surname), born 1915, United States. Her year of death is shown as 1990, with no location of death. Maude Woods was born in 1893, not 1915. She died in 1947, not 1990. The inaccurate birth and death years for this couple were probably invented by the submitter. Miles and Maude Woods deserve more honest genealogy than fudged Mormon records.

In their misguided attempts to offer Mormon-style redemption to all dead non-Mormons, some Mormons are grabbing names, any names, from any family line, and creating false “family history” records for lineages they have no right to be claiming for religious rites.

As members of the LDS Church perform proxy rituals in Mormon temples for names from non-Mormon bloodlinesÑsuch as the family of Tiger Woods – the LDS Church is now concealing the evidence of this unorthodox practice from the public. Details of all ongoing “work” for the dead – including the identities of deceased individuals who are currently receiving LDS temple ordinances by proxy-are off-limits to outsiders. Only an accredited Mormon with a special user log-in can access this information online at: familysearch.org/en/action/unsec/welcome

This story first appeared in the Salamander Society website.

© Copyright 2010, Helen Radkey – Permission is granted to reproduce, provided content is not changed and this copyright notice is included.