~~  Ritualistic Satanic/Sexual Abuse  ~~

Utah County Attorney calls for outside review of sheriff over ritual child abuse investigation
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Jun 1, 2022, 6:46 PM | Updated: Jun 2, 2022, 8:49 am

Smith said he’s not resigning, and he believes investigating crimes against children is a good use of public money.

“This is not a politically motivated investigation,” he told reporters at his office in Spanish Fork Wednesday.

As for the timing of Tuesday’s release, Smith said the investigation got to a point where his employees believed there were other victims and wanted to gather information from them.

Smith would not name any suspects or confirm Leavitt was connected to the current investigation.

“I believe that Leavitt is using his authority and his pulpit to bully, distract and mischaracterize the facts of an ongoing investigation,” Smith said.

Leavitt said he only learned Tuesday that a witness statement tied to the 2012 investigation contained disturbing allegations against him and his wife.

“I learned that my wife and I were part of those allegations, alleging that we were guilty of cannibalizing young children and murdering young children.” He vehemently denied them.

Leavitt noted that prosecutors filed charges against one man roughly 10 years ago but said the case was subsequently dismissed “because the evidence was so outlandish and so unbelievable.”

Leavitt said the man ultimately charged in connection with the allegations was his neighbor for a time and someone he knew from church. Leavitt said he testified against the man at a divorce proceeding because he believed the man to be a danger to his children.

A prosecutor made a motion to dismiss charges of child rape and sexual abuse “due to trouble getting discovery to defense counsel,” according to court records. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled at a later date.

Leavitt provided copies of a 151-page document labeled as a “victim statement” that describes the alleged crimes in detail. The statement names Leavitt and more than a dozen others as part of a group that practiced ritual sexual abuse of children.

The KSL Investigators also obtained a copy through a public records request to the Provo Police Department.

Leavitt called the report “151 pages of utter baloney” and described the woman who reported the allegations to authorities as “tragically mentally ill.”

Smith took aim at that characterization. “These are victims of crime who have mustered the courage to come forward, and this is what we call them is mentally ill?”

Smith said victims of alleged crimes should not be shamed or intimidated for having the courage to come forward.

While Leavitt mentioned cannibalism and murder, Smith said the investigation is focused on ritualistic child sexual abuse and child sex trafficking. The sheriff’s office investigation began in April 2021, and their digging led them to similar crimes that investigators believe took place between 1990 and 2010 in Utah, Sanpete and Juab counties.

Smith said his deputies are working with the sheriff’s offices in Juab and Sanpete counties, along with the Nephi and Provo police departments and the FBI to investigate. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed the agency is assisting in the effort.

Since asking for anyone with knowledge of the alleged crimes to come forward on Tuesday, the sheriff said at least 20 people have gotten in touch to say they were either victimized or know someone who was.

Leavitt, a Republican, was elected county attorney in 2018. He and the sheriff’s office have previously sparred over Leavitt’s decision to dismantle the Special Victims Unit in the county attorney’s office. They’ve also been at odds over Leavitt’s plans to move away from offering plea deals in favor of more trials and prosecute fewer low-level drug crimes.

The Utah County Fraternal Order of Police issued a letter of “no confidence” in Leavitt. The county attorney has said criticism was bound to follow his efforts at reforming the criminal justice system.

Smith has endorsed Leavitt’s challenger, Jeff Gray, in the county attorney’s race.

In a sheriff's office release, the agency said portions of those allegations were confirmed and are now being investigated in cooperation with other local and federal agencies.

"Criminal charges, we believe it will get to that point, but we just haven't gotten there yet," said UCSO Sgt. Spencer Cannon. "The sooner the better. We don't want to let anything sit longer than is necessary."

UCSO declined to release any further information.

However, multiple confidential sources have confirmed the case relates to a story that the FOX 13 Investigates team has been researching for several months.

The I-Team has learned some of the subjects of the investigation are high-profile Utahns.

UCSO would not confirm or deny.

"We're just being as careful as we can before we toss names out," Cannon said. "Any given individual... The chips fall where they are, and we follow them."

Victims and law enforcement sources say one of the targets of the investigation was a therapist who was previously charged with a series of sex crimes against young female family members. The Utah County Attorney's Office dropped charges without prejudice, and the man was not convicted.

Records obtained by FOX 13 News indicate the man previously confessed to sexually assaulting at least one of the girls on an undercover phone recording.

Brett Bluth, another victim, said he met the therapist through a referral from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"Hypnosis was a big part of (my treatment). He told me from the very beginning, that that was his main technique," Bluth said. "(He) would say, 'Do you want to be healed of your homosexuality, or not?' and the answer was yes."

Bluth said, based on his interviews with law enforcement, he's cautiously optimistic that charges will be filed and prosecuted.

He hopes sharing his story will empower more victims to come forward.

"I do think it will be different, I think in part because I have some information that can connect some dots," Bluth said.

Officials are asking victims of abuse, or anyone with information on the crimes, to please contact the Utah County Sheriff's Office Special Victim's Unit at 801-851-4010.

"We understand that there are individuals who have concerns for their safety and/or well-being, who have been silenced," the sheriff's office wrote. "We need your help."

RITUALISTIC CHILD ABUSE AND THE MORMON CHURCH

MORMON GENERAL AUTHORITY WARNS
THAT A SATANIC CONSPIRACY MAY BE FUNCTIONING IN THE CHURCH

Salt Lake Messenger - #80 - Nov. 1991

    On July 2, 1991 we were presented with a copy of a very sensational memo purported to have been written by a General Authority of the Mormon Church. This memo was authored by Glenn L. Pace, Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric of the church. It is dated July 19, 1990, and is directed to the "Strengthening Church Members Committee" of the Mormon Church. In the memo Pace states that he has met with "sixty victims" of "ritualist child abuse," and that "All sixty individuals are members of the Church."

    The contents of the document are so startling that we wondered if it might be a forgery created by someone who wanted to embarrass the church. Because of our concern regarding the memo's authenticity, we decided not to make it public until we could learn more about it. We did give a copy to a woman who was doing research on incest, and she was able to meet with Glenn L. Pace concerning the matter. She claimed that Pace informed her that he had now interviewed over one hundred victims of ritualistic abuse.

    On October 2, 1991, we gave a copy of the memo to another researcher who is very well versed in the operations and history of the Mormon Church. He was very suspicious about the authenticity of the document and noted that he did not think the church had a committee called "Strengthening Church Members Committee." He decided to call Glenn Pace about the matter. While Pace was not available at that time, he was able to discuss the memo with the secretary. She acknowledged that there is indeed a "Strengthening Church Members Committee," and was surprised to know that he had a copy of the memo on "Ritualistic Child Abuse." She informed him that the document was prepared solely for the Committee and that he was not supposed to have a copy. She instructed him, therefore, to destroy his copy of the memo and to tell the person he obtained the copy from that his or her copy should also be destroyed.

    We, of course, felt that the memo should be available to members of the church. Therefore, on pages 3-8 of this issue of the Messenger we have made a photographic reproduction from our copy of the document so that those who are interested can inspect it in its entirety and draw their own conclusions. The reader will notice that the words "DO NOT REPRODUCE" are printed by hand on the first page of the memo. These words were already on the copy when we received it.

    At this point we do not feel prepared to take any strong position as to the conclusions Bishop Pace has reached with regard to his interviews. We are, in fact, caught on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, it is very hard to believe that such an evil conspiracy has been going on for so long without detection. We try to be very cautious about accepting stories concerning conspiracies unless strong evidence can be marshaled to support the accusations. We have seen too many people make the mistake of leveling serious accusations against individuals and organizations without carefully considering all of the facts.

    On the other hand, however, we have to ask ourselves this question: Can the testimony of so many individuals, that seems to agree on some key points, be totally disregarded? Psychiatrists, of course, would point out that we cannot blindly accept the statements of those who are mentally ill because they sometimes have a difficult time separating reality from fantasy. Since Glenn Pace presents only a general overview of the problem in his report to the Committee, it is difficult to really evaluate his conclusions. It is reported that there is a 40-page report which would throw more light on the issue. Unfortunately, however, it is not available to the public. In any case, if Pace has correctly read the situation and a satanic group like he envisions is functioning within the Mormon Church, it would have to be one of the most diabolical conspiracies in existence today.

    Bishop Pace strongly believes that "these activities are real and cannot be ignored" (page 6 of his report) and states that "the Church needs to consider the seriousness of these problems" (p. 4). Even though Pace goes so far as to charge that "bishops, a patriarch, a stake president, temple workers, and members of the Tabernacle Choir" may be involved and that "sometimes the abuse has taken place in our own meetinghouses" (p. 5), he does not believe the Mormon Church itself is behind the satanic activity; instead, he feels that "the Church is being used." (p. 4) If the activities Pace speaks of are actually taking place, we would tend to agree with his conclusion that the church is the victim of a group of pernicious deceivers. The fact that "a stake president" and "bishops" may be involved does not indicate the church itself is implicated in a conspiracy. It should be pointed out that there are thousands of bishops in the Mormon Church. Nevertheless, as we will explain later, there are some things in LDS Church history and doctrine that make the church vulnerable to infiltration by occultists who wish to use it for their own purposes.

    In any case, Glenn Pace must be commended for spending a great deal of time and emotional energy in trying to help these people who are troubled with serious psychological problems. Even if he is unable to prove his theory concerning "Ritualistic Child Abuse" in the Mormon Church, he has had the courage to step out and call this matter to the attention of the leadership of the church.

    Aside from the question of whether a group of Satanists are secretly functioning within the framework of the LDS Church, Glenn Pace's memo raises another important issue—i.e., it brings to light an additional reason for the deletion of some of the oaths which had always been an extremely important part of the Mormon temple ritual. The deletion of these oaths occurred in April 1990. As we will explain later, it is possible that the information that Pace was receiving in his interviews during 1989-90 could have influenced church leaders to remove the oaths. On page 4 of his memo, Bishop Pace noted that "many" of those who had allegedly participated in satanic rites claimed that they had "their first flashback" while "attending the temple for the first time." When they took the oaths and heard "the exact words" in the temple ceremony that they had previously heard in the satanic ritual, "horrible memories were triggered."

    It is possible that when church leaders became aware of this information, they ordered the offending portions of the ceremony deleted so that they would not continue to have an adverse effect on some church members. Then, too, if satanic rites with similar wording actually existed, the General Authorities of the church may have been concerned that this would eventually become known to the public and cause embarrassment to the church. Whatever the case may be, the oaths which were a vital part of the temple ceremony at the time Glenn Pace began his interviews have been removed.

    We have been somewhat apprehensive about bringing Pace's memo to light because of the effect it could have on other people's lives. If his conclusions are correct and the perpetrators of these evil deeds are apprehended and brought to justice, we will be very pleased with the result. If, on the other hand, it causes a witch hunt which leads nowhere, we will certainly be disappointed. The serious implications of this whole matter cannot be overstated. We hope that our readers will use good judgment and not spread unfounded rumors. If, however, they do have important information on this subject, they should report it to the proper law enforcement officials.

    At the LDS Church's 161st semi-annual General Conference, the Mormon leaders took a strong public stand against child abuse. On October 7, 1991, the Salt Lake Tribune reported:

    "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 'condemns in the harshest of terms' physical, psychological and sexual abuse, said Thomas S. Monson, second counselor in the First Presidency...

    "Offenders should be brought to justice for their 'wicked and devilish conduct... Liars, bullies who abuse children, they will one day reap the whirlwind of their foul deeds,' he said."

    Glenn Pace's suggestion concerning the possibility of an organized conspiracy to sexually abuse children is not new to residents of Utah. In a highly controversial trial, which took place in 1987, a man by the name of Alan B. Hadfield was convicted on seven counts of "sodomizing and sexually molesting his son and daughter." (Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 13, 1988) In the same newspaper, under the date of Dec. 16, 1987, we find the following:

    "PROVO—As many as 40 people in the same Lehi neighborhood were implicated as child sex abusers by their own offspring and other children in the area, a therapist testified Tuesday.

    "Dr. Barbara Snow, the principal therapist who broke an alleged widespread pattern of child sexual abuse centered in one ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spent nearly six hours on the stand during the second day of the trial of Alan B. Hadfield."

    Many people felt that Dr. Snow planted ideas of sexual abuse in the minds of the children. A psychiatrist we discussed the situation with said that although he had questions about Dr. Snow's methods, he talked about the matter with another psychiatrist who had interviewed the children. He was surprised to learn that this man had reached similar conclusions—i.e., that there were probably many people involved in the scandal. Since he has a great deal of respect for this man's work, he feels there may have been something to the statement that there was an organized sex-abuse ring functioning in Lehi. However this may be, although officials indicated that additional charges might be filed, no one else has been prosecuted for the purported abuse. Many people in Utah still feel that Mr. Hadfield was innocent of the charges and that the accusations made by the children against him and other members of the Mormon ward in which he lived were without foundation in fact. This was certainly a very difficult case and it is very hard to know who was telling the truth.

    On January 13, 1988, the Salt Lake Tribune ran a story that indicated that sex-abuse rings might be functioning in other parts of the state of Utah:

    "A spokesman for the Utah Psychiatric Association has issued a startling message: Organized child abuse is not a far-fetched notion. Adults and youths in organized groups or rings appear to be sexually abusing children in Utah....

    "Dr. Paul L. Whitehead, public affairs representative for the association in Salt Lake City, said mental-health professionals have identified clusters of sex-abuse groups in several communities in the state. But so far, only one member of what they say is such a group has been brought to trial—and convicted."

At this point the reader should take the time to carefully read Glenn L. Pace's work on "Ritualistic Child Abuse."

M E M O R A N D U M

Pursuant to the Committee's request, I am writing this memorandum to pass along what I have learned about ritualistic child abuse. Hopefully, it will be of some value to you as you continue to monitor the problem. You have already received the LDS Social Services report on satanism dated May 24, 1989, a report from Brent Ward, and a memorandum from myself dated October 20, 1989 in response to Brother Ward's report. Therefore, I will limit this writing to information not contained in those papers.

I have met with sixty victims. That number could be twice or three times as many if I did not discipline myself to only one meeting per week. I have not wanted my involvement with this issue to become a handicap in fulfilling my assigned responsibilities. On the other hand, I felt someone needed to pay the price to obtain an intellectual and spiritual conviction as to the seriousness of this problem within the Church.

Of the sixty victims with whom I have met, fifty-three are female and seven are male. Eight are children. The abuse occurred in the following places: Utah (37), Idaho (3), California (4), Mexico (2), and other places (14). Fifty-three victims are currently living in the State of Utah. All sixty individuals are members of the Church. Forty-five victims allege witnessing and/or participating in human sacrifice. The majority were abused by relatives, often their parents. All have developed psychological problems and most have been diagnosed as having multiple personality disorder or some other form of dissociative disorder.

Ritualistic child abuse is the most hideous of all child abuse. The basic objective is premeditated--to systematically and methodically torture and terrorize children until they are forced to dissociate. The torture is not a consequence of the loss of temper, but the execution of well-planned, well-thought out rituals often performed by close relatives. The only escape for the children is to dissociate. They will develop a new personality to enable them to endure various forms of abuse. When the episode is over, the core personality is again in control and the individual is not conscious of what happened. Dissociation also serves the purposes of the occult because the children have no day-to-day memory of the atrocities. They go through adolescence and early adulthood with no active memory of what is taking place. Oftentimes they continue in rituals through their teens and early twenties, unaware of their involvement. Many individuals with whom I have spoken have served missions and it has not been until later that they begin to remember. One individual has memories of participating in rituals while serving as a full-time missionary.

The victims lead relatively normal lives, but the memories are locked up in a compartment in their minds and surface in various ways. They don't know how to cope with the emotions because they can't find the source. As they become adults and move into another environment, something triggers the memories and, consequently, flashbacks and/or nightmares occur. One day they will have been living a normal life and the next they will be in a mental hospital in a fetal position. The memories of their early childhood are recalled in so much detail that they once again feel the pain that caused the dissociation in the first place.

There are two reasons why adults can remember with such detail events that happened in their past: First, the terror they experienced was so stark that it was indelibly placed in their mind. Second, the memory was compartmentalized in a certain portion of the mind and was not subjected to the dilution of experiences of ensuing years. When it is tapped, it is as fresh as if it happened yesterday.

The memories seem to come in layers. For example, the first memory might be of incest; then they remember robes and candles; next they realize that their father or mother or both were present when they were being abused. Another layer will be the memory of seeing other people hurt and even killed. Then they remember having seen babies killed. Another layer is realizing that they participated in the sacrifices. One of the most painful memories may be that they even sacrificed their own baby. With each layer of memory comes another set of problems with which they must deal.

Some have said that the witnesses to this type of treatment cannot be trusted because of the victim's unstable condition and because practically all of them have some kind of dissociative disorder; in fact, the stories are so bizarre as to raise serious credibility questions. The irony is that one of the objectives of the occult is to create multiple personalities within the children in order to keep the "secrets." They live in society without society having any idea that something is wrong since the children and teenagers don't even realize there is another life occurring in darkness and in secret. However, when sixty witnesses testify to the same type of torture and murder, it becomes impossible for me, personally, not to believe them.

I mention multiple personalities because the spiritual healing which must take place in the lives of these victims cannot happen without their priesthood leaders understanding something about it.

The spiritual indoctrination which takes place during the physical abuse is one of the most difficult to overcome. In addition to experiencing stark terror and pain, the children are also instructed in satanic doctrine. Everything is completely reversed: white is black, black is white, good is bad, bad is good, Satan is going to rule during the Millennium.

Children are put in a situation where they believe they are going to die--such as being buried alive or being placed in a plastic bag and immersed in water. Prior to doing so, the abuser tells the child to pray to Jesus to see if He will save her. Imagine a seven year old girl, having been told she is going to die, praying to Jesus to save her and nothing happens--then at the last moment she is rescued, but the person saving her is a representative of Satan. He uses this experience to convince her that the only person who really cares about her is Satan, she is Satan's child and she might as well become loyal to him.

Just before or shortly after their baptism into the Church, children are baptized by blood into the satanic order which is meant to cancel out their baptism into the Church. They will be asked if they understand or have ever felt the Holy Ghost. When they reply that they have, they will be reminded of the horrible things they have participated in and will be told that they have become a son (or daughter) of perdition and, therefore, have no chance of being saved or loved by our Father in heaven or Jesus.

All of this indoctrination takes place with whichever personality has immerged to endure the physical, mental, and spiritual pain. Consequently, there develops within each of these individuals the makings of what I call a civil war. As the memories begin to surface, there are personalities who feel they have given themselves to Satan, and there is no hope for forgiveness. The core person is an active member of the Church, often with a temple recommend. As integration takes place, the civil war begins. Sometimes, in an interview, personalities of the dark side have come out. They are petrified or perhaps full of hate for me and what I represent. Eventually those personalities need to be dealt with spiritually and psychologically.

Most victims are suicidal. They have been brainwashed with drugs, hypnosis, and other means to become suicidal as soon as they start to tell the secrets. They have been threatened all of their lives that if they don't do what they are told their brother or sister will die, their parents will die, their house will be burned, or they themselves will be killed. They have every reason to believe it since they have seen people killed. They believe they might as well kill themselves instead of wait for the occult to do it. Some personalities feel it is the right thing to do.

The purpose of this detail is to stress the complexity of psychological and spiritual therapy for these individuals. Our priesthood leaders, when faced with such cases, are understandably at a loss of how to respond. Orthodox counsel is completely ineffective. For example, some victims have been told that this all happened in their past and that they should put it behind them and get on with their lives. This is just not possible. Part of the spiritual therapy necessary is for priesthood leaders to assist with the conversion process of the personalities who have been indoctrinated into satanism. Victims must integrate their personalities so that they can function as whole persons and be able to deal with their problems and then get on with their lives. Often, some of the parts will begin to act out--perhaps promiscuously--and a good intentioned priesthood leader, following the General Handbook of Instructions, will disfellowship or excommunicate an individual. All this does is reinforce the satanic indoctrination of the victims that they are no good.

I'm sorry to say that many of the victims have had their first flashbacks while attending the temple for the first time. The occult along the Wasatch Front uses the doctrine of the Church to their advantage. For example, the verbiage and gestures are used in a ritualistic ceremony in a very debased and often bloody manner. When the victim goes to the temple and hears the exact words, horrible memories are triggered. We have recently been disturbed with members of the Church who have talked about the temple ceremony. Compared to what is happening in the occult along the Wasatch Front, these are very minor infractions. The perpetrators are also living a dual life. Many are temple recommend holders. This leads to another reason why the Church needs to consider the seriousness of these problems. In affect, the Church is being used.

I go out of my way to not let the victims give me the names of the perpetrators. I have told them that my responsibility is to help them with spiritual healing and that the names of perpetrators should be given to therapists and law enforcement officers. However, they have told me the positions in the Church of members who are perpetrators. Among others, there are Young Women leaders, Young Men leaders, bishops, a patriarch, a stake president, temple workers, and members of the Tabernacle Choir. These accusations are not coming from individuals who think they recognized someone, but from those who have been abused by people they know, in many cases their own family members.

Whatever the form of abuse our main concern is for the victims, but there are legal ramifications. We are disturbed to receive reports that a scoutmaster has abused the boys in his troop. It is not difficult to imagine what would happen if we learn that a bishop or stake president has participated in the abominations of ritualistic child abuse. Not only do some of the perpetrators represent a cross section of the Mormon culture, but sometimes the abuse has taken place in our own meetinghouses.

I don't pretend to know how prevalent the problem is. All I know is that I have met with 60 victims. Assuming each one comes from a coven of 13, we are talking about the involvement of 800 or so right here on the Wasatch Front. Obviously, I have only seen those coming forth to get help. They are in their twenties and thirties for the most part. I can only assume that it is expanding geometrically and am horrified the numbers represented by the generation who are now children and teenagers.

Another reason for concern is that there are several doctrinal issues that need to be resolved. The Church and society in general are very skeptical as to whether the occult and its activities do exist. There is no First Presidency statement relative to some of the doctrinal issues: What does a priesthood leader tell individuals who come forward and say that they have participated in these rituals--which may include human sacrifice? Should they have a temple recommend? Will they ever be forgiven? There are questions regarding free agency and accountability. Is a person who has been raised in an occult from infancy accountable for things that take place in a dissociated state, even though those acts were committed after the age of eight? I have formed my own opinions to these questions and have done the best I can. However, I don't have the mantle to make these doctrinal and policy decisions. I have relied on the mantle of a bishop regarding discernment and being a common judge.

The few priesthood leaders who have had to face these issues are crying out for help because they don't want to give their own opinions and yet there is no place to go for an answer. A bishop will go to his stake president who says he doesn't believe it is happening and that the member is just crazy. The stake president might go to an Area Presidency who will react in a similar way. Most people are afraid to surface it to the First Presidency for fear of getting the same reaction and don't want to appear crazy themselves for asking the question.

I hope you will excuse me if I am being presumptuous, but I am concluding this paper with scriptures I feel support my belief that these activities are real and cannot be ignored.

The things I have been writing about go back to Cain and Abel:

And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands.

And Satan sware unto Cain that he would do according to his commands. And all these things were done in secret.

And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, and he gloried in his wickedness. (Moses 5:29-31.)

All of the experiences I have heard about have to do with secrecy, swearing not to tell, murdering to get gain and power:

Wherefore Lamech, being angry, slew him, not like unto Cain, his brother Abel, for the sake of getting gain, but he slew him for the oath's sake.

For, from the days of Cain, there was a secret combination, and their works were in the dark, and they knew every man his brother. (Moses 5:50-51.)

And then in Moses 6:15 we learn that as people began to fill the earth, so did these secret works:

And the children of men were numerous upon all the face of the land. And in those days Satan had great dominion among men, and raged in their hearts; and from thenceforth came wars and bloodshed; and a man's hand was against his own brother, in administering death, because of secret works, seeking for power.

The Book of Mormon is replete with descriptions of these secret murderous combinations as well as prophecies that they will always be with us:

And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled out first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness. (2 Nephi 9:9.)

Wherefore, for this cause, that my covenants may be fulfilled which I have made unto the children of men, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh, I must needs destroy the secret works of darkness, and of murders, and of abominations. (2 Nephi 10:15.)

And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever. (2 Nephi 26:22.)

In Alma, we find that the Lord commanded some of the prophets not to write any of the secret works, especially of the secret oaths, so that they would not become known by generations to follow, but that they might be warned that they do exist:

And now, I will speak unto you concerning those twenty-four plates, that ye keep them, that the mysteries and the works of darkness, and their secret works, or the secret works of those people who have been destroyed, may be made manifest unto this people; yea, all their murders, and robbings, and their plunderings, and all their wickedness and abominations, may be made manifest unto this people; yea, and that ye preserve these interpreters. . . .

I will bring forth out of darkness unto light all their secret works and their abominations; and except they repent I will destroy them from off the face of the earth; and I will bring to light all their secrets and abominations, unto every nation that shall hereafter possess the land.

And now, my son, we see that they did not repent; therefore they have been destroyed, and thus far the word of God has been fulfilled; yea, their secret abominations have been brought out of darkness and made known unto us.

And now, my son, I command you that ye retain all their oaths,, and their covenants, and their agreements in their secret abominations; yea, and all their signs and their wonders ye shall keep from this people, that they know them not, lest peradventure they should fall into darkness also and be destroyed.

For behold, there is a curse upon all this land, that destruction shall come upon all those workers of darkness, according to the power of God, when they are fully ripe; therefore I desire that this people might be destroyed. (Alma 37:21, 25-28.)

In Helaman, the name of Gadianton is introduced and becomes descriptive throughout the Book of Mormon relative to the secret combinations.

But behold, Kishkumen, who had murdered Pahoran, did lay wait to destroy Helaman also; and he was upheld by his band, who had entered into a covenant that no one should know his wickedness.

For there was one Gadianton, who was exceedingly expert in many words, and also in his craft, to carry on the secret work of murder and of robbery; therefore he became the leader of the band of Kishkumen. . . .

And when the servant of Helaman had known all the heart of Kishkumen, and how that it was his object to murder, and also that it was the object of all those who belonged to his band to murder, and to rob, and to gain power, (and this was their secret plan, and their combination) the servant of Helaman said unto Kishkumen: Let us go forth unto the judgment-seat. (Helaman 2:3-4, 8.)

It was true then as it is now that these things were not known by the general populace or by the government:

And it came to pass in the forty and ninth year of the reign of the judges, there was continual peace established in the land, all save it were the secret combinations which Gadianton the robber had established in the more settled parts of the land, which at that time were not known unto those who were at the head of government; therefore they were not destroyed out of the land. (Helaman 3:23.)

In chapter 6, we learn that in spite of the Lord's command to the prophets not to write these things, Satan is capable, and always has been, of revealing his secrets to his followers just as the Lord has revealed His will to the prophets.

And now behold, those murderers and plunderers were a band who had been formed by Kishkumen and Gadianton. And now it had come to pass that there were many, even among the Nephites, of Gadianton's band. But behold, they were more numerous among the more wicked part of the Lamanites. And they were called Gadianton's robbers and murderers.

But behold, Satan did stir up the hearts of the more part of the Nephites, insomuch that they did unite with those bands of robbers, and did enter into their covenants and their oaths, that they would protect and preserve one another in whatsoever difficult circumstances they should be placed, that they should not suffer for their murders, and their plunderings, and their stealings.

And it came to pass that they did have their signs, yea, their secret signs, and their secret words; and this that they might distinguish a brother who had entered into the covenant, that whatsoever wickedness his brother should do he should not be injured by his brother, nor by those who did belong to his band, who had taken this covenant.

And thus they might murder and plunder, and steal, and commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness, contrary to the laws of their country and also the laws of their God.

And whosoever of those who belonged to their band should reveal unto the world of their wickedness and their abominations, should be tried, not according to the laws of their country, but according to the laws of their wickedness, which had been given by Gadianton and Kishkumen.

Now behold, it is these secret oaths and covenants which Alma commanded his son should not go forth unto the world, lest they should be a means of bringing down the people unto destruction.

Now behold, those secret oaths and covenants did not come forth unto Gadianton from the records which were delivered unto Helaman; but behold, they were put into the heart of Gadianton by that same being who did entice our first parents to partake of the forbidden fruit. . . .

Yea, it is that same being who put it into the heart of Gadianton to still carry on the work of darkness, and of secret murder; and he has brought it forth from the beginning of man even down to this time.

And behold, it is he who is the author of all sin. And behold, he doth carry on his works of darkness and secret murder, and doth hand down their plots, and their oaths, and their covenants, and their plans of awful wickedness, from generation to generation according as he can get hold upon the hearts of the children of men. (Helaman 6:18, 21-26, 29-30.)

In light of this scripture, it is naive for us to think these things would not exist in our own generation. We know this is the last dispensation, the dispensation of the fulness of times. Surely Satan would not "pass" on this most important dispensation.

In Helaman 8:1 we learn that people in high places were members of the Gadianton band and secret combinations:

And now it came to pass that when Nephi had said these words, behold, there were men who were judges, who also belonged to the secret band of Gadianton, and they were angry, and they cried out against him, saying unto the people: Why do ye not seize upon this man and bring him forth, that he may be condemned according to the crime which he has done?

We have allegations to indicate that this is true of people in high places today in both the Church and the government who are leading this dual life. The secret combinations were mentioned all through the Book of Mormon. In Mormon 1:18-19 we read that these Gadianton robbers were still alive and well and functioning:

And these Gadianton robbers, who were among the Lamanites, did infest the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to hide up their treasures in the earth; and they became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again.

And it came to pass that there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was wrought upon all the face of the land, even unto the fulfilling of all the words of Abinadi, and also Samuel the Lamanite.

In Mormon 8:27 there is a prophecy that secret combinations will be among us in our time:

And it shall come in a day when the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and the works of darkness.

The extent of the evil that mankind will perpetrate on another is told in Moroni 9:10:

And after they had done this thing, they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts, because of the hardness of their hearts; and they do it for a token of bravery.

Many of us have read this all of our lives and click our tongues at how awful it would be to live in such a time. Those victims with whom I have spoken testify to these things going on all around us today. In Ether we are told that they will exist amongst us, the gentiles, and we are also warned that we should do something about it:

And now I, Moroni, do not write the manner of their oaths and combinations, for it hath been made known unto me that they are had among all people, and they are had among the Lamanites.

And they have caused the destruction of this people of whom I am now speaking, and also the destruction of the people of Nephi.

And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not.

Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain--and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.

Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up. (Ether 8:20-24.)

In summary, we live in the last dispensation of the fulness of times and Satan is here with his secret combinations in all of the ugliness that existed in previous dispensations. The scriptures prophesy to that reality. I also believe that the scriptures cited and many others that could be quoted argue against our being passive about the problem. I don't want to be known as an alarmist or a fanatic on the issue. Now that I have put what I have learned in writing to you, I feel the issue is in the right court. I hope to take a low profile on the subject and get on with the duties which I have been formally assigned. This is not to say I would not be willing to be of service. Over the last eighteen months I have acquired a compassionate love and respect for the victims who are fighting for the safety of their physical lives and, more importantly, their souls.

TOO SENSATIONAL?

    While the report on ritualistic abuse appears to have been written by a man who is very sincere and really believes what he is reporting, many rational people will have a difficult time believing the statement that forty-five of the sixty victims "allege witnessing and/or participating in human sacrifice." (p. 1) Although we would not want to claim that this would be impossible, it does seem that it would be very difficult to cover up that many murders. It is possible, however, that there may be a way to reconcile this in the report itself. On page 3, Bishop Pace reported that "Children are put in a situation where they believe they are going to die—such as being buried alive or being placed in a plastic bag and immersed in water."

    If a child only saw someone being buried, but did not witness that the person was later "rescued" (i.e., dug up again), the impression would be left that the person was, in fact, dead. Furthermore, it would be possible to actually stage a fake human sacrifice. Individuals who are cruel enough to bury people alive and then rescue them at the "last moment," would certainly not hesitate to perform a pretended sacrifice. Since these rituals were supposed to have taken place by the light of "candles," it would be easy to fool children with a knife having a blade that goes back into the handle instead of penetrating the child. (We are familiar with a magic trick in which a large needle which resembles a sword appears to pass right through a person.) The use of some blood from an animal would help to make the whole thing believable. This, of course, is only speculation on our part.

    In his book, The Darker Side of Evil, Corruption, Scandal and the Mormon Empire, page 109, Anson Shupe alleges that in the Hadfield case children told "stories of orgies where participants wore costumes and the adults took photographs. Worship of Satan was demanded." While we have not had time to examine the transcript of this trial to confirm that Satanism was alleged to have been involved, there are some interesting parallels to Pace's memo in newspaper reports of the trial. One "little girl talked about one instance when people had cameras hanging from the ceiling, needles being stuck in her, blood being drawn and people coming out of graves." (Salt Lake Tribune, Dec. 16, 1987)

    The reader will remember that Glenn Place also wrote concerning the tactic of children being placed "in a plastic bag and immersed in water" to terrorize them (p. 3) and also revealed that if they did not do what they are told "their brother or sister will die, their parents will die... or they themselves will be killed." (p. 4) On Dec. 17, 1987, the Tribune reported an allegation that Hadfield's son was held under the water: "Whitehead said children who have been sexually abused often have also been threatened. Such was the case of Alan Hadfield's children, who testified that their father said 'he would drown them and kill their mother' if they told. The 12-year-old Hadfield boy testified that when he was younger his father held him at the bottom of a swimming pool to dramatically prove his threat."

    We, of course, do not know whether there is any connection between the Hadfield case and Bishop Pace's research. Although it is possible that Pace could have talked with some individual(s) linked to the Lehi scandal, he specifically said that those he interviewed "are in their twenties and thirties for the most part." Since the Hadfield trial took place a little less than five years ago, it seems unlikely that these "children" would have been old enough to fit Pace's description.

    In any case, from his interviews Bishop Pace reached the conclusion that a significant number of people must be involved in the occultic activity: "All I know is that I have met with 60 victims. Assuming each one comes from a coven of 13, we are talking about the involvement of 800 or so right here on the Wasatch Front." (p. 5) (Salt Lake City is part of the Wasatch Front.) Glenn Pace seems to be multiplying the number of people in each coven with the number of victims he interviewed (60). On page 1 of his report, however, he made it clear that he believes there could "be twice or three times" as many victims—possibly as many as 180. He simply had not had the opportunity to interview them at the time he wrote the report. On page 5, he made this sobering statement: "Obviously, I have only seen those coming forth to get help." It appears, then, that Pace envisions a large number of people participating in these satanic activities.

FLASHBACKS IN TEMPLE

    One of the most interesting parts of Glenn Pace's report is concerning "flashbacks" which he claims those who have been ritually abused experienced when they went through the Mormon temple ritual for the first time:

    "I'm sorry to say that many of the victims have had their first flashbacks while attending the temple for the first time. The occult along the Wasatch Front uses the doctrine of the Church to their advantage. For example, the verbiage and gestures are used in a ritualistic ceremony in a very debased and often bloody manner. When the victim goes to the temple and hears the exact words, horrible memories are triggered. We have recently been disturbed with members of the Church who have talked about the temple ceremony. Compared to what is happening in the occult along the Wasatch Front, these are very minor infractions. The perpetrators are also living a dual life. Many are temple recommend holders." (Memo by Glenn Pace, page 4)

    No one, of course, is allowed to go through the Mormon temple endowment ceremony without a special recommend. What Glenn Pace is obviously alleging is that some trusted members of the Mormon Church, who have recommends to go through the temple, have been using some of "the exact words" and "gestures" found in the Mormon ceremony in a highly secret satanic ritual which they participate in on other occasions. He gives no information as to where they meet, but in the same memo (p. 5) he says that "sometimes the abuse has taken place in our own meetinghouses."

    When Glenn Pace speaks of the "gestures" in the temple ritual, he is undoubtedly referring to the execution of the "penalties." There can be little question that these penalties were originally derived from Masonry. Joseph Smith himself was a member of that fraternity. We find the following in Joseph Smith's History under the date of March 15, 1842: "In the evening I received the first degree in Free Masonry in the Nauvoo lodge..." (History of the Church, vol. 4, p. 551) The entry for the following day says: "...I was with the Masonic Lodge and rose to the sublime degree." (p. 552) It was not long after Smith became a Mason that he created the Mormon temple ceremony.

    The Masons had some very bloody oaths in their ritual. Capt. William Morgan, who had been a Mason for thirty years, exposed these oaths in a book printed in 1827. After publishing his book, Freemasonry Exposed, Morgan disappeared and this set off a great controversy over Masonry. In any case, on pages 21-22 of his book, Morgan revealed the oath that Masons took in the "First Degree" of their ritual: "...I will... never reveal any part or parts, point or points of the secret arts and mysteries of ancient Freemasonry... binding myself under no less penalty than to have my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by the roots..." On page 23, Morgan went on to show that the Masons graphically demonstrated the penalty. They were told to draw "your right hand across your throat, the thumb next to your throat, your arm as high as the elbow in a horizontal position."

    There is an abundance of information from early sources to demonstrate that the "The First token of the Aaronic Priesthood" in the Mormon temple ceremony was derived from the oath given in the "First Degree" of the Masonic ritual. In Temple Mormonism, published in 1931, p. 18, we find this information concerning the Mormon ritual:

    "The left arm is here placed at the square, palm to the front the right hand and arm raised to the neck, holding the palm downwards and thumb under the right ear.

    "Adam—'We, and each of us, covenant and promise that we will not reveal any of the secrets of this, the first token of the Aaronic priesthood, with its accompanying name, sign or penalty. Should we do so, we agree that our throats be cut from ear to ear and our tongues torn out by their roots.'...

    "Sign—In executing the sign of the penalty, the right hand palm down, is drawn sharply across the throat, then dropped from the square to the side."

    The bloody nature of this oath in the temple endowment was verified by an abundance of testimony given in the Reed Smoot Case. For example, in vol. 2, page 78, J. H. Wallis, Sr., testified: "...I agree that my throat be cut from ear to ear and my tongue torn out by its roots from my mouth."

    Some time in the first half of the 20th century, a major change was made concerning the penalties in the endowment ceremony. The bloody wording of the oath mentioned above was entirely removed. Nevertheless, Mormons were still instructed to draw their thumbs across their throats to show the penalty. In the 1984 account of the ritual, the wording was modified to remove the harsh language regarding the cutting of the throat and the tearing out of the tongue:

    "The representation of the execution of the penalties indicates different ways in which life may be taken... We give unto you the First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood...

    "The sign is made by bringing the right arm to the square, the palm of the hand to the front, the fingers close together, and the thumb extended.... This is the sign. The Execution of the Penalty is represented by placing the thumb under the left ear, the palm of the hand down, and by drawing the thumb quickly across the throat, to the right ear, and dropping the hand to the side....

    "Now, repeat in your mind after me the words of the covenant, at the same time representing the execution of the penalty.

    "I,_____, think of the New Name, covenant that I will never reveal the First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, with its accompanying name, sign and penalty. Rather than do so, I would suffer my life to be taken."

    Joseph Smith borrowed two other oaths from Masonry which were very graphic. In the Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood the participants agreed that if they revealed the secrets they were to "have our breasts cut open and our hearts and vitals torn from our bodies and given to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.'...

    "The Sign is made by placing the left arm on the square, placing the right hand across the chest with the thumb extended and then drawing it rapidly from left to right and dropping it to the side." (Temple Mormonism, p. 20)

    As in the case of the First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, the most offensive wording was deleted from this part of the Mormon ceremony a number of decades ago. The "execution of the penalty," however, was still retained in the ritual until April, 1990.

    In the First Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood, Mormons were originally instructed to say that if they revealed "any of the secrets of this, the First Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood... we agree that our bodies be cut asunder in the midst and all our bowels gush out." (Temple Mormonism, p. 20) The offensive words in this oath were removed from the temple ceremony many years ago, but Mormons continued to execute the sign of the penalty until just recently. In the 1984 account of the ritual the participants were instructed to bring "the left hand in front of you with the hand in cupping shape, the left arm forming a square, the right hand is also brought forward, the palm down, the fingers close together, the thumb extended, and the thumb is placed over the left hip. (Officiator makes sign.) This is the sign. The execution of the penalty is represented by drawing the thumb quickly across the body and dropping the hands to the side." (For a detailed treatment concerning the modification of the temple oaths see our book Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony: 1842-1990.)

    Even after the oaths had been modified to remove the bloody wording, the execution of the penalties continued to upset many members of the church. As we indicated earlier, they were finally removed in April 1990. After the execution of the penalties was deleted, John Dart reported the following:

    "In pledging to never reveal the ritual, Mormons formerly made three motions—drawing one's hand quickly across the throat, another indicating one's heart would be cut out and the third suggesting disembowelment.

    " 'That's why I stopped going to the temple because [the ritual] was so offensive,' said a former woman member in Salt Lake City." (Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1990)

    If Glenn Pace's theory is correct, some Mormons who were "living a dual life" reverted to using the type of "bloody" wording which was found in the temple ceremony many years ago. They may have made the wording even stronger than it was in the early Mormon Church. Although they retained some of "the exact words" which were in the modern version of the temple endowment. they changed the ceremony into a satanic ritual.

    If this is the case, one can only begin to imagine how terrifying it would be for those who had been ritually abused in satanic ceremonies to encounter some of the same "gestures" and "wording" in what they sincerely believed was the House of the Lord. This certainly seems to be the type of thing that would bring a "flashback" to people who had erased these bad memories from their minds. It is unlikely that Glenn Pace would focus in on this particular issue, which could cause so much embarrassment to the church, if he did not really believe that it is a serious problem. In his memo he seems to be apologetic concerning his discovery: "I'm sorry to say that many of the victims have had their first flashbacks while attending the temple for the first time." (p. 4)

    As we noted earlier, it is possible that the information that Glenn Pace was receiving in the interviews he conducted in 1989-90 could have influenced church leaders to entirely remove the offensive "gestures" and wording concerning "different ways in which life may be taken" from the temple ceremony. At the beginning of his memo, Pace spoke of "the LDS Social Services report on satanism dated May 24, 1989, a report from Brent Ward, and a memorandum from myself dated October 20, 1989 in response to Brother Ward's report." In his memo, dated July 19, 1990, Pace indicated that he had been working with the victims for the "last eighteen months." (p. 12) This would mean that he began his work toward the end of 1988 or early in 1989. It seems likely, then, that before church leaders made the changes in the ritual, they would have been aware that many members of the church who claimed to have been ritualistically abused were having "flashbacks" in which "horrible memories were triggered" when they first went through the temple. It is true, of course, that other members of the church who had never been abused felt that the oaths were unchristian and should be removed. It is possible that these two factors working together resulted in the major changes that were made in the endowment ceremony in April 1990.

    In his report, page 5, Glenn Pace informs the reader that members of the satanic group not only do temple work but even serve as "temple workers." If this is the case, we would presume that these occultists would prefer to work in places where they would have intimate contact with the people going through the ceremonies. Prior to the revision of the temple ceremony in 1990, those who went through the ritual were required to go through what was known as the "Five Points of Fellowship." This part of the ritual would have been very appealing to a Satanist who desired close physical contact with those who pass through the ceremony. Reporting on changes made in the ceremony, the Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1990, gave this information concerning the removal of the "Five Points of Fellowship" from the temple ceremony:

    "Also dropped is an 'embrace' of a man representing God, who stands behind a ceiling-to-floor veil. Reaching through a slit in the veil, the church member puts his or her hand to the back of the deity and presses against him at the cheek, shoulders, knees and feet with the veil between them. The contact at 'five points of fellowship,' including the hand to his back, has been omitted, although the member must still give a secret handshake and repeat a lengthy password."

    There can be no question that the "Five Points of Fellowship" were originally derived from Masonry. In Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor, p. 120, we read that in Masonry the candidate can only receive "the grand Masonic word on the five points of fellowship." In 1827, fifteen years before Joseph Smith revealed the temple ritual to the Mormons, William Morgan wrote the following concerning the use of the five points of fellowship in Masonry:

    "He (the candidate) is raised on what is called the five points of fellowship... This is done by putting the inside of your right foot to the inside of the right foot of the person to whom you are going to give the word, the inside of your knee to his, laying your right breast against his, your left hands on the back of each other, and your mouths to each other's right ear (in which position alone you are permitted to give the word)..." (Freemasonry Exposed, page 84)

    Joseph Smith, of course, participated in this Masonic ritual when he became a Master Mason. It is not surprising, then, that when he created the Mormon temple ceremony he included the Five Points of Fellowship. It is clear from the description of the Five Points of Fellowship in the 1984 version of the temple ritual that Smith borrowed from Masonry:

    "Peter: The Five Points of Fellowship are 'inside of right foot by the side of right foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and mouth to ear.'..." (Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony: 1842-1990, page 96)

    Since the revision of the ceremony in 1990, those who participate in the ritual are only instructed to place "left arms... upon right shoulders." They no longer are required to be positioned with the "inside of right foot by the side of right foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and mouth to ear." Furthermore, all the wording concerning the "Five Points of Fellowship" has been completely deleted. These words previously appeared in five different places in the ritual—the "Lord" spoke of the "Five Points of Fellowship" twice; "Peter" referred to the "Five Points of Fellowship" twice, and the recipient mentioned them once. In the 1990 revised version all references to the Five Points of Fellowship have been cut out.

    In our book, Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony, page 30, we speculated that the Five Points of Fellowship may have been removed to avoid the possibility that temple workers might become too intimate with those who pass through the ceremony:

    "While it is good that the Mormon leaders removed this Masonic element from the endowment ceremony, some people who have been involved in temple work feel that the reason it was dropped was because some of the women felt the five points of contact (especially the placing of the 'inside of your knee to his') were too intimate. There were complaints that men playing the role of the Lord sometimes took advantage of the situation. We were also told that even some of the men felt they had a problem with the "Lord" behind the veil. Since a large number of men have played the role of the Lord in the various temples throughout the world, it is certainly possible that complaints could have been made at various times.... it is very possible that the 'Five Points of Fellowship' were removed because this part of the ritual seemed awkward or embarrassing to some members of the Mormon Church."

    Now that we have read Glenn Pace's memo, which suggests that some Satanists may be serving as "temple workers," we wonder if it is possible that church leaders may have been concerned that these people might be using the Five Points of Fellowship for evil purposes. By limiting participants to merely place their "left arms... upon right shoulders" church leaders have made it almost impossible for any intimate embrace to take place.

OCCULTIC INFILTRATION

    Our research leads us to believe that some occultists deliberately set out to infiltrate churches or groups to gain converts to their way of thinking. When we were in Milwaukee, Wisconsin we found evidence that people involved in witchcraft had penetrated some of the Old Catholic churches—splinter groups from the Roman Catholic Church. They were using these groups to obtain converts to witchcraft and were involved in weird sexual practices (see our book, The Lucifer-God Doctrine, pages 23-27).

    As we noted earlier, there are some things in LDS Church history and doctrine that make the church vulnerable to infiltration by occultists and others who wish to use the church for their own ends. One of the church's most important problems has been with regard to polygamists. In the past, significant numbers of Mormons became converted to the practice of polygamy through reading the writings of the early leaders of the Mormon Church. Joseph Smith, the first Mormon prophet, declared that God gave him a revelation that he was to enter into the practice. This revelation is still published in the Doctrine and Covenants, one of the four standard works of the church. We find the following in that revelation: "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph... if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery... And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery... therefore is he justified." (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132, verses 1, 61-62) Joseph Smith was obedient to the commandment and proceeded to marry dozens of plural wives before he was murdered in 1844.

    Today, the Mormon Church does not allow its members to practice polygamy, and those who do so are excommunicated. This, of course, creates a real problem in the minds of many members of the church. They reason that if God commanded the church to practice polygamy through its first prophet, they should be allowed the same privilege. Since church leaders never really repudiated the doctrine itself, teach that it will be lived in heaven, and still retain the revelation on polygamy in the Doctrine and Covenants, many Mormons have secretly entered into the practice. These people are known as Mormon Fundamentalists.

    Prior to the time the church received a revelation to let blacks hold the priesthood in 1978, there were a large number of people who were "living a dual role"—i.e., pretending to be good Mormons but living in polygamy and secretly meeting with other Fundamentalists when possible. Unlike the satanic group which Glenn Pace envisions, these people believed most of the doctrines of the church and hoped to reinstate the practice of plural marriage in the church. After the blacks were granted the priesthood, many of the Fundamentalists who were still in the Mormon Church felt that the church had gone so far off course that it was hopeless to try and reform it. They, therefore, decided to give up working secretly within the church and terminated their membership. Nevertheless, we believe that there are probably still many within the Mormon Church who are secretly practicing polygamy and playing a dual role so that they will not be excommunicated.

    While most Mormon Fundamentalists are peaceful and seem sincere in their beliefs, there are some very radical people among them. For example, a Fundamentalist group known as The Church of The Lamb of God has been responsible for over 20 murders (see the Houston Chronicle, June 28, 1988).

    Charges of sexual abuse have sometimes been leveled against members of Fundamentalist sects. On September 16, 1990, the Salt Lake Tribune published an article which contained the following:

    "CRESTON, British Columbia—A sexual assault trial unfolding in this tiny community is uncovering the 45-year-old history of a polygamy colony.... the colony is home to an estimated 300 people who follow the illegal practice of polygamy.

    "One male member is facing trial this week in B.C.'s provincial court for sexually assaulting two of his three wives, one stepson and one teen-age girl. He can't be named under Canadian law to protect the identity of the victims.

    "The accused's brother was convicted earlier this year of sexually assaulting his wife's sister.... colony members are part of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a break-away group from the Mormons."

    Four members of a polygamist group in Ogden, Utah were recently charged with sexually abusing children:

    "OGDEN—Three women members of a polygamist sect were arraigned Thursday morning on charges of sexually abusing children under the age of 14.... The purported male leader of the group, Arvin Shreeve, 61, was arraigned last week on two counts of aggravated sexual assault or, in the alternative, sodomy on a child involving two boys under the age of 14.... On Aug. 2, police raided seven homes of group members in a north Ogden neighborhood and removed nine children."

    Mr. Shreeve later pleaded guilty to sex abuse charges saying that he did not want to have the children put in a position of having to testify in court.

    We recently received information indicating that sex abuse and the creation of pornography may be going on in another polygamist group.

    It is alleged that the Mormon Fundamentalist, John W. Bryant created his own set of "sacred ordinances" which permitted promiscuity. Steven L. Shields says that at "a young age, John W. Bryant, the Presiding Patriarch of the Church of Christ (Patriarchal), began receiving visions... He was given certain knowledge by the Lord which pertained to the temple ordinances." (Divergent Paths of the Restoration, 1982, page 197)

    In his book on Mormon polygamy Richard S. Van Wagoner gave the following information:

    "Like many other Independent Fundamentalists, Bryant first converted to mainstream Mormonism. Obsessed with early Mormon teachings on polygamy, he... took a second wife, Dawn Samuels (not her real name).

    "With Dawn set apart as 'The High Priestess of the Last Dispensation,' Bryant began bestowing his newly revealed ordinances on others... Bryant wrote prolifically while operating a Salt Lake City bookstore. Dawn joined him in highly secretive 'sacred ordinances' which soon evolved into sexual rites.

    "Bryant would conduct a special 'marriage ceremony before each time we had intercourse with someone we weren't married to.' Dawn adds that there were various levels to this procedure... For instance, if a single person were sealed into mine and John's family, then all the sexual rights of marriage existed within that unit as long as John approved.' This applied to heterosexual and homosexual couplings.... the group soon attracted notoriety because of Bryant's expansion of the third level of ordinances—family sealings. He was sealed within many families, and 'soon it was opened up so that sex, even incest, could be with almost anyone, anytime.' " (Mormon Polygamy, Second Edition, pp. 214-16)

    There are a number of Fundamentalist sects in Utah, other states, and also in Canada and Mexico. In the 1960's it was estimated that there were about 100 such groups. Although most of the individual groups are rather small, it is believed that there are tens of thousands of Fundamentalists.

    There are a number of things that happened in the early history of the Mormon Church which might tend to attract occultists. For example, in Joseph Smith's time those who were caught up in magical practices sometimes used "Seer Stones" to find buried treasures. Joseph Smith himself was involved in this practice. In 1826 he was brought before Justice Albert Neely to be examined regarding this practice (see photographic proof in Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? pp. 32-35). A few years later he used this same method to translate the Book of Mormon. David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, wrote: "I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing." (An Address To All Believers In Christ, 1887, page 12) Many witnesses confirmed this statement and even the Mormon historian B. H. Roberts referred to the use of a Seer Stone in translating the Book of Mormon (see A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, vol. 1, page 129).

    This, of course, reminds one of the practice of crystal gazing which is widely practiced in the occult.

    In addition, as we have previously noted, Joseph Smith joined the Masonic Fraternity and plagiarized material from its rituals which he used in his temple endowment ceremony. The founders of modern witchcraft also borrowed from Masonic rites. This, of course, has created some important parallels between witchcraft and Mormonism, and some writers have jumped to the conclusion that Mormonism was taken from witchcraft. Actually, Smith borrowed from the Masons in the 1840's, long before modern witchcraft came into being.

    Francis King gives this information: "Without exception all the cult members I have met have believed, or at least pretended to believe, that their magical-sexual-religious rites are of immemorial antiquity... It would be nice if this was so, but alas, it isn't! With one or two dubious exceptions all the covens of the modern witch-cult owe their existence to the activities of Gerald Gardiner, an eccentric Englishman who died in 1964." (Sexuality, Magic and Perversion, page 4) Noted authority on religion and the occult, J. Gordon Melton, has issued a statement showing that Mormonism was not derived from witchcraft but rather that both had a common ancestor in Masonry. For more information on this matter see The Lucifer-God Doctrine, pages 50, 65, 66. It is true that the Smith family had some magic papers and Joseph Smith himself possessed a Jupiter talisman (see photographs of these items relating to magic and astrology in our book, Mormonism, Magic and Masonry). Nevertheless, we have no data to show that he was part of any witchcraft or satanic group in the early 1840's when he began working on the temple ceremony. There is, on the other hand, very good evidence to show that Smith borrowed heavily from Masonry in creating his ritual (see our book, Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony: 1842-1990, pages 143-151).

    It is possible also that the church's reputation for promoting polygamy during the 19th century might catch the attention of those in the occult who have radical views on sexual behavior.

    About thirty years ago we encountered an occultist by the name of William C. Conway who was vying to combine the teachings of Mormonism with those of the Druids. He believed in Joseph Smith and accepted the Mormon Fundamentalist doctrine that polygamy should still be practiced, but combined these beliefs with the teaching of reincarnation. He claimed, in fact, that he had been visited by "Our Druid Brother—the Mormon's Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. REINCARNATED." He claimed to have "the Urim and Thummin - also the genuine 'Seer-stone.' "(See The Lucifer-God Doctrine, pages 57-58.)

    In the late 1960's a man by the name of Barney C. Taylor founded the Mental Science Institute. Mr. Taylor had been a Mormon who participated in the temple ceremony in 1949. At some point Taylor became deeply involved with the occult and began using the name "Eli." His Mental Science Institute combined many of the teachings of Mormonism with witchcraft. For example, Joseph Smith seems to have created a new word by slightly modifying the Hebrew word for star—kokob: "And I saw the stars... and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God... And the Lord said... the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me..." (Book of Abraham 3:2-3) Eli, likewise, had a Kolob in his system of Druidic witchcraft: "Then one giant yellow sun; a world of very high vibrations, came into the Universe. This was the world of KOLOB, the first." (The Second Book of Wisdom, page 10)

    In a revelation published in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 76, Joseph Smith revealed that there are three kingdoms in heaven, the celestial, terrestrial and telestial. In his book, The First Book of Wisdom, page 22, Eli also used these three words: "All worlds, celestial, terrestial and telestial, are inhabited by beings with physical bodies suited for their worlds." While the final r is missing in "terrestrial," it is obvious that Eli was borrowing from Mormonism. It is interesting to note that the word "telestial," is not a real word but was coined by Joseph Smith.

    It has been claimed by William Schnoebelen, a man who "was ordained and appointed a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek" in the Mental Science Institute, that Eli's group had a "Wiccan wedding" ritual with similarities to the Mormon temple ceremony. In fact, in a copy of some pages of the document he has provided there are strong parallels to the temple rites. This typewritten document is entitled, "Ye Rite of Handfasting." In this ceremony, as in the Mormon temple ritual, a man and woman are sealed together "for time and all eternity." Unfortunately, we have been unable to trace it back to Eli himself or to show that the photocopies of the ritual were made prior to 1985; consequently, we cannot be certain of the document's authenticity. Nevertheless, it does seem possible that Eli might have incorporated elements of the temple ceremony into his own witchcraft ritual. As we have shown, he had been through the Mormon temple and borrowed heavily from Mormonism in creating other documents we have examined. It has also been alleged by W. Schnoebelen that Eli urged occultists to go through the Mormon temple because he believed it had important "occult power... that could be achieved nowhere else" and had "important Masonic" secrets which had been removed from "American Masonry."

    William Schnoebelen has also brought forth two typewritten pages from another occultic ritual which is purported to be from the Grimorum Verum. It is entitled, "Lituria De Ecclesia Gnostica Spiritualis." Since it relates to Satanism and Glenn Pace has suggested that Satanists may be operating in the Mormon Church, we felt that we should say something about it. Because it contains parallels to the Mormon temple ceremony some people have been led to believe that this document provides evidence that the Mormon temple ceremony is borrowed from Satanism. In our book, The Lucifer God Doctrine, we have clearly shown that such is not the case. A careful examination of the document reveals that it could not date back to the time of Joseph Smith. In fact, we have found that part of it was plagiarized from Aleister Crowley's "Ecclesiae Gnosticae Catholicae Canon Missae." It could have been written at any time between 1918 and 1985. At any rate, an examination of the document shows that someone has taken a part of the Mormon temple ceremony and combined it with a satanic document.

    William Schnoebelen claims that he obtained it from a "hard core satanic group." Evidence shows that after working with Eli in the Mental Science Institute, Mr. Schnoebelen wanted to go deeper into the occult: He eventually became a member of Anton LaVey's organization, "The Church of Satan." He claims, however, that he did not obtain the document from LaVey's group but rather another organization that "claimed to be affiliated in California." On the first page of this document we find the following:

    "(Let the altar be garbed in solar colors... Magister in scarlet with green satin apron. Seven candles lit. A Chosen Priestess of the Order should be upon the altar nude.... Other than Magister and Priestess, a Lucifer and Sister are needed.)...

    "M [Magister]: Before the mighty and ineffable King of Hell, and in communion with his children everywhere... I proclaim that Lucifer rules the earth; and ratify and renew my covenant to recognize and honor him in all things without reservation: to abjure all preteensions [sic] of righteousness and give myself wholly, body and soul, to the iniquities and evil which alone are pleasing to him, and likewise painful to our pallid adversaries. I acknowledge him to be the One, True God; and desire in return his manifold aid in the successful accomplishment of my lusts, and the fulfillment of my true will."

    The seventh page of this same document contains a section which has unquestionably been taken from the Mormon temple ceremony:

    "M: May you have health in the navel, marrow in the bones, strength in the [word blacked out by Mr. Schnoebelen "in the interest of decency") and in the sinews; and power in the priesthood be upon you and upon your posterity through all generations of time and throughout all eternity."

    The reader will notice that this particular part of this evil ritual is taken from the "Ceremony At The Veil" in the Mormon endowment ceremony:

    "Lord:... 'Health in the navel, marrow in the bones, strength in the loins and in the sinews, power in the Priesthood be upon me, and upon my posterity through all generations of time, and throughout all eternity.' " (Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony: 1842-1990, page 141)

    There are two views one may take with regard to the satanic document mentioned above: 1. It is a document created by someone familiar with both the occult and the LDS temple ceremony to be used in an actual satanic ritual. 2. It is a ritual created by someone who is trying to promote the theory that Mormons copied directly from Satanists. (For more information on the Mental Science Institute, Aleister Crowley and the question of the authenticity of the two occultic documents mentioned above see The Lucifer-God Doctrine, pp. 41-58.)

THE BEAST AND ABUSE

    If one were to accept the satanic or Luciferian document mentioned above as an actual ritual which was used by occultists, then the question arises as to whether it could have anything to do with Bishop Pace's theory concerning a satanic group which abuses children. As we noted earlier, we have found definite evidence that the document cited above contains material taken from the writings of Aleister Crowley. In the book, Magic, page 130, Crowley wrote: "Before I touched my teens, I was aware that I was The Beast whose number is 666." The Book of Revelation in the Bible, of course, indicates that the Beast with the number "666" is the Anti-Christ. In any case, Crowley created rituals in which homosexual magic was practiced. William Schnoebelen, as it turns out, was a disciple of Aleister Crowley. In a book Schnoebelen has written he told of his own descent into homosexual magic and how this type of belief could lead one to seek "younger and younger sexual partners." The following is taken from his book:

    "I progressed in LaVey's order and was finally made a Warlock in the Church of Satan... I was doing studies in Crowley's Book of the Law and the Book of Revelations... when I read the famous passage in Rev. 13:18 about the number of the Beast.... I was overwhelmed with a pillar of astral light... I KNEW with an unshakable certainty that Rev. 13:18 was the answer I had sought. Contained within its numerology was the secret that Aleister Crowley was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ!

    "I was driven to my knees by the sublime beauty of this truth; and felt the power of magick upon me as never before.... I was brought in touch with higher ranking satanists from Chicago. I was initiated into their circle by signing a covenant with Satan for my soul....

    "Though the rites now began to include blood sacrifice (including my own) I was not deterred.... I knew Crowley had used blood in his rituals... I signed a pact in my own blood with Satan. He received complete control of my body and soul.... It would take five years of searching and a perilous time in the dreadful crucible of Mormonism, that clever counterfeit of Christianity, before I would really come to know Jesus Christ as my Lord..." (Wicca: Satan's Little White Lie, 1990, pages 44, 45, 48-49)

    "We have already documented the pervasive influence of Aleister Crowley upon the beginnings of Wicca... most Witches, myself included, find it necessary to study his material and 'plug themselves into' the magical current of Crowley's demon spirit guide, a mysterious being named Aiwass. Aiwass is another name for Set, an Egyptian god..." (Ibid., p. 192)

    "I have already mentioned the descent into blood rites, but additionally sexual perversity of the vilest sort enthralled many of them. I was not immune either.... Many of us became involved in sado-masochism and bondage and discipline....

    "Sodomy is especially 'sacred' to Set... It opens what are called the 'Typhonion' tunnels, channels through which extremely powerful demons, like the horrible Choronzon, can travel from the 'alternate reality' and emerge into this universe and enter the sex partner's body....

    "This also explains the sudden meteoric rise of interest in the child as a sexual object, and the terrible seductiveness of child pornography. We often ask ourselves, 'How could a person be sexually attracted to a small child?' It does not seem sane or normal, and of course it is not. Yet, throughout his life, Crowley attempted to invoke the Crowned and Conquering Child.

    "A key element within the Aiwass current and the Left-hand path is that of the beguiling or fascinating child. Crowley's magical current was designed to compel an interest in ever younger and younger sexual partners... Add to this the sexually vampiric belief that the younger the person you abuse, the more power or vitality you can extract from them, and you have a potent recipe which explains the obsession with children. Witches who practice this kind of sexual Tantra believe they are both emotionally and literally stealing the youth of the child they are abusing.... My first ritual homosexual experience came through Witchcraft...

    "In the course of that pursuit of 'Wisdom,' I got deeper into magical homosexuality and the strange alchemy of perversion. Tragically, I must confess that I began to enter groups where Nazi magick and serious vampirism were practiced and child pornography was also being used and produced." (Ibid., pp. 197-200)

    While we do not endorse many of the conclusions found in this book published by Chick Publications, our research has demonstrated that this former Satanist was undoubtedly deeply involved in the evil practices he has mentioned. One thing is certain: Mr. Schnoebelen did deceive Mormon officials, and they allowed him to become a member of the church on August 10, 1980. Furthermore, his "testimony" as to the truthfulness of the LDS Church was published by Bookcraft, a company which prints books by the General Authorities of the church and other Mormon writers. As unbelievable as it may seem, it is still being sold at the church's Deseret Bookstore (see From Clergy to Convert, by Stephen W. Gibson, pp. 67-73). The Mormons apparently thought they had made a prize catch when they brought the Schnoebelens into the church. In the book he is referred to as a former "parish priest" and his wife as a former "nun." One year after he joined the church (August 31, 1981), William Schnoebelen went through the Mormon temple and was sealed to his wife "for time and for eternity." It should be noted that his wife was also deeply involved in the occult—she was, in fact, a witch.

    Mormon Church officials, who are supposed to have special powers of discernment, were totally oblivious to the fact that a Satanist had passed through the temple. Schnoebelen claimed that as he was going through the ritual he was "thinking, boy, these guys are teaching satanism, I mean, I was really on seventh heaven at this point." He remained in the LDS Church, posing as a faithful Mormon, until 1984. According to his own statement, during this time he was secretly working to promote the occult. In Wicca: Satan's Little White Lie, page 10, he wrote: "Up to our departure from the city of Milwaukee in 1984, we were presiding over one of the oldest and largest networks of covens in the Midwest."

    Although we may never know what success he had in proselyting Mormons into Wicca and Satanism, Schnoebelen and his wife did penetrate into the church without being detected. Moreover, weird sexual practices—both heterosexual and homosexual—seem to have been practiced in the satanic and witchcraft groups he was connected with. While he did not actually say that he himself was involved in "ritualistic child abuse," he did indicate that he was indoctrinated into the idea that "the younger the person you abuse, the more power or vitality you can extract from them."

CONCLUSION

    While the material presented in this newsletter does not prove Glenn Pace's theory concerning a well organized and highly secret satanic group practicing ritualistic child abuse in the LDS Church, it does throw some light on the ability of occultists to infiltrate the church and even the temple itself.

    Even though Bishop Pace has laid out a very persuasive argument for the existence of a satanic group in the Mormon Church, it still seems very difficult to believe that a group of the size he envisions could go undetected for so long. Although we are not prepared at this time to declare that such a conspiratorial band really exists, our minds are open to examine any evidence regarding this matter that comes to our attention. If any of our readers have any information that will throw light on this subject, they can mail it to Utah Lighthouse Ministry, PO Box 1884, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. We would be especially interested in Pace's 40-page report. In addition, we would request that our Christian friends pray for us at this time that we may have discernment from the Lord and not jump to any erroneous conclusions.

    The fact that portions of the temple ceremony caused "many" people to have devastating flashbacks should be of grave concern to the Mormon people. Even those who do not claim to have been ritualistically abused have been terrified by the oaths. On June 30, 1990, a woman wrote us a letter in which she stated: "Your article brought back old memories for me about my first temple experience in June of 1972 as a convert to Mormonism from Christianity. I, too, felt that what I was doing was wrong. Actually, a feeling of dread came over me as I began to take the blood oaths, and I knew I was doing something that was absolutely against everything Christianity had taught me. The feeling increased... and I just kept praying in my mind, 'Dear God, just get me out of here alive,' over and over."

    While some Mormons seem to be rejoicing that church leaders have finally had the insight to remove some of the offensive wording in the endowment ceremony, they have not faced the serious implications of the whole matter. That important portions had to be trimmed out plainly shows that Mormon Church president Ezra Taft Benson was wrong when he said: "The endowment was revealed by revelation..." (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 1988, p. 250) It is clearly a man-made ceremony which heavily borrowed from Masonry.

    Mormonism teaches that only Mormons who receive their endowments and are married for eternity can obtain the highest exaltation in the hereafter. Church leaders declare that "eternal life" only comes through temple marriage. For example, President Spencer W. Kimball, the 12th prophet of the church, emphasized: "Only through celestial marriage can one find the strait way, the narrow path. Eternal life cannot be had in any other way." (Deseret News Church Section, Nov. 12, 1977) This teaching is clearly unbiblical. The Bible, in fact, proclaims that "whosoever believeth in him [Jesus] should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:15) It is our prayer that Mormons everywhere will cease trusting in a temple ceremony that is filled with Masonry and man-made ideas and put their complete faith in Jesus Christ—the one who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)

MORMON LEADERS FIGHT SATANIC INFILTRATION

UTAH GOVERNOR NORM BANGERTER CALLS FOR AN INVESTIGATION

Salt Lake Messenger - #81- March 1992

    In the last issue of the Salt Lake City Messenger we reported allegations that a satanic cult had taken root in the Mormon Church. This newsletter (Nov. 1991) proved to be the most popular issue we have ever printed. A number of our readers ordered many copies to distribute to their friends. Consequently, we were immediately forced into a second printing of this issue and still have copies available free at our bookstore.

    In that issue we photographically reproduced a highly secret memo written by a General Authority of the Mormon Church. This memo was authored by Glenn L. Pace, Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric of the church. It is dated July 19, 1990, and is directed to the "Strengthening Church Members Committee" of the Mormon Church. In the memo Pace stated that he had met with "sixty victims" of "ritualistic child abuse," and that "All sixty individuals are members of the Church."

    On October 25, 1991, Dawn House reported that church spokesman Don LeFevre confirmed that Glenn Pace had indeed written such a memo:

    "The 12-page report was... printed in the November issue of Salt Lake City Messenger, a newsletter published by Jerald and Sandra Tanner...

    "Mr. Pace referred calls on the July 1990 memo to the church's public relations department. Spokesman Don LeFevre declined to discuss internal church reports. But he said Mr. Pace had sent a memo on ritualistic child abuse to a committee called the Strengthening Church Members Committee." (Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 25, 1991)

    We had originally turned over a copy of this memo to the Associated Press and were told that if the memo was authentic, a story would be printed. When it appeared that the Associated Press was dragging its heels (almost three months had passed), we felt that we should print it ourselves. We mailed copies of the Messenger to the three major television stations in Salt Lake City, and on Oct. 24, 1991, it became the lead story on the evening news on Channel 4. From what we understand, Paul Murphy, who investigated the story, had been trying to get a statement from the Mormon Church regarding the authenticity of the memo. Just minutes before going on the air, he made one last attempt. He asked a church spokesman if the church was going to deny the authenticity of the memo. The reply was that there would be no denial.

    Channel 2, likewise, ran the story on its evening news. Surprisingly, the Mormon Church's own station, KSL (Channel 5), ran the story on its 10 o'clock newscast. It was, in fact, a frank and accurate account of the contents of the memo and of the serious implications for the church. A number of stories concerning satanic ritual abuse and the Mormon Church were presented on all three of the major stations in the days that followed. The day the story broke all three of the television stations showed pictures of the first page of the Salt Lake City Messenger, and this brought a flood of people to our bookstore to pick up copies.

    The following day, both the Salt Lake Tribune and the Mormon Church's Deseret News printed the story. Both papers also published additional stories in the days that followed. The Chicago Tribune later sent a reporter, James Coates, to investigate the story. He wrote an article which contained the following:

    "SALT LAKE CITY — Top officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say they are investigating reports from members that, as children, they witnessed human sacrifices and suffered 'satanic abuse' at the hands of renegade Mormon-affiliated cliques.

    "Glenn L. Pace, a member of the church's three-man presiding bishopric, reported in a memorandum... that he is personally convinced at least 800 church-affiliated Satanists now are practicing occult rituals and devil worship...

    "Pace's memo, marked 'Do Not Reproduce' at the top, was made public last week by anti-Mormon crusaders Jerald and Sandra Tanner, who also played a key role in publicizing the so-called 'White Salamander Letter.'

    "The letter, which Jerald Tanner exposed as a forgery, made it appear that church founder Joseph Smith had been involved in folk magic...

    "The Satanists' ceremonies often are based loosely upon the Mormon church's own rituals, Pace wrote.

    " 'For example, the [Mormon church] verbiage and gestures are used in a [satanic] ritualistic ceremony in a very debased and often bloody manner,' he wrote. 'When the victim goes to the temple and hears the exact words, horrible memories are triggered.' " (Chicago Tribune, Nov. 3, 1991)

    This whole matter of ritualistic abuse received additional attention when the television program Inside Edition devoted some time to the subject. This was rather significant because just weeks before the same program had put down some claims of satanic ritualistic abuse in England. Those who produced the program concerning Mormonism seem to have seriously considered Bishop Pace's claims regarding ritualistic abuse.

CHURCH'S REACTION

    The Mormon Church has a very good public relations department which carefully protects the church's image. Consequently, we felt that there might be an attempt to sidestep this embarrassing problem. We reasoned that church leaders might try to throw some doubt on the issue by pointing out that although Bishop Pace was very sincere in his research, some psychiatrists and law officials have been very skeptical concerning claims of satanic ritualistic abuse. Instead, however, the church issued a carefully worded statement which provides support for Pace's claims. Just one day after the story concerning Satanism in the Mormon Church was reported on television, the church owned Deseret News reported:

    "Officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Friday they are evaluating reports that satanic cults dedicated to sexually abusing children are operating within the church.

    "The issue arose Thursday with television news reports about an internal church memo suggesting that as many as 800 people may be involved in the practice along the Wasatch Front.

    " 'Satanic worship and ritualistic abuse are problems that have been around for centuries and are international in scope, said a statement issued Friday by the church public affairs department. 'While they are, numerically, not a problem of major proportions among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for those who may be involved they are serious.'

    "The church has strived to help local ecclesiastical leaders understand and deal with the issue, the statement said, citing a Sept. 18 message from the First Presidency 'reaffirming their concern about such distasteful practices and encouraging vigilance in detecting and treating situations that may arise.'... Bishop Pace said satanic abusers in Utah 'represent a cross-section of the Mormon culture.' The cults' members, he wrote, may include Young Women and Young Men leaders, bishops, a patriarch, a stake president, temple workers and members of the Tabernacle Choir. The abuses have even taken place in church meeting houses, he said." (Deseret News, October 25, 1991)

    It seems reasonable to believe that if Mormon leaders had any serious doubts about the validity of the accusations of satanic abuse in their church, they would have expressed them at that time. Instead, however, they freely admitted there was a problem. It would appear, therefore, that Mormon officials believe that there is a satanic group operating in the church. While their acknowledgement of the problem does not of itself prove the charges, it certainly adds a great deal of weight to the accusations. Mormon Church leaders undoubtedly know a great deal about what goes on within their own church. Bishops, stake presidents and others would be likely to bring information on ritualistic abuse to their attention. Furthermore, Church Security has ex-FBI agents and others trained in law enforcement who would undoubtedly bring reports of this type of activity to the attention of Mormon officials.

    The first page of Bishop Pace's memo makes it clear that the church has been investigating the problem of ritualistic abuse since at least 1989: "You have already received the LDS Social Services report on satanism dated May 24, 1989, a report from Brent Ward, and a memorandum from myself dated October 20, 1989 in response to Brother Ward's report. Therefore, I will limit this writing to information not contained in those papers." There are, therefore, at least three important documents which the church possesses which probably throw important light on this subject. As we understand it, the memo Pace wrote "in response to Brother Ward's report" is a 40-page document. According to Dawn House, at first Brent Ward would neither confirm nor deny that he had written a report for the church: "The memo [the 12-page report published in the Messenger] refers to an earlier report by Brent Ward, former U.S. attorney for Utah and a Mormon. Mr. Ward said he would neither confirm nor deny the report's existence." (Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 25, 1991) The following day, however, Jon Ure wrote the following:

    "A former U.S. Attorney for Utah confirmed Friday he conducted research for a report to the Mormon Church on satanic child abuse....

    "Brent Ward... said he reported on ritualistic abuse at the request of a Mormon general authority, shortly after Mr. Ward resigned as U.S. Attorney in January 1989." (Salt Lake Tribune, October 26, 1991)

AN INVESTIGATION

    We are happy to report that immediately after our publication of the Pace memo a great deal of information concerning satanic ritual abuse in the Mormon Church came to light. Victims, who claimed they had been forced to participate in the evil rituals, gave their stories on all three of Salt Lake City's major television stations. In addition, therapists who were treating victims of the abuse came forth to support the charges. Moreover, it was disclosed that there was a committee that had already been delving into the accusations. On Oct. 25, 1991, the Deseret News reported: "Bishop Pace is one of 27 community leaders sitting on a ritual-abuse subcommittee of the Governor's Commission for Women and Families. The committee, whose members also include therapists, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, religious leaders, former U.S. Attorney Brent Ward, an aide to Sen. Orrin Hatch, an assistant attorney general and first lady Colleen Bangerter, has been meeting since February 1990."

    The Salt Lake Tribune for Nov. 13, 1991, said that "Noemi Mattis, who co-chairs the governor's task force... holds a doctorate in psychology and is in private practice as a therapist." The same article quoted Mattis as saying that ritualistic abuse is prevalent: " 'I know that it is widespread... All I can tell you is that my phone has been filled with people who are calling to say they are survivors or therapists who have patients who are.' "

    At the time Bishop Pace wrote his report, he claimed he had "met with 60 victims." On page 1 of his report, however, he made it clear that he believed there could "be twice or three times" as many victims-possibly as many as 180. On page 5, he made this sobering statement: "Obviously, I have only seen those coming forth to get help." It appears, then, that Pace envisions a large number of people participating in these satanic activities. In a television interview on the program Take Two (Channel 2), Noemi Mattis revealed that she had made the startling discovery that there were actually "360" victims in this area who were being treated for ritualistic abuse! In another interview, which appeared later on the same station, Dr. Corydon Hammond, a psychologist who also served on the governor's committee on ritualistic abuse, gave a figure of "366."

    In his memo, Bishop Pace referred to "allegations" that "people in high places today in both the Church and the government" are "leading this dual life." (page 10) In his television interview, Dr. Hammond stated that evidence indicated that Satanists had actually encouraged their people to become doctors. These doctors could then provide drugs for use in ritualistic practices and help in brainwashing the children. Noemi Mattis also alleged that Satanists in Utah were being trained as doctors to help carry out illegal activities. (A doctor, for instance, could help cover up the fact that people have been murdered.) Moreover, Mattis indicated that there was evidence that Satanists were being trained as morticians. She also claimed that survivors of the satanic rituals had told of bodies being ground up or burned. These are certainly very serious accusations that are coming from two members of the governor's committee!

    Dr. Harnmond further disclosed that victims who didn't know one another were giving the same names of physicians, law enforcement people and other prominent individuals who participated in the ritualistic abuse.

    Noemi Mattis claimed that the governor's 27-member ritual abuse committee was originally very skeptical of the claims of satanic abuse. As the evidence piled up, however, it seemed obvious that there was reason to call for an investigation. Consequently, on Nov. 22, 1991, the Salt Lake Tribune reported: "Gov. Norm Bangerter has promised to recommend more investigators for the child-abuse unit of the Utah attorney general's office to look into allegations of ritualistic child sexual abuse.... The task force sponsored by the Governor's Commission on Women and Children recommended the hiring of investigators to look into allegations of ritualistic abuse."

    Two days later the Salt Lake Tribune supported Governor Bangerter's decision to appoint investigators to look into the charges of ritualistic abuse. The Tribune called his plan an "open-minded, compassionate approach" and stated that it "deserves public and legislative support." On Jan. 25, 1992, the following appeared in the same newspaper: "Gov. Norm Bangerter's proposal to hire four new investigators in the attorney general's investigation of ritualistic child abuse allegations has received a legislative budget analyst's approval." The same article noted that it would cost "$250,000" to fund the investigation for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

A REAL CONTROVERSY

    During the past few years there has been a growing controversy regarding claims of satanic ritualistic abuse. The Psychiatric Times - Medicine & Behavior, published the following:

    "A debate over the authenticity of 'ritual abuse,' the systematic physical and/or emotional torture of an individual by a group, has some psychiatrists pitted against each other. Defenders insist children are being victimized in the name of Satan... and tell vivid stories about horrendous sexual, physical, and emotional abuses. Others maintain that many of the stories are the product of emotionally unstable patients...

    "In March, Bennett G. Braun, M.D., began another study to analyze the cases of 50 alleged victims of ritual cults....

    "Braun admitted that if ritual abuse proves to be a hoax, perpetrated by patients and exaggerated by the media, he and other psychiatrists who have treated hundreds of 'victims' might wind up looking like fools. But, he said, that possibility doesn't intimidate him....'I'd rather make mistakes than ignore what I'm hearing. Nobody wanted to believe that Hitler was committing atrocities either.' " (The Psychiatric Times - Medicine & Behavior, April 1991, p. 54)

    While a large number of Christians believe that satanic ritualistic abuse is a real phenomenon, some Christian writers have expressed skepticism. Bob and Gretchen Passantino, for example, have printed a number of articles in which they criticized the claim that there is a large satanic conspiracy engaged in abusing children. They have been kind enough to send us a good deal of material on the subject which we have carefully considered before preparing this newsletter. At the present time we are not as skeptical of claims regarding satanic ritualistic abuse as the Passantinos; however, we feel that they have done a tremendous job of pointing out that some Christian writers have made false and misleading statements in their treatment of Satanism. We feel that it is important to take these things into consideration when evaluating such a serious matter.

    The Christian Research Institute has also provided us with a great deal of material (both pro and con) regarding satanic ritualistic abuse. A number of other people and organizations have sent us material dealing with both sides of the question. We have tried to look objectively at the arguments of those representing both viewpoints and draw our own conclusions.

    One of the most vocal critics of satanic ritualistic abuse in Utah is David Raskin. In an article published in the Salt Lake Tribune, we find the following:

    "Gov. Norm Bangerter's Task Force on Child Abuse is being used to foment mass hysteria in the form of a nonexistent evil called satanic ritualistic child abuse, a noted psychologist alleges.

    "David Raskin, a University of Utah professor in psychology, said Tuesday state government has become the pawn of those who believe ritualistic child abuse exists despite a lack of supporting evidence.

    " 'These people have built an industry on this: government, money, jobs, insurance. If somebody said, you know you have been led down the primrose path and all of this is fantasy, the budgets disappear, the jobs disappear and people are left very embarrassed,' Mr. Raskin said." (Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 13, 1991)

    While we agree that hard forensic evidence concerning satanic ritualistic abuse is scanty, we find it very difficult to totally dismiss the testimony of so many victims. When Dr. Raskin accuses people of being led down "the primrose path," it brings to mind the fact that Raskin himself has spent at least some time on that path. In 1985 he was convinced that Mark Hofmann did not plant the bombs that killed two people. The Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 20, 1985, reported: "Mark W. Hofmann... has passed a lie detector test indicating he is telling the truth when he says he did not plant the bombs, his defense attorney said Tuesday.... Dr. David Raskin—a world-renowned polygraph expert and psychologist... was one of two experts who verified the Hofmann examination." Although Raskin admitted he had made a mistake after Hofmann confessed to the murders, the Jan. 27, 1987, issue of the Salt Lake Tribune reported: "Police and prosecutors... still are angry at the doubt sewn in the community by the release of those test results by defense attorneys.... Those disclosures 'had a huge impact on the public perception of this investigation,' said Salt Lake City Police Detective Ken Farnsworth. And those disclosures not only by the defense lawyer but statements made by the examiners — didn't do the reputation of the polygraph any good, said several polygraph experts. 'I think they did us all a great disservice,' said one licensed polygraph expert who asked that his name not be used."

    We feel that Dr. Raskin has been rather harsh in his accusations against therapists and members of the Governor's Committee. The Salt Lake Tribune also felt that Raskin went too far in his criticism. In an editorial published Nov. 18, 1991, we find the following:

    "The ugliness of ritualistic abuse is entering another realm. Now Utah scholars, therapists and government officials are hurling mean accusations at one another, confusing an already skeptical public and further imperiling the apparent victims.

    "David Raskin... who himself is paid to refute childabuse claims in court, contends the state has become a pawn of therapists who would foment hysteria about satanic abuse for financial gain....

    "While skepticism is justified in any scientific endeavor, quick, cynical dismissal of accounts of ritualistic abuse could prove unconscionably dangerous and cruel to those who might have experienced it. Unless taken seriously, adult victims cannot be effectively treated and child victims cannot be rescued.

    "In fact, several credible scholars and clinicians, including some at the University of Utah, as well as officials from Utah law enforcement and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider ritual abuse, satanic and otherwise, a real threat. Some have contributed to the state task force's work.

    "It would be stretching it to say these people are motivated by profit. Time spent on the task force is volunteered."

HUMAN SACRIFICE?

    If satanic ritualistic abuse is actually being practiced in Utah, as the evidence seems to suggest, it is possible that some of the ideas came from the teachings of Aleister Crowley. Crowley, who has been called "the Devil's chief emissary on earth," had a very significant effect on the world of the occult. In his book, Biographical Dictionary of American Cult and Sect Leaders, 1986, pages 59-61, Dr. J. Gordon Melton gave this information: "Aleister Crowley... rebelled against his strict upbringing and earned the label 'The Beast 666' (from Revelation 13-18) given by his mother... Crowley... was accepted into the highest levels of the O.T.O.... the O.T.O. taught a form of sex magic... The O.T.O. had previously created ten degrees, including ones for the practice of autoerotic (VIIIº) and heterosexual (IXº) sex magic. Crowley's new rituals added an experimental degree for homosexual... magic (XIº)..."

    Although Aleister Crowley did not call himself a Satanist, he did write the following: "Before I touched my teens, I was already aware that I was THE BEAST whose number is 666." (Magick, by Aleister Crowley, 1976, page 130) Francis King informs us that "Crowley began his first serious experiments in sexual magic on the very last day of 1913. These operations were not the normal heterosexual magic of the ninth degree of the O.T.O., they were homosexual magic of Crowley's own devising... " (Sexuality, Magic and Perversion, page 108) On page 113 of the same book, King speaks of the use of a 'goat' in the sexual magic Crowley was engaged in. The goat was eventually used as a 'blood-sacrifice.' Crowley even recorded some of his bizarre "sex magic" (including homosexual acts) in his diaries. As some of Crowley's teaching became known, many people began to consider him the "most evil" man in the world.

    In his book, Magick, Aleister Crowley noted that "the highest spiritual working" required the sacrifice of a male child:

    "It is necessary for us to consider carefully the problems connected with the bloody sacrifice... the bloody sacrifice has from time immemorial been the most considered part of Magick....

    "It would be unwise to condemn as irrational the practice of those savages who tear the heart and liver from an adversary, and devour them while yet warm. In any case it was the theory of the ancient Magicians that any living being is a storehouse of energy... At the death of the animal this energy is liberated suddenly.

    "The animal should therefore be killed within the Circle, or the Triangle, as the case may be, so that its energy cannot escape.... For the highest spiritual working one must accordingly choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force. A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim...

    "Those magicians who object to the use of blood have endeavored to replace it with incense....

    "But the bloody sacrifice, though more dangerous, is more efficacious; and for nearly all purposes human sacrifice is the best... The method of killing is practically uniform. The animal should be stabbed to the heart, or its throat severed, in either case by the knife." (Magick, pp. 217, 219, 220, 222)

    In 1966, Anton Szandor LaVey founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco. Like Aleister Crowley, LaVey took a very strong stand against Christianity. Three years after he founded his church, LaVey published The Satanic Bible. In this book LaVey wrote the following: "6 I dip my forefinger in the watery blood of your impotent mad redeemer, and write over his thorn-torn brow: The TRUE prince of evil—the king of the slaves!... I gaze into the glassy eye of your fearsome Jehovah, and pluck him by the beard; I uplift a broad-axe, and split open his wormeaten skull!" (The Satanic Bible, 1969, page 30)

    Although LaVey says that "Satanism condones any type of sexual activity which properly satisfies your individual desires—be it heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, if you choose " he claims that "Satanism would not intentionally hurt others by violating their sexual rights. Satanism does not advocate rape, child molesting, sexual defilement of animals, or any other form of sexual activity which entails the participation of those who are unwilling..." (The Satanic Bible, pp. 67, 70) In his book The Satanic Rituals, 1972, p. 206, LaVey claimed that "Satanists... have no wish to offend further the sensibilities of the self-righteous by luring apple-cheeked boys and girls into 'unholy rites and unspeakable orgies.'... we recognize the importance of working within the legal framework of society."

    Anton LaVey tries to down play the idea of human sacrifice by Satanists. He, in fact, claims that they would not want to sacrifice a baby:

    "The use of a human sacrifice in a Satanic ritual does not imply that the sacrifice is slaughtered 'to appease the gods.' Symbolically, the victim is destroyed through the working of a hex or curse, which in turn leads to the physical, mental or emotional destruction of the 'sacrifice' in ways and means not attributable to the magician....

    "The only time a Satanist would perform a human sacrifice would be if it were to serve a two-fold purpose; that being to release the magician's wrath in the throwing of a curse, and more important, to dispose of a totally obnoxious and deserving individual.

    "Under NO circumstances would a Satanist sacrifice any animal or baby!...

    "When a person, by his reprehensible behavior, practically cries out to be destroyed, it is truly your moral obligation to indulge them their wish." (The Satanic Bible, pp. 88-90)

    Al Carlisle, a Utah State Prison psychologist, does not agree with the statement that Satanists would not "sacrifice any animal or baby." According to the Salt Lake Tribune, August 3, 1986, Dr. Carlisle "said individuals who are at the cult level have no qualms about killing others. 'I know one guy who witnessed a dozen sacrifices back east,' he said. 'They believe the prime energy in a person is in the blood. They sacrifice the person and believe that those who consume the blood will receive the power.' "

    Dr. Susan J. Kelley observed that although "devil worship has existed as long as Christianity, modern satanism began as an occult revival in the last century.... because Christianity believes that children are special to God, satanism, which negates Christianity, considers the desecration of children to be a way of gaining victory over God..." (Cultic Studies Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, 1988, page 229)

    After we published Bishop Pace's memo, some Mormons who were victims of satanic ritualistic abuse contacted us about the matter. The following is taken from a letter by a woman who was involved in the cult:

    "On the subject of 'ritual abuse' — Issue #80... I was such a person who was disfellowshipped, and then excommunicated from the Mormon Church[.] Page 4 of Bishop Glenn L. Pace's Memorandum describes my situation. To say anything more would be moot. Take care not to 'witch-hunt[.]' These groups (Satanic) take great delight in getting people to 'chase their own tails' — It's called 'creating chaos' — and this 'chaos' is one of the things that makes them thrive. Also note: The Mormons aren't the only ones to face this — There are Christian denominations all over the U.S. that have had to deal with this... If I can be of assistance let me know." (Letter dated Nov. 20, 1991)

    The observation that the "Mormons aren't the only ones to face this" is certainly true. Satanic ritualistic abuse, in fact, is reported in many parts of the country and in a number of churches. Some feel, however, that Utah has a large number of victims reporting ritualistic abuse when that number is compared to the population of the state. An investigation in Utah, where there appears to be a concentration of cases, could undoubtedly throw important light on cases throughout the United States.

    Bishop Pace has indicated in his report that Mormon victims claim that they were "baptized by blood into the satanic order which is meant to cancel out their baptism into the Church." (page 3) Since Mormons believe their children do not reach accountability until they are eight years of age, they do not baptize them until they arrive at that age. Significantly, a number of the survivors report ritualistic abuse around the time they were baptized at the age of eight. For example, Dawn House wrote the following concerning one of the victims:

    " 'Perhaps I'll always remember the baptism because it clicked into my self-esteem,' she said. 'One minute I was white and pure, then made to be black. I thought that I can look like I'm pure but I'm really not.'

    "She remembers a man marking her face and breasts black in a mock religious ceremony, shortly after her baptism in the Church... when she was 8 years old.

    " 'My mother told me this was another part of my baptism and to... be a good girl. The man took me into a big room and told me to remove my clothes. He put a black cloth over my head and marks on my body.

    " 'We went to another room where adults were dressed in black. There was a star drawn on the floor... I was placed in the middle of the star... I looked around to see candles and then, a baby calf in a cage. I heard the animal cry, almost like a baby. Part of the ritual was killing the calf.

    " 'I was given a vial of red liquid, perhaps blood, to drink. There may have been a drug in it because I passed out. When I woke up, I was bleeding from the vagina. I remember seeing my mother staring at me, and I wondered why she was doing this to me, but I was too frightened to do or say anything. I was trying so hard to be a good girl.' (Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 3, 1991)

    We were recently told by the mother of one of the survivors that her daughter was gang raped in the basement of a Mormon ward house when she was eight years old. Another victim we talked to claimed that when she was eight years old she was also taken to the basement of a Mormon ward house and raped by a number of men and was forced to drink blood. This woman claims that in her case those involved were not wearing black robes but rather white Mormon temple apparel.

    Critics of satanic ritualistic abuse sometimes point out that accounts given by victims throughout the United States and other countries are remarkably similar. From this they conclude that the victims borrowed their stories from accounts given by others. While this has undoubtedly occurred in some cases, it is hard to believe that all of these people are borrowing from others.

    The stories given by Mormons regarding Satanic abuse are similar in many respects to those related by victims in other parts of the United States. However, it appears that the rituals have been modified to fit Mormon beliefs. That a number of victims would claim they were "baptized by blood" or abused when they were eight years old seems important. It is highly unlikely that the three women mentioned above knew each other's stories. They lived in different parts of the United States and were separated by hundreds of miles. It would be interesting to know how many other cases of this phenomenon Glenn Pace found in his research.

    Even more significant is the fact that the Satanists appear to have incorporated portions of the Mormon temple ceremony into their rituals. Bishop Pace wrote the following, in his memo:

    "I'm sorry to say that many of the victims have had their first flashbacks while attending the temple for the first time. The occult along the Wasatch Front uses the doctrine of the Church to their advantage. For example, the verbiage and gestures are used in a ritualistic ceremony in a very debased and often bloody manner. When the victim goes to the temple and hears the exact words, horrible memories are triggered. We have recently been disturbed with members of the Church who have talked about the temple ceremony. Compared to what is happening in the occult along the Wasatch Front, these are very minor infractions. The perpetrators are also living a dual life. Many are temple recommend holders." (Memo by Glenn Pace, page 4)

    Satanic ritualistic abuse is so extremely brutal that many of the victims develop amnesia. Their minds simply cannot face what has happened. Later in life, however, something can trigger the horrible memory which has been blocked out. Although they do not involve satanic ritualistic abuse, examples of this were reported in Time Magazine, Oct. 28, 1991, page 86: "Last November in Redwood City, Calif., George Franklin was convicted of killing an eight-year-old girl in 1969; the case was based largely on the testimony of his daughter Eileen Franklin-Lipsker, who had repressed the memory of her playmates murder for 20 years. This month in Pittsburgh, Steven Slutzker is scheduled to go on trial for the 1975 fatal shooting of John Mudd Sr. Slutzker was charged after the victim's son, who was 5 when his father died, claimed he had a flashback memory of the murder.... at least a dozen states since 1988 have amended their statute of limitations for bringing charges to allow for delayed discovery of childhood sexual abuse."

    On page 87 of the same article we find that Eileen Franklin-Lipsker remembered the murder of her playmate after "A glance from her own six-year-old daughter, who bears a striking resemblance to the murdered child, brought back scenes of the chilling event. Experts say emotional, evocative moments can often exhume long-buried memories."

    Bishop Pace's statement that "many of the victims have had their first flashbacks while attending the temple for the first time" certainly raises some serious questions. Pace freely admits that when "the victim goes to the temple and hears the exact words, horrible memories are triggered." It is clear, then, that Bishop Pace is convinced that Satanists are using portions of the Mormon temple ceremony in their abusive rituals. According to Dawn House, the "nightmares" of the victim she interviewed "were triggered when she attended a Mormon temple ceremony for the first time. She said the temple handshakes, oaths and clothes brought back memories.

    " 'Every time I went, I came back crying,' she said. 'My bishop said it was Satan trying to tempt me, telling me I shouldn't go.' " (Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 3, 1991)

    Before Mormons go through the temple endowment ritual they must pass through the washing and anointing ceremonies. A victim of ritualistic abuse told us that she became terrified when she went through the washing and anointing ceremonies. After that her mind blanked out and she went through the rest of the ritual in a zombie-like state.

    According to a psychiatrist, a woman he treated reached the part of the Mormon temple ceremony in which a man playing the role of Lucifer threatens those who are going through the ritual that "If they do not walk up to every covenant they make at these altars in this temple this day, they will be in my power." (Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony: 1842-1990, page 127) This undoubtedly triggered a flashback concerning what happened to the woman when she was ritually abused. In satanic ceremonies a man sometimes poses as the devil and, according to one witness, Satanists chant, "Satan has all power." The idea of someone playing the role of the devil and threatening those going through the temple ceremony that he could have them in his "power" could be terrifying for those who have previously passed through satanic ceremonies. Although the devil is commanded "to depart" in the Mormon temple ritual, the woman mentioned above had already had the flashback and was absolutely devastated by the threat.

    We talked to the son of another woman who had been satanically abused. This woman also had her first "flashback" when passing through the Mormon temple ritual and was deeply disturbed by the matter. Unfortunately, her son did not know exactly which part of the ritual caused the trauma.

    Since Glenn Pace has stated that "many of the victims" received their first flashbacks in the temple, his research would undoubtedly throw important light on exactly which portions of the ceremony brought back memories of satanic rituals. It should be remembered that Bishop Pace is a General Authority in the Mormon Church. Because of his important position in the church, it seems highly unlikely that he would want to admit that Satanists had been able to infiltrate the church and use "the exact words" of the temple ritual in their degrading ceremonies. One can only conclude that the evidence that this has taken place must be overpowering. Some of this information may be found in Glenn Pace's 40-page report on the subject.

    While Pace's 12-page report is certainly shocking, the statements made by the victims themselves, which came forth after we published the memo, contain details that are even more appalling. If we accept these accounts as authentic, we are forced to conclude that one of the most diabolical conspiracies one could ever imagine has gained a real foothold right in the shadow of the Mormon temple.

    With regard to human sacrifice, Glenn Pace stated in his memo that of the "sixty" people he interviewed, "forty-five victims allege witnessing and/or participating in human sacrifice." (p. 1) This would mean that 75% of these Mormons declared that they had witnessed murder! This figure seems to be close to that derived from a study conducted by Walter C. Young, Roberta G. Sachs, Bennett G. Braun and Ruth T. Watkins. They studied thirty-seven different victims of ritual abuse in "four separate hospitals across the country" and found that 83% of the patients claimed they witnessed human sacrifice. ("Patients Reporting Ritual Abuse in Childhood: A Clinical Syndrome," published in Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 15, page 183)

DEATH OF BABY X

    In the last issue of our newsletter we pointed out that it would be extremely difficult to cover up all of the human sacrifices which are alleged to have occurred in satanic rituals. We went on to suggest that it would be possible to actually stage a fake human sacrifice and explained how this could be accomplished. Since making this suggestion, however, we have heard some accounts of human sacrifices which contain such graphic details that it is more difficult to explain them away in this manner. In any case, whether the sacrifices are real or fake, most of the victims believe they have witnessed ritualistic murders and this has a profound effect on their lives.

    With regard to David Raskin's charge that there is a paucity of hard evidence on ritualistic abuse, it is interesting to note that some important information has been uncovered in Idaho. This information could relate to what has been going on in Utah. From what we can learn, charges of satanic activity have surfaced in Provo, which is the home of the Mormon Church's Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Ogden and Logan. We have been told that Bear Lake is also a place where Satanists are active. This lake begins in northern Utah and stretches up into southern Idaho. To the west of Bear Lake is the town of Rupert, Idaho. Rupert appears to be only about forty miles from the Utah border.

    On the first page of his memo, Bishop Glenn Pace wrote that he had questioned three victims from the state of Idaho, and on Nov. 8, 1991, KTVX (Channel 4) reported that Pace had, in fact, interviewed people from the city of Rupert with regard to satanic abuse. This information becomes rather important when we consider the case of "Baby X." On October 23, 1990, the Seattle Post-Intelligence carried an article concerning the "Killing of Baby X." In this article we find the following:

    "RUPERT, Idaho—... No deed was fouler than that perpetrated on Baby X.

    "When her tiny, charred corpse was found in a garbage dump almost a year ago, Baby X was hardly recognizable as human. An autopsy produced an even more horrifying discovery.

    "Before she was burned, Baby X... had been disemboweled and mutilated.

    "There long had been rumors of satanic cults in southern Idaho, of ritual killing and sacrifice.

    "But never in the memory of anyone in local law enforcement had the body of a possible victim ever been found.... Then, in July, there was a sudden and unexpected development 1,000 miles away, in California. A 10-year-old boy told authorities there he had witnessed the ritual sacrifice of an infant in his home state, in Idaho....

    "His bizarre story and crude drawings bore striking similarities to a possible Baby X death scene, investigators said....

    "Kerry Patterson, a forensic pathologist... was called to assist the county coroner with the autopsy....

    "The remains were those of a girl, no more than 3 weeks old.... The abdominal organs had been cut out. Only the lungs and a portion of the upper heart chamber were left. Both feet were cut off, as well as the right arm from the shoulder.

    "The infant was dismembered before she was burned with gasoline, Patterson concluded."

    While it has been suggested the baby could have died of pneumonia and that a predator might have been responsible for the missing body parts, no one seems to contest that the baby's body was burned.

    On January 4, 1991, the South Idaho Press reported that Sgt. Tim Hatcher of the Minidoka Sheriff's Department traveled to California to interview the boy who claimed he saw a child sacrificed: "Hatcher said... that the boy very closely described a scenario similar to the Baby X case.... The boy also used words like 'witch, sacrifice and devil' and drew a picture of a barrel with fire and a baby, according to Hatcher."

    The boy also claimed that he was a victim of ritual abuse. The following was printed in the Salt Lake Tribune, on Sept. 16, 1991: "RUPERT, Idaho — Authorities say drawings and descriptions by a child questioned in an abuse investigation indicate the child may have witnessed and been a victim of satanic rites.... Rupert police obtained the drawings last year. The child drew five pictures for Rupert Police Detective Terry Quinn... The detective was not prepared for what he saw.

    Ghostly people, some frowning, others blank-faced, fill the pictures. One drawing shows people gathered around a table on which someone lies with male genitals exposed.... Another drawing shows two people on a table, hearts exposed.... After drawing the pictures, the child explained what they showed, Quinn said. 'They put me on a table with a Bible. The devil is there. They pray to the devil. The devil makes these people hurt me. They hurt me so bad. They hurt me in the private parts. They have hurt me so many times.' "

    On Nov. 8, 1991, KUTV reported that this boy's house was located only a few miles from where Baby X was found! It is also interesting to note that after we published Pace's memo, a victim of ritualistic abuse gave her story on KTVX (Channel 4). She claimed that her grandfather (a bishop in the Mormon Church) and her grandmother (who was president of the local ward Relief Society) were leaders in a satanic cult. She maintained that she saw her baby brother murdered and that she was forced to have a ritualistic abortion. As in the case of Baby X, her baby was burned!

WHY IN UTAH?

    In the last issue of the Salt Lake City Messenger we stated that we concurred with Bishop Pace's statement that the Mormon Church was a victim of a group of pernicious deceivers. While we have no reason to believe that the church itself is involved in promoting this evil conspiracy, the extent of satanic ritualistic abuse in Utah seems to raise some important questions about Mormonism.

    One, since the Mormon leaders claim to have the same powers as the ancient Apostles in the Bible, why were they unable to detect that "bishops, a patriarch, a stake president, temple workers, and members of the Tabernacle Choir" (Pace Memo, page 5) were involved in these evil practices? Ezra Taft Benson, the thirteenth prophet of the Mormon Church, has boasted that church leaders have special discernment which is far superior to "earthly knowledge." Why, then, did it take psychiatrists and psychologists to ferret out the facts concerning ritualistic abuse?

    Two, why is it that the Mormon Church, which claims to be the only true church on the face of the earth, is so vulnerable to infiltration by occultists?

    In the last issue of the Messenger, we pointed out that there are some things in LDS Church history and doctrine that make the church susceptible to deceivers who would use it for their own wicked purposes. One of the church's most important problems has been with regard to polygamy. Unfortunately, Joseph Smith, the first Mormon prophet, declared that God gave him a revelation that he was to enter into plural marriage. This revelation is still published in the Doctrine and Covenants, one of the four standard works of the church. We find the following in that revelation: "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph... if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery... And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery... therefore is he justified." (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132, verses 1, 61-62) Joseph Smith was obedient to the commandment and proceeded to marry dozens of plural wives before he was murdered in 1844.

    Today, the Mormon Church does not allow its members to practice polygamy, and those who do so are excommunicated. But since church leaders never really repudiated the doctrine itself, teach that it will be lived in heaven, and still retain the revelation on polygamy in the Doctrine and Covenants, many Mormons have secretly entered into the practice. These people are known as Mormon Fundamentalists. Unfortunately, in some cases the practice of polygamy seems to open up the door for other sexual practices which are extremely harmful to children and young women. We have, in fact, learned that a number of women who are involved in the polygamous movement are also being treated for satanic ritualistic abuse.

    From the accounts we have studied, it appears that incest plays an important role in cases of satanic ritualistic abuse. While the present leaders of the Mormon Church condemn incestuous relationships, during the time of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young some strange things were taught concerning this matter. Joseph Smith, for instance, "married five pairs of sisters." and even a "mother" and her own "daughter." (No Man Knows My History, p. 336) In her book, Intimate Disciple, p. 317, Mormon writer Clair Noall verified that Smith did marry a mother and her daughter: "Sylvia Lyon, Patty's daughter and the wife of Windsor J. Lyon, was already sealed to Joseph. This afternoon she was to put her mother's hand in the Prophet's." Fanny Stenhouse, who at one time had been a firm believer in Mormonism and had even allowed her husband to take another wife, wrote the following: "Marriages have been contracted between the nearest of relatives; and old men tottering on the brink of the grave have been united to little girls scarcely in their teens; while unnatural alliances of every description, which in any other community would be regarded with disgust and abhorrence, are here entered into in the name of God... It is quite a common thing in Utah for a man to marry two or even three sisters.... I know also another man who married a widow with several children; and when one of the girls had grown into her teens he insisted on marrying her also... and to this very day the daughter bears children to her step-father, living as wife in the same house with her mother!" (Tell It All, 1874, p. 468-69)

    The anti-Mormon writer Joseph H. Jackson charged that Joseph Smith himself "feigned a revelation to have Mrs. Milligan, his own sister, married to him spiritually." That Smith believed that a man could be married for eternity to his own sister has been confirmed by an entry added to Joseph Smith's private diary after his death. It appears under the date of Oct. 26, 1843, and reads as follows:

    "The following named deceased persons were sealed to me (John M. Bernhisel) on Oct. 26th, 1843, by Pres. Joseph Smith—

Maria Bernhisel, Sister—

Brother Samuel's wife, Catherine Kremer

Mary Shatto (Aunt)...

'Recorded by Robt. L. Cambell

July 29, 1868[.]" (Joseph Smith's Diary, Oct. 26, 1843, Church Historical Department)

    The reader will notice that Bernhisel claimed that he was sealed to his sister by Joseph Smith. Now, if the doctrine of Celestial Marriage were true, in the resurrection John Bernhisel would find himself married to his own sister, Maria Bernhisel!

    There is evidence that John Taylor, who became the 3rd prophet of the Mormon Church, promised his own sister that she could be sealed to him. Under the date of Feb. 25, 1889, L. John Nuttal, a very prominent Mormon recorded the following:

    "...Agnes Schwartz & her daughter Mary called this morning to see Prest. Woodruff... She said that her brother John the late President John Taylor had told her some 30 years ago that if She could not be reconciled to continue with any of her husbands she might be sealed to his brother William or himself. and she now wanted to be sealed to him." (Journal of L. John Nuttal, vol. 2, p. 362-63 of typed copy at Brigham Young University Library)

    Benjamin G. Ferris, who was Secretary of the Territory of Utah, reported the following concerning Brigham Young's views on incest:

    "Their system of plurality has obliterated nearly all sense of decency... There are a number of cases in which a man has taken a widow and her daughter for wives at the same time. One has a widow and her two daughters. There are also instances of the niece being sealed to the uncle, and they excite no more attention than any ordinary case.... Brigham Young stated in the pulpit, in 1852, that the time might come when, for the sake of keeping the lineage of the priesthood unbroken, marriages would be confined to the same families; as, for instance, the son of one mother would marry the daughter of another by the same father... Why should not the blood of the priesthood, like that of the Incas, be kept pure?" (Utah And The Mormons, 1854, p. 252-53)

    As early as 1852 Brigham Young, the second prophet of the Mormon Church, did comment on brothers and sisters marrying: "I feel like swearing by the Gods, and all the Holy Angels. I will just keep myself to myself and not mingle with them and I mean to say to my sons and daughters, marry one another and keep together, but that would be considered as treasonable and wicked by the world. I expect they would hang me before they passed sentence on me." (Sermon by Brigham Young, Feb. 22, 1852, as published in The Teachings of President Brigham Young, Compiled and Edited by Fred C. Collier, vol. 3, p. 60)

    Joseph Smith, of course, contended that "God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heavens, is a man like unto one of yourselves..." (Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 613-14) He also taught that God was married and had billions of spirit children in the pre-existence. In other words, according to Smith's theology, we were all born to God and his wife and lived as his sons and daughters before coming to earth. Brigham Young reasoned that since all people who come to the earth were originally brothers and sisters, that there is really no problem with brothers and sisters marrying. On Oct. 8, 1854, Brigham Young made these controversial comments:

    "Then I reckon that the children of Adam and Eve married each other; this is speaking to the point. I believe in sisters marrying brothers, and brothers having their sisters for wives. Why? Because we cannot do otherwise. There are none others for me to marry but my sisters.

    " 'But yo[u would] not pretend to say you would marry your father and mothers daughter.'

    "If I did not I would marry another of my sisters that lives over in another garden... Our spirits are all brothers and sisters, and so are our bodies; and the opposite idea to this has resulted from the ignorant, and foolish traditions of the nations of the Earth....

    "This is something pertaining to our marriage relation. The whole world will think what an awful thing it is. What an awful thing it would be if the Mormons should just say we believe in marrying brothers and sisters. Well we shall be under the necessity of doing it, because we cannot find anybody else to marry." (The Teachings of President Brigham Young, vol. 3, p. 362, 368)

    The strange teachings of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and other early Mormon leaders concerning polygamy and incest have caused confusion in the minds of many Mormons and may have helped open the way for satanic ritualistic abuse in the church.

MORMONS & SACRIFICE

    Notwithstanding the fact that Satanist Anton LaVey down plays the idea of animal or human sacrifice, many investigators believe that at least some Satanists are involved in this type of ritualistic activity. We have already quoted Aleister Crowley as saying that "A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim."

    In over thirty years of studying Mormonism we have never found any doctrine which encourages the killing of an innocent child. There are, however, some unusual ideas concerning sacrifice which we should take a look at.

    For example, while Joseph Smith condemned the practice of animal sacrifices after the death of Christ in his Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 9:19), he later wrote that, "These sacrifices, as well as every ordinance belonging to the Priesthood, will, when the Temple of the Lord shall be built, and the sons of Levi be purified, be fully restored and attended to in all their powers, ramifications, and blessings." (History of the Church, vol. 4, p. 211)

    According to Wandle Mace, a devout Mormon, Joseph Smith instructed his followers to offer an animal sacrifice in the Kirtland Temple: "Joseph told them to go to Kirtland, and cleanse and purify a certain room in the Temple, that they must kill a lamb and offer a sacrifice unto the Lord which should prepare them to ordain Willard Richards a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles." ("Journal of Wandle Mace," page 32, microfilmed copy at Brigham Young University Library) Wilford Woodruff, who later became the fourth prophet of the Mormon Church, claimed that President Brigham Young disclosed that when the temple was completed in Utah, it would have a sacrificial altar: "Under the pulpit in the west End will be a place to Offer Sacrafizes. There will be an Altar prepared for that purposes [sic] so that when any sacrifices are to be offered they should be offered there." (Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898, December 18, 1857, vol. 5, p. 140)

    Although it is clear that the first two prophets of the Mormon Church believed that animal sacrifice would be an important part of the "gospel," we know of no accounts of any animal sacrifice in Mormonism after the 1840s.

    From the evidence we have examined, it appears that Joseph Smith's interest in blood sacrifices did not originally come from reading the Old Testament but rather from his participation in the occult. Joseph Smith's involvement in magic practices had always been denied by the Mormon Church until 1971, when Wesley P. Walters discovered an original document which proves that Joseph Smith was a "glass looker" and that he was arrested and examined before a justice of the peace in Bainbridge, N.Y. in 1826. This document is Justice Albert Neeley's bill showing the costs involved in several trials held in 1826. The fifth item from the top mentions the examination of "Joseph Smith The Glass Looker" (see Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? p. 34, for a photograph of the complete document [Web-editor: also see Messenger #95]).

    This document confirmed the historicity of the examination record which had been published since 1873. In this document Joseph Smith admitted that he used a Seer Stone which he placed in his hat to try to locate buried treasures. The reader will no doubt be struck by the similarity to the magical practice of crystal gazing which is widely practiced in the occult. In Joseph Smith's time magicians and other individuals influenced by the occult used this method to find buried treasures and lost items. In the printed record we read that Joseph Smith said "That he had a certain stone which he had occasionally looked at to determine where hidden treasures in the bowels of the earth were; that he... had occasionally been in the habit of looking through this stone to find lost property for three years..." (see complete transcript in Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? p. 32)

    A few years after Smith's run in with the law, he was using this same method — a stone placed in a hat — to translate the Book of Mormon. David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, wrote: "I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing." (An Address To All Believers In Christ, 1887, page 12) Many witnesses confirmed this statement and even the Mormon historian B. H. Roberts referred to the use of a Seer Stone in translating the Book of Mormon (see A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, vol. 1, p. 129).

    Besides the magical stone, the money diggers often offered animal sacrifices to the demons who guarded the treasures. There seems to be a good deal of evidence to show that Joseph Smith and others in his family participated in blood sacrifices in their money digging operation. For example, in an affidavit William Stafford related:

    "I, William Stafford, having been called upon to give a true statement of my knowledge, concerning the character and conduct of the family of Smiths... do say... A great part of their time was devoted to digging for money...

    "Joseph Smith, Sen., came to me one night, and told me, that Joseph Jr. had been looking in his glass, and had seen not many rods from his house, two or three kegs of gold and silver, some feet under the surface of the earth... I accordingly consented to go... Joseph, Sen. first made a circle, twelve or fourteen feet in diameter. This circle, said he, contains the treasure. He then stuck in the ground a row of witch hazel sticks, around the said circle, for the purpose of keeping off the evil spirits.... the old man... by signs and motions, asked leave of absence, and went to the house to inquire of young Joseph the cause of our disappointment. He soon returned and said, that Joseph had remained all this time in the house, looking in his stone and watching the motions of the evil spirit... it caused the money to sink.... the old man observed... we had made a mistake in the commencem[e]nt of the operation; if it had not been for that, said he, we should have got the money.

    "At another time... Old Joseph and one of the boys came to me one day, and said that Joseph Jr. had discovered some very valuable treasures, which could be procured only in one way... a black sheep should be taken on the ground where the treasures were concealed—that after cutting its throat, it should be led around a circle while bleeding. This being done, the wrath of the evil spirit would be appeased: the treasures could then be obtained... I let them have a large fat sheep. They afterwards informed me, that the sheep was killed pursuant to commandment; but as there was some mistake in the process, it did not have the desired effect. This, I believe is the only time they ever made money-digging a profitable business." (Mormonism Unvailed, by E.D. Howe, 1834, pages 237-239)

    For other accounts of Joseph Smith being involved in animal sacrifice (dogs and sheep) to appease the demons see our book Mormonism, Magic and Masonry, p. 32-34.

BLOOD ATONEMENT RITUAL

    One of the most unusual teachings found in the early Mormon Church is the doctrine of "blood atonement." In a manuscript written in 1839, Reed Peck said that the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith claimed he had a revelation in which Apostle Peter told him that he had killed Judas: "He [Joseph Smith] talked of dissenters and cited us to the case of Judas, saying that Peter told him in a conversation a few days ago that [he] himself hung Judas for betraying Christ..." (The Reed Peck Manuscript, page 13)

    Although the doctrine of blood atonement was kept secret at first, when the Mormons were isolated in Utah and had more power, they began to boldly teach that certain people needed to be put to death. For example, on Sept. 21, 1856, President Brigham Young, the 2nd prophet of the church, publicly proclaimed that certain sins could only be atoned for by the shedding of the sinner's own blood:

    "There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive forgiveness... and if they had their eyes open to their true condition, they would be perfectly willing to have their blood spilt upon the ground, that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins; and the smoking incense would atone for their sins, whereas, if such is not the case, they will stick to them and remain upon them in the spirit world.

    "I know, when you hear my brethren telling about cutting people off from the earth, that you consider it is strong doctrine, but it is to save them, not to destroy them.... I know there are transgressors, who if they knew themselves, and the only condition upon which they can obtain forgiveness, would beg of their brethren to shed their blood, that the smoke thereof might ascend to God as an offering to appease the wrath that is kindled against them, and that the law might have its course. I will say further; I have had men come to me and offer their lives to atone for their sins.

    "It is true that the blood of the Son of God was shed for sins... yet men can commit sins which it can never remit... There are sins that can be atoned for by an offering upon an altar, as in ancient days, and there are sins that the blood of a lamb, or a calf, or of turtle doves, cannot remit, but they must be atoned for by the blood of the man.... You have been taught that doctrine, but you do not understand it." (Sermon by Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, p. 53-54; also published in the Mormon Church's Deseret News, Oct. 1 1856, p. 235)

    Since this sermon was published in the official organ of the Mormon Church and was reprinted in the church's own publication in England, there can be no doubt that blood atonement was an important doctrine of the church. In addition, there are many other sermons, diaries, and manuscripts which contain information on this doctrine. In Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? p. 400-402, we provide documentation to show that there were at least eleven different offenses for which a person could be put to death in early Utah — murder, adultery, immorality, stealing, using the name of the Lord in vain, refusing to receive the gospel, marriage to an African, covenant breaking, apostasy, lying, counterfeiting and condemning Joseph Smith or consenting to his death.

    President Brigham Young said that if the Mormons really loved their neighbors they would be willing to kill them to save their souls:

    "Now take a person in this congregation... and suppose that... he has committed a sin that he knows will deprive him of that exaltation which he desires, and that he cannot attain to it without the shedding of blood, and also knows that by having his blood shed he will atone for that sin, and be saved and exalted with the Gods, is there a man or woman in this house but what would say 'shed my blood that I may be saved...'

    "All mankind love themselves, and let these principles be known by an individual, and he would be glad to have his blood shed. That would be loving themselves, even unto an eternal exaltation. Will you love your brothers and sisters likewise, when they have committed a sin that cannot be atoned for without the shedding of their blood? Will you love that man or woman well enough to shed their blood?...

    "I could refer you to plenty of instances where men have been righteously slain, in order to atone for their sins.... I have known a great many men who left this Church for whom there is no chance whatever for exaltation, but if their blood had been spilled, it would have been better for them...

    "This is loving our neighbor as ourselves; If he needs help, help him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it... That is the way to love mankind." (Deseret News, Feb. 18, 1857; also reprinted in Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, p. 219-20)

    Although Brigham Young equated blood atonement with "loving our neighbor," it seems obvious that vengeance often played the most important role when the doctrine was actually applied. Joseph F. Smith, who served as the 6th prophet of the church, once admitted that he was about to stab a man if he even expressed approval of the murder of Joseph Smith. Under the date of Dec. 6, 1889, Apostle Abraham H. Cannon recorded the following in his journal:

    "About 4:30 p.m. this meeting adjourned and was followed by a meeting of Presidents Woodruff, Cannon and Smith and Bros. Lyman and Grant... Bro. Joseph F. Smith was traveling some years ago near Carthage when he met a man who said he had just arrived five minutes too late to see the Smiths killed. Instantly a dark cloud seemed to overshadow Bro. Smith and he asked how this man looked upon the deed. Bro. S. Was oppressed by a most horrible feeling... After a brief pause the man answered, 'Just as I have always looked upon it — that it was a d___d cold-blooded murder.' The cloud immediately lifted from Bro. Smith and he found that he had his open pocket knife grasped in his hand in his pocket, and he believes that had this man given his approval to that murder of the prophets he would have immediately struck him to the heart." ("Daily Journal of Abraham H. Cannon," Dec. 6, 1889, p. 205-6; see Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? p. 403, for an actual photograph from the journal)

    If Joseph F. Smith had "struck" the man "to the heart," the killing would have been considered more an act of vengeance than a ritualistic act. If, on the other hand, a person consented to die for his or her transgressions, the sacrifice could have ritualistic overtones. John D. Lee, who served on the Council of Fifty in the early Mormon Church, told of a case where there was prayer involved. Lee reported that a man by the name of "Rosmos Anderson" committed adultery with his step-daughter. He was "placed under covenant that if they again committed adultery, Anderson should suffer death." Lee went on to state:

    "Soon after this a charge was laid against Anderson before the Council, accusing him of adultery with his step-daughter.... it was the Bishop's Council.... the Council voted that Anderson must die for violating his covenants. Klingensmith went to Anderson and notified him that the orders were that he must die by having his throat cut, so that the running of his blood would atone for his sins.... His wife was ordered to prepare a suit of clean clothing, in which to have her husband buried...

    "Klingensmith, James Haslem, Daniel McFarland and John M. Higbee dug a grave in the field near Cedar City, and that night, about 12 o'clock, went to Anderson's house and ordered him to make ready to obey the Council.... Anderson knelt down upon the side of the grave and prayed, Klingensmith and his company then cut Anderson's throat from ear to ear and held him so that his blood ran into the grave.

    "As soon as he was dead they dressed him in his clean clothes, threw him into the grave and buried him. They then carried his bloody clothing back to his family, and gave them to his wife to wash, when she was again instructed to say that her husband was in California." (Confessions of John D. Lee, 1880, p. 282-83)

    In Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? we have documented that a large number of people were killed in Nauvoo and early Utah because of the church's teaching regarding blood atonement (see pages 398-404-A, 428-450, 493-515). Since Brigham Young and other church leaders were stressing the doctrine of blood atonement in 1857, it is obvious that this doctrine played a very important role in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Mormon historian B.H. Roberts called this massacre of an emigrant train, "the most lamentable episode in Utah history, and in the history of the church."

    The Mormons believed that there were people among the emigrants who persecuted them before they came west. Brigham Young had once counseled: "...in regard to those who have persecuted this people... if any miserable scoundrels come here, cut their throats." (Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 311) The Mormons who lived in southern Utah held a "special priesthood meeting" at Cedar City and decided that the emigrants "should be done away with." The priesthood leaders decided to "stir up the Indians" and have them attack the company. When it became apparent that the Indians could not overpower the emigrants, the Mormons came up with an insidious and cowardly plan to destroy them.

    Mormon writer William E. Berrett gave this description of the massacre: "It was a deliberately planned massacre, treacherously carried into execution... a flag of truce was sent to the emigrant camp and terms of surrender proposed. The Emigrants were to give up their arms. The wounded were to be loaded into wagons, followed by the women and children, and the men to bring up the rear...they were to be conducted by the whites to Cedar City.... the march began.... The white men at a given signal, fell upon the unarmed emigrant men.... Only the smallest children were spared." (The Restored Church, 1956, p. 468-69)

    In May 1861, Brigham Young visited the site of the massacre. His actions on this trip demonstrated that he approved of the massacre. Wilford Woodruff, who later became the 4th president of the Mormon Church, travelled with Young and wrote the following in his journal: "We visited the Mountain Meadow Monument put up at the burial place of 120 persons... A wooden Cross was placed on top with the following words: Vengence is mine and I will repay saith the Lord. President Young said it should be Vengence is mine and I have taken a little." (Wilford Woodruff's Journal, May 25, 1861, vol. 5, p. 577)

    Juanita Brooks, who did a great deal of research on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, believed that Brigham Young did not order the massacre. Nevertheless, she felt that Young and Apostle George A. Smith set up the conditions which led to the tragic event. Mrs. Brooks was, in fact, convinced that Brigham Young was involved as an accessory after the fact and took part in a cover-up of the crime. In her book, The Mountain Meadows Massacre, 1970, p. 219, she firmly stated her belief that "Brigham Young was accessory after the fact, in that he knew what had happened, and how and why it happened. Evidence of this is abundant and unmistakable, and from the most impeccable Mormon sources." For more information on the Mountain Meadows Massacre see Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? p. 493-515. [Web-editor: also see The Mountain Meadows Massacre book by Josiah Gibbs online.]

INTERESTING PARALLELS

    There are a number of similarities between the Mormon practice of blood atonement and the satanic practice of human sacrifice:

1. In both cases human beings are sacrificed to please a deity.
2. Both ceremonies have an emphasis on the importance of blood being poured out. In Mormonism, as we have shown, it was taught that when "blood was spilt upon the ground," the "smoking incense would atone" for a persons "sins." While it appears that many people were sacrificed in early Mormonism in a vindictive way, some may have been killed because the early Mormons loved them and did not want them to become "angels to the devil." Satanists, on the other hand, appear to sacrifice people for purely selfish purposes — i. e., they feel that the blood of the person sacrificed gives them power.
3. Cutting a person's throat is believed to be a good way to put a victim to death in satanic rituals. The early Mormons also used this method on many occasions.

    While there are a number of parallels between blood atonement and satanic sacrifice, there are some important differences. One of the most important is that the Mormons did not delight in the sacrifice of children. Some Satanists, on the other hand, seem to find the practice of sacrificing children very appealing. It is true that the early Mormons were implicated in murdering a number of children in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, but the Indians were chosen to actually kill most of them. John D. Lee, who carried the white flag of truce to the emigrants, later revealed that just before the massacre, "Major Higbee reported as follows: 'It is the orders of the President, that all the emigrants must be put out of the way. President Haight has counseled with Colonel Dame... none who are old enough to talk are to be spared.' " (Confessions of John D. Lee, p. 232)

    On page 237 of the same book, Lee said that the "Indians were to kill the women and large children so that it would be certain that no Mormon would be guilty of shedding innocent blood — if it should happen that there was any innocent blood in the company that were to die. Our leading men all said that there was no innocent blood in the whole company."

    John D. Lee went on to say that after the massacre he learned that a very small child had been killed: "...one little child about six months old... was killed by the same bullet that entered its father's breast; it was shot through the head.... I saw it lying dead when I returned to the place of slaughter." (p. 241) On pages 242-244, Lee also claimed that a Mormon the name of Knight "brained a boy that was about fourteen years old. The boy came running up to our wagons, and Knight struck him on the head with the butt end of his gun, and crushed his skull.... Just after the wounded were all killed I saw a girl, some ten or eleven years old, running toward us... she was covered with blood. An Indian shot her before she got with-in sixty yards of us.... I walked along the line where the emigrants had been killed, and saw many bodies lying dead and naked on the field, near by where the women lay. I saw ten children... they were from ten to sixteen years of age... When I reached the place where the dead men lay... Major Higbee said, 'The boys have acted admirably... all of the d—d Gentiles but two or three fell at the first fire.' He said that three or four got away some distance, but the men on horses soon overtook them and cut their throats."

    The killing of children by the early Mormons at Mountain Meadows seems to have stemmed from the belief that it would have been impossible to perpetuate a cover-up if the older children had been saved. As we indicated earlier, we know of no teaching concerning the sacrifice of children by LDS leaders. Moreover, in all of the cases of blood atonement we have studied we do not know of a single case in which a child was murdered as the result of orders coming from the prophet of the Mormon Church. It has, of course, been alleged that Satanists in fairly high positions in the church have been engaged in sacrificing infants, but so far no one has suggested that the top leadership of the church is involved.

As we have noted earlier, Brigham Young taught that the practice of blood atonement was motivated by love—i.e., the victims were actually going to be saved from becoming "angels to the devil" through the sacrifice of their own lives! While it is hard for any Christian or civilized person to accept the Mormon doctrine of blood atonement, the idea of Satanists or other occultists sacrificing innocent children just so that they can gain power is far more appalling.

RECENT MURDERS

    Although the Mormon Church seems to have abandoned the practice of blood atonement in the 19th century, some of the Mormon Fundamentalists have continued both teaching and practicing the doctrine. There have been a number of assassinations since 1972 in which the victims' blood was "spilt on the ground."

    In August 1972, Joel LeBaron was murdered. His brother, Ervil LeBaron was arrested and convicted. Unfortunately, Ervil LeBaron's conviction was later overturned (Salt Lake Tribune, May 29, 1980), and the shedding of blood continued. The Tribune, Dec. 28, 1974, gave this information: "A woman was reported slain Friday in a new outbreak of fighting between rivals in a dissident religious sect... first reports indicated a house was set afire and [the] occupants shot as they ran out.... Kraus said as many as 10 other persons were reported wounded... The Lebaron family was excommunicated from the Church... several years before the sect was formed because of what Mormon church officials said was apostasy and polygamy."

    In 1975 another murder occurred in California. One of LeBaron's disciples, Vonda White murdered a man named Dean Grover Vest. According to the Tribune, July 13, 1978, "In his opening statement in the murder and conspiracy trial... Rempel said he would prove that she killed Dean Grover Vest... by order of LeBaron to achieve 'blood atonement.' Vest was planning on 'defecting' from the Church of the Lamb of God at the time of the killing..." On July 20, 1978, the Tribune revealed that "Sullivan said LeBaron told him that God said 'to have a woman, Vonda White, to blood atone him... She would... fix him a hot meal.... get behind him and shoot him in the back of the head until he was dead.' " Vonda White was convicted and sentenced to "life in prison" for the blood atonement slaying of Mr. Vest.

    In April 1975, Ervil LeBaron had Robert Simons assassinated in Utah. LeBaron continued to order the blood atonement of those who would not accept his leadership, and on Nov. 25, 1978, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that, "Investigators have said he may be responsible for between 20 and 29 slayings stemming from his leadership of the Church of the Lamb of God."

    In 1977, LeBaron had Rulon C. Allred, who was also a Mormon Fundamentalist, blood atoned. According to an article printed in the Tribune on March 4, 1979, two women "went into Dr. Allred's office with guns blazing, shooting the victim seven times..." Years later Rena Chynoweth, a member of a team that was sent to kill Allred, revealed her involvement in the murder. In her book, The Blood Covenant, 1990, p. 207, she stated: "I knew the moment had come to do what I was sent there to do.... I pulled out the gun, and fired at him. There were seven shots in my clip and I emptied it. I heard him gasp, 'Oh, my God!' once as he fell to the floor, bleeding." It should be noted that Rena Chynoweth was one of LeBaron's thirteen wives. Fortunately, LeBaron was finally brought to justice in May, 1980, for ordering the murder of Dr. Allred, and on August 16, 1981, he was found dead in his cell at the Utah State Prison. An autopsy was performed but the cause of death was not determined.

    The Mormon prophet Brigham Young once said that any man who found his "brother in bed with his wife, and put a javelin through both of them would be justified, and... would atone for their sins... I would at once do so... I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands...." (Journal of Discourses, vol. 3, p. 247) Ervil LeBaron, likewise, believed that in certain cases a man should blood atone his own wife. Lloyd Sullivan claimed that he had been having problems with his wife, Bonnie, and that LeBaron told him the Lord wanted him to take Bonnie to the "deep south and deep-six her there." (Prophet of Blood: The Untold Story of Ervil LeBaron and the Lambs of God, by Ben Bradley, Jr. and Dale Van Atta, 1981, page 273)

    Ervil even went so far as to order the death of his own daughter:

    "...Lloyd was in the Perth Street warehouse when he noticed Ervil's pride and joy, a green-over-white LTD, was sagging measurable. 'I wonder if Rebecca's in the trunk,' Ervil commented idly to Lloyd, who opened the trunk about four inches and was stunned to see Rebecca Chynoweth lying there, blood running from her nose. She was obviously dead.

    "Later, Ervil... instructed Lloyd to tell nephew John Sullivan to get a shovel and bring it over to Thelma Chynoweth's house immediately... Don Sullivan... would recall that... LeBaron was a passenger in a car Don was driving, when Ervil began a conversation with the blunt statement that he had 'gotten rid of Rebecca.'... we sent her a one-way ticket,' LeBaron replied, 'she couldn't get along and the Lord ordered to send her a one-way ticket.'... Sullivan was still incredulous at the implication. He later confessed 'astonishment at the idea that he could kill his own daughter.'... he [Sullivan] pressed as if he were a prosecutor...

    " 'The Lord ordered her to be blood-atoned, so He had her blood atoned,' LeBaron replied... Ervil said, matter-of-factly, 'Rebecca is no longer with us.' " (Prophet of Blood, p. 229-31)

    Ervil LeBaron's widow, Rena Chynoweth, points out that the death of LeBaron has not stopped the bloodshed:

    "Ervil never committed any of the murders himself. He didn't have to. He had loyal followers like us to carry out his 'God-given' commands. Like Charles Manson, he stayed behind the scenes, targeting his victims and sending us, his hardcore disciples, out as his executioners.... Now that Ervil is dead, some of his own sons have become avenging angels of his will. The blood-stained hand of Ervil LeBaron has reached beyond his grave.

    "For the past three years my family and I have been in hiding. My name is on a 'hit list' Ervil drew up shortly before his death. What was my 'crime'?... What were the 'crimes' of some of the other victims? The answer is that we were traitors, defectors from Ervil's flock. We committed the unpardonable sin of breaking away from him. In so doing we, in effect, signed our own death warrants." (The Blood Covenant, p. 5)

    Rena Chynoweth was not exaggerating concerning the danger facing those who fell out of favor with the LeBaron group. On June 28, 1988, the Houston Chronicle reported the death of four people, two of whom were brothers of Rena:

    "The hand of a dead man reached out to kill Monday. The first to die was Mark Chynoweth, gunned down in his North Houston appliance store. That killing was followed by Chynoweth's brother, Duane Chynoweth, and Duane's daughter, Jennifer, executed when they attempted to deliver a washing machine. The fourth to die was Eddie Marston in Irving, yet another former proselyte of a renegade cult leader... Ervil LeBaron lies buried in a north Houston grave, but his sons continue to kill."

    The LeBarons are not the only ones who have tried to keep the early Mormon teaching of blood atonement alive. Don and Ron Lafferty were once members of the Mormon Church. Ron Lafferty, in fact, claimed that he "served in three bishoprics." (Salt Lake Tribune, August 11, 1984) Ron acknowledged that he began to have an interest in polygamy although he denied that he practiced it. Both Ron and Don were eventually excommunicated from the Mormon Church. They associated themselves with a Mormon Fundamentalist group but were dismissed from the group in April, 1984. On July 24, 1984, Ron and Dan Lafferty forced their way into their brother Allen's home in American Fork, Utah, and brutally murdered his wife and her 15-month-old daughter. On August 17, 1984, the Tribune reported that, "The victims' throats were slashed in what police speculated may have been a ritualistic murder."

    A revelation was found in Ron Lafferty's shirt pocket and later produced as evidence at the trial of Dan Lafferty. The Tribune printed the important portion of the revelation on Jan. 8, 1985: " 'Thus sayeth the Lord unto my servants the prophets. It is my will and commandment that ye remove the following individuals... First thy brother's wife Brenda and her baby, then Chloe Low and then Richard Stowe.' "

    Ron Lafferty seemed to feel that it was very important that their victims' throats be cut. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 9, 1985, Charles Carries "testified that... Dan Lafferty had asked his brother if it was necessary that the victims' throats be cut. 'He asked Ron if they had to do it that way, he asked, 'Can't we just shoot them? and Ron said, 'No, that it had to be done that way.' " On Jan. 11, 1985, the Tribune reported: "The woman, while pleading for her daughter's life... had her throat cut from ear to ear, according to testimony in the trial."

    The description of the murders given in the Salt Lake Tribune on Jan. 8, 1985, reminds one of the blood atonement killing in early Utah which was described by John D. Lee: "...Daniel Charles Lafferty... told companions it was 'no problem' to cut the 15-month-old child's throat as she lay in her crib. 'I felt the spirit... it was with me,' he said.... Chief Utah County Attorney Wayne Watson.... gave jurors a 'road map' of the case...' They then slashed her [Brenda Lafferty's] throat with a 10-inch blade... and held her head back so the blood would spill from her body.'

    "Mr. Watson, his voice cracked with emotion, said that then Dan Lafferty took the razor-edged knife 'and walked down the hallway to that bedroom — with the baby crying 'Mommy!' 'Mommy!'— and he cut her throat.' "

    The teachings of the early Mormon Church on human sacrifice, polygamy and incest could easily be used by Satanists to promote their own agenda. Furthermore, the fact that there are people in Utah who are still involved in these practices makes the state a fertile field for satanic worship. While the sexual abuse and sacrifice of children in satanic rituals seems far more evil than blood atonement and plural marriage, it would certainly be easier for those who believe in these teachings of the early Mormon Church to fall into Satanism. It is true, of course, that the current leaders of the Latter-day Saints are trying to suppress some of the more embarrassing teachings of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Nevertheless, the fact that they try to sweep these things under the rug instead of openly dealing with them leaves the door wide open for occultists who wish to penetrate the Mormon Church.

THERE IS HOPE

    While it is very painful for Latter-day Saints to learn that Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and other leaders of the early Mormon Church brought forth doctrines which could not be based on revelation from God, their suffering does not begin to compare with that experienced by victims of satanic ritual abuse. Whether these victims are Mormons, members of other churches or no church at all makes no difference. They suffer such indescribable pain in both their bodies and their minds that many of them commit suicide. For example, on Nov. 17, 1991, The Herald Journal, published in Logan, Utah, printed an obituary which contained the following:

    "Michelle Tallmadge, 23, died early Saturday morning Nov. 16, 1991, in Logan.... In her childhood Michelle was subject to severe ritualistic abuse. When these memories surfaced at a later age she was never able to resolve the memories with who she wanted to be. After four years of unbearable pain she left this life of her own accord."

    Many of those who were victims of satanic ritual abuse have admitted that eventually they became so disturbed in their minds that they participated in ceremonies in which human sacrifices occurred. Some, in fact, have acknowledged that they sacrificed their own child in these rituals. Unfortunately, in Mormonism this presents a perplexing problem because Joseph Smith taught: "A murderer, for instance, one that sheds innocent blood, cannot have forgiveness. David sought repentance at the hand of God... for the murder of Uriah; but he could only get it through hell: he got a promise that his soul should not be left in hell.... [Murderers] could not be baptized for the remission of sins for they had shed innocent blood." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1942, p. 339)

    One of the authors [Sandra] recalls that in the late 1950's her teacher at the Mormon Institute of Religion told her he had a friend who had committed murder. This teacher was rather distraught because his Mormon religion really had nothing to offer to this murderer who had been sentenced to death. Even if he fully confessed and repented, he would never be able to dwell with God in the celestial kingdom. According to Joseph Smith's theology, he would be forever excluded in the telestial kingdom.

    Bishop Glenn Pace seemed to grasp the serious implications of the matter. In his memo, page 5, he asked: "What does a priesthood leader tell individuals who come forward and say that they have participated in these rituals—which may include human sacrifice? Should they have a temple recommend? Will they ever be forgiven?... Is a person who has been raised in an occult [setting] from infancy accountable for things that take place in a dissociated state, even though those acts were committed after the age of eight?... there is no place to go for an answer."

    Mormonism seems to have no clear answers to these questions. Joseph Fielding Smith, the 10th prophet, claimed that "Through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved... But man may commit certain grievous sins—according to his light and knowledge—that will place him beyond the reach of the atoning blood of Christ... Joseph Smith taught that there were certain sins so grievous... that they will place the transgressors beyond the power of the atonement of Christ. If these offenses are committed, then the blood of Christ will not cleanse them from their sins even though they repent." (Doctrines of Salvation, 1959, p. 133-35) In the 1979 printing of his book, Mormon Doctrine, Apostle Bruce R. McConkie still maintained that "there are some serious sins for which the cleansing blood of Christ does not operate..." (page 92)

    The LDS teaching that the blood of Christ can not cleanse from all sin is diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Bible. In 1 John 1:7 we read that "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." While Mormon doctrine concerning the atoning blood of Christ is very confusing, orthodox Christianity holds out a real hope for those unfortunate people who have become so deeply entangled in the occult that they have become involved in human sacrifice. The promise of forgiveness is freely available to all. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

    It does not matter how evil our life has been; if we turn to the Lord in true repentance, he will take away our sins and give us a new heart filled with love, joy and peace. We simply have to put our full trust in the fact that God loves us and has provided salvation through Jesus Christ: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

    If those who have been involved in satanic ritual abuse or human sacrifice will fully turn themselves over to the Lord, they can be completely forgiven. Those who have committed themselves to the Lord can rest in Psalm 103:11-12: "For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." It is a wonderful feeling to know that we are completely at peace with God and that we longer have to feel guilty for the past. This, of course, does not mean that we have a license to sin in the future. God has, in fact, called us to holy living (see Colossians 3:1-17).

    While those who have participated in the evils of satanic ritual abuse often have a hard time believing in God or that he can completely forgive their sins, many Mormons and members of other churches have another misconception that can be spiritually fatal: this is the failure to recognize their own sinful nature. The Apostle Paul pointed out the problem in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Since we all have become trapped in our own sin and selfishness, we all stand in danger of losing our souls if we do not turn to the Lord: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23) Everyone of us, therefore, needs to acknowledge our own sinful and desperate condition before God and accept the free gift of salvation which comes through his grace: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)

    Although it is easy for those of us who have never been involved in satanic ritual abuse to condemn the wickedness of those who have become entangled in it, we should remember that it is only through God's great mercy that we have been kept from the type of environment that leads people to commit such dreadful acts. Had we found ourselves in the same circumstances, it is likely we would have turned out the same way or even worse! If we fail to recognize our own sinful condition, we become as the Pharisee mentioned by Jesus:

    "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14)

CONCLUSION

    In pleading with victims and/or perpetrators of the horrors of ritualistic abuse to turn to Jesus for spiritual healing, we do not mean to discourage them from receiving treatment from qualified therapists. The trauma and confusion caused by ritualistic abuse are so severe that those involved in any way really need professional help. We would urge those who even feel that they may have a problem to seek help from those who are qualified. Our readers should pray for the victims and even the perpetrators of this terrible abuse. The investigators and therapists working in the area of ritualistic abuse certainly need a lot of prayer. Besides the tremendous pressure of trying to help the ritually abused, many of those who counsel with them are fearful for their own safety.

    We would solicit the prayers of Christians as we continue to pursue the truth about satanic ritualistic abuse. Pray that we will not be deceived about this important matter. We neither want to minimize nor to exaggerate the extent of this evil. We just want to know the truth about the matter. Pray also for our safety as we look into this dark and sinister area of the occult. One never knows what to expect when prying into illegal activities. For example, when we suggested in the March 1984 issue of the Messenger that Mark Hofmann's "Salamander letter" was a forgery, we had no idea that he would later kill two people to protect his bogus document business.

    We are now in the process of preparing a book entitled, Satanic Ritualistic Abuse and Mormonism. This book will not only have the important material found in issues 80 and 81 of the Salt Lake City Messenger, but it will also contain significant new information concerning the subject. It will of course have Bishop Glenn Pace's startling memo which set off the controversy regarding the practice of ritualistic abuse in the Mormon Church.