Mormon Church issues sinister threat to world's media

The following is a letter from Elder Lance B. Wickman, General Counsel of the Church to publishers of major newspapers, TV stations and magazines. It was sent out on Tuesday, June 24, 2008.

Recent events have focused the media spotlight on a polygamous sect near San Angelo, Texas, calling itself the “Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” As you probably know, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has absolutely no affiliation with this polygamous sect. Decades ago, the founders of that sect rejected the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were excommunicated, and then started their own religion. To the best of our knowledge, no one at the Texas compound has ever been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Unfortunately, however, some of the media coverage of the recent events in Texas has caused members of the public to confuse the doctrines and members of that group and our church. We have received numerous inquiries from confused members of the public who, by listening to less than careful media reports, have come to a grave misunderstanding about our respective doctrines and faith. Based on these media reports many have erroneously concluded that there is some affiliation between the two – or even worse, that they are one and the same.

Over the years, in a careful effort to distinguish itself, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has gone to significant lengths to protect its rights in the name of the church and related matters. Specifically, we have obtained registrations for the name “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” “Mormon,” “Book of Mormon” and related trade and service marks from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and corresponding agencies in a significant number of foreign countries.

We are confident that you are committed to avoiding misleading statements that cause unwarranted confusion and that may disparage or infringe the intellectual property rights discussed above. Accordingly, we respectfully request the following:

1. As reflected in the AP Style Guide, we ask that you and your organization refrain from referring to members of that polygamous sect as “fundamentalist Mormons” or “fundamentalist” members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
2. We ask that, when reporting about this Texas-based polygamous sect or any other polygamous group, you avoid either explicitly or implicitly any inference that these groups are affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
3. On those occasions when it may be necessary in your reporting to refer to the historical practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that you make very clear that the Church does not condone the practice of polygamy and that it has been forbidden in the Church for over one hundred years. Moreover, we absolutely condemn arranged or forced “marriages” of underage girls to anyone under any circumstances.

Stated simply, we would like to be known and recognized for whom we are and what we believe, and not be inaccurately associated with beliefs and practices that we condemn in the strongest terms. We would be grateful if you could circulate or copy this letter to your editorial staff and to your legal counsel.

We thank you for your consideration of these important matters.

Sincerely,

Lance B. Wickman

General Counsel

(EDITOR: Here is some free, without prejudice, 'counsel to Lance B. Wickman and the Mormon Church:

Don't issue threats to the entire media of the world, lest people mistake you as a clown and the organisation that you work for as an organisation made up of clowns.)

FLDS in Texas

The FLDS story will, to coin an old journalistic expression, run and run. Especially when lawyers for the FLDS get involved. And just wait for self-proclaimed civil Rights lawyers to get their snouts in the trough!

Some people have questioned the propriety of the raid/s in that they offend their liberal sensibilities. These seem to run along the lines of: "People should be allowed to do what they want on their own property" and "parents should have a right to bring up their own children in any way that they see fit." Yes, but not if that bringing up of children utilises what boils down to torture techniques outlawed by International Military Conventions for use against enemy combatants, let alone against your own toddlers and children, for goodness sake!

The people responsible for all this are Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon and the other early leaders of The So-Called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It was Brigham Young's decision to move to the then isolated territory of Utah and the ultra-draconian measures he introduced (including ruling by fear) that caused this dreadful situation to exist down to this time.

Brigham Young used Mountain Meadows, attacks on native Indians and guerilla attacks on the USA Army for two purposes. The first to stop the rule of law -of real law- being introduced in Utah and to raise up a fire-storm of fear in the hearts of his followers. Dissenters knew that they were likely to be taken out at night, their throat slit and to be denied a decent, Christian burial.

Their wife and children would be put upon Brigham Young's slavery auction block and sold off to the highest bidder. Oh, its doubtful if money changed hands. for the bill of currency was that of favours owed and favours dispensed.

"You scratch my back and I'll ensure that the next apostate dissenter who crosses my path and needs to be 'used up', well, his wife, his children and his lands will be yours in order to build up your kingdom when you get to the Celestial Kingdom."

Of course, the corollary to that was: "Change your ways, cross me, and the same thing happens to you."

The history of attacks and murders within the fundamentalist Mormon Church down through the decades shows that the Danite murder gang -almost a sect within a sect, if you will- and their descendants have operated almost without pause since Smith founded it.

People who have raised the legitimate question about Joseph Smith "was he a "pious fraud?" need to understand one thing: The answer to their question was staring them in the face throughout: Does a pious fraud set up a secret murder gang / death squad and use it to terrorise and to brutally rub out opposition by internal and external outrages? By murdering people and by stealing the land of followers and of non-member neighbours? By using fraud, trickery, deceit and outright theft? "No," I think is the answer to that.

If you want to study the operation and structure of the early Mormon Church,how it treated neighbours, members and their children, study the history, dark and bleak as it is, of the fundamentalist Mormon church in all its myriad sects and offshoots.

Murder, rapine, theft, fraud, rape, torture and abuse of men, women and children is what you will find. The Mormon Church is a whited sepulchre that is built on sand. The walls are already starting to crack, and the stench from within is sickening.

The FLDS is still very much a part of the official LDS Church.

What is the difference between them? The difference between two Mafia families, one might argue. I.E., not very much.