THE MORMONS CLAIM THAT THEIR LDS CHURCH IS THE *RESTORED* ONE TRUE
CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
DECIDE FOR YOURSELF IF THE FOLLOWING HISTORY OF THE LDS CHURCH SOUNDS
LIKE THE *RESTORED* TEACHINGS OF JESUS
In 1877, John D. Lee instanced the case of Bishop Warren Stone Snow of
Manti, San Pete County, Utah. "He had several wives, but there was a
fair, buxom young woman in the town that Snow wanted for a wife. She
thanked him for the honor offered, but told him she was then engaged to
a young man, a member of the church, and consequently could not marry
the old priest.
He told her it was the will of God that she should marry him, and she
must do so; that the young man could be got rid of, sent on a mission .
.. . that, in fact, it was contrary to do the wishes of the authorities,
so a promise made to the young man was not binding."
The girl and her fiance both refused to give her up. Ordered to go on a
mission, the man refused. Snow decided that he should be castrated,
saying, 'When that is done, he will not be liable to want the girl
badly, and she will listen to reason when she knows that her lover is no
longer a man.'"
The bishop called a meeting of the priests. The young man refusing
again, the lights were put out, and an attack was made. "He was severely
beaten, and then tied with his back down on a bench, when Bishop Snow
took a bowie-knife, and performed the operation in a most brutal manner,
and then took the ****tion severed and hung it up in the school-house on
a nail." The man dragged himself away to some haystacks, where his
friends found him the next day.
Later Snow talked to the people about their duty to the church, and
their duty to obey counsel, and the dangers of refusal, and then
publicly called attention to the mangled parts of the young man . . .
and stated that the deed had been done to teach the people that the
counsel of the Priesthood must be obeyed." The young woman was then
forced to marry him.
A few weeks later, a Bishop Blackburn shouted in a Sunday meeting of all
ages and both ***es, "I want the people of Provo to understand that the
boys in Provo can use the knife as well as the boys in San Pete. Boys,
get your knives ready, there is work for you!"
According to Young's counselor Wilford Woodruff, "When the cir***stances
were told, President Brigham Young sustained the brethren who presided
at Provo."
"In May 1857 Bishop Warren S. Snow's counselor wrote that
twenty-four-year-old Thomas Lewis 'has now gone crazy' after being
inflicted by Bishop Snow. When informed of Snow's action, Young said 'I
feel to sustain him.'"
Brigham Young did nothing against Snow. He left him in charge as Bishop
at Manti, and ordered the matter to be hushed up.
Snow was ... given a personal blessing by Young in 1861, and in 1867 was
given the op****tunity to preach in the Mormon tabernacle. So Lee's
conclusion that "Brigham Young did nothing against Snow" has been proved
to be truthful.
==
References to the Thomas Lewis castration:
Pages 284-286 of John D. Lee's Confession in MORMONISM UNVEILED, or THE
LIFE AND CONFESSIONS of the Late Mormon Bishop JOHN D. LEE contain a
very good account of the crime
Wilford Woodruff's Diary for 2 June 1857 and later, vols. 5:54-55, 571,
and 6:319
The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Vol. 2, pp. 250-51.
Pages 301-302, The Rocky Mountain Saints by T. B. Stenhouse, 1873
Vol. 5, pages 54-55, Wilford Woodruff's Diary, June 2, 1857
=====
Blood Atonement and Castration
While many Mormon scholars would like to scoff at those who have
seriously studied this matter, there is incontrovertible proof that
Brigham Young, the second prophet of the Mormon Church, publicly
preached a doctrine called "blood atonement."
Although one might think that the name of this doctrine came from the
atonement of Jesus on the cross, the truth of the matter is that it
relates to people being put to death. Brigham Young explained this in a
sermon given on September 21, 1856:
"There are sins that men commit for which they cannot receive
forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, and if they had
their eyes open to see 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....
"And further more, I know that 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
through the fall and those committed by men, 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."
~~ Sermon by Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, pages 53-54;
also published in the Mormon Church's Deseret News, 1856, page 235
On another occasion Brigham Young made this chilling statement regarding
a person's obligation to spill the blood of those who committed serious
sins:
"Now take a person in this congregation who has knowledge with
regard to being saved... and suppose that he is overtaken in a gross
fault, 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 his 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 and exalted with the Gods?'
"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? That is what
Jesus Christ meant....
"I could refer you to plenty of instances where men have been
righteously slain, in order to atone for their sins. I have seen scores
and hundreds of people for whom there would have been a chance... if
their lives had been taken and their blood spilled on the ground as a
smoking incense to the Almighty, but who are now angels to the Devil...
I have known a great many men who have 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.... if you
have sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood, except the sin unto
death, would not be satisfied nor rest until your blood should be
spilled, that you might gain that salvation you desire. That is the way
to love mankind."
~~ Sermon by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Mormon
Tabernacle, February 8, 1857; printed in the Deseret News, February 18,
1857; also reprinted in the Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, pages 219-220
In 1958, Gustive O. Larson, Professor of Church History at the church's
Brigham Young University, acknowledged that blood atonement was actually
practiced. He related the following:
"To whatever extent the preaching on blood atonement may have
influenced action, it would have been in relation to Mormon disciplinary
action among its own members. In point would be a verbally re****ted case
of a Mr. Johnson in Cedar City who was found guilty of adultery with his
stepdaughter by a bishop's court and sentenced to death for atonement of
his sin. According to the re****t of reputable eyewitnesses, judgment was
executed with consent of the offender who went to his unconsecrated
grave in full confidence of salvation through the shedding of his blood.
Such a case, however primitive, is understandable within the meaning of
the doctrine and the emotional extremes of the [Mormon] Reformation."
~~ Utah Historical Quarterly, January, 1958, page 62, note 39
This...case [is] spoken of by John D. Lee, who was sealed to Brigham
Young and was a member of Young's secret Council of Fifty:
"The most deadly sin among the people was adultery, and many
men were killed in Utah for the crime.
"Rasmos Anderson was a Danish man who came to Utah... He had
married a widow lady somewhat older than himself... At one of the
meetings during the reformation Anderson and his step-daughter confessed
that they had committed adultery... they were rebaptized and received
into full member****p. They were then placed under covenant that if they
again committed adultery, Anderson should suffer death. Soon after this
a charge was laid against Anderson before the Council, accusing him of
adultery with his step-daughter.
"This Council was composed of Klingensmith and his two
counselors; it was the Bishop's Council. Without giving Anderson any
chance to defend himself or make a statement, 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. Anderson, being a firm believer in the doctrines and teachings
of the Mormon Church, made no objections... His wife was ordered to
prepare a suit of clean clothing, in which to have her husband buried...
she being directed to tell those who should inquire after her husband
that he had gone to California.
"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 Council. Anderson got up... and without a word of remonstrance
accompanied those that he believed were carrying out the will of the
"Almighty God." They went to the place where the grave was prepared;
Anderson knelt 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... She
obeyed their orders.... Anderson was killed just before the Mountain
Meadows massacre. The killing of Anderson was then considered a
religious duty and a just act. It was justified by all the people, for
they were bound by the same covenants, and the least word of objection
to thus treating the man who had broken his covenant would have brought
the same fate upon the person who was so foolish as to raise his voice
against any act committed by order of the Church authorities."
~~ Confessions of John D. Lee, Photo-reprint of 1877 edition, pages
282-283
In the same book John D. Lee made this startling statement:
"I knew of many men being killed in Nauvoo... and I know of
many a man who was quietly put out of the way by the orders of Joseph
and his Apostles while the Church was there."
~~ Ibid., page 284
Lee also revealed another very cruel practice which took place both in
Nauvoo, Illinois, and in early Utah:
"In Utah it has been the custom with the Priesthood to make
eunuchs of such men as were obnoxious to the leaders. This was done for
a double purpose: first, it gave a perfect revenge, and next, it left
the poor victim a living example to others of the dangers of disobeying
counsel and not living as ordered by the Priesthood.
"In Nauvoo it was the orders from Joseph Smith and his apostles
to beat, wound and castrate all Gentiles that the police could take in
the act of entering or leaving a Mormon household under cir***stances
that led to the belief that they had been there for immoral purposes....
In Utah it was the favorite revenge of old, worn-out members of the
Priesthood, who wanted young women sealed to them, and found that the
girl preferred some handsome young man. The old priests generally got
the girls, and many a young man was un***ed for refusing to give up his
sweetheart at the request of an old and failing, but still sensual
apostle or member of the Priesthood.
~~ Ibid., pages 284-286
On November 30, 1871, T. B. H. Stenhouse received a letter by an
individual who was present at a meeting in Provo, Utah. The letter
indicated that Bishop Blackburn was also strongly pu****ng for the
emasculation of men who were disobedient to their leaders:
"'Dear Stenhouse: I Have read carefully the accompanying
statement about the "Reformation."... If you want to travel wider and
show the effect in the country of the inflammatory speeches delivered in
Salt Lake City at that time, you can mention the Potter and Parrish
murders at Springville, the barbarous castration of a young man in San
Pete, and, to cap the climax, the Mountain-Meadows massacre... Threats
of personal violence or death were common in the settlements against all
who dared to speak against the priesthood, or in any way protest against
this "reign of terror."
"'I was at a Sunday meeting in the spring of 1857, in Provo,
when the news of the San Pete castration was referred to by the
presiding bishop -- Blackburn. Some men in Provo had rebelled against
authority in some trivial matter, and Blackburn shouted in his Sunday
meeting -- a mixed congregation of all ages and both ***es -- "I want
the people of Provo to understand that the boys in Provo can use the
knife as well as the boys in San Pete. Boys, get your knives ready,
there is work for you! We must not be behind San Pete in good works."
The result of this was that two citizens, named Hooper and Beauvere,
both having families at Provo, left the following night... Their only
offence was rebellion against the priesthood.
"'This man, Blackburn, was continued in office at least a year
after this...
" 'The qualifications for a bishop were a blind submission and
obedience to Brigham and the authorities, and a firm, unrelented
government of his subjects."
~~ The Rocky Mountain Saints, by T. B. H. Stenhouse, 1873, pages 301-302
This is a very im****tant letter because it throws additional light upon
President Brigham Young's knowledge regarding emasculation in early
Utah. According to Wilford Woodruff's journal, not long after Warren S.
Snow's cowardly attack on Thomas Lewis, President Young discussed the
matter of castration being used to save people:
"I then went into the president office & spent the evening.
Bishop Blackburn was present. The subject Came up of some persons
leaving Provo who had Apostatized. Some thought that Bishop Blackburn &
President Snow was to blame. Brother Joseph Young presented the thing to
presidet Young. But When the Cir***stances were told Presidet Brigham
Young sustained the Brethren who presided at Provo....
"The subjects of Eunuchs came up... Brigham Said the day would
Come when thousands would be made Eunochs in order for them to be saved
in the kingdom of God."
~~ Wilford Woodruff's Diary, June 2, 1857, Vol. 5, pages 54-55
In a public discourse President Young acknowledged that the church had
use for some very mean devils who resided in early Utah:
"And if the Gentiles wish to see a few tricks, we have
'Mormons' that can perform them. We have the meanest devils on the earth
in our midst, and we intend to keep them, for we have use for them; and
if the Devil does not look sharp, we will cheat him out of them at the
last, for they will reform and go to heaven with us."
~~ Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, page 176
Orrin ****ter Rockwell was certainly one of Brigham Young's "meanest
devils." Rockwell, who had served as a bodyguard for Joseph Smith, did
not hesitate to shed blood. The reader will find a photograph of
Rockwell on the first page of this newsletter. Bill Hickman was another
ruthless man who killed many people. In his book Brigham's Destroying
Angels, Hickman confessed that he had committed murders for the church.
In 1858, an extremely grotesque double murder was committed. Henry Jones
and his mother were both put to death. These murders were obviously the
direct result of Brigham Young's doctrine of "blood atonement."
Two months before Henry Jones was actually murdered, he was viciously
attacked. Hosea Stout, a very dedicated Mormon defender, wrote the
following regarding the first attack on Jones:
"Saturday 27 Feb 1858. This evening several persons disguised
as Indians entered Henry Jones' house and dragged him out of bed with a
whore and castrated him by a square & close amputation."
~~ On the Mormon Frontier; The Diary of Hosea Stout, Vol. 2, page 653
One would think that this would have ended the vendetta against Jones.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. On April 19, 1859, the newspaper
Valley Tan printed an affidavit by Nathaniel Case which contained a
statement implicating a bishop and other Mormons who lived in Payson:
"Nathaniel Case being sworn, says: that he has resided in the
Territory of Utah since the year 1850; lived with Bishop Hancock
(Charles Hancock) in the town of Payson, at the time Henry Jones and his
mother were murdered... The night prior to the murder a secret council
meeting was held in the upper room of Bishop Hancock's house; saw
Charles Hancock, George W. Hancock, Daniel Rawson, James Bracken, George
Patten and Price Nelson go into that meeting that night.... About 8
o'clock in the evening of the murder the company gathered at Bishop
Hancock's... They said they were going to guard a corral where Henry
Jones was going to come that night and steal horses; they had guns.
"I had a good mini rifle and Bishop Hancock wanted to borrow
it; I refused to lend it to him. The above persons all went away
together... Next morning I heard that Henry Jones and his mother had
been killed. I wnet [sic] down to the dug-out where they lived... The
old woman was laying on the ground in the dug-out on a little straw, in
the clothes in which she was killed. She had a bullet hole through her
head... In about 15 or 20 minutes Henry Jones was brought there and laid
by her side; they then threw some old bed clothes over them and an old
feather bed and then pulled the dug-out on top of them....
"The next Sunday after the murder, in a church meeting in
Payson, Charles Hancock, the bishop, said, as to the killing of Jones
and his mother he cared nothing about it, and it would have been done in
daylight if cir***stances would have permitted it. -- This was said from
the stand; there were 150 or 200 persons present. He gave no reason for
killing them. And further saith not.
Nathaniel Case.
"Sworn to and signed before me this 9th day of April, 1859.
John Cradlebaugh,
Judge 2nd Judicial District."
=====
"During this period Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders also
repeatedly preached about specific sins for which it was necessary to
shed the blood of men and women. Blood-atonement sins included adultery,
apostasy, 'covenant breaking,' counterfeiting, 'many men who left this
Church,' murder, not being 'heartily on the Lord's side,' profaning 'the
name of the Lord,' ***ual intercourse between a 'white' person and an
African-American, stealing, and telling lies....
"Some LDS historians have claimed that blood-atonement sermons
were simply Brigham Young's use of 'rhetorical devices designed to
frighten wayward individuals into conformity with Latter-day Saint
principles' and to bluff anti-Mormons. Writers often describe these
sermons as limited to the religious enthusiasm and frenzy of the Utah
Reformation up to 1857. The first problem with such explanations is that
official LDS sources show that as early as 1843 Joseph Smith and his
counselor Sidney Rigdon advocated decapitation or throat-cutting as
punishment for various crimes and sins.
"Moreover, a decade before Utah's reformation, Brigham Young's
private instructions show that he fully expected his trusted associates
to kill various persons for violating religious obligations. The LDS
church's official history still quotes Young's words to 'the brethren'
in February 1846: 'I should be perfectly willing to see thieves have
their throats cut.' The following December he instructed bishops, 'when
a man is found to be a thief, he will be a thief no longer, cut his
throat, & thro' him in the River,' and Young did not instruct them to
ask his permission. A week later the church president explained to a
Winter Quarters meeting that cutting off the heads of repeated sinners
'is the law of God & it shall be executed...' A rephrase of Young's
words later appeared in Hosea Stout's reference to a specific sinner,
'to cut him off -- behind the ears -- according to the law of God in
such cases.'...
"When informed that a black Mormon in Massachusetts had married
a white woman, Brigham Young told the apostles in December 1847 that he
would have both of them killed 'if they were far away from the Gentiles.'"
~~ The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Vol. 2, pages 246-247
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