No Longer Ignoring the Problem

“silence is golden, but sometimes it’s just plain yellow”

“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the Earth, a separate but equal station to which the laws of nature, and natures God entitle them…”

“I decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they declare the causes that impel them to the separation.”

In the experiences of writing this blog in this day and time I often feel very alone, I know there are hundreds of men more qualified and more able to defend the way we were brought up and the wonderful teachings of peace and love that truly embody the FLDS Church. From reading the newspapers about Flora and her disturbing accusations, and then seeing a smiling and happy Ruby the same day; to going to a funeral of my little nephew who died in a tragic accident and then reading and hearing stories of a cult involved in sacrificing children. I would often wonder why we as a people did not “answer them something”

For years we have been taught that the persecutions were going to come again, that the raid of 53 was not the end, and the bitter lawsuits of the eighties and nineties were not the end. Truly the prophet would often say that the Lord needs a pure people to be able to withstand what is going to come. Those words cut me to the bone as I write them.

In recent days those outsiders who have been in the forefront of defending the innocent women and children who were victimized by Texas perpetrators of the law have been tested as well. They have been loud and outspoken in every way they possibly can, and yet they see the FLDS people laying low and avoiding the conflict. Now the conflict is almost un fightable for them because of the accusations and charges that have become public. Truly they are being tested as well.

I personally am in a quandary very often. For no one asked me to write this blog, no one approved of it, no one helped me write what I have written. Who am I to write these things? What qualifications do I have? None. I feel like a rebel without a home or a cause. Fighting for those who often do not want me to fight for them, against people who do not want me fight against them. Butting my nose where it seems not welcome or does not belong. There is only one place that steels me, only one. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not steel, I am jelly and powder. I am rebellious and slow. But I care. That is the only thing that keeps me writing this blog. I care. Do not let it be said of me that I did nothing for my fellow man! I had a younger brother come to me as he was leaving the church several years ago, and he said he knew that none of his brothers cared what he did. I wept when he said that to me. That memory haunts me. I was so caught up with my personal life that I could not argue with him, although I tried. I write this blog for those who WANT to believe the truth about the FLDS. Not for the FLDS, or for the enemies of the FLDS.

I find that in many cases the truth is so far away from what the general population WANTS to believe, my efforts oftentimes feel useless and takes away from my personal effort to get closer to my Father in heaven and turn the other cheek. But I continue not for me, my purpose is to help outsiders who do want to believe the truth, no matter what happens. I do miss me.

For those who wonder why the FLDS do not fight, let me tell you. The answer is very simple and not what you may think. The answer is not just turning the other cheek; the answer is there is no legal leg to stand on except the Constitution of the United States. Not once has the religious rights of the FLDS people been upheld. Not even once in all the history of the Mormon Church and that is since 1830, a hundred and seventy years ago. We have been driven and assaulted ever since in every way. The only time it ever stopped was after those who were doing the attacking tired, or after the people capitulated to their enemies at least in public.

Not from the time that plural marriage was made public as a doctrine of the Priesthood and a requirement of the highest heavens has any group of judges or lawmakers given this law of my birthright the shadow of respect that it deserves. And every time a government or a group of apostates attacked any of the institutions of the FLDS, they could always excuse it away to the public because of the illegality of the Celestial law of marriage. All insults were excused away every time; at the end of the day we still had no rights. The fights often were long and ridiculous in their worthless cause, but the effect was always the same. “We don’t like you, and we could stop you, but we won’t for now.” Pretending we had Constitutional God given rights merely because they let us.

In 1956 the state of Utah stole the children of Vera Black for the second time, decimating the life of little Wilford. And the fight went to the Supreme Court. Poor Aunt Vera was forced to sign a paper pledging to not teach her children about the law that she held most sacred because secular and mainstream Mormon society did not approve and called it “abuse”. She signed it just to get her poor devastated children back into her arms again. What other choice did she have? In effect, that law that took her children is still good law and has never changed.

Since that time the persecution slowed to almost nothing, and a general ignorant stand had been taken until the turn of the century. The persecution changed shape when apostate women, besides apostate men, became outspoken. The gripe that stuck, of all the gripes, was the age of marriage. They could never say with accuracy that anyone was forced to marry, or anyone was abused in any way by the church, or that fraud was widespread among or sanctioned by the Church, despite these continuous complaints and their common belief among the general population.

What they could prove was some girls were getting married as teenagers. Ah Ha! Polygyny AND teenage marriage! Now there is a CRIME! Of course we can’t compare responsible lifelong committed marriage with a teenager to non married sex between adults and teenagers, or compare percentages of sexually active teenage girls in and out of the FLDS, or even compare polygyny in the FLDS with polyamory among teenagers everywhere else, why? Because that would condemn the society that was being held out as the greater of the two.

So laws were changed to try to fight this “problem” specific to the FLDS culture. The problems with these laws are obvious, marriage and family advocates who fight for them are shooting themselves in the foot. But they always have that history of persecution to stand on to defend the persecutions today. It does not matter what statements get made by the FLDS leaders, they are criminals because their religion requires that a “crime” be committed at some point. You have no right to make a commitment to two women at the same time! (Sex on the other hand, just don’t tell anyone and you can be President!)

Recently a statement was read declaring what seemed like a big deal to the outside world but was in the FLDS world a non issue in reality. Girls will not be married in the FLDS church under the age that society decides of consent to marry. Big deal. There is nothing about the religion that requires girls to get married young anyway. There is nothing in the religion that requires a lady to even be intimate with her husband after they are married. The only requirement is that they get married FIRST. There is a requirement of the men to never force, but that doesn’t seem to matter.

Sure, making girls stay single may be difficult for them personally, but timing means very little to the eternal progress of families that God expects. To wait a couple of years is quite unsubstantial. This is not even close to the same thing as declaring to stop polygyny. It’s who you marry, and how you marry, not when you marry, that is important. Maturity and age are relative anyway, but for some reason society has picked an age for girls to be irresponsible one day, and completely dumped on their heads with no protection the next. And that age is different depending on whether or not they are FLDS.

Now that we got that major “problem” out of the way, we need a trade off to fight the very dangerous belief system of people outside of the FLDS church. It is now a pandemic.

They force their little girls to run around naked or with very little clothes on. They use very sharp metal instruments and cut bloody holes in their little girls ears and often noses when they are very young. Their children are forced to believe that a fat man with a red coat and a big beard is breaking into their home in the middle of the night, bringing them toys so that is “ok”. Their children are forced to believe that animals can talk. They are forced into a culture that destroys millions of trees to put in their houses for a few weeks a year. They are forced to believe that man came from monkeys and prayer in school is evil. The children are forced into watching horrible indoctrination of sexually explicit movies and television for years, and force them into listening to sexually explicit music. The girls are forced to paint their faces and destroy their hair to sexually seduce men. Girls are forced to walk around baring their legs and stomach, and this is “ok”. Children are being forced into drug use and physical abuse at school. They are forced into a culture that promotes premarital sex and force them to murder their children or forced into a belief system that murder is “ok”. They are forced into a culture where girls are taught that it is “important” to have sex at a young age with as many men as they can before they commit to anyone. And they are forced into a culture where fidelity is frowned upon and sin is excused away. They are forced to believe that it is “ok” to attack a non agressive sovereign country and kill thousands of their citizens because some of them believe a certain religion. Girls are forced to hate marriage because if they get married abuse must be tolerated until they die. Boys are forced to hate marriage because it will end in divorce if they are not obedient to their wife.

I know this is all true about all of you non-FLDS because I saw it on Maury Povich and Jerry Springer. There is way to much secular data to give you any benefit of the doubt. If you don’t give up your beliefs, we should take your children and put them in good FLDS homes.

A great trade off, if you ask me.