Tag: mormons

The secret cult caves of polyamorous Mormon ‘prophet’ with 85 wives are seen for first time

An expert has revealed what’s hidden inside secret caves in Arizona created by the self-proclaimed prophet of a polygamous cult.

In preparation for the end of the world, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, led by Warren Jeffs, began digging caves underneath the compound that housed his enormous ‘family’.  

Jeffs is currently serving a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault and a further 20 years for another count of sexual assault.  

‘Not only were they preparing for the end of the world from a religious standpoint, but they were temporarily preparing for it,’ veteran investigator Mike King told NewsNation.

‘And they started digging caves that I heard about all the years I was investigating out there, but I could never prove (their existence), I could never find it when I talked to members of the FLDS.’

The church, a radical Mormon denomination of around 13,000, had mostly previously denied the existence of the caves.

Members told King ‘we’ve heard about it, but [the caves] don’t exist’.

‘I would talk to leaders in the church who fell away and said, “No, it doesn’t exist,”‘ King added. 

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Motives Behind Mormon Church Shooter Becoming Clearer – May Have All Started Over a Woman

The tragic shooting inside a Michigan Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is already being politicized.

The left desperately needs this tragedy to be political because of the violence on that side of the aisle, but the facts point to something else entirely.

According to the New York Post, shooter Thomas Sanford had a long-standing, deranged fixation on the Mormon church.

Friends said the military veteran believed Mormons were going to “take over the world.”

That obsession appears to trace back to a soured relationship with a deeply committed Mormon woman in Utah.

A former landlord told The New York Times that Sanford was pressured by the woman to join the church.

“He wasn’t so sure that he wanted to become a member of the church, but he really wanted to be with this woman,” Sandra Winter said.

Sanford had moved to Utah after serving in the Marines, including a deployment to Iraq.

There, he reportedly began using methamphetamine, which friends say changed him.

“Mentally he was in rough shape,” Peter Tersigni told the New York Times.

By the time Sanford returned to Michigan, he was said to have been openly hostile toward Mormons.

“He got this whole fascination with Mormons, and they are the Antichrist, and they are going to take over the world,” Francis Tersigni, Peter’s twin brother, said.

His fixation was so extreme that at Peter’s wedding, “all he could talk about was Mormons.”

Burton, Michigan, city council candidate Kris Johns said Sanford approached him just a week before the massacre in which he was killed in a shootout with police.

“He was venting. He was going off …The Mormon Bible had additional books. He did not like that at all,” Johns told the New York Post.

Johns recalled Sanford calling Mormons the Antichrist in a calm, casual tone.

Days later, according to police, Sanford drove his truck into a church in Grand Blanc, opened fire, and burned the building to the ground.

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FBI Suspects Michigan Church Shooter Hated People of the Mormon Faith

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Sept. 29 that the man accused of killing at least four people and injuring eight more at a church in Michigan hated Mormons.

“From what I understand, based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith, and they are trying to understand more about this, how premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note, all of those questions have yet to be answered but certainly will be answered by the FBI,” she told Fox News in an interview on Sept. 29.

Leavitt said that search warrants are being executed at the home of the suspect, Thomas Jacob Sanford, to “get to the bottom of why he would commit such an act of evil.”

Sanford’s family is cooperating with the FBI, according to Leavitt. She did not provide more details about the suspect, who was killed by police during the incident.

Sanford, 40, allegedly drove a truck into a chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Grand Blanc before opening fire and setting the structure on fire during a Sunday service, officials said. The attacker allegedly used gasoline to start the fire and also had explosive devices, but it wasn’t clear whether he used them, according to James Dier of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Investigators were searching Sanford’s residence. Authorities did not say what they found or provide any additional details, including whether he was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.

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Alleged Mormon Church Shooter Identified — 42 Yr-Old Military Vet — Reportedly Has “ANTI-Trump/Pence” Sign on Fence Attached to His Garage

This morning, only moments after the violent attack on churchgoers in Grand Blanc, MI, the Gateway Pundit reported about the incident.

At the time of the incident, very little was known about the gunman who opened fire at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on McCandlish Road.

Early reports claimed that 6-8 victims of the gunman had been taken to the hospital, although the exact toll was not confirmed. Later, it was discovered that one person was killed by the alleged shooter and an additional 8 individuals were taken to the hospital. The church caught fire during the incident, triggering a massive four-alarm emergency response.

At a recent press conference, Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye did not name the shooter, but did say that the suspect of the mass shooting inside the Mormon Church was a 40-year-old man from Burton, MI, a neighboring city just outside Grand Blanc, roughly 60 miles north of Detroit.

Now, it’s been confirmed that the alleged shooter, who was killed by law enforcement, is Thomas Jacob Sandford, a 40-year-old former U.S. Marine who fought in Iraq.

Law enforcement sources confirmed that investigators were stationed outside Sanford’s home on Atherton Road, which has been cordoned off as a crime scene. Property records list Sanford as the owner of both the residence and a 2008 GMC Sierra pickup truck, the same vehicle used to ram into the church during the attack.

The New York Post claims an old Facebook post by Sanford’s mother says the gunman — who died at the scene in a shootout with cops — served in Iraq from 2004-2008.

Law enforcement sources confirmed that Sanford, from nearby Burton, Michigan, is the shooting suspect. Sources told the Post that authorities also found several improvised explosive devices on church property, which a bomb squad was investigating.

The Gateway Pundit looked up the alleged shooter’s home address and found a Trump-Vance sign wedged behind a STOP sign on what appears to be his property, according to records. We verified his address on SmartBackgroundCheck.com and CheckMyVote.org, where we were able to view his voting record. It appears that the alleged shooter registered to vote in the 2018 midterms following Trump’s first presidential election victory in 2016.

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Iraq War veteran Thomas Sanford ID’d as gunman who attacked Grand Blanc LDS church, killing 2 and setting it ablaze

The deranged madman who killed at least two people and wounded nine others at a Michigan Latter-day Saints church, torching the building and opening fire on fleeing congregants and their families, has been identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, The Post can confirm.

Sanford, a US Marine veteran, according to his mom’s Facebook page, rammed his Chevy Silverado truck into the building before unleashing the assault on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, armed with a semi-automatic rifle.

An old Facebook post by Sanford’s mother says the gunman — who died at the scene in a shootout with cops — who served in Iraq from 2004-2008.

Law enforcement sources confirmed that Sanford, from nearby Burton, Michigan, is the line suspect.

The source of the blaze was not immediately known, but sources told The Post authorities found several improvised explosive devices on church property which a bomb squad was investigating.

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A law that helped convert Indigenous people is now used to get churches near—and on—school grounds

Earlier this year, a small school district just north of Tucson made an unusual decision: It would allow the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to build a complex on public school district grounds where students could be released from class to worship.

But the project quickly unraveled. A few weeks later, the Vail Unified School District reversed course, saying the church canceled the contract after local media reports and secular groups criticized the plan. Still, the construction of religious buildings near schools for the temporary release of students to practice their faith has become a growing concern of church-state separation advocates, who argue it violates legal requirements that keep public schools secular.

In Arizona and several other states, ‘release time’ for religious instruction is not only legal—it’s common.

State law allows students to be excused from school during the day to participate in religious instruction off campus. In the case of LDS students, these classes often include lifestyle lessons. They are typically held in buildings just outside campus boundaries, sometimes only a few hundred feet away.

Religious conservatives have pushed to expand release-time programs nationwide, arguing there is no need to separate religion from daily education. Here, such programs are only growing more popular.

Arizona’s history with religious release time

More than a dozen states currently require school districts to adopt release-time policies.

Most recently, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, signed a bill in February mandating school districts create a release-time policy after two districts rescinded theirs. Previously, Ohio law didn’t require districts to offer the program. The new law, known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights, also bans discussions of sexuality or gender identity before fourth grade.

The Guardian reported that the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, designated an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has helped draft model legislation for states to expand release-time programs. This gives parents more authority over their children’s ‘moral and religious’ upbringing, often limiting exposure to diverse communities and families.

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Former Mormon reveals how she was trained to be the ‘perfect trad wife’ from age 12

An ex-Mormon has lifted the lid on the unusual lessons she was taught at the church when she was just 12 years old so that she could be the ‘perfect’ stay-at-home wife.

Alyssa Grenfell, 31, grew up in an ultra-strict household but fled from Utah to New York in 2017 – and has since been focusing on reclaiming her body following the move in her late 20s.

The former member of the Mormon church has recently been sharing tidbits about her transformation and her journey to freedom.

Most recently, she took to YouTube to unveil the various teachings that were told to the children of the Mormon church – adding that they were prepped to become wives from a very early age.

She admitted that she was forced to learn how to cook, clean and sew – while also being forced to remain abstinent. 

Alyssa captioned the video: ‘Brainwashed Mormon Mommies?’ 

In it, she discussed the rise of ‘trad wives’ – a term used to describe women who choose to live a tradition lifestyle that seems them spending their days cooking, cleaning, wearing modest clothing, and being submissive to their husbands. 

Trad wives have become increasingly visible in recent months as many women boast about reverting to the traditional roles of housewives, largely practiced in the fifties and sixties.

‘I was trained to be a wife and mother when I was about 12,’ Alyssa said at the beginning of the video. 

She then explained that the women within the community were forced to learn how to become the perfect wife – beginning with cooking. 

Alyssa noted that as women they were taught to make spaghetti and told to serve it to the boys. 

She explained: ‘This is the bread and butter of what I was raised on. It reminds me of how many different times I would go to young women’s activities and the boys would be playing basketball and having a great time and the young women would be learning a skill like cooking or sewing. 

‘I have one distinct memory where we learned to plan a meal and we made spaghetti and the boys were playing basketball.

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Former Mormon lifts the lid on church’s ‘creepy’ baptisms for the DEAD that sees children being put through ‘traumatizing’ ceremonies to ‘save’ those who have passed away

A former Mormon has lifted the lid on the church’s bizarre ‘baptisms for the dead’ – revealing the temple sent her to a cemetery to take pictures of gravestones as a kid and then forced her to participate in a ceremony for the deceased.

Alyssa Grenfell, 31, who now works as an assistant principle in Austin, Texas, was raised in a ‘devout Mormon family’ in Utah, but decided to leave the ‘controlling religion’ in 2017.

She has since dedicated her life to helping others ‘navigate their own way out of the LDS church’ – releasing her own ‘guide’ called How to Leave the Mormon Church, while also becoming a viral social media star for sharing her experiences online.

Most recently, Alyssa spoke out about a ‘creepy’ process that saw the group baptize people who have passed away – even if they weren’t members of the religion before their death.

In a video shared to her YouTube channel last week, where she has more than 85,000 subscribers, Alyssa announced: ‘The Mormon church is baptizing your dead relatives.’

She explained that members of the religion believe that ‘everyone must be baptized by the proper Mormon authority’ to move on to ‘Spirit Paradise’ when they pass away.

‘Essentially, when someone passes away, if they haven’t had the chance to receive a Mormon baptism, they’re not saved,’ she said.

‘So Mormons take the names of those who have not been baptized and take them to the LDS temple.

‘They also believe that it’s up to the person to accept or reject the baptism on the other side.

‘That’s why Mormons have no qualms about baptizing basically everybody against their will because they think everyone should have the chance to accept or reject it, and that the choice is left to them once the practice is complete.’ 

Alyssa explained that when someone living would get baptized, the priest would also baptize anywhere between five and 15 dead people at the same time.

And for each deceased person, the living person who is getting baptized must be dunked into the water, which meant they were sometimes going under ‘over and over again’ in quick succession.

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Daughter of ‘Mormon Manson’ Ervil LeBaron lifts the lid on what it was like to grow up under terrifying control of polygamous cult leader who ordered the MURDERS of multiple people as part of heinous ‘Blood Atonement’ killings to ‘cleanse their sins’

The daughter of polygamous cult leader Ervil LeBaron – who was dubbed the Mormon Manson for orchestrating more than two dozens murders both inside and outside of the sect – has revealed what her life was like growing up.

Celia LeBaron, now 57, was born into the Church of the Lamb of God – a fundamentalist Mormon breakaway group which continued to practice polygamy and even followed the ‘Blood Atonement’ teaching that stated the blood of sinners needed to be shed for them to ascend to heaven.

Her father was ultimately sentenced to life in prison but continued to create hit lists from behind bars for his followers to carry out.

Ervil, who died in a Utah state prison in 1981, is estimated to have had 25 people killed as a result of his orders – with deaths including that of his own pregnant daughter. 

Celia, who is now a mother of three, appeared on an episode of the Cults to Consciousness podcast to unravel her childhood memories.

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Chilling moment cops find missing girls on Doomsday cult compound where kids as young as four were ‘married’ to their fathers and sexually abused

New video has been released of the moment police found missing girls on a remote compound in Utah. 

The incredible footage shows how police rescued two young Utah sisters on a dark December evening in the wilderness of a polygamist compound after being kidnapped by their father.

Dinah Coltharp, who was eight, and Hattie Coltharp, four at the time, were rescued by police in Lund, southwest of Salt Lake City in December 2017 after a highly publicized amber alert search.

The girls were taken by their father, John Coltharp, and had been handed over to his friend Samuel Shaffer who hid them on the compound when the amber alert was issued. It is believed they were to be married off to cult leader Shaffer.

When police raided the site, they also discovered Shaffer’s two young daughters, Lily, seven, and Samantha, then five, who had not been reported missing. 

Samantha and Hattie, the two youngest, were being kept in a 50-gallon blue water barrels to hide them from authorities, where they had been for more than 24 hours in below-freezing temperatures. 

Dramatic images shows two of the girls being rescued. They were barefoot and wearing what looked like thin leggings. 

The two older girls were found in an abandoned trailer. All were dehydrated.

When questioned, Shaffer said the girls were being hidden from police. 

Police fear the men planned to marry Coltharp’s daughters off to Shaffer who was described as the ‘prophet’ of the cult. 

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