He [Brigham Young] called upon the Lord to bless this place [winter quarters in Council Bluffs, Iowa] for the good of the Saints and curse every Gentile who should attempt to settle here, with sickness, rottenness and death. Also to curse the land of Missouri that it might cease to bring forth grain or fruit of any kind to its inhabitants, and that they might be cursed [with] sickness, rottenness and death; that their flesh might consume away on their bones. And their blood be turned to maggots, and that their torments never cease, but increase until they leave the land and it be blessed for possession of the Saints. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.9)
“Mormon Quotes: Vengeance” at Mormon Think
In a larger sense, persecution of the Mormons produced a militarist counterchallenge to the outside world. …. Indeed, the event that precipitated the Smiths’ arrest and eventual murder by a mob in an Illinois jail could be seen as growing out of the Mormons fear and isolation: Joseph smith had instructed his followers to wreck the print shop of a newspaper critical of the Church. This is the sort of Mormon retaliation that further threatened the neighboring gentiles, who in turn increases pressures on the Mormons to leave the area. There is little doubt, moreover, that much of the mob violence directed at Mormons in Missouri and Illinois was deliberately ignored, minimized, or even aided by public officials. Once in Utah and more confident in their isolation, the Mormons reinstituted the Nauvoo Legion as a permanent militia, partly to deal with some hostile Indians among the Snake and Shoeshone tribes and also, undoubtedly, as a gesture to Gentiles that here they would dig in to make a permanent stand. ….
An extreme example of the garrison mentality was the Mountain Meadows Massacre in the summer of 1857. To understand the event it is useful to consider first the the doctrine of blood atonement….Joseph Fielding Smith…described this belief:
Joseph Smith taught that there were certain signs so grievous that many may commit, that they would place the transgressors beyond the power of Christ. If these offenses are committed, then the blood of Christ will not cleanse them from their sins even though they repent. Therefore their only hope is to have their blood shed to atone, as far as possible, in their behalf. This is scriptural doctrine, and is taught in all the standard works of the Church. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.14-6)
Mormon Quotes: Blood Atonement
The time has now come to tell why we held secret meetings. We were maturing plans fourteen years ago which we can now tell... When God sets up a system of salvation, he sets up a system of government. When I speak of a government, I mean what I say. I mean a government that shall rule over temporal and spiritual affairs. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.20)
“Mormon Quotes Council of Fifty” at Mormon Think
Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., “History of the Church of Jesus Christ Later-day Saints”
http://saintswithouthalos.com/p/sr_early_days.phtml
additional Google quote citations
“We are called the State Legislature [of Utah], but when the time comes, we shall be called the Kingdom of God. Our government is going to pieces, and it will be like water that is split upon the ground that cannot be gathered. For the time will come when we will give laws to the nations of the earth. Joseph Smith organized this government before, in Nauvoo, and he said if we did our duty, we shall prevail over all our enemies. We should get all things ready, and when the time comes, we should let the water on to the wheel and start the machine in motion.” Second Mormon President Brigham Young (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.21)
“Religionists say the funniest things” at Born Atheist
“Mormon Quotes Council of Fifty” at Mormon think
Additional Google quotes
“Such a state of affairs means no more or less than the complete overthrow of the nation, and not only of this nation, but the nations of Europe.” Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, 18:341 (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.21)
“The 28 Principles of Liberty: Principle 27” at LDS Liberty
Bonneville International Corporation [LDS owned communications corporation] receives approval today from this Commission [FCC] to add to its stable of industrial and mass media properties an AM radio station, and an FM radio station, in the second largest market in the United States: Los Angeles – a city in which it already has a $20 million interest in the prestigious and dominant Los Angeles Times.
This action is taken without a public discussion of the principal issues raised by this case: the conflicts with the public interest in granting ever-increasing mass media power – with all its economic, political, and social implications – to large industrial conglomerate corporations in the United States, in this case an industrial conglomerate that is inexorably intertwined with a religious sect, the Mormon Church.
This combination of media and other economic power raises a final issue -- the domination of a city, State, and region by a particular religious sect. The issue is subtle -- it is not occasioned simply by church ownership of property or a media outlet -- rather the question arises because of the accumulation of power by the Mormon Church, and the increase of that power by actions of this Commission. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.50-1)
“Mormon Quotes: Communications” at Mormon Think
BY THE COMMISSION: COMMISSIONERS BARTLEY AND JOHNSON DISSENTING AND ISSUING STATEMENTS; COMMISSIONER COX DISSENTING; COMMISSIONER H. REX LEE CONCURRING AND ISSUING A STATEMENT.
The economic growth is an integral part of Mormon theology. Indeed, of some 112 revelations received by the prophet Joseph Smith, 88 dealt directly with economic matters. In the Doctrine and Covenants, 9,614 verses address temporal affairs; of those, 2,618 affirm that economics and religion are not “easily separated.” The roots of this outlook can be traced to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and they continue to exert influence at the highest levels of the LDS hierarchy. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.77-8)
“Marketing Strategies of Mormonism” By Joshua Decker
Will the President that sits in the chair of state be tipped from his seat? Yes, he will die an untimely death, and God Almighty will curse him; and He will also curse his successor, if he takes the same stand. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.129)
"Mormon Quotes: Politics" Mormon Think
"MORMONISM A Latter Day Deception" by Martin Wishnatsky
"The Changing World of Mormonism" by Jerald and Sandra Tanner
Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR): Bible/Old Testament practices/Cursing of enemies
Mormon dialogue discussion board
One example was Robert R. Mullen and company, which handled international public relations for the Mormon Church and served as “an overseas cover for CIA activities” from 1959 to 1972. (Mormon Mullen once wrote an apologetic entitled The Latter-day Saints: The Mormon’s Yesterday and Today.) Indeed, according to the Rockefeller Report on the CIA Issued in 1975:
Robert Mullen had for many years cooperated with the CIA making some of his overseas offices available at different times as a cover for Agency employees abroad. The existence of Mullens' relationship with the CIA was, of course, kept secret to protect the secrecy of the cover arrangements and this led to complications when, after Watergate, the Mullen Company came under investigation…
Mormon Robert Bennett, son of Senator Wallace F. Bennett (R-Utah), bought the Mullen Company in 1971 and employed ex-CIA Watergate Burglar E. Howard Hunt at the time of the notorious Watergate Hotel break-in. Robert Bennett had been active in the Republican party and once worked at the U.S. Department of Transportation. These political connections led Bennett and the Mullen Company to become involved with Hunt and the Watergate burglars. In fact, Hunt and others discussed their plans for the break-in in meetings at the Mullen company offices.
Another connection between the LDS Church and the CIA is through the Agency’s extensive recruitment of young Mormon men shortly after they finish their mission and college education. This recruitment takes the CIA regularly to the Brigham Young University main campus in Provo, Utah. Journalist Kenneth C. Danforth wrote in a Harper’s article that he had heard many references to the high proportion of Mormon CIA employees. He asked Church leader Wendell J. Ashton, “Why is it that such a huge numbers of Mormons are attracted to the CIA?” Ashton’s reply: “The question is ’Are our young men attracted to the CIA or is the CIA attracted to them?’”
Denver CIA recruiter Jack Hansen said during one recruitment visit to the Provo campus”
“Utah is one of our good sources. A lot of people have language or foreign culture experience. That’s what we look for.”
Another CIA recruiter, Charles Jackson, claimed that additional factors about Mormons make them good candidates for CIA work, namely that their reputations for a “sense of conformity and respect for authority,” their sobriety (as abstainers from drugs and alcohol), and their patriotism. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.162-3)
The Salt Lake City Messenger #38 April 1976 Mormons and the CIA
For example, Richard W. Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, was both Miller’s superior and a Mormon bishop. Sometime before his arrest Miller had been excommunicated; afterwards, Bretzing had appealed to Miller’s past Mormon faith and urged him to “repent” of his mistakes.Miller’s defense attorney asked a U.S. district judge to dismiss the charges on the grounds that Bretzing was using Miller as a scapegoat to prove that Bretzing does not favor Mormon agents. This was a logical move on Bretzing’s part, the attorney argued since Bretzing had been recently accused of favoritism towards his LDS peers. One agent, for example, had complained to reporters that “the Mormon Mafia was running the office and giving choice assignments to their own people.” Bretzing resisted this accusation and issued the following statement:
There are dozen’s, perhaps hundreds of special agents of the FBI currently on the rolls and serving throughout the world who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I believe it is unfair to impugn them or their religion based on the activities of another individual with a common religious background. The suggestion that preferential treatment has been given or is being given to anyone based on his or her personal religious preference is totally inconsistent with exercising our rights and privileges guaranteed by the United States Constitution. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.166-7)
Mormon Think: Government Agencies and Mormon Influence
“Richard T. Bretzing : FBI's L.A. Boss Passes Hardest Test” LA Times 1/11/1987
“Ex-FBI Agent Free on Bond Pending 3rd Spying Trial : Espionage: Richard W. Miller posts $337,000 and has his first taste of freedom since his arrest in 1984” LA Times 10/31/1989
LA Times articles about Richard W. Miller
One Air Force officer with whom we talked claimed that the Mormons’ reputation as a reliable patriotic group had been a benefit to his own career in several ways. He had deliberately implemented the same kind of rigid administration he had known in the church in his own work, with successful results. Gentiles in the military and the government, he believes, show a “remarkable acceptance” of LDS peers and seek them for their loyalty, integrity, and “perfect obedience.” In fact, the officer estimates that his previous military assignments were made particularly because he is a Mormon, even though he knew of other officers better qualified or more experienced.
This officer is also a valuable asset to the LDS Church in the same way that U.S. Senators Jake Garn and Orrin Hatch (among other Mormon officials in Washington) are through the Mormon network in the nation’s capital. He told one of us that he has always made it a point to discuss any vital decisions that might be made with some of the brethren in Salt Lake City. Proud of his close relationship with most of the Council of the Twelve, he declares that Gordon B. Hinkley of the First Presidency is “a good and dear friend.”
But this high-ranking individual’s contacts with LDS church leadership involve more than mere moral uplift. For example, he was instrumental in helping the General Authorities secure permission from East German government to build the Freiberg temple there ( discusse4d in chapter 2). Church leaders have not overlooked his worth. On several occasions when he thought seriously about retiring from the Air Force, high level leaders, specifically the late LDS President Harold B. Lee, Gordon B. Hinckley, and several apostles, asked him to stay on in the interest of the church…….
… A sobering example is the MX missile controversy in the early 1980’s….
It seemed at first like another boost for the Utah economy. Government contracts would pump massive amounts of money into the state. Jobs would be plentiful for years, regardless of recessions elsewhere in the nation. But then “overnight the weight of public opinion shifted to 70 percent [of Utahns] being opposed to MX deployment in Utah.” The reason was simple: on May 5, 1981, the LDS First Presidency issued a statement condemning any basing of the MX missile in Utah and Nevada.
The statement gave a number of curious reasons…..
The LDS church did everything in their statement but confront the real reason for the opposition to the MX missile basing strategy. We suspect that they did not want to air their conviction that Mormons consider the Salt Lake basin to be the new Zion, the capital of the forthcoming Kingdom of God on earth and the cradle of Jesus christ’s imminent millennium……
Liberal columnist Carl T. Rowan branded the Mormons as hypocrites. He wrote scathingly :
I am not a booster of the MX. But Kimball’s statement troubles me, because it illustrates that even our religious leaders invoke “morality” in ways that say, “Let someone else make the sacrifices, run the risks, while I remain prosperous and secure.”……
There is something sickeningly phony about people who make pious speeches about the dangers of godless communism, and who cry for the transfer of funds from social programs to weapons systems, but who in a crunch say, “Don’t endanger us by putting those missiles in our state” (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.172-5)
I understand you to say that for the present the Church had no intention of taking people from any employment financed by any relief agency such as the federal government or even county and city governments.
It was also my understanding that there was no intention on the part of the Church to take the responsibility now assumed by the relief agencies of the State or local communities, whether the people concerned were members of the Church or not.
It was also my understanding that the Church program has not removed anyone from the Federal Works Program or from the direct relief rolls of the State and local communities....
You may recall that I emphasized the fact that the Federal Government did not have and has not had a single person on the dole in Utah for many months. ….
I am sorry that I cannot be more flattering to the [LDS] Organization which we watch with so much interest but the fact remains that most of the propaganda that has come out about the efforts of the Utah Church is fictitious…..
So far as Utah as a whole is concerned, it has a very heavy federal Works Program load... The number of people receiving Old Age Pensions and the Aid to Dependent Children are both among the highest in the United States. I am enclosing a copy of the latest statistical report from the Social Security Board which will give you the facts about Old Age Pensions and Aid to Dependent Children. You will see that in proportion to its population, Utah is getting assistance for more people on the whole than most any state in the country. Furthermore, the pensions paid told to old age recipients are a good deal above the average in the United States.
The Church has not yet made any effort, or pretended to make any effort to take members from the governmental work projects. It has merely urged those on such projects to do a full day’s work for a day’s pay.
Dean R. Brimhall, letters
The Myth of Mormon Work Relief
They had carried on, for years, the conventional gifts of food and clothing to a few of their indignant members. They apparently suddenly realized that murmurings of devout members who had paid tithing…were asking themselves whether it would not be more sensible to buy an insurance annuity than to pay such a huge percentage of their earnings and then find their church unable to reciprocate by helping them during “evil times.”
The Church had a plan to take care of all its members. They suddenly became violent critics of direct relief and “criticized “government” doles, quite ignoring the fact that the Federal Government had beaten them to this idea by nearly a year.
1936 was an election year, with Democratic Franklin Roosevelt pitted against republican Alf Landon. J. Reuben Clark, a prominent Mormon republican and adviser to the Landon as well as first counselor in the presidency of the Church, made much of the Mormon plan in speeches. In October, shortly before the presidential election, Clark announced to the world that
The Church plan had succeeded. All Mormons were off relief. National publicity immediately followed. Numerous articles have been published saying that the Mormons had taken more than 80,000 off the relief roles. The astonished reactionary press seized on this with avidity. At last someone had shown that “it could be done” without government aid.
The Mormons could never produce the evidence to back up their claims. Brimhill’s own statistics showed that the Mormons possibly had about 80,000 men and woman receiving some form of unspecified federal assistance at one time, but that number never received straight relief, and that number was never removed from the rolls of public relief or work projects. Rather Brimhall found:
Less than four thousand persons in all the world who needed assistance worked some time or other on Mormon Church projects. Some may have worked a day or two, some may have worked a month. No man-months or man-years are given... From 80,000 or more we come to the published fact that less than 4,000 worked some unknown length of time at some given time during 1936 on some Mormon Church Security program project. Many of these 3,865 were no doubt workers on federal projects who, as devout Mormons, worked occasionally for the Church.
During this time the federal government continues to spend millions taking care of Mormons not only in Utah but in other states. The Federal Surplus Commodity Corporation, a mere sideshow of the public assistance, has distributed to Mormons many times the amount produced by the Mormons on their ‘work projects.’ The WPA School Lunch Program alone, has distributed in Utah many times as much food to needy children as has been produced by the entire Mormon Church Program throughout the world.
By the late 1930’s Brimhall, among others, was irked at publicity that praises the LDS Church for its alleged exemplary ability to “take care of its own.”…..
“It is my opinion, and that of many other Bishops, that without the aid of the present government relief projects it would be impossible to care for the unemployed members of our church. I feel a deep sense of gratitude for the government assistance which has been rendered to the unemployed.” Bishop Gordon Taylor Hyde, letter to President Franklin S. Harris, October 25, 1938, Dean R. Brimhall Papers, Box 19, Folder 2, University of Utah Library
(John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.183-7)
"Mormon Quotes: Church Welfare System" Mormon Think
….Brigham Young, one of the six recommended apostles, encouraged such honest dissent and discussion. In 1860 he told Mormons at General Conference:
We will first present the authorities of the church; and I sincerely request the members to act freely and independently in voting—also in speaking, There has been no instance in this Church of a person's being in the least curtailed in the privilege of speaking his honest sentiments. It cannot be shown in the history of this people that a man has ever been injured, either in person, property, or character, for openly expressing, in the proper time and place, his objections to any man holding authority in this Church, or for assigning his reasons for such objections. Persons have frequently ruined their own characters by making false accusations. Some say they dare not tell their feelings, and feel obliged to remain silent. They, no doubt, tell the truth. Why do they feel so? This, probably, arises from some vindictive feelings against a certain man or men whom they would injure, if they could; and they conclude that their brethren are like them and would seek their injury, if they should avail themselves of the privilege of speaking or acting according to their wicked sentiments and thoughts: therefore they dare not develop the evil that is within them, lest judgment should be meted out to them. They know that they have evil designs; they know that they would bring evil on their brethren, if they had the power; and fear seizes them: they skulk off, and in the midst of the enemies of this people they say they are conscience bound—that they are tied by the influence, power, or authorities of this people. What is it which thus binds them? It is the power of evil which is in their own breasts: that is all that in the least abridges them in their privileges.
When I present the authorities of this Church for the Conference to vote upon, if there is a member here who honestly and sincerely thinks that any person whose name is presented should not hold the office he is appointed to fill, let him speak. I will give full liberty, not to preach sermons, nor to degrade character, but to briefly state objections; and at the proper time I will hear the reasons for any objections that may be advanced. I do not know that I can make a fairer proffer. I certainly would, if it were reasonable to do so. I would not permit contention; I would not permit long argument here: I would appoint another time, and have a day set apart for such things. But I am perfectly willing to hear a person's objections briefly stated. (source: Remarks by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 7, 1860.)
When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan--it is God's plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give direction, it should mark the end of controversy. God works in no other way. To think otherwise, without immediate repentance, may cost one his faith, may destroy his testimony, and leave him a stranger to the kingdom of God. Source: Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research includes updated response. many additional uses of quote from Google
Elder Marion G. Romney, first counselor to President Spencer W. Kimball in the early 1980s, recalled similar sentiments voiced by the late President Heber J. Grant about the same time as the preceding quote. Grant said to Romney:
My boy, you always keep your eye on the President of the church, and if he ever tells you to do something wrong, and you do it, the lord will bless you for it. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.196-7)
Or slight variation, "Always keep your eye on the President of the church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, even if it is wrong, and you do it, the lord will bless you for it but you don't need to worry. The lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray." source: lds-mormon.com
Men in their ambition have ever sought for power, to rule and to exercise a controling influence over their fellow men and generally but little regard has been had to the way and means of which they have come into possession of such power, neither when obtained, has it been always used with an eye single to the benefit or salvation of mankind….
The question is sometimes asked-to what extent is obedience to those who hold the priesthood required? This is a very important question, and one which should be understood by all Saints. In attempting to answer this question we would repeat, in short, what we have already written, that willing obedience to the laws of God, administered by the Priesthood, is indispensable to salvation; but, we would further add, that a proper conservative to this power exists for the benefit of all, and none are required to tamely and blindly submit to a man because he has a portion of the Priesthood.
The Millenial Star editorial goes on to condemn the uncritical, lemming-like loyalty that Grant later espoused:
We have heard men who hold the priesthood remark, that they would do anything they were told to do by those who presided over them, (even) even if they knew it was wrong: but such obedience as this is worse than folly to us; it is slavery in the extreme; and the man who would thus willingly degrade himself, should not claim rank among intelligent beings, until he turns from his folly.
When the Elders of Israel will so far indulge in these extreme notions of obedience, as to teach them to the people, it is generally because they have it in their hearts to do wrong themselves, and wish to pave the way to accomplish that wrong; or else because they have done wrong, and wish to use the cloak of their authority to cover it.
1852 Millennial Star scanned version
1852 Millennial Star HTML
“I am sorry that no one has even taken a picture of the [General Conference] audience voting to accept the Church leaders for a new period of office. Every hand in the audience goes up simultaneously. The question of voting “Yes” or “No” on a particular candidate is so mechanical that the hands go up in a unison that is most dramatic.” No member is ever asked to choose between two individuals; he is asked to vote “Yes” or “No” on the official or on the policies of the Church, as the case may be... The officials would be highly indignant if there were any hands raised in opposition and there have been instances where one hand has gone up in opposition and the person attempted to explain the reason for his opposition but such a person is usually ejected...
“I do not want to bother you with the story but I am sure that any student of Sociology who is interested in the problem of authoritarianism would find the Mormon Church a laboratory rich in material for his studies.”
- Dean R. Brimhall, letter to Miss Dorothy Kahn, April 17, 1939, Dean R. Brimhall Papers, Box 26, Folder 15, University of Utah Library Democracy within the Church at Mormon think.com
God will do nothing regarding His work except through His own duly anointed prophets! They are his servants. They are the watchmen of the towers of Zion.
They will give us the Lord’s word in no uncertain terms as God makes it known. That is why He has His prophets on earth. They are for the edification of the Saints and to protect us from every wind of doctrine. Let us follow them and avoid being led astray. (John Heinerman and Anson Shupe “The Mormon Corporate Empire” 1985 p.198-9)
"Mormon Quotes: Infallibility of Prophets" Mormon Think
"The Mormon Corporate Empire" Reviewed negatively by Malin L. Jacobs a member of the LDS presumably
Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) Wiki Mormons defending their faith
lds-mormon.com run by former Mormon to educate and encourage people to leave the Church
George Q Cannon at Upenn
“Aliens in the World: Sectarians, Secularism and the Second Great Awakening” Mormons Millerites Quakers etc. etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd.../McCook_Dissertation.pdf
Religion for Mormons and other Idiots: Mormon Wars Part 5: Rumors of Rumors of War
Mormon Think: Could Joseph Smith have Written the Book of Mormon?
Project QKENCHANT According to a 1992 CIA release that summarizes Clay Shaw’s contacts with the CIA:
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