cx Mormon Jewish Temple Baptism Endowment for the Dead - Salamander Society -

Mormon Jewish Temple Baptism Endowment for the Dead

For Helen's latest reports click these links:

Disaffected Mormons are expected to "doubt their doubts" and overlook the mistakes of LDS leaders - 10/09/2013

Mormon marriage: "Between a man and a woman" for the living - polygamy for the dead - 10/01/2013

Mormons believe they are mandated by God to temple baptize and endow with secret rites all human beings who have ever lived on this Earth, including Jewish victims of the Holocaust, famous media and political people, even serial killers and murderous dictators. The Mormon Curtain and famousdeadmormons.com contain other archives and images on this topic.

For Helen Radkey's personal experience with Mormonism click here: Sorry.pdf

Last updated 05/20/2011 with a total of 18 images.
Please submit any information on this topic or your comments in the text box below.

A week before his beatification--Pope John Paul II was posthumously baptized for the sixth time by Mormons

04/28/2011 by Helen Radkey © Copyright 2010

For a PDF file list the multiple Mormon baptisms of Pope John Paul II click here: Pope John Paul II Six Times a Mormon. Two images documenting the official recording in the LDS data base of their vicarious ordinance work for The Pope are posted here.

Pope John Paul II LDS data.Pope John Paul II LDS data.

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Gary Mokotoff and Helen Radkey.

Will LDS officials will ever keep their word concerning the improper baptisms of Jewish Holocaust victims?

11/08/2010 by Helen Radkey © Copyright 2010

When Gary Mokotoff was in Salt Lake City last month, I showed him numerous listings in New FamilySearch (the supposedly secure database of LDS posthumous ordinances) for Dutch and Polish Jewish Holocaust victims. Many Holocaust names appear to have been improperly submitted since the LDS Church's "secure" system has been operative.

With death camps detailed on their New FamilySearch listings, at least hundreds of Jewish Holocaust names show as "Ready" for posthumous rites. There is no possibility that these names are all direct ancestors of living Mormons. Many Mormons have submitted these names, along with the LDS Church's extraction program. In the case of the Dutch victims, most names have been baptized before. A brief check, a few days ago, show wrongful Dutch entries are still "Ready" in the system. An LDS temple could need names and these Dutch Holocaust Jews could be subjected to repeated LDS ordinances.

It remains to be seen if LDS officials will ever keep their word concerning the improper baptisms of Jewish Holocaust victims. Considering the existing Holocaust content of New FamilySearch, this is highly unlikely. The new "secure" system permits the submissions of names of deceased non-relatives - both individuals and families - including Jewish Holocaust names. According to my research reporting, wrongful baptisms of Dutch Jewish Holocaust victims have continued well into 2010.

Mormon "file ferrets" have only been adept at hiding the evidence.

Mormons agree to stop baptizing Jewish Holocaust victims: Denver Post Headlines

Steve Irwin collage.

Steve Irwin, popular Australian wildlife icon, was baptized by proxy in a Mormon temple in Arizona, on September 1, 2010

09/27/2010 by Helen Radkey © Copyright 2010

Steve Irwin Family Search Screenshot. At the time of Irwin's death in September 2006, four years earlier, I was visiting family in Australia and experienced first-hand the devastating impact Steve Irwin's death had upon the Australian people.

A stunned Australia mourned the loss of one of its most well-loved heroes.

It is likely that Steve Irwin was baptized by Mormons without the knowledge or consent of his living family in Australia.

There had been prior attempts by numerous Mormons to push Irwin's name through the LDS temple system. The names of the Mormon submitters on his September 1, 2010 baptismal record do not appear to have family ties to the Irwin family.

LDS officials have publicly boasted of a New FamilySearch database (which requires a log-in to access) that is a technological deterrent to improper temple submissions. Yet, LDS Church members continue to submit names of any non-relative.

Raising the flag of my homeland, Australia, I respectfully present the Steve Irwin-Mormon report.

Mistakes galore, as Mormons perform secret temple rites for the family of Tiger Woods

01/30/2010 by Helen Radkey © Copyright 2010

On November 27, 2009, American professional golf champion, Tiger Woods - the highest-paid athlete in the world - was involved in a mysterious car crash near his Florida home. The accident sparked rumors of domestic violence between Woods and his wife, Elin (Nordegren) Woods. Reports describing the intimate details of Tiger Woods' alleged sex romps with a parade of women began to surface. The famous golfer has fallen from grace as the ultimate role model in sports to an allegedly pathological philanderer.

Tiger Woods was known to party and gamble at hotel casinos in Las Vegas. Coincidentally, a few weeks before his extramarital affairs became publicly known, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) performed proxy rites for the paternal family line of Tiger Woods in the Las Vegas Nevada (LDS) Temple.

LDS temple rituals are performed by living church members as proxies for the deceased. "Temple work" for the dead includes: baptism, confirmation, priesthood ordination (for males), initiatory and endowment ceremonies, sealing to spouse, and sealing of children to parents. Mormons believe these "ordinances" offer salvation to (non-LDS) deceased.

Eldrick Tont Woods (born December 30, 1975), who became known as Tiger Woods, was born in Cypress, California, to Earl Dennison Woods, Sr. (1932-2006), and Kultida (Punsawad) Woods (born 1944). Tiger Woods is the only child of their marriage, but he has two half-brothers: Earl Dennison, Jr. (born 1955); and Kevin Dale (born 1957); and one half-sister, Royce Renee (born 1961), from the 18-year marriage of Earl Dennison Woods, Sr., and his first wife, Barbara Hart Woods. Tiger Woods comes from a background rooted in Buddhism. His mother, Kultida "Tida" Woods, is a Thai Buddhist.

Earl Dennison Woods, Sr., the father and mentor of Tiger Woods, died in Cypress, California, on May 3, 2006. Earl Woods, Sr. was baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS Church by proxy in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple on November, 6, 2009. He was also "sealed" for eternity by proxy to his ex-wife, Barbara (Ann) Hart (Woods), on November 9, 2009 in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple, even though the final judgment of their divorce had been granted on March 2, 1972 in the Superior Court of California.

Barbara Ann Hart Woods, now known as Barbara Woods Gary, was the first wife of Earl Dennison Woods, Sr. Although it appears she is still living, Barbara Woods was "posthumously" baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS Church by proxy on November 6, 2009 in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple, under her maiden name, Barbara Hart. In a December 2009 online news report, Barbara Woods complains about the grievous mental suffering inflicted on her by Earl Woods, Sr. during their marriage: Did-fathers-tangled-sex-life-make-Tiger-Woods-love-cheat.

If Barbara Woods Gary is not dead, then "posthumous" Mormon rituals on her behalf are inappropriate - and why would anyone want to "seal" her forever to a deceased ex-spouse who caused her so much misery? There is no date or place of death shown on her Mormon record. Did the LDS Church member who submitted her name for LDS temple ordinances bother to check if she was alive or dead?

Miles Woods and Maude (Carter) Woods, the parents of Earl Dennison Woods, Sr., and the grandparents of Tiger Woods, were baptized and confirmed members of the LDS Church by proxy on November 6, 2009 in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple. They were "sealed" for eternity by proxy in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple on November 9, 2009. Miles Woods (1873-1943) is recorded in LDS files as Miles Woods, born 1911, Kansas, United States. His correct year of birth is 1873, not 1911. His Mormon listing gives his year of death as 1986, with no death location. Miles Woods died in 1943, not 1986. Maude (Carter) Woods (1893-1947) is described on LDS lists as "Maude" (with no surname), born 1915, United States. Her year of death is shown as 1990, with no location of death. Maude Woods was born in 1893, not 1915. She died in 1947, not 1990. The inaccurate birth and death years for this couple were probably invented by the submitter. Miles and Maude Woods deserve more honest genealogy than fudged Mormon records.

In their misguided attempts to offer Mormon-style redemption to all dead non-Mormons, some Mormons are grabbing names, any names, from any family line, and creating false "family history" records for lineages they have no right to be claiming for religious rites.

As members of the LDS Church perform proxy rituals in Mormon temples for names from non-Mormon bloodlinesÑsuch as the family of Tiger Woods - the LDS Church is now concealing the evidence of this unorthodox practice from the public. Details of all ongoing "work" for the dead - including the identities of deceased individuals who are currently receiving LDS temple ordinances by proxy-are off-limits to outsiders. Only an accredited Mormon with a special user log-in can access this information online at: familysearch.org/en/action/unsec/welcome

© Copyright 2010, Helen Radkey - Permission is granted to reproduce, provided content is not changed and this copyright notice is included.

02/02/2010 - update by Helen Radkey

The Family History Library people seem to appreciate my reports. They pay immediate attention to them.

It is a pity they don't acknowledge their game of concealment. They are in the process of hiding LDS ordinances online for the Woods' family. The LDS ordinances for Earl Dennison Woods, the dad of Tiger Woods, have now gone, oops, bye, bye.

They currently show as "Not Available." Funny, they could be viewed online yesterday in the new FamilySearch. .

The before and after Woods' records will be included in my upcoming report about some of the records that Mormons are hiding: Down the Mormon Memory Hole.

Tiger Woods with father, mother and step-mother. Tiger Woods Mormon Spiritual Wifery in the future after his death.

December 2009 - Conan O'Brien's "A Song for the Mormons" by his Jewish drummer - click image to view

Who is Helen Radkey and why is she out to get the LDS Church? Genealogical pit bull Ex-Mormon has defenders, critics in quest to eliminate LDS proxy baptisms.

12/05/2009 - by Peggy Fletcher Stack (courtesy Salt Lake Tribune)

Helen Radkey is a researcher who has been on a decades long drive to undermine 
the LDS Church's temple ritual in which living Mormons are baptized for a person who has died. Here she goes through some of her numerous boxes of research files on the baptisms that take up part of an extra bedroom in her home. (Al Hartmann / The Salt Lake Tribune ).

Helen Radkey sits in her tiny Millcreek apartment amid images of Buddha and Egyptian sun gods, good-luck charms, sacred texts, tarot cards and a makeshift shrine to a Catholic saint, complete with a relic. Her refrigerator is awash in photos of children, grandchildren and friends from around the country and across the globe.

Both bedrooms are piled high with box after box of file folders, evidence of her decadeslong drive to undermine the LDS Church's temple ritual in which living Mormons are baptized for a person who has died.

Each folder contains the name and personal information of an individual who has been posthumously baptized. She found the data through the church's Family History Library, poring over its genealogical records and looking for those people she believes ought not be there -- from Catholic saints to offshoot polygamists to infamous scoundrels such as Adolf Hitler and famous people such as President Barack Obama's mother.

Since 1993, she has garnered widespread media attention with every new find. She traveled to Rome several times to "warn" Vatican officials of the growing warmth between Utah's Mormon and Catholic leaders, reporting proxy baptisms of dead Catholics, including martyrs and saints.

She alerted Jewish genealogists that Mormons were not keeping their 1995 agreement to stop baptizing Holocaust victims.

Radkey has become an irritant to Mormon officials and the church faithful, who wince every time a newspaper reports her latest find in LDS baptismal records.

"I call her the Erin Brockovich of the Mormon/Jewish controversy," says New Jersey resident Gary Mokotoff, past president of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies who signed the agreement and feels indebted to Radkey for what he considers impeccable research. "You can defame her any way you want personality-wise, but she's still a whistle-blower."

Righting wrongs

Radkey's quest to eliminate LDS proxy baptisms may seem an odd obsession for a Catholic-turned-Mormon-turned-New-Ager from Hobart, Australia, but in many ways it fits neatly with the bulldog for justice she always has been.

Radkey descended from Irish Catholics on her father's side and British convicts and free settlers on her mother's. Her mom, a Protestant who converted to Catholicism at her marriage, often took Radkey and her brother to cemeteries, which is where young Helen first developed an interest in genealogy and a reverence for the dead.

Radkey attended Catholic schools, but eventually went looking for another faith. In 1963, two Mormon missionaries knocked on the door where she was a wife and mother. For eight long years, her husband refused to let her join this American-born religion, but Radkey was determined. In 1971, she relinquished the marriage and custody of her son and daughter for a chance to join.

"I gave up everything for the church," she says.

Later that year, Radkey met Stuart Olmstead, an American who was living in Australia. He also joined the LDS Church; they were wed and later "sealed" in a Mormon temple. They had identical twin sons after moving to Sydney, hundreds of miles to the north.

That's where Radkey's sense of fair play kicked in.

In a neighboring LDS congregation, four members were excommunicated after a disagreement with LDS officials in Sydney. The ouster outraged Radkey, who complained loudly about the treatment.

As punishment for speaking out, Radkey says, she and her husband were disfellowshipped, a step just short of excommunication, and stopped attending. Three years later, she condemned blind obedience in a tract called Free Agency in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia and distributed 300 to 400 copies to members in the area.

Then it was Radkey's turn to be excommunicated, but she long since had stopped believing in Mormon doctrine. She ultimately came to see LDS teachings as "poppycock" and the church as an oppressive institution, even a cult.

"I'd lost a sense of there being one true church," she recalls, "and began to explore universal principles."

In 2001, Radkey attended the viewing of LDS general authority Loren C. Dunn, a mission president in Sydney during her falling-out with the faith. Standing over Dunn's casket, she said, "I forgive you."

Moving to Utah

On a December 1980 visit to Boston, Radkey heard Neil Diamond's "America" and promptly decided to move here. The family settled in Kentucky, where Olmstead's family lived, but the marriage didn't last.

In 1984, she moved with her sons to the heart of the LDS Church: Utah.

"I had some unresolved concerns with Mormonism," Radkey says. "I thought I could help Mormons who had gone through what I had. I felt like I had to finish something."

She also had a premonition that she would have something to do with Jews.

"The Jewish imprint had been on me for a long time," she says. "I developed a passion for the Holocaust. I have five crates of Holocaust books, took Israeli dancing and even took Hebrew classes."

In Utah, she met Anthony Radkey, who worked in a flour mill and installed windows. Before she would marry him, Radkey insisted the nonpracticing Mormon have his name removed from LDS Church records. That marriage ended in 1992.

While the twin boys developed their athletic prowess, Radkey spent time doing psychic readings, studying various spiritual traditions and occasionally prancing around the house, crooning Diamond's hits.

She applied for and became a minister in the Universal Life Church because, she says, it didn't have a particular dogma, just promoted justice. Plus, she adds, "you can never be disbarred or excommunicated."

Radkey did feel that her boys needed a religious identity, so she sent them to St. Ann Catholic Parish and School in Salt Lake City.

That didn't satisfy her, either. She pulled the twins out of Catholic schools and sent them to Highland High, where they won tennis titles and earned scholarships to Gonzaga, a Catholic university in Spokane, Wash.

"It was an interesting childhood," says Matthew Olmstead, one of her 34-year-old sons and an information-technology-management consultant in Los Angeles. "She was on a crusade ... to single-handedly take down the Mormon religion. She was so consumed by that, we had a hard time relating to it."

Today, Olmstead respects his mother's work against proxy baptisms, but doesn't share her need to fight the practice.

"She sends us e-mails all the time, I feel bad because we can't read it all," he says. "I couldn't care less what Mormons do behind closed doors in their temples. I don't see the impact that [proxy baptism] has. It's all based on a belief system, and, if you don't buy into it, it's not going to move you."

Still, he recognizes it's a cause that keeps his energetic mother going.

"She needs to have a project to keep her busy. If not this, it would have been something else," says Olmstead, who, like all her children, remains close to Radkey. "She's very smart but could have done better if she had gone into business."

Birth of an obsession

In July 1993, just as the twins were graduating from high school, Radkey traveled to the (Jesuit) Martyrs' Shrine in Ontario, Canada. Moved by what she saw, she returned to discover that Mormons had performed proxy baptisms for Gabriel Lalemant and the other martyrs.

Thus began her dogged effort to publicize every posthumous LDS baptism that might offend others' religious sensibilities, beginning with Roman Catholics. In the mid-1990s, she remained focused on Catholic names, reporting findings to the Salt Lake City Diocese's bishop, George H. Niederauer, who dismissed her concerns.

After 1995, when LDS officials agreed to remove more than 350,000 Jewish Holocaust names from their records, Radkey explored whether those names were back on the list. By 2000, she reported some 19,000 names had reappeared.

In September and October 2002, she met with Family History Library officials to offer them her research for a price -- $30,000 and a continuing fee of $18 an hour, according to the Jewish magazine Forward -- but the LDS Church declined.

Instead, the Jewish Holocaust group compensated her for the hours and hours she had spent scrutinizing LDS genealogical records for Jewish-sounding names of people who died in Europe between 1942 and 1945.

Today, when she uncovers in those temple records any names she considers inappropriate or outrageous -- such as Anne Frank, Sen. Edward Kennedy or the recently canonized Catholic saint Father Damien -- she often alerts the press.

"I don't think it's right to impose [LDS] rituals on those who didn't share their beliefs when they were alive," she says. "We should be letting souls rest in peace and let them be who they were."

Mormons believe they have a spiritual mandate to offer the faith to those throughout human history who didn't have a chance to embrace it while they were alive. They see proxy baptisms as invitations, not compulsions. Those who have passed on can either accept or reject the ordinance.

This doctrine - offering salvation to as many as possible - drives the church's genealogical mission.

If Radkey succeeded in scuttling the practice, the church no longer would feel compelled to collect and maintain all those records -- a loss to Mormons and non-Mormons alike.

Those most harmed by last year's Vatican edict to stop allowing LDS researchers to copy parish records were, ironically, Catholics.

"Most parishes can't or don't answer letters because they are understaffed and their highest priority is the living, as it should be," Kathy Kirkpatrick, a Quaker and past president of Salt Lake City's professional genealogist association, said at the time. "Most folks don't have the resources to visit a parish in person ... and sometimes even a personal visit doesn't get access to the records."

Anti-Mormon allies

Not surprisingly, Radkey has defenders and critics -- in and out of the LDS Church. She declines to name any Mormon friends for fear of reprisals against them. But she gladly claims career anti-Mormons Sandra Tanner and Michael Marquardt among her admirers.

Neither of them is as consumed by the proxy-baptism issue, but both support her efforts.

Tanner, who, with her late husband, Jerald, created Utah Lighthouse Ministry to "document problems with the claims of Mormonism and compare LDS doctrines with Christianity," calls Radkey an "indefatigable researcher" who "has done a phenomenal job."

Marquardt, a researcher of early Mormon history, helped Radkey assemble the materials she took to Rome. He praises her work ethic. "She spends hours doing this, looking up names and locations. As far as I know, it's always checked out."

In recent years, Radkey talked about her work at the annual meeting of American Atheists and posted her research findings on mormoncurtain.com, a site for ex-Mormons to share their stories and "recovery."

Radkey's longtime Salt Lake City friend Lynda Marsh sees a softer, gentler side to this genealogical pit bull.

"Helen can come across as looking like a hard woman, but don't be fooled, she's not," Marsh says. "She has a lot of compassion as well. She'll go the extra mile for a person. She did it for me when my husband was sick."

Marsh acknowledges Radkey's persistence can be annoying.

Once she starts talking about one of her pet issues, it's hard for her to stop. She frequently goes on tangents, piling detail upon detail from her encyclopedic mind, often dropping name after name she has discovered in the LDS library system. She cannot resist writing letters of complaint to newspapers on everything from prayer at public meetings and school choirs singing at religious services to the Catholic stance on gay marriage.

"Helen is a very dedicated person, not only to her research projects but to everything she undertakes," says Marsh, a former Mormon who shares Radkey's concerns about proxy baptisms. "Whether working on a job or with mentally disabled people, she gives her all to it. She's very dedicated to detail. What can you say when she's so passionate about it?"

Negative energy

Critics see it differently.

Rabbi Benny Zippel of Salt Lake City's Congregation Bais Menachem is equally distressed by the posthumous baptism of Holocaust victims, believing that a conversion requires a full-fledged, conscious willingness. Any kind of proxy baptism "is morally offensive and deeply hurtful to both the survivors of the Holocaust," he says, "as well as to the souls of those who died and laid down their lives for their faith."

Still, when Radkey came to him for support, he wanted nothing to do with her efforts.

"I don't like nurturing or enhancing negative energy," Zippel says. "I have been here for 18 years, enjoyed a very positive, enriching experience interaction with the LDS Church, with [former] President [Gordon B.] Hinckley and now with President [Thomas S.] Monson. I don't want to get involved with anything that is damaging to other people."

Gordon Remington, a Protestant professional genealogist, appreciates the use of the LDS Family History Library. He is fully aware of the theological reason Mormons gather the data and is not offended by it.

But Remington is offended by any individuals who use the Family History Library for personal and/or professional research yet seek to criticize or undermine the purpose for which the library exists.

"From the standpoint of a professional genealogist," Remington says, "I find that unethical."

Radkey says she is finished digging up questionable proxy baptisms. After completing a writing course at Salt Lake Community College, she plans to pen a screenplay about serial killer Ted Bundy, aka Theodore Robert Cowell.

Although Bundy joined the LDS Church when he was alive, he nonetheless was posthumously baptized in a Mormon temple.

Who discovered this? Helen Radkey.

What an insult to Reason and the progress of humanity: The Dead-dunking of Carl Sagan

11/21/2009 - by mootman of Recovery from Mormonism

Carl Sagan baptized by Mormons after his death.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ordinance Index record copied and pasted directly without edit:)
======================================================================

CARL SAGAN Pedigree
Male
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth: 1934 Ithaca, , , New York
Christening:
Death: 20 DEC 1996
Burial:
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LDS Ordinances:
Baptism: 13 MAR 1998 PROVO
Endowment: 10 JUL 1998 PROVO
======================================================================

Carl Sagan spoof Demon Haunted Ward. "If we're capable of conjuring up terrifying monsters in childhood, why shouldn't some of us, at least on occasion, be able to fantasize something similar, something truly horrifying, a shared delusion, as adults?" (The Demon Haunted World, p. 109)

"Such reports persist and proliferate because they sell. And they sell, I think, because there are so many of us who want so badly to be jolted out of our humdrum lives, to rekindle that sense of wonder we remember from childhood, and also, for a few of the stories, to be able, really and truly, to believe--in Someone older, smarter, and wiser who is looking out for us. ...

"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. it is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise.) ...

"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us -- and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along. ...

"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion....

"The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity. ...

"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe."

"What I'm saying is, if God wanted to send us a message, and ancient writings were the only way he could think of doing it, he could have done a better job."

"Anything you don't understand, Mr. Rankin, you attribute to God. God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it."

============================================================

Another irony that would be funny if it weren't so sad---- The webpage I ran into from which I gleaned these Carl Sagan attributions, on the right banner row was an ad for.... {drum roll please} Yup, an ad to request a free Book of Mormon. I clicked on it just to drain the beast of one more wasted google ad click.

I thought the whole point of having "baptism for the dead" would be to provide "the truth" to someone who had not had the "opportunity" to hear and receive it in life.

I have no reserve in stating that I am quite sure Mr. Sagan had ample opportunity to hear the shining gems Mormonism had to offer the world and that he nevertheless thought very little of Mormonism. Mootman

Liviu Librescu, the HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR professor killed at Virginia Tech, was dunked. Pretty disgusting!

Newest Catholic saint baptized and 'sealed' to wife in LDS temple?

10/12/2009 - by Kristen Moulton (courtesy of Salt Lake Tribune)

Father Damien, the Roman Catholic priest who cared for lepers in Hawaii in the 19th century, apparently is a saint twice over.

Father Damien of Molokai is now Mormon. Damien, who was born Joseph De Veuster in Belgium, was canonized a saint by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday in Rome.

But Helen Radkey, a critic of the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Monday that research shows Mormons have both baptized Damien by proxy and "sealed" him for eternity to a wife named Marie Damien.

There is no evidence Damien ever married, which would have been a violation of his vow of celibacy.

St. Damien, who died of leprosy in 1889 after working among those quarantined on the Hawaiian island of Molokai for 16 years, is considered an intercessor for patients with leprosy (Hansen's disease), HIV, AIDS as well as for abandoned children, disoriented youths, exploited women, neglected elderly people and oppressed minorities.

The Catholic Church declares a person to be a saint -- or a model for the faithful and a person who has special pull with God in answer to prayers -- only after extensive investigation and proof of two miracles.

Radkey said research into the LDS Church's FamilySearch database indicates that Damien, born in 1840 in Belgium, was baptized by proxy, given his "endowments" and sealed to his parents for eternity Oct. 22, 1983, in the Los Angeles Temple.

More recently, Damien was sealed to a wife, which Radkey calls "bogus," on March 15, 2000, at the Jordan River Temple in South Jordan.

"It's blatantly wrong to seal a person who took a vow of celibacy as a Catholic priest and is so revered in his Catholic religion," said Radkey, a former Catholic. "It's insulting to perform such an action posthumously. It's very disrespectful."

LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter said he could not comment on the specifics of Radkey's claim, which echoes her previous reports that Mormons have performed ordinances for President Barack Obama's mother, Holocaust victims and fundamentalist polygamists who were booted from the church.

"It is counter to church policy to submit anyone's name for temple ordinances if you aren't related to that person," Trotter said. "The church reiterates this policy regularly and we follow it to the best of our ability."

LDS doctrine holds that baptisms and other ordinances performed by the living in temples are offered to those who have died, who are free in the afterlife to accept or reject them.

Comments by Helen Radkey

The Vatican is slow off the mark. Long before the canonization of Father Damien—the famous 19th century Roman Catholic Belgian priest who gave his life to help leprosy patients—he was claimed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Under his birth name, Joseph De Veuster, Father Damien was posthumously baptized, confirmed, "endowed," and "sealed" to his parents on October 22, 1983 in the Los Angeles California (LDS) Temple.

An initiatory temple ceremony was done for him on April 22, 2000 in the Jordan River (LDS) Temple.

Father Damien, an unmarried Catholic missionary priest, until he died of leprosy in Hawaii in 1889, was "sealed" to a bogus spouse named "Marie Mrs Damien" on March 15, 2000 in the Jordan River Utah (LDS) Temple.

Polygamy for Polygamists in Mormon Temples - Mormons continue polygamous temple rites for Mormon fundamentalists

09/29/2009 - by Helen Radkey

More than a hundred years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) outlawed the practice of polygamy. LDS records, however, indicate that early Mormon leaders, Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young, have both been “sealed” (married) for eternity to hundreds of wives. Despite its current temporal ban on polygamy, the LDS Church promotes polygamy on a perpetual basis. Polygamous unions, mainly on behalf of the dead, using living Mormons as proxies, are routinely performed in LDS temples.

Mormon fundamentalists—representing the sects of Mormonism which embrace early Mormon teachings that made polygamy a central part of the Mormon faith—are among the deceased people whose multiple marriages are now recognized by the LDS Church. Many polygamists who became Mormon fundamentalists were excommunicated from the LDS Church because they supported polygamy. The LDS Church has disowned Mormon fundamentalists. In sharp contradiction, the LDS temple system systematically validates the plural marriages of dead ex-Mormon polygamists through its marriage sealing rituals.

An example of many such individuals is Rulon Clark Allred, who was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1940 for practicing polygamy. Allred was the leader of the Utah-based group of Mormon fundamentalists, known as the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). A naturopath by profession, Allred was murdered in his office in Murray, Utah, on May 10, 1977, on the orders of Ervil LeBaron, the head of a rival polygamous group. At the time of his death, Allred was the husband of at least seven wives, the father of forty-eight children, and the spiritual leader of thousands of Mormon fundamentalists.

Mormon records show that Rulon Allred has been sealed by proxy to five of his wives: Katherine Lucy Handy, from whom he was divorced; Beatrice Marjorie Lloyd; Ethel Jessop; Mabel Finlayson; and Ruth Rachel Barlow. Allred was sealed to two of his wives, Ethel Jessop and Ruth Barlow, on December 16, 2008 in the Ogden Utah (LDS) Temple. Ethel Jessop became a plural wife of Rulon Allred in 1945—five years after his excommunication from the LDS Church. Allred’s posthumous sealing to Jessop in 2008 was an LDS endorsement of Allred’s post-excommunication polygamy.

LDS proxy rituals for Rulon Allred appear to be ongoing. Allred was sealed to Mabel Finlayson on September 17, 2009 in the Panama City Panama (LDS) Temple. LDS files also indicate Allred is “Ready” to be sealed to Melba Finlayson, Mabel’s twin sister.

As though killers will share an eternal reward with their victims, Ervil Morrell LeBaron—the Mormon fundamentalist behind the death of Rulon Allred—was sealed by proxy in 2002 to Delfina Salido, from whom he was divorced. LeBaron is in the process of being sealed to several of his other wives. LDS records show that marriage sealings for LeBaron to Maria De La Luz (Mary Lou) Vega and Lorna Chynoweth are currently “In progress.” A marriage sealing for LeBaron to Yolanda (Lina) Rios is listed as “Ready.”

© Copyright 2009, Helen Radkey—Permission is granted to reproduce, provided content is not changed and this copyright notice is included.

LDS may have posthumously baptized Obama's African ancestors - Church declines to say whether rites performed.

07/23/2009 - by Matt Canham (courtesy Salt Lake Tribune

Washington » Mormons have not only posthumously baptized President Barack Obama's mother into their faith, but they may have performed the ritual for the president's African ancestors as well, including his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, according to researcher Helen Radkey.

She has uncovered records in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's new FamilySearch database that include personalized identification numbers for Obama's relatives, including his father, Barack Obama Sr.

The president's father was Muslim, but later in life became a nonbeliever, according to the family.

Records in the FamilySearch database do not indicate if the "baptism for the dead" ceremony was actually performed in an LDS temple, saying only that the information is "not available."

Radkey, a Salt Lake City-based researcher critical of the practice, provided The Salt Lake Tribune with the documents. Earlier this year, Radkey found records that confirmed the "baptism for the dead" of Stanley Ann Dunham, Obama's mother, who died in 1995, took place on June 4, 2008, in the Provo temple.

"Baptizing Obama's African relatives, or putting their names in the LDS temple system for them to be posthumously baptized, is offensive because it sends a wrongful message that Obama's ancestors were of inferior religious stock," Radkey said.

LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter declined to comment about the specifics involving Obama's family, but has previously confirmed the Dunham baptism. At the time, he said it ran counter to the faith's policies. Mormons are only supposed to submit names for baptism for people they are related to.

He promised to investigate what he called "a serious matter."

"While the vast majority of names submitted by church members fall within applicable guidelines, it is virtually impossible to ensure that no improper submissions will be made," Trotter said.

Mormons believe these proxy baptisms give people in the spirit world a chance to reject or accept LDS gospel. But the practice has created controversy in the past, particularly with Jewish organizations that have objected to the baptisms of Holocaust victims.

In reaction to objections, the church removed 300,000 names from its International Genealogical Index.

A review of the index shows that the faith has removed Dunham's name and that none of Obama's relatives show up either.

The White House declined to comment, other than to say that Obama and LDS President Thomas Monson did not discuss the topic during their brief meeting Monday in the Oval Office.

During that meeting, Monson and apostle Dallin Oaks provided the president with a detailed genealogical report on his family presented in five leather-bound volumes.

Mormon-Jewish, Auschwitz 2009 - LDS baptisms of Jewish Holocaust victims continue unabated

07/19/2009 - by Helen Radkey

Despite a 1995 signed promise to discontinue the improper Mormon proxy baptisms of deceased Jews—especially wrongful baptisms of Jewish Holocaust victims—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has broken its word to Jewish organizations.

The LDS Church has unquestionably failed to prevent Mormon “zealots” from adding many tens of thousands of Jewish Holocaust names to LDS temple lists since 1995.

In recent years, a substantial number of names of Greek Jewish Holocaust victims have been fed into the Mormon temple pipeline. Proxy baptisms for Greek Holocaust victims occurred in LDS temples in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

There is evidence that hundreds of Greek victims have been subjected to LDS temple rituals in 2009—further increasing the number of concentration camp victims on Mormon lists. LDS Church databases list additional Greek Holocaust names that are in the process of receiving Mormon rites.

LDS temple rituals are performed by living church members as proxies for the deceased. “Temple work” for the dead includes: baptism, confirmation, priesthood ordination (for males), initiatory and endowment ceremonies, sealing to spouse, and sealing of children to parents. Mormons believe these “ordinances” offer salvation to (non-LDS) deceased.

The “Final Solution” in Greece resulted in the deaths of about 67,000 Greek Jews. They were killed by the thousands in Nazi death camps. Many Greek Jews died (1943-1944) in Auschwitz-Birkenau, as indicated on many Mormon listings for Greek Holocaust victims.

Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz II, was an extermination camp in German-occupied Poland. It was the largest part of the Auschwitz complex and claimed more victims than any other Nazi death camp. Treblinka death camp, which was also in Poland, is shown as the death site on some LDS records for Greek victims baptized in LDS temples in 2009.

The majority of the 2009 baptisms and other proxy rituals for Greek Jewish Holocaust victims have been performed in four main LDS temples in the United States: the Seattle Washington Temple; the San Diego California Temple; the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple; and the Draper Utah Temple, which has only been operative since March 2009.

Why are Mormons continuing to baptize Jewish death camp victims in blatant violation of the official written agreement the LDS Church made with Jewish groups in 1995?

Mormon “redemptive” rites for Jewish Holocaust victims, and for any deceased Jew, are woefully misguided attempts to invariably depreciate the wholeness of Jewish worth.

© Copyright 2009, Helen Radkey—Permission is granted to reproduce, provided content is not changed and this copyright notice is included.

Going full steam baptizing from the same lists of Jewish Holocaust

06/30/2009 - by Helen Radkey

It didn't take Mormons long. At least one group of unsuspecting rabbis were taken through the Draper LDS temple in March 2009.

That temple was open for business later that month. By early May 2009, Mormons were baptizing Jewish Holocaust victims, whose names were taken from lists, in that same Draper LDS temple. In the meantime, the Mount Timpanogos LDS Utah temple was going full steam baptizing from the same lists of Jewish Holocaust victims through March and April 2009.

One example of many entries for Jewish Holocaust victims from the current online Mormon (IGI) database.

(Name withheld until a full and complete report is released at a later date):

Event(s):

Birth: 1875 , Ioanninon, Greece

Christening:

Death: 1944 Auschwitz, Krakowskiego, Poland

Burial:

LDS Ordinances:

Baptism: 08 MAY 2009 DRAPE

Endowment: CLEARED

Sealing to Parents: CLEARED

THE MORMON CHURCH & POLYGAMY: A DOUBLE STANDARD? - A temple system out of control or unofficial thumbs up for polygamy?

06/01/2009 - by Helen Radkey

SALT LAKE CITY— The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicates any church member who practices polygamy. The Church has publicly disowned Mormon fundamentalists, representing the sects of Mormonism which embrace early Mormon teachings that made polygamy a central part of the Mormon faith—the ongoing legacy of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.

While the LDS Church says it does not sanction polygamy, behind closed temple doors, and in Mormon databases, many excommunicated Mormon fundamentalists (and their plural wives) have been reclaimed through posthumous rituals for the dead—and, in numerous cases, posthumously reinstated through “resurrected” original LDS ordinances, including baptisms.

Reinventing its polygamous history, the LDS Church is ushering deceased excommunicated Mormon fundamentalists—such as Rulon Clark Allred; Rulon Timpson Jeffs; and members of the LeBaron clan, including notorious killer, Ervil Morell LeBaron—back into the LDS fold.

The LDS temple system is systematically validating the plural marriages of many deceased Mormon fundamentalists who, when they were alive, were excommunicated from the LDS Church because of polygamy. Some of these polygamists have been posthumously sealed in LDS temples to plural wives they married—after the LDS Church officially suspended polygamy.

Why does the LDS Church condemn the practice of polygamy—including the polygamy of Mormon fundamentalists—as the LDS temple system consistently validates deceased Mormon fundamentalists and many of their plural marriages?

© Copyright 2009, Helen Radkey—Permission is granted to reproduce, provided content is not changed and this copyright notice is included.

BROTHER ERVIL, BROTHER ROSS, BROTHER RULON... UNCONVENTIONAL LDS RECORDS FOR MORMON FUNDAMENTALISTS

06/01/2009 - by Helen Radkey

More than a hundred years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) officially outlawed its entrenched serpent—polygamy—as a practice. The LDS Church today claims to have nothing to do with those who practice plural marriage, and excommunicates any church member who embraces it. Polygamy was a significant part of the foundational theology of Mormonism. The LDS Church suspended plural marriage in this life because the practice runs contrary to the law of the land. Nowadays, to a great extent, mainstream Mormons have sanitized the polygamous legacy of Joseph Smith, and de-emphasize that part of Mormon history.

While the present-day LDS Church does not sanction polygamy, and insists the practice no longer plays a role in current Mormon teaching—it does not claim that its past endorsement of polygamy was wrong. Mormons believe they can embrace polygamy in the highest level of heaven in the hereafter. Behind closed temple doors, celestial plural marriage is given a tacit and broad-minded nod of approval. Although LDS Church leaders no longer allow the practice of polygamy here on Earth, they do permit a living man to be “sealed” to another woman after the death of his wife, or after divorce. In LDS temples, some deceased men are sealed by proxy to multiple wives. These lists include Mormon fundamentalists (and their plural wives) whom Mormons are posthumously reclaiming through “resurrected” original LDS ordinances, and temple rituals for the dead.

Various fundamentalism sects of Mormonism hold on to early Mormon teachings that made polygamy a central part of the Mormon faith. Many Mormon fundamentalists were originally members of the LDS Church and became LDS outcasts because they supported plural marriage. The majority of Mormon fundamentalists, who had been excommunicated from the LDS Church, considered themselves to be the truest of Mormons. They regarded the LDS Church as the only divinely recognized church in the world—but believed the Church was in a state of apostasy.

Well-known pariahs who were excommunicated by the LDS Church over the polygamy issue include: Rulon Clark Allred (1906-1977); John Yeates (Yates) Barlow (1874-1949); Joseph Leslie Broadbent (1891-1935); Rulon Timpson Jeffs (1909-2002); Joseph Smith Jessop (1869-1953); Joseph Lyman Jessop (1892-1963); Leroy Sunderland Johnson (1888-1986); Charles William Kingston (1884-1975); Alma Dayer LeBaron (1886-1951) and the LeBaron clan; Joseph White Musser (1872-1954); Gerald Wilbur Peterson, Sr. (1917-1981); John Wickersham Woolley (1831-1928); Lorin Calvin Woolley (1856-1934); and Charles Frederick Zitting (1894-1954).

When they were alive and kicking, these die-hard polygamists were ousted from LDS ranks because they refused to relinquish polygamy. In death, they have been reclaimed by the LDS Church, which has apparently decided to embrace, not only these dead Mormon fundamentalists, but, in some cases, their polygamous lifestyle, as well. The baptized names of the aforementioned former Mormons—many of whom have been posthumously “sealed” for eternity in LDS temples to multiple wives—are currently in the LDS Church’s online database of posthumous rites, the International Genealogical Index (IGI), at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp . The IGI database was designed to keep track of “temple work” undertaken on behalf of deceased persons. Temple “ordinances” are performed by living church members as proxies for the deceased.

Family pedigrees listing original LDS ordinances, including baptisms, can be found for many of the Mormon fundamentalists in this report in the Ancestral File, a database of genealogies on CD-ROM to January 1998, accessible at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Baptism details are given in the Ancestral File for the following names: Rulon C. Allred; John Y. Barlow; Joseph L. Broadbent; Joseph S. Jessop; Joseph L. Jessop; Leroy S. Johnson; Charles W. Kingston; Alma D. LeBaron, and three of his polygamist sons: Joel F. LeBaron, Ervil M. LeBaron, and Verlan M. LeBaron; Gerald W. Peterson, (Sr.); John W. Woolley; and Lorin C. Woolley.

Currently, the regularly updated online IGI is the LDS Church’s primary database of posthumous ordinances, until a newer version of FamilySearch is fully released. Sifting through the untidy IGI content, and its (off-limits to the public) online ordinance data, reveals an astonishing array of listings for the Mormon fundamentalists. In many cases, like the Ancestral File, original dates of LDS rituals for many of these excommunicated polygamists are recorded on online IGI entries.

IGI records that list original LDS baptisms for excommunicated Mormon fundamentalists make it appear as though these polygamists, who were considered apostates by the LDS Church, never saw the light of day away from mainstream Mormonism. At the time they were expelled from the LDS Church, their names would have been removed from Mormon membership rolls. Since their deaths—a few clicks of the keyboard have ostensibly put these polygamists back onto church membership lists. This strange form of record-keeping creates the impression that these men have been posthumously reinstated as Mormons. “Resurrected” original LDS baptism dates are shown on online IGI entries for the following excommunicated polygamists: Rulon C. Allred; John Y. Barlow; Joseph L. Broadbent; Joseph S. Jessop; Joseph L. Jessop; Leroy S. Johnson; Charles W. Kingston; Verlan M. LeBaron; John W. Woolley; Lorin C. Woolley; and Charles F. Zitting.

Rulon Clark Allred was born into a polygamous family in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Allred’s decision to take plural wives came in his twenties following what he described as a vision. That decision resulted in the estrangement of his first wife, Katherine Lucy Handy, whom he had been sealed to in the Salt Lake (LDS) Temple in 1926. Allred was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1940 for practicing polygamy. In 1941, his plural wives were also cut off from the Church. Allred was the leader of the Utah-based group of Mormon fundamentalists, known as the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). A naturopath by profession, Allred was murdered in his office in Murray, Utah, on May 10, 1977, on the orders of Ervil LeBaron, the head of a rival polygamous group. At the time of his death, Allred was the husband of at least seven wives, the father of forty-eight children, and the spiritual leader of thousands of Mormon fundamentalists. Although the 1926 marriage sealing between Allred and Handy was annulled in 1942—Handy remarried in 1940—online IGI records still display the original 1926 sealing. Several of these records also list Mabel Finlayson, a plural wife of Allred, as an additional spouse. Two IGI records show Allred’s original 1914 LDS baptism. One of these entries lists his original 1926 endowment, as well as the 1926 sealing to Handy. Allred was posthumously baptized as recently as January 29, 2009 in the Ogden Utah Temple. He was previously baptized in 2001, 2002, and 2008. He was endowed and sealed to his parents in 2002 and 2008. Mormons gave plural marriage for Rulon Allred a recent thumbs up—when he was sealed by proxy to two of his wives, Ruth Rachel Barlow, and Ethel Jessop, on December 16, 2008 in the Ogden Utah Temple. He had been sealed to Barlow in 1992. It is worth noting that Ethel Jessop became a plural wife of Rulon Allred in 1945—five years after his excommunication from the LDS Church. When Allred was sealed to Jessop in December, 2008—the LDS temple system endorsed Allred’s post-excommunication polygamy. Rulon Allred is buried at Larkin Sunset Lawn Cemetery in Salt Lake City. Buried next to him, or near him, are his wives: Ruth Barlow Allred; Myrtle Lloyd Allred; Ethel Jessop Allred; Mabel Finlayson Allred; and Melba Finlayson Allred.

John Yeates (Yates) Barlow became a Mormon fundamentalist leader in Short Creek, Arizona. When he was a missionary for the LDS Church, John Barlow defended his polygamous views and was dishonorably released. He was excommunicated from the LDS Church circa 1923. Online IGI entries cite his original 1885 LDS baptism and original 1895 endowment, as well as his original 1897 marriage sealing to his first wife, Ida May Critchlow. Barlow married for the first time in 1897. He took his first plural wife in 1902, the second in 1918, and the third in 1923, making a total of four wives. IGI entries show Barlow has been sealed to all of his wives. He was sealed by proxy to Susannah Stevens Taggart; Ada Marriott; and Martha Jessop. John Barlow was posthumously baptized in 1969 and 2006. His 1895 endowment is listed again on two IGI entries for baptisms on May 26, 1969. Barlow received another endowment in 2007. When he was sealed to his fourth wife and second cousin, Martha Jessop, on January 15, 2008 in the Monticello Utah Temple, Mormons placed a recent stamp of approval on Barlow’s ex-LDS polygamous lifestyle.

Joseph Leslie Broadbent was a leader in the early stages of Mormon fundamentalism. In 1927, Broadbent published a pamphlet Celestial Marriage advocating the practice of plural marriage. This was a factor in his excommunication by the LDS Church in 1929. Joseph Broadbent is listed in the online IGI with his original 1899 LDS baptism and original 1910 endowment. He was posthumously baptized in 1990. Included on the 1990 baptism entry is another record of Broadbent’s 1910 endowment. IGI entries for Broadbent show his original 1915 marriage sealing to his first wife, Rula Louise Kelsch, and a 2005 sealing to her. Joseph Broadbent was also sealed by proxy to two other wives, Fawnita Jessop and Anna Kmetsch (Kmetzsch), on the same day, May 24, 1994 in the Boise Idaho Temple. On exactly the same date, and in exactly the same LDS temple where John Barlow was sealed by proxy to his fourth wife, Martha Jessop—Joseph Leslie Broadbent was sealed to his parents on January 15, 2008 in the Monticello Utah Temple.

Joseph Smith Jessop, a founder of the Short Creek (Mormon) fundamentalist colony in Arizona, was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1930 because of polygamy. At the time of his death in 1953, Jessop had 112 grandchildren and at least 145 great-grandchildren through his three wives. IGI records list Jessop’s original 1877 LDS baptism and original 1889 endowment, and his original 1889 marriage sealing to his first wife, Martha Moore Yeates. Several IGI entries show Jessop was posthumously baptized, endowed, and sealed to his parents in 1981. His 1889 endowment is cited on one of these listings. Jessop was baptized again in 2005 and 2006, and endowed in 2005 and 2007. He was sealed again to his first wife in 1985 and 2003, and sealed twice in two different LDS temples in Utah to a plural wife, Gertrude Annie Marriott, in August 2008—a very recent LDS endorsement of Jessop’s supposedly ex-LDS polygamous lifestyle.

Joseph Lyman Jessop was a son of Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Moore Yeates Jessop. In 1924, Joseph Lyman Jessop's convictions regarding plural marriage were cemented when he married Maleta Porter, a cousin to his wife, Winnie, as his first plural wife. Within the year, Jessop and his two wives at that time were excommunicated from the LDS Church. Online IGI records reveal the plural marriage that caused Jessop’s excommunication. Mormons sealed Jessop to his second wife, [Rachel] Maleta Porter, in 2000. Two separate entries show Jessops’s original 1917 marriage sealing to Winnie Porter. He was sealed to another plural wife, Beth Allred, in 1998 and 2000. In January and December, 2008, Jessop was sealed again to his first wife, Winnie Porter. Jessop’s original 1900 LDS baptism is recorded on two separate IGI entries. One of these records shows his original 1910 endowment. The 1910 endowment is shown again on another entry with a 1994 proxy baptism. Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Moore Yeates are cited as Jessop’s parents on that record, which indicates Joseph Lyman Jessop was “BIC” (born in the covenant), indicating he is automatically sealed to his ex-LDS father and mother.

Leroy Sunderland Johnson was the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church), based in Colorado City, Arizona. Johnson, who died in 1986, aged 98, was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1935 for his support of plural marriage. Leroy Johnson’s original 1896 LDS baptism is listed on the same IGI record as his original 1914 endowment. Another entry lists his original 1914 marriage sealing to Josephine Ford. Leroy Johnson was baptized by proxy in 1995, and endowed and sealed to his parents in 1996.

Charles William Kingston was a prominent member of the Davis County Cooperative Society and the Latter Day Church of Christ, the communal and polygamous Mormon fundamentalist group in Utah that has come to be known as the Kingston clan. Kingston, who lived to be 91, was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1929 because of his involvement with plural marriage. His original 1892 LDS baptism is listed in the IGI on the same record as his original 1906 endowment. Kingston was posthumously baptized and endowed in 1995, baptized again in 1997, and endowed in 1998. His original 1906 marriage sealing to his first wife, Vesta Minerva Stowell, is listed four times in the online IGI, with different batch or film numbers. In a steady procession of repetitive proxy sealings, Kingston was sealed to Vesta Stowell in 1996, 1997, and 1998.

Verlan McDonald LeBaron, who was a son of the Mormon fundamentalist, Alma Dayer LeBaron, and wife, Maud LeBaron, was a member of the polygamous LeBaron clan. In 1944, most of the LeBarons were excommunicated from the LDS Church for teaching and practicing polygamy. (Alma Dayer LeBaron had been excommunicated from the LDS Church twenty years earlier.) In the late 1940s, the LeBaron clan established Colonia LeBaron, a polygamist colony in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Verlan LeBaron died in a car accident in Mexico in 1981. The original 1942 LDS baptism for this polygamist, and former Mormon, is listed in the online IGI on the same record as his original 1951 endowment. LeBaron was also proxy baptized by Mormons in 1995, and endowed in 1996. In March 2004, he was posthumously sealed to his parents, Alma Dayer LeBaron and Maud Lucinda McDonald (LeBaron)—both excommunicated Mormons—in an LDS temple in Mexico. Verlan LeBaron was baptized again on July 22, 2008 in the Salt Lake Temple, and sealed to a spouse, Helen Bertha Hinck, on the same date, in the same Utah temple.

John Wickersham Woolley was one of the founders of the Mormon fundamentalism movement.

Woolley was uncle to LDS Church President, Spencer W. Kimball, and Mormon apostles, J. Reuben Clark and John W. Taylor. Woolley was a high-ranking Mormon, but he refused to obey the proclamation issued by the LDS Church in 1904, sometimes called the Second Manifesto, which prohibited LDS Church members from entering into new plural marriages. Woolley continued to perform plural marriage ceremonies and was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1914. There are more than 30 separate records currently in the online IGI for this prominent Mormon fundamentalist. These include listings that show an original 1841 LDS baptism, original 1851 endowment, and an 1895 sealing to parents. An 1857 baptism is also recorded on an entry with a 1967 endowment. Woolley, who lived to be almost 97, has been posthumously baptized and endowed numerous times. He was endowed as recently as June 2008. The IGI shows a plethora of marriage sealing entries for him. Among the marriage records are listings for original temple sealings (with conflicting dates) to four wives: Julia Searl(e)s (Sirls) Ensign; Ann Everington; Mary Jane Ensign; and Annie Fisher. Separate IGI records for Woolley cite marriage sealings to Ann Everington and Mary Jane Ensign, which ceremonies occurred on June 1, 1892 in the Logan Utah Temple. In April 2008, John W. Woolley was sealed to Annie Fisher in the Salt Lake Temple. In September 2008, he was sealed to Ann Everington in the same LDS temple.

Lorin Calvin Woolley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was a son of John Wickersham and Julia Woolley. Lorin Woolley was a high-profile Mormon fundamentalist leader and a strong advocate of plural marriage. He was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1924 for publicizing that some LDS Church leaders had taken plural wives after the 1890 Manifesto, which was issued by the LDS Church when it officially suspended polygamy. Woolley taught the 1890 Manifesto was uninspired. He claimed he had the proper priesthood authority, the legitimate sealing power, necessary for performing plural marriages. Woolley was married to at least four wives. His original 1868 LDS baptism is listed on an IGI entry with his original 1873 endowment. Another record shows his original 1883 sealing to his first wife, Sarah Ann Roberts. Lorin Woolley has been posthumously baptized, endowed, and sealed to his parents, numerous times. His most recent baptism was in 2006. He was sealed by proxy to his first wife in 1967.

Charles Frederick Zitting was a Mormon fundamentalist leader of the community in Short Creek, Arizona. He was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1928 because he married more than one wife. Zitting spent over two years in the Utah Penitentiary for polygamy. Several online IGI entries list Zitting’s original 1902 LDS baptism and original 1920 endowment. Two other entries (with different batch numbers) show posthumous baptisms for him in June 1971 and sealings to parents in April 1972. Zitting’s 1920 endowment is also listed on these two entries. Zitting has been posthumously sealed by Mormons to five wives: Minnie Affleck; Elvera Olson; Edna Aleen Christensen; Orpha Cope; and Bonnie Elaine Kilgrow. Edna Aleen Christensen (Zitting), and Elvera Olson (Zitting) are buried in separate graves on either side of him. Through an extraordinary twist of fate, Charles Zitting is buried in Elysian Burial Gardens, which is directly across the road from my home in Salt Lake City. Buried alongside of him are three of his six wives: Edna Aleen Christensen Zitting; Elvera Olson Zitting; and Laura Tree Zitting. It should be noted that in March 1998, in the Ogden Utah Temple, Charles Zitting was inappropriately sealed to his first wife, Minnie Affleck. That union had ended in divorce (circa 1926) because of Zitting’s belief in plural marriage.

Rulon Allred and Charles Zitting are not the only Mormon fundamentalists who are registered in the IGI with a marriage sealing to a divorced spouse. At least four others on my list—Rulon T. Jeffs; Alma D. LeBaron; Ervil M. LeBaron; and Joseph W. Musser—are listed in the online IGI with marriage sealings to one or more spouses they were either divorced or separated from.

Rulon Timpson Jeffs was the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in Colorado City, Arizona. Jeffs assumed the leadership of the FLDS Church after the death of Leroy Johnson in 1986. Rulon Jeff’s first wife, Zola (Brown) Jeffs, was divorced from him in April 1941 because he insisted on taking a plural wife. Two weeks later, Jeffs was excommunicated from the LDS Church. He was caught in one of the government roundups of polygamists in 1944 and was held briefly in the Salt Lake County Jail. When Jeffs died in 2002, aged 92, as the leader of what is thought to be America’s largest polygamous sect, he was believed to have 19-75 wives, and to have fathered more than 60 children. (Warren Steed Jeffs, a son of Rulon Jeffs, took over the leadership of the FLDS Church, after the death of his father. The FLDS Church has been a source of controversy over the years because of its polygamist beliefs and allegations of men marrying underage girls. Warren Jeffs achieved notoriety—and prison time—because of his involvement with underage marriage.) Many wives of FLDS patriarch, Rulon Jeffs, are probably alive today and would not be considered suitable candidates for posthumous marriage sealings. In an apparent act of Mormon madness, however, on April 25, 2007—Rulon Jeffs, the polygamist leader with many wives—was sealed by proxy to his now deceased first wife—Zola Grace Brown (Jeffs)—the spouse he was divorced from sixty-six years earlier because she refused to submit to his polygamous urges. The off-the-wall marriage sealing between Jeffs and Brown occurred in the St. George Utah Temple. In the same LDS temple in Utah, Jeffs was posthumously baptized and endowed in 2005, and sealed to his parents in 2006.

Alma Dayer LeBaron, who usually went by his middle name, Dayer, was born in Arizona. Dayer LeBaron had a strong Mormon heritage. His grandfather, Benjamin F. Johnson, was a close friend of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism. LeBaron became involved with Mormon fundamentalism. In 1904, he married his first wife, Cynthia Barbara Bailey, in Mexico. LeBaron’s religious beliefs alienated his first wife, who soon left him and moved to Salt Lake City. After moving to Utah, Dayer LeBaron married Maud Lucinda McDonald in 1910. Together they had thirteen children, eight boys and five girls. In 1923, Maud LeBaron helped her husband select another wife—and Dayer LeBaron married Onie Jones. LeBaron and his two wives were excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1924 because of his involvement with plural marriage. LeBaron moved his family to Mexico to escape anti-polygamy laws in the United States. Onie Jones had six children by LeBaron—and eventually separated herself and their children from him because of his fundamentalist activities. Although LeBaron’s marriages to his first wife, Cynthia Barbara Bailey, and plural wife, Onie Jones, did not last—he has been sealed by proxy in LDS temples to both women. LeBaron was sealed to Cynthia Barbara Bailey in the Provo Utah Temple in 1996—and sealed to her again in the Ciudad Juárez México Temple in 2004. He was sealed to Onie Jones in the St. George Utah Temple in 1999. LeBaron was sealed to Maud McDonald in March 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México Temple. He was posthumously baptized in March 2004 in the same LDS temple in Mexico. In May 2005, Alma Dayer LeBaron was baptized again in the Anchorage Alaska Temple, and endowed in the same LDS temple in July 2005.

Ervil Morrell LeBaron, a son of Alma Dayer and Maud LeBaron, was the most notorious member of the LeBaron family. The LeBaronites came prominently into public attention with the criminal activities of Ervil LeBaron. In the 1970s, LeBaron engaged in a murderous feud with his brothers and other polygamists for control of fundamentalist sects. LeBaron established the Church of the Lamb of God, and orchestrated the deaths of numerous people, as he tried to seize power among Mormon fundmentalists. He attempted to unite fundamentalist polygamous sects under one umbrella. Anyone who resisted his plans met violence. Ervil LeBaron was ultimately convicted of ordering the murder of rival polygamous leader, Rulon Allred. LeBaron had ordered the murder of his brother, Joel, and, throughout the 1970’s, ordered as many as 30 others killed, including at least one of his own children. Ervil LeBaron died in prison in Utah in 1981. Even after his death, some of his followers continued to kill those he had put on a hit list. LeBaron had 13 wives and 54 children. He had been excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1944 because he openly defied LDS authority. Despite Ervil LeBaron’s blood-soaked history—the LDS Church has offered him posthumous redemption. This modern-day Cain, who murdered even his own kin, was baptized by proxy in March 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México Temple—baptized again in May 2005 in the Anchorage Alaska Temple—and endowed in that same LDS temple in July 2005. As a senseless gesture, LeBaron was sealed by proxy to his first wife, Delfina Salido, in the Dallas Texas Temple in 2002. As described in Prophet of Blood: the Untold Story of Ervil LeBaron and the Lambs of God, by Ben Bradlee, Jr. & Dale Van Atta: “…Ervil divorced Delfina [Salido] and legally married Kris [Jensen] in 1966 in Arizona…” (p.95). In the summer of 1977, after the murder of Rulon Allred—fearing for her own life—and concerned about the welfare of some of her children—Delfina Salido LeBaron fled from Ervil LeBaron and the Lambs of God. She later had a nervous breakdown and was committed to a mental institution (p. 256-260; 266).

Joseph White Musser was a significant Mormon fundamentalist leader who was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Musser became the major defender of the polygamous tradition. He is known for his Mormon fundamentalist books, pamphlets, and magazines. In 1892, Musser married his first wife, Rose S. Borquist, in the Logan Utah Temple. In 1902, Musser married his second wife, Mary C. Hill. In 1907, he married his third wife, Ellis R. Shipp, Jnr. Musser was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1921 for attempting to take Marion Bringhurst as his fourth wife. He married his fourth wife, Lucy O. Kmetsch (Kmetzsch) in 1922. Around 1925, after years of separation, Rose (Borquist) Musser obtained a civil divorce from him. Musser’s open advocacy of polygamy led to his arrest by federal officers in 1944. Although Musser’s first three wives all eventually rejected his polygamist views—he has been sealed by proxy for eternity to these three women. In 2001, he was sealed to Rose Selma Borgquist [sic] in the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple, and to Mary Caroline Hill in the Bountiful Utah Temple. In 1997, Musser was sealed to his third wife, Ellis Shipp, in the Provo Utah Temple. Joseph Musser has been posthumously baptized five times—in 1990, 1997, 2000 (twice), and 2004—in different LDS temples. He was endowed in 1990, 1997, 2000, 2001, and 2004, and sealed to his parents in 1990.

Other examples of deceased Mormon fundamentalists—most of whom were excommunicated Mormons—who have been subjected to LDS temple ordinances by proxy are: Fredrick M. Jessop; Benjamin T. LeBaron; Joel F. LeBaron; Ross W. LeBaron; and Gerald W. Peterson, Snr.

Fredrick Meade Jessop was a son of Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Yeates Jessop. Fredrick “Uncle Fred” Meade Jessop was the acting bishop of the FLDS Church for many years and was instrumental in community development and the founding of many businesses. Jessop served as first counselor to Leroy Johnson and as second counselor to Rulon Jeffs, before he died in 2005, aged 94, at a hospital in Colorado. He reportedly had many wives and more than 100 children, although the children may have been the results of his wives’ previous marriages. Jessop appears to have been posthumously baptized in 2003, and endowed in 2004, in the St. George Utah Temple. While the birth information on that IGI record for him is correct—incorrect death details are shown. A later entry for Jessop gives more accurate birth and death data. Jessop was baptized again on November 16, 2006, in the St. George Utah Temple, and endowed in the same temple on April 5, 2007. Strangely, Fredrick Meade Jessop was sealed to his ex-LDS parents, Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Moore Yeates, in the St. George Utah Temple, on May 19, 2007.

Benjamin Teasdale LeBaron was the first-born son of Alma Dayer and Maud LeBaron. Benjamin LeBaron fought a long battle against hereditary insanity. He claimed to hear revelations from God through extraterrestrial voices. LeBaron, who was born in Arizona, and spent time in mental institutions in Utah, died in Arkansas in 1978. Benjamin LeBaron was posthumously baptized in March 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México (LDS) Temple. He was baptized again in May 2005 in the Anchorage Alaska Temple, and endowed in that same LDS temple in July 2005.

Ross Wesley LeBaron was the second-born son of Alma Dayer and Maud LeBaron. In 1955, after a falling out with his brother, Joel—Ross LeBaron incorporated his own church, calling it the Church of the Firstborn. Ross LeBaron resided mainly in Utah and quietly promoted his church (which he later disincorporated). During the 1980s, LeBaron lived in a storage shed on 33rd South in Salt Lake City, where I was introduced to him—and one of his wives—by one of his followers. LeBaron believed in UFO’s and the Adam-God doctrine. He was convinced that “Father Adam” and Jesus travel in flying saucers. LeBaron was a frequent guest on local radio talk shows. He would expound his belief that Jesus Christ would one day return to earth in a spaceship. In the several discussions I had with LeBaron, he invited me to join his group—and showed me diagrams and toy models of spaceships. He also told me that his murderous brother, Ervil LeBaron, had been possessed by evil spirits. Polygamist Ross LeBaron, who died in Idaho in 1996, was posthumously baptized in March 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México (LDS) Temple.

Joel Franklin LeBaron was a son of Alma Dayer and Maud LeBaron. Joel LeBaron was a leader of the Mormon fundamentalist movement in northern Mexico. In September 1955, Joel LeBaron visited Salt Lake City, Utah, with several of his brothers, including Ross LeBaron, and organized the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness [sic] of Times. Joel LeBaron reported that he was visited by nineteen former prophets, including: Abraham; Moses; Jesus Christ; and Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. (Joel LeBaron claimed his priesthood line of authority from his father, Alma Dayer LeBaron, who was ordained by his grandfather, Benjamin F. Johnson, who had supposedly received an ordination to the highest priesthood office from Joseph Smith, Jr.) In 1971, Ervil LeBaron separated himself from the Firstborn Church. He and his followers established the rival Church of the Lamb of God—the most violent of the polygamous offshoots of the LDS Church. In August 1972, Joel LeBaron was shot in the head and killed by a follower of his brother, Ervil LeBaron. Joel LeBaron was posthumously baptized twice in 1995—in the Logan Utah Temple, and the Manti Utah Temple. He was also endowed in both temples. Polygamist Joel LeBaron was sealed to his ex-LDS parents, Alma Dayer LeBaron and Maud Lucinda McDonald (LeBaron), on March 20, 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México (LDS) Temple.

Gerald Wilbur Peterson, Sr. was a Mormon fundamentalist who was once a member of the LDS Church. In the 1970s, Peterson united with the Allred group. He believed he was the prophet to succeed Rulon Allred. After Allred was murdered in 1977, Peterson claimed that Allred appeared to him as a ghost to reconfirm Peterson’s right to the presiding keys of the priesthood. In 1978, at Provo, Utah, Peterson organized the “Righteous Branch” Church, which now has its headquarters in southern Utah. Gerald W. Peterson, Sr., who died in 1981, was posthumously baptized in 1990. His original 1937 LDS endowment is shown on his online IGI baptismal entry.

In January 1933, a definitive “Official Statement” from the Office of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City was drafted by second counselor, J. Reuben Clark, and published in the Church News section of the Deseret News. The “Official Statement” clarified the LDS doctrine of celestial marriage. The First Presidency made a careful distinction between celestial marriage and polygamous marriage saying: “Celestial marriage—that is, marriage for time and eternity—and polygamous or plural marriage are not synonymous terms. Monogamous marriages for time and eternity, solemnized in our temples in accordance with the word of the Lord and the laws of the Church, are celestial marriages.”

Although the LDS Church officially dismantled plural marriage in 1933—in contradiction to this stance—the LDS temple system is systematically validating the plural marriages of many deceased Mormon fundamentalists who were excommunicated from the LDS Church because of polygamy. As this report shows, some of these polygamists—Rulon Clark Allred; John Yeates (Yates) Barlow; Joseph Leslie Broadbent; Joseph Smith Jessop; Joseph Lyman Jessop; Alma Dayer LeBaron; Joseph White Musser; and Charles Frederick Zitting—have been posthumously sealed in LDS temples to plural wives they married—after the LDS Church suspended polygamy.

The LDS Church appears to be reinventing its polygamous history, as it ushers excommunicated Mormon fundamentalists back into the LDS fold through a post-mortem back door. Without directly addressing the polygamy issue that caused these plural marriage advocates to be expelled from the LDS Church while they were alive, Church-sanctioned temple rituals would make more than just a few maverick polygamists—and their polygamy—now wholly acceptable by LDS Church standards. Mormons may insist that the efficacy of their temple rituals depends upon the willingness to accept, and the worthiness to receive, and these “rules” apply to all recipients of LDS rites. Nevertheless, in LDS temples worldwide, the modern-day Mormon mindset is bending over backwards to unambiguously sustain its bedrock belief in plural marriage beyond the grave.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or distributed without prior written permission of the author/copyright owner.

Some IGI entries referred to in this report may be no longer visible in the online IGI to be found at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp . This can be attributed to the LDS Church’s removal of data.

Serial Killers in the Mormon Database of the Baptized Dead

03/04/2009 - by Helen Radkey

Theodore Robert Bundy, more commonly known as Ted Bundy, was posthumously baptized in an LDS temple in Utah in May 2008, under his birth name, Theodore Robert Cowell. Ted Bundy is not the only horrific serial killer of modern times whose identity has ended up in the Mormon database of posthumous ordinances, the International Genealogical Index (IGI) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the date of this report on March 4, 2009, Arthur Gary Bishop, convicted child molester and serial killer, is listed in the online IGI at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

 Arthur Gary Bishop - International Genealogical Index - North America
Gender: Male Birth: 29 SEP 1952 Hinckley , Millard , Utah

 Arthur Gary Bishop - International Genealogical Index - North America
Gender: Male Death: 10 JUN 1988

Arthur Gary Bishop (1951-1988) was an excommunicated Mormon from Hinckley, Utah, who was executed by lethal injection on June 10, 1988 at the Utah state prison at Point of the Mountain, for five counts of capital murder, five counts of aggravated kidnapping, and one count of sexually abusing a minor. Bishop was a homosexual pedophile and child killer. He confessed to the murders of five young boys for sexual motives in 1983, as a result of a routine police investigation, and he led the police to three skeletons near Cedar Fort and two more corpses near Big Cottonwood Creek. Inbetween killing boys, Bishop had attempted to satiate his violent urges by torturing and killing animals.

Who would want to baptize dead serial killers, presumably to offer them an opportunity to improve their status in the hereafter? Apparently, some Mormons seem to like the idea.

The Baptism of Ted Bundy

02/18/2009 - by Helen Radkey

Ted Bundy welcomed back into the Mormon LDS fold by temple proxy work. Many tyrants, mass murderers, pirates, gangsters and other notorious criminals have been subjected to proxy rites by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The names of these infamous ones have ended up in the in the LDS Church's database of posthumous ordinances, the International Genealogical Index (IGI): Adolf Hitler, Martin Bormann, Benito Mussolini, Josef Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, Vlad the Impaler, Blackbeard the Pirate, Jean and Pierre Lafitte, Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, and Bugsy Siegel.

And not to overlook Ted Bundy, one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history. Ted Bundy was born as Theodore Robert Cowell, on Nov. 24, 1946, in Burlington, Vt. Bundy killed an untold number of women across the country between 1974 and 1978. He bludgeoned his victims, then strangled them to death. Bundy also engaged in rape and necrophilia. Authorities believe his victims numbered over 100. Some of Bundy's victims were from Utah. On J an. 24, 1989, Ted Bundy was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla.

In the fall of 1974, during the time he was murdering innocent women, Bundy moved to Salt Lake City and began attending law school at the University of Utah. The following year, he joined the LDS Church.

Was Ted Bundy's name removed from Mormon rolls because of his brutal crimes? Even if Bundy was excommunicated from the LDS Church, he was listed as Theodore Robert Cowell in the online IGI of the posthumously baptized, until Feb. 11, 2009.

After leaving a blood-soaked trail of bodies and wounded families, can Ted Bundy, the poster boy of serial killers, now accept or reject the offer of celestial glory? Is this Mormon justice?

Will Pope Benedict become a Mormon after he dies?

02/05/2007 - Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor - Reuters News

Pope Benedict and Thomas Monson exchange robes in good will effort. PARIS, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict was baptised at birth and will most likely be baptised again one year after his death, not by his Roman Catholic Church but by a Mormon he never met.

The Mormons, a U.S.-based denomination officially named the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), encourage members to baptise the dead by proxy in the belief they are helping the deceased attain full access to heaven.

Church members are told to focus on their ancestors, a rite understandable in a relatively new denomination founded in 1830. But so many now perform the rituals for celebrities, heroes and perfect strangers that the practice has spun out of control.

Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Zedong, King Herod, Al Capone and Mickey Mouse have all appeared for a short time in the International Genealogical Index for proxy baptisms, said Helen Radkey, a researcher specialised in the IGI.

"It seems that any kind of name at all may be submitted," said Radkey from Salt Lake City, where the Church is based. The IGI also accepts names for rites that "seal" spouses in eternal marriage or parents and children in eternal families.

This has outraged Jews and baffled Christians who see it as usurping the memory of their departed relatives. The Church says it cannot stem the tide of dead baptised in its own temples.

"The only way we could prevent it would be to undertake independent genealogical research on every name that came in, an utterly impossible task with the many tens of thousands of names that are submitted each year," Church spokeswoman Kim Farah said in an email responding to questions from Reuters.

So Benedict looks set to join his predecessor John Paul and a centuries-long list of popes Mormons have baptised -- despite the fact that he, back when he was the Vatican's top doctrinal authority, ruled that Mormon baptisms were not even Christian.

"There is no reason theologically why a former Pope or any other church leader shouldn't be offered the same opportunity given to the rest of mankind," Farah said.

Mormon proxy work for entire human race. JEWS, CATHOLICS, PROTESTANTS, MUSLIMS

The Catholics are not the only non-Mormons on the Church's International Genealogical Index (IGI), a list of those baptised or cleared for the rite in which a Mormon undergoes a full immersion baptism at a temple in the name of the dead person.

Jewish Holocaust victims, Protestant reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin and Mohammed ibn Abdel-Wahhab, founder of Saudi Arabia's stern version of Islam, have all popped up on the list.

A purged version of the IGI is on the Internet, at http://www.familysearch.org , a Web site run by the LDS church, but does not show which rites have been performed.

That data is reserved only for Mormons, who can consult it at one of the 3,400 Family History Centres worldwide where they go to enter names for these rites using special software. The rites are then performed at temples off-limits to non-Mormons.

Radkey, who has exposed non-Mormon entries on the IGI for over a decade, alerted U.S. Jewish groups last December that the famous Jewish Nazi-hinter Simon Wiesenthal had turned up on the IGI as a departed soul cleared for Mormon baptism.

Rabbi Marvin Heir, head of a Jewish human rights group in Los Angeles named after the deceased Austrian, called this "very offensive. Simon Wiesenthal dedicated his whole life to Jews. I don't think he needs help getting into heaven."

The Church pledged in 1995 not to list Holocaust victims and other Jews after many names were found on the IGI. It took Wiesenthal's name off its online list but critics like Radkey say internal lists still have large numbers of Jewish names.

POPES AND FICTIONAL WIVES

Pope John Paul II was baptised not once but four times in April 2006, in line with Mormon practice of waiting a year before starting these rites. He died on April 2, 2005.

His name was purged from the online IGI, so a normal search will not find them. But his four now-anonymous files are still in the database and three still show his parents' names.

Pope Pius XII was baptised three times and also "sealed" in eternal marriage to a fictional Mrs Eugenio Pacelli. Saint Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order of priests, was also "sealed" to a bogus wife. Catholic clergy do not marry.

Names are purged from the public IGI after being found and publicised. Pope John Paul I and Pope Paul VI were both baptised and were listed on the online IGI in December but removed after Reuters asked about them, Farah confirmed.

But earlier popes, going back at least to the Crusader Pope Urban II (1088-1099), are mostly still there. "They remove any names that could potentially cause criticism," Radkey said.

Father Thomas Weinandy, head of the Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, described proxy baptism as inappropriate.

"We don't know whether the person would want this or not," he told Reuters from Washington. "Catholics and other Christians feel they are already properly baptised. But it's harmless.

"As for the popes, I think most Catholics would find that somewhat inappropriate but also rather humourous. They're already in heaven! So it's redundant, even if it did work."

Mormons baptize apes and chimps for the dead. BAFFLING NOTION

Mormons believe the early Christians strayed from the true faith and only the LDS Church returned to the right path. All those who lived before 1830 were thus unable to join the Church and have full access to all the glory of heaven.

To trace and baptise these people, it has built up the largest genealogical library in the world, the Family History Library at its headquarters in in Salt Lake City, Utah. This includes public lists of names collected around the world.

Clearly sensitive to questions about the practice, the LDS Church defends it as a central tenet of its faith. It argues the proxy baptism does no harm because the dead can reject it in the next life, a notion baffling to most Christians.

Farah said Mormons were "always deeply saddened to hear" that non-Mormons might be offended to find their ancestors' names had been harvested from public lists and baptised into a faith they did not follow during their lives.

Church rules say deceased who were born in the past 95 years should not be submitted for baptism without permission from their living relatives, but the IGI shows this is often ignored.

Farah said the LDS Church has tried to discourage abuse of the system. "We continue to look for ways to improve," she said.

Mormon Talk Is Cheap

075/15/2006 - by Helen Radkey

No aboveboard outcome appears to have happened through years of negotiations between Mormons and Jews concerning the improper proxy baptism of Jews, except, to some extent, public attention has been drawn to the fact that the LDS Church has clearly broken its 1995 agreement to Jewish organizations.

Talk is cheap, as the saying goes, and false promises from Mormons to Jews, over the years, have flowed as freely as cheap vino at a Sicilian wedding. LDS officials have repeatedly staved off legal repercussions and they have even made database changes to conceal evidence of agreement breaches.

And, as if Mormons are giving Jewish leaders who signed the 1995 agreement the ultimate finger of cheeky disregard, thousands of names of Jews who died in the Holocaust, and whose names were supposedly removed from the LDS Church's (IGI) database of posthumous ordinances when the agreement was signed, have reappeared in that database.

Jewish leaders who signed the legal agreement have a responsibilty to the worldwide Jewish community to take strong, clean, decisive action against the LDS Church. Why have these Jewish leaders collectively abdicated their moral and ethical responsibility to ensure that the provisions of the 1995 agreement are finally and firmly enforced? As this situation has been allowed to drag on for so long, countless deceased Jews have been inappropriately subjected to LDS proxy ordinances in recent years.

Am I offending anyone by this message--some Jews included? Probably--hopefully--because I have been often asked to help the Jewish cause and I am sorely troubled by the fact that, over the years, I have dredged up enough proof, and probable proof of agreement violations, to swamp the Titanic, if she could be restored. And, by the way, Mormons have made sure that even Titanic Jews do not rest in peace.

Mormons Baptize Mickey Mouse and Family For The Dead

02/07/2006 - by Helen Radkey

Mickey Mouse Mormon Temple proxy work June 2006.

Minnie Mouse Mormon Temple proxy work June 2006.

Three generations of Mickey Mouse Mormon Temple proxy work June 2006.

Please notify The Disney Company of Mickey's dead dunking

06/05/2006 - by bik

I suggest that The Disney Company be notified that their famous descendant has been dunked, and will no longer be permitted to engage in the frivolity condoned at DisneyLand.

Inform them that some who have discovered their relative's names in the IGI and reported the inappropriate submission, have had the names removed.

E-mail specific requests for name removal to help@productsupport.familysearch.org . Submit the following information (if known):

The individual's name - Mickey Mouse ben Mighty

The individual's birth date and place - November 18, 1928: Los Angeles CA

The individual's parents' names - Walt and Lillian Disney

The individual's spouse's name - Minnie Mouse

Your name, address, and daytime phone number - The Walt Disney Company, Los Angeles CA

Your relationship to the mentioned individual - Lord & Creator

The reason you think the individual should be removed - He's Jewish.

Douse the Mouse

06/15/2006 - by Brandon Burt of Salt Lake City Weekly

Mickey Mouse is alive and well, at least as far as the folks at Disney are concerned--and they should know. According to some prankster, however, the famous rodent is not only dead, but also eligible to be baptized, endowed and sealed (with wife Minnie) in the LDS Church Temple.

While conducting an investigation into the extensive genealogical database operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, researcher Helen Radkey discovered records detailing the mouse's family tree--complete with clearance for temple ordinances.

According to LDS Church doctrine, since some never receive the opportunity to become Mormons during their lives, church members may engage in rituals like "baptism for the dead," to allow benighted souls to posthumously convert.

We doubt a cartoon mouse would ever be baptized, even by proxy, but the fact that some random ne'er-do-well was able to enter Mickey's name into the database seems to indicate that system security is not what it should be.

Fortunately, church authorities found a way to maintain some control--according to Radkey, after she made her discovery, they banned her Monday from the library.

Holocaust victims' names may remain in Mormon database

05/26/2006 - By ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY

Jewish leaders in a dispute with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over its practice of posthumous baptisms say there is new evidence that the names of Jewish Holocaust victims continue to show up in the church's vast genealogical database. "We've been dealing with it for 11 years, since 1995, and we continue to deal with it," said Ernest Michel, a Holocaust survivor and founding member of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.

A cross-referencing of more than 1,500 Dutch Jews whose names should have been deleted from the church's International Genealogical Index remain in the database, Michel said.

Over the past three months, the entries were matched by Salt Lake City researcher Helen Radkey against a 1995 list of deleted names provided by church leaders to Michel's organization, which has contracted with Radkey for research services since 1999.

Michel, whose parents were posthumously baptized, said Wednesday he is in talks with church leaders and is working on setting up a July meeting to discuss the latest findings.

Mormon church spokesman Mike Otterson said Friday that no meeting had been scheduled, but that Michel is encouraged to bring his concerns before a working group of church staff and Jews set up in April 2005 to continue to work out database issues.

"One of the benefits of previous meetings is that we established an ongoing joint working group that would address what would appear to be any anomalies, or anything that appears to be slipping through our screening process," Otterson said. "That committee continues to meet and continues to be the best place for addressing these concerns."

Posthumous baptism is a sacred rite practiced in Mormon church temples for the purpose of offering membership in the church to the deceased. Church members are encouraged to conduct family genealogy research and forward their ancestors' names for baptism.

Church President Gordon B. Hinckley has said the baptismal rite is only an offer of membership that can be rejected in the afterlife by individuals.

"So, there's no injury done to anybody," Hinckley told the AP in an interview last November.

But Jews are offended by the practice and in 1995 signed an agreement with Mormon leaders that should have prevented the names of Holocaust victims from being added to the genealogical index. The agreement would also have limited entries of other Jewish names to those persons who are direct ancestors of current Mormons.

Also that year, church family history officials gave Michel a compact disc, which they said contained 380,000 Holocaust victims' names which had been removed from church records.

An analysis of the CD by New Jersey-based Jewish genealogy expert Gary Mokotoff, however, showed the CD contained only 247,479 names, of which 31,688 were duplicates.

Since then Radkey has documented thousands of database entries that indicate the practice of adding names has not stopped.

In April 2005 five boxes of Radkey's research - more than 5,700 entries - were given to Mormon leaders during a meeting with Michel and others from his organization in Salt Lake City.

Afterward, D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the church's leadership group called the Presidency of the Seventy, said the two groups would work toward an arrangement that would not "compromise our core beliefs and practices," while "still addressing the concerns of Jewish leaders."

The most recent 1,500 names of Dutch Jews are only a sampling, Radkey said. But the numbers are sufficient to raise questions about whether Jewish names were ever removed from the index, or have been re-entered into the system, which has an estimated 400 million records, she said. She also believes the church is ignoring the "direct ancestor" portion of the agreement.

"The sheer volume of entries in the IGI of Jewish, Yiddish names is overwhelming," said Radkey, who also noted nearly 1,000 marriage records that raise similar questions. "You can't have that number of obvious Jewish Holocaust victims and say that all of them are related to Mormons."

Michel said he has a good personal relationship with Mormon leaders and appreciates that they continue to discuss the issue.

"But they did sign (the agreement) and I think they've regretted it ever since," Michel said.

Pope John Paul II is now a Mormon

05/28/2006 - by someone with a Mormon Temple Recommend with access to the data before officials removed it.

The following shows how Mormons waste much time performing duplicate ordinances for the dead in their temples - The Pope's proxy work was no exception.

Pope John Paul II baptized a Mormon.

Chastize Mormons for Posthumous Baptisms of Jewish People

03/17/2006 - by Aubrey Newman (Emeritus) Professor of History University of Leicester England

Brother Alpha Baboon baptized Mormon. I am annoyed at the waste of time and effort over this controversy which is once more being caused by the Mormon use of various genealogical records. To the vast majority of Jews, the concept of posthumous baptism is a piece of nonsense.

I cannot envision my respectable rabbinic forebears being dragged away from profound theological discussions with Rashi and the Vilna Gaon in order to play some role in Joseph Smith’s version of Heaven.

What does disturb me however is that the historical record is being deliberately falsified. Numbers of Jewish names are being nominated for this process of posthumous baptism, and the record will apparently show that they were allegedly converts without making clear that it was by no act of their own.

I am even more concerned at the deliberate bad faith which has emerged following what seemed to have been agreed to some ten years ago. It seems to me that the Mormons have been guilty of deliberate bad faith, of calculated and deliberate obfuscation, and that they never intended to abide by the agreements they themselves made.

I think that all those who are in any way concerned with historical truth should inform as widely as possible of these facts.

I invite others to join with me in making these facts known in as many journals as possible. I would suggest also that if those organizations which originally allowed the Mormons to microfilm their archives retained their copyright in them, they should now withdraw those materials from the Mormon Church and forbid any further use being made of them.

Comment Section

Ms Radkey, your Mickey Mouse find is indeed incredible. No I mean it INCREDIBLE. Surely someone with such an axe to grind, and so much enthusiasm and time into this is the most likely candidate to have submitted this one. I'll bet it must be very frustrating not finding good fodder to send to the anyone who will listen to you, an admitted atheist and sorcerist practitioner (again incredible). So naturally, when you can't find it, you submit it through your proxy friends. How sad that your own children seem to be the most disinterested in your work. That anyone so exuberant and dedicated to an issue can't even convince their own family of the value of this is truly sad. Joseph Smith prophesied that those who apostatize from the faith would be consumed in seeking it's destruction, and I guess he especially knew what he was talking about in you, huh? And to think that you, a self-avowed atheist/sorcerist would wish to validate his prophecy despite a hate for the religion he founded is, again, truly incredible. Best of luck to you and your creativity in adding/finding new discoveries in the church databases to keep yourself relevant. - 11/16/2014 - Dennis

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Ms. Radkey.

Although I am not LDS, but have many dear friends who are, and have since I moved to Utah over twenty two years ago a a teenager. I cannot help but have pity in my heart for you. The fact you are an excommunicated member says much about your situation. I certainly hope that they ask you to leave with the attitude you have towards some of the kindest and most unselfish people I have ever meet. I Can only say, that perhaps after you leave this life you may find the things you are looking for. Maybe God will help you then. To here you talk and go through all of the motions you do to bash others faith, I would say you must suffer from some sort of Mental Illness. Only God can help you. I could care less, if every single faith in the word said a prayer or baptized me into their faith after I am gone. God is good and any religion that loves God I love too. With all the effort you spend being so very miserable, why don't you do something constructive and work in a soup kitchen, or do some sort of service for others? Bashing others faith shows what you are truly like. This takes a great deal of effort on your part. Very sad actually. - 02/15/2012 - Ashley (pretending not to be a Mormon but writing as only a True Believing Mormon can.)

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I admire Helen Radkey's courage to stand tall in the face of the bashing she's received for so long. - 02/03/2010 - fan of Helen Radkey

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Helen rocks! We need a hundred more just like her! - 02/03/2010 - Dave The Atheist

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please tell me they won't redunk me - 02/02/2010 - edecker

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Five dunkings for Pope John Paul II? I guess it takes more water when a man's the pope. - 02/02/2010 - devondevil

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PUKE!!!!! Stupid Mormons! - 02/02/2010 - JackMormon'sWife

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Thank you Helen Radkey! Again.

Too bad Tiger is is a little busy right now. Wouldn't we all love to see a news conference where he takes the church to task for this. - 02/02/2010 - Heresy

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RADKEY ROCKS !!!! Now THAT's a TRULY Inspired Woman! - 02/02/2010 - pied

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Yeah, it's real insulting what TSCC does to dead people who can't stop them. But after reading about Helen's life, I'd say she's nuttier than a fruit cake. Wouldn't it be nice if she poured all that energy into doing something constructive? - 02/02/2010 - paisley

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Irritating, presumptious, yet hilarious all at once. - 11/21/2009 - Dagny

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I ran into Malcom X on that list and decided it was time to start drinking early today. - 11/21/2009 - rocktheutah

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Dead dunking does offend Jewish & other communities.

I have an Episcopal friend who is outraged by it and a Catholic friend who says it's ludicrous. I have no idea how Carl Sagan reacted in life.

I also know that the Russian Orthodox Church forced the mormons to stop paying a few cents each for the names of dead members. - 11/20/2009 - Cheryl

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Didn't they dead-dunk some norse dieties as well?

I have a vague memory of some scandinavian Mor(m)on that intende to have his geneology done all the way back to Adam and doing temple work for them all aswell. Somehow Odin, Tor and other norse gods ended up in this genealogy. Does anybody know? - 11/20/2009 - brefots

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It is 25 years since I moved to Salt Lake City and became a resident, on June 20, 1984.

When I moved to Utah, it was my sincere intention to help Mormons who were abused because of their membership in the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since 1984, I have met a large number of ex-Mormons, including a significant number of excommunicated Mormons--many of whom claimed they were mistreated by LDS church courts.

Many ex-Mormons, especially excommunicated Mormons, have come to me for help over the years.

Unlike Black Moroni, I am not interested in blowing my own trumpet. But to support my above claim, here is an email I received (on June 16, 2009) from a former, and excommunicated Mormon, who claims LDS abuse (last name withheld):

Helen, Thank you for taking a stand against the hypocracy [sic] of the actions of the LDS church and other organizations that have caused harm to individuals and interfered with their life progress. Thank you for being courageous and compassionate in standing up for those that have suffered injustices of organizations. I appreciate your work and appreciate you as a lady of truth. You are exuberant, powerful, action oriented woman of God. I love you! Love, You [sic] client and friend, Timi To commemorate 25 years of living in Salt Lake City, I put together a few brief comments about some of the cultish aspects of Mormonism. My remarks have been kindly posted by Latayne Scott, who is a Christian, and one of my Facebook friends.

Helen

www.latayne.com/incite-blog/reason-77-because-of-the-earned-cultic-status-of-mormonism.php

Here are my comments from Latayne's above link:

June 19th, 2009 at 5:22 pm

From Helen Radkey:

Without question, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a non-Christian cult. It claims absolute (priesthood) authoritarianism with zero tolerance for questions or critical enquiry.

Some Mormons may feel inadequate because of the cultish pressures to conform to the “rules” of the LDS Church. Former Mormons, such as myself, often relate horror stories of LDS abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.

The LDS Church insists there is never a legitimate reason to leave its ranks. Former members are always wrong, and are often blacklisted.

The LDS Church teaches that its leader is always right and has exclusive authority from God, another indication that Mormonism is a cult.

Dissent is never permitted. The LDS Church is fond of attacking people, as a means of handling dissent, another symptom of a cult. With its harsh and punitive church court system, an LDS Church member doesn’t have to be guilty of any specific wrongdoing to be deprived of his/her church membership. He or she may be wrongfully expelled with no redress.

The LDS Church also demonstrates cult-like tactics when LDS officials and church members vigorously and continuously slander people, like myself, who openly and publicly question Mormon practices, such as baptism for the dead, a non-Christian practice.

“Kill the messenger,” seems to be a maxim that is part of the Mormon way of thinking. This includes the spreading of slander and outright lies about persons who are perceived threats to Mormonism.

“Lying for the Lord” is an LDS standard, another sign that the LDS Church is a non-Christian cult.

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