Warren Jeffs, imprisoned leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day finds himself leading a sect, that by all estimates, is diminishing in membership.
The reason he is behind bars, of course, is that Jeffs followed the ethical lynchpin of Joseph Smith – “If the Lord commands, do it”.
There is great concern that can be drawn from following this tenet. It is doubly so, if you are led by one who supposes to have had a series of visions of God which led him to starting the Church of Christ, which led to his eventual followers to show up at your door with those spooky pamphlets.
Of course, if we want to talk about the commandments, Joseph Smith, among others violated, among others, the first:
I am the LORD your God:
you shall not have
strange Gods before me.
Visions by themselves are not dangerous, I have them all the time, so do you. When you interpret these visions as truths and exercise them does the trouble begin. Visions inspire the impaired, such as the brothers Lafferty, the focus of Jon Krakauer’s, “Under the Banner of Heaven” to kill their brother’s wife and child. On occasion, I believe I am the leader of marshmallow land, but a quick return to earth occurs and off to work I go.
In a time when the LDS could really benefit from a win, this doesn’t help. The last time they cheered in Salt Lake City, it was from a dunk that Malone delivered from a Stockton pass.
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http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/us/polygamist-flds-warren-jeffs-update/index.html
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