TIME MAGAZINE

Monday, Aug. 29, 1977

The Nation: A Deadly Messenger of God

Cult Leader Ervil LeBaron leaves a trail of death in the West

In the verdant hills south of Mexico City, a self-proclaimed messenger of God's wrath is in hiding from man's justice. Ervil LeBaron, 52, polygamous (13 wives, at least 25 children) leader of the tiny Church of the Lamb of God, is the target of investigations by police departments from San Diego and Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and Denver. Even the Secret Service is interested in his whereabouts, since some of his followers sent a threatening letter to the then presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in September 1976. LeBaron's alleged crime: inducing several of his 40-odd disciples, including a number of women, to murder between 13 and 20 people who failed to abide by what he decreed to be the "constitutional law of the Kingdom of God."

The killing spree—reminiscent of Charles Manson and his "family"—began five years ago in the Baja California community of Los Molinos, 169 miles down the coast from San Diego. There, Ervil's older brother, Joel, patriarch of the Church of the First Born, established a settlement in 1963 as a haven for polygamous Mormons. With Ervil as second in command, the community attracted more than 200 followers, nearly half of whom were excommunicated Mormons (the church banned polygamy in 1890).

But the brothers eventually quarreled. Ervil wanted to turn Los Molinos into a beach resort, while Joel envisioned a simple, self-sustaining community. Moreover, Joel, unlike Ervil, thought that a separation of church and civil law was essential. Kicked out of the First Born Church in 1970, Ervil started his own sect, the Church of the Lamb of God, in San Diego. He also began writing tracts claiming the authority to execute anyone who refused to accept him as God's representative. Less than two years later, Joel was shot dead in nearby Ensenada, Mexico.

Ervil claimed credit for the death of the "impostor and false prophet," but he failed to lure any followers from the community that his brother had founded. From San Diego, Ervil issued warnings to the townsfolk of Los Molinos to repent, but few listened. Then, on the night after Christmas in 1974, Ervil's disciples roared through the community in two trucks, tossing Molotov cocktails into the adobe huts and shooting people as they fled into the dusty street. Two were killed and a dozen wounded.

Within 30 months of the raid, at least ten other opponents of Ervil's new church had either disappeared or were found dead. Among those missing are an Ensenada woman who sided with Joel LeBaron's sect rather than Ervil's, and Utah Polygamist Robert Hunt Simons, whose disappearance came after his wife and a daughter refused to move in with LeBaron. Shot and killed in National City, Calif., was 7-ft. Dean Grover Vest, a follower of Ervil LeBaron's who had begun saying he could do without him.

The latest of the suspected LeBaron victims was Rulon C. Allred, leader of 2,000 polygamists in Utah, Montana and Mexico. On May 10, two young people, who appeared to be women, rushed into Allred's suburban Salt Lake City office and shot him six times. Allred's transgression: he had failed to submit to the disciplines of LeBaron's church.

LeBaron, an imposing (6ft. 4-in.), darkly handsome man, seems almost totally obsessed by his religion. Rather than accept his brother Joel's view of a charitable, merciful Christ, Ervil bases his belief on a preference for the wrathful God of the Old Testament. Says Polygamist Harold Blackmore of Utah: "He's always preaching this blood and thunder stuff—you know, if people don't live the civil law [of Ervil's God], cut their heads off. He is very pugnacious, but is also a smooth-tongued type." Residents of the Mexican villages where LeBaron has been hiding out since May describe him as loco and mitad diablo (half devil).

After Joel's 1972 murder, Ervil was found guilty in Ensenada of being the "intellectual author" of the crime and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. Ervil spent twelve months in jail before a Mexican appeals court overturned the conviction. The lubricant for the reversal, according to one of Joel LeBaron's followers, was a bribe to local officials. Ervil later spent ten months in Mexican prisons while waiting to go on trial for the Los Molinos raid. But he was eventually released—once more after the intervention of some influential Mexican officials.

It was toward the end of his prison term in Mexico that Ervil came to the attention of the U.S. Secret Service. In the fall of 1976, before Ervil's release, an organization called the Society of American Patriots was formed. Letters from the group were sent to Evangelist Billy Graham and Presidential Candidate Jimmy Carter, among others, threatening them with death if they did not intercede to free Ervil. The Secret Service traced the letters back to two of Ervil's wives, who had rented a post office box in Pasadena in the society's name.

Why have law enforcement agencies been so slow in arresting Ervil? One stumbling block is that authorities have little solid evidence directly linking LeBaron to the murder conspiracies. Furthermore, since many potential witnesses are polygamists, they do not want to come forward and testify in public. Perhaps the greatest hindrance is outright terror. Says one suburban Salt Lake City investigator: "So many people are afraid of Ervil."

MY NAME IS WILLIAM HEBER LeBARON,
FEDERAL PRISONER NUMBER 22254-077

http://hismin.tripod.com/lebaron.html

Yes, that means I'm in federal prison. I am currently serving multiple life sentences after having been convicted of four cult-related murders in Texas.

I was born a fifth-generation Mormon. My father's name is Ervil M. LeBaron. He was the founder and leader of "The Church of the Lamb of God," the most notorious and violent of the polygamous offshoots of the Mormon Church.

Early Mormonism had many peculiar beliefs. One of those peculiar beliefs was the practice of male church members having multiple wives, or polygamy. The founder of the church, Joseph Smith, taught that God revealed to him that in order for male members of the church to be exalted to the highest level of heaven and become gods themselves, they had to have multiple wives sealed to them in Mormon marriage ceremonies. This was one of Mormonism's most controversial doctrines. In the late 1800's, after the Mormons settled in the southwest with the church's headquarters in Salt Lake City, the federal government of the United States outlawed the practice of polygamy and began cracking down on the Mormons who practiced it. For years, Mormons put up fierce resistance, but finally capitulated in 1890, after federal troops moved into Utah, and the government arrested over 1,000 polygamists and confiscated all of the church's property.

In the manifesto of 1890, the leader of the Mormon Church agreed to discontinue the practice of polygamy. It was not until the early 1900's that the church itself began a serious crackdown on church members who continued to solemnize polygamous marriages. This crackdown created a serious dilemma for sincere Mormons because the church's founder, Joseph Smith, taught that God Himself revealed to him that the practice of polygamy was mandatory in order for male members to be exalted to godhood. It was one thing for church leaders to placate the U.S. government by agreeing to stop practicing polygamy, but for the church itself to crackdown on polygamy, now that was an entirely different matter. Many Mormons continued to marry multiple wives. When they were found out, they were excommunicated by the church and prosecuted by the government. Numerous male priesthood-holders broke away from the main "apostate" church and began forming their own little sects to keep the mandated practice of polygamy alive. These sects were formed all over the southwestern United States and Mexico.

Around 1920, my paternal grandfather decided it was time for him to take his second wife. When it was discovered, he and his family fled from their home in LaVerkin, Utah, because a local lynch mob of Mormons and the U.S. Marshals were hot on their trail. My grandfather moved to the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, and eventually settled on 200 acres of land. This land would later become a colony named LeBaron.

My grandfather had received the Mormon priesthood from his grandfather, the renowned Mormon Patriarch Benjamin F. Johnson. My grandfather taught his children that Benjamin F. Johnson entrusted him with the sacred duty of keeping the practice of polygamy alive. My grandfather passed his priesthood office onto his eldest son, Joel, just prior to my grandfather's death. He commanded Joel to keep the practice of polygamy alive.

In 1955, my Uncle Joel and my father started their own polygamous offshoot of the Mormon Church called the "Church of the Firstborn," and began gathering their converts in the LeBaron colony and another settlement named Los Molinos. In that sect, my father was unquestionably the most educated in Mormon doctrine and practice. He was also obsessed with power. By the early 1970's, an all-out power struggle culminated between my father and Joel. Several families supported my father and were eventually forced to move from the LeBaron colony and Los Molinos. My father and his followers then formed their own group, which was called the "Church of the Lamb of God." My father claimed to be Joseph Smith's true and rightful priesthood successor and therefore Mormonism's true and rightful leader. My father is one of hundreds who made, and still make, that claim. My father's ultimate goal was to subjugate all of the other polygamous offshoots of the Mormon Church, and to eventually overthrow the Mormon Church itself and take control of it as well. Yes, my father was a madman.

My father was not the only madman in Mormon history, Brigham Young, the person who took control of the Mormon Church after Joseph Smith was killed, was also quite mad. After leading the Mormons to what is now Utah, Brigham Young began teaching a doctrine he called "blood atonement." It was taught that some people's sins are so bad that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross could not atone for them. Therefore, in order for those persons to be saved and go to heaven, their own blood had to be shed. For decades the Mormons blood-atoned murderers, adulterers, and other "dangerous criminals" such as those who dared to disagree with Brigham Young or tried to leave the Mormon Church. A large number of these blood-atonement murders were carried out by a secret band of Mormon assassins called the "Danites." The most infamous Danite murders happened when Brigham Young ordered Danite leader John D. Lee to organize an attack on a group of non-Mormons traveling by wagon train through Utah. Over 100 men, women and children were massacred in that incident.

My father decided it was time to follow in Brigham Young's footsteps. In 1972, when I was eight years old, my father and his followers went on a six-year killing spree in their efforts to subjugate the other polygamous offshoots of the Mormon Church. Numerous people were killed and injured. Because of these murders, I spent the rest of my childhood in a bizarre nomadic environment where local, state, and federal law enforcement raids were common. When I would ask my mother and other cult leaders why all this was happening, they would tell me that these law enforcement officials were servants of the Devil, trying to stop God's work. During this violent period from 1972 through 1980, there were numerous cult members arrested and tried for the murders they committed. Unfortunately, most of these murderers were acquitted at trial. Only my father and one of his wives were convicted, and in 1980, sentenced to life in prison in Utah and California, respectively.

In 1975, right in the middle of this madness, when I was eleven years old I was taken out of school and put to work in one of the communal cult-operated used appliance businesses in Denver. This business was a sweatshop where cult members were put to work to support the cult first and themselves last. When things were going good, we worked 60 and 70 hours a week and lived at the poverty level. In bad times, we worked up to 100 hours a week and went hungry.

Of all the cult businesses, the one in Denver was particularly bad. It was run by Dan Jordan, the cult's second in command. Not only was this guy a murderer, he also had a violent temper. He would constantly yell, scream, rant and rage at everyone. He would do this, using some of the most vulgar language imaginable. One of his favorite threats was to scream "I'll kill you twice," followed by a series of words too vulgar to mention.

Of all the horrific experiences I had as a young teen-ager in the cult, the most frightening came when I was 13 years old, after I was caught taking a puff from a cigarette. For that, I was sternly told by one of the leaders that there was a good possibility I would be put to death. I spent over a month terrified out of my mind that the cult's enforcers would come and kill me. (People were being killed all the time, so such a threat could not be taken lightly.)

Things were not a whole lot better in the Houston branch of the cult, which was led by Mark Chynoweth. Some cult members, who worked in the very prosperous communally operated used appliance business there, were poorly compensated for their hard work. Meanwhile, those in control were spending the business profits freely. When one of my father's wives and two of her under-age children, who worked full-time in the cult business, tried to improve upon their impoverished condition by working part-time on their own, Mark Chynoweth and two other men showed up at their home, which was rented in Mark's name, and proceeded to violently throw the whole family and their belongings into the street. Others left the Houston branch because of similar abuses and injustices.

Because my father was always on the run from the authorities, he never knew the full extent of the abuse his family received. It was only after he was sent to prison did he get the complete details. Upon his knowledge of this, he became so infuriated that he ordered all his wives and children out of the Denver and Houston branches of the cult. He told us to move to Phoenix and start our own branch and business there. This, in turn, infuriated the leaders of the Denver and Houston branches because they were going to lose the source of cheap labor they were depending on for their personal support and enrichment.

Because of my father's actions to help his family, the leaders in Denver and Houston began claiming that my father had become mentally imbalanced in prison (like he was not already when he and they were going around killing people!). With this sort of hypocrisy and other machinations, the Denver and Houston leaders were able to convince two of my father's wives and their combined 15 children to move to Houston and work in the business there.

It was not long thereafter that the leaders in Houston and Denver appointed themselves as the rightful leaders of the cult, and even the rightful leaders of any of my father's wives and children who were under their control at the time. They also began claiming that all of us, who continued to support my father, were in rebellion against God, and that we should repent and follow them. I was 17 at this time, and twice they tried to kidnap me and force me into the now independent Houston cult. Around this same time, members of the Houston group assaulted and mazed another young member of our group, in a failed attempt to kidnap and force him into their cult.

All the leaders and elders in the Houston and Denver cults, including some of the women, were known murderers who were never brought to justice. We were in fear of our lives because of all machinations, accusations of rebellion against God, and kidnapping attempts. My father wrote numerous letters and what he claimed were "revelations from God" dealing with these issues. Everything he wrote can be summed up that, if the leaders of the Houston and Denver groups left his family alone, everything would be left in the hands of the Lord, but that they would be killed if they continued to usurp authority over, and continued to manipulate, control, enslave, and seek to kill his children. These warnings were never heeded and these leaders continued on their destructive paths. My father's letters and other prison writings were eventually self-published in a book entitled: "The Book of the New Covenant."

In late July or early August, 1981, our group went into serious hiding out of fear of the Denver and Houston groups. Shortly thereafter, in mid-August, my father was found dead in his Utah State Prison cell. He died of a heart attack, according to the medical examiner's office. My father had appointed my half-brother, Arthur, as his official successor during one of Arthur's many visits to the prison, so everyone in our group looked to him as our new leader.

By 1983, my father's cult had broken up into four distinct factions - one based in Denver, one in Houston, another in Monterey California, and ours, which was based on a ranch named LaJolla (The Jewel) in Sonora, Mexico. By then, our group, with a couple of exceptions, consisted of several of my father's widows and 22 of his mostly under-age children. The main focus of our group by then was economic survival. Our main source of income came from a used appliance business we operated in Dallas, Texas. While the older kids worked in Dallas, the younger ones lived on the ranch. We were all severely traumatized by all the evils of the Denver and Houston leaders and the breakup of our family. We loved and missed our brothers and sisters in those groups and longed for the day our family could be reunited. Unfortunately, we also had the orders from our father that we believed, as he claimed were revelations from God, that the leaders of the Denver and Houston groups should be killed, not only as revenge for what they did to our family, but also to "liberate" our brothers and sisters under their control.

In 1983, we began having some very serious problems with the California faction. They did not have any of my brothers and sisters to use as their personal cult slaves like the Denver and Houston groups did. They decided that our group made the perfect target so they tried to subjugate us. When my older brother refused to hand over control of the family to them, they ambushed him at the ranch and shot him five times in his back in front of the whole family. They then threw his body in the trunk and fled the ranch. This was never reported to the police because of our fear and past experiences with corrupt Mexican law enforcement, our desire for privacy, and because we were taught to seek our own justice in these matters. At the age of 19, I became the leader of the family. Of the 20 brothers and sisters in this group, I was the eldest. Two sisters and a brother were over 18, the rest were minors. I was now the number one target of the California faction.

We continued to receive numerous calls for our subjugation. These murderous fanatics had even decided how they would divide my sisters up amongst themselves once we were conquered. When we refused to submit, they made good on their threats. Eight months after they murdered my brother Arthur, they ambushed a truck leaving our ranch. The occupants were two men, one woman and her baby. The two men had pistols and the six men in the ambush had military assault rifles. After only a few shots, the driver of the truck put the vehicle in reverse and made a run for it under a hail of gun fire. Upon trying to turn the truck around, it became stuck, blocking the narrow dirt road. The occupants then fled on foot back to the ranch with the attackers in hot pursuit, unleashing another hail of assault weapon's fire upon their fleeing victims. The youngest of the two men was shot and wounded as he carried the baby. No one else was hurt. The mother of the baby did receive numerous bullet holes in her blouse and skirt. The assailants broke off their pursuit and fled. This incident was reported to the police when the wounded man, who carried the baby to safety, showed up at the hospital seeking emergency medical care. Mexican authorities promptly seized the truck in which they were ambushed and their two handguns, and started demanding bribes, as if our group had done something wrong.

We continued to receive death threats and calls for our subjugation for about a year before the next attack. This attack came when several members of the California faction, armed with assault rifles and dressed in full combat fatigues, stormed the ranch at dawn. Because of a blessed set of circumstances, nobody they wanted to kill was at the ranch. Most of the kids ran in every direction and met up at a nearby ranch. By then our group had been pushed over the edge, we were definitely not in a rational or stable frame of mind. During this period, I ordered four individuals killed, two of whom had helped set up my brother to be killed.

I was very conservative when it came to going after our enemies. I would have liked to track down those of the California faction who killed my brother and attacked the ranch. I would have also liked to follow my father's orders, that he said came directly from God, and kill all the leaders of the Denver and Houston factions and liberate all of my brothers and sisters under their control. But not only were these operations economically unfeasible, I was unwilling to jeopardize our little group by such actions.

I definitely was not a good spiritual leader. My primary focus was the business in Dallas and our economic survival, and to keep us from getting killed. I had no time to study the Mormon scriptures, such as the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, or the Pearl of Great Price. I didn't even have time to seriously study my father's numerous writings, including his last, "The Book of the New Covenant," much less the Bible, which we were taught was less authoritative than all of the above. I left all the studying and teaching in the hands of one of my younger brothers, who spent most of his time at our ranch and was definitely gifted in this area.

In late 1986, because of my lack of spiritual and military initiative, several of my brothers and sisters became dissatisfied with my leadership. They got together and formed a plan to remove me from power after my younger brother, whom I left in charge of spiritual things, claimed to have a "revelation from God" to the effect that, since I had failed to go after and kill our enemies, God had appointed him as the new leader. My father had actually given an order in "The Book of the New Covenant" that whoever would not kill the leaders of the Houston and Denver groups should themselves be killed. With that in mind, it was decided that I would be killed on my next visit to the ranch.

Right about this time, we experienced some financial difficulties. It was late 1986, and the Dallas economy was in recession and our business was not doing well at all. That is when I decided to rob my first bank. Although I had a gun in my hand and told this pretty petite teller not to give me any money with exploding dye packs, this brave soul gave me one anyway. As I made my way through the parking lot with the loot to my get-away car, the dye pack went off, burning a hole in the bag, sending red smoke and money flying in the strong morning wind. I still would have had plenty of time to get away had it not been for that off-duty police officer who happened to be cruising through the parking lot in his personal car. I made a run for it, but it was not long before I had an army of police officers surrounding me. I landed in jail and in big trouble. This also saved my life since my next stop after the bank was the ranch where certain death awaited me.

While I was in jail, a smooth transition of leadership took place. I called my brother from jail and he told me about his "revelation" appointing him as leader of the group. Some would say I'm gullible for believing this, but you have to consider that Mormons take personal revelation very seriously, and I definitely did not have a revelation from God to the contrary, and I definitely was not about to fake a revelation. The fact that I was in jail and he was now in charge, sort or proved to me that God had in fact appointed my brother as the new leader. Because I agreed to the change in leadership, I was bonded out of jail 13 days after my arrest.

In accordance with traditional Mormon teachings of salvation by personal works of obedience, and my father's "revelations" to kill our enemies, I was told and believed, for obvious reasons, in order to redeem myself from my past failures I would have to lead our group's assassination efforts and other criminal activities.

Because our legal business was not profitable enough to support the family and pay for the planned murders, it was decided that it should be abandoned in favor of full-time criminal activity. We had connections in the United States and Mexico so we started smuggling marijuana to finance the group. All went well until my main U.S. buyer introduced me to someone I knew to be a narcotics agent as a buyer of a large quantity of cocaine. That brought our drug smuggling to a halt.

Our next criminal endeavor was stealing trucks and taking them to Mexico and selling them to ranchers, farmers and drug dealers. It was during this period of economic prosperity that it was decided that it was time to kill our enemies. From May 1987 to June 1988, our group carried out ten murders, including the assassinations of all the leaders of the California, Denver, and Houston groups.

In spite of all my works of obedience, I still did not feel accepted or redeemed by God. In fact, I was more miserable than I had ever been in my life.

Everything came crashing down on July 1, 1988. The Phoenix Police Street Crimes Unit stumbled onto our auto theft operation and arrested me and several members of the family. Because we were the prime suspects in numerous murders, our arrest received widespread newspaper and TV news coverage. After 14 months in jail, five of us pled guilty to auto theft, as part of a plea bargain, and were sentenced to varying prison terms.

It was while serving my sentence at the Arizona State Prison, Santa Rita Unit, outside of Tucson, that I began an intensive study of Mormonism. At the urging of a new friend I met while chained together on the way to the prison, I even began to attend several of the weekly Bible studies. While there, I also met a Mormon inmate who eventually started questioning Mormonism. He began ordering various anti-Mormon publications, the most damaging being Fawn Brodie's classic book: "No Man Knows My History." I was not afraid to attend these Bible studies and read anti-Mormon materials because I had a strong conviction that if my beliefs could not stand up to a challenge, then my beliefs were not worth having. I was brought to tears by "No Man Knows My History." This book painted Joseph Smith in a very bad light. It busted down to size all the legends I grew up with of Joseph Smith. It also proved Joseph Smith was a liar, scam artist, and adulterer. I just could not believe all this was true. It was too painful for it to be true. Although I did not give up on Mormonism after that, I just could not read the Book of Mormon any more. Even though "No Man Knows My History" really shook me up, I was able to hold on to my Mormon faith because of some experiences I had that I believed were supernatural and spiritual, and because of some prophetic statements my father made that actually came true. (Later on, I came to realize that most of my father's prophetic statements did not come true, just as most of Joseph Smith's did not.)

My stay in the Arizona State Prison was interrupted three times from 1990 through 1992. The first time was to face the state bank robbery charge I bonded out and absconded on in Dallas. I actually beat that case because of the errors and ignorance of the Dallas County Prosecutor handling the case. After returning to Arizona for six months, the Feds indicted me for the same bank robbery, took me back to Dallas and gave me, as part of a plea bargain, a ten-year sentence that I was to begin serving after I finished my Arizona sentence.

Several months after returning from Dallas on the federal bank robbery charge, I was indicted in Houston by a Federal Grand Jury for four murders. Three of the victims were the leaders of the Houston faction in 1981. All four of these victims were gunned down at three separate locations on the same day at the same time. The indictment charged that my 17-year old brother, two 18-year old sisters, a 19-year old brother, two 22-year old sisters, a step-brother and I planned and carried out these murders. I stood trial for these murders, along with a half-sister and my step-brother. We were all convicted by the jury and were each sentenced to four life terms without parole. I was then returned to Arizona to finish my auto theft sentence.

Although I had serious doubts about Mormonism, and even was able to denounce it at times, I was never able to truly let it go because of the previously mentioned "spiritual experiences" I thought I had over the years, as well as the prophetic statements my father had that came true. The most dramatic of the "spiritual experiences" I had came right after my arrival in Houston to face the murder charges. After finding out that several of my own family members were cooperating with local, state, and federal authorities and were going to testify against me, I became angry and distraught. It was so painful and shocking to me that I crashed into a severe suicidal depression. I had never been suicidal before in my life. For three days I prayed and prayed that God would deliver me from what I thought was an all out Satanic attack on my mind. Then the depression lifted. In just a few seconds I went from a suicidal depression to a state of euphoric rapture that lasted several days. The only problem was that I had no idea what I was actually going through. I had no idea what depression even was. My father, based on his own experiences, taught me that the crashing lows came when God withdraws the Holy Spirit because of His anger and lets Satan attack you, and that the euphoric rapture was when the Holy Spirit was with you the most.

I have now come to know that the euphoria has the clinical name, "Mania." People who cycle from depression to euphoria suffer from a hereditary chemical imbalance in the brain called "Bipolar Disorder" or "Manic Depression." Those with severe Mania hear voices in their head, and many think it's from God. I heard this voice only one time. My father said God spoke to him all the time. He also told me about his crashing lows and euphoric highs. My father was severely bipolar. He refused medication in prison because he thought the doctors were trying to harm him. In late 1999, I was finally diagnosed with moderate manic depression. I am currently on medication to control it and feel better than I've felt in a long time. I look back and feel a little foolish for believing my mental illness was a spiritual experience, and for clinging to Mormonism partly because of those experiences.

I finished my Arizona prison sentence in April 1995. I was transferred by the U.S. Marshals to the Maximum Security Federal Penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, to begin serving my bank robbery and murder sentences.

Shortly after my arrival to federal prison, someone gave me a book to read entitled: "The King James Only Controversy," by James R. White. Although it was not the main topic, this book proved that the New Testament, as we have it today, is the same as when it was written by the original authors 2,000 years ago. This is proven by the fact that there are tens of thousands of ancient Biblical manuscripts gathered from all over the world from which we get the New Testament. The original writings of the New Testament were dispersed throughout the world, translated into different languages, copied and recopied hundreds and thousands of times by hand, handed down from generation to generation, and when they are brought together, all still teach the same doctrine.

Another very important fact is that the second century Christian leaders, the successors of the apostles, quoted the writing of the apostles in their own writings, so much so that you can reconstruct the New Testament from their writings. All this clearly proves that Joseph Smith lied when he said the Bible could not be trusted because the "plain and precious parts" had been removed by "corrupt scribes and priests." Joseph Smith only made this claim in order to bring in all his false doctrines and claiming they were the "plain and precious parts" removed by the "corrupt scribes and priests." My faith in Mormonism was shaken even more, but I still had those pesky "spiritual experiences," and those prophetic statements my Dad had, which came true, that kept me going. One thing for sure, I was now free to believe that the Bible was in fact the reliable word of God. All I needed was to learn how to interpret it correctly.

What remained of my Mormon faith came crashing down in April, 1997. That is when a Christian brother gave me a book to read entitled: "The Sovereignty of God," by Arthur W. Pink. Half way through this book, it was very clear to me that Mormonism was complete lies and nonsense. The "Sovereignty of God" brings all the Scriptures together that prove salvation is a free gift God gives to those whom He chooses, and that this gift is by God's grace alone. It is not something we merit through anything we do (John 6:35-39, 44-45, 63-65; John 15:16; Acts 13:48; Romans 8:29-30; Romans 9:8-21; 1 Corinthians 1:27-29; Ephesians 1:4, 11; Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; James 2:5; Revelation 17:14; Psalm 65:4; Deuteronomy 7:6-8).

I also learned that we appropriate this gift of salvation through faith (belief) in the person and work of Christ (John 3:14-15, 16, 18, 36; John 5:24; John 6:35; 40, 47; John 7:38; John 11:25-26; Acts 10:43; Acts 13:38-39; Acts 16:30-31; Romans 1:16; Romans 3:26; Romans 4:5; Romans 9:33; Romans 10:4, 9-11; 1 Timothy 1:16; 1 John 5:1, 5, 10-13).

And that even the very faith we exercise to appropriate salvation is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 12:3; Acts 18:27; Philippians 1:29; Hebrews 12:2; Luke 17:5).

I was finally free from the evil bondage of Mormonism. The truth really does set you free, as Jesus said. Now I am free to love, serve and obey God, not to gain my salvation, but to please the Mighty and Holy God who has delivered me from the bondage of Mormonism, sin, and eternal death. I am now free to do the works God has prepared for me (Ephesians 2:10).

Now that I am a Christian, I'm shocked and horrified by all the evil I did while in the cult. I know I was wrong in killing all those murderers who abused and terrorized us. The Word of God clearly states the vengeance belongs to God, and that we are to obey the laws of the land. I see my sin very clearly now and have asked God to forgive me.

What causes me the most pain is the fact that I was involved in the murder of a few innocent people as well. These individuals were neither murderers nor terrorists, they were just caught in the web of madness that had overcome us. I know I have caused the family of these innocent victims great pain and sorrow. I am truly sorry for my actions and the pain it has caused them. I pray they will forgive me.

I am also sorry for the pain and sorrow I have caused the families of my not so innocent victims. These families did not and do not deserve to go through all of their suffering. I pray they will forgive me as well.

I also pray that one day God will open up the way for me to personally apologize to and ask forgiveness from all those whom I have hurt.

Forgiveness, that is something the Lord has been dealing with me lately. It's one of the areas of my Christian sanctification that I'm struggling in. I'm still experiencing some of the anger, resentment and rage for all of the horror I was subjected to while growing up and living in the cult. I am also experiencing these same emotions towards myself for everything I did, as well. I am currently doing an intensive study on forgiveness and am learning how to forgive myself and others. Even though I'm only in the beginning stages of true and genuine forgiveness, I already feel as if a great weight has been lifted off my mind. It has given me an even greater sense of peace and joy. I praise the Lord for doing such a wonderful work in my life. I look forward to growing in my love and forgiveness of others. In doing so, I'll be able to experience more of the love and forgiveness God has given me through Christ Jesus. As I learn to forgive I'm also learning to be patient and forgiving towards those who are not willing or cannot as of yet forgive me. I pray God will give them the grace to be forgiving, just as God is giving me the grace to forgive.

Where do I go from here? I ask that question every day. Only God knows the answer. But everyday that I wake up, I know that my Sovereign God has me right where He wants me. Being in prison definitely has its plus side. The main benefit is the time I have to read and study God's Word. Since my conversion to Christianity I have read dozens of the best books by the best Christian authors, not to mention dozens of booklets and tracts. I praise the Lord that I am now well grounded in the historic biblical Christian faith.

I have also read several books that expose Mormonism for what it truly is, a religious cult based on lies and deceptions, a cult whose founding leaders were so corrupt and evil that modern Mormon leaders have to go out of their way to cover it all up with misinformation and propaganda. But the truth is out there for anyone who is sincerely seeking after the truth. There are numerous organizations that lovingly expose the lies and deceptions of Mormonism.

It is my prayer that God will deliver all Mormons from the lies and deceptions and into God's true kingdom through faith in the person and works of Christ.

Sincerely,

William H. LeBaron