Lucifer's Lantern

 All right. So, for this post today, I’m going to be talking about a pretty sensitive subject. And that’s going to be satanic ritual abuse and potential ties to leadership of the Mormon church. It should go without saying that this is going to be a little bit more of a sensitive subject. I’ll say up front that I have no intention of diving into specific examples—detailed descriptions of what satanic ritual abuse looks like—outside of broad definitions. My goal is just to give an idea of what makes ritual abuse a little bit different than regular abuse (for lack of a better word). Consider this your heads up that this is going to be a sensitive subject. I typically wouldn’t really give this type of subject very much attention. I certainly never planned on making a post about it. But I did have an interesting conversation the other day with an LDS content creator that I message with sometimes. I was a little surprised when he messaged me saying he had some information regarding som...

  I would probably say that the Book of Mormon is one of the most heavily criticized pieces of literature ever put into circulation. These criticisms go back even before it was published. From the moment Joseph Smith claimed he had access to an ancient record that God needed him to translate, people began theorizing about its origins. They criticized Joseph Smith, questioned his motivations, and doubted his inspirations. Once the Book of Mormon was published, critics finally had the text itself. Since then, it has been torn apart, analyzed, and debated for nearly 200 years. If you want to dive into these criticisms today, you face an overwhelming mountain of material to sift through. That’s where I want to narrow the focus a bit by recommending one book: Studies of the Book of Mormon by B. H. Roberts.   (affiliate link) I recommend it for three reasons. First, it presents excellent criticisms of the Book of Mormon . Second, the controversy surrounding its content and pub...

So much about who we are as individuals is tied up into our belief systems. For most of my life I identified as a Mormon. Walking away from the church, I realized that took up a tremendous part of who I was and how I identified myself as a person. I went through these phases where I struggled with the question: outside of Mormonism, who am I? What do I believe in? What are my moral standings? What are the things that I want to support, and what are the things that I don’t want to support? I don’t think I’m alone in this. The other day I was looking at my  page for reading recommendations. And as I was looked through my reading list, it hit me: every single book I was suggesting to people, (and nearly every single book I had read since leaving the church) was tied directly to Mormonism. And honestly, that bothers me a little bit... I've been keeping myself in a box. I’ve come to identify as an agnostic atheist. But here’s one of the things that’s been bothering me. When I introduce...

Christians often ask, “Without God’s word, how can you know right from wrong?” The assumption is that the Bible is the ultimate moral guide. But if you actually read what the Bible says, the picture of morality it presents is brutal. Many of the things God commands or condones are the very things most people today see as evil. Slavery “If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself… And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges… and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.” Exodus 21:2–6 “Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids… And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you… they shall be y...

One of the most common criticisms about Mormonism is that faithful members believe they will “get their own planet” in the next life. Whenever this idea appears, the Church and its defenders move quickly to deny it. FAIR, the main apologetic group, calls the phrase a caricature: “Reducing [exaltation] to ruling a planet caricatures a profound and complex belief. Claims that Mormons hope for ‘their own planets’ almost always aim to disrespect and marginalize” ( FAIR, “Gods of Their Own Planets” ).  The Church’s official Newsroom FAQ also weighs in:   Church Newsroom, “Frequently Asked Questions” . On the surface these answers look straightforward. God does not hand out planets. Yet the very same sources go on to describe exaltation as receiving all that the Father has, which includes creative power. FAIR acknowledges that exalted beings “will share in all that the Father has including his creative powers” (FAIR) and even goes on the share a quote from church leadership which ex...

  Leaders explore shared structure to address decline in participation—while eyeing potential funding from the LDS Church. Chicago, August 2025 — Representatives from several major Christian denominations met last week to explore the formation of the One Church Network , a proposed collaborative structure aimed at consolidating resources and countering long-term decline in church attendance. While the framework remains in early development, organizers hope the Network could serve as a cooperative umbrella across Protestant, Evangelical, Anglican, and some Catholic communities. The goal is to streamline administration, reduce redundancies, and restore public engagement without requiring theological conformity. However, one internal discussion has sparked cautious debate: whether to seek financial support from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A Logical but Complicated Backer The LDS Church, with its extensive financial reserves, global infrastructure, and aggre...