You have the leaders make a claim that they are directed by God. That is it. That is all you need. I'm not sure which is worse, JS that claimed some religious visitations/directions, or the "prophets" after him that don't claim any directions or visitations. They just throw out a blanket statement that they are prophets, seers and revelators, without any proof or claims. Also they add things like, God will never allow them to lead the church astray, follow the prophet.

This causes leadership worship. These 15 old guys are worshipped as equals to prophets from the bible. JS put himself just one small step below Jesus himself. All they have to do is act like they are God's chosen, (talk in monotone voices, run the church, ie take in money and spend money) and bingo, the members idolize them as men of God.

But the bible says to beware of false prophets, and by their fruits you shall know them. So lets look at their fruits. They put on this act of being holy and tight with Jesus, but if you analyse their actions, you see something different.

As with most things mormon, there is SPIN, that is that anything negative or that requires great sacrifice means that it is holy or noble. But is it? When you step out of the box and see how mormonism damages members and controls members, through this antiquated system of "we are inspired, you can't say no" a lot of damage is done.

The first thing you need to realize is that the church cares only about the church, at your expense. You are an exploited servant that pays for the right to service the church. And the best 2 things that the church can do to ensure growth is to have its membership have lots of kids, and then put those kids on missions. Third is to build lots of temples so the members through peer pressure and preaching, they have to pay tithing to attend. They even won't allow you to see your own children get married if you don't pay them.

The power set up is like this, they have all the power, and you have none. You have to submit to their control. You endure probing and shaming interviews. You run to them with you problems, because they claim inspiration for you. You get your patriarchial blessing because they know how your life will turn out. They threaten you with eternal damnation if you leave, or eternal separation from your family. They indoctrinated with things like early morning seminary and missions. They dangle as rewards, leadership callings and "blessings", and eternal polygamy.

They call the shots, you submit and pay. Along the way your self esteem takes a huge hit. You feel guilty and shamed. You get isolated from nonmembers, and personal interests. You reclessly marry another cult member, and raise cult children, and the cycle continues.

Some wake up and smell the coffee (not postum) and leave, but the damage has been done, and recovery can be slow, even very slow for some. Only once you are out can you see clearly the mess that is mormonism. You thought you were getting religion, but you were getting cultism, or enforced religion. They are masters of guilt, shame, and control over you. Constant indoctrination and manipulation and peer pressure, and information control and whitewashing. You then find out that the whole thing is a con orchestrated by JS so he can get lots of teen and married booty.

Ohhh Emmm Geee, we've been had.

Leadership idolization is now anger and ridicule toward the leadership. You see them as abusers, not holy men. They act all righteous, but they are power hungry, control freaks that want to know if teens masturbate. All the quaint widow stories now appear to be an act, when you see the actions of these men that take over your lives, ruin them, make you pay even if you can't afford it, make you pay for you missions, interfere with your schooling, cause you to marry irresponibley, and have so many other irresponsible expectations that keep you cult whipped, that you never feel in control of your own life.

Then they make you clean the church, and that isn't enough, they make you clean the toilets and bathrooms and everything else. They take seniors away from their golden years and grandkids, for self financed missions. They constantly want from you, they take, they use, they coerce, they manipulate, and you are not supposed to say no, because they claim inspiration over you.

How about this. Any inspiration for me will be received by me. I no longer accept mormon leadership claimed inspiration, to run my life, which means that anything any mormon leader has said is insignificant to me. Unless God personally directs me, then I am now my own leader.

when you said:

"You thought you were getting religion, but you were getting cultism, or enforced religion. They are masters of guilt, shame, and control over you. Constant indoctrination and manipulation and peer pressure, and information control and whitewashing. You then find out that the whole thing is a con orchestrated by JS so he can get lots of teen and married booty.

Ohhh Emmm Geee, we've been had."

What Mormons are willing to do to you, to your family, to your finances and to your life to achieve their own ends and feed their own egos. They have NO boundaries - no request is too outrageous, no claim is too far-fetched, no sacrifice is too much to ask of a member. And for what? At the end of the day, for nothing.

Fascinating. I grieve for those of you that have spent so much of youir lives conned by all of it. A bunch of bogus man made, frequently changing rules, that are supposed to make you Holy? It must have been very confusing to finally see the truth.

Loved the post! You are right, they are the best con men ever to come out of any religious group.

You said:
"God will never allow them to lead the church astray, follow the prophet."

Just before I left the church I was taking a long hard look at the damage they tried to do with prop 8. And it got me thinking. It was then I realized that every "revelation" they ever had was only influenced by social pressures. There was no god involved in this inspiration. Follow the prophet my foot.

They say it is from god and a bunch of dimwitted fools (myself included at one point) believe it only because their golden bible tells them so.

Just came across a devout Mormon's blog about daily family life and felt physically ill by some of what this woman wrote: http://stakerzxposed.blogspot.com/ Yeah, leadership idolization, raising cult children, it's all there.

This is Molly Mo's Sara's review of the book!

"I was horrified that oppression like this can be going on here and now... not far away and long ago, but just a few hundred miles from here, right now! This woman's tragic tale opened my eyes to the blessings all around me everyday, and I am recommitting myself to enjoying and appreciating them more fully."