by Ray Black
Joel set up a Mormon splinter church by the name of the ‘Church of the First Born of the Fullness of Time’. By the spring of 1965, Joel had organized his new church and appointed his brother Ervil as secretary.
BLOOD BROTHERS
There was a problem. Ervil LeBaron was also receiving messages from heaven, and announced that he too was ‘one mighty and strong’ – a prophet from God. He was the more handsome of the two brothers and although he was not as amiable as his brother, he definitely had a way with people, especially women. He had the body of a boxer, and with this came the tendency to hold a grudge, but his flip side was that he was an excellent writer of scripture. His writing became obsessive and at times Ervil would stay up for days at a time living on a diet of coffee to keep him awake but writing extremely profound holy works.
Ervil would constantly have dreams about having many wives with which he would ‘multiply and replenish the earth . . .’ He wanted to be a great and respected man in as many ways as possible and nobody was going to stand in his way.
The two LeBaron brothers soon started disagreeing, and with both of them needing to be the top prophet they ended up having a major fall-out. Joel wished to start an order which abided completely by the Ten Commandments. Joel believe that only when the Ten Commandments were being followed would Jesus return to Earth.
Although Ervil did agree with the idea he believed the only way to form it within the sect was by using brute force, something that pacifist Joel was not happy with doing. The finale to the brothers’ relationship came in the winter of 1969. Joel, the head of the Fullness of Time Church decided to dismiss Ervil from his position within the sect due to his lack of respect for others and his rebellious tendencies towards the movement.
Ervil became extremely angry at Joel’s confrontation and luckily enough it was not long before he had received some orders from God.
God had spoken to Ervil and told him that he needed to get rid of his brother Joel. The prophecy spoke of Joel as someone who even though was seen by many as ‘saintly’ was getting in the way of both Ervil and the Holy One’s work on Earth.
On August 20, 1972, Joel LeBaron whilst at his polygamist community, Los Molinos, was shot twice, once in the throat and once the head; he was killed instantly. The murder had been organized by his own flesh and blood, Ervil LeBaron, and had been committed by one of Ervil's staunch followers.
THE CHURCH OF THE LAMB OF GOD
After the untimely death of his brother Joel, Ervil had reformed his followers under the name of the ‘Church of the Blood of the Lamb of God’ and preached his views to them on a daily basis.
These were the lengths that certain Mormon polygamists would go to to prove their cause was the most spiritually just – prophecies would come at just the right time to give people such as Ervil an excuse to murder people who held different Mormonist ideologies.
By 1975, Ervil LeBaron had murdered about five more people and seriously injured around 15 others, without getting his own hands dirty of course. Each murder was executed by one of Ervil's flock on his orders, which in turn were orders received from God.
Even when Ervil LeBaron was arrested in Mexico in the spring of 1976, his free disciples carried on with the blood bath. His clan ran their operation from a post office box in southern most California, and they sent out circulars opposing governmental taxes, state benefits, gun control and other polygamist groups. Even the late Jimmy Carter received a death threat from Ervil's group when he stood for the presidency in 1976, the Church of the Blood of the Lamb of God believed that Carter’s views were too liberal and un-godly.
In 1979, 11 months after being arrested, Ervil LeBaron was freed by the Mexican judicial system as they did not have enough proof that linked him to the murders over the previous three years, but other reports say that his freedom was more likely to have been through bribes, which were so rife in Mexico in the 1970s.
Whatever, Ervil LeBaron was once again a free man back on his rampage, cleansing the world of anyone who was not in agreement with him and did not do as he said.
Ervil arranged the murder of one of his own daughters due to her insubordination and a few months later had Rulon Allred killed.
Rulon Allred was a prominent Salt Lake City polygamist leader by this point and faced his death in an execution style manner, set up by Ervil. Ervil wanted the followers who Allred had, and thought that if he disposed of Allred he would be able to make make Allred’s flock move their allegiance to the Lamb of God.
Finally the law caught up with Ervil LeBaron and this time he would go to prison for good. The Mexican authorities agreed to deport LeBaron back to the US, and in 1979 he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the maximum security prison at Point of the Mountain, Utah.
Just two years later, in the summer of 1981, Ervil LeBaron was found dead in his cell, aged just 56. He had become a rather agitated and confused man soon after his incarceration as he realised that he was never going to be free again. He had more revelations in his cell, ones which this time said that a miracle would happen which would free him. But just two years after his imprisonment, he had died of a heart attack.
Maybe Ervil’s body had known more than his mind, and gave up religion even though his mind would have continued prophesying forever if he had been given half the chance.
ERVIL'S LITTLE BLACK BOOK?
Even though Ervil LeBaron was part of his own church he had still practised and accepted many of the Mormon teachings throughout his life. One teaching he adhered to always was ‘blood atonement’, which means ‘sinners should shed their blood to save their souls’. It was his interpretation of this practice that had got him imprisoned in the first place.
Before his sudden death, Ervil LeBaron had managed to write a 400 page script called The Book of the New Covenants, which contained a list of people he believed needed to be sacrificed for his cause, people whom in his eyes were sinners, had betrayed him in the past or who had the power to betray him in the future. Again this list was based on the ‘blood attonement’ ideology but with his own twist.
Around 20 copies of his script were published and managed to get into the possession of his most righteous brothers. People who he could reply on, even after his death, to carry out the necessary murders. Most of these people were in fact his children. He had fathered over 50 progeny through his plural marriages and the majority of them stuck loyally by him long after he had died.
Ervil's 13-year-old son, Aaron, took over his father’s leadership after his death and the clan of children, teenagers and young adults started to put their father’s words into action. Many of these children had been abused by older members of the former Lamb of God clan therefore already felt a lot of hatred to the world, in their eyes they were acting upon orders from a higher force, higher than any state or congressional authority as they were orders warranted by God himself. Throughout the ’80s names were crossed off the death list and by 1988 the Lambs of God were boasting about the 17 murders that they had committed.
THE DOWNFALL OF THE LEBARON CLAN
In 1993, three of Ervil LeBaron’s offspring were arrested and sentenced to life in prison for their involvements in the death spree of the ’80s, and in 1995 the leader of the Lambs of God, Aaron LeBaron, was found in Mexico and deported, as his father had been, back to the United States to face murder charges. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Where the other 50 or so LeBaron children are, is unclear. A few siblings have re-surfaced to talk about their lives within the clan, Cynthia LeBaron even testified against her brother Aaron on the second day of his trial and is now part of a witness protection scheme, and other members have written articles giving their points of view about polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism.
The problem was that the LeBaron clan knew no different, they had been born into this lifestyle and therefore tried to abide by the rules that they were taught, how were they to know that the rules they abided by were illegal in no uncertain terms? They did not know an outsi
de world only one of a polygamist, murdering father who’s word was as divine as that of God himself.
The generations of LeBarons did not have a choice, whilst growing up, of who they were lynching and when they were legally adults they were so far within the clan that it would have been virtually impossible to change.
A quote from Aaron LeBaron’s younger sister Jessica LeBaron puts their upbringing and life into perspective somewhat, even if what the family did can never be forgiven:
The thing was a nightmare, that both Aaron LeBaron and I were born into. Just like any other children we believed and tried to do what we were taught. It was not fun. Perhaps we are not good folks, but when all the bad things happened we had never been to school, were isolated on a ranch and have a family history of mental illness (treatable with medication) and other factors that contributed to extreme fanaticism. As a little child I believed all the ‘stuff’ the church did was right. We are not evil, even though what we did is really bad.
The Jombola Cult
Powers of the Dark
Over 300 people are estimated to be part of the Jombola cult, a supernatural group based in southern Sierra Leone. The group first appeared in the war-torn region at the end of the 1990s, shortly after a peace agreement was signed between the government and the barbaric rebel army, the Revolutionary United Front. Based in the southern Sierra Leone districts of Bo, Pujehan and Bonthe, the Jombola Cult strikes fear into the hearts of all who inhabit these areas. The locals are convinced of the paranormal powers of the cult members.
Terrified residents of these southern regions claim that the members of the Jombola Cult transform themselves into creatures such as rats, reptiles, cats and dogs and, in their animal guises, set off to destroy local villages and terrorize the inhabitants. Witnesses of the transformations claim that the sight is petrifying.
The mission of the Jombola Cult, disclosed by a captured cult member, is to bring down both the government and the southern Civilian Defense Force, the Kamajors. To this end, the cult uses death, destruction and the ‘powers of the dark’.
This mission, and the very emergence of the Jombola Cult, is explained further by analysts who see it as a direct result of the socio-political crisis caused by the disintegration of the national army. Where the army of Sierra Leone had been weakened, the Kamajors were instrumental in keeping the Revolutionary United Front down, and now the Jombola Cult has risen up to engage them in a battle for dominance. The Kamajors are believed to have used mystical powers to combat the RUF, and these are now being challenged by the Jombola Cult
The leader of the Jombola Cult, Pa Kujah, is reported to live in the southern town of Yambama. He recruits both men and women to assist him in his mission, although the women are seen as little more than sex objects, and used mainly to attract and then sexually overpower male victims. The Jombola Cult has been held responsible for at least 30 murders committed in the regions it terrorises.
The Lafferty Brothers’ Message From God
Two brothers whose lives take a turn for the worse
Daniel and ronald Lafferty were brothers born into a strict Latter Day Saint family. They had four brothers and two sisters with whom they lived together with their mother and father on a farm west of Utah.
Their father, Watson Lafferty, after serving a few years in the US navy as a barber, opened a barber’s shop come chiropractic clinic and settled down to raise his eight children as model LDS members. With his love for religion came some strict rules, that Watson expected his wife Claudine and children to live by, and he did not think twice about beating any of them who refused to obey him.
The brothers had been born into a violent but religious family life. When they weren’t facing their father’s abuse personally, they often saw him inflict it on their other siblings, and also on their mother, whom Dan Lafferty described as a ‘good woman and excellent mother’ On the flip side of the coin, Watson Lafferty was also a loving father who would often tell his wife that he loved her, and placed his family at the centre of his life together with the LDS church. Watson complied with the Mormon doctrine but was definitely not what can be classified as a fundamentalist as he never dabbled in polygamy or even discussed the practice of plural marriages as a possibility.
DAN AND RON'S PATHS TO ADULTHOOD
Both Dan and Ronald were model Mormon children, they excelled at school, took up extra curricular activities and studied their faith at any possible opportunity. The LDS church was just as much a part of their lives as it was their father’s. Ron was an outstanding sportsman and Dan had a voice of an angel, they seemed like model American men, all round ‘good-guys’ who would probably grow into a men akin to The Simpsons’ character Ned Flanders.
After finishing high school Dan went on a religious expedition to Scotland where he met a beautiful divorcee called Matilda Loomis. Matilda had two children from her dissolved marriage, and instantly Dan felt a strong and common bond between the two of them. He returned to the United States two years later without having acted upon his feelings towards her.
Six years later at an expedition reunion, Dan re-encountered Matilda and knew that his connection with her had not weakened. After receiving a revelation from God, Dan decided that he was to marry Matilda, she agreed to his question immediately, stating that she too had been told by God that this was her calling.
Shortly after their marriage, Dan, Matilda and Matilda’s two children moved south to California so that Dan could study the family business of chiropractics. Whilst in California, one of Dan and Matilda’s local LDS church associates was holding a talk on the subject of plural marriages.
The couple decided to go to the lecture, just out of interest, but Dan left with an extreme thirst to know more. He had not realized just how rife the discontinued Mormon principle of polygamy was within his congregation.
After six years in California, Dan moved his wife and four children back to Utah where he started an in-depth study into the history and practice of polygamy within the LDS church and the Mormon faith.
After completing high school, Dan’s brother, Ron Lafferty, signed up for the army. After a short while he realized that it was not his calling and instead went on a two-year journey as a missionary, spreading the word of the LDS church and the greatness of what it had to offer around the United States. He wanted other people to experience the pleasure and contentment that he got from being a Mormon.
It was a tough two years for Ron, as being a Mormon missionary means abiding strictly by the rules of the doctrine. Rules include: not drinking alcohol, not smoking, not ingesting caffeine, no sex before marriage, no masturbation, only reading text produced by the LDS church and only listening to religious music and watching religious programmes. He abided by these rules without complaint but now and again a rebellious streak emerged. Did this come from being brought up by such an authoritative father?
Whilst on one of his Mormon missions in Florida, Ron met a student nurse called Dianna and a few months later, at the end of his mission, they were married. The newly weds moved back to Utah so that they could be close to the rest of the Lafferty family and also so that they could be within the epicentre of the Mormon religion.
A LOOK INTO FUNDAMENTALISM
A short time into his research into polygamy, Dan Lafferty came across a text called The Peace Maker. The two-page pamphlet advocated polygamy and dealt mainly with biblical marriage laws. It is a text shrouded in mystery, as who actually wrote it remains ambiguous. Some say that a non LDS member by the name of Udney Hay Jacob was responsible for its production and that LDS founder and prophet Joseph Smith was quick to distance himself from the work, but others believe that Joseph Smith himself composed it.
Dan Lafferty received a message from God telling him that it was Smith who had written it and this was all Dan needed to begin a polygamist lifestyle. A big part of The Peace Maker deals with the need for the woman to be submissive as God had requested, and it wasn’t long before Dan had Matilda abiding
by these rules. She wasn’t allowed to drive, handle money or speak to anyone outside of the family without Dan being there. The children were removed from school and there was to be no medical treatment, only natural homeopathic remedies.
By the late ’70s Dan was treating his wife and children in the same way that his father had treated his mother, his siblings and him. According to his new sacred text, his children and his wife were his property to use as he wished.
Dan then chose his first plural wife, Rumanian immigrant called Ann Randak who he lovingly referred to as his ‘gypsy bride’. Suddenly Matilda had been shoved from a happy marriage into what she described as a ‘hellish situation’.
Dan and Ron Lafferty had taken dramatically different paths in their first years as men, but one thing had remained constant in both their lives, and that was the love and need they felt for their faith. Once they were both back in Utah it was Ron who acted as the glue of the family ties. He was the brother that all other siblings would turn to for advice, and he held a similar role for his children and wife. Everyone could rely on Ron to do the right thing and help in times of trouble.
Growing up, Ron had always felt a great love for his mother and it had hurt him to the core when he had witnessed the abuse that his father had inflicted on her. It was her influence and the respect he had upheld for her that had made Ron the person he was in his 20s and 30s.
It wasn’t surprising when Ron was the only brother who did not attend ‘chance meetings’ the Lafferty brothers seemed to be having more and more frequently. Whenever there was a break at the Chiropractic clinic that Dan and Mark ran for their father, Watson Junior, Tim and Allen would arrive and discussions and seminars would take place based on the new knowledge that Dan was in ownership of regarding polygamy and ‘blood atonement’. The four brothers listened to everything that Dan had to say and even though he had not yet assigned himself to a particular Fundamentalist church, his knowledge of polygamy and other abolished Mormon doctrines was vast, he had become a proficient preacher and soon he had his younger brothers mesmerized and within a few weeks they were converted Fundamentalists.