So in mormon prepper lingo there is this quote "if ye are prepared ye shall not fear" ... but under the surface preppers are some of the most fearful people around.
@@crispmom it is. They do not think of vacations, travel, etc. Only prepping. They basically live waiting to be able to say "See, I told you it would happen".
This is so true, unfortunately I bought into the Julie Rowe, visions of glory BS. I was very afraid and it caused so much stress. I wish I could go back and change that part of my life but then again I wish I got back the last 30 years of my life from this church
Disasters do happen and it can take the government weeks or months to effectively develop a response. It doesn't hurt to have a months worth of food to get through this period. I remember at the start of covid all the canned foods, rice, beans, TP disappeared from the grocery store shelves pretty quick.
I can’t even imagine the PTSD this woman must suffer. Boy, makes my therapy sessions over the years for sexual abuse seem trivial. I can’t imagine where the strength comes from.
Great comment, rationalguy! Nothing wrong with any of this, until you look at Ruby Ridge. The Weavers? They weren't Mormon, but they *were* Christians, you might call them "preppers," and they were set up by the Bill & Hillary Rodham Clinton administration. There's a documentary: Ruby Ridge (Idaho).
I was never taught that my year food storage was for Christ’s coming. I was taught that it was to be prepared for life crisis. During Covid and the fear of no food. I wasn’t scared. Because I was prepared. When my father lost his job due to injury. He and my mother never went hungry because they were prepared.
I will admit, I am a prepper, but it’s because I’m lazy. I can and freeze everything a few times a year so I have to grocery shop and food prep as little as possible lol. And I do utilize my large Utah basement!! Haha
Coming from a super fan who has listened to every single episode since day 1…….Another fantastic Mormon Stories Episode! You guys are killing it! Love the content
We must ALL stop looking to others to decide what to do. Our bodies are our own. We must use discernment and learn to think for ourselves. It's no different following some church leader than following a so-called government official.
I know this is a year old, but as a recovering Catholic, I can tell you that "special" oil is a Catholic thing too. The only difference is that only a priest or nun can make the blessings/healing
I remember getting a blessing and the oil was so warm! I was told it was the power of the priesthood when in reality it was kept in a pocket and body heat transfers. Apparently my carmex tube also has the power of the priesthood 😂
This is a very special Mormon stories podcasts, all of them are good, again this one is special. I am a retired general contractor, if this five story building is built with out a building permit to have to check the plans the footing and everything, it will be required to be torn down if it ever becomes known to the county building department. It’s a fun story podcast but also very sad to hear how some fine people can take the Mormon doctrines as fundamentally right. 🤔
This is so interesting because as an Evangelical I was raised with almost these EXACT beliefs about the end times. Except we believed we would be raptured before anything bad happened, so it didn't feed into becoming "preppers". It's after we leave the faith we become preppers on accident. That sense of impending doom doesn't go away, but the belief you can avoid it all does. We call it "rapture anxiety."
I loved learning about the history of Mormon prepper-ism. I didn't even realize the idea of Jesus returning started immediately at his death. Just fascinating.
This is just intriguing, I've never been mormon, and can't imagine there are communities and families raising children with these beliefs. Particularly the revelation of a parent dying. Unbelievable. Thanks for sharing, this was very eye opening.
Most of us grew up with so much indoctrinated fear even if just subconsciously that literally anything that was considered "against" the beliefs of the church would have us terrified for our salvation. Leaving the church and deprogramming really opened my eyes to how many things I feared unnecessarily.
Emma is a remarkable young woman and even knowing this was recorded more than a year ago, my heart truly hurts for her. I wish Margie had been there to help her through this. I am awed by her strength and her willingness to talk about the multiple, deep traumas that she has experienced throughout her life. I wish someone had been there to acknowledge that. Emma’s pain is evident throughout and I have never been near this aware of the horrible personal cost of “preparedness” and “revelation” on the children raised in this culture. It needs to be appropriately and sensitively addressed, and these children/young adults need validation and support as they process the terrifying, traumatizing experiences inherent to this mindset. My heart hurts for the young girl who had to deal with her mom’s pending, “prophesized” death, frequent moves to “prepare” for the end; call-outs to come home bc it’s all going to end “tomorrow,” physical, life-threatening activities, and God knows what else. I hate that she was so betrayed by those she loved and should have been able to trust, and that it was done in the name of God😢.
The revelation in regards to her mother dying and waking up in the morning saying just kidding but it will be some time soon. Without being disrespectful to the trauma it caused Emma... it almost sounds like a Monty Python sketch.
I was raised the same way where I was told in the latter days that even the Mormon Prophets could false Prophets and I always wondered how I would know if the Mormon Prophet was telling the truth in the last days or if he had become a false Prophet. Throughout my years of growing up in the Mormon church when a leader of the church whether it be a Bishop, Stake President or even Apostle or the Prophet would say something that was not factual my parents or other members of the church would always answer," you need to remember their human", this would confuse me because I thought that the leaders in the church were of a higher authority and we're getting their directions from God but when they're directions were incorrect the default answer was always "because they are human." I permanently left the Mormon Church when I was in my late forties because I was fed up with the how badly I was treated after I divorce my returned missionary who I married in the Salt Lake Temple who beat me severely and the church would do nothing about it oh, I also had my temple recommend taken away from me 5 hours before my daughter was to go through the temple for the first time to go on an LDS mission, I was also a crime victim of a brutal, brutal crime and I asked for my Bishop or members in my ward to give me a blessing to help me through the process that I was going through and no one showed up. I asked for help and counseling and I was not offered help I was not offered support when I had to go to court ,no one showed up and then I was told by my Bishop that until I repented of the crime that was committed against me, I was not allowed to take the sacrament. I was born and raised Mormon and I also did not know about the story of Joseph Smith until in my late forties when my daughter was preparing to go on her mission. Being raised in the Mormon church as a female I can say has made it extremely difficult as a single adult because I have guilt changed me my entire life that I will never be good enough which makes it extremely difficult when I meet someone new because it's like I sabotage the relationship because in my mind I am constantly reminded that I am not good enough! Ever since I left the church and my belief is only with God and the decisions I'm making my life are only between me and God I have been so much happier. I remember the first time I attended a non-denominational church and the Pastor said the words, God loves everyone and I started to cry because of the Mormon church it is taught that only God loves the righteous or the good people and yet they never make you feel like you're ever good enough to be loved by God.
so sorry you were treated so badly. i have never been mormon but NO human should be treated that way! i hope you are feeling much better now! i believe that as long as we are doing our best god will guide us, we do not have to be perfect.
The bone saw or 'animal into food' is very common in any farming community. I grew up in a small farming community in Texas and you can rent them. But everyone must butcher their animals for food so when the time came (animal is full grown) people would take turns renting them and whoever had the biggest garage would do it. Then everyone would bring their animals (we didn't kill the cattle, we took them somewhere) but that would be our food for the year. Pretty much anyone who was in 4-H was doing this type of thing. This is very common though and city people may not understand that not all food comes from the grocery store and that anyone with land and the ability to farm it (buy small animals and care for them and grown them into adults will eventually have to butcher them). We did out own chickens (all of it). We didn't do our pigs/cattle because you can pay someone to do it and it might be messy. We grew everything we ate and even had honey bees. The Mother Earth magazine was always on our coffee table to read because it explains how to be self sufficient. Our garage was food storage, but we ate it all for the year. So planting and how much cattle, etc. to buy was done once a year at the feed storage and auction to get cattle.
It is amazing how many parallels there are between Mormonism and Pentecostalism. I grew up thinking Jesus was coming back any day and I would never reach adulthood. I am 61 years old now.
wow the conversation on oil was very fascinating. very superstitious - trying to control things that are not controllable. additionally, it's interesting that man randomly gets special powers to bless his family. very hierarchical. john is a great interviewer. he asks questions that i have (i'm non mormon). i wish carah participated more. i like her personality and insight.
John, thanks for your explaining of the history, alongside Emma's story. It adds a layer of deeper understanding for us never-mos. Thanks again! Emma is a lovely person.
This is related to the discussion of people claiming to receive revelations about the impending death of someone. I left religion (specifically the mainstream, SLC based, sect of Mormonism) in my early 20s. I never liked giving priesthood blessings when I was a member (I had zero worthiness issues, i.e. zero porn & zero masturbation, etc.), because I never felt "inspired" to say anything. Anyways, while I was a missionary, some random guy, who wasn't a Mormon, asked me to give him a priesthood blessing. During the blessing, I had an intrusive thought that I should tell this man that he was going to die soon. I did not verbalize this thought, because is seemed like an asshole-ish thing to say. I think these people, who claim to receive revelation about the impending death of someone, are confusing thoughts created by their brain (intrusive and/or anxious thoughts) with divine revelation. Often, this confusion is somewhat benign, but sometimes this confusion can be very dangerous and destructive (e.g. Chad & Lori Daybell, Lafferty brothers, etc.).
I lived next to Ron Lafferty just died on death row. He was our 1st counselor in bishopric. Major preper. Killed own cows pigs. Had 3 acres large garden 40 fruit trees. Large basement full of items like wheat bottled food. 5000 gallon water tank connected to water pipes coming into the house
I grew up in an environment with this same prepped/doomsday mentality. Physician father, more practical and not a retreat to the hills prepper but a prepper nonetheless. This episode was maybe the most triggering from my upbringing. It brought back a lot of those feelings of impending doom that underpins this type of environment. My parents are wonderful people but that aspect of living in fear of some unknown certainty of calamity was NOT healthy. I’m out of the church and still have savings and some basic level of food storage but I’m so glad for the sake of my mental health I don’t live under the mental anguish of anticipating that any day some major event is going to being the world to its knees. Such a mentally unhealthy way to live. Really interesting story. Thanks John, Carah and team for bringing this story to us as always.
Thank you Emma for sharing your story. Really looking forward to part 2 & 3. Really appreciated John’s explanations & comments as a mental health professional on this episode. I always do, but today I found it particularly helpful bc I don’t have a full understanding of how scripture relates to personal revelation as it relates to preppers, dying spouses, end times, etc… so thanks for this. Anytime I hear the words “end times” my brain sings it to the tune of “My Girl”-from that Simpsons episode.
I have been fascinated with and studied what I call “apocalyptic groups or cults”. This fits right into that type of thing. I could write a book about it all. Suffice to say, when people become so focused on the end times, they will do radical, dangerous things. I remember as a child asking, “Isn’t the second coming of Christ supposed to be a wonderful thing? Why are people so afraid?” Of course they believe that terrible things will happen just before Christ returns, the “world” will turn against “God’s true church or remnant people” persecute them…etc. this creates a paranoia and fear about the second coming rather than joyous anticipation.
My mom sent me a text message at 11:30pm the other night saying she felt strongly there is going to be a world wide famine and we should all make good storage a priority right now. I just say ok mom and move on
This war might make supply chain and price issues in certain sectors a little worse. The pandemic has already had a huge effect. There are plenty of conflict free fertile places with good warm weather to grow bountiful amounts of food. Prices might fluctuate. People might make some choices or sacrifices. It will be temporary. A world wide famine?
#LeaveCarahAlone We here love both of you, and people who don’t like it need to just (a) scroll or read on past and STFU, or (b) as you said, have a conversation, not be haters and bullies. As we say in the south, don’t be ugly.
as someone who did lose a parent at the age of 17, and who did have to be told by my parents that my dad was going to die soon and remember saying my final goodbyes to him… wow. i cannot believe any parents would put their children through that experience just to say oh oops guess we were wrong about that! i also made decisions about college and my future around the impending death of my parent and i can’t imagine how traumatized, confused, and upset i would be if i felt like i had been subjected to a heartbreaking, traumatic, life-altering experience and then told “oops!” it really speaks to the true conviction highly religious people feel that the things they believe are the Truth and this is how they protect their family, because i cannot imagine putting anyone i love through that for anything i didn’t believe with my entire heart to be true. thank you so much for sharing your story, i’m on to part two now!
I have been watching you all for months thinking it was because I found my way here due to the Vallow/Daybells...today I realized that I am searching for a community of Ex's. I am an ex evangelical and the parallels are unmistakable. I grew up on a farm in Eastern NC as a Pentecostal Free Will Baptist. My grandparents spoke in tongues. My Aunt who was a state auditor-picture it-when I took college level bio and chem in high school she stopped me one day and said that I should not let the devil influence me when learning. Looking back it is wild. I lost my faith over my LGBQT best friend at 20. My family thought I was gay. I remember the conversation that I had with the same aunt saying its ok if you have these yearnings as long as you don't act on them. I was ASTOUNDED. I am married now, but at the time I was single and interested in getting OUT of eastern NC. Listening to this reminds me of slaughter days. She is lucky her family were not veggie folks. The summer dread doubles when you have to watch the pigs you fed and raised slaughtered in the fall after you have been picking and shelling all summer (if you had not been putting in tobacco during the day.) I LOVED this one guys. Great job!
Such a fascinating story! I have followed the Daybell/Vallow case closely and there are a lot of parallels. Lori and Alex Cox's dad was also into the don't-trust-government ideas. People were going to gather in the mountains and needed tents and food storage. The "dome" is a geodesic greenhouse. I have a friend (not a prepper) who has one. It works really well and he actually has a banana tree in it in Utah.
I don't understand. If you believe in the 2nd coming, would you not then trust in God to enact the drama justly and to save the worthy for eternal life? Would it not be an act of profound doubt to prepare other than to live as you believe that God commands and trust in Him? I thought 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord' was a spiritual instruction. Has anyone got a link to references on this?
Carah I love your idea about interviewing someone that's been invited into polygamy!! Have you guys ever had the opportunity to interview a formerly fundamentalist or polygamous Mormon? There are thousand of people in those sects and some do leave so I think it would be incredible!
What a powerful story Emma, thank you for your bravery to be so transparent! Coming from a dysfunctional family, I carry a lot of shame about the behaviors and actions of my family members and I know it can be really hard to share because of the personal identity implications.
What scares me is that as she describes her upbringing and uses words like "fundamental, weird, intense", I don't think it was that weird. But that might mean that I had a similar upbringing. But hers is definitely more strict and more intense. But everything she says feels normal to me.
Greatly respect this podcast. I learn from each episode. I tremendously admire John, but have to ask if it's really necessary for him to talk so much at the beginning of the episode. Just stopped this episode at 22 minutes, and truthfully, John has done most all of the talking. Is there a way to be a little less verbose and get the guest more involved from the onset?
Emma, thank you so much for sharing your story ❤️ I also grew up in a family in constant fear as a result of parental "revelations". It's traumatic. Going to watch part two now...
This had to be totally HORRIFYING as a child because as a 42 yr old just listening to this is anxiety inducing and i am totally a Christian and know that this is not true stuff! It's literally mental abuse!!
I’ve never listened to a full episode before of this podcast so this is my first and I really enjoyed it. Emma is around my age and a lot of the sentiments in her story were apart of my life in middle/high school as members of my family would gossip about end times and even believed a lot of what Julie Rowe taught… up until she was excommunicated and then they came to their senses about her. It’s comforting to know other people in my age group know what I went through and can understand how strange this realm of Mormonism can be since I’ve never personally known anyone who grew up with some of these teachings/ideas since the church doesn’t push the second coming to this extreme. I appreciate her coming on here and sharing her story with us!
There are many non-Mormon preppers, some for other than religious reasons such as fearing social unrest or zombie apocalypse or Y2K or whatever does it for their hyped up amygdalas. LDS definitely takes it to the next level for sure though.
Y2K was a hoot. The doctor I worked for was sure it was end times. She stocked her house so full of food and household items and withdrew all her money from the bank because it was all going to collapse. It didn’t and when I was at work after the holidays I asked her if it was still end times. Yep, yep it was still gonna happen anyway. And now it’s been two decades and it’s still end times. I just can’t imagine living in fear 24/7. It must be exhausting mentally and physically. And I got a laugh out of hyped up amygdalas!
Some prepper males think they’ll be scooping up all the women who’s husbands refuse to go with them to the tent cities… and to be proactive, they get into “emotional affairs” , expecting that the call-out is right around the corner.
Butchering animals should be normalized for anyone eating meat. I grew up on a farm and this is where meat comes from. It is funny to me how offended or traumatized people get over something so natural.
My family was very involved in the Joseph Smith era....I was shocked when I did the research. I was not raised in that and was extremely shocked when I did the research.... I would hope too be contacted about my family involvement. .
Her story is very close to home for me. I grew up in Colorado and so did my dads side of the family who lived in Manassa (Alamosa area). They are all very Mormon, but my parents left Mormonism when I was a young child. I often wonder what my life would have been like if they hadn’t left the church. I too have a huge family, I don’t even know all of my cousins cause I have so many. I know my grandparents were subtle doomsday preppers, with the huge pantry stocked with food and all that. And I’m sure some of my other family members are as well. Awesome sorry and it’s crazy to see how much I can relate to her story.
I've watched prepper culture spiral into OCD and hoarding behaviour in parts of my husband's family, and it frustrates me, and breaks my heart. The impact it's had on some of the people I hold close is kind of heart shattering at times.
Ten bucks says Tim Ballard tries to claim the mantel of the prophet who is "mighty and strong" and will lead the church into the end of the world. My mother adored him this summer and now she is going with "i havent heard of him since the movie came out. Accusations? Nope, never heard of it."
WOW your comments about the philippines is prob spot ON. My exhusband is from there and there is SO much corruption. The way they view religion is completely different it isnt personal its kinda forced by society.
Other than the food storage, this is entirely like being raised JW--every day all day--it is the last minute of the last days--and so many of the prophetic interpretations she describes are very similar to JWs, And this is not the fringe JW; this is THE doctrine, religion, beliefs, and culture for all JWs. No one makes plans for the future or save money or go to college (rarely some do, but parents can lose congregation "privileges" if their children pursue secondary education); it is a life lived on Hold. Constant state of High Alert, constant vigilance, never resting physically or mentally.
Yes. Oh, the terror if we had unusual weather. Patrolled my bedroom for demons at night. But I wanted a normal life; to complete high school, date, dance, do a prom. They mock college and science so much. Once I saw a real Ivy League camous, count me in.
I think it is important that Emma tells her story. There seemed to be a little more interrupting in this story than in other interviews- don't get me wrong, that is understandable because this is practically new territory and there is so much to talk about. Moving forward I just think a little more effort can be put into letting Emma finish talking and telling her story before bringing up other experiences in prepper families. I know the next parts will be better.
I agree. Emma is so wonderful! I found the interruption took away from “her” story and made more about the history or interpretation of someone else. I think a whole separate episode of just the history would have been a great lead in to her story. Still a great fan!
It seems like all the really good LDS revelations have either been amended or outright denied. My personal favorite is Joseph Smith’s White Horse Prophecy, with John Taylor’s Revelation of September 27, 1886 coming in a close second. Any chance you could talk about these items?
So exactly how many end of days that didn’t happen do you step back and think “I’ve been played, this isn’t true.”. I grew up that we were in the end times, and all that worry was for nothing. It was wasted. I wonder if people just can’t admit that they were used and they just can’t bring themselves to accept that.
PS I wouldn't say that the Second Coming idea has been discarded (responding just before minute 20). I have heard President Nelson look at the audience directly and emphasize his words as he mentions exactly that. I was actually surprised: oh, we're going there?
Interesting Cara mentioned having those who have been invited to join a family as a polygamous wife....my story is pretty much Emma's story that led into polygamy....upon my husband's request I invited many young women to join our family....very interesting.
This may have already been addressed (so sorry if it has), but I want this show to do well so I feel the need to point out some (I'm assuming unintentional) historical/theological issues. You mentioned multiple times in the beginning that Jesus died and then his followers said he would come back. Historically, his followers did not believe that he died. So they couldn't have said he was coming back after his death if their writings straight up say that he didn't die (after his resurrection). Just need to be careful to use their own words on their beliefs, is all. Secondly, and this is just a pet peeve, the book is called Revelation not Revelations.
Holy cow! I feel so bad for Emma. Her parents sound so delusional. It must have been so hard trying to understand reality at all! How do you ever figure out what is real and what isn’t? You have no sound and reliable methodologies, no epistemology, and no standards of evidence. Even evidence against what you believe is confirmation you were right to believe it! That’s just so confusing. It must be so empowering to always be right, always be fighting for good and being persecuted by the apostates and non believers and saving the world while all the other people are fueling the deep state being sheep would will believe anything their told by the lizard people in the new world order propped up by bill gates and Obama!
It was interesting Emma mentioned the decision to attend college or not was impacted by the end coming. Jahovah's Witnesses heavily frown on upper education (even trade school is borderline) because if the end is coming then your time is better served on spreading their beliefs.
Every time I hear about a "Christian" prepper, I am bewildered. Why would any Christian need any material things if they truly believe in the 2nd coming? Even if someone died during the Apocalypse, they'd be resurrected according to the bible. The very idea of a doomsday prepper insinuates that they don't trust in God. I'm not a believer, but I have spent many years researching the Bible and none of this makes any sense even in the illogical world of religion
It’s the one thing I can’t get out of my head, I am a good hoarder, I have 3 panties in my house, of course I rotate, but I just can’t stop. Of course when the pandemic rolled around I was sitting pretty good…
Interesting. I'm not Mormon but have a few friends that are. I'm going to look up this John Pontius . My grandmother's maiden name was Pontius. Her parents divorced at 8 and she never saw her father again. From the research I've done on that family line there is a history (3 generations) of father abandoning the family when children are young.
One of my seminary teachers was the son of ETB. He taught us some nutty stuff in early morning seminary. He also became a serious member of the Birch Society later on.
I always thought prepping in the LDS community is for financial safety, emergency preparedness (think Scouts) and less reliance on government. It was pushed in the institution after the elders experienced first hand the extreme civilian hardships overseas during WW1.
The power of priesthood blessings is interesting to me. I would get lots of healing blessings, but i never got better and I always thought it was either because I didn't have enough faith or that God didn't WANT to heal me. But interestingly, my dad gave my cat a healing blessing when my dad was very much not worthy (long story) and my cat got better. That seriously seemed miraculous! He had an impaction and after the blessing, the next day he essentially pooped out this mass of plastic yarn. Later, when I found out how "unworthy" my dad would have been at that time, I found it very curious that it still seemed to "work". Perhaps a lot of this is like a placebo. My cat was still a miracle though! 😋
I'm not sure if she'll ever see this or if it will be helpful: try to use the fear as a way to get him to take care of his health... instead "hey, why not take a break" go with "hey, dad, I know this is important, but we want you there with us if/when this place is needed... we need you to take care of your body so you're still around/able/healthy when we're hunkered down and you won't have this access to doctors anymore..."
All these prophecies of the Salt Lake Valley being flooded are so bizarre. If you were to drain every single reservoir upstream from SLC, all that water combined wouldn't raise the GLS more than an inch or two. Where is all that flood water supposed to come from?
Also related to John Taylor. My grandmother’s mother was Mary Ann Taylor who was JT granddaughter.she died when my grandmother was 5 so she was raised by her grandparent, JT’s son.
Yikes. It’s rough hearing that she was born in 1998, she makes me feel so old, even though I was born in 85. Someone at work was born post 9/11, and that makes me Uber old. Question: do u know all your nieces and nephews names?
