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Mitchell
and Me:
What Role Did I Play in Fostering Elizabeth Smart's Abductor?
Meditations
of a disgruntled former one and only One Mighty and Strong.
by Sterling D. Allan
© Greater Things
March 16, 2003
As I reflect on Mitchell's religious and political paradigm and compare it to
my own, the resemblances are close enough to cause me to shudder. This has me in deep introspection.
When Elizabeth Smart was abducted nine months ago, I presumed that it was probably the act of
someone entrenched in the occult, and that Elizabeth probably did not make it a week alive. I tended
to believe the Ed Dames prediction that she had been killed and left by the side of some Utah
highway.
Now that the truth is known, and the nature of the abductor is revealed, no longer is this situation
far removed from me. It strikes very close to home.
There is no doubt that Elizabeth Smart's abductor got the theme "Seven Diamonds Plus One"
from Dr. C. Samuel West. Referencing seven referred volumes, Mitchell mentions this "Seven
Diamonds Plus One" hundreds of times in his 27 page manifesto called "The Book of Immanuel
David Isaiah," dated 6 April 2002.
For some time now I have intended to feature Dr. West and his book "The Golden Seven Plus
One" at GreaterThings.com, lacking only time to get to it. Mitchell mentions West's health
related book as one of the seven "diamonds."
I know Dr. West very well and worked closely with him about a decade ago. He lives in Orem Utah.
800-975-0123 He's on my mailing list. I was on the phone with him a few months ago. His website is http://www.ial.org/
His book is about the science of lymphology that draws attention to the role of the Lymphatic system
in the body for draining out poisons and keeping the body healthy. A simple massage can do wonders
to help facilitate the lymphatic system, as can a deep breath, which activates the main lymphatic
pump that runs up near the spine and dumps its purified solution back into the subclavian vein. The
understanding Dr. West promotes is indeed a very helpful key in maintaining the body's health and
restoring health when illness or injury occurs.
I would bet that Dr. West knows Mitchell well.
In my opinion, Dr. West is a tad out of balance in his approach in life, seeing his book as coming
straight from the mouth of God, hence he will never consider editing it. Dr. West has a bit of the
OMS syndrome himself. It is one of the greatest obstacles to his being able to legitimately
propagate the good understanding he has been given. His fanaticism is a turn-off (takes one to know
one?).
I also am very familiar with Rick Joyner's wonderful book, "The Final Quest." I mention it
several times on my website:
http://tinyurl.com/7kt3
I promoted it quite strongly back in 1996, having heard about it from Mark Thomase of Boulder
Colorado, where I grew up. I am the one who introduced it to various associates along the Wasatch
Front, and am therefore indirectly probably responsible for Mitchell coming into awareness of it.
Mitchell used to attend American Study Group meetings in Midvale, a group I founded in 1990, and
which was continued by Rich Kuchinsky. The guy who first headed the Midvale group called me the
other day, saying he immediately recognized Mitchell when his picture appeared in the paper.
The American Study Group also strongly emphasized the writings of Ezra Taft Benson, and of Avraham
Gileadi. Indeed, Mitchell's tome is a very strong reflection of the general tone that emerged from
the conclusions drawn through the American Study Group days (now loosely existing as
www.patriotsaints.com )
I can't help but think that I contributed to the spawning of Mitchell's paradigm, though the
warpings are his own.
On the religious fringe, the leap from fanaticism to out of control behavior in the name of God is
not that large.
Once a person severs the apron strings to the LDS church, there is indeed a spiritual safety factor
that is severed as well. The person become prone to all kinds of strange paths.
Would I therefore advocate censorship of all departure from the LDS mainstream? Absolutely not. Such
freedom can be as helpful as dropping the training wheels from a bicycle.
It seems to me that the solution to this wild-eyed fanaticism is not more censorship but less. From
what I've witnessed, it is the paranoia that comes from being persecuted for being so different that
often drives these people to extremes of behavior.
Been there, done that.
Gratefully, I did not go as extreme as Mitchell, but I must admit that not many years ago I was
close to his degree of extreme, as were/are many of my associates. That does not set well with me
and stirs me to pause for reflection.
At one point in the mid 90's, I pondered running off with a 14 year old girl, which would have been
kidnapping because of her age, regardless of her consent, without which I would not have considered
the act. I was not that far away from doing something somewhat similar to what Mitchell did. That
had me in deep thought this morning as I reflected on it, safe in my comfortable home with my wife
and two precious children -- a life that is so much more balanced than it was before I got married.
There are many other instances I could cite as credentials of my past fanaticism, such as in 1992
when I tried to get up in LDS General conference and give a talk. But I'll let this brief mention
suffice as evidence of my fringeness.
Having been right these in the thick of such delusion, I know that some crazy notions can be
entertained by saying, "Lehi would have been considered a dangerous outlaw in his day: he left
great wealth and prominence in the community behind, endangering his family in the wilderness; and
then another family; his sons stole some highly valuable records and killed a man." Any one of
these acts in our day would be fodder for lengthy prison terms if caught. But Lehi is the first
prophet in the Book of Mormon, and thus is the first hero of Mormon scripture.
A person sees the Church out of order, reads D&C 89, receives personal revelation, begins to
think they are the One Mighty and Strong to set things straight, and they see themselves called as
were the prophets of old; and at that point, nothing is too outlandish to perform in the name of
being faithful to God.
Abraham laid his own son on an alter and nearly drove a knife through his chest.
Such is our religious legacy. Such is the fodder of modern extremism.
Perhaps Abraham should have served some prison time for that one.
Instead, God promised him an eternal inheritance of a promised land that would be filled with the
blood of his warring sons.
Who is this God we worship? How much of religious history is from God, and how much of it is made up
by those who claim to be followers of God, and adopted as infallible by generations to come?
We need to be willing to look at such things afresh and discern them on their own merits and not
just because some cannon of scripture proclaims them as "the way things are done around
here."
Otherwise we will just get more of the same.
Brutally Honest
-- Invites Introspection
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 1:28 PM
Subject: Re: Mitchell and Me: What Role Did I Play in
Fostering ElizabethSmart's Abductor?
Your honest appraisal betrays your maturity in the true Gospel of Christ. If
we can all be brutally honest, then the Lord is free, I presume, to share His grace and protection
because we can be trusted to receive His miracles and return the glory to Whom it belongs.
I am sorry David Mitchell felt he had to appoint himself as a savior because
he lost touch with the love of his Best Friend, which love would have assured him he was okay, and
also told him where he was not okay, and which would have then allowed him to be satisfied to let
the Lord run His own program. Then David Mitchell might have been part of that glory.
--David
You're a Nut
Case
From: *** >
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 7:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Greater Things] Mitchell and Me: What Role Did
I Play in Fostering Elizabeth Smart's Abductor?
Sterling,
This is why i have never taken all this hullaboo seriously that you are out promoting. I
do find interesting and agree with your views in government in general and like the comments you
have from Joel Skousen from time to time. However, when I first read of your attempt to go
forward at conference and give a talk, I thought to myself what a nut case. What kind of
normal thinking person would do this. Only, someone so caught up in their own false
delusions. Why were you surprised to be nabbed by security? What else were they to
do? If they let you get up there to give some talk/manifesto why wouldn't other crackpots do
similar things? I highly doubt all this revelation that you and these other folks on this
site claim they are getting is coming from God or his sources. But I do appreciate you
sharing links to their supposed dreams and visions that never come to pass.
It always makes for interesting reading. What happened to the supposed prophetess 'Beth'
or 'Barbara' i think her name was, who was all over this site in '99 predicting the end?
With big earthquakes and all. Or was the repentance clause invoked? Further, this
recent admission by you of wanting to run off with a 14 year old girl back in the early 90's is
unreal. How can a guy who has gone on an honorable mission and seen the fruits of the spirit
sink to such depths of despondency? Seriously, what on earth would possess you to think like
that? I really would like to know. How could that be twisted into something that is
godlike and inspired? I'm glad you recently have started coming back from the 'fringe' but
it still seems like you expect the church to change to meet your demands. We are dealing
with a private, volunteer organization, yes the kingdom of God, but c'mon don't get carried away.
Sincerely,
--BR
Refreshing
Candor
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 9:52 AM
Subject: Re: Mitchell and Me: What Role Did I Play in
Fostering Elizabeth Smart's Abductor?
Thanks for your candid account, Sterling. Very refreshing.
I Can Relate Too
From: ***
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 4:43 PM
Subject: Re: Mitchell and Me: What Role Did I Play in Fostering
Elizabeth Smart's Abductor?
Sterling, Your words smack hard on me, as well. I read of this Mitchell guy and thought to
myself, "How close I am and have been to where he is"... I have been accused of
"running off with another woman" and "abandoning my family" and could be
potentially put in jail for criminal non-support, through no fault of my own. It is a
tangled web of legal intrigue which has left me with NO job permit here in *** and forced to
return to ***, to seek work to support my families. I have been directed by the LORD in what I
have done, but I know there are those who would say, "you have been deceived"... and so
it would seem.... but I have to say that I feel very strongly I have NOT been deceived....
I never did know Mitchell, but with the circles I was in, in Utah, I could have known him
well.... however, I do condemn his abduction of the Smart girl, as it violated her agency.... I
can't condone that... but I can understand this devotion to the Fullness of the Gospel... it just
sets a fire in you and that fire keeps burning for many years later, as it continues to do in all
of us...
--WR
I Had a Similar
Experience
Non LDS but still related
phenomenon. by David Gaefke: "In the late 60's I joined the Worldwide
Church of God, headed by Herbert W. Armstrong-who claimed to be God's only living Apostle."
...
See also
Page created by Sterling D. Allan
March 16, 2003
Page last updated November 04, 2007
visits since March 17, 2003
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