This Youtube video gets into my story about why I left “the Order,” which is what the members of the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS) and Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ (LDCJC) call their cultural group.

The quick answer is that I left because I had to in order to feel good about myself, to avoid the bad feeling of supporting abusive, evil practices and people at the helm of the DCCS and LDCJC. Staying meant aiding and abetting abuse at the hands of my father and his brothers, my uncles, including the leader of the DCCS/LDCJC, Paul Kingston.

I spent between 300 and 400 hours studying Mormon (LDS) church history. Many of the major resources I worked through are listed below. I sincerely believe that anyone who does a thorough review of the historical evidence will come to see that Joseph smith was just a man, not a prophet, and that no authority or priesthood with or from him is valid or legitimate, which completely nullifies the entire fundamentalist mormon polygamy, consecration, united order, and priesthood claims that depend on or connect to the authority commonly attributed to Joseph smith.

Once the Joseph Smith link in the chain is broken all of the others for the DCCS and LDCJC break. It’s a matter of research, time, and doing your thinking for yourself.

Resources:

1. MormonThink.com – A webside dedicated to truth on both sides of the argument for Mormon church history.
2. Dan Vogel’s Book of Abraham videos – An exhaustive, complete analysis of every piece of available evidence regarding the Book of Abraham and all of the attempted apologetics by Kerry Muhlestein, John Gee, and Hugh Nibley.
3. Dan Vogel’s Youtube Channel – anything by Dan Vogel is excellent quality and cannot be recommended highly enough.
4. John Dhelin’s MormonStories.org – John was a former church educator who could no longer teach what he came to believe was a lie
5. FairMormon, now FairLatterDaySaints.org – an LDS-affiliated or run site that provides apologetics, meaning a faithful LDS response to much of the debated historical claims or happenings. This is useful to help you understand both sides of the argument.
6. The CES Letter by Jeremy Runnells
7. Early Mormonism and the Magic World View by D. Michael Quinn – An excellent, thorough reference on Joseph’s treasure digging and his family’s obsession with mysticism prior to him starting Mormonism. Bear in mind this book is dense and will may you a bit of time to read.
8. LetterForMyWife.com – one man’s attempt to honestly and thoroughly collect, catalogue, and communicate all of the core issues of Mormon history.
9. Year of Polygamy Podcast by Lindsay Hansen Park – An excellent, well-researched podcast with insights into polygamy, the D&C, fundamental church truth claims, and more. See episodes 79 and 101 for content specific to the DCCS and LDCJC.