Customer Reviews

The Mormon Cult: A Former Missionary Reveals the Secrets of Mormon Mind Control

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

The Good:

The author makes one very cogent argument with this book: If Mormon missionaries are the chosen among the chosen - the Scions of Zion - why do they seem so indistinguishable from any other large group of haphazardly selected, though well trained, salesmen?

The bulk of the book is a (seemingly genuine) personal struggle to relate a young man's faith to his surrounding reality. Despite an economy of words I found I was able to enter into where the author (Jack B. Worthy - clearly not his real name btw - and one hopes he was equally kind with the names of his former companions mentioned in this book) was at - emotionally and intellectually. No awkward sentence structures (unlike this review), though an occasional strained metaphor. No key points left out or vaguely defined. Just a story that, once it gets going (see "The Bad" below), flows to the very last word.

The narrative of Elder Compton alone is worth the price of this book. I once talked with an LDS missionary who was missing . . . something. I'm not sure who could have decided he was ready to go out and spread the word. I remember he sat there at my table and fiddled with one CTR ring after the other the whole while his partner presented the first discussion. As I recall, and this is about all I recall from my lesson that day, Elder "Ring" adjusted, rotated and admired (?) each of his eight or nine silver rings during the entire time. If his partner was as distracted as I was he never let on - he must have been the "Dad". Anyway, being on mission for nearly two years gave the author many more sad and/or hilarious experiences to share. Stories that when strung together with the author's own struggles makes this book very readable.


The Bad:

As indicated in the heading for this review, I am displeased with both the title and sub-title. What could the author/publisher possibly be thinking? If the author does care about current members of his former church then he could have picked almost any title and it would have been better than this one. As a former member he must know that anything labeling the church a "cult" is anathema and not worth considering further in the least. By declaring on the cover that this book "reveals the secrets of Mormon Mind Control" he has virtually guaranteed no member of the church, even one lacking a Temple Recommend, will read it.

Similarly, the first 51 pages gives a condensed, sarcastic and condescending summary of the LDS Church. The arrogance of his personal tone is not unlike that of the biologist Richard Dawkins. This may seem a small criticism but if the author really means to convey his message unto those who are still active members then he might as well be standing in temple square handing out anti-Mormon tracts during General Conference for all the good this book will do.

In short: The author seems to be writing this book expressly for himself and others who are already unconverted. At least for the first 51 pages. After that the author becomes funny, sad and captivating as he relates his life as a member of "the one true church". I read the remaining pages in one sitting. So buy this book if you're interested, skip the first 51 pages and enjoy.

This book presents a superb account by a former Mormon missionary of his journey through, and away from his pressure-filled entanglement with the church. I find it impossible to think of a suitable analogy to describe this complex social and human entrapment experienced by Elder Worthy, entrapment by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (otherwise known as the Mormon Church). (The author refers to himself as Elder Worthy, as that is how others referred to him throughout his mission.)

Beginning with his two-year mission in Hong Kong at the age of nineteen, Elder Worthy takes the reader with him as he experiences the journey first hand. Everything he had been brought to believe told him this would be a wondrous experience. The whole support system of his social environment, as proscribed by the Mormon Church, including his parents and authority figures, all reinforced the idea that this mission would be positive almost beyond imagination. For, how could it not be when the Heavenly Father would be inspiring individuals to hear the Word he was about to bring?

The mission itself was an ordeal--filled with frustrations, embarrassments, and feelings of inadequacy. Elder Worthy blamed all these shortcomings on himself. If only he were more diligent, more worthy, he was sure the Heavenly Father would cause the mission to be the success he had been certain it would be. Many of these frustrations were the direct result of the highly constrained rules and pressure for obedience concerning sexual expression.

As the months wore on, Elder Worthy became disillusioned about the whole mission setup. He started seeing patterns across the other missionaries at his outpost that seemed consistent with his own experience, and saw that it might be the system that led to disappointing performance, not his lack of being sufficiently worthy. The more he became disenchanted with the system, the more he began to press the limits, more or less to see how the system would react. Ultimately, the combination of frustrated sexual desires and the rush that comes with pressing the limits led him to the most serious infraction of the rules. This led to disciplinary action, the premature ending of his mission, and the disgrace to his parents and himself when he returned amongst suspicions he may have done something unworthy. He of course was not invited to give his testimony about the wonders of his mission.

Whether or not a person is familiar with the inner workings of the Mormon Church, I think the reader will gain an excellent understanding of what actually happens on these two-year missions that every 19-20 year old Mormon male experiences. Even more important in my mind is the account of one lonely person's struggle to make sense out of the many contradictions he saw on his mission, compared with all the glowing reports from the missionaries that went before him.

The most enjoyable part of this book is the author's personal story. Anyone who has ever seen Mormon missionaries and wondered what makes them tick will love this book. The author gives us an inside look at the life of a devout missionary who slowly becomes disillusioned. His story is not only interesting - with its colorful descriptions of Hong Kong and missionary life - it's also funny and entertaining. I highly recommend it.

Many Christian sects call the Mormon Church a cult, so the book's title may cause people to wrongly assume that this is just another typical Christian rant against Mormonism. But it's not. The author did not convert to another religion, and has no agenda to convert his readers to his way of thinking.

Anyone who reads this book will learn a lot about Mormon beliefs. The book is very credible because the author backs up his statements with plenty of quotes from official Mormon writings and scripture. Perhaps the most fascinating part of the book is a detailed explanation of how adult Mormons are taught to indoctrinate children.

The two people who gave one-star reviews of this book have given it the best possible promotion. One of them "knows" the author was guided by Satan, and the other gives no indication at all that he or she read the book, which means he or she probably gave a critique of the entire book based on its title alone. Those two reviews make the authors point very well.

As a former Mormon myself, I was very interested to read this book when I came across it. I did not go looking for anything of this sort. I have never sought out any material or discussion about the LDS church that I chose to leave at the age of 16, but when I read the description and it said this book addressed "racism and sexism" and I read the Table of Contents and saw historical research on the Mormon church, I wanted to read it. I wanted to know the history and basis of the sexist beliefs and practices I had myself experienced.

With that in mind I dove in.

1) B. Worthy is an excellent writer. I was impressed by both his ability and presentation. His research was thurough and based not just on history books but on speeches and docterine preached by high ranking church menbers. Then, stories, both personal experiences and others, were used as illustrations. He goes through changes in church practices, beliefs, and which ones remain the same. When he uses something from his own experience, he will say if the practice has changed since. I found this to be very honest, especially when the description of something is particularly surprising in the "how can someone believe that?" Or "people really DO that?" kind of way. Somethings in the church have changed, and B. Worhty did point that out when applicable.

2) I found the section about the history of the church and B. Worthy's personal experience as a male member and as a Missionary particularly interesting. As a female, I did not experience much of what he did, and I left before I was old enough to go on a Mission. I never even experienced any pressure to go on a Mission. (Though I experienced great pressure to find a "good Mormon boy" and "get married" - but not from my mother, I have to admit).

3) The last part of the book though, after he was excommunicated and left the church was rather unfulfilling. I was interested in his experience AFTER - reactions from the church, friends, ect. I can't take any stars off for this, as the book doesn't really promise to go into that. It was an expectation on my part, and a bit of selfishness I think, wanting to see if his experience mirrored my own and that of my family after I left. Those of you who are buying as I did to get a look at the aftermath, be warned, the book's covering of this is light.

4) And as for the descriptions of racism and sexism, the major component of why I left, I found this book had some good historical research on the racism part. However, the dsicussion of sexism is even lighter than that of the aftermath I mentioned in #3 above. If fact, I can recall very little to adress this besides a comment that women aren't allowed to hold positions of responsibility or authority in the church. While this was my experience as well, there was nothing else addressed. As a male member, perhaps B. Worthy didn't have the experiences enough to address this. The sexes are very seperated in experience and duties/activities from a young age. I found this to be the most disappointing aspect of the book for me. The description specifically mentions going into the sexism in the church, and besides a comment on polygamy and the limited roles of women in the church, there is nothing else. In this regard, I felt the book description was misleading, and I took off half a star for that.

5) One last comment I have is on the tone of this book. As another reviewer noted, the sarcastic and degrading tone the author uses is both counter productive and in my opinion uncessarily abrasive. I did not like the tone. I cringed every time he took a sharp and often very personal jibes at the church's beliefs or the members. Even though I have left the church, I found the sarcastic and degrading remarks to be insulting to me as a human being. He chastizes the church for treating people harshly and with prejudice, but he portrays the EXACT SAME qualities in his dealings with the church and its members. I feel that examination and evaluation can be done critically, both objectively and subjectiviely, and that such negative, sarcastic jibes are not necessary. B. Worthy came across for me as a man who blames the church for every bad choice and every guilty feeling without shouldering ANY of the blame himself. The reason he gets excommunicated, for example, was his choice and regardless of what influence the church had in him making it, and what it did to punish him did not excuse him from responsibility completely. And how he treated the other person involved (once again placing ALL the blame on the church) was in my opinion inexcusable. He was nearly 20 by this time, I think I recall, and seems to me, old enough to act on his own. If not at the time, then later on he could have appologized or at least made some sort of effort, but none is mentioned in the book. Many people rebel or explode when under oppressive pressure, but being oppressed does not fully excuse the resulting actions and their consequences. For these reasons, I take off another star and a half.

Overall, it was a worthwhile read, but I would hesitate to recommend it to others. I do not want to foster or perpetuate the seething anger and blame that seems to me to be the underlying message of this book.

Although I left the church before serving a mission I can certainly attest that this book is very 'faithful' to the experiences of childhood in the church. It's been about 8 years since I quit going and I've already forgotten details that seemed completely mundane at the time but that I now know are completely reprehensible.

When this book reminded me of the way that children are led up to the pulpit on Sundays to 'bear their testimonies' before they can even speak coherently, with Mom whispering in their ears: "I know this church is true," for them to repeat to the congregation, it made me realize that I had willfully neglected to think about such things since I left. That more than anything else demonstrates the concerted effort the church puts into indoctrinating youth. Well, that along with the constancy and total enveloping nature of mormon culture, which demonstrates the church's 'mind control.'

Like the author, I still had an unwarranted respect for the church and was loathe to do anything that might tarnish it's reputation although I had personally never been able to accept it's doctrines.

The author also tells about the secret temple rituals that I always wondered about as a child but never really understood. This really points out how hypocritical the doctrines of the church are. The 'secret handshakes' in the temple ceremonies are in direct opposition to the anti-mason stance of the church illustrated by the Book of Mormons depiction of the Gadianton society.

And in a most poignant way the author details the church's obscene obsession with the sexual aspects of their members lives. Instilling intense levels of guilt for completely human urges and making sex seem worse than armed robbery, assault, and arson. Especially outrageous given the patriarchal society and it's past history of polygamy.

My only concern is that by calling the church a cult outright (which of course it is, along with ALL religions) the title scares off those who could most benefit from reading it, namely those questioning their faith but who have yet to throw off the shackles. By marketing the book to those who already think of the LDS church as a cult the author seems to be speaking to other christians who are just looking for more mormon bashing sources. But I think readers of that ilk will not be as happy when towards the end of the book Mr. Worthy advocates for the undermining of all religious traditions.

At the time this book was published in 2008, "Jack B. Worthy" was "a teacher at a Hong Kong school... working toward an advanced degree in Chinese studies. He is completely integrated into Chinese life, married to a Chinese woman, and involved in raising a family."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Apostle (Ezra Taft) Benson was very devoted to preventing the advancement of African-Americans' political power. He even allowed one of his talks to be used as the foreword to an overtly racist book titled 'The Black Hammer: A Study of Black Power, Red Influence and White Alternatives'..." (Pg. 35)
"In fact, Utah leads the nation in per capita use of antidepressants, which many speculate is related to the high demands the Church puts on mothers with testimonies." (Pg. 45)
"...the (Temple) rituals were significantly changed in 1990... There are no more references and enactments of penalties, such as disembowelment, and the Five Points of Fellowship are no longer used to pass people through the veil." (Pg. 71)
"We both believed that our only responsibility as missionaries was to present our message to as many people as we could; whether or not they converted was up to them." (Pg. 99)
"Now I was admitting my sins to my fellow missionaries, not as friends and confidants, but as judges... I felt I made it clear that I didn't want to lose my Church membership. I was sincere, and my mumbled, choked-up presentation attested to that fact... I would still be a member, however, and this would make it easier to return to the life I had lived before my mission began." (Pg. 155)
"Before long I met a girl and we started to date steadily. The relationship developed, and s__ became a regular part of it. I was sinning while on probation... I decided to step away from religion entirely, believing that if I ever went back to religion, it would definitely be to the Mormon Church." (Pg. 163)
"I have gone from being a believing Latter-day Saint to being entirely irreligious..." (Pg. 188)

I myself grew up in the Mormon believe system, as have my parents. I also served a full time mission for two years. For these two reasons alone I was able to fully understand and appreciate the authors contribution on Mormonism.

At times I had to laugh out loud, not because the author tried to be funny or lend his writing some wit, but because of the undiluted presentation of Mormon believe systems and mind control, which to me today appear to be most crazy, even more astounding that I ever believed in it.

Having grown up in a completely different culture to the author, I was still able to fully relate to everything 100%, which is a clear testimony that the Mormon show, the Mormon dome, is the same, no matter what part of the world, or culture you may live and, or have been raised in.

I wish all of my family, my siblings, my parents, all my extended family, would read this book. This however will remain a challenge impossible to realize, because faithfully devout Mormons are strictly forbidden to ever read any material published, which may not be fully supportive of their own believes, or which may harm an individual's believe in the Mormon organization.

I would recommend this book to anyone, it is written in a style easy to understand and easy to get a feel for it. I verify all claims in this book to be true, because I have experienced the same upbringing, teaching, or as the author puts it, indoctrination.

The reason why I am not giving this book 5 stars, but only 4, is simply because I feel the last 10 pages drifted slightly away from the main topics discussed in this book.

I am more than happy that I took a few hours to read this insightful text.

Not really what I expected, did go into details about some of the inner workings and techniques used but falls flat as most of it seems scripted.

As a former mormon, I can not recommend this book enough. Though it is a good read for anyone who is curious about the mormon faith, it is especially helpful to those who have left the church and will help bring them peace. It is true, as mentioned in another review, that the author gives a negative perspective of the church. This however is because he is trying to show how ridiculously far out in some regards the church is. The author does manage to do it with a sense of humor; I found myself laughing out loud at several points. Also to disagree with the aforementioned review, I found that while the title may not sit well with mormons, neither will the rest of the book. So what does it matter? If you ask me, the title is perfect. Just buy the darn book already.

I became a Mormon when I was 16 years old and I practiced and followed every single rule until I started to THINK and look outside the box of Mormonism. The book written by the Former Missionary is compelling,carefully researched, honest and through personal experience all what I have read is real. Personally I can't understand a God that gave his life for me, for my freedom and redemption but that in return I have to feel guilty for what he chose. If God decided to have a son and sent him to earth then He (Jesus in his preexistence)chose to be a human, he chose to die for me and if he did it out of love then I do not own Him my respect with guiltiness and slavery. That is what I became when I was a former Mormon as well. The real God that I know made me free to enjoy Life and to choose good or bad but that is no more than life experience with the one I learn to grow. I was given intelligence and discernment. I am a human being and love being a human being and I do not have to be perfect all the time as the Church teaches. I just need to be me. Mormonism is like being in the military except that they don't use violence but persuasion and a clearly mind control over its members.The book is excellent even as a source for the ones that are investigating the church. People are starting to wake up and speak out.I haven't been a Mormon for more than 10 years and my life is still being blessed everyday. Great job.