I just read this book, The Witness Wore Red, written by Recebba Musser, who was the 19th wife of a polygamous cult leader of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) I was horrified by some of the stories that she shared and I highly recommend reading this book. It is eye opening and insane that this is still going on in the world we live in.

Here are some of the passages that really stuck out to me:

Someone passing by our simple two-level redbrick home would likely never guess how many children lived in the basement alone. He would likely be shocked to learn that another large family lived upstairs; the only common denominator between the two families was one man who spent half his nights upstairs with his first wife and children, the other half downstairs with our mother- wife number two- and her children. This man was my father.

I was a “Wilson” and not a “Wall” at my school, and why I could only rarely play with the sweet little girl across the street. If she learned about me- about my brothers and sisters and our family living secretly in the walkout basement- we would risk being discovered.

We wore love-sleeved shirts, girls’ long prairie dresses and skirts, and exceptionally long braids. Mom said we were special, but it wasn’t until I went to kindergarten that I understood we represented a tiny fraction of the population around us.

We worshipped diligently at church, but our people did not have a temple of our own. Someday in the future, it was foretold, we would build one. But for now, we simply had to endure life. We had to suffer pain and sacrifice, because eternity was what mattered.

  Soon Warren restricted everything from forbidding dances, operettas, plays, and even parades. From the pulpit, Warren demanded stricter rules among the people, like completely forbidding anyone to wear the color red, and reiterating that passion and pleasure in the bedroom were for men only. As holders of the Priesthood their passion was meant to fulfill God’s will.  Warren was taking every last thing from the community that gave a sense of purpose or joy.

On September 8, 2002, Rulon Timpson Jeffs passed away (he was the old man on the cover of the book and the leader of the FLDS church). He had prophesied that he would never die, and we had believed him. We all relied on the Prophet for our eternal salvation. And Rulon had promised he would be renewed! Even as we prepared for our Prophet’s funeral services and the people mourned, we kept expecting Rulon to bang on the lid of the coffin and demand to be let out! But there was no sound.

“The minute you revolt from anything that comes from God, you will be under the power of Satan and not be able to resist. One night, Father is going to have you do some things that you may first reject. I’m telling you, be silent and pray for a testimony that you will not reject and that your heart will be open. If you are pure in heart, you will know that this is a truth.”   I sat there, unable to believe how this man was so adept at twisting words and using our beliefs against us for his own purposes. When we obeyed him to the letter, he called us “Father’s Heavenly Angels”. If we voiced a single fear, however, he would say that Satan was finding a place in our hearts.

Up until that point, I wholeheartedly believed in my religion. I did not like Warren and I didn’t agree with his maneuverings, but I believed that I was in the truest church the world had ever known. Had we been told the next step was to drink purple punch filled with cyanide, I would have done so without question.

 I had based my whole life on God’s directive, only to discover it was actually man’s opinion being labeled as God’s will.

(Upon her questioning Warren if this is what God really wants for her) Warren’s eyes turned to steel, filled with cold malice. “I. Will. Break. You.” he said, with deliberate pronunciation on each word. “And I will train you to be a good wife. You have had too much freedom for too long, Becky. No matter who you marry, I will always have jurisdiction over you”.

Right before dawn, avoiding security camera and the prying eyes of any early risers, I slipped over the Jeffses’ six foot high, wrought iron gate. The spikes at the top were tricky to manage in my long skirt, yet nothing compared to the half mile walk I had to trek to meet Ben, fighting my urge to bolt back to my sister-wives, whom I was having great difficulty leaving.

I had tasted freedom, and to go back and witness the strict manipulation of my people broke my heart. I did not judge them, having once “been” them.

On August 29, 2006 I was taking a lunch break with colleagues from a real estate class when I received a call from Sheriff Doran. Quickly I excused myself outside. “Becky, did you see the news?” Warren Jeffs was caught last night outside of Las Vegas!”  I sat down in shock. Warren had been on the run for so long, I hadn’t been sure this day would ever come. Doran told me that the Nevada Highway Patrol had pulled over a brand-new Cadillac Escalade with paper license plates during a routine traffic stop. The trooper did not recognize Warren, but sensed something was wrong when Warren nervously shoveled his salad in his mouth and wouldn’t make eye contact. After calling for back up, they realized that the brand new Cadillac Escalade had been paid in cash and they also found $54,000 in bills in the vehicle, plus tons of letters and cash from his followers. There was also a police scanner, 15 cell phones, walkie-talkies, laptops, credit cards, and keys to many other luxury vehicles. They had wigs and sunglasses and all sorts of accessories.

While on trial this statement came out from Warren’s own record. “There is a girl  the Lord wants me to take. She is thirteen. Oh, I just want the Lord’s will.  If the world knew what I was doing they would hang me from the highest tree.”

The jury went out for deliberation on August 9, 2011 and it only took them 30 minutes for them to return with Warren’s sentence: life plus twenty years.

I know this sounds crazy, but I’ve read about this about a year ago and I’ve NEVER stopped thinking about it.

Scientists are researching a protein in the Chilean Rose Tarantula’s venom that might hault the progression of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Here is the article to read:

I have a really, really strange theory…and it came over me when I FIRST read this article which was just a short headline probably 6-12 months ago. I thought….that’s so crazy!  And then I thought about it for a while longer. and I had this crazy thought pop into my head.

What if…..and this is a HUGE what if….

What if GOD made it so that of the millions and millions of animals and plants, etc that are on the Earth are all here for a specific purpose and something as crazy as spider venom will help to cure something like Muscular Dystrophy. and what if all the cures to life’s most horrible and tragic diseases lies in our ability as humans and scientists to figure that out. What is other animal proteins or plant proteins, could be the answer to many other illnesses.

I know, crazy right?!

Well, it was just a thought that popped into my head and when I saw this article out today, it made me think of it all over again.

I really don’t think it’s the strangest thing….maybe, just maybe.

So, I guess that means that I better get over my HUGE fear of spiders now….right?!

Original Article HERE.

On Christmas Day 2011, Ben Breedlove’s soul went to heaven. But it wasn’t his first time there. Ben suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a heart condition that posed a constant risk of sudden death. His condition, a thickening of the heart muscle, worsened over time, leaving him weak and fatigued. It also led Ben to some close calls medically, in particular cardiac arrest on four separate occasions, during which he felt the presence of angels and experienced the perfect peace of heaven.

Unbeknownst to his parents and family, Ben created a two-part video called “This Is My Story,” in which he used flash cards to tell the world about his near-death experiences and his beckoning toward heaven.

When he died a short while later at the tender age of eighteen, his family and the rest of the world stumbled upon these videos. The world responded with overwhelming acceptance of the message Ben shared.

This was a beautiful story that I happened to see while I was out getting my groceries one day.

I rarely buy books, only because I read so much, so I immediately put in on hold at the library and I’m so glad I did. It was a tender, loving, sweet story of a boy who lived with intention. Ben had HCM, which made me weepy as I read the story because with Duchenne, cardiomyopathy is a condition that most boys will get and that typically can end their lives.

Below are my favorite quotes from the book:

White. Pure White. Ben could see no walls, but only white, a brighter white than he could ever describe that seemed to engulf his surroundings in every direction. In the whiteness, Ben listened to the most quiet he had ever heard in his life.

Then he saw a full length mirror in front of him. He stared at it intently. He was not only looking at his reflection, he was looking at his entire life.

After having an echocardiogram, the doctor told the family that Ben has a condition known as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, making it difficult for his heart to pump blood throughout his body. There is no cure. He will have this disease for the rest of his life. HCM can cause sudden death.

When Ben turned 4 years old, his cardiologist gave him an additional diagnosis of Long QT Syndrome. Similar to HCM, this condition consisted of a type of heartbeat that could lead to fainting, seizures, and sudden death. Patients could also experience sudden death during sleep, when being startled by a loud noise, or when physically exerting themselves too much.

The first time Ben cheated death he was 4 years old. He had a 45 minute seizure.

On Ben’s college application he wrote, “When I was 4 years old, I had a seizure… The only part that I remember is when they were wheeling me down a long dark hall on a stretcher. No lights were on and my mom was walking alongside me at a quick speed. I was lying there, staring up at the ceiling, and there was this huge bright white light right above me, about as long and wide as the stretcher. I said to my mom, “Look at that bright light”.

She responded that there was no light, that the hallway lights were all turned off.

I got a feeling that I didn’t have to care about anything that was happening in the world at that moment. I couldn’t see anything else around me, not even in my peripheral vision, just this bright white light above me. Nothing could be heard; everything was calm. I have always prayed to God about my heart, that I would stay healthy, and whenever I’m scared about something having to do with my heart, that I will just be calm.

One day Ben asked his mom, “Am I going to die?”

She answered, “Yes, we’re all going to die, and none of us know when. I have asthma and I could have an attack and not recover. Your heart condition does give you a risk, but only God knows when we’re going to die. We don’t need to live our lives like they’re death sentences; we need to ENJOY our lives.”

After his death, his brother Jake said, “I know that Ben is happier than he has ever been before”.  It was so peaceful to know that Jake had real peace and real comfort knowing his brother was in good hands. She {his mom} felt the same way, she was not happy to be apart from Ben, but they were truly happy for Ben. No more hospitalizations, no more treatments or monitors. No more worrying about his heart.

Everyone was sad for themselves after Ben passed, but had real joy in knowing that Ben had “graduated” and was not residing in heaven. They were suffering his loss, but he was free.