Ben Klassen, World Church of the Creator and Mormon theology

Ben Klassen was a man of dubious character, but was very industrious. During his lifetime, he served in the Florida State Legislature (for 3-months), was the state campaign chairman for George Wallace’s 1968 Presidential campaign and ordained himself Pontifex Maximus (P.M.) of his very own “Identity” Church of the Creator, later called World Church of the Creator (WCOTC). Klassen was also anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and a racist who claimed, "the Jews created Christianity and its turn-the-other-cheek-and-help-the-poor-philosophy as a way to bring down the Roman Empire and take over. The Sermon on the Mount is advice you would only give your worst enemy" Klassen is renowned among white supremacist neo-Nazis for writing The White Man’s Bible in 1981, publishing the WCOTC’s monthly newsletter, Racial Loyalty, and coining the term RAHOWA, an acronym for “racial holy war”. Under Klassen’s leadership, his Church of the Creator was headquartered outside of Sanford, North Carolina, just a few hundred miles east the largest organized Klan group in the nation that counted members in at least twenty states. Klassen was also communicating with Dan Gayman as early as 1978, and his letter to Gayman below, dated January 10, 1978, provides an insight into the dynamics of both men and their religions:

Dan Gayman, Pastor

Shell City, Missouri

January 10, 1978

Dear Pastor Gayman:

Thank you for the two copies of Zion’s Watchman and the check in the amount of $6.00 received. Instead of two we mailed three copies of our White Man’s Bible, NATURE’S ETERNAL RELIGION. I hope you will place them in good hands and spread the word.

I have read much of the two issues of Zion’s Watchman you sent and agree wholeheartedly with your views regarding the perfidious Jew in our midst and the confusion they have wrought in manipulating the minds of our White Racial Comrades. I do not, of course, agree with the contention of identifying Israel with the White Race, as you probably well know from reading my book. I am therefore somewhat puzzled as to why you are ordering my books (not that I am at all unhappy about it, just puzzled). In any case, we of the Church of the Creator embrace all White Racial Comrades who will join battle against the historical parasite of all time – the treacherous Jew.

Enclosed also is our Questions and Answers flyer. I hope it will give you some further information about our movement.

 For a Whiter and Brighter World.

Creatively Yours

B. Klassen, P.M.

Notice Klassen’s reference to Gayman’s Zion’s Watchman wherein he says, “I do not, of course, agree with the contention of identifying Israel with the White Race, as you probably well know from reading my book. I am therefore somewhat puzzled as to why you are ordering my books”. The reader should be reminded that Mormon theology, and therefore “Christian Identity”, has a strong foundation in Freemasonry, and Freemasonry shares many of the same icons that are sacred to Judaism, especially the Temple of Solomon and the notion that the indigenous peoples of the British Isles, and their royals, belong to the lost tribe of Israel. So, why would Klassen make this statement, didn’t Klassen understand lore of “British Israelism” which formed the basis his own “Identity Christian” WCOTC? Klassen, whose base of operations was North Carolina and Florida, simply lived too far away from the hub of the “Christian Identity” movement, which was being run out of Missouri and Idaho by Gayman and Butler. Consequently, it appears that Klassen was simply not as knowledgeable of “Identity” theology as Gayman and Butler were and was a bit out of the mainstream. This was similar to how things might have evolved if a Christian bishop running some out of the way Christian sect in 325AD didn’t get the memo to attend Emperor Constantine’s Council of Nicaea. The same Christian bishop wouldn’t have a full grasp of the new uniform body of Christian doctrine created by Constantine’s Council. Similarly, even though Klassen was anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and a white supremacist, it appears he wasn’t totally familiar with “Identity” theology, which in the whacky “Identity” world he lived in, taught that the white race was the lost tribe of Israel.

Infused within Joseph Smith’s unique and warped Mormon theology are elements of Freemasonry, Christianity, Protestantism Deism, Islam, Judaism, Occultism, Paganism and Thuleism. And, Thuleism embodies white-supremacy in its most pure form and explains the origins of the Aryan race. It also shouldn’t come as too much of a shock learn that many of Mormondom’s greatest icons were secret Nazi sympathizers during World War II, this included the great J. Reuben Clark, namesake of BYU’s law school, and Reed Smoot who created a major controversy concerning the “separation of church and state” after being elected U.S. Senator from Utah in 1902. We also know that Joseph Smith, to put it nicely, borrowed heavily from Freemasonry, Christianity and Deist philosophies as a means of creating the theology and ritualism needed for his Mormon religion. Further, Freemasonry already embodied the lore of the “lost tribe of Israel”, which later came to be associated with “British Israelism”, which forms one of the key theological foundations of today’s “Christian Identity” movement. And, all of this forms the underlying theological foundation of Smith’s Mormon religion, which was anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, anti-Black and pro-slavery, and taught that the “white and delightsome” Mormons were the lost tribe of Israel. Klassen didn’t understand all of this for 3 reasons. First, Klassen’s hatred of the Jew combined with his lack of understanding of “Identity” theology, made him balk at equating the white race to “Israel” because he viewed this comparison as an insult to the “white race”. Second, Klassen had a “bad habit” of documenting every aspect of his entire life. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but it could be if what he was wrote provided documented evidence of the nefarious network behind the prophesied destruction of the United States was really the Mormon religion. Finally, the “Identity” theology espoused by Klassen evolved from his international, Mennonite and German heritage, rather than simply from slavery and hatred for the United States Government as had Gayman’s and Butler’s “Identity” theology evolved.

In February of 1918, Ben Klassen was born a Mennonite of strong German descent in the Russian Ukraine. When Klassen was 6-years old, in 1924, his family was forced to flee the Bolshevik revolution and Russian Civil War, which resulted in expropriation of Mennonite properties and severe persecution of Mennonite communities in Prussia. This is also appears to have been when Klassen, who always viewed himself as being German, became instilled with his hatred of the Jew. He was already being indoctrinated in hating Christians because this was already part of his Mennonite heritage. This is because in the sixteenth century Mennonite’s were relentlessly persecuted by Catholic and protestant denominations because of their belief in “adult baptism”, which is the concept  that baptism shouldn’t be allowed until adulthood when an individual is capable of acknowledging Jesus Christ and freely choosing to live in accordance with His teachings. So, in 1924, Klassen and his family fled Prussia and went to the Mennonite colonies in Mexico, which happened to be right next to the polygamous Mormon colonies in Chihuahua, Mexico (Colonia Juarez and others), which were populated with polygamist Mormons who fled the United States when polygamy was outlawed by the United States. The Klassens only stayed a year and a half before moving on to the more hospitable Mennonite colonies in Saskatchewan, Canada, which is where he grew into adulthood. There, Klassen attended the German-English academy, taught school and earned a degree in engineering. In 1945, he moved to Los Angeles, California and worked in manufacturing and engineering before moving into in real state, which made him a relatively wealthy man. That also resulted in him moving to the Mormon town of Fallon Nevada in 1948, while developing the Silver Springs, NV, which he founded.

Between 1948 and his death in 1993, he invented and patented the electric can opener, and continued on in business, and by 1949 his new found wealth afforded him the independence to began to reflect his true mettle. And, this is where he begins immersing himself in the “Christian Identity” movement. Between 1963 and 1969, he was a member of the John Birch Society and even hosted a trip to Fort Lauderdale by Kleon Skousen (Mormon), but he resigned in 1969 because he thought the John Birch Society was a scam being orchestrated by the Jews. Between 1964 and 1966, he began affiliating with radicals John Stormer, a radical from Florissant, MO who wrote None Dare Call it Treason, and Dan Smoot whose real name is Howard Drummond Smoot. Smoot worked for FBI between 1972 and 1951, lived in East Prairie, MO and wrote The Invisible Government. Today, LDSFreemen.com lists both None Dare Call it Treason and The Invisible Government as suggested reading to better understand the US Constitution and freedom. Most likely, Dan Smoot is related to A.O. Smoot and Reed Smoot who were both Mormon white supremacists and anti-Government activists in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s (A.O Smoot was a danite murderer, one-time Mayor of Salt Lake City and owned slaves in Salt Lake City in the late 1800’s and his son, Reed Smoot, caused a major incident, which publically exposed Mormon ant-Americanism after being elected a Utah Senator in the early 1900’s). Klassen was a member of the Florida state legislature in 1967, but was unseated 3-months later after he decided to run for State Senate in a special election, which he didn’t win. In 1967, Klassen began reading one of the foundational documents of today’s Christian Identity Movement, International Jew, which was originally published as a series of anti-Semitic articles by William J. Cameron in Henry Ford’s Dearborn Independent.

Probably the three most important influences in Klassen’s life were the Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil war, which Klassen claimed was orchestrated by the Jews and resulted in Klassen’s sojourn to America, reading Mein Kampf in 1938, which Klassen attributes seeding him the philosophy for his “Creativity” movement (WCOTC) in 1968 and Hitler’s attempts to preserve the white Aryan race in World War II and his related anti-Semitism. By 1968, Klassen had become the Florida campaign chairman for George Wallace’s 1968 Presidential campaign, in 1969 he organized the American Independent Party and in 1970 he organized The Nationalist White Party. In 1971, he bought the land in North Carolina that later became the WCOTC’s headquarters, and where he would relocate to from Florida in 1983. And, in what was undoubtedly another seminal moment in his life, Klassen received an invitation to speak at Robert DePugh’s Patriot Leadership Conference, which was held in Kansas City in 1977. The radical luminaries in attendance at DePugh’s “Leadership Conference”, besides Klassen, included Bob DePugh, Allen Vincent, Robert Shelton and Ardie McBrearty. DePugh, who organized the conference, previously founded The Minute Men and lived in Norborne, MO, which is just outside of Independence, MO (site of the Mormon Missouri War), Allen Vincent had recently formed San Francisco’s National Socialist Movement (Nazi) and was a protégé of George Lincoln Rockwell who founded the American Nazi Movement, Robert Shelton was the Imperial Wizard of United Klans of America and Ardie McBrearty, Master of Ceremonies, was later arrested in conjunction with the carnage that Robert Mathew’s (Mormon) The Order created in Washington State in 1984. Klassen’s illustrious offering was a combined presentation on his Nature’s Eternal Religion, Survival of the White Race, and A Real Case Against the Jews.

Prior to his presentation at DePugh’s Patriot Leadership Conference in 1977, Klassen was already associated with the KKK, Matt Kochl’s Nazi Party and Gerald L.K. Smith’s The Christian Nationalist Crusade in Los Angeles, who is today credited with being one of the “fathers” of today’s modern “Christian Identity” movement. In 1982, Klassen, now 64-years old, constructed the new headquarters of his WCOTC on his compound outside of Sanford, NC. In 1982 he published his first issue of Racial Loyalty and in 1983 he left Florida to move to his compound in order to better administer the operations of his new religion. By February of 1990, Klassen, now 72-years old, was looking for a new Pontifex Maximus to take over operations of his church. He quickly named Rudy Stanko to be his successor, but that did not work out due to Stanko’s somewhat severe legal problems. In May of 1992, Klassen selected Charles Avatar to be his new successor, and once again legal issues that included attempted murder, reckless endangerment, possession and manufacture of explosives and destruction of property resulted in Klassen rescinding Avatar’s offer. In June of 1992, Klassen named Mark Wilson, who liked to call himself “Brandon O’Rourke” as his new Pontifex Maximus, but Wilson who was based in Milwaukee, WI, only managed to abscond with tens of thousands of dollars of Klassen’s money and never accomplished anything. This led to Klassen naming Rick McCarty as his new successor in January of 1993, and coincided with the recent death of Klassen’s wife. In August of 1993, Klassen ultimately committed suicide by ingesting 4-bottles of sleeping pills and the violence of the WCOTC only increased. In July of 1993, even before Klassen died, 8-individuals with ties to the WCOTC and Metzger’s WAR organization planned to bomb the largest black church in Los Angeles and assassinate Rodney King. And, the saga continued with yet another Pontifex Maximus by the name of Matt Hale.

Ironically, even though “Identity” theology espouses its hatred of “Christianity”, the movement holds fast to being called the “Christian Identity” movement because this name helps belie the fact that “Christian Identity” is indelibly tied to Joseph Smith’s radical Mormon theology, which also taught that the Mormon religion would “destroy” Christianity, and America because they were both vile, decadent and “of the Jew”. And, herein lies another very important difference between Gayman’s Mormon “Identity” “Church of Israel” and Klassen’s “Identity” WCOTC. While Gayman’s and Butler’s “Christian Identity” movement would never never openly admit its hatred of Christianity, Klassen on the other hand reveled in talking openly about the WCOTC’s hatred of Christianity. Similarly, Gayman and Butler were American, and smart enough to understand that attacking Christianity in America was tantamount to attacking America itself, and that they knew would be their death knell. Klassen, on the other hand, was really not an American and was not well-enough versed in Americana to understand this. Consequently, he openly espoused the same feelings that his Mennonite religious indoctrination instilled in him regarding Christianity. Klassen’s feelings about Christianity were actually fine with Gayman, but Gayman didn’t want Klassen openly espouse being “anti-Christian” in public, because Gayman was smart enough to know this would bring the wrong kind of attention. This is also the same reason that today’s “Identity Christians” also call themselves “patriots”. One of Klassen’s quotes regarding “Christianity” is seen below:

“So let us proceed further… exposing the ridiculous Jewish story known as “Christianity”, which I prefer to call the “Spooks in the Sky” swindle, the greatest swindle in history” – Benjamin Klassen (date unknown)

So, where did Klassen accumulate all of the theological principals he melded together to form his own new WTOTC? Important clues to this are clearly illustrated in another of Klassen’s tomes entitled, Trials Tribulations and Triumphs:

“For some reason, any attempt to found a new religion, anywhere, at any time in history, has always been encountered with the most virulent opposition and the utmost hostility. It took Christianity at least three hundred years to come out into the open, and then more than fifteen hundred years of warfare and strife to establish itself. In fact, the battle is still raging in numerous parts of the world unto this very day. Mohammed and his cohorts had to fight endless battles in order to spread their beliefs, and, as we all know, the warfare is still far from over. Joseph Smith and his brother were killed at an early age by an angry mob in their attempt to establish their Mormon religion. The Jews, as we all know, have been under siege for the last four thousand years or so In order to maintain their parasitic religion in every region they have intruded. In fact, their continuing existence in Palestine, where it all began, is most precarious, to say the least, and chances are excellent that they will not be there for long”.

“…when I first entertained the idea of structuring a racial religion for the White Race in the face of the two dominant and well entrenched Jew-spawned religions, namely Judaism and its bastard offspring, Christianity, I had no illusions about the hostility and opposition I would undoubtedly encounter”.

“…As our anti-Christian racial religion invaded Macon County in 1982 in the center of that highly bigoted mass of religious Insanity known as the Bible Belt, I believe it is constructive to review some of the highlights and antagonisms of that first hectic year. We were prepared for unrelenting warfare against the Jews, the niggers, and the other mud races, since this was what our religion was primarily geared to warn our White Racial comrades about. However, we were also keenly aware of the hatred engendered against us by the fanaticism of the Christian zealots”.

Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs, which was published in 1993, was Klassen’s final legacy to his warped view of society because he later committed suicide in August that same year. Klassen even said regarding Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs, “At 75, this is undoubtedly the last book I will write. I have dedicated the last twenty years of my life and all my worldly resources to try and awaken the White Race to its impending peril, and I have done all I can. Now the younger generation must pick up the torch and fight the battle”.

Notice Klassen’s reference to Joseph Smith and the Mormon religion in the excerpt above. The additional passages from “Trials“ below provide the additional revelation, and indisputable proof, that proves not only was Klassen well-versed in Mormon fundamentalism, he also embedded the radical Mormon theology of Joseph Smith into the theology of his WCOTC. Importantly, Klassen included the virtually unknown aspects of Joseph Smith’s radical Mormon theology that teaches that “Christianity is “of the Jew” and that the Government of the United States is illegitimate because its Judeo-Christian “Jewish Laws of Man” are also “of the Jew”, and therefore will ultimately be destroyed by the Mormon religion (Mormon prophecy of “Daniel”). Not surprisingly, Klassen had strong affiliations with the other “Identity” radicals who were closely linked to Gayman and Butler. This includes Tom Metzger, founder of White Aryan Resistance (WAR), and Dr. William Pierce, founder of the National Alliance and author of The Turner Diaries. Further, Pierce purchased Klassen’s WCOTC compound in North Carolina after Klassen designated Rick McCarty his new P.M. of the WCOTC and after McCarty moved the WCOTC’s headquarters to Florida. Further, Klassen even hired several Mormons who served as high-level church officials in his WCOTC. These Mormon include Keith Williams, Charles C. Messick III and Mike Scatena. Finally, perhaps it really shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise to learn that the WCOTC appears to have been largely based on the radical theology of the Mormon religion itself, as documented by Klassen himself in these excerpts from Trials, which are shown below:

“…What has happened to the Mormon Church? In studying this question in depth, the answer comes up loud and clear: the Mormon Church has gone Jewish, lock, stock, and barrel. When President Spencer W. Kimball proclaimed on June 7 of 1978 that he had had a new "revelation from the Lord" and that the mud peoples were now also eligible for priesthood, it might have been a shock for many of the Mormon faithful. (Read again My Transformation from a Jew-loving Mormon to a Mutant Creator by Rev. Carles C. Messick in Issue No. 13 of our monthly newspaper, Racial Loyalty). However, It was not a sudden reversal of the Mormon creed. The seeds had been sown a long time ago, and the crafty Jews had sunk their poisonous tentacles into the heart of the Mormon hierarchy almost from the beginning. The two religions have now become as cozy as two peas in a pod.

While being subjected to indoctrination propaganda at the Visitors Center at the Mormon Temple in Oahu, I picked up a few pieces of their free literature on display. One of them was the booklet The Mormons and the Jewish People. On the first page of this booklet it says: "If the Jewish people really understood, they would realize that no other people, organization or church, has as much in common as do the Mormons, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You have been driven, robbed, and ravished. So have we. You have been persecuted, mistreated, misunderstood - so have we. What a power we could be if we were united.

The complete accomplishment of our mutual and heaven assigned responsibilities involves our becoming united (as descendants of Joseph) with the descendants of Judah (the Jewish people) in the fulfillment of the promises given by the Lord to Abraham and renewed upon the heads of Isaac and Jacob,-" There you have it. This is the official line as disseminated by the hierarchy of the church itself. It fairly shouts: "We want to be Jews!" alright. That's what the stated, official position of the Mormon hierarchy is in their strange and sticky love affair with the Jews. Now let us hear from the other side and see what the cunning Jews have to say about their queer, hybrid courtship of the Mormons. Here is a Commentary written by Rabbi Marc H. Tannenbaum in the B'nai B'rith Messenger, "Probably no people who are not themselves Jews are so much concerned in the Jewish race (sic!) as the Latter-Day Saints. Indeed, the fortunes of these two people are very closely connected".

That statement was made in 1905 by a Brigham Young church historian on the occasion of the centennial of the birth of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism. The Mormon Church's deep feelings of respect and solidarity with Jews, Judaism, and Israel were manifested impressively a few weeks ago. Southern Utah State College in Cedar City, Utah, sponsored an entire week of activities devoted to introducing their 3,000 students, mostly Mormons, to the religious, cultural, artistic, and social achievements of Jews. An entire room was dedicated to learning about the Nazi "Holocaust" and the "horrors of anti-Semitism." Mormon students from 32 states and nearly a dozen foreign countries joined Hillel youth from Las Vegas in dancing Israeli dances and in eating humus and techina. Utah's Governor Scott Matheson, Israel officials, the Las Vegas Jewish Federation - which did yeoman's work in helping organize the event made this a memorable week in strengthening friendship between Mormons and Jews. There is more sweet talk, but I believe this pretty well tells the story, more about the Mormons than about the Jews, who are playing their intentions close to the vest.

Joseph Smith, who based his whole religion on an incredible fraud, (actually he plagiarized The Book of Mormon) Solomon Spaulding's fictional story Manuscript Found, written 20 years earlier) nevertheless had one redeeming characteristic in his movement: It was exclusively White. But the Jews, who had been around for 5,000 years and were exceedingly cunning in the techniques of subversion and infiltration, were already conspiring of ways and means of how to take over this newly founded cult and pervert it to their own designs. In this they succeeded overwhelmingly. Today the Mormon Church stands poised to become the most effective religious movement in the Jewish goal of race-mixing. If there is any question as to why the Mormons would lay out tens of millions to build the Polynesian Cultural Center, the fact that they have built and are building their temples in places like Buenos Aires, Argentina; Papeete, Tahiti; Nuku Alofa, Tonga; Apia, West Samoa; Japan; Mexico; New Zealand; as well as Hawaii (this is only a partial list) should answer the question. The Mormons are now fully committed to an all out Jewish program of race-mixing, and not only halfheartedly like the other Christian denominations. They are now promoting the Jewish business of race mixing with a vengeance, no holds barred.

Whereas Joseph Smith had no understanding of the Jewish conspiracy, nor the depth of their treachery, the Jews were already into his operation while he was alive. As early as 1841, Orson Hyde, himself a Jew, was already one of Joseph Smith's twelve Apostles, and in that year Joseph Smith sent Hyde to Palestine to dedicate that Arab country to the future piracy of the Jews, with Smith's blessing. So much for the sinister race-mixing program of the Jews, the Mormons, and the Christian Churches en masse. Let us now spell out the program of The Church of the Creator to save the White Race from such a fate, a fate worse than death. In the title of this dissertation appears the word "kamaaina," which in Hawaiian means a native, or a person born in the islands, or having lived there a long time. This Is in contrast to the word "haole," which means Caucasian or White. Since, as I have stated before, there are practically no "pure-blooded" Hawaiians left in the islands, but only a mish-mash mixture of mongrels, the prolifically breeding mud people are further being rapidly reinforced by a massive invasion of the more aggressive Japanese, who, thanks to American collaboration and encouragement, are rapidly buying up and taking over a choice piece of American real estate. This, despite the American military forces at great cost in men and material smashing the military power of this yellow peril only 40 years ago. We, of The Church of the Creator, have a dynamic program that runs completely, counter to that of the Jews, the Mormons and the bleeding-heart Christians. We flatly oppose the diabolical program of race-mixing and the population explosion of the mud races…”.

Klassen is clearly lamenting on how the so-called “mainstream” Mormons were forced to open their religion to peoples of all races and creeds, and questions how Joseph Smith’s “pure” Mormon theology became so diluted and contaminated over the years. It is also clear that Klassen’s WTOTC was was no different than any of the other radical “Christian Identity” groups such as The Order or the CSA that easily recruited Mormons and Mormon fundamentalists already indoctrinated in a theology that espoused anti-Semitism, anti-Christianity, racial purity and the destruction of the United States. Unfortunately for Klassan, he also began publically voicing his disdain for the “mainstream” Utah Mormon religion, which he claims sold out to the Jew. It appears that this, Klassen’s hesitation to equate the “white race” to the “lost tribe of Israel”, Klassens public disdain for the “Christian religion” and his geographical distance from the main body of the “Identity” movement may have contributed to a schism that separated him from the Gayman’s and Butler’s core body of the movement in the west. Instead of being a cohesive part of the movement, Klassen attacked the mainstream Mormon religion in “Trials”, and his too-public decry of “Christianity” would have provided an important clue to any “agents” who otherwise might have been smart enough to pick up on this important clue and link the entire movement to so-called “mainstream” Mormon religion. All of this certainly did not ingratiate him much to the Mormons who were running the entire show and had important protection inside the FBI and CIA. Clearly, Klassen was also not aware of one of Mormondom’s most important epithets, which is documented in History of the Church and specifically admonishes its people to “avoid any appearance of evil”. Because of this Klassen found himself near the end of his life being attacked with incongruous right-wing claims that he was a Jew and a homosexual, in addition to the myriad of other problems he faced.

Klassen clearly alienated himself from other Identity Christians with his public decry of “Christianity” and his refusal to equate the “white race” to Israel. He was also the “old man” of a previous generation of “Identity” movement who didn’t want to abdicate to Gayman and Butler who were now the most powerful force in the movement, and who were carefully building and grooming the next generation of Mormon “Identity” leaders. Further, how could you take your place in the “Christian Identity” movement if you openly refused to consider yourself as being Christian? How could you be an American patriot without being Christian? The last thing you would want to do as part of the movement would be to anger the most powerful force in the movement. It seems that all of these issues, including Klassen’s advanced age, his failing health, his inability to find a suitable successor and the recent death of his wife began to take a toll on him because in August of 1993, at the age of 75, he committed suicide after ingesting 4-bottles of sleeping pills. Ultimately, Klassen and his WCOTC was even banned from the “Christian Identity” movement and was given his own movement called “The Creativity Movement”. I guess that’s like calling one apple a “golden delicious” and another, “red delicious”. They are both simply apples. Such is the same with “Christian Identity” and “the Creative Movement”. Perhaps the real purpose behind the overly fastidious and meaningless name selection is to confuse and belie who and what was really behind this insanity in the first place. And, that is simply Mormons and Mormon fundamentalists who are anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic racists dedicated to the Mormon prophesies of Joseph Smith and the destruction of the United States, because America wouldn’t allow some racists own slaves north of the Mason-Dixon Line in 1820.

Dan Gayman, the “Church of Israel” and Mormon Theology

In the 1930’s Leo Gayman and 10-other families broke away from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to form the Church of Israel. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of the original Mormon breakaway sects that broke-off from the “mainstream” Utah Mormon religion after the death of Joseph Smith in 1844. At the time of Smith’s death in 1844, Emma Smith and her son claimed to be the rightful heir to Joseph Smith’s Mormon throne, but they lost in their battle against Brigham Young, as did many others who also claimed to be the “new Mormon prophet” during this period of time and were purged from the Mormon religion (the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints later changed its name to The Community of Christ in 2001). After breaking away from The Community of Christ, Leo Gayman led his new Church of Israel into the mountains of Colorado where they were only able to carve out a meager existence for a few years. In 1941, they relocated to Schell City in Vernon County, Missouri, which is about 70 miles south of Kansas City. Their new compound in Schell City was located only about 70-miles from Independence, MO, which was the sight of Joseph Smith’s very first Mormon settlement in Missouri and coincides with the forced Mormon migration out of New York State at the end of 1830. Further, this same area is adjacent to where much of the Missouri War took place between 1832 and 1838. In 1972, Leo’s son, Dan Gayman, took over the reins of the Church of Israel and began morphing it into a much more radical church that more closely adhered to the radical fundamentalist theologies of Joseph Smith. At the same, time he also began developing strategic alliances with other radical groups that came to be identified with the “Christian Identity” movement.

Related Article - Community of Christ members arrested in 2009 on child sex and bestiality charges

Coincidentally, during this same period of time, the reigns of the “Christian Identity” movement were being passed on to a new generation leadership. This also coincided with the strong resurgence of the movement in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The movement also came to be centered in Idaho where the headquarters of Richard Butler’s Aryan Nations was located, and Butler had also recently assumed control of Dr. Wesley A. Swift’s Church of Jesus Christ Christian, in 1970, after the death of Swift. Butler’s Aryan Nations headquarters at Hayden Lake was also centrally located in the midst of a fertile hotbed of white supremacist, neo-Nazi Mormon fundamentalists, which included Utah, Northern California, Oregon and Washington and other western states. Given all this, it was not hard to see why Gayman allied himself with Butler’s Aryan Nations/Church of Jesus Christ Christian, which also already had a very strong foundation in the radical Mormon theologies of Joseph Smith, in particular his “Doctrine of Cain” or “Two-seeds Doctrine” as it came to be know by “Identity Christians”. But, Gayman also communicated extensively with other radicals who shared his fundamentalist beliefs, and this included Ben Klassen who founded the World Church of the Creator in 1973, and who Gayman had been communicating since at least 1978. Strangely, Gayman denies ever meeting CSA founders James Ellison and Kerry Noble, who were both Mormon fundamentalists and whose CSA compound was located only about 130 miles to the south of Gayman’s Missouri compound on the Missouri/Arkansas border. On the other hand, both Ellison and Noble claim that Gayman inspired them to become violent neo-Nazi white supremacists.

Gayman and Butler executed their strategy of re-building the “Identity Movement” in the image of Joseph Smith to perfection by seeding a new generation of radical Mormon fundamentalist groups that came to be known as “Christian Identity” groups, which were now shielded from being viewed as adhering to the radical theology of Joseph Smith. This initiative also included the creation of paramilitary training centers and survival schools that were managed by these same new groups and were even more radical and more violent than Gayman or Butler ever were. These new groups included James Ellison’s and Kerry Noble’s Covenant, the Sword & Arm of the Lord (CSA) and Robert Mathews The Order. Further, Ellison, Noble and Mathews were all Mormons who had already been indoctrinated in the same polygamy, purity of the white race, anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism that Joseph Smith’s Mormon religion espoused, but which had been re-packaged by Gayman and Butler and was now being sold to the American public as the “Christian Identity” movement. Because of the significant contribution that Gayman made to the movement, he is even recognized as one of the “Fathers” of the “Christian Identity” movement today. Smith’s original Book of Mormon references a racial purity that is “white and delightsome”, but this phrase has now been edited out of the Book of Mormon by the Mormon religion, and is no longer spoken of in public. Similarly, today’s “Christian Identity” theology sounds radical because virtually nobody alive today knows anything about the real history or theology of Joseph Smith’s radical Mormon religion. “Gentile” Americans would be astounded if they knew that Gayman’s radical “Identity” theology was already fully documented by Joseph Smith by 1844, and that this same theology is still considered canon today by the so-called “mainstream” Utah Mormons.

Gayman achieved prominence and earned the privilege of being considered a “Father” of today’s “Christian Identity” movement largely because of his ability to inspire violent action solely through his theological teachings. But, it also didn’t hurt that the new generation of leaders he influenced had already been indoctrinated in this same radical Mormon theology since birth. David Tate was another of Dan Gayman’s prodigal sons who took Gayman’s teachings to heart. Tate who was a member of Gayman’s Church of Israel went on to murder 31-years old Missouri State Trooper Jimmie Linegar on April 15, 1985 after being stopped south of Branson, MO. Before that, he was a member of Robert Mathews’ The Order, who had previously been a member of Dr. William Pierce’s National Alliance. Eventually, it becomes quite obvious that all of these same people ran in the same circles and simply switched groups apparently whenever they became bored, or began being hunted, which is what occurred in David Tate’s case after fleeing the carnage created by The Order, which resulted in the fiery death of Robert Mathews on December 8, 1984. Tate fled Washington State after he and other members of The Order embarked on a crime spree that included bank robbery, counterfeiting, assault and murder. But, Tate didn’t reach the pinnacle of prominence until he and other members of The Order murdered a Jewish radio talk-show host named Alan Berg, in Denver, CO, after Berg ridiculed a member of The Order on-air in 1984. This was the new generation, and more radical “Christian Identity” movement that Gayman and Butler nurtured and morphed into the terrorist environment of the 1990’s, which in turn led to the 1993 WTC bombing, the 1995 OKC bombing and culminated in 9/11. Given all of the Mormon fundamentalists involved in this new generation of terrorism, it seems odd that Dr. Wesley A. Swift, a former Methodist Minister, would be formally credited with inculcating Joseph Smith’s “Doctrine of Cain” or “Two-Seeds Doctrine” into today’s “Christian Identity” movement.

Swift and Richard Butler knew each other, but Swift died in 1970 and Butler had a much stronger relationship with Dan Gayman. Gayman was a multi-generational Mormon and bishop of his own radical Mormon fundamentalist Church of Israel and would have been intimately familiar with Joseph Smith’s radical Mormon theology. Further, he was already communicating with other radicals like Ben Klassen who based his WCOTC on the Mormon religion and his own anti-Semitic and anti-Christian beliefs. So, it seems unlikely that Swift, who had been a Baptist Minister and was the son of a Baptist Minister, is the real progenitor of the “Christian Identity’s” “Doctrine of Cain” or “Two-Seeds Doctrine”. Additionally, Butler’s Aryan Nations was already rife with radical Mormon fundamentalists because of its ideal location in the heart of Mormon country. It is an indisputable fact that Dan Gayman was Butler’s right-hand man and made the most significant impact on the next-generation of “Christian Identity” leaders. Virtually every new “Christian Identity” group that Butler and Gayman seeded were led by Mormons and Mormon fundamentalists, and were heavily populated with Mormons and Mormon fundamentalists. Virtually every one of these new groups espoused exactly the same theology that was already documented by Joseph Smith in 1844 as he attempted to overthrow the United States. Not only that, this same anti-American and anti-Christian theology still forms the foundation of the “mainstream” Utah Mormons and is still being secretly taught today. But, again nobody knows this because the Mormon religion hides and sequesters its secret history and theology in order to strategically eliminate any “smoking gun” that might link them to today’s terrorist activities.

The entire notion of “mainstream” Utah Mormons being Christian, religious and patriotic is a purposeful strategy executed accordance with the Mormon prophecy, the “Parable of the Wheat and the Tares”, which teaches that the Mormons will “live among the tares [non-Mormons]”, ”become hidden for a time”, “arise”, “separate themselves from and burn the tares” and then “take their place as the rightful heirs of America”. Remember the 1995 New York Times article about how and the townspeople of Elohim City sang the hymn about the “golden grain”? These two seemingly separate incidents are directly related. Further, Dr. Wesley A. Swift who originally founded the Church of Jesus Christ Christian in the 1940’s belonged to an earlier generation of “Identity Christians”, which didn’t no anything about the radical Mormon theologies of Joseph Smith. Further, Swift was the son of a Methodist Minister and was a Methodist Minister himself before immersing himself in the “Christian Identity” movement. Consequently, it seems unlikely that Swift somehow came up with “Two-Seeds Doctrine” on his own. More likely, it was Gayman who took the Joseph Smith’s “Doctrine of Cain” and morphed it into the Christian Identity’s “Two-Seeds Doctrine”, and then introduced it to Butler’s Church of Jesus Christ Christian who then credited it to Swift to hide its true origins. This wouldn’t have been too hard to do considering the significant Mormon contingent involved in the movement. However this occurred, the name seems to have strategically been changed from the “Doctrine of Cain” to the “Two-Seeds Doctrine” and credited to Swift so that it would never appear “Mormon”. As for Gayman and his Church of Israel, members have included such notables as James “Bo” Gritz and Eric Rudolf who bombed the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Further, Gritz is Mormon, brokered the Ruby Ridge Incident for Randy Weaver (family is Mormon) and worked for Dyno-Nobel (sold ANFO to Ramzi Yousef for 1993 WTC bombing) and traveled to the Middle-East during the same time that Terry Nichols (Mormon) was traveling to Cebu City, Philippines and meeting with Ramzi Yousef

The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA)

The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) is a paramilitary neo-Nazi white supremacist “Christian Identity” group that was founded by James Ellison, a polygamist, and his “High-Priest” Kerry Noble, both of whom were Mormon fundamentalists. The CSA was founded in 1970 on a farm near Elijah, Missouri and moved in 1976 to a more secluded 224-acre compound that Ellison purchased from the Campus Crusade for Christ. The new CSA compound was location 7-miles southwest of Pontiac, Missouri on the edge of Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas. It was also only about 130 miles south of Dan Gayman’s Church of Israel compound in Schell City, MO and about 130 miles northeast of Robert Millar’s Elohim City compound. The group consisted of about 120 men, women, and children, who named their settlement Zarephath-Horeb, began stockpiling food and weapons and began paramilitary and survivalist training. Coincidentally, the word “Zarephath-Horeb” comes from the Mormon Adamic Language that Brigham Young attempted to make the national language of his sovereign Mormon nation of Deseret. Even today, one of the key tenets of the Mormon religion is to stockpile food for the “coming wars”, as prophesied in “Mormon millennialism”. The CSA was strategically allied with Dan Gayman’s “Church of Israel” and Richard Butler’s Aryan Nations/Church of Jesus Christ Christian, which bolstered the CSA’s paramilitary and survivalist operations, and linked them operationally to Gayman, Butler and all of the other allied “Identity Groups”. As the CSA started becoming more radical around 1982, it membership began to decrease, and by 1985 when the compound was under siege by the Federal Government the CSA’s membership was down to only about 70 people. Ironically, their own millennialistic view of the world seems to have foretold of their own coming doomsday, which they ironically set in motion themselves after they began targeting FBI agent Jack Knox for assassination and planning to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City in retaliation for Gordon Kahl’s (Mormon) death in 1983.

Just as Mormon culture was steeped in the radical theology of Joseph Smith in 1844, so are virtually all “Christian Identity” groups today, and the CSA was no different. The CSA’s religious beliefs included the notions of polygamy, white racial purity, eminent doomsday (Mormon millennialism), the illegitimacy of the United States Government that should be overthrown because Christianity and the Judeo-Christian laws of America are “of the Jew” and Mormons (the golden grain) are “God’s chosen people”. The flip side of this was that they were white supremacist, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-Americans who believed that the U.S. Government should be violently overthrown. Ironically, they painted themselves as “Christian Patriots”, and of course really didn’t consider themselves “Christian” at all. In fact, the whole “Christianity” thing was just part of an elaborate rouse designed to belie their ties to Mormon theology and to minimize appearance of being insanely radical. Obviously, being “patriotic” without being “Christian” would have really really made them look radical. The CSA established a sophisticated “corporate structure” with Ellison and Noble at the top of the organizational chart, followed by a 9-man council of “Elders” that helped deliberate the spiritual and temporal aspects of life in the compound and identified the strategic objectives of the CSA’s. This inner-council was also heavily influenced by outside sources, which initially helped them to flourish, because of the extensive networking and strategic alliances that existed between all the Mormon fundamentalist “Christian Identity” groups that flowered during this period of growth. During this time, Ellison and his council were mentored by Gayman, Butler and Robert Miles’s “Mountain Church”. They were also closely associated with Robert Millar of Elohim City, Dr. William Peirce and his National Alliance, the Ku Klux Klan and other Mormon fundamentalist groups hiding behind the “Christian Identity” misnomer.

According to the FBI, the CSA was a white supremacist neo-Nazi organization that professed a belief in the “Christian Identity” movement, which espouses the theory that Aryans, not the Jews, are the true Israelites and God’s chosen people. Ironically, this theology is Pagan and not “Christian” at all. Further, it integrates Aryan elements of Thuleism, which guided Hitler’s Nazi party in Germany during World War II, hence the term neo-Nazi. The FBI also seems to have missed the fact that virtually all of the key players in the modern “Christian Identity” movement were Mormons and Mormon fundamentalists. However, only Mormon FBI agents would have had the capacity to really understand this, and that Identity theology was simply the reincarnation of Joseph Smith’s radical Mormon theology. Coincidentally, at the time of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, approximately 40% of FBI management positions were held by “mainstream” Utah Mormons. This was because J. Edgar Hoover began hiring Mormons in 1950’s because he said they were “honest and hard-working”. Consequently, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario similar to what happened at the Apollo Group in 2006, where “mainstream” Mormons that were promoted into hiring positions began dominating management positions and hiring only other Mormons. This happened to such an extent that the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit because these same Mormons were discriminating against non-Mormons. Similarly, an FBI heavily laden with Mormons might have actually helped hide the fact that the “Christian Identity” movement was really Joseph Smith’s Mormon fundamentalism. But, of course only Mormon agents who had already pledged an “Oath of Loyalty” to their own Mormon Government would have known this. Non-Mormon agents could never have made this association. After taking into account the Mormon prophecy of “The Doctrine of the Constitution Hanging by a Thread”, which teaches that Mormon Elders will “rush in and save the Constitution”, and that “mainstream” Utah Mormons still teach this prophecy even today, this theory doesn’t seem that far-fetched.

In April of 1985, the FBI obtained a warrant to search the Mormon fundamentalist CSA compound. On April 19, 1985, approximately 300 Federal and State law enforcement personnel, disguised as fisherman because of the proximity to Bull Shoals Lake, surrounded the CSA compound to arrest Ellison and other members of the CSA. The raid was related to the December 8, 1984 siege on Robert Mathews “Identity” compound on Whidbey Island in Washington State. It turns out that certain members of The Order were previously CSA members and had helped Robert Mathews (Mormon) establish an even more radical group called The Order. During the CSA siege in 1985, members of The Order/Bruder-Schweigen who had fled Washington State in 1984 were found residing at the compound under assumed names. A close inspection of the FBI’s CSA files also reveals some additional interesting facts. Most importantly, in 1983 several members of the CSA and individuals with close ties to the CSA left the CSA to form a new and more violent terrorist group called The Order. They also revealed that The Order was a violent offshoot of Richard Butler’s Hayden Lake, Idaho based Aryan Nations/Church of Jesus Christ Christian, and that several members of The Order were located and arrested at the CSA compound during in the FBI’s raid of the CSA compound in 1985. This information resulted from the WATPAC phase of the FBI’s CSA investigation, which was an investigation into right-wing so-called “Christian Identity” leaders who were also participating in serious crimes including, seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to murder Federal Officials and receipt of stolen property. In, April of 1987, a Federal Grand Jury in Fort Smith, Arkansas issued indictments against fourteen individuals arrested at the CSA compound, and as a result of the indictment, thirteen of those individuals were re-arrested and the remaining individual became a Federal fugitive who was added to the FBI’s 10-most wanted list. That individual was later apprehended in Guadalajara, Mexico on November 16, 1987. The trial for all 14 of these individuals began in Fort Smith, AK on February 16, 1988.

The Grand Jury indictment that charged all 14 individuals with seditious conspiracy, interstate transportation of stolen property, receipt of stolen money, and conspiracy to murder Federal officials was returned in the western District of Arkansas. The indictment documented around 130 overt criminal acts, including travel and meeting for the purpose of discussing the ways and means of how to overthrow the United States Government, homicide, the sale and purchase of automatic weapons, armed robbery that netted in excess of $4MM and the distribution of these monies. Also, prominent among the overt criminal acts was the attempt to murder a U.S. District Court Judge and a special agent of the FBI. Among the items seized during the raid of the CSA compound was a 30-gallen drum of cyanide, numerous automatic assault rifles, a fully operational LAW guided rocket, a Lewis machine gun, handguns, rifles, C-4 explosives, land mines, hand grenades and thousands of rounds of ammunition. During the investigation into Ellison, the CSA and affiliates, it was learned they had perpetrated various acts of violence, including firebombing a homosexual church in Springfield, Missouri, firebombing the Jewish Community Center in Bloomington, Indiana, bombing the interstate natural gas pipeline at Fulton, AK, robbery and murder of a Jewish Pawnshop owner in Texarkana, Arkansas, converting numerous assault weapons to fully-automatic weapons and the manufacture and stockpiling of explosive devises. Ellison was subsequently indicted on RICO violations, conspiracy to possess illegal firearms and conspiracy to possess firearms, and pled guilty to the RICO violations, bombing and arson. Ellison was then incarcerated in the Arkansas State prison.
 
During the “siege” to arrest Ellison and other CSA terrorists who claimed to be patriots and resided at the CSA compound on April 19, 1985, the FBI and Arkansas enforcement officers enlisted the help of Elohim City’s religious leader, Robert Millar, and his son (John) to avert an all-out conflagration. To facilitate this, Robert and John Millar were flown to the CSA compound during the 3-day standoff to help avert an armed and violent confrontation and to help mediate Ellison’s peaceful surrender. After Ellison was later indicted for seditious conspiracy, interstate transportation of stolen property, receipt of stolen money, conspiracy to murder Federal officials, federal racketeering charges, attempting to bomb a natural gas pipeline, arson at a Springfield, MO church, a Jewish community center in Indiana and a private home, John Millar showed his disdain by referring to the charges against Ellison as merely "bureaucratic technicalities" and "a bunch of hogwash". Regardless of Millar’s opinion, in September of 1985, Ellison was convicted and sentenced to 20-years in prison. In 1987, during the sedition trial in Fort Smith, AK against the ten other individuals who were originally indicted along with Ellison, Ellison testified on behalf of the Federal Government. In that trial, Ellison testified against Aryan Nations' leader Richard Butler, former Klansman and neo-Nazi Louis Beam, several members of The Order (none of whom were found guilty) and other members of the so-called “Christian Identity” white supremacist neo-Nazi movement, and was then subsequently placed in the federal witness relocation program. After leaving prison, Ellison returned to Elohim City to marry Robert Millar's Granddaughter, Angeline Millar, and began living with her in wedded bliss in Elohim City. Strangely enough, Neither Ellison, Noble, nor the CSA was ever linked to Dan Gayman’s Church of Israel, who compound was located just 130-miles to the north in Schell City, MO.

 
Part-3 I Part-4 I Part-5