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When I read the “Breaking News” headline from the Salt Lake Tribune on Sept. 15, 2023 a few minutes after it arrived in my email inbox, even I was surprised:
In rare public rebuke, LDS Church condemns Tim Ballard’s ‘morally unacceptable’ behavior
At the moment I can’t think of another example of The Church publicly criticizing one of their members by name in the media. I’m rarely surprised by Church-related news anymore, but this definitely got my attention.
I already knew something about Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad, thanks to a video by reporter Lynn Packer that I’d watched a year or two ago, but I hadn’t thought about it in a long time. Suddenly a rabbit hole opened up in cyberspace, and I crawled right in.
I read The Salt Lake Tribune article, which can be found here:
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2023/09/15/rare-public-rebuke-lds-church/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_7736124BALLARDVICE
I watched some related videos by Lynn Packer (which I recommend) on an independent news website that was new to me, called American Crime Journal (which I also recommend), that can be found here:
https://americancrimejournal.com/exposing-the-sound-of-freedom-hoax/
https://americancrimejournal.com/utah-satanic-ritual-abuse-allegations/
https://americancrimejournal.com/our-the-lds-churchs-promotional-movies/
https://americancrimejournal.com/o-u-r-the-grand-jury-investigation/
And I searched for the name “Tim Ballard” on The Church’s website at churchofjesuschrist.org and found a talk by M. Russell Ballard (President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), titled “The Lord’s Hand,” that he gave in Worcester, MA on October 20, 2019. In it, he mentions Tim Ballard’s name twice, even describing a trip to Plimouth Plantation with two family members and “family friend, Tim Ballard.” This talk can be found here:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/multimedia/file/President-M.-Russell-Ballard—The-Lord’s-Hand—Transcript.pdf
Here is a list of some of the things I learned from the sources listed above. This is according to my own interpretation of what I read and watched:
– Tim Ballard’s public proclamations are more lies than truth. Whether he is more conscious conman or deluded dude with a messiah complex, he cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
– Operation Underground Railroad is more fraud than friend of children, and it has been used as a tool to promote and enrich Tim Ballard and to spread MAGA and Qanon friendly misinformation and conspiracy theories.
– The summer hit movie Sound of Freedom (a movie about Tim Ballard, which is still in theaters) claims it is based on a true story, but in reality is almost entirely fictionalized, well past even Hollywood’s infamously flexible standards.
– The criminal fraud investigation into Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad ended abruptly and suspiciously at a meeting in Salt Lake City, most likely under some mix of influence from Trump-friendly characters and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
– Doug Anderson, Director of Media Relations for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, issued a statement via email to Vice News, confirming that M. Russell Ballard was, but is no longer friends with Tim Ballard, because Tim used his connection with M. Russell to further his own interests without permission.
– This is not the first time M. Russell Ballard has become friendly with a character of questionable standards who has ties to child sex abuse. Although the charges may be unfounded, Lynn Packer’s October 22, 2022 video “OUR Op Ed No. 23 UTAH SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE ALLEGATIONS” explores the relationship of President Ballard and the church with advertising celebrity Gordon Bowen, who has been the subject of child sex abuse allegations in Utah. Whether the charges are true or not, Bowen’s past confirmed sexual indiscretions (with male prostitutes for example), his tortured and closeted sexuality, and his unusual views and writings on Jesus Christ, make him a head-scratchingly puzzling choice to be such a close friend and adviser to top church leaders.
– Elder Ballard worked with Gordon Bowen on a secret Jesus movie that may have cost The Church twenty million dollars. It seems that the movie may not have turned out so well, as it still has not been publicly disclosed. He has also invested in and encouraged various Tim Ballard ventures, possibly including Operation Underground Railroad and related projects, as well as a company called “Slave Stealers, LLC,” a company with the same address as Elder Ballard’s son’s office.
Your average faithful Mormon might assume the best of Elder M. Russell Ballard, and if they’re smart they might assume the worst of Tim Ballard, but maybe there are some ways in which they aren’t all that different, these two unrelated Ballards. See Lynn Packer’s 2020 video “Operation Underground Railroad and ‘The Covenant‘” for information about M. Russell’s Ballard’s past questionable business dealings of his own. And then of course there is that time Elder Ballard served himself to Church critics on a silver platter, when he said, during a 2017 Worldwide Face to Face Broadcast for Church youth:
“We would have to say, as two apostles who have covered the world and know the history of the Church and know the integrity of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve from the beginning, there has been no attempt on the part of the Church leaders to try to hide anything from anybody.” Thanks to the Joseph Smith Papers project, “we’re learning more about the Prophet Joseph; it’s wonderful we are,” Elder Ballard said. “Just trust us, wherever you are in the world, and you share this message with anyone else who raises the question about the Church not being transparent. We’re as transparent as we know how to be in telling the truth. We have to do that; that’s the Lord’s way.”
His statement about the church leaders not attempting to hide anything from anybody is simply not true. From Joseph Fielding Smith’s hiding of the earliest First Vision account to M. Russell’s Ballards hiding of a secret Jesus movie, there are obvious examples of Church leaders hiding things from their members and the outside world. Elder Ballard is the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he should know what’s really going on, and so I can’t help but think that in the case of this Face to Face quote, he is either lying or delusional – or both
Kind of like Tim Ballard. No relation to Russell, and yet I have a feeling that they both felt they were kindred spirits right from the start.
It seems fairly clear to me that Tim Ballard is something of a charismatic conman with delusions of grandeur who has forced his way to fame and fortune at the expense of gullible, MAGA-minded Americans and the sexually exploited victims he claims to rescue.
But what does it say about M. Russell Ballard, chosen apostle and true messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, that he has maintained such close relationships with people like Tim Ballard or Gordon Bowen, that he was involved in making a secret, failure of a Jesus movie with millions of The Church’s money, or that he has been involved in his own get-rich-quick style business dealings that smelled fraudish? What about the way that he publicly aggrandizes his own direct ancestors such as Hyrum Smith and Mayflower Pilgrim John Howland?
Or how about the claim that it was Elder M. Russell Ballard’s prayer, by the power and authority of his Melchizedek priesthood, that finally brought the rain to drought and famine stricken Ethiopa during his tour of the country with Glenn L. Pace in March 1985? A November 17, 2015 article on LDSLiving.com that described Elder Ballard’s miraculous trip to Ethiopa quotes Elder Glenn L. Pace saying that Elder Ballard “…commanded the elements to gather together, which would cause rain to come upon the land and begin to relieve those who had been suffering for so many years.” It also quotes Elder Ballard saying, “The land was burning up—it hadn’t rained for a year, and no crops had grown in three years…I knew that if we called upon the Lord to bless the land, the elements would be tempered.”
Tim Ballard saving children from sex slavery. Russell Ballard saving children from starvation. Miracle stories passed around to promote their own causes. Both of them taking donations. In fact, one of them will take 10% of your income for the rest of your life to help ensure you get into the highest degree of Heaven. It’s too bad they aren’t friends anymore – seems like they could be a pretty powerful duo, these two birds of a feather – just a couple of humble Mormon missionaries out to save the world.