Covenants, which contained a list of people he believed needed to be sacrificed for his cause, people whom in his eyes were sinners, had betrayed him in the past or who had the power to betray him in the future. Again this list was based on the ‘blood attonement’ ideology but with his own twist.
Around 20 copies of his script were published and managed to get into the possession of his most righteous brothers. People who he could reply on, even after his death, to carry out the necessary murders. Most of these people were in fact his children. He had fathered over 50 progeny through his plural marriages and the majority of them stuck loyally by him long after he had died.
Ervil's 13-year-old son, Aaron, took over his father’s leadership after his death and the clan of children, teenagers and young adults started to put their father’s words into action. Many of these children had been abused by older members of the former Lamb of God clan therefore already felt a lot of hatred to the world, in their eyes they were acting upon orders from a higher force, higher than any state or congressional authority as they were orders warranted by God himself. Throughout the ’80s names were crossed off the death list and by 1988 the Lambs of God were boasting about the 17 murders that they had committed.
THE DOWNFALL OF THE LEBARON CLAN
In 1993, three of Ervil LeBaron’s offspring were arrested and sentenced to life in prison for their involvements in the death spree of the ’80s, and in 1995 the leader of the Lambs of God, Aaron LeBaron, was found in Mexico and deported, as his father had been, back to the United States to face murder charges. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Where the other 50 or so LeBaron children are, is unclear. A few siblings have re-surfaced to talk about their lives within the clan, Cynthia LeBaron even testified against her brother Aaron on the second day of his trial and is now part of a witness protection scheme, and other members have written articles giving their points of view about polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism.
The problem was that the LeBaron clan knew no different, they had been born into this lifestyle and therefore tried to abide by the rules that they were taught, how were they to know that the rules they abided by were illegal in no uncertain terms? They did not know an outside world only one of a polygamist, murdering father who’s word was as divine as that of God himself.
The generations of LeBarons did not have a choice, whilst growing up, of who they were lynching and when they were legally adults they were so far within the clan that it would have been virtually impossible to change.
A quote from Aaron LeBaron’s younger sister Jessica LeBaron puts their upbringing and life into perspective somewhat, even if what the family did can never be forgiven:
The thing was a nightmare, that both Aaron LeBaron and I were born into. Just like any other children we believed and tried to do what we were taught. It was not fun. Perhaps we are not good folks, but when all the bad things happened we had never been to school, were isolated on a ranch and have a family history of mental illness (treatable with medication) and other factors that contributed to extreme fanaticism. As a little child I believed all the ‘stuff’ the church did was right. We are not evil, even though what we did is really bad.
The Jombola Cult
Over 300 people are estimated to be part of the Jombola cult, a supernatural group based in southern Sierra Leone. The group first appeared in the war-torn region at the end of the 1990s, shortly after a peace agreement was signed between the government and the barbaric rebel army, the Revolutionary United Front. Based in the southern Sierra Leone districts of Bo, Pujehan and Bonthe, the Jombola Cult strikes fear into the hearts of all who inhabit these areas. The locals are convinced of the paranormal powers of the cult members.
Terrified residents of these southern regions claim that the members of the Jombola Cult transform themselves into creatures such as rats, reptiles, cats and dogs and, in their animal guises, set off to destroy local villages and terrorize the inhabitants. Witnesses of the transformations claim that the sight is petrifying.
The mission of the Jombola Cult, disclosed by a captured cult member, is to bring down both the government and the southern Civilian Defense Force, the Kamajors. To this end, the cult uses death, destruction and the ‘powers of the dark’.
This mission, and the very emergence of the Jombola Cult, is explained further by analysts who see it as a direct result of the socio-political crisis caused by the disintegration of the national army. Where the army of Sierra Leone had been weakened, the Kamajors were instrumental in keeping the Revolutionary United Front down, and now the Jombola Cult has risen up to engage them in a battle for dominance. The Kamajors are believed to have used mystical powers to combat the RUF, and these are now being challenged by the Jombola Cult
The leader of the Jombola Cult, Pa Kujah, is reported to live in the southern town of Yambama. He recruits both men and women to assist him in his mission, although the women are seen as little more than sex objects, and used mainly to attract and then sexually overpower male victims. The Jombola Cult has been held responsible for at least 30 murders committed in the regions it terrorises.
The Lafferty Brothers’ Message From God
Daniel and ronald Lafferty were brothers born into a strict Latter Day Saint family. They had four brothers and two sisters with whom they lived together with their mother and father on a farm west of Utah.
Their father, Watson Lafferty, after serving a few years in the US navy as a barber, opened a barber’s shop come chiropractic clinic and settled down to raise his eight children as model LDS members. With his love for religion came some strict rules, that Watson expected his wife Claudine and children to live by, and he did not think twice about beating any of them who refused to obey him.
The brothers had been born into a violent but religious family life. When they weren’t facing their father’s abuse personally, they often saw him inflict it on their other siblings, and also on their mother, whom Dan Lafferty described as a ‘good woman and excellent mother’ On the flip side of the coin, Watson Lafferty was also a loving father who would often tell his wife that he loved her, and placed his family at the centre of his life together with the LDS church. Watson complied with the Mormon doctrine but was definitely not what can be classified as a fundamentalist as he never dabbled in polygamy or even discussed the practice of plural marriages as a possibility.
DAN AND RON'S PATHS TO ADULTHOOD
Both Dan and Ronald were model Mormon children, they excelled at school, took up extra curricular activities and studied their faith at any possible opportunity. The LDS church was just as much a part of their lives as it was their father’s. Ron was an outstanding sportsman and Dan had a voice of an angel, they seemed like model American men, all round ‘good-guys’ who would probably grow into a men akin to The Simpsons’ character Ned Flanders.
After finishing high school Dan went on a religious expedition to Scotland where he met a beautiful divorcee called Matilda Loomis. Matilda had two children from her dissolved marriage, and instantly Dan felt a strong and common bond between the two of them. He returned to the United States two years later without having acted upon his feelings towards her.
Six years later at an expedition reunion, Dan re-encountered Matilda and knew that his connection with her had not weakened. After receiving a revelation from God, Dan decided that he was to marry Matilda, she agreed to his question immediately, stating that she too had been told by God that this was her calling.
Shortly after their marriage, Dan, Matilda and Matilda’s two children moved south to California so that Dan could study the family business of chiropractics. Whilst in California, one of Dan and Matilda’s local LDS church associates was holding a talk on the subject of plural marriages.
The couple decided to go to the lecture, just out of interest, but Dan left with an extreme thirst to know
