Stolen Innocence - Lisa Pulitzer [98]
As a part of his mission to make us more perfect, it appeared that Warren started to use any excuse he could find to tighten his grip on the church, ostracizing various male members—even high-level officials—and often directing them to leave FLDS property. Such was the case with Winston Blackmore, the bishop in Bountiful, whom Warren began to aggressively “handle” in the summer of 2002.
For weeks Uncle Warren had been hinting that something would happen and saying that he had “a very important message from Father.” He told us to “prepare” ourselves because the news would “rock” us to our very core, but he never elaborated on the details. Once he felt confident that he had laid the proper foundation, he made the proclamation. We were all assembled in the meetinghouse when Uncle Warren assumed his position at the podium. On the stage behind him, Uncle Rulon sat in his designated chair beside Uncle Fred and several other church elders. Warren had taken steps to make sure that the message was going out to all of the faithful. The meeting was also being piped through phone lines to the worshippers in Canada eleven hundred miles away. While Warren always started his orations with a reminder that his words were coming from the prophet, Uncle Rulon himself rarely spoke aside from the usual “Brother Warren speaks for me.”
Now Uncle Warren primed us again for the impending news. In his slow monotone, he delivered the bombshell. “Winston Blackmore has been aspiring to position,” he said. “He is pushing his own words beyond that of the prophet. He is seeking power and aspiring to power and is in need of serious reprimand.” Warren then instructed the people to destroy or turn in any tapes or writings produced by Uncle Winston, in particular any stories of priesthood history.
Everyone was stunned into silence. Known affectionately to the extended FLDS congregation as Uncle Wink, Winston Blackmore was a well-respected member of the church who held an enormous amount of influence. He had been ordained as a bishop by the previous prophet, Leroy Johnson, and during his tenure he proved to be a kind and reasonable man. Many of the people held more love and respect for Winston than Warren, who was feared more than loved.
“Brother Winston is offered the hand of repentance, but he has been handled by the prophet,” Warren declared.
Uncle Rulon was next given a microphone. The prophet could no longer stand easily and remained seated for the announcement. In the past, Uncle Rulon had spoken to the people, but recently he would ramble and repeat himself until Uncle Warren stepped in to take the microphone. On this day, his voice was weak and at times inaudible. The entire congregation, and particularly those assembled in Canada, strained to hear what he was about to tell us.
“If you people in Canada just stand behind Elder Winston Blackmore, it will be okay,” Uncle Rulon uttered thinly over the speaker system.
Uncle Warren quickly bent down to correct his father. Congregants in the front rows overheard him whispering, “No, Father, that is not right.”
The prophet looked at his son as if confused and then implored, “Oh yes, do what Brother Warren has told you.”
Warren interrupted, booming into the microphone, “Give your loyalties to the prophet.”
With that, the meeting abruptly ended and questions immediately swirled over what had happened to make Uncle Winston a target of reprimand. It appeared Winston’s beliefs had been more in line with those of former prophet Leroy Johnson than those of the Jeffses. Like Uncle Roy, Winston seemed to believe that there was room in the church for people to make mistakes and be human. His stance on purity was not nearly as vigorous as either Warren’s or his father’s, and he had produced teaching materials, but his beliefs were nothing new and didn’t seem to be cause for such a dramatic dismissal.
When