Are Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Really Mormons?
And Why Does It matter? Part Two of Three
Were Chad and Lori's beliefs motive for murder?
July 23, 2020
I'm taking time, during the lull in activity, to delve deeper into some legal issues. Thanks for all of you that took the time to reach out and let me know that you are finding the newsletter informative and enjoyable. If you have ideas for future topics, please drop me an email at the address below.
Shortly after Lori Vallow was arrested in Hawaii, documents surfaced that drew considerable attention. The first document is the one created by Ian Palowsky. Ian is the second husband of Melani Cox Budreau Palowsky, Lori Vallow’s niece. Lori’s sister, Stacy, was Melani’s mother. Melani is also a follower of Chad Daybell. She was married to Brandon Boudreaux, until, in a move that surprised many, Melani divorced Brandon. After meeting Ian on a dating site and knowing him for a matter of days, Melani married Ian Palowsky. Melani began telling Ian about Chad’s teachings, and Ian started keeping notes on his computer. Portions of those notes are reproduced here.
The document gives us our first glimpse into Lori and Chad’s thought process, and there is so much to unpack.
Probations. In Part 1 of this series, I outlined the LDS history with reincarnation, or as Chad and others call it, “multiple probations.” It isn’t a concept that Chad made up. There is evidence in his own writings that Joseph Smith believed souls needed to be sent to Earth more than once to achieve exaltation and take their place in the celestial kingdom. It was the fourth prophet, Wilford Woodruff, who labeled reincarnation a “doctrine of the devil” in 1869. One of Smith’s wives, Eliza Snow, wrote that Smith taught her and many of his close associates about reincarnation. Snow never wavered in her belief throughout her life. We need a quick review of the LDS doctrine about the levels of heaven to understand Ian’s notes. Mormons believe the highest level of heaven is the celestial kingdom and that within that kingdom, there are a further three levels. According to Ian’s notes, Chad said a person must serve a minimum of nine probations (lives) to be exalted. Exaltation means that you have achieved the top of the three levels in the celestial kingdom. Only those who achieve the highest level will be Heavenly Fathers and Mothers to their own planets and will live in the actual presence of God. These are the 144,000 identified in Revelations and are identified by Joseph Smith as the Church of the Firstborn. Only those who are exalted because they have “kept all the commandments of the Lord” will become part of the Church of the Firstborn. Bruce R. McConkie, author and member of the Twelve Apostles, described it “As The Church of Jesus Christ is God’s earthly church, so The Church of the Firstborn is God’s heavenly church.”
Translations. Chad uses the word “translation in two different ways. First, LDS believe that Joseph Smith found a set of golden tablets buried in the woods of New York. The tablets were inscribed in an unknown language that Smith was given the ability by God to read. Using this God-given ability, Smith translated and transcribed the text into the Book of Mormon. According to Smith, at least half of the plates remained sealed from him. The sealed text was said to reveal “all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof.” The visible text claimed the sealed portion would “not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity, and become clean before the Lord.” Chad’s list of seven things he and Lori were to do, included translating ancient documents. The list does not specify which documents, but one can suppose that translated beings would be able to translate the sealed portions of the golden tablets.
The word “translated” also has a different meaning in LDS doctrine; Mormons teach that a few extraordinary figures from the Bible were “translated beings,” including the prophets, Enoch, Elijah, Moses, and the apostle John, whom they identify as John the Beloved. Translated beings cannot feel pain and cannot die. According to Chad, they also don’t need food or sleep, can’t reproduce, do not feel sorrow, and heal at an accelerated rate if injured. The Prophet Joseph Smith explained the role of translated beings: “Many have supposed that the doctrine of translation was a doctrine whereby men were taken immediately into the presence of God, and into an eternal fullness, but this is a mistaken idea. Their place of habitation is that of the terrestrial order, and a place prepared for such characters He held in reserve to be ministering angels unto many planets, and who as yet have not entered into so great a fullness as those who are resurrected from the dead” (TPJS, p. 170).” According to Ian’s notes, a person can be translated after being tested for three days. The tests may be physical, emotional, or spiritual.
Light and Dark. Chad Daybell believes that a near-death experience he had as a young man gave him supernatural abilities to communicate with spirits “beyond the veil.” Those beyond the veil are preexisting spirits and those who have already died and await the resurrection. Chad believes that he receives information from the beings beyond the veil. He believes they give him information about people’s past lives, prophesies of future events, and give him the ability to identify dark spirits. Chad says there are 50 dark translated beings. They can force a person’s spirit from their body and take it over. Once severed, the only way to rescue the untethered spirit is to kill the body. Chad provided Lori with a list of her family members and their relative light and dark readings. He noted on the list if they had lived past lives. Chad says that Charles Vallow, Lori’s fourth husband, who also lived in 1700s London, was light, while Joseph Ryan, Lori’s third husband was dark, and “is now sealed away.” Tylee Ryan was a dark being, but JJ Vallow was light, although his assessment must have changed since just before he disappeared, Lori told her friend, Melanie Gibb, that JJ was a zombie. Melanie Gibb also overheard Lori calling Tylee a zombie. All of Lori’s birth family are light; Lori’s son, Colby Ryan, is light, but his wife is dark. Lori’s niece, Melani Boudreaux Pawlowski, was light, but her former husband, Brandon Boudreax, was dark. It’s been reported that Chad also said his wife, Tammy Daybell, had gone dark just before her death. The mark of darkness is associated with the Genesis figure of Cain. The Book of Mormon says of Cain, “He entered into an unholy covenant with Satan by which he became known as Master Mahan, or “master of this great secret,” and by which he could ‘murder and get gain’”
Sealings. Sealing is a ritual performed by an LDS Temple Official; husbands, wives, and children are sealed to one another. Mormons believe sealed families remain together in heaven if the patriarch is exalted, he becomes the Heavenly Father of his own celestial kingdom, surrounded by his Heavenly Wives and Heavenly Children. Mormon families are sealed to one another “for time and eternity.” A woman who is sealed to a husband who dies may remarry, but their second marriage is only for time (during their time on Earth). When the woman dies, she is taken into the celestial kingdom of the husband she is sealed to for eternity. LDS members believe that everyone older than age eight must be baptized to be admitted to heaven and remain together in eternity. Those family members who resisted LDS baptisms in life may be baptized after death. The rite seals the dead family member to the rest of the family. Mainstream LDS leaders are quick to point out that baptism for the dead is only an invitation to join, that the dead person’s spirit can decline. The church does not recognize divorce in time and eternity. Once a woman is sealed to a man, she cannot be sealed to another. A man, however, can be sealed to more than one woman in celestial polygamous marriage. Chad and Lori say they were sealed to one another in the Temple in 2018. Chad says even though Lori was married to Charles, and Chad was married to Tammy, Chad and Lori had been married to each other in a past life, and so had already been sealed for time and eternity. Chad, of course, could have as many wives has he wanted in heaven, so being sealed to both Tammy and Lori was perfectly fine.
