Mormon Stories Podcast 1825: Visions of Glory, Thom Harrison, and Mormon Neo-Fundamentalism
Today we will discuss someone described as the "spiritual leader" of alleged murders Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow, alleged abuser Tim Ballard, and recently-imprisoned Jodi Hildebrandt.
Thom Harrison is a prominent Utah therapist who published a book called "Visions of Glory" in 2012, focusing on three of his alleged near death experiences (including personal visitations from Jesus Christ). As has been uncovered over the past few years, Thom Harrison' and his book "Visions of Glory" have been highly influential across the Mormon "prepper" neo-fundamentalist community, and particularly in the lives and stories of Chad Daybell, Lori Vallow, Tim Ballard, Jodi Hildebrant, as well as other "preppers" such as Julie Rowe, Rod Meldrum, and alleged abuser-therapist Maurice Harker.
Part of what has made Visions of Glory so successful is that Thom (through the pseudonym Spencer) claims in his book that his visions were approved of by an un-named Mormon apostle (who now is known to be the late Neal A. Maxwell).
Finally, we will discuss how the Mormon church was made aware of Thom Harrison and his book in the 2012-2013 time period, and chose to promote Thom to bishop instead of to punish him and/or stop the publishing of his book.
Lauren Matthias (Hidden True Crime Podcast), Megan Connor (Lori Vallow's cousin), and Mindy Caldwell (Mormon super-sluether) will be joining us for this panel discussion.
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