Tim Ballard Controversy (Scott Vance 5 of 5)

Tim Ballard is famous for trying to rescue sex slaves with his Operation Underground Railroad. But now he has allegations of sexual impropriety himself. We'll talk about the controversy and how he got funding. Check out our conversation... https://youtu.be/_tJ2epOUHV4 Don’t miss our other conversations with Scott: https://gospeltangents.com/people/scott-vance Copyright © 2024 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission Tim Ballard Scandal GT  04:21  They are big Tim Ballard fans, I'll say that, too. Scott  04:24   They are. And in fact, that was funny when I was going through all the finances here, another tangent in these Gospel Tangents. GT  04:29   That's what we are. Scott  04:30   Some of the major funders to these Church-affiliated groups were also major funders to Tim Ballard, and OUR. But that's another paper for another time. So back to the topic. What does the Church do with these people who... GT  04:46   Are true believers. Scott  04:48  Absolutely true believers. I think that the Church needs to do more pruning on the right. I'm not necessarily talking about any of these individuals. But people like Ammon Bundy, they're bad news for the Church. They're going to hurt the image of the Church as much as anything. And if the Church doesn't distance themselves from these people, then it's going to hurt the Church. People on the left, when they were looking at John Dehlin or whatever, Church members already knew that he was wacko, and that he wasn't helping out the Church. But on the right, these people are very sincere. And so, if the Church doesn't distance themselves from these individuals and their theories, then it's going to taint the Church in some way, in my opinion. GT  05:29   It is interesting. September was excommunication month here at Gospel Tangents. There are the Avraham Gileadis to go along with the other five, which I will say, more liberal scholars. And you do have a Julie Rowe, here or a Norman... Scott  05:51   Denver Snuffer. GT  05:52   Well and Denver Snuffer, there's a few on the right. I don't know. Avraham Gileadi, for example; He wants to pretend that excommunication never happened. He keeps it quiet. He doesn't grant interviews. I don't even think Julie Rowe, Tim Ballard. I mean, maybe we should say who Tim Ballard is. People might not know. Tell who Tim Ballard is. Scott  06:22   I'm the wrong person to talk about Tim Ballard, but Tim Ballard founded O. U. R., which is Operation Rescue Underground. GT  06:29   Operation Underground Railroad. Yeah. Scott  06:31   Thank you, I apologize. The purpose of this organization is, ostensibly, to go into areas where children are being held, essentially sex slaves and to rescue these children, which sounds wonderful, and something that everybody should get behind. But his methods and methodologies are questioned by people who work professionally in this area. He's donated a ton of donations from both rich and poor, throughout the Church. He seemed to have tacit backing of the Church. He had a number of publications that were available for sale at Deseret Book for almost a decade. But it turned out that he had a major scandal as well, that involved, (I don't even know what I should call it) sexual allegations of sexual grooming or sexual harassment of women who would go on missions with him, where he would essentially push them to have some sexual relations essentially, in order to help these children. So, one can say that he was very manipulative, and this was not necessary in order to help the children. GT  07:45   And that also he was overselling his rescuing the sex slaves operation as well. Scott  07:51   Sure, and in addition to that, he was using a psychic who was channeling Nephi and just things that would be way outside of mainstream Mormonism. GT  07:58   Like a seer stone? I'm just kidding.