| Episode number | MB29 (Part 29 of 42) |
|---|---|
| Original air date | October 13, 1993 |
| Broadcast | Hour of the Time, WWCR shortwave |
| Chapter title | The Godmakers and Bo Gritz |
| Primary text read on air | Chapter 16 of The Godmakers by Ed Decker and Dave Hunt (1984) |
| Listen | Stream the series on archive.org |
Episode Summary
Episode 29 aired on October 13, 1993, and marks the series’ sustained treatment of the Latter-day Saint church as a branch of what Cooper consistently calls the Mystery Babylon network. He opens with an audio clip of Lt. Colonel James “Bo” Gritz delivering a speech about perfect government, and then introduces Gritz as a 32nd-degree Freemason of the Scottish Rite and a member of the Mormon Church. That framing is the key to the broadcast: Cooper argues that Gritz is not merely a political figure but a representative of a larger esoteric program whose goal is a one-world theocratic government.
The main body of the episode consists of an extended reading from chapter sixteen of The Godmakers, written by Ed Decker and Dave Hunt. The chapter opens with an account of the Mormon Church’s financial and political structure, drawing on a Wall Street Journal profile of the Church’s headquarters in Salt Lake City. Decker and Hunt argue that the institution is organized not as a democratic church but as a corporation controlled entirely by the First Presidency. They quote former Brigham Young University teacher and journalist Jeffrey Kaye to the effect that the Mormon Church wields more economic power than the state of Israel or the Vatican. All wealth, they argue, is held by the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a closely held entity to which ordinary members have no legal claim despite their tithes and labor.
Cooper interjects throughout to connect these arguments to his broader thesis. He frames the Mormon Church’s structure as identical to the Illuminati model: a hierarchical secret body working toward world domination beneath a public face of patriotism and conventional religion. He describes a visit to Orderville, Utah, a town he says was openly founded as the first Communist settlement established by the Mormon Church and named after a secret organization known as The Order.
The chapter then addresses the doctrines of the United Order and blood atonement. The United Order, as described by Decker and Hunt quoting Joseph Smith’s revelations, was a theocratic communistic arrangement in which all property and income would be surrendered to the Church and distributed according to need. Blood atonement holds that certain sins, including apostasy and adultery, require the literal shedding of the sinner’s blood for spiritual redemption. Cooper quotes Brigham Young’s sermons endorsing the practice and notes that Utah is the only state where condemned prisoners may elect death by firing squad, which he presents as a vestige of blood atonement in law.
A significant section covers the secret Council of Fifty, also called the Council of Ytfif. Decker and Hunt describe how Joseph Smith established this council of both Mormons and non-Mormons three weeks after his initiation into the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge in 1844, receiving a revelation about a political kingdom of God. Smith was subsequently crowned king by this council, as were Brigham Young and John Taylor after him. Cooper reads from Mormon historian Klaus J. Hansen’s assessment that the idea of a political kingdom of God promulgated by the Council of Fifty is the most important key to understanding Mormon history, while noting that most Mormons themselves remain unaware of these ambitions.
The CIA recruiting section rounds out the reading. Decker and Hunt describe Brigham Young University as a prime CIA recruiting ground, with a university spokesman stating that the agency takes almost anyone who applies. They connect the disproportionate Mormon representation in intelligence agencies and government to the question of where ultimate loyalty lies, given that senior Temple Mormons have sworn oaths of obedience to the Church and, in some cases, oaths calling for vengeance against the United States government for the killing of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
Cooper closes by recommending The Godmakers directly to listeners, stating that his own research through the Citizens Agency for Joint Intelligence confirms every claim in the book. He identifies the beehive symbol visible in Mormon Temple imagery and along Utah highways as a universal symbol of the Illuminati, and restates that the global goal of every branch of this network is a one-world government.
Key Claims Made in This Episode
Documented from the broadcast. The site records these claims; it does not endorse them. Dated claims also appear in the series timeline.
- Cooper claims that Lt. Colonel Bo Gritz is a 32nd-degree Freemason of the Scottish Rite and a member of the Mormon Church, and that his calls for perfect government represent the age-old dream of Mystery Babylon.
- Cooper claims that the Mormon Church’s wealth and power are held entirely by the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Inc., a closely held entity to which the church’s millions of members have no legal access or vote.
- Cooper claims that Joseph Smith established the secret Council of Fifty in the spring of 1844, three weeks after his initiation into the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge, and was subsequently crowned king on earth by this council.
- Cooper claims that Mormon Temple ceremonies include an oath of vengeance against the United States government for the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and that senior LDS leaders who underwent endowments before 1930 are still bound by this oath.
- Cooper claims that the Mormon doctrine of blood atonement holds that apostasy, adultery, and certain other sins require the literal shedding of the sinner’s blood for atonement, and that Brigham Young publicly endorsed and preached this doctrine.
- Cooper claims that Utah is the only American state that permits execution by firing squad, and that this law preserves the blood atonement doctrine in legal form, citing the execution of Gary Gilmore as a recent example.
- Cooper claims that Brigham Young University is one of the CIA’s prime recruiting grounds, with a disproportionate number of returned LDS missionaries entering the agency due to their foreign language skills and overseas experience.
- Cooper claims that Orderville, Utah was established as the first Communist settlement in the United States by the Mormon Church and named after a secret organization called The Order, and that this history is openly displayed at roadside signs in the town.
- Cooper claims that John F. Kennedy was assassinated at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, which he describes as an outdoor Temple of the Sun, by agents of The Order.
- Cooper claims that all secret organizations of Mystery Babylon, including the Mormon Church, are fundamentally racist organizations, and that until legal pressure forced a change the Church allowed only white Caucasians to belong.
Primary Sources Cited in This Episode
| Source | Status | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Ed Decker and Dave Hunt, The Godmakers (1984), chapter 16 | Not public domain; read at length on air, treated here under quotation only | Library copies; see sources hub |
| Brigham Young, sermons in Journal of Discourses (1854-1886), multiple volumes | Public domain | Search archive.org for scans |
| Klaus J. Hansen, research on the Council of Fifty (cited within Decker and Hunt) | Quoted within a copyrighted source | Library copies; sources hub |
| Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871) (referenced in closing) | Public domain | Search archive.org |
Notable Quotes
The nations will bow to this kingdom, sooner or later, and all hell cannot help it.
Cooper, MB29, October 13, 1993, reading Decker and Hunt’s quotation of First Presidency member Heber C. Kimball, 1859
If you are not one of us, you are nothing.
Cooper, MB29, October 13, 1993, reading from The Godmakers, quoting words attributed to a Freemason speaking to his uninitiated son
Historians’ View
The claims about the Mormon Church’s corporate structure and the legal separation between the institution and individual members are verifiable as matters of corporate and property law, and the existence of the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a documented legal entity. The Council of Fifty is a genuine historical institution documented in primary LDS sources, and its records are now partly accessible to historians; the claim that it was directly derived from Masonic Lodge practices is Cooper and Decker’s interpretive framing rather than a settled scholarly conclusion. The blood atonement doctrine as articulated by Brigham Young in nineteenth-century sermons is historically documented in the Journal of Discourses, though mainstream LDS historians note it was never codified as official Church policy and was disavowed. The Temple oath of vengeance against the United States was removed from Temple ceremonies in 1927, and its precise content as described in the Decker letter is contested by LDS historians. Scholars of American religion do not generally accept the characterization of Mormonism as a branch of a unified global occult conspiracy. We record all claims as broadcast; we do not endorse them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mystery Babylon episode 29 about?
Episode 29 presents the Mormon Church as a branch of the Mystery Babylon network. Cooper reads from chapter 16 of Ed Decker and Dave Hunt’s The Godmakers to argue that the Church’s corporate structure, secret ordinances, blood atonement doctrine, and Council of Fifty all reflect the same one-world-government agenda Cooper traces throughout the series. The episode also frames Bo Gritz as a figure being positioned as a potential national leader by this network. Related material appears on the secret societies hub and the Freemasonry hub.
Who is Bo Gritz and why does Cooper discuss him?
James “Bo” Gritz was a former Army Special Forces officer and political candidate who had been a recurring subject on Cooper’s broadcasts. Cooper identifies him as a 32nd-degree Freemason and Temple Mormon and presents him as a candidate being groomed by the Illuminati network for a leadership role during a coming national crisis. Cooper also describes a physical confrontation with Gritz in Salt Lake City.
What is the Council of Fifty?
The Council of Fifty was a body established by Joseph Smith in 1844, originally composed of both LDS and non-LDS members, which Smith charged with temporal governance in preparation for what he called the Kingdom of God on earth. Cooper and Decker argue that it was directly tied to Smith’s Masonic initiation and formed the model for a secret Mormon political government. For the broader context of secret governing bodies in the series, see the secret societies hub.
Where can I listen to episode 29?
The series is preserved at archive.org. The site never hosts or distributes the audio; see our content policy.
Continue the Series
- Previous: MB28: Lucifer, Jordan Maxwell and Anthony Hilder
- Next: MB30: The UN Meditation Room
- Topic hub: Secret Societies
- Related hub: Freemasonry
- Every dated claim from this episode: series timeline
- Full index: Mystery Babylon complete episode guide
- Background: Who was William Cooper?
- Sources cited: Mystery Babylon sources hub
