What's the story with Tim Ballard?

[Just This Guy]

I'm seeing a bunch of stuff about Tim Ballard. I gather that LDSinc is tying to attack him. But for what? Who is Tim Ballard and why is he on the Mormon hit list?

I'm missing something here.

[wtfluff]

Operation Underground Railroad?

Sound of Freedom? (Movie)

He's the guy who pretends to rescue trafficked children from awful situations - but he turns those "rescues" into reality TV so MORmONs will give him money.

Why is LD$-Inc. throwing him under the bus? Dunno. Maybe it's a ploy to re-direct attention away from the "8 Passengers" fiasco...

[deacon blues]

RFM's take.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpQOrKqMfzw

[MoPag]

Wow....I'm super confused...

What I got from RFM's podcast is that the church spokesman made a poorly worded statement condemning Tim Ballard but really didn't get into specifics. The statement alluded to Ballard misusing his friendship with Elder Ballard (I thought there were related, but I guess they aren't) and his membership in the church to make money for O.U.R?

here's the VICE article he referenced

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3apm/ ... ood-moment

Just a couple of gems from that article:

At an August 2019 meeting, Tim Ballard laid out his vision for the future. On a whiteboard, a diagram showed how he’d build his empire as a public speaker, anti- trafficking advocate, and proselytizer for his Mormon faith. “Take sizzle of the Rescue,” it read, amid a thicket of arrows connecting his for-profit and nonprofit entities to one another. “Lead them to the Covenant.”

there is a pic of the white board too if you pull up the article.

...Ballard—who styles himself an anti-slavery activist, has in the past been featured in a painting depicting Harriet Tubman and other abolitionists bowing to him...

Holy f-cking cringe!!!!!!!!!

The organization led a bizarre, blundering attempted rescue on the Haiti-Dominican Republic border based on intelligence sourced from a Utah psychic medium. (The same psychic went on to work as an executive director for an OUR-backed group, an adoption grant organization called Children Need Families, founded by Ballard’s wife Katherine.)

I'm soooorrryyyy? What????

Ballard implied in 2020 that it was perhaps credible for children to be “sold online,” as a conspiracy theory about the furniture company Wayfair claimed.

The documents, which were some of thousands recently released by the IRS after a pandemic-related delay, show that Ballard’s salary increased by 54% between 2021 and 2022, to about $546,000, even as donations to the organization appear to have decreased by roughly 30%.

[MoPag]

Like RFM said...the optics on this are terrible.

Even if Tim Ballard is super sketch... which he is...the church is distancing themselves from a guy who is wildly popular with Christians at the moment. (All the Christians down here in the Bible belt are raving about Sound of Freedom.) And the church has this wild fantasy that they are going to blend in with Christian....

Also, the church doesn't have the best record with childhood sexual abuse...and this recent move isn't really helping at all.

[Hagoth]

...Ballard—who styles himself an anti-slavery activist, has in the past been featured in a painting depicting Harriet Tubman and other abolitionists bowing to him...

Holy f-cking cringe!!!!!!!!!

[Hagoth]

Imagine if, instead of a psychic medium, he had been following the promptings someone like his buddy Russ Ballard. Would the church instead be defending him and deploying apologists?

I hope someone is making Netflix documentaries of this and of the Eight Passengers fiasco. More unwanted free marketing for the church.

Or this would be fun: Tim Ballard's next movie project about the Mormon church's child sexual abuse coverups.

[blazerb]

The organization led a bizarre, blundering attempted rescue on the Haiti-Dominican Republic border based on intelligence sourced from a Utah psychic medium. (The same psychic went on to work as an executive director for an OUR-backed group, an adoption grant organization called Children Need Families, founded by Ballard’s wife Katherine.)

I'm soooorrryyyy? What????

I googled "Mormon psychics." It was interesting. I could not find anyone advertising themselves as a Mormon psychic, but I found a couple of places where members took in upon themselves to talk about psychics, like this one: https://www.ldsdaily.com/personal-lds-b ... rot-cards/. What interested me is that the authors of this article and other articles that popped up acknowledged that the church rarely talks about psychics in conference or handbooks in spite of their proliferation. I wonder why that is. I doubt church leaders approve of psychics. Maybe they don't see psychics as a big problem for church members. Maybe it just doesn't occur to them.

What they do condemn in the handbook is interesting. From the article:

The Church Handbook has very little to say on the matter. In fact, all that comes close is the following definition and warning:

The occult focuses on darkness and leads to deception. It destroys faith in Christ.

The occult includes Satan worship. It also includes mystical activities that are not in harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Such activities include (but are not limited to) fortune-telling, curses, and healing practices that are imitations of the priesthood power of God (see Moroni 7:11–17) [emphasis added].

Church members should not engage in any form of Satan worship or participate in any way with the occult. They should not focus on such darkness in conversations or in Church meetings.

This was found under the section heading “The Occult.”

I could imagine the psychic that Ballard consulted feeling justified because they don't feel like they deceive and they do not destroy faith in Christ. Maybe the October conference will be a bit more specific about psychics.

[Red Ryder]

The vice article that dropped today probably has something to do with the church distancing itself.

Tim Ballard’s Departure From Operation Underground Railroad Followed Sexual Misconduct Investigation

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkaqvn ... estigation

Sources familiar with the situation said that the self-styled anti-slavery activist, who appears to be preparing for a Senate run, invited women to act as his “wife” on undercover overseas missions ostensibly aimed at rescuing victims of sex trafficking. He would then allegedly coerce those women into sharing a bed or showering together, claiming that it was necessary to fool traffickers.

[moksha]

Imagine if, instead of a psychic medium,...

Hagoth, has there been any thought of hiring an LDS psychic to channel Moroni and see if there are any Gold Plates buried in Sandy or Draper?

[RubinHighlander]

Checkout the whiteboard!

https://americancrimejournal.com/acj-in ... d-meeting/

[Hagoth]

Checkout the whiteboard!

https://americancrimejournal.com/acj-in ... d-meeting/

Has anyone heard any other evidence that Russell Ballard was actually a partner in a for-profit LLC with Tim, or is that just one of Tim's fantasies?

[RubinHighlander]

Has anyone heard any other evidence that Russell Ballard was actually a partner in a for-profit LLC with Tim, or is that just one of Tim's fantasies?

Seems like just a Tim fantasy to me. The diagram (at least the one in Tim's handwriting) does create a credibility conundrum for him in his statements that he never used RMB's name. But the fact the plan on that board never came to fruition...perhaps puts the drawing in the same category as TSCC removing then repairing Min's erect penis in the BOA. Now you see it, now you don't, now you can't unsee it.

[Red Ryder]

It appears the church has made a statement.

https://www.ldsdaily.com/world/everythi ... tid=Zxz2cZ

Hilarious that Tim thinks someone spoofed a response from the church.

“It has been alleged that an unnamed LDS church spokesperson issued a statement about me through a tabloid that is often hostile to people of faith. Further, my church has not publicly verified its authenticity.

[Red Ryder]

And the quackery continues:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3mq5w/ ... ing-victim

[Hagoth]

It appears the church has made a statement.

https://www.ldsdaily.com/world/everythi ... tid=Zxz2cZ

So Tim is denying that the church actually made a statement? We seem to live in a world where you just say what you want to be true and a group of credulous people just believe you and stand behind you. Tim seems to have all the requisite skills for the political career to which he aspires.

[Hagoth]

Imagine if, instead of a psychic medium,...

Hagoth, has there been any thought of hiring an LDS psychic to channel Moroni and see if there are any Gold Plates buried in Sandy or Draper?

Yeah, and we almost had it but it slipped deeper into that ground.

[Red Ryder]

It appears the church has made a statement.

https://www.ldsdaily.com/world/everythi ... tid=Zxz2cZ

So Tim is denying that the church actually made a statement? We seem to live in a world where you just say what you want to be true and a group of credulous people just believe you and stand behind you. Tim seems to have all the requisite skills for the political career to which he aspires.

Even better.

Ballard believed that he would quickly gain the favor of church leadership and the Mormon elite, eventually securing a coveted lifetime appointment on the LDS church’s highest governing body, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

[Hagoth]

I keep seeing comments from faithful members standing up for Tim Ballard and his fight against evil. Meanwhile, this sh*t is going on pretty much every day in their church and no one seems to show any interest:
https://floodlit.org/a/a720/

[Hagoth]

Here's another fantasy scenario that would be hilarious. All of the alt-Right Mormons split from the main church to follow Tim and his psychic. I mean, at least they are claiming some kind of revelation, unlike the Prophets, Seers and/or Revelators. Deep down inside they all knew RMN was a false prophet anyway, when he heeded Satan's call and got vaccinated.