Annalee Skarin’s writings and peculiar excommunication.
The robe of the bride is the robe of righteousness and the adorning jewels are the gifts of the Spirit. The first is peace — the peace Christ came to bring — the great peace that can only be received by those who have learned to “BE STILL.” And to be still does not mean a dead, dull, sleepy, stupid stillness. It is a condition of silence in which the conscious, warring, doubting mind learns to be quiet, and learns to listen. It is that stillness, or quiet, attentive listening of the soul in which one learns to hear the voice of the Spirit of Almighty God — the stillness in which the ego, outer-self is forgotten — the stillness in which one learns to KNOW that God is God, and is known of Him, and becomes one with Him. p. 234
All the days of my life, kindly intentioned people have been giving me advice on how to live my life. They are well meaning individuals who wish to help me live my life as they live theirs and I love them for it and their advice is just perfect for their lives — and for what they would do if they were in my place. But they are not in my place, therefore their advice is all wrong for me, and for my life. In fact, it is darkness to me. Only that inner voice can possibly guide me in my mission in life — and only that voice can truly guide you to reach and fulfill your highest destiny, be that destiny what it may. p. 200
Buffalo Evening News
May 9, 1952
Mrs. Reason E (Annalee) Skarin of 575 Elmwood Ave. has written a book. Lots of people are writing books these days, but “Ye Are Gods,” the 336 page volume published by the Philosophical Library, New York, which Mrs. Skarin has produced differed from most publication in several respects.
1) It was written in response to a sudden inward prompting so strong that the author — in the process of packing a bag for a trip — left the bag unpacked and took to her typewriter.
2) It was completed within a month, with the writer working an average of 8 hours a day, every day.
3) It was purchased immediately by the first publisher to whom she dispatched it.
4) It required practically no editing.
Now how did this happen?
Read Bible Early
The story behind “Ye Are Gods” began when Annalee Skarin, nee Kohlepp, was a child on an Idaho cattle ranch more than 40 years ago. Her mother was reared in a Roman Catholic convent. Her father was a Methodist. Her family attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Annalee read the Bible from an early age. “It made many promises,” she said in an interview in her home today. “And for some years I expected scientists to harness the Faith the Bible spoke of for man’s use. But the scientists did not seem too.”
The young woman attended the universities of Utah and Southern California. She took a variety of subjects, from general research and psychology to journalism.
As a worker in church welfare on the West Coast, Mrs. Skarin saw great suffering. It spurred on her own quest for a solution to man’s despair.
See Faith As Solution
One day on a visit to a destitute home, the father of the family turned to Mrs. Skarin and asked: “What would you do if you had only one crust of bread to eat?”
Mrs. Skarin gave the matter thought. “I think I would go out and share the crust with someone else who needed it as much or more than I — and then I would no longer worry about it,” she replied.
It was through this incident that Mrs. Skarin realized that faith itself was the solution to man’s despair, and that her “destiny and calling” was to take the work faith and make it a “tangible thing in the lives of men.”
A successive two-year quest for the meaning of the word faith followed. One evening in 1933, Mrs. Skarin was quietly reading a book when these words which she had often read before, were imprinted on her mind with irresistible force:
“There is a law irrevocably decreed in Heaven, before the foundations of the earth, upon which all blessings are predicated; and if we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law.” It then became plain to Mrs. Skarin that the law is the fact that man shapes his world by his thoughts and actions.
Wrote About Revelation
Feeling that she had at last grasped the knowledge to make faith practically applicable by her fellow men, Mrs. Skarin sat down and wrote a brief paper about her revelation. She wrote for about an hour-and-a-half. Later she typed about 100 copies and distributed them to friends and the poor. The copies received an enthusiastic reception.
In 1944, Annalee Kohlepp married Reason E. Skarin, whom she had met 20 years previously when he was serving in the Marine Corps in California during World War I. Mr. Skarin is a city patrolman. a veteran of 25 years on the force, assigned to the Austin Station.
The couple mutually felt they had a purpose in life they could not clearly define. In 1948, Mrs. Skarin again felt the prompting to write. She wrote an approximately 100 page version of her current book.
Patrolman and Mrs. Skarin borrowed $5000 and had 3000 copies of the book printed. They did not place them on sale. They gave 20 copies to friends in all parts of the country.
Books Eagerly Sought
From then on the lives of Mrs. Skarin and her husband radically changed. The balance of the 3000 books were eagerly sought. Sick, needy and searching souls from all over the world sought the author’s help. They called upon her by cable, telegram, and telephone. The impact was so great the Skarin’s were forced to have their telephone disconnected.
“A Salt Lake City lawyer requested 300 copies of the book alone … a potential suicide changed her mind … a bedridden invalid of 17 years took up her bed and walked,” Mrs. Skarin explains breathlessly.
In 1951, Mrs. Skarin was packing her suitcase, preparatory to visiting her friends in New Jersey. In the midst of her preparations, the compelling urge to write came again.
Worked 8 Hours a Day
“I have learned to listen,” Mrs. Skarin explained. Relinquishing her packing, and picking up a small portable. She placed it on her lap. The experience of the past two years filled with human contacts seemed to mentally amalgamate with her previous small book harmoniously.
“At night the next days work unfolded in perfect sequence before me. I arose to write again,” she recalled.
A month later when the book was completed, Patrolman Skarin and his wife realized that it was beyond their capabilities to publish. They obtained a list of book publishers throughout the nation from Buffalo Public Library. The Philosophical Library, the first publisher to whom they wrote, requested the book immediately.
Will Mrs. Skarin write another book? She feels, in a sense, she has fulfilled her destiny in the production of her current one. Another? In her opinion, that’s in the hands of Heaven, itself.
The Peculiar Excommunication of Annalee Skarin
by the LDS Church in 1952
The documents below came from the Hope A. Hilton Collection of papers at the University of Utah.
Annalee’s description of the early support that her book Ye Are Gods was getting from the highest Authorities within the LDS Church is the most fascinating information found in the Hope Hilton Papers.
There are three principal players:
♠ Annalee Skarin was born July 7, 1899 in American Falls, Idaho, and died January 17, 1988. The name listed on her 1907 LDS Certificate of Baptism and Confirmation was Anna Olea Kohlepp. She was excommunicated by an LDS Bishop’s Court on June 11, 1952.
♠ Hope Hilton, one of Annalee’s two daughters, sought her Mother’s downfall and is supported in her role by her husband Lynn Hilton who had ready access to LDS General Authorities.
♠ Mark E. Petersen was a member of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and was a bit creepy. I will back up this claim with his own words.
A fascinating sequence of correspondence between the players in 1949 is key to understanding their role in Annalee Skarin’s excommunication.
♠ The sequence begins with a letter from Hope to Annalee — not in the collection.
♠ October 12, 1949 — Annalee’s response to Hope reflects what was in that letter.
♠ October 19, 1949 — Hope/Lynn Hilton letter to Spencer W. Kimball containing their view of Annalee’s writings.
♠ October 19, 1949 — Kimball’s letter to Annalee, cc’d to the Hiltons.
Annalee’s opening remarks reflect the vitriol that was apparently in Hope’s letter. The mention of divorce suggests that this could have contributed to Hope’s anger. Signing the letter with her new last name was probably a statement.
Next: Lynn Hilton’s review of Ye Are Gods:
The revelation rule used by Hilton to discredit Annalee’s revelations has one colossal exception. Saul of Tarsus had no authority within the first-century Christian communities, yet, was granted a transformational revelation and his writings would eventually represent half of the New Testament.
Conspicuously absent from all critique of Annalee Skarin’s writing is any mention of her inner experience — an experience that she describes consistently and in eloquent detail, i.e.:
“It is all so beautiful! It is all so glorious! It is all so divinely perfect! And surely there is no time to carry the slightest burden of hurt or ugliness or darkness for a moment. ” — Annalee’s letter to Hope, December 18, 1950
Next: Spencer W. Kimball’s letter to Annalee
Elder Kimball opens with a little fib, by “from overseas” he means “from Hope and Lynn Hilton.”
Kimball must not have been convinced by the Hilton letter that Annalee was working with Satan, as Elder Petersen would later conclude. He was polite, complimentary, and didn’t contradict anything that Annalee had said, however, was cautious about his public support.
Mark E. Petersen Confronts Annalee
“In the spring of 1952 Annalee was visiting friends, Chris and Sally Franchow, in Salt Lake City who lived on Ninth East 3140 South 900 East, just across from the Hillcrest Ward at 3151 South 900 East. As news of her visit became known, she was besieged with invitations to speak at Church and fireside groups.
“Then without warning the axe fell. After addressing an enthusiastic congregation, she was ushered into the bishop’s office where she was confronted by Elder Mark E. Petersen, a member of the Council of the Twelve. He denounced Ye Are Gods as inspired by Satan, and demanded that she repent and repudiate the book.
“‘And then it was that I, who love Christ above all others,’ she wrote, ‘was acclaimed to be the great anti-Christ.’ When she rejected the ultimatum, she was tried by a Church court and excommunicated June 1952.
“Annalee called it a ‘kangaroo court,’ where I was refused counsel. My efforts to bear witness to what I had written, or even to defend myself, were denied and silenced.’ When Sally Franchow tried to defend her, ‘For her courageous efforts she too was excommunicated.'”
— Samuel W. Taylor “The Puzzle of Annalee Skarin: Was She Translated Correctly?” Sunstone, Volume 15:1 (April 1991): 41–46.
Mark E. Petersen is Asked to Explain His Actions
The precise reasons for Annalee Skarin’s excommunication are contained in the Church Court’s transcript which Petersen declined to release. This essay was written seven months after Annalee’s excommunication in response to letters requesting an explanation for his actions.
Petersen begins, pages 2–5, by describing the difficulties inherent in establishing a church based on personal revelation. Soon after the establishment of the LDS Church several members began to have revelations, some conflicted with Joseph Smith’s leadership. President Smith resolved the issue by saying that only his revelations affecting church members were real, all others were of the devil. His status as the sole revelator would pass to his successors and he could appoint substitute revelators as needed.
Petersen concludes that since then LDS President George Albert Smith didn’t appoint Annalee Skarin to be a revelator, her books could only be inspired by the devil.
Annalee sent copies of her books to all of the church leaders, including LDS Prophet George Albert Smith. In October 1949 she wrote to Hope, “From many have come beautiful letters — the one from President George Albert Smith was filled with love and kindness.” Annalee was excommunicated by Petersen after Smith’s death. Would the ten bishops, who convicted Annalee of being an operative of Satan, have hesitated to do so if Annalee had been allowed to present this letter in her defense?
On page 6 of his essay, Elder Petersen writes:
The middle of page 270 she says, “There are only two possible ways for those who read this book to know if it is true, and the first is to pray to God the Eternal Father in the name of Jesus Christ to know if these things are true. The other way is to live these higher laws of love, forgiveness, worship, devotion and singing glory, as Christ admonished.”
This statement is utterly false. There are not only two possible ways to find out whether her work is true as she sets forth. Actually she overlooks and side-steps the most important way by which we may know it is true.
The best way by which any person in the Church may discover whether or not the teachings of Mrs. Skarin are true is to ask the heads of the Church and they will advise him whether or not that book is true.
The excerpt quoted from Mrs. Skarin’s book is similar to a corner-stone LDS doctrine based on scripture delivered by Moroni in the Book of Mormon:
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Elder Petersen claims that prayer wasn’t the best way to seek truth, it was better to ask him. One explanation for this astounding statement could be that LDS members were invoking Maroni’s formula and were receiving a clear response that Petersen had made a mistake.
Presiding Bishopric Membership Records Department — Letter Explaining Excommunication, July 9, 1952:
The action was taken because of her claims that she has been receiving revelations from the Lord, which are contained in her two books, both of which are entitled “Ye Are Gods.”
Brigham Young on Revelation
President: December 27, 1847 – August 29, 1877
We often hear it said that the living oracles must be in the Church, in order that the Kingdom of God may be established and prosper on the earth. I will give another version of this sentiment. I say that the living oracles of God, or the Spirit of revelation must be in each and every individual, to know the plan of salvation and keep in the path that leads them to the presence of God.
Bruce R. McConkie on Revelation
Apostle: October 12, 1972 – April 19, 1985
The visions of eternity are not reserved for Apostles—they are not reserved for the General Authorities. Revelation is something that should be received by every individual.
Annalee Skarin on Revelation
God cannot be monopolized … No man, or group can possibly have a monopoly upon God … He will answer the cry of any man who will ask for help … And the time has arrived when mankind will no longer accept teachers who teach only with words … Every man has the right and the power to find God … thousands and thousands of souls have been sacrificed by those who have professed to have such a sacred monopoly.
In This Corner!
I would be willing to let every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the world, but let them enjoy these things among themselves.
With this great stillness comes such glory and peace as the outside world can never comprehend.
When the Lord chose the nations to which the spirits were to come, determining that some would be Japanese and some would be Chinese and some Negroes and some Americans, He engaged in an act of segregation.
When every unkind thought , fear thought, or evil thought is replaced with thoughts of beauty, love, joy, perfection, and that inner ecstasy one will have completely conquered darkness and will be filled with Light, and comprehend all things.
If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get a celestial resurrection.
Celestial glory is a state of consciousness or awareness and understanding. It is man’s heritage to look unto his Father and to claim his divine birthright.
If I were to marry a Negro woman and have children by her, my children would all be cursed as to the priesthood. … If there is one drop of Negro blood in my children, as I have read to you, they receive the curse. … With 50 million Negroes intermarried with us, where would the priesthood be? who could hold it, in all America? Think what that would do to the work of the Church!
And my love increased and seemed to expand unto the very ends of the earth, and then to go on to fill a world and reach on out across the universe and play a melody upon the stars.
Satan is the author of confusion, doubts, misgivings, qualms, negativism. His influence causes uneasiness and misery. Satan’s influence is so different from Christ’s that we can easily recognize the difference.
The very power of the heart, soul and mind united in this overwhelming love of devotion and joy turns the key and fulfills all the laws, opening wide the doors to all light, all power, and perfection.
Carried the keys to the Salt Lake Temple in his pocket for 39 years 8 months 23 days.
Banned
High Priest
Woman
References
- Historical documents: Hope A. Hilton Collection.
- Sunstone Magazine article: Samuel W. Taylor.
- Mark E. Petersen: race, devil.
- Annalee Skarin: love, etc.
- Digital paintings of Annalee: Alejandra of Argentina.
- Postscript: telescopes, genetics.
- Post postscript references: Teresa of Ávila, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Jeanne d’Arc.
Postscript
The Galileo Effect from space science to the genetic genome — heresy or hilarity?
It can be embarrassing when those who claim communion with omniscient intelligence are proven wrong on basic details.
The Trial of Galileo — Doug Linder
Galileo expected the telescope to quickly make believers in the Copernican system out of all educated persons, but he was disappointed. He expressed his discouragement in a 1610 letter to Kepler: “My dear Kepler, what would you say of the learned here, who, replete with the pertinacity of the asp, have steadfastly refused to cast a glance through the telescope? What shall we make of this? Shall we laugh, or shall we cry?“
The Catholic Inquisition found Galileo guilty of heresy. “And, so that you will be more cautious in future, and an example for others to abstain from delinquencies of this sort, we order that the [best selling] book Dialogue of Galileo Galilei be prohibited by public edict. We condemn you to formal imprisonment in this Holy Office at our pleasure.”
Galileo was placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life for what he saw through his telescope.
The Genetics of Human Migrations — Phillip Hunter
When our human ancestors began to migrate from the African savannahs across the Alps into Northern Europe and Asia between 200,000 and 60,000 years ago, they encountered a colder climate, different food sources and new predators. Inevitably, evolution began to work on those wandering tribes: their skin became lighter, their metabolism adapted to new food sources, and their immune system had to handle different pathogens. Modern Homo sapiens began to evolve into slightly different subspecies or, as they are referred to in the common vernacular, different races.
Post Postscript — Advanced States
There are many terms used to describe advanced states: grace, nirvana, sainthood, enlightenment, technoking, etc. There isn’t a commonly accepted definition for these states but we can usually recognize them when we see them.
Luke 17:20-21
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Teresa of Ávila
It is foolish to think that we will enter heaven without entering into ourselves.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
This is the glory of the nature of the Self. Having come back home, the traveler finds peace. The intensity of happiness is beyond the superlative. The bliss of this state eliminates the possibility of any sorrow, great or small.
Jeanne d’Arc
Trial Transcript: Asked if she knows she is in God’s grace, she answered: “If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.“
Jeanne d’Arc was tried and convicted by a Catholic court of blasphemy and heresy. She could spare herself from excommunication and execution if she would confess that she had been guided not by God but by Satan. She refused and was burnt at the stake on May 30, 1431. The Catholic Church reviewed the transcript of her trial in 1456 and humbly admitted that they had made a tragic mistake.
Annalee Skarin
Mark E. Petersen left us with a written record of his basis for excommunicating Annalee Skarin from the LDS Church. Annalee’s daughter, Hope Hilton, left us with her opinion in the title of her unpublished manuscript Descent into Madness, or The Formation of a Religious Cult. Annalee Skarin, for her part, left us her books:
Stand with me upon the very threshold of light and view its rising splendor — and know that you, yourself are the door into it.