I have been lurking and trying to catch up for weeks, literally. But I finally have so I have another thought to add, just some cultural insight.
LDS people do believe in preparedness, and we are taught it's a good thing. We are advised to prepare financially to be out of debt and have some back up savings in case of long term illness or accident, or loss of employment. We are taught to have 72 kits or bug out bags and emergency plans in case of house fire, or natural disaster and so on. We are taught to have food storage in case of shortages, employment gaps, or even possible quarantine situations... Just general concepts of being prepared because it promotes faith instead of fear - and financially it's just wise.
Prepping is taking this to more of a hobby level and sometimes to extreme levels. My own father went through a prepper stage where he built a brick oven in the yard for outdoor cooking in case they needed it. They dug a well so they have water supply not connected to the city if they need it. They have a solar generator and battery storage unit in a faraday cage as well as about 2+ years food storage for them and many others. This is beyond what is currently counseled by the church. They have done so because they can and because they want to, but that level is not part of any of our specific beliefs.
My reason for being interested in this case is that I'm not close enough to be a VI sort of person, but I'm one step away in many directions. I'm part of many groups of people who study the end times prophecies, and have heard a lot of these various ideas. I have rejected the ones that are not doctrinal and more extreme... but I have been invited to events by that company we don't name, and I have been invited to join AVOW by various people. I have an uncle who goes to AVOW to talk with his ham radio buddies. (another prepping concept) I know two authors that published through Chad personally, and one of them is a VERY close friend an she was the one who told me about this case. We talk at least weekly. Facebook seems to think that Jason Mow should be my friend as he's at the top of all the suggestions they give because of so many mutual friends.
Because of that.. here's what I'm seeing - There are many who study and are interested in the end times type things in the LDS church. There are three types. The first type sticks only to scriptures and prophetic sayings. The second time looks beyond that and includes personal revelation, discussion with others about non doctrinal speculation... and the third time is so HUNGRY for this kind of stuff not coming directly from the church leadership and the pulpit that they cling to anyone claiming to have more info, people like JR the author and Chad and so on... Lori fits this third type to a T but add in some serious psychosis and fanaticism. It's that third group that are the ones who go off the rails and go looking for anything to satisfy curiosity and impatience in this regard. I recently explained to someone else that though the LDS church says "latter-day" referring to last days type of things, they were named this back in 1830... it's been almost 2 centuries of "last days". This third kind of person is not always involved with AVOW and with that group we don't name or even with cultish behavior - BUT a subset of that sort is! I've suddenly become aware of how many on my friends lists on social media are in that kind of mindset. It's made me a little sick to see how close it is to me all over the place.
The trend I've seen is that third group, especially when radicalized like Lori and Chad seem to be - tend to go pretty drastic and do really strange things believing angels and God are instructing them to do so. I learned yesterday there is a girl I grew up with who is also part of Chad's group, was told by this group that she is one of the 144k and so she divorced her husband and moved to Missouri and is in "waiting" to be called upon.
Not sure if all this rambling helps anything... just some insight I guess. (I'm sorry I'm long winded)
