S5 Ep29: The Prophet of Kirtland, Part 1: The Birth of a Cult

Crimes of the Centuries

Amber Hunt and Audioboom

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1980s Ohio, Jeffrey Lundgren wasn’t just studying scripture — he was twisting it into something dangerous. To outsiders, he was a soft-spoken tour guide at a historic church site. But behind closed doors, Lundgren was preaching a radical new theology, gathering followers and slowly convincing them that he spoke for God. His target? The Kirtland Temple — once the holiest site in the Latter Day Saint movement.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking, they change laws, change society, or even
0:12.4	earn the label, Crime of the Century. But the stories that made headlines and decades past
0:18.9	aren't necessarily remembered today.
0:22.6	I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author, and in each episode of this show,
0:26.8	I'll examine a case that's maybe lesser known today, but was huge when it happened.
0:33.9	This is Crimes of the Centuries.
0:49.3	Thank you. This is Crimes of the Centuries. Christmas in 1986, a preacher summoned his followers to share a vision the Lord had blessed upon him.
0:57.3	It wasn't a vision for the faint of heart.
0:59.9	But that shouldn't trouble them, he assured his flock.
1:02.9	After all, the Bible was full of bloody tales.
1:06.4	God works in mysterious ways, yes, but he also works in violent ones. Take J.L. who, in the book of
1:15.0	Judges Chapter 4, drove a tenth stake through the head of a sleeping man, or Moses who killed an
1:21.9	Egyptian, or Nephi who beheaded Laban with his own sword. In the book of Mormon, to which this preacher was
1:30.0	devoted, the prophet Jacob asked God to strike a skeptic dead, and God did. God was not afraid to kill,
1:38.6	the pastor told his followers. When God wanted to show that he had power, God killed the wicked.
1:45.0	If I want to show that I have God's power, if I want to be endowed with that power, then I must kill the wicked.
1:54.0	This wasn't idle talk. The preacher had a plan.
1:59.0	His vision had instructed him to take over the Mormon temple in
2:03.5	Curtland, Ohio. But there was a condition. For Christ to return, there could be no wickedness
2:10.3	within a block of temple grounds. That meant, according to the preacher, that he and his flock
2:16.3	would have to kill every man, woman, and child
2:19.3	living within a one-block radius, 25 people, give or take. No one would be spared in the
	...

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