Part 1, Chapters 7 and 8 Summary and Analysis

Krakauer opens Chapter 7 with the profile of a man excommunicated from both the Mormon Church and the Fundamentalist Mormon Church as a result of the revelations he believes he received from God. Robert Crossfield, who also calls himself the Prophet Onias, believes that God has given him revelations about problems in the Mormon Church. As a result of these revelations, Crossfield has written The Second Book of Commandments. When the current president of the Mormon Church, Mark E. Peterson, read Crossfield's book of commandments, Peterson had Crossfield thrown out of the church. Soon Crossfield's criticism of the beliefs of the Fundamentalist Church as well as Crossfield's belief that he might be the one God had sent to reform the Mormon Church caused the United Effort Plan (UEP) to kick Crossfield out of the Fundamentalist sect of the...