Power of Polygamy: a/k/a/ Inside the World of Warren Jeffs Revised Edition

legalized.

CHAPTER ONE

UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF POLYGAMY

To understand a man like WARREN JEFFS and others like him and why they are so obsessed with polygamy; first; it is necessary to understand the benefits and drawbacks of polygamy as a lifestyle.

Many polygamist groups are surviving in the United States, Canada and Mexico today, but their future may not be as promising as they believe. Total membership of all polygamist groups on the American Continent, is approximately around 250,000 people, all of which owe allegiance to different ‘so-called’ Prophets or leaders.

Warren Jeffs’ church before his incarceration was called Short Creek, Fundamentalist, or FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints) group, and is one of the largest groups, with a membership of approximately 40,000 in the United States, not counting their sister settlements in Canada and Mexico.

In our modern world, corruption by powerful men still exists, as was witnessed in World War II, with Hitler’s rise to ultimate God-like power. Men with charisma can easily dominate others who are not as strong-willed.

Statistics reveal, that if men are allowed to rule with ultimate power over the lives of others, eventually, they deceive themselves into thinking they are All Powerful, and behave accordingly, with God-like status. It is easy to lose touch with reality, when one man can control so many lives and his word is absolute law.

Such is the problem with modern-day polygamist prophets who consider themselves a God-like/father figure to their people, and have lost touch with reality, or as polygamists refer to it as the outside world.

THE TRUTH IS, POLYGAMY WORKS

ONLY UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS:

Polygamy has worked well several times in history to BUILD UP THE NUMBERS OF A RELIGIOUS GROUP, SECT OR DEPLETED NATION. Israel practiced polygamy in the Bible. You will note they do not practice it today.

TO STUDY MODERN DAY CHRISTIAN POLYGAMISTS, IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THEIR ROOTS. The roots of many of today’s Christian polygamists stretch back to over a hundred years ago, when a man named Joseph Smith, claimed he was a prophet, and translated a book, which he claimed was a religious history of God’s dealings with the ancient people on the American Continent. (Many Mormons, believe these people were the ancestors of the native American Indians, and it is possible some were, but there were several migrations of people from many diverse nations to the American Continent which scientists have proven.)

MODERN DAY REVIVAL:

In the 1800's, while Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet was studying the Bible, he claimed to have received a revelation from God, instructing him to restore many of the old Biblical beliefs. Along with several other ordinances and rituals that were long forgotten, he discovered that polygamy, once in favor with Israel, had been lost. Consequently, in the zeal of restoration, he brought back as many of the forgotten beliefs as he could, and along with them, restored polygamy to the fledgling Mormon Church. Not only was it a ritual practiced before in the Bible; Joseph realized it would give his church a chance to build membership quickly. While translating the Book of Mormon, Joseph came across Jacob 2:30 (Book of Mormon) "For, if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people;..."(this is one verse in a series of verses discussing polygamy). Verse Thirty is the most interesting, however, because it suggests that the practice of polygamy is God’s prerogative, and not a choice man can make whenever he deems it appropriate. It makes one wonder what people would do after a Nuclear War if few men were left. Would they turn to polygamy to help their race survive? It is a very interesting thought and in a situation like that, makes some sense.

An interesting point about the Book of Mormon, is that the people on the American Continent categorized in the Book of Mormon, were expressly forbidden by God to practice polygamy.

It is the author’s belief that polygamy is probably only a temporary measure to build-up people to the point where they can survive. In the same vein, the Mormon converts who reached the desolate Salt Lake Valley were totally depleted, dying in the handcart companies, frostbitten and with no farming land; they chose a land rejected by everyone but the American Indians. The practice of polygamy gave growth to their church, and then was dismissed over 120 years ago. Today, the LDS (Mormon) church has at last count, 13 million members. So, to give growth to a church quickly, polygamy does help, but in this book we are discussing criminal polygamy where young children are forced to marry older men.

Time and medicine has changed our lives. People are living longer into their seventies, eighties and nineties.

Men that age have no business forcing themselves on young girls.

It is estimated only 3-8% of Mormons practiced polygamy in the first place, and these were usually men who proved they were financially able to support more than one family.

Finally, when Wilford Woodruff came to be President and Prophet of the Mormon Church, he repealed polygamy with a document called the MANIFESTO. The membership voted on it, and the practice of polygamy drizzled down to nothing. Men who already had wives and children were allowed to keep them, but there were to be no more polygamous marriages.

THIS CAUSED A PROBLEM, because there are always men who see great advantages in beginning their own churches. They figured, why not begin their own church and keep the practice of polygamy alive. Thus, these unjustified and excommunicated men split-off into the different polygamist groups we have today. I’m sure it was not a detriment to them to discover how much money they could obtain from their followers who paid them tithing. No question, a man beginning his own church collecting tithing of (10%) every month from whatever the members earned, could quickly become very rich.

After over a hundred years, these breakaway groups are still a thorn in the side of the Mormon Church, particularly when the polygamist groups do something illegal and allude to fictitious connections to the Mormon Church. Often they encourage jokes about the Mormon Church, making it sound as if polygamy is still practiced.

However, now the Mormon Church has grown to a membership of over thirteen million members, the jokes are becoming less frequent.

Note: The Mormon Church no longer practices polygamy. It was abandoned well over one hundred years ago.

Warren Jeffs owns land in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, So. Dakota, Canada and Mexico.

THERE ARE ALSO MANY SINGLE INDEPENDENT MEN WHO HAVE STARTED THEIR OWN POLYGAMIST CHURCHES WITHIN THEIR FAMILY UNITS. THE MAJOR GROUPS ARE DISCUSSED IN THIS BOOK:

HOW POLYGAMY WORKS:

A much overlooked fact about polygamy, is that it can only work when there are more women than men in a society. Eventually, polygamy burns itself out because of natural selection. When the number of men equals or almost equals the number of women, there are no spare women to marry, and polygamy ceases. Only in the Fundamentalist Polygamist Groups do they keep the practice of polygamy alive, by abandoning a large number of their sons. These teenage boys are cast out into society to fend for themselves with little more than a sixth grade education, nowhere to go, no friends, and knowing they can never contact their mothers or family members again.

A father throwing away his sons, effectively throws away his competition for young females to take as wives. Because women are considered prime property in the Fundamentalist Polygamist religions, and as the pool of eligible women shrinks, polygamist men look for younger and younger wives to fulfill their needs. Some men marry girls who are little more than children, or at least make contracts with a young girl’s father for marriage at a later date. The usual age of marriage for polygamist girls, is between twelve and fourteen. By the time a girl is twelve or even younger in a polygamist culture, older males have already noticed her and are vying and negotiating for her hand in marriage with whichever prophet leads their church. There are men who look for wives outside of the colony and convert them to the polygamists beliefs.

FINANCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY:

Today, because modern Fundamentalist men are not charged with the responsibility of financially supporting their extra wives and children; (extra wives being considered unmarried mothers and their children bastards); these illegal family groups quickly join the Welfare Roles.

Although polygamy is a felony in the eyes of the law, the U.S. spends a large amount of tax dollars supporting these ‘extra’ families.

Of course, there are other kinds of polygamist family groups such as Muslims a few Hindu, Buddhists and an even smaller group of Christian Polygamists. Most of them are not usually American citizens, and hopefully, these ’extra’ families are not surviving on the American Welfare System. There also are many women outside of polygamy that have children without marriage and continue to have children without the benefit of matrimony that fall on to the welfare rolls.

A LITTLE HISTORY OF MODERN-DAY POLYGAMY:

Although many religions throughout the world, including Muslim and Islam, practice polygamy, the lifestyle has never been an acceptable practice in the United States.

The practice of polygamy in the Early Mormon Church caused great consternation to the Christian Churches of the day. Along with the martyrdom of Joseph Smith by a mob in Carthage Jail, Missouri. Later the practice of polygamy almost prohibited Utah from becoming a member of the newly established United States of America. It was not long before the Mormon Church recognized the inherent problems with polygamy, and discontinued the practice. Nowadays, the Mormon Church excommunicates anyone suspected of practicing polygamy or being connected with any polygamist groups.

Adhering to a monogamous lifestyle has not harmed the Mormon Church, which to date, has swelled in membership all over the world.. It is reported to be the fastest growing Christian Church on Earth. It is easy to estimate that had the Mormon Church continued practicing polygamy and dealing with constant outside pressure from other Christian Churches, it would most probably have ended in oblivion.

Early Mormon Polygamists did not listen to their leaders:

The Mormon Church abandoning polygamy left an interesting dichotomy; because while most Mormons listened to their leaders, many men decided they preferred to listen to their own counsel, and continued to practice polygamy. Even though disobeying their leaders meant excommunication from the main church, these men continued polygamy with great fervor.

One Mormon Prophet, Wilford Woodruff, claimed to have received a vision, in which he saw the Mormon Church destroyed if they continued to practice polygamy, and related this information to the general assembly of the Mormon Church. Even after the membership voted to agree to abandon the practice, some men refused to agree with the new church policy and left the church taking their ‘extra‘ families with them, some to begin churches of their own..

Woodruff’s warning against the future use of polygamy as a lifestyle within the Mormon Church was issued in a general proclamation called the Manifesto. The Manifesto declared that anyone contracting in, or practicing polygamy from the date the Manifesto was issued would be considered excommunicated. Even this threat, did not deter certain male members from clinging to the practice of polygamy. These men rebelled against the Mormon Church and formed or became prophets of their own churches.

Men such as Warren Jeffs, Ervil LeBaron, James Harmston and many others are descendants of these men who broke away from Mormonism or were excommunicated from the main body of the church.

HERE IS A SHORT GENEOLOGICAL CHART

OF THE EXTREMISTS WHO WERE

NO LONGER CONSIDERED MEMBERS:

NOW THE ERA OF MORMON POLYGAMY WAS OVER, THE ERA OF FUNDAMENTALIST EXTREMISTS WAS JUST BEGINNING:

The Fanatical Extremists:

Many zealots, now in small groups, trying to form new churches, were still committed to a life of polygamy. They broke into radical extremists groups nicknamed the ‘polygamist’ or ‘fundamentalist’ sects.

A descendant from one of these fanatical polygamist groups, Warren Jeffs, inherited the leadership of the FLDS group (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) from his father, Rulon Jeffs. The FLDS group was only one of many such groups who became the foundation for most of todays modern American polygamists.

Polygamist leaders of all the groups are almost always descendants from ancestors who dissented from the original Mormon Church. These are those men who did not accept the Manifesto.

The Fundamentalist Short Creek Group (FLDS) consists of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, and gets its nickname for the Short Creek which runs between the towns and crosses the border. The FLDS group revere Warren Jeffs as a prophet, and have been in existence over eighty years.

Today, the polygamy of Biblical days, which so intrigued Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet who reinstated the lifestyle, has been destroyed by greed, power, jealousy and money. It has also changed its very reason for existence.

Instead of existing to build-up a people, polygamist churches today, exist to build-up each individual polygamist man into the position of having enough wives and children to, as they believe, become a powerful God, in what they consider their Glorious After Life. The larger the family, the more powerful the God a man may become.

Much like the Ancient Egyptians, modern polygamists are more interested in the afterlife than they are in the present one. This might explain the terrible deprivations and miseries women and children are subjected to in the name of religion. They believe there is no amount of suffering in this life that cannot be endured, to inherit their great and glorious eternal life.

This combination of power and glory has spawned the dark side of polygamy, and ensnared Warren Jeffs and several other leaders to be caught in a sick web of power, lust, greed, rape, cruelty and jealousy.

Not all polygamist men are corrupt; I have met some who genuinely believe in the principle of polygamy and treat their families well. Unfortunately, when it comes to leadership in these groups, men who have not been corrupted by power are few.

As you read these stories, you will discover men who are in competition to get the most wives and children. The obsession of constantly adding to their families, is like the old saying the man with the most toys wins; only in this case, it is the man with the most wives and children wins.

Polygamist men believe the greater the number of wives and children they possess, the more power and glory will be bestowed on them in the eternities.

This idea of many wives and children in the afterlife is not peculiar to fundamental polygamists, it also appears in Islamic lifestyles and beliefs; and as history has shown these countries live in constant turmoil..

This writer has gathered together actual stories in which the names of the women have been fictionalized to protect their identities. However, there are a few women who have escaped polygamy, and are willing to talk and write about their lives. Several of their life stories are included also. Some of their experiences are eerily similar and consist of suffering, misery, poverty, cruelty and If they have the strength and courage, finally escape.

I wanted to write a book which gives an overview into why these groups still exist and keep forming. There are hundreds of independent polygamist families all over America, Canada and Mexico. These families stay isolated and do not affiliate with any particular group. This gives the father (prophet and head) of the family church, two advantages. He can set his own rules, claim his own revelations and does not have to pay tithing to the leader of a group.

Within these pages the reader will confront the terror, trials, dreams and despair of polygamy gone wrong, but also life stories of women who are extraordinarily brave and often misunderstood. These women have lived the greater part of their lives missing the main ingredient for happiness–which is FREEDOM. Many do not think their lifestyle is unusual, because for them it is the norm; they are the results of a hundred years of polygamy. Some women are fiercely protective of the lifestyle which is the only lifestyle they have known for several generations. Other women are caught in a prison not of their own choosing, from which it is almost impossible to escape.

These women live in a world most of us never see and never notice. They exist in every State in the United States in different polygamist sects. Their experiences are alien and incomprehensible to most Americans.

However, anything and everything can happen when you live within

THE DARK SIDE OF POLYGAMY

RECENTLY, SEVERAL LEADERS HAVE

BEEN ARRESTED AND GONE TO

TRIAL.

WARREN JEFFS, the leader of Short Creek, Hildale/Colorado City was arrested outside Las Vegas on August 29, 2006 at which time, he began his way through the legal system.

Strangely, Jeffs was not arrested for statutory rape, polygamy or bigamy. He was charged with arranging marriages between under-aged girls and older men The State of Utah charged Jeffs with two counts of first degree felony.

His formal legal charges were: Rape as an accomplice, in that, acting with the required mental state, Warren Steed Jeffs solicited, requested, commanded, encouraged, or intentionally aided another to commit sexual intercourse with another person without the victim‘s consent, in that Jane Doe IV was 14 years of age or older but younger than 18 years of age at the time, and John Doe, who was older, and enticed or coerced Jane to submit to sexual intercourse in violation of Utah Code Annotated (sections) 76-5-402, 76-5-406(11) and 76-2-202 (1953,).

The State of Utah was required to produce evidence of probable cause to support claims against Mr. Jeffs’ involvement. The State provided a neutral judge; plus a sworn affidavit of probable cause by Shauna Jones, who was a sergeant with the Washington County (Southern Utah) Sheriff’s Office, and who had been involved in law enforcement for over ten years. The following is from Mrs. Jones sworn facts which were used to support Utah‘s Affidavit to grant a warrant.

EXCERPTS FROM THE PUBLIC RECORD

Between January 2006 and March 2006, Law Enforcement Officials conducted interviews with a woman identified for purposes of this Affidavit as Jane Doe IV (hereafter Jane"). Jane has requested her identity be withheld at this time. During the interviews, Jane related the following:

Jane was a resident of Hildale, Utah and a follower of Warren Steed Jeffs (hereafter Jeffs) whom she believed to be a prophet of God and her spiritual leader.

When Jane was between the age of fourteen and eighteen years old, religious leaders told Jane God had revealed that she was to enter into a spiritual marriage with a man (John Doe hereinafter John), who was more than three years older than Jane.

Prior to the spiritual marriage, Jane personally met with Jeffs in Hildale, Utah. Jane told Jeffs that she had concerns about the marriage revelation. She felt she was too young to marry.

Jeffs told Jane that it was her spiritual duty to submit to the marriage and that the marriage arrangement was from God.

After Jane’s meeting with Jeffs, she and John were driven from Utah to Nevada. In Nevada, Jeffs performed a marriage ceremony for Jane and John. After the ceremony, Jeffs instructed Jane and John to multiply and replenish the earth and raise children in the priesthood.

After returning to Hildale, within approximately a month, John reminded Jane that Jeffs had instructed them to have children in order to replenish the earth and that now was the time.

Against Jane’s will and without her consent, John had sexual intercourse with her in Hildale, Utah.

After John had sexual intercourse with Jane, Jane met with Jeffs and told him, she did not want to be a ‘spiritual’ wife, because she hated having husband-wife relations with John. Jane told Jeffs that she was uncomfortable with John touching her private parts. Jane said neither she nor Jeffs, used the words ‘sex’ or ‘sexual intercourse’ because it was not permitted to use those specific words in the spiritual context of the church. However, Jane believes there is no question Jeffs understood they were talking about sexual relations.

In response to Jane’s concerns, Jeffs told her she must remain in the spiritual marriage. He explained she must do whatever John told her to do, because John was her priesthood head and leader. Jeffs told her to go back and repent. He also told her to give herself mind, body and soul to her husband like she was expected to do.

Because Jeffs insisted Jane must remain in the spiritual marriage and do whatever John told her to do, Jane stayed in the marriage and continued to have sexual intercourse with John. She disliked the physical part of her marriage intensely.

She met with Jeffs again and told him it still wasn’t working out. This time, he told her she should obey her husband and get pregnant, because having a baby would change everything. In yet another meeting, Jeffs told her that no matter what happened; she could not fight with the priesthood because if she did she would lose her salvation. Jane was so frightened by Jeffs’ remarks she continued in the marriage to secure her salvation.

The court was shown photographs of Jane and John on their wedding day. The photos confirm the occurrence of the spiritual marriage.

Jeffs has a huge network of followers who will support him financially and help him evade capture. Therefore, Jeffs was held without bail because the court realized that no amount of money would assure his appearance.

NEXT COURT HEARING:

Jeffs retained two prominent Utah defense attorneys Walter Bugden and Tara Isaacsson, who were both very comfortable with criminal law.

Bugden was a non-nonsense attorney with approximately 28 years experience. He had more than 200 criminal trials under his belt. He is probably considered one of Utah’s top defense attorneys.

The Davis County deputy attorney Steve Major, who faced Bugden, noted that he was a professional and accomplished lawyer.

In 2000, Bugden won an acquittal for psychiatrist Robert Weitzel accused of killing five elderly patients with morphine overdoses in Davis County. Although Weitzel was charged with five counts of homicide, Bugden and Isaacson convinced the jurors Weitzel’s patients requested the morphine as end-of-life care.

The brilliant and creative team of Bugden and Isaacson gave Jeffs the best representation available. Bugden had won 22 of 27 trials, ranging from negligent homicide, forcible rape, assault and manslaughter. Isaacson had won 15 jury acquittals in her career to that point.

The Preliminary Court Hearing was scheduled for September 19th, 2006. However, with the recent retention of Defense Council it was postponed until September 27, 2006. Bail was also on the docket to be discussed at the 9/27/06 hearing.

Jeffs’ new defense attorneys were pretty sure they could find some loophole; such as, Jane did not have a

complete sexual discussion of her situation with Jeffs. If they could prove this, the new attorneys could use speculation as a defense. They could also claim Jeffs was misunderstood, and Jane and John were only told to have intercourse when Jane was old enough and willing, which might be several years in the future.

Regardless, The State of Utah denied bail because they believed Jeffs was a flight risk.

The State claimed when Jeffs was arrested, his own conduct was strange. When they checked the contents of his vehicle it contained clear and convincing evidence he was very likely to flee, if released.

EVIDENCE FOUND IN JEFFS; VEHICLE:

When Warren Jeffs was arrested on Monday, August 29, 2006 in Clark County, Nevada, he was driving a red Cadillac Escalade SUV with the following contents:

4 portable radios

$54,000 in cash

15 cell phones

A duffle bag with unopened envelopes which were believed to contain more cash.

3 wigs

Several pairs of sunglasses

4 laptop computers

A GPS device

A police scanner

Dozens of gift cards totaling approximately $10,000

Temporary license tags for the vehicle

And last, but certainly not least, there were TWO OTHER PEOPLE, with him; his wife Naomi and his brother, Isaac Steed Jeffs.

It was obvious to Law Enforcement in Nevada who Jeffs was, and he was taken into custody on the grounds that he had the support of thousands of church members who believed him to be a Prophet of God and would do anything to help him escape the U.S. Also, his followers could provide him with unlimited amounts of money.

Jeffs was found guilty in Utah. Afterwards, he tried to kill himself in his prison cell, but survived to face charges in Mohave County, Arizona, for his alleged role in arranging additional underage marriages for some of his faithful followers. Jeffs was extradited to Arizona following the Utah Ruling. The Federal Charges against Jeffs carried a maximum punishment of five years in Federal Prison on each count.

On Monday, February 15, 2010, Jeffs‘ church selected a new religious leader.

Although the YEARNING FOR ZION RANCH in Texas became a big item on every television and in every newspaper, on February 9, 2010; it was declared the Texas evidence could not be used against Warren Steed Jeffs. On Monday, February 8, 2010, the judge in Arizona banned all evidence of Texas Ranch Criminal Actions from the trial.

On March 1, 2010, a probe began to confirm false testimony against Jeffs.

On March 4, 2010, The Judge set a hearing in motion in Jeffs’ case in Arizona. The court date set for

Jeffs in Arizona was March 20, 2010.

April 15, 2010 Jeffs‘, Defense team claimed to have evidence which could derail Jeffs’ conviction. They claimed falsified records allegations raised questions over Jeffs conviction.

It was a grave concern for Law Enforcement in Arizona, that regardless of his prison sentence, Jeffs was still controlling his church from inside the prison.

It was decided it would be an excellent idea for John the spiritual husband to appear in court.

UTAH POLYGAMY LAWS:

Utah has Federal and State Laws prohibiting polygamy, but they only apply to officially sanctioned marriages, not to spiritual marriages, much the same as a couple without marriage living together and raising a family without benefit of an official marriage.

Because the Polygamy Statute does not apply to couples living together without marriage, it was the more sensible action, to charge Jeffs with the heinous crime of marrying off underage girls to much older men.

Jeffs’ crime was aired on AMERICA’S MOST WANTED and he was on the list of the FBI TOP TEN FUGITIVES which is why he is featured so prominently in this book.

POLICE ARREST RECORD

WARREN JEFFS

Warren Jeffs is the Prophet/President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS - a/k/a Short Creek Polygamists). He inherited the position from his father, Rulon Jeffs, when his father passed away in 2002.

Disagreements began as soon as Warren Jeffs proclaimed himself prophet. Some of the men present at the deathbed of Warren’s father, Rulon Jeffs, did not believe Warren was Rulon’s officially and spiritually chosen replacement.

This anonymous letter written by a family member who was present at the funeral, expresses his own, and many other concerns of the men who thought they were in the running for next prophet of the FDLS church.

"I remember Uncle Rulon died on Sunday, dissolving the First Presidency (Twelve counselors).

At the time of Rulon’s death, Warren was still only an Elder, (a much lower order in the priesthood than the council members), but at the following day’s meeting, Uncle Warren, besides