Replying to SuzieQ in the last thread....
I realize there are some very distinct differences in the mainstream LDS faith and the splinter FLDS "Faith" - but I did want to point out that the premises Warren Jeffs is "selling" to his flock are based in the Book of Mormon and the history of the faith - starting with Joseph Smith and his many wives. Brigham Young may have been the one to WRITE the "Polygamy doctrine" (or reveal the revelation), but it was Joseph Smith who DID IT FIRST - and declared plural celestial marriage a requirement for becoming "Gods and Goddesses" in the afterlife...much to the dismay of his 1st (and only legal) wife. Warren Jeffs has used these early writings to fortify his position that Mainstream Mormons are the ones who have it all wrong and they (the FLDS) are the TRUE faithful - and the ONLY ones who will be going to heaven - because the LDS Church has supposedly turned it's back on the REAL TRUTH as revealed to Joseph Smith and his "apostles". Jeff's words are, like the best "cons and lies", built on a base of truth - giving his teachings that essential aura of respectability and legitimacy. And you know, I think at some point he got drunk on the power - pretty heady stuff for a nerdy, wimpy, unattractive little man... more and more power (and adoration, and yes "worship") made him believe his own BS... in his words, LDS members are referred to as "gentiles" by the FLDS - along with the rest of us...who are also "infidels". It's like Warren really thinks he is creating a new Israel with the FLDS - and maybe he has begun to think himself the modern "Jesus" - persecuted, imprisoned, punished (crucified in a way) by the heathens and the "beast" for his faith.....
Warren Jeffs (and his father Rulon Jeffs and his main Apostle Merril Jessop who is in charge at YFZ Ranch) have corrupted and distorted the Book of Mormon - as well as the history of the faith and Joseph Smith's story to support twisted, cruel, abusive beliefs and teachings. Like other intelligent and totally whacko "Leaders" before him (Charles Manson, Jim Jones et al) - Jeffs cleverly and deliberately distorted, took out of context, edited and convoluted selected parts and history of an established faith to make it FIT his vision and give him more control over his followers. He is very persuasive in a passive-aggressive way - his lectures sound so benign in tone and he appears so non-threatening (like Mr Rogers)- and yet the content chills me to the bone. And he goes into such long, protracted detail about every utterance made by the founders on polygamy (and so convoluted and boring) - and then suddenly goes off on a tangent and twists it all into some horrid edict of his it was NEVER intended to support. His egomanical delusions of grandeur and obvious enjoyment and pleasure in having total control over every aspect of every member's lives is clear - that monotone, emotionless voice sounds like it was born in the iciest heart in the depths of some black and festering place - where he (and the "men") create their own little piece of hell on earth for women and children.
My Opinion
Some background (excerpts)from Carolyn Jessop's book "Escape"
FLDS Beliefs
Page 17: The FLDS split from the Mormon Church more than 100 years ago, after the latter outlawed polygamy. Members, like the 19th century Mormons, believe that "[a] man must have multiple wives if he expects to do well in heaven, where he can eventually become a god and wind up with his own planet." Not every man marries multiple wives; being encouraged to take more than three signifies that you're considered important by the leaders of the community.
Page 25: In a favorite children's game, called Apocalypse, kids act out the FLDS vision of the end of the world. According to FLDS lore, Native Americans who were mistreated and killed in pioneer days will be resurrected in the end times, when God will allow them to wreak vengeance on those who wronged them - by killing FLDS enemies with invisible tomahawks that can sever a person's heart in half.
Page 37: Carolyn, who grew up in the FLDS communities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, was educated in a "public school," but the teachers and students, like the rest of the area community, were almost exclusively FLDS members. They were taught that dinosaurs never existed and man never landed on the moon.
Prophet Motives
Pages 72-73: The community's rules changed as different leaderscalled prophetsestablished different priorities. When Carolyn was 18, the prophet was a man called Uncle Roy, who gave her permission to attend college, an honor granted to very few girls in the community. But there was one major caveat: In order to do so, Carolyn had to marry Merril Jessop, a 50-year-old man with a reputation for cruelty who already had three wives.
Page 313: When Uncle Roy died in 1986, a man called Uncle Rulon took over. But Rulon was elderly and frail, and his favored son, Warren Jeffs, held the reins for many years. Carolyn says that marrying off underage girls was relatively rare before Rulon: "When Uncle Rulon first came to power, girls didn't marry until they were over twenty. After his first stroke, the age dropped into the late teens. The sicker he got, the younger the brides in the community became."
Page 234: As the FLDS leadership became increasingly radicalized, Uncle Rulon began to discuss blood atonement, a draconian punishment for anyone who committed "immoral" acts for which there could be no forgiveness
such as fornication and adultery." Blood atonement, Carolyn explains, is "murder": The sinner submits to being killed as punishment for his or her crimes.
Bad Medicine
Page 189: FLDS leaders don't look kindly on modern medicine. During childbirth, "a doctor was never present, nor was pain medication ever used. Women were expected to be perfectly silent during childbirth. If a woman screamed or made loud noises she was criticized for being out of control. Sometimes she'd be reprimanded by her husband during her delivery.
Page 231: Uncle Rulon "began preaching that anyone who needed medical help to heal was a person of little faith. A person in harmony with God could heal him or herself with fasting and prayer
Page 275: Merril blamed Carolyn when their seventh child became gravely ill: "You can take him to every damn doctor you can find, but no one will be able to heal him. God is going to destroy his life because of the sins of his mother."
Warren Jeffs
Pages 216, 223, 231, and 234: As Rulon's deputy, Jeffs banned the color red; movies, television, and the Internet ("except for business purposes"); clothing with "large prints" or plaid; immunizations; and sex not for procreation.
Page 197: The Jeffs family had "a rigid rule
against becoming obese.
Pages 324-325: Jeffs began to kick young boys out of the community"more than a hundred teenage boys" within a month's span, at one pointfor crimes like "listening to CDs, watching movies, or kissing girls.
http://www.slate.com/id/2189275/pagenum/all/