From his shaved head and striped jumpsuit to his withering limbs, Warren Jeffs no longer resembles the exalted man and prophet who ruled the polygamous sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, including Canada’s FLDS community in Creston, British Columbia, called “Bountiful”.
However, looks are deceiving because Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence, plus 20 years, and teetering between martyrdom and self-delusion, has maintained control over his followers despite his confinement. Desperate to remain leader and prophet, Warren Jeffs’ tactics are diverse. In 2007 while imprisoned in Utah, a video surfaced that showed Jeffs in prison garb admitting he was a false prophet and had lied to his followers.
Yet several years later, he ordered his subordinates to spend thousands of dollars on newspaper ads across the United States which declared “Cease thy wicked attack ye government authorities against my people and my church”, an ad clearly designed to buttress his tarnished image with his followers.
Reports of suicide attempts, head banging and food and water deprivation have been replaced by ranting revelations and errant edicts meant to solidify his control.
Over the last year Jeffs has ex-communicated hundreds of younger fathers and husbands, including at least a dozen or more men from Bountiful, ripping families apart with no apparent concern. He has also ordered “rebellious” teenagers to be evicted from the community, for offences as innocuous as hairstyles and teen friendships. Several teenage girls from Bountiful have been caught by this edict.
Jeffs has also banned sexual relationships between spouses including kissing, hugging or any physical contact other than handshaking, a rule that will prevail until he is released from prison. He has declared that a group of fifteen men alone are worthy of procreating and they shall father all FLDS children.
Mothers and fathers have been ordered not to touch or hug their children and toys, recreation, and games are no longer permissible.
The Bountiful elementary and secondary schools have, for the first time, refused government funding, opting to run the programs they desire. Reports have surfaced that school hours are now filled with YouTube videos of Jeffs’ preaching.
But Jeffs’ new tactics are backfiring. At Bountiful, both fathers and mothers who have been banished by Jeffs or taken the brave step of leaving voluntarily, are fighting back, trying to regain control of their lives, and more importantly, taking steps to rescue their children, who are suffering terribly.
Recently, four young boys were ejected from Bountiful because their father was an “apostate”, one of the men who refused to accept Jeffs’ leadership. At least 40 children have been denied any contact with their fathers for many months, a situation that was partially remedied this week by Creston Provincial Court Judge Sheard who ordered immediate access. A further court hearing is scheduled in Creston on November 7, 2012.
The awakening in Bountiful may signal the beginning of the end of Warren Jeffs.
Lawdiva's Blog 
I think it is great that you are helping the men see their children. Is there some way you could request child protective services (or whatever it is called in Canada) and get the children who have been removed to the logging camp? I can’t understand how a Judge doesn’t see a problem with 4 boys being removed from their home and being placed with someone who isn’t their parent.
Also, doesn’t Canada have some sort of compulsory school law that you could use to have the children’s grade level tested? I think it is a crying shame that the children of the FLDS don’t have the same rights and privileges that other children in Canada and the US enjoy simply because of an idiot named Warren Jeffs. The man is serving a life + 20 year sentence in prison for raping a 12 year old and a 14 year old. There is no way he should be allowed any say in how children are to be raised and schooled.
Any attempt at alienating children from a parent should be seen as a direct and willful violation of one of the prime duties of parenthood, and also child protection. Children must be protected from abuse. However, adult manipulators of children can cause abuse, through phony acts of protecting children from a so-called bad parent. Unless there is demonstrative evidence of abuse from a parent, a child should be permitted as much contact with both their parents as they desire, even though parents are in different social circumstances and do not cooperate or communicate with each other. Children must not become the ponds of power and control issues of adults.
The problem with this is that no court has stepped up to the plate and condemned the actions of the FLDS parents and stopped the blatant abuse of these children. The alienation of the children from one parent is happening at the behest of Warren Jeffs. If the mothers of these children were to also be kicked out, the children would be further alienated from her and given to a “worthy” person.
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