Dave Starr
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Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs declares that doomsday is imminent in a rambling document he claims is a revelation from the Lord. Jeffs was convicted in Utah of being an accomplice in rape, but his conviction was overturned by the state supreme court. He then was extradited to Texas, where he is jailed on charges of sexual assault of a child and bigamy. He also faces charges in Arizona.
By Dave Hawkins
SPECIAL TO THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Posted: Mar. 2, 2011 | 12:04 p.m.
KINGMAN, Ariz. -- Polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs declares that doomsday is imminent in a rambling document he claims is a revelation from the Lord.
The nine-page copyrighted document promises deadly, catastrophic events if the self-proclaimed prophet is not released from jail in Texas, where he awaits trial.
"Let this nation know I am with my people, and shall sweep the wicked from the face of the Land of America," it states.
Passages indicate that deadly storms and earthquakes can be expected "soon."
Jeffs, 55, heads the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a sect that practices polygamy and is based in an isolated border area of northern Arizona and southern Utah about 150 miles from Las Vegas.
The bizarre document, written and numbered in biblical style, is titled "A Warning to the Nation -- A Petition to the President of the United States of America."
His brother Lyle Jeffs and Vaughn Taylor, high-ranking members of the FLDS, signed off on the document as witnesses "to the word of the Lord" received and delivered by Warren Jeffs.
Various media outlets have reported that the document has been mailed to President Barack Obama, members of Congress and federal officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Secret Service officials refused to comment Wednesday on whether the document had been delivered to the White House. But a spokesman for Arizona Rep. Trent Franks, whose district includes the FLDS community of Colorado City, Ariz., confirmed that the document was received at the congressman's office in Washington, D.C.
Warren Jeffs has been in jail since his arrest during a routine traffic stop in Las Vegas on Aug. 28, 2006. He was on the run after being charged during a crackdown on arranged marriages in Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, bordering communities controlled by the sect.
He was convicted in Utah of being an accomplice to rape , but his conviction was overturned by the state supreme court. He then was extradited to Texas on charges of sexual assault of a child and bigamy. He also faces charges in Arizona.
In addition to Jeffs' freedom, the document demands an end of persecution of FLDS members and their lifestyle of plural marriage. Failure to do so will bring loss of life through earthquakes and storms, the document states.
One section of the documents refers to Obama's home state: "I the Lord am soon to send the shaking of the earth in a place in thy land not known as a usual place of violent shaking, unto the loss of many lives. I shall cause a great destruction in the land of Illinois, to the loss of life and to your awakening, that when I, the Lord, speak, let my word be fulfilled, lest you become as a people only worthy to be swept off my land of Zion."
The document chastises a wicked world of sin. It repeatedly condemns the practice of abortion as the "legalized murder of unborn children."
The document states that the prosecution of Jeffs and other FLDS members in Arizona, Utah and Texas is hypocritical.
"Though you accuse them of corrupt practices and evil motives, they are my people, saith the Lord Jesus Christ, who sendeth this message to you: Let my people go!"
The document dresses down law enforcement officials for the April 2008 raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch, an FLDS compound outside San Angelo, Texas. More than 400 women and children were temporarily removed from the ranch during an investigation of allegations of abuse.
In addition to conveying ominous warnings and threats purportedly from the Lord, Jeffs has been busy in recent months taking back control of the church and ordering the excommunication of FLDS members.
More than 40 men and women have been dismissed from the church by Jeffs over the past 10 weeks, said Isaac Wyler, a Colorado City resident Jeffs expelled from the church in 2004.
Jeffs has been ousting members who are perceived to pose a threat to his ability to lead the congregation while incarcerated, Wyler said.
"When you're kicked out, you're told not to talk to your family ever again. You're told to go and repent from a distance, and you lose your wife, or wives as the case may be, your kids, your business, your home, everything," Wyler said. "Basically you go out with the shirt on your back." |
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