*. Cult leader Warren Jeffs is in jail, convicted of sexual abuse of young girls
*. His 8,000 followers continue to believe that he is a prophetand God who has wrongly imprisoned
*. Jeffs ordered married couples to stop having sex andhandpicked 15 mento father all the FLDS children
*. He also ordered 500-600 followers to be banished from the compound
Cult leader Warren Jeffs has spent the past six years behind bars after being arrested and later convicted of sexual abuse of young girls, but that has not stopped him from continuing to exude complete control over his polygamous community.
A Friday expose on ABC’s 20/20 has revealed the insulated world of The Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints Church where Jeffs’ 8,000 followers continue to believe that he is a prophet and God who has been wrongly imprisoned.
‘Anybody who thinks that Warren Jeffs' incarceration ended his rule in this community has no idea what they're talking about,’ said reporter Mike Watkiss.
‘He is in many ways more powerful because now he's martyred.’
Innocent victims: Children living in Warren Jeffs'compound are taught that the self-proclaimed prophet convicted of child sex abuse is the U.S. president
A 2008 raid on Jeffs' FLDS stronghold in Eldorado, Texas, revealed the polygamous community which included pregnant child brides in pastel prairie dresses with elaborate braided hairdos.
The FLDS holds polygamy as a fundamental belief and its men take multiple wives in what are termed 'celestial marriages' each performed in a ceremony called a 'sealing'.
The Utah-based church believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven and arranged marriages sometimes involve underage girls.
More than a year after his conviction ofchild sex abuse, it appears that little has changed in the remote Yearning for Zion compound in Colorado City housingthe Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, a radical wing of the Mormon Church.
Religious studies: Children in the local schoolhouse are taught Jeffs' proverbsin place of science or history
Oppressed: In the male-dominated community, the women live in polygamous marriages where each man has at leastthree sister wives
Styling tips: Fundamentalist Latter Day Saint women are not allowed to cut their hair because it is believed that they will need it to wash men's feet in heaven
Like in the past, Jeffs decides where people live, whom they marry and even what they eat and how they dress.
Children of cult members receive little more than a grade school education where science and history are ignored in favourof religious studies with an emphasis on Jeffs’ proverbs, and where every school book must be personally approved by the leader.
Totalitarian leader: Jeffs was convicted last year of molestingtwo teenage girls and sentenced to life in prison, but he continues to have control over his sect
One proverb reads: 'When you disobey there must and will always be a punishment.'
Children in the local schoolhouse are also taught that Jeffs was the president of the United States and that God led Neil Armstrong away from the moon during the Apollo 11.
When questioned by an ABC reporter about their general level of knowledge, atrio of girls who escaped the cult several months earlier along with their mother said that they had never heard of Ronald Reagan, Santa Claus or AIDS.
The women are always covered from neck to ankle because they believe their bodies are sacred.
Town dressmaker Lizzie Jeffs said: 'We believe in being modest.
'The Lord teaches us that if we can dress properly, it is easier to see each other as awhole person inside and out.'
Women must never cut their hair becauseit is believed that they will need it to wash men's feet in heaven.
They all live in polygamous marriages where each man has at leastthree sister wives.
The FLDS organization is protected by Utah’s homeschooling law, which means that state officials have no say about the content of the curriculum taught on the grounds of the secured compound.
In August 2011, Jeffs, 56, was found guilty of molesting two girls ages 12 and 15 whom he took as brides in 'spiritual marriages’.
Handpicked fathers: FLDS children bath in a river in their clothes for modesty in the cult where 15 men have been handpicked by Jeffs to father all the children. Married couples are banned from having sex
Banished: Jeffs ordered 500-600 menand women expelled from FLDS, among them Carling Steed (pictured with third wife Suzette)
Modesty is sacred: The women are always covered from neck to ankle because they believe their bodies are sacred. Town dressmaker Lizzie Jeffs (pictured) said the dresses 'make it easier to see each other as a whole person inside and out'
Apostates: Carling Steed's third wife, Suzette, second left, and their six daughters, left the community and the church in search of a normal life
Grim prediction: FLDSapostate Willie Steedsaid that as long as Jeffs lives, his community will remain loyal to him
Eleven other FLDS men were charged with crimes includingsexual assault and bigamy. So far, all seven, who have been prosecuted, have been convicted - receiving prison sentences of between six and 75 years.
In recent months, it appears that the all-powerful self-proclaimed prophet has begun unraveling, issuing ever more bizarre edicts to the members of his community such as a ban on children’s toys and the consumption of corn.
More importantly, Jeffs has ordered married couples in his community to stop having sex or even touching one another.
Instead, he selected 15 men from among his trusted followers to father all the future FLDS children.
Now, if a woman wants to have a baby, she has to approach one of the men handpicked for the task by Jeffs. The sexual act must be witnessed by two other men from the group.
In a tragic twist, the jailed cult leader ordered that 500-600men and women be banished without any explanation fromthe compound, whichfor many of them had been the only home they had ever known.
The effect of this decree issued from behind bars has beendevastating to many families that were torn apart.
So absolute is Jeffs’ control over his flock that those members who were ordered toleave, severed all tieswith their loved onesstill living on the compound for fear ofretribution.
Willie Steed, 18, who left the group along with his mother, Suzette, and six sisters after their father Carling was banished, said that as long as Jeffs is alive, his spell over the insular community of Colorado City will not be broken.
‘He is their idol, and they worship him,’ he said.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2237728/The-shocking-truth-life-inside-Warren-Jeffs-FLDS-Members-tell-believe-cult-leader-U-S-President-15-men-responsible-fathering-ALL-children.html

Reminds me of Jim Jones and David Karesh. Very interesting.

It is very important that this group is not confused with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints commonly referred to as the Mormon Church. The Mormon Church not only does not advocate polygamy but views it as breaking the Law of Chastity, a very serious law in the Christian faith. There is a common misconcepetion in the Christian community that the members of the Mormon Church participate in these types of marriages. This is not the case.