Nephi Jeffs

Last updated

Nephi Steed Jeffs
NationalityAmerican
Occupation Personal secretary
Known forInvolvement with and relation to the FLDS Jeffs family
Parent(s) Rulon Jeffs and Marilyn Steed
Relatives Warren Jeffs, Lyle Jeffs, Seth Jeffs, Brent W. Jeffs

Nephi Jeffs is an American Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints leader. He is the bishop of the Short Creek Stake, and is his brother Warren Jeffs's personal secretary.

Contents

Family

Nephi Steed Jeffs was born to the polygamous FLDS prophet Rulon Jeffs and his fourth wife Marilyn Steed. He is the full brother of Warren, Lyle, and Seth Jeffs among others. Members of the Jeffs family are considered polygamist elite and FLDS members consider their members to be of "royal blood." [1] Being the son of prophet Rulon Jeffs and the brother of prophet Warren Jeffs secured Nephi's place in the FLDS hierarchy.

As of May 2008, Nephi had acquired 14 wives. Of members of his ward listed on records obtained by a federal investigation, Nephi had the second highest number of wives. [2] Church elder Wendell Nielsen had the most wives listed at 21, while the third highest number of wives in the ward was Isaac Jeffs, another Jeffs brother, with 10. [3] One of Nephi's wives is Elizabeth Jessop, who in 2008 was 16 while Nephi was 38. [4]

In the FLDS

Rulon Jeffs's secretary had always been Rebecca Musser's "sister-wife Mother" Noreen. In Musser's memoir The Witness Wore Red, she describes how Noreen was abruptly replaced with Nephi, who reported to Warren instead of Rulon. [5] After Rulon died and Warren solidified power, Nephi continued being his secretary and personal confidant, [6] also acting as a general personal assistant. [7]

During the April 2008 raid of YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, Nephi was listed in a federal search warrant. The state's motion to seize property included some of Nephi's personal photographs. [8]

As of 8 August 2016, Nephi Jeffs was named as the presiding Bishop of the Short Creek Stake, following his Brother Lyle Jeffs fleeing from the US judicial system.

Warren Jeffs's incarceration

After Warren was apprehended and incarcerated in 2006, Nephi frequently visited Warren in jail. Of the ten trips that he made to see Warren, he was accompanied on eight of them by Lindsay Barlow, another FLDS member who acted as Nephi's security. [9] [10] Barlow also accompanied Nephi to the courtroom hearings as security. [11]

While Warren was being held at the Purgatory Jail in Hurricane, Utah, he made the confession to Nephi that he was not the true prophet and had taken power even though he "was not called of God." Nephi did not believe the statement and refuted it with Warren, who told him to spread the news to his followers. Nephi did not distribute the 25 January video like Warren wanted, though it found its way to the public eventually. [12] Jeffs suggested that Warren was "being tested by the Lord" and promised Warren that his followers "will not forsake you." [13]

During Warren's incarceration, Nephi "was responsible for transcribing, decoding and delivering all of Warren's messages." [7]

On 9 April 2015, U.S. District Judge David Sam held Nephi Jeffs in contempt of court. [14] In 2012, the United States Department of Labor began an investigation into the role of the FLDS Church and Jeffs in suspected child labor violations. [15] [14] A CNN report claimed that children were used to harvest nuts at the Southern Utah Pecan Ranch in 2012. [15] [14] Judge Sam ruled that Nephi and Lyle Jeffs disobeyed subpoenas requiring them to answer questions from Labor Department investigators. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints</span> Latter-Day Saints denomination

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a religious sect of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy. It is variously defined as a cult, a sect, or a new religious movement. The organization has been involved in various illegal activities, including child marriages, child abandonment, sexual assault, and human trafficking including child sexual abuse. The sect is not connected to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest Latter-day Saint denomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mormon fundamentalism</span> Advocates of some early Mormon doctrines

Mormon fundamentalism is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administrations of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor, the first three presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon fundamentalists seek to uphold tenets and practices no longer held by mainstream Mormons. The principle most often associated with Mormon fundamentalism is plural marriage, a form of polygyny first taught in the Latter Day Saint movement by the movement's founder, Smith. A second and closely associated principle is that of the United Order, a form of egalitarian communalism. Mormon fundamentalists believe that these and other principles were wrongly abandoned or changed by the LDS Church in its efforts to become reconciled with mainstream American society. Today, the LDS Church excommunicates any of its members who practice plural marriage or who otherwise closely associate themselves with Mormon fundamentalist practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Jeffs</span> American sex offender and cult leader (born 1955)

Warren Steed Jeffs is an American cult leader who is serving a life sentence in Texas for child sexual assault following two convictions in 2011. He is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous cult based in Arizona. The FLDS Church was founded in the early-20th century when its founders deemed the renunciation of polygamy by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be apostate. The LDS Church disavows any relation between it and the FLDS Church, although there are significant historical ties.

Bountiful is a settlement in the Creston Valley of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, near Cranbrook and Creston. The closest community is Lister, British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apostolic United Brethren</span> Polygamous Mormon fundamentalist church

The Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) is a Mormon fundamentalist group that practices polygamy. The AUB has had a temple in Mexico since at least the 1990s, an endowment house in Utah since the early 1980s, and several other locations of worship to accommodate their members in the US states of Wyoming, Arizona, and Montana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rulon Jeffs</span> Fundamentalist Mormon church leader (1909–2002)

Rulon Timpson Jeffs, known to followers as Uncle Rulon, was an American polygamist and religious leader who founded and was recognized as 5th the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a Mormon fundamentalist organization based in Colorado City, Arizona, United States, from 1986 until his death in 2002. He was the father of later FLDS Church leader and convicted felon Warren Jeffs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost boys (Mormon fundamentalism)</span> Term for young males excommunicated or pressured to leave a polygamous Mormon community

"Lost boys" is a term used for young men who have been excommunicated or pressured to leave polygamous Mormon fundamentalist groups, such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Although sometimes officially accused of apostasy or disobedience, it is thought that they are mainly pressured to leave by older adult men to reduce competition for wives within such sects, usually when they are between the ages of 13 and 21.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leroy S. Johnson</span> Fundamentalist Mormon leader (1888–1986)

Leroy Sunderland Johnson, known as Uncle Roy, was a leader of the Mormon fundamentalist group in Short Creek, which later evolved into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, from the mid-1950s until his death.

Merril Jessop was a high-ranking bishop in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly referred to as the FLDS Church. He was briefly the de facto leader of the FLDS. Jessop was also in charge of the YFZ Ranch during the 2008 raid.

Winston Blackmore is the leader of a polygamous Fundamentalist Latter Day Saint religious group in Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada. He is described as "Canada's best-known avowed polygamist". He has 150 children with his 27 "spiritual" wives, some of whom he has admitted were underage.

William Edson Jessop is a leader in the Mormon fundamentalist movement.

Irene Spencer was an American author and a widow of Verlan LeBaron, brother of former prophet Joel LeBaron of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, a fundamentalist Mormon offshoot.

Wendell Loy Nielsen was the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, replacing Warren Jeffs, at that time imprisoned on charges related to sexual assaults against minors.

Lyle Jeffs is the brother of Warren Jeffs and a bishop in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly referred to as the FLDS Church. He has been referred to as his brother's "special counselor" in some church documents.

Brent W. Jeffs is an American author, advocate, and former member of the influential Jeffs family in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Rebecca Musser is an American author and activist. She was a wife of the late Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints prophet Rulon Jeffs and escaped the compound before bringing legal proceedings against the church. In the film Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs, Musser is portrayed by actress Sabina Gadecki.

The Darger family is an independent fundamentalist Mormon polygamous family living in Utah, United States. They went public after years of being secretive about their polygamous lifestyle to promote the decriminalization of polygamy in the United States as well as to help reshape the perception of polygamy following the prosecution of Warren Jeffs. In 2013, the Darger family met with Utah legislators in an effort to persuade them to change the laws against polygamy in the state.

Seth Jeffs is an American high-ranking official in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is known for harboring his brother Warren Jeffs during the federal manhunt to arrest him.

Leroy "Roy" Barlow Jeffs was a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was one of Warren Jeffs' fifty four children.

<i>Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey</i> 2022 American Netflix documentary series

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is an American documentary miniseries on Netflix, surrounding the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, an offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, and its current leader Warren S. Jeffs. The series was released on June 8, 2022, on Netflix. It is directed by Rachel Dretzin, and Grace McNally, who began interviewing survivors after visiting Short Creek, Utah, the headquarters of the FLDS Church.

References

  1. ↑ "From Polygamist Royalty To FLDS Lost Boy". NPR. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Records offer glimpse into polygamist families". NBC News. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Church records offer rare look inside polygamist families". USA Today. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "FLDS for May 9th". The Common Room. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  5. ↑ Musser, Rebcecca (2013). The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice. Hachette Digital, Inc. ISBN   9781455527847.
  6. ↑ Brower, Sam (2011). Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation Into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 302. ISBN   9781608192755.
  7. 1 2 "Letter on FLDS persons of interest". Child Brides. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  8. ↑ "SEARCH WARRANT" (PDF). Magistrate Court of Schleicher County. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "Jailed Polygamist Sect Leader's Many Visitors Suggest He Still Controls Church". Fox News. 30 November 2006. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  10. ↑ "Washington County sends dossiers of select FLDS members to Texas officials". Deseret News. 11 June 2008. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  11. ↑ "Jeffs Appears in Court; Evidence Hearing Set for Nov. 21". KSL. 27 September 2006. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  12. ↑ Weyermann, Debra (2011). Answer Them Nothing: Bringing Down the Polygamous Empire of Warren Jeffs . Chicago Review Press. pp.  247–248. ISBN   9781569769157.
  13. ↑ Mullins, Ki (7 November 2007). "Warren S. Jeffs Attempts Suicide". Digital Journal. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Judge finds Warren Jeffs' brothers in contempt". The Associated Press. Salt Lake Tribune. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  15. 1 2 Carlisle, Nate (17 September 2014). "Here's more on federal investigation into FLDS child labor". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.