When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and the Women Who Fought Back

by Stephen Singular

Book Overview

In "When Men Become Gods, ""New York"" Times" bestselling author Stephen Singular casts a light on a dark corner of religious extremism. He reveals a group of fundamentalists operating in the present-day United States, where teenage girls are kept in virtual bondage in the name of upholding the "sacred principle" of polygamy. As the leader and self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, a sect of Mormonism based in isolated southern...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312372485
• ISBN13: 9780312372484
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 294 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A sad state of affairs

The author explains how the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) church began. When people began following the teachings of Joseph Smith, and believed him to be a Prophet of God, they followed his teachings and were polygamists, because Smith told the people that a revelation from God told him that men were to take multiple wives in order to build up the kindom of God by allowing unborn soles bodies in which to incarnate. This continued until the United States outlawed multiple wives and began to imprison men who were practicing this. At that time the standing leader of the LDS (Mormons) said he had had a revelation from God that pologamy would no longer be accepted. Many men and women did not believe these revelations, and moved around hiding their pologmany. From this, two cities on the borderline of Colorado and Arizona were "born," and the people migrated to this region. Nestled away near the desert, this group lived in peace for years under the leadership of a President AND several men who made up the governing board of the FLDS church. Problems existed for women and children even with the governing body. Warren Jeff's was a man who liked to study Hitler, and how he controlled his victims. As the elder men died, Jeff's was put in as the current Prophet. Jeff's was able to disolve all the committee men, and ruled himself with no one watching what he was doing. Under his leadership, the people lived in total fear. All their money was taken and placed in a community fund that Jeff's controlled. Children were molested by Jeffs, both boys and girls, and it was not uncommon for him to knock on a member's door and demand they allow their 13 or 14 year old daughter to marry someone HE had picked out, stating that God directed him. During his reign, all pets were taken out of town and killed on one day, boys were kicked out literally on the streets for minor offenses in order to keep the young girls available to be married to old men. The police force, judge, county government, etc were all FLDS members and ruled by Jeffs. Men who complained were sent packing, and their wives and children were given to other men. Men, boys, women and young girls began to speak out, and eventually the FBI became involved. The author tells the story well, ending with the conviction of Jeff's for the rape of two 14 year old girls, and sodomizing a boy. It is well written, interestering, and answers a lot of questions that arose recently with the government taking 400 children from the compound.

Portrait of Oppression

"When Men Becomes Gods" is a portrait of oppression. Wrapped in religion, perhaps, but it's about controlling others. The book, thoughtfully researched and carefully laid out, is a chilling tale. How could so many look the other way? Why did it take so many hard-working private citizens to bring the evidence forward? It made me think: what other issues is government generally avoiding because it's just plain inconvenient? It's obvious courage was needed to break up this sect of the Mormon church, to protect young women, and it's obvious that courage came from individuals working independently--and relentlessly--to bring Warren Jeffs to justice. Sure, the formal wheels of justice finally move in but the key word is "finally." This is a book about heroism but it's played straight, built on solid reporting and research. Singular doesn't play for high drama or sensationalism. His steady reporter's eye writes the facts and facts are in abundance here. "When Men Are Gods" assembles a rich cast of real people on all sides of the equation and yet there is no problem keeping track of all the major and minor players. That's a real feat. He does it with colorful, highly detailed and colorful brush strokes that render the scene and characters in vivid relief. In the end, read "When Men Become Gods" and wonder about overly righteous men who cloak themselves with false power and exert control over the helpless. This is an intriguing, three-dimensional struggle about the power of the individual, the whims of government, and the false pretenses of gods on earth. The detail about the interior of the SUV Jeffs was riding in when he was captured? Well, that just about says it all.

Excellent expose of cult leader Warren Jeffs

This book is an indepth look at the creation of the Fundementalist Church of the Latter Day Saints, the offshoot of traditional Mormonism that has its roots on the border of Arizona and Utah. This group has recently been in the news because after their move to Texas, the authorities there swept in and took away over 400 children in order to investigate charges of forced marriages by underage girls. While the case there has fizzled out, perhaps it wouldn't have if the entire country read this book. The FLDS embraced polygamy and left the LDS church when it abandoned it in return for Utah achieving statehood in the late 1890s. The people of Colorado City Arizona and Hildale Utah are deeply under the spell of their leader Warren Jeffs. Jeffs, who took command of the group after the death of his father, put the entire community under his spell and after reading and studying Hitler and Napoleon, began breaking up families and using his power to reward those most faithful to him. All of the property in the entire community was turned over to him, and the group "bled the beast" by taking hundreds of millions of dollars in state welfare aid each year. Women who fled the cult started exposing the dirty secrets of Jeffs: his 180 wives, girls married at the age of 14, schools closed down, young men kicked out of town so they wouldn't compete with the older men for wives. The sins of Jeffs are many, and Singular does a terrific job of enumerating them. He lays out the case that put Jeffs on the FBIs most wanted list and eventually brought about his capture. Jeffs was found guilty of abetting a rape in late 2007, and charges against him are still pending. Singular offers up some hope for the communities he writes about, but I wish that he had been able to give more information about the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch in Texas where many of the staunchest holdouts have taken refuge. For more information about this read Carolyn Jessop's fantastic memoir, Escape, and watch Laurie Allen's DVD Banking on Heaven. Taken all three together, they are excellent exposes of this cult-like group. I give this book 5 stars.

Excellent, easy to read, very informative

It is a very good book, gives a good overall insite to the entire FLDS religion,if you are unfamilar with the Mormanism, I would reccomend reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" first to give you a good understanding of the roots of the FLDS.

The PROPER way to deal with fundamentalists

Singular here presents, with his customary thorough research and straightforward reporting, an example of using the process of law to deal with resolving differing religious beliefs and practices when they come into conflict with constitutional law. This book chronicles how the Utah and Arizona authorities overcame their mistakes in the 1953 raid on the FLDS community by carefully investigating the present situation at length and targeting only those individuals and specific acts which violated the law, and building a case. This stands in sharp contrast to the recent Texas raid on the Yearning For Zion ranch, which was an indiscriminate attack upon the FLDS way of life - a sledgehammer approach more like the 1953 raid. By following individuals as the book progresses, Singular brings the reader into the narrative while explaining the legal processes at work. He does not pass judgment upon the basic beliefs of the FLDS, but does expose their practices of brainwashing, polygamy, and child molestation as well as their financial abuses. In his afterword, he points out the parallels to the way we are dealing with other patriarchal cultures with differing religions abroad. When Men Become Gods is an examination of the difficult choices we must make at the intersection of freedom of religious beliefs and practices with human rights. If we are to live our Constitution, we must respect the rights of others and not let legal authority become a tyranny itself if we value our own freedoms. In a time when understanding differing cultures has never been more important, this book has valuable insights to ponder.