ELDORADO - In little more than a year, Sylvia Griffin's neighbors have transformed their ranch into a small town, complete with a soaring temple and a 29,000-square-foot house for their self-proclaimed prophet and his dozens of wives.
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Scorned by the Mormon Church, which renounced polygamy in 1890 under pressure from the federal government, FLDS members consider themselves God's chosen people. They believe to reach the "celestial kingdom" one must have at least three wives, or be one of at least three wives.
Warren Jeffs, 47, a former high school principal who began taking over the sect in the late 1990s, became the undisputed leader after his father's death in 2002. He arranges his followers' marriages through revelation, sometimes ordering sisters or mothers and daughters to wed the same man, former members say. He also is known to banish men and reassign their wives and children to others in the group, according to news reports last year.
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Jeffs and his father, the prophet known as Uncle Rulon, have predicted the coming of "the destructions," the apocalypse, at least four times in the past five years, Mankin said. The latest doomsday prediction was for Jan. 5.
"What I'm learning is that every time there is one of these apocalyptic visions, it coincides with a spike in the number of underage marriages," Mankin said. "These girls aren't interested in 50- or 60-year-old men, but all of a sudden (the) world is ending and you need to marry to be lifted up to heaven."
When the vision fails, several sources agreed, Jeffs tells his followers they were not faithful enough.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3069543
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