| Video tape shows Jeffs admitting he's no prophet | |
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Reported by Brent Hunsaker ABC 4 News | |
ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC 4 News) - The split-screen video shows Warren Jeffs in the upper right hand square wearing the jail-issued green and white "pajamas". On the left is his brother Nephi. The conversation was recorded January 25, 2007 in the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Washington County. In a conversation pockmarked with pauses - some of them lasting minutes - Jeffs speaks in a deliberate, quiet tone. But the emotional undercurrent is strong - especially considering that Warren Jeffs is a prophet to roughly 10,000 polygamists in the FLDS community. For the first half hour, the conversation is routine. Warren Jeffs wants to send a message of support and love to his followers. This despite the fact that just the day before he had called several from the jailhouse phone and told them that he lost his priesthood 31 years ago after being "immoral" with a sister and daughter. Now, it seems, he's back in the role of shepherd. He tells Nephi to tell his people, "When the Lord allows us a test, let us turn to him to be at peace." He directs Nephi to have someone call on a sick little girl and "give a blessing." A few times during the first half hour Jeffs seems to have finished. He even hangs up the phone used to talk to visitors on the other side of the glass. Then he tells Nephi not to send the first message and begins a bizarre, halting dictation to Nephi of what he says are the words that God is now whispering to him. He says the message - phone calls - he gave yesterday are true - except for the part about being "the wickedest man on the face of the earth since Adam's time." (In a few minutes he would clarify that he is the wickedest man "in this dispensation.") He tells Nephi to write down this: "I am not the prophet. I never was the prophet, and I have been deceived by the powers of evil." Warren Jeffs again tells Nephi to "get rid of the former message"and keep writing. His confession is only just beginning. "As far as I possibly can be, I am sorry from the bottom of my heart." He says God appeared to him in his jail cell and gave him an opportunity to "undo what I have done." God also promised that if Nephi would write down his confession, Warren would get a place in the "Telestial Kingdom". In Mormon doctrine, heaven is divided into degrees of glory. The "Telestial Kingdom" is the lowest. "I ask for everyone's forgiveness," Jeffs dictates, "and say farewell forever to you who are worthy for Zion, for I will not be there." He reiterates that God is now telling him what to say and that all should hear it - even the "apostates and gentiles." "He whispers that you, Nephi, need to get a copy of this video before you leave." Apparently to make sure that Nephi will carry out his direction, he repeats, "You can tell He's still dictating to me to tell you, Nephi, before he leaves me to my punishment." It is clear that Jeffs always intended for this confession to be given to everyone. He explains, "that they may know that I have been a liar and the truth is not in me." Nephi pleads with Warren, "This is a test. You are the prophet." But Warren replies, "This is not a test, this is a revelation from the Lord, God of Heaven, through his former servant - who was never his servant - who is dictating these words at this time, that you may know, this is not a test." But for his followers it may well provide to be the biggest test of their lives. If Warren is nothing more than a fraud, then all they have done in his name for the better part of 5-years has been a fraud. It has been a difficult time. Many families were uprooted, others torn apart. An unprecedented number of people were ejected from the community and told to repent "from afar." They apparently had run afoul of Warren Jeffs' many rules - He banned such things as public schooling, dogs and the color red. What's more he encouraged everyone to confess their own sins as well as the sins of family and neighbors. In this videotape, Warren Jeffs returns the favor. And yet the message is confused enough that some of the faithful might still find another meaning. After all, he is renouncing his "prophethood" even as he is proclaiming to see God and pass along his messages. They may suppose that this is a test, just as Nephi did. If so, it is a severe test. After Warren Jeffs leaves the visitation area, Nephi sits stunned. He buries his face in his arms and sobs. When the recording finally ends, Nephi is still there. He is apparently hesitant to walk out with dictated notes that could destroy much of what he and others have believed in. | |
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ABC4.com Originally broadcast November 7, 2007 | |
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