Jeffs, Cheney: Submit or Be Destroyed
 
Commentary by Gary Horton
The Signal - Santa Clarita Valley, California
 
Last week, Warren Jeffs, self-proclaimed prophet and mouthpiece of God, was arrested north of Las Vegas while eating a salad in the back seat of his red bling-bling Cadillac Escalade.

Initially stopped only for missing vehicle plates, Jeffs' carotid artery was pumping so vigorously that the highway patrolman figured something grander was askew.

So, along with his 15 cell phones, walkie-talkies, police scanner, laptop computers, wigs, sunglasses, credit cards and $55,000 in cash, the long-on-the-lamb Grand Poobah of Polygamy and FBI's 10 Most Wanted poster boy was apprehended to face a little justice for his dark and nasty deeds.

"Religious persecution!" some might squawk.

Poppycock. Jeffs' case isn't about faith. It's about manipulating minors into kiddy sex.

He and his "priesthood" buddies use perverted religion and contrived fear of heavenly wrath to twist young girls into otherwise unwilling sex.

In one count against Jeffs, an underage girl was assigned a husband after her church leader "had a revelation." She first complained to Jeffs that she was too young to marry, and later, that she "hated having husband-wife relations."

God's prophet's response? "Your husband is your priesthood head and leader. ... Go back and repent. You go give yourself mind, body and soul to your husband like you're supposed to. He will take you into the heavenly kingdom. Go back and do what he tells you to do."

This was followed by the trademark spiritual blackmail present in abusive churches: "No matter what happens, you cannot fight with the priesthood because if you do, you'll lose your salvation."

Nice words to soothe the soul of a teenage girl under your spiritual guidance.

Jeffs' 10,000-member cult conducts such abuses every day - concurrent, of course, with collecting the tithes and welfare dollars paying for the Escalade and associated "church" bling-bling.

Jeffs isn't alone. His Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be the biggest polygamous sect, but there are dozens more post-Mormon spin-offs scattered from British Columbia to the Hudson. Inevitably, each has its own proprietary "Only Prophet of God" who scares the hell out of his flock, throwing minds into lockboxes while marrying up clusters of pliant young women.

For clarification, the official Mormon Church - the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - abandoned its own form of polygamy in 1890 under strident federal pressure. Today, the image-conscious, clean-cut LDS Church takes great pains to distance itself from its polygamous past, and from these unwanted derivatives whose Most Wanted posters adorn post office walls.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, literally, one can't help but wonder what mental magic sleights-of-hand allow hustler Warren Jeffs to gain so such extensive control over otherwise well-intended, if not completely astute, followers.

It turns out it is fairly easy to capture a human soul. You can do it just as well with faith as you can with fear. A strong dose of both proves most efficacious. All that's needed are well-intended but insecure followers, and a preying leadership willing to manipulate for personal gain.

Soul capturing isn't limited to religion. You can achieve it in any venue where power runs free to prey on innocence.

Warren Jeffs has little on the likes of Dick Cheney. Sure, we're not hopping in the sack with Dick, but Cheney certainly has a lot of Americans tucked pliantly under the covers. Operators such as Jeffs and Cheney use three simple, deceitful steps to cull their power and control.

Step 1: Identify or create an intense personal fear or need. Trap people where they're most naturally vulnerable. Perhaps an intense fear of God's wrath or a deep-seated longing for God's (or anyone's) acceptance. A terrifying fear of "fascist Islam" also seems to work well. Whatever your angle, talk it up, preach it, sell it - until folks are really on pins and needles.

Step 2: Cause dependency in your followers by projecting the unquestionable fact that only you hold exclusive power to provide or protect. Repeat it over and over until anxiety-filled folks finally swallow the bait.

"God has only one true prophet" - who happens to be you - "and if you don't want to be destroyed, you'll do exactly what he tells me to tell you to do."

"Only George Bush and the Republican Party can protect you from terrorists, and if you don't want a suicide bomber in your basement, you'll accede to whatever we request and pliantly keep us in office."

Step 2: Exploit your manipulative powers to excrete more money, influence and dependency out of the suckers you've just conned. Dig them in even deeper as they cede their independence. Once they're convinced only you can provide what you've convinced them they absolutely need, you've got them, well, by the panties.

So there are thousands of pliant polygamist females offering up their underage loins to Warren Jeffs' priesthood, forever fearful of God's retribution, lest they disobey. And millions of shell-shocked Republicans, frightened of terrorists at every turn, willingly cede their civil rights and nervously vote the party line.

Cynics might label these results as nothing more than highly successful marketing - it's caveat emptor in the U.S. But Jeffs' spiritual blackmail and Bush's fear manipulation blow past marketing strategies, deep into realms of deceit and betrayal of trust.

Warren Jeffs sells out his flock for a bevy of doting if not homely housemaids and sex slaves. Bush and Cheney trade our fears for enhanced power and influence.

During the Vietnam War, it wasn't uncommon to see "Question Authority" bumper stickers. Back then, I was a Republican and a committed Mormon who indignantly saw such assertions as betrayal, apostasy and unpatriotic.

I was taught to trust authority, and to believe and do as told.

Thirty years of hard-won wisdom and freedom later, I'm much happier following Ronald Reagan's inadvertently sage advice: "Trust, but verify."

Trust, but never forfeit self-direction. Believe, but never surrender independence to any human claim of absolute, divine authority.

Even more so, when "world destruction" or "spiritual damnation" are cynically threatened to lever your vote or enchain the obedience of your soul.

"Question Authority." Good words to live by in a world prolifically populated with wolves in sheep's clothing.

Gary Horton lives in Valencia. His column reflects his own views, and not necessarily those of The Signal.
 
the-signal.com
Originally published Wednesday September 6, 2006
 
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