ST. GEORGE — Doomsday scenarios and rumors of an impending mass suicide by faithful members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are spreading fast on the World Wide Web.

Several Web sites predict a short and grim future for the FLDS, saying that the church's leader, Warren Jeffs, is saying the world will end Wednesday, the 175th anniversary of the founding of the LDS Church.

Law enforcers aren't impressed.

"We have our own intelligence inside the FLDS community, and we believe there's a high probability that absolutely nothing will happen," said Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith, whose jurisdiction includes Hildale, a small FLDS community adjacent to its virtual twin, Colorado City, Ariz.

The Web sites, however, warn the FLDS could be setting up another Waco, Texas, where on April 19, 1993, after a 51-day standoff, 76 people died in a fire that broke out during an assault by the FBI at a religious compound.

Other sites say Jeffs could be another version of Jim Jones, who led 914 followers in Guyana into mass suicide Nov. 18, 1978. Or Jeffs is preparing a mass exodus of his most ardent followers to the new FLDS community in Texas, leaving thousands of members behind because they are not "pure in heart."

The dire predictions are regarded by several people inside and outside the FLDS church as hype by opponents hoping to create trouble.

Much of the news-media frenzy now facing the FLDS church centers on its doctrine of plural marriage and on Jeffs, who arranges the marriages and has excommunicated dozens of prominent men and reassigned their wives and children to other men.

Jeffs is also being sued in 3rd District Court on child-abuse allegations and for control of the United Effort Plan Trust, which owns most of the property in Hildale and Colorado City. According to court documents, Jeffs has not responded to either civil lawsuit, prompting a default judgment to be issued against the 48-year-old leader of the largest polygamous church in the country.

One of the key sources of speculation was when Jeffs, who has a reported 50-70 wives, surprised many of his own followers about a year ago with news that he had purchased nearly 1,700 acres of ranch land in sparsely populated west Texas for a new FLDS community. Leaders of the Eldorado Success newspaper in Schleicher County, Texas, get weekly updates on the site. Photos of a massive building that resembles one of the first LDS temples are posted, as are pictures of large houses, a dairy operation, rock quarry, orchards, gardens, a warehouse and other buildings.

When the FLDS first purchased the property, a church agent said it would be used as a corporate hunting retreat. That story was soon challenged by area pilots who flew over the ranch and said huge dormitory houses were under construction at the site, none of which looked like corporate hunting retreat material.