Jeffs teachings on tape

Prosecutors may use old lectures as evidence

By Ben Winslow, Deseret News

Published: Saturday, Nov. 18 2006 12:00 a.m. MST

Summary

From the time they are children, girls in the Fundamentalist LDS Church are taught to prepare themselves for marriage. Those marriages are often arranged, which is what has landed FLDS Church leader Warren Jeffs in trouble with the law, accused of forcing teenage girls into marriages with older men.

From the time they are children, girls in the Fundamentalist LDS Church are taught to prepare themselves for marriage.

Those marriages are often arranged, which is what has landed FLDS Church leader Warren Jeffs in trouble with the law, accused of forcing teenage girls into marriages with older men. Some of those marriages are polygamous.

audio extra

These audio clips were recorded at the Alta Academy in 1997 and 1998, when Warren Jeffs was principal of the now-defunct FLDS school. In some of these clips, Jeffs speaks to a home economics class of seventh and eighth grade girls about preparing for marriage. In another, he speaks about "celestial" or plural marriage.

Clip 1 (0:50, 785k)

Recorded March 25, 1997. Jeffs recounts the history of polygamy beginning with Joseph Smith. He tells girls their marriages will be made by revelation from the prophet, but failure is not the prophet's fault.

Clip 2 (0:38, 599k)

Recorded January 30, 1998. Jeffs said that girls should ignore their feelings for men and trust in the prophet to choose their husband.

Clip 3 (0:52, 823k)

Recorded January 30, 1998. Jeffs tells FLDS girls not to date, but to pray to be ready to receive a husband.

"I hope you understand that very often a girl is given to a husband after her own likeness," Jeffs once said. "You should be praying that you will be prepared and that you will be given to a husband who will prove faithful to the end."

The Deseret Morning News has obtained a series of tape recorded lessons from Jeffs' time as principal of the Alta Academy, a now-defunct FLDS school at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The 50-year-old Jeffs is scheduled to appear in St. George's 5th District Court on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing on two charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. Across the border in Mohave County, Ariz., Jeffs is charged with numerous counts of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.

"Jane Doe IV," the prosecution's star witness in the Utah case, claims the FLDS leader forced her to marry an older man against her wishes.

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