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The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints Biography & Facts

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (abbreviated to FLDS and not to be confused with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is a religious sect of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy. It is variously defined as a cult, a sect, or a new religious movement. History Origins The FLDS traces its claim to spiritual authority to when Brigham Young, then-president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS Church, once visited Short Creek and said "this will someday be the head and not the tail of the church. This will be the granaries of the Saints. This land will produce in abundance sufficient wheat to feed the people." In 1904, the LDS Church issued the Second Manifesto, and eventually excommunicated those who continued to solemnize or enter into new plural marriages. Short Creek soon became a gathering place for those polygamist former members of the LDS Church. They believed a statement published in 1912 by Lorin C. Woolley, of a purported 1886 divine revelation to then-LDS Church President John Taylor, took precedence over the 1890 Manifesto. The Short Creek Community believed 1890 Manifesto against new plural marriages by church members issued by Wilford Woodruff, sold his right to the Priesthood, making John W. Woolley his successor by the One Man doctrine. After being excommunicated by the LDS Church, some of the locally prominent men in Short Creek, the men Lorin C. Woolley and John Y. Barlow created the organization known as the Council of Friends. The Council of Friends, a group of seven high priests that was said to be the governing priesthood body on Earth, was the governing ecclesiastical body over the Short Creek Community until being incorporated as FLDS under Rulon Jeffs. In 1935, the LDS Church excommunicated the Mormon residents of Short Creek who refused to sign an oath renouncing polygamy. Following this, John Y. Barlow led those in Short Creek who were dedicated to preserving the practice of plural marriage. Consequently, Mormon fundamentalists that didn't follow John Y. Barlow separated, leading to the creation of multiple Mormon fundamentalist organizations outside Short Creek by 1954. This includes the Apostolic United Brethren, and Kingston group through Joseph White Musser. Postwar development and Short Creek raid In the morning of July 26, 1953, 102 Arizona state police officers and National Guard soldiers raided the fundamentalist Mormon community of Short Creek, Arizona. They arrested the entire populace, including 236 children. Of those 236 children, 150 were not allowed to return to their parents for more than two years. Other parents never regained custody of their children. The Short Creek raid was the largest mass arrest of polygamists in American history, and it received a great deal of press coverage. After the raid, polygamists continued to live there; in 1960, Short Creek was renamed Colorado City.[citation needed] From Leroy S. Johnson to Warren Jeffs Under John Y. Barlow, he claimed to be both head of temporal affairs and the Priesthood through his United Effort Plan. By 1984, a schism emerged in Short Creek who took issue with his One Man authority. These followers moved south of Colorado City to Centennial Park, Arizona and called themselves "The Work of Jesus Christ", or "Second Ward." Leroy S. Johnson succeeded John Y. Barlow, and stress on the doctrine (One Man Rule) strengthened. Rulon Jeffs succeeded Leroy, incorporating Short Creek as the FLDS in 1984 to reorganize to an Episcopal polity reflecting the One Man authority. With no clear succession, Warren Jeffs assumed leadership. Winston Blackmore, who had been serving in Canada as the Bishop of Bountiful for the FLDS Church, was excommunicated by Jeffs in an apparent power struggle. This led to a split within the community in Bountiful, British Columbia, with an estimated 700 FLDS members leaving the church to follow Blackmore. Legal troubles, 2003–2006 Polygamy is illegal in all 50 states of the United States as well as Canada and Mexico. Attempts to overturn the illegality based on right of religious freedom have been unsuccessful. In 2003, the church received increased attention from the state of Utah when police officer Rodney Holm, a member of the church, was convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old and one count of bigamy for his marriage to and impregnation of plural wife Ruth Stubbs.[citation needed] The conviction was the first legal action against a member of the FLDS Church since the Short Creek raid.[citation needed] In November 2003, church member David Allred purchased for YFZ Land LLC the 1,371-acre (555-hectare) Isaacs Ranch four miles (six kilometers) northeast of Eldorado, Texas, on Schleicher County Road 300 "as a hunting retreat". The property would be known within the sect as Yearning For Zion Ranch, or YFZ Ranch. Allred sent 30 to 40 construction workers from Colorado City–Hildale to work on the property, which soon included three 3-story houses, each 8,000 to 10,000 square feet (930 m2), a concrete plant, and a plowed field. After seeing FLDS Church critic Flora Jessop on the ABC television program Primetime Live on March 4, 2004, concerned Eldorado residents contacted Jessop. Jessop investigated, and on March 25, 2004, held a press conference in Eldorado confirming that the new neighbors were FLDS Church adherents. On May 18, 2004, Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran and his Chief Deputy visited Colorado City, and the FLDS Church officially acknowledged that the Schleicher County property would be a new base for the church. It was reported in the news media that the church had built a temple at the YFZ Ranch; this is supported by evidence including aerial photographs of a large stone structure (approximately 88 feet (27 m) wide) in a state of relative completion. A local newspaper, the Eldorado Success, reported that the temple foundation was dedicated by Warren Jeffs on January 1, 2005. On January 10, 2004, Dan Barlow (the mayor of Colorado City) and about 20 other men were excommunicated from the church and stripped of their wives and children (who would be reassigned to other men), and expelled from town. The same day two teenage girls reportedly fled the town with the aid of Flora Jessop, who advocates for plural wives' escape from polygamy. The two girls, Fawn Broadbent and Fawn Holm, soon found themselves in a highly publicized dispute over their freedom and custody. After the allegations against their parents were proven false, Jessop helped them flee state custody together on February 15, and they ended up in Salt Lake City at Holm's brother Carl's house. In October 2004, Flora Jessop reported that David Allred purchased a 60-acre (240,000 m2) parcel of land near Mancos, Colorado, (midway between Cortez and Durango) about the same time he bought the Schleicher County property. Allred told authorities the parcel was to .... 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