The Jesus Christ Show

Polygamist Leader Warren Jeffs' Trial Goes to Jury

Jeffs, who acted as his own attorney, stared at the floor expressionless for all but a few seconds of his allotted half hour. At one point, he mumbled, "I am peace," and fell silent again,The Associated Press reported. When Jeffs' 30 minutes ran out, Judge Barbara Walther declared the trial concluded and ordered the jury to begin deliberating.

This is a far cry from what occurred in the courtroom earlier in the week.

On Tuesday, the jury heard tapes of Jeffs allegedly instructing his plural wives on group sex and being comfortable nude.  In the 90-minute 2004 recording, Jeffs teaches twelve of his plural wives on group sex, being comfortable nude, and how to care for their body hair.

The FLDS believes polygamy is the key to heaven and that Jeffs is God's spokesman on Earth.

Representing himself, Jeffs repeatedly and noisily objected to the playing of the recordings on religious grounds. Each time, Judge Walther overruled him.

"You have heard the defendant make repeated arguments about religious freedoms," said lead prosecutor Eric Nichols. "Make no mistake, this case is not about any people, this case is not about any religion. It is about one individual, Warren Steed Jeffs, and his actions."

The 55-year-old head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is accused of assaulting two underage girls he'd taken as so-called spiritual wives. The prosecution used DNA evidence to show that Jeffs fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl and used the 2004 audio recording to prove that he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old.

Neither of the alleged victims participated in the trail.

Jeffs was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list when he was arrested five years ago during a routine 2006 traffic stop in Las Vegas.

The Texas legal proceedings came about after nearly 400 children were taken from the sect's Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado in a 2008 raid. While child protection officials said they found a pervasive pattern of sexual abuse through forced marriages of underage girls and older men, the Texas Supreme ruled that the state had no right to remove the children and most were returned to their families.

While the anonymous call for help that sparked the raid turned out to be a hoax, images of FLDS women wearing frontier-style dresses and hairdos out of the 19th century had made headlines nationwide.

Jeff's personal journals and recordings were seized in the raid and used by prosecution in the trial, which began last Monday.

Beware of counterfeits | The Jesus Christ Show

The purpose of a counterfeit is to appear as something genuine. Sometimes it is so close to the original it’s difficult to tell which is which. But in every case, there is something that is large enough that will stand out so you can tell the difference between what is real versus what is counterfeit. Sometimes when you’re desperate for something you’ll justify the wrong path, the counterfeit, because it looks close enough.

2 Corinthians 11:14 “Test all things. Hold fast to that which is good.”

Most people, including believers, don’t test to see if something’s counterfeit if it seems real enough. People stay in relationships that they know are bad but they make excuses.

Banks teach their employees what’s counterfeit by giving them real money to handle for hours so that when a fake comes across their hands they recognize it. Likewise, spending time in scripture will help you determine what is of God because you’ll spend so much time in the truth that you will recognize when something is not.

The enemy cannot read your thoughts but he can read your actions. He brings something you think you need, disguised as a counterfeit. Be in the habit of spending so much time with God – in His word, with His people, at church – that you will know a counterfeit when you see it simply because you have spent so much time with what is true.

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