Imprisoned Sect Leader Warren Jeffs Spends Thousands on Newspaper Ads

By Bob Smietana
The Tennessean
January 24, 2012

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120124/NEWS01/301240027/Imprisoned-sect-leader-Warren-Jeffs-spends-thousands-on-newspaper-ads

Warren Jeffs

Jesus has a message for America, say leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Let Warren Jeffs go.

That claim is made in published copies of the polygamist sect leader's jailhouse revelations, being sold by his followers for $1 to $10. Jeffs' followers are promoting the message through tens of thousands of dollars of paid ads placed in national and regional newspapers, including two in The Tennessean. Students of charismatic leaders like Jeffs said it's not unusual for them to claim God will rescue them after they get in trouble with the law.

The ads claim that Jesus is coming back soon to judge America for its sins, including abortion and persecuting Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence plus 20 years in a Texas prison for sexually assaulting two young girls.

"Cease thy wicked attack, ye government authorities in the United States of America, against my people and my church," reads a revelation Jeffs claims to have received on Dec. 12.

According to The Tennessean's rate card, the ads that ran Friday and Sunday cost $6,903.23. A similar ad in The Washington Post costs about $10,000.

Kathleen Flake, associate professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University, said the ads are aimed at reassuring Jeffs' flock that he is still a legitimate prophet.

"The audience for the ads isn't the readers of the newspapers," Flake said. "The audience is the people placing the ads."

Jeffs supporter Vaughn E. Taylor, listed as a contact on the ads, did not return calls requesting comment.

Other jailed religious leaders have claimed to be prophets of God who are being persecuted for their beliefs. That's been the case for the Rev. Tony Alamo, who once ran a Music Row church in Nashville. He was sentenced in 2009 and is jailed in a federal penitentiary in Tucson, Ariz., for sex crimes.