Throw that popcorn in the microwave and heat up your butter because Netflix's new cult documentary Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is out and you are going to want to settle in for this one.
The latest true crime documentary from the streaming service explores the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) and its infamous leader Warren Jeffs' influence over its members. Jeffs is currently serving a life sentence in prison for the sexual assault of two children after his 2011 arrest. But that's only the start.
The FLDS church, which is a sect of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, refused to abandon polygamy back in the 1890s when the rest of the LDS community did, and the excommunicated members joined together to form a new church in the 1930s.
The FLDS live in relative isolation from society, so insights into their world come through interviews with former members and documentaries like this one. Most of the roughly 10,000 followers reside in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, neighboring cities on the Utah-Arizona border. There are also communities in Texas, South Dakota and British Columbia, according to BuzzFeed.
But the group has largely gone underground since Jeffs' arrest.
Jeffs' reign included a lot of strict rules.
FLDS has been a target of criminal investigations since its inception, but things got even more extreme with Warren Jeffs at the helm. Jeffs had more than 70 (!) wives.
Jeffs dictated how people dressed, who they married, and what they ate.
In 2011, after he was convicted, even more rules came down: All members had to turn over their possessions to the church’s leadership, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported. After members turned over everything they had, they were interviewed to determine if they were "worthy" of staying in the church. If they were found "unworthy"—which many were—they were excommunicated, the newspaper reported.
One determinant for “worthiness” was ignorance of Jeffs’s sexual assault convictions, Willie Jessop, former church spokesman told the newspaper at the time. Members also had to hand over $5,000 to prove their faithfulness and get rid of their children’s toys.
But those weren't all the rules they had to follow...
FLDS are not allowed to vote.
...because apparently they have been told that Warren Jeffs (who I remind you, has been in prison for over a decade) is the President of the United States.
There are super strict rules for women.
Women are not allowed to show any skin. After a 1953 raid on the Colorado City compound, church leadership ordered women to begin wearing prairie dresses that covered their entire bodies from neck to ankle. Some said the uniform was to discourage jealousy among the wives, and stopped men from being “tempted," NBC reported.
Wives are supposed to do two things: obey their husbands and have babies. And some have said they were forced to marry people they were distantly related to, per ABC.
FLDS women also don't cut their hair. This rule is in place because the women plan to use their hair to wash Christ’s feet during the second coming, according to the NBC report, and also because they will wash their husband’s feet in heaven.
Girls under 18 are not allowed to hold jobs or have cell phones.
Men have multiple wives.
FLDS believe in marrying multiple women. Sometimes when they're still underage teenagers. That's because to get access to the highest level of heaven, the church recommends marrying at least three women. This practice dates back to the 1830s and LDS founder Joseph Smith, but LDS no longer follows this rule.
All FLDS marriages need to be arranged by the prophet (which in this case is self-proclaimed "prophet" Warren Jeffs). And, at the end of your life, the prophet must give his approval before you enter heaven, BuzzFeed reports.
Married couples are also forbidden from touching each other or having sex. Why, you ask? Because Jeffs exerts strict control over which men are allowed to father FLDS kids. He also had roughly 78 wives himself.
Children are homeschooled.
Jeffs was against public schools (presumably because he didn’t want anyone to figure out he was in fact, not POTUS) so kids were homeschooled.
The Daily Mail reported that FLDS children were also told that God led Neil Armstrong away from the moon during the Apollo 11 flight, and as such, America never actually landed on the moon.
They can't wear the color red.
The FLDS are not allowed to wear red. This is because they believe it is Jesus’ favorite color, and he will wear red when he returns, according to BuzzFeed. Even though Warren Jeffs banned the color, he was driving a red Cadillac Escalade when he was picked up by the FBI in 2006. You can't make this stuff up.
They're taught to keep their emotions tamped down.
The church’s motto is "Keep Sweet" (and the film bears the same title). When Warren Jeffs’s father, Rulon Jeffs made the mantra popular in the 90s, he meant that one should fill themselves with the Holy Spirit, according to BuzzFeed. When Warren took over, it became more extreme (like most things). Now FLDS uses “keep sweet” as a reminder to tamp down your emotions.
Jeffs banned most forms of entertainment.
Two former FLDS members also told ABC that Jeffs banned most forms of entertainment, including "dogs, toys, television, newspapers, the Internet, birthday and Christmas celebrations, festivals, parades, camping and fishing."
Some boys were forced to work.
From the age of 14, former FLDS member Wendell Jeffson said he was forced to work in construction, operating heavy machinery, he told Insider. He helped in construction for Par 2 Contractors, based in Hilldale, Utah, working at a Holiday Inn in St. George, which was owned by a well-known FLDS family, in addition to other projects on-site of private homes of FLDS members. The family that owned the Holiday Inn already faced allegations of violating child labor laws at its earlier company, Paragon Contractors, per the Department of Labor and court records obtained by Insider.
Federal labor laws prohibit those under the age of 18 from working in dangerous jobs such as construction, but the members of the FLDS hardly complained because they were told that their work was in service to the church and God, Jeffson said.
Jacqueline Tempera is an award-winning writer and reporter living in New Jersey with her many pets. She is a business owner and a double Scorpio who loves all things astrology and reality television. She is passionate about body diversity and representation, mental health, and the fight to end sexual assault and harassment. To learn more about Jackie, follow her on Instagram @jacktemp or visit her website at jackietempera.com.
Addison Aloian (she/her) is the assistant love & life editor at Women’s Health. Outside of topics related to lifestyle, relationships, and dating, she also loves covering fitness and style. In her free time, she enjoys lifting weights at the gym, reading mystery and romance novels, watching (and critiquing!) the latest movies that have garnered Oscars buzz, and wandering around the West Village in New York City. In addition to Women's Health, her work has also appeared in Allure, StyleCaster, L'Officiel USA, V Magazine, VMAN, and more.
