Defiance is one of the most powerful actions that can be taken by a person.  The ability to stand up in the face of adversity tests our courage and in some cases our morale fiber.  Rebecca Musser exemplified both as she faced former tormentor and leader of the Fundamental Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), Warren Jeffs.   Musser is the former wife of Jeffs’ father Rulon and a major defector from the FLDS church.  As she testified, she say stoically in a stunning red dress that surely drew the ire of the once powerful Jeffs.  Today Jeffs continues to serve a life sentence at the Louis C. Powledge Unit in Anderson county, Texas.  The FLDS continues to operate under the watchful eye of State and Federal authorities in Utah and Texas.  Their investigations have shed light on the behind the scenes movements of the secretive and secluded religious faction.  Assisted by defectors from the FLDS, authorities pieced together a disturbing pattern of sexual abuse of both children and adults and forced child labor.  Their efforts culminated in the conviction of Jeffs.

When Rulon Jeffs died, his son Warren seized power and began to enforce an even more draconian system of arranged marriages for himself and others. In the process he married several of his father’s widows.  And some of the brides were as young as fourteen years of age.  As Jeffs made his descent into insanity, his rhetoric became even more radical and his decrees even more bizarre and restrictive.  Without his father there to control his radical beliefs and actions, Jeffs became a dictator drunk on power. His greed and paranoia would lead to his downfall and the exposure of the secretive community.  Musser was a witness to this but the basis of her story is the relationship with his father Rulon as his nineteenth wife.  The true number of wives and children held by Rulon Jeffs will probably never be fully known.  But what is known is that many teenage brides were forced to marry him even though he was long past his eightieth birthday.  To some reading this now, it seems beyond comprehension that a nineteen year old woman was forced to marry a many several decades her senior. This is no practical joke nor is it a fairy tale. It really did happen and this story tells us what it was like on a daily basis. Teaming up with author, speaker and activist M. Bridget Cook, Rebecca takes us back in time to an era where she was a normal child like the others she called her friends. Her nightmare begins as she assigned to marry the elderly leader of the church.  The misogynistic atmosphere and behavior of the senior Jeffs is not only disturbing but in some cases dumbfounding.   Her resistance is formed early in her plight and throughout it all she and Jeffs remained bitter enemies.  Unable to get her to bend to his will, Musser became public enemy number one in the eyes of the next prophet.  Their battle culminated in the courtroom where the woman in red helped seal his fate.

Musser’s sister is Elissa Wall, the author of Stolen Innocence, which tells the story of her marriage to her own cousin and defection from the church. The sisters have become leading voices in exposing the dangers faced by children in the FLDS and their stories are incredible in their own ways.  They both received satisfaction in knowing that Jeffs will never again walk the streets a free man.  And although the FLDS still operates, it is no longer a secret kept in place through intimidation or complicity.  The days of her marriage to Rulon Jeffs and his indiscretions are long gone.  But the memories of that time and the system of dysfunction and exploitation remain as reminders of her former life.  She is now a best selling author and continues to make her voice heard with regards to child exploitation and the practice of underage marriage. If you want to know more about this phenomenal woman and the ordeal she endured on her path to freedom, this is the place to start.

ASIN: B00BAXFZQK

Warren Jeffs sits today behind bars for the rest of his life after being convicted in several states of several charges including rape and sexual assault.  He will never again walk the streets a free man and has even announced to his followers that he is not the prophet he portrayed himself during his reign as the leader of the FLDS church following the death of his father Rulon.  His victims however, still carry those scars and will live them for the rest of their lives.  Over the years there have been a number of individuals who have defected from the church having become disillusioned with the teachings within the congregation.  They have told their stories to news anchors and written books about their ordeals. This is the story of Elissa Wall and what it was like to grow up in a polygamous sect and become a teenage bride.   Her story is similar to hundreds of other young men, some of whom are struggling to find their own path to freedom from the clutches of the FLDS, the most extreme faction of the Mormon faith.  Its notoriety has earned it a place on the United States Government’s list of hate organizations and has been under investigation by the Utah Attorney General’s office.

This New York Times Bestseller was compiled with the help of journalist Lisa Pulitzer, formerly of the New York Times.  The cover alone is enough to shock the reader at first glance.  But what is in the book is even more shocking and will leave the reader both angry and bewildered that such an organization continues to exist even today in 2016.   For Elissa, life begins as a normal young woman growing up in a Mormon household.  She has two parents and loving siblings.  But everything changes when she is ordered to marry her cousin under orders.   It is at this point that her order begins and her life takes her down a path that finally ended with her freedom.   Her liberation however, did not come without costs and the price she has paid for her freedom is as significant as her new life with a husband and children.

Her marriage though short lived, took on the classic nature of an abusive relationship.  Considering that she was under 16 years of age, it is mind boggling that the marriage had even taken place.  The sadistic Jeffs did not see age as a barrier and had been accused of assaulting girls even younger than Elissa. Forced marriages are commonplace in the church and the members have constructed a wall of silence to insulate their lives from the prying eyes of law enforcement and social welfare officials.  Through Elissa, we go deep inside the FLDS and see how other young women are mistreated and their lives controlled in every aspect.  Her path to freedom did not happen overnight and through several people who take on the form of guardian angels, she is able to finally break free of Jeffs and the FLDS.  In 2007 she and her older sisters gave testimony in a criminal proceeding resulting in the conviction of Jeffs on several counts of rape.  Her sister Rebecca Musser is famously known as the lady in red and wrote her own book about her life that was published with the same title.   The title is significant for red is a color that was never allowed by the FLDS.

The story in this book forces us to ask ourselves many questions particularly how adults can do such things to children.   Stolen innocence is the appropriate title for the book for that very thing is taken from children in the act of exploitation.  It also deprives them of a childhood which they can never get back at any point in their lives.  Many of them like Elissa, will struggle to put their lives back together and forget the horrors they once endured.   Their voices give inspiration to others who are seeking to escape the encompassing religious environment in which they live.   And as they tell their own stories like Elissa we will learn more about the FLDS and what courage and perseverance really mean.

ISBN-10: 0061734969
ISBN-13: 978-0061734960