Viewers of the popular Netflix true crime series Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, which fans have called "traumatising" and "disturbing as hell", have been recommending more content for anyone who wants to know more about the fundamentalist Mormon polygamous cult-turned sex trafficking ring.
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is the story behind the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS, a centuries-old Utah Mormon sect that split with the main church when they outlawed having multiple wives. Over the course of the four-part series, survivors recount how one man, the "prophet" Warren Jeffs, used his messianic power to force young girls to marry his faithful lieutenants.
The survivors retell how the Mormon splinter group told its followers that the only way into heaven was for women to be obedient and for men to hold at least three wives. Women were barred from education and could be married off by Jeffs at will to the men who kept him in power.
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The insular cult, where single families would regularly have more than 30 children, told women to pray every hour, what to wear and even how to braid their hair. Through the FLDS' victims' testimony, viewers have described feeling "ill" as women lay out how Jeffs created a 10,000 strong polygamy cult in plain sight of police and politicians; how his Stalin-esque grip on his followers allowed him to get away with his crimes for decades.
One Twitter reviewer said: “I'm 20 minutes into the Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey documentary and I feel ill, these men deserve hell," while another said "Keep Sweet is a reminder that men will make up any f****** religion to be able to control women and be able to have 23 wives."
Fans who were dumbstruck by the astounding true crime story have been recommended to try out the documentary Prophet's Prey by crime connoisseurs. One Twitter user said the film has "much more detail" about Jeffs’ actions and perversions, while another wrote: “If you haven’t seen Prophet's Prey on Showtime about this it’s a must watch.”
Someone else said: "Showtime has a documentary about this same subject and has a lot of the same people. It came out years ago but still pretty relevant. It’s called Prophet’s Prey ."
A synopsis for Prophet's Prey states: "Filmmaker Amy Berg sheds light on the sexual, financial and spiritual abuses heaped upon members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by their former leader, Warren Jeffs."
Prophet's Prey has a 93 per cent rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes and can be purchased through Amazon Prime. So if Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey has left you horrified but wanting more, there is still more in the Warren Jeffs tale.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 8am–10pm Monday to Friday, 9am–6pm weekends. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111
