Trust Me: The False Prophet (Netflix)

[TheGirlOnTheLanding]

Has anyone else watched this 4 part documentary about two documentary makers going undercover in an FLDS sect to bring the ‘prophet’ to justice? I ended up binging it yesterday and would love to discuss it. Cults/sects are grimly fascinating to me as an outsider who has never been involved or lost a family member to one, but I think this was one of the few documentaries that treated the women caught up in it like complicated human beings rather than just as victims, for reasons that became clear. I found the lack of police action really shocking and enraging - especially that the documentary makers had to continue to put themselves in danger to get sufficient evidence instead of authorities taking over.

The policeman who didn’t listen to the tape more than once to “protect his gentle heart” or whatever he said made me want to punch him through the screen. Such a good documentary!

@Parsnips88Absolutely! I was slightly surprised he’d agreed to appear on screen as he didn’t come out of it well at all

Really enjoyed this. The women/ girls involved just seemed so in awe of him.

And yet he was so unimpressive? Other cult leaders have seemed charismatic if narcissistic and malignant but here I just kept thinking Really? This guy? I suppose a lot of them were very young and their lifetime training of obedience to their fathers/husbands kicked in but it was so strange; almost as though they’d been bewitched.

I loved the relationship that developed between the outsider lady (Christine?) and the concerned mother Julia. What amazing women. Christine for making herself available as a safe person and Julia for trusting her instincts of something being wrong over her religion.
I’d be interested to see what happens next for the women involved, whether some do manage to break away like Nomz or whether they find a new prophet (abuser) and the cycle starts again.

The bit where he was asking the the outsider man to film him running up and down hills in the canyons 😵‍💫 like a child trying to show off. Truly bizarre

I binged this show earlier this week- absolutely fascinating and horrifying.

@TheGirlOnTheLanding I agree about Sam- he had no appeal whatsoever but I think you don’t need to be anything special in that religion to amass women and children. As you say, they are brainwashed from birth to defer to men and to serve them. Sounded like they were threatened with hell and damnation (concepts which they would unquestioningly already have believed in). So fear and ignorance kept them where they were.

I found some of the footage of Nomz in particular really unsettling. At times she looked like she’d been lobotomised. Those huge, unblinking eyes staring at Sam while she clung on to him. She appeared to be in a constant state of terror.

I really liked Julia and thought she was so brave.

And as for Christine - what an absolute warrior.

Yes @ChakaKan- so bizarre. Sam certainly came across as a narcissist. Imagine being so brazen in your abuse that you actively ask the documentary crew to come and film you as much as possible. His ego couldn’t resist the opportunity.

I was amazed at the bravery of Julia - to risk losing everything to try to save her daughters. And yet, still a faithful FLDS follower at the end. Like I said in the OP: complicated human beings! I really hope they all move on to happy, fulfilled lives, but who knows whether that void will be filled by another predator, whether that’s another prophet or someone else. I think that Nomz still had that vulnerability about her at the end but Julia seemed more content to me.

Thank goodness for his narcissism @Waitingfordoggoas that was what took him down - well, that and Christine and her husband’s determination.

We watched this , very interesting . The failings of the local police and the children’s services were incredible . It was lovely at the end to see how well Naomi has done .

Agree, this was a standout documentary when lots of these Netflix documentaries are a bit rubbish. What unbelievably brave women Julia and Christine are. Was literally cheering them on from the sofa. I remain worried about Nomz though.

The US seems to worry a lot about radical Islam, maybe they should look their own radical religions a bit more.

He certainly didn’t appear to be the brightest of sparks. He’d basically been in the right place at the right time to take over a group of vulnerable women and children to exploit, he didn’t need to do any grooming or brainwashing as someone else had already done that for him. I don’t think he would have become a cult leader from scratch as he didn’t appear to have the intelligence or charisma imo. Agree about his arrogance, but I guess in his world men are untouchable.

Nomz I agree still very vulnerable and will have significant trauma to work through.

I was appalled (but not shocked) at the other men who also happily went along for the ride. It does make me wonder realistically how many men would exploit and abuse given the opportunity (and almost permission) to do so

That was my significant thought from it too. These cultures exist in the west too and they are more or less home grown and we need to get our house in order but instead they are looked upon as cute fasciations.

Sister Wives
The Amish programmes
Mormonism and its offshoots

all deeply troubling religious influenced.

They believed he was the prophet, heavenly father’s representative on earth at a time when the FLDS was leaderless as Warren Jeff’s is in prison having been found guilty of child abuse charges. He had also banned anyone from marrying, having sex (even if married) and by extension having children (because he couldn’t). SB came along claiming to be tge prophet and saying all those things were fine. FLDS women are brought up to marry, have children and serve their man so he provided that for the. I think one of tge wives actually said ‘I wanted a baby so dang bad’ and SB was offering that.

I did struggle with the obvious blind devotion though but that’s what they’d been taught. In many ways I was more shocked at the fathers allowing their daughters, particularly underage ones, to go with him knowing what he would do to them then taking part. Just sickening.

I feel like the dads were allowing it because as part of the ‘deal’ they were also allowed to take new, young, sometimes underage wives themselves. Nonces, the lot of them.

The women and girls are conditioned to obey and the men and boys are taught that it’s ok to rape children.

I kept thinking there must be a large imbalance in the ratio of women and men? The men seemed to all have 10+ wives, why are there so many women to so few men? Is it because they’re all in jail for being child abusers?

In the first series didn't they shun a lot of men to get rid of them?. It was really sad as they weren't allowed to see their family any more and they believed they'd done something wrong so wouldn't go to heaven due to being shunned

I've only watched the first two episodes of this series. When the little girl was crying on the rock was that due to abuse? 😥Awful

Yes there are usually more women than men in these offshoot fundamentalist Mormon groups, and yes the higher ups did find reasons to send the men away so that they could claim all of their wives and children, also they have, in the past, sent boys away at age 16-18, just abandoned them on the side of the road and refused to let them return as the younger women/girls would've preferred to marry them rather than the older men. It's so awful.

The women seem to want to all be as close to the Prophet as they can, as being one of his wives is their meal ticket for entry to the Celestial Kingdom, the equivalent of Heaven.

I know on MN everyone likes to spit out their tea, and shout at the tv etc, but I’ve never actually sworn out loud at a screen before until that part where the police fail to investigate when Christine gave them a taped confession about the rape of a 13 year old. It was very powerful how they kept up the timeline as “x months post confession”.

It made me wonder if the threshold for intervention is as high elsewhere, or is that peculiar to the US?

What a weird little man Sam was, imagining himself marrying QEII. But I found Moroni much more disturbing. He happily sacrificed his wives and daughters to feel better about himself when he taught he was going to hell and probably had some convoluted justification for raping and being accessory to the rapes if young women and children. They believe in a punitive God and yet think they will get away with these sins - it’s baffling.

Binged this in one sitting at the weekend. Very interesting, as well as both disturbing and distressing. I agree @Oleoreoleo- what man could give up his daughters like that and then engage in sexual activities with other men’s daughters. Julia was so brave to finally trust Christina.

Many the homes still had pictures of Warren Jeffs on the wall 😱

Meant to add, I’ve looked at Naomi (Nomz) Instagram, what strides she has made and looks like a different person!

I was wondering at the end though if all of it would have been ok in the eyes of the faithful (the mother who let her children be given away for example) if he really was considered or somehow proven to them to be a "prophet"? I dont recall any of them denouncing the crimes of Warren Jeffs, but they did complain about not being able to get married and have kids as a result of him being locked up. They still had his picture up on the walls so I presume they dont actually disagree with him "marrying" children?

The two other men got such long prison sentences they were clearly motivated by their own depravity too and abusing underage girls.

@sickofsixseven Yes- DD and I were discussing it and had the same thought. There was a dark-haired woman speaking early on in the series about when Sam first arrived in town with his truckload of wives. She didn’t take him to at all and gave him a wide berth- but seemingly only because she saw him as an imposter- she didn’t relieve he was really a prophet- rather than the fact that he was controlling and abusing women and girls!

And Julia seemed to feel similarly. She saw Sam as one bad apple, instead of seeing that the whole cult, and all the men in it, are rotten to the core.