Doris Hanson, Director, A Shield and Refuge Ministry

Revelation 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; (NIV)
   I believe that this verse in the Book of Revelation reveals to us there is spiritual power in our testimony.  We are saved by Jesus and then we issue death blows to the devil every time we share our story of our salvation, forgiveness and relationship with Jesus Christ. 
   Giving God the glory and lifting Jesus up as our great God and Savior is part of God's plan to defeat our enemy.  I was recently given the exciting opportunity to share my story about being born and raised in the Kingston polygamy group. 
  Shaylena Stewart who is a writer for RISEN magazine was my interviewer.  RISEN is a classy Christian publication that tells the stories of various men and women who have been saved by grace through faith.  You can go to www.risenmagazine.com which is an excellent website to learn more about this publication.  You can read my story on the internet at this link:  http://ow.ly/14743007pJ9#‎polygamy‪#‎mormonism, or the magazine can be purchased at Barnes and Noble Bookstores.
  Our weekly show Polygamy: What Love Is This also tells the stories of those who will have the courage to talk about their experiences growing up in polygamy groups.  There are many dozens of people who want to share their story, but have been threatened so harshly, they don't dare go public with it.  Please pray for those who are still bound in the fear and deception in which life in polygamy has enshrouded them.
  Thanks to Risen Magazine for printing my story, and the stories of so many others who have been blessed by God's amazing grace.

FROM OUR MAIL BOX (and FACEBOOK):

I live in Maryland.... I have wanted to take the time to thank you so much for changing my life for the better. One year ago, March 2015 I left the Mormon Church, for the 2nd time. This time for good. I was so confused for so long. Christmas 2015 I discovered your show. I started watching all the episodes, backwards, and have learned so much. The most important thing I have learned was about Grace.  I never understood what it was until you taught me. I was in the LDS church 20 years. Learning to live Grace is a life changer. I feel the presence of God so much more and I have developed a relationship with Him. God is great and He has such a sense of humor, too. I read the Bible every day. It is amazing.
  ... It is hard to believe that I just found your show. I am so glad your show was cancelled and you were forced to go on the internet. I know it has blessed so many peoples lives.
  I really enjoy Bishop Earl. The two of you brought such clarity to the dilemma of years of abuse and brainwashing. Thank you.
... I am happier than I have ever been in my life. And I know when I die I will be with The Lord.

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 Thank you for your ministry!  My daughter recently became friends with a young girl who has left the Kingston clan, and her family wants to leave.  It was very humbling to discover the extent of the abuse happening in our own neighborhoods.  It was heartbreaking to see the lostness on her face. 

POLYGAMY IN THE NEWS
  
Response to an essay "Legalizing polygamy" in the Review Journal:
  "I once felt that polygamy should be strictly a matter between the man and the wives who chose to marry him. It should not be my business nor the government's to tell a man how many wives he can have.
  "But my position changed after a recent visit to St. George, Utah, where I had a chance to sit down and speak with several local non-Mormons. They pointed out the following potential scenario, which would have a drastic affect on the lives of many others.
  "Suppose a man has a wife and three sister wives. That is a family of five. Now suppose each of those wives has two children. The size of the family is now 13. The family could easily number in the twenties or more as time passed. This means that the man would have to feed, shelter and educate that many people in addition to providing other necessities. In all likelihood, the husband would be unable to meet this financial burden and be forced to turn to the state to provide for his family.
  "As a Christian, I have no problem with the government helping a traditional family — a man, his wife and their children — through hard times.  I do, however, have a problem with being forced to pay for the actions of people who believe they can take an irresponsible position on the size of their families and expect others to pay for their abuse of the system."  RMLV    http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/letters/another-view-polygamy

NOTE:  More people should take the responsibility to check things out and think them through.  Those who say polygamy among consenting adults should be okay and they be left alone don't seem to try to discover the hidden facts for themselves.  We pray for more diligent and responsible people who address these issues.

Is Polygamy Biblical?
(Excerpts from the book)

Let's remember Esau.  Genesis 26:34-35 tells us that Esau took two wives and they were a source of grief to his parents, Isaac and Rebekah. In Genesis 28:8-9 we read that Esau took even another wife making three known wives for him.  That is all we know about Esau's sex life.  Now let's piece this together with what the New Testament tells us about Esau: 
   "Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright."  Hebrews 12:16 
  The word "fornicator" means one who practices sexual immorality.  Since the only thing the Bible mentions about his sex life is that he had three wives, it is clear that God considered Esau's polygamy to be immoral, and commands people not to live that way!
  Polygamy can rightly be blamed for disastrous results.  Polygamists believe that God has ordained polygamy so that they can learn not to be jealous, harbor hard feelings, and other strong negative emotions that naturally occur when a woman shares her husband with other women.  But there is nothing evil in wanting a husband exclusively.  Another piece of evidence that polygamy is against God's plan is seen in the ratio of males to females born to humans.  Statistically, there are slightly more males born than females and more newborn males do not survive.  If polygamy were God's plan, wouldn't He create considerably more female babies than male? 
  It is also important to note that just because the Bible records certain things that people did, does not indicate that God condoned  nor commanded people to do what they did.  Let's revisit Jacob.  Jacob over time became a man of God, but early on he often lived outside of God's will.  When Jacob began accumulating plural wives, it was ALL the doing of human beings, not God.  Genesis 29:16-30.  Genesis 30:1-4, 9. 
   As you read the account, Jacob was hoodwinked by his father-in-law into marriage with Leah.  Jacob's first and only love, however, was Rachel.  Then, as these two women bickered and argued trying to win Jacob's favor, in their fits of jealousy and rivalry, they gave their own maidservants to Jacob in order to have children through them.  In other words, they used their maidservants as surrogate mothers, just as Jacob's grandparents Sarah and Abraham had done before him with Hagar.  So again, women are  victimized, not just by men, but also by other women. 
(Continued next month)

Tidbits from MORMON POLYGAMY HISTORY

   The testimony of John D. Lee in regard to the practice of polygamy in Illinois is very circumstantial, and Lee was a
conscientious polygamist to the day of his death. He says that he was directed in this matter by principle and not by passion:  "Lee gives a complete record of his plural marriages, which is interesting, showing how the business was conducted at the start.  His second wife, the daughter of a wealthy farmer near Quincy, Illinois, was "sealed" to him in Nauvoo in 1845, after she had been an inmate of his house for three months. His third and fourth wives were "sealed" to him soon after, but Young took a fancy to wife No. 3 (who had borne Lee a son), and, after much persuasion, she was "sealed" to Young. At this same "sealing" Lee took wife No. 4, a girl whom he had baptized in Tennessee. In the spring of 1845 two sisters of his first wife AND THEIR MOTHER were "sealed" to him; he married the mother, he says, "for the salvation of her eternal state." At the completion of the Nauvoo Temple he took three more wives. At Council Bluffs, in 1847, Brigham Young "sealed" him to three more, two of them sisters, in one night, and he secured the fourteenth soon after, the fifteenth in 1851, the sixteenth in 1856, the seventeenth in 1858 ("a dashing young bride"), the eighteenth in 1859, and the nineteenth and last in Salt Lake City. He says he claimed "only eighteen true wives," as he married Mrs. Woolsey "for her soul's sake, and she was nearly sixty years old."
   By these wives he had sixty-four children, of whom fifty-four were living when his book was written... 
  Don Carlos, Joseph Smith's brother, "..in June, 1841, had said to Robinson, "Any man who will teach and practise spiritual wifery will go to hell, no matter if it is my brother Joseph." Hyrum Smith, who first opposed the doctrine, went to Robinson's house in December, 1843, and taught the system to him and his wife. Robinson was told of the "revelation" to Joseph a few days after its date, and just as he was leaving Nauvoo on a mission to New York. He, Law, and William Marks opposed the innovation...
  In one of Smith's dissertations,.. is the following under date of August, 1842:  "If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added. So with Solomon. First he asked wisdom and God gave it to him, and with it every desire of his heart, even things which might be considered abominable [polygamy] to all who understand the order of heaven only in part, but which in reality were right, because God gave and sanctioned them by special revelation."  
--The Story of the Mormons: From the Date of their Origin to the Year 1901, by Linn

Please Pray ...

This month will you pray for each polygamy group, its leaders and members?

• The FLDS group, warren and Lyle jeffs are the leaders
• The AUB (Allred Group), Thompson is the leader.
• The Kingston Clan, Leader is Paul Kingston, but his brothers also hold ruling authority.
• Harmston Group in Manti, Utah.
• New groups that sprout up and we often don't even know where they came from.

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