Doris Hanson, Director, A Shield and Refuge Ministry

As we talk with Christians all over the country, we find that most of them are totally unaware of the challenges of Mormonism and Mormon polygamy that Christians face in the Intermountain West, especially in Utah.  Many Christians who are not familiar with Mormonism and this culture are believing the LDS propaganda machine that the LDS are just another Christian denomination.  They observe that most Mormons are a moral people, so they believe they are Christian.  But morality doesn’t determine Christianity.  JESUS does!  And their Jesus is Lucifer’s brother.  Every true Christian would know that alone disqualifies them from being Christian!

Their founding prophets never embraced Christianity, in fact, they rejected it loudly and clearly.  Here are only two examples: 

“Brother Taylor has just said that the religions of the day were hatched in hell. The eggs were laid in hell, hatched on its borders, and then kicked on to the earth.”   – Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 6:176

"...brother Joseph B. Nobles once told a Methodist priest, after hearing  him describe his god, that the god they worshiped was the "Mormon's" Devil-a being without a body, whereas our God has a body, parts and passions."   -  Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 5:331

FROM OUR MAIL BOX (and FACEBOOK):

“Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,  Please excuse my English, I’m from Germany.  It so happens I have founded your shows on YouTube.   Two years ago I met a Utah Mormon on Facebook. As there are not many Mormons in Germany I didn't know much of this religion. So I searched online and was really surprised. It seems to me like science-fiction. I thought the official LDS was just some kind of a Christian church but now I know their (false) interpretations of some verses in the bible and obviously there is no personal relation to Jesus.

Through you I learned about the FLDS and I'm shocked (abuse, incest, etc.). As I know polygamy is forbidden by law. How is it possible that nothing happens? In my opinion it's not just a case of criminal justice but of human rights.  In 1904 the LDS has forbidden polygamy because of the law? Does that mean the members would be allowed to live polygamy if the law would change?  There are so many questions! I will continue watching your show to learn more.   A.N.

--------------------------------------------------------

I've been watching your show for several weeks, and I have a few question: When a man leaves a polygamy group, and he's been living polygamy, what does the Bible say he should do if he has children and  several "wives"? Does he choose 1 wife and abandon relationships with the rest? Does he continue his commitments to his plural wives as a husband or provider or divorce them? I'm wondering if you can help me find Bible verses that could help instruct a man in that situation.  DB

RESPONSE:  There are no specific verses that address your questions.  However there are Biblical principles that apply.  The man should choose one wife with the full knowledge of all his wives.  He should provide for all of his underage children.  He should also support his wives until they re-marry or have other means of sufficient support.

POLYGAMY IN THE NEWS

The FLDS $12 million food stamp fraud case is coming to a close as most of the defendants have taken plea deals to get out of jail time.  On January 4th, six of them pleaded guilty to fraud and were ordered to take a class to learn how to deal honestly with the food stamp program.  They were not ordered to pay restitution, no future accountability requirements were made, and no other consequences were placed upon them.  Defense attorney’s argued that the FLDS defendants were just following their religious beliefs by donating their food stamps to the coffers of the leaders of the polygamy group.   As they walked away, one of the defendants was heard saying, “Well, we won.”

And that’s what polygamy groups are all about.  Break the law, plead religious liberty, and especially in Utah, walk away with barely a slap on the wrist.  Its not likely that any other American citizen could bilk the United States Government and taxpayers out of $12 million dollars in food stamp fraud, and walk away as if nothing wrong had happened.

Lyle Jeffs, the accused ringleader of the scheme had escaped home confinement this past summer and remains wanted by the police.

The FLDS polygamists are known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  They teach that practicing polygamy is required by God and earns them exaltation in heaven.  Although the mainstream LDS church rejects modern polygamy groups, polygamy is a legacy of the original Mormon church and its founder, Joseph Smith.

Many former members of the FLDS are outraged that the court allows polygamists to continually thumb their collective noses at the laws of the land.

Contrast this case with the 1983 welfare fraud case brought against Kingston Polygamy group leader, J. O. Kingston.  Several of Kingston’s plural wives claimed they were single mothers in need of welfare assistance for their 29 children.  Kingston pleaded guilty in an out of court settlement and was ordered to repay nearly $250,000 that he and his plural wives had illegally taken in welfare payments.

Is Polygamy Biblical?
(Excerpts from the book)

Leviticus 18:18 does not condone taking a second wife.  It prohibits a man from marrying his wife’s sister, while she is still living!  God is saying, “if you disobey Me, this is how you must behave.  However, disobedience carries with it, consequences.”

The New Testament regulates a marriage between a believer and an believer; which is not the same as condoning such a marriage.  Rather, it is recognizing the reality of an unequally yoked marriage, wrong though it may be, and instructs on how to behave in the best interest of all parties involved.  God knows that humans will not be obedient to His perfect will, but He always gives hope to those who repent after being disobedient.  Passages like these does not indicate that He approves our disobedience.

The passage in Deuteronomy 21:15-17 is not teaching that it is okay to live polygamy; rather, it recognizes that polygamy is an unfortunate component of the culture at that time.  God preserves the rights of the firstborn and protects the rights of the unloved woman and her children in such a marriage.

The argument has been, and is being used that God approves of polygamy and in some cases actually commanded it, Deuteronomy 25:5 is often given as an example:

“If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.”

Pre-suppositions are made that the dead husband’s brother is already married and that this was how God provided food and shelter for orphans and widows.   However, widows and orphans are not the subject here but the desire to carry on the family name. Obviously, the dead husband’s brother was within his rights to refuse to marry the widow.  We know this because God gave special instructions of how to deal with his refusal to marry her.  And the passage does not indicate in any way that the brother already has a wife.

continued next month....

Tidbits from MORMON POLYGAMY HISTORY

  While the Mormon leaders, Lorenzo Snow and others, were in the Utah penitentiary after conviction under the Edmunds anti-polygamy law, refusing pardons on condition that they would give up the practice of polygamy, the Deseret News of May 20, 1886, printed an affidavit made on February 16, 1874, at the request of Joseph F. Smith, by William Clayton, who was a clerk in the prophet's office in Nauvoo and temple recorder, to show the world that "the martyred prophet is responsible to God and the world for this doctrine."

The affidavit recites that while Clayton and the prophet were taking a walk, in February, 1843, Smith first broached to him the subject of plural marriages, and told him that the doctrine was right in the sight of God, adding, "It is your privilege to have all the wives you want."

He gives the names of a number of the wives whom Smith married at this time, adding that his wife Emma "was cognizant of the fact of some, if not all, of these being his wives, and she generally treated them very kindly."

He says that on July 12, 1843, Hyrum offered to read the "revelation" to Emma if the prophet would write it out, saying, "I believe I can convince her of its truth, and you will hereafter have peace." Joseph smiled, and remarked, "You do not know Emma as well as I do," but he thereupon dictated the "revelation" [on polygamy] and Clayton wrote it down. An examination of its text will show how largely it was devoted to Emma's subjugation. When Hyrum returned from reading it to the prophet's lawful wife, he said that "he had never received a more severe talking to in his life; that Emma was very bitter and full of resentment and anger." Joseph repeated his remark that his brother did not know Emma as well as he did, and, putting the "revelation" into his pocket, they went out.

(Jepson's "Historical Record," Vol. VI, pp. 233-234, gives the names of twenty-seven women who, "besides a few others about whom we have been unable to get all the necessary information, were sealed to the Prophet Joseph during the last three years of his life.")

"At the present time," says Stenhouse ("Rocky Mountain Saints"), p. 185, "there are probably about a dozen sisters in Utah who proudly acknowledge themselves to be the `wives of Joseph, 'and how many others there may be who held that relationship no man knoweth.'"

At the conference in Salt Lake City on August 28, 1852, at which the first public announcement of the revelation was made, Brigham Young said in the course of his remarks:

"Though that doctrine has not been preached by the Elders, this people have believed in it for many years.  The original copy of this revelation was burned up.

We want to thank the LWML, Lutheran Women’s Conference, Meridian Idaho, for their gracious invitation to share A Shield and Refuge Ministry, and my story of being raised in the Kingston Polygamy Group. It is always a privilege and a pleasure to share with Christians what God has done and is doing in drawing people to His truth and away from the bondage of a false gospel, a false salvation, and a false Jesus.  Polygamy groups in North America boast of tens of thousands of polygamist members.  They ARE an unreached people group needing missionary efforts to bring them the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.   We are also available to speak to your group about Mormon polygamy.  Just call Doris at 801-649-3103.

Donate via PayPal