Doris Hanson, Director, A Shield and Refuge Ministry

This election year has been the most memorable of all that I can remember.  People are saying there is so much at stake this time, and in a sense that is true.  In fact more is going on behind the political scene than any of us know or would even care to know.  Things really are “a-changing”.

There are some things however that are not changing, and will never change before Jesus calls us home:

1. God never changes.
2. God’s purposes will never change.
3. God loves polygamists, but does not love polygamy.
4. God opens doors for us to bring Biblical truths to polygamists.
5. No matter the political or economical environment, the spiritual needs of this lost world remain:  People Need The Lord.
6. Polygamists need the Lord!!
     
   So, despite the turmoil going on in this upside down world, we continue to explore ways we can fulfill our responsibility, explaining to them that Jesus Christ is our God and Savior, and polygamy is neither a savior nor a commandment.  God’s word does not return void UNTIL it has accomplished what God sends it out to do!

Ephesians 6:19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

FROM OUR MAIL BOX (and FACEBOOK):

Bravo!!  Just a quick note to let Doris know that I think her work is fantastic!   I was born and raised in the LDS church, and even though the way the LDS church presents things now is a somewhat watered down version of the FLDS, I faced similar issues when I finally chose to leave Mormonism at age 40. How wonderful to be liberated! Thank you for all that you do to keep this issue in the forefront in our state.  Keep up the good work!  CS

~~~~~~~~~

God bless you!  I have been watching your show online and I want to tell you that all the survivors and current members of polygamy are in my thoughts and prayers.   You are all so strong for escaping and speaking out.

I found out about polygamy recently and I am truly revolted that this happens in the USA and Canada.  My wish is that I become financially solvent and I can buy the women who escaped, homes and anything they need to start their new lives.  Until my wish comes true,. I will continue praying for you and raising awareness here in Canada. God bless you all!  S.F. from Toronto

~~~~~~~~~

Comment from website:

To leaders of polygamy:  Remember you are supposed to follow God if you claim to be his.  In the polygamist communities I’m seeing - "following God ain’t happening ".  Leadership is doing criminal things - so are you folks gonna be the ones that Jesus tells on judgment day - depart from me you evil wicked people- for I "never "knew you despite you calling me “ Lord, Lord...? 

POLYGAMY IN THE NEWS

FLDS FOOD STAMP FRAUD:

THE FLDS are under investigation for carrying out a food stamp fraud scheme.  Their defense includes their claims that not sharing the food purchased with food stamps would prevent them from living their religion which
prepares them for heaven.

Ten suspects have been accused of fraud and money laundering and testified that they were not breaking the law, they were following religious tenets of communal living.

This is the mindset and behavior of secretive polygamy groups following religious principles of the Mormonism of the 19th century.

Seth Jeffs is the authority at the South Dakota FLDS compound.  He is a brother of Warren Jeffs, and was the only defendant who testified in court.   He said that they believe everything on earth belongs to God, and that is why all members must give everything they own to a community storehouse which follows their law of consecration.  The group's leaders decide how to redistribute the assets, products and money to the members.  When he was asked if he requested a religious accommodation from the federal government, Seth Jeffs said he didn't know it was required.

Prosecutors argued that the defendants knew they were breaking the law when they donated food to their storehouse and also by diverting funds to FLDS owned companies. They also bought a tractor, truck and other items with the funds. They charge that the leaders lived lavishly while regular members suffered.

NOTE:  This is typical of all Mormon polygamy group operations.  Defrauding the government, which they call ‘bleeding the beast’, is doctrinal.  Breaking the laws to benefit their group is a regular practice.  Taxpayers are  footing the bill so that the polygamists can continue to not only survive, but prosper. 

Is Polygamy Biblical?
(Excerpts from the book)

Polygamy is unnatural in that the women forced into harems like Solomon’s, are withheld from the rightful pursuit by eligible men who are looking for a wife.  In polygamous societies, not only are other males deprived of their natural right to have a wife, but also the women are deprived of their rights and privileges of having their own husband.

1 Corinthians 7:2:  Each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

   Solomon is the author of most of the Book of Proverbs.  Ironically, although Solomon is the Bible’s most flagrant polygamist offender, in Proverbs all reference to the marriage relationship is always monogamy, never polygamy.

It is interesting that men are always the leaders of the polygamy groups, they are the ones insisting and preaching that God has designed the practice of polygamy.  In many cases, they threaten the girls, using the emotional tools of guilt, fear, eternal destruction and damnation if they don’t comply with their demands.  What chance do these innocent and naive girls have under such heavy-handed pressure?  They teach and threaten that God’s only provision for heaven is that these girls submit to the leaders’ authority and accept polygamy without question.  They are warned that the only way that they can reach celestial glory is by living polygamy.  Hell and damnation are threatened for those who turn away from this so-called “holy” command. 

So much for “free agency!”  So much for freedom of choice!

We know that polygamy was practiced in the Old Testament. But was it commanded by God as His preferred lifestyle for us?  Simply because several righteous men practiced polygamy, it is assumed by some that God willed and commanded them to live that way.  They even go so far as to say that it is a “higher command” and not everyone is righteous enough in God’s eyes to have the privilege of living it!  But nowhere in the Bible can that teaching be found.

continued next month....

Tidbits from MORMON POLYGAMY HISTORY

  My grandfather used to assert that Brigham was the laziest man that ever lived, and that he would not do any work so long as he could live without it. As may be imagined, his family were not in the most comfortable circumstances in the world, and poor Mrs. Young had by no means the easiest time. She died quite early, and the gossips' verdict was, "Died of discouragement." She left two daughters, both of whom are still living, and both are in polygamy. ... These girls, with their husbands, were among the very first of the Saints to arrive in the [Salt Lake] Valley.

Brigham was married to his first living and only legal wife, Mary-Ann Angell, ...in the year 1834. She is ...much saddened by the neglect of her husband, who rarely, if ever, visits her, ... She is about the age of her husband, nearly seventy-three, and consequently is counted an old lady, while he is, according to Mormon theory, "a boy." Her mind is somewhat clouded, and this, like her sadness, is caused by the decline of her husband's affections, of whom she is very fond. She has been entirely devoted to him, and gave him as honest love when she married him, long before there was the slightest prospect of his ever occupying ....the leader of the Mormon people; and she is repaid as it might be expected she would be, after listening to one of her husband's sermons to the women of his church.

Said he, on one occasion, when he felt called upon to reprimand the complaining sisters, "The old women come sniveling around me, saying, 'I have lived with my husband thirty years, and it is hard to give him up now.' If you have had your husbands that length of time, it is long enough, and you ought to be willing to give them to other women, or give other women to them; you have no business with your husbands, and you are disobeying God's commands to live with them when you are old." He certainly sees to it that his wife does not "disobey God's commands," which, from his blasphemous lips, means simply his own inclinations.

Her husband ..removed [her] to the old school-house .., a dilapidated, cheerless place,... It is, indeed, little better than a barn, ... There she lives, and there she will probably remain until her death, unless some of her children see that she is better cared for.

She took no more kindly to polygamy than did any other of the Mormon women; but she was among the very earliest sufferers.

Wife no. 19, or, The story of a life in bondage, being a complete expose’ of Mormonism, And revealing the sorrows, sacrifices and sufferings of Women in polygamy.   By Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's apostate wife.  pp. 468-470

Donate via PayPal