We received a poem in the mail from one of our supporters. She wrote, “please feel free to share this little poem the Lord gave me this week.”
PEACE IN MY HEART
I have peace in my heart, that none can take.
I have love in my heart, that none can break.
I have hope in my heart, forever great!
All Praise to Christ my Lord. SD.
November was a wild month for our nation as well as globally. But God gives peace in the midst of the wildest storms. Personally, if I didn’t know my Jesus, I may not have survived the stress. But “I know whom I have believed” and who I trust. November was appropriately capped by our observance of Thanksgiving. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever.” I often grieve that I didn’t know these things about God growing up in a polygamy group, but now I have the opportunity of sharing them with today’s polygamy group members. May they know the true God of the Bible who gives abiding Peace In Our Hearts!
We thank you for your support and prayers that enable us to bring the Good News to polygamists.
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To help our readers understand the brainwashing and bondage polygamists face, we present suggested reading material which may give you a better understanding of the dark world of Mormon polygamy. This month our featured book is entitled, “It’s Not About the Sex My Ass.” (Please pardon the language, but that IS the title of the book.) The author is a former polygamous wife, Joanne Hanks.
She tells her story of being married for five years before she and her husband are convinced that they should join a Mormon polygamous cult. From the back cover:
“Joanne tells her crazy story with humor, satire-and insight. You’ll feel her angst over sharing her husband with her “sister wives.” You’ll meet a “prophet” who calls himself a “celestial stud service” and seeks divine guidance on threesomes, and his apostles who dress in weird robes to curse the White House. You’ll fume at gut-wrenching tales of racism, sexual abuse, fraud, and manipulation …. It’s a cautionary tale about the power of delusion, and a hopeful tale of one family that came to their senses and found the courage to leave.”
The author grew up in the Mormon church of which polygamy was part of their history. She writes on page 30:
“… we had grown up Mormon, which meant growing up with a tolerance for cognitive dissonance, that is, for living peacefully with things that don’t quote add up. Polygamy was just one of them. To us, it was a short leap from approved Mormon teachings to unapproved ones. Nutty ideas felt familiar, even exciting.”
In 1999, she and her husband Jeff took their children and moved to Manti, Utah to join the Harmston polygamy group. On page 39 she explains:
“Enthused because having discussed the matter at length, Jeff and I experienced inner promptings assuring us that polygamy was not just God’s will, but God’s law. We believed that to attain the highest reward in the next life, we had to be polygamists in this one.”
As their time in the polygamy cult brought new experiences including their involvement in Jeff taking more wives, they eventually began to realize, something was really wrong. From page 70:
“Polygamist cults attract the benignly deluded like Jeff and me. But they also attract child molesters and other predators the way expensive carpet attracts the butter-and-jam side of falling toast.”
This is an excellent story of a couple who were deluded but later saw polygamy for what it is. The book is written with humor but does contain expressive and graphic language.
MORMON POLYGAMY HISTORY
“Soon after my arrival in Salt Lake City, I visited a family where there were five wives, three of whom I met on my first visit. They were all three intelligent women; but it pained me very much to see the sorrow depicted on the face of the first wife. She appeared to me to be suffering intensely while I was there; for the last wife, who seemed to be a thoughtless, lively girl, was jesting with her husband, toying with his hair, and fussing with him in general, in a manner which I felt at the time was quite out of place, even had she been his only wife. Under the circumstances, it was to me terribly offensive; and I felt that, if I had been the first wife, I should have annihilated her, could
I have done so.
“My sympathies then were all with the first wife. In fact, they have been always so, to a very great extent. But I also feel deeply for young girls, who contract such marriages from a sincere conviction that they are doing what is right, and what will be most pleasing in the sight of God. Then there are women who ignore religion, and everything else, in the matter; all they think about is getting the man they want. These women are devoid of principle, and invariably cause trouble...and we became very friendly. She told me of her sorrows. She thought it was very wicked of her to feel as she did, but she could not help it; and she told me that when she saw her husband so happy with the other wives, it was then that she felt most miserable, and could not hide her feelings from him. At those times, he would " sulk" with her, coming in and out of the house for days together without noticing her, and showing more than ever his fondness for the other one. She said, ‘I bear it as long as I can, and then I beg of him not to treat me so, as I can not live without his love. I asked her how she could continue to love him when he treated her so? ’"
Mrs. T.B.H. Stenhouse, Expose’ of Polygamy in Utah, 1876, pgs 85-86
If the foundation is weak or inferior materials are used, if there is shoddy workmanship or poor structural design and engineering, the building will not last.
This is also a spiritual truth. Jesus told us that a house built on sand will fall. The foundation of Mormonism is polygamy and racism and “lying for the Lord.”
Today's Mormonism looks different from early Mormonism; however their basic doctrines remain the same. Mormonism continues to teach that the Bible is not translated correctly, they approach it like a buffet table picking what they like and rejecting what they don't like. And Mormonism cannot be found in the Book of Mormon!
So, what kind of foundation do they have? It’s not the Bible or the Book of Mormon. It’s the ever changing, progressive revelations of fallible modern-day men. Whether it's the LDS or the polygamy groups, they all usurp Jesus’ role of "mediator".
They teach about their leader:
1) The prophet is the only man who speaks for the Lord in everything.
2) The living prophet is more vital than the scriptures.
3) The living prophet is more important than a dead prophet.
As an example, the current leader says do not use the word Mormon, it's a victory for the devil when you do, but previous leaders have encouraged the use of the word Mormon. Essential doctrines change with the times, their god is eternally progressing from one glory to another. Mormonism is always changing - but the God of the Bible never changes.
“Too disgusting. The Mormon Church should be ashamed of it's history. And, yet, it embraces it like it's a second wife! Then denies her existence.” SCH
“Its interesting that JS's philandering was the root cause of polygamy/eternal marriage AND all his crazy teachings after the BoM was published. As if the BoM wasn't crazy enough to begin with. Its sad that so many good people (myself included) have tripped and fallen into the JS rabbit hole -- aka Mormonism.” AT
“Why was it ok in the early days of polygamy that women also had more than one man (being married to one and sealed to the other one) whilst this seems impossible now?” WM
“Thank you for your teachings on FLDS. Back in 1994, I saw an ad about the Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints and was intrigued since I didn't grow up in the United States but Mexico instead. A couple of days after I called the phone number to inquire about their book, someone showed up with two books about Mormonism. I was Catholic at the time but I wanted to learn something I thought, was "the good news." I started to read but I had to stop after the first page … With my scarce knowledge of the Bible, I knew that Jesus was NEVER in America, nor the teachings that the Book of Mormon were true or consistent with the Bible. I accepted Christ as Savior and Lord in 1999 when my Mom, sister and 1 of my brothers shared the love of God with me. … I appreciate your ministry because you give people an insight on what the FLDS and the other Mormon denominations are really like on the inside. Again, thank you, your testimony is invaluable to me.” EM
~ Please continue to pray for the woman who has been suffering from COVID these past four months.
~ Pray Warren Jeff’s brother, Nephi Jeffs, will be found and arrested. He is terrorizing and molesting young girls at hidden compounds just as Warren Jeff’s had been doing, some who have escaped say he is worse than Jeffs was.
WE ARE available to speak to your group, association, church or organization about the Mormon Fundamentalists of today.
Just call Doris: 801-649-3103, or Email: doris@shieldandrefuge.org |
