Thanks for that synopsis.
An excellent resource for their history is a book named the Kingdom Of The Cults (Walter Martin). This guy documents every single sentence in that history.
I just don't remember enough about how the polygamy angle was introduced , but I certainly believe your account.
It's so sad that you have a group of people that take stock in a guy that was a gold digger and peepstone sorcerer.
The truth of the matter is I doubt most Mormons even know their own church history.
Polygamy was practiced by Abraham also and others in Judaism. It doesn't matter what people call themselves or what they were ---if these types are excommunicated by the Mormon Church then they aren't Mormons because being excommunicated means that. He could call himself a Roman Catholic but that wouldn't mean he is one.
Brigham Young had even more wives, I believe it was 27. I do remember that not all of them were very happy about it and one threw a sewing machine out of the window in protest.
Dr. Walter Martin had amazing knowledge. His earliest roots were also in Mormonism so his expertise not only came from his extensive studies in comparative religion, but from personal experience. I always found it interesting that his works were, and I imagine still are, taboo reading for Mormons. I had the privilege of attending a conference with Dr. Martin, must have been in about 1980 and have attended other events in which he was a featured speaker. He did a great deal in his life to expose cultic doctrines to the light of truth.
You are correct in that assumption. If you take the stand, which I do, that nothing is greater than the foundation upon which it is built, it would be impossible to hold that the doctrines of Mormonism were divinely inspired in light of historical facts. I believed what is taught is a selective and sanitized version of history combined with a list of authors and titles that are taboo reading for Mormons. I know the ones I have discussed the history with were completely ignorant of details.