Posted on 03/01/2019 4:40:07 PM PST by robowombat
God's grace counters fundamentalist Mormon polygamy
SALT LAKE CITY (BP) -- Standing outside the locked bedroom door, little Doris Hanson heard her mother's daily, tearful prayers. She would later share why she believes her mother's pleas were never answered.
Doris Hanson leads A Shield and Refuge Ministry in Salt Lake City, Utah, offering the truth of the Gospel to families caught in the lies of polygamy and Mormon fundamentalism. Photo submitted by Doris Hanson "God didn't answer her prayers because she was praying to a fake God," Hanson told Baptist Press decades after her childhood. "She believed in work salvation, polygamy, sexuality for heaven, sexual favors, sexual exchange for heaven. It's horrible, the loneliness, the deceit, the lies." A member of the Latter Day Church of Christ (Kingston) polygamy clan, Hanson's mother was one of two concurrent wives. She didn't live with her "husband," concealed his identity from Hanson and her siblings, and lied to government authorities who inquired of the children's paternity.
Hanson fled her mother's home at age 18, avoiding a promised "marriage" to the Kingston sect leader. She accepted Jesus 25 years later and is today a 72-year-old Southern Baptist spreading the truth of the Gospel to fundamentalist Mormons who believe in polygamy for salvation. Polygamy is still practiced in the U.S. today, estimated to encompass perhaps 100,000 people.
Hanson leads A Shield and Refuge Ministry, a Christian outreach launched in early 2008 to share the Gospel with polygamists in particular. Through her weekly online talk show, "Polygamy: What Love is This?" Hanson reaches mainline as well as fundamentalist Mormons. Teaching the truth is her main goal, Hanson said. But she also works to place former polygamists in private host homes and is raising money to build the Hagar Home to house polygamy refugees.
Twenty miles away in Draper, Utah, Holding Out Help focuses expressly on helping women and children flee polygamous sects and live independently, extending the love of Christ as the Gospel in action. Tonia Tewell, Holding Out Help executive director, provides housing, basic necessities and a plethora of aid to those fleeing polygamy, and often has a waiting list.
"We realized they needed so much more than just a roof. They were like refugees coming in from another country," Tewell said, recalling the earliest years of her ministry founded in 2009. "We were overwhelmed with their needs of food and clothing, not only the shelter, but counseling, education, legal services, the most basic of life skills."
Hope Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Sandy, Utah, is among Holding Out Help's supporters, pastor Ben Heile told BP.
"Any of the calls to mercy that we have in Scripture definitely apply to these people, specifically to the women and children," Heile said. "But the husbands who perpetuate the abuse are also people that need Christ's love.
"Polygamy is definitely a part of our history as a state," Heile said. "The desire to engage this community and reverse that curse is what we're called to in Christ."
The Salt Lake Baptist Association in Salt Lake City is starting to reach fundamentalist Mormons through the association's food and clothing ministry, the Concern Center. But the center does not target polygamists specifically. About 10 families fleeing the Kingstons have sought help there in the past nine months or so, association executive director Ron Clement told BP.
"We do share Christ with them intentionally and we're trying to see if we can get them into Bible study," Clement said. "It's been pretty slow going. They come out of (polygamy) and they're pretty distrusting of anyone. We just try to be very open and loving toward them. We give them a lot of food. If we have it available, we try to give them as much as possible."
The Kingston clan is suffering as some of its leaders, Jacob, Isaiah, Kelly and Rachel Kingston, face multiple federal criminal counts including mail fraud and money laundering in association with their company, Washakie Renewable Energy, KSL-TV in Salt Lake City reported Jan. 23.
The Kingstons are among a half dozen or more sects in the U.S. that continue to teach and practice polygamy as a requirement for salvation, including the prominent Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), associated with jailed polygamist Warren Jeffs. Also active are the Apostolic United Brethren (Allreds), the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Petersons), Rockland Ranch (Rocks), the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days (Harmstons) and several independent groups difficult to track, Hanson said.
Hanson is a member of Millcreek Baptist Church in Salt Lake City, a Southern Baptist congregation of about 25 members. Her ministry is sponsored by the nondenominational Main Street Church in Brigham City, Utah. She's available to speak at churches and ministry groups, and her weekly broadcast is available at www.whatloveisthis.tv.
"Many times we have in our own backyard unreached people. Mormonism and polygamy especially is one of those unreached people groups," Hanson said. "There's a lot of Christians who minister to Mormons, but it seems like up until the past few years polygamy has been more of a circus freak show than a missions field, as far as Christians are concerned."
More common than outreaches to polygamists are ministries to the mainline Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS or Mormons), including the Mormonism Research Ministry (MRM) in Draper, led by Eric Johnson and Bill McKeever.
While the LDS church officially dropped the practice of polygamy in 1890 amid governmental pressure, the church still believes in polygamy in the afterlife, Johnson told BP.
"For instance, if a man's wife dies to whom he was sealed for time and eternity in one of the 161 LDS temples located around the world, then he has the ability to marry another woman, also for time and eternity, provided she was never married for eternity to another man," Johnson said. "If this happens, the man is sealed to two women, both of whom he expects to see in the celestial kingdom, which is the very best a Mormon can hope to attain and is associated with godhood of those individuals."
Hanson and Tewell estimate there are between 40,000 and 100,000 people living in polygamy in the Western U.S., Canada and Mexico, although numbers are difficult to confirm because of deep-rooted secrecy. Groups are in Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Washington State, Oregon, California, Canada and Mexico, Hanson said. Government documents might indicate polygamists have one wife, but concurrent unions are typically performed by sect leaders to avoid prosecution, the ministers told BP.
Fundamentalist Mormons believe men will inherit a planet of their own in heaven for every wife they have on earth, and will continue to be sexually active in heaven, fathering "spirit babies to populate their planets," Hanson said.
"I was raised in polygamy and the people today who are born and raised in polygamy, it's all they know, so it's not so weird to them."
Those needing help tend to find Hanson and Tewell through word of mouth.
"Their emotional state is zero hope," Tewell said. "They are told that outsiders are evil, and that they are condemned to hell. The women are told they are going to be used and raped within a week.
"That is the state with which we get these people," Tewell said. "Counseling is imperative for what we do, trauma counseling especially."
Tewell founded Holding Out Help after taking into her home a family that had fled polygamy.
"After serving that first family, it completely rocked our world in such a positive way," Tewell told BP. "We felt we're supposed to be believers in God. How can we turn our backs and say 'No, we're not going to start an organization, and no we're not going to help your family?'
"We just felt like God called us to that," Tewell said, "and what a privilege it is to be able to serve God in this way." Holding Out Help assists more than 600 women and children a year, and often has a waiting list. The ministry is accessible at holdingouthelp.org.
Each polygamous sect is different. But among FLDS women seeking help from Tewell, she said, 75 percent have suffered sexual abuse, they average a sixth-to eighth-grade education, 99 percent suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, 92 percent suffer emotional, religious or physical abuse, and 90 percent either have no insurance or are on Medicaid. The FLDS sect has fractured since Jeff's 2011 imprisonment but is still active.
Tewell places families and children in transitional housing, using donations and volunteers. Hope Church has helped the ministry with transitional housing and mentoring.
"We channel some of our resources and people to help make transitional homes a safe landing place for women and children that may be fleeing with nothing more than the clothes on their backs" pastor Heile told BP.
At A Shield and Refuge, Hanson's knowledge of salvation by grace is foundational to the ministry.
"I realized I had loved ones and many, many people who were still in the polygamy group ... and they were all depending on polygamy for their salvation," Hanson said. "God just laid it on my heart. I actually wanted to get on the housetops and just shout it. 'You don't have to do this.'
"If the polygamists could know this, there would be a lot of people who would reject polygamy," she said. "That's my purpose; bring them the Word of God."
Diana Chandler is Baptist Press' general assignment writer/editor. BP reports on missions, ministry and witness advanced through the Cooperative Program and on news related to Southern Baptists' concerns nationally and globally.
In the cases of Joseph Smith and Mad Mo, it was also about more pu$$y.
It’s been quite a while since the Mormon Wars on FR. Are the Flying Inmans still current?
Hope you don’t mind a joke I recently heard:
“Every man wants two wives! One to cook and one to clean!”
Same founding "prophets".
Same Book of Mormon and D&C.
Same occult temple ceremonies.
Same polygamy although FLDS is during this life and LDS is in the afterlife.
FLDS/LDS SAME SAMe SAME.
That is funny because it is based on truth :)
Mohamed, supposedly said, “Every man needed four wives.
One to cook,
One to clean,
One to bear children,
and one to beat up as an example to the others.”
Magic underwear placemarker
I miss the Viking Kitties - are they retired? I'm not Mormon, and I believe that they are basically an idol worshiping cult. I certainly don't want more wives - one has been more than enough. That said, I still can't find anywhere in God's Word that forbids polygamy. God certainly didn't punish Abraham for taking Hagar as a second wife. Jacob had 4 wives. David, "a man after God's own heart", had dozens of them - God only got angry at him when he committed adultery with a woman not his wife and had her husband killed - he then married her and their son became the next king with God's blessing. When Nathan confronts David God tells David that he would have given him more if all he had were not enough, implying that the multiple wives were God's gift. And Solomon, the wisest fool that ever lived, had hundreds. The Law includes provisions for dealing with multiple wives. Scripture certainly indicates the dangers of multiple wives, especially Solomon's pagan wives - but I don't see where it is declared sin.
The taking of many wives back in those days signified a treaty between tribes and nations.
When a new king took over, he also inherited the wives of the previous king as Absalom did with his father’s concubines, before he was killed. When David was old they found a young maid to be in bed with him to give him warmth. After Solomon took over, his brother Adonijah asked for her hand in marriage, and the people would see that Adonijah had a “wife” of David and would possibly look to him as King. That is why he was killed as it appeared he was trying to usurp the throne.
Many wives are trouble. That is why God only made Eve and not a dozen other for Adam.
If it is always unilateral - one man, multiple women - it is polygyny. Polygamy implies that polyandry is possible within the context.
Now; even the Powerful in Salt Lake City wants to ‘counter’ MORMON!!
https://www.google.com/search?q=lds+no+more+mormon&ie=&oe=
 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, ' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.' 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.' |
THE BOOK OF JACOB
THE BROTHER OF NEPHICHAPTER 224 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.
25 Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph.
26 Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old.
27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;
28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.
30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.
31 For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands.
32 And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.
Or even HERE:
1 Timothy 3:2-3
2. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3. not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.1 Timothy 3:12
A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well.Titus 1:6
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
THE
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS
OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTSSECTION 13251–57, Emma Smith is counseled (commanded) to be faithful and true; 58–66, Laws governing the plurality of wives are set forth.51 Verily, I say unto you: A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to aprove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice.52 And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, areceive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.53 For I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my voice; and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be made ruler over many things; for he hath been afaithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him.55 But if she will not abide this commandment, then shall my servant Joseph do all things for her, even as he hath said; and I will bless him and multiply him and give unto him an ahundredfold in this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and crowns of beternal lives in the eternal worlds.
(No; not the WATCHtower…)
58 Now, as touching the law of the apriesthood, there are many things pertaining thereunto.
59 Verily, if a man be called of my Father, as was aAaron, by mine own voice, and by the voice of him that bsent me, and I have endowed him with the ckeys of the power of this priesthood, if he do anything in my name, and according to my law and by my word, he will not commit dsin, and I will justify him.
60 Let no one, therefore, set on my servant Joseph; for I will justify him; for he shall do the sacrifice which I require at his hands for his transgressions, saith the Lord your God.
61 And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood: "if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse aanother, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else.
62 And if he have aten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.
63 But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to amultiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be bglorified.
64 And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, if any man have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches unto her the law of my priesthood, as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God; for I will destroy her; for I will magnify my name upon all those who receive and abide in my law.
65 Therefore, it shall be lawful in me, if she receive not this law, for him to receive all things whatsoever I, the Lord his God, will give unto him, because she did not believe and administer unto him according to my word; and she then becomes the transgressor; and he is exempt from the law of Sarah, who administered unto Abraham according to the law when I commanded Abraham to take aHagar to wife.
66 And now, as pertaining to this law, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will reveal more unto you, hereafter; therefore, let this suffice for the present. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega. Amen.
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