We posted the following article in 2015, but they still haven’t denounced this idolatrous teaching!
If you’re LDS, is this what you expect from your leaders?
Daily Journal of Abraham H. Cannon, April 15, 1894, v. 18, p. 70; “Father [George Q. Cannon] now spoke of the unfortunate condition of the people at present in regard to marriage…. ‘I believe in concubinage, or some plan whereby men and women can live together under sacred ordinances and vows until they can be married…. such a condition would have to be kept secret, until the laws of our government change to permit the holy order of wedlock which God has revealed, which will undoubtedly occur at no distant day, in order to correct the social evil….’
– Pres. Snow. ‘I have no doubt but concubinage will yet be practiced in this church, but I had not thought of it in this connection. When the nations are troubled good women will come here for safety and blessing, and men will accept them as concubines.’
– Pres. Woodruff: ‘If men enter into some practice of this character to raise a righteous posterity, they will be justified in it…’”
Hebrews 13:4; “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
Before I knew the Lord I was quick to judge anyone who didn’t live up to my self-imposed standards which not surprisingly, didn’t match up with God’s standards.
Today I see LDS documents like this one and my heart just grieves. It grieves for the unbelievably raunchy mindset these men had let themselves be dragged into. It grieves for the kids they raise who will think like their fathers in the years to come.
Mostly my heart grieves for the Lord, and what He must think.
Their behavior and mindset is deplorable of this there’s no doubt, but for today pray for those who will follow in their footsteps. Pray the Holy Spirit puts a wall around them spiritually that’ll prevent them from condoning this behavior.
With Love in Christ;
Michelle
Concubiage??? Is that a word? (Auto correct didn’t recognize it.
What if a female marries after divorce or her husband passes away. Will she have 2 or more husbands. And who will the children be with or is it like a blended family situation. I don’t think God’s plan is that complicated.
YIKES!
Exactly! This is one of the main things I started giving serious thought to just a few weeks before my exodus. Mind you, there had already been a few yrs of serious investigating, and before that many, many thoughts of ‘how does that work’scenarios. My parents were divorced, both their parents were divorced, etc., you get the picture I’m sure.
We pray they stop and think these things through!
Unfortunately, most Mormons will never see this quote. The church leaders are very careful to hide certain truths from the members, otherwise, those truths will cause a huge crisis in faith for millions of the faithful.”And you should know the truth and the truth shall make you free”(John 8:32). So, what is the truth” Jesus said that he is the way, the TRUTH and the life and that no man come unto God except through him (John 14:6)
Yeah, unfortunately they probably won’t🙁. But for those dear sisters who do read this…I hope it offends you. I sure wouldn’t want to be referred as a concubine.
Amen, amen, amen! And another hearty amen to the insight that most Mormons won’t know about this quote. That’s one of the reasons I post these things because the Church won’t. I know I had no idea about the dark underbelly of my beloved church as an active member. It’s wrong they do this – and I have to ask…would Jesus do this?
Yeah, they probably won’t. But, for you dear sisters who do read this post, you should be offended. I certainly wouldn’t want to be referred to as a concubine.
But God allows for both polygyny and concubines in Scripture. No prohibition on either of them.
Murder, adultery, idolatry, and every other sin known to man is mentioned in the Bible. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay because it’s in the Bible.
🙂
But those things are clearly forbidden and never once allowed.
Whereas polygyny is clearly allowed and NEVER forbidden. He provides instructions on how to do it. He never provides instructions on how to carry out sin.
Actually, the Bible goes on and on about these things – Leviticus 18:18 & Deut 17:17 are great places to find where God told men not to marry their wive’s sisters, and don’t multiply wives unto yourself. Moreover, the Bible also tells us that Solomon’s heart was turned away from God for multiplying wives to himself. Deut 28:66 tells us the penalty for Israel’s sin is a curse from God wherein they had no assurance for their lives. Ironically, this is where Mormons find themselves today.
If that isn’t enough, we live in the age of grace. The NT tells us bishops aren’t to have more than one wife is a good example of how God demanded a more holy life of believers.
I’ve had people in the body of Christ try to tell me that God condoned polygamy in the OT era. That’s just not true. When did He ever say, ‘Hey go get yourself another woman for the bedroom’? If you can find anything like that in His word, I’ll publicly apologize and write an article on how God wanted men to have lots of wives. God allowed people to do such things but there was always a price to pay. One only has to look at David’s fiasco with Bathsheba and Uriah, or Abraham with Sarah and Hagar.
There’s not one good example in the OT where polygamy fulfilled God’s promises, but in fact always caused more harm than good.
Leviticus 18:18 ONLY refers to marrying two sisters in order to vex the one you married first. (And note that it doesn’t forbid it altogether – ONLY if you’re vexing the sister you married first.)
Deuteronomy 17:16-17 ONLY applies to kings – and in context, the phrase “do not multiply” clearly doesn’t mean “you’re only allowed one” (It says “do not multiply horses” [how many royal chariots only had one horse?] and “do not multiply silver and gold” [was a king only allowed one piece of each?].
Solomon didn’t fall away because of taking multiple wives – he fell away because of the TYPE of wives he took (mostly pagans).
As for bishops: A) that’s only for bishops; B) the word for “one” doesn’t just mean “one”. Go look it up.
God chose to found His people through polygamy. The author of His Law, the most humble man in history, was a polygamist.
There is nothing against polygamy in Scripture. We are given instructions on how to do it, and clearly allowed to.
Why isn’t that good enough?
so if you’d like to advocate polygamy you’ll need to go elsewhere. It’s strange…in the 25+ yrs I’ve been in ministry those who argue for the idea God didn’t care about the polygamy issue – they’re male. If/when a female argues for it, they’re Mormon.
And FYI, please keep comments to 250 words or less for future posts. When replying to another blogger (see below) it’s much too long.
We love to dialogue and discuss different opinions don’t get us wrong!
Just wondering what the fascination is all about with condoning multiple sex partners.
The Hebrew word echad is a good word study. It shows up when Jesus said a man shall leave his mother and father and be united with his WIFE and they shall become one flesh. The same idea/word shows up in Genesis 2:22-24.
You can argue that Paul was speaking only about bishops and no one else, but Jesus sure didn’t see it that way.
In Christ,
Life After Ministries
This is at least the second time now I’ve seen you reference what Jesus said, without actually saying what that was. What did He say?
And who are you to declare evil what God permitted?
FYI my family and I are not only non-Mormon but anti-Mormon. And it was my Mum who first realised that the Bible is very pro-polygamy.
(I’m not saying “My Mum said so, so it’s true”; I’m saying that it’s not merely Mormon women – or women influenced by a polygamous husband – who advocate multiple wives.)
If your mom sees God approving polygamy in the Bible, then she is reading her own ideas into it.
Just because there was no specific forbidding by God, it was plain from the beginning that He planned one wife; he didn’t give Adam more than one. He permitted polygamy just as he permitted divorce — because of the hardness of men’s hearts. His Instructions about polygamy were to protect the women, as were His instructions about divorce. The message is plain throughout Scripture — ONE wife. More than one always led to trouble.
While some passages are specifically addressed to certain leaders, it is clear that it is to be the standard, since leaders were to be seen as role models. When you combine those passages with other regarding marriage (as I did in my article), it clearly shows God’s intent for marriage.
Your twisted interpretation of Scripture I just that — eisegesis. You read into it what you want to read into it so as to justify Smith’s serial adultery and his lies about God commanding polygamy.
Allowing isn’t the same as approval. There is plenty of evidence that God’s will for marriage is one man and one woman.
https://watchmanvlds.blogspot.com/2014/10/gods-view-of-polygamy.html
Amen, and even Jesus said as much. 🙂
2 And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
3 And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
(2 Chronicles 24:2-3 KJV)
So, Joash’s having two wives was “that which was right in the sight of the Lord”.
8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
(2 Samuel 12:8 KJV)
So, God gave David his many wives AND was willing to give him more had he only asked.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
(Genesis 2:24 KJV)
That passage was written by a polygamist (Numbers 12:2). Some will try to argue that Moses’ Ethiopian wife was really Zipporah (never mind that she’s Midianite) or point out that it’s simply never mentioned whether or not Zipporah was still alive at this point. This is, of course, based on the assumption that the Ethiopian was Moses’ second wife. Josephus reveals her to have been his first – making Zipporah his second (and polygamous) wife.
1 Corinthians 6:16 demonstrates that “one flesh” applies to ANY sexual act (whether married to the sexual partner, to someone else, or to no-one). Even if one has two wives/partners, the man is individually “one flesh” with each of them. There’s no marriage between the sister wives – they’re not “one flesh” with each other, they’re separately “one flesh” with the husband.
16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
(Deuteronomy 17:16-17 KJV)
First of all, this passage only applies to kings. Second of all, it’s highly unlikely that it’s mandating royal monogamy. For one, God said that He was more than willing to give David more wives. For another, in the same verses, God also forbids a king for multiplying horses, silver and gold. Was a king only allowed one piece of silver and one piece of gold? And realistically, how many royal chariots were pulled by just one horse?
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
(1 Timothy 3:2, 12 KJV)
5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
(Titus 1:5-6 KJV)
First of all, this is ONLY referring to bishops and deacons. Second of all, “one wife” isn’t the only possible translation. The Greek word also means “a” or “first”, etc. (“Husband of a wife” [simply meaning: “be married”] or “Husband of his first wife”, etc).
It ultimately boils down to: He allows it, and gives instructions on how to carry it out. So why do we call it sin, when He never did?
Having more than one (1) wife is not only wrong, it is adultery. Think about it through the eyes of common sense. A man is married and he decides that he wants to have more than one wife. As a guy, I can tell you with 90% certainty, that a lustful spirit is involved. First thing this man is going to do is look around for a second, third tenth or twentieth wife. What is this man gonna look for, first and foremost? Come on, guys, you know the answer to that. What did Jesus say about that particular scenario where a married man goes out shopping for more wives? (Read Matthew 5:27,28)
And for the dear sisters that might be seduced into plural marriage by some guy that can cite a couple of scriptures to justify his own lust: “Not giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” (1 Timothy 4:1)
Right on soldiermp and Glen…to be considered a concubine is not a respectful term. People shouldn’t have to take 2ND, 3RD, 8th, place etc…in a marriage. God wants so much better for us. I can’t think of anyone who would want their daughter to be a concubine.