To claim to be a Christian - and more especially a Bible-believing Christian - and to reject any part of His Word, the Bible, is to reject not only the Bible but the author of the Bible also. That is not, however, to say that Yahweh does not show grace to the man who is struggling with difficult Biblical principles in order to reach an understanding and heart-acceptance of all that He has declared. Yahweh is merciful. However, I do believe that one who names the Name of Christ and declares His felicity to the Word of Elohim (God) is expected to do certain things even if his or her heart continues to struggle.
I will be perfectly frank. I have had enormous heart-struggles with many biblical principles. It has not always been easy for me to accept Elohim's (God's) Word with all my soul. There have been times when I have tried to rationalise away uncomfortable parts of the Word by questioning the integrity of the Word itself - "Maybe the writer got it wrong", or "maybe the writer was coloured by his own beliefs and prejudices", etc.. I'm sure you've heard that sentiment expressed both by yourself and by others.
There was a time in my life when I took such a position and this led me into a very subjective view of the Gospel. In the end I discovered that I started rationalising away anything and everything that did not 'suit' me. It undermined my faith to such a point that I wasn't sure what was, and what was not, reliable in Elohim's (God's) Word, and it was not long before I was, albeit unconsciously, placing myself as a judge of Yahweh Himself. Such an approach to the Bible leads first to liberalism and then, untimately, to unbelief.
The mind is a trickster and the heart deceptive. We are not competent judges in the ultimate sense of what is, or what is not, truth. We know (or ought to know) that we are fallen beings with, as Paul reminded us, a "defiled conscience" (Titus 1:15) - what may feel right need not necessarily be so. The moment we set ourselves up as arbiters and judges of truth in the ultimate sense, we set ourselves up for a fall.
Were it possible for man to know truth, Yahweh would not have left us a written record in the first place. That is not to say that we cannot have that 'inner knowing' of truth, but it is to say that our conscience must bear witness IN the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) (Romans 9:1), which begs another question: How do we know we are 'in the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit)'?
Yahweh has plainly stated that those who have received the Law (Bible) are to be judged by that law and shall judge by that Law - but those without Law shall be judged by their consciences, defiled though they may be (Romans 2:14-15). What this means essentially is this: Yahweh is merciful and will judge those without the Bible according to their consciences BUT this does not mean that their consciences are necessarily leading them into the truth. The evidence of those who do not use the Bible as a rule of thumb should be evidence enough of this. At the same time, Yahweh has warned us not to interpret the Bible without the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) - the number of people who accept the Bible but mutilate its meaning is evidence that the Bible alone is not enough either, save where it speaks so plainly as not to be misunderstood.
Yahweh would not speak of the authority of His Word were it not reliable. Whether we understand how He transmitted it to fallible apostles and prophets or not is beside the point, for we are not allowed to distort this Word (2 Cor.4:2). More importantly, when it comes to judging with our mind and feelings, we must be absolutely sure our conscience is being purified by the blood of Christ through a daily walk of discipleship, that is, in obedience to His commandments or Torah (Heb.9:14). How can we know whether we are walking in an undefiled conscience? Simply, as we read the Word of Yahweh in faith, reflecting on our own spiritual walk, we are no longer condemned by the Word and are free of guilt (Hebrews 10:2,22). This means total honesty in our approach to His Word (Heb.13:18) which will ultimately lead to a clear conscience (1 Peter 3:16,21).
I think honesty is the key word here. How honest are you when a cherished opinion or belief is contradicted by Elohim's (God's) Word? What do you do - try to massage Elohim's (God's) Word to fit in with your pre-conceived doctrine or repent by altering your doctrine to fit in with Elohim's (God's) Word? These are not questions to be treated lightly.
If you are honest with yourself and are prepared to make a thorough study of the Bible, you will nowhere find the doctrine of polygamy condemned in either the Old or New Testaments. To the contrary - you will find the doctrine sustained everywhere and you will even find Yahweh the Father and Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) represented as allegorical polygamists, an unthinkable thing were this doctrine and practice to be impure, heretical, adulterous or blasphemous. Polygamy is defended and its practice codified in the Torah. The Law was scrupulously upheld by Christ and the Apostles. Christ said that He had not come to do away with the Torah but to bring it to completion. He even said that not one single letter of it would pass away until heaven and earth passed away.
To attack polygamy you must rip out the greater part of your Bible. And once you have ripped out every page connected in some way with polygamy you will find that you have no Bible left at all. It is so thoroughly saturated in polygamy as a lifestyle and as a spiritual pattern for relationships between man and woman, and beween mankind and Elohim (God), that to attempt to excise it from Elohim's (God's) Word would be akin to trying to surgically remove every organ of the human body and hoping against hope that the body will continue living.
Now of course there are plenty of disasterous polygamous marriages in the Bible and not a few unhappy people living the principle, but that does not mean that the principle itself is wrong, any more than monogamy is wrong because in the Western World 30-50% of monogamous marriages are an utter failure. The problem is not with the principle but with fallen man who in his unredeemed and unrepentant self tries to do things his way instead of Yahweh's. Take celibate, monogamous and polygamous men and you will find devils living all of these lifestyles. Attempts to pin cultism on polygamy always backfires because cultists may be celibate and monogamous also. What the honest Christian should be doing is asking himself: "What are godly principles according to the Word? Why do men fail to live them properly?" What he should not be doing is looking at the human condition and blaming godly principles for the errors of men.
The New Testament, as we all know, warns of false prophets and antichrists in the last days. Interestingly, Yahweh singles out TWO unlikely areas that will characterise this latter-day apostacy. Let's take a look at this key passage:
"Now the Ruach (Spirit) expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith by giving head to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, who FORBID MARRIAGE and enjoin abstinence from certain foods which Elohim (God) created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by Elohim (God) is good, and nothing is to be rejected if its is received with thanksgiving; for then it is consecrated by the word of Elohim (God) and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:1-4).
Now let's be quite clear about this: Yahweh pronounces as "doctrines of demons" those who forbid marriage or abstinence from certain kinds of foods. This passage, traditionally seen through monogamist lenses, assumes that this is solely a reference to the celibacy of the Roman Catholic clergy and of monks and nuns, but seen through the lenses of the WHOLE WORD OF ELOHIM (GOD) it is plain that forbidding polygamy comes under the category of "forbidding marriage" which Yahweh has said should be "received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth", for everything created by Yahweh is GOOD.
Marriage - monogamy and polygamy - is declared throughout the Bible to be "good" and is protected in LAW. It is to be received with thanksgiving.
Now this stands in sharp contrast to those who REJECT Holy Matrimony for the Lord God of Heaven, Yahweh Elohim, has declared in all soberness that those who forbid marriage - monogamous or polygamous - have "departed from the faith" because they are listening to "deceitful spirits" and "doctrines of DEMONS". This is no joking matter, my friend, because those who forbid polygamy in the Name of Elohim (God) or Yah'shua (Jesus) are under the influence of DEMONS and have "seared consciences".
The anti-polygamist is NOT under the anointing of the Spirit of Elohim (God). He is an ENEMY of Yahweh because he is declaring that which is holy to be unholy and is rejecting that which should be "received with thanksagiving by those who believe and know the truth". Such a person is not pure - he or she is defiled and is in danger of the judgment for the truth is not in him.
Do not judge me - but judge the Word of Elohim (God), rightly dividing it. Look at the Word of Elohim (God) with OPEN EYES and with INTEGRITY OF SOUL. You cannot go wrong if you do this. I am not saying that you should run off and become a polygamist because that may well not be your calling from Yahweh. What I am most emphatically saying is DO NOT JUDGE THE WORD OF ELOHIM (GOD)!
I wish to reiterate - though I have said it many times before - that Christian polygamists are not anti-monogamist. Monogamy and polygamy are one and the same thing, the latter merely being the next stage of development of marriage for those called into it. You cannot be a polygamist without having been a monogamist. The two are not aliens to one another, or enemies. But it would be true to say that there are two types of monogamy.
Firstly, there is what I will call 'secular monogamy' and 'divine monogamy'. Secular monogamy rejects polygamy and, more often than not, the proper relationship between husband and wife. It declares them to be functionally equal and blurs the assigned rôles and divine differences between them. Divine monogamy accepts polygamy as godly for those called into it, and accepts the proper relationship between husband and wife. It accepts that man and woman are functionally different with different callings and rôles. In short, Divine Monogamy is Patriarchal Monogamy.
Having said this, I must add a qualifying remark about 'Patriarchal Monogamy', for in truth there are two, one of which is divine and other of which is carnal. Carnal 'Patriarchal' Monogamy is that type of monogamous relationship where the husband is an unloving, bullying, suppressing tyrant. Divine Patriarchal Monogamy is that type of monogamous relationship where the husband is loving, patient, kind and godly in every respect. Making that distinction is most important, for the same distinction exists in polygamy too, there being false as well as true polygamy.
It is necessary to make these qualifications because, as we know, there is always a counterfeit of every divine principle. Satan will counterfeit a true principle in order to fuel hatred against it.
There are no anti-polygamists in the Kingdom of Heaven. The fact that only a tiny minority of Christianity accepts it today does not make it wrong. Remember that only 8 souls amongst billions were righteous in the days of Noah, and that Christ said that the last days would be like the days of Noah (Matt.24:37). The majority need not necessarily be right, and in the last days they will be definitely wrong.
People naturally feel comfortable when they think and act as the majority. However, the Gospel of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) is not about being 'comfortable' but about being right, that is, RIGHTEOUS.
True Christians/Messianics are going to be in a tiny minority even amongst fellow 'Christians' and 'Messianics' until Christ returns, and have been for a very long time. Though Yahweh is long-suffering and patient, and will work wherever the Name of Christ is being proclaimed in faith, the time is now coming, and may well have started, when judgment must come to the House of Elohim (God). Demons have infiltrated the Christian Church/Messianic Community since the beginning, and not only in the area of marriage and diet - there has been a massive invasion by dark powers this last century in the 'Faith Movement' which has utterly perverted the truth.
We, in the Chavurat Bekorot, are looking for those who are 'comfortable' about being 'uncomfortable' in both the world and in fallen Christianity/Messianism, who love the Word of Elohim (God) with all their hearts and wish to obey it completely, who can truthfully say, my "delight is in the Torah (Law) of Yahweh" (Psalm 1:2) and who love Yahweh and His set-apart Messiah (Christ) with their whole might, mind and strength. We are building arks of righteousness as in the days of Noah - little rural cooperative settlements throught the world where the Gospel Life may be lived unimpeded by the mass apostacy all around. If your heart yearns after these things, please get in contact with us.
Author: SBSK
