The evening of Wednesday 8 August 2001 was a 'battle royal' for my Christian Polygamy Chat Room when two very sincere and passionate Christian ladies took it upon themselves to stand in the breach, as they supposed, and defend Monogamy-Onlyism (MO) with bloodied swords in hand. For about 1˝ hours they pursued an aggressive attack, in typical MO fashion, attacking the integrity of my person, that of my husband (neither of whom they had ever met), and ignoring practically everything I said about polygamy from the Bible, accusing me, in typical MO fashion again, of 'twisting the Scriptures'. One of them repeatedly called me to repentance, said I would suffer horribly at the Judgment Bar, and attempted to cast Satan out of the room. She defended her actions by claiming to be a blood-bought believer as though that gave her the licenece to ignore the Scriptures and to condemn Yahweh in that which He has sanctioned and blessed.
The spirit in the room got distinctly ugly and one of the chatters (a single man) PM'ed me and said he detected demons enter the room. And he was right - they were present, just a Paul prophesied in 1 Timothy 4:1-4:
"Now the 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".
I know this scripture had direct application to the discussion at hand because this woman, who called herself 'Lady', tried to portray my husband in a way that made him completely unrecognisable. The man in 'Lady's' mind simply wasn't remotely the man whom I am married to simply because she was under the control of a spirit bent on character assassination and slurr.
The devil's tactics are not very imaginative and even though 'Lady' and Pastor Hud have probably never met, she used exactly the same tactics as this rather nasty man did, trying to find out my age with the sole purpose of portraying Stanisław as a 'dirty old man'. It didn't come to that because I refused to indulge the evil spirit that lay behind her question, but I knew it was coming, as did several other sympathisers in the room.
'Lady' left and returned to the chat room at least three times, probably with a seared conscience (1 Timothy 4:2). Her vitriolic condemnation, far from winning her support, actually created sympathy for me. One lady, who entered the room hostile to polygamy but at least willing to learn left declaring that she never knew that such love existed. And whilst she still had problems with the whole idea of polygamy admitted that she could see that I was happy and that it could work the way I claimed it did.
The great tragedy of the polygamy controversy is that it turns otherwise good Christians/Messianics into devils when they reject Elohim's (God's) Word and blaspheme the Name of the Creator. They come with good and, as they suppose, honourable intentions, and end up the pawns of Satan. All decency and logic departs from them in one fell swoop as the Holy Spirit departs and the anti-polygamy demon takes over.
"By their fruits ye shall know them".
There was one amusing incident that is worth repeating. I got into a discussion with 'Lady' over the meaning of 1 Corinthians 7:2 which she used as a proof text for MO. I pointed out to her Stanisław's analysis of this passage which shows that gune (wife/wives) it may be translated
in the sigular or the plural, the context usually revealing which. In this passage, though, it was impossible to tell what the author had in mind, the only indication being the general revelation on polygamy throughout scripture. I pointed out that there was statistically a 60 per cent chance that it was "wives" and 40 per cent "wife", given the usage in the New Tesatament.
Well, 'Lady' wasn't reading what I had said at all but contented herself with yelling at me in big letters calling me to repent and saying that I was of the devil. Every now and then she kept on inserting the KJV translation of 1 Corinthians 7:2 as though by rubbing this particular rendition somehow made it true. Unfortunately for 'Lady' she accidentally cut-and-pasted Stanisław's revised KJV translation which reads:
"Nevertheless, [to avoid] fornication, let every man have his own wives, and let every woman have her own husband."
My good friend John, who was in the chat room, kept teasing 'Lady' by asking her what the problem was, since we wholeheartedly agreed with her. 'Lady', who was by this time completely emotionally derailed, started accusing John of being a liar, and simply could not see what she had done!
I have never before come across such a graphic illustration of spiritual blindness riding the waves of estrogen:
"But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes" (1 John 2:11, NKJV).
I see so much more clearly what Stanisław means when he says that the doctrine of polygamy has been reserved for the last days to see who will follow Christ in all things and who will not. I do feel pity for 'Lady' and others like her because it isn't entirely her fault - she is the victim of 1,300 years of Roman Catholic and Protestant brainwashing. The Gospel she has been taught is a Greco-Roman cultural variation of the original, deeply impregnated with neo-Platonic and Augustinian philosophy. In truth, anti-polygamism is only one facet of the Great Apostacy in Christendom, but what makes it so special is that it is a kind of lynch-pin, connecting with all the other truths that the Catholic neo-pagans have rejected. For to be reunited with the truth of polygamy you have to connect with the faith of the early Patriarchs who were sabbatarian and obedient followers of the Most High, Yahweh-Elohim, in all things.
But for most of my friends and guests last night in the Yahoo Chat Room what was most painfully obvious was the complete lack of love on the part of the MO's. Failing to make any sort of scriptural point, they then resorted to mockery and belittling. And mockery is the spirit of anti-Christ (Mark 10:34; Matthew 20:19; Luke 14:29).
There are, in the polygamy debate, three types of Christians/Messianics:
- (a) Those who accept the truth of Elohim's (God's) Word and rejoice;
- (b) Those who are neutral, prefering to reserve judgment until they have checked it out properly, and in the meantime treating polygamists with respect; and
- (c) Those who are filled with the spirit of hatred, mockery and reviling, who reject polygamy out of hand and who condemn polygamists in the name of their god.
The bitterest irony is that they believe they are showing love and doing Elohim (God) a service:
"These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers Elohim (God) service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me" (John 16:1-3, NKJV).
Steered by the demon of anti-polygamy, these well-intentioned but deceived men and women like Pastor Hud and Lady, aggressively attack polygamists as though they were the scum of the earth bringing pollution and corruption into the Body of Christ as well as bringing Christians/Messianics a bad name. And yet, because they are so blinded by the god of this world, they are unable to see that the great model of the Redeemed Body of Christ is a polygamous bride (the saints) united in an allegorical marriage to Yah'shua (Jesus)! They are polygamists themselves without realising it!
I have a parting thought for 'Lady' and others who may be like her. If I'm really out of the way and on the path that leads away from eternal life, the only way I am going to be persuaded that I am wrong is:
- (a) If I am shown clearly what the Word says, and
- (b) If I am treated with love and respect.
I was shown neither by 'Lady'. Indeed, she treated me like a Tramp. Or, as one observer pointed out, 'Lady' did everything she could do to 'trash' me.
There are some types of 'Christian' who are only too eager to consign those who upset their precarious doctrinal applecarts to hell. They aren't so much interested in saving lost souls as in saving their pagan traditions which suit them better than the truth. They make the Word of Elohim (God) of no effect through their time-honoured traditions (Mark 7:9,13), transgressing the commandments (Matthew 15:3). Such people Christ calls hypocrites (Matthew 15:6) and compares them to the same class of people who lived in Isaiah's time (Isaiah 29:3).
As Christians/Messiancs we are forced to either accept the 'tradition of the apostles' or the 'tradition of the [Catholic/Protestant] Elders'. If we follow the latter by, amongst other things, rejecting polygamy and condemning it as anti-God, then we end up violating the Torah (Law) and placing a curse on ourselves. And woe unto those who do that! For they won't have any peace of conscience. And whenever the polygamy issue confronts them, they reflexly explode into rage and foul language, proving that the love of Elohim (God) is not in them, but the hatred of demons.
I've had some pretty awful things said about me, my husband, and my sister-wives by the likes of Hud and Lady - hurtful things which no tender-hearted Christian/Messianic would ever stoop so low to say. But I forgive them because I know they do not know what they are saying and are in truth under demonic bondage. And even the unbelievers know just by looking at these people who is giving Elohim (God) a bad name and who is honouring Him.
It is so sad that the MO's can only look upon Christian/Messianic polygamist men as lusty harem owners and their wives the victims of oppression. 'Lady' tried to make me look a fool when I told her that my husband was the Pastor of our Assembly/Church, as though that in some way disqualified me from coming to my own independent conclusions. Our Pastor isn't, in any case, a dictator and is subject to the Word. And besides (as if that mattered anyway), he is in subjection to a Bishop who is a monogamist!
My prayer is that 'Lady' can find peace and love in her heart. She could surely do with it. And I for one wouldn't want to be in her present shoes for all the tea in China. What a nightmare it must be to be out of harmony with Elohim's (God's) Word, trying to prop up false doctrines for all your life is worth. And she is trying to prop up a false doctrine, let no-one be in any doubt on the matter.
Grace and peace to everyone. Amen.
Authors: SBSK, KMK
