If you would like to simply read the formal letter from the Tidwell Family to the Anglican Church, as well as their response, click here.
Following the death of the Lord Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew 27:52-53 records an astonishing account wherein numerous Saints resurrected from their tombs, walked into the holy city of Jerusalem, and evidently lived for some time thereafter making proclamation of the Messiah.
The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the Saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
Matthew 27:52-53
Consequently some, after having witnessed the resurrected Saints, later began to declare the resurrection had already occurred and everyone left was doomed to destruction (2 Tim 2:18). This led to the Apostle Paul reassuring the church in Thessalonica that the Day of the Lord had not yet come, and would not come until the Antichrist “opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Thess 2:1-12). In summary, this astonishing event shook the first century witnesses to the core, leading many to realize “truly this was the Son of God!” (Matt 27:54).
Imagine, if you will, if the same event occurred today–many of the Saints we read of in the Holy Scriptures were raised and walked into our churches to participate in the worship services. Would they be welcome to attend, moreover, to preach the Scriptures they were chosen to write? Many would hastily answer “Yes, of course!” in the same specious manner the Jews declared of the slain Prophets “if we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets” (Matt 23:30). However, would the majority answer remain “Yes” if these plurally married Saints walked in alongside their risen wives?
If David walked into your church with his lawful wives (2 Sam 5:13, 1 Kings 15:5), would he be permitted to teach the very Psalms he wrote?
If your answer is “No” due to Paul’s Eldership requirement outlines written to Timothy and Titus, please read “The Mias & Heis Saga” as I address this misguided inference directly. In summary, to conclude the Apostle Paul’s letters therein disqualified the authors of Scripture from clerical participation in the Church of Jesus Christ is not only a tremendous hermeneutic failure, but a refusal to acknowledge the consistency of prophetic ministry–The prophets of the Old Testament era remain prophets in the New Testament era, they are not disqualified on the basis of their polygynous unions; David serves as Prophet to the Christian in equal measure as he did to the ancient Israelite.
The Patriarchs, Adulterers?
Among the blessed lineage of our Lord Jesus the Christ are 7 men who lived out their lives as polygamists–Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, & Josiah (Matt 1:1-17). Although Hebrews 13:4 perspicuously states “fornicators and adulterers God will judge,” these men were curiously never rebuked by our Heavenly Father, nor His servants the Prophets, for their having several wives simultaneously. Furthermore, not only did the ecclesiastical class not chastise the plurally married, they instead presided over their unions with God’s blessing. In the case of Joash, the High Priest Jehoiada hand selected two wives for the young king, a divine decision determined by Scripture to be “right in the sight of the Lord” (2 Chron 24:2-3). Nevertheless, the godly men of Scripture were indeed rebuked when committing adultery by taking another man’s wife (2 Sam 12:7-9), or taking foreign unbelieving wives (Neh 13:26), but never were they reprimanded for lawfully wedding two or more Hebrew women. In fact, 1 Kings 15:5 affirms David did not sin when taking multiple wives, but only “in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”
Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he became the father of sons and daughters.
2 Chronicles 24:2-3
It is evident therefore that these men willfully, without repentance, and in accordance with the Law of God (e.g. Ex 21:10, Deut 21:15-17), lived out their days practicing polygyny. In light of this, the matter must be settled–are these men condemned alongside unrepentant homosexuals and prostitutes due to being incontinent and insouciant adulterers (1 Cor 6:9-10), or are they irreproachable servants of the Most High who committed no sin when being lawful husbands to multiple wives?
because David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
1 Kings 15:5
The respected Christian Poet, Protestant Theologian, and Political Reformer, John Milton, author of the renowned epic Paradise Lost, answers the question posed above in his 17th century treatise De Doctrina Christiana:
Lastly, I argue as follows from Heb. xiii. 4. Polygamy is either marriage, or fornication, or adultery; the apostle recognizes no fourth state. Reverence for so many patriarchs who were polygamists will, I trust, deter any one from considering it as fornication or adultery; for whoremongers and adulterers God will judge; whereas the patriarchs were the objects of his especial favour, as he himself witnesses. If then polygamy be marriage properly so called, it is also lawful and honourable, according to the same apostle: marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled.
A Treatise on Christian Doctrine, CH. 10, P.241
As Mr. Milton argues, the Patriarchs are not regarded as perpetual fornicators nor adulterers but as legitimate husbands to several women of God who faithfully served the Lord by bearing children in accordance with the commandments (Gen 1:28, Mal 2:15, 1 Tim 2:15, 5:14). He reinforces this conclusion by reminding the reader that the Law of God, namely Deuteronomy 23:2, prohibits illegitimate children from participating in the congregation of the Lord (e.g. Ezra 10:3). Therein the argument culminates, if the children of plural marriage be spurious then the offspring of Jacob have no lawful right to be members of Israel; an absurd paradox inferred on the basis of prejudice rather than jurisprudence.
In the definition which I have given, I have not said, in compliance with the common opinion, of one man with one woman, lest I should by implication charge the holy patriarchs and pillars of our faith, Abraham, and the others who had more than one wife at the same time, with habitual fornication and adultery; and lest I should be forced to exclude from the sanctuary of God as spurious, the holy offspring which sprang from them, yea, the whole of the sons of Israel, for whom the sanctuary itself was made. For it is said, Deut. xxiii. 2. a bastard shall not enter into the congregation of Jehovah, even to his tenth generation.
Either therefore polygamy is a true marriage, or all children born in that state are spurious; which would include the whole race of Jacob, the twelve holy tribes chosen by God. But as such an assertion would be absurd in the extreme, not to say impious, and as it is the height of injustice, as well as an example of most dangerous tendency in religion, to account as sin what is not such in reality; it appears to me, that, so far from the question respecting the lawfulness of polygamy being a trivial, it is of the highest importance that it should be decided.
A Treatise on Christian Doctrine, ch 10, P.231
This inference is effortlessly reached once one is enlightened to the fact that God the Father readily identified as being Himself married to both Israel and Judah simultaneously in Jeremiah 3:6-10. You read that right, our Father in Heaven depicts Himself as a Holy Polygamist serving His two unfaithful wives their deserved certificates of divorce due to their spiritual adulteries. Did you learn that in Seminary? Furthermore, when prophetically introducing mankind to the impending New Covenant, the Lord again alludes to His plural marriage being a “covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them” (Jer 31:32).
Attendance Denied
The primary purpose of this article is not to provide a comprehensive defense of polygyny, that has already been done in my article “On Plural Marriage,” but rather to ask the question “can a devout Christian family merely attend worship services at an evangelical church?” The knee-jerk answer is a resounding “NO,” but is that the Spirit-led answer? Suppose the 7 honored polygamists included in the Messiah’s bloodline walked into church with their wives, would they be turned away? Sorry Solomon, we’re reading Proverbs, but you’re not welcome to hear it.
Let’s consider also the potential attendance of plurally married Muslim converts in our congregations. Today there are nearly 2 billion Muslims on Earth who, apart from substantial evangelism efforts or increased procreation among Believers, are presently projected to begin outnumbering Christians worldwide by 2050. Moreover, the Quran permits a Muslim man to have up to four wives simultaneously in Surah An-Nisa 3 which states “If you fear you might fail to give orphan women their ˹due˺ rights ˹if you were to marry them˺, then marry other women of your choice—two, three, or four. But if you are afraid you will fail to maintain justice, then ˹content yourselves with˺ one or those ˹bondwomen˺ in your possession.”
Therefore, as Muslims increasingly emigrate to the United States and European nations with intent to conquer the West by means of procreation, there are only two solutions available to the Church in order to combat the impending threat of Islamic takeover of Western Civilization:
- Christians actively proselytize practicing Muslims by proving Christ is no mere Prophet but Lord, Savior, and God incarnate (Isaiah 9:6). Assuming our success in this endeavor, we will subsequently be faced with the fact that a certain percentage of former Muslim families will be plural, having several wives and many children. What will be our protocol for these families who seek to attend our evangelical churches?
The early Church existed when polygyny was often practiced by many people groups, not the least of which being the Jewish people themselves. In the first century, the renowned Jewish historian Josephus indicated the practice remained common among his kinsmen, stating “it is our ancestral custom that a man have several wives at the same time” (Ant. 17.14; J.W. 1.477). Taking this into account, why is there no protocol for separating these converted men from their wives and children in the New Testament? Unless, of course, the silence is itself the approval of the practice.
When writing on marriage in 1 Corinthians 7:2, Paul employs two different Greek words to, potentially, convey two types of marital ownership. Heautou typically indicates exclusive ownership such as one’s possessions (Luke 14:33), their garden (Luke 13:19), their cross (Luke 14:27), or one’s personal life (Luke 14:26). Meanwhile Idion (Idios) carries a weakened sense of ownership (see Abbott-Smith) and may be employed for something communally owned or shared by many, such as a country (John 4:44), city (Matt 9:1), or language (Acts 2:6). By employing this contrasting language, it may be argued that Paul is welcoming both monogamous and polygynous families.
Nevertheless, it is clear the New Testament does not contain an explicit prohibition of polygyny among the laity, nor does it exclude polygynous families from the congregation. Therefore, we ought to warmly welcome the former Muslim or Mormon polygamist along with his wives and children into the fold, lest we incur the wrath of God for failing to honor marriages He has deemed lawful (Heb 13:4, 1 Tim 4:1-3). - Christians actively practice polygyny in accordance with the Law of God (e.g. Ex 21:10, Deut 21:15-17)–marrying virgins (Ex 22:16, 1 Cor 7:28), widows (Deut 25:5, 1 Tim 5:14), and women left by unbelievers (1 Cor 7:15), while refusing to marry women divorced from their believing husbands (Matt 5:32, Luke 16:18, Mark 10:12), prostitutes (1 Cor 6:15-17), and unbelievers (Deut 7:3-4, 2 Cor 6:14-15, 1 Cor 7:39). See my Marriage Law compendium here.
While homosexuality and abortion result in the extinction of man, heterosexual polygyny results in the proliferation of offspring, fulfilling God’s mandate to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28, Mal 2:15, 1 Tim 2:15, 5:14). It is the precise method the Lord employed for quickly expanding Israel (Gen 30:18, Ruth 4:11), and remains a viable option for the Christian Church (Luke 18:29-30). Considering the rapidly declining birthrates in the West, while the Muslim population maintains the highest fertility rate on Earth, polygyny must be diligently considered by all those who profess Christ as Lord and wish to ensure our descendants freedom from Sharia Law.
Although not all are called to polygyny, we must be enlightened to the fact that celibacy, monogamy, and polygyny are all righteous sexual states of being in the Kingdom of God. If a polygamous Christian family walks into our church, we must overcome prejudice and welcome them with the love of Christ and permit them to receive communion with the Lord and the Saints. We must adopt the attitude of the Apostle Paul regarding the various marital dynamics of his time:
Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.
1 Corinthians 7:7
Forbidding Marriage
The truth is Monogamy-Only is a Doctrine of Demons (1 Tim 4:1-3), leaving nearly 12 million American Christian women unable to marry and have children as they’re commanded (1 Cor 7:2, 1 Tim 2:15, 5:14). Current U.S. Census Data indicates the US Adult (18+) Population is 267 million. Among those legal adults, 131.5 million are male while 135.5 million are female. In other words, women typically outnumber men by the millions in the United States.
How many more women are there in the Church? According to the 2024 Pew Research Religious Landscape Data, 59% of U.S. males identify as Christian: totaling 77,585,000. In contrast, 66% of U.S. females identify as Christian: totaling 89,430,000. In other words, the data has revealed there are 11,845,000 more Christian women in the US Christian Church than men. To put that in perspective, 44 out of the 50 states have a total population below 12 million people.
If the commandment found in 1 Corinthians 7:2 were practiced by all Believers, every Believing man would have a wife and children. Meanwhile, nearly 12 million Believing women would be prohibited from marriage and having children due to the false Monogamy-Only doctrine that has permeated the Christian Church. It is not the men who end up unable to marry and have children in a monogamy-only society, it is the women.
If Biblical polygyny were practiced according to the Scriptures, each of those 12 million women could potentially be married, have two children, and add 24 million Believers to the U.S. Church. This is good fruit. However, what is the Church’s answer to the 12 million unable to marry? “Tough luck ladies, you can’t fulfill Genesis 1:28 or 1 Timothy 2:15. Enjoy your forced celibacy, we’ll pray for you.”
Perhaps now you’re understanding why Paul said the forbidding of lawful marriage is a doctrine of demons!
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons… 3 men who forbid marriage…
1 Timothy 4:1-3
My “95 Theses”
In conclusion, I will leave you with my 95 Theses on the matter–a letter written to the Anglican Church, an established Protestant Church, here in Kansas City, Missouri. Although I took several days to write this thorough outline of our beliefs along with a formal request for attendance on Sunday mornings (our personal church meets on Saturdays for the Sabbath), the local Bishop and Rector promptly rejected our request with prejudice.
This came as a great surprise to us considering the Lambeth Conference, specifically Resolution 26, makes concessions for those practicing plural marriage to become baptized members alongside their wives and children. Although Anglican Priests such as John William Colenso have made exceptional arguments in favor of polygamy, it appears the compromised Church of England in the United States no longer recognizes Sola Scriptura nor it’s own theology on the matter of polygyny. Their response was truly disappointing as I expected more from a church with a resident theologian and seminary on site.
Overall, if this article has stimulated your interest, the letter below along with it’s citations is certain to intrigue your curiosity further. I sincerely pray this letter has a profoundly positive effect on all who read it, and that compassion for polygynyous families among Christians begins to increase as we prepare for the Lord’s return (Isaiah 4:1-2). You may view and download the PDF below, as well as download it here. Thank you very much for reading, may the Lord Jesus bless you and your families richly in your walk with Him.
