The Saints of Polygamy
Tonight it is with both joy and a heavy heart that I write to you. I pray that you, as our faithful partner with Life After Ministries, will continue to hold us up in your prayers and especially pray for all of those caught in the lies of Mormonism.
Today I spent my day trying to convince a 19 year old female convert to Mormonism that she should meet with me to discuss her decision in joining this cult. The latter part of my day was spent detangling the lies in the minds of those who have been set free and organizing ways to help those in the exodus of the polygamy compounds in
And during all this I am comforted by God through the music of Sarah Groves who sang “When the Saints”. While her uplifting song was playing in my ears I was reminded by our sweet Jesus that He is the Balm of Gilead. The prophet Jeremiah asked if there was no balm in Gilead to heal the
While in
“And he came to
Oh my dear friends, I’m sure you know as well as I do that He can heal all things that have broken you in this life! He is the Balm! The acceptable day of the Lord has come; your deliverance is at hand! When you’ve been putzin’ around in your everyday life, have you stopped long enough to realize there is a cure for your heartache?
Think about all the icky things that have hardened your heart and caused your doubtful mind to question this life. When we hand all of those things over to Him with our brokenness He takes His healing balm to permanently heal each big and little thing.
Those women and children that we all saw climbing into that bus carry with them years of hurt and abuse. Yet Jesus knows each of them personally and has the authority and power to provide what they need. They may all look alike in their pioneer clothing and long braids, but they are as different on the inside as much as they are alike on the outside.
Satan can destroy through the stripping of personalities and unique characters that God bestowed us with. Each of us carry a unique DNA and just as unique are the personalities and quirks God gave us. Each of those individuals has gifts to bless the world with and through the help of others to pray, provide direction and gentleness, God can manifest His gifts to all through them someday. God can provide a way out of the darkness of polygamy and an eternal destruction.
Believe it or not, my decision to work in ministry came almost as a surprise to me. I heard the words of “yes, send me” escaping my lips as I kept thinking, “shut up now Michelle and you won’t have to explain a thing”! Oh what God must have thought about that one!
We all have moments in life that we know our paths are about to take a drastic turn and we begin the ride of our life. This is how it was for me as I sat across the desk of Ed Decker at Saints Alive more than a decade ago. Part of me couldn’t believe that I was saying yes to go to
I don’t know how it came to be, but a few days before my appointment with Ed I was on the phone with a pastor in
His words seared my heart into action. Within the week I found myself sitting at that desk in
It was a time to show my people the way out and to be an example for the wall flowers who wouldn’t dare say “boo” to a fly. I had been a child of the Most High for less than two years at that point and obviously didn’t know a lot. What I did know is that I loved God more than I feared what was about to come and was learning every new day of the freedom He had given to me through the death of His Son Jesus.
How many times have we said “No Lord, I can’t” when our reality is “No Lord, I won’t”? I have spoken to no less than five people from around the
I am so very grateful that the God of the Bible is strong and powerful enough to raise me up to face each new day. When I think about my daily existence just fifteen short years ago it sickens me to the bone knowing that I was living just as those polygamist saints we’ve all seen on television this week.
I know my true character and am certain I wouldn’t be strong enough on my own to do what He has me doing every day! Being scared doesn’t quite capture the true nightmare that each of the polygamy refugees are living through right now. They are controlled by threats of death and/or abuse and in many cases the threats have turned into action. It took a few years to be truly healed from the paranoia I experienced every day.
As Christians we all hear the detailed description Jesus gave to His disciples in Matthew chapter twenty eight. The Great Commission is every saved person’s call to action and as we all know,
“The great omission of the Great Commission is not obeying”.
While not all of us are called into the public eye in service to God, we are all called by Him who strengthens us!
What is your calling?
For me it is this ministry to Mormons. If you put me in a room full of toddlers I am positive it’d kill me. Don’t get me wrong, I truly love my own children and others too, but it’d do me in to be with ten or twenty of them every day of my life! I am a good baby-sitter for my friends and I am a good listener to small people who love to tell stories about their doggies and friends. But after I’ve given these tiny people a bunch of cookies and milk; it’s time to get them back to the mom as I’m going to need a nap! Now if you put me in a room with a hundred Mormons I’d spend the rest of my life with the patience of Job…you get my point I’m sure!
If you’re one of the people who’ve written or called LAM this week wondering if God is calling your name – guess what – He is knocking!
We’re praying for all of you and want to hear what He is doing through you! Once you’ve begun it’s really not as scary as you may have originally thought; I’m living proof of that.
With Love in Christ;
Michelle
1 Cor. 1:18
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