Many times during my ministry I have been approached by monogamy-only Christians/Messianics and been asked to drop the polygamy issue for the sake of unity in the Body of Christ (Messianic Community). The logic goes something along these lines: "Polygamy is far too controversial, it is driving away potential converts, and so witnessing about it is actually retarding the work of the Kingdom and and is therefore antichrist." Have you ever been accused of that, or something like it?
The 'unity-at-all-costs' mentality, the result of which is always a watered-down and powerless gospel, is symptomatic of our age of ecumenism. The Bible, moreover, nowhere teaches such a doctrine. Consistently and persistently the prophets, the apostles, and Christ Himself teach that it's either everything or nothing - we are never given a licence to pick of choose what we want to obey and what we don't. The rich young man had lived an exemplary life of Torah-obedience and the religious rulers of his day were likely unable to fault him. But Yah'shua (Jesus) found an idol - his love of money - and proposed a solition to his problem so radical that it must have sent waves through the religiously- and politically-correct establishment. Yah'shua (Jesus) was no ecumenical - He taught complete obedience to His Father's Torah as the sign of true love and devotion to Yahweh. And so did His apostles.
When people accuse polygamists of adding unnecessary burdens to the Gospel they need to be reminded that polygamy is not an addition but that monogamy-only is a subtraction, and subtraction is soundly condemned in Scripture. We have only to recall the curses that befall any man or woman who deliberately adds or subtracts the words of prophecy (Revelation 22:19) - subtraction is equally as serious a sin as addition! The monogamy-only doctrine is a deliberate subtraction from Yahweh's Law, His Torah, which Torah was ratified by Christ Himself on several occasions.
Unity amongst brethren is certainly praised as a good thing in Scripture but that is a unity based on truth, not lies. To ask anyone to 'drop' polygamy for the sake of unity or evangelism is to fundamentally sin, for it demands that we alter the Gospel to make it more appealing to the unbelievers and lukewarm Christians/Messianics. That was the sin of the Roman Church and many other Church amd Messianic denominations since. And Paul says specifically that to deny marriage (as understood biblically) is to promulgate a doctrine of demons.
There is only one kind of God-sanctioned unity accepted in the Bible and that is unity (agreement or echad) with Yahweh Himself. All other forms of unity amongst men are compacts of sin. The fact that not agreeing with the doctrines of men may well further cause disunity and splitting of churches/assemblies cannot be blamed on those who are true to the Word but must be squarely laid at the feet of the disobedient and lawless. I for one will not be emotionally blackmailed by the rebellious, and I hope you won't either. The Word requires that we stand up for the truth even if it means we are alone in the world. People like Noah, Jeremiah and Elijah understood that. And we are informed by Christ, are we not, that the end-time believers shall be so small in numbers that they will have no choice but to be religiously uncorrect to such an extreme that they will be regarded as fanatics, trouble-makers, and even evil.
We know, don't we, the terms of abuse that are flung by believers and unbelievers alike at Christians/Messianics? There's a way to avoid that, of course, and that is to rush with the crowd over the abyss like a herd of lemmings. The choice - one way or the other - is yours.
Author: SBSK
