The raid at an FLDS polygamist compound in Texas drew national attention in recent weeks. In fact, there are similar Mormon fundamentalist sects scattered throughout the western U.S. The reason for these polygamists splinter groups is due to followers of the Mormon Prophet, John Smith, taking his revelation seriously: Live polygamy or be damned.

Verse one of the Mormon scriptures, Doctrine and Covenants (D&C), Sec. 132, reads that the revelation was in answer to his inquiry regarding some Old Testament Bible characters having “many wives and concubines.” Verse four states, “… I will reveal unto you a new and everlasting covenant and if ye abide not in the covenant, then are ye damned…” One can see the pressure the fundamentalists are under here.

Quite revealing, however, is the fact that Mormonism’s own book of Mormon denounces plural wives as “abominable” in Jacob 2:23-24. In every edition of the D&C from 1835-1876, Sec. 101:4 denounced polygamy also. At this time Sec. 132 condoning it was inserted. Since there was an obvious conflict, the “anti-polygamy” section was quietly removed.

In 1890, President Woodruff issued the Manifesto which ended the official LDS practice of polygamy. The LDS Church, however, hasn’t abandoned the doctrine of polygamy as a righteous principle, only its current earthly proactive. Because Sec. 132 has not been expunged and continues to be published as doctrine, many will continue to submit to it. The recent intervention in Texas only continues the legacy in this maze of confusion.

B. Kent Larson, Stewartville, Minn.