I have decided to write down the many beliefs we were taught in the Order as an outline to refer to when addressing these beliefs that I grew up with in polygamy. I have been hesitant to do this for so many reasons. Of course, there is always the promise of a lawsuit from the Order to waste my time, but there is also the worry that someone will use this stuff to harm others. I worry that someone could use it as an outline to begin their own controlling group or use it on people that they already control. However, I have decided I will put this information out there, and if that happens, I hope that just as I have noticed the Order take teachings from other religions, and that they weren’t actually “direction” from God, that they will too. I know there is power in knowledge, so making these teachings public will empower others.
So again, remember that each polygamist group has their own teachings, their own prophet, and some are very similar, they are also practiced differently. Us polygamist groups did not like being referred to as one lump sum, and now that I help people from many groups I can truly see how diverse each group is, with each individual having diverse experiences and personalities. It’s actually been quite a shocking reality realizing how diverse we can be from a very strict conservative religious lifestyle. Anyways, back to the point of this post, I just want to reiterate that these will be the beliefs I grew up with in the Kingston Order polygamous group. I will list the beliefs in outline format here, and as I write more about what the belief is I will create a hyperlink to the post. Hopefully, this will help keep a complicated set of beliefs somewhat organized.
BASIC ORDER BELIEFS
- Polygamy
- Law of Consecration
- Law of One Above Another
- Bleeding the Beast
- Cleanse the Bloodline from Contamination
- Holy spot – face the holy spot for prayer
- Racism
Readings/Books
- Bible
- Book Of Mormon
- D&C
- Pearl Of Great Price
- Order History
- Memory Gems
- Perfecting Meditations
- ABC Order Standards
Similar to LDS teachings, but practiced differently
- 3 members of the God head (God, Jesus, Holy Ghost)
- 3 layers in Heaven
- Baptism & Holy Ghost Confirmation
- Belief that the last days/end of the world is coming
- Temples of the world will be delivered to the Order in the last days
- Priesthood
- Numbered Men
- Being One
- Patriarchal Blessing
- Tithing
- Incomings/Outgoings in the Name of the Lord
- Itemized List of all property
- Fasting
- Word of Wisdom
- Comfrey
- Chastity
- Direction for Marriage
- Number one choice
Meetings
- Church
- New Years Meetings
- Sunday School
- Divided up by age groups
- Young Womens
- Young Mens
- Scouts Program
- Young Peoples Meeting
- Stewardship Meeting
- Family Meetings
- Preparation for Marriage Classes
Recreation
- Dances
- Wendell’s Dances
- Wedding Receptions for first Wife
- Weddings
- First wife
- Subsequent wives ceremonies
- 24th of July Party
- Labor Day Party
- Thanksgiving Dinner
- Battle of the Bands
- Family Dinners (Daniels family to be specific)
- Fathers Day – of course for Daniels Family where my experience was
- Brother Ortells yearly Birthday Party – hosted in May
- Occasional Baby Shower
- Occasional Birthday Party
- Mother’s Day Bizaare
- Scouts Outings
- Family Outings
- Girls Outings
This will be updated as I recall more beliefs and theology that was taught in the formal settings of church and the Orders school. I will also try to keep separate what was taught in those formal settings from what was taught in our family meetings, and individual family. Daniel’s family was very large, so of course our family meetings were held in the school building, church building, and even various businesses of the Order. We did not fit in one home to meet. Also, I am excited to share about the recreational activities we grew up with in the Order. I often think this helped us keep our sanity, and gave some of us the resilient skills to learn how to have joy in fun activities.
