A very challenging book

Ok, so here's my next recommended book- Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall. Sound familiar? It's very prominently displayed in the bookstores these days, and was featured on GMA (side note- I am a huge fan of Robyn Roberts!!! But I saw it on the show while I was in a patients room- that usually is the only news I see each morning, whatever the patients have on when I go in to see how they're doing!) Anyway, Elissa was born into the FLDS. What's that you ask? Well, let me give you a little background. About a year ago there was a TV series about "secret people" (can't remember the exact name). The only episode I saw was about a group of Mormons who still practice bigamy. They spent most of the movie with one family, talking about what it was like to have "2 wives" or to be a "sister wife" and trying to send the message that this community is happy and the children do not feel oppressed but happy to be there and free to make their own choices as they grow up. But the movie also mentioned a nearby town- I think about 20 minutes away- which was also known to practice bigamy, but which hated outsiders. The police of the town were chasing the media out, telling them NO outsiders are allowed. The point of the show was that this secretive town was the source of the "rumors" of these secret people who lived in bigamy, were suppressed by their authority figures and forced into that lifestyle, and incredibly hostile to anyone else. And the family most of the show focused on was attempting to dispel that myth. Well, I couldn't remember any of the details- the names or locations of these towns- but I never forgot about it... you can't help but turn the tv off still wondering... Well, then I heard Elissa Wall talking on TV about her book, and about her life growing up in a world of plural marriage- and I was intrigued. Wow. Her story is intense- you have to be ready for it if you're going to read it. Elissa grew up in the FLDS church, as I mentioned. It stands for the fundamental latter day saints. They are only one of MANY offshoots of mainstream mormonism who still believe God commands and requires plural marriage. The group that was so hostile on the tv program I saw very likely was the town where Elissa grew up, part of the FLDS. The town that was so friendly and inviting and the main focus of the show was the "Centennial Park Group." (If you want to know more, go to http://www.mormonfundamentalism.com/index.html It is a website meant to explain to mainstream mormons what fundamentalism is and why it's "wrong"- but it is very helpful if you want to understand this subject. If you spend enough time clicking back and forth, you will understand the flow chart on the page the link takes you to. Without any of the background however, you can quickly see how there are many fundamentalist offshoots- just like there are many Christian denominations- and the Centennial group and Elissa's FLDS group are just 2 examples.) In the course of reading Elissa's book and exploring some websites, I learned a LOT. I could write a very long blog here, but I'm not going to. I just want to leave you with this little teaser. If you do pick up Elissa's book, I believe you will be different by the time you finish. It affected me in a very powerful way. I felt such compassion for Elissa and her family, for the people who grow up in these fundamentalist groups, who are SO sheltered and have never heard of a faith in grace, of a life where needn't be constantly afraid of losing one's salvation... Elissa's story captured my heart- I felt compelled to learn more, until I truly understood the history and nature or mormon fundamentalism, so I could pray... and perhaps one day God will lead someone from that background- or still in the midst of it- into my life, and I'll be able to minister to them because I'll have some understanding of where they're coming from. At the same time I was reading this book, the news was reporting the children in texas who were removed from their homes- a very rare but not unheard of event where these small, private groups become very publicly known. I don't know how closely you followed those events, and I don't know what your initial response to it all was, but I guarantee I thought about it very differently after reading Elissa's story. I'm going stop there- if God has put this calling on your heart, wants you, too, to be ready to reach this "people group" in some way, then reading Elissa's book and seeking other resources will stir your heart more powerfully than I ever could. And if you this doesn't interest you at all- then maybe you could just take a minute to think about what you are passionate about. Maybe it's Muslim women, or the orphans in Africa who have AIDS and lost their parents to AIDS, or maybe it's the unborn babies of America, or teens who don't know the trap they're falling into when they try their first illegal drug... you know I could go on and on. Many, many people in this world are in need of the Lord's mercy. Take some time to hear God speaking to your heart, whispering the ones He wants you to reach, and faithfully obey. It reminds me of the movie Amazing Grace- William Wilburforce found himself consumed by a longing to free the slaves. For a brief time, I felt that same all-consuming longing for the FLDS church... I think perhaps that what God meant in Isaiah when He said Jesus (and we also should be) "numbered with the transgressors." Whatever the unique burden He wishes to place on your heart, allow yourself, even if only briefly, to feel the grief that He feels when He thinks of those people, and allow that pain to motivate your prayers. Finally, if you do want to learn more about the fundamental Mormons and how to minister to them, go to http://www.shieldandrefuge.org/ They have a Christian ministry in Utah, and have also made very informative ministry videos which are available online. May we never grow too calloused to hurt for the lost. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.