Rich Tidwell is the pastor of Ormond Church, a small non-denominational gathering in Canton, MO, that was founded more than a decade ago.
According to his website, he is a husband, father, YouTube Apologist, polemicist, and is a “passionate follower of The Way.” Married to his wife Brandi more for more than 14 years, they have have seven children together, some adopted.
He believes “proper hermeneutics are derived from examining original languages, cultural context, and multi-verse coherence” and that “Crippled by fear and compromised by tradition, Rich is convinced the status-quo Church is due a second reformation.”
At first glance everything looks pretty normal, but a quick perusal of his Instagram account instantly raises eyebrows with this announcement from this past June, where Tidwell dropped this blockbuster.
So here’s the big announcement: my name is Rich Tidwell, I have two beautiful wives, and my second wife is expecting my 8th child! We’re thrilled for what the Lord has done for our family (see Luke 18:29-30)!
This announcement of having acquired a new wife was followed up with an article on his website on “Biblical Polygamy,” where he writes:
In 2019 I discovered the surprising fact that God not only never prohibited polygamy throughout the entire Biblical narrative (as He did with polyandry or homosexuality), He divinely ordained it in several cases including David (2 Sam 12:7-8), Jacob (Gen 30:18), and Joash (2 Chron 24:2-3), among others. In contrast with homosexuality–which is outright prohibited (Lev 18:22, Rom 1:26-27)—God lawfully regulated the practice of plural marriage (Ex 21:10, Deut 21:15-17, Lev 18:18).
Mark and avoid this church for sure.
23 responses to “Protestant Pastor Announces He Has Two Wives, Claims ‘Polygamy is Biblical’”
The tattoo on the arm of the wife on the right of the top photo doesn’t go well with her “Little House on the Prairie” dress.
One of the specific requirements to be an elder or pastor is that you are the husband of ONE WIFE. The fact that neither he nor his congregation understand this says all one needs to know about his “church”.
He addressed this verse in his article. He claims (rightly or wrongly) that the verse should be translated as saying first wife not one wife, meaning he has not divorced and remarried. Again, I don’t know if that’s true. But he did address it.
He addressed this verse in his article. He claims (rightly or wrongly) that the verse should be translated as saying first wife not one wife, meaning he has not divorced and remarried. Again, I don’t know if that’s true. But he did address it.
Flaming sinners dressed in robes are easy to spot. They justify what is clearly sinful and deny the truth of the gospel when it suits them. I have read the Bible through 28 times and spent a lifetime studying it. He’s a lying false prophet, and God will send his unrepentant soul to hell, where God promises a harsher eternal punishment for false teachers. Polyagamy is nothing more than adultery wrapped in doctrinal garbage. He is just a sexual pervert. And his wife and mistress are sicko perverts, too.
Exactly. It’s not possible to read the Bible and intelligently come away with any other conclusion.
You clearly missed a lot when you read through the Bible. The Bible very obviously treats traditional polygyny (one man with multiple wives) as legitimate marriage, and not as adultery.
David and Jacob were lifelong unrepentant polygamists, and God in Scripture approves of their lives (apart from David’s actual real adultery with the wife of Uriah).
These lifelong unrepentant polygamists are with Jesus in Heaven right now.
You and I are not yet in Heaven. Jesus is Judge, not us. We should humble ourselves before God and His Word.
Dear writer of this article: You present this article as neutral or even desirable, even listing the cherry picked verses (taken out of context) that this sick, demonic pervert used to justify his sin. And your only negative comment is not rebuke or correct doctrine, just ”avoid this church.” You gave this sinning false preacher an audience without condemnation. You’re a closet applauded of this sin, meaning you’ve got a sin problem, too, pal.
There is nothing in either the Old Testament or new that forbids polygamy. Do not mention the verse about leaders being the husband of one wife. That is about divorce. If practicing polygamists will be kept from eternal life due to their plural marriages, then that means our beloved Jewish/Christian patriarchs are now in Hell for eternity. Christians should be concerned with the sky-high rate of divorces, not the few Christian men with more than one wife. This is a ‘nothing burger.’ May God bless this pastor and his family.
Chris Weldon, you are very clearly in error:
1. The Bible condemns polygamy plain as day. The Bible is not a modern law book wherein we’re encouraged to look for loopholes.
2. Jesus has one bride, the church. Marriage is a model of this gospel union to others.
3. God created one woman for one man (no other paradigm for marriage), the two together being one flesh.
4. The created order has priority over everything else in the old covenant. Jesus said this and all the NT writers understood it.
5. Description is not prescription. Lot was called a righteous man by Peter and he also offered up his daughters to wicked men. The reality of the former does not promote the latter.
6. Wherever polygamy is mentioned in the Bible, chaos and disorder ensues. Not only does the Bible make this plain, but so does common sense.
7. You cannot love your wife like Christ loves the church and sleep with another woman in the next room.
8. An elder is a one-woman man and he is a representative of spiritual maturity for the rest of the congregation.
9. The only persons arguing for polygamy are lust-filled Bible twisters. Full stop.
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Genesis 2:24
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Matthew 19:8
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
There are exactly zero positive portrayals of polygamous marriages in Scripture. Jesus in Matthew 19 teaches that some practices in the Old Testament should not be understood as things that God commends to us, but as concessions to the hardness of men’s hearts, to mitigate the even worse evils that those hard hearts would have otherwise caused. If we want to understand the Creator’s intention, then we must study what he actually said and did at creation, where one man and one woman were united.
This pseudo-pastor is simply a man who as his lawful wife grew older and endured the fatigue of raising seven children, desired access to the flesh of a younger woman. He is seeking to deceive the simple into believing that it’s something more sophisticated. Don’t be deceived.
No it isn’t.
Chris Weldon, you are clearly in serious error here. Several things could be said, though many more added to these:
1. The Bible (read as a whole and in context) condemns polygamy plain as day. The Bible is not a modern law book wherein we’re encouraged to look for loopholes. To understand marriage is to understand polygamy is wrong.
2. Jesus has one bride, the church. Marriage between one man and one woman is a model of this gospel union to others.
3. God created one woman for one man and nothing else, the two together being one flesh (Gen 2).
4. The created order has priority over everything else in the old covenant. Jesus said this himself (Matt 19; Mk 10) and all the NT writers understood it.
5. Description is not prescription. Lot was called a righteous man by Peter and he also offered up his daughters to wicked men. The reality of the former does not promote the latter. Citing godly men who did ungodly things as justification for those ungodly things is an infantile way of reading the Bible.
6. Wherever polygamy is mentioned in the Bible, chaos and disorder ensue. Not only does the Bible make this plain, but so does common sense.
7. You cannot love your wife like Christ loves the church and sleep with another woman in the next room.
8. An elder is a one-woman man and he is a representative of spiritual maturity for the rest of the congregation. If nothing else, polygamy is not God’s ideal, so there is no reason to pursue it even if one wanted to make the absurd claim that it is permissible for a man of God. (Remember as you read the Bible, the whole Bible: the old covenant is not the new covenant, and description is not prescription.)
9. The only persons arguing for polygamy are lust-filled Bible twisters. Full stop.
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Genesis 2:24
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Matthew 19:8
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
1 Timothy 3:2
Therefore an overseer must be…the husband of one wife
Polygamy is not a salvific issue.
That said, God’s perfect design and intent is 1 man and 1 woman for life.
God permitted Polygamy. It isn’t optimal nor design standard.
The Verses about Overseers and Deacons being the Husband of 1 Wife. Necessitates no Pastor/Deacon have more than 1 wife. It wouldn’t apply to Men who divorced because of Infidelity of the Wife, or were abandoned by the unbelieving wife.
The fact that those who defend the impastor are seething mad here
Mark and avoid these retarded defenders
You can’t read the Bible intelligently and walk away with the conclusion that polygamy is ever blessed by God. These men are full of lust and everyone knows it.
I am surprised that Glee read the Bible 28 times and not understood that the words polygamy and Bigamy is never mentioned nor prohibited in Scripture. I invite Glee to read it again , because if you read it with comprehension, once is enough.
Those of you tearing this marriages apart, do so from your ignorance and the false teachings from your church, and instigated by the Pharisee-j.e.w Paul teachings.
I am surprised that Glee read the Bible 28 times and not understood that the words polygamy and Bigamy is never mentioned nor prohibited in Scripture. I invite Glee to read it again , because if you read it with comprehension, once is enough.
Those of you tearing this marriages apart, do so from your ignorance and the false teachings from your church, and instigated by the Pharisee-j.e.w Paul teachings.
The fruits of the protestant Reformation and Sola Scriptura.
“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” –Mark Twain
This guy is not wrong. The Law is still applicable to everyone today. I wrote an entire book detailing this.
Blessings & Curses: if my people…
Available on Amazon.
This isn’t for the weak mind as it will challenge your beliefs, the things you “know for sure.” Test your beliefs, read it, and then Prove me wrong!
i don’t know exactly what to write. i wish i could talk to the guy. i would call him a blasphemer to his face.
as for the people reading this, verily i tell you, this man got his reward on earth. he was able to get two wives, congrats. but he will be served justice after our time here on earth. not only for breaking the sanctity of marriage (people tend to break these more often everyday :,^( ) but BECAUSE he is a “pastor” doing so. he likes throwing out Bible versus right? well here’s one: not everyone should be a teacher of the law! because if you do decide to become one and you FAIL at it you will receive a harsher punishment. May God Bless us all and keep the devil out of our marriages. Amen.
So whats the Biblical case against polygamy? I’ve never heard one made. The “husband of one wife” falls apart lrettt quickly because even if it’s an upper limit instead of a minimum, it only applies to bishops and presbyters. It would expressly allow anyone else to practice polygamy.
From a PURELY LEGAL standpoint. God’s gave NATIONAL LAWS that Isreal followed (even in the NEW TESTAMENT as the TORAH was the ACTUAL LEGISLATION that the NATION followed (even though at the time of Christ, they were under secular ROMAN RULE. You can recall how the ROMAN Centurion was praised for building a synagogue and his servant was sick and Jesus healed his servant.
So anyway, we only have to cite LAW to LEGALLY PROVE that a HUSBAND can have more than 1 wife WITHOUT breaking the LAW.
LEGISLATION 1 : Exodus 21:10
Required Husbands who take an additional wife to NO DIMINISH care for the previous wife.
LEGISLATION 2 : Deuteronomy 21:15
Required Husbands to give inheritance to the oldest son of the first wife, in cases were He has an additional wife.
LEGISLATION 3 : Exodus 22:16
Required Husbands or Single men to MARRY any virgin that he seduces
LEGISLATION 4 : Exodus 22:28
Required Husbands or Single men to MARRY any virgin that he seduces against her will
LEGISLATION 5 : Deuteronomy 25:5
Required Husbands or Single men to MARRY thier widowed sisters in law if their deceased brother had no children
LEGISLATION 6 : Numbers 31:18
Required Husbands or Single men to MARRY war virgin females to grow the population of Isreal (after war campaigns)
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This LEGISLATION was instituted BY GOD and (not man). If you feel morally superior to God by criticizing HIS HOLY LAWS then YOU will give account for your scoffing at HIS LAWS
Now therefore, I call Heaven and Earth as a WITNESS against those who have criticized GOD’S LAW
At THIS MOMENT, you have no more cloak for your sin, you can’t say you didn’t know the law, because I just stated GOD’S LEGISLATION
Finally, JESUS said, he didn’t change ANY of GOD’S LEGISLATION (not even a dot on an i, or a cross on a t)
Jesus WARNED in the book of revelations that whoever ADDS or TAKES AWAY or DIMINISHES any of GOD’S LEGISLATION will perish in hell.
In Malachi the Bible says God DOESN’T CHANGE, lest the sons of Jacob be consumed
In the Book of Psalms God’s law is described as HOLY, set in heaven, settled, unchanging and eternal,
You who criticize God’s law are ignorant of the fact that the tablets where the Ten Commandments were written were a shadow of what’s in heaven for in The Mercy Seat God’s law is placed there in heaven. God had Moses Fashion To Angels Over The Mercy Seat covered with gold these were a shadow of what actually happens in heaven where there are real angels worshiping God at the mercy seat where the law is also.
GOD’S LAW is HOLY
It’s DANGEROUS to meddle with, scoff at, diminish, or think your morally superior to GOD’S LEGISLATION.
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FACTS:
GOD HIMSELF had 2 wives in Jeremiah saying “I was a HUSBAND unto THEM”
GOD HIMSELF created the Nation of Israel AND Jesus family tree from Husbands who have multiple wives.
In the NEW TESTAMENT the Apostle Paul taught that it’s NOT A SIN if a husband has a wife at home or whose wife abandoned him IN EITHER CASE (He has NOT SINNED). ” are you bound to a wife seek not to be loosed, are you loose from a wife seek not to be bound, but and if thou mary thou has NOT SINNED”
HUSBAND OF 1 WIFE
When the Apostle Paul was writing about husbands of “one wife” for Bishops and deacons it was a Jewish idiom meaning not a philanderer. Today, we would call a faithful man a “one woman man”.
Ask yourself a question: I just listed GOD’S LEGISLATION that NOT EVEN JESUS changed. Do you think that Paul could change GOD’S LEGISLATION in a letter written to believers?
The Bible talks about that in “latter times people will depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and FORBIDDING MARRIAGE….”
APPLICABLE QUESTION:
There’s a very famous Bishop who divorced his wife of possibly 20 years of marriage and 7 Days Later he married a woman who he worked very close with possibly they had something going before the marriage ceremony. Now according to misinterpretation of Apostle Paul “one wife statement” this bishop still qualifies to be a bishop because he has one wife; his NEW WIFE.
However if you understand that Paul is talking about a man who knows how to rule his house well and be faithful to his wife this bishop is not qualified to be a bishop furthermore his Disobedience by disobeying Jesus Christ in divorcing his wife and marrying another makes him an adulterer.
I pray that those of you who have the Holy Spirit would know how to rightly divide the word of Truth for if you go to the book of Hebrews in the faith Hall of Fame of those people who made it to heaven There are many men that have big families with multiple wives and many children Abraham, Jacob, David, and Gideon to name a few.
May the Lord add a blessing to this comment