Escaping The Kingston Clan (Polygamous Cult)

Apologia Studios

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My name is Charlie Kingston. I just wanted to give a quick story about my life and how

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I came to know Christ. I started out basically growing up in a city in Utah, or a small town in Utah, Bountiful, Utah, just north of Salt Lake.

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If you search on the internet for the name Kingston, it comes up with a lot of information about the group there, basically a break off group from the

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Mormon church when they went away from polygamy. My family wanted to keep doing it. I grew up on their faith and following their faith, but as I got a teenager, like most people do,

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I started searching and questioning and broke away from that. I did spend a few years going and joining the actual current

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Mormon church, but in doing more study and more research on that, studying the

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Book of Mormon and the Bible, and finding out as I'm studying those that the

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Book of Mormon doesn't necessarily complement the Bible in places it actually contradicts. I realized that my basic belief that the

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Bible is the true book of the one you want to follow, that I'm doing the wrong thing by following this other book because it doesn't complement it.

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It shows other supposed to be truths that conflict with it. So I went away from that.

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I went back to doing my own thing, reading the Bible on my own time, but still wasn't sure where I was going, still searching.

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Come to Arizona and invited to go to a non -denominational Christian church, and there

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I gave a lesson on Sola Fide, saved by grace, by faith alone.

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That's where and when I realized what the truth is all about and when I accepted Jesus. Shortly after that,

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I met a guy who is now a good friend of mine, leads a ministry that I get involved with sometimes, go out and talk to Mormons at the temple, and I feel like my experience with having been a

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Mormon or LDS member, however they want to classify that, that helps me with being able to talk to them because I've been where they are, but I now know where the real truth is.

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My brothers and sisters, honestly I don't know them all. My dad had, I've heard a couple different accounts,

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I didn't ever keep track myself, but between 12 and 15 wives, and so some of my brothers

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I knew, some of them I didn't really ever get to know, but they still believe that Joseph Smith is the true prophet and the true one, that his teachings are correct, and they believe in the

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Doctrine and Covenants section 132 where it talks about the different layers of heaven and the highest degree, and the only way to get there is through following a living polygamy, they still believe that to be true.

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That's been a big help because it helps me to study and get into the word of the Bible and learn more about the teachings of God and the teachings of Jesus and how to be a stronger

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Christian myself, and it also helps me to be able to go out with them to the, and do missionary work, talking to Mormons, not only at the

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Mormon temple, but with talking to missionaries when we get a chance, and it's been a great experience because I can tell my experience and my story as far as having been a

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Mormon, and now coming to Christianity, I can use my experience and my growth, and they've helped me to find more information to study on and to learn with, and to further my growth and better my walk with Christ.

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Okay, so for anybody that's questioning their beliefs, or maybe is a grew up Mormon and just now starting to question things, maybe it's not following mom and dad's faith anymore like I've done in the past, maybe you want to have your own belief for yourself, that it's true or that it's not true,

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I would recommend, you know, do the true test of a prophet that it talks about in the

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Bible, test if the prophet is leading you out to the right God, or if his prophecies are true or not, and definitely pray about it, and read into the

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Bible, and get into the scriptures, and confirm that that is or is not the right thing for you.

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I mean, I've learned that Joseph isn't a true prophet by doing the biblical test of a prophet, and that's one of the reasons why

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I'm where I'm at today, and why I try to seek out and help others that are maybe questioning their faith, and even those that might just plant a seed, and someday they start thinking about it.