60 year old pastor takes on teen as his second wife

[NotALoserLikeYou]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6774196/polygamous-ohio-pastor-thom-miller-marries-teen-second-wife-and-gets-her-pregnant.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3339219/I-try-not-jealous-Pastor-60-marries-pregnant-girlfriend-19-blessing-wife-44-women-live-different-wings-Ohio-home.html

Thom, who resolved to lead a more Christian life after being released from prison for stabbing a man, married the teen in a replica of his wedding ceremony to Belinda.

Alrighty then. And she is pregnant. They are not Mormon, just Christian.

Here is a profile piece that was done in 2003:

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/31/Northpinellas/From_death_row__a_mes.shtml

Miller lived a life of crime, drugs and violence. He was shot three times. He fathered 12 children with five different women. He went to jail more than 20 times for crimes ranging from breaking and entering to grand theft to felonious assault.

12 children!!

Miller walked out of prison after more than eight years. He was married 11 days later to Julia Miller, 46.

Julia? Well that marriage didn't last.

Found another article that says he runs a large food pantry, so that's nice. It looks like he runs a prison ministry and that is a prison church in the video.

The facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Special-Visit-Ministry-Inc-113803257665/

Wife #1: https://www.facebook.com/BelindaKayMiller

His website for his documentary that never got made: http://www.mobstertoministermovie.com/index.html

When not doing all that, he has a dead sea scrolls exhibit: http://qumranica.blogspot.com/2005/04/from-mafia-to-dead-sea-scrolls.html

Ok, the articles all have the new wife's name wrong. Here she is: https://www.facebook.com/reba.kerfoot?ref=br_rs

There are several gross pics of them making out on that last link...

 

 

 

 

[Gossamer1]

Why is it always the men who can have more than one wife? Why can't a wife have more than one husband? The men could share the "burden" of supporting the family.

For the record, as a woman, I find the thought of brother-husbands to be both comical and horrifying. I have an image of a pack of men in matching flannel shirts and baseball caps eyeballing each other because Wife was nicer to one husband and another one feels put out.

[LadyCrow1313]

Why is it always the men who can have more than one wife? Why can't a wife have more than one husband? The men could share the "burden" of supporting the family.

For the record, as a woman, I find the thought of brother-husbands to be both comical and horrifying. I have an image of a pack of men in matching flannel shirts and baseball caps eyeballing each other because Wife was nicer to one husband and another one feels put out.

This reminds me of a discussion a friend & I had about looking @‌ pics of studly men. I mentioned that while it is nice to see such pictures, it also oddly sometimes makes me feel... can't pin the figure on the right word, exactly, but almost "dirty" (but not really). Does that make any sense?

My friend then countered with the logical response, "Well, if men can look @‌ pictures of pretty women why can't we look @‌ pics of studly men?" She's 100% correct in this, naturally.

And the thought of having brother husbands IS quite appealing to me, actually. I've got several celebrity "husbands" that would fit the bill quite nicely... 

 

[salex]

In some cultures, there is such a thing as "Brother Husbands (or has been).  http://www.kashgar.com.au/articles/Polyandry-or-the-practice-of-taking-multiple-husbands

 

[doggie]

It is amazing what can.be justified with faith.

[Pretzel]

Can you imagine anthropologists visiting a brother-husbands plural family? "Who is the love husband? Who is the sex husband? ....". 

My weird brain just came up with a gender-switch scenario of SW *channeling my inner @FundieFarmer *

Host: Christopher, if you could name one aspect of your jealousy, in what area of your life does Claudi(ne) neglect your marriage?

Christopher: Well, I don't know...but it's probably time spent with me. She's so busy carrying all my brother-husbands' babies, that I feel she could invest more time in our marriage!

Claudine: Well...you know, monogamous people think that in polygamous relationships...*blonde hair flip* ...the husbands feel neglected. But on the contrary *pouts lips*, each of my husbands has learned to cherish time with me more as our marriages become older stronger!

Host: Robin, how about you? People say that since you joined the family, the other husbands get less time; but you're always getting your way with Claudine. How do you react to that?

Robin: *Cries* I just want this family to succeed. People don't know what we all go through! Ever since Maverick introduced me to Claudine, each of us knew that we should have been together from day one!!!! People say that now that I joined the family, and because I am young and sexy and a stud, Claudine prefers me over the other husbands, but that's not true. She spends one night with each husband every leap year!

Host: Maverick, your family gently calls you Mave-ri, what is real about the rumors about you leaving the family? 

Mave-ri: Well, a few months ago I was talking to a nice girl on the internet and she just said all the right things. That I am young and studly, good-looking and that I deserved a better life. But I really, really, knew from the beginning that this must have been another man trying to rip our family apart! I would never leave Claudine. Never! 

Host: This was this season's Brother Husbands Tell All. Thank you all for being here, Claudine and her 4 husbands, M(av)eri-ick, Christopher, Robin and James (the latter we haven't really heard much of, because his voice bears too much reason and critical thinking to ever be heard among the family). Make sure to watch next week's season finale which will feature the arrival of a new family member and answer the big question "Who's the daddy?"

Before you ask, yes, I did watch too much Sister Wives lately.  

[Inthemadhouse]

I work with a woman who has two husbands.  I think she might be a Christmas and Easter type of Christian, but no real faith.  They husbands are sexually involved with each other, though, so I don't think it's a real 'brother husbands' situation.

 

As a side note, does anyone remember the episode of Raising Hope where the creepy cousin brought home his new wife and 7 Brother Husbands?  "Love isn't a 2 way street.  It's an 8 way intersection!"

[Jingerbread]

I wonder what that girl's family thinks about her marrying a felon who's killed someone and probably doesn't support the other dozen kids he already has.  I believe there's something wrong with much older people who want to marry such young people.  They're at such drastically different stages of life, and at 19, the vast majority of young people are still used to deferring to their elders.  There's a power imbalance.  If they were 70 and 39, same age difference, but there wouldn't be the imbalance since the younger person would have had a chance to come into her own as an adult. Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchinson are another example of this, though she was still underage when he was 51, and her nasty mother consented to it.

[xlurker]

The thought of brother husbands? No thank you!  Could you just imagine the whining if both (all) got the sniffles at once?!

 

On another note-I was looking around her FB page, and there is a pic of him behind her with his hands on her throat--just creepy if you ask me.

 

[RosyDaisy]

Brother husbands? HAIL NAW! One is enough for me.

[mango_fandango]

Ooh! I read about this in either People or In Touch. There was a psychologist's viewpoint at the bottom which was basically "Yeah, being in this kind of relationship is not healthy, you're just gonna be jealous" etc etc. 

[Pseudoname]

Like  @doggie, I too am amazed at the things what people do under the banner of religion, and subsequently claiming religious persecution when others question the their values and action.

Talk of brother husbands and sister wives makes me wonder why people legitimise it as an expression of their religion.   

Personally I think that they are practicing polyamory, but without admitting that that is what it is.  Polyamory is just starting to come out of the closet into mainstream culture.  I highly doubt that anyone who identifies as polyamorous is a practising Christian.  Through my very basic education about the subject, it seems to be practiced by people who have no religious affiliation, or who are members of a new age type religion.used to follow a blog as a lady who later came out as a lesbian, then bi, then polyamorous.  

Sexuality that deviates from "the norm" or lies outside the limits of a religion is not generally accepted by Fundies, but if we call it something else, claim that God approves, then it is nothing at all, whatsoever, like what deviant practices that secular sinners engage in, even if it is theoretically the same, or at very least, quite similar to their own behaviours.

[ViolaSebastian]

Brother husbands? HAIL NAW! One is enough for me.

That was my thought, too.  Twice as many people to nag about the toilet seat.  

[EmainMacha]

I remember seeing a show on ID, maybe one of the Deadly Devotion ones. A youth pastor working in a successful TV ministry was secretly a polygamist and ended up killing his younger wife when she threatened to leave. They anonymously interviewed other 'Christian polygamists' who sounded very patriarchial and fundie-esque. Seems they are following the example of some Old Testament patriarchs and if it's in the Bible it can't be wrong...

If you Google 'Christian polygamy' there's a sympathetic website too. 

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Daily Mail dug up some dirt!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3345050/Truth-polygamist-pastor-60-pregnant-bride-19-four-furious-ex-wives-forgot-mention-12-children-six-women-35-year-search-sister-wife-s-never-paid-dime-child-support.html

 

4 ex wives, 12 kids, 100k child support owed. He actually has 8 baby mamas.

[apandaaries]

4 ex wives, 12 kids, 100k child support owed. He actually has 8 baby mamas.

That dude looks sketchy AF, and that FB picture with his hands around her neck -- scary.  But he has EIGHT (hang on, article says six, which is still -- SIX!) baby mamas out there and twelve children with his genes (poor things -- not their fault, but it'd suck).  Her FB indicates they don't have much longer to wait until (lucky?) child number 13 comes into the world.  I don't know how family would or could deal with a teenager marrying a sexagenarian.   What a mess.  Poor upcoming kid.  

[Idolatry]

Just good, old fashioned biblical marriage.  Nothing shady going on here, assuming they paid her dowry.

[Zola]

Why is it always the men who can have more than one wife? Why can't a wife have more than one husband? The men could share the "burden" of supporting the family.

For the record, as a woman, I find the thought of brother-husbands to be both comical and horrifying. I have an image of a pack of men in matching flannel shirts and baseball caps eyeballing each other because Wife was nicer to one husband and another one feels put out.

It's always been my understanding that one man with several wives is the norm over one woman with several husbands because one man can impregnate multiple woman at the same time in the same time frame, but a woman can only have one pregnancy at a time, no matter how many husbands she may have.

As far as I know, it's all about pumping out as many babies as possible as quickly as possible with as many women as possible. 

[DigDugger]

I think another problem with one woman and multiple men was that there was no way to be sure of the paternity of any baby born into the family.  (Of course, this was before DNA testing.)

[Gossamer1]

4 hours ago, DigDugger said:

I think another problem with one woman and multiple men was that there was no way to be sure of the paternity of any baby born into the family.  (Of course, this was before DNA testing.)

Ok, snarky logic now.  If none of the men in our matriarchal fantasy land know which kid is theirs then they would have to treat each kis as their own. Wouldn't that strengthen the group as a whole?

[SolomonFundy]

Poor girl. She seems kind of rudderless. From the outside, this looks like she's trying to find parents. It's hard to tell much from her facebook, but it looks like her father is in extremely poor health, and physically disabled. She has several "aunts" who are interested enough to ask how she is when she began updating her facebook page with pictures of this "pastor", but who aren't close enough to her to know much of anything about her life or situation without asking on facebook. Her mother is living out of a camper or travel trailer, and has sketchy internet service. She and her mother apparently don't communicate often at all, which Reba just takes in stride.

It's pitiful. It looks like Belinda and Thom are a surrogate family. A year ago (November 2014), she was dating a guy close to her own age. Now, she's 24 weeks pregnant with the child of a 60-year old deadbeat, married and in a lopsided 3-way.

[Jingerbread]

Something about this feels so rapey.  I'm not saying all people with bad family situations are helpless, but she's so young and probably pretty scared and I would bet the farm that he took advantage of that and manipulated it to his sexual advantage instead of enthusiastic and unpressured consent.

[nausicaa]

11 hours ago, SolomonFundy said:

Poor girl. She seems kind of rudderless. From the outside, this looks like she's trying to find parents. It's hard to tell much from her facebook, but it looks like her father is in extremely poor health, and physically disabled. She has several "aunts" who are interested enough to ask how she is when she began updating her facebook page with pictures of this "pastor", but who aren't close enough to her to know much of anything about her life or situation without asking on facebook. Her mother is living out of a camper or travel trailer, and has sketchy internet service. She and her mother apparently don't communicate often at all, which Reba just takes in stride.

It's pitiful. It looks like Belinda and Thom are a surrogate family. A year ago (November 2014), she was dating a guy close to her own age. Now, she's 24 weeks pregnant with the child of a 60-year old deadbeat, married and in a lopsided 3-way.

I looked at Reba's Facebook page as well, and it made me really sad. She seems like a really sweet, enthusiastic 19 year old. She also seems a bit uneducated and being 19, immature and inexperienced. It made me really hate this dude. 

I noticed that her last boyfriend was close to her own age. I also noticed the marriage to Thom was some quickie affair in casual clothes. I realize the marriage isn't legal, and also that plenty of people just want a small casual wedding. But it just further annoyed me that this selfish asshole wouldn't let her have a nice wedding day. Like his attitude was, let's get this done with so I can finally sleep with you!

And those kissing pictures are in poor taste and make him look creepy and controlling. 

9 hours ago, Jingerbread said:

Something about this feels so rapey.  I'm not saying all people with bad family situations are helpless, but she's so young and probably pretty scared and I would bet the farm that he took advantage of that and manipulated it to his sexual advantage instead of enthusiastic and unpressured consent.

Yes, looking at her Facebook page took this from creepy and weird to incredibly manipulative and exploitative. It's obvious how young she is and in need of some stability. I hope one of those aunts steps in and has her back through all of this. 

[nausicaa]

On 12/5/2015 at 0:18 PM, Zola said:

It's always been my understanding that one man with several wives is the norm over one woman with several husbands because one man can impregnate multiple woman at the same time in the same time frame, but a woman can only have one pregnancy at a time, no matter how many husbands she may have.

As far as I know, it's all about pumping out as many babies as possible as quickly as possible with as many women as possible. 

An anthropological explanation I heard for this is that in areas in which there are large amounts of land a group wants to spread out onto (Arabian desert, Mojave desert) polygamy arises, because the more people you can create of your group, the better and larger your group's domain.

In areas in which arable land is at a premium (i.e., the Himalayas), polyandry may arise, since it keeps family lines intact while not producing an excessive number of offspring to divide the landholdings among.  Polygamy is typically very rare in places like this. 

[lawlifelgbt]

On 12/1/2015 at 5:09 PM, Pseudoname said:

Like  @doggie, I too am amazed at the things what people do under the banner of religion, and subsequently claiming religious persecution when others question the their values and action.

Talk of brother husbands and sister wives makes me wonder why people legitimise it as an expression of their religion.   

Personally I think that they are practicing polyamory, but without admitting that that is what it is.  Polyamory is just starting to come out of the closet into mainstream culture.  I highly doubt that anyone who identifies as polyamorous is a practising Christian.  Through my very basic education about the subject, it seems to be practiced by people who have no religious affiliation, or who are members of a new age type religion.used to follow a blog as a lady who later came out as a lesbian, then bi, then polyamorous.  

Sexuality that deviates from "the norm" or lies outside the limits of a religion is not generally accepted by Fundies, but if we call it something else, claim that God approves, then it is nothing at all, whatsoever, like what deviant practices that secular sinners engage in, even if it is theoretically the same, or at very least, quite similar to their own behaviours.

I have an old friend who is polyamorous (two wives, one official, but the wives are also involved with each other and can pursue other relationships), and is a practicing Christian. His whole family actually does attend church and doesn't hide their relationship. IIRC, it was his first wife's idea.

Some people in church were all judgmental and thought bad about them. Even the pastors! But the last time we met up, my friend said that his family was used as an object lesson in the sermon about how Jesus accepts people- the pastor had said he thought that my friend's family was weird/slutty/whatever, but then friend invited him over, and the pastor got to see how the family worked and talk for a long time with all the adults. And that cleared up misconceptions and made the pastor think about Jesus and his relationship with all types of people. Hence the basis for the sermon.

Anyway, not all poly people are atheists.