Pastor Israel Ford is still preaching polygyny, and now he is reposting other people’s content to make his case. Weeks after he went viral for introducing his second wife to his congregation at LifeWorks Church in Ohio, Ford shared two Facebook posts pushing plural marriage, including one celebrating a married woman who says she brought the idea to her husband and her best friend.
The post came from a Facebook user named Rob Kowalski. It includes a screenshot of a message from a woman who says her best friend is a single mother who left an abusive marriage. According to the message, the friend stayed in a shelter with her kids and has been divorced for more than 10 years, swearing she would never marry again. The woman says that after stumbling on the topic, she approached her husband and her friend with the idea. “We are currently working through the logistics!” the message reads. The identity of the woman in the screenshot has not been verified.
Kowalski presented it as an act of love. “The real issue with biblical polygyny isn’t whether it’s biblical or not, the challenge is learning to love your neighbor as yourself,” he wrote. He added that the wife “cared enough about her best friend to bring the idea up herself.”
Days before that, Ford reposted a video from a Facebook page called Black Polygamy and added the caption “That Part!!!” The page originally shared the video on November 4 with a post asking whether polygamy is a sin. The video includes a graphic listing men from the Bible and how many wives each had, from Abraham and his two wives to Solomon and his 700.
For Pastor Israel Ford, it is the latest move in a campaign that started from the pulpit. On October 25, during Sunday service at LifeWorks Church, his first wife took the microphone. Ford founded the church with her, Pastor Lydia Ford, in 2009. Lydia introduced the congregation to “Prophet’s wife and my sister in marriage, Minister Shakayla.” The church refers to Ford as a prophet. Shakayla, formerly Shakayla Talley, now uses the Ford name. “Cat is out the bag,” she told the crowd. Lydia then revealed that Ford and Shakayla had been married for nearly three years.
Ford took the announcement to Facebook next. “I would like to introduce to the world, my second wife, Shakayla Ford!!!” he wrote. “As a nation we have been taught that a man should have one wife only. This is unbiblical.” He called it “an unpopular truth” that many pastors will not preach and said he had “no plans to choose pleasing man over what God has revealed.” He also told anyone who disagreed that they were free to walk away, writing, “This life will be over soon and we can all laugh about it in Heaven.”
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Two days after the church reveal, Pastor Israel Ford sat down with both wives on Larry Reid Live. Shakayla said she joined LifeWorks in 2018 and grew close to the couple while helping Lydia recover from surgery. She went from being Ford’s “spiritual daughter” to his second wife. Lydia said she came to accept the arrangement after prayer and fasting.
Ford also made it clear the household could grow. Asked about a third wife, he said, “You can go as far as you can afford,” but added that any new wife would need approval from Lydia and Shakayla. The rules do not run both ways. Ford said his wives cannot take another husband, and that a second husband would end the marriage.
The legal side is still murky. Ohio law prohibits bigamy, which means being legally married to more than one person at the same time. It is not clear whether Ford and Shakayla’s union is a legally recognized marriage or a religious one.
Ford is not stepping back after the backlash. He is using his page to amplify people who share his views, including a post that holds up a domestic abuse survivor joining a married couple as a model of Christian love.
