Ohio Pastor Says Having Two Wives Is Biblical
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According to the Survey on American Life Center, 46% of women and 34% of men have experienced a partner or spouse cheating on them. Regardless of infidelity, however, approximately 41% of first marriages in the United States end in divorce, says Emerson Divorce and Accident Injury Attorneys. As sad as these statistics are, what happens when their stories hit closer to home? Even within the Church?
Pastor Israel Ford of LifeWorks Church in Cleveland, Ohio, co-founded the church with his wife, Lydia Ford, in 2009, and told his congregation on October 25th, 2026, that he’s been living a double life for three years. Though the practice of polygyny, having more than one wife, is illegal in the United States, Ford said that he’s been living with two wives for the past three years and that God endorses it.
In addition to Lydia, Ford’s second wife, Shakayla Ford, was introduced on his Facebook, with a video clip of the announcement to his church. Along with the video, Ford explained why “a man should have one wife only” is “unbiblical.”
“As a nation, we have been taught that a man should have one wife only. This is unbiblical. I encourage you to watch today’s sermon in its entirety (uploaded later this week). I understand that this is an unpopular truth that we have gotten away from and many Pastors will not preach. I have no plans to choose pleasing man over what God has revealed,” he insisted. “People may not accept this and choose to disconnect, and that is ok! This life will be over soon, and we can all laugh about it in Heaven.”
When pressed for more details, Ford refused to elaborate. Ford’s first wife, Lydia, however, added some content:
“I wanna share that prophet and I, we are living, even right now, in what we would call a polygynous marriage. My husband, our prophet, he has a second wife. Y’all know her, y’all love her, y’all benefit from her ministry every week, and so I just want to take this time as a pleasure of mine to introduce prophet’s wife and my sister in marriage, Minister Shakayla.”
According to Lydia, Shakayla, and Israel, the church and its congregants benefit from both his and his wives' ministries:
“There’s been people who’ve been kicked out of churches because they live this life and they don’t have anywhere to worship, they don’t have anywhere to be vulnerable, they don’t have anywhere to go and pray and talk to God because people will shun them … but God’s word is real. God’s word is true; we are a strong family,” Shakayla Ford said.
“We benefit from her worship, we benefit from the revelation in the word, we benefit because it is a house of prayer. God uses us to pray, uses me to pray. I mean it is just an amazing thing to be a light, and it has to start somewhere,” she added. “We’re blazing a trail, and it’s starting to catch on fire.”
Photo credit: Screen grab, ©YouTube.com/LifeWorks
Originally published October 27, 2026.
