I am gradually rounding up this discourse on the critically important subject of Marriage & Divorce. This discussion on this subject became necessary when I discovered that there have been a lot of confusion amongst people as to what is right and wrong and especially the confusion in the Christian Church as to the right and wrong of the very vexed issue.
My focus today is on the argument of the religious class. My issue basically is that a host of people are suffering because they are fed with lopsided information that binds them and keep them from receiving the joy that God has in store for them. I know a lady whose husband on account of her becoming a Christian sent her packing. From biblical injunction, she is free to re-marry but I was shocked that the Church told her she can't! Do we know what we are doing to God's people because of ignorance?
That is also the reason why I advocate for Christians to take time always to read the Bible themselves and not to depend on private, skewed and unbalanced interpretation by ministers and preachers who carry a traditional mentality of scriptures that are not in consonance with the revealed will of God. This may sound very harsh but the suffering God's people are subjected to in the name of fulfilling a religious obligation is becoming appalling.
Let us get this issue straight: Was Esther who became the wife of the King of Persia of old God's servant or not? Yet she was the second wife of the King after the first wife messed herself up at a State Banquet - disgracing her husband in front of guests! God set-up Esther to become queen and she was an instrument of deliverance to God's people in her time! Would God now turn around and crucify her for being a second wife after she had fulfilled his purpose?
King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband. God sanctioned the King by taking the life of the child that was born out of wedlock. The other child that followed after the King married the woman was Solomon and God in His wisdom felt the right heir to the throne of David was Solomon! The child of an adulterous woman! That is a direct attack on our holier-than-thou thinking that has kept people away from God when we ourselves are not ready to enter the Kingdom! How are we better than the pharisees and Sadducees of old?
For those of us in ministry, we have had cases of ministers divorcing and re-marrying and a whole lot of people criticizing them that their ministry is over. I laugh a lot about that. God gave the man the ministry before he was born and before he married. If unfortunately the marriage fails, God's call on the man does not fail except the man refuses to obey the call. David did not cease to be King even when he committed adultery and sealed it with a murder. He asked for forgiveness and God saw His heart and he was forgiven. When is divorce a sin? When it is done in defiance to God's word. In most cases, divorces are solutions to a lingering problems in a marriage that has failed to fulfill its purpose.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Bible clearly states the reason for biblical divorce as adultery (Matthew 19:9) and desertion (1 Cor. 7:13-15). These scriptures explain clear biblical grounds for divorce. There are cases however that are neither here nor there in scriptures and in such cases, the believer or child of God should count on God's wisdom to make a decision. For instance, if you have a husband who constantly physically abuses the wife, it would be counter-productive to ask the wife to remain under that condition until she is physically maimed or killed. Husbands have been known to have murdered their wives in cases like this. How does this glory God in anyway? If you have a partner who constantly sexually abuses your child, that is a clear signal to dump the relationship because destinies have been put at stake.
Like I mentioned in my earlier blog, I have no apology for being blunt and plain on an issue the Church especially in our part of the world has refused to address squarely. Can ministers who have divorced and remarried still work in the house of God? I know a lot of people quote 1 Timothy 3:2 ".... a bishop must be a husband of one wife..." Very correct. It said, the man must be a husband of one wife not a polygamous man! It did not say the man must have been married only once, but a husband of one wife. Clear scriptures. It implies that even if the man was divorced, it should be that at any point in time, he should be a husband of one wife. The scriptures do not contradict itself and is not ambiguous. It becomes ambiguous when we interpret it to suit our traditional mind-set.
In our day, Joyce Meyer stands tall as a survivor from an abused childhood and a very abusive first marriage. We would not have had a Joyce Meyer if she never married Dave Meyer after her first marriage crashed. Do you know how many people's destinies have been touched by the ministry of this woman? If she had met a traditionally minded preacher whose knowledge of the Bible is unbalanced, many destinies would have been compromised. Ministries, nations and persons of all shades and colour have been blessed by Joyce Meyer because she had the courage to pursue her ministry irrespective of her failed first marriage.
Watch out for our last discourse on this subject in a few days. Stay connected to the right source!
My focus today is on the argument of the religious class. My issue basically is that a host of people are suffering because they are fed with lopsided information that binds them and keep them from receiving the joy that God has in store for them. I know a lady whose husband on account of her becoming a Christian sent her packing. From biblical injunction, she is free to re-marry but I was shocked that the Church told her she can't! Do we know what we are doing to God's people because of ignorance?
That is also the reason why I advocate for Christians to take time always to read the Bible themselves and not to depend on private, skewed and unbalanced interpretation by ministers and preachers who carry a traditional mentality of scriptures that are not in consonance with the revealed will of God. This may sound very harsh but the suffering God's people are subjected to in the name of fulfilling a religious obligation is becoming appalling.
Let us get this issue straight: Was Esther who became the wife of the King of Persia of old God's servant or not? Yet she was the second wife of the King after the first wife messed herself up at a State Banquet - disgracing her husband in front of guests! God set-up Esther to become queen and she was an instrument of deliverance to God's people in her time! Would God now turn around and crucify her for being a second wife after she had fulfilled his purpose?
King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband. God sanctioned the King by taking the life of the child that was born out of wedlock. The other child that followed after the King married the woman was Solomon and God in His wisdom felt the right heir to the throne of David was Solomon! The child of an adulterous woman! That is a direct attack on our holier-than-thou thinking that has kept people away from God when we ourselves are not ready to enter the Kingdom! How are we better than the pharisees and Sadducees of old?
For those of us in ministry, we have had cases of ministers divorcing and re-marrying and a whole lot of people criticizing them that their ministry is over. I laugh a lot about that. God gave the man the ministry before he was born and before he married. If unfortunately the marriage fails, God's call on the man does not fail except the man refuses to obey the call. David did not cease to be King even when he committed adultery and sealed it with a murder. He asked for forgiveness and God saw His heart and he was forgiven. When is divorce a sin? When it is done in defiance to God's word. In most cases, divorces are solutions to a lingering problems in a marriage that has failed to fulfill its purpose.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Bible clearly states the reason for biblical divorce as adultery (Matthew 19:9) and desertion (1 Cor. 7:13-15). These scriptures explain clear biblical grounds for divorce. There are cases however that are neither here nor there in scriptures and in such cases, the believer or child of God should count on God's wisdom to make a decision. For instance, if you have a husband who constantly physically abuses the wife, it would be counter-productive to ask the wife to remain under that condition until she is physically maimed or killed. Husbands have been known to have murdered their wives in cases like this. How does this glory God in anyway? If you have a partner who constantly sexually abuses your child, that is a clear signal to dump the relationship because destinies have been put at stake.
Like I mentioned in my earlier blog, I have no apology for being blunt and plain on an issue the Church especially in our part of the world has refused to address squarely. Can ministers who have divorced and remarried still work in the house of God? I know a lot of people quote 1 Timothy 3:2 ".... a bishop must be a husband of one wife..." Very correct. It said, the man must be a husband of one wife not a polygamous man! It did not say the man must have been married only once, but a husband of one wife. Clear scriptures. It implies that even if the man was divorced, it should be that at any point in time, he should be a husband of one wife. The scriptures do not contradict itself and is not ambiguous. It becomes ambiguous when we interpret it to suit our traditional mind-set.
In our day, Joyce Meyer stands tall as a survivor from an abused childhood and a very abusive first marriage. We would not have had a Joyce Meyer if she never married Dave Meyer after her first marriage crashed. Do you know how many people's destinies have been touched by the ministry of this woman? If she had met a traditionally minded preacher whose knowledge of the Bible is unbalanced, many destinies would have been compromised. Ministries, nations and persons of all shades and colour have been blessed by Joyce Meyer because she had the courage to pursue her ministry irrespective of her failed first marriage.
Watch out for our last discourse on this subject in a few days. Stay connected to the right source!
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