One last statement for those who think by now, that I am racist.
I love all my brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter which people group they are in, but that does not mean I hold back truth to massage feelings when there is sin involved. And, I will extend encouragement to anyone who walks uprightly.
Your people group is of no consequence to me whatever!!!! I do however, see character intensely because that is what is most important to me and I believe to God.
I can rebuke and admonish someone in any people group and I can also encourage anyone in any people group. If anyone thinks that I will be easier or more polite to them because of their people group, they need to think again.
God is not the respector of persons, whether it be people group, class or physical attributes.
Acts 10:34
"Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,"
There is no people group any better or worse than any other. No one deserves anything except death, because of our sin nature, and every individual no matter their people group, has a sinful nature and will not make it to heaven any way other than through accepting by faith the shed blood of Christ for payment for our sin.
We can whine and cry all we want over the injustice we see around us and every one of us has seen it in one form or another, after all we live in a fallen world, or we can look to Christ, the author and finisher of our lives, knowing the beginning from the end.
When our focus is Christ we interpret everything in terms of eternity rather than what we think we can get out of this life. Injustice is all around us and getting worse, it only means that we are almost finished with this life now and looking to our eternal home ought to be foremost in our thinking.
Expect injustice, pray for the answers to it, speak of it with Scriptural proof and move on. We are not here to change the world's system, but to win individuals to Christ.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Enlightened or Blinded
When we read the Bible all instructions from God are to all people. We are to look to him not our race.
We are to align ourselves with His principles, not any other human being no matter what their people group.
As I have said before our actions have to do with our own attitudes, if we are locked into family or people group, we will be blinded by that rather than enlightened by Christ.
Psalm 146:3 "Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation."
We are to align ourselves with His principles, not any other human being no matter what their people group.
As I have said before our actions have to do with our own attitudes, if we are locked into family or people group, we will be blinded by that rather than enlightened by Christ.
Psalm 146:3 "Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation."
Martin Luther Got This Right!
I have been challenged according to where I was when slavery was occurring in this country, my answer to that is this:
"I wasn't born yet and my ancestors were in other countries when all slavery was going on, and I would not have been involved in abuse of anyone, and I would have marched against the KKK. The proof of my assertion is that I have marched against abortion and pornography in the last 40 years.
I would have hidden blacks in my house in the times of slavery just as I would have hidden Jews in World War II had I been in Germany.
To lump me or my relatives in with those who did these evils merely because of my people group, makes as much sense as holding the sins of the father against the son even though the son was not even born yet. It is clannish and silly to do so."
Ezekiel 18:20 ""The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself."
There is only one race, and that is the human race, all differences in people are merely "people groups", containing in every human being, all the genes necessary for every group.
When we base our thinking on a people group we are prejudice and unloving.
Martin Luther Kings said this:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I look at "character" and I look at justice God's way. Nothing else matters in terms of the color, shape or size of any human being.
"I wasn't born yet and my ancestors were in other countries when all slavery was going on, and I would not have been involved in abuse of anyone, and I would have marched against the KKK. The proof of my assertion is that I have marched against abortion and pornography in the last 40 years.
I would have hidden blacks in my house in the times of slavery just as I would have hidden Jews in World War II had I been in Germany.
To lump me or my relatives in with those who did these evils merely because of my people group, makes as much sense as holding the sins of the father against the son even though the son was not even born yet. It is clannish and silly to do so."
Ezekiel 18:20 ""The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself."
There is only one race, and that is the human race, all differences in people are merely "people groups", containing in every human being, all the genes necessary for every group.
When we base our thinking on a people group we are prejudice and unloving.
Martin Luther Kings said this:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I look at "character" and I look at justice God's way. Nothing else matters in terms of the color, shape or size of any human being.
Relationships Ruined by Lack of Good Judgement!
A facebook friend made a very good point about the Brown shooting. No one saw the white community rioting in the streets when O.J. Simpson got off, when everyone knew he was guilty. He was rich and powerful, able to skirt the system and no one rioted. The blacks didn't riot then either that an injustice was done in that case.
If we are reasonable and sensible people we do not demonstrate every time we don't get our way. We understand the rule of law, whether we believe the outcome or not, we have the good sense to realize that those who saw all the evidence were the most equipped to make a decision on any trial.
Sadly there are blacks who did not agree with the rioting and had the presence of mind to understand these things, but were lumped in with all those foolish rioters. I regret this, that all blacks may be judged on the actions of a few anarchists, who don't care about truth. I love my black brothers ans sister and DO NOT WANT OUR RELATIONSHIP TO BE HINDERED BY THIS CRAZINESS.
Whether we like the outcome or not, we accept this form of law. There are probably unjust decisions that are made from time to time, but not all, and no one can decide when they haven't see all the evidence.
I fear that many opinions are formed based on the media bias. A good example of yellow journalism might be the video of ducks feeding the fish. I fell for that one myself. I thought, "what a wonderful thing that the ducks were taking food from their bin, placing it in the water to feed all the fish that came around to eat." Some of us actually thought the ducks were being friendly to the fish by feeding them. LOL, LOL!!! I am laughing at myself. How ignorant I was!
The ducks have to wash their food before swallowing it, they have to get a bit of water on the food and in their throats before they can swallow it, the fish were benefiting from what dropped in the water. This was revealed to us by another person in comments on another thread, who knew how ducks operate.
When we watched the video, we interpreted the actions of the ducks in terms of our own understanding of what that action would mean if humans were doing it. Out of our ignorance, we made a judgement and believed our false assumptions, based on what? A sixty second video? Now do we feel a little more challenged to get more information before judging a matter? I sure do!
I wonder how many of our judgements are interpreted based on how we would respond or think rather than what actually happened.
Most of us live on sixty second snippets of information from the news media, feeling all powered up and ready to make a, sincere but faulty assessment, of the itty-bitty information we have received. I have been guilty of this myself from time to time, thankfully I have been learning to allow the powers that be, the jurors and judges to do their job. I am not responsible to figure out all situations, especially if they did not involve me.
Proverbs 18:13 "He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him."
If we are reasonable and sensible people we do not demonstrate every time we don't get our way. We understand the rule of law, whether we believe the outcome or not, we have the good sense to realize that those who saw all the evidence were the most equipped to make a decision on any trial.
Sadly there are blacks who did not agree with the rioting and had the presence of mind to understand these things, but were lumped in with all those foolish rioters. I regret this, that all blacks may be judged on the actions of a few anarchists, who don't care about truth. I love my black brothers ans sister and DO NOT WANT OUR RELATIONSHIP TO BE HINDERED BY THIS CRAZINESS.
Whether we like the outcome or not, we accept this form of law. There are probably unjust decisions that are made from time to time, but not all, and no one can decide when they haven't see all the evidence.
I fear that many opinions are formed based on the media bias. A good example of yellow journalism might be the video of ducks feeding the fish. I fell for that one myself. I thought, "what a wonderful thing that the ducks were taking food from their bin, placing it in the water to feed all the fish that came around to eat." Some of us actually thought the ducks were being friendly to the fish by feeding them. LOL, LOL!!! I am laughing at myself. How ignorant I was!
The ducks have to wash their food before swallowing it, they have to get a bit of water on the food and in their throats before they can swallow it, the fish were benefiting from what dropped in the water. This was revealed to us by another person in comments on another thread, who knew how ducks operate.
When we watched the video, we interpreted the actions of the ducks in terms of our own understanding of what that action would mean if humans were doing it. Out of our ignorance, we made a judgement and believed our false assumptions, based on what? A sixty second video? Now do we feel a little more challenged to get more information before judging a matter? I sure do!
I wonder how many of our judgements are interpreted based on how we would respond or think rather than what actually happened.
Most of us live on sixty second snippets of information from the news media, feeling all powered up and ready to make a, sincere but faulty assessment, of the itty-bitty information we have received. I have been guilty of this myself from time to time, thankfully I have been learning to allow the powers that be, the jurors and judges to do their job. I am not responsible to figure out all situations, especially if they did not involve me.
Proverbs 18:13 "He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him."
Saturday, November 29, 2014
The Brown Dilemma
Brown was a thug,a bully and a criminal. He robbed a store and beat up and pushed the store owner out of the way to continue his rampage. When someone is a criminal, he can expect to have run-ins with the authorities. The Brown family seem like liars to me, they choose to believe a bad and shameful son over a police officer doing his job, to protect people like the shop owner. This is the end times description in 2 Timothy 3. I don't care what color they call themselves, anyone that acts like this deserves to be shot in the commission of a crime.
Proverbs 21:15 "When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers."
Isaiah 1:17 "Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."
When a family places their relative above justice, kindness and truth, they have made their family member a god. They worship a clan rather than Christ. They worship their perverted idea of justice rather than the God of the Bible.
Romans 13:4 "For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer."
If you are an evil doer, robbing stores and beating people, then you should expect to be punished for your evil deeds, and all family member should withdrawn from comforting you until you repent and are broken over your sin before God.
May all who read this have their eyes opened to truth, leaving behind relationships and pride to follow after Christ.
I become increasingly frustrated with people who refuse to use good sense and reason to come to the knowledge of the truth. It makes no difference to these people what the evidence is, they will choose to believe the opposite. We are living in very difficult times for those who have discernment to see, but few will see what they see.
Proverbs 21:15 "When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers."
Isaiah 1:17 "Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."
When a family places their relative above justice, kindness and truth, they have made their family member a god. They worship a clan rather than Christ. They worship their perverted idea of justice rather than the God of the Bible.
Romans 13:4 "For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer."
If you are an evil doer, robbing stores and beating people, then you should expect to be punished for your evil deeds, and all family member should withdrawn from comforting you until you repent and are broken over your sin before God.
May all who read this have their eyes opened to truth, leaving behind relationships and pride to follow after Christ.
I become increasingly frustrated with people who refuse to use good sense and reason to come to the knowledge of the truth. It makes no difference to these people what the evidence is, they will choose to believe the opposite. We are living in very difficult times for those who have discernment to see, but few will see what they see.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Watch Out For The Cults!
There are many deceivers in the world, some will claim to be your friends, pretend to believe what you believe, while remaining very vague in their explanations of their "religious" leanings. They coyly shake their head yes at everything you say, all the while never speaking truth from their own mouths. They talk, but what they say is meaningless.
The more you let them talk, the more things do not fit together or make sense, your discernment tells you something is wrong, but you just can't put your finger on it. Then you pray for further evidence that your sense about them is right, fearing that you may make a mistake and remove them as a friend, after all, perhaps you had not properly judged things you have seen and would damage the chances of spiritual growth in them.
Whenever I have sensed something wasn't right and prayed about it, not too much time had to pass before the Lord began to show me more. The person I suspected of lying was becoming more blatant in their statements and actions, so that there was no longer any question that they had been phony all along. Because they thought they were comfortable enough and had successfully made you dependent on their friendship, to reveal more, they began to expose themselves.
I have had such an experience in the past few months. Little by little the language became more crass, the manipulative ploys to control my thinking increased and when questioned, they piled up lie after lie in further attempts to cover up what they had already revealed.
This person was a Jehovahs Witness, pretending to be seeking my counsel, even using flattery to suck me in. The flattery was embarrassing and artificial. It was clear that manipulation was occurring. At first I ignored these things, thinking this person was just immature, but then came the attempts to control me through various devices, even condescension.
When it was clearly stated to me that she had discovered there was no such thing as a "Trinity", that it was a Catholic doctrine, and that she was studying with the Jehovahs Witness, I realized that my invitations for her to study with me were rejected months before learning all this, because she had been studying with them all along and was attempting to influence me eventually through their form of "friendship evangelism."
There are clues about a person's sincerity, one very important clue is the constant vagueness in their speech and another is their superficial agreement through nodding of head without verbal enthusiasm.
When asked to give a personal testimony about their salvation experience they have none to give. When asked if they read their Bibles they always have an excuse for not having time for it.
I am beginning to realize that the deception of the cults is becoming more cleaver, even learning evangelical jargon to look as though they are like us, when they don't understand the phrases they use.
They are among us, lying and deceiving, if we do not ask the Lord to show us, they will remain among us to influence weak believers and those who are seeking God but unsaved.
God says to have nothing to do with these people. They will keep us in a constant state of unrest, removing our peace and bringing turmoil and drama into our lives. They will dilute our testimony though our association with them.
Romans 16:17 "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them."
When we have given them the gospel and they will not listen but persist in their lies, then we are to reject them, putting them out of our lives.
Titus 3:10-11 "10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; 11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself"
You will run across these people, you may not recognize their bent toward the cults right away, things begin very subtle, however as you pray and seek the Lord when inconsistencies come up, God will show you the meaning of what you see, so that you can take the necessary steps, either correcting a believer of wrong thinking or rejecting a deceiver. Pay no attention to flattery or overt friendliness, these are very effect tools the deceivers use to disarm us. Look to the fruits, the attitudes and the actions, when the Holy Spirit sends inklings of something amiss, go to prayer.
Matthew 24:4 "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you."
The more you let them talk, the more things do not fit together or make sense, your discernment tells you something is wrong, but you just can't put your finger on it. Then you pray for further evidence that your sense about them is right, fearing that you may make a mistake and remove them as a friend, after all, perhaps you had not properly judged things you have seen and would damage the chances of spiritual growth in them.
Whenever I have sensed something wasn't right and prayed about it, not too much time had to pass before the Lord began to show me more. The person I suspected of lying was becoming more blatant in their statements and actions, so that there was no longer any question that they had been phony all along. Because they thought they were comfortable enough and had successfully made you dependent on their friendship, to reveal more, they began to expose themselves.
I have had such an experience in the past few months. Little by little the language became more crass, the manipulative ploys to control my thinking increased and when questioned, they piled up lie after lie in further attempts to cover up what they had already revealed.
This person was a Jehovahs Witness, pretending to be seeking my counsel, even using flattery to suck me in. The flattery was embarrassing and artificial. It was clear that manipulation was occurring. At first I ignored these things, thinking this person was just immature, but then came the attempts to control me through various devices, even condescension.
When it was clearly stated to me that she had discovered there was no such thing as a "Trinity", that it was a Catholic doctrine, and that she was studying with the Jehovahs Witness, I realized that my invitations for her to study with me were rejected months before learning all this, because she had been studying with them all along and was attempting to influence me eventually through their form of "friendship evangelism."
There are clues about a person's sincerity, one very important clue is the constant vagueness in their speech and another is their superficial agreement through nodding of head without verbal enthusiasm.
When asked to give a personal testimony about their salvation experience they have none to give. When asked if they read their Bibles they always have an excuse for not having time for it.
I am beginning to realize that the deception of the cults is becoming more cleaver, even learning evangelical jargon to look as though they are like us, when they don't understand the phrases they use.
They are among us, lying and deceiving, if we do not ask the Lord to show us, they will remain among us to influence weak believers and those who are seeking God but unsaved.
God says to have nothing to do with these people. They will keep us in a constant state of unrest, removing our peace and bringing turmoil and drama into our lives. They will dilute our testimony though our association with them.
Romans 16:17 "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them."
When we have given them the gospel and they will not listen but persist in their lies, then we are to reject them, putting them out of our lives.
Titus 3:10-11 "10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; 11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself"
You will run across these people, you may not recognize their bent toward the cults right away, things begin very subtle, however as you pray and seek the Lord when inconsistencies come up, God will show you the meaning of what you see, so that you can take the necessary steps, either correcting a believer of wrong thinking or rejecting a deceiver. Pay no attention to flattery or overt friendliness, these are very effect tools the deceivers use to disarm us. Look to the fruits, the attitudes and the actions, when the Holy Spirit sends inklings of something amiss, go to prayer.
Matthew 24:4 "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you."
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Growing is a Must!
Ezekiel 47:12
""By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."
When we are born again, our growth should be steady and constant. We will have growing spurts and lulls at times, but we should continue in a forward progression in holiness and wisdom.
I understand that the passage in Ezekiel was written to Israel and is a future prophesy, however all of God's actions have a lesson for us. When we remain close to Christ daily desiring to walk in His ways, we will progress Spiritually.
May we look to Christ for all matters in this life and glorify Him.
""By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."
When we are born again, our growth should be steady and constant. We will have growing spurts and lulls at times, but we should continue in a forward progression in holiness and wisdom.
I understand that the passage in Ezekiel was written to Israel and is a future prophesy, however all of God's actions have a lesson for us. When we remain close to Christ daily desiring to walk in His ways, we will progress Spiritually.
May we look to Christ for all matters in this life and glorify Him.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Believers Should Not Marry Non-Believers
Fellowship with the world through close friendships and marriage is dangerous to us and to children that may come later.
Non-believers do not share the same standards that Believers do. In marriage, business or club interactions, they will devise solutions for life issues that are against the standards of God.
A non-believer will love the movie industry and have little or no standard for what is shown on the screen.
A non-believer will follow the ways of psychology and ungodly attitudes of the modern professionals in their dealings with children and other adults.
A non-believer lacks the discernment of the Lord in matters of morals and relationships.
A non-believer will not see anything wrong with living together, smoking, bar hopping, drunkenness, filthy language, foolishness in adults, the entertainment mentality and immoral clothing. They will also be angry at the believer for disapproving of these things.
A non-believer will love the company of other non-believers while hating the company of godly believers.
Notice that when believers spend too much time with non-believers, they tend to take on the ways of the one who dishonors God. At the very least they remain silent in the face of sin and immorality indicating approval.
Diluting their Christian standards, while in the presence of the non-believer, a believer diminishes their own standard to gain the love and admiration of the non-believer.
1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 “3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your [a]daughters to[b]their sons, nor shall you take [c]their daughters for your [d]sons. 4 For [e]they will turn your [f]sons away from [g]following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.”
God shows clearly in this passage that our children’s hearts will be turned away from God by the influence of the unsaved parent.
King Solomon was a good example of this, he married many pagan wives, they turned his heart away from God and toward the worship of their idols. He began determined to please God and throughout his life was influenced by his wives to practice their ways, even allowing their pagan gods into his house and bowing down to them himself.
1 Kings 11:1-13 “11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not [a]associate with them, nor shall they [b]associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
5 For Solomon went afterAshtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after [d]Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow theLORD fully, as David his father had done.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is [e]east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORDhad commanded.
11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because [f]you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
2 John 1:9-11
“9 Anyone who [b]goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
It is a serious matter, to follow after an unsaved person either to be their close friend or to marry them.
Dating is the pre-curser to marriage, to become emotionally close to someone who is not of the same mind as ourselves is playing with dynamite. Not only do we ruin our own lives when we walk with the unsaved, we bring hardship on our children as they are confused by the influence of the unsaved parent. We should not be surprised when an unbeliever walks away from a marriage, they do not have the same commitment as a strong believer would have. They are easily influenced by their unsaved friends and the media.
More often than not, children will follow the unsaved parent’s ways because they are enticing and natural to the child. The world has much encouragement for the child to ignore the advice and teaching of the righteous parent while praising ways of the unsaved parent.
When one is married to an unsaved person, they will either give in to their spouse in the ways of the world to avoid conflict, or they will remain lonely as they follow hard after Christ and their spouse remains angry at this choice. There is a separateness in the same household, a detached emotional experience because the married couple are not in agreement.
Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil”
While the born again believer desires to seek the Lord in all things, the unsaved spouse will not join their spouse in this, they will do things out of God’s will because they want to follow their own heart in the matters of life.
James 1:22-25 “22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [a]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [b]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [c]an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in [d]what he does.”
We are commanded by God to obey Him, but an unsaved person does not care about this and will become angry when we cannot follow after them in disobedience against God’s principles.
James 4:7-10 “7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
God commanded us to obey Him rather than man, Acts 5:29. When we need to obey God and our spouse does not want to do that, then there is conflict in the marriage.
Proverbs 3:5-10 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your [a]body And refreshment to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.”
When we marry outside our faith we open ourselves to much conflict and frustration, as we attempt to obey God and our spouse refuses to do so.
The same is true of friendships, we cannot walk with those who do not share our goal and principles of life as seen in God’s Word. They will either prevent us from fully following after Christ or they will turn us entirely away from Him. It is a constant struggle.
I believe I have presented some scriptures here that well support what I have been saying in the matter of dating and even friendship with unbelievers. There are many more Scriptures and accounts of lives mentioned in the Bible that clearly show the pitfalls of disobedience to God.
1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Those who are in love with unbelievers have fallen in love with the ways of the world or they would not be attracted to an unsaved person.
When we are in love with Christ, we love the things of God to such a degree that an unsaved person is not spiritually or physically attractive to us. Outer beauty fades quickly when the character of the unbeliever loves the world.
Non-believers do not share the same standards that Believers do. In marriage, business or club interactions, they will devise solutions for life issues that are against the standards of God.
A non-believer will love the movie industry and have little or no standard for what is shown on the screen.
A non-believer will follow the ways of psychology and ungodly attitudes of the modern professionals in their dealings with children and other adults.
A non-believer lacks the discernment of the Lord in matters of morals and relationships.
A non-believer will not see anything wrong with living together, smoking, bar hopping, drunkenness, filthy language, foolishness in adults, the entertainment mentality and immoral clothing. They will also be angry at the believer for disapproving of these things.
A non-believer will love the company of other non-believers while hating the company of godly believers.
Notice that when believers spend too much time with non-believers, they tend to take on the ways of the one who dishonors God. At the very least they remain silent in the face of sin and immorality indicating approval.
Diluting their Christian standards, while in the presence of the non-believer, a believer diminishes their own standard to gain the love and admiration of the non-believer.
1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 “3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your [a]daughters to[b]their sons, nor shall you take [c]their daughters for your [d]sons. 4 For [e]they will turn your [f]sons away from [g]following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.”
God shows clearly in this passage that our children’s hearts will be turned away from God by the influence of the unsaved parent.
King Solomon was a good example of this, he married many pagan wives, they turned his heart away from God and toward the worship of their idols. He began determined to please God and throughout his life was influenced by his wives to practice their ways, even allowing their pagan gods into his house and bowing down to them himself.
1 Kings 11:1-13 “11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not [a]associate with them, nor shall they [b]associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
5 For Solomon went afterAshtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after [d]Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow theLORD fully, as David his father had done.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is [e]east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORDhad commanded.
11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because [f]you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
2 John 1:9-11
“9 Anyone who [b]goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
It is a serious matter, to follow after an unsaved person either to be their close friend or to marry them.
Dating is the pre-curser to marriage, to become emotionally close to someone who is not of the same mind as ourselves is playing with dynamite. Not only do we ruin our own lives when we walk with the unsaved, we bring hardship on our children as they are confused by the influence of the unsaved parent. We should not be surprised when an unbeliever walks away from a marriage, they do not have the same commitment as a strong believer would have. They are easily influenced by their unsaved friends and the media.
More often than not, children will follow the unsaved parent’s ways because they are enticing and natural to the child. The world has much encouragement for the child to ignore the advice and teaching of the righteous parent while praising ways of the unsaved parent.
When one is married to an unsaved person, they will either give in to their spouse in the ways of the world to avoid conflict, or they will remain lonely as they follow hard after Christ and their spouse remains angry at this choice. There is a separateness in the same household, a detached emotional experience because the married couple are not in agreement.
Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil”
While the born again believer desires to seek the Lord in all things, the unsaved spouse will not join their spouse in this, they will do things out of God’s will because they want to follow their own heart in the matters of life.
James 1:22-25 “22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [a]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [b]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [c]an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in [d]what he does.”
We are commanded by God to obey Him, but an unsaved person does not care about this and will become angry when we cannot follow after them in disobedience against God’s principles.
James 4:7-10 “7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
God commanded us to obey Him rather than man, Acts 5:29. When we need to obey God and our spouse does not want to do that, then there is conflict in the marriage.
Proverbs 3:5-10 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your [a]body And refreshment to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.”
When we marry outside our faith we open ourselves to much conflict and frustration, as we attempt to obey God and our spouse refuses to do so.
The same is true of friendships, we cannot walk with those who do not share our goal and principles of life as seen in God’s Word. They will either prevent us from fully following after Christ or they will turn us entirely away from Him. It is a constant struggle.
I believe I have presented some scriptures here that well support what I have been saying in the matter of dating and even friendship with unbelievers. There are many more Scriptures and accounts of lives mentioned in the Bible that clearly show the pitfalls of disobedience to God.
1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Those who are in love with unbelievers have fallen in love with the ways of the world or they would not be attracted to an unsaved person.
When we are in love with Christ, we love the things of God to such a degree that an unsaved person is not spiritually or physically attractive to us. Outer beauty fades quickly when the character of the unbeliever loves the world.
To Be Unequally Yoked is Disobedience.
Fellowship with the world through close friendships and marriage is dangerous to us and to children that may come later.
Non-believers do not share the same standards that Believers do. In marriage, business or club interactions, they will devise solutions for life issues that are against the standards of God.
A non-believer will love the movie industry and have little or no standard for what is shown on the screen.
A non-believer will follow the ways of psychology and ungodly attitudes of the modern professionals in their dealings with children and other adults.
A non-believer lacks the discernment of the Lord in matters of morals and relationships.
A non-believer will not see anything wrong with living together, smoking, bar hopping, drunkenness, filthy language, foolishness in adults, the entertainment mentality and immoral clothing. They will also be angry at the believer for disapproving of these things.
A non-believer will love the company of other non-believers while hating the company of godly believers.
Notice that when believers spend too much time with non-believers, they tend to take on the ways of the one who dishonors God. At the very least they remain silent in the face of sin and immorality indicating approval.
Diluting their Christian standards, while in the presence of the non-believer, a believer diminishes their own standard to gain the love and admiration of the non-believer.
1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 “3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your [a]daughters to[b]their sons, nor shall you take [c]their daughters for your [d]sons. 4 For [e]they will turn your [f]sons away from [g]following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.”
God shows clearly in this passage that our children’s hearts will be turned away from God by the influence of the unsaved parent.
King Solomon was a good example of this, he married many pagan wives, they turned his heart away from God and toward the worship of their idols. He began determined to please God and throughout his life was influenced by his wives to practice their ways, even allowing their pagan gods into his house and bowing down to them himself.
1 Kings 11:1-13 “11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not [a]associate with them, nor shall they [b]associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
5 For Solomon went afterAshtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after [d]Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow theLORD fully, as David his father had done.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is [e]east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORDhad commanded.
11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because [f]you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
2 John 1:9-11
“9 Anyone who [b]goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
It is a serious matter, to follow after an unsaved person either to be their close friend or to marry them.
Dating is the pre-curser to marriage, to become emotionally close to someone who is not of the same mind as ourselves is playing with dynamite. Not only do we ruin our own lives when we walk with the unsaved, we bring hardship on our children as they are confused by the influence of the unsaved parent. We should not be surprised when an unbeliever walks away from a marriage, they do not have the same commitment as a strong believer would have. They are easily influenced by their unsaved friends and the media.
More often than not, children will follow the unsaved parent’s ways because they are enticing and natural to the child. The world has much encouragement for the child to ignore the advice and teaching of the righteous parent while praising ways of the unsaved parent.
When one is married to an unsaved person, they will either give in to their spouse in the ways of the world to avoid conflict, or they will remain lonely as they follow hard after Christ and their spouse remains angry at this choice. There is a separateness in the same household, a detached emotional experience because the married couple are not in agreement.
Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil”
While the born again believer desires to seek the Lord in all things, the unsaved spouse will not join their spouse in this, they will do things out of God’s will because they want to follow their own heart in the matters of life.
James 1:22-25 “22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [a]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [b]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [c]an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in [d]what he does.”
We are commanded by God to obey Him, but an unsaved person does not care about this and will become angry when we cannot follow after them in disobedience against God’s principles.
James 4:7-10 “7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
God commanded us to obey Him rather than man, Acts 5:29. When we need to obey God and our spouse does not want to do that, then there is conflict in the marriage.
Proverbs 3:5-10 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your [a]body And refreshment to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.”
When we marry outside our faith we open ourselves to much conflict and frustration, as we attempt to obey God and our spouse refuses to do so.
The same is true of friendships, we cannot walk with those who do not share our goal and principles of life as seen in God’s Word. They will either prevent us from fully following after Christ or they will turn us entirely away from Him. It is a constant struggle.
I believe I have presented some scriptures here that well support what I have been saying in the matter of dating and even friendship with unbelievers. There are many more Scriptures and accounts of lives mentioned in the Bible that clearly show the pitfalls of disobedience to God.
1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Those who are in love with unbelievers have fallen in love with the ways of the world or they would not be attracted to an unsaved person.
When we are in love with Christ, we love the things of God to such a degree that an unsaved person is not spiritually or physically attractive to us. Outer beauty fades quickly when the character of the unbeliever loves the world.
Non-believers do not share the same standards that Believers do. In marriage, business or club interactions, they will devise solutions for life issues that are against the standards of God.
A non-believer will love the movie industry and have little or no standard for what is shown on the screen.
A non-believer will follow the ways of psychology and ungodly attitudes of the modern professionals in their dealings with children and other adults.
A non-believer lacks the discernment of the Lord in matters of morals and relationships.
A non-believer will not see anything wrong with living together, smoking, bar hopping, drunkenness, filthy language, foolishness in adults, the entertainment mentality and immoral clothing. They will also be angry at the believer for disapproving of these things.
A non-believer will love the company of other non-believers while hating the company of godly believers.
Notice that when believers spend too much time with non-believers, they tend to take on the ways of the one who dishonors God. At the very least they remain silent in the face of sin and immorality indicating approval.
Diluting their Christian standards, while in the presence of the non-believer, a believer diminishes their own standard to gain the love and admiration of the non-believer.
1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 “3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your [a]daughters to[b]their sons, nor shall you take [c]their daughters for your [d]sons. 4 For [e]they will turn your [f]sons away from [g]following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.”
God shows clearly in this passage that our children’s hearts will be turned away from God by the influence of the unsaved parent.
King Solomon was a good example of this, he married many pagan wives, they turned his heart away from God and toward the worship of their idols. He began determined to please God and throughout his life was influenced by his wives to practice their ways, even allowing their pagan gods into his house and bowing down to them himself.
1 Kings 11:1-13 “11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not [a]associate with them, nor shall they [b]associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
5 For Solomon went afterAshtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after [d]Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow theLORD fully, as David his father had done.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is [e]east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORDhad commanded.
11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because [f]you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
2 John 1:9-11
“9 Anyone who [b]goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
It is a serious matter, to follow after an unsaved person either to be their close friend or to marry them.
Dating is the pre-curser to marriage, to become emotionally close to someone who is not of the same mind as ourselves is playing with dynamite. Not only do we ruin our own lives when we walk with the unsaved, we bring hardship on our children as they are confused by the influence of the unsaved parent. We should not be surprised when an unbeliever walks away from a marriage, they do not have the same commitment as a strong believer would have. They are easily influenced by their unsaved friends and the media.
More often than not, children will follow the unsaved parent’s ways because they are enticing and natural to the child. The world has much encouragement for the child to ignore the advice and teaching of the righteous parent while praising ways of the unsaved parent.
When one is married to an unsaved person, they will either give in to their spouse in the ways of the world to avoid conflict, or they will remain lonely as they follow hard after Christ and their spouse remains angry at this choice. There is a separateness in the same household, a detached emotional experience because the married couple are not in agreement.
Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil”
While the born again believer desires to seek the Lord in all things, the unsaved spouse will not join their spouse in this, they will do things out of God’s will because they want to follow their own heart in the matters of life.
James 1:22-25 “22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [a]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [b]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [c]an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in [d]what he does.”
We are commanded by God to obey Him, but an unsaved person does not care about this and will become angry when we cannot follow after them in disobedience against God’s principles.
James 4:7-10 “7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
God commanded us to obey Him rather than man, Acts 5:29. When we need to obey God and our spouse does not want to do that, then there is conflict in the marriage.
Proverbs 3:5-10 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your [a]body And refreshment to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.”
When we marry outside our faith we open ourselves to much conflict and frustration, as we attempt to obey God and our spouse refuses to do so.
The same is true of friendships, we cannot walk with those who do not share our goal and principles of life as seen in God’s Word. They will either prevent us from fully following after Christ or they will turn us entirely away from Him. It is a constant struggle.
I believe I have presented some scriptures here that well support what I have been saying in the matter of dating and even friendship with unbelievers. There are many more Scriptures and accounts of lives mentioned in the Bible that clearly show the pitfalls of disobedience to God.
1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Those who are in love with unbelievers have fallen in love with the ways of the world or they would not be attracted to an unsaved person.
When we are in love with Christ, we love the things of God to such a degree that an unsaved person is not spiritually or physically attractive to us. Outer beauty fades quickly when the character of the unbeliever loves the world.
To Be Unequally Yoked is Disobedience.
Fellowship with the world through close friendships and marriage is dangerous to us and to children that may come later.
Non-believers do not share the same standards that Believers do. In marriage, business or club interactions, they will devise solutions for life issues that are against the standards of God.
A non-believer will love the movie industry and have little or no standard for what is shown on the screen.
A non-believer will follow the ways of psychology and ungodly attitudes of the modern professionals in their dealings with children and other adults.
A non-believer lacks the discernment of the Lord in matters of morals and relationships.
A non-believer will not see anything wrong with living together, smoking, bar hopping, drunkenness, filthy language, foolishness in adults, the entertainment mentality and immoral clothing. They will also be angry at the believer for disapproving of these things.
A non-believer will love the company of other non-believers while hating the company of godly believers.
Notice that when believers spend too much time with non-believers, they tend to take on the ways of the one who dishonors God. At the very least they remain silent in the face of sin and immorality indicating approval.
Diluting their Christian standards, while in the presence of the non-believer, a believer diminishes their own standard to gain the love and admiration of the non-believer.
1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 “3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your [a]daughters to[b]their sons, nor shall you take [c]their daughters for your [d]sons. 4 For [e]they will turn your [f]sons away from [g]following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.”
God shows clearly in this passage that our children’s hearts will be turned away from God by the influence of the unsaved parent.
King Solomon was a good example of this, he married many pagan wives, they turned his heart away from God and toward the worship of their idols. He began determined to please God and throughout his life was influenced by his wives to practice their ways, even allowing their pagan gods into his house and bowing down to them himself.
1 Kings 11:1-13 “11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not [a]associate with them, nor shall they [b]associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
5 For Solomon went afterAshtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after [d]Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow theLORD fully, as David his father had done.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is [e]east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORDhad commanded.
11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because [f]you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
2 John 1:9-11
“9 Anyone who [b]goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
It is a serious matter, to follow after an unsaved person either to be their close friend or to marry them.
Dating is the pre-curser to marriage, to become emotionally close to someone who is not of the same mind as ourselves is playing with dynamite. Not only do we ruin our own lives when we walk with the unsaved, we bring hardship on our children as they are confused by the influence of the unsaved parent. We should not be surprised when an unbeliever walks away from a marriage, they do not have the same commitment as a strong believer would have. They are easily influenced by their unsaved friends and the media.
More often than not, children will follow the unsaved parent’s ways because they are enticing and natural to the child. The world has much encouragement for the child to ignore the advice and teaching of the righteous parent while praising ways of the unsaved parent.
When one is married to an unsaved person, they will either give in to their spouse in the ways of the world to avoid conflict, or they will remain lonely as they follow hard after Christ and their spouse remains angry at this choice. There is a separateness in the same household, a detached emotional experience because the married couple are not in agreement.
Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil”
While the born again believer desires to seek the Lord in all things, the unsaved spouse will not join their spouse in this, they will do things out of God’s will because they want to follow their own heart in the matters of life.
James 1:22-25 “22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [a]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [b]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [c]an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in [d]what he does.”
We are commanded by God to obey Him, but an unsaved person does not care about this and will become angry when we cannot follow after them in disobedience against God’s principles.
James 4:7-10 “7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
God commanded us to obey Him rather than man, Acts 5:29. When we need to obey God and our spouse does not want to do that, then there is conflict in the marriage.
Proverbs 3:5-10 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your [a]body And refreshment to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.”
When we marry outside our faith we open ourselves to much conflict and frustration, as we attempt to obey God and our spouse refuses to do so.
The same is true of friendships, we cannot walk with those who do not share our goal and principles of life as seen in God’s Word. They will either prevent us from fully following after Christ or they will turn us entirely away from Him. It is a constant struggle.
I believe I have presented some scriptures here that well support what I have been saying in the matter of dating and even friendship with unbelievers. There are many more Scriptures and accounts of lives mentioned in the Bible that clearly show the pitfalls of disobedience to God.
1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Those who are in love with unbelievers have fallen in love with the ways of the world or they would not be attracted to an unsaved person.
When we are in love with Christ, we love the things of God to such a degree that an unsaved person is not spiritually or physically attractive to us. Outer beauty fades quickly when the character of the unbeliever loves the world.
Non-believers do not share the same standards that Believers do. In marriage, business or club interactions, they will devise solutions for life issues that are against the standards of God.
A non-believer will love the movie industry and have little or no standard for what is shown on the screen.
A non-believer will follow the ways of psychology and ungodly attitudes of the modern professionals in their dealings with children and other adults.
A non-believer lacks the discernment of the Lord in matters of morals and relationships.
A non-believer will not see anything wrong with living together, smoking, bar hopping, drunkenness, filthy language, foolishness in adults, the entertainment mentality and immoral clothing. They will also be angry at the believer for disapproving of these things.
A non-believer will love the company of other non-believers while hating the company of godly believers.
Notice that when believers spend too much time with non-believers, they tend to take on the ways of the one who dishonors God. At the very least they remain silent in the face of sin and immorality indicating approval.
Diluting their Christian standards, while in the presence of the non-believer, a believer diminishes their own standard to gain the love and admiration of the non-believer.
1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 “3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your [a]daughters to[b]their sons, nor shall you take [c]their daughters for your [d]sons. 4 For [e]they will turn your [f]sons away from [g]following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.”
God shows clearly in this passage that our children’s hearts will be turned away from God by the influence of the unsaved parent.
King Solomon was a good example of this, he married many pagan wives, they turned his heart away from God and toward the worship of their idols. He began determined to please God and throughout his life was influenced by his wives to practice their ways, even allowing their pagan gods into his house and bowing down to them himself.
1 Kings 11:1-13 “11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not [a]associate with them, nor shall they [b]associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
5 For Solomon went afterAshtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after [d]Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow theLORD fully, as David his father had done.
7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is [e]east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORDhad commanded.
11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because [f]you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
2 John 1:9-11
“9 Anyone who [b]goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
It is a serious matter, to follow after an unsaved person either to be their close friend or to marry them.
Dating is the pre-curser to marriage, to become emotionally close to someone who is not of the same mind as ourselves is playing with dynamite. Not only do we ruin our own lives when we walk with the unsaved, we bring hardship on our children as they are confused by the influence of the unsaved parent. We should not be surprised when an unbeliever walks away from a marriage, they do not have the same commitment as a strong believer would have. They are easily influenced by their unsaved friends and the media.
More often than not, children will follow the unsaved parent’s ways because they are enticing and natural to the child. The world has much encouragement for the child to ignore the advice and teaching of the righteous parent while praising ways of the unsaved parent.
When one is married to an unsaved person, they will either give in to their spouse in the ways of the world to avoid conflict, or they will remain lonely as they follow hard after Christ and their spouse remains angry at this choice. There is a separateness in the same household, a detached emotional experience because the married couple are not in agreement.
Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil”
While the born again believer desires to seek the Lord in all things, the unsaved spouse will not join their spouse in this, they will do things out of God’s will because they want to follow their own heart in the matters of life.
James 1:22-25 “22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [a]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [b]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [c]an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in [d]what he does.”
We are commanded by God to obey Him, but an unsaved person does not care about this and will become angry when we cannot follow after them in disobedience against God’s principles.
James 4:7-10 “7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
God commanded us to obey Him rather than man, Acts 5:29. When we need to obey God and our spouse does not want to do that, then there is conflict in the marriage.
Proverbs 3:5-10 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your [a]body And refreshment to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.”
When we marry outside our faith we open ourselves to much conflict and frustration, as we attempt to obey God and our spouse refuses to do so.
The same is true of friendships, we cannot walk with those who do not share our goal and principles of life as seen in God’s Word. They will either prevent us from fully following after Christ or they will turn us entirely away from Him. It is a constant struggle.
I believe I have presented some scriptures here that well support what I have been saying in the matter of dating and even friendship with unbelievers. There are many more Scriptures and accounts of lives mentioned in the Bible that clearly show the pitfalls of disobedience to God.
1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Those who are in love with unbelievers have fallen in love with the ways of the world or they would not be attracted to an unsaved person.
When we are in love with Christ, we love the things of God to such a degree that an unsaved person is not spiritually or physically attractive to us. Outer beauty fades quickly when the character of the unbeliever loves the world.
No Whining When We Didn't Seek God!
When someone marries without consulting God, and then whines and cries when it is a terrible marriage, I have to believe these people married for reasons other than character, and, didn't wait on God for His counsel.
When someone purchases a car or house, without consulting God or waiting on Him, and it all turns into trouble, we cannot blame the person who sold us the items, we have only ourselves to blame for not seeking God's counsel.
God can fix our foolishness, and sometimes He even lets us live in it to show us what our own will brings when we leave God out of our lives to make our own decisions without Him.
Too often we bring trouble upon ourselves because we do not make God a priority in our lives, as though He really doesn't know what is best for us.
So let me get this right, God gave you a brain, so you don't need Him?
Let's take a look at what we did with that brain God gave us. He gave us the brain, we perverted it! He made a way to be able to correct the problem by learning to think as He thinks. Sometimes we are left with the consequences of the choices we made without Him, as a reminder how much we need Him.
1 Corinthians 2:16 "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."
Those who have been born again do have the mind of Christ, but we do not always avail ourselves to it. In fact, in our modern Christianity we have relegated Christ to an emergency stop gap for the "big" things after we have messed up royally, then we blame others and run to God to fix it.
When we will not consult Christ, He will not bail us out, He wants us to learn to seek Him first before we make decisions. To leave Him out of the decision making process is to say to Him that He doesn't know what is needed or right, that we know better than He does.
Joshua 24:15 ""If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.""
Will we serve our culture and ourselves rather than Christ Who lives in us?
Isaiah 30:2 "Who proceed down to Egypt Without consulting Me, To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!"
Egypt is a picture of the world and the occult. When we seek the advice of the worldly psychologists and the self esteem advocates, or even the occultists, we are looking to ungodly men and women for our instruction, simply for no other reason than to be able to justify our sin.
Often we run to those who will say what we want to hear. If we love God we will seek God first and also the counsel of those who love Him. If we are worldly, we run to those who will encourage us in our sin, justifying what we want.
Isaiah 8:20 "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
Luke 6:46 "“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?"
In most cases we ignore God, if He happens to attempt to redirect us, we do not hear.
When we ignore God long enough, fostering rebellion in our hearts, then He will not hear us when we do look for His help. Notice I said "look for His help", but not really looking for Him.
Micah 3:4 "Then they will cry out to the LORD, But He will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time Because they have practiced evil deeds."
When we live a life of rebellion against God, refusing to seek Him in all things, desiring to please and love Him, then we will not have His help when we cry out in the devastating matters. God wants our heart and He does not help those who only want to use Him, but have no love for Him.
Jeremiahs 29:13 "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."
When someone purchases a car or house, without consulting God or waiting on Him, and it all turns into trouble, we cannot blame the person who sold us the items, we have only ourselves to blame for not seeking God's counsel.
God can fix our foolishness, and sometimes He even lets us live in it to show us what our own will brings when we leave God out of our lives to make our own decisions without Him.
Too often we bring trouble upon ourselves because we do not make God a priority in our lives, as though He really doesn't know what is best for us.
So let me get this right, God gave you a brain, so you don't need Him?
Let's take a look at what we did with that brain God gave us. He gave us the brain, we perverted it! He made a way to be able to correct the problem by learning to think as He thinks. Sometimes we are left with the consequences of the choices we made without Him, as a reminder how much we need Him.
1 Corinthians 2:16 "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."
Those who have been born again do have the mind of Christ, but we do not always avail ourselves to it. In fact, in our modern Christianity we have relegated Christ to an emergency stop gap for the "big" things after we have messed up royally, then we blame others and run to God to fix it.
When we will not consult Christ, He will not bail us out, He wants us to learn to seek Him first before we make decisions. To leave Him out of the decision making process is to say to Him that He doesn't know what is needed or right, that we know better than He does.
Joshua 24:15 ""If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.""
Will we serve our culture and ourselves rather than Christ Who lives in us?
Isaiah 30:2 "Who proceed down to Egypt Without consulting Me, To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!"
Egypt is a picture of the world and the occult. When we seek the advice of the worldly psychologists and the self esteem advocates, or even the occultists, we are looking to ungodly men and women for our instruction, simply for no other reason than to be able to justify our sin.
Often we run to those who will say what we want to hear. If we love God we will seek God first and also the counsel of those who love Him. If we are worldly, we run to those who will encourage us in our sin, justifying what we want.
Isaiah 8:20 "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
Luke 6:46 "“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?"
In most cases we ignore God, if He happens to attempt to redirect us, we do not hear.
When we ignore God long enough, fostering rebellion in our hearts, then He will not hear us when we do look for His help. Notice I said "look for His help", but not really looking for Him.
Micah 3:4 "Then they will cry out to the LORD, But He will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time Because they have practiced evil deeds."
When we live a life of rebellion against God, refusing to seek Him in all things, desiring to please and love Him, then we will not have His help when we cry out in the devastating matters. God wants our heart and He does not help those who only want to use Him, but have no love for Him.
Jeremiahs 29:13 "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Rejection is Expected
For all those who are feeling the brunt of rejection and oppression from the world and even those in the church, this Psalm may be encouraging to you.
Psalm 56
"56 Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
10 In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.
11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
12 Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living"
Psalm 56
"56 Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
10 In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.
11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
12 Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living"
The Spankings Help Us to Restoration and Healing
Proverbs 20:30 "The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly."
A true friend will be a "peacemaker", through correction to bring a brother or sister back onto the right path of thinking again. In order to make peace with man and God we must deal with sin and get it out of the way to progress toward holiness.
A "peacekeeper", is nothing more than someone who cares only about superficial happiness for the moment. Keeping the peace so that everyone can feel good about themselves, no matter what their condition.
Proverbs 27:6 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
Correction and confession can be very embarrassing and hurtful in the beginning, but the healing that can occur after the dust settles is far more satisfying when we realize we are back in fellowship with our God again.
The person who has cancer can feel fine for a long time, until the end when the cancer takes over and snuffs out the life of its' victim.
In order to cure the patient of the cancer the doctor must cut out the cancer, causing severe wounds sometimes, for the healing to begin.
Our Christian walk is like this, it hurts to have the sin in ways we don't like to admit, and the cure of admitting it hurts, but that pain will cause permanent healing and a healthier life, not to mention the restoration of relationships, God's and others we love.
A true friend will be a "peacemaker", through correction to bring a brother or sister back onto the right path of thinking again. In order to make peace with man and God we must deal with sin and get it out of the way to progress toward holiness.
A "peacekeeper", is nothing more than someone who cares only about superficial happiness for the moment. Keeping the peace so that everyone can feel good about themselves, no matter what their condition.
Proverbs 27:6 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
Correction and confession can be very embarrassing and hurtful in the beginning, but the healing that can occur after the dust settles is far more satisfying when we realize we are back in fellowship with our God again.
The person who has cancer can feel fine for a long time, until the end when the cancer takes over and snuffs out the life of its' victim.
In order to cure the patient of the cancer the doctor must cut out the cancer, causing severe wounds sometimes, for the healing to begin.
Our Christian walk is like this, it hurts to have the sin in ways we don't like to admit, and the cure of admitting it hurts, but that pain will cause permanent healing and a healthier life, not to mention the restoration of relationships, God's and others we love.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Cherry Picking is Dishonest
I am amazed at how readily our culture has accepted divorce and remarriage as easily as they have buying a new car or changing their cloths.
I have known since I was born again that divorce and remarriage was sin against God. What is astonishing, is how many people have been told there is no problem with either, and believers who have been told that it is acceptable for certain reasons.
This is what happens when people listen to preachers, writers and theologians rather than the Holy Spirit. I questioned this matter intently for a couple of years because of all the rudeness I experienced when I proclaimed that divorce and remarriage was a sin before God.
I began to pray that the Lord would show me if I was wrong about this,it seemed so very clear to me, even in the face of all the excuses and explanations to negate what God said to me in His Word.
The Lord began showing me the details of what He had already told me. I was in my early thirties when I was battling the divorce and remarriage mentality. I was rejected and hated by nearly everyone I encountered when this subject came up.
Then the Lord began to open the floodgates of truth concerning this matter of marriage. I had heard the Lord correctly, He really does hate divorce and remarriage.
Here are some of the things He showed me a little at a time as I prayed and studied. Later with the onset of internet, I began to find others who thought as I did, and as adamantly. They too had sought the Lord on this matter and were told the same things I was told by the Holy Spirit.
There are many people using the Matthew 19:9 as an excuse to divorce.
"And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."
The passage in Matthew that refers to "except for adultery", is not the proper rendering of that verse. In the original language it is "except for fornication", which is before marriage.
In the times of the bible the Jews had a custom of betrothal, which meant that their marriages were arranged from childhood. The betrothed parties were considered husband and wife during this bethrothal period, they were even called husband and wife, even though the ceremony had not yet occurred and they were not living together.
In order to break that betrothal, they had to receive a certificate of divorcement from the engagement and it could only be broken if one of the parties were unfaithful before the marriage.
The reason you do not see it in the other gospels, is because Matthew was written to the Jews and the other gospels were written to Gentiles who did not have this custom.
There was a day in this country when someone could sue for "breech of promise", if their engaged partner chose not to marry after promising to do so. This too was evidence that engagement was once much more binding in the United States in years past than it is now.
Our lax and flippant attitude toward engagement has led to a lax and flippant attitude toward marriage. God takes promises very seriously. When we promise to remain faithful in marriage to a spouse at a wedding, that is when God makes us into ONE! God says "you are no longer two but one." The word for "ONE" denotes in the original language a sort of spiritual glue done by God that no man can undo.
The condition of marriage is a picture of our status as born again believers. When God declares us His and seals us with the Holy Spirit of Promise as is stated in Ephesians 1:13-14, we belong to Him and nothing can undo that.
"13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
One can leave an engagement condition but no one can dissolve the glue that God used to make us one in marriage. There is an old saying: "when two divorced people get into bed, there are four people in bed together.
When Joseph was betrothed to Mary, he was going to divorce her quietly and she was called his wife, even though they had not been married to one another. He did not want to publicaly disgrace her even though he believed her to be unfaithful to him in the engagement. The Lord explained it to him and they got married. The term wife and woman were interchangeable in the Jewish custom of betrothal.
Also the words "not under bondage" do not mean divorce at any stretch. The word "bondage" here has to do with being in submission to or under authority. We are no longer bound to submit or consider the other person if they are no longer around, but this is not divorce.
When "Moses" allowed for divorce it was not God's command that he did it, it was a protection for the woman in those days a woman had no means of income unless she was married. Moses gave them what they wanted, but it was because they had hard hearts.
Sometimes God gives us what we want, even if it is against His will, and we will pay the price for our decision to rebel against Him.
Only about 70 years ago in the church in our country everyone knew divorce and remarriage was against the Word of God. What had changed? Our culture has twisted and lied about the Word, remained willfully ignorant so that the culture within the church can have what they want.
Being divorced is not adultery unless one remarries. God hates divorce, but God said, if you are divorced, then you are to remain single because you are still glued to the spouse you are not with, until he dies.
1 Corinthians 7:11 "But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife."
There are only two options from God for a divorced person, to remain single or to be reconciled to their spouse.
Remarriage is ongoing adultery in God's eyes. It is not just a one time thing as an act of remarriage but the adultery continues as long as the person remains with that second person.
The original word for "adultery" in the context of remarriage denotes an "ongoing state of adultery."
Again, we have all been brainwashed to believe that second marriages are legitimate marriages, they are not in God's eyes.
Sometimes people do not want a divorce but their spouse does and now days there is nothing that can be done about it. That person does not sin while divorced if they didn't want it, but they do sin if they remarry.
Once again I realize I may take a hit for this post, but I have become weary of the lies that have permeated the church on this matter. The ones who get beat up are those who desire God's best in obedience to Him.
I have actually heard testimonies of churches encouraging divorced people to remarry against God's will, when they have resolved that they are going to remain alone in obedience to God. The people who encourage the divorced person to remarry are harming their divorced brothers and sisters and for no other reason than to feel good about the sin of divorce and remarriage for themselves.
Shame on all those people who encourage divorced people to remarry. Why not come along side them to help them obey God.
I have met people who have bludgeoned a woman for speaking doctrine to others, but have completely accepted divorce and remarriage in their gatherings, how perverted this is. There is no mandate forbidding a woman to speak doctrine to women, children and men on the street, but there are mountains of verses in God's Word that show God's hatred for divorce and remarriage.
All the details of God's hatred for divorce and remarriage are not in this post, but there is enough for each humble and seeking person to go to prayer and dig deeper to see if what I am saying is true.
Please read the account of Gomer and Hosea, it will give more insight into the character of God and His desire for those He loves.
Check out the promises to Israel that God made and will keep until He comes for us.
Study the condition of the believer after we have become a new creation and born again.
All the ways of God, His dealings with Israel and those He has saved, give us very important clues as to what our attitude about marriage should be.
We are to be humble, noble and sacrificial in our dealings with a spouse. We are not to seek revenge or our pound of flesh when we are wronged. All the scriptures that speak of the character of the believer will answer any questions about remaining with a spouse.
We must take the Bible as a whole,without cherry picking to make God say what we want, that He did not say.
Do we want to obey God or do we want to use the Bible to justify our sinfulness?
I have known since I was born again that divorce and remarriage was sin against God. What is astonishing, is how many people have been told there is no problem with either, and believers who have been told that it is acceptable for certain reasons.
This is what happens when people listen to preachers, writers and theologians rather than the Holy Spirit. I questioned this matter intently for a couple of years because of all the rudeness I experienced when I proclaimed that divorce and remarriage was a sin before God.
I began to pray that the Lord would show me if I was wrong about this,it seemed so very clear to me, even in the face of all the excuses and explanations to negate what God said to me in His Word.
The Lord began showing me the details of what He had already told me. I was in my early thirties when I was battling the divorce and remarriage mentality. I was rejected and hated by nearly everyone I encountered when this subject came up.
Then the Lord began to open the floodgates of truth concerning this matter of marriage. I had heard the Lord correctly, He really does hate divorce and remarriage.
Here are some of the things He showed me a little at a time as I prayed and studied. Later with the onset of internet, I began to find others who thought as I did, and as adamantly. They too had sought the Lord on this matter and were told the same things I was told by the Holy Spirit.
There are many people using the Matthew 19:9 as an excuse to divorce.
"And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."
The passage in Matthew that refers to "except for adultery", is not the proper rendering of that verse. In the original language it is "except for fornication", which is before marriage.
In the times of the bible the Jews had a custom of betrothal, which meant that their marriages were arranged from childhood. The betrothed parties were considered husband and wife during this bethrothal period, they were even called husband and wife, even though the ceremony had not yet occurred and they were not living together.
In order to break that betrothal, they had to receive a certificate of divorcement from the engagement and it could only be broken if one of the parties were unfaithful before the marriage.
The reason you do not see it in the other gospels, is because Matthew was written to the Jews and the other gospels were written to Gentiles who did not have this custom.
There was a day in this country when someone could sue for "breech of promise", if their engaged partner chose not to marry after promising to do so. This too was evidence that engagement was once much more binding in the United States in years past than it is now.
Our lax and flippant attitude toward engagement has led to a lax and flippant attitude toward marriage. God takes promises very seriously. When we promise to remain faithful in marriage to a spouse at a wedding, that is when God makes us into ONE! God says "you are no longer two but one." The word for "ONE" denotes in the original language a sort of spiritual glue done by God that no man can undo.
The condition of marriage is a picture of our status as born again believers. When God declares us His and seals us with the Holy Spirit of Promise as is stated in Ephesians 1:13-14, we belong to Him and nothing can undo that.
"13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
One can leave an engagement condition but no one can dissolve the glue that God used to make us one in marriage. There is an old saying: "when two divorced people get into bed, there are four people in bed together.
When Joseph was betrothed to Mary, he was going to divorce her quietly and she was called his wife, even though they had not been married to one another. He did not want to publicaly disgrace her even though he believed her to be unfaithful to him in the engagement. The Lord explained it to him and they got married. The term wife and woman were interchangeable in the Jewish custom of betrothal.
Also the words "not under bondage" do not mean divorce at any stretch. The word "bondage" here has to do with being in submission to or under authority. We are no longer bound to submit or consider the other person if they are no longer around, but this is not divorce.
When "Moses" allowed for divorce it was not God's command that he did it, it was a protection for the woman in those days a woman had no means of income unless she was married. Moses gave them what they wanted, but it was because they had hard hearts.
Sometimes God gives us what we want, even if it is against His will, and we will pay the price for our decision to rebel against Him.
Only about 70 years ago in the church in our country everyone knew divorce and remarriage was against the Word of God. What had changed? Our culture has twisted and lied about the Word, remained willfully ignorant so that the culture within the church can have what they want.
Being divorced is not adultery unless one remarries. God hates divorce, but God said, if you are divorced, then you are to remain single because you are still glued to the spouse you are not with, until he dies.
1 Corinthians 7:11 "But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife."
There are only two options from God for a divorced person, to remain single or to be reconciled to their spouse.
Remarriage is ongoing adultery in God's eyes. It is not just a one time thing as an act of remarriage but the adultery continues as long as the person remains with that second person.
The original word for "adultery" in the context of remarriage denotes an "ongoing state of adultery."
Again, we have all been brainwashed to believe that second marriages are legitimate marriages, they are not in God's eyes.
Sometimes people do not want a divorce but their spouse does and now days there is nothing that can be done about it. That person does not sin while divorced if they didn't want it, but they do sin if they remarry.
Once again I realize I may take a hit for this post, but I have become weary of the lies that have permeated the church on this matter. The ones who get beat up are those who desire God's best in obedience to Him.
I have actually heard testimonies of churches encouraging divorced people to remarry against God's will, when they have resolved that they are going to remain alone in obedience to God. The people who encourage the divorced person to remarry are harming their divorced brothers and sisters and for no other reason than to feel good about the sin of divorce and remarriage for themselves.
Shame on all those people who encourage divorced people to remarry. Why not come along side them to help them obey God.
I have met people who have bludgeoned a woman for speaking doctrine to others, but have completely accepted divorce and remarriage in their gatherings, how perverted this is. There is no mandate forbidding a woman to speak doctrine to women, children and men on the street, but there are mountains of verses in God's Word that show God's hatred for divorce and remarriage.
All the details of God's hatred for divorce and remarriage are not in this post, but there is enough for each humble and seeking person to go to prayer and dig deeper to see if what I am saying is true.
Please read the account of Gomer and Hosea, it will give more insight into the character of God and His desire for those He loves.
Check out the promises to Israel that God made and will keep until He comes for us.
Study the condition of the believer after we have become a new creation and born again.
All the ways of God, His dealings with Israel and those He has saved, give us very important clues as to what our attitude about marriage should be.
We are to be humble, noble and sacrificial in our dealings with a spouse. We are not to seek revenge or our pound of flesh when we are wronged. All the scriptures that speak of the character of the believer will answer any questions about remaining with a spouse.
We must take the Bible as a whole,without cherry picking to make God say what we want, that He did not say.
Do we want to obey God or do we want to use the Bible to justify our sinfulness?
Friday, November 21, 2014
We Have No Right To Expect Perfection
What should a person do in a difficult marriage?
Pray harder, repent more and forgive often.
No marriage is perfect and no marriage is without troubles, anyone who thinks they can achieve a perfect marriage is going into it blindfolded, expecting something out of their spouse they have no right to expect.....and that is perfection.
When we go into marriage knowing and admitting that we will need to learn and change ourselves, that is when we can grow a relationship, while our focus is not what we can get out of marriage, but what we can offer.
It takes self sacrifice and humility to strengthen a marriage. We learn this as we go, no one goes into marriage knowing exactly how to do it, in fact we all go in with pies in our eyes thinking we are so special our spouse should feel blessed to have us. This thinking is the beginning of a disaster waiting to happen.
Choose a person who has the character God describes in His Word and then go into the marriage to serve not just to get. Expect nothing and give all you have.
Pray harder, repent more and forgive often.
No marriage is perfect and no marriage is without troubles, anyone who thinks they can achieve a perfect marriage is going into it blindfolded, expecting something out of their spouse they have no right to expect.....and that is perfection.
When we go into marriage knowing and admitting that we will need to learn and change ourselves, that is when we can grow a relationship, while our focus is not what we can get out of marriage, but what we can offer.
It takes self sacrifice and humility to strengthen a marriage. We learn this as we go, no one goes into marriage knowing exactly how to do it, in fact we all go in with pies in our eyes thinking we are so special our spouse should feel blessed to have us. This thinking is the beginning of a disaster waiting to happen.
Choose a person who has the character God describes in His Word and then go into the marriage to serve not just to get. Expect nothing and give all you have.
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