THOUGHTS & CONFRONTATIONS ALONG THE WAY - DIVORCE PART 3

ANOTHER WEEK HAS FLOWN BY.       My feelings about Divorce seem not to be a topic needing comment or discussion either way.      Sorry about it, but I felt in my heart that I need to be clear about what I see in the Word of God, and feel in His Spirit concerning our life in front of God.    I was reading even this morning, again, in Luke 9v23-26

'....if any man/woman come after me,

let him deny himself, ( that is disown himself, 

forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and 
give himself up) 

and take up his cross, and follow me.

The words in RED are from the Amplified Bible Translation.   If I would follow in the steps of Jesus I must DENY, say NO, to myself, and bare what is put upon me; take up my cross.     I am not my own that I might please or comfort myself.   I have given up my life to be nailed down upon the Cross of Calvary with Christ, and in doing so have given up my life, as Christ Himself has done, for others, including,  my marriage partner to whom I promised, in Christ's Name. my everlasting faithfulness and dependability!

YES I am still on track, but perhaps this will be my final word, at least for now.

DIVORCE - The 3rd Part -  Is it Lawful to Divorce your wife ?
For this we must look carefully at MARK 10v2-12 from the BIBLE

The Text                                                                       Simplified
And the Pharisees came to Him (Jesus),                      Is it lawful to divorce your wife?
and asked Him, Is it lawful for a man to put
away his wife?    and He answered them, and             What did Moses say?
said, What did Moses say?

And they said, Moses suffered us to write a Bill          Moses allowed divorce.
of Divorcement, and to put her away

And Jesus answered and said unto them, For              Moses allowed this because of the 
the hardness of your hearts He wrote you                    hardness of your hearts, (your insensible 
this precept, BUT from the Beginning it was                attitude to God's Call and Purpose in your  not so, and God created them male and female                                                   life. God MEANT for TWO to become ONE
For this cause shall a man leave his father and            for ever - it was not for men to undo it,
mother, and cleave to his wife.  And they twain            and bring a separation.      It was going
shall be one flesh; so then they are no more                 God's will,( and tantamount to SIN.)
twain but ONE flesh.   What therefore God has
joined together let not man put asunder.

AND  He saith to them, Whosoever shall put                It is Adultery - either way.  It is Wrong.
away his wife and marry another, committeth
adultery against her.    And if a woman shall 
put away her husband, and be married to 
another she committeth adultery.

On the basis of this passage there can be NO right reason for Divorce.      God expects both parties to remain together, come what may, trusting in Him, to give the strength.   JESUS does not even mention Fornication except by implication, clearly indicating it was an excuse that did not come from God.    He, in fact. sweeps this first and only reason for divorce aside, saying it was only tacitly winked at by God because of the insensibility of a man's heart in refusing to put God's Plan in front of his own proud and selfish ego.

FOR THE TRUE CHILD OF GOD there should be no Divorce in Marriage.  And the true Shepherd of God should never suggested or advise or encourage such a thing for any reason.

NOW let us look at Deuteronomy 22v13-19 shortly.
'If any man take a wife and go in unto her, and do hate her and give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her say - 'I tool this woman and when I came to her found her not a maid (virgin)........'     THEN shall the father of the damsel and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens (evidence) of the damsel's virginity unto the Elders of the City to the gate;  and the damsel's father shall say unto the Elders - 'I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her, and lo, he hath given occasion of speech against her, saying I fond not thy daughter a virgin, and yet these are the tokens of  my daughter's virginity....'
THEN she shall be the man's wife;    he may not divorce her all his days (forever).

We can see from this passage -  

1.    Moses is STILL saying there can be NO  Divorce if there is NO unfaithfulness. 

2.    Taken with the commencement of Deuteronomy 24, it MIGHT mean that only those wives who have committed fornication PREVIOUS  to their Marriage are in any position to be legally divorced - there would remain a striking case for the same to said of revealed unfaithfulness during the Marriage itself.

3.   In any case the accusation of Fornication had to be PROVED.     No proof, no Divorce.    This last point has caused many to hire 'detectives' to try and discover the partner's unfaithfulness....with devastating and often corrupt results.    Often such action only deepen the rift between the parties, increasing mistrust, resentment and bitterness between them. 

BUT what about God's Personal Attitude?     How does He deal with unfaithfulness or Adultery when it faces HIM, and when HE is the wronged party?
Let us first be reminded that God instigated Marriage as a physical demonstration and example of a desired and planned eternal union between Himself and His Creation;   an unbroken and eternal ONENESS.      In ISAIAH 50v1 we read -

'Thus saith the Lord,

where is the Bill of your mother's divorcement whom I have put away?'

GOD had put the Nation of Israel away from Him.    A separation of fellowship and communication had been caused between Israel, the Nation, and God  (allegorically wife and husband).    BUT God did not DIVORCE himself from Israel.    There was no final, permanent, revoccation of their Relationship.     And in The Book of HOSEA to which I referred in the 1st Part of this Study, I pointed out yet again God's unwillingness to give up, but to pursue all the more the Wife he took to himself.     And His Love won the day, and all was turned around.

The Account referred to in Hosea 2v1-23 is an account of God's dealings with Israel.

God paints a picture through the prophet, of a husband and wife situation.  The wife has gone away after other lovers; committing adultery with them, and becoming more and more unfaithful to her husband - the husband being God, and the wife, as I have said, the Nation (who were after all the 'People of God'.      But God does not divorce her in exasperation or unbelief, but in never ending LOVE for her,  seeks after her with renewed determination.     He seeks reconciliation with forgiveness so that she might once more come to her first love.   He seeks for her to again own him as her husband.     On being finally realised their restoration of course continues into an Everlasting state of ONENESS which is so beautifully announced In verses 19-20 and onwards.

'I will betroth thee unto me for ever;

Yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness

and in judgement, and in loving kindness, and in klmercies.

I will even kbetdrdoth thees unto me faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. 

(Here it is the husband seeking after the wife, but it could obviously be the other way round)

LOVE, TRUE LOVE

MUST ALWAYS FIND A WAY, WITHOUT FAIL.

And, finally, I find myself wanting to quote a few verses from The Song of Solomon

found in the Old Testament of the Bible

Chapter 8 verses 6-7

Set me as a seal upon thine heart,

as a seal upon thine arm,

For love is strong as death.....

Many waters cannot quench love; neither can floods drown it;

If a man were to give all the substance of his house for love,

it would utterly be contemned.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ESTHER AND I are well and happy in the Lord, and still busy with the ministry here, at least in part.    Neither of us are actually full time, but every day we are up to something somewhere.   God is so good to us all, and now, over this next month, we are looking forward to having many UK visitors staying with us.  Wonderful.

We have also this week received a copy of a Letter from our Government making a clear Statement regarding recent remarks suggesting they would close all Charitable Children's Homes by 2020.      Signed by a Permenant Secretary the Statement reads as follows:-

SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION OF NEW CHARITABLE CHILDREN'S INSTITUTIONS.
'The Government notes and indeed appreciates the good work Charitable Children's Institutions are doing in providing care and protection to thousands of vulnerable children in need of care and protection.    Notwithstanding this, it notes that many children are inappropriately placed in CCIs, while viable alternatives of family-care exist.   Secondly some of the Homes are involved in unscrupulous practises that negatively affect children.

In the light of the above, the Government has directed that registration of NEW CCIs be suspended until the current situation is streamlined to ensure proper care and protection of vulnerable children.

The suspension directive therefore affects registration of CCIs as follows:-

a) Registration of new CCIs

There shall be no further registration of new CCIs.

Those that had applied before the suspension on 13th November 2017 shall be considered for registration as per the existing requirements.

b) Renewal

Renewal of CCIs Registration will continue as per the existing Regulations

THIS, at least for the moment, has set the mind of some of us, as under (b) Renewal, at rest.
However, in our opinion the Government is set upon an irreversible path, and we should still hold ourselves ready for future action as by 2020 or at any time thereafter.     We shall all continue in prayer as to the future, and trust in God to safeguard lives of needy children in Kenya.

We do send to you all our since love and appreciation in Jesus Name.    God Bless and Keep you all safe

John, Esther and Daryl Green 

THOUGHTS & CONFRONTATON ALONG THE WAY - DIVORCE - PART 2

Satan is recorded as having said - 'Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.  For put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.'

What is being said here is that any of us (Men AND Women) naturally put the happiness and contentment of their lives FIRST.     It is true both of the Secular and the Religious among us.
Emotional distress, sickness and loss of material well being  can, and do, cause us to CRY out, and even curse GOD.     There ARE exceptions.
SATAN knows how to make each individual one of us CRY out, and with this cry there is always blame - seldom for ourselves.   We must blame someone or something however, since otherwise we must see ourselves as having in some way 'been in  error'.         Adam and Eve were both in error - they both ignored their Conscience, AND the Word they had from God.   The Man blamed his wife - and, through his wife, God Himself.    'The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.'     The woman blamed the serpent.  'The serpent beguiled me, (and Satan who used him), and I did eat.'     Genesis 3v12-13     Ultimately we ALL know what we OUGHT to do, but please ourselves instead, casting blame on God, The Devil and whatever and whoever else may come to mind.     AND thus the Scripture, existing only for the edification and education of Mankind, says to us in the Letter of James 4v17

'Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good,

and doeth it not,

to him it is sin.

Adam and Eve created the Blame Game in Marriage.     They continued on together ( in their case, of course, there were no alternative partners to run to) and bore one another, and perhaps hopefully also came to forgive each other, and, by the Grace of God,  reach old age together.    

IN THE CASE OF JOB, God let Satan deprive Job of just about EVERYTHING; his sons and daughters, his property, and every animal that profited him, plus his good health and strength, and because of it his social standing and importance in the Society he lived in.     Yes, Satan deprived him of all - except his wife.       

Of course we must accept that this unhappy woman also suffered, and thereafter, living faithfully on with Job had to watch the immediate and progressive disintegration of her husband's joy and well being.     She was hurting with him, and SHE cried out; she was pained, and pained with her husband's pain, and SHE blamed it all on GOD.    She said to her husband,  co-loser of all they had together rejoiced in - 'Dost thou still retain thine integrity?    Curse God and die.'

This wife blamed it ALL on God, and could see nothing to hope for, or to LIVE for.  'Curse God and Die!

BUT JOB, in all this, in all of his agony of mind and body, in all of his loss and pain, did not sin with his lips.     He did NOT blame God.      And he said to his wife 'Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speakest,  What?  Shall we not receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?

Job accepted his situation as God's will and purpose for him.    He was not enjoying it, but he would not avoid it, nor run away from it     Job 1-3.   He trusted in God.   He put GOD FIRST.

And at the END of his story in Job 42 God reversed all that Satan had done, and restored Job's losses so that he had twice as much as had been taken away from.     His WIFE is not mentioned as having been taken away from him at any time - was she still with him?       She may well have been so, and I believe that if they were together they had grown in understanding together, and would have been closer, and more perfectly, joined in the knowledge of God. 

OF COURSE I AM WRITING as a Man who Believes in the God of the Bible, and I write to those who especially know the Christian Bible.   But I am aware that some might read what I write who are NOT Christian, and have not read the Bible.     Nevertheless, the views I express are accepted by me as in line, spiritually, with the Mind of the Creator, as revealed in the Bible, His Word to us all.

This is the 2nd Blog of the year, and as the first was a Comment on Divorce from a rather different

source, I want now to carry on from a very fundamental view tied to the Bible.      I believe my view, but it is only made valid by the Scripture it is based upon.    I will personally stand by it.

DIVORCE - The 2nd Part -A  MAN MADE SEPARATION

It has been said, whosoever shall put away his wife,

let him giver her a writing of divorcement, but a say unto you,

That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause fornication,

causeth her to commit Adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is Divorced, 

committeth Adultery.      MATTHEW 5v31-32

Divorce is the legal ending of a Marriage (in particular) so that husband and wife are free to marry again, or to live alone, having agreed to separate.  I think in the Roman Church it is also referred to as an Annulment.

Throughout the world, increasingly since the 1950s, the divorce rate has been rising among those who have in facts been legally married either in Church or by Civil Registration.      Additionally those who come together illegally in an unrecognised liaison (known as 'Come We Stay' here in Kanya),  are also changing partners or running out on each other more and more frequently.     This is making serious inroads on the traditional picture of home and family, and affecting the general stability and health of our world society as a whole.

IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE it was about the same.     JUVENAL, who died about 458AD wrote that the Roman ladies counted more divorces than married years!   In a sense this seems to have been legalised polygamy.  JESUS said that it had at one time been agreed that whoever wanted to put away (divorce) his wife, he should give her a 'Writing of Divorcement'.     What WAS this?   What does it mean?     In Deuteronomy 24v 1 we read:-

'When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, 

and it came to pass that she find no favour in his eyes,

because he hath found some uncleanness in her,

then let him write her a Bill of Divorcement,

and give it into her hand, and send her away out of his house.

The Hebrew word used for 'uncleanness' has a wider meaning -  NAKEDNESS.   Clearly this was taken to mean that if a husband discovered some matter against his wife concerning her sexual relationships with any man not her husband, either before or after MARRIAGE  -  i..e. instances of fornication, adultery or both, THEN he was free to divorce her.      But eventually this would not be all.

If the husband found ANY moral wrong in his wife, he could divorce her!

In this present age the REASON for Divorce has proliferated and expanded alarmingly.   Uncleanness is now taken to mean almost ANY fault that might be discovered in a woman  (and NOW also, in a man) can be brought as a reason for Divorce.    The most common word used is INCOMPATIBILITY which simply put means an inability to agree or put up with the other; opposite in character, nature to each other; discordant, out of harmony with the other.   They cannot rhyme together.

One wonders if Long Engagements, now often considered out of fashion, and replaced by often very short if not hasty Engagements, are part of the cause.     Men and Women are marrying without understanding each other, or actually being aware of the likes, dislikes, and general opinions and interests that matter one to the other.   Too much hurry, or it purely lust?

JESUS said that the only reason for Divorce can be Fornication.    The Greek work given is PORNEIA is the one used in the Scripture, and also includes the idea or Adultery and Prostitution.    Thus we get a narrowed definition of uncleanness.  Why could a Divorce be agreed to in such a case?   Because the ONENESS of the Marriage had been broken, and denied by the unfaithfulness of one of the two partners in the Marriage.

BUT JESUS ALSO SAID, -  'It used to be said that you can divorce your wife for ANY reason ( a loose interpretation of Deuteronomy 24)   BUT in fact you can only divorce your wife IF you find her sexually unfaithful with another man - either before or after you marry her.'     This seems to be the broad understanding of the Words of Jesus here.  He goes on to say that if we divorce for any other reason apart from fornication we cause the wife to commit adultery, and whoever thereafter marries her will also commit adultery - unfaithfulness.  

 But WHY should this be so?

WELL THIS IS WHERE WE SHALL LEAVE IT FOR NOW.    I am no longer sending regular Blogs; they may appear any time in a week, and there may be more than one sending.   

================================= 

TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES IS BATHED IN WARM SUNSHINE TODAY!    All Schools are open again, and yet STILL parents are filling the streets and stores, buying last minute necessities for their children to be in School with.    It has been quite a crowded, busy, and rather hectic week for all school and related suppliers,   US included    But things seem to have settled a bit now, and we pray and trust that the year will begin to pick up and peacefully continue.       However NASA our Government Opposition is still making noises of protest, and threatening to disturb the peace one way or another.    They show little sign of quietening down but we are believing the Lord our God will find a way of bringing some form of agreement between the two parties.

DARYL has continued all week in Nairobi with DAN NDUNGU, our 16 year old heart case.  Dan has been undergoing further extensive tests every day.    Daryl has had to be there a one responsible to give Permission, test by test, and just as a Responsible Person.      During the week the hospital thought they had found Dan to also be suffering from a condition known as Sickle Cell, - a type of Anaemia.     That proved a false alarm in the end.       Daryl and Dan are on the way returning to Eldoret as I am writing.        We have not heard the final result of all the new batch of tests, but we hope the NEXT appointment will be for the Operation!     It is almost a year since we first discovered Dan had a hole in his heart.   This is the third time he has been up to the Heart Hospital in Nairobi for relays of tests.    It has been very wearing for Dan, and but for his faith in Jesus, I think he would not have made it thus far.   Please continue to pray for him.

MANU returned from Tenwick Hospital where he attends the Eye Clinic.   The Consultant was happy to notice IMPROVEMENT in his bad right eye, BUT unaccountably his left eye is now showing signs of infection, and he has had to suffer a whole two days of eye injections and so on.  He has to go back on the 7th February for a further appraisal and more injections    A very arduous and expensive series of treatments.     He has stood up to them strongly in himself, but this time I think he felt very cast down, as he had hoped for better news.    We also!!

This is supposed to be THE HOTTEST time of year.     Currently, since Christmas it has been as cloudy and cheerless with RAIN and COLD - more like July that January.    Our weather totally unpredictable.     BUT for me it is just FINE since I have never done very well in HEAT, and so I am very comfortable.

God Bless you all, and keep you on the 'straight and narrow' with the hearts lifted up and full of Joy.

Not so much that noisy, fleeting, joy of the party spirit, but that JOY that even in the midst of trial and soberness, establishes you in the knowledge of His Love for you, and of his nearness to you.

Love from us all

John, Esther and Daryl Green

THOUGHTS & CONFRONTATIONS ALONG THE WAY - 1. DIVORCE

DURING RECENT MONTHS,  N.A.S.A., Kenya's Opposition Party. has been trying to lobby for 'Breaking away from Kenya'  -   Cessation in other words.     

The map of Kenya to the left shows the way they see the future, with the Opposition leaving the current Government and Nation for a greater self autonomy on their own.    One can see that this would in fact end up with all kinds of complications and disaster for both parties.     
In 1895 what was then the British Empire set up the East African Protectorate, which, in 1920,  became known as Kenya Colony.   Then in 1963, forty three years later,  Independence was achieved and the territory became known as The Republic of Kenya, as it is today. 
For some 122 years this community of tribes and mini nations have lived peacefully together bearing each others cultures and differences toward a National all embracing unity.
WHY break up the process now?     There have been setbacks in the process, but they have always been overcome, and the Nation has grown stronger, and more willing to evoke change within themselves.     A stable Nation.  A mature Nation - but still developing.


WHEN I WAS A BOY in Secondary School my Mum left her husband for another man.  

The man was himself married, with a wife and teenage daughter.    Both he and my Mum had endured 'unhappy' marriages, and had in fact known each other in their youth, before either married.  In 1950 they decided to set up home together, with me in tow.      I had sympathised with my Mum for many years as she suffered an apparently "Alchaholic' husband, verbally and physically whilst trying to keep the home together..   When she left him I did not blame her.   In 1950, and for some years still to come, the whole situation would have been viewed as immoral, both in the secular as well as the Christian world of the time. Neither of them were able to obtain a Divorce by current laws then in force, and thus lived together 'in sin' as it was called; an adulterous Union.     But, without attending church, or receiving any religious instruction at home, and without having read the Bible, I still had an almost intuitive feeling that Divorce was a  'No Go Game'.   Nevertheless, as I have said, I felt that somehow she had a right to be happy.
But she always   "worried about it in her heart;  then I would say to her that everything was alright, and that God wanted her to be happy anyway.   Anyway?  NO, not 'anyway'and not by any means.  But I had still to learn that.   Certainly God wants us all to BE happy,  l but there is no happiness apart from HIM; no happiness outside of of His Law of Love.     My Mum remained unhappy in her heart"
(extracted from my book 'A Cry from the Street' published in 1987).
Well since the 50's  the Courts have opened up their doors to those wanting freedom to walk out on their Marriage Vows.     Originally it was understood that a so called "Bill of Divorcement' could be written only when proof of sexual infidelity had been discovered.      This was based on Mark 4 in the Bible, and Jesus agreed that Moses had been permitted to allow this - but ONLY because of the 'hardness' of human hearts.    This 'hardness of heart' refers to the 'condition of insensibility to the call of God.'     The 'idea' of Marriage is attributed to GOD and not Man.     The union is supposed to be 'sacred'   It is not an invention of Man, but a divine institution.    The bond that God Himself has tied, may not to be lightly untied.   
But to day, in our world society, divorce is up for grabs for almost anything at all - for anything one or other of the union determines it incompatible with, and for the other.      A situation too far gone to rectify without serious distress and sacrifice.     We may compassionately accept that Marriage is not always bearable, we have made a pact to bare it, with God - and He is not mocked.

ON THE 30TH DECEMBER 2017, the Kenyan DAILY NATION printed a lecture entitled

A NATION SHOULD BE LIKE A FULFILLING MARRIAGE;

ONE IS FREE TO LEAVE IT, BUT CAN ALSO CHOOSE TO STAY

Ernest Renan

The Lecture was written by a well known Kenyan Economist - David Ndii.     He had based a good deal of what he tried to say on a previous treatise, given by one Ernest Renan, a French Philosopher who lived circa 1882.  He was a Catholic, but at the same time did not believe in the Divinity of Christ, and was at some part of his life considered an enemy of the Church.    A Philosopher of repute, but for the most part holding his Christian Faith in error.    I read through Ndii's article, and my eye was caught by this quote from Ernest Renan  - he (Renan) says -

'a nation is a great solidarity, constituted by the feeling of sacrifices made, and those that one is still disposed to make.'   

From here David Ndii continues in his own words to use Renan's explanation of what a nation is.
He writes - ' Renan contends that a nation ought to be a daily plebiscite, by which he means that it must prove its worth to its people on an ongoing basis.   A nations worth is proved when people are free to leave, but choose to strive on - for better or for worse.     In short a nation is a fulfilling marriage.
Although I do not follow either Renan or Ndii.s faith or politics, I must say I felt quite helped by the allegory of a nation to a marriage - and vice verca.      It added to my conviction that Marriage is for ever, no matter how bad it gets.       That conviction begins with Adam and Eve.    They must have had a lot of  problem in their marriage, but they did not split up, did not give up on one another.   It may well have ended up a 'blame game' for the balance of their lives together, but they endured.

RENAN states that a nation is a great solidarity (a great union of variable strengths) made possible by the 'feeling' (inner sense) of sacrifices made (in sticking with each other), together with those sacrifices each is agreeable to make in the future, to the same end.        I understand this to mean that the more we are able to put UNION first, sinking our differences and enduring them, the more sure  it will be that we can end up with a cohesive and strong nation, able to withstand every test and attack upon its identity, as a Nation.  This is so much a description of Marriage, where we have in every case two individuals progessively, through their differences, and sacrifices in suffering those differences,  become welded more and more into a oneness of understanding;  learning through patience to forgive, endure and finally love each other AS ONE.     This IS the intention, I believe.      I wonder if RENAN saw his marriages in this light?    I believe he may have done - even without being a believer.   He WAS married, and had two children, and his family life appears to have been quite settled.      BUT, as a believing Christian, with the Holy Spirit to guide and spur him, he would have seen this even ,more clearly and more essentially.
RENAN went on to say that a nation ought to be a 'daily plebescite' - a kind of daily vote by its people that all is well, on an ongoing basis.     This kind of daily  'rain check' on each others state of heart and mind should always be taking place in the course of our normal communion with each other.
This excerpt from his writings, as cited by David Ndii,, states that a nation is proved (established) when the people who are partners in it are free to leave, but choose to strive on together- for better or for worse.
This again, to me, so rightly speaks of a marriage that will endure.      Of course I know that as a Christian I see Marriage in a special way, but I accept also, that all Marriage began with GOD, and that HE set up the pattern of it, and His intentions are for  it affect the world at large, and meant to manifest to the world what He is in Himself;    He would like to see Himself in our Marriages.  Marriage should reflect God's Mercy and Long suffering toward us all.

SO TODAY I find myself afraid that so many who ARE divorced, and may have found for themselves a greater happiness than they had with their first love (if it was love), have put themselves first, and in seeking their own joy, have missed God's Will and Purpose in Marriage.    I do believe Mankind was not conceived in God's Mind, or created by Him, in order for it to please itself.       I believe we were created simply to SERVE Him, and to be obedient to His Will.        I believe that to allow my marriage  to be broken, or allow another to help me break my marriage vow, and annul that marriage, is a very serious and disappointing matter to God.     It will not be what He wanted from us.     It may not always bring the happiness HE has planned for us.    It does not reveal His Mind or Spirit in us, but speaks only of our own selfish nature which is meant to be crucified with Christ on the Cross.     From God's point of view Mankind has rejected His Word, Believer or Not, as the case may be.      He has progressively allowed himself to push aside the revelation of God's Mercy and Loving kindness working in me patiently in long suffering and forgiveness.     The bottom line is that in God's sight I can have as many partners as I choose but I should not have run out on the
first since, in His Sight, I have not kept my promise which I made in His Name.      I will only ever be truly married to that ONE,as Far as He is concerned.

IN THE BOOK OF HOSEA 2V19-20 - and even onwards from there, we can read -

I will betroth thee unto me for ever;

Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness

and in judgement, and in loving kindness, and in mercies,

I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness

and thou shalt know the Lord.

God does become angry - BUT He does not cast away for ever.    His way is the 'Until Death Do US Part Way',    and He has done away with Death in Christ.    Marriage viewed in this way is an everlasting covenant.       I feel that God intends that we should all have Mercy upon each other, and that we should bear one another in Christ, and with Christ IN us.

If men and women were prepared to deny themselves and to suffer one another seeing each others good, then how much loneliness and shame, and how much deceit and fear, and how many cases of child delinquency would be avoided?      If only men and women were faithful to the Promises made to each other, establishing a stable , secure, and love filled, merciful home and family, how full of light the world would be!      

Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones writes -

'What right have we to expect nations to stand

by their promises, and to keep their vows to each other,

if men and women do not do it even in this most solemn

and sacred union of marriage?

We must start with ourselves.

We must start at the Beginning.

We must observe the Law of God - not MOSES -

IN OUR PERSONAL AND INDIVIDUAL LIVES

 Nothing is impossible with God even when we consider, humanly, that He cannot get it to happen.   For  'the grace of God who hath called us into His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after we have suffered a while, will make you/ us perfect, and will establish, strengthen and settle you/ us.'    1.Peter 5v10     In the Amplified Bible Translation and the same verse we find it saying that -

'God Himself will complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen and settle you.

IN CHRIST there is no marriage that needs to be broken or promises cast aside.      WITHOUT Christ I must concede that Men and Women may fail to succeed.

RENAN, the Christless Philosopher, says that a nation is a great solidarity of individual differences and opinions, sacrificially abiding together and suffering each other, and choosing not to repudiate one another but to strive and struggle on to ONENESS and unbreakable unity. - FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE.       I like it.     I like it even more in Christ and with Christ.

SAVE THE HOME!     SAVE THE FAMILY!   SAVE THE CHURCH .....Be NOT conformed to the world, and its empty doom.     Seek no occasion against one another.   If you are married, seek not to be separated, but choose to overcome one another in Love.

Thank you David Ndii for bringing this Lecture by Ernest Renan to light.   I guess he was putting it together about the time The East African Protectorate was born.     As a piece of literature I do not personally see that it encourages or proposes the wisdom of  making a nation through Cessation.
Such a Nation divided, and breaking away from itself, will inexorably FAIL to become a Nation.
I hope Mr. Ndii has also understood this fundamentally.      He belongs to the Opposition.    Let us hope that he will help prevent Kenya from being unfaithfull to itself, and its constituent members.
WE have the freedom to break away, but instead let us CHOOSE to stay together and strive and evens struggle within ourselves to refine ourselves, and courageously determining not to lose the Joy and Fulfilment of being a NATION together.   I commend this view to Marriage also.

Above is a Cartoon depicting Ernest Renan.

Although a Catholic he was not a Believer in Christ.

He was much misled, and because of the error in his writings

he was considered to be an enemy on the devil's side against

the Church.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

WELL this has been longer than I had hoped, and has taken me longer to write than usual.   I may not always write so lengthily, and I may not always write every week.        I hope I have not hurt any of my divorced friends by what is written here.      I love you all, and esteem you highly, and know that the Lord I know and love, loves you even more than I do or can.   But this is on my heart, and I must be honest to the light that I have.     We shall all stand in front of God, one way or another, and give an account of how we have served Him.    

DAN NDUNGU, our youngster with the hole in his heart is back in Nairobi going through three days of further tests.      They may send him home again afterwards to wait for the Operation to be confirmed.  It has been as great frustration to him and to ourselves as we have stood with him in prayer. 

JAMES MANU, will be attending his Eye Clinic this week on Wednesday.    He should get a final Appraisal of his progress on this occasion.     He may be there with Joshua Mbithi who will also hope to be having eye treatment with the same Consultant.

On Sunday evening about 6.30p.m. 40 Chapatis disappeared from the kitchen store.   They were part of the Supper, and were to be eaten with a good Stew.       They had been locked inside the kitchen store, but when the cook unlocked and went to collect them he found not even ONE left!     Rather like ,magic.     How DID 40 heavy chapatis leave a locked room without even a crumb left behind.  A mystery.     Well 'someone' still unknown must have had a key.     But even then what would any one want with 40 pizza size Chapatis.      We trust the Lord will uncover the matter in His own time.

Much love to you all in Jesus Name.

John, Esther, and Daryl Green