'....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)
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).
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 -
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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:-
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
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)
(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.
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
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