Saturday 3 May 2014

POLYGAMY - THE BEST REMEDY?

THIS PRESIDENT DOES NOT LOOK VERY SURE.    Highly doubtful in fact.     AND a good percentage of Kenya,  in viewing his Signing of the greatly discussed new Marriage Act last Tuesday,  are even more doubtful of the wisdom behind it.!
Mr. Kenyatta has strongly testified to being a Christian, but in signing this Bill into Law he has joined the world around him in putting the Will of God AFTER the will of MAN.   He looks rather unhappy I think - has he found, as so many others have, that it needs courage and boldness to stand for God in a godless world.
IN OCTOBER 2009 ALL THIS was first being muted in Kenya, and I had written a Blog at that time entitled 'Brides Galore'.   I will repeat at least some of what I wrote then here, since it is now a comment on what has actually been made LAW.


THE DAILY NATION, in October 2009, sported this photo of a rather flamboyant Zulu business man in South Africa getting married to FOUR wives all on the same DAY!    He said that he prefers polygamy to keeping girlfriends!    It was interesting at the time (2009) because Kenya was considering changing its Marriage Laws in which it was being proposed that a Kenyan man might enter into polygamous relationships provided he had permission from the first wife.   Maybe this would pave the way for the Scripture to be fulfilled which says in Isaiah 4v1 - 'In that day seven women will take hold of one man!'   No, I am not condoning such action  - and I know that this is not good exegesis.......BUT on the other hand we do live in a world where there are MORE women than men.    Such an in-balance might indeed encourage polygamy!    Not too far back one of our Government ministers decided to take a THIRD wife, the previous two still living with him. He testified of himself saying ' the fact that I love women does not mean that I have loose morals..' A little glib perhaps?   Certainly to 'love' anything is to admit a fondness for it.    Not far away from lusting for it.   To love another human being beyond a proper appreciation and respect can easily lead us into immorality, and if we are already married then also into unfaithfulness and Adultery.   'Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her (to imagine intimate relations with her) has committed adultery with her in his heart (mind).    So said Jesus.
Paul in 1.Corinthians 7v1-2 says it is better for a man to marry rather than to burn in his lust for her.  BUT he did not suggest that he should GO ON DOING so on the premise that his personal sex drive was never satiated!    From the Beginning it has been meant for a Man to have only ONE woman, and for a Woman to have only One Man.      This is the revealed will of GOD - the One True God, though not it seems of every god.      But the True God is not a Man Pleaser, and seeks not to pander to the fleshly dictates of any Man.   The book of Genesis portrays God giving to Adam just ONE woman to be his wife.   In fact there WAS no other to offer him.!     BUT in the day of JOB multiple choice was available and, on his own testimony he found it a little difficult not to notice each and every girl that passed by.   He was afflicted by what many today might call 'A Roving Eye'.    And he was already married when he declared this of himself.     And HE was troubled by it;  he was not happy about it;   he could not accept it as a right condition for himself.  He wrote in his book Job 31v1 ....I made (I dictated) a covenant  (an agreement) with my eyes.   How could I then look lustfully at a girl?   For what portion or inheritance could I have from God above if I were lewd (MORALLY LOOSE)'
I PERSONALLY have always found this verse very interesting.   It suggests, strongly, that when I find myself with a character fault, then I should do something about it.    I was just reading about some testimonies from youngsters involved in homosexuality.  Most of them defended themselves by saying that they had been born with this predilection; they were programmed to BE the way they were. HOWEVER, Job did not seek to defend himself in what he KNEW was not acceptable in his life, and set about putting his life, by force, back on track with GOD.  He took himself in hand.   He did not become the slave of his EYES, but made himself their master and himself determined what they should focus on, and with what motive.     He denied his eyes the right to look wherever they willed.   He did not permit himself to be subjected by them, but made himself their master.    He brought God into this battle, and he succeeded.   PAUL in Romans 6v12 writes - 'Let not sin therefore rule as king in your moral (short lived) perishable bodies, to make you yield to its cravings, and subject to its lusts and evil passion.     No...... 'I' AM NOT TO LET  IT.      I am in charge, in Jesus Name.    AND YES, I AM dogmatically saying that 'evil passion' has to be identified and accepted as that which GOD has banned in a God fearing human life.     It may be unable to be controlled in a godless life.    BUT if God is with me, then HE is able to repair, reset, and reprogramme me into the person and image I was created to be, before SIN came in to mess me up.     I do not have to be a thief, I do not have to be an adulterer, a homosexual, a murderer.   I do not have to give into to bad temper.   I CAN be what I was intended to be in God's sight.     Yes with God NOTHING NEED BE IMPOSSIBLE.     With HIM with me I can have the upper hand in my life,   and I can WIN.

TO-day - in MAY 2014 - almost FIVE years latter the Law is passed, POLYGAMY  is allowable.   One Muslim brother in Mombasa is VERY glad about it.  HE writes "According to Islam, the objects of marriage are protection against physical, moral, and spiritual maladies; peace of mind; procreation; widening of the circle of relationships and safeguarding against adultery and homosexuality.  One or all of these objects can be difficult to realise if a man has only wife.......In view of all this, who can deny the wisdom of the Islamic institution of polygamy?   Many moral and physical evils have arisen in the world as a result of women being more than men - the best remedy is polygamy.'      The best remedy for a selfish man's weakness perhaps, but not the best remedy to demonstrate faithfulness.

BUT FINALLY - IS POLYGAMY ACCEPTABLE TO GOD?    Is HE happy about it?   What does His Word say about it?    What does it say in 1.Corinthians 6v9-20 in relation to such character faults as fornication, adultery, homosexuality and so on?       Are we on the right track in permitting and encouraging any one of these human flaws?    JOB thought he would lose his chance of immortality if her himself continued to neglect his own reform.
THE TRUTH IS GOD IS NOT HAPPY ABOUT POLYGAMY.     The NEW TESTAMENT forbids those who are polygamists to hold any office in the Church.   It does not bar them from being members of that Church however - Why?  Probably because some joined the Church AFTER already being polygamists.   Such would have been expected to continue providing for the women he had married and the children he had fathered,   (1Timothy 3v2 & v12) without continuing to have a sexual relationship  EXCEPT with his FIRST wife.     There WERE polygamists, homosexuals, adulterers, thieves and so IN the church - but they did not continue in their ungodly ways.    1 Corinthians 6v9-11.
We know of a certainty that a practising SINNER of any kind will NOT get to Heaven.    The sinner MUST repent and begin and maintain a NEW life.
POLYGAMY is but a compromise with ADULTERY - it is in fact only LEGALISED adultery and fornication, fundamentally against God's original plan and purpose, and never meant to be for the men and women who were meant to live together as ONE.

THIS NEW LAW has not maintained the restraint given to the 1st wife in giving her assent.   NOW she need not be asked, and the man need not even TELL her that he has another wife or even more than one.    This is clear straightforward freedom to commit adultery - legally!!    What happened to the Word of God Mr. President, while you took up your pen to sign away its Authority.      This Bill will put every home in danger, and open up the road for any person to be unfaithful to his wife and children - just to please himself, and to satisfy his carnal lusts.     Shall we applaud such an Act?    Shall we applaud such an attack on Home and Family.       IT IS A GODLESS piece of legislation which will increase sorrow and poverty.      We do not condone it.       Polygamy has been around for centuries, and even in Kenya it has existed both before and after my arrival in 1968.      Nothing about it may be held up as encouragement to family life, to filial faithfulness, love or care.     Favouritism, Jealousies, Neglect, and poverty have all been suffered and born by the majority involved in it.       It is not the man that suffers of course but the women and children.        Many of our orphaned children are from polygamous families.   Pray for Kenya and your world too - for Satan's work and intent is AGAINST God's Way.

MUST CLOSE FOR THIS WEEK.      Nothing much happening here - we wait for RAIN.    We ARE all well, and God is good to us in very difficult times.    God Bless you all and keep you safe.


John & Esther / Daryl & Carol



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