Hello Emma,

I started on this question yesterday and was half finished. I thought that the web site would save what I wrote so far but this morning I found out that it did not so I'm starting all over again. This time I'll continue until I am finished with the question. You give no reason for the question and of course you didn't have to. You may be just curious or it may be that you're contemplating a divorce or you may just want to advise someone very close about the subject.

Many times we ask questions and will have ideas in our mind about how the question will be answered, sometimes we are close and sometimes we don't even come close to it. This subject involves very deep issues in regards to the Woman and it would be understandable if it is not received. It will be very difficult for many to accept it as the true Word of God because of the amount of false teaching and perverse theology that have prevailed in our day for too long.

To begin, this Scripture confronted Jesus during His ministry; it confronted Moses at the beginning of his and Paul also had to deal with it when He was addressing the Corinthians. When you began discussing the subject of divorce and what the Bible says about it, you must also include the matter of marriage because one is the result of the other. Only True Believers are concerned about what the Bible says concerning this subject; the sinners and unbelievers don't care one way or the other.

According to God's prophet, there are 2 schools of thought in regards to this subject. One of them says that, "A man can only be married once, unless his wife is dead." If you follow that way of thinking, soon you'll go overboard with it and to the extreme. The other school of thought is, "if the wife or the husband, either on, has committed adultery, either of them can be put away and married again." Well, if you take that litteraly you find yourself overboard again.

To give you an example of what I'm talking about Emma. There are 2 major doctrines in the church; one of them is CALVINISM and the other one is ARMINIANISM. You may have heard of them and is familiar with them. One of them is a Legalist and the other one is Grace. Now those that believe as the CALVINISTS would say, for example, "Bless God, it don't hurt me to smoke, drink or go to dances because I've got Eternal security." Well now the AMINIANS which are the Legalist would say for example,"You know what that person just gets under my skin so much; I'd sure give him a peace of my mind, but I'm a Christian so I'd better not do that." As you can see, there are 2 roads contrary to one or the other. Both would take you away from the other.
What do you think about this,

MARRIAGE.AND.DIVORCE_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-13 SUNDAY_ 65-0221M
70 Now listen, and see if this sounds sensible to you. For instance, if I get ready to go overseas. And I'll take my own family. I'll call my wife up to me, and I will say, "We're go-... I'm going overseas, dear." Now here is the legalist's side, "Now, my wife, I'm going to lay the law down to you! If you flirt with any man while I'm gone, when I come back you're a divorced woman. And I don't want you making eyes, don't want you flirting! You understand that? I'm your husband! If you do it, I'm going to put you away when I come back."
71 Then she reaches and gets me by the tie, and say, "My good man, I want to tell you something, see, see, that if you make eyes at any woman, or take any woman out, or flirt with any woman, you're going to be a divorced man when you come back." Now, wouldn't that be a happy home? That's legalists. All right.
72 Now, the other side is, that if I go overseas and I make a mistake... Go over and say, "Now, look, I'll take this woman out. Oh, it's all right with my wife, she don't care." My wife say, "I'll go out with this man. It's all right with Bill, he don't care." If I don't care, then there is something wrong with me; I don't love that woman right. And if she don't care, there is something wrong with her. She is my wife; I don't want other man fooling with her. She is my wife.
73 Now, the correct way of it, is, there is both of them has got a truth, but not the exact Truth.
74 Now when I go overseas, to make it right, my little family gathers around, and we pray with one another. And I commit them to God, and they commit me to God. And when we do, we go over sea, I go overseas. Now, I know she loves me; I have confidence in her. And I love her; she's got confidence in me. As long as I love her like that, she don't have any worry about me taking any other woman out. As long as she loves me right, why, there is no need of me thinking about any other man going out with her, because she is my wife and I believe her.
I believe, if I would actually do something wrong, make a mistake and go out with some woman, and return back and would confess it to her, and tell her, "Meda, I didn't mean to do that. I just got caught in a trap; this woman just run right up to me and--and grabbed me by the arm, and started so-and-so," I believe she would be understanding. I believe she would forgive me for it. But I wouldn't do it, for nothing, because I love her. Though she would forgive me, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't hurt her, for nothing. Though I know she would forgive me for it, I don't want to hurt her."

MARRIAGE.AND.DIVORCE_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-13 SUNDAY_ 65-0221M
76 And that's the way it is with God. If I... if a phileo love, which is human love, fellowship love, can make a man feel that about his wife; what about agapao love, the Greek word meaning "the love of God," how would that make me do about Jesus Christ? I, as long as I want to go do it, it's in my heart to do it! Whether... I say, as long as it's in my heart to do it, I go do it. Legalism won't let me do it, is because that I knowed I'd get punished for doing it. But the real Truth of it is, is when the love of God comes into your heart till you want to do It. That's the Truth of it. There is the two schools. Not legalism or other, or the Calvinism, it's both.
77 Now we find out today, also, there is many different denominations. There is the Catholic church, the Protestant church. Each one of them says they're the Way, see, "We have the Way, we're the Truth." There is the Methodist, says, "We have the Truth." The Baptist says, "We have the Truth."
78 Well, to me, as long as they feel that way, it's not so, because Jesus said, "I am the Truth." See?
79 Therefore,.... He is the place where God put His Name, the only place to worship. You are not a Christian because you're a Protestant. You're not a Christian because you're Catholic. You're not a Christian because you're Methodist, Baptist, or Pentecostal. You are a Christian because you've been baptized into Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, not by water. "There is one Faith; one Lord; one baptism," that's Holy Spirit baptism. Water baptism inducts you into a fellowship. The Holy Spirit baptism inducts you into Christ. There is the Truth.

God gave man the remedy to peace on earth; He showed us the way to marry our wives and husbands and how to live with them. Since the Lord Jesus pointed us to the beginning which is Genesis and Genesis means beginning; it is the "seed chapter" of the Bible. Ok let's start with the statement that the Lord Jesus made when He was asked "Is it lawful for a man to put away (divorce) his wife for every cause?" Matthew 19:3. By the way, you should be following me in your own Bible. Most theologians agree that the Kings James version is the most accurate version of the Bible; however, it is not that easy to read as some other versions. Whatever Bible you have it would help you tremendously if you'd follow along as we search the Scriptures.

Notice how the Lord answered them. He referred them to "the beginning", showing them that the ORIGINAL INTENT of marriage was for man and woman, or husband and wife to remain together for all eternity. God is the one that created the institution of marriage and what God joins together no man better not try to separate or interfere with (verses 5 thru 6). Though our examples are man and woman the greater lesson is the spiritual application between Christ and His Bride. His marriage to His Bride is for all eternity and the union of Adam and Eve was to be a type of union between Christ and His Bride. We'll get into that later on as we go.

Since Christ referred them to the beginning let's go back to the beginning to see what took place in the Garden of Eden. Emma, if you ever want to know the reason of certain things just go to the beginning of it and you'll soon discover it, no matter what it is. Let's look at the Scriptures Christ mentioned, but first we'll start with the one preceeding it, verse 26.

1. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after
likeness...."

Emma, at this point I want you to understand something about this statement that God made. The Lord Jesus said in John 4:24 that "God is a Spirit". When God made Adam, for Adam to be in the IMAGE of GOD he would have had to be a Spirit just like God. Let us labor on this for a little while and see how it contributes to answering your question.
Before we go to the next verse, let's deal with Adam being a spirit and get this cinched down first before we go any further. Look at Chapter 2, verse 5.

2. ".....and there was not a man to till the ground".

Isn't it interesting that the Scripture did not say that there was not a man....period. It qualified the type or kind of man that was not there...A MAN TO TILL THE GROUND. Adam was most definitely there but he was a spirit and spirits have nothing to do with earth as far as living on it and enjoying the fruits and blessings that it gives. Spirits don't eat apples and oranges, nor do they were clothes and play in the sand. The earth was made for human beings to enjoy, not spritis. Even though spirits are moving about all the time they are in another deminsion. It even takes a special gift from God to see a spirit being.

Now let us back up to go to the next verse, verse 27.

3. "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them."

Now we see for the first time that the reference is made to the female. Many people misunderstand this Scripture also. The Scriptures could not say "in the image of God created He him; in the image of God created He her also", simply because God is a Man and not a female. That is why the Scripture goes on to mention that "male and female" was being created. Adam was both "female and male" within himself. Just like there is a femine side of God...Christ, the perfect Love of God in flesh. Now let us look at Chapter 2, verse 18.

4. "...It is not good that man should be alone; I will make
a help meet for him."

This confirms the fact that Adam was both female and male within himself or God would not have stated that Adam was alone. All of the living creatures that God had created before He created Adam was commanded to "Be fruitful, and multiply" (verse 22 in Chapter 1). Every living creature had a help meet (mate) except Adam (Chapter 2, verse 20) and God said that that was not good (verse 18).

5. "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam,
and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up
the flesh instead thereof.." (v. 21)
"And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man,
made He a Woman, and brought her unto the man." (v. 22)

It's interesting to see that even God had to put Adam to sleep before He operated on him. You may be asking yourself the question "why didn't God just create a woman like He created the man?". If God created the Woman like He did the Man then she too would have been perfect like the Man. It would have been impossible for the Woman to fall or to sin. Adam was god over all the earth; he had power over everthing that moved. Let's continue to see how things unfold.

Since the Woman was a "by-product" of a creation this placed her on a completely different scale than that of Adam. She was perfect in herslef as far as that is concerned but she did not come "fresh from God" like Adam did. This was intentional and it had to be this way in order for God to implement His plan in the earth. Notice verse 23.

6. "And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was TAKEN OUT OF MAN" (v. 23)

Since God took Adam's Bride-to-be out of Adam, it shows that Christ's Bride will also come from Himself. She must be within Him and will come from Him. Therefore SHE MUST BE MADE FROM THE WORD OF GOD (Living Epistles read of all men - 2nd Corinthian 3:2), Born of HIS SPIRIT, washed in HIS BLOOD and filled with HIS SPIRIT (John 3:5-7). The next verse:

7. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one
flesh" (v. 24)

Too many marriages today fails because they do not obey such a simple Scripture. Either the husband continues to run around partying and drinking with his single friends thats still looking at other women as they've always done or the wife is still running around with her single friends admiring the guys. The husband and the wife no longer have anything in common because they now have a very different life style and responsibility. Sometimes the relatives remain in the marriage and this causes quite a bit of friction sometimes. Usually, little problems that are never solved in their infancy grow to become very big problems that are overwhelming.

There is always a simple solution to any problem that a child of God may face. Get back to the Word of God and follow the prescription. Notice how the Lord uses the 2 Scriptures as His basis for stating that "whatever God joins together, let no man put asunder (separate)." As you can see, when a marriage is performed according to the Word of God it is to be for life. When a son of God marries a daughter of God they should marry according to God's Word by a Holy-Ghost filled minister of the Gospel and not some backslidden minister that is only concerned about his position, authority and pocket book. I don't mean to be hard Emma; it's just that there is so much perversion in the world today and most of it is because of too much false teaching and perverted theology behind the pulpit.

Let us further look into this particular verse for there is more to it than what meets the eye. Remember when the Lord Jesus said "I am the Vine and ye are the branches" John 15:5 and in verse 4 He said "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." In other words, the "Bride of Christ" cannot bear fruit unless she is in Him because He is the Life of the Bride. Her identity is found in Him. She is Mrs Christ. She is nothing without Him. So is it with the Woman. She is not complete without her husband because her identity comes from her husband. If she is a young girl living with her father then her identity is in her father until she is wedded to her husband then her identity is in her husband. The world frowns upon this fact but then the world cannot receive the things of God because it is a man-made system; it is carnal(Romans 8: 3-10). In the Kingdom of God these things are a way of life for the children of God.

As you can see, the intent in the Garden of Eden was for man and his wife to remain together in Holy Matrimony living by the Word of God only. However, in the plan of God, in order for God to manifest the many attributes that He has someone had to fall from grace and sin. If sin never existed there would be no need for a Savior. If no one was ever sick, God could never manifest His attribute of being a Healer. If there was never a law we would never know that God was a Judge. If there was never a kingdom we would never know that God was a King (King of Kings). If God never created the Heavens and Earth, we would never know that God was a Creator. If no one was ever in dispare we would never know that God was a Comforter.

Notice how the Pharisees continued to press Him with this subject; they then asked why did Moses issue a writing of divorcement if they were meant to stay together.

Now I want you to understand Emma, that though the Woman was taken out of the Man, she was placed on "Free moral agency" just like Adam. In other words she could do as she please, so could Adam. Since there was no thought of sin or of doing contrary to the instructions of God they both were in a Holy state of mind before God their Father. They didn't even know what "nakedness" meant in regards to today's definition. Today's definition could not be applied to them because sin is in the world now but it was not so then. Now let us examine the reason in depth why a Woman should stay with her husband and vice versa as is in the next verse.

8. "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and who marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery." (John 19:9)

How did sin enter the human race in the first place? It was the Woman that sinned. When she did, it through everything out of continuity with God. Before, she was co-equal with man in nature but after the fall she was no longer co-equal with man. He bacame her ruler, her head. That was her penalty for not remaining true to Adam. Satan could not tempt nor deceive Adam. He was god on earth, created by God in the very image of God. Not so with the Woman. Because she was in the original creation Satan was able to wear her down with his lies and tempting offers. She still could have said "NO" but she continued to listen and he eventually seduced her before her husband did. The Bible said before she knew Adam she was seduced by the Serpent. She didn't eat any fruit from a tree. She laid down with the Serpent brought forth a devil-possessed son, Cain (1st John 3:12).

Many theologians and ministers alike do not believe that Eve committed adultery with the Serpent. It's very plain if one would look at it regardless of how difficult it may be to believe. It's literally impossible for Cain to have such an EVIL, DISRESPECTFUL attitude toward God if he was the son of Adam nor would he be able to KILL HIS OWN BROTHER.

The very first sin in the Scripture began with Eve listening to a most cunning, sly deceptive being that was part man and beast who was not her husband. I want you to see the spiritual application in this event. The Lord said the "day you eat thereof, that day you will surely die." Since sin was in the camp they could not stay in God's presence. Adam had a right to leave her but he was a type of Christ giving his life for his Bride. He cleaved to her in spite of the act. They became spiritually dead the instance they committed the act. The veil of innocence was shattered and they clearly saw that what they did was very sinful and guilt and shame entered into their hearts and mind.

There was only one way to get back in continuity with God....they had to repent. The Lord made an atonement for their sins just as Christ became the Atonement for our sins.
In the Old Testament the Law was a cut-and-dry do-and-don't approach to the subject and every application of the Law was a type and shadown of how it should be dealt with after the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church.

Emma, before we continue, let me point out something that is not so obvious in the Garden of Eden. As long as you have been living Emma, and from your experience, which of the 2 genders have and still is the prettiet in the Animal Kingdom? Is it the male or the female? Take the Rooster and the hen. Which is the prettiest, the big Rooster with all of his beautiful feathers and headdress or the little plain spinly hen? What about the male Lion with his beautifu mane and the plain looking female lion. Look at the Bull cow with his massive long horns and the female cow. The big buck deer with his hugh set of antlers and the little simple looking doe. In every instance Emma, it is the male that is more beautiful than the female. However, amoung human beings it is the Woman that is prettier than the male. Why did the Lord reverse the trend? This will come as a shock and a surprise.....or maybe it won't. But the Woman was intentionaly made prettier than the male in order to DECEIVE.

Now we'll get back to this fact after while. But now,

Old Testament Instances of DIVORCE:

1. Leviticus 21:7 is referring to a Priest that ministers in
the tabernacle and offers sin offerings on behalf of the
children of Israel. Since the Priest or Minister in
today's language is Holy before God because he handles
the Fire of God which is His Word, he is forbidden to
to take a woman that has been (put away) as a wife,
regardless of whether or not her husband is dead.

2. Ezra 10:3 speaks of DIVORCE on a National level. The
Nation of Israel committed fornications (marrying
outside of the Nation of Israel) which God forbidded
because all the nations were heathens (idol worshipers).

The 9th Chapter of Ezra clearly explains how the children of Israel committed abmominations before the Lord and the only way they could back in the good graces of the Lord was to REPENT (turn from) of their unholiy unions with heathen wives and husbands. Remember, "whatsoever GOD JOINS (not what some heathen or backsliding minister joins) let no man put asunder or let no man pull apart."

I WILL CONTINUE THIS later Emma.
3.