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Posts Tagged ‘Definition of Marriage’

Marriage And Ministry – Part II

15 Sep

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand” Ezekiel 33:6

By definition, a watchman’s responsibility is to warn of danger or harm to the people he has been entrusted to protect and care for. It is a very serious responsibility. And, by function, a watchman is to warn the people “before” the danger arrives in order that the people can take the necessary action or preparation to protect themselves and get out of harms way. A true watchman will warn the people that something is getting ready to happen, before it happens. Otherwise, why even have a watchman if there is not going to be any warning?

Today, we have those who claim to be watchmen but they are not. Today, we have those who claim to be leaders in the Body of Christ, but they are not. We have those who claim to have the prophetic anointing on their lives and even on the words they speak, but they do not speak the word of the Lord. They only speak that which is of their own mind and their own heart and not the word of the Lord. We see and hear those who claim to hear the voice of God, but they only hear and speak the vain imaginations of their heart.

God does not contradict Himself. The word of God is clear and stands on its own. God has never, and would never ask a husband and wife to abandon their marriage for the sake of “pursuing their ministry”. This would be a contradiction. Those who are saying that God is allowing them to break the marriage covenant in order to pursue ministry are speaking out of their own mind and not by the unction of the Lord.

Any man or woman who says that God is asking them to abandon their marriage in order to pursue ministry, that man or woman has been deceived. It is so contradictory. You in essence are saying “God is telling me to disobey His word, in order to preach His word! A man or woman who would say such a thing is being influenced by a demonic spirit. And, we know demons are real.

The church in America has become drunk on a man-inspired gospel of self-centeredness and self-indulgence. Or, to put it another way, it is a “what’s in it for me” gospel. John the Baptist said “He must increase and I must decrease”. But, in America we hear “Jesus exists in order that I might increase”. We are seeing this mind-set and gospel of man being played out before our very eyes in the Christian media and on the Christian TV shows.

When King David sinned with Bathsheba, what was it that Nathan the prophet came and spoke to the King? It was certainly more than “You must be having a bad day” or “I need to show you a little love and forgiveness”. To be sure, God did forgive King David. But, did you read the rest of the story? David paid a severe price for his sin. For you see, David was the King, the leader of the people, wasn’t he.

So, today, we have the prophets and the watchmen on the walls, and the apostles and the bishops (or the “one million bishops” as was recently quoted to me in frustration by a Christian in the Congo), all of whom are claiming to be God’s men and women of the hour. Yet, your silence is deafening. You are even promoting the enemy and the error from within the camp. There is no repentance of the sin, not even a consciousness of it!

You are making a mockery of the institution of marriage. You are dishonoring God’s word. You are of the spirit of Balaam, promoting an error in the hearts and minds of the people. If you choose not to speak the word of the Lord anymore, then He will replace you with someone who will. 
 

Publish Date: September 15, 2007

 

 

Marriage And Ministry

05 Sep

We are seeing the institution of marriage coming under attack as never before. In fact, we are seeing the very definition of marriage being brought into question. The family and the home are the bedrock of a society. If you take away the family and if you do away with the institution of marriage then, you essentially no longer have a society, at least, a society as we knew it.

Logically, if you are going to decide that something as established as the institution of marriage can all of a sudden be redefined, then, anything and everything can be redefined. If you think you can extract the institution of marriage “out of the equation” and redefine marriage, and then simply “put it back into” the equation and everything else will remain the same, then you are just simply naïve. The attempt to redefine marriage could be analogized to having a Constitutional Convention. In other words, to say that if the 50 States of the United States were to agree to have a Constitutional Convention in order to change “just one thing” in the Constitution, that it could be done and that it would all somehow be that simple and, that everything else would “remain the same”. Dream on.

To the point. There are ministers and ministries of late that are playing around with the institution of marriage. The Bible is very clear on marriage. The Bible tells us that marriage is a sacred institution, ordained by God and that only under the most serious circumstance of infidelity can the option of divorce be considered. Then, the overall word of God indicates that a husband and wife can forgive and remain together so long as they choose to be faithful to one another.

Being a minister can bring additional strain on a marriage and home life. I know, I am one. However, there is always some stress in life no matter what your calling or vocation. Just being human involves dealing with stress. Being under stress and having a lot of responsibility does not qualify a person to dismiss the authority of the Word of God. In fact, noting in this life qualifies any person to dismiss the authority of the Word of God. Not in this life or the next. “The grass withers and the flower fades but the Word of God stands forever” Isaiah 40:8.

Any minister that casually dismisses the authority of the Word of God, disqualifies himself or herself from ministry. How can you preach the Word of God if you don’t honor the authority of it?

The institution of marriage has been established since the beginning of the age of man. It has been the framework of our existence since the beginning. And now, you have those who are saying it doesn’t matter. It does matter and those who treat the Word of God casually, then God will treat that person casually. If a minister chooses to dishonor the Word of God, then God will dishonor that person.

 Publish Date: September 05, 2007