BY J.FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 30-31, 2018

Browsing the inner-net on my computer recently, from HTTPS://www.divorce source. Com/ main/U.S. divorce – rates –and Statistics -1037.SHTMl stated: “The U.S., since 1980.- ‘we have about 2.4 million marriages a year and 1.2 million divorces a year.’”

I hope you won’t think I’m “scandalous”, paraphrasing passages in James related to ‘disciples’, but I want to use the context of the passage to relate it to “marriages and divorces in the U.S.A. today”! James 4:1-10, paraphrased by J.Farrell Fisher, says:

“You ask, and receive not, because in ‘your marriage-dilemma’ you ask selfishly, that you may continue in your selfish, self-serving way. Adulterers and adulteresses (even spiritually), do you not know ‘friendship with the world’s false marriage ways’ is enmity with God?

Do you think the Holy Word says in vain, ‘the marriage-spirit’ that dwells in you ‘lusts’ in envy’? But Holy God gives more grace. Wherefore He resists that ‘self-centered-marriage-indifference’, but gives and keeps on giving grace to the humble.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist Satan, as he seeks to destroy your marriage faithfulness, and he will flee from you. When ‘temptations’ come to walk away from your ‘marriage vows’, cleanse your hearts, you sinners, and Satan will flee from you.

Draw near to God; and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and wash your minds and hearts in the blood of Calvary’s Lamb, you ‘twisted-mind’ professor of faith. Be broken by the Spirit and the Word, weep, and mourn; let your ‘fleshly laughter’ be turned to mourning, and your ‘fleshly joy’ to extreme heaviness of heart. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE!”

The end of Verse 29 in Luke 12 says, “…don’t be of a doubtful mind”, yet carelessly, when wounded by marriage infidelity, some choose to just ‘walk away’ ignoring God’s Word, Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not.”

But many have problems about ‘marital infidelity’, because of their even ‘mixed up’ religious, personal, or ‘brain-division’, like Einstein, though seemingly ‘religious’ in a sense, who once said: [From Manu Varghese, Nikea 1100 to I phone 5’s], “I do not believe in a personal God and I never have denied this but have expressed it clearly,” or, “clearly, I’m not a disciple of Christ, or a personal God.”].

And when it comes to “marriage and/or divorce”, many, certainly, are assured in themselves that “He has no place in what they decide to do for themselves”!!

But Edmund Burke once said: ( The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, edited by Frank S. Mead, Fleming H. Revell Company,p.296), “The Christian religion (or Faith), by confining marriage to pairs (husband and wife!!), and rendering the relation indissoluble, has by these two things done more toward the peace, happiness, settlement, and civilization of the world, than by any other part in this whole scheme of divine wisdom.” SO TRUE!!

It was William Wordsworth, in “Excursion”, (Bk.VI), who wrote: “Why do not words and kiss, and solemn pledge, And nature that is kind in woman’s breast, And reason that in man is wise and good, AND fear of Him who is a righteous Judge, – Why do not these prevail for human life, To keep two hearts together, that began Their spring-time with one love.” Great question!

I don’t know who wrote it, but I read it a long, long time ago, and kept it for such a time as this: “If a child of God marries a child of the devil, said child of God is sure to have some trouble with his father-in-law.” Classic word!!

There is no doubt in my mind and heart that the sanctity of marriage and the family relationship is one of the strong pillars of a nation’s foundation that keeps it up to the glory of God, but when the majority of a nation grants ‘acceptance’ of divorce as ‘OK’, it signs the beginning of its own ‘death warrant’ as ‘one nation under God’! At the same time, irresponsible spiritual ‘professors’ of faith in marriage, see it as ‘vital’ in ceremony but optional when ‘heat’ arises!

For some, ‘fleshly pleasures’ outside of marriage are ‘OK’ as long as one continues to attend church on Sunday! Some see marriage as acceptable, but they’ll scream that marriage without leniency in outside ‘fleshly indulgence’ is unacceptable to them. ‘Love pretense’ is not the same as ‘divine love practice’! There is no ‘peace’ when marriage vows are seen as unimportant or unnecessary when ‘one’ or both in supposed ‘holy matrimony’ accept the ‘promise’ but without consequences if one chooses to ‘play’ the ‘flesh, worldly, or Satanic way’ in marriages!

Matthew 19:5-6, Jesus speaking, declares, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”

Holy God didn’t INSTITUTE marriage with ‘options’, nor does He overlook or excuse marital infidelity by ‘promiscuous intercourse’ of ‘friends’, but HIS ‘faithful marriage vows’ are intended to promote marriage faithfulness and, yes, protect children that come from their supposed loving relationship.

I’m now 82 years of age, but still have, yes, pain over the divorce of my mom and dad when I was three years of age. After the divorce, my mother took me to her parents, where from 3 years of age to 12 years of age, I was with my grandparents, but also with my mother’s two sisters, one just two years older than me and the other about six years older than me – godly grandparents were needed, but those two sisters, my young aunts, compassionately and faithfully loved me, plus, in church attendance with them, I was blessed by faithful men, disciples of Christ, who went out of their way to love, serve, bless, and encourage me!! My mother re-married, her husband unsaved, but after about seven years with mom and him, then Baylor University and Seminary, just about three weeks before he died at 78 years of age, he said to me, “Farrell, all these years you’ve shared the gospel truth with me – one more time would you share it?” I did! He prayed! About three weeks after, one of the retirement nurses called Sue and I asking, “What has happened to Frank Callaway? He’s not the same man – he travels the halls and cafeteria telling everybody about Christ Jesus!”

Even ‘divided marriages’ at times have ‘flashes’ of Light in Christ that can, do, and will make a difference in some children’s lives, because the ‘believer’ intercedes to the glory of God for all the family, including maybe an unsaved partner.

THERE ‘IS’ MARRIAGE MADNESS, FOR SOME! There was a statement in “Changing Times” years and years ago that stated: “Marriages may be made in heaven, but man is responsible for the maintenance work”, and seriously sad that often times neither one or the pair understand “maintenance work”. And some accept no responsibility OR accountability in seeing the “marriage honors God”!

It’s so interesting AND convicting that 1 John 3:8 talks about “Christ coming to earth to destroy the works of the devil”, but you yourself see no marriage conflict as the ‘works of the devil’, so, you assure yourself you can handle marriage difficulties without the help of “the Savior”! How clueless is that for some in the midst of ‘marriage turmoil’?? Both individually and as a twosome in marriage, we both must see the eternal purpose of our marriage union, AND togetherness in seeing it exists for the spiritual purpose of glorifying the God who brought ‘us together’ and who wants to see our marriage problems resolved in full surrender to Him.

But across America, most in marriage unions fail because, though believing in God, He surely cannot be the foundation of their ‘fleshly union’, even when He instituted His eternal purposes in marriage before its foundation of the earth! When the marriage union, yes, often shuts God out, they willfully do so with no hope of Him fulfilling His eternal plan through their marriage union!

But hear me! In “Christian marriages”, Christ IS to have His rightful place in the union as His gathering place of both “salt and Light” to honor Himself and to sustain a sacred marriage for the enrichment, blessing, hope, and fruit of the Spirit in both husband and wife, plus the ‘kids’ that usually come!!

What does Matthew 5:14 tell us? “You are the light of the world. A ‘marriage’ that exists through Me is set on a hill”, yes, as shining lights to a needy world around you!! Do you understand? He’s not telling YOU in marriage union to ‘go out and find a light’ – “in Christ”, whether husband or wife or the union of the two, “Let Jesus’ Light shine through each of you to one another”!

Tony Evans, in his book, “America’s Only Hope,” (published by Moody Press, Chicago, in 1990), told the following ‘eye and heart-opening statement’ about Matthew 5:14: “Notice, that Jesus didn’t say, ‘Go out and get the light so you can brighten things up.’ He said, “You ARE the light.” When you are something, you don’t have to go out to find it. All you have to do is discover what you are,” (and I say, ‘discover who Jesus is in you!). Evans went on:

“There’s a story about a little eagle that fell out of its nest and landed in a turkey farm. The eagle grew up among the turkeys and, although he looked a bit different, learned to waddle like a turkey, bob his head like a turkey, and act like a turkey.

One day the young eagle looked up into the sky and saw a beautiful eagle soaring above. The little eagle in the turkey yard thought, “Oh, I’d love to be able to do that!” As the eagle soared overhead, it looked down and saw the young eagle below. Suddenly it swooped down to the ground and asked, “What are you doing here?” The little eagle replied, “I’m just here in the turkey yard where I’ve always been.”

The great eagle looked and said, “Spread your wings, boy. You do just what I do. Follow me.” Then he flapped his wings and lifted off the ground. The young eagle tried it, too. “Whee! This is all right!” “See,” the mature eagle said, “you’ve been living among these turkeys so long that you were beginning to believe you’re something you’re not! Follow me, and you’ll find out what you really are.”

“But I’m scared,” the little eagle replied. “I won’t know what to do when I get out of the turkey yard.” “When you get out of here, you’ll find out,” the big eagle answered. So the little eagle began to soar and fly. He loved it. But the turkeys down below called out to him and said, “Hey little guy, what are you doing up there? You belong down here.” .. “No, I don’t,” called out the young eagle. “I used to belong there, but now I’m what I was created to be. I don’t belong with you turkeys anymore.”

Question! Do YOU truly know to Whom you belong in your world? To the world, your old sin nature, to Satan? OR, are you owned by Christ’s blood purchase, and do you see yourself as truly “the Son of God in and through Christ alone, MARKED BY THE INDWELLING PRESENCE OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT”?

Another book I’ve treasured is a book by Jerry B. Jenkins entitled “Loving Your Marriage Enough To Protect it”, published by Moody Press in Chicago in 1989, 1993. He wrote: “One of the saddest and scariest stories I’ve ever heard on this subject was about a young evangelist. He was just barely twenty-one, on fire for God, effective in his preaching and soul-winning, and in great demand from local churches. He had preached several large crusades and was soon invited to an area-wide effort at which he would be the main speaker.

Though he was not yet out of college, he was a protégé of international evangelist Sammy Tippet and was admired and considered wise. Though he didn’t have a steady girlfriend, he dated regularly at Bible college. Spiritually he was alert and mature. He was, however, naïve. The first night of the crusade he headed up the counseling ministry in a large room near the pastor’s study. A beautiful teenager asked if she could speak with him personally. He tried to assign her to someone else, but, when she persisted, he agreed for her to wait until he was finished with the others. More than an hour after the meeting had ended, the rest of the counselors and counselees had left, and he was alone with the young girl. A few minutes later she burst from the room screaming, “He made a pass at me! He wanted to make love to me!”

That very night the pastor of the host church and a small group of the crusade planners confronted the young preacher and demanded an explanation. He denied the girl’s charge but had no witnesses. The girl had seemed an upstanding young woman in the church, and there was no reason to disbelieve her story. “What did happen in that room?” the pastor demanded.

“To tell you that would be to make an accusation behind someone’s back,” he said. “Which is what happened to me. I ask only that I be allowed to face my accuser.” The pastor and the others canceled the rest of the crusade and agreed that the young woman should be asked to face the preacher in their presence. Two nights later she showed up with her parents at a private board meeting. The pastor asked if she would care to speak about her charges against the preacher.

“She has already said all she has to say,” her father said sternly, her mother nodding and glaring at the accused. “Would you, son, care to share your version of what happened in that room the other night?” “No sir,” the evangelist said. “I see no future in that. Only she and I know the truth, and I cannot defend myself. I’d just like to say this to her. Cindy, you know what happened and what didn’t happen in that room. If you don’t tell the truth, I will be branded and may never preach again. This will damage my reputation and that of the church and even that of God. If I did what you say I did, I deserve no better, but we both know that is not the truth. I’m begging you in the name of Christ to set the record straight.”

The silence hung heavy as the board and her parents watched her face contort into a grimace before the tears began to flow. “I lied”, she said quietly. “I’m sorry. I lied. He didn’t make a pass at me; I made a pass at him. When he turned me down I was so embarrassed and ashamed and angry that I made up that story. I’m so sorry.” That preacher is no longer young. He has never again allowed himself to be alone in a room with a female to whom he is not related.” For YOUR testimony to the glory of God, is your marriage the testimony of God’s blessings because of His promises and your faithfulness to your marriage, or sadly, do you have to admit that you’ve allowed your marriage vows before Holy God to just wither away? Sadly, too many marriages today, with both husbands and/or wives are allowed to ‘wither’ rather than be a testimony that glorifies Christ Jesus and His Word! Why not, “Our marriage IS the ‘new creation’ in Christ, and ‘in Him, by Him, and for Him, to the glory of God!”

OR MARITAL BLISS?” (Sept.9, 2017, by J. Farrell Fisher)

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An experience recently with a man experiencing ‘monotonous marriage madness’ occurred when he mentioned to me that it looked as if his marriage had failed. He said his wife asked him to leave their home – she was tired of him. He also informed me that they had been ‘active church members’, BUT, he said, “She has a tendency toward alcoholism, and usually drinks more than a bottle of wine a day.” Over the years of crossing his path, maybe once every two-three years, he always had a very ‘down-in-the-mouth’ attitude, giving me no encouragement that he himself lived as a strong ambassador of Christ to his family. I believe he had two or three young adult sons, but he did say that one seemed to be leaning on the Lord, finally. When I prayed about him, his marriage, and his family, it was as if Holy God had written the ‘title words’ of this message in the sky! I knew I had to look at “monotonous marriage madness” OR “Marital Bliss”!

My wife, Sue, and I have been married 61 years! We birthed and raised together three sons and a daughter, the oldest son now pushing toward 60 years of age! Our second child, Susan, was just 14 months younger than Scott, then Stan, about 5 years younger than Susan, and then Steve, about 7 years younger than Stan. And, for Sue and I, it has been a fabulous journey! We’ve been blessed with kids who learned to honor the Lord – and all four are true examples of, yes, sons and a daughter of the Family of God!! Their kids are fast becoming stout witnesses of “saving grace, mercy, and love” in and through Christ!

I often have to ask as I read or hear about the disastrous divorce rate in the U.S., or about schools that intentionally shut God’s Word out of the educational process, or the communities that have no desire for “In God We Trust”, or even hospitals around who don’t allow pastors any longer free access to the “needy”, and certainly don’t want preachers in their hospitals praying, does anyone ever learn about “marital bliss” or are there those who excuse ‘monotonous marriage madness”? It’s happening!

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In reading the Psalms recently, I came to Psalm 66:8 which said, God speaking, “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace

day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent. AND give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

But, my concern, a weighty concern, in our modern-day in America, is: “Where are the ‘watchmen’ on the walls of the ‘city’ of marriage and family? Where are the ‘protectors’ of marriage enrichment, marital bliss, and families that choose to be salt and light in the ‘field’ of disintegrating marriages?

In Isaiah 62:6 God said the same thing! “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent. Verse 7, And give Him no rest till He establishes (or makes to stand), and till He makes (marriage, again) a praise in the earth.” “God is able!”, but do YOU in your marriage want His help? Some in the ‘marrirage community’ entered ‘marriage’ as simply, for them, ‘male and female fantasies’, or ‘legal experimentation in sexual frolicking’ (?), but never in the “good, acceptable, and perfect will of God”, and His bidding and blessing in marriage!

In Philippians 3:12 Paul made an ‘eye-opening’ statement when he wrote: “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” But, can you paraphrase that Verse, you and your ‘marriage partner’, related to, yes, “the Holy ministry of marriage” for your sakes, for your future children, for the HONOR of Christ Jesus, AND for the very “example” of national security, willing to be “laid hold of by Christ to honor marriage”?

National security? “I thought that was our military forces, but, you say our marriages play a major role in national security?” Absolutely I do! And, for you and your marriage, does Holy God have, or is He allowed to have for your marriage, His firm grip of divine strength, magnificent promises, and His very Spirit to ‘birth’, ‘raise’, mature’, and, yes, ‘use your marriage’ to honor His Son and unveil to a broken marriage community around you that there is an answer in Christ alone!

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Have you ever heard of friends of yours and your mate having problems, and the worldly ‘counselor’, even some in the ministerial community, advising: “You two just might as well divorce – it will save you a lot of pain and frustration.” Really? Don’t you find it sad when you learn that ‘marriage counseling’ often falls into the ‘insane’ advise of, “It’s OK; just follow your ‘natural inclinations’ – God won’t disapprove; He equipped you for that in handling both the good and the bad.” HOW STUPID AND HOW FAR AWAY HAS MANKIND FALLEN, and especially, in some, in the, “yes”, marriage counseling ‘ministry’?

“God IS able,” but when it comes to ‘saving marriage relationships’ some believe He’s disabled! Some in the ‘cloudy marriage condition’ never seek after the will of God but are certain He wants them ‘happy’ even if it requires divorce! Is it just humanly possible that one could ‘lean not to his/her understanding’ but yield to the will of God instead? In Philippians 3:10-14 Paul had been inspired to also write the following: (and I encourage you to apply it to marriage and family!), saying: “that I may know Him AND the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Even a ‘dying’ marriage relationship’?).

Not that I have already attained (a perfect marriage!), or am already perfected; BUT I (we) press on, that I (we) may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me (us). Brethren, one thing I do (we do), forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I (or we), press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,” IN THE MARRIAGE COMMUNITY!

I remember many, many years ago, someone asking my wife, Sue, “Have you or Farrell ever considered divorce?”, with Sue comically saying to them: “No! Divorce has never been a word allowed in our home by us or our children; BUT, ‘murder’ has been an option off and on!” [Well, for some, that ‘sounds’ reasonable and justifiable! Right? WRONG!!].

Without hesitation, I say to you, Biblical revelation declares God’s will to be “indissoluble relationships” which I firmly believe will still be celebrated together around our Lord’s eternal Throne! And the church, pastors, Christian families and

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friends to one another, are to be ‘ambassadors’ of “blessed marriages”, ‘ambassadors’ of comfort, correction, and encouragement’, and ‘ambassadors’ of, yes, saving grace, mercy, and love’. Why? Because we are “soldiers of the Cross”, and sometimes the field of battle is within the marriage community!

You see, too many fail to see ‘marriage’ as their ‘field’ of service for the glory of God! It was Robert C. Dodds, in his book, “Two Together”, (Copyrighted 1959, 1962, by Thomas Y. Crowell Company, N.Y. publishers), who wrote: “When two people, in a dramatic service of divine worship, extend open and defenseless hands and clasp them together, they are showing to God and to the world their readiness to learn from each other the mysterious penetration of real love.”

But, of course, because of the ‘fallen-away-nature’ of “independence from God”, men/women choose “my way or the highway”, even most, very casually and ‘cool’ because: “I’m my own person – I can do as I please. And I have no desire in this “Pleasing God” to do as He says – I’ll do as I damn well please!” How separated, sick, and insane has mankind ‘fallen away’?!?

It’s so interesting as you read through Paul’s Book of Ephesians, coming to Ephesians 5:15-16, hearing him say passionately: “See that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil,” but, YOU ARE SO SPIRITUAL (?), YOU SAY: “That has nothing to do with my marriage relationship.” Really?

In Ephesians 5:17-18 Paul then said: “THEREFORE DO NOT BE UNWISE, but understanding WHAT THE WILL OF THE LORD IS. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…”. Strong influences in marriage of ‘self-will, self-determination, and self-dependence’ ALWAYS leads to the “reckless drunkenness” of “my way”, easily avoiding the will of God!

Studiously, under the leadership of the “guiding” Holy Spirit, examine Ephesians 5:22-29, AND, Verse 33! It says: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and

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He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives JUST AS also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

SO, husbands ought (must) to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.” He enlarged his heart in Verse 33 saying, “Nevertheless let each one of you so love his own wife as himself, and let his wife see that she respects her husband.”

But, you understand, you are aware: There are those men, those women, who have no respect of divine intent in their lives, therefore, whatever the world, the old sin-nature, or Satan suggests, they’ll willingly follow, even desecrating holy marriage vows!

Peter was a stalwart servant of Christ as he matured in faith by the Spirit, and in 1 Peter 2:13-17 he wrote: “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men – as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people (Including your wife or husband?). Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” [Are YOU about ‘honoring’ King Jesus in your marriage relationship?].

Later, Peter spoke about Jesus “bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.” Verse 24! So… are you living in “healed marriages” or just take “man’s way out – divorce apart from the disciple of Word and Spirit allegiance?

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Oh, and then there’s a ‘shocker’ in 1 Peter 3:1-2! Peter wrote, yes, inspired by the Spirit, “Wives likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, WHEN they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.” And then in Verse 7 Peter wrote: “Husbands, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs TOGETHER of the grace of life, that your prayers not be hindered.”

In Pastor T.D. Jakes’ book, “He-Motions”, published in 2004 by G.P.Putnam’s Sons, p.201, Pastor Jakes wrote: “So often I hear couples talk about how in most relationships there’s one partner who needs the other partner more, and this person is the one who sacrifices their power to keep the other one happy. Obviously, this promotes an unhealthy, unbalanced, lopsided relationship that will only foster bitterness, resentment, and unbridled distrust between man and wife. I believe that in order to strike a balance regarding the power in a relationship, each person must recognize the variety of his or her needs as well as the needs of their partner. It’s not just one need but the complex layers of need – each of you has different needs that the other can touch like no one else. It is vital that you look to your relationship as a banquet to feed both of you; one cannot gorge him – or herself while the other goes hungry.” GORGING apart from God’s discipline IS deathly, whether the marriage relationship or one’s personal walk! It was Paul Johnson, British historian, who wrote in his book, “Enemies of Society”, that its continuation, its blessing, its fulfillment, especially in the marriage part of society, is the passion for God’s truth (in marriage!) and the voluntary willingness for change in us until He has His rightful administration through us! Yes, in marriage, it is to be: “Lord, what would YOU have me to do to honor You through my walk with my wife or my husband?” How many do you need who truly seek the will of God in their marriage? Yet how easy it is to look across the broad spectrum of marriage and see ‘discerning distortions’ apart from the Spirit, the will, the intention, AND the provision for a Christ-honoring marriage and family? Why not PRAY until we see His Kingdom come, His will be done in the home daily to His glory and honor and praise and thanksgiving?

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, APRIL 8-10, 2017

Sacred, holy marriage is not unpredictable but assured because the Christian commitment is in the ‘spirit of Christ’ who laid His life down for all, not the few! “God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son!” Giving in marriage Sacred, holy marriage is not unpredictable but assured because the Christian, yielding to, clinging to, devoted to, is not a ‘sacred vow’ one makes “if everything goes well or goes ‘my way’”!

There are interesting Verses in Matthew 18:3-4 when Jesus said to His new disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

But is there “the kingdom of marriage” planned, instituted, and blessed by Almighty God with the clear understanding of marriages’ predictability of unending love as man and wife, before Holy God, who consecrate themselves and their marriage to Him and to each other?

Oh, but then in Matthew 18:4 God identifies why for some THERE IS “the unpredictability of love”! “Therefore whoever humbles himself (herself) as this little child IS the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Are there those who do NOT humble themselves before God, “in marriages”, because ‘self-rule, fleshly desires, and warped biblical understandings let the flesh do as it pleases’?

I’ve often wondered, over my 80 years of life, having lost my family at the age of three, taken by my mother to live with her parents, my grandparents, from age three to twelve. But then my mother married again and took me to live with her and my step-dad. And I lived day by day filled with doubt if I’d truly be loved in the spirit of Christ’s ‘predictable love’ –“I’ll never leave you nor forsake you”! And His predictable love never faltered or failed, faithfully released through my grandparents, their two daughters, one six years older than me, the younger only two years older than me – and they were stout witnesses on His unending love and grace and mercy!

And, of course, in a world of ‘free will’, men and women sometimes live with, yes, the ‘unpredictability of love’ because they choose to be ‘lord’ over their own destinies! What did Jesus say in Matthew 18:3? “…unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Of course, the question of the here and now is, is there “the kingdom of heaven in marriage, and do I or we enter it with or without that assurance that Holy God will bless, oversee, and fulfill His promises to us and through us, as we stand true to our ‘sacred vows’”?

I really find it interesting and informative to read Paul saying in Galatians 4:19, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth (pains?) again until Christ is formed in you.” Just as in the spiritual realm of babyhood in Christ, children in Christ, youth in Christ, and adulthood in Christ, is it true in marriage, that there is a path and pilgrimage in the journey that, yes, REQUIRES patience, steadfastness, and heavenly glee over every new step of maturing as we “grow in grace” in ‘marital blessing’ and ‘marital fulfillment’, and ‘marital pleasure’?

But some step into the holy ground of marriage with only ‘my will, my pleasure as I define it, my desire for what I want in my marriage’, not the good, acceptable, or perfect will of God!

Reading through Jeremiah recently, I saw in Jeremiah 4:1 a very powerful word from God that I believe relates not only to national blessing in submitting wholly to God’s will, but, yes, even in marriage! God spoke through the prophet saying, “If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord, “Return to Me; and if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, THEN YOU SHALL NOT BE MOVED.”

Is it possible that in marriage some “CHOOSE” to fall away from the very Spirit of Sovereign God and choose to live by the ‘best’ and the ‘worst’ of fallen flesh rather than the Word, the will, and the Spirit of God Himself, experiencing not, ‘shall not be moved’, but seeing the foundation of biblical faith in marriage ignored, denied, or overlooked and ‘moved away’ from true devotion to one another? And Jeremiah 4:2 then says, “And you shall swear, ‘The Lord lives,’ in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness,” with God then saying, “The nations (including the sovereign nation of marriage’?) SHALL BLESS THEMSELVES IN HIM, AND IN HIM THEY SHALL ‘GLORY’.”

I love Oswald Chambers’ word in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest”, (p.269), when he said, “The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world ( world of the flesh- control rather than Spirit or Word controlled! JFF). The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time (barring divine will and Spirit and glorifying ‘flesh’ and ‘selfishness’ even in the sacredness of marriage! JFF). The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must RESOLUTELY go through the hell of a renunciation (of ‘selfishness’ in one’s marriage JFF) before God. Nothing has any power over the man (and I say his marriage! JFF) who has fought out the battle before God and won there.” ( But don’t you find Chambers’ words very strange across the marriage world of the U.S.A. today?)

In the Chicago Tribune, Heidi Stevens, Contact Reporter of Tribune Newspapers said: “With more Americans than ever saying ‘I Don’t’ to marriage, it’s time to reinvent the institution.” In her October 7, 2014 article she said: “Fewer Americans are married than ever before, and a growing percentage are happy to stay unhitched.” She went on:

“A Pew Research Center analysis of 2012 census data found that one in five adults age 25 and older – roughly 42 million people – have never been married, meaning the United States is made up of a historically high number of single people. (In 1960 by comparison just one in 10 adults 25 and older had never been hitched).”

In her article she quoted Susan Pease Gadoua, licensed therapist and co-author of “The New ‘I Do’: Reshaping Marriage For Sceptics, Realists, and Rebels.” (Seal Press). She said: “Analysts cite such factors as the rising median age for first marriages, an increased acceptance of cohabitation, and difficult economic times for the increase in singles. But our views of marriage – an institution celebrated and sanctified in every real from the spiritual to the retail – are changing too. When analyzing the census figures, Pew researchers asked people how valuable marriage is for society at large. A full 50 per cent of respondents said society is ‘just as well off if people have other priorities’.” That, my friend, is a shocking observation!

But, do YOU believe “marriage” is a sacred institution, a strong center of witness to the glory of God, in a marriage where both husband and wife live together to honor and glorify Him in and through their holy marriage? The day a husband and wife say, “I Do”, that’s the day, in that present moment and every day to follow, when mutually they agree, “We’re united together to glorify Him in our marriage!” There is an interesting, convicting, awakening Word in Hebrews 13:4, when the author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed, undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

And don’t you find it so enlightening to continue in Hebrews 13:5-6 when the author wrote: “Let your conduct (in marriage?) be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say:

‘THE LORD IS MY (OUR?) HELPER; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” Or, maybe, ‘What can my mate do to me to obliterate ABIDING LOVE, SOVEREIGN OVERSIGHT, AND FAITHFUL PROVISION OF WHAT IT TAKES TO HONOR HIM THROUGH YOUR MARRIAGE IN YOUR, YES, SERVANT SPIRIT”? Didn’t Christ Jesus say, “I didn’t come to be served but to serve and to give My life as a ransom for the many”?

It was just today that I heard Roberta Flack’s singing of the song “EVER I SAW YOUR FACE” (by Evan Mccoll by way of THE ROYAL NETWORK INC.). I have chosen to change the words from her chosen male love to the LOVE of the Glory and Honor of God through His redemptive work by Christ on Calvary’s Cross. My edited words?

“The first time I saw Your face, I thought the Son rose in (or through Your eyes). And the moon and stars were the gifts You gave, To the dark and endless, eternal skies.

The first time I ever kissed Your (hand) I felt the earth move in my heart! Like the trembling heart of a captive bird That was there at the time you COMMENDED AND COMMANDED Your love to me.

And the first time I ever “rested” in You I felt Your heart so one in mine, And I knew Your joy would fill the earth and last forever, my greatest love…

The first time ever I saw Your face, Your face, Your face…I knew I was covered by Your grace!” Amen?

I feel led to share a letter my wife Sue wrote to her mother, probably 10-15 years before her mother died. The mother, having read the letter, gave it to Sue’s sister, Amy Rodgers, probably to alert the younger daughter of her sister’s ‘radical’ views of New Testament ‘discipleship’ –( unsure of why Virginia did that). But…Sue wrote:

Dear Mother, I sure hope you are better! Margaret (the one who drove me to the doctor), called me yesterday and Jamie, her oldest daughter has bronchial pneumonia. When Stan (our second son) had pneumonia when he was a child, they took a smear of mucous from his nose to determine the kind of medicine to use. Did they do that with you?

The Millers (the judge from Oklahoma) and their two children came back through and spent Saturday night with us, so they could go to the Bible Study at Thomas Baird’s Sunday morning (Thomas being a lead attorney in his law firm and co-elder with Farrell in our fellowship in Belton). And Susan and Ted Owenby to go with us, too. (They had left at 5a.m.). Farrell had smoked a turkey Saturday and I made dressing and fixed green beans and new potatoes, and triffle for dessert. So we had that Saturday night with the Millers and Sunday noon again with the Millers and Owenbys. The Millers left Sunday afternoon and the Owenbys left Tuesday afternoon.

So I spent yesterday cleaning house to get ready for the Bible study group last night. And Farrell studied, cleaned the carpet in the trailer, and started building a sidewalk up from the steps to the back gate. He built a frame and dug up all the grass and leveled it off. And he’s going to lay flat stones and concrete.

Our garden is doing great. We will have a lot of yellow squash by this weekend and we have lots of tomatoes about the size of grapes and lots more blooms. The beans, cucumbers, peppers, and zucchini squash have lots of blooms, too. And we got some onions yesterday, and should start getting potatoes next week. The okra is coming along, but needs more hot weather. And we have lots and lots of greens!

Farrell and I saw the dermatologist Tuesday and we look like we’ve been in a fight and both lost! He burned off places on Farrell’s face and arms. He then cut off and burned off moles on my neck, chest and mid-drift. And then removed a lot of the whiteheads between my brows. We are a sight!

Stan and LeAnn are coming down for Monday and Tuesday and Zach is going to stay with us until Friday. Farrell is supposed to preach at a church in Dallas Sunday the 21^st, so we’ll take him back with us, and spend the weekend up there. We are supposed to leave for Montana with Vaughn and Joyce Baird.

We are looking forward to the trip, but dread those long days of riding. But we really want to see that part of the country. I just have to figure out how to take a “tee-tee pot” or wear adult diapers!

Mother, I enjoyed having you here so much. And you have a home here where you would be welcome and loved if you ever want it or need it.

I know that what we are all about (in the “faith-realm”) is a real puzzle to you, and I wish I could help you understand. You think that we are against everything and critical of everything and everybody. And I am so sorry it comes across that way. I want to give you a simple illustration. If you were driving down a road and discovered the bridge was out and that if anyone went over it, it would mean certain death. Wouldn’t you flag cars down and do all you could to warn the drivers of the danger ahead? Now you might look a little crazy out in the middle of the road flapping your arms and screaming, and some folks might choose to go right on by you, as they discuss that crazy person out in the road. And they might even roll up their windows and lock their car doors “to protect themselves” from the nut in the road.

Well, the bridge is out – it has been out for a long time, and we are the “nuts” out in the road, warning of the washed-out bridge of true, redemptive faith in and through Christ alone! And we aren’t alone, though sometimes it seems like it! It is happening all over this country and the other countries we have visited. People are meeting in homes, barns, gyms, store fronts etc. sharing their lives, studying God’s Word, weeping over and praying for the church (not only ‘criticizing’ as some say, but exposing extreme errors in their ‘faith’)! Some we stand with are so hungry for “GOD” and “REALITY OF THE TRUE FAITH” that they refuse to play the religious ‘games’ any longer. They refuse to close their eyes and stick their heads in the sand and say something is working that does not work – call it powerful when it is weak and helpless, call it alive when it is dead, and has been dead for years! Paul said that in his day and beyond men would have a “form” of Godliness, but denying its power. A form of Godliness is not Godliness! But it causes great deception and gives a false ease and a false peace. I heard a homosexual on the news the other day, dying of aids, saying it would soon be over and he would be in heaven. Yet the Scripture is real blunt and says NO homosexuals will be in heaven. But the churches say “God is love” and we must love and we must not criticize and judge. Most churches won’t dare tell anyone they are going to Hell, so the homosexuals and lesbians, most of them without true repentance and life- change through Christ’s shed blood, die and go to Hell “thinking” they are going to heaven. That is not love if one denies God’s Truth! Denying Truth is rebellion to God and His Word. So they shake their fists in God’s face and saying His way and Truth isn’t right, “we have a right to be what WE want!” But the “bridge of Truth” is still out for many and they go over the self-determined brink and perish in Hell!

We saw it experientially for years and then began to see it in the Holy Word, Old and New Testament. It didn’t sneak up on God! The prophets of old prophesied about the declining, compromising, ‘flesh-approving’ churches! Proverbs calls her “the strange woman, the whore, the harlot” – claiming to be married to the Lord and in bed with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with sin and every evil thing.

Look at Colossians 3:5-10. In Verse 5 Paul said that immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed are all idolatry! My, my, I thought for years that idols were only in foreign countries. Then, I think it is in Romans, that Paul said that there are demons behind every idol, and that, when you participate in what God hates, you are actually worshipping demons.

The condition of the homes and children and youth of many ‘church’ parents is evidence enough! But the condition of our whole country screams out that “the church is dying or dead already”! The upsurge of Satan worship is the result of the absence of God in too many churches – no power, no truth, no help – only a ‘form of godliness’!

A law enforcement officer on the news the other night, said that he did not believe it would be an exaggeration that witchcraft and Satan worship is practiced in every town in America, and animal sacrifices and possibly human sacrifices (babies particularly!) are performed in all of their gatherings! And the poor, big, rich, weak, dead churches are “totally helpless” to do anything about it (or just don’t want to!). They don’t even believe in demons – that is not for the ‘sophisticated’, well-educated, cultured people (which Jesus was not!). Many do not even believe there is a devil or a hell.

Well, I didn’t mean to turn this into a sermon. And I know I can’t make you see anything – only God and His Word can – I pray He will. I know we look strange. As time goes on it will be more exaggerated. We aren’t a part of this world system, and we feel our job is to call people out, to Him and His Word! It can’t be cleaned up, straightened up, or rehabilitated. The Bible calls Satan the ‘god’ of this world. So, it has to be forsaken. And in most cases many churches have become a part of the natural world – in fact, if you are honest you can’t tell the difference. So our emphasis is on the only True God who is powerful and mighty to set men free from the power and bondage of sin and to give them clean hands and pure hearts – without which they/we will not see God.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem and said, “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem – who stoned the prophets…” And then when Jesus told the Jews they didn’t know God and that they were worshipping Satan, they shut Him up, too, imprisoned Him, then crucified Him! And history repeats itself, always. I think it was Will Rogers who said, “If there is no God, nothing matters. If there is a God, nothing else matters!” Hence the magnificent obsession and possession.

We Love You, Sue and Farrell…..P.S. I’ve included a statement by Martin Luther that we ran across some years ago. His statement? “I WAS BORN TO FIGHT DEVILS AND FACTIONS. IT IS MY BUSINESS TO REMOVE OBSTRUCTIONS, TO CUT DOWN THORNS, TO FILL UP QUAGMIRES, AND TO OPEN AND MAKE STRAIGHT PATHS. BUT IF I MUST HAVE SOME FAILING LET ME RATHER SPEAK THE TRUTH WITH TOO GREAT SEVERITY THAN ONCE TO ACT THE HYPOCRITE AND CONCEAL THE TRUTH.”

What you’ve just read is a powerful love letter from a daughter to her mother that she personally and passionately loved and longed for her to understand what following Christ truly means!

If Hebrews was meant to speak to those around Jesus’ day who had the prophetic letters of the Old Testament, swore by them, but failed to see “Christ in them as the hope of glory” can church folk today, many, not all, “refuse Him who speaks”, even Jesus Himself? In Hebrews 12:25-29 we read:

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more’, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, (Old Testament Judaism and a man-made temple?), as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. (That’s Christ Jesus!).”

In Psalm 25:12-15 we find, not the unpredictability of love, but its grace and assurance! It says: “Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him shall He (God) teach in the way which He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him (honor and reverences Him first in their lives!), and He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.” (Sad to say, there are some who don’t even know they are trapped in the world and its religious system, in their ‘flesh’ allegiance!).

Whether kingdoms of the world or the ‘kingdoms of marriage’, before Holy God IS there an accounting to take place by Him? What did God say to the ‘pretending’ nation of Israel who crucified the Christ, the Promised Messiah? In Matthew 21:43-44 Jesus spoke! “Therefore, I say to you (Israel), the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone (the Rock of Christ?) will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

How many marriages do you know of, whether one or both partners in the marriage were “ground to powder” because they had no desire, no insight, no agreement with the purpose of God for the relationship, even after ‘holy vows’ and/or holy pledges before Him?

Elsewhere in Matthew 21:33-42 plus Verse 43, examine it related to “the kingdom of marriage”! Jesus said: “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to the vinedresser and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son. But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance’. So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?’” [How “marvelous” do YOU find the work of God’s Sovereign Grace through Christ?].

Verse 43-44 is so important! “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Can you relate these last eleven verses to ‘the kingdom of marriage’? In your ‘kingdom of marriage’, tell me about “the fruit of it” that reveals the honoring, the uplifting, and the glorifying of Christ through your relationship to your mate! Remember, Jesus said, “I didn’t come to be served but to serve and to give My life as a ransom for many.”

Is ‘the stone’ of your marriage relationship evidence of the fruit of the Spirit of Christ, serving, or do flesh-masters insist on their way or the highway? Are you aware that many in the marriage relationship avoid it being ‘mastered by the Master’, satisfied to make it “a den of thieves”?

God, help us in America to witness the revival, renewal, and reclaiming of Your ordained way to honor You! Amen?