Permanency of marriage

Marriage ... no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Permanency of Righteousness

This is a review, in love and hope, of a book, Permanency of Marriage,¹ and the doctrine it creates and promotes.

In the “Introduction” it states, “I cannot tell you how the Holy Spirit will direct you. I only know it will always be consistent with the Word of God, but uniquely patterned for you.”

I agree with this statement and believe that if the Spirit of God does not write upon our hearts then no amount of words written or spoken may reveal to us His Law. God's law was not meant to be written upon paper or stone but only upon the hearts and minds of men by God. I also know that we are subject to preconceived, external and internal influences. Our minds are not pure or free of prejudice and our hearts are often clouded with anger and judgment. Words are not perfect and can have many meanings that shift with the context and mood of the reader, but God is perfect and is the same today as he was yesterday. A lie may be made to seem the truth by well crafted words that whittle away and cover the truth of God's way.

Words may do this by appealing to a character or spirit in us that is not compatible with God. God believes in Choices of the free will of man. God only gives us rules through men when we will not be led by the spirit of God in our hearts and minds. The less we listen in Spirit, the less we move by His Spirit of love and life, justice and mercy. The more rules we are given or take on ourselves the more authority we will go under. God is not interested in making rules to bind us but in the living of righteousness.

“The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.” Tacitus

When our knowledge of the written ten commandments, the Statutes of Moses and even the words originating with Jesus and His disciples becomes the source of our choices concerning what is right and wrong then we become eaters of the tree of knowledge and are cut off from the tree of life which is Spirit.

The Pharisees were fond of making rules, performing rituals and ceremonies, even though there were none in the beginning. They saw God as a rule maker. They took the words of the ancient text and turned men from the spirit of mercy and justice and bound them up in rules and rituals so that the spirit could not come in them nor could they enter the kingdom.

The tree of knowledge and the tree of life were not apples or fruit trees, but metaphors for using our own knowledge and thinking to decide good from evil or using the spiritual source that is God and life that goes beyond the intellect for answers in every moment of every day. Men still fall prey to the eating of the tree of knowledge because they are often blocking the Holy Spirit with doubt, or worse yet, with a heart opposed to the way or character of God, which is forgiveness and mercy.

The desire to make rules has turned the living altars of men of service preached by Abraham and Moses into piles of dead rock² that served men up to idols and created the altars and condition which God hated.³ The free will offerings of the people given in a network of love and charity, was meant to keep a people free from any need of applying to the Benefactors of city states who exercised authority one over the other. It also taught them about forgiving and thanksgiving which was the Eucharist of Christ. They became bound together by this love and charity in their families and their congregations. This was the kingdom of God carried down from "generation to generation".

Their love for one another, their forgiveness and forbearances and of course their thanksgiving set them free and kept them free. Their institutions had purpose and meaning, but operated on the perfect law of liberty. There were no kings, but each man did according to his own conscience. That conscience was given to every man directly by God or would be supplanted by ideas and doctrines that steadily crept into the thinking of the people dividing them from each other and the love of God. It was no different in the early Church nor is it different now.

This individual inner revelation was one of the first truths called heresy by the straying Church created by Constantine. In the kingdom the law and word of God is written directly on men's hearts and minds by God. This condition or “state” is the key to the kingdom and only this state of mind and body brings the true coverture of God. Delving into the Bible⁴ as if it was the source of truth is literally eating of the tree of knowledge. The next step we take will be an abuse of our brother with an usurping authority, impressing our will on others through rule making, like Cain and Lemech, then Nimrod until with self righteous abandonment we brutalize each other with soulless doctrines...

“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” 2 Corinthians 3:6

Are we able ministers of the testament of Christ or is our vision clouded by a character not of God? Have we been seduced by ways that have brought harm and division in the kingdom and separated us from His righteousness? It is His righteousness that spells out God's name⁵ for us and not the letters in a book written, translated and interpreted by men of some times less than godly intent. Only the Spirit giveth life. We cannot conjure it up by ritual and rite, by words and incantations, nor can we capture it in a book or doctrines and possess it or it's life giving Truth like a genie in a bottle. The Holy Spirit listeth where it will and is only revealed in our hearts when our hearts are like God's, full of mercy, forgiveness, justice and righteousness.

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." John 3:8

There are many ideas and spirits that float in and out of our life's experience. If they are not purely of God they will cloud our vision of Him and lead us away to the path of unrighteousness.

The spirit of the Pharisee seduced the people into self-righteousness rather than the righteousness of God. They exchanged the wisdom of God for the rules of men. They poured over the scriptures but could not learn its secrets nor could they know God. They turned examples of justice and mercy into laws and statutes and lost sight of God. They averted their eyes from the righteousness of God to the unrighteousness of rules and regulations. They corrupted the people and divided them.

Their rules were about words and ceremonies, days and moons, steps and rituals. They were about outward form. They tried to put on the spirit of God from the outside and became whited sepulchers.⁶ They based their approach on the Holy Scriptures but lost sight of the Word of God in their hearts and His Spirit by turning their attention to justification by outward form. They twisted the system of liberty under God requiring charity, hope, forgiveness and mercy until they produced a system of the mindless butchering of sheep and the smell of burnt flesh. Eventually those worshipers of rules and ritual delivered the people into greater bondage and spilled the blood of the one giving soul who forgave even adulterers.

This did not happen overnight but it is enough to know that we are not immune to such deviations from God or temptations. Even Christ was tempted. The kingdom is built precept upon precept not rule upon rule. Those precepts are rooted in righteousness, which being of the Spirit has no physical form.

Adultery

Most of the references to adultery in the Bible have nothing to do with sex outside of the relationship of Husband and Wife. They are concerned with the adultery of nations who contracted to other gods by application and agreements. Are these adulterers the ones who will not inherit the kingdom of heaven the Paul of Tarsus writes about in his epistles?

Permanency of Marriage states, “Adulterers SHALL NOT inherit the kingdom of God. 1Corinthians 6:9-10.”

But the full quote is:

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9,10

To be covetous of the benefits of Benefactors who exercise authority will keep us out. Just being “unrighteous” will keep us out. Is righteousness in the ritual and the rule or is it in the spirit of forgiveness and mercy?

Also in the book Permanency of Marriage, examples are given where people marry, divorce and then remarry. The facts of the case are applied to words spoken by Jesus and found in the old testament and a conclusion is reached as to the form of the remedy and solution that must be followed. I will try to address some of these conclusions without becoming pharisaical myself.

To be pharisaic is to be “practicing or advocating strict observance of external forms and ceremonies of religion or conduct without regard to the spirit....”⁷

If a man and woman marry and begin to hate and abuse one another and they both choose to get a divorce there can be no doubt they have done wrong. They may have done wrong from the beginning when they married, and certainly when they became angry and abusive, and no doubt when they divorced for they remained unforgiving. They need to forgive so that they may be forgiven.

But years later if they are married to other people, have children and are raising them in patience and love which they took a long time in learning what are they to do? They have matured spiritually. They repent their impatience, unforgiveness, their mutual abuse, and even their rush to divorce.

What is a righteous answer to the mess they have created? What does God really want?

Shall they abandon their present families and children and return to the original relationship? Shall they part from their wife or husband and the children they have produced to go back to the first relationship? Is this righteousness? Would that be the way of God, to meet the form and fail the mercy and forgiveness?

Some would have us think the rules are written in what the Biblical sense may seem to require. If we look at the words of the Bible as a set of rules, regulations and required rituals and forms to be imposed upon us, we will undoubtedly be led to do greater harm and injustice. We would be unrighteous in our deeds and fail in our duties. We would break up homes and families to fit a form which has been imposed upon us by knowledge, not by the Holy Spirit. We may boast in our minds of self-righteousness in our form, and imagine that our pain justifies our soul but Jesus will weep at our foolishness.

When the Pharisees said that Jesus' disciples broke the law as they gathered wheat on the Sabbath Jesus pointed out that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The rules about divorce made by Moses, as the words of Jesus, were made to teach us the righteousness of forgiveness and mercy not to trap and bind us in fetters of misery without mercy or forgiveness.

Moses and Jesus were very much in agreement. Jesus did not take away divorce he merely clarified how bad it was. Moses had done the same, but the spirit in the Pharisees, with their rule making, were always looking for ways around the rules they imposed upon the people by their abuse of the ancient text. Their rules grew and their righteousness decreased.

Moses made it clear in Deuteronomy 24:1-4⁸ that after a women is divorced and her second husband dies her first husband “may not take her again to be his wife.” So, now we are to believe that Jesus requires us to do what Moses forbid no matter what the cost in human suffering. We are even told to return to the first husband when our second still lives.

This temptation of rule making is the result of our inability to forgive the injustices of others against ourselves. Our vision of God and His Spirit is clouded or obscured. We begin to become like that which we say we hate. We cannot be free of the world if we will not forgive the world. Our resentment binds us and strangles in us the bonds of love and forgiveness.

We are to leave judgment to God as well as rule making. When some look at the world they see sinners and wickedness. They say they are all evil, thieves, robbers, abusers and extortioners, but they scowl as they say what they see. When I look out at the world I see lost sheep, I am saddened, not angered. I have hope not fear. Yes, there is wickedness done but I thank God for it, for I need to forgive those who trespass against me so that I may be forgiven. I seek not form but spirit.

"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven" Luke 6:37 [See also] ⁹

Moses understood that we needed to love our neighbor, as ourself,¹⁰ not just when it was easy but when it is hard. He knew that if we were not charitable, forgiving and to quickly give to others we would be brought under authority. We would adulterate our relationship with God with other gods.

"All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." 1 Corinthians 6:12

The laws or rules of Moses and Christ do not set us free but His spirit can. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2

The kingdom of Heaven is a network of people that come together in faith, hope and charity under the perfect law of liberty. They care for one another and take the time and energy to do so. They are not a scattered flock, they are not freed by paper and documents, one man at a time. They do not go out alone but with many souls. If true Christians were given a righteous way out they would spend as much time freeing others and making that freedom real and secure with thanksgiving and forgiveness for others as much as they do for themselves. Freedom does not come from forms and paper work, ID's or passports. Freedom is only found in a network of faith, forgiveness, charity and love.

False Justification, False Fruits

Hatred of the world by people who have not yet repented of judgment is not only revealed by the scowl on our face but by guilt. The spirit of guilt and anger, judgment and self-justification leads to rule making. This is the way of the Pharisee or the Zealot and leads to self-inflicted hardship to wear as a badge of self-justification. We begin to identify with suffering as a source of personal justification. We think if we are not suffering then we are somehow failing God. We use this pain to justify and appease our feelings of guilt and to give us a false sense of self-righteousness.

His burden is light. It is the path of love, not burdens of pain, that justify us so that we may enter the kingdom by His grace. Are we bearing fruit or placing burdens upon the people with justification by form?

"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Matthew 7:20

It was the lack of fruit that caused Christ to take the kingdom from those who had it and the Pharisaic way did not bear fruit but only burdens.

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, [and] easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." James 3:17

The book Permanency of Marriage talks about a broken marriage where a “woman was divorced and then married the man she now calls her husband.” But God could not make her ONE FLESH with this new man. She was still ONE FLESH with the husband of her youth until death do they part. In God's eyes she is in an adulterous relationship. Even though this woman received a state-sanctioned divorce and then married again by the authority of a state marriage license, God does not recognize this second marriage. He calls it adultery.”¹¹

The logic here is based on a number of assumptions and conclusions that simply can not be justified. People today are not married by the authority of God, but by the authority of a State who sits in the place of God. These are the gods many¹² who we have been told not to covenant with. Every three party marriage is a forsaking of God and an unnatural relationship. A three party contract with men who act as substitute gods is an adulteration of the state of Husband and Wife. The family is the source of a nation and to compel such an unnatural union is to compel an ongoing adultery of the people. Modern marriage under the State is just such an adulterous relationship.

Does this mean that everyone who has bound themselves in a three party union with other gods of the world should divorce? If I were to say that I would be just as pharisaical as others who imposed doctrinal rules not ordained of God by creating false forms to substitute for the Spirit.

The Bible does say:

"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." Mark 10:11-12.

The text of Permanency of Marriage goes on to the self conclusion, “If we are to be repentant, we must leave all adulterous relationships and either be reunited with our first spouse or remain single”, justifying this rule making with rationalization like, “Neither believed in Jesus Christ. Yet they did make a solemn commitment to be faithful to each other 'until death do us part.'” and then warns, “There is a price to be paid on judgment day if that commitment is violated by marrying another.”¹³

But of course there is a price to pay for all unrighteousness of any form and for making rules and burdens that do not bear fruit as the Pharisees so commonly did.

There is an attempt to analogize the contract of a mortgage to that of the State marriage but there is a disregard for the contract itself.¹⁴ All State marriages include from their inception the right to divorce. In almost every ceremony it is clearly stated that the couple is joined together by the authority of the State with little or no mention of God. What the state has joined together the state has every right under the terms of its contracts to take apart. Usually both parties and the third part the state have little or no understanding of the true godly relationship of marriage under God, often called Holy Matrimony.

With out an understanding of the terms there is no meeting of the minds and therefore there is no contract under God. That means that all the people are in adulterous relationships who marry under the terms of the State rather than the terms of God. This is how, at least in part, a whole nation becomes an adulterous nation. This is, again in part, how it is said we are either righteous or unrighteous in our generations. This is why the people, and the nations they form, are said to be Fatherless.

Permanency of Marriage draws the conclusion that “The state does not have authority nor power to bind or dissolve any marriage. Marriage is strictly an institution of God. It is His institution. It is not a state institution.”¹⁵ It even goes so far as to say, “Marriage is not a civil contract. It is a permanent covenant.”¹⁶

This is simply incorrect and allows men to be liars, making agreements and then voiding them at their own whim. Liars cannot enter the kingdom. This is part of the rescission philosophy that has been so damning to people trying to find the keys of the kingdom. With this logic you could nullify all agreements that do not measure up to what you wish to see as the kingdom. God is a God of agreements and holds us to our word and the created obligations and their terms. If we are to make our yes, yes, then we must honor our agreements.

Marriage is an agreement with the state and it is binding just as agreements with Nimrod, Pharaoh and Caesar. The city of Cain may gain authority and you cannot change that with wishing or personal doctrines without doing violence to the record of your own deeds. This merely brings in more abominations.

In fact the institution of “marriage” is of the State. The word, “marriage, as distinguished from the agreement to marry and from the act of becoming married.” It “is the civil status of one man and one woman united in law for the discharge to each other and the community of duties legally incumbent on those whose association is found on the distinction of sex.”¹⁷

The application of the word marriage in biblical contacts is the work of translators and demonstrates the confusion wrought by language. The relationship most people enter into today is not what God had in mind. In fact the direct opposite of God's plan is the result of application to the State for their “form of marriage”. These marriages are by contract and include the terms of those contracts.

A “Marriage license:” is “A license or permission granted by public authority to persons who intend to intermarry,… By statute it is made an essential prerequisite to the lawful solemnization of the marriage”¹⁸, as opposed to ecclesiastical solemnization.

"Marriage is a civil contract to which there are three parties - the husband, the wife and the state."¹⁹

“Marriage is often referred to as a civil contract, but the emphasis in such a reference is not on the word ‘contract’ but upon the word ‘civil’ as distinguished from ecclesiastical; since there is religious freedom in this country a religious ceremony, and rules of ecclesiastical organizations with regard to marriage have no legal significance.”

“Though mutual assent is necessary to enter into a marriage the marriage itself is a status or relationship rather than a contract, the rights and obligations of the parties thereto being fixed by the law instead of by the parties themselves. Hence marriages are not within the provision of the United States Constitution forbidding a state to impair the obligation of contracts.”²⁰

Permanency of Marriage may desire to impose the terms of God's matrimony on the contract with the state, but there is no power or authority to do so. When examining any marriage by the authority of the State we may and should ask the question, “Who married them? God does not recognize their marriage. They are in an adulterous relationship. It is an adulterous generation. Everybody is in adultery and it seems nobody is sleeping with their God-ordained partner.”²¹

This is exactly what an adulterous nation is. Everyone entering into agreements and contracts that are devoid of the Character of God. They bring with them their own punishment. This is the nature of God's kingdom and law. There is no need to create additional burdens and impositions. We are to seek righteousness not form.

We will also find the statement, “The problem is that the state, who has been promoting polygamy in a structured manner, is also going to prevent you from going back to your spouse.”²² But this had been the rule since the days of Moses because he “may not take her again to be his wife”, “for that [is] abomination before the LORD.”²³ Jesus never said they had to abandon their second family and return to the first nor did he say we had to stay celibate. Those are conjectures put forth by Permanency of Marriage.

Although the following quote includes some of the translations of the scripture it draws false conclusions and inaccuracies. “If you are married to an unbeliever, but they are willing to live with you, you are not to obtain a divorce (1 Corinthians 7:12-13). If the unbeliever departs, let them go. You are not forced to live with them (1 Corinthians 7:15). However, nowhere in scripture does it say that once they have departed, you are free to marry another.”²⁴

In fact scripture allows for divorce the same as it allows you to elect commander in chiefs to fight your battles for you²⁵ and Benefactors who exercise authority²⁶. But God allows sin too. He just does not sanction it.

Even when Moses allowed for divorce he called it “sin” and Jesus confirms this conclusion with his statement about allowing divorce because of the hardness of their hearts. A hard heart is not a characteristic of God nor is it compatible with the holy Spirit or the fruits thereof.

Damaging Doctrines

In the book Permanency of Marriage they present the story of Eric and Kathy who have decided they can no longer continue to live as man and wife:” because of misapplied doctrines. One of them had been married before but now they abandon the second commitment which they made believing that they were free to do so. Because their home is now divided by this application of doctrine,

“...Kathy has decided to put her children back in Public Education . I am sorry that she has elected to put them back into a state school, but looking at it from a practical standpoint, she has no choice. She has no man. She has no husband.”²⁷

Eric has come to the conclusion that he must abandon his promise in good faith before God and the wife and mother who will have to leave the family to go out and work in the world.²⁸ He causes this to happen because he believes this abandonment is revelation based upon personal interpretation of translated statements made by men who did have revelations from God. It is true revelations that His Church is built on but true revelations will bear fruit and be in accordance with the life giving spirit of God. He has actually eaten of the tree of knowledge and there should be no wonder why the fruit may be spoiled.

The children will be raised and taught values by a government school, supported by authoritarian Benefactors who force the contributions of the people contrary to the ways of God. They will have to be members of that civil family of the state to receive such benefits [tutor] of the State and the Fathers of the earth. The mother will work as a “confectionery”²⁹ of the state and her sons and daughters shall be raised as human resources, merchandise of that corporate state. Because Eric would not be a father to those children the State shall be the Husband and Father³⁰ of the family. He has been led into worse sin and forced his wife into adultery by false doctrines of form and biblical misapplication.

2 Corinthians 9:10 "Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for [your] food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness"

The woman has not been loved by either Husband, neither the first nor the second, but abandoned to a system born of the Beast of the nature of the Adversary. It is the Beast that devours her and her children because of strange and divisive doctrines of unforgiveness. Their ministers have not taught the true gospel of righteousness but have proclaimed the form of a spirit void of righteousness. They have fallen into the error of the Pharisees and lost sight of the truth.

"Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:11

Virgins

It is imagined that “It is as clear as a bell in the Word of God: 'Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery' Luke 16:18.”³¹

Luke 16:18 does say, “Whosoever putteth away³² his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from [her] husband committeth adultery.” Just as Moses said that divorce was still sin but allowed. Once they remarry they could not go back to their spouse even if their second spouse died because God hated sin. If you or your spouse are unforgiving, impatient, intolerant, void of the character of love which is the Holy Spirit you may end up in a divorce. Divorce is not the sin but the evidence of it. Just as “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

There was no act of adultery, yet Christ calls it adultery because God looks at the heart. Divorce is evidence of sin, not the sin itself. It is the intent and spirit of the deed that damns us not the form. We can not conjure up the Holy Spirit with deeds anymore than we can conjure up damnation with deeds. The spirit and intent in us determines the sin. Rejecting God is the sin: electing a ruler to fight your battles, joining social welfare programs that take from your neighbor, and teaching a gospel of form instead of spirit is evidence of sin.

Permanency of Marriage, states “ I don't think marriage can work unless it is a first marriage - one husband, one wife and children. When you have another spouse trying to tell these children from another marriage what they need to do, you have a problem. It is just not natural. That is why remarriage is an unnatural state of affairs. In spite of the fact that she is a lovely wife, it cannot work. I see why the apostle Paul said, "better to remain as you are" (1 Corinthians 7:26,27). If you have been divorced, seek not a wife. If you do, you are asking for a whole host of complications that will impair you from being able to do the will of God in other areas.”³³

Two statements are made here. One is that the author thinks and the second is stated as a fact, “it cannot work.” Of course a second marriage can work if we have learned the lessons that we failed to learn in the first. Divorce is a bad thing and evidence of sin. I have never seen a divorce where there was not some sin on the part of both parties. Before anyone were to enter into another relationship the greatest of caution should be exercised. Divorce and remarriage is extremely dangerous and every minister should examine his role in it carefully. But false doctrines based on questionable text taken out of context and or misapplied can be as dangerous in our quest for the kingdom and His righteousness.

There has been reference to 1 Corinthians 7:26 and 27.

1 Corinthians 7:25-27 “Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife."

Is Paul talking about virgins and marriage in these verses in the Bible? To a true minister of God who has examined the word first in his heart and then in the text, should not be surprised that Paul is not writing about the domestic relationship of husband and wife or virgins at all.

This translation and interpretation is all a part of the great deception that has come down from the days of Constantine when his hired agent compiled what we know as the Bible and apostate Churches began dividing the word according to their own notions and doctrines. It will take a humble heart to see the precepts of God in these words of Paul's epistle.

Paul of Tarsus talked about agreements³⁴ you may have made with the temples of the systems and governments of Benefactors who exercise authority. Their programs of social welfare were run by their temples.³⁵ They were systems where the Benefactors compelled contributions. The Church was instituted to keep the doors of the kingdom open so the people had no need to go to the benefactors of such states. Instead of helping the people lift off burdens so that they can remain as free souls under God, some churches are placing more burdens on the people with unrighteous doctrines. In 1 Corinthians 7:23 we are told that, “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.” This has nothing to with being married but it may have to do with being contracted to the state by a three party marriage agreement. Just before verse 23 Paul stated, 1 Corinthians 7:21 “Art thou called [being] a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use [it] rather.” Paul knew that you cannot just free yourself from agreements by rescission but you can work in that direction with others. This is why he “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.”³⁶ “Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.”³⁷

Paul was not a citizen³⁸ of Rome but of Celicia, which was not under Roman control. He was Rhomaios as Greek texts state but that was not a term applied exclusive to Romans. In fact the only other Roman around was the chief officer and he had bought that status with a great sum.³⁹

In these verses Paul is talking about the status of men being bond or free.⁴⁰ Jesus had set men free. Pentecost was literally a second exodus. The Pharisees had cast out everyone who got the baptism of Christ. They were free from the government obligations but also no longer had access to those benefits . The Church provided an alternative based on faith and charity. This is still the mission of the Church. This subject is common with Paul and poorly understood by professing Christians today. These Churches have actually delivered them into bondage even though Christ had once bought them with a price.⁴¹

Suddenly Paul is talking about “virgins”. The book of the Bible that mentions “women” more than any other is Proverbs but the barren, strange, evil, whorish, gracious, foolish, brawling, angry, contentious, odious, and adulterous “women” mentioned in that book is in reference to mankind's relationship to governments and institutions man creates and marry.⁴² That is why Proverbs warns about dainties of rulers, our appetite⁴³ and sloth bringing us under tribute.⁴⁴ It warns us about becoming a surety⁴⁵ for these benefactors who exercise authority, and becoming snared⁴⁶ by our pledge. This is how and where the people fall to the error of Balaam and the Nicolaitians, and become the conquered people, conquered by their own covetousness.

Proverbs also explains a solution to this “adulterous marriage” with the governing institutions created not by God, but by the hand and prayers (applications) of men. The solution is not found in the erroneous rescinding of the contracts, but in diligently pursuing the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The solution is described with a beautiful metaphor in Proverbs with an ant.

“Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.” Proverbs 6:3

This is the way of the kingdom. It is diligently caring about the needs of each other with love and hope and liberty. Proverbs 6:12⁴⁷ goes on to tell us about the naughty man who sows discord with his doctrines of pointing fingers with his preaching but winks at the unrighteousness which he promotes.

We easily understand that we are the temple but seldom understand that the temple of idols includes the way of Balaam and the Nicolaitians,⁴⁸ which are both words meaning the “conquered people”. These people are conquered by their agreements with benefactors who exercise authority one over the other. These agreements often come in the form of application, which are a form prayer, to these benefactors. These would include application to welfare and social systems that compel the offerings and contributions of the people which Christ said we were not to do. If a minister is sowing discord and not promoting the alternative to the altars of Balaam he is running toward mischief.

Parthenos and a Nations of Virgins

So why does Paul suddenly shift to speaking of virgins? Are virgin and wife or women metaphors? The context bothered me from the first time I read it in the Seminary and for years afterward. In English it gnawed at me, but in Greek, it seemed so awkward and different, almost meaningless. Something was wrong but no man would reveal the problem with this text. It was not until I understood the kingdom did it begin to make sense.

Too many ministers neither understand the kingdom or the Church. They do not understand the altars of God and those of Balaam or who the Nicolaitians are or how the Church is to serve the needs of the people so they are never forced to go to those altars.

If the Church was doing what it was meant to do we could say:

"We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle." Hebrews 13:10

The Church would be the virgin and no man would have to marry the “women.” The Greek word used in the Septuagint, parthenos, is not specific for virgin; it described Dinah after her rape by Shechem (Gen 34:2-4). The term in Greek and Hebrew includes the idea of oaths, pledges, covenant and allegiance.⁴⁹ The term is also not exclusively for women nor sexual purity,⁵⁰ The word is may be applicable to men: "a man who has abstained from all uncleanness."⁵¹ Few things were more unclean than the patriotic reverence of idols and their systems of control and tyranny which did contrary to the ways of God. “The image of Parthenos also appears to have just such a patriotic meaning...“⁵² It was always a word connected with the symbolism of loyalty and a pledge of patriotism⁵³ as we see with the Parthenon where they were invoked by Demosthenes as great patriotic exempla in his speech Against Androtion.

If we examine Revelation 14:4, we might get the idea that the 144,000 have never been married. “These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, [being] the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”

“As Parthenoi could also be masculine as part of a picture of those have not had (figurative) illegitimate intercourse with "the great harlot" (17:1). 'Babylon the Great ... who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality' (14:8). Also included is the idea of abstaining from imperial and regional idolatries... In the final analysis, it is preferable to understand parthenoi ("virgins") as a metaphor of all true saints who have not compromised in various ways with the world because they have remained loyal as a virgin bride to her betrothed (as in 19:7-9; 21:2; 2 Cor. 11:2)”⁵⁴

What is Paul trying to communicate with his dissertation on virgins and wives? Is this entire monologue actually a metaphor for the pledges of union with the imperial state of Rome which bound the people in servitude to that harlot where they were no longer free rather than developing the relationship of love and charity with the bride of Christ which is the Church?

Are you married to the world⁵⁵ which Jesus kingdom is not a part of? The word translated wife is normally translated women. The word world is defined “an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government.” Is the Church the virgin and what is the snare and the profit mentioned all about? He talks about time being short and eventually points out that death will come and free the women. Is he talking about marriage and men keeping a virgin as a wife? Or is he talking about the coming demise of Roman system where all will be free? Remember he began talking about men who could be free and men who could not get free. And then he goes directly into “touching things offered unto idols.”

1 Corinthians 7:29 “But this I say, brethren, the time [is] short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; 30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; 31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. 32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: 33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. 34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry. 37 Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. 38 So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better. 39 ¶ The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. 40 But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God. 1 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.”

Remember that translators divided the book into chapters. But I found it interesting that Paul went right into speaking about things offered to idols and then about knowledge puffing up and charity edifying. Knowledge of Greek, history, laws now and at the time of Christ do not reveal the spirit of the God of the Bible.

Conclusions

Many have been deceived over the years and with the very text they hold sacred because words are not perfect or sacred. They are finite and subject to interpretation. Since man fell to language we have had trouble in understanding one another and it is no different when it comes to understanding the words of Paul and Christ through the influence of words and their translators.

“Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” Genesis 11:7

God does not approve of adultery in marriage or in nations. It is the Church's job to lead people out of bondage by leading them to forgiveness and thanksgiving. It is not the mission of the Church to bind the people in forms and rituals that will force them to go back to the altars of Balaam.

Flesh and blood does not reveal the kingdom and knowledge and studying doesn't either. One of the first comments I get when I point this out is 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

One problem is that the Greek word translated study is not translated study any where else in the Bible. It is spoudazo which means “1) to hasten, make haste 2) to exert one's self, endeavor, give diligence.” So what the scripture is really saying is “Hasten diligently to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

We should not divide one another. We should welcome those who wish to seek the kingdom. We should not hold them unrighteously to their past sin but let them be free men and women in Christ. We may look at their fruits and seek to know their heart.

Each minister must seek the way of righteousness and not be a pharisee who seeks the way of form. It is easy to draw lines we can see and say those who do this are sinners and those who do that are not.

I should not have to tell ministers of God to seek righteousness not form but there is so much misinformation out there seducing us, that these things needed to be said. I do not wish to offend anyone but I certainly do not wish to offend God by going the way of the Pharisee who condemned Jesus for his apparent disregard of the form of the law.

We all need to search deep in our hearts and discover the righteousness of the Lord. You must be Baptized in that spirit to know the will of God and do that will in all things. Guard against those who would have you seek form over the spirit which is the substance of His Kingdom.

The living dead and their doctrines

Matthew 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Are you biting one another?
Are you part of "Zombie Apocalypse"?
Are you biting one another

Matthew 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

4202 ~porneia~ porneia \@por-ni'-ah\@ from 4203; TDNT-6:579,918; n f AV-fornication 26; 26

1) illicit sexual intercourse

1a) adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse

with animals etc.

1b) sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18

1c) sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; #Mr 10:11,12

2) metaph. the worship of idols

2a) of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the

sacrifices offered to idols

FOOTNOTES

1 Written by Paul Revere Embassy of Heaven Church.

2 Sophistry of Sacrifice http://www.hisholychurch.org/words/articleburntoffering.pdf

3 Nicolaitans? http://www.hisholychurch.org/news/nicolaitans.PDF

4 THE BIBLE http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/bible.php

5 What is in a name? http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/name.php

6 Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men’s] bones, and of all uncleanness.

7 Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

8 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that [is] abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance. Deuteronomy 24:1, 4

9 Mark 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

10 Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD.

11 The book Permanency of Marriage, Building on marriage or adultery?

12 There Are gods Many http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/theosgod.php

13 The book Permanency of Marriage, Building on marriage or adultery?

14 “Joe and Janey also bought a house and made a commitment to pay a 30-year mortgage.” One flesh for life

15 The book Permanency of Marriage, What is Marriage?

16 The book Permanency of Marriage, Conclusion

17 Black’s 3rd Ed. p. 1163.

18 Black’s 5th Ed.

19 Van Koten v. Van Koten. 154 N.E. 146.

20 Clark’s Summary of American Law. Chapt I §2. The marriage status or relationship. pp. 140.

21 The book Permanency of Marriage, What is Marriage?

22 The book Permanency of Marriage, What is Marriage?

23 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that [is] abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance. Deuteronomy 24:1, 4

24 The book Permanency of Marriage , One flesh for life

25 1 Samuel 8:20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

26 Luke 22:25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.

27 The book Permanency of Marriage, Leaving loved ones for the Kingdom

28 “The fact of the matter is that Kathy and I must separate because that is now the revealed will of God. And because we are separating, she cannot educate her children at home because she will probably have to do some work to pay bills in addition to his support payments. Practically speaking, that is what is going to have to happen.” Leaving loved ones for the Kingdom

29 1 Samuel 8:13 And he will take your daughters [to be] confectionaries, and [to be] cooks, and [to be] bakers.

30 Call no man on earth Father http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/fatherabba.php

31 The book Permanency of Marriage, Leaving loved ones for the Kingdom

32 630 apoluw apoluo ap-ol-oo’-o from 575 and 3089; ; v AV-release 17, put away 14, send away 13, let go 13, set at liberty 2, let depart 2, dismiss 2, misc 6; 69 1) to set free 2) to let go, dismiss, (to detain no longer) 2a) a petitioner to whom liberty to depart is given by a decisive answer 2b) to bid depart, send away 3) to let go free, release 3a) a captive i.e. to loose his bonds and bid him depart, to give him liberty to depart 3b) to acquit one accused of a crime and set him at liberty 3c) indulgently to grant a prisoner leave to depart 3d) to release a debtor, i.e. not to press one’s claim against him, to remit his debt 4) used of divorce, to dismiss from the house, to repudiate. The wife of a Greek or Roman may divorce her husband.

33 The book Permanency of Marriage, Leaving loved ones for the Kingdom

34 2 Corinthians 6:16 Paul asks “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

35 Temples and churches http://www.hisholychurch.org/temples.asp

36 1 Corinthians 7:20

37 1 Corinthians 7:24

38 Did Paul claim to be a citizen of Rome? http://www.hisholychurch.org/news/article/roman.php

39 Acts 22:28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was [free] born.

40 1 Corinthians 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, [being] a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, [being] free, is Christ’s servant.

41 1 Corinthians 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

42 Proverbs 25:28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.

Proverbs 28:15 As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.

Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

43 Proverbs 23. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

44 Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.

45 Proverbs 6:1 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, [if] thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,

46 Proverbs 6:2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

47 Proverbs 6:12-19 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

48 Who are the Nicolaitians? http://www.hisholychurch.org/news/nicolaitans.PDF

49 *'almah* as an *'oth* (sign or miracle). According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon the word *'oth* can have one of several meanings: (1) a sign, pledge, or token (2) a sign or omen (3) a sign or symbol (4) a sign or miracle given as a pledge or attestation of divine presence and interposition (5) a sign or memorial (6) a sign or pledge of a covenant (7) an ensign [flag] or standard

50-3933 ~paryenov~ parthenos of unknown origin; 1) a virgin 2) a man who has abstained from all uncleanness and whoredom attendant on idolatry, and so has kept his chastity

51 Thayer, in his lexicon.

52 THE RECEPTION OF CLASSICAL TEXTS AND IMAGES, The ancient reception of Pheidias' Athena Parthenos:

the visual evidence in context, Kenneth D.S. Lapatin, Boston University

53-3934 ~paryov~ Parthos probably of foreign origin; ; n pr m AV-Parthian 1; 1 Parthia =" a pledge"

54 Women in the Bible Sam Shamoun

55 My kingdom is not of this world http://www.hisholychurch.org/sermon/world.php

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