Mat. 18:21-35,
A Spirit Must Forgive
“Then Peter came and said to Him, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.’
“‘Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who wanted to reconcile accounts with his servants. When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and kneeled before him, saying, “Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!” The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
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“‘But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, “Pay me what you owe!” So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will repay you!” He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due.
“‘So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told to their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him in, and said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?” His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds’” (Mat. 18:21-35, WEB).
Again, this is a teaching which Jesus primarily gave to His core disciples, to those whom He was teaching and training to become teaching elders in the New Covenant branch of His church. But, for the same reasons cited above, this teaching also applies to everyone who makes judgments for or against other souls, including secular police, prosecutors, judges, law-makers and the other servants of God in a government. In any land owned by God, this teaching must be followed. And literally all lands on earth are entirely owned by God. Then, of course, this teaching most definitely must be fully practised within and throughout the true priesthood of God, the church, especially by its elders.
However, before we begin to look at this teaching, we must understand that forgiveness is solely for the repentant, and its purpose is to restore right relationships. Forgiveness not for the unrepentant, or for those who repent falsely, without bearing fruits of repentance, as this parable of Jesus clearly and starkly illustrates. Before any forgiveness is ever granted by God or man, there always needed to be true repentance in the sinner’s spirit. If there is no true repentance in the spirit, God’s Law, and the examples of God’s actions throughout history, always indicated that there could be no forgiveness of that one’s sins. Worse yet, a false repentance makes an intentional sin even worse, more wicked and condemned. For God’s Law commanded that anyone who intentionally sinned must face a penalty, and must even face the maximum penalty for the worst and most evil intentions and motives. Then a false repentance strengthened the selfish and evil intentions and motives which made one subject to the maximum penalty. A fake repentance further destroyed the trusting relationship with the forgiver, making one even more guilty and condemned, making forgiveness impossible and the original sin worse. Only a spirit’s sincere and honest repentance into reality, which sees the harm caused by the sin, then embraces the just, loving ways of God, can make an intentional sin into an unintentional sin and, thus, forgivable. So God’s Law, as well as His actions throughout history, always upheld the principle of fully forgiving unintentional sins, including sins made unintentional through repentance, in a way that would totally restore the relationship between the sinner’s spirit and God’s Holy Spirit.
But God’s Law stands against the unrepentant, and condemns those who fake repentance even more.
Here we have a parable with a title. For Jesus’ answer to Peter’s question told us what the entire parable was about. Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times will my brother err in a way known by me and I forgive for his benefit? Up to seven times?” (Mat. 18:21, from: Κύριε, ποσάκις ἁμαρτήσει
εἰς ἐμὲ ὁ ἀδελφός μου καὶ ἀφήσω αὐτῷ; ἕως ἑπτάκις;, SBLGNT). To this, Jesus answered: “I reason with you, not up to seven times, but up to seventy times of seven” (Mat. 18:22, from: Οὐ λέγω σοι
ἕως ἑπτάκις ἀλλὰ ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά, SBLGNT). And, when Jesus told us to forgive the sins of a person “up to seventy times of seven,” we should realize that He used the last number, “seven”
(ἑπτά), as a symbol referring to a completed and perfected forgiveness. Then seventy was ten times Page 1211
seven, representing the largest possible count of completed and perfected forgiveness. So Jesus was not telling us to count to seventy, nor to seventy times seven (i.e., 490), then stop forgiving the one who kept sinning and truly repenting from those sins. Actually, Jesus commanded us to perpetually forgive truly repentant sinners, even those who are so weak that they are tempted into sin over and over again, yet also truly repent after every time they sin, in godly sorrow from their spirits, with a heart that forgives and bears compassion for those who are likewise trapped in the same kind of sin.
Every single elect soul who has ever lived and ever will live sins daily, over and over and over again, primarily through impulses of the amoral, self-seeking flesh and through the infantile ignorance of our spirits. Therefore, literally all the elect need to repent and need to be forgiven on a regular daily basis, or even hourly, not merely seven, seventy or 490 times. And, because of this, each and every elect soul has built up an incalculable debt of sin before God. Hence, Jesus taught this parable, and commanded us to be like God, who continuously forgives our repented sins and sins of ignorance.
Since we are to forgive repentant sinners in judgments that God works through our spirits, we must forgive, or refuse to forgive, according to the way God either forgives or refuses to forgive. For we dare not refuse forgiveness to those whom God forgives, lest we incur His wrath. Nor should we dare to forgive those whom God refuses to forgive, for the same reason. Thus, in this parable, Jesus figuratively represented God as a very wealthy human king ruling over us. And some citizens of the king’s land had accumulated so much debt that the king decided it was time to settle accounts with those debtors, just as God often decides to settle accounts with a sinning church or secular nation that has been doing too much harm to be ignored any longer. And here one of the great debtors figuratively owed God “ten thousand talents” (μυρίων ταλάντων), which was the equivalent of a labourer’s wage for ten thousand years. Now, with this kind of debt owing to the king, it was most likely incurred through penalties for fraud and other illegal activities. It probably was not an amount that the man borrowed from the king. So this parable is most likely portraying a man who was some kind of parasite, a con man and public menace, a man much like Donald Trump or Bernard Madoff.
Since the man could not pay the debt owing to the king. And, because the king did not seem to like him, the king’s anger was stirred enough to demand the confiscation of all of that debtor’s property.
Then the king even demanded that the man and his entire family be sold into slavery. Naturally, even if all this was done, it likely would not pay for all of that enormous debt which this man owed to the king, but it would be all the king could possibly recover from the man. This is very interesting, to see how Jesus said that this king, who represents God in this parable, was so angry that he was even willing to sell the wife and the children of that man into slavery. For God’s Law did not allow anyone to be sold into slavery for borrowing money which they could not repay. Then God’s Law certainly and definitely did not permit a family to be sold into slavery for the sins of their husband and father either. Each individual could only be punished for his or her own sins, not for the sins of a spouse, parent or anyone else. Consequently, this little detail about also selling the debtor’s family into slavery clearly implies that this debtor did not borrow the money he owed, but that sum was a penalty for his crimes, and that both his wife and his adult children had also partaken in those sins.
Clearly, even if this man did commit serious crimes like fraud, and owed penalties amounting to ten thousand talents, God’s Law did not allow the children of a sinner to be punished for the sins of their father—that is, not unless the children were adults who partook in the sins of their father. Only if this debtor’s children directly participated in their father’s crimes, by helping him commit those sins, or they had aided and abetted their father’s crimes indirectly, by condoning and consciously enjoying the proceeds of the crimes, could those children be sold into slavery with their father. Then his wife could not be sold into slavery for the crimes of her husband either, unless she also partook in those Page 1212
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crimes in the same direct or indirect ways. Now I know that a woman could not testify against her husband in a public hearing. Nevertheless, a wife could notify the authorities about his crimes, or flee from him if she knew he was committing crimes. Yet women are also very capable of helping husbands commit crimes. So this parable implies that the wife and children did likely partake in the crimes of this debtor, since this figurative king was going to sell the man’s whole family into slavery.
To make any real sense of this statement by Jesus, about how the king was willing to sell that man, his wife and his children into slavery, we are almost forced to assume that debtor owed the king and the government a sum of ten thousand talents as a weighty penalty for non-violent crimes committed by that man, together with his wife and adult children. A vast sum like this must have been ordered to be paid for crimes against the state, where his fraud and other crimes had been aided and abetted by his wife and by all his adult children. For I can think of no other reason why a just king, one whom Jesus used to represent God, would ever think of selling the man’s whole family into slavery.
And this also explains why, after discovering that man’s fake repentance, Jesus only sentenced that man to a prison sentence, but no longer required his wife and children to be punished in the prison.
To Jesus’ disciples, who all knew God’s Law very well, this detail (about the king commanding that the great debtor’s entire family be sold into slavery) clearly suggested that this was a criminal family, much like Trump and his family. Otherwise, Jesus, who was thee most learned interpreter of God’s Law in all history (because He is God), would not have mentioned that the king, who represented God, was willing to sell the man’s entire family into slavery. And this assumption bears some other implications too, regarding the guilt of entire church families who partake in crimes of blasphemy (i.e., false teachings and false prophecies) committed by their pastors or elders. Then it also implies the guilt of individuals who partake in the sins of their governments, since nations are also families in God’s eyes. If a church or state sins, we must reprove that sin, and disassociate ourselves from the sinners, if we can—lest God might sell us into the devil’s slavery, with our entire church or nation.
For we are to do the works of Jesus our God, and one of His works is to nullify works of the devil.
Yet notice how the king had compassion on that great debtor’s entire family, when that debtor, all by himself, without anyone from his family present, had prostrated himself before the king and pleaded:
“Please complete your patient endurance over me, and I will repay all to you!” (Mat. 18:26, from: Μακροθύμησον ἐπʼ ἐμοί, καὶ πάντα ἀποδώσω σοι, SBLGNT). Here we see how an aorist imperative (μακροθύμησον) indicates polite begging for the completion of an act of patiently enduring for a fixed purpose. And this statement by this debtor was made as a form of his repentance into the good intention of striving to repay the debt, accompanied by the admission of the truth that he did indeed owe this debt to the king. Furthermore, this repentance seemed to be sincere, appeared to be spoken from the thoughts of the spirit in the debtor’s heart. So the king, seeing him throw himself to the ground (προσεκύνει) before him, was “moved by compassion” (σπλαγχνισθεὶς) and granted this debtor and his family a total forgiveness of the entire debt without requiring any penalty to be paid.
For Jesus told us that, after being moved with compassion: “The lord/owner [i.e., the king] of that slave freed him, and forgave the debt for his benefit” (Mat. 18:27, from: ὁ κύριος τοῦ δούλου
ἐκείνου ἀπέλυσεν αὐτόν, καὶ τὸ δάνειον ἀφῆκεν αὐτῷ, SBLGNT). Here the “slave” or δοῦλος refers to the great debtor. And he was owned by the king because he was a subject of the king’s kingdom, not because he owed a debt to the king. Likewise, all human beings, while we live in flesh on this earth, are “slaves” of God, owned by Him, bound by a duty to serve Him and do His will. The elect are also God’s children, but do not receive freedom as His children until we are fully “educated” and
“trained” on the judgment day at the gates of heaven. But the main point here is that this great debtor no longer owed any debt to the king, after the king made this decree. Nor did anyone in his family Page 1213
owe any debt. As the moral and spiritual priest and “head” of his family, the Owner of that man also forgave the entire debt incurred by everyone else in that family, since all acted under his spiritual and moral guidance and approval. For the man bore all responsibility to establish the spiritual and moral structure of his household. Thus, if he failed to do so, all debts and crimes of his family, all that he knew about and condoned, became his crimes and debts too. Although the individual spirits of his wife and children could also act in the name of their Owner against him, he had led all into the sin.
So now this great debtor and his entire family were freed, and no longer owed this huge debt. Then notice how this king never went back on his word. That king never touched that family when that debtor proved that his own repentance was actually false, by the way in which he sinned against his fellow slave who owed him a lesser debt. Although that man’s entire family seems to have partaken in committing the crimes which resulted in that great debt, that king never condemned nor punished any of them later, when that man sinned and proved that his repentance was false. Remember, this king, who represented God, forgave the entire family through his compassion spurred by the debtor’s apparent repentance—when that debtor not only admitted to owing his great debt, but also spoke in a way which indicated that he would bear fruits of repentance, by trying to back the debt. Thus, the king accepted his repentance for the sake of his entire criminal family and, when that wicked and falsely repentant man sinned again, after his forgiveness, the king only punished that man himself.
And how did that man prove that his repentance was false? Well, he proved that his heart had not accepted the truth that mercy and loving relationships are far more important than money. This was the lesson which his Owner had illustrated through His forgiveness of that great debtor. This was the major truth which his Owner thought this great debtor had repented into. Yet that man had actually remained ruthless, self-seeking and sinful, and continued to worship the demon Mammon. None of his Owner’s mercy and forgiveness had ever actually been acknowledged and accepted by the spirit of that great debtor. He had not turned towards any of those truths, certainly not enough to prevent him from causing an innocent brother to suffer terribly at his hands over the matter of a small debt owed to himself. Therefore, the king punished that unrepentant debtor, but only that man, and left the rest of his criminal family alone. For God’s Law only allows the sinners who commit the sins to be punished, and forbids the punishment a sinner’s spouse or children who did not partake in the sin, who did not willingly aid, abet or even condone that sin. And, apparently, neither his wife or his children wanted anything to do with that man’s cruel and unforgiving treatment of that other debtor.
Also notice the great generosity of that king, who represented God. For most of that great debt likely would have been funds that the king, that is, the government, had already paid out. For the king, as the government, would have already repaid the losses of the victims who had been defrauded by that debtor and his family, or had already paid the damages for any other crimes committed against the victims. Perhaps some kind of penalty for committing the financial crimes was also added to the amount which the king spent to repay the victims of that man’s non-violent crimes, possibly as much as twenty percent more than what he repaid to victims. But, even with a twenty percent penalty, it would mean that at least eighty-three percent of the ten thousand talents would be a direct loss to that king and his government, after repaying the losses to the victims. So the king’s loss would have been equivalent to about 8,333 years worth of wage for common labourers. Therefore, that king, as the government of that land, must have been extremely wealthy, if he could afford to be so generous to that sinner as to take that great a loss in restoring what that debtor had stolen by forgiving his fraud.
At this point, some may accuse me of speculating too much. But Jesus and His disciples thoroughly knew God’s Law. And Jesus came to fulfill God’s Law in and through us. Thus, when Jesus gave this example of a good king’s actions toward the great debtor, and taught it to His most mature disciples, Page 1214
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He would have done so in a way that truly fulfilled God’s Law, especially since this king represented God in this parable. And, based on God’s Law, all my assumptions are implied. In fact, we cannot imagine that this king could have done what he did unless these assumptions were true. So we can be quite sure that this figurative great debtor was portrayed as one who committed serious financial or non-violent crimes, together with his whole family, and therefore owed ten thousand talents because of those crimes. Then we can be certain of the reasons for Jesus portraying this figurative king and his government as being so immensely wealthy that they could justly and generously repay the losses of the victims as well as forgive the huge debt of the sinner. In fact, Jesus had designed this parable to remind us that God and His kingdom are indeed this wealthy, able to repay all victims and forgive all repentant sinners. And our God Jesus is also reminding us that He will also make just and generous governments wealthy enough to do so as well. For we have witnessed, in real life and all throughout history, how all of the most just, equitable, generous and loving churches, governments and corporate bodies have always ended up becoming this prosperous, in the long term. Yes, most of those just and generous leaders and corporate bodies also endured times of God’s testing and training. But their loving, wise justice always bred trust, and trust worked progress, then progress produced prosperity. So the immutable spiritual and moral laws of God, which He established upon the whole earth, from the very beginning, always produce great blessings and prosperity for the individuals, churches, nations and other corporate bodies who live by them, so they can serve justice in His name. God causes the just to receive enough resources to administer true justice in His name.
So this falsely repentant man, after being forgiven his insurmountable debt, was obviously foolish, narrow-minded, blind, ignorant, shallow and deluded, not to mention cruel. For he somehow thought his well-being could be gained by gaining more money. He never realized that money is intrinsically worthless and, at most, can only be used as a tool to facilitate the distribution of goods and services, a distribution which God requires to be equitable, in the ways that God ordained for His entire earthly creation. So this fool went out and “found one of his fellow slaves who was owing him a hundred denarii and, having seized him, was choking him saying, ‘Repay whatever you are owing!’”
(Mat. 18:28, from: εὗρεν ἕνα τῶν συνδούλων αὐτοῦ ὃς ὤφειλεν αὐτῷ ἑκατὸν δηνάρια, καὶ κρατήσας
αὐτὸν ἔπνιγεν λέγων· Ἀπόδος εἴ τι ὀφείλεις, SBLGNT). So this forgiven debtor dehumanized his own debtor over a money matter, in a way that the Owner of both those men deemed to be unlawful.
Then that other slave of the king fell down, and was likely knocked down by that brutal fool who was choking him. After being assaulted, that minor debtor “counselled him, saying, ‘Please complete your patient endurance over me, and I will repay you!’” (Mat. 18:29, from: παρεκάλει αὐτὸν λέγων·
Μακροθύμησον ἐπʼ ἐμοί, καὶ ἀποδώσω σοι, SBLGNT). So that fellow slave entreated the fool with almost the same words that the fool used before their Owner, during that fool’s false repentance to the king. But there was a small difference. For that fool promised to repay the king “all” (πάντα) that he owed, even though that was likely a lie, given that his debt was so enormous. And that fool also did so in a more dramatic, emotional display of repentance before the king. Yet this fellow slave simply told that foolish slave that he would repay the debt, without promising to pay “all,” since saying so would be redundant, merely a dramatic emphasis. We should notice this, because con men like to be more dramatic, so they will appear more sincere, so their dupes will feel sorry for them and more readily believe their lies. But this other slave seemed to be a more honest kind of man, one who was truly repenting when asked for more time to pay his debt. And, since he only owed a hundred denarii (about a hundred days wages, or something like $12,000.00 in our day), that other slave probably was able to repay it, perhaps in a year or two. Yet the fool would hear none of this.
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That fool let the anger in his mind of flesh take complete control of his actions, and did not seem to have any inner conscience, no thoughts from the mind of his spirit, no love to temper the wrath of his flesh. If he could not get his money now, when he wanted it, he would gratify his demonically inspired lust for revenge. Instead of taking the example of the just, compassionate king who freely and compassionately forgive his insurmountable debt, that fool not only refused to forgive his fellow slave’s small debt, but committed the crime of assaulting him, then found some willing “policemen”
(or elders) who would “cast [his debtor] into prison until he might repay the obligation” (Mat. 18:30, from: ἔβαλεν αὐτὸν εἰς φυλακὴν ἕως οὗ ἀποδῷ τὸ ὀφειλόμενον, SBLGNT). And, of course, while sitting in a prison, that fellow slave would not be able to earn any money to repay his debt. This is likely one reason why God’s Law strictly forbids any debtor to be put in prison for any amount that he owes. And it is also why God never allowed a lender to confiscate anything that a debtor and his family needed to live a modest life or to do their daily work. Yet this fool took that man’s freedom, which prevented him from earning enough to free himself. So this fool committed crimes against a fellow slave, against the entire kingdom, against the king, and against God Himself, as he did this.
But the slaves of a kingdom, whom we prefer to call citizens, are not each unto themselves alone.
For their King and Owner is always with them, and sees all the crimes that ruthless, deluded fools commit against His people. Likewise, His people have each other. So, in this parable, the friends of the unjustly imprisoned debtor saw who did this crime. Then those friends reported those crimes to the highest authority in their land, that is, to the King who possessed the authority to judge anyone and everyone in his land. Now, since this king represented God, Jesus was actually teaching us to go to God in prayer here, whenever we see injustice done to our friends and loved ones. Then God will cause justice to be done in our lands, either directly or indirectly, such as through all His elect agents and through a wide array of effective instruments, both of which He reserves in every land for these purposes. But also remember that, in those days, reporting to the king did not merely mean uttering a few words to describe what happened. And Jesus certainly was not talking about making a phone call or texting the king, or some appropriate government department. Rather, all who reported to the king first had to be vetted by relevant authorities, and prove that their accusation against the person was true. Every witness had to deeply commit to the validity of his accusation. For a witness was forced to pay a penalty equivalent to the one required for the crime he reported, even a maximum penalty, if that witness maliciously framed someone through lies. And there were also penalties for witnesses who frivolously accused others, based on unreliable information or biased assumptions.
This was also an illustration by Jesus that teaches us how every just and free corporate body depends on all the individuals within it to take responsibility for one another. Our Creator requires each member to ensure that all one’s accusations are based on the absolute truth. There can be no justice nor freedom in any church or corporate body if the people do not look out for one another, or if the people do not ensure that all judgments are based upon the genuine truths. Thus, the best way to destroy a church or nation is trick the people into betraying one another, through lies, so they no longer love nor trust one another. And this is how Satan tries to destroy societies that are starting to become just, exactly the way he is doing now in America through Trump. But, in this parable, the king ruled wisely over a just and free land. For we see how the friends of the unjustly imprisoned debtor “became exceedingly distressed and, having come, they gave a detailed report to their lord
[about] all things having occurred” (Mat. 18:31, from: γενόμενα ἐλυπήθησαν σφόδρα, καὶ ἐλθόντες
διεσάφησαν τῷ κυρίῳ ἑαυτῶν πάντα τὰ γενόμενα, SBLGNT). Here the verb διασαφέω means: “to cause something to be clear to the understanding; to clarify something that is obscure, explain; to inform by relating something in detail, tell plainly, tell in detail, report” (BDAG3). So these fellow Page 1216
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slaves or citizens did not accuse that fool based on conspiracy theories, unreliable witnesses or a biased account of the event. They went out and investigated the matter, found trustworthy witnesses, looked at real evidence, then gave a detailed report to the king—knowing that he would judge them harshly if they did not do due diligence when they brought an accusation against their fellow citizen.
Since the king spoke to that fool “after summoning him” (προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτὸν), this implies that the king held a fair trial which found that man guilty of assault, false imprisonment and possibly a few other charges. But Jesus already said that he did these crimes, so the actual court case was not important to us. Only the words of the king, who represented God, are critical for us to understand.
And this figurative king rebuked that ruthless, vindictive man with these words: “Evil slave! [After]
all the obligation that I forgave for your benefit, when you gave [beseeching] counsel to me, is it not necessary for you to have mercy on your fellow slave, as I also had for you?” (Mat. 18:32b-33, from: Δοῦλε πονηρέ, πᾶσαν τὴν ὀφειλὴν ἐκείνην ἀφῆκά σοι, ἐπεὶ παρεκάλεσάς με· οὐκ ἔδει καὶ σὲ
ἐλεῆσαι τὸν σύνδουλόν σου, ὡς κἀγὼ σὲ ἠλέησα;, SBLGNT). So here we see Jesus teaching us that our judgments of others must be based on the way our King and God has judged us. If we do not judge in the way God Himself judges, He will call us “wicked slaves” on the last day, not heirs of His heavenly kingdom. So let every teaching elder—as well as every secular policeman, prosecutor and judge—know that he too is a great sinner, owing a huge debt to God. And, if any of us know our forgiveness in Christ, with His blood atonement that restores our relationship with God, so He might then teach and train us to be like Him, then we will also grant mercy to repentant sinners just like us.
If we do not show the same kind of mercy to repentant sinners like ourselves, or cause them to pay unjust penalties that we did not pay for our own greater sins, or even if we hand out unjust penalties to unrepentant sinners, then we can only expect the same kind of judgment that this ruthless fool received from the king in this parable. And the just king was so angry with that ruthless fool that “he handed him over to the tormentors until he might repay all the obligation” (Mat. 18:34, from: παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν τοῖς βασανισταῖς ἕως οὗ ἀποδῷ πᾶν τὸ ὀφειλόμενον, SBLGNT). Now, since this king represented God, but Jesus was also talking about an earthly authority and earthly “tormentors until” the debtors to God might repay “all the obligations,” this does not necessarily refer to eternal damnation in hell. That is, this debt might still be repaid through true repentance which bears fruits of repentance, either during life on earth or at the gates of heaven. Jesus figuratively meant that, if an elect soul acts like this unjust and unforgiving fool, then that one will be handed over to demonic spirits for the deluding of one’s mind of flesh, even one’s entire soul, during one’s life on earth, until one’s spirit is humbled enough to repent into the truth about what one did to one’s brothers and sisters in the family of mankind. Here Jesus was saying that unjust souls, who do not love truth, will be cast into dark thoughts that will constantly torment them with fears, frustrations and utter futility.
But Jesus also affirmed that God would not refrain from administering this severe discipline when He outright proclaimed: “Just so also, My heavenly Father will do to you [disciples] unless, from the hearts of you [disciples], each might forgive for the benefit of his brother” (Mat. 18:36, from: Οὕτως
καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος ποιήσει ὑμῖν ἐὰν μὴ ἀφῆτε ἕκαστος τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν καρδιῶν
ὑμῶν, SBLGNT). If we see a brother’s or a sister’s heart-felt repentance, which turns bad intentions into good intentions through one’s admission of the damaging realities caused by one’s sins, as well as the truths about the just love that God calls one’s spirit to express after sinning, each one of us has an obligation to God. Like our God, we too must love to forgive truly repentant sinners, in ways that restore right relationships with them. Even if a sinner is so spiritually weak that he or she frequently sins, yet always tries and intends to do right through an equally frequent repentance, we will forgive.
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Thus, no true Christian should ever practise unforgiving ways like “zero tolerance,” nor condone any system which punishes sins with harsher penalties than God’s laws permit. And we certainly must never insist upon minimum penalties for any crime, nor permanent prison sentences for repeated sins. No one who believes in God and in His words will ever allow courts to hand out a minimum sentence for any sin or crime, since that does not take into account the motives and intentions of each sinner’s sins, nor address any of the root causes of sins. All such punishments are forbidden by the Law of God, which Jesus came to fulfill in us and through us. All such practises oppose or nullify God’s Law, and are designed by fake elders so they can rule through a humanistic form of terrorism, by threats of punishments that far exceed the weights of the crimes. In all of the fulfilled laws of God, which our God Jesus taught and His disciples wrote down, which His real Holy Spirit teaches directly to our spirits each day, we are to forgive if we find true repentance from the spirit of a sinner, and require no penalty at all. Above all, judges are to continuously teach the truth of God’s loving and just ways to all the accused brought to them, so the spirits of the elect among them might hear those truths, recognize the wisdom and rightness of those truths, turn to our God Jesus, and repent. All are called to nullify works of the devil, so we can build up the just, equitable, loving kingdom of God on earth, where our Father’s will is done just as it is in heaven. For demonic spirits will not be able to so easily enslave elect souls through delusions causing them to sin if we guard the truths and wisdom of God in our hearts, as well as in our churches and communities. Then even the non-elect brood of Satan will only be able to gratify their desires through harmless and legal means.
Many churches and governments in this world have, in the past, begun to take a few steps away from the doctrines of the devil’s religion of humanism, towards the teachings of Jesus. And the just, loving effects of those small steps have been ever-increasing equality, freedom, joy, peace and prosperity for the people. But, in every generation, the lying and psychopathic children of the devil rise up in false churches and illicit governments to undo all that progress. The rich and powerful sons of hell lie about Jesus, to cause injustice and great suffering in His name, to slander His name. Satan is continuously sending out the psychopathic children from his back-stabbing and factious family to oppose God. But it is usually not too hard to identify those spawns of Satan, since they are never very unique, and they all lie and deceive in the same basic ways they always have. First, they try to portray God’s kind of justice and love as evil, and trick the people into thinking that the cause of all their problems is that kind of justice, equity and loving compassion. But the real evil, the actual ruthless conspiracy against the people, are the attempts by those children of Satan to become the false gods and fake saviours of the people, using either far left or far right methods of enslaving the people under them. And all those wanna-be gods, even the “nice” ones, are mere psychopaths, who routinely accuse those who oppose them of being what they are themselves, to disguise their lies as the truth. And, although the true, just teachings of God, which those deceivers oppose, can save the people from death, those liars forcibly insist that their psychopathic, unjust, destructive ways are far superior. Their humanistic capitalist, communist, fascist and despotic systems have always produced only hells, with countless murders, oppression, massive destruction, starvation, war and every kind of injustice imaginable. Yet those liars promise that they will build a utopia for all their followers.
Then the liars say that anyone not believing their self-contradicting and irrational lies are evil liars who must die, because all their opponents will prevent their utopias from being built. Yet those liars even kill those who have consistently proven to be loving, honest, diligent, trustworthy and a reliable source of fact-checked knowledge, information and wisdom. They poison their people against all the truth and all truth-tellers who exposes their lies, so their people are left with only one source for all they know or think. And that one source is those liars. All honest and caring truth-tellers are said to Page 1218
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be dangerous and vile enemies seeking to murder them and their children, although the only real danger to those people are the liars they trust and follow, the deceivers whom they allow to commit crimes with impunity. And, to deceive their more religious dupes, those murdering monsters will somehow convince them that they are humble servants of God. And, of course, the stupid and selfish humanistic churches of the land always believe those liars, far more than they believe Jesus, the real God who walked among us and taught us His ways. But we need to realize that the real God is now saving whomever He wills to save, and none have the power to threaten His salvation. Then His kingdom will come, at its appointed time, regardless of how many oppose Him. For He promised that He would fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant, and did so with the Messiah’s New Covenant after two thousand years, just at the right time, immediately after the prophesied fourth kingdom of the devil had formed. And He will return to rule the earth at the right time too, with none to stop Him.
Naturally, the chief liars always offer rewards of the flesh to their faithful followers who bolster and perpetuate their lies, who threaten, terrorize and murder in order to gain those carnal rewards offered as wicked bribes. And those core followers of the wanna-be gods are always willing to use the highly motivating tactic of causing blind fear, to advance their kingdom. For the religion of humanism, perfected in Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, knows that fear is the only way that evil can exert control over the masses. So these goons of the chief liars instill irrational fears of truths and truth-tellers in the people, a fears of anyone who does not blindly believe the lies of their wanna-be gods.
But, of course, they must build up these irrational fears on lies, so the people will hate and kill all the
“outsiders,” all who do not worship and trust solely in their own human gods. And they keep on lying until their propaganda convinces their dupes that all the “outsiders” are not even human, just evil sub-human things which need to be slaughtered. Only those who worship their chief liars can be treated as human beings, until the human gods become displeased and also declare those “insiders”
to be dangerous “outsiders,” worthy of death. And, whether those core followers are trying to build a far-left or a far-right type of hierarchy for their wanna-be gods, they must murder any disobedient or questioning souls, without just trials. For they must force all to fear and obey their “superiors” in their hierarchy, lest their fragile delusions might crumble and fall. For, once their delusions about their human gods and unjust systems collapse and burn, then who will give them their carnal bribes?
If their “superiors” are exposed as cheap, dirty, little psychopathic criminal leaches, all their dreams of becoming powerful and “great again” will be exposed as filthy little fantasies too. So all those pathetic dupes must make the chief liars into the ruling class of their purely Satanic hierarchies, and pretend that their human gods are their only hope of salvation, though their spirits know it is all a lie.
In our day, fake churches in the Americas and Europe are once more worshipping fascist Antichrists, just as they did in 1930’s. Neo-fascists, like Trump, promise to make their nations “great again,” just like Hitler and Mussolini did. And these fascists all paint a sloppy, imagined, ignorant portrayal of a fictional past, where men like them were once powerful, sexually potent and highly esteemed. But, if we look at the real facts about that past, when their fictitious “greatness” supposedly existed, we see only extreme injustice, murders, exploitation, oppression, rapes and every kind of evil imaginable, all done by liars just like them. So their lies are exposed. Yet, to counter those past truths, those liars denounce them as lies, and rewrite history, so they can continue to proclaim their lies about how a filthy past was actually glorious and good. But truths are solid and persistent things, that do not vanish in the wind like vaporous lies do. So the liars must stir up their dupes with more lies, and call them to murder all truth-tellers, all legitimate historians, researchers, experts, scholars, fact-checking media people and even the scientists and doctors required to keep the people alive. Then they also start murdering other valuable citizens who oppose their spiritual and moral lies, all true Christians, Page 1219
true Jews and everyone else who declares their murdering to be a sin. Then they destroy books, art, music and other sources of truth. In the end, to maintain their power, all truth must be eliminated.
And, once all truth is gone, nothing can be built on realities, neither love nor physical necessities.
So the dupes who willingly do all this evil for their lying human gods eventually cause their own destruction. Their worshipped liars convince them that their lives will be lost, if they allow truths into the world. So those criminal dupes murder and pillage to keep truths out. For a moment, this makes those dupes feel big, self-entitled and god-like too. But, since it is virtually impossible to destroy the spiritual, moral and physical realities created and maintained by God, those dupes also begin to realize that they cannot defeat God. So they feel sorry for themselves, since their esteemed liars convince them that they are persecuted victims, because truth and true justice keeps on warring against all the wilfully ignorant thugs and miscreants like them. Yet they work very hard to keep themselves ignorant, because their human gods tell them to do so, and because God has handed them over to demons, for the complete deluding of their souls. This is their punishment from God, which will cause their own destruction when God invariably raises up truth and justice in their land. God casts them into this kind of destruction, because their fake churches and secular gods follow only arrogant, selfish, cruel, criminal impulses, because they do not love the truth, nor will they ever reciprocate any mercies granted to them. Consequently, all who do not repent from all those Satanic delusions, all who refuse to love the truth, will painfully destroy their own flesh, together with all that God grants to enables them to live. And the more they murder, the sooner they will be killed.
Throughout history, the most murderous autocrats have had to live in the greatest fear for their own lives, and in the greatest, most subservient slavery to the spirits of demons. So they all became great in the greatness of their own darkness, ignorance, foolishness, negativity and heavy spiritual chains.
Thus, anyone desiring that kind of weak, self-destructive, self-deluding greatness is a pathetic and useless wretch, a leach upon all the useful, truly honest, strong and productive souls who are faithful to God and full of just love. Now let everyone who is able to read or hear this parable of Jesus learn from it, so they might grant merciful, just forgiveness to all the repentant. Let them all confess their insurmountable debt to God, all that they owe for all their inward moral and spiritual sins. Then let their hearts accept His complete forgiveness. For His blood has indeed paid the entire price of our lifetime of sins, and we are now debt free, without a single penny left owing to Him. Let each go to Him as a disciple, so He might teach and train one’s spirit to justly love, to practise His kind of forgiveness for all repentant souls, in the hope that one might gain back a lost brother or sister, and truly restore the relationship that was broken through sins. And let all build love upon truth alone.
The elect have become enslaved dupes of lying psychopaths because of their ignorant spirits, which latch onto any simple lie that those liars claim to be the truth. Most elect are too ignorant to realize that all real truths are extremely complex, with literally thousands of delicately interwoven causes and effects, all rationally working together to produce every little physical or spiritual detail. For God is infinitely knowledgeable and wise, and created all things to work together in support of one another, in wise systems. Yet His elect children will allow a liar to come and tell them that he will save them if they blindly worship him, if they trust him to save them and handle all the complexities of life, if they stop thinking and stop trying to understand the truth. He promises them an easy way, which will reward their greedy, amoral flesh. And, of course, the elect spirits in them always do recognize the evil of such liars. Nevertheless, since most elect have always suppressed the voices of their elect spirits, and have only ever lived according the dictates of their minds of flesh, they easily and readily silence the objections of their spirits against those liars too. Then they freely push ahead into the darkness of evil, to labour as the exploited slaves owned outright by those wanna-be gods.
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Now let those straying elect hear the truth from their God, Jesus. Let them pursue the New Covenant salvation of our Messiah Jesus, and let His Holy Spirit personally teach their spirits about Himself and how to fulfill His just, equitable, pure, loving Law. Let the elect know that God never allows for humanistic hierarchies where some siblings in humankind are treated as sub-human, as not worthy of the lives God gave them. Nor does God allow us to deny any of our siblings access to the necessities of life when we have excess to share with them. For God owns all, and humans cannot own anything on earth, not our own bodies nor anything else. God may allow us to be temporary stewards of some things on earth, but God obligates all the stewards of His property to use that property for His own just and loving purposes. And, although some humans are God’s elect children, while others are not, God is the only Judge who is able to discern between the two and assign an eternal fate to anyone.
The real Creator God does not even allow any human being to judge himself or herself, to determine whether or not one’s own self is His elect child or a child of Satan. All the elect can do is let His Holy Spirit teach and train their own spirits and pray for His will to be done on earth. None can sit back, do nothing and learn nothing, then declare that he or she will go to heaven. Rather, elect spirits are put on earth to be taught and trained for their lives and works at home in heaven, and have no time to waste in the vanity of deluding themselves with empty flattery. The elect on earth realize they have work to do on earth, and barely think about how their election will be revealed on the final judgment day, where God alone will be their Judge. In the meantime, God’s elect drink in His living waters of life and His light, so they can build love on a foundation of that pure truth, so they can love Him and one another. That is all they want on earth, an abundant life of loving God and one another.
Therefore, we do not judge the eternal fates of our siblings, do not even attempt to determine which ones are the elect and which are not. That is God’s business, not ours. So, if we suspect that someone has a non-elect, we leave that one to God, to His judgment, to see whether or not God will find some good propensities created in that one’s spirit. On the other hand, we must all make some judgments regarding the fruits produced by ourselves and others, whether or not those words and deeds align with the truths and realities that God created upon this earth. But, since all physical, moral and spiritual truths are complex and interwoven with one another, we also know that we need the help of God to comprehend those truths, as well as the help of those God has truly called, taught, trained and sent. But God and those whom He truly sends are all teachers more than any are judges. All carefully explain how physical and spiritual truths rationally cause effects, so we can make right judgments.
God and all His true servants help the minds of our spirits see the harmony and inter-connectivity of applicable truths, to think and reason through the complexity until we arrive at effective solutions and the kind of wisdom we need to benefit all. And the real God is not a dictator who does not obey His own laws. Rather, God is a loving Father who illustrates how He Himself fulfills all of His own laws justly, equitably, wisely and lovingly. He demonstrates how to build up love and life through an understanding of His truths, and even came to us in a body of flesh like our flesh to exemplify His abundant life on earth. And, since God never lies nor disobeys His own laws in any way, but labours to make all His elect children more like Him every day, we esteem, emulate and serve none but Him.
Look at how Jesus portrayed the king in this parable, as the owner who expected his slaves to follow his example of loving, merciful, compassionate forgiveness for anyone who repented into the truth (Mat. 18:32-33). To that king, obedience was a matter of emulating himself. For he led by example.
Those who did what he did, for his good purposes, were loved by him. But those who did what he would never allow himself to do, those who were nothing like him and opposed his good purposes, were his enemies. We must not forget this detail. For that king represented God. Thus, Jesus was teaching: Just as that king expected his slaves (the citizens) to always follow his example, in the way Page 1221
he interpreted and applied his own laws, so too must we follow God’s example, in the ways that God has interpreted and applied His own laws. And we actually have countless examples of the ways that God interpreted and applied His own laws in the Scriptures. There we see how God sentenced the arrogant and unrepentant to the maximum penalties of His Law, but also how He sentenced those with less evil motives and intentions to lesser penalties, then completely forgave the humbled and fully repentant, without requiring them to suffer any penalty at all. And God always fulfilled His own Law, even when He walked among us in Jesus’ body of flesh. God never broke His own Law, never in the slightest way. And, if we humbly and honestly study His creations, if we diligently and carefully observe nature, or the true facts of history, or our own personal lives, we also see how God is perfectly consistent there too, how He always upholds His own spiritual and physical laws, how He always condemns and destroys evil but rewards good, but how the slaves of Satan’s world order do the opposite. Genuine science and history (with all speculative biases removed), as well as the physical and spiritual realities we see in our own lives, agree with all God taught in the Scriptures, and show us how God interprets and applies His own Law. So now let us learn from His examples.
And, when we study the Scriptures, remember the historical writings about the events that occurred when God Himself came to us in a body of human flesh. As God’s Holy Spirit dwelt in a temporary, limited body of flesh, He did not take any privileges for Himself, and sought no self-entitled position among the people. He did not come to sit with the elite in a humanistic hierarchical system. Rather, God caused His body of flesh to live among us in a common and modest way, even in poverty, then worked with His hands for living, in the same way our eternal spirits dwell in our bodies of flesh. He subjected His body to all the wretchedness, loss, toil, suffering and injustice that most of us face in Satan’s world order, even to a brutal and unjust death sentence. And, when that devil’s kingdom murdered God’s body, treating His sinless life like a criminal, it was the world’s worst crime. For they had the worst and most selfish motives and intentions as they tortured to death that body which lived its entire life without committing even one sin. And look at who committed this great injustice.
The physical murderers were disciples of Satan, Romans and Jews who practised the devil’s religion of humanism. And those who handed Jesus over to Satan’s fourth religious kingdom of Rome, to the kingdom of the devil’s messiah called the beast, were corrupted teaching elders in the church, frauds in God’s priesthood of Israel, pretending to be those whom God appointed to judge through right teachings leading to repentance. But those elders never taught any kind of truth that could ever cause the spirit of any accused soul to repent in any way. And most of their accusations against Jesus were false, mere slander designed to maintain their financially lucrative positions of power which Jesus was eroding through His proclamations of exposing truth. Since their false accusations were lies and all their motives were evil, those teaching elders proved to be worse sinners than anyone else those false judges had ever accused. And none would hear the defence of Jesus, lest they might find Him innocent. Nor did any repent into the truths He taught, like legitimate judges do, for all loved the lie.
All this injustice from the secular authorities, and from a fake priesthood who was supposed to teach the secular authorities about justice, committed this greatest crime in history, in the land that God assigned to His priesthood of Israel, among the people He created to serve as His faithful stewards of His truth. In fact, those unjust Roman and Jewish servants of the devil committed this worst of all sins right in the city of Jerusalem, where God promised to maintain His presence. If they did this sin anywhere else on earth, God would have witnessed their sin. But, by murdering the sinless body of God in Jerusalem, the devil and his slaves spit in God’s face. They proclaimed their vehement hatred of God and His words, in a way that could not possibly be more emphatically expressed. Therefore, God handed those Roman and Jews disciples of humanism, the disciples of false teaching elders who Page 1222
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falsely claimed to serve Him in His church, even all who loved the unjust lies of those men, over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh, over to dark delusions that they had no power nor any ability to escape—not unless their spirits became utterly humiliated and repented into God’s just truth. And, to this day, God continues to hand over all merciless humanists and false Jews to the very same fate.
Now most fake “Christian” churches and false Jewish synagogues consist of humanists who falsely claim to be God’s priesthood of Israel. Since all these liars love their lies, and refuse to repent into the truth established by the examples of God, when He interpreted His own laws that He proclaimed to them, all will suffer the self-destructive penalty of being deluded by demons. So too, all who love the religious philosophy of humanism, which Satan perfected through the works of his servants in Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, but remain outside of Satan’s fake humanistic “Christian” and
“Jewish” churches, will also suffer this penalty, but not as badly, because less will be expected from them, since they were not exposed to a knowledge of His Word. On the other hand, God will doubly afflict false churches who practise the religion of humanism. And we see this punishment, being handed over delusions, is now tormenting the false churches which teach the humanistic doctrines of fascism, communism or exploitative capitalism. For those deluded fools now worship the most evil, slavish and stupid puppets of Satan, such as Trump. They all became terribly and insanely deluded.
Now let us realize this, and repent into the ways established by our King’s examples. Let us carefully study the actions and words of Jesus, our High King and God. For they are the most beautiful, just and loving examples of how God interprets and applies His laws, the best examples that have ever been seen on earth. For, while our High King walked among us, He completely forgave our sins, then restored His full, loving relationship with us by paying our penalty for our sins with the blood and pains of His own earthly body, without requiring us to pay our own penalty for our hurtful and destructive sins. Furthermore, in addition to all this, Jesus even healed our wretched, amoral flesh, together with our eternal spirits. His teaching and training of our spirits is the healing of our lives!
Yet He made our temporary flesh whole too, so we could better express His just love to all within the spheres of our lives, so we could realize an abundant life of joy in Him. Therefore, let us work with Jesus to nullify the works of Satan, then also teach the truth for repentance, and forgive all who will flee into a discipleship under Him, to learn the truth personally from Him. For our goal is to build up the just, equitable kingdom of God on earth, where the will of our spirits’ Father shall be done just as it is done in heaven. Yes, I too followed and taught many false doctrines of Roman Catholicism, and even more from Evangelicals. And those false teachings are the greatest of sins, since they are sins of the first three orders. Yet I saw the foolishness and harm caused by those lies and repented into the truth. I have a long way to go, but Jesus is teaching my spirit. So all will be well in the end. Now let others do the same, because the time is short. Soon God’s wrath will strike against the whole earth.
Mat. 19:1-12,
Marriage and Divorce
“When Jesus had finished these words, He departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan. Great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.
Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?’
“He answered, ‘Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall Page 1223
join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?” So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.’
“They asked him, ‘Why then did Moses command us to give her a bill of divorce, and divorce her?’
“He said to them, ‘Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and ... [Note: This provides a wrong translation of the rest of the Greek text in verse 9. The WEB version is: “and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.” But a right translation must consider the context, including the global context of all the rest of what Jesus and the Scriptures taught. So it should translated something like this:
“and the effect of the [wife] having been divorced is [her first husband] committing adultery after [her]
marrying.” Here Jesus did not say that a man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery, nor that a divorced woman commits adultery by marrying again. Both the Old and New Testaments allow remarriage.
God’s Law clearly let a man marry a divorced woman, and definitely allowed a divorced woman to remarry.
Since Jesus came to fulfill God’s Law, not nullify it, most translations are emphatically and obviously wrong.
Here, we need to translate a Greek construction using a perfect passive participle to indicate that the man who unjustly divorced his wife is doubly condemned by God as an adulterer: first when he remarries, then again when his divorced wife remarries, since his abandonment will usually forces her to marry another husband.]’
“His disciples said to him, ‘If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry. But he said to them, ‘Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it’”
(Mat. 19:1-12, WEB).
To some, it may seem odd that Matthew recorded a dispute about divorce laws in his account of the last days of the Messiah’s ministry on earth, while opposition to His truth was about to culminate in His death and resurrection. But, to those who know God’s Law, marriage, family and divorce laws relate to all the other laws of God. For all religious and secular bodies of people are to be governed according to God’s laws for families, and our relationship with God Himself is the same kind of a relationship that a husband and wife have through the covenant of their spirits. All God’s principles of marriage, divorce and family love are directly transferable to every other aspect of life in our churches, communities and nations. So the implications of these teachings about divorce, and the hardhearted sins of one who divorces a wife for unjust carnal reasons, are applicable to every aspect of our lives. Even our salvation through our spirits’ personal relationship with God depends on a right understanding of these divorce laws, and knowing that God does not ever divorce His elect.
All Laws Are Spiritual
Before we can comprehend God’s laws, we must first understand exactly what laws are. For, as we can see in this event, the Evangelicals (Pharisees) did not know what laws were. All they knew was that some words were called laws, words that limited what they were allowed to say or do. So they mistakenly assumed that laws were words. None seemed to realize that all laws are spiritual truths to guide the behaviours of individuals in a networked body of people, who gather together so that each made the body stronger, for its own survival. They did not know that laws were just and loving ways that take responsibility for all, so all will benefit all in a free and safe family. As a consequence of this gross error, these Evangelicals thought that, if the exact words of a law did not precisely forbid or command a certain specific thing, then they could challenge that law, and say it did not apply to Page 1224
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that specific thing. That is, they were constantly looking for loopholes in the laws of both men and God. Then they could make themselves and others believe the lie that a law permitted them to do the kinds of sin that their discovered loopholes did not explicitly regulate, even if that sin very clearly opposed the core meaning and intent of the law. Therefore, they sinned and hurt the other members of the body with impunity, just like the “selfish” cancer cells do in human bodies. Then they justified their selfish sins through those fake loopholes in the laws, even while they claimed to obey the laws.
Likewise, the Evangelicals also juggled the words of laws, and artificially forced the laws to mean what they were not intended to mean. They would completely nullify what many laws commanded or prohibited, so they could still claim to be law-abiding, even while they actually broke those laws.
Also, so they could find even more excuses to sin, while still claiming to obey the laws, they trained devious experts who became exceptionally skilled at finding loopholes in the laws and twisting the words of laws in ways which would totally nullify the laws. But real laws are never merely words!
Literally all real laws of God and men are purposeful, designed to benefit the corporate body for which they were created, and are always based entirely upon spiritual teachings. In every corporate body, laws indicate what the wills of human spirits are obligated to do for the sakes of all, and what their spirits are forbidden to do. Now some bodies may teach, uphold and believe wrong, destructive and outright evil spiritual doctrines, then make extremely unjust laws. Nevertheless, all of the laws of that people remain entirely spiritual, albeit some are spiritually evil. No law is ever actually built on physical principles. No law can ever be derived through rationally interpreted data about material existence, since literally everything physical is amoral, completely lacking in any moral implications whatsoever. Thus, nothing physical can have any legal implications, and no purely physical action, if it totally lacks any spiritual motives or intensions, can be called illegal. Only spirits possess moral values, which can be translated into moral obligations or prohibitions encoded in laws. Spirits alone can will to do what is right. The spirits of plants, animals, humans, angels and God can love, then choose to do right actions. And only human or demonic spirits can hate and will to do wrong or evil.
Only spirits are able to love or hate. Physical things cannot either love or hate, not at all. And only spirits are able to want to either live or die, even in specific ways. Physical things cannot desire to live or die, but merely exist or cease to exist, based on external effects of other physical things or by the wills of spirits. For instance, a computer is just a material thing crafted by human hands, then programmed according to the wills of the spirits in its human programmers. It has no love nor hate, no moral outlook, and no will to live or die. A machine, like a computer or robot, only does what it is programmed to do. If someone programs that computer to “kill” itself, the computer will do so without hesitation, without any spiritual resistance at all, without any emotions in its circuitry, because it has no spirit, thus, no emotions of its “flesh” that respond to any spirit inside it. Yes, with massive amounts of programming, it can emulate emotions of the flesh. With programmed artificial spiritual/moral values set by programmers, a computer’s artificial intelligence (AI) can be made to outwardly appear to be like a living entity with a spirit. It can behave as though it had a “soul.” Yet all those spiritual/moral values are merely electric impulses passing through circuits in ways that its creators caused them to flow. And the computer possesses no real love nor hate, no real will to live or die, nothing to define it as a spiritual being. It is amoral, without morals, just a lawless material entity which is emulating the spirit of a computer programmer. In fact, a computer with AI is much like a psychopath, whose outer conscience, in his brain of flesh, is trained to act in ways that people expect him to behave, while the inner conscience of his spirit is utterly incapable of loving anyone.
Every human brain is an amoral, lawless material thing, much like a computer with AI. Then every human brain of flesh is ultimately managed by the mind of a spirit, by the mind of either an elect or a Page 1225
non-elect spirit. The human spirit causes its brain and body of flesh to express its spiritual will, and a spirit’s will is either good or evil. All the expressions of love or hate from a body can only originate from a spirit. Then every living creature has an interface called a “soul,” which allows a spirit’s mind to command or reason with its brain of flesh, and allows the brain of flesh to respond to the spirit.
Information and data flow both ways through the soul, between both minds. This enables a spirit to program its brain of flesh. Yet external influences also program the brain of flesh, such as physical experiences and words of other people. Then we must realize that God created the spirits of angels, plants and animals to be fully mature and set in their ways, even forever. But God created all human spirits to be ignorant and infantile. Thus, external experiences and entities do most of the wiring or programming of a brain of flesh during its first years of life. But, later, as God’s Spirit teaches and trains His elect children, their spirits gradually mature and can program their own brains of flesh.
Once God wakes and educates an elect spirit, it can properly manage its own mind and body of flesh.
Of course, God’s Spirit, who designed and created the flesh, who initially “programmed” many of the potential qualities, weaknesses and aptitudes in a brain of flesh, causing it to automatically do all that is necessary for its own survival, such as keep its heart beating, keep its lungs breathing, digest food and drink, and so on. And God also designed and created each spirit. Yet God also gave the human spirit an ability to further “program” its own brain of flesh, then direct and manage that brain, to cause one’s flesh to do either moral or immoral works, as an expression of the spirit’s love or hate.
In fact—although a mind of flesh is heavily influenced by spiritual teachings from others, such as parents, churches, teachers and so on—nothing but the person’s own spirit can enter one’s own soul and cause one’s own mind of flesh to choose good or evil, life or death. A brain of flesh actually has no power to do that for itself. In youth, the spirits of others can train a mind of flesh to accept or reject certain spiritual and moral teachings, which are the principles that form the “outer conscience”
in a brain of flesh. But an outer conscience is like the “AI” of a lifeless computer, a programmed code by which the flesh makes moral decisions. However, one’s own spirit possesses a created and inherent ability to love or hate, including its own love or hate for truths or lies, and its own morality.
Without any inherent will to do either right or wrong, to live or die, the loveless brain of flesh is just a temporary, amoral thing with a “programmed” will, not much better than a computer, although it is far more complex. A brain of flesh may not be able to process some data as fast as a computer, nor remember it as consistently. Nonetheless, a spirit can alter and reprogram even the core operating system of its brain of flesh, without requiring it to be killed and rebooted. And a spirit can apply the brain’s processing to multiple and varied purposes, to a spontaneous functioning of peripheral limbs and organs, in ways that a man-made computer could never do for a human spirit. As a flexible biological machine capable of being extensively managed by a spirit, a brain of flesh is a wondrous asset. A spirit can use vast quantities of information that its physical brain stores from multiple input sources to make judgments according to complex spiritual criteria. So a spirit can express its own spiritual decisions through words and deeds of its flesh. Unless a brain or body of flesh has physical damage, a spirit can even spontaneously communicate its joy or sorrow to others, cause its flesh to laugh or weep. So a brain of flesh is far more powerful than any man-made computer. Yet this also means that a spirit must very carefully manage its flesh, must constantly program and reprogram that powerful brain. Otherwise, a mind of flesh may malfunction, even in a way that kills itself or others.
Therefore, our spirits need to filter out bad spiritual and moral information, so our spirits can provide wise and true spiritual and moral outputs through our brains of flesh, so our spirits can use our brains and bodies of flesh to express just love, even all that is wise, true and beneficial for all. Our spirits need to know and live according to the ways of our loving and wise Creator, the Spirit whom we call Page 1226
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God. And those ways are called “laws.” But only God Himself can teach and train our spirits to know and rightly apply the laws and ways He designed and created according to His own attributes.
So our infantile and ignorant spirits need to seek, hear and trust our God Jesus, so our spirits can be fully taught and trained. God Himself must build up our “inner consciences,” must create the body of knowledge and wisdom in our eternal spirits so we can live by those precepts now, on earth, and forever after in heaven. But, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?” (Rom.
10:14, WEB). This is why, when Jesus came to us in the flesh, He also taught, trained and sent some teaching elders to us, so they could guide us to our God Jesus, to be taught and trained by Him. And, in the passage above (Mat. 19:1-12), Jesus also taught the teaching elders or apostles about His laws regarding marriage and divorce, laws that quicken the hearts of families, which provide for and uphold the structures of all nuclear and extended families, including all churches, cities and nations.
Then they recorded His teachings, and called us to learn the deep meaning of those laws from Him.
The Fulfilled Laws of Marriage and Divorce
At this point in time, Jesus had returned to a region near Judea, next to the place where most of the best Evangelical (Pharisaic) experts in God’s Law were residing. And many of those “shepherds” of Evangelical churches were fakes who wanted to murder Jesus. But large crowds of Jews, some of whom were previously associated with the Evangelicals, place much faith and hope in Jesus. And those crowds were far too big and far too fond of Jesus to allow the false shepherds to easily deceive them. It had become almost impossible for the Evangelicals to convince enough members of the crowd to betray and murder Jesus. Not only this, but Jesus actually stood on “the other side of the Jordan River” (πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου), likely in Perea, outside the jurisdiction of the Evangelicals’
own Roman governing officials. Thus, if those Evangelicals practised their usual tricks to incite the mobs, they would need to answer to officials whom they did not know and could not easily convince or bribe to look the other way. So the Evangelicals decided to trap Jesus with their own cunning, in a way that might slander the name and reputation of Jesus. Through malicious intent, they asked Jesus a question where, regardless of what He answered, they could oppose Him and make His words seem unbiblical and evil. They were “attempting to entrap Him through questioning and carefully laid out the words: ‘[Tell us] if it is lawful [for] any person to divorce his wife according to any kind of fault.” (Mat. 19:3, from: πειράζοντες αὐτὸν καὶ λέγοντες· Εἰ ἔξεστιν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπολῦσαι τὴν
γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰτίαν, SBLGNT). They cunningly chose this question because their best scholars had been debating about this for many years. Now they had split into two sides, where each side vehemently accused the other of evil intent or blasphemy. Since these Evangelicals were very familiar with accusations from both sides, they could use accusations from either side against Jesus, no matter which side His answer fell on. So they thought Jesus could never escape a trap like this.
But the first thing we should notice is how these Evangelical scholars used the word “person”
(ἄνθρωπος) instead of “husband” (ἀνήρ) in this question, to imply that males were “persons” with rights, but females were not “persons” with rights. It was subtle, but this is actually what they were implying. For they maintained a pagan view of women, and pagan anthropological doctrines. So they would cater to the wants and needs of a man, since he alone was a person in their view and under their legal perspective. In their eyes, a man was the only one to whom God’s laws of marriage and divorce applied, and a man was the only one with rights under their law. They believed that the wants and needs of a woman were totally irrelevant, since women were not persons under their law.
Thus, neither did any of the rights of God’s laws, regarding marriage and divorce, apply to women.
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The only times their law applied to women were in some prohibitions which they interpreted as being beneficial to the men. But, in their eyes, no laws actually gave women any rights as persons.
For those Evangelicals were essentially humanists, just like the Romans, and treated women as their livestock, not as God’s property like themselves, and certainly not as God’s children who were spiritually equal to men. That is, they lied about the meaning of God’s laws. Yet God’s real Law did not even allow the rights, wants and needs of animals to be deemed irrelevant, not in the ways those Evangelicals deemed the rights, wants and needs of women to be irrelevant. God required all His people to take responsibility for the well-being all life, but especially for the lives of both men and women. And some Evangelicals actually spent more time and effort catering to the wants and needs of their animals than they did for the wants and needs of their own wives and children. But, with this Roman humanistic view of women, it meant that all their interpretations of God’s laws were also humanistic, and therefore wrong. So the humanists who took one side and the humanists who took the other side were both incapable of foreseeing how our God Jesus would answer with His correct anthropological doctrines regarding women. Neither side realized that the real answer had not even been considered by any of those humanistic fools. Thus, with God’s truth, Jesus escaped their trap.
God’s real Law deemed women to be equal to a man in every spiritual and legal way. For, from the beginning, God’s Law stated that both men and women were made in His image. Since God is a Spirit, this meant that all human spirits, in both men and women, are always exactly the same kinds of spirits, and completely equal. Of course, God made the bodies and brains of flesh to be different in men and women, then also created a unique body and brain for each individual. After all, a family needs different modes of thinking and different kinds of works to be performed for its survival and well-being. A family requires a general division of labour between men and women, and different kinds of individuals in each sex. Yet none of those differences of the temporary flesh could ever even begin to affect God’s personal relationship or love for the genderless eternal spirits of His children.
Male brains of flesh could shut down in ways which allowed the human spirit a broader and more direct access to either God or Satan. But female brains of flesh could not do that as well, so their spirits received most of their spiritual input from the people within the spheres of their lives, far more than men did. Thus, men could become either far more attuned to either spiritual good or to spiritual evil, and became the prime builders of the moral and spiritual structures in the family. But women remained more easily influenced by their loved ones, and compromised far more regarding spiritual and moral principles, because that kind of compromise was absolutely necessary for all the kind of works women do in a family. Then each male in an extended family was different from the other males, so all the different works of males could be done. And each female in an extended family was different from the other females, so all the different works of females could be provided.
But the wisdom of God in designing these sexual roles and unique differences in male and female works did not lessen nor increase the value of any kind of worker in the family, at least not in the just and wise eyes of God. Because only one kind of man was needed for one kind of necessary work, while many men were needed for another kind of necessary work, it did not make either kind of work either more or less valuable and necessary. Nor did it make either kind of worker more valuable to the family or to God. Being a rarer kind of worker did not logically mean that one is a superior person. It only made all the workers different, by God’s will and planning, and allowed for all the necessary works to be done. So, if a skilled soldier was extremely valuable for the safety of the family during wartime, fools may think he alone has earned a superior rank in that family. Then that family, in their totally evil ignorance, may decide that some of their siblings must become slaves to make the soldier’s weapons, sew his garments and cook his meals. And that family may choose to Page 1228
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not allow their enslaved siblings to earn any legal status through their works. However, if the works of those enslaved brothers and sisters could not earn them any rights then, by definition, we would also need to assume that their works must be totally worthless and useless too, of no real value to the soldier. Thus, the “superior” soldier should be able to go to war without weapons, garments or food in the middle of winter, if the works of those slaves are truly so worthless. But, if those works do have a value to the soldier and to the rest of the family, then the workers must be treated as equals.
In reality, there are no works of any kind that can earn superiority or extra legal rights for any kind of worker. And a wise family assigns rights according to what is best for all, where every right and freedom also bears a responsibility to the rest of the family, where each one does what one does best for the good of all. For our wise God and Father provides moral and spiritual structures for His family according His just, equitable, loving principles or laws which promote the good of all the individual members in it. God never grants rights and freedoms according to how much each physically produces for the material wealth and security of His family. Yes, God may grant some members a few more rights and freedoms, but always with the cost of increased responsibilities, and bases His decision on how much their spirits possess a just and loving desire to do those works, not on an artificially determined material value for that work. For it is God who ultimately determines all the good or bad effects of all works, and provides all potential and actual abilities, skills and resources for all workers. All depends on God, not upon any worker. On the other hand, God may limit the rights and freedoms of certain family members who care nothing for the survival and well-being of some or all of the other family members. Yet God never takes away all the rights of those selfish and destructive ones, and never condemns anyone who has failed to produce enough wealth for the family. Rather, God removes rights and privileges from some only because their spirits spoke or acted in selfish and loveless ways. Even then, God still provides the right to receive basic needs and live. For He gives literally all members a right to a fair trial and repentance. And even most who do not repent, except unrepentant murderers who prove that they will continue to kill, are granted the right to be counted as human beings with the rest of humanity. So all rights depend on a spirit’s love, and a spirit’s desire for equitable justice in the family, even for those physically incapable of works.
We all need to consider how God called Himself the Father, Creator and King of all people in all nations. So God made all people in all nations to be one family, His family. Yes, some are non-elect, the children of Satan. But God is the Creator and Father of Satan too, even though God designed that devil and his minions to be loveless, in a way where they would all desire to make a different part of God’s eternal spiritual realm their home, the part called hell, where God’s presence is hidden. So even the non-elect are members of our earthly family too, while we live in this flesh—and God did not grant us any ability to distinguish those with non-elect spirits from those with elect spirits. Both non-elect and elect sinners sometimes require a little more oversight, lest they harm others. But, in God’s family on earth, including all churches and nations, He alone distributes the gifts that each individual will possess, and grants those gifts to each without partiality, to both the elect and non-elect alike. Then elect spirits can use these earthly gifts to build up eternal treasures of love which they will gather into their eternal homes, while the non-elect spirits use God’s gifts to build up a greater damnation which they will drag into their eternal homes. Still, literally all skills and abilities possessed by every individual depend on God’s will and His grace alone. Thus, none can claim any greater rights or status based on how one has freely received and applied those gifts. Then God can also take away any potential or realized gifts, skills and abilities from anyone at any time. God can even remove an individual’s entire life from the earth. For God made this training ground of the earth to be a very dangerous place, with an infinite ways for Him to utterly destroy life or limbs.
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So here we are, stuck on earth together with many different kinds of men and women, but where all are members of God’s human family, the tribe of God—where all men have roles to work for the survival and well-being of this one family, and where all women also have equally important roles in labouring for the survival and well-being of this one family, and where God grants each individual a different sub-set of equally critical works for the survival and well-being of all. Then, by aging, diseases, injuries, birth “defects” and so on, literally everyone becomes less able or totally unable to serve God and their family in certain ways, some even from birth. But God provides skills, abilities and resources to others in His family, so they can make up for the weaknesses of the disabled or less-able. And God commands the strong to care for weak, where some of the spiritually strong are physically weak and vice versa. So, logically, since God did not take away the lives of those He made unable or less-able to do certain kinds of works for His family, but rather commanded others to care for them, God clearly indicated that all disabled or less-able souls remain equally valuable as members of our family, and does not allow us to value anyone in physical terms alone. For not all works, nor all products of works, are physical. Many are spiritual. So the disabled whom God leaves alive, who may have little to no material value or worth, may still do spiritual works, even by merely providing others with spirits to love, and sometimes with spirits who will love them in return, or possibly spirits whom God can use to teach and train the spirits of their siblings. For God seems to have appointed the older and less physically able elders to be the ones who help Him teach, train and judge the others. God even uses the physically disabled or less-able non-elect to teach and train elect spirits in a better discernment between good and evil. And, from the non-elect, the elect might learn to patiently endure, to value spiritual rewards more than carnal rewards, and so on. All these spiritual works are critical for survival and extremely valuable, since they build up love, which then produces just and loving works. All possess eternal value too, thus are far more valuable than physical works.
So, during this event (Mat. 19:1-9), some Evangelicals revealed their shallow, carnal and humanistic perspective of life, with its materialistic way of valuing human beings. In addition, they proved to be so warped that they even thought all laws, even God’s laws, were simply words that God allowed them to manipulate in any ways they pleased, while esteeming themselves as godly, law-abiding men. And here these Evangelicals asked Jesus “if it is lawful [for] any person to divorce his wife according to any kind of fault.” Now, in those days, a Jewish humanist named Hillel taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason, for anything he found not pleasing to his own carnal ego.
If her cooking was not tasty, if her breasts were not large enough, or if anything else displeased him in any way, he could simply take a minute to jot down a little note on a piece paper, declaring that she was no longer his wife, and toss her out the door. He could leave her homeless, to starve on the street, knowing that a divorced woman would not likely be able to find another husband to care for her, and that women in that society were almost never granted an opportunity to earn a living wage.
Of course, I do not believe that this highly revered Evangelical leader, Hillel, ever taught that a man could cast out his sheep, goats, chickens or other livestock in such a cruel way. No, Hillel only said a man could be this ruthless to his human wife. Hillel appeared to believe that a man had a right to be happy, but a women had no such right, and even fewer rights than a man’s animals. Yet this seemed wise to many Evangelicals, since Hillel learned this delusion from highly esteemed secular priests in Satan’s invented religion of Greco-Roman humanism, from the worshippers of Plato and Aristotle.
Naturally, the core intent of all God’s teachings directly opposed all those irrational, selfish, unjust, humanistic doctrines. But that was no problem for these Evangelicals, since their Bible experts could easily force God’s words to conform to any Satanic teachings of humanism, through their tricky distractions and cunning rhetoric. With a few self-gratifying words of emotional schlock, and a Page 1230
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sprinkling of deceptive false reasoning, they could magically transform almost any of God’s words into the doctrines of demonic humanism. And those esteemed fake elders even became so stupid and deluded that they actually believed God would reward them for all the sins they committed through their twisted, Satanic interpretations of the Scriptures, though they totally contradicted God’s real intended meanings of His laws. And, actually, the gods of those Evangelicals did reward them. Since their false teachings created and shaped new gods who were made in their own images, those gods amply heaped praises and tithes upon them. For, as people served, esteemed and gave gifts to those false gods that were made in the images of those preachers, they worshipped those preachers as well.
But God judges men according to His intended meanings of His spiritual laws, by His real loving justice revealed through His human servants, the prophets and apostles, who wrote them down in human languages. So it is our duty to do the work of research, to find a full understanding of God’s intended meanings. And, to do this, we must not only know the human languages used to write down those words, but also consider both the local and global contexts of those words, as well as with the historical and situational contexts. Then, to fully comprehend how any law applies to our lives, our spirits need to pray for God’s Holy Spirit to teach and train our spirits, so the minds of our spirits might receive knowledge and wisdom directly from Him. And, while His Spirit teaches and trains our spirits, God will also point out the biblical and experiential examples of how He Himself applies all His own laws. After all this, we may be able to make right judgments that truly please God. Thus, God, and all His truly appointed teaching elders, never judge anyone according to the words of the law alone. No honest judge ever allows for legal loopholes or false interpretations of any laws, since such practises merely circumvent or nullify laws, based solely upon the manipulations of the words.
So the essence of justice is also that which Jesus fulfills in us and through us for our salvation. This justice and salvation is the upholding of God’s intentions for His Law, in an equitable manner, for the benefit of all within the family of humankind and all His other creations. And God has summed His intentions for His laws with only two laws. So all Ten Commandments, as well as all the 613
laws represented by those ten, are to fulfill these two principles: (1) each individual will love God, and (2) each will love whomever God causes to enter the sphere one’s own life and influence. Now, since the principal attribute of God is His just, equitable and responsible love for all the spirits He created, we are forced to conclude that the only kind of justice God desires will be the kind which works through love from our spirits. Therefore, to love God is to please Him by justly, equitably and responsibly loving the spirits in His creation, just as He loves them. And this love for God includes a love for the spirits of animals and plants, but especially a God-like love for the other human spirits created in His image. Furthermore, this love can only be built on trust, and that trust can only exist if we commit to upholding the real truth, by honestly and diligently seeking it and guarding its purity.
Thus, the second summary law of God, to love one’s “neighbour” (referring to whomever one’s own life might touch), is much like His first summary law, since loving God necessarily requires us to love our “neighbours.” If we fulfill the command to love God, we also fulfill the command to justly and responsibly love the others whom God allows our lives to touch. The only difference is that the first summary law, to love God, requires us to truly and actually know God, to acquire a personal and experiential knowledge of our real God, in the minds of our spirits, in a way which overflows into the minds of our flesh. But the second summary law, to love our neighbours, requires us to truly and actually know our neighbours, to see and empathize with all whom God gathers into the spheres of our lives. To love the nearby souls in our lives, God’s Spirit must teach the minds of our human spirits about the meaning of life in general, and how each individual in our lives is either gaining that kind of meaning or neglecting it. And, all the moral and spiritual knowledge and wisdom that God’s Page 1231
Spirit teaches to our spirits is never fully grasped by the minds of our flesh. Rather, those spiritual laws and concepts are usually resisted by our minds of flesh, often through the “outer consciences”
formed in our flesh by the teachings of sinners. So every elect spirit must take care to hear the Spirit of God as one’s first and foremost priority, letting Him form the “inner consciences” of our spirits, as He teaches and trains our spirits to love our “neighbours” in a just, responsible way. And we must not allow our minds of flesh to usurp God’s authority over us. Jesus’ Holy Spirit is more than able to adequately teach each elect spirit to fulfill His Law for one’s own salvation, where one’s spirit will truly love the Teacher of one’s spirit, and also love one’s neighbour in godly ways that express the true intent of all God’s laws, even if one’s flesh has no comprehensive access to God’s written Word.
So now let us look at how those Evangelicals maligned God’s own interpretation of His Law in such cruel and lawless ways, by choosing to walk according to the “outer consciences” which they themselves created in their own brains of flesh. Those human-worshipping Evangelical legal experts declared that God allowed a man to divorce his wife for any reason, as though his wife was his own property, as though she was a head of livestock owned by him. So their hypocritical words might have stated that God owns all human beings, but their wicked spirits did not actually believe that a woman was God’s property, and His alone. Those humanists inwardly believed that they were gods, like the Creator God, and could own property in the way that only God can own property, that is, with the right to do whatever they pleased with that property. Their arrogant and evil spirits did not believe what their spoken words stated, that God alone owns all and that humans are mere stewards assigned to care for God’s property, and only in ways that pleased that Owner, only in the ways that God Himself willed for them to care for that property. Those fake Evangelicals did not believe God and did not trust in His truths, which He had indirectly revealed to all humans through His creations and which He had revealed more directly through the Scriptures, which He graciously gave to Israel.
Many of those humanistic Evangelicals thought their wives were properties of less value than their most prized animal livestock (which no man can actually outright own either). So they cited this Scripture: “When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favour in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house. When she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. If the latter husband hates her, and write her a bill of divorce, and puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled [or “she has become unclean” through his act of divorcing her, and he has made himself unable to remarry her]; for that is abomination before Yahweh. You shall not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance” (Deut. 24:1-4, WEB). But God’s intended meaning of this divorce law never taught the kind of injustice that the esteemed Evangelical Hillel claimed that God taught!
In reality, we must realize that God knew there would be both non-elect and negligent elect souls in the land of Israel, and that many deluded souls would claim to belong to His priesthood of Israel, the church. Then these inwardly lawless ones would often marry His loving and more awakened elect children, would take spouses who actually possessed some of God’s Law in their hearts, spouses whom God actually did gather into His true priesthood. Thus, the incompatible spirits of the spouses would not be able to truly bind together through a covenant made by both of their spirits, where their spirits both chose to live their earthly lives as one flesh, united in purpose regarding everything their spirits expressed through their two bodies. And, if both did not make this covenant, then the spirits of the incompatible spouses would oppose one another at critical times. One spouse’s spirit would look to God while the other looked away from God. The spirit of one spouse may love God’s Holy Spirit Page 1232
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as his or her most cherished Father and Brother, while the other’s spirit may either hate the real God, or simply disregard God as a totally irrelevant and worthless Spirit (which is another form of hatred).
So our God Jesus asked those Evangelicals: “Did you people not read that, from the beginning, the Creator made them male and female, then said, ‘For this cause, a person will leave behind the father and the mother and [the man] will be closely joined to his wife, so the two will be one regarding the flesh? Just so, they are no longer two, but rather one flesh. Therefore, what God joined together, a person must never pull apart” (Mat. 19:4-6, from: Οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε ὅτι ὁ κτίσας ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἄρσεν καὶ
θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτοὺς καὶ εἶπεν· Ἕνεκα τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα
καὶ κολληθήσεται τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν; ὥστε οὐκέτι εἰσὶν δύο ἀλλὰ
σὰρξ μία. ὃ οὖν ὁ θεὸς συνέζευξεν ἄνθρωπος μὴ χωριζέτω, SBLGNT). Now first notice how Jesus stated that God Himself was the Agent and Authority who “joined together” a man and a woman in a marriage. So a church or some other kind of organization, like a government, or any other kind of authority in any corporate body, cannot be the agent or authority who binds two people in marriage.
Of course, anyone is allowed to have a ceremony to publicly or officially recognize that marriage.
In God’s Law, a ceremony was never necessary for a biblical marriage, for a true marriage to occur in the eyes of God. And, according to Jesus, and everything else written in God’s Word, no church, nor any other possible kind of human organization, can possibly authorize a marriage. Throughout God’s Word, in all its direct teachings and examples, we find that no marriage can be a real marriage unless God Himself has actually joined the two spouses together. Likewise, even if no human church or secular authority on earth is willing to recognize that a couple is married, but God Himself has indeed joined the two through a covenant that He caused both of their spirits to make with the other, then that remains a valid marriage. For, if God has married them, then all must bow to God’s will. If those two truly love one another, let no human individual or authority dare to tear those two apart.
In Matthew 19:6, our King and God Jesus used a negative with a present (durative) imperative third person singular form of χωρίζω to forbid anyone from even attempting to separate two spouses who love one another through a covenant of their spirits. Thus, if a couple is inwardly married by the covenants of both their spirits, because God caused and ratified that covenant, yet they are living together without having been officially married by any kind of human authority—in exactly the same way that most of God’s servants lived with their wives throughout biblical times—then it is a great sin, in direct opposition to God Himself, for anyone to condemn them or try to separate them.
Remember how, through the prophet Malachi, God said: “‘ Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and t he wife of your covenant . D
id He not
make you one , although He had the residue
[or remainder] of the [human] spirit? [That is, God joined their flesh so they would share one general purpose during this earthly life, although God remained the Lord and Owner of each spouse’s individual spirit, then personally taught and trained each one’s spirit.] Why one? He sought a godly seed [i.e., children, although He made some couples childless, so they could have many spiritual children through their works together as one flesh]. Therefore
take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce,’ says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘and him who covers his garment with violence!’ says Yahweh of Armies. ‘Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don’t deal treacherously’” (Mal.
2:14-16, WEB). So here we see how Yahweh, our Creator who is a Spirit, joins a man and a woman in a true marriage that makes them both into “one flesh.” Therefore, it is always God, never any human authority, who commands that one of the two spouses “will leave his [or her] father and his
[or her] mother, and [he] will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh” (Gen. 2:24, WEB).
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Then God proclaimed that He is the “witness” between each man and his wife. Therefore, since God is the highest authority in all existence, no human being, nor group of human beings, will ever need to be witnesses between a man and his wife. And God also declared, several times in His Word, that a wife is a man’s “companion.” In fact, if a man took a slave to his bed, God said she had become his wife (and she should change her clothes as a sign that she took his people and his God to be her own people and her own God). Thus, God’s Law commanded that he could never sell her, for she was no longer a slave. Since he took her as his wife, he had to grant her all the rights and benefits of a wife (Deut. 21:10-14). Therefore, this law clearly implies that a wife cannot be a man’s property, cannot ever be his slave. For, if she is joined as “one flesh” with him, then she bears exactly the same rights as that man’s flesh also possesses. A wife is an equal companion of a husband, and all men are equal.
Then God also told the man that a woman became his wife through “your covenant,” that is, by a
“covenant” personally made by the man himself (with the assumption that the spirit of the wife also made the same covenant of love with her husband). Now, since God is a Spirit, and God must also be the “witness” of this marriage covenant, we are forced to logically conclude that a man’s spirit was to make this covenant. For a covenant made solely through the mind of flesh is totally worthless in the eyes of God, and God never ratifies carnal covenants as a “witness.” Then God confirmed that it is a man’s spirit which must make this marriage covenant because, when God warned the man not to
“deal treacherously against the wife of his youth,” God, at the same time, warned him to “take heed to your spirit.” Consequently, God was defining treachery, a betrayal of his wife’s trust, as a sin committed by a husband’s spirit through divorce, since it broke the promises of a covenant that his spirit made with her, and disregarded the covenant of love made by his wife’s spirit, though both covenants were ratified by God. Likewise, the same applies to the wife. Her spirit must make the same kind of covenant with her husband, and God’s Spirit must “witness” her inner commitment.
Then her spirit must “take heed” that she does not deal treacherously with him, and betray his trust.
So every marriage requires (1) the husband’s spirit to make a covenant of faithfulness and love to his wife, and (2) the wife’s spirit to make a covenant of faithfulness and love to her husband. Both must commit to sharing the same general physical life together as a couple, in service of God’s creations.
And this covenant includes caring for the next generation in any kind of family that develops out of their union, for their own biological children or other children joined to them from their extended family of mankind. If both spirits make a marriage covenant with one another, God will not only see it, but will have been the one who predestined and caused that union. Thus, God will testify to it with His spiritual blessings. That is, He will grant the spirits of both spouses the greatest treasures of love.
And God will testify as an honest and irrefutable witness of that marriage, even if no human being on earth will also recognize that marriage. On the other hand, if only one spouse’s spirit trusts and gives itself over to the love of the other, but the other spouse’s spirit does not or cannot make such a covenant, then that marriage is not complete. It is not a real marriage and God cannot acknowledge or bless it, cannot honestly ratify it, though He will bless the spirit who truly loved the other. So a marriage consisting of only one spouse’s covenant, but not completed with the other spouse’s true covenant, will either be completed later, or break apart as soon as any real trials test it. Likewise, if the spirits of both spouses are not willing nor able to commit to a loving marriage covenant, but human authorities officially marry them—perhaps due to emotions of their flesh, or as some kind of business arrangement, or by coercion, or for some other reason—then that will not be a real marriage witnessed by God. Even if governments, churches and all mankind declare it to be a legitimate marriage, it is not legitimate. God will not testify to it nor bless it. So that couple is living in sin.
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Due to a lack of love covenants or an incompatibility of the spirits in the hearts of the two spouses, neither spouse is able to become one flesh with the other. And, without a real marriage covenant made by both spirits, one or both spouses will usually cause the incomplete marriage to break apart or die in time, although I have seen two immature elect spirits grow more mature and form a true marriage. Yes, the spirit of an awakened elect spouse—even if one is extremely immature, untaught, untrained and only partially awake—is usually able to form a true marriage covenant with the other spouse. Since spirits are far more stable in their thoughts and commitments than the flesh can ever be, a loving elect spirit will often be able to fulfill an inner promises of faithfulness and form a true marriage covenant. Then one’s body of flesh will be able to spend one’s lifetime with the body of the other spouse. That spirit may entirely join one’s flesh to the other flesh, to serve the same purposes in life, together with the other spouse, as long as those purposes remain within the sphere of God’s will. Yet, if the spirit of the other spouse hates or ignores God, the two will never be able to grow into a completed marriage. If the other spouse possesses a non-elect spirit, that one will never be able to faithfully love anyone. Or, even if the other spouse has a rebelling elect spirit, it bears only the potential to complete a marriage covenant, but cannot, until that spirit begins to wake up. So the marriage is not valid in God’s eyes, not until the spirits of both make that marriage covenant of love.
God can only be an honest witness of a marriage if the spirits of both spouses make a covenant with one another. If only one of the two spouses makes a true marriage covenant from the spirit, but the other spouse does not, and that other spouse later offends the one who made a true covenant, through some kind of sin, the effects on the spouse who made the true marriage covenant can be devastating.
For the sin of the spouse whose spirit did not make a true covenant will violently rip out all the intent and motives of the spirit who made a true covenant. A sin can severely wound the faithful spouse’s spirit. It cuts deeply into the heavenly, eternal, spiritual “skin” and “muscles” of the faithful spouse’s spirit. And, because the spirit is the manager of one’s brain and body of flesh, a severely injured spirit can adversely affect every other aspect of the injured spouse’s earthly life too. It can cause a complete breakdown, which only God can heal, usually through His awakened loving elect servants.
However, since all human spirits are infantile idiots, not all sins break the marriage covenant. All sins will harm the other spouse’s spirit, either directly or indirectly. But only some sins can actually and fully cut through the bonds of faithful love, permanently. Some sins completely destroy the trust that one spouse’s spirit has placed upon the other spouse’s spirit. Some sins can break the cord which the other spouse’s spirit tied to the ring of the marriage covenant, and also break the cord which God Himself has tied to that same ring. And, if the cords of all three—the cords of the husband, the wife and God—do not remain firmly knotted to that one ring together, then God Himself will break that ring and drop it into the smelter’s fire. The marriage will no longer exist. Due to the hard heart of one of the spouses, due to an unfaithful and loveless act of the spouse who broke the covenant through sin, God Himself will declare that the couple is divorced, even at the very moment the sin occurs. Whether or not officials from churches or governments will recognized the divorce, it has indeed occurred and is complete. God’s Law required human authorities to recognize whenever He had proclaimed a divorce, and provide a certificate of divorce. However, if those authorities do not, the couple remains divorced regardless, and both spouses must find another spouse. Or, if one is too broken, one may need to remain unmarried until one’s healing is whole. Or God may choose to grant a divorced spouse the gift of celibacy, as He did with Paul, His apostle. However, as I said, not all sins of foolish, infantile spirits will break a marriage covenant. So exactly what sins will break it?
Because a marriage covenant is made between three spirits—by the husband’s spirit, by the wife’s spirit and by the witnessing ratification of God, who is a Spirit Himself—we are forced to conclude Page 1235
that the only sin which can break a marriage covenant must be through the wilful intent and loveless motives of the spirit belonging to one of the two spouses, or perhaps an intentional sin of both their spirits. And remember, only humans sin, but God’s loving Spirit always remains totally faithful and unwavering. So God never breaks a marriage covenant which His immutable will caused to exist.
God can never be blamed for a divorce. Only the sins of one or both spouses can cause a divorce.
Then a sin causing divorce must tragically and severely wound a faithful spouse, as an innocent victim. So that innocent victim will need God and His church to help him or her to heal, so he or she might become whole, healthy and able to marry again, if God is willing. And God most often does want that victim a divorce to remarry because, if that victim got married in the first place, it was very unlikely that God had given that one the gift of celibacy. God created the vast majority of divorced spouses to live married lives. In fact, God usually even desires that the sinning spouse, who caused the divorce, should repent into the truth, learn how to make a true marriage covenant, and remarry.
But exactly what is this kind of intentional sin that causes divorce? God’s Law only permitted a man to divorce his wife if his spirit’s trust was severed “because he has found some unseemly thing in her” (Deut. 24:1, WEB). And, likewise, since this pronoun (“he”) seems to be gender indefinite in this context, the same would apply to a woman who found some “unseemly thing” in the heart of her husband. For God allowed prudent and wise elders, those who were truly sent by Him, to let a woman divorce her husband for the same reason—if she was not simply angry with him in her mind of flesh, if her very spirit did actually and completely loose trust in her husband. So what is this
“unseemly thing” ( ervaw in Hebrew), which God allows to be a valid reason for divorce? Well, this word literally means “nakedness.” But it refers to the revealing of one’s true self, where that true self has no inner conscience, no concept of right or wrong written by God upon the mind of one’s spirit, no just love to guide one’s spirit into the ways that are pleasing to God, and therefore no real ability to make or maintain a true marriage covenant. It refers to a disgraceful, unclean, diseased, sinful, blemished, unsightly spirit. It is not merely an immature and stupid spirit, but a filthy spirit which intentionally sins and refuses to repent into the truth. It is not referring to a physical blemish or fault.
For literally all God’s laws are spiritual or moral—that is, all His laws pertain to the wills of spirits worked through love or hate. This “unseemly thing” must actually be an entirely evil state of a spirit.
Then Jesus, with reference to this same law of God (Deut. 24:1-4), declared that any spouse who might divorce the other spouse, but the cause of that divorce is “not because of immorality” (μὴ ἐπὶ
πορνείᾳ, Mat. 19:9), then that divorce is not just, not a valid divorce, according to God’s Law. Any divorce lacking a just cause is a sin in God’s eyes. Therefore, just as God is the authoritative witness in every genuine marriage, God is the authoritative witness in every valid divorce. If God does not testify that a divorce is valid, it is not valid. So we need to know precisely what this word (πορνεία) means in this context. Most translate πορνεία as “sexual immorality.” And this is most often the kind of sin which breaks a marriage covenant, because a spouse with a filthy spirit usually thinks only in terms of the gratification of one’s own flesh, especially one’s sexual desires. The filthy spirit almost never loves a spouse enough to place one’s focus solely on the invaluable spiritual treasures of life, such as his or her relationship with one’s spouse. Yet, in this context, πορνεία means so much more.
If we remember that Jesus, our God, interpreted all God’s laws as spiritual laws, where the intent and motive of a spirit was always considered in determining the degree of guilt or innocence, then we must realize that πορνεία here referred to the same “unseemly thing” that our God Jesus spoke about in Deuteronomy 24:1, that is, to a wilful sin of a filthy spirit, done with selfish and wicked intentions and motives. And remember, Scriptures also used πορνεία with reference to “immorality of a transcendent nature,” where “the relationship between God and His people was regarded as a Page 1236
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marriage bond” (BDAG3), and where a people claiming to be God’s church, while practising sin and injustice, without ever seeking to fulfill any of God’s laws in Christ, was a church that committed πορνεία (e.g., Rev. 2:21; 14:8; 17:2,4; 18:3; 19:2). That is, those churches had filthy spirits which were incapable of making and maintaining a marriage covenant with God, so He divorced them.
Thus, in these words of Jesus, when He proclaimed that πορνεία was the only valid reason for divorce, Jesus did not refer strictly to physical “sexual immorality.” In the eyes of Jesus and His apostles, and even in the eyes of many Old Covenant teaching elders, πορνεία involved a host of sins, including: idolatry, the abandonment of a spouse solely for selfish and carnal reasons, the ruthless abuse of a spouse or children, any kind of behaviour that intentionally dehumanized or belittled a spouse or the children, any threat which caused a spouse or the children to flee in fear, and many other sins which exposed the spirit of a spouse to be loveless, unjust and filthy. As for sexual immorality, that also could be called πορνεία, yet it was not always a legitimate reason for divorce, at least not in the way we define “sexual immorality.” For instance, God might not allow a heart to divorce a spouse who became drunk and was seduced, because there was very little intent or motive from that spouse’s spirit, merely stupidity—which needs to be urgently addressed and fixed, but does not actually reveal a filthy spirit which commits πορνεία. To be a reason for divorce, a selfish and filthy spirit must intentionally commit the act of sexual immorality. The spouse’s filthy spirit must focus on gratifying the sexual urges of one’s flesh without any concern for the other spouse, where that filthy spirit actually condones the sin as an acceptable gift to itself. So πορνεία is self-centred and loveless. It does not take responsibility for one’s spouse, nor for the person one exploited for sexual pleasure. God only ends a marriage and declares a divorce through filthy inner intentions and motives, not through strictly physical actions of the weak flesh. However, if God declares a divorce, let no entity stand in the way of that divorce. Thus, every legitimate teaching elder who is truly appointed and sent by God will affirm every divorce which our God Himself has justly declared.
Let me also point out that the act of divorcing, if it is for a truly legitimate cause, is not a sin. Thus, divorce must never be stigmatized. Now some arrogant souls declare that every divorce is a sin and that every divorced person is tainted with that sin, and therefore cannot remarry. However, those liars are opposing God’s Law, which Jesus came to fulfill, and are therefore making themselves into the enemies of God Himself. And they also slander God. For, if divorce is a sin, then God is a sinner, because God made the laws which allow for divorce. And Jesus confirmed that there were legitimate reasons for divorce. Therefore, God Himself became responsible for divorces. So, if all divorces are sins, then God is a sinner. But it is impossible for God to sin. Thus, divorcing for a legitimate reason is not a sin, and God is sinless. Likewise, there can be no such thing as a defiled, unclean or tainted person who has legitimately divorced a former spouse according to God’s will. And, in the same way that a victim of sin like theft or violence should never be punished or stigmatized for those sins of the sinner, but rather helped and healed, the victim of a divorce also should be helped and healed.
If a divorced person did not cause the divorce, that one remains just as undefiled, clean and pure as one was when one was a virgin. In fact, even if the one who caused the divorce has since repented into the truth, and that one’s spirit has born fruits of repentance, then even that sinner must not be stigmatized any further. For God forgives repentant sinners, restores His relationship with them, and does not require them to pay any further penalty for their sins. God sees their willing and ongoing fruits of repentance from the love of their spirits, how they now try to restore as much as they are able to those whom they sinned against. Therefore, since God is our ultimate example in all matters of life and faith, we must do the same. Any church that stigmatizes divorce commits πορνεία, and will be divorced by God, as a false church committing spiritual adultery with the devil’s world order.
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Now let me also repeat that God called Himself a Divorcee, and God Himself wrote a certificate of divorce. Therefore, since it is literally impossible for the omnipotent, omniscient, immutable God to ever willingly commit even the least of sins, and He can never sin through coercion, trickery or a change of His personality, we are forced to logically conclude that God’s act of divorcing His bride was not a sin. Because God is only capable of working loving justice according to His inherent nature, God’s act of divorcing His bride was a loving and just action. And let no one say that God did not actually commit the act of divorcing His wife, since God clearly declared that He divorced His bride, in no uncertain terms. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God proclaimed, “I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, didn’t fear; but she also went and played the prostitute. Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood. Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but only in pretense.... Return, backsliding children ... for I am a Husband to you” (Jer. 3:8-10,14 WEB). So, just because God figuratively likened His separation and rejection of Israel to a divorce, one cannot deny that God here claimed that He did divorce Israel. And God would never claim to commit a sin, neither actually nor figuratively. Therefore, since God did claim to divorce His bride, divorce is not a sin. But this was a real, legitimate and spiritual divorce, the kind which Jesus allowed when a spouse committed πορνεία. Due to Israel’s πορνεία of idolatry, which is spiritual prostitution, God gave her a bill of divorce. Then the remnant in Judah committed idolatry too, “with stones and wood,” and risked being divorced. And, once divorced, the wife could not return to her first Husband, but had to go to a new Husband (the Messiah of the New Covenant).
So now we see how God Himself applied His own written law in Deuteronomy 24:1-4, and how the fourth verse of that law actually contained an implied prophecy about the New Covenant marriage of the Messiah with His priesthood of Israel, His church. In the New Covenant of marriage with His church, His people would truly know their Husband, Jesus, because His Holy Spirit would dwell together with their spirits inside the house of their hearts. Then their wise and loving Husband would provide all the structure required for a joyful, fulfilling and loving life, for each individual’s inner household. And, when Jesus chooses to wed any individual in this way, He will never forsake her and divorce her. Nor will He ever die. So she will never need to go back to the Old Covenant marriage relationship. And God will “not take her again to be His wife” in the Old Covenant marriage, for “after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Yahweh” (Deut. 24:4, WEB). If Jesus binds any individual in His New Covenant relationship, so He may build a wisely structured life of God’s truly fulfilled Law in one’s heart, it would be a great sin to return to the unfulfilled and shadowy ways of the Old Covenant relationship. That is what Deuteronomy 24:4 was talking about.
Now also notice that God’s Law stated that a divorced woman “may go and be another man’s wife”
(Deut. 24:2, WEB). Therefore, since Jesus came to fulfill all God’s laws, and did not nullify even one minor spelling in any law, it is a great sin against our Creator God, against Jesus, to say that a divorced woman or a widowed woman cannot marry again. And a man could technically marry two or more women—although polygamy was a merciful concession of God for times after great wars, when men were scarce, and it was never a wise, loving practise for normal times, but was always a foolish practise causing much trouble. Still, this clearly meant that a divorced man could also marry again after a divorce. And, in ancient societies, a woman was almost forced to marry again, because the wages for a woman’s work were not enough to provide shelter, food, clothing and the essentials for even a modest life. Also, a woman was not allowed to do a man’s work, even if she was strong enough to labour in the same brutal ways that most men did in those days. So, if a woman somehow Page 1238
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could procure a labouring man’s job, her bones and muscles were not as strong as a man’s, and she would soon develop irreversible damage to various parts of her body, leaving her worse off than she was to begin with. Thus, unjustly divorcing a wife, without providing for her needs, especially if the husband sent her underage children with her, was definitely a vile, cruel sin against God’s kingdom.
So, due to a hardness of the heart, that is, due to the ignorance and lack of wise, God-like love taught to a spirit in a heart, a vain and self-absorbed husband might lust after another woman and abandon the wife of his youth. Or a disrespected husband might seek comfort in another woman who would respect him. Or, due to the same kind of hard heart, a vain wife might seek attention and self-esteem from a man who was not her husband. Or an ignored woman might look for structure and meaning in her life from another man. Regardless of whether it was the man’s fault or the woman’s fault or the fault of both, a legitimate divorce could occur. The divorce may involve a sin, and could be due to the sins of both the man and the woman, although one was usually more culpable than the other. So, as with any sin, there was a need for spiritual growth in one or both, with repentance into the truth.
But there was never a need for ostracization and punishment, not unless it was for an unrepented sin committed through evil motives and intentions, and only until the sinner repented. There can never be a need to “set an example” of punishment for being divorced, because being divorced, especially the act of divorcing for a legitimate cause, is not a sin. Divorce breaks no law of God. Nor should any land or church make divorce illegal or ostracized. Since God owns all lands, Christ’s fulfilled Law, which declares that divorce is not a sin, is the foundation of all laws in all lands and churches.
Nevertheless, there are unjust motives and wicked intentions behind many of the sins and crimes which break a marriage and legitimately cause a divorce. And those sins and crimes often must be judged by churches and governments, since they definitely will be judged by God. Yet, as with any sin, the procedure for this judgment must be just, must be done according to the ways Jesus taught us (e.g., Mat. 18:15-20), beginning with the private teaching and counsel of the sinner by an elder, with the hope of leading the sinner to repentance. But not all sinners and criminals will repent. Thus, if a spouse sinned and will not repent into the truth to save the marriage, or if that one’s sin has already permanently broken the marriage covenant, a divorce may be necessary. Then there might be one spouse who is the victim of that sin. Therefore, the church and/or government may need to provide for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of that victim of the sin causing the divorce. Also, if possible, the elders who judge the sinner may need to make the unrepentant sinner pay a fair and equitable penalty for his or her sin or crime. And the elders must oversee those payments, since an unrepentant sinner is not likely to willingly bear any of the necessary costs of caring for the victim.
But what is a judge supposed to do regarding the divorce itself? Yes, judges must provide a just trial if a sin was committed, and at no cost to the accused. But that trial is about the sin which caused the divorce, not about the act of divorcing. There is no trial needed to get a divorce, because a divorce is not a sin or a crime. Divorcing a spouse requires no judgments by any elders or judges of any kind.
And all that God’s Law required from human beings when spouses divorced was the husband’s written word stating that he had divorced his wife, so she would be free to marry again without being accused of committing adultery, since a woman was only allowed to have one husband. Conversely, in our society, where men are only allowed to have one wife, this also means that a wife must give her husband a written statement declaring that she divorced him, so he can marry again. Therefore, if both spouses can read and write, there is no need for anyone else to be involved in a divorce, except possibly as witnesses and notaries public in circumstances where a spouse is not trusted to admit to the divorce. Also, a judge or arbitrator may need to be freely provided if there are disputes over the Page 1239
custody of the children, or about who will get properties jointly held in stewardship by the couple.
But, other than that, rich or poor couples never need any kind of authority to simply get divorced.
However, keep in mind that only God can judge when a marriage covenant is broken, or was never completed by the spirits of both spouses in the presence of His Spirit. So, if one unjustly divorces a spouse, and breaks the heart of that other spouse, or causes that other spouse to suffer because of the hardness of one’s own heart, there will be hell to pay on the judgment day, and also penalties that earthly judges can require that unjustly divorcing spouse to pay as well. For Jesus said: “I reason with you people that whoever might have divorced his wife, [and it is] not because of immorality, then might have married another, he is committing adultery, and the effect of the [wife] having been divorced, after [her] marrying, is [him] committing adultery” (Mat. 19:9, from: λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ὅτι ὃς
ἂν ἀπολύσῃ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ μὴ ἐπὶ πορνείᾳ καὶ γαμήσῃ ἄλλην μοιχᾶται καὶ ὁ ἀπολελυμένην
γαμήσας μοιχᾶται, SBLGNT). Notice how Jesus used the perfect passive participle form of ἀπολύω
here, which emphasizes the result or effect of “having been divorced” in the past. So here Jesus was saying that He will judge the man who unjustly divorced his first wife so he could marry another, as one who committed adultery with that new wife. Then Jesus would also judge him to be an adulterer a second time, for causing his former wife to marry again, though she was not legitimately divorced.
Of course, the divorced woman could not possibly be accused of adultery when she married again, since God’s Law allowed this, and God never contradicts His Law. Nor could her second husband ever be accused of adultery for marrying a woman in need, one with a legitimate divorce certificate.
God would recognize her second marriage as legitimate, if both of their spirits made a true marriage covenant with one another. God would never condemn a divorced and remarried first wife or her new husband in any way, especially since women were compelled to marry again for their own physical, spiritual and mental well-being, and could not survive otherwise. God will only hold her first husband, who unjustly divorced her, who literally forced her to marry another man, guilty for her unintentional and totally forgiven act of being forced to marry her second husband, though she was not legitimately divorced in the eyes of God. Because God Himself did not recognize that man’s reason for divorcing his first wife as legitimate, God would still consider that man to be married to his first wife. So God would not only judge that unjustly divorced man to be guilty for his sin of unjustly divorcing his first wife, but also hold that man guilty for causing his first wife’s remarriage and unintentional adultery. For that unjustly divorced man literally forced his first wife to marry someone else. And, in God’s Law, it is the one who coerces someone to commit a sin who is guilty of that sin, not the victim who was coerced into committing the sin. Only that unjustly divorced man was guilty of intentionally committing adultery twice. And the maximum penalty for even one act of loveless, exploitative, intentional adulter is death. So two counts of intentional adultery almost assured a sentence of eternal hell on the last day, unless he repented and bore fruits of repentance.
Then we see a similar teaching in Mark’s Gospel. But Mark says that Jesus taught this later, and privately to His disciples, in a house (Mark 10:10). There Jesus simply declared: “Whoever might have divorced his wife and might have married another is committing adultery upon her [i.e., with the second wife]. And if a wife [i.e., αὐτὴ would refer to any wife], having divorced her husband, might have married another, she is committing adultery” (Mark 10:11-12, from: Ὃς ἂν ἀπολύσῃ τὴν γυναῖκα
αὐτοῦ καὶ γαμήσῃ ἄλλην μοιχᾶται ἐπ’ αὐτήν, καὶ ἐὰν αὐτὴ ἀπολύσασα τὸν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς γαμήσῃ
ἄλλον μοιχᾶται, SBLGNT). First, notice how this affirms that women were also allowed to divorce their husbands through God’s Law. But the same condition applies to either a man or a woman who divorces a spouse, if that divorce is unjust and merely done in order to marry someone else. If a man unjustly divorced his wife to marry another, God would judge him to be one who was committing Page 1240
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adultery with his second wife. Likewise, if a woman might unjustly divorce her husband to marry another man, God would also judge her to be one who was committing adultery. This second clause, forbidding a wife to unjustly divorce her husband, was also added because Mark wrote for a Gentile audience, and Gentile women more frequently divorced their husbands, just as Herodias divorced her powerless husband Philip (or actually Herod II, called Boethus) so she would be able to marry his more powerful brother Antipas (c. AD 9). So here Mark was also declaring that God considered what Herodias did to be the sin of adultery, and that she was not legitimately married to Antipas.
Then Luke also wrote something very similar to Matthew’s version: “Anyone divorcing his wife and marrying some other is committing adultery, and the effect of having previously been abandoned by a husband, [the effect] of marrying, is [him] committing adultery” (Luke 16:18, from: Πᾶς ὁ
ἀπολύων τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ γαμῶν ἑτέραν μοιχεύει, καὶ ὁ ἀπολελυμένην ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς γαμῶν
μοιχεύει, SBLGNT). Here we also see a perfect passive participle, but this time it was a form of the verb ἀπολείπω (“to forsake, abandon”). So Luke was referring the effect or result of the husband having forsaken or abandoned his wife in the past. And he told us that Jesus called this the present tense sin of committing adultery (which grammatically connected it with the husband’s first sin of committing adultery in the present tense). For Luke also would assume that our interpretation of this teaching from Jesus would account for the fact that God’s Law allowed divorced women to remarry, and that Jesus came to fulfill God’s Law, not nullify it. Like Matthew, Luke was telling us that a man who unjustly abandoned and divorced his wife, who caused her to marry again, is guilty of a second act of adultery. For God will hold him accountable for the effects of having abandoned his first wife.
Let me also repeat some of the context for what Jesus here declared. In those days, like today, it was highly frowned upon for a man to take more than one wife, even if he could afford to do so, and even though God’s Law allowed it. Furthermore, the vast majority of men could not afford to feed and provide for all the needs of two wives and their children. Yet stupid and sinful men existed then too, men who were just as selfish as some are today. So, when these men got a little older, they let their lusts and egos pursue a younger woman, one who helped them delude themselves into feeling younger and more virile. So, since they could not have two wives, they abandoned the wife of their youth out on the street, to take in their new wife—all with a little help from Hillel and the esteemed humanistic rabbis who gladly believed his lies. In a man like this, his spirit had no teaching from God’s Spirit, no knowledge or wisdom that would cause his spirit to severely chastise his mind of flesh for even daring to entertain such a thought. And, if such a man even suspected that something was lost, missing or wrong in his relationship with the wife of his youth, he simply would not care.
Such a man would blame all the problems of their marriage on her, and take no responsibility for his duty to right all that might be wrong in his household, to build a free, joyful, just, loving and solidly structured spiritual framework in his home, for his wife and children. Such men do not have long and deep conversations with their wives, nor with God as their Witness and Counsellor. Rather, such men merely exploit their wives as much as they possibly can, then tell them to blindly submit to their so-called “authority,” which is a fake authority, since they take no responsibility for those whom God has commanded them to love and guide into their full potential. All real authority is granted by God, where God also causes those under that authority to respect whatever just and right words or deeds His appointed true authority might accomplish through His just and loving will and power. Thus, as Jesus declared, men like this, when they unjustly divorce their wives, are in double jeopardy of hell.
A non-elect soul, or a carnally minded elect soul, is never able to remain on a true course of life in God. For one’s vessel of flesh always drifts into the sandbars and jutting rocks of sin, because one’s life is not guided by God through the safe passages, where there are deeper and unobstructed waters Page 1241
of truth. If God does not steer one’s vessel, by teaching and training one’s spirit, one’s life eventually becomes a shipwreck, which will be extremely difficult to redeem, or may even sink into death. So let every elect soul avoid a marriage where an inner covenant is not made by the spirits of both spouses in the presence of God’s Spirit. For, if both do not make and maintain their covenants, the marriage will either be non-existent or will be broken, possibly in a way that can severely wound the spirits and cause great losses in life. Also, if a man and woman live together without any true and inner marriage covenant between their spirits, it is a sin that will deaden their spirits. If they have sex together, it is adultery. If one abuses the other, or they constantly fight with one another, then one or both spouses are committing sins of the sixth order, since dehumanizing anger or apathy is the very essence of murder. Even if neither will speak to the other, and both sleep in separate beds, but they remain together without any attempts to repent and reconcile, one or both are being stubborn and foolish, wasting away both their lives. Such spouses need to divorce and build up true life in Jesus.
A marriage can only exist if the spirits of both spouses make a committed promise of trusting, just, faithfulness and love to one another. Then God Himself will surely witness, ratify and bless their love for one another, even if neither elect soul has ever read or heard God’s Word. But all spirits are infantile and stupid. This is why God allows divorces to occur, to fulfill all righteousness, so the lives of His elect children will not be sinful, wasted or destroyed by a union where a true marriage covenant does not exist, either because both spouses did not make one, or one sinned to break it.
Most Should Marry, But Not All
Later, the disciples of Jesus came to Him and made this comment, partly as a joke: “If the fault of the person with the wife is in this way, it is not good to marry” (Mat. 19:10, from: Εἰ οὕτως ἐστὶν ἡ
αἰτία τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μετὰ τῆς γυναικός, οὐ συμφέρει γαμῆσαι, SBLGNT). These men were thinking that the double condemnation of adultery, with its double death penalty, was too much for a husband who simply wanted a younger and hotter wife. But God made them male and female for a reason, and that reason did not have much to do with sexual gratification. In fact, sexual pleasure was a mere brief side benefit for the flesh in a marriage, and never contributed much to the joy, eternal purpose and love in one’s life. God’s greater purpose for the creation of male and female flesh was to divide the labour required to produce, nurture, teach and train each new generation. So sex was motivation to encourage and stimulate these difficult works for children. But God could have easily produced human offspring in any number of different ways, even asexually. So God created sex for a reason that was not simply for the pleasure of the flesh, nor merely to divide the labours of the flesh in caring for a new generation. Clearly, sexual pleasure merely lulled the flesh of the two into a sleep, as one flesh, so their spirits could freely fulfill their marriage covenants of faithfulness before God.
The main reason God created sexual desires in male and female flesh was so each would cease to live as individuals, and seek a trusted companion. Being companions would help both spouses forget superficial, amoral demands of the flesh, and free their spirits, so they could share spiritual labours and rewards of life together. God created Adam and Eve to live in a nuclear family and an extended family, in mutually beneficial groups that grew into tribes, communities and nations. This group behaviour is a little like that of the animals which live in herds, flocks, packs and the like. Yet it was meant to be far more than that. For God created us with voices, to form deeply interconnected, communicating families and societies, extremely complicated networks of cooperating souls who benefit one another through bonded pairs of companions, so that all of humanity might responsibly and lovingly tend the gardens of the entire world, and take responsibility for the welfare of all the other creatures. Humans were never meant to be alone. Humans were created to be the children of Page 1242
Mat. 19:1-12, Marriage and Divorce
God, to serve all life as their Father’s faithful priests in His temporary kingdom of this earth, though He allowed evil to exist. For, in the presence of that evil and His good, He would teach and train the infantile spirits of His elect children here, to prepare them to serve His just, loving eternal kingdom.
Therefore, the minds of flesh in these male disciples may have jokingly wished they were “free” to always pursue the gratification of their sexual desires. But, if they were “free” to do that, each would be enslaved by those sexual desires, constantly labouring for that gratification, with spirits that were chained by delusions and lies, so their oppressed spirits could never grow and thrive. Furthermore, that kind of “freedom,” which took no responsibility for the female half of the population, which dehumanized and exploited that half of the population, would result in families and communities of hell. With the carnal competition between men, to steal God’s “property” of the women, most men would violently attack, enslave or kill one another. So there would be no real freedoms nor rights in such a society. It would become a lawless chaos, where the strongest oppressed as many as he could, and where each strong man would need to imprison himself, in order to keep himself safe from other strongmen coming to plunder whatever that he had stolen from God. But most of these disciples had spirits that were wise enough to see this simple and basic truth. These disciples knew God’s just and loving ways were best. Thus, they actually made this comment humorously, as a carnal kind of joke.
But Jesus did not seem to appreciate their carnal joke. For that kind of joke causes a mind of flesh to focus upon and even respect its own desires, allowing the flesh to totally ignore the thoughts and desires of the spirit, and to shun even the thoughts that God puts in the spirit through His whispered words. So Jesus sobered their carnal thinking with a brilliant comeback: “Not all are making progress in this reasoning, but rather, [progress comes] to those it has been granted with effect. For there are some impotent, the ones having been born as such from a mother’s womb. And there are some celibate having been caused to remain unmarried by the people. And there are some celibate having caused themselves to remain unmarried because of the kingdom of the heavens. The one able to make progress, let that one make progress” (Mat. 19:11-12, from: Οὐ πάντες χωροῦσι τὸν λόγον
τοῦτον ἀλλʼ οἷς δέδοται. εἰσὶν γὰρ εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς ἐγεννήθησαν οὕτως, καὶ εἰσὶν
εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνουχίσθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνούχισαν ἑαυτοὺς