adultery

Adultery - Divorce - Polygamy - Concubines

Adultery is the act of unfaithfulness in marriage that occurs when one of the marriage partners voluntarily engages in sexual activity with a person other than the marriage partner. It is prohibited both in act and in desire in Two of the Ten Commandments of the Decalogue, "You shall not commit adultery", "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife" (Deut.5:18,21, Ex.20). The punishment for adultery is death by stoning for both parties in the Holiness Code of Law, "If a man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death" (Lev.20:10, Ezk.16:40, Jn.8:3). Adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God (1Cor.6:9).

Adultery has its origin within (Mat.15:19), and in the Law of Love of Jesus, adultery is committed even with the mind, and lust is as much a violation of the law's intent as is illicit sexual intercourse, as Jesus says: "You have heard that it was said, "you shall not commit adultery". But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt.5:27-28).

Adulterers can be forgiven, as the adulteress was forgiven by Jesus in Jn.8:3-11, and once sanctified by Confessing the sin with repentance, faith, and God's grace, they are included among God's people (1Cor.6:9-11).

The adultery of King David with Bathsheba is one of the best known in the Bible (1Sam.11). David sinned like any other King, but he wept his sin like no other King did. The Lord punished him severely in 7 ways, starting with the death of the son conceived in adultery, the incest with his other son Ammon with his sister Tamar, the death of Ammon, the fled of his most beloved son, Absalom, his further rebellion, and death… (see 1Sam.11 to 18)… and David repented, and wrote the 7 classical Penitential Psalms: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143.

Divorce:

Divorce is the termination of a marriage in civil law by court decree or judgment.

In the Old Testament a provision was made for divorce among the Israelites in Deut.24:1-4: It requires "a bill of divorce" and to give it to the wife as proof that he was divorcing her. The reason is "because he has found some uncleanness in her".

In the New Testament, there is also an exception: "except in the grounds of unchastity or fornication", or "illicit marriage", or "unless the marriage is unfaithful" say other bibles in Matt.5:32 and 19:9. Jesus, when the scribes cited the permission granted in Deuteronomy 24, pointed out that this was not God's original intent, and divorce was permitted only because of "the hardness of your heart" (Mt.19:3-9,Mk.10:2-12)... Jesus emphasized the fact that "what God has joined together, let no one separate" (Mt.19:6), because God intended marriage to be a permanent monogamy, one man and one woman together for life. When St. Paul was confronted by the Corinthians with the same Deut.24 provision, he answered that "to the married I give this ruling, which is not mine but the Lord's: a wife must not separate herself from her husband (if she does, she must either remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband), and the husband must not divorce his wife" (1Cor.7:10-11).

The greatest pest of our times is not drugs nor alcohol nor AIDS, but marriage problems:
In 1000 marriages, 1 of them would have to suffer AIDS, 50 of drugs, 100 of alcohol, but 500 will suffer with the huge problems of separation, divorce... just within 5 years of marriage... the greatest pest of our times!.

    In the Catholic Church:
    The most common way for a divorced person to be able to marry again in the Church while the former spouse is living is to obtain an "annulment from a Church tribunal". Such an action follows an examination of the union and a declaration that it is not considered to be a marriage in the Church. In some cases the Church sees itself capable of dissolving a marriage by the process called the "Privilege of the Faith".
    Those who have divorced and remarried without Church approval should not, as a general rule, receive Communion. However, a former law that excommunicated people in such circumstances in the USA has been abolished.

Polygamy and Concubines:

The Bible is the real history of men and women, all of then sinners, like you and I!. Many people, including several heroes of the Bible, lived in polygamy and had concubines, against the Law of God.

Abraham has a child with his wife, Isaac, and another child with the servant of his wife, Ishmael (Gn.16, 21). Jacob had 12 children, the heads of the 12 Tribes of Israel, some of them with his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and some of them with the two servants of his wives (Gen.29). The noble and wealthy had a large harem, like King David, and Solomon who tops them all with 700 wives and 300 concubines (1K.11:3, 2S.3:2-7, 5:13, 15:16, 16:21 ). Concubines had also Gideon, Saul, Caleb, Manasseh (Jgs.8:31, 2S.3:12, 1Ch.2:46,48, 1Ch.7:14). King Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines (2Ch.11:21).

This is part of the deterioration of mankind outlined in Gen.4. However, the punishments of God to his People, were not usually due to this deterioration, but for the "prostitution against God", of which we already spoke in "Prostitution in the Bible", the sin you and I most often commit, and the one we usually do not Confess.

How to cast out these demons

The deliverance from these demons follow the same general rules of Deliverance from demons and Divine Healing:

The deliverance can be by a miracle, but that's the extraordinary... the ordinary, is a struggle against the flesh, the devil, and the world.
The person must be totally committed to fight them.

    The secret of a happy marriage is two persons who know how to forgive and forget!...
    ... The husband is not an angel, but a man... and like any man, even the just, falls 7 times a day! (Prov.24:16)... and the wife is not an angel either, but a woman... if they don't forgive and forget the failures of each other, they will create a hell at home, with eventual separation and divorce...
    ... Actually, forgiveness is the first fruit of real love... and how many times we have to forgive?... 50 times?... one million times!, always, like God forgive us! (Matt.18:21-35).

    The duties of the husband and wife in the Bible are very similar:
    The Wife:
1- To be the "spouse", the lover of the husband.
2- To be the mother of the children.
3- To be the house-wife, the care of the home and children, and husband!.
    The Husband:
        1- To be the "spouse", the lover of the wife.
        2- To be a good father of the children.
3- To bring home the money, the maintenance.

    The specific duty of the husband and wife, as reported in Ephesians 5:21-33:
The husband and wife are like the brain and heart of a body, each one with specific functions,if the heart wants to do the job of the brain, or the brain do the job of the heart, everything will o wrong!
    The Wife:
        "Submission" to the husband, as the Church is submitted to Christ, respect him... three times repeats it!... the third time it says, "revere" your husband (Eph.5:33).
    The Husband:
        He is not "the boss" of the house, rather the husbands should "love" his wife, as Jesus loves his Church... and repeats it six times, six!... always with the same word, not "rule", but "love" your wife.

    The Plan of God for Marriage:
    The Plan of God for Marriage, is to be a little piece of Heaven on earth!... starting in the first book of the Bible, is "to be two persons in one flesh" (Gen.2:24, Matt.19:5-6)... something like the Holy Trinity, three persons but only one God... and to look more like God Himself, the plan of God is that in marriage must be three persons in one flesh, and the three persons should be the husband, the wife, and the Lord... and then they will have a piece of Heaven on earth!...
    ... But we know too well that many marriages are rather a piece of Hell on earth... and the main reason is that the three persons in that flesh are the husband, the wife, and the Devil... if the husband and wife live in mortal sin, Satan is in their hearts, and the only thing the devil does is to create misunderstandings, rancor, resentment, hatred, grudge, separations, divorce...
    If you have any problem at home, the very first thing to do is to live in the grace of God, and if God is within your hearts, your home is going to be a piece of Heaven on earth... with problems!, but with each solved problem becoming like manure to nourish the garden of marriage where the most beautiful flowers of love and joy and peace will grow...

The fight to cast out these Demons:.

1- Do not get impatient, trust in the Lord... always, always, trust in God, in Jesus (Ecc.38:8).

2- Pray to the Lord, and He shall heal you! (Ecc.38:8).... that's a great promise!... and the first prayer should be of thanks-giving, giving thanks for your problems in marriage !... because we have to give thanks to God for every thing and in all circumstances (Eph.5:20, 1Thes.5:16-18).
In this promise, "He shall heal your marriage", does not mention the time nor the way: He may heal you today, or in 5 years?... but He will heal you!... and it does not mention it is going to be with a miracle, that will be great, but the extra-ordinary way, the normal-ordinary way is that Jesus will use other people to help you... that's the usual way, He always used Abraham, Moses, Davis, Peter, Paul... you... me... praise the Lord!.

3- Call the elders of the Church, and let them pray over your marriage, and anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord...and the prayer of faith will make you well, and will rise you up!... that's a big promise of Jam.5:15, alleluia!

    4- Make a good Confession of Sins: "Turn away from sin and order thy hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from all offence." (Ecc.38:10)... "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." (Jam.5:16)...
    Confess all your sins, but most specially the sins of rancor, resentment, hatred, grudge... because if we don't forgive others, we can't even pray the Our Father where we ask God to forgive us the way we forgive others (Mat.6:12-15).
    And every time you commit a sin, Confess it!... 20 times?... 20 million times!... don't you ever be ashamed to Confess your sins... Trust in Jesus, he is always waiting for you!.

5- Offer the Holy Mass, "Give a sweet sacrifice, and a memorial of fine flour, and make a fat offering" (Ecc.38:11)... the only memorial we have in Christianity is the Holy Mass, to offer the Father the Lamb of God, Jesus crucified and risen, praise the Lord!.

6- The husband and the wife should each one try the best to fulfill their roles in marriage as specified above.

7- Get in touch with someone that may help you, specially in your church... most of the times the problem will not be solved by a miracle, rather it will be healed by God, but using the good care and compassion of some other person...
... but always, always, trust in God... God is omnipotent, and thus has the power to change a person's sexual problem, God has promised to answer the sincere prayers of a believer... you can do it with Jesus Christ!, praise the Lord!.