“Marriage and Divorce” has been one of the most controversial issues in the tenets of Christianity.
We have two schools of thought on "Marriage and Divorce". One of them says that a man can only be married once unless his wife is dead. And the other says that if the wife or the husband (either one) has committed adultery, either one of them can be put away and could remarry again." If we compare both teachings with the Scripture, both schools had some lapses in their teaching.
Questions on Marriage and Divorce have confronted the prophet Moses in the Old Testament, and the same questions had been asked of our Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament by the Pharisees.
Let's begin with MATTHEW 19:3-9 -
3 ¶ The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made [them] at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
This same issue confronts us today. What could be the grounds whereby a man or a woman can truly leave his/her wife or husband legally, and marry another? Is divorce sanctioned by the Bible? What is the difference between adultery and fornication? Can a man have more than one wife? Can a minister marry a widow?
Questions like these need to be answered. We can’t just get by with any teaching unless it is truly supported by the Holy Bible. And by the grace of God, we have today the perfect interpretation of the Word through a God-sent prophet, William Marrion Branham. When the seven seals were opened in 1963, the mysteries of God had been unveiled, including the correct teaching on Marriage and Divorce, which Brother Branham had expounded in his sermon on February 1965 before his death.
God's perfect will was to bring His people back to His original plan. The original plan in the creation was just one man and one woman - Adam and Eve. That was God's perfect plan, one pair for each, for both man and animal.
But because of the hardness of the people’s heart in the time of Moses wherein there arose problems of fornication and adultery within the camp, the writing of divorcement was permitted to be issued unto those who could not live peaceably with their common-law husband or wife. And although polygamy was legalized in the Old Testament ( for instance, David having 500 wives, and Solomon having 1000 wives), yet our Lord Jesus Christ clearly pointed to us that such situation "was not so in the beginning." When the Law was turned into Grace during the advent of the New Testament, Jesus has emphasized that there ought to be only one man and one woman in marriage. Through the writings of Saint Paul, the revelation about this issue was stated in his letter to Timothy... “a bishop must be the husband of one wife... a deacon must be the husband of one wife...(1 Timothy 3:2,12). These were Paul's admonition to Timothy which, Timothy, ought to represent the 5-fold ministry in Christianity today.
In approaching this salient issue, I will be quoting Biblical verses, in line with Brother Branham’s sermons, as we delve into this controversial topic to answer some controversial questions surrounding the teaching on “Marriage and Divorce”.
SOME KEY TERMINOLOGY
MARRIAGE
HEBREW.LEXICON -- STRONG'S.NUMBER.5772
'ownah {o-naw'} apparently meaning to dwell together; 1) cohabitation, conjugal rights;
- a relationship in which two people have pledged themselves to each other in the manner of a husband and wife, with legal sanction; The social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments and religious ceremonies.
DIVORCE
HEBREW.LEXICON -- STRONG'S.NUMBER.1644
garash {gaw-rash'}
1) to drive out, expel, cast out, drive away, divorce, put away,
2) used of divorce, to dismiss from the house, to repudiate.
- a judicial declaration dissolving a marriage in whole or in part, esp. one that releases the husband and wife from all matrimonial obligations. A formal separation of husband and wife according to established custom
ADULTERY
HEBREW.LEXICON -- STRONG'S.NUMBER.5003
na'aph {naw-af'} a primitive root; TWOT -- 1273; v
1a1) to commit adultery, usually of man, always with wife of another
- A voluntary sexual activity (as sexual intercourse) between a married man and someone other than his wife or between a married woman and someone other than her husband. An extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations
FORNICATION
HEBREW.LEXICON -- STRONG'S.NUMBER.2181
2181 zanah {zaw-naw'}
1) to commit fornication, be a harlot, play the harlot
1c2) to force into prostitution
-voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ’s)
ANSWERS ***********
1. DOES THE VOW IN ITSELF MARRY A COUPLE BEFORE GOD?
The answer is in (QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS/COD 64-0823E) :
“As long as they take that vow, they're married. Just like a boy, if a boy promises a girl to marry her under good faith, he's obligated to that girl. He's just as good as married her. The only thing the law does, is give you a bill of rights to live together to keep from being common-law husband and wife. But when a man tells a woman, "I will marry you, Honey; I will take you for my wife. Will you take...", he's married. Your vow is sacred; that's what marries you anyhow. There's not no preacher can marry you, no magistrate, or nothing else; it's your own vow to God and to this man. When you promise, you are married.”
The standard vow used in most marriages goes like this: "To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part."
Let me just point out that Brother Branham was clear on it in saying that a “promise to marry under good faith” marries a boy to a girl. “Under good faith” means an “honest-to-goodness” promise, something that’s “not hypocritical”. This truly marries a boy to a girl by that vow. But if the promise of a boy or a girl is not under “good faith”, meaning that it was said under the guise of deception or a lie, that vow does not in any way marry the boy to the girl, and vice versa. It must be done “under good faith”.
1. CAN A WOMAN REMARRY ONLY AFTER HER FIRST HUSBAND IS DEAD?
Brother Branham explained this in the sermon INVISIBLE UNION OF THE BRIDE 65-1125:
“The prophet Paul here is saying that a woman cannot remarry until her first husband is dead. She cannot remarry as long as her first husband is a-living. She, by no circumstances at all... She must remain single as long as her first husband's a-living. And if she should do such a sin, she shall be called an adulternous.”
This teaching is supported by ROMANS 7:2-3-
“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to [her] husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of [her] husband. So then if, while [her] husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”
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3. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FORNICATION AND ADULTERY?
A person asked Brother Branham a question in QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS- COD 59-0628E, Question # 91:
91. Brother Bill, what is the difference between fornications and adultery, Matthew 19:9?
He answered, “Jesus said in Matthew 19:9, "Whosoever putteth away his wife and marries another, except it be for the cause of fornications, commits adultery." The difference between fornications and adultery, the word could be applied either way. But to make it clear what he was talking of there, that--a woman that's unmarried cannot commit adultery, because she has no husband to commit adultery against. It's uncleanliness for her. She has to confess that to her husband before they are married if she's did that. If not and her husband finds it out later, he has a right to put her away, because she took a false vow. For the Bible said, "Be it well..." or ritual says. "Be it well known to you (I have it in mine) if any couples are joined otherwise than God's Word does allow, their marriage is not lawful. I will require and will charge you both as you'll surely answer in the day of judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, if either of you know any impediment why you should not be lawful joined together, do you now confess it." There you are. See?
So fornications is what a girl, when she lives unclean, that's fornication, 'cause she has no husband. But when she's married, and then when she lives like that, she commits adultery against her husband.
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4. IS IT OK FOR A MAN TO TAKE BACK HIS PREVIOUS WIFE WHO HAS BEEN MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN?
The answer lies in QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS.title JEFF.IN COD 61-1015M
No, sir. Get over in the Levitical laws. You go back to that woman, she's somebody else's property. You've defiled and made yourself worse off than ever. No, you should not take a wife back who's been married to somebody else.
Now, "Could I turn to her who has been married before or should I--or should I be free?" You are free. Stay free. Yeah, you don't go back again. No, sir. She's married to somebody else; stay away from her. That's right. Don't... That defiles...?... You understand. If we had a little more time, I'd like to get into that. But just for your question, my brother, whoever you are. No, sir. Don't you go back and take that woman when she's been married two or three times since she married you. That's wrong.
QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS JEFF.IN COD 64-0823M
If you are married at this time, and you both are saved, and you're filled with the Holy Spirit, and you love one another, and you've got little children (Now, remember this is me, not the Lord. See?), go ahead and live together; be happy; 'cause you couldn't live with your first wife or you wouldn't have married her. Then if you leave this and go back to your first one, you're doing worse than you did in the first place. See? So you see, you're all messed up; there's no way of getting out of it. There'd only be one way truly that I can say from the Bible: both of you live single. See?
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5. IS IT OK FOR A MAN TO TAKE BACK HIS PREVIOUS WIFE WHO HAS REMAINED SINGLE?
The answer lies in QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS JEFF.IN COD 61-1015M
I married a couple here not long ago that'd been married before, and they divorced and went away, and--old couple. Oh, it was Brother and Sister Puckett; that's exactly who it was. They just couldn't get along and had a little spat between them; they divorced. She lived just as true and single as she could be, and he lived the same way. And after while, they seen how silly they was, and they come back and wanted to be married. I said, "Sure." See? "That's all right, that's what you should be." So they... Well, they was married all the time. They never had been divorced; just give them papers to live together as husband and wife; that's all, 'cause they was married in the beginning.
There's no such things as any believer ever being reconciled to remarriage again, with a living companion, who has been separated but has remained single. They were always married all the time in the sight of God.
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6. CAN A BELIEVER LEAVE AN UNBELIEVING PARTNER AND RE-MARRY A BELIEVER FOR THE SAKE OF SERVING THE LORD?
This case has been answered in QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS_ JEFF.IN COD SUNDAY_ 62-0527: IS A BROTHER OR SISTER IN THE LORD, CAN MARRY OR REMARRY AND BE FREE, IF THEY LEAVE THEIR COMPANION TO REMARRY AGAIN?
NO. Now, let's take... begin at the 10th verse (I Corinthians 7):
10 And unto the married I command, [yet] not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from [her] husband:
11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to [her] husband: and let not the husband put away [his] wife.
12 But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
13 And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
15 But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such [cases]: but God hath called us to peace.
16 For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save [thy] husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save [thy] wife?
Now, watch his subject. See? And you read on down in before this, on through the chapter you find that they thought, "If we married a wife and she was... we... I got married and I become a believer, and my wife wasn't a believer, let me put her away." Oh, no. That isn't it. You can't do that. See, see?
“…if any brother has a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.” (That's, not because of marriage; that's because of unbelief. Not "remarry" again. See, stay with her.)
And if the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. (That's right.See?)
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart...
Now, if the unbeliever says, "I'm not going to live with you any longer; you've become a Christian." To... A man tells his wife, "Because you've got saved, and going to get out of the world where we was once in, I'm going to leave you." Now, there ain't nothing you can do about it; let him depart. See?
Or the woman say to her husband, "I'm not going to mix up with that bunch of holy-rollers. I'm not going to do this. I'll separate and leave you." Don't you leave the church, you let her leave. See? A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such case, that is, if your companion is putting you away and wants to depart for it. You don't have to just hold onto them. If they're wanting to leave you and they're going to leave you for the cause of Christ, let them leave. But you can't remarry. "But God has called us unto peace."
See? Now, not that you can remarry again; he's already stated that, but you don't have to live with an unbelieving husband or an unbelieving wife if they are not willing.
If they're willing, say, "Now, you go on to church. Now, if you want to go down there, that's your business. You want to go to your church, you go ahead. For me, I don't believe It. And I--I'll do anything for you; I'll not stand in your way, you go ahead," then you just remain there, knowing not that your sanctified life will sanctify that believer, cause them to believe. See? Either side, man or woman... See? You... But now just to say, "I... Brother Branham, I got married and my wife's an unbeliever, and here's a sister over here I can marry. I'm going to leave this one and marry that one." Oh, no. No, indeedy. Your vow is until death you separate, and there's nothing else in the world will permit you to marry in the Bible until your companion is dead. That's right. The only grounds... There's no remarrying nowhere at all, except a dead companion. That's all. See?
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7. CAN A MAN LEAVE A WOMAN WHO HAS BEEN UNTRUE BEFORE MARRIAGE AND HAS AN UNCONFESSED “FORNICATION” AND THEN MARRY ANOTHER?
This was answered in a situation where Brother Branham talked with a woman who had committed such act of fornication before marriage but has never confessed it to his husband, as narrated by Brother Branham in the sermon QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS.title JEFF.IN COD 59-0628E:
A woman come not long ago, and she said, "Oh, I've confessed all that." She was nervous, and had a breakdown, and said, "I confessed all that to God."
I said, "You have to confess it to your husband. It wasn't God that you committed adultery against; it was your husband." That's right.
And if a man marries a woman and she has lived unclean before she marries him, and then she comes to him, if they've been married ever so long, and then she comes to him and says, "Honey, I want to tell you something. I did run out with another man; I never told you." Jesus said he has a right to put her away and marry another, because they're not married in the beginning, 'cause she falsely told a lie against him.
She has a sacred trust of virtue committed to her by her Lord: a certain virtue. Nothing else holds it but a woman. That's right. That's committed to her by God. She must not defile that virtue. If she even does something wrong, she must confess that to her husband before he takes her; and make it right. Just the same as the church that was married to the law has to come also before Christ, before the second marriage; she has to confess that. If she doesn't and she lives with her husband for ten years and then confesses it, he has a right to put her away and marry another woman. That's the Scripture. Fornication is unclean living. (INVISIBLE UNION OF THE BRIDE- 65-1125)
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8. CAN A MINISTER MARRY A WIDOW?
Brother Branham answered this question in MARRIAGE.AND.DIVORCE 65-0221M:
Now, this may hurt just a little bit till we get down to the bottom of it. I'm just going to show you truth of it.
There is no minister that can marry a widow. Did you know that? You want to read that? All right, you get in Leviticals--Leviticus 21:7 and Ezekiel 44:22 and it will show you that the priesthood was not to marry a woman that's been touched by man. This type is of the virgin Bride of Jesus Christ, because they handled the fire of God, the priests did, Aaron's sons. (We haven't got time to read it all and get out by noon. We got twenty minutes yet.) And them's Aaron's sons that handled the--the--the fire of God. So they could not marry a woman that had been touched by another man. The unchanging God said so. They could not marry another woman (and woman had been touched by a man), showing in type here, if you want to see it, that the church of the living God is purely, unadulterated the Word of God and not a denomination that's been handled by man.
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9. CAN PASTORS AND DEACONS HAVE MORE THAN ONE WIFE?
Scriptures can directly answer this question.
I TIMOTHY 3:2-13
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
8 ¶ Likewise [must] the deacons [be] grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being [found] blameless.
11 Even so [must their] wives [be] grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
13 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
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10. HOW CAN A CASE OF ADULTERY BE MADE RIGHT BEFORE GOD?
In this situation, Brother Branham tells us about a case of adultery and how it was made right by those involved, in the sermon QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - COD 64-0823E:
You know, many times in the visions, how the people come, women and men; the Holy Spirit digs up them things that they've done down in life and (you've heard of it and you seen it, you know. See?)--and tell them things that they've got to do it. They say, "Well, I--I've already made it right with the Lord." But you owe it to your husband or to your wife to go tell them. That's right. You're supposed to confess that.
Now, this person, if she's the one that's guilty, she has did it; she went to her husband. Now, you've cleared yourself, sister, because between... You--you committed adultery against your husband. You went to your husband and cleared yourself to your husband; then you went to the man and the husband and cleared yourself there. You are clear. If your husband continues to--to want to live with you, that's up to him. He don't have to do it now, but he--but if he wants to live with you and forgives you, then you be lady enough to never be guilty of such a thing again. But if he doesn't forgive you, then that's his--that's his own business. He can put you away. Exactly right.
But now, the man that you had the act with, now, he's the one's got to go to his wife and take his wife and come back to you. You've done your part, now it's his time to do his part. See? The second party...
This woman had the act with the man, and she took her husband, confessed it, and went to the man and confessed it, and made it right. Now, the next man was a married man also; now, he's got to go to his wife and take the wife and come back to this wife. Then it's all right. See what I mean? It's made up then. But outside of that, you'll still be guilty, and down in your heart you'll be condemned.
In QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS-COD 64-0823E, he tells us again of another case:
I had a woman not long ago up there that had that since the First World War. And she said, "Oh, Brother Branham." She'd spent hundreds of dollars with psychiatrists and everything. And I was setting there watching her in that room. Meda brought her up there. She was setting there ringing a handkerchief through her hands like that, said, "I feel the world's going to burst, and I..." all like this.
I just kept setting there. I said, "Now, there's something about... You've got something in your life somewhere?"
"No, I'm a Sunday school teacher."
I said, "All right." Set there a little bit and watched. I said, "I see a little green car, and you're with a blond headed man, and a train almost hits the car."...?... She said, "Don't you tell nobody that."
I said, "Your husband was in the army at the time."
She started crying, jumped up, "Don't you say that to nobody." See? That was way down in her subconscious. She said, "I've confessed that to God a long ago."
I said, "But wait a minute. You never done a wrong against God. You done a wrong against your marriage vow. You've got to go back to your husband and make that right first."
She said, "He'll leave me."
I said, "God has left you anyhow. So now, which one do you want to leave you?" I said, "Go to him."
And she said, "Oh, I--I... He'd do this, and I got two children."
I said, "Well, that's all I can tell you. Psychiatrist never pulled that out of you, but the Holy Spirit has revealed; and I never seen you in my life."
She said, "That's exactly right." Said, "Well, I--I just can't tell him."
I said, "Well, I... Glad I met you." Went on in the other room, and she come back in there.
Meda said, "She wants you in there again."
I went there; and I said, "What do you want?"
And she said, "Brother Branham, I can't tell that to my husband."
And I said, "Your husband's a black headed man."
"Yeah."
I said, "He's got the same thing to confess to you."
She said, "Oh, not my husband."
I said, "You'd better go get him and come here." I said, "Do you know a certain woman that wears a pink dress, that works in the office of a certain kind of a automobile company?"
She said, "Sure."
I said, "Don't they call her a certain name?"
"Yeah."
I said, "Two weeks ago they set under a beech tree with a--setting in a little brown Chevrolet car with license number so-and-so, and was in the same act."
She said, "Not my husband."
I said, "All right, you go get him and come here."
She left. A few minutes, here they come back. He said, "It's the truth."
I said--I said, "You see? Now go tell God."
But first, when you come to the altar and remember there's ought, go first and make that right. And as long as this other party here is guilty of not telling his wife... This wife has made herself clear. Now, it's up to her and her husband. But this other man and his wife has to come clear in it. And you cannot...
No matter what you do, it'll haunt you as long as you live until you wash it clean. There's only one way to do it: Confess it. If it takes the skin off of you, do it anyhow. Tell the truth, then you've got it right. Amen.
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11. WILL CHRISTIANS TODAY WHO ARE FOUND IN THE SITUATION OF LIVING WITH A SECOND OR THIRD WIFE/HUSBAND BE FORGIVEN OF COMMITTING THE SIN OF ADULTERY?
Yes. The prophet said that if this Word-Message-of-the-Hour has been revealed to you and has accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, and you have repented of your sins and had been baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, no matter if you are in that condition today, you are forgiven of all your sins. But don’t commit the same mistake again. “Stay where you are” and just continue serving the Lord. The blood of Jesus cleanses you from that sin as you serve Him faithfully and as long as you’re walking in the Light of this Hour. Listen to what the prophet of God said:
QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS.title JEFF.IN COD 64-0823M
“Here's what I say. Let me say this, not the Lord, let me say it. If you are married at this time, and you both are saved, and you're filled with the Holy Spirit, and you love one another, and you've got little children (Now, remember this is me, not the Lord. See?), go ahead and live together; be happy; 'cause you couldn't live with your first wife or you wouldn't have married her. Then if you leave this and go back to your first one, you're doing worse than you did in the first place. See? So you see, you're all messed up; there's no way of getting out of it.
So under the modern conditions, I command you to go to your home with your wife now. If you are happy with her, live with her, raise your children in the admonition of God; but God be merciful to you if you ever do that again. You teach your children to never do a thing like that. Bring them up in the admonition of God. And now that “you are as you are”, let us go now to late evening hour that we're living in and press towards the mark of the high calling in Christ where all things will be possible.”
But if you intend to go back to your previous wife, you can no longer take her back if she’s been married to another:
QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS.title JEFF.IN COD 61-1015M
You go back to that woman, she's somebody else's property. You've defiled and made yourself worse off than ever. No, you should not take a wife back who's been married to somebody else.
Now, "Could I turn to her who has been married before or should I--or should I be free?" You are free. Stay free. Yeah, you don't go back again. No, sir. She's married to somebody else; stay away from her. That's right. Don't... That defiles...?... You understand. If we had a little more time, I'd like to get into that. But just for your question, my brother, whoever you are. No, sir. Don't you go back and take that woman when she's been married two or three times since she married you. That's wrong.
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SOME KEY HIGLIGHTS
IN THE TEACHING ON “MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE”
By Rev. William Marrion Branham, as preached on February 21, 1965, in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
1. TWO SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE
MARRIAGE.AND.DIVORCE.title JEFF.IN V-3 N-13 65-0221M
We have two schools of thought on marriage and divorce. And that is, one of them says that a man can only be married once unless his wife is dead. And that's one of the questions. But you go to following that, you go overboard. And then the next says, "Oh, if the wife or the husband (either one) has committed adultery, either one of them can be put away and married again." You find yourself overboard with that.
So see, it's neither southeast or northeast; we want directly east. You run out of Scripture when you go this way. You run out of Scripture when you go that way. We want to know where Scripture meets Scripture and know what's the truth of it. Each takes a different way and fail to bring up the correct answer, but there still must be an answer.
It's just like today; there is two great schools of doctrine in the church: one of them is Calvinism; the other one is Arminianism. One of them is legalist, and the other one's grace. And we come to find out that the people who believe in grace (the Calvinists), they say, "Bless God, it don't hurt me to smoke; it don't hurt me to drink. I can do these things; I've got eternal security." Then we find the other side (on the legalists) said, "Oh, I would like to bawl him out; I'd like to show him a piece of my mind, but I'm a Christian; I have to keep still." See, you find yourself on two different roads, and neither one of them is right. Now, that's hard to say that, but it is the truth. We find ourselves on two different roads: one going one way; one, another. Now, let's see what truth is.
2. ONLY ONE PAIR IN THE BEGINNING: ONE ADAM, ONE EVE
If Jesus said, "Go back to the beginning," there was only one pair of anything on earth. There was one Adam, one Eve. They were joined by God alone. One female horse, one male; one female parrot, one male, at the beginning, as He told us to go back, there was only one pair of anything. Is that true?
Then we find out that everything in the beginning was running in perfect order and harmony with God; nothing was out of cater. Everything in heaven's still in order; all the stars, the galaxies, the solar system, everything is perfectly in order. One of them move would interrupt the whole program.
Now, listen. Do you see? One interruption spoils the entire program. Now, when human beings was running in continuity with God, with one man and one woman, this woman sinned. And it throwed the whole earthly program out of continuity with God. Therefore, one word added to this Book or one word taken from It throws a Christian out of continuity with God, throws the church out of continuity with God, throws a family out of continuity with God. Every believer can be throwed out by not accepting every Word of God.
3. IT’S THE WOMAN WHO CAUSED THE FALL, NOT THE MANDo you realize it was one word that Eve doubted that caused all the trouble? One spoken Word of God, Eve doubted to be the Truth, and it caused every sickness, every disease, every suffering baby, caused every hospital to be built, every operation was ever performed, every death that ever died, for one person to believe one--disbelieve one word. There you are. (SPOKEN.WORD.ORIGINAL.SEED JEFF.IN V-3 N-1 62-0318M)
Then it was the woman that caused the separation of the lovely home. It was not a Cherubim that bothered the earth. It was not Adam that throwed the home out. It was not anything else that throwed the home out and throwed the whole thing out of continuity, but a woman: Eve. And it is here, that the beginning that Jesus spoke of, was broken. Jesus said, "At the beginning God made one male, one female, of each kind." And now, when this woman, not the female horse, not the female dog, but the woman, she broke the entire continuity of God's operation on the earth and throwed everything into death. The woman, not the man, she broke the covenant. She broke the covenant because why? She stepped across the borders of God's Word.
At the Garden of Eden, what caused death, and all this sorrow, every heartache, every little dying baby, every rattle in the throat, every ambulance screaming, every hospital, every graveyard? Was because Eve doubted one Word, not all of It, it just perverted It. Now, God said, "Man," there, "he was to keep every Word of God." Now, that's the first of the Bible.
In the middle of the Bible, Jesus come, and He said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," not just part of Them, every one. In the last of the Bible, Revelation 22, Jesus give the testimony of Himself. The Revelation of His--of the Bible is Jesus Christ. And He said, "Whosoever shall take one Word out of here, or add one word to It, his part will be taken from the Book of Life."
(From LEADERSHIP.title COVINA.CA V-7 N-7 65-1207)
Now, we see, being that the continuity is broken, then the lifeline was broken. Also, the time line was broken. The covenant was broken, everything shattered. What caused it? A woman. That's what broke the covenant. Now, if you want to read that, you can read it: Genesis 3.
4. EVE, NO LONGER CO-EQUAL WITH ADAM
Now, it was then man was made to rule over the woman by God's Word. She was no more coequal with him. She was coequal in nature, you know. But when she broke God's Word, God made a man to be a ruler over her (Genesis 3:16, if you want to put it down). She was no more equal with the man. She was a breaker of God's Word. She was right with man, coequal with him. But we all know now that she lost her co-equalness with man when she sinned, and God said, "Man will be your ruler from here out." Now, that's the Scripture.
GENESIS 3:16 – “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
5. THE WOMAN MUST NOW BE SUBJECTIVE TO THE MAN
That's why God forbids her to teach His Word. That's right. I Timothy 2:9-15: "I suffer not a woman to teach or to have any authority..." See? And also I Corinthians 14:34: "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for it's not permitted to them to speak, for they are commanded to be in silent, also saith the law." But today what does the church do? They make her pastors, evangelists, when the Bible completely forbids it. And the Bible said: "... as also saith the law," making it run in continuity, the whole thing… That's why God won't let her teach, won't let her do anything in the church but to set still with a veiled face.
You can see today why people... They say I'm a woman hater. That's far from the truth. I do not. They call me a woman hater. Remember, they called Paul a woman hater. A woman minister, not long ago, said, "Oh, you're like old Paul; all he had to do is pick on us women," a saint of God that was permitted to write the Bible, the New Testament, and dispute his words. He said, "If an angel from heaven teaches any other thing than this that I've said, let him be accursed," let alone some woman preacher. See?
They said Elijah was a woman hater. He wasn't a woman hater of real women; he just didn't like them Jezebels. And if that be so, then must be--God must be the same way because He is the Word which come to the prophets. So it must be God, the same way.
6. EVE IS A BY-PRODUCT, SHE IS NOT IN THE ORIGINAL CREATION
Notice, the reason that she did this, she was not in the original creation. She is not in God's original creation; she is a byproduct. Therefore, at the beginning, as Jesus referred to it, she was not a original created being of God. She's a byproduct of a man.
Remember, Adam was both masculine and feminish in the original creation: one. But then he was separated by a rib. Notice. But a byproduct... And notice, the only one of all God's creation of every animal and anything else, she was the only one designed this way. Every other female was in the original creation. Every other female was in the original creation, but EVE was NOT in the original creation (See?), that had to be made that way.
She was not in the original beginning creation. She was in Adam, but not in a female sex herself at the beginning. She was a byproduct, made.
Notice, there's nothing designed to stoop so low or be filthy but a woman. A dog can't do it; a hog can't do it; a bird can't do it; no animal is immoral, nor it can be, for it is not designed so it can be. A female hog can't be immoral; a female dog can't be immoral; a female bird can't be immoral. A woman is the only thing can do it.
Notice, the reason animals couldn't do it, a female animal, they were in the original creation, but the woman was not in that original creation. She is designed alone for filth and unclean living. A dog can't; no other female can. It's just the woman that can. A dog or any other animals: once a year, and that for her babies, not for sexual pleasure, but for her babies. The old sow hog, the old slut dog: once a year, one moment; that's for her babies. But a woman is designed for any time she desires.
She is the only specie of female that is made prettier than the male. There's not another specie among anything. All other creatures of God is beautiful males, such as in animals, birds, and so forth. Always the male is pretty.
Look at the big buck deer: big fine horns, great specie, and the little humble doe. Look at the big rooster with all of his pretty feathers and the little brown hen. Look at the birds: the cock and the hen. Why? Why was it such of all the creatures of God? Every creature in the male is the prettiest. Between the sheep, between the--the hogs, between the horses, between anything else, it's always the big male that's pretty, and in the birds; but in the human race it's the woman that's pretty, not the man. If he is, there's something wrong. It's crossed up seed somewhere, originally it's that way.
Pretty... Did you know at the first destruction internationally of the world was because of pretty women? "When the sons of God saw the daughters of men were fair, they taken unto them women." Is that right? (The Days of Noah-Genesis 6)
She was made to deceive like she did Adam at the beginning, telling him that the fruit was pleasant and so forth to deceive him and take him away from the Word.
7. WOMAN WORSHIP IS HEATHENISM
Now, the heathens used to make her a god. Did you know that, a goddess? Sure did. They make her a goddess, for they did have sex acts in their worship. They claimed that she was a creator. In her womb she carried the seed and created. That's a lie. There's only one Creator; that's God. But you remember Paul there? Diana of Ephesus, a image of a rock, said the goddess of heaven throwed down. Don't you see how heathen worship is? And we, not knowing it, turns right straight back to heathen worship again to women, the very lowest creature on the earth: woman worship. She'll sway men any way she wants to. And not knowing, all that beauty on the outside, a hell's on the inside. Solomon said her--her gates is the gates to hell.
I know, sisters, I've--you've got your place (just a moment) and a wonderful character that God can mold in you, but I'm just trying to speak on the other side to show what you're actually from the beginning. A good woman is a good thing. I know that. I know it by real women. I've met real women that's genuine, just as real as any man that ever walked. She's a byproduct and a piece Of him. But it's up to her; she's made so she can be filthy. And she's given the right to refuse or to accept.
Let me show you that America is a woman. On our coin is a woman's picture. Everything in here is a woman. Tell me, there isn't enough bootleg joints in the country would have. You can put forty bootleg joints in this city and put three prostitutes, of good looking women that twist theirselves down the street; they'll send more souls to hell lusting after them than all the bootleg joints you could put in the city. That's exactly right. Who is it then? It's woman. What is she? She's the god of America.
And our nation's number's thirteen, appears in the 13th chapter of Revelation: thirteen stripes, thirteen stars, thirteen bars, thirteen numbers on the coins, thirteen stars on the coin, everything's thirteen, and a woman.
The American people has become a place to a worship of goddess. I have the deepest and highest respects for women. My mother is one, my wife, and I have young daughters. And a woman that keeps her place and is a lady, there is nothing any more precious outside of salvation to our nation, than a real woman. But when it comes to a place to worship women, then you're out of the Bible plan. There's no plan in the Bible for us to worship any woman, a Mary, or the Saint Cecilia. There's not one speck of Scripture for it; and contrary, it's against such.
Womanhood's one of the thing that holds our nation together. It's the backbone. And womanhood, the fine virtue that God give for the woman to be mother, why, it's--it's--it's gone. Long ago has the--has the--the--the women of this world, the virtue of them, bowed to a Hollywood fashion goddess, patterning themselves, and dressing themselves, and acting as some of these Hollywood stars does. And many times that even ungodly dressing, sex appeal, is regarded as fashions in the churches. And the pastors behind the pulpit, with not the--not the audacity, not the--the strength of the Holy Spirit, like a Lot setting down there, vexing his soul, and in too much of a meal ticket to tell the people that it's wrong. Yeah.
Go anywhere you want to and look. If you don't believe people bows at the shrine of naked women, look out on the street today. As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be. Look out, if you don't believe it, Just go anywhere. Open up a paper; open up a magazine; look at a billboard. What do you find? Remember what said, "When the sons of God saw the daughters of men was fair, they taken unto them women"?
Never in six thousand years has it ever been that women ever desired to cut their hair, dress like men, be perverted. We're at the end time. And America, anyone who knows prophecy, knows that America is represented by a woman. This is called "woman's freedom." Freedom for what? To do as she pleases, sin.
God looks at character. Man looks at natural beauty. It's deceiving. And that's why a woman was given that beauty for deception, to deceive. A beautiful woman, if she don't use it in the right way, it's a curse to her. That'll send her to hell quicker than anything else I know of. If she just--if... She could be pretty, sure; as long as she stays with her husband and does what's right, and that--that's fine and dandy. But she can take that same thing, and, my, how she can deceive with it, for it was give to her to do so.
8. WOMAN WAS MADE FOR MAN, NOT VICE VERSA
And He (God) made her for man and not man for her. Did you know that, that woman was made for man, and not man for woman? How many knows that? The Bible teaches it. All right. She was given a place in man before the fall, equal over all creation, but after fall, he was her ruler. She must keep silent in all matters.
If she'd have stayed in her original condition, she would've never been no fall. But she caused the fall in the interruption that broke the whole continuity of God and throwed death, sorrow, and everything else on the earth. She was made thus.
9. TWO COVENANTS
The covenant was coequal. But now after the fall there's another covenant made. Now, she was no longer ruler with him. Each must have a separate covenant. … We got another covenant now. Notice, it's another covenant. Now, there's a covenant for the product and the byproduct. Now, there's a double covenant. First it was just a covenant. Adam and Eve was coequal: one man, one woman. Now, the woman sinned. And what does she do? That throwed them all to death, and God had to make a covenant by that, another covenant.
In the beginning there's only one man and one woman, one male, one female. But when she crossed that line and brought this sin, now the world's to be repopulated again by sex; not by creation; by sex. See where the woman's at now? Now, but that's the way the world's populated today, through women.
That's the reason Jesus had to come through the woman to bring it back to its original beginning again, without sex desire. He's virgin born. But, hallelujah. there will come a time where it won't be no more sex, but God shall call His children from the dust of the earth, back like they was in the original. Not through any woman, but through the molding of the clay and the cosmic lights and the petroleum; He'll create again like He did Adam at the first time.
Then when the double covenant was made by man and woman through sex (another covenant altogether; not the original covenant, but another covenant), now what's introduced? Polygamy in all. Then after the beginning, polygamy was introduced both in man and in beast, after the beginning, the fall.
God now secondarily sets a new nature again by sex. God created the first without sex. Do you believe that? Now, it's another covenant with nature; He sets it in another order by sex. Second covenant: one male, many females; one buck deer, a whole harem of does (That right?); one bull a whole herd of cattle, cows; one rooster, a yard full of hens (That right?); one David, after His own heart, with five hundred wives, with a hundred children born to him in one year of different women: a man after God's own heart; one Solomon with a thousand wives. But notice now, it wasn't so at the beginning. But now, it's after the beginning.
Notice. (Don't fail this now; take it all down to your hearts.) But not one of those women could even have one more husband. He's the original creation, not her. Not one of those women could have one more husband, but that one husband could have a thousand wives. That's THUS SAITH THE LORD. That's the Bible.
"Oh," you say, "that was just for Israel." Is it? When Abraham took Sarah down into the Philistine country, there was a king down there named Abimelech. And Sarah was a hundred years old (right at it), but she had been changed back to a young woman and been made beautiful. You know that? All right. And Abimelech wanted her for a wife. You remember my message on it? Abimelech wanted to take Sarah for a wife. Probably had a harem. But he could not take her if she was married to Abraham.
Job 14 there, it says, "Man that is borned of woman is of a few days and full of trouble." Is that right? Through the woman come death. Through the man in the original creation, come Life. To be born of woman is death; be born of Christ is Life. Get the idea? First Adam and Eve type the second Adam and Eve.
10. HE CAN REMARRY, BUT SHE CAN’T
MARRIAGE.AND.DIVORCE.title JEFF.IN V-3 N-13 65-0221M
Matthew 5:32. I want you to notice here, to support this same idea of one and many. Matthew 30... I think it's Matthew 5:32--31 to begin with.
It has been said, “Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: (Now, Jesus speaking, the One said, "From the beginning." Now, watch.)
But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery:... (See?)... whosoever shall put away his wife, saving... the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery:... (Why? She'll marry again.)... and whosoever marries her that is divorced committed adultery.
See, she's got a living husband, so no man can marry her. Care what she does and who she is, she's got a living husband. There's no grounds for her at all. But it's not for him: causes her, not him. Get it? You have to make the Word run in continuity. See? Nothing saying he couldn't, but she can't. See? 'Causes her, not him. That's just exactly what the Bible says. "Causes her..." It is not stated against him to remarry, but her. Why?
Christ in the type. Notice, it is stated that he cannot remarry, only a virgin. He can remarry; he can marry--he can remarry again if it's a virgin; but he can't marry somebody's else's wife. No, indeedy. And if he does marry a divorced woman, he is living in adultery; I don't care who he is. The Bible said, "Whosoever marries her that is put away, liveth in adultery." There you are, not no divorcee.
Now, you notice in I Corinthians 7:10, notice, Paul commands the wife that is--that divorces her husband to remain single or be reconciled, not to remarry. She must remain single or to be reconciled back to her husband. She cannot remarry; she must remain single. But notice, he never said about the man. See, you can't make the Word lie. From the beginning, the sex law by polygamy.
And at the end there will be one Lord Jesus and His Bride many: singular. You get it? There was one David on one throne, one king after God's own heart, with five hundred wives. Jesus, setting on His throne (Hallelujah.) in the millennium, with a Wife like it was at the beginning, created out of the earth by the hand of Almighty God in the resurrection, of many members. There you are.
Now, He plainly shows here in these types there is one Christ and many members of that Wife. Notice, He can put us away for spiritual fornications and false doctrine anytime He wants to, but how dare you try to put Him away and make it. The man can put away his wife and marry another, but not the woman put away her husband and marry another. See all the shadows and types there perfectly balanced out? See?
And any woman that refuses a man his child, has no right to be a wife to him. Amen. You remember in the Bible when the king married Esther because the queen refused. He just got him another one. And when the... What happened when she refused to come out with the king, to obey him? The same thing it is with a woman that refuses to be wife to her husband.
And so is it with the church that refuses to be come pregnated in the age that we now live in to bring forth children of this age. We're not Lutherans; we're not Wesleys; neither are we Pentecostals. We've got to be the children of this age through the pregnancy of the Word of God to bring forth a Child of this age, the Seed Child. Amen. I hope you understand. Couldn't be pregnated, no. So what did He do? Put her away in divorcement. That's right. But she dares put Him away. He put her away.
Notice. Now, the woman's got her place, and she is a jewel. Solomon, this man that had ten thousand wives--or had a thousand wives, rather, he said that a man that's found a wife has found a good thing. He said a good woman is a jewel in his crown; that's an honor, but an unrighteous one is water in his blood. That's his life. He said, "There might be one righteous man found in a thousand." (Solomon said this.) But said, "You wouldn't find one righteous woman in a thousand." Solomon said that. See?
Now, notice that, that how it is. But you see, woman, you are--you are a jewel if you want to be a jewel, but the desire has to be by you. And you see why the marriage and divorce was, that Jesus pointed back yonder? It was because your kind was the cause of all sin. That's the reason polygamy and divorce and things was introduced. At the beginning it never was so and it won't be so in the world over yonder.
When you got a direct revelation from God that's your wife and the same thing, that's yours the rest of your life. See? But what man joins together anybody can put apart. But what God joins together no man better dare to touch it. "Whatsoever God joins together," He said, "let no man put asunder." Not what some half-drunk magistrate, or something else put together, or some backslidden preacher with a bunch of creeds in a book that'd let them do anything in the world and the Word of God laying right there. See? I'm talking about what God joined together.
Now, we are found in this mess because of misinterpreted theology. That right? That's why you women married the second time and you men, because misinterpret theology. Now, I want to show you something that He told me. And if God, our Creator, was questioned the question when He was here on earth (Jesus Christ), and when His delivering prophet came forth (Moses) down in Egypt to bring the children out of--of Egypt to put them in the promised land; and Jesus said here that Moses seen the people in this condition, and he granted them a writing of divorcement because the situation was what it was. Moses found such as, "Let him suffer..." God permitted Moses, that prophet sent to the people, to grant this writing of divorcement to them.
And in I Corinthians the--the 7th chapter, the 12th and 15th verse in the New Testament prophet, Paul, who met the same thing in the church and spoke this: "This is I, not the Lord." Is that right? Because of the divorce condition.
It wasn't so from the beginning. But Moses was permitted it, and God recognized it righteousness. And Paul also had a right when he found his church in that condition.
Now, you believe this to be true and believe it to come from God. And by the vindication of His Cloud and His Message that's brought me this far, should not God upon the mountain permit me to do the same thing to suffer you to go on the way you are and do it no more. Go with your wives and live in peace, for the hour is late. The coming of the Lord is at hand. We haven't got time to break these things up. Don't you dare try to do it again. I'm speaking only to my congregation. But if you are married--and God bore me witness to that on the mountain that I could say this (a supernatural revelation because of the opening of the Seven Seals and this is a question in God's Word): let them go on in as they are and sin no more.
11. STAY WHERE YOU ARE
It wasn't so from the beginning. That is right. It wasn't so, and it will not be at the end. But under modern conditions, as God's servant (I won't call myself His prophet.), but I believe that if I wouldn't be sent for that, I'm laying a ground for him when he does come. So under the modern conditions, I command you to go to your home with your wife now. If you are happy with her, live with her, raise your children in the admonition of God; but God be merciful to you if you ever do that again. You teach your children to never do a thing like that. Bring them up in the admonition of God. And now that you are as you are, let us go now to late evening hour that we're living in and press towards the mark of the high calling in Christ where all things will be possible.
QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS.title JEFF.IN COD 64-0823M
Here's what I say. Let me say this, not the Lord, let me say it. If you are married at this time, and you both are saved, and you're filled with the Holy Spirit, and you love one another, and you've got little children (Now, remember this is me, not the Lord. See?), go ahead and live together; be happy; 'cause you couldn't live with your first wife or you wouldn't have married her. Then if you leave this and go back to your first one, you're doing worse than you did in the first place. See? So you see, you're all messed up; there's no way of getting out of it. There'd only be one way truly that I can say from the Bible: both of you live single. See?