Bible Discussion Thread

Dear Family:

It's been a while since my last post. I am trying to find a church that preaches against divorce and remarriage with a live spouse and sticks to it. Seems locally only Mennonites adhere to this so I have to decide if I want to commit to their rules. God has opened the door for this before but I appreciate prayer.

At any event; watching the current events is certainly an easy way to rob ourselves of sleep. Some I hear are watching their assets carefully in light of implications (such as increasing oil prices) since this latest war began Friday night. Others perhaps watching their own; well backs shall we say. Word to the wise; whatever the goings on whether internal or external threats we should seek the Lord and unless He directs otherwise prayerfully stock up on supplies; food and water in particular. I have been carefully navigating the silver market with the little assets I have and you can find it some places actually under the base value to purchase. I would warn that in the case of any major conflict in this nation that there could be at least a temporary downturn and rather sharply as you can't eat gold and silver if you're starving; good reminder from the book of James on the subject of the gold and silver cankering in the last days and not heaping up treasures that will turn our hearts from God. Again we need a wise balance on these matters and in particular consider how He would call us to prepare and in the future help others in the Body of Christ as well as anyone else in need when things hit the fan.

All of this of course doesn't detract from the Great Commission. I am praying for a Messianic Jewish couple who are CURRENTLY in Israel. We can take sides based on what we see but there are wrongs everywhere these days; whether among nations or political parties. Let us focus on the Lord and set our hearts on things above. That's the only we we can make it until He comes or our lives our over; at least as I see it.

Hi Richard. I agree with GiGi about the difficulty in finding church fellowships that not only believe in but also prepared to preach against divorce & remarriage. Maybe they feel there are more 'important' issues to address from the pulpit and to counsel those in that sad situation would be more preferable. But a preacher can even deal with that subject in passing, as part of his sermon, rather than making it a specific topic at a Sunday gathering.

I'm not aware of the state of the Christian Brethren assemblies in the present day as I have no contact with them, but I would hope that, as in the past, they still hold strongly to these marital issues, as they do to the pure doctrines in God's Word. However, you may or may not adhere to their other practises, so they may be worth checking out along with the Mennonites. I typed in 'brethren churches in Pennsylvania' and Google maps threw up a number of locations in the Philly area, if you wanted to pursue further enquiries.

Hello Richard,

So great to hear from you.

I know how hard it is to find a church that the biblical teaching that forbids divorce and also remarriage following a divorce. Almost every church group has adopted a leniency in these matters. It is disheartening to know how the modern church has followed the way the world thinks instead of how Jesus instructed us in Scripture along with Paul. For me and my husband, I am glad we have been married for 45 years. It is a blessing to have this long commitment to each other and the Lord.

I will pray for your camping trip. I hope that you will have a very blessed and peaceful time away.

How is your dad doing these days? I am so glad he is in a care community now. He may not like it, but sometimes a person cannot make the best choices for themselves in their later years and, being in his 90's and having dementia, he does not have much time left to turn to the Lord. I do hope he is getting acclimated to his new home and pray that it will be a place of comfort and good care until he passes.

The wars that are going on now are concerning in that so many people are having to cope with war and violence in what once was their home. May God be merciful and bring a swift end to what is happening in the Mid-East and in Ukraine. Nigeria is having trouble and the Houtis of Yemen are still fighting against Israel and the U.S. in their region.

I think it is a good idea to be sure to have necessary food, drink and medications to last through an extended time of unavailability. Thanks for the reminder.

I hope to talk with you more when you return from your trip.