Israel, as a nation is very special to God. We read in Deuteronomy 7:6-8 these words: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession. The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

Pray for God’s chosen nation
The Lord’s eternal purpose is to bless the world through Israel. Already He has done so in measure, for “salvation is from the Jews”, John 4:22, but the fullness of future blessing is indicated in the wondrous promise of Isaiah 27:6: “In days to come, Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill the entire world with fruit.”
The declaration that “salvation is from the Jews” suggests our immeasurable debt to Israel. All that we have has come to us through the Jews.
Let us never forget to pray for God’s chosen people. It is true that Israel, today, is in the place of rejection. The nation is a secular, unbelieving (as to the claims of Scripture and the Messiah, Jesus Christ) country, but “…at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” Rom 11:5. Some Jews are being saved and are becoming members of the Body of Christ through faith in their Messiah (Messianic Jews).

Remember God’s promises
Another reason for Christians to support the nation of Israel is because of the Abrahamic Covenant. We read of God’s promise in Genesis 12:2-3:
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”, (see also Genesis 27:29, Numbers 24:9).

Some have turned against Israel
One of America’s most worthwhile accomplishments has been its consistent regard for the plight of the Jewish nation. No country in the history of the world has a better record of treating individual Jews with respect than the United States.
America has committed many sins for which they may well deserve judgement, but as a nation, they have been a consistent friend of the Jews and the nation of Israel, as well as a benefactor. In 1948, President Harry Truman helped persuade the United Nations to recognise Israel as a nation. Since then, the United States has contributed billions of dollars in aid to Israel. [Having said that, Obama has consistently shown a reticence toward supporting Israel and has snubbed meetings with Israeli President, Benjamin Netanyahuu, several times. This does not bode well for future relations with Israel].

A Biblical perspective
From the Biblical declarations of God’s love and care for His chosen people, the nation of Israel, and from the history of nations being destroyed because of their evil dealings with God’s chosen people,  Christian believers should give support to the chosen people of God.
This is not to say that we necessarily support the methods they use in their relationships with the Arab nations. The Bible warned that conflict would always characterise the relations between the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael. Sadly, this conflict will continue until Jesus returns. We must look at the ‘big picture’ through the lens of a Biblical worldview.

Do you support Israel?
While we do not have to support everything Israel does, we most definitely should support Israel’s right to exist and defend herself. God will fulfil His promises and covenants with Israel. God still has a plan for Israel. Woe to anyone who seeks to defeat that plan: “whoever curses you I will curse.” Genesis 12:3.

GotQuestions seeks to provide Biblical answers to spiritually-related questions. For more information, visit www.gotquestions.org

I have a friend who’s an experienced pastor, teacher, and Christian apologist. He’s very well educated, articulate, teaches in a way that hits the mark, and has a passion particularly for grounding young adults in the faith during their high-school and early college years.
Currently, he’s employed with Youth for Christ and a while back he felt a burden to try and help churches in our area do what he does best: equip youth to defend the Christian faith in the world and know why and what they believe. He has developed a number of curriculums to use for such situations, and sent a letter to all the churches in our metropolitan area (which is quite a lot). He explained what he does and offered to come to their church free of charge to conduct Christian apologetic training for their youth. How many churches took him up on his offer? Zero. None. Zilch.

Be sure of what you believe
Now, any Christian leader who doesn’t have their head in the sand, knows how depressing the statistics are for young adults who walk away from their faith in the late high-school/early college years. At times, I’ve had atheists toss this data in my face in an attempt to argue that people ‘smarten up’ when they get older, but that isn’t the problem at all.
The fact is some in this particular demographic leave the Church because they get talked out of a faith that they were never sure of in the first place.

Don’t be ‘dumb’
The storyline is sadly familiar. Maybe a young person was brought up in a church. Or, maybe they weren’t and began to investigate Christianity on their own. Either way, sooner or later they begin to ask hard questions, good questions, questions that deserve solid answers. They rightly need what they believe in their heart to connect with their mind and when they don’t get it, they disconnect from Christianity.
Why does this keep happening? In short, it happens because much of the Church today is ‘dumb’. Don’t misunderstand me, I mean no disrespect when I use the term ‘dumb’. What I mean is that the Church is ‘dumb’ in that they aren’t well educated in what they believe, fail miserably in fulfilling 1 Peter 3:15 that says all Christians should be prepared to give a reason for why they believe, and are woefully unable to handle any challenge to Christianity that comes from unbelievers or the cults.

Beware of anti-intellectualism
Dr RC Sproul has said many times that he believes we are living in the most un-intellectual period in the history of Western civilisation. Over 30 years ago, former Lebanese ambassador to the United States, Charles Malik, said the following in his speech at the dedication of the Billy Graham Centre in Wheaton, Illinois: “I must be frank with you: the greatest danger confronting Christianity is the danger of anti-intellectualism. The mind, in its greatest and deepest reaches, is not cared for enough.”
Such statements made by Sproul, Malik, and others were not always heard in the Church. The fact is that the Church dominated intellectual thought and discourse for hundreds of years, producing such thinkers like Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Edwards, and others. Such men had their opponents, but their detractors never ridiculed their brainpower because the Churchman’s intellectual prowess left no room for criticism.

Where are the thinkers?
Shortly after the era of Edwards, something changed. Gospel preachers like Charles Finney arose and replaced the intelligent presentation of the Gospel, which was backed by meaty Biblical exposition and solid philosophical rationale, with emotional appeals, questionable theology, personal anecdotes with humour, a celebrity-style leader, and engineered publicity. Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, in many seeker friendly or liberal churches today, the character-istics of Finney and his followers are played out each Lord’s Day with the end result being a church body unable to intellectually defend the faith they espouse.
Characteristics of a ‘dumb’ church
How can you tell if your church exhibits traits that characterise a ‘dumb’ church? Although not exhaustive, I offer these criteria that I believe help contribute to a church becoming ‘dumb’:

1. What do you see when you look at the leadership?
Preaching is always topical and never expository. Selective topical series allow tough and deep theological subjects, as well as ‘controversial’ passages of Scripture, to be avoided with ease.
Although the church leaders offer strong statements as to how they are a “Bible-believing church”, the Bible is actually used and referenced very little in the sermons.  Few quotations from Scripture are heard in a message, with the vast majority of all sermons consisting of personal rhetoric, humour, videos, and personal stories. Biblical terms such as justification, reconciliation, sanctification, propitiation, etc., are avoided like the plague.

Equip your congregation
There is little to no instruction for new believers on the core doctrines of the Christian faith, and no requirement for new believers to attend such instruction. There is no continuous offering of apologetic training classes that are designed to train Christians in the evidences and defence of the faith, and little to no interest of the pastors in the subject area.
There is no easy way for the congregation to have tough questions answered by the lead pastors; such a thing is quietly ignored, discouraged or not practiced regularly. Deep Bible study programmes are either absent or deliberately pushed out in favour of more ‘relevant’ classes that deal with softer subject matters (e.g. money management).
Adult and children’s Bible-studies before/after the main church service are either omitted or are second class citizens to “Community Groups” that seek to have members meet in each other’s homes during the week. These groups, where teaching is concerned, are run “hands off” where the church leadership is concerned.

What do you give priority to?
There is a huge emphasis on relationship building and serving in areas of the church, but no similar importance placed on growing more Biblically and theologically literate. The youth department has an unmistakable concentration on entertainment, games, social interaction versus actual teaching of Christian doctrines.
The church either has no library or one that is not kept up to date. There is either no staff member assigned specifically to church education, or it is assigned to an already overburdened associate pastor.
Doctrinal statements of the church are missing or are not prominently made available. If they exist, they do not address any controversial theological topics or make very vague statements concerning them.

2. What about the congregation?
The term “Christian apologetics” is completely unfamiliar to the vast majority of the members.

Most of the congregation has no knowledge of church history with the names of Polycarp, Martyr, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Wesley, Whitefield, Tyndale, and others being completely foreign to them.

Attendance of offered classes are very low compared to overall church attendance.
A warning to the ‘dumb’ church
God warns us in His Word about cultivating a ‘dumb’ church. For example, chastising his readers, the writer of Hebrews offers this admonition against fostering a ‘dumb’ church environment: “By this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the Word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Heb 5:12-14.

Discerning good and evil
When you have a ‘dumb’ church, the writer of Hebrews says the outcome is a body of believers that is incapable of properly discerning good and evil.
Slowly but surely, error and heresy creep in with no one being the wiser. The end result is churches championing teachings such as universalism, applauding homosexual marriage, and calling evil good and good evil.

Be smart!
My friend Greg continues to train young believers in apologetics, but he does so at the co-op school used by Christian home-school families and at his home. To date, no church has yet taken him up on his generous offer to ground their youth in the Christian faith, which is very sad.
My hope and prayer is that such situations stop happening, that ‘dumb’ churches become the exception rather than the rule, and that smart people who are asking good questions about the Christian faith get the answers they’re looking for from learned believers and pastors like the ones Jeremiah describes:
“I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Jer 3:15.

Do you have a good answer?
Describing today’s current climate and the type of Christianity needed, apologist and author Ravi Zacharias said: “World leaders don’t have answers anymore. And I think today’s youth will rise up to the occasion…but it will have to be a passionate and thoughtful Christianity and not a mindless, emotive one that has no staying power.” 
Some say such a thing is not needed, but I disagree. One of the most haunting questions I’ve ever seen was on the back of my first church history textbook I got in seminary: “How can you live out your faith if you don’t understand it?” 

By: Robin Schumacher directs Confident Christians ministries. For more info: www.confidentchristians.org  or follow his blog at: blogs.christianpost.com/confident-christian

Striking is not condoned
It is unacceptable to try and justify strikes, sabotage, arson, destruction of property, riots and violence by an appeal to Christ’s role as a liberator. To truly follow the example of Christ would involve a far deeper revolution of love – that of regeneration. Revolutions destroy society and kill people.
Jesus changes attitudes and gives new life to individuals. What we need in South Africa is not a theology of revolution, inciting violence – what we need is a Theology of peace – found only in Jesus Christ.
How should people respond?
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves…Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.”  Rom 13:1-5

What should people do if they have been treated unfairly?
”So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land so that I should not destroy it…” Ez 22:30.
The Lord Jesus taught that we should always pray and never give up. In the parable of the persistent widow, He taught that even an unjust judge will do what is right in response to persistent prayer and pressure. (Luke 18:1-5). God hears our prayers. Public officials respond to pressure. Most politicians do not tend to see the light, until they feel the heat! We are either praying, or we have given up. If we have given up it is probably because we neglected to pray.
We need to be informed, involved, and interceding. Prayer is our foun-
dation for action. “You are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world…let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.” Matt 5:13-16.
Violent revolution is clearly forbidden. “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work.” Titus 3:1
Christian protest has a place
“Who will rise up for Me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for Me against evildoers?” Ps 94:16. Some people watch things happen. Some make things happen. Others don’t have a clue what happened!
As ambassadors of Christ, we are to be salt and light in society – salt bringing preser-vation (of morals) and light bringing the hope and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ thus dispelling darkness and evil.
“…To him who knows to do good and does not do it…it is sin.” James 4:17.
Stand up for Christian
liberties but remember to do so prayerfully in wisdom, humility and order
Only if the state forbids obedience to God may we say with the Apostles: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29. When the state forbids prayer to God (Dan 6:6-13), forbids evangelism (Acts 5:40-42), or commands us to worship false gods (Dan 3:12-18), then we must say: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.” Acts 4:19.
So then, with the exception of matters of worship and evangelism, Christians are commanded to: “…Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.” 1 Pet 2:13-14.
 
By: Peter Hammond

Unfortunately, many people think of prayer as being merely a religious exercise that appeases God’s need to be talked to. It is a kind of duty, like paying a bill that is due. When they pray, they feel better about themselves.
When they don’t pray, they feel guilty. They seem to think that God keeps a stopwatch and records the minutes they put in, similar to the way a time clock keeps track of employees.

Faith is the key requirement
Jesus dismissed this mind-set about prayer when He said: “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Matt 6:7-8.
So, if praying long prayers with many words is not the key to receiving an answer, then what is? The answer is simple – faith!
“And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.” Matt 21: 22

Do you believe in miracles?
In our great evangelistic meetings in Africa, the people come with a high level of spiritual hunger and expectancy of the miraculous power of God. They have heard the testimonies of all that God has done for others, and they believe that God will do the same for them.
They know that God is going to show His power and glory in these great meetings, and they come in full expectation that they are going to be the recipients of those blessings.

Pray with confidence!
It is this attitude that actually takes hold of the miraculous and causes the lightning of God’s glory to strike. They do not come hoping it is the will of God to reveal Himself, they know it is! Because they already expect this, they pray from a position of bold confidence and expectancy.
When God hears that kind of prayer and sees that kind of action being demonstrated by desperately hungry people, He reveals His awesome power in some of the most phenomenal ways.

How to attract God’s presence
Praying with faith and expectancy will always attract the presence and power of God just as the absence of these key elements will repel the presence and power of God.
There is a direct correlation between the level of belief and expectancy in the hearts of people and the measure of the revelation of the glory of the Lord.
When God’s people pray in the firm conviction that it is God’s will to answer their prayers and reveal His glory, their expectation of His glory will bring its manifestation in their lives.

Bring your umbrella!
Many years ago, a region of the American Midwest had been stricken by drought. There was a small town there that was totally dependent upon farming, and the crops were dying in the fields because of the lack of rain. A day of prayer and fasting was declared in which all the townspeople would come in from their surrounding farms and spend the day in prayer, asking God to send rain.

Repent of your unbelief
That morning a five-year-old girl came along with her parents to their church to pray. Some people were amused as this little girl was carrying an umbrella. They asked her why. She replied that she thought they had come there that day to pray for rain, and she didn’t want to get wet going home.
Suddenly conviction gripped their hearts. The people realised that they had come to pray, but no one but this little girl actually believed anything was going to change! In tears, they repented of their unbelief; and these same townspeople began to pray that day as though they really believed their prayers were going to change things.
 
Have the faith of a child
About four o’clock that afternoon, clouds began to form in the western sky. By evening, a slow, soaking rain had begun to fall across the region. The heavens had literally opened for these people. This slow rain lasted for three days and nights. Their crops were saved, and they eventually had one of the biggest harvests that they had ever seen!
Everyone remembered that it was the little girl with her umbrella who had come to pray and that changed their hearts from a place of religious duty, bound with unbelief, to a place of expectancy that God would in fact hear and act. 

Trust and obey!
We must believe and expect God’s best blessings whenever we pray!
“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by My Father in Heaven. For where two or three gather in MyName, there am I with them.”
 
By: Daniel Kolenda, a modern missionary evangelist and successor to world renowned Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, Daniel is the president and CEO of Christ for All Nations. For more information or to support them with regular donations or to purchase some of their resources, see: www.cfan.org.za

Having spent over 25 years in ministry, Charles Andrew Stanley knows a few things about faith. Recognised as the 20th most influential Christian in America and claiming the title as leader of one the largest churches in the States (up to 33 000 people attending each Sunday at seven campuses), Andy is no stranger to the Christian limelight.

Son of a preacher man
Growing up as a preacher’s kid (his father is renowned preacher and televangelist, Charles Stanley) Andy immersed himself in the things of God, but life was not necessarily plain sailing just because he came from a Christian family. “I grew up in a home where the Bible was central; our family always prayed together. Some of my earliest memories are of my parents, sister and I going into the lounge and praying together.
Every time there was any kind of marginal issue or decision to be made, my dad would call us to our knees to pray. Growing up, there weren’t any decisions that were made without prayer – that really left a mark on me. Especially during the tough times of ministry when I saw church politics run rife and man’s agenda take over the work of the ministry.”
‘Called’ to lead
Despite the legacy his father was building for Andy to one day take over as senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Atlanta, the younger Stanley had no specific intentions to enter the ministry full-time. “I never really felt called to ministry like most of my friends [including teenage friend, Louie Giglio]. I can remember being almost jealous of the guys who had such a certainty about what God wanted them to do. I never had that – probably because I was afraid of what it meant.”

Discovering his passion for church 
Starting out quite by accident as the youth pastor at his father’s church, Andy pioneered a new way of “doing church” that was to unleash an explosion of excitement and growth – specifically amongst unsaved  and unchurched people. “I had no desire to start a church, or to pastor a church as then I would have to do ‘adult’ ministry, and I dreaded the thought of ever doing that.
There was so much freedom and creativity in student ministry. By being creative and working in an informal environment, we were forced out of our traditional box. We felt that we could capture the imagin­ation of people who had given up on church,  if we could do it in a different way. I remember saying to my wife at the time, “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
Despite experiencing incredible growth and community impact at the time, Andy came under immense criticism from some of his elders and leaders. As tensions rose at church, so too at home between his parents: after 25 years of marriage, his mother eventually filed for divorce. Charles Stanley’s divorce, tantamount to a sin in his conservative congregation, led to a rift between father and son that ultimately took years to mend. Charles felt betrayed by his son, Andy felt unheard by his father. With goodwill depleted between the pair, Andy decided it was time to move on.

Walking his own way…
A few members suggested that he start a church off-shoot, but Andy declined. Despite a pregnant wife and two little toddlers in tow, Andy resigned with no specific plan ahead. “It was a tough time,” says Sandra Stanley, “but neither of us felt any fear.” One day after deciding to begin a church on the opposite side of the state so as not to compete with his father, news spread quickly.
Despite the anger and disappointment he may have felt, Charles still gave his blessing for Andy to plant a church – one that would rival – and today even out-dwarf – his father’s. At the time this must have cut deep, as Charles watched his heir apparent forge his own destiny. But today the two men have reconciled and Andy recounts their journey with candid honesty and vulnerability in his latest book, ‘Deep and Wide’.

Landing on our shores this month!
The book is semi-autobiographical, offering an in-depth view into the life and times of the Stanleys, but it is also a church handbook, sharing the strategies that God has given Andy over the years as to how to develop a deep faith not only in his life, but those of his congregants too. This month Andy will be training church leaders across South Africa as he visits here with Willowcreek. 

By: Jackie Georgiou

We are living in tough times with turmoil and turbulence all around us. The world is full of natural disasters. When we look closer to home, closer to the heart, we see marriages and families falling apart and people ending up disillusioned and hurt.
Difficult experiences and broken marriages are part of life and all too often mere survival becomes the main focus of our daily lives. There is however a different, and might I add, a more Godly approach to matrimony, namely –  embracing your marriage  – instead of ‘surviving’ your marriage.

How does God view marriage?
In Genesis 1 we read that God created the earth and the waters, the birds and the animals. And He saw that it was good.
Then God created mankind, male and female, He created them. And this time, God saw that it was very good! With man in the picture, Creation was complete and it was very good.
God made man and wife and He blessed them. Marriage, from God’s perspective, is meant to be a blessing, a promised land, a kingdom. God instituted marriage to provide companionship, joy, harmony, and Godly offspring for man. In Deuteronomy 11:11-12, God says about the Promised Land: “For the land you are entering to possess (you need to possess it to make it your own) is a land of mountains and valleys, watered by rain from the sky. It is a land the Lord your God cares for.”

Taking ownership
So we see that we need to possess this blessing, this land, this marriage we are entering or have entered. We need to take ownership of our marriage, meaning we need to take responsibility and accountability. When we look at a marriage relationship, there are three primary areas of responsibility and accountability:

Husband
Wife
Interpersonal interaction/communication/relationship.

Are you being critical?
When you are the husband, you need to look at yourself first: your role, your responsibilities, your issues. When you are the wife, you need to look at yourself first: your role, your responsibilities, your issues, and your attitude. Do not look at your spouse through the long list of flaws he or she has, or through your opinions as to how he or she should change to be a better spouse. Firstly, you must be the person God has intended you to be!

The world’s view or God’s view?
When we go back to the beginning, we see that God has said: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper (help meet) who is like him.” Then God created woman. In the Hebrew translation, the word used for helper, literally means ‘completer’. A man and a woman, united in marriage, become one complete, whole entity, ultimate oneness, and perfect (completed) union. When God looks at marriage, this is what He sees. What the world has made marriage to be today was never the idea.

What does it mean to be a completer or helper to your spouse?
Let’s look at what it does not mean: it does not mean corrector, criticiser, or converter. To complete your husband means that there where he lacks, the wife fills in – with a gentle spirit and in an attitude of love. The Word speaks of “the hidden heart with the imperishable spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes.” 1 Peter 3:4.
By implication, the word completer also means that the completer is not whole in itself, but needs to be attached to something in order to form a whole. Woman, you are made to be attached and connected to your husband in order to be whole. Those areas where you are lacking, are the areas your husband fits in perfectly. You were not meant to be independent.
Ephesians 5:22-24 reads as follows: “Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the Church. He is the Saviour of the Body. Now as the Church submits to Christ, so wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”

What does it mean to submit?
The word ‘submit’ refers to a voluntary choice on the part of an equal. God made man a helper who is is of equal value – different, but not less. Submission refers to an attitude of the heart. Submission however has to be qualified:
Submit to your own husbands. A married woman no longer submits to her father. She will always honour her father, but she now submits to her husband, since he is now the head of the household
Submission is proper. Colossians 3:18: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.“ This is a principle that God instituted. It is binding
You need to submit to:
• Your husband’s provision
• His preservation
• His protection.
In other words, you are to show honour and respect to his calling as your husband. Why is it a calling? Because God has called him to be the husband and ultimately he is the one accountable to God for the way he treats his wife and family.
There is another commandment God gives concerning marriage: He commands the men to love their wives, to treat them well, honour them and respect them. The man will be held accountable for his provision for, and protection and preservation of his wife and children.

What about an unbelieving spouse?
Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:1: “Wives, in the same way, submit to your own husbands so that, even if some disobey the Christian message, they may be won over without a message by the way their wives live.”
Your behaviour should glorify your husband. Your attitude should lure him towards you and your home, to your faith and to Jesus Christ.
 Listen to what Solomon said in Proverbs 31:11: “Who can find a capable wife? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her…”
Those who are in a difficult marriage can take comfort in Isaiah 40:28-29: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding. He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless.”

Choose marriage – God’s way! Trust in His ability to turn things around
Take courage in the Lord! In Revelation 21, an angel refers to the New Jerusalem as the Bride of Christ. Listen to what he testifies about this Bride: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
When God illuminates your heart and innermost being, external circumstances cannot extinguish the light. There is an alternative to divorce and that is embracing your marriage! 

By: Lize Froneman, a Counsellor for the SA Board of Counsellors as well as the Dean for CLT Bible School Tuition Centre in Kroonstad. You can contact her on froneman@mysenwes.co.za