False Prophets Exposed: Why Modern-Day Prophets Never Saw This Pandemic Coming

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He created the world." —Hebrews 1:1-2

Self-proclaimed apostle Chuck Pierce claimed that there would be a "shift" in the pandemic by the end of the Passover season. Self-proclaimed prophet Tracy Cooke also said that by April 16, "the blood of Jesus" would cause the "plague to pass over." Both of these men qualified their predictions by referencing Amos 3:7, which says, "For the Lord God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants, the prophets."

But that verse does not qualify their prediction as legitimate. On the contrary, it exposes them as frauds. If, as they understand Amos 3:7, the Lord God does nothing without revealing it through His prophets first, then why did none of the so-called "prophets" of today know that the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic was about to happen?

That's the question Dr. Michael L. Brown recently attempted to answer as he's been running damage control for the charismatic and pentecostal movement. Recently, he published an article entitled Some Practical Thoughts on Contemporary Prophetic Ministry in which he attempted to explain why none of the charismatic "prophets" predicted the pandemic.

What is the reason? Dr. Brown says it's "because their primary calling is not to be prognosticators or predictors." Now that's funny. Dr. Brown thinks he's helping the charismatic movement. But without realizing it, he just admitted the movement is full of false prophets!

Charismaticism Exposed

Last month, evangelist Justin Peters pointed out that in January, Sid Roth featured 20 of his most revered prophets sharing their predictions for 2020 on his program It's Supernatural! which airs on TBN and Daystar. What did those prophets claim God was showing them? They said things like America would be blessed with prosperity and that there would be large gatherings of people. Yet the opposite has happened. America is more bankrupt than it has ever been, and who knows if anyone will be allowed to attend even a high school football game this year.

The Wuhan virus pandemic has exposed the pentecostal and charismatic movement as useless—they cannot see the future, they cannot stop an illness, they cannot heal the sick. The pandemic will likely be the biggest event of the year, if not the biggest news story in a lifetime. And not a single one of their "prophets" saw it coming. Not a Ken Copeland nor a Pat Robertson nor a Benny Hinn nor a Joel Osteen nor a Brian Houston nor a Bill Johnson nor a Jim Bakker nor a Joyce Meyer nor a Beth Moore nor a Cindy Jacobs nor a Sarah Young nor a Paula White nor any of these other money-grubbing wahoos who claim to receive special revelation from God.

The level to which these prophets have been embarrassed is irony at its most hilarious. Bethel Church in Redding, CA, which has a school to teach people how to heal diseases and predict the future, shut down their healing rooms and told their faith-healers to stay away from hospitals due to the risk of COVID-19. Hack prophet Shawn Bolz has postponed his prophecy conference. Let me say that again—a prophet has had to postpone his already-scheduled prophecy conference! Shouldn't he have seen this coming and scheduled his conference for after the pandemic?

Bolz said at the start of March that COVID-19 would not become a pandemic. In response to Bolz, I made the joke on Twitter, "Great, now COVID-19 is going to become a pandemic because Shawn Bolz said it isn't going to become a pandemic." Sure enough, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic one week later. I'm a more accurate prophet than Bolz, and I don't claim to be a prophet!

If this conference resumes and you buy a ticket, you deserve to lose your money.

Surely you've seen the video of Ken Copeland blowing away COVID-19, one of the most hilarious displays of charismatic kookiness that ever went mainstream. It doesn't help that Copeland looks like a movie villain, or as one satire site put it, like he "ate a trustworthy Christian and wore his skin to a Lawrence Welk taping." As of the writing of this article, it has been 4 weeks since Copeland declared the United States cured of COVID-19. At the time, there were 100,000 cases of the Wuhan virus in the U.S. This week, we will pass 1 million.

I could go on with so many more face-plants by charismatics. So again, why didn't their "prophets" know this was about to happen? The biblical answer is much simpler and more excoriating than Dr. Brown's answer. The reason modern-day apostles and prophets didn't see this coming is because there are no modern-day apostles and prophets. No faith-healer is miraculously clearing out the COVID-19 wards or even daring to set foot in one because there is no such thing as a faith-healer.

Beware of False Prophets

Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness'" (Matthew 7:15, 21-23).

Is there a passage more warning of the charismatic and pentecostal movement with their false prophecy and fake healing than those words of Jesus? This is a critical issue. Eternal souls are at stake—the souls of these false prophets, the souls of those who run cover for them, and the souls of the people whom they continue to fool.

Let's consider further the lies of the charismatic movement along with what the Bible has to say about prophecy. I'm going to use Dr. Brown's article as a catalyst for truer understanding. I'll go through his article word-for-word, which will make this a longer blog than usual. Happy reading! Dr. Brown's comments will be in bold and I will respond with commentary.

I believe deeply in prophetic ministry today. I believe God still speaks to and through His children. And I believe that some are specially called to serve as "prophetic" voices, both to the Church and to the world.

Where is that in the Bible? Now, I certainly believe in the preaching and teaching of God's word, which is the Bible. I believe God speaks to His children through the Bible, and God speaks through His children when they teach the Bible. I believe some are called to serve as "prophetic" voices in the sense that they proclaim the message of God's kingdom to His church and to the world, and they proclaim the coming of Christ, which is prophecy that has yet to be fulfilled.

But I do not believe "in prophetic ministry today" in the sense that God is revealing new truth or speaking through private revelations. If God is still speaking in this way, then whatever is being revealed would have the same authority as Scripture. It doesn't matter whether it's a personal prophecy or something for a large group of people. Whatever God says is Scripture. Is that what Dr. Brown means to convey, that private revelations are equal to the Bible?

The Bible is "the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:19-21).

The prophets have spoken the word of God, "carried along by the Holy Spirit," and the word of God is confirmed. We do not need any new revelation. Jesus Christ, the Word, has come, and His word is sufficient (Hebrews 1:1-2 at the top of this article). To believe in modern-day prophets is to say the Bible, "the prophetic word more fully confirmed," is not confirmed enough.

Every one of these "prophetic voices" Dr. Brown has put forward over the years has always turned out to be a false prophet—most recently Chuck Pierce and Tracy Cooke. But Dr. Brown remains in denial. Though he admits "these prophets" are "so inaccurate and wrong," he insists many of them are "so accurate and right." Yet they go on deceiving millions, and Dr. Brown is aiding and abetting their blasphemy. He continues:

How is it, then, that there is such a mixture in contemporary prophetic ministry? How is it that, in some circumstances, these prophets can be so accurate and right while in other circumstances they can be so inaccurate and wrong? In short, I believe it comes down to the importance of staying in our proper lanes and use the prophetic gift properly. What, exactly, do I mean by this?

Now, keep in mind that he's asked this question. He says that the "prophets" need to stay "in our proper lanes and use the prophetic gift properly," and then he's asked, "What, exactly, do I mean by this?" You would think this means he's going to explain how to "use the prophetic gift properly." But he never does.

Having been in Pentecostal-Charismatic circles for most of the last 48 years, I have personally witnessed or heard about some amazing prophetic words. In a few cases, they were spoken through me. At other times, they were spoken to me. In many other instances, they were spoken to or through friends of mine.

To include my background, I spent a little over 10 years in Pentecostal-Charismatic circles. From 1999 to 2009, almost every church I attended was charismatic. I also preached and sang in many churches, and most of them were charismatic. All the girls I crushed on were charismatic. All of my friends were charismatic. And very few of them are still walking with the Lord today.

In those 10 years, I never witnessed one single thing to convince me God is performing miracles like we read of in the New Testament, nor did I witness anyone share a genuine prophecy. I certainly thought I did. When my friends were telling me what God told them or did through them, I believed it. Even though God wasn't doing it through me, I believed He was doing it through them. I didn't speak in tongues or hear God's voice or miraculously heal anyone. But I believed my friends were.

Slowly, I came out of it. I wasn't fully convinced in cessationism—the belief that the miraculous sign-gifts in the New Testament have ceased—until I had been a pastor for about 5 years. When I was first ordained, I was your typical bapticostal, holding a view of continuationism that was similar to David Platt's, Matt Chandler's, or John Piper's. (I wrote four years ago about my transition here.)

So what changed my mind? It wasn't because I realized I hadn't seen any miracles or witnessed any genuine prophecy. Remember, I thought I had. John MacArthur's "Strange Fire" conference had something to do with it, as well as watching Justin Peters' videos. But mostly it was the result of good personal friendships who were patient with me and walked me through the Scriptures. My mind was changed because I read the Bible.

Hebrews 2:3-4 says that the gospel of Jesus Christ "was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will." The reason for the miraculous sign-gifts is right there. These signs were given by the Holy Spirit to affirm that a message being spoken was truly a word from God.

An apostle of Jesus Christ was personally appointed to be an apostle by the risen Lord, and his apostleship was further affirmed through miraculous signs and healings. In 1 Corinthians 15:8, the Apostle Paul said that he was the last apostle appointed. New Testament prophets were distinct from the apostles in that they had not personally seen the risen Lord, but the prophecies they received complemented, affirmed, and furthered apostolic ministry. The kinds of prophecies disclosed today are nothing like what we see the prophets saying in the book of Acts, a point I'll come back to in a moment.

The apostolic age came to an end with the death of John at the end of the first century. There are no more apostles, no more prophets, no more new revelation, for the Scriptures are written and the canon is closed. Therefore, there is no need for miraculous signs since there is no new revelation from God.

I will defend cessationism as true, as I have been doing. But the burden of proof is less on the cessationist and more on the continuist to demonstrate that the sign-gifts as the apostles had them are still ongoing. Can the charismatic movement give any real, authentic proof of modern-day miracles and prophetic fulfillment? The answer is no, because they are not happening.

Nonetheless, Dr. Brown is going to provide three examples he thinks prove charismatic prophecy. They actually do the opposite. These examples demonstrate that what is called "prophecy" today is not at all like prophecy in the Bible. Keep in mind that Dr. Brown is writing an article to defend the charismatic movement against the nay-sayers in a time when charismaticism is at an embarrassing low. Ken Copeland and Paula White have face-planted in front of the whole world. Dr. Brown's friend Sid Roth is a joke. And where on earth is Benny Hinn? Dr. Brown should be pulling out all the stops. He should be throwing down the gauntlet with the most indisputable, most conclusive proofs of modern prophecy and miracle-working that the charismatic movement has to boast of.

But that's not what he does. He offers three quaint little anecdotes that are more amusing than convincing. His stories mention no names, no times, no places, and he was not a witness to any of them. Even if these stories did happen, they are not hall-of-fame verifications of God-given revelation. Yet Dr. Brown is thoroughly convinced that these tales are the whamma-jamma of modern-day prophecy.

If I could recall every one of [these amazing prophetic words] today, it would make for a staggering, God-glorifying, Jesus-exalting collection. In fact, the collection of prophetic words would stretch all credulity. Did the Lord really do that?

Let me give you three illustrations.

A pastor had planted a church in his city, and little by little, it was growing. A prophetic brother who was well-known in the community told him one day, "When you hit 180 people, the explosion will come." The pastor kept that in mind, waiting for that explosion in numerical growth when their congregation reached 180.

Then, one Sunday morning, the pastor noticed that, out of the 182 chairs they had set up, there were only two empty seats. They had hit 180. Later that afternoon, when the building was empty, a gas line ruptured and the building exploded. Yes, when they hit 180, the explosion came! This was not what they were expecting, but it was a very literal fulfillment of the prophecy.

The pastor told me this story himself, with a smile. And, he added, they then moved into a much better, permanent facility, and the church took off from there. Who would dare call this a mere coincidence?

I would call it useless. What is the point of this "prophecy"? If the so-called prophet had told the pastor, "On this day, the building is going to explode. Do not be in the building!" then the "very literal fulfillment of the prophecy" would have saved someone's life. But this prediction as given has no value to it whatsoever, except to be a tally mark in the community prophet's prophecy ledger: "Hooray! I got one right!"

There is not one example of prophecy in the book of Acts that looks like the vague word-play Dr. Brown conveyed in this story. Can Dr. Brown produce a single prophet who has never been wrong and is verified with miraculous signs? That's the real test—not dubious anecdotes. If a so-called prophet gets even one prediction wrong, they are not a prophet of God. Just reason this logically: If a person claiming to have received a revelation from God gave a word that was proven false or a prediction that did not come true, could you ever be sure anything they said was truly from God?

The Scripture is clear on this: "The prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?' When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).

Consider just how serious this is. If a person says, "God has told me," or "God has shown me," and they make a prediction or speak a word that doesn't come true, they shall die. It doesn't matter how genuine his feelings were or how clear the voice was in his head. It doesn't matter if she claimed to speak from God or she spoke in the name of another god. The penalty for a false prophet is death.

This consequence hasn't been lifted. The wages for false prophecy is still death. At the end of Revelation, Jesus said, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book" (Revelation 22:18-19).

False prophecy has always been a deadly serious offense. If we took this as seriously as the Bible does, I guarantee there would be way fewer people claiming to speak from God, even things as vain and as useless as the above story, or this next one.

Here’s another story I heard firsthand.

Yet there will be no names, places, or any other details. This isn't how prophecy is verified in Scripture.

A powerful woman of prayer was asked to speak at a church banquet, and on the way there, she heard the Spirit say to her heart, "I want you to bring a prophetic word to each person there." When she arrived, there was a table with about 12 people sitting there, and so she thought to herself, "I can bring a word to each of these 12."

Then, some doors swung open, and to her surprise, there were about 300 people seated at other tables. She thought to herself, "How can I possibly bring a prophetic word to all these people?" At that moment, she noticed a silver-haired woman seated in that front table and received this message for her: "Keep on truckin'!" What? She is supposed to tell an old woman that the Lord was saying, "Keep on truckin'!"?

But she couldn’t shake the feeling, and she went ahead [and] said to her, "The Lord says, keep on truckin'!" The whole place instantly erupted with shouts and applause. The prophetic word was for all of them. You see, this elderly woman had recently lost her husband, who owned a large trucking company. The widow had asked the church to pray for wisdom in the matter. Should she keep the company going or not?

God answered their prayers directly with a very clear word. Our Father cares enough to do things like this.

Show me one example of this in the Bible. This was not "a very clear word" from God. This was a common idiom falsely equated with being a word from God. This is not how the Holy Spirit spoke in the book of Acts. The person knew clearly the voice of God and what He was communicating. Consider these examples:

• Philip was specifically told to go witness to the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:29).
• Ananias was specifically told where Saul was and what happened to him (Acts 9:11-12).
• Cornelius was specifically told to seek out Simon Peter and where to find him (Acts 10:4-6).
• Agabus was specifically told there would be a great famine (Acts 11:28).
• The Spirit specifically told the prophets and teachers to send Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:2).
• Paul was specifically told to go to Macedonia and preach the gospel (Acts 16:9).
• The Lord specifically told Paul to not be afraid but to continue ministering in Corinth, and he would not be harmed (Acts 18:9).

Do either of Dr. Brown's first two stories look or sound anything like these examples?

On March 30, Dr. Brown said on Twitter, "I believe in prophetic ministry today, recognizing from the [New Testament] that every word must be tested." Did this woman test her words before she gave them to the silver-haired old lady in the front row in the presence of many witnesses? If she did test them, then how? Did it concern her that she might be taking the Lord's name in vain and speaking a word that did not come from Him?

As I said, if God is still speaking through personal private prophecy, whatever He's saying is equally as authoritative as Scripture. The charismatic may not agree with that statement when you say it, but they all apply it practically, as Dr. Brown's third example story demonstrates.

This last story was told to me by a friend of who witnessed what happened at a small Bible study one night. A prophetic brother was visiting, and he sensed he had a word for a young woman there. He felt to tell her, "God says that He hates mommies and daddies." But what kind of message was this? Doesn’t the Bible teach us to honor our fathers and mothers? Still, he couldn’t shake the word and finally told the woman what he was sensing.

At that, she began to weep, sharing through tears what the word meant to her. It turns out that, when she was a little girl, her father would get into bed with her and sexually abuse her, leaving her with deep emotional scars. He would tell her, "We’re going to play a little game called Mommies and Daddies." Now, years later, in a deeply personal way, her heavenly Father was telling her that He knew about this abuse and that He hated what happened to her.

That simple word changed her life.

Because the Bible couldn't? There is no word more compassionate for those who are wounded than what we have in Scripture. Psalm 147:3 and 6 says, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked to the ground."

Of the three stories Dr. Brown shared, this one most exemplifies how the charismatic practice of believing whatever voice is in your head as being the voice of God has no real biblical restrictions. This false prophet claims he heard God say, "God hates mommies and daddies." Here we have an example of a subjective revelation that seems to be contrary to the Bible. Dr. Brown even acknowledged it: "Doesn't the Bible teach us to honor our fathers and mothers?"

If this false prophet had subjected his feelings to the authority of Scripture, the thought never would have gone from his brain to his mouth. But "he couldn't shake the word and finally told the woman what he was sensing." What he was sensing? Where is that in the New Testament? Show me one prophet who sensed something and followed their senses? Is biblical prophecy like Darth Vader sensing the presence of Obi Wan Kenobi?

"I sense something... a presence I haven't felt since Pentecost."

This story demonstrates that in charismaticism, even our senses are equally as authoritative as God's word. There are no rules in this game: If you have a thought, and you believe it's from God, then it's from God. The charismatic Bible is an open canon, subject to human thoughts, feelings, and emotions. My friends, you can believe that Scripture is sufficient, or you can believe in new and private revelation, but you cannot believe both.

Jonathan Edwards asked, "Why can't we be contented with the divine oracles, that holy, pure Word of God, that we have in such abundance and such clearness now since the canon of Scripture is completed?" Martin Luther has said, "I have covenanted with my Lord that He should not send visions or dreams or even angels! I am content with this gift of the Scriptures, which teaches and supplies all that is necessary, both for this life and that which is to come."

Again, I could give you endless stories like this, some of which I witnessed myself...

Yet again, not one of these three stories he witnessed himself.

...pointing to the reality and accuracy of prophetic ministry today. Yet few, if any, contemporary prophets predicted the current pandemic in advance (for the possibility that David Wilkerson did in 1987, see here).

There is no evidence that David Wilkerson ever made such a prophecy. Dr. Brown even acknowledged on his radio program that no one close to Wilkerson ever heard him say it, yet he's continuing to push it as potentially true. No modern-day charismatic prophet saw this pandemic coming. That's a cold, hard fact.

You can be sure that critics of contemporary prophecy have been quick to point this out.

Here Dr. brown linked to Justin Peters, who is a good brother and has been right on the money. Justin has been far, far more accurate in pointing out these false prophets' false prophecies than Brown's buddies have ever been about anything.

Other prophetic leaders have given words that now seem inaccurate, leading to mockery on atheist and left-wing websites. How can this be? How can some of these same people be so accurate with personal and directional words and yet be so inaccurate with these other words?

As demonstrated above, they are "as accurate with personal and directional words" as a fortune cookie, a magic 8-ball, your gut, the Pet Whisperer, or the Long Island Medium.

I believe that it has to do with staying in our proper lanes, since, for the most part, New Testament prophecy is not so much focused on predicting the future as much as on bringing correction and help to the Church. (For my interview with Jeremiah Johnson where we discussed this very subject, see here.)

And in stark contrast with the role of Old Testament prophets, who often stood alone and whose words could lead to revival or apostasy, New Testament prophets are no different than pastors or evangelists or teachers. In other words, they too are part of leadership teams. They too must submit to spiritual authority. And, in keeping with the clear teaching of Paul (see 1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21), their words must be tested.

Even more importantly, all New Testament believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and can potentially hear the voice of God. That’s why Paul encourages all believers to seek the gift of prophecy (see 1 Corinthians 14:39). It is a truly edifying, helpful gift (see 1 Corinthians 14:3).

Here's a question no continuist has ever been able to answer for me: What does God's voice sound like? Truly, how can you know the difference between the Spirit speaking to your heart and the subjective thoughts bouncing around in your head? Does the Spirit's brain-voice sound different than your own brain-voice? How do you test those random thoughts that pop into your head? None of the stories Dr. Brown referenced above were subject to testing. Like a Disney princess, they all followed their heart.

What Dr. Brown is doing with his Bible references is proof-texting. He's not teaching the Bible. He's not even quoting these passages or explaining the meaning. He's ripping some references out of their context to support his bias. Here are the verses he cited but didn't quote:

"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is being said." 1 Corinthians 14:29

In the above examples that Dr. Brown gave, two or three "prophets" didn't speak. One person said something that was passed off as "prophecy," but wasn't.

"Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good." 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21

I despise what Dr. Brown calls "prophecy." Between Dr. Brown and me, which one of us is testing everything? Dr. Brown didn't include verse 22, which says, "Abstain from every form of evil." Saying God spoke where He did not speak is evil. Jeremiah 23:16-17 says, "Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, 'It shall be well with you,' and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, 'No disaster shall come upon you.'"

"So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues." 1 Corinthians 14:39

"On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up-building and encouragement and consolation." 1 Corinthians 14:3

Just like Dr. Brown has a wrong understanding of prophecy, he also doesn't understand what speaking in tongues is. But I digress. Once again, Dr. Brown is welcome to put forward a single genuine modern-day prophet, who actually speaks a word from God and is 100% correct with every prediction. Or can he produce a modern-day apostle who has restored limbs (Acts 3:7) and raised the dead (Acts 9:41)? He cannot. The offices of apostle and prophet are closed, as the Scripture says.

This is not to say that the Lord will never use New Testament prophets to warn us of major events to come. We have examples of this in the Book of Acts (see especially Acts 11:27-30). And six weeks before the 9-11 terrorist attacks, David Wilkerson shared that "the Holy Spirit forewarned our pastoral staff that a calamity was coming." So, they cancelled all their coming events, some of which were major, and they "decided to hold prayer meetings four nights a week."

Wilkerson explained that, “During this visitation from the Lord, the Holy Ghost revealed there was a reason for the weeping in our hearts. We were being so moved because a tragedy was coming. A severe calamity was coming to the nation. And even though we didn't know what it was, our hearts were stirred to intercede concerning it."

When the tragedy hit, the church was ready.

Nope. The story isn't true. The story's origin comes from a Wilkerson prophecy made in 2009, not 2001, and it was dressed up by World Net Daily, a site that Dr. Brown has often written for. The story goes that prior to the 9/11 attacks, Wilkerson felt God telling him to make sandwiches. So he and his church stayed up all night long on September 10, 2001, and made 2,000 sandwiches. The next day, the terrorist attack on the twin towers happened, and "the church was ready" to feed first responders the sandwiches that the Lord told them to make the night before.

But it's not true. Wilkerson's Times Square Church even put forward a statement debunking the story, and World Net Daily had it scrubbed from their site. You can still read the full story here.

During the last elections (as well as before them), there were striking prophecies about Donald Trump becoming president. This was at a time when he was the least likely candidate of them all, especially for evangelical Christians.

Looking back, it seems that God used these words to get our attention. (For a comprehensive listing of every relevant prophetic word and article, see the new book by Prof. James Beverly, God’s Man in the White House: Donald Trump in Modern Christian Prophecy. For our interview on the subject, see here.)

Get our attention for what? To show us that the evangelical right has become so worldly, they would fall all over themselves to raise up a casino and strip-club owning billionaire, who had a reputation as a serial-adulterer, pornographer, and an obscene bully, who said his good works will get him to heaven, boasted no one's read the Bible more than he has, said he's never needed to ask God's forgiveness, and is adored by prosperity preaching health-and-wealth pentecostal false prophets everywhere?

I said to my congregation Donald Trump was going to be the next president—14 months before it happened. Unlike a lot of these false prophets, I have proof that I said it. I'm no prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet (that's an Amos 7:14 joke). It wasn't that difficult to see it. Donald Trump looked and sounded just like the mainstream American Big Evangelicalism I'd been rebuking and warning my church not to let in the door. I knew he'd be the hands-down favorite.

I don't say this to boast in myself. I'm saying this to emphasize the "prophecies" about Donald Trump prove nothing.

Yet in the previous presidential election, some had prophesied that Romney would win. (If you missed the news, he didn’t.) What was the difference between 2012 and 2016? In 2012, with Romney, I believe Christian leaders operated outside of their spiritual gifting, trying to prognosticate, prophesying out their own hearts. In 2016, these prophetic words caught people totally off guard, getting us to think outside of the box. And they were confirmed by several leaders at the same time.

This is absurd. Once again, there are no rules in Dr. Michael Brown's Imaginary Wonder Emporium. If you predict something that happens, charismaticism is true. If you predict something that doesn't happen, it doesn't disprove charismaticism. You were just doing it wrong. The hack healers Dr. Brown so often defends use a similar gag: If you didn't get your healing, it's because you didn't have enough faith. It's your fault, not the fault of the healer who couldn't heal you. There are built-in fail-safes to charismaticism so it can never be liable for errors.

Dr. Brown is also being hypocritical. In an article he published on March 30, he rebuffed an unnamed critic of the charismatic movement for being unconvinced by prophecies made about Donald Trump becoming president: "If Trump was not elected, he told me, that would prove the prophecies were false. If Trump was elected, it would prove nothing, since either Trump or Hillary Clinton were going to win the election... So much for responding dispassionately to evidence."

Yet what is Dr. Brown doing right here regarding his statements about Romney predictions? He wants to hold critics of charismaticism to a standard that he doesn't have to follow. Double standards are twice as good as regular standards!

Pat Robertson, founder of the 700 Club, told Benny Hinn that God showed him Mitt Romney would become president. In fact, Robertson said, God showed him Mitt Romney would serve two terms as president. Where was Dr. Brown's rebuke of Pat Robertson as a false prophet? Robertson is a sham and no one should ever give the 700 Club another dime. Yet Dr. Brown has been on the 700 Club several times since. Does he ever call out any of these false prophets?

The reality is that we are not living in Old Testament times, when every major divine action would be revealed in advance to the prophets (see Amos 3:7). We are living in New Testament times when the whole church is called to be prophetic (see Acts 2:17-21). In other words, as a people, we should understand the times. We should know how to live. And we should bring God’s message to the world. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.)

Again, Dr. Brown is making several references here, but he's neither quoting Scripture nor walking the reader through the text. His reference to Amos 3:7 is quite funny. He's saying here that's not how God speaks through prophets today. Yet he put forward two prophets—Chuck Pierce (who also claims to be an apostle) and Tracy Cooke—who both qualified their "prophecies" by referencing Amos 3:7 (see the opening paragraph to this article). So which is it? Does Amos 3:7 apply anymore or doesn't it? Again, what are the rules?

Acts 2:17-21 is a reference to a prophecy made in Joel 2:28-32. It's fulfilled in the book of Acts. As I stated earlier, the regularity of the miraculous sign-gifts ceased at the end of the apostolic era. Of course, if Dr. Brown is going to continue to present guys like Chuck Pierce as a modern-day apostle, he doesn't believe there's actually a conclusion to the apostolic era. Therefore, Scripture isn't closed, and any subjective vision is just as much God's word as the Bible is. He may not admit that, but those are the practical implications of Dr. Brown's hermeneutics.

What we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 is concerning the coming of the Day of the Lord. I absolutely believe we should bring this message to the world, and I have been for as long as I've been a pastor. But that's not what Dr. Brown is defending. He's defending the declaration of subjective visions and voices.

To be sure, there is still time to evaluate some of the words that have been spoken regarding COVID-19, including one which I referenced on March 30. According to this prophecy, the virus began in a Chinese lab and would be highly contagious. The word also stated that Democrats would use the virus to bring down Trump, but that on April 15 or 16 (coinciding with the end of Passover), we would enter the second phase of the pandemic. From that time on, the prophecy said, the virus would diminish. There was also a reference to a cure being found.

Well, on April 16, headlines announced that Trump was moving forward with plans to reopen the economy, starting May 1. The strategy was dubbed the "next front in our war." There was also major news that stocks rose sharply after reports of a successful cure, developed by Gilead Sciences. (Note that the company gets its name from the “balm of Gilead,” mentioned in Jeremiah 8:22.)

There has also been much speculation that the virus did, in fact, begin in a Chinese lab. Even CNN reported that, "U.S. investigates possibility of Covid-19 spread originating in Chinese lab." Again, time will tell whether this prophetic word was true or not.

Dr. Brown didn't reference just one "prophecy" on March 30—he referenced two "prophets" (Pierce and Cooke). Pierce actually claims he predicted in September 2019 that the nations would come into turmoil until Passover (April 8-16), and he says that on January 26, he predicted a plague would afflict the world until Passover. That last one is pretty specific. Yet Dr. Brown acknowledges that no one saw this pandemic coming. Where's the evidence that Pierce ever said such thing? Is Dr. Brown now dismissing that Pierce made this claim?

The second "prophecy" came from Tracy Cooke, and it's weirder than the way Dr. Brown framed it. Here's Cooke's vision word-for-word, as he told it to Sid Roth on Supernatural (he rambles and mumbles a bit, and words I couldn't understand I put in brackets):

"I saw the Lord [in] Honduras [and] I said, 'Lord, what do you want me to tell your people as my responsibility?' Because he'll reveal nothing unless he reveals it to the prophets first. And I said, 'Lord, there's so much fear and panic, how can I see for the world, [and] just one of the prophets. There's seven thousand more that ain't bowed their knees to Baal.' And the Lord gave me a two hour dream and showed me the corruption that's in the government of China, the government that's in the United States, [to guh] and, uh, so many, even about Russia and on and on and on. And the Lord took me in this scientific lab, and I saw them creating this virus, and they're going to use it through vaccine to, um, to, um, uh try to stop life from living. And they gonna, uh, do it through the, uh, some type of machine, I saw in the dream, and it's shooting into the air and then rubbing on people's clothing, and it was just spreading. But the good news of it is, uh, we're going to come to the first stage of this in April 15-16 during the Passover season, that the blood's gonna be applied, and any time the blood was applied, the plague passed over. So the blood of Jesus, the blood of Yeshua, is gonna cause the [rammit] to come alive."

Cooke's "vision" of a virus being created in a lab is not unusual. Dr. James White, who is not a charismatic, said weeks before Cooke that the virus was created in a lab in Wuhan. Cooke's reference to a cure (if that's what you want to call it) is also not unusual. Several medical agencies have been working on treatments and vaccines for as long as we've known about the virus.

There's even more to this prophetic vision. Cooke went on to explain to Roth that God showed him Donald Trump is definitely going to win the election in November—as long as he does certain things by a certain time (there's always a fail-safe built into every prediction). He also said God showed him this was going to be "one of the worst decades ever." That's an odd claim, considering he said nothing of the sort when he was on Roth's program in January.

In one guest appearance, Cooke said God revealed to him that Hillary Clinton was going to be Trump's opposition for president in 2020. In another appearance, Cooke said that 2020 was going to be the year of "the suddenlies of God" and everything you've been praying for would be answered. He said:

"God is going to bring you to that place to your full potential. I see people are going to flow in business, entrepreneurship; I see people going into the marketplaces; God is going to use you prophetically. I see so many miracles and healings. This is going to be the year of the greatest healings, the greatest years of miracles, even created miracles. You are going to start seeing so many tremendous visitations."

He concluded by saying, "By the end of 2020, you will see every prophecy, every dream of this hour, come to fruition." There was nothing about God showing him it was going to be one of the worst decades ever. In fact, Cooke prophesied the opposite of that. More people have filed for unemployment than ever since the Great Depression. Many businesses have shut down. And yet Cooke claimed this was going to be the year the marketplaces would thrive!

The guy is clearly talking out of his rear-end. Even if I were to acknowledge that he got one right and he accurately predicted a "shift" in the COVID-19 pandemic by mid-April, all it proves is that a broken clock is right twice a day. That's the level of accuracy you can expect from charismatic prophets. Yes, they get some things right sometimes—because they're false prophets, not real ones.

Already, however, it’s clear that some of the other prophecies about the virus were inaccurate or simply false. And it’s clear that, with rare possible exception, contemporary prophets around the world did not receive advance warnings of the pandemic. But that’s not because they are all frauds (although I’m sure there are some frauds and charlatans out there).

Yes, they are all frauds. The COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic has exposed the entire charismatic and pentecoastal movement as a fraud.

Nor is it because they are playing hit or miss. Rather, it’s because their primary calling is not to be prognosticators or predicters. And they are certainly not called to be the Christian equivalent of astrologers or horoscope readers.

That's all every contemporary charismatic prophet has ever been. They are all the "Christian" equivalent of astrologers and horoscope readers.

Instead, they are primarily called to wake up a sleeping Church, to direct God’s people to Jesus and to holiness, and to bring words of comfort, healing, blessing, and warning. As the Scripture says, "For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus" (Revelation 19:10, NLT).

To reiterate as I wrap up, Dr. Brown thinks he's helping his movement, but he's actually testifying that it's full of false prophets and teachers. If they were truly hearing from God, they would be preaching the gospel, sound in doctrine, "a clear witness for Jesus." But because Dr. Brown is acknowledging that they're not doing that, then they cannot possibly be hearing a word from the Lord.

The miraculous sign-gifts—speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, healing, prophecy—were never for the sake of doing miracles. They were to affirm the gospel. How do I know the Ken Copelands, the Benny Hinns, the Bill Johnsons, the Sid Roths, the Pat Robertsons, the Paula Whites, the Cindy Jacobs, and the Tracy Cookes of the world are all liars? There's no gospel.

The gospel is not miraculous physical healing or subjective visions and voices. It's not verified by speaking in tongues or receiving earthly riches. The simple word is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for sins and rose again from the grave. All who believe in Him will not perish under the judgment of God that will fall on sinful man, but you will have everlasting life in His eternal kingdom. If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, you are forgiven. You have fellowship with God right now. He speaks to you through His word, the Bible. You don't need self-made "prophets." You have Jesus.

If you have spoken falsely about Christ, or you have followed false prophets who speak falsely about Christ, repent, and He will forgive you. "If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing" (1 Timothy 6:3-4).

If contemporary prophets would focus on that, their ministries would flourish, many lives would be transformed, Jesus would be glorified, and reproach would be avoided.

If Dr. Brown would start naming names and calling these false prophets down, lives would be saved, Christ would be glorified, and reproach would be avoided.

But he won't. As long as he continues running cover for these charlatans, he should be regarded as one of them.


Thank you for reading! Paragraphs 122 and 123 were added shortly after this blog was posted. A few grammatical corrections have been made. None of the information was changed. For questions or comments, e-mail pastorgabehughes@gmail.com. Subscribe to the podcast at wwutt.podbean.com.

Let Your Yes be Yes and Your No Be No

The following is a sermon delivered on the Lord's Day, April 26, 2020, at First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, KS. The text was from Matthew 5:33-37 on the subject of making oaths.

33 "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' 34 But I say to you, 'Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or No.' Anything more than this comes from evil."

There's a story of legend that goes like this: A wealthy man from London was driving his Rolls-Royce through the Swiss Alps. As he traveled the winding road at high altitude, he heard a startling twang in the front of the automobile. His front coil spring had broken. Stranded, the man called the Rolls-Royce headquarters in London, unsure they'd be able to help him.

Now, in case you aren't familiar with Rolls-Royce, they are a luxury automobile made in the United Kingdom and owned by BMW. Their cars can range from a $300,000 sedan to the $13 million dollar Sweptail, the most expensive car ever built. But a car worth that much money comes with a no-mileage-limit warranty.

Where this man had broken down, it took very little time before a plane swooped in and landed on the road. Now, this plane wouldn't have come from London. They have dealerships in many places throughout Europe. But still the wealthy man was impressed by how quickly they arrived. The mechanics brought their tools, put in a new spring, and got the wealthy car owner on his way.

Weeks later, when he was back in London, he expected to find a bill for the stellar road-side assistance, but he did not see one. So he called their London offices again. "How is your car running, sir?" they asked him.

"Oh, it's running great," he replied. "I haven't had another problem. I was just calling to inquire about the bill for the roadside assistance you gave me."

"I'm sorry sir, a bill?" the representative asked him.

"Yes," the man replied. "What do the repairs on my Rolls-Royce cost?"

"There must be some mistake, sir," the representative said. "Our cars don't break down."

Now, maybe the story is true, or maybe it is just the stuff of legend. But I think it serves to illustrate that when you make a commitment to produce quality work, you stand by your commitment. This is understood in the business world. A good reputation is everything. If you buy a product, or you pay for other goods or services, you expect to receive what you paid for. If a manufacturer or a tradesman providing a service cannot do the job that they say they're going to do, they're quickly going to lose business and fold. If you have a good reputation, you make money. If you have a bad reputation, you lose money.

If we understand this principle as it applies to good business, how much more should we understand this principle as it applies to good behavior? There's a word we use for upstanding moral character—it's integrity. A person with good integrity is someone who does what they say they're going to do. They have strong moral principles, and they're known for keeping and living by those principles. They are undivided. Consistent. Ethical. If you are known for good integrity, you have a reputation as a quality human being.

A good reputation is achieved over time. I think we all know in our heart of hearts what it takes to develop a reputation for good character—know what is right, and do it. Are you impressed with anyone who says something like, "I swear I'm a good person!" Or, "I swear on my mother's grave, I would never do such a wicked thing"? Are you convinced by these qualifications that they're good people? On the contrary, most of us tend to be a little suspicious when a person has to make such qualifications of their character.

Here in Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus tells us, His disciples, quite plainly not to swear by anything. Know what God has said, and do what He says. Mean what you say, and say what you mean. Say what you're going to do, and do what you say you're going to do. If you think that swearing by anything is going to make you, your thoughts, and your actions more righteous, Jesus straight-up says what He thinks of this. He says it's evil. Let us consider the word of Christ today that we may know what is good and pleasing in His sight.

I'm going to divide this into two parts. We're going to first look at this text in the context of everything else we've studied up to this point, and then we'll look at the text itself and understand the instruction our Lord Christ is giving to us. Along the way, we'll be picking up practical implications as we go.

PART 1

So first of all, let's do a brief recap and understanding rightly the placement of this instruction in the Sermon On the Mount concerning oaths. As I've said to you, so much of the Sermon On the Mount is ripped out of context and misapplied. This is not one of the more popular sections of the sermon. In fact, in most of my study Bibles and commentaries, there were fewer notes on this section of Matthew 5 than any other section. It tends to be one of those parts we quickly brush past.

Nevertheless, we have a tendency to break all this stuff up and lose the focus. When Matthew was compiling this discourse, giving us in brevity the teachings of Jesus there in Galilee, Matthew wasn't piece-mealing this all together. This wasn't, "Okay, here I'm going to talk about hate, and here I'm going to talk about divorce, and here I'm going to talk about oaths." There is a deliberate flow to all of this. If you can imagine that the chapters and verses and subject breaks aren't there, it might be easier to grasp how this all fits.

Jesus is speaking the message of the kingdom, and the kingdom has laws. In verse 17, He said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." No one is permitted to relax even the least of these commandments or they are demonstrating that God's laws do not matter to them.

What follows from here is Jesus' address regarding particular laws, and He demonstrates the intention of the law. The law is not merely something external, but it is meant to demonstrate the righteousness of God's character and reveal to us that we are not righteous. Romans 3:20 says, "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." Romans 7:7, "If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is o covet if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'"

How were the Pharisees using the law? They believed that they could be made righteous by it. And so, they would twist and reduce the law of God to a level that was attainable, which is a slander against God's holiness.

Let me give you an example of this. Just two months ago, twenty-year-old Armand Duplantis of Louisiana set the world pole-vault record by clearing 6.17 meters on the pole vault at the Copernicus Cup in Poland. In English measurements, that's nearly seven yards high, or about as tall as two basketball goals stacked on top of one another. The thing about pole vaulting is, yeah, I'm impressed you can get up there, but now you have to come back down.

Let's say you decided, "I'm going to beat Duplantis's record. But I'm no athlete, I don't know anything about pole vaulting technique, and I'm kind of scare of heights. So I'm going to lower the bar to two feet. At that height, I don't even need a pole. I'm just going to jump over this bar on to the mat, and boom! I will have just beaten Duplantis's pole vault record."

That would be absurd. No one would even let you down on the track to compete under such a ridiculous and subjective standard. You have literally lowered the bar to beat the pole vault record, which is to set no record at all. That's kind of a crude example of what a person does when they twist God's law in order to make it more attainable so that they can appear more righteous. They lower the bar. They bring God down to raise man up. They lessen God's standards, and that is a slander against God's holy character.

Perhaps that helps you better understand what Jesus meant when He said, "Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven." We have to see the Law for what it is so that we understand we could never ascend to the height of God's righteous standard. We need someone who can get us there. And that someone is Jesus. Jesus did not lower the bar—rather, Jesus kept the Law perfectly, and if we are in Christ, then He raises us up to be seated on high in glory with Him.

Colossians 3:1, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." Jesus goes on to say, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of God." And if you are a follower of Jesus, you do have a righteousness that exceeds the scribes and the pharisees. You have the righteousness of Christ.

From here, Jesus goes on to explain, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment." If a person has hatred in their heart for another, it's the same as if they have murdered in their heart. Once again, Jesus is saying, "Don't think that just because you haven't murdered someone that you've never broken this law. You've missed the point of the law. Loving your neighbor is the fulfilling of the law. So if you hate your neighbor, you are not keeping the law. You are breaking the law." Again, you cannot bring the law down to your level in order to make yourself righteous.

In verse 27, Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." As with murder and hatred, this is a heart issue. Just because you haven't slept with another man's wife doesn't mean you have kept the seventh commandment.

Last week, we looked at verses 31 and 32: "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

You can probably see how we went from talking about murder to talking about adultery. Jesus went from the sixth commandment to the seventh commandments, using both commandments to expose the sinful heart. Then in going from talking about adultery to talking about divorce, in both places Jesus addressed the covenant of marriage—indirectly with regards to adultery, and directly with regards to divorce.

So now we get to talking about oaths, and you should see how this naturally flows from having talked about marriage. Marriage is a covenant union. An oath is taken—a solemn promise before God and before witnesses, to have and to hold to this person and no other, 'til death parts you. And even hear, with regards to oaths, Jesus is still confronting heart issues.


PART 2

Now that I hope I've helped you establish the context, let's look at the text itself. In verse 33, Jesus begins this section the same way He's begun every topic on the Law. He says, "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform to the Lord what you have sword.'" Where was this said to those of old? In Leviticus 19:12, we read, "You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord."

Now, Jesus is not saying here that you should not ever take an oath or sign your name to a contract or set your hand on the Bible and say, "I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God." Oaths and vows show up in both the Old and New Testaments. Rather, you should not swear by anything thinking that it makes you or your oath more holy. And do not be hasty to swear an oath in God's name. If you take an oath in his name and do not keep it, you swear falsely. You have taken the Lord's name in vain and have now blasphemed God.

The Pharisees, the scribes, the teachers of the Law, and everyone following their teaching were attempting to validate the sincerity of their oaths and promises by swearing upon sacred things, believing that such swearing made their commitments more genuine or more holy. But it doesn't add anything to the commitment at all. On the contrary, it makes the commitment less sincere.

Consider more broadly the context of this law in Leviticus 19. I'm going to start in verse 9 and read through verse 18:

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after you harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."

Our understanding of this instruction can surely change when we look at the context, right? What are the people of God being instructed to do here in this section of Leviticus 19? Love your neighbor. That's the context—love your neighbor. Everything is with regards to loving your neighbor:

• Leave the gleanings of your harvest for your neighbor.
• Do not steal or deal falsely with your neighbor.
• Pay what is owed to your neighbor.
• Do not mislead your neighbor.
• Do not unfairly judge your neighbor.
• Do not speak slander against your neighbor.
• Do not hate but reason frankly with your neighbor.
• Do not hold a grudge or take vengeance out on your neighbor.

Love your neighbor as yourself, as the Lord has instructed you.

So understand then the implication of this—If you think you must swear by God, by Jerusalem, by your own head to validate your commitments, you are not considering the needs of your neighbor. You're more concerned with yourself than you are with your neighbor. Your focus is on you—not on God by whom you have sworn, and not on the person to whom you have sworn.

Again, what's happening here is you are lowering the bar to make righteousness more attainable, which you cannot do. Consider what Jesus goes on to say in verse 34: "But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God." Can you bring down the heavens, or bring God's throne to your level? That's even more absurd than lowering the pole vault bar so that you can break the world record!

Verse 35, "or by the earth, for it is His footstool." In case you need to be told, the world does not revolve around you. "Or by Jerusalem, for is the city of the great King." The implication here is not that Jerusalem is in and of itself holy, but rather than God makes Jerusalem holy. So you're not making yourself more holy by swearing upon this, that, or the other. God is the one who sanctifies. Stop trying to leverage your own righteousness—you don't have any! You and I need the righteousness of Christ.

Psalm 48:2 says, "Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great King." That is a reference to Jerusalem. The reason Jerusalem is holy is because God is there. So likewise, my friends, you are made holy because God is within you. If you are a follower of Jesus, He has given you His Spirit, and you have been made a temple of the Holy One.

Look now at verse 36: "And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black." Notice that as we're progressing through this list here, we've started high and come down lower and lower. Jesus started this by saying, "Do not swear by heaven, do not swear by the earth, do not swear by Jerusalem, you can't even swear by your own self, for you cannot even determine your own hair color."

Now, I know that we live in a modern industrial commercialized age where you think you can make your hair a different color, but you can't. You're just hiding the truth. That's fine—if you want to look younger and not like you have gray hair, that's up to you. Just don't think you can actually reverse the fact that you are getting older.

James 4:13-16 says, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this our that.' As it is you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil."

Who are you to swear even by your own integrity? I talked at the start of the sermon about knowing what is right and doing it. You know what is right because of what God says is right, not what the culture says is right, and especially not by what you think is right. We know what is right when we study—gasp—the Law of God. Yes, we are not under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14), meaning that we will not be judged by the Law. It doesn't mean the Law no longer has any application. We know what is good and pleasing and acceptable to God when we study His Law.

On Thursday evening, in our Old Testament Bible study, we just started going through Psalm 119. Verse 9 says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!"

Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Discern the will of God how? By studying His law, which is good and acceptable and perfect. Paul said so back in Romans 7:12, "So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good."

You cannot be righteous by your own standard—that's called self-righteousness. I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I've had someone call me "self-righteous" because I said to them what God has said is right or wrong according to His word. I am not the self-righteous one here. I have acknowledged I have no righteousness. I must appeal to the word of God. If you reject God's word for your standard of goodness, it is you who is the self-righteous one.

Yet who are you to determine righteousness? You can't even determine the color of your hair! James 4:14 again, "You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." And that's about as good as your subjective morality is worth. Even the culture's sense of moral uprightness changes with the wind.

The Me Too movement declares, "Believe all women!" until a woman has stepped forward accusing the liberal presidential candidate, Joe Biden, of sexual assault. Suddenly their moral standard is gone. But don't think this is just the pattern among liberals. Conservatives excoriated Bill Clinton for his adultery, and rightly so, but then turned a blind eye to Donald Trump's adulterous character.

When we try to establish moral standards by human precepts, things go bad. We have to be fixed on something permanent and unchanging. And that someone is Christ. Jesus is going to close the Sermon On the Mount by talking about being built on the rock of Christ. And when the storms beat against the house, the house stands firm. Our culture is in absolute turmoil right now. Why? Because Christ is not our foundation.

When the pandemic hit, and things started getting shut down, we started naming what was essential and what was not. Right at the top of the non-essential column was "church." That is the number one indicator, my friends, that we are a thoroughly secular culture—when church is considered non-essential. This culture swears upon itself. And God is saying, as He did on a mountain in Galilee two thousand years ago, do not swear by your own head, "for you cannot make one hair white or black."

Job 14:1-5 says, "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. Since man's days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass."

And so finally in verse 37, Jesus says, "Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil." Remember, who is Jesus talking to? His audience, according to Matthew 5:1, is His disciples. Yes, the crowds are there, but He's teaching those who are there to learn. Those who follow Jesus, where does their righteousness come from? As we've already understood, their righteousness comes from Christ. If you are follower of Jesus and you have the righteousness of Christ, why would you ever commit your way by any other standard?

If Jesus is the ultimate good—and He is—then of course swearing by anything else would be evil! Jesus says simply let your yes be yes and your no be no. And again, the standard is not yourself. This is being said to a disciple of Jesus who understands, especially by this point in His teaching, that God is the standard.

Consider James again, chapter 5 verse 12: "But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by heart or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation." Let your word be enough because you believe God's word is enough.

As I said in the beginning, you know how important it is to have a good reputation. You trust in companies that have good reputations, so how much more important is it for us as followers of Christ that we reflect the righteousness of Christ? Proverbs 22:1 says, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver and gold."

The Lord Jesus Christ is the name that is above every name. He died on the cross for your sins and was raised from death. He ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He will forgive you of your sins and lead you in paths of righteousness for His namesake. By grace you are saved through faith and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God—not a result of works so no man may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

He has prepared you for good works that you may walk in them. Know what Jesus has said, and do what He has said—to the glory of God above. As Jesus said earlier in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

I shall close with the words of Obadiah Sedgwicke, seventeenth century English clergyman addressing the parliament at Westminster. He said the following:

"It is not in vain, nay, it is very good to draw near to God. Not one prayer that gets to heaven is lost. Sometimes divine wisdom doth take respite, but at this time divine goodness made haste. You had scarce begun your prayers, but God prevented you with answers. Our work on earth is done best, when our work in heaven is done first. You plainly see that God can (and which way He can) provide for His own glory, His peoples' safety, and His enemies shame. It is a superlative wisdom to interest our persons in God, and God in our actions. When we have once gained and engaged Him, we are then above all the world."

What Did Jesus Say About Divorce?

The following is a sermon delivered on The Lord's Day, April 19, 2020, at First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, KS. You can listen to the audio portion of the sermon through the player below. The text was from Matthew 5:31-32.



31 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

When I was preparing for this series in the book of Matthew, I can't remember where I was reading when I realized that I was going to be preaching on some of the hardest-hitting topics I've ever had to address as a pastor. If there's one thing Jesus was not in His earthly ministry, it's a soft preacher.

We have examined the subject of divorce before, but no where as directly as we find it here in the book of Matthew. There are two prominent passages where Jesus addressed this subject: here in Mathew 5 is the first, and later on in chapter 19. We will look at both sections today, and God-willing, we will come back to this subject again when we get to Matthew 19. I want to begin by understanding both a cultural and a biblical definition of divorce, then we'll make a closer examination of our text, and finally we'll draw out some practical applications.

But first, let's get really basic: What is divorce? In the simplest of terms, divorce is the end of a marriage. The dictionary defines divorce as, "a judicial declaration dissolving a marriage in whole or in part, especially one that releases the marriage partners from all matrimonial obligations."

We as Christians hold to a biblical definition of marriage, also the true definition of marriage, as God has created it. A marriage is the covenant union of one man and one woman for life. Therefore, we must have a biblical definition of divorce, which is to break that covenant between the husband and wife. There are some thirty passages in the Bible addressing the subject of divorce, and none of them speak of divorce as a good thing. It is regarded as grievous as death, for that's what divorce is—a divorce is the death of a marriage.
   
But we believe in a God who raises the dead, and God can also revive a marriage that seems doomed. If you live in a bad marriage, trust in the God who saves. Maybe your spouse has already abandoned you. Maybe your spouse hasn't physically left you, but they've divorced from you emotionally. Maybe your spouse has been unfaithful. Maybe your parents got divorced, and you don't feel like you've ever recovered. I tell you to trust in the God who is always faithful, who will never leave you nor forsake you.

Maybe you have been through a divorce. You must humble yourself before the Lord. Jesus died on the cross even for the sin of divorce. Turn to Him in repentance, and He will forgive you. Desire to walk in the way of Christ—on the path of righteousness and holiness. Never think of the grace of God as permission to get a divorce. Make no mistake: God hates divorce.

Malachi 2:16 says, "'For I hate divorce,' says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'and him who covers his garment with wrong,' says the Lord of hosts. 'So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously'" (NASB).

But here in our passage this morning, in just these two verses, an exception is given for divorce: "Everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality." We'll examine that further as we continue. In our considerations, let us desire first and foremost to uphold the word of God as our utmost authority. We want to know what God has to say, not what we want Him to say.
   
Now, whenever the subject of divorce comes up, you almost always hear this: Fifty percent of all marriages in America end in divorce. That statistic is not true. According to a 2017 article the New York Post—which happened to be about the split between movie stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner—the peak of the divorce rate occurred with the Baby Boomer splits in the 1980s, and it has been on a steady decline ever since. Still, of the couples who married in the 90s, almost 35 percent of them have ended in divorce. One of the reasons that statistic isn't higher is because more and more Americans don't bother to get married at all.
   
Divorce is a practice so prevalent in our culture, it has its own cottage industry. The dissolving of marriages and the division of property and earnings is a $50 billion a year industry. Of course, there are divorce lawyers, who make a lucrative living out of divorce litigation. There's even a market for throwing your own divorce party. I did a search for "divorce party" on Amazon, and there are all kinds of divorce party favors with such heartwarming messages like, "Knot untied," "Free at last," and "The end of an error."

You can purchase a banner that says, "Just divorced." Your former groomsmen can wear badges that say, "Divorce Party Support Crew." Your former bridesmaids can order shirts that say, "We never liked him." You can buy divorced hats, divorced mugs, divorced balloons. There's even an "I Hate My Ex-Husband Coloring Book, Sweary Midnight Edition: A Swear Word Adult Coloring Book of 40 Funny, Relatable, Breakup Insults."
   
This is not merely off in a dark corner of the culture—it's right out in the middle of pop culture. Tabloid newspapers wouldn't exist if not for superstar divorces and who got what. When pop star Robin Thicke divorced his wife in 2014, he threw himself a divorce party. When musician Jack White and his wife Karen Elson got a divorce, they invited friends to a divorce ceremony which took place on what would have been their sixth wedding anniversary. The invitation read, "Please help us celebrate together this anniversary of the making and breaking of the sacred union of marriage with our best friends and animals."
   
But for all the culture's attempts to dress this up or celebrate it or even make divorce into something fun, no one truly thinks divorce is fun. Does anyone get married thinking, "Meh, I can always get a divorce later"? No, people get married thinking their love is the greatest love that's ever been loved and no one has ever loved anyone the way that I love you. Even our secularist culture understands—marriage is meant to be something permanent and unbroken.
   
John Mayer has a song called Home Life in which he sings, "I can tell you this much, I will marry just once. And if it doesn't work out, give her half of my stuff. It's fine with me. We said eternity." Now, excusing the nonchalant line, "It's fine with me," I believe Mayer recognizes that marriage is supposed to be a life-long covenant, an oath-bound relationship between a husband and a wife.

That is why marriage ceremonies almost universally include the giving of an oath or the exchange of vows. Those vows traditionally declare, "You and no other, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, 'til death do us part."

That is God's intention for marriage, and dare I say that is bound up in human nature. We should be able to understand through general revelation the life-long commitment that marriage is supposed to be. We were not meant for serial relationships or jumping in and out of one another's beds. That is nothing but selfish. Humanity cannot survive that kind of wanton carelessness. Marriage is the foundation of a solid family, and you know, without me having to tell you, families are families, for better or worse.

Without families, there's no community. Without communities, there's no society. The family is still the basic building block of a civilization—this Wuhan virus pandemic has served to make that all the more apparent. A loving family begins with a loving marriage, a husband and a wife committed to each other for life. We get this. We just don't want to. We should understand how this is supposed to work. We just don't want to make it work.

So then it's through special revelation, examining God's word, that we are cut to the heart when we read about God's intention for marriage. In Genesis 1:27, God created man in His own image, and in Genesis 2:18, "The Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.'" So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and God took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, He made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

Because a marriage is a one-flesh union, divorce is the death of that one flesh. If you take one person and cut them in half, what happens to the person? They will die. So it is with a marriage, and it's why the Lord said in Malachi 2 that the one who gets divorced covers his garment with violence.

There are massive ramifications to divorce. It's never merely a disagreement between two people. Children suffer. Families suffer. Communities suffer. The culture suffers. According the website of a Florida law firm, 50% of all children in the United States will witness the end of a parent's marriage. Fifty percent of those children will witness the break-up of a parent's second marriage. Children of divorce are 35% more likely to have a divorce of their own.

Children of divorce are 50% more likely to develop health problems. Teens in single-parent homes are three times more likely to seek psychological help than teens from two-parent homes. Children from broken homes are twice as likely to attempt suicide. Children of multiple divorces get lower grades in school and are twice as likely to drop out of high school. Children from fatherless homes are four times more likely to grow up in poverty and seven times more likely to become pregnant or get someone pregnant as a teenager.

Now, I grew up hearing statistics like this, and perhaps you've heard them as well. But maybe you've noticed that you hear them a lot less often. There's a reason for that. Our culture has come to believe that statistics of this kind are demeaning toward children of single-parent homes. We will think less and come to expect less of children from divorced families. Therefore, let's not mention these statistics at all, lest they become like some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe if we don't say it, then it won't happen.
   
But that's completely impractical. That's like saying, "Maybe if we stop talking about the Wuhan virus, it will stop spreading." We have to address these things. And I say to you, it would be unloving if we did not. Divorce is a serious wrong. We must know its devastating effects so that we can love those who have been affected by it, and we can strive to prevent this disease from spreading.

Another way these statistics are often brushed off is to say that divorce is nuanced. There are thousands of reasons marriages end in divorce, and sometimes divorce is a good thing. Sometimes people get divorced because they were in an abusive relationship. Sometimes life got too hard and they just couldn't help it. So we shouldn't mention statistics like this because it casts blame on the person when the real reason they got divorced might have been because they were not from a more privileged circumstance.

But if good marriages only happen under the best of circumstances in ideal environments, then we will never have good marriages. Adam and Eve had a marriage in paradise. But they couldn't keep it together. Eve did not submit to her husband, Adam did not lead his wife, and when God asked him, "Did you eat the fruit of the tree that I told you not to eat from?" Adam threw his wife under the proverbial bus: "The woman you put here with me gave me some of the fruit and I ate it."

Our purpose here this morning is not to cast blame—it's to do what is right in the sight of God. We must be aware of sin and its consequences so that we don't do it, so that we will repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And by the grace of God, we will walk in His goodness and His righteousness.

This is a labor of love that everyone must do, even if you are not married. Hebrews 13:4 says, "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous." You as a fellow brother or sister in Christ are obligated to help your other brothers and sisters in Christ be faithful to their marriage vows, that marriage be held in honor among all.

Whenever I have conducted weddings, the bride comes down the aisle, usually arm in arm with her father, she comes to the end of the aisle where the groom is standing, the music stops, and everyone stands still. Before I ask, "Who gives this woman to be wed to this man?" and then tell the audience to be seated, I address the congregation.

I say, "We are gathered here today to witness the joining of this man to this woman in holy matrimony. You are here not as spectators but as participants, witnesses to the exchange of these vows. As friends and family, brothers and sisters in the Lord, it will be your duty to hold this couple accountable to the vows they will make. There is an enemy out there who hates the covenant of marriage, a picture of the way Christ loves His church and the way the church is to submit to Christ. This union will be tested. The storms of life will come. And when that happens, you must come along side this brother or sister, and out of love for them, for their family, and for their marriage, you must remind them, 'I was there when I heard you say, "For better or worse, 'Til death do us part." And I'm here to hold you to that.'"

Mankind is fallen. We are driven by our sin nature. That is why we treat marriage and one another so carelessly—we're sinners. You're a sinner married to a sinner. You need grace and so does she. Marriage is not for your glory. It's for God's glory. But when you think marriage is supposed to make you happy, and suddenly you find yourself unhappy, you start looking for a way out.

Sometimes a man literally walks away from a woman and the vows he made to her. Sometimes a divorce happens in the heart, as if to say, "I'll agree to live with you, but I don't have to love you." If that's you, turn back and repent. Psalm 94:11 says, "The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath." Jesus said in Revelation 2:23, "I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works."

As we've been going through this study of the Sermon On the Mount, Jesus has been directly confronting matters of the heart. In verse 21, we read, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire."

In verse 27, we read, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

In the same spirit, we come to verses 31 and 32: "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

We read about the certificate of divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1-4:

"When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance."

This is the only Old Testament law about divorce, and it in no way condones, suggests, or encourages divorce. Romans 3:20 says, "Through the law comes knowledge of sin," and that is the function of this law, getting to the heart of the matter. It is so the people will know that God considers divorce an abomination. It is a sin that begets more sin.

Verse one begins, "When a man takes a wife and marries her." So far so good. "If then she finds no favor in his eyes." Okay, why? "Because he has found some indecency in her." Or he has found uncleanness in her. Now what does this mean? It does not mean adultery, because otherwise the wife would be stoned to death. It doesn't mean suspicion of adultery, for Numbers 5:11-31 details the process or a test that a woman is to undergo if her husband suspects her of adultery. There are many different suspicions about this "indecency" or this "uncleanness," but I tell you that scrutinizing over it misses the point of the text. By the sequence of events we know that the divorce was illegitimate. The husband did not have a just reason to divorce his wife.

Notice again in verse 1, "He writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs his house." This was meant to prevent a divorce from becoming a rash decision. The signing of official documents had to be witnessed, and often there was an exchange of money. By making this a legal process, it forced the man to consider why he was doing this.

Verses 2 through 3 say, "And if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife." So the woman becomes unmarried again for any reason—either she was unjustly divorced again, or her husband dies and she has become a widow.

Verse 4: "Then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord." Why? Because he did not have just reason to divorce her in the first place. He made an adulteress out of her by divorcing her for no good reason, and she went and married another man and slept with him, when in the eyes of God she was still married to the first man.

Is that not exactly what Jesus is saying here in Matthew 5:31-32? Look at it again: "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

Jesus was explaining Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which the Jews were using as an excuse to divorce for any reason as long as they gave a certificate of divorce. Jesus said, "No! You have missed the point of the Law! Divorce is unloving, it is destructive, and it makes adulterers out of one another. You have caused your wife to commit adultery, and you have caused the man she married to commit adultery, just as the law said. You have brought sin upon the land God gave you as an inheritance!"

It is exactly this law that the pharisees brought up again in Matthew 19. (Turn to Matthew 19.) I'll begin in verse 3: "And the Pharisees came up to Him and tested Him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?'"

Notice the way they asked that question. That's how they interpreted and taught the law given in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. They thought anything could qualify as "indecency" or "uncleanness" as justification for divorcing a wife a man no longer wanted.
   
Jesus answered them not by explaining the law, for he already did that in the Sermon on the Mount. His teaching on this was already widely known, which was likely why the pharisees were challenging Him on his again. They tried to do what the devil tried to do in the wilderness—use the Scriptures against Him. It's as if they were saying, "Hey, chapter and verse. We've got it right here. 'He has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce.' So is it not lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?"
   
Rather than explaining the context of the law again, Jesus took them back to the very beginning of the law—the book of Genesis. In verse 4, He answered, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." In other words, no, it is not lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause. Divorce is contrary to God's order, not in keeping with God's order.
   
In verse 7, the pharisees responded by asking, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?" Again, they're attempting to point to the Scriptures and say, "Hey, it's right here in the Law!" The problem of course is not with the Scripture—it's with their twisting of the Scripture to suit themselves, not honor God.
   
In verse 8, Jesus replied, "Because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so." In other words, Jesus was saying divorce is not anywhere commanded. That's the word the pharisees used, but that's not a right understanding of the Law. Divorce was not lawful. It was allowed because people's hearts were wicked. But it is not commanded.
   
Jesus goes on in verse 9, "I say to you," and keep in mind, this is God speaking. Though the pharisees didn't understand this, when Jesus said, "I say to you," He was saying, "Thus saith the Lord. I gave this Law and I'm telling you what it says." Then He proceeds to tell them what He already said in the Sermon On the Mount, what He already said on Mount Sinai. Verse 9 again: "I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."

This is exactly what we've just read in Matthew 5:31-32. So let's come back to this again, (turn back to Matthew chapter 5), and let's understand the exception that Jesus provides.  He says in verse 32, "But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality." So this is the only provision that is given for a just divorce. A man has just cause to divorce his wife, or a wife has just cause to divorce her husband, if the spouse is found to have been sexually unfaithful.

We must be very careful here, lest we commit the same error that the pharisees made. You might be tempted to throw anything under that label of "sexual immorality," and justify divorce for any reason. For example, you could say something as foolish as, "Well because a husband and a wife are sexual partners, then any kind of sin he commits against her would be sexual immorality, and she is justified in divorcing him."

Sexual immorality is adultery. If a man has had sex with another woman outside of marriage, he has committed adultery. She is justified in divorcing him. Or if the shoe is on the other foot, he is justified in divorcing her if she has committed adultery. There is no wrongdoing on the part of the person who did not commit this sin. Remember that marriage is a covenant between two people. The adulterer has broken the covenant, and this sin is so great, it is as if the adulterer has died. The offended spouse is not to be punished and is no longer obligated to the marriage vows.

Consider these words from the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 24, of Marriage and Divorce, paragraph five: "Adultery or fornication committed after a contract, being detected before marriage," in other words, during an engagement, "giveth just occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract. In the cause of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce, and, after the divorce, to marry another, as if the offending party were dead."

Before I met Beki, I had been engaged to another woman, and that woman was unfaithful to me. Adultery was committed after a contract, being detected before marriage, and the engagement was dissolved. Before Beki met me, she was married to another man, and he committed adultery after marriage. Beki sued out a divorce, and after the divorce, she was free to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.

Beki and I investigated this thoroughly before we got married. We went through marriage counseling, and we received council from four different pastors from two different denominations. All four pastors were in unwavering agreement: we had just reasons for our separations, and our marriage was pleasing in the sight of God. Our efforts were not an attempt to find someone who would tell us what we wanted to hear. We wanted to do what honored one another, and what honored God.

But there were many who did not agree with our wedding. My side of the family consisted of a few independent Baptist fundamentalists who frowned upon our getting married. An ex-girlfriend even contacted me and told me I was committing adultery by marrying a divorced woman. The passage she threw at me was Romans 7:2-3, "For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress."

After all, doesn't Jesus say the same thing here in Matthew 5:32, "Whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery"? Once again, this statement was given in the context of explaining Deuteronomy 24:1-4. It is not an isolated statement that applies to all divorced women, or else it would contradict the exception clause that Jesus had just given: "Everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." Again, understand the context: whoever marries a divorced person who was divorced for a reason other than sexual immorality commits adultery. If a man cheats on his wife, she can divorce him justly bringing no blame upon herself, even if she gets remarried.

As a pastor, I have said to someone, "You have biblical grounds for divorce." And I have supported a person who had biblical grounds for divorce. But not before I have said to them, "If at all possible, be reconciled to your spouse." What would be more honoring to the Lord—getting a divorce, or reconciling with the person who wronged you? See, we have all been unfaithful, and yet our God is faithful and merciful. What you have done in rebellion against God is far, far worse than what anyone will have ever done to you.

Just as God has raised you from the dead, He can bring a broken marriage back together as well. I rejoice to have witnessed marriages be healed and restored, and you've probably seen that, too. But too many times, I've watched marriages fall apart, as you surely have. When grace is gone from a marriage, there's no way it can survive. The husband says, "She owes me this," and the wife says, "He owes me that," and both are making demands and neither one's are met—that is a marriage from the pit of hell.

Would we treat God this way? Would we point the finger at God and say, "You owe me"? Or would we say to God that this relationship just isn't satisfying enough? You gave your Son to die for my sins, but that just doesn't do it for me? I'm feeling a little smothered? I need to be free to see other people and I need you to be okay with it? Open marriage is not a marriage, folks. There's another word for an open marriage—it's adultery.

James 4:4-7 says, "You adulterous people. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the Spirit that He has made to dwell in us'? But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves therefore to God."

We often forget—God has been through a divorce. In Jeremiah 3:6-10, we read, "The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: 'Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? And I thought, "After she has done all this, she will return to me," but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord."

But what does the Lord say to those who repent and turn back to Him? In Isaiah 44:22, He says, "I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you." Jesus Christ gave His life for us, His bride. He sanctifies us by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that we might be holy and without blemish. God gave us marriage to be a picture of the way Christ loves His bride, the church.

I said that I would conclude with some practical applications. I should think that the practical applications of this are easy to understand. God is faithful to you, God is faithful to your spouse, so be faithful to God and be faithful to your spouse.