Not to Get Off Topic, BUT....
I heard a preacher say one time in his message, when two professed christians get married and then divorce, one or both are not saved. This may not be so in all cases but if the truth was known probably is most cases it is the truth. I know of a preacher that divorced his wife, left a large church and married is childhood sweet heart. He started a ministry in his home drawing mostly divorced couples that had re-married. I listened to one of his tapes and he made this statement, If God has ordained you to eternal life he has also ordained ever sin you would committ, so go ahead and sin and don't worry about it. By what he said IMO he did not know the Lord. Just because a person say's i'm saved does not prove a thing, the proof is in the fruit.
....I had a similar situation to Matt27. The young lady who led me to Jesus, became my wife. She was born -again, but the fruit over the last 40 years makes me wonder if the seed was on good ground or grew up in the midst of thorns and tares?
She helped me through college, but once I entered the ministry; she began to balk, and want me out. The wants' turned to demands, and finally, an ultimatum, that caused me to leave the ministry for a year.
Once I knew it was not the right move [to leave the ministry] and went back into the ministry, she asked me to leave; met another man and moved in with him.
The pain, confusion, frustration and anger [and I mean ANGER] toward her and God [for letting this happen] led me down a new path, that wasn't on course to the narrow gate.
I strayed for 17 years, even got caught up in flesh sin, which held me captive and its slave for a long time, and it was my inability to break free from this evil task master, and the mounting guilt from the sin, I was entangled with that let to a supernatural failed attempt to end my life.
I say supernatural, because the weapon I held in my mouth never failed to work before, yet this time, it did not work properly; the firing pin did not work, and I am still here, on earth, to minister following my "prodigal son" like return to the Father, who treated me as if I had never been gone, sinned or messed up my life.
They joy I felt from my Father when I returned to Him, was awesome, overwhelming and all consuming. Even though I was extremely remorseful, contrite and repentive, God welcomed me back and put me back on the path to serving Him.
It took a few years, to get back to being given a lot to be trusted with, but, God did eventually give me back all I lost and even more, including a wife that is completely in love with Him, and willing to support my every move in the ministry.
BTW - in May we will celebrate 33 years of marriage. Yes our God is awesome, and that is why I can honestly attest to the truth in Romans 8:28, that all things [eventually] work together for His [and our/my] good.
As for my ex, she is still wallowing in the miry pit of sin that I left her in 38 years ago. This is so sad, because God used her to lead me to Jesus. I can only pray for her soul and her choices to turn around, as I did. Maybe she was never saved. However, only God can make that call! I certainly believed she loved Him and was saved.
Does God allow bad to happen? I'm at the point of belief where I can see that while He may not dictate bad for our life, when we make bad choices [choices outside his perfect ill for our life], He does not leave our side; instead, He sticks close [like the footprints in the sand poem], making sure that ALL works out and together for the good of the believer and the Kingdom.
I know I was saved. I know that even though I packed up and left for the city, that He never once took His eye off me, knowing therell be that day when I'd return. And when I did return, God was ecstatic, threw a party,
and made sure I had no doubt that I was still a part of the Family of God, after all those years of running away...
This is why I love Him more than ever, and strive to help those who have gotten off the path. It is important that [because we are once saved always saved] the church does all it can to help those who - by no fault of their own - find a way to get back on the Narrow Path, as soon as possible. That is the new ministry, He entrusted me with, and over the years, I've seen more return to God than I can even begin to put a number on. And my wife is standing behind me in this cause.
