Anyone who has been watching the political situation in the US will be familiar with Dinesh D’Souza, because of his best-selling book, and movie of the same name, “Obama’s America 2016, Love Him, Hate Him, You Don’t Know Him”

Mr. D’Souza was the President of King’s College in Manhattan, up until October 18. He has been forced to resign over an incident that took place in late September, and was reported on by World magazine, a leading Christian publication in mid October.

The incident took place at First Baptist North in Spartanburg, S.C. during a Christian worldview conference. While having been married to his wife Dixie, for some 20 years, at the conference he was accompanied by a young woman, whom he identified as his fiancée.

The World article claims that they had stayed together in the same room at the hotel. Mr. D’Souza, in his rebuttal claims that they are putting words in his mouth, and that they stayed in separate rooms.

Dinesh D’Souza

I first heard about this incident while listening to Brannon Howse’s program from October 18,2012. Because I usually save his programs and listen to them later, while exercising, I didn’t hear this one until just a couple of days ago. By then it had been removed from his website.

Most of what Brannon said I would have to agree with, but there are some things that trouble me.

Brannon was reading from Mr. D’Souza’s rebuttal to World magazine, specifically point 3;

3. I sought out advice about whether it is legal to be engaged prior to being divorced and I was informed that it is. Denise and I were trying to do the right thing. I had no idea that it is considered wrong in Christian circles to be engaged prior to being divorced, even though in a state of separation and in divorce proceedings. Obviously I would not have introduced Denise as my fiancé at a Christian apologetics conference if I had thought or known I was doing something wrong. But as a result of all this, and to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, Denise and I have decided to suspend our engagement. (Full article here)

At this point Brannon said “That’s good”, regarding their decision to suspend their engagement.

He went on to talk about Dinesh’s statement that “I had no idea that it is considered wrong in Christian circles to be engaged prior to being divorced,”. Brannon was flabergasted that a Christian College president would not know what is considered wrong in Christian circles. In Mr. D’Souza’s defence I want to note that if one were to examine the lifestyles of professing Christians today, as an example of Christian teaching, one would not be any wiser than Mr. D’Souza!

Unfortunately as he went on I realized that, while Dinesh D’Souza does not appear to have a handle on what the bible says about divorce and remarriage, neither does Brannon Howse, nor the people at World magazine, nor Christianity Today either!

Biblical ignorance is an epidemic in these last days!  It appears that no one reads, or believes their bible!  Some follow tradition, and others do what they feel like!

Brannon is correct that it is considered wrong by most Christians to be engaged to another woman while still being married to one’s first wife. In Christianity today it is considered appropriate to divorce your first wife BEFORE being engaged to another woman. This, however, is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught!

Jesus taught that if you divorce your wife and then marry another woman you are committing adultery! Here’s what he said;

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. Matthew 5:31-32

And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Mark 10:4-9

Later on Jesus elaborated further:

7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. Matthew 19:7-9

Most Christians imagine that Jesus was denouncing, or rendering Moses’ writings irrelevant here, but in fact, He was in complete agreement with Moses! It comes down to how you define one word! The exception Jesus noted can actually be found in Moses writing! It is the only legitimate reason for a divorce in God’s eyes. Moses wrote it in such a way that it could be misconstrued, but the truth is there;

When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. Deuteronomy 24:1

The debate in Jesus’ day was over this one word “uncleanness”. Moses had already stated that when a married woman has sex with a man she is not married to, both she and he should be put to death. Because of this the Jews did not understand that the “uncleanness” in Deuteronomy 4:1 was referring to the exact same situation. In essence God was giving Israel a way out. Since the husband who has been wronged is also a sinner, deserving of God’s judgment, he has a choice of insisting on the letter of the law, and death, or he can choose mercy, life, forgiveness, and divorce. (Please read Jesus story of the ungrateful servant in Matthew 23:35. God never changes!)

So, if Mrs. D’Souza has not been unfaithful to Dinesh, then he has no biblical basis for divorcing her. It is right for him to resign from being the president of a Christian College if he is divorcing a faithful woman. He should repent from his divorce.

Jesus, in the above passages is also making a direct reference to another passage from Moses, and this is also something that most Christians, including Brannon Howse, don’t understand. The passage concerns a woman who has been purchased as a slave, and as a result becomes the wife of her master;

7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. 8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. 9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.Exodus 21:7-10

What is it if you take away the “food, clothing, and duty of marriage” from your wife? This is another way of describing what happens in a divorce, isn’t it? In all of the New Testament passages about marriage, there is not one place where it contradicts what Moses said here. In fact what Moses applied to the marriage of a slave girl, Jesus applied to all marriages!

The problem for most modern Christians is that verse 10 allows the man to marry another woman, while still being married to his first wife. The condition stated is that he must continue to support both women! This is something the Jews of Jesus’ day rebelled against, and it is something that the western world has also rebelled against! It all comes down to money!

The “Romantic” view of marriage has a word embedded in it that gives away the origin of this philosophy; Rome. The idea that a man can only have one wife at a time, did not come from the bible but from pagan Rome. In the Roman empire, the only nation which allowed polygamy was Israel. The Church was founded by Israelis with Israeli views. Sometime during the last two thousand years, professing Christians adopted Rome’s view of marriage, and began to interpret the Scriptures based on this mis-understanding.

Don’t tell me the Roman Senators were more moral than the people of Israel.  They were famous for their debauchery, and affairs!  In Suetonius’ “The Twelve Caesars” he documents how 11 of the first 12 Caesars were all accused of sexual immorality, including homosexuality!  Nero even went so far as to marry a man who had been castrated! (The origin of gay marriage!)

Now we have a modern Church who’s view on marriage, and divorce, is the direct opposite of the teachings of its founder, Jesus Christ!

In fact the bible specifically singles out polygamists as not being qualified as being leaders in the Church (1 Tim. 3:2, 12, & Titus 1:6), but it nowhere says they can’t be members!

Paul said that we should obey the law of the land as much as possible, but on this situation the bible, as always, has the last word;

And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. Exodus 22:16

Moses never specified that the man in question must be single before he should obey this command. His marital status didn’t matter. What mattered was her status, if she was single he was to marry her.

If Mr. D’Souza and Denise Odie Joseph II have been having an affair, which he denies, but if they have, then they ought to obey God and not men, and get married! This is what the Word of God says on this matter, and I challenge any detractors to prove otherwise.

Be a Berean!

Dan

Note: This is not the first time I have written on this subject. For those interested in examining the End Times implications of polygamy, please see my article Why didn’t God condemn polygamy.  I can assure you, the Antichrist will have a policy on this practice, and if you don’t know the truth, you will think he is a Christian!

For further reading:

http://www.worldmag.com/2012/10/king_s_crisis

http://www.dineshdsouza.com/archives/news/response-to-world-magazine/

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/women/2012/10/why-the-dinesh-dsouza-scandal.html