Every Woman Deserves Security in a Marriage – Apostle Divine Olise
The Presiding Pastor of God’s Way International Christian Church (GICC), Lekki-Ajah, Lagos, Apostle Divine Olise said, there is nothing like a born bastard, when you consider the scripture.
“We only have irresponsible parents, especially irresponsible men, who will put a woman in the family way, and deny the paternity, or run away. Then, the child, or the children, are raised without both parents”, he said.
Emphasising that, God doesn’t see those children as bastards, because when consider the life of David, who cried and said, I was born in sin, and in iniquity did my mother bring me up. His elder brothers will sit at home, and this lastborn will be alone in the forest, where you had wild animals, and the only reason that could have happened is that the father might have had him with a bond woman, and the family did not accept him. “But when it was time to anoint a king, God kept everyone waiting until David came”, he stated.
Olise in a chat with Providence News decreed that, God doesn’t see any child as a bastard, but there are irresponsible men, and that’s the trend in our society today. The Bible says God hates divorce. “But for whatsoever reasons, divorce, separation, and neglect are rampant and have become a norm, as order of the day in our society, also in the church”, he bemoaned.
He further said, “It is surprising that some men we thought were Christians and God-fearing came to the altar to take a wife, and consecrated their marriage; years later, these men would abandon their wives on one excuse or another. And there are men, despite having children with a woman without formal marriage, after several years with such a woman, they will suddenly rise, and say the woman is evil. While other men, after some years, because the woman has not brought forth a child they desperately needed, will walk out of the marriage. Some men leave their wives and children to go after other women. Still, the church put women in these categories in religious bondage and punishment not to get married again, even if they’re willing.
“When a man has left a woman and gone to settle down with another woman, the church mostly discourages the woman from getting married again, even when she is in her prime and willing to get married. Once it is established that a man has left a woman to settle down with another woman, and is not ready to repent and reconcile with the woman. If the woman is willing to remarry, she should be encouraged and guided to get married, but she should ensure that the marriage is genuine and formalised”, Apostle Olise counselled.
It is unscriptural and unfair to keep a woman under a religious bondage, or the church preventing a woman whose man, at his own will, has liberally left for another woman, from getting married. After some time, without a move or interest from the man to reconcile with the woman, the church has a moral responsibility to ensure the woman is released and safely guided to marry another man, especially when there’s no legal binding holding the man.
“A marriage must be legally bound; in case the grace of infidelity enters the man, and he wants to abandon the woman, the law will be used to bring sanity into the man”.
Oftentimes, things happened when people misled the church to do the traditional marriage without going to the registry, thereby creating a loophole to keep the woman in bondage. “But the church has a responsibility to ensure that, before a couple is joined, they must have gone to the registry and have documented evidence”, he advised.
Many women are presently confused and at a loss as to being a single parent, because the man abandoned them without being legally bound. Most of these men do not belong to a church, but hold those women down to be gloating in the darkness of marital relationships.
He admonished, “Women should first ensure they have God’s approval and godly counsel before entering any marriage, and not to go into marriage with emotion and selfish interest, but with conviction and priority”, he further said, when a woman allows a man to penetrate her and have his way first, there’s danger ahead. They should also ensure they don’t let any man stampede them into traditional marriage and church weddings without going to the registry, because that’s the only way a woman can bring sense into a man when he begins to misbehave”, he added.
Apostle Divine Olise berated most ladies, for going into a relationship with wrong mindset and lacks of priority. “Many ladies goes into a marriage relationship without clear vision of what they want in a marriage, they don’t know who the man is, neither do they seek godly counsel, or took their time to know the man. But based on their inundate desires, selfish interest, and misplaced priority, they later found themselves at loss in the middle of life ocean, at the end, they are confused, neglected, and lives in regret”.
He appealed to the Church, “Meanwhile, if a woman, especially those in confused state, or in a situation where the man has gone, with a proof that he’s already living with another woman, or messing around, and not ready to own up, and reconcile with the woman, should the woman found a serious man who is interested in her, and prepared to marry her legally with respect to her existing child, or children, the church should release the woman and encourage her to go ahead and marry”.
