The Sunday Mail
THE most trending news in Christian circles in recent weeks, apart from “miracles”, has been the rate at which men of cloth are divorcing and remarrying.
Questions abound as to whether or not pastors and prophets can ditch their loved ones for new wives – who are usually members of their churches.
Prophet Java and ex-wife Yasmin
Last week, the controversial leader of Kingdom Embassy Prophet Passion Java made headlines for marrying one of his congregants, Lily Tsegayi, who is based in the United States barely three months after ending his marriage to wife of four years Prophetess Yasmin.
The new Mrs Java is said to be financially sound and was one of the financiers of Prophet Java’s television station, Kingdom TV.
It will also be interesting to see if she too suddenly becomes a “prophetess” because of the marriage.
Prophet Java’s re-marriage came hard on the heels of another shocking divorce between Family of God founder Prophet Andrew Wutawunashe and his wife, Rumbidzai.
After severing ties with his wife of many years, Prophet Wutawunashe married a congregant last month.
Prophet Wutawunashe said he and his wife had been seperated for a decade and the union was officially ended in January 2016.
“The purpose of this message is that you may know some important truth about my life which to the present date I thought best to keep private, for the sake of the work God has been doing in you and other people’s lives through me.
“It’s now imperative that you know that my marriage is coming to an official end after 10 years of separation, but without recrimination,” he said.
Not so long ago, Anglican Church St Andrew’s Parish priest Father Tendai Mandirahwe accused of wrecking a congregant’s 18-year marriage.
Some lurid text messages, allegedly between the man of cloth to married woman Sinikiwe Nyati, have already been splashed on social and mainstream media. The messages allegedly showed a flourishing intimate relationship between the two.
Not to be outdone is Chris Embassy Church founder Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, whose wife Anita Ebhodaghe successfully filed for divorce in 2014.
The divorce was formally announced last week in a statement by Attwaters Jameson Hill, lawyers for Anita.
Part of the statement reads, “We have been requested by Anita Oyakhilome to confirm that on the 8th February 2016 a decree absolute was pronounced in the High Court of Justice Principal Registry of the Family Division dissolving her marriage to Christian Onehirokpeana Oyakhilome.
“Anita Oyakhilome would like to confirm that she is no longer involved in or part of Christ Embassy AKA Believers LoveWorld INC.”
International acclaimed Tele-evangelist Pastor Benny Hinn of the US made headlines when he divorced his wife, Suzanne, and then remarried her.
Harare-based theologian Mr Innocent Sibanda says church leaders can divorce.
“Romans 3 verse 23 says we are all sinners’ right from a prophet down to a toddler in the church, we all need the blood of Jesus Christ for salvation.
“The only thing that differentiates us is the fact that these leaders were called by God hence they should live exemplary.”
Mr Sibanda urges Christians to make Christ their role model, adding that some people who claim to be spiritual leaders are not called by God but are sent by Satan to deceive.
Conflicts in marriages, Mr Sibanda says, exist but many church leaders have not divorced out of sheer fright of scandal.
“While others are papering over the cracks in their marriages in accordance with God’s word in Malachi 2:16, others are destroying the marriage fabric,” he said.
Mr Sibanda says pastors, evangelists and prophets can fall to the temptation of adultery in violation of God’s Seventh Commandment (Exodus 20:14) which says, “Thou shall not commit adultery.”
Retired Seventh-day Adventist pastor Admire Mabhena says, “Because none of the created order was sufficient to meet man’s need for companionship, God took out of Adam’s ribs that bone of man’s bone and flesh of man’s flesh to create the one called woman.
“The intimate relationship between the two was meant to last until they were parted by death,” says United Kingdom-based Pr Mabhena.
He says when a man and a woman are joined in holy matrimony, the two become one in spirit, soul and body.
“All of Adam’s hopes and fears, love and lust, faith and phobias, strengths and dysfunctions are, in a moment in time, fused to the same in his Eve.
“That is why divorce is always a great tragedy. It is not only the ripping apart of the fabric of two lives once intricately woven together, but it also is the dissolving of the relationship that- next to one’s relationship with God- was intended to be the most intimate. God hates divorce because it damages His creation at its deepest emotional and spiritual core.”
He goes on: “It is unfortunate that in our society and in our churches, men and women are becoming one and then ripping that one into two at an increasing rate. Some of our Christian leaders, our spiritual directors for one reason or another, are doing that also.”
It is not just church leaders, though.
Ordinary people are divorcing at an alarming rate with the High Court clogged with hundreds of divorce applications. Perhaps the pastors and prophets are mirroring the society in which they live.
feedback [email protected]
What the Bible says about divorce
Bishop Francis Matemavi
FIRST of all, no matter what view one takes on the issue of divorce, it is important to remember Malachi 2:16; “I hate divorce, says the Lord God of Israel.”
According to the Bible, marriage is a lifetime commitment. “So they are no longer two, but one, therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate. (Matthew19:6).
God realises, though, that, since marriages involve two sinful human beings, divorces are going to occur.
In the Old Testament, He laid down some laws in order to protect the rights of divorcees, especially women (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).
Jesus pointed out that these laws were given because of the hardness of people’s hearts, not because such laws were God’s desire (Matthew 19:8).
The controversy over whether divorce and remarriage is allowed according to the Bible revolves primarily around Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9. The phrase “except for marital unfaithfulness” is the only thing in Scripture that possibly gives God’s permission for divorce and remarriage.
Many interpreters understand this “exception clause” as referring to “marital unfaithfulness” during the “betrothal” period. In Jewish custom, a man and a woman were considered married even while they were still engaged or “betrothed.”
According to this view, immorality during this “betrothal” period would then be the only valid reason for a divorce.
Marital unfaithfulness can mean any form of sexual immorality. It can also refer to fornication, prostitution and adultery. Jesus is possibly saying that divorce is permissible if sexual immorality is committed. Sexual relations are an integral part of the marital bond: “… the two will become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5; Ephesians 5:31)
Therefore, any breaking of that bond by sexual relations outside of marriage might be a permissible reason for divorce.
If so, Jesus also has remarriage in mind in this passage.
The phrase “and marries another” (Matthew 19:9) indicates that divorce and remarriage are allowed in an instance of the exception clause, whatever it is interpreted to be. It is important to note that only the innocent party is allowed to remarry.
Although not stated in the text, it seems remarriage is God’s mercy for the one who was sinned against, not for the one who committed the sexual immorality.
There may be instances where the “guilty party” is allowed to remarry, but they are not evident in Mathew 19:9. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and that reconciliation and forgiveness should mark a believer’s life Luke 11:4; Ephesians 4:32).
However, God recognises that divorce will occur, even among His children.
A divorced or remarried believer should not feel any less loved by God, even if the divorce and or remarriage is not covered under the possible exception clause of (Matthew 19:9).
Bishop Francis Matemavi is the Zimbabwe Inter-denominational Christian Union leader and he was speaking to The Sunday Mail Religion reporter Desire Ncube in Harare last week
