The call for restoration of marriage and the sanctity of life in the Church. Image Christ our Advocate stands between two chairs - one representing the Church and one the Conscience - pressing hard questions about how we've abandoned God's sacred design. And before you think this is legalism - If calling God's people to repentance, faithfulness in marriage, and obedience to Scripture is legalism, then the prophets were legalists, Jesus was a legalist, and Paul was too. But we know they weren't. They were holy. We need to return the straight road and a pure heart.
"If you love me, keep my commandments." Jesus's words reveal obedience as love, not legalism.
Grace's Purpose
We aren't saved by works—we're saved for good works. Grace empowers truth-filled living.
Church's Authority
This restoration movement doesn't undermine church authority. It reestablishes it in God's design.
Transformation
True grace doesn't excuse sin. It transforms hearts to embrace God's holy standards.
Biblical grace teaches us to deny ungodliness while pursuing righteousness. Our call for marriage restoration flows from this transformative power, not from legalistic burden. To the grace of Christ, we had the right to walk in truth and the power to do so.
"Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame."
- 1 Corinthians 6:3-5
The 10 Indictments: How the Church Abandoned God's Design for Marriage
You surrendered marriage to the government.
Instead of guarding the sacred covenant of marriage before God, you handed it over to the state—allowing civil courts to define, license, and dissolve what God has joined together. Marriage is not a contract filed with Caesar, but a holy covenant sealed by God. By letting man officiate what God instituted, you opened the door to confusion, divorce, and adultery.
"The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth… she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant." —Malachi 2:14 "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." —Matthew 19:6 "The woman… is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth." —Romans 7:2
"How have we ever done this?" You call what is legal lawful. You perform weddings with the approval of man, while ignoring the Word of God. You say "by the power vested in me by the province" rather than "in the name of the Lord." You put marriage under the jurisdiction of unbelievers.
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2. You allowed birth control and barrenness to spread.
You permitted the rejection of fruitfulness in marriage and called it freedom. You allowed couples to sever the link between love and life, trusting in pills, devices, and the counsel of the world over the Word of God. In doing so, you approved of the quiet war against children and despised the blessing of the womb.
"Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…" —Genesis 1:28 "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." —Psalm 127:3 "As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception." —Hosea 9:11
"How have we ever done this?" You blessed the barren and avoided the fruitful. You told the young to wait, plan, prevent, and pursue security—rather than to trust, obey, and multiply. You taught that children are a choice, not a reward. You feared overpopulation more than disobedience.
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3. You normalized divorce without repentance.
You allowed believers to dissolve their marriages for any cause—while pretending that grace covers rebellion. You ignored Christ's clear words about divorce and remarriage being adultery and have comforted the unrepentant rather than calling them to repentance and restoration.
"Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery." —Mark 10:11 "Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery…" —Luke 16:18 "Let not the wife depart from her husband… and let not the husband put away his wife." —1 Corinthians 7:10–11
"How have we ever done this?" You granted pulpits to the remarried, prayed blessings over second unions, and looked away from adulterous reconciliations. You chose mercy without truth and never called sin by name. You feared being called judgmental more than calling for repentance.
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4. You taught women to forsake motherhood.
You exchanged the high calling of motherhood for careers, applause, and independence. You taught women that submission is oppression and that children hinder fulfillment. You failed to uphold the honor of the homemaker and despised the role that shaped nations and raised saints.
"That they may teach the young women… to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home…" —Titus 2:4–5 "I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house…" —1 Timothy 5:14 "And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living." —Genesis 3:20
"How have we ever done this?" You praised the independent woman and mocked the stay-at-home mother. You trained daughters to build careers, not families. You replaced the noble task of raising children with the empty promise of self-fulfillment and worldly success.
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5. You left men untrained and weak.
You failed to disciple men in courage, responsibility, and sacrifice. You let fathers abandon their homes, pastors avoid confrontation, and young men remain addicted, aimless, and feminized. In your silence, you fed passivity and robbed a generation of biblical manhood.
"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." —1 Corinthians 16:13 "Be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man." —1 Kings 2:2 "I sought for a man among them… but I found none." —Ezekiel 22:30
"How have we ever done this?" You entertained the men instead of training them. You offered comfort but not challenge. You tolerated their pornography, their apathy, and their silence. You traded the call to lead and lay down their lives for sermons on how to feel better.
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6. You turned weddings into idols of wealth.
You allowed the covenant of marriage to be overshadowed by spectacle, luxury, and debt. You celebrated showmanship over simplicity and let the marriage altar be reduced to a stage. You preached covenant with your lips but exalted culture with your hands.
"Marriage is honourable in all… but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." —Hebrews 13:4 "Let it not be that outward adorning… but the hidden man of the heart…" —1 Peter 3:3–4 "Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." —2 Timothy 3:4
"How have we ever done this?" You taught the bride to obsess over dresses and decorations, but never about dying to self. You celebrated style and forgot sanctity. You mocked the simple and envied the extravagant. You turned a holy covenant into a show for social media.
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7. You let unbelievers marry in the house of God.
You opened the sanctuary to the profane, allowing those who reject Christ to use His house for vows He never authorized. You treated the church like a rental hall rather than the dwelling of the Holy God. In doing so, you desecrated what was meant to be consecrated.
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." —2 Corinthians 6:14 "Put difference between holy and unholy…" —Leviticus 10:10 "They have put no difference between the holy and profane…" —Ezekiel 22:26
"How have we ever done this?" You charged them a fee and gave them the altar. You opened the doors for unbelievers to vow what they do not believe and used the tithe of the saints to host pagan unions. You feared rejection more than reverence.
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8. You tolerated the lie of same-sex "marriage."
You remained silent—or even affirming—as the world redefined what God never gave them permission to touch. You refused to call sin by its name and hid behind slogans of love while truth was trampled underfoot. In your fear of man, you betrayed the image of God.
"God gave them up unto vile affections… men with men…" —Romans 1:26–27 "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." —Leviticus 18:22 "Giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh…" —Jude 1:7
"How have we ever done this?" You changed your statement of faith. You posted rainbow flags. You welcomed their partnerships but never called them to repentance. You pretended it was loving to ignore what God calls abomination.
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9. You silenced the call to holiness and judgment.
You preached comfort without conviction, blessing without obedience, and love without the cross. You forgot that Christ calls His bride to be holy, pure, and separate. In seeking to be liked by the world, you forfeited the fear of the Lord.
"Be ye holy; for I am holy." —1 Peter 1:16 "Come out from among them, and be ye separate." —2 Corinthians 6:17 "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." —Hebrews 12:14
"How have we ever done this?" You preached grace but not repentance. You removed the word 'sin' from your sermons. You conformed to the world while claiming to follow Christ. You feared empty seats more than empty souls.
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10.You forgot that marriage is a picture of the Gospel.
You treated marriage as a private matter, not a prophetic one. You forgot that the husband and wife reveal the mystery of Christ and the Church. When you compromised on marriage, you marred the message of redemption itself.
"This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." —Ephesians 5:32 "The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." —Revelation 19:7 "Thy Maker is thine husband…" —Isaiah 54:5
"How have we ever done this?" You reduced the eternal to the emotional. You treated covenant as a feeling, not a reflection of Christ's blood and the Church's faithfulness. You broke the symbol, and then told the world it still meant the same thing.
The Government Has Usurped God's Authority Over Marriage
Surrendered to Caesar
You've allowed secular courts and godless judges to redefine what God established. Marriage licenses signed by the state have replaced covenant ceremonies before the Lord.
Silent While Marriage Is Mocked
The world permits perversions and lawless unions to be called "holy" while the Church stands mute, forgetting Jesus' words: "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
No-Fault Divorce Permitted
You allow marriages to dissolve on worldly terms rather than biblical grounds. The state's authority to end marriages without cause has corrupted what God intended to be unbreakable.
The Modern Molech: Birth Control in the Church
Preventing Life = Murder in Heart?
If lust is adultery of the heart, rejecting children may be murder before God.
God Commands Fruitfulness
Genesis 1:28 remains God's original design. Onan was killed for preventing conception.
Children Are Divine Blessings
Psalm 127 calls children God's heritage. The modern church labels His gifts "inconvenient."
Woman's Sacred Calling
1 Timothy 2:15 affirms childbearing as blessed design, not punishment to avoid.
Contraception and abortion share the same rebellious heart: one prevents life, one ends it. Both oppose God's creative authority.
When we usurp control of the womb, we worship ourselves rather than the Creator who forms life.
Divorce: The Sin You've Normalized
God HATES Divorce
Malachi 2:16 declares God's hatred of divorce, yet you've made it commonplace
Remarriage Without Repentance
You bless second, third, and fourth marriages with no call to renounce sin
Leaders Who Abandon Their Vows
Ministers who leave their wives still stand in positions of honor
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery" (Matthew 19:9). The Church has forsaken Christ's clear teaching, fearing to offend man more than offending God. You call it "helping people move forward" - but you have permitted sin and called adultery by gentler names!
Women Abandon God's Design for Feminist Lies
Keepers at Home
Titus 2:5 instructs women to be "keepers at home," yet Christian women now mock this divine calling.
Worldly Success
The pursuit of career, status and wealth has replaced the biblical priority of raising godly children.
Delayed Motherhood
Women postpone childbearing for selfish ambitions, rejecting God's timing and blessing.
Feminism's Discipleship
The world has discipled Christian women more effectively than the Church has, teaching them to resent their divine design.
The Emasculation of Christian Men
Called to Lead
Men were designed by God to lead their homes with courage and conviction (Ephesians 5:23), yet today's Christian men have become passive observers in their own families.
Spiritual Weakness
Instead of warriors for Christ, men in the church have become spiritually weak, addicted to worldly pleasures, and incapable of protecting their families from evil influences.
No Training for Battle
The church has failed to train men for spiritual warfare, leaving them unprepared to stand against the enemy's attacks on their marriages and children.
Absent Sacrifice
Christ-like sacrifice has been replaced with self-indulgence. Men are not called to die daily for their families as Jesus died for His bride.
The Idolatry of Expensive Weddings
Commercialized Covenant
Marriage has become an industry rather than a sacred covenant. The average American wedding now costs over $30,000, forcing couples to delay marriage while they save for unnecessary extravagance.
Worldly Standards for Readiness
Young men are told they need financial stability, homeownership, and expensive rings before they can take a wife - requirements found nowhere in Scripture but demanded by worldly tradition.
Fornication While "Saving Up"
Couples live in sin while delaying marriage to afford the "perfect wedding," choosing to please society rather than God. The Church has failed to condemn this prioritization of celebration over covenant.
Where in Scripture does God require golden rings, silk gowns, or lavish receptions? The early Church married simply before God and witnesses, while today's weddings have become financial burdens that keep many from entering God's design for marriage at the proper time.
The Altar Defiled: Unbelievers Married in God's House
Sacred Space Profaned
The Church allows those who reject Christ to take vows in His name, using His sanctuary merely for its beauty or tradition while having no intention of honoring His commands for marriage.
Unequally Yoked
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (2 Corinthians 6:14). This divine warning is trampled when the Church blesses unions between believers and unbelievers.
False Vows
When unbelievers stand at the altar, they take vows they have no intention of keeping, making promises before a God they do not acknowledge or serve.
The Church has compromised holiness for convenience, painting sin in gold and calling it good. These marriages built on unstable ground crumble because they were never joined by God to begin with. The sacred altar must be reserved for those in Christ who understand its holy weight!
Wrong Reasons for Marriage: Sin-Motivated Unions
Lust
Sexual desire without covenant commitment
Rebellion
Against parents, church, or God's timing
Greed
For money, legal status, or comfort
Fear
Not trusting God to provide
Emotional Instability
Desperation, revenge, impulsiveness
These marriages may be legal by worldly standards. Yet they dishonor God from their very foundation.
Homosexuality: When the Church Bowed to Sodom
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Biblical Truth Abandoned
Many denominations have reinterpreted clear scriptural teaching about homosexuality (Romans 1:26-27), prioritizing cultural acceptance over divine truth.
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Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
False teachers have infiltrated congregations, blessing what God has condemned while claiming to speak in Christ's name.
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Silent in the Face of Sin
Even churches that privately hold to biblical teaching have often remained silent in public, fearing persecution more than they fear God.
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The Faithful Remnant
Some churches have stood firm despite lawsuits, ridicule, and threats, refusing to compromise God's design for marriage regardless of cost.
"A little leaven leavens the whole lump!" (Galatians 5:9) The world must not be allowed to think the Church has surrendered on God's design for marriage. Those who remain faithful must boldly rebuke apostasy both within and outside the Church walls.
The Passive Church: When Lions Became Lambs
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Churches that warned against homosexuality
Percentage of pastors who have preached boldly against sexual sin in the past year
73%
Decline in church attendance
Christians attending weekly service compared to previous generations
54%
Divorce rate among Christians
Nearly identical to non-believers, showing failure of church teaching
3%
Churches teaching biblical family roles
Percentage of congregations explicitly teaching male headship and female submission
The prophets of old cried aloud. John the Baptist lost his head. Paul suffered beatings and imprisonment. Yet today, the Church trembles at the thought of losing followers, tithes, or cultural status! Once it overturned empires - now it bows to pressure rather than speaking hard truth in love.
The Two Marriages: Covenant vs. Contract
Christians have surrendered marriage to the state, exchanging God's sacred covenant for mere legal contracts.
When believers accept state marriage without question, they implicitly deny God's sovereign authority over this sacred institution.
Some point to Esther as an example of a righteous believer who married an unbeliever (King Xerxes). However, this was not a normative example to follow. Esther's circumstances were extraordinary – she was taken into the king's harem during exile, had no choice in the matter, and God sovereignly positioned her there "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14) to save her people. Her exceptional case under duress does not overturn God's clear command against believers being "unequally yoked" with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Biblical Examples Misused: Esther and the Woman at the Well
Misinterpreting Scripture
Using biblical narratives to justify modern practices distorts God's Word.
Esther: Survival Not Model
Forced into a harem, not a voluntary covenant marriage.
Woman at Well: Conviction Not Affirmation
Jesus exposed her broken relationships, not validated them.
He doesn’t say “you’re living in grace”—He calls her out gently to repentance. That’s what churches today are afraid to do.
God's Sovereignty
Using broken systems doesn't mean He approves them.
Would we argue that polygamy is godly because David and Solomon had many wives? No. Those stories show God working in spite of man’s ways—not because of them.
Scripture describes how God worked through broken situations, not because He approved of them. Just as David's polygamy isn't prescriptive, neither are these exceptional cases.
True covenant marriage is made holy by God's design, not state approval.
"Marriage isn’t made holy by a license—it’s made holy by covenant."
The 10-Point Restoration Plan for Biblical Marriage
The Church must establish a new covenant for Christian marriage that overrides government authority, prepare young men for marriage, restore biblical womanhood, reject birth control, strip away worldly corruptions from marriage, guard against false marriages, train the next generation before the world steals them, rebuke false shepherds, and stand against persecution regardless of cost.
Rise or Be Cast Aside: The Warning
The modern church preaches a comfortable gospel - all grace, no repentance. This counterfeit Christianity offers salvation without transformation, while ignoring that true grace, like that shown to the thief on the cross, always leads to a changed heart.
False Gospel
Churches promising heaven without seeking holiness in Christ deceive their flocks
Forgotten Repentance
True faith requires turning from sin, not excusing it - even the dying thief acknowledged his guilt and Christ's righteousness.
Coming Judgment
God will not be mocked. His standards remain unchanged, though His mercy extends to eleventh-hour converts with sincere hearts.
Final Separation
The faithful remnant will be preserved; compromisers rejected - genuine transformation of heart, not duration of service, is what matters.
Rise or Be Cast Aside: The Warning
The Gospel is a Marriage Story
You are the Bride of Christ! If you fail to preserve marriage, you deny your very identity. The Gospel itself is a divine love story - the courtship of Christ and His people culminating in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9).
The Time for Action is NOW
"The Church will either reclaim marriage, or it will lose its lampstand!" (Revelation 2:5) Not tomorrow, not next year, but TODAY! If you will not act, another will take your place in God's plan to restore His sacred design.
The Coming Judgment
The Lord is watching! You will either stand firm for marriage or be judged for your inaction. What bride forgets her own betrothal? What bride scorns her own wedding day? Will you be found worthy when the Bridegroom returns?
Church, who ever you may be, what ever city you may be gathering in, this is your warning! The world will hate you for standing firm, but you were never called to be loved by the world - you were called to be faithful to God! Count persecution as joy when it comes for righteousness' sake. Rise up now, Church, or be cast aside! The scriptures are clear the lamp stand can be removed!
“Grace isn’t the absence of accountability. It’s the power to live in truth.”