Just a thought or 2: foundations in John...

When darkest hour comes, there is Light for the believer in Jesus; for " in HIM was Life; and the Life was the light of men". What a thought from that which is God Breathed! The context is from the "beginning". Jesus (Jehovah who is our salvation: name defined in its fullness) in Person of God WAS and has not failed to remain Life and Light. Of HIS Person He said "I change not"!        When the greatest need arises, there is help; for we find "My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth" (He from the beginning by the way, "all things were made by HIM") &... "so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper...". He, our Life eternal from the beginning, "Light unto our path", from the beginning,  who is from the beginning and never changes, will meet our need if it is a need, indeed!        
When our greatest desire is realized,  (the desire HE has given us to be grasped when we see the desire is HIS desire for us) Jesus is not only the "Author" of that desire "of our faith", but the "Finisher" of HIS desire for us "of our faith". Again I exhort us to grasp it, in darkness, in need indeed, so we can may stand in HIS presence today, fulfilled by HIS Life and Light "that hath appeared to ALL men." Tallyho" let us go, there is a fox to be caught and skinned, it is the old Serpent, and only the Light and Life of Jesus is the power to do so!
Later, Phil

Traditional Culture Clash With Scripture

Bride price: does it clash with Scripture? The answer is no if it does not interfere with a consummate marriage. What does that mean? Well let me explain in the traditional culture where my wife and I work; Zambian villages.       If the no portion of the agreed bride price has been paid by the husband, then the family of the bride can bring her home, withhold here from her husband...legally! So where is the clash with Scripture. Were not Rachel and Leah held from Jacob due to bride price, the week of work (7 years), until the time was completed? Yes, it is true and it was a tradition not a law of God but nowhere in Scripture does it say that bride price is wrong. However, these marriages were not consummated until the price was met. Thus it did not interfere with a command of God we find in Genesis 2. "A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh"; joined, not a promised marriage but a consummated marriage in physical intimacy of joining together (otherwise as 'knowing ones wife' in ye olde English that I love).       Now where does the issue of Bride Price become sinful in our culture here? In withholding the wife from the husband cleaving to her and them being one flesh. That is a command of God. Now this is what I wrote using Scripture to reprimand the practice of Bride Price in its usage affecting a marriage...      

                    Traditions of Bride Price That

                              Defy Scripture
                Genesis 2:24  Matthew 19:5-6 I Corinthians &:5-6
[Genesis 2:23-24 KJV] 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
[Matthew 19:4-6 KJV] 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
[1Corinthians 7:2-6 KJV] 2 Nevertheless, to avoid  fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
6 But I speak this by permission, and  not of commandment.
      Man shall “cleave” to his wife; man and woman “joined”: thus according to Jehovah, even Jesus who is Jehovah our salvation --- man, no man, not any man has a right to bring cause for them to be separated.
     When a family, and the man of that family who is the head of the wife (Ephesians 5:22-33) becomes instrumental in causing separation of husband and wife, that family and especially the man of the family is guilty of breaking the fundamental and express purpose of the Creator of all things.
     That family creates an environment AGAINST what Paul wrote in explanation that husband and wife fulfill each others, needs. Thus his permissive explanation emphasizes NOT to interfere with what our Mighty God set in place in original creation.  Can we bring curse from the LORD on our families from using traditions of culture that defy the directives of the Lord of hosts? YES! Is bride price wrong, no. Can the bride price become sin against the God of glory, Jehovah? Yes; when it interferes with the marriage to break asunder, keep apart the husband and wife.
[Deuteronomy 11:22, 26-28 KJV] 22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; ...
26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
Just one of a few issues we must deal with here in our beloved Zambia.

Til next time!
Phil n Africa