The Right Spouse

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2015, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

It is not the easiest thing in the world to find the right spouse.  

You have your Internet matchmaking services.  But I wouldn't rely much on them.  They're in business to make money.  

They might try to tell you that a certain person is right for you.  But if it turns out that they were wrong, what will you do, sue them?

Somewhere in the fine print there is probably a disclaimer that says if things don't work out, it's not their fault.  

My idea for this book is not to advise the general public on how to find the right spouse.  What I mainly have in mind is to help my fellow Christians.  

My suggestion, if you're trying to find a spouse, is to first become a Christian.  (Please see below.)

In one of my recent books, "The Congregation of the Dead," I wrote about a man who wandered out of the way of understanding and shall remain in the congregation of the dead. (Prov 21:16)

I asked the question, why would a man give up the genuine Christianity, and trade it for a pile of garbage.  

And I answered that I think a woman was involved.

This man was a very talented fellow, but I'm sure he put a lot of work together with his talent, and made himself a name in show biz.  

He was one of the stars of a weekly TV show that was quite popular, and was on the air for several decades.  

But then, some of the people retired, and the live show stopped.  But now, they are broadcasting reruns of the show.  

This man had been an Evangelical Christian.  He had known the right way.  But then he quit Christianity for the Church of Religious Science, a fatal mistake, since, 

"He that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead." (Prov 21:16)

I don't know whether he went there, or whether she came to the U.S., but he saw a very attractive young woman from Europe, and I guess he fell head over heals in love with her, and married her, and I guess it was she who persuaded him that Church of Religious Science is just as good as real Christianity.  

Unfortunately, Church of Religious Science is one of the false religions, and sends people to hell.  

Perhaps part of the problem was that the man had watched too many movies.  

In the movies, boy meets girl.  They fall madly in love.  They marry.  And everyone lives happily ever after.  

But real life is usually not very much like the movies.  Those stories that the movies are made out of are generally fiction.

That means they're just stories, and not true.  

If you're a Christian, you're not supposed to fall head over heals in love with someone unless that other person is a Christian.  

The scripture for that is 2 Cor chapter 6--

 14 Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteousness?  And what communion does light have with darkness?
 15 And what agreement does Christ have with Belial?  Or what part does the believer have with an unbeliever?
 16 And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, "I will live in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
 17 "So, come out from among them, and be separate," says the Lord, "and don't touch the unclean thing, and I'll receive you,
 18 And will be a Father to you, and you'll be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

It says, "Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers."  That means Christians can't marry unbelievers.  

Chapter 2

But not only do we have 2 Cor chapt 6, but here is another important scripture on the subject--

"Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." (Prov 4:23)

If you're doing a proper job of keeping your heart with all diligence, as God tells us to do in his book, the Bible, then YOU WON'T LET YOURSELF FALL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE THAT YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO MARRY.  

And you can keep your heart from falling love with the wrong person because God is not going to ask us to do something that we can't do.  

In my youth, the Lord called my attention to a passage of scripture:

 24 But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men,
 25 And didn't need any man to testify, for he knew what was in man. (Jhn 2:24,25)

I believe the Lord called my attention to this passage to help me not to get too close to people unless I were really sure that they were very much committed to the Lord.

There are many who call themselves Christians but who are not very diligent at it, and don't "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil 2:12)

As a result, perhaps I haven't had as many friends as I might have, but I believe the Lord will reward me for trying to do his will.  

But I believe marriage is something that the Christian must pray about.  And then pray some more about.  And then pray some more about.  And then pray some more about.  

Other than the decision to become a Christian, whom to marry is probably the second most important decision in life, and should be prayed about a lot.  

You might meet someone who seems to be just spectacular.  But remember this, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart."

God reads hearts, but we don't, as a usual thing.  And that's why we need a lot of help from God in choosing the right spouse.  

I remember David DuPlessis ("Mr. Pentecost") saying how the Lord spoke to him about a certain woman, and told him that she was the one for him.

But most likely, that was after DuPlessis had done a lot of praying about it.  

God told Moses to tell the people that when they went into the promised land, they were not to intermarry with the inhabitants of the land because that would lead the Children of Israel astray.  

So what did they do?  They intermarried with the people of the land, and it led them astray, and brought down the anger of God on them, to their distress.  

But you don't have to make that mistake.  

But someone might say, "But I'm no longer in my twenties, and I haven't found anyone."

Where does it say you have to marry.  

Have you heard of Lillian Thrasher?  

There was a young man she was going to marry, but then he passed away.  

I guess she was heartbroken.  

But she went on to found an orphanage in Egypt that helped thousands of orphans.  

Had she married, she might have had a few children.  But instead, she has thousands of children that are grateful to her for bettering their lives.  

Pray to God about his will for your life, because if you don't, there's a very good likelihood that your life will take a wrong turn.  

Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray and not faint."

The Apostle Paul writes, "Pray without stopping."

The Lord bless you.

Jesus said, "You must be born again." (Jhn chapt 3)

You get born again by obeying Romans 10:9,10.

Romans 10:9,10--
"That if you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you're saved.  For with the heart man believes for righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made for salvation."


___James chapter 1
 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.
 2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,
 3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.
 4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.
 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
 7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.
 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
 9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,
 10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.
 11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
 12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,
 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
 15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.
 16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.
 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.
 18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
 19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
 20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.
 21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,
 24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
 25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
 26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.
 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2
 1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
 2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,
 3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"
 4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?
 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
 6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?
 7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?
 8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,
 9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.
 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
 11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.
 12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.
 13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.
 14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?
 15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,
 16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?
 17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.
 18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."
 19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.
 20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
 21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?
 22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?
 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."
 24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
 25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
 26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3
 1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.
 2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
 3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.
 4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.
 5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!
 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.
 7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,
 8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
 9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.
 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.
 11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?
 12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.
 13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.
 14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.
 15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
 18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4
 1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?
 2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.
 3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.
 4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.
 5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"
 6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.
 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.
 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.
 11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.
 12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?
 13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"
 14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
 15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."
 16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.
 17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5
 1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.
 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.
 3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.
 4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
 5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.
 6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.
 7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.
 8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.
 9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.
 10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
 11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
 12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.
 13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.
 14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.
 16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.
 17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.
 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
 19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,
 20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.