| Divorce or Committed Relationship 
		Breakup | 
		
		 Created Date: 5-May-2015  | 
	
	
		| 
 
		Recovery & How to Move Forward 
		 | 
		
		 Last updated: 9-Apr-2020  | 
	
	
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			help
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		Sections:
 
 
	
		A person that is involved in 
		
			- adultery, 
 
			- drug use, 
 
			- alcoholism,  {alcoholism is a self-inflicted disease that 
			absolutely hurts others}
 
			- mental abuse,
 
			- physical abuse 
 
		 
		is collectively labeled as 
		UNFAITHFUL in this topic.  There 
is always forgiveness for all sins that each of us commit where a marriage can 
survive unfaithfulness but statistically the results show it is very rare.  
Even when a marriage stays intact, the victim spouse will eventually want a 
divorce that may not be possible because of financial and other constraints, or 
the victim spouse channels the feelings of anger and betrayal into other areas 
to find sanctuary and escape.  | 
	
Purpose
This topic is dealing with the following points:
	- The person who is trying to recover a marriage or a committed 
	relationship.
 
	- The person who is experiencing a break-up or divorce that was not 
	initiated by them.
 
	- The Divorce or Breakup is required because the other spouse is:
		
		
			| (a) | 
			committing 
			adultery / having an affair,  | 
			(e) | 
			child, family and parental endangerment, | 
		
		
			| (b)  | 
			violence of any kind, | 
			(f)  | 
			substance abuses,  | 
		
		
			| (c)  | 
			physical and mental intimidation,  | 
			(g)  | 
			intentional failure to provide financially, or | 
		
		
			| (d)  | 
			sexual deviant behaviors, 
	 | 
			(h)  | 
			abandonment of spouse and family. | 
		
	
	Most Christians are aware of 
	the infidelity scriptures for divorce, but are not aware of 
	the other areas that the Word of God allows for a divorce. 
	 
	
Note that:
	- Being in a committed non-married relationship is the same as being married in God's 
	view when the couple agreed to be with one another for the rest of their 
	lives.  
 
	- Being in a committed relationship, where marriage plans were never 
	discussed, is still a commitment that is governed like a marriage in God's 
	view.  
 
	Some people may disagree because there is no paperwork, but even in secular 
	civil laws, there is a name for this type of relationship which is known as 
	a 
	common-law marriage or "sui iuris marriage".
If someone is involved in any of the list of 8 items above, then they should get help 
immediately.  Absolutely nothing exonerates any of this type of actions or reconciles it.  
This topic is written as a general help and does not replace 
the potential need of legal assistance or counseling.  Most of this 
topic is dealing with the problems dealing with infidelity, because it is one of 
the most difficult circumstances to handle in a relationship, which requires 
Godly Wisdom.  The other most common areas besides infidelity are addictions that hurt a 
family such as:
	- Alcoholism, 
 
	- Drug use, 
 
	- Mental abuse, and 
 
	- Physical abuse.  
 
The unfaithfulness of adultery, infidelity, alcoholism, drug addiction, mental abuse, and 
physical abuse against a spouse all have similar and ongoing damage done that is 
often extremely painful to the spouse along with children.  
Some general points regarding this topic:
	- This topic was written because there is not only a lack of helpful 
	information but also so much bad information.  
 
	- This topic will focus mostly on adultery and infidelity.   The 
	ramifications for a relationship suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction, 
	mental abuse, and physical abuse are similar. 
 
	- This 
topic uses adultery and affair interchangeably and the reader should understand 
that they are exactly the same sin, but there are other sins, mentioned above, 
that permit and also can allow a divorce to be righteous in God's view.
 
	- Men and women are created by God to react to a spouse's addictions in 
	adultery, alcohol, drugs and abuse differently.
	(a) Victim men will try to solve the problem as men are often predisposed to 
	thinking there is a logical approach to fixing everything.
	(b) Victim women will try to find an alternative option in staying in a 
	relationship because emotionally 
	they are predisposed to find security and sanctuary. 
Scriptural References that allow for a Divorce
	- The Seventh Commandment states to not commit adultery.
 
	- Mathew 5:31 deals with infidelity
 
	- 1 Corinthians 7 deals with Marriage matters in keeping the marriage 
	healthy
 
But there are more Scriptural references to allow getting a Divorce and 
breaking up a Relationship.  In 
one great article from the 
Christian Research website, there are four 
purposes of Marriage:
	- Spiritual partnership and mutual edification - Gen. 2:18 25; Eph. 
	5:22 33; 1 Pet. 3:1 7
 
	- Procreation Gen. - 1:26 28 
 
	- Spiritual Intimacy and Sex - Gen. 1:18 25 
 
	- Protection against sinning in the areas of lust and sex - Prov. 5:15 23; 1 Cor. 7:1 9; 1 Thess. 4:1 12 
	
 
	
		| Excerpt from the Christian Research website on Biblical Grounds for 
		Divorce: When we understand marriage as a covenant it follows that violations of any one of its four covenant 
purposes could constitute grounds for divorce. Adultery and willful desertion are obvious and potentially 
irreparable violations of covenant love. It would seem that there are other sins against marriage that 
could rise to the same level of covenant unfaithfulness as adultery and desertion, including physical 
abuse, refusal to work and support the family, illicit and illegal activities that threaten the safety 
of the family, refusal to engage in marital sex, refusal to bear or care for children, unrepentant 
addiction to pornography, alcoholism or drug abuse, forsaking the home for long periods of time unnecessarily, 
and engagement in occult activities or other spiritual actions harmful to the family. It could be argued that 
these violations of the marriage covenant may constitute biblical grounds for divorce, even though they 
are not specifically named as such in the New Testament.   | 
	
Forgive, Do Not Seek Revenge
This author has personally seen wonderful blessing occur for many Christians 
that were victims when they waited on God.  There are many scriptures, like 
the five shown next that are very important scripture for understanding the 
responsibilities for:
	- Not seeking revenge in our 
	lives.
 
	- Receiving blessings for waiting on God, that can involve righteously
	suffering.
 
	
		| Ephesians 4:30-32 | 
		
		Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were 
		marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, 
		anger, quarreling, and slander be put away from you, along with all 
		hatred. And be kind to one another, compassionate,
		forgiving one another just as 
		God has forgiven you in the Messiah. | 
	
	
		| 1 Peter 3:9 | 
		
		Do not 
		repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the 
		contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a 
		blessing. | 
	
	
		| Matthew 6:33 | 
		
		But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. | 
	
	
		| Joel 2:25 | 
		
		I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, 
		and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.    | 
	
	
		| Revelation 2:23 | 
		22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, 
		and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, 
		unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will 
		strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that
		I am he who searches hearts and 
		minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. | 
	
Do Adulterers, Alcoholics, Drug Addicts, and Abusers Feel Remorse?
We all are never going to be the perfect partner in a relationship.  
There is no one that will be perfect in all areas, but we should be growing and 
maturing in our relationships along with improving ourselves to be the best we 
can be at all ages.  
		
	
		| This is an excerpt from the topic on
		Suffering: There are three types of suffering we observe: 
		
			- Our suffering.
 
			- Suffering we see of those we love and care about.
 
			- Suffering we see in the world to those we may or may not know.
 
		 
		This author would state that if we, 
		as Christians, are not experiencing suffering then we are not a threat to 
		the Satanic World.   
		The MOST IMPORTANT points to ALWAYS KNOW: 
		
			- We absolutely have suffering based on our sins, but when we 
			confess and make restitution then God applies
			Mercy based on our
			
			sowing and reaping.  
			The Christian often does not understand that
			making restitution is a form 
			of positive sowing and reaping, that is not required by God 
			for receiving forgiveness, but is what God requires us ALL to repair 
			damages that we create and cause.
 
			- For all other types of suffering, that are not based on our 
			sins, then all suffering with difficulties are absolutely God 
			filtered and God allows them because
			God will work with us to WIN 
			over them when we act under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
			
 
			(a) This gives Glory to God and has us love God more and more. 
			(This author can give hundreds of examples of experiencing and 
			seeing victories by God for the righteous actions in suffering and adversity by 
			the Christian!!!) 
			(b) This is one of the many ways that actually is a positive 
			principle of having the Christian become a more righteous, knowing, 
			understanding, patient and emulation of
			Jesus Christ!  If 
			we do not experience suffering, then we cannot grow into a better 
			and better person. 
			- All suffering, regardless of reasons why it occurs, will have 
			the opposite affect on the Christian so that the Satanic Forces and 
			Evil Actions of people against a Christian will have the Christian 
			benefit absolutely every time even unto death (more explained 
			throughout this topic)! 
			
				
					| Romans 8:28-30 | 
					28 And
					we know that 
					for those who love God
					all things work 
					together for good, for
					those who are called 
					according to his purpose.   29 
					For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be 
					conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be 
					the firstborn among many brothers. 30 
					And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom 
					he called he also justified, and
					those whom he 
					justified he also glorified. | 
				 
			 
			 
		 
		As a further point, God absolutely and uses 100% of suffering for His Purposes that we 
		may not 
		understand fully until after the
		Judgment Seat of Christ and 
		Great White Thrown of Judgment. Additionally, in this excerpt from 
		the Adultery Topic regarding 
		suffering from a victim not understanding adultery: Men have affairs primarily for sexual gratification.  In most 
	cases, men use emotional tactics to entice women into the sexual conquest.  
	In the beginning, most men rationalize that what they are doing is okay 
	because they still love their spouse.   
		(a) There can be a period where the 
	man will fall in love with the other adulteress woman, but it is 
	statistically short lived.  The victim female spouse may be aware that 
	their male spouse has strong sexual appetites in the years before mid-life, 
	a typically 55, but normally do not know how to help, satisfy or work to 
	prevent many men's desires to have an affair.   
		(b) Men need to know that no 
	matter the circumstances of frustration, the sexual gratification from an 
	affair is absolutely not an option which will have penalties as described in 
	the scriptures that make any carnal satisfaction from an affair not worth 
	the painful consequences. 
		(c) There are some online websites or social-media perceived adultery 
		experts that are publishing the statement  
		"women will not have an affair on their husband 
		unless they do not love their husband",   
		which is very misleading and gives the impression that is a cause for a 
		woman to have an affair or commit adultery.  This is absolutely not 
		true for all circumstances in adultery, as love is a emotional feeling 
		that is developed with interaction with someone where a woman may love 
		their husband, but because of ongoing adultery will often have the woman 
		develop strong feelings of love with the adulterous man that replaces 
		the love for her husband.  Most human-being through emotional and 
		physical sexual interactions will develop feelings that may be love in 
		adultery which will then diminish the love with someone in the current 
		marriage or relationship.  | 
	
Going through a break-up or divorce is an opportunity to improve ourselves 
and make ourselves better.  There are parallels symptoms and causes for 
adulterers, alcoholics, drug addicts and abusers that once a person become one 
of them then it is extremely difficult to fix.  This writer, who is not an 
alcoholic but attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings is a support role, have 
heard the numerous accounts of the struggles that alcoholics have to contend 
with where a paid clinical councilor told me in private that she has never met 
an alcoholic who did not eventually succumb to the urge even after many, many 
years of sobriety.   The councilor then said that the person, who 
succumbed, would eventually go back to sustained period sobriety.
All four areas of 
	- Adultery, 
 
	- Alcoholism, 
 
	- Drug use, 
 
	- Mental and Physical abuse.  
 
have commonalities in the response required by a victim 
spouse when a point is reached that requires a divorce and relational breakup.
Using the example of Adultery, that is similar for the victim in the other 
areas desire to know if there is remorse:
A strange comment from an unbelieving Psychiatrist to this author, concerning 
adultery, is "Affairs can fix a marriage as well 
as destroy it."    
	- There "might" be a small bit of truth in it for the victim 
because we all should be striving to perfect our relationship with God and each 
other.  An affair may expose or potentially show areas in the victim's 
	life, appearance, attitude or intimacy that can be improved.
 
	- The untrue part of this comment is the victim, if the affair is known, is forced to carry 
the burden of pain and knowledge of an affair against them.  This has been 
	shown to eventually destroy a marriage even if the victim forgives.  
	More on this later.
 
While the person who 
had an affair, may and should feel guilty, the evidence reported in many books 
and confessions by adulterers to this author is:
	- While an affair is going on, 
	the adulterer will rationalize many reasons 
	(often hatred) 
	and justifications for continuing where this will overcome guilt.
 
	- When the affair has recently ended, the adulterer for a period of time, 
	will usually not feel any remorse but can have confused thoughts on whether 
	or not the affair was worth the time along with possible future 
	consequences.
 
	- After time has gone by, even if the adulterer does not love their 
	spouse, then most adulterers 
	will eventually feel guilt and want to clear their conscience and be 
	forgiven.  This is not the type 
	of remorse that the victim is desiring because the adulterer just wants 
	their victim to accept their apology and get forgiveness. 
 
	- Psychology states that a person will not be able to sustain guilt or 
	remorse for any type of wrong done to another human being because this takes 
	energy which requires a catalyst to keep the guilt or remorse active.  
	The different types of wrong catalysts for creating remorse in an adulterer 
	are:
	(a) If the victim leaves the adulterer and the adulterer wants the victim 
	back in a relationship with them.
	(b) If the adulterer is facing consequences from children, parents, friends 
	and even a job. 
	(c) If the adulterer is near death and fears a judgment from God.
	(d) If the adulterer is suffering consequences from God that the adulterer 
	knows they are consequences from adultery.
	These are still not the type of remorse that a victim is initially desiring. 
	- The 
	closer the Christian adulterer gets to emulating, comprehending and desiring the love 
	for Jesus Christ and His teaching, then remorse for adultery and any sins that we 
	all commit against others will cause grief, sympathy, empathy, concern and 
	embarrassment.  
	This is the type of remorse that most victims, initially desire.  Conversely, as Christians mature, they will feel joy when others are happy, 
	and especially when they make someone else happy in a Christian way.
 
	
		| Matthew 25:40 | 
		And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, 
		Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, 
		ye did it unto me.  | 
	
	
		| John 13:34 | 
		And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. | 
	
	
		| 1 John 4:12-13 | 
		12
		No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his 
		love is made perfect in us. 13 We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in 
		union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. | 
	
For more information on the thoughts of an Adulterer and consequences of 
adultery, there is a more detailed explanation in the
		Adultery, Cheating & Affairs 
topic.
	
		| This is an excerpt from the
		Adultery, Cheating & Affairs 
topic: This author, at 63 years of age, has never heard or seen any adulterer make 
restitution for damages done, where I am hopeful that there are 
adulterers that do repent and make the FULL restoration as guided by the Holy 
Spirit.  It is only after the painful consequences start occurring that 
this author has seen adulterers make attempts in restitution that really are attempt of 
an adulterer to perform some type of penance.  Penance is wrong and is not a form of 
restitution.  | 
	
In a marriage, we all should continue to the end to find ways to 
improve ourselves which reinforces the reasons why our spouse fell in love with 
us in the first place.  Staying in shape, being attentive, regular 
sexual 
intimacy, security, integrity and of course friendship are absolute tenants to a 
marriage.  For more information, read this topic on
roles in a relationship.
Caveat to finding a Future Partner
Victims of broken relationships and marriages that were caused by their 
spouse committing adultery need to recognize attributes of people they meet so 
that they do not get into the same sort of situation again.  Research has shown that many adulterers often have one or more of the following: 
	- Higher than normal levels of selfishness / self-centeredness / narcissism, 
	
 
	- Inflated ego, 
 
	- Prideful, 
 
	- Greediness, 
 
	- Desires for sexual conquest, 
 
	- Lack of self-esteem, 
 
	- Demonic 
activity/influences in their lives, 
 
	- Pornography, 
 
	- Psychological disorders such as 
narcissism, and/or 
 
	- Possible sexual problems from childhood/parents.  
	
 
It is therefore very important to learn to distinguish people with specific 
types of problems that always cause them to sabotage their commitments and 
lives.
You, the Victim, are about to be Blessed
When looking to God and what happens to the victims of a Divorce and 
relational breakup, evidence 
through observation over decades of years of seeing it first-hand along with 
Therapists writing about it in 
books, are reporting the same thing, is God will use this to bless you in ways you 
would not have imagined.  The only contingency is you draw closer to God in 
Faith and Trust while not seeking revenge.  Revenge is for God only - 
Romans 12:19.  Take note of these points of many:
	- The victim is blessed in all or almost all areas of their lives.  
 
	- The unfaithful person in the relationship 
	will reap many negative consequences (up to seven times worse based on 
	scriptures) that 
	negates anything of pleasure that was gained from the unfaithfulness.  
	In other words, the numerous penalties will offset the pleasures.  In 
	King David's example in the scripture, some of his consequences were lifelong.  God gave Grace and Mercy to King 
	David because he was forgiven, loved by God 
	but King David still reaped 
	consequences.  Therefore, rhetorically, why would any of us think that 
	people who are unfaithful will not have any repercussions / consequences?  
	God will often show the victim the consequences of the unfaithful partner 
	for positive reasons.
 
	- Christian Children of the failed relationship are given blessings to make up for the 
	loss and sufferings of a family destroyed or having problems because of 
	unfaithfulness.
 
	- The victim will end up with a 
	better future partner if a new relationship is desired.
 
	- The unfaithful spouse who caused the divorce, in many cases, will often 
	want the relationship restored after time has gone 
	by.  This is not necessarily good and does not mean you should be 
	reconciled.  The point is the victory given to the victim may contain 
	this knowledge that your unfaithful spouse regrets the divorce causing actions. 
 
Book choice  
One of the best books to read is "Love must be Tough" by 
Dr James Dobson.  
It is a must read for anyone suffering and not knowing what to do when facing a 
break-up of a relationship, potential divorce or even after the divorce.
A Prayer to Fix Your Relationship?
The first thing to realize that even if you believe that God does not want 
the divorce, that doesn't mean God is going to intervene against another 
person's sovereign will in their life.  In other words, God gave us free 
will to choose Him and God does not change anyone's mind based on another's 
desires/wants.  
We do know that God allows delusion and hardening of the 
heart as consequences to 
	- Rejecting His ways,  
 
	- Following Satanic 
influences, or 
 
	- Simply sinning because of our selfish and carnal nature.  
 
There are many examples 
in the scriptures such as Pharaoh's heart being harden during the liberation of Israel 
in Egypt by Moses.  Some 
other scriptural references:
	
		
		
	
	
		| 
		2 Thessalonians 2:11 | 
		
		For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion 
		so that they will believe the lie | 
	
	
		| 
		Romans 9:18 | 
		
		Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have 
		mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. | 
	
The scriptures dealing with God hating divorce are often used to justify a 
person to stay in a broken, abusive or threatening relationship.  
This statement is controversial but when considering the Scriptural references 
at the start of this topic, the reader needs to know that 
God does list these 
for the purpose of the victim leaving the already broken commitment. 
As stated above in this topic, acts of 
adultery, violence, physical intimidation, sexual exploitation/deviance, child 
endangerment or drug/alcohol abuses, intentional failure to financially provide 
for the family, long unexplained absences from the family are all forms of 
unfaithfulness where this is scriptural grounds to leave a broken 
commitment and not be a continued victim.   
In researching 
this topic, there are the other victims of the divorce and they can be the 
Children, Parents, Friends, Coworkers and of course the Body of Christ (the 
Church).  It almost goes without saying that God intended the family to 
represent the relationship we have with Him and that is why there is so many 
scriptures that use the family as examples of the relationship we have with God.  
Those who are acting against their relationship are not just damaging their 
spouse but many, many others and primarily their relationship with God who 
everyone needs for our sustaining walk in this world.  
It is this author's opinion that the 
over whelming percentage of Christians do not understand one of the major roles 
of the Holy Spirit is as a restrainer of evil 
happening to Christians where adultery and infidelity will jeopardize this 
protection.
As just pointed out Adultery and 
Cheating is primarily a sin against God and not just the spouse and others.  
Read Matthew 25:40:
	
		
		
	
	
		| 
		Matthew 25:40 | 
		
		And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, 
		Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, 
		ye did it unto me.  | 
	
Bad Advice is All Over the Place
Sadly, we have all heard well-meaning Christian and even non-Christian radio 
and TV talk shows give the same advice to those who are hurting and wanting 
direction on what to do.  Often the 
advice is wrong and even makes the situation worse!  
Some common wrong advice given is 
	- "I will pray, for you and the other person in your 
	relationship, so God will 
	intervene and heal your marriage or relationship."  Sounds great but 
	God does not use mind control on His children to make them change their 
	minds.  He does discipline us with the intention to make us better, 
	stop doing wrong and 
	to love Him.  An analogy is a good parent stops their child from 
	putting their hand in the fire because the child does not understand the 
	consequences.
 
	- "I will give you some scriptures to stand on against the
	
	Satanic Forces who are destroying your marriage or relationship."  This 
	sounds great but the problem is not necessarily with you as it is with the 
	other person in your relationship.  The other person in your 
	relationship is the one who needs to be standing against the Satanic Influences or 
	their own selfishness, actions or bad decisions.
 
	- "You need to show your love to him/her so that no one else could compare 
	to you."  This will be perceived potentially as smothering along with 
	demeaning in the eyes of the other person in your marriage or relationship.
 
	- "You need to ask him/her what is wrong and fix it."  Partially a 
	possibility of being correct but this is most likely too late after the 
	other person is leaving the relationship. 
 
	- "You need to make sure you are around him/her as much as possible."  
	This will be perceived potentially as smothering which will push the other 
	person away.
 
	- "You need to call his/her parents, friends and work to have them talk 
	to him/her about why they are making a mistake."  This will most likely 
	embarrass and make the the other person angry which pushes the spouses away faster or 
	solidify their resolve to end the marriage / relationship.
 
	- "You need to let him/her know how angry you are with them for doing this."  
	This has the same effect as the results in the bullet item above this one.
 
What To Do Now
This applies:
	- If you are still in your relationship or marriage.
 
	- If is the adulterer is
	(a) Leaving.
	(b) Telling you that they no longer want to be with you. 
The following actions must be done if you want 
	- To have the potential of saving the 
relationship, or 
 
	- To leave the relationship and have a victory in the destroyed 
	relationship, or
 
	- To be stronger and secure in future relationships.
 
These steps will give you your confidence back which will 
help you in the current or in a future relationship.  They are not going to 
be easy to say or do when you are in emotional pain.
	
		
		
		
	
	
		| 
		Step | 
		
		Instruction | 
		
		Explanation | 
	
	
		| 
		1 | 
		
		Pray | 
		
		Pray that God will tell you what the real problem in the relationship is 
		through the Holy Spirit.  It is amazing how great the Holy Spirit is in 
		this area of revealing problems, confirming suspensions and giving you 
		inspiration to stand strong on items 2 through 6 listed below.  | 
	
	
		| 
		2 | 
		
		Say nothing | 
		
		Say nothing on how you feel to the adulterer about the affair, impending 
		breakup or divorce other than this almost verbatim:  
		(a)  "I love you and don't want you to 
		leave but if you have your mind made up then I will not stop you." 
		 
		(b) If you are ending this relationship, then the response is "I 
		love you and have realized that we should not be together." | 
	
	
		| 
		3 | 
		
		Act completely confident | 
		
		Act completely confident in yourself.  You need to convey that you are 
		completely okay and your life is going to be better off.  This is a body 
		language action not verbal.  If the adulterer asks why, then your 
		response should be very short and to the effect of "I 
		am excited on moving forward with some things" where you do 
		NOT elaborate. | 
	
	
		| 
		4 | 
		
		Do not be around | 
		
		Do not be around the adulterer unless you have to.  Absolutely minimize 
		the time around adulterer and if possible, completely eliminate any 
		contact. | 
	
	
		| 
		5 | 
		
		Stop having sex | 
		
		Stop having sex no matter what!  If your relationship appears to 
		be getting healed, then there must be a moratorium on sex for a 
		designated period to make sure the healing is real and a great deal of 
		prayer time with each other is necessary before intimacy.  The adulterer 
		often will want to have sex to regain confidence or dominion over the 
		other person along with their own reinforcement to solidify their 
		earlier decisions to continue in adultery and/or leave. | 
	
	
		| 
		6 | 
		
		Privately, Write Down the Problems.   
		(It can be a Journal.)
		See this topic link for 
		more details.  | 
		
		Write down, on paper or type-up an electronic document, a very detailed 
		history of the problems, offenses and communications had between you and 
		the adulterer.  Do not show this to anyone and put this document 
		somewhere that no one else can find it.  This will allow you to 
		eventually release, in part or in whole, the events that have hurt you.  
		Our natural tendencies in life is to hold on to grievances in our 
		primary memories and our subconscious mind, even if we have said that 
		everything is forgiven.  We often will think that in order to not let it 
		happen again, we cannot forget the details.  By writing down all of the 
		events, we can let our mind stop holding on to the details along with 
		letting the subconscious mind release the memories.  Your document is 
		there if you ever need to remember the details which is how this will 
		help you to let go.  An analogy of this is something like having all of 
		your computer data backed up somewhere else so you aren't worried about 
		losing data which gives you peace of mind.   | 
	
The Reality of Breaking up and Getting Back Together
God will orchestrate, with the use that is parallel to the
Prodigal Son proverb, to have the
sinful consequences happen to adulterers 
and those that break up Marriages for other reasons to desire to have their 
marriage returned.  This is not a reason for the victim of a divorce to 
allow the restoring!  God often has the person breaking up a marriage to 
leave in order for a good spouse to have a better spouse, and also for the 
person that broke up a marriage to suffer the penalties that are righteous along 
with God's intention to have the person turn back to God.
	
		| 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 | 
		1 It is actually reported that there is 
		fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the 
		Gentiles, that one of you hath his father's wife. 2
		And ye are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, 
		that he that had done this deed might be taken away from among you.
		3 For I verily, being absent in body but 
		present in spirit, have already as though I were present judged him that 
		hath so wrought this thing, 4 in the name 
		of our Lord Jesus, ye being gathered together, and my spirit, with the 
		power of our Lord Jesus, 5
		to 
		deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the 
		spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. | 
	
	- A great deal of divorces are caused because of infidelity and desires to be 
	with someone else which has nothing to do with you.  We all have seen 
	couples where one person leaves the other for someone else, they work with or 
	have daily contact with which has developed.
 
	- Generally speaking, men have affairs for sex based on lust.
 
	- Generally speaking, a woman's motivation for an affair in the years 
	before age 50, is often with the belief that they can get a better male 
	provider that will provide financial security or they may be trying to get 
	emotional and/or financial security so that they can leave their current 
	relationship.  Note that sometimes a woman will have an affair because 
	of fear of losing a job where a male boss is using his position to leverage 
	a woman to acquiesce into sexual actions.
 
	- Furthermore, concerning women, generally speaking, In the years before 
	50, an affair for a woman tends to be emotional with sexual intimacy.  After 
	age 50, the woman will often have an affair for sexual desires that have 
	increased because of age.
 
	- Statistically, people who have affairs once will always be tempted to have 
	future affairs 
	for the rest of their lives.  They may end up only being emotional 
	versus physical but something seems to change in the adulterer that makes 
	them susceptible to future temptations if only in their imagination which is 
	difficult not to act out in reality.  
	This author believes it is something to do with the damaging of the 
	Spirit Man inside of us 
	which is a spiritual wound that takes a great deal of healing by God.  
	The Satanic realm knows 
	about this weakness so it will be exploited.  Think about it in a 
	military analogy that the enemy will always try to attack where the battle 
	lines are weakest.
 
	- Many Councilors have noted that an 
	average affair is about 1.5 to 
	2 years 
	because that is how long it takes for the person to get bored of the 
	'things' that brought them together along with the point that guilt or 
	distrust will destroy the affair.
 
	- Many Councilors have also noted that people who have affairs will 
	have to overcome their own negative thought process which leads them to 
	think that 
	(a) because they had an affair then they think wrongly 
	that it is very common and 
	therefore it is okay, 
	(b) wrongly think their spouse has already had an affair, 
	(c) 
	wrongly think that their 
	spouse will eventually have an affair.  
	This contributes towards many 
	other problems in a relationship that is trying to be healed. 
	- God made us to be resistant to things that can hurt us, so the victim 
	can recover from their spouse's unfaithfulness.  The book 
	of Proverbs has many scriptures that point to the person who gives into 
	specific temptations will often become enslaved to them, which is why 
	King David asked for a new Heart and not for God to repair his current one (Psalm 51:10).
 
	- Marriages and relationships are healable after an affair but the 
	statistics are overwhelmingly stacked against it, based on information from 
	many counseling books on reconciliation.  This does NOT mean you should 
	not try to reconcile a marriage or relationship BUT you have to make sure 
	you know God is in it and not your emotions.
 
	- One of the counterintuitive points on reconciliation made by many councilors, is a good 
	and attractive personality of the victim can sometimes become a contributing 
	factor for the adulterer to continue in adultery.  Note that this does 
	not mean the good and attractive victim should change.  As an example of this negative tendency, is the 
	adulterer may want their spouse to be someone who exhibits the excitement in 
	participating in a clandestine rendezvous where the thrill of possibly being 
	caught/seen/jailed will contribute to a greater passion and ecstasy in a 
	sexual sense.  The good spouse does not have that desire and obviously 
	should not change for anything immoral or criminal.
 
	- The overlooked and misunderstood view of the victim is the infidelity in 
	their spouse is caused because they are not a Christian and that is not 
	necessarily the case.  The adulterer can still love God 
	but simply has chosen to do so with wrongful rationalizations such as "God wants me 
	to be happy" or "Jesus Christ died for all of our sins so this will be 
	covered underneath the Blood".   
 
Two additional VERY IMPORTANT view points by this author:
	- Sometimes God uses horrible experiences to prepare and force us to be 
	ready and get something much 
	better.  
	
	(a) As a first example, this author has had two bad experiences with 
	jobs, where God was using a situation to actually protect me and have me 
	leave for much better employment and then to allow judgment against the 
	person/people doing wrong.  
	
	(b) As a second example, this author had a college relationship that ended 
	by my 
	
	fiance' having an affair with a tour guide in Europe while on a 
	college group student vacation after graduation, that I didn't go on because 
	I was still in college and attending classes.  She also had a few 
	others before this event that I learned about afterwards.  God used 
	this very painful experience to actually bless me in incredible ways, and it 
	also prepared for me for more difficult experiences that happened 20 year 
	later.  The college bad experience taught me:
	(b.1) How to handle and proceed in a marriage that went bad after 15 years because of 
	alcoholism and adultery by my wife, where if I had not have had the college 
	experience, I would not have known what to do.  The evil done by 
	
	fiance' in college was part of what got me to
	accept Jesus Christ as my 
	Savior and then the reading of books on Adultery and marriage, where I 
	have had the privilege/blessing of helping many others that were going 
	through similar circumstances.
	(b.2) The adultery by my 
	
	fiance' in college firmly strengthened my spiritual 
	and personal character of the evil of committing adultery.  I mention 
	this because in life we all will be tempted in many areas, where it is a 
	blessing to have God prepare you to never fall into many traps that can 
	cause many punitive consequences.  Note that if you are reading this 
	and have committed adultery, God absolutely loves you, forgives and wants 
	you to never do this again so that you can have all the success and blessing 
	in this life along with 
	rewards earned in eternity.
	(b.3) Had me recognize attributes about my wife that mirrored my 
	
	fiance' so 
	that I knew what problems I would be facing.  I eventually had to 
	divorce my wife because she wouldn't change.  Note that it has been 7 
	years and my ex-wife has had horrible
	penalties from her adultery 
	in her life and desperately wants me back as her husband.  Note that I 
	am now remarried to an awesome woman. 
	
	(c) As a third observation example, God will judge a bad spouse, who 
	can be a Christian not acting as they should.  The full judgment may 
	not happen immediately, but enough problems can occur to force the victim 
	good spouse to leave the marriage.  If the sin is adultery and the 
	adultery had not of 
	happened, then the faithful spouse would have never left the sinful marriage.  
	The judgment against the adulterer, is often two-fold where God:
	(c.1) has them lose a 
	faithful spouse, and 
	(c.2) the adulterer is often given to the other adulterer.
	  
	
	* We often forget that the 
	Holy Spirit witnesses to us and protects us continuously to stop us from 
	doing wrong and being harmed.  If anyone of us decides to not be a good 
	spouse in our relationship, then God may use this to allow consequences that 
	will bring a person back to righteous behavior that may still have a 
	negative cost.  
	
  
	- When a victim of an affair, 
	decides to stay in their marriage, there is often one paramount problem that 
	is almost impossible to overcome:
	(a) The victim can often develop anger 
	issues after a period of time that will lead to them ending the relationship. 
	
	(b) With variance of reasons and feelings, the victim has forgiven their spouse 
	but cannot get past the anger of being betrayed, even when the victim still 
	loves the adulterer.  The victim may not 
	have a way to explain the problem where it is often the realization that 
	being around the adulterer always reminds them of betrayal and then 
	this causes anger** that is difficult or impossible to release even if 
	forgiveness has truly happened.  
	
	** This explains why adulterers do 
	not necessarily understand why their ex-spouse refuses to even be in the 
	same room with them after decades have transpired.  The victim has 
	learned to 
	recognize that the adulterer's presence can trigger anger or hatred that they do 
	not want to experience again so it is better to just stay away from the 
	adulterer to have peace (from remembering) in their life. 
What to Look for in a Potential Future Spouse
	- Someone who is a Believer and is walking in the path of greater 
	understanding and faith in God.  This is a life journey for all of us.
 
	- Exemplifies loyalty to God, parents, family, friendships and their 
	employer.
 
	- Someone who has never had an affair.  Note that this means in 
	marriage and also not had an affair in a relationship prior to marriage.
 
	- Someone who has never broke up a relationship without a valid cause.
 
	- Someone who did not have parents who had affairs and also did not hide 
	things from their spouse.  
 
There is no one who walked this earth other than Jesus the Christ who has not 
sinned in their thoughts and deeds but there is a significant difference when 
dealing with acted out infidelity when in a committed relationship.  
Personally, the author of this topic at 59 years of age:
	- Knows of only one 
marriage healed after infidelity where the adulterous spouse appears to never 
	committed adultery again.
 
	- Three marriages that have infidelity by a person in the past, which was 
	forgiven, but the adulterer committed adultery additional times.  In other words, the infidelity continued.
 
	- Knowledge of many marriages that came back together, after divorce 
	caused by infidelity,  
	failed on the second attempt because the infidelity kept reoccurring.
 
Perceived Non-Biblical Divorce, Fixing or Not to Fix
Some Pastors and Councilors often only use 
the fidelity scripture (Matthew 5:31-32) to justify divorce ignoring 
other scriptures about the marriage covenant being broken as listed at the 
beginning of this topic.  
They will sometimes condemn Believers for not having a Biblical divorce and say 
things such as "you are now living in sin with your new spouse", which 
often makes people leave a Faith in God because they felt they are no longer 
loved by God.  Mathew 
5:31-32 does stand alone and should be consider along other marriage scriptures.  
This author heard a nationally recognized Christian Evangelist, on a Satellite Christian 
Radio program, give the wrongful advice 
for someone remarried after divorcing to do the following:   
	- To 
divorce the current spouse,   
 
	- Have children stay with one of the biological parents, 
 
	- Remarry a previous spouse.  
 
It was difficult to listen to the well-meaning person without being angry knowing 
he was absolutely 
wrong.  Consider these points of many:
	- With so many "what if" situations, is there a definitive solution for 
	all cases when spiritual damage can happen to all involved including the 
	children of the newer marriage?  "No", there is no absolute fix 
	for all situations.
 
	- When Jesus Christ spoke to the woman at the well who had 5 previous 
husbands (John 4:15-18), did Jesus Christ instruct her go find the first husband and remarry him?  
	"No".  
 
	- When Jesus spoke to the woman caught in adultery, He forgive her and 
	notice that there is no mention of the adulterous man, which can possibly 
	mean he was not there at the time or he was part of the Sanhedrin.  
	(The conjecture of the Sanhedrin is mentioned because they were the group 
	trying to trick Jesus Christ into slandering God when the adulterous woman was brought to Him.)
 
	- There are scriptures such as 1 Corinthian 
	7, which state that when two Believers divorce for 
	non-Biblical reasons then they must remain single for their lives because 
	any future relationships would be adulterous.  We must understand that 
	absolutely no one knows if someone else is a true Believer 
	even if he or she states they are a Believer, so this puts a shadow of complexity in dealing 
	with divorce and remarriage.  Always remember there is 
	Mercy and Grace 
	because of the Cross!
 
	- God knows our hearts and we must fix things if they 
are fixable and when they are not then confessing the sin to God and move forward 
doing the right thing to give glory to God.  
 
Prepare You Mind for Victory
 
There are too many reasons to speculate what causes a break-up or divorce.  
It is the opinion of this author that while there are ways to improve oneself, 
the real problem is the adulterous spouse, where they would have most likely have committed 
adultery, infidelity, abuse, etc no matter whom they are in a relationship with.  
Trying to understand their sinful motives is a waste of time and effort that 
only has the victim holding onto negative feelings of all kinds.
The goal of the items 1 through 6 in the "What to do now in order of 
importance" section, is to make your spouse see you as a positive 
person who is going places and is in control of their life.  We are all 
attracted to people who are successful, confident and going places.  By doing items 
1 through 6, you are going to confuse and intrigue the spouse who is leaving or 
has left.  This is the only leverage you have to fixing your relationship 
along with having a stronger relationship in the future with that person or 
someone else.  
These items, 1 through 6, are counter intuitive.  They are designed to 
have you leave the relationship mentally.  Additionally, if possible, you 
should be leaving physically and do not share the same living accommodations.  
The effect of this is often to actually pull the person back to you, which 
none-the-less may not be desired.  When you cling to a person who is 
leaving or left a relationship, then it pushes them away faster.  If the 
victim leaves, it often pulls the adulterer towards the victim as noted in 
decades of counseling described in the book "Love must be Tough" by 
Dr James Dobson. 
Additionally, in a relationship when there is hurt with verbal 
negative comments and negative actions against you, then there might be the 
desire to retaliate where moving away from the relationship can potentially stop 
you from acting out in revenge.
The goal, when there are problems in a relationship, is to fix it and not make it worse by applying simple 
rules on conflict problem solving.  The list of 1 through 6 is what you 
must do when the marriage or relationship is at the breaking point or has 
already been broken.
The bottom line is we all are attracted to people who are successful, 
confident and going places so you must act and look like this is the case.  
If your relationship is not fixable
then doing items 1 through 6  
will 
give you a small victory moving forward in life.  In other words, you 
will have left knowing you 
did not let 
the situation show it had any victory on you by your ex-spouse.  Remember, 
as pointed out above, God is going to bless the Christian who is a victim who 
trust God to help them.
Also do not forget that God will absolutely repay
ALL unfaithfulness 
with up to seven times the negative consequences.  Take solace in knowing that God will not leave an adulterer unpunished 
which should offset any emotional desire to have your ex-spouse understand the 
pain they caused.  Recall that we all need to forgive, forget and move on 
knowing the list of items in the "You, the Victim, are about to be Blessed" 
section of this topic.  This author, personally has seen (in a shockingly 
way) numerous 
adulterers receive very painful consequences for their 
adultery where it was very obvious what they received was because of what 
they did.
	
		| The following is an excerpt from the
		Death Bed 
		Confessions topic: The question sometimes asked is how to handle an ex-spouse, someone that you 
divorced, wanting a death bed 
conversation?  There are three answers which still reflect all of us handling 
our life as ambassador's of God. 
	- If the divorced ex-spouse is moments before death,
	like the mortally 
	wounded Nazi soldier Karl Seidl, then you must listen, be a comfort, and 
	make sure the person has 
	Jesus Christ as the person's Savior!
 
	- For the case of not immanent death and you are remarried, then you should decline a death-bed conversation 
	with a spouse that was divorced.  This is for the following reasons:
 
	(a) This to respect your new marriage even when the previous had children 
	that are requesting your presence. 
	(b) Your new spouse would not want to have your divorced spouse to pay you 
	complements and also give you reasons why events happened that caused the 
	divorce.  Your new spouse would find both objectionable because of your 
	new commitments which should not have anyone infiltrating, intruding, and 
	infecting the new marriage. 
	(c) The person should be told to speak directly to God, or even use a Pastor 
	/ Priest.  This is hopefully the direction that someone before death 
	should be doing because it is God that forgives our sins and not a divorced 
	spouse.  The best outcome is to always approach God the Father in Jesus 
	Christ's name to confess all sins that have not been confessed which also 
	indicates having Jesus 
	Christ as the person's Savior!  This is the wonderful precious good 
	news when  the Thief on the 
	Cross did when in Jesus Christ's presence. 
	- If you are not remarried, then you can attend a death-bed conversation, 
	and listen to the divorced spouse with out judgment of any kind along with 
	making sure the person has 
	Jesus Christ as the person's Savior!
 
 
		 | 
	
Remarriage to Someone You Divorced
There are wonderful cases, seen on Christian Ministry TV Shows, where marriages have been restored after 
divorce where both the man and woman accepted Christ as their personal Savior 
and then God restored the broken marriages. 
In the case where both the man and woman both have
 Salvation, and then still divorced, the following scripture should be kept in mind.  As 
always, Grace and Mercy abounds from God and additionally we are living in the Church Age which is a different
Dispensation so God 
allows us to do many things that were not an option for the Old Testament 
Believers.  Therefore, the following scripture should be kept in mind on considerations 
dealing with re-marriage.
This scripture is a unique circumstance warning against remarriage to your 
wife after she had been remarried following your marriage to her.  
	
		| Deuteronomy 24:1-4 | 
		1 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he 
writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,
2 and if after she 
leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3 
and her second husband dislikes her and writes 
her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, 4 then her 
first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after 
		she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. 
		Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an 
		inheritance | 
	
What to read next?
Marriage and the needs of the man and 
woman,
		seeking Revenge,
		Adultery, Cheating & Affairs,   
Hope for an old relationship from the past: 60 
Year Love Story