Binding Mr. & Mrs.
Matt Miles • August 2, 2021
Over the course of the last several weeks, I have attended, participated or officiated in three weddings. Each ceremony was unique in venue and decor, but the foundation through each wedding was the Lord. It was exciting to see in each couple love for their spouse and the Lord. As each couple committed for life to each other, they acknowledged the Lord’s divine binding of marriage.
Each couple understood the origin of the marriage relationship is found in Genesis 2. It was created by God, between one man and one woman, on the sixth day of history. When forming man from the dust of the earth, it was the Lord’s desire that we not be alone. The man was in need of a helper, but not because of a weakness or distressful need. Rather this helper, woman, was to complete the man. There was equality in the Lord’s sight between the man and woman in image-bearing and importance, yet each with different roles and responsibilities in the marriage family.
Today this very important Biblical fact is under attack. It is often conveyed that marriage can be with whomever we desire, male or female. Many states already have or are in the process of defining marriage to include homosexual couples, so to allow “legal marriage” for them with all the rights and benefits therein. These states may think they have the power to define marriage, but in reality the Lord is the only one who binds in marriage. Otherwise marriage becomes, quite simply, a man-made relationship for self-interest. Without the understanding that it is not our license, rings, vows or kiss that bind us in marriage but rather it is the Lord, we are just entering into a contract with limitations and expirations. The true blessing and fulfillment in marriage comes from the Lord binding a couple together for life, and it is why “man cannot not separate them”. It is truly a divine union that has its origins in Genesis.
To all of our supporters and readers with many decades of marriage, please share often with the younger generation all the Lord is teaching you daily about each other and Him. Blessings to you and your families! May the Lord continue to bind you together closer day after day as you seek Him while LOOKING UP.
Washington the Soldier
by Jacques Auguste Regnier, 1834
Artemis - the Greek goddess of wild animals, the hunt, vegetation, chastity and childbirth. 1 While the Greek goddess may not be openly worshiped anymore, her name has now been irrevocably linked to the lesser light, just as her mythological twin brother Apollo’s was in the last century. Even so, it was not without Providence showing Who is really present in the affairs of men. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has been focused on having a prolonged presence in space with the work of the International Space Station (ISS), so until recently lunar exploration took a backseat. The Artemis missions of NASA have changed that. They began with the first launch in 2022 when an unmanned spacecraft orbited the Moon and returned successfully for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The plan for the Artemis program is to establish an ongoing manned presence on the Moon. In upcoming missions astronauts will return to the surface, marking another generation of Moon exploration. As we press forward, may we never forget the sacrifice of many lives throughout our ongoing space program, and may we remember it is only possible by the ordered design and engineered forces at work in creation by the Lord God our Creator. Many of you may have watched, as I did, as four brave astronauts were launched from the clutches of Earth’s gravity on April 1, 2026. It was hard to describe how proud I was as an American on that day. This country, founded on God-ordained rights and privileges, was the first and only country to place His image bearers on the surface of the lesser light years ago, and we are headed back again. We are literally doing what the Lord asked of us from the Genesis 1:28 mandate in studying His creation. As much as I know that not all who work for NASA have this worldview, there are several that do, praise the Lord! On Artemis II launch day, one of the four astronauts on board was our brother in Christ - Victor Glover, mission pilot.