Was Jesus Christ married? Did Jesus have a wife?

The papyrus dates from the fourth century — roughly 350 years after Jesus’s life and death.

The recent discovery and translation of the fourth-century "Jesus' wife papyrus" has reopened the discussion as to whether Jesus had a wife / was married. The "Jesus' wife papyus" says, "Jesus said to them, 'My wife ...'" This discovery is interesting in that it is the first Gnostic writing to explicitly state that Jesus had a wife. While a couple of the Gnostic gospels mention Jesus having a close relationship with Mary Magdalene, none of them specifically state that Jesus was married to her or to anyone else. Ultimately, it does not matter what the "Jesus' wife papyrus" or Gnostic gospels say. They have no authority. They have all been proven to be forgeries invented to create a Gnostic view of Jesus.

If Jesus had been married, the Bible would have told us so, or there would be some unambiguous statement to that fact. Scripture would not be completely silent on such an important issue. The Bible mentions Jesus’ mother, adoptive father, half-brothers, and half-sisters. Why would it neglect to mention the fact that Jesus had a wife? Those who believe/teach that Jesus was married are doing so in an attempt to “humanize” Him, to make Him more ordinary, more like everyone else. People simply do not want to believe that Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:1, 14; 10:30). So, they invent and believe myths about Jesus being married, having children, and being an ordinary human being.

A secondary question would be, “Could Jesus Christ have been married?” There is nothing sinful about being married. There is nothing sinful about having sexual relations in marriage. So, yes, Jesus could have been married and still be the sinless Lamb of God and Savior of the world. At the same time, there is no biblical reason for Jesus to marry. That is not the point in this debate. Those who believe Jesus was married do not believe that He was sinless, or that He was the Messiah. Getting married and having children is not why God sent Jesus. Mark 10:45 tells us why Jesus came, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Do you want to learn about the true "wife" of Jesus? If so, please read our article on "What does it mean that the church is the bride of Christ?"

Recommended Resource: Reinventing Jesus: How Contemporary Skeptics Miss the Real Jesus and Mislead Popular Culture.

Source: GotQuestions.org

Joy Unspeakable

Joy must be very important because it is often encouraged and taught in the Bible. 

It is more than feeling happy. It is definitely more than giggling and laughter. 

Joy is a deep satisfaction that you have made the right decision, especially in the direction of God's will. 

It is the harvest of the seeds of faith that you have sown some time ago. It is the fruit of the Spirit. 

Most importantly, joy is Jesus! 

Let Jesus embrace you today and let your joy be full.

"Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory," 1Peter 1:8

Rev Albert Kang

Jesus In Your Eyes?

Evangelist Reinhard Bonkke

During the years of our tent crusades in Africa my music-minister Adam Mtsweni and I were looking for a new platform organ and went from shop to shop in the city of Johannesburg. 

It was noon, and there was one more shop we were heading for. On arrival I saw a salesman hanging around during the lunch-break, and I thought he had hardly noticed us. 

My colleague and I went from instrument to instrument, but suddenly that lone salesman stood in front of me. His eyes were wide open and his face as white as a sheet. “Sir”, he stammered, “I can see Jesus in your eyes.” 

I was dumbfounded. “How can this be?” I thought, “a total stranger says he can see Jesus in my eyes?” 

We had something like a revival in the music-shop, and when I left walking to the car I said, “Lord, I will never understand how something like this is possible.” 

Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me “No problem! Jesus lives in your heart, and sometimes he likes to look out of the windows!” 

What a wonderful truth. In John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” 

REINHARD BONNKE

If You Carry A Wallet, Passport and Credit Cards, Read This!

Here are some very helpful tips for you if you carry a wallet, passport and credit cards.

1. Do not sign  the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED.'

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts,  DO  NOT put the complete  account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address.Never  have your  SS# (identity card number) printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.. Keep the photocopy in a safe place..I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards..

Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should  cancel our  credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

6..  File a  police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one. But here's what is perhaps  most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)

7. Call  the  3 national credit reporting organizations  immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security (identity card)  fraud line number.. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit..

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Forging Your Character

From a rock, a refined masterpiece is unveiled.

Forging Your Character 

by Jim Rohn

Personal success is built on the foundation of character, and character is the result of hundreds and hundreds of choices you may make that gradually turn who you are at any given moment into who you want to be. If that decision-making process is not present, you’ll still be somebody—you’ll still be alive—but you may have a personality rather than a character, and to me that’s something very different.

Character isn’t something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints. It’s something you must take responsibility for forming. You build character by how you respond to what happens in your life, whether it’s winning every game, losing every game, getting rich or dealing with hard times.

You build character from certain qualities that you must create and diligently nurture within yourself, just like you would plant and water a seed or gather wood to build a campfire. You’ve got to look for those things in your heart and in your gut. You’ve got to chisel away in order to find them, just like chiseling away rock to create the sculpture that previously existed only in the imagination.

But the really amazing thing about character is that, if you’re sincerely committed to making yourself into the person you want to be, you’ll not only create those qualities, you’ll strengthen them and re-create them in abundance, even as you’re drawing on them every day of your life. That’s why building your character is vital to becoming all you can be.