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I don't know what to do...

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Woodpot:
A situation which has been developing, is coming to a head. In short, I am having a crisis, and I don’t know what to do. I am praying earnestly for guidance. Additionally, I would gladly accept the help of fellow Christians to aid in properly dividing the Word. My problem is this: The female friend who I mentioned in my earlier testimony loves me, and I love her in return. If all goes according to my heart, then I will have her in marriage before the year is out. However, I don’t know if this is God’s will and I do not trust my heart. I am praying for guidance. Biblically, we are both of us are free to re-marry, as far as I understand it.
My dilemna comes from this: I have been influenced by the Christian Identity movement, through my other friend who helped re-introduce me to Christ. For my part, I want only to be associated with the Word of God, and not be involved with any particular sects. In case you aren’t familiar with it, C.I. espouses, among other things, that both the Old Testament and New Testament doctrine and ordinances are all still in-effect, minus the Levitical priestly duties. In my case, the point I am running up against is encapsulated in Ezra chapter 9. As it is the entire chapter, it is too long to just quote it all here. The gist of the chapter, however, is that the Israelites were taking wives of the daughters of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, which was a transgression of the Law. Ezra, learning of this, confers with the Lord God. The result is in Chapter 10:

Ezra 10:2,3
2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. 3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

Ezra 10:10-12
10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. 11 Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives. 12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

My friend corroborates this with the doctrine of Matthew, which he takes to mean that all of the previous Law up until Christ is still in effect.

Matthew 5:17-19 17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

I am extremely conflicted. Any advice anyone may be able to give, I would greatly appreciate.
Thank you for your time.

Ellie:
You might have to be more specific about what you are asking. I don't think I'd ever heard of the Christian Identity movement until you mentioned it, so I don't know what exactly they teach on those verses you quoted. And just reading your post without the context of what they/you think the meaning of those verses are was confusing to me because applying what Ezra wrote there about Israelites putting away foreign wives doesn't make sense to apply to Gentile Christians. I only have a guess about what you are trying to ask based on a very brief google search of what the Christian Identity movement is, so being more specific might be helpful to everyone here so we can understand.

However, it seems that the underlying presuppositions behind your specific questions would likely be resolved by understanding what it means that Christ fulfilled the law.

FULFILL'ED: Accomplished; performed; completed; executed. - Websters 1828

Chris wrote some articles where he explains this, and even though you're not asking specifically about the Sabbath or tithe, he still goes into an explanation of whether we as Christians are supposed to keep the law from the Old Testament in those teachings and I think that reading or listening to them would be helpful. I found the Sabbath teaching to be sufficient to explain the concepts when I used to think we had to keep the Sabbath, but the tithe one is more recently updated so it may explain things a bit differently or possibly better. Maybe if you go over those it might clear some things up for you, but if you still need help then feel free to ask more questions on here. I would be interested to hear what you glean from the teachings and if they helped.

Rowan M.:
I've come across the Christian Identity movement before (mainly in the form of British Israelism), and have just been refreshing my knowledge of it. One of its core teachings (and heresies) is the claim that Aryans rather than Jews are God's chosen race. People involved in this movement believe that white Europeans are the true Israelites and that the Jews are descendants of Canaanites, who in turn are descendants of Cain. They allege that Cain was a "cursed hybrid" of an illicit union between Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. (I'm not sure whether every CI person believes this, but a great many do.)

Would it be fair for me to assume that you are white, but the special lady in your life is not? You currently live in Japan, so maybe she's Japanese? I suppose the CI movement would class people of Asian descent as being part of the Canaanite race or whatever. So adherents of this movement would regard marriage between a white and a non-white as an "unequal yoke" and thus purportedly against God's Law. Is my understanding of that correct?

One thing that I would like to state clearly at the outset is that God's prohibitions against the Jews marrying foreign women had NOTHING to do with so-called interracial mixing. The real reason (which I will shortly prove from Scripture) had to do with SPIRITUAL purity. God did not want His people intermarrying with pagans, because they would have a bad influence on their households and the nation of Israel as a whole. However, if a woman from a heathen nation got saved, then it was acceptable in God's eyes for her to marry an Israelite (Boaz and Ruth being a noteworthy case in point).

I'm not sure how much you believe in any of the "serpent seed" doctrine that permeates much of the CI movement, but the Bible is extremely clear on who Cain's biological father is:

And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. (Genesis 4:1)

So Cain's father was Adam, not the serpent. Cain was every bit as human as his brother Abel. There is nobody on earth with reptilian blood. No one group of people is more "pure" or less "pure" than another in terms of biological makeup. Incidentally, notice that Eve says, "I have gotten a man from the LORD". She would not have said this if the serpent had been Cain's biological father. It would have been a total contradiction.

However, the Bible makes a distinction between people's physical fathers and their spiritual fathers. You're probably familiar with John 8:44, in which Jesus tells a group of Jews (mainly Pharisees) that the Devil is their father. He did NOT say this because they were the "serpent seed" (there's no such thing), but because they were lost. They thought that they were eligible for Heaven simply because they were the physical descendants of Abraham (a bit like CI people believing that being descendants of Adam, as opposed to the serpent, makes them God's children). Jesus was pointing out that regardless of who their physical ancestor was, they were, spiritually speaking, sons of the Devil. Satan is the spiritual father of all unsaved people, but God is the Father of everyone who is born again in Christ. Essentially, He adopts us:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will (Ephesians 1:5)

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:3-7)

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:14-16)

Who are the sons of God? Those led by the Spirit of God, not those descended from Adam, Abraham or anyone else. There's more I could say and more verses I could quote on this, but I don't want to make this post too long. So I will now move on to the question of why God prohibited marriages between Israelites and non-Israelites.

The main reason why God forbade marriage between the people of Israel and the nations around them had to do with idolatry. We see this explained in Exodus 34:

Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. (Exodus 34:12-16)

It is very plainly stated there that if Israelites married women from pagan nations, those women would lead their husbands astray into their wicked idolatrous practices. Indeed, this is EXACTLY what happened to Solomon:

But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. (1 Kings 11:1-6)

There is no mention in this passage of Solomon marrying women of other "races". The entire focus is on the spiritual consequences of marrying pagan women. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived (see 1 Kings 4:30-31). He wrote, or had a significant hand in, three books of the Bible (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon). In many respects, he was a great man of God. Yet when he got involved with pagan women, it caused him great spiritual harm, and had consequences for Israel as a whole too.

When Nehemiah rebukes the Israelites for marrying "strange wives" (i.e. women from foreign nations), he specifically references Solomon's sin:

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. (Nehemiah 13:26)

The word "outlandish" there just means foreign. It has nothing to do with the modern meaning of outlandish. Solomon's sin was NOT marrying women of a different race or nationality, but marrying women who turned his heart away from God and towards idols. If they had been godly women, his marriages to them would have been fine. But they were wicked and ungodly, and the spiritual corruption that led to is what God wanted to protect His people from when He told His people not to marry women from the pagan nations surrounding Israel.

The same problem existed in Ezra's day:

Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. (Ezra 9:1-2)

So the real issue was not marriage between people whose skin might have been a different colour, but marriage between people who were supposed to be God's holy people and people who worshipped false gods and indulged in all kinds of wicked practices. Due to marrying pagan women, the people of Israel were copying the abominations of their heathen neighbours. This was corrupting the "holy seed". The corruption was spiritual, not physical. Incidentally, one of God's commandments to Israel was to be holy:

For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. (Leviticus 11:45)

Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. (Leviticus 19:2)

Born-again Christians are given the same commandment in the New Testament:

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (1 Peter 1:15-16)

Being holy has nothing to do with any kind of racial "purity", but rather separating from sin, the world and so on. Think of it this way: holiness is a bit like a garment that is completely clean, without even a single speck of dirt on it. As soon as any dirt gets on that garment though, it is no longer clean. Even if there is only a small amount of dirt, that garment will be considered dirty. Holiness is about being as spiritually clean as you possibly can, and avoiding (as far as possible) being contaminated by sinful practices and philosophies. Israel was destroying its holiness by mingling with the world (in the form of its men marrying pagan women). It has nothing whatsoever to do with supposedly racially pure marriage (the marriage of Boaz and Ruth, among others, proves that). In any case, there really are no races as such. Skin colour is just a variation like hair colour and eye colour. God has made us all "one blood":

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation (Acts 17:26)

Spiritually speaking, there are no racial distinctions (or distinctions of any other kind) between those who are in Christ:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28 - "Greek" in this context means Gentile)

No one will be excluded from Heaven on the basis of their skin colour or nationality:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9-10)

This is talking about saved saints of God. ALL nations, kindreds, people and tongues are represented. That includes any and all people that the Christian Identity movement claims to be descendants of Canaanites, or worse, descendants of the serpent. So for a white person to marry a black person, or whatever, is not an issue at all. It's only a problem if one is saved and the other is not. Moses married an Ethiopian woman (see Numbers 12:1). Boaz, an Israelite man, married Ruth, a woman of Moab. This was normally forbidden, but because Ruth was converted to the true God, her marriage to Boaz was acceptable in God's eyes. Had Ruth been a pagan leading Boaz astray, it would have been wrong. But she wasn't, and she ended up becoming grandmother to King David and an ancestor of Christ (in fact, she's one of just two women mentioned in Matthew's geneaology, and the other was Rahab, mother of Boaz and also from a pagan nation originally).

As to the law of the Old Testament, Christians are not subject to it, but if you want to obey one part of the Law, you have to obey all of it (which no one can do):

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. (Galatians 5:1-6)

This passage is using the example of being circumcised, which was a requirement for Jewish males under the Old Covenant. The word "circumcision" is also used to refer to Jews, while "uncircumcision" can mean Gentiles. This passage is one of several that refutes legalism (which essentially means living in obedience to the Law, and making that a requirement of salvation). Just as you don't have to be circumcised nowadays, you don't have to concern yourself with laws regarding marriage to foreign women.

Anyway, to apply all this to your situation: unless you are a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you are not an Israelite. And your lady friend is almost certainly not descended from Canaanites. However, even if you could trace your lineage back to the Jewish patriarchs (meaning you were physically Jewish), marrying a Japanese woman (or whatever ethnicity this lady happens to be, even if she DOES have Canaanite ancestors) is not going to be a problem. There is no sin in this. You are not breaking any laws of God by marrying a woman of another nationality or ethnicity. In any case, since you're not Jewish, the laws forbidding Israelites from marrying foreign women don't even apply to you. However, if one of you is saved and the other isn't, THEN there's a problem. Then you have an unequal yoke situation (see 2 Corinthians 6:14-18). So your main concern should be that. Are you both saved? If so, great, go ahead and get married (if you are both confident that this is God's will for you, and that there are no Biblical impediments to it). Although even if you are both saved, make absolutely certain that you're on the same page spiritually. Suffice it to say, you're not going to break any of God's laws by marrying a woman whose skin colour happens to be different to your own (if she is indeed Japanese or otherwise "non-white").

There's quite a lot more ground I could cover, and more Scriptures I could quote on this, but I think I've written enough for now. I hope this goes some way to answering your concerns. As Ellie says though, it would help if you could be more specific about your concerns regarding this lady and your hopes of marrying her. I do apologise if I've misunderstood the gist of your question, but I hope this post has still been helpful to you. Incidentally, I would advise you to separate yourself from the Christian Identity movement, because it is really quite heretical. And pretty racist, too - not that I am in any way accusing you of being racist. You don't come across that way at all. But the CI movement does teach a number of things that are racist. More importantly though, it teaches things that fly quite utterly in the face of God's Word, and that is why you need to get away from it and its influences on you.

Zoologistkid:

--- Quote ---I've come across the Christian Identity movement before (mainly in the form of British Israelism), and have just been refreshing my knowledge of it. One of its core teachings (and heresies) is the claim that Aryans rather than Jews are God's chosen race. People involved in this movement believe that white Europeans are the true Israelites and that the Jews are descendants of Canaanites, who in turn are descendants of Cain. They allege that Cain was a "cursed hybrid" of an illicit union between Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. (I'm not sure whether every CI person believes this, but a great many do.)
--- End quote ---

Wait a second, are they (the CI movement) claiming that the children of Cain are alive today? That is impossible because all of mankind perished in the flood except for Noah and his family. Noah wasn't a descendant of Cain, so Cain could not have been the father of the Canaanites.
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. Genesis 7:21-23

To be exact, He was a descendant of Seth, not Cain:
Adam, Sheth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered, Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 1 Chronicles 1:1-4

Another thing is, as Rowan rightly pointed out, it does not matter what we are and what background we have.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28
This can be seen in the fact that Jesus Christ had disciples from several backgrounds. He had fishermen, a doctor, a tax collector, and even a Canaanite as His disciples.
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. Matthew 10:2-4

Woodpot:
You guys have given me quite a lot to think about here. I don't have the time to process it all and write about it just now (it's 10:30am now, and work is beginning). So, I'm printing this out, along with the teaching on the Sabbath and tithing, and will go over everything thoroughly this weekend.

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