Hello Mike,

Before I go any further, I want you to know that I don’t take you, or your responses to my questions, for granted. I really appreciate what God is doing through you for me, and seeing you, I know what I must become. You answered my question about the origins of Satan, and the Lucifer hoax. I hoped that God would heal my parents of their spiritual blindness through your email. I read your email to my parents, and well, let’s just say that when Jesus said to his disciples “to them it is not given” he really meant it!

My relationship with God is now clear, my time has come to be taken out of the sea of humanity, and the long and painful process of being fashioned into the image of God has begun, and God is using you to help do this. It pleased him to save me, and pleased him to use you to help do this. My question is short and simple, and not one that will challenge anyone’s scholastic capability. Here it is: Do I have to get married? I am 22 years old, and could care less now about women or marriage. Though I decided long ago not to touch a woman I was not married to, I’ve been in love before, and if you’ve been in love you know how special it is. But I want that feeling and love and dedication to be with Christ, and no one else, but does God want us to be married? Is it required? I am told this all day long.

Your friend, and brother in Christ,

B____

Hi B____,

You are right, it does not take a scholar to answer your question. The simple answer is that physical marriage is not a requirement for salvation. But the simple obvious truth is also that very few men are gifted with the ability to “keep their virgin.” Here is what Christ told the apostles on this very subject:

Mat 19:12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from [their] mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

I hope that you have learned by now that Christ’s words are spirit. He is not talking about self-mutilation and castration. What he is referring to is the trait He and the apostle Paul both shared. They were “eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.”

So whether you are “able to receive it” or not, will become obvious to you by how much you “burn” with sexual passion. Here is Paul’s [Christ’s] comment on this situation:

1Co 7:7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
1Co 7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
1Co 7:9 But if they cannot contain their sexual desires], let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn [with sexual passions which God has not “gifted” you to live without].

Don’t assume anything. You are very young. God will make it obvious what you are to do in His time. I am going to quote you a scripture I have probably already quoted to you, and I will probably quote it again:

Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.

And this too:

Luk 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

This is not an overnight process. It is instead a life-long process. So keep the faith even when it seems that the Adversary is having you for lunch. God already knows whether He has a wife out there for you. While you are waiting patiently to find out,just remember this verse:

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Mike