Escape from the way of death

"To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God." "For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life."

"That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous."

"For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it."

"But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." Proverbs 2:16-22

Wisdom delivers you from the strange woman. Through wisdom, every man of God has to deliver himself from the strange woman. The strange woman shall cross over the life of any man of God. She is allowed of God to tempt you. But you have to deliver yourself from her. She is not referred to as "a strange woman" but "the strange woman". This means that encounter with this stranger is inevitable. When a man of God goes up the spiritual ladder, God allows the tempter to tempt him with the strange woman. She entices you with her words of flattery. These days, many servants of God fall into this snare during their ministry. Married men fall a prey to this temptation with the result that they divorce their wives on some grounds and then remarry "the strange woman". Who is this strange woman? She is one who forsakes the guide of her youth. Every woman has the guide of her youth. It is not a companion or guide in her youth. This guide is her conscience. Her conscience speaks to her when she entices a married man through her tongue. If she does not listen to her conscience and stifles its voice, then she becomes hard-heartened and the guide of her youth dies a natural death.

What is the covenant of her God? According to the covenant of her God, she (unmarried or a widow) has to marry a man who is not married or a divorcee with the living spouse. By enticing a married man/a divorcee, she forgets the covenant of her God. Her house leads to the spiritual death and her paths to the dead. Any man going into her house will never come back spiritually alive. They lose the paths of life for ever unless they repent and return to God through the atoning Blood of Jesus Christ. Legal divorce cannot give her an excuse for enticing another man. Remarriage after divorce is nothing but "adultery" in the eyes of God. Divorce through a court of law cannot be a cover for entering into an adulterous relationship. Let every man of God be careful about this abominable sin!

If you deliver yourself from the way of death through the strange woman, you shall walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous (2:20). The upright is the one who saves himself from the strange woman. He will be counted amonst the good men who keep the paths of the righteous. He shall dwell in the Promised Land and he will become perfect so as to remain in it. But the wicked, i.e. those who are entangled in the snare of the strange woman shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of. They will be counted amongst the transgressors so as to be rooted out of the earth (2:21-22). This is the judgment of God against those who could not save themselves from the way of death. Almost all the New Testament Epistles speak against adultery and fornication (Rom 13:12-14; 1 Cor 6:13-20; 2 Cor 12:21; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 4:17-24; Col 3:1-7; 1 Thess 4:3-7; 2 Tim 2:21,22; 1 Pet 2:9-11; 4:1-3; 2 Pet 2:9,10).

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