Top marriage minister to divorce, remarry

WorldNetDaily ^ | 01/16/02 | Andy Butcher

[sheltonmac]

The man widely regarded as the father of Christian marriage ministries is filing for divorce from his wife of 42 years and plans to remarry.

Ray Mossholder, whose Marriage Plus Ministries is credited with saving more than 11,000 couples from divorce, says he is "ashamed and disgraced."

Mossholder, 64, announced the news of his marriage break-up in a letter to supporters in which he referred to "the story of the shoemaker who was so busy that his own wife had to go without shoes."

He added: "I have been that shoemaker. I make no excuse for it. I won't even blame the devil for what has been my own fault."

MPM was the first ministry of its kind when Mossholder founded it in 1971. He has written three books including "Marriage Plus" – endorsed by Christian leaders Jack Hayford and Pat Robertson – and spoken at seminars across the country and in more than 20 other countries. Mossholder and his wife, Arlyne, were board members of the National Association of Marriage Enhancement, and were heard by millions on their radio and TV broadcasts.

The ministry was born out of struggles in the early years of the couple's marriage, when he almost left for another woman. They shared the testimony of their healing, but Mossholder wrote in his letter that he was "often hypocritical when I talked about how great (our marriage) was. What I taught was truth; however, it seemed that we were never able to apply it in our own marriage."

Mossholder said the marriage had "dissolved in words that killed whatever reserve we had to continue together ... . I am ashamed and disgraced before you."

He had failed Arlyne, God and his supporters, he said. "I know I am violating my own teaching on divorce. I don't feel I deserve heaven. I can only hope for the blood and grace of Christ to be sufficient."

Mossholder asked people to forgive him and pray for them both, signing off as "your broken friend."

Terry Kirk, pastor at the Mossholders' Central Christian Assembly of God in Baltimore, said he had reacted with "shock and disbelief" when told of the split. He also felt "great sadness for the potential fallout that it could have not only to his family, but to the kingdom of God."

Mossholder told Charisma News Service that unfaithfulness was not an issue and that he was seeking a divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. He had developed a "close friendship" with a woman through his ministry but had not left his marriage for her.

"The problem was not another woman," he said. "The problem was a marriage that ultimately I could not live in."

Now that he has decided to end his marriage, he and the other woman plan to marry after she gets a divorce.

The Mossholders have three grown children and eight grandchildren. They also took in and raised several other children. Mossholder has moved to California and left his wife to close down MPM.

Arlyne Mossholder said her husband's departure was "heartwrenching, not only personally for our family but for the ministry."

She added: "It is absolutely horrendous to see the unraveling of a man, a marriage and a ministry."

The Mossholders' eldest son, Tim, dean of students at a Christian college, said his father had suffered a number of ministry setbacks over the last 18 months.

"The final chapter has not been written," he said. "We are believing that God will intervene in his hurt and pain and frustration."

[sheltonmac]

He had developed a "close friendship" with a woman through his ministry but had not left his marriage for her.

Now that he has decided to end his marriage, he and the other woman plan to marry after she gets a divorce.

Arlyne Mossholder said her husband's departure was "heartwrenching, not only personally for our family but for the ministry."

So what, exactly, is this joker's Biblical basis for getting a divorce???

[sheltonmac]

BUMP

[malakhi]

Mossholder told Charisma News Service that unfaithfulness was not an issue and that he was seeking a divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. He had developed a "close friendship" with a woman through his ministry but had not left his marriage for her. "The problem was not another woman," he said. "The problem was a marriage that ultimately I could not live in."

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT. When someone says "its not another woman", it is another woman.

[sheltonmac]

This is like a man crying out for forgiveness for his addiction to pornography as he's dropping his Hustler subscription renewal in the mailbox. No marital unfaithfulness involved? I suppose it all boils down to what the meaning of "unfaithfulness" is.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Unhealed hurts of the past result in broken relationships of the present.

[Fifth Business]

In other news, Marriage Plus Ministries has changed its name to Marriage Plus Plus Ministries.

[is_is]

amazing.....i know it's wrong but i'm gonna divorce her anyway......makes you wonder about his commitment to God as well....

[MississippiMan]

What a shame. He was a prime target for satan and satan got to him. How very sad. :(

MM

[Romulus]

"I know I am violating my own teaching on divorce. I don't feel I deserve heaven. I can only hope for the blood and grace of Christ to be sufficient."

Now that he has decided to end his marriage, he and the other woman plan to marry after she gets a divorce.

Whatever.

Any stick is good enough to beat a dog.

[RLK]

What bullcrap.

And it isn't about shoes or other halfassed parables. It's about screwing around.

[Fifth Business]

Any stick is good enough to beat a dog.

You'll probably need to elaborate on that metaphor. I'm not sure most will understand precisely what you mean.

[homeschool mama]

bump

[Romulus]

People who've surrendered to the temptation to commit a brutal, evil act are disinclined to scruple over how they bring it off.

[scott91]

several years ago after i had been single for a number of years i went to rays marriage workshop. a lot of my friends asked me why i was going to a marriage workshop when i was single. i replied that i would like to marry again and when i do i would like to know more about how to be a proper husband. i feel that a lot of who i am today i learned from ray. i will lift ray and his family up in prayer. that is what is expected of us. besides, divorce is not the unforgivable sin.

[Fifth Business]

People who've surrendered to the temptation to commit a brutal, evil act are disinclined to scruple over how they bring it off.

Exactly. Insert your reason here.

As you said before--Whatever.

[sheltonmac]

DR. RAY MOSSHOLDER'S BIOGRAPHY

Since the early 1970's more than a hundred thousand marriages have been strengthened and more than eleven thousand divorces have been canceled through Dr. Ray's Mossholder's dynamic and relevant Marriage Plus and Together In Love Marriage Seminars.....

.....Actively ministering through both television and radio, Ray and Arlyne are seen in over half of the United States and in seven foreign countries weekly with their "Marriage Plus" and "Singles Plus" television programs. Both programs have won the international Golden Aurora Award, and "Marriage Plus" has won the Silver Angel Award from Excellence In Media.....

.....The Marriage Plus and Together In Love Marriage Seminars were developed after Ray and Arlyne had spent had spent twelve years in what both considered a "bad" marriage with each other. During their twelfth year Ray began to reason, "If God invented marriage as He claims to have done, then only He knows how to make it work!" Ray spent the next two months reading everything he could find in the Bible on God's design for marriage, rearing children and teenagers, finances, the role of the husband and wife, sex and divorce. He wrote down more than a thousand Scripture verses and shared them with Arlyne. Together they followed these directions as best they could. Quickly their marriage became new and fulfilling to them both. Two years later Dr. Jack Hayford, Jack encouraged him to teach what he'd discovered to members of The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, California. Divorces began being cancelled. Many more miracle marriage healings occurred. From then on the seminars have confirmed Luke 1:37 for marriage, "NOTHING is impossible with God".....

.....Ray is an elder and both Arlyne and Ray are missionaries from the church where they are members -- Central Christian Assembly Of God in Baltimore.Their pastor is Reverend Terry Kirk. For more than twenty years Ray was an associate pastor and then traveling elder to Dr. Jack Hayford. Later Ray and Arlyne were very active members of the Phoenix (Arizona) First Assembly of God with Dr. Tommy Barnett. Ray and Arlyne have been married forty years. They are the parents of three children and the thrilled grandparents of six…soon to be eight…grandchildren. They have also raised ten teenagers from broken homes.

---

Sad indeed.

[sheltonmac]

"i feel that a lot of who i am today i learned from ray"

That's one great truth to be learned in all of this. Quite often God will get the message through in spite of the messenger. After all, this is the same God who spoke through Balaam's donkey. Those who have been helped by Ray's ministry should not become discouraged. God's truth and His will never change no matter what..

[Romulus]

My reason? The man has given public notice that he intends to commit a grave sin. Having hardened his heart and embraced the Great Lie -- that he has no choice -- he goes from bad to worse, broadcasting the fact of his new-found slavery, while appealing to the grotesque presumption that a formulaic declaration of dead faith will somehow validate his superstition of salvation-through-gnosis.