HOWDY PARTNER

When I was a kid I used to go to the cinema every Saturday morning as they put on films especially for kids. My favourites were the American westerns where the goodies always got the baddies. My favourite character was Hopalong Cassidy.

Probably the most used phrase in the films was “howdy pardner” which was American for “how are you partner”. It was a term of welcome for anyone you met with.

In a few short years, the term “partner” has all but replaced husband, wife, finance, boyfriend or girlfriend. Today if you are involved with anyone of the opposite or same sex they are your “partner.”

Your husband is your partner; your wife is your partner; your fiancé is your partner; your girlfriend is your partner; your boyfriend is your partner; your mistress is your partner; a girl or man you are shacking up with is your partner; the person you live with but are not married to is your partner.

Originally, your partner was someone you were in business with, so when someone said “this is my partner", you knew what they were talking about. In sport someone was your “tennis” partner in doubles. Occasionally someone was described as their “partner in crime.”

Today, when someone introduces someone as “their partner” you have no idea what they are talking about. Is it their wife, their finance, their girlfriend or boyfriend, someone they live with, just a casual bedfellow?

Of course when we read in Genesis that God said “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh" (2:24), it does not surprise me that satan is attacking God’s chosen designation for a married man and woman.

In addition the word “husband" is used 87 times in the Old Testament and 39 times in the New Testament. The word “wife” is used 320 times in the Old Testament and 87 times in the New Testament.

The word “partner” is only used three times to describe someone who works with another in the gospel or “partnering” with a thief. People in personal relationships are never described as “partners.” What that means is that we should not use the term if the bible is, as many denominations say their guide for faith and practice.

Anyone with any spiritual discernment knows that this is being used as an attack by Satan to wipe out the Christian concept of the family that was given to us by God. A Christian family is based on fidelity, love and commitment. The word “partner” hides all manner of sins and makes any relationship legitimate. In other words, the wisdom of God is being replaced by the wiles of the devil and people are falling for it hook, line and sinker.

The bottom line is that the word is being used to legitimise sin. I once filled in a government welfare application where they wanted various details about me and my wife. My wife’s column asked me details about my “partner”. In every section I crossed out the word “partner” and replaced it with wife.

I wrote a letter to the newspaper and referred to my wife as my wife. Some rabid feminist wrote back and said using the term wife was symptomatic of male domination. I replied and said the reason my wife is my wife is because she is my wife and I am her husband because I am her husband. Nothing more and nothing less.

We can let culture dictate to us how we live our lives as many Christians do, or we can become the alternative kingdom that Jesus intended and live by the rules and responsibilities of that kingdom. If we do that, we will find ourselves clashing with a foreign government. That as they say, is the price of freedom, as the other government, which is run by Satan is only interested in bringing you into bondage.

Don’t be ashamed to let the world know that you are married and that you are married to a husband or wife.