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Questions & Answers

"Salty" marriages

First posted: October 8, 2005

 

Question

We are interested in a salt covenant that was performed at a wedding. The bride & groom each took a grain of salt from the larger bag of salt. Then they put the grain back in the bag of salt. It was a covenant between them to be together forever. Do you know how we would obtain this information? We have looked in Leviticus 2:13.

 

Answer

The meaning of salt

In a recent posting, the Lord prompted us to share a little about the spiritual meaning of "salt". In Scripture, salt is related to the prophetic and apostolic anointings:

 

  1. Prophetic salt

    In Scripture, salt is related to "grace":

     

    "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6)

     

    As we have said before, the ministry most directly related to "grace awareness" is the prophetic ministry. This means that salt is spiritually related to the prophetic anointing. As we have also said before, Girgashites are the spiritual antithesis of the prophetic anointing; Girgashites are at constant war with God's prophetic anointing. While prophets allow their emotions to flow freely, Girgashites are emotionally dry people. The prophetic anointing, therefore, acts as a salt that adds flavor or grace to what would otherwise be an emotionally dry "Girgashite Earth".

     

  2. Apostolic salt

    In Scripture, salt is also related to "fire":

     

    "For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt" (Mark 9:49)

     

    Salt has the effect of burning and disinfecting, and it was used in the past to preserve meats because of its "anti-bacterial" nature. Therefore, salt speaks of God's fire of "purifying judgments". As we have said before, the ministry most related to the making of judgments is the apostolic ministry. This means that the apostolic anointing in believers acts as salt that burns up "unrighteousness bacteria". The salt's "fire" acts as a light to the world that exposes the stains of unrighteousness.

 

Salt in the marriage

When applied to a marriage, the "salt covenant" says the following:

 

  1. Prophetic salt in the marriage

    Marriage is a union that celebrates the grace in the other partner. God created marriage to be a relationship with "flavor" or "grace". This "salt grace" is activated through "prophetic sacrifice". As each partner gives him or herself in loving sacrifice for the other person, grace is imparted to the other person. When one of the partners allows Girgashite selfishness to creep into his or her heart, that partner is violating the salt covenant, because they are not "seasoning" the other partner's life with prophetic grace. 

     

  2. Apostolic salt in the marriage

    When people enter into a marriage covenant, they die to their right to be with anyone else, and any effort to "reclaim" that right brings an immediate cloud of wrath from the Lord, because the covenant is being broken.

     

    According to Scripture, God's judgment logos is a sword (Hebrews 4:12), and swords cause death. Therefore, since marriage implies "death", it becomes evident that marriage is a fellowship undertaken in an atmosphere of judgments. Every covenant is a contract, and every contract has binding logos words, which act as laws. Wherever there are laws, an atmosphere of judgments ensues. Why? Because every act performed inside that atmosphere is judged in order to determine whether the act broke a law or not. When God's logos judgments are allowed to operate, an atmosphere is created where people's paths are constantly "straightened out" so that they may operate in the fullness of their inherent goodness and purpose.

     

    "7I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. 8I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly. 9BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. 10With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." (Psalm 119:7-11)

     

    When God's judgments rule, spiritual efficiency abounds, and God's prophetic purposes are fulfilled. When God's judgments are not allowed to rule, paths stay crooked for long periods, and precious time and souls are wasted away.

     

    According to Scripture, God's judgments works His righteousness (Isaiah 32:15-16). This means that the marriage covenant turns marriage into a union that stands on a foundation of righteousness (since covenants create an atmosphere of judgments) . Grace must be built on a foundation of righteousness; otherwise it is deceitful Hittite grace. Therefore, the grace and joy of the marriage relationship can be "pure" and "edifying" because of its righteousness foundation. This foundation is laid as each partner signs on to a judgment-laden covenant.

 

The black horse in marriage

As we have said before, the "black-horse" anointing is an apostolic-prophetic anointing. Therefore, those of you who choose to become "black-horse riders" are allowing the apostolic and prophetic anointings to operate harmoniously within you. Black-horse riders are "grace-aware judges" whose judgments destroy all temporal-oriented misuse of grace without destroying eternity-oriented grace that is founded on righteousness.

 

From what we have seen so far, we can safely say that the "salt covenant" in marriages points to the apostolic-prophetic nature of a marriage. Therefore, marriage partners who are living out their marriage in the Spirit become enveloped in a "black-horse" anointing. Such partners turn into "grace-aware judges". When there is no "grace awareness", the marriage turns "rigid and insipid", and it loses its "salt grace". When there is no focus on "judgments", the marriage turns into an emotional roller-coaster that quickly burns itself out; since no judgments are being made, unrighteousness grows like mold in each partner, and that unrighteousness will surreptitiously destroy the relationship's harmony.

 

When both marriage partners are operating in the Spirit, they turn into an "apostolic-prophetic" tandem that comes against the Balaam spirit in their own lives and in the lives of others. As we have said before, those who operate in the "black-horse" anointing are those who have heeded God's red-horse shout and have separated themselves from human, temporal coverings and structures. This is exactly what God calls marriage partners to do:

 

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24)

 

Notice how man is called to leave the temporal, human covering of his parents in order to "cleave unto his wife" and be one with her. Both partners must be willing to separate themselves from the temporal covering of others in order to make an independent life for themselves. As we have said before, the black horse comes to break the spirit of permanent dependence upon man. Therefore, marriage is, in a sense, a "lonely wilderness" where both partners must be able to "fend for themselves" and strengthen each other in God without depending on "outside support". All of this explains why marriages that operate in the Spirit become "spiritual enforcers" of black-horse judgments. They are living examples of permanent dependence upon God and God alone. In the latter days, God will raise up a Church full of "black-horse" marriages that will enforce the righteous use of grace on Earth. They will come against all the "hetero-yokes" in the Church and the world. The "hetero-yoke" soul relationships that maintain a false unity based on emotionalism ("wheat") or material things ("barley") shall be no more. Through black-horse believers (and marriages), soul relationships in the Church (and the world) will be compelled to maintain a true unity based on judgments that mold each member unto God's righteousness, and where each member's grace is celebrated on a foundation of righteousness.

 

The two witnesses

As we have said before, the Lord is releasing His "two-witness" anointing in these latter-days. This anointing begets prophetic believers who are unafraid to "roar" like judgment-making apostolic lions. Therefore, "two-witness" believers are apostolic-prophetic, which once again points to the black horse and to marriages. This means that marriages that operate in the Spirit are enveloped in a strong "two-witness" anointing. In such marriages, the 2 partners turn into "two witnesses" that restore the atmosphere around them by destroying unrighteousness through apostolic judgments and by fostering the growth of righteous prophetic grace.

 

A scattered sacrifice

The words "salt" and "covenant" appear together in 3 different verses of Scripture. The first verse is the passage mentioned in the question sent by the visitors:

 

"And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt." (Leviticus 2:13)

[The word "meat" near the beginning of the verse does not appear in the original Hebrew text]

 

The word "season" was translated from the Hebrew word malach, which literally means "to tear away, to dissipate". The word "salt" was translated from the word melach, which is itself derived from malach. Therefore, we can say that "salt" is spiritually related to the concepts of "separation" and "scattering". This makes sense, since you generally scatter the grains of salt with 3 of your fingers as you "season" things with salt. All of this emphasizes the principle of "individualization". As you scatter the salt, you are making an effort to separate each grain from the other grains. This speaks of independence from others and individuality, which is what the black horse comes to promote. As we said above, when a couple gets married, they are called by God to separate themselves from others in order to start a new life on their own.

 

The fact that you need 3 fingers to hold and scatter salt also has spiritual significance. Each finger in the hand is related to one of the 5 ministries of Ephesians 4:11:

 

Finger Ministry Explanation
Thumb Apostle As we have said before, the apostolic ministry is spiritually related to "smallness", and the thumb is a small finger. In most cultures, the thumb is also used to make "judgments" (as in "thumbs up" or "thumbs down"), which points to the judgment-making apostolic ministry. Also, the thumb is physically separated from the other 4 fingers, which again points to judgments, since judgments cause separation.
Index Prophet The index finger is used to point ahead. Therefore, it speaks of the prophetic ministry, since that is the ministry that points towards the visions of the future. The index finger is also used to point out specific people in a crowd, which correlates with the prophetic ministry, since the prophetic ministry awakens believers to their individual uniqueness.
Middle Evangelist The middle finger is the largest of all the fingers, which correlates with the evangelistic ministry, since evangelists are supposed to be strong spiritual giants who depose Amorite giants in the heavenlies. The middle finger also allows us to grab a large number of smaller items, which also points to the evangelistic ministry, since evangelists "seize" multitudes unto God.
Ring Pastor As its name clearly indicates, the ring finger is the finger most often used to "garnish" the hand with a ring. As we have said before, the ministry most related to "garnishing" the soul is the pastoral ministry.
Pinkie Teacher

The pinkie is the weakest and most vulnerable of all the fingers. Therefore, it speaks of our "earthly weakness" and "vulnerability". The most "vulnerable" of all the ministries is the teaching ministry, since a teacher must generally stand in front of students who are wealthier than him or her. As the teacher stands before them, he or she is exposed to the students' criticism and scorn (this is why it is not unusual for the students to give teachers "nicknames" -- believe me, I know from personal experience!). A teacher also lacks the "coercive" power of a parent. A parent provides the child with food, clothing, shelter, and money, which means that he or she has the ability to threaten the child with things such as a "cut in the allowance" or a "curfew" if the child misbehaves. A teacher, on the other hand, can only reprimand the child verbally. This means that a teacher is given much responsibility but little authority to fulfill that responsibility. When parents do not use their advantageous position of "coercion" to support the teacher, the teacher's task becomes much more difficult.

 

As we have said before, the ministry most related to "spiritual sweeping" is the teaching ministry. The teacher must be able to get his or her "broom" into small spaces in order to sweep out "dust and trash". This correlates with the pinkie, since it can be used to penetrate small orifices such as the ear orifice to clear out excess cerumen (if you don't have a Q-tip available!)

 

When you use your fingers to season a meat with salt, you will use your thumb, index, and middle fingers. This means that you will use your "apostolic", "prophetic", and "evangelistic" fingers, which "happen" to be the 3 "male"-ministry fingers. This makes spiritual sense, since the "male" ministries are "projection" ministries, and, when you are "seasoning" with salt, you are releasing the grains of salt into the meat (baseball players also use their "male" fingers to throw or "project" the baseball).

 

Therefore, when God declared that all the offerings had to be seasoned with salt (Leviticus 2:13), He was declaring that He rejects offerings given with a "matriarchal" soul. A soul that is unwilling to recognize the Lordship of the "male" spirit will never offer anything that is pleasing to God, no matter how much effort and emotion goes into that offering. In the same way, a marriage that is founded on (pastoral) Canaanite sentimentalism or (teacher) Girgashite "methodism" is not being "salted with salt". You cannot pour salt using your 2 "female" fingers (the ring finger and the pinkie).

 

A covenant that looks towards eternity

According to a website, the Biblical "salt covenant" consisted of each partner taking a pinch of salt from his or her salt pouch and putting it in the other person's salt pouch. The covenant could be "nullified" only if one of the partners could prove that he or she had separated the other person's grains of salt from his or her own salt. Since this is practically impossible, it meant that the covenant was completely binding.

 

Once the salt is dropped into the other person's pouch, it becomes irretrievable, and is, in a sense, "lost for good". This points to Ecclesiastes 11:1:

 

"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days" (Ecclesiastes 11:1)

 

Notice that the "bread investment" is recovered "after many days", which speaks of long-term projects with eternal rewards. Therefore, marriage must be seen as a long-term project with eternal rewards. As we said above, marriage is spiritually related to the black horse, which comes to judge the misuse of God-given grace for temporal purposes. Therefore, the grace in marriage must be enjoyed with one's sight on eternity. Marriage is sacred to God because it is a figure of our union with Him for eternity:

 

"7Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God." (Revelation 19:7-9)

[The word "clean" in verse 8 was translated from the Greek word katharos, which literally means "pure", and points to God's purifying judgments; the righteousness of verse 8 is wrought through God's apostolic judgments. Therefore, those who abhor judgments shall not be clothed with fine linen, and they shall not partake of this marriage.

 

The word "saints" at the end of verse 8 was translated from the Greek word hagios, which literally means "holy one". As we have said before, "holiness" is most intimately related to the prophetic ministry in Scripture. Through the prophetic anointing, we grow in intimacy with the Lord, which prepares us for our eternal union with Him.]

 

This union of man with God is what Scripture calls "eternal life", and not all believers will be invited, even when they will not go to literal "hell". Based on the verses prior to the passage above (Revelation 19:1-6), only those who abhor matriarchal Babylon and who rejoice in her destruction shall be called to that supper. Only those who embrace the 3 "male" ministry anointings over their lives shall be invited.

 

When a believer preserves the "exclusivity" of the marriage relationship, giving him or herself exclusively to his or her marriage partner, he or she is recognizing the God-value in the other partner. Just as God is worthy of our complete and total surrender (Matthew 22:37), one's partner is also worthy of such a surrender -- at least within the context of marriage in this natural realm. A person who refuses to truly practice "exclusivity" in this lifetime can in no way expect God to practice "exclusivity" with him or her for eternity.

 

Pastors in the middle

The website where we found the information on the physical aspects of the "salt covenant" has some very interesting things to say regarding marriage. It Scripturally shows that God is the only One who can truly marry people. Neither the government nor a "minister" can marry people. The marrying of two people by a "pastor" is a human tradition that is not derived from Scripture. As you may know, the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) mentions a plethora of religious rituals that were to be performed by Levitical priests. Yet, there is not a single verse that speaks of how Levitical priests were to perform the "wedding ritual". Why? Because God never intended for them to "do weddings". If the Old Covenant (which performed many physical rituals as shadows of things in the spirit realm -- Hebrews 10:1) did not include a physical "wedding ritual", why should the New Covenant include one?! If the Old Covenant, which was based on permanent intermediaries, did not demand an "intermediary priest" during a wedding, why would the New Covenant require one?!!!

 

By involving a "pastor" or outside "minister" in the wedding process, the matriarchal Church has worked to undo what marriages are intended to do in the first place. As we said above, a marriage is intended to be a "living example" of black-horse independence from earthly man and his human structures. Marriage partners are supposed to leave the covering of man in order to live in a "wilderness" where their only covering is God Himself. Marriage partners are called to live in a "wilderness" where they can have a One-to-one New-Covenant relationship with God that includes no Old Covenant intermediaries. By demanding that a "pastor" or outside "minister" be involved in the wedding process, the Church is getting in the middle to obstruct that New Covenant relationship. Cursed be the pastors who try to get in the middle of a union forged by God and God alone!!! When they get in the middle, they hinder the salt covenant. No wonder the divorce rate is so high among born-again Christians. Cursed matriarchal pastor, get out of the way!!! That is a commandment from God.