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A Woman Remarried and Had a Child for Her New Husband After Waiting 10 Years for Her First Husband, Father of Her First Child That Travelled Overseas?

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Answered by True Bible Teachings AI on 6/30/2026

1) Direct answer
She must leave the second union. Before God she is still bound to her first husband while he lives. She should seek reconciliation with her first husband; if reconciliation is not possible, she must remain unmarried. The second “marriage” should be treated as no marriage before God and ended. Care righteously for the child, but do not continue an adulterous relationship.

2) Scriptural explanation
- “The woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth… if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free” (Romans 7:2–3; also 1 Corinthians 7:39).
- “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6).
- “Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery… if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery” (Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18).
- If reunion cannot happen, “let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband” (1 Corinthians 7:10–11).
- Provision for the child must continue: “If any provide not for his own… he hath denied the faith” (1 Timothy 5:8).

3) Simple clarifying logic
- Now notice: a valid marriage ends only by death. Feeling, time, distance, abandonment, or mistaken reports of death do not dissolve the covenant. The Bible ties freedom to remarry to one thing—death.
- Therefore, the first marriage was valid from the beginning and remains binding while he lives. The second union began while a prior covenant still stood, so it is not a marriage before God; it should be ended (annulled in biblical terms).
- Right steps:
- Cease marital relations with the second man and separate lawfully.
- Seek reconciliation with the first husband if he will receive her.
- If he will not, remain unmarried and walk clean.
- Provide and care for the child; the child is innocent and must be lovingly supported by both parents.
- Some will say, “But she thought he was dead.” You see, Scripture does not base covenant on what we thought, but on whether the spouse lives. Only death releases.

4) Required conclusions under the marriage rules
- Before/after conversion: Whether before or after conversion, the first covenant stands while he lives.
- Was the first marriage valid? Yes.
- Does it remain binding? Yes, until death.
- Is separation permitted? Yes—she must separate from the second man immediately; if reconciliation with the first is not possible, she must live unmarried.
- Does annulment apply? Yes—to the second union, because a prior living spouse made a true marriage impossible from the start.
- Is remarriage permitted? No, not while the first husband lives (Romans 7:2–3; 1 Corinthians 7:39).

Final biblical conclusion
End the second union, seek reconciliation with the first husband; if reconciliation is not possible, remain unmarried. Provide for the child faithfully. This is the clean, scriptural way back into order.

What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?

Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.

SermonRelevance 62

Life Story

a day in February 1950

50-0200 §31

Now, now, I guess you wonder how I ever got married. Well, when I met my wife, she was a Christian girl, very lovely Christian girl. And I was then about twenty-three, twenty-four years old. She very sweet humble character. And I met her. And I'd take her to church, and she went to church. And she was a very fine lovely woman. All these people here, my friends from Jeffersonville setting here in front of me knows her, or knew her, and how a lovely woman she was. She's in her grave today. But that's her body. Her so...

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SermonRelevance 61

From that time

Saturday morning, the 15th of April 1961 at the Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, U.S.A.

61-0415B §49

Mary, the little virgin... Never had a woman bore a child without being intercourse with man. Never had she ... never been able to ... ever be able to have a child without natural pollen; but she believed God. And before she felt any life or anything else, the angel's word was good enough for her. She met the Lord. Said, "Hail, Mary, blessed art thou amongst women. You're going to have a child, knowing no man." She said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord," and from that time... Mary never waited till she was positiv...

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SermonRelevance 61

The second coming of the Lord

Wednesday, the 17th of April 1957

57-0417 §47

Think of it, Mister. We're not only engaged, but we are married. The church is married to Christ. We are the wife of Christ, bringing forth children. How would you like to come home of a night, for your devotion to your wife, and she's got a bunch of little children, and you find that day... And when she comes in, oh, her nails may be painted (that is, if you're of the world). She might look ever so pretty, but you know. Think of it, brother, if that woman's been kissing other men. If those arms that's around you,...

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SermonRelevance 60

Questions and Answers

Sunday, the 27th of May 1962

62-0527 §18

You can't make it contradict itself. So just read the verses before and after, and you'll catch them what he's talking about. Now, this means here, not ... see: "Does this mean a sister or a brother is free to remarry?" No, sir. See, he explained that first. See: ... unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: ... [See?] There's no such things as any believer ever being reconciled to...

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SermonRelevance 60

Remembering the Lord

Tuesday, the 22nd of January 1963

63-0122 §39

So was Hagar misunderstood, and she had her child, little Ishmael, that was the fruit of her womb from a legal marriage to her husband, Abraham. And she was a slave girl. And she'd been given by her mistress, Sarah, to Abraham to wife, which polygamy was legal in them days. And she lawfully had married the man, because she'd been given to him. She had bore the child, just what their hopes was. There was nothing the woman had done out of the way; and yet misunderstood by her mistress and put out into the wilderness...

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