Claim: Several platforms have alleged Bishop Dag Heward-Mills has endorsed divorce and polygamy with justifications in the Bible.
Verdict: Misleading. DUBAWA analysed the viral video content from which the online platforms wrote their stories and compared it with the full sermon by Mr Heward-Mills. It is clear from the analysis that the comment was taken out of context. He said while there may be justifications for divorce or polygamy in the bible, such actions are pyrrhic and may come at a grave cost.
Full Text
Several news portals, including Pulse Ghana, Yen.com and AfrikkBuzz, as well as many social media accounts, have made publications to the effect that the founder of United Denominations, originating from the Lighthouse Group of Churches, has justified polygamy and divorce based on Bible scriptures.
The publications were based on two short clips from a sermon he preached at the recent Give Thyself Wholly Conference.
In one of the clips, the religious leader is heard saying:
“Polygamy, nature even supports polygamy. There is no animal that has one wife. That Bible says ‘doesn’t even nature teach you? Yes, nature teaches us. Which goat has one wife? Which dog has one wife? I’m not afraid of the Bible. Are you afraid of the Bible? The people that we love, our heroes who we follow, they didn’t have one wife. Nobody knows when it became a sin. Yes. Paul said you should be the husband of one wife, [but] in the same chapter, he said you should not drink water again but only wine.”
“So why don’t we follow that one? Why do we select some of the things that he said? He said women shouldn’t preach, [but] look at the women who are standing here. He said if anyone says he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am saying is from the Lord, the woman should not preach, and she should not exert authority. I Corinthians 14.”
In another clip, he starts with a question: “Is it Biblical to divorce?” then says, “Oh! There are many scriptures that support divorce. In the last chapter, even Ezra commanded the people to leave their wives.”
The comments have generated controversy, with many expressing angst and rage towards the megachurch pastor.
Some have also sought to correct the preacherman in open letters.
The virality of the claim and the massive sentiments it has drawn made DUBAWA to probe.
Verification
Based on previous instances like this and this where influential figures have previously been quoted out of context, we accessed the full sermon to confirm the claim.
A fuller version of the clip of 43 minutes shared by FaithDigital Network suggests the title of his sermon was “Avoid pyrrhic victories.”
In his introduction at two minutes 24 seconds, he said:
“There are some battles when you fight, yes you may win, but if you win, you lose so much that it is not worth winning. Because you win what you intend to win but lose so much that it is not worth getting it.”
We found the portions captured in the viral clip to match 35 minutes 45 seconds to 42 minutes of the fuller clip.
The two viral videos in which he spoke on polygamy and divorce were both edited out of context.
For the clip where he spoke about divorce, he concluded with:
“…now you feel that you have a reason and a right to divorce [but] what is the cost? What will be the cost? You may have a biblical reason, but in the end, the cost may be so high. You have to be careful.”
That sentence puts the viral clip in its actual context and is largely situated in the theme of his sermon.
Again, in the viral clip where he spoke about polygamy, the fuller video confirms concluding that session by saying,
“If you decide that you want to follow these people [Bible heroes], at what cost? It is going to cost a whole lot, but the fact that the things are staring at us in the Bible is clear. Don’t close your eyes and say it is not there.”
Again, the above is an important context that was not captured in the viral video clip.
Bishop Dag’s sermon began with a reference to Pyrrhus, a king of Hellenistic Epirus whose costly military successes against Macedonia and Rome gave rise to the phrase “Pyrrhic victory.
Although the king won the wars, he suffered heavy losses.
Citing examples to buttress his point, Mr Heward-Mills said Judas, even though he succeeded in betraying Jesus and receiving a monetary reward for it, the actual cost of his betrayal was his own life, concerning Matthew 27:3-5.
“What he lost [his life] was not worth the 30 pieces of silver… So, as a good general, you have to make sure that the cost of what you are fighting for is not too much,” he said.
Again, he cited an example of a pastor he said was determined to marry a woman he said had been healed of HIV against advice.
“He married her. As they married for some time, the lady began to have diarrhoea and died. Then her husband [the pastor] also started having diarrhoea, and he also died… [it’s] too expensive. What is the cost of the action [marriage]?” he said.
Bishop Dag also said:
“Most people, when they are building their first church, it is a pyrrhic project. They have a dream to build a crystal cathedral. There is so much debt. Yes, you may achieve it, but at what cost?”
Conclusion
The viral claim attributed to Mr Heward-Mills was taken out of context and, therefore, misinterpreted. He told his audience that while many scriptures could be cited to justify actions like divorce and polygamy, such actions may be pyrrhic.
