Chapter 13

             Aaron threw on some clothes and walked out of the house.  Cheryl had watched him, eyeing him, wondering what he was thinking and only spoke again as he was walking down the driveway.

            “Where are you going?” she called out.

            “I don’t know” he muttered.  “Just out for a walk.  I gotta think . . . I gotta think.”

            “What would people say,” he thought.  “I knew Charles believed in plural wives marriages but he never gave any hint that he was involved in such a marriage.  Why hadn’t he told us,” he wondered.

            Twenty minutes later, Aaron returned home.

            “Cheryl,” he called out as he entered the front door.

            “Yes, I’m in the family room” Cheryl answered.

            “Cheryl, listen; we don’t have time to fight.  We’ve got to get some things straightened out and some things cleared up” he stated firmly.

            Cheryl looked up at him from her position in the recliner rocker.  Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.  “What do you intend to do?” she asked with a hesitant trepidation in her voice.

            “I’m going to see Charles and talk to him and then we’re all going to meet tomorrow night.  I don’t care what time -- eight, nine, whatever, but we have got to meet and clear the air,” he stated.

            Cheryl slowly got up from her seat as she blew her nose into a handkerchief.  “You don’t think Terry and Kyle are going to come do you?” she asked.

            “Yes, I do!” he said with emphasis “because I expect you to convince her to come.  And if she comes, he’ll come with her.”

            Cheryl suddenly ran to her husband, flung her arms around his neck as tears poured out of her eyes as she sobbed.  Between sobs she managed to say “Honey, I love you so much, but I’m afraid of what’s happening to us.  I feel like I’m losing you.  I don’t want to lose you but I won’t share you either.”  she paused, then continued “that’s what frightened me about your being around Charles.  I don’t want you to want several wives.  Aren’t I enough for you?”

            “Yes babe.  You are,” he spoke gently as he stroked her hair trying his best to soothe her feelings.

            An hour later Aaron was ringing the buzzer at Charles’ apartment.  He wasn’t home.  Pulling out his cell phone from his suit coat pocket, he phoned his office and asked his secretary to reschedule all his afternoon appointments.  The efficient Mrs. Halsted indicated she already began doing so after she realized that he was late and might not make it back in.  Then he called George.

            “George, we’ve got to talk,” he said urgently.

            “You’ve got that right, buddy” George responded.

            “Listen,” Aaron continued, “I’m over in front of Charles’ place now.  Can you meet me here?”

            “Uh . . Yeah, as soon as I finish showing this house, I’ll be right over.”

            George in addition to being the leader of the music ministry at the church was also a very successful real estate salesman.  This gave him a degree of freedom and yet a very good income.  An hour had gone by, Aaron was still sitting in his Corvette in front of Charles’ apartment waiting for Charles to get off work and for George to come by.  Numerous people both young and old had walked by and stared at him, wondering why he was in their neighborhood.

            Finally, George pulled up in his BMW and parked behind Aaron.  Aaron jumped out of his Corvette, glad to see someone else of that same hue and ran around to the passenger side of George’s car and hopped in.  “Man, am I glad to see you” he began.  “We’ve got a royal mess on our hands.  Did you know Charles has two wives over in Kenya?”

            “Yeah, my wife just phoned me this morning and told me,” George answered.  Then he added “You know Aaron, I’ve been doing a lot of praying and thinking and studying the past few days.  I know I’m usually the quiet one but let me tell you what I think.”

            “Go ahead,” Aaron encouraged him.  He was glad to have another man’s opinion on these matters.

            “Our wives place a bunch of blame on Charles, right?” he asked.

            “Yeah, they think we’re being influenced by him.” Aaron added.

            “But,” George continued, “If what he says is true then it’s true!  If it’s false we should be smart enough, studious enough to prove it’s false.  Don’t you agree?”

            “Yeah, that makes sense.”  Aaron agreed.

            “If he really believes it’s okay for a man to have more than one wife can we blame him for having more than one?”  George questioned.

            “No, I guess not” Aaron muttered as he followed George’s reasoning.

            “I can’t prove he is wrong so I can’t condemn him” George stated matter of factly.

            “I can’t prove him wrong either” Aaron found himself saying.

            “In fact” George continued “my wife tried to tell me you couldn’t have a second wife because you would be lusting after a second woman and that was adultery in your heart based on what Jesus said in Matthew 5.”

            “Umph” Aaron grunted as he considered the statement.

            “Well, I thought about asking Charles about that and then I thought, If there is an answer why can’t I find it.  So, I looked up the words in that passage in the Greek.  You know what I found out?” George ended with a question.

            “No, what?” Aaron asked.

            “The word ‘woman’ there means a married woman.  Jesus was saying if you look upon a married woman to lust after her, you were committing adultery in your heart.”

             “Really?” Aaron said quizzically as he thought about George’s revelation.

            “Yes, really.  That means it’s not wrong for a man to consider a single woman or a widowed woman as a second wife.”

            “How did she take that when you told her” Aaron asked.

            “Well, I don’t think she liked it but she didn’t have an answer for it.”

            A muffled ‘bang - bang’ interrupted their train of thought.  “Huh?”  They were both startled as Charles had come up to the car without being noticed and knocked on the side window.  George pushed the power window button and the window came down.

            “Hop in” George invited.

            “No, I’ve got to go get cleaned up first.  Tell you what.  Give me ten minutes and I’ll be back down.  It’s such a beautiful day, why don’t we go for a walk.”

            With that Charles bound up the stairs, let himself in the outer door with a key and disappeared.

            “I’ve planned a meeting for tomorrow night.  We’ve got to get things out in the open and clear the air, or the whole African trip is going to fall apart” Aaron shared.

            “Good idea,” George agreed.

            Before long, Charles reappeared in a fresh pair of jeans and a clean shirt, but wearing the same old sneakers.  Aaron and George took off their suit jackets and ties, so they wouldn’t be quite as conspicuous as they walked around this lower class neighborhood.  George, who was wearing a short sleeve dress shirt, had powerful arms that filled out the sleeves.  He was not the athlete that Aaron was but he had been a body builder for many years.  His strong chest, thick neck and powerful arms were results of pumping iron.

            As the three walked along Aaron on one side of Charles and George on the other, they formed an almost symmetrical vision in as much as George and Aaron were very near the same height but inches shorter than Charles.

            “What’s up guys?”  Charles asked.

            “The girls found out about your marriages, your wives,” Aaron blurted out.

            “Okay,” Charles responded calmly.  “Is that a problem for them?”

            “Well, frankly yes,” Aaron said.

            “You see,” George broke in, “they think you’re influencing us and if you’ve got two wives, with a potential for a third is what I heard, then we might think we could have more wives too.  And that upsets them.”

            “What does God want for you?” Charles questioned.

            “Huh?” Aaron responded.

            “Have you ever considered what God wants?” Charles said as he sought to clarify his question.

            “Well . . . uh . . . no . . . I mean, not in that area.  One is enough for me.”  Aaron replied.

            “Did God say one is enough for you?”

            “No, I don’t know.  I’ve never heard anything in this area.”  Aaron said.

            “You know why you haven’t heard anything?” Charles asked.

            “Why?” Aaron responded.

            “Because up until now you never thought it was within God’s will for you to have more than one.”  Charles began his explanation, pausing before continuing.  “If God said very clearly ‘See that woman over there, I want you to marry her,’ you would have rebuked the thought as being from the devil.” 

            Charles paused to let it sink in before asking “Wouldn’t you?”

            “Well . . . uh . . . yeah.  I guess I would have,” Aaron replied honestly.

            “If the men in your congregation knew the truth some would be told to marry additional wives.  There is no reason a good Christian woman should go without love, without being cared for, and without physical, material and spiritual protection when men know the truth.  If you continue in his word, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.  That’s what Jesus said.  Preach the truth, the whole truth and it will make a difference in people’s lives.”  Charles ended his sermonette and waited for one of the other men to speak up.

            “But Charles,” George began, “that’s against our traditions and our laws here.”

            “Tradition?  Laws?  Jesus said to the Pharisees ‘Ye do by your tradition make the word of God of none effect.’  You men aren’t Pharisees are you?”  Charles responded and smiled as he looked from side to side at each man.

            Their walk had brought them to an elementary school yard, and they sat on some playground equipment.

            “Now let’s discuss the law,” Charles continued.  “Whose law is higher, God’s or man’s?”

            “Well, God’s” George responded, “but in Romans, I believe it’s chapter thirteen, says we must obey the higher authorities.  I did some research on my own and I found out that the Roman Catholic Church outlawed polygyny in 1565 at the council of Trent and then Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act which outlawed polygamy in the United States in 1862.  Are you saying we should break the law?” George asked.

            “What did Peter say when the apostles had been whipped and told not to preach in the name of Jesus anymore?”  Charles asked.

            “He said ‘whom should we obey, God or man, judge ye’” Aaron said giving the correct answer.

            “Right!” Charles quipped.  “If God speaks, who will you obey?”

            The question was left hanging in the air and no one responded.  They all knew the right answer.  But whether the women could accept the right answer was another question.