What is usually the real root of the marital problems people call in about?
Usually the real root is being unequally yoked, one way or another—a believer joined with an unbeliever. The problems often began before marriage, when someone chose a partner for shallow reasons or assumed the person could be changed later. This unequal yoke principle applies wherever believers and unbelievers must work together.
Les teaches that although people often read the verse only as an unequal marriage, it does not stop there. It can enter anything where people work together for a common cause, and putting an unbeliever and a believer together is just as unequally yoked as an ox with a donkey or linen with wool. He stresses he is not a marriage counselor or pastor, yet many people call with marital problems. Invariably, the problem was being unequally yoked one way or another, and their problems began before they ever married. He recalls a young lady crying that her husband had become a wife beater. When asked if she knew he had that potential while they were going together, she admitted maybe a little. She married him because he was the star football player, which Les says is a poor criterion for husband material. People walk into problems with their eyes wide open, thinking they can change the person later, but people do not change.