Seth Udinski, FISM News
Several weeks ago, FISM News delivered a heartbreaking report on the estrangement of Christian celebrity couple Ben and Julianna Zobrist. Ben Zobrist, a former Major League Baseball star and World Series MVP for the Chicago Cubs, issued a lawsuit last month against the couple’s former pastor for an extramarital affair and financial fraud in 2019. According to reports, Julianna Zobrist had engaged in an affair with the couple’s former pastor, Byron Yawn, while Yawn was counseling the Zobrists through a marital crisis. The couple has filed for divorce.
On July 6, Julianna Zobrist issued a public statement for the first time since news of the lawsuit broke. In her statement on Instagram, she did not admit to an affair, mention her estranged husband, or give any details of her relationship with him or with Yawn:
(I will not) divert my energy to slinging mud and publicly reveal personal details of my previous relationship in order to score sympathy points….It’s tempting to retaliate or seek revenge when someone decides to hurt, slander, or lie about you. Especially in public. It’s difficult to remember that those who harm us are acting out of their own pain. Wounded people need healing, and that’s what I pray finds every person who is so lost in their pain that they resort to inflicting harm on others.
As the Zobrists prepare for the inevitable divorce, there is little biblically faithful Christians can do except pray for recovery and reconciliation between these two people who, regardless of their past hurt or their relationship’s fate, claim to be a brother and sister in Christ.