We worship an orderly God, whose prophecies, whose seasons, whose mankind progresses according to His will. What a blessing it is to know we submit to a God who is perfect, whose mighty hand is outstretched to make Himself known and His works are a wonder.
See the poem by Kay Cude on the art below or transcribed below that. Enjoy your day of rest.
Swan landing on a lake
GOD’S PURPOSE IN THE SEASONS OF LIFE
Foamy crystal drops of damp, and he alights with ease; To rest upon a liquid bed, his heart content and pleased; To linger there and end his day, the journey hard and long; the banks call out to lay upon, this heart by rest made strong… kay cude, 2007 AD
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3
According to several passages in the Bible, it is believed that angels may escort believers to heaven when they die, (Luke 16:22). We read about the poor man Lazarus who was carried to heaven by angels after he died. After all, Hebrews 1:14 says that angels are ministering spirits who serve those who will inherit salvation. It isn’t a stretch to surmise that they might minister to us as our flesh fades away and our spirit ascends to heaven, guided along by gentle zephyrs in the company of angels who tenderly bring us to our eternal place.
It’s a soft, comforting, lovely thought of the care that Jesus has for our souls, even at the end and beyond.
The difference of how the lost’s souls are handled is stark. Far from being guided in love to safely and gently dock in pastures so green in heaven, only the fires await those who are not in Christ. The lost are THROWN away (from the presence of Jesus). They are CAST into hell.
When you blow your nose and wad a tissue do you gently deposit it into the wastebasket? No, likely you toss it. A wadded up piece of paper? Throw it…score! When you deem something trash or waste, you don’t handle it gently. It is of nothing to you. Toss without care.
EPrata photo
The word ‘cast’ or ‘thrown’ is used repeatedly in the Bible referring to those whose destination is hell. Every time. Sin and Hades itself are also thrown or cast into the Lake of Fire.
Matthew 5:29, Now if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Matthew 7:19, Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 8:12, but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 18:9, And if your eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fiery hell.
Luke 13:28, In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.
John 15:6, If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Revelation 20:10, and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Revelation 20:15, And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
EPrata photo
The word used here is ballo with an ek in front. Ek means out. The definition isTo cast out, to drive out, to send out, to expel. Expel is to remove something by force.
We are so used to the notion put forth by false teachers that Jesus is a boyfriend romantically pursuing us, or that He is a ‘gentleman’ who wouldn’t not force Himself on us. Neither of these characterizations are accurate. He is meek, yes. He is compassionate, yes. He is never soft on sin. He is angry at sin. He has no use for those who did evil in His sight and there is no need to gently lay into the fire those who rejected His gospel. They are tossed.
Yes, He has compassion on those who are without a shepherd, but when it comes time for the judgment, it will be rough, hard, and a display of the ultimate rejection, them against Jesus and Jesus against them.
Why write this? To awaken a renewed sense of wonder at Jesus’ gospel. To spark a deeper gratitude that He saved us from this. We who are in Him will be witnesses to it. During the Tribulation there will be silence in heaven for ‘half an hour’. (Revelation 8:1). It is a solemn silence of profound expectation of the final and decisive catastrophe- wrath unknown and unexperienced until now.
And yet, the final judgment of casting souls inside fitted bodies into the fires will be worse. Isaiah 66:24 says
“All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the LORD. “Then they will go out and look At the corpses of the people Who have rebelled against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be extinguished; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.”
Most commenters take this as figurative language, of those viewing the bodies of the Jews who had rejected Jesus and lay rotting in abundance in their deaths in the aftermath of the battle at Gehenna. I personally think it is literal, that there is a literal lake of fire with literal bodies of the lost in a literal fire. It will be literally somewhere and occasionally the saved will view them and remember as a testimony to God’s mercy that there but for the grace of God, go I.
Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need says Hebrews 4:16. As we approach that throne of grace, let gratitude flow that He has dealt gently with us.
I wrote two days ago about the celebrity grandmother ‘Bible teachers’ who were adept at crafting a conservative persona on social media contrary to the lives they were actually living.
They had to craft their outward picture (in hypocrisy) because firstly, when they started out the faith was much more conservative than it is now. They could not openly say they were preaching or having a career at the office. They had to say they were ‘speaking’ and only occasionally because they were stay at home moms. They had a ‘ministry’ not an all-consuming, busy career.
Secondly 40 years ago there was not as much social media as there is now. Back in the day there was only TV, newspapers, and radio.
I wrote an essay in 2018 saying this push of preaching to men was going to be a problem:
I also said so two days ago that the evil example of these grandmothers in the faith (Moore, Shirer, Meyer, Caine…) during the last generation is a problem:
So, a couple of days ago a woman whose handle is Cia Cloud, put up an Instagram story and a TikTok talking about the “romantic heart of Jesus”. The short video is below and here is the transcript:
After you’ve experienced the romantic heart of Jesus, you cannot go back to casual dating. I got out of a relationship a while ago, and when I did I asked the Lord can you teach me what it’s like for You to be my husband? And before you get weirded out, it’s because the church is known as the Bride of Christ, and He’s the groom. I wanted to know what it felt like to truly be pursued so that I knew what to look for in a future relationship. Let me explain what God does so you don’t settle. I wish more people understood that God wants to romanticize your heart. He wants to win you over. He created you to delight in pursuing you. He is the ultimate pursuer. We just get distracted. The other day for example, the Lord told me he was going to take me out to lunch…”
She went on with two more examples of how Jesus spoke to her and shortly afterward the minor things he allegedly said came true.
No. But what can we expect when young women of this generation have had such an evil example for decades, with no rebukes coming from the grandmother preachers’ denominations?
It was sad to see the comments asking how to hear God like she does, one woman saying “because for me he has been so quiet”.
Let’s spot the falsities in her speech:
Falsity #1. “Jesus is my romantic boyfriend”. No. John Gacinski on Twitter replied to the person who had posted Cia’s video-
John Gacinski, @johngacinski: “God wants to romanticize your heart” No. Jesus wants us to surrender to Him and serve Him. He wants us to be born again so we can be worthy vessels in His house. He’s not wooing us like some twenty something who’s desperate for a girlfriend. I’m so tired of this “Jesus is my boyfriend/homeboy” trash.
Notice Cia said “I wanted to know what it felt like” not ‘what does the Bible say?’
Falsity #2. “He speaks to me directly.” No. The canon is closed. He spoke through His word as Hebrews 1:1-2 says. Justin Peters has a rebuttal to the ‘still small voice that speaks to me’ error.
Falsity #3. “Prophetic words given directly to me are coming ‘true’. No. Stop looking for signs and omens and back dating what you thought you heard in the ‘voice.’ Just live your daily life according to the word.
Falsity #4. Needing an experience rather than what His word says. The people followed Jesus when He spoke good things, and they clamored for the signs and miracles. But when he spoke hard things, they drifted away. Turns out they were only following Him for a show. The walk of faith begins and ends in the word of God, which will never pass away.
Falsity #5. He pursues with uncertain outcome rather than sovereignly electing (He “wants to win you”). Jesus is not wishing and hoping and wringing His hands hoping you come to faith as He chases you. He elected His people from before the foundation of the world and at the fullness of each elected person’s time, they are given the grace to repent and come to Him. (Ephesians 1:4-6)
This problem of prophetic words, still small voice, romantic boyfriend Jesus issues are not all the wicked grandmothers’ fault. Seminaries are doing their best to pump out women preachers rife with false doctrine. Witness Cia Cloud:
I am sad for her future because she is standing on sand building a house of sand
These nextgen women don’t even hide it anymore, not like the other false female preachers did in the 90s and early 2000s. They are ‘out’ as preachers. Immodest ones, at that. Apparently Cia attended Liberty University.
But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet, says 1 Timothy 2:12. See also 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Ephesians 5:22-24 among other verses that clearly state what the woman and wife should do and not do.
If you have a teen or young adult daughter, I feel for you. Keeping the false doctrines at bay is difficult. Just as you put one doctrinal fire out, another pops up. I want to encourage you moms, grandmoms, young ladies, that if you stay in the word, Jesus will keep you on the center line of his doctrine. Guard your heart, keep your eyes on Jesus, stay in the Word.
Pastor Owen Strachan has some wise advice for women (men too, but I’ll post the women’s here) on what to do and what not to do.
You notice none of those pieces of advice say chase after signs, listen for a small voice, ascend the pulpit to preach, or treat the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE like a wooing, weak boyfriend.
Stay strong, ladies. Jesus will come back and He will raise us up. He will address the false doctrine and the people who promoted it. Meanwhile, be a pillar, upholding His precious true word.
When our sons in their youth are like growing plants, And our daughters like corner pillars fashioned for a palace,Psalm 144:12
Reading this by Michael Reeves from his book “What does it mean to fear the Lord?”
That large-heartedness is actually the overflow of a tender-heartedness toward God. It means that those who fear God have to use another much-misunderstood word—a jealousy for God. Such righteous jealousy should not be confused with selfish envy: it is a love that will not let go of the beloved or make do with substitutes. As God the Father is jealous for his beloved Son, and as Christ is jealous for his bride, the church, so too those who fear God find in themselves a loving jealousy for God. Adoring him, they cannot abide his glory being diminished or stolen. False teaching will distress them, not because it contradicts their views but because it impugns him. Self-righteousness becomes loathsome to them because of how it steals from the glory of his grace.
Actress and TV personality Oprah Winfrey was raised in church and knew the Gospel (presumably) but one little word set her off on a trajectory downhill to perdition. She was put off by the verse in Exodus 34:14,
—for you shall not worship any other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—”
She didn’t want to follow any God who was jealous of her. She said such a statement didn’t “feel right in my spirit”. She wanted “more than doctrine.”
Isn’t that where it all starts, ‘wanting more’ than the eternal word God already gave? Going on feelings rather than digging in to His word?
Of course Oprah’s is a total misunderstanding of the verse. If only she’d asked the question, ‘what does it MEAN to be a jealous God’ maybe she wouldn’t have made a false god for herself.
But people who are not saved look for reasons NOT to submit to God. They are unwilling to take up their cross. They do not count the cost. They want to retain their pride, or come to God on their own terms. They are stiff-necked with a bias confirmation- they use their weak excuses to confirm that ‘I knew all along God was a fraud.’
But deep down they know the opposite. Romans 1:18-20 says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
God is not jealous OF us, He is jealous FOR us. God wants us to be in fellowship with Him not for His benefit, but for ours.
Are you in fellowship with Jesus today? He who put on the flesh of man, came from glory to live the sinless, righteous life we could not? Then die for our sins so as to absorb God’s wrath for the sinful ones like us? This is an incredible thing, the most incredible plan, event, and doctrine in all the universe. Believe it today and repent, casting your sins upon Jesus and asking for forgiveness of them. He will forgive and you will be blessed by the protection of a God who is jealous for you.
Social media, man. What are you gonna do? It is a blessing, a curse, a minefield, reality, unreality. It is a window into the world that allows the Gospel to propagate, and it offers the sinful multiple ways to be hypocrites.
We’ve seen the rise and hopefully fall of the “trad wife” phenomenon, the microbakery revelation controversy, and tons of influencers who turn out to be totally fake just out to get your money. They weren’t living the life they said they were living, they weren’t experts in the thing they claimed to be experts in, or their entire persona was AI generated with an account full of bot farming and paid commenters in order to inflate numbers. There is a LOT of money to be made! You have no idea how much.
Influencer marketing has become a key part of modern advertising. In 2023, spending on influencer marketing reached $31 billion, already rivalling the entirety of print newspaper advertising. Influencer marketing allows advertisers fine targeting based on consumer interests by choosing a good product-influencer-consumer match.
Phew. Glad you’re a Christian where at least the online persona you’re following is safer. Right? RIGHT?!
Nope.
The hypocrites, the fake information, the unrevealed truth, the sly manipulation, their curation of only what they want you to see, the lack of authenticity, is also rife within the Christian community.
There are many false teachers, something we are not surprised at because God’s word repeatedly informs us of the danger. We must be wise but innocent, trusting but verifying, testing all through the purity of God’s word.
The ladies listed below claim to be focused moms and wives, some saying they are stay-at-home mom, but all have busy careers, small children at one time while they were in the throes of their careers, and teach errant doctrine in one form or another. They’re all hypocrites. They put one face on social media but are actually living a different life than the one they curate to the world.
To write exactly why they are hypocrites here and give the examples and proofs would make this blog novel length. I’ve included links of each woman if you care to see the examples of why they SAY they are a submitted wife and mother but really are not. Each one is violating one or more tenets of the Bible by their life and their doctrine.
Raechel Myers (founder of She Reads Truth). Diana Stone (formerly writer for She Reads Truth, conference speaker, magazine founder, writer for newspapers and periodicals, world traveler). Joanna Gaines (HGTV star of Fixer Upper, author, CEO of myriad corporations all named Magnolia Something). Priscilla Shirer (author, speaker, preacher, actress). Beth Moore (author, novelist, speaker, preacher, celebrity panelist)
These women by now after decades of teaching false doctrine and living an unbiblical life are the grandmothers of ‘ministry’ – AKA career. They were the trailblazers, showing the young women coming up how to do it. How to curate an image. What to say to keep the conservative segments of the faith off your back (pssst, say you’re ‘speaking‘ at a church, not preaching!) Actually, they have been at it so long that an entire generation of women have grown up seeing their lifestyle and hearing their doctrine and have internalized and normalized it.
They showed us how to carefully curate an image, they proved it was possible to live a double life, they walked the line between authentic and inauthentic.
Ladies, I have two points here. First, test everything, not only doctrine, but life too. If a woman claims to love Jesus and be a family mom, but is CEO of a dozen corporations, is on TV, authors books, goes on book tours, does interviews, sells real estate…is she living the Titus 2 motherly life in Waco that she claims? It does NOT stand to reason. Ladies, think. What they say and what they do must match up. Test their life.
Secondly, social media is only a tool. As with any tool, it is neutral. It can be used for good like a hammer pounding in a nail to hang beautiful art. It can be used for ill as a tool that murders someone. It’s the same with ALL social media. It can be used to edify with scripture or to comfort, or it can be used for slander or propagating false doctrine. It can be used to present a false picture of someone’s life.
Be wary about what you see from a Christian leader on social media. We think the best of people but we also accept that deception comes in many forms.
Hosea 14:9, Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But wrongdoers will stumble in them.
Further resources:
Just a few days after I published this essay warning about people identifying as Christians but leading double lives online vs real life, we read this sad tale of the once well respected J. Brandon Meeks, AKA No Jesuit Tricks, who spun tales of living in the south so well written he gained a huge following. His declarations of being a thelogian in residence and earning an advanced degree in Scotland discovered to be patently false (at least the Ph.D from Aberdeen U was false, maybe the rest of it was too). He had a huge online presence, but was lying about a lot of it. In real life, the situation was sadly…worse. Here is the story-
That day, I was trying photography from different angles. I give myself challenges. After I downloaded the pics from my experiment I chose this one. It was a big leaf.
The more I looked at it the more I thought about Jonah. How at the end he sat sulkily on the hill in Jonah 4:5-7,
“Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade, until he could see what would happen in the city. 6 So the Lord God designated a plant, and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to relieve him of his discomfort. And Jonah was overjoyed about the plant. 7 But God designated a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered.”
And the hole reminded me of the worm God sent eating the plant so it withered.
I was pleased with this thought, because aside from the self-set challenge of photography, I had also challenged myself to think biblically. Seeing and contemplating God in His creation and thinking of biblical scenes as I go about my daily life. I had been too busy and rushed lately, and I realized I’d ended too many days with nary a thought about Jesus.
We are told in Philippians 4:8 that “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
But how? What? Training my mind to align with the Spirit’s desire to think on the true, the noble, and the good took a while. I’m literal and don’t make connections easily. I mean, that when I see a leaf, it’s a leaf.
Resolve to think of Christ during the day. Pray and ask the Spirit to lead you in this. Don’t let the day get away from you without meditating on scripture and applying its righteous net to your mind to screen out the sinful thoughts and capture the good.
Then go a step farther. I was thinking about Jonah and the selfish self was laughing, ‘O that silly Jonah, he wanted bad for God’s people and God was displeased ha ha.’ So now it was time to think of ME, my selfish self. AM I like Jonah? Am I wanting something God would be displeased with? Am I praying errantly like Jonah did? Ask the Spirit to reveal sin in you that you may not have spotted.
Seek the good and the noble and meditate upon those things, and then actively seek to instill Godly desires and repent for the ungodly desires. Think…then act.
The love of God is greater far Author: Frederick M. Lehman (1917)
The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; it goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell. The wand’ring child is reconciled by God’s beloved Son. The aching soul again made whole, and priceless pardon won.
Refrain: O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure— the saints’ and angels’ song
2 When ancient time shall pass away, and human thrones and kingdoms fall; when those who here refuse to pray on rocks and hills and mountains call; God’s love so sure, shall still endure, all measureless and strong; grace will resound the whole earth round— the saints’ and angels’ song. [Refrain]
3 Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made; were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill, and ev’ryone a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. [Refrain]
Feminism is evil. But I didn’t know HOW evil until I read The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us, by Carrie Gress.
I had avoided books and discussions about feminism because I’m 64, meaning, I’m old enough to have actually lived through Second Wave Feminism. It wasn’t fun. I grew up with feminists. I’ve seen the impact of the 1960s and 1970s on women, culture, the workplace, media, education, and more. Been there, done that. Even though I wasn’t saved and possessed a worldly perspective, I still didn’t like feminism. It didn’t make sense to me. So I avoided any scholarly or deep dive into feminist doctrine.
Cut to 50 years later. I follow Erin Coates on Instagram. Erin highly recommended the book, The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us by Carrie Gress, which she had listened to on audio. On the strength of Erin’s strong faith and wise discernment, I bought the book.
I’m glad I did.
Erin was right, it was a tough read. Not a hard read due to the words, it was very well written. It’s a tough read because it’s spiritually burdensome and quite anger-inducing.
What ‘The End of Woman’ covers
The author Carrie Gress presented a historical overview of feminism from the academically accepted origins in the late 1700s, to now. However, she embedded feminist concepts against its birth milieu, the French Revolution. She showed the clear ties of feminism to Marxism. Most of all, she demonstrated the vapid, degraded, hopeless lives of history’s biggest proponents of feminism who tried to live the lifestyle to earn all its fulfillment promises but failed. Many actually committed suicide, or lived a life so depraved they died from its accumulated sins, went insane, or ended life economically impoverished.
Consider this, as Gress wrote: “The French Revolution represented a dramatic shift in culture, even more so than the American Revolution. America’s revolution was against British rule for the sake of freedom, but the French Revolution was an effort to recreate and reshape society in a world without God.”
It NEVER goes well for a society when it attempts to remove God. “Nature abhors a vacuum” is a truism. A biblical truism is that satan prowls around like a roaring lion, and his subtlety and craftiness never sleeps. The French Revolution gave rise to the doctrine of feminism in order to fill that vacuum.
Feminism is unwieldy, mainly because it is against God’s best for men, women, marriage, child-rearing, and society, but also because it just doesn’t make sense in and of itself. Something that arose frequently in the book was that adherents usually came to a crossroads with promoting the principles of feminism or succumbing to ‘societal norms’ of marriage, monogamy, and tending to children. Time and again, those who had promoted free love or a living together arrangement ended up married or leaving the commune. ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’
They discovered feminism’s limits
Mary Wollstonecraft, c. 1797, source Wikipedia
For example the ‘patient zero’ of feminism usually attributed to Mary Wollstonecraft, saw how society treated children born out of wedlock- especially her own daughter from a previous relationship. Her intended husband, anarchist Willliam Godwin, had stridently declared marriage to be “possession of a woman”, “odious selfishness,” and that the family was the enemy of unhappiness because of its unnatural enslavement of free male sexuality.
Then they got married.
The hypocrisy of feminist adherents is natural, because God’s ways are best and deep down, says Romans 1, they know it. Though they side with their fleshly desires, to the detriment of their own lives and souls, it just makes sense to marry and have a family. “They lived with a kind of hubris believing that they were new and radical by defying convention. History, of course, shows that they were not so novel…” writes Gress.
It should be noted that many if not most of the women in first wave feminism and second wave feminism were middle to upper class women. They had money, means, and time to experiment with fulfilling their sinful desires to restructure society into one that not only accepts their sinful choices but heartily approves of them. (Romans 1:32).
The second wave was worse than the first wave
Second wave feminism’s catalyst is attributed by historians to Betty Friedan and her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique. Friedan’s stance was that women were made for more than “just” their ‘mystique’ which is housewifery and mothering. They were shackled to their stoves, crying out on behalf of a “problem that could not be named” but, (according to Friedan) all of them felt. The question in housewife’s minds was, “Is this all?” Buying curtains and waxing the floor?
Friedan rebutted this ‘assumption,’ and opined that all housewives were beleaguered, voiceless drones, going so far as to compare homemaking with ‘a comfortable concentration camp.’
That book was a match that ignited women’s discontent to levels that shook the culture, turned it upside down, and still reverberates over half a century later.
Gress rightly calls Friedan’s comparison of housewifery to a comfortable concentration camp, “overwrought.” “What the starved, gassed, lice-infested, raped, brutalized, tortured, and ultimately exterminated people in real concentration camps would have given to live like the most privileged women in human history,” Gress said.
Friedan’s husband Carl acknowledges, “She had time to write it because she lived in a mansion on the Hudson River, had a full time maid, and was completely supported by me.” So when reading about Friedan’s grievance about being a full-time housewife and mother and how it led to a nameless, widespread problem of voiceless drudgery, consider the source. They were rich dilettantes who had time and means to monkey with society’s structure for the fulfillment of their own sinful desires.
Friedan in 1960. Wikipedia source
Gress wrote: “Feminism offered us women’s studies and women’s health and women’s rights, but they didn’t tell anyone, even once solid data was in, that their goals leave women miserable, unhealthy, and wondering what we did wrong. … Their goal via the sexual revolution was to reject motherhood, monogamy, and marriage in favor of hookups, money, glamour, and it has left so many unfulfilled, and deeply unhappy.”
Because they lack God.
Feminism easily mixes with other bad doctrines
Gress shows feminism’s connections to communism, lesbianism, and how it aligned with and morphed into the homosexual ‘rights’ and civil rights movements. Feminism is more than a philosophy, and it is more widespread in its pernicious evil than one would initially think. Gress shows how the feminist doctrine itself has turned into a kind of religion.
Smashing the patriarchy has harmed men, too, of course. Men are “Tossed aside, largely because they are not required to win the heart or body of a woman, and the concepts of commitment, self-mastery, self-sacrifice, and family, and many of the practical virtues that accompany them…” writes Gress.
Why read this book?
The End of Woman is not an easy read, as I mentioned. It is well written and well-researched, but the research is solid, which makes for a more academic book than a casual one. It is worth reading though. Why?
-To give you a grounding in the depths and width that feminism has infiltrated not only society but the minds of women, including you, your daughters, and your granddaughters.
-To give you proofs for rebutting the doctrine of feminism. If you are in a wellness group, homeschool group, play date group, book group, or any other group where today’s women congregate, after reading The End of Woman you will likely have a firmer grasp of how feminism operates and can be a witness for Jesus in the rebuttal, or just to strengthen your own resolve to live the Godly goal of wife, mother, and homemaker.
Far from having a ‘problem with no name’ which was Friedan’s code for an aimless, amorphous dissatisfaction with one’s role, Godly femininity is fulfilling, pleases God, and raises strong children.
-To fire you up for hating what God hates and loving what God loves. What feminists focus on are the humdrum tasks of housewifery. Granted, those can be dull at times. No one’s soul is lifted scrubbing your boys’ bathroom toilet. But the satisfaction of providing a clean, warm, safe home for the children and husband to return to, is. Ultimately what feminists leave out is the satisfaction of living inside of God’s boundaries for women, whether married, widowed, single, mother, or childless.
Conclusion
I recommend reading The End of Woman. As Erin Coates also warned, however, the author is Catholic. Coates wrote,
As well researched as this book is Carrie’s solution is sorely lacking, she believes that simply doing the opposite of what we have been doing and a rediscovery of womanhood will rescue us. I believe that that only true repentance and a turning to Christ will turn this ship around. The gospel silence was deafening.
Gress wrote, that “we have to come to know ourselves as women…” No, we have to submit our soul to the Captain of our souls for the transforming of our mind into Christ-likeness. ‘Who we are’ as women is that we are sinners. While Gress goes into the need to recover what it means to be a homemaker, and to learn lost arts of bread making, sewing and the like, and though her concluding sentence is that it is time to come home to ourselves as wives and mothers, the ultimate solution is missing. Praying for redeemed souls who understand obedience to Jesus brings the most fulfillment there is on earth.
It’s a good and interesting book. Please consider reading it.
Further Resources
Podcast from DoubleTake: The Feminine Mystake, 40 min. This podcast essentially summarizes the book reviewed here, in fact, interviews and excerpts from Gress’ book are within. Plus more!
I saw a 5 minute clip on Twitter of a motherly woman cooking food while talking to three younger ladies sitting at her kitchen counter bar. It was clip #3, and I haven’t seen the other clips, but I loved this one.
It began with a question from a young lady who apparently is engaged. She asked about submitting to her fiancé, and her desire IS to submit, in order to show him that she will be a submissive wife.
The reply was gracious and good. First of all, the woman said that the Bible does not command women to submit to almost-husbands, boyfriends, or random men, but to submit to her own husband. Submission is not commanded until she has a ring on her finger and he has taken vows under which the verse says he will lay down his life for her. Then the three gals cutely chanted ‘Put a ring on it, put a ring on it.’
This is correct, and I agree. The verse says, Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Ephesians 5:22.
Then the young lady followed up with wondering how to show her husband-to-be that she is submissive. The answer by the Titus 2 woman was also wise. If her fiancé is the leader she needs him to be, he will know how to gauge her submissiveness, along with everything else he wants in a Christian wife (not solely submissiveness).
EPrata photo/illustration
Without the young lady having to practice it front of him or specifically demonstrating submission to a man she is not married to as yet, firstly, he can observe her submission to God. How does she do in the good times and times that are not so good? Does she rely on the Lord? Keep her composure? Maintain her trust in His promises that all He does is good? Is she prayerful?
And secondly, she can observe him. Watch how he submits to his parents. How he treats them. How he speaks of them. The matron reminded the young lady, the Bible says to ‘Honor Thy Parents’.
At this juncture the young lady interjected that the man she intends to marry speaks ill of his mother, and has grudges against her and won’t speak to her. The Matronly woman said if he speaks ill of his mom, he will eventually speak ill of her. The girls pondered this silently for a moment.
This is true. I have seen this. How a person behaves now is how he will behave later. If he holds grudges now, he’ll hold them later. Gossip now, gossip later. Perhaps he will grow in the future as he becomes more sanctified. But we’re talking marriage here. Young women and young men vetting a mate would do well to see if they are ready now. Not marry now and hope he changes later.
By this time, the girls were getting the idea that they also look at the husband-to-be with a biblical lens. It’s not all just one-way. It’s not solely about submissiveness, either.
Auntie asked, ‘Has he talked to you about how he will be the leader of the house? How he plans to provide, protect, and love you?’ At this point the young lady said they had been together two years, and he can’t keep a job. That he loses them, it’s always someone else’s fault, he doesn’t like the people he works with, or some excuse or another.
If this was a movie, the Director would be cueing the ‘uh-oh’ music by now. The gal eventually said, “I guess his actions don’t always align with what he is saying.”
This is wisdom. I liked how the Titus 2 older lady brought the younger woman to this piece of important wisdom without necessarily downgrading the young man or judging her choice in him. She had asked questions, related verses or biblical concepts, and let the gal ponder and come to her conclusions. If you are strong in the Bible, the Spirit will lead you there.
Girls, Ladies, women, sisters, if there is one thing I learned the hard way, is that what people say and what they do must match up. We are Christians, told to and wanting to believe the best in people. We trust. But we need to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, as well. (Matthew 10:16). We MUST look at the behavior and see if their stated Christian values align with their actions.
Auntie reminded the girls that we will know the true vs. the false by their fruit. That is another good verse to help us pick through the emotions, words, and actions to determine whether what we are holding in our hand is an apple or a thorn. These two young people met in church. But even at that, we can’t set aside the warning bells, mismatch of words vs actions. It is easy to rationalize away mere words on a case by case basis. But when holding words AND actions to the lens of scripture, things become clear, even with people you dearly love, or want to love.
“This guy is showing you that he can’t keep a job. Are you going to want to work to provide for the family for the entire marriage?” Gal said, “No…” And the reply was “Well, he is already showing you that he is unwilling to provide.”
EPrata photo
Ladies, if you know the whole counsel of God it will prepare you for vetting a potential life mate. Marriage is not just learning that “the wife submits, the wife submits, the wife submits.” Look at your boyfriend’s word and actions. Is he self-controlled? He will be with you AND your children. Is he a diligent, hard worker? He will provide for you. Does he honor his parents? He will honor you. Does he faithfully attend church and serve in godly ways? He is showing you that he will maintain his equilibrium over the years because he is standing on the Foundation.
Stay in church, stay reading your Bible, keep praying for that man to come along. Be wise and innocent, be a fruit inspector. Pursue wisdom!
The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security 2 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom; Incline your heart to understanding. 3 For if you cry out for insight, And raise your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:2-6)
First class cabin perks can include many things, not just preferred treatment inside the plane. Travel & Leisure
When you board a plane, you have to walk through first class to get to coach. You squeeze in to tiny seats with fellow humanity. I’ve never flown first class. In my younger days when I used to fly often, I’d think of those travelers in first class that they must be important. Or really rich. Thrifty me saved my money for use in the destination, not for comfort in the travel. They even had a curtain the stewardesses would draw closed so the first class passengers would not have to even see the cattle car behind, lol.
But if I did fly first class, or private jet, it would be my personal decision. Who would care? But! What of those who live on the donations of others? Leaders of a nonprofit ministry? Is it seemly to use ministry money or money from your non-profit to fly private jet? Or first class? What are the ethics of such a decision?
It would depend on their reasons, but mostly, no. It’s not a good look for a leader of a Christian ministry to fly private plane or first class. But more on that below.
Let’s take a look at some Christian (and self-identifying Christian) leaders and their travel modus operandi. They’ve stated their reasons for making the extravagant choice or the frugal choice. What it comes down to is, a question of stewardship (time, love, energy, and money).
When John MacArthur was first starting out as a youth pastor who preached at different youth camps, he drove everywhere. He had decided to take his wife and children with him. This demonstrates both an attitude of shepherding his means wisely, and a priority of family even as the way he provided for them was distant from their home. MacArthur said,
I could take my little family on weekend things that I did, whether it was Campus Crusade, or Youth for Christ, or some conference or some deal here or there. I could take them. And in the summers, we used to go on the conference trek, the camp tour, as a family. And those were wonderful times as family. ~JMacAurthur
After he obtained his current job as pastor-teacher, MacArthur flew to conferences, within the US or outside the US, in coach. Here is a clip of the pastor-teacher relating a scene where he had witnessed to a Muslim on a long flight. It’s heartwarming. THIS is what it’s all about:
As MacArthur entered into his 80s, his heart had been giving him trouble. The church decided to pay for business class (not even first class) for the elderly preacher IF the flight was longer than 3 hours. This is so he could get up and move around. Here is Phil Johnson explaining-
Phil’s explanation of JMac’s travel arrangements: “Contrary to other noisy claims that were made by a certain angry blogger a few years ago, MacArthur doesn’t ALWAYS fly 1st class, but since he almost died of pulmonary embolism a few years ago, it’s not good for him to be immobilized in a middle seat on a long flight. So when we at GTY make his reservations for flights more than 3 hours, we do put him in business class whenever we can so that he can move around and stretch more easily. He’s in his eighties and often has to preach multiple sessions immediately after arrival on an overseas flight. It’s hardly an unreasonable expenditure”.
I agree. It sounds like the GTY Ministry is measured and careful of using the means of the people who donate to support the pastor. And it’s heartening to see that MacArthur uses the time to witness to anyone around him.
Next we have the travel strategy of Carl Hargrove. Carl Hargrove is Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministries at The Master’s Seminary. He said when he and his wife travel on a plane, she takes the window seat, he takes the aisle and whoever sits in the middle will receive the Gospel. If a woman, his wife shares, if a man, Carl shares. Tract given. It’s nice to see such careful strategy to make sure The Great Commission from Matthew 28:16-20 is adhered to.
screen shot, clip linked below
Next we turn to some others who claim to be Christians but sadly are false. How do Jesse Duplantis, Kenneth Copeland, and Beth Moore travel? What is their strategy for witnessing to those around them, reaching the lost for the Gospel when they travel?
Here are Copeland and Duplantis discussing why they need private jets to travel: First of all, flying on one’s own private jet “is a sanctuary that protects the anointing,” they said. Too many people come up to you, too many people ask you to pray for them. Copeland said, “You can’t manage that today in this dope filled world and get in a long tube with a bunch of demons.“
So, they view the lost as dope fiends and demons to be avoided.
Duplantis said that he travels so much that it would be impossible to adhere to regularly scheduled commercial flights. He is always somewhere else on the next day. He needs his private jet so he can get to his next speaking engagement quickly.
By the way, that is one problem with some itinerant preachers. They don’t attend their own church, they are away from their wives and families, and they become an island unto themselves rather than fellowship with the saints. We saw the devastating effect of itinerant preacher Steven Lawson’s travel, picking up a mistress along the way and hiding that fact for 5 years. Being somewhere else the next day allows for a lack of accountability which is harmful to the soul and one’s walk.
Another reason Duplantis said he needs his private plane to travel is that the Lord might spontaneously want to speak to him, and Jesse might want to speak back but the people around him might think he was weird. Copeland agreed, saying, “the guy sitting over there saying what the hell does he think he doing? You can’t do that [stand up and speak to the Lord on the plane], no…“
Beth Moore has flown private plane or first class since the earliest days of her ‘ministry’. When she was aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC arm Lifeway paid for half her travel, and Beth’s Living Proof Ministries paid the other half. Sometimes a plane was provided for the diminutive bumblebee and other times it was in first class on a commercial plane.
President Beth Moore on occasion traveled by private plane to events as the ministry saw necessary. Lifeway, a partnering nonprofit, paid for 50% of the cost of the private plane, and the remaining 50% was paid by Living Proof Ministries. underline mine. LPM 2014 tax return. Open for Public Inspection.
In 2017, Hillsong Conference paid for Moore and her daughter who was also an employee of Living Proof Ministries to fly coach to Australia. Moore used her donors’ ministry money to upgrade to first class for herself and her daughter. Source
Now since Moore’s divorce from SBC/Lifeway, Moore’s ministry pays 100% of her first class travel. Source 2023 Tax return states,
“President Beth Moore on occasion traveled by first class to events as the ministry saw necessary. The cost is non-taxable and approved by the board. Beth Moore’s first class travel is specified in LPM’s Board approved Travel Policy. This policy includes travel options that helps minimized security challenges, along with extra space for in-flight work / teaching preparations.”
So… Beth Moore spends the extra money so she can work in peace. She needs that time to prepare before she gets to the venue. Like a child doing her homework on the bus on the way to school? And yes, those “security challenges” of being with, um, those people in coach, as opposed to the “security challenges” of being with first class folk? People you could pray with and for, people who may be lost and need the Gospel. Beth Moore needs security from that?
As an aside, Moore has always been hyper focused on security. I read of a woman who volunteered to help organize the venue for one of her Live speeches, and the volunteer said that Moore had a cadre of security bouncers around her and would not even let the volunteer through to speak with Moore. In another situation, Christianity Today wanted to interview Moore, but it was hard to get to her, CT said. They had to jump through a lot of hoops. This is from the 2010 article (Christianity Today)-
It was not easy to get there. Just as Moore’s stories are at once personal and private, Moore in person is intensely friendly—and closely protected by assistants who allow very few media interviews. After several interview requests from CT, her assistants allocated one hour to discuss her latest book and ask a few questions about her personal life. Each question had to be submitted and approved beforehand, I was told, or Moore would not do the interview. Follow-up interview requests were declined. I was permitted to see the ground level of her ministry, where workers package and ship study materials. But Moore’s third-floor office, where she writes in the company of her dog, was off limits.
Moore has always closely curated her public persona.
If you have a bad taste in your mouth from hearing of these jetting Christian celebs, it’s not just your imagination. Extravagances such as those are heavily frowned upon in the non-profit world. It’s seen as extravagant and unethical.
[T]he public’s perception of a nonprofit CEO flying first-class could lead to the organization’s integrity to be called into question. Supporters of the nonprofit trust it to use those funds to best support the mission, and many would view this as a breach of that agreement, writes The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.
A nonprofit Christian corporation’s mission is to reach the lost. Deliberately separating from the lost in order to maintain personal comfort is anathema to the Christian non-profit’s mission.
“A non-profit president should typically fly economy class, even if they technically could fly first class, because doing so is considered ethically problematic and goes against the principle of using donor funds responsibly; any decision to fly a higher class would usually need explicit board approval and justification based on specific organizational needs“. Source Ethics and Nonprofits.
When I read about Carl Hargrove and his wife’s travel strategy, it was so heartwarming. It was also heartwarming to see MacArthur’s wise and economical shepherding of his means. It brought tears to my eyes to hear him relate the story of witnessing to the Muslim passenger next to him.
For the Copelands, Duplantis’, and Moores of the world, they are false teachers. The Bible says that false teachers are motivated by greed. We see their greed in pressing their people to donate for a jet, or to use Lifeway money for personal comforts that could have been used for missions.
and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:3).
“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,” (1 Timothy 6:17-18).
Rather than make indulgent life choices, we should use our means and resources wisely, and be extra mindful if we are in a position to receive donations and support to be scrupulous in our shepherding of it.
the-end-time.org 