This past Saturday, I wrote an essay titled Getting Dressed for Easter. That essay explored the topic of the difference between spiffing ourselves up with nice clothes on the outside, and the Spirit spiffing us up from the inside. Jesus can tell the difference between a genuinely adorned person and falsely adorned person, and I cited several verses and parables. One of the verses I used for the platform to launch my topic was Zephaniah 1:8, which says,
“And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.”
The background for that verse is literal, and I explained what it meant in a longer essay than this will be. Jews really used to wear apparel that distinguished them as God’s children, having a blue band around the edges of their clothes. It is also metaphorical, in that nowadays, draping ourselves in strange apparel won’t cover the unforgiven sins inside is, if there are any. You can wear clean, shiny new clothes to the church service but that won’t hide from Jesus the wretched sins inside you.
But the Holy Spirit still has that verse and that phrase on my mind. He won’t let go. So…looking at the verse in an additional metaphorical way, let’s go back to how God uses metaphors for clothing as a wrapping for us in righteousness. As Job said in chapter/book 29:14 “I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.”
As Paul said, metaphorically, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27).
In Revelation, the martyrs during the Tribulation begin to arrive in multitudinous numbers, and we read, “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” (Rev 6:11).
Revelation 7:13-14: “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” 14I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
White robes are the emblems of purity, innocence, and triumph. I don’t know if the white robes given to the Tribulation martyrs are symbolic or literal. We do know that Paul was speaking of clothing ourselves in Christ both literally and figuratively. Literally in that the Holy Spirit does come to dwell inside us, but no one can see the literal Jesus on us, except in our demeanor as the fruits we bear.
However, I strenuously note that the robes of righteousness, the cloak of justice, are not strange apparel to Jesus! These garments are familiar to Jesus because HE gives them to us.
Strange apparel are clothes God does not recognize. On His day, He will not recognize those who are cloaked in sins. Anyone wearing strange apparel, cloaked in sin that is, will not be familiar to Jesus and “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” (Matthew 7:23)
If you are interested in putting on Christ’s robes of righteousness, then please follow this link to learn how to become one who is familiar to Him, wearing His robes and being clothed in love and forgiveness:
On the Mount of Olives, Jesus sat with his disciples and answered their questions about the end of the age and the signs of His second coming. He answered in specific detail in Matthew 24 and 25, also Mark 13 and Luke 21. It is the longest answer He gave to any question the disciples asked. One of the signs He gave was:
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” (Mark 13:8).
In the Greek, the words for kingdom against kingdom is ethnos against ethnos. Ethnos in the Greek means a race of people and usually refers to the Gentile world.
Such an example of people against people is occurring now.
We know that over the last year, the face of the Mid East and northern Africa changed dramatically, With the self-immolation of one Tunisian fruit vendor in January 2011, revolution broke out in that country. Then the revolutions spread among the Arab world to Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Algeria, Sudan (which split into North Sudan and South Sudan S. Sudan being recognized by the UN as the globe’s 193rd nation) and other places. It became known as the Arab Spring. Dictators toppled. Governments fell. Kings became worried. The political face of the nations around the Mediterranean and near environs swept the world as a shock wave.
In the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38-39 we read of a future war known as the Gog-Magog war. A coalition of nations surprise attack Israel and almost win. God shows Himself holy among the nations and supernaturally saves Israel. “Then they will know I am the LORD” He says numerous times in the two chapters. Eschatology scholars believe that another future war, the Psalm 83 battle, will occur just prior to the Ezekiel war, because the Psalm 83 war lists Israel’s attackers and they are all Israel’s nearer neighbors than are the ones listed in Ezekiel 38-39. It is surmised that the victory Israel gains in the Psalm 83 war leads to a fulfillment of prophecy because when those Psalm 83 nations are defeated, Israel re-inhabits all the lands given to her by God. If those nations were to attack, they think, they would do so in the Ezekiel battle. That they don’t is seen as an indicator that they are defeated prior to that battle’s start, and might well be the catalyst for it. Indeed, that once Israel soundly defeats the enemies in Psalm 83, and inhabits the lands of her enemies, she relaxes her guard and lives as a peaceful and unsuspecting people, (Ez 38:11) one of the conditions that will be in place when Ezekiel 38-39 comes around. Note that these are interpretations, because no one knows the exact timing of the Psalm 83 and Gog Magog wars in reference to each other or to the Tribulation.
The wars and rumors of wars have not stopped because the Arab Spring stopped. As a matter of fact, the Arab Spring is still going, because the revolution started in Syria last April is turning one year old by now. And let’s take a look at another nation that fell this week, and its prophetic implications: Mali. First take a look at where Mali is:
Also note that the nations just to Mali’s north, that African northern tier, are both Arab Spring nations, and also Gog-Magog nations, meaning, nations that are prophesied to ally with Russia and Turkey and Iran to attack Israel in the last days. Here is the news:
There was a coup in Mali last month. Yesterday, “A parliamentary official in Mali says the democratically elected leader of Mali, who has been in hiding ever since a coup last month, has turned in his resignation.”
Meanwhile the military junta that toppled the President, has been wrangling about how to hold onto power, or if they should hold on to power. This past weekend, “Under intense international pressure, the soldiers who seized power on March 21 agreed over the weekend to begin the process of returning Mali to constitutional order.”
Phew. Good news, that’s over, right? Wrong.
While The governments of West Africa were still trying to decide how to deal with the military junta in the country that toppled the country’s president in March, and before the President had handed in his resignation, the Tuareg rebels took advantage of the governmental, diplomatic, and military confusion, crept in and took over the entire northern part of Mali and declared it the independent state of Azawad.
“Within the span of two weeks Mali experienced a military coup followed by a declaration of independence by the Tuareg in the north, leaving regional and international powers divided over who to support. Tuareg revolutionaries claimed they had complete control of north Mali from Kidal to Gao last week, including the capital of their historical homeland Azawad and Timbuktu. The general secretary of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), Bilal Ag Acherif, announced the creation of the “independent state of Azawad” yesterday. The president of its politburo Mahmoud Ag Ali spoke to Al-Akhbar after they had captured the lands populated by a majority of Tuareg and Arabs in the north on Thursday. He said that “the announcement of the independent state of Azawad is ready. Its capital will be the historical city of Timbuktu that celebrated its third millennium two years ago.”
Basically, Tuareg rebels claim the entire triangular part you see on the map. So who are these Tuareg people and why have they claimed half of Mali? They “are a Berber people with a traditionally nomadic pastoralist lifestyle. They are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa” says Wikipedia. The Tuareg people are nomadic, mix Islam with animism (a belief that God is in everything), engage in the caravan trade, and descend from the ancient Berber tribes from the very northern tier of Africa. And they are fiercely independent, claiming it and the land. (Photos from Wikipedia Commons).
I just wanted to present this fresh news of another African nation going from order to chaos in the space of three weeks. Also I want to remind us all that as prophecy says nation is against nation and kingdom against kingdom, we see once again that prophecy is being fulfilled rapidly. This major change in Mali’s governance (democratically elected President, to military junta to Tuareg rebels) taking place in so fast and unexpectedly is an example of how fast things are changing. Anything could happen at any time. Governments that look solid and stable, may not be. The President that is here today may be gone tomorrow in the prophetic “epicenter”. As North and South Sudan split along religious lines last year (northern being Islam and southern being Christian) and the northern tier of Africa is prophesied to ally with the other Arab states and attack Israel in the last days in the Gog Magog war. The Mali situation is another indicator of rapid prophetic shifts in preparation for the end-game seismic shift we know as The Tribulation.
I’ve been thinking today about apparel. I have been putting off doing laundry because, well, I hate doing laundry. But on the other hand I know that I have to because the things I want to wear to the Easter Service tomorrow at church are included in the overflowing laundry bag on my bedroom floor. I have long planned what would be nice to wear: something different from the usual skirts or dresses I wear every Sunday, to mark the distinction that this Sunday is a special day of services. Something that would also be seasonally appropriate, and not the least of all, something that fits. Or fits long enough to wear for a couple of hours, lol.
I decided on a spring skirt I haven’t worn to church yet, with a green shirt, and a yellow cardigan. Aren’t you glad to know this? Stay with me, I have a point…
All that got me thinking about dressing for church.
I remember that Easter outfit: I must have been three or four. I loved Mary Janes, the black patent leather cutie pie shoe that were popular for girls in the 1960s. I wore Mary Janes well into elementary school, second or third grade, I think. Then it was Keds. I loved the dress and I really loved the coat. When we went to Easter Dinner (I don’t think we were headed to church services) my mother gave me white gloves to wear that had three pearl buttons on the wrist. I loved the gloves too.
I think it is a good thing to present one’s self for worship in clothing that shows a distinction from what we wear from say, cutting grass or cleaning the toilet. I think it is good to take thought and care when preparing our bodies as a living sacrifice at the service. The Old Testament priests had specially constructed priestly garments they must wear. You can read a description of them here.
The Pharisees were obsessed with clothing. They not only wore the required garments to show their ordained position, but they deliberately altered their clothes to show how holy they were and then by definition get stuff, like adulation and honors. They were accused by Jesus of enlarging the borders of their garments (Matthew 23:5-6) – This refers to the loose threads which were attached to the borders of the outer garment as a fringe. This fringe was commanded in order to distinguish them from other nations, specifically as God’s people, and that they might remember to keep the commandments of God, (Numbers 15:38-40; Deuteronomy 22:12). The Pharisees made them broader than other people wore them, so people would see them, and notice them when they stopped on the corners to pray aloud.
But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’” (Matthew 23:5-7) They loved the trappings, and their apparel became a trapping to them and later when Jesus came, a trap.
Though I thought about what I would wear tomorrow, I do not think it is too good to overly dwell on our apparel, church wear, work wear, or casual wear. The bible is replete with admonitions about outer wear, believe it or not. It’s also replete with metaphorical warnings instructing us on the comparison of the outer garment and the inner man.
In Zephaniah 1:8 God warns that He will strike down those wearing ‘foreign garments’, or ‘strange apparel’ (depending on your translation). The pagans wore strange apparel, often an indicator of degeneracy, especially in the old days when it signified allegiance to pagan gods. When times get prosperous, people have time to lift their heads from grinding toil and look around to what other people have, and then import with intent to copy their extravagances, including apparel and then mores, customs, and religion.
Paul said with a sigh of relief that he never coveted other apparel: “I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.” (Acts 20:33). It may seem strange to us today that the list of things that were often coveted in Paul’s day were not only the expected items like gold and silver, but also apparel. But clothing bespoke wealth. Remember Lazarus and the rich man. (Luke 16:19-31). In Luke 16:19 the rich man’s name is forever forgotten but his wealth is what is listed, among the riches mentioned are clothing. “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.”
Yet on the Day of the Lord, their wealth and clothing will not save them. “Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD’S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end,Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth. (Zeph 1:18) Their silver and gold will not save them, a reminder AGAIN of how prosperity promotes self-sufficiency, as then and so now. And in self-sufficiency, we forget God. It is easy to do, and it happens in every generation.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” (Matthew 23:27)
As we dress tomorrow for the sacred services celebrating His resurrection, pray starting today that His Spirit would work in us to remind us that it is what is inside that counts. Are our motivations good? Do we love Him purely? Are we in right standing with Jesus having confessed our sins?
I’m not saying that dressing up is a bad thing. I’m not saying nice clothes are bad, either. But if dressing up is the only thing we worry about for tomorrow’s service, then it is a bad thing. He knew the Pharisees and scribes were hypocrites, even though they were splendidly attired, because He could see their hearts were far from God. He knew the Rich Man was far from God too, despite the fine linens He wore to all his banquets.
Let’s think about tomorrow as a time prior to which we can prepare ourselves inside and come to Him clean tomorrow. Are we willing to examine ourselves? Or are we just a whitewashed tomb that looks good?
“For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have”. (2 Cor 8:12)
“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” (Romans 6:13)
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15).
He doesn’t care if we have a new dress or are wearing a tie, but sees the effort we make to ready ourselves to celebrate the universe’s greatest achievement, resurrecting Jesus from the dead as the slain lamb, for our sins.
If our heart is in right standing to Jesus (repentant and humble, a servant desiring change from the inside out) He will clothe us. He will give us garments of righteousness —
“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)
“The week begins with His arrival in Jerusalem. The year is 30 A.D. by the best chronology. The month is the first Jewish month, Nisan, and the arrival is on the tenth and the crucifixion is on the fourteenth and that all matters because God has established a very firm time table.”
“Importantly, it is the Passover week of that year and Friday will be the day when tens of thousands of Passover lambs will be slain, none of which can take away any one’s sin. However, on this Passover, there will be one sacrifice made for sin that will take away the sins of all who have ever believed through all of human history and it will be the sacrifice of the true Lamb.”
“The week begins with a very strange event. It begins with what would have to be considered a bizarre event. We call it the triumphal entry, but that is really not an appropriate title to capture what’s going on. I don’t want you to think that this is anything really official. It isn’t official in a Jewish sense, it isn’t official in an earthly sense, and it isn’t official in a heavenly sense. That is why I’ve titled the message, “The False Coronation of the True King.” There really is no question about Christ, that He is the Messiah, that He is the promised King, that He is the Son of David, that He is the one with a right to reign. His lineage checks out, His mother and father both in the line of David. He has all the qualifications. He is the Son of Man. He is the Son of God. He has demonstrated His deity and His full humanity throughout His ministry. He is the true King, but this is a false coronation.”
I can’t imagine how it felt for our precious Savior or for our Loving God, after eons of intra-Trinitarian delight, of giving and submitting, loving, planning, and creating, sweetly delighting in each other’s presence, then for Jesus to be apart from God or for how it felt for God to be separated from His Son. It is painful to even think about…that moment in the Garden when Jesus was praying to be released from the agony of the cup, or the moment on the cross when He felt God’s presence depart from Him (Luke 22:42) … Oh! Oh! Oh!
But Sunday’s comin’!!
S.M. Lockridge’s sermon combines with footage from The Passion Of The Christ for this powerful video.
So I’m on vacation this week. Have I put the time to good use? Yes. I read the bible. I have made many blog entries. I went to church. I’ve prayed, fellowshipped, and encouraged. I also napped to refresh myself, read secular books (three, and threw them all out as either pabulum or sinful). I read MacArthur’s Worship and Christ in Prophecy, too.
I also watched two and a half seasons of Parking Wars. LOL.
Usually one way I kick back is to find some dumb show and watch it for hours on end online until I’m saturated. Last summer break I found Big Bang Theory and watched all the clips on Youtube straight through. The vacation before that I found the Fuel Project’s Know Your Enemy series and watched every video straight through. There are 77 of them. (That one wasn’t a dumb show though.)
This vacation I found Parking Wars. I thought it was a new show, but then I saw that it has been on for 6 seasons. Hey, I’m a gal who thought Law & Order was new but it had been on for 19 years by the time I caught up with it.
Believe it or not there is usually an instructive message in this obsessive tv clip watching. Or so I tell myself. The advantage of watching all the available clips at once is that you get an overview and a flavor pretty quickly that you would not otherwise get by watching it week to week.
Of Parking Wars I was struck by several things. I watched all of season 3 and 5, all from season 1 that were available. That’s about 75 clips. With at least three parking violators per show, sometimes more, plus bystanders, but let’s stick with three for simplicity’s sake, it means I watched the behavior of at least 225 violators, and at least 25 parking authority employees. Of the 225 violators, 224 of them ranted and raved and tried to escape accountability. Their violations were self-inflicted, self-aware and deliberately chosen. You don’t accidentally park. “No stopping” but they stopped. “No parking” yet they parked. “Buses only” yet they were in a car. So the violations were clear. Yet in 224 or so cases, the violator made excuse after excuse, often at top volume and with profanity. Several were cruel to the Parking Authority person delivering the ticket or at the impound lot. They made fun of their teeth, hair, looks, height, and weight. They made rude gestures with their hands or genitals.
Of course, one can’t be surprised at behavior like this from lost people, but many were wearing a cross. Some referred to the Lord or Jesus or God. The episode with violators attending a Baptist Church conference was disappointing. Several of the ladies who came out of the arena to find their car having a ticket on the windshield exclaimed with dismay, “We’re good people! We are going to a church thing! Why you pickin’ on us?” as if the rules don’t apply to Jesus’s people. One of the women held up the ticket and said ‘people need Jesus’, but she was referring to the Ticketing Agent, and his ‘lack of mercy’. The church bus driver said, “This is crap!” And immediately retracted by saying “Crap isn’t too spiritual,” but in his next breath said again, “This is crap!”
I mourned the lost opportunity to respond to a mistake we make with grace and submission and apology. I was sad that there was apparently no one in any of the three cities featured who would apologize for violating the law. We are supposed to be ambassadors for His name. Don’t people want to start the day and make it a goal of the day to not besmirch Jesus’s name? Even the people who don’t know Jesus behaved abominably. They were on camera, they knew they were on camera, they knew the episode was from a national television show, and still they jumped on cars, gave the finger, yelled, cursed, and stomped their hands or feet. A few attacked. If they would do that on camera, what would they do OFF camera?
I asked if there wasn’t one person who would take responsibility and there was one. One. She was a lady who had parked in handicapped space at a drug store. Tickets in that space cost the violator $100. When she came out and saw the ticket agent putting the violation card on her windshield, she smiled and said something like “shucks” or “shoot.” But she made it clear that she was saying that about herself. She apologized for doing something she knew was wrong. Explaining that she was a child of Jesus, she knew it was wrong and properly, she got caught. “I have to take responsibility for my actions. I have to follow the law. Jesus said to submit to the authorities, and I accept my penalty. Fortunately He has also blessed me with the means to pay my fine so I praise Him for that.”
Well.
What the show taught me once again is that our actions are transparent. We can think we are making a logical argument but it’s really a sinful bundle of excuses to avoid responsibility. Others see right through that. I have to remember to be of sterling character at all times, to follow the law, and to take responsibility if I am caught doing something wrong-immediately and openly.
As for me…I have two anecdotes to share. Back when I was just a few months saved, I got divorced. I had to go to Portland and make a visit to the divorce lawyer to finalize things. My lawyer was in a suite of condos atop the F.O Bailey Antiquarians shop, in a building known as the FO Bailey building. FO Bailey is the state of Maine’s oldest business. I parked in the lot behind the building and looked at a sign that said FO Bailey. It was my mistake to misunderstand that the lot was only for the antiques shop and not at all for any of the other businesses upstairs. One thing the Parking Wars officers say episode after episode is to “READ THE SIGNS”. Slow down and read the sign, they say. They’re right. I didn’t read the sign carefully enough.
I came out, freshly divorced, to find that my car had been towed.
The FO Bailey folks let me use their phone call the tow company to find out where my car ended up. It was at an impound lot down by the wharves. I had to call a friend of mine to drive down from where we lived, 17 miles and 45 minutes away, with cash, to drive me to get my car and pay for the tow. She did and I thank her to this day for that. That is a good friend.
I didn’t have any of the long waits and problems that the customers on the show are shown to have, and it was not long before I had my car. She even found a $20 bill fluttering along the gutter and gave it to me. I resisted taking it, but she swore up and down that it really was fluttering along the ground, and no one else was in sight. So the day wasn’t a total loss and I recouped some of my lost money from spent tow fees.
I hope that my behavior was respectful and polite that day. I remember my hands shaking while I dialed the number. I remember crying a bit while I was on the phone. I remember being a little fearful going to the cavernous garage at the wharf where some rough guys were hanging out, to get my car. But I think I was polite. I hope I didn’t bring shame on myself or Jesus. I always felt bad that I misunderstood the sign and hadn’t asked further inside whether it was OK to park there.
Later that year the antiques business moved to Yarmouth, citing parking problems as their main reason: “F.O. Bailey Antiquarians, Maine’s oldest auction business (established 1819), is moving from its Old Port location in Portland, Maine, to a building in nearby Falmouth, Maine. “The Old Port has changed a lot,” Jack Piscopo told M.A.D. “There’s no parking down here. At the new location we have a big parking lot.” The Piscopos have sold the old building, a large handsome Italianate commercial building on Middle Street in Portland that came with their purchase of the auction house. They had previously converted most of the space to office condominiums (populated mainly by law firms), keeping only the downstairs portion for the auction and retail antiques operation.”
It must have been a real hassle for the FO Bailey owners to deal with unobservant people like me who always parked in the lot that they’re paying for. I was a contributor to their problem.
In another parking incident, I live on a street that was recently made one-way. People used to be able to enter my place by taking a left off Rt 98 to enter my driveway 20 feet down on Clover Ave. Twenty feet! Now I have to go 1/4 mile further down Rt 98, take a left, drive half a mile down Paoli, take a left onto Clover Ave Ext, take another left onto Clover, and go another 1/4 mile. You don’t know how tempting it is to just zip in the wrong way. But I always resist. The sign says “Do Not Enter”, not “Do Not Enter, except for Elizabeth because she lives so close to the end of the street.” Nope. I carry a magnetic Jesus fish on my car, so that would be a poor witness. Also it is breaking the law. Also I’d feel horrible if I caused an accident. So I always resist the temptation.
I guess what I’m saying is:
Our behavior is an example of His grace to a lost and dying world. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5:20).
We are more transparent than we think we are and that is because we are supposed to be on display: “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,’ (Eph 3:10)
Jesus is watching. Even if no one else sees, He does. (Matthew 6:4b, 6:6b, 6:18b)
Many Christians today feel the burden of the times. Many more feel an imminence that is akin to a pregnant woman about to burst. Even the unsaved feel like something is coming.
And something IS coming: Jesus. The times are definitely drawing to a close and though no one knows exactly when, the Spirit is sending fervor and imminence to many. He raised up many people who send the warnings about the times, as He has done with me.
But He also said that this time will be perilous for Christians (2 Timothy 3:1) and that it will be a time that is permeated with deceit. In Matthew 24:4-5 He said “And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many”. As the Strong’s word concordance says of the word ‘misleads’, the Greek word Paul used is plané which means “a wandering; deceit, delusion, error, sin.” That verse means people will come in Christ’s name to lead us wandering sheep away from the truth into delusion.
This steady rising of deceit that is mentioned so many times in relation to the end times in so many books and verses, will culminate in total deceit on earth in the Tribulation when the Lord sends the great delusion that will come over the world, and they accept the antichrist. (2 Thess 2:10-11). He will remove the moderating influence of the Holy Spirit as Restrainer (2 Thess 2:6).
So it behooves us to heed warnings about people who come in Christ’s name with messages that may be false. We are also warned by watchmen to heed true warnings about the times and to live a Godly life. It is up to each Christian to pray for the Spirit to lead them into discernment when listening to or reading messages, including mine. Test all things against scripture.
Here is a discernment lesson regarding one of the new Youtube prophets someone sent me to look at. Now this person was thrilled to have discovered him. I listened to several of his youtube clips. I was not as thrilled. I really hate throwing cold water on people’s excitement, but if the excitement is over someone or something that may be false, then isn’t it better to have cold water thrown than to go away under an unfortunate spiritual impression? Water dries but cold water at least gives us all a shock to stop a moment and consider things.
So I decided to post this as a discernment lesson. It is an insight into how I approach the issue of determining for myself whether someone may be speaking truth or not.
First, I pray that the Spirit lead and guide me into the scriptures that will speak to the discernment I seek.
Then I do look those verses up and check them in the bible.
I pray for an attitude of gentleness but boldness in stating what the Spirit had led me to.
The young man, whose name is not on his Youtube account, but goes by “warningthepeople”, mentions several times about having been a paid pastor and stepping away to be a watchman, foregoing any payment at all. He focuses on that. What does the bible say about being paid?
Being paid as a pastor is not necessarily a bad thing nor is it necessarily a good thing, but it is a biblical thing.
1 Timothy 5:17-18, “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and ‘The worker deserves his wages.’” 1 Corinthians 9:14 declares, “In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”
So being paid is a biblical thing and at root, a neutral thing. It’s not good nor bad but necessary. Here is a link to a short essay about whether a pastor should be paid. In these links I give, the scriptures are in the essay.
Therefore if this Youtube person has received a word from the Lord about not being paid, I must wonder why what Jesus told him about not being paid contradicts what He already said in the bible.
I also wonder if he was a paid pastor presumably he had come previous calling to that work, and if he is being called away from it now (so soon? He looks young) then why Jesus would contradict Himself by first calling him to the pastorate and then tell him to quit the pastorate… Philippians 1:6 says “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Did Jesus fumble in calling the young man to be a pastor? Did He change His mind? Did he train him up with a flock only to tell him to abandon that flock? Likely not.
Third, he said that he was told by Jesus in this new ministry as watchman to warn his friends and family. Since he had been a paid pastor and had some training at college in Biblical Studies, a license, some passion for the Gospel, and some skill at it (he had earned so much respect as he stated) then why hadn’t he warned his family and friends before his calling to give it all up to be a watchman? Warning friends and family is usually the first thing pastors do and do it relentlessly (if skillfully and gently).
Being a pastor is also a call to be a watchman. A Pastor preaches the entire counsel of God, which includes the doctrine of His coming. (Acts 20:20, 27). A Pastor means shepherd and a shepherd watches his flock and guards his flock warns of dangerous things, so the two ministries are not incompatible, they are actually intertwined. Yet the young man seemed to separate them one as far from the east as from the west…
Fourth: I am not sure I agree with his interpretation of Ezekiel 33 about the watchman who fails his duty. He said that watchmen who fail to warn will be thrown into hell. If a person is saved according to the New Testament, nothing can snatch him out of Jesus’s hand. (John 10:28). We have eternal security. However it is true that those who are called to teach and preach are entering into a serious relationship with Jesus with special burdens. Paul says Acts 20, “I am clear from the blood of any man, I have not failed to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. I’ve discharged my duty.” Hebrews 13:17 says that we have to give an account to God for how we give leadership and direction and teaching to God’s people. It is indeed a serious issue. “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1)
But if a person is saved under the New Covenant of the cross they will not be thrown into hell for failing duties. If that were true we would all be at risk of failing commands of God, such as failing the Great Commission, failing the Greatest Commandment (Luke 10:27) and other commands that are just as explicit as the call to the Old Testament watchmen. We are saved. That is what saved means, saved from hell.
One must be careful not to extrapolate with impunity the OT to the NT. Careful exegesis demands we look at the entire book, we look at all the verses in context, to whom it was written, why it was written, when it was written, and appeal to the Spirit for proper application of the verse. I don’t think the young man has done that here.
Most worrisome, in his video on his personal testimony, he never mentions how he was saved. He speaks of growing up in the church, but not of his repentance, his sin, and Jesus’s authority as Sinless Savior to forgive these. Worse, he says that at age 23 he came to a crisis of faith, and wondered how he could determine if the “religion” he was in was the true one. How did he know if his denomination was right, or whether a Buddhist had more wisdom in settling on his own faith? Foremost I must say, we don’t exist in a religion, we dwell in the holy relationship with Christ. Every true Christian knows that. But be that as it may, the young man said he posted cards all around asking the Spirit to lead him into truth. He did not say he searched the scriptures, as Paul said is the more noble way to do in Acts 17:11. Instead, he found truth in dreams the “Lord” sent. That is a dead giveaway that he is a false prophet. Elevating personal experience over scriptural truth is absolutely wrong. Even Peter, who saw the transfiguration, said that we have a more sure word.
Henry Morris said in the Institute for Creation Research: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19). As eyewitnesses, they bore the onus of bearing witness to the facts. But he downplayed the importance of his own personal testimony, even though it was a firsthand account and quite important, and he knew it was absolutely correct. The “more sure word of prophecy” he recommended, however, which outshines any human testimony, was the written Word of God, for the Transfiguration confirmed numerous Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ. Prophecies already fulfilled multiply our confidence in the rest of Scripture.”
Personal testimony from dreams is not inerrant. The Word is.
Next: I worry that the gentleman says many times that he will do what Jesus “tells” him to do. Does he hear these commands audibly? Does he hear them in dreams and visions? (Some, he says, yes). Are they new revelations or are they commands to exhortation from what is already written? How has the gentleman discerned that these audible commands telling him to do certain things are in fact from Jesus? Or has he? I don’t think he has, because he relates dreams and does not share the scriptures.
I am always skeptical of people who say that have had dreams and visions and that Jesus told them to say things to the people. I’m skeptical because God’s final word is through Jesus and Jesus IS His word. (John 1:1-5 and Hebrews 1:1-2). There are no new revelations. If the gentleman wants to be obedient to Jesus that is wonderful! But he must do so under the direction of the Spirit’s leading him into understanding of the Word. Not a disembodied voice telling him to do things…
In one youtube clip he related a dream but then said that it was up to us to interpret it. However, in Scripture, whenever a person asked God for the meaning of a vision, God ensured it was explained to the person (Daniel 8:15-17).
The young man speaks of the Lord giving him messages in dreams to then relate to the people. I do not believe that what he is dreaming is directly from Jesus. As stated above, the revelatory period of direct message by Jesus to His people is over, and it is all contained in His word. Revelation 22:18-19 says that no one may add nor take away from the words of that book. Some have tried to say that only applies to Revelation but Revelation is the last book. With that warning, Jesus closed the canon. You can go here to read a short essay from a solid bible teacher about prophecy and the closed canon–
We are all hungry for more information. We are all hungry for insights into the times and what is happening behind the scenes. Would that we were all given a glimpse like Elisha’s servant (2 Kings 6:17) or a glimpse like Paul was given (2 Cor 12:2)! But Paul was explicitly told not to say what went on there. And the inside glimpses we are given are contained in the Word.
The bible tells us all we need to know. I ask you gently to consider these thoughts and concerns and to seek answers from scripture as to whether what I shared with you is aligned with the Word, and to compare to what the young watchman has to say with the word also. That is how I came to the conclusion he is not someone we should listen to. Many people are raising up who claim special insights from Jesus. But unless they found them by the Spirit leading them into truth by the Holy Word, then they are false. No truth exists outside of the bible.
I believe the time is short, and therefore I cling to the words of the bible more than ever and I compare the words of men with what the bible says. And because time is short, we will know all that God intends for us to know, shortly! (1 Cor 13:9-12). I truly believe that there are no extra glimpses prior to that time.
If we pray, study the word, and are VERY familiar with the real thing, then when a counterfeit comes along we can spot it. In this way we grow in Him. Then we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practicing deceit. If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ, who is the head. (Eph 4:14-15)
If you are aware of pretty much anything in the church these days, you will be aware that the church of today has many problems. There are carnal people who are not saved but think they are, people living as if Jesus is a cherry on their man-made sundae, worship songs that are more like rock concerts, seeker sensitive, word-faith, prosperity gospel imitations of true faith. We know from all this, and from the 7 Letters to the Churches contained in the first three chapters of Revelation that the church was in trouble and will be in trouble.
One of the troubles that is rising fast in these days is “authoritarianism” or “spiritual abuse.” More bloggers and pastor-teachers are writing about it. That is because it is a problem that has burst onto the Christian horizon as suddenly as a tornado or a lighting bolt. But that is not to say that the conditions laid out for its emergence as a problem have been as sudden. The conditions that support spiritual abuse have long been laid.
The conditions that allow spiritual abuse to thrive are like mushrooms on manure. I wrote about how and why spiritual abuse happens here: When carnality leads to spiritual abuse. Part of the reason it occurs is that congregations have silently abdicated their command to test these things for themselves, (1Thess 5:21) and to seek truth from the scriptures like good Bereans. (Acts 17:11). They are only too willing to submit instead to a person who tells them what to do, and that person is not Christ. Alone and unlearned, and seeing a chink in armor, pastors who are wolves come in, not sparing the flock. (Acts 20:29).
Here is a definition of spiritual abuse, though not an exclusive one, certainly: “Certain signatures define spiritual abuse: authoritarian leadership, claims that the group or leaders have a special calling or gifts, inability of leaders to handle criticism, harsh treatment of those who question or try to leave. These are just a few. Though the manifestation of abuse differs in externals, underneath are similar traits, repeated in abusive groups. Become familiar with spiritual abuse in a variety of churches and you will soon see how these leaders manipulate and control.”
A couple of years ago, rumblings started to emerge from one of the nation’s largest “evangelical” churches, Mars Hill in Seattle, pastored by Mark Driscoll. Some talk of authoritarianism came out and then later some rumors of spiritual abuse. Matthew Paul Turner was one, Bent Meyer was another.
Then, another Mars Hill elder and his wife came forward several weeks ago: Paul Petry and his wife Jonna. Paul put up a blog containing documents clearly showing in the pastor and elders’ own words just how permeating the pastoral abuse at Mars Hill had gone. Paul’s wife Jonna put up a gripping narrative that re-tells their abusive treatment done in the name of Christ by Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll and others. Though the abuse occurred over a period that concluded 5 years ago, the couple had sought reconciliation for several years after, then went on to healing, and then through prayer finally felt led to open the lid to the can of worms and explain what had happened. They did so gently and sensitively, which is why their blog and the documents hit the Christian world like a bomb.
Here is their blog: Joyful Exiles. In it, Mark Petry said,
“Four and half years ago, I was fired from Mars Hill Church because I refused to resign under pressure. I was a pastor on staff, an elder, and an officer of the corporation along with a group of other men. I spent months seeking formal reconciliation and years hoping for a better course. I have not spoken about these matters publicly until now. With the mounting stories and “histories” coming out regarding Mars Hill Church, it no longer seems right or beneficial to remain silent.”
If you care to read Jonna Petry’s narrative, it is here. I recommend it as a lesson not only in how spiritual abuse works and its devastating effects, but as a lesson in grace bestowed by the Holy Spirit and a treatise in forgiveness. Jesus surely is great and the Holy Spirit a comforter in times of trouble.
A couple of years ago when the problem was not as widely known, when people would leave or be exiled from their abusive church and come forward with their story, they were painted as cranks, malcontents, and witch bloggers. Part of the problem of authoritarianism is that the authority that has clutched onto the church leadership has as a regular ammunition in their arsenal no compunction to excoriate their accusers. Ad hominem attacks by the abusive are a standard marker of abuse, and it was often hard to sort out who was telling the truth on what. Many didn’t even try, the entire issue being so negative and sordid. But as this problem grew, and more and more people came forward the issue began to sink in that it is a real and present problem. It seems that a critical mass has been reached as to the breadth and the legitimacy of the problem.
I don’t have a lot more to say about the issue of authoritarianism, or spiritual abuse, than I’ve said already. But I welcome the chorus of solid Christians who are speaking out about it. Like any abuse, there is shame and humiliation associated with it felt by the abused, and there is also a real battle to know whether to legitimately speak up or to remain silent.
Provender has the best archive of helpful articles on the topic that I have yet seen. It includes information on spotting it, dealing with it, talking about it, and recovering from it.
I am personally heartbroken whenever I read of a church that engages in spiritual abuse. It is a glorious thing for Jesus to raise up a humble pastor to guide the people the Spirit has sent to his church. It is a special blessing to receive preaching that is solid and true. Pastors who counsel kindly and who are themselves an example of Godly love are a triumph of the Holy Spirit’s work in the world. Therefore I am especially heartbroken when I read of one who has gone wayward. I know they will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). I have cried many tears over one in particular.
I think to myself, what a waste! What a torment to abuse Jesus’s pulpit for personal gain or glory! What a heartbreak for the people who are stuck there!
But I do caution against excessive sentimentality on the cycle of abuse in that it is not all the pastor’s fault. Authoritarian churches only exist if there is not only an abusive pastor or elder but if there are those who remain to be abused. No one is stuck there. In that, Paul Washer has a good thought–
“False teachers are God’s judgment on people who don’t want God, but in the name of religion plan on getting everything their carnal heart desires. That’s why a Joel Osteen is raised up. Those people who sit under him are not victims of him but he is the judgment of God upon them. And they want exactly what he wants, and it’s not God.” ~ Paul Washer
I pray for the reconciliation of these abusers to a Holy and Righteous and loving Jesus. I pray for congregations’ eyes to be opened and for their ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. If you have been in an abusive church then bless you, and I hope that in just knowing you are not alone by seeing these links and reading these stories that you will allow the Spirit to begin the healing process in you. You have a comforter, given to you by God himself:
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” (John 14:16).
“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;’ (Romans 8:26).
No matter what your trial, dear one, Jesus is sufficient for all our needs, even amid the heartbreak of abuse. For those who have been spiritually abused, you know the deep sense of betrayal that splits apart the heart. Yet for all that, Jesus is mighty. He endured an even greater betrayal by the very people He had come to serve and save:
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16).
He knows how you feel. He knows. Praise our God who feels our pain and who intercedes for us, approach His throne in your pain and leave it there for Him.
I have been looking at modern Feminism and its impact on the church. Since the Women’s Liberation Movement came to the fore in 1970, an entire generation of women has been born and grown up under the demagogic language of the movement. Demagogueryis “is a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears, vanities and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda.” (Wikipedia definition). A whole generation of girls has been instilled with Feminist notions by now. “Feminist theory, which emerged from these feminist movements, aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women’s social roles and lived experience.”
Interestingly, the flagship for the feminism movement is the UK magazine Spare Rib. Founded in 1972 its first editorial explained that the magazine’s role was to “investigate and present alternatives to the traditional gender roles for women of virgin, wife or mother.” Wikipedia notes of the magazine, “The fact that Spare Rib reached its high point of circulation and influence … in the late 1970s usefully charts the women’s liberation movement itself.” It ceased publication in 1993.
One can see immediately how the Feminist movement was a direct rejection of the God-ordained roles He set out for men, women, children and families in the bible. Adherents to the movement’s tenets directly reject biblical notions of family, domestic leadership, marriage (straight and gay), virginity, abortion, sexuality and sexual activity, and more.
Note the movement’s flagship magazine Spare Rib is based on the verse from Genesis 2:21-22: “So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”
Now that a generation of women have grown up with secular saturation of unbiblical notions of how they are to relate to the world and to men, we look at how the church has been affected. In part 1 I looked at the language of the movement in relation to the church, noting two prominent news articles published this week asking if Jesus was a hermaphrodite and if God is a girl. That was the Demagogic. In part 2 I looked at women’s roles in the church as related to the Middle Ages and the modern Mystic. In this last part I will take a look at the biblical role of the woman as related to Logistics.
The satanic, fundamental flaw in the Feminist movement (Women’s Liberation) is first that women need something to be liberated from. As we see above, the movement seeks to “liberate” the woman from biblically mandated roles, which is really saying it rejects God’s order of things. The second flaw is that there is something inherently unequal about the roles of men and woman as wife, mother, husband, father, etc. They are not unequal. They are equal. They’re just different. Men have mostly been assigned a role for leadership and women of support. Both are vital and both are for the glory of God. Both win the battle. You cannot have one role without the other role and expect to win the war.
Let’s take a look at military logistics to see what I mean.
In the 1862 Battle of New Orleans the major military strategy was to cut off supplies to the city. “Early in the Civil War, Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scott devised the “Anaconda Plan” for defeating the Confederacy. A hero of the Mexican-American War, Scott called for the blockade of the Southern coast as well as the capture of the Mississippi River. This latter move was designed to split the Confederacy in two and prevent supplies from moving east and west. The first step to securing the Mississippi was the capture of New Orleans. The Confederacy’s largest city and busiest port, New Orleans was defended by two large forts, Jackson and St. Philip, situated on the river below the city.”
As for the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, it was won partially because of supplies: who had them and who didn’t. “The Chancellorsville Campaign was one of the most lopsided clashes of the war, with the Union’s effective fighting force more than twice the Confederates’, the greatest imbalance during the war in Virginia. Hooker’s army was much better supplied and was well-rested after several months of inactivity. Lee’s forces, on the other hand, were poorly provisioned and were scattered all over the state of Virginia.”
The thing that gets the provisions in a campaign from one place to another is logistics. Even making a determination of who needs what and how much is also one of logistics. You can’t win a battle if the soldier is tired and hungry. If he is cold or lost. If the supply train doesn’t get there. Or as we have seen in M*A*S*H episodes, of sending winter coats in July or thermometers when they needed blood.
Military logistics is defined as “Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with: –Design, development, acquisition, storage, distribution, maintenance, evacuation, and disposition of materiel. –Transport of personnel. –Acquisition or construction, maintenance, operation, and disposition of facilities. –Acquisition or furnishing of services. –Medical and health service support.”
Vice Admiral Robert B. Carney, USN said of logistics: “Because of my wartime experience, I am insistent on the point that logistics know-how must be maintained, that logistic is second to nothing in importance in warfare, that logistic training must be widespread and thorough, and that it is folly to waste time on mediocre talent.”
To support logistics, we have a home front. “Home front is the informal term commonly used to describe the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system of their military. In a modern industrial nation, the fighting “teeth” of combat soldiers, depends to a considerable degree on the “tail” of civilian support services—extending all the way to the factories that build materiel to support the “military front”.”
“… in its relationship to strategy, logistics assumes the character of a dynamic force, without which the strategic conception is simply a paper plan.” — Commander C. Theo Vogelsang, USN
Logistics is the method by which the dynamism between the Home Front and the Military Front is energized and maintained. “This continuity of “military effort” from fighting soldier to manufacturing facility has profound effects for the concept of “total war.” (source)
Let’s adapt this language of logistics and home front/military front to the roles God ordained for the family. Christians are in a war. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:” (2 Corinthians 10:3. Also Ephesians 6:12). We are not battling flesh and blood but we are in a spiritual battle every moment of every day. We are all soldiers. Women who are unmarried, widowed or divorced and single men are just as important and useful for God’s glory in the battle as are married folks who are fulfilling their ordained roles.
But a biblical wife will keep a good home. She will labor in her own battles to supply the home base so her soldier who comes home weary from the battle will rest and have peace. His renewed energy will allow him to go forth the next day. Look at the list above again of what logistics is, and tell me that isn’t what a mom does every day. The Home Front is just as important to winning the overall battle as are the ones whom the General deployed to the military front.
Jesus is our Commander In Chief. He is the One from whom we receive our battle orders, and that military manual is the bible. The CIC knows what He is doing and why. It is only Him who has the bird’s eye view of where this one or that one is needed, or where the more pitched battles are taking place. But He gave us the Word so we may be prepared and we know what to do at all times.
The Enemy will always try to disrupt the supply trains. He will mess with logistics. He will attempt to make the soldiers lose their way, tire them out, and starve them. He has his own “Anaconda Plan” and it is the same as the Union’s was: to split the family in two and strangle and starve them out. An entire generation of men have been starved from that comfort and peace they had formerly been receiving in the home.
As far as the church goes, we are reaping a generation of women who have swallowed the demagogic language that women’s roles need to be exact in authority to a man’s, identical in gender. They have gone so far as to propose that God is a woman and Jesus was a hermaphrodite. So now you see the success of satan’s goal. He has always wanted to put himself where God is, (Isaiah 14:14). Soon the feminists will be saying that God IS a woman. And thus satan will have supplanted the biblical view of God to one that he’s perverted. In satan’s mind, a perverted God who doesn’t look like Himself as He showed us in the bible is just as good as a God he has booted out completely.
In the bible, women and men have complementary roles. Complementary does not mean unequal. Understand is that a difference in role does not equate to a difference in quality, importance, or value. The bible says,
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.” (Ephesians 5:22-24) “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” (Ephesians 5:25) “Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33) To be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands … (Titus 2:4-5)
“I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.” (1 Tim. 5:14)
This is because a man needs to focus on provision and to be able to lead his family into the statutes of God. He doesn’t need the extraneous problem of quelling rumors and dealing with slander against his family. A woman who causes the enemy opportunity for slander is draining the resources from one half of the dynamic relationship that is needed for a complete approach to the battle.
This is the man’s role: “If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.” (Deuteronomy 24:5)
I am convinced that if the world were to accept the roles that God put forth there would be such happiness.
In conclusion, I’ll end with a personal anecdote. I always thought the woman’s movement was bunk. Despite having been raised in the 1970s and 80s and despite my mother being a divorced feminist, I always felt that it was more natural and normal for a woman to be the supply side of the family relationship. (**Note that I understand that finances or circumstances sometimes deems it necessary for a woman to work outside the home. I also understand that abuse is rampant and that there are inequalities in employment relationships etc. This essay is not addressing those.) I was twenty in 1980 when this famous television commercial came out. It features a glamorous Liberated woman moving through her day. The singer croons,
“I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan…” “I can work till five o’clock and come home and read to the kids tickety tock”
I always thought, ‘what good is THAT? Now women have to go out and work AND do all the household chores’. In the latter part of the 80s and the 90s the battle then became who was going to do all the tasks left undone by the woman who is now out working. The whole thing seemed obviously unworkable to me. See, the logistics were disrupted and instead of the battle being against the enemy it became a battle against each other: wife against husband.
The song also croons, “and never ever let you forget you’re a man”
Why would a man need assurance he is still a man if the Feminist Movement was properly righting a societal wrong? The implicit message of the song is that now because the woman is taking over the men’s duties he needs to be reassured that he is still relevant. But he didn’t buy those assurances, because as I mentioned in part 2, men have left the family in great numbers. Fatherless households are a rampant scourge. And they have left the church too.
I know it isn’t popular to say so but it really is a beautiful thing to see a wife submit to her husband. And also it is a beautiful thing to see a man sacrifice for his wife. If performed properly and biblically with the Holy Spirit being the logistical glue that greases the dynamics of the biblical marital relationship, bliss would ensue. Not that everything is always harmonious in a marriage, but the overall feeling of bliss comes in knowing each person is functioning how God wants them to. The deference goes both ways. But the girls of this generation have bought the lie of the feminists, that instead of seeking a Godly husband who would cherish her and sacrificing himself for her, that we didn’t need a man at all. It is not true,
“And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” (Genesis 2:18)
Men are alone. It is not good. There is no help-meet for him. And the generation is reaping the price.
“In 2009, there were 1146 tornadoes in the United States. In 2010, there were 1282 tornadoes in the United States. In 2011, there were 1691 tornadoes in the United States. In 2012, we have already seen one of the worst tornado outbreaks ever recorded in the month of March in all of American history. As of Tuesday, there had been 326 tornadoes in the United States so far in 2011. That is about twice as many as usual for this time of the year. In 2012, we are on pace to far exceed the total we saw in 2011.”
At the end of his article, the blog author asks if we have any theories as to why we are getting such enormous storms year after year. My theory? It’s God. He’s coming.
More at link. Below is a screen grab of one tractor trailer tossed hundreds of feet in the air by a tornado that isn’t even present at the location yet. And below that if you can watch video, is the CNN video and narration of what is going on
the-end-time.org 