Our teaching pastor went over a section in Matthew 9 on Sunday. The passage had a mention of mourners.
Professional mourner was a job in ancient Palestine. In our culture we are self-contained. We don’t sob at the Wake or the Memorial. We try to keep a stiff upper lip and contain the tears at funerals.
In ancient Palestine, it was considered acceptable, even required, to sob loudly, wail, and express one’s self with high emotion upon the occasion of a death. Professional mourners were brought in to help create an atmosphere of bereavement, and they didn’t hold back.
Mourning: The practice of grieving through crying and vocalization, most typically for the loss of someone.
Family members’ mourning typically involved sitting on the ground and trembling, tearing one’s clothes, putting ashes on one’s head, wearing sackcloth, or walking barefoot. Family members on a rotating basis would stay with the body so it was not left unaccompanied. Burial was rapid, as embalming was not a customary practice among Jews.
Until burial, though, during the grieving period, “To enhance the atmosphere of grief professional women mourners would be invited (Jer. 9:17).” Negev, A. (1990). In The Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land.
Professional mourners were usually women, who tend to express emotions more easily and was more socially acceptable for that gender. Professional mourning was actually an acceptable job for a woman in ancient Israel. It was a good way to make money if a woman needed to. The more professional mourners there were the wealthier a family was seen to be. Hired mourners helped the family through their grief and offered comfort.
And when Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, (Matthew 9:23).
The word in the verse, ‘disorder’ is from the Greek thorubeó and it means “to make an uproar”.
Their job was to make a clamor. They wailed, lamented, chanted praises in death songs, played instruments. You can imagine the noise with all this lamentation, crying, flute-playing, plus the regular noise any crowd makes as people talk, cry, and move about.
“These mourners are neither somber nor reserved. “Commotion” is from the Greek root word thorubos which means noise, clamor, and public disorder. “Wailing” is from the Greek root word alalazo. It’s the “alala” sound soldiers made when rushing into battle, similar to what is referred to as ululation.” Source: BibleRef.com.
Jeremiah 9:17 mentions professional mourners, one of many places in the Bible that mentions this job: “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Carefully consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the skillful women, that they may come!“
The amount of time spent mourning for the dead varied in the Bible from person to person. Jacob was mourned seventy days (Genesis 50:3); Aaron (Numbers 20:29) and Moses (Deuteronomy 34:8) were mourned thirty days; and for Saul only seven days (1 Samuel 31:13). In 2 Samuel 3:31-35, we have a description of the great mourning for the death of Abner. (Source Christians Answers).
Also Amos 5:16, Mark 5:38 mention professional women who mourn on behalf of a family. Professional mourning as a job was quite common, very normal. Here is a short Youtube clip of some professional mourners in Sardinia, filmed in 1963. This gives you an idea of the ‘clamor and disorder’ mentioned in the Matthew verse above:
Professional Mourners of Sardinia, from “Women of the World”. Filmed around 1963, from the Italian documentary “La Donna Nel Mundo” and is narrated in English by Peter Ustinov. Clip is 1:55. Sardinia is a large Island of Italy in the Mediterranean sea and north of Tunisia.
It also gives rise to a question in my mind. Death came frequently in ancient Israel. Sickness and tragedy were common. In the clip, it was stated that this group of professional mourners left their hired place of mourning at 4:00 am so as to attend another mourning job in a different village. What was it like to spend one’s days crying and lamenting? Was it hard to work up tears after a while? Or easier? Did their natural outlook become depressed and gloomy, since their entire professional career was to express sadness and grief? Did it take a toll on the emotions of the woman after a while?
In any case, the custom of professional mourning women was a thriving job for these women who chose it. It was a job for which there would always be a need.
I long for the day when death will be no more! No more wailing, crying, no more funerals, no more professional mourning industry! What a day that will be.
Funeral passing by below our hotel room, Elba, Italy
Fun fact: the name for professional mourners is moirologists
I’ll do an occasional entry in this new series, looking at memes and where they take our mind from Jesus and put it on wrong tracks.
Where does false doctrine happen? The Bible warns us repeatedly to make sure we are absorbing healthy doctrine and not taking in any polluted doctrine. Our souls need it. Staying as doctrinally pure as possible is best for our spiritual health. And yet, we are often confronted with false doctrine.
‘But my pastor preaches solid sermons!’ I can hear you saying. If that’s so, then wonderful! But sermons are not the only place we can unfortunately absorb poor doctrine.
‘I read good Christian books by credible authors!’ I can hear you saying. That’s great! But sermons and books are not the only places we can unwittingly absorb false doctrine.
False doctrine is sneaky. Jude 1:4 says “For certain people have crept in unnoticed,” these are the false teachers who craftily twist the truth in subtle ways and in subtle places.
Like in music? Yes, music.
You might or might not go about your day with scripture verses popping into your head and circling around your brain, but chances are, you’ll more than likely have a song lyric that sticks with you. Like this one-
And he walks with me and he talks with me And he tells me I am his own And the joy we share as we tarry there None other has ever known
No. Just no. The joy Jesus shared with the Spirit and the Father is like no joy anyone else has ever known- because it was perfect, sinless joy. And, guess what? Jesus doesn’t talk with us.
Another insidious place false doctrine comes in is through memes. Memes are especially dangerous because they are put in front of everyone. Your pastor is probably solid, you can carefully choose your own books to read, you switch radio stations when something bad comes on, but memes are ubiquitous. They are on the sides of web pages, in friends’ threads, just everywhere.
They are subtle because they are short and pithy with logical sounding statements. They don’t take much thought, they’re not supposed to. This is why they are dangerous. After you read one, you go, ‘Oh! That makes sense!’ but…does it?
Like this one.
I’ll take it apart bit by bit.
“Train your mind”. Correct. Our sanctification begins in the mind. The scriptures transform the mind and then we gradually become more like Jesus, the whole point of sanctification. The mind is the battlefield.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
Ephesians 4:23, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds;
1 Peter 1:13, Therefore, having girded your minds for action, being sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The first few words of this short meme are good. So you keep reading. Here is where we get into trouble. It’s trouble because it’s partly true. Most memes are half true. Charles Spurgeon said of discernment, “Discernment is not the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong; rather, it is telling the difference between right and almost right.”
Satan does send fiery darts into our mind. (fiery darts of Ephesians 6:16 are thoughts). But here are a few more errors:
God isn’t whispering to us. God doesn’t only whisper in the Bible, He thunders, shouts, uses creation to speak, and more. The devil doesn’t only shout.
Memes will often pit one thought against another thought when both are true. Or neither. Yes, we should not listen to the devil, and we should ‘listen’ to God- in His word. We also should not listen to our flesh, where in fact most of our wrong thoughts come from, not the devil.
Anyway, watch out for Christian memes. They are often either outright wrong, or subtly wrong. They often are the exact fiery darts we are warned about!
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. (Matthew 13:19).
In the beginning parts of the parable, Jesus had given the vivid picture of the sower scattering seeds along the ground. The seeds fell on different types of ground, hard, rocky, thorny, and good. Later, the disciples asked Jesus to explain the meaning of the parable. He did, and His explanation of the different types of ground and the destinies of each seed is above.
The “path” mentioned is the path that the farmers and other people would walk in between fields. It was so heavily trod that they became hard packed, almost like cement. In Leviticus 23:22 it’s mentioned as a rule that the farmers were not to harvest to the very edges of the field, so that those who are traveling or poor could glean from the stalks that were alongside the path. You might remember Ruth gleaning Boaz’s field. (Ruth 2:2-3). As Jesus and His disciples walked along the fields, they plucked some grain to eat as they passed. (Matthew 12:1). These paths were very hard and well-traveled.
In Barnes’ Notes it’s explained about the paths. As expected, the vivid picture of the hardened path, the seed, and the birds scooping away the exposed seeds is visually understandable.
He is represented by the fowls that came and picked up the seed by the way-side. The gospel is preached to people hardened in sin. It makes no impression. It lies like seed on the “hard path;” it is easily taken away, and never suffered to take root.
But I’d like to focus on the part of the parable verse that mentions that the evil one comes along and snatches the seed away. I ask myself, how does the evil one do this? In what manner? Thanks to the visual nature of the parable we can readily understand that he does, but how?
Someone asked me recently how does the devil do his work, how does spiritual warfare operate. It’s a good question and it is something that though the parable’s images are understood, it what is meant by ‘digging deeper.’ Ask yourself questions as you read. Listen to others ask questions. Pray and ponder a while. Do a parallel verse search. Look up the important words in the verse in Greek or Hebrew. Consult commentaries.
In the Greek, the word for hearing is in the continuous present tense, setting an immediacy to the situation. As stated here in Vincent’s Word studies in the New Testament, “the action is exhibiting action in progress, and the simultaneousness of Satan’s work with that of the gospel instructor. ‘While any one is hearing, the evil one is coming and snatching away, just as the birds do not wait for the sower to be out of the way, but are at work while he is sowing.'”
I am reminded of fishing boats and shrimp boats pulling up a catch, and the cloud of seagulls and other scavenging birds are plucking the fish from the nets even as they are pulled to the boat’s deck. The ground is so hard the seed of the Word never makes any impression in it, and the birds come snatch it almost immediately.
Here is Gill’s Commentary on the subject of how the devil snatches away the seed. This is aimed at the unsaved, but the point has lessons for the saved, which I’ll explore below.
Besides, the word only fell “upon”, not “into” his heart, as into the good ground, as the metaphor in the parable shows; and it made no impression, nor was it inwardly received, but as soon as ever dropped, was “catched” away by the enemy; not by frightening him out of it, by persecution, as the stony ground hearer; nor by filling the mind with worldly cares, as the thorny ground hearer; but by various suggestions and temptations, darting in thoughts, presenting objects, and so diverted his mind from the word, and fixed his attention elsewhere; which is done at once, at an unawares, secretly, and without any notice of the person himself; so that the word is entirely lost to him, and he does not so much as remember the least thing he has been hearing:
The saved can never have the Gospel seed snatched away from Jesus’ hand. This is because it takes root immediately. John 10:28 explicitly says so. But even though satan cannot destroy the salvation of the saved by snatching the gospel seed from the ground into which it is sown, he can diminish our effectiveness. We, too, can be tempted as the unsaved Gospel-hearers can be tempted. The word will never be “entirely lost” to us, as Gill said it will be of the hard ground unsaved, but we can be tempted by–
–various suggestions and temptations, –darting in thoughts, –presenting objects, –and so diverted his mind from the word, and fixed his attention elsewhere –which is done at once, at an unawares, secretly, and without any notice of the person himself;
Here is John MacArthur on his version of how the devil snatches the seed away from the unsaved, but has application for us in satan’s ever-present attempt to divert us from our effectiveness:
In other words, when someone does not respond to the gospel initially, when they’re hardhearted and stiff necked, Satan just snatches it away. He just blinds them to its true value. How does he do that? Well, there are a lot of ways. One way he does that is send false teachers along to say all of that stuff was lies. Don’t believe that stuff. Another way he snatches the seed is by the fear of man. People don’t respond to it because they’re afraid they might lose their reputation or they might be kicked out of their little group or somebody might think they’re a religious fanatic.
Sometimes Satan uses pride. People are just know-it-alls. They just don’t want to admit that they need some help, that they need some information, that there’s some things they don’t know. Sometimes Satan snatches it away through doubt. Sometimes he snatches it away through prejudice, sometimes through stubbornness. Sometimes through the love of sin the person doesn’t want to give up. Sometimes through procrastination. But one way or another or a combination of ways, when it hits that hard stuff, Satan snatches it away and the person so easily forgets that it ever came.
When we believers procrastinate in repenting, delay reading the word, become only intermittent church-goers, become stubborn, prideful, doubtful, follow false teachers, or fear man, satan is snatching away our effectiveness of His word and our growth. He cannot snatch away the gospel, because that has already entwined with our soul and the Holy Spirit proptects it, but we can reduce our effectiveness for the Lord.
Snatching the seed of the word away from a non-believer and reducing a believer’s effectiveness is spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare isn’t done by being against people. No, our battle is against the evil one who is prince of the power of the air. Also, it is a battle of the mind. Spiritual transformation happens in the mind, and what we think becomes what we say and then what we do. Don’t let satan steal your effectiveness. If we’re saved then that means the word was sown on good soil. Keep aerating the soil of our heart by turning over His word constantly in our minds. Unearth sin and reject it, confessing and repenting. Let the roots of His truths grow deep into our heart and then we will stand like trees beside the waters, and cannot be moved. (Jeremiah 17:8, Psalm 1:3).
Maranatha!
Satan snatches away the seed that falls on the hard ground almost immediately as it it sown.
Growing up in Rhode Island in the 1960s was a fun experience. The nation’s smallest state is beautiful and the ocean and Narragansett Bay is never far from anyone who lives there. We happened to live just a few miles from the ocean and most Sundays we took a drive south to Saunderstown, crossed the Jamestown bridge, and then took the ferry to Newport. The ferry was a blast.
Newport is home to all those Jacob Astor mansions from The Gilded Age. Dad would drive the kids and mom around the island on Ocean Drive past all the mansions, past the smaller mansions on the water’s edge with their lovely lawns and rocky outcrops reaching for the sea, and then we’d have a picnic by the park and watch the boats
There was no Newport Bridge at that time. You had to take the ferry. On the ferry, we passed boats, the islands with lighthouses, and other sights. One sight always captured my attention.
Clingstone is a house built in 1905, perched atop a small, rocky island in an island group called “The Dumplings” in Narragansett Bay, near Jamestown, Rhode Island. It withstood the devastating 1938 Hurricane, (though was damaged) faced other hurricanes, storms, decay, renovation, and more. The house is known by locals as “The House on a Rock”.
Even to my young eyes the house looked strong. I mean, it’s built on a rock! I often wondered what it was like to live there.
I don’t have to wonder any more what it is like to build my house on the rock. In His grace, He saved me and taught me to cling to the rock. I have my own Clingstone now. Isn’t it funny how life goes. Jesus, who was so far from my mind for over 40 years, is my All in All now. The little girl with big eyes looking at the House on a Rock, the Rock all for her own now and a house that will never fall.
The verses below are familiar but please slow yourself and read them carefully. Then really think about it for a minute, before you go on to other things. The verses are soul-soothing. Be encouraged.
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25).
Scroll to bottom after photo for mini-library suggestions of books on grace.
What are these incomparable riches of God’s grace?
First, Christ Jesus.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7).
As we are saved, we step from dead flesh to life eternal. From enemy sinner to forgiven friend. From object of wrath to recipient of grace.
He is GREAT!!
He manifested Himself as man, servant, no less, so that He could live a life full of the same temptations we experience, can you imagine that? “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18)
GRACE!!
As our High Priest, when we confess to Him, He understands! Thoroughly, bodily, intimately. “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.” (Hebrews 4:15).
GRACE!!
Another example of the incomparable riches of His grace is “The Promise of the Holy Spirit” –“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39).
We are given the grace of Spirit within us and as a result have eternal security of our salvation all the days of our life. Incomparable grace!
“He set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:22)
What is to come is MORE GRACE!!
When you think of Jesus and what He has done for us and continues to do, don’t you just get weak in the knees? Doesn’t your heart faint with love? He saved us so that He could shower us with His grace. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10) He is the God of all grace, and He chose to shower us with the riches of that incomparable grace.
Don’t forget to remind each other of these things. Encourage one another. Repeat your testimonies. Share verses, laugh with joy at our Great Savior, who is of all Grace. All is well because Christ Jesus has risen and dwells in His heaven. All of us in Him are testimonies of His grace, and that is all joy.
Some Suggestions for Books on Grace:
Fundamentals of the Faith: 13 Lessons to Grow in the Grace and Knowledge of Jesus Christ, by John MacArthur
John Bunyan and the Grace of Fearing God, by Joel R. Beeke
The Glory of Grace, by Lewis Allen
Christian Freedom (Grace Essentials), by Samuel Bolton
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: A Brief Relation of the Exceeding Mercy of God in Christ to His Poor Servant John Bunyan, by John Bunyan
All of Grace: An Earnest Word with Those Who Are Seeking Salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, by C. H. Spurgeon
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament, by Mark Vroegop
Grace Transforming, Philip Graham Ryken
The Grace of Repentance, Sinclair B. Ferguson
Grace Defined and Defended: What a 400-Year-Old Confession Teaches Us about Sin, Salvation, and the Sovereignty of God, Kevin DeYoung
Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love, Jerry Bridges
My favorite doctrines are Grace, followed by Providence.
Grace that is extended by our loving God is shocking and amazing and wonderful. I was saved later in life and I remember what it felt like to live a sinful life in rebellion against God. It was confusing and upsetting, most of the time.
I read a lot, and enjoyed historical books and the world’s myths. As I read books, all the world’s made-up gods were capricious or unloving or dismissive of humans. That seemed weird to me. Even when I read of the Founding Fathers and learned about their deism, that god also seemed weird to me. The deist god created everything – including humans – but then retreated from humankind’s affairs and let us wind down of our own accord. I could not reconcile that. No one creates something only to walk away from it. Weird.
But I was pretty OK with a god who created me but left me alone to do what I wanted. As long as ‘he’ didn’t interfere with my life.
Grace given by a loving God was foreign to me and unthinkable. Because that would mean He was involved with humans, lovingly.
But that and only that God is the one true God.
He pre-existed since forever, but at the appointed time set by the Father, He came in the form of a baby who grew to be a man-God, teaching and loving and performing miracles. He died for our sins and absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf.
Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound It was not a sweet sound to me then, but it is now.
That saved a wretch like me I used to close my mouth if I happened to be at a Church service, like at Christmas, and this hymn came on. I wasn’t a wretch!, I’d mumble. And close my mouth, refusing to say the lyrics.
I once was lost, but now am found I didn’t know I was lost and I didn’t know I needed to be found.
Was blind but now I see I didn’t know I was blind. Revelation 3:17 may apply here: For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
That the Lord of All would stoop to save a wretch like me, covered in mud and dwelling with the pigs, like the Prodigal, is amazing. That He would walk into Jerusalem, knowing the cries of Hosannah! would turn bloody and hateful a week later. That He went toward his kangaroo trials, his scourging, and his death, even death upon a cross, to save filthy sinners, is amazing. What grace!
Thank you Lord, for your grace!! How wonderful that even when we’ve been there 10,000 years, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun. An eternity praising You is not enough, but what grace that I am able to do so in the first place.
Was blind but now I see…
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7)
I’ve written about the brilliance of the sparkling jewel that is Jesus. That brought to mind other jewels. I am a girl, after all, lol.
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Matthew 13:45-46).
In the time when this text was written, pearls were the most valuable item of all. The most precious wasn’t gold, though gold was precious. Not diamonds, or other gems which are mentioned, (e.g. rubies, Prov 3:15) or silver, pearls where the most sought-after item. This makes sense, being a desert region.
The pearl oyster is found in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
Pearls are mentioned often in the New Testament. Jesus said for believers not to throw their pearls before swine. This is a contrast of the hightest vs. lowest. Pearls, being the most expensive, are representative of God’s truth, His word. Pearls are not to be thrown before swine, the lowest of all animals to the Jews. Swine in the metaphor is representative of the worst pagans who reject, mock, and dismiss Jesus and His word.
Temple prostitutes often braided pearls into their hair as a show and display. Paul was saying in both 1 Peter 3:3-4 and 1 Timothy 2:9-10 not to dress the same as the pagan women and especially not even close to looking like the temple prostitutes. Here in 1 Timothy 2:9-10 we read,
likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. That’s why Paul connected respectability and modesty in the verse with pearls and costly attire. Culturally, it was pagans and loose women who made a show of their wealth through the way they dressed, especially with the pearls, if they had them.
Pearls are also mentioned in Revelation 21:21. It is where we get the colloquial reference to “pearly gates”.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
Since the walls are 1500 miles high and the gates in the walls would also have to be 1500 miles high, these pearls might be symbolic and not actual. Or they are real and made by Jesus and not by an oyster. Either way…Read this quote John MacArthur offers from his sermon on the verse, “The Capital City of Heaven“.
And then, we’ll close with this tonight, John describes the gates. And this is mind boggling. Now remember, these gates could well run the full height of the city. Verse 21, “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.” That is some oyster. No, these have to be pearls of God’s own making. These pearls are like nothing ever produced by an oyster. Each one of the gates was a single pearl, a 15-mile-high pearl…1500-mile-high pearl. Why? Well maybe there’s some marvelous spiritual symbolism there.
John Phillips writes this, “How appropriate. All other precious gems are metals or stones, but a pearl is a gem formed within the oyster. It is the only one formed by living flesh. The humble oyster receives an irritation or a wound and around the offending article that has penetrated and hurt it, the oyster builds a pearl. The pearl, we might say, is the answer of the oyster to that which injured it. And the glory land is God’s answer in Christ to the wicked men who crucified heaven’s beloved and put Him to open shame. How like God it is to make the gates of the new Jerusalem pearls. The saints as they come and go will be forever reminded as they pass the gates of glory that access to God’s home is only because of Calvary.
“Think of the size of those gates. Think of the supernatural pearls from which they are made. What gigantic suffering is symbolized by those gates of pearl? Throughout the endless ages we shall be reminded by those pearly gates of the immensity of the sufferings of Christ. Those pearls hung eternally, as it were, at the access routes to glory will remind us forever of One who hung upon a tree and whose answer to those who injured Him was to invite them to forever share His home,” end quote.
Beautifully said, isn’t it? Heaven is entered through suffering by a wounded Redeemer. And we’ll always be reminded of it as we pass the pearls.
Pearls are beautiful, but Jesus is the most beautiful of all. That was a little information on pearls in biblical times. The luster and polish of a gorgeous pearl will be nothing compared to the glory of Jesus we will see when we get there.
It was once a rising trend. It’s now a model for ministry for significant numbers of churches and pastors. It simultaneously offers itself as an example of deep partnership between husbands and wives, and dismisses biblical instruction. What am I talking about? The widespread approach to pastoral ministry where a husband and a wife “co-pastor” a local church.
Co-pastoring in this case refers to churches where the male pastor and his wife are listed as equal pastors of the flock. Since that article above was written sixteen years ago, co-ed co-pastors are touted as something acceptable – desirable even. Recently, then-retiring pastor Rick Warren chose a duo replace him, sparking a brouhaha and subsequently splitting the Southern Baptist Convention meeting over this contentious issue.
These two are not married but are in a co-ed, egalitarian pastorate.
Not just co-pastor, but co-SENIOR pastor.
V. Osteen: co-pastoring, which dilutes her motherly duties, is not a good trade.
I remember the Presidential election of 1992. Bill Clinton was running. His wife is Hillary Clinton. Clinton used to brag that “America was getting two for the price of one.”
It was during the 1992 presidential campaign that Arkansas governor Bill Clinton — the nation’s first baby-boomer presidential candidate, running against President George H. W. Bush — used the phrase “two for the price of one.” This twofer concept was Clinton’s quaint way of bragging (to the delight of feminists) that his wife, Hillary, an accomplished corporate lawyer and fellow Yale Law School graduate, was going to play a major role in his administration well beyond that of a traditional First Lady. (National Review) emphasis mine
How did that work out for them? Hillary led a Health Care Reform that crashed spectacularly and she was publicly humiliated. Then Whitewater Scandal happened and things got worse.
From the moment she dazzled Capitol Hill last autumn (‘In future the President will be known as your husband,’ Dan Rostenkowski, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, gushed at one appearance) Hillary has been her plan’s most potent weapon. No longer. In Washington more than anywhere, vulnerability equals weakness. Today Hillary Clinton is vulnerable; so, therefore, is Bill Clinton. ‘Two for the price of one’ has turned from blessing into curse. (The Independent UK, 1994
America was not impressed with the twofer Presidency. Even less so, are biblically obedient to the Bible Christians impressed with a twofer pastorate.
Simply put, the Bible forbids women preaching. Church teaching is meant for the men to execute. The leading is to be done by the men.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. (1 Timothy 2:12).
Elders/overseers/pastors are to be “above reproach”, and “a man”. (Titus 1:5-8).
Installing a “twofer” pastorate, whether both are paid or not, formal or informal, defacto or explicit, is unbiblical.
At a Grace Community Church Q&A a man asked John MacArthur,
This is an essay that chronicles the rise and fall of an influential person who was formerly in the faith. Among other topics, I use this blog platform to chronicle modern-day discernment issues and compare to the Bible. I did with Beth Moore. I followed up with: Beth Moore’s Spiritual Biography. I did also with Francis Chan. And Ravi Zacharias.
Now we see a departure from the faith with Aimee Byrd. This essay, like those others, is meant to illustrate how false teachers happen, or how it is that a once seemingly solid Bible teacher goes astray.
I finish with a warning from the Bible.
Apostasy in the Bible
We all know the story about Demas.
for Demas, having loved this present age, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. (2 Timothy 4:9-10).
Apostasy in 3 verses. In Philemon 1:24 Demas was a ‘fellow worker’ with Paul. In Colossians 4:14 Luke sent warm greetings to Demas. In 2 Timothy Demas fled to the world because he decided he loved it so much.
Philemon was written in about 57-62. Colossians was written in about 60-62. 2 Timothy was written in about 64-65.
If we take the earliest writings to the latest writings as time brackets, the falling away of Demas played out in about 7 years.
Judas departed from the faith. His story played out in about 3 1/2 years.
Other people in our current times may take a short while to apostatize, or longer. We understand and accept apostasy stories like Demas and Judas because they are in God’s holy word. Seeing apostasy happening in today’s time is often harder. We have a difficult time believing or accepting that a famous person who seems so solid is a false convert.
But it’s the same. Some people are self-deceived that they are in the faith. (Matthew 7:21-23). They never were. Their veneer of belief erodes and reveals the unsaved person that they are. This leads us to the sad story of Aimee Byrd. Joining Demas, Judas, Chan, and so many others, Aimee Byrd is a gone girl.
Apostasy’s Progression
In 2013, Presbyterian Aimee Byrd published her first book. It was titled “Housewife Theologian: How the Gospel Interrupts the Ordinary” and the blurb says, “This book is for women—for all women who want to explore beneath the superficial and get to know God, and themselves, better.”
She had been writing a blog for a while and used the blog as the platform to get her material out there. She wasn’t an academic or a church staff person at the time, just a wife who wanted to write. She became known as The Housewife Theologian.
Wow! Great!
The book’s contents got the attention of Carl Trueman and Todd Pruitt. She was interviewed on their podcast, Mortification of Spin. It went well. She was asked to join the 2 guys on the podcast as a co-host. She began blogging for Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, too. (ACE).
The Alliance is a broad coalition of evangelical pastors, scholars, and churchmen from various denominations, including Baptist, Congregational (Independent), Anglican (Episcopal), Presbyterian, Reformed, and Lutheran who hold the historic creeds and confessions of the Reformed faith and who proclaim biblical doctrine in order to foster a Reformed awakening in today’s Church. (Source)
Her first book was followed up by a second, Theological Fitness: Why We Need a Fighting Faith. Then two years after that, a third, No Little Women: Equipping All Women in the Household of God. So far so good.
Then in 2018 she published Why Can’t We Be Friends? : Avoidance Is Not Purity about male-female friendships among believers and how we should not avoid them just because sometimes ‘the sex part gets in the way’. Hmmm. Gender stuff. Hmmm. The brilliant and astute Carl Trueman was still providing recommendation blurbs for her books, and Aimee was still co-hosting the podcast. Yet Trueman called Why Can’t We Be Friends “provocative.” The Gospel Coalition issued a mild warning in their review of the book, which was generally positive:
Byrd is eager to destigmatize male-female friendship in the church, particularly friendships that involve time spent one-on-one. But she so frequently references sharing car rides and meals that it feels like she goes beyond defending those activities to almost implying people who don’t engage in them aren’t experiencing true friendship. (Source).
Byrd had become an important and influential voice in evangelicalism. A female voice, podcasting with the big boys (and Pruitt and Trueman are renowned minds in the faith). In 2020 when Byrd published “Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose” it hit like a bomb. Here is the blurb:
This book dismantles every mistruth that you’ve heard about the role of women in the Bible, her place in the church, and the patriarchal lie of so-called “biblical manhood and womanhood.” In its place, Aimee Byrd details a truly biblical vision of women as equal partners in Christ’s church and kingdom.
What was noted to be “conspicuously absent from Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood” is any mention of 1 Timothy 2:12. A women may not teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. This was a stance Byrd had formerly proclaimed, one she said believed in and lived by. But apparently no more.
We see the tip-off word in that blurb – patriarchy. Another signal word, equality. Byrd was then asked to step away from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, (ACE), the Mortification of Spin podcast, and her blogs were removed from the blog section (which has a rotating panoply of writers, not just Byrd).
The ACE was not outright opposed to the theological ideas contained in Byrd’s new work, they said they understood the book to be polemical. They said they knew their Alliance contained a variety of flavors of theologies (within certain limits). But they did ask her Nine Questions about her new stance. Byrd answered, but in the ACE view, it was an ungracious and unsatisfactory defense. I’d suggest reading the above links in their entirety to get the flavor of the ACE’s dismissal of Byrd from their platforms.
Her denomination was in an uproar for a year. Divided and upset.
History Lesson: –metaphorical Jezebel of Rev 2 split her church. Charge: False prophesying, misleading the church. –Puritan Anne Hutchinson split the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Caused massive uproar. Charge: Teaching men, and claiming direct revelation. –Beth Moore caused massive uproar in the SBC denomination. Charge: False prophesying, claiming direct revelation, & teaching men. –Aimee Byrd, Denomination elders said her new stances caused a disruption of the peace of the church, rejecting biblical gender roles.
Yes, women are strong. But when strength is used in the wrong way, when we do not submit and remain in our roles, our strong will causes disruption to the peace of the church.
Byrd began writing about being a “survivor”. Of being “reviled”. Of not “being valued.” Of “abuse in the church.”
Discerning people began issuing warnings.
Like this prediction from Denny Burk in 2020- Denny Burk said of Byrd, “I predict arguments like Byrd’s will prove over time to be a briefly held way-station on the movement from narrow complementarianism to egalitarianism. Readers who do not wish to take that journey should be cautious about Byrd’s book.”
Like this one from Mike Myers in 2021, “My concern is that the writings of Mrs. Byrd have gradually drifted from helpful, orthodox, and godly, to harmful, heterodox, and worldly.” (Source)
Like this one from CBMW in 2022- “But as some reviewers argued at the time, the position offered by Byrd’s book is a kind of way-station to egalitarianism. Even still, many dismissed these warnings as defensive or overblown” stated the Council of Biblical Manhood & Womanhood in noting Byrd’s reversal of positions.
Side Note: When your mature theologians or credible discernment people issue warnings like those, please consider them seriously. We see the trends. We know the trigger words. We have the Holy Spirit’s wisdom in this particular gift to discern the crack in the foundation. You don’t have to wait till the house crumbles to begin testing a person’s theology and comparing it to the Bible.
Now cut loose from the ACE, Byrd formed “a new nest” (blogging platform). Soon after, she preached her first sermon. Once a hard and fast complementarian, a ‘housewife theologian’, in 2022 Byrd stood behind a pulpit on a Sunday morning to exposit the word to a congregation.
Aimee preaching at Covenant Baptist Church in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, a SBC church btw.
This is in direct violation of the 1 Timothy verse and her own previously stated beliefs:
Aimee in 2013: “There are many roles for women in the church, but Scripture makes it clear that the office of elder and pastor is not one of them (1 Tim. 2:12). Not only that, most men are never called to this position (1 Tim. 3:1-7). I believe God has ordained this for our good.“
Ten years after the lauded and doctrinally solid Housewife Theologian was published, Byrd has in 2023 become an abomination to God. Strong words? In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 we read,
The women are to keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. But if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church.
The word disgraceful means base, sordid, shameful, dishonorable.
I again show you Aimee Byrd preaching, and therefore disgraced, shamed, and sordid in the eyes of God:
But that is not where it ends. There’s more, and it’s worse. Worse than being sordid and polluting God’s pulpit? Yes.
Applauding other women who preach in God’s pulpit. (Romans 1:32).
Byrd wrote this week (September 2023) an essay she titled, “What a Woman Pastor Showed Me.” As with so many egalitarian heathens, like Beth Moore, they drop out of their denomination and seek places where their ears and heart can be tickled with sin. Byrd left the Presbyterian denomination of which she had long been a member, but could not find a church home for an extended period of time, despite visiting around “desperately”.
On the advice of a friend, Byrd recently checked out the Methodist church near her town. Byrd wrote that she never had thought she’d attend a Methodist church, saying of herself she’d been a “Reformed elitist”.
Rebuttal: dismissing churches which teach false doctrine isn’t elitist, it’s mature discernment and proper separation from theological pollution.
Byrd went on, noting that the congregation was small, older, and all-white. Byrd wrote, “But the all-white part is disappointing.”
Rebuttal: The Spirit sends whom He will send if it’s a real church. If He sends all white folks then so be it. They’re family. Period. If the church isn’t a true church, the people will congregate where they want due to their ears desire tickling.
Side note: I viewed or scanned through 35 of the services in the church that Aimee is gushing over. Aimee had noted the church’s demographics: small in number, mature, all-white, only a few families. One thing she didn’t mention that I noticed in these videos: the congregation seems to be composed mostly of women.
Byrd wrote: “The liturgy was refreshing. Christ was there. The whole service was saturated in the gospel. The pastor is a woman.”
“Reverend” Katie O’Hern Hamilton preaching with her son on her hip
Rebuttal: the place Byrd was in was not a church and they know not any Gospel. Christ was definitely not there. Christ does not affirm what He abominates and calls by His Spirit “sordid.”
Byrd wrote: She then dismisses the little ones who want to go to the children’s time outside of the sanctuary and transitions behind the pulpit with baby Wilbur still on her chest. I watched a woman deliver a wonderful sermon with a baby attached to her.
Rebuttal: I mourn the example Katie O’Hern Hamilton is giving her children, I mourn the congregation’s inability to see that this is disgraceful, I mourn the lost time her children are divided from attention from their mother, I mourn them when they grow up thinking this is OK. I am actually aghast and offended with this.
I mourn the loss of Aimee Byrd from the faith.
Above, this speaker whom Aimee Byrd believes is actually a pastor qualified to give sermons, her child is trying to get her mom’s attention during the service while this woman who thinks she’s a pastor is trying to give directions to the undiscerning congregation. Another child, perhaps Kate’s other boy, is playing the keyboard while the lady next to him tries to stop him. This is during the service.
1 Timothy 3:4 says in the qualifications for pastor, “He must be one who manages his own household well, [notice the he] keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),” emphasis mine.
Obviously, the dignity of the service is out the window with the “pastor’s” kids interrupting service, crawling all over, and distracting the congregation. Aimee revealed that the older child “likes to distract, be heard” and said, “Howard, the outspoken toddler, bypassed daddy and ran straight to pastor-mom as she raised her arms, yelling, “No, mommy; no, mommy; no mommy!” over and over through the entire benediction. How hilarious!”
Jesus does not think it’s hilarious. Not at all. “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first. But if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:4-5).
Fallen!
Aimee Byrd went from professing Christ and all His word true, including his ban on women preaching, to disillusionment with the church, and finally to identifying with the “marginalized, oppressed, and disillusioned“, rejecting churches with “patriarchal hierarchy,” landing in a church that is not a church, led abominably by a woman, and exulting in finding where her itching ears can be tickled.
The Danger of Apostasy
Do you know how many, MANY verses in the Bible warn of apostasy? Many. I would repeat them all but there are so many and this essay is already long. See here. Believers are repeatedly warned to check one’s self to make sure we are in the faith.
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons... (1 Timothy 4:1)
1 Timothy 4:16 says “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”
Do you think it doesn’t happen in these days? Think again! Do you think it cannot happen to you? Think again. Sin is crouching at the door waiting to have you!
Hebrews 6:4-6, For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
How many who did not pay close attention to their life or doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16) will try and appeal to Jesus on the Day by shouting about their works? (Matthew 7:21-23)
Do not be fooled. Apostasy exists and it hides WELL.
Apostasy, er, Angle Shades moth camouflage
In fact, Philip the Evangelist, who presumably had experience detecting a true and sincere testimony, traveled with Simon the Sorcerer after Simon’s baptism, only for Simon to unmask himself before Peter when Simon asked to buy the Holy Spirit. (Acts 20).
The Disciples were told at the Last Supper that there was one would betray the Son of Man, and the men were so sure of Judas that they questioned themselves before asking if it was Judas.
Byrd is egalitarian now. Sin doesn’t end there. Amy Spreeman said of these sad, well-trod paths away from Christ, “Egalitarianism appears to be the gateway drug for total [homosexual] affirmation”. That’s what’s next. It always happens. In fact, Aimee’s new church which is led by a woman is having a class of a “detailed study of the Bible passages most commonly cited in the church’s disagreement about same-sex marriage and LGBT+ inclusion.”
It is not clear which side this particular UMC will fall on…but with a Princeton Seminary graduate as a female pastor teaching this class, I am not hopeful that it will be biblically correct.
Sin leads down, to the abyss. Repentance leads up, to Christ. Ladies, watch your life and doctrine closely.
Satan snatches away the seed that falls on the hard ground almost immediately as it it sown.
the-end-time.org 