A Strategic Survival Plan For Christian Living In Strange Times

Based on Jeremiah’s Letter to the Captives (Jeremiah 29:1-14)
By Christian McShaffrey, Pastor of Five Solas Church (Reedsburg, WI) 

Few, I suppose, would deny that we are indeed living in strange times. The word “unprecedented” has been essentially worn out through over-use during the past year.  While I will not review all the “unprecedented” events we have recently experienced in America, I will say this: Most Christians are starting to feel like strangers living in a strange land. 

That is a very good thing. No, it is not a good feeling, but it is good because that is how the Bible describes us. In both Old and New Testaments, we are described as strangers, pilgrims, exiles, those who are IN the world, but not OF it, citizens of heaven who are seeking a heavenly country; but who are also (even at the same time) citizens of earthly commonwealths, stuck in godless cultures, surrounded by unbelievers, and sometimes even oppressed.

The reality of that dual-citizenship had hit Jeremiah’s friends like a ton of bricks. Their city was sacked, their temple destroyed, their houses burned, the able-bodied men put in chains, and their brightest minds put to work in the Babylonian palace. They were very much in shock and some, it seems, were even in a state of denial; so Jeremiah sent a letter that they come to terms with their situation and survive it.

I am convinced that Christians today need to do the same (i.e., come to terms with our current cultural situation and survive it), so please allow Jeremiah’s letter to the captives to accomplish that good end. His counsel can be summarized into five practical words of advice.

Acknowledge the Sovereignty of God

This, of course, is one of the core doctrines of Reformed theology. We acknowledge the absolute and all-encompassing sovereignty of God. From the rise and fall of nations, to the salvation of individual sinners, to a little sparrow falling to the ground, even to the very number of hairs on our head; the Lord is sovereign over all.
  

Many recoil at the thought, but the Bible-believer not only receives this doctrine as true, but realizes that it is the only way he can make sense of his experience in this world (especially the bad experiences).

The Babylonian captivity was, arguably, the lowest point in the history of God’s people. They had lost everything and were now living as exiles in an extremely evil culture. They believed God, trusted in God, and had tasted and seen that the Lord is good. So why this? What had happened? Who, you might say, was to blame?

From an earthly perspective, the Babylonians certainly shared much of the blame. They are the ones who attacked Jerusalem in the first place, put them under tribute, kidnapped Daniel and his friends, attacked yet again, and finally razed it to the ground. One might also place some of the blame on God’s own people, for when he constituted them as a nation he also warned them that disobedience would result in discipline, even enemy invasions and exile.

Nevertheless, while we can acknowledge the ambition of Nebuchadnezzar and the iniquity of Jerusalem as true causes of the captivity, they were but secondary causes. The chief cause of all things (including calamity) was, and always is, God Almighty. This is clearly affirmed in vs. 4, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon…

Do you believe that? Do you accept the attribute of God that we call his absolute sovereignty? You must or, again, you will never be able to make sense of your experiences under the sun. Worse, you might not even survive that feeling of being a stranger in a strange land. God wants you to survive, so he first declares his sovereignty over the situation. 

Listen for God’s Voice in Scripture

That phrase in vs. 4, Thus saith the LORD of hosts is always the best news to hear (especially in Babylon). God was speaking to his people from heaven. 

The God of the Bible, by the way, is a speaking God. He does not communicate himself through feelings or emotions or irrational ecstasies. He communicates through words, and vv. 1-4 show us something of how that works.

Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent… (vs. 1). This is the doctrine of divine Inspiration and 2 Peter 1:21 explains even further: the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. God, the Holy Ghost, moved Jeremiah’s pen as he wrote, ensuring that every word written in that letter was perfectly true. 

Connected to that crucial doctrine of inspiration is also that of Transmission, for vs. 1 says the letter was sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, etc. This inspired letter needed to travel almost a thousand miles before it reached its intended audience, so how could Jeremiah be sure that it would arrive in-tact and unaltered by the false prophets that were in the land? Was it that the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan (vs. 3) was so strong? We can probably assume that Elasah and Gemariah were trustworthy enough as messengers, but this is no safe source of certainty.

Ultimately speaking, it is our sovereign God who keeps his word pure and entire. It is called the doctrine of Preservation, and it affirms that the same God who inspires scripture also protects it by his singular care and providence (even if that involves a thousand miles, or a thousand years,  or a thousand manuscripts). 

The believer must trust God to preserve his word, else how could he ever receive it as God’s word? That is, after all, what the exiles were supposed to do: They were to receive this letter not as the words of Jeremiah, but as the very words of God. 

That duty applied to all, for vs. 1 mentions the elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people. Also mentioned in vs. 2 is the king, the queen, eunuchs, princes, carpenters, and smiths. The specific mention of so many different individuals in such diverse stations of life lends itself to an important universal application: You also need to listen for the voice of God in scripture, and when you hear it, you need to receive it as God’s word and with all readiness of mind.

Embrace, my fellow-exiles, these essential doctrines of God’s Sovereignty, Divine Inspiration, and Providential Preservation so that you can, first of all, make sense of your experience in this world, but even more importantly, know how to live in it. 

Just Keep Living a Normal Life

Though the captivity was a great tragedy and a sore chastisement from God, it was no reason for God’s people to give up hope or to start acting strange. They were still God’s people and God wanted them to act like his people (yes, even in Babylon). This would look very, very normal.

The first word of practical advice is Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them… (vs. 5) which assumes that they were going to be in Babylon for a long time. The substance of this counsel is, “Just settle down, settle in, and enjoy the simple pleasures of life.” In order to follow this advice, they would, of course, have to find gainful employment in Babylon (it obviously takes money to build a house) and this is where many stumble; but their scruples are without scriptural support. Daniel kept a clean heart while working for his pagan boss, so they could do the same. You can do the same. 

The second word of practical advice is Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. (vs. 6) Modern paraphrase: “Find a girl, fall in love, get married, and have lots of babies.” 

Many stumble at this point as well, but also without cause. Marriage and procreation are also some of the simple pleasures of normal life under the sun. Besides that, Jeremiah adds a theological reason for receiving this advice: that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.

Previously mentioned was that temptation to give up hope while living in Babylon, and having children is an act of hope. It is a very practical way to affirm, to embrace, even to cling to the promise of God: I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. (Genesis 17:7) The Christian must never give up hope.

The other temptation mentioned was that of acting odd. People tend to do this when facing unfamiliar situations or an uncertain future, but the believer must never be soon shaken in mind. This was not the time for conspiracies, militias, or storming of the Babylonian Capitol. God’s way of strengthening his kingdom is far more quiet and far more sensible: Have babies and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Sure, the objection will be voiced, “But the Babylonians are making that very difficult! They have this book in the public schools, ‘Heather Has Two Mommies.’ They have ‘Trans Story Time’ at the local library. They are placing restrictions on how many people can meet for worship. Now, they want us to bow before an idol. They are going to throw Daniel into the fiery furnace!”

Yep, welcome to Babylon. What else did you expect? 

To the anticipated response, “We have to do something!” I will voice no disagreement. We should do something and here it is (divinely inspired of God): Get married, have kids, build a house, plant a garden, etc. Those who cannot receive that advice will never be open to that which follows: seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. (vs. 7)

The New Testament version of this exhortation is found in 1 Timothy 2:1-3, I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

The application is inescapable: Jeremiah’s friends needed to seek the peace of Babylon and pray for Nebuchadnezzar. Paul’s friends needed to seek the peace of the Roman Empire and pray for Nero Caesar. We need to seek the peace of the United States of America and pray for President Biden. 

Some unsettled soul will here object, “He’s not my President!” Come now, and read again the phrase whither I have caused you to be carried away captives (vs. 7). Realize that when God puts us somewhere, it is God who put us there. Acknowledging that truth and obey his clear command: seek the peace. This command is also very reasonable, for he adds: in the peace thereof (i.e., of Babylon, or Rome, or the USA) shall ye have peace.

Christians are not trouble-makers. They are just the opposite, as Jesus said: Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Pursue peace and you will be blessed. If anyone suggests otherwise, he is a liar and ought to be avoided.

Don’t Allow Liars to Deceive You 

Jeremiah was obviously not the only prophet of his day. The Lord had raised up several holy men to preach, prophesy, and write about this era of exile; and unfortunately, so had the devil. That is why Jeremiah had to issue the stern warning of vv. 8-9, For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord. 

This is a call to spiritual discernment and the step toward discernment is understanding that false teachers, liars, and prophets of the devil are not only found out there in the big bad world; but oftentimes in the church. That is why Jeremiah calls them your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you. These were not Babylonian mystics but their own brethren. That always makes discernment somewhat complicated.

The New Testament affirms the same dynamic. Acts 20:28-30, Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

While we all tend to take down our guard (at least a little) when we perceive that someone is one-of-us (e.g., “Well, he is OPC… or URC… of PCA… or so-and-so endorsed his book…”), that is no safe method of spiritual discernment.

An added complication to the process of discernment is that false teachers speak in God’s name. This is affirmed in vs. 9: they prophesy falsely unto you in my name. The most dangerous deceivers in this world will always have a Bible in their hands. They read from it, they quote, yet all they are really doing is twisting unto their own destruction. God needs you to know: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.

In issuing this warning, Jeremiah does not disclose exactly what the false prophets were teaching, but it is probably safe enough to speculate because false teachers usually just tell people what they want to hear. If you were living in this exile what would your itching ears want to hear? 

Some would want to hear, “Don’t worry, you will not be here long. We are going to escape. God is going to rapture us out of here any day now.” Others might long to hear, “Don’t give up hope! We are going to rise up and fight! In God’s name, we will bring Babylon to its knees!” 

Based on modern trends, most would probably prefer to hear, “Stop obsessing over the exile, God put us here and wants us here.” So far, so good, but then enters the lie: “We are Babylonians now and you know what they say: when in Babylon, do as the Babylonians do.”  

No. This letter (and only this letter) was given that these captives might make sense of their experience, sanctify themselves through obedience, and find true hope for the future. That hope had nothing to do with a great escape, or an insurrection, or conformity to the culture, or anything else the false prophets were preaching. It consisted, rather, in biblical hope.

Believe That Better Days Are Coming

As low a point in history as the captivity was, God was still God, God was still sovereign, God still answered prayers, and God had good plans for his people. Better days were coming and the captives needed to believe this with all their hearts. vs. 10, Thus saith the Lord: That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 

God Visits His People: The captivity would not be permanent. After seventy years, God would visit these captives and bring them back home. Seventy years, however, is a long time. Most of the young men who were carried away would never live to see the day, but hope still remained.

God Keeps His Promises: While many would die in captivity, their children and grandchildren would live to see this day of visitation and be able to say: “God kept his word. His promises are always yes and amen.” They are certainly that, but they are not always fulfilled immediately. When the children of the captivity arrived at Jerusalem, they found it still broken down. Hope yet remained.

God Builds His Kingdom: As scripture teaches, God is faithful to raise up men like Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah to rebuild his temple, teach his people, and fortify his city. His faithfulness in the past should convince us of his faithfulness in the present and the future. Better days were coming.

God is Always Good: Though he may chastise for a season, he always has good plans for his people: I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end (vs. 11).  The captives needed to set their hearts upon this infallible truth and seek those better days by faith.

God Answers Prayer: According to vv. 12-13, if these captives sought the Lord with all their hearts, the Lord would look down from heaven with tender mercy and grant them all the grace they needed in this, their time of need. He would also, eventually, bring them home.

God Gathers His People: Though scattered now as a people, the promise of vs. 14 is that God would call them out from all the nations, gather them to himself, and bring them back home. That is exactly what happened. After the appointed seventy years, God brought them back home, just as God promised.  

There is also a New Testament fulfillment to this promise; namely, that thousands more are being called out of all the nations every single Lord’s Day through the preaching of the holy Gospel. We know this because Jesus said: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27). 

Have you heard the Shepherd’s voice and would you now follow him? Even if it means living as a stranger in a strange land? Even if it means feeling out-of-place in these United States of Babylon? If so, then praise God and consider the advice that has here been offered that you might not only survive, but even thrive in these strange times:  Acknowledge the Sovereignty of God - Listen for God’s Voice in Scripture - Just Keep Living a Normal Life - Don’t Allow Liars to Deceive You - and Believe that Better Days are Coming.

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Christian McShaffrey serves as Pastor of the church which he planted in 2003: Five Solas Church (OPC). Mr. McShaffrey is a graduate of Worsham College of Mortuary Science and Mid-America Reformed Seminary. He is the administrator of the TR Friendly Church Directory. He and his wife Kelly live in the rolling hills just outside of Reedsburg, WI where they built a house, planted a garden, and are raising their six children.

Bishop Ussher, 1645, On Husbands & Wives As Superiors & Inferiors

Following the common biblical and catholic paradigm, Bishop Ussher’s Twenty-fifth Head of doctrine in his influential A Body Of Divinity, Being The Sum And Substance Of The Christian Religion (1645), describes the various privileges, duties, and violations taught by the fifth commandment using the paradigm of “inferiors and superiors.” This is the same paradigm the Westminister assembly, influenced as it was by Ussher, adopts in its discussion of the fifth commandment.

In this post, I simply would like to provide the reader an easily accessed excerpt of this wholesome teaching on the family from our early Reformed father. May Christ be praised in the churches.

Who are private Superiors, and Inferiors? They are either in the Family, or in the Schools.

What is the duty of Superiors in a Family? First, To provide for the Household the things belonging to their Soul, by a familiar catechizing and examintion; and to go before them in Prayer accordingly; the Householder being therein to be the Mouth of his Family. Second, To provide the Necessaries belonging to this present Life; as Food and Raiment both sufficient and agreeable to every ones place and estate, ( Gen. 18. 6, 7, 8. Prov. 27. 23, 24, 25. & 31. 15. 1 Tim. 5. 8.) with convenient Government.

What is the duty of Inferiors in a Family? To submit themselves to the Order of the House: and according to their Places and Gifts, to perform that which is commanded by the Governors thereof, for the good of the Household, Gen. 39. 2, 3, 4.

What are the differences of Superiors and Inferiors in a Family? They are either natural, as Husband and Wife, Parents and Children: or otherwise, as Masters and Servants, Ephes. 5. & 6. Col. 3. & 4.

What are the common duties of the Husband and Wife each to other? Mutual and conjugal love one towards another: yet so, as the Word presseth love at the Husband's Hands more than at the Wives; because Men are commonly more short of that Duty, Ephes. 5. 25.

Wherein must this Conjugal Love be declared? First,. By mutual help, Gen. 2. 18. Second, By due benevolence, ( 1 Cor. 7. 3. ) except by consent for a time, that they may give themselves to Fasting and Prayer, 1 Cor. 7. 5. 2 Sam. 11. 11.

What are the sins common to the Husband and the Wife? 1. Want of Love. 2. Betraying one another's Infirmities. 3. Discovering each others Secrets. 4. Jealousy. 5. Contention.

What is the duty of the Husband towards his Wife? First, An entire love unto her, to cherish her, as he would cherish his own Flesh, and as Christ does his Church, Ephes. 5. Second, To provide for her that which is meet and comely during his Life: and then also that she may be provided for after his Death, if it so fall out. Third, To protect her, and defend her from all Evil. Fourth, To dwell with her, as one of Knowledge, 1 Pet. 3. 7. Fifth, To give honor to her, as the weaker Vessel, ( Ibid. ) that is, to bear with her infirmities. Sixth, To govern and direct her.

What are the special sins of the Husband? 1. Not dwelling with his Wife. 2. Neglect of edifying her by Instruction and Example. 3. Denying her comfortable Maintenance, and Employment.

What is the Duty of the Wife to the Husband? First, Subjection, in a gentle and moderate kind and manner, Eph. 5. 22. For albeit it be made heavier than it was from the beginning, through the transgressions: yet that Yoke is easier than any other domestic subjection. Second, Obedience: wherein Wives are oft short, as Husbands in Love, Ephes. 5. 33. 1 Pet. 3. 1-6. Third, She must represent (in all Godly and commendable Matters) his Image in her behavior, that in her a Man may see the wisdom and uprightness of her Husband, 1 Cor. 11. 7. Fourth, She must be an helper unto him, ( Gen. 2. 18. ) as otherwise, so by saving that which he bringeth in, Prov. 31. 11-12. 1 Tim 3 11. Finally, She must recompense her Husbands care over her, in providing things necessary for her Household, and do good for her Husband all the days of her Life, ( Prov. 31. 12. ) that so he may be unto her, as it were, a veil and covering before her eyes. Gen. 20. 16.

What are the sins of the Wife, in respect of her Husband? . 1. Failing in reverence: which appeareth in froward looks, speech, or behavior. 2. Disobedience in the smallest Matters. 3. Disregarded of her Husband’s Profit.

What Duties come in the next place to be considered? Those of Natural Parents, who are specially mentioned in this Commandment: whereunto also are to be reduced all in the right Line ascending, and their Collaterals; as also Fathers in Law, and Mothers in Law.

What are the Duties of Natural Parents towards their Children? They are either common to both Parents, or in particular to either of them.

What are the common Duties of both of Parents? They do either respect the things of this Life, or of that which is to come.

What care are they to have of the Souls of their Children, to fit them for the Life to come? 1. To make them Members of the visible church by Baptism. 2. They are to catechize and instruct them in Religion, as they are able to receive it: and to bring them up in nurture and the fear of God, Ephes. 6. 4. 3. They are to pray to God to bless them, and guide them in his Fear.

What is required of them for the things of this Life? First, To mark the wits and inclinations of their Children; and as far as their own ability will reach to apply them accordingly, in due time, to some good, honest, and godly Calling: that so being trained up in such a Trade as they are fittest for, they may not afterwards live idly without any Calling, Gen. 4. 2. Prov. 20. 11. & 22. 6. Second, To provide for them a Godly Marriage (if it please God) in time convenient, 1 Cor. 7. 36. Third, Not only to maintain them, during their abiding in their House, but also to lay up and provide somewhat for them, that they may live honestly afterward. And therefore are they to distribute their Goods among their Children: and what they have received from their Ancestors, to leave the same (where it may be done lawfully) to their Posterity, 2 Cor. 12. 24. 2 Chron. 21. 3. Prov. 19. 14.

What special regard is here to be had by Parents to the Eldest Son? That since God hath honored him with that dignity, as to be their strength, ( Gen. 49. 3. ) he should also be honored by them (at the least) with a double portion, ( Deut. 21. 17. ) as by the rest of the Brethren, with honor: yet so, as he fall not from his honor by some horrible sin, Gen. 49. 4.

What are the common sins of Parents? 1. Negligence in not instructing their Children early in life. 2. Not correcting them till it be too late: or doing it with bitterness, without Compassion, Instruction, and Prayer. 3. Giving them ill example. 4. Neglect of bringing them up in some lawful Calling. 5. Not bestowing them timely, and religiously in Marriage. 6. Light behavior before them, and too much familiarity with them; whereby they become vile in their eyes. 7. Loving beauty, or any outward parts, more than God's Image in them.

What is required of the Father in particular? To give the name unto the Child, Gen. 35. 18. Luke 1. 62, 63. For notwithstanding the Mothers having sometimes given the Name, yet that hath been by the Father’s permission.

What special Duty is laid upon the Mother? To nurse the Child if she be able, Gen. 21. 7. 1 Sam. 1. 23. Lam. 4. 3, 4. 1 Thess. 2. 7, 8. 1 Tim. 2. 15. & 5. 10.

So much of the Duty of Parents to their Children.

What is the Duty of Children to their Parents? It is either general or special, viz. in the case of Marriage.

What are the general Duties? First, To reverence them: and to perform careful obedience to them in all things that they command: by the example of our Savior, who was subject to his Parents, Luke. 2. 51. Second, To pray for them. Third, So to carry themselves, while they are under their Parents tuition, and after they are departed from them, as they may cause their Parents (in their good bringing up) to be commended, Prov. 10. 1. & 17. 25. & 31. 28. Fourth, To be an aid unto them, as well as they be able, and to help them with their Bodies, when they are in distress, Ruth. 1. 16. & 2. 17, 18. Fifth, To repay their Parents care over them, by being ready to relieve them, if they stand in need of relief, and want any thing wherewith God hath blessed them, 1 Tim. 5. 4. Gen. 45. 11. & 47. 12.

What are the contrary sins of Children, in respect of their Parents? 1. Disobedience. 2. Murmuring at their Parents’ Chastisements. 3. Condemning them for any default of Body or Mind. 4. Unthankfulness, in not relieving them, not standing for their deserved credit, etc.

What is the special Duty of Children to their Parents, in case of Marriage? That they ought not so much as or attempt to bestow themselves in Marriage, without their Parents direction and consent; especially Daughters, Gen. 24. & 21. 21. & 27. 46. & 28. 9. Judg. 14. 2. 1 Cor. 7. 36, 37, 38.

What Reason have you to persuade Children to this Duty? That seeing their Parents have taken such great pains and travel in bringing them up, they should reap some Fruits of their Labors in bestowing of them. Besides, they should give them this honor, to esteem them better able, and more wise to provide for their comfortable Marriage, than themselves are. Is this Duty required onfy of Children to their Natural Parents that beg at them? No: It is also in some degree required of Children to their Uncles and Aunts; or to any other under whom they are, and that be instead of Parents unto them, when their Parents are dead, Esther 2. 10, 20. Ruth. 2. 18, 23.

The Trident, Fog Dwellers, and our Christian Future

God is doing a great work in our time. The Sun of Righteousness is burning away the fog of delusion that has clouded our churches for decades. This is the fog that has allowed us to claim biblical inerrancy and confessional fidelity on the one hand and yet accommodate the values of the Enlightenment and modernism on the other. And now that fog is clearing and the places where one can (whether naively or deceptively) insist on compatibility between light and darkness are fast disappearing.

With the evaporation of this fog, the evangelical and reformed churches are finally being forced, tangibly and concretely, to choose between Christ and Mammon, Molech, Leviathan, Demos, or whatever names you wish to give to the false god of this age. This god has a sharpened Trident, aimed at the heart of Christ’s churches, a new liberalism with three deadly barbs: racial Marxism, feminism, and sexual degeneracy.

Many false sons in her pale have long ago chosen the latter and have been trying to drag the institutions they have been members of along with them. They have taken up the Woke Trident and wield it against the churches in which they dwell. They will not rest until they have either converted or purged everyone. Others have long ago understood the stakes and chosen to stand on the Lord's side and reject the lies of the age. They in turn are rousing still others, and we are now finding and removing the compromises from our own hearts, families, and as able, churches. Eventually every Christian must stand with one faction or the other.

But for now there are those still in the middle, trying to preserve the old status quo and continue running the legacy denominations and institutions as if nothing is happening. They want both Christ and modernity. Or they want Christ but fear to go against the Trident. They will retreat to wherever they must go to remain in the fog. They insist on peace, peace- unless it is yesterday's battles being fought. Those battles no longer cost them much to fight. And if they can be mustered to fight over something besides those, it is usually a fight to shut up anyone that is forcing them to confront the present.

These include many of those insiders and big names about whom we have been scratching our heads of late. What are they up to? One day they offer some 'concerns' about critical theory or some other aberration. Are they coming around to reality, coming to join us? But then so often the next day they want to sideline anyone on their right flank that goes after the same target. So maybe they aren't coming to join us.

I think some are in the process of resolving the contradiction one way or the other. They may yet stand with us. I think others are just trying to make both sides stop reminding them of their mutually exclusive commitments. But they seem more irate with the ones on their right. Why? I suspect because they know the ones on their right are right. And they have less power to push back when rebuked. And they know they should be standing with them, and they are being put to shame by them. It's not easy living in the fog.

The committed fog-dwellers don't particularly like the Trident-wielders or their views, you see, but facing them head on will require them to step out of the fog and to commit not only for Christ, but against His enemies. They will have to get negative on things about which the culture feels very positively. They will have to look mean, intolerant, misogynist, nationalistic, and a host of other scary sounding things. And their lives will get much harder. They will not only have angry critics within their churches; they may even face the forces of culture, HR, and state. And so it is easier now to tone police the faithful that are taking a stand and pray the Trident only leaves a flesh wound. Maybe if they keep the peace hard enough, maybe if they discipline the unruly watchmen severely enough, maybe if they engage thoughtfully with the woke enough, the Trident will eventually just leave them alone in the fog.

But the Trident advances inexorably. It does not stop and it only moves in one direction- inward. It is barbed, it does not come out until its target is dead. Or until its target resolves to face the pain of removing it and tears it out.

Eventually there will be no fog left to hide in. Things are, as Dr. Dimble noted, "always hardening and narrowing and coming to a point." Foglings too, if they do not quit the church entirely, will take up their tridents and be obedient little wokelings, or else they will finally own the blood-red banner that streams afar, climb the steep ascent of heaven through peril, toil, and pain, and follow in His train.

Legacy denominations and institutions will likely be lost when it is all said and done. But there will remain a people, refined and strong, forged into new congregations, federations, schools, and communities, ready to face a very different world.

In short, we are all of us either getting woke or getting based. Now is the chaotic, messy sorting.

Censuring Ministers For Their Silence, 1648

Oh that we had this zeal for the Lord and His church! May the Lord restore the abundance of Zion!

Excerpts from the 1648 deliverance of the church of Scotland, “Act for Censuring Ministers for their Silence, and not Speaking to the Corruptions of the Time.”

The Generall Assembly, taking to their serious consideration the great scandals which have lately encreased, partly through some ministers, their reserving and not declaring of themselves against the prevalent sins of the times, partly through the spite, malignity, and insolency of others, against such ministers as have faithfully and freely reproved the sins of the times without respect of persons;

For ministers:

Such as shall be found not applying their doctrine to corruptions, which is the pastorall gift—cold, and wanting of spirituall zeal—flatterers, and dissembling of publick sins, and especially of great personages in their congregations—that all such persons be censured according to the degree of their faults, and continuing therein be deprived.

…Tis also hereby recommended to the severall Presbyteries and Provinciall Synods, that they make speciall enquiry and triall concerning all the ministery in their bounds; and if any be found too sparing, generall, or ambiguous, in the foresaid applications and reproofs, that they be sharply rebuked, dealt with, and warned to amend, under the pain of suspension from their ministery.

…if there be any who do neglect and omit such applications and reproofs, and continue in such negligence after admonition and dealing with them, they are to be cited, and, after due triall of the offence, to be deposed—for be ing pleasers of men rather then servants of Christ—for giving themselves to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in the cause of God, and for defrauding the souls of people; yea, for being highly guilty of the blood of souls, in not giving them warning.

And for the people:

And in case any minister, for his freedom in preaching, and faithfull discharge of his conscience, shall be, in the face of the congregation or elsewhere, upbraided, railed at, mocked, or threatened—or if any injury or violence be done to his person—or any stop and disturbance made to him in the exercise of his ministeriall calling, the Presbyterie of the bounds shall forthwith enter in processe with the offender, and whoever he be, charge him to satisfie the discipline of the Kirk by publick repentance; which if any do not, or refuse to do, that then the Presbyterie proceed to excommunication against him.

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/church-scotland-records/acts/1638-1842/pp166-200#h2-0017

Disturbing The Peace Of The Church With Truth

Posted here in honor of Rev. Michael Spangler, a “troubler of Israel” for the love of Israel and its God in truth. HT: Michael Hunter

From "A Pastoral Letter by the Associate Presbytery of the Carolinas to the People Under Their Care" (1826):

One of those popular sentiments, by which the light of divine truth is obscured, its influence weakened, and its authority set aside, is, That we should not disturb the peace of the church by contending for divine truth and institutions. This sentiment is urged with much vehemence and apparent christian zeal, and followed by a correspondent practice. If, however, the zeal expended for this sentiment, were employed, without its attendant acrimony, in defence of truth, it might be useful.

There is, perhaps, no one error, so fatal in its consequences as this popular principle, because, not only may every error, however gross, be introduced under its shield, but it takes away the church's weapon of defence. The sentiment is plausible, but neither the dictate of divine authority, or of sound reason. To shew that it flatly contradicts the holy scripture, it is sufficient only to ask, Did the prophets, apostles, or our Lord himself act on this principle? or did they teach it? Did not Elijah contend for pure worship, and ordinances? Did not Josiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others contend for God's truth and law? and were they not under express injunctions to do so? Who can read Ezekiel's instructions, chapter 33, without surprise at the popularity of the sentiment we oppose? Did not our Lord himself warn and reprove? did he not maintain, against opponents, the perfection of the divine law, and the purity of divine worship? for an example, see Mark vii. 1-13. And do not all the apostles warn, and reprove, and enjoin this as a duty on all gospel ministers? Did not Paul reprove Peter himself, and that openly? Did he not forewarn Timothy, that the time would come, when they would not endure sound doctrine, but would with itching ears, heap up to themselves teachers? Was not this his time to warn Timothy not to reprove error, if such silence had been a christian duty indeed? But on the contrary, his solemn charge, was to reprove, rebuke, and exhort; to watch in all things; to endure afflictions; to make full proof of his ministry: II. Tim. iv. 1-5. And again, of what spirit are the last admonitions of Christ to the churches of Asia? But time would fail in noting authorities. The holy scriptures give no instructions to gospel ministers, if injunctions to warn, admonish, and reprove, are not given.

Connected with the above sentiment, it is urged, That an error introduced, or held by a professed believer, should be spared; that charity requires forbearance respecting his mistakes. But error is seldom introduced into the church by any other. It is not generally the professed infidel that makes the innovation. It was not such that introduced and supported errors among the Galatians, and became the objects of Paul's severe reproofs. It is not the professed infidel, that shall, according to prophecy, in the latter days, give heed to seducing spirits: 1 Tim. iv. 1. Nor was it the professed infidel, whom Isaiah had commission to warn and reprove: Isa. lviii. 1. Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

But is it said these were notorious sinners, and under gross apostacy? not more so, than many, who are found at present, pleading for this silence. Give the former their claims, which are as well founded as the latter. Are those whom we reprove, church members? so were the objects of Isaiah's reproof. Do our opponents wear the appearance of piety? so did they. “Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinance of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.” Isa. lviii. 2.

Or whom did our Lord, when on earth, reprove with severity? were they not the professors of religion? members of a church of high and ancient privilege? But an end is put to all contention for truth, and such injunctions of holy scripture must be unmeaning, or inapplicable and useless, if the doctrines and institutions of God's word, must not be supported, when they are neglected, or opposed by professors of religion.

Besides, Satan has nothing to do, in order to introduce any error, with which he chooses to subvert the church, but to employ a professor of religion for this purpose. He can thus introduce it with impunity, when it is sheltered from the reproofs of holy scripture by its patron; and with more plausibility and efficiency for the purpose of deception; because it is clothed with the appearance of sanctity, and protected by the name of piety.

Nor is it unworthy of notice, that if all this plea for unconditional peace were well founded, our reforming forefathers were most uncharitable, narrow-minded, and unchristian in their spirit, in contending against Popery, Prelacy, Arminianism, and Socinianism, and we should yet have been enveloped in the darkness of the 15th century. No excuse for their conduct is possible, if the objection, which we oppose be admitted. They opposed a church of the greatest antiquity, and boasting of numerous saints; they continued their opposition, under the severest charges of a spirit of division, of irreligion, and a want of charity. If we only contend for the truth, and against error, charges against us, of illiberality and want of charity, are of the same spirit with those against our forefathers.

A Stench In Their Nostrils

“You’ve made our church a stench in the nostrils of the OPC.”

“Maybe, if you’ll promise to get off social media we can move forward together.”

“Who do you think you are?”

“You deserve this. You’ve brought it on yourself and your family.”

“What do you think gives you the responsibility to engage in these matters publicly?”

“You’re nothing but a keyboard warrior.”

With these encouraging words I’ve heard from my dearest and professed friends, I’m writing to ask you to set your face as a flint and join me in embracing the shame of obedience in an age of worldlings and timid men.

I’m asking you to use your own voice in your home, church, session, and presbytery to publicly stand against the new liberalism and its advocates and collaborators who are pushing wokism-marxism, feminism, and sexual libertinism. I have hoped to be an example to you, not in exact methods, but in steadfastness and courage against the #ReformedDowngrade. I have also become an example, in the short term, that initially we will probably “lose,” and may have very little influence for a while and even fewer friends. You’ll likely be banned on social media, lose your jobs eventually, and be silenced or disciplined in your “conservative” denominations.

That is fine with me, because as this article by Doug Wilson expresses, the Lord has worked in me something I pray will grow more and more and be expressed more clearly—a love and fear of God above the scorn and praise of men. Please join me in your own place and manner in that mission. In our conflict with encroaching liberalism in the Reformed churches, some haven’t and won’t, with the Lord’s help, be quiet in the face of pressure from those who have sought for varying reasons to silence us: Aimee Byrd, Rachel Green Miller, Todd Pruitt, Valerie Hobbs, Carl Truman, ninety-plus OPC ministers and elders who signed a lying letter, TGC, the Alliance Of Confessing Evangelicals, “abuse” advocates, pastors in my presbytery who’ve conspired against us and others who protect them, a mob of Reformed-marm-twitter-liars, an army of gossipy women of both sexes, and even now many friends who refuse to stand with us in any way that would cost them.

But in an evil age, there are costs to pay when you want to do what’s right. So I propose a catechism for you:

Question: “Who do you think you are?”

Answer: “I am a Christian. I obey Jesus and His Word.”

Question: “Don’t you see what this costs you and those you love?”

Answer: Jesus said “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” John 14:26

Question: “What if no one stands with you? Wouldn’t it be better to wait for support?”

Answer: Paul said “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” 2 Timothy 4:16-17

Also, check out this article from Doug Wilson, a man who knows these things and has taken his share of “encouragement” from the NAPARC nanny-state :

When men lie about you, when women slander you, when they snatch at your words, when they call you a racist, or a misogynist, or a bigot, or a heretic, what are you commanded to do? Jesus says that we are to walk around the corner, just out of sight, chuckle a little chuckle, shrug our shoulders in the presence of the Holy One of Israel, and dance a little jig. Rejoice, He said. Be exceeding glad, He said.

And He also cautioned us in the other direction. Not only are we to rejoice when the abuse starts to fly, so also are we to worry about it when the accolades do. ‘Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.’ Luke 6:26 (KJV)

We may rank the sayings of Jesus in the following way. There are those things He taught which everybody already knows and agrees with, like the importance of honoring your father and your mother. Then there are the things He taught that are ranked as the ‘hard sayings,’ like those about loving your enemies and feeding the poor and the outcast. Tough, but more than a few believers have earnestly made the attempt. And then there are these sayings, which are clearly impossible, highly dangerous, and not even to be considered. And if you even attempt to live by such sayings, then we will mark you down as a conceited prig, in addition to the racism.

Scorn Proof

The reason the evangelical church in North America today is languishing is to be found right here. We are led by men who crumple under criticism. We are led by men who wither under any level of abusive commentary. But this is actually just another way of saying that we are not being led by men at all. There will be no recovery, there will be no reformation, there will be no revival, until God raises up a generation of men who are scorn proof. No sign of them yet, but God is the one who works marvels.”

I’m a nobody—and likely so are you—but I am a Christian, and because of that I have permission from the throne of heaven and accountability to the LORD to tell the truth, however inconvenient it is for those who hear it. If you feel ashamed to become a stench in other’s nostrils, remember it will be more embarrassing, possibly now in this life, but certainly later when Christ comes, for those who have not been willing to stand publicly for the truth. So tell the truth, stand firm in the freedom purchased for you by our Savior, and don’t be afraid. When you are rejected, rejoice!

Doug Wilson “Scorn Proof” at https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/scornproof.html

Calvin On Romans 16:18, Marks Of A False Teacher

Romans 16:18 “For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”

Calvin's commentary:

He mentions an unvarying mark, by which false prophets are to be distinguished from the servants of Christ; for they have no care for the glory of Christ, but seek the benefit of their stomach. As, however, they deceitfully crept in, and by assuming another character, concealed their own wickedness, he at the same time pointed out, in order that no one might be deceived, the arts which they adopted -- that they ingratiated themselves by a bland address. The preachers of the gospel have also their courtesy and their pleasing manner, but joined with honesty, so that they neither soothe men with vain praises, nor flatter their vices: but impostors allure men by flattery, and spare and indulge their vices, that they may keep them attached to themselves. He calls those simple who are not cautious enough to avoid deceptions.

Romans 16:18 identifies two features of false teachers:

1. They are not concerned for Christ’s glory but for their own pleasures.

2. They deceitfully creep in through alluring men with the use of “bland speech”, “flattery”, “vain praises”, and “soothing” speech—indulging others’ sins to keep their favor.

The gospel minister is instead:

1. A man who seeks the glory of Christ above his own pleasures.

2. Gospel preaching has a fitting manner. It certainly has its own courteousness and pleasantness, but it is joined with an honesty that does not flatter, spare or indulge vices, and is not designed to attach men to oneself but to the glory of Christ.

So, don’t be simple, and so led astray.

An Open Reply To “An Open Letter From Concerned Ministers And Elders In The OPC”

The following is a letter from a member of Genevan Commons, an OPC minister who serves on session with one of the admins of the discussion group, Shane Anderson. It is not an official statement for his session, or members of the discussion group (who have a wide range of perspectives on many matters.) Addition: we want to clarify that the admins of Genevan Commons agree with this response and are thankful for it.

---

Rev. Michael Spangler
Teacher, Providence Church (OPC)
Greensboro, NC

June 23, 2020

An Open Reply to “An Open Letter from Concerned Ministers and Elders in the OPC,”
Published on Aimeebyrd.com, here, June 22, 2020.

Dear Brothers and Fathers,

Your open letter calls for a response, for the sake of the good name of Christ, his elders, and his people.

I am a minister of the gospel, have been for years a member of Genevan Commons, and participate often in its discussions. I know many of the men now subject to your criticism, have had many exchanges with them, and have personally witnessed, in their whole context, many of the discussions excerpted on Genevan Commons Screenshots. I tell you plainly and sincerely, despite your best intentions and desires to promote righteousness, you have been deceived as to the nature of the group.

I wish to publicly state a few neglected facts, then directly address your four written concerns.

First, three important facts about our group have been ignored:

1. Genevan Commons exists to promote edifying dialogue among the Reformed. It has had good success in meeting this goal. Many of its long-term members will testify to true growth in knowledge of God’s word, in biblical doctrine, and in piety as a direct result of conversation in the Commons. I openly and thankfully attest to this myself: I am a better man and a better minister because of the interactions with my brethren in this group. One specific way it helps me is by giving me a broader vision of the faithful Reformed Christianity that exists beyond the bounds of my local church, presbytery, and denomination.

2. Every person in Genevan Commons is a sinner (1 John 1:8). That some things said in the group should not have been said, ought to surprise no one. It is a different thing entirely, however, to condemn the whole group as unedifying and ungodly based on a very small slice of the hundreds of thousands of posts and comments made throughout its lifetime. It would violate charity to call a Christian brother an ungodly man for a few sinful slips of the tongue. How much more so a group of hundreds of Christian brothers, of varying levels of maturity, and among whom no doubt, as in all Christian communities, there are at least some tares among the wheat?

3. That said, in my daily observation of the group I find that our words are in most every case reasonable and respectful. And moreover, when sinful exceptions do appear, the Commons actively polices them, and though imperfectly, it does so to my knowledge more carefully than any other similar group on Facebook. I have vivid memories of members in the group, and ministers especially, calling out violations of the second, third, fifth, seventh, and ninth commandments. Many posts and comments have been edited or deleted as a result, often by the original author himself, before admins could step in. Naturally, such changes could not be demonstrated in a screenshot. This is not to mention the times admins have quickly deleted ungodly speech, given firm reminders of our clear group rules, and even when necessary expelled participants, out of zeal for peace, truth, and righteousness. Neither this fact nor the other two were even mentioned in the screenshot site, on the blog of Aimee Byrd who promoted it, or in your letter.

Second, as to your four concerns:

1. That Byrd and Miller are “members of our church” is immaterial. Church members sin (James 3:2). Church members may fall from Christ (Heb. 3:12). Church members may even become false teachers (Acts 20:30). Insofar as they do this, they deserve rebuke: privately if they sin in private (Matt. 18:15), publicly if they sin in public (Gal. 2:14). Even when not speaking directly to them, we have a similar duty to warn each other about those who cause divisions and offenses (Rom. 16:17). Moreover, that such rebuke and warning is made with sharpness (Titus 1:13), and even with a solemn mockery, is no proof of “corrupt,” “foolish talking,” and “coarse jesting” (Eph. 4:29; 5:5). God himself mocks sinners (Ps 2:4; Prov. 1:26), as do his faithful servants (1 Kings 18:27). A minister is sometimes called to set his face like flint (Isa. 50:7; Ezek. 3:8–9), and spare not against the church’s sins (Isa. 58:1). You say elsewhere you are not endorsing the books we have attacked. Putting aside the contradiction that your letter was published on the personal blog of an author of such books, insofar as in it you seek to disarm us of the verbal weapons with which we make our attack, or at least imply that the books’ errors are not so serious as to warrant our sharp speech, you are indeed protecting those books, and their harmful teaching. We beg you therefore for less carping about our style and method, and more engagement with the substance of our critiques.

2. The appeal to ordination vows is a red herring. The vows say nothing against appropriate use of privacy in Christian conversation. The equivalent response to you would be, please send us transcripts of your private phone calls, emails, and messages that went into the preparation of your letter: if God will reveal all secrets on the last day, why keep secrets now? Furthermore, by your standard we ought never talk behind closed doors with our wives, our elders, or our members; or at least we ought to be willing to reveal everything that was said, to anyone, and any time. That this would not be keeping our ministerial vows, but in fact breaking them terribly, by betraying the trust of all God’s people, should be obvious to you. The propriety of private conversation is proven by this whole debacle: words which in private context are appropriate and godly, out of context are likely to appear otherwise to the uninitiated observer. So privacy actually helps us keep our reputation, which is a duty of the ninth commandment, and the man or men who broke privacy by publicizing close conversation among friends (Prov. 17:9), boldly broke that commandment. Even some who oppose the Commons have condemned the screenshot site as shameful libel (here and here). Moreover, God forbid that what you insinuate would ever be true, that we forget that God will judge our private words. I for one conduct even my most secret conversations with godly fear, and without a doubt that I will give an account for every idle word (Matt. 12:36). I remain accountable, and gladly so, to my own presbytery and session. And as far as I know my close friends in the Commons, they all think exactly the same.

3. Calling our speech “misogynistic” begs the question. It might be fair to call some of screenshotted comments off-color, some immature, some silly, some just unnecessary. But in context most of them I read were actually unobjectionable, even if I would not have said them all myself. We openly affirm in Genevan Commons all the Bible texts you cited about women. You can be sure that if anyone in our group denied that women bore God’s image (Gen. 1:27), were fellow heirs in Christ (1 Peter 3:7), and gifted members of his body (Eph. 4:7), he would be reproved, and if recalcitrant, expelled. We are not women-haters: that is slander. We believe, from the Bible, that the heart of godly patriarchy is a loving, sacrificial use of manly strength for the care and protection of the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7; Eph. 5:25). This is as far from misogyny as possible. Moreover, though “thoughtful critique” was not as obvious in the screenshots, in most cases it is the very substance of our group discussion. The captured comments, for example, were often subjoined to extended articles, which of course would not fit in a screenshot, or in the screen-shotter’s narrative. And what of my articles I recently wrote, published on the blog associated with the Commons? In them I labored to be as careful as possible, citing years of evidence and many passages of Scripture, with all the persuasive logic I could muster. Take them as the substantial bulk of our critique, and you will find the Commons is much more thoughtful than you let on.

4. Yes, we agree “undue silence in a just cause” is a sin. That is why we have not been silent against Byrd, Miller, and others who support them. It is why we will not be pressured into silence by your letter. And furthermore, it is why I am compelled to write this reply to you: despite your good intentions, your rebuke is unjust and ill-considered, and ought to be retracted.

I remain your brother in Christ and fellow servant in his gospel, and I am happy to be contacted by anyone at any time about these matters.

Sincerely Yours,

Michael Spangler

Feminism in the Reformed Churches: 5. A Call to Arms

Feminism In The Reformed Churches: 5. A Call To Arms

Feminism is attacking the Reformed churches. In previous articles I named the leaders of the movement, especially Aimee Byrd, Rachel Miller, and Valerie Hobbs, then discussed their tactics online, in books, and in the church. Now I call all Christians, and especially Reformed ministers and elders: mark such women, and the men who follow them, see the error of their teaching, and resist it with all your might. God forbid that any of us would be that watchman who sees the sword come, and blows not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, and their blood be required at our hand (Ezek. 33:6).

Take Up Your Pen

Each of us must fight according to his calling and ability. Some have influence only over their own soul, or in their own family. They ought to use it. But others have more sway, because as ministers, as elders, as professors, as publishers, as bloggers, people listen to what you say. If that is so, I appeal to you especially, now is the time to write. 

It is time for articles, for posts, for comments. It is time for likes, retweets, and memes. It is time for scholarly journal articles, and for popular opinion pieces. It is time for new books, and for classic reprints. It is time for seminary lectures, and especially for sermons. We need as much material as possible to be released asserting, maintaining, and defending classic, traditional, natural, and biblical teaching on men, women, marriage, family, children, and society.

Some have already done excellent service in this field of the battle. Among them high praise is due to Shane Anderson, an Orthodox Presbyterian ruling elder who has for years now been faithfully witnessing online against the teaching of Byrd and company, receiving in return abuse and scorn. He has remained steadfast under trial, pressing on in his labor to fill Twitter and Facebook with solid biblical material. For examples, see the hashtag #originalpurityculture (here or here), or his compilation of articles against Aimee Byrd, here. I serve on session with Shane, and can testify to the godliness of his heart and of his family. Our churches need dozens more ruling elders like him.

Shane Anderson, thankfully, is not alone. He’s joined by hundreds of others on Genevan Commons, one of very few Reformed discussion groups on Facebook which stand firm against the onslaught of feminism, for which it has suffered spying and slander (dealt with here). Praise is also due to Ben Castle and Mike Myers, both OPC ministers, for their public writing for the cause (here, here and here), to OPC minister Christian McShaffrey, who launched the first salvo against Byrd’s forthcoming book and videos (here; on Miller, here), to PCA ministers Steven Wedgeworth and Mark Jones for their dissections of Miller’s recent book (here and here), and now to Jones for his of Byrd’s (here), to PCA minister and seminary president Joseph Pipa, Jr. for addressing some key issues head-on in a podcast (here), to CREC minister Doug Wilson for his ever-pungent critiques (e.g. here and here), and to Andrew Naselli, pastor and professor at Bethlehem College and Seminary, for writing the first full-length critical review of Byrd’s new book (here). Others should be honored for their effort to publish positive explanations and applications of biblical patriarchy, men like Michael Foster and Bnonn Tennant at It’s Good to Be a Man, Greg Morse at Desiring God, and especially John Piper, Wayne Grudem, and all the faithful men at the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Nor can we forget John MacArthur: he deserves a medal for telling Beth Moore to go home, and then for standing firm despite the rage that followed. I probably need to add, for all the purists, that if you think some of these men are not Presbyterian enough to merit praise, please go and meditate on Jesus’ words, “He that is not against us is on our part” (Mark 9:40).

I praise God for these faithful men. However, given the gravity of the threat, I wonder why more watchmen are not sounding the alarm, especially among my fellow Reformed ministers and elders. Indeed, I grieve to see that not a few are laboring to silence their more vocal brethren. Perhaps they don’t realize how bad things really are. Perhaps they aren’t persuaded on the issues. Perhaps they are afraid of reprisal, in church or home. Whatever the excuse, brothers, I pray you’ll put it away, take up your pen, and write for the cause of godliness.

Use the Keys of the Kingdom

The pen is mighty, but not strong enough itself to win this battle. The word builds up the church’s walls, but strong walls will be useless if discipline does not cast out the enemy within. 

All Christians must do their own part to resist false teachers, by marking and avoiding them (Rom. 16:17; 2 Tim. 3:5). But the elders of the church have an indispensable biblical duty to help their people do this, by disciplining those who err, through ecclesiastical trials and censures (Titus 3:10), and when needed, through appeals, protests, and complaints. 

That such discipline is appropriate and necessary in this case is powerfully argued in the Westminster Confession of Faith, ch. 20, “On Christian Liberty,” section 4:

And, for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of such practices, as are contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity (whether concerning faith, worship, or conversation), or to the power of godliness; or, such erroneous opinions or practices, as either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in the church, they may lawfully be called to account, and proceeded against, by the censures of the church.

I am surely not the only pastor who has witnessed firsthand how feminism subverts whole houses (Titus 1:11). It destroys marriages and families, estranging women from their husbands and homes, and wives from their children. It destroys churches, not only churches where liberal unbelief has dealt the death blow by securing women’s ordination, but also conservative churches where women denied office try nonetheless to lead by complaining, manipulation, and “unofficial” teaching (Ezek. 13:17; Neh. 6:14; Rev. 2:20; Prov. 21:19). To assert that feminism is not contrary to the light of nature, to Christian conversation, and to the power of godliness; to assert that the teaching of it is not destructive to the external peace and order which Christ has established in the church; to assert that the ungodly manner in which it is usually published and maintained does not increase its destructiveness; to assert that therefore we are speaking of a mere difference of opinion, not a grave scandal subject to church censures, is either supreme naivete, or malicious dissembling.

To talk practical church politics, in Presbyterian churches the burden of adjudicating charges rests first on the court of “original jurisdiction” for those who are spreading falsehood. For non-ordained members, and for elders, that means the local session; for ministers, the regional presbytery. Yet charges may be delivered to those courts by other competent persons. So perhaps, reader, this is a call to you, to prepare charges, or to assist others in doing so. At the very least, elders, if your members, or your fellow elders, are spreading these feminist lies, you bear responsibility to stop them.

But whoever tries to do so should be duly warned: these errorists in some cases already have won the support of their sessions, of their presbyteries, and even of denominational assemblies. This is a not a call to back down. A just cause is worthy of pursuing, even if not likely to succeed. But it is a call to count the cost. If charges are to stick, judgments may need to be appealed all the way to the broadest courts of the church. Those pursuing charges will face opposition and slander, and perhaps counter-charges. Their efforts may in the end not seem to succeed at all, and not be vindicated until the final judgment. But it is not in itself proof of sin to be surrounded by difficulty and calumny. In our Savior and in his chosen servants, it was a sure mark of their faithfulness to God (Matt. 5:11; 1 Peter 4:14; 2 Tim 3:12).

Some will object to this, and to everything else I’ve said, that it sounds quite judgmental. How dare I presume to judge men’s hearts, and imply that those who hold views with which I disagree are not just incorrect, but dangerous false teachers worthy of severe censure. But this is begging the very question. A judgment is not judgmental when made upon good grounds (John 7:24). It is illogical and uncharitable to challenge, or ignore, the goodness of those grounds by challenging the motives of those who argue them. Yes, the critical spirit is a sin (Matt. 7:1), but it is not those who call for godly discipline who are guilty of it, but rather those who stubbornly resist it (Exod. 2:14).

It is also missing the point of church discipline. Elders do not, and cannot, directly judge the secrets of the heart, which belong to God alone (Deut. 29:29). They judge what they can know: speech and behavior, the fruit that tells the tree (Matt. 7:20). Moreover, if those who by their fruit are worthy of discipline do sincerely trust Christ, and want to obey him, then under censure they will reveal that, by their true repentance. But if, as I fear, many in need of discipline are also in need of a new heart, under censure they will prove that too, by their contumacy, or their conversion. 

Repent of Feminism

I am afraid that for all my labor to convince and to exhort, this plea for writing and for discipline will fall on deaf ears. Or that if it is heeded, it will lack any power to persuade or change the church. Or that if change does come, it will not be thorough or long lasting. And this is because many of those who perceive feminism to be a problem to be fixed, do not see it as a sin to be repented of. Or if it is a sin, it is the sin of others, not of ourselves, our homes, our hearts. So lest I be condemned for healing the hurt of God’s people slightly (Jer. 8:11), I conclude by calling every reader to deep, honest, personal repentance of the serious sins that attend the corrupting error of feminism.

I will not spare specifics. As Paul did with the Ephesians, I call first upon my female readers, to repent of a besetting sin of women, that of insubordination. Repent of not submitting yourself unto your own husbands (Eph. 5:22). Repent of anger and contention (Prov. 21:19). Repent of chafing against “the man,” who is the image of glory of God, and of not stooping to be his glory (1 Cor. 11:7). Repent of not wisely building your house, but plucking it down with your hands (Prov. 14:1). Repent, aged women, of not teaching the young women to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, and obedient to their own husbands (Titus 2:5). Repent, young women, of not seeking to marry, bear children, and guide the house (1 Tim. 5:14). Repent, all women, of thinking yourself exempt from the weakness of the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7), and of not therefore depending as you ought on God, and on the men God appointed over you for your good (1 Peter 3:5–6). I realize most men do not dare speak so directly to women, about women’s sins. But I do it without fear, and without respect of persons (Acts 10:34). For women too are God’s image bearers (Gen. 1:27), and therefore they will, just like men, be called to account for the ways in which their sins have marred that image (Rom. 14:12).

I call next upon the men, to repent of their besetting sin of irresponsibility. Repent of your refusal to be the head of your wife (Eph. 5:23), of not loving her as Christ loved the church (v. 25), of not sanctifying and cleansing her by the word of God (v. 26), of not nourishing and cherishing her (v. 29). Repent of not rebuking her when she cries out in foolish fear (Job 2:9–10). Repent of bringing shame upon her by your own foolishness (1 Sam. 25:25). Repent of being bitter against her (Col. 3:19). Repent of sexual unfaithfulness (Prov. 5:20). Repent of browbeaten effeminacy, of yielding to her sinful provocations (1 Kings 11:4), of letting her rule over you (Isa. 3:12), of pleasing your wife more than pleasing Christ (Luke 14:26). Repent of not giving honor unto her, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life (1 Peter 3:7). Repent of not praising her for her womanly virtues, for her godly homemaking, and especially for her fear of the Lord (Prov. 31:28–31). Remember that upon your stronger shoulders, men, there falls a greater weight of duty, and therefore a more serious call to repentance, insofar as you have failed in greater responsibilities.

I call third upon the elders and ministers of the church, to repent of toleration of the sins above, and those first of all in your own hearts and homes. You are called to be an example to Christ’s flock (1 Peter 5:3; 1 Cor. 11:1), and to rule your own house well (1 Tim. 3:2–5). Let Paul’s searching question rest with all its weightiness upon your soul: For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? (v. 5). Too many men’s ministries are ruined by a discontent wife, too many men’s sermons are emasculated by a nagging household critic. Ask yourself, have you, or would you, preach against the angry and contentious woman (Prov. 21:19)? Have you, or would you, discipline a female member for disrespecting her appointed head (Eph. 5:23)? If not, why not? Is it because you could not return home and face the woman in your own house? Or the man in your own mirror? Or if by grace you do rightly rule your house, I call upon you to repent of fearing to exercise such rule in the house of God. I call all elders, including myself, to repent for shunning to declare unto the church all the counsel of God (Acts 20:27), for not rebuking false prophetesses (Rev. 2:20), for not teaching godly female domesticity (Titus 2:1, 4–5), for not exposing the shame of an uncovered female head in public worship (1 Cor. 11:6), for not insisting that our women keep silence in the churches (1 Cor. 14:34), and for instead suffering a woman to teach and to usurp authority over the man (1 Tim. 2:12). For all these sins we masters shall receive the greater condemnation (James 3:1), and thus should humble ourselves in deeper repentance.

With this call to office bearers comes a solemn rebuke to those who have a leading hand in the promulgation of the errors we have examined. If you are a pastor or an elder of the women teachers we have seen, you ought to be ashamed for allowing your own members to afflict God’s heritage (Ps 94:5). If you are a conference organizer who called on our new feminists, who hosted them, who paid their speaking fees, you must reckon with the fact that you, even if without intent, exposed Christ’s lambs to ruthless wolves. If you are a parachurch leader or a publishing agent who has overseen the export of these errors as far as books and blogs can reach, your name is tied to them, and sullied by them, unless somehow you save your reputation by an open, public disavowal. At the least you ought to fire every author, every host, and every editor who countenances the overturning of creation, and of God’s clear word on sexuality.

I call finally upon all readers of both sexes and of every station, to repent of the sin that undergirds all these, the sin that is the worst of all. We must repent of unbelief. That feminism is a form of unbelief should be obvious from all the Scripture we have seen throughout these articles. All the things against which the feminists are fighting, God has written. Their constant appeal is the same as that of the serpent, “Yea, hath God said?” (Gen. 3:1).

The church today needs to hear again the grave concern of Paul: I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3). I plead with all my readers to put away the gullibility of our first mother, to believe what God has clearly said, and then out of that belief, to manfully obey. With feminism at the gates, take care to heed God’s call to arms. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong (1 Cor. 16:13).

A Husband & Wife Praying: William Gouge

Source: http://www.digitalpuritan.net

A Prayer for Husbands to use:

It hath pleased thy divine wisdom (invisible and incomprehensible Lord God) to set a special stamp of thine Image on sundry persons over others, in particular on husbands over wives, that thereby they might be more able to do them good. Wherefore, I thy servant, through most unworthy of any dignity or dominion, by reason of that slavery whereinto by sin I have brought myself, yet being by thine appointment thine Image and glory to my wife, in all humility I beseech thee, to pardon all the sins whereof in any kind I stand guilty before thee, and in particular those whereby I have any way dishonored that Image of thine which though has set on me : and withal to give me grace whereby I may be enabled to carry my self worthy of thine Image, and that by a conscionable performance of those duties to my wife, which in thy Word are enjoined to me. The sum of them all being Love, let love towards my wife so abound in me, as my looks, speech, [demeanor], and actions, whether in commanding, reproving, instructing, or admonishing, whether in using authority or familiarity, whether we be alone together or in company, in civil affairs or religious matters, at all times, in all things may be seasoned therewith. Suffer not that odious vice of hatred of my wife to seize on my soul : neither let there be any want of love in me to her. 

And that I may be the more wisely use this sovereign grace of Love, give me wisdom to maintain that authority which thou has given me, and that especially by being an example in all goodness : and keep me from losing the same by any base [demeanor], harsh dealing, or too servile yielding in unlawful things. That I may the better manage the authority which thou has given me, let my judgment, I pray thee, be well informed in that communion and fellowship with is betwixt man and wife, lest I should too much [affront] her, and let my heart be so set on upon my own wife, as the best and fittest part for me : and thereupon delight in her entirely : lest by any disrespect [to] my wife or want of affection to her, my heart should be drawn away from her, or hers from me. As a testimony of my entire affection to my wife, bend my mind with all kindness to accept every good duty that she performeth to me ; nor carelessly slighting, nor scornfully rejection any. Let me rather be ready to answer courtesy with courtesy, and to grant her humble desires, without making much ado thereat, and to accept what she is willing to do; yea, to suffer her to to order house and household affairs, according to that wisdom and discretion, which it hath pleased thee to bestow upon her : not over-strictly pressing my authority on her whom thou has made so willing subject herself to me. 

In the good things which she doth, give me a heart to encourage her, lest otherwise she would be moved to repent thereof. For her further encouragement, give me such a spirit as may make me sweeten all the duties I perform to her with mildness, that I be no way bitter to her : but that by the titles wherewith I call her, by the instructions wherewith I seek to edify her, by the just and urgent commandments which at any time I lay upon her, by yielding to her tender conscience, by forbearing to force her in any thing unbeseeming her place, by shewing her the reason of that which I require of her; yea, by using my commanding power, nor too frequently, nor too peremptorily, I may manifest much mildness and love. And seeing that charge with thou, O Lord, has given me over my wife, requireth that, as there is just occasion, I should reprove her, make me wise in doing it, that I neither altogether neglect it, nor rashly use it : but be sure that the matter for which I reprove her be a truth, and known truth, and a weighty truth : nor slight report, nor mere surmise, nor light matter. O keep me from being too forward, or too fierce, or too open in reproof. Let my very countenance toward my wife shew forth amiableness : and my gesture be so familiar as may not imply any strangeness towards her : yea, and my actions be actions of kindness, more ready to give her favors as pledges of love, than blows, the effects of wrath. Give me a mind rather to bear with my wife’s infirmities, than, by testiness or peevishness, to manifest my own weakness. 

And in regard of the place wherein thou has set me over my wife, work in me a provident care for her, even in the edification of soul, and succor of her body, both in health and sickness, particularly in the time of her child-bearing, every way so far as may be answerable to place and estate, without show of niggardliness. In this respect open my heart and hands to afford my wife such allowance as she may have (besides things needful for herself) to give, as occasion is offered to others, whether children, or servants in the house, or poor saints out of the house : that I show not myself too [severe] to her. And because my life in uncertain, so as I may be taken out of this world before, make me wise to provide for her, according to my means, so long as she shall live and for this end to take heed that in my lifetime I consume not my estate, nor [take] away anything which ought to remain to her after my decease : but by expressed will and testament to make known what is meet for her to enjoy. And while I am with her, make me careful as to provide for her, so to protect against such as may seduce in her soul, hurt her in her body, or impair her [reputation], whether they be children, servants, or any other. 

It has pleased thee, O blessed Savior, to make thyself a pattern to husbands in loving their wives. O fix my eyes on this pattern, that as thou loveth thy Church, I may show my forwardness in loving my wife first : and that in truth, without dissimulation : freely, without [compulsion] : purely, without wantonness : entirely in the highest degree that lawfully may be : constantly, without variableness or revolt : yea also tenderly and cheerfully, as a head loveth the body, or as man loveth himself. If thou, O Jesus Christ, who art infinitely greater than thy Spouse, the Church, and canst expect to reap no advantage or benefit from her, vouchsafest to love her, and to perform all the effects of love for her good; should I think much to love my wife, who is in many respects as I myself am, and a great help, comfort, and benefit to me? Or should I think much to perform any duty of love to her? Instinct of Nature teacheth all men to love their bodies : but thou hast made my wife to me as my body; we two by thy divine institution, are one flesh. Shall not then this thine ordinance be of more force with me, to move me to love my wife? O Lord GOD, let it be of force, that so I may honor thine Image planted in me, through Jesus Christ the Head of that true Catholic Church, whereof I believe myself to be a true member.

AMEN.

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A Prayer for Wives To Use:

Thine (O Lord of Heaven and Earth) is power and wisdom : thou has a supreme and absolute sovereignty over all the children of Men : thy servants they are, and in the place where thou settest them, they ought contentedly and obediently to abide. In thy wisdom thou hast has appointed a wife to be under her husband, and hast in thy word given him dominion over her. Her subjection is the [clearer], by reason of her great sin in tempting her husband to disobey thee. Now (O God of mercy) I beseech thee to acquit me of the guilt of that sin in particular, and to pardon all other my sins, and to bring my will in subjection every way to thy holy and blessed will. For this end so work upon my desire, as it may be subject to my husband. Inform therefore my judgment of the equity of that order which thou hast set betwixt man and wife : that the common mutual power which is in many things betwixt them, and which both of them have over the same children and servants, may not make me infer equality betwixt them : but that I, knowing a husband to be his wife’s head, may so account my husband to be unto me, whatsoever he [was] before marriage : and answerably bear an inward, awful respect towards him, not suffering any occasion to make me despise him : but outwardly also reverence him : manifesting this my reverence both by my behavior in all [wifely] sobriety without wantonness, mildness without shrewishness, courtesy without scorn, and modesty without pride, and also by my reverend speech to him before his face, and of him behind his back. 

And if this reverence may not seem [sincere], make me willing to yield all due obedience to him without any [insolence] against him. And seeing it hath pleased thee to give me a husband of sufficient understanding, give me, I beseech thee, a heart willing to be ordered by him, and to expect his consent in the things I do, not presuming to do anything that belongeth to his authority simply without, or directly against his consent, whether it be in disposing the common goods of the family, yea, unto charitable uses (except in case of necessity), or in ordering children and servants, or entertaining strangers, or journeying abroad, or binding myself by any voluntary vow. And that I may give further evidence of my willing subjection to my husband, whom thou, O Lord, has set over me, work in me a readiness to dwell where he will have me dwell, to come when he calleth, and to do what he requireth. And in case he reprove me, work in me meekness and patience…to bear every reproof [well], and wisdom to redress what is justly reproved : and withal make me so content with my husband’s estate, as I may no way grieve his spirit by upbraiding him with my marriage, or by my [demeanor], or by [reluctance] to stoop to his estate, or to help to repair the [decay] thereof. 

And for the manner of subjection to my husband, let it be such as the Church’s subjection is to thee O Lord Christ, in all humility without pride : in all sincerity, without dissimulation : in all cheerfulness, without sullenness : and constantly without intermitting or relinquishing my good course. And for the extent of my subjection, Lord, let it be in all things. In which respect give me grace, I pray three, so to subject my own judgment, as in matters questionable I endeavor to bring my judgment and will to the bent of my husband’s : and in indifferent things to yield to him, and not be too peremptory in my own will. But yet in all my subjection to him, let my eye be so fixed on thee, O Lord, whose person he beareth, as I prefer thee, my heavenly Lord, before him : and there neither forbear to do what thou expressly hath commandeth, nor do what thou forbiddeth, though my husband would have the one forborne, or the other done. 

All the forenamed, and other like bound duties, give me grace, O Thou Fountain of All Grace, the rather to perform, [First], because my husband, by virtue of his place, is in thy [stead], so as by subjecting myself to him, I am made subject to thee : but by refusing to be subject to him, I refuse to be subject to thee. Secondly, because thou hast made my husband as a head to me, by virtue whereof my own body which is subject to my head, would be a witness against me, if I should not be subject to him. Thirdly, because in this place and office my husband has a kind of fellowship with thee O Christ : so as thereby I shall maintain even thine honor also. Fourthly, because thou hast made my Husband as a Savior to me, so as by refusing to be subject, I shall show myself ungrateful to him, and injurious to myself. Finally, because I am as well-bound to be subject to my husband, as thy Church is to thee, O Christ : and hereby I shall gain assurance to myself, and give evidence to others, I am a true member of the true Church. 

Therefore so bow my will to thy Word, O Lord, as these and other like reasons which are grounded on thy Word, may effectually persuade me to observe such duties to my husband as in thy Word are taught me, and that for the honor of thee, and of thy Son Jesus Christ my heavenly Head and Husband. 

AMEN.

Feminism In The Reformed Churches: 4. The Tactics, In Church

Aimee Byrd “speaking” in chapel at the PCA’s Covenant College

4. Feminism in the Reformed Churches: The Tactics, in Church

Feminism is on the march against the Reformed churches. We met its leaders, then considered their tactics online. Then last time we looked at two key books, and saw how they set themselves against honesty, truth, nature, and Scripture. Now we consider how the feminists have already breached the city gates, and are wreaking havoc within the walls of the church itself. Our survey will begin broadly, then descend to life in the local church, and in the Christian home.

Much of the broad influence of feminism upon the church has already been discussed. Carl Trueman, Todd Pruitt, and Aimee Byrd are known throughout the Reformed churches for their podcast Mortification of Spin, which together with their blogs is published by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Rachel Miller’s book Beyond Authority and Submission was published by Presbyterian & Reformed, a well-known purveyor of Reformed theology. Aimee Byrd’s new book was published by Zondervan, and has benefited from their broader reach. It is currently on Amazon the number one new release in Christian Discipleship. If we consider Byrd alone, she is now one of the best-selling authors in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and whether she intended it or not, has become to many broader evangelicals a public face of that denomination.

I wish that were an exaggeration. But Byrd is more influential than most realize. She has a following on Twitter nearly ten thousand strong. She has been featured on numerous podcasts (e.g. here, here, and here). For years now she has traveled far and wide for speaking engagements. She has taught to crowds at well-known conservative churches, e.g. Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia, Independent Presbyterian in Savannah, and Christ Church Presbyterian in Charleston. She has been featured at her own denomination’s retreat center, and was sent to speak to one of its churches in Puerto Rico. She often speaks to groups of women, but also to groups of men and women, and sometimes to groups of only men: as she explains here, she has been welcomed to advise a presbytery, to teach seminarians on preaching, and to speak at a pastors’ retreat. Besides her speaking engagements, further evidence that her teaching has been broadly received is found in writing. Byrd has written for Ordained Servant, her denomination’s journal for church officers (here), her book against the “Pence Rule” was given high praise in that journal (here), and in the denominational magazine New Horizons (here). In the latter are other positive reviews of books by Byrd (here and here), a piece about her podcasting (here), and one of Byrd’s own articles on making women better theologians (here). Her influence in writing is also seen in the Presbyterian Church in America’s magazine (here), in the Gospel Coalition (here), and in Ligonier Ministries (here and here). Byrd seems to be by far the most influential figure of the women we have seen, but others have made some waves themselves. Rachel Miller, also in the OPC, has joined Byrd on the conference circuit (here), and has defended women teaching in this manner (here).

Now many interject that all this information is entirely beside the point, for it is no sin for a woman to speak in public, or to write for church magazines. This objection is common, but facile, for two reasons. First, many of the above items testify not merely to a woman speaking or writing, but to a woman speaking or writing harmful error, with the tacit approval of Christ’s church. If any of the grave problems we previously exposed in Byrd and Miller’s thought are true, then all of their spoken and written content should be suspect, as should the faithfulness of those who solicit it and publish it.

Yet errors aside, second, I contend that it is in fact a sin against the word of God to allow any woman, orthodox as she may be, to teach men publicly in the church of Jesus Christ. This is not popular to say. But it is biblical and apostolic. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence (1 Tim. 2:11–12). Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church (1 Cor. 14:34–35). What Byrd, Miller, and other women do, traveling to speak in churches, in presbyteries, and in pulpits, Paul calls a shame. The passages cited cannot be explained away. They are speaking not of office, but of function, to teach, to speak. They are speaking not of a single circumscribed event, such as a Sunday worship service, but of a sphere, a venue, in the churches, in the church. The context of these passages does nothing at all to dull the edges of their prohibitions, but rather makes them cut more deeply: per 1 Timothy 2:8 women also ought not lead in public prayer, just as per 1 Corinthians 14:26 they also ought not prophesy or speak in tongues, at least in public.

Nor do these passages give any cover for conferences (e.g. here and here). If a woman speaks to a large mixed audience, if she stands in a lineup with male ministers, if like them she gives words of exhortation from the Bible, her behavior cannot withstand the scrutiny of Scripture. I suffer not a woman to teach. The question of women writing would take more time to answer fully, but honest readers should honestly ask, in what way does a woman publishing words of spiritual instruction in an authorized denominational magazine not fall under the apostolic ban? I suffer not a woman to teach. Those who aren’t convinced from exegesis ought still to be convinced from propriety and witness. If my neighbors see my wife taking out the trash, they’ll think I’m traveling or sick. If our people, or the world, see our women teaching Scripture to the church, they will ask, “Where are the men?”

There is yet more evidence of the forward march of feminism, which though not directly linked to the women we have mentioned above, is nonetheless troubling. Reformed seminaries, the training grounds for our ministers, are more and more producing female graduates, and employing female teachers, including Aimee Byrd (mentioned here; discussed more fully in Recovering, 144–145). This shift is not unintentional: just watch the marketing (e.g. here).

Another evidence of influence is more subtle, but no less serious, and that is in our churches’ speech. Reformed publishers have across the board adopted style guides requiring “gender-inclusive” language, and Reformed preachers have largely followed suit. The human race is no more called “mankind” or “man,” as if Adam were no longer head of his posterity. The unknown or generic “person” is discussed as “he or she,” or as the vague colloquial “they,” pronoun usages all but unknown in classic English, yet required by law in our transgender age. Addressing all the congregation as “brethren,” or as “brothers,” may be allowed for Paul, but not for modern ministers. “Men and women” is preferred when speaking of a group of “human beings,” so much so that our women, when they see in the Nicene Creed that Christ came down from heaven “for us men, and for our salvation,” feel excluded.

Other evidences of feminism in the Reformed churches are less subtle. The Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church allow the ordination of female deacons, though the winds of change seem to be blowing in a good direction. But it is an open secret that many congregations in the Presbyterian Church in America, against their own church order, are appointing deaconesses, and even shepherdesses (e.g. here and here). Yet in that denomination looms a larger and more sinister threat to godly sexuality. The Revoice conference, hosted in 2018 by a PCA church with an openly gay minister, exists to promote the flourishing of those in our churches who are “same-sex attracted,” that is, who are sodomites, but only in their hearts. This outright sexual confusion is but a late stage of the feminism we have diagnosed. If you doubt this connection, note that the first day of Revoice20 will feature evening worship with woman’s homily. The ungodly logic of gender-bending is inevitable: Aimee Byrd is but a few steps from Greg Johnson, and beyond. For if a woman can play the man in the pulpit, why can’t a man play the woman in the bedroom?

I wish I could stop there. But we need to bring these things home to the local church. Feminism is not just a problem on the conference circuit. It is preached from pulpits as if it were the word of God. Take a recent sermon by OPC minister Todd Bordow, Rachel Miller’s pastor, on 1 Peter 3:5–6. In it he labors to untie some difficulties in the text, and goes on at length to explain what a wife’s submission must not mean, giving some sound and necessary warnings about abuse. But near the beginning of the sermon, when it comes to explaining what submission actually is, he leaves very much to be desired. Again, he tells us what it’s not: “The word submit does not mean that a husband is the master and you’re the slave. Not the way you would submit to a military commander.” And later, on Sarah’s calling Abraham her lord, “Again, like the word submit, the word lord in the Old Testament does not mean ‘master,’ but ‘sir.’” Citing Genesis 24:18 and John 20:15, he argues that lord is “a term of respect often from women to men.” So what, according to Bordow, does submit actually mean? He says, “The idea of submission we see used in Ephesians, where it says, ‘Submit to one another,’ is to seek to serve, seek to put their needs before your needs, to defer to their needs. And so it’s not a blind obedience of a master, but a servant seeking to help.”

This specious explanation is yet one more example of the same Scripture-wresting Peter condemns in his next epistle (2 Peter 3:16). The first and most obvious response is, in these verses (1 Peter 3:5-6), Peter is not telling the wives just to submit. He is telling them to obey, “Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.” Bordow says almost nothing about Peter’s choice of verb. Second, Bordow’s own words condemn himself. If indeed lord does not mean “master” but “sir,” what then is gained? Most wives today don’t care to call their husband “sir” either. And if indeed in the Bible this “sir” is a term of respect used by all women toward all men, is that not evidence that godly women recognize the natural inferiority of the female sex? Third, the appeal to Ephesians is disingenuous. “Submit” is used in a generic way in the verse he quoted (5:21), but then immediately after in a specific way, that leaves no doubt that in Ephesians, a wife’s submission certainly includes careful, detailed obedience to her husband’s lawful authority: vv. 22–24, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. … Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

I’m afraid this is but one example of what is heard today in preaching on the theme of men and women. But I’m also afraid of the silence of our pulpits on this subject. I ask the Christian reader, when was the last time your pastor preached on the subjection of women? On the rule of men? On the requirement that church officers be male? How about on Proverbs 31? Or Numbers 30? Or on the passages we saw above, 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2? Ministers, I ask you, if Bordow’s slippery sermon bothers you, when will you preach next on 1 Peter 3? And when you do, will you like Peter encourage wives today like Sara to obey their husbands, and to call them lord? I hope my questions prove a point. No doubt one reason why our churches do not believe in patriarchy is simply because it is not preached. 

There are many causes for such silence. I want to point out three. First is that ministers cannot preach against feminism, because they cannot face its advance within their congregation. For example, how can a man discourse on the woman’s headcovering, arguing with Paul from propriety (1 Cor. 11:4–6, 10, 13–16), from universal custom (v. 16), from creation (vv. 7–9), and from Christ and God (v. 3), if not a single lady in his pews has ever worn a hat in church? Or how can he preach the duty of men to lift up holy hands in prayer (1 Tim. 2:8), and of women to be silent (v. 11), when right after the service comes the church’s “popcorn” prayer meeting, led in part by little girls? This is not to excuse ministers from being reformers, but simply to be realistic. In many churches, the cost of preaching repentance is higher than the preacher is able, or willing, to pay.

A second cause is a common problem, occasionally complained about, but then yielded to as if inevitable, that women are put on pastoral search committees. Think about what this means. A member who is not qualified to rule the church (1 Tim. 3:2), who is subject to her own husband (Eph. 5:22), who is more easily deceived (1 Tim. 2:14), and who is required to be busy at home (Prov. 31:27; Titus 2:5), is appointed to oversee a decision more weighty, more public, and more dangerous than most any made by any elder in his lifetime. A woman is expected to help find a candidate, to evaluate his character and gifts, to critique his sermons, to ask him searching questions, and to do all this in close, intense, and often difficult discussion with other men, but not her husband. If a church so readily makes the weaker vessel a gatekeeper for the gospel ministry, it should not wonder if it therefore receives a weaker minister, or none at all.

Α third cause for which our churches lack good teaching on these subjects, is the spiritual condition of the church’s families. The faithful few who preach a wholesome patriarchy will confess, it costs. And it costs, because it cuts, deep into the heart of family sinfulness. Husbands who do not take spiritual responsibility will also not take kindly to a minister who says they must. Wives without a meek and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4) will chafe at calls to feminine humility. Households addicted to dual incomes will see a woman’s full-time homemaking as an existential threat. Young couples persuaded that their youth is not the best time for procreation, that abundant fruitfulness is fearful, or that pets are substitutes for kids, will hate the man who tells them God is seeking godly seed (Mal. 2:15). Our people do not have faithful teaching on these matters, in large part because they do not want it. They will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears (2 Tim. 4:3).

I rest my case, at least for now. With all we have seen in these articles, of the influence of feminism online, in books, and in the church itself, together with the testimony of all the other resources I have cited, we do not need any more evidence to see that we are at war, and that the enemies are at the gates, and even in the walls. What we need now is courage for the fight. The final installment then will be a plea for the godly to take up arms, and manfully resist these errors that would destroy our churches.

A Prayer For A Husband And Wife By William Gouge

Presented here is a slight modernization of a prayer from Gouge’s “Domesticall Duties”, intended for use as a model by husbands and wives together. Enjoy! #OriginalPurityCulture — Cristián Rogers

Source: http://www.digitalpuritan.net/Digital%20Puritan%20Resources/Gouge%2C%20William/%5BWG%5D%20Patterns%20of%20Prayers%20for%20the%20Several%20Members%20of%20a%20Family.pdf

A Prayer for Husbands and Wives, in regard of their mutual and joint duties whereunto they are both bound.

O MOST mighty and merciful Lord God, who by thy wise, ordering Providence has made us two one flesh, and joined us together by the nearest and firmest bond of all, which is Marriage, so knit our hearts together, we humbly beseech thee, as matrimonial unity may ever be kept inviolable betwixt us : and a thought of desertion never enter into either of souls. Let thy fear so possess our hearts, as we keep our bodies the temples of the Holy Ghost, in all purity and chastity : and be so watchful over the powers of our soul, and parts of our bodies, over company, over our diet and apparel, and over everything we take in hand, as we be no way drawn to commit the filthy and capital sin of Adultery : but rather yielding due benevolence one to another, we may mutually delight one in another.

For this end, as our persons are knit together by the indissoluble bond of Marriage, so link our hearts together by the inviolable bond of mutual matrimonial love : even such love as may make us keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace : that there be no jealousies, offenses, and no contentions betwixt us. Make us also, we pray three, mutually provident one to another : wherein that we may do one another the more good, make us ever willing to dwell together : and when there is just cause of absence for a time, let us take all occasions to testifying our present mindfulness of one another, and longing desire one after another. And, good Father, so [grant] us the spirit of supplication, as we always without ceasing may call upon thee the fountain of all blessing, and in our prayers be mutually mindful one of one another : and take all occasion of praying jointly together.

And now being here both together before thee, we earnestly beseech thee to make us, whom thou hast made one flesh, to be one spirit, joint members of the mystical body of Christ : so to sanctify our fellowship, that we may truly rejoice one in another, and bless thee from our hearts one for another : let our bed ever remain a bed undefiled : bless us with children, and bless us in them : bless us with a competent estate, and with all needful gifts and graces : keep us from wishing any hurt one to another, and from imprecating any ill one to another. Give us we beseech thee, not only a mind to wish well one another, but also willingness and ability to do good one for another, and that in our souls, bodies, estate, and good name. In our souls, by edifying one another : that we who on Earth are so [closely] united, may not after this life be separated as far as Heaven is from Hell. For this end give us wisdom to prevent sin one in another, by removing all stumbling blocks, and occasion of sin : and also to redress sin by all the good courses we can think of. Give us ability, we pray thee, to help forward the growth of grace in one another, by manifest approbation thereof : yea, also by mutual conference, good example, and holy exercises of piety both public and private. Make us further careful over one another’s bodies, to nourish and cherish them health and in sickness : not grudging at the cost that is laid out, or at the pains that is taken thereabout.

Let also the Christian credit and good name of one another be mutually precious to us so as we speak of one another such things tend thereunto, and stop all evil reports and disprove, as much as with us lieth, all slanders : and if by either of us is just cause of an evil name be given, give us grace to meekly and wisely to make it known one to another, that afterwards the like may be avoided : yea that by our [manner of living] we may gain such a good name as may clean put out the fire of of the former ill name : and let us be so affected with the verities wherewith it pleases thee to endue either of us, and with the sweet savor which thence ariseth, as we may show thereby that we are affected with the good name of one another as our own. Keep us therefore from the vices which may make us discredit one another : as [spreading] abroad one another infirmities, opening our ear to every rash report, turning all things to the worst, envying and gainsaying good reports one another. And as in thy wisdom thou has made us a help each to other, even in regard of outward estate, give us wisdom, O Lord, to extend our mutual provident care there unto, that in our several places, we may as two hands of the same body, jointly endeavor to persevere and increase the same : that as by too much covetousness we seek not to scrape all to ourselves, so neither by prodigality we waste the estate, nor by idleness neglect the same.

And as thou hast made us joint parents of the same children, and joint governors of the same household, so (Lord), make us in our distinct places alike careful for the good education of our children and government of family, and of our servants therein : that being by thy ordinance under the same yoke, we may both draw the same way, and not thwart the other, nor put off all the care from one to another, and refuse to add our best help : much less hinder one another in the joint duties which belong to us both. Yea, Lord, we beseech thee to make us of one heart and mind, in affording hospitality according to our ability unto such Christians as come to our house, whether kindred or others (without grudging one against another therein) and in relieving the Poor also, lest we should by unmercifulness cause many curses to rest upon our house. These and all other bounded duties, either mutually one to another, or jointly others in our house, or out of it, enable us, O God of Power, conscionably to perform. Let not our sins cause thy wrath to fall upon us, but pardon them all, we most humbly beseech thee, whether they have been committed by either of us against the other, or against any other person, or any other way against thy sacred Majesty and holy Law, and that for Jesus Christ his sake, in and by whom, through the assistance of thy Holy Spirit, we desire that thy name may be glorified by us and others in our several places now and forever more.

AMEN.

Feminism In The Reformed Churches: 3. The Tactics, in Books

3. Feminism in the Reformed Churches: The Tactics, in Books

This series seeks to expose the threat of feminism against the Reformed churches, and to call on the godly to wage war against it. We first met the leaders of the movement, then we considered the ungodly tactics they employ online. Now we will consider the tactics they use in books, specifically in two books, which we now summon as star witnesses in our case against the feminists: Rachel Miller’s Beyond Authority and Submission and Aimee Byrd’s freshly published Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. These books have already been ably reviewed at length by careful scholars (Miller’s here and here; Byrd’s here and here). In this article I underscore a few things those men have already said, with commentary of my own.

These two books sin against four great basic principles.

1. Against Honesty

The first sin is against the principle of honesty. This is committed, first, by misrepresenting history. Rachel Miller’s constant naming of the “Greeks, Romans, and Victorians” (47–75, and many other places) as enemies of biblical teaching on men and women is not only tiresome, but deceitful, in two respects. One, Christians should be, and have been, happy to find broad agreement with the consensus of the best pagan thought on many topics. Paul quotes Greek theological poetry in Acts 17:28, and appeals to common sense even in such a small matter as hair length in 1 Corinthians 11:14–15. That Greeks and Romans said something is no proof that it is wrong. The Bible does correct natural men where they err, and it alone reveals supernatural and saving mysteries, but it does not demean God’s image by suggesting that anything it says apart from Scripture is false (as Miller does, by constantly coupling “extrabiblical” and “unbiblical,” 14, 49, etc.). Two, her history leaves out the entire sweep of Christian history before the Victorians arose, conveniently ignoring the fact that Christian doctrine on these matters during that whole time was solidly and consistently patriarchal (e.g. read Chrysostom, then Aquinas, then Luther and Calvin, then Gouge), that the best Christians in the Victorian era stood for the same patriarchy of their fathers  (e.g. Palmer and Warfield), and indeed that the Victorian era, insofar as it gave birth to modern feminism, actually departed from the consensus of classical and Christian antiquity. Is it not therefore the irony of ironies that Carl Trueman, who wrote the book against such biased history, nonetheless said of Miller’s book, “This is a refreshingly sane read”?

Sin against honesty is also committed in regard to contemporary history, in how these women portray their living opponents. Wedgeworth takes Miller to task for speaking evil of well-known ministers: for example, she blatantly misrepresents Mark Jones (168), Voddie Baucham (143), and Douglas Wilson (236). Andy Naselli gathers and refutes Byrd’s calumnies against complementarians, in which she attributes to them positively absurd ideas, such as that “all men lead all women” (22), that “the key aim for preaching, teaching, and discipleship” is manhood and womanhood, not eternal life with Christ (109), and that complementarianism is “irresponsible teaching” that promotes abuse (131). These claims are not only patently false, but uncharitable in the extreme. They are sinful slander, made all the more grievous because they are committed against ordained public servants of the Lord (1 Tim. 5:19; cf. 2 Kings 2:23–24). 

I only have to add that the theological high horse they ride against proponents of “Eternal Subordination of the Son” (Miller, 115–117; Byrd, 100–104) is lame. At best the argument is a red herring: stinky, but misleading. Let’s say we follow the feminists in decrying certain complementarians as outright Trinitarian heretics. Even if the charge is true, then what does it matter? Show me that Michael Servetus himself also believed in the subjection of women: I would have no more reason to doubt its truth, and no less reason to condemn his heresy.  And moreover, what of men who defend not the modern idea of complementarianism, as such, but rather classical and biblical patriarchy? Men who pore over Turretin and van Mastricht, but have barely glanced at Ware and Grudem? Are they therefore exempt from this theological taint?

Moreover, the authors’ suggestive smearing tactic could with at least equal justice be used against them. For when angry and contentious women (Prov. 21:19), teaching harmful error in regard to Christian living (Titus 2:5; 3:8–10), present themselves as bold defenders of orthodox Trinitarianism, why should we take their claim at face value? Moreover, against their charge of eternal subordination, we could retort, the “first-wave feminists” Miller admires (77–88) repudiated the divine authority of Scripture (The Woman’s Bible, Introduction by Elizabeth Cady Stanton), and called for women “to speak and teach...in all religious assemblies” (The Seneca Falls “Declaration of Sentiments,” Resolution 5; Miller, 78–79, appears to approve of the Declaration). We could furthermore ask why Miller feels the need to rescue some measure of reputation for the notorious eugenicist Margaret Sanger (85). Do modern Christian feminists not have any more reputable allies for their cause?

To the same point, it seems fair that if Byrd can blame men for citing those who teach eternal subordination, then we can blame Byrd for citing those who teach outright egalitarianism. Naselli summarizes:

To support her conjectures, Byrd interacts primarily with egalitarian works and repeatedly cites them—authors such as Richard Bauckham, Kenneth Bailey, Lynn Cohick, Kevin Giles, Carolyn Custis James, Philip Payne, Cynthia Westfall, and Ben Witherington. As Byrd selectively quotes egalitarians to support her arguments, she usually assumes the egalitarian reading is correct without interacting with robust complementarian arguments. This suggests that she shares many philosophical principles with egalitarianism.

We do not deny that a man is known by the company he keeps (Prov. 13:20), and a tree known by its fruits (Matt. 7:20; Titus 1:16). Nor do we say that we ought not try to draw out the hidden counsel in an author’s heart (Prov. 20:5). But this gives no excuse for attempting to hide grave error behind the bulwark of historic orthodoxy.

2. Against Truth

The second sin of these books is against truth. I do not mean merely to say that they tell many untruths, though they do. Rather, I mean that they drill holes in the foundation of all truth. They do this by sounding a subtle but insistent note of skepticism. This is evident in their framing of their discourse, not in terms of an argument, but of a conversation. In Byrd’s foreword to Miller’s book, note the repeated implication that no group or person can say anything on these matters with final, binding authority:

While not aligning with a movement, Rachel does want to contribute as a complementary, reciprocal voice in response to the many we have read and heard… If complementarianism is truly complementary, it should value this kind of engagement. Published resources for the church are meant to be thoughtfully engaged. Most authors do not presume to be the final voice on matters such as these; rather, they aim to offer their interpretation of pertinent scriptural principles in hopes to move forward in a biblical understanding of the sexes.

The same is subtly shown in that both books end their chapters with discussion questions, as if inviting the reader to agree or disagree. But all this talk of dialogue is a ruse. No true conversation is intended. Remember how when a godly Doctor of the church asked Byrd some reasonable questions, she dismissed him as a mere “colleague” barely worthy of a reply.

This skepticism is also evident in the constant use of questions that sow doubt on matters of great weight. Byrd, on pages 104–119, in four successive section headings asks four questions: (1) “What makes a ‘masculine male’ and a ‘feminine female’?”; (2) “What are feminine and masculine virtues?”; (3) “Is biblical manhood and womanhood our aim in discipleship?”; (4) “Distinct male and female discipleships?” If you were eager for answers to these very important questions, you’d be disappointed. It appears as far as she’s concerned, even searching for Scriptural solutions to them is dangerous, if not impossible. Indeed, when it comes to teaching what it actually means to be a man or woman, these women are emphatically undogmatic. Byrd admits that men and women are in some sense complementary, but explains, “I would not want to overgeneralize every man’s or woman’s disposition…. I wonder about being too rigid by assigning these dispositions as masculine and feminine” (125). This noncommittal rhetoric degrades to the point of saying nothing of substance at all, as shown in Miller’s quote from Gary Welton on p. 148: “The notion of what it means to be female, or what it means to be male, is extremely broad…. In fact, there should be no singular conception of what it means to be masculine or feminine.”

So, on these questions so basic to human existence, so necessary for virtue, so important for godliness, the best they appear to offer is an open question, “Who knows?” But lest you think they have altogether abandoned absolutes, they do remain entirely and unflinchingly dogmatic on one point, which they hammer home throughout their books: that the Greeks, Romans, Victorians, and Complementarians are all dead wrong. “Authority and submission” is something we must get beyond. “Biblical manhood and womanhood” is a dangerous ailment from which we must recover.

The inconsistency of this skepticism should be a reminder that appeals to uncertainty are usually deceitful and self-serving. When Pilate asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38), he was not sincerely seeking an answer, but trying to wash his conscience clean of condemning the Son of God. Skepticism trumpets doubt as the means to truth, but when examined, what it calls “doubt” is rather the certainty that what God says, or nature proves, cannot be true. This tactic is no different in principle from that of Satan in the garden: “Yea, hath God said...?” (Gen. 3:1; cf. this article). It is a demonic method, pulled right from the playbook of the father of lies (John 8:44). 

3. Against Nature

These women also sin against the concept of nature. This is a variation on number 1, since the Greeks and Romans were at their best merely seasoned nature guides, pointing out truths that should be obvious to all who live on earth. Such truths as, that women’s bodies and souls show that they were made for bearing and nursing children, and for the quiet refuge of the home. That men’s bodies and souls testify to their place as public aggressors, powerfully pursuing a vocation, not the softer life of domesticity. That families ordered according to these realities are consistently happier. That no one is happy when a career woman rules the roost, or dad changes all the diapers. I need no chapter and verse to prove these things. Others can back them up with endless statistics, but that is not necessary. Their undeniable truth is revealed by the reaction to them, right now, in the conscience of most readers: they either assent to them as facts of common sense, or are enraged that I had the gall to name the very things they’ve been laboring to erase from memory. But nature is indelible.  Every poor transgender person has found this to his great grief, when he wakes up from a sex change surgery. And every feminist who takes an honest look at nature will find it too, at the very latest on the day of judgment. Like all forms of unbelief, nature leaves feminism without excuse (Rom. 1:20).

I could go on longer. But the point in regard to these books, is that they say almost none of this. Miller does recognize, “Biologically, only women can bear children” (143), and, “It’s appropriate for us to raise our children as male or female based on their biological sex” (148). How brave. But in neither Miller nor Byrd is there much else by way of common sense sexuality. In fact, they repeat that we should argue from the Bible, and not from nature. But what of the Bible’s own appeals to nature in these matters? Why, we ask Paul, may women not preach (1 Tim. 2:12)? Because, as Satan knew, they are by nature more easily deceived (v. 14; cf. 1 Peter 3:7; 2 Tim. 3:6). The weaker vessel is not made for the rigors of the gospel ministry. They shouldn’t preach, because they can’t. Experience in liberal churches abundantly confirms this. 

Now granted on this point, Miller says “only qualified men should be ordained as leaders in the church” (16). But Byrd seems to have already gone a few steps further, as the best I could find her saying was, “I do hold to the ordination of qualified males” (121). What about females? A hint of what’s to come appears in her constant legitimizing of the alternative:  “I join hands with evangelical egalitarians...in the gospel” (121), “Whatever our stance is on ordination…” (203), “Churches that uphold male-only ordination...” (228, 231), “Some denominations and churches that hold to male-only ordination…” (232), “Whether you hold to male-only ordination or not...” (233) Indeed, the rot has run deeper into her heart than most want to admit. She openly advocates for women publicly reading Scripture and leading corporate prayers (232). She suggests she has found in the Bible a female “intermediary” of Paul, “carrying his gospel message” (146), female “leaders of house churches,” and even a female apostle (223).  So when in a discussion question Byrd clucks condescendingly, “Complementarian churches fear that this will lead to women’s ordination” (234–235), we are not ashamed to respond, With all the hints she has given, isn’t that fear reasonable?

If we bring our focus back to nature, this slide makes perfect sense. Once we deny the natural reasons for a duty, the steps are very short to complaining against that duty as unreasonable, then finally to denying it altogether. Even Scriptural arguments will not hold up long, when we doubt the natural realities to which the Bible clearly points. Sexuality is a natural matter, and to studiously avoid natural arguments in natural matters, is either deceitful or ignorant. Nature is the elephant in the room, and it’s not going anywhere.

4. Against Scripture

Bless God, though, that in his kindness to us sinful creatures, he did not leave us without supernatural help, even in natural matters. The end of the Bible is to make sinners wise unto salvation, and thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Tim. 3:14–17), and therefore it gives us an infallible divine word for all matters necessary to that end. One of those matters is what it means to be a man or woman, and as even a casual reading will show, the Bible teaches abundantly on that. This is why we began our series with long lists of Scripture texts. Patriarchy is not merely a matter of “thus saith nature,” but all the more, “thus saith the Lord.”

Therefore, especially since these books are written by professing Christians, intended for readers in the churches, to help them understand biblical teaching, it is a very great shame that they abuse the Bible. They do so, first, by twisting the meaning of texts that are crystal clear. Apparently Byrd is afraid of 1 Corinthians 14:34, Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. It “can be,” she says, “a sort of Spook Hill in the back roads of the Bible” (194). Yet notwithstanding the fright, she assures us that both 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Corinthians 14 “actually reveal the efforts to include the women’s voice and contribution, even in the worship service” (193). So somehow “Let your women keep silence” is a valiant effort on Paul’s part “to include the women’s voice.” Such ridiculous gymnastics of egalitarian exegesis would make one laugh, if it weren’t for the dire consequences that God threatens will follow them. Peter gave a fearful warning with regard to what feminists do to Paul’s epistles: ... in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).

They abuse the Bible, second, in that apart from a few such dishonest attempts at exegesis (cf. Byrd 188–189 on the Hebrew ezer; for Miller see below), these books have precious little positive dealing with actual texts of Scripture. The reviews cited above clearly catalog this fact. Wedgeworth here deserves quotation:

Given the ambitious nature of Miller’s thesis, and her goal to provide a “biblical” paradigm, one would expect Beyond Authority and Submission to engage in substantial exegetical argumentation. Surprisingly, this is not the case. The section on biblical theology of authority and human relationships is actually one of the shortest in the entire book. Miller makes foundational arguments in the briefest of ways. Her framing of the creation ordinance, the original relationship between man and woman, is limited to just a few sentences. When it comes to a passage which earlier Christians appealed to in support of a hierarchical view of humanity, Miller casually states, “Woman was made for man’s sake, but all men since Adam have been born of women (see 1 Cor. 11:9–12)” (40). She gives no indication that this might be an extremely controversial passage or that its interpretation might be worth explaining more. She does not return to it anywhere else in the book. First Corinthians 14:34 is only mentioned once, and it is explained as only having an occasional referent, a specific group of particularly disruptive women. No consideration is given to the meaning of “as the Law also says.” Ephesians 5:22 is cited three times, but in only one place is an explanation given. That explanation is entirely a negative one, telling us what the text does not mean. Miller never tells us what it does mean. Colossians 3:18 is never mentioned. We are never told why Paul thinks it is important that the man was created first, and there is no discussion of the meaning of kephalē in 1 Corinthians 11. Likewise missing is 1 Peter 3:1. First Peter 3:6 is mentioned once, but again its meaning is not explained. Instead, Miller assures us that there was at least one time where “God told Abraham to follow Sarah’s lead” (145). First Peter 3:7 is also mentioned only once, and there, again, we are only told what the text does not mean.

Then note his keen analysis:

The reason that none of these individual passages are thought to be terribly significant is that Miller believes her interpretative paradigm of original equality, voluntary submission, and authority for the sake of service is the main “biblical” teaching. True biblical leadership is a matter of love and service, and any specific text can be read through that lens.

Matters are no better in Byrd, as Naselli explains at length. Rather than quoting him, I’ll conclude by quoting three passages, all central to the question of biblical manhood and womanhood, all of which Byrd does not treat, even once. 

1 Peter 3:1–7

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

1 Corinthians 11:7–9

For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

1 Timothy 2:8–15

I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

These texts will not be silenced by omission. God’s word speaks more loudly against these women than man’s words ever could.

There is much more we could say about these books, but we will stop for now. We plan to close our case against the feminists with one more article, exposing their harmful influence in the church of Jesus Christ, before sounding one last applicatory alarm.

Pastor Pruitt, Are Critics Of The New Feminism Allowed To Talk?

Pastor Pruitt has made it a habit of publicly and privately attacking my character for years due to my opposition to Rachel Green Miller and Aimee Byrd, so I have had the misfortune of learning the methods he uses to distract from actual issues, stake out his place as the conservative apologist for the new feminists, and make sure that critics are silenced. He’s called me vile and nasty more times than I can count, accused me of all sort of unseemly things, but never provides any evidence to back up his claim or allow me the privilege of defending my name

It’s an effective tactic.

Pastors of large, influential congregations who are at the same time sheltered and paid by parachurch organizations, can play a useful role for those in power. They can quickly enforce the unspoken rules about what is going to be allowed in our online discourse: Jules Diner, the most prolific post-complementarian RPCNA twitter personality who also happens to be a habitual liar and gossip? Fine. Never addressed. An article comes out from an OPC minister against feminism? Quick write a blog that makes all critics of this new post-complementarianism into ghouls.

His role in the whole conflict is very important. He never has to contribute anything of substance. He just has to be an attack dog for anyone to his right on this issue, and if he takes other stands that make conservatives happy that just reinforces that his attacks on those of us who are actually opposing feminism must be fair.

I’ll briefly discuss a couple of things from his latest post for Reformation 21.

Todd mockingly notes what is sort-of the case: “I am a squishy, moderate complementarian who is in league with radical feminists to destroy the church.” Actually, Pruitt plays a much more important role. He is the “conservative edge”, he is the line on the right edge of what is to be allowed, and anyone who actually corrects the feminists or sees the new NAPARC advocates of feminism as actual threats is called “extreme” or “hyper”. Our beliefs and lives could be very similar to Pruitt, but because we are willing to say that it is actually, objectively stupid for a married man to give his “intimate spiritual” lady friend a ride in his car late at night to her hotel, we’re “bad actors.”

He also says we have a “penchant for heavy handed patriarchy” —this is just simply a lie. I’m actually pretty moderate compared to all our Reformed forefathers. But, hey, what’s new? ACE writers have often lied about people and wronged the little guy to protect the powerful men and women who run the Reformed mafia. And by the way, Pastor Pruitt, we all know that you realize that Aimee has specifically taught that anything a man does, which would include pink cardigans, is definitionally masculine and he should not be told to pursue more masculine behavior. But wait, if you didn’t just make it into a joke you’d have to engage the actual issue instead of just punching down to your right.

His list contains many fine ideas, but more and more insinuations of bad guys who do things like “berating and mocking women within your own denomination.” That’s garbage. And if I call a garbage accusation “garbage” it isn’t “berating” though it could be called “mocking.” But there is a big difference in tearing down a person and trying to oppose their ideas. I have not attacked Mrs. Byrd as a person, and have often in fact prayed for her, but I do oppose her ideas and her tactics. And for all the years of her cronies spying on me, they have yet to find evidence of that which they accuse me. Because of that, she and many others are trying to make sure I shut up.

I wish pastors and people who could actually make a difference would start standing up more. But obviously, from recent experience, there is no way to actually do that. Ask gentle questions like Master? Nope, not acceptable. Write a gentle critique like Jones? Nope, he’s been a friend of monsters. Even Deyoung doesn’t have enough political clout to directly correct Byrd’s book.

The bottom line: critics of the new feminism are not allowed online.

Feminism In The Reformed Churches: A Series

Feminism In The Reformed Churches: Index

1. The Leaders

2. The Tactics, Online

3. The Tactics, In Books

4. The Tactics, In Church

5. A Call To Arms

A compendium of past critiques of Mrs. Byrd’s writings:

http://www.thedailygenevan.com/blog/2019/8/15/Aimee_Byrd_Critiques

Feminism In The Reformed Churches: 2. The Tactics, Online

The following article was originally published on Purely Presbyterian, but was taken down on May 12, 2020. Their own explanation is here. At least one of the members of their editorial team was persuaded that our particular battle with feminism was not theirs to fight, that they could not in good conscience affirm every claim we had made, and that therefore the blog would no longer run the articles. Other editors strongly objected but were not able to change the decision: we thank them for standing firm. We are glad that Shane Anderson at the Daily Genevan was willing to repost them. They are reproduced here as originally published, and Lord willing, the final three installments will appear here over the next days.

Feminism in the Reformed Churches:
2. The Tactics, Online

In the last article we met three women leading the charge of feminism in the Reformed churches, and three men who publicly aid them in the fight. That we might better see the fruit these women and their supporters are bearing, it’s worth taking a closer look at their battle tactics, here considered as they appear online: on blogs, social media, and podcasts.

In a word, the prominent tactic in their online discourse is victimhood. This is the all-too-familiar method, borrowed from Marxism and applied by every progressive, of painting all disagreement as the oppression of the weak by the powerful, in order to garner sympathy for the opinion of the oppressed. 

The Reformed women promoting feminism on the internet are experts at playing the complaining victim. Take Aimee Byrd: she complains that men do not hear women’s voices (here). Then when men do hear her, she complains when they critique her (here), and apparently, even when they ask her reasonable questions (here). The only way a man can escape such complaints, it seems, is to join the complainers in their complaining (e.g. here). If he does not, they yet again complain (again, as Byrd does here). Very many men hear these complaints, perceive that a woman is in trouble, and as men tend to do, rush to her side, or rush against those who are bringing trouble upon her, taking her word for it that she is an innocent victim, and they are evil oppressors.

If these complaints are false, they are simply lies. But even if they are true, this tactic is still deceitful. The method of loudly trumpeting the defense of victimhood rests on a false assumption, that the weak are always in the right. God instead says, “Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor” (Lev. 19:15). God does not say, nor do I, that there is no real oppression of the poor, no real tyranny of male leaders, no real abuse of women. These sins abound in our culture, and sadly, in our churches. And at least in my church, we exercise a biblical severity against them. But being a victim of these sins does not mean that the victim thereby possesses a clearer understanding of biblical truth, a greater right to be heard in church courts, or an open invitation to lecture at conferences or teach Sunday School. Victimhood is worthy of pity, not a platform.

This is especially so in cases where people are victims, at least in part, of their own foolish choices. Again, this is cause for pity—like Christ, we weep over sinners (Luke 19:41). Yet it is not cause for approval of the sins that made them victims in the first place. Indeed, witnessing the shame of drunkenness should make us all the more hate the abuse of alcohol, and rebuke the drunk himself (Lev. 19:17). So insofar as feminists have oppressed themselves, or given others occasion to oppress them, by refusing to keep silence in the churches (1 Cor. 14:34), or to marry, bear children, guide the house (1 Tim. 5:14), by disputing their subjection to their husbands (Gen. 3:16), by going out in the attire of an harlot (Prov. 7:10; see Byrd’s claim of “perfectly acceptable bikinis”), we do pity them. But we do that best by calling them to repentance, not by handing them a microphone.

More briefly, but no less seriously, we address two other tactics. The first is spying. This is not merely the collecting and presenting of public evidence, as we have done. Spying is collecting information with intent to harm, and often by deceit. For a testimony that the feminists have, for years, been deceitfully spying on the godly, see this explanation. Then see the letter linked to it at the end, in which Aimee Byrd’s own session admits that she asked her elder to be a “ninja,” spying for her on a private Facebook group. His refusal to do so was apparently one reason for her to call for his resignation. The same letter features screenshots and quotations taken without permission from that private group, presented out of context to paint Byrd as a victim. Like the Pharisees and Herodians, they have been seeking to catch good men in their words (Mark 12:13). But their efforts have so far been fruitless, and quite pitiful: the crowning item of evidence the letter marshals against the evil patriarchs is their “laugh emojis.”

Finally comes slander. As already shown, claiming to be oppressed implies alleging that others are oppressors. But if these allegations are false, they are sins against the ninth commandment. These women are practiced at such slander. Rachel Miller came to public notice by accusing well respected teachers, such as John Piper, of Trinitarian heresy and denial of the gospel (the links can be found on her blog). None of these charges have ever been substantiated. Some have been answered decisively (e.g. here). Yet Miller to my knowledge has made no retraction, and shown no remorse for harming good men’s reputations. Valerie Hobbs has insinuated numerous times that Reformed pastors demean and abuse women (see her academic work cited in our previous article, and her various pieces in the Aquila Report). And if we may descend to Twitter, it too will testify, filled as it is with accusations from these women and their followers that their critics are vile, dirty jerks. Then just last week in this episode of Mortification of Spin, Todd Pruitt mocked critics of Byrd as “hardcore patriarchalists” guilty of “shoving the women in the small corner.” The written podcast introduction says such men accuse Byrd of the “crime” of “refusing to be barefoot and confined to a yellow wallpapered kitchen making sandwiches for men.” Do they not realize that unbelieving feminists mock Christian family life in these exact same terms? Nor can they stand that these same awful men make light of these slanders by rejoicing publicly in sandwiches lovingly made in the kitchen by their happy pregnant wives. Such unflappable delight in their home life is, in Byrd’s judgment, “shameful.” Carl Trueman weighs in with a more academic but no less slanderous critique, accusing Complementarians of Trinitarian heresy (a serious charge we will deal with elsewhere) and insinuating that they are driven by a Marxist and Nietzschean obsession with power. And all this is crowned by incredulous laughs shared among the co-hosts against those who would even suggest that Aimee Byrd is a danger to godly churches.

I could say more, but these samples will suffice to show the behavior of these feminists online. We will have occasion next to show more from their books, and then from their work within the church itself.

Feminism In The Reformed Churches: 1. The Leaders

The following article was originally published on Purely Presbyterian, but was taken down on May 12, 2020. Their own explanation is here. At least one of the members of their editorial team was persuaded that our particular battle with feminism was not theirs to fight, that they could not in good conscience affirm every claim we had made, and that therefore the blog would no longer run the articles. Other editors strongly objected but were not able to change the decision: we thank them for standing firm. We are glad that Shane Anderson at the Daily Genevan was willing to repost them. They are reproduced here as originally published, and Lord willing, the final three installments will appear here over the next days.

Feminism in the Reformed Churches:
1. The Leaders

The Reformed churches have found themselves at war. The battle lines are drawn, and the conflict is underway. This article is the beginning of a series, in which I make a plea to godly readers, to recognize the enemy, and to take up arms against it.

The enemy is feminism. By feminism I mean the ideology that disputes the following facts:

1. God made men stronger, and appointed them to public work, and to rule in family, church, and state. (1 Sam. 4:9; 1 Cor. 16:13; Gen. 3:19; Prov. 31:23; 1 Tim. 3:1; 1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 5:23; 1 Tim. 3:4; 1 Tim. 2:8, 12; 3:2; Titus 1:6; Ex. 18:21; Prov. 31:23; Num. 1:2–3)

2. God made women weaker, and appointed them to domestic work, and to submit to the rule of men. (1 Peter 3:7; 1 Tim. 2:14; Prov. 31:27; 1 Tim. 2:15; 5:14; Titus 2:5; 1 Cor. 11:7–9; Eph. 5:22; 1 Cor. 14:35; Ps. 68:12; Isa. 3:12)

A good one-word summary of these facts of nature, and of Scripture, is patriarchy, “father-rule.” Feminism is its opposite. The desire that unites all feminists is, as they say, to “smash the patriarchy.”

The oft-repeated objections to the above facts are too many to be dealt with here. Our concern here is the definition: feminism is the ideology that disputes these facts. And by that definition, feminism has invaded our Reformed churches.

Here I begin to prove this claim, by introducing the generals of today’s feminist army. They are women, and three of them in particular.

First in prominence is Aimee Byrd. The easiest way to prove her feminism is simply to read her blog. Here she complains that women don’t write more theology and aren’t encouraged in higher theological learning, and wonders why “all the women publishing good academic works are egalitarian.”  Here, here, here, and here, she promotes the writings of egalitarians. Note, egalitarian is a polite term for feminist. Here she criticizes the Nashville Statement on human sexuality. Here she warns of the perils that attend teaching abstinence from premarital sex.  Here she praises a book called “Vindicating the Vixens” for its focus on “gynocentric texts” and its teaching that “the women’s voice in Scripture corrects any promotion of androcentrism.” Here she praises an author for denying that Scripture is “a hopelessly patriarchal construction” and for explaining the “gynocentric interruption of the dominant androcentricity of Scripture.” These articles and others repeat claims basic to feminist exegesis: that women were the first heralds of the resurrection, that Junia was a female apostle, that Priscilla is a model for female theologians, that women’s voices in Scripture and in theology are historically marginalized and misunderstood, etc. 

She has also shown her feminism in her books, especially her recent Why Can’t We Be Friends?, and the soon to be released Recovering From Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (here, video study here). In the first she comes out hard against the “Pence Rule” (held by our Vice President, and also by Billy Graham). She argues that adult women and men, though not married to each other, should not make rules against time alone, but rather cultivate intimate personal friendships. See the weighty critiques of this book collected here. The second book tells on itself before it even opens: its cover makes a clear allusion to the feminist short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and its title boldly challenges the book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (here), which is one of most well-known contemporary works written to fight feminism and promote masculine leadership according to the word of God. For a thorough survey and critique of the book, see Andy Naselli’s pre-publication review, here.

Byrd has spoken at many church-sponsored events and conferences (just do a Google search), and has exercised great influence as a co-host on the podcast Mortification of Spin, which like her blog is published under the auspices of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. There will be more to say about her work in future articles.

Second is Rachel Miller. She is known mostly for her recent book, Beyond Authority and Submission. As with Byrd’s new book, the title says it all, but for more, read this review. Byrd wrote the foreword to the book, calling Miller a “discerning and helpful voice on men and women in the church” (here). Miller was also for a time the News Editor of the Aquila Report.

The third woman is Valerie Hobbs. She was previously a fellow at the Greystone Theological Institute, working alongside noted Reformed ministers and professors. A senior lecturer in applied linguistics, one of her pet projects has been researching the treatment of women in conservative Reformed churches: see her journal articles here, here, here, and here. The abstracts reveal her animus against the teaching of Reformed churches about women. Her popular level articles reflect the same, e.g. this one in which she positively cites well-known feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Aimee Byrd, and suggests that 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Quit you like men,” might be faithfully rendered, “Act like women.” 

Moreover, these three women are not working independently. Miller in the acknowledgements of her book says, “Aimee Byrd and Valerie Hobbs are my ‘kindred spirits.’” Hobbs defended Miller’s book on Byrd’s blog (here), as did Byrd herself (here). Both Hobbs and Miller have been featured on Mortification of Spin, which Byrd co-hosts. The three are fighting together for the same goal, which appears to be the eradication of patriarchy from the church.

These women, influential as they have become in their own right, do have help in their fight for feminism from various men. A few have distinguished themselves, so as to become as if lieutenants to these lady generals. Among them three ministers deserve mention. 

First is Carl Trueman. Perhaps of all people he is most at fault for the encroachment of feminism into the Reformed churches. He promotes Aimee Byrd by being her co-host on Mortification of Spin. He gave a glowing endorsement to Miller’s Beyond Authority and Submission (see it here). And because he is a gospel minister (OPC), with a name as an historian and cultural critic, his word carries great weight. His reputation has probably done more than anything else to lift these women into the limelight.

Second is Todd Pruitt. He is also a minister (PCA), and a host on Mortification of Spin. He is a useful moderate in the feminist cause, for he expresses wise concerns about confusion over sexuality in the churches (here), but then when it comes to the confusion promoted by the feminists above, he argues they are not as bad as people think (here), and complains that the discussion needs more “sober and well-qualified voices” (here).

Third is Todd Bordow. He is Rachel Miller’s pastor (OPC), and his church hosted a conference (here) featuring her and Aimee Byrd. He’s made his own contributions to the feminist cause, one of which was arguing in public (here and here), in opposition to his church’s Confession of Faith (24.6, here), that “emotional abuse” should be added to adultery and desertion as a third cause for lawful divorce (briefly answered here). We will address more of Bordow’s feminist teaching later. 

These three men and the three women they support are, as far as I can see, the most prominent public leaders in the recent assault of feminism upon our Reformed churches. I publicly call out their names here, because their public teaching against the Bible, or their public support for such teaching, requires it. Paul did the same with Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 4:14), Demas (2 Tim. 4:10), and even the apostle Peter (Gal. 2:11). Christ did it with the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:6, 15) and “that woman Jezebel” (Rev. 2:20). God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), and every Christian has a duty, when it comes to public teachers, to search the scriptures (Acts 17:11; Isa. 8:20), try the spirits (1 John 4:1), and know men by their fruits (Matt. 7:20).

In the next three articles I will give further proof that these feminist leaders and their followers are a threat to our churches, by discussing their tactics online, in books, and in the church itself. 

Has God Really Said? Resisting the #ReformedDowngrade

In the long run, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ always wins. It rises up by the Spirit into life, trampling serpents, breaking down idols, filling the earth with generations of faithfulness, and praising the Triune God from shore to shore. But anyone who has lived the Christian life and is familiar with biblical and church history knows that this upward trajectory of victory is marred by many sad declines, beguilings of the devil, and little idols that gain temporary residence in heart, home, church, society. These downgrades from our upward calling in Christ are caused by a lack of faith, for without it, no one can please the Lord.

The occasion of one such downgrade in the church, where unbelief slid the church into temporary ruin, started when a brilliant, learned, appealing, and highly-effective leader ruined everything by asking a question, “starting a conversation” with the wife of the priest-king of a holy and tranquil realm. Having studied the cultural baggage she had inherited (rife with authoritative rules that forced the queen into involuntary submission and kept her in ignorance) he stirred up this queen’s desire for more from this life than mere fruitful multiplication by asking “Has God really said?”

And by the end of that conversation, the world was plunged into our present state of sin and misery.

I am going to say something you may not yet believe: we are currently heading into a great crisis in the conservative Reformed churches, we have begun a precipitous slide into sin and misery. It has not reached its conclusion, like it already has in the PCUSA, the United Methodists, and the old Reformed Church in America. It has not progressed into complete institutional compromise with liberalism like in the CRC. But all the beginnings of our repeating the feminist-liberal decline are there: women theologians advocating for “more women’s voices”, seminiaries enrolling women in MDiv programs, churches hiring more and more not-officially-ordained-yet women “ministers” of this and that, denominations calling for hiring parity between men and women, creative theologians tinkering with the plain teachings of scripture through the use of sophisticated argumentation, more and more women writers in the place of ordained men in our denominational magazines, etc., etc., etc. 

I don’t write this post to convince you that the decline is happening. (Though it is. Just ask those who lived through the fall of the CRCNA how this works.) But I am writing to alert you to a type of thinking that is itself a downgrade and apart from repentance will always lead to a further downgrade: a lack of faith in God’s Word. 

There is a footing we can have, a stance, a gait as we approach Scripture that will always stumble and fall: unbelief. It comes to the Bible on the defense. It comes to the Bible “concerned,” with personal problems and feelings it wants addressed adequately and comfortably. It avoids parts of the Bible that would correct the person. Or it comes to passages it describes as difficult, complex, and easy to misunderstand not first asking with humility to learn and be changed—it marches up to them with sandpaper in hand, ready to smooth down all the pointy parts. “Let’s have a conversation… let’s discuss the complex issues… let’s explore the rich tapestry of meaning and context and all the other rich things we can explore… you know, ‘Has God really said?’”

And at the end of the “discussions”... the “conversations”... the “explorations”... the “rich tapestries of meaning”.... we are left with something quite different than the authoritative, sufficient Word of God where yes is yes, and no is no. Once you begin to admit that this approach is itself a sinful capitulation to self-worship, you are well on your way to understanding why feminist exegesis is itself, apart from its ungodly conclusions and practices, its own sort of ungodly downgrade. 

Let women clothe themselves with modesty such as is fitting for godly women… “Has God really said? Who determines what is modest or fitting to godly womanhood? Is there even such a thing as godly womanhood?”

Women may not teach or have authority over men but are to learn in silence with subjection…. “Has God really said? How will men represent women’s unique perspective? How will the rights of women be preserved without women having power in church structures?” 

The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is of the church…. “Has God really said? Can’t we move beyond authority and submission? Why is there so much fixation on headship?”

Man was not made for woman, but woman for man… “Has God really said? I’m an ezer warrior, a coequal life partner!” 

Imitate Sarah who obeyed her husband and called him Lord… “Has God really said? I shouldn’t be forced to obey! Oppression!!”

The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God… “REEEEEEE! HAS GOD REALLY SAID! PATRIARCHY!”

This is actually what is currently happening in the Reformed world, and it is the downgrade that begins all downgrades: “Has God really said?”

One final word: don’t just reject this false, rebellious way when you see it in others—reject it in yourself. Do you desire to approach God’s Word with faith rather than irreverent questioning but you find yourself poked and prodded by what it says  in painful ways with sensitive topics? The way forward is to recognize that the problem is always in us, not God. You and I oversleep an alarm, lose our keys, fumble at relationships, have greatly erred and, yes, in thought, word, and deed sinned in many ways. Our comfort or discomfort with God’s commands says a lot about us but nothing about the goodness of those commands. He is all wise in what He has said and how He has said it. In our rebellion, ignorance, corruption we need the mighty working of his blessed Spirit to bring us to humility before him. So, we must come to Him as a beggar in prayer through Jesus Christ who receives repentant sinners: He has given you these difficult places in His Word for your salvation. As Spurgeon once said, these hard places are for setting up an altar to worship your God! Bow under His commands, commit your way to believe and obey his Word no matter the consequences. Trust Him for the forgiveness and help you will need, and you will see that His every word proves true and in keeping His commands our foot will never slip.