| The Biblical Examiner An Examination of Biblical Precepts Involved in Issues at Hand |
Contents
At the end of November, we went to the National Reformation Association conference where Gary DeMar was one of the featured speakers. Bro DeMar made a statement that brought this message to mind.
He quoted from Chapter 4 (YOU CANNOT LEGISLATE MORALITY") of his book, "You've Heard It Said," which is now out of print. He opens the chapter with a quote from Ted Koppel:
What Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions. They are commandments. Are, not were. The sheer brilliance of the Ten Commandments is that they codify in a handful of words acceptable human behavior, not just for then or now, but for all time. Language evolves. Power shifts from one nation to another. Messages are transmitted with the speed of light. Man erases one frontier after another. And yet we and our behavior and the commandments governing that behavior remain the same.
Mr. DeMar goes on to quote Cecil B. de Mille, the director of The Ten Commandments (1956, starring Charleston Heston and Yul Brenner). In a very unusual way, de Mille began the movie by coming out on stage and delivering a short but powerful statement on the nature of freedom under the law of God. He said:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, young and old. This may seem an unusual procedure, speaking to you before the picture begins, but we have an unusual subject: the birth of freedom. The story of Moses. The theme of this picture is whether men ought to be ruled by God's laws or whether they are to be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Rameses. Are men the property of the State or are they free souls under God? This same battle continues throughout the world today.
The question we want to address is,
The battle rages today, only the State has gained tremendous power since de Mille offered his question in 1956. The battle is much more heated today than it was then, and it appears that the State is wining by great leaps and bounds because Christians have fled from the battle field.
As I have been trying to do a little study in the Book of Ezekiel, some things have come to my attention:
First, Judah fell so deeply into sin that she could not recognize Gods hand in her calamities. She could not see that those terrible things were sent by God to call her to repentance. So rather than listening to the prophets call to repent and yield to the yoke of Babylonian servitude, she broke her agreement with the Chaldeans, and looked to pagan Egypt for her protection.
Second, the result of her rebellion was Nebuchadnezzars destruction of Jerusalem and of Judah. With this destruction, Israels Old Testament theocracy lost its political existence, and she was driven from her own land to bear the punishment of her obstinate rebellion against the Lord her God.
Third, Gods movement against His people was not His rejection of the covenant. Rather, it was merely a suspension of the covenant, and He will still carry out His plan for mankinds redemption through the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Fourth, the covenant people never again recovered their independence, other than for a short time under the Maccabees. (The lawless group presently in Israel cannot be considered Gods covenant people, nor do they have the Old Testament claim to that land. Judaism today is no more than mans apostate religion.)
Fifth, though the nation never regained its independence and remained dispersed among the heathen, the covenant promise was still good, and was renewed in Christ, which was Gods intent from the beginning.
Though Ezekiel spoke to Gods people who were in captivity, the message reaches all the way forward to Christ and the Gospel Church. Through Ezekiel, God promises to deliver his church at his appointed time and also destroy their enemies, who either afflicted them, or rejoiced in their miseries.
Ezekiel was a contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel, with Jeremiah 54 years previous and continuing 6 or 7 years after Ezekiel. Daniels godliness is referred to in Ezekiel, 14:14, 16, 28:3. Ezekiel does not speak against Babylon. His efforts were not to get the government to reform, but to get the captive people to reform and return to the law of the Lord, a very unwelcome message. Ezekiels message moved the people to violence against him.
This is a very real message for our day reformation of the government is not the answer. Reformation of Gods people is the only answer.
We know pastors who were extremely excited that the Republicans had been elected, and Bush would now be able to obtain his goals. But we have seen that a Republican Congress is not the answer, other than bringing in more socialism and more loss of freedom. (Bush is pushing to legalize all of the hundreds of thousands of illegal Mexican aliens now in the U.S, without giving them citizenship. The Washington Times, Nov. 23, 02. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021123-42336600.htm)
Are men the property of the State or are they free souls under God?
Notice that rather than enforce current immigration laws, such as stopping illegal emigrants, Bush & Co., is pushing for more protection for big business and tighter and tighter controls on American citizens. In fact, Bush & Co. is prosecuting those Americans who are trying to stop illegal immigrants. See The Federal Government Has Met The Enemy And They Are The Tombstone Militia http://www.vdare.com/francis/border_war.htm
Congress recently passed a major Bush agenda bill which will finance gathering total information about everyoneit was called the Homeland Security bill. The continued supposed threat of terrorism has given the ungodly an abundance of ammunition to press for and justify removing what little freedoms we have left in this nation.
From what I understand, the president initially pressed for a 35 page Homeland Security bill, but it grew to almost 900 pages. There were many things added to the bill after the House passed it. The House warned the Senate that if the Senate took anything out, it would have to come back to the House, and the House would not get it done before the end of this session of congress.
I have heard people, even pastors, praise G.W. Bush as bringing in the millennium, but we see here that he has passed probably the most massive government intrusion bill in history. He is clearly a wolf in sheeps clothing, and the blinded and ignorant Christian right is supporting him all the way to their own destruction. (Though Bush is attacking the rights of American citizens, World magazine has yet to criticize him.)
The bill grew to encompass more things than we care to think about. Not only did it urge and finance the development of high tech equipment to collect total information on absolutely every person in the US, it contained a vaccine injury indemnity clause which shields drug companies from legal action for their vaccines that might cause illnesses (complete articles below are available from TBE upon request):
Tetrahedron, LLC
Health Science Communications for People Around the World
P. O. Box 2033 " Sandpoint, ID 83864
208-265-2575 " (FAX) 208-265-2775
http://www.tetrahedron.org; http://www.healingcelebrations.com
E-mail: pr@tetrahedron.org
Essay On Vaccine Injury, Homeland Security, and Culpability
by Leonard G. Horowitz, D.M.D., M.A., M.P.H.
If you are still processing shock in the wake of the virtually unanimous passage of the Bush administrations Homeland Security Bill with its license to kill from vaccine injuries without liabilities, you have likely yourself to blame most.
I dont relish blaming victims, for we have all been victimized by this legislation. But for more than six years, since the publication of Emerging Viruses: AIDS & EbolaNature, Accident or Intentional? (Tetrahedron Press, 1996) my colleagues and I tried to alert you to the increasing attacks on health freedoms and human rights directed by special interest groups representing the multi-national militarymedical/pharmaceuticalpetrochemical cartel. We provided proof of their power over most elected officials, and the mainstream media, but you thought we were delusional. ...
Whose side are you on, Mr. President?
By HELEN THOMAS (Houston Chronicle, Jan. 2, 2003, 8:02PM)
THE Bush administration has it in for trial lawyers and is planning a big push for "tort reform."
The public should be wary of this new attempt to curtail consumer protection. And I hope Congress will slam the brakes on this White House maneuver to trample on the rights of citizens who seek recourse from doctors for malpractice and from big corporations for defective products.
The administration has co-opted the word "reform" to roll back progress and promote its goals of weakening government restraints in a variety of areas.
It's noteworthy that the administration has never pursued the corporate chieftains whose greed stunned the nation last year with the same energy that it goes after lawyers who are fighting for the consumer. ...
Medical doctors are especially happy over the elevation of Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a surgeon, to Senate Republican leader. Frist has championed capping malpractice awards. After he was elected to lead his fellow GOP senators, Frist was praised by Donald Palmisano, president-elect of the American Medical Association. ...
Frist also is the author of a provision in the Homeland Security bill providing liability relief to the makers of Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that recently has been added to various childhood vaccines. The provision is applicable even to pending cases and is expected to result in the dismissal of numerous ongoing cases alleging that Thimerosal has caused autism in children. ...
When Bush was governor of Texas, he led a crusade to make the state's legal system less helpful to consumers. He pushed through legislation that capped punitive damages, limited class actions to federal courts and made it easier for judges to impose sanctions on plaintiffs who filed so-called "frivolous" lawsuits.
Let's have more of that "frivolity." That is actually a misnomer because some of those lawsuits led to dramatic safety improvements, forced on corporations through jury verdicts. Nothing gets their attention like writing a big check to an injured customer. ... [Example, ed.]
* Eli Lilly was selling an arthritis pain-relief drug whose side effects included a fatal kidney-liver ailment. It took a $6 million jury verdict against the drug company to persuade it to stop selling the medicine. ... (This article is at http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/1722302)
The few freedoms we had left in the US are quickly being confiscated, all in the name of stopping terrorist activity, while a majority of Christians give him a free pass.
November 21, 2002
Pentagon confirms 'snooping' system
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Pentagon yesterday confirmed that a high-tech data-collection system that will monitor credit-card transactions and airline ticket purchases, described by critics as "a supersnoop's dream," is being created to thwart terrorist attacks.
Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and a retired Navy admiral, said the program, Total Information Awareness (TIA), is an "experimental prototype" that will attempt to search "vast quantities of data to determine links and patterns indicative of terrorist activities."
Critics have charged that the program will give the Defense Department the power to conduct research into the personal habits of Americans. (Does not this violate the Posse Comitatus act forbidding using the US military against Americans? Ed.)
The program is being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is headed by retired Adm. John Poindexter, the national security adviser during the Reagan administration who was convicted of lying to Congress in the Iran-Contra scandal. The convictions were overturned on appeal. (Total knowledge about everyone has been a dream of Poindexter for years. Ed.)
"DARPA's purpose is to demonstrate the feasibility of this technology," Adm. Aldridge said. "If it proves useful, [TIA] will then be turned over to the intelligence, counterintelligence and law-enforcement communities as a tool to help them in their battle against domestic terrorism." ... (Note that domestic terrorism has a very open ended definitionwho defines terrorist? Right wing Christians who are not Politically Correct, as well as the Patriot movement have been defined as terrorist. Anyone who is not PC can and probably will be defined as a terrorist. Ed.) ...
Christian Science Monitor, 12/3/02 - http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1203/p01s01-usgn.html
Why the Pentagon will watch where you shop
New Total Information Awareness project will sniff company databases for terrorists.
By Faye Bowers and Peter Grier | Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON - Should Uncle Sam know as much about you as MasterCard does?
In essence, that may be the key question posed by the Pentagon's new Total Information Awareness (TIA) project.
This effort - whose Latin motto translates as "knowledge is power" - aims to create huge databases that sift through the purchases, travel, immigration status, income, and other data of hundreds of millions of Americans. Its purpose: to sniff out the terrorists among us.
Credit-card companies already carry out such paper profiling as an antifraud device, ...
But the recent theft of thousands of identities from commercial databases points out what can happen when such data falls into the wrong hands, say critics. And the federal government is not American Express. It has far greater power, and citizens thus need to assiduously protect their privacy from its snooping.
"Data files that become available [to the government] are likely to be used beyond their initial purpose, and we need to guard against that somehow," says Robert Pfaltzgraff, professor of international security at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Mass. ...
"There are three parts to the TIA project," says Edward Aldridge, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics. ...
The second part is to develop a tool that would discover connections between transactions, such as passports, airline tickets, rental cars, gun or chemical purchases, as well as arrests and other suspicious activities. ... (Who defines suspicious, ed.)
"If [the testing] proves useful," Mr. Aldridge says, "TIA will then be turned over to the intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement communities as a tool to help them in their battle against domestic terrorism." ...
The government should be able to have this technology up and running within a year, McKnight says. Some of the more advanced - like voice recognition and face recognition - may take longer. ...
Germany is one country that has long experience with this. In the 1970s, its federal police pulled together databases from private and public records. From crosschecking data, they were able to determine where terrorists belonging to the Red Brigades Faction lived, and even the places they frequently visited. (Define terrorists, ed.)
By John Barry, Newsweek
... Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld brusquely waved off the criticism [of Poindexter leadership of the Pentagons efforts to collect total data on every American citizen, ed.]. I would recommend people take a nice deep breath, he said. Nothing terrible is going to happen. But on Capitol Hill, Democrats and some Republicansincluding retiring House Majority Leader Dick Armeyare concerned that the project is part of a wider White House strategy to erode civil liberties in pursuit of security. (A court recently granted the government expanded surveillance powers.) They are especially irritated that they knew nothing about the $10 million experiment, since the Pentagon quietly buried it under technology development in the Defense bill. Now theyre demanding greater scrutiny. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she wants to freeze the programs funding until Congress can hold hearings. Poindexter may not be able to ignore the rumblings. He forgot the question you always ask, says one Pentagon official. How would this look on the front page tomorrow? <http://www.msnbc.com/news/839248.asp> (November 25, 2002)
In Terror War, 2nd Track for Suspects
Those Designated 'Combatants' Lose Legal Protections
By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 1, 2002; Page A01
The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects -- U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike -- may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say.
The elements of this new system are already familiar from President Bush's orders and his aides' policy statements and legal briefs: indefinite military detention for those designated "enemy combatants," liberal use of "material witness" warrants, counterintelligence-style wiretaps and searches (searches of private homes without a warrant, ed.) led by law enforcement officials and, for noncitizens, trial by military commissions or deportation after strictly closed hearings.
Only now, however, is it becoming clear how these elements could ultimately interact.
For example, under authority it already has or is asserting in court cases, the administration, with approval of the special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, could order a clandestine search of a U.S. citizen's home and, based on the information gathered, secretly declare the citizen an enemy combatant, to be held indefinitely at a U.S. military base. Courts would have very limited authority to second-guess the detention, to the extent that they were aware of it. ...
(washingtonpost.com <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58308-2002Nov30.html> I will send the complete article upon request. It is quite lengthy. Obviously, I cannot post the article, and the Post only allows an article to be freely copied for 14 days after its publication. See IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN HERE at the end of this article.)
The implications of the above are not hard to imagine. Among other things, the State has been looking for ways to go after the Patriot movement for several years; now they have the support of the American people. Bush claims the authority of the people, saying that if the people do not like his actions, then they can vote him out of office, but because they have voted him in, he has their authority to do these things. Will it not be just a matter of time until anyone with a gun and who is not PC will be secretly declared an enemy combatant, and held indefinitely at a U.S. military base. The Posse Comitatus act is dead, killed by Bush & Co. Clinton sold the nations security to China for campaign contributions, but Bush has sold individual Americans for what seems to be a love for power. Bush, it seems, is far more dangerous than Clinton ever was.
However, we can blame Bush & Co. and others who are intent on enslaving every American all we want, but those of us who know our Bibles know better. The ACLU, and other groups, have worked hard to remove Christianity from society, and their efforts would have been ineffective if Christians had not stood by, and let Christianity be removed while waiting for the rapture. (80% of Americans claim to be Christian.) Darby, with his dispensational rapture teaching, taught it was sin for a Christian who loved God to be involved in any secular activity, except maybe as a doctor or a dentist. Though most of the developers of the millennial system were lawyers, they considered the bar and the military totally unlawful for a Christian, as was any kind of political involvement. They even considered it a mark of a lack of spirituality to read a newspaper. (Death of the Church Victorious, pp. 331, 332.) With the removal of Christianity with the Christians permission, the very freedom the ACLU thought it was trying to protect, i.e., personal freedom, has been destroyed.
Sad to say, men would rather be the property of the State than free souls under God, because to be free souls under God, man must submit to and obey Gods laws.
Clearly, the reason all our freedoms are being removed is because America has rejected the only source of freedom, the Law-Word of God.
I believe that it is very significant that just before the Homeland Security bill passed, Alabama was told to remove the Ten Commandments:
MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) --A Ten Commandments monument in the rotunda of Alabama's judicial building violates the constitution's ban on government promotion of religion, a federal judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson gave Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had had the 5,300-pound granite monument installed in the state building, 30 days to remove it.
Moore testified during the trial that the commandments are the moral foundation of American law. He said the monument acknowledges God, but does not force anyone to follow his conservative Christian religious beliefs.
A lawsuit seeking removal of the monument argued that it promoted the judge's faith in violation of the constitution's ban on government establishment of religion.
"This is a question of whether the politically powerful can impose their views on others," Southern Poverty Law Center attorney Danielle Lipow argued during the trial before Thompson.
Moore testified he decided to locate a monument to the Ten Commandments in the building shortly after he was elected chief justice in November 2000.
The monument, which features the King James Bible version of the Ten Commandments sitting on top of a granite block, is one of the first things visitors see upon entering the building.
Monday, November 18, 2002 Posted: 11:19 PM EST (0419 GMT)
How many Christians have been told to remove the Ten Commandments by their spiritual leaders -- "we are under grace, not under law"?
There were two interesting paragraphs in the article, Commandments and Court, Justice May Be Asked to Resolve Debate Over Monuments:
Even though Moores monument contains quotes from historical figures and documents, Thompsons ruling found it to be a clearly religious display, said University of Alabama constitutional law professor Bryan Fair.
The chief justice is not trying to assert that the Ten Commandments are one of multitude sources of law. Hes trying to assert the sovereignty of God over all, particularly the Judeo-Christian God, Fair said. (The Washington Post, A6. AP, 10/24/02.)
Comment the Author of the Ten Commandments is not the god of the Jews, for the Giver of the Law at the Mount can only be identified with and as the Lord Jesus Christ, a fact denied by Jews. The purpose of the Commandments is not only to show men how to live, and show them the holiness of God, but to bring men to Christ, Galatians. 3:24. Thus, Jews since Christ worship another god; they do not worship the Christian God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Just a thoughtthe UN created a homeland where people could follow the Jewish religion. Too bad the UN will not create a homeland where Christians can follow the Christian religion, which might be a good thing. See Endnote #1.)
1. Above or superior to all others; chief; greatest; supreme. 2. Supreme in power, rank, or authority. 3. Of or holding the position of ruler; royal; reigning. 4. Independent of all others [a sovereign state] (Websters New World Dictionary.)
Sovereign is a word the State desires to claim for itself, the sovereign State. The secular State claims to be the only authority to make laws. The Commandments are laws set down by the Sovereign God, who is the only lawgiver. (Isa. 33:22, James 4:12.) Thus, the more secular the State (and man) becomes, the more it despises any prospect of a sovereign outside of itself. And hence the war waged by fallen man, particularly the government school system who wants to be the only law for those placed within its walls, against any display of the Ten Commandments. The display of the Commandments represents the sovereignty of God over all. The Commandments displayed among many other law-sources, e.g., Koran, can be tolerated because then the display only speaks of one God among many gods, violating the very first Commandment. (Let me also mention that any depiction of Jesus [as is so common today] is a clear violation of the Second Commandment against making any likeness of God, for Christ is the Everlasting Father; He is God with us. Isa. 9:6, Mat. 1:23. We went to a Christmas Pageant, and the final scene had Jesus walking down the center aisle waiting for the rapture. Such a depiction was a clear violation of the Second Commandment.)
Fallen man wants to be his own sovereign, and the State wants to be sovereign. There is a continuing battle between the two who desire to be sovereign. Whatever disagreement the two, the secular State and the secular man, might have, they can agree on one thingthat is, the Christian God cannot be sovereign. He cannot be the one and only lawmaker Who holds everyone else accountable.
Sovereigntythis issue gives an insight into the reason the courts (and the government school system) are so hostile to the Commandments the courts believe they are the last word concerning law. But the Commandments, when seen as coming from the Sovereign God, tell the courts and national governments that they are secondary to the laws already made. Fallen man does not like the idea that he is not in control of his own destiny. (We find it strange that Muslim countries have no problem admitting that they are governed by a law higher than themselves, the Koran, yet Americans, a Christian country will deny that they are governed by a law higher than themselves, the Commandments.)
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32.)
The opposite of freedom is bondage, so rejection of the truth shall make you bondmen.
Truth about what? Truth about what is going on in society? Truth about political issues? Truth about the rapture, the antichrist, &c.? I have been around the Patriot movement some, and their theme is that knowing the truth about government conspiracy is what will set you freeBuy their books, and you will be set free (of your money, I will add).
But we must let God define truth:
Used in various senses in Scripture.
1. In Pr 12:17,19 it denotes that which is opposed to falsehood.
2. In Isa 59:14,15 Jer 7:28 it means fidelity or truthfulness.
3. The doctrine of Christ is called "the truth of the gospel" Ga 2:5 "the truth" 2Ti 3:7 4:4
4. Our Lord says of himself, "I am the way, and the truth" Joh 14:6 (Online Bible.)
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17.)
We are set aside as Gods free men by the truth.
and all thy commandments are truth. 152 ¶ Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever. (Ps. 119)
Thus, we are told that all of Gods commandments are truth:
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this mans religion is vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1.)
Biblical liberty and freedom is the liberty and freedom from the power of sin so we can do what is required of us by the Lord God.
As Mr. de Mille said:
The theme of this picture is whether men ought to be ruled by God's laws or whether they are to be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Rameses. Are men the property of the State or are they free souls under God? This same battle continues throughout the world today.
The choice is mans. As a society departs from the commandments of God, the State increases its power over its citizens. (1 Sam. 8.) If man refuses to be self-controlled, he will be controlled by an oppressive state.
MAN WILL BE A SLAVE EITHER TO HIS FALLEN PASSIONS AND THE STATE OR HE WILL BE A SLAVE TO GOD!!
Until we see a return to the truth of the word of God, particularly the Commandments, the truth of the gospel and genuine, Biblical faith in Christ, we will continue to see increased bondage to an out of control, all powerful, all knowing State. It is part of Gods unchanging law of sowing and reaping.
2 Timothy 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
We live in an information age, with cable news and the internet giving more information than can possibly be absorbed by anyone. People have more information at their disposal than ever in history. Yet people are ever learning about various things, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth as defined by God. The primary reason is that they do not want the truth, that is, the Word of God.
Rushdoony points out that the purpose of mans existence is that man should exercise dominion over the earth in terms of Gods calling upon himself. The purpose of freedom is that man exercise dominion and subdue the earth under God. (Institutes, I. 485.) If he cannot use his freedom for its true purpose, godly dominion, then it is only a matter of time before he loses his freedom.
If men, particularly the State, are free to steal property, then there is no freedom for private ownership. As property rights decrease and taxes increase, the godly freedom of private ownership is lost.
If men, particularly the State, have unrestricted freedom of speech, including publishing, then true freedom of speech is lost, for there will be no freedom for the truth. Unrestrained freedom of speech means there is no standard of truth, and lies can be used against any and every one, as is far too common today.
The world sees freedom and liberty as freedom and liberty from God and His word:
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Ps. 2.)
But as man frees himself from the bands and cords of Gods laws, he is simply bringing himself into terrible bondage to self, strengthening an all-powerful State.
The theme of this picture is whether men ought to be ruled by God's laws or whether they are to be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Rameses. Are men the property of the State or are they free souls under God? This same battle continues throughout the world today.
The question is, WHO WILL WE BE A SLAVE TO OUR PASSIONS, WHICH WILL LEAD TO SLAVERY TO THE STATE, OR TO GOD, which is individual freedom.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32.)
It does not say the pastor will know the truth, and you will be free. It says that those who know and do the truth will be made free free from fear, free from the dominion and power of sin, free from the binding lusts of the flesh.
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. (Lk. 4.)
Joshua 24:15 ¶ And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Are men the property of the State or are they free souls under God? This same battle continues throughout the world today.
I set a choice before you all today
We can either be a slave to the Lord God or a slave to self and to the state. Christian men become slaves to the state by default when they anxiously await the rapture and refuse to think and act in Biblical terms. Freedom will only start when the church says, believes and lives like the Ten Commandments are binding upon Gods people (and upon the world in general) as much today as they were the day they were given.
Note #1.
According to Schaff (History of the Christian Church, Vol. VIII, pp 489-493), Calvin had no qualms of putting those to death who disagreed with him or who he felt violated Scripture, including beheading a girl for striking her parents. Quoting Schaff:
§ 107. THE EXERCISE OF DISCIPLINE IN GENEVA.
Calvin succeeded after a fierce struggle in infusing the Church of Geneva with his views on discipline. The Consistory and the Council rivalled with each other, under his inspiration, in puritanic zeal for the correction of immorality; but their zeal sometimes transgressed the dictates of wisdom and moderation. The union of Church and State rests on the false assumption that all citizens are members of the Church and subject to discipline.
Dancing, gambling, drunkenness, the frequentation of taverns, profanity, luxury, excesses at public entertainments, extravagance and immodesty in dress, licentious or irreligious songs were forbidden, and punished by censure or fine or imprisonment. Even the number of dishes at meals was regulated. Drunkards were fined three sols for each offence. Habitual gamblers were exposed in the pillory with cords around their neck. Reading of bad books and immoral novels was also prohibited, and the popular Amadis de Gaul was ordered to be destroyed (1559). A morality play on the Acts of the Apostles, after it had been performed several times, and been attended even by the Council, was forbidden. Parents were warned against naming their children after Roman Catholic saints who nourished certain superstitions; instead of them the names of Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, Zechariah, Jeremiah, Nehemiah became common. (This preference for Old Testament names was carried even further by the Puritans of England and New England.) The death penalty against heresy, idolatry, and blasphemy, and the barbarous custom of the torture were retained. Adultery, after a second offence, was likewise punished by death. These were prohibitive and protective laws intended to prevent and punish irreligion and immorality.
But the Council introduced also coercive laws, which are contrary to the nature of religion, and apt to breed hypocrisy or infidelity. Attendance on public worship was commanded on penalty of three sols. When a refugee from Lyons once gratefully exclaimed, How glorious is the liberty we enjoy here, a woman bitterly replied: Free indeed we formerly were to attend mass, but now we are compelled to hear a sermon. Watchmen were appointed to see that people went to church. The members of the Consistory visited every house once a year to examine into the faith and morals of the family. Every unseemly word and act on the street was reported, and the offenders were cited before the Consistory to be either censured and warned, or to be handed over to the Council for severer punishment. No respect was paid to person, rank, or sex. The strictest impartiality was maintained, and members of the oldest and most distinguished families, ladies as well as gentlemen, were treated with the same severity as poor and obscure people.
Let us give a summary of the most striking cases of discipline. Several women, among them the wife of Ami Perrin, the captain-general, were imprisoned for dancing (which was usually connected with excesses). Bonivard, the hero of political liberty, and a friend of Calvin, was cited before the Consistory because he had played at dice with Clement Marot, the poet, for a quart of wine. A man was banished from the city for three months because, on hearing an ass bray, he said jestingly: He prays a beautiful psalm. A young man was punished because he gave his bride a book on housekeeping with the remark: This is the best Psalter. A lady of Ferrara was expelled from the city for expressing sympathy with the Libertines, and abusing Calvin and the Consistory. Three men who had laughed during the sermon were imprisoned for three days. Another had to do public penance for neglecting to commune on Whitsunday. Three children were punished because they remained outside of the church during the sermon to eat cakes. A man who swore by the body and blood of Christ was fined and condemned to stand for an hour in the pillory on the public square. A child was whipped for calling his mother a thief and a shedevil (diabless). A girl was beheaded for striking her parents, to vindicate the dignity of the fifth commandment.
A banker was executed for repeated adultery, but he died penitent and praised God for the triumph of justice. A person named Chapuis was imprisoned for four days because he persisted in calling his child Claude (a Roman Catholic saint) instead of Abraham, as the minister wished, and saying that he would sooner keep his son unbaptized for fifteen years. Bolsec, Gentilis, and Castellio were expelled from the Republic for heretical opinions. Men and women were burnt for witchcraft. Gruet was beheaded for sedition and atheism. Servetus was burnt for heresy and blasphemy. The last is the most flagrant case which, more than all others combined, has exposed the name of Calvin to abuse and execration; but it should be remembered that he wished to substitute the milder punishment of the sword for the stake, and in this point at least he was in advance of the public opinion and usual practice of his age.
The official acts of the Council from 1541 to 1559 exhibit a dark chapter of censures, fines, imprisonments, and executions. During the ravages of the pestilence in 1545 more than twenty men and women were burnt alive for witchcraft, and a wicked conspiracy to spread the horrible disease. From 1542 to 1546 fifty-eight judgments of death and seventy-six decrees of banishments were passed. During the years 1558 and 1559 the cases of various punishments for all sorts of offences amounted to four hundred and fourteena very large proportion for a population of 20,000. ...
(For further instances of intolerance, see § 139. PROTESTANT INTOLERANCE. JUDGMENTS OF THE
REFORMERS ON SERVETUS.
Note #2.
President Bush:
For half a century, this beautiful mosque has served as a place of worship for Muslims and has helped to advance understanding between people of different faiths. Millions of our fellow Americans practice the Muslim faith. They lead lives of honesty and justice and compassion.
I am pleased to join you today in the celebration of Eid, the culmination of the Holy Month of Ramadan. I appreciate so very much Dr. Khouj, and I want to thank the other distinguished imam from the Washington, D.C. area. Thank you all for being here. And I enjoyed our visit. I also appreciate the Muslim schoolchildren who are here, telling me stories and reading poems and showing the art work. Please tell them thanks again for their hospitality.
Islam traces its origins back to God's call on Abraham. And Ramadan commemorates the revelation of God's word in the Holy Koran to the prophet Mohammad -- a word that is read and recited with special attention and reverence by Muslims during this season.
The above statement can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/12/20021205-5.html
Thus Bush exalts the wicked Koran to the level of the Holy Word of the Christian God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. When will the Christian media, pastors and Christians in general repent for exalting Bush as a godly man? As are so many seemingly good men today, he is a wolf in sheeps clothing, and Christians seem to be blind to the evil he has done and is doing.
1 Samuel 2:25 If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them. (See also Josh. 11:20, 2 Chron. 25:16, Jn. 12:40.)
Though I certainly pray that I am wrong, it sure seems that God has blinded even good men to the truth of what is going on because the Lord would slay them. Has He blinded Americans so He can judge and destroy this once Christian (not Judeo-Christian) nation?
Note #3.
SMALLPOX VACCINE RESULTS ARE IN
From http://www.stratiawire.com/article.asp?id=750
Monday, December 09, 2002
The first returns are in on the smallpox vaccine. A recent multi-center US government clinical trial on 200 "young adults" has been completed.
MSNBC reports. The volunteers who got the shot were VERY healthy to begin with. One researcher, Kathy Edwards, called them the "crème de la crème."
Okay? So get this. "Yet when she [Edwards] inoculated them with smallpox vaccine, arms swelled, temperatures spiked and panic spread [at Baylor University]. It was the same at clinics in Iowa, Tennessee, and California."
Stats: After the shot, one-third of the volunteers missed at least a day of work or school. 75 out of 200 experienced high fever. "Several were put on antibiotics because physicians worried that their blisters signaled a bacterial infection."
Wow.
And look, smallpox is a VIRUS, and antibiotics DON'T WORK against viruses. So, in essence, the researchers were inferring that the vaccine SUPPRESSED THE IMMUNE SYSTEMS of the volunteers---thus allowing bacterial infections to bloom suddenly---OR the vaccine was contaminated with bacteria to begin with.
Researcher Edwards, who headed up the study, said, "I can read all day about it [the adverse effects of the vaccine], but seeing it is quite impressive. The reactions we saw were really quite remarkable."
When a researcher makes a comment like this, you know some very bad things are happening.
AND THIS WAS A POPULATION OF EXTREMELY HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS. YOUNG ADULTS WHO SHOULD BE AT THE VERY PEAK OF LIFE, WITH THEIR IMMUNE DEFENSES FULLY INTACT.
Of course, this story didn't get much play in the press. But the handwriting is on the wall. Anyone can see what'll happen if they start shooting up people by the millions with the vaccine. For example, people who don't qualify as severely immune suppressed by any obvious assessment, but still do, in fact, have reduced immune capacity---AND THAT IS A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE.---these folks will be AT GREAT RISK from the vaccine.
This government study is KEY. Because later on, they will try to cover up the devastating effects of the vaccine. They will lie, distort, omit. But right now, here it is. Out in the open. The results, for all to see.
Let me tell you something. The CDC WANTED to release the results of this study. They wanted to go on the record now, before the stuff really hits the fan. They are very frightened of being nailed for killing people with the vaccine.
*****
Remember, thanks to Bush & Cos Homeland Security Bill, the drug companies now have vaccine injury indemnity, shielding the companies from legal action resulting from faulty vaccines. They now have a license to kill with faulty vaccines.
Regardless of what "they" say, they can not force you to take this, or any other, shot!! As for me and mine, "they" will have to take my shot before I take theirs!!!
Note #4.
IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN HERE! Dont we wish :(
Read it and weep for what was our great nation. Osama won.
Photographer Arrested For Taking Pics Near Cheney Hotel
2600 News, 12-5-2
An amateur photographer named Mike Maginnis was arrested on Tuesday in his home city of Denver - for simply taking pictures of buildings in an area where Vice President Cheney was residing.
Maginnis told his story on Wednesday's edition of Off The Hook. Maginnis's morning commute took him past the Adams Mark Hotel on Court Place. Maginnis, who says he always carried his camera wherever he went, snapped about 30 pictures of the hotel and the surrounding area - which included Denver police, Army rangers, and rooftop snipers. Maginnis, who works in information technology, frequently photographs such subjects as corporate buildings and communications equipment.
The following is Maginnis's account of what transpired: As he was putting his camera away, Maginnis found himself confronted by a Denver police officer who demanded that he hand over his film and camera. When he refused to give up his Nikon F2, the officer pushed him to the ground and arrested him. After being brought to the District 1 police station on Decatur Street, Maginnis was made to wait alone in an interrogation room. Two hours later, a Secret Service agent arrived, who identified himself as Special Agent "Willse." The agent told Maginnis that his "suspicious activities" made him a threat to national security, and that he would be charged as a terrorist under the USA-PATRIOT act.
The Secret Service agent tried to make Maginnis admit that he was taking the photographs to analyze weaknesses in the Vice President's security entourage and "cause terror and mayhem." When Maginnis refused to admit to being any sort of terrorist, the Secret Service agent called him a "raghead collaborator" and a "dirty pinko faggot."
After approximately an hour of interrogation, Maginnis was allowed to make a telephone call. Rather than contacting a lawyer, he called the Denver Post and asked for the news desk. This was immediately overheard by the desk sergeant, who hung up the phone and placed Maginnis in a holding cell. Three hours later, Maginnis was finally released, but with no explanation. He received no copy of an arrest report, and no receipt for his confiscated possessions. He was told that he would probably not get his camera back, as it was being held as evidence. Maginnis's lawyer contacted the Denver Police Department for an explanation of the day's events, but the police denied ever having Maginnis - or anyone matching his description - in custody.
At press time, the Denver PD's Press Information Office did not return telephone messages left by 2600. The new police powers introduced by the USA-PATRIOT act, in the name of fighting terrorism, have been frightening in their apparent potential for abuse. Mike Maginnis's experience on Tuesday is a poignant example of how this abuse is beginning to occur. It suggests that a wide range of activities which might be considered "suspicious" could be suddenly labeled a prelude to terrorism, and be grounds for arrest. We will continue to post updates to this story as we learn them.
http://www.2600.com/news/display/display.shtml?id=1441
By Lyle Jacobsen
(We met the Jacobsens at Lloyd Sprinkles church [yes, Sprinkle Publications; he is an unusual man, and will make your head swim with historical facts from the books he has read and reprinted, if you ask him]. I asked Mr. Jacobsen why they left Wycliffe 12 years ago, and here is their story. The point that caught my attention is the same thing I have complained about for several yearsthat is, fundamental, Bible Believing churches and organizations are, as a rule, militating against the Christian family. See the letter after the Jacobsens article.)
December 1990: My wife and I with our newborn son stepped aboard an airliner to return to the United States after 16 months of language learning in France. We were then members of Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT), and seeking a change of assignment from Burkina Faso in French-speaking West Africa to some possible task that could be done in the U.S. As there was no translation work in our desired area of residence, we resigned membership in WBT and began seeking civilian employment.
What happened? What changed our minds from frontline involvement in missionary endeavors to a resolution to return to American society? Our switch cannot be tagged to one event or one unrelated idea or comment. The root of our return to the US actually began years prior, even before we met each other.
Both of us had attended the Basic Seminar conducted by the Institute of Basic Youth Conflicts (Bill Gothard). There we learned for the first time the option of homeschooling as the preferred means of preparing ones children for Christian adulthood. Though we were yet single, this idea remained in our minds that should marriage become a reality, homeschooling would be an important consideration in discerning a potential mate.
As the years went by, we each began our still independent preparations and inquiries into missionary involvement. Eventually we would meet while taking graduate level coursework at WBTs Dallas center in conjunction with the University of Texas at Arlington. Over time we became engaged and married, and were assigned to work as translators in Burkina Faso. (A translator with Wycliffe Bible Translators is one who learns an unwritten language, develops an alphabet and a grammar, and translates the Bible, specifically the New Testament, into that language, and teaches some people of that language group to read.)
We have learned that modern evangelical missions has succumbed to a conservative feminist agenda, that though most evangelicals would consider themselves Biblically conservative, in practice they are ignorant of Scripture and are following anti-orthodox practices. In particular, they promote the inclusion of single women in ministry, especially in missions as few men themselves are in missions; having wives work alongside their husbands in missionary tasks as equals, not as helpmeets for their husbands; and sending children to boarding schools so as not to hinder the work of their parents in the missions endeavor.
We were aware of these factors as we progressed in our association with WBT. Yet we determined that for our family, we would seek to order our lives according to Biblical norms rather than those in the missionary society at large.
Gratefully, we were able to reinforce our pro-family priorities through the acquisition of books beyond those necessary for the translation task. Some books we acquired included Mary Prides The Way Home and All The Way Home, and Rick and Jan Hess A Full Quiver. It was after the birth of our first son in France that I read All the Way Home. Through this book I began to realize just how far Western evangelicalism of the late 80s had strayed from the Biblical norms.
In short, what we saw were aspects of our own family life that are minimally addressed in general evangelicalism. It is only when these aspects become overwhelming that they are finally dealt with, and that usually by professional counseling. These aspects include marital and familial relations, legal and psychological divorce, multigenerational consequences of moral sin, etc. We had come to the realization that Christian witness should proclaim, by word and example, relational wholeness, particularly in families. Yet that we could not promote due to our personal background and lack of practical training. We also recognized that in the developing world, where missions are focused, the family is a key relational environment, far surpassing the West with its individualism, rampant divorce and militant feminism. How could we as Christian missionaries proclaim a reconciling gospel to the whole of man, when we ourselves were not practicing it? Thus our decision to return to the United States. We concluded that in the familiar cultural setting we could better learn and practice whole Christian family life as opposed to moving to western Africa for ministry work and build up our family life.
The acceptance of our return by our supporting churches and friends was varied. We had hoped that we would get favorable responses, even inquiries as to what we felt were Biblical reasons for focusing first on our family rather than on missions. One church graciously said that further details were not necessary since life is filled with unanticipated changes. In contrast, another pastor practically condemned us for leaving the mountain path that God had ordained for us. Even one parent breathed a sigh of relief that we would not be risking our physical health in the wilds of Africa, something which had not been communicated to us beforehand - thus confirming the lack of wholeness in family relations we were now seeking to restore.
Our experience with WBT revealed to us several problems with evangelical missions. First is the wholesale acceptance of humanist cultural anthropology. While cultural anthropology is the study of man in his societal setting, humanists seek to do this study in a relativistic way. Thus the activities of different people are viewed in a non-judgmental way, that though certain activities may not be acceptable to Western standards, they are correct for those people. It even becomes in to adopt the norms of the people with whom they live and study, such as a couple we know who wear the Muslim dress of the people they live among (though none of us have heard of missionaries adopting the manner of undress of aborigines living in the Amazon basin or in New Guinea).
My wife Teri, for example, tells the following story which occurred while she was studying for missions (in the mid-80s) at a well-known west coast evangelical university: Her academic advisor had spent time on a Navajo Indian reservation to study the use of power (as in spiritual power). While there, the professor sat in on and witnessed what can best be described as a seance. Various spirits were called upon to assist people. In other words, these Indians called upon evil spirits for help. The advisor, who professed to be a Christian, had no problem with any of this and seemed to think it was quite natural and normal (see Lev. 19:31; 20:6). In fact, this professor asserted that the Bible claims many gods in addition to Yahweh. In a personal conversation, the professor expressed that the power of these minor gods could be used by Christians too. How then can we stand against the gods of this age when we are seeking to use them for our Christian purposes?
A second problem of missions is the priority of soul-saving rather than discipleship as commanded by our Lord in Matt. 28:18-20. Salvation is seen as obtaining a train ticket to heaven (when there is no train), instead of as a long journey on the narrow way of righteousness.
Thirdly is the accepted western view of women in society as noted above. For further discussion on the role of women and men, Rev. Need has several articles related to the Scriptures teaching in Titus 2:3-5. Along with this is the primary emphasis of missionary work above the responsibility of caring for ones family. I refer specifically as examples to William Carey, the founder of the modern missionary movement, whose wife went insane on the mission field, and to David Livingstone who sent his wife and children (orphanise my children- his term) home to Scotland while he labored for 5 years in Africa.
Another problem is that mission agencies and their members are not under specific church authority, even in denominational missions. While many missionaries are members of a church, and by extension, honorary members of all supporting churches, they are essentially without a church and without spiritual oversight and accountability. It is assumed that the missionary is spiritually self-sustaining, or that the agency oversees spiritual oversight. We recognized this shortfall while in France and began a prayer group for missionaries in transition there.
Mission organizations also tend to follow the corporate business model in their operations. This is an area for further study and comparison with the Biblical standard. This article only addresses some of the foundational problems of missions, and does not provide solutions. A beginning point would be Roland Allens Missionary Methods: St. Pauls or Ours?, (Eerdmans, 1987). In conclusion, missions, like the western church (reformed and evangelical), is in need of an overhaul, a Reformation.
(Lyle Jacobsen holds a B.S and a M.S. in Engineering from North Dakota State University. He has served short-term with Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC) in The Gambia, West Africa, and later with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Since 1995, Lyle is a stay-at-home Dad where he works full time in his home bakery. He resides in Virginia with wife, Teri, and their 5 children and can be reached at 7338 Rushville Rd., Dayton, VA 22821.)
*******************
Observe:
First, though claiming to be family oriented, the church has, generally, worked to separate and destroy the family. They have different classes for each member of the family (Sunday School, Childrens Church), they support and even encourage women to work outside of the home, all the while claiming to be building up the family. Missionary couples go to foreign countries, and their Christian testimony is that both husband and wife work and their children are raised by others in a boarding school. In other words, onlookers understand that Christianity sees children as a burden to be endured and set aside for the Lords work:
Darby also held that it was sinful to prepare for ones children. 51 Thus developed the common mega-church mentality simply put, if a person follows Gods will, God will take care of that persons children. Then Gods will is defined as spending all ones time actively involved in the ministry of soul winning that is, increasing the numbers who attend church. 51 Collected Letters, I.268. This pastor has personally heard probably the best known Baptist pastor of the 1900s say that if you will do Gods work, God will take care of your children. He defined Gods work as teaching Sunday School, working a bus route, and/or otherwise engaged in religious activity building a mega-church while ignoring the family. That pastor lost all his children [to the world]. (Death of the Church Victorious, pp. 174, 175.)
American style Christianity has effectively destroyed the world. I abhor the results of Darbyism, pre-millenialism, but it seems to have made such mess out of things that I might be inclined to believe that the Lord will have to literally return with His rod of iron and threaten even Christians with a sword to make them do right and take the responsibility for their own children.
We are also noticing a trend within the Patriarchal movementa movement that encourages the fathers to take their proper Biblical place as heads of their families. Too many of these families that are trying to reclaim their Biblical roles are losing their daughters. Why? There is not room in this issue to discuss this situation, but, Lord willing, we will start dealing with this in the next issue of the Examiner. There is a genuine and serious war going on against the family, and the enemy is offering even good things to get Christian parents to turn their backs upon the children the Lord has entrusted to them.
Second, the Jacobsens returned to the States because the missionary endeavor would not permit them to exist as a biblical familywives as helpmeets to their husbands, keepers at home, working to train the children in the ways of the Lord. The pagan societies wherein they were to live had a better understanding of the home than did the representatives of Christianity, the missionariesthe pagans knew in their hearts that wives were to care for their families. What a reproach on the name of the Lord and Christianity.
Third, up until the time of Edward Irving, (c. 1825), public opinion was that the Gospel of Grace would conquer the world in Gods good time. Irving preached against public opinion, and Darby picked up the message. Providence brought George Müller into the new millennial camp of the Theology of Defeat. Until Müllers time, the emphasis of missions was to Christianize the nations in accord with Matthew 28. However, Müller was convinced that this goal was unscriptural, so he started a training institution (Scriptural Knowledge Institution, 1836) for missionaries in order to teach them that their only hope was soul-saving, and that it was a sin to try to bring about godly social change. His Institution was the main-stay of Hudson Taylors China Inland Missions. (Death of the Church Victorious, pp. 194-195)
Thus the majority of modern missions has worked to turn the world over to the spirit of the antichrist, starting with the very basic building block, the family. My, how we need a spirit of reformationthat is, a return to the Word of God as the rule for all faith and action.
But a major fault of the modern mission movement must be laid at the door of the modern Evangelical church. The following is an e mail from a distressed mom. She responded to one of my articles posted on www.ladiesagainstfaminism.com. The site belongs to Jennie Chancey, Betties oldest child (www.sensibility.com is also her site). Jennie continually gets heart-rending letters like the one below. The lady asked that her name be withheld for obvious reasons. Sadly, the things in her church that cause her distress are far too common. I could count on one hand (even if I were missing some fingers) the number of churches that exalt Biblical womanhood.
Dear Rev. Need,
Thank you for your article at Ladies Against Feminism. We need more Pastors like you. I live in NJ and it is hard to find a church that would dare teach as you have.
I wonder if you would take a few minutes to read and answer me. I write out of an aching, tired heart.
The church we attend would never dare hold up the woman in the home as an ideal. The Pastor's wife has always worked. There are several excuses given for this.
1. People need two salaries to make ends meet today.
2. They can reach more people in the work force.
3. Why should they waste their education and skills by being in the home.
Being at home is acceptable perhaps if there are babies or toddlers there and IF you can afford it. There is no true teaching of Titus 2 anymore. Being "keeper at home" is meaning having a good daycare provider or working opposite shifts of one's husband. And keeping it clean.
When I came to the Lord 24 yrs ago, I asked the Lord what He would have me do and He led me to Titus 2:3-5. I have tried, not very successfully, to live this way. My husband while liking me at home, does not do so for Biblical reasons. The convenience of me at home outweighs the money I might make.
He has been saved but our walk with the Lord has been quite rocky. God changed things in our lives and my husband has resented them. Our walk is different. He is quite content to teach Sunday School once a week and that is it for God in our lives. The rest of the week is void.
He will not speak to me of God and wants only peace in what he wants to do. This year I decided to do an experiment. I didn't push for the children to attend youth group. He has not done or said anything about it. :( None of our older children attend Church or seek the Lord.
We had a very difficult time 5 yrs ago at this church. My dad was sick with Cancer. We had very little help or support from the church. I cared for my dad as long as I could in his own home. My oldest boy was working and would care for him at night. It was a dark season of my life yet one of the brightest. My reliance on God grew strong and I knew Him in a way I never did before. He did walk me through that "valley" of the shadow of death. Jesus walked with my beloved dad and I till we parted at the fork of death. Jesus took my dad home and walks with me today.
I was head of the children's department at the time. I would then be hearing changes from the pulpit. I went to the Pastor and said that I could not do my job right if I learn of changes this way. The Pastor and I had differing views on the importance of the ministry. We once bucked heads over the junior church program. He compared it to having a program to alcoholics. Never did he use any scriptures to show me why. I had scriptures to show where we needed it.
I had started the ministry. Our church had started from the ground up. I had wanted to quit when my last child was born but they begged me to stay. All of a sudden things were changing. It would have been better if I had been asked to resign or take a leave as the burden of family and my dad was quite heavy. But when the third time he changed something again at the pulpit I put in my resignation. I was asked to stay till they found a replacement. I did so. The week after my dad died and was buried, they had a cake for all out going people. They gave plaques for their service. I was so upset I hid in the bathroom. To do that was hypocrisy since we had left on bad terms. I could not have controlled myself to receive it. Especially after all that had gone on that week and in the past.
My husband was in agreement that I was treated wrongly but shrugged it off.
My children saw the things that went on at that time. How the church actually caused us more grief than comfort.
My husband loves the church and insists we attend. I don't think I would complain except my family is falling away and apart from the Lord. Even this past fall I asked my husband to attend the assistant Pastor's Bible study. We did for a while but have stopped due to other activities. There is nothing except the actual time on a Sunday morning.
You mentioned about wives wanting to go where they are fed. I have mentioned this to my husband. For I feel that I am more drawn into a liberal lifestyle at the church. You speak of separation, yet the differences are minimal.
Is it wrong to ask Pastors about scriptures? I have gone to the Pastors of my church and questioned them about the Titus scriptures amongst others in the Word. Why they are not taught. I have asked if we disobey God in living the roles He has given us, then how can we say anything when others take it the next step to disobeying the gender God gave them. If we use birth control and sterilization, how can we stand against abortion which is just the far end of birth control. The principle is still not wanting children. ...
I have found that much down and dirty work is not done today. Yet many churches here pride themselves on care ministries that send out cards or give meals. One catholic church in the area tried to start a ministry that would help the elderly live on their own. But it soon died out. Lack of help. No older women in the home to give of time and self.
God has a remnant. I am part of a Titus 2 email loop that encourages each other in God's ways and seen many miracles. I have a message board for women. There are many out there who would love to be in the home but so cowered down or deceived by the world and the church as not to be in home.
When I wrote one of the Pastors at my church about the different issues above, he thanked me for the letter and said he would get to it. Well, he has long since moved away. From some Pastors I get spit and sputtering, some just silence. Yet, where is the man of God to show me in the Word where I err?
Many fix on rock and roll music and the occult. I questioned one about why he doesn't mention the rebellion of men and women to their roles. He said I was a rebellious woman trying to force my will on others.
I don't understand. If so, where is the scripture to show me my error?
I don't question Pastors as I once did. It has not gotten me any answers. I teach a small group of women in my area. I am not qualified. While I love the Lord, seek Him in His Word each day, try to live as He commands, I seem to flop in my life. When I ask my husband scriptural questions, I am met with silence. My children grow and don't follow Jesus. Even though I have tried to teach and walk with Him. I will still continue on. But I grow weary and worn. I wonder of my errors? I cry out to the Lord.
We don't homeschool. Our children are in public school. It is the will of my husband.
The more I read the Word, the more I am convicted of our need to obey Him. Regardless of others. In the Word I am only more convinced of what He has already taught me.
I know a woman should not speak up at church. But going through an email to question is not the same. I am seeking answers but not finding them. I don't want to go the way of the world but of the Lord.
Thank you again for that teaching on the feminization of Christian America. Recently on Breakpoint, they mentioned the most powerful woman in the world. I thought they would speak of the Christian mom but instead they spoke of one of Bush's people.
In many ways, the modern Christian woman looks good but so does that white washed tomb. I am not being catty or mean but have learned over the years that many things that start out looking good turn quite bad down the road.
Not one Pastor has mentioned to me how society has turned more to Jesus by the Christian woman being in the workforce. It seems in looking back in my life and in history that it has caused the opposite.
Thank you again for your time.
Yours in Christ,
...
1 Cor 15:57-58
I RESPONDED TO HER LETTER, AND HERE IS HER REPLY
Dear Pastor Need,
Thank you for answering my letter. Thank you also for forwarding it to your wife. I live in ..., N.J. It is in Ocean county. The church we attend is .... Pastor ... is our Pastor. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas.
As I look around the area here in my town and others close by, there is not one I know of that has a Biblical Pastoral family. Most wives work. Some are Co-Pastors and some are female Pastors.
I meet every other week with 3 other women. We are studying the Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. Her book is quite good but she is weak on the woman being in the home. I noticed it when she published her second book on being a Titus 2 woman. It seems that for some who are keepers at home, the right opportunity comes along and they forsake it. That happened to the woman who started our women's ministry in the church. She was one to be at home till she became the Pastor's secretary. Speaking up against leaving the home was forbidden. She actually kicked me under the table as I started to say something the one time.
Once when the ladies study did do a study on Titus 2, I was taken aside afterwise for being antagonistic. I had closely questioned the teacher on how do we love our husband. You can't just say love him. It is not that easy. I suggested that we follow 1 Cor 13:4-8a and be self sacrificing as Jesus. I knew I had a difficult relationship and others do too. You can't just say to feel something. You teach actions and love will come. Even if the husband does not love back, you learn to love as God does.
Well I stopped going afterwise. The church last year had a woman's study on the Excellent wife but I was told the class was full. The three other women I meet with are younger. One is in her late 30s. She is a mom of 4. Homeschools. Her husband had been an elder in the church and noticed things were not quite right and left. He felt like you did to be in the ministry. But things have not worked out yet. I believe they are home churching. Another is another homeschooling mom of 4. Her husband is also in the leadership of the local Baptist church. Their Pastor's wife works because everyone needs to today. He has questioned his Pastor on this and other things and is sidestepped each time. The third woman is early 30s and has 3 young children and #4 on the way. I don't know her husband but she is very eager to learn of God's ways.
We live in an age of diversity. If you don't like your potato chips plain, well you can have them with cheddar, onion and vinegar, garlic, barbecue etc! So too with churches. So many difference, each to suit one's taste. I think of the verse 2 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths also 1 Peter 4:4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;
I have been reading your website and enjoying it. I also have been going to Way of Life for a while too. If you are aware of any churches in my area, I would be interested. I also ask for your prayer for my family.
Thank you, ..., 1 Cor 15:57-58
Comment:
Pastors, men, women, how would you answer her? Has Titus 2:1-5 been abrogated for our day? If so, by whom, and by what authority? If not, then why do we not preach and obey it? Why will not those who claim to be followers of Paul obey the Spirits instructions given through Paul? Or do we just follow what is convenient? If so, then the reasons given for rejecting the Old Testament law, (Christ did away with the Old Testament Law, or Paul did not reinforce it, so it is no longer in effect) are hypocrisy. You would think Christ was speaking to pastors like those mentioned above when He said:
6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. (Mat. 15.)
Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mens bones, and of all uncleanness.