Either she's right, or she's wrong. Choose you this day whom you will serve.
This was forwarded to me by a man in our congregation whose wife passed it on to him. It's hard to imagine a more accurate statement of the call of Christ. You may argue with some of the particulars, and certainly truly Christian marriage and family life does not flow from the sort of spiritual facades and manipulation evidently at work in this woman's former home and marriage. Nevertheless, look carefully at all the particulars and it becomes clear that, overall, what this woman hates is Christianity. She hates God the Father Almighty. And no, hate is not too strong a word.
Over the past five years I've noticed women taking an increasingly prominent role in exercising authority over men within the church. They don't hesitate to excoriate church officers publicly, often in forums governed by male church officers. And if anyone objects, weak men are vitriolic in their response: "You're a misogynist! This isn't the church—it's the internet! Do you think women should be silent on the web? What kind of an insecure power-trip are you on!?"
Well, speaking only for myself, no, I don't think women should be silent on the internet. And not to fear, they're not silent on the internet. At all. But I've been around the rat-hole of defining everything but corporate Lord's Day worship as "not the church" so that sex (gender) doesn't matter long enough to know that this article is the whirlwind we are reaping after decades of sowing the wind. And the sad thing is, we are now left with articles like this by women like this, many of whom were, in fact, homeschooling mothers committed to fruitfulness, and it's hard to figure out how to oppose it without simply proving the apostate's point. Which is to say, it's hard to figure out how a male church officer can oppose it without being called a misogynist.
You see the dilemma? Years ago I thought I was very smart, so I moved that the board of Presbyterians Pro-Life hire my friend...
Terry (Mrs. Herb) Schlossberg to be our executive director. Time proved my wisdom as Terry ran PPL with the greatest humility, wisdom, doctrinal integrity, and courage for several decades. Shortly after getting PPL to hire Terry, our community was required to appoint a committee to research and recommend to the school board a curriculum on sex education. Again, thinking I was so very smart, I asked my wife, Mary Lee, to serve on the committee which she did faithfully. Why did I think it was smart to have women in these positions?
Because both positions involved intense conflict in defending God's truth and Christ's little ones, and I knew women standing up for truth and the protection of children would have a natural advantage on the battlefield for a whole host of reasons all flowing from our living in an effeminate age.
But one night when I was home with the children and my dear wife was out at the committee meeting fighting with women and men, such as the school district superintendent who sat on my session, it hit me that I was fully twisted. It was my job, my calling, my gifting, my honor, and most importantly the duty of my sex to guard the little ones, but here I was comfortable at home with all of them tucked in and sleeping while their mother, my wife, was out doing battle. From then on, it didn't matter to me how much more effective it would be for my wife and daughters and other omnicompetent women to be the spokesmen for God's Truth and to fight for the protection of Christ's little ones. It was not their calling and I was not to save myself and sacrifice them even if people would have a harder time opposing them than me.
Sadly, I think few others learned their mistake and repented of it as I did. So now we have every man thinking he is oh-so-very-smart as he pushes his wife and daughters into law school and onto the diaconate and into the pulpit doing everything but preaching and into the session meeting (of course, strictly in an advisory role) and onto blog forums where they rebuke Mark Driscoll and C. J. Mahaney and Tim Keller and Rob Bell and...
Their husband and father and pastor and elders and...
Pity the poor man who tells them thank you, but no thanks; that in God's Order of Creation, it's his job to correct and rebuke and admonish and exhort men, and especially church officers. That he appreciates her willingness to do it herself, and it's true she may well be more effective than he will be. And that if there were no man willing to undertake the work, it might be that she should do it herself as Deborah did it herself; but here you are, a man, an ordained man, and you will not allow her to bear the weight and face the dangers God has placed on your shoulders.
Church officers and Titus 2 "older women" must understand what is contending for the souls of our sons and daughters, today. The article linked above is the whirlwind we are now facing after decades of conniving at feminism and forcing our wives and daughters onto the front lines while refusing to rebuke effeminate men who can't bring their silly goateed latte-drinking selves to stand in the gap and fight.
And so we have women like the one linked above and Rachel Held Evans and Carolyn Custis James and Christian Homeschooling Moms for Feminism engaged politely by timid and effeminate church officers who are living proof of what Elisabeth Elliot (Mrs. Lars Gren) said thirty years ago: "The problem with the church today is that it is filled with a bunch of emasculated men who can't say 'no' to a woman."
As I said, we have brought it all on ourselves. We thought we were so very smart.
Tim serves Clearnote Church, Bloomington, Indiana. He and Mary Lee have five children and big lots of grandchildren.
Want to get in touch? Send Tim an email!
