Rights of Women and Children

The Women’s Rights movement has grown strong over the years, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It needed to happen, and there is still more work to be done.

Recently however, Women’s Rights has openly turned against Christian values, God and Jesus. I find this almost unbelievably grotesque and ironic – though I can see why.   I’m sorry to say it, but when I see women and girls carrying banners that shout against Jesus, shout against God – quite frankly, I could get angry.

But I try not to – so instead I’ll explain my reasons.

In old-time nations, civilizations of the Classical world (with small exceptions), many non-christian civilizations and primitive peoples of today, there were/are simply no rights for women and children.  Women and children were the property of their husbands and fathers. In warfare, women and children on the defeated side would be taken into slavery (men who survived too, of course) – a world-wide phenomenon. This was the case also in the Old Testament times in Israel.

Rights Of Women

The wife’s main function was seen as bearing children to carry on her husband’s family line. There are many references in the Old Testament to the humiliation felt by wives who failed to produce children. Abram’s wife Sara, and Jacob’s first wife Leah are examples in point: note the disdain of Abram’s servant girl towards Sara.

If a woman lost her husband, her situation could be dire, as the story of Naomi and Ruth clearly illustrates. Both of Naomi’s sons and her husband were dead. Her only option was to travel back to Israel, her homeland, and initially both her daughters-in-law said they would go with her. One of them turned back, but the other – Ruth – made a promise to carry on. The unfolding of Ruth’s story is a highlight of God’s mercy on 2 faithful women. (Book Of Ruth)  But note: that mercy had to be worked out in terms of the prevailing, male-oriented customs of the day.

God is fully aware of human traits, and He made special provision in Deuteronomy 24 to protect the widows and the fatherless. The very fact that He laid a curse on anyone who denied justice to a widow speaks clearly about human attitudes at that time, as well as His own merciful nature.

See also the comment of Jesus: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers…” (Matthew 23:14)

There is one terrible passage in Judges 19 that indicates very clearly the attitudes of men to women in those days. I will not quote it, but suffice to say, it is horrific. This event was not God’s work – it reveals the depravity of the day.  And let no nation on earth point the finger.

Jesus In The New Testament

When we come to the New Testament, we find a very different story in the teachings of Jesus. It is from His teachings solely – as carried throughout the Western world by the spread of Christianity – that the rights of women and children today are derived.

The story of the woman taken in adultery illustrates the huge divergence between the attitudes of the time and the Lord’s mercy. It’s worth noting that the Mosaic law required both parties to adultery to be brought to justice. However, these religious men brought forward only the woman:

“They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

“But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:3-11)

It was fortunate for her that the elders decided to use her case to try and trap Jesus – otherwise they would undoubtedly have stoned her to death out of hand.     And I ask – where was the man? Where was the evidence?  Where was the justice?

For women, there was no justice.

Divorce

While it was lawful in biblical times for a man to divorce a woman, the woman had no similar right.  The religious leaders tried to trip Jesus on this also:

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”   Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” (Matthew 19:3-10)

Great commentary on male attitudes, this!

Rights Of Children

Children – especially female children – were often exposed after birth to lessen the burden on the family: still a practice in some countries today. There is an ancient letter from a husband in Alexandria to his expectant wife in Judea, part of which reads, “If the child is a girl, put it on the rubbish pit.”

Jesus however, had a deep fondness for children. He went so far as to say that they have a special place in heaven:

“…the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them,  and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.   Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.“  (Matthew 18:1-6)

When the disciples tried to stop children from crowding around Jesus He said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)

Given the attitudes of the day, can you imagine how radical in His ways and sayings Jesus must have been? How far away from the norm? Here He was, with a stiff-necked people and religious leaders thirsting for His blood, yet He never once flinched from making His values clear.

We women owe a huge debt to Jesus, and those who faithfully spread His principles around the world after His death.

The world has hashed the Bible, trashed the Bible, disagreed over the Bible – but Jesus IS Truth, and He upholds truth.    Women especially should honor Him for that.

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Absolute Truth

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”.  (John 8 30-32)

Jesus was speaking in the Temple courtyards of Jerusalem, during a discussion with ‘the Jews’ (John’s term for the religious elders of the day), who were starting to show their hand openly in their attempts to trap and destroy Him.

Erosion of Standards and Values

This scripture is especially applicable in today’s world. We are at a tipping point now in the history of mankind when there is a serious attack going on against the concept of Truth – not only in the ivory towers of philosophic discussion, not only in the Media, not only in the US electoral process: this attack is impinging on crucial aspects of real life: the education of children and young people being one of them.

The Pharisees of the present day – the ‘intellectuals’ – are hell-bent on denying the concept of absolute Truth. By their standards, absolute Truth is old-fashioned and outmoded, and has already been relegated to the trash. I kid you not – a highfalutin intellectual media website recently published such garbage in all seriousness.

This new thinking has already impacted on education, where students are now encouraged to give whatever answer to a question they think fit – and it seems that all answers will be marked ‘correct’.

WHAT?

Likewise one man’s idea is seen as being as good as any man’s – on any subject: a trend pushed even further by the entrenched Internet rituals of ‘liking’ and ‘commenting’ on anything and everything on Facebook, blogs and websites and, apparently even as part of the education process.

The ultimate outcome of all this can only be a complete erosion of standards and values.

Attack On the Values Of Society

Frankly, I view this as an attempt by the enemy to tear down the foundations of our society – and I use that word in an all-encompassing sense of societies in general (other than those founded on Marxist, Socialist principles, because that’s what this evil doctrine is based on). It is also, of course, a direct attack on God, who is Truth, and His Word.  If followed and allowed to run its course, this trend will produce anarchy.

We have already seen anarchy operating in the streets of America – the land of the free and the home of the brave:  unthinkable a few years ago!

No doubt about it – we are coming close to the end times. Jesus foresaw these events clearly:

“Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,” (Matthew 24:11-12)

All this foreseen and recorded by the Prophet Isaiah  nearly 3000 years ago: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness…”  (Isaiah 5:20)   Woe indeed!

There Must Be “Truth”

Here we are in a world governed by strict rules of causality, set up by the Creator to enable life on earth to function in a predictable manner. If you leap from a seven story window, you will assuredly hit the ground in the most unfortunate way.  But at the same time, we can rely daily on the forces of gravity to make life on this planet livable for us and all other living creatures:  just one example.

I rather doubt those intellectual so-called ‘experts’ who put forward these ‘progressive’ ideas have thought of the logical outcome of the course they are steering in trying to nullify absolute Truth.

If they were to plant cannabis seeds and come up with a crop of marigolds, they might be somewhat put out: even more so if their own offspring turned out to be a bunch of jackal whelps one day.

They cannot have it both ways. Either there is an identifiable absolute Truth, or else all is chaos.

Jesus’ words and sayings throughout the New Testament are consistent with the importance of understanding the Truth – and His behavior throughout His life was an impeccable testimony to His words.

Note:  I am not an American citizen, but my aunt lived in Boston MA for many years, and I spent as few weeks there after her death.  That has brought me to a deep affection for the USA – the Home of the Free, and the Hope of the Free, worldwide.  Repent of your sins, Stand up and Return to your former glory, USA!

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Peace On Earth 3

“Glory to God in the highest, Peace on earth and goodwill towards men.” Luke 2:14 (AKJV)

Above all else, this world must claim spiritually the Peace that Jesus was born with, and that He left to His followers just before He died for us. There is no substitute.

In the Gospel of Luke at 2:14, the arrival of the Son is announced to humanity. Not to the church elders or the wealthy high-ups, but to the ordinary people – shepherds “watching their flocks by night”.

The most-often quoted words of the angels’ message now tend to be, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men in whom He is well pleased.” (ASV)

These words have created a great deal of dissension since a so-called ‘transcription error’ was discovered in the Greek. Notably, the KJV still reads, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

The KJV does not say, and never has said, “all men”. The Greek does not say “all men”.

Neither the AKJV nor the NKJV says “all men”.

Here is the Greek and its word – by word meaning;
Doxa [glory] en upsistois [in the highest places] Theo [to God] kai [and] epi ges [on earth] eirene [peace] en anthropois [towards men] eudokias (genitive) [of approval, satisfaction]. (my translation)

The problem arose with the discovery of an ‘error of transcription’ in the last word of the quotation – the omission of the letter ‘s’ at the end. Correcting this error turned ‘eudokia’ [reputation, approval] into ‘eudokias’ (genitive) [of reputation, approval]. This turned “goodwill to men” into “to men of goodwill”. There is no direct indication whether this is God’s goodwill or man’s goodwill. Most translations now render the words as indicating God’s goodwill, though the Greek is definitely not specific on the point.

On the basis of the ‘corrected’ version, there have been people who complained that God should apparently single out certain persons to receive His goodwill.

I’d like to suggest that attitude is one of huge personal arrogance.

On that night 2000+ years ago, God made the supreme sacrifice to offer to man (who had consistently proved his sinful nature, and still does) a way out – a way to be redeemed into an eternal future – via His Son, Jesus Christ.

Additionally, God (who is committed to creating man with free will) knows the outcome of unbridled free will in humanity.  Man has exercised his free will to go against God’s wishes and pursue destruction, evil, hatred, disharmony and indifference to God, and in spite of warnings, he continues to do this.

In setting up His long-term plans for eternity, it is hardly surprising that the Father should require a qualification for those to be admitted to eternal life with Him.  He simply requires full acceptance of His Son, Jesus Christ.

I believe Luke 2:14 contains both a promise and a warning, for those who are wise enough to see it.

As an addendum it needs to be said that eudokia without the ‘s’ made perfect sense. There is authority elsewhere in the NT that translates eudokeo (verb) en tini as “to be well pleased with a person or thing”. Therefore en anthropois…eudokia (good will toward men) was certainly a valid reading.

So the matter rests in the meantime…

Blessings and Peace,

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I Will Heal their Land

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14)

A much-quoted scripture, very much needed right now.  We have all heard this, time and time again.  But the real problem is that in their minds, many people rush over the “If…” portion of the quotation, to get to the “heal their land” part.

The Real Message

BUT – it is the “If” part that carries the most important message of the scripture.  Repentance must happen – and it must be real.  And contrary to what may be being preached in the pulpits of apostasy at the present time, we all need to repent seriously, both for ourselves and for our nations.

The ‘Feel Good, God Loves You No Matter What’ messages of such ‘churches’ as Progressive Christianity, New Age, Prosperity Gospel – to name just the tip of the iceberg – is leading believers away from the teachings of Christ and into End Times apostasy.  Jesus, though He preached a gospel of love, never said that following Him would be an easy path:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)

Needs – Not Desires

Though He spoke powerfully of the Father’s care, we should note that care is couched in simple terms:  In His memorable message against worry, He certainly did not place the focus on endless material wealth.  His message is about meeting needs, not desires.   Look at these words:

 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;  and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6: 28-34)

Jesus’ life’s focus was always on the Father.  His ministry pointed His hearers to the same path:

“Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’“  (Luke 9:23)

The Twisted Message

This is far from some present pulpit messages that paint God as some kind of Sugar Daddy, doling out sweets to children.  Indeed, we are told in the writings of Paul that we must get off milk food and become mature.:

“I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.”  (1 Corinthians 3:2)  It is worth noting that the Corinthian church in ancient Greece, surrounded by cosmopolitan values, heathen gods, and worldly desires, was the closest to what we find in the world and many churches today.  That church was an unending trouble for Paul.

Old Testament History – Relevant Today

SO – we have a promise from the Father that dates back many thousands of years.  On top of that, we have The Word, which faithfully and without compromise records the history of the people to whom that promise was initially given.

If we take the trouble to look into that history, we can see clearly the outworking of this promise in the lives of the people of Israel.  The ups and downs, the victories, defeats and almost annihilations.  Back and forth – defeat, exile, restoration, apostasy;  defeat, exile, restoration, apostasy, over and over again.  And always, the forgiveness of the Father – conditional on repentance.

Make no mistake, we are no better than they were. If we want our land healed, we need to look seriously at the history recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible: it is a dereliction of duty that many of today’s churches teach only from select passages of the New Testament.  Their congregations could do with learning a thing or two about Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God.

Crying In The Wilderness

The prophet Isaiah (8th century BC) foretold the coming of a forerunner to Jesus Christ in the following words:
A voice of one calling In the wilderness
“Prepare the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3)

Isaiah’s 700 Year Prophecy – Gabriel

About 700 years later, an elderly, childless priest of Jehovah named Zecharaiah was ministering in the temple at Jerusalem when the angel Gabriel appeared standing at the right side of the altar. Gabriel spoke:

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.   And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:13-17)

Zecharaiah was filled with doubt, because on the facts before him this was a most unlikely happening – both he and his wife were old.   So he questioned the angel, who spoke the message again and then added,
“And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Ouch!  It doesn’t do to doubt the word of the Lord!

Gabriel’s Prophecy Goes Ahead

So Zechariah was struck dumb – but the prophecy’s fulfillment continued. And when the promised child was born, Zecharaiah remained unable to speak until a controversy arose about naming the child. Then Zecharaiah called for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John,” and at that moment he was able to speak again.

John grew up, and “developed in body and spirit. He lived in the desert until the day when he appeared publicly to the people of Israel.” (Luke 1:80)

John The Baptist and Jesus

Meantime. Elizabeth’s cousin, Miriam, had given birth to a boy named Jesus – and John was to be His harbinger (forerunner).   John’s special ministry was to preach repentance to a nation spiritually in the wilderness, because their religious leaders, instead of leading the people in the spirit, had sold out to ‘The Law’ (Pharisees) and Mammon (Saducees).

In due course, “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.   He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 3:1-3)     

Note, Luke is very precise about the timing. Thanks to a number of excellent, contemporary Roman historians, the facts he quotes here can be verified historically to provide the dating for these events.

“People’s hopes began to rise, and they began to wonder whether John perhaps might be the Messiah.”  (Luke 3:15)

John replied:
“I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  (Luke 3:17)

When Jesus began His ministry, John recognized Him publicly, and the story of Jesus being baptized by John is one of the best-known passages of the New Testament.

The Ultimate Fulfillment of John’s Prophecy

John The Baptist’s prophecy about Jesus is still in the process. At the end of Jesus’ 3 years of ministry, He foretold the coming of the Holy Spirit upon believers (John 14:21, Acts 2:1-4), and gave ‘the Great Commission’ to go forth and preach the Gospel.

When Jesus returns again, (Matthew 24:30-31) He will return not only as Victor, but as Judge – and “His winnowing fork will be in his hand”.   [my edit]

 

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