Women's ordination
I see some real flaws in woman ordination. Beside the one mentioned in 1Tim. 2 “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” (1Tim. 2:9-15). “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” (1Cor. 14:33-35).
The apostle Paul is clear that Christ, our Creator, did not give the woman the place of leadership over the man. And her sin only added to the permanence of that condition. Adam sinned as well as Eve, but, in accordance with the character of God, law and order must prevail in this world which must survive until Christ could restore the sinless paradise. He chose Adam and the male gender in this role, from top to bottom of the chain of command, and woman as the counselor by his side.
For women to fight this arrangement is to fight against God.
“For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” (Heb. 5:1-4). “Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Gen. 3:16).
The principle I see in this is that the priesthood was not a male contrived arrangement. It was divine. No man took that honor to himself, but it was God’s call and His doing. I can’t see anyone except Satan working to force God to change His most ancient arrangement, and anyone who should try is guilty of the 1Cor. 3:17 curse, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” The temple includes the order of the serving priests.
There is only one known true biblical change to the priesthood, and that was for Christ’s heavenly ministry. “And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another Priest,
Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
For He testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.” (Heb. 7:15-18).
Yet, this didn’t change the male oriented ministry, for Christ certainly was the Son, and He chose 12 men. Certainly there have always been women in the leadership, but not as officiating ministers in the leadership role. Theirs has been a supporting role, just as the military staff officers support the line officers. “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God….
For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.…
Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (1Cor. 11:2-3,8-9,11). A beautiful balance is struck here that keeps men from overlording the women. Nevertheless, her God-given role is to support man, to be “an help meet for him”.
“Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.” (1Tim. 5:9,10). “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” (Tit. 2:3-5). “For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.” (1Pet. 3:5,6). But, some would add to Paul's list of services of the woman that of pastor, conference leader, and even president of the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists.
The scriptures cite a large number of females laboring in the gospel. “And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.” (Phil. 4:3). “And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” (Acts 17:4). “And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women , and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.” (Act 1:13,14).“ And it came to pass afterward, that He went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with Him,
And certain women , which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,
And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto Him of their substance.” (Luk. 8:1-3). “The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.” (1Cor. 16:19). “Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.” (Rom. 16:6).
Any leadership that women had in the past was for counseling other women. But, Deborah was an exception, in her place as wise judge between the matters of the people; yet, she never overstepped her supporting role to take from Barak the reigns of leadership over men. “And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.” (Jdg. 4:4-9).
We can hear her Spirit-powered strong character and rebuke to Barak for his weak faith in God to give him success in the necessary military campaign. She was in essence saying that he shouldn’t have needed the help of women. He should have stood on his own two feet. She took the leadership role, as a courageous counselor, in mercy to Barak’s fearfulness. But, she in no way usurped his God-given male office as leader of men and protector of the nation.
But, we do have instances of that usurpation of government leadership in Jezebel and in Herodias. They both had weak king husbands and they both harnessed the powers of state. And we’ve had a modern counterpart in the 1990’s—Hillary Clinton. Soon, she will be the first female president of the United States. Something of concern, because she follows the unconsecrated patterns of the other two female usurpers and agents of Satan against God’s apostatized people.
Jezebel, came from Zidon, the city-state whose revered god was Milcom, or Moloch. I understand that Moloch was just another name for Baal. Both were fierce, ruthless, murderers and taught the nations of the world to be ugly.
So, Jezebel, immediately upon marriage to Ahab, set up a papacy in Israel, where the church and state were intertwined. “The prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.” (1Ki. 18:19). These priests were paid by the state coffers, not the worshippers' donations.
Such a brutal god as Baal cannot keep the loyalty of the subjects long without an alter-ego goddess. Satan knows this and has always used this two god system, one of pure justice, and the other of pure mercy, Baal and Ashtoreth (Ashtaroth). Ashtoreth’s duty was to aswage the terrible anger and discomfort in the devotees. This was nothing different from the modern Catholic Christ as dispenser of pure justice, and Mary, as his redemptrix and intercessor, the dispenser of pure mercy. The true Christ of the Bible had justice always mixed with mercy and mercy always mixed with justice. Not that the two dispositions of God cancelled out each other; but that the one wonderfully complimented the other in all of His works of love.
Mercy without truth is irresponsible, and anyone who desires that is not honest with himself. We, the sinners of the world, need mercy always combined with truth. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.” (Prov. 16:6). “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psa. 85:10). “Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.” (Psa. 89:14). “But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth .” (Psa. 86:15). “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God.” (Rom. 11:22). Praise the Lord for His mercy and truth. It’s the goodness of God mixed with His enduring mercy which leads to true repentance. And it was His mercy and truth that led the Lord to replace the Edenic arrangement, of Eve at Adam’s side adding to her king’s greatness, with a similar, less attractive one of service, that would lead to her eventual sanctification from sin and ultimate restoration of Edenic godliness if she would submit to it and surrender to the Lord God. But, whoever among her daughters should rebel against this discipline and chafe at the humbling of God, would be swept into the ranks of Satan, along with her children.
When those two polar dispositions of God, His grace and truth, are split apart and separated into two gods, then Satan can destroy God's creatures. Both gods, with either trait, destroys.
“The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted.”( Isa. 14:5,6). “What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” (Isa. 3:15). “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,” “because the law worketh wrath.” (2Cor. 3:6;Rom. 4:15). “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Rev. 12:10).
But, pure mercy is equally destructive. “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” (Dan. 8:23-25). Thus, through this false religion, that looks like the true one of justice and mercy, Satan eclipses God’s true redemptive religion that mingles the two aspects of God’s fatherly character in a beautiful combination, and which alone a creature can trust in. “He magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.” (Dan. 8:11).
Justice without mercy is not justice, it is tyrannical rage. Mercy without truth or justice enables a sinner until death takes him away forever; and thus, in a seductive way Mercy without truth is equally tyrannical. It is tyrannical peace; it grinds us to powder.
Without studying the glory of God that shines in the face of Jesus, we cannot have the redemptive power of the Holy Spirit that gives us faith to approach God, we can never have peace. Thus they never fall on the Stone and are broken, so the stone continues to fall on them and grind them to powder until they finally admit their service to false religion and their proud attempt to propitiate God without His authorized Intercessor. Then they surrender their heart to God in repentance and His Spirit fills them with the peace they longed for all their life.
But, Satan’s one false religion is laying right around us all over the world and is an easy substitution for striving to see the God of truth and grace and to believe in His acceptance. His once false religion the world round, was Baal and Ashtoreth; and they always worked together.
“And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.” (1Ki. 16:31). “And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.” (2Ki. 23:13). “And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.” (1Sam. 7:3,4). “And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.” (Jdg. 2:13). “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.” (Eze. 8:14).
And rather than being redemptive from heaven, the one false religion in the world only compels human emotion, which Satan convinces the people is coming from heaven. They might call it “the renewal of the Holy Spirit,” but, its only the age-old righteousness by human works, worship by avoiding God and relying on human resources in His place. “Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of Mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.” (Isa. 50:11).
The peace Ashoreth offered was empty. “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” (Jer. 6:14-16).
So, the Catholic Christs, the Baalim, the Zeus’s, Jupiters, Molochs, Nimrods,and Osiris’s of the world drive the world’s masses wailing into the arms of the Marys, Ashtoreths, Dianas, Venus’s, Semiremas’s, and Isis’s where they can pour out their poor souls, weeping their poor tears. With all the human imagination that the people could drum up, they had wished her peace, the peace of God, upon themselves. But, wishing is not faith, and faith only comes when we find the true God.
This is why churches are so full of women, and most men stay away. Modern Christianity is designed for women, being modeled after the ancient false religions, and devoid of reproof and chastisement and pain. “The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.” (Jer. 6:29,30).
This false Christianity of self-pity is the reason we hear preachers teach their congregations from their pulpits the unbiblical question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is where the doctrine of pre-trib rapture comes from, which tells weak people, trained in a religion of self-pity, what they want to hear, and allows them to think they can miss the furious storm of trouble that is soon to hit the world, even though the scripture is plain, “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” (Isa. 48:10). “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” (Isa. 13:9-12).
But, before Jesus returns, the true gospel of mercy and truth will be preached to the whole world, for a witness to all nations, and then droves of men will flock to it. The men will come, as they came to the preaching of Jesus, who was full of grace and truth, and to His strong forerunner, John the Baptist. Neither one of them beat around the bush.
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (Matt. 3:7-10). “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” (Luk. 16:16).
“As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” (Isa. 3:12). “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.” (Rom. 1:26).
“And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” (Rev. 14:3,4).
But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” (1Tim. 2:9-15). “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” (1Cor. 14:33-35).
The apostle Paul is clear that Christ, our Creator, did not give the woman the place of leadership over the man. And her sin only added to the permanence of that condition. Adam sinned as well as Eve, but, in accordance with the character of God, law and order must prevail in this world which must survive until Christ could restore the sinless paradise. He chose Adam and the male gender in this role, from top to bottom of the chain of command, and woman as the counselor by his side.
For women to fight this arrangement is to fight against God.
“For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” (Heb. 5:1-4). “Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Gen. 3:16).
The principle I see in this is that the priesthood was not a male contrived arrangement. It was divine. No man took that honor to himself, but it was God’s call and His doing. I can’t see anyone except Satan working to force God to change His most ancient arrangement, and anyone who should try is guilty of the 1Cor. 3:17 curse, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” The temple includes the order of the serving priests.
There is only one known true biblical change to the priesthood, and that was for Christ’s heavenly ministry. “And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another Priest,
Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
For He testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.” (Heb. 7:15-18).
Yet, this didn’t change the male oriented ministry, for Christ certainly was the Son, and He chose 12 men. Certainly there have always been women in the leadership, but not as officiating ministers in the leadership role. Theirs has been a supporting role, just as the military staff officers support the line officers. “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God….
For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.…
Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (1Cor. 11:2-3,8-9,11). A beautiful balance is struck here that keeps men from overlording the women. Nevertheless, her God-given role is to support man, to be “an help meet for him”.
“Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.” (1Tim. 5:9,10). “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” (Tit. 2:3-5). “For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.” (1Pet. 3:5,6). But, some would add to Paul's list of services of the woman that of pastor, conference leader, and even president of the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists.
The scriptures cite a large number of females laboring in the gospel. “And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.” (Phil. 4:3). “And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” (Acts 17:4). “And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women , and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.” (Act 1:13,14).“ And it came to pass afterward, that He went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with Him,
And certain women , which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,
And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto Him of their substance.” (Luk. 8:1-3). “The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.” (1Cor. 16:19). “Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.” (Rom. 16:6).
Any leadership that women had in the past was for counseling other women. But, Deborah was an exception, in her place as wise judge between the matters of the people; yet, she never overstepped her supporting role to take from Barak the reigns of leadership over men. “And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.” (Jdg. 4:4-9).
We can hear her Spirit-powered strong character and rebuke to Barak for his weak faith in God to give him success in the necessary military campaign. She was in essence saying that he shouldn’t have needed the help of women. He should have stood on his own two feet. She took the leadership role, as a courageous counselor, in mercy to Barak’s fearfulness. But, she in no way usurped his God-given male office as leader of men and protector of the nation.
But, we do have instances of that usurpation of government leadership in Jezebel and in Herodias. They both had weak king husbands and they both harnessed the powers of state. And we’ve had a modern counterpart in the 1990’s—Hillary Clinton. Soon, she will be the first female president of the United States. Something of concern, because she follows the unconsecrated patterns of the other two female usurpers and agents of Satan against God’s apostatized people.
Jezebel, came from Zidon, the city-state whose revered god was Milcom, or Moloch. I understand that Moloch was just another name for Baal. Both were fierce, ruthless, murderers and taught the nations of the world to be ugly.
So, Jezebel, immediately upon marriage to Ahab, set up a papacy in Israel, where the church and state were intertwined. “The prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.” (1Ki. 18:19). These priests were paid by the state coffers, not the worshippers' donations.
Such a brutal god as Baal cannot keep the loyalty of the subjects long without an alter-ego goddess. Satan knows this and has always used this two god system, one of pure justice, and the other of pure mercy, Baal and Ashtoreth (Ashtaroth). Ashtoreth’s duty was to aswage the terrible anger and discomfort in the devotees. This was nothing different from the modern Catholic Christ as dispenser of pure justice, and Mary, as his redemptrix and intercessor, the dispenser of pure mercy. The true Christ of the Bible had justice always mixed with mercy and mercy always mixed with justice. Not that the two dispositions of God cancelled out each other; but that the one wonderfully complimented the other in all of His works of love.
Mercy without truth is irresponsible, and anyone who desires that is not honest with himself. We, the sinners of the world, need mercy always combined with truth. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.” (Prov. 16:6). “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psa. 85:10). “Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.” (Psa. 89:14). “But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth .” (Psa. 86:15). “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God.” (Rom. 11:22). Praise the Lord for His mercy and truth. It’s the goodness of God mixed with His enduring mercy which leads to true repentance. And it was His mercy and truth that led the Lord to replace the Edenic arrangement, of Eve at Adam’s side adding to her king’s greatness, with a similar, less attractive one of service, that would lead to her eventual sanctification from sin and ultimate restoration of Edenic godliness if she would submit to it and surrender to the Lord God. But, whoever among her daughters should rebel against this discipline and chafe at the humbling of God, would be swept into the ranks of Satan, along with her children.
When those two polar dispositions of God, His grace and truth, are split apart and separated into two gods, then Satan can destroy God's creatures. Both gods, with either trait, destroys.
“The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted.”( Isa. 14:5,6). “What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” (Isa. 3:15). “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,” “because the law worketh wrath.” (2Cor. 3:6;Rom. 4:15). “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Rev. 12:10).
But, pure mercy is equally destructive. “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” (Dan. 8:23-25). Thus, through this false religion, that looks like the true one of justice and mercy, Satan eclipses God’s true redemptive religion that mingles the two aspects of God’s fatherly character in a beautiful combination, and which alone a creature can trust in. “He magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.” (Dan. 8:11).
Justice without mercy is not justice, it is tyrannical rage. Mercy without truth or justice enables a sinner until death takes him away forever; and thus, in a seductive way Mercy without truth is equally tyrannical. It is tyrannical peace; it grinds us to powder.
Without studying the glory of God that shines in the face of Jesus, we cannot have the redemptive power of the Holy Spirit that gives us faith to approach God, we can never have peace. Thus they never fall on the Stone and are broken, so the stone continues to fall on them and grind them to powder until they finally admit their service to false religion and their proud attempt to propitiate God without His authorized Intercessor. Then they surrender their heart to God in repentance and His Spirit fills them with the peace they longed for all their life.
But, Satan’s one false religion is laying right around us all over the world and is an easy substitution for striving to see the God of truth and grace and to believe in His acceptance. His once false religion the world round, was Baal and Ashtoreth; and they always worked together.
“And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.” (1Ki. 16:31). “And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.” (2Ki. 23:13). “And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.” (1Sam. 7:3,4). “And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.” (Jdg. 2:13). “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.” (Eze. 8:14).
And rather than being redemptive from heaven, the one false religion in the world only compels human emotion, which Satan convinces the people is coming from heaven. They might call it “the renewal of the Holy Spirit,” but, its only the age-old righteousness by human works, worship by avoiding God and relying on human resources in His place. “Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of Mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.” (Isa. 50:11).
The peace Ashoreth offered was empty. “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” (Jer. 6:14-16).
So, the Catholic Christs, the Baalim, the Zeus’s, Jupiters, Molochs, Nimrods,and Osiris’s of the world drive the world’s masses wailing into the arms of the Marys, Ashtoreths, Dianas, Venus’s, Semiremas’s, and Isis’s where they can pour out their poor souls, weeping their poor tears. With all the human imagination that the people could drum up, they had wished her peace, the peace of God, upon themselves. But, wishing is not faith, and faith only comes when we find the true God.
This is why churches are so full of women, and most men stay away. Modern Christianity is designed for women, being modeled after the ancient false religions, and devoid of reproof and chastisement and pain. “The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.” (Jer. 6:29,30).
This false Christianity of self-pity is the reason we hear preachers teach their congregations from their pulpits the unbiblical question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is where the doctrine of pre-trib rapture comes from, which tells weak people, trained in a religion of self-pity, what they want to hear, and allows them to think they can miss the furious storm of trouble that is soon to hit the world, even though the scripture is plain, “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” (Isa. 48:10). “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” (Isa. 13:9-12).
But, before Jesus returns, the true gospel of mercy and truth will be preached to the whole world, for a witness to all nations, and then droves of men will flock to it. The men will come, as they came to the preaching of Jesus, who was full of grace and truth, and to His strong forerunner, John the Baptist. Neither one of them beat around the bush.
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (Matt. 3:7-10). “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” (Luk. 16:16).
“As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” (Isa. 3:12). “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.” (Rom. 1:26).
“And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” (Rev. 14:3,4).
posted by David | 6:18 AM
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