Donal Graeme linked to this, and it will do as a starting example of functional antichrists.
I genuinely feel bad for you that you don’t understand that Christ’s inclusion of women within His own ministry was an act of feminism! GASP!! Too bad for you and your narrow framework/lack of compassion for half the world (women).
I think it is wonderful if in deed you are truly serving Christ. But in my compassion less narrow minded view I am concerned because you are incredibly misinformed in regards to the teachings of our Lord and his apostles.
It actually sounds like you have succumbed to feminist theology. Feminist theology teaches that God is not male, God does not exist in a Trinitarian form, Jesus was a feminist, and the true history of women was edited out of the Bible.
These are lies of the highest magnitude, and I hope this is not what you are advocating. Feminism has nothing to do with the ministry of Jesus Christ our Lord. Feminists would have you believe that the Word of God is null and void to advance their own agenda. Feminism is a hateful ideology that seeks to empower women at the expense of everyone else.
I have more time for atheists than antichristians. It’s easier to deal with pagans than antichristians. For the implication is that they are distorting the doctrine of the church, denying scripture, and denying the Gospel. Often while holding the forms of Christendom, as Paul said, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it.
And there are always antichrists. They need to be confronted. They need to be named. And they need to be cast out of our congregations, for they do not abide in Christ.
18Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. 20But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. 21I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth. 22Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.
26I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you. 27As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him. 28And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming. 29If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right has been born of him.
So why am I hammering feminism with this passage? Well, at present feminism is the zeitgeist. Men are reduced to unicorns. Gender is a social construct, and the words male, female, sex and (horrors) biological determinism are but social constructs. Because women can do anything, and to say otherwise means you are a patriarch, and require your thirty minutes of hate.
And feminism denies the masculinity of Christ, and the trinity. so I do not see how you can be a feminist and of Christ.
Christ sets an order for the church: the apostles appoint elders, who rule — and the qualifications for elders require that (a) you only have one wife — disqualifying Joseph Smith (polygamous, and a heretic). (b) you can rule your family well — your wife and children are believers. There go the divorced, like me.
Paul enjoined women to be silent in church, and to teach each other. Not to be an elder, not to be a minister — in my experience when women run the church things go horribly wrong. For everything get subsumed in either their search for power (which they call equality) or because they have trained themselves to see patriarchy everywhere.
But the text tells us to do otherwise. We are to abide in Christ. We are to do good, and act as Christ would. And this, folks, will require a fair amount of confrontation: we will have to ignore the memes of this age and dare to speak directly, taking the risk that what we do in love will be called hate.
For Anti-christians live in a prison of their own making: the filters they train into their perception of the world make the bars. Here there is a commonality between the feminist saying the world hates women, and the Race fascists saying there is a conspiracy of the Commies, or Fascists, or Jews, or White Privileged.
Hold all to the rule of scripture. Stay close to Christ. Test everything. For that reasonable, sweet voice, promising you that you are special and you need to be lifted from oppression, is from the pit.
2 John 1:7 – For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
1 John 2:18 – Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1 John 2:22 – Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1 John 4:3 – And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Proverbs 8
King James Version (KJV)
8 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
18 Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.
36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Calling feminists ‘anti-christs’ is not an argument. The argument that God is 100% masculine is the argument that females are not and never can be in ‘the image of God’ or can never be ‘like Christ’. There is much in the Bible to uphold a type of equality of male and female, properly understood. You may work for someone and you call them ‘boss’. Positionally at work you are not equal; but before the Creator you are equal.
No. The argument is that feminist Christianity denies the incarnation of Christ, instead looking a feminine (Christa) or for the pagan or gnostic, and not salvation. This is nothing to with our need for salvation, we are all equally needy, for we are all moral agents, and thus guilty
I have never heard or read a mainsteam christian female leader say anything other than that Jesus is the Son of the Living God, and that Jesus is God. Denominations that do not accept the Trinity of course do not accept Jesus as God. Do you have any sources? A thought for you that will surely get me labeled as a ‘feminist’; Deborah was made Judge of Israel by God Himself and thus occupied the position first held by Moses. As such every male in Israel was obligated by their covenant with God to submit to Deborah’s authority. The closest equivalent in the church would be a female Pope.
Not the issue. Lydia was running a home church. Paul names female deacons. Miriam was a prophetess.
THe problem is that the assumptions of the feminist movement are incompatable with Christianity.
There was a popular feminist book some years back (drawing a blank on the name), that argued Old-Testament Yahweh was originally a woman, and Hebrews were originally a Matriarchal goddess-worshiping cult. After an ancient revolution scholars changed all the texts to make Yahweh a man. However, they left secret clues that reveal Yahweh’s female gender.
Like all things based on secret Bible codes, it wasn’t taken seriously by mainstream religious scholars; however said theory is popular with New Age Goddess-worshipers, who use “the Abrahamic God is secretly Mother Earth!” as an argument against Christianity.
While I do not beleive any Christian churches blatantly express “Mother Earth” goddess worshiping beliefs, I agree with the observation that modern churches are adopting and preaching secular movements. I think its more of a misguided attempt to stay hip & relevant, than an attempt to undermine Biblical scripture and lead Christians away from God. However; that doesn’t make it right.
Case in point: Ouija boards marketed to Christians called “Guardian Angel” boards. Slapping “Christian” on a non-Christian entity doesn’t make it compatible with scripture.
Whether its feminism, or evocation of spirits – Christian churches shouldn’t be peddling anything other than Christianity. Once they start deviating from Christianity, than they should just identify as another religion altogether, instead of dressing up-non Christian things as Christian.
Agreed: I’m aware of these people — the feminist theologians get published and promoted, while those who preach the gospel plainly get bad peer reviews.
The church should preach Christ and him alone. When the church does that — and this has happened for all churches from the Orthodox and Catholics to the Anglicans and Presbyterians — the Spirit will cause reform and growth, but when we fall either into dry academia or frank heresy we die.
This is why you need to engage your brain during a sermon, and confront your pastor when his homiletics are courting heresy.
Earth Mother religion is as old as history. It is basically the Genesis story but with the Serpent as the giver of knowledge and wisdom to the Woman who is the Earth-Mother.Serpent is the good guy, God is the bad guy.
Ah, so you’re one of those folks.
As a former Near Eastern studies major, I’m all too familiar with the theories that conflate the ancient Mesopotamian sea-snake God Ea, with Yahweh.
While the argument makes sense from a linguistics standpoint (Yah is the Hebrew approximation of the word “Ea” – meaning something along the line of “almighty lord/master”), said theory falls apart when one compares Biblical scripture to Ancient Mesopotamia mythology.
Ea is a belligerent alcoholic sea-snake/merman [?]. In Ea’s most famous tale, he got blasted during a dinner party and drunkingly transferred all his divine God powers to the goddess Ishtar. When Ea recovered from his hangover and asked for his powers back, Ishtar refused to return them. Ea never got his power back. (Meanwhile, Ishtar crowned herself Goddess of the Earth, and crowned her husband Thammuz the God of Corn. Than their marriage fell apart, Ishtar separated from Thammuz….until she murdered her-ex in a fit of jealousy when she caught him partying with other women.)
Bobbye, If you want to beleive God is a powerless merman with a serious drinking problem, go right ahead. I’m not going to insult your faith. However; the religion you’d be practicing isn’t Christianity. You would not be worshiping the God described in the Bible. (However, the jury’s still out on the Devil being a divorced goddess that kills innocent men for the evulz).
Reading comprehension?
The earliest known existing “Serpent in the Garden” story is the one involving the Mesopotamian snake/merman God Ea. The Mesopotamian Earth Goddess was Ishtar.
There have been theories suggesting Ea is Yahweh, since their names have a similar etymological root. However, that is a coincidence. The God in the Bible isn’t a belligerent drunk merman.
That only happened because men weren’t stepping up to the plate; the book of Judges explains that; an extraordinary circumstance, not meant to be normative. Men are meant to rule, and women to follow: that’s God’s plan for the species created in His image, us.
‘Christian’ should be capitalized thus.
And your parents misspelt ‘Bobby’, which, even for Roberta, has that shorthand, not with an ‘e’ at the ed. Ugh.
” that’s God’s plan for the species created in His image, us”
Where did female attributes come from? Use the bible please. Who is this female Wisdom in Proverbs that is so highly praised? God Himself gave me the name Bobbye, and with that spelling. I guess in your book that makes God dumb?
Oh, really? Most people are named by their parents, not by God.
Tell you what, since I see no point trying to use reason, or bothering to quote Scripture to someone who apparently has a direct link to the Almighty, why don’t you ask Him yourself, not only why He gave you that name, but where in His Word you may find such truths expressed?
I’m through talking to you.
Abram’s name was changed to Abraham by God, Joseph was renamed Israel by God. Becoming a new creation in Christ is all about a direct link to God. I am sure you are very familiar with these Scriptures, some of which this blog has recently quoted. Jesus had the same controversy with the Judeans.( John 8:55)
It is sad that most people who go to church believe that God never speaks to individuals personally. That of course means that fellowship with the Father and the Son can not exist. It’s only religion.
Oh, and so God spoke as directly to you as He did to Abraham and Jacob (not Joseph, it was Jacob renamed Israel; learn your Scriptures!), and He said, ‘Bobby, from now on, you’re Bobbye!’. Right…
We have the Holy Spirit indwelling in us if we are believers, and we have God’s Word. But gifts such as speaking in tongues have ceased, and anyone who believes God is speaking words to them outside of Scripture today is a nutbar. If you think that God is speaking to you today face to face as He did with some in Bible times, you’re a nutbar, too.
The only reason the God who created me in His image would not/could not speak to me is if He did not in fact exist. There is no other reason. What would that person be but a ‘functional atheist’? And that is exactly the kind of person all to common in churches. It is exactly the kind of persons that Jesus had His harshest criticism of.