365 Days of Male and Female Piety

 365 Days of Male and Female Piety

What is male and female piety? What is true, godly masculinity and femininity? Our churches have largely followed the world into what I will call a feministic egalitarianism. In other words, the sensibilities of the female sex are now meant to rule over the home, church, and government. This pervades every sphere of life, and all in the name of “equality” or “fairness”. The quiet (or not so quiet) assumption is that women have been suppressed for too long, their voices unheard, their faces unseen in the public square, their influence non-existent in the course of human history. History has been too brutal and bloody without women having at least an equal share of leadership and opportunity. So in the doctrine of feministic egalitarianism, it is safer when women balance out men and keep them in check. Men must be civilized by women, and this is the real “help” that the woman gives to the man that Scripture speaks of. Woman as helpmeet becomes woman the tamer of men, as this is the only way the nations of the world will finally beat their swords into plowshares (Isa. 2:4). So, this doctrine argues, to promote true peace and harmony is to promote the compassion and agreeableness of the female sex writ large over all spheres of life and in every institution. Men can still “lead”, as long as they become soft and pretty and agreeable like women, and the woman will have the final say on when man has achieved this cultured state of civility. But what has this feministic egalitarianism produced over the last few generations or even centuries? It has only led to toleration of wickedness and sympathy for the wicked, especially seen in LGBTQ+ insanity, abortion on demand, and mass immigration of foreigners without even an expectation or requirement to assimilate (and no thought at all that mass immigration in principle is cruel and unjust to the native citizenry and families that built and established their country for their posterity). Such feminized egalitarianism has of course, and by design, neutered men and masculinity. The male instinct must be suppressed, for that has been the source of all our problems, so it is said. Women tame men, but man has refused to be tamed by woman, and using his brute strength has kept woman in second place between the sexes. Though admittedly, things have gotten so out of hand that even speaking of only two sexes, male and female, is a hate crime, or at least rude. Female compassion has gone to seed so badly that a man can actually mutilate his own flesh and declare himself a woman to the applause and agreement of many, even with legal recognition in some cases! Nature, or God’s created order, cannot be dissolved with the stroke of a pen, or even with the cutting of a knife upon the private parts. The murder of the developing baby in the nurture of its own mother’s womb not only takes the life of the baby but also tears the soul of the mother. Apart from the saving grace of God, God haunts the murderous woman for her great evil as well as the father who supported her or passively went with the flow, as feminized egalitarianism has catechized him to do. So as women are hardened against the fruit of their own womb, on the other side, men are being suppressed and told to be passive at every turn. Greatness, strength, courage, daring, and wisdom are all frowned upon as displays of pride, foolishness, dangerousness, and delusion. Greatness is not needed when feminine sensibilities are dominant. Greatness is risky, liable to promote conflict and upset the status quo. But have you noticed the status quo lately? The feministic managed decline of our nations begs for God’s natural order to rear its head again. This head is glorious and beautiful when wedded to the grace of God found in Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. This is because, while man is fallen, Christ the last Man restores fallen humanity, male and female alike, to their true design and calling. The differing natures and glories of men and women find their restoration and indeed their culmination through union with the risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But even apart from redemption in Christ, the natural order between the sexes that God has established is better than the unnatural perverse disorder that we see today. Fornication is a sin, but homosexual fornication is an abomination worthy of death. Men sinning in ways of excessive of their masculinity is wicked and will send one to hell, but men sinning against their nature, emasculating themselves, is a sin against not only others but themselves. Further, it is a sin by failing to be the leaders and dominion takers that God has created man to be. It is to be a monstrosity not merely by action, but by nature. It is as disgusting as a man wearing a dress and baking the cookies and burping the baby. And that is as disgusting as a woman wearing a suit and tie and leading a company or a government and nation, or a woman wearing fatigues and combat boots and going off to war for her country. But if you are like most today, you are offended that I said this about women. That is because you have been baptized into feministic egalitarianism from birth and have been catechized by it all of your life. It is a false religion, a heresy, and your very nature as male and female screams against these lies, as does God’s Word. Feminism and Egalitarianism can only exist on the back of masculine strength and virtue, which in prior generations and centuries conquered lands, settled and cultivated it. Great buildings, technology, infrastructure, political wisdom, felling of forests, paving of roads, putting down evil and murderous men and treacherous hordes of ungodly men, all of this is possible only through the strength, ingenuity, wisdom, and godliness of good and righteous men. Return to the Garden of Eden, and we see that from the beginning it was always this way and always meant to be this way. Eve, the woman, is a helpmeet to man, a homemaker and child-bearer and life-giver. That is a glorious calling, but society now teaches the female sex to betray her nature and glory as a woman to play at being a man. She has become man’s competitor and rebuker, rather than helper and lover. But it is not good for man to be alone, and what he needs is a helper, a lover, a comforter, not a pretended man in the home to butt up against and fight. In our present moment, men are still expected in some ways to uphold stability and society, yet in an emasculated fashion, always henpecked by the womanly of both sexes. Men are still to rescue the damsel in distress (that is, be blamed and take the blame for all the distress of women) while the damsel refuses to acknowledge her distress or that she can even be considered a “damsel”. As a result of this, many men have either fallen in line by cutting off their masculine drive and self-respect, or by at least selectively toeing the line now imposed upon them by feministic egalitarianism. They will arise to defend the woman, the weak, the stranger far away, but will not stand to defend their fellow man, the one in need nearby, nor will they admire and model themselves after the strong and successful. The feminist gaze keeps them captured, and they can only be “manly” by upholding the feministic order. Otherwise, they must be soft and gentle, non-threatening, against adventure, risk averse, and dare only to never be daring. Other men have reacted hard against this, and are seeking to get stronger physically, sometimes swearing off of women entirely, and are either turning to what they see as more masculine forms of Christianity, or more often than not, are rejecting Christianity today altogether as a soft religion for pesky women. Scandalously, many of our churches and pastors are in fact feminized, following the spirit of our age rather than being the daring, counter-cultural, prophetic voice of God as understood through the Scriptures. So-called complementarianism has become (or perhaps always was) a halfway house between biblical fidelity and full-blown feminism. It says that men and women have differing roles to play, but are equals, partners, and the differing natures of men and women are either denied or dodged. In effect, this promotes asexuality, that men and women are sexless concerning their natures, but this is supposedly salvaged by calling men to fulfill the role of a male, and females are to uphold the role of a woman. But even these “roles” are hollowed out to a few Bible verses, mostly saying that while women cannot be ordained to preach, they can still be paid on church staff and earn seminary degrees to qualify them for “un-ordained” ministry in the church. It is often said that women counselors are needed in the church because men cannot effectively minister to women. So sometimes “sex” differences are noticed, sometimes they are ignored, but always in the direction of feminized egalitarian sensibilities. The sexes are flattened out to sameness, and yet women still are said to need other women to lead them. But where Scripture says women ought to lead, which is in the home, under and in obedience to their husband and as caretakers of the children (Titus 2:3-5), this is either outright despised or a point of embarrassment for many in our churches today, including many complementarians. Men must be called to be men indeed. That is, stop letting the feminization of society and Christianity prevent you from being a godly man. Do not despair and become bitter, for that is not manly and only neuters yourself in a different way. Do not emasculate yourself at their demand and become an effeminate gal-pal either. Do not embrace the assertiveness and toughness of a man without the righteousness and wisdom that God also created man to embody and exercise in his life and leadership. Possess and express the faith that real men are to have in Christ, the great and worthy God-Man. Be the visionary that so many men refuse to be. Blaze the trail for a godly, masculine public square once more, doing so at the scale and capacity the Lord has allotted to you. This begins with the formation of a family, with marriage and children. It takes just one godly, feminine woman to be found, or more likely formed and wooed by your masculine strength and Christian virtue. Let the countless feminist women despise you, and the emasculated men as well. Show that you are a responsible man by working hard even when the deck is stacked against you. Be diligent in studying the Scriptures, praying to the Lord, and not in a soft and womanly fashion, but one praying for great things, beginning with the great need of killing your own sin by the power of the Spirit, guidance of God’s Word, in order that you may rule your household well. Call out with firmness, but not in bitterness, the feminizing of things today, but show a better way forward by hard work, physical health and strength, ingenuity, and the open desire to have a wife that will submit to you, follow you, support you, and bear your children and nurture them as her primary and chief calling that God has given to her and to women in general. Show that you value such a glorious woman, and that the domestic sphere and work of birthing and rearing children and keeping the home is highly prized and desirable in your eyes. Note that the loveliness of your wife would be matched by her tenderness and sympathy directed where it should go, which is toward her husband and her children whom she loves dearly above all else, save God Himself. Cast that vision to women, no matter that many of them will sneer at you. Some of them will secretly like it even while they hiss at you. They cannot help it, for it is in their nature and will return and renew them if they haven’t utterly suppressed and unsexed themselves. If your weak male friends or even men at your church tell you this is too firm, tell them that men today are too soft, and only a loving firmness can be the rock that our women, our churches, and our nation desperately needs. Pray humbly and importunately before the Lord to bless these efforts, that they would not be you play-acting, but the overflowing of your true character and righteous heart. Pray the Lord would then soften the heart and shape up one woman who has likely been propagandized from her infancy to see such a man like yourself as weird or even dangerous for what you actually are and are striving to be – a real man, a Christian man who would be as a lord and savior to her, a protector and provider whom she would be blessed to help and have for a head, a husband. It is against the backdrop of our feminized and egalitarian society that I write these snippets on male and female piety. They are designed to be read daily and completed in 365 days, or one year. I address men and women separately, each with their own snippet, as both need direction today, not only to recover their own duties according to their own sex, but also to understand the other sex and what they are to be. Each day you can read a selection addressed to you and your sex, taken from Scripture and wise counsel and the wisdom of great and godly men (and perhaps a few women) of the past. Then, you can read a selection for the same day addressed to the opposite sex. This in brief paints a complete picture for what man and woman are and how they are to live in these sexually broken times. This is good for single men and women as well as those married, as a constant reminder and motivator to grow all the more into the men and women God has called you to be. It is my desire that this work would be used to strengthen men and soften women, as is proper to them each, so that the necessary foundation would be laid for the formation of faithful marriages that would produce many children who are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, according to the appropriate piety of their particular gender, all of which reflects Christ and the Church in the marriage and family (Eph. 5:22ff.). As the family is the seedbed of society, so the family government is the necessary foundation for civil and ecclesiastical government, insofar as when the rod is spared and the children are led astray, these future men and women will not wield the sword of justice in civil government, nor will they exercise the keys of the kingdom of heaven in church government in a righteous and biblical fashion.