Mom4Truth

“Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” Jeremiah 2:21. In this verse God is speaking to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah, but is He saying the same thing to the people of America today?

There can be no doubt that the U.S. is floundering. I don’t mean just financially, although that is certainly a very real concern. No, what I’m talking about is the moral and spiritual degeneracy currently permeating our land.

Down we go, down to new depths of depravity. Most people in America haven’t a clue of what’s just around the next bend in the river concerning this nation, still, to some it obvious. America is currently wallowing in total depravity, but too many Americans see only what they want to see. Instead of a united nation, America is horribly fragmented. Increasingly we’re seen as a populous of “What’s in it for me” and “The devil take ya” attitudes. Something’s rotten in America , people, and I don’t think it’s oily fish.   

Since America has given God the boot, American’s no longer give God the glory as the provider of their needs. Being thankful for what they’ve received from God has become a foreign concept. Americans have kicked God out of every aspect of life, even many churches no longer allow Him in. Is there still a question in anyone’s mind as to why America is riding the toilet rim?

Because these days are filled with bad news and economic down turns people keep turning to one political figure after another as a cure-all to fix everything, Instead we should be turning to the only One whose great pleasure it is to heal and restore. This One is mankind’s Savior, Jesus the Christ. According to a recent poll taken in America approximately 80% of Americans profess they are Christian. If that be the case, then we need to ask ourselves two very serious questions: First why, if 80% of America is Christian is there a Muslim determining America ’s fate? Second, as a nation that claims its foundation stone was the rock Jesus Christ, why have we done a 180 degree turn away from Him and His teachings? America would not be in the toilet today spiritually and morally if we hadn’t turned our backs on God some decades ago.

Since 80% of American’s claim they are Christians, it tells me many are either lying or they don’t really have a clue as to what it means to be born again. It’s impossible to be a Christian without being born again. A person can’t just claim to be Christian yet have no knowledge of what that designation entails. They can play Christian but we can all see where that gets us.

“Ye are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14. God surely planted a noble vine when He planted America , a light to a lost world. But that once very influential light has diminished and is now in jeopardy of going completely dark. Many theologians say America never was a Christian nation, only that God, for a time in the past, could claim a much larger portion of the American populous as His children. After doing extensive research into America ’s past I’ve come to the conclusion those theologians may be correct. I don’t doubt 80% of Americans claim to be Christian, but I do doubt their spiritual conversion. And it’s as plain as day as to why I have my doubts.

“Ye are the salt of the earth:” Matthew 5:13a. To be a Christian means we adhere, as best we can, to the percepts put forth in the Bible. In the past we made it known to the world that America was a nation of Christ’s followers. If Americans as a majority are Christian, then they certainly aren’t following the Bible as their guide to living that Christ filled life. “…but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Matthew 5:13b.

God gave us everything we need in His word, and by that I mean He’s given us His commandments which are to be our guide in all life’s endeavors. But how many of the American’s polled who make up that 80 percentile group above actually read and study their Bibles? Or for that matter, how many even believe the Bible to be God’s inerrant word? It’s only my educated guess, but I would guess that only a small minority of those who claim to be born again (Christian) actually study and believe what they learn from God’s word, and even less actually apply what they’ve learned to their lives.

If I’m correct in my assumption, then as a nation we’re in real trouble, and we have been for some time. Our Liberties, those basic freedoms most take for granted have begun to deteriorate and are in danger of reaching levels not previously seen on the US’s portion of this continent. For this reason, the scarcity of true born again believers in Christ, America may well be beyond help when it comes to re-establishing our once revered republic.

How did the United States of America ever go so long without slipping into a totalitarian run country before now you might ask? I believe the numbers of those who actually placed their faith and their lives in Christ’s hands and allowed Him to have dominion over all aspects concerning their lives as well as their families was at one time much higher than the artificially inflated numbers we see today. In years past there were many more truly born again Christians who stood firm on the morals and precepts proclaimed in God’s word. They are the ones who did the voting and they placed their vote for individuals who had morals and were of good character. This just is not the case today; morals of the majority of American government officials are at an all time low. If we are voting for these folks as Christians, we are voting with our eyes closed. 

Morals and character are two forgotten godly characteristics relegated to a by-gone era. These two lost biblical concepts are no longer taught in our public schools nor, I would gather by the evidence, in most American homes today. America ’s school children are now taught more about sex than any other subject previously taught in those once hallowed halls. Why? It is and has been the agenda with the sexual revolution crowd for many years. It’s the old “anything goes mindset” the current mantra is “Let’s get today’s children indoctrinated in all manner of sexual practices and perversions at the earliest of ages possible” (in Montana sex education now begins with kindergarteners).

At some point in the not so distant future Americans will be living in a society where everything goes and immorality will be overwhelmingly practiced. Promiscuity will no longer be taboo but demanded from every child and applauded when they’ve reached the pinnacle of sexual depravation. “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” Matthew 18:6, 7.

Evil is ever present, and when not held in check spreads like cancer. Who holds evil in check? Holy Spirit filled Christians. The degeneracy of America has been coming for some time now, which tells me Christianity has been diminishing right along. So when we read of polls taken proclaiming an 80 percentile range of Christians in this country know this, something is amiss.

With little or no moral or spiritual education as children, and even less discipline, crime flourishes in America . Thus the national crime rates are continually rising; hence America builds more prisons to accommodate the ever increasing criminal population.

A very real and current danger arising from an over taxed populous is that many local and state principalities can no longer afford to hold onto their prison population. For example, the duration of court assigned sentences are being drastically cut because of a lack of funding to increase the size of county jails and for the jailers who supervise the criminals. This carries over on a larger scale when related to state and federal prisons. So criminals are being released back into the unsuspecting law abiding population long before they’ve paid their debt to society and where they may, with impunity, continue their lives of crime. That old adage of “If you can’t do the time don’t do the crime” is no longer relevant.

So criminals are turned back out on the streets and it becomes a never ending cycle of crimes leading to more crimes leading to more regulations which also become just as impossible to enforce because of the lack of enforcers. And it’s all because America has turned from being a nation made up of moral Christ followers, to a majority of followers of the religion of secular humanism where anything goes. The truth of God’s word is no longer embraced but debased.

The fault for the flourishing degeneracy of America lies with all Americans, but even more so with those who profess to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We allowed this evil to progress by what we allowed to be taught to our children in public schools. When our children, while attending public schools for twelve years, are taught that there is no God, that humans evolved from pond scum, and that our prehistoric ancestors were primates, we must expect and accept the consequences of those teachings.

Ultimately what happens to human beings indoctrinated with the lie of evolution, which is pure satanic, is a migration toward animalistic tendencies. Since those who are taught this lie are being convinced they evolved from an animal with no moral restrictions, they no longer perceive any moral absolutes, and the sky’s the limit when it comes to depravation.

When degeneracy is allowed to flourish in any society, all too soon that society will be transformed into a wasteland no longer fit for human occupancy. A nation that continues to loosen its morals and discards its character will, before long, end up as did the people that existed in the days of Noah just prior to the great deluge. And we all know what happened to those sick and depraved individuals, or do we? The Bible must be believed and interpreted literally to understand the account of Genesis 6 properly and to understand why God sent that worldwide flood. Those who don’t believe history, or who allow history to be changed to fit a more civil concept or even forgotten for that matter, are doomed to repeat it. “But as the days of Noe (Noah) were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:37.

The key to a moral society is to live by God’s word. When His word is disparaged, or eliminated completely as it has been in our public school system, as well as in many homes in America , moral decay inevitably moves in. How can degeneracy and moral decay be abated? It can’t. At least not without God. Personally, I don’t see God being embraced by the majority of Americans any time soon.

America – 80% Christian? Not hardly. America – flourishing in degeneracy? Now we’re getting to the truth. America – willing to make changes and head back toward God? Not so you’d notice. America – a nation headed for self-destruction? Likely, very likely.

“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.” 1 Timothy 2:12-14.These Bible verses have certainly seen their fair share of controversy over the years. Battles rage over just exactly what Paul meant here and was he just speaking culturally to those folks at that particular time in history? For the answer to that question the Apostle Paul takes us clear back to the book of Genesis.

Many people don’t really have a clue about the deception that took place in the Garden of Eden. “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1. First of all we must ask the question “Why did the serpent (Satan) seek out the women to confront with his lies instead of Adam?” Satan brought his temptation against the woman because he perceived she was more vulnerable to attack. This is because she did not receive the command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil directly from God, but through Adam. 

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17. God gave the clear command to Adam. Then, when God created Eve, Adam made God’s prohibition of that particular tree and fruit clear to her. But Eve probably didn’t really pay all that much attention to Adam when he passed on God’s command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when the serpent (Satan) questioned Eve as to whether or not God said they couldn’t eat of the fruit of that tree, she responded with “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Genesis 3:2-3.

We must take notice of the fact that Eve’s knowledge seems to be lacking. She doesn’t name the tree of whose fruit she and Adam were to abstain from eating.

Actually, Eve’s first mistake was in carrying on a discussion with Satan. “The Lord rebuke you” should be our only words as we address Satan. As we can see, Eve’s apparent lack of knowledge makes her all the more vulnerable to deception. She then went from bad to worse as she misquoted the command God gave to Adam. Her words, “Ye shall not eat of it” and “lest ye die” are close enough, but she added to the command and put words in God’s mouth when she said, “neither shall ye touch it.” The major consequence we see that arises from putting words in God’s mouth is we begin to teach the doctrines of men as if they are the commandments of God. “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:9. It’s interesting just how many of mans idiosyncrasies have become doctrinal mandates in our Churches today.

Secondly, Eve was deceived but her husband was not deceived “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” 1 Timothy 2:14. Satan perceived Eve to be the weaker link in the chain and so he approached her with his lies, sure enough she fell into transgression.

By taking us back to the beginning, Paul precludes any arguments that might arise concerning women teaching or usurping the authority of men as being a cultural issue of that society. Paul’s admonition was not a cultural issue then, nor is it now; it’s God speaking through Paul.  

God knew what would happen if women were allowed to teach men and to usurp authority over them. Sure enough, the majority of the cults today were begun by women who have manipulated the scriptures so that they could, without fear of condemnation, rise to positions of authority over men.

Over the past few decades women have become pastors of churches because of a lackadaisical attitude on the part of the Church, not to mention men’s ignorance of scriptures. So what do we see happening today? The completely erroneous rendering of the truth of the scriptures by those who wish to supplant God’s word. “But I suffer not a woman to teach:“ The word “suffer” used by Paul is from the Greek word “epitrepō” and it actually means “permit”. Paul says he does not permit a woman to teach or usurp authority over a man. Women are not free to usurp authority over men nor are they at liberty to become pastors of Churches.

I know that I’ll receive a massive amount of letters disputing Paul’s stance on women in a pastoral position. Many will attack me for even suggesting there’s a problem with women being in a position of authority over men. They’ll march out Debra, Esther, Lydia, and Priscilla. None of whom were priests or pastors of Christian Churches. And knowingly or not they will be attacking God.

“This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;” 1 Timothy 3:1-2. A bishop must be the husband of one wife. Bishop, Elder, Pastor is what the text refers to. The Greek word for husband is “anēr”, a masculine noun with the following description: of a male, of a husband, of a betrothed or future husband, any male. And the Greek word of wife is “gynē”, a feminine noun. A description of the word “gynē” is: a woman of any age, whether a virgin, or married, or a widow, a wife, a betrothed woman. There can be no doubt as to what Paul was saying: no to women pastors, no to women teaching men. The text is clear.

We are all called to proclaim the Gospel to all nations, men and women alike. This means we explain the Gospel of Christ to anyone who will listen. Jesus Himself told us to do this simple thing. Speaking the truth of the Gospel is witnessing and possibly sharing your testimony with others. This is a far cry from where we see women have advanced to in today’s Christian Churches. Senior pastors, presidents of Christian seminaries and universities usurping authority over men. 

“One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)” 1 Timothy 3:4-5. So we can see plainly that Paul only wants men who are capable of rearing their children in the admonition of the Lord. Not once does Paul include women in the mix of Bishop/Elder/Pastor, or Deacons for that matter. There are probably many well meaning women in leadership roles in churches who only wish to serve God with all their heart. But God’s word is firm and to the point, no women pastor, elders, bishops, or deacons in My Church.

“Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.” 1 Timothy 3:8-11. Women who bypass the clear exegetical rendering of scriptures to pursue and obtain the office of Pastor/Elder/Deacon are in full contradiction to God’s word, and so are the men who’ve allowed this error to escalate.  

Here’s a little side note: In this same verse “the husband of one wife” has also been quite controversial in regards to men who’ve been divorced being excluded from holding the position of pastor of a Church or even that of Elder or Deacon. Paul was keenly aware of the pervasiveness of the cultural acceptance of taking in marriage multiple wives. But Paul in no way excluded men who were biblically divorced from entering the ministry or holding the office of elder or deacon. After all it was Jesus Christ (God Almighty) Himself who said that in the case of adultery divorce was acceptable. Who was it acceptable to? To God. Jesus put no restrictions on a man who divorces his wife for infidelity on her part, especially by excluding him from the ministry of preaching, or holding the office of elder, deacon or even a Bible teacher. This exclusion by many denominations has left many capable men who were called by God Himself into the ministry out in the cold. God says go and preach my word, and the Church says no. Makes a lot of sense doesn’t it?

Interestingly too, if the whole counsel of Scripture is bypassed, should we not also exclude Paul (who wasn’t married) and Jesus Christ Himself from being leaders of the Church or teaching? Of course not, what we must do is work within the boundaries of scripture instead of the boundaries of men.

Certainly by now the majority of the readers should see that Paul is quite adamant about the exclusion of women in the preaching ministry. Remember this verse? “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16. In other words, these verses I’ve included in this commentary are not just written by Paul the Apostle, but they were God breathed. If Paul says he does not allow women to teach or usurp authority over men, then we can be assured those words came from the Creator of the Universe. 

If you are in a Church where your pastor is a woman then you are fundamentally standing with her, thus you’re standing against God. Ignoring the scriptures placed above even after looking into the Greek only makes your case weaker. Corrupting and manipulating those same scriptures, twisting them to say what you want them to say, or interpreting them contrarily to the exegetical norm won’t cut any ice with God when you try to explain your disobedience to Him concerning His word.

Lastly, I feel I must address the idea of homosexual pastors. A homosexual bishop/pastor/elder/deacon cannot possibly fulfill the requirement set down by God Almighty in which a man must be the husband of one wife. God sets the parameters, not man. God created male and female for a reason. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Genesis 2:24. The word used here in the Hebrew for man is “'iysh” and means male, man, opposite of female. And the Hebrew word for wife is “'ishshah” and the description in the concordance is – woman, female, opposite of male. Absolutely no confusion here.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it…” Genesis 1:27-28. Homosexuals cannot multiply, they cannot replenish the earth, and they are actually a deterrent to replenishing the earth. Thus they stand diametrically opposed to God Almighty.

Homosexuals are an abomination to God, an affront to His inerrant word, and He would never condone the ordination of a women pastor, let alone a lesbian, to pastor a church. How in the world does a lesbian fulfill the requirement of “the husband of one wife?” It’s impossible. Again, it’s a case of people thinking that the Bible is not to be taken literally. God knew what would happen to His Church if these abominations were allowed to spread, and He tells us of the apostasy in the last days. People, we are there. Now women pastors and even homosexuals are taking over many of the mainstream denominations all because they either misinterpret the scriptures or they dismiss the word of God as simply metaphors and allegories and mostly irrelevant to society today.

Do you really want to be taught the scriptures by someone who avoids those verses that are clearly contrary to their position? Does “be ye not deceived” come to mind? Where’s all this headed? God knows.

“Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8.