The Wicked Are Not To Be Envied

THE WICKED ARE NOT TO BE ENVIED.

Let not thine heart envy sinners. — Prov. 23:17.

Yonder goes a crowd of people. Men and boys with here and there a coarse woman, are eagerly pressing on, In the middle of the crowd goes a cart. In it is a man, with his arms tied behind him. A few months ago he was going at large like other men. But he killed a good man that he might get his money. He was soon suspected. He fled, but was caught and brought back. In a few months he was tried. The evidence against him was full and clear. He was found guilty. He was sentenced to be hanged. He is now about to die a painful and shameful death. In a few minutes the awful scene will be closed on earth, and his soul will return to God, to be judged by him, who makes no mistakes, and always judges righteously. No man envies this poor wretch in his present condition. Even the most wicked say, 'Let me not come to such an end. I would not be in that man's place for all this world.' But all sinners are not in so awful a condition. Indeed, many of them are very prosperous. They have much that pleases them and pleases the carnal heart. They are full of life and mirth. These are they whom fools envy. Men praise them, court them, and natter them. Many wish they could have as large a share of temporal good.

Let us inquire — 

 

I. What is it in sinners that we are apt to envy? This is a grave question. Let us weigh it well. 

1. Many sinners have much money. So little does God think of riches that he often gives much of them to his enemies. True, money is a good thing; if we use it aright, and do not set our hearts on it. But riches are not necessary to any man. Many of the best and greatest men the world ever saw have lived and died poor. Still human nature is so weak and so corrupt that but few men can look at others rolling in wealth without envying them. They seem to have such an easy time. They are not bowed down with poverty. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish. They are proud, and their eyes are lofty. Men call them happy and envy them.

2. Sometimes the wicked seem to have a great deal of pleasure. They are not in trouble as other men ; neither are they plagued like other men. They laugh and shout when others sigh and mourn. Their joys seem to be sparkling. They boast a great deal of their pleasures. Take their word for it, and no people are so happy. They have a fine time. They praise each other. They do not willingly indulge any fears about the future. They say "To-morrow shall be as this day, and more abundant." They avoid all thoughts about dying. Nothing but decency leads them to the house of mourning. Their laughter is loud and is mad. They call themselves men of pleasure. One of their number in the last century was called "The Happy Rake." Those who have not health, or money, or time thus to live in ease, are very apt to envy these lovers of pleasure. 

3. Some sinners seem to get many of the honours of this life. Men praise them. Perhaps they have learned the tricks of securing public favour. They know what springs to touch and what wires to pull. A little flattery here and a little bribery there bring them the offices they seek. The higher they rise, the higher they seek to rise. Men call them great or wise. Fools gape at them in wonder. They seek the honour that cometh from man, and they have their reward. To them the praise of man is sweeter than the praise of God. If they can have things their way, they care not for others. Silly people stand off and ad mire and envy. 

4. Others envy the wicked for their apparent freedom from restraint. The law of God does not bind them any further than suits themselves. They follow their desires and their vile affections. In morals they are hardly a law to themselves. They say and do what is right in their own eyes. Speak to them about God, and they say, "Who is the Lord that I should obey him? My tongue is my own, my mind is my own, I will do as I please." To a carnal mind, this looks as if it was a fine way of getting through the world, and the foolish envy these lawless ones. 

5. Sometimes sinners seem to be, and for a long time are, free from afflictions, which so much distress the righteous. A good man often has more trouble with his wicked heart alone, than the sinner has with all his affairs. All the concern which the pious have about the Church never troubles the wicked. Often God seems to give double trials to his people, and few or none to his foes. These things and many more like them often stir up in men a desire to be like the wicked. But after all — 

II. There is no good ground for preferring the state of sinners. There is really no Divine blessing permanently resting on the wicked, as there is on the righteous. "A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked." "Whereas evil shall slay the wicked, and the righteous shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him : lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened him self in his wickedness," Psal. xxxvii. 16; lii. 6, 7. "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great riches and trouble therewith," Prov. xv. 16. O yes, it is God's blessing that maketh rich, or happy, or truly honourable. 

There is also a sad amount of alloy mixed up with all that sinners have. Much as they have, they wish for more. Then there is always some painful draw back. If the king honours Haman, still there is an old Mordecai that will not cringe and truckle to a tyrant. If Ahab has much, still there is a Naboth who has too much conscience to part with his portion in Israel. If Joseph's brethren sell him to Egypt, the famine compels them to go after him for bread. If Herod will live in shameful sin, there is a John the Baptist to tell him of his baseness. Then the passions of sinners are at war with each other and with mankind. The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth; the wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him, Psal. xxxvii. 12, 32. One vile passion in the heart is enough to make any man unhappy. 

The devices of the wicked will ruin them. They are spreading snares all the time for the feet of others; but they are all the time sinking down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. Pharaoh was at the head of the greatest empire in the world. He thought he saw how every thing should be done. But the end of him is that he perishes in the Red Sea. 

Nor are the wicked without conscience. The "Happy Rake," seeing a dog pass through his room, wished that he was that dog. To the guilty, the shaking of a leaf may be a terror. "A dreadful sound is in his ears," Job xv. 20. The Emperor Caligula confessed to the Roman Senate that he suffered the pains of death every day. If a man would have health, he must be on good terms with his stomach; if he would have domestic quiet, he must be on good terms with his wife; if he would not lead the life of a wretch, he must be on good terms with his conscience. 

Moreover, all nature is armed against the wicked. The stars fought against Sisera. Against sinners "the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it," Habakkuk ii. 11. The plagues of Egypt are sometimes renewed in our day on many a wicked man, though seldom at once on a whole people. 

Then all those seeming advantages of the wicked cannot last long, "For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be," Ps. xxxvii. 2, 10, 35, 36. Sometimes it looks as if a man would ruin his neighborhood, his country, or the world. But God says, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." 

However long the wicked may live, and however high they may rise, their course must end in everlasting darkness. The case of that poor man on his way to the gallows for murder is sad indeed ; but it is no more sad than that of a poor sinner on his way to perdition. All that believe not in Jesus Christ shall lie down in sorrow. Nor can any sinner tell until he enters eternity whether his doom shall be more or less dreadful than that of the vilest criminal. The greatest sinners in many cases are those who frequent the house of God, but love not the Saviour. 

REMARKS. 

1. Instead, therefore, of envying sinners, let us pity them, pray for them, and labour for their conversion. In this work let us be fearless and faithful. It is a shame and a sin that we should not warn men of their great danger. A little faithfulness might save many a man who is now ready to sink into ruin. There is a great lack of true, heavenly zeal. 

2. Let the righteous show that they are pleased with the choice which they have made. God has given them to drink of the water of life. Let them not try to quench their thirst with the dirty puddles of earth. He has given them bread from heaven. Let them not beg the world for a slice from its loaf. The great practical error of Christians is that their souls do not always follow hard after God. If we would make more of our religion, our religion would do more for us. Psal. Ixxxi. 13 — 16. Heaven is no hive for drones, for laggards. O! let us stir ourselves up to take hold upon God.

Sermon 10, from Short Sermons For The People, London, 1872

All Things For the Church

In light of the last 3 posts, I wish to submit the following observations on Ephesians 1:22.

To get the full force of verse 22, we need to back up at least to verse 11, and continue to verse 23. In context, here's how it reads:

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:11-23 – ESV)

Notice, first of all, that verse 11 informs us of God's sovereign control, indeed, His decree, concerning all things. Nothing happens, but it falls within God's decree for His purposes. But verse 22 tells something about this purpose: it is all for Christ as the head of the Church. And it is that idea that I wish to focus on after the last three posts. 

Here is what I wish to bring to our attention. Everything that transpires in this world has reference to the Church. Notice that the passage specifically states all things. Temporal blessing and punishments of nations, good and bad weather, high and low prices, war and peace, all things are worked actively by God for the Church under the headship of Christ. At the risk of being overly technical in such a practical observation, it can be stated this way: Reprobation serves Election.

Before bringing our observations to the present, I wish to use the Old Testament as an illustration. Granted, many things happened in world history that are not recorded in Scripture, but it is quite noticeable that whatever world events that are mentioned in Scripture all have this one feature: they serve the advancement and betterment of God's people. Every empire that rose and fell are all viewed through the lens of their effect on the people of God. And God unhesitatingly claims to use these kingdoms as His tools for blessing or chastising His people. Indeed, the ultimate disaster of the ancient world, the Flood, was for the sake of God's people. The world was made a safer place for righteous Noah and his family. Scripture informs us that the Deluge is a precursor, a type, if you will, of the great Day of Judgment, which will again, make the world a safer place for God's people

Now to the present. The recent US Supreme Court ruling in favor of Sodomy, like its previous ruling endorsing the covenant-breaking evil of divorce and the child-murdering horror of abortion, the rise of ISIS and its evil equivalents, the natural disasters, wars and numerous other perils – all these things are ordained and are being overruled by God for His people.

This should serve two purposes.

First, it should calm the fretting hearts of God's people. The world is not out of control. It is under His control. We can sleep soundly knowing that God is sovereign.

Secondly, this should serve to lead us to repentance. Many of the societal evils we lament have gone on virtually unchallenged in what we call “Evangelicalism.” The statistics regarding premarital sex, adultery, homosexuality, divorce, and abortion among professing Christians are staggering. God will not be mocked. And the previous three posts addressed this very point. If God pours out wrath upon a rebellious nation, it will be primarily because those who are called by His name have caused it to be blasphemed.

For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Romans 2:24

But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ Ezekiel 36:20

As the previous posts asserted, God may let an individual go unpunished in this lifetime, because He is storing up eternal wrath against him. But the same cannot be said of nations. The nation of America will not go to heaven or hell. Only individuals have a distinct existence in the afterlife. Nations, since their existence is limited to this world, will not go unpunished until the Day of Judgment. And when God pours out the deserved wrath, it will be to vindicate His name which we, by our rebellion, have cause to be blasphemed. “I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel.” - Ezekiel 39:7

Rather than point the finger at the President, the Supreme Court, Hollywood, or whatever other corrosive influence we can think to blame, we should point the finger squarely at the Church and her apostate behavior. Is it any wonder that the PCUSA and others of her ilk are endorsing sodomy, when the core doctrines of the Christian faith, such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Virgin Birth, the Deity of Christ, and the Resurrection have been openly scorned in the seminaries and pulpits of the mainline denominations for over a century?

It is in the light of these consideration that Christians should view the world.

 

The Agency of God in the Infliction of Evil (Part 3)

Today we conclude the presentation of this 1837 article from the Reformed Presbyterian.

The universal distress which pervades the land, from south to north, is a loud and renewed call to national repentance. A third time, during a very brief period, God has thus stretched over the land the rod of an avenging and warning providence; saying, "hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it." But, there is no general conviction in the community that sin is the cause of this evil; those who are most deeply involved seem disposed to attribute it to any but the real cause. By one class, the evil is wholly ascribed to excessive speculation; by another, to the maladministration of the executive government. We have no doubt that business has been overdone by excessive speculation; we know that there have been gross acts of maladministration on the part of the executive of the United States. To consider these as the causes of the present calamity is by no means meeting the case: they may, and doubtless have had their influence as means: but the unseen hand of the Almighty has directed the machinery of means for the accomplishment of his own righteous judgment. "O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times." Matt. xvi. 3. "The Lord's voice crieth unto the city." Have wisdom to understand it! True wisdom lies in making a suitable improvement of the judgment, by returning unto him in the exercise of repentance and reformation.

The love of the world – the acquisition of wealth has been rapidly growing for some years past, till finally it has assumed the character of an all-absorbing passion, governing and directing nearly the entire community. At Mammon's shrine, the national homage is paid: while the worship of God is awfully neglected. The god of this world hath blinded the understanding so much that the mass of the population act as if the only end of their being was the acquisition of riches and personal aggrandizement. The things of sense have well-nigh possessed the minds and desires of the present generation to the exclusion of those that are spiritual. Time is thus preferred to eternity; and its passing pleasures to the realities of a blessed immortality. The consequence of such a state of things is a prevailing profligacy of manners—an increase of immorality. Christianity with its duties and obligations, is despised; over-reaching speculation, and fraudulence in business, are practiced or countenanced by the most influential of the community; violence and force assume the authority of law, and not infrequently end in deeds of blood; Sabbath-breaking, dueling, gambling, and theatrical amusements, are common characteristics of the times. And shall not God visit the land because of these things? Will He permit prosperity to be always abused without calling the guilty to an account? Infidelity has obtained a wide and welcome reception, throughout the land; infidel principles are avowed and acted upon, by legislators and rulers, while the truth of God's word is trampled upon by both. The instrument which binds the United States together as one nation is such, as far as religion and morality are concerned, as might be found among a people who knew nothing of the existence of the divine law. The constitution of the United States is infidel; it contains no acknowledgment of God—the Supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ, over the nations,—the truth of the Christian religion,—or the obligation of the Holy Scriptures. The United States have by this Compact placed themselves in the fearful condition of being a people without God. 

While referring to national sins as causing judgments, it would be highly culpable to overlook the sin of slave-holding. This is properly a national sin: and one, we are persuaded, that has an intimate connection with the present commercial and other distress. W e shall not no w enter upon the evidence that slave-holding is a national sin ; we only remind our readers, that slavery is recognized the Constitution of the United States, “by bestowing upon the domestic tyrant who holds hundreds of his fellow creatures in bondage, an influence in making laws for free-men proportioned to the number of his own slaves." This alone, would be sufficient to bring home the charge of national guilt. Congress has admitted into the Union slave-holding States; and thus recognized the lawfulness of slave-holding. Congress, which is the national legislature, has full powers over the district of Columbia, and the Territories; yet slavery exists in them; nay more, the district of Columbia is the great slave-market of the United States. And, as if in solemn mockery of the sacred names of justice, liberty and humanity, man—man made in the image of God, is within the very sight of the Capitol, brought under the Auctioneer's hammer, and bid off, like cattle, for dollars and cents! If slave-holding is sinful; and none will doubt it who is not under the influence of interest or prejudice; then, verily is the United States guilty, exceedingly guilty: and God by his providences seems to indicate clearly, that the nation shall not pass with impunity. The crime seems written on the punishment; and cannot be misunderstood by an attentive observer of passing events. The sin of slavery stands pre-eminent among the sins of the land; and to it the present dispensation of Providence has an especial reference.

The friends of humanity have for some time been calling upon the slave-holding states to abolish slavery; the national legislature has been petitioned to exercise the power with which it is invested; to abolish it in the District of Columbia. And what has been the result? The south has been maddened into rage; and Congress has virtually denied the right of petition on the subject. The door has thus been shut against all constitutional redress. The self-interested, and the sycophantick in the north, have made common cause with southern slave-holders. The calls of reason and religion; have been met with passion and brutal violence. Neither southern taskmasters, nor their northern abettors, can now plead ignorance; duty has been set before them, and they have been urged to perform it: yet have they not repented. As God, in his providence, as well as in his word, has been commanding them to let the oppressed go free; and as they have not done it, He is now visiting them with calamity. The cotton crops of the south have failed; the unrequited labors of the slaves have so far, not enriched their masters: when they "looked for much, lo it came to little." The product of those crops was anxiously looked for as the means of liquidating their debts. The northern merchants as well as others who had advanced monies on them have suffered, and are suffering with the planters. Slaves who were readily bought up, at from one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars each, only a year ago, are now selling at four hundred. The immediate consequence of the failure of the crops raised by slave-labor is one general insolvency, from New Orleans to New-York. A few months ago, one firm in the former city failed, and that has been followed by a crowd of others in both cities to the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars. This rapid change from prosperity to adversity ought not, and cannot with safety be overlooked. It has added another, to the many warnings of providence: it is a loud call to the duty of national repentance. If this call is treated as former ones have been, we know not whether God may give another: He may say of this nation as he did of Ephraim; "He is joined to his idols, let him alone" till the cup of iniquity be filled. Nothing but repentance and reformation can save the nation from this doom. Let every Christian know that he has a duty to perform to his country and to his God, in this crisis; it is, to give a public testimony against prevailing national sins.—To proclaim, to all, the duty of repentance. The morals of the people need reformation; prevailing vices must be curbed and put to shame: — the infidelity which has so deeply imbued the civil institutions of the country, both the general and state constitutions, must be eradicated; Christian principles must take the place in these, which they ought always to have occupied, and give a renovated character to the laws and their administration. Public offices should be filled with men of religious character and integrity ; men who instead of taking the lead in immorality should be a terror to evil-doers and a praise to them that do well.—The national disgrace of slave-holding must be wiped off by letting the oppressed go free. The safety of our country and its permanent prosperity depend upon our national repentance and reformation: Sin must be forsaken or the avenging justice of God shall overtake us. "The irreligion of our nation and of our rulers is the source of all our dangers. Other means may become the instruments of our punishment and ruin, but, it is sin that brings them to bear with fatal effect upon us, and which gives its poison to the sting of every earthly calamity. As long as the rulers and the people forget God, He will forget them. Since He is not in all their thoughts, to their own devices they shall be given up, and shall eat abundantly of the fruit of their own evil ways." (The Prospects of Britain, James Douglas) But, repentance, may not yet be too late "Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting and with weeping, and with mourning. An d turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." 

The Agency of God in the Infliction of Evil (Part 1)

This and the following two posts are from an article in the August and September 1837 issues of the Reformed Presbyterian. While the primary national sin the anonymous author bewails is slavery, it takes no effort to see the applicability of the article to contemporary national sins. The full title of the article is "The Agency of God in the Infliction of Evil: and Why He Does It."

The word evil, though one of very common use, has an extensive latitude of meaning. It is used in different senses: and, like many others, its meaning in a given case, can only be ascertained by its relation to the context. In the remarks which we now lay before our readers we use the word as expressive of physical evil—external trouble, suffering, calamity. It is so used by the sacred writers as in Amos, iii. 6. "Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" 

In this use of the term, evil is caused by God; and the infliction of it, forms an important part of the administration of his government of individuals and societies. This is a truth, which, perhaps more than any other, is liable to be neglected.—Indeed, men generally act, as if the evils which are endured by individuals or societies were altogether disconnected with the providence of God, when in fact they are inflicted by him. Not even a sparrow can fall to the ground irrespective of his will. It is a practical forgetting of God to attribute to secondary causes the events of providence, whether evil or good; it is the very spirit of Atheism, and is followed by the most injurious consequences to religion and morality. The Almighty claims to himself the high prerogative of inflicting evil on the children of men, and of communicating good to them; and reproves them severely for despising the truth. "I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." "Except the Lord do build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city the watchmen waketh but in vain." Is. xiv. 7. Ps. cxxvii. 1. 

It does not correspond with the Divine plan of government, however, to operate directly and immediately in the production of evil: the ordinary course of God, is to employ a subordinate agency of means; through the medium of such means, He inflicts evil upon individuals, cities, and nations. This is indeed the ordinary way by which God proceeds in all his providences, means are subordinated to his designs, and by these he accomplishes what he has designed. And the means as well as the end are ordained by Him. He determined to inflict evil. He determined too, the means by which it should be inflicted, and the whole train of events and circumstances that might render them operative. 

These means are numerous and exceedingly varied. Sometimes the agency of man is employed: man is made the means of bringing evil upon man, while the immediate object he has in, view is the gratification of his ambition, pride, malice, or cupidity; but the sufferings of others are the effects: and are to be seen in the desolations and horrors of war, encroachments on the rights of men, slander and reproach, and every wicked work. And here it ought to be remembered,- that however deserved the evil may be, as coming from the hand of God, and determined by him; that man often acts very sinfully as the instrument by which the evil is inflicted. 

Sometimes the beasts of the field become the instruments of evil lo those whom God would afflict. And sometimes the most insignificant insects cut off the hope of the husbandman, at one time, by destroying the precious seed; at another by devouring the fruits of harvest. "When your gardens and your vineyards, your fig-trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord: that which the palmer-worm hath left, hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left, hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left, hath the caterpillar eaten," 

Sometimes, the elements of nature are the means by which God sends evil upon the sons of men. By an unseen hand, the wind that had been at rest, is awakened; and, as if aroused into anger, careers over the deep, while the stately ships with their crews and cargoes, that had been gliding onwards in apparent safety to their respective havens, are in a few hours or perhaps moments strewed as wreck upon the waters. The merchant and the ship-owner mourn over their bankrupt fortunes, and their families are reduced to poverty: widows and orphans weep over husbands and fathers lost, and their cheerless homes proclaim the reality of their experienced evils. The solar heat during the summer months has only to range above the usual warmth, and the traveller becomes exhausted and the labourer sinks under its influence: or in winter, the cold becomes intense, and the sailor is frozen before the mast, the traveller perishes on the highway and the friendless poor suffer in their wretched dwellings. The stream that moves gently onward to the ocean—and which man renders subservient to his pursuits of business or of pleasure, suddenly swells beyond its accustomed channel and desolates the neighbouring country; and thus the fruit and the toil of years are swept into destruction, while the unresisted flood pours contempt on the feeble efforts of man. 

The thunder rolls; and the lightning's streak is seen to quiver through the heavens, and the terrified animals that had crowded together under a neighbouring tree fall lifeless. Or perhaps the calamity is still more dire, the electric fluid enters the habitation of man, and the unsuspecting inmates in the midst of joy are struck dead! Or it may be, the common element of fire obtains the mastery over man, and covers with wide spread desolation whole squares and streets of buildings. The stillness of night is disturbed by the alarm and dismay of the terror-stricken inhabitants, while the irresistible conflagration leaps from house to house, and from street to street, and ma n looks on, helpless and confounded: the accumulated wealth of years—the millions that had been collected from all quarters of the globe are in one night consumed: and thousands of individuals dependent on their daily labour are reduced to want. This is no ideal picture drawn from fancy; it is one of fact; and strong as are its lineaments, they are less deeply marked than the originals furnished in frequent scenes of too recent occurrence to need particular description. 

Sometimes, disease is made the means of scourging the inhabitants of the earth. God in his righteous providence frequently visits nations, by sending among them epidemical diseases, which very speedily become the means of consigning vast numbers to the grave, and of inflicting unspeakable suffering upon such as survive. "I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt, saith the Lord." Such calamities, by whatever names they ma y be known, are the servants of God in doing his pleasure among the sons of men. Modern times furnish us with an awful illustration of this kind, in the disease of Cholera. More than fifty millions of human beings (or upwards of one sixteenth part of the whole human race) are said to have been cut off by this angel of destruction, in a few years. It has passed from East to West, and scourged the nations in its course. Its deadly march through our own land is yet fresh in our memories, when the stoutest heart was appalled, and universal mourning and bereavement filled the land! 

Sometimes, the sources of national wealth are dried up; while bankruptcy and want swell the aggregate of suffering. "He that earneth wages, earnelh wages to put it into a bag with holes." "Ye looked for much and lo it came to little, and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it saith the Lord of hosts." The present mercantile crisis, in the United States, is an extraordinary example of the kind to which we have referred.—A whole nation cast down from the very "summit of an almost unexampled mercantile prosperity! And, how sudden, how rapid the change from prosperity to ruin? The work comparatively of a moment! Many, who a few months ago, could command hundreds of thousands, are now bankrupt—the most extensive chartered companies cannot meet their pecuniary obligations.—In one. word, as a commercial people we may be said to be bankrupt. Unless we are destitute of all religious impressions we will recognize the hand of God in these things.—He has blown upon our prosperity and it has come to nought.

The Church Effeminate, by Stephen C. Perks

The Church Effeminate

Stephen C. Perks

Christianity and Society, Volume X, Number 1, January 2000

Recently I was asked whether it would be correct to say that, in the history of the world, whole dynasties and indeed civilizations have foundered on the rock of homosexuality. My answer was that I would not put it this way. Of course I believe that homosexual practices are immoral, and forbidden by God’s law. However, in Rom. 1:21-32 Paul puts it this way: Men turned away from serving God to serving the creature. As a consequence God gave them over to impure passions. Homosexuality is God’s judgment on a society that has turned away from God and worships the creature rather than the Creator. Spiritual apostasy is the rock upon which cultures, including our own, founder, and homosexuality is God’s judgment on that apostasy. This is why homosexuality was a common practice among the pagan cultures of antiquity, indeed is a common practice among most pagan cultures, including now our own increasingly neo-pagan culture. In short, the idea that the toleration of homosexuality is an evil that will lead to God’s judgment is unbiblical because it puts the cart before the horse. It is the other way round. The prevalence of homosexuality in a culture is a sure sign that God has already executed or is in the process of executing his wrath upon society for its apostasy. The cause of this judgment is not the immoral practices of homosexuals (immoral though homosexual acts are); rather it is spiritual apostasy. The prevalence of homosexuality is the effect, not the cause of God’s wrath being visited upon society. And in a Christian (or perhaps I should say “post-Christian”) society this means, inevitably, that the prevalence of homosexuality in society is God’s judgment on the church for her apostasy, her unfaithfulness to God, because judgment begins with the house of God (1 Pet.4:17).

This is not a popular message with Christians. It is easy to point the finger at gross sin and immorality, but the church is much less willing to consider her own role in the social evils that blight our age. The spiritual apostasy that led to our present condition started in the church, and much of the debacle of modern society that Christians rightly lament can in some measure be traced to this apostasy of the church as the root cause. And even now the church refuses to take her responsibility for preserving society from such evil seriously and has abdicated her role as the prophetic mouthpiece of God to the nation.

Of course, this does not mean we should not challenge the gay lobby and work to establish biblical morality in our society. We must. But we must also get our priorities right, and I fear that the church has misdiagnosed this problem and got her priorities wrong. The church suffers from the homosexual blight as much as, perhaps more than (with the exception of the media and entertainment world), any other section of society. For most of this century the church has been seeking a female god to replace the God of the Bible. We have had ministers who have thought, acted and preached like women for many years now. The clergy in our age is, on the whole, characterized by effeminacy. The increasing number of homosexuals in the ministry is, I think, both a cause and effect relationship related to this and at the same time a manifestation of God’s judgment on the church. Often, of course, judgment works through cause and effect relationships, because the whole creation is God’s work; it therefore functions according to his plan and will. The church has become thoroughly feminized by an effeminate clergy. Ministry today is directed primarily at women, and ministers have begun to think and act like women, so that Christianity has become what someone has called “lifeboat religion”—women and children first.  And the world sees this well enough.

For example, I have been told on more than one occasion by priests and ministers that when they go out visiting members of their parishes if the man of the house comes to the door the first thing he will often say is “I’ll go get the wife.” Vicars and ministers are there to pamper to women and children, or so the world thinks, and this is simply because ministry in the church is so often directed primarily to women and children, not to men.  Likewise, I have been told by clergy that now that women are increasingly present in the ranks of the clergy the nature of chapter meetings etc. has changed; now these meetings of the clergy are characterized much less by doctrinal matters and discussion revolves more around “relationship” issues (in other words the meetings have been taken over by a women’s agenda). I have observed the same kind of thing in church meetings. If one brings up doctrinal issues or even serious issues about the mission of the church there is little interest. “There isn’t time now. We’ll deal with this another time” is the usual response, though seldom are such issues dealt with later either. But there is always enough time to consider trivial matters and in particular whether all our “relationships” need more work on them. And yet in most churches where I have experienced this kind of attitude I have not detected serious relationship problems troubling the church. However, there have often been and continue to be prodigious doctrinal problems and problems related to the church’s understanding of its mission in the world troubling these churches, yet these are not even considered worthy of discussion in church leadership meetings. Church leaders will talk endlessly about “relationships” and the like but avoid doctrinal issues like the plague because these are deemed to cause division and hinder “relationships.”

Now at root I believe this is a serious problem created by the feminization of church leadership. The leadership agenda, which is a masculine agenda, has been replaced by a feminine agenda, which is a disaster for leadership. The church has abandoned the God of Scripture for the coziness of a female type of deity who does not require church leaders to expound biblical doctrine or act with conviction according to God’s word (both of which are perceived, often correctly, as causing division—Mt. 10:34ff.), but instead requires leaders simply to mother their congregations in a feminine way. This naturally produces effeminate clergymen and an effeminate church. But this is not merely an impersonal cause and effect relationship. God works through second causes in his creation to accomplish his will. An effeminate ministry and an effeminate church is God’s answer to the church’s determination to replace the God of Scripture with a female god; and this crusade against the God of the Bible has been, in its own way, as much a feature of evangelicalism as it has been of the outright liberalism that evangelicals claim to abominate yet so willingly imitate.

Not only is this a problem in the church now, but because it is in the church, society at large is now feminized and effeminate. We are ruled by women and men who think and act like women. But women do not make good rulers generally. In Margaret Thatcher we had a reverse situation, a women who thought more like a man should think—but the exception does not nullify the rule. I am not making a party political point here, or endorsing any policies; because even then I believe this was all part of the judgmental situation. The world is turned upside down because men have turned it upside down by their rebellion against God. Jean-Marc Berthoud made this point well in his article “Humanism: Trust in Man—Ruin of the Nations,” which I recommend in relation to this topic. We are now ruled by women and boys (Is. 3:4, 12).

But leadership is not feminine. Effeminate leaders do not rule well, either in the State or the church. It is vital that justice is tempered with mercy. But one cannot temper mercy with justice. When mercy is put before justice societies collapse into the idiotic situation we have today where criminals are set free and innocent people are condemned. For example, punishments meted out to motorists for inadvertently driving a little over the speed limit today, even where no danger is involved, are often more severe than punishments meted out to thieves. And a parent can be punished for spanking a naughty child today, even where such punishment is carried out in a loving and disciplined environment and there is no danger to the child; yet one can murder one’s unborn children with impunity. The State even pays for these abortions by providing them on the National Health Service.

This, I believe, is ultimately the result of the feminization of our culture. It is often thought that feminine rule is more compassionate, more caring. This is a myth that feminist ideology has worked into the popular perceptions of reality in our culture. On the contrary, the feminist culture is a violent culture, a culture that produces abortion on demand and at the same time the demand for the banning of fox hunting. A more perverse situation is hardly imaginable. Ultimately feminism is in practice inherently violent, inherently unstable, inherently perverse, inherently unjust, because it is all these things in principle, viz. the rejection of God’s created order, and the consequences of a religious commitment will always work themselves out in practice. Feminism is now working out practically the consequences of its religious vision of society (and it is a religion).

The churches have failed to see this. They have embraced feminism vigorously, and as a consequence have become themselves a major avenue by which feminism has been able to influence our culture. The clergy were involved in feminizing the faith and the church well before the feminist movement had become so conscious in the popular perception. And the feminization of our culture is a major reason for its anarchy and violence. For instance, the result of the feminization of society has been that men have lost their role in many respects. Feminism has defined men into nothing more than yobbos or effeminates. These are the two alternatives for men in the feminist perspective, though this might not be understood by many feminists, perhaps usually is not, because feminism is naïve and operates not on the basis of reason but on emotion; and this brings us again to the problem of female leadership and rule. Emotion does not lead or rule well. For the feminists, men are incapable rulers; women should rule. Now we have the rule of women and effeminate men. The effect of putting the feminine virtues into the place of the masculine virtues and the masculine virtues in the place of the feminine virtues has been to overturn the created order. As a result justice is despised and mercy is turned into vice. Leadership is masculine, but it needs the tempering of the feminine virtues. When feminine virtues are in leadership the masculine virtues cannot function; masculinity is made redundant. This is one of the most serious problems facing our society. Feminism has rendered masculine leadership in the church and the nation obsolete, and we are now reaping the spiritual and social consequences of this. Justice is a casualty. Mercy ceases to be mercy and becomes indulgence of the worst vices. Violence, anarchy, disorder, and a dysfunctional society are the legacy of the feminization of our society, because in this order neither the masculine nor the feminine virtues can play their proper role. The world is turned upside down. Even the “Bible believing” churches are numbed in their apostasy regarding this and many other matters in our society. We have an effeminate church, and an effeminate society, and therefore God’s answer has been an increasingly homosexual ministry and an increasingly homosexual society. This is God’s righteous judgment on our spiritual apostasy.

The answer is repentance: turning to God and turning away from our rebellion against the divine order of creation. The church must start this. Judgment begins with the church (1 Pet 4:17), and repentance must also. I do not believe we will solve the homosexual problem until we recognize its cause. It is God’s judgment on the apostasy of the nation. Leading the way to that apostasy was the church.

What I have said above is not meant to downplay the seriousness of the homosexual problem, nor its immorality. But we must recognize it as a manifestation of God’s judgment, as Paul teaches so clearly in Romans chapter one. The answer lies with tackling the root cause, while not leaving undone the other things. What is said here is not meant to encourage a lessening of Christian opposition to gay rights by any means; but it is meant to encourage a wider reading of the problem, because it is in this wider reading of the problem that we detect the cause, and hopefully, the solution to the problem.

Furthermore, this issue is not an isolated one. It is all part and parcel of the re-paganization of our society, a trend that the church in large measure has not only acquiesced in but sometimes actively encouraged by her myopic perception of the faith and her practical denial of its relevance for the whole of man’s life, including his societal relationships and responsibilities. While criticism is necessary and vital in the church’s prophetic task of bringing God’s word to bear upon our society, it is not enough. The church must also throw off her own acquiescence in the practice of secular humanism and practice the covenant life of the redeemed community instead if she is to have any effect on our culture. So far, the church, by and large, has shown herself unwilling even to contemplate the practice of this covenant life, and has contented herself with mere criticism at best (though not even criticism of secular humanism or its code of immorality is to be found among many clergymen). Therefore the judgment will continue unabated until the church once again begins living out as well as speaking forth the words of life to the society around her. Only then will she begin to manifest the kingdom of God; and only when the church begins to manifest the kingdom of God again will our society begin to be delivered from God’s judgment.

The article can also be found Here