Book Sale

Saturday, 12 April 2025

Boomers Don’t Get It

 


Source Macrobusiness.[1]

I don't think many more well-off Australians, particularly Boomers, realize just how much the prosperity of this nation has declined in the last 25 years. Look at this graph above. Only 25.8% of homes in new housing estates are being bought by people born in Australia. When you consider that many people here are second generation immigrants, the number of actual heritage Australians buying new homes in Australia would be even lower. But just taking that number on board, of 25.8%, this means nearly ¾’s of most new homes are being bought by foreigners born overseas. Australians are losing our land and the ability to afford to live in our own land right before our eyes. This is driving Australians into the ground. 

For the Biblically literate this might help you understand just what is happening.  

Isaiah began his ministry in the days of Uzziah, who reigned in Judah, and was a contemporary of Jeroboam the 2nd in Israel (Is. 1:1). Isaiah began his ministry at what is considered the second peak of Israel's glory. Israel and Judah were nearly as rich in Uzziah's and Jeroboam's day as they were in David and Solomon's day. Isaiah came along as these nations had passed that peak and begun their downward spiral.

Isaiah lived long enough to see Israel, that is the northern kingdom with its capital in Samaria, completely destroyed, and Judah, the southern Kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem, ravaged into a tiny rump state. We see a description of this in Isaiah 1:7, "7 Your country is desolate, our cities are burned with fire; Strangers devour your land in your presence; And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers." The whole of chapter one of Isaiah is set after segments of the book that actually come before it. Isaiah 1 gives us an overview of what happened to Israel and Judah because they ignored the prophets. “Strangers devour your land in your presence…” 

The rapid decline in prosperity in Israel and Judah was phenomenal. They went from near record wealth under Uzziah and Jeroboam, to having a situation where only the rich were able to own a home. Isaiah 5:8, "8 Woe to those who join house to house; They add field to field, Till there is no place Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!" That’s right, the Bible warned about a situation where only a few could own a home. Israel reached the stage in its decline where the poor, who had a right to be able to live affordably in their own land, were being locked out of the housing market by the greed of the wealthy. And their land was being given to foreigners to do with as they pleased on top of all this.

While it happened in a bit more of a dramatic way in Isaiah's day, with fierce conquering Assyrians being part of the fall of Israel, we are seeing much the same thing happen today in Australia. History does not repeat but it rhymes. Australia has fallen into the same kinds of sins as ancient Israel (c.f. Isaiah 1-3) and is facing the same consequences as a result. Explaining what is happening in Australia through this biblical lens might just help many baby boomers understand what is happening. 

Boomers, let me address you here. This is not the country you grew up in. Not even close. You know this in your hearts. You know that all the gender nonsense we see today did not exist in your youth. Well, neither did the current state of the housing market, you had a completely different set of opportunities in front of you that your children and their children have. The advice you give the young about getting into the housing market today is about 40 years or more out of date. Conditions have changed. You saw Australia at its peak, at the peak of opportunity and affordability. Yes, many of you worked really hard, we understand. But you lived in a day where the rewards for your hard work were manifold more than they are today. This is just an economical reality. Young people are working hard, saving and seeking to be responsible. But they are dealing with a completely different society, where the deck is stacked against them in a multitude of ways. 

Much of what is called progress today is simply judgement on our society for rejecting God. Hopefully now you can understand that just as things like gender identity have gone crazy, so too has access to reasonably priced housing. All these sorts of things are to be expected in a declining society. The young do need to work hard and save, of course they do. But they also need social change. Boomers, you guys have the most political power, I encourage you to start thinking about how you can use it to benefit your grandchildren and their children. They need change, and quick.

Friday, 11 April 2025

Understanding the Morality and Necessity of Tariffs

 




If you don't understand the tariffs, or you think there is no plan, I really encourage you to watch this video by Clayton Morris on his gaming channel.

THIS IS NOT A GAMIMG VIDEO, though it launches from the new switch game prices. This video is the best simple explanation of the wisdom, morality and practicality of the tariffs.

We in the West have been gutting our working class for decades now to immorally profit off basically slave labour in poorer countries. All to pay slightly cheaper prices for electronics that we used to make here and could afford anyway before they were offshored.

The bill has come due. The sooner our own government follows Trump's lead, and puts large tariffs on countries like China, India and others, the sooner we can move through the pain and rebuild our own industry here. If your economy is vulnerable to tariffs, it's because you have structured it immorally to serve the financial elites who move money across borders in the billions at the press of a button. It's time to reign that in. For the good of all of us.

Just consider one of the less thought about impacts of free trade. Because of Australia’s offshoring policies since at least the 1980’s the amount of companies and factories that made stuff you could invest in has gone down. It is now much harder to invest in production in Australia, than it once was. This has created a situation where the major sectors for investment in Australia have become the resources industries, which are mostly sold overseas, the universities which import a lot of people into these sures as their business model, and housing. Why housing you ask?

Well for decades in Australia housing has been one of the only sure bets to increase your money. There have been several housing booms pushing house prices to levels people once considered impossible. So, more and more money has been put into the land and housing market, while less and money in Australia goes into producing the things that we consume. This has had the terrible effect of locking Australia's wealth into unproductive land and housing. This is money which could have gone into industry, but instead it is just moved around in the housing market, continually inflating it. Which has also in turn, of course, had a terrible effect on housing affordability. It is not just debt and high immigration which is causing the affordability problem, the lack of genuinely profitable sectors to invest in also contributes. In essence Australians have traded cheap T.V.s and cars for unaffordable houses. And what is worse is much of the money spent on those devices and products goes overseas. So, to continually inflate the economy our government has chosen the shortcut of high immigration, because Australia is a desirable place to live, but this has come at the sacrifice of affordability and productive ability. This is a serious double blow to our national lifestyle. It is unsustainable. 

The bad effects of free trade and offshoring are many. I especially like the explanation from the business owner in this video using the illustration of a Chinese made lighter verse and American one. This video is a good breakdown of why these tariffs are not just necessary, they are moral and we have to rethink how we go about buying things.

Thursday, 10 April 2025

A New Livestream and Podcast

 




For those who are interested I have started a new podcast. On every Monday night at 8pm to 9pm (AEST) I will be livestreaming a Bible study on the book of Revelation. There are a lot of Christians who want to study this book, and many people do not realize all the wonderful things the book teaches to help us live through our everyday lives, and to face the challenges of this world.

You can find the first video here. This is the first livestream, I have even left in the parts where I forgot my audio was recording and uploading during the intro music, and I was asking my wife to check that the video was working on her phone. I will get better at doing the audio as we go. I have a lot of experience with uploading videos, but it has been a while since I have run a livestream.

I am doing this livestream for several reasons. Firstly, I would like to more regularly promote my own books which I have written and I am writing. You can pick up my first book co-written with a fellow pastor, called Defending Conscience either at the website, defendingconscience.com, or on Amazon as well. But I have a new book coming as well.  



My new book, which is in the process of being formatted, is going to be on the topic of evil. It is not a theodicy, but more an explanation of how evil has pulled the wool over our eyes in many ways. I thought it would be a good idea to create some content that people want to watch which gives me an opportunity to also promote these upcoming works. Those who like to look at the book of Revelation also have an interest in how evil works in this world, so keep an eye out for that book, more information will be coming soon.

If you want jump into the livestreams on Monday night, there will be time for questions that are related to the passage. I aim to do them regularly, and to supplement them with other videos from time to time throughout the week.

Blessings

Tuesday, 8 April 2025

Feminists Hate Women

 




It is interesting that saying that women should not serve in frontline combat roles is now considered anti-woman. Saying women should not be sent into machine gun and artillery fire to die is NOW anti-woman! Way to go conservatives (this happened in the LNP), they got rid of this guy for speaking the truth,

“Liberal Party Dumps NSW Candidate Who Believes Women Shouldn’t Serve In Combat For The ADF…

…During an appearance on rightwing figure Joel Jammal‘s podcast The Ark in July 2024, Britton expressed he believed women should “be removed from combat” roles within the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

He was later appointed for preselection into the NSW seat of Whitlam in December 2024, after an unsuccessful attempt with the former United Australia Party in 2022.

“Basically, long story short, if we’re to fix our defence force, unfortunately, they’re going to need to remove females from the combat corps,” said Britton, who served in the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment.

“Their hips are being destroyed because they can’t cope with the carrying of the heavy loads and the heavy impacts that’s required from doing combat-related jobs.

“I knew some of the toughest men I’ve ever met in my life, absolute nails. War left them a shaking mess. Drug addicted. Can’t go outside the house because they have panic attacks … If war can do that to them and destroy them, why would you want to send your beautiful women?

“Your females — the ones that are the backbone of your society. Your society only exists because of women … Why would you want to sacrifice them in war, on the altar?””[1]

Right on mate, 100% correct. 100% correct.

Feminism was never about lifting women up, it was always designed to turn women into tax paying servants of the state with 40% the upper body strength of men. It was never pro-woman, it was always anti-femininity, anti-family and anti-reason. It was always a propaganda effort to get women out of the home and into the labour force. Feminism did in the West what Communism failed to do here, it made women effectively the common resource of industry.

The powers that be saw how even the lowest man on the totem pole could have a lovely home, with a lovely wife whom he provided for, and who kept his home not just liveable, but desirable. And they thought, "How can we get these women chained to desks, moving on the factory floor, and running into machine gun nests, and paying taxes?" They found a way.

The way was easy, they chose to tell the woman basically the same thing Lucifer did, "Did you know that if you reject the patriarchy, you can be equal?" What they did not tell women is that they meant she can be equally disposable.

I was in the army reserves. I saw how far behind combat units with women fell behind combat units only including men. I saw it firsthand in training. Movies have deceived people beyond belief on this issue. In the movies a 5 foot 5 woman in tights will take down a whole room full of highly trained and built special forces soldiers with a few crazy moves. In real life male soldiers make short work of mixed brigades, and especially the women in them. Short work.

Men it is our job to fight and bleed for our country if necessary, not the job of our women. Our society has become a mixed bag of curses, many women destroy the next generation in the womb, and many men and women get offended when they hear a man say women should not be sent to die for society. God have mercy on us all.

List of References

Saturday, 5 April 2025

Don’t Believe he Anti-Tariff Hype

 


[1]


Don't believe the media hype about tariffs being bad. The US built its economic wealth on a combination of low immigration and high tariffs. This created a protectionist environment where a highly advanced society with a plethora of resources could builds its own wealth and prosperity while protecting its businesses from foreign competition and interference.

The high immigration and lower tariffs that have been instituted across the  mid 20th and early 21st centuries have corresponded to the loss of economic buying power of the average worker's income in America, and we have seen the same thing happen across the West. Their money, and our money, has become worth much less as a result.

As tariffs were removed workers got poorer. Tariffs helped protect local industry and markets. Low tariffs incentivize offshoring of production, which makes the rich much richer and the rest of us worse off.

Also, don't believe the hype that "the markets are down". The markets have been booming for years, there have been record highs. But are you doing better? On average, no, because the markets reflect the wealth of the top 1%, not the rest of us. The wealthy corpocracy have been doing better at our expense. The markets have almost zero relationship to how life is going for average people. The wealthy also own the media so they will try to hit you with lies, that we should oppose this happening here.

This does not mean that there will be not be initial shocks to the global and local economy. For sure there will. Getting off heroine shocks the body. But it is good for you once your body readjusts to not running on poisonous drugs. Free trade and low tariffs have been like a poison running through our society for some time, it is going to cause some pain to get it out of our economic system. Plus, Trump’s tariffs are most likely a starting offer in a negotiation strategy anyway.

The economy needs to change. The current economic climate is not serving Americans, nor Australians:

[2]

The black line is the per capita recession we are currently in. The coloured lines are past recessions. The past recessions were effectively economic booms compared to the current one. Also note that the official figures the government produces show that our economy is growing, but on a per capita basis Australian’s are worse off than ever before. Because the figures they release have nothing to do with how each and every Australian is going, they reflect how the economic growth is serving the wealthy stake holders, rather than the citizen stake holders.

Australia has long been called the 'Lucky Country.' But the thing with luck is that it runs out. It has run out hard. Things need to change, and tariffs are needed to strengthen local production again.

Our government should respond by commending Trump for seeking to rebuild his industrial base, and by also saying, we will do the same and pour every cent, every cent, from our own newly minted tariffs directed at countries that are profiting off us and put them into the local manufacturing industry. Oh, and we should take the money from foreign aid and do the same with that. Those crooks! Of course, I don't think we are blessed with clever leaders, so watch them follow the lead of the EU which is a dying power base.

There are fun times ahead. The world is changing fast.

List of References

Three Objections to Debt Forgivenes

 




Here are three common objections to the idea of debt forgiveness, and responses to these objections.

Objection One: "I am against forgiving debts, because I should not have to pay for it!"

This is a common response that shows a complete lack of understanding of the issue. You are already paying for people's debts.

The number one cause of inflation is money lending. This money is printed (typed), lent out, and then spent in the economy. This drives up the cost of anything that can be bought, or is usually bought by debt. This includes houses, cars, vacations, phones, etc, etc.

Because debt is so easy to create, this constant stream of money is inflating the cost of everything. So, you are paying, through the nose, already.

The next number one cause of inflation is government stimulus. This is also created more by money printing than by our taxes, because it is often borrowed from foreign banks. This also drives up the cost of everything. The LNP created the worst inflation cycle in decades by pouring 320 billion dollars onto the economy during the cough. Labor doubled down on the crisis with record immigration, which is a close third for the next highest cause of inflation.

The only way to stop you from having to keep paying for people's debts is to lobby for debt cancellation, so that we can restrain the money lenders. This is the only way. People are not going to get more responsible. Just because you can buy a $15,000 Mahindra with low k's as a work Ute or recreational 4wd that is reliable, and about 1/5 the price of a Toyota Landcruiser or Ford Ranger of the same age and k's does not mean most young Aussie guys want to be seen dead in one. Just because you can buy all your clothes second hand does not mean many credit card swiping happy young women want to do so (I know there are exceptions in both these groups).

The only way for us to all stop paying for people's debts, through non-stop inflation and devaluation of our currency, is to cancel debts and in doing so restrain the money lenders. I am sick and tired of paying through the nose for stuff, because most people are happy to run their debt to the max. Are you tired of this? Lobby and vote for politicians who will cancel debts.

Objection Two: "I Am against debt forgiveness because people should be responsible."

This is the objection I understand the most, but it is also the funniest of them all. For one, you think people are going to suddenly become more responsible? Don't make laugh.

The money lenders, usurers, bankers have no incentive to be responsible. The more people borrow, the more they make. Oh, they talk about responsible banking. But to them that simply means you have proven they can squeeze you for what they lent you plus interest compounded over 10, 20, 30 years. If they can get government to institute intergenerational loans, they will, and they are coming, you can be sure of that. Their incentive is to make debt everybody’s problem.

Expecting the average person to be more responsible is a complete rejection of a biblical understanding of humanity. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one his own way. Irresponsibility to varying degrees is baked into humanity. Bankers make light work of fallen, greedy, covetous, envious, slothful, sinners. It's literally like putting lambs among the wolves.

People need to live within boundaries. Bankers need limits on their lending. To know that all the money they have lent will be forgiven at a certain date limits them. It restrains them. Covetous, envious, and greedy people need to be protected from their own nature, by having caged in banks that are afraid to lend too much, so that the people are protected. Usurers are dangerous, money lending though has its place, so we must cage it within tight limits.

This is why many Christian kingdoms, including Byzantium, but also many others, instituted regular debt forgiveness in times past. These Christian societies understood the nature of the usurer and the borrower, and that there was only one way that restrained them both. And wishing for both to be more responsible, like modern conservatives do, was not that option. Debt forgiveness was.

Byzantium began to fall after it stopped forgiving debts. So did many other societies. Why would we let the ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Spartans and others prove wiser than us on this issue?

Why were landlords and money lenders the bad guys in so many of Charles Dicken's stories? The greatest English novelist, a genuine Christian, obviously knew something we are learning the hard way again, that usurers and landlords are a problem if they get out of control. 

We are irresponsible, having to learn old lessons again and again. Aren't we? 

Objection Three: "I am against debt forgiveness simply on practical terms. It is a nice idea, but I don't see how it is possible, let's talk about realistic policies."

Albanese has promised to wipe 20% of student debt.

Clive Palmer has promised to wipe all student debt and make university free (as long as University is then subjected to an IQ test for entry, this is the right idea).

We have gone from debt forgiveness being something mainstream parties would not even discuss at all, to now being offered it by two prominent public figures and political parties, even though in limited ways.This will grow from here. 

Politicians dealing with societal debt is going to be one of the most important issues in coming years. If only we had some kind well respected book, that suggested how we should do this? Hmmmm.....?

Those who believe change can happen are those who are most likely to make changes happen.

I will continue to address debt forgiveness from time to time here, because this is something our western societies need to take on board, or risk our way of life collapsing under the weight of increasing debt. We need to make sure that we are like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, who received his wayward son back in his arms and not like the older brother who resented the one who had squandered what he had been given being so easily forgiven. 

 

 

Thursday, 3 April 2025

Is Christianity Jewish?

 


Is Christianity Jewish?

I can see why some might be tempted to see it this way. Jesus was a Judean, his disciples were Jews. Paul, the greatest Apostle was a Benjamite, a tribe associated with Judah back in ancient times (1 Kings 12:20-24). The main text of the earliest church was the Old Testament, also known by many as the Jewish Scriptures. Ergo, Christianity is Jewish to the core right?

Wrong.

Christianity is not simply the fulfilment of the Old Testament itself, more specifically it is a fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham. Abraham was not a Jew, or an Israelite. He is the father of many nations. One of those nations was the vehicle through which the promise was fulfilled, so that all could be saved, that nation is Israel. The law was a temporary set up, meant to guide humanity to the Messiah,

"15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith." (Gal. 3:15-24).

Why does Paul come back to Abraham so much in his writings? Because he is seeking to demonstrate the multinational character of the Church. He is seeking to prove that Gentiles do not need to become Jewish to be a part of the people of God.

The goal of God’s plan was always to fulfill the promise to the Gentile, Abraham, to save people from all nations. Therefore, the vehicle to bring Christianity into the world was Israel, and the Jews, but the Church is not and was never meant to be Jewish. 

Even the most senior Apostle began to live like a Gentile once this became clear. This is seen in Paul’s rebuke to Peter, “14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Gal. 2:14). Before certain men came from James, Peter was happy to eat with Gentiles (Gal. 2:12), but he became a hypocrite when he was put under social pressure. Christianity came through people from the tribe of Judah, but it was never meant to have the character of Jewishness. That’s a complete misunderstanding of the New Testament.

The Church is neither Jewish or Gentile, it is a new race, the third race. This was a nickname that early Christians gave to the Church, because of how the gospel transformed the people of God. To say Christianity is intrinsically Jewish is to miss the message of the New Testament, that Jesus would be a light for all peoples, as we read in Isaiah 49:6,

"he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

I will make you as a light for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

 We see this fulfilled in the New Testament,

 

“12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

 

15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

16 the people dwelling in darkness

    have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,

    on them a light has dawned.”

 

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:12-17).

To say Christianity is Jewish to its core is to misunderstand the role the Jews played. They were not the end goal, but simply a vehicle through which the Messiah and salvation came. As soon as the Apostles understood this properly, they quickly started to remove the distinctly Jewish characteristics of the law from the obligations of faithfulness for those who followed Jesus. Because Christianity is the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, a Gentile who was made the father of many nations. An Amorite of the Aramean branch, a man from Ur of the Chaldees. God took a man of the nations to create a way to bless all nations.  

Jesus doesn't make us Jews when we believe, he makes us a new creation, Christians. The Church is its own race. It is intrinsically of Christ, hence we are called Christians.

 

Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Why Rome Ruled The World

 




Why did the Romans rule the world? Was it their technology? No, they had similar technology to the nations around them, they even copied and learnt most of it from those nations. Was it their political system? No, they were not the only Republic, Carthage was structured in a similar way, and Greece had trialled many forms of limited democracy long before the Romans became famous. Was it their location? No, Rome was situated in the busy and shifting Mediterranean sea and was often assailed from the mountains to their north, and the seas all around them, just as many other societies in that region were.

The difference was their character. The Romans, like the ancient Chinese, had a way of life superior to virtually all those around them. Here is an excerpt from the life of Pyrrhus in Plutarch’s Lives, contrasting one of the greatest Greek Generals of his day to the character of the Romans. It should be noted that Pyrrhus was a second cousin of Alexander the Great. But look at the superior character of the Romans,

“After this, an embassy came from the Romans to treat about the prisoners that had been taken. The embassy was headed by Caius Fabricius, who, as Cineas reported, was held in highest esteem at Rome as an honourable man and good soldier, but was inordinately poor. To this man, then, Pyrrhus privately showed kindness and tried to induce him to accept gold, not for any base purpose, indeed, but calling it a mark of friendship and hospitality. But Fabricius rejected the gold, and for that day Pyrrhus let him alone; on the following day, however, wishing to frighten a man who had not yet seen an elephant, he ordered the largest of these animals to be stationed behind a hanging in front of which they stood conversing together. This was done; and at a given signal the hanging was drawn aside, and the animal raised his trunk, held it over the head of Fabricius, and emitted a harsh and frightful cry. But Fabricius calmly turned and said with a smile to Pyrrhus: "Your gold made no impression on me yesterday, neither does your beast today."

Again, at supper, where all sorts of topics were discussed, and particularly that of Greece and her philosophers, Cineas happened somehow to mention Epicurus, and set forth the doctrines of that school concerning the gods, civil government, and the highest good, explaining that they made pleasure the highest good, but would have nothing to do with civil government on the ground that it was injurious and the ruin of felicity, and that they removed the Deity as far as possible from feelings of kindness or anger or concern for us, into a life that knew no care and was filled with ease and comfort. But before Cineas was done, Fabricius cried out and said, "0 Hercules, may Pyrrhus and the Samnites cherish these doctrines, as long as they are at war with us."

Thus Pyrrhus was led to admire the high spirit and character of the man, and was all the more eager to have friendship with this city instead of waging war against it; he even privately invited him, in case he brought about the settlement, to follow his fortunes and share his life as the first and foremost of all his companions and generals. But Fabricius, as we are told, said quietly to him: "Nay, O King, this would not be to thy advantage; for the very men who now admire and honour thee, if they should become acquainted with me, would prefer to have me as their king rather than thee." Such a man was Fabricius.

And Pyrrhus did not receive the speech with anger or like a tyrant, but actually reported to his friends the magnanimity of Fabricius, and entrusted his prisoners of war to him alone, on condition that, in case the senate should not vote for the peace, they should be sent back again to him, though they might first greet their relatives and celebrate the festival of Saturn. And they were so sent back after the festival, the senate having voted a penalty ofdeath for any that stayed behind.

After this, and when Fabricius had assumed the consulship, a man came into his camp with a letter for him. The letter had been written by the physician of Pyrrhus, who promised that he would take the king off by poison, provided that the Romans would agree to reward him for putting an end to the war without further hazard on their part. But Fabricius, who was indignant at the iniquity of the man, and had disposed his colleague to feel likewise, sent a letter to Pyrrhus with all speed urging him to be on his guard against the plot. The letter ran as follows:

‘Caius Fabricius and Quintus Aemilius, consuls of Rome, to King Pyrrhus, health and happiness. It would appear that thou art a good judge neither of friends nor of enemies. Thou wilt see, when thou hast read the letter which we send, that the men with whom thou art at war are honourable and just, but that those whom thou trustest are unjust and base. And indeed we do not give thee this information out of regard for thee, but in order that thy ruin may not bring infamy upon us, and that men may not say of us that we brought the war to an end by treachery because we were unable to do so by valour.’

When Pyrrhus had read this letter and got proof of the plot against his life, he punished the physician, and as a requital to Fabricius and the Romans made them a present of his prisoners of war, and once more sent Cineas to negotiate a peace for him. But the Romans would not consent to receive the men for nothing, either as a favour from an enemy, or as a reward for not committing iniquity against him, and therefore released for Pyrrhus an equal number of Tarentines and Samnites whom they had taken; on the subject of friendship and peace, however, they declared they would allow nothing to be said until Pyrrhus had taken his arms and his army out of Italy and sailed back to Epeirus on the ships that brought him.”[1]

What is notable about this situation is that Caius Fabricius was typical of Roman men in this period, not exceptional. Rome produced leader after leader just like this man for centuries, down to the lowest foot soldiers this sort of character was expected. These were men who could not be bought, who did not hanker after luxury, and who saw no honour in taking the easy way. They were much like the Spartans at their peak, except their society was structured far more successfully. Far more Roman men were able to make up the legions of the Romans rather than Phalanx of the Spartans, which enabled them to take more land and hold it.

It is not that Rome always won, either. Their armies were often bested in the field. Pyrrhus defeated several Roman armies. But such was the character of the Romans that the more they were beaten, the more men there were willing to step into their place and face the same enemy again and again. Because of this Pyrrhus was forced to withdraw even though he continually beat the Romans. From this comes the term 'pyrrhic victory'. Hannibal the Carthaginian would learn this the hard way as well, and many, many others. This never say die spirit, that allowed Rome to even come back from some of the kinds of defeats that would have caused many other great societies to fold, stemmed from a unique character, which helped them stand out amongst the decadent nations surrounding them. Oh, they would become decadent too, eventually, but before they were pulled down by the weight of their own success, they achieved more than any other nation in Europe, until perhaps the British Empire. Such was the character which drove them.

List of References

[1] Plutarch’s Lives, Volume 2, pp. 540-541, Castalia Library Edition.

Monday, 31 March 2025

Labor to Cancel Debts

 




Labor have committed to cancelling 20% of student debt. That's a very good policy. Any debt forgiveness is good.

“The Albanese Labor Government will cut a further 20 per cent off all student loan debts, wiping around $16 billion in student debt for around three million Australians.

By 1 June next year, the Government will cut 20 per cent off all student loans to reduce the debt burden for Australians with a student loan.

This will cut around $16 billion in debt, including all HELP, VET Student Loan, Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan and other income-contingent student support loan accounts that exist on 1 June next year.

For someone with the average HELP debt of $27,600 they will see around $5,520 wiped from their outstanding HELP loans next year.

This will provide significant relief to Australian students and workers with a student loan debt and builds on our reforms to fix the indexation formula, which is cutting around $3 billion in student debt.

This means, all up, the Albanese Labor Government will cut close to $20 billion in student loan debt for more than three million Australians.

This builds on the Government’s announcement that from 1 July next year it will reduce the amount Australians with a student debt have to repay per year and raise the threshold when people need to start repaying.”[1]

The problem is Labor are committed to high immigration. High socialist subsidies. High energy costs through renewable ideology. High welfare. High NDIS and more. All of these policies increase the cost of living and make our money less valuable. So, the amount of money they are freeing young Australians on will be completely gobbled up by their other policies.

However, this shows that debt forgiveness is becoming a mainstream issue. How can it not be? Debt is a mainstream issue. Drowning in debt is a mainstream issue. People are working out that one of the infallible laws of nature and economics is that a system that allows borrowing will always collapse under the weight of that debt, because it is not able to pay its debts collectively. The only way to avoid that collapse is debt forgiveness (this was proven several thousand years ago, before the Bible was even written, and has never been disproven).

Technically, Australia's economy collapsed just before Howard left office, or just after. On a per capita basis Australians have only gotten poorer since then, maybe even since a little earlier. But they have managed to "grow" the economy by cheating, they simply bring in lots of people, in increasing numbers, and then tax those people. Those immigrants eventually fall behind, on average like most Australians, and so they need to bring in more.

So, our economy is already broken. What do you do when a complex system is broken? As Moss would say, "Have you tried turning it off and then on again?" That's what a Jubilee is.

Saturday, 29 March 2025

Foreign Aid Is Immoral


If David decided to take 0.5% of the first fruits of Israel's crops and herds, turned this into money, and then gave this to Syria, Sidon or Tyre, what would the prophets have said about him? 

He has taken that which is not his, and given at no cost to himself, to people not of his kingdom. There is nothing righteous in this act. 

David himself would have condemned it: 

"24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver" (2 Samuel 24:24). 

To give that which is not his, at no cost to himself was the opposite of righteousness or charity. David was horrified at the suggestion of it. 

This is what foreign aid is. It is intrinsically immoral. You cannot even make a case for the benefit to society from it, because once it leaves these shores, almost all accountability disappears. But to take what is not yours to give at no cost to yourself is not charity. Not even close.

Friday, 28 March 2025

The New Perspective on Paul and Christian Zionism

 



A friend of mine, who is also a fellow Baptist pastor, sent me this video and asked me what my thoughts were on the New Perspective on Paul. So, I decided to make this today's blog. Here are my thoughts on that interview and on the new perspective in general.

I think the best way I can answer this question is by looking at a case study. So, we are going to look at the book of Galatians.

What is Galatians about? If you ask the average evangelical what the crux of the book of Galatians is, if they are reasonably well read in the Bible, they will say that in Galatians Paul is arguing that we are saved by faith, not by works. They may even point to this key passage in Galatians 2, “16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16-17). This is the core passage that many would point to when highlighting the message of the book of Galatians.  

The preaching on this theme will also be very simple. Nothing you do of your own effort can save you, because no amount of effort or works can save you. You can only be saved, or declared righteous, in God’s sight by faith. This message accounts for how the so-called Old Perspective would handle this book. And this point is 100% true. None of our works can save us, we can only be saved by trusting in Jesus Christ. The problem is not with this message, the issue is that this is not what the book of Galatians is about. This teaching is simply one of the threads in the book through which Paul is making a different argument.  

Paul’s core argument is focused on who are the people of God. Or who are the real children of Abraham and the beneficiaries of the promises made by God to Abraham? He is specifically addressing this point: are people made part of God’s covenant people through faith, or through becoming Jews,

“1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Gal. 3:1-9).

Paul is not so much responding to those preaching faith + works, though his message does apply to that issue. He is responding to those saying faith + becoming a Jew is necessary to being a child of Abraham. So, when he refers to “works of the law” in Galatians he specifically means either the works of the Old Covenant like circumcision and all that goes with that. Or he means this plus the traditions of the elders, which the Pharisees believed were as authoritative as the Torah. Either way, he is rejecting the idea that you must submit to the law and become Jewish to be truly part of the people of God,

“11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Gal. 2:11-14).

Paul challenged Peter because he defaulted to the first century Jewish behaviour of separating himself from the Gentiles, especially while eating. Even though he should have known better than this. Peter knew better because God had poured the Holy Spirit out on Gentiles that Jewish and Gentiles believers were all made full citizens of the same people of God,

“11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:11-18)

Peter was acting against what he knew the implications of the gospel to be, so Paul had to rebuke him and remind him what they were. 

In Galatians, Paul is actually arguing against the false idea that there are two people’s of God, and only those who submit themselves unto the law can become part of the elite crowd, the Jewish believing crowd. Paul says that the truth is actually the opposite, if you seek to be more righteous by submitting to the law, and making others submit to the law, you are cut off from Christ,

“1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Gal. 5:1-6).

Paul obviously does not mean that circumcised people cannot be saved, because he is circumcised himself. He tells us this in Philippians 3, even though it might be a little bit of over sharing. What he means here is that if you think there are two peoples of God, Israel and Gentiles, and you think that to be truly righteous in God’s sight that you must become like the Jews and submit to their law, then you have severed yourself from Christ. Because righteousness does not come through the law, it can only come through faith in Jesus.

The Jews are not closer to God than Gentiles, because Abraham, who was a Gentile originally, was justified by his faith, not his circumcision or the law, “just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?” (Gal. 3:6).

So, Paul’s overarching argument is not that we are saved by faith not works, that is one of his subpoints. His overarching argument is that there is one people of God, and the marker of who these people are is faith in Christ,

“23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[p] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:23-29).

This is the crux of his argument, that all who have faith in Christ are the real descendants of Abraham. Your flesh counts for nothing in this equation. Only faith does.

This is where the New Perspective helps us, because it emphasizes the Jewish nature of the works of the law. Something which is key for understanding Paul’s argument in Galatians.

Many who hold to the so-called Old Perspective have so over-emphasized the message that Galatians is about how we are saved by faith not works, that many Christians have forgotten what the book is actually about. Calvin and Luther did not make that mistake, you will see this if you read them. But some who have come after them have, particularly in the highly individualized modern west.

This is why so many bad exegetes and preachers argue that Galatians 3:28 means women can be pastors. This is a complete butchering of Paul’s point, but it is a common mistake. Paul is not speaking about equality in Galatians, he is speaking about access to the covenant family, he is seeking to correct the Galatians on the issue of who the real people of God are. His argument is that the flesh counts for nothing, only faith in Jesus does. This is a core theme in all of Paul’s writings, and in his preaching in Acts as well.

The Christians who assert that there are two distinct and co-terminus peoples of God, the Church and Israel, would in large numbers hold to the teaching that salvation is about faith not works. But they have so been drilled by the message that this is what Galatians is about, that they have missed that this book actually rebukes the idea of two people’s of God explicitly. That is core thrust of Paul’s argument. They even miss what Paul says at the end of the letter while sowing up his point,

“14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:14-16).

The phrase “upon them, and upon the Israel of God” is used by some to distinguish the church from Israel. But the Greek word for “and” is “kai” and can be translated “even”, and is often used in the sense of emphasis. So, Paul is actually saying, “peace and mercy be upon them, even upon the Israel of God.” He is seeking to emphasize that God offers peace to his people, as Psalm 29:11 says, “11 May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!” And who are the people of God? As he has argued, only those who have faith in Jesus.

In fact, in the verse previous to the mention of the “Israel of God” Paul has said circumcision counts for nothing, nor does uncircumcision, only being made new in Christ does. This fits with his message all the way through Galatians that there is one people of God and it is only the people of faith. If he now distinguishes between two peoples of God, he contradicts himself. Thankfully, the Greek does not have to be read this way.

Paul’s whole message in Galatians is focused on rebuking those who think they are better because they are Jewish and submit to the law, in other words, the Pharisees and others like them. This is an important message and can apply to any self-righteous people in the church today who think their works make them better than anyone else. But the initial application in Galatians is about there being one people of God, declared righteous in God’s sight and it is not the doers of the Torah but the believers in Jesus.

The early Church knew this. Luther and Calvin knew this. But an overemphasis on Galatians being about individualistic faith and salvation has caused people to forget this in large measure. Galatians is about who are the real community of God’s people, and the answer is only those who believe. This has both individual and social implications, the social ones being that physical Israel is no more the real people of God, than Greece, Rome or Moldova. Whereas anyone who comes from any of these places and more can be made part of Israel through faith in Jesus. The New Perspective on Paul helps us remember these communal applications, and to hone in on who are the real people of God. This is something the early church spent much of its time debating about, hence this is why scholars can see some connections between the New Perspective on Paul and the Early Church Fathers.

Thursday, 27 March 2025

Fallen Means And God: Women Pastors

 




You might have noticed if you have been reading me for some time now that I often speak to the evils of feminism. Whether you follow me on my blog or on my Substack you will have seen I am not shy about calling out how feminism has caused rot to set into the home, the church and wider society. It is a pernicious evil. Feminists don’t even really have a true definition of what a woman is, and this is starting to have an impact on conservatives, who are often just pushing the views of yesterday’s liberals.

My four part (so far) series on Satanic Feminism also might come across to some as just the kind of thing that a conservative Baptist pastor might say about feminism. And to be fair you would in large part be right. But the title was actually inspired by a book published by the Oxford Academic Press by Per Faxneld called, “Satanic Feminism: Lucifer as the Liberator of Woman in Nineteenth-Century Culture.”[1] This book was based on Faxneld’s award winning PhD thesis, which shows that the modern world, and particularly Socialism and Feminism have deep connections to explicitly Luciferian ideas and inspirations. The abstract on Oxford’s website says,

“Abstract

According to the Bible, Eve was the first to heed Satan’s advice to eat of the forbidden fruit. The notion of woman as the Devil’s accomplice is prominent throughout the history of Christianity and has been used to legitimate the subordination of wives and daughters. During the nineteenth century, rebellious females performed counter-readings of this misogynist tradition. Hereby, Lucifer was reconceptualized as a feminist liberator of womankind, and Eve became a heroine. In these reimaginings, Satan is an ally in the struggle against a patriarchy supported by God the Father and his male priests. The book delineates how such Satanic feminism is expressed in a number of nineteenth-century esoteric works, literary texts, autobiographies, pamphlets and journals, newspaper articles, paintings, sculptures, and even artefacts of consumer culture such as jewellery. The analysis focuses on interfaces between esotericism, literature, art, and the political realm. New light is thus shed on neglected aspects of the intellectual history of feminism, Satanism, and revisionary mythmaking. The scope of the study makes it valuable not only for historians of religion but also for those with a general interest in cultural history (or specific aspects of it like gender history, romanticism, or decadent-symbolist art and literature).”[2]

It looks like the rhetoric of those conservative Baptist preachers was more correct than you could have ever imagined. And this should not surprise us, feminism calls into question everything the Bible says about men, women and their relationship to each other. The catch cry of evangelical feminists is “did God really say?”, which is precisely the most deceptive question in the Bible, especially when it is followed by the disregarding of the biblical text.

Feminists were not shy in noting their inspiration came form the very kind of subversive Luciferians that Faxneld identifies. As they write in their own auto-biographical history, The Complete History of the Suffragette Movement:

“Freedom for the peasants was found alone at night. Known as the Birds of the Night, Foxes and Birds of Prey, it was only at these night assemblages they enjoyed the least happiness or security. Here, with wives and daughters, they met together to talk, of their gross outrages. Out of these foul wrongs grew the sacrifice of the "Black Mass," with woman as officiating priestess, in which the rites of the Church were travestied in solemn mockery, and defiance cast at that heaven which seemed to permit the priest and lord alike to trample upon all the sacred rights of womanhood in the names of religion and law. During this mocking service a true sacrifice of wheat was offered to the Spirit of the Earth who made wheat to grow, and loosened birds bore aloft to the God of Freedom the sighs and prayers of the serfs asking that their descendants might be free. We can not do otherwise than regard this sacrifice as the most acceptable offering made in that day of moral degradation, a sacrifice and prayer more holy than all the ceremonials of the Church.”[3]

So, they directly linked themselves to the worship of the god of nature, otherwise known as Baal, Pan or the devil, among many other names. They even show their complete disregard for the Bible,

“While woman's subordination is taught as a Scriptural doctrine, the most devout and learned biblical scholars of the present day admit that the Bible has suffered many interpolations in the course of the centuries. Some of these have doubtless occurred through efforts to render certain passages clearer, while others have been forged with direct intention to deceive. Disraeli says that the early English editions contain 6,000 errors, which were constantly introduced, and passages interpolated for sectarian purposes, or to sustain new creeds. Sometimes, indeed, they were added for the purpose of destroying all Scriptural authority by the suppression of texts. The Church Union says of the present translation, that there are more than 7,000 variations from the received Hebrew text, and more than 150,000 from the received Greek text…

…Amid this vast discrepancy in regard to the truth of the Scriptures themselves; with no Hebrew manuscript older than the twelfth century; with no Greek one older than the fourth; with the acknowledgment by scholars of 7,000 errors in the Old Testament, and 150,000 in the New; with assurance that these interpolations and changes have been made by men in the interest of creeds, we may well believe that the portions of the Bible quoted against woman's equality are but interpolations of an unscrupulous priesthood, for the purpose of holding her in subjection to man.”[4]

So, don’t take my word for it that feminism is Satanic. Don’t even take the academic Per Faxneld’s well research and sourced word for it. Listen to the Suffragette’s themselves. They saw themselves as the ideological fulfillment in their day of the witches of the medieval and early modern era, and they had exactly as much respect for the word of God as the devil. They even confirm an argument you have seen me make, as have others, that the Bible does not teach equality between the genders, “we may well believe that the portions of the Bible quoted against woman's equality are but interpolations of an unscrupulous priesthood, for the purpose of holding her in subjection to man.” Did you see that? They recognize the import of what these passages say about the differences between the roles of men and women, and so they seek to simply remove them from the equation, because they don’t like what the Bible says. This is literally Satanic. If we had no other evidence for their source of inspiration, this would be enough to confirm the case for most reasonable Christians.

But people are more emotional thinkers than dialectic thinkers. This is simply because we default to how things make us feel, rather than making a rigorous examination of most issues. This is especially true with women pastors. Many modern Christians just think it is mean to say women cannot be pastors, and on top of that, many of the same Christians will note that they have been blessed by a female pastor at some point. How can this be evil, if they have been blessed by it? This is a reasonable question. A very good question in fact, and I think there are some really good ways to answer it. But I want just want to focus on one in this piece.

Solomon. Specifically Solomon and high places.

This insight comes from one of the most famous passages in the Bible. As with all famous passages we need to read it carefully, because it is easy to miss things in passages we think we know very well. Look at this,

“1 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

3 Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you” (1 Kings 3:1-5).

Verse 3 is key here, “Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.” This was a problem, a serious problem. These high places were a never-ending snare to the people of Israel, even to a king like Solomon.

The high places were places of idolatry. They were meant to be destroyed, Numbers 33:52, “then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places.” God even predicted that they would cause the fall of Israel, Leviticus 26:30, “And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you…” In this passage God is looking forwards in time to the coming judgement of Israel for their abandonment of their covenant with God. The high places would be a key part of the problem.

This process is explained in the books of 1 and 2 Kings. When Jeroboam took control of Israel he intensified this idolatry,

“28 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. 31 He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites” (1 Kings 12).

Again and again in the Old Testament you will hear reference to what a snare these high places were to the people of Israel. The bad kings promoted these places, but even many good kings allowed this snare to flourish, “He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places” (1 Kings 22:43). Even many kings who sought to bring faithfulness back to Israel did not remove the high places.

The Bible does not mince words about the sin that these high places represented, “For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols;…” (Ps. 78:58). These high places were clearly snares. Their very existence was a blight on the worship practices of the people of God. Yet Solomon encountered God at one of these high places,

“3 Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you” (1 Kings 3:3-5).

Solomon loved God but tolerated the high places. In fact, he “used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar…” at Gibeon.

How could God speak to Solomon when Solomon was doing something he should not be doing? Because such is the grace of God. I cannot help but see a good comparison here to the practice of female pastors in the church today.

Today, many women are pastors. This is forbidden in the Bible, but a lot of the church just tolerates this, no, they actually endorse it, promote it and look down on churches that do not do it. Just like the high places of biblical law this are forbidden by both the Old and New Testament, however, it is tolerated. Even good kings tolerated the high places, remember. Even men in the church we would consider good have been known to make the case for female preachers. Men who are otherwise orthodox in all other aspects of their practice and theology.

These high places show us two things about this situation. One, yes God can work through forbidden means. To be hung on a tree was a curse in the Jewish law (Deut. 21:22-23), yet God saved the world through a man who was hung on a tree, or on the wood from one at least. Paul says he became a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). God can work through forbidden means, he can even work through the hands of sinners to bring great deliverance. This is true for female pastors. People can be blessed by insights that some of these women share from the word of God, because God’s word is powerful in and of itself. God’s word spoken by anyone can bring blessing, even if they did not originally intend it, such is the grace of God.

But just because God can work through these fallen means does not mean we should encourage it. Solomon met God at a high place, a high place he frequented, even though he should not have. But we should not see God working through the high place as vindicating that practice, or blessing its continued use. Because this practice brought down the whole nation of Israel. This was a snare that was both predicted to bring down the people of God, and which we saw actually happened.

We have seen the many ways the Bible forbids women being pastors in previous articles. But we have also seen how many women are turning back from the role, because of the effects it has on their lives. Women should not take on this role, and many are finding out the hard way parts of the reasons why God gave this command in the Bible. The wider effect this is having on the church is also observed to be negative, the modern western church has been massively feminised. But it goes beyond just the local church, the wider effect it also has on society is a problem.

A society where women take on more and more of the roles of men, is a society that will end up having to replace itself with immigration, simply because it stops having enough children to replace itself. We are seeing this negative effect in our country and all across the West today. Rather than confront this issue and tear down this “high place”, many leaders in the church and society fail to confront it, and our whole society and church lumbers towards disaster.

Just because something is used in scripture to bring about good, does not mean we should follow that practice. Just because you may have been blessed by the ministry of a woman from time to time, does not mean we should encourage such a practice. Solomon’s example is a perfect comparison to help us understand why doing so is a disaster. He may have been blessed at a high place, but the high places ending up destroying his kingdom. The longitudinal effects of disobeying God’s word matter more than momentary blessings.

 

List of References



[2] Ibid.

[3] Stanton, Elizabeth Cady (et. al.) 2017, The Complete History of the Suffragette Movement - All 6 Books in One Edition) The Battle for the Equal Rights: 1848-1922, Musaicum Books. Kindle Edition. Chapter 15.

[4] Ibid.