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Stopping Sexual Scandal in The Messianic Movement - Part 6
(Read Part 5-B First if you Haven't)
How should we respond to the moral issues plaguing Messianic fellowships just like they plague the church? How do we address issues which have arisen from the inroads made by a secular, sex-crazed society, which in turn have been fraternized by the fleshly nature of ministers and laymen alike?
A #METOO movement arose but it wasn't an answer; rather it was just an expression of people's pain. That's because screaming doesn't stop the girl from getting raped (Deut 22:27) just like a protection from abuse order doesn't stop a rape victim from getting murdered. What we need is a restoration of morals and a generation of real men who aren't afraid to be so righteously dangerous that they're deadly.
The enemy operates through deception and he's convinced an entire generation that Patriarchy is what we need, where the men protect their families, but here's where we've been conned. He hoodwinked us into overlooking that Yahweh actually used a woman named Abigail to protect her "d!ck" of a husband, a woman named Deborah to lead a campaign against foreign invaders, a woman named Jael to drive tent pegs through the head of Sisera, a Jewess named Judith to overpower an entire army by her beauty, and a Jewess named Esther to save an entire ethnic group from annihilation. Even though I'd agree that real men are in fact supposed to protect their wives and children, here is why patriarchy by itself isn't an answer. When erected by the wrong men with wrong motives, it only serves as a rotton wooden cover over another deep dark well. Look at David's family and his missteps. Look at his sons!
"Homeschooling", "home churching", what people call "quiverfull" or "modesty culture" aren't the solution either, because hell doesn't care how many good ideals these platforms may have been erected on. Without proper accountability being practiced, they do nothing--absolutely nothing more than increase the propensity for abuses of power and position to accelerate. Not even "Messianic" or "Hebrew Roots" is adequate protection, and if we think they are we're fooling ourselves, because any womanizer or pedophile - casual or professional - can find exactly what they're looking for in that circle. The more naive WE are, the faster they'll find it. They only won't succeed if we start setting boundaries, start educating, and start smashing our rose colored glasses that are actually so dark we can't see a blackhawk helicopter headed towards us at high noon. We need to get our watchmen out of their foxholes where their heads are essentially either buried in the sand, or else stuck up some big-wigs rear that has them convinced he's the example of everything they need to be emulating. We need to get real men - roaring lions, not purring little pussy-cats - guarding the walls that are being breached and broken.
Setting limits on our kids will never cut it. We first need limits set on ourselves. We need to start practicing what we preach, and we need to start preaching what we don’t! We need to make ourselves accountable to others, and stop lying to ourselves and everyone else about it. "He who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall" is not just another rumor.
Ezekiel 18:24-30 tells us that "if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die. Yet you say, 'The way of YHWH is not just.' Hear, you Hebrews, Is my way unjust? Is is not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous persons turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live, they will not die. Yet the Hebrews say, 'The way of YHWH is not just'. Are my ways unjust, you Hebrews? Is it not your ways that are unjust? Therefore, you Hebrews, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign YHWH. Turn away from all your offenses; then your sin will not be your downfall."
There is, my friend, only one answer for each of us - one answer for ALL of us - and whether rumored otherwise or not, that answer is to turn from our sin and to do what is right. Each of us already knows exactly what that entails, and if we don’t, then the Scriptures we’ve been spouting are just a prop; the theologies we purport just theories; and our philosophies just a phantom to hide the sin being fossilized by the hardness of our hearts.
It’s not a question of knowing. It’s a question of whether we’re willing to take the necessary steps, no matter now uncomfortable we find them to be. Only once we’re willing to endanger our personal position and eliminate our own ego in light of eternity can the Spirit can begin working to ensure we're perpetually established. Only after we relinquish the control we think we hold can we be reformed from a religious organization filled with dead mens' bones into a righteous organism exemplifying fruits of repentance.
If we could just get the guts to offer up our stellar outward image for honest inspection, all the secrets and the scandals would simultaneously cease. The fact we can’t get over and give up ourselves is the only real obstacle preventing it. Who is ready to stop just talking Torah and start truly living it?
Are You Ready for Part 7? >>
(Read Part 5-B First if you Haven't)
How should we respond to the moral issues plaguing Messianic fellowships just like they plague the church? How do we address issues which have arisen from the inroads made by a secular, sex-crazed society, which in turn have been fraternized by the fleshly nature of ministers and laymen alike?
A #METOO movement arose but it wasn't an answer; rather it was just an expression of people's pain. That's because screaming doesn't stop the girl from getting raped (Deut 22:27) just like a protection from abuse order doesn't stop a rape victim from getting murdered. What we need is a restoration of morals and a generation of real men who aren't afraid to be so righteously dangerous that they're deadly.
The enemy operates through deception and he's convinced an entire generation that Patriarchy is what we need, where the men protect their families, but here's where we've been conned. He hoodwinked us into overlooking that Yahweh actually used a woman named Abigail to protect her "d!ck" of a husband, a woman named Deborah to lead a campaign against foreign invaders, a woman named Jael to drive tent pegs through the head of Sisera, a Jewess named Judith to overpower an entire army by her beauty, and a Jewess named Esther to save an entire ethnic group from annihilation. Even though I'd agree that real men are in fact supposed to protect their wives and children, here is why patriarchy by itself isn't an answer. When erected by the wrong men with wrong motives, it only serves as a rotton wooden cover over another deep dark well. Look at David's family and his missteps. Look at his sons!
"Homeschooling", "home churching", what people call "quiverfull" or "modesty culture" aren't the solution either, because hell doesn't care how many good ideals these platforms may have been erected on. Without proper accountability being practiced, they do nothing--absolutely nothing more than increase the propensity for abuses of power and position to accelerate. Not even "Messianic" or "Hebrew Roots" is adequate protection, and if we think they are we're fooling ourselves, because any womanizer or pedophile - casual or professional - can find exactly what they're looking for in that circle. The more naive WE are, the faster they'll find it. They only won't succeed if we start setting boundaries, start educating, and start smashing our rose colored glasses that are actually so dark we can't see a blackhawk helicopter headed towards us at high noon. We need to get our watchmen out of their foxholes where their heads are essentially either buried in the sand, or else stuck up some big-wigs rear that has them convinced he's the example of everything they need to be emulating. We need to get real men - roaring lions, not purring little pussy-cats - guarding the walls that are being breached and broken.
Setting limits on our kids will never cut it. We first need limits set on ourselves. We need to start practicing what we preach, and we need to start preaching what we don’t! We need to make ourselves accountable to others, and stop lying to ourselves and everyone else about it. "He who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall" is not just another rumor.
Ezekiel 18:24-30 tells us that "if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die. Yet you say, 'The way of YHWH is not just.' Hear, you Hebrews, Is my way unjust? Is is not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous persons turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live, they will not die. Yet the Hebrews say, 'The way of YHWH is not just'. Are my ways unjust, you Hebrews? Is it not your ways that are unjust? Therefore, you Hebrews, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign YHWH. Turn away from all your offenses; then your sin will not be your downfall."
There is, my friend, only one answer for each of us - one answer for ALL of us - and whether rumored otherwise or not, that answer is to turn from our sin and to do what is right. Each of us already knows exactly what that entails, and if we don’t, then the Scriptures we’ve been spouting are just a prop; the theologies we purport just theories; and our philosophies just a phantom to hide the sin being fossilized by the hardness of our hearts.
It’s not a question of knowing. It’s a question of whether we’re willing to take the necessary steps, no matter now uncomfortable we find them to be. Only once we’re willing to endanger our personal position and eliminate our own ego in light of eternity can the Spirit can begin working to ensure we're perpetually established. Only after we relinquish the control we think we hold can we be reformed from a religious organization filled with dead mens' bones into a righteous organism exemplifying fruits of repentance.
If we could just get the guts to offer up our stellar outward image for honest inspection, all the secrets and the scandals would simultaneously cease. The fact we can’t get over and give up ourselves is the only real obstacle preventing it. Who is ready to stop just talking Torah and start truly living it?
Are You Ready for Part 7? >>