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The
Infiltration of Feminism in the Church
This is not about the obivious
of woman Pastors and leaders, but in the family. No longer are Christians
raising their own children but depending on others to do it for them in the
quest of the American Dream and the "equality" of woman. The family has been
devastated and many ministries have gone wanting for the people have put the
world first and God somewhere else.
The following letter written to
Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family is one mother's perspective on the
problem:
December 13, 1995
Dear
Dr. Dobson,
Recently you broadcasted a show on working mothers. I
believe it was a repeat. While this particular time I was not able to listen to
the whole show, one point was mentioned that I would like to address. It was
the mention of those who both blatantly and subtly make these women feel
guilty. I, Dr. Dobson am one of those people. I hope you will take a moment and
read my letter and someday address the issues I now raise.
I am a
full-time 44 yr old mother of 8. I am at home not because I am "lucky" or
because my husband makes a good salary, I am at home because of the Word of God
that tells me that my children are to be my priority, that He will provide our
needs and because it is the responsibility of my husband and I to train our
children in His Ways! My life verse is Titus 2:3-5. I take the role as woman
that God has given me quite seriously. I consider myself a "watcher", one who
tries to stand back and access what is going on in our world.
Do you
recall the story of the "Emperor's New Clothes"? The story tell of an emperor
so vain he buys clothes that only those who are fit for his position can see.
So he walks about naked for none wanted to be thought unfit or a fool. It is a
child who points out the truth and the foolishness of the adults around him.
Today people conduct themselves based on the "political correctness" of what
the world says this particular day. Are not the children of today by their
actions pointing a finger at our foolishness?
The feminist movement
devalued children by legalizing abortion, then it further devaluated the
children by causing women to believe that childrearing was not as important as
a career or a money making job. Mothers going out to work began not as
necessity but as rebellion to their role! "When the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was
desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also
to her husband with her, and he ate." - Gen 3:6 (NASB) Dr. Dobson where
were and where are the men today? Why did they not value their wives and
children? As Christian men where was their commitment to God and His Word, or
was the lure of "more" the same as that bite of the apple? We are so ingrained
in vanity as not to want to stand against what is wrong but to be thought
acceptable. Why don't the men reaffirm their wives in the importance of their
role as wife and mother? Why are men never interviewed as to why their wives
are out of the home?
God created a need in men to be the protector and
the provider of the family, yet today, as Adam bit knowingly, men have
abdicated that role. Is that why many men have left the family for they are not
"needed"? Women have a need to be protected and provided for. Is that why many
will leave their husbands for they are now fulfilling all their needs
themselves? Feelings come and go! What about the concept of living within one's
means? Not only are women working full-time but many are working two jobs. Why?
Because there is always more! Besides there is a feeling that providing toys
and clothes etc. makes one a good parent. When one lived within their means, it
was the means of the husband. It can be done! Not only is my family proof of
God's blessings, even undeserved for we have not been wise with His provision.
But He has provided and though we may even run late or behind on a bill, He has
always seen us through! One family I know had been willing to live in a one
room house as it took years to shape up to become a two bedroom home. This is
because the father put the priority on the mother to be with the children, not
on a house! "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the
one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon." - Luke 16:13 (NASB) Dr. Dobson, something
has to be sacrificed. Today to our shame not even the church takes a strong
stand on this. Very few churches will stress the importance of the parents,
(with the mother at home) raising their own children!
One woman on
your show was working to help her husband obtain his doctorate. Was this piece
of paper worth the heartache and disruption of his family? In retrospect was it
worth it? Did he go first with the Lord with this decision? The Lord raises
those He chooses, His way. I have been taught these guidelines for decision
making: Am I putting God's desire ahead of my own? Will it help me to love God
and others more? How does this action relate to my personal involvement in
fulfilling Christ's Great commission? Am I providing a good witness to others?
Will this help me lead a more holy life? Have I sought His Word on it in the
Bible? Have I prayed? Have I sought counsel from a mature Christian? Have I
honestly answered all these questions honestly?!
Dr. Dobson, what
about our witness to the world? Today we fight a political system that wants
and is taking our rights away. We gave them away when the men and the women of
the church followed the ways of the world. It is given to the parents to train
up their children, it is to the parent's shame when they abdicate their roles!
"A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who bore
him." - Prov 17:25 (NASB) "And these words, which I am commanding you
today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way
and when you lie down and when you rise up." - (Deu 6:6-7) Children learn
by example. Children value others as they are valued and those around them. The
feminist statement that the husband and the children have to understand the
mother's need has produced a totally selfish generation! Children are not
taught their value as they are hustled off to a sitter or a caregiver before
they can understand . New parents rejoice in their new baby, but then when the
child is barely a month or more old, the attitude is "O.K. its time to get back
to the "real world". And the child is place "on the shelf" till they want to
take the time to dust them off and play with them. A second-hand mom is more
acceptable than second-hand clothes! How many children today call others Mommy
because theirs is not there! I have a friend who used to babysit and the kids
cried when they had to go home. After all she was the one who loved and cared
for them. God's love is action. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8A) The children don't
learn loyalty and commitment as if one sitter or caregiver fails or quits, they
just move on to another! Does not the pre-school years prepare the adult to
come?
Recently in a local newspaper, the Asbury Park Press (11-30-95),
an editorial columnist, Mona Charen, wrote a column titled "Feminist movement
paid a steep price." As she spoke of the feminist desire for government and
business to provide for the children's care, she writes: "Friedan rejects the
idea a mother must choose between work and raising her kids. That may get
applause on college campuses, but it rings false to anyone who is actually at
home with children. A woman holding down a demanding full-time job cannot also
raise her kids. It is the person who is with them all day who decides what they
will read and see, how well they handle anger. Caretakers instill, bit by bit,
their moral codes, their manners and even their enthusiasms. That doesn't mean
that a mother who works is irrelevant to her children - only that the major
task of childrearing has been subcontracted out". Dr. Dobson, is Balaam's ass
speaking to us?
In 1 Timothy 5:10 it lists the qualifications of a
widow to be assisted. I have felt this is a good guideline for my work as a
Christian woman. Not only expected to have "raised" children (not just given
birth to) and to serve the saints. Today it is hard to have people commit to
service in the church. Our service to the Lord is our whole life, not just a
Sunday morning or a "good deed" here or there. There is a real lack of power,
for people are not sold out to God, even those in full time service it is
whatever is convenient. How many women once they have their children in school,
look for a paying job instead of serving the elderly, a visit, a word of
scripture, a prayer and a clean, dusted house, a harried new mom getting a hand
from an older one, knowing she is experiencing what others have before her.
Time to listen to a wounded friend or neighbor.. Where is the mom to listen to
her children's day and correcting what is contary to God's Word. To share the
Gospel with others BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FAMILY!
Dr. Dobson, I
am not the perfect mother nor am I the perfect Christian. I know there are
cases where either a single mom or a family may temporaily need two incomes.
Larry Burkett has written a book on how to stay at home. Downsizing is
occurring. But where is the church?!! Is the church teaching and encouraging
our men and women to plan before they even plan to marry, to raise their
children themselves. Our teens, especially our teens need a guiding presence!
Where does the church honor the mother at home? One Mother's Day, the magazine
"Today's Christian Woman" honored a woman who as they stated was chairman of
the board and mother of "Sue". Remember what Mona Charen said above that the
major task of childrearing being sub-contracted out! What is the church
teaching?!
To our shame many times it is the programs for children
missing because we don't have the people. The church worries about it's adults
being burnt out. There is no consistency in the witness. Our family has brought
other children out only to have youth groups fizzle when those doing it burn
out. Over the years we have not been able to send our children to a youth group
that fizzle out after just a year or so. We have even sent our children to
other church youth groups when ours have failed. Where is our witness to our
children about service to God! Where is our service to God when the lure of
"more" causes more hours of work ? We sacrifice our service to the church!
The Proverbs woman is often used to give credence to the "two income
family", but is the family today rising up and praising the woman? And when it
does, is it for her godly witness or for her paycheck?
The Word of God
is not always welcomed. Remember even Jesus spoke things that drove the
religious leaders mad. I pray that I do display His love and am not a "clanging
cymbal". I love my God, His Word, His people and His children. But when a woman
comes and says I got a new job, I do not praise and usually say "Oh, what about
your kids?" Or when at a Bible study I try to encourage women to find joy and
fulfillment in serving God in their family or in service to Him.
We
need to teach and set examples for not only our young people, but even the
world for it is God's love that makes us different. If we put the value and the
responsibility back in the home, not in the government, God will be better
served!
The "working mother" has taken many rights of the family away
by demanding that the world take over her role as mother! If the mother at home
does not use peer pressure she will become extinct. God has always valued
obedience over gifts. We need to once again be radical Christians obeying God
in opposition to the world.
Yours in the service of Jesus,
(Name
withheld by request)
Focus on the Families reply
was worthy of any politican by not making a firm stand. In it FOF said they
would not urge families to strive to have the woman at home as the Bible says
(for they did not see it as a command of God). Plus they said it would only
cause the women to have theological guilt heaped on them.
In a followup
letter to Dr. Dobson, this mother wrote:
Dear
Dr. Dobson,
I heard part of your program in the middle of the night. I
was very happy that you are calling parents to task of their responsibility. I
am head of the children's ministry in my church and have often said that we are
there to "ASSIST!" NOT TAKE THE PLACE OF PARENTS! We are there to confirm their
teachings not to do their job!
One thing grieves me. It is your fear
of placing guilt. Guilt can be good if it brings to the person realization of
the fact they have done something wrong. That is how and why sin is repented
of. I have written in the past of the need to get back to God's Word and teach
families that the mothers are commanded to raise their children not to
subcontract or abdicate the role by placing their children into the care of
another!
Guilt? Let's see what Dr. Ravenhill writes in his book Why
Revival Tarries! ....Chapter Four
WHERE
ARE THE ELIJAHS OF GOD?
.....Brethren, if we will do God's work in
God's way at God's time with God's power, we shall have God's blessing and the
devil's curses. When God opens the windows of heaven to bless us, the devil
will open the door of hell to blast us. God's smile means the devil's frown!
Mere preachers may help anybody and hurt nobody; but prophets will stir
everybody and madden somebody. The preacher may go *with* the crowd; the
prophet goes *against* it. A man freed, fired, and filled with God will be
branded unpatriotic because he speaks against his nation's sins; unkind because
his tongue is a two-edged sword; unbalanced because the weight of preaching
opinion is against him. The preacher will be heralded; the prophet
hounded.
Ah! brother preachers, we love the old saints, missionaries,
martyrs, reformers: our Luthers, Bunyans, Wesleys, Asburys, etc. We will write
their biographies, reverence their memories, frame their epitaphs, and build
their cenotaphs. We will do anything except imitate them. We cherish the last
drop of their blood, but watch the first drop of our own!....."
Be
the prophet that God has called you to be Dr. Dobson. The lives of His people
and children are at stake. You, yourself said that the church alone can not do
it. You said that values are caught not taught. Too often the children see the
adults are hypocrites for God is for Sunday or church activities only. How can
they know a personal God when they don't know their parents personally?
Afterall caregivers are interchangable, does this not make the parent
unnecessary, does this not make a god to our liking more reasonable? A god is
the one who holds command of one's soul. Who is in command of the souls today?
The children today do not see the True God, for they see the god of
money and prestige of America as the true god of their parents.
In
Jesus' Service,
(Name withheld by request)
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