The Church Offering

Field's Emmy diatribe a loser

When Sally Field won her Emmy she gave a long speech that included this line, " ... (I)f the mothers ruled the world there would be no *bleep* wars in the first place."

The implication is that women have sons and they would not send their sons to war. Or, maybe the implication is that women are less aggressive and would be able to resolve differences more diplomatically. There is also the outside possibility that Sally Field is willingly ignorant.

Since I have recently been studying the kings of Judah, my first response to Field's dictum was to consider Queen Athalia. She was one of the 20 kings of Judah. When she seized power she killed all (or so she thought) members of the royal family. She reigned for six years until she was killed. She doesn't exemplify my idea of a peaceful woman.

Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab. She was ruthless and tried to kill as many of God's prophets as she could. Deborah was a prophetess who ruled Israel because men would not assume their responsibilities.

Sidebar: "O My people! Their oppressors are children, and women rule over them." (From Is. 3:12) This is not a good thing. God is not a stoic, nor His words written without passion. This is condemnation. Do you think it is God's best for a country to have women leading in ministry or government? It is a judgment. End Sidebar.

Israel's sin brought the Canaanite army against the Jews. Barak, the military commander of Israel's army, refused to attack the enemy unless Deborah went with him. As a result of his cowardice, Sisera, commander of the Canaanites, was killed by a woman (Jael).

Field did specifically say, "mothers," so I'll throw out a few murdering mothers.

Andrea Yates was mentally competent to stand trial for the drowning of her five children. Recently, a suburban Fort Worth mom stands accused of dousing her three daughters with gasoline and setting them on fire. In Ohio, Mary Ann Wittich shot her two youngest children in the heart as they lay asleep in her bed.

As the prophet Jeremiah said, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, (or wicked)."

Field was incorrect. No matter how loudly she shrieks, women can be just as cruel as men.

»    Good Reading

I hope you read last month's cover story by Chuck Colson entitled, "Gorging on Politics."

"Politics," Colson writes, "can never be the ultimate source of meaning and influence in any society if people wish to remain free."

Our priority is obedience to Jesus. How can our nation, with its huge church buildings – which I assume hold a lot of people – have so little impact on our culture? We must be living out our faith, or are we just going through the motions?

Brett Harris, writing in the May (2007) issue of the NFT proclaimed that America is "becoming deep-thought deprived."

He is so right. We are running full speed down the information highway, failing to take the time to assimilate what we have learned. Christians know more about politics, Hollywood and sports, than they do about Scripture. That's because they are bombarded with that information via the media. But do they take time to digest their intake – whether it be the Bible or news?

As we read, meditate and memorize Scripture (I confess to have forgotten the references to most of the Scriptures I've memorized.), we build up our thinking skills. We become able to act in an "unashamed," godly manner, as opposed to reacting.

John Mark wrote of a man who was polite to a rude person. "Why are you so polite?" he was asked.

"Why should I let him decide how I'm going to act?" was the reply.

He knows who he is, what he stands for, how he should behave. He refuses to return incivility, because then he would no longer be in command of his own conduct.

Who are you and how do you behave? Do you want to turn God's wrath away from America? Turn off the input. Turn to the Bible. Read. Meditate. Think. Think. Pray. Turn on the news and see things in a different perspective.

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