HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURES

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God is over mankind and all of us are under God’s authority. Man is the pinnacle of God’s creation and human beings were given authority over all other aspects of that creation. These two facts of reality are unassailable– in virtue of this we, as free agents, are burdened with hierarchy. And, being burdened with it, we are burdened with “moral responsibility” and “inescapable accountability”.

The structures of the biological family and of God’s spiritual family, the Church, are also hierarchical. To advance this truth today will obviously put one in the crosshairs of many who resent hierarchy in both arenas. However, the Church’s purpose is not to be the culture, it is to subvert the culture and call it to repentance.

The Triune God Is the Source of Hierarchy

Jesus subordination to the Father discloses something transcendent to us: the eternal subordination of the second Person of the Trinity to the First:

““Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” John 5:19

“Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” John 6:57

“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:18

These and several other passages, especially in John’s Gospel, reveal that there is subordination within the Trinity itself. This is why hierarchy can never cease to exist. Because there is a hierarchical relationship within the very Godhead, in the Son’s eternal subordination to the Father, and because the creation proclaims the glory of God, there can therefore never be a creation without hierarchy.

The problem, therefore, is not with hierarchy. The problem is what we as sinful creatures do with the authoritative roles that exist within hierarchies. That is the problem that requires our attention. All other attempts to eliminate hierarchy, authority, or subordination are but fool’s errands. They are quixotic undertakings that can never be realized and that only lead to our own misery as we continue to tilt at windmills.

Servant Leadership

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.“

Mark 10:45

“Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” John 13:12-14

And so while bad hierarchies or bad people who fill authoritative roles within a hierarchy may corrupt our understanding of it, it is not “hierarchy£ itself that is the problem. In fact, it is part of the solution to our modern malaise, our current malady of “tyranny of the masses.”

Unfortunately, for a culture saturated with Critical Theory in its various manifestations, just the mention of hierarchy, often construed as “subordination,” will engender a kind of primal rage– one that goes so far as to abandon the neutrality of law itself. Mari Matsuda, one of the founding mothers of Critical Legal Theory, explains the need to dismantle hierarchy and the means by which it might be done:

“Through our sometimes painful work in coalition we are beginning to form a theory of subordination; a theory that describes it, explains it; and gives us the tools to end it. As lawyers working in coalition, we are developing a theory of law taking sides, rather than law as value-neutral.” Matsuda, Beside My Sister, Facing the Enemy: Legal Theory out of Coalition

For Matsuda, any structure of authority in the culture is a threat to autonomy. It is “subordination” to an authority other than the self, and subordination of any form to an external authority is treated as an intrinsic evil.  The means to end “subordination” for Matsuda is to turn the law itself into a tool of political activism; to make the law “take sides.”

In this vision of the law, lady justice (or “person justice”) has the blindfold removed. Now the all-seeing eye of justice can impose justice where justice has been neglected. But this imposed justice cannot tolerate inequality of any kind, and so hierarchy in all its forms and manifestations must go–to include hierarchy in the family. As is with any Marxist-inspired mode of thought, however, the injustice that might have to occur in the process of righting previous injustices is given little to no consideration.

Jesus, unlike modern, Ivy league-trained lawyers, has a very different view of hierarchy and authority. On the one hand, he commends those who recognize their place in hierarchical structures, praising them in fact for their faith:

“When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.” Matthew 8:5-13

The centurion’s grasp of his place, both as a man under authority and one in authority, is held up by Christ as a model for others. Of course what stands out in this account is that the man in authority, the centurion, comes to Jesus on behalf of his servant–out of genuine concern, out of love, for the one under his authority.

This is servant leadership. It is the same kind of servant leadership that Jesus Himself exemplifies in paradigmatic form as the Creator of the universe who comes into His own creation to serve it:

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. Mark 10:45

“Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:6

COMPROMISING WITH THE WORLD’S VALUES

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Michigan-based Bethany Christian Services announced Monday it will begin placing children in LGBTQ families nationwide. 

Bethany, one of the country’s largest adoption and foster care agencies, started offering services to gay couples in 2019 after a legal settlement. The new policy approved by the organization’s board does not include the phrase “LGBTQ,” but says it will “implement a nationwide policy of inclusivity in order to serve all families across Bethany’s core service lines.”

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

CBN News received the following emailed statement from Bethany: “For the past 75 years, Bethany Christian Services has never wavered from our mission of demonstrating the love and compassion of Jesus to children and families. We help families stay together, we reunify families who are separated, and we help vulnerable children find safe, stable homes when they cannot remain in their own.”

“Faith in Jesus is at the core of our mission. But we are not claiming a position on the various doctrinal issues about which Christians of mutual good faith may disagree. We acknowledge that discussions about doctrine are important, but our sole job is to determine if a family can provide a safe, stable environment for children. Unlike many other child and family welfare organizations, Bethany is committed to partnering with churches to find as many families for vulnerable children as possible, and we seek to place children with families that share our mission.”

Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler said, “We are now seeing a head-on collision between organizations like Bethany Christian services that had been very committed to a Christian understanding of marriage and the family and human sexuality and gender … and the government.” He said Bethany has surrendered the “Christian convictional part” in order to retain its partnership with the government. “Christians have to understand: If you’re redefining marriage, if you’re redefining parent and family, you are redefining civilization,” he said.

The Bible’s definition of family is clear, a father and mother is necessary, any other definition is contrary to God’s standard. We can now understand that the only way for this world to function as our maker intended is for Jesus to return as prophesied and to rule and reign with His saints. The following Scriptures make it clear we will rule the nations with a rod of iron. It will not be a democracy.

“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” Revelation 2:27

“Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” Psalm 2:8-11

“For the nation and kingdom which will not serve You shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.” Isaiah 60:12

JUDGE APPROVES GAY THROUPLE AS LEGAL PARENTS OF TWO CHILDREN

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A Children’s rights activist decried a California judge’s ruling allowing three men to be listed as the legal parents of two children born to surrogate mothers using donor eggs as being the consequence of laws that sacrifice the wellbeing of children to benefit the desires of adults.

The homosexual male “throuple” includes Ian Jenkins, Alan Mayfield and Jeremy Allen Hodges. The three-way relationship happened after Jenkins and Mayfield, who met nine years ago, invited Hodges to join the couple eight years ago.

Ian Jenkins, Alan Mayfield, and Jeremy Allen Hodges on “The Morning Show” in Australia on Feb. 16, 2021.

The Children’s rights activist, Katy Faust, founder of children’s rights organization Them Before Us, and the author of a recent book of the same name, noted in a Monday interview with The Christian Post that much of the media is framing their coverage of these adult men as being victims of a system that did not make it effortless to acquire someone else’s children.  

“Of course the real victims are the two motherless children who were intentionally separated from the woman who provided half of their genetic identity, the woman to whom they bonded during their first 9 1/2 months of life, and who will be starved of the daily maternal love that all children crave,” Faust said. 

But people should not be surprised by the newest manifestation of “modern family,” she asserted, as it was “the inevitable result of centering all legal and cultural conversations about family around the desires of adults.

That slippery slope of ‘if the adults are happy the children will be happy’ which began with no-fault divorce, normalized single mothers by choice, insisted gender is irrelevant to parenting during the gay marriage debate, is now championing male throuples raising motherless children,” she added. 

“Until we recognize that children have a natural and fundamental right to be known and loved by both their mother and father, you can expect more wild variations of the modern family, as children become the acceptable sacrifice on the pyre of adult desires.”

FEAR GOD & HIS JUDGEMENT – VOTE NO

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 The Bible says : “Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. “(Proverbs 14:34)

SAME SEX MARRIAGE VIOLATES GOD’S DESIGN FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY.

Your belief system is foundational and fundamental to Your daily living and crucial and critical to Your destiny in life.
1. – It directs what You think and feel
2. – It controls what You say and do
3. – The quality (and the quantity) of Your life rests on it.

When the belief system gets CORRUPTED, the thinking will be COMPROMISED, the feelings will be CONFUSED and Life will be COMPLICATED.

The Bible clearly teaches us that the sanctity of marriage is solid, secure and safe .
1. SOLID – because this first and oldest institution in the history of mankind is ordained by Almighty God and He Himself performed the very first marriage.
2. SECURE – because this all-important union brings together the law of our land and the love of our Lord.
3. SAFE – because this holy invention is God’s idea and thus it will stand the test of time and succeed over the trends of life.
Ambushed by minority groups, the sanctity of marriage, is currently in serious danger of becoming a thing of the past, if the proponents of same-sex lifestyle and the opponents of common-sense marriage have their way.

Their hideous agenda, especially that of their leaders goes way beyond the desire for marriage, it seeks its demise. Their intention is to redefine our God-ordained institution and replace it with a man-made invention.

The “one man one woman to the exclusion of all others” definition of marriage is at a major crossroads once again.

The burning question on the lips of concerned citizens and conservative voters everywhere is: will common sense principles protect it from evil and preserve it for good, or, will same-sex lifestyle tear it apart and throw it away for good?

The aggressive homosexual activists are no longer satisfied for their homosexual community to be left alone in peace, to practise in private, the unnatural urges they feel and the sinful lusts they desire towards the same sex.

They now want to raise argument after argument to defend the indefensible and to normalise the abnormal.

They even try to rewrite the history books and rewire the human design in order to make the unnatural normal and the unnecessary needed.

Given the relentless attack on traditional marriage we’re currently experiencing, let us  hold in honour the sanctity of marriage and regard it as precious and of great value as the scriptures tells us.

I voted NO to SSM and encourage you all (in Australia) to do the same, because the simple reality is that SAME SEX MARRIAGE violates God’s design for marriage and family.

Your vote at this postal plebiscite is your voice at Parliament House. Make sure that your Vote NO to SSM is heard loud and clear in Canberra’s political corridors of power. Together we can positively impact our Australian family and permanently safeguard the values of our Christian heritage.

And if you think your ONE vote does not matter, well think again – On 18 January 1961, in Zanzibar, (now part of Tanzania) Afro-Shirazi Party won by a single seat of the seat of Chake-Chake on Pemba Island had been gained by a single vote.

Our children and grandchildren deserve the best that we can offer them, and our Christian values are the best there is on offer.  You cannot improve on God’s model.  One day they will appreciate your vision and values and applaud the courage of your convictions.  One day they will think of your life and legacy and thank God for your labour of love.

Extract from article by Peter Rahme – http://www.amazinggrace.org