Abraham and Sarah: A Journey of Faith, Fear, and Unbelief

Picture by barunpatro (Barun Patro) RGBStock

Abram Lies, Fearing for His Life

Abram was 75, and Sarai was 65, when he journeyed to Canaan, the land God said would belong to his offspring. They weren’t long in Canaan when a severe famine caused them to head for Egypt. Abram thought he would be safe and well-treated if he introduced Sarai as his sister instead of his wife, and she agreed with the ruse. It was a partial truth, as Sarai was his half-sister, but it was also deceptive. When Pharaoh’s officials saw how beautiful she was, they praised her to Pharaoh, who took her into his palace to make her his wife. Pharaoh lavished Abram with gifts because of Sarai.

Abram was close to losing what God had promised, not realizing how essential Sarai was to see it fulfilled. Abram failed Sarai by allowing another man to claim her, but God stepped in, becoming her champion. He brought diseases to Pharaoh and his household for her sake. When Pharaoh realized the truth, he kicked Abram out, along with his wife and everything he had. God saved her from a future in Egypt because she had a share in the promise.

Sarai’s Foolish Plan

Even though God intervened on her behalf, Sarai didn’t understand how she was integral to the promise. Knowing she was getting on in years, Sarai thought she could help Abram see the promise fulfilled by offering her Egyptian slave to bear his child. It was a bad idea, as the woman and her son brought years of trouble into their home.

When Ishmael was 13, God confirmed His promise to Abram and made a covenant with him, including changing Abram and Sarai’s names. Abraham was 99 years old, and Sarah was 89. It seemed even more unlikely that Sarah would ever give her husband a son from her womb. But a little later, God and two angels appeared, letting them know that Sarah would indeed give birth to a son the following year.

Abraham Repeats His Folly

Despite the renewed promises from God, Abraham repeated his folly when he again introduced Sarah as his sister. Once more, this half truth put Sarah’s future and their promise of offspring at stake when King Abimelek sent for her. God, however, appeared to the king in a dream with a dire warning before anything happened. Abimelek, innocent of all wrongdoing, heeded God and sent Sarah back with gifts.

Soon after, Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a son in their old age at the time God and the two angels had said. The promise God made to them was fulfilled despite the unnecessary troubles they brought upon themselves through fear and unbelief. She named him Isaac, because he brought laughter to her heart, and she knew anyone who heard the story would laugh too.

Tina Morley

Bible references: Genesis 12; 13:14–17; 15; 16; 17; 18:1–15; 20; 21:1–6

Fantasy Meets Faith in The Novice, by C.A. Morley

The Novice, by C.A. Morley

Fantasy and Faith

Many of us have been inspired by the fantasy stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. These famous Christian works helped give insight into the spiritual dimension we find ourselves in as sojourners in this fallen world and, in turn, strengthened our faith.

In that same vein, Light and Life Bible Ministries is thrilled to recommend The Novice, a faith-building romantic fantasy by C.A. Morley that we hope will inspire you on your life’s journey.

About The Novice

An ambitious king.
A shattered trust.
A broken kingdom.

The Kingdom of Livania has been blessed by the god Riaas, and each year King Arlo dutifully journeys to receive the latest prophecy. When he learns Livania will form a strong alliance with its neighboring kingdom, King Arlo eagerly sends his son, Prince Edson, as a special envoy to strengthen his political ties—and feed his own ambitions.

But when the prophecy fails and disaster strikes, the king quickly lashes out in revenge, scattering the Servants of Riaas and irrevocably destroying their way of life. But they are only the beginning, and soon his revenge becomes far-reaching.

Among the Servants is Amity, a young novice, and Paxton, the heir to the priesthood. Both are forced to make a choice—return home or flee with the refugees—and both must choose between quiet hope and disillusioned despair.

Back in King Arlo’s castle, the young Princess Anwen feels helpless to save innocent lives, and Prince Edson’s loyal companion, Lord Geraint, is tempted to join the king in his vengeance.

What can any of them do against the coming tide of war?

Full of conflicted heroes, determined heroines, close escapes, and sweet romance, The Novice is a standalone fantasy adventure exploring the origins of the isolated kingdom of Livania from
C. A. Morley’s Wayfinders series.

Five-Star Reviews

From the 5-star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads:

. . . full of court intrigue and dynamics of destiny, foretellings, betrayals and healing. Can’t wait to read the rest of the series, especially after that brief taste at the end.
-Nic

I loved this story. It’s full of great characters . . . and it makes a great read. Can’t wait for book 2.
-Susan

An enjoyable first installment in a series with just enough left hanging to want the next!
-Amazon Customer

This is a terrific debut novel, it’s a great “feel good” book and it has all the elements I love in Fantasy. . . . it’s the perfect recipe for a compelling, engaging tale full of adventure, fraught with betrayal, self discovery, alliances and ultimately love.
-Beba

I was drawn into the lives of both young women. They made me laugh and cry. I couldn’t put the book down!
-Happy Reader

The vivid word pictures make the pages come alive. The characters are so genuine you feel you could reach out and touch them. The story line will captivate your imagination and hold you in its grip to the end.
-Ralph Littlefield

There’s a lot of intrigue, with well-grounded worldbuilding and an ending that hints at far more to come!
-C.S. Johnson, author of The Order of the Crystal Daggers series

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in my wife’s first epic romantic fantasy novel and appreciated the journeys of faith that some were on.
-Rob Morley

Available in Paperback and eBook

Purchase Here

About the Author

When C.A. Morley isn’t reading about relatable characters in magical places, she’s writing about them in her epic romantic fantasy series, Wayfinders. By no means an adrenaline junky, multiple interests and a fearless spirit have led her to experience new things with abandon, making her feel like she’s lived at least three lives. Having visited over forty countries, some of her more memorable adventures include wandering desert roads below the carved sandstone cliffs of Petra, along lava-stone lanes in ancient Pompeii, and on cobblestone streets in medieval Prague. An American wife and mother of four, she resides in the scenic wine region of South Africa.

Join Wayfinders

Are you looking for an epic adventure with captivating characters? Then look no further!

Wayfinders, by author C.A. Morley, is a brand new epic romantic fantasy series set in a medieval fantasy world similar to ours but with magical, paranormal, and supernatural elements. It follows different main characters and multiple points of view with delightful romance and snarky banter.

Join the Wayfinders community to get behind-the-scenes, snippets, and more! You can unsubscribe anytime.

Join THE Wayfinders COMMUNITY

Rob Morley

Woe to Those Who Call Evil Good!

The Bible Doctor

Photo byKevin Tuck @ RGBStock

“Love Is Love” Doesn’t Justify Same-Sex Marriage

While Biden offers a breath of fresh air after the chaos of Trump, he is also seriously off-track concerning God’s moral law. After signing the Respect for Marriage Act, President Biden remarked, “Love is love. Right is right. Justice is justice.” But stating“[l]ove is love” doesn’t justify same-sex marriage nor is it love if it breaks God’s law that is designed to lovingly guide and protect people. This kind of “love” cannot be called “right” and “justice” any more than an act of adultery between two people who claim to love each other.

A Morally Bankrupt Leader Is a Foolish Response

Similarly, picking a morally corrupt character like Trump to confront moral decline is an innately ludicrous idea that has proved disastrous. I wrote about this blindness in​​​EVANGELICALS, TRUMP, AND THE BIBLE: The Bride and The…

View original post 307 more words

Happy People, Happy World: Experiencing Heaven on Earth

New Book Release

We’re thrilled to announce the publication of Tina’s latest book, Happy People, Happy World. The book aims to cultivate well-balanced creative-thinking individuals rooted in God’s word and led by His Spirit.

Available in eBook and Paperback

Kingdom Living

The more we allow the kingdom of God inside us, the more it can flow through us to bless others. And everything we do should be motivated by love. That is how we will experience heaven on earth.

Book Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE:
DREAMING WITH JESUS

“Let your Kingdom come.
Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

Children often have big dreams and are usually quick to say what they want to be when they grow up. Sometimes they outgrow those dreams, maybe thinking them silly. But not all dreams are silly, even if they seem out of reach.

Do you have a childhood dream that you still want to see fulfilled? Since I was a kid, I can remember wanting to sing my heart out in a musical movie. I also wanted to go into missions. These are two very different dreams, but it’s not impossible to do both because God enjoys mixing unrelated things. He’s a creative God and can’t be put in a box. That doesn’t mean that everything we set our hearts on will come to pass. It just means that in God’s kingdom, there are endless possibilities. If we dream with Jesus, nothing is too hard for Him.

. . .

What is the Lord’s dream for His people? Jesus said it was to see God’s kingdom come on earth (Matt. 6:10).

. . .

While Jesus was walking this earth, He was fulfilling His purpose. He proclaimed good news and set people free from sickness and sin. Jesus was living out His dream of seeing God’s kingdom come. He invites us to do the same by making His dream ours.

. . .

What else can we learn from the Bible about Jesus’ dream? In the book of John, Jesus says He has given us His glory, the manifestation of His love, and we can experience true unity with His glory working in us. Moreover, He wants this to be seen by others (John 17:22‑23). With His love and Spirit filling us, we become His representatives. Our acts of service are motivated by His love. We become His hands, feet, and mouthpiece as His Spirit leads us. Jesus’ dream is realized when God’s love is made evident to the world, bringing many more into His family.

Purchase Book

You can purchase Happy People, Happy World through various outlets via Books2Read.

Rob and Tina Morley

Are You Living in the Kingdom of God?

Picture by Dez Pain, RGBStock

The Promised Kingdom of God Came With Jesus

⁴⁴“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever” (See Daniel 2:1-45).

¹⁵“‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’” (Mark 1:15).

²⁹“And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, ³⁰so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:29-30).

¹⁰“… ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down’” (Rev. 12:10).

¹⁵“… ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever’” (Rev. 11:15).

Experiencing the Kingdom of God

⁹“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven’” (Matt. 6:9-10).

²⁰“… The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:20-21).

¹⁰“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water … ¹⁴whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life”

²³“… a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (See John 4:1-26).

¹⁵“If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them” (John 14:15-21).

³⁷“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ^‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ ³⁹By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:37‑39).

¹⁷“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17).

The Fullness of the Kingdom Will Come

⁵⁰I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—⁵²in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
^55‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’” (1 Cor. 15:50-55).

²⁰“… our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Php. 3:20-21).

Rob Morley

Male and Female Were Designed and Redeemed To Be Spiritually Equal in Every Way

Image by ERVINBACIK, RGBStock

The Three Persons of the Godhead are Coequal

The Bible depicts God as a plurality of three persons of equal rank, existing in mutual submission. This plurality in the Godhead first gets seen when “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26). The Bible speaks of the equality of the Son, “Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Php. 2:5-6). And, of the Spirit’s deity, the Bible says, our “body is the temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 6:19).

Male and Female Depict God’s Image

When “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27), the male and female were both made in the image of God. This image does not reflect the physical attributes of gender (though it’s seen in both gender roles), for God is Spirit. The female was equal to the male, depicting the image of God equally. And in their marriage union, they reflected the image of God in this way too. Consequently, when “God said unto them . . . subdue . . . and have dominion” (Gen. 1:28) in calling them to rule, the male and female depicted the image of perfect unity between persons of equal rank.

Equality Lost and Restored

It was only after the Fall that the male began to rule over the female when God pronounced to the woman, “thy husband . . . he shall rule over thee.” Subsequently, any aberration from the equality seen in the male and the female reflection of the image of God depicts the consequences of the Fall (Gen. 3:16), not the original image that reflects the nature of God (Gen. 1:27-28), nor the redemption in Christ back to the design (Gal. 3:28). Male rule does not reflect the image of God, except where Jesus relinquished His equality for our salvation. But, just as all authority was given back to Him (Matt. 28:18), women in Christ have had the equality they forfeited returned in Him (Gal. 3:28). For He came to redeem us from the curse of a tarnished image of God where the joy of ruling together as equals, in mutual submission, was lost.

Partner for Change

Did you like the article? Real Church Life is a ministry of Light and Life Bible Ministries. Our goal is to help people effectively apply God’s word to all of life. By donating even the smallest amount, you can assist us in spreading good biblical teaching around the world.

Rob

Rick Warren, Baptists, and Women as Pastors

Apology for Apathetic Apologetics

Yesterday, Rick Warren, the founder of Saddleback Church, a Baptist megachurch in California, issued this heartfelt apology on Twitter:

My biggest regret in 53 years of ministry is that I didn’t do my own personal exegesis sooner on the 4 passages used to restrict women. Shame on me.
I wasted those 4 yrs of Greek in college & seminary. When I finally did my proper “due diligence”, laying aside 50 years of… pic.twitter.com/yz3HjNUFw6

— Rick Warren (@RickWarren) June 10, 2023

Baptists – Biblical, Yet Divided

Baptists have historically sought to identify themselves by obedience to the Scriptures, which is commendable. They have often repented, made changes, and accommodated different views. On occasions they split, going in different directions. In an essay titled, Baptist Theology, Anthony L. Chute¹ writes the following on the varieties of Baptists:

Although Baptists agree in the main with the theological commitments above, there are distinctives that set a number of Baptist groups apart from each other. General Baptists affirmed a general atonement whereas Particular Baptists affirmed limited atonement. Southern Baptists formed their denomination in reaction to the refusal of the Triennial Convention (a network of northern and southern Baptists) to appoint slave owners as missionaries; the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., was formed after the American Civil War and is the nation’s oldest and largest African-American religious convention. Missionary Baptists were actively involved in missions at the turn of the nineteenth century, which gave rise to Primitive Baptists who decried mission agencies as unscriptural rivals to the local church. Landmark Baptists look to the past with their understanding that Jesus founded the Baptist church in the first century, while Seventh-Day Baptists look to the last day of the week as the day when Baptist churches should gather for worship.

 (Baptist Theology, The Gospel Coalition)
¹Anthony L. Chute (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is associate professor of church history and associate dean of the School of Christian Ministries at California Baptist University, where he has taught since 2003.

University Avenue Baptist Church writes of Baptist diversity as follows:

Baptists come in all shapes and sizes and are not the same. Currently, there are over 64 separate Baptist denominations in the United States and the diversity is surprising. For example, Primitive Baptists ardently defend predestination; so do Regular Baptists and Reformed Baptists. But Free Will Baptists believe just the opposite. Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists don’t believe in missions.

Swedish Baptists and German Baptists live primarily in the midwest; Northern Baptists (who later became American Baptists) were strongest in the northeast. Southern Baptists began in the south and still have their largest numbers there. Some Fundamentalist Baptists believe that the first Baptist church was started in 31 A.D. and that “nobody is a true Bible fundamentalist unless he is a fundamental Baptist.” The Alliance of Baptists are at the complete other end of the theological spectrum as they embrace diversity and nonconformity. The list goes on and on.

(What Kind of Baptist? University Avenue Baptist Church)

The Issue of Female Pastors

It appears that Baptists have been at the juncture of a new hard choice because some in the Body of Christ, even in their ranks, have thought it biblical that women can be pastors. Could it be that another group of Baptists is about to emerge; one that accepts women as co-heirs who are co-equal for all the church roles in Christ?

As leaders, members, and others in the body of Christ weigh into the debate, it is imperative to remember that understanding the council of the Scriptures is only by God’s grace. The Pharisees were blind though they sought the Scriptures. Even Jews who came to Christ struggled to incorporate the gentiles. More recently, Baptist antiabolitionists, those who held anti-suffrage views, and segregationists battled with change too.

Be Tonic Not Toxic

Change is invariably hard, and in an age where LGBTQ+ and gender-mutilating views are on the rise, we must be cautious. But we must not conflate those issues with the idea of women being pastors because it will only serve to cloud understanding.

As we seek God’s face to know what is best, let us be sure that we are gentle and loving to one another, avoiding slander so that God does not resist us. For “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6). In the end, God will judge us, not so much by our zeal for what we believed was in His word but by our obedience to what His word meant. There is a difference.

Zeal can become misdirected, and obedience does not come to the proud, so may God bless us as we venture on in a world where our love for God is seen in our obedience to His commands and where our love for one another identifies us more than the beliefs that constantly divide.

Rick Warren – “Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man!”

Dear Rick,

Remember the Lord’s words, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matt. 5:11 NIV). Regardless of what people say or do, God’s approval is all that matters. If crucifixion was a route to victory, any loss you experience for the cause of truth, and Truth Himself, is always a win.

Thank you for your apology.

Women in Ministry Posts, Key Texts, and Book

Posts

Click here for more posts on Women in Ministry

Key Texts

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 – “Let your women keep silence…”

1 Timothy 2:11-15 – “… I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man…”

1 Timothy 3:1f – “…an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife…”

1 Corinthians 11:3f – “…the head of the woman is the man…”

Ephesians 5:22 – “Wives, submit to your own husbands…the husband is the head of the wife…”

Book

Click on the image below for more on our recent book, Let Her Fly!

Rob

A Case for Women as Pastors

Created by FotoJet

From Bible-Based Beliefs to Better Biblical Views

Our spiritual predecessors vehemently defended Bible-based beliefs that turned out to be biblically wrong. Could it be that we are not doctrinally perfect in ours? Very often, we don’t see the need for change because we find security in our church’s traditional views, especially if they’re ancient. But history has shown that God’s people have had to repent of their supposed biblically sound views. Even the ancient ones. These changes didn’t always come quickly or easily because beliefs are deep-set into our biblical worldview.

Peter struggled with the idea of being told, in a vision, to eat biblically unclean food. He even went so far as to resist God, saying, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). Some Jewish believers in Christ struggled to accept gentiles didn’t need to be circumcised (Acts 15:1,5; Gal. 2:4,12,13). And, only relatively recently did Christians throw off God-appointed kings and moved away from slavery.

Concerning kings, God’s word says, “And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Dan. 2:21). Scripture says nothing explicitly about changing from God-appointed kings to democracy. And, yet, Christians have come to understand that the Bible gives every right to do so. Throwing off slavery wasn’t so straightforward, either. The following is an extract from The Gospel Coalition article, How and Why Did Some Christians Defend Slavery?

In 1847, [Baptist minister] Fuller and Brown University president Francis Wayland published Domestic Slavery Considered as a Scriptural Institution. The heart of the matter boiled down to a simple question: Is slavery, in principle, a sin? Wayland argued it is. Fuller disagreed.

Fuller raised concerns about slavery’s abuses, but he defended it nonetheless. How did he, and others like him, use Scripture to advocate for slavery?

Fuller argued that slavery, in principle, is not sinful. Undergirding his argument was his abiding conviction that the Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God. The Bible alone has the right to define sin. Once sin has been identified, it is humanity’s responsibility to repent. If “slavery be a sin,” Fuller wrote, “surely it is the immediate duty of masters to abolish it, whatever be the result.” Having established the supremacy of Scripture, Fuller proceeded to interpret its view of slavery.

…

For Fuller the matter was simple: If Old Testament saints owned slaves, and if the apostle Paul preached “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) without explicitly prohibiting slavery, then no man can rightly call slavery, in principle, a sin. In short:

Slavery was everywhere a part of the social organization of the earth; and slaves and their masters were members together of the churches; and minute instructions are given to each as to their duties, without even an insinuation that it was the duty of masters to emancipate. Now I ask, could this possibly be so, if slavery were “a heinous sin”? No!

…

Wayland had great affection for Fuller, but he had no respect for his interpretation of the Bible on this issue. The holes in Fuller’s interpretation are legion, Wayland insisted, and these arguments against slavery stand the test of time.

…

True, no prooftext dismantled Roman slavery with a single blow. Yet taken as a whole, the Bible decimated slavery with a thousand hits. As the Bible is preached and believed over time, Wayland believed, the implications of the gospel would ensure slavery’s end.

FEBRUARY 24, 2017  |  AARON MENIKOFF

Is it possible that we still have more changes to make? Does our current interpretation of Scripture make it impossible to see? And does our adamancy serve only to reinforce our position and stop up our ears? After all, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6).

The Spirit and Word Bear Witness

Acts 15:1-32 gives many principles on how the believers came to agree that gentiles did not need to be circumcised. I believe the same argument Peter used of the work of the Holy Spirit in the gentiles also confirms that women can indeed teach men and be pastors. After all, many women appointed by their churches as pastors have demonstrated that the Holy Spirit is with them in their work and teaching.

To many, this flies contrary to Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 2:12 and 3:1, and elsewhere. But, have they misunderstood Paul? Keep in mind that Peter speaks of “[Paul’s] epistles . . . in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16).

I believe the KJV best demonstrates Paul’s emphatic response to the Corinthian church’s questions on this matter. “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?” (1 Cor. 14:34-36). The Oxford Bible Church explains this well in their article, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35: Should Women Be Silent in Church?

The Prophets Testified

At the council in Acts 15, James pointed to prophecies from the Old Testament concerning the inclusion of gentiles. Similarly, the prophets spoke of female emancipation among the people of God. Earlier, in Acts 2:16-18, Peter proclaimed, “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”

For more, consider the CBE International article – Biblical Egalitarianism and the Inerrancy of Scripture.

Rob Morley

How Do We Know WWJD?

What Would Jesus Do?

What would Jesus do in any given situation is meant by the popular abbreviation, WWJD. That said, I’m not sure many people know what Jesus would do except assume the most loving thing they can imagine, or try and discover what the Bible says on the matter. However, I will show those approaches won’t always work and that Jesus does something foolproof that we should emulate. Let’s consider what the Bible says Jesus would do.

What Jesus Did

1) Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. He said, “[T]he 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 NIV). How do we do that?

2) God’s word teaches us that Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit” and “led by the Spirit” (Luke 4:1). Can we do that?

3) Yes, for we too are “led by the Spirit” (Rom. 8:14) and are instructed to be “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18) and to “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25).

4) Going to God’s word apart from the above is not enough. For which of these must I do in a situation – “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him” or “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes” (Prov. 26:4-5)?

5) Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37), and Proverbs teaches that we should “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5-6).

6) This, along with prayer, is how you can do what Jesus would do, being led by the Spirit and a part of what the Father is doing “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

Rob Morley

Let Her Fly! Freed From Patriarchy

My wife and I have just published our book, Let Her Fly! Freed From Patriarchy, which we had the joy of co-authoring. Below is the Preface:

Preface

“Let her fly!” is a great cry emanating from pain within the heart of God.‌ It’s a roar that bursts from the pages of Scripture with an eternal magnitude that far exceeds the sum of all the pain that humanity has felt and the tears they have shed on behalf of women.‌ It comes from an unfathomably deep love for women, who suffer under the various guises of patriarchy, and for men who lose so much from suppressing them.‌

It should not surprise us to find this in the Bible, for God is the loving creator of women.‌ He is the originator, author, and architect of their purpose and, therefore, their rights.‌ Not only does He understand the pain that has come upon them as a consequence of sin, but He also mourns the loss that has come upon men, for sin has blinded them, in part, to God’s intended blessing through women.‌ For man forever suppresses what God has designed to bless.‌

Let Her Fly! witnesses to God’s loving view of women who, though created in His image, have had to bear denigration since the Fall and Eve’s particular sin.‌ It reveals their release from bondage in the hope that, if you haven’t, you will allow this cry of God’s heart to be your own.‌

At the outset, I must be clear that I do not hope to stop patriarchy wherever it is found, for that would be near impossible given that it was a promised outcome of the Fall, resulting from the initial sin of humanity against God.‌ Also, I must be equally adamant that those redeemed back to God’s purposes ought to begin to walk in the ways of equality initially intended by God before the Fall.

To the extent that gender equality is recognized and allowed, whether by direct submission to Biblical teaching or inadvertently, the world has been a better place.‌ To this end, I hope to show that no one got tasked to be a better example of gender equality than God’s household, the Church.‌ God feels the pain of her loss and, in Christ, has come to redeem it back for her.

Let Her Fly! is about you, God, and women’s rights.

Let Her Fly!
Let her flourish!
Let her speak!
Let her love!
Honor her!
Respect her!
Let her lead!
Listen to her!
Let her submit!
Don’t rule her!
Love her!
Submit to her!
Let her fly!

– Robert S. Morley

The ebook is available at https://amazon.com/dp/B0C229BRXC/ and the paperback is at http://amazon.com/dp/B0C1J3FDCR/. The contents of the book are based on our blog posts at https://realchurchlife.wordpress.com/category/women-in-ministry-2/. Also included are several poems by Christina, FAQs, and my research paper on the topic.

Rob Morley