Trumpet C1

THE TIME IS SHORT

​

The time is short…they that have wives be as though they had none (1 Cor 7:29)

 

Everything in the Bible fits together and complements each other for the simple reason that God’s literal words are both exact and true. This fact becomes more and more apparent during our Bible studies as we mature: As young Christians we read the Bible a number of times and might think, “Is that it? Shouldn’t there be more?” And it’s true that the Bible is only one book, and therefore it might seem finite, which might cause the carnal mind to gradually decide it’s not worth our time after a few years.

​

As we grow, however, our continued time in the word combined with our life experiences as we do the word cause the Lord to deepen and broaden our understanding of and appreciation for the word. During our maturation as faithful doers, the word of God does not change. But because of our faithfulness the Word of God manifests Himself to us more and more through the word of God, and we realize those same old fishes and loaves we’ve faithfully and dutifully eaten over the years just keep on multiplying as surely as if we’re standing there 2,000 years ago as one of the 7,000 being miraculously fed by the Lord. At times of personal revelation and growth like that we witness the amazing fact that the word is an onion with many layers that – rightly divided, here a little and there a little – manifests itself to us but not to the world. And that process of manifestation deepens our belief and confidence so we can testify in ways like this:

 

1 John 1:1-4  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

 

By the way, I don’t want what I just said to detract from the fact that other forms of communion besides Bible study can be used by God just as much to open our understanding. For example, many truths have manifested themselves over the years during verbal communion with my wife, written communion with you comrades, silent reflection in my inner sanctum during the night and day, and during the times I immerse myself in the word of God when writing material such as these essays. Any and all forms of communion around and interaction with the word of God is good – whether we are consciously aware of it at that moment or not.

​

As you know, the purpose of the War College Trumpets is to sound the alarm of war and to teach Scriptural NT tactics. In those trumpets some of our brethren may think I’m being a bit too alarmist or panicky when urging Bible believers “from such turn away” in order to reduce the chances of becoming leavened and gradually overcome by apostasy. In this trumpet I am going to show that being alarmed about the welfare of the church is the proper attitude...and has been from the very beginning of the NT era, which underscores the fact that we must utilize the Lord’s NT tactics of rearguard action not just for the good of the church, but for the survival of the church. And then I’m going to show some examples of how all the Scriptures fit together and complement each other – which helps illustrate that proper doctrine must be supported by every verse in the Bible, and which helps show why we must faithfully stay in the word even after we’ve gone through the Bible more times than we can count.

​

NEW TESTAMENT EXPEDIENCY IN MARRIAGE

1 Corinthians 7 says we should not marry unless we have to in order to avoid fornication. It explains why it is better to not marry:

 

1 Cor 7:32-35 ...He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife...The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

 

OK, that all makes sense. Before I get to the “alarm of war” read this:

 

1 Tim 5:8  But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

 

Now read what the Bible tells married Christian men, and note that it at first appears to contradict the above:

 

1 Cor 7:29  But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

 

It says “both” above because it then goes on to include the following:

​

1 Cor 7:30,31  And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use [those who customarily resort to...as in, to have business or other dealings with] this world, as not abusing it [don’t overdo it by becoming dependent upon]: for the fashion of this world passeth away [the world won’t last much longer].

​

A careful reading of the context of the 1 Cor 7 makes it clear that this chapter is not some pipe or harp giving an uncertain sound; it is an urgently loud-and-clear trumpet calling us saints to battle by saying:

 

The time is short! Sound the alarm! We’re in the dark last days, and for your own profit and the survival of the church drop everything and spend your time serving God and His church. If you are a single man or woman, do not marry. If you are a married man, act as if you are not married by eschewing unnecessary, time-wasting family distractions. In fact, don’t even waste precious time weeping or rejoicing or taking care of normal worldly pursuits.

​

Obviously, when the Bible tells Christian men who are married to be as though they aren’t, and when it tells men and women to not even rejoice and weep, it is telling us the church is in such dire straits we need to employ the doctrine of expediency in certain situations for the good of the church. In other words, the New Testament is building upon the fact that when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, He replaced the OT with the New, which was a major – indeed, radical – tactical change. For example, physical patriarchs and the Old Commission are gone, and instead we’re advised not to marry; we have neither real estate nor dominion; and rather than go in among born-again brethren who are unruly or disorderly or doctrinally subverted in order to help them by arguing and convincing them to repent, we are told to “warn” and “admonish” them once or twice and then to reject them by walking away, by not eating with them or inviting them into our homes for fellowship...by shunning them! I say again, in this NT era of rampant apostasy the time is so short we are no longer told to stone fellow Christians such as incorrigible children and unrepentant members of our congregations (because that stuff is barbaric to the Enlightened society that has dominion over us, and because there are way too many subverted Christians around us), we are instead told to not even risk having wives and children, and we’re told to shun most of the rest of “Christianity” because the risk of being around them is too great. If we think about it a little it’s easy to imagine a physical church building that represents the NT body of believers...and good saints are running out of it in all directions and wisely becoming hermits in their various efforts to remain doctrinally unleavened for God’s sake and that of His church and the war.

 

Hermit: One who lives apart from society for religious reasons.

 

Because the 1 Cor 7 “time is short” verse was written at the beginning of the NT era I don’t think it was meant to make us think the Second Coming was just around the corner (although two days/two thousand years may be considered “short” compared with the previous six thousand years of this war; and even though today we believe the Second Coming is just around the corner). I believe the “time is short” phrase when put into the context of our marital duties to each other and to Christ, and when considering the obvious fact that the chapter tells us to keep expediency in mind, is intended to emphasize the fact that the advanced stage of leaven in the church has necessitated the NT’s radical changes to our Christian lives and to the way we deal with our beloved brethren – brethren who will not endure sound doctrine and will turn away their ears from the truth, and after their own lusts (Reason) they shall be turned unto fables (tradition, morality, and theology). And all of that is intended to make us reflect upon the necessity of those changes as well as the importance of the plainly-worded NT rearguard tactics that order us to “have no company with” leavened brethren if they don’t properly respond to one or two admonitions. In other words, “the time is short” phrase combined with the rest of the NT is intended to make us realize it is saying:

 

Situation critical: Carry out your NT rearguard tactics to avoid being leavened, and do your Christian duties...but keep expediency in mind that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

 

The Bible makes it clear that – especially when among fellow sheep/Christians – we must be watchmen who are always doctrinally vigilant and always ready to follow the Lord away from doctrinal apostasy when Christians no longer have ears to hear our words of instruction and admonition:

 

Mt 10:6-38  But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel...And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy...And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet...Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men...Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

 

When we read verses like the following we note at the end we’re told to “rejoice” and “weep”, which makes some people think it’s contradicting 1 Cor 7:30 above. But God’s word does not contradict itself, which makes us think about the other underlinings below and how they obviously rely on our Christian maturity, and on our love for God and His church so we’ll utilize discernment, wisdom, and love when weighing the time-is-short call to arms above with other more “normal” Biblical exhortations such as the one below:

 

Rom 12:9-15  Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

 

With all of that in mind, I’ll invent an example of a Christian husband using expediency to be as if he had no wife: A big family reunion is coming up over a long weekend 200 miles away. At the last minute something comes up with some Christian brethren that the man decides needs his attention. He talks with his wife about it and tells her to take the kids and drive to the reunion without him. As a Bible believer she understands the situation and dutifully obeys. At the reunion her parents and married siblings, upon finding out that the husband is tending to “church matters” rather than to his wife and kids, badmouth him. The wife looks at them and in no uncertain terms tells them to shut up and not mention it again. And if they do she’ll pack up the kids and leave right then. She is a good and strong Christian and has her priorities (the Lord and His church) straight. But she is extremely rare and hard to find:

 

Proverbs 31:10-30  Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her...She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life...Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her...Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

 

That kind of wife/servant makes me think of the aged widower, Abraham, who had a servant so beloved, faithful, and competent that Abe knew he could rely on him for anything and everything – including finding a woman from whose loins would come many generations of Christians:

 

Gen 24:2  And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had...

 

But if the wife in the above example were a pagan or a lousy Christian (a born-again unbeliever), and – encouraged by her badmouthing relatives – she rebels against her “fanatic” husband, he’d obviously do the best he could to handle the situation. If he fails, and if the bad wife thinks he has made her life so unhappy that she decides to leave him, then the following applies:

 

1 Cor 7:15  But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.

 

ADULTERY AND WHOREMONGERING

When the Lord in 1 Cor 7 tells Christian men that have wives [to] be as though they had none when that particular expediency is necessary for the good of the church, He is certainly aware that He is speaking to a classification of men that includes a large percentage of sex fiends – after all, most of them wouldn’t have married at all unless they thought they would commit fornication with a Christian woman if they stayed single. Therefore, it is possible that some men might be tempted to think, “Hmm, if I’m to act as though I didn’t have a wife that means I can have sex with girlfriends like the bachelor Samson did, and/or consort with whores like the widower Judah did.” But read this:

 

Heb 13:4  Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: [Before the colon the topic of marriage and marital sex is introduced, and it says husbands and wives may do whatever sex acts they want.]

but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. [After the colon a qualifier is added to prevent married Christian men and women from thinking “undefiled” means they can commit adultery and/or consort with prostitutes and gigolos.]

 

Yes, the marital bed is undefiled – as long as your sex is with your spouse. But Heb 13:4 isn’t really necessary to show 1 Cor 7 isn’t promoting promiscuous behavior. The expediency of “being as though they have no wives” is only to be exercised in order that the man be better able to “attend upon the Lord”...and running around having sex with other women cannot be construed as attending upon the Lord.

​

I have been challenged about Christian bachelors being able to consort with girlfriends and whores, and the “proof” that bachelors “cannot do so” is the fact that “whoremongering” is a sin. But we’ve already learned in the Bible that fornication and adultery are not the same; one applies to unmarrieds and the other applies to marrieds. For example, if a Christian bachelor screws an unmarried pagan girlfriend, no sin has been committed. But if he screws an unmarried Christian girlfriend he has committed fornication. So we turn our attention to Thus saith the Lord to see what we learn about whoremongering, because any English dictionary will properly define whoremongering as having sex (“consorting”) with whores. We note that whoremonger appears five times in the Bible, and four of those times we learn nothing because whoremongering is merely included in lists of various sins. To understand whoremongering, therefore, we must go to Heb 13:4, which lets us learn about whoremongering and about adultery. Obviously adultery applies to married people, and obviously Heb 13:4 deals specifically with married people. Therefore in context both adultery and whoremongering are sins (“God will judge”) that God is applying to married people – not bachelors. Therefore if we want to make whoremongering a sin for bachelors and widowers we must first find a verse in the Bible that allows us to do so...and there is none. Therefore, the reason nobody condemned Samson and Judah for their activities, and the reason neither Samson nor Judah tried to hide his activities or was ashamed of them is because their activities were Scripturally lawful...and to attempt to make the sex bachelors have with consenting girlfriends and with whores (where prostitution is legal) sins is nothing but the old Mt 15:2 scam – inventing sins not in the Bible. By the way, when Bible believers carefully examine all five applicable verses and take a minute to analyze Heb 13:4, they quickly realize it was tradition that caused them to assume things about whoremongering that are not in the Bible, which also made them think the Biblical examples of Samson and Judah might be misleading at best and errors at worst...which illustrates the fact that false traditions can subvert faith in the inerrant truth and authority of the living word of our living God! Walk circumspectly, comrade, and be ever-vigilant watchmen by carefully paying attention to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

 

WOMEN PREACHERS AND OUR CHRISTIAN DUTY

If you look in 1 Cor 7 or anywhere else in the Bible for a verse that tells Christian wives that “the time is short, so you may be as though you had no husband” you will search in vain – there is no such verse. Why?

​

It’s because men and women are different in God’s eyes. Men are heads/masters because they represent God; women are bodies/servants because they represent the church. The fact that God specifically gives husbands the expediency to act at times as if they have no wives, but He never even hints that women have the same prerogative gives us an indication as to how critically important women are to the war. A Christian woman – whether she has a husband who is pagan or Christian, froward or good – is never allowed to take a “break” from serving him! That’s because she represents the church, and the church is never allowed to take a “break” from serving God. In a mysterious (and to me, ominous) way, the fact that women are always supposed to be under the authority of their husbands is related to the fact that women are always supposed to have long hair:

 

1 Cor 11:10  For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

 

It seems to me that just as God depends on and waits for us to be submissively obedient to Him before He wields His sword in this war, it may be that the church as a unit and husbands as individual Christians are somehow handicapped if Christian women in general and wives in particular are not properly under the authority of men (Jn 19:26,27; Isa 3:12-4:1). It is 1 Cor 7 that brings much that the Bible says and implies about women into sharper focus and tends to establish a pattern. I say plainly: Christian women have a very important role in this war. I don’t understand it clearly or fully, but what I do understand means God’s very clearly-stated orders that wives submit to their husband as if he is God Almighty – for better or for worse, good or froward – must be carried out to the letter.

​

All of this emphasis on the fact that Christian wives/bodies are never excused from their duty to be under the authority of their husbands/heads; and the related fact that women should never be “shorn” by not having “power on their heads” is but another proof that it is an abomination (and very bad for this cause because it somehow handicaps the church) for women to be preachers. For several reasons (some I don’t fully understand) it is harmful to the cause of Christ for women to become heads/shepherds of a church. I say again, Christian women are never granted the prerogative to rise up from servanthood to positions of authority over Christian men. All Christian women – married or single – are required to be always under authority...because all members of the church – male or female – are required to be always under God’s authority. When a husband exercises expediency by telling his wife to go to the reunion without him so he can help the church he is serving God. But when a woman decides

• to slack off on her duties to her husband for any reason,

• or when she decides to become a preacher

she is rebelling against God and helping Satan.

​

But doesn’t the existence of women prophets in the Bible mean women can be preachers? No. If a NT woman has a good relationship with God and He helps her learn some good stuff in the Bible, she needs to understand that’s what Christian fellowship/verbal communion is for! That’s how all of us, as different members with different talents on the same Body, help each other learn and grow. When a man hears something really good from a woman during fellowship he can then speak up in church and share it with the preacher and the congregation...and let everybody know from whom he learned it.

​

This discussion about women preachers is actually unnecessary because in other places the Bible plainly commands women to be silent in church. And the Bible also clearly states that any man wanting to be a bishop/preacher must be a husband who ruleth well his own house. Christian women are not allowed to act as if they are men, and they are not allowed to shirk their important womanly duties to God. One of the reasons a sister’s faithful performance of her duty is so important to the cause of Christ in this war is because of the angels. We all should understand that fact, and we should understand how difficult being Scriptural women today can be, and we should use charity (in its unselfish, loving, forgiving, helping meaning) to support and encourage them. They are precious comrades in our war.

 

MEN AND WOMEN AS TYPES

Men and women are different, and they have been assigned different jobs by God. Those jobs, if properly done, help the church win the war. At Judgment God will evaluate us based on our performance of our duties. I think too many Christians think they can largely ignore/shirk their earthly duties (such as being husbands and wives, and being masters of and doers of the Bible) and instead focus on “loving” God (such as reading the Bible, saying prayers, and being “good” Christians). Sadly for them the Bible plainly says doing our jobs as defined in the Bible is loving God and loving the church; and not doing our jobs is the same as not loving God – no matter how much we “feel like we’re loving Jesus”.

​

I’m now going to informally look at (and speculate about) some of the differences between men and women, and at some of the reasons for those differences, and at what those differences represent.

 

OT MEN were told to circumcise their penises, to “uncover their heads.”

 

NT MEN are told to “uncover their heads” by having shortened hair. Being “uncovered” exposes men’s heads – which stands for God, and which represents the ruling authority of men.

 

OT WOMEN were never told to be circumcised, were never told to uncover their heads, and were never told to be rulers over men or the church – they were to represent the church by always being under the power/authority of men/God.

 

NT WOMEN are specifically told to be always covered, and a woman’s hair is her God-given covering – if it is long (1 Cor 11:15). And even if she does “good” things like praying (or prophesying – as in Tit 2:3-5) with shortened hair (which makes her “uncovered”), it is so shameful that she might as well be shorn. This 1 Cor 11 commandment for women to “have power on their heads”, and the fact that even hair that has been shortened a “little bit” makes it not “long” (which represents just a “little bit” Enlightened, liberated, independent, rebellious, and Satanic) stresses the “no excuses, no exceptions, no expediency” necessity/importance to the war that women be always submissive – just as does the fact that 1 Cor 7 never permits wives to be as though they were not wives, and just as the following verse says husbands can forsake their wives...but nowhere does the Bible say wives can forsake their husbands:

 

Mt 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife [the Bible never says this about husbands], or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

 

The reason these 1 Cor 11 and 1 Cor 7 imperatives exist for women and wives to remain 100% submissive is outlined for us in 1 Cor 6, which says any Christian who sins (in this case we’re zeroing in on women) is a harlot who makes the whole body/lump of Christ a whore/leavened. This is supported by 1 Pet 3:1-7, which says twice (because it applies to both OT and NT women) that women are to be in subjection. If a wife (or husband) doesn’t do her (his) Christian duty she (he) is hindering her (his) prayers and those of her (his) husband (wife) because she and he are one flesh (1 Cor 6). Jn 14 comes into play here because it says the Comforter will only help Christians who are proper doers of the word (as opposed to improper doers like Matt Seven). By the way, 1 Pet 3 is not saying Christian wives’ good conversations (walks) might convince their hubbies to say the “sinner’s prayer”. It says if her hubby is a lousy Christian her pleasing him with her 100% submissive service might cause him to repent.

 

OT MEN and WOMEN were told to marry in order to have physical babies to whom the Lord would give the new birth. And if the rod of correction hadn’t driven foolishness from the heart of a child by the time he was 16 the child was to be executed for the good of the church.

 

NT MEN and WOMEN are advised not to marry unless as bachelors and virgins they won’t be able to keep from having sex with another Christian, which is fornication because it is a sin within (not “without” – 1 Cor 6:18) the body of Christ. Fornication hurts the church. God saw that Enlightened Reason would be so widespread in the church in the NT era that He advised us not to marry so we wouldn’t be joined to a wife-harlot who wasn’t 100% submissive or to a hubby-harlot who wasn’t 100% committed; and He advised us not to marry so we wouldn’t be jailed for properly using spanking to drive foolishness from the hearts of our children; and so massive amounts of our time wouldn’t be squandered trying to please a lousy husband (saved or unsaved), or dealing with a lousy wife (saved or unsaved), or trying to properly train up children (saved or unsaved). The Lord tried to keep us faithful men and women from all of those snares, distractions, and frustrating time-wasters.

 

MEN are heads/rulers and therefore tend to be more cerebral (as in intellectually detached) than women. Alas, however, men’s lives tend to revolve around their dicks, which as King David shows, can be a huge problem. That sexual desire during the OT tended to encourage saints to carry out the Old Commission’s mandate to help the church by having sexual intercourse, but it tends to be a distraction to NT saints’ Great Commission duty to help the church via verbal intercourse. Men also tend to be selfish about and during sex, and – because true love is outward directed/unselfish – that means having sex is, for men, more about having fun than it is about “making love”. And that means when men commit adultery it, in general, does not mean they do not love their wives; men “take” women because they want to be “serviced”. As types, men symbolize God’s desire that He have many wives who live to please Him. I tend to avoid using the word “selfish” when describing God because it generally has a bad connotation in Enlightened society, but it is good for God to want His will to be done by all of us – and it is also very good for us if we agree with Him. NT men need to use principled love to discern the modern importance of never marrying, but if they do marry they need to use compassionate love to be less selfish about the wants and needs of their wives. And if they marry they also need to keep principled love/discernment in mind for occasions when the needs of the church might necessitate their devoting less time to their families.

 

WOMEN are bodies/servants and therefore tend to be more emotional (as in unable to keep feelings from overpowering intellectual judgment) than men. Women, in general, also tend to be less obsessed with sex than men are, and that tends to allow women to be less selfish about and during sex. To women sex is about being cared for and it is part of unselfish love, which is why women “give” themselves to men. Women being more unselfish tends to make their love (emotional, platonic, and sexual) more important and outward-directed than it is for men. Therefore, sex tends to be a way for women to attract the care, attention, and love of men. And they tend to think adultery by their husbands is because he doesn’t love them...when it’s really because the husbands don’t love God enough. NT women need to use discernment to understand the modern importance of never marrying, and if they do marry they need to learn how (by using discernment/principled love) to remain 100% submissive no matter what. Development of women’s principled love will also help them understand that men’s more-abundant principled love makes men more focused on duty and character, while men’s less-abundant compassionate love makes men less focused on human love relationships (emotion) and personality.

 

SUMMATION

The NT era deemphasizes us as individuals and it deemphasizes our physical lives; the focus is on spiritual warfare and the doctrinal health and survival of the church as a whole. Therefore if we were disciplined, and if the Bible really were our sole authority in all matters of faith and practice, very few of us would be married. For most men that would mean they were not heads of households, were not husbands, and were not even men (I speak figuratively) – they would be women, the Lord’s wives. Therefore, men’s lives would (should) no longer revolve around their dicks...because the Lord would be the man/husband/head of household, and therefore as His wives (I’m now including both men and women) we’d attend upon His desire to have His children brought up right. The Lord distributes His precious life-giving seed as He sees fit (via the new birth), and we’d serve Him by having verbal intercourse in order to first, identify His children, and second, to edify and exhort them for the good of the church. That means the NT’s Great Commission is very similar to the OT’s Old Commission: the Husband still spreads His seed, and His multiple wives help Him train His offspring up in Jesus’ name to be selfless warriors whose doctrinal understanding and proper use of Biblical tactics enables them to endure to the end.

​

The major NT changes to our personal lives

(such as we don’t marry, don’t live in a Biblical society, and are shocked at how few are saved and at how few of those are hearers and doers)

and to our Christian fellowship

(once we see that a brother doesn’t believe in the inerrant truth, the sole authority, and the absolute necessity of the Bible, and doesn’t have the same hunger for the Bible and the same eagerness to submit to Thus saith the Lord that we do, and we can’t imagine how they can be so unmotivated – we are to walk away)…

…are supposed to make us aware of the critical importance and necessity of proper doctrine and rearguard tactics. We are to realize that we are no longer off-duty soldiers relaxing in a society of comrades (such as OT Jerusalem); we are embattled Bible believers who find themselves surrounded by the carnality of Reason, the mindless self-importance of democracy, and the outrageous assaults by theology on doctrine and on believing Bible study. All of that would make us realize how rare and almost alone we Bible believers are. Therefore, as our doctrinal understanding matures, so does our appreciation for separation/rearguard tactics...and we find ourselves – like hermits – living quietly aloof from the mindless chaos, noise, and blasphemy of this inhospitable world.

​

Our doctrinal maturity also makes us men and women view ourselves more and more as Christ’s brides, His wives, His women. That makes doctrinally-mature Christian women pay more attention to their role as servants, and they quietly grow in humility, self-control, charity, forgiveness, unselfish patience, and peace. As Christian men mature in doctrine they become increasingly convinced that their passionate sermons, their brilliant arguments, and their well-intentioned “try to be a positive influence by going in among them” efforts have failed to have any measurable effect. That makes them realize God is right when He says leaven can be slowed but it can’t be stopped, and therefore He knew what He was doing when He said our enemies are they of our own household, and He was right when He used the word subverted. All of this makes the man feel very alone like Elijah (1 Kin 19:10), so he spends more quality time in the Bible and in his inner sanctum fellowshipping with his Husband. That quiet-time fellowship makes him realize – again – God’s way is right. So he whittles away at his male self-importance, realizes good Christians are few and far between, and therefore all he has left is Christ! I say again, after trying to be “busy”, to be a “leader” or “shepherd” he realizes he has been wasting precious time he could have spent attending unto the Lord without distraction.

​

One of the things the Comforter uses to influence other Christians is our testimony, our daily walk (see 1 Pet 3:1,2 again). Therefore, when we men and women see the testimony of the doctrinally-mature woman above, the Holy Spirit helps us appreciate (as defined in Trumpet B1) the womanly humility and servanthood of being a proper Christian, and we strive to be better wives to Christ and better servants to each other. In a way, the embattled loneliness of this NT era is good for the church because it makes all of us, men and women, realize our true peace and reward comes from the satisfaction of quietly doing our jobs as the Lord’s women. The irony in that is the fact that when the Comforter sees us humbly submitting to His word and serving each other, He – as a Man – fights for His women by wielding His Sword, by being our arm of strength, by being our Saviour.

​

Therefore, we Bible-believing men and women need to work on our womanly humility, self-control, charity, forgiveness, unselfish patience, and peace (to name just a few) so we can be good examples to each other and good wives who please our Husband.

 

Eph 5:15,16  See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

 

Heb 10:23-25  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering...And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another [today]: and so much the more, as ye see the day [the millennial reign]  approaching.

 

The time is short.

 

“I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.”

*****

​