New Warhorn Media post by Tim Bayly:
3 Likes
Thank you for this, and for your exhortations. Such an important podcast, though you have not said anything new here, which speaks volumes.
I came back to this after recently stumbling on Helen Andrewsâ short talk of which her article is based.
2 Likes
We now see talk in parts of the Reformed blogosphere, arguing for a repeal of the Nineteenth Amendment. E.g. Dale Partridge, as well as Joel Webbon. Thoughts?
Talk of repealing the 19th Amendment long predates current âReformedâ bloviators, and is not limited to Protestants. These men will attract attention to the issue because they are scandalous and only provide cannon fodder for unbelievers and reprobates against Christâs Church. Nothing new here, anytime reformation is attempted Satan stirs up loud, arrogant men who use Godâs name and Law for their own ends, bringing only confusion and difficulty:
Our times will also bring this punishment upon Germany. We see how Satan is making haste, how restless he is, and how he tries every means to obstruct the Word of God. How many sects he has stirred up in our lifetime while we exerted ourselves with all diligence to maintain purity of doctrine! What will happen when we are dead? He will surely lead forth whole packs of sacramentarians, Anabaptists, antinomians, followers of Servetus and Campanus, and other heretics, who now are in hiding after being routed for the moment by the purity of the Word and the diligence of godly teachers, but who are eagerly waiting for any opportunity to establish their doctrines.
Therefore let those who have the pure Word learn to receive it and to give thanks to the Lord for it, and let them seek the Lord while He may be found. [Luther, comm. on Genesis 6.3]
This is why this podcast is so important. Speaking prophetically to the public sphere â bloviating online. The world will hate both the Christian for doing the former, and the huckster for doing the latter, but one honors God and is rewarded, the other is condemned (1 Pt 4.12-19). We must be careful and examine ourselves to see which one we are.
Changing laws is important, but Church repentance/reform is more important. One leads the other. Repealing the 19th may be good to do now or in the near future [though this is highly unlikely, and in my opinion a lower priority. Probably should first stop appointing female judges], but it needs to be ârepealedâ in the Church. Men are not leading in church and home. They do not have womenâs love and respect. Most are communing with demons (1 Cor. 10) via internet concubines (No, I donât envision a cotton-candy future where women voluntarily relinquish the 19th, âWhat wonderful men we have, Here!â There will always be detractors and rebels because sin).
Now apply the same to abortion. Iâd love to see it outlawed, but where are the faithful shepherds? From a simple dollars and cents perspective, it is far more effective to focus efforts on Church Reform than political. Millions of dollars are donated annually to pro-life non-profits whose sole purpose of existence is to prevent abortions (Iâm not talking about pro-life non-profits who help with various medical and physical needs). How about we start mailing hardcopies of Abortion and the Church to pastors across US, hold conferences on abortion in the church, and put money in marketing this issue?
But even if pastors suddenly had the faith and testicular fortitude to shepherd the sheep, would the sheep even listen? Read Calvin and Luther, because the answer seems to be âNo.â God have mercy.
Pr. Baylyâs exhortations are precisely what the Church needs to hear. Fearing and obeying God, seeking only His approval, thatâs what matters.
Blessings in Christ,
2 Likes
When I was in a fundamentalist theological college (ie not Reformed but not exactly Arminian either - in the US Fundamentalism tends to be rather anti-Calvinist), John Piper and Calvinism were all the rage. I knew plenty of guys my age who reacted against the failures of Fundamentalism by embracing Reformed theology. But for some, Reformed theology was just an expression of their rebellion against The System, and a stop on the train out of biblical Christianity. Two completely apostatised, one became a theological liberal, another converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.
We see the same dynamic now with a number of the men in the Christian Nationalism orbit. There will of course be more establishment voices (outside the orbit) who are very skilled in missing what this whole discussion is even about. But there will also be men seemingly within the movement who continually drift farther and farther from biblical orthodoxy.
Weâre seeing this now, as some corners of this discussion keep pushing the conversation in increasingly âedgyâ directions. Anti woman, anti Jew, anti non-white, anti interracial marriage (and yes, seeing ontological inferiority is fundamentally an âantiâ view)âŚthese vibes tend to settle together at the bottom of the discourse.
Their lack of realism and perspective shows theyâre not serious players in helping either church or state. Theyâre just using Christ and politics to make a name for themselves. And like every other theological fad, theyâll either apostatise or quietly re-enter the mainstream of serious Christianity.
7 Likes
Interestingly, yesterday Juergen and I recorded a podcast on fatherhood and authority, first reading Ephesians 1 and saying a few things on the Father and His Son, but moving on to fatherhood and authority in the home, church, and society. Which is to say the death of fatherhood and authority in the home, church, and society.
Repealing the vote of women can be viewed as a reform when considered in the context of the death of fatherhood and authority, but itâs rightly pointed out above that these menâs reforms are always âout thereâ among the pagans as tactics to get more men to follow them in the church. Their fads are each schismatic, not because there isnât truth to them, but because the goal isnât truth and reform, but getting followers. Always and forevermore.
Itâs so obvious to pastors, but too many of us hope we can cuddle up to these schismatics and surf their wave pulling people to ourselves and our congregations and spheres of influence. This was explicitly what men like Jefferson and Adams and Madison did in their time. They told each other that they needed to climb into the stream/river and swim with the rabble (Paine, liberty tree, rioters) in order to try to direct and redirect it in directions of lesser anarchy and rebellion.
By now, we should be able to say whether or not we judge their strategy to have been successful. For myself, seeing what has come of American democracy (even with MAGA), Iâm not sure Iâm on the side of the people governing themselves. But of course thereâs a lot to unpack in that last phrase and what I might or might not mean by it. The point is surfing the wave of rebellion and resentment of an angry populace is always extremely dangerous.
Anyhow, about the vote of women, the most conservative reformed churches are largely led by women, and particularly the eldersâ wives. But itâs done very southernly, which is to say itâs very hidden and nuanced. Until that is repented of in the church, and that repentance takes the form of men returning to authority and bearing responsibility at home, church, and society, any discussion of repeal is just another âlook at the birdieâ fad.
So yes, the proper respect for and ordering of authority is a huge problem in the Western world, starting and flowing from the church, and this starts with our having no fear of God the Father Almighty because our pastors preach no fear of God.
Within the church, another serious problem is the absence of the love of Christ among us, and therefore its fruit of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Truthfully, these men mean less than nothing to me in all their sturm, drang, and tripeâexcept for the fact that they have no love of the brethren (or their neighbor, for that matter), and thus neverendingly assault and suppress any love of the Lord shed abroad among the brethren, and thus the fruit of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Each time they come up with a new schism, it is their bitterness and resentment and anger and absence of love of the brethren which we must expose and attack and warn the sheep against, and that is dirty work, as Luther and Calvin knew so well. Thank God they cared more for the love of Christ and the unity of the Spirit in the bond of love than their own reputation.
One reason I have such great trust and affection for the Apostle Paul, Calvin, and Luther is their statements of discouragement and laments over men being unteachable, as well as their constant expressions of utter weariness. How can we not love them and give thanks to God for such faithful suffering fathers?
Anyhow, no, Iâm not interested in vain debates over the vote of women when they issue from such schismatics and havenât been implemented in the real politick of their own movementâs marriages, homes, schools, and churches.
Love,
6 Likes
By their fruit shall you know them.
3 Likes
Iâm again struck by the impractical nature of this discussion: Imagine a 2026 election where every Republican on the ballot won somehow. How many votes would there be in the house and Senate to repeal the 19th Amendment? Zero? Ten? How many state houses would pass the new Amendment to abolish the 19th Amendment? One? If so, itâs hard to say which one.
Go aheadâhave an opinion on the 19th Amendment. I do. But it wonât matter. Call someone and encourage them in the Lord Jesus Christ today. That will matter.
6 Likes
You canât improve on Chestertonâs warnings against Englandâs equivalent of the 19th Amendment in Whatâs Wrong With the World. If Chesterton were here with us now, I donât know that heâd advise us to go headlong on repealing or make it priority number one.
Chesterton wrote for his audience, but I think he also wrote from love of the brethren.
3 Likes