Gospel Coalition's Last Ditch Effort to Get You to Worship The State

All right we're ready to go. All right well I hope you had a good weekend this week. I sure did. I had a good

Lord's Day back with my home church for the first time in a few weeks so that was great and I hope you had a good

Lord's Day as well. Did some fishing this weekend. I wouldn't say I had a great weekend fishing but I did catch a two pounder yesterday morning, two mornings ago,

I don't remember exactly but before the sun came up I went out and got a two pounder which was the biggest bass

I've ever caught so that's good. Anyway I wanted to address the largest progressive women's ministry in the country and they put out an article here and it's actually not a terrible article but just like with everything

Gospel Coalition does, the timing is all wrong, it's kind of limp wristed, it doesn't really talk about what it's really talking about.

This is about vaccines and mask mandates and various things like that and you can tell it's about that because of the timing.

Like little weasels like to write articles where they don't actually talk about the thing that they're actually talking about and it's really annoying,

I hate that style, it's awful but that's what this is about and again it's actually not all bad.

The article is pretty good but we're going to talk about it, it's a short article, at least I remember it being short.

I actually predicted before I had read it one of the things it would talk about. On Gab I said how much you want to bet this talks about how the world is watching and it definitely does.

What a pagan thing to say, right? Like the world is watching, it's like yes they are but who cares because God has spoken, right?

The world is watching, God has spoken. I don't know why so many Christian articles focus so much on that one instead of thus saith the

Lord but you know, progressive women's ministries, they can't be trusted with anything.

This is from Michael Kruger, I guess he's the president of RTS or at least

Here we go. It's titled, Men, Are You Submissive? Ooh, that is clickbait if I've ever heard it.

That's provocative, I like that. Men, Are You Submissive? Let's read it. Look at this picture too, very stylish,

I really like it. You can see he's probably wearing, I can't really tell but they kind of look like skinny jeans,

I mean everything is here, it's all here. Let's read the article, here's what it says, quote, submission, of all the words in the

Bible, this may be one of the least popular. After all, our cultural moment is not one that values a posture of submission to authorities.

On the contrary, our world insists that we should challenge and critique those over us. Let me step out of the article for a second.

I actually do not agree with this. I think that submission in the context of Christianity, of course, is very unpopular in the world, but any other kind of like question authority type of things and stuff like that, he even mentions the bumper sticker here, question authority, that's all

LARPing, you know what I mean? Like, I remember when I was in college, you know, everyone used to be all about rage against the machine and you know how they're going to fight the power and it's like, okay, but that was all

LARPing too because you were actually pro the government, you were actually pro the power, you're communist, you're socialist, like you can't be against authority, but also show socialist.

That doesn't make any sense. That's a complete subversion of what's real. So I disagree.

I think people pretend like they're against authority, but they're really actually very pro authority.

And in fact, that's one of the biggest problems that we face here because the world is pro any authority except for God.

That's the big problem in our culture. It's pro every authority except the one who's actually in authority, the

Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, like the king over the kings, that's the one they question.

Everyone underneath, they're like, oh yeah, totally, man, we got to close down our church, we got to close down our gym, got to close down our business, we got to take a shot, like that's the big problem here.

And actually, we're going to talk about this, but this is one of the issues with this article. It's actually not terrible.

There's a lot of truth in the article. There's some things to quibble with, of course, but the timing is all wrong.

We'll talk about that. Let's continue. He goes on,

Of course, the ultimate demonstration that submission is a good and biblical virtue is that it was practiced by our

Lord himself. Christ, in his earthly ministry, submitted himself to the Father. His submission was so complete that he was, quote, obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Here's the point. Submission is not a female virtue, it's a Christian virtue.

And I have to say, I'm going to step out of the article, I agree. I mean, you can't really deny this.

Of course, there is a kind of submission that men should be practicing to various kinds of authorities.

I completely agree with that. Women, of course, should submit to their own husbands.

That is definitely a biblical command as well, and so not a whole ton to quibble with here, so let's continue.

Perhaps then we need to recalibrate the way we think about and talk about submission in the

Church. Rather than repeatedly focusing on one example, we need to call all Christians to submit to whatever authorities are over them.

See, this is where the article, I think, goes off the rails, because I think what he does here is he sets up this boogeyman, well,

Christians only talk about women submitting to men, and that's actually not true.

I've heard so much, especially in the past few years, about submitting to governing authorities.

I knew about submitting to governing authorities before the past few years. I've heard about submitting to your elders.

I've heard about submitting to your employers. I've heard it all, and I don't think that my experience is that unique.

I mean, tell me in the comments below if you notice the same thing that Michael Kruger is pretending to notice, where churches only talk about women submitting to their husbands, and they don't talk about submitting to the government and things of that nature.

I think that this is bogus. I think he made this up, and I think he did it in order to prove a point.

I think he's spreading propaganda here, and we'll talk about that in just a minute. Let's go back to the article. Let me know in the comments below if you agree with Michael that we need to recalibrate in the church, because we only ever talk about Ephesians 5 in the context of submission.

Quote, and if men are to be leaders in the church and at the home, a point often made in discussions about submission, then they ought to lead by example.

Christian men should be a model of submission to whatever authorities they are under.

Men, here are some diagnostic questions. One, do you show a submissive spirit to your employer, or do you grumble, complain, and undermine your boss's authority?

Two, men, do you submit to your church leaders, or are you a member who regularly kicks against accountability and oversight?

Three, are you a pastor and elder? Do you submit to your fellow elders? Do you show a spirit of submission to your denominational body?

When that body asks you to do something, do you comply or push against it? This is an interesting one, the denominational body.

I mean, you know, depending on if you're Baptist or Presby, you might have something to say there, so that's an interesting one.

The last one is, men, do you respect the governing authorities God has placed over you, regardless of their political affiliation and your opinion of their policies, or do you mock and deride those authorities?

One can imagine how difficult, not to mention discouraging, it might be for women who are repeatedly called to submit to see their husbands and church leaders refuse to submit to authorities over them.

By contrast, how encouraging is it for women to see that they are being asked to do something which their leaders willingly and cheerfully do first?

I think that this is preposterous. I really do. I think this is preposterous, because let's put this back into the context of our time, because this was written a few days ago, right?

This is September 30th, 2021. He's talking about vaccine mandates, mask mandates.

He's talking about all that kind of tyrannical stuff that the government is doing right now, and he's saying that all these poor women, they have to endure this.

They're being told to respect their husbands, and their husbands don't even get the vaccine.

Their husbands, this is my hysterical voice, their husbands don't even mask up. I mean, how can they be expected to submit to their husbands when their husbands don't even wear the mask?

That's my hysterical voice. Let me know if you like it. I don't think this actually happens, and if it does happen, then there's a problem at the home there, because the reality is that when you're talking about fake laws like wear a mask or get the vaccine or stuff like that, things that are inappropriate for governments to do, because the

Bible tells us when it tells us to submit to the governing authorities, it also tells you the purpose of those governing authorities, and so to obey laws as if the government had authority that it does not have, for example, the government says you're going to shut down worship because thus saith me, when you obey that authority, what you're doing is you're actually saying, government, you have a legitimate authority over whether or not

I worship God on Sunday, and you're respecting that. That must be defied. That must be defied, because if you don't defy that order, you're actually disobeying the actual authority, the king over the kings, the lord over the lords.

Yes, there are lesser lords and lesser kings in our time, right? People that are in authority over us from a governmental perspective, but they're only in authority insofar as God has given them that authority, and God never gave the civil governing authority the ability to tell you when and where to worship.

It simply didn't. So this is the problem with this article, because at the end of the day,

I agree with a lot of this stuff, but the reality is that it's written in a time when the government is doing all kinds of things that it actually does not have the authority from God to do, and not only does it not have the authority from God to do, but it actually doesn't have the authority in our country to do, and so therefore, they're the ones that are refusing to submit.

We need to preach sermons against the government and telling them to repent in order to submit to the governing authority.

See, that's the thing here that a lot of these guys refuse to acknowledge, is that we are a country based on a document that tells us how we're to operate, right?

That's what we're submitting to, right? And so when they do something outside of the purview of that constitution or that state constitution, they're the ones that need to be preached at to repent and cease and desist what they're doing.

See, that's how ministers that were actually prophetic back in the day used to preach.

Now, what they do instead is give propaganda to say, well, you know, you just gotta listen, man, because otherwise your wife's just gonna be totally like, she's not gonna submit to you.

Like, that's nonsense. That's nonsense. Now, we're gonna talk about that a little bit more in a minute. Let's finish the article.

This is the most craziest part of the article. But Christian submission is not just an issue in the church.

It also affects the way we relate to the broader culture. Do we practice what we preach before a watching world?

When Christians flout government directives, one might understand why the watching world begins to scratch its head in confusion.

Haven't Christians complained the loudest about how we are living in an anti -authority age? Haven't Christians lamented our world's lack of submission to authority?

And yet, it's often those very same Christians who seem unwilling to submit when faced with a government rule they disagree with.

Are there anyone, is there anyone in the culture that's not a Christian that's, that's like, well, you know, like they don't submit to authority.

Like that means like they're totally like against the Bible. Like, again, I think he made this up. He made this up to try to like manipulate you into, into obeying ridiculous orders, which is so crazy because again, in our time right now, this is the problem with this article.

It's just the timing is all wrong. I could see a time where an article like this would be necessary, where you've got a lot of revolutionaries out there trying to overthrow the government or not paying their taxes or something like that.

Like if there was like an epidemic of Christians not paying their taxes, you know, stuff like that, like I could see maybe you want to write an article like this.

But right now, what we need from our, from our, from our preachers is encouragement to defy tyranny because the tyrants are not just leaving us alone.

They're saying, no, you can't worship. You can't gather. You can't sing. You must wear this to be clean.

You must do that. You can't lay hands on the sick. You can't see your dying relative. Like, like what we need right now is encouragement from the scripture that says to Caesar, you are not

Lord. That's what we need. So of course, Gospel Coalition's giving you the opposite. Gospel Coalition saying, yeah, well,

Caesar might be Lord in some of these areas. Like, like it's just totally tone deaf.

It's the opposite of prophetic. It's just propaganda. That's what this is. This is government approved propaganda.

It's saying, look, no matter how crazy what Caesar says is, you pretty much have to do it.

Otherwise, you know, the world's going to not like you, which is, that's, I guess, priority number one for a Christian. The world needs to like you.

And number two, your wife's going to be unruly at home as well. She's going to, she's going to see you not wearing the mask.

And then so she's going to no longer respect you because like, you're so hypocritical. It's like, I mean,

I guess they've tried everything else. So why not try this to try to get you to do what the government says? Let's continue. Now, to be clear, submission does not mean we blindly follow all government directives or the directives of other authorities for that matter.

Submission does not require us to obey if they ask us to sin. In such cases, we have an obligation not to submit or to obey laws that dishonor

God. And submission does not mean we are unable to work for a change in our situation. We can submit to the government while seeking to change its laws.

But just as wives are called to submit to imperfect husbands, citizens are called to submit to an imperfect government, and men should be leading the way in doing so.

See, this is where he tries to get some of his conservative bona fides back. I mean, you're writing for a progressive women's ministry, but you're trying to get some of those bona fides back.

I get it. But this is the point though, guys. He's right. Submission, you can't submit if they're telling you to sin.

He's right. If the law tells you to dishonor God, you can't submit. So mask mandates are out.

So vaccine mandates are out. Canceling church is out. But he won't say that because this is a weasel article.

So he's not going to call out his friends, number one. But here's the thing though. I disagree that those are the only two times where rejecting authority matters.

Because here's the thing, and this is the famous one that, oh man, who said this? Somebody said that if the government tells you to wear a clown suit, then you need to wear a clown suit in order to honor

God. That's totally wrong. Totally wrong. We must practice, in my opinion, everyday defiance.

Because here's the thing, when Caesar tells you wear a clown suit, because I say so, I'm Caesar, I would say this.

If you want to do that, I'm going to tell you to knock yourself out. But I think that treating

Caesar as if he is lord of lords, as if he is king of kings, as if he has unlimited authority, and wearing that clown suit,

I think that that's wrong. I want no part of it. I don't want Caesar thinking for one moment that he has authority over me that he does not have from God.

Because what does the scripture say? Ready? All authority comes from God.

So if it doesn't come from God, then it doesn't exist. You made that authority up.

That's the point. You made that authority up. Now, as with anything, you got to count the costs, right?

You got to count the costs. So if Caesar tells you to wear a clown suit, and you don't wear a clown suit, and he says, okay, the penalty for not wearing a clown suit is death, okay, well, you got to count the cost, right?

You got to count the cost. But if he says the penalty for wearing a clown suit is you can't work for me, like, you see what

I'm saying? You've got to figure out how to best honor God, and I do not think it honors

God to pretend like Caesar has the authority to make you wear a mask that doesn't even work.

I don't think it honors God to put a vaccine section in your church.

I don't think that honors God. I don't think it honors God to pretend or to make Caesar feel as if he has authority that he does not have.

I think we ought to start practicing everyday defiance of tyrants. I think that's all

I want to say about that. Here we go. Submission will change you. When men take the lead in practicing submission, here's something we discover.

Submission is hard. It's substantive and weighty act of self -denial.

It can feel like death, even though we know it's the path to life. First -hand knowledge of the difficulty of submission will in turn grieve us greater understanding and compassion for those under our leadership.

We will not be able to talk about submission in a light and trivial manner as if there's no cost.

We can be the gentle leader we are called to be because we understand the weightiness of submission from practicing it ourselves.

Even more, learning the difficulty of submission will give us all a renewed sense of gratitude for what

Jesus suffered on our behalf. While tears in an agony, he asked his father if it be possible that this cup pass from me, and yet he uttered those stunning words of self -denial.

Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. So, when we as Christians, both male and female, deny ourselves and submit ourselves to those in authority over us, we are doing something distinctively

Christ -like. Whenever we say, not as I will, but as you will, we are acting like Jesus. This is what pisses me off about this article so much, because he is manipulating you using the example of our

Lord and our Savior. This makes me so angry. The example of our Lord and our

Savior, and he's telling you without telling you, get the jab, wear the mask, do the social distancing, you know, you can't go see grandma, the government said it, and what you need to tell the government is not as I will, but as you will.

It's gross, man. It's absolutely gross. And again, I could see potentially an article like this being written in a time where there's so much rebellion against legitimate authority, but that's not what

I see amongst Christians. What I see amongst Christians is honoring

Caesar, even Biden, in the sense of, yeah, he's got a legitimate job to do. He's got to punish evil, he's got to reward good, and he's got a legitimate job to do.

And so in those things, of course, I submit to him, but he's not God.

He's not God. And so when he says he forces my business to have a transsexual bathroom, or to allow men into the women's bathroom, or to do, you know, whatever it is,

I say no to that, because he's not God. When he forces my business to say, well, you know, you gotta be totally vaccinated, and like, otherwise, like, you're gonna get a fine.

Like, he's not God. So I'm not gonna treat him like God. When he tells me to wear the clown suit,

I'm gonna say no, because I don't want him to think for one moment that I submit to him in the way that I submit to the

Lord. See, that's the reality. And I think that this article is totally tone deaf. It's the typical weasel article, and so he can deny it.

I didn't say anything about vaccines. I didn't say anything about masks. But that's what he's talking about. He's talking about those things.

He's telling you the world is watching. So do, apparently, there's tons of people out there that, like, they would become Christians if not for the fact that we're just rebels.

Like, this is just total nonsense. He's trying, they're throwing everything at you to try to manipulate you into getting the vaccine, to wearing the mask, getting the shots, doing whatever they tell you to do, you know, submitting to their

Ponzi schemes, all this. Like, they're trying everything, every which way to manipulate you into doing it.

And guys, I know that people in this audience won't fall for this. I'm a nice guy.

I know people in this audience won't fall for it, guys. But I just want you to encourage people that you know that are in your circles against these kinds of emotional manipulations.

It's abusive scripture. It's an abuse of emotions. It's an abuse of their authority over you to treat you like this, to try to trick you into doing something you don't want to do, and pretending like it's actually a

Christian duty to do some of those things that you don't want to do, and it's not a Christian duty. This is so pharisaical.

This is so evil, and I hate this. It's just that simple. Propaganda has many forms, guys.

Propaganda has many forms, and Gospel Coalition is one of the worst, one of the worst propaganda arms of the government that I could imagine, because it abuses the beautiful words of scripture.

It abuses the actions of our Lord to try to get you to treat Caesar as if he is

Lord, and we must reject that. We must reject that in bombastic ways, and we must reject that in everyday defiance as well.

I hope you found this video helpful. God bless. All right, so I'm working out right now.

I just finished, and I'm watching John Harris's video on the same article. I saw that he did a video on it too, so I started watching.

I'm like eight minutes in. It is scary how similar our thought processes are.

I'm just gonna send him a message live, and then I have one more comment to make. Hold on one second. Hey John, just wanted to tell you

God bless you, and I'm watching your article on the Gospel Coalition article on submission, and I just did a video this morning about it, and brother, it is so scary how similar we think.

Our childhoods were probably pretty different, but it's just amazing how we see things so similarly, and there's different styles or whatever, but I appreciate you so much, brother, and we'll definitely have to do a dual show very, very soon.

Anyway, but I'm only eight minutes in, so I can't wait to watch the rest of it. God bless you. All right,

I was thinking about the last paragraph of the article, where he says, you know, nevertheless, not my will, but your will, and he uses the word of Christ, and he wants you to apply that to the government, and it's so jacked up, and it makes me so angry, but what he's doing is he's saying that you need to say not my will, but your will, even if they're overstepping their authority, and the way that I would compare this to, this would be like a woman telling a woman that she needs to submit to somebody else's husband.

Somebody else's husband comes in and says, hey, you know, make me a sandwich or whatever, and well, nevertheless, not my will, but your will.

It's the God honoring. No, that's not his area. It's not his area of authority. That would be like telling a woman that her pastor comes over to her house when her husband's not there, and asks for a sandwich.

Something like this happened in Sopranos, where the priest used to come in, and Carmel used to always cook him food, and he just expected it at some point, and well, nevertheless, not my will, but your will.

That's inappropriate authority. They're overstepping their authority, and that's the situation we find ourselves here when he says, well, not my will, but your will.

Get the jab. That's, you're basically now treating the government as if it is

God. It is in the place of God. It is so, it's such a manipulation. It's so idolatrous.

It's hard to believe that anyone would buy this. It's so pagan. It's just difficult to put into words.

I recommend watching John's video, because he makes a good example about a woman who's being abused by her husband.

Nobody in their right mind would say that she's, nevertheless, not my will, but your will. That's what you have to do.

They wouldn't say that, or maybe they would. I don't know. I don't know, but anyway. God bless.