Joshua D. Jones's Blog, page 7

How to Deal with Fake Elijah

God has His Elijah.
The devil has one too. [Extract from the book Elijah Men Eat Meat]

‘The second beast was like a lamb―it had two horns. But it spoke like a dragon!’ -Rev 13
Will the real Elijah please stand up? Apparently, this question is―and will be―a thing. The book of Revelation is a poet’s paradise with dramatic dichotomies around every canonical corner. There is a Christ on a white charger, and an anti-Christ who is a dragon. There is a joyful bride, and a drunken whore. There is a city that pollutes the Earth with sin, and a holy city coming down from God out of heaven.
There is also Elijah and fake Elijah. In chapter 11 we see Elijah with Moses. Then in chapter 13 we see the dragon’s two champions. One is a beast out of the water and the other a beast out of the earth. The first beast can be seen as an anti-Moses. Just as Moses’ name means ‘drawn out of the waters’, so this beast emerges out of the waters. Just as God revealed his name ‘Yahweh’ to Moses to give to Israel, so this beast will be covered in blasphemous names to proclaim to the earth.
The second beast is also easily compared and contrasted with Elijah and his ministry. Just like the real Elijah, the fake one also can call down fire from heaven. Both do powerful miracles. Just as the real Elijah restored the spirit of a dead boy, so the fake Elijah will impart a spirit to an image to make it (seemingly) come alive. Both affect the economy of nations. And it is here we need to pause and recognise just how much discernment we actually need if we seek to be sons of the prophets and disciples of Christ. There is a counterfeit Elijah movement at work in our world. There will be young adults who zealously give themselves to causes in the name of righteousness and justice, but they will be counterfeit. These movements will not be based on the Cross of Christ. They will be based on a humanistic impulse―hence they are marked with 666, the number of humanity.
As with many of the images in Revelations, commentators who are my intellectual superiors have a divergence of views on how this may have appeared in history. In early encounters, many Christians thought that Islam was the anti-Christ and Mohammed the fake prophet. Some have thought this beast to be a reference to the pagan priests in the Roman Empire. Some Protestant Reformers perceived fake Elijah to be in the Roman Catholic Papacy. Others thought him to be Karl Marx and his socialism. Some see him as a yet to come, future figure.
Now there may be some truth to all of these. For now, let us simply understand this faux prophet as a spirit that incorporates yet transcends all of these manifestations. If what is written here seems a bit more abstract than other readings, please read slowly and up your caffeine intake.
One of the features of this spirit―whenever it manifests―is fake moralism or justice. There is an appeal to moral principles to try and get its own agenda across. Fake Elijah is reminiscent of Jezebel in this regard. She cried out that Elijah should be killed because he executed Baal’s preachers. It was an effort to appeal to the ‘eye for an eye, life for a life’ principle. In regards to Naboth’s vineyard, she told the King that it was wrong for him to act the way he was acting and then had circumstances spun in order to make a righteous man look guilty. Those who persecute the church always disguise their hatred with some culturally acceptable, moral goal. They use an ethical mask in order to justify their malicious acts against the saints.

Evil as MoralismIt may surprise some of you to hear that evil can be moral―but pagans can be Pharisees too. In the last few years in the West, we’ve seen the rise of food Pharisees as people adhere to particular diets with righteous zeal and label other people’s food as ‘bad’. But veganism imparts no virtue and one can be paleo and still be a pervert. Souls that are soured with sin still want to feel saintly, so they go on compensatory crusades over the food we eat, where we buy our clothes, what political party we MUST vote for, and other issues that help one feel righteous. All this activity allows them to look down on other people and feel less bad about their own guilt. Men who yell at their children and look at porn feel better about themselves because they drive an energy efficient car and campaign for wealth distribution. Their sense of personal accountability is lessened when they can blame some other social, political, or culinary group that they are not a part of as the main source of evil in this world. Many of today’s social justice and moral crusades are driven by nothing less than a Satanic spirit.
And here a word about what is sometimes called ‘national’ or systemic’ repentance is in order. There are indeed times when such repentance should be done. There are a few instances of this in the Scriptures. When all the facts are clearly established―and not just someone claiming to be in the know because he saw a documentary online―then large-scale group repentance can be done.
But we live in an age where these things must be approached cautiously. Our generation has been trained to live guilt free, so we have the tendency to unload our guilty angst onto the nearest abstraction: the State, Big Business, Immigrants, Cis-White-Males, the Free Market, Labour, Tories, Republicans, Democrats, etc. The laws of the Universe cry out that sin must be punished. In order to satisfy this cry, we unload our psychological guilt onto ‘the system’. We then whip it so that we can feel justice has been served and still walk away with unrepentant hearts of stone.
There are times when systemic repentance can and should happen. But the vast majority of moral instruction in Scripture, especially in the New Testament, is not given to ‘the system’. It’s given to the individual.

Hijacked ConvictionFake Elijah has the ability to hijack people’s moral compass in order to condemn that which is righteous and celebrate what is shameful. Whereas Elijah leads people in a movement of true righteousness and justice, fake Elijah leads a counterfeit justice movement not based on godly righteousness. This spirit manifests itself in the BDS movement against Israel or the Pro-Choice movement against unborn children. These movements promote wicked acts by hijacking moral language―often trying to disguise their work as one of liberation from oppression.
Just as Elijah called down the true fire of judgement, fake Elijah has its own fire. But this flame is man centred―it does not cause people to fall down in worship before a holy God.

Perhaps you have seen this happen to people around you in a subtle way. They begin their spiritual lives burning with a flame of contagious loyalty and affection for Jesus. But then they get swept up in a social or political cause. At first it all seems well-intentioned. After all, it aims to help people―something we should all want to do. But after a while your friend is no longer aglow for their Saviour. They are no longer humming hymns or praise songs. Instead they seem jaded and angry at those who are not joining their crusade. They have lots of zeal for changing this world―which in its proper perspective is not wrong. But they no longer have a vision for preparing people for the Eternity to come. Their method of changing the world does not centre on people bowing their knees to the true King. Their devotion to Christ has been distracted by this ancient serpent who appears like a lamb.
And its power is in its appearance. This beast is the ultimate spin master. It postures with appeals of a quasi-Christian morality. But make no mistake―this dragon is a monster who will devour its opponent. The dragon is an evil that appeals for tolerance until it is in power―then it rains down punishment on the righteous. What it is really after has little to do with what it says it is after. Regardless of what it says, this dragon is not interested in equality. It is after power. The compassion language of ‘siding with the oppressed’ is little more than a cloak to cover its maddening rage against God and all that is truly righteous.
It was not long ago that the West was inhaling a prodigality of postmodern fumes. Upon hearing a Christian witness, people often retorted with, ‘That may be true for you, but it’s not true for me’ or ‘Christianity may work for you, but I have my own truth. To each their own.’ But a society can only take this type of faux tolerance for so long before totalitarianism takes over. In urban Britain just try saying to two ‘married’ men, ‘Gay marriage may be true for you but it’s not for me.’ Or try refusing to use feminine pronouns for a man who thinks he is a girl. ‘Yes, use whatever language you like for yourself, but that gender ‘change’ is just not true for me.’ You will then find that the trendiness of personalised truth has somewhat lessened of late.
This is the beast out of the Earth. Fake Elijah is the bully who portrays itself as the perpetual victim―a master of emotive words. In the name of justice, the dragon-lamb establishes totalitarianism. 
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Extract from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here) 

Theological Feminism & Gay Activism in the Church

‘I do not permit a woman to teach and have authority over a man.’ -1Tim 2‘Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives.’ -Col 3  Feminism and LGBTism in the ChurchIf you didn’t burn the book after the last reading, well done. Perhaps you are a Feminist who has dared to go outside your echo chamber by reading this―that’s exceptional. At least you are open-minded enough to explore relevant questions and objections to your beliefs. Well done.Here is another question: Why are the denominations that embraced Feminism a generation or two ago now being invaded by LGBT activism but not the ones that didn’t? Earlier this year, it was the URC who marked their 100thanniversary of ordaining women with a call to all churches to start ‘marrying’ gay couples. There is great pressure within Methodism and CoE to do the same.
If you identify as an ‘Egalitarian’ who also embraces the historic, Christian understanding of marriage between one man and one woman, ask yourself why Complementarian or Patriarchal denominations have so little internal trouble in resisting the pressure to capitulate to LGBT activism while the TF ones (CoE, URC, Methodism, etc) are struggling to stay faithful on this point? Why do you think that is? Not only have FIEC, New Frontiers, Roman Catholicism, AMiE, Eastern Orthodoxy, large segments of Pentecostalism, and other non-Feminist denominations generally avoided the huge drop in attendance over the last few decades (some have actually grown) but they are not being overrun by Rainbow Jihadis either.
Could it be that the same questionable hermeneutics used to dismiss passages that support gender roles in the church and the home are now being used on marital relationships? Some think so―and it is worth publicly discussing the issue. Let’s have some fair and open talk on the connection.
Perhaps TF’s most devastating legacy is that, just like John prepared the way for Christ, so TF prepared the way for something bigger than itself. TF has prepared the path for LGBTism. Denominations that were infected with this ideological virus are now faced with the next logical step. ‘Since a woman can be a bishop or a pastor, why not a husband and father too? Why can’t a man be a wife or mother?’ The questions are fair. If we base titles only on perceived ability―with gender never being a factor―why bar a woman from being a husband or dad if she claims she can do it? Isn’t that ‘gender discrimination’?
Yes, it is. And the churches in the UK, USA and the West are in great need of godly gender discrimination once again. This does not mean we value one gender above the other. To discriminate (from the Latin discriminat : to distinguish between) means we are able to discern the unique beauty and calling God has put in us respectively as men and women. When we can discriminate between the genders in a godly way we can see why the Biblical view of marriage makes sense. It is a sacrament pointing to Christ and his church. Marriage was created―not just to give us romantic goose bumps―but to give humanity a picture of the gospel.
Denominations that did not give into TF a generation ago are not being divided by the current winds and waves of queer theology. The ones that did are now wrecked by its legitimate ideological heir.
Come back Peter, Come back PaulLGBT theological activism is not an overwhelming, internal issue for most professing Christian denominations. It is not an internal issue because most denominations are not intoxicated by the wine of Feminism. Out of the three branches of Christianity―Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox―it is only Protestantism that has opened itself to Feminism to this degree. Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (for whatever other theological problems they may have) have at least resisted this modern impulse. It is only a segment of Protestantism that has experimented with TF―though this segment is disproportionately larger here in the UK than it is in many other nations.
In our quest for revival and reformation, at some point we will need to go back to what Paul and Peter said about gender roles and sexuality in their epistles. We need to see what commands they gave to men and what commands they gave to women―and we need to take them seriously. Instructions were given to husbands or to wives. They were rarely given to spouses generically. The Bible could have given us instructions for clergy spouses. But it doesn’t. It gives us instructions for elders and elders’ wives.
To love the widow and her son well, Elijah did not have to become a Feminist. He needed to be a friend.

[See Part One: Boys, Girls, and Menism (MRA) ]
[See Part Two:  Boys, Girls, and Theological Feminism  ]
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Extract from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here) 

Boys, Girls, and Theological Feminism

[Extract from the book Elijah Men Eat Meat]

‘I do not permit a woman to teach and have authority over a man.’ -1Tim 2‘Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives.’ -Col 3

On the 20th March, 2014 Labour MP Ben Bradshaw of Exeter stood in Parliament and gave a speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of the ordination of women in the Church of England. Reflecting on the issue as a Catholic, he proclaimed,
I confidently expect the Roman Catholic Church to embrace the ministry of women, in exactly the same way as the Church of England has done. It is a theological inevitability. It may not happen in my lifetime, but the fact that we have done it, blazed a trail and shown how positive, successful, valuable, wonderful and holy it is will help progressive Catholics on the same road.Two elements of this speech are noteworthy. The first is the confident assertion that this change was a ‘successful’ one. The second is the view that all of Christianity will fall into line with this ‘theological inevitability’.
What is the fruit of Theological Feminism?A couple generations ago, some denominations embraced theological Feminism (TF). We acknowledge this is a huge umbrella term. On the shallow end, TF includes married pastoral couples where the husband and wife are ordained together. These churches are mildly Egalitarian and are typical of some Pentecostal denominations (think Brian and Bobby Houston of Hillsong) that don not hold to gender roles in the church but often do in the home. The husband still does most of the preaching and is seen as the ‘lead’ pastor, but the wife also carries the title pastor even if hers is a more supportive role. This Egalitarianism is the shallow end of the TF pool.
There are many expressions of Pentecostalism so the degree of Feminist influence varies, but the general trend of the last 20 years has been towards Egalitarianism. One of the biggest shifts is that of the Vineyard movement which was started by John Wimber in 1984. Wimber drew a clear line between ‘ministering’ (which all Christians are called to) and executive ‘governing’ which only elders (qualified men) do. In 1994 he wrote,
I believe God has established a gender based eldership of the church…I endorse the traditional (and what I consider Scriptural) view of a unique leadership role for men in marriage, family, and in the church…Consequently, I do not favor ordaining women as elders in the local church.          Current Vineyard leadership has slowly departed from Wimber’s instruction and now ordains women as both elders and lead pastors. Other denominations practice this more widely. These include churches where the lead pastor is female and is unmarried, married to an unbeliever, or has a Christian husband under her authority in the congregation.
But we can’t stop here. The TF pool gets deeper still. There are churches where leaders openly refer to God as ‘Mother’ in their prayers, worship, and liturgy. One group, ‘Priests for Equality’ have printed The Inclusive Bible that refers to God as both He and She and changes some of the masculine references to God. These theological Feminists hate gender and try to minimise it whenever they can. These are the ones who want you to trade in your ‘he’ and ‘she’ pronouns for a neutered ‘ze’. They loathe the fact that God chose to become incarnate as a male and seek to present him in more androgynous ways. One wonders if they would not castrate Christ if they could. There are many at the shallow end of the TF pool, mild Egalitarians, that would disassociate themselves with what goes on at the deeper end.
TF HistoryHow has all this happened?This new ideology promised that by treating men and women as interchangeable in all ministry (and later family) roles, the church would become more fruitful. It was the Bishop of Bristol, Barry Rogerson, who led the first ordination service for women in the Church of England (CoE) where he cited Jesus By their fruits you will know them. The meaning was clear: the CoE would now be more fruitful with women vicars. His speech was not unusual. Many had been saying that adopting Feminist practices we would usher in a new day of fruitfulness. It was promised that, by becoming gender-blind, we would inaugurate a new day of effectively engaging wider society with the gospel. Numbers had been slipping and TF would now be the saving life force that would turn the tide.
What did it look like practically? Constance Coltman was the first woman to be ordained in a major Protestant church here in the UK 100 years ago in 1917. Her church was part of the Congregational movement that had become forerunners in theological liberalism. Today this denomination is known as the URC (United Reformed Church). Methodism―which had a long tradition of permitting women to preach―started actually ordaining women as presbyters in 1974. And it was in 1994 that the Church of England started ordaining women―17 years later than their American Episcopal cousins. The CoE has worked at making up for lost time and now ordains close to the same number of men and women each year. The Methodists were the first to use a liturgy that addressed God as Mum. The CoE followed their example a few years later.
What does the data say?How did this decision impact these large British denominations? Did the new dawn of gender understanding deliver the growth and robust health as promised? If we are to take Bishop Rogerson’s invitation to judge this new practice by its fruit, what conclusion should we come to 20+ years later? Did the Mummy God that some started praying to send revival?
Affirming data is simply not there. Statistics show that theological Feminism lied. It failed to keep its promises. Numbers continued to go down. Anglican attendance is now 65% of what it was in 1994. Sunday attendance in Methodist churches is only 25% of what it was in 1974 and the URC figures are not much different (the URC statistics we’ve seen count membership, not attendance, but the same rapid loss is reflected). On top of that, URC and Methodism have the oldest average age of attendees of any denomination with the Anglicans not far behind. What happened to Feminism helping the church reach the cutting edge of the new secular culture? Statistics seem to go in the opposite direction of the common rhetoric which asserts, ‘You need to give up your old, conservative views of gender and sexuality or else all your young people will leave your churches and never come back.’ It’s commonly heard, but we struggle to find data that backs up such assertions.
It is hard to discern just how embracing TF has helped us be an Elijahian witness in a dark and perverse world. Yes, there are some good men and women in those denominations doing good work. We could find exceptions to these trends. But as a whole, TF has not reversed the downward spiral and, though such a hypothesis is beyond the scope of this reading to analyse, some argue that it may have accelerated the decline.
Not only has attendance in all of these denominations plummeted and aged, but on average now, only 38% of those in attendance are male―and few theological Feminists that we encounter seem to have a problem with this. In fact, some still claim their denominations have not gone far enough in ‘smashing the patriarchy’.
True of all Religions?It should be noted that this trend is not true of all religious groups in the UK. It should not be assumed that all religions or Christian denominations have seen equal decline under the general influence of secularisation. The Pentecostal grouping (which includes both mild Egalitarian and Complementarian), has actually grown nearly 25% during this same time. Other non-Feminist church movements have also seen growth.
All this leads us to ask if MP Bradshaw’s statement regarding the huge ‘success’ of the CoE’s ordination of women and the ‘theological inevitability’ of all branches of Christianity embracing such a position is a well-founded statement. One wonders what type of statistical analysis he used to reach such a conclusion.
Now some may say: But embracing TF or rejecting it should not be based on ‘numbers’. It should be based on the clear teaching of Scripture! I’m glad you brought that up. The two are separate but not mutually exclusive issues. God’s work done God’s way produces godly fruit. It is beyond what we can do in a short reading to give a full exposition of all the relevant passages of Scripture. There are much better books by smarter authors who have already done so.  Simply stated, 95% of Christians through 95% of church history (at least!) have not understood the Bible to teach TF. No, there has not always been total agreement through the Centuries on all gender issues. The Angles and the Saxons gave more authority to female church leaders in the 5th-10th Centuries than what we see after the Norman invasion of 1066. But even under the more flexible Angles and the Saxons, there was still a role of oversight (Bishops) reserved for qualified men who functioned as spiritual fathers in the church. Even then, gender roles were never taught to be fully interchangeable in the church or the home. Until now.
We ask if the presence of modern TF in the church has made a noticeable difference in helping the church to be a holy, growing force in the world that aggressively kicks down the gates of hell through the bold preaching of the gospel. Based on any unbiased research, is this really the case? If anyone knows of a large denomination that has seen accelerated growth after embracing TF, please email us the details and we will make fair note of this example.
Until now, we simply haven’t come across any.

[See Part One: Boys, Girls, and Menism (MRA) ]
[See Part Three: Theological Feminism & Gay Activism in the Church ]
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Extract from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here) 


http://www.benbradshaw.co.uk/speech_o... Liberating Women for Ministry and Leadership, Vineyard Reflections, March/April 1994 Mary Kassian has well documented the effects of Feminism on the 20th Century church. We happy acknowledge that Feminism has changed over the decades. Most divide Feminism into three phases: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Wave Feminism. There are many Christians who would be rightful sympathetic to the goals of equality by the early Feminists but reject the blurring of gender distinctions by 3rd Wave Feminists.

Boys, Girls, and the Men's Rights Activists (MRA)

[Extract from the book Elijah Men Eat Meat]

‘I do not permit a woman to teach and have authority over a man.’ -1Tim 2‘Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives.’ -Col 3

Trigger Warning: We’re going to talk about gender now because, you know, this book hasn’t been controversial enough. This is the first of three parts that take a look at both Menism and Feminism. If you get triggered easily, please take your meds before reading.
Red Pill is a documentary that was released in 2016 by filmmaker Cassie Jaye who has produced other award-winning documentaries. But this one is different. Through the film, Miss Jaye undergoes a transformation. She begins the film as a Feminist who is out to expose the insidious Men’s Rights Activists (MRA). But in the process, she becomes convinced that the movement is not composed of misogynistic thugs as she had previously been led to believe. Miss Jaye concludes that it is her own Feminist ideology that is errant, abandons it, and embraces Menism. Needless to say, the film stirred up lots of controversy. Various anti-free speech groups and Feminist allies tried to have the film boycotted and were successful in causing some cancellations. But the film started leaking out and meaningful discussions and debate around the issues began taking place.
Though I greatly appreciate Red Pill for exposing the monstrous hypocrisy of modern, Western Feminism in such a brilliant fashion, we need to draw a distinction between the MRA movement and what Scripture calls us to in regards to gender. Jezebel seeks to mislead us into both fake spirituality and fake gender understanding and we need to have our thinking shaped by Scripture and not by Feminism or MRA.
Elijah Men are not MRALike Miss Jaye, we might assume that Elijah would be a Menist. This rough and rugged man is certainly MRA material, right? Perhaps not. When we look close we can see that MRA is an Egalitarian movement by seeking to bring equality between men and women through laws, policies, and role equalisation. They point out those areas of society where men may have been seen to be treated unfairly or oppressed. They focus on facts such as:
·        Many child custody laws favour the mother over the father·        98% of all combat deaths are male·        93% of all workplace deaths are male·        Men are three times as likely to be homeless·        Men are four times as likely to commit suicide·        Women are 35% more likely to go to University·        Women retire 2 years earlier than men, even though they live 2.7 years longer―giving them almost 5 years more retirement years.  Karen Straughan is a female MRA
(sometimes referred to as a 'honey badger')
who has become well known for challenging
feminism on her YouTube channelMenism believes that third-wave Feminism went too far and now their actions often discriminate against men. They seek the type of equality that many Feminist organisations claim to. They point out how most Feminist organisations turn a blind eye whenever a law or social trend favours women over men. MRA seeks to equalise the stats.
Christians may applaud MRA for ideologically seeking to balance Feminism, but we are fundamentally different from Menism. We do not seek equality through stats. We are not seeking role interchangeability. We do not object to men laying down their lives on the battlefield for their wives back home nor do we object to the fact that more women than men chose to stay home to raise children.
As Christians, we celebrate gender uniqueness. Gender is the wonderful distinction God put into humanity in Genesis one. God made men and women different. Each gender has its own unique set of blessings and challenges and jealously trying to trade one set of challenges or blessings for the other is called covetousness―a sin in case you’re rusty.
Satan wants us to dismiss the beauty of God’s gender binary. This is because the mystery of gender uniqueness proclaims God’s redemptive purpose for humanity. In Ephesians 5 we read how man and woman in marriage are to reflect Christ and his church.  Unlike MRA, we do not seek to erase differences or to obtain equality through even numbers of males and females represented in every area of society. We believe that men and women are equal―and always have been―because our value comes from God. He has made us both his image bearers. Until MRA and Feminists discover where our value comes from, neither side will ever be happy with new legislation passed and they will continue to keep their supporters trapped in a perpetual sense of victimhood to keep their machinery running.

[See Part 2:  Boys, Girls, and Theological Feminism ]
[See Part 3:  Theological Feminism & Gay Activism in the Church  ]
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Extract from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here) 

Intro to 'Elijah Men'

Protest papers started going up
on Catherdral doors in the UK
on 31 October 2017[Intro to the book Elijah Men Eat Meat ]

Hello Martin Luther ignited a world-changing reformation on a door in Wittenberg, Germany on the 31st October 1517. Armed with nothing but words and a hammer, he protested against a spiritually bankrupt world and a corrupt priestcraft. He protested against religious abuse and the absence of God’s word in the language of his people. Thus, Protestantism was born.
But this birthday is a dark one for the UK church. Aggressive demands are being made by this generation’s zeitgeist on the church and fires of holy resistance are tragically few and far between. A blitzkrieg of LGBT activism has battered us in efforts to squash all dissent to a new view of sexuality and marriage. Qur’anic passages that deny Christ’s divinity are now read in our nation’s cathedrals at the invitation of ministers. One man who held ‘traditional views’ on gender was bullied out of becoming a bishop in our midlands. Sadly, many churches have responded with all the fight of a wet croissant. Instead of protesting sin, some of us now boast of affirming it.
The churches in America and other Western countries also have challenges but, statistically, the church here in Britain is very ill. 71% of those 18-25 now register as ‘non-religious’. Faith is alive in some immigrant communities but among the ethnically British, churches are in sharp decline. One report attests that for every one child from a secular home that finds faith in Christ, twenty-six from Christian homes fall away. In spite of the millions we spend on savvy media and large events, Babylon still devours our children like popcorn―and there is little fervor or faith in the hearts of those who survive to adulthood.
Other surveys indicate that the average Christian now spends 30 minutes a week in prayer and 50 minutes a day on social media. We are obese physically and skeletally thin spiritually. Our youth do not yearn for the glory of God because they have never seen it all while we hibernate from Biblical truths that once kept our spiritual forbearers ablaze.
It was to a similar comatose generation that Elijah appeared as a rough and roaring alarm clock to rouse the nation he loved. On the 500th birthday of the Reformation, may we also awaken to our impoverishment. Let us pray that God would raise up men to protest sin and light the fires of revival and reform.
It is to that end that I offer up this book. As ravens carried meat to Elijah in the desert, may this book carry nourishment to ravenous souls in dry places.
-Joshua D. Jones2017, Cambridge  
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Intro from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here) 

Wimpy No Mo

[Extract from the book Elijah Men Eat Meat]


‘As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand’ -1Kg 17

How is Elijah received at court? Is the King angry? Is Elijah seen as a threat? Does the King yell at his guards to seize the prophet after he delivers his prophetic word? Does someone throw a spear at him and does he barely escape with his life? Or, is he laughed at? Who is this man who appears out of the caves with Ben Kenobi like mystery? Does the court assume that this man who claims to have power over the weather is drunk? Whatever the first impressions may have been, in the months to come the court will certainly remember with pointed discomfort the words spoken by that strange Gileadite who stood so boldly before their King.
We all stand before someone or something. We wake up each morning with a circumstance or a person on our mind―a reference point that helps define who we are and how we act and react to the world around us. It is something we want, something we love, or something we fear to lose. Elijah is physically standing before the throne of Ahab, the most powerful man in his country. This King commands armies and possesses the authority to have the prophet swiftly executed. Most of us would wet ourselves.
But Elijah isn’t fazed. How? He has more than strong coffee flowing through him. His power comes, not from what he drinks, but from what he sees. He has eyes of faith that have been cultivated by unseen hours spent in the secret place. He sees two thrones. He sees Ahab’s seat for what it is: a brief and fleeting thing. Beyond that, he sees the high and fiery throne that reigns forever unmoved in the granite halls of eternity. It is before that throne that Elijah trembles in private―and now he can stand in public. Elijah is not unique among the men of God in this regard. It is by faith that Mordecai will also stand centuries later before the wicked Haman―while everyone else pleads with him to bow.
Such a vision causes a man to fly the flag of holiness over his life. Sadly, the words ‘holiness’ and ‘worldliness’ have all but disappeared from 21st Century Christian speak here in the UK. These nouns get in the way of us showing trendy unbelievers just how hip we (think we) are. But when we live with a vision of the eternal throne, our goals change. There is only One we want to please. Only His opinion matters. This causes us to get rid of the compromise in our own lives and therefore fit to confront the spiritual plagues at work in the church and society.
True holiness leads to remarkable courage. Solomon wrote that ‘The righteous are as bold as lions’. But the devil uses intimidation to silence God’s men by making them eager for culture’s approval and fearing it’s angry rejection. If Jezebel cannot get you to celebrate fake teaching, she will at least try to silence you from speaking His truth. When we tremble before God, we march in courage towards men. The more we bend the knee before the true King, the less influence bullies and manipulators will wield over us. If we are to stand and speak for God in our generation, we cannot fear what those around us fear. Our lives must be controlled by a divine fear that leaves every earthly intimidation toothless. 
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Extract from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here) 

Is God Angry?

[Extract from the book Elijah Men Eat Meat]

'Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the Kings of Israel that were before him.' -1Kg 16
Does God get angry? Elijah’s epic makes no sense if we cannot answer this question correctly. And not just in regards to these few canonical chapters; the whole Biblical narrative makes no sense if we are uncertain on this point. Our narrator describes God’s anger as laying upon Israel like a dark fog when Elijah steps onto the scene. But it is this concept of divine wrath that our generation doesn’t do particularly well with.
It shouldn’t be surprising that a generation finds certain elements of God’s character challenging to comprehend. After all, He is wide, expansive, and whole. We are products of cultures that are small, narrow, and broken. We may struggle to see how seemingly contradictory attributes can exist within one integrated being. But our difficulty reconciling certain passages has more to do with us and our lack of imagination than it does with Him. 
When the gospel first came to these British Isles, it wasn’t the revelation of God’s retributive anger that troubled our ancestors. Rather, the Angles and Saxons stumbled over the concept of God’s forgiveness. In their honour oriented society, forgiveness just didn’t make any sense. Ironically, it is precisely that same forgiveness that our generation gravitates towards as a concept. Paul writes that we should ‘consider the kindness and severity of God.’ He instructs us to do so because he knows our tendency is to focus on just his kindness or just his severity―depending on our personality or culture.
God is pissed at sin. All sin committed is primarily against our Creator who designed us to live for Him. As the medieval rabbi Rashi wrote, ‘As long as idolatry exists in the world, God’s fierce anger will exist in the world.’ But as a people, who have had the light of Scripture, turn from the truth and increase their idolatry, so does that anger likewise increase. And few generations have rejected God’s purposes like Ahab’s. His vengeance now rightly reaches the boiling point. One can almost imagine the stench of sin bruising the nostrils of holy angels who veer too close above the nation.
We’ll never understand God’s patience and mercy if we don’t first understand His wrath. It is not difficult to show patience to a person who doesn’t anger us. It is those who stir us to anger that we must exercise self-control with. In the same way, it is because sin angers God so much, that we can be amazed at his patience in holding back the judgement we deserve. A god who never gets angry can never be said to be patient.
What does it cost a God who doesn’t hate evil to show mercy? Nothing. It’s only when we see the enormity of God’s righteous judgement against us, that his mercy becomes truly merciful. This is what gives the message of Jesus’s blood its power. This is what causes a contrite man to leap up and sing, ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!’ 
Even in our agnostic generation, the default thought of many is that, if there is a God, He is love. It is revealing that we presume this love. We do this to such a degree that it is unclear if we mean ‘God is love’ or if we mean ‘Love is God’―which is quite different. In presuming His love and kindness, we rob it of its power to transform. Can anyone logically explain why, if there is a God, He would have any inclination to love something as royally screwed up as the human race? No, it makes no sense. Yet here we are presuming that if God doesn’t lovingly affirm every aspect of our lives, He has somehow done something terribly wrong. 'Shame on Him.'
Difficult as it is for us to grasp, this doctrine is revealed from Genesis to Revelation. It has been a key part of church teaching for 2,000 years. Many whimsically quip that ‘all roads lead to God.’ That may be. But many of those roads lead to Him as Judge. Only through Jesus can we meet God as Father. Through Jesus, we know God's goodness and peaceful embrace.
God’s judgement is especially clear in our reading of Ahab and Elijah. God’s violence against Israel has been building like water against a dam wall for over 50 years. This wall is God’s patience. Ahab then does more to add to that anger than all previous Kings combined. It is now ready to burst. Israel has become a spiritual stench―and justice demands that God wipe it out. It is approaching its Sodom moment.
Into this condemned culture, Elijah ventures on a mission of mercy. He aches to see his nation turn back to the Holy One of Israel. His prayers―along with the cries of other prophets and righteous people―have been building up another dam. But this dam is not holding back a reserve of righteous retribution. This one is storing up a flood of repentance, revival, and reformation. Only time will tell which wall breaks first.
___________________

Extract from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here) 

Driscoll Returns, ‘Christian Today’ Melts.

Sometimes in the course of events, a peculiar thing happens that then triggers a response more peculiar still. This is what we now see with the return of Pastor Mark Driscoll to the church scene.
For those unfamiliar with the drama, Mark Driscoll was a church planter and Bible teacher who made a big impact in the least churched city in the USA: Seattle. Thousands professed faith in Christ through his ministry. But he left the church that he had started under dark circumstances. No, it wasn’t adultery as is so often the case with some of these big-name preachers. Rather, it was heavy-handed leadership―resulting in many spiritually crushed church members―that drove him to resign.
Now, three years later, he is leading a new church and many are downloading his sermons once again. This is not without some valid controversy―for reasons we’ll mention soon. But what is most noticeable is not his peculiar return. It is the reaction among those who lean left of classical Christian teaching: the theological Progressives. They are keeping their cool about as well as the planet Mercury on a sunny day―which is to say (for the cosmologically challenged)―not at all. Saunders put his fiery piece out
in the public domain
Of course, there are some clear heads among the orthodox who have some genuine concerns about Driscoll’s return which may be valid. Driscoll did release at least one tearful video in which he seemed to apologise. But some are saying that his ‘I’m sorry’ was only emotive and woefully insufficient (on a practical level) given the extent of the mess he left behind. There are still many hurt people back in Seattle, they say, and he has not adequately made restitution with them. He needs to clean up his mess before he steps back into public ministry. Not everyone appreciated the tone
of the Christian Today editor
Now, this may all be well and true. Perhaps he has not gone far enough to make amends. Leaders should do so. Spiritual abuse should be taken seriously. Lest anyone think that by this article I am turning a blind eye to the seriousness of such a sin, I have previously condemned it HERE, HERE, and even HERE. If Driscoll has failed to genuinely repent of heavy shepherding, then YES, his return is premature. There are some orthodox people, ones who are sensitive to spiritual abuse, saying such things now. I am not endorsing him nor denouncing him one way or the other here.
But all this is not why the theological Progressives are having hissy fits. The name ‘Mark Driscoll’ triggered these guys long before his ugly departure from the church he started. He has always been a persona non grata for them. Why? Because he effectively communicated historical Christian doctrines like atonement, that marriage is just for a man and woman, the submission of wives to their husbands, the existence of a real hell, and that (according to 1 Timothy 2) church elders should be men. Basically, all the doctrines that the theologically Progressive elite melt over. What’s more, he communicated these doctrines more effectively than the Progressive teachers ever did with theirs. Many thought the CT article
reflected a lack of grace
One of the ugliest examples of this Progressive reaction, here in the UK, is by the London based company, Christian Today. It has disgraced itself by running an article by Martin Saunders (deputy CEO of Youthscape and Contributing Editor for the news company) that is anything but the cool, unbiased journalism that one would hope for from a news company that’s a member of the Evangelical Alliance and that has won ‘Best Christian News and Reviews Site’ more than once.
It should be noted that this isn’t the first time Saunders has written such an article. In November 2016, he wrote a harsh piece scolding Bill Johnson―another USA pastor that I may (like Driscoll) have a few differences with―when he let it be known that he voted for Trump instead of Hillary. Previous to that Saunders had been favourable towards BJ. He has also publicly dismissed Gospel Coalition articles on the subject of male-female marriage as ‘uncomfortably smug’. Even people who aren't fans of
Driscoll cringed at CT over the article
Now, to the Driscoll article. From the very first paragraph in the CT article (HERE) Saunders doesn’t even hide that this is a hit piece. He starts by denouncing Driscoll for doing this comeback because he ‘craves an audience’. How Saunders has this divine insight into Driscoll’s motives, I do not know. To his credit, Saunders does at least admit to being angry as he writes: ‘When I write angry, I write fast’ he says on his Facebook link to the article. Perhaps if he had cooled down a bit, he would’ve realised that as an editor of an award-winning news company he’s attacking a pastor by imputing motive and various other accusations with little proof or citation.
Lest anyone think that I am exaggerating about just how bad this journalism is, let me give an example. I looked up Saunders accusation that Driscoll ‘previously referred to women as “penis homes”’. If this was true―and if Driscoll had not repented of saying this―it would indeed serve as a bad indictment against him. Sadly, it seems that Saunders is creating fake news to suit is own purposes (I would guess they are theologically motivated but, unlike Saunders, I cannot see inside men’s souls). Here’s what Driscoll said in context (he is talking to men)
It is not your penis. Ultimately, God created you and it is his penis. You are simply borrowing it for a while… when you marry her and look down you will notice that your wife is shaped differently than you and makes a very nice home.
Was this it? Was this really the basis of the accusation by a Christian Today editor? Ipso facto, Driscoll is warning men against adultery. Contra Saunders, he is not calling all women ‘penis homes’. He is saying that a husband should think of his wife as being a home for his sexuality (as opposed to looking at other women). Now whether you or I think that’s the best way of describing martial fidelity or not is a different matter. But when the context is considered, it’s a far cry from the misogynistic slur that Saunders makes it out to be.
Why would Saunders do this? When exactly did Christian Today’s editors stop caring about context? When did Christian Today start publishing articles written with lots of feeling but no fact checking?
What is most unfortunate about Saunders and other Progressive voices is the double standard. When many Christian leaders distanced themselves from Rob Bell for denying some classical Christian teachings in his books, Saunders called their actions ‘heavy-handed and brutal’ (HERE). When Rob Bell remerged under the tutelage of Oprah Winfrey a short time later (shorter than Driscoll’s three years) Saunders was all about how we should welcome back this great leader and not hold grudges. When most Evangelical leaders declined to warmly receive back the unrepentant Bell, Saunders wrote, ‘Conservatives often aren't very nice’ (HERE). How ironic. Now that a leader is returning to ministry that is not from Saunders own theological fold, will he show us barbarian Evangelicals what ‘niceness’ and tolerance are supposed to look like? I trow not. Bell is progressive and therefore deserving of ‘niceness’. But Driscoll is Reformed… ‘nuff said.
For some, tolerance seems to be a one-way street.
Classical Evangelicals may indeed have some valid concerns or queries about the timing and manner of Driscoll’s return to ministry. But sadly, it will now be difficult to take seriously Christian Today as a source of information concerning it. 
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New Book: Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here) 

Pornography: The Bane of Wanna-Be Elijahs

[Extract from the book Elijah Men Eat Meat]
Herod’s sin of lust that leads to the Baptist’s decapitation serves as a good moment to address a relevant issue: pornography.
The internet has made pornography―once only a snare for those minority of men willing to go out and buy a magazine―a trap to us all. And not just the men. Increasingly women are getting caught up in it too. Pornography is a far greater weapon of destruction in the church than any activism could ever be. It has become Jezebel’s main weapon, keeping back a generation of Christians from going forward in confidant spiritual growth and ministry.
Now let us never misunderstand: sex is a good gift. We do not think of the human body as bad. God made it. I am convinced that boobs are a sign that God loves us and wants us all to be happy. Let us give thanks where thanksgiving is due. But pornography turns our natural sexual drive into a system of chemical terrorism. One minute we're going about our business in a state of healthy sanity. The next minute―when ignited by a low neckline, short skirt, or sensual advertisement―we are grabbed by a furious desire to pant over cushions of flesh that are forbidden to us. We run to porn, covet, and believe our soul will only be satiated by the god of orgasm. Like all sins, this evil is goodness deformed.
Here, we share just a few short tips that many men have found helpful in gaining victory in their own souls. Space does not allow for full treatment of this subject. We have found other books such as Surfing for God, Samson and the Pirate Monks, and (for women) No Stones by Marnie Ferree to be handy (no pun intended) resources.
First of all, realise there is usually no silver bullet. Rarely is there just one thing you must do in order to never struggle with sexual lust again. Pornography addiction is―in part―the result of other deep needs not being met in healthy ways or deep wounds not being properly healed. As we grow spiritually and find God’s affirmation, acceptance, and love, we will be less tempted to seek it out on a computer screen. Yes, unless you have SSA exclusively, then as a man you will always have an attraction to the female body. But increased health brings increased self-control. This includes times of prayer, reading, and even getting enough sleep and eating well.          Secondly, do not isolate yourself. Porn makes a man feel dirty and guilty. Like Adam, he hides in shame. The ensuing loneliness makes porn all the more attractive and addiction becomes a downward spiral. Have quality friendships with brothers you can talk openly with. Also, have healthy relationships with women. Male-female friendships can be controversial, and it does have pitfalls. But Scripture commands us to treat women as sisters. We discuss this in more detail in the book Forbidden Friendships, but for now we simply note that having healthy relationships with women can help serve as an emotional deterrent to objectifying them on a computer screen.           Next, consider dealing with masturbation as a root cause. Yes, we know the Bible does not specifically mention masturbation and some men have a huge and often unnecessary guilt complex over this issue. But as a pastor that has worked with men over the years on this issue, many have found that they could not overcome pornography without also eliminating masturbation. Some disagree, but it has definitely been the experience of many. Porn and masturbation play off each other. Eliminating the one will help you get rid of the other.          Lastly, do not give up. The first of Luther’s 95 theses was that a Christian’s whole life should be one of repentance. Some men (and women) fight this new drug for a season and then give up after failing many times. Don’t. This may be a war we fight our whole lives―but our souls are worth fighting for. Never raise the white flag and surrender. Keep making whatever practical changes are necessary to remove yourself as far from temptation as you can get: turn the angle of your computer screen to face the door, pledge to a trusted friend that you will never take your smartphone into the bathroom, etc. You are in a war. If we seek to reform a compromised church, we must reform our compromised selves. Keep doing whatever is necessary to gain ever-increasing victory over the sexual chaos Jezebel seeks to bring to your inner life.
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______________ Extract from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here) 

Jezebel: Our Whorable Queen

[Extract from the book Elijah Men Eat Meat]

‘Ahab married Jezebel, then he proceeded to worship Baal.’ -1Kg 16
Queen Jezebel is a Baal-snogging, fake-teaching, pride-marching, man-manipulating, Yahweh-blaspheming, prophets’ blood-drinking monstrosity of a female.
And that’s being nice.
This daughter of Ethbaal, the Phoenician King, grows up surrounded by power, education, luxury, and evil. Of course, she doesn’t think of it as evil. No one sees their culture’s sins for what they are. It is like air to a child or water to a fish: it’s so much a part of us that we don’t even know it is there. She thinks her culture is the rule by which others should be measured. Yes, Israel is used to being surrounded by pagan neighbours and their debauched royalty. But now we have a problem. The problem is that this ghoulish gal now has a throne in the midst of God’s holy nation. It’s one thing for a boat to be in the sea. It’s quite another thing for the sea to be in the boat. And the nation is taking in wickedness of titanic proportions.
When Jezebel is given in marriage to the King of Israel, she probably has mixed feelings. Yes, it is good to marry a king. Perhaps not all of her sisters will manage to do so. But compared to her home city of Tyre, Samaria is a backwards, uneducated, hillbilly town. ‘Have you seen how tiny the shopping street is?!’ and ‘Can you even get good coffee in this place?!’ may have been some of her first reactions.
But this royal immigrant is not a passive woman. She is strong and active―a woman of great initiative. Of course, if a queen (or any woman) has a holy heart, her initiatives may mostly bear good fruit. But Jezebel’s heart houses the vomitus stench of all that is unholy. Yes, she may have thought her intentions were good. But even wicked people do what is right in their own eyes. History is filled with unspeakable evils birthed by the good intentions of hearts not governed by the fear of the Lord.
Jezebel has a vision for herself and she won’t let being married to a petulant and uncouth beta-king stop her. She will break glass ceilings and glass steeples. Our deviant diva will go where no Israeli queen has gone before. Her vision is to be this nation’s reformer and bring it to a place of greater spiritual enlightenment and sexual liberation. Her colourful and savvy gods of Baal and Asherah will not just be the deities she worships in private palace quarters. No. They will be set up as the new saviours of Israel. Promises of power, potency, and fertility will be the draw for the Israeli men and women. Charm and mystery will be the atmosphere of worship. Orgasm will be the sacrament.
She may have spoken of being open-minded and tolerant as a ruler before taking the throne. Evil often speaks of minority rights as long as it is a minority. But behind all the talk of equality is masked the animal drive for power. And once securely in power, Jezebel seeks to eliminate everything opposed to her teaching. The biggest obstacle to this lascivious legislation is the worship of Yahweh. She imports and trains nearly one thousand priest-magicians to police religious expression. With her own private army established, she puts on her makeup, smiles coyly, and begins to eat righteous men like air.
This is the historical norm. Whenever evil gets the influence it craves, it then proceeds to silence the good. Jezebel is a real, historical woman. But she is not a one-off. The dynamic that she embodies makes several cameos throughout scripture and history. We see her corruption in the days of Malachi and her qualities in the Galilean lady Herodias, as she seeks to destroy John the Baptist. Peter warns us in his second epistle of sensual heresies that are thoroughly Jezebellic in nature and we see her subverting what is good at the church at Thyatira as she leads God’s people into fake worship and immorality.
The Bible also ends with a vision of a world system described as a cataclysmic call girl who silences prophets and leads the nations into wrong religion and suicidal sex. This spiritual seductress does so by giving them spiked wine to drink, causing the nations to see themselves as enlightened, tolerant, and progressive as they follow her teaching. It is only later that the terror falls. Wherever in history this phantom appears, she comforts and kisses the brokenness of men; then she crumples their spirits like rubbish in the dustbins of their own souls.
We Ahab Men love Jezebel―if love is the right word. We certainly love ourselves through her. We eat up her smiles and her lies. She is bubble-wrapped candy floss with death at its heart. She numbs us to the emptiness of our own souls. In a sense, it is not that Jezebel is our ultimate problem. She is the fake solution to our problem. She makes us feel great about ourselves―but her potions only grow the shadows we carry within.
She is present in our 21st Century whenever Christians are seduced by her pornography. It is then that they slowly begin to lose their spiritual conviction and boldness to speak. No surprise. It’s hard to wage war on demons with your trousers around your ankles.
Jezebel wields words of intimidation to silence those men who try to call us to holiness and repentance―especially repentance from sexual sin. Within our generation, she has castrated many of God’s would-be spokesmen with the scissors of intimidation. She marches at the head of an aggressive army as Queen JezebeLGBT having people fined or fired from their jobs for failing to bow the knee to her sexual and spiritual dogmas.
And she is after you. She wants you to be a spiritually impotent Ahab Man devoid of character, resolve, and backbone. Yes, you will dance. But only as her marionette.
Before a reformer can tear down Jezebel’s Baals and Asherahs in the world around him, he must first demolish them in his own heart. Any man who claims to be ‘Protestant’ but who fails to protest Jezebellic corruption in his own soul is a fraud. For it’s in our personal areas of corruption that all holy protesting must begin. For every man is a potential Ahab―and Jezebel seeks to play us all. ___________________

Extract from Elijah Men Eat Meat: Readings to slaughter your inner Ahab and pursue Revival and Reform (Get Here)