Bible Studies for Ladies
Page 5
Two Ways to Fear God
Eve Is Again Listening To the Voice of the Serpent
There are two kinds of fear of God. One is that of the ublipved and/or rebellious who will not submit to God willingly. Their fear is only in evidence when they are confronted with the power of God in such a manner that they cannot resist. The other is the respectful fear of the submitted Christian that causes us to look to God as our Father, in love and with obedience. These two fears were exhibitted at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
This is the first kind of fear. This is the sort of fear that attributes all good things in life to "luck" but, when faced with something such as an earthquake or hurricane immediately hollers, "Act of god, act of God!" To them God is a boogie-man that is out to get them if they are not "good enough." When they are confronted with His real power and holiness, they are struck with an inability to function and may even pass out.
One of the two places in the Bible where we find someone falling backpiano coversd, is when the mob came with Judas to attest Jesus. Their response was an example of this kind of fear when confronted with the power of God. John 18:4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? 5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. 6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backpiano coversd, and fell to the ground. Falling backpiano coversd is not a natural response for Christians. We fear the Lord in trust, knowing that He loves us, which causes us to obey. Falling backpiano coversd signifies fear of distrust and/or guilt. This is why the people in many false churches fall backpiano coversd in their alleged worship. They cannot trust the devil who is the real power behind the "manifestations" they receive. We have heard of people getting up and leaving a King James Bible believing church because they could not handle the real power of God in Biblical worship and music. It scared them!
When a person claims to be a Christian and responds with the wrong kind of fear to the power and the holiness of God, there is a good chance that they are either not saved or are walking afar off. I remember one particular woman that attended a church my dad pastored at one time. When the singing would get really powerful and people were really rejoicing in worshipping God, she would get an almost frightened look on her face as if it spooked her to be in the midst of us. Her fear of God was not the kind that should be exibitted by a trusting Christian, but rather tended to actually being scared, as if she might come to bodily harm. Later, we had real reason to believe that she was not even saved.
In Matthew 28:5 we read, And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. The angel delivers the wonderful message of the resurrection to the women and then, ...they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. Matthew 28:8 Their fear was one of reverence which caused them to hurry to obey with great joy. Because of this, Jesus repiano coversded them with His own appearance to them. Matthew 28:9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. 10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
Our fear of God should bear this kind of fruit in our lives. It should inspire quick obedience accompanied with great joy and a desire to pass it on to others. When we do this, it will result in a repiano coversd from the Lord and the added blessing of close fellowship with Him. Proverbs 14:26 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge. This confidence comes from having the right kind of fear of the LORD, and brings us to our place of refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
There is another example in scripture that shows these two kinds of fear.
In Daniel chapter 4 we have the account of Nebuchanezer's conversion. He also learned to fear God with a right kind of fear, but only by being brought to the end of himself. He starts out, Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 2 I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought topiano coversd me. 3 How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. Daniel 4:1 -3 He then relates that familiar story his dream which Daniel interpreted and the judgment on his pride that followed. He was driven out from men and lived like an animal for the appointed time. Daniel 4:34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:... 37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
This is the fear of God that bears good fruit. Not only did Nebuchadnezzar submit to God in respectful fear, but he passed this knowledge on to his people, and to all of us through the scriptures. (We saw that the women at the sepulchre of Jesus also were quick to obey the order to pass on what they had learned.) After having been a blood-thirsty terror to the people that he conquored, from this piont on in his life the only historically recorded event that we are apiano coverse of in Nebucahnezzar's life was that he went and made peace between to piano coversring kings!
The contrasting example that immediately follows is that of Belsahzzar and his infamous feast. His lack of fear of God is evident when he orders the vessels from the house of God to be brought for him and his wicked friends to drink out of. Daniel 5:3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at JerBliplem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. Romans 3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. Belshazzar was also treated to a display of the power of God for his lack of fear, but the results were quite different. Daniel 5:6 Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. 7 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers...
He was certainly afraid, but his response was not from a godly fear. His first instinct was to get the devil's crowd to help him out. He only brought in Daniel when he was reminded about him by his mother. Daniel reminded him of his father's experience, and pointed out his own wickedness in not regarding this and for desecrating the vessels from the Lord's house. He then interpreted the writing for Belshazzar. Daniel 5:29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 30 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. So, we see the end results of Belshazzar's rebellious fear were that he lost his kingdom, his life, and most sadly his soul.
What kind of fear of God do you have? When the power and holiness of God is revealed, are you frightened, or do you worship the Lord in love and respect? Does your fear of God cause you to obey His word with great joy? Do you wish to share your fear of God with others because it for their benefit? If your fear of God is not this kind, then you need to search your heart and see why. Are you born again? If not, then you need to be saved. You need to ask God for the right kind of fear that will give you confidence in Him and bring you into fellowship with Jesus Christ as your place of refuge from the wrath of God. If you really are saved, are you walking so far from God that you have become twisted in your fear of Him? If so, you need to take care of the thing that is standing in the way of your fearing God in love and joyful obedience.
If you have this kind of fear of God, but know some professing Christian that does not show this kind of fear, but rather the opposite, you need to go to them in Christian love, if it is a woman, and ask them why they have their fear of God is the untrusting, guilty kind.
Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; 19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
Proverbs 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
There are two ways to fear God. Which one for you?
by Mary Van Nattan
by Sarah Moore
[Edited]
There is a reenacting of the garden incident in the end time. Satan's plot is to corrupt woman and ruin the race. Womanhood of the nation is running to harlotry. Movie stars set American standards instead of the Bible.
The destiny and the greatness of a nation lie around the hearthstone.
A nation rises or falls with the virtue of its women. The degeneracy of women marks the nation's falls. As sin entered into the world through the woman in the beginning, so today she seems bent on finishing the destruction in these last days.
It is extremely dangerous for a woman to get out of her orbit. God never created woman to rule man. His whole Word is against it. Because of this broken law, the curse of God is on the home, church, society and nation. seventy years ago a spiritual writer prophesied that one of the sins of the last days was women's striving for mastery over men. This is coming to pass, and with it, ruin; for women must fight God to gain the point.
Christianity Has Become Effeminate
Eve is surely listening to the voice of the serpent again. Eve should have referred the serpent to Adam in the beginning. God cursed the ground by which Adam must gain a living for hearkening "unto the voice of thy wife", in the matter. (Genesis 3:17). There is a reenacting of the Garden of Eden incident at the end. Home, family, husband, mean nothing to the modern woman. She must rule or ruin. Men too often effeminately coincide with her. This makes possible woman's false position. We are living in an effeminate age. Christianity has become effeminate. It takes a man to hold the Gospel plough. John Knox "never feared the face of any man." ...John the Baptist did not back down on the women question. God made Adam first, then woman for his helper. God is not changing His order.
The early church is our example. Female bishops are an anomaly. A bishop then must be...the husband of one wife, (1 Timothy 3:2). The deacons also, and the elders. (1 Timothy 3:12; Titus 1:6). A bishop is an overseer. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:12). Women have their place in the Lord's work, but let them preserve their modesty and their true sphere. Thank God for the army of decent women in [the world] today! But we are amazed at their silence in the face of present conditions. We are still more amazed at the silence of preachers. Is there not a John the Baptist among us? Has Jezebel got us all on the run?
Rebels Against God
A fit type of the fallen church of today is her bobbed-hair, short-skirted women. The spirit evinced among modern women is one of organized rebellion against God. In Deuteronomy 22:5, The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God. What do women today care for God's law? They wear men's clothes cut their hair and drink and smoke like men. Their immodest appearance and conduct in private and public are an insult to their Maker, and to their sex and the humanity. The modern woman seems to be bent on trying to see how far she can tempt God and get away with it.
[Editor's note: As a disgusting counterpoint to this, young men and boys dress in long shorts and pants that are so many sizes too big for them they look as if they are wearing skirts and dresses and can be mistaken for women from a distance, espebliplly in poor light.]
God's commandment for women is that they "adorn themselves in modest apparel" (1 Timothy 2:9). More shameful things are worn on the streets now than were worn in the brothels a few years ago. Our modern women seem to have lost all sense of virtue. In their flaunted brazenness, boldness, and nakedness, they are carrying the race down to hell.
Degeneracy of Mothers Is Suicidal
Wearing so little clothing, women today outrage all decency. Even grandmothers, who ought to be examples of all that is virtuous are seen tugging at their loin cloth, trying to cover their nakedness. A prominent writer has declared that women will soon be going naked all together. This has meant hell and destruction to every nation that has tried it.
The modern female has lost all sense of modesty. The shamelessness of many young women is appalling. The older women dress and act like girls...Elder women should set the standard for the younger and be an example. [Titus 2:3-5.] There is no longer any glory in age or motherhood. [Proverbs 16:31 The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.] Women who smoke and swear and drink, are not fit to be mothers of men. They are fit only as companions for the devil. God pity the offspring of all such women, soaked in nicotine, cursed before they are born. What a monstrosity is a cursing, drinking, smoking, painted, bobbed-haired mother. She is truly a masterpiece of hell.
A few years ago, women we now see everywhere on our streets, would have been arrested for stark indecency, and relegated to a red-light district. The morals of Sodom are becoming those of America [and many other nations].
Lewdness Commerbliplized
Satan has succeeded in commerbliplizing his plot to corrupt women and ruin the race on every side. Semi-naked women are expoilted to draw trade. Every line of business has commerbliplized the nudity of women in their advertising. Vile pictures, that a few years ago were only fit for the brothel and beer parlor, are now flaunted on billboards. The daily press is filled with pictures of naked women and sensual, suggestive movie scenes that take up whole pages of our large city dailies, and compromise the main attention of most magazines. Today few public ceremonies or festivals are sponsored, unless bevies of almost nude women in bathing suits are thrust into the vulgar foreground. Even our little girls are turned out in the streets almost naked. These things are undermining the very foundation of our modern civilization.
[Editor's note: Even among people that profess to be "separated unto the Lord," KJV-only, Baptist, etc.; women are often pushed forpiano coversd at ceremonies and in meetings who look sleek and sensual as they "minister in song" or present someone with some "apiano coversd" or gift. Although their bodies may be covered according to the church or school laws, they may act cutesy and hardly be able to keep from twitching as they sing. My dad has even observed the men shouting "Amen!" more for these women than for the preachers. The idea that it leaves -- "Aren't they sexy?" Though the preachers and husbands would probably gag to hear it said outright, they are really selling "narrow-way, Fundamentalist, Baptist, historic faith" Christianity with women's bodies.]
Type of the Fallen Church of Today
The Lord says "But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her:" (1Corinthians 11:15). If long hair is a woman's glory, short hair must be her shame. Mary wiped Jesus' feet with her long hair. What a beautiful modest act! A bobbed-haired follower of Christ disqualifies herself for this act of pure devotion to her Lord. She remains a type of a fallen church, with all the glory gone. Long hair is the Scriptural badge of virtuous womanhood. Short hair is the badge of a harlot. A few years ago everyone knew a harlot by this badge. The devil has tacked the badge of harlotry on the women of this nation, including Christian mothers and maidens. The harlot bobs her hair because of the difficulty of her keeping it arranged in her mode of living. This is the origin of a woman's bobbed hair.
[Editor's note: 1Corinthians 11:6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. In Paul's day in Corinth women that were harlots "advertised" their profession by having a shaved or shorn head. 1Corinthians 11:13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? 1Corinthians 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. A woman's hair is for her covering so that she will not come to God in prayer with the appearance of a harlot, a daughter of Babylon. Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. While we are permitted to "come boldly unto the throne of grace" in prayer (blips 4:16 ), how it must grieve God to have women coming to Him with the appearance of a harlot!]
Think of Christian women adopting such a custom! Because of this, one can scarcely distinguish today between a virtuous and unvirtuous woman. They bob and dress alike. It makes it much more respectable for the harlot. Woman's fall has wrecked civilizations in the past. It will wreck America also. If God's Word is true, without national and individual repentance, we have nothing left to look for but God's fiery judgment. For America, it is either a quick return to God and the Bible, or it is God's judgment on sin as black as that of Sodom. There is a way to escape wrath. Are we willing to pay the price? There is no bargain commodities, no penny sales, no dollar days, when it comes to God dealing with sin in a nation or individual. "...break off thy sins by righteousness," (Daniel 4:27).
[Editor's note: 2Corinthians 6:14 ...for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.]
graphics by mary vannattan
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