This is Part Two. You can read Part One here, “‘Biblical’ Patriarchy: here’s how you replaced God.”

What did God say was the root problem of the Old Covenant people who were oppressing those under them?

You have left Me.

(He said this in many places, such as Isaiah 1:4 and Jeremiah 1:16; 2:12-13, 17, 19; 5:3, 7, 19; 8:5, 17:13; 19:4; 22:9.)

What did God say was the solution?

Return to Me.

(He said this in many places, such as Isaiah 55:7 and Jeremiah 3:22; 4:1; 18:11; 35:15; 36:3; and 36:7.)

I asked my visitor, the daughter of patriarchy, how many people who had left the movement were still following Jesus. I said still, even though it sounded like many of these families may never have really followed Him. After all, I think the word for believing “the only way [for a woman] to know God’s will for your life is through a husband or father” would be . . . “heresy” . . . or “cult.”

My new friend told me it was only ten percent. So after we parted and I got to a quiet place, I wept.

I wept for the young people, those in the ninety percent, who think what they’re leaving is Christianity, when in many cases it isn’t Christianity at all, but only a twisted, misshapen copy, a hollow echo of it.

I wept for the many parents who, if as young adults in the 1980s and 1990s could have foreseen what they would become, what they would fall prey to, might have turned away in horror.

The horror of it

“Be appalled at this, O heavens! Be utterly horrified and dumbfounded,” says the LORD. “My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me—the spring of living water—and they dug their own cisterns—cracked cisterns that hold no water.”   

A call to the parents . . . to return

Return, return, I call to my generation who are stuck in the idolatry of a system, a person, and an institution. I cry out to you to return to Jesus, the fountain of living waters. Shed the pharisaical baggage of the system, the person, and the institution. Look to Jesus Christ Himself and Him alone to quench your thirst, to give you hope, to provide your salvation. (This is a kind of repentance, truly coming to your senses.)

Take your hands off your adult children’s shoulders and look to the Holy Spirit (yes! remember Him?) to do a life-giving work in the hearts of your children—and in your own.

A call to the ninety percent . . . to come

To those who have departed Christianity because you equated it with the terrible oppression you experienced, which many Christians haven’t taken seriously. . . . Some of us are taking it very seriously.

It may be that you departed from an idolatry where Christ was never mentioned except as one more rule-giver, as one more example you could never live up to, as one more teacher of “submission,” as one more way to beat you over the head. . . .

I want to tell you, that is not Christianity. As I cry out to your parents to return, I cry out to you to come. Come to the one you never knew, who really does offer beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning, who really does offer deliverance for captives and the binding up of the brokenhearted. Come see who Jesus really is.

A call to young adults under the system . . . to listen to His voice

There’s one more group I want to speak to. It is to adults who are still living under the authority of patriarchal parents. You feel stuck, but you want to honor your parents.

I plead with you, don’t be guilty of the idolatry of parents. Don’t, in the name of honoring, displace the Lord Jesus Christ, your rightful Sovereign, in your life.

It can be confusing, I know, trying to sort it out. It can be confusing, when maybe you’re told that if you don’t obey everything your parents say, then you’re guilty of rebellion (and of course we know “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft”). It can even seem terrifying.

But seek Jesus in the deepest places of your heart. Seek Him through His holy Word, get to know who He really is. Ask for the His Holy Spirit to open your eyes as you read the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit . . . He may not be mentioned much in your family, but if you have trusted in Christ, He is the power of the living Christ in you.

The hope of glory is not having a picture-perfect family.

The hope of glory is Christ in you.

Be willing to honor your parents in the ultimate way, by honoring God and following Him. Love Jesus and be willing to suffer being misunderstood, maligned, and even persecuted for His Name.

For me to see that I’m writing those words about my own generation, those people who stood around me at the homeschool conventions, some of whom may have bought some of the missionary books I’ve written, is nearly mind-boggling to me. But if a system goes as far astray as this one seems to have gone, the system will need to be forsaken in order to truly follow Jesus Christ. This won’t be the first time it’s happened in history.

When it’s time, it’s possible to leave well (and I pray you can connect with Spirit-filled Christ-lovers on the outside who will help you do so), still honoring your parents in the ways that truly matter, without uttering words you’ll later regret, leaving to truly follow Jesus rather than simply to follow your own way.

I pray with you that lost relationships will one day be restored, based on the love and joy of Jesus Christ rather than on earthly authorities and earthly systems and earthly idols. I pray to our Father God that His Son Jesus Christ, King of heaven and earth, will truly reign in the hearts of those who have worshipped a system, a person, or an institution instead of the Savior of the world. I pray that He and He alone will be glorified in the lives of those who claim His Name.

O Lord God, speed that day.

“Be appalled at this, O heavens! Be utterly horrified and dumbfounded,” says the LORD. “My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me—the spring of living water—and they dug their own cisterns—cracked cisterns that hold no water.”    

This Scriptures is Jeremiah 2:12-13, on which this song is based:

 Return to the Waters

words and music by Christiana Mayfield (my daughter)

Return to the Water, taken from Jeremiah 2:12-13

Posted by Christiana Mayfield Music on Wednesday, June 11, 2014

There’s a spring of living water, As fresh as love, as clear as truth, and never bitter. And some have tasted of that water And decided they’d rather hew themselves a cistern.

And the cistern—it is broken, And the people they are choking In the mud At the bottom of their hole.

Return, oh return to the water! Return and let your soul be satisfied. Return, oh return to your lover! Then in Him will be your glory forever.

And the spring is still beside them More alive than life itself and strong as thunder. But they won’t turn, though their tongues are dry and swollen. And even the heavens, they look down on them and wonder.

They’re afraid and horrified That the people have despised The light That was sparkling before them.

Return, oh return to the water! Return and let your soul be satisfied. Return oh return to your lover! Then in Him will be your glory forever.

Then in Him will be your glory forever.

 

***
Go here to download your free Guide, How to Enjoy the Bible Again (when you’re ready) After Spiritual Abuse (without feeling guilty or getting triggered out of your mind). You’ll receive access to both print and audio versions of the Guide (audio read by me). I’m praying it will be helpful.

 

 

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