All posts by Mary Walker

The Virtuous Woman

“How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear? . . . the law is ignored and justice is not upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted. . . .Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?
I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.” (Habakkuk 1:2, 4, 13, and 2:1).

“She extends her hand to the poor, and she stretches out her hands to the needy. . . Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” (Proverbs 31:20, 25-27, 30).

We are living in a time when we can easily ask God, “How much worse can things get?” This is not the first time in history that a culture has sunk to a place where wickedness seems to prevail. This is not the first time that evil men have tried to get away with all that they can in order to enrich themselves and get as much power as possible.

In Habakkuk’s day the rich were preying on the poor. Those who had money and power continued to grow fat while widows and orphans were starving. Bribery was rampant. Nobody cared about justice. Lies were told flagrantly and were believed willingly by a people who preferred their comforts to the hard truth.

Does all of this sound familiar?

It seemed to Habakkuk that God was silently allowing all of this to go on. I, too, wonder how all of these wicked things can be happening. This is hard to take in a country where we grew up believing that we would have our freedoms forever. But we did not reckon with human nature. If men do not believe that they have to answer to God, they will be greedy and grasping and only please themselves.

The Israelites in Habakkuk’s day had long forgotten God. I think we can safely say that most people in America have also forgotten God. Even if they think, “He is out there somewhere,” they live as if He doesn’t care how they act.

I have said before that history does not repeat itself. People keep doing the same stupid things over and over again because they will not learn from God. When everybody is running around just getting as much as they can for themselves, then of course society will break down. We had the greatest country in the world because we were living by Christian principles. We lived for a long time off of the capital that was invested by our forefathers. Now, we have not only long ago spent the interest, but the capital is eroding. We are losing our freedoms one by one. I am afraid that since our society is no longer Christian, we do not have what it takes to get our freedoms back. No one will make the sacrifice. Everyone wants someone else to pay the price. In a Christian society, people would be less selfish.

God let the Israelite nation get worse and worse, even to the point of enemy invasion before He intervened. For some reason it takes a major calamity before people will wake up and ask God to forgive them and send help.

I have been hoping that the humiliation of exposing our most private possession, our bodies, to government officials would be enough of a calamity to wake everyone up and turn back to God. I thought that when people realized that their government just trashed their Fourth Amendment, it had gone too far. Apparently that is not enough. I’ve been told over and over again that it’s no big deal. These folks are the frogs who are in the lukewarm water. They won’t try to change until it’s too late.

Why is this? For some, it’s the idea of, “don’t disturb my comfort.” For others, it’s the lie that somehow this body scanning is for their own protection. They have been believing the lies of the government for so long, and this is just one more. They have long ago lost the ability to discern right from wrong. They cannot tell truth from lies anymore.

Like the prophet, I don’t know how long this can go on. In the meantime, how shall we as Christian women live our lives?

In the midst of these evil times it is more important than ever that we live righteous lives. It is obvious that we can’t change the whole system. We can pray that God will send a revival of some sort, but short of that we need to at least be faithful in our own callings. We can affect those around us. If they will wake up and see what is happening, they in turn can affect others.

We can take a firm stand. God has told us what he wants, “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

There is no better picture of this than the Virtuous Woman in Proverbs 31. The principles in this Scripture are timeless. The Godly woman not only looks to the welfare of her husband and family, she cares for her neighbors around her. Think how different our society would be if women cared about how much they could give instead of how much they can take. Do you see how practical this is? If everybody is “taking” we soon run out of resources.

A woman who is consistently kind and generous is a woman who can be trusted in all situations. As the economy gets worse in our country, the poor can count on her generosity. This is the way that a society is blessed.

The destitute will not go to their grasping, lazy neighbors. As the greedy increase, society breaks down. Bribery, crime, negligence of the poor, and falsehoods will be the order of the day.

No, we as individuals may not be able to change the whole country, but we can make the part of the country that we live in a better place for those around us. We can ease the pain of the loss of our freedoms as we excel in charity.

 

Susan B. Anthony – Respect for Life

“Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life; it will burden her soul in death. . “
Susan B. Anthony

We have many freedoms that we take for granted as women today. No one thinks anything of women going to universities to pursue degrees in any area of life that they wish. Women vote, own property, go wherever they want, and actually do pretty much anything that men do including participate in the vices that were traditionally male habits such as smoking.

We would really scream and holler if we were denied any of these rights. But one hundred and fifty years ago there were restrictions on all of these activities for women. One person who gave her life to the cause of women’s suffrage was Susan Brownell Anthony.

Susan was born in South Adams, Massachusetts, on February 15, 1820. Her family was Quaker. She was home taught in her early years and then finished schooling at a Friends’ boarding school.

When she took a job as a substitute teacher for a male colleague and received only one fourth of the pay that he did, she realized that women were suffering great wrongs. She quit teaching and became active instead in trying to right those wrongs.
There are many interesting biographies of Susan B. Anthony. Here are just a few things that she achieved:

1. She began to fight for women’s suffrage in the early 1850’s. When she was refused admittance to a temperance convention because she was a woman, she organized the Women’s New York State Temperance Society. Thanks to her tireless efforts women began to be admitted to other conventions with the right to speak, vote, and serve on committees. They were beginning to be admitted to educational institutions as well.

2. Susan began to challenge the New York state legislature to pass laws giving the right to women to own property. She also fought for and won the right for married women to keep possession of their earnings and have the guardianship of their children. We cannot imagine that these things were the norm for women 150 years ago.

3.  In 1872, in an attempt to claim that the constitution already permitted women to vote, Susan B. Anthony cast a test vote in Rochester, New York, in the presidential election. She was found guilty, though she refused to pay the resulting fine (and the order was never enforced).

4. She continued to fight on for the rest of her life. For many years she averaged over 100 lectures annually. She helped out in the campaigns for the enfranchisement of women in eight different states. After 1869, Congress granted her the right to appear and speak before committee hearings almost every year.

5.  While the right to life for unborn babies is not the main thing that people remember Susan B. Anthony for, she understood that fighting for the rights of women included those same rights for unborn women.

Those of us, including yours truly, have much to thank the women who bravely went before us. We take education, writing, equal employment, and all of the other constitutional rights for granted. But we did not have them at one time. We can’t help but admire the courage of Susan B. Anthony. Imagine what it must have been like for Susan to try and get the attention of people in her society in a day when it was truly a “male” world.

In looking at the things that Susan fought for in the late 1800’s, modern women would not consider her an extreme feminist. We believe that the privileges that women enjoy now are only right. How was Susan B. Anthony a feminist?

Today there are many who shudder as soon as they hear the word “feminist”. I understand that, but I would urge readers to think about what the word really means. If it only means that women would like to be treated with the dignity that they were given at creation, then it is a positive description. Femininity includes all of the things that define a woman, including the fact that she is an image-bearer of God. Truly feminine women understand their role in the world that God has given them.

Unfortunately, a counterfeit image of “feminism” for women has emerged. These rebellious, obnoxious, selfish women have stolen the term for themselves, but there is truly nothing “feminine” about them. They are far removed from the true nobility of women – the privilege of being able to give life, not take it.

In the years since Susan B. Anthony fought for women’s suffrage, “abortion rights” have become synonymous with women’s rights. For some reason women have been told that they are not truly free unless they have the right to do away with their unborn children. This seems to be the defining issue. But, is the ability to end someone else’s life what truly makes a woman free? Does killing a helpless, unborn baby make a woman “feminine”? I think not.

Susan’s friend and co-worker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton said, “When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.”  Apparently these early pioneers for women’s rights could see how hypocritical it is for women to demand their “rights” but deny them to unborn women. Elizabeth Stanton referred to abortion as “infanticide”. That is truly what it is. It is not just a “pregnancy that didn’t work,” as a congresswoman recently said.

This is really one of the biggest lies that Satan has ever put over on women.
In 1869, when Susan B. Anthony wrote the quote at the beginning of this post, it was plainly known that abortion was wrong, even though, at that time, women had fewer options for making a living and supporting themselves. In the years when women could not easily get an education, or control their own money or lives, the decision to keep an unplanned baby was very much more difficult than in today’s welfare society. As tough as the decision was, the feminists of the nineteenth century believed that abortion was wrong. Though Susan gave her whole life to gaining equal rights for women, she would probably be rejected by today’s “feminists” simply because she would reject their abortion agenda.

Susan B. Anthony had an opportunity to marry a fine man, but chose instead to devote her life to righting the wrongs against women. She often stood alone. It is wonderful what one woman can do when she acts on the courage of her convictions. I am sitting here, enfranchised, college educated, and able to write a story on my own computer because of women like her. I am thankful for all of the privileges that I have.

Monica – Prayer Warrior

“The effective prayer of a righteous man  (or woman) can accomplish much.”
James 5:16

At this time in our country when it seems that things are getting worse and worse and we don’t know how to turn the tide, let us remember that God is still on His throne. We can pray for His forgiveness and mercy as individuals and we can encourage our friends and families to pray as a nation for God to forgive us. We have been neglectful of the poor and needy in our society. I know that I have been selfish and spent most of my time pursuing my own interests. I believe that as the church has stopped following the example of Jesus as He ministered to the needs of others, we have been guilty of bringing God’s anger on ourselves. I believe that we would not be losing our freedoms right now if we had been praying for and electing good leaders. We don’t have them because we haven’t been vigilant. We only care about who’s going to win the big game this weekend. Oppression and abuse are going on all around us and we don’t care. God is trying to wake us up with things like the visual rape machines at the airports. We must do something now. We must start by getting down on our knees and praying.

One special woman in history shows us a good example of how we ought to pray.

Many have heard the story of the miraculous conversion of St. Augustine. By all accounts he was a very hard-hearted and profligate man. Had we known him when he was a young man, we probably would have said that there was no hope of his ever turning to God. But his loving mother believed that God could save him. She never gave up during many long years, praying for his salvation with earnestness and tears.

MONICA, the mother of St. Augustine, was born in 332.  She was raised to be a pious and devout Christian. When she was old enough to marry, she was given to a man named Patritius, who was a pagan. She at once devoted herself to his conversion. She spent her life always praying for him. She was rewarded for her efforts when he became a Christian and was baptized only a year before his death.

Of course we know that Monica was also devoted to prayer for her son Augustine, who led a very irreligious life. He especially struggled with the sin of lust, preferring to have mistresses rather than get married.

Monica tried to get a learned Christian bishop to talk to her son in order to teach him the right way to live, but the bishop declined. He knew Augustine well and he didn’t think he could have any success with a man who was so headstrong.

However, on witnessing Monica’s prayers and tears, he told her to be of good courage; for it might be that God would spare the child of those tears. And so Monica devoted every day of her life to entreating God for her son.

One day, when Augustine went to Italy, he thought he was getting away from his mother’s constant well-meaning encouragements. But he could not escape from her prayers, which God heard and was ready to answer.

Monica followed him to Italy, and there Augustine was marvelously converted. Monica’s sorrow was turned into joy.

At a town called Ostia, on their homeward journey, as Augustine and his mother sat at a window talking about the Christian life, she turned to him and said, “My son, for my part I find no further pleasure in this life. What I am still to do or why I am here in the world, I do not know, for I have no more to hope for on this earth. There was one reason, and one alone, why I wished to remain a little longer in this life, and that was to see you a Christian before I died. God has granted my wish and more besides, for I now see you as his servant, spurning such happiness as the world can give. What is left for me to do in this world?”

A few days afterwards, she had an attack of fever, and died in the year 387. She was 56 years old. She had lived long enough to see the answer to her prayers for both her son and her husband.

Upon reflecting on this, we remember that It is impossible to set any bounds to what persevering prayer may do. Augustine’s soul seemed bound for hell due to his heresy and impurity, both of which were very strong because of his many years of practicing sin. These chains were broken when God graciously answered his mother’s prayers. Monica is a wonderful example to us of a devout, persevering, praying, Christian mother.

But that is just one person, you say. What about our nation? What about all of the millions of people who have strayed from obeying God?

Remember the story of Jonah and Nineveh, the capitol of Assyria. The Assyrians were hated enemies of the Israelites. They were a wicked and cruel people. Who would have ever thought that they would repent? But they did. The whole city of Nineveh repented. The king of Assyria came down from his throne, put off his royal robes, and sat in sackcloth and ashes. He ordered everyone else to do the same. That would be like our president getting down on his knees and repenting and asking our whole country to follow suit. Not possible you say? Why? This is still a Christian country. We have had National Prayer Days before. If you think we can’t now, then what is that saying about how far we have strayed from God?

We can still pray that God would cause the people in our country to turn back to Him. I believe that we need to do this. Not just to get our freedoms back. That would be nice. But God is our Creator and He deserves our worship and allegiance. No nation can go on shaking its fist in God’s face and not expect to be judged for it. We are experiencing that now. It does not have to be.

Marcella of Rome

Marcella is best remembered as a disciple of the famous bishop, Jerome.  She was born around 325 AD and lived to the ripe old age of 85. The anniversary of her death on January 31, 410 AD, is still observed in the Catholic Church. She was a gifted biblical scholar. Having been born into a wealthy family, her social position allowed her to deepen her spiritual life due to the education she was able to receive. She was instructed in Greek and Hebrew and loved to study the Scriptures. She was devoted to Christ all of her life, and when she was widowed, she established a religious community.

As a small girl Marcella heard Saint Athanasius speak. His stories of the Desert Fathers of Egypt enthralled her, planting deep in her heart the seeds of a future marked by asceticism and devotion to the Word of God. Athanasius gave her a copy of his Life of Antony, the hermit-monk who did so much to make monasticism a major force in Christianity during those centuries. Antony’s ascetic practices greatly impressed Marcella. Later, thanks to early widowhood and a great inheritance, she would establish a monastery for women on her own.

Marcella married at around age 17, but was widowed after only seven months. Her husband’s death left her independently wealthy. She resisted the social pressure to remarry. When an elderly Roman consul, Cerealis, proposed to leave her all his money if she would marry him, Marcella replied, “If I wished to marry, I should look for a husband, not an inheritance.” Her mother was disappointed, but Marcella had a mind of her own.

This young widow turned her home into an academy for the study of Sacred Scripture and a school of prayer. A devout contemporary of hers, Paula, and other Roman ladies, eager for the pursuit of holiness, joined her. These women gave much of their money to the poor. Marcella distributed her considerable wealth, “preferring to store her money in the stomachs of the needy rather than hide it in a purse.”

Marcella changed her dress from that of a woman of position to the plainest and coarsest of garments. She dressed modestly, with an aim to hide her dazzling beauty. This was in contrast, says Jerome, with the usual “widow’s weeds”, which aimed to attract men and to gain another husband.

Marcella spent her days in study, in visits to the churches of the martyrs, in prayer, and in good works. She gathered around her a circle of like-minded women, and Jerome says that she educated Eustochium, the youngest of Paula’s children, another female scholar. Marcella’s example, asserts Jerome, was responsible for the growth of monasteries in Rome, where the number of such houses began to rival the number in Jerusalem.

Marcella had a very brilliant mind. Most of what we know about this rare woman comes from letters of Jerome. Marcella met and studied with this great scholar (who made the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible). The two corresponded for the rest of their lives, exchanging thoughts on many issues, such as the Montanist heresy or the sin against the Holy Ghost. Marcella probed Jerome with pertinent questions. More than once she challenged him with difficult and subtle questions concerning the Scriptures. It was for Marcella that Saint Jerome wrote his explanation of the Hebrew words Amen and Alleluia.

In a letter to the Roman lady Principia, who was Marcella’s pupil, Jerome compares Marcella to the prophetess Anna in Saint Luke’s Gospel. “Let us then compare her case with that of Marcella,” he says, “and we shall see that the latter has every way the advantage. Anna lived with her husband seven years; Marcella seven months. Anna only hoped for Christ; Marcella held Him fast. Anna confessed Him at His birth; Marcella believed in Him crucified. Anna did not deny the Child; Marcella rejoiced in the Man as king.”  This is Jerome’s spiritual portrait of Marcella: she clung to Christ, believed in Him crucified, and rejoiced in Him as King.

While Jerome praises Marcella for her virtue and intelligence, he also tells her spiritual daughter, Principia, that Marcella did not accept blindly his scriptural exegeses but argued with them. She asked questions to learn more. She took in quickly what he had gained through long study. Because he valued her comments, he continued to submit his work to her judgment before he made them public. He adds that she frequently rebuked him for his hasty temper.

Several of Jerome’s letters to Marcella survive and are well worth reading. Among the sayings of Marcella, one comes from the period in her life when a humiliated Rome was in the throes of a famine and Marcella herself was languishing after having been turned out of her own home. She was eighty-five at the time, and she said: “By heaven’s grace, captivity has found me a poor woman, not made me one. Now, I shall go in want of daily bread, but I shall not feel hunger since I am full of Christ.”

When Alaric of the Goths seized and sacked Rome in 410, soldiers from his army invaded Marcella’s mansion on the Avertine Hill in the hopes of gaining her treasure. His troops gathered as much booty as they could, but it was much less than they were expecting. Marcella was tortured to reveal where her supposed wealth was hidden. She showed them her coarse dress, insisting truthfully that she had given everything away. Forgetting about her own sufferings, she pleaded that the soldiers not rape Principia, her pupil. The soldiers finally took her to a church, where she died praising God.

Today, when we study church history, much mention is made of Jerome. Scholars have apparently decided to overlook the life of Marcella, a woman who was praised in many letters by Jerome. She was a noble woman whose wealth allowed her education and alms-giving. She was a leader in Christian Rome, much in accordance with her social rank. Her love of Christ, however, led her to voluntary poverty and courageous martyrdom. We would do well to learn from her example as a determined, single-minded woman, who only wanted to spend her whole life studying about Christ and imitating His example to serve the poor.

 

 

Love, Peace and Joy for 2011

Surrounded by my family at this time of the year I am thankful for the many blessings that God has given me. It is such a joy to have my children and grandchildren all around for a few days. It is wonderful to have a peaceful and genuinely happy time with all. So many families, though having many material blessings, do not have the true fun and fellowship that we have because they do not get along with each other. For them the holiday is a time to go and put on a fake smile, get indigestion eating a meal that they can barely get through without choking, collect their loot and head home. I feel really sorry for them.

Here in our home we celebrate Christ from the smallest to the oldest. Not all of our in-laws are Christians, but they still respect the real reason for Christmas. Some, even the most cantankerous, have admitted that we have something special in our home. We pray that every year they will realize that it is because of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have beautiful relationships with our children. We pray that they will want the peace and joy that we have so much that they will turn to the Lord themselves.

We are thankful for the many blessings that we still have in our country.
Only in America would people band together like they did in Wilmington, Ohio, and take care of each other. They refused the government’s “help” which always comes with a demand surrender your freedom. They have shown us that we can still be a nation of loving people, caring for each other. As the present administration’s insane policies continue to contribute to the high unemployment, I pray that more towns will follow the example of the courageous citizens of Wilmington.

Only in America will we find so many wonderful people volunteering to help the homeless, as Habitat for Humanity does. Since 1976, they have built or repaired 400,000 homes worldwide. This is because we are a Christian based nation. While many do not profess to follow Christ anymore, we still are living with the values that our forefathers brought to this land.

Thank God that in America people can still proclaim Christ in public, though we are fast losing this ability. As the Christmas season wanes, I pray that the courageous acts of those who put Christ forward will continue. I fear that it won’t.

It was very emotional for those of us who are Christians to see the group at a shopping mall who sang Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus to the delight of the onlookers. In the video that I saw on You Tube, there didn’t seem to be anyone who was offended. I believe that there is still lingering the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in hearts in our country. One of my prayers for the New Year is that Christians and churches all over our land will be encouraged by these choruses and do it throughout the year. I am optimistic. We can still save our country.

At this time next year, I hope that the following is true:

a.  Christians everywhere will be able to speak about Christ openly in public places without being arrested for a “hate crime.”

b.  The “banksters” will be brought to justice for the crimes they have committed against all of the ordinary people in our country in order to just keep on enriching themselves. No, they are not too big to fail. Make them do business by the same rules that the rest of us do.

c.  All elected officials who have raised taxes, leading to horrific unemployment will be impeached. This is still the United States of America. We elect our officials and if they harm us, we can impeach them. Let us say “enough is enough” to leaders who put policies into practice that give them more power and money and impoverish the already overworked and overtaxed citizens. How many of these will be out of office at this time next year? Many, I hope.

e.  The TSA must be abandoned as it presently exists. They do not protect us; they only humiliate us. Let’s rid ourselves of these parasites. I will believe that the government really is interested in our safety when they ensure us of all of our second amendment rights. A responsible population, well educated, skilled, and equipped can protect itself.

f.  Unborn women will have the same rights as grown women.

g.  Government officials will stop trying to be our nannies. They will leave our small family farms alone. They will not tamper with our food supply.

h.  “Mallard Filmore” will be the one of the most widely read cartoons along with the other family friendly cartoons such as Family Circus.Thank you, Bruce Tinsley for your courage and for speaking for all of us. I do believe that most Americans are with YOU no matter what the liberals try to say!!

If we could have all of these things then it will be a VERY GOOD NEW YEAR!

MAY THE LOVE,
PEACE,
AND JOY OF CHRIST
BE WITH YOU AND YOURS ALL YEAR!

 

 

Merry Christmas, 2010

Let us take some time off from the hustle and bustle of shopping and preparing for family get-togethers and remember why we have this wonderful time of the year to celebrate.

All over the world, people remember that Jesus was born in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. What a wonderful testimony to the goodness of our God. This is the perfect time to tell others the good news of the Gospel. This is the one time that even in public places, they will be reminded about the Savior. Thank God Christmas Carols have not been outlawed outside of churches. Maybe the cynical side of us would say that the stores know better than to stop playing the songs that we all grew up with and love so well or they’d lose money. The stores realize that they cannot do away with those bell-ringing Santa’s with their little red kettles, collecting money for the poor. Some “big-box” stores tried. They were boycotted. I am sorry that they think only of money at this time of the year, but I am not entirely cynical. I am thankful that whatever the reason they have decided to include reminders of the Savior around their establishments, many people will hear about the love of Christ at this time of the year who may otherwise never give Him a thought throughout the rest of the year.

Let us take advantage of it and say “Merry Christmas” and “God bless you” wherever we go.

We are very familiar with the first verses of many of our favorite Christmas Carols. We often don’t get to the last verses, yet many of them are the most evangelical. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and leave you to celebrate the holy-day with your loved ones.

And so, please contemplate on these inspiring last verses of the Christmas Carols.  Notice how they praise not only our Savior, but the entire blessed Trinity.  I wish we could sing them more often. Here are a few of my favorites.

From, “Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus”

“By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all-sufficient merit
Raise us to Thy glorious throne. Amen.”

From, “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night”

“All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace’
Good will henceforth, from heaven to men,
Begin and never cease!”

From, “Angels, from the Realms of Glory”

“Saints and angels join in praising
Thee, the Father, Spirit, Son,
Evermore their voices raising
To th’Eternal Three in One.
Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the new-born King.”

And finally, a beautiful hymn by Martin Luther that sums up the prayer of our lives, From, “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come”

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
Who unto us His Son hath given!
While angels sing with pious mirth
A glad new year to all the earth.”

Mary, Blessed Among Women

The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (Luke 1:27,28)

At this time of the year when we remember the birth of the blessed Christ child, let us also honor His courageous mother, Mary.

Mary has been admired universally above all women. She was truly remarkable. Sovereignly chosen by God to bear the Christ child, from among all of the women who had ever been born, she was the one who brought our Redeemer, the Messiah into the world.

Many have made a superhuman of Mary. She was given much grace and a remarkable privilege. But we must be careful not to elevate her too much. Her blessings and graces were given to her by God. She was an ordinary human being, like us. And yet, she showed her strong faith in God, by trusting Him with whatever He chose for her. We can look up to her for that.

We don’t know very much about Mary’s upbringing. We know that she had a sister, Salome, who was the mother of Jesus’ disciples, James and John. Salome was also a devoted follower of Jesus and was there at the cross with Mary when He was crucified. Of course, we also know that she was related to Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. Besides this, we only know that she grew up in Nazareth as the daughter of a poor but hardworking family.

At the time of the Annunciation, Mary was probably a teenager. Back in that day, girls were often betrothed at age thirteen. Her marriage was probably arranged by the parents of Joseph, her prospective bridegroom. Joseph was a carpenter. He was also a godly and righteous man.

In those days a betrothal was as legally binding as a marriage. In fact, if a betrothal was broken by one of the parties, through infidelity for instance, there had to be a divorce proceeding. There were two ways to get the divorce, a public trial, which would have been very humiliating for Mary, or a quiet proceeding. In the quiet proceeding, the wronged party could get two witnesses to sign a release with him and send the other party away. In Joseph’s case, he thought that he would just send Mary somewhere to have her child secretly and avoid disgrace. We know that an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, and then he knew that everything was all right. This was God’s plan. And so he willingly took his part as husband and earthly father of Jesus.

Mary must have known what could happen to her when Joseph found out that she was pregnant. She knew that the horror of public scandal might await her. But she trusted God to take care of her. She surrendered herself unconditionally saying, “Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) Mary did not doubt or question God. She just immediately, humbly, and joyfully submitted to God’s will.

Mary was not just praising God for her own part in God’s plan. The meaning of her pregnancy was that the longed-for Messiah was finally coming to Israel. This was cause for everyone to rejoice. When she visited her relative, Elizabeth, this godly cousin also rejoiced that now the things that God had promised since the beginning, were finally being fulfilled. Christ was finally coming!!

Then, in the Scriptures we have one of the most beautiful prayers ever recorded. It will remind us of the Psalms in the Old Testament. In it, Mary praises God for His splendor and power and mercy and holiness. God is the One Who did great things for her. This song is about God’s greatness, His glory, the strength of His arm, and His faithfulness across the generations.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty form their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever. (Luke 1:46-55)

Mary’s worship was clearly from her heart. She was grateful to God for the things that He had done for her and for all of Israel. She was humble and amazed that God would do such remarkable things through her, a lowly and undeserving handmaid. Yet, she still rejoiced with all her heart.

This wonderful, joyful blessing would also be the cause of much sorrow and a broken heart later in her life. Though she had a wonderful relationship with her Son, and followed Him all of her life, she knew that the day would come when He would have to fulfill the purpose for His coming to earth. Simeon had told Mary of Jesus’ death when she and Joseph took Jesus to the temple for His circumcision. Jesus Himself spoke of His own death often.

Finally the day came. We can only imagine the wound that pierced her heart as she watched the soldiers thrusting a sword through Jesus’ body on the cross. She stood bravely and quietly by at the cross while others were screaming wicked taunts and insults at Him. She knew the injustice that was being done. She must have also been sorrowful at the thought that here was the Savior, on the cross for their sins. They did not know it. This only added to her own anguish and grief at the horrible sight of her dying Son. Yet, she stayed, silent and sorrowful. Others would have fled in fear and terror. Many might have fainted at the sight of the horrible suffering of the Messiah. But, Mary remained. She gave Him the support of her love by being near to Him until the very end.

Jesus also showed His love for His mother in His final moments. Though He carried the weight of the sins of the whole world on his shoulders, He took out time to provide for her support. He gave her into the care of the disciple, John. Mary would be cared for the rest of her life.

Mary was no ordinary mother. Most mothers are involved in training their children to grow up and follow the Lord. But, Jesus is the Lord. Mary understood this and nurtured Jesus as a child while worshiping Him as her Savior.

She clearly had received grace from God for this. She was an ordinary woman who had been given extraordinary blessings by God. She is a woman to emulate. But, let us be careful not to give her the adulation that only belongs to God. Mary herself was very humble and would not want anyone to venerate her as some do today. She would point us to Christ. He was the object of her worship. He is the One we adore. He is the only One to recognize as Lord and Savior. All of her life she was an example, pointing us to loving God and praising Him for His many blessings to us.

 

 

 

Katharina Schutz Zell- Church Mother and Publisher

Katharina was born in 1498 and lived most of her life in Strasbourg.
Katharina called herself a church mother (“Kirchenmutter”). She believed that she was called by God to care for the church and its people.

She served as a pastoral care provider, a writer, and even a preacher.
She was 20 years younger than her husband, Matthias Zell. She had two children who died as infants. She ministered as a partner with her husband.  She developed women’s ministries and published a book of Psalms for women to sing.

She was constantly entertaining people, including such personages as Calvin. She took a leading role in organizing relief for 150 men exiled from their home towns during the religious wars for their faith.  She wrote Scriptural encouragements to the wives and children they left behind.

During the Peasants’ War, she organized Strasbourg to deal with 3,000 refugees for a period of 6 months. She traveled frequently with her husband, unusual in that day. She was very well educated, familiar with the writings of Luther and other Reformers.

She was also enthusiastic about passing on education to others. One of the most widespread expressions of lay theology is found in song. In public worship, the priesthood of believers unite in prayer and singing. Katherine Schutz Zell realized this and published a collection of hymns to provide believers with “sermons in song.” So she produced one of her most influential and most widely used texts – a hymnbook called, “Some Christian and Comforting Songs of Praise about Jesus Christ Our Savior.”

She also wrote many other things, including letters of consolation, devotional writings, biblical meditations, catechetical instructions, a sermon, and lengthy polemical exchanges with male theologians.

She showed tolerance and concern for Anabaptists, who were considered heretics in their day, and made frequent visits to those who were imprisoned.  As an aside here, many of the women that I read about during this time period were much more tolerant of other religious sects than the men were. This is because Katharina had a “mother’s heart” and wanted to see Christians united in their love for the Savior and for the Gospel.

She was widowed in 1548, and spoke at her husband’s funeral. Afterwards, Martin Bucer sent her to Basel to recover from her grief. When she returned to Strasbourg, persecution was being imposed on reformers by Charles V. She hid Bucer and other religious leaders in her home for several weeks until they could escape to England.
She gave an address at a funeral of
the wife of a follower of Schwenckfeld shortly before her own death in 1562. Followers of Schwenckfeld were considered heretics, so there were no other pastors at the funeral. With extraordinary Christian charity, she just did it herself.

Of all of the Reformation women, Katharina Schutz Zell is among the most extraordinary. She responded as a woman to the needs of the people in her town. As mentioned earlier, she had compassion for all Christians, even those who had different opinions than hers. She sought unity and peace for the sake of the Gospel. She was tireless in her efforts to comfort, guide, and counsel others.

Katharina was the most published woman theologian of her day. She did not just write about her experiences, or draw from the experiences of others. She relied on the Scriptures as her authority in her writings. She believed in the primacy of the Word and its claims on believers for their everyday lives. She had a special vocation as pastor’s wife, mother, teacher, and writer, but she believed that everyone is called to full time ministry as well in proclaiming the Gospel in deed as well as word.

At a time when many women did not feel brave enough to speak out, she used her voice, her influence, and her sense of calling to speak as a Christian and as a woman.

Dr. Mildred Jefferson – Champion for Life

Dr. Mildred Jefferson passed away last month, October 15, at the age of 84.
She was known throughout pro-life circles for her tender spirit and encouraging the next generation of pro-life leaders to take up the mantle of the pro-life cause. Her ever-present smile will be missed, as well as her special presence and tireless dedication to the cause of life.

Wouldn’t you think that everyone in our country should recognize the passing of the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School? When a   wonderful woman who devoted 40 years of her life to honor her Hippocratic Oath, and encouraged other physicians to follow this time-honored tradition, passes away, don’t you think all of the news media should feature a story about her?

Mildred Jefferson had accomplished many great things that no one else in history can claim to accomplish. Besides being the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, she also was the first woman to be a surgical intern at Boston City Hospital and the first woman admitted to membership in the Boston Surgical Society. Mildred Jefferson was the recipient of honorary degrees from twenty-eight colleges and universities. We should all be honoring her, but the media is mostly silent about her passing last month. Why is this?

It is probably because Mildred Jefferson was an outspoken advocate for the most helpless members of our society – the unborn. Dr. Jefferson worked against the outspoken feminists in the 1970’s who were demanding the right to kill their unborn babies. She put tireless effort into opposing their movement, and was one of the founders of the National Right to Life Committee. She went on to serve three consecutive terms as NRLC president from 1975-1978. This is not politically correct, and the pro-abortion activists have probably ensured that the media will not give her the accolades that are due to her because she was such an untiring, visible opponent of abortion.

You probably won’t hear about Dr. Jefferson’s passing, unless you subscribe to a Christian news source. Besides being an outspoken advocate for the unborn, she was an old-fashioned, authentic patriot. Her love of her country showed in every speech, and was bound up in her support for the right to life and liberty. She opposed abortion because she believed, ethically, morally, and religiously, in the right to life of every human being, from conception to natural death. She did not want to see our great country ruined because of the deteriorating respect for life which has been so strongly evident, especially in the last few decades.

Mildred Jefferson was born to a Methodist minister in Pittsburg, Texas in 1926. She earned degrees from Texas College and Tufts University before graduating from Harvard in 1951. A surgical internship at Boston City Hospital eventually led to another trailblazing accomplishment: becoming the first female doctor at the former Boston University Medical Center.

She became interested in working with the pro-life movement when, in the 1970’s, the American Medical Association decided it was all right for doctors to perform abortions in states where it was legal. Mildred Jefferson was opposed to this. She said that performing abortions would be violating the Hippocratic Oath. She not only condemned the procedure as taking a life, but she went on, “People who arrange and provide abortions don’t realize the wreckage they leave behind, the depression.” She said that the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court in 1973, “gave my profession an almost unlimited license to kill.” In 1981, she tried to stop the killing by helping to get a national bill passed that would have declared that human life “shall be deemed to exist from conception.” If it had passed, states would have been able to prosecute the abortion as murder. Dr. Jefferson testified before Congress, “With the obstetrician and mother becoming the worst enemy of the child and the pediatrician becoming the assassin for the family, the state must be enabled to protect the life of the child, born and unborn.” Of course, that bill did not pass. The pro-life movement has an uphill battle now to undo the harm.

Dr. Jefferson also talked about abortion from the perspective of a black woman — a demographic overrepresented in the number of abortions performed. She said that legal abortion was most harmful to poor black women. One survey reports that African American women have abortions at three times the rate of white women and almost twice the rate of other racial groups.

Mildred said, “The right-to-life cause is not the concern of only a special few but it should be the cause of all those who care about fairness and justice, love and compassion and liberty with law. I became a physician in order to help save lives,” she said.  “I am at once a physician, a citizen, and a woman, and I am not willing to stand aside and allow the concept of expendable human lives to turn this great land of ours into just another exclusive reservation where only the perfect, the privileged, and the planned have the right to live.”

Mildred Jefferson also spoke for the right to life for the elderly. “Would you believe,” she said in a talk in Methuen, Massachusetts, a few years ago, “that now in our country you may actually go to an emergency room and not be treated for your injuries because someone has decided that you have lived long enough? Or that it’s not worth spending the money on you, your insurance will not cover enough of it?” As the baby boomers reach retirement and the number of young paying into Social Security and Medicare keep shrinking, she warned, the balance between the demand and supply of life-sustaining medical care will increase pressure for putting the balance sheet ahead of the lives of the poor and elderly. People may defend the sanctity of life for spiritual and humanitarian reasons, she said. “Or you can just be selfish and realize that if you aren’t going to do it, you are going to pay the price.” Now with the “Obama-care” as a reality, how long will it be before medical care is rationed out as she predicted? With no respect for the lives of the unborn, how long will it be before the elderly are also extinguished?

Her undeniable tenacity and courage was rooted in her deep Christian faith. As the daughter of a Methodist minister, she liked to refer to herself, even in her advanced years, as “a preacher’s kid.” Her faith made her an optimist, no matter how dark the outlook may have appeared to others who shared her concern about the legally sanctioned destruction of life in America. She had all of her life a great hope for the future, not only for America, but for the world. She said, because Jesus came “not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And I know if we take that message and remember that the weakest, most helpless among us are the key to our survival, then we won’t have to worry about this great United State becoming extinct.” Now Mildred is enjoying the company of her Lord. Would that we could serve the Lord by fighting for the unborn as she did.

The battle for the right to life for all humans, born and unborn, goes on. The right-to-life movement has lost one of its greatest pioneers and champions. Mildred Jefferson was a tireless worker in the fight for life and she will be greatly missed. We should look to her as our example and renew our efforts in fighting for the principles of life and justice for all. If one woman such as Dr. Mildred Jefferson can do so much, think what we could accomplish if we would all work together! Thank you Dr. Jefferson for your efforts. May we live up to your ideals.

Elizabeth Gaunt – Merciful Martyr

Imagine helping someone, even giving them your life savings, and then having them turn on you to save their own skin. Does this sound incredibly unfair?

This happened to a very saintly woman named Elizabeth Gaunt. Because she was so kind and good-natured she was betrayed and martyred.
This is what happened.

During the 1680’s, several members of an opposing political party plotted to assassinate King Charles II as he passed by a place known as Rye House. Although the conspirators abandoned the plot, they were betrayed to the government. James Burton, one of the men implicated in the plan pleaded with Elizabeth Gaunt to hide him from his pursuers for the sake of his family. Believing that it was what God would expect, she not only helped him escape but she also gave him her precious savings. She was the kind of woman who always helped her friends. Everyone knew that if you needed help, Elizabeth was the one you would turn to.

However in England in 1685, it didn’t matter if you were a kindly old woman, much loved by your neighbors. If the authorities were angry because of your political or religious beliefs, you could face a death sentence.

The government issued a proclamation that any one who gave evidence leading to others who took part in the plot against King Charles II would be given immunity from prosecution. The current king, King James II hated the people who helped the plotters to escape so much that he preferred to pardon the actual conspirators, and to prosecute those who helped them. This does not make sense to us, but James Ii was a cruel and vindictive man. James Burton saw this as a way to save his skin. He made a deal with the authorities: He would testify against Elizabeth, the woman who had saved his life, if they would grant him the promised immunity. The government agreed to this and James Burton won himself a pardon.

Elizabeth Gaunt’s trial took place on October 19, 1685 at the Old Bailey.
James Burton, his wife, Mary, and his widowed daughter, Mary Gilbert, all testified against her.

She did not deny knowing Burton, but she insisted that she did not ‘contrive to send him away’. There were no witnesses in Elizabeth Gaunt’s defense and there was no evidence presented to prove anything disloyal about her other than that she had assisted Burton. Still the wicked jurors found her guilty. They told her, “That you are to be carried back to the place from whence you came, from thence you are to be drawn upon a hurdle to the place of execution, and there you are to be burned to death; and the Lord have mercy upon your soul.”

This was grossly unfair, but King James II and his political allies considered this to be the best way to strike terror in the hearts of their religious enemies. Giving a pardon to those cowards who would betray innocent people was a good way to try and round up all those who had different religious beliefs than the King. It also kept the population in servitude to the king.

Before she was led to her execution, Elizabeth wrote a lengthy letter that told of her innocence. She said in part, “I write these few lines, to signify I am well reconciled to the way of my God towards me,  . . and I desire to offer up my all to him, it being but my reasonable service. . .  And therefore, let none think it hard, or be discouraged, at what hath happened unto me; for he doth nothing without cause, in all his ways, and righteous in all his works;. .  neither do I find in my heart the least regret of anything that I have done, in the service of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ, . . and I bless his holy name,  I did but relieve an unworthy, poor, distressed family, & lo I must dye for it; well, I desire in the Lamb-like nature of the Gospell to forgive all that are concerned, & to say, Lord, lay it not to their charge; but I fear it will not; nay I believe, when he comes to make inquisition for blood, it will be found at the door of the furious Judge: . . . my blood will also be found at the door of the unrighteous Jury, who found me guilty upon the single oath of an out-lawd man.” These were the final thoughts of this saintly woman.

On October 23, Elizabeth Gaunt was burnt to death at Tyburn, which was the punishment for treason for women. On the day of her death, the onlookers knew that her sentence was not just, and they wept for her. Elizabeth held up the Bible and claimed that she had aided Burton’s wife and children ‘in obedience to the contents of this book. William Penn, who witnessed Elizabeth Gaunt’s execution, later wrote that ‘she died with a constancy, even to a cheerfulness, that struck all that saw it’. Penn also reported that “she calmly arranged the straw around her to hasten her burning and that she ‘behaved herself in such a manner that all the spectators melted in tears. When the huge crowd, that stood round, saw this foul deed, many wept aloud and uttered lamentations and prayers for their murdered country-woman, and there was rage in their hearts against the men who had disgraced the name of their country and brought this sainted martyr to her death”. Since that terrible day, no woman has suffered death in England for any political offense.

Elizabeth Gaunt’s only crime was to be kind to the wrong person. She was a tender and generous woman and should not have been killed for aiding a poor family.

If our country was in the middle of a political upheaval and the government issued unfair decrees, we may be faced with difficult choices. Elsewhere on this blog, we have told the stories of other women who faced such hard decisions – Corrie ten Boom, Sophie Scholl, Lady Jane Gray and many others. I pray to God that we will have a strong enough desire to follow God’s Word that we will choose to help others even if it costs us a great deal. Elizabeth Gaunt was a fine example of a courageous woman who not only gave all she had to help someone else, but she even forgave the man who betrayed her in a very Christ-like way. I hope that we could all have her courage if ever need be.