The First Feminist

 We live in a world driven by pride, greed, and envy. A world focused on self and advancing oneself. “You need more!” society exclaims. More money, more power, more toys, more fame… whatever someone else might have that you don’t.

Power, wealth, and fame are status symbols in this society. The more of them you have, the more important you are. If you have these things, other people will look up to you and think you’re someone special.

But this isn’t the view of Almighty God! In the eyes of our Creator, one’s wealth, power, and social status have no bearing on his or her value. All are equal under God’s law, from the President of the United States to the homeless woman sleeping on the park bench. No one’s social status will matter when standing before the judgment seat of God.

True Value

Speaking through Moses, God commanded the Israelite judges, “You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man's presence, for the judgment is God’s” (Deut. 1:17). God warned that every Israelite king must learn and transcribe His law “and it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left” (Deut. 17:19-20).

When Jesus’ disciples disputed over which of them would be the greatest, He corrected them and said,

25 “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.

26 “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

27 “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—

28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mat. 20:25-28.)

Indeed, God generally doesn’t call people whom the world holds in high esteem. As the apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians,

26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. (1 Cor. 1:26-29.)

God doesn’t work with people who think too highly of themselves, or whose focus is on exalting themselves. “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:5-6).

So a human being’s true value isn’t determined by his or her wealth, power, fame, or any of the other things this world holds dear. Every human being is valuable in the sight of God, and no one is more valuable than another. In the eyes of God, parents are no more valuable than their children, a ruler than his subjects, employers than their employees, or husbands than their wives.

Nevertheless, they do not all have the same roles in society, nor the same authority. Authority and value are entirely different things.

The Divine Order

There are, and must be, authorities in human society, or else there would be anarchy and chaos. “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33). “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14: 40).

Unless they tell us to disobey our Creator, God has commanded us to obey the lawful human authorities. In fact, many of these authorities have been directly appointed by God Himself! “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God” (Rom. 13:1).

God has given parents authority over their children. He has granted kings, presidents, prime ministers, etc. authority over nations. He has given elders a certain amount of authority among His people. And He has given husbands authority within their families.

As we’ve seen previously, God created distinct male and female roles for a reason. God made men to be strong; He designed them to lead, provide for, and protect their families. He made women weaker; He designed them to be domestically inclined, to care for their husbands and children, to be nurturing and supportive, to make a house a home. A man is no better than a woman, nor a woman than a man; they are simply different. Both are necessary, and are designed to complement each other.

As part of this design, God tells wives to be “obedient to their own husbands” (Tit. 2:5). At least seven times in the New Testament, God commands wives to submit to and obey their husbands (1 Cor. 11:3, 9; 14:34-35; Eph. 5:22; Col. 3:18; 1 Tim. 2:11-14; Tit. 2:5; 1 Pet. 3:1-6). The apostle Peter tells us that all godly women did so: “For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror” (1 Pet. 3:5-6).

Does that make women inferior to men, less valuable, less intelligent, or less important? Did God give women a lesser role? Of course not! “No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary” (1 Cor. 12:22).

But there must be order in a family, as also in society, and this is the order that God designed. He appointed husbands to be heads of their households, and told wives to be submissive to them. In turn, He commanded children to honor and obey both father and mother (Eph. 6:1-4; Col. 3:20). Husbands are to lead, provide for, and protect their families; wives are to be domestically focused, to love their husbands and their children, and to manage the household.

Again, we’ve seen all this before in greater detail. This is simply a brief summary.

 God didn’t make each member of a family the same, but designed them differently to fulfill different and equally important roles. As the apostle Paul wrote about God’s spiritual family, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased” (1 Cor. 12:17-18).

This is our Creator’s wise design, and it is very good. “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).

But what if a family member becomes discontent with the role that God appointed for him or her, and decides to usurp another member’s role? Suppose that the eye would rather be an ear, or that the ear would rather be a nose. What then?

Well, then we would have the feminist movement.

Envy and Self-Seeking

In this life, there is no loftier calling than that of wife and mother. What could be greater than bringing new life into the world and playing the biggest role in molding and shaping the next generation? There may be other callings as great, but there can be none greater. As C.S. Lewis pointed out, “But it [a housewife’s work] is surely, in reality, the most important work in the world. What do ships, railways, mines, cars, government etc exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes? …So [a housewife’s] job is the one for which all others exist.”

Without women, without families, and without homes, what would a man’s purpose be? What reason would he have for taming the wilderness and building civilizations? And yet without the man to lead, provide for, and protect the family, homemaking wouldn’t be possible. The woman’s role isn’t possible without the man’s, nor is the man’s role needed without the woman’s.

Yet this “evil and adulterous generation” (Mat. 12:39) rejects God’s design. It attempts to blur and confuse the gender roles that God created.

The feminist movement tells a woman she isn’t being fulfilled if she stays at home and rears her children, that she’s being degraded and devalued. That she must join the workforce instead. That she’s free when she serves a corporation, but a slave when she serves her husband and children. That, instead of embracing her uniqueness and her feminine role given to her by God, she should try to be more like men. That she should try to fill the same role her husband does.

Feminists tell women they need to be independent of men, that they need to have their own power, wealth, and fame to have real value. They don’t need husbands or children, they don’t need families. It’s only in a career, it’s only in trying to be like men, that a woman can find her real meaning and value.

It’s not just women who buy into feminism, though. Not by any means! All too many “men,” if we may call them that, are eager to shirk their responsibility of leading, protecting, and providing for their families. In their selfish and shortsighted greed, these “men” are happy to send their wives to work and their children to daycare or public school. Afterall, having two incomes in the house is more important than the wellbeing of one’s children, right? What could be more important than having more money and a higher standard of living?

And what have been the fruits of feminism? Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits” (Mat. 7:16). So what have been the fruits of society’s attempt to undo our Creator’s order and design, and turn them upside down? Has this led to better marriages and happier homes? Lower divorce rates? More tight-knit families, in which the children love and honor their parents? You all know it’s accomplished none of these things — quite the opposite!

Women are simply terrible at being men, and men are equally terrible at being women. The results of trying to force this so-called “equality” are predictable. Why, it’s almost as if men and women weren’t designed for the same roles! It’s almost as if our Creator knew what He was doing!

But the rotten fruits of feminism extend beyond higher divorce rates, more broken homes, and emotionally damaged children. Feminism has birthed other abominations as well. For example, the sodomite and crossdresser movements are the natural result of feminist efforts to blur and confuse the gender roles created by Almighty God. Afterall, trying to be more like the opposite sex isn’t so very far removed from dressing and acting like the opposite sex!

Ironically, the feminist drive to “empower” women has done quite the opposite. A woman in the workforce is of little value to her company, no matter how well she might do her job; she is but a cog in a machine. If she were to die or quit her job, she’d be replaced in a week or two. But to her husband and children, she is irreplaceable! Her place in the home, at the heart of her family, is a far more valuable and meaningful role than any other job she might have. As King Solomon wrote, “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies” (Prov. 31:10).

The words of the apostle James, written long ago, succinctly sum up the heart of feminism:

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. (Jam. 3:13-16.)

There is no humility or meekness in feminism; it is motivated purely by envy and self-seeking. Wherever feminist ideology raises its ugly head, confusion and every evil thing are there. It is earthly, sensual, demonic. And that brings us to the title of this post.

The Roots of Feminism

Feminists are discontent with the roles God gave them. If the feminist is a woman, she finds the role of wife and mother to be degrading. She thinks it’s beneath her. She lusts for power and wealth, and she resents the fact that God placed her under her husband’s authority. She believes this, too, is degrading, and she envies her husband. Only in usurping her husband and pursuing her own selfish desires does she believe she’ll find happiness and meaning.

Satan the devil thought the same way. He, too, wasn’t content with the role he’d been given by his Creator. He, too, thought it was demeaning for him to be under the authority of someone else. He was puffed up with pride and thought he deserved better. Though he had great power, wealth, and beauty, it wasn’t enough. He wanted more. And so he decided to usurp his Creator.

Ezek. 28:15-17 records this message from God to Satan:

15 “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.

16 “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.

17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.”

The Book of Isaiah describes the Satanic mentality thus: “For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High’” (Isa. 14:13-14).

It isn’t demeaning for anyone to obey Almighty God, nor to obey the authorities which He has established. It isn’t demeaning for Jesus Christ to obey His Father, nor for us to obey Him. But Satan, blinded by pride and envy, decided that it was.

And so the first feminist was none other than Satan the devil! It’s no surprise, then, that many founders of feminism openly admired him, as Kyle Bacher pointed out previously. Here are a few examples, recorded in Faxneld’s Satanic Feminism:

• “Satan is the only one who understands me… He is the only one who knows the depths of my despair and the heights of my rebellion.” — Marcy MacLane (1881-1929)

• “Satan is the god of femininity, the patron of same-sex lovers.” — Renee Vivien (1877-1909)

• “Satan is the great liberator, the embodiment of the divine principle of independence and freedom.” — Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891)

When Satan sought to corrupt mankind and turn human beings against their Creator, his first target was the first woman. He wanted her to doubt God’s words, to think that God was trying to keep her down, and to lust after what she couldn’t have. So he asked her, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). When Eve replied that only one tree was forbidden, Satan replied, “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5).

Satan’s tactics haven’t changed to this day, nor have those of his followers. “Did God really say that? Are you sure? He must not have actually meant it. Why, how unreasonable that is. How unfair! He’s just trying to keep you down and deny you what you deserve.”

“Christian” sodomites will say, “Did God really say that homosexuality is wrong?” To which we may reply, “Yes, many times in both Old and New Testaments! In fact, God says that there will be no homosexuals in His Kingdom.” And they will respond by claiming that the Bible doesn’t actually mean that, that the words it uses don’t actually mean what they mean, that the Bible was corrupted, etc. That it’s unreasonable and unfair to actually believe and obey what the Bible plainly says.

“Christian” feminists will say, “Did God really say that wives are to be submissive to their husbands?” To which we may reply, “Yes, at least seven times in the New Testament alone!” And they will respond by claiming that the Bible doesn’t actually mean that, that the words it uses don’t actually mean what they mean, that the Bible was corrupted, etc. That it’s unreasonable and unfair to actually believe and obey what the Bible plainly says.

When sodomites claim the Bible doesn’t condemn homosexuality, it’s not because the Bible doesn’t condemn it, but simply because they want to go on living wicked and sinful lives.

When feminists claim the Bible doesn’t tell wives to submit to their husbands, it’s not because the Bible doesn’t say it, but simply because they don’t want to do it.

This is the mind of Satan. It is Satan’s influence combined with our carnal human nature. It’s human nature to devise even the most absurd excuses to disobey our Creator. The carnal human mind rejects God’s instructions “because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). We human beings are selfish and evil by nature: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9).

It’s human nature to be selfish and self-seeking, to seek one’s own desires at the expense of others. It’s human nature to be puffed up with pride and to envy others. It’s human nature to exalt oneself, to seek power and authority for oneself, to confuse self-exaltation with attaining value and worth as a human being.

The feminist movement is a manifestation of this same human nature. And ultimately, it springs from the twisted mind of its author and pioneer, Satan the devil.

We all have human nature to contend with and overcome, no matter how long we’ve walked in God’s way of life. No matter how long we’ve had God’s Holy Spirit, no matter how long we’ve been in the “church of God,” that carnal human nature is still there, waiting to raise its ugly head. And Satan is always lurking, looking for a weakness in our spiritual armor where our human nature has eaten through. We must stand guard constantly!

Our focus must be on God and His Kingdom, not on exalting ourselves or pursuing our own selfish desires. The attitude of John the Baptist must be ours also: “He [Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6).