Excerpts from recent radio broadcasts of The Missler Report with Chuck
Missler, host John Loeffler and guest Leone Podles, author of The Church
Impotent, concerning THE OVER-FEMINIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
"In your new book, The Church Impotent , you have launched the concept that
there is an overbearing quantity of feminized love in the church. When did
that begin to happen?" - John Loeffler
"I think people have been noticing that there are more women than men in
church and that the typical church go-er is a middle aged or older woman and the
typical non-church go-er is a young male. While no one ever surveyed this
in time and space, I was surprised to discover that this goes back much further
than 20th century America and more widespread than most would imagine." -
Leone Podles
"The most feminized denominations are the liberal denominations while the
largest male attendance is in evangelical and fundamental churches. Also
in the mainline denominations the seminary enrollment is mostly female. In
the years ahead the mainline denominational pastors will be predominantly
women. What's wrong is that men are not responding to God. Also, the
actual teaching in the church has been affected by this phenomenon. The
church doctrines such as judgment, sin and repentance are more masculine in
characteristic and if neglected, easy universalism (everyone is saved) takes its
place." - Leone Podles
"As boys grow up, some are 'mommy's boys' and do not want to leave the safety
of boyhood and the protection of their mothers and go out into the challenging
and competitive male world. These types are drawn to the nice, safe
environment of the church where they will mostly deal with women. Other
young men who become pastors, because they are dealing mainly with women, tend
to adopt the mentality and even the body language of women." - Leone Podles
"You are the first person to verbalize what I have suspected and observed for
years. I have always said that pastors are usually the non-aggressive
types." - John Loeffler
"One pastor, after reading my book, The Church
Impotent , said he had been ordained
in the mainline Presbyterian denomination. Upon entering seminary,
he had to take personality tests along with an interview with a psychiatrist.
The first question he was asked was, 'Are you a homosexual?'
His answer was, 'No& why do you ask?' The physiatrist
said, 'well, your personality profile matches that of a homosexual, but don't
worry, all the pastors in your denomination have this... meaning a lack of
masculinity!'" - Leone Podles
"Your book has answered questions I've had for a long time. I maintain
that the feminization of Christianity has been one of the biggest problems of
the church. That's why the church doesn't want to confront or deal with
the issues. Pastors don't wish to confront error or allow debates over
different subjects. I challenge the Scripturalness of that.
"With over 30 years of observing pastors I've noticed two different
types: The first type is the pastor who came out of a successful business
world career and has a heart for ministry. These know and understand what
their flock is going through, the challenges they face and they also understand
the concept of organizing for the purpose of achieving
something. The second type is the pastor who goes right from
high school to college to seminary. They have never functioned in the real
world and are somewhat disconnected. Not having experience in
confrontational situations, this type avoids confrontation rather than resolving
the issue. They will go to great lengths to avoid confrontation rather
than do what needs to be done...the resolution of the confrontation with a
constructive end result. These are two different approaches...one works, the
other doesn't." - John Loeffler
"One of the sources of this problem is the piety of the
church. This occurred in the Middle Ages and the church became very
feminized. Men were taught that you had to be 'feminine in attitude' to be
a good Christian. This, of course, is not true.
"Even today among evangelicals there is a language problem, words
like "falling in love with Jesus." In fact, when people say you
should have a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus they often mean a
romantic relationship with Jesus! Most men feel very uncomfortable with
this as it implies a homosexual one for them and many men shy away from
this. Even some of our old hymns have words like "Oh how I love
Jesus." Songs like this implies that men must have a relationship with a
man like a woman wants. But men relate to other men in a comrade or
brother-type relationship.
"The Answer? The church simply needs to return to the message of the
Gospel. The Jesus presented in Scripture was a masculine Jesus. He
was not a wimp, nor was He feminine. The masculine, assertive Jesus of the
Gospels is one who confronted evil and suffered for it in order to resolve it.
He destroyed sin in Himself... He does not condemn the sinner but He also
does not ignore the sin. This important distinction has been lost in the
church." - Leone Podles
