AMEN!
Every good movement must always be on the guard for Satan tries to divert them away from the essential mission for the saints, the GREAT COMMISSION (Matt. 28:18-20)
A good standard for men to know if they are eternally focused or temporally focused is for each man to test himself. When he sees a woman is his first question one of "is she born again and if not how can I get the gospel to her," or his first thought "is she married, available, etc"?
Not that the second issue is wrong, (holy men are also natural men) but in order of priority godly men are heart broken for lost souls and are trying to introduce the gospel to as many people as possible. I find too few today who are really focused on the gospel and are burning inside with a deep passion to share the gospel.
Satan loves to sidetrack all movements with non-essentials. A couple of ways he can sidetrack the plural marriage movement is by getting people stuck in peripheral issues or subordinate issues.
The Evangelical Scholars Dr. Al Mohler and Dr. Danny Akin both call this the theological triage. Just like in an emergency room where some patients are worse than others and some need more immediate attention than others so too in the work of the gospel some ailments in the body of Christ are not as important as the gospel of Christ and getting people into the body!
We are called to be evangelists of the gospel first and foremost, not for the doctrine of marriage. Temporal earthly marriage is not salvific and ONLY a MARRIAGE TO CHRIST is eternal and salvific.
The great transition from the OC to the NC, or from the pre-Christ era to the post-Christ era, was one of earthly focus to an eternal focus. Israel's mission was earthly (holy and divine of course but still earthly) whereas the post-Christ mission is to carry the gospel to the nations by way of outreach and missions. Yet Satan is always out to make people like monks, huddle groups instead of hot passionate groups on fire for the gospel of unconditional love and grace found only in the God-Man Jesus Christ.
It amazes me that when some come to the doctrine of plural marriage that they get more excited about this than they do in seeing a sinner come to faith in Christ. That experience is so out of order it is shameful. The same problem still exists today as in Jesus' day, the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few (Luke 10). I find more people willing to grumble and complain than actually trying to get busy sharing the gospel to those who are lost.
I pray God gives us more men and women who will sacrifice for the cause of the gospel. And who knows, maybe if men will do this they'll earn the trust and respect of the ladies as they go along on that Great Mission. What holy woman would not want a man sold out to his HEAD's holy cause? What better way for a woman to see a man's passion for Christ than to see it through his due diligence in being an active missionary in his local sphere of influence?
