It has always been one of my favorite passages of Scripture, and none surpasses the beauty of the King James Version: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). And in this brief and simple expression of faith, the purest virgin of all takes upon herself the burden of the lifelong suspicion of her purity, as well as the unimaginable load of being mother to the Messiah. Hers is the greatest example of obedience the Bible has to offer, and her reward is that all generations have called her blessed. If obedience is the measure of our love for God (and it certainly is), none ever loved the Lord more than this handmaid.
But the Left never tires of outdoing itself when it comes to prostituting otherwise simple and innocent words for perverted political ends—“gay,” “straight,” “culture,” to name a few, and now, “handmaid.” Although no devotee of television or movies (one of my few virtues), I only just discovered that there was recently a popular series based upon a 1985 dystopian novel, entitled, The Handmaid’s Tale, in which a radical religious (dare we say, “evangelical”) group overthrows the United States government, and, due to low birthrates, forces women into sexual slavery for the purpose of bearing children. That’s the gist of it which I skimmed from Wikipedia, not the best source for information, but good enough for such kitsch as this.
Anyway, the word, “handmaid,” has become even more infamous on the Left since Roe was overturned, and women now have no choice but to manufacture babies. One might get the impression these people never learned how babies are made, or that engaging in that process is, in the vast majority of cases, a choice. Of course, they will always advertise those horrifying exceptions (for which there are remedies), but those exceptions have never been the driving force behind abortion. That driving force has ever been what feminists deem the essence of equality: To be as lecherous as men but without the consequences unique to women. Lately, women, and the men who enjoy lecherous women, have gathered daily to harass the family of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett (in violation of federal statute, but what does the Attorney General care), addressing her by the now pejorative, “handmaid,” perhaps because she and her husband have seven children, two adopted from poverty-stricken Haiti (which most would call an act of immense charity), and one of their own with Down Syndrome (which many on the Left would consider an act of excessive cruelty).
Well, apparently there are people on the Left who actually believe that this is the direction in which the United States is heading—a world ruled by Christian fundamentalists who take all rights away from women and reduce them to baby-making slaves. The irony is that the producers of this smut could have selected any number of Muslim countries for an authentic setting, but they chose instead to dream of this happening in America. And need I say that it was in the Christian West that slavery was ended and women’s rights were born—not in the Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist East?
At the risk of psychoanalyzing, it really makes one wonder if this is the sort of world these people secretly crave. If so, it’s their fantasy and not of those they blame. And if I may play “social justice warrior,” what about the “transwomen” who can be handmaids but not make babies, or the “transmen” who can make babies but not be handmaids? Why they’ve been completely erased from the dystopian/utopian world these Leftists have created, and for that alone this production deserves two thumbs down!
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” Those words will always ring in my ears of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Virgin’s obedience was the first step in this world towards our salvation, and I shall always honor her and call her blessed. And by the way, there really is a new world coming. We know that one day our Lord shall return and usher in a world of true justice—not that twisted sort which pagans seek. But we are called in the meantime to do justice and love kindness here (Micah 6:8), a thankless task in this world. We make no apologies for fighting for the unborn, or demanding at public school board meetings that children not be groomed by those blinded by the perverted philosophies of this world and then robbed of their God-given sexuality or offered pornographic books in the name of inclusion. We will not stop saying that though we believe in a free society, a healthy nation is a nation that supports the family understood as: father leading, mother nurturing, and both modeling for their children love of God and neighbor, living virtuously while hating sin, especially their own. And yes, a healthy nation is a nation full of Bible-believing churches.
And this is why the pagans rage: By God’s grace, our nation’s highest secular court issued a ruling that was—to a limited extent—God-honoring, and achieved by the yearslong work of His people. “Who is this God and who are these people to gain such a victory on OUR turf!” they shriek (Psalm 2:1; Exodus 5:2; Ephesians 2:2). And hell itself is not large enough to contain their rage—or so they think.
Christians have no desire for the sick world of the creators of The Handmaid’s Tale, but I tend to think THEY do. Let them have their Tale; we shall bless the Handmaid.
