The following is from the Trumpet Brief sent out yesterday. These daily e-mails contain personal messages from the Trumpet staff. Click here to join the nearly 20,000 members of our mailing list, so you don’t miss another message.

Today’s sexual harassment revelations and accusations have been aimed at comedian Louis C. K., Minnesota state senator Dan Schoen, and Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore, who allegedly pursued relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s, nearly four decades ago. Tomorrow there will be more. No telling who all will be embroiled in scandal before it’s all over.

It’s amazing how quickly this has come on, and with what force.

Brad Macdonald made a great point in his Trumpet Brief yesterday—please do read it if you haven’t. (Stephen Flurry has also been drawing some crucial lessons on his radio program—here, here and here.) Basically, as positive as it is that the disinfectant of exposure is bringing some evil men to justice, and forcing change in some corrupt environments and institutions, this has simultaneously, and very suddenly, become yet another powerful bludgeon against traditional sex roles. All masculinity is now branded as toxic. All men are meant to explain #HowIWillChange and admit that we are all potential rapists.

I just want to make one complementary observation.

Look honestly at what is happening here. You will find powerful proof that God knows what He is talking about, and that we ignore Him at our peril.

Our society has renounced God’s standards and laws. It mocks His morality and flouts His definitions of right and wrong. God condemns fornication—we embrace it. He condemns adultery—we accept it. He commands that sex be confined to within marriage—society sneers.

Jesus Christ said merely looking on a woman lustfully is committing adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:28). But we live in a pornographic playground and celebrate it.

Until suddenly, we decide we don’t like some of the effects.

And that is exactly what we’re seeing: the effects—the inevitable effects—of the choices we have made. All the “toxic masculinity” ugliness we see is a result of pushing God aside and doing what seems right in our own eyes.

God created men and women. He designed masculinity and femininity, and created different and complementary roles for men and women within family and society. Society now views these roles with contempt. Now it has no idea what godly masculinity is, or femininity. People generally are woefully ignorant of what God intends men and women to be. Society is suffering immeasurably from this ignorance in untold ways. Consider a couple examples.

As Mr. Macdonald brought out, the Bible is loaded with instruction on how a real man should act. A man who is obeying God simply will not be taking advantage of women, harassing them, or using his power to secure sexual favors. Instead he will be self-controlled, skilled at restraining his lusts, and faithful to his wife.

God created certain proclivities and ambitions within men in order to make them builders of families, communities and societies. Then He provided laws to help men direct those energies and ambitions toward truly productive ends. A man who follows that direction builds character and becomes a blessing to those around him.

God also designed sexuality, including attraction and beauty. He created several factors and forces that draw men and women together into the intimate and binding relationships of marriage and family. Then He provided laws to help everyone undertake that process in a positive, upright way that builds character and stabilizes society.

He equipped men physically and psychologically to be the initiator in the relationship. But He forbids men to be predators—He expects them to serve as women’s protectors and defenders. And He commands men to regard women with honor, as the “weaker vessel.”

On the flip side, He also commands modesty. He specifically says that women should dress and behave with modesty, so as not to misuse the undeniable power of their sexuality.

If all this sounds backward and barbaric and foreign to you, it’s because you have gone along with a society that has completely repudiated every bit of it. Society today is much too advanced and civilized and sophisticated and egalitarian to believe any of that sexist nonsense.

Here’s Samantha Field writing for Relevant: “It may seem counterintuitive, but our concept of modesty is rooted in the idea that women are sexual objects. When we see a woman and condemn her clothing choices, we’ve accepted the idea that a woman’s body is primarily sexual. Ankles, collarbones, shoulders, cleavage, knees, thighs—they’re not treated as part of a person, but as objects that can tempt men to lust. … Victim blaming is a cornerstone of Christian teachings about sexual purity. … In this purity culture, women are to blame for what abusers do to them.” Forget modesty! Apparently, women should be able to dress and act however they want and expect men to treat them with platonic chastity and the highest honor.

Look at where all this egalitarianism and sophistication has gotten us!

Can we be honest and acknowledge the rotten results of our own choices?

Rather than blaming all these problems on some kind of design flaw in men, we need to recognize that this is what happens when you try to operate a complicated mechanism with absolutely no regard for the Instruction Manual provided by the manufacturer.

Here at the Trumpet we look at world events and recognize God’s hand in them because we see them unfolding according to His prophecies. Even in what looks like chaos, this perspective proves that God is real and still active.

You see this same powerful lesson in these sex scandals. They prove that God is real, that His law is still in effect and is binding on us today, and that when we break it, we are the ones who end up broken.

Society has been breaking God’s law with impunity, and now it is broken.

If you can recognize the truth in this lesson, you may very well enjoy reading Biblical Manhood, which provides a detailed guide to the moral, principled life God expects a man to lead.