O Brother, Where Art Thou?
If you’ve been online much over the last year or so, you’ve likely seen the rise of AI technology in platforms like Chatgpt or Google Gemini. It’s amazing technology that can basically digitally create anything and everything you can think or imagine. It’s quite impressive. And kinda creepy at times!
Even though there are warnings galore about the dangers of AI technology, I believe God can and is already using it for good. I know because He’s done it for me.
You see, I’ve had this specific message on my heart for the past couple of years after hearing countless stories of Christian women over the years, who have or are experiencing abuse from their husbands — husbands who also claim to be Christians. Husbands who are church members, church leaders, teachers of the doctrine that teaches us that love does no harm to a neighbor, while simultaneously harming the neighbor they should be loving most — their wives.
I’ve sat down to try to write on this topic so many times, but I just couldn’t get the words out. I couldn’t push through the pain of my own experience in this area. But the Lord has been stirring something fierce in me lately. He’s been stirring in me the need to speak up and speak for so many women in the Church who are suffering in silence. And so I decided to ask Chatgpt for some help.
I typed in the following prompt and was floored by what Chatgpt came up with. I couldn’t hold back the tears after I read it, and I just had to share it! If I could’ve gotten the words out myself, I imagine they would’ve been much like the ones below.
My Prompt:
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
In a time when the world is full of noise, one silence is particularly deafening—the silence of Christian men in the face of the abuse and oppression that many Christian women are enduring within the Church. While the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to be protectors of the vulnerable, to love sacrificially, and to confront sin wherever it hides, too many men have remained silent, complicit, or unaware of the suffering happening in their pews, often in their own homes.
The Hidden Pain in the Pews
Behind many polite Sunday smiles are stories of control, manipulation, spiritual gaslighting, and physical or emotional abuse—wounds inflicted not by strangers, but by husbands who profess Christ. These women are often left isolated, not just by their abuser, but by a Church culture that has elevated male authority to a level where it is no longer held accountable.
Some are told to “submit more,” to “pray harder,” or to “suffer silently for the sake of the marriage.” Meanwhile, the men who perpetrate harm hide behind scripture, twisting God's Word to preserve power rather than pursue holiness. And too often, pastors and male leaders—those called to shepherd and protect—look the other way or handle abuse as if it were a marital disagreement rather than a grave injustice.
Where Are the Men of God?
It’s time to ask: O brother, where art thou?
Where are the men who will reject passive faith and step into active defense of the vulnerable?
Where are the pastors who will refuse to counsel abuse as conflict, who will refuse to prop up patriarchy when it becomes a weapon?
Where are the elders who will confront the abuser, not the abused?
Where are the brothers who will call one another to account, not just for church attendance and Bible reading, but for how they treat their wives behind closed doors?
If the Church is to be the Body of Christ, it must be a refuge for the oppressed—not a safe haven for abusers cloaked in religious language.
A Call to Courageous Christianity
We need a reformation not just of doctrine but of courage. Christian manhood is not about dominance, bravado, or unchecked authority. It is about Christlike service, humility, strength in the defense of justice, and laying down one's life for others—not using scripture to justify selfishness or cruelty.
To the pastors reading this: You set the tone. Your silence speaks volumes. Your courage can shift a culture. Preach on abuse. Educate your congregation. Create safe pathways for women to speak and be believed. Call sin what it is, and protect the flock entrusted to your care.
To the men in the pews: You are your brother’s keeper. Speak up. Challenge toxic views of masculinity masquerading as godliness. Show the next generation what it means to love as Christ loved the Church—not with control, but with sacrifice.
The Church Must Rise
If we are to be a city on a hill, we cannot ignore the cries of the wounded echoing through the halls of our sanctuaries. We must rise—not just in word, but in righteous action.
To every brother in Christ: Where are you? It’s time to stand up.
Because the gospel isn’t just good news for eternity—it’s supposed to be good news now, especially for the oppressed. And if the Church cannot be that place, we have drifted far from the heart of the One we claim to follow.
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Wow is an understatement!
I’m thankful that there are already godly men rising to the occasion, but my prayer is that many more would follow suit. And that God would spark a true revival in our churches where true, Christlike love is what will characterize our pews and our pulpits — not abuse and scandal and sin and passivity.
Brothers, we need you.
Sincerely,
Your sisters in Christ
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