http://csplalumni.blogspot.com.ng/2015/09/10-reasons-why-women-should-not-pastor.html?m=1
here for Part 2 - http://csplalumni.blogspot.com.ng/2015/09/10-reasons-why-women-should-not-pastor_58.html?m=1
And here for Part 3- http://csplalumni.blogspot.com.ng/2015/09/10-reasons-why-women-should-not-pastor_11.html?m=1
REASON 8 – FEMINISM IS A WORLD AGENDA, NOT A DIVINE
AGENDA
Feminism is a concept that Christian women ought to be very
careful about. It is a double edged sword that can help or maim.
On one hand, it offers the desirable benefit of the pursuit of civil
rights and liberties for women. This is a great ideal that all godly
people should be highly committed to. It is wrong, in every
sense of the word, to curtail the civil rights and liberties of
women. Societies that do this are harming themselves greatly
by failing to acknowledge and tap into the vast creative
resources that the Lord has kindly deposited in womanhood.
Imagine tying up one of your legs and hoping to run swiftly. It is
in this respect that the concept of feminism is helpful.
But feminism becomes apparent as a poisoned chalice when we
look at the other side of the coin. The model of ‘feminism’
pursued by the world is premised on the concept of equality for
men and women – both IN ESSENCE, and IN ROLE. This
concept is RADICALLY DIFFERENT from God’s precept on this
issue. As explained in point Number 3 in this series, the sacrifice
of Christ on Calvary has made both men and women EQUAL IN
ESSENCE. But God’s eternal order for gender roles remains
unchanged. Thus, with God, there is EQUALITY IN ESSENCE, but
DIFFERENCE IN ROLES. Simple.
God’s order for gender roles is inextricably woven into the very
fabric of the Church. This is why the relationship between Christ
and the Church is likened to the relationship between a husband
and wife as we read in Ephesians 5:22-33. In one, Christ, the
bridegroom, is the head of the Church. And the Church, the
bride, submits to Christ. In the other, the husband is the head,
and the wife submits. As it is in the Church, so it is in the
Christian home. The concept of submission in the Christian
home can be likened to the concept of submission in the
Church. This is GOD’S ETERNAL ORDER. And this is the order
that the world system (including avowed feminists) will NEVER,
EVER bow to. This is the order that Satan will fight tooth and nail
to disrupt. For in disrupting it, Satan attempts to disrupt God’s
purpose. Every Christian has the obligation to choose who to
follow.
Civil rights and liberties are very important, but beyond that,
spiritual freedom is the GREATEST NEED of every man and
woman. Once we secure our spiritual freedom (in Christ Jesus),
our lives take its bearing from that privileged position in Christ in
heavenly places. We are citizens of another Kingdom, (we are
not citizens of the world (Philippians 3:20, Hebrews 11:14-16,
Hebrews 13:14, Colossians 3:1, etc ). And it is from our
Kingdom that we MUST take our value system. Our Kingdom
has made our women free (thank God), but in their assignment
for the Kingdom here, God has stipulated certain roles they
should not play. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free
indeed.” (John 8:36). A female Christian DOES NOT NEED the
feminist movement to make her free. God has made her free.
The ‘female pastor’ culture that the church is blindly following
today is being fuelled by the unseen hands of the global,
powerful feminist movement. Satan is not sparing any expense
in this agenda. He has planted people that will write books,
articles, commentaries, etc, on the subject. People that will
campaign vigorously for the concept of equality in gender roles
in the Church. He has planted some pastors to make this
concept look normal and acceptable within the Christian
community. Some Bible translations have even been written to
muddle the issue further. The church is under tremendous
pressure from Satan to remain confused and divided over this
simple, clear godly principle. (Please let me be clear that I am
not insinuating that everybody that is campaigning for female
leadership in the church is satanic. There are untold numbers of
sincere Christians that are propagating or following the agenda
more out of ignorance than anything else.)
AToday, if the church dares to repent and go back to God’s
order for gender roles, the world is standing ready to persecute
us and call us bigots, old-fashioned, religious nuts, backward,
fundamentalists, etc. But isn’t this what Christ promised us? Did
He not warn us that the world will hate us because the world
does not know Him, and the ways of God? Are we running away
from our destiny - just to fit into the world’s mould, and gain
their applause? These are challenging questions that the end-
time soldiers of the Lord, male and female, cannot ignore.
REASON 9 – ON THIS ISSUE, LISTEN NOT ONLY TO PASTORS,
ALSO LISTEN TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
Let’s face it, the issue of female pastors and teachers in the
church is a very delicate and emotive issue. There is the godly
need to be sensitive to the feelings of those that are involved in
this. But this legitimate need has to be balanced against the
more important need to be faithful to God, and faithful to the
Scriptures. This is where the dilemma of many pastors lies. And
it is quite understandable; because pastors are the ones that
ordained the women into leadership positions in the first place!
Will it be easy for these same pastors to turn around, admit they
were in error, and remove the women they ordained? Will it be
easy for female pastors to leave the front row seats, and sit
quietly in the congregation? It will be challenging for some, no
doubt. (Unless if the fear of God is the ONLY consideration for
all that are involved).
In addition, many pastors have their wives as the Number 2
authority figure in the church. For such a pastor, will it be easy
to relieve his wife from this exalted position? Will it be easy to
stop her from teaching the whole church as she has been doing
for years? This will definitely be a tough choice for some
pastors! And this is why most pastors are uncomfortable about
this topic. It will cost a lot of them dearly! How many of them
will be willing to upset the 'religious system' by taking a stance
for the godly concept of male leadership in the church? The
changes that this will involve will be huge. Significantly, some
pastors will be scared that they will have to admit that THEY
HAVE BEEN WRONG ON THIS. How many pastors are willing to
go this far? This is why it is almost ‘understandable’ that most
pastors will rather continue with the status quo, than upset the
system. They will rather look for flimsy arguments and extra-
biblical sources to justify the continuation of the status quo.
Yet, this is NOT ABOUT PASTORS, IT IS ABOUT JESUS
CHRIST!!! It is about the moral need to be faithful to the sacred
trust committed to ALL genuine servants of God. This is not a
blame game on pastors. Pastors are not the only guilty party
here. WE HAVE ALL BEEN WRONG! Even if the pastors are
responsible for the error of leading us down this route, we share
in the responsibility for following blindly! For not being like the
Berean Christians that searched the Scriptures to confirm that
they were being taught the real truth of God’s word (Acts 17:11).
This is God’s expectation from followers; we are not called to be
gullible. We all ought to combine forces to make it difficult for
the devil to deceive the church, and plant seeds of error in God’s
church. We have all failed in this regard!
This is the time for us all to go back to God DIRECTLY and ask
Him to reveal the truth to us. Men may mislead us because of
personal agenda and interest, but God will never mislead us.
God’s agenda is plain – the salvation of our souls. So, let’s go
back to Him. If our hearts are genuinely set to LEARN AND
OBEY the truth, He will show us the truth. But if we are not
single-minded in the desire to repent and obey, He will leave us
to continue to wallow in our error. It is our choice, really.
REASON 10 – IT IS AN ANCIENT REBELLION
Right from the Garden of Eden, Satan has always attempted to
disrupt God’s plan for mankind by tampering with God’s pattern
for gender roles. He tricked Eve into taking the lead in the
decision to eat the apple, and reject God’s clear commandment
not to do so. And since then, mankind has never been the same
again! Switch gender roles and you will upturn the apple cart of
God’s purpose.
Satan has not abandoned this simple strategy that worked for
him effectively in the Garden of Eden. It is quite interesting that
in the passage that forbids women leadership in the church in 1
Timothy 2:11-15, Apostle Paul directly links the issue of women
leadership, in some sense, to the error that occurred in the
Garden of Eden! Very instructive.
So, all this is not new! It is an ancient rebellion in modern
packaging.
Satan attempted to foist this abnormality on the early church
too – even in the days of the Apostles. We can deduce this from
Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians (a church reputed for her
carnality before Paul’s two epistles). After giving sundry
instructions on how the church should be governed, he ended
with the issue of women’s submissive role in the church (1
Corinthians 14: 34-35). In verse 37, he made it clear that the
directives he gave are a clear commandment from God. And in
verse 38, he pointedly challenged those that chose to remain
ignorant on the issues, to remain so! So even at that time, these
words were not popular!
In other words, some believers have been in the conspiracy,
ignorantly or otherwise, to resist God’s order in the Church since
the days of the Apostles. That evil conspiracy continues till
today. It is championed by the devil, and promoted by his agents
in the church. And sadly, some of God’s GENUINE children are
ignorantly following this path – not discerning the mind of the
Lord on the matter.
In the end-time church, this is not a matter that we can sweep
under the carpet. Each of us, men and women, must undertake
to engage actively with the Lord to understand his mind on this
matter. Leadership in the church is crucial to the well-being of
the church. If we get the leadership composition wrong, evil will
not be far from the church. God will not follow the opinion or
preference of man on this issue – we are the ones to seek Him
and follow His ways.
In this end-time, those that have an ear will hear what the Spirit
is saying to the churches.
CONCLUSION
There is a reason why this subject is important now.
SPIRITUALLY, TIMES HAVE CHANGED! The signs are all around
us. Satan is unfolding his agenda for the world. He is playing
out his script to capture the hearts of men, and lead them to
hell. The world needs Jesus Christ today more than ever, for
only Christ can save the world. But is Christ manifest in our
churches today? Doubtful! Our disobedience to His word is
restricting the manifestation of His presence in our midst. Before
our very eyes, men have changed the Church almost beyond
recognition. With guile, they have lured us away from the
precepts that the Apostles of Christ set down for the Church.
Brothers and sisters, we need to repent and return urgently to
the word of God. Unless we REPENT, the glory of God will not
return to the Church. In Revelation 2 & 3, the word ‘REPENT’
occurs seven times – this was directly from Jesus to the
churches. That is the same word that is ringing out to the
church of today. REPENT! REPENT!! REPENT!!!
To repent means to be sorry for our disobedience to the word of
God, AND THEN TO TURN BACK from the error. If we do not
turn from the error, repentance is insincere and incomplete!
Leadership is quite crucial in the church. If the leadership is
wrong, the church will be weakened considerably. That is why
Satan is bent on distorting gender roles in the church. Giving us
women as church leaders is a strategic ploy to weaken our
leadership structure in the Church, and render the church
ineffective in standing against Satan’s antics in these last days.
(We are not impugning on the leadership capacity of our sisters.
They are great. But we are just following the order that the Lord
set down for governing His own Church.)
We have slept far too long! The Day is at hand, please let us
return to the word of God – this is where our power lies. This is
where our unity lies. This is where our victory lies. We are in the
days that EVERY Christian has to take a stand – for Christ. Or
against Christ. “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed
him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and
you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John
8:31-32). Abiding in God’s word through obedience is the true
test of discipleship, and the key to freedom from error.
PRACTICAL STEPS
(1) PRAYER is the first and best reaction to all this. If you are
not too clear on this issue, no problem, please just pray for
understanding. If the Lord helps you to see the issue clearly,
please pray for the Church. Pray for the grace to repent. Pray for
our leaders to have the courage to be faithful stewards of the
mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:2). Please pray that Christians
will be bold to stand up, and be committed in affirming God’s
order for gender roles in the Church, and in Christian homes.
(2) Take an active stand on this issue. The Bible says we MUST
NOT be partakers in the sins of other people (1 Timothy 5:22).
Sisters, please think carefully before putting yourself forward for
leadership positions in the church of Christ; and before
accepting such positions when offered. If you are already in
such a position, please pray for the grace to do the right thing.
God values our repentance. Brothers, be wary of putting yourself
under the spiritual authority of women that the Lord expressly
told to be in submission. Be wary of seating under the teaching
of women that dishonour God’s word by teaching a mixed
congregation. We must be very polite, but firm in our conviction.
As Christians, we are called to peace and decorum. So we are
DEFINITELY NOT allowed to walk out on preachers, or resort to
the use of physical means to achieve God’s purpose. The truth
will always prevail. If you strongly disagree with the stance of a
church, it is more godly to seek the face of the Lord to direct you
about staying there, or leaving.
“Be wise as a serpent, but be as gentle as a dove” (Matthew
10:16). These are the words of Jesus Christ to His own people.
Believers will need these words more than ever in these perilous
Last Days.
Thanks for reading, God bless.
NOTE: This Part 4 concludes the series. Thanks for following,
may the Lord grant us all understanding in the ways and
mysteries of God. And may He grant us the heart of obedience,
in Jesus’ name. Amen and Amen!
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