I Was Wrong About Women In the Ministry/ Women Preachers.

should women keep silent in the church it is an important question heavily contested and highly debatable I want to bring some clarity to the question because it does matter truth matters the day truth no longer means everything is the day it no longer means anything thing there must be a Bible answer if there is a Bible question however when it comes to the subject of women preachers women ministers the Bible seems to say emphatically that women are to keep silent silent means silent correct I don't know we'll find out we're going to have a a great study I really believe that if you truly want the answer whether you're for or against you need to listen because I want to tell you about my journey with women in Ministry and how I've been on both sides of the fence and finally how I got to where I am today and how one thing helped me Bridge The Divide between Noom preachers and yes women can preach what was the what was the binder that closed the gap for me personally I want to explain it before I do I started out in my life an avid supporter of women preachers why because I am in the unique position of being the grandson of one of the greatest women preachers that has ever lived her name sister L Gatlin Terell she was known all over the south in her Heyday which would have been in the 1960s and 70s and 50s and 80s and um she was Dynamite I've never heard heard anyone preach as uh good as my grandmother powerful well known she was a lady she didn't act like a man she was a lady she handled the pull pit like a lady so I loved her dearly and I was her biggest admirer well I would say about when I was about 25 years old all of that changed I started following a Ministry that was adamantly against women preachers and eventually they convinced me that women are not to preach so as much as I loved my grandmother there's one thing I love more and that's truth the truth of God's word so I turned against women in Ministry because I wanted to please God I wanted to be right much to the shagrin and the hurt of my own grandmother because you know me if I believe something I'm going to put it all over Facebook and everywhere else and it got back to her and it caused some very a lot of hurt and even some discontent between she and I a woman that I adore and anyone that knows me knows how hard that must have been for me to take a stand against women in the ministry well I would say that I I stayed with that concept for about 20 years until something happened in my life about 10 years ago I was introduced to the Torah a subject I knew nothing about we didn't hear about the Torah in the church I grew up in the Torah for those that don't know is the well actually the Torah is the entire word of God however the Torah of Moses is the first five books of the Bible well as I begin to read the Torah I noticed something and what I noticed in the Torah settled it for me settled it for me and I'm going to teach you right now what I learned in the Torah and how it made me re-evaluate women in the ministry now let me say this before I go any further I am not talking about women pastors or Bishops or anything of that nature in this teaching I'm teaching specifically on women preaching or ministering or speaking in the church not pastoring we'll deal with that later all right so let's start our journey let's go to the scripture that everyone loves to go to against women uh ministers in the church we're going to start and we're going to go to the book of First Corinth no yeah let's do 1 Corinthians Chapter 14 verse 34 let your women keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law or the Torah if they will learn anything let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church notice it didn't say it was a sin it said that it was a shame and that is the Greek word across or aisr rather it's dishonorable didn't say it was sinful it just dishonorable all right so let's continue reading verse 36 what came the word of God out from you or came it unto you only all right pretty cut and dried here's what I'd like to do first first of all I'd like to go to the beginning of the chapter something I always love to do when studying the scriptures um and when we come to the beginning of the chapter we find out that Paul is speaking about prophesying in this chapter in the church and in the whole chapter he's setting the church in order and if you'll notice he's talking about those that are speaking in unknown tongues and he's also speaking in the next verse about people that are prophesying in the church and how that they need to do it correctly he tells how if someone else is speaking you stay silent until it's your turn and he goes on and he gives all of this instruction about these things now let's go to verse 40 which is the end of the chapter uh 33 God's not the author of confusion evidently this whole chapter is about things that are out of order and we can find that in verse 40 the last verse let all things be done decently and in order decently and in order now let's go back to where we left off verse 36 and it says in 37 if any man thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual let him acknowledge the things that I write to you are the Commandments of Yahweh but if any man is ignorant just let him remain ignorant what was Paul referring to when he says what I write to you is the Commandments of God now he said if anyone does not want to acknowledge that what I'm saying is the Commandments of God then they're ignorant and just let them remain ignorant but I don't want you the True Church of God to be ignorant all right so we're going to break down some of these words the first word we want to break down is 1 Corinthians 14:34 and the word is silence silence let's look and see what silence silence means it's Sago is the word and it means exactly what it says keep silent keep a secret conceal in other words shut up Let the women shut up in the church pretty much what it says however the word is used in a few other verses as well let's go look specifically at 1 Corinthians 14 verse 28 let's look at 14 and 28 and let's see if that same word is used and it is but interestingly this time it's not used for women I believe yeah 28 talking to Men If any man speaks in an unknown tongue now let's do 28 if there be no interpreter let him keep silence in the church church and lo and behold the word silence is what Sago so now we have a scripture that commands men to keep silent in the church is it fair to say that that is a blanket command a blanket statement now that men should never say a word in the church or is there a uh condition is there a a prerequisite that modifies that command and I think you already know the answer the answer is yes it was having to do with if you're speaking in tongues and there's no interpreter shut up be quiet in the church now we're not telling you you can never open your mouth again what we're saying is at that moment in that setting in that particular situation be quiet and wait for your turn now Paul in his writings is clearing up some confusion that's going on in the church it is very important that we understand Paul was answering questions that had been written to him while he was in prison about things in the church and he specifically says when he when he's writing this letter that you wrote to me and I'm writing you back about these things that are out of order so we can only assume that in a letter that was since we don't have the letter that in a letter that was previously written to Paul that someone had asked him a question and he is answering the question I want to go back and show you what I believe with all of my heart the question that he was answering let's go back and look at the scripture again just so you can see it with your own eyes 1 Corinthians 14 this entire letter remember is his response and correcting error in the church so let's go now and see if we can make sense out of what he said verse number 20 sorry where's my verse mhm see the title instructions for the Church things had gotten out of order in this church well my word verse 34 there we go verse 34 and 36 now remember I told you earlier that what changed my mind was the Torah the Torah is referred ref to by Paul as the law in many times in his writing however every time he says the word law it is not referring to the Torah there are two Greek words ho noos n m o noos is law ho is the th the law so there were times Paul would put homos and times he would just put noos why is that because the law is the law of Yahweh the Torah the one that Yahweh gave noos is another law or custom which is not necessarily the law of God here Paul says let your women keep silent in the churches it is not permitted unto them to speak let's stop right there have you ever been in a church anywhere in the world where a woman doesn't speak she can't say aen she cannot say anything she can't sing in the choir she cannot teach the Sunday school I personally have never now if you have I stand corrected so if if is this a blanket statement that the woman cannot speak in the church no it's not a blanket statement it is a conditional statement because in these verses things are out of control in this church let's keep reading but they are commanded to be under obedience now the only problem with this line is they are commanded if you'll look on your screen was added by the translators that is not a command they are commanded is not Divine scripture that was added by man so there's no command here for women to keep silent from God anyway so where does this custom or this command if you will come from let's find out as we keep reading they so let's take their are commanded out but to be under obedience as also saith the law the problem is this the law the Torah Moses's law which Paul would have been referring to if he was referring to God's law never makes one mention of a woman keeping silent in the assembly it's nowhere in God's law nowhere you can search from Genesis Exodus all the way through the first five books where the Torah the 613 laws are written you will the only thing you will ever find is in Genesis chapter 3 where where it says the woman would be ruled by her husband which we're perfectly fine with that believe that but here it says that a woman is to keep silent in the church because the law says so only problem is the law don't say that so now we have another problem the problem is called Judaism the problem is that yosua and Paul sha despised Judaism why because Judaism added to the word and took away from the word they created their own law now this law is referred to by various words the Jewish law is referred to as the talmud or the mishna these are oral laws that were added to the Torah over time they were preserved until they were written down about uh 200 years before Christ the the these were written down when they were written down guess what you will find in that Jewish anti Torah law you will find and I'm going to quote for you exactly what you'll find it is in the uh the uh I believe if I'm not mistaken trying to find you the chapter where it is in it is in the talmud barote OR verse 24a here's what it says in the law the customs of the Jews it says a woman's voice is prohibited because it is sexually provocative so the Jews adding to the Torah adding to the law of God says a woman is to not speak in the church or the temple or the assembly because her voice is sexually provocative so Paul gets this letter from these Corinthians about h a situation with women and he is responding to the question and how does he respond respond by quoting to them the very renic or talmudic law that they wrote to him about they wrote Paul and said hey we've got women here want to prophesy but the the law says the women are to keep silent in the church and not say a word so now Paul answering that question quotes to them the very law that they quoted to him and now you're going to find out where he actually mocks these men for referring to talmudic law let's read what he says it's it's really interesting how we've missed it all these years that's because we don't have an understanding of Torah the Christian church does not understand you must get everything based off of the law of Yahweh for they are commanded to be under obedience even though they're not that's not in the scriptures as also saith the law and then he continues to quote this law that these men have written to him about the law says if they will learn anything let them ask their husbands at home for it is a dishonorable thing for women to speak in church so Paul writes them back he says concerning this law that you have written to me about I've got one thing to say to you verse 36 what that's his question big question about in the modern day it' be like what he said what excuse me why are you trying to regulate yah's true church by talmudic law and placing you judaizers are placing a burden on the church that God didn't place on them on these women he says what came the word of God out from you who you Jewish men or did it come only to you in other words hey fellas who do you think you are do you think you're the only ones that God gives a word to you think you're the only ones that that the word of God has come to the only ones that have a reason to stand up and say this is what God says only to you men is that it he he's mocking them by using God's law now here's the problem we run into brothers and sisters the scriptures have to make sense the scriptures must make sense always now let me show you why it cannot mean what it says and what we've always thought it meant and that's because over in 1 Corinthians chap 11 verse 5 it says but every woman that prays or prophesies which is preaching and I'll show you in that in a moment with her head uncovered dishonors her head now we have a major problem here it's either the woman is to be silent and not speak as one verse says but if that's the case how is she supposed to pray and prophesy in the church if she can't speak that's why Paul said what because these women knew they could prophesy they had heard Paul's teaching but these Jewish men were quoting talmudic law to these women and they wrote Paul about these prophesying women now let's look at that word prophesy and I want to show you Paul literally indorses a woman prophesying in the assembly which she couldn't really do that without a mouth speaking let's look at the word it's profeto and here's what it means to speak forth by divine inspiration to utter forth to declare a thing which can only be known by divine revelation to Break Forth under sudden impulse in lofty discourse prompting to teach to refute to reprove to act as a prophet here's what Paul just said If a woman prays or is moved with a sudden impulse to bring forth a Divine message from God or to teach or reprove or rebuke let her do it but the religious Jewish leader said no that violates the law Paul wrote back to them and wrote their own law down and then said what have you lost your mind do you think the word of God only comes to men and not to women I mean he literally made fun of them for saying that now let's go over to First Timothy another scripture they love to use first and I can understand because I did it one time as well before I began to read the Torah all right very important that we understand everything must go back and line up with Torah Torah is the basis of the whole Bible First uh 1 Timothy 2 11-15 let women learn in Silence with all subjection but I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence see it looks once again that Paul is telling the woman she can not speak what you need to understand in verse 12 Paul makes it clear what he's talking about here okay he is and if you go back up you read this whole chapter I'm not starting not the whole chapter but right here in verse n it begins to speak about the women and her role towards her husband now we know according to Genesis 3:15 the woman cannot teach or usurp authority over her husband the husband will ru rule over the wife we know that no problem with that but the problem we have is people do not see this as referring to husbands and wives they're acting like this is in the church but it's not read it let the woman not just any woman but the woman learn in silence and all subjection now the only thing a woman has to be subjected to is her husband so here's your context I do not allow a woman to teach or usurp authority over the man let me break it down I do not allow the wife to teach over the man nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence or respect to her husband now usurping Authority means she has become a jezebel she has literally taken authority over the man over her husband the man not just any man but the man now let's see if the word silent there actually means silence actually the word means quietness the Bible said for a woman to be of a Meek and a quiet spirit now God despises Jezebel women that overtalk their husbands take authority over their husbands it's that's against the word of God all the way through the Torah and all the way over but again this verse in Timothy has nothing to do about the church that is strictly concerning the marriage and a woman trying to be a husband by taking over the man now here's how we know know without a shadow of a doubt that Paul was not against women preachers we know that because number one we see where he gives honor to women preachers in Acts chapter 21 and verse 9 let's go read it acts 21 verse 9 the Bible is really simple if you know how to read the Torah and uh the next day there was Paul's company they came to cesaria entered to the house of Philip the Evangelist which was one of the seven and Abode with him the same man had four daughters which did prophesy now Paul just said If a woman prays or prophesies it's okay so long as she doesn't get out of place with the men take authority over the men all right and what once again to Pro they were they prophesied meant they spoke forth with Divine utterance what do you think a preacher does we speak forth the word of God with Divine utterance these girls were preachers they were preachers and Paul is literally uh mentioning them in his writing let's read about another woman that spoke in church Luke 2: 36 6 verse through 38 this woman literally lived in the church literally her name was Anna I want to read to you what Anna did and there was one Anna a propus a preacher a woman that spoke forth by Divine utterance the daughter of fuel the tribe of Asher she was of a great age and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity she was in other words she was married for seven years after that she was a widow and moved into the temple she was a widow of uh 84 years that means she must have been a hundred years old because if she was a widow 84 she was married seven that brings her to 91 in those days they married about 12 or 13 years old puts her about 102 years old all right she departed not from the temple but served Yahweh with fasting and prayers night and day and she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem when you came to Jerusalem you would go to the temple and who would you meet there sister Anna and what would she do she was speaking in the church about the the Redemption that was soon to come to or the the Redemption that come to Jerusalem which was yua she was preaching about the man yua to everyone and where was she doing it in the temple on the very Temple grounds now let's go back to the well before we do that let's go look at one more and that's going to be in Romans 161 and2 Romans 16 1 and two I commend unto you Phoebe our sister which is a servant of the church which is at srea that you receive her in the Lord as becometh Saints and that you assist her in whatsoever business she has need of you for she has been a helper of many and of my self also the word suure or sucker there uh is the word prasis which means that she has been a guardian a protector a Patronus she was a woman that was set over others and where did Paul say she did that in the church it's it's so very plain in the church now let's look at one more Philippians 4 2 through3 I beseech udias and S that they be of the same mind in the Lord and I entreat thee also true yoke fellow help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and other fellow laborers whose names are in the Book of Life here Paul says that there were people that worked with him on the Evangelistic field in the gospel one of them was Clement and two of them was udias and Sina women these were two women that worked with him and Clement and other fellow labors in the work of the Gospel how would they do that if they would have had to been silent in the church 1 Corinthians 1 10 and 11 let's go read one thing about the word it'll make a liar out of every man 1 Corinthians 1:10 and 11 I hope you're reading these verses with me now I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing there be no division among you but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment for it has been declared unto me of you my brethren by them which are of the House of Chloe that there are contentions among you evidently there was a woman named Khloe that was complaining to Paul because men in the church were trying to uh have a different opinion and therefore uh Khloe wrote to Paul or the Brethren did rather and and told him of the problem in the House Church of Khloe now we can go to First John and we find out that there in the book of First John that the entire book was written to someone known as the elect lady for a second John sorry not first John 2 John 1 and one and here's what you're going to find remember most churches in those days were in houses okay he said the Elder unto the elect lady and her children whom I love in the truth and not I only but all they that have known Truth for the truth's sake which dwelleth in US grace and mercy and then he tells her in verse four I Rejoice greatly that I have found of thy children walking in the truth as we have received a commandment from the father and now I beseech thee lady not as though I write a new commandment unto thee that we love one another walk after his Commandments for many deceivers so here he is writing a woman literally the whole book is to this woman that has children walking in the truth and now he's writing to her house church that those children are walking in the truth and that they should continue to walk in the Commandments now let's go look and there's there's several more verses I can read to you but I won't belabor the point but let's go look in the Torah itself the Torah the Old Testament here's what we do find in the Torah we find in judges for in four that deah a prophetess the wife of lapido judged Israel she led the church Israel was God's Church in the wilderness she was their leader for a time now that brings me to the subject of women pastors it is not the design or the perfect will of God for a woman to rule over a man it's that plain no one can deny that however it's also not the unpardonable sin it's not recommended it's not ideal and it is not in the perfect plan of God but have there been times when that pattern was broken for a short period of time there was debah was one of those but do you know why God raised Deborah up over the church if if you'll go read that story you'll find out that all the men of Israel had turned away from Yahweh there was no man qualified to lead in spiritual things to judge Israel he raised up Deborah but here is the balance to that story Deborah knew this was not ideal she knew her place and any true lady Minister has no desire to lead the church if they do desire that it's probably a Jezebel spirit however I didn't say every woman leading the church is a jezebel I said a true Lady Of God doesn't have that desire in her she would much rather a man lead the things of God and no God is never designed for a woman to lead the church but he also never designed a woman to lead the home but how many times as she had to when there was no man that would or could do it so God raised up Deborah but notice what happened Deborah was such an Israelite she knew this was not proper it was allowed but it wasn't proper because God raised up man under her his name was barck b a r a k right when barck was ready to take over Israel deer was ready to let him do it she was ready to step back and let a man lead Israel however God had to use her to get that man to do it she told barck these words and you can read these I'm not going to quote them right now or pull them up but you can find them she told barck please take Israel into battle don't let me do it because if I do it the glory of Israel is going to be given to a woman she knew it wasn't proper it was allowed but it wasn't proper and baric stepped up and took over ironically when you get to the book of Hebrews chapter 11 The Heroes of Faith deah is not mentioned barck is why that was proper that was proper there are many women many my grandmother was one of those women her husband left her with 10 children and they together were working in a church he was the Pastor she was a preacher a propheus he left her with 10 children there was no one there that was capable in the scriptures to lead my grandmother was forced into that position she told me later in life that it was her biggest regret pastoring because it took her away from her children and did God allow that absolutely someone had to do it but as soon as God was done with her she turned that church over to a man brother Gerald high tower and left and went back to be a prophetess and became uh an evangelist and worked for the Lord so with that said the scriptures never condemns a woman speaking speaking in the church under divine inspiration only the talmood forbid that and Paul corrected the issue in the Torah there's mention of several more women uh you can read in 2 Kings 22:14 hilaya the priest anakim and they all went to a woman named Hala the propheus and uh she gave them a word from the Lord I'll stop right there because I I believe we have shown you all we need to show you in conclusion Paul endorsed women praying and prophesying in God's church he endorsed them speaking however he cautioned them that the woman should never usurp authority over the men of the church and we teach that at first first Harvest Ministries we have many women that can prophesy preach under divine inspiration but we encourage the men of our church to take the authoritative roles and that is the balance of this subject took me a long time to get there but one day when Paul said that women could not speak because the law said so I said 'you know what I know about the law I know the Torah let's go find that and I couldn't find it but I did find it in the customs of the Jews which Paul was such an enemy of I hope this has helped you to understand our belief on women in the ministry thank you