Friday, May 10, 2019
God said through an ancient prophet “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:23). Merriam Webster says of “witchcraft” that it’s “the use of sorcery or magic…an irresistible influence or fascination”. For millennia, men have constructed and used many types of witchcraft, stubbornness, magic, influence, and oratory skills to nullify what God said in order to promote their corrupt will, pleasing to men and their traditions. One people-pleasing, culture-accommodating rebellion, begets another rebellion, then another etc.
The 19th Century rebellion of the dispensational pre-tribulation rapture paved the way for the 20th Century rebellion of women in positions and offices of authority such as pastors, bishops, deacons and teachers, which paved the way for the 21st Century rebellion of the “Hashtag She Too Movement”, “that God is a woman”, “the Holy Spirit is female”, “there is no hell” and that “God will save everyone”! Teachers of such lies blaspheme God’s Word, they’re wolves in sheep’s clothing using licentious transgressions and unlawful freedoms.
God commands Christians to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). That’s not optional. God meant what He said, and He said what He meant. Contending for the faith requires Spirit-led men to teach the oracles of God and not the traditions of men. In that process the New Covenant guides Christians in the truth as delivered by Jesus Christ and men who spoke by the Holy Spirit, see 2 Tim. 3:16–17; 2 Peter 1:20–21.
In these perilous days however, many in the Church boldly ignore the clear commands of God concerning leadership positions of authority. God specifically instructs “that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Cor. 11:3). In the New Covenant Church and in homes of believers, God detailed offices of authority, and the leadership/headship is ALWAYS to men and NEVER to women.
Many deceptively point to Rom. 16:1 wherein Paul said “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea”. Some translations interpret “servant” as “deacon”. The word “servant” can be translated as “deacon”, but in context is to every believer. Rom. 16:1 identifies Phoebe as a normal “servant” worker in the Church, but does NOT imply that she held the leadership “office of a deacon”; if it did Scripture would be entirely contradictory, for in the Church “the office of a deacon” is one of authority reserved specifically for men. See below.
“If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work…Likewise must the deacons be grave…And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless…For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith” (1 Tim. 3:1–13 KJV). EVERY reference to an office of Church authority is to the masculine gender, NEVER to the feminine.
God’s timeless truth remains, saying: “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Tim.2:11–14). And confirming that by a second witness God said, “Let your women keep silent in the churches, [plural] for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says…it is shameful for women to speak in the church. Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:34–37). [Bold emphasis added]
In the Church, men and women not led by God’s Holy Spirit, but by their own desires, by rebellion, stubbornness, idolatry and irresistible influence, bring false doctrines and teachings into the Church. But they will answer to God as did King Saul, whose actions were licentious, unrestrained, wanton and full of freedom, having no qualms in leading people away from God’s commands. So are many in the increasingly liberal Church today. But God’s Word remains: “Indeed, let God be true and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4).
From Merriam-Webster.com: “The Shared Roots of License and Licentious: License and licentious come ultimately from the same word in Latin, licentia, whose meanings ranged from ‘freedom to act’ to ‘unruly behavior, wantonness.’…Though we are likely to associate license with the card that grants freedom or permission to operate a motor vehicle and licentious with sexual wantonness, in actuality, there is considerable semantic overlap between the two words…A person who takes license with something (or someone) engages in ‘abusive disregard for rules of personal conduct.’ Hence, the semantic range of license in English mirrors that of its Latin antecedent, suggesting either permission or transgression, depending upon the context. Licentious, on the other hand, always implies excessive, transgressive freedom, as is true of its immediate Latin source, licentiosus ‘unrestrained, wanton’ (literally, ‘full of freedom’).”
Pastors and women who exchange God’s Word for their will take license that is not theirs; they engage in abusive disregard for rules of personal conduct by rebelling against God. They can’t let God be true. They assert their own unrestrained will, being full of freedom from God’s holy authority! This matter is critical. To whom are you listening, God or man? It matters, because God’s truth matters, and our obedience and submission to His truth has eternal consequences.
Problems of rebellion, spiritual weakness, biblical ignorance and lack of discernment face the Church due to the erosion of God’s Word; many people and their pastors are ill-content with it. But God does not change, Mal. 3:6 and Heb. 13:8. There is a place of ministry for women in the Church if they are willing: “that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things – that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed” (Titus 2:3–5). [Bold emphasis added] As it is, however, many pastors want to give their flock what they want and not what God commanded.
Marlin J. Yoder
