Half a Heart in the body of Christ

The body of Christ is so glorious. Supernatural Christians love Jesus Christ with all their heart and soul. We often fall short but Jesus is always there to pick us up and dust off our sins so that we can continue with His ministry. The Holy Spirit in us imparts in us our destiny, our hopes, our dreams and our passions. As individuals men and women of the body of Jesus Christ we are bound to perform His work on earth. Our individual responsibility is to follow Him as He leads.

There are some in the body of Christ that will gag and bind women from speaking and preaching their love of loves--the Lord Jesus Christ. The one-half of the emails I receive is from women who are frustrated and hopeless because they are told women should be silent--not preach, not teach, not minister yet they have an impartation and anointing to do all these.

The other half of emails that point to the submission scriptures and women be silent scriptures as a holy sword to puncture any anointing, power, and plan God my have given to a women--given with half a heart to love, half a mouth to speak His words, one eye to see Jesus, one ear to hear the Holy Spirit, one arm to reach out to the lost, one leg move forward to preach the gospel. Some men and a few women believe God only wants men to do His work to the lost.

Let's look at this for a few moments. What did Jesus say about women? Did He push them away to say--please bring your male representative so that we can communicate properly? No - Jesus loved women, He forgave women, He gave the women the most important message that He has risen from the dead. There is no where Jesus gags women from speaking and preaching in the gospels. Women were in the majority at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified. Among His last words had to do with the care of His beloved mother, Mary, after His death.

I am currently researching the topic of "can the opposite sex minister to the opposite sex without risking a compromise" and I came across your webpage. http://www.circleofchristianwomen.com/can_women_minister.htm

I noticed your point #1 which states "1. There is not one Scripture in the Bible that forbids women from preaching, but on the contrary, there are many verses that encourage both men and women to preach the Gospel."

If this is the case, then how do you respond to scriptures such as 1 cor 14:33-35 and 1tim 2:11-12.

I will use the King James Translation of the bible because it appears that you are using that version yourself.

1 cor14:33-35 states " ³⁴Let 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. ³⁵And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church."(King James Version)

^{^{I
believe this passage can be interpreted a couple of ways. Firstly, you
could take this as only during the "meetings" as in bussiness
meetings or other meetings the church would have that aren't directly
related to presenting a message. You could also take it as this, and I
believe this interpretation, that during the meetings of the church
whether that be business, message-related service, or what have you that
women should not speak. As the scripture above says "And if they
will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a
shame for women to speak in the church".(King James Version)}}

^{Then,
1 tim 2:11-12 states "} ¹¹Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. ¹²But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." King James Version)

The Corinthians verse talks about women being silent in church, this passage of Timothy speaks on the learning and teaching of women. The interpretation i'm getting of verses 11 and 12 is that women are to learn in silence with subjection, to not teach in church, to not express authority over man, but to keep quiet.

In all of this, the man of the home, is to be the spiritual leader for the woman. If there is something that she does not understand, she should hold her tongue while she is in the church and ask her husband about it while they are in their home. If the woman is not married, she should ask someone that is a good spiritual leader such as a fellow brother, minister, or others of good spiritual faith.

Please let me know what you think. I would be intrigued to hear back from you.

Sincerely,

A Being in Progress

My Answer

Ok then, here we go:

I believe along with many others that this was written for one particular church not for all women from 30AD to 2010. Did Paul not commission Phoebe, Priscilla and Choe to positions of leadership and service. How can they fulfill those roles without speaking? In 1 Cor 11:5 Guidelines for women praying and prophesying in a church meeting is given. Why did Paul give these guidelines if women are to be quiet?

1 Cor 14.34-35 There is a Greek symbol appears like the written small letter n that is used after quoted material to denote it was taken from another source. It shows that his letter had been written to him by the leader of the congregation in Corinth. Paul quoted them in his letter, and then replied to them beginning in verse 36.

In your quote from Timothy-- Why would Paul who ordained Phoebe as a deacon and Junia as an apostle do such things and then write the scriptures in Timothy? The Greek word for usurp is authentein. This is the only place the word is used leading us to believe is has a narrow definition. The word, as it was used in other Greek literature of the day can refer to murder, domination and even ritual castration. It does not simply mean that "to have authority."

From the book 10 lies true biblical headship in marriage can be seen only when the husband recognized that his wife is his equal, loves her sacrificially and empower his wife by allowing her to share his authority. Is that not what Jesus did for the church? He left the glories of heaven and took on the form of a human being He gave Himself willingly to die on the cross and bestowed His heavenly authority on His followers, making us co-heirs of His kingdom. This is the pattern Christian husbands must follow.

This is a radical concept, and some Christians who have been steeped in religious tradition of male domination will oppose it violently. Some Christian husbands make a lifestyle out of being benevolent dictators in the home. (From Grady's book 10 lies.)

There are two very good books on this subject written by a man J Lee Grady 10 Lies the Church Tells Women and 25 Tough questions about Women and the Church. My answers are taken from these two books and I agree with the author.

Connie

First of all, not all men have the bondage attitude--Praise God for them. The man writing the email stated he was open-minded. I replied to his email as best I could plus I gave two good books on the women's issue. I hope that he reads them.

Where did Jesus say that women cannot participate and lead in His ministry? No where. Does the Old Testament ban women from leadership? NO. There were women leaders in the old testament. Therefore, these quoted scriptures were a message to a particular church with a specific problem that need to be addressed. When scriptures are taken out of context they become a toy in the hands of the "righteous religious." They condemn to all women in the body of Christ from the 30 AD to 2010 to partial spirituality-- limiting her to the spirituality of her man.

Ladies, consider removing yourself from religious churches that do not honor you and get to work for our Lord Jesus Christ as He directs you. Preach about Him, teach about Him, tell of your experiences with Him, exercise your spiritual gifts, and move forward. When you move forward, know that there will always be religious Pharisees telling you to cease and desist of your love for God, our Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit has given you. You have to be brave. be strengthen by the Lord, and still move forward. When you stand before God, you have to account for your life. Do not permit others to tell you what you know is not true in your heart, soul, and spirit by using scriptures taken out of context used to humiliate and demean your love and passion for Jesus Christ.

Women, Please read these women's ministry pages thoroughly so that you can answer with a balanced defense when someone tries to bind and gag your place in the body of Christ.

I do receive monthly hate emails from those that disagree--man or woman. By email I have been sent to hell for these web pages by many a righteous person that knows that they are oh.... so correct. In observance of most churches on Sunday mornings, the large majority of active church members are women. We give our time and our money --when under the name of religion, we are only to be told we are not good enough to teach or preach or minister the love of our lives, Jesus Christ; however, our money is speedily accepted without any reservation. Ask yourself how many active church members there would be if all the ladies stopped attending.

Preach about Him, teach about Him, tell of your experiences with Him, exercise your spiritual gifts, and move forward. When you move forward, know that there will always be religious Pharisees telling you to cease and desist of your love for God--our Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit has given you. You have to be brave, be strengthened by the Lord, and still move forward. When you stand before God, you have to account for your life. Do not permit others to tell you what you know is not true in your heart, soul, and spirit by using scriptures taken out of context used to humiliate and demean your love and passion for Jesus Christ.

The body of Christ is in a spiritual battle. The demonic loves to divide and conquer. The demonic eliminates approximately 75% of the body of Christ (the women) from putting their faith into action. The demonic uses the precious sword of the spirit against the women by gagging and silencing their voices, takes the blessing and empowerment of ministry from women, and disables the men by weakening their equal helpers in the army of Christ.

The demonic desires the men to think women want to control, boss them around, and suppress them. That is a lie from the pit of hell. We are to love one another and work in the mission field. There is more than enough work for every one to express their spiritual gifs and empowerments. The field is white...let us go into the harvest working together.

What about the scriptures concerning the qualifications of men as pastors, teachers, deacons as stated in Timothy? I know of many divorced men in the church who are leaders. I have attended their churches and they are anointed men of God. Men are not perfect....they have been known to slip and fall in many areas-- the religious might disqualify their past behaviors from leadership. Yes, there are many men anointed by God to lead in spite of there sins and inadequacies. Yes, women also have sins and inadequacies. Many women are anointed in spite of our mistakes. One sin we did not make is being born a woman. God created us and loves us. He anoints us with his power and love and His gifts.

The field is white--let us go into the harvest working as one body-- not a male half a heart, one male eye, one male ear, one male arm and one male leg.