DOES GOD PERMIT WOMEN TO BE PASTORS OF CHURCHES? (2)

 EPHESIANS 4:11-13 (AMPC)
“And His (Jesus Christ’s) gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.
 
12 His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church),
 
13 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.
 
 
Dear people of God, in the first part of the post on this topic, we were able to show from God’s infallible Word in the Holy Bible that God does not permit women to be pastors of churches.
 
I had thought the message was clear enough to Christian brethren but I was however amazed at some of the reactions the post generated even amongst Christian women who either did not take time to read the entire message or read but still did not understand the role God permits for women in Christendom.
 
This is the reason for this follow up message on the same issue.
 
I did state categorically that God permits women to be Evangelists and Prophetesses, so they have a role to play because God expects all His disciples to be involved in the most important work as far He is concerned, which is the salvation of the souls of all humans on this earth.
 
Though the Bible verse above gives short definitions of each ministry role the Lord Jesus has assigned to Christians, to make things a little clearer, it is necessary to give definition (taken from online dictionary) to the roles that concern women and what God does not permit for them.
 
Evangelist: a person who seeks to convert others to the Christian faith, especially by public preaching; a travelling missionary.
 
One very well-known female Evangelist and travelling missionary is the late Kathryn Kuhlman (May 9, 1907 – February 20, 1976)
 
Prophetess: a female prophet or a woman who speaks for God, or by Divine inspiration. a woman who foretells future events.
 
Pastor: the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. A pastor has to be a shepherd to their congregation. They must oversee their flock and rely on the power and gifting of the Holy Spirit. One of pastor's duties is to be a teacher. They have to provide discipleship and teach the people how to live like Christ. They must feed the church of God with knowledge.
 
As stated in the first part of the message on this topic, God does permit women to be Evangelists and Prophetesses BUT NOT PASTORS. The above definitions are clear enough and from Paul the Apostle’s Divinely inspired messages in 1 Timothy 2:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 14:33b-38, it is easy to see the consistency that God does not permit women to be leaders of any Christian congregation or Shepherd of His flock.
 
Regardless of what is going on in today’s world with women functioning as co-pastors with their husbands or shepherds or leaders of Christian congregations, teaching and having authority over men in the Church, it is simply unacceptable to God Almighty because it violates His Word.
 
Christians should understand that God is the owner of every genuine Church and the Lord Jesus Christ made it clear to the late pastor/prophet Kenneth E. Hagin that church denominations were formed by human beings and not by Him, who is the owner of the church.
 
So, anyone can form a church and claim God called him or her into ministry. There are many pastors and preachers of the Gospel who have died and are currently suffering an eternal damnation in HELL today as a result of calling themselves into ministry when God did not call them.
 
There are those whom the Lord Jesus Christ called into ministry and they are operating in the ministry the Lord called them, meaning they are operating in His perfect will.
 
There are also those who were called by the Lord Jesus Christ into ministry BUT are operating in a different calling and therefore under God’s permissive will for their life. Under such circumstances, their disobedience to God’s Divine direction gives the devil a LEGAL RIGHT to afflict them.
 
For instance, Kenneth E. Hagin said the Lord called him into the prophetic ministry but he was unwilling because of the fear of giving out unfulfilled prophecies (forgetting the Lord Who called him does not give unfulfilled prophecies) for which people would mock him.
 
He therefore remained in the teaching or pastoral ministry and remained there because other Christian ministers told him that he was doing well in that ministry.
 
One of the days, he had an accident, fell down and fractured his elbow. The Lord Jesus Christ later appeared to him first when he was going to the hospital and later at the hospital where Jesus spoke to him for over an hour and a half.
 
The Lord told him that it was the devil who caused his accident and this was because he had disobeyed the Lord’s instruction 3 times to vacate the pastoral ministry for the prophetic ministry.
 
The Lord specifically warned him about his disobedience to His instruction and that if he continued in disobedience the devil was determined to kill him before the age of 55.
 
Kenneth E. Hagin learnt his lesson and finally obeyed the Lord’s directive and moved into the prophetic ministry where he functioned until the age of 86 years when he departed this world on September 19, 2003.
 
From this true story, dear friend, you can see that not everyone in Christian ministry is functioning in their true calling. Therefore, if any woman either with her husband’s consent or on her own volition decides to operate as a pastor or shepherd of a flock or is appointed as a leader of a branch denomination of Christians, she is operating under God’s wrath and under His permissive will.
 
If she dies under this circumstance without repenting, praying for Divine direction and moving into God’s perfect will, she will enter an eternal damnation in HELL.
 
A typical example is Joyce Meyer who is the leader of the Joyce Meyer ministries worldwide. She began in 1976 as a local Bible teacher, then became an associate pastor of a church in St. Louis, Missouri in 1980. She became an ordained minister in 1981.
 
Thereafter, she later resigned to start her own ministry in 1985.
 
She married her husband and divorced him after 5 years of marriage. According to her, the man cheated on her and persuaded her to be stealing from her employers (though she had since restituted the stolen funds) to enable them fund their vacation trips.
 
She met her current man Dave Meyer while frequenting local bars and they “got married” in 1967 and have 4 children between them.
 
Another example is Aimee Semple McPherson who from records on Wikipedia said she heard a voice call her into ministry, first started as an evangelist before becoming the leader of what is known today as the Foursquare Gospel Church worldwide.
 
In her lifetime, her first husband Robert Semple died of sickness after 2 years of their marriage. She then married another man Harold McPherson in 1912 who divorced her in 1921 citing abandonment by Aimee because she left home with their children suddenly to go on evangelical work without first discussing it with him but left a note for him.
 
Though he later joined her, but they could not stay together because the husband wanted a stable home while Aimee preferred evangelical meetings in tents.
 
Again in 1931, she married a musician David Hutton, separated from him in 1933 and divorced him a year later in 1934 because his lifestyle of taking photos with scantily dressed ladies was causing reputational damage to the “leader” of the Foursquare Gospel Church.
 
It is on record that Aimee publicly repented of the marriage for both theological and personal reasons^] and later rejected gospel singer Homer Rodehever when he proposed marriage in 1935.
 
It is pertinent to note that in the case of Kathryn Kuhlman, according to Wikipedia, she had in her lifetime met a Texas Evangelist Burroughs Waltrip who divorced his own wife to start a relationship with Kathryn.
 
Though she confided in friends that she could not find the will of God for her in “marrying” the divorcee Waltrip and though her friends advised her against going ahead with it, Kathryn justified the wrong decision and went ahead citing that she believed Waltrip’s wife was the one who left him.
 
But she never found peace after the “marriage” and years later, Waltrip divorced her in 1948.
 
It would be fair to note that in the years following on many occasions including in personal interviews she expressed profound feelings of remorse for her part in the pain caused by the break-up of Waltrip’s previous marriage citing the children's heartbreak as particularly troubling to her.
 
It was the single greatest regret of her life second only to the betrayal first of her loving relationship with Jesus Christ her dear Saviour.
 
Kathryn Kuhlman never remarried until her death from a heart surgery on February 20, 1976.
 
The reason why I have taken time to provide this information is first to make us understand that God does NOT permit divorce because His Word is clear that He hates divorce – Malachi 2:15-16.
 
These women operated under God’s permissible will and subjected themselves to the devil’s wickedness and attacks.
 
What Christians need to understand is that the devil does everything possible to ensure that Christians operate contrary to God’s Divine commandment and so the devil can influence women operating as leaders of their own ministries to flourish and make people believe that it is okay for them to head a Christian congregation.
 
It is only Kathryn Kuhlman who by the grace of God was able to repent and retrace her steps before it was too late and continued to operate as an Evangelist, God’s perfect will for her life according to His Word for women in ministry.
 
I want to believe this message is clear enough so Christian sisters and even brothers should know that they MUST go to God in prayer to know what His perfect will for them in Ministry is, so they can function under His perfect will and not according to His permissive will, which is dangerous and would not end well for them.
 
Jesus Christ is coming shortly to take in Rapture ONLY those who are qualified according to His righteous standards in the Holy Bible.
 
Are you living a genuine life as His disciple? Are you ready for Him? Come to Jesus today, for tomorrow may be too late for you.
 
May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus’ Most Holy Name, Amen.
 
Gabriel Ama.