In this article, I will present a briefcase on why a woman cannot pastor but should preach the gospel.
VII. Conclusion
Women Pastoring is not About Women’s Right’s
This subject requires an entire book and at minimum. On whether a woman should Pastor, there is something those claiming God allows this haven’t thought of.
In effect, by putting forth this unbiblical claim, they are calling God a liar! Yes, there are men who make the same false claim and are no better because they are men.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. This is not an issue of ‘women’s suffrage,’ or our sisters being denied equal rights. The Bible lets us know that this is not a: “flesh and blood battle” but a war raged in the spirit realm.
My sister preachers have done themselves, and the kingdom, much damage making this into a 'battle of the sexes.'
There is a local female church leader that I have admonished on this point. When things do not go her way, she invariably comes back to her being a woman as the reason. She never states her case in a biblical manner – she simply uses the “I’m a woman so…” crutch.
That, in her case anyway, is not the reason at all.
She isn't taken seriously because she’s a liar, manipulator, and quite frankly not very skilled with God’s Word. I would not take a such a man seriously either. There is another Sister who I admire greatly because she is one of God's true preachers!
If this is a spiritual battle, and not a war of the sexes, there are also men who have no business Pastoring a congregation either. God did not send them – they sent themselves. There are several men in this city who fit the bill.
This is not a question of whether, for a season anyway, our sisters should lead disciples either. This IS biblically allowable! However, how they lead, and from what area of gifting becomes relative.
For a professed preacher of Jesus Christ to proclaim themselves sent “by Him” to speak truth, yet distort truth is absurd!
For instance, scripture says: “no lie is of the truth.” Prophets, which women can be, see God’s Word in a way no other gifting does.
Scripture says about God’s Revelation:
This supernatural knowledge allows us to see past what Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists, and Evangelist, and even an Apostle.
We deal in the prophetic more than the other giftings. In our world, things are “either/or”, good or evil, black and white.
Such sight is given to these women claiming God sent them to Prophesy/Preach as well.
I am sure most have noticed I haven’t presented any form of effective apologetics case against a woman claiming God told them to “Pastor”, right?
The reason is simple: as with most who do such things claiming, “God told them to”, they don’t care about His Word.
Without exception, when I have confronted these “confused Prophets”, it is about “how they feel”. Further, they stand of the surety they know what God told them despite His Word saying opposite!
This doesn’t absolve me of presenting the biblical case, but “casting my pearls before swine” was forbidden by the very Words of Jesus.
The Misunderstood Prophet & Judge Deborah
There are four (4) things we must understand about the biblical Judge and Prophet Deborah. She was a Prophetess, Judge, wife, and called by God.
Today, especially since God is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” God stills calls sisters to leadership.
Here is how Deborah’s leadership began:
However, Deborah wasn’t a Pastor nor shepherd as outlined in the new testament. I bring this up because without exception, this is who these confused women use Deborah to suborn their perjury against God.
According to Ephesians 4, a Prophet and Pastor are different giftings in church governance. My deceived sisters fail to understand that, as Prophets, they are still church leaders!
Here is how church governance is supposed to be:
When comparing them to male Prophets, even John the Baptist had disciples who followed him. That was, until Jesus came along, and John told these disciples: “Go and follow Him (Jesus) now. He must increase and I decrease.”
I have a sister who is a Prophet of God that, on certain issues, I defer to her wisdom. Further, she and her husband lead a congregation where he is the final authority, although she is a Prophet.
She refers to herself as “Pastor”, but I openly refer to her as “Prophet.” Unlike the woman mentioned earlier, I do not doubt her call.
My deferring to her wisdom is allowable because the Bible says: “the spirit of a prophet is subject into a prophet.” Unlike the role of New Testament Pastor, whether woman or man, a prophet must be listened to.
There were a few Prophets in the Old Testament, like Deborah, who spoke the oracles of God from a place of authority.
This is not the office of a New Testament Pastor though. This is where our sisters become confused in using the Judge (and Prophet) Deborah as an example of the authority to Pastor.
Deborah was not assigned to the role of a local shepherd!
Women Can’t Pastor Because of Genesis 3 Judgments
The Genesis 3 judgment resulted from the first woman, Eve, listening to, and obeying the serpent. One part of this judgment was that Eve’s will would be subordinate to that of her husband.
She brought the judgment on humanity and was therefore subjected to the judgment of her husband – Adam.
This was not God’s intent in the beginning. At least, not in the way we understand subjection of will.
God specifically said because Eve listened to the serpent, and then led the man, she would be led by the man. There is no place in the biblical narrative, afterword, when God nullified a woman’s will be subordinate to that of her husband.
If, again, we look at it from a Greco Western European model of the family, this could be viewed as a woman suffrage issue. It is not though.
God said a woman’s will would be subordinate to that of her husband’s and He did not exclude women he called to preach either.
I challenged one of my sisters by asking: “who is in charge in your home?” Of course, she said her husband yet what she missed was that a Pastor oversees the church and his home.
There is no biblical foundation for any co-pastoring and power-sharing arrangement between a married couple.
The Genesis 3 narrative was absolute, irrevocable, and applicable to any woman believing that God told her to lead her husband. When a woman is a Pastor of an African American church anyway, typically her husband is on the Deacon board.
A Deacon is subordinate to a Pastor and takes instructions from them. How can the husband, who God ordained as the head of the home, be subordinate to the woman
Pastor of a church? Where is that written in scripture?
Again, this does not mean God does not call women to preach. I have had more sisters in the church I lead preaching than I can count.
However, none of them will ever instruct me long-term, and surely have no biblical authority over a Deacon board full of men.
Our confused sisters get around the biblical Deacon by either having none, or a female Deacon board. Again, this has no foundation in Scripture.
If a woman is a Deacon and her husband is not, who is in authority in the home? Sisters, you are saying that the Lord told you to teach your husband how to be NOT THE MAN in the home but feminine?
OK - so YOU are the covering in the home and for the family? How to do you explain that in light of Deborah's role, Genesis 3 judgment and 1st Timothy 3?
Let me guess: "I don't care what you say. I know what God told me!"
Lady Pastors Can Never Preach 1st Timothy 3
An effortless way to know whether God truly sends a person is if they can preach every portion of the Bible with integrity.
Our sisters who say God has called them to Pastor can never preach 1st Timothy chapter 3.
It begins like this:
Where does God's Word says: "A bishop must be the wife of one husband...?"
This is the text dealing with the New Testament qualifications of a local shepherd. Although written by men in ancient times, this is an irrevocable word from the greatest apostle of the Gentiles: Paul.
You will never hear our sisters preach from this book in the Bible.
They cannot because it undermines their claim of being the head of the body, as well as their husbands being the head of the home. When we combine this chapter with the Genesis 3 judgment, we further find out that God did not call a woman to Pastor His church.
That is not to say however, that He did not call female Prophets into those same places yet for different reasons. While I cannot make the biblical case God’s Word allows a woman to be a local shepherd, a Prophet is another matter entirely.
What this means is beyond the scope of this writing.
However, I can make the case that even Prophets, regardless of gender, have authority over God’s people for season. All we need do, again, is look at the life of Deborah, Huldah, and another.
Why do women call themselves Pastors then?
Because they are ignorant of Scripture, willingly disobedient, and don’t understand where their true calling lies. Further, they believe Pastor is the greatest office in the New Testament.
Not only is this not true, but I would also question the qualifications of any person, woman, or man, who believes this unbiblical nonsense. Pastors are local guides of the congregation and the church’s greatest servants.
We now have the Genesis 3 judgment, and first Timothy chapter 3 prohibition, which must be overcome for a woman to claim God sent them to Pastor!
Better Understanding a Biblical Female Prophet
Deborah was a judge and Old Testament Prophet. She was given authority of a Judge and was the only woman of 12 so-called to be. The Bible also indicates she was married.
Her husband, as a member of the nation of Israel, fell up under certain of her authority as well. This cannot be denied by either me or any biblical student.
However, and although judges must appear as a part of end time prophecy again, Old Testament judges are not a part of the New Testament governance structure. This is no more a part of church governance structure as animal sacrifice for the atonement of sins.
Further, Prophets, whether male or female, still exist in the church according to the book of Ephesians chapter 4.
This leaves us with a conundrum of sorts. Women are prophets yet not local shepherds, though of equal value in the kingdom of God.
Here is a sister’s role in the modern leadership church structure.
She is to prophesy when moved by the spirit against though she is called to watch. Prophets, by calling, ‘watch the sheep watchers.’
Put more simply, women have forsaken the authority of a Prophet and exchanged it for role God never gave to them (Pastor).
In a way, this would be like giving up a job as a qualified, highly paid mechanic to pump gas at a service station. In calling themselves Pastors, and not Prophets, our sisters have called God a liar and forsaken who they really are.
Conclusion
This breaks my heart in ways I can never describe. What is worse is men have allowed them into the church structure to practice their disobedience.
Why?
Out-of-the-way sisters are good for business! All they want is someone to accept them, call them Pastor, and they will raise money and bring people to the kingdom in a way no one else does.
There are even men who have put together cases, using biblical scripture, to prove allowing this disobedience is of God. As hard as this is to say, they don’t love these women at all. Anyone who lies knowing someone is headed off a cliff, can hardly be accused of being 'loving.'
No, woman cannot Pastor and just because they do, doesn’t mean God has ‘co-signed’ their non-sense.
Header Image Courtesy of RODNAE Productions @ Pexels