Women Pastors and why you do not need to go to COLLEGE…

To start off I want to say something that God has been speaking to me on concerning modern day requirements for the ministry. I will explain. In today’s world we have the notion that someone must go to college and get a degree in order to be able to minister or better yet fulfill the call God has for their life. And God has convicted me of this being erroneous thinking! The apostles did not go to college, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Abraham, Noah, King David…etc. Why must we make it a NEED in order to fulfill our call? Is that biblically sound? I do not believe so after fighting with God for a long time on this matter. I have the spiritual gift of teaching/counseling/prophesy. Yet I have refused to use it because of fear of being inadequate. I didn’t get to graduate from Liberty University therefore I never felt qualified to exercise my spiritual gifts. But this friends is exactly where satan wants me and you! He wants us to think we are not adequate, eloquent, good enough or well versed enough to fulfill our call. The more he keeps us in fear and our of Truth the more he prevails! So as I have embarked in a journey through scripture and prayer God has revealed to me the following: “You do not HAVE to go to ANY college to know the Word, if you seek the scriptures, if you ask for understanding and wisdom, if you fear me enough, if you pray and fellowship with me, if you truly want to know My ways, says the Lord. I will grant you wisdom and understanding, I will make your light shine among the nations and they will come to you, not because of you. But they will see Me. If you dig in the scriptures as for gold and silver there is no college you need to go to to fulfill my call for your life”. This is what God has spoken to me. And He went on telling me how NOT ONE prophet/apostle who wrote the Bible went to “college”. I do not need a BS, MS or PhD behind my name to go to the school of GOD. THE BIBLE IS ALL THE SCHOOL YOU WILL EVER NEED! To prove this point beyond the examples of the Bible, the great A.W Tozer never went to Bible college or seminary. Yet God used Him, spoke through Him and changed the world for we are still reading his books. Why? Because Tozer obeyed and was faithful and diligent in searching the scriptures and knowing the heart of God. That my friends is all it takes! Do not let satan keep you from fulfilling your call due to fear of not having a couple of letters behind your name. They are not needed! If the apostles, prophets and AW Tozer among many others didn’t need them neither do we. BUT, we must be committed to study and examine as well as meditate on His Word. Dwell in the presence of God Almighty daily. That we may be fully equipped and lacking nothing for every good work. Now, am I saying that if God has called you to attend college, not to? NO! You do exactly what God has called you to. But are the majority called? NO. So does that mean God is only going to use the college/seminary graduates? NO! Degree or no degree, you get in the word and plow! Fulfill the call and bless others with your spiritual gift. Do not conform to a society that demands a degree! God doesn’t demand one! No where in the Bible does it state that in order to minister or fulfill your call (whatever that is) you MUST go to something called “college” or training institution. If it was so important, do you not think God would have given us instructions on it? Yet He does say over and over again to study the Word, to mediate on it, to hide it in our hearts. That is the way to knowing God’s heart. The Word, prayer and living in the presence of the Almighty! Pick up your bible and spend some time with the creator, go through God’s theology and doctrinal school and you will need not other degree!

Now on another subject! I want to address the role of women…in the church and in the family.

This is from John MacArthur whom is my mentor as John Piper suggest we all do. Find a

Biblically sound theologian and study him…along with the Word that you may have better

understanding of the Word.

The Role of a Woman.

ALTHOUGH WOMEN have traditionally fulfilled supportive roles in serving the church and gained their greatest joy and sense of accomplishment from being wives and mothers, the feminist movement has successfully influenced many women to abandon these divinely ordained roles. Unfortunately, this movement has made headway even in the church, creating chaos and confusion regarding the role of women both in ministry and in the home. Only in Scripture can God’s intended design for women be found. The Old Testament and Women In the creation account of Genesis 1, God’s first word on the subject of men and women is that they were equally created in the image of God (v. 27). Neither received more of the image of God than the other. So the Bible begins with the equality of the sexes. As persons, as spiritual beings standing before God, men and women are absolutely equal. Despite this equality, there is in Genesis 2 a more detailed account of the creation of the two human beings that reveals differences in their God-given functions and responsibilities. God did not create the man and the woman at the same time, but rather He created Adam firstand Eve later for the specific purpose of being Adam’s helper. Eve was equal to Adam, but she was given the role and duty of submitting to him. Although the word “helper” carries very positive connotations—even being used of God Himself as the helper of Israel (Deut. 33:7; Ps. 33:20)—it still describes someone in a relationship of service to another. The responsibility of wives to submit to their husbands, then, was part of the plan from creation, even before the
curse. The first books of the Bible establish both the equality of men and women and also the support role of the wife (see Exod. 21:15, 17, 28–31; Num. 5:19–20, 29; 6:2; 30:1–16). Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s command
resulted in certain consequences (Gen. 3:16–19). For the woman, God pronounced a curse that included multiplied pain in childbirth and tension in the authority-submission relationship of husband and wife. Genesis 3:16 says
the woman’s “desire” will be for her husband but he shall “rule” over her. In Genesis 4:7 the author uses the same word “desire” to mean “excessive control over.” Thus, the curse in Genesis 3:16 refers to a new desire on the part of the woman to exercise control over her husband— but he will in fact oppressively rule and exert authority over her. The result of the Fall on marriage through history has been an ongoing struggle between the sexes, with women seeking control and men seeking dominance. Throughout the Old Testament, women were active in the religious life of Israel, but generally they were not leaders. Women like Deborah (Judges 4) were clearly the exception and not the rule. There was no woman with an ongoing prophetic ministry. No woman was a priest. No queen ever ruled Israel. No woman
wrote an Old Testament (or New Testament) book. Isaiah 3:12 indicates that God allowed women to rule as part of His judgment on the sinning nation.

Jesus and Women

In the midst of the Greek, Roman, and Jewish cultures, which viewed women almost on the level of possessions, Jesus showed love and respect for women. Though Jewish rabbis did not teach women and the Jewish Talmud said it was better to burn the Torah than to teach it to a woman, Jesus never took the position that women, by their very nature, could not understand spiritual or theological truth. He not only included them in His audiences but also used illustrations and images that would be familiar to them (Matt. 13:33; 22:1–2; 24:41; Luke 15:8–10) and specifically applied His teaching to them (Matt. 10:34ff.). To the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), He revealed that He was the Messiah and discussed with her topics such as eternal life and the nature of true worship. He also taught Mary and, when admonished by Martha, pointed out the priority of learning spiritual truth even over “womanly” responsibilities like serving guests in one’s home (Luke 10:38). Although men in Jesus’ day normally would not allow women to count change into their hands for fear of physical contact, Jesus touched women to heal them and allowed women to touch Him (Luke 13:10ff.; Mark 5:25ff.). Jesus even allowed a small group of women to travel with Him and His disciples (Luke 8:1–3), an unprecedented happening at that time. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene and sent her to announce His resurrection to the disciples (John 20:1–18), despite the fact that women were not allowed to be witnesses in Jewish courts because they were considered liars. In Jesus’ treatment of women, He raised their station of life and He showed them compassion and respect in a way they had never known. This demonstrated their equality. At the sametime, however, Jesus still did not exalt

The Epistles and Women

In the Epistles, the two principles of equality and submission for women exist side by side. Galatians 3:28 points to the equality, indicating that the way of salvation is the same for both men and women and that they are members of
equal standing in the body of Christ. It does not, however, eradicate all differences in responsibilities for men and women, for this passage does not cover every aspect of God’s design for male and female. In addition, there
are many other passages that make distinctions between what God desires of men and what He desires of women, especially within familyand within the church.

The Family

While Christian marriage is to involve mutual love and submission between two believers (Eph. 5:21), four passages in the New Testament expressly give to wives the responsibility to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22;  Col. 3:18; Titus 2:5; 1 Pet. 3:1). This voluntary submission of one equal to another is an expression of love for God and a desire to follow His design as revealed in His Word. It is never pictured as demeaning or in any way diminishing the wife’s equality. Rather the husband is called to love his wife sacrificially as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25) and to serve as the leader in a relationship of two equals. While husbands and fathers have been given the primary responsibility for the leadership of their children (Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21; 1 Tim. 3:4–5), wives and mothers are urged to be “workers at home” (Titus 2:5), meaning managers of the household. Their home and their children are to be their priority, in contrast to the world’s emphasis today on careers and full time jobs for women outside the home.

The Church

From the very beginning, women fulfilled a vital role in the Christian church (Acts 1:12–14; 9:36–42; 16:13–15; 17:1–4, 10–12;18:1–2, 18, 24–28; Rom. 16; 1 Cor. 16:19; 2Tim. 1:5; 4:19), but not one of leadership. The apostles were all men; the chief missionary activity was done by men; the writing of the New Testament was the work of men; and leadership in the churches was entrusted to men. Although the Apostle Paul respected women and worked side by side with them for the furtherance of the gospel (Rom. 16; Phil. 4:3), he appointed no female elders or pastors. In his letters, he urged that men were to be the leaders in the church and that women were not to teach or exercise authority over men (1 Tim.
2:12). Therefore, although women are spiritual equals with men and the ministry of women is essential to the body of Christ, women are excluded from leadership over men in the church. Men and women stand as equals before God,
both bearing the image of God Himself. However, without making one inferior to the other, God calls upon both men and women to fulfill the roles and responsibilities specifically designed for them, a pattern that can be seen even in the Godhead (1 Cor. 11:3). In fulfilling the divinely given roles taught in the New Testament, women are able to realize their full potential because they are following the plan of their own Creator and Designer. Only in obedience to Him and His design will women truly be able, in the fullest sense, to give glory to God.