Your Wife Is Out of Order!

[an e-mail sent to the Generals:]

Jim,

     Your wife is totally out of order in preaching. I can’t believe that a man like you, who seems to have so much Bible knowledge, will allow your wife to violate God’s plain instructions: “Let your women keep silence in the Church!”

     I’ve listened to you on shortwave radio many times, I have no problem with your teachings. However, when Deborah comes in, I TURN HER OFF!! She is not obeying the Word. Now she comes along with these POD casts on the internet. What will she do next?

     Jim, maybe you should re-read what the Bible says about women preachers. I’ll trust that you will.

[no name given]

Our Reply:

Dear ??,

     I’m not worried about my wife’s preachings, for the Bible has commissioned both male and female to preach the “Good News” to the lost and teach the Word of God to the saved.

     The verse you quoted has certainly caused much pain on both sides of God’s camp.

     If you really are concerned about General Deborah being “out of order”, I suggest you do a bit more studying on this subject as I have. I do have our first “Women In The Ministry” booklet to offer (more to follow sooner or later). The following are just a few points I cover in book one.

Out of order? How?

Let us take this step by step:

1)  “Let your women keep silence”—a difficulty! This Scripture has caused a long-time war between certain groups of ministers. Let me first quote the whole context for our present study: “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let 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. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church” (1 Corinthians 14:33-35).

2)  There are many different schools of thought on this issue of women in the ministry, but let us now go back to chapter 11:4-5 to show some directions on how women should pray and prophesy, which show that women can pray and prophesy in the Church—some relief is found here. “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven” (1 Corinthians 11:4-5).

3)  Now here, in this next Scripture, prophesying is defined—the difficulty is gone. “But he that prophesieth SPEAKETH UNTO MEN to edification, and exhortation, and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3).

4)  Now we can take into consideration Joel’s prediction for women to prophesy: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit” (Joel 2:28-29).

5)  Peter echoes Joel’s prophesy: “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy” (Acts 2:16-18).

6)  The evangelist Phillip had FOUR DAUGHTERS that prophesied! “And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins which did prophesy” (Acts 21:8-9).

7)  Now we find some New Testament women who labored with Paul in the Gospel: “And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3).

Today

HAVE THINGS CHANGED today for the ministry of women? Not at all, but we still have the war going on to stop women from fulfilling their calling. True, I do not feel that all or just any women ought to preach/teach. I feel that same way about men too. But if God appoints and anoints a female vessel, we men had better keep our mouths shut and our hands off!!

     Church history is full of misogynistic leaders who have taught (and are teaching) that women must not teach, preach, exhort, prophesy, even pray in public. They argue that God’s Scriptures POSITIVELY FORBID such exercises in public. Well now, they were and are POSITIVELY WRONG!

     “Let your women keep SILENCE in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak...” Notice the verses before and after: “God is NOT the author of confusion, but of peace” and “if they [your women] will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” One might ask if this forbidden “speaking” which must be liable to cause “confusion”, which disturbs the “peace” and shows the spirit of insubordination, of disobedience, is in any way an example of the characteristics of true preaching, exhorting, prophesying, or praying? The “speaking” objected to, had all these bad features in it, so the women were told that if they would “learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak [in such a way]...”

     Now, the thing apparently objected to—this “speaking”—is evidently either “rudely questioning the preacher in the midst of his sermon” (some interpret it this way), or “speech-making, disputing , debating , wrangling” (other’s believe this to be true). The points about the women which are guarded here are these: the women must not cause “confusion”; must be under “obedience”; and must “learn” of “their husbands at home”. But what about the women and young girls who were not married?

     Then there is the view that verses 34 and 35 are a quote that Paul is citing in order to refute it. This view alone explains the drastic “What?” in the very next verse, and also aligns perfectly with the rest of Scripture. In this case, we see that Paul was not commanding women to be silent at all. (Although Paul would agree that all troublemakers—men or women—should certainly be SILENT!) See our “Women In The Ministry” booklets for a detailed study on this view and a more extensive study of the above Scriptures.

* * *

WE NEED MORE godly, I said GODLY women to preach and teach God’s Word. The Lord Jesus gave His life for the salvation of humankind/mankind. This is what God the Father had at heart when He sent His Son to be that good, blessed and perfect sacrifice for our redemption. In this way of sacrifice, we need consecrated, dedicated, separated men and women, even boys and girls, to preach the Good News to all creatures or all the creation, all people.

     The Bible lists many gifted women, both in the Old and New Testament, that were used of God. Jesus never ran down women. In fact, Mary Magdalene was the first New Testament evangelist! Would Paul then try to stop women from preaching/teaching?

     We need more godly prophetesses, obviously, since the Holy Ghost through the Apostle Paul penned 1 Corinthians 11:4-5. Was it not Anna, an Old Testament prophetess, who welcomed the infant Jesus with thanksgiving at His appearance in the Holy Temple? It was.

     Women, New Testament women, may pray and they may prophesy—i.e., speak unto men, not to “confusion”, but to “edification”, “exhortation”, and “comfort”. Edify literally means “to build up”. The Gospel is preached to the lost to edify them so as to bring them to accept Jesus the Christ as their Savior. Doctrine is taught to those who have “come to Jesus” in order to edify them.

     To prophesy means “to exhort”. Women are clearly authorized, by the Holy Spirit, to prophesy, for it IS the Holy Spirit speaking thru the female (or male) vessel. If women can exhort—speak unto men to edification and comfort (and the Apostle plainly orders that it be so)—than it is clearly an irrefutable fact that whatever is meant in the supposed requirement that they “keep silence”, is not intended to interfere with their praying , preaching, etc., in real Spirit-led evangelistic Gospel work. Praise the Lord!

     No doubt the Old Testament prophet, Joel, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, looked into the future centuries and caught the glories of Pentecost, when both male and female were baptized with the Holy Ghost and spoke in a heavenly language—the same baptism both I and my wife experienced back in 1971. Deborah has been gifted with the prophetic gift, as your letter indicates. Of course we have church leaders who teach (falsely!) that the Holy Ghost baptism with tongues ceased after the first century Church. Sorry about that, but all of us here at ACMTC and most real Christians around the world HAVE the baptism!

     Superstitions from the first century Ekklesia to medieval times—many misogynistic errors—have beclouded the minds of Christendom to where the people with a bias, seizing on the opening passage in this writing (in the letter), have effectually shut the mouths of godly women, teaching them LIES!

     Devils and demons have reaped a rich harvest over this controversial subject. I love the Psalms where it says, “God giveth the Word, and the company who publish it are a great host.” That “company” was and is both male and female. Listen to this next point. One Hebrew scholar, Dr. Godbey, commenting on the above passage, says: “An everlasting stigma rests upon the escutcheon¹ of King James translators for concealing the FEMININE GENDER, which is actually UNMISTAKABLE — ‘oth’ being the Hebrew termination, ‘basaroth’ in the Hebrew positively and unequivocally meaning ‘preaching women’. Glory to God for this prophetic vision of HOSTS AND ARMIES OF WOMEN GOING FORTH PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS! The fulfillment of this vision is to bring the millennium.”

     Dr. Clarke, LL.D., F.S.A., writes, “Of the female preachers there was a great host.” Clarke was one of the best Bible scholars of his day. He continues, ”Such is the literal translation of this passage; the reader may make of it what he pleases. Some think it refers to the women who, with music, songs and dances, celebrated the victories of the Israelites over their enemies. But the publication of ‘good news’, or of any ‘joyful event’, belonged to the women. It was they who announced it to the people at large; and to this universal custom, which prevails to the present day, the psalmist alludes.”

     The Amplified Bible reads, “The Lord gives the Word [of power]; the WOMEN who bear and publish [the news] are a GREAT HOST.” Like I said beforehand, it was the women, not men, at the empty tomb of Jesus that first told the “good news” of His resurrection! Sorry about that, men!

     So many men are afraid of women’s ministries today. Well, let me say this again: I DO NOT believe that certain women ought to be teaching/preaching—some are certainly out of order, sinful, etc. But the same goes for men too. Read my booklet, “Women In The Ministry” (Book 1). It explains a lot that I just can’t fit in here. I have several other issues that hopefully will be printed in the future.

     Some preachers of yesteryear called evangelists (traveling “preachers”) “tramps”, because they went about (“tramped or traveled about”) the land, preaching the Good News! Brother Philip had four daughters that were “preachers”. They had the gift of prophesy, which was for the saved more than for the unsaved, so these girls must have given out God’s Word to an audience of both men and women. I’m sure in their day there went up a great cry, “Let your women keep silent!”—but dear ones, these daughters were not married women as the ones Paul is assumed to be addressing in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. What do you men say about that?

     Godly, I said G-O-D-L-Y women throughout and from all countries have and will do what they are called to do. Hopefully, these ungodly women we have today will SHUT their nasty mouths and STEP DOWN from their thrones. Some of these “dazzling darlings” are a disgrace to the human race. This also goes for many of these “strutting studs” that are equally repugnant and repulsive.

     So, dear friends, let God be God in His own callings. No one can deny the calling and anointing that is upon my wife, General Deborah Green. I’ve seen many in the past that tried to stop her, but they were stopped—some even DIED because of their attacks against her. We have nasty hosts of “religious” perverts trying to destroy her now—yet God will keep her going on into what He has called her unto. Praise Our God!

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ENDNOTE: 1 Escutcheon represents one’s character or reputation, seeing that an escutcheon was a shield or emblem bearing a coat of arms.