Strong Man Of God Blog

            Let it be absolutely clear as of first importance that the value of women to God is exactly the same for the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and Man!  As the Head of every man immediately under Him in God’s order of mankind and Creator, the Lord Jesus also gives full support to the divinely designed value of women to men and families (Matthew 5:27-32; Mark 10:1-16; 1 Corinthians 11:3).  Truly, in condescending to become a Man conceived in His mother’s womb, birthed, nourished and nurtured by her, He has firsthand knowledge and appreciation of the experience of His creatures as well.  He was raised as any other Male by Joseph and Mary in a Jewish family (Luke 2:21-24, 39-52).

            During His ministry years, women were equally with men the beneficiaries of the messianic preaching, teaching and miracles of the Lord Jesus.  Indeed, He modeled for all men the disposition God expects of us toward women as a leader, teacher, provider and protector (Luke 4:31-44, 7:1-17, 36-50).  Women were well represented among the throngs that flocked to the Lord; becoming devoted disciples and helpers as major supporters (Luke 8:1-3, 10:38-42; John 12:1-8).  However, in accord with His Father’s will in the divine order of mankind, the Lord did not appoint any women to become apostles as I explain in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics (Luke 6:12-16).¹

            The intense love and devotion women are historically known for showed toward Jesus even after His crucifixion resulting in them being the first recorded mortals to hear the news and see Him alive from the dead (Luke 23:50-24:10; John 20:11-18).  There is no such thing as coincidence for the God I serve with my whole heart!  Thus, to make this last post discussing the value of women to Jesus Christ on Pentecost is completely a God thing since I did not plan it this way.  On this day nearly 2,000 years ago female followers of the now, ascended Christ, were also assembled with the apostles who by divine will had just picked the male replacement for Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:12-26).

            Surely, Mary, the mother of the Lord or other faithful women who had followed Him from the beginning of His ministry would seem to have been prime candidates as well to replace Judas as an apostle.  But the Lord did not give any sign whatsoever of a change in men alone being appointed apostles as was given to Peter at a later date concerning him as a Jew interacting with Gentiles (Acts 10:1-29).  Nevertheless, when the Holy Spirit arrived as promised by Christ, He came upon all of the firstfruits assembly without discrimination; all spoke in ecstatic praise of the ‘“wonderful works of God’” not having learned, but using the known languages of the Roman Empire (Acts 2:1-13, NKJV)!

            Of great significance about the crowd that had gathered to this miraculous occurrence, was the fact it was largely composed of men.  This is because the “Feast Of Harvest” or “Weeks” also known as Pentecost was of the three solemn gatherings in the seven holy feast calendar God had expressly commanded that all the men of Israel were to be present (Exodus 23:14-17, 34:22-26; Deuteronomy 16:9-12, 16-17; Acts 2:5, NKJV).  When it came time to explain what was going on and preach the Gospel to begin God’s full harvest of souls among the assembly of mostly male prospects, it was Peter that did so, though again, Spirit-filled women were present and could have too (Acts 2:14-41).

            Clearly, God was continuing to be consistent with implementing His order of mankind from Adam!  Men are His chosen leaders and He did not change this at the onset of the New Testament era.^{2 3}  As a result, from this beginning point at Pentecost with the Lord’s apostles (Acts 2:42) forward in the rest of the New Testament, formally appointed leaders, elders and pastors in the churches were all men.  The ministry of deacons as formal helpers to leadership was made up of men in any oversight of church run operational or ministry activities, while in no shocker, women in their role as helpers served with their husbands to help them.  Married or single, some women engaged in personal service and help ministries to church members and leaders (Acts 9:36-43; Romans 16:1-2).

            The Holy Spirit was not confused nor should we be walking in Him!  For when He fell on that first assembly at Pentecost without discrimination to give new birth to each disciple of Christ and power to praise God, He also distributed their spiritual gifts knowing the Lord’s will for each and honoring the divine order (1 Corinthians 12-14; Ephesians 4:7-16).  Therefore, just as the Lord used women to prophesy in the Old Testament, none of them including Deborah ever stood before the whole congregation of Israel to do so as Moses or Jeremiah (Exodus 15:20-21; Judges 4:1-14; 2 Kings 22:14-20; Jeremiah 7:1-2; Luke 2:36-38).  Neither were women priests or worship leaders.  All of this carried over into this New Testament era as the Spirit imparted spiritual gifts to women (Acts 21:8-9)!

            The Lord gives women the ability to prophesy, preach, teach or exercise sign gifts according to His will that is always consistent with His eternal Word and standing order of mankind.  Prophesy is addressed to individuals He may send the prophetess to or that might seek her out.  It might also be combined with the leadership gifts of preaching for proclaiming the Gospel and God’s message or teaching for biblically instructing women and/or children in gatherings small or large.  Service gifts supernaturally enhance a woman’s natural abilities to help their husbands and/or the churches serve the Lord’s Kingdom causes.  To go beyond the Lord’s will is sin (1 Corinthians 14:33-40)!⁴  The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"

1 The  Strong  Man  Of  God:  Back  To  Basics  is  available  through  all  major  internet  booksellers, by order from your favorite brick and mortar bookstore and in the
   Strong Man Store.  I also discuss and elaborate on this issue as the Lord leads in the January 27-February 10, 2017 three-part blog series, Jesus, Son Of Man and in
   a June 2017 series, The Value of Men To God and Jesus Christ respectively, all under the category, The Cause.

2 As  the  Lord leads me to contend in an Appendix of my book, all of the deceitful arguments that are presented within the churches to allow women to preach to, teach
   and take authority over men within them in these latter days are all predicated on God having made a change of some kind in His attitude toward or implementation of 
   the  divine  order of mankind.  This is preposterous not only because the divine order is perfect and beneficial to mankind in this present age, but also because among
   other  very  important  reasons  it  now includes Christ as the Second Adam and the Head of man!  Read my April 8, 2018 post, The Second Adam Rules And Judges,

   under  the  categories  Call  To  Repent  and  Bible  Prophecy  to  consider  this point further.  You can read my November and December 2007 two-part Commentary,
   When Did God Change? to walk through the major arguments of deceit that have enabled rebellion against the divine order in God’s house.

3 Unless one is willing to call God “sexist” or “unfair” (which some feminists do, though, most are careful to attempt to cloak this blasphemy by directing their accusations
   to those like me that would have the audacity to hold to God’s Word as it is written), there is no other option but to accept New Testament instruction and example as it

   is.  Doing so, of course, means feminism that opposes God’s order must be rejected because both approaches to human organization cannot be right at the same time

   and  are  in  fact, mutually exclusive.  For more on calling God “sexist” or “unfair” read my May 8, 2016 post, God A Sexist?, followed the next week, May 15^th with God
   Unfair?, both under the category, God’s Creatures.

4 Since so much confusion swirls around the Word of God in these latter days due in major part to poor interpretation, our Ministry as a Christian service continues to of-
  fer the free resource, Seven Principles Of Bible Interpretation the Lord led me to prepare to help those that honestly want to know how to interpret God’s Word.  Distilled

  from the excellent book, Knowing Scripture by Dr. R. C. Sproul that I urge you to get, our free resource is available in the Strong Man Store.