New article uses some of the same inaccurate arguments to support what the bible simply does not support.

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All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 1Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)

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Women in pastoral roles within the church. A topic that always stirs up people to one side or the other. I always preface any writing on this subject with the following caveats. I have no dog in this fight. This is not a hill I am willing to die upon because it is not crucial to the gospel. It is not a doctrinal issue leading people to hell. That unfortunately can come from either gender. I also know female preachers that can preach the paint off the walls who I have always known to stay true to scripture. The issue for me as always is what does the bible say regarding any topic. I had stayed away from this one until readers asked me to weigh in and after research and much reading it became crystal clear that women were not meant to serve in leadership positions within the church where they have authority over men. That would include pastoral and preaching positions. This does not mean they cannot prophesy or be given any of the gifts of the spirit. It does not mean that they cannot contribute mightily to the cause of Christ, as they have, throughout the millennia. That said, let us reason together through the recent article linked above and be concerned about what God wants. Let us be concerned with what God has said.

"Within the body of Christ, if you want a fiery debate, bring up the subject of women in ministry beyond the acceptable children's and prayer ministries. And, if you are going to add fuel to that fire, begin talking about women in the role of pastor or apostle. The debate surrounding women has not only divided the Christian community at large but has also divided local churches and even families. There have been many female pastors, including myself, approached by "well-meaning" men telling us that we are in sin because we are moving at a level in ministry that is not allowed by Scripture. However, is that correct interpretation of Scripture, religious tradition or something else? With any biblical topic, we must explore the whole of Scripture and ask the Lord to help us to understand. When we look at the whole of Scripture, we discover that 40 authors wrote the Bible over 1,450 years. This timeframe spans both sides of the cross, which encompasses both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Bible was not all penned in the same country; however, it was composed under the direction and inspiration of Jehovah." - Ruth Hendrickson

Obviously, Ms. Hendrickson has a dog in this fight as if she were to realize the truth it would shatter quite a bit of the identity she has built. That identity may have been built with best intentions. It may very well have been built out of perceived community need. It matters not. It only matters what the bible says. The issue is also not "women in ministry"; which is often used as a way to muddy the waters. Any clear reading of the bible reveals there is no issue with women in ministry. It is only the aforementioned authoritative roles over men. Most would agree a great deal of the chaos and progressive sin in society today has been brought through an obscuring of the roles of men and women yet the church seems content to mimic this. God specifically says no and also provides His reasoning:

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. - 1Timothy 2:12-14 (ESV)

This is a clear, directive scripture. It says - "I do not permit." There is no haze or question about the actual interpretation of the words. God, knowing it would be a point of contention, even provides His reasoning by declaring man was formed first and it was the woman who was deceived in the garden. To escape the definitive nature of this directive scripture, people will bend over backwards to look at anything else BUT this command. In Hendrickson's case, she wants to expand what we are looking at. Suddenly instead of discussing clear directive scriptures we are looking at the entire canon of scripture, written by 40 authors over 1450 years. Now, we always take into consideration the entire canon of scripture but we start with the individual scripture we are examining and work our way out. The amount of authors and years are irrelevant due to the key verse that reminds us that ALL scripture is actually written (God breathed) by God, a point even Hendrickson seems to agree with.

"As we dig deeper, we learn that of these 40 authors, only one author prohibited women in ministry, and that is Paul. If we go deeper, we find that he wrote nine letters to churches and only restricted women in three churches. If we take a deep breath and explore deeper, we discover that these three churches were all in areas that worshipped major female deities and that cultural beliefs were becoming mixed in with the church's doctrine. Finally, with another breath, we discover that Paul also empowered women and recognized them as leaders." - Ruth Hendrickson

Here are three very common arguments for women preaching and the first is blaming Paul. What is painfully ironic is that Hendrickson just made the point that all scripture is written under divine inspiration, meaning God wrote the words, not the author. One cannot make the argument that God writes all scripture and in the next breath say that only Paul denied women in authoritative leadership. It was not Paul - it was God! The second common argument here is that Paul was only writing to the specific churches in question because only they had these issues with women. This is simply not the way that we interpret scripture. Yes, cultural concerns are important for context but culture does not actually change what God has written. Let me show you in other verses:

As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. - 2Thessalonians 3:13 (ESV)

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 (ESV)

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)

These instructions came from the Apostle Paul to three different churches. In the context of the letter itself, surely there was something cultural at that specific church that prompted Paul to write it. Perhaps the Thessalonians were growing weary of doing good. Perhaps the Ephesians had the tendency to let corrupting talk come from their mouths and the Philippians dealt with anxiety issues. Does that mean these verses ONLY apply to these churches? Of course not. That is the point of the key verses today. All scripture comes from God and is useful. The third common argument Hendrickson presents here is that Paul recognized other female leaders, which he most certainly did! What he never did however is promote any to pastoral or preaching positions with authority over men. No matter how much you want to muddy the waters or change the subject, we come back to the clear directive scriptures. I do not permit.

"Amid this heated debate, what do we do with Galatians 3:26-28? Within this very passage of Scripture, Paul takes away ethnic arguments as he states there is neither Jew nor Greek. He also strips away socioeconomic class arguments, stating that the positions of free versus slave do not exist in the kingdom of God. In addition, he adds that there is neither male nor female, which should bring peace to our argument about women in ministry. - Ruth Hendrickson

What do we do with this scripture? We interpret it in context. Paul is making the argument here about what things are like in the kingdom of God, not within the church. It is a talk about salvation. There are no classes or castes when determining who gets saved, praise God! Ironically, the actual context of the letter is speaking against the Judaizers, who had infiltrated the Galatian church and was attaching circumcision to the conditions for salvation. That is what this is actually speaking against. We do not need Christ and circumcision. We just need Christ. There is no Jew or Greek when it comes to salvation. There is not man or woman. Nowhere does this scripture say to go and destroy all gender norms. It certainly does not contradict the clear and directive scriptures previously discussed.

"How do we manage Genesis 1:27, where Scripture states that "God created man in his own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." When we look at the creation account, we see that God did not yet create Eve. Both Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, which means something extraordinary happened when Adam was given Holy Spirit anesthesia, underwent rib surgery and discovered Eve when he woke up. Speaking of ribs, the word used for "rib" is Tesla (yes, like the car), and in most places, translated as side-chamber rather than rib. When I look at this, I see men and women walking side by side in their gifts, talents and leadership, each fulfilling their God-given gift and calling. When we, the body of Christ, put restrictions on which gifts women or a man can operate in, we are effectively operating with one arm tied behind our back." - Ruth Hendrickson

Neither does Genesis 1:27. The leap made by Hendrickson in interpretation is quite extraordinary. So, because the word used for rib is tesla and tesla means side chamber, that means men and women walk side by side with no differences whatsoever? Yeah, that is simply not supported by the entire canon of scripture not to mention the previously discussed directive verses. It is not man but God who placed these restrictions. He even told us why. We would be wise to at least acknowledge this.

"All through Scripture, we see the Pharisees being reprimanded for their rules and regulations and missing the Messiah. In biblical times, as today, we see people bound by man's laws and religious traditions, which will always cause us to fall short." - Ruth Hendrickson

When all else fails, play the Pharisee card! What is Hendrickson actually advocating for? Are there supposed to be no rules for believers because God used the word tesla for rib? Seriously? Are there no regulations for the church? Do we only allow two or three tongue speakers as directed or was that just meant for those pesky Corinthians? Do we dismiss the rich theology of do's and don'ts found in the Timothy books because that was just Paul instructing Timothy? We cannot play these games with holy scripture. ALL scripture is God-breathed - even the parts we do not like or understand fully. Once we launch into cultural and historical arguments, we are just looking for reasons we can disobey.

"Is it possible that we are quenching the outpouring of the Holy Spirit by holding people in bondage? Is it possible that we are not sitting under the teaching, preaching and apostleship that we should be experiencing because a small number has determined that women cannot have those gifts in their lives? Our God is not a God of confusion, and these words that Paul wrote were not penned to bring bondage or confusion. The heartbeat of God is always to bring healing and freedom We need to call forth the modern-day Deborahs, Esthers, Priscillas, Abigails, Phoebes and Junias into their proper positions. We have a mandate to bring heaven to earth, and we can only do this when all the members of the body of Christ are walking in the fullness of their God-ordained destiny. If we were to do this indeed, I imagine the demonic realm would shake as it has not shaken since Jesus rose from the dead." - Ruth Hendrickson

Ruth Hendrickson should take her own words very carefully. God is not the author of confusion yet she is very, very confused. Paul may have penned the words but God wrote them! We either believe in divine inspiration or we do not. She never considers that the people who answer to her as pastor may also be in bondage because she refuses to correctly divide the word of truth. The heartbeat of God is not mentioned in scripture and it certainly was not about freedom for everyone. Paul never was freed for example. Everyone is not always healed either! Junias was a man and even if you want to pretend otherwise, this person was not an apostle! Phoebe was a servant, not a deacon. The word diakonos meant servant. The word deacon was not even invented until a 1000 years later! Priscilla was not a pastor! The only person listed here that ever exercised any authority over men is Deborah but you do not create doctrine out of a singular incident in 6000 years! Towards the end here we start to see that Ruth Hendrickson's theology is skewed wrong for sure. I was concerned about the heartbeat of God nonsense, which is very sloppy agape but now we have the NAR referent about bring heaven to earth, which is 100% heretical. It is actually the slogan of Bethel Church in Redding California.

Beloved do not fall for broad sweeping arguments that may sound good in a sound bite but twist and mangle scripture. God wrote the bible, not Paul. The demonic realm will never shake in fear until people who fancy themselves Christians actually start obeying the bible and that is ultimately what this issue comes down to. Ruth Hendrickson does not want to obey scripture because if she did she would have to give up the niche she has carved out for herself in the apostate church system. Too harsh? Here is her bio:

Ruth Hendrickson is an ordained pastor, itinerant speaker, ministry trainer and board-certified biblical counselor who has extensive experience in the development, training and oversight of emotional healing ministry teams, recovery ministries, prophetic ministry, prayer ministries and women's ministry. In addition, she is a course facilitator for Patricia King Institute and Charisma courses. She writes for Elijah List and Charisma and has a podcast titled "Real Truth with Ruth." Through biblically based teachings and practical applications infused with love and laughter, her goal is to introduce people not only to the living God who saves, but also to the God who desires an intimate relationship with each one of us.

Patricia King, Charisma News, and the Elijah List. Forget about even needing the clear directive scriptures. She is disqualified way before we ever get to the Apostle Paul. Mark and avoid beloved. Mark and avoid.

Reverend Anthony Wade - April 25, 2022

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.