Here is an email that I received from a confused feminist:
Nice try, but Deborah fought against the armies attacking Israel, Jael lead [sic] the army to freedom. Lydia was a businesswoman. Phoebe was a Deacon in the church. Junia was an apostle. Isaiah and Acts say that in the last days, your sons and daughters will preach. The bible says that no one operating under a spirit can say "Jesus is Lord" unless from the Holy Ghost. Many women pastors are proclaiming Jesus is Lord while performing a supernatural act, so biblically that can only come from the Holy Spirit. Unless you believe the devil is behind preaching the gospel. Wrong again!
As I have pointed out in my articles the Bible provides a wealth of commands, instructions and examples of the roles that men and women are to have. Men are clearly put forward as the leaders and women are to keep the home fires burning. From Genesis to Revelation, the attitude is consist throughout. Up against this mass of evidence for the biblical rejection of feminism, what can the feminists come up with?
Let us look at the absurd claims made in this email.
1. Deborah fought against the armies attacking Israel.
Did she? Is there a record of her lifting a sword like a man and actually fighting? No. In fact it is interesting to note how much of a male chauvinist Deborah was. When the wimpy king of Israel begged her to come along she insulted his effeminate, feministic attitude:
And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. Judges 4:8,9
Deborah told Barak that the enemy would be sold into the hand of a woman. Do you get it? Men are supposed to lead, and when they are so weak as they were in the time of Deborah, where she, as a woman, would be placed in the role of a judge and leader,* then something needed to be said to the men to shake them out of their wimpy state of mind. Would a feminist make such a statement? Would a woman who felt her sex was being put down by male chauvinism, a chauvinism which had saturated the Hebrew life from its very start, proclaim that a man's honor would be taken from him because a woman would kill Sisera? Of course not. It is clear from this story that Deborah believed that a man should stand on his own two feet and women did not belong in the position of leading men.
2. Jael lead [sic] the army to freedom.
This is even farther removed from reality. Feminists will twist the truth as hard as necessary to make their point of view sound like it is normal and reality based. Was Jael a leader? Who was Jael? Let's look in Judges 4.
17. Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
Jael was identified by her marriage. She was the "wife of Heber." The king Sisera was already on the run. He had been defeated in battle and was running for his life. He would be killed as soon as he was found. He chose to run to this area because he felt he would be on friendly turf here.
So now let us read what it is that Jael did and what her claim to fame was.
18. And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. 19. And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. 20. Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No. 21. Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
That is it. She tricked him into thinking he was safe. Let him fall asleep and she drove a nail into his sleeping skull. The story was more of an insult to Sisera, as Deborah had pointed out in verse 9 above, than it was praise for Jael. She was brave for a woman but she was not a leader and did not lead the army at all, to freedom or anywhere else. The army had already defeated Sisera in battle and were in the process of chasing him down to kill him. Another feminist lie falls into the dust.
3. Lydia was a businesswoman.
Lydia is a woman whose name is mentioned in two verses of the New Testament. She is said to be a seller of cloth ("purple") in Acts 16:14. This is not an exceptional thing for a woman to do. In Proverbs (see The Perfect Woman) it states that a woman will weave and create or grow things to sell to the merchants. There is no point to be made here that is new.
In Acts 16:15 and also in verse 40 you will see why she is mentioned. She is mentioned because she was kind enough to open up her house to the disciples when they needed lodging. That's it.
4. Phoebe was a Deacon in the church.
Here is all the entire Bible says about Phoebe:
I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also. Romans 16:1,2
What do we know about Phoebe from the Bible? This is a letter of introduction for a woman to the church of Rome. She was a servant of the church at Cenchrea. What service she performed is unknown beyond the statement that she succored many, including Paul. This is not a woman leading the church or performing any role other than that of a traditional woman. Only a feminist would even mention her as an example of feminism in the Bible. Would Paul state in 1 Timothy 2:11 that women must be silent in church, and in Romans 16:1,2 state a woman was running a church?
Please note that whatever Paul is saying here, the only mention of Phoebe that occurs at all in the entire Bible is in this obscure verse. The feminist pushes aside the massive, clear and obvious evidence throughout the Bible, in order to grab with a death grip upon the scarce and the obscure, in order to fabricate something which might be pawned off as evidence. The Bible is completely silent about even a single official function of the church ever being performed by a woman.
5. Junia was an apostle.
Once again reaching for the obscure, we have the feminists grabbing onto this verse:
Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Romans 16:7
Here Paul refers to two long time Christians by name. There is some debate as to whether Junia is male or female. Even if female there is no identification as to what is meant by the term apostle in this verse. These two may be married and many times a man and wife will be listed together under the title that the man alone holds. What role did Junia play in the church? There is no record whatsoever. If female, we must assume that it was not an official one because there is absolutely no indisputable record of any official position held in the church by any female in the entire New Testament. No action of Junia is listed here or anywhere else. To read into this verse something that would contradict the rest of the Bible, would be deceitful at best. When the feminist proclaims to the world that the church had female deacons and apostles they contradict every piece of evidence in the Bible which defines the roles of men and women. It is really quite amusing to see the blindness that feminists are eager to have towards the absurdity of their desperate position. They are quite willing to overturn everything in the Bible in order to allow their twisted point of view to survive. That is why a Christian Feminist can never truly exist.
6. Isaiah and Acts say that in the last days, your sons and daughters will preach.
You can tell the love and concern for accuracy that feminists have for the Bible. This feminist does not produce knowledge from study of the Bible, but rather from referencing some feminist quote from a book. Neither of the books she cited says anything about daughters preaching. There is no verse in the entire Bible which contains the words "daughters" and "preach," or any variation of those words. Isaiah doesn't even say anything about daughters prophesying. However, in Acts and in Joel it does talk about sons and daughters prophesying. Here is what Acts 2 says:
17. 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: 18. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19. And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
And Joel 2:
28 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: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
The two biblical quotes are closely related as you can see. Note that when all of these other events happen then daughters will prophesy and not until. Also, you will note that it says absolutely nothing about women, young or old preaching! It is referring to a special situation in the very last days where the world is going to be turned on its head by natural wonders, and those from every part of the church will be prophesying. It is not speaking of the way that the church will be normally run before that intense time.
7. The bible says that no one operating under a spirit can say "Jesus is Lord" unless from the Holy Ghost. Many women pastors are proclaiming Jesus is Lord while performing a supernatural act, so biblically that can only come from the Holy Spirit. Unless you believe the devil is behind preaching the gospel. Wrong again!
Here is a real proof for you. We are supposed to accept the statement as fact that there are many women "pastors" performing supernatural acts. Why are we supposed to believe that? Because the feminists say so. Great reasoning. We only have to remember that Joseph Smith, and many others have made similar claims for themselves.
When the Bible clearly points out that women have a certain role, and feminists proclaim that role is a sham and demeaning, can there be any doubt as to what the feminist's true feeling is for the Bible and its message? It is impossible for someone who feels that way about the Bible, who places their own ideas so far over what the Bible teaches, to be a servant of the God of the Bible. Christianity and feminism are mutually exclusive concepts and the only reason feminists are interested in being viewed as Christians is to destroy the foundation of that great source of opposition to their movement, from the inside. Their efforts have been surprisingly effective. There are a large number of churches which have given up the Bible in favor of the feminist doctrine, installed woman into the role of "pastor," and thereby moved out of the Christian community.
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* This is the only time in all of the history contained in the Hebrew Old Testament where a female was put into this position! [Return]