Women pastors and preachers: “Perhaps the most obvious evidence of churches rebelling against the Bible” – MacArthur
In 2019, Bible teacher John Macarthur addressed the issue of female preachers in a sermon and said: “Perhaps women pastors and women preachers are the most obvious evidence of churches rebelling against the Bible.”
Progressive woke Christians accused him of misogyny and toxic masculinity and decried his literal interpretation of the Bible.
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT WOKE.
First, let us establish that women are essential in the ministry
1. Great women of the Bible
Even in ancient Israel, women were looked down upon, and just a century ago, many of them suffered in the age of oppressive patriarchy. Men looked down on women as commodities that couldn’t lead, let alone preach in the pulpit.
This does not mean God frowned on women. In fact, they were critical in spreading the Gospel. There were Old Testament women whom God used to save His people.
Deborah
Esther
Eve
Hannah
Mary Magdalene
Mary, Mother of Jesus
Miriam
Ruth
Sarah
2. It’s the women who first brought the good news
In the Bible, Jesus picked men as apostles, not women. However, the church structure has both males and females as deacons. Women were the first to bring the good news to others that Jesus had been resurrected. Yet there are no records of women as overseers of a congregation.
Today, female educators and leaders have proven effective in an organization, if not better than men. But why would God disallow them to preach or lead a church?
The Bible has a limited but straightforward answer: “Adam was created first, then Eve.” Adam was not the one deceived but the woman. God created Adam first and then created Eve to be a “helper” for Adam.
1 Timothy 2:11–14
“Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man; instead, she remains quiet.
Adam was formed first, then Eve; Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”
3. Man’s helper
What Pastor John said sounds sexist and unfair to motivated women, but women have always taken the back seat since the early church. After all, women were created from Adam’s ribs as his helper (Genesis 2). Of course, it is not to say women are unessential in ministry.
It’s not to say women are unessential in ministry.
FAMOUS PASTORS ACCUSED OF HERESY.
Three ways ‘women preachers’ can be problematic in society
1. Female preachers are endangering the Gospel
Even if Jesus let Mary and Magdalene be the first to let others know He has resurrected (which is essentially the Gospel), church leadership is given only to men. Period.
Macarthur, clearly opposed women in interpreting doctrines, said, “God’s standards are clear: the leadership role is reserved for men.“
Macarthur rebuked, in particular, Beth Moore because these types of women preachers promote Moralistic Theistic Deism and the false promise of the prosperity gospel. Others fight for LGBTQ rights and push for a “holy gay union.”
“Women preachers” who spread controversial doctrines have grown in the last days:
Aimee Semple McPherson
Anne Hutchinson
Beth Moore
Elena G. White
Joyce Meyer
Kay Warren
Mary Baker Eddy
Nadia Bolz-Weber
Paula White
Sarah Jakes Roberts
Victoria Osteen
The heresy is not limited to women. Even the prominent magazine ‘Christianity Today’ has turned woke, supporting BLM social justice causes and female preachers like Beth Moore and Kay Warren.
1 Timothy 3:1-2:
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he* desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,* sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach…*
[* Even if women are able to teach, the verse doesn’t explicitly mention women as overseers; it uses masculine language (“he“) and not a “they” and describes him as a husband.]
2. Female leaders have eroded Biblical truths in America
Perhaps women were forbidden to preach and lead because God knew how Satan would use women. In the United States, far-left liberal women take the lead in supporting his evil plan.
- Female politicians like Nancy Pelosi push laws to protect against abortion. [PBS]
- Female activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair was responsible for banning Christian prayers in schools.
- Female professors promote liberal ideologies such as the woke Critical Race Theory (CRT), a demonic doctrine. [David Brown]
- Lutheran transgender pastors are the prime movers of same-sex marriage that are acceptable in woke churches today. [ECLA]
- Most of the liberal professors in universities are females who are militant, anti-conservative, and anti-Christian.
- Female social activists, such as the founders of Black Lives Matter, are leading to the destruction of nuclear families and normative society.
- Far-left liberal ideology is at war with the scriptures. Young women are more left-wing liberals than men, a study reveals.
Scripture is clear—men are to lead the church.
3. It’s mocking God’s design because men are tasked to lead
Society has feminized the pastor’s office
Modern society has “feminized” the pastor’s office, according to the Dean of Theology at ACU, Voddie Burcham. Coupled with a new trend of gender equality, this is what Satan aims for.
In “Luciferian gender equality,” there is no distinction of roles between male and female. It’s not enough for the devil to introduce gender dysphoria and confuse girls and boys—the church, too, has to be confused.
Ultimately, the aim is to dilute the role of men and label it “toxic masculinity.”
The bottom line is that women are equally valuable in God’s eyes and critical to the spread of the Gospel—but leadership and preaching are tasked to men. The order of creation has universal application in the family (Ephesians 5:22–33) and the church.
I normally find okay for women pastors to lead churches, but this well written article gives me a very good understanding. Now I agree that church leadership should be for men.