At age 12 in 1957 I submitted to the altar to become a member of a So. Baptist church in Mesquite TX so my neighbor boys already members there could win the Evangelist Flag in VBS one summer. I was quickly water baptized, but having no desire to know about Jesus or find out about Christianity until another 19 years passed, after 9 years of hopes of my wife. I was so struck by the presence of the Spirit that we pursued the possibility I was to be a pastor. That didn't happen, but I did engage in constant Bible study and teaching, and fill-in preaching (without a license or ordination) for the past 30 years for many denominations.
As for women correcting/reproving men, that is a case by case issue for me and most churches I am familiar with. I've been ministered to by women who are indeed called to preach the gospel, and some very anointed for that. I honor with all my being any church that insists a preacher must be a man and married according to Jesus' last sermon on earth in
Mark 16:14-15 (KJV) [SUP]14 [/SUP] Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
[SUP]15 [/SUP] And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
The hearers of that were the remaining eleven apostles, with no women or disciples in general present. Jesus commanded men, not women there. So if that's the way a denomination wants it to remain, then so be it with me.
BUT. Paul wrote in Galatians 3:25-29 (KJV)
[SUP]25 [/SUP] But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
[SUP]26 [/SUP] For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
[SUP]27 [/SUP] For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
[SUP]28 [/SUP] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
[SUP]29 [/SUP] And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
There is also the continual fulfillment of Acts 2:16-21 (KJV)
[SUP]16 [/SUP] But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
[SUP]17 [/SUP] 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:
[SUP]18 [/SUP] And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
[SUP]19 [/SUP] And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
[SUP]20 [/SUP] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
[SUP]21 [/SUP] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Ever since that day women have done their part even as men allowed them. We can't declare that women should not preach/prophesy to men and women.
Paul warned of the possibility of women usurping authority over men. That's still a valid concern. I've had women wanting to serve in jail/prison ministry who came "in the spirit of Deborah", and before that "in the spirit of Elijah". Those were "authority movements" that deceived many godly women who were very devoted to Christ. In every case those that presented around here were totally unsuited to minister to men, especially men in compromised situations like those, and of course divorce, and sexual sin. Men who are extreme "con artist" in nature easily drag women with pure hearts away from the Lord. As a result no woman I know of is allowed to do whatever ministry she desires. We can't even do well letting a woman sing to male prisoners in an open setting. No man needing council should be in a closed office room with a female pastor. It isn't Bible. The man needing council needs to submit to a male pastor that understands how a man is likely to think and act.
Before all that came varieties of "substitutionary ministry" in which a well intentioned minister would stand-in for some person who was adversely affected by some actor in their past. A favorite role was a man's mother or father. We've all evaluated women standing in as a man's deceased daddy or mother, saying missing words of assurance the abused "child" needed to hear long ago. That doesn't work, and borders on necromancy, by permitting the deceased to make amends to a child.
Those are some debunked ministries that were based solely on emotion, without scriptural basis. If everyone inviolved had fully understood Paul's warning, none of that would have had much impact. 1 Timothy 2:8-15 (KJV)
[SUP]8 [/SUP] I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
[SUP]9 [/SUP] In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
[SUP]10 [/SUP] But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
[SUP]11 [/SUP] Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
[SUP]12 [/SUP] But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
[SUP]13 [/SUP] For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
[SUP]14 [/SUP] And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
[SUP]15 [/SUP] Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
It was understood that women taught women, taught their children. Men were to take up the role of teaching men and women, preaching as they were anointed to do. That was and still is the perfect scenario. I've witnessed, though, an extreme lack of men willing to do their part spiritually. Until a man uses his authority to lead a congregation, I see no reason God won't allow a woman to fill a gap as much as is practical, as in the case of Deborah (Judges 4-5), which ought not be cited as a regular use of authority in all times and cultures. Paul was right to say the woman ought to be married, submitted to one husband. No man in her life.....no listen. Her children are commanded to obey their parents. No man married to a woman ought to submit to any woman.
