As we approach the end of the Church Age and the Second Coming of Christ, we can -- and we should -- expect more and more spiritual confusion.
There is a thread on wrestling with the forces of darkness, and one of the ways in which evil spirits are battling Christians (as well as those who seek the truth and salvation) is to sow more and more spiritual confusion in society at large, and within the churches and the minds of individual Christians.
Everything from the nature of Christ, to the true Gospel, to the essential doctrines of Christianity are being attacked, and undermined, and perverted, so that people are confused as to what is true and what is false. Add to that the attempts to revive Moses and the Old Covenant and impose it on Christians, and people don't know what to believe and what to reject.
Add to that the false doctrines that God chooses some for salvation, and the bulk of humanity for damnation, and a budding evangelist will wonder why the Gospel should even be preached (after all God has already made up His mind). Then we have dozens of false Gospels floating around, plus Gnostic ideas, plus Gnostic corruptions of the Bible claiming to be the true Word of God while attacking the fundamentals of the faith (starting with the Divine preservation of Scripture).
Then we have the ordination of homosexual clergy, and the ordination of women (who should keep silence in churches), as well as the promotion of glossolalia over genuine biblical tongues (glossais). Add to that the false televangelists and preachers with their Word of Faith doctrines, and their false notions about the finished work of Christ, and what you have is total spiritual confusion.
But Christians -- genuine children of God -- need not be confused, or deluded, or duped. We do have the true Word of God in our hands (the Authorized Version) and we do have the Holy Spirit indwelling our spirits. So if Christians are willing to labor in the Word and doctrine, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free" ( John 8:23). But how is that possible? God has already given us the answer, so just believe it and act on it. It is God the Holy Spirit who reveals the truth to us.
But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things...But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:20,27).
Random thoughts:
1 Co 14:34-35
34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
KJV
We find this only in 1Cor 14. In the culture of Corinth, only women who were cult prostitutes in the temple of Diana went unveiled or spoke out in public. If it were intended as a universal principle, I believe letters to other churches would mention it.
1 Ti 3:1-5
3 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
KJV
I believe that bishop, overseer, in this sense means the same thing as pastor.
Why
the husband of one wife? I believe that in principle God desires male leadership in the church, not because women are inferior in any way; but because people make mistakes, and when mistakes are made in church leadership God wants a man to take the heat.
Scripture says that homosexuality is an abomination to God and no laws of men can override God's authority.