The foolishness of Calvinism is in its denial of scriptures that support Arminianism and the foolishness of Arminianism is in its denial of scriptures that support Calvinism. There is a need to harmonize Calvinism and Arminianism.
Andrew Wommack’s Hyper Arminianism
For quite some time, I was perplexed by Mr. Andrew Wommack’s gospel on LTV in Uganda(Andrew Wommack has even opened up a shop in Kampala, where his materials are sold) . He some times begins his TV programme in truth, but as he sinks deeper and deeper into his programme, his gospel get more and more confused. I started to ask my self a question; what are the theological foundations of this teacher. Well, Mr. Andrew Wommack is a hyper Arminian. Now in order to understand Arminianism, one needs to understand Calvinism because Arminianism is a reaction to Calvinism. This Calvinism Versus Arminianism debate is one of the most controversial debates in the church today.
The foolishness of Calvinism versus The foolishness of Arminianism
The foolishness of Calvinism is in its denial of scriptures that support Arminianism and the foolishness of Arminianism is in its denial of scriptures that support Calvinism. There is a need to harmonize Calvinism and Arminianism. God sovereignty does not negate human freedom and human freedom does not negate God’s sovereignty. In his absolute sovereignty, God has chosen to give man freedom to even rebel against him even after being given the grace to be saved. God does not control human beings like robots. If human beings were simply cogs in a machine, then God would be unjust to punish them in hell. How can God condemn some body for disobedience, yet he/she was simply determined by God to disobey. This is a serious dilemma for Calvinists.
It is fallacious for Word faith prosperity Gospel Armenians like Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Price to hiss that we should never go before God and say, ‘Let your will be done’’. According to Hinn these are faith destroying words(compare with (Matthew 26:39- where the Lord Jesus Christ prayed that God’s will should be done). It is blasphemous for the likes of Kenneth Copeland to hiss that when Adam and Eve sinned, God was kicked out of the earth on a legal technicality, and therefore he needed men of faith like Abraham to reinforce his sovereignty back to the universe. What nonsense!!! If God was kicked out on technicality, how comes he destroyed people with a flood in Genesis Chapter 7 ??? I urge you, to read Hank Hanegraaf’s expose titled, ‘’ Christianity in Crisis, Harvest House Publishers, 1997, especially chapter 24 on Sovereignty and sickness.
MUST READ: BRO.DAVID CLOUD’S ANALYSIS OF THE CALVINIST DEBATE PART ONE
http://wayoflife.org/files/bb9ae697167e8970a8d6cb0d5ce6d54e-133.html
MUST READ: BRO.DAVID CLOUD’S ANALYSIS OF THE CALVINIST DEBATE PART TWO
http://www.wayoflife.org/files/11d400dee0763c17337019e9c7c217f6-186.html
BE WARE: CALVINISM IS TRYING TO MAKE A COME BACK
http://www.wayoflife.org/files/category-calvinism.html
Dave Hunt Refutes Calvinism. Calvinists Refute Dave Hunt
http://procinwarn.com/DHCal.htm
http://www.cephasministry.com/calvanism_what_love_is.html
Calvinist attacks hyper Calvinism
http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/hypercal.htm
Calvinism Critically Examined
http://www.heavensfamily.org/ss/calvinism
Hyper Calvinism’s attack of the gospel of free will
http://www.antichristconspiracy.com/PDFDocs/Antigospel.pdf
Calvinism Versus Arminianism
http://examiningcalvinism.com
The Five Points of Calvinism(T.U.L.I.P)
Calvinists argue that if Christ takes the punishment in the place of a particular sinner, that person must be saved since it would be unjust for him then to be condemned for the same sins…. Calvinists view the atonement as a penal substitution (that is, Jesus was punished in the place of sinners), and since, Calvinists argue, it would be unjust for God to pay the penalty for some people's sins and then still condemn them for those sins, all those whose sins were atoned for must necessarily be saved.
http://www.heavensfamily.org/ss/calvinism/calvin_intro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism
The Five Points of Arminiainsm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arminianism
Andrew Wommack and TBN word Faith phantoms
I understand Andrew Wommack is a great fun of Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin who teach that faith is a force with a negative and positive side or pole. When you speak negative words like; I want to die, I’m broke, I’m sick, then the negative pole will be activated and therefore you will die, be poor and get sick. The negative pole or side represents satan and the positive pole represents God. So, when you speak negative words you activate satan and when you speak positive words you activate God. In other words God is a being governed by laws. No wonder they hate the sovereignty of God. This theology is from the world of the occult. Andrew Womack believes that if five people pray for a person, and 3 of them have unbelief, that person will not be healed. Therefore he advises people to avoid being prayed for by people who lack faith.
Andrew is implicitly invoking Copeland’s ‘force of faith’ theology. The likes of Copeland and Andrew Wommack believe that God is governed by LAWS such as; the law of faith. The more you discover the laws the more you will manipulate things in your favour after all, God can not act out side his LAWS. They actually believe that God has faith. According to Copeland God can not do anything outside faith. Precisely , Faith is God’s source of power.I once again urge, African saints to read Hank Hanegraaf’s expose titled, ‘’ Christianity in Crisis, Harvest House Publishers, 1997,especially chapter five on the force of faith, you life will never be the same
Compare Andrew Wommack’s amazing heresies below with the following scriptures
11And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? (Exodus 4:11)
71It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes…. 75I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. (Psalm 119:71& 75)
5And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king's son was over the house, judging the people of the land.(2 Kings 15:5)
19And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. 20And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. (Luke 1:19-20)
21And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. 22And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. 23And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.(Acts 12:21-23)
These word faith parrots have come up with their own bibles which defend their heresies. For example in Kenneth Copeland’s version of the bible, Mark 11:22, reads ‘’have the faith of God’’ instead of ‘’have faith in God’’. According to Copeland, God has faith. See, Kenneth Copeland, Holy bible: Kenneth Copeland reference edition, Fort Worth, TX, Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1991. If you carefully examine Luke 23:43 in Joyce Meyer’s version of the bible it reads, ‘’I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise’’. So, putting the comma after the word TODAY implies that after dying on the cross Jesus went to hell to pay for our sins. Many born Christians like to ‘enjoy every day life’(foolery) with Joyce Meyer but they are un aware of the fact that she believes that Jesus did not pay for our sins on the cross, but rather in hell.
Faith teachers read Mark 11:22( have faith in God) as have the faith of God
Faith use Hebrews 11:3 (Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by God) to defend the heresy that God has faith. However scripture say, ‘’We throught faith..’’ who? WE
Andrew Wommack’s ridiculous heresies
The more you know about faith and how it works, the better it will work for you. If all you knew was that you have the same faith Jesus has, then that would remove hopelessness and motivate you. People would eventually see results if they just kept trying, but they give up easily because they believe they don't have what it takes. That is not true. The Lord has given us everything we need, including all the faith we need. We just need to acknowledge what we have and begin to learn the LAWS that govern the operation of GOD'S FAITH.
SEE, The Faith Of God
http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/faith_god
believe this is the worst doctrine in the church today. I know that this is a shocking statement and is near blasphemy to some people, but the way sovereignty" is taught today is a real faith killer. The belief that God controls everything that happens to us is one of the devil's biggest inroads into our lives. If this belief is true, then our actions are irrelevant, and our efforts are meaningless. What will be will be.
If we believe that God wills everything, good or bad, to happen to us, it gives us some temporary relief from confusion and condemnation, but in the long-term, it slanders God, hinders our trust in God, and leads to passiveness.
SEE, The Sovereignty Of God
http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/sovereignty_god
God has already placed His healing power within us, and it is now under our authority. It isn’t up to God to determine who receives healing; it’s up to us! What a powerful statement! It’s our failure to understand and use the authority we have that is keeping God's healing power from flowing as it should. It's imperative that we discover what we have and learn how to release it. If you don't have my album entitled The Believer's Authority, you need to get it. The message will not only affect the way you receive and minister healing, but it will change the entire way you relate to God. It's a powerful teaching.
Here's another indispensable basic truth you must know and understand about healing: It's never God's will for us to be sick; He wants every person healed every time. That's nearly-too-good-to-be-true news, but that's the Gospel. Most Christians don't know or believe that. They think the Lord makes them sick, or at the very least, He allows Satan to make them sick to either punish or correct them. That kind of thinking will get you killed; it's not what the Bible teaches.
One of the most elementary principles in God's Word is given in James 4:7. It says,
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
This verse clearly teaches that some things are of God, and some things are of the devil. Notice it doesn't present a third category: from God through the devil. No! Sickness has nothing to do with God! Submit to the things of God, and resist the things of the devil. It's that simple. To believe that God allows or approves of Satan's actions defies the logic of James 4:7. It eliminates our responsibility to resist and places ultimate responsibility for everything back on God.
The widely-accepted doctrine that God controls everything is a deception. If Satan can confuse and deceive you on that issue, he's got you! Why? Because you'll stop resisting. No one wants to resist God's will, and if you think that God is behind your sickness, you'll submit to it. That violates the instruction of James 4:7, it won't get you healed, and it lets Satan have his way in your life.
SEE, Faith For Healing Is Based On Knowledge
http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/healing_knowledge
‘’Did you know a Christian can actually die from sickness or disease while the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lies dormant within them?...’’
‘’Your soul wasn’t saved either. You may have the same thoughts and emotions you had before you were saved. And because of that, some people seriously doubt whether or not they are saved. They don’t understand that the change took place in their spirits. Typically, your body and soul are both impacted by what happens at salvation, but that’s not where the complete change took place.’’
SEE, Understanding Spirit, Soul, And Body
http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/spirit_soul
We have been deceived into believing prayer is all about persuading God to release His power. We believe He can save, heal, and deliver but that He is waiting on us to shape up and earn it. The truth is, we don’t deserve it, and we will never be good enough. Because of Jesus, all that God has is ours. That’s good news. We no longer need to beg or plead; we need to exercise the authority He as given us and receive His blessings.
First, we need to recognize that God isn’t angry at mankind anymore. He is no longer imputing or holding our sins against us.
“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19).
We are NOW reconciled to God through Jesus. That means we are in harmony and are friendly with God right now. He isn’t mad; He’s not even in a bad mood. The war between God and man is over. That’s what the angels proclaimed at the birth of Jesus.
Luke 2:14 says,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
These angels weren’t saying that peace would reign on earth and wars between people would cease. That certainly hasn’t happened. They were proclaiming the end of the war between God and man. Jesus paid a price that was infinitely greater than the sins of the whole human race.
God’s wrath and justice have been satisfied. Jesus changed everything. God isn’t angry. His mercy extends to all men. He loves the world, not only the church, but the whole world. He paid for all sin.
The Scriptures say in 1 John 2:2,
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
SEE, A Better Way To Pray
http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/better_pray
In verse 7, right after the thorn in the flesh is mentioned, there is a phrase set off by commas which says, "The messenger of Satan to buffet me." This is an explanation of what the thorn was. It was not a thing but rather a demonic messenger. The word used as "messenger" here is always translated as angel or messenger and refers to a created being. So, Paul's thorn was literally a demon sent from Satan to buffet him. The word "buffet" means to strike repeatedly as waves would buffet the shore.
How did this demonic force continually strike Paul? Traditionally it has been taught that it was with sickness, and the thing that made many accept that is the use of the words "weakness" and "infirmity" in verses 9 and 10. Infirmity definitely does mean sickness and is used that way in 1 Timothy 5:23, but that is not the only meaning of the word. The number two definition is any lack or inadequacy. For instance, Romans 8:26 says, "the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities." In this case, the context makes it clear that it is not speaking of sicknesses but rather not knowing what to pray for. Our finite minds are an infirmity, or an inadequacy.
If we look at the context of Paul's thorn in the flesh, we find that infirmity does not mean sickness in 2 Corinthians 12:9 and 10. In 2 Corinthians 11:30, Paul uses the exact terminology of "glorying in infirmities" that is used just a few verses later in speaking about this thorn. In the eleventh chapter he had just finished listing what those infirmities were. In verses 23-29, he lists such things as imprisonment, stripes, shipwrecks, and stonings; none of these speak of sickness. Verse 27 mentions weakness and painfulness, which some have tried to make mean sickness, but it is just as possible he could have been weary and suffered painfulness from such things as being stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:19). All these things listed in 2 Corinthians 11 refer to persecutions as infirmities. So, in context, Paul's thorn was a demonic angel or messenger sent by Satan which continually stirred up persecution against him. This is also verified by three Old Testament references (Num. 33:55; Josh. 23:13 and Judg. 2:3), where people are spoken of as being "thorns in your sides" and "thorns in your eyes."
Paul asked the Lord to remove persecution from him, not sickness, and the Lord told him His grace was sufficient. We are not redeemed from persecution, and Paul later stated that when he said in 2 Timothy 3:12, "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Most gladly, therefore, he gloried in persecutions, reproaches, necessities, and distresses that the power of Christ might rest upon him (2 Cor. 12:9). The word "glory" is an old English word which means to have dominion over or command. It is used in Exodus 8:9 where Moses told Pharaoh to glory over him, or command him, when to destroy the frogs. So when Paul spoke of glorying in these infirmities or persecutions, he was speaking of victory even in the midst of continual harassment.
SEE, Paul's Thorn In The Flesh
http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/pauls_thorn
MORE EXPOSITIONS OF ANDREW WOMMACK
Andrew Wommack's Gosple of error
http://www.calvaryauroramedia.org/resources/documents/word/AndrewW.doc
Andrew Wommack is a radio teacher who advocates the “prosperity gospel” (God wants every person to be wealthy and never to be sick). He is a man who no doubt has sincere motives and who works hard to minister the Word of God to people. In my judgment, however, his errors are so severe that his ministry does a great deal of harm, and I strongly recommend against ever listening to or reading any of his material.
In Wommack’s article titled “The Sovereignty of God” he begins by relating the story of a friend who had been bitter and angry at God because of some suffering. The friend had humbled himself, however, and was back to loving God because the friend had discovered the doctrine of the sovereignty of God and had resigned himself to God’s full control. Wommack’s next statement is this: “I believe this is the worst doctrine in the church today” because it is “a faith killer.” He continues: “The belief that God controls everything that happens to us is one of the devil's biggest inroads into our lives.” In the same article Wommack states that God does not damn people to hell. It is only their free will that does so.
Wommack goes on to say that even worse that living independently from God is “religion teaching us that all our problems are actually blessings from God. That is a faith killer.” He states that the only time affliction ever comes from God is as a curse, never a blessing. But the psalmist doesn’t agree.
Psalm 119:71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. This false doctrine leads Wommack into a system of self-reliance. Since God cannot help we are left to help ourselves. This explains why Wommack makes such statements as, “You have a tumor? Don’t pray to God about the tumor. Talk to the tumor itself!” Wommack believes in the “Word of Faith” theology that conceives of faith as a force conveyed by words that bring about reality.
If you say, “I think I’m going to get a cold” you will actually create the cold (unless someone else counters your negative words by saying something positive). All of this takes place independently of God.
In his series titled “The Believer’s Authority” he tells the story of when his infant son kept waking up all through the night with symptoms of croup so severe that he could hardly breathe. This happened every half hour all night long. Finally his mother said, “Admit it Andy, he’s sick.” Wommack said, “Man I got right down in her face and stuck my finger in her face and I said, ‘Satan in the name of Jesus I command you to shut up. … And for two days she never said a word. We were on vacation.
It was an awesome vacation – you can imagine.” Wommack teaches that God gave man all authority on earth, so that God Himself had no authority. The reason Jesus had to come in human flesh was to gain that human authority. He teaches that God had limited His own authority by giving it to man such that God was unable to speak Jesus’ body into existence.
And so God had to find men to do it on their authority. It took God 4000 years to find enough men with enough combined authority to create Jesus’ body. Apart from the help of men God was unable to create a body for Jesus. In part 3 of “The Believer’s Authority” Wommack utters this blaspheme: “When (people) see that some sickness, disease, tragedy comes into their life, instead of taking their authority and rebuking the devil and commanding him to leave, instead they go to God … and they beg God, ‘Oh God please change this situation.
Oh God please get the devil off my back.’ And it’s not within God’s power and authority. He gave us that power and authority.” He teaches that it is wrong to pray for revival, because that is to usurp Christ’s role as intercessor. The responsibility is completely ours, and so it is wrong to ask God for revival or for Him to have mercy on sinners.
Scripture is very clear that trials are indeed from God, and that God does indeed control all things.
Ecclesiastes 7:14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Job 1:21-22 "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Job 2:1 9-10 His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" 10 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. Lamentations 3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Daniel 4:35 He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?" Psalm 135:6 The LORD does all that he pleases, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. Ephesians 1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will Isaiah 46:10-11 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
The total control of God over all things is one of the most comforting and wonderful doctrines in Scripture. If God is not in control of the calamities and sufferings in your life, then those calamities are meaningless. And if God has no ability to prevent them, then how can we take comfort in His promises to protect and care for us? It is the denial, not the affirmation of God’s sovereignty that is a faith killer.
ANDREW WOMMACK'S THEOLOGY EXAMINED
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/651-andrew-wommack
•Teaches Trichotomy
Andrew Wommack believes that man is made up of three parts: the body (material), the soul (immaterial), and the spirit (immaterial). This view is known as trichotomy; however, Wommack doesn’t stop there. He claims that when a person is saved, his spirit is made completely perfect. However, his soul and body are not. His soul is described as “a valve on a faucet” which “controls the rate and volume of the flow of the spirit into your body,” leading to sanctification, joy, health, wealth, and prosperity. In terms of sanctification, this is a sort of Keswick trichotomy-seeing faith as giving us access to the hidden “blessings” locked up in our spirit. (This is a viewpoint which, according to J. I. Packer in his book Keep in Step with the Spirit, “sounds more like an adaptation of yoga than like biblical Christianity” [p. 26].)
In response, I will question whether trichotomy is a doctrine that is clearly taught in the Bible. Then, I will argue that even if trichotomy is true, Wommack’s view of our “spirit” is false. Much of this response comes from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, pp. 472-482.
A Response to “Spirit, Soul, and Body” by Andrew Wommack by Dave Bananerry
See: Monism, Dichotomy, or Trichotomy?
•Teaches Word of Faith theology.
Example: “God has already placed His healing power within us, and it is now under our authority. It isn’t up to God to determine who receives healing; it’s up to us!” - Andrew Wommack, Faith For Healing Is Based On Knowledge.
Wommack believes in the “Word of Faith” theology that conceives of faith as a force conveyed by words that bring about reality. If you say, “I think I’m going to get a cold” you will actually create the cold (unless someone else counters your negative words by saying something positive). All of this takes place independently of God.
In his series titled “The Believer’s Authority” he tells the story of when his infant son kept waking up all through the night with symptoms of croup so severe that he could hardly breathe. This happened every half hour all night long. Finally his mother said, “Admit it Andy, he’s sick.” Wommack said, “Man I got right down in her face and stuck my finger in her face and I said, ‘Satan in the name of Jesus I command you to shut up. … And for two days she never said a word. We were on vacation. It was an awesome vacation – you can imagine.”
Wommack teaches that God gave man all authority on earth, so that God Himself had no authority. The reason Jesus had to come in human flesh was to gain that human authority. He teaches that God had limited His own authority by giving it to man such that God was unable to speak Jesus’ body into existence. And so God had to find men to do it on their authority. It took God 4000 years to find enough men with enough combined authority to create Jesus’ body. Apart from the help of men God was unable to create a body for Jesus.
In part 3 of “The Believer’s Authority” Wommack utters this blaspheme: “When (people) see that some sickness, disease, tragedy comes into their life, instead of taking their authority and rebuking the devil and commanding him to leave, instead they go to God … and they beg God, ‘Oh God please change this situation. Oh God please get the devil off my back.’ And it’s not within God’s power and authority. He gave us that power and authority.”
He teaches that it is wrong to pray for revival, because that is to usurp Christ’s role as intercessor. The responsibility is completely ours, and so it is wrong to ask God for revival or for Him to have mercy on sinners.
- Source: Andrew Wommack (doc), Calvary Chapel, Aurora, Colorado
Andrew Wommack's teaching exposed by calvinist
http://falseteachersexposed.blogspot.com/2006/04/andrew-wommack.html
Andrew Wommack says:
"You need a healing? You have a tumor? Don't pray to God about the tumor Talk to the tumor itself!’’
But the bible says:
James 5:14
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let him pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
Why is Andrew Wommack a false teacher?
1) Andrew Wommack is a 5 point arminian who despises the true sovereignty of God and preaches against the doctrines of grace.
2) Andrew Wommack says the biggest false teaching in the body of Christ is 'The sovereignty of God'
3) Andrew believes if you are sick it is all your fault and you are not to pray to God to heal you, but speak to the sickness and cast it away, and if you dont get healed it is because of your unbelief which does not please the Lord.
4) Andrew is a word faith teacher and a huge fan of Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland and Charles Capps etc, 90% of his teachings come directly from these men.
5) Andrew believes that in order to get more money you should actually speak to your wallet and command more money to come your way - this is where the nickname 'name it claim it' - 'blab it grab it' comes from.
6) Andrew teaches decisional regeneration.
Andrew Wrote: "It is assumed that since God is paramount or supreme that nothing can happen without His approval. That is not what the Scriptures teach. In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter said, "The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." This clearly states that it is not the Lord's will for anyone to perish, but people are perishing."..Relatively few people are saved compared to the number that are lost. God's will for people concerning salvation is not being accomplished. (Andrew Wommack - The Sovereignty Of God)
Well, This is nothing more and nothing less than blasphemy.
You will see below that Andrew has butchered this verse as he does to so much of God's word in order to make the word of God conform to his heretical teachings.
Let's see what the scripture really says:
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
In Job we read the following:
Job 23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Who is the usward? - obviously it's the elect, because Peter is writing to:
2 peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
Reading such heresy does make me wonder what Andrew Wommack does with this verse:
Psalms 65:4 “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.”
It says above that God causes the one he has chosen to approach him and recieve mercy.
what about this verse?
Psalms 110:3 “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.”
and this one?
John 6:37 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;
Jesus said that they SHALL come to him, not maybe but SHALL. You will also see that it is all that the Father gives to him.
John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."
for more verses and a biblical defence of God's irresistible grace towards his elect children please watch the following video:
Below is a link to more articles in defence of the biblical doctrine of God's sovereign irresistible grace.
http://testallthings.wordpress.com/category/irresistible-grace/
It get's even worse:
"This is because the Lord gave us the freedom to choose. He doesn't will anyone into hell. He paid for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2; 1 Tim. 4:10), but we must choose to put our faith in Christ and receive His salvation. People are the ones choosing hell by not choosing Jesus as their Savior. It is the free will of man that damns them, not God.
People virtually have to climb over the roadblocks that God puts in their way to continue on their course to hell. The cross of Christ and the drawing power of the Holy Spirit are obstacles that every sinner encounters. No one will ever stand before God and be able to fault Him for withholding the opportunity to be saved. The Lord woos every person to Him, but we have to cooperate. Ultimately, the Lord simply enforces the consequences of people's own choices.
God has a perfect plan for every person's life (Jer. 29:11), but He doesn't make us walk that path. We are free moral agents with the ability to choose. He has told us what the right choices are (Deut. 30:19), but He doesn't make those choices for us. God gave us the power to control our destinies." (Andrew Wommack - The Sovereignty Of God)
This people, is more blasphemous nonsense.
Here are just a few scriptures on UNCONDITIONAL election. the reason it is called unconditional is because man didn't have to meet a condition in order to be elected, it is by the sovereign good pleasure of God that one was elected from before the foundation of the world.
When 2 mormons knocked on my door last year after first telling them that i didn't want to hear their false gospel or allow them into my home (politely as possible ofcourse) I preached by God's mercy the true gospel to them and one of them said like a typical mormon trying to earn his salvation "what can i do to be elected?" the answer is there is nothing one can do to get themselves elected or saved. those who believe the gospel have full assurance that they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
(Psalms 65:4) “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.”
(John 6:37) “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
(John 6:65) “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.”
(John 13:18) “I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.”
(John 15:16) “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”
(John 17:9) “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.”
(Acts 13:48) “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”
(Romans 9:11-13) “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
{12} It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
{13} As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
(Romans 11:5) “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
(Romans 11:7) “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded”
(Ephesians 1:3-6) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
{4} According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
(2 Timothy 1:9-10) “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
{10} But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:”
For more verses on election please read the following:
http://testallthings.wordpress.com/category/unconditional-election/
And here is a wonderful video in defence of the biblical doctrone of unconditional election.
The reprobate/non elect perish BECAUSE of their sin - the below is from the Lambeth article of faith and is fully in line with the word of God:
God from eternity has predestined some men to life, and reprobated some to death.
The moving or efficient cause of predestination to life is not the foreseeing of faith, or of perseverance, or of good works, or of anything in the person of the predestinated, but only the will of the good pleasure of God.
There is a determined and certain number of predestined, which cannot be increased or diminished.
Those not predestinated to salvation are inevitably condemned on account of their sins.
My friend asked me about reprobation in response to a question his friend asked him - this was my answer - you will read much scripture.
Romans 11:22 "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God"
Men seem to have the idea that they're innocent or deserve some kind of mercy.
this is not the case.
God tells us in Romans 3:8 - that the damnation of the wicked/reprobate is just
2 thessalonians 2:11-12
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should all believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Acts 14:16
"Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways"
Amos 3:2
"You only (Israel) have I known of all the families of the earth"
Joshua 11:18-20
"Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle. For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, but that He might destroy them as the LORD commanded Moses".
Proverbs 16:4
"The LORD hath made all things for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil".
Romans 9:17
"For the Scripture saith unto Pharoah, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth."
Exodus 9:15,16
"For now I will stretch out My hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in every deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee My power; and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth".
Proverbs 16:1
"The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD"
Proverbs 21:1
"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water, He turneth it withersoever He will"
Romans 9:18
"Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth."
John 12:37-40
"But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him: that the saying of Esaias (Isaiah) the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them."
Romans 9:19
"Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?"
Romans 9:20
"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?"
Romans 9:21-23
"Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory."
Romans 11:7
"What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not, but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened"
1 Thessalonians 5:9
"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."
what of the reprobate?
1 Peter 2:8
"A Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence, even to them who stumble at the Word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed"
2 Peter 2:12
"But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption"
Jude 4
"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ"
Revelation 13:8
"And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb that hath been slain"
It's important to remember also that:
Ecclesiastes 7:29
"God hath made man upright: but they have sought out many inventions"
the below is from A.W Pink's book 'the sovereignty of God' - The unedited edition that Iain Murray and co from the banner of (so called) truth didn't butcher:
God's decree of Reprobation contemplated Adam's race as fallen, sinful, corrupt, guilty. From it God purposed to save a few as the monuments of His Sovereign grace; the others He determined to destroy as the exemplification of His justice and severity. In determining to destroy these others, God did them no wrong. They had already fallen in Adam, their legal representative; they are therefore born with a sinful nature, and in their sins He leaves them. Nor can they complain. This is as they wish; they have no desire for holiness; they love darkness rather than light. Where, then, is there any injustice if God "gives them up to their own heart's lusts" (Psa. 81:12).
Second, the doctrine of Reprobation does not mean that God refuses to save those who earnestly seek salvation. The fact is that the reprobate have no longing for the Saviour: they see in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. They will not come to Christ-why then should God force them to? He turns away none who do come-where then is the injustice of God foredetermining their just doom? None will be punished but for their iniquities; where then is the supposed tyrannical cruelty of the Divine procedure? Remember that God is the Creator of the wicked, not of their wickedness; He is the Author of their being, but not the Infuser of their sin.
Dont confuse the above with arminians seeking God.
Jesus said many will seek to enter but shall not be able.
God does not (as we have been slanderously reported to affirm) compel the wicked to sin, as the rider spurs on an unwilling horse. God only says in effect that awful word, "Let them alone" (Matt. 15:14). He needs only to slacken the reins of providential restraint, and withhold the influence of saving grace, and apostate man will only too soon and too surely, of his own accord, fall by his iniquities. Thus the decree of reprobation neither interferes with the bent of man's own fallen nature, nor serves to render him the less inexcusable.
Third, the decree of Reprobation in nowise conflicts with God's goodness. Though the non-elect are not the objects of His goodness in the same way or to the same extent as the elect are, yet are they not wholly excluded from a participation of it. They enjoy the good things of Providence (temporal blessings) in common with God's own children, and very often to a higher degree. But how do they improve them? Does the (temporal) goodness of God lead them to repent? Nay, verily, they do but despise "His goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering," and "after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath" (Rom. 2:4, 5). On what righteous ground, then, can they murmur against not being the objects of His benevolence in the endless ages yet to come? Moreover, if it did not clash with God's mercy and kindness to leave the entire body of the fallen angels (2 Peter 2:4) under the guilt of their apostasy still less can it clash with the Divine perfections to leave some of fallen mankind in their sins and punish them for them.
Finally, let us interpose this necessary caution: It is utterly impossible for any of us, during the present life, to ascertain who are among the reprobate.
We must not now so judge any man, no matter how wicked he may be. The vilest sinner, may, for all we know, be included in the election of grace and be one day quickened by the Spirit of grace. Our marching orders are plain, and woe unto us if we disregard them-"Preach the Gospel to every creature." When we have done so our skirts are clear. If men refuse to heed, their blood is on their own heads; nevertheless "we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are a savor of death unto death; and to the other we are a savor of life unto life" (2 Cor. 2:15, 16).
We must now consider a number of passages which are often quoted with the purpose of showing that God has not fitted certain vessels to destruction or ordained certain ones to condemnation. First, we cite Ezekiel 18:31-"Why will ye die, O house of Israel?" On this passage we cannot do better than quote from the comments of Augustus Toplady:-"This is a passage very frequently, but very idly, insisted upon by Arminians, as if it were a hammer which would at one stroke crush the whole fabric to powder. But it so happens that the 'death' here alluded to is neither spiritual nor eternal death: as is abundantly evident from the whole tenor of the chapter.
The death intended by the prophet is a political death; a death of national prosperity, tranquillity, and security. The sense of the question is precisely this: What is it that makes you in love with captivity, banishment, and civil ruin. Abstinence from the worship of images might, as a people, exempt you from these calamities, and once more render you a respectable nation. Are the miseries of public devastation so alluring as to attract your determined pursuit? Why will ye die? die as the house of Israel, and considered as a political body? Thus did the prophet argue the case, at the same time adding-'For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God, wherefore, turn yourselves, and live ye.' This imports: First, the national captivity of the Jews added nothing to the happiness of God. Second, if the Jews turned from idolatry, and flung away their images, they should not die in a foreign, hostile country, but live peaceably in their own land and enjoy their liberties as an independent people." To the above we may add: political death must be what is in view in Ezekiel 18:31, 32 for the simple but sufficient reason that they were already spiritually dead!
Matthew 25:41 is often quoted to show that God has not fitted certain vessels to destruction- "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels." This is, in fact, one of the principal verses relied upon to disprove the doctrine of Reprobation. But we submit that the emphatic word here is not "for" but "Devil." This verse (see context) sets forth the severity of the judgment which awaits the lost. In other words, the above Scripture expresses the awfulness of the everlasting fire rather than the subjects of it-if the fire be "prepared for the Devil and his angels" then how intolerable it will be! If the place of eternal torment into which the damned shall be cast is the same as that in which God's arch-enemy will suffer, how dreadful must that place be!
Again: if God has chosen only certain ones to salvation, why are we told that God "now commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30)? That God commandeth "all men" to repent is but the enforcing of His righteous claims as the moral Governor of the world. How could He do less, seeing that all men everywhere have sinned against Him? Furthermore, that God commandeth all men everywhere to repent argues the universality of creature responsibility. But this Scripture does not declare that it is God's pleasure to "give repentance" (Acts 5:31) everywhere. That the Apostle Paul did not believe God gave repentance to every soul is clear from his words in 2 Timothy 2:25--"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth."
Again, we are asked, if God has "ordained" only certain ones unto eternal life then why do we read that He "will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4)? The reply is, that the words "all" and "all men," like the term "world," are often used in a general and relative sense. Let the reader carefully examine the following passages: Mark 1:5; John 6:45; 8:2; Acts 21:28; 22:15; 2 Corinthians 3:2, etc., and he will find full proof of our assertion. 1 Timothy 2:4 cannot teach that God wills the salvation of all mankind or otherwise all mankind would be saved-"What His soul desireth even that He doeth" (Job 23:13)!
Again; we are asked, Does not Scripture declare, again and again, that God is no "respecter of persons"? We answer, it certainly does, and God's electing grace proves it. The seven sons of Jesse, though older and physically superior to David, are passed by, while the young shepherd-boy is exalted to Israel's throne. The scribes and lawyers pass unnoticed, and ignorant fishermen are chosen to be the Apostles of the Lamb. Divine truth is hidden from the wise and prudent and is revealed to babes instead. The great majority of the wise and noble are ignored, while the weak, the base, the despised, are called and saved. Harlots and publicans are sweetly compelled to come in to the Gospel feast while self-righteous Pharisees are suffered to perish in their immaculate morality. Truly, God is "no respecter" of persons or He would not have saved me.
That the Doctrine of Reprobation is a "hard saying" to the carnal mind is readily acknowledged-yet, is it any "harder" than that of eternal punishment? That it is clearly taught in Scripture we have sought to demonstrate, and it is not for us to pick and choose from the truths revealed in God's Word. Let those who are inclined to receive those doctrines which commend themselves to their judgment, and who reject those which they cannot fully understand, remember those scathing words of our Lord's, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken" (Luke 24:25): fools because slow of heart; slow of heart, not dull of head!
this doctrine which is so bitterly hated in these last days, when men will no longer "endure sound doctrine"; hated by men of lofty pretentions, but who, notwithstanding their boasted orthodoxy and much advertised piety, are not worthy to unfasten the shoes of the faithful and fearless servants of God of other days.
"O the depth of the riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For what hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever, Amen" (Rom. 11:33-36).*
* "Of Him"-His will is the origin of all existence; "through" or "by Him"-He is the Creator and Controller of all; "to Him"-all things promote His glory in their final end.
PLEASE ALSO SEE:
http://testallthings.wordpress.com/2007/03/19/predestination-vs-free-will/
Many of you reading this article now are appealing with a "what about John 3:16 - it says God loves everyone and wants to save everyone!!!!!!!"
this verse doesn't say that AT ALL.
in light of the rest of the bible we know it is talking about God's elect, and also it says that one ones believing in Jesus will not perish, we know that only the elect believe the true gospel. 2 verses later, Jesus said this:
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
please also see:
http://testallthings.wordpress.com/2007/03/26/for-god-so-loved-the-world/
http://testallthings.wordpress.com/2007/09/09/free-willism-preaches-another-jesus/
http://testallthings.wordpress.com/2007/03/26/the-gospel-vs-arminianism/
By Chris - Author of Test All Things
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Born Again Gays!!!!!!! Bill Gaither Promotes Homosexuality and Ecumenism
Born Again Gays!!!!!!! Bill Gaither Promotes Homosexuality and Ecumenism
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/CCM/bill_gaither.htm
Church News Notes, January 27, 2006 (David Cloud, www.wayoflife.org)
Since the early 1990s, the Gaither's Homecoming CD and video series has dramatically increased the popularity of Southern Gospel music in this generation. Sadly, Bill Gaither has used his vast influence to promote the lie that music is neutral and thus to encourage the deep inroads that the world has made into Southern Gospel.
He has also promoted the unscriptural ecumenical movement with its bogus "judge not" philosophy and its lack of concern about doctrinal purity. In late 2002, Bill Gaither and Mark Lowry met with and encouraged Marsha Stevens, the lesbian author of the popular gospel song "For These Tears I Died." Stevens, who has a ministry called BALM (Born Again Lesbian Music), attended the Gaither Homecoming concert in Phoenix in December 2002, with her lesbian partner.
Mark Lowry, who has sung with the Gaither Vocal Band for many years, approached her and said that he was proud of what she is doing. Surprised, she said, "You know what I'm doing now?" He replied: "I sure do and I wish the fundamentalists would find Jesus. They're going to have a lot to answer for, leaving out people that Jesus died for" (Marsha Stevens, New Years Eve 2002 with Bill Gaither," www.christiangays.com).
Bill and Gloria Gaither then came over and told her that they, too, appreciate her ministry today. A photo at Stevens' web site shows her and her lesbian partner with Bill Gaither and Mark Lowry. In the last part of the concert later that night, Gaither invited the crowd to sing along to "For Those Tears I Died."
He then said: "You know, the young woman who wrote that song is here with us tonight, and maybe you're like she was and you've heard about a God who would reject you for who you are or who might turn you away for something you've done or where you've come from.
Well I want you to know that I don't know that God. The only God I know is the one in this song that she
wrote. The one that says, 'I am right here for you.' The one who sent His son. The one who says, 'You are my child, I love you, come stand by my side.' So sing with me again!" In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ did not die for tears; He died for
sin. And He suffered to save men FROM their sins not in their sins (Titus 2:14). The Bible plainly teaches that homosexuality is a grave sin.
It is described in Romans 1:26-28 as "vile affections" (v. 26), "against nature" (v. 26), "unseemly" (v. 27), and "a reprobate mind" (v. 28). Christ taught us that there is no salvation without repentance. "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3, 5). To the woman caught in adultery He said,
"Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more" (Jn. 8:11). To the cripple man who was healed, Christ said, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (Jn. 5:14).
The grace of God does not teach men that they can live as they please and still have God's blessing. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world" (Titus 2:11-12).
By God's marvelous grace, any homosexual can repent of his sin and cast himself upon Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Saviour, but he cannot continue to live in his fornication and moral perversion and pretend that all is well between him and a holy God. Further, fornication is a cause for church discipline (1 Cor. 5).
P.S. On a side note, I think it is very instructive that in lesbian relationships, usually one of the homosexuals takes on the masculine image and the other the feminine. You can see this in the photos of Stevens and her "partner". Even in their rebellion they can't help but acknowledge God's plan for sexuality. They live a destructive counterfeit of the male/female relationship even as they claim that their way is superior to God's way. Just an observation.
-(David Cloud, www.wayoflife.org)
Also see
BORN AGAIN GAY CHURCH???CAN YOU IMAGINE
http://www.cathedralofhope.com/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=305&srcid=-2
Gay Propaganda: Oslo gay animal show draws crowds
professing them selves to be wise they became fools..Roma.1:22)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6066606.stm
Sodomite ministers
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Sodomy/sodomite_ministers.htm
Homosexuals have their own bible
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Bible/new_oxford_annotated_bible.htm
TENTS OF ISSACHAR
http://tentsofissachar.wordpress.com/category/bill-gaither-promotes-homosexuality/
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/CCM/bill_gaither.htm
Church News Notes, January 27, 2006 (David Cloud, www.wayoflife.org)
Since the early 1990s, the Gaither's Homecoming CD and video series has dramatically increased the popularity of Southern Gospel music in this generation. Sadly, Bill Gaither has used his vast influence to promote the lie that music is neutral and thus to encourage the deep inroads that the world has made into Southern Gospel.
He has also promoted the unscriptural ecumenical movement with its bogus "judge not" philosophy and its lack of concern about doctrinal purity. In late 2002, Bill Gaither and Mark Lowry met with and encouraged Marsha Stevens, the lesbian author of the popular gospel song "For These Tears I Died." Stevens, who has a ministry called BALM (Born Again Lesbian Music), attended the Gaither Homecoming concert in Phoenix in December 2002, with her lesbian partner.
Mark Lowry, who has sung with the Gaither Vocal Band for many years, approached her and said that he was proud of what she is doing. Surprised, she said, "You know what I'm doing now?" He replied: "I sure do and I wish the fundamentalists would find Jesus. They're going to have a lot to answer for, leaving out people that Jesus died for" (Marsha Stevens, New Years Eve 2002 with Bill Gaither," www.christiangays.com).
Bill and Gloria Gaither then came over and told her that they, too, appreciate her ministry today. A photo at Stevens' web site shows her and her lesbian partner with Bill Gaither and Mark Lowry. In the last part of the concert later that night, Gaither invited the crowd to sing along to "For Those Tears I Died."
He then said: "You know, the young woman who wrote that song is here with us tonight, and maybe you're like she was and you've heard about a God who would reject you for who you are or who might turn you away for something you've done or where you've come from.
Well I want you to know that I don't know that God. The only God I know is the one in this song that she
wrote. The one that says, 'I am right here for you.' The one who sent His son. The one who says, 'You are my child, I love you, come stand by my side.' So sing with me again!" In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ did not die for tears; He died for
sin. And He suffered to save men FROM their sins not in their sins (Titus 2:14). The Bible plainly teaches that homosexuality is a grave sin.
It is described in Romans 1:26-28 as "vile affections" (v. 26), "against nature" (v. 26), "unseemly" (v. 27), and "a reprobate mind" (v. 28). Christ taught us that there is no salvation without repentance. "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3, 5). To the woman caught in adultery He said,
"Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more" (Jn. 8:11). To the cripple man who was healed, Christ said, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (Jn. 5:14).
The grace of God does not teach men that they can live as they please and still have God's blessing. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world" (Titus 2:11-12).
By God's marvelous grace, any homosexual can repent of his sin and cast himself upon Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Saviour, but he cannot continue to live in his fornication and moral perversion and pretend that all is well between him and a holy God. Further, fornication is a cause for church discipline (1 Cor. 5).
P.S. On a side note, I think it is very instructive that in lesbian relationships, usually one of the homosexuals takes on the masculine image and the other the feminine. You can see this in the photos of Stevens and her "partner". Even in their rebellion they can't help but acknowledge God's plan for sexuality. They live a destructive counterfeit of the male/female relationship even as they claim that their way is superior to God's way. Just an observation.
-(David Cloud, www.wayoflife.org)
Also see
BORN AGAIN GAY CHURCH???CAN YOU IMAGINE
http://www.cathedralofhope.com/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=305&srcid=-2
Gay Propaganda: Oslo gay animal show draws crowds
professing them selves to be wise they became fools..Roma.1:22)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6066606.stm
Sodomite ministers
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Sodomy/sodomite_ministers.htm
Homosexuals have their own bible
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Bible/new_oxford_annotated_bible.htm
TENTS OF ISSACHAR
http://tentsofissachar.wordpress.com/category/bill-gaither-promotes-homosexuality/
Protests as Cardinal Njue bans Charismatic group
John Cardinal Njue has suspended the activities of the catholic charismatic renewal movement in Nairobi over concerns of extreme noise and disorderly late night meetings. He also ordered an investigation into the matter, according to the director of communications, Fr.Martin Wanyoike. ‘’There were night meetings, which the cardinal felt needed leadership’’. Wanyoike as an example said some of the faithful are blamed for leaving their spouses at home, when they attend the meetings, an action that has put strain on families. He revealed fear that the movement’s worship had become more PENTECOSTAL. The contention is that the traditional liturgy was being abandoned.( Source: Leadership magazine No.484 July, 2009.p.11)(www.leadershipmagazine.org)
FIRST SEE
Deceptive antics of the Catholic Charismatic renewal: Father Expedicto Magembe of Mountain Sion and Christ the King prayer Group
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2009/06/deceptive-antics-of-catholic.html
Kenyan Catholic priest weds in style!Catholic Church condemns wedding
http://www.elifeonline.net/elife7-july-august/catholic-priest.htm
CULT WITH IN A CULT: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CULT IN UGANDA PANICS AS SUB-CULTS INCREASE WITH IN IT
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2009/07/cult-with-in-cult-catholic-church-cult.html
YOU ARE SIMPLY WRONG ABOUT THE CATHOLICS: OH! REALLY
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2009/07/you-are-simply-wrong-about-catholics-oh.html
Drunken priest blames Holy Wine
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-06-29-priest-blames-holy-wine-for-drinkdriving
Protests as Cardinal Njue bans Charismatic group
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/600346/-/ujn33n/-/index.html
By NATION Reporter and CISAPosted Tuesday, May 19 2009 at 20:09
A wave of discontent is sweeping the Nairobi Catholic community after John Cardinal Njue suspended the activities of a faith-healing group and ordered it investigated.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a global movement within the Catholic Church, whose members believe in faith-healing and speak in tongues.
Its supporters say it seeks to foster awareness of the gift of God’s Spirit and to help believers develop “a deeper personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
According to the Catholic news agency, CISA, Cardinal Njue announced his decision on February 20, during a meeting with 200 officials of the movement from the Nairobi Archdiocese.
The movement had spread to about half of the archdiocese’s 100 parishes. Former Archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi mwana ‘a Nzeki had assigned it a chaplain.
Fr. John Muindi, the chaplain, said: “His Eminence said they (members of the movement) should no longer have any public activities.”
Cardinal Njue reportedly told officials of the movement that he was suspending their activities for a short time to investigate it.
Sad situation
When contacted on Tuesday by CISA, the Cardinal’s office said only he could comment and he was out of the office.
A Catholic Charismatic Renewal official described the ban as “a sad situation” and “a one-man decision.” He said members of the movement did not want to disobey the Cardinal but they had become impatient as the ban entered its fourth month.
A long-time member described the ban as “present-day persecution of those who want to worship God differently.”
The movement is thought to have been born out of a retreat at an American Catholic university run by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in February 1967.
Charismatic group leader speaks out
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/600734/-/ujn67j/-/index.html
By STEPHEN MBURU Posted Wednesday, May 20 2009 at 20:23
John Cardinal Njue may have suspended a Nairobi Catholic prayer and faith-healing community over fears some of its activities were a threat to family unity. The chaplain of the Nairobi Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Fr John Muhindi, said Cardinal Njue had expressed concern some members had lost “flavour as Christians.”
While suspending the group on February 20, the cardinal had told the priests he wanted the Charismatics to disperse to their parishes and build their faith and families.
Source of story
“Like any other church there may have been some activities by some members which made people uncomfortable. I may not be in a position to speak the mind of the cardinal over the exact reasons for suspending the groups. But he had said: ‘Let people go and build their faith, and be able to promote families at the grassroots and build their own.’
Fr Muhindi spoke to the Nation on Wednesday at St Francis Xavier’s Church, Parklands, where he is the presiding priest. He was to meet the cardinal on the same day over the issue but had been held up in meetings at the church.
When contacted for comment on his cellphone, an angry Cardinal Njue asked why the Nation ran the story on Wednesday without first seeking his comments. “I don’t know when it (Charismatic movement) was banned,” he said. When asked to tell the true position, he disconnected the telephone.
Cardinal Njue had visited Fr Muhindi about an hour after the Nation had left St Francis Xavier’s Church to know if the priest knew the source of the story. “We did not discuss anything. He only wanted to know the details about the story,” Fr Muhindi told the Nation by phone.
In the earlier interview, Fr Muhindi said the Catholic Charismatic Renewal was acknowledged worldwide and had the backing of the Pope. He said about five years ago, Pope John Paul VI sent Fr Raneiro Cantalamessa to strengthen the movement in the country. The Pope’s representative held a crusade in Nairobi and those who attended included retired archbishop Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki.
However, Fr Muhindi said individual bishops had the right to ban the movement within their jurisdictions. He said membership to the groups was open to “baptised and practising Catholics’’.
Fr Muhindi said interested individuals were required to attend a one-week seminar where they undergo Bible studies. The groups also are trained in guidance and counselling, praise and worship as well as hospitality.
The members also practice healing before they are dispersed “to be witnesses and continue to pray together.” During the seven-day event, dubbed life-in-spirit seminar, members “are reminded of their commitment, about baptism and sacraments and the importance and purpose of prayers.
The individuals and groups, Fr Muhindi said, were taught to “use the symbols that remind them who they are.” Such symbols include the Bible, candles and salt. Biblical training aims to help them to preach and strengthen their faith.
“The salt means you should retain your flavour as a Christian. Candles remind you that you are the light of the world and that light must be protected from going off.” Fr Muhindi said he was in charge of more than 100 parishes, each with its own prayer groups under local priests.
Catholic group angered by Njue’s move
http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144014768&cid=159&
By Martin Mutua
Members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal group in the Archdiocese of Nairobi are angry that John Cardinal Njue ordered it investigated.
The officials, who did not want to be named said some were contemplating operating underground "just like in China where the church is being persecuted."
They said the last time they met Cardinal Njue four months ago, he told them that their group had been suspended to allow him to prepare guidelines how they would operate.
"What have we done to warrant investigation?" posed one of the officials.
The reactions came yesterday following reports that Njue had suspended activities of the movement.
Movement growth
They said the movement was formed 36 years ago in the archdiocese during the time of the late Cardinal Otunga, whom they said supported and encouraged the movement’s growth.
"And even his successor, retired Archbishop Ndingi Mwana’ a Nzeki supported and gave a priest who has guided us all through," they added. The officials added that the Charismatic Renewal movement’s headquarters are at the Vatican with a director assigned to oversee its operations.
They said Njue asked them to stop their prayer meetings.
"We are convinced the Cardinal has a problem with the group ," said one official.
The officials said Njue did not entertained the movement when he was the bishop of Embu and when he moved to Nyeri, he banned the group.
They said his successor in Nyeri, Archbishop Peter Kairo revived the movement and it is very strong.
Attend meeting
"This is an international movement supported by the Pope and we attend international meetings," added the officials.
Efforts to reach Njue were fruitless as his cell phone was switched off.
His secretary at the Holy Family Basilica told The Standard the Cardinal was visiting parishes and would be in the office next week. She, however, promised to inform the Cardinal of our request to get his comment and get back to us.
By the time of going to Press, the Cardinal had not called.
FIRST SEE
Deceptive antics of the Catholic Charismatic renewal: Father Expedicto Magembe of Mountain Sion and Christ the King prayer Group
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2009/06/deceptive-antics-of-catholic.html
Kenyan Catholic priest weds in style!Catholic Church condemns wedding
http://www.elifeonline.net/elife7-july-august/catholic-priest.htm
CULT WITH IN A CULT: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CULT IN UGANDA PANICS AS SUB-CULTS INCREASE WITH IN IT
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2009/07/cult-with-in-cult-catholic-church-cult.html
YOU ARE SIMPLY WRONG ABOUT THE CATHOLICS: OH! REALLY
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2009/07/you-are-simply-wrong-about-catholics-oh.html
Drunken priest blames Holy Wine
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-06-29-priest-blames-holy-wine-for-drinkdriving
Protests as Cardinal Njue bans Charismatic group
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/600346/-/ujn33n/-/index.html
By NATION Reporter and CISAPosted Tuesday, May 19 2009 at 20:09
A wave of discontent is sweeping the Nairobi Catholic community after John Cardinal Njue suspended the activities of a faith-healing group and ordered it investigated.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a global movement within the Catholic Church, whose members believe in faith-healing and speak in tongues.
Its supporters say it seeks to foster awareness of the gift of God’s Spirit and to help believers develop “a deeper personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
According to the Catholic news agency, CISA, Cardinal Njue announced his decision on February 20, during a meeting with 200 officials of the movement from the Nairobi Archdiocese.
The movement had spread to about half of the archdiocese’s 100 parishes. Former Archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi mwana ‘a Nzeki had assigned it a chaplain.
Fr. John Muindi, the chaplain, said: “His Eminence said they (members of the movement) should no longer have any public activities.”
Cardinal Njue reportedly told officials of the movement that he was suspending their activities for a short time to investigate it.
Sad situation
When contacted on Tuesday by CISA, the Cardinal’s office said only he could comment and he was out of the office.
A Catholic Charismatic Renewal official described the ban as “a sad situation” and “a one-man decision.” He said members of the movement did not want to disobey the Cardinal but they had become impatient as the ban entered its fourth month.
A long-time member described the ban as “present-day persecution of those who want to worship God differently.”
The movement is thought to have been born out of a retreat at an American Catholic university run by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in February 1967.
Charismatic group leader speaks out
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/600734/-/ujn67j/-/index.html
By STEPHEN MBURU Posted Wednesday, May 20 2009 at 20:23
John Cardinal Njue may have suspended a Nairobi Catholic prayer and faith-healing community over fears some of its activities were a threat to family unity. The chaplain of the Nairobi Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Fr John Muhindi, said Cardinal Njue had expressed concern some members had lost “flavour as Christians.”
While suspending the group on February 20, the cardinal had told the priests he wanted the Charismatics to disperse to their parishes and build their faith and families.
Source of story
“Like any other church there may have been some activities by some members which made people uncomfortable. I may not be in a position to speak the mind of the cardinal over the exact reasons for suspending the groups. But he had said: ‘Let people go and build their faith, and be able to promote families at the grassroots and build their own.’
Fr Muhindi spoke to the Nation on Wednesday at St Francis Xavier’s Church, Parklands, where he is the presiding priest. He was to meet the cardinal on the same day over the issue but had been held up in meetings at the church.
When contacted for comment on his cellphone, an angry Cardinal Njue asked why the Nation ran the story on Wednesday without first seeking his comments. “I don’t know when it (Charismatic movement) was banned,” he said. When asked to tell the true position, he disconnected the telephone.
Cardinal Njue had visited Fr Muhindi about an hour after the Nation had left St Francis Xavier’s Church to know if the priest knew the source of the story. “We did not discuss anything. He only wanted to know the details about the story,” Fr Muhindi told the Nation by phone.
In the earlier interview, Fr Muhindi said the Catholic Charismatic Renewal was acknowledged worldwide and had the backing of the Pope. He said about five years ago, Pope John Paul VI sent Fr Raneiro Cantalamessa to strengthen the movement in the country. The Pope’s representative held a crusade in Nairobi and those who attended included retired archbishop Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki.
However, Fr Muhindi said individual bishops had the right to ban the movement within their jurisdictions. He said membership to the groups was open to “baptised and practising Catholics’’.
Fr Muhindi said interested individuals were required to attend a one-week seminar where they undergo Bible studies. The groups also are trained in guidance and counselling, praise and worship as well as hospitality.
The members also practice healing before they are dispersed “to be witnesses and continue to pray together.” During the seven-day event, dubbed life-in-spirit seminar, members “are reminded of their commitment, about baptism and sacraments and the importance and purpose of prayers.
The individuals and groups, Fr Muhindi said, were taught to “use the symbols that remind them who they are.” Such symbols include the Bible, candles and salt. Biblical training aims to help them to preach and strengthen their faith.
“The salt means you should retain your flavour as a Christian. Candles remind you that you are the light of the world and that light must be protected from going off.” Fr Muhindi said he was in charge of more than 100 parishes, each with its own prayer groups under local priests.
Catholic group angered by Njue’s move
http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144014768&cid=159&
By Martin Mutua
Members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal group in the Archdiocese of Nairobi are angry that John Cardinal Njue ordered it investigated.
The officials, who did not want to be named said some were contemplating operating underground "just like in China where the church is being persecuted."
They said the last time they met Cardinal Njue four months ago, he told them that their group had been suspended to allow him to prepare guidelines how they would operate.
"What have we done to warrant investigation?" posed one of the officials.
The reactions came yesterday following reports that Njue had suspended activities of the movement.
Movement growth
They said the movement was formed 36 years ago in the archdiocese during the time of the late Cardinal Otunga, whom they said supported and encouraged the movement’s growth.
"And even his successor, retired Archbishop Ndingi Mwana’ a Nzeki supported and gave a priest who has guided us all through," they added. The officials added that the Charismatic Renewal movement’s headquarters are at the Vatican with a director assigned to oversee its operations.
They said Njue asked them to stop their prayer meetings.
"We are convinced the Cardinal has a problem with the group ," said one official.
The officials said Njue did not entertained the movement when he was the bishop of Embu and when he moved to Nyeri, he banned the group.
They said his successor in Nyeri, Archbishop Peter Kairo revived the movement and it is very strong.
Attend meeting
"This is an international movement supported by the Pope and we attend international meetings," added the officials.
Efforts to reach Njue were fruitless as his cell phone was switched off.
His secretary at the Holy Family Basilica told The Standard the Cardinal was visiting parishes and would be in the office next week. She, however, promised to inform the Cardinal of our request to get his comment and get back to us.
By the time of going to Press, the Cardinal had not called.
Tithe-collectors
Tithe-collectors
http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5413387-146/ARTICLE_OF_FAITH:_Tithe-collectors__.csp
By Femi Aribisala
May 25, 2009 03:00PMT
Do you know Jewish rabbis, who are still under the Law of Moses, don't collect tithes? So how come Christian pastors do? Pastors insist Christians are no longer under the law. Why then do we demand that church-members pay tithes? Is the payment of tithes not a requirement under the law?
Point out to your pastor that if he insists on the payment of tithes, he must also insist on the keeping of the rest of the law. If you pay tithes, you should also refrain from eating pork; stone adulterers; execute homosexuals; stone Sabbath violators; and sacrifice animals, among other things.
Pastors impose on their congregants the "eleventh commandment," which says tithes must be paid to the place where you receive your spiritual blessings; meaning your church. But the Bible says no such thing.
The storehouse of Malachi was not a church. It was a place where food was kept. Pastors also hide from church-members the fact that money was not acceptable as tithe. Malachi says: "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house." He does not say "that there may be money in my house."
Obviously it was food and not money that God was after.
The tithe was a tenth of the seed and fruit of the land and of the animals which ate of the land. This was used to feed the Levites, the poor, the widows, the orphans and the strangers.
Moreover, the tithe was divided into three segments. The first year, it was given to the Levite (the priest). The second year it was given to widows, orphans and the poor. The third year, it was eaten in the company of the faithful before the Lord as thanksgiving for his faithfulness. In the seventh year, there was no tithing because there was no planting and therefore no reaping.
So the next time your pastor asks you to pay tithe, ask him about the seventh-year reprieve. Also ask him if you can give it to the orphanage, or bring it as food items to be eaten in church. See if he will agree with you.
Tithing was only applicable to Jews and to the land of Israel. Most Gentile lands, such as those where the overwhelming majority of Christian churches are currently located, were considered defiled by Jews and a tithe from them was considered unclean. So you might need to tell your pastor that tithing cannot be applicable to Nigeria.
Servants or slaves who worked on the land did not tithe because the land did not belong to them. Since only agricultural and animal resources were acceptable, a fisherman gave no tithe of his fisheries. Neither did a miner or a carpenter pay tithes, nor did anyone from the various professional occupations. So you might need to ask your pastor for exemption if you are not a farmer.
Moreover, the only people authorised to receive tithes were the Levites. So if your pastor is a "tithe-collector," ask him if he happens to be a Jew. Remind him that, even though Jesus was a Jew, he could not receive the tithe because he was not from the tribe of Levi but from that of Judah.
The trick, of course, is for pastors today to claim we are "Levites." If your pastor is one such dissembler, ask him how he knows he is from the tribe of Levi, which happens to be one of the lost tribes of Israel. Point out to him that even Jewish rabbis don't claim to be Levites. Neither do they collect tithes today because all Jewish genealogical records were lost with the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, ensuring that it is no longer possible to ascertain the true identity of Levites.
Therefore, if Jews no longer tithe because the Levites are a lost tribe, how can Christian pastors collect tithes when we are not even Jewish, how much more Levites?
Tithes were used for administering the priesthood office in the temple. But there is no temple today and all believers are now priests unto God. Indeed, the believer is now the temple of God. So what are the tithes now meant for?
Today, they are used inappropriately for, among other things, putting up church monuments, financing lavish lifestyles, establishing banks and universities and for trading on the stock- market.
Finally, ask that pastor who grandstands as a Levite if he lives as one. Remind him that Levites had no lands and were not allowed to have private property.
articleoffaith@234next.com
http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5413387-146/ARTICLE_OF_FAITH:_Tithe-collectors__.csp
By Femi Aribisala
May 25, 2009 03:00PMT
Do you know Jewish rabbis, who are still under the Law of Moses, don't collect tithes? So how come Christian pastors do? Pastors insist Christians are no longer under the law. Why then do we demand that church-members pay tithes? Is the payment of tithes not a requirement under the law?
Point out to your pastor that if he insists on the payment of tithes, he must also insist on the keeping of the rest of the law. If you pay tithes, you should also refrain from eating pork; stone adulterers; execute homosexuals; stone Sabbath violators; and sacrifice animals, among other things.
Pastors impose on their congregants the "eleventh commandment," which says tithes must be paid to the place where you receive your spiritual blessings; meaning your church. But the Bible says no such thing.
The storehouse of Malachi was not a church. It was a place where food was kept. Pastors also hide from church-members the fact that money was not acceptable as tithe. Malachi says: "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house." He does not say "that there may be money in my house."
Obviously it was food and not money that God was after.
The tithe was a tenth of the seed and fruit of the land and of the animals which ate of the land. This was used to feed the Levites, the poor, the widows, the orphans and the strangers.
Moreover, the tithe was divided into three segments. The first year, it was given to the Levite (the priest). The second year it was given to widows, orphans and the poor. The third year, it was eaten in the company of the faithful before the Lord as thanksgiving for his faithfulness. In the seventh year, there was no tithing because there was no planting and therefore no reaping.
So the next time your pastor asks you to pay tithe, ask him about the seventh-year reprieve. Also ask him if you can give it to the orphanage, or bring it as food items to be eaten in church. See if he will agree with you.
Tithing was only applicable to Jews and to the land of Israel. Most Gentile lands, such as those where the overwhelming majority of Christian churches are currently located, were considered defiled by Jews and a tithe from them was considered unclean. So you might need to tell your pastor that tithing cannot be applicable to Nigeria.
Servants or slaves who worked on the land did not tithe because the land did not belong to them. Since only agricultural and animal resources were acceptable, a fisherman gave no tithe of his fisheries. Neither did a miner or a carpenter pay tithes, nor did anyone from the various professional occupations. So you might need to ask your pastor for exemption if you are not a farmer.
Moreover, the only people authorised to receive tithes were the Levites. So if your pastor is a "tithe-collector," ask him if he happens to be a Jew. Remind him that, even though Jesus was a Jew, he could not receive the tithe because he was not from the tribe of Levi but from that of Judah.
The trick, of course, is for pastors today to claim we are "Levites." If your pastor is one such dissembler, ask him how he knows he is from the tribe of Levi, which happens to be one of the lost tribes of Israel. Point out to him that even Jewish rabbis don't claim to be Levites. Neither do they collect tithes today because all Jewish genealogical records were lost with the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, ensuring that it is no longer possible to ascertain the true identity of Levites.
Therefore, if Jews no longer tithe because the Levites are a lost tribe, how can Christian pastors collect tithes when we are not even Jewish, how much more Levites?
Tithes were used for administering the priesthood office in the temple. But there is no temple today and all believers are now priests unto God. Indeed, the believer is now the temple of God. So what are the tithes now meant for?
Today, they are used inappropriately for, among other things, putting up church monuments, financing lavish lifestyles, establishing banks and universities and for trading on the stock- market.
Finally, ask that pastor who grandstands as a Levite if he lives as one. Remind him that Levites had no lands and were not allowed to have private property.
articleoffaith@234next.com
NO BROTHER FEMI ARIBASALA APOSTLE PAUL WAS NOT A MALE CHAUVINIST: WOMEN MINISTRY, LEADERSHIP, AND SOUND DOCTRINE
One of the most controversial issues in the church today is women in church leadership. Some people argue that Apostle Paul was a male Chauvinist because of his ‘views’ on women in the church .
NO BROTHER FEMI ARIBASALA APOSTLE PAUL WAS NOT A MALE CHAUVINIST: WOMEN MINISTRY, LEADERSHIP, AND SOUND DOCTRINE
http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5424807-146/Paul_is_a_male_Chauvinist.csp
The argument that what Apostle Paul expressed about women were just his biased views is simply an error in reasoning. It has no sound scriptural basis. It is written that:
16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16)
If these were just the views of Apostle Paul, then this logically implies that what ever Paul wrote was not inspired by the Holy Spirit. The word of God categorically states that all scripture was inspired by the Holy Spirit(2 Peter 1:20-21) . The view that Apostle Paul was a male Chauvinist is an attack against God Almighty. Let us check out this scripture:
20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:20-21)
According to Apostle Paul EVEN a MAN IS a WOMAN MARRIED TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Therefore according to Paul, playing different roles does not make one inferior. Spiritually speaking both men and women are equal before God. Check out this:
1Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.(2 Corinthians 11:1-3)
WOMEN PREACHERS
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Doctrines/false_doctrines.htm
I urge you to read Bro.Kato’s well-balanced Analysis of this issue below. Compare his views with extremist and erroneous ones after his Article.
1Timothy 2: Women Ministry, Leadership, and Sound Doctrine
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/discernment/361-1timothy-2-women-ministry-leadership-and-sound-doctrine.html
Kato Mivule | August 4, 2009
One of the most contentious subjects in New Testament Christianity is the role of Women in the Church. There are many extremes to this subject and every Christian denomination has its own opinion and interpretation of what the scriptures say about Women in the Church.
Others have concluded that Paul the apostle was simply caught up in the ‘cultural war’ context of his day in which women were not supposed to talk in public or discuss anything. Yet such views neglect the numerous scriptures that actually show women in ministerial roles in the New Testament Church settings.
Men suppressing women and women revolting…
It is without doubt that women have been treated unfairly, abused, and in some cultures treated as almost equal to animals. Yet even in the Church, there are still sects in Christendom that mistreat women and discriminate against women. Such groups of Christians will totally take Paul’s writings in the New Testament concerning women out of context and as a pretext to malign, put down, discriminate, and mistreat women.
On the other hand is the present Western Culture of our day that seeks to “liberate” women from men and in their endeavor to “empower” women, they malign men and totally kill the ‘man’ in men in search for so-called equal rights. Yet this Western Cultural thinking has found its way inside the Church and as such, folks with that type of thinking misuse scriptures and totally disregard God’s word on the subject of women in the Church.
Many with a Westernized version of Christianity think that Paul the apostle was simply speaking to the culture of his day and not to the folks in our Westernized culture today. This total disregard of New Testament scriptures has opened doors to false doctrines and other family vices inside the church as more women seek to control, exercise authority over, and dominate men and the Christian family structure.
Yet still those who argue that Paul the apostle was simply caught up in a cultural war of his day forget that Paul the apostle was addressing the same issue of women ‘usurping authority’ just as it is today in our current Westernized Culture.
Paul was dealing with a rebellion of women who saw it fit to take authority over men just like we have today women “empowered” by the Women’s Liberation Movements that seek to empower women to rebel against their husbands and men inside the Church and in the home family.
Paul concerned about Authority and Leadership, not Women Ministry…
After looking at all scriptures of Paul the apostle’s ministerial interaction with women, one would conclude that ‘ministering’ was not the issue that Paul the apostle was writing about or overly concerned with. Paul the apostle was not stopping women from ministering. Otherwise Paul would not have had all these recommendations he wrote in his letters about ‘fellow women ministers’.
Yet still many students of the bible debate as to what type of “ministering” the women in Paul’s ministerial life did. Did these women minister only to fellow women and children or did they minister sometimes to men as well?
Reading and studying the Whole Counsel of Scriptures concerning this issue in the New Testament shows that truly the women in Paul’s ministerial life did not just minister to fellow women and children but also to men as well.
So, what was Paul the apostle talking about in his first letter to Timothy? We find a key word here and that is the issue of Authority in the Church and in the Family. Now many try to discount what Paul the apostles wrote in this chapter yet in doing so, they make the Bible self contradict. We know that the Scriptures are in harmony and do not self contradict, so what was Paul the apostle speaking about? What has this to do with Sound Bible Doctrine in the Church?
What I am discussing is in context with the Authority in a healthy local Church and Family. I remember a brother in Africa who was so mad that women would even head corporations and business enterprises. His view was that they are not supposed to. My view is that Paul is addressing order and authority in the local church and Christian family. I have met some powerful women in the corporate world who happen to be very humble and yes submissive and respectful to their husbands ta home.
Jesus Christ is Head of His Church, not vice versa…
The Lord has His own order of things in the Local Church and Christian Home. He has set order according to His Word that the Man will be Head of his home and family even as Christ is Head of His Church. This in no way negates or maligns the Church before The Lord. The Church is held in high esteem with great love before Jesus Christ. Yet the order of things is that Jesus Christ is Head of His Church and not vice versa.
Ephesians 5:21-33
21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Likewise the Man according to New Testament scriptures is head of his family and this in no way negates and puts down women and children. I love my children so much but they are not head of my wife and home. This does not mean that women cannot have any vital roles or family ministerial duties in the home. However, the chief in charge is the Husband according to New Testament Teachings.
Those who try to negate the teachings of Paul the apostle concerning this subject by reducing it to trivial cultural matters are totally in conflict with the order of things that The Lord has set in His Church and Christian Family.
Westernized Culture and the Caricatures of men…
Our Westernized Culture is full of caricatures of men reduced to idiots and fools. Hollywood portrays men as lazy, violent, abusive, uncompassionate, stupid, foolish, idiots, sexual perverts, and the list goes on and on… The goal is to reduce men to a subservient role towards the “liberated” and “empowered” women; as such the family structure in the West has been greatly affected and virtually destroyed.
No wonder kids in the Western World display the greatest traits of rebellion as the Fathers are absent and as women fail in the role of ‘fathering’ their kids. The family breakdown in the West is testament to the fact that what Paul wrote concerning authority in the Church and the Christian Family still applies to us today.
Men are to be Heads of Local Church and Family…
It is therefore imperative that Christian Women come to realize that ministry is not the issue here that Paul the apostle adresses in 1 Timothy Chapter 2 but that Authority in the Church of Christ and Family is ordered for men. Not as a condescending issue but a reflection of the relationship between Christ Jesus and His Church.
The issue that Paul the apostle addresses is that of Women usurping authority over men and in so reducing men to idiots, fools, and subservient Husbands. Yet men throughout the centuries have been guilty of the same, by reducing their women to subservient creatures and not loving them as Christ Jesus loved His Church.
However, like the saying goes ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’, the reaction of so-called liberated Christian women has been one of usurping authority of men in the Church and Family.
Now, some argue that since men do not take up to the challenge and lead, therefore women have had to step up to the occasion and lead. Yes, The Lord could have allowed this permissively and just like a widow will take the lead in her family after the passing of her husband. However, such settings are unhealthy and not what should be the norm according to New Testament Scriptures.
My prayer is that women who are gifted with various ministerial gifts in the Church, should work with and under God Fearing Men, given to Sound Doctrine and men who truly and purely Love Jesus Christ. I believe that this is what many of the great women we read about did who ministered together with Paul the apostle… They did not usurp authority over Paul but ministered with and under his leadership. Paul the apostle calls them co-laborers and fellow workers.
The False Women Pastors, Women Apostles, and Women Bishops…
There are many women out there today in the church in total rebellion and contradiction of scriptures. There are so-called Women Apostles, Women, Bishops, and Women Pastors etc… This is troubling as Leadership in many of these Churches is usurped from men and The Lord’s Order of Leadership in the Church is distorted.
What has happened in these Churches is similar to women who usurps authority over their husbands and become the head of his home. It is like the Church taking over headship of the Church and relegating Jesus Christ to the subservient role. It is like Children rebelling against their mothers and taking authority over the mothers in the home.
Yet the word of caution is that this is no call to abuse and to suppress women in the Church as many men are doing today in Christendom. They take the teachings of Paul the apostle in his first letter to Timothy out of context and use it as a pretext to abuse and suppress women and totally rejecting any ministry that women have to offer. This ought not to be so because Christ Jesus does not suppress and abuse His Church.
Let’s take a look at what the scriptures teach…
Women not to Usurp Authority over men in The Church…
1Timothy 2:9-15
(9) In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.
(10) But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
(11) Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
(12) But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
(13) For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
(14) And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
(15) Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
We see in the scripture above that Paul commands the women in the Church at Ephesus to:
Adorn in modest clothing…
Decency and Decorum were an issue then as it is still an issue in the Church today… Many women dress like they are going to a night club and more like whores and harlots. This is not a cultural thing restrained to Paul’s day as some teach. Many of our women today need to have some decency and decorum… However, this is no call for legalism and anti-trouser, anti-make up, anti-hair teachings that some Pastors teach. The key here is a sense of order, decency, and decorum.
Women Learn in Silence and Subjection…
I believe that many women just like today had developed a form of rebellion against their husbands and men in the Church and there was no form of humility and humbleness… Perhaps these women Paul dealt with were experiencing “liberation” and “empowerment” from the women liberation movements of their day.
Women were not to Teach and Usurp Authority over men…
Paul was certainly dealing with the issue of women taking over authority from men and instructing men as such and under such conditions as taking over the Teaching Ministry in the local church which I believe from my study of the scriptures was ordered to be headed by men in the Church. I believe that these women ‘overthrew’ the men leaders and begun teaching and instructing without the authority and supervision of the men in the Church.
Some have used this verse to say that women can never minister to men but we find from scriptures that Pricilla and Aquila ministered to Apollos and ‘expounded’ to him the scriptures. This was a Husband and Wife Team and therefore would be in contradiction to what Paul was teaching here.
However, I believe that Pricilla was under the authority of her Husband to be able to expound and instruct Apollos. So, what was Paul the apostle up to? Was Paul’s writing in contradiction to the scriptures in the Book of Acts 18:26?
Acts 18:24-28
24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:
28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
Some anti-women ministers have tried to negate the events of Acts 18:24-28 and claim that the word ‘expound’ had nothing to do with instructing and teaching and that Pricilla and Aquila did not “teach” Apollos. Such Pastors and anti-women preachers out there simply engage in distorting Bible events to ‘squeeze in’ their own doctrines rather than let scriptures speak for themselves.
Whatever Pricilla and Aquila did, they certainly ministered to Apollos and helped Apollos understand scriptures better. They ‘explained’, ‘instructed’, ‘expounded’ – all definitions that have to do with teaching… Yet, I believe that Pricilla was able to do this in concert with her husband as she was under the authority of her husband.
Interesting according to the Greek we see that Paul’s definition of ‘Teach’ in 1Timothy 2 is as follows…
Strong's Number: 1321
Original Word Word Origin
didavskw a prolonged (causative) form of a primary verb dao (to learn)
Transliterated Word TDNT Entry
Didasko 2:135,161
Phonetic Spelling Parts of Speech
did-as'-ko Verb
Definition
1. to teach
1. to hold discourse with others in order to instruct them, deliver didactic discourses
2. to be a teacher
3. to discharge the office of a teacher, conduct one's self as a teacher
2. to teach one
1. to impart instruction
2. instill doctrine into one
3. the thing taught or enjoined
4. to explain or expound a thing
5. to teach one something
Still interesting is that we see the word ‘expounded’ in Greek as used in Acts 18:26 is as follows…
Strong's Number: 1620
Original Word Word Origin
ejktivqhmi from (1537) and (5087)
Transliterated Word TDNT Entry
Ektithemi None
Phonetic Spelling Parts of Speech
ek-tith'-ay-mee Verb
Definition
1. to place or set out, put outside, expose
2. to set up, exhibit
3. metaph. to set forth, declare, expound
From the study of how the word ‘Teach’ and ‘Expound’ are used in Greek in 1Timothy 2 and Acts 18:26 respectively, I do not see any contradiction at all. I believe that Paul the apostle was setting the order of things that the Teaching Ministry went along with Authority in the Local Church and as such, that kind of ministry was ordered to be headed by men in the local Church.
Pricilla and Aquila did ‘Expound’ – Explain Scriptures…
Pricilla ministered and taught, expounded, and instructed Apollos in scriptures under the authority of her husband. Some folks have tried to teach that Pricilla and Aquila just “expounded” the scriptures but never “taught” the scriptures…
From the Greek language we see no difference, teaching scriptures included, expounding, instruction, and explaining…the things that Pricilla and Aquila did.
Therefore, I conclude that Paul was against women who taught men by usurping authority from men and seizing the teaching ministry from Men. Men had the responsibility to be the sole teachers of scriptures to their wives and children, even though it is permissible for women to instruct and expound scriptures to other men under the authority of their husbands or other men just as Pricilla and Aquila did when they ministered to Apollos…
Let us allow the scriptures to speak for themselves…Pricilla and Aquila did ‘expound’ the scriptures to Apollos…they instructed Apollos in the scriptures… It is high time the some men be humble to receive from the Pricilla and Aquila Husband and Wife teams of our day.
I remember a brother on who bitterly rejected the discernment ministry of a certain sister on the internet simply because this sister is a woman. The sister is very gifted in research and depth of the scriptures with more understanding of scriptures than the brother… However, because of arrogance, pride, and aloofness, this brother totally rejected the ministry of this sister and could not learn anything at all. Yet remarkably, this sister was not trying to usurp or take over authority on this brother. Brethren, this ought not to be so…
For Adam was formed first…Eve was deceived first…
We see Paul instruct Timothy that if this order is distorted, deception will enter easily in the Church… one of the reasons that a man was to be in charge of the Teaching ministry in the Church and at home was to guard against deception. This has nothing to do with demeaning women or refusing women to minister in the local assembly but that is the order of things in the Church of Jesus Christ…
The man was to provide protection for his family and household. Christ Jesus is Head of His Church and does provide Protection for His Church. The Leadership in the Church has the responsibility to protect the Church against false doctrines and deception. Therefore, when God’s order of Leadership is broken down in the Church and the Christian Family, then deception sets in.
This again does not mean that women in concert with their husbands cannot engage in discernment and teaching (‘expounding’ the Word Ministries…) ministries that expose liars and false teachers. Women can do so as in the case of Pricilla and Aquila but to negate 1Timothy 2 and claim that Paul was out of his mind and caught in a ‘cultural’ war is deceptive in itself and a rebellion against scriptures that all God Loving women should watch out for.
Order of things in the Church – Head of Woman is Man, Head of Man is Christ…
1 Corinthians 11:2-16
(2) Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
(3) But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
(4) Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head.
(5) But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
(6) For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
(7) For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
(8) For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
(9) Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
(10) For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
(11) Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
(12) For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
(13) Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
(14) Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
(15) But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
(16) But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
We see that Paul’s writing here in 1 Corinthians 11 is to show us the order of things insofar as authority is concerned in the Church…the head of the woman is man, the head of man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God…
I believe Paul was writing about women being under authority rather than the simplicity of covering their heads with a piece of cloth… The Scriptures here I believe are symbolic and in reference that a woman ought to be under the covering of her husband and the husband under the covering of Christ Jesus who is the Head of His Body, the Church.
Therefore Pricilla could minister by instructing and expounding scriptures to Apollos as she was under the covering of her husband Aquila.
However, words of caution here to all women ministers…do not rush to get so-called ‘coverings’ from “men of God”… Pray and let The Holy Spirit lead you. Pray that The Lord will lead you by His Holy Spirit and remember that your main covering is Jesus Christ… Therefore let The Lord lead you to partner with and co-labor with godly men who are not abusive but are given to Sound Bible Doctrine and godly character… This calls for patience and waiting on The Lord too…
Women should not usurp authority from men…
1 Corinthians 14:33-37
(33) For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
(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.
(36) What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
(37) If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
Reading this scripture in context with 1Timothy shows that there was some form of rebellion among women and their taking of authority over men… The Order of Leadership was being distorted and confusion was in the Church.
Reading 1Corinthians 14 in concert with 1 Timothy 2 shows that the women speaking in the Church were probably taking over leadership in the local Church and usurping authority from men, and speaking in rebellion. Paul writes to set things in order and diffuse the confusion…
It might have been that women had usurped authority from men and taken over the teaching ministry in church and instructing men, placing them in a subservient role… In that sense it was a shame that women were speaking in Church in context of the rebellion. These women were certainly not silent but noisy and maybe trouble makers… These women were certainly not the Pricilla type we studied earlier…
It is important to note that the key verse here is verse 33 in which Paul states that God is not the author of confusion but of peace. Certainly these women at Corinth were in conflict with the Order of Leadership in the Local Church and were speaking to usurp authority in the Local Church…certainly not the Pricilla and Aquila type.
Order of things – Husband is Head of wife as Christ is Head of His Church…
Ephesians 5:22-23
(22) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
(23) For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.
The Church will never be head of Christ and neither should women be head of men in the Christian family and Local Christian Church. The Family Setting is a reflection of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Church… Jesus Christ is Head of His Church…
Even though the same bible calls for all of us to submit one to another, however, when it comes to leadership roles in the local church and Christian family, The Lord has set the order of things and that godly Men take the lead.
Children in the Family…
Ephesians 6:1-4
(1) Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
(2) Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;
(3) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
(4) And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Colossians 3:18-21
(18) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
(19) Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
(20) Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
(21) Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Children were called to a place of being submissive to their parents – Father and Mother… This does not mean that Children are demeaned and suppressed but this is God’s Order of things…
Women called to Teach Young Women…
Titus 2:1-5
(1) But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
(2) That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
(3) The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
(4) That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
(5) To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
If there is any ministry for teaching in regards to women, it is most explicitly called for here in Titus 2;4 – that women teach other young women and of course children… Yes, women can “teach” and we see women teach other young women too…earlier we saw women “expound” the scriptures to men…
Yet still it is amazing to see the Women’s Liberation Movement try to usurp the authority of men in the local church by claiming that they have been suppressed for too long by men and therefore they too want equal rights in the area of leadership…
From my studies, the number of women and children outnumber men in the church by a huge margin. This means that even if women were sanctioned to minister to women and children alone, they have a far wider and reaching audience than men.
So, why are some women simply not satisfied to have ministry to fellow women? The issue is clearly one in which some rebellious women seek to usurp authority from men in the Local Church and family. The audience for women ministry to fellow women and children is even far wider than just ministry to men.
Jezebel spirit of Rebellion and Usurping Authority from men…
Revelation 2:20-23
(20) Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
(21) And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
(22) Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
(23) And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
Jezebel was one figure in the Old Testament who was in total rebellion against The Lord. She was married to King Ahab and totally took control of Ahab and lead him to worship other gods by sacrificing to idols, mainly worshiping Baal. This led the Children of Israel to sin against The Lord and to the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
The Prophets of Baal met their demise when they came in contact with Elijah the prophet. Jezebel also hunted down, persecuted, and killed many of The Lord’s True Prophets.
So, we see that the Jezebel woman that The Lord was speaking about in Revelation 2 had usurped authority from men and taking over the teaching ministry in the church. As a result deception set in and she began teaching men to commit fornication and eat foods sacrificed to idols.
Jezebel led the church to sin against The Lord by causing the church to love the world and the things of the world. This is what happens when women reject the true Authority of Christ in the Local Church.
Such rebellious women spin off into other doctrines and false teachings as they overthrow the authority of men in the local church and Christian family. We have many so-called women pastors, bishops, and apostles, clearly they are simply operating in a Jezebel spirit and it is not surprising to find many false teachings under such so-called women ministries who refuse to minister under the cover of a godly Man Leadership…
Many so-called Women TV ministers today are Jezebel Teachers who have usurped teaching authority from men and they are busy teaching things that totally contradict God’s Word and making the church fall in love with the world and things of the world…
A look at some Women Ministers in the New Testament…
Phoebe our sister and a Servant of the Church…
Romans 16:1-2
(1) I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:
(2) 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 succorer of many, and of myself also.
G1249 | diakonos | dee-ak'-on-os
Probably from διάκω diakō (obsolete, to run on errands; compare G1377); an attendant, that is, (generally) a waiter (at table or in other menial duties); specifically a Christian teacher and pastor (technically a deacon or deaconess): - deacon, minister, servant.
We see that Phoebe was a minister at the local Church in Cenchrea… Paul the apostle refers to her as a servant of the Church at Cenchrea… From the Greek word servant, we see that she was a deaconess…
Now some suggest that she was head of the local church at Cenchrea but the scriptures do not tell us so. To simply suggest that she was head of the local church at Cenchrea would contradict the teachings of Paul to Timothy and would be reading much into the scriptures – trying to twist scriptures to suit man’s teachings…
However, I believe that even though she was a deaconess at the local church, there must have been some leadership at that church not mentioned. She must have been under the cover or authority of some male apostle or bishop in that locality, if not Paul the apostle himself…
Pricilla and Aquila, Helpers in Christ Jesus…
Romans 16:3-4
(3) Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:
(4) Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
G4904 | sunergos |soon-er-gos'
From a presumed compound of G4862 and the base of G2041; a co-laborer, that is, coadjutor: - companion in labour, (fellow-) helper (-labourer, -worker), labourer together with, workfellow.
We see that Pricilla a woman who ministered with her husband was referred to as a ‘Helper’ by Paul the apostle… She certainly ministered with her Husband, under the cover and authority of her husband and certainly Paul the apostle…
Interesting is that the Greek word for ‘Helper’ here has the meanings of co-laborer and work fellow… Therefore she did work with Paul the apostle in preaching the gospel…
One anti-women minister pastor claims that she probably washed dishes for Paul the apostle...such thinking is from men who are insecure about women ministers and seek to suppress the ministry of women in the Body of Christ…
Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis – Women Ministers…
Romans 16:12
(12) Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which labored much in the Lord.
G5170 | Truphaina | troo'-fahee-nah
From G5172; luxurious; Tryphaena, a Christian woman: - Tryphena.
G5173 | Truphōsa | troo-fo'-sah
From G5172; luxuriating; Tryphosa, a Christian female: - Tryphosa.
G4069 | Persis | per-sece'
A Persian woman; Persis, a Christian female: - Persis.
We see that these three women labored much in The Lord… Paul the apostle refers to them as “who labor” in The Lord. These clearly were Women ministers and worked along with Paul.
Many claim that these women simply cooked food for Paul, run errands, washed dishes and cared for the Baby ministry… However, Pricilla and Aquila Team does give us a clue as to what some of these women could have done…expound the scriptures…
Euodias, Syntyche – Fellow Laborers in the Gospel…
Philippians 4:1-3
(1) Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
(2) I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
(3) And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life.
Paul the apostle speaks about these women who labored with him in the gospel, clearly showing us that there were women involved in ministry with Paul under his apostolic leadership…
These women labored, worked, in preaching the gospel… These women were not just washing dishes and running errands as some would like us to believe… These women were busy proclaiming The Good New of Jesus Christ to the world together with Paul the apostle.
Pricilla and Aquila – Helpers and Fellow ‘Sufferers’…
Romans 16:3-4
(3) Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:
(4) Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
Pricilla the wife of Aquila risked her life for the gospel – they laid down their own necks to help Paul in preaching the gospel… To disregard the ministry of women in the Bible and trivialize it to washing dishes and running errands is to despise the great sufferings and persecutions that women ministers endured for Christ Jesus in the early Church and through out Church History.
Andronicus and Junia – Fellow Prisoners of note among the apostles…
Romans 16:7
(7) Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
G1978 | episēmos |ep-is'-ay-mos
From G1909 and some form of the base of G4591; remarkable, that is, (figuratively) eminent: - notable, of note.
Some have suggested that Romans 16:7 speaks about “women apostles” in the Church in reference to Junia who is said to be a woman but a little closer look at the scripture suggests otherwise.
The scripture simply refers to Junia and Andronicus as of repute and of note among the apostles. It is like saying the a nurse is of note among doctors… This does not mean that the nurse is a doctor but simply means that the nurse has a very good reputation among doctors…that doctors regard her highly.
Therefore to suggest that Junia was a woman apostle would again contradict the teachings of Paul the apostle concerning leadership in the Church which is clearly to be headed by men according to The Lord’s Order of things in the Church.
I believe that the scripture above simply speaks of two individuals who were highly regarded and esteemed by the apostles but not apostles themselves. Those who suggest that the two were apostles are reading too much into the scriptures and adding to them…
Conclusion
From the simple study above, I believe that Women are not sanctioned to minister; as a matter of fact we need more women ministers especially as there is a very huge audience and population growth of women in the world today.
However, I believe that Church Leadership is reserved for men both in the Family and the Local Church. Yet this is not a call to abuse and suppress women but treat women with love and respect just as Jesus Christ loves His Church.
Yet men have not risen up to the occasion and taken the lead and therefore permissively The Lord has allowed Women to take the leadership roles just like a widow takes lead over her home because the husband is dead…
Many would be Men Leaders in the Local Churches and Christian Families are spiritually dead and thus a leadership vacuum… This ought not to be so but a renewal is needed in the local Church to restore the order of things as Christ Jesus has set them to be in the Local Church.
In Christ Jesus
Kato Mivule
COMPARE BRO.KATO’S ARTICLE WITH THE ONE OF BRO.FEMI ARIBISALA
Paul is a male chauvinist
http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5424807-146/Paul_is_a_male_Chauvinist.csp
By Femi Aribisala
June 19, 2009 10:23PMT
Christians should not be afraid to admit it: Paul is a male chauvinist. He says to the Corinthians: "I want you to know that the head of... woman is man." (1 Cor 11:3) But God is not a respecter of the sexes.
Deborah ruled as a judge in Israel by divine sanction, where she exercised authority over all men, including her husband, Lapidoth. (Judg 4:4) Today, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to Jesus, and he does not delegate his authority.
(Mt 28:18) Therefore the head of the man and the woman is the same, and it is Christ.
Paul continues with his contumely: "Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head... For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man."
(1 Cor 11:4/7) But Jewish men pray with their heads covered, so Jesus must have done the same. God does not pay attention to such trivialities. You can even pray while stark naked if you like.
Paul's doctrine is capricious. If men should not cover their heads before God because they are the glory of God, then it only follows that women should also not cover their heads before men because, according to Paul, they are the glory of men.
Paul then tells a bold-faced lie: "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonour to him?" (1 Cor 11:14) We may well ask from which college of natural history Paul has obtained this teaching. In nature, the lion is the one with the long hair (manes) and not the lioness. The male peacock also has longer plumes than the female, so Paul's claims are bogus.
To Jews, long hair was (in matters of the faith) more of a "glory" than a "shame." A Nazarite man, for example, does not cut his hair and it is not a dishonour to him. (Num 6:5) It was God himself who told Samson not to cut his hair.
(Judg 13:5) Paul continues: "If a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering." (1 Cor 11:15) But wait a minute; did Paul not say women should cover their heads? If the woman's hair is given to her for a covering, why does she need to cover it again? What is the point of covering a covering?
Paul then reveals his contempt for women in one of the most outrageous verses in the bible: "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says." (1 Cor 14:34) Here the man who claims Christians are no longer under the law now seeks refuge in the same law. But even here Paul is being disingenuous because nowhere in the entire Old Testament does it say women should be silent in the synagogue.
Why would God give women tongues and then maintain they cannot speak and only men can speak? Paul contradicts himself elsewhere by insisting that differentiations between men and women no longer apply under Christ: "There is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28).
If we are all one in Christ, why should women be silent and only men be allowed to speak?
Paul then adds insult to injury by implying that women are less spiritual than men. He says: "If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church." (1 Cor 14:35) This is ridiculous and mean-spirited. For whom is it shameful, for women or for Paul? What about single women and widows who don't have husbands? Who should they ask at home?
Finally, Paul uses "ogboju" to try and force down his misogynistic doctrine down the throat of the Corinthians: "If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant." (1 Cor 14:37-38) Paul is the ignorant one. According to Jesus our Lord, we determine a prophet by his fruits. (Mt 7:15-16) It is preposterous for Paul to maintain that a prophet or spiritual person is determined by whether they agree with him.
Paul is not God, and he is not Jesus Christ.
articleoffaith@234next.com
ALSO SEE THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES
The Sin of Women preachers
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Feminism/women_preachers.htm
WOMEN PREACHERS
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Doctrines/false_doctrines.htm
NO BROTHER FEMI ARIBASALA APOSTLE PAUL WAS NOT A MALE CHAUVINIST: WOMEN MINISTRY, LEADERSHIP, AND SOUND DOCTRINE
http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5424807-146/Paul_is_a_male_Chauvinist.csp
The argument that what Apostle Paul expressed about women were just his biased views is simply an error in reasoning. It has no sound scriptural basis. It is written that:
16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16)
If these were just the views of Apostle Paul, then this logically implies that what ever Paul wrote was not inspired by the Holy Spirit. The word of God categorically states that all scripture was inspired by the Holy Spirit(2 Peter 1:20-21) . The view that Apostle Paul was a male Chauvinist is an attack against God Almighty. Let us check out this scripture:
20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:20-21)
According to Apostle Paul EVEN a MAN IS a WOMAN MARRIED TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Therefore according to Paul, playing different roles does not make one inferior. Spiritually speaking both men and women are equal before God. Check out this:
1Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.(2 Corinthians 11:1-3)
WOMEN PREACHERS
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Doctrines/false_doctrines.htm
I urge you to read Bro.Kato’s well-balanced Analysis of this issue below. Compare his views with extremist and erroneous ones after his Article.
1Timothy 2: Women Ministry, Leadership, and Sound Doctrine
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/discernment/361-1timothy-2-women-ministry-leadership-and-sound-doctrine.html
Kato Mivule | August 4, 2009
One of the most contentious subjects in New Testament Christianity is the role of Women in the Church. There are many extremes to this subject and every Christian denomination has its own opinion and interpretation of what the scriptures say about Women in the Church.
Others have concluded that Paul the apostle was simply caught up in the ‘cultural war’ context of his day in which women were not supposed to talk in public or discuss anything. Yet such views neglect the numerous scriptures that actually show women in ministerial roles in the New Testament Church settings.
Men suppressing women and women revolting…
It is without doubt that women have been treated unfairly, abused, and in some cultures treated as almost equal to animals. Yet even in the Church, there are still sects in Christendom that mistreat women and discriminate against women. Such groups of Christians will totally take Paul’s writings in the New Testament concerning women out of context and as a pretext to malign, put down, discriminate, and mistreat women.
On the other hand is the present Western Culture of our day that seeks to “liberate” women from men and in their endeavor to “empower” women, they malign men and totally kill the ‘man’ in men in search for so-called equal rights. Yet this Western Cultural thinking has found its way inside the Church and as such, folks with that type of thinking misuse scriptures and totally disregard God’s word on the subject of women in the Church.
Many with a Westernized version of Christianity think that Paul the apostle was simply speaking to the culture of his day and not to the folks in our Westernized culture today. This total disregard of New Testament scriptures has opened doors to false doctrines and other family vices inside the church as more women seek to control, exercise authority over, and dominate men and the Christian family structure.
Yet still those who argue that Paul the apostle was simply caught up in a cultural war of his day forget that Paul the apostle was addressing the same issue of women ‘usurping authority’ just as it is today in our current Westernized Culture.
Paul was dealing with a rebellion of women who saw it fit to take authority over men just like we have today women “empowered” by the Women’s Liberation Movements that seek to empower women to rebel against their husbands and men inside the Church and in the home family.
Paul concerned about Authority and Leadership, not Women Ministry…
After looking at all scriptures of Paul the apostle’s ministerial interaction with women, one would conclude that ‘ministering’ was not the issue that Paul the apostle was writing about or overly concerned with. Paul the apostle was not stopping women from ministering. Otherwise Paul would not have had all these recommendations he wrote in his letters about ‘fellow women ministers’.
Yet still many students of the bible debate as to what type of “ministering” the women in Paul’s ministerial life did. Did these women minister only to fellow women and children or did they minister sometimes to men as well?
Reading and studying the Whole Counsel of Scriptures concerning this issue in the New Testament shows that truly the women in Paul’s ministerial life did not just minister to fellow women and children but also to men as well.
So, what was Paul the apostle talking about in his first letter to Timothy? We find a key word here and that is the issue of Authority in the Church and in the Family. Now many try to discount what Paul the apostles wrote in this chapter yet in doing so, they make the Bible self contradict. We know that the Scriptures are in harmony and do not self contradict, so what was Paul the apostle speaking about? What has this to do with Sound Bible Doctrine in the Church?
What I am discussing is in context with the Authority in a healthy local Church and Family. I remember a brother in Africa who was so mad that women would even head corporations and business enterprises. His view was that they are not supposed to. My view is that Paul is addressing order and authority in the local church and Christian family. I have met some powerful women in the corporate world who happen to be very humble and yes submissive and respectful to their husbands ta home.
Jesus Christ is Head of His Church, not vice versa…
The Lord has His own order of things in the Local Church and Christian Home. He has set order according to His Word that the Man will be Head of his home and family even as Christ is Head of His Church. This in no way negates or maligns the Church before The Lord. The Church is held in high esteem with great love before Jesus Christ. Yet the order of things is that Jesus Christ is Head of His Church and not vice versa.
Ephesians 5:21-33
21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Likewise the Man according to New Testament scriptures is head of his family and this in no way negates and puts down women and children. I love my children so much but they are not head of my wife and home. This does not mean that women cannot have any vital roles or family ministerial duties in the home. However, the chief in charge is the Husband according to New Testament Teachings.
Those who try to negate the teachings of Paul the apostle concerning this subject by reducing it to trivial cultural matters are totally in conflict with the order of things that The Lord has set in His Church and Christian Family.
Westernized Culture and the Caricatures of men…
Our Westernized Culture is full of caricatures of men reduced to idiots and fools. Hollywood portrays men as lazy, violent, abusive, uncompassionate, stupid, foolish, idiots, sexual perverts, and the list goes on and on… The goal is to reduce men to a subservient role towards the “liberated” and “empowered” women; as such the family structure in the West has been greatly affected and virtually destroyed.
No wonder kids in the Western World display the greatest traits of rebellion as the Fathers are absent and as women fail in the role of ‘fathering’ their kids. The family breakdown in the West is testament to the fact that what Paul wrote concerning authority in the Church and the Christian Family still applies to us today.
Men are to be Heads of Local Church and Family…
It is therefore imperative that Christian Women come to realize that ministry is not the issue here that Paul the apostle adresses in 1 Timothy Chapter 2 but that Authority in the Church of Christ and Family is ordered for men. Not as a condescending issue but a reflection of the relationship between Christ Jesus and His Church.
The issue that Paul the apostle addresses is that of Women usurping authority over men and in so reducing men to idiots, fools, and subservient Husbands. Yet men throughout the centuries have been guilty of the same, by reducing their women to subservient creatures and not loving them as Christ Jesus loved His Church.
However, like the saying goes ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’, the reaction of so-called liberated Christian women has been one of usurping authority of men in the Church and Family.
Now, some argue that since men do not take up to the challenge and lead, therefore women have had to step up to the occasion and lead. Yes, The Lord could have allowed this permissively and just like a widow will take the lead in her family after the passing of her husband. However, such settings are unhealthy and not what should be the norm according to New Testament Scriptures.
My prayer is that women who are gifted with various ministerial gifts in the Church, should work with and under God Fearing Men, given to Sound Doctrine and men who truly and purely Love Jesus Christ. I believe that this is what many of the great women we read about did who ministered together with Paul the apostle… They did not usurp authority over Paul but ministered with and under his leadership. Paul the apostle calls them co-laborers and fellow workers.
The False Women Pastors, Women Apostles, and Women Bishops…
There are many women out there today in the church in total rebellion and contradiction of scriptures. There are so-called Women Apostles, Women, Bishops, and Women Pastors etc… This is troubling as Leadership in many of these Churches is usurped from men and The Lord’s Order of Leadership in the Church is distorted.
What has happened in these Churches is similar to women who usurps authority over their husbands and become the head of his home. It is like the Church taking over headship of the Church and relegating Jesus Christ to the subservient role. It is like Children rebelling against their mothers and taking authority over the mothers in the home.
Yet the word of caution is that this is no call to abuse and to suppress women in the Church as many men are doing today in Christendom. They take the teachings of Paul the apostle in his first letter to Timothy out of context and use it as a pretext to abuse and suppress women and totally rejecting any ministry that women have to offer. This ought not to be so because Christ Jesus does not suppress and abuse His Church.
Let’s take a look at what the scriptures teach…
Women not to Usurp Authority over men in The Church…
1Timothy 2:9-15
(9) In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.
(10) But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
(11) Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
(12) But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
(13) For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
(14) And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
(15) Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
We see in the scripture above that Paul commands the women in the Church at Ephesus to:
Adorn in modest clothing…
Decency and Decorum were an issue then as it is still an issue in the Church today… Many women dress like they are going to a night club and more like whores and harlots. This is not a cultural thing restrained to Paul’s day as some teach. Many of our women today need to have some decency and decorum… However, this is no call for legalism and anti-trouser, anti-make up, anti-hair teachings that some Pastors teach. The key here is a sense of order, decency, and decorum.
Women Learn in Silence and Subjection…
I believe that many women just like today had developed a form of rebellion against their husbands and men in the Church and there was no form of humility and humbleness… Perhaps these women Paul dealt with were experiencing “liberation” and “empowerment” from the women liberation movements of their day.
Women were not to Teach and Usurp Authority over men…
Paul was certainly dealing with the issue of women taking over authority from men and instructing men as such and under such conditions as taking over the Teaching Ministry in the local church which I believe from my study of the scriptures was ordered to be headed by men in the Church. I believe that these women ‘overthrew’ the men leaders and begun teaching and instructing without the authority and supervision of the men in the Church.
Some have used this verse to say that women can never minister to men but we find from scriptures that Pricilla and Aquila ministered to Apollos and ‘expounded’ to him the scriptures. This was a Husband and Wife Team and therefore would be in contradiction to what Paul was teaching here.
However, I believe that Pricilla was under the authority of her Husband to be able to expound and instruct Apollos. So, what was Paul the apostle up to? Was Paul’s writing in contradiction to the scriptures in the Book of Acts 18:26?
Acts 18:24-28
24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:
28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
Some anti-women ministers have tried to negate the events of Acts 18:24-28 and claim that the word ‘expound’ had nothing to do with instructing and teaching and that Pricilla and Aquila did not “teach” Apollos. Such Pastors and anti-women preachers out there simply engage in distorting Bible events to ‘squeeze in’ their own doctrines rather than let scriptures speak for themselves.
Whatever Pricilla and Aquila did, they certainly ministered to Apollos and helped Apollos understand scriptures better. They ‘explained’, ‘instructed’, ‘expounded’ – all definitions that have to do with teaching… Yet, I believe that Pricilla was able to do this in concert with her husband as she was under the authority of her husband.
Interesting according to the Greek we see that Paul’s definition of ‘Teach’ in 1Timothy 2 is as follows…
Strong's Number: 1321
Original Word Word Origin
didavskw a prolonged (causative) form of a primary verb dao (to learn)
Transliterated Word TDNT Entry
Didasko 2:135,161
Phonetic Spelling Parts of Speech
did-as'-ko Verb
Definition
1. to teach
1. to hold discourse with others in order to instruct them, deliver didactic discourses
2. to be a teacher
3. to discharge the office of a teacher, conduct one's self as a teacher
2. to teach one
1. to impart instruction
2. instill doctrine into one
3. the thing taught or enjoined
4. to explain or expound a thing
5. to teach one something
Still interesting is that we see the word ‘expounded’ in Greek as used in Acts 18:26 is as follows…
Strong's Number: 1620
Original Word Word Origin
ejktivqhmi from (1537) and (5087)
Transliterated Word TDNT Entry
Ektithemi None
Phonetic Spelling Parts of Speech
ek-tith'-ay-mee Verb
Definition
1. to place or set out, put outside, expose
2. to set up, exhibit
3. metaph. to set forth, declare, expound
From the study of how the word ‘Teach’ and ‘Expound’ are used in Greek in 1Timothy 2 and Acts 18:26 respectively, I do not see any contradiction at all. I believe that Paul the apostle was setting the order of things that the Teaching Ministry went along with Authority in the Local Church and as such, that kind of ministry was ordered to be headed by men in the local Church.
Pricilla and Aquila did ‘Expound’ – Explain Scriptures…
Pricilla ministered and taught, expounded, and instructed Apollos in scriptures under the authority of her husband. Some folks have tried to teach that Pricilla and Aquila just “expounded” the scriptures but never “taught” the scriptures…
From the Greek language we see no difference, teaching scriptures included, expounding, instruction, and explaining…the things that Pricilla and Aquila did.
Therefore, I conclude that Paul was against women who taught men by usurping authority from men and seizing the teaching ministry from Men. Men had the responsibility to be the sole teachers of scriptures to their wives and children, even though it is permissible for women to instruct and expound scriptures to other men under the authority of their husbands or other men just as Pricilla and Aquila did when they ministered to Apollos…
Let us allow the scriptures to speak for themselves…Pricilla and Aquila did ‘expound’ the scriptures to Apollos…they instructed Apollos in the scriptures… It is high time the some men be humble to receive from the Pricilla and Aquila Husband and Wife teams of our day.
I remember a brother on who bitterly rejected the discernment ministry of a certain sister on the internet simply because this sister is a woman. The sister is very gifted in research and depth of the scriptures with more understanding of scriptures than the brother… However, because of arrogance, pride, and aloofness, this brother totally rejected the ministry of this sister and could not learn anything at all. Yet remarkably, this sister was not trying to usurp or take over authority on this brother. Brethren, this ought not to be so…
For Adam was formed first…Eve was deceived first…
We see Paul instruct Timothy that if this order is distorted, deception will enter easily in the Church… one of the reasons that a man was to be in charge of the Teaching ministry in the Church and at home was to guard against deception. This has nothing to do with demeaning women or refusing women to minister in the local assembly but that is the order of things in the Church of Jesus Christ…
The man was to provide protection for his family and household. Christ Jesus is Head of His Church and does provide Protection for His Church. The Leadership in the Church has the responsibility to protect the Church against false doctrines and deception. Therefore, when God’s order of Leadership is broken down in the Church and the Christian Family, then deception sets in.
This again does not mean that women in concert with their husbands cannot engage in discernment and teaching (‘expounding’ the Word Ministries…) ministries that expose liars and false teachers. Women can do so as in the case of Pricilla and Aquila but to negate 1Timothy 2 and claim that Paul was out of his mind and caught in a ‘cultural’ war is deceptive in itself and a rebellion against scriptures that all God Loving women should watch out for.
Order of things in the Church – Head of Woman is Man, Head of Man is Christ…
1 Corinthians 11:2-16
(2) Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
(3) But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
(4) Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head.
(5) But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
(6) For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
(7) For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
(8) For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
(9) Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
(10) For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
(11) Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
(12) For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
(13) Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
(14) Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
(15) But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
(16) But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
We see that Paul’s writing here in 1 Corinthians 11 is to show us the order of things insofar as authority is concerned in the Church…the head of the woman is man, the head of man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God…
I believe Paul was writing about women being under authority rather than the simplicity of covering their heads with a piece of cloth… The Scriptures here I believe are symbolic and in reference that a woman ought to be under the covering of her husband and the husband under the covering of Christ Jesus who is the Head of His Body, the Church.
Therefore Pricilla could minister by instructing and expounding scriptures to Apollos as she was under the covering of her husband Aquila.
However, words of caution here to all women ministers…do not rush to get so-called ‘coverings’ from “men of God”… Pray and let The Holy Spirit lead you. Pray that The Lord will lead you by His Holy Spirit and remember that your main covering is Jesus Christ… Therefore let The Lord lead you to partner with and co-labor with godly men who are not abusive but are given to Sound Bible Doctrine and godly character… This calls for patience and waiting on The Lord too…
Women should not usurp authority from men…
1 Corinthians 14:33-37
(33) For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
(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.
(36) What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
(37) If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
Reading this scripture in context with 1Timothy shows that there was some form of rebellion among women and their taking of authority over men… The Order of Leadership was being distorted and confusion was in the Church.
Reading 1Corinthians 14 in concert with 1 Timothy 2 shows that the women speaking in the Church were probably taking over leadership in the local Church and usurping authority from men, and speaking in rebellion. Paul writes to set things in order and diffuse the confusion…
It might have been that women had usurped authority from men and taken over the teaching ministry in church and instructing men, placing them in a subservient role… In that sense it was a shame that women were speaking in Church in context of the rebellion. These women were certainly not silent but noisy and maybe trouble makers… These women were certainly not the Pricilla type we studied earlier…
It is important to note that the key verse here is verse 33 in which Paul states that God is not the author of confusion but of peace. Certainly these women at Corinth were in conflict with the Order of Leadership in the Local Church and were speaking to usurp authority in the Local Church…certainly not the Pricilla and Aquila type.
Order of things – Husband is Head of wife as Christ is Head of His Church…
Ephesians 5:22-23
(22) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
(23) For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.
The Church will never be head of Christ and neither should women be head of men in the Christian family and Local Christian Church. The Family Setting is a reflection of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Church… Jesus Christ is Head of His Church…
Even though the same bible calls for all of us to submit one to another, however, when it comes to leadership roles in the local church and Christian family, The Lord has set the order of things and that godly Men take the lead.
Children in the Family…
Ephesians 6:1-4
(1) Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
(2) Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;
(3) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
(4) And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Colossians 3:18-21
(18) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
(19) Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
(20) Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
(21) Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Children were called to a place of being submissive to their parents – Father and Mother… This does not mean that Children are demeaned and suppressed but this is God’s Order of things…
Women called to Teach Young Women…
Titus 2:1-5
(1) But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
(2) That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
(3) The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
(4) That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
(5) To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
If there is any ministry for teaching in regards to women, it is most explicitly called for here in Titus 2;4 – that women teach other young women and of course children… Yes, women can “teach” and we see women teach other young women too…earlier we saw women “expound” the scriptures to men…
Yet still it is amazing to see the Women’s Liberation Movement try to usurp the authority of men in the local church by claiming that they have been suppressed for too long by men and therefore they too want equal rights in the area of leadership…
From my studies, the number of women and children outnumber men in the church by a huge margin. This means that even if women were sanctioned to minister to women and children alone, they have a far wider and reaching audience than men.
So, why are some women simply not satisfied to have ministry to fellow women? The issue is clearly one in which some rebellious women seek to usurp authority from men in the Local Church and family. The audience for women ministry to fellow women and children is even far wider than just ministry to men.
Jezebel spirit of Rebellion and Usurping Authority from men…
Revelation 2:20-23
(20) Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
(21) And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
(22) Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
(23) And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
Jezebel was one figure in the Old Testament who was in total rebellion against The Lord. She was married to King Ahab and totally took control of Ahab and lead him to worship other gods by sacrificing to idols, mainly worshiping Baal. This led the Children of Israel to sin against The Lord and to the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
The Prophets of Baal met their demise when they came in contact with Elijah the prophet. Jezebel also hunted down, persecuted, and killed many of The Lord’s True Prophets.
So, we see that the Jezebel woman that The Lord was speaking about in Revelation 2 had usurped authority from men and taking over the teaching ministry in the church. As a result deception set in and she began teaching men to commit fornication and eat foods sacrificed to idols.
Jezebel led the church to sin against The Lord by causing the church to love the world and the things of the world. This is what happens when women reject the true Authority of Christ in the Local Church.
Such rebellious women spin off into other doctrines and false teachings as they overthrow the authority of men in the local church and Christian family. We have many so-called women pastors, bishops, and apostles, clearly they are simply operating in a Jezebel spirit and it is not surprising to find many false teachings under such so-called women ministries who refuse to minister under the cover of a godly Man Leadership…
Many so-called Women TV ministers today are Jezebel Teachers who have usurped teaching authority from men and they are busy teaching things that totally contradict God’s Word and making the church fall in love with the world and things of the world…
A look at some Women Ministers in the New Testament…
Phoebe our sister and a Servant of the Church…
Romans 16:1-2
(1) I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:
(2) 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 succorer of many, and of myself also.
G1249 | diakonos | dee-ak'-on-os
Probably from διάκω diakō (obsolete, to run on errands; compare G1377); an attendant, that is, (generally) a waiter (at table or in other menial duties); specifically a Christian teacher and pastor (technically a deacon or deaconess): - deacon, minister, servant.
We see that Phoebe was a minister at the local Church in Cenchrea… Paul the apostle refers to her as a servant of the Church at Cenchrea… From the Greek word servant, we see that she was a deaconess…
Now some suggest that she was head of the local church at Cenchrea but the scriptures do not tell us so. To simply suggest that she was head of the local church at Cenchrea would contradict the teachings of Paul to Timothy and would be reading much into the scriptures – trying to twist scriptures to suit man’s teachings…
However, I believe that even though she was a deaconess at the local church, there must have been some leadership at that church not mentioned. She must have been under the cover or authority of some male apostle or bishop in that locality, if not Paul the apostle himself…
Pricilla and Aquila, Helpers in Christ Jesus…
Romans 16:3-4
(3) Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:
(4) Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
G4904 | sunergos |soon-er-gos'
From a presumed compound of G4862 and the base of G2041; a co-laborer, that is, coadjutor: - companion in labour, (fellow-) helper (-labourer, -worker), labourer together with, workfellow.
We see that Pricilla a woman who ministered with her husband was referred to as a ‘Helper’ by Paul the apostle… She certainly ministered with her Husband, under the cover and authority of her husband and certainly Paul the apostle…
Interesting is that the Greek word for ‘Helper’ here has the meanings of co-laborer and work fellow… Therefore she did work with Paul the apostle in preaching the gospel…
One anti-women minister pastor claims that she probably washed dishes for Paul the apostle...such thinking is from men who are insecure about women ministers and seek to suppress the ministry of women in the Body of Christ…
Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis – Women Ministers…
Romans 16:12
(12) Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which labored much in the Lord.
G5170 | Truphaina | troo'-fahee-nah
From G5172; luxurious; Tryphaena, a Christian woman: - Tryphena.
G5173 | Truphōsa | troo-fo'-sah
From G5172; luxuriating; Tryphosa, a Christian female: - Tryphosa.
G4069 | Persis | per-sece'
A Persian woman; Persis, a Christian female: - Persis.
We see that these three women labored much in The Lord… Paul the apostle refers to them as “who labor” in The Lord. These clearly were Women ministers and worked along with Paul.
Many claim that these women simply cooked food for Paul, run errands, washed dishes and cared for the Baby ministry… However, Pricilla and Aquila Team does give us a clue as to what some of these women could have done…expound the scriptures…
Euodias, Syntyche – Fellow Laborers in the Gospel…
Philippians 4:1-3
(1) Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
(2) I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
(3) And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life.
Paul the apostle speaks about these women who labored with him in the gospel, clearly showing us that there were women involved in ministry with Paul under his apostolic leadership…
These women labored, worked, in preaching the gospel… These women were not just washing dishes and running errands as some would like us to believe… These women were busy proclaiming The Good New of Jesus Christ to the world together with Paul the apostle.
Pricilla and Aquila – Helpers and Fellow ‘Sufferers’…
Romans 16:3-4
(3) Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:
(4) Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
Pricilla the wife of Aquila risked her life for the gospel – they laid down their own necks to help Paul in preaching the gospel… To disregard the ministry of women in the Bible and trivialize it to washing dishes and running errands is to despise the great sufferings and persecutions that women ministers endured for Christ Jesus in the early Church and through out Church History.
Andronicus and Junia – Fellow Prisoners of note among the apostles…
Romans 16:7
(7) Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
G1978 | episēmos |ep-is'-ay-mos
From G1909 and some form of the base of G4591; remarkable, that is, (figuratively) eminent: - notable, of note.
Some have suggested that Romans 16:7 speaks about “women apostles” in the Church in reference to Junia who is said to be a woman but a little closer look at the scripture suggests otherwise.
The scripture simply refers to Junia and Andronicus as of repute and of note among the apostles. It is like saying the a nurse is of note among doctors… This does not mean that the nurse is a doctor but simply means that the nurse has a very good reputation among doctors…that doctors regard her highly.
Therefore to suggest that Junia was a woman apostle would again contradict the teachings of Paul the apostle concerning leadership in the Church which is clearly to be headed by men according to The Lord’s Order of things in the Church.
I believe that the scripture above simply speaks of two individuals who were highly regarded and esteemed by the apostles but not apostles themselves. Those who suggest that the two were apostles are reading too much into the scriptures and adding to them…
Conclusion
From the simple study above, I believe that Women are not sanctioned to minister; as a matter of fact we need more women ministers especially as there is a very huge audience and population growth of women in the world today.
However, I believe that Church Leadership is reserved for men both in the Family and the Local Church. Yet this is not a call to abuse and suppress women but treat women with love and respect just as Jesus Christ loves His Church.
Yet men have not risen up to the occasion and taken the lead and therefore permissively The Lord has allowed Women to take the leadership roles just like a widow takes lead over her home because the husband is dead…
Many would be Men Leaders in the Local Churches and Christian Families are spiritually dead and thus a leadership vacuum… This ought not to be so but a renewal is needed in the local Church to restore the order of things as Christ Jesus has set them to be in the Local Church.
In Christ Jesus
Kato Mivule
COMPARE BRO.KATO’S ARTICLE WITH THE ONE OF BRO.FEMI ARIBISALA
Paul is a male chauvinist
http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5424807-146/Paul_is_a_male_Chauvinist.csp
By Femi Aribisala
June 19, 2009 10:23PMT
Christians should not be afraid to admit it: Paul is a male chauvinist. He says to the Corinthians: "I want you to know that the head of... woman is man." (1 Cor 11:3) But God is not a respecter of the sexes.
Deborah ruled as a judge in Israel by divine sanction, where she exercised authority over all men, including her husband, Lapidoth. (Judg 4:4) Today, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to Jesus, and he does not delegate his authority.
(Mt 28:18) Therefore the head of the man and the woman is the same, and it is Christ.
Paul continues with his contumely: "Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head... For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man."
(1 Cor 11:4/7) But Jewish men pray with their heads covered, so Jesus must have done the same. God does not pay attention to such trivialities. You can even pray while stark naked if you like.
Paul's doctrine is capricious. If men should not cover their heads before God because they are the glory of God, then it only follows that women should also not cover their heads before men because, according to Paul, they are the glory of men.
Paul then tells a bold-faced lie: "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonour to him?" (1 Cor 11:14) We may well ask from which college of natural history Paul has obtained this teaching. In nature, the lion is the one with the long hair (manes) and not the lioness. The male peacock also has longer plumes than the female, so Paul's claims are bogus.
To Jews, long hair was (in matters of the faith) more of a "glory" than a "shame." A Nazarite man, for example, does not cut his hair and it is not a dishonour to him. (Num 6:5) It was God himself who told Samson not to cut his hair.
(Judg 13:5) Paul continues: "If a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering." (1 Cor 11:15) But wait a minute; did Paul not say women should cover their heads? If the woman's hair is given to her for a covering, why does she need to cover it again? What is the point of covering a covering?
Paul then reveals his contempt for women in one of the most outrageous verses in the bible: "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says." (1 Cor 14:34) Here the man who claims Christians are no longer under the law now seeks refuge in the same law. But even here Paul is being disingenuous because nowhere in the entire Old Testament does it say women should be silent in the synagogue.
Why would God give women tongues and then maintain they cannot speak and only men can speak? Paul contradicts himself elsewhere by insisting that differentiations between men and women no longer apply under Christ: "There is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28).
If we are all one in Christ, why should women be silent and only men be allowed to speak?
Paul then adds insult to injury by implying that women are less spiritual than men. He says: "If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church." (1 Cor 14:35) This is ridiculous and mean-spirited. For whom is it shameful, for women or for Paul? What about single women and widows who don't have husbands? Who should they ask at home?
Finally, Paul uses "ogboju" to try and force down his misogynistic doctrine down the throat of the Corinthians: "If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant." (1 Cor 14:37-38) Paul is the ignorant one. According to Jesus our Lord, we determine a prophet by his fruits. (Mt 7:15-16) It is preposterous for Paul to maintain that a prophet or spiritual person is determined by whether they agree with him.
Paul is not God, and he is not Jesus Christ.
articleoffaith@234next.com
ALSO SEE THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES
The Sin of Women preachers
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Feminism/women_preachers.htm
WOMEN PREACHERS
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Doctrines/false_doctrines.htm
The Danger of Islamophobia
The Danger of Islamophobia
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/commentaries/360-the-danger-of-islamophobia.html
Arthur Owiti | August 4, 2009
Christians should avoid in word and deed 'Islamophobic Christianity', which is an off shoot of Political Christianity. This theology is based on fear of men instead of the fear of God. Our real enemy is the devil and his kingdom, not Arab Moslems or Buddhists or secularists who have been blinded by him.
This is not to say that we will not face confrontation and persecution from such .The scriptures say we will suffer persecution from within and without. However it does not justify fear mongering or hatred on the side of Christians, but steadfastness in faith without offence, and walking in forgiveness in the face of opposition.
As our Lord set the example when he prayed for his murderers that God would forgive them, we have to follow his footsteps in this world where hatred is abounding and forgive and pray for our enemies.
Right now the Evangelical church in Kenya is busy fighting the inclusion of Moslem Kadhi courts in the upcoming constitution .Although the 'Kadhi clause ' is present in the current constitution, the church wants it excluded from the new constitution on the basis of separation of State and Religion. This is just another futile attempt of enforcing Political Christianity in Kenya. It is also ignorance of Bible prophecy concerning the Last Days and the antichrist rule stated in the prophetic scriptures.
EFFECTS
Such a scenario when fanned for long creates animosity and war between the two groups for nothing but gain for the religious elite of both divides. It is a calculated method of divide and rule where the Christian elite remind Christians that Moslems are the reason why they are suffering economically and socially, while the Moslem elite remind the Moslems that Christianity( which they erroneously conjunct with Westernization) is the cause of their woes in the world. What we should not forget is that words can start wars like sparks start forest fires.
Secondly, it makes Christians focus on physical enemies instead of wrestling spiritual enemies. Christians ignore the doctrine of demons, the spirits of error and antichrist in the church; because they are busy fighting Sharia Law. They are working hard to be rich so as to own property owned by Moslems in the cities.
This Islamophobia and Political Christianity is a big blindfold to the real issues bedeviling the church. Yet we are warned in the book of 2 Corinthians, THAT WE SHOULD NOT BE IGNORANT OF THE DEVICES OF THE ENEMY. The deception and the work of the enemy is within the church today to try and prevail against the saints of God. To tempt Christians to love the world thus become enemies of God.
We are not fighting flesh and blood but spiritual entities in the heavenly realms. And in this spiritual war we cannot employ worldly weapons such as, Christian Constitutions or Christian Presidents. The armor of God not the armor of men is what every Christian needs to overcome.
The current brewing animosity in Kenya makes the poor of both divides either fight or justifies an attack on either side. Nigeria's recent attack on Islamists and the current chaos in Pakistan affecting both Christians and Moslems, serve as examples. The common denominator between the two divergent sides is that most of the dead and suffering are the poor.
What many Christians do not know is that a large part of Christendom is religiously cooperative with Islam and other religions covertly, but overtly, they show division and opposition to confuse and rule the masses. There are many Christian universities that are proudly calling themselves Ecumenical. They teach inter -religious relations so as to create harmony amongst religions and other denominations. This is just a branch of Ecumenism which has the goal of one world religion, which is worship of the coming Antichrist, hence rejecting the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Moreover, guys like Rick Warren and TD Jakes are the new kids on the Evangelical block who are luring Evangelicals to live in religious unity and harmony with others, instead of preaching the truth of the gospel in love. The religious wars and conflicts will be used as an excuse to create tolerance in religion and economic order and those who refuse to follow suit, insisting on truth, will be seen as divisive terrorists and extremists.
ISLAM AND THE WESTERN CULTURE DIFFERENT BUT THE SAME
Islam is seen as a problem because it is a threat to Western culture which has dominated the whole world and controls its systems. It is despised because of its cultural differences rather than spiritual. One thing is clear about the cultures: they are in spiritual darkness because they are based on the customs of men.
Even with this battle of cultures, there seems to be synchronization between the two as the world is running on a Westernized system, now being called Global.
In short it is more of a culture war than a spiritual war. Culture wars have to do with gaining the world and riches and even though religion can accompany it. Religion is used as a cloak to rally support from the masses. The real spiritual war will surface when the Antichrist is revealed and worshiped and prevails against the saints, because of spiritual worship and not cultural differences.
Thus today religion like racism is another cloak for war in the world. However the real war is spiritual, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. This is where Christians wrestle and not in worldly wars.
WHY ISLAMOPHOBIA?
Ignorance…
Ignorance of what the word of God says about those who do not believe in Christ, of spiritual warfare, the wiles of the enemy and the end times. This is the same ignorance that forms the basis of Racism. Fear thrives easily in the darkness than in the light. Thus we tend to fear what we do not know or find different. Most theorists form their theories out of ignorance. Darwin based his theories on man's judgment and wisdom which is basically far from the truth. But in the end, he shaped a worldview for the Western world.
So Dominionists/Political Christians borrow man's judgment for discernment. e.g. 'You are lost because you are not Westernized’, ‘You are cursed because you are living in poverty’…’I am blessed because I am rich and have many goods’. All this is outward judgment which Darwin also employed to show superiority and inferiority.
Thus the war in Iraq was seen to crush antichrist, anti western system...evil, because they do not practice Western culture. Is one disobedient or lost because he is an Arab or because of the blinding of the enemy, the god of this world? When we answer this question rightly we will be at least steady in our judgment and our spiritual warfare in knowing who the real enemy is.
Jesus tells us to judge righteous judgment .This is possible when we use the word of God and not our own judgment and knowledge. This why Isaiah 11 foretold of Jesus Christ who will judge with righteous judgment and not by what He just sees or hears.
We should not hate flesh and blood when we realize that they are our enemies but we should love and speak the truth in deed and word that they may see the light of the gospel which can penetrate their darkened minds and turn to Jesus Christ.
What we hate is the evil and iniquity in the doctrine and belief.
The recent Mid East wars we have seen have nothing to do with changing the spiritual lives of the enemies but everything to do with the physical gains, like all worldly wars. They use religion as a cover up for wealth aggrandizement, pitting Religion with the Rich Men and Kings of the earth. However Political Christians are blinded to believe that such wars are for a spiritual cause...utter deception.
It is not Christian legislation or Christian police or guns that will crush evil.
It is not Christian armies or Christian Presidents or constitutions that will transform Moslems and Buddhists to follow Christ.
It is preaching the gospel in word and deed that can transform whoever chooses to believe. It is Jesus Christ that will prevail against the ungodly Antichrist world on that day. The love of the world embodied in Political Christianity will make us enemies of Christ if we do not repent and turn to him in obedience.
Overcome the spiritual evil forces by the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. We testify about Jesus in word and deed by doing what he says and walking as he walked in a world that has been blinded by the enemy and will be in delusion when they hate the truth by following the man of sin. Let us continue loving the truth.
In Christ
Arthur Owiti
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/commentaries/360-the-danger-of-islamophobia.html
Arthur Owiti | August 4, 2009
Christians should avoid in word and deed 'Islamophobic Christianity', which is an off shoot of Political Christianity. This theology is based on fear of men instead of the fear of God. Our real enemy is the devil and his kingdom, not Arab Moslems or Buddhists or secularists who have been blinded by him.
This is not to say that we will not face confrontation and persecution from such .The scriptures say we will suffer persecution from within and without. However it does not justify fear mongering or hatred on the side of Christians, but steadfastness in faith without offence, and walking in forgiveness in the face of opposition.
As our Lord set the example when he prayed for his murderers that God would forgive them, we have to follow his footsteps in this world where hatred is abounding and forgive and pray for our enemies.
Right now the Evangelical church in Kenya is busy fighting the inclusion of Moslem Kadhi courts in the upcoming constitution .Although the 'Kadhi clause ' is present in the current constitution, the church wants it excluded from the new constitution on the basis of separation of State and Religion. This is just another futile attempt of enforcing Political Christianity in Kenya. It is also ignorance of Bible prophecy concerning the Last Days and the antichrist rule stated in the prophetic scriptures.
EFFECTS
Such a scenario when fanned for long creates animosity and war between the two groups for nothing but gain for the religious elite of both divides. It is a calculated method of divide and rule where the Christian elite remind Christians that Moslems are the reason why they are suffering economically and socially, while the Moslem elite remind the Moslems that Christianity( which they erroneously conjunct with Westernization) is the cause of their woes in the world. What we should not forget is that words can start wars like sparks start forest fires.
Secondly, it makes Christians focus on physical enemies instead of wrestling spiritual enemies. Christians ignore the doctrine of demons, the spirits of error and antichrist in the church; because they are busy fighting Sharia Law. They are working hard to be rich so as to own property owned by Moslems in the cities.
This Islamophobia and Political Christianity is a big blindfold to the real issues bedeviling the church. Yet we are warned in the book of 2 Corinthians, THAT WE SHOULD NOT BE IGNORANT OF THE DEVICES OF THE ENEMY. The deception and the work of the enemy is within the church today to try and prevail against the saints of God. To tempt Christians to love the world thus become enemies of God.
We are not fighting flesh and blood but spiritual entities in the heavenly realms. And in this spiritual war we cannot employ worldly weapons such as, Christian Constitutions or Christian Presidents. The armor of God not the armor of men is what every Christian needs to overcome.
The current brewing animosity in Kenya makes the poor of both divides either fight or justifies an attack on either side. Nigeria's recent attack on Islamists and the current chaos in Pakistan affecting both Christians and Moslems, serve as examples. The common denominator between the two divergent sides is that most of the dead and suffering are the poor.
What many Christians do not know is that a large part of Christendom is religiously cooperative with Islam and other religions covertly, but overtly, they show division and opposition to confuse and rule the masses. There are many Christian universities that are proudly calling themselves Ecumenical. They teach inter -religious relations so as to create harmony amongst religions and other denominations. This is just a branch of Ecumenism which has the goal of one world religion, which is worship of the coming Antichrist, hence rejecting the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Moreover, guys like Rick Warren and TD Jakes are the new kids on the Evangelical block who are luring Evangelicals to live in religious unity and harmony with others, instead of preaching the truth of the gospel in love. The religious wars and conflicts will be used as an excuse to create tolerance in religion and economic order and those who refuse to follow suit, insisting on truth, will be seen as divisive terrorists and extremists.
ISLAM AND THE WESTERN CULTURE DIFFERENT BUT THE SAME
Islam is seen as a problem because it is a threat to Western culture which has dominated the whole world and controls its systems. It is despised because of its cultural differences rather than spiritual. One thing is clear about the cultures: they are in spiritual darkness because they are based on the customs of men.
Even with this battle of cultures, there seems to be synchronization between the two as the world is running on a Westernized system, now being called Global.
In short it is more of a culture war than a spiritual war. Culture wars have to do with gaining the world and riches and even though religion can accompany it. Religion is used as a cloak to rally support from the masses. The real spiritual war will surface when the Antichrist is revealed and worshiped and prevails against the saints, because of spiritual worship and not cultural differences.
Thus today religion like racism is another cloak for war in the world. However the real war is spiritual, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. This is where Christians wrestle and not in worldly wars.
WHY ISLAMOPHOBIA?
Ignorance…
Ignorance of what the word of God says about those who do not believe in Christ, of spiritual warfare, the wiles of the enemy and the end times. This is the same ignorance that forms the basis of Racism. Fear thrives easily in the darkness than in the light. Thus we tend to fear what we do not know or find different. Most theorists form their theories out of ignorance. Darwin based his theories on man's judgment and wisdom which is basically far from the truth. But in the end, he shaped a worldview for the Western world.
So Dominionists/Political Christians borrow man's judgment for discernment. e.g. 'You are lost because you are not Westernized’, ‘You are cursed because you are living in poverty’…’I am blessed because I am rich and have many goods’. All this is outward judgment which Darwin also employed to show superiority and inferiority.
Thus the war in Iraq was seen to crush antichrist, anti western system...evil, because they do not practice Western culture. Is one disobedient or lost because he is an Arab or because of the blinding of the enemy, the god of this world? When we answer this question rightly we will be at least steady in our judgment and our spiritual warfare in knowing who the real enemy is.
Jesus tells us to judge righteous judgment .This is possible when we use the word of God and not our own judgment and knowledge. This why Isaiah 11 foretold of Jesus Christ who will judge with righteous judgment and not by what He just sees or hears.
We should not hate flesh and blood when we realize that they are our enemies but we should love and speak the truth in deed and word that they may see the light of the gospel which can penetrate their darkened minds and turn to Jesus Christ.
What we hate is the evil and iniquity in the doctrine and belief.
The recent Mid East wars we have seen have nothing to do with changing the spiritual lives of the enemies but everything to do with the physical gains, like all worldly wars. They use religion as a cover up for wealth aggrandizement, pitting Religion with the Rich Men and Kings of the earth. However Political Christians are blinded to believe that such wars are for a spiritual cause...utter deception.
It is not Christian legislation or Christian police or guns that will crush evil.
It is not Christian armies or Christian Presidents or constitutions that will transform Moslems and Buddhists to follow Christ.
It is preaching the gospel in word and deed that can transform whoever chooses to believe. It is Jesus Christ that will prevail against the ungodly Antichrist world on that day. The love of the world embodied in Political Christianity will make us enemies of Christ if we do not repent and turn to him in obedience.
Overcome the spiritual evil forces by the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. We testify about Jesus in word and deed by doing what he says and walking as he walked in a world that has been blinded by the enemy and will be in delusion when they hate the truth by following the man of sin. Let us continue loving the truth.
In Christ
Arthur Owiti
Monday, 3 August 2009
Nigerian ‘Child witches’???: Nigerian Ritual Killings under the guise of fighting witchcraft
Bishop Sunday Ulup-Aya is a Nigerian witch doctor who has recently claimed to have killed over 100 children he believed possessed evil spirits. The confession came during the filming of a television documentary. Ulup-Aya was arrested in Mbo along with six others suspected of murder.NewsAU: I killed 110 children... (December 4, 2008)(http://www.mahalo.com/bishop-sunday-ulup-aya)
In 1992, Helen Ukpabio founded Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries with the aim of spreading her often literal interpretations of the Holy Bible to the people of West Africa. The belief most often associated with Mrs. Ukpabio and her organisation is a claim that Satan has the ability to manifest himself in the bodies of children by demonic possession and make them become his servants in the form of 'witches' or 'wizards'.
Most Africans have a strong tendency to believe in superstition and myth, particularly when related to spiritual or demonic possession or witchcraft. This allowed Helen Ukpabio's organisation to grow exponentionally throughout Nigeria and West Africa since its foundation. There are now major Liberty Gospel Churches in Cameroon, Rome, Ghana and South Africa as well as Nigeria.
Mrs. Ukpabio has published her views in several books, the most notable being 'Unveiling The Mysteries of Witchcraft', in which she states that:
If a child under the age of two screams in the night, cries and is always feverish with deteriorating health he or she is a servant of Satan.
A fact not mentioned in the book is that these symptoms are common in young children, especially in areas like Nigeria with poor health and high levels of malaria.
She also produces a number of films to spread the view that children can become possessed by evil spirits through her film production company, Liberty Films, part of the Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries franchise. The most famous of these is 'End of The Wicked' in which child actors are shown to eat human flesh and kill their parents in horrific ways.
In 2008, it was claimed in a British 'Dispatches' TV documentary by UK broadcaster Channel 4 that the views that she expresses has lead to a massive upsurge in children stigmatised and abandoned by their families in West Africa, particularly in Akwa Ibom State. This programme followed the activities of two charities, CRARN and Stepping Stones Nigeria , which aimed to look after the children who have been rejected by their parents for displaying what they believed to be signs of witchcraft. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Ukpabio)
Nigeria 'child witch killer' held
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7764575.stm
Police in south-east Nigeria have arrested a man who claimed to have killed 110 child "witches".
"Bishop" Sunday Ulup-Aya told a documentary film team he "delivered" children from demonic possession.
But after his arrest, he reportedly told the police he had only killed the "witches" inside, not the children.
Child rights campaigners say children are frequently abandoned, hideously injured and even murdered because their families believe they are witches.
Self-proclaimed "pastors" extort money from families to exorcise the children, but none has been charged until now.
Mr Ulup-Aya was arrested in Akwa Ibom State after a child rights campaigner led police to his church and negotiated a consultation fee for an exorcism.
He has now been charged with murder.
Five others have been arrested since the weekend and the state government says more arrests are planned Embarrassed
"So many people here believe that children can be possessed by demons that there is rarely any action taken against those who claim to deliver the children in violent exorcisms," says Sam Ikpe-Itauma, of the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN).
He concluded the child was a witch and had placed a curse on him, so he took him on his bicycle to the river and threw him in
Sam Ikpe-Itauma
He says he has been working for six years to bring the attention of the state government to the children being abandoned, sold to traffickers, or murdered.
But it was not until a British documentary - Dispatches: Saving Africa's Witch Children - was aired on Channel 4 last month that an arrest was made.
His organisation is looking after 170 children who have been abandoned or abused after being accused of being witches.
Akwa Ibom State spokesman Aniekan Umanah denied they had been embarrassed into acting.
"Nobody knew about him, he lives in a very remote village," he said.
The state has cared for child victims of abuse, but has not been able to track down abusers because of "lack of documentation", he said.
'Misunderstanding'
Mr Ulup-Aya reportedly told police he had not actually killed children.
He said there was a misunderstanding - he meant he had killed the witch inside the child, not the child themselves.
When police raided his house they found two children inside, but no evidence that any others had been murdered there.
"We have him on tape admitting to killing," said Mr Umanah.
"It is now up to him to prove otherwise."
In the past other "pastors" who claim to have the power to deliver children from demonic possession in violent exorcisms have been arrested, but then quietly released by the police, according to Mr Ikpe-Itauma.
"I fear for my life now," he says.
Trafficking
The fear of child witches is a relatively new phenomenon in Nigeria.
Belief in witchcraft is strong across the country but a fear of child witches has become widespread in Akwa Ibom State since 1990s.
Now children are blamed for all kinds of misfortune that befalls their families.
They are abandoned or sold to child traffickers who then indenture them as house-workers in other parts of Nigeria or into prostitution.
Others are violently exorcised to rid the child of the "demons".
Exorcism victims seen by CRARN in the past include a child who had nails driven into her head.
Earlier this week Mr Ikpe-Itauma said a six-year-old child was brought to their rescue centre after clambering out of a fast-flowing river.
"The boy's uncle was experiencing painful swelling in his legs," Mr Ikpe-Itauma told the BBC.
"He concluded the child was a witch and had placed a curse on him, so he took him on his bicycle to the river and threw him in."
Campaign of Terror unleashed on Nigeria’s ‘Witch Children’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/57588
2009-07-09, Issue 441
A coalition of Nigerian and International civil society organisations and churches have strongly condemned the recent campaign of terror that has been inflicted upon the so-called ‘child witches’ at the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre (CRARN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom State by Lagos-based police officers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 7th July 2009
Campaign of Terror unleashed on Nigeria’s ‘Witch Children’
Coalition of civil society organisations and churches condemn the recent violence against children and local NGO staff members
A coalition of Nigerian and International civil society organisations and churches have strongly condemned the recent campaign of terror that has been inflicted upon the so-called ‘child witches’ at the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre (CRARN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom State by Lagos-based police officers. The work of CRARN, and the children they care for, was shown on Channel 4’s Dispatches Programme on ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’ in November 2008.
On Friday 3rd July 2009, in the afternoon local time, a group of men appeared at the CRARN Centre claiming to be donors who wanted to donate goods and toys to the children. Shortly after, the men identified themselves as police officers, and unlawfully arrested two CRARN staff members and mercilessly beat many of the children whilst searching for CRARN’s Founder and President, Sam Itauma.
Two young girls aged 11 and 12 years old were beaten unconscious and are currently receiving treatment in a local hospital. Five other children suffered injuries at the hands of these men, who thenleft a round of bullets in Sam Itauma’s bedroom, presumably to act as a warning that his life is in danger.
Gary Foxcroft, Programme Director of the UK-based NGO Stepping Stones Nigeria, and partner of CRARN, said: “We condemn the actions of the police in the strongest possible terms and call for the Akwa Ibom State Government to ensure the safety of all CRARN staff and children. The beatings of theseinnocent children further highlight the depravity of these so-called men and women of God who label and abuse children as witches. However, we will not be intimidated in our fight to protect the rights of vulnerable children and ensure that children are no longer labeled as witches. We know that the truth is on our side”.
Stepping Stones Nigeria believe that this campaign of terror is a direct response to Channel 4’s Dispatches Programme, ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’, which highlighted the role that Mrs Helen Ukpabio, self-proclaimed pastor, evangelist and founder of the Liberty Gospel Foundation Church in Nigeria, and her film production company, Liberty Films, have played in spreading the myth of child witchcraft.
Helen Ukpabio has recently filed legal complaints against Sam Itauma and CRARN at the Special Fraud Unit at the Ikoyi station in Lagos for “fraudulent activities and threat to life”, charges, which the coalition argues are clearly fabricated in order to threaten and intimidate. The police officers that carried out these brutal attacks were accompanied by Mr Victor Ukott, the Lagos based lawyer who is representing Helen Ukpabio. Staff at CRARN, Stepping Stones Nigeria and Stepping Stones Nigeria Child Empowerment Foundation have also recently received numerous threatening phone calls, which would appear to be linked to this campaign of terror. CRARN staff have also been threatened by persons regarding the upcoming court case of “Bishop” Sunday Ulup-Aya, who was featured on Channel 4’s Dispatches programme bragging that he had killed “up to 110 witches”.
Sam Itauma, Founder and President of CRARN, said: “It is clear that forces of darkness are intent on taking my life and I remain deeply concerned for my safety and, most importantly, that of the children at the CRARN centre. I therefore plead for the Akwa Ibom State Government to offer us its full protection and ensure that its international image is not further damaged by this worrying situation”.
The coalition urgently calls on the Akwa Ibom State Government to:
• Arrest and prosecute the police officers who unlawfully arrested and detained CRARN staff members and beat and injured innocent children;
• Award their full protection to Sam Itauma, other CRARN staff members and the children to ensure their full safety now and in the future;
• Carry out in-depth investigations into the activities of Mrs Helen Ukpabio and the Liberty Gospel Foundation Church, prosecute anyone found to be labelling children as witches and close any church found to be labelling children as ‘witches’ through deliverance or other methods.
• Support the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the false legal charges that are being levelled against Sam Itauma and CRARN staff.
Notes to Editors:
1. Coalition members include: Stepping Stones Nigeria, Stepping Stones Nigeria ChildEmpowerment Foundation, Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre, Consortium for Street Children, Nigerian Humanist Movement, StreetInvest, Mboho Akwa Ibom Association (UK & Ireland), Ibom People’s Forum, Ibibio Nation, Eket Development Congress USA, The Covenant of Grace Ministries, International Christian Ambassadors of God (ICAG) and Grace Chapel, London.
2. Saving Africa’s Witch Children’ Dispatches Programme was aired on Channel 4 in November 2008. The documentary graphically details how the belief in witchcraft leads to the widespread abandonment, torture, trafficking and killing of children in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The documentary has since won a prestigious BAFTA award and Amnesty International’s Media Award in the UK
3. Following the airing of the Dispatched documentary, The Akwa Ibom State enacted the Child Rights Act making it illegal to brand a child a witch. On its website the Akwa Ibom State Government states that it “will not fold its hands and watch evil elements of society dehumanise, demoralise, bastardise, displace, stigmatise, or persecute our children for personal gains.” The Government then states how it will:
• Place full legislative machinery against labelling of children as witches
• Advance high-powered investigation into every element of the issues involved and all allegations against persons involved in stigmatisation of children as witches
• Prosecute all persons found culpable of this crime of child labelling
• Deploy social resources for the support, comfort and enjoyment of all categories of children all over the state
• Possibility of closure of every organisation involved in this evil stigmatisation of children
• Government will not spare any culprit involved.
Abuse of child 'witches' on rise, aid group says
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/05/18/nigeria.child.witchcraft/index.html
(CNN) -- Christian Eshiett was a rambunctious pre-teen who spent a lot of time cavorting with his friends in southern Nigeria. He would skip school and run away from home for days, frustrating his grandfather, who oversaw the boy's care.
Children branded as witches protest on February 26, 2009, in the southern Nigerian city of Eket.
"I beat him severely with canes until they broke, yet he never shed a tear," said Eshiett Nelson Eshiett, 76. "One day, I took a broom to hit him and he started crying. Then I knew he was possessed by demons. ... Nigerian witches are terrified of brooms."
From that day two years ago, Christian, now 14, was branded a witch. The abuse intensified.
"They would take my clothes off, tie me up and beat me," he told CNN in a telephone interview.
The teen is one of the so-called witch children in Eket, a city in oil-rich Akwa Ibom state of Nigeria.
They are blamed for causing illness, death and destruction, prompting some communities to put them through harrowing punishments to "cleanse" them of their supposed magical powers.
"Children accused of witchcraft are often incarcerated in churches for weeks on end and beaten, starved and tortured in order to extract a confession," said Gary Foxcroft, program director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, a nonprofit that helps alleged witch children in the region.
Many of those targeted have traits that make them stand out, including learning disabilities, stubbornness and ailments such as epilepsy, he added.
The issue of "child witches" is soaring in Nigeria and other parts of the world, Foxcroft said.
The states of Akwa Ibom and Cross River have about 15,000 children branded as witches, and most of them end up abandoned and abused on the streets, he said.
Christian ran away from home and wandered around for two years with other children similarly accused. He said they stole, begged for food and performed menial jobs to survive.
The plight of "child witches" is raising concern among aid organizations, including the United Nations.
"It is a growing issue worldwide, among not just African communities, but in countries such as Nepal as well," said Jeff Crisp, head of policy development and evaluation for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "We are trying to see whether it is a neglected protected issue."
Belief in witchcraft thrives worldwide. About 1,000 people accused of being witches in Gambia were locked in detention centers in March and forced to drink a dangerous hallucinogenic potion, human rights organization Amnesty International said.
In 2005, relatives of an 8-year-old Angolan girl living in England were convicted of torturing her for being a "witch," according to the Times Online.
Pastors have been accused of worsening the problem by claiming to have powers to recognize and exorcise "child witches," sometimes for a fee, aid workers said.
But some are true believers, such as one minister in Lagos, Nigeria. He pinpoints children affected by witchcraft for free, he said.
"Sometimes, we get a dream that shows us a certain person is suffering from witchcraft," said the Rev. Albert Aina, a senior pastor at Four Square Gospel Church. "Sometimes, you have a child who has inexplicable body marks because of struggling in the night. They are easy to identify, but why charge when you have been given a gift by God?" Aina said.
Once a child is branded a witch, the stigma can last forever.
Christian was reunited with his grandfather, a former theater instructor at a university in Nigeria. Eshiett said he let his son's child return home because he loves him and he advocates for youth education.
But, he added, he does not think Christian has been or can be freed from witchcraft.
"When you are possessed, you are possessed; no one can deliver you from Satan," Eshiett said, adding that his grandson is a witch because he still exhibits unruly behavior and does not take education seriously.
Aid organizations acknowledge that the belief is acceptable and popular in some communities.
"It is not the belief in witchcraft that we are concerned about," Foxcroft said. "We acknowledge people's right to hold this belief on the condition that this does not lead to child abuse."
Foxcroft, whose documentary, "Saving Africa's Witch Children," was broadcast last year, spoke to a U.N. panel on the issue in April.
The aid worker said he is planning a global conference in 2010 and public awareness campaigns, including addressing the issue in Nigerian movies. The nation's film industry, dubbed Nollywood, is a popular form of entertainment in African countries.
Government officials also have joined the fight.
Akwa Ibom recently added a clause into the Child Rights Act, saying that anyone found guilty of branding a child a witch would get up to 12 years in prison.
"This is groundbreaking, and Stepping Stones Nigeria applauds the Akwa Ibom state government for this," Foxcroft said.
But, he added, there is more work to be done, and other groups, especially churches, have to team up to resolve the problem.
"The role of the international Christian community in this cannot be underestimated," Foxcroft said. "Unfortunately, the fact remains that this belief system is being spread by so-called Christians."
CNN's attempts to reach Akwa Ibom state officials through phone calls and e-mails were unsuccessful. A Nigerian federal communications official declined to comment.
In 1992, Helen Ukpabio founded Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries with the aim of spreading her often literal interpretations of the Holy Bible to the people of West Africa. The belief most often associated with Mrs. Ukpabio and her organisation is a claim that Satan has the ability to manifest himself in the bodies of children by demonic possession and make them become his servants in the form of 'witches' or 'wizards'.
Most Africans have a strong tendency to believe in superstition and myth, particularly when related to spiritual or demonic possession or witchcraft. This allowed Helen Ukpabio's organisation to grow exponentionally throughout Nigeria and West Africa since its foundation. There are now major Liberty Gospel Churches in Cameroon, Rome, Ghana and South Africa as well as Nigeria.
Mrs. Ukpabio has published her views in several books, the most notable being 'Unveiling The Mysteries of Witchcraft', in which she states that:
If a child under the age of two screams in the night, cries and is always feverish with deteriorating health he or she is a servant of Satan.
A fact not mentioned in the book is that these symptoms are common in young children, especially in areas like Nigeria with poor health and high levels of malaria.
She also produces a number of films to spread the view that children can become possessed by evil spirits through her film production company, Liberty Films, part of the Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries franchise. The most famous of these is 'End of The Wicked' in which child actors are shown to eat human flesh and kill their parents in horrific ways.
In 2008, it was claimed in a British 'Dispatches' TV documentary by UK broadcaster Channel 4 that the views that she expresses has lead to a massive upsurge in children stigmatised and abandoned by their families in West Africa, particularly in Akwa Ibom State. This programme followed the activities of two charities, CRARN and Stepping Stones Nigeria , which aimed to look after the children who have been rejected by their parents for displaying what they believed to be signs of witchcraft. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Ukpabio)
Nigeria 'child witch killer' held
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7764575.stm
Police in south-east Nigeria have arrested a man who claimed to have killed 110 child "witches".
"Bishop" Sunday Ulup-Aya told a documentary film team he "delivered" children from demonic possession.
But after his arrest, he reportedly told the police he had only killed the "witches" inside, not the children.
Child rights campaigners say children are frequently abandoned, hideously injured and even murdered because their families believe they are witches.
Self-proclaimed "pastors" extort money from families to exorcise the children, but none has been charged until now.
Mr Ulup-Aya was arrested in Akwa Ibom State after a child rights campaigner led police to his church and negotiated a consultation fee for an exorcism.
He has now been charged with murder.
Five others have been arrested since the weekend and the state government says more arrests are planned Embarrassed
"So many people here believe that children can be possessed by demons that there is rarely any action taken against those who claim to deliver the children in violent exorcisms," says Sam Ikpe-Itauma, of the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN).
He concluded the child was a witch and had placed a curse on him, so he took him on his bicycle to the river and threw him in
Sam Ikpe-Itauma
He says he has been working for six years to bring the attention of the state government to the children being abandoned, sold to traffickers, or murdered.
But it was not until a British documentary - Dispatches: Saving Africa's Witch Children - was aired on Channel 4 last month that an arrest was made.
His organisation is looking after 170 children who have been abandoned or abused after being accused of being witches.
Akwa Ibom State spokesman Aniekan Umanah denied they had been embarrassed into acting.
"Nobody knew about him, he lives in a very remote village," he said.
The state has cared for child victims of abuse, but has not been able to track down abusers because of "lack of documentation", he said.
'Misunderstanding'
Mr Ulup-Aya reportedly told police he had not actually killed children.
He said there was a misunderstanding - he meant he had killed the witch inside the child, not the child themselves.
When police raided his house they found two children inside, but no evidence that any others had been murdered there.
"We have him on tape admitting to killing," said Mr Umanah.
"It is now up to him to prove otherwise."
In the past other "pastors" who claim to have the power to deliver children from demonic possession in violent exorcisms have been arrested, but then quietly released by the police, according to Mr Ikpe-Itauma.
"I fear for my life now," he says.
Trafficking
The fear of child witches is a relatively new phenomenon in Nigeria.
Belief in witchcraft is strong across the country but a fear of child witches has become widespread in Akwa Ibom State since 1990s.
Now children are blamed for all kinds of misfortune that befalls their families.
They are abandoned or sold to child traffickers who then indenture them as house-workers in other parts of Nigeria or into prostitution.
Others are violently exorcised to rid the child of the "demons".
Exorcism victims seen by CRARN in the past include a child who had nails driven into her head.
Earlier this week Mr Ikpe-Itauma said a six-year-old child was brought to their rescue centre after clambering out of a fast-flowing river.
"The boy's uncle was experiencing painful swelling in his legs," Mr Ikpe-Itauma told the BBC.
"He concluded the child was a witch and had placed a curse on him, so he took him on his bicycle to the river and threw him in."
Campaign of Terror unleashed on Nigeria’s ‘Witch Children’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/57588
2009-07-09, Issue 441
A coalition of Nigerian and International civil society organisations and churches have strongly condemned the recent campaign of terror that has been inflicted upon the so-called ‘child witches’ at the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre (CRARN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom State by Lagos-based police officers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 7th July 2009
Campaign of Terror unleashed on Nigeria’s ‘Witch Children’
Coalition of civil society organisations and churches condemn the recent violence against children and local NGO staff members
A coalition of Nigerian and International civil society organisations and churches have strongly condemned the recent campaign of terror that has been inflicted upon the so-called ‘child witches’ at the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre (CRARN) in Eket, Akwa Ibom State by Lagos-based police officers. The work of CRARN, and the children they care for, was shown on Channel 4’s Dispatches Programme on ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’ in November 2008.
On Friday 3rd July 2009, in the afternoon local time, a group of men appeared at the CRARN Centre claiming to be donors who wanted to donate goods and toys to the children. Shortly after, the men identified themselves as police officers, and unlawfully arrested two CRARN staff members and mercilessly beat many of the children whilst searching for CRARN’s Founder and President, Sam Itauma.
Two young girls aged 11 and 12 years old were beaten unconscious and are currently receiving treatment in a local hospital. Five other children suffered injuries at the hands of these men, who thenleft a round of bullets in Sam Itauma’s bedroom, presumably to act as a warning that his life is in danger.
Gary Foxcroft, Programme Director of the UK-based NGO Stepping Stones Nigeria, and partner of CRARN, said: “We condemn the actions of the police in the strongest possible terms and call for the Akwa Ibom State Government to ensure the safety of all CRARN staff and children. The beatings of theseinnocent children further highlight the depravity of these so-called men and women of God who label and abuse children as witches. However, we will not be intimidated in our fight to protect the rights of vulnerable children and ensure that children are no longer labeled as witches. We know that the truth is on our side”.
Stepping Stones Nigeria believe that this campaign of terror is a direct response to Channel 4’s Dispatches Programme, ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’, which highlighted the role that Mrs Helen Ukpabio, self-proclaimed pastor, evangelist and founder of the Liberty Gospel Foundation Church in Nigeria, and her film production company, Liberty Films, have played in spreading the myth of child witchcraft.
Helen Ukpabio has recently filed legal complaints against Sam Itauma and CRARN at the Special Fraud Unit at the Ikoyi station in Lagos for “fraudulent activities and threat to life”, charges, which the coalition argues are clearly fabricated in order to threaten and intimidate. The police officers that carried out these brutal attacks were accompanied by Mr Victor Ukott, the Lagos based lawyer who is representing Helen Ukpabio. Staff at CRARN, Stepping Stones Nigeria and Stepping Stones Nigeria Child Empowerment Foundation have also recently received numerous threatening phone calls, which would appear to be linked to this campaign of terror. CRARN staff have also been threatened by persons regarding the upcoming court case of “Bishop” Sunday Ulup-Aya, who was featured on Channel 4’s Dispatches programme bragging that he had killed “up to 110 witches”.
Sam Itauma, Founder and President of CRARN, said: “It is clear that forces of darkness are intent on taking my life and I remain deeply concerned for my safety and, most importantly, that of the children at the CRARN centre. I therefore plead for the Akwa Ibom State Government to offer us its full protection and ensure that its international image is not further damaged by this worrying situation”.
The coalition urgently calls on the Akwa Ibom State Government to:
• Arrest and prosecute the police officers who unlawfully arrested and detained CRARN staff members and beat and injured innocent children;
• Award their full protection to Sam Itauma, other CRARN staff members and the children to ensure their full safety now and in the future;
• Carry out in-depth investigations into the activities of Mrs Helen Ukpabio and the Liberty Gospel Foundation Church, prosecute anyone found to be labelling children as witches and close any church found to be labelling children as ‘witches’ through deliverance or other methods.
• Support the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the false legal charges that are being levelled against Sam Itauma and CRARN staff.
Notes to Editors:
1. Coalition members include: Stepping Stones Nigeria, Stepping Stones Nigeria ChildEmpowerment Foundation, Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network Centre, Consortium for Street Children, Nigerian Humanist Movement, StreetInvest, Mboho Akwa Ibom Association (UK & Ireland), Ibom People’s Forum, Ibibio Nation, Eket Development Congress USA, The Covenant of Grace Ministries, International Christian Ambassadors of God (ICAG) and Grace Chapel, London.
2. Saving Africa’s Witch Children’ Dispatches Programme was aired on Channel 4 in November 2008. The documentary graphically details how the belief in witchcraft leads to the widespread abandonment, torture, trafficking and killing of children in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The documentary has since won a prestigious BAFTA award and Amnesty International’s Media Award in the UK
3. Following the airing of the Dispatched documentary, The Akwa Ibom State enacted the Child Rights Act making it illegal to brand a child a witch. On its website the Akwa Ibom State Government states that it “will not fold its hands and watch evil elements of society dehumanise, demoralise, bastardise, displace, stigmatise, or persecute our children for personal gains.” The Government then states how it will:
• Place full legislative machinery against labelling of children as witches
• Advance high-powered investigation into every element of the issues involved and all allegations against persons involved in stigmatisation of children as witches
• Prosecute all persons found culpable of this crime of child labelling
• Deploy social resources for the support, comfort and enjoyment of all categories of children all over the state
• Possibility of closure of every organisation involved in this evil stigmatisation of children
• Government will not spare any culprit involved.
Abuse of child 'witches' on rise, aid group says
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/05/18/nigeria.child.witchcraft/index.html
(CNN) -- Christian Eshiett was a rambunctious pre-teen who spent a lot of time cavorting with his friends in southern Nigeria. He would skip school and run away from home for days, frustrating his grandfather, who oversaw the boy's care.
Children branded as witches protest on February 26, 2009, in the southern Nigerian city of Eket.
"I beat him severely with canes until they broke, yet he never shed a tear," said Eshiett Nelson Eshiett, 76. "One day, I took a broom to hit him and he started crying. Then I knew he was possessed by demons. ... Nigerian witches are terrified of brooms."
From that day two years ago, Christian, now 14, was branded a witch. The abuse intensified.
"They would take my clothes off, tie me up and beat me," he told CNN in a telephone interview.
The teen is one of the so-called witch children in Eket, a city in oil-rich Akwa Ibom state of Nigeria.
They are blamed for causing illness, death and destruction, prompting some communities to put them through harrowing punishments to "cleanse" them of their supposed magical powers.
"Children accused of witchcraft are often incarcerated in churches for weeks on end and beaten, starved and tortured in order to extract a confession," said Gary Foxcroft, program director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, a nonprofit that helps alleged witch children in the region.
Many of those targeted have traits that make them stand out, including learning disabilities, stubbornness and ailments such as epilepsy, he added.
The issue of "child witches" is soaring in Nigeria and other parts of the world, Foxcroft said.
The states of Akwa Ibom and Cross River have about 15,000 children branded as witches, and most of them end up abandoned and abused on the streets, he said.
Christian ran away from home and wandered around for two years with other children similarly accused. He said they stole, begged for food and performed menial jobs to survive.
The plight of "child witches" is raising concern among aid organizations, including the United Nations.
"It is a growing issue worldwide, among not just African communities, but in countries such as Nepal as well," said Jeff Crisp, head of policy development and evaluation for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "We are trying to see whether it is a neglected protected issue."
Belief in witchcraft thrives worldwide. About 1,000 people accused of being witches in Gambia were locked in detention centers in March and forced to drink a dangerous hallucinogenic potion, human rights organization Amnesty International said.
In 2005, relatives of an 8-year-old Angolan girl living in England were convicted of torturing her for being a "witch," according to the Times Online.
Pastors have been accused of worsening the problem by claiming to have powers to recognize and exorcise "child witches," sometimes for a fee, aid workers said.
But some are true believers, such as one minister in Lagos, Nigeria. He pinpoints children affected by witchcraft for free, he said.
"Sometimes, we get a dream that shows us a certain person is suffering from witchcraft," said the Rev. Albert Aina, a senior pastor at Four Square Gospel Church. "Sometimes, you have a child who has inexplicable body marks because of struggling in the night. They are easy to identify, but why charge when you have been given a gift by God?" Aina said.
Once a child is branded a witch, the stigma can last forever.
Christian was reunited with his grandfather, a former theater instructor at a university in Nigeria. Eshiett said he let his son's child return home because he loves him and he advocates for youth education.
But, he added, he does not think Christian has been or can be freed from witchcraft.
"When you are possessed, you are possessed; no one can deliver you from Satan," Eshiett said, adding that his grandson is a witch because he still exhibits unruly behavior and does not take education seriously.
Aid organizations acknowledge that the belief is acceptable and popular in some communities.
"It is not the belief in witchcraft that we are concerned about," Foxcroft said. "We acknowledge people's right to hold this belief on the condition that this does not lead to child abuse."
Foxcroft, whose documentary, "Saving Africa's Witch Children," was broadcast last year, spoke to a U.N. panel on the issue in April.
The aid worker said he is planning a global conference in 2010 and public awareness campaigns, including addressing the issue in Nigerian movies. The nation's film industry, dubbed Nollywood, is a popular form of entertainment in African countries.
Government officials also have joined the fight.
Akwa Ibom recently added a clause into the Child Rights Act, saying that anyone found guilty of branding a child a witch would get up to 12 years in prison.
"This is groundbreaking, and Stepping Stones Nigeria applauds the Akwa Ibom state government for this," Foxcroft said.
But, he added, there is more work to be done, and other groups, especially churches, have to team up to resolve the problem.
"The role of the international Christian community in this cannot be underestimated," Foxcroft said. "Unfortunately, the fact remains that this belief system is being spread by so-called Christians."
CNN's attempts to reach Akwa Ibom state officials through phone calls and e-mails were unsuccessful. A Nigerian federal communications official declined to comment.
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