The word “feminism” is synonymous with rebellion. The biggest problem in
America today is rebellion against godly authority, which begins in the home
and marriage. The Holy Bible strictly forbids women from becoming preachers.
God only knows the severe damage that has been caused, and continues to be
caused, by rebellious women who blaspheme the Word of God by becoming
preachers and pastors. It is not a matter of opinion; but rather—What saith
the Scripture?
One of my favorite fundamentalist preachers (and Pastor Jack Hyles' mentor by 31 years of age), Evangelist John R. Rice (1895-1980) wrote a controversial book in 1941 called, “Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives And Women Preachers!” Of course, there is no controversy if you believe the Bible. The Scriptures are very clear in this matter of authority, that men are to be in charge of the marriage, home and church.
Sadly, the Scriptural teachings that you are about to hear, have all but been forgotten in today's churches. Pastors have become afraid to preach the Word of God about women being in subjection (and in many cases are now women pastors). The church pastor is not the authority, the inspired Word of God is the authority. Each woman is to be under the authority of her husband (and if unmarried, her father). Women are supposed to learn at home from their husbands, and not ask questions at church. Feminist rebellion plagues churches and Christian marriages today, ruining homes and shaming our nation. To the same degree that rebellious women are ruling over men in America, homosexuality is also becoming a commonplace problem.
Dr. Rice calls chapter four of his great book—WOMEN PREACHERS FORBIDDEN IN BIBLE. Beginning on page 38, Dr. Rice states:
WOMEN PREACHERS FORBIDDEN IN BIBLE
Should women preach? Does God call women to be pastors? Evangelists? Song leaders? Bible teachers for mixed classes of men and women?
If we try to settle this question by the opinion of men, it would never be satisfactorily settled. The great preponderance of opinion among responsible Christian people is indicated by the fact that most churches never call a woman preacher as pastor. Most seminaries never employ a woman teacher of theology. And relatively very few women find positions of any sort in the faculties of seminaries and Bible institutes. Most churches have men to conduct evangelistic meetings, if they have such meetings. So the majority opinion would decide for men preachers and against women preachers. But opinions would vary with the preferences. The followers of Aimee Semple McPherson, the large Pentecostal and Holiness groups, the Volunteers of America who have been led so long by Maud Ballington Booth, The Salvation Army where women preachers have always been welcomed, though in actual practice they usually did not have the leadership—all these and many others would insist on the right of women to preach, to do the work of an evangelist or pastor, or Bible teacher, the same as a man of like attainments.
The matter cannot be settled by opinion. It cannot be settled by observation. It cannot be settled by logic. There is only one place to settle this question of whether God wants a woman to preach or not. That is by the Word of God itself! The Bible is the place to find what God wants people to do. The Bible is to tell us how the Lord's work is to be conducted. There is no other authority of the slightest value in this matter, except as it derives from the Bible, and coincides with the Bible teaching.
Women sometimes say that they feel called to preach. They say sometimes that the Holy Spirit has told them plainly they should preach, But we must remember that every false doctrine in the world is supported by the same argument. A mother who killed her afflicted child said that God told her to do it. Some people feel led of the Spirit of God to preach salvation by grace. Others say they feel led of the same Spirit of God to preach salvation by works! Some people feel led of God, they say, to be sprinkled for baptism, and others feel led of the same Spirit to be immersed for baptism. Some people feel led of God to persecute the Jews. Some people feel led of God to start unscriptural cults with false doctrines; that is, they honestly believe themselves so led. But the answer to all this is very simple. The Holy Spirit of God, dictated the Bible. Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit will never contradict His own Word. Any leading that is thought to be of the Holy Spirit should be checked by the Bible. Any leading that does not coincide with the plain teaching of the Word of God is false, and is not from God's Spirit. For this reason the Scripture commands us, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (I John 4:1).
This matter, then, cannot be settled by how people feel led except as it coincides with the Bible. No leading is from God if it goes against the plain statements of God's Word. This matter must be settled by the Bible, the supreme rule of faith and practices for Christians.
Let us very carefully consider the Scriptures that bear on this matter. The Bible is the Word of God; no passage of Scriptures will contradict any other passage. And since man and woman and God have not changed, we will find that what God intended women to do in Bible times He intends them to do now, also. Let every reader with prayerful heart ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom, and then search out in the Scriptures you are given what God has to say about women preaching the gospel.
I TIMOTHY 2:11-15 SAYS NO WOMAN TO TEACH OR USURP AUTHORITY OVER MENThe first Scripture to which I call your attention on this matter of women preachers is in I Timothy 2:11-15, which is quoted here:
“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”
I want you to notice the universal character of this Scripture. It is in the letter written by Paul, the apostle Paul to the Gentiles, addressed to Timothy. Paul had left Timothy at Ephesus to have oversight of the great work in that city, with many elders, as you will see in the first chapter of this book. Verse 3 shows that Timothy was to keep any from teaching false doctrines. Verse 4 shows that he was to keep down confusion, and verses 6 and 7 show that he was to set right some who desired “to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.” It is important to notice in this epistle, the first to Timothy, that we have detailed instruction about the qualifications for a bishop (or pastor) and of a deacon (see chapter 3). No one can read I Timothy without seeing that it sets forth rules and instructions for all New Testament churches, as delivered by Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, by the Holy Spirit. So the passage we have read above is for all New Testament churches and New Testament Christians. To New Testament Christians Paul said, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” Paul did not allow any women preachers or women teachers, nor any women to have authority over men, in any New Testament churches. Paul's word was accepted as law throughout the length and breadth of the Roman empire among fundamentally sound Christian people. At Rome at Corinth, at Ephesus, the great centers, and all between Paul's authority as an apostle of God is recognized. And in no place, Paul says, would he allow a woman to teach or usurp authority over men.
And this rule of Paul is not arbitrary, but fits into the plan of God from the time of creation. Paul explains that “Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” God made Adam first. Eve was made second and as his helpmeet, subject to him. For this reason, says Paul, women are not to teach men in the church, are not to be chief officers in the church nor have authority over men. For women to take such authority is usurpation, unlawful seizing of an authority that is not properly and naturally theirs. From the creation, this Scripture says, women are to take the place of subjection, because they were not created to have authority over men or to teach men.
And again Paul says that the weakness of a woman and her aptness to be misled is shown because “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” Satan found he could deceive Eve easier than he could Adam. God made a woman after such a fashion that she could be a comfortable and obedient helpmeet, a mate who would fit to his will and plans. So, in the nature of the case, women are not as well fitted for executive authority. If women are more easily led, they are not as good leaders. Every pastor knows that women are easier to enlist in good work. But careful observers must admit that women are also easier led into false doctrines and into errors of various kinds. But the argument here in I Timothy 2:14 is that Satan was able to deceive Eve when he could not deceive Adam, and that this is an evidence that women should not be placed in authority in churches and in Christian work. if he could deceive Eve easier in the Garden of Eden, he could deceive women easier now. This means that women leaders are more likely to lead into heresy in doctrine and unscriptural practice than men. Women are not fitted to teach men or usurp authority over men, says this Scripture. But also, in verse 15, God has a special duty and privilege for women in childbearing. If they submit themselves to God's plan in humility and meekness, then they shall be rescued, and preserved, when pangs of childbirth are come upon them. Many godly women have found sweet comfort and ease and help in the time when they go down into the valley of the shadows to bring forth a child for the Lord, receiving help from God because they were willing to take a woman's place in submission.
Let us consider carefully verses 11 and 12.
- The woman is to learn in silence, with all subjection.
- A woman is not to teach. Certainly not to teach men, but evidently not to teach general groups, including men.
- A woman is never to have authority over men.
- And then again it is emphasized that a woman is to be “in silence” in such public services.
We know well that God does not want Christian women to remain silent outside the mixed public service. Titus 2:3, 4 plainly commands “the aged women likewise . . . that they may teach the young women.” Here we are plainly told that old women may teach young women, and should do so. But they are to teach them, among other things, “to be obedient to their own husbands” (v. 5). Women are to be in silence, then, as far as teaching the whole church is concerned, or teaching men, or groups including men, but older women may teach younger women. It is clear that a mother may teach her own children, as Timothy's mother and grandmother evidently taught him (II Timothy 1:5). Proverbs 1:8 commands: “And forsake not the law of thy mother.” Proverbs 6:20 says: “My son . . . forsake not the law of thy mother.” Proverbs 30:17 says: “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” A woman may teach other women and may teach children. But none of these cases we have mentioned refers to public teaching as an official of the church, or teaching of large mixed groups. Priscilla helped her husband, Aquilla, to teach Apollos the way of the Lord more perfectly. But in this way we may be sure that she had the meek spirit of a helpmeet to her husband. She spoke in private conversation, and not as an official teacher or as one having authority.
So when Paul said, “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence,” it seems clear to me he is forbidding a woman to take a place as a public teacher of men. A woman is to be silent in the public assembly in the sense that she is not to teach as an official of the church. She particularly is to be silent as far as teaching men is concerned. That is plainly forbidden. No woman, according to this passage, is to be allowed to teach a class of men, or to teach a mixed class including men, nor to teach the church in a public assembly, including men.
It is equally clear that no woman is to take a place as an official of a church, having authority over men. No woman could be pastor of a church, according to this plain verse. To do so would be a usurpation of authority that was forbidden her.”
In New Testament churches a woman's place was to be taught, not to teach. A woman's place was to be silent, not to be a public speaker. A woman's place was to be in submission, and not to be in authority. Certainly this Scripture forbids any woman to be a preacher or pastor or evangelist.”SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice - “Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives And Women Preachers,” pages 38-45; Sword of The Lord Publishers ©1941.
Brother Rice further states:
I CORINTHIANS 14:34, 35 COMMANDS WOMEN TO BE SILENT IN THE CHURCH
Once before we studied those two verses in the fourteenth chapter of First Corinthians which deal with the woman's place in the church. But we discussed only the teaching that women are, even in religious and church matters, subject to their husbands. let us read verses 34 and 35 again, and see what they say about women preachers.
“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. 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” (I Corinthians 14:34, 35).
Again, the Scripture expressly commands that women are to keep silence in the churches, that it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are to be under obedience, just as they were to be according to the Old Testament.
Someone may say that this rule was only for the church at Corinth. But that is not true. This epistle is not only written to the Christians at Corinth, but also to “all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their's and our's,” as you see from the second verse of the first chapter. The instructions of I Corinthians were given by the Holy Spirit to all Christians everywhere. Then, to all Christians everywhere, the Lord commands: “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. 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.”
Some may say that according to this Scripture a woman should not sing in the choir, should not testify in a prayer meeting. We will deal with that further on. I think that the Lord means a woman should be silent as far as official teaching or preaching is concerned, any public expounding of the Scriptures, or any public leadership of the church, or of men, or of groups containing men. If that interpretation does not go far enough, let us go just as far as the Scripture intends. But at least it is clearly and obviously true that this Scripture forbids any woman to preach, forbids any woman to take the place of a pastor or evangelist. That simply was not permitted in any New Testament church, and it is not permitted now anywhere if God's people are to obey the plain command of God.
Again notice that in this matter of the relations of men and women, God's will has never changed. Women are to be in obedience in the churches in these days just as women were to be in obedience and silent in the Old Testament worship. In the Old Testament family, the wife was to be subject to her husband. In the Old Testament tabernacle and temple worship, there were no women priests, no women scribes, no women officials. And this passage says that the same thing is to be true of the woman in the New Testament.
Reviewing again the two passages of Scripture which particularly forbid women preachers, note that in I Corinthians 14:34, 35, the woman is to be silent “in the church.” But in I Timothy 2:11, 12 it is forbidden a woman to teach or usurp authority over the men anywhere. The church is not mentioned. It is forbidden a woman to take an official part in a church service, yes. But it is equally forbidden a woman to teach men or usurp authority over men outside of the church service. It is as wrong for a woman to take the place of a Bible teacher pr pastor or evangelist in a private home or in a Sunday School class as if it were in an official, so-called “church service.” God simply did not intend for women to have a place of authority or leadership over men or to teach men.
SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice - “Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives And Women Preachers,” pages 44-46; Sword of The Lord Publishers ©1941.
Amen and amen!
We
know assuredly from the plain teaching of the Scripture that ALL women
preachers and pastors are pulling on the same rope as the Devil, and are
false prophets! No woman is permitted to do what Joyce Meyer, Melissa Scott,
Beth Moore and other ungodly female preachers are sinfully doing—usurping
church authority over men. Women preachers blaspheme the Word of God. It is
wickedness! 
