15

“PROPHECIES” TRUMP

SCRIPTURE

Some evangelical feminists put contemporary prophecies

above the Bible

Another tendency leading toward rejection of the supreme authority of

Scripture is the claim of Cindy Jacobs and other charismatics and
Pentecostals that many contemporary prophecies are saying that God
wants women to teach and preach to both sexes, or to be in pastoral
leadership roles. When this claim is made, the contemporary prophecies
take precedence over the teaching of Scripture. Jacobs, who speaks
widely in charismatic and Pentecostal circles, writes,

Of one thing I am certain: God is calling women today in a greater

way than He ever has before. Major prophetic voices are prophesy-

ing all around the world that this is the time to find a way to release

women into the ministry.^1

This statement occurs at the beginning of Jacobs’s section on the role
of women in the church (171-244). It comes before she discusses the
“difficult passages” on women in the church (225-244). As such, the
prophecies play a foundational role in the discussion. They are not
brought in as supplemental material after the teaching of Scripture has
been established, but they are used to say, in effect, “This is what God

(^1) Cindy Jacobs, Women of Destiny (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1998), 173.