140 FEMINIST VIEWS THAT UNDERMINE SCRIPTURE
As I have traveled around the world and seen great revivals in places
such as Colombia and Argentina, I have seen churches in major
revival so busy trying to get the converts discipled that they are happy
for laborers—either men or women!^2They use these statements as support for their claims that all areas
of ministry are open to women and men alike.
But if we are to be obedient to God’s Word, we are not free to say
that “this is an unusual time, so we don’t have to obey the Bible.” God
knew that these days would come, and his Word is not obsolete! He has
made provision in his Word for every period of history up until the day
Christ returns. We are not free to disregard it.
We should also realize that the period recorded in the Book of Acts
was a time of great revival and a great work of the Holy Spirit, yet there
were no women pastors or elders. The Reformation in Europe and the
Great Awakenings in the United States were times of great revival and
blessing from God, yet they did not require Christians to disobey God’s
Word.
In other circumstances and at other times, people who have
thought they could disobey God’s Word because of unique circum-
stances have not been blessed by God.Think, for example, of Saul, who
disobeyed the words of the prophet Samuel and offered a burnt offer-
ing himself (1 Sam. 13:9) because he thought the circumstances were
so pressing and he was going to lose the people who had gathered to
him (see vv. 8, 11-12). As a result, Samuel told Saul, “now your king-
dom shall not continue” (1 Sam. 13:14). Abram decided that he had
waited long enough without a child and chose (at the prompting of his
wife Sarai) to have a child with Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian servant (Gen.
16). But Abram’s decision not to wait and trust God, but to take mat-
ters into his own hands because of the apparent urgency of the situa-
tion, was not blessed by God. His lack of faith resulted in the birth of
Ishmael, whose descendants continue to be at enmity with the people
of Israel to this day.
Any argument that says the great needs of the hour should decide
the question of women’s roles in the church is just another way of say-
(^2) Cindy Jacobs, Women of Destiny (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1998), 234.