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RETURN TO HANDS OF GOD




This was started when I was doing a study on another forum about Ephesus......and it fits here....
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I Timothy 2 talks about women's roles in the church...This is going along with all the false doctrine going on at Ephesus...atcually, it is still rampant in today's churches...
Women have been almost captive and restrained in many ways from public ministry. The reason that I bring this up is that I am a woman in the ministry. I have worked in homeless shelters for more years than I care to know...I have been situated in places that no 'fancy, reverand minister' would ever consider....I have allowed myself at times to be in great danger.....I have been shot at, robbed...had ever human emotion...good or bad....I had had my own children at places that 'no good mother' would ever take her children to....but, God is faithful..He put angels in charge of us.
This is not about Lynn...!
This is about what we as women in the ministry have gone through....
This, hopefully, will explain how I can hold my ordination papers with both honor and humbleness. One of the scriptures in which I am referring to here is :
I Timothy 2:11-15 "Let a woman learn in silence in full submission. I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man. She is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. yet, she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness with modesty."
The Christian Church has built doctrine around this verse....but, have they really checked into its true translation? There are several reasons for this doctrine...the most famous one, of course, is the seating arrangements of the New Testament Church. The men were on one side, the wives on another....with a partition dividing them......
hum....!
another is simply this:
The Greek wording here has not been translated correctly. A book published by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI. called " Suffer Not A Woman" and authored by Richard and Catherine Clark Kroeger....says that the Greek verb, authentein is the problem. I, personally believe Paul was saying....
"I am not allowing...a woman to teach or to proclaim herself the originator of man..."
Research shows that the meaning of authentein has changed to a dramatic degree over a period of about 1100 years. At the first of the 6th century, we find it used as classical literature. ....meaning to 'initiate or be responsible for a murder'.....200 or 300AD, this word meant to 'claim ownership of property' either rightfully or wrongfully through fraud. It could also mean to 'usurp power'.....However, during the time of the New Testament, the most common meaning of authentein was 'to be', or claim to be the author or the originator of something. Even the cultural text was missed when the translators wrote the book of Timothy.
Now, before going on, I must tell you this...yes, I am a lady chaplain....I am not teaching on my own authority....first, I have Jesus to teach me. Second, I am under the umbrella of Christ Eternity Fellowship, Int...housed in Mt. Vernon, Texas.....Thirdly, Rev. Crawford Hamlett Jr. and Rev. A.W. Bowman.........here on hands and alpha...these men and more from the forums are crucial to my ministry. My own hometown pastor(s) are Rev. Jeffrey Seidel, of One Accord Ministries and Rev. Leroy Jones of Saving Christian Fellowship in Georgetown, Texas. Both are non-demoninational fellowships of believers.
'Nuff said on that!
Back to the story: I have given a great deal of study of Ephesus and pagenism and false cults and so forth...Now, when Timothy was written, perversion of scripture had infiltrated the church. timothy was in Ephesus, the world center of paganism and governed spiritually by the female deity Artemis, whom the Romans called Diana. The cult of Artemis taught the superiority of the female and advocated female domination of the male. It was this teaching that this goddess was able to bring forth offspring without male involvement. Sexual perversion, fertility rites, endless myths, and elaborate genealogies traced through female lines rather than male lines...Magic..and all kinds and manners of demonic activity flourished. Also, there were Jewish gnostics who represented the equivalent of our New Age Movement. Gnostic is a Greek word and means knowledge. Gnostics acknowledge spirit guides and taught the teachings of Artemis along with the teachings of the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve. In this story, Eve was the "Illuminator' of mankind because she was the first to receive true knowledge from the serpant....whom Gnostics saw as the 'savior' and the revealer of truth. They also believed that Eve taught this new revelation to Adam...and because she was the mother of all, was the progenitor of the human race.....
meaning......
they believed that Adam was her son and NOT her husband. This believe feflected that gnostic doctrine of women bearing children without male involvement. Gnostics also taught that the Hebrew God was a lesser deity and had to change his Name from Yahwey to laidaboath. They believed that physical matter was evil and the world of the spirit was good....they also maintained that God had made a serious mistake in creating the material universe. This is when Paul encouraged Timothy to confront the problems of false doctrines. Paul told him to forbid certain people from teaching their beliefs in the church and to admonish others to turn away from this myth and endless genealogies. Paul told Timothy to oppose those who speak falsely of the Living God.....to warn people about the doctrines of demons, avoid stupid controversies, and to warn people to have nothing to do with the old, corrupted story of Adam and Eve.
Now.....what did Paul really say? I believe he was saying that was was said must be in accordance with the scripture. Going on, in this scripture, the word silence is used. It is stemmed from "Hesuchia' which also means harmony, peace, conformity and/or agreement. He also states that Adam was formed first, then Eve. This statement directly contradicts the notion that Eve was the 'illuminator' amd carrier of any new revelation.
Paul couldn't have many problems with women in ministry because he talked about them often. For example....Paul encouraged Timothy to trust the faith he had received from his mother and grandmother. He worked with a husband-wife team in the tent-making business. He traveled with them, planting and pastoring house churches. They trained Apollos to be more accurate in the Word of God. Paul usually mentions Pricilla, the woman, before her husband, Aquila. In the letter to the Romans, he commends a woman leader, Phoebe, to the Church at Rome. He says he is sending her as a minister of the gospel. The greek word for minister here is diakonos, a deacon. It implies that Pheobe had the same status in the early Church as Stephen, the martyr and Phillip the evangelist.. The word prostatis, which also means leader is used of Pheobe. It means oversear, or someone with stature, responsibility and authority. Paul's relatives, Andronicus, a man and Junia, a woman, were highly prominent among the apoltles. Paul broke the rabinic tradition when he insisted that women should learn the Word of God just like men in humility of heart and full of submission to the truth of Jesus Christ. He wanted to equip us to teach the truth of the Scripture. Paul told Timothy which women to add to the church payroll. He told Timothy to employ those who can serve the church in good character and with a proven tract record.
FINALLY.....
Paul said, "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female...for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." Galations 3:27-28
In these last days, God is setting the stage for a final harvest. Paul told Timothy to look for women who love Jesus, and have washed the feet of the saints...We are called to release these individuals into the freedom that God has given us. We are to be submissive to His will in our lives. We are called to preach holiness, righeousness, concentration....salvation.....we are called...whether men or women.....to preach Jesus......yes, as a woman, I believe that as God's handmaiden, I can deliver the Word...only if I stay in His Word and in His Complete Will...The hour is late....let us release His anointing and His Love into a sin=filled world and quit worrying about whether we are a guy or a gal......
In love,
lynn

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