The Prophetic Significance of Women Pastors Part 1
The Prophetic Significance
of
Women Pastors
Part 1 of 3 Parts
by
Dr. Larry Patrick, TH.D.
President
Charis Theological Seminary
And
Bible Training Institute
[Editor's Note: We are very pleased to present to our A-O readers, a 3-part serial article from Dr. Larry Patrick of Charis Theological Seminary, of Houston, Texas. The 3 parts will be published over a 3 week period of one part per week. Dr. Patrick shares our views concerning the identity of the future Babylon of prophecy as being the United States of America. This article will present just a portion of his reasoning for such a view plus how the role of women in the Church relates to Biblical Prophecy. Dr. Patrick encourages your email comments to him at
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We also encourage you to share your thoughts and comments about Dr. Patrick's views and his participation with us here at The Alpha-Omega Report. Just go to our contact page here, and click on H. Harris, Editor to share your thoughts. You may also wish to visit the Seminary website here at www.charisseminary.org Note, Dr. Patrick has several small e-books available for free download, including one about Prophetic Babylon's identity.]
Prophecy makes up as much as two thirds of all Scripture. No one area of prophecy so dominates all scripture as that, which deals with the times of Jacob Troubles known as the Great Tribulation. The condition of the world leading up to the tribulation as well as during the times of the tribulation will never before have been so desperately wicked and evil. Scripture says of that day that men shall:
Isaiah 5:20 “ call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Even our Lord Jesus Christ, in speaking of the end of the Church age, said that the Word would become corrupt from the evil of false doctrine that men will proclaim is found in the Word:
Matthew 13:33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
There are many signs that are suppose to be seen at the end of the age, but the main sign that has been missing from all previous declarations that the tribulation is imminent is now clearly seen. The sign of Israel being in the land was the one sign that signaled that the world was entering the last days. Even more specific was the Sign mentioned by Christ that would begin the last generation. The sign of Jerusalem:
Luke 21:24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled
All the other signs of the tribulation and the end of this age, were dependant upon Israel and Jerusalem. Once Israel became a nation, and Jerusalem was no more run down by the Gentiles, all the prophecies of the ‘times of Jacobs troubles” began to be fulfilled and identified. Today, many Bible scholars have identified many prophetical signs that could not have been fulfilled before now. Such signs as the size of the army of the ‘king of the east” and the alignment of the nations of Europe are indicative of the days before the tribulation.
However, there is one sign that has not as of now been recognized as a sign of the end times. It comes in two parts and is found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is the sign of Zechariah 5:5-11 coupled with the sign of Jude 11. Ultimately, these signs become a prophecy and a warning against the rise of women in ruler-ship in the “land of Shinar” and coupled with Jude 11, a sign of the danger of women in the pulpit.Is God a chauvinist, if not why does he make such declarations as found in Isaiah 3:12:
12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
To God, women’s ruling over men in any capacity was a curse, which would “cause thee to err”. How does God actually view women as leaders in His Church? The Church is the inheritance of God, the end work of all that He has allowed to happen. Building of the church is the last part of a plan that began before the “world was created”. Would His immutability allow the last 40 years of His ultimate purpose, the church, to now include something that He prevented from happening in the garden and throughout all Biblical history? Will God become less than God by changing His mind and now allowing what before was a curse to now become a blessing. These are serious issues that presently are not discussed but must be cleared up if we are to accept the present trend of “Women Pastors” as acceptable to God. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of this sign on Humanity as a whole and subsequently the Church.
We will begin with Zechariah 5, most of this section comes from my book “Who Is Babylon” which is available for FREE download at the Charis Theological website www.charisseminary.org .
Zechariah 5:5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.
6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
The scene begins with a flying “ephah”, what today would be a large witches' kettle. The ephah or kettle had a large lead lid, weighing “a talent of lead”, which today would weigh roughly 125 pounds. When this lid was lifted up there was a woman sitting in the middle of the ephah. The angel immediately refers to something as “wickedness”, which he cast into the midst of the ephah. Whether it is the woman who is referred to as wicked, or something the angel has in his hands, the fact is, it is cast into the middle of the ephah to mix with the woman. So dreadful was this wickedness, that the angel sealed it in the ephah by placing the heavy lead lid on top of it. This lid was considered heavy enough to keep the women and the wickedness from escaping. In speaking of the woman in the ephah, the writers of “The Bible Knowledge Commentary” wrote:
"The material of which the measuring basket was made is not identified, but it had a cover of lead to assure the security of its contents. When the cover was lifted, a woman was observed inside and was identified as wickedness. The woman (probably because the Heb. word for wickedness is in the fem. gender) was wickedness personified, a term denoting civil, ethical, and religious evil. The interpreting angel had to keep the woman (wickedness) in confinement. Not only must the wicked in Israel be punished (the vision of the flying scroll, vv. 1-4) but also wickedness itself must be removed from the land."
The writers of “The Bible Knowledge Commentary” did not understand that God was not just taking wickedness out of Israel; He was delivering it to a specific land, the “land of Shinar”. Shinar as a land did not exist at the time of the writing of the prophecy. In fact, outside of Genesis, Shinar is only mentioned in Isaiah and Daniel.
Isaiah 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people,
which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Daniel 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.
Isaiah identifies Shinar as a land from which God will call to the Jews in the later days to return to Israel. Thus, who ever Shinar is, they would be around in the later days. But it is Daniel that identifies who Shinar is, for it is the land that Nebuchadnezzar ruled as king, it is the land of Babylon. The Shinar of Zechariah is the Economic and Political Babylon of the last days as mentioned in the Book of Revelation.
An understanding of the word wickedness is revealing, so a quick look is necessary.
The following is one of several quotes that were taken from: Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed.)
"This feminine noun appears fifteen times, mostly in the abstract sense of wickedness or act of wickedness. Moses explained to his people that the wickedness of Canaan was the reason Israel could enter Canaan. The conquest was to be a judgment, not a demonstration of Israel’s greatness (Deut 9:4–5). Moses also told the civil judges to beat those who committed rišhâ. Twice the wise men contrasted rišhâ with righteousness (Prov 11:5; 13:6). In Mal 3:15 those who do wickedly are said to be arrogant enemies of God (cf. Ezk 5:6) with dire results (see Isa 9:18; Mal 1:4; 4:1)."
Ezekiel 18, 30 also sets forth the alternatives facing man. A person may turn to rišhâ and die, or turn from it to God and live. Again, the verb is denominative from reša˓ “wrong, wickedness,” and seems to have two meanings,
a) to act wickedly, and
b) to condemn as guilty. The verb can describe a general breakdown of social relationships in which bad people mistreat good people.
That civil, ethical and religious wickedness is meant here will become evident when we understand the whole of this prophecy. The scene continues now with two more women:
“there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.”
The significance of this scene is found in two places, the words “women” and “stork”. We have a paradox of words here that need explaining. “Women” in the Bible has many meanings; however the primary meaning is evil, for she was the first to follow Satan in the garden. Obviously this is the meaning implied here because the angel has already stated that the woman in the ephah was wickedness or at the very least would become mixed with wickedness. Further, these women were given wings of a stork.
The word “stork” is where a potential conflict could arise as to the meaning of this prophecy. The word is ( ḥăsı̂dâ ), coming from the root word (ḥāsı̂d) {holy one, godly, saint. RSV faithful, godly one, loyal. niv, saint, godly}. The “stork” was known for her kindness to her young, thus the “a” was added to ḥāsı̂d, a word that meant a godly, saintly, faithful and loyal person. Yet the stork was also considered an unclean bird in Lev.11:19:
19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
20 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.
Thus a paradox exists. Why would the Spirit use a word associated with all that is good, with “women” who are the carriers of what was total wickedness? Also, why did he choose a stork, a bird that scripturally meant it was an “abomination” but was culturally accepted as the perfect mother? Again, the reason will become obvious when we finish the prophecy. As Zechariah continued to watch, the storks lifted the woman up between heaven and earth, where she would remain until she would be delivered in the land of “Shinar”.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
We finally arrive at the answer to our mystery. Verse 11 holds in it many cultural, historical and linguistic meanings, all of which are needed to completely understand the full meaning of this prophecy. First, we shall consider the cultural meaning.The words “To build it an house” establishes two things in our understanding. First, the woman is now referred to as “it”. She has now become an idea, not a person, for “it” erases the possibility of identifying the woman as some individual. So what the woman “represents” is more in view than the idea of some singularly evil woman.
Next we consider the whole phrase “To build it an house”. This statement reveals our cultural understanding. In the culture of Israel, based on both the times in which the prophet lived, as well as the teaching of scripture, a woman could never escape tutelage. As long as she remained unmarried, she was under the authority of her father while he was alive or the closest male blood relation if her father was dead. Likewise, a married woman came under her husband’s authority. She possessed no property apart from her own personal wardrobe; if she had a dowry, it went to her husband. Should she not satisfy him, she would be sent back to her own family or given to another man. Yet, as quoted from ‘du Toit, A. 1998’, and “The New Testament Milieu”:
Yet in the home the wife occupied a position of dignity: she could take part in discussions concerning family affairs, receive visitors, and appear in public.
The wickedness of the words “To build it an house”therefore lies in the fact that the time would come when a woman would have her own home without the authority of a man. Sometime in the future, a woman, who was no widow, would live as her own authority. In ancient times a woman who lived this way was always called a harlot. Today, in our society, the first thing young women want to do when they reach 18 years of age is move out on their own. Yet, God put this kind of thinking in an “ephah” and sent it to the only land in human history where He would allow it to be unleashed.
As we shall see, the house is more than a house; it is also a temple, a place of worship. From within its walls every form of evil and wickedness will become the accepted norms of an entire age. We call it freedom, each person having the right to choose their own way, but this right was never given by God to the woman. Until the curse is lifted at the end of the millennial reign of Christ, she was to remain under the authority of a man. Obviously, we shall not return to God’s way, when so many of the clergy support the women’s movement in our country. Even when Jesus met the woman at the well, she lived with a man who was not her husband, so he said to her:
John 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
In our world society today that which God called wickedness is accepted as the norm. We live in a time in which that which was established by God must be re-interpreted so as not to offend the masses who accept the culture of this time as right in spite of the revealed Words of God. Adultery and fornication were punishable by death, but in our society they have become a thing we call the natural way. Our youth are now taught that fornication is a thing that is natural and should be explored early in life. So, we can now see in this prophecy that the stork winged women took the ephah to a place where the wickedness within the ephah would be accepted as normal. These words are not meant to offend any, but simply to further identify the land that this prophecy is talking about. “make straight the way of the Lord”.
Finally, we come to the final statement about this prophecy’s words, words that tie this prophecy to only one country.
“in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.”
The words “in the land of Shinar” speak of only one place. The following is quoted from (Harris, R. L., Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., & Waltke, B. K. 1999, c1980. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed.). Moody Press: Chicago)
"Shinar is the O.T. designation for southern Mesopotamia, the alluvial plain between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The area was known by the Sumerians as Sumer and Akkad. It later became known as Babylonia. In two of the eight passages Shinar is called Babylonia in the LLX ( Isa 11:11 and Zech 5:11 ).
"In Gen 10:10 we are told that the great tyrant and empire builder Nimrod founded his kingdom in Babel, Erech (Sumerian Uruk), Akkad (Agade) and Calneh in the land of Shinar. From here he pushed north into Assyria. It was here also, in Shinar, that rebellious man built the well-known tower of Babel in direct defiance of God ( Gen 11:2 ). In Dan 1:2 it is the land of Shinar to which Nebuchadnezzar removes the vessels of the temple of God, and in Isa 11:11 we are told that Shinar is one of the lands from which regathered Israel will return when the Millenial age is established. In Zech 5:11 the woman in the ephah, representing a concentration of evil (v. 8 ), is removed to the land of Shinar where a temple is built for her.
"All of this points to a sinister significance for Shinar as being the major center for the development of a culture and civilization built on counterfeit religion, rebelliousness against the true God and his revealed word, the cradle of imperial tyranny and the enemy of God’s people, in short, the epitome of wickedness. (Cf. as well the many biblical references to Babylon.")
So Shinar is the Babylon of prophecy, that land which we are identifying as the Babylon of the Great Tribulation. Of particular interest are the words “established” and “base”, both coming from the same ancient Hebrew root. Again, note the words of Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed.):
"the word as used in Hebrew, rarely means simply to bring into being. So rare is it, in fact, ……. the root meaning is “to be firm”. However, evidence of the original etymology may be found in those occurrences where something is said simply to have been formed or fashioned (brought into existence) (Jud 12:6; Job 31:15 ; Ps 119:73 ; Ezk 16:7 )."
The wickedness of the ephah would come into existence; it would become the reality of a future age, in the land of Shinar. And so it has happened. The women’s movement which has so shaped the last 75 years of world history found it’s beginnings in the United States. It was in the United States that women built the first political, economic and religious base without being under the authority of a man.
Again, no insult is intended by these words, only the stating of a Biblical truth. A great sign that we live in the last days and an even greater sign of who the Babylon of the last days is, was prophesied here in Zechariah chapter 5. As to the identity of the two “stork” winged “women”. They represent two abominable spirits that would nurture this movement in the land of Babylon as a mother “stork” would nurture her chicks. They would protect “it” (the wickedness) and see to it that “it” (the woman in the ephah) would reach her full potential of evil ……. And so has it happened.
"The National Organization for Women's 1966 Statement of Purpose: We organize to initiate or support action, nationally, or in any part of this nation, by individuals or organizations, to break through the silken curtain of prejudice and discrimination against women in government, industry, the professions, the churches, the political parties, the judiciary, the labor unions, in education, science, medicine, law, religion and every other field of importance in American society."
In the “Feminists Chronicles of 1972, they record the events that were of significance in furthering the feminist movement. Below is what it records about religion.
Religion
"Women theologians called for the "castration of sexist religion" at the largest and most prestigous gathering of biblical scholars in history, the American Academy of Religion, meeting at the Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles. Dr. Mary Daly, noted Catholic theologian of Boston College, told a seminar of women that historic sexist religion had led to patriarchal institutions whose teachings had amounted to "a gang rape of our minds." (09/02/72) "
Biblical truth is not important to the women's movement, just the equality of women. Their goal to conquer the pulpit in spite of what the Bible teaches evidences the evil in God’s eyes of this movement. What they did not know was their plans had already been seen before the foundation of the earth, and would take root first in “the land of Shinar”.
In our society today, woman does not seek to be protected by man, she seeks to dominate him. In an attempt to promote what is called sexual equality, a banner has been raised that is anti God and anti Bible. A banner that says God is wrong, woman is not a “help mate” to man but is “co-ruler” with man. All that women hold dear today has forever changed America. As God said to Israel so also he would say to America today:
12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
If America is the Babylon of Revelation, there is an evil in this society that causes God to see to it that for 1000 years no man ever lives in America again. Further, if we live in the days just prior to the return of Christ, then that evil exist today.
Isaiah 13:20 declares the following:
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
God has set an order in the relationship between man and woman. Man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. How is it possible that people who claim to be children of God, can take the truth and make it a lie.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
The belief today that woman should be able to rule as man rules will soon end. During the millennial reign of Christ, the world will once again follow the ordinances for living that were established in the Old Testament. God will be the instrument of destruction that shall end “women as rulers”. But now a question must be asked. If the punishment of God against woman can be so severe for what is being done to His established order in the world. What will be His response to women who change His established order in the Church which is His body?
Part 2 of this article will address that question.The prophetical significance of “Women Pastors” is like a ticking bomb that is ready to explode, and it will explode in our lifetime.