Many salvation-seekers today are living in just the same delusion that Samaritans and tares have lived in the past. But as said earlier, this delusion of being in God’s salvation is not peculiar to people of today. Since the apostolic days, people have been misled into believing and acting on false gospels. In believing and acting on false gospels, many have come to think that they are Born Again into the salvation of God in Christ Jesus, when in fact they are not.

These people are many and can be found everywhere in the world today. They are found everywhere the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached. They are those who, on hearing the gospel (maybe an impure version of it), have not been properly taught how to respond to it for their Born Again experience. These are the most pitiful people on earth: who think they are Jews and or wheat, when they are in fact, Samaritans and or tares.

Their situation today is even worse than that of Samaritans or tares of yesteryears, since they now live in a combined delusion as Samaritan-tares. They are Samaritans because they are not begotten out of the loins of God. They are not born from above and of God. They are not born of water and of the Spirit. They claim to have been born of God when in reality they are not.

They are tares because even though they may have access to the written Word of God, they do not know how they can be recreated by this same Word into new creatures. They may use this Word to change their thinking in the many ways they live, and possibly to good effect.

As the good effects of their use of the Word of God may become visible to themselves and many observers, these tares-people delude themselves as being in God’s salvation.

They may be ignorant of their impending disappointment at being refused entry into Abraham’s bosom, and into Heaven, but that is assuredly their fate. Until their eyes and hearts become opened to the Word of God, concerning how they may gain entry into Christ, they remain doomed to disappointment, in-so-far as gaining entry into Abraham’s bosom and into Heaven is their ambition.

There is only one thing that the many Samaritans and Tares of our generation must do to avert the imminent disappointment and doom which await them at the soon-coming judgment of God. They must face the Word of God squarely and boldly. They must believe the Word of God in its purest form.

And what does the Word of God say about how any people can be transformed from being Samaritans and or Tares to be the children of Abraham (of God) and to be wheat? It is important we know this Word of God and obey it in faith.

As mentioned earlier on, under the tutorship of Philip the evangelist, and the ministries of Peter and John, two great apostles of Jesus Christ, the Samaritans of old, found this Word of God, and acted on it, and thereby gained the true salvation of God in Christ Jesus.

Philip, an able minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the City of Samaria, led hordes of Samaritans, to believe, accept, and act appropriately on this gospel. The Samaritan salvation-seekers accepted this gospel in repentance of their sins and baptism into the name of Jesus Christ.

Their repentance from sin, and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, brought these Samaritans (Assyrian-Jews), remission of their sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2: 38-39, and 8: 5-25), and therefore the full package of God’s salvation.

This appropriate response to the gospel, in repentance of sin and in baptism into Christ, brought the Samaritans into the new birth in Christ (and therefore into Abraham), making them obtain what they had been craving for over a period of over 750 years.

For 750 long years, the Samaritan memorized the Torah, hated and denounced sin, fasted and prayed according to set times, showed the human-kind of love to fellowman and to God, and lived in some confidence of being a child of Jacob (and of Abraham), yet only succeeded in deluding himself as being on his way to Abraham’s bosom. That was sad then, and I still feel this sadness in me today.

Let me warn you, my dear reader. If you are living like such a Samaritan, take my coming advice. If you prayed a certain kind of prayer, believing that you have become Born Again by God into His family, take my coming advice seriously. Otherwise, you will be living in the same delusion as Samaritans and Tares did in some time past. And your sure disappointment, at the Gates of Heaven at the end of time, would simply be a matter of time.

Let me warn you my dear reader; many men, who have not been called of God and given His mandate to lead people into His salvation in Christ, are going about everywhere, offering prayers for the Born Again experience. They call this prayer the “Sinners’ Prayer” or the “Prayer for Salvation”.

They claim that when one has said this prayer, repeating it in sincerity, after a so-called man of God, they are instantly Born Again. Such so-called men of God, have only succeeded in making many salvation-seekers live in delusion of their salvation, and assurance of being in Heaven to spend Eternity with God.

Does the Word of God teach salvation-seekers to offer prayers to God to become Born Again, and thereby become eligible to enter His salvation? If the Word of God indeed teaches this, where can we find that word?

If God has never led mankind to offer prayers to Him to enable him grant us His salvation, then we delude ourselves of being in God’s salvation when we act on the word of pious- and or sanctimonious-looking so-called Men of God, to pray so-called “Sinners’ Prayers” and or “Prayers for Salvation.”

My dear reader, are you are living in this delusion of Samaritan Tares? Then begin to seek deliverance from that delusion, by acting appropriately on the Word of God. Act on God’s Word on repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, so you can get the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart.

Only this is your only assurance of being in God’s salvation in Christ Jesus. I hope I have warned you enough.

Shalom.
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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Let us at this point, recap some of the things said so far in this article about the Samaritans. The Samaritans were Assyrians who came to inhabit parts of Israeli lands in the year 721 BC, after their king conquered and carried into captivity, all the Israelites who were occupying these lands. The Assyrian occupation of Israeli lands continued into the days that Jesus Christ walked our earth.

After staying in these lands for many centuries, making every effort to imitate the lifestyle of the true children of Abraham, these Assyrian colonists deluded themselves into believing that they were true children of Abraham. And why would they not delude themselves, after many centuries of living in Israel, to think of themselves as being true children of Abraham?

After all, they had lost all physical, emotional, and cultural links with the lands of their births. The only visible links they had were with Israel. Israel, being in fact, Jacob, the Samaritan saw himself as being related to him alone. No one else was his relative. To claim son-ship to Jacob seemed to be his only option and apparent right.

The way of life and occupations of the Samaritans had come to change over the centuries of their sojourn. Their religion looked more like Judaism than idol worship. Their diet must have changed, to be the Israeli kind, which was cut out for them (Israelites) by their religion. Their manner of dressing must also have changed in conformity with the dictates of their new-found religion.

After living in Samaria for centuries, and undergoing radical transformations in almost every facet of life, the Samaritans had come to lose any trace of belonging to their roots in Assyria. They looked more like Jews than Assyrians.

To tell anybody they were Jews would sound and seem convincing. But that would be a palpable lie to anybody who knew them, and their ancestry, and kept genuine records about them. The Samaritan could not be a child of Abraham because he was never begotten out of the loins of Abraham. No matter how hard he tried to prove he was a child of Abraham, he could never pass a DNA test.

The Samaritan could be the look-alike of the Jew, but that was only how close he could come to the Jew. The ignorance of the Samaritan about this, and his false claims of being a child of Jacob (and of Abraham) could not change anything. A leopard cannot deliver itself of its spots and become a lion. And so can a snake living in water for a long time not be able to change into a fish.

Things do not work that way. The Irishman staying in Zimbabwe for a long time does not evolve to be an African. One day one day, somebody will embarrass and or offend him by telling him in the face the plain truth of him not being an African. This evolution thing does not seem to work, I dare say.

Now, let us focus on wheat and tares. Many people know what wheat is, simply because wheat is a major cereal for bread. So let me not waste time asking what wheat are. But let me ask: what are tares? Tares are the look-alike of wheat. Tares only have one close similarity to wheat which is–appearance. Beyond appearance, the two have nothing else in common.

Very often, wheat and tares grow side by side. When they do, they both take the same soil nutrients and water. Also, they very often appear outwardly to have the same health status, but inwardly, this is never to be so. They may seem to have the same prospects of yielding a good harvest, but alas, this is never to be; for it is impossible for tares to bear grains, as wheat is able.

From the parable of Jesus Christ, we are able to distinguish between wheat and tares, only at harvest-time. Tares will never be able to bear useful or useable grains, no matter how much soil-nutrients and water they have access to, and no matter how long they stay in the fields. Tares by their origins can never bear the grain that wheat by their nature can bear.

Maybe, the Assyrian colonists living in Samaria did not know these simple truths. If they knew them, I am sure they would in wisdom, apply them to their situation, and correct or deliver themselves from their delusions.

Or were they deceived by somebody into their delusion of being Jews, when they never came out of the loins of Abraham? Did somebody, somewhere in far-back home Assyria, encourage them to believe that because they had been marooned on Israeli lands for centuries, they could claim inheritance of them and all the blessings, spiritual and economic, due all true children of Abraham?

They lived in their delusion till the Messiah of God came to earth and accomplished his sacrifice, opening the door for mankind to be begotten spiritually, out of the loins of Abraham. This spiritual rebirth, into the family of Abraham, became possible, not only for the Samaritan dwelling on Israeli lands, but for all mankind. This rebirth is what many people, who subscribe to the Christian faith, believe and call, the Born Again experience.

It was in the year 30 AD, or thereabout, when the Samaritans benefited from the works of Philip the evangelist, Peter and John, apostles of Jesus Christ, when they were guided into the genuine Born Again experience, and thus into the family of Abraham, and of God (Acts 8: 5-25).

Jesus Christ, after opening the door into the salvation of God in his sacrifice, made it possible for all men of non-Abrahamic blood to enter the fold of Israel. The Samaritans had therefore been living in their delusion of being the children of Jacob (and of Abraham), from 721 BC to about 30 AD, a period of over 750 years!

Today, there are many people living in delusion in the like manner that Samaritans did for over seven centuries. There are many salvation-seekers in today’s post-Messianic times, who, live in the kind of delusion as Samaritans did in pre-Messianic times.

The simple reason being that many salvation-seekers today have been misguided by their spiritual leaders on how to be born of God into today’s spiritual family of Abraham (and of Israel). This post-Messianic delusion has existed since 30 AD, for 1800 years; more than twice the period of the Samaritan delusion!

There are many people today who are not in the kingdom of God, and yet delude themselves as being in it. This is because they are not genuinely Born Again. They are not born of water and of the Spirit.

The Word of God demands of all who want to enter God’s salvation, and thereby have the hope of being in Abraham’s bosom, to be born of water and the Spirit (cf. Matthew 28: 18-20, Mark 16: 16, John 3: 3, 5, Acts 2: 38-39, Romans 6: 3-6, First Corinthians 12: 13, Galatians 3: 27, First Peter 3: 20-21, KJV, and many other verses in the Bible). [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Five: soon to be published].

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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

By the time the Lord Jesus Christ sojourned on our earth, that is, between 4 BC and 30 AD, these colonists no longer saw themselves as being Assyrians. They had by then, been staying in Israel for about seven hundred and fifty (750) years, and had completely lost touch with their roots.

This situation did not come about only with time, but was also speeded-up and aided by the frequent political turmoil in their homelands, which brought about changes in governments, in the part of the east which was known as the Fertile Crescent.

Over the many centuries of their occupation of the nation of Israel, therefore, they came to delude themselves as being the children of Jacob, and by logic, the children of Abraham (John 4: 12, 20), simply because for a long time they dwelt on the lands of Abraham, somehow followed the religion of Abraham’s children, maybe dressed like them, and ate their kind of foods.

It was then difficult for anybody who knew of their Assyrian ancestry or lineage, to convince them that they were not the children of Jacob and of Abraham, as they (Samaritans) thought.

At the time of Jesus Christ, they were so much steeped into their brand of Judaism as to have built for themselves on Mt. Gerizim, a counterpart of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. They also had come to evolve for themselves, a version of the Torah (the five books of Moses), which they called the Samaritan Pentateuch.

With their dedication to their version of the Pentateuch, a worship of God in a highly visible Temple built on top of a mountain, and a way of life very much akin to the children of Jacob (and of Abraham), they lived in a joyful hope of a life in the bosom of Abraham after death.

But to any discerning spiritual person, the hopes of these Assyrians as being qualified for and or eligible to enjoy life in the bosom of Abraham were false, since they could never prove descent from the loins of Abraham.

Abraham’s bosom, a place of rest for the souls of righteous men who exit earth on their way to spend Eternity in Heaven, belonged to only those righteous people born out of the loins of Abraham biologically and or spiritually.

No people, who were simply imitators of the lifestyle of the children of Abraham, no matter for how long, could ever have access to Abraham’s bosom if they did not have in their genes, the DNA of Abraham.

From Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, we are told of a Samaritan who was more righteous than most children of Abraham. This Samaritan showed more commitment to the obedience of (their version of) the Law Moses, than even some priests and Levites of Israel, in his day. And even though he did better than most Israelites in showing love for fellow men, which according to Jesus, summed-up the whole Law of Moses, this could not earn him life in the bosom of Abraham.

Reason for this was simple: he had not the DNA of Abraham in his genes. All through the days of Jesus Christ on earth, the Samaritans remained as strangers to Israel. They were outside the Commonwealth of Israel, no matter whatever beliefs to the contrary they held. To all Jews including the Messiah, the Samaritans were strangers to Israel; this we are told from Luke 17: 11-19 and John 4: 9.

Let us go back briefly to the history of Israel we were following. As mentioned earlier on, God masterminded the return to Israel of all Jews of both the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, when he stirred the heart of king Cyrus to bring this about. Beginning in the year 536 BC, by the authorisation of king Cyrus, many long caravans of returnee-Jews trekked out of the land of their captivity, back home to Israel.

These caravans continued to flow into Israel over a very long period of time, ending in about 445 BC. As mentioned earlier, they were led at various times by such servants of God as Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. The Bible books Ezra and Nehemiah contain all the details of these return-journeys.

When the returnee-Jews arrived back in their lands, after being in exile for over a period of one hundred and eighty-five (185) years, they were to meet a strange and hostile people on these lands. The governors and their kinsmen, who were put there by successive kings of the empires which carried Israel into captivity, were very hostile to the Israelites.

Of course, having become very comfortable in these lands over centuries, the colonists had come to consider themselves as the landowners, and were therefore not ready for any intruders. Again, from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we get to know who the leaders of these enemy-colonists of Israel were.

They were: Tatnai, Shetharboznai, Tobiah, Sanballat, and others. Also, all the persecutions, impediments to the rebuilding efforts, and challenges which the returnee-owners of the land suffered at the hand of these Assyrian usurpers, are chronicled in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

From the year 445 BC, when the last convoys of exiled returnee-Jews arrived back home, to the year 4 BC, when Jesus Christ the Messiah was born, a fierce hatred and animosity had developed and festered till it became dangerous for Jews to encounter Samaritans. This hostility continued till the time the Messiah started to execute his God-instructed mission to earth.

It had then become so fierce that, Jews and Samaritans could neither walk freely on each others lands, nor offer each other water to drink. It was against this background of the Samaritan-Jew animosity, that Jesus taught the Parable of the Good Samaritan, aimed at provoking his Jewish audience to wake up to the obedience to the love commandments of the Law of Moses.

Since the arrival of these Samaritan colonists, till the days the Son of Man walked the length and breadth of Israel, they occupied the middle portion lands of present day Israel. They were thus strategically positioned, as to be a real thorn in the flesh the children of Abraham.

And this explains why no Israelites would want to travel through Samaria on one’s way from say Jerusalem in the south, to Nazareth in Galilee to the north. It also explains why the north-south route of Israel at the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, lay roughly parallel to the north-south flow of the river Jordan, and clear of the lands of Samaritan occupation.

And for any Jew who must of need pass through Samaria on a journey, as Jesus and his disciples often found themselves in (Luke 9: 51-56, John 4: 3-4), that Jew must be adequately prepared and ready to experience hostility, attacks by robbers and bandits, once on Samaritan soil.

Maybe, in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, the traveler who went from Jerusalem toward Jericho in the direction of Samaria, alone, was asking for real trouble to come upon him.

As for the Zebedee Brothers–James and John–who were also known as the Sons of Thunder, and an ever-present pair of disciples in all the travels of Jesus Christ, the lasting solution to Samaritan opposition and hostility lay in their calling upon Heaven to rain down fire and brimstone, in Sodom and Gomorrah style, upon them.

I know many people today, who would have easily subscribed to this suggested line of action of the then soon-to-be-ordained apostles–James and John. [—this article is continued in Part Four: soon to be published].

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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

Not long after the break-up into the two kingdoms, the people accelerated their drift from the true worship of God into idolatry. This, they had started to do, under king Solomon. They were further led away from the faith of their ancestors, by most of their subsequent kings, into Baal-worship.

The few holy priests and prophets, loyal and dedicated to God, were unable to stem the tide of the spiritual decadence, as their warning messages from God were ignored. They watched, saddened and shocked, at the toll idol worship was taking on the value of life of the people, as both the Northern and Southern kingdoms fell head-over-heels in love with strange gods and Ball-worship.

The reprisals from God for their bad ways and their loss of faith in Him were of course, though long in coming, very severe and unforgettable. The Northern Kingdom was the first to be hit by these reprisals, when in the year 721 BC God gave power to the king of Assyria to carry them and their king into captivity. King Hoshea, the then incumbent king, the nineteenth and last of the Northern Kingdom, was carried together with all the inhabitants (low and high) of the Kingdom, to serve as slaves to the king of Assyria.

The exile of the Northern Kingdom did not bring any lessons worthy of causing their brothers in the Southern Kingdom to mend their ways and, to turn with contrite hearts, to serve the God of their forefathers. They continued to go deep into Baal-worship, displaying the folly characteristic of all idol worshippers.

It was therefore not a surprise when they were also carried into captivity, in the year 587 BC, during the rule of king Zedekiah, the twentieth and last king of Judah. The Babylonian Empire, under king Nebuchadnezzar, which had evolved to take over the Assyrian Empire, carried these unrepentant Israelites of the Southern Kingdom out of the lands of their ancestors, to be its hewers of wood and drawers of water.

For many years afterwards, they were to sit by the banks of the rivers of Babylon in exile, with no altars in a foreign land on which to offer sacrifices to God, bemoaning their condition, and singing songs of lamentation.

The exiles of Judah were luckier than their kinsmen of the Northern Kingdom, since they stayed in a shorter period in servitude. After only some fifty years in captivity, they and their brethren of the Assyrian captivity, who had been living in it for about 135 years, started to enjoy the goodwill of the then king of Persia, Cyrus. Cyrus, who had earlier-on conquered the Babylonians, later on, issued a decree authorising the return of all Jews in his kingdom, back to the lands of their ancestors.

Many of the late arrivals to the Babylonian captivity, who were all of the stock of Judah, had the opportunity of joining the convoys of returnees back home, under such God-ordained Israeli ambassadors as Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah, between the years 536-445 BC, that resulted from Cyrus’ decree.

When the Northern Kingdom was carried into captivity, the lands that were managed by the ten tribes of Israel, that constituted the Kingdom, became vacant. It was not long when the king of Assyria saw the economic sense in sending an occupation force to work these fallow lands. After all, whatever economic gains that would accrue to these Assyrians would go to benefit the home-government, if they were later repatriated.

The king of Assyria therefore sent people from the lands of Cathah, Ava, Hamath and Sepharvaim in his kingdom, to go and inhabit these lands. Maybe, this was some decongestion exercise carried out by the king in those cities.

Well, when the colonists arrived, they did not stay for long before they started having problems. God sent lions from out of the bushes to attack and kill them.

The colonists, maybe by intuition or by divination, got to know why this serious and deadly mishap. They knew it was because they did not serve the God of Israel, who is the God of the land that brought them these calamities and disasters, by the invasions of lions into the land.

They therefore sent a request home to their king to send back to them, one of the young priests of Israel carried into the captivity, who would teach them how to serve and worship the God of the land of Israel. They were blessed by their king, who granted their request.

Not long after the request of the colonists, a young priest arrived back in Samaria to teach them the way to worship the God of the land of Israel. He taught them the true worship of YAHWEH, the God of the land they were occupying. They heeded the instructions of the young priest and started to worship the God of Israel.

This brought to the colonists a great relief, as the invasions into the land and killings by lions stopped abruptly. We can learn much about the foregoing, by reading from the book of Second Kings 17: 24-41, KJV.

Now, as is always the case with mankind, religious faiths, beliefs and practices do not easily die off; even when they are wrong and unbeneficial. The colonists had come into the Kingdom of Israel with a horde of idols, which were as diverse in shapes, scary awesomeness, and prescribed manner of worship, as were the variety of towns and cities in Assyria from which they had came.

So, while they obeyed the Israeli priest and worshipped the God of the land under his instructions and leadership, they also worshipped their idols which they had brought with them. Well, somehow, they got to enjoy peace on the land.

This idolatry-tainted Judaism however became the manner of worship and religion of these colonists. For the many centuries they stayed in the land, this pseudo-Judaism became institutionalised as their religion; one which was in effect, an unholy fusion of Judaism and idol worship and practiced by a people who were essentially a hybrid of Jews and Assyrians. This was what prevailed in the nation of Israel for centuries, running into the days of Jesus Christ.

Let me say that it was when the Assyrian colonists came to occupy the lands of the Northern Kingdom that the term ‘Samaritan’ evolved to derogatorily describe these colonists. Hitherto, the term Samaritan did not exist. It was also during their occupation that all the lands of the Northern Kingdom were collectively called Samaria.

Though the name Samaria existed during the pre-captivity regimes of the nation of Israel, it was only used in reference to the capital of the Northern Kingdom, in its being called–the City of Samaria. During the pre-captivity days, all the people (only Jews), who resided in the City of Samaria, and in other cities of the Kingdom were never called Samaritans, but simply, the people of Samaria. [—this article is continued in Part Three: soon to be published].

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Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected]

Every serious-minded, loyal and dedicated disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is thrilled when he is able to imitate with success, the ways of the Master. Nothing gives so much joy to any dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ, than being able to gain the same results by doing things in the same way the Master would, if he were still physically present with us on earth.

That is what true discipleship is all about; and indeed, this is what the genuine Christian Faith is all about. The true Christian Faith and lifestyle, is a call by God to humans to live like Him, imitating Him and His Christ in every way. This call to imitate Christ is one of the reasons why I write this article.

In my daily studies of the life and works of the Master, one of the most captivating things I find about him is the way he uses parables to uncover and teach spiritual truths to his audience. Throughout the four years Jesus Christ taught the world, when he was physically present on earth to do so, he did so in many instances using parables. Two particular parables of the Master I indeed find captivating are: The Parable of the Good Samaritan, and The Parable of Wheat and Tares.

My dear reader, if you are not familiar with these two parables of Jesus Christ, it might do you some good, to read them from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, before continuing with your reading of this article. Read from Luke 10: 25-37 about the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43 about that on the Wheat and Tares.

The substance of my ensuing treatise–The Parable of the Samaritan Tares–is yet another imitation of the ways of Jesus Christ, by one of his loyal and dedicated disciples (a copy-cat one, if you will), to lay bare spiritual truths, using a parable to do so.

Also, since the Master himself has said of his loyal and dedicated disciples as being able to do greater works than he did, because he would be backing them from his position beside the Throne of the Father, I am led to marry two of his popular parables into one, if by any means that would result in some kind of greater works being done.

My parable about Samaritan Tares seeks to have the effect of killing two Goliaths with one shot of a sling-stone. First, it seeks to reveal some hidden truths about who today’s Samaritans are, where they are found, and what they must do to be accepted into the true Christian Faith–the only true faith and lifestyle that must be accepted by all spiritual Israelites, the God-chosen children of Abraham.

Secondly, my parable of the Samaritan Tares seeks to reveal the true identities of tares (the look-alike of wheat), which we find everywhere in our world today.

Let us start our search for and investigation of Samaritan Tares in the world today, by going backward into history, to the most glamorous time of Israel–the first two terms of The David Dynasty. The David Dynasty of Israel under David and Solomon brought peace, prosperity and unity to all Israelites, from the year 1055 BC when it was established under king David, till 975 BC, the date king Solomon passed away.

The Dynasty, after David and Solomon, however, continued to exist under many inglorious regimes, and a few blessed ones, till the year 587 BC, when its last king, Zedekiah, was taken into captivity by Babylon. Since then, and to date, there has not been any king in Israel.

The wailings and cries to God by ancient-day Israelites for a restoration of the Dynasty, and its glorious beginnings, led to the promises by God to Israel of a Messiah-king of the lineage of David.

It is sad that, since the year 4 BC to 30 AD, when the Messiah-king (Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory) was indeed born, and lived in Israel to establish his everlasting rule in the room of David, many Israelites have missed the great importance of that period, and still live in the expectation of a physical restoration of the David Dynasty, with all its glorious past.

The present state of Israel, in which his promised Messiah-King is still awaited, is a manifestation of the folly of man in living without understanding and trusting God’s Word, but leaning to his (man’s) own understandings.

While king David yet lived, because he was a man whose heart was after God, his kingdom was so blessed by God that all non-Israeli kings came to know about him and the power of his kingdom. He was very much revered by all his peers–friends and foes alike. His fame went so far as to reach the four corners of the world.

In fact, because of his commitment to obey and serve the God of his forefathers, king David was able to attract the blessings of God upon his nation, so much as to make all the people and kings of the world to be either proud or envious of Israel.

After his demise, his son Solomon continued, for a while, to lead Israel into glorious achievements. These achievements caused many kings and queens of the earth to desire his friendship; if in so doing, they might learn the secret behind his rare wisdom, great wealth, kingdom-wide peace, invincibility, and the general prosperity of all the people in his kingdom.

Sadly, in the later years of Solomon’s rule, he was misled into idol worship by many of his numerous heathen-wives. He in turn misled the whole nation of Israel into forsaking the God of their ancestors, into the worship of idols. This brought about a slump to the glory of his kingdom. This slump in glory continued to slide downward for many years, before king Solomon’s death in 975 BC, and even afterwards.

Because of Israel’s folly in forsaking the God of their ancestors, for the filthy idols of heathen-nations, he suffered an irreparable mishap–a breakup into two kingdoms–immediately after the death of king Solomon in 975 BC. After the demise of king Solomon, the nation of Israel split into the Northern Kingdom (also known as the Kingdom of Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (known as the Kingdom of Judah).

The first king of the Northern Kingdom was Jeroboam, the son of one Nebat, an Eprathite of Zereda who until his death was servant to Solomon. Jeroboam after the death of Nebat his father, also became servant to king Solomon, but later had to run away to Egypt for his life. As God would have it, he came out of Egypt to be the first king of the Northern Kingdom (cf. First Kings 11: 26-40). His kingdom was home to ten of the eleven non-priestly tribes of the nation of Israel. The City of Samaria was its capital.

On the other hand, the first king of the Southern Kingdom was Rehoboam, a son of king Solomon. His kingdom was home to only one tribe, Judah, of the eleven non-priestly tribes of Israel. The Southern Kingdom had as its capital, Jerusalem (or Jebus).

At times, the City of David (Bethlehem) also functioned as capital. It seemed Jerusalem was always the politico-spiritual capital, whilst Bethlehem at certain times served as the royal capital of the Kingdom of Judah. [—this article is continued in Part Two: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

God is always happy with any of His children who correct themselves when the reality of their errors hit them. Coming to mind readily are the incidents between Judah and Tarmar (Genesis 38: 1-30); David and Urriah’s wife (Second Kings 11: 2 – 12: 25); and Peter and his denial of his Master on the night of the Lord’s arrest (Luke 22: 54-62). The repentance of Judah, David and Peter from their errors in these incidents, are worthy of emulation.

Even before these great men of God could ever come to sin and repent of their short-comings, Abraham had long ago repented of his slip to obey his wife. When later-on after his slip he heard clearly, the voice of God to offer his son Isaac to Him, he did not confer with Sarah on the issue, for obvious reasons. He at the time had become wiser, having learnt his lesson well.

I am sure Sarah would have kicked against Abraham’s plan to obey God in the sacrificing of Isaac. Sarah would have prevailed upon Abraham to re-consider whether he truly and clearly heard God speak to him to sacrifice Isaac, their only son and one of promise.

Your guess of what commotion would have come to the home of Abraham is as good as mine, if he went conferring with his wife on the issue. Thank God the world was saved from another disaster, in men giving their leadership positions to their wives or women-folk in this instance.

My dear reader, I do sincerely hope you are one of many who know that Jesus Christ will soon re-visit our planet. Because the return of Jesus is imminent, many are running helter-skelter in search of a safe place to be. Of course, though many do not know it, the safest place to be is inside of Jesus’ own Body – the Church.

I am not talking about how to run into some masonry building of Victorian Age architecture, which many people take to be the Church. I am talking about how one is able to be part of Jesus’ Body: becoming bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh (Ephesians 5: 30, KJV); a branch in him, the True Vine (John 15: 5, KJV); and how to wear him like a cassock or space-suit (Galatians 3: 27, KJV). I am talking about how to enter into Jesus’ Body or get to be attached to him in the manner of John 3: 3-5, Acts 2: 38-39, Romans 6: 3-6, First Peter 3: 20-21, First John 5: 11-13, etc.

Sadly, many people do not know how to gain this great blessing of being attached to or gaining entry into the body, soul, and spirit of Jesus Christ. I like to advice you how you could gain this unique blessing.

Look for any grouping of people which calls itself – Church: which do not have women in leadership positions. The genuine Body of Christ, which is the Church, does not have any women-leaders.

If you get to know of any group of believers, who do not have women as its leaders, next check on its doctrine, for the Born Again experience. The genuine members which constitute the Lord’s Church are those who express faith in Matthew 28: 18-20; Mark 16: 15-16; Luke 24: 46-48; John 3: 3, 5; Acts 2: 38-39; Romans 6: 3-6; Galatians 3: 27; First Peter 3: 20-21; etc. for their entry into God’s salvation. Get united to that body and you will be safe in Christ.

Do not join any group that believes in the praying of a so-called “Sinners’ Prayer” or “Prayer for Salvation” as their way to enter Christ’s Body. No prayer can ever make anybody become Born Again.

Never join yourself to any grouping of people calling itself church, where there is a woman as pastor; a so-called deaconess; a prophetess in today’s context of being a revealer of secrets; a female language translator to a man-preacher; etc. That grouping is not the Church or Body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

No matter how solid or rocky a woman leader of such a group might look, her congregation is not a part of the Body of Christ. Come out of it and move-on in your search for the safe ground which is in Christ only. And do please be very serious in this.

I like to conclude this article by leading readers to three verses of scripture: one in the Book of Jeremiah, and the others in the Book of Isaiah. All these scriptures are clear in meaning as they stand and will by all means support the main thrust of my article.

“I have not sent these prophets, yet they run; I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied”, says God the Almighty in Jeremiah 23: 21, KJV. Surely, women who persist in playing lead-roles in the Church of Jesus Christ are seen in this light by God, and it will not be long when all men begin to see such women in this same light.

“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”, says the Lord God Almighty in Isaiah 3: 12, KJV. I hope this verse is easily understood by all women who love to be given lead-roles in the Church of Jesus Christ. The obvious fact of this verse is that, when women lead in spiritual issues, people err and their clear paths become obliterated. Only God can help mankind in this.

Finally, in the Book of Isaiah, chapter four, verse one, this is what we read from the King James Version of the Bible. “And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we shall eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, take away our reproach”. (Isaiah 4: 1, KJV).

Well, I do not know whether this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled or it has come to pass. How I wish that it had already been fulfilled, to spare the women of my generation an impending calamity, confusion and shame. If this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled someday, then that day will be one in which all of women’s campaigns for man-woman equality, would seem foolish, under the microscope of the Almighty God – God who rules in the affairs of men.

Shalom.
Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His email address is: [email protected].

The Book of Titus, chapter one, verse five to nine, also reveals the qualities of an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ. Here too, the elder is a man, who must be the husband of one wife, among other credentials. So whenever we met any bishop, deacon or elder in the Christianity of the First Century, he was always a man married to one woman.

During the days when the disciples of Jesus Christ – who talked, walked and ate with him – were in-charge of running the Church, all his bishops, deacons and elders, were men married to one wife, who had children begotten out of their loins, and who lived in homes where the presence and influence of God permeated all their endeavours.

Who or what has taken the Church of Jesus Christ from his First Century character and principles, with regards his leadership purity, can only be told by the pagan Roman-Christianity of the Second Century. Today’s ubiquitous celibate-bishop is the creation of pagan Rome’s brand of Christianity.

For a long time, many people have been deceived to accept her brand of celibate-leadership, as being better than the God-ordained one, in which married men, who were able to manage their families and homes well, were sought after and ordained to manage the House of God. Today, it is impossible for a married man, with children, and a home of his own, to be considered eligible to be a bishop, in many so-called churches, which in fact are the dying relics of pagan Roman-Christianity of the Second Century.

We shall soon go back to our studies of Genesis, but let us go a little further in our study of the New Testament position on the leadership status of man over woman. We go to First Corinthians ELEVEN VERSE THREE, SEVEN TO NINE, which I quote here to make reference to these verses easy.

“But I would have you know that, the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man [ FIRST COR, ELEVEN THREE, SEVEN TO NINE.].

From these verses, we see a God-ordained ladder of leadership to be accepted by all. This hierarchy has God at the top; then Christ; then man; and finally, woman. Who can arrange this hierarchy in some wiser order?

And who can doubt the fact that woman was created by God for the man; or who can ever change or re-do what God has established? May, mankind accept forever that, man is forever the spiritual leader of the woman.

My final quotation from the New Testament in this article is from Ephesians 5: 23-24. Let us capture it here: “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything” (Ephesians 5: 23-24, KJV).

Again, these verses are so clear in the manner they stand that they do not need any explanation. These verses uphold the leadership status of the man, over the woman forever, in much the same way that Christ is the head over the Church. And this is God’s eternal plan for man to accept and live by.

It is now time for us to go back to the Book of Genesis, as earlier-on promised, to look at some events that occurred there, the effects of which, are still taking a punitive toll on mankind today. It is important we know of these occurrences in Genesis, avoidable errors as they were, which men committed as a result of their women misleading [leading?] them. It is important we know of these events, if by any way they are able to aid us, to re-focus our lives on the God-ordained role of man over the woman, in spiritual matters.

The first of these is that of Adam being led (or misled) by Eve into eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, after the serpent had succeeded in beguiling her to eat it. The consequence of this weakness of Adam, in being led by Eve, is the cause of all the woes of mankind which have plagued him since The Fall in the Garden.

Sin and its horrible and deadly consequences would never have come into man’s life, if Adam had not slipped from his position as leader of the woman to become her servant. Many millennia after this slip of Adam from headship to servitude, mankind is plagued by disease, misery, poverty and suffering, as a result.

Even after the intervention of God, in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, aimed at dealing with the sin problem and the suffering it brought to mankind, many people who are ignorant of the blessings of being in Christ, are still plagued with the consequences of that error by Adam, in exchanging his leadership role for the woman’s God-ordained submission to him.

Did you know that the perennial turmoil between Arabs and Israelis in the Middle East has its roots in Genesis? This unending conflict between Israel and Palestinian-Arabs is due to the error of Abraham, in taking instructions from his wife, Sarah.

You see, while Abraham awaited the fulfillment of the promise of God to have a male-child, Sarah, in impatience, was scheming something else. When she could no longer wait, she led Abraham to sleep with her maid, Hagar the Egyptian. Hagar got pregnant by Abraham, because he, like Adam, yielded to obey the wife.

The anger, jealousy, bitterness and hatred, between Sarah and her maid Hagar, even before the latter brought forth Ishmael, led God to pronounce judgment in the matter. God declared that Ishmael was going to be a great and populous nation of wealthy people. But that same wealthy nation would live in hostility with all his brothers (Genesis 16: 10-12, KJV).

Do you see the wealth of the Arab world? And do you see the hostility of two sons of one man (Abraham), Ishmael and Isaac, living in conflict with one another for centuries? And all this, has come about because one man chose to obey his woman, instead of leading her to obey him. [—the concluding part of this article is in Part Nine: soon to be published.

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and is the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His e-mail address is: [email protected].

We are now living in the era of Grace. So let us look at the New Testament to find out what the Word of God teaches, concerning the leadership roles of men in the Church. The New Testament is very clear concerning the God-ordained role of men over women in the running of the Church. And so, all professing Christians must subscribe to this fact; of a men-only leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ.

First, let us look at First Corinthians, chapter fourteen, verse thirty-four to thirty-eight. These verses are very clear in what they mean. They are also so strong that nobody can bend them. They clearly establish the leadership role of man over the woman in the running of the Church. For easy reference, let us quote these verses right here:

“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 the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? came the word of God from you? or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant” (First Corinthians 14: 34-38, KJV, emphasis mine).

I do not know what Paul would do to the many men of our day, who willfully disobey this instruction of the Lord, if he were here present on earth with us. So-called men of God find nothing wrong with electing, schooling, ordaining, and anointing women, in their own ways and manner, claiming to have made them suitable and empowered for leadership roles in the Church.

Many of such so-called men of God, have the audacity to anoint their own wives, sisters, daughters, nieces and female friends, claiming to have thus made them become eligible to lead in the affairs of the church. These men claim God called them, but cannot wait for the same God to call these female relations of theirs – if He ever will. Because they suffer from impatience and possibly arrogance, they claim to have been authorized by God, whose so-called authorization makes them worthy to call females of their choice into His service.

I wonder of what spiritual use, groupings (churches?) with such leaders who claim to have the mandate of God to call women into leadership roles, are to the Kingdom of God. Such groupings are not part of the Body of Christ – the Church. These are man-made businesses, established as dynasties, whose sole intent is to make money out of their ignorant followers.

My prayer to God for you, my dear reader, is that you will begin to see so-called men of God, who clad themselves with powers they claim to have been given by God to elect, train and ordain their wives as leaders of their churches they founded, as not true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let us also look at the substance of First Timothy chapter two, verse eleven to fourteen. These verses stand out so clear in meaning that, they hardly need any exposition. Again, let us quote them here for ease of reference:

“Let the women 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” (First Timothy 2: 11-14, KJV).

From these verses, we have the reason from God’s own mouth, why He does not choose women for His work. One reason is as stated earlier-on in this article: Adam begat Eve out of his bones and flesh, and therefore she must be subject to him forever.

The second reason is traced back to the events that led to the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. Because of the role the woman (Eve) played in the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, God does not permit her to play any leadership roles in His business.

God has given His reasons why woman cannot be entrusted with any leadership roles in His business. I wonder which mortal beings can have the courage and audacity to think otherwise. For God, the issue of woman’s ineligibility to play any leadership roles in His business is forever settled. No person can fight God over this, or be able to reverse His rule.

In First Timothy 3: 2, 12 and Titus 1: 6, the Word of God further establishes His choice of man over woman, in leading His business. Again it will be easy to follow the discourse, if we quote these verses here.

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well” (cf. First Timothy 3: 2, 12, KJV).

These verses are clear in what they mean. It is only men with single wives, children and homes, who qualify to be bishops and deacons. No law exists, that states that, women who have single husbands, children and their own houses, can be eligible for the functions of a bishop or deacon.

That would be a ridiculous law. But many so-called men of God have managed to select, teach and ordain women for the functions of bishops and deacons. In their confusion, they call such women, deaconesses – a man-made word (alien to the entire bible-revelation), which is coined to try to fit it into their skewed understanding of the Word of God. How sad that men could behave in such foolhardiness and ignorance.

Let me say that, any person, casually familiar with the prose or the letter of the Holy Bible, will realize in it, the use of certain words in the masculine gender sense only. They are never used in any way close to the feminine gender sense. In fact, they defy any feminine gender connotations. These words are: apostle, bishop, elder, evangelist, deacon, pastor, priest and teacher.

Of course, the masculine-gendered word ‘priest’ might seem to have a feminine counterpart: ‘priestess’. But that is only so outside the context of both the Old and New Testaments and of Israel, (the true jurisdiction of these testaments). That is why this word ‘priestess’ is never used in description of any woman in Judaism and of Israel.

Another male-gendered word, ‘deacon’, rooted in the Bible, has also been wrongly given a feminine gender counterpart in the word ‘deaconess’. Even though the word ‘deaconess’ has never been used by God and the holy men He inspired to write the Bible, it has been forced into Bible interpretation, in reference to today’s women-leaders in church settings, as being counterparts to deacons.

Whoever courageously came up with the word ‘deaconess’, to fit into his views in Bible-interpretation, should have in the same vain, done more work in giving mankind, feminine forms to such typically masculine-gendered words as: apostle, bishop, elder, pastor, and teacher. Maybe, he should have taught us that, ‘apostleess’, “bishopess”, “elderess”, “evangelistess”, “pastoress” and “teacheress”, are the respective feminine-gendered forms of these words. And I wonder how many people would have been thrilled and appreciative of his ingenuity in such a feat. [—this article is continued in Part Eight: soon to be published].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His email address is: [email protected].

The Master took to himself, only men to be trained for the work of evangelizing the world. These were to work in his stead after his ascension to heaven. During the time the Master was training these men for their role in taking the salvation-message to the world, he sent them out on two occasions as part of their training programme.

On both occasions, he sent out only these chosen men in pairs but never blended them with any women. Bible scholars have come to refer to these errands as the Mission of the Twelve (cf. Matthew 10: 1-42, Mark 6: 7-13, Luke 9: 1-6) and the Mission of the Seventy (cf. Luke 10: 1-24).

The fact that the Master chose only men to be his twelve apostles (one man representing each of the twelve tribes of Israel?), and these men-only missions of the Twelve and of the Seventy, must be the starting point where every true disciple of the Master must begin to understand and appreciate the God-ordained leadership role of men, in the business of the Kingdom of God.

But alas, many of today’s so-called disciples of Jesus Christ are hardly impressed by the manner of the Master, and the spiritual significance of choosing only men for his assignments.

Apostle Peter is my most-admired disciple of Jesus Christ. I see him throughout his apostolic work, act as a copy-cat disciple of Jesus Christ, the Master. Just watch him lead the search for a replacement for Judas Iscariot, when the latter’s bishoprick became due for grabs, after his horrible demise.

Apostle Peter in Acts 1: 15-22, spelt out the required credentials of the person who was qualified to take-up the bishoprick of Judas Iscariot. Looking critically at his requirements in verses twenty-one and twenty-two, Mary Magdalene, Joana the wife of Chuza (Herod’s steward), Susanna, Mary the mother of James, and many other women (Luke 8: 2-3 and 24: 10), did not qualify simply because they were women.

These women were ever present in all the travels of the Master, to minister to his needs out of their substance. The Master knew of their presence in the crowds that followed him in all his travels because they were always present to supply his needs. And yet the Master never gave these loyal women to his cause, any roles or assignments in his ministry.

So, who was Peter, an ordinary disciple of the Master to do otherwise? Apostle Peter could therefore never elect and anoint a woman to replace Judas Iscariot; no matter how much qualified she might seem in all other areas, aside from not being a man.

Not long after Peter led the Church in getting a replacement for Judas Iscariot, the Church again had need to look for leaders for a particular assignment. We can read of this assignment and the election of the men for its execution, in Acts 6: 1-7.

From my understanding of many accounts about the apostolic Church, this account in Acts 6: 1-7 is the best situation, that could ever have led to the establishment of a so-called Women’s Ministry and the election of women (as deaconesses?) to prosecute the objectives of that ministry. And yet the wisdom of the apostles of Jesus Christ did not permit the election of women for the assignment.

The apostles had on hand, a problem of dealing with a women’s issue. It concerned the provision of food by the Church to widows. The distribution of food to Grecian widows did not seem fair as Jewish widows in the Church seemed better-favoured over the Grecian ones.

This led to murmurings in the Church. Of course, these murmurings had the potential to kill the love and fellowship of the congregation. The apostles had to deal with this canker which in Israel’s history had always led to the judgments of God upon the people.

One would have thought that since the issues in contention were about the cooking of food in the kitchen and the serving of it at tables to vulnerable women, women-folk, should have been at the forefront to deal with them. After all, these issues obviously were in an area where women’s God-given talents and natural gifts, could deal with them adequately, possibly without any Holy Spirit endowment.

And yet the apostles did not find it prudent to elect, ordain and anoint women for the task. They had to look for as many as seven men for the solution of the problem. These were no ordinary men. For this service to the Body of Christ, these men were to be of good report, full of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, and faith.

At the end of the election and ordination of these seven men, there was peace, love flourished, and the work of God prospered. Jesus Christ and God the Father in Heaven were satisfied with their servants on earth for their actions and gave them their backing and blessing.

You see, the apostles worked with the mind and wisdom of the Master. Also, the Master worked with them in all their endeavours (Mark 16: 20). Working in and through his disciples, the Master would never elect and ordain women for any assignments in his Church. These truths the apostles knew very well from two sources.

The first source was the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in them. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in them constantly taught them the deep things of God and of His Wisdom. They could never do what was not in the mind of God or what He would not approve of.

Secondly, they learnt of the Master in four years of serious discipleship training, whatever they could do or never be allowed to do. And this training gave them the wisdom of being copy-cat imitators of all the ways of the Master.

When these men were with the Master, while he was on earth with them, did he not set the example for them, that, the greatest in his work must be the one who serves? And so these disciples learnt to serve thousands of men, women, and children, without being assisted in their tasks by women and or children (cf. Matthew 14: 15-21, Matthew 15: 32-38, Mark 6: 35-44, Mark 8: 1-9, Luke 9: 12-17, John 6: 5-13).

Whenever the disciples of Jesus Christ executed their God-ordained work of serving in the Kingdom, they received no assistance from women. Whether the task was to serve five or seven thousand men, in addition to the large numbers of women and children who were ever present, they received no assistance from any women in this service.

And whether the task was the collection of left-over food, to fill seven or twelve baskets, the disciples of Jesus Christ did not get assistance from their women-folk present.

The Master did not endorse women participation in the ministry he established for his genuine and loyal disciples. And therefore, he, never superintended over any assignments of his followers, which had women play roles (no matter how menial) in the ministry he ordained for them (his followers).

My dear Man of God, who are you then, to bring women into the Church of Jesus Christ, as leaders in place of and on behalf of men? Do you have the mandate of God to do so? No you do not. May God, be merciful to us in this error. [—this article is continued in Part Seven].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and the author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His email address is: [email protected].

Prophetess Deborah came onto the political scene of Israel unannounced. Unlike her predecessors, Othniel and Ehud, God did not introduce her. Immediately after her, came another deliverer raised by God to deliver His people. He was called Gideon. Gideon was elaborately introduced by God as His messenger (cf. Judges 6: 12 – 8: 32).

Odd enough, Deborah did not enjoy the testimony of God that He raised her as a deliverer to His people. There is no statement in the Bible that clearly reveals Deborah was raised-up and sent by God in the same way that Othniel, Ehud and Gideon were given glorious testimonies about their God-ordained assignments.

Maybe, she just filled a void at her own will: she called herself into action. It is most likely that, this was what she did. Just like Miriam the prophetess, the joy of having the power of the Holy Spirit upon her for singing might have led her to make bold and courageous acts like leading men to war, at a time when men were afraid to. But even then, do we not see how dependant she was on Barak, a man of valour, for her military campaigns? (cf. Judges 4: 6).

Nothing that I know about prophetess Deborah leads me to the conclusion that she was a messenger sent from God to lead His people. Her success in the war-campaigns against Gentile-king Jabin, and his captain Sisera, not withstanding, there is no reference in the Bible that God sent her.

That is not say God was not with her: since the Holy Spirit was with her and inspired her to sing, albeit of herself, and friends. Deborah too, like Miriam could not be a messenger sent by God to lead men.

We could go on to examine Huldah the wife of a man called Shallum (Second Kings 22: 14-20 & Second Chronicles 34: 20-28) and the un-named wife of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 8: 3), who were both mentioned in the Old Testament as being prophetesses. Clearly, none of them was sent by God to deliver His Word to any people. Huldah was neither under the command of God to send a message to king Josiah of Judah, nor was Josiah told by God to send the high priest Hilkiah and scribe Shaphan to her for one.

King Josiah of his own volition sent his messengers to confer with her. Prophetess Huldah therefore, also stands as one of the prophetesses who were never sent by God with His Word to men. As for Isaiah’s wife we do not know for what reason she was mentioned as a prophetess: or was it in relation to her pregnancy, the only issue related to the mention of her name?

From all the foregoing, we can safely say that a prophetess is one who sings under the unction of the Holy Spirit. This understanding of the function of the prophetess should deliver many people from holding the wrong view that, a prophetess is the female counterpart to the male-prophet, and is also inspired like the male-prophet to carry God’s Word to people.

This wrong but popular stance held by many that a prophetess is a God-chosen woman to be His messenger-spokesperson, conveying His instructions in place or alongside of God-ordained men-prophets must, today, be disabused from the minds of Bible-believers.

With the issue of who is a prophetess now settled, let us look at some practices of Judaism to further establish the fact that God purposefully set-up the leadership role of man over the woman. It is common knowledge to Bible students that, Judaism, as set-up and defined by the Law of Moses, showed a men-only leadership.

Many times we read in the Old Testament that Israel appeared before God in fulfillment of the Law. For many, their understanding of these verses of the Bible is that, the entire population of men, women and children appeared in the presence of the Lord. But it is wrong to suppose so, since the whole population of Israel could never assemble in one place. It was simply not possible for such a gathering to be made.

These were men-only congregations and or convocations, which the Law of Moses commanded for the observance by the males of Israel. It was compulsory for all men to stand before God in a holy convocation three times every year. This was a commandment given for the compliance of only men. We find this in Exodus 23: 17, Deuteronomy 16: 16-17, 23: 1-2, Leviticus 4: 13-15, and 23: 2.

The ages of males qualified to stand before God in these gatherings were twenty and above. These males comprised those of the eligible military- and nuptial-age of twenty (Numbers 1: 2-3, 26: 2, 32: 11 and Joshua 5: 4-7), and those who were family-heads, military leaders, spiritual leaders, and royal heads. Just look at the composition in the select group of men who appeared before Joshua and God, before his demise, which we find in Joshua 23: 2 and 24: 1.

Every serious-minded student of the Bible knows of the obvious disposition of the Law toward males, over their females. Even the post-natal purification rites for a woman, under the Law, were different when she brought forth a male-child from when the child was a female.

When a woman brought forth a male-child, she was unclean for only seven days. She could therefore come out to be present at the circumcision, naming and presentation to God rites for her son, which were by the Law to be performed on the eighth day after the birth of every male-child. Thereafter, her purification process lasted for thirty-three days.

On the other hand, a woman who delivered a female-child was by Law considered unclean, for as many as fourteen days. Thereafter, she continued while in seclusion, the process of her purification for a further sixty-six days. In Leviticus 12: 1-6, we find God’s instructions devoted to these issues, for the strict compliance of the children of Israel. Please, read these verses for your edification.

We must keep in remembrance that the Law of Moses continued to be legal tender for the transaction of any business between man and God, onto the advent of the Messiah. In the days of the Law of Moses, God dealt with mankind on the basis of man’s submission and obedience to it. And it was only Israel who was privileged to have the Law. His right-standing before God depended on his obedience to this Law.

This explains the misery of being alienated from God, which Gentiles suffered before being reconciled unto Him by the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before that reconciliation of the Gentile-world to God, the Messiah of God said that, not one jot or tittle of the Law of Moses would ever pass away or fail; not until heaven and earth have passed away (cf. Matthew 5:17-18 and Luke 16:17).

Well, heaven and earth have not passed away yet and so the leadership status of the man established by God the Almighty in the Law of Moses, still stands today under the Grace Dispensation of God. We cannot doubt this if we truly are the loyal disciples of Jesus Christ.

But do we see this law of God, in which He established man as the perpetual leader of the woman, being adhered to today? Even among people who claim to be the followers of the Master, Jesus Christ, do they obey the Will of God in this? Personally, I do not see obedience to this Law. And why is this so, one may ask?

The reason is simple – many people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, are indeed not his disciples. True disciples of Jesus Christ are hard to come by in our world today. This is because a true disciple is one who imitates every way of his Master. And no imitator of Jesus Christ will permit or accept women leaders in the Church. [—this article is continued in Part Six].

Chris Bapuohyele is an evangelist to the Body of Christ, and author of the book entitled: BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation. His email address is: [email protected].