The leaven of churchianity gets to most Christians in one way or another.  I'm still learning more and more from the Bible, on what's actually God's will, versus the will of churchianity.  I see more and more clearly why Paul emphatically and repeatedly spoke against denominations, and how Christians are supposed to be of one mind.  Churchianity divides Christians! It waters down many important Scriptural doctrines, ignores others, and adds doctrines that aren't in the Word.

One such example is women preachers. I've been called to preach since I got saved in 1995, and later again, when the pastor who baptized me, stopped right before the baptism, and proclaimed a prophecy over me that he got at that very moment.  God had and has a work for me.  I'm not special.  Christian, He has a work for you, too.

I lost most of my friends after I got saved, because I excitedly told them the Gospel, and my testimony.  I got labeled as naive and in a cult, and they all backed away, waiting for this "phase" to end.  

I was called to preach His Word, but first I had to learn His Word.  I listened intently in church, read MANY books about the Bible, and read the Bible itself over and over again, and I still read it over and over again now.

As I grew in His Word, I was feeling the push to preach coming on harder.  I didn't know what to do with it, so I started a blog, back when my youngest was a baby.  Years later, I started a YouTube channel.  The churches I attended, some of denominations, and some claiming no denomination, mostly taught that I, being a woman, wasn't allowed to preach, except just to women and children.

Here's the problem with that:  I'm an INTJ personality type.  Most women are F's (feelers), and I'm a T (thinker).  This means I'm very logical, and not very emotional at all.  This is my natural state.  While most Christian women are called to hospitality, encouragement, comfort, and lifting one another up, none of those things are me.  My personality is considered a "masculine" personality, as I deal in logic, facts, and what if's.  I forget emotions exist, and most of the time I have no "mood," I'm just thinking, and just am.

Churches, and people online were telling me that women are not allowed to preach or teach the Word of God to men, but I had the STRONG push to teach the Word to anyone and everyone who wanted to hear.  When I talk with people, I honestly don't see "race" or gender. I just see another human being.  It took me years to learn that that's not how all people operate. I still don't get it, but I know that's how many people just are.

It took me 25 years to finally be more comfortable studying the Bible in Hebrew and Greek, and to discover the amazing accuracy in the Young's Literal Translation of the Bible.  Before then, I usually just stuck with the King James Bible, as I saw that many other translations had doctrinal bias in their translations, and I wanted the pure word of God, not polluted via what man thinks it says, or is "supposed" to say.

I was SHOCKED when I looked at Romans chapter 16 in the Greek.  The King James Version says of the first two verses:

"I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea^: That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also."  -Romans 16:1-2 KJV

Then in the Greek, I saw that where the above says "servant," the Greek word is diakonos, which literally means deacon, or minister.  And then I saw the context - "of the CHURCH which is in Cenchrea."  Phebe wasn't a servant; she was the minister of the church in Cenchrea!

The King James Translators knew diakonos means deacon, or minister, as we see in the following from the King James Bible:

"Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons"  -Philippians 1:1 KJV

The Greek word behind "servants" above is not diakonos! It's doulos, which literally means "servant."  Phebe in Romans 16:1 was not a doulos, she was a diakonos.  Next we see the Greek behind the above "bishops."  It is episkopos, which literally means overseer, or bishop.  Thirdly, we look at the Greek behind the above word "deacons.”  It is diakonos -  which is minister or deacon!

In today's speak, it can be confusing as to what a bishop/overseer/elder is and what an deacon/minister is.  A bishop/overseer/elder is generally a pastor, who leads a physical church.  He or she may visit other churches, but they have a main church building that they are the head pastor of.

A deacon/minister is one who is a preacher.  A preacher can be a preacher of one church, travel and preach at many churches, or preach via other venues, such as open air preaching, door knocking, Youtube, etc. - any venue that reaches people.

Phebe was a preacher of a church in the city of Cenchrea, not a servant, as we established from the Greek above.

I thought to myself - could it be possible that the King James Bible has doctrinal bias?  Yes, we see from the above it is there.  I'm not saying it was done purposely; I don't mean to put motive or intentions on anyone.  It could have been done unconsciously.  

Another place that shocked me in the Greek was in 1 Timothy 3, where it gives instructions/qualifications to the overseer/elder/bishop/pastor, and instructions/qualifications to the minister/deacon/preacher.

In verse 11, it looks like it's giving instructions to the wives of the ministers, even though there are NO instructions given to the wives of the overseers.  Take a look:

"Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things."  -1 Timothy 3:11 KJV

 Looking at the above verse in the Greek, we first see that "must their" is NOT there.  That's why those two words are italicized in physical book copies of the KJV in this verse.  Next, "wives" above in the Greek is gynē, which just means "woman/women."  When read in the Greek, we see that 1 Timothy 3:11 isn't instructions to the wives of ministers, it's a quick, special mention to the female ministers!

Correcting the KJV, we see the below now to say:

"Even so women be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things."  -1 Timothy 3:11 KJV [corrected]

The Lord lead me to the Young's Literal Translation as an accurate translation, without doctrinal bias, and boy were my eyes opened.

- I learned that I don't have to be "dresses only."  Read about that here

- and that I CAN be a woman preacher of the Word of God, to both genders

Now if we return to the KJV Romans 16:1-2:

"I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea^: That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also."  -Romans 16:1-2 KJV

In the second verse above, I underlined succourer.  Succourer means helper.  This is NOT what the Greek word means!  The Greek word is prostatis.  Prostatis is the feminine noun of the verb proistēmi, which means to lead.  We see proistēmi properly translated in the KJV's Romans 12:8:

"Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness."  -Romans 12:8 KJV

Ruleth is from proistēmi - the verb - "to lead."  To lead is a verb, therefore the noun of it would be "leader."  Prostatis is the feminine noun of proistēmi.  Therefore, if a woman is referred to as a prostatis, that literally means she is a LEADER.  As you can see, succourer/helper is NOT what prostatis means!

Now let's take a look at the Young's Literal Translation of Romans 16:1-2:

"And I commend you to Phebe our sister -- being a ministrant of the assembly that [is] in Cenchrea --that ye may receive her in the Lord, as doth become saints, and may assist her in whatever matter she may have need of you -- for she also became a leader of many, and of myself." -Romans 16:1-2 YLT

Phebe was literally a minister (ministrant means the office of a minister) of the church (literally church means assembly) in the city of Cenchrea.  In addition, she was also a leader of many, and even of Paul the apostle himself - "a leader of many, and of myself."

Next, people will jump to 1 Timothy 2:11-12 to say that women aren't allowed to be preachers.  However, we are supposed to let scripture interpret scripture, and scripture does not contradict scripture, so clearly that's NOT what 1 Timothy 2:11-12 is teaching, since we just saw a female preacher of a specific church in Romans 16.  Further, in the very next chapter, in 1 Timothy 3:11, it gives specific instructions to women preachers, and whats more, in 1 Timothy 5:16-17, it talks about women elders who were well-leading/that rule well (proistēmi); and labored in word and teaching/doctrine.

Let's look at it all in a literal translation:

"Let a woman in quietness learn in all subjection^, and a woman I do not suffer to teach, nor to rule a husband, but to be in quietness"  -1 Timothy 2:11-12 YLT

This is referring to a woman's personal relationship with her husband, not her public relationship with the church.

See also in 1 Timothy:

"and let these also first be proved, then let them minister, being unblameable.Women -- in like manner grave, not false accusers, vigilant, faithful in all things."  -1 Timothy 3:10-11 YLT

"If any believing man or believing woman have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the assembly be burdened, that those really widows it may relieve. The well-leading elders of double honour let them be counted worthy, especially those labouring in word and teaching"  -1 Timothy 5:16-17 YLT

Therefore we logically conclude that 1 Timothy 2:11-12 cannot be saying that women aren't allowed to be preachers, because in the very same book of 1 Timothy, it gives specific instructions to women preachers/ministers, and instructs that widowed women elders/pastors/overseers be given double honor.

People will then jump to 1 Corinthians 14, in trying to state that women aren't allowed to be preachers, ignoring what I just showed in Romans 16 and 1 Timothy.  They'll quote 1 Corinthians 14:34-35:

"Your women in the assemblies let them be silent, for it hath not been permitted to them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith; and if they wish to learn anything, at home their own husbands let them question, for it is a shame to women to speak in an assembly."  -1 Corinthians 14:34-35 YLT

The above is talking about the very same thing our 1 Timothy 2:11-12 passage was.  It's about the personal relationship between the husband and the wife, not the public relationship between the wife and the church.  Both passages are basically saying that wives should not be talking to their husbands during the sermon ("learn").  She is not to be teaching the sermon to him, if he's not understanding, and not to be asking questions about the sermon if she doesn't understand.  These discussions are to be held until they get home, not to do during the sermon, which could be disruptive.  Both chapters are about keeping order during a public church service.

Like with 1 Timothy 2, we also have multiple passages in the book of 1 Corinthians that speak of women and their roles in the public assembly.  For starters, let's look at 1 Corinthians 11:5:

"and every woman praying or prophesying with the head uncovered, doth dishonour her own head, for it is one and the same thing with her being shaven"  -1 Corinthians 11:5 YLT

For a study on the Christian woman's headcovering, and the mystery of Christ and the church, click here.

In the above passage, we see that women prayed and prophesied in church, and there's no mention that all the men had to leave first, or that they were separated out away from the men in order to do so.  Therefore is it logical to assume that this was in normal church services with both men and women present.

And now to the next chapter:

"And to each hath been given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit"  -1 Corinthians 12:7 YLT

"For, even as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the one body, being many, are one body, so also [is] the Christ"  -1 Corinthians 12:12 YLT

This parallels with the following:

"there is not here Jew or Greek, there is not here servant nor freeman, there is not here male and female, for all ye are one in Christ Jesus"  -Galatians 3:28 YLT

 "and ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And some, indeed, did God set in the assembly, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, afterwards powers, afterwards gifts of healings, helpings, governings, divers kinds of tongues"  -1 Corinthians 12:27-28

As we see, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 cannot be saying that women aren't allowed to preach, etc.  We see in chapter 11 that women prayed and prophesied in the church gatherings, and we see in chapter 12 that both women and men were apostles, prophets, teachers, etc.

Further, the very chapter in question itself - chapter 14, contradicts the false doctrine that many try to twist from verses 34-35.  Take a look at verse 5:

"and I wish you all to speak with tongues, and more that ye may prophecy, for greater is he who is prophesying than he who is speaking with tongues, except one may interpret, that the assembly may receive edification."  -1 Corinthians 14:5 YLT

and verses 39-40:

"so that, brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and to speak with tongues do not forbid^; let all things be done decently and in order."  -1 Corinthians 14:39-40 YLT

Forbidding members of the body of Christ from fulfilling their calling from God is a form of quenching the Holy Spirit, which we are specifically told NOT to do:

"The Spirit quench not"  -1 Thessalonians 5:19

If you're a Christian woman reading this, and you are being led to preach or teach the Word of God, RISE UP!  The Body of Christ needs you.