THE PULPIT (2014)

I wish I had Bible for this…..but I don’t , so it comes down as a leader in the Body of Christ, what I feel is best in governing  the structure of the church.  Hopefully, it does have some biblical foundation, and most of all, led by the Holy Ghost to teach what I feel is closer to Bible and not church doctrine. So with all that being said, one of the biggest disagreement in the modern church is the teaching of the pulpit, and who can sit and deliver the Word of God. Let me say that first and foremost I don’t believe in women bishops, pastors, and ordained leaders in the church, and for that I have Bible. BUT I do believe a woman can deliver a word from the Lord.  Yet when it comes to pulpits, something that Jesus himself never taught from.   But pulpit is more or less is a combination of furniture on an elevated stage that has become tradition over the years.  But this area has divided churches and denominations down through the years.    

One of the greatest splits in the Apostolic Pentecostal tradition came when the late Bishop R.C Lawson left the Pentecostals Assemblies of the World in 1919 over woman preachers, and thus he started the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith.  And to this day, women are not allowed in the pulpit in COOLJC.    Even in the organization where I am a part of, The Way of the Cross Church of Christ International, which came out of Bishop Lawson, does not ordained women, but some churches do allow women to speak from the pulpit, while other pastors do not.  So you have to keep a record which one does not, and which one does so not to offend the angel of that church.  And in the national meetings, a woman better not look at the pulpit. So let me give my opinion before I get into the final point of this blog.

I, Elder T. Byron Williams do prefer that woman do not speak from the pulpit.  Right or wrong, over the years, right or wrong, it has been looked as a place of leadership.   And since I do not believe that God has never made women to be leaders over men, in or out the church, to put a woman in the pulpit would give woman a fake sense of leadership which God never ordained them to have.  I have seen it too many times   But again, I don’t have Bible for this, so like church and pastors anniversaries,  women’s day, men’s day,   and on and on,  it’s a tradition, I feel it’s best for keeping order in the church.  But I do have one issue even with those who don’t allow woman in the pulpit, because many will keep a woman out, and yet allowed a switching, earring choir director up there.  (OOPS)  

In closing, many good friends and women are of mines are pastors and I refused to let this belief bring division among us.  Because no matter who is in the pulpit, who is the behind the lectern, the only thing that we the Church should be concern is saving of souls, finding out if one has the Holy Ghost since they believed.   As for me, I can preach from a lectern, or on the floor, in a storefront, or in a big cathedral, it’s not about where I speak, but the Word that I am speaking.  But church order was never design to divide us, and make something a sin, that Bible never said that it was, and when one takes the point that a woman in the pulpit is of the devil, then Church order has gone far out of order.