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. 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 gatherings 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 of the select group of men who appeared before God and Joshua, 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 her confinement 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 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. 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 program. 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 during the post-Ascension era. 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. Peter the apostle, 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. 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? 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 and the leading of the Holy Spirit 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 of murmuring, 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 endeavors (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). (---the continuing part to this article is in Part Five). The writer is a Bible-expositor and author of the book: “BEWARE OF THIS FALSE DOCTRINE of reciting the Sinners’ Prayer for salvation”. His email address is: chrisbapuohyele@yahoo.com.