Should Women be in Leadership?

It is July 3rd, 2024. Tomorrow is of course the 4th of July and I'm getting ready.

I got my meat all seasoned up. At least I'm in the process of that. Got some good rubs.

I got this weird rub that's cherry coke for pulled pork. It'll be cherry coke flavored pulled pork.

That'll be interesting. Got some ribs, got some brisket. My wife, of course this is the 4th of July with my daughter, and my wife got someone sent her this

American flag dress. And so I was a Boy Scout. I know flag etiquette. You're not supposed to be wearing the flag, but I found a workaround here.

I'm just going to have to salute my daughter every time I walk in the room and see her in that cute dress that she's going to be wearing.

That's the only thing I can think of. So anyway, I'm having a good time. It's a great weather.

I hope you are and hope you get to see some fireworks and maybe even read the Declaration of Independence. That's a great tradition if you have kids old enough to understand it, especially.

I want to talk today though about something completely different. Well, maybe not completely, but it's very different.

And that is women in leadership, women in leadership. And this has come up quite a bit lately. And so I just want to share my thoughts on it.

There's quite a bit of things to think through, quite a bit of situations that people have asked me about.

And I have some thoughts on it. So that's really the long and short of it. So before we get there, I just want to share a little bit with you about Equipping the

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Alright, like I said, we're going to talk a little bit about women in leadership, and I want to start with a story. During the height of the

COVID panic in 2020, I entered a barbecue restaurant, and this was in the South, I'm not going to say where, but I quickly realized that the owners had not taken any of the state -mandated precautions.

No masks, no social distancing, no warning signs, nothing. And I asked the older man who was cutting up some meat behind the counter if he had rules about social distancing, and he paused, his jaw firmed up, he looked at me, and he said,

I swear this country is run by queers and women. That's what he said. He said, this country is run by queers and women.

Now, he could have just said no. That would have done. But this man was angry, and he wanted me, someone he didn't know, a complete stranger,

I could have been a lefty for all he knew, he wanted me to know that the United States was in trouble, and the reason it was in trouble was because it lacked male leadership, and the

COVID crisis just exposed this weakness. And I'm holding myself back because I want to talk a lot more about the reasons we're in this predicament.

Managerial leadership, empty suits, also that managerial leadership manages, for lack of a better term,

I guess. But these empty suits that have personality but no substance, no backbone.

You see this in the church, you see this in all kinds of institutions. And it's all effeminate, to be honest with you.

I mean, it's like you're supposed to engage in all kinds of conflict resolution, and these positive motivational tricks to get people to perform and manipulate them to do what you want in the workforce.

And it's really all about benefiting your leadership class, though. The elites benefit themselves, and they have tools of the trade, mechanisms, technique they use to try to get the rest of us to operate, to be successful for them.

I mean, that's really how it feels. It's like the world's being run by HR departments, and they want smooth sailing as this process takes place.

And there isn't a lot of room for men to operate. In fact, I think men, real men, get disqualified at lower stages because real men take their responsibility seriously.

They don't have time for weakness. They want to serve the people in the institution that they're supposed to be serving, whether it's congregants or customers or citizens, and they don't have time for people who aren't interested in that.

And so they don't end up getting into positions of leadership as much because the people with that power want to give it to people who are going to benefit themselves, who are weak like them.

And they're intimidated by strong men, and they seek to cancel them, to control them, to make sure that they don't actually become a real threat because, let's face it, people are going to look up to people who are natural leaders.

So that's the situation we're in. That's the short of it, at least. I'm not going to share more than that.

I'm actually working on this for my next book, and I'll have more in there about how we got here. But one of the first assumptions in Scripture concerning leadership roles is that they generally belong to men.

And this is not because men are more valuable than women. Some people think that. That's what you're saying.

This isn't because God arbitrarily decided to grant men certain roles and women others.

This is because the way men and women are designed. The Apostle Paul prohibited women from exercising authority over men in church.

Women were also to be subject to their own husbands in the home. The patriarchs, the twelve apostles, the authors of Scripture, all male, all of them.

Jesus could have challenged this. And some people say, well, he did. Wasn't he really nice to women? Sure. Sure he was.

He didn't put them in positions of leadership, though. And he could have, and he didn't. It was also assumed throughout

Scripture that military and political leadership belonged to men, except in special cases associated with shame or God's judgment.

So in Isaiah, it's a sign of judgment when women are your leaders. In Judges, Deborah is going to go into battle with Barak, and she says to him, if I go, you won't get the glory.

And this was the negative example. This wasn't supposed to be naturally the way it should go. So these aren't examples of women should be in leadership.

These were actually examples of women should not be. But because circumstances called for it, they had to be. You also find that whenever God's law speaks about military leaders or just people who serve in the military or rulers, it's assumed it's men.

Kings aren't supposed to multiply wives, for example, in Deuteronomy. It doesn't talk about queens multiplying husbands.

Same thing about the military. People who go off to war, soldiers, they are granted leave if they're newlyweds, if they have a wife.

You don't find wives being granted leave because their husbands are at home, right? It's just assumed that men fulfill these roles.

Men are the ones who exercise force. Women serve in a subordinate role where they're a helpmate, essentially.

And if you don't like anything I just said, I'm the messenger. This is what just the Bible teaches. Paul grounded the reason for male headship in creation.

We find this in 1 Corinthians 11. He stated that man does not originate from woman, but woman from man.

And if you go back to the creation account, you find this. You find that men in Genesis 1 were given the task, this is before woman was created, of ruling.

And when woman is created, she is an easer, a helper. And that term easer, as Craig Blomberg says, that term points to a helper that comes to the aid of someone else who bears the primary responsibility for the activity in question.

So man is completing a mission and woman is there to help him. Man was already tasked with ruling creation.

And by the way, his naming the animals and then naming Eve signified this rule. And this is confirmed too, this difference in creation between men and women.

You have, if you go to Peter, I believe it's 1

Peter, Peter reinforces this. He says that the wife is someone weaker since she is a woman.

And you know, Jesus had, like I said before, every opportunity to overturn the social dynamic and place men in positions of, and not place men in positions of authority.

He put women there and he decided not to. And this is the general order of things that continued for centuries in Christendom.

In fact, if you want a good book, get Zack Garris' new book, Honor Thy Fathers, he talks about this. It continued for years until five minutes ago.

It wasn't until 19th century feminism when you all of a sudden have this change of pace. And women are now to be political rulers and rulers, you know, leaders in the home and leaders in all these other places.

And so this is a very new thing. I think we got to understand that. Now I need to say something. This does not mean that women cannot engage in business.

You see the Proverbs 31 woman doing that, or teach children as Lois and Eunice did, or influence the king like Esther did, or casually share

God's truth publicly as Anna did, or even go into battle when men refused to like Deborah did. But it does mean that God designed women primarily to nurture and not to dominate.

That's the purpose. That is why God made women originally.

So what does all this mean? How does this apply to our context today? Well, let me tell you how I come down on this.

And then you can put a comment if you don't agree with me and let me know. Maybe you've thought of something I haven't. But one of the situations that I've had a couple people bring up to me is, what about a woman journalist, a female journalist who's on X or Facebook, and they're investigating and bringing doctrinal clarity and really going after the bad guys, exposing corruption.

That's kind of a war zone. I mean, isn't that for men? And I know someone who's a prominent female leader in evangelicalism who actually says to me that she doesn't think women should even have a

Twitter or an X account because of that dynamic. And I think there's some wisdom to that. I don't want to be legalistic and say that that's not

God's rule, but there's some wisdom to that. It's very tempting to get involved in those things. And I think it's harder for women to bear that kind of stress.

They're just not made for it. And that's part of being the weaker vessel. And so here's where I've come down on that.

I do believe that it is better for men to be in those positions. I think men are suited for it. And I'm not talking about doing journalistic endeavors where you're writing about what the baseball team did.

I'm talking about actual controversy where you're getting called names. And I mean, that might happen anyway, just being a public figure.

But you're willfully entering the fray to expose and attack institutions that are compromising.

I think that as someone who's been involved in that for the last few years, there's been a problem in that many of the men, whether it was people like –

I'm thinking of like discernment, quote -unquote, blogs, like JD Hall's stuff or Jeff Maples or Alan Latchinson or myself or A .D.

Robles or any of these guys who have tried to be watchdogs and warned especially about the woke stuff.

One of the things that we've lacked is institutional credibility. I have two graduate degrees.

I think I would have some credibility, but I don't have an institution behind me. I don't have a journalist degree. I have a history degree on the grad level.

I have a seminary degree on the grad level. But as a man, that also doesn't get me quite as far, and that's just the paradigm we live in.

I have to live in reality. I don't like it. I think we should do everything we can to change the paradigm. But even conservative, quote -unquote, organizations are obsessed with platforming minorities and women because it gives them social credibility.

They think that it shows that they're not racist or sexist. So a woman can get away with saying things that I can't say, and I'm not going to complain about it.

I don't think it's right. I think we should move the Overton window and change that. But that's just the way it is. And given that,

I'm very appreciative of someone, and I'll just say a name. I don't know if she'll appreciate it or not, but someone like a

Megan Basham. I really appreciate Megan using her institutional credibility, working at World and then

The Daily Wire to expose some of this stuff that's going on. And I don't think it's a sin at all in and of itself for her, as long as she's under her husband's authority and her primary place is the home.

And like the Proverbs 31 woman, this is maybe pulling in some income to help with the home.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that as far as in a sinful sense. But I do think, and I basically told her this before, that I think it would be preferable if we were in a situation where men were actually doing this kind of thing, where we had men that people would, on an institutional level, listen to, who could expose these kinds of things.

And we should be striving for that because you know what? Megan, and I don't want to pick on her because there's others out there as well that are doing the same thing, but women who are in the talk show radio field or in journalism doing these kinds of things, they shouldn't have to bear the brunt of these kinds of things because there's feckless men who won't do it.

And that is the reality. I don't think we would know male leadership if we saw it half the time. This country is in bad straights.

And we have so many effeminate men at the top, it's like we've forgotten what a male leader even looks like. And so we need to get back to that.

I think there's some encouraging developments that might help get us back there, but it's going to be a lot of hardship before people really demand male leadership again.

And I think we're entering that to some extent. But that's my take on that. That's why I think, you know,

I look at stories like Debra, I look at even Esther, where she's helping craft policy. And it's for such a time as this.

And the Lord put her in that position, and I think it's for a unique situation. So I can look at principles and say, this is the way

God designed it. I can see this is the way it should be and then realize we live in a broken world. And it's not always going to be that way.

And it's perfectly fine for a woman who notices this job isn't being done and is in the position to do something about it to say something when she sees something.

So even in that vein, I wouldn't be – I'm not opposed. In principle,

I'm opposed to females in political office because I think a male should be in that spot.

It shouldn't – and really, just so people don't misunderstand, I think that it's degrading to a female to go into those places.

They're very influential. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Their place is more maternal, though.

I think they're just more well -suited for influencing in a different way. And so I think it's degrading for them to go into those situations.

It's degrading to go into the military. But guess what? If someone breaks in my house and I'm not home, I sure hope my wife fights and protects my little daughter.

You say, that's a man's job. Yeah, but if I'm not around – and it's the same in politics. If men aren't around, if men aren't stepping up, and a woman is in the right place in the right time, then you know what?

It's to our judgment. It's to our shame, men. That's really what it is. And so that's how

I look at it. It's the same with women who are doing heavy -hitting journalism. It's to our shame, men, if we're not out there exposing this kind of corruption.

We have to rely on women to do it. It's to our shame that this is the scenario that we're in, especially when there are men in some cases willing to do these things, but they can't get the traction.

They can't get the institutional credibility because it's just not in fashion to be a man and do those things, which

I think is often the case, and I guess I would know that just from being in the position I'm in. I know how much of a pariah

I am, and I can say – in institutional elite circles, not among the common people, but I can certainly say things that a female could say, and she won't get in as much trouble as I'll get in.

I mean, I'll be canceled for it, and they won't. So I didn't write the rules, but that's how they are right now because we live in a feminist society.

So that's one scenario. Another scenario that someone brought up to me, and I'm a little less firm on this.

I don't know exactly what to think. In fact, this morning I was thinking through it. What about women writing articles or blogs that contain

Scripture, and they're talking about Scripture. What I would say to that – I just have a few thoughts. It's not preaching a sermon, first of all.

So you have to wonder whether an article actually, in and of itself, is an exercise of authority.

I don't think it has to be. I think it could be, but I don't think it has to be. Like even what journal, what publication might make a difference.

If it's in a theological journal, that might mean something that it doesn't mean on, let's say,

TruthScript. And by the way, you should subscribe to TruthScript .com. Go to TruthScript .com, subscribe to our

YouTube channel. We've got a lot going on there and more coming, and I'm just excited about the direction of that whole thing.

Sorry, I'm distracted. I'm getting a kick out of this. My cat is in the background, Josie. Some of you who have been following this podcast for a long time, you remember

Josie, because Josie was a rescue cat when I lived in Virginia. And she's still with us.

There she is. She likes to be outside, and she likes to hang out with me when I'm out here. It's a beautiful day.

Did I mention that? Beautiful day. The trees, the rocks. There's my finger. Hey, Josie.

Josie, I'm talking about important things right now on the podcast. You're not supposed to be out here. Oh, no.

She must be hungry. She's right next to me now. All right. Sorry. Sorry about that. Sorry, squirrel. Distracted so easily here.

Regarding the article that a woman would write, I don't think that necessarily conveys authority, but I think it's wise to be careful.

And I think one of the great things that's happening right now is people are asking the question, what should women do? That's so key.

What should? Should, should, should. Not can, which has been the question for the last, I don't know, 30 years.

Danny Akin, I remember, said this explicitly that, hey, what can women do? I want a kinder, gentle complementarianism, which asks that question.

What can they do? That's a good question to ask, but a better question is, what should women do? And what are they suited for?

What are they created for? What's, as part of the created order, what does God want them to do? And, you know, how is it being a helpmate?

How is it helping men achieve the goal, especially if you're a wife and a husband, achieve the goal of ruling?

And, you know, what is it? How does it accomplish that? That's really the question. And so I don't think it's

God's design for women to rule. I think that it, though, can happen, and women in certain cases can do it.

Now, what about a conference? What about a, there's a conference going on, and, you know, and here's my rule about this is how

I think about it, because women are not supposed to exercise authority over men, and they're not supposed to be, you know, that's in the context of church.

That's in context of teaching, preaching. So, obviously, on a Sunday morning, that's when the preaching happens.

No. The answer is no. I would say not for any reason. That's where I would come down on that.

I think a woman can give a testimony in church. I think a woman can make an announcement. I think a woman can sing in church.

I don't think, though, women are supposed to be teaching. They're not supposed to be preaching. And at a conference, the question is, is that the same thing?

And I think we have to be careful. Conference is a parachurch. You're not in church, but there's still spiritual authority.

Whether you like it or not, that's just reality. Spiritual authority of some kind is being conveyed because that person's on the stage.

And so there is some kind, there's some kind of a hierarchy. I don't want to say authority. We'll say hierarchy or ordering. You should listen to them.

They have something worthwhile. And where I've come down, where I am at now, is that at a conference, like the

Shepherds Conference or something, if a woman comes and shares a testimony, shares an application of Scripture in her life or something,

I don't think that's exercising authority necessarily. I think it can be, though, and I think you have to be very careful of this.

I think, and this is where if I was running a conference, I would say it's probably better unless it's explicitly just sharing a story, sharing an experience.

If there's any Scripture being explained, it needs to be a male or a female audience.

It should not be a mixed audience because then you have women exercising authority over men. Now, I know there's guys, friends of mine even, who disagree with me and think there should be no women's

Bible studies. There should be no women – I know, I didn't even know there – I mean,

I guess I knew there were people like this, but I didn't realize there are more than one person thinks this.

And there's a lot of people, I think, that now probably think this, that there shouldn't be any kind of women's anything. I'm not quite there.

I don't see that. And maybe that's a regulative principle thing. If you really think that unless Scripture explicitly states it, then you don't have the authorization to do it, that would make sense.

That's the argument, I think, for that. I'm more of a normative guy, and I think you can do things that are outside of what

Scripture explicitly says to do on a Sunday morning. In fact, I think we all kind of do that to an extent with our cultural patterns, and we just maybe don't consider it that.

Any church that has a softball team, any church that does a potluck – I'm not talking about Lord's Supper, but an actual potluck – there's a lot of things like that.

So I'm okay with a women's Bible study, but I do think men still need to know what's going on and have even authority in those settings.

And not just men, I mean the church leadership, the elders. It should fall under them.

But the important thing and the point of all this is we need to be grappling with what Scripture teaches and what

God designed women to do according to his natural design and creation. That's really the point of all of this, and I think as long as we're grappling with that, we're having a healthy discussion.

As soon as we start buying the egalitarian stuff and saying we don't care what creation design is, you're just not for equality, therefore you're bad, therefore women can do what they want.

Then we've left all thinking. We're just not in sound thinking land at that point. But those are some situations that have come up.

Those are my thoughts on it. And I think it's important not to be – this is the last thing

I'll say – not to be ideological about this stuff, but to recognize there are situations that do arise that have specific needs.

And God has given the authority and put people in specific places to carry out his will.

And sometimes those people, if things were functioning correctly, would not be in those positions.

If there were men doing their jobs, we wouldn't need women doing the kind of investigative journalism that needs to happen right now.

But because that doesn't exist, women are doing it, and some of them are doing a good job, and I'm thankful for it.

So food for thought. Hope that helps. God bless. Hey, if you disagree, let me know. Put your thought in the comments.

I appreciate it. It helps the algorithm anyway. And I hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July. Bye now.