Rich Wilkerson Jr. DEFENDS Female Pastors!

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. So Rich Wilkerson Jr.

is a pastor in Miami. His church is called VU Church. Rich is a fairly famous pastor.

He's preached with Mike Todd and Stephen Furtick as well. He's got a whole host of famous people who he's friends with. And he's one of these substance -less teachers who wears all the trendy clothes and tries to really absorb as much of the culture as possible.

Of course, he tries to throw in a little Jesus every now and then, which is good, but that's not exactly what you might call his first priority.

Speaking of things that are not the first priority for Rich Wilkerson's church, reading the Bible and obeying its commands.

Shocking, I know. Of course, obeying God's word used to be what Christians did. It defined us. By God's grace, it made the church holy and separate from the world and the culture around us, and many churches are still doing that faithfully and praise

God for it. But over time, many others have made compromise after compromise, and here we are, with pastors like Rich Wilkerson Jr.,

or should I say, people who call themselves pastors. At Rich's church, his wife serves as a pastor alongside him.

Go figure. Her name is Dawn Cherie Wilkerson. And of course, she preached a message at VU Church, a message that her husband loved.

But unfortunately, there were some naysayers who questioned the decision to have her preach, and in a recent sermon,

Rich Wilkerson Jr. responded to those critics. Check it out. The first person of the

Trinity is God the Father, that we know that our God is the

Father. In fact, Matthew chapter 6 is where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. I thought

Dawn Cherie did an excellent job last week. Can we just take a moment? Can we thank God for the preaching of the word?

I get a lot of questions that come in here all the time, going, man, I really like that message, but are we allowed to listen to a girl preach?

Yes, you are. And the truth of the matter is, is that many of the texts that are written about females preaching are all about cultural context, and the entire

Bible is to be read with context. What you'll discover all throughout the scriptures is that most of Jesus' ministry was funded by women.

Jesus was sending out, in fact, the first evangelist in the Bible is a woman. Her name is Mary. We discover all throughout the

Old Testament and the New Testament, God using women. So, if you're new to our community, we believe in women preaching the word.

If you know, you know. He says that some people asked if, quote, they were allowed to listen to a girl preach, to which he responds that, of course you can listen to a girl preach, and anyone who tells you otherwise is ignoring the cultural context of the

Bible. This is a very common argument, so let's tackle it using three biblical points, shall we?

Number one, Rich says that someone asked him, are we allowed to listen to a girl preach?

There's a very subtle signal being sent out here, folks, and it's about complementarians. So just for context, a complementarian is someone who believes that God created men and women with equal worth and value, but they also believe that men and women are different and have different roles in the home and in the church.

Men have been called in scripture to be pastors, and women have not. To demonstrate this, complementarians such as myself use passages like 1

Timothy 2 .12, which says the following, quote, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.

These are the people Rich Wilkerson is talking about in the video, the naysayers who don't know if it's right for his wife to preach on Sunday.

These are the people who asked, are we allowed to listen to a girl preach? But do you hear what he's implying? He's implying that complementarians sound like kindergartners.

No complementarian that I'm aware of has ever asked the question, can we listen to a girl preach?

Oh, did you see the sign on the door, pastor? It says, boys rule and girls drool. Girls have cooties, so I'm not sure if they're allowed to preach.

Wilkerson has decided to make up this caricature of a complementarian, one who is so uneducated, so hopeless, that he refers to a grown woman as a girl like a five -year -old would.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg, folks, because Wilkerson actually also tries to offer some real arguments in favor of his position, and well, it's an absolute train wreck.

Which brings me to point number two, watch this clip of Rich making even more of a mess than he already has.

And the truth of the matter is, is that many of the texts that are written about females preaching are all about cultural context, and the entire

Bible is to be read with context. He says all of the passages in the Bible talking about females preaching are all about cultural context.

Here we go, guys, the old cultural context trick. That's never been done. That's a real novel idea you've got there.

It's never been tried before. Of course, Wilkerson offers literally no evidence at all in favor of his argument.

Popular pastors don't tend to do that. I mean, why would they? It's obvious. Unless you're a woman -hating bigot, everyone knows that the passages talking about men preaching and women not preaching don't actually mean what they say they mean.

Instead, those passages mean the exact opposite of what they say. How do they know? Well, they just do.

Don't question it. The truth of the matter is this. The New Testament has overwhelming support for the idea that eldership and pastorship is exclusively for men.

That is why every text that talks about the qualifications of an elder or overseer assumes that that person will be male.

Acts 6 .3 says, quote, Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the

Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. First Timothy 3 .2 says, quote,

Now the overseer is above reproach, faithful to his wife. Titus 1 .6

says, quote, An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.

So you have two choices here. Either you can believe what the Bible says even when it goes against modern feminist culture, or you could reject the

Bible and misinterpret it in a way that's popular but totally inaccurate to the text and dishonoring to God.

And it seems that Rich Wilkerson has all too predictably chosen the second option. Which brings me to point number three.

Rich then makes a few more arguments for female pastorship. Here's what he says. What you'll discover all throughout the scriptures is that most of Jesus' ministry was funded by women.

Jesus was sending out, in fact, the first evangelist in the Bible is a woman. Her name is Mary. We discover all throughout the

Old Testament and the New Testament God using women. So there's two foolish claims being made here.

The first is this. Most of Jesus' ministry was funded by women. And the second is this. The first evangelist in the

Bible was a woman. Her name is Mary. These are both ridiculous arguments, and they're simple to refute.

First, even if most of Jesus' ministry was indeed funded by women, that is not evidence that women can be pastors.

It means nothing. The Bible says that all of us, men and women, should donate money to our church, for instance.

But it doesn't say that all men and women should be pastors. That's why 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 have qualifications for pastors.

Because by definition, not everyone fits those qualifications. Hopefully, we can all recognize that donating to one's church does not give you license to be a pastor.

1 Timothy 3 says, Someone could fund a ministry and still not be temperate or hospitable or self -controlled or able to teach, and that person should not be a pastor, regardless of how much money they give to their church.

That's what the Bible says. It's pretty clear if you just read it. But again, Rich Wilkerson Jr. has never really cared about contradicting the

Bible, especially when his popularity is at stake. The second argument he gives is that Mary was the first evangelist.

And first off, that is totally untrue. And second, even if it was true, it doesn't mean that women can be pastors.

Let me explain. This idea that Mary was the first evangelist came from the fact that Mary was the first one to discover that Jesus' tomb was empty.

Well, at least Mary and a few other women. Luke 24 .10 says this, Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.

So it is accurate to say that women were the first people to tell others that Jesus' tomb was empty.

That's true. But they were not the first evangelists. An evangelist is one who spreads the gospel. But the gospel is not simply the fact that Jesus has risen.

It is the fact that Jesus lived a perfect life, offered a sacrificial death, and rose again to sit at the

Father's right hand, and that everyone who believes in him will have everlasting life. That is the gospel.

Saying the tomb is empty is a great observation and a powerful truth. It's awesome that these women did that, and they should be commended for it.

But that's not a gospel presentation, and therefore Mary was not the first evangelist. And anyone who tells you otherwise is really not being honest.

Here's another reason why this argument doesn't work. Because even if Mary was the first evangelist, and she wasn't, but even if she was, why would that mean women should be pastors?

There is no one out there who I'm aware of who says that women cannot be pastors and therefore they cannot spread the gospel.

So let me make this clear. All pastors should spread the gospel, but not all of those who spread the gospel should be pastors.

All Christians should be evangelists, telling the good news of Christ. But that does not mean that all Christians should be pastors.

James 3 says, quote, Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

Is this passage saying that not many believers should be teachers, and therefore not many believers should spread the gospel?

Of course not. To suggest that having the ability to offer people the gospel means that you have the right to be a pastor, no matter what anyone says, that's asinine.

It's a ridiculous assertion. Unfortunately, these arguments in favor of female pastorship are really bad, and they happen to be really common these days.

So in conclusion, Rich Wilkerson Jr. is not a good teacher at all. He mishandles the

Word of God constantly, he makes his wife a pastor against the clear command of Scripture, and he encourages others to do the same.

So please send this video to someone who approves of female pastors, because they really need to see this.

And please pray for Rich Wilkerson Jr., that he would repent and believe the truth of God's Word.

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