Coming: An Army of Women!

By Dianne D. McDonnell

Two very important prophecies back up and prove that women can and will be ministers used mightily by God in the "last days" before His return.

Pentecost - Men and Women speaking through the Holy Spirit

Some realize that Acts chapter 2 tells the story of the giving of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, but most fail to realize the full importance of this passage. A few key mistranslations have hidden the fact that the women Christians present were speaking in languages and proclaiming about Jesus right in the middle of Pentecost services. God did not keep His women silent when He poured out His Holy Spirit on that important day! In the King James Bible verses below I will identify these critical mistranslations:

Jesus predicts that his followers will receive POWER from the Holy Spirit, and then he rises up into the clouds and returns to Heaven!

Acts 1:7-9
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit) is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

About a hundred and twenty followers, both men and women, assembled together.

Acts 1:14-15
14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, ..., (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

So when the annual Holy Day known as Pentecost arrives we find 120 Christians, both men and women, observing this special day.

Acts 2:1-4
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit), and began to speak with other tongues (languages), as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Some were so stunned that the men and women were speaking in languages that they normally didn't know that they accused them of being drunk!

Acts 2:13
13 Others mocking said, These [men] are full of new wine. (The word for "men" is not present in the Greek for Acts 2:13.)

This verse is correctly translated in the New American Standard Bible, as "But others were mocking and saying, 'They are full of sweet wine.'"

Witnesses were saying that BOTH the men and the women present were proclaiming God's words after being filled with the Holy Spirit! Unable to account for the phenomena, they accused all of them of hitting the wine too heavily!

In the next verse later Peter is addressing men who have traveled to Jerusalem as heads of households to keep this Holy Day and the Greek word "men" is rightfully a part of the text. In saying "all ye that dwell at Jerusalem" he is including both the men and the women present.

Acts 2:14
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: (KJV)

Next Peter defends against false charges of drunkenness. Some versions add "men" to this verse, but once again, it is not in the Greek.

Acts 2:15
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

Our final proof that women were proclaiming the words of God on the day of Pentecost is Peter's insistence that a prophecy in Joel 2:28-32 was being fulfilled.

Acts 2:16-21
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens (women servants) I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

Peter was convicted that the miracle they had all just witnessed fulfilled a prophecy about women proclaiming God's words! Peter would not have believed that this prophecy was being fulfilled if the women did not speak God's words publicly!

Peter continues to quote from Joel with images that reflect passages in Isaiah and Revelation:

Acts 2:19-21.
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This all deals with prophecy about the "last days" -- end time predictions that haven't yet happened! Peter's day was the first partial fulfillment of this prophecy, but a FULL fulfillment is coming in the future!

God gives the Word and the women that proclaim, preach, or publish these tidings are a huge army!

There is another passage that backs up this same prophecy! God's word often has one place back up another place so the prophecy may be understood and doubly reinforced.

In his book, 25 Tough Questions about Women and the Church, J. Lee Grady writes on page 197, "Psalm 68:11 is a curious verse, because it is worded so differently in various translations. The New International Version says, "The Lord announced the word, and great was the company of those who proclaimed it." Yet scholars concede that it should be translated this way: God giveth the Word: the women that publish the tidings are a great host."

And that is exactly the way the American Standard Version translated Psalm 68:ll.

God gives the Word-- the message, the warning, the news-- and the women that proclaim, preach, or publish (the Hebrew word basar --pronounced baw-sar'-- can have all three meanings) these tidings are a great host, or a huge army!

When we look at the rest of Joel-- right after the passage Peter was quoting from-- we see the time frame is the last days, as evidenced by all of Joel chapter 3 . You can compare these verses in Joel 3 with the following end time prophecies to see that they deal with the same future time period of Christ's return. See Psalm 68:17, and 29, Isaiah 1:2-3; and Isaiah 60:5-7.

When the "end times" come-- the time right before Christ's return-- there will be many women preaching, teaching, and publishing the Words of God! It's predicted in two places in the Bible!

Also read "Paul and Women Teachers" and "Let the women keep silent... What did Paul Mean?" and "Phoebe, Traveling through Time" which is a record of a woman minister in the New Testament.

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