Richland Hills Church of Christ: Deaconess or Servant

Phoebe: Appointing Deaconesses by calling the Special Servants is unscriptural and known to sow discord among brethren.

Twenty Five Thesis by EX members NAILED TO DOOR of Richland Hills church of Christ.

For Analysis and Discussion.

See Rick Atchley - The usual mantra condemning non- instrumentalists for not bowing to what Luther said, in effect, the MARK OF BAAL. "Unity" forum with Christian Churches.

See other views from our look at the "creed" of Richland Hills Church of Christ in Fort Worth.

To understand the false elders false rationale for INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC in worship you may want to look at a review of a paper produced by and sent from Farmer's Branch Church of Christ. One has to doubt that any "once christian" college will permit anyone on its faculty who is NOT in sympathy with the instrumental Disciples Denomination. Therefore, you must grasp that none of ACU's product knows any of the Biblical or Historical evidence. No Levitical musician (creating hard bondage) and not even in the vilest pagan temples did the SINGERS or MUSICIANS ever get into the Holy Place as a type of the church of Christ.

Experimenting with Instrumental Music: The fatal flaw in the garden of Eden and in every FALL beyond redemption is EXPERIMENTING.. Farmer's Branch Church of Christ Part One: Farmer's Branch Church of Christ Part Two A look at the word NAGAN 10/08 Added: Isa 47 defines the end-time Babylon Whore religion of Rev 18 now appearing at your local "church."

Aristotle: Melody Deceives: "Poets also make use of this in inventing words, as a melody "without strings" or "without the lyre"; for they employ epithets from negations, a course which is approved in proportional metaphors.. The form of diction should be neither metrical nor without rhythm. If it is metrical, it lacks persuasiveness, for it appears artificial, and at the same time it distracts the hearer's attention, since it sets him on the watch for the recurrence of such and such a cadence.. According to Philo, the gods of the pagans exploit this weakness of men. For the sake of a better effect, and with the intention of more easily cheating their devotes, that they have set their lies to melodies, rhythms and meters.." Click for more. No one can doubt that Paul put the singing AND melody in the HEART and not upon a harp! If it breaks toward the MUSICAL side someone is trying to deceive someone as the "serpent" musically enchanted Eve while Adam went willingly.

I don't care what the "doctors of the law tell you." Jesus fired them because they "take away the key to knowledge." Therefore, if some professor claims that history defends a clergy role for women he is self-deceived or a deceiver. And those who add them because they claim in so many words about the translations: we are not gonna take it any more and we have added the Deaconess and made her a ^Special _servant. That means "a superior one of her species."

E-Mail From: "Richland Hills Church of Christ in Fort Worth. We have just been informed by our elders that we no longer have deacons at our church but now have "special servants" which includes both men and women. We have been reading your articles on deconesses and other matters. Would you share with us your affiliation with Rubel Shelley and/or the Madison Church of Christ?

"We are members at Richland Hills Church of Christ. Last Wednesday night "special servants" were recognized during our assembly and a list of these people, both men and women, were provided to the congregation. Nothing was said that let the congreation know that these people would now be used instead of Deacons. When we, various members of the congregation, began calling individual Elders we were told that we no longer have Deacons, but these "Special Servants." We were not given any biblical scripture to back this up, only an article talking about deaconesses. Mac And Barbara

New, quick notes: Do Elders Rule? No. Do preachers rule? No. They don't even exist unless they are evangelists on DETACHED duty.

Of course, when pressed, the confession must be that "special servants of the female kind are deaconesses." I have reviewed Rick Atchley's sermon in defense of the "deaconess" or "special servant." Just Click here. His "scholarly" background is denied by all of the evidence I have collected including recent Catholic Canon law noted below.

I have collected Biblical and historical data on the Deaconess below. This was a name given to the widow indeed (over 60) who received aid and who in return helped minister to women: she never held an ecclesiastical or "rule over" role in any church history.

She might have been the wife of a man who had married but lived as a virgin and who wanted to be a preacher, elder or deacon. He would have to "place" his wife with another bishop out of his territory. If she was a widow and remarried she would be anathematized.

Or, the deaconess was a perpetual virgin or a "nun." In no case did she "head up a ministry."

If she married she would be utterly excommunicated.

Therefore, whatever the "scholarship," the elders have no Biblical or historical or Restoration Movement authority to ordain deaconesses even if hidden under the cloak of "special servants." In fact, the word "rule" applies to elders only to the extent that they "teach that which has been taught" and others are to obey in the sense of believing and obeying the teaching which must have the STAMP of inspiration on it. And obey means to "watch the outcome of the lives of the elders." Elders who claim to RULE are utterly devoid of Biblical knowledge and the Spirit of Christ.

The feminine or effeminate fulfilment of "children and women ruling over you does not happen from people who defend the Word of God. Only after declaring for the Core Gospel and repudiating the rest of the Bible as untouched by the Shelly Sifter, can a group fall into the end-time effeminate worship, faith healing, women in ministry and other unseemly efforts to take the church away from Christ. For proof, look at the "organizational chart" for any of the Mega-Temples of doom. Before looking at the defense for the deaconess, lets look at some of the other things fueling the discord:

Spilling a Bean? I Believe The Elders Knew!! by Sue T. "We have Bold Elders who pray earnestly for the Will of God, and because of all the Healing Ministries at Richland Hills, they wanted to give the women who help in that area recognition. (Worship?) Also there are some Missionaries who are women. We are all ONE IN CHRIST JESUS!! (Heaven preserve you you also have a "missionary in residence" to assist the "located traveling salesmen.") Because they are listening to the Holy Spirit, and are wise about obeying Him, they obeyed Him, and not the "traditions" and "religiosity" of Man! God is doing a NEW THING IN THESE LAST DAYS! We give Him ALL THE GLORY FOR THAT-WAKE UP PEOPLE-REPENT OR WE CAN'T HAVE REVIVAL!! Waal, yaass! That is a fact, but it is the sign or MARK of things you ain't a gonna like. And because God had to provide the water in the desert. The poured water is the FREE word of God (Isaiah 55) but they were not aware: So I will disgrace the dignitaries of your temple, and I will consign Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn. Isaiah 43:28 Here is the MARk of disgrace as you are profaned by the effeminate:   Chalal (h2490) khaw-lal'; a prim. root [comp. 2470]; prop. to bore, i. e. (by impl.) to wound, to dissolve; fig. to profane (a person, place or thing), to break one's word, to begin (as if by an "opening wedge");   (from 2485) to play (the flute): - begin (* men began), defile, gather the grape thereof, take inheritance, pipe, player on instruments, pollute, (cast as) profane (self), prostitute, slay (slain), sorrow, stain, wound. Here is a way to test whether you have been MARKED or POLLUTED by the Chalal or Halal form of praise which is to make a fool of self: When they pass the collection plate which Jesus died to remove and you feel that legalistic urge to tithe then you can know that "you have fallen and you are probably not gonna get up."

If I wanted to fool the fools (re: Paul) I would tell them that God personally SPEAKS TO ME. Why don't people flee rather than stand and be fleeced? It is because perhaps that the "locusts" are sorting out those with the MARK of the WORD from the MARK of the Beast. Lucifer's bisexual feminine nature was SOPHIA the Serpent and ZOE the BEAST: the "female instructing principle." Zoe forced the "minor jehovahs" to form a MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAM. To worship whom? Why to worship the female or effeminate theatrical performers standing in the holy place claming (re Rubel Shelly) to lead you into the presence of God. "Teams" do begin or come to claim that "we are mediators" and that makes them the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place (of church architecture where the preacher used to dominate.) It is a mark of anti-Christ to deny that in HIM dwells full Deity. Contrary to the clear teaching of the Bible and about 1900 years of scholarly understanding, the Gospel Advocate "emerged" the trinity of three persons in about 1942. Anti-Christism Denies the Fully Flesh Christ Click to see why the Bible and all of church history along with common sense denies a role for PREACHER in the local congregation. When the Spirit Lord appeared to Paul He said "I am Jesus of Nazareth." God the "evil" father and the "son" have not retired from the scene along with the authority of "their" Word and left the "Spirit" person to speak directly to you. The Holy Spirit comes in the "name" of Jesus (that is His name) and gives you discernment ONLY when you honor the total Godhead and not sow discord "among the god family members." The modern version denying that the full Anointed Christ came in the flesh as Lord Jesus Christ has been pushed by the band of which the Highland preacher is a member: "One of the best examples of this Trinitarian emergence is Roy H. Lanier, Sr.'s 1974 Timeless Trinity which dared to use the traditional word and unfold a traditional, even orthodox, understanding of Trinity.[40] Lanier's book enabled a wide acceptance of the term "Trinity" when earlier in our history it was seen as an "ism." The book stresses the deity of Christ (seven of the eight chapters on Christ are about his deity). It is unfair to Br. Lainier who speaks of the trinity but does not commit blasphemy by cutting the Godhead into three, separated persons with independant skills and roles. It was an ism throughout history including the RM scholars. The trinity of three persons is a brand new, primarily church of Christ heresy now driving the Purpose Driven cult. However, the "honor" probably goes to the Gospel Advocate literature feeding from H. Leo Boles, The Holy Spirit, Gospel Advocate, 1942 Futhermore, recent years have emphasized the incarnational presence of God in the context of ethics and spiritual devotion. "What Would Jesus Do?" has become the ethical slogan of the last decade of the twentieth century and Max Lucado has certainly dominated devotional/spiritual reflection on the meaning of the incarnation. Ethical reflection has risen to the top of our Christological interests. This is probably due to the recent shift from the epistles to the gospels (Click to see Shelly's repudiation of all but the "core" of seven facts) in our preaching and teaching. Olbricht's 1979 theology of Mark, The Power to Be, is a good example.[41] In 1987 Shelly followed with his Surely This Man Was the Son of God.[42] That same year Hazelip and Durham published Jesus: Our Mentor and Our Model in the same vein.[43] Harding University's 1988 lectureship on the Gospel of Mark was entitled The Lifestyle of Jesus.[44] Max Lucado, however, has been the most influential of all. His Christology is pervasive in our pulpits, our pews and throughout evangelical culture. His recent Just Like Jesus represents his ethical reflection,[45] but his God Came Near, one of his first books, reveals his Christological presuppositions.[46] While, as Doug reminds us, Lucado brilliantly brings Jesus to life for us and reminds us of his humanity, I fear that his incarnational theology undermines the very thing he wants to press--Christ's empathetic humanity. His theology seems to lack any significant kenosis. Instead, Mary "knows she is holding God."[47] He is the "infant-God" to whom Mary prays.[48]   His Jesus counts the stars as he lies in his crib and remembers his creative work. Mary is tempted to call him "Father."[49] This type of incarnational theology tends to undermine the humanity of Jesus because it assumes that Jesus did not really identify with the human psyche. The divine mind informs and empowers the human life of Jesus in such a way that he is no longer a genuine model for struggling Christians. I think his Christology needs a good dose of the incarnation as a participation in fallenness where Jesus assumes fallen human nature, struggles with sin and shares our weaknesses.[50] In other words, Lucado's Johannine Christology needs to be tempered with the Christology of the synoptics and Hebrews. Contrary to Doug's reading, I believe Lucado ultimately subsumes the human under the divine. John Mark Hicks, Lipscomb. Reviewing Doug Foster And that is denying that Christ came in the flesh. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 1Jn.2:18   They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 1Jn 2:19   Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 1Jn 2:24 Incarnational theolog includes the Core Gospel of 7 facts about Jesus: all of the rest of the Bible deals with the "flesh" relationship of Christ to His Bod. Therefore, anti-Christ will and must shut down that part of Scripture which is not "Core." BELOVED, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 Jn 4:1   Thereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 1Jn.4:2   And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 1 John 4:3 See Rubel Shelly's "baptizing" the S.U.N. God to think of the S.O.N. God and identifying God's abandonment of Israel over to "worship the starry host" as the baptism of the Holy Spirit and The Exodus Pattern For Worship and Community? See notes from Max Lucado's Cosmic Christmas and holding out hope for Lucifer: the musician in the garden of Eden and the Zoe of today.

The Trinity of Three persons as in Rubel Shelly's committee of "father god" and "spirit god" acing out little gullible "son god" to trick him into dying for mankind. That heresy underlies the direct operation of the "holy" Spirit which never gave women a healing ministry nor anyone else except the self-vaildating group under discussion who believe that they are "emerging" a Post-Christian revelation. Bible 101aaa knows that Jesus speaks through His Words which He declared to be Spirit and Life. This is confirmed by Paul in identifying the Word of "singing" (Col 3) with the "Spirit" of singing with (Eph 5) "that which has been written" (Rom 15). Rick's declaration that they decided to reject the only translations of the Bible which never give a role for the "deaconess" and just get rid of the old version. The fools who love to be fooled by the feminist takeover may be receiving the MARK of those whose Christ-Given MARK is the love for His Word.

Elders who are presumptious enough to ordain deaconesses but call them special servants to hide the truth from their flock cannot in any sense be qualified as bishops of the flock! The word SPECIAL is the feminine form of: Egemoneuo (h2230) hayg-em-on-yoo'-o; from 2232; to act as ruler: - be governor.   Egeomai (g2233) hayg-eh'-om-ahee; mid. of a (presumed) strengthened form of 71; to lead, i.e. command (with official authority); fig. to deem, i.e. consider: - account, (be) chief, count, esteem, governor, judge, have the rule over, suppose, think.   The word "special" also applies the word "chief" to the new deaconesses but Jesus said:   But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. Luke 22:26   Egeomai (g2233) hayg-eh'-om-ahee; mid. of a (presumed) strengthened form of 71; to lead, i.e. command (with official authority); fig. to deem, i.e. consider: - account, (be) chief, count, esteem, governor, judge, have the rule over, suppose, think. Not even Jesus went beyond what He as "Son" heard from the "Father." And he absolutely outlaws even inspired apostles from being "special servants." The word for AUTHORITY Paul uses is the Greek AUTHENTIA which means sexual authority exercised by any non-silent (including non-sedentary) women presiding or a part of a pastoral "praise team."   The word "special" in English:   Different from others; distinctive or unique. Special differentiates itself from others of its class or species. Singled out for ATTENTION. So, ruling deaconesses or no ruling, clergy roles for women may not count: what counts is whether the doctors of the law Jesus fired can stand in high places and not tell the truth. A church of Christ by all historical definitions is based on the Word of God as the sole document of the Christian faith. A group which repudiates that may do much social good preaching the social gospel on its way to oblivion. Agreeing that they have no translation to support them Rick boldly goes where no one dares go: We decided that we would just end the problem   However, it cannot be a church of Christ: John Locke woud call it "another religion." Therefore, when the Word is usurped by elders who are self or peer- selected the candlestick has gone out and it will probably never be relit. Musical performance is a certain MARK throughout the Bible.

Don Finto, charismatic and supporter of the Jubilee in Nashville asks someone to speak. The antecedant to "rusty" is Max Lucado who didn't speak but approved of Finto as his favorite kind ofguy. "Kalla ma sone, da fa kooka shores. It kin da la key la shone da la kene (his voice becomes hoarse and is reduced to an indistinguishable whisper). Bear fose sone ta wentta lone (voice trails off into a whisper again). Da lotta tongue de cush a wong do so coo toe. Ah shon da ba she dees ... O. Lord, your good ... Gash a la mon sewer. El ah ma she sa (more whispering). Fa kon a la ma dorman begetta see de so lawsuit...3" This was taken from the tape and spelled phonetically because the words are not a part of any known language, unless it is the language of anilliterate baby cooing and gurgling. The scripture says that if there is no interpreter, it is unlawful to speak in a tongue 1 Cor. 14:27:28. The jabber of Rusty was not interpreted. No reasonable person would claim the words of Rusty on that fateful day in 1988 edified anybody. How could they? Please see 1 Corinthians 14:2?20. Now, fast-forward to April 22, 1997. The scene: A Nashville Hotel banquet room. The purpose: To get Nashville ready of the 1997 Jubilee. The chairman of the meeting: Rubel Shelly, preacher for the Woodmont Hills Church in Nashville. The speaker: Max Lucado, preacher for the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. An honored guest: Don Finto, preacher for the Belmont Church in Nashville. By H. A. (Buster) Dobbs Brother Goebel Music in 1991 published Behold The Pattern, in which he meticulously documented the uncertain sounds of ten preachers and/or college professors. These men are: Max Lucado, San Antonio, Texas; Stephen Taylor, former professor of Abilene Christian University, who is now in England; Larry James, Plano, Texas; Rick Atchley (Jubilee 98), Fort Worth, Texas; Randy Fenter, San Antonio, Texas; Jim Hackney, Fort Worth, Texas; Jeff Walling, Mission Viejo, Calif.; Randy Mayeux, Dallas, Texas; Rubel Shelly, Nashville, Tenn.; and Denny Boultinghouse, West Monroe, La. Of course, this group ridicules the idea that God has the right to commands, examples and inference in communicating. As a result of these few years, Madison Church of Christ has already tumbled into the Purpose Driven Cult and most Mega-Churches will not be far behind. Why? Why because those who can go so far from truth carry the seed of their own spiritual destruction. See the Key Man, Rubel Shelly on the Pattern See Don Finto on Apostles and Prophets

With the restoration of the Catholic Jubilee movement "for the atonement" by Rubel Shelly, Steve Flatt and others (soon felt duped) there has been a headlong plunge into following Papa in Rome instead of Jesus the Christ who lives and needs no vicar.

For instance, along with the dominant evangelist as "priest" the urge for music and women clergy is proof:

Therefore, any scholar from the once-Bible colleges who claims proof for the deaconess knows more than Catholic canon law and have just hatched the idea out of their own, postmodern, latter day prophet mind.

Where there is an urge to restore the Deaconess with no authority but the Law of Silence there is almost almost certainty that the music which was a product of the monasteries has produced a "priesthood" not unlike the Catholic priesthood. Furthermore, effeminate males and women Sister Singers are in fact fulfilling the clergy role of the Elders.

They violate the law of Paul in becoming non-sedentary, in teaching over the flock and usurping the role of the elder as the SOLE preacher-teacher of the congregation. This perversion happnes with the law of silence and by fooling the fools (Paul's idea) by preaching WITH A TUNE. The "audience" is not supposed to catch on.

In the early Restoration Movement, the word "deaconess" was used but not to define a female deacon. Rather, the "sewing circle" might be termed deaconesses. Or, the good people who now prepare communion and baptismal garments and help female candidates get dressed or any other touchy situation were called "deaconesses."

However, not in Catholic history or Restoration Movement History is there an "officer" who would be given charge of say Youth Ministry or Educational Minister. None would be involved in the worship and affairs of the church.

No Deacons and other things. by Elvin Bobo

"We have for quite awhile now had a number of problems at Richland Hills but the latest of these is that the elders of the congregation decided to, and without telling the congregation did away with the office of deacon and made Special Servants [including women] on Wed. evening Jan 9,2 002. Previously we have had a Charismatic problem which is not completely solved, an instrumental music problem which is "solved" as well as some ecumenical and Baptism problems. It seems to be overwhelming. Please give us your advise and input. We are so very concerned. Thank you. Elvin and Beth Bobo.

Next, in response to the first letter, I do reviews of Dr. Rubel Shelly's Sunday sermon each Sunday if there is anything worthy of note. His understanding of the Bible is based on the Post Modern view. Therefore, these are not personal reviews but an attempt to factually look at the PM use of Scripture and compare it to the "Old Modern" way of reading Scripture.

I am utterly opposed to the addition of any ritual or "ministry" which detracts from worship which is in the PLACE of the human spirit and the role of "church" which is more related to the word "synagogue" than any other term. The new churches organized contrary to the Great Commission of Christ is a "hiding place" for evangelists who have taken the GO out of the direct commands of Christ.

I am a retired Electronics Engineer and have no vested interest in promoting any view but the Bible "as it has been taught."

Thomas Campbell said Church is the School of Christ. The "emerging church of Christ" is not a school or synagogue but a Tower of Babylon in minature. Check to see how their worship team worked. Trying to make an office out of one word used of one woman without any notion of deaconesses in the Biblical or early historical church is consistent with seeing church as a worship center rather than school of the Bible.

Answer to the E-Mail on The Richland Hills Church role of women in ministry.

The key in the e-mail is we "have been informed." Elders have begun to usurp authority which Christ never gave them. They tend to make decisions and then silence anyone who opposes. This is "lording it over the flock" and is the first step to apostasy in all ages. The elder's rulership consists of "teaching that which has been taught" and has no authority over the property which is the mutual property of the membership.

We have looked at the authority of elders in connection with Madison Church of Christ's proposal for a binding covenant to be signed pledging loyalty to the elders as supreme leaders. One of their members has been led to belive that to question an elder is to question a celestial being. However, the Jewish elders were the source of Israel's rejection of God as king and Paul warned that elders (those who just get old) are often the source of falling away from the faith. Click for the first article on elders. And the second chapter

This, again, is the honest approach of people who see their role as "church growth" rather than seed planting. We believe this to not be the Scriptural "pattern."

Next, there is an undue effort to exagerate by substituting a new new title for the new "deaconess" to rule over you.

The word "servant" in the New Testament is:

Doulos (g1401) doo'-los; from 1210 (be in bonds); a slave (lit. or fig., invol. or vol.; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): - bond (- man), servant.

Everyone should be a "servant" and to set some apart outside of the work of elder and deacon is just a way to say "Scripture doesn't count anymore."

However, this is some slick-willie wool pulling. Deacons being replaced are defined by the Greek Word:

Diakoneo (g1247) dee-ak-on-eh'-o; from 1249; to be an attendant, i.e. wait upon (menially or as a host, friend or [fig.] teacher); techn. to act as a Chr. deacon: - (ad-) minister (unto), serve, use the office of a deacon.

The word g1249 is used of just plain servants such as Phoebe and the last part is used of Deacons whose service gets them an "advanced degree" as teacher. Because Paul prohibited public teaching of the women, this could never apply to Phoebe. See more below.

Therefore, where the Bible speaks "deacons" the Richland Hills Church of Christ speaks "slave." This creates a new 'class of leadership' in the church as part of the feminist takeover of many churches. But, everyone knows before the fact that it will sow discord among brethren, offend many of these little ones but your sacrifice is worth the effort in order to attract a new class of audience.

Therefore, they are sold to you as "special servants" but they are not menials but masters. That is, they are chosen as "head of a ministry." They are "teachers" or exercising authority and "lord it over the teachers."

By putting the youth and even up to "campus ministeries" under women the church is prolonging the immaturity which already plagues American society and which gives rise to the effeminate 'praise team' revival of pagan superstition. When Paul prohibited women from "teaching over men" that would have included very young males in the synagogue.

As a collective body of "ministers" or heads of secular departments the new "RULING slaves" will meet with the other "leaders" and make decisions for the operation of the church. The "musical praise team" or other celebrative movements in the church is the product of women or effeminate males and this is why Paul prohibited any leadership role in the local congregation for women.

"Firing" the deacons and replacing them with women and other more malleabale men will certainly take the pressure off the dominant pastor and his "board of elders."

In the first, early experiments with adding the Deaconess it was clear that she must be a "widow in deed" or a virgin pledged to perpetual virginity. If she went back on her pledge she could be killed. This is the authority the elders are ignorantly using to replace the male leadership. See the Council of Nicea.

You have to understand that in the Post Modern insanity driving the production of "preachers" there is no absolute truth. While they may think they have discovered something new--as they believe that they discovered grace--they are being driven back to ancient pagan philosophy which held that there was no truth outside of the human brain.

For instance, Rubel Shelly's Views on the Deaconess:

Rubel Shelly notes that: lly, rubel shelly, rubel shelly,

"In closing his epistle to the Romans, Paul sent personal greetings to several people who had been "a great help" to him; there are eight women named in Romans 16:1-16. The first one named was the person who appears to have carried the epistle to Rome for him, "Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea." The word "servant" is the Greek term in feminine form that is used of deacons in the New Testament literature. Many biblical scholars believe there was a female order of deacons in the first century. Among those in our own heritage who have subscribed to this view are Alexander Campbell, Walter Scott, Moses Lard, and Robert Milligan.

However, we have attempted to make some of these scholars available for the modern reader. It will be seen that the never saw the Deaconess as a female model of the Deacon. Rather, it was a name tagged onto widows in deed (over 60) pledged not to marry and to perpetual virgins as an early nun.

The Deaconess is never given the authority Dr. Shelly believes women should have in the modern church.

Restoration Movement Comments here.

But, there was no Deaconess in the Greek dictionary. We can read the ancient literature and read the Restoration Movement leaders to grasp that the word "deaconess" did not apply to a class of command leadership nor did it include any stand-over or rule over roles.

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Now, for those still interested in the Bible as authority for faith and practice:

The word deaconess did not exist when Paul wrote about Phoebe. There was no word and therefore no office for women in the early church. The word diakonos occurs thirty times in the New Testament and it is usually translated as "minister" or "servant" but only three times as "deacon." It is never faithfully translated as "deaconess" because there was no such word. It is translated as deacon only in connection with the qualifications for what appears to be a work or position within the local congregation of the church. In these places it very clearly defines the deacon as "the husband of one wife." In one place the KJV translates it "deaconess" because it is applied to Phoebe who was a minister or servant of the church. And here, Paul defined her work with another term which excludes any hint of "rulership."

The motive for appealing to Phebe (KJV spelling) as a "deaconess" is to give authority for women to serve by standing over the assembly as musical worship teams, "money collectors" or other roles. This is to deny Paul's authority when he demanded silence in the collective assembly. The words Paul used to define "I permit not a woman to teach over" includes the idea of "sedentary." That is, seated.

Paul did allow older, poor "widows" to be enrolled with the church for their support. Many were given jobs to do according to church history. This is the meaning of the later work assigned to the "Deaconess." This was never a church "office" or work like the male Deacons or Elders.

The Catholic practice did not last long because they found, as Paul warned, that they would break their vow of chastity, get married and thereby have anathema pronounced upon them. I am not aware of any early evidence that these works were assigned to younger women or married women or women supported by their family. It is true that these women did many things not proper for males without others in attendance.

The KJV gets the careless reader into trouble with terms like "unknown tongues, Easter, and deaconess." The NIV translates the passage under question as:

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. Rom 16:1

Phoebe had served the church in Cenchrea but she is never seen fulfilling the teaching role. There is no history of a church named "Cenchrea" and is seems certain that the Corinth church met on the road leading from one sea port to another.

The first sense in which servant is used of Phoebe is:

Diakonos (g1249) dee-ak'-on-os; prob. from an obs form (to run on errands; comp. 1377; an attendant, i.e. (gen.) a waiter (at table or in other menial duties)

She could even be a teacher but not in a public sense over the assembly or males.

specificially a Chr. teacher and pastor (techn. a deacon or deaconess): - deacon, minister, servant

Only in a secondary sense does the word include teaching. Since Paul outlaws public teaching by women it would still apply to women or anyone in a private sitting.

But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; Mt.20:26

Jesus was never an "officer" of the church but He was a "deacon."

For I tell you that Christ has become a servant (deacon) of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs Ro.15:8

A similar word is used by Paul:

The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: 2 Timothy 1:16

But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. 2 Timothy 1:17

The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. 2 Timothy 1:18

This probably does not mean that Onesiphorus was a deacon in Ephesus.

While "office" sounds so orginizational, the elder and deacon are better defined as ordained works in the local assembly. Other "deacons" ceased being ministers when their task was completed. However, Paul speaks of two classes who were permanent. Paul excludes women from these roles.

The word from which we derive the word "office" or one specificially pointed out for service is:

Diakoneo (g1247) dee-ak-on-eh'-o; from 1249; to be an attendant, i.e. wait upon (menially or as a host, friend or [fig.] teacher); techn. to act as a Chr. deacon: - (ad-) minister (unto), serve, use the office of a deacon.

They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. 1Ti.3:10NIV

And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. 1Ti.3:10KJV

As a class of "deacons" with more responsibility, the Diakoneo becomes more restricted by Paul:

Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 1 Tim 3:12

A. Diakoneo (g1249) dee-ak'-on-os; prob. from an obs. diako, (to run on errands; comp. 1377; an attendant, i.e. (gen.) a waiter (at table or in other menial duties);

B. spec. a Chr. teacher and pastor (techn. a deacon or deaconess): - deacon, minister, servant

Therefore, "definitions" are just ways in which a Greek word is used. The part of the Diakoneo used of Phoebe does not qualify her as a permanent work in the church.

A deacon in the dedicated sense is also a shepherd:

Prostemi (g4291) pro-is'-tay-mee; from 4253 and 2476; to stand before, i.e. (in rank) to preside, or (by impl.) to practise: - maintain, be over, rule.

Then, as Diakoneo (g1247) they advance in service:

For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. 1Ti.3:13

Diakoneo (g1247) dee-ak-on-eh'-o; from 1249; to be an attendant, i.e. wait upon (menially or as a host, friend or [fig.] teacher); techn. to act as a Chr. deacon: - (ad-) minister (unto), serve, use the office of a deacon.

Purchase is: Peripoieomai (g4046) per-ee-poy-eh'-om- ahee; mid. from 4012 and 4160; to make around oneself, i.e. acquire (buy): - purchase.

A good degree is: Bathmos (g898) bath-mos'; from the same as 899; a step, i.e. (fig.) grade (of dignity): - degree.

Bathos (g899) bath'-os; from the same as 901; profundity, i.e. (by impl.) extent; (fig.) mystery: - deep (-ness, things), depth.

Timothy was also a deacon! How did he prove that he was a deacon? Why, he did the work of an evangelist:

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry (g1248 Diakonia). 2 Tim 4:5

Therefore, the deacons serve well and then advance to the work or ministry of teaching. This "advanced degree" CANNOT come from a human institution which produces "doctors of the law" because Jesus fired them once and for all times.

Rather, the deacon is a fundamental TEACHER of the flock because he is full of the Spirit (Acts 6) which means that he is:

Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 1 Tim 3:9

Musterion (g3466) moos-tay'-ree-on; from a der. of muo, (to shut the mouth); a secret or "mystery" (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites): - mystery

Baptism is the time and place where we ask God for a clear conscience or consciousness. The word in 1 Peter 3:21 is:

Suneidesis (g4893) soon-i'-day-sis; from a prol. form of 4894; co- perception, i.e. moral consciousness; - conscience.

Suneido (g4894) soon-i'-do; from 4862 and 1492; to see completely; used (like its prim.) only in two past tenses, respectively mean. to understand or become aware, and to be conscious or (clandestinely) informed of: - consider, know, be privy, be ware of.

As the "deacons" Stephen and Philip (and perhaps others) advanced in degree to become evangelists, the deacons or ministers advance in holding the mysteries of the faith.

This would not make them officers in a human organizational sense but they would hold a level of dignity which would not disappear when a serving task is finished.

Ignatius to the Tralliams:

For, since ye are subject to the bishop as to Jesus Christ, ye appear to me to live not after the manner of men, but according to Jesus Christ, who died for us, in order, by believing in His death, ye may escape from death. It is therefore necessary that, as ye indeed do, so without the bishop ye should do nothing, but should also be subject to the presbytery, as to the apostle of Jesus Christ, who is our hope, in whom, if we live, we shall [at last] be found.

It is fitting also that the deacons, as being [the ministers] of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, should in every respect be pleasing to all. For they are not ministers of meat and drink, but servants of the Church of God. They are bound, therefore, to avoid all grounds of accusation [against them], as they would do fire.

Be ye subject to the bishop as to the Lord, for "he watches for your souls, as one that shall give account to God." [Heb. xiii. 17. ] Wherefore also, ye appear to me to live not after the manner of men, but according to Jesus Christ, who died for us, in order that, by believing in His death, ye may by baptism be made partakers of His resurrection. It is therefore necessary, whatsoever things ye do, to do nothing without the bishop. And be ye subject also to the presbytery, as to the apostles of Jesus Christ, who is our hope, in whom, if we live, we shall be found in Him.

It behoves you also, in every way, to please the deacons, who are [ministers] of the mysteries of Christ Jesus; for they are not ministers of meat and drink, but servants of the Church of God. They are bound, therefore, to avoid all grounds of accusation [against them], as they would a burning fire. Let them, then, prove themselves to be such.

This role or office assuredly is not related to "buildings and ground" which might be taken care of by a servant of the church but who is not part of the "two degrees" or grades of teachers in the local church.

While this is not an ecclesiastical order, yet it is truly a work defined by gender and rules. The "teaching" meaning of the word defined by Paul as applying only to marriad males with one wife. And by declaring that women are not to teach over or rule over in a presiding sense, Paul eleminates Phoebe as the same kind of servant as Timothy. And, indeed, nothing in Phoebe's history indicates that she taught.

Timothy was an evangelist as a mobile teacher. However, the word "deacon" also includes the role of teaching:

If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister (g1249) of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 1Ti.4:6

Therefore, Phoebe might have ministered to the church in Cenchrea as Onesiphorus had ministered in Ephesus. However, we cannot say that either was a member of the church in the city to which they ministered.

Phoebe, like Lydia, could minister to a church in a city and then go on to Rome to take care of her "pragmatic" business which is not church business.

Phoebe was not sent on a missionary trip as preacher or even as messenger of the Apostle. We have not the slightest notion of what she was doing in Rome. Because she looked out for other travelers the Romans should aid Phoebe in her business.

That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also. Romans 16:2

This might say that Paul wasn't even sure of why Phoebe was going to Rome but from Lydia we know that women traveled and did business.

Phoebe was not functioning as an "assister" of the church but she stood in need of assistance on her business.

Business is from the Greek:

Pragma (g4229) prag'-mah; from 4238; a deed; by impl. an affair; by extens. an object (material): - business, matter, thing, work.

Pragmateia (g4230) prag-mat-i'-ah; from 4231 (from 4229 a trade); a transaction, i.e. negotiation: - affair.

Pragmateuomai (g4231) prag-mat-yoo'-om-ahee; from 4229; to busy oneself with, i.e. to trade: - occupy.

Lydia was: "a female trader in purple cloth: - seller of purple." Lydia also ministered to Paul's needs:

And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us. Acts 16:15

This word is never used of a servant on spiritual business.

Phoebe could not have been on church "business" because:

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 2Ti.2:4

Paul was especially concerned that those involved in evangelism take care of themselves. This would allow them to aid Zenas the lawyer:

Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need. Titus 3:13

Our people (Paul's evangelistic team) must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives. Titus 3:14

Paul dispensed with legalism and declared that an evangelist cannot accept a wage and retain his credibility. Therefore, he depended on those to whom he had ministered as a team to support the ministry of the Word which is free (Isaiah 55) and cannot dispensed for a fee.

However, Paul was a different type of minister and those who assisted him were different from the Diakonos. Paul wrote of the religious ministers:

That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:16

Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. Ph.2:25

This "minister" is not Diakonos but:

Leitourgos (g3011) li-toorg-os'; from a der. of 2992 and 2041; a public servant, i.e. a functionary in the Temple or Gospel, or (gen.) a worshipper (of God) or benefactor (of man): - minister (-ed).

There is another class of fellow servants with Paul which included women but did not list Phoebe among them:

Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus: Ro.16:3

Because Paul would not take pay from the church in which he was laboring, people like Priscilla and Aquila worked with Paul as tentmakers (leather-crafters etc) to support the "team" and also to teach people like Apollos in their home. This role was:

Sunergos (g4904) soon-er-gos'; from a presumed comp. of 4862 and the base of 2041; a co-laborer, i.e. coadjutor: - companion in labour, (fellow-) helper (-labourer, -worker), labourer together with, workfellow.

Therefore, Phoebe was not part of an evangelistic 'support team.' As she is traveling in Rome and would be a servant of the church in Rome, she may have traveled to Cenchrea and been a servant there. However, she was not an ordained Deaconess and we really cannot know whether she ministered to Cenchrea full time or enroute.

A writer in favor of women teaching said that:

"During the Apostolic Age, women were deacons (servants), just as men were (Rom. 16:1-2; 1 tim. 3:12), but by the late fourth century women deacons were being called deaconesses, a new term not found in Scriptures, and were subordinate to male deacons, even though they were still ordained as clerics.

By the twelfth century, in both the Eastern and Western Church, the order of deaconesses had almost disappeared." (Trombley, Charles, Who Said Women Can't Teach, p. 197).

Based on this understanding it would not have been proper to make a woman or Deaconess the "head" of a fraction of the overseeing work of the church. She was not a co-deacon but aided the deacons.

We are not bound to believe this but it is one more piece of evidence against those who try to find historical authority for the Deaconess.

Paul leaves us a record of a large number of women who took the work of teaching seriously. We know that Phoebe was not "the husband of one wife" and was not an "official" deacon--whatever that might have been. Husband or aner means man, male, husband, sir. Anthropos is derived from this specific word and means man in general. Neuter words are also used but the context makes it clear that Paul is speaking of men.

Therefore, women are not made into female deacons without first dismissing Paul's statement as having validity because he was ignorant of the "law" or was just a male, chauvinistic pig.

Secular rulers are also "ministers." Paul was an apostle but also a minister. Phoebe was a minister from Cenchrea. Anyone who serves the people is a minister but "Deacon" is not English but Greek. This word was transliterated to specifically mark those ministers who are called out for a special work.

People who serve the church don't need to be called anything. For instance, in our business we had a janitor. However, we never called him "Janitor Joe."

Paul understood what he said to the Romans about Phoebe. And yet he clearly said that "Deacons" were to be male, married, husbands, faithful. The six "deacons" in Acts are never seen feeding people. Rather, at least two--Philip and Stephen--are called evangelists because the demand to be Spirit filled or "holding the truth" specifically points them in the direction of sent evangelists. In later years it was the "ministers" who did the evangelizing.

Rather than all women wanting to be "ministers" in the sense of "preaching in the pulpit" perhaps God would be better honored and served if all ministers sought to be Phoebes!

Charles Trombley in Who Said a Woman Can't Teach says on page 58 that-

"Phoebe was a 'deacon' who was ruler (prostatis) of many, including the apostle Paul. I used 'deacon' since the feminine form, deaconess, wasn't used until at least 250 years after Paul wrote this letter."

However, this was not an "office" in the local assembly and this word does not make her an eldresses. Rather,

[Patron is: prostatai, This is a military expression applied to those placed in the foremost ranks of a battalion of soldiers; but it was also employed in civil affairs, to designate, for instance at Athens, those who protected the metotkoi (aliens), and others without the rights of citizenship. IIrostath" was the Roman Patronus.] Hippolytus Refutation of Heresies

Because all believers are "citizens" and therefore not "aliens" we know that Phoebe served and protected but not as a church "official" and certainly not as a ^Special _servant meaning that she is the "superior one of her species."

Rather than as a "stand over or non-sedantary, non-silent" functionary in a ritual-laden "worship," this kind of minister looked after people who were not "citizens" of the secular kingdom. In the same sense, "widows or deaconesses" were earlier attendants when the priest went into a woman's home otherwise alone. There is no approved example in history of a deaconess being given "rulership" over a "ministry" or fraction of the oversight work of a local congregation.

Aristotle, Politics

[1275a][1] so that we have to consider who is entitled to the name of citizen, and what the essential nature of a citizen is. For there is often a difference of opinion as to this: people do not all agree that the same person is a citizen; often somebody who would be a citizen in a democracy is not a citizen under an oligarchy. We need not here consider those who acquire the title of citizen in some exceptional manner, for example those who are citizens by adoption; and citizenship is not constituted by domicile in a certain place (for resident aliens and slaves share the domicile of citizens), nor are those citizens who participate in a common system of justice, conferring the right to defend an action and to bring one in the law-courts (for this right belongs also to the parties under a commercial treaty, as they too can sue and be sued at law,--

or rather, in many places even the right of legal action is not shared completely by resident aliens,

but they are obliged to produce a patron, so that they only share in a common legal procedure to an incomplete degree),

but these are only citizens in the manner in which children who are as yet too young to have been enrolled in the list and old men who have been discharged [the elderly were excused from the assembly] must be pronounced to be citizens in a sense, yet not quite absolutely, but with the added qualification of 'under age' in the case of the former and 'superannuated' or some other similar term (it makes no difference, the meaning being clear) in that of the latter.

For we seek to define a citizen in the absolute sense, and one possessing no disqualification of this nature that requires a correcting term, since similar difficulties may also be raised, and solved, about citizens who have been disfranchised or exiled. A citizen pure and simple is defined by nothing else so much as by the right to participate in judicial functions and in office.

But some offices of government are definitely limited in regard to time, so that some of them are not allowed to be held twice by the same person at all, or only after certain fixed intervals of time; other officials are without limit of tenure, for example the juryman and the member of the assembly.

It might perhaps be said that such persons are not officials at all, and that the exercise of these functions does not constitute the holding of office; and yet it is absurd to deny the title of official to those who have the greatest power in the state.

But it need not make any difference, as it is only the question of a name, since there is no common name for a juryman and a member of the assembly that is properly applied to both. For the sake of distinction therefore let us call the combination of the two functions 'office' without limitation. Accordingly we lay it down that those are citizens who participate in office in this manner.

The reinvention of the deaconess in churches of Christ is just part of a broader agenda to pattern the church after denominations in the interest of "attracting" people to the worship which will never be attracted by the Word of Christ delivered "as it has been delivered to you." This is a distortion of the picture of "church" which was an assembly meeting in a given larger community setting. "Permitting" a woman to be a "Deaconess" to enable her to "pass communion" is also demeaning.

Would you designate elder sister as official servant of the family? Well, now you understand how God feels when you make His family into a four-ring circus just to attract the unbeliever and chase off the old timers who paid the price for the property.

Because the church is a "called out assembly" in the Greek sense, it has men who stand over and serve the group so that edification or teaching can take place. However, it would make no sense to ordain a "deaconess" and then deprive her of the power to preach like Philip or Stephen.

Of the word "Deaconess" or even "Deacon"-

"More and more, scholars are emphasizing that there is an anachronism involved in giving this word a precise meaning corresponding to an ecclesiastical institution to which the first real references... date from much later--from some time after the year 200 A.D." (Martimort, Aime Georges, Deaconesses: An Historical Study (Ignatius Press, p. 19-20, San Francisco, 1982).

"When we recall that there is no convincing evidence of the existence of an order in the Apostolic Age and that the first definite reference to it is found not before the third century the only reasonable conclusion upon the available evidence is that, whoever Pliny had examined and whatever unspecified functions that they had previously performed, we cannot say with conviction that they were members of an order of deaconesses." (Davies, J.G, "Deacons, Deaconesses and the Minor Orders in the Patristic Period," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 14, no. 1 (April 1963), p. 2-3).

Proistemi which Trombley wants to apply to women to make them "rulers" can mean "rule over" but it can more easily mean "to maintain" such as maintaining good works or to "profess an honest occupation." "The usage of the phrase kala erga in the Pastoral Epistles is decisive for rendering "good works." An example of the use of proistemi is:

This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. Titus 3:8

Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives. Titus 3:14

In the sense of "rule," proistemi is to "stand before, to lead." In the sense of "to maintain" Phoebe was to rule or lead those who were in need of a solution of their secular problems but she is never called a "ruler" or proistemi. Carrying a letter would not give Phoebe an "office." There is no evidence that she every taught over a congregation. Even if she had, it would elevate her to the position in which she "ruled" by "teaching" or caring for the weak females as a nurse might care for the sick just as the shepherd is to nurture the lambs.

In Romans 12:8 the word is "leadership" and if anyone wants to lead then there are many opportunities. In 1 Tim 5:17 it is preaching and teaching. Anyone may preach or teach the Word but Paul severely limits the time and place. In 1 Tim. 3:4 it is commanding obedience and respect from one's children.

Anyone may command respect as we have noted in our discussion of the word "likewise" but not everyone can be an elder or deacon.

The word likewise also means to "stand before the church" but Paul never hints that Phoebe in her work went into the streets or synagogues and preached.

It would have been unseemly and "excommunicatable" for Phoebe to stand before an assembly, sing, sway, wink and play musical instruments. They would have sent her back to the "meat markets" where lamb and more was sold. It was not just "ruling" roles excluded by Paul but official "standing" roles since "silence" incluses being sedentary.

According to Trombley, not only is a deaconess a ruler, she is a ruler of Paul! However, this would violate the mandate of Jesus that to be acceptable with Him we must not seek to be a ruler. In the sense that the Pastor-Teachers had control over the assembly in order that they be its teachers, this would say at the least that Phoebe was Paul's teacher. Paul denied that anyone but the Spirit Jesus Christ was his teacher.

However mistaken this statement may be it shows that Paul did not call Phoebe a deaconess because this word did not even exist for another 250 years.

Trombley continues to say that the only slip-up which Paul made was in 1 Timothy 2:12 because he knew that women under the law were teachers. Therefore, Paul was that:

"the Judaizers who wanted the woman silenced, 'And you who keep on insisting that women be silent in the church...stop it!"

Now, he pretends that instead of Paul saying that the women should be silent in the assembly, those who wanted her silenced must themselves be silenced! This is the topsy-turvey logic which takes Paul's teaching on Eve and concludes that Eve was actually the mother of Adam and the Meadiatrix of the human race: that she was a teacher who got all of her information from Satan. This is consistent with several modern groups who acknowledge to those who have advanced far enough that their god is Lucifer.

"It would, however, be a mistake to conclude that the term has here necessarily a technical sense. When St. Paul speaks of Apollos (1 Cor. 3:5), Epaphras (Co. 1:7), Timothy (1 Thess. 3:2 and himself as diakonoi,

he is obviously concerned with service and not with office, and this may equally be the case with Phoebe--further than this the evidence does not allow one to go." (Davies, p. 1)

Davies would deny the Catholics, on the basis of the Bible, history or canon law to "go beyond" and create a new superior class in the church knowing that what they are doing is not necessary and that they are sowing discord.

Fro the Greek words used if Phoebe was an official deaconess then was she an official eldress. As a succorer she was a:

Prostatis (g4368) pros-tat'-is; fem. of a der. of 4291; a patroness, i.e. assistant: - succourer.

It is derived from: