Read 2 Timothy 3:1-7
2 Timothy 3:6-7 “For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
These verses have always caught my attention. As a woman, I’ve pondered and researched this text many times using the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the Vine’s Dictionary, and multiple commentaries. No where else in Scripture can I find that women are described as “silly”. When researching what the Apostle Paul meant, I have learned it is not a favorable description. The root meaning of “silly women” means weak, spiritually dwarfed, and foolish.
In this portion of Scripture, the Apostle Paul is warning Timothy of the days ahead. In fact, most of Paul’s writings to Timothy were warnings. Warnings are not usually easy to hear when they come against our pride and sinful nature. This particular warning brings out that women are led captive by false teachings. These women are susceptible to deception because of sin and then led away by their lusts. They think they are learning, but they never really understand, nor are able to comprehend the truth.
The feminist movement takes great offense to God’s design for women. I could see this particular passage offending greatly. Even as a Christian woman, I too could take offense. It is not a complimentary description. Only by approaching this text in humility and with a teachable spirit can I receive understanding. I do not want to find myself in this category of women which Paul is describing. My desire is to understand, to love, and to obey God’s Word. We are living in perilous times and “truth” is under attack. Paul tells us in the previous chapter: 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
So, ladies, how can we avoid being silly? – Our spiritual maturity always comes back to devotion and understanding of God’s Word through the working of the Holy Spirit within us. Sanctification happens in God’s Word. (John 17:17) His Word will transform us and make us more like Jesus. (Romans 8:29, 12:2) I’ve been a Christian for over 25 years, and in my faith journey I’ve learned that God’s Word teaches me and transforms me. The hardest part of my walk is to stand with the Scripture in all things. This is because the darker and more hardened this world becomes, the more narrow this pilgrim road becomes. (Matthew 7:13-15, 1 Peter 2:10-12)
Earnest, consistent, immersion into the pages of the Scriptures will transform our entire being. God’s Word is alive and holds eternal answers for every living soul. Life only makes sense when we know the Creator of life. The question is do we really want to know? Do we want soft sayings that smoothly brush over and stir our emotions without making any real change within us, or do we want the truth, which pierces our heart and cuts away at the destructive disease of sin? Do we want the Holy Spirit to shine His light upon our sin and expose it or do we want to hide under the “victim” banner and never experience the power of the Gospel?
Warnings about false teaching are throughout the Bible, and as we await the return of Christ, they will increase all the more. (Matthew 24) Paul said that sound doctrine will be hard for man to hear, and they will seek teachers who appeal to their lusts.
2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
Though we are warned over and over again. Christians are still being deceived and drawn to teachers who are not teaching the full counsel of God. Deception is real and deception is rampant. Pride is the blinder that prevents us from seeing truth. Humbling ourselves is a continual action we must take. It is foolish to think that we are beyond deception. The heart is deceitful. (Jeremiah 17:9-10) If we say that we cannot be deceived, we are deceived already.
“Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It’s knowing the difference between right and almost right.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
There are a lot of “almost right” ministries today, and from my observations, most of these ministries are actually women’s ministries. As the Apostle Paul warned, women even today are being captivated, led astray and imprisoned by false teachers. Women, are the weaker vessel. (1 Peter 3:7) We tend to be more emotionally driven. Granted, there are some exceptions to this generality.
I have found about four or five women Bible teachers that I will read or listen to, but they are not what is considered a celebrity Bible teacher. They don’t have a large following or bestselling books, but what they do have is discernment and depth in their theology. They dig into the Scriptures and keep their focus on Christ. Yet even though I really appreciate these women teachers, I have actually gleaned more Biblical knowledge from Bible teachers who are men. I think it is because men are typically more straightforward.
A disturbing aspect about many false teachers of our day is that their materials are bought and used in many churches. On the surface they appear to be teaching the Bible correctly. It is only when we look deeper into what they are saying and search the Scriptures ourselves can we catch errors. It helps to know what their beliefs or statements of faith are in order to identify if they are doctrinally sound in their theology. However, you will find that it is hard to find this type of information on some Bible teachers.
In our current church culture, women tend to gravitate more towards the teachings of women’s ministries. In 1 Timothy 2:11-12 women are instructed to learn in silence and not to have authority over or to teach men. In Titus 2:1-5 we read that the older women are to teach the younger women. These are specific commands for women that are not followed accurately, and sometimes even violated by many popular women’s ministries of our day.
In the book of Titus we see that women’s ministry is God ordained within the local church. We tend to run into problems when we give too much attention to celebrity leaders outside of our local church. Several ministries led by these personalities have slipped away from being a ministry into being a business.
God has ordained local church leaders to oversee and protect His flock. Paul had great concern over wolves coming in and twisting the Scripture for their own gain. Paul’s concerns were so great that he warned night and day for three years in tears. Keep in mind, this is before the communication technology of our day. Paul’s concerns in that time were extremely severe, yet in today’s world the wolves are creeping in on the sheep from several new angles and mediums. This is why it is vital that we keep ourselves under the authority and care of our local church leaders. God has given them for our protection. (Acts 20:27-32)
God ordained the position of leadership in the church to qualified men. (1 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-14, 1 Peter 5:1-11) We see in the Bible that the majority of the teaching in the church was done by men. In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 we read, “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.”
The Apostle Paul was continually fighting against the pagan influences upon the church. These influences are still encroaching upon us. I think it is becoming even more prevalent as we approach the return of Christ. To my knowledge there has been no other time in church history that has seen such a saturation of women’s ministries. Most Christian books which have made the bestseller’s list over the past couple decades have been written by women. I believe that there is a deeper spiritual connection with this recent phenomenon that is indicative of the end times.
To explain this connection would require more information than I want to introduce in this particular blog post, but I encourage you to open and watch this documentary entitled, “The Rise of The Divine Feminine”. It explains and exposes Satan’s ongoing scheme to try to destroy God’s design for men and women. This documentary goes into extensive details on the mystery religion that the book of Revelation speaks of, and how we can currently see these spiritual forces converging in the world today. The feminist movement has been around since the Garden of Eden and the doctrines of Satan are still working through the false religions of the world. The process has been gradual in America, but things are now ramping up. The end times Church should be wise and prepared.
I’m also going to add an article link, “Popular False Teachers & Unbiblical Trends”, to this post that examines and warns about false teachers. It has specific information about many popular women’s ministries of our day. As Christians we should do as the Apostle Paul instructed, mark and avoid false teachers. (Romans 16:17-18).
Ladies, doctrine matters. When I began this blog site about two years ago, my goal was to teach and encourage other women through short devotional blog posts. It is good for my personal study time, but also a way to hopefully get other women to read the Bible. I hear so many women go on and on emotionally about their favorite Christian music, Christian podcasts, Christian shows, and using Christian clichés. However, I hear very few women talk about their personal walk with the Lord and what portion of Scripture they’re currently reading. We should be women of the Word. We should be immersing ourselves into the Scriptures and feasting on God’s pages of nourishment. God gave us His Word to know Him and to obey Him. God’s Word is for His glory and for our good. There is great urgency for steadfast women who are grounded in the faith today more than ever before!
Ladies, don’t be led astray by false teachers and your own prideful lusts. There is no popular teacher in Christendom that is worth being caught up into false doctrines. The only Bible teacher we can completely trust is the Holy Spirit. (John 16:13-14) I encourage you to prayerfully go through the article and the documentary I’m sharing. The article contains sub-links to assist in your research. Never take a Bible teacher at face value. Research them. You may not agree with this article’s assessment, but don’t dismiss it without doing your own research. The documentary can be researched on the YouTube channel’s main page. Both the missionary and the blogger information I’m sharing with you, have many resources to investigate. Pray for wisdom and discernment.
I bring this information to you with grave concern about the false teachings entering churches. I think it’s more common than most of us realize and we are being affected by it more than we realize. The trajectory that women’s ministries have taken recently is extremely disturbing and I pray none of us are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”.
In Times Like These 