Is it possible to believe a lie and not even be aware of it?  Well, the answer is yes.  I grew up in a church domination that did not ordain women as ministers or allow them to teach from the pulpit.  (Now it was alright; however, for the women to teach boys and girls in Sunday school and a lady missionary could speak from the pulpit).

 In 1970, on September 9, in Dallas, Texas, the Lord touched my life and filled me with His power and glory.  I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, physical healing, and a call to the ministry for the Lord.  It was not until I received this visitation from the Lord that I realized that I had accepted a lie as church doctrine.  I could never have risen above the stigma of "a woman's place" without the Holy Spirit.  He put a mission in my heart to tell others that He loves, He heals, and He brings peace.

Before 1970, I never realized that all four of the Gospels in the New Testament express Jesus' attitude toward women.  He uplifted their social status by publicly associating with them.  He brought a positive and liberating light to them.

When Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha that is recorded in Luke 10:38-42, He set the record straight concerning the Jewish practices concerning women.  Martha was upset because Mary would not help with the serving.  Mary was in the living room with the men sitting at the feet of Jesus and soaking in the Word.  She was defying Jewish tradition by being with the men.  Both Jesus and Mary knew that the oral law kept women from studying the Torah.  In this culture a woman's place was in the house serving her husband and sons.

Jesus had a golden opportunity to stress that a woman's place was only to serve.  He "should" have corrected Mary's boldness, but He did not.  He said that "...Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her."  Sometimes a lie never dies.  The truth of it is kept alive by belief.  Even though it has been forty years since the Lord began to bring a new freedom to my life, the lie has tried to raise its ugly head from time to time.

The lie has words such as: "they will not accept you; you cannot do that because you are a woman" or "they will not hear your message."  Aren't we grateful for the New Covenant wherein there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, only oneness in Christ?  He set the captives free, both men and women, from all the bondages of sin, the curse, and religion!