Woman of God Interview #1

    In this episode I'm talking to one of my paternal aunts. She is the eldest of my dad's siblings (with my dad being the baby), and is highly involved in the African Methodist Episcopal church. I received one of my first Bibles from this aunt and am currently in a Bible Study group per her recommendation. When I think of the traditional definition of a Christian woman, this is the aunt that comes to mind. She is intelligent and wise, and one of the few people in my family I have never heard raise their voice. She was a devoted wife to my uncle who passed away a few years ago, and raised two children. If ever there was a Proverbs 31 Woman in my family, she would be her.
    15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants also will fast in the same way. And then I will go in to the king, which is not in accordance with the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
    Esther 4:15-16 NASB

    Introduction

    I'm going to do something super weird—I'm going to start a series completely unrelated to the theme or prophecy within this season. On my YouTube channel I have a series called Breakfast & Bible, which didn't pan out exactly how I envisioned, but has been a great experience overall. In that series, I've been exploring what it means to be a woman of God, and studying the women of the Bible. I've been fortunate enough to live the life called out in the Bible where older women are instructed to teach younger women. I had not 2, not 3, but 5 grandmother figures in my life, a host of aunts, and older cousins such that I was able to learn from women of all the generations before me. I don't know that I've been doing a great job of being that for the women in my family who are younger than me, but it did inspire me to go back to interviewing people for the podcast. I want to talk to as many women I can, old and young alike. I wanna share their experiences and hear their advice.

    So, completely unrelated to prophecy, these episodes will be interleaved throughout the season, and probably span into other seasons.

    About My Aunt

    In this episode I'm talking to one of my paternal aunts. She is the eldest of my dad's siblings (with my dad being the baby), and is highly involved in the African Methodist Episcopal church. I received one of my first Bibles from this aunt and am currently in a Bible Study group per her recommendation. When I think of the traditional definition of a Christian woman, this is the aunt that comes to mind. She is intelligent and wise, and one of the few people in my family I have never heard raise their voice. She was a devoted wife to my uncle who passed away a few years ago, and raised two children. If ever there was a Proverbs 31 Woman in my family, she would be her.

    Acknowledgement of Audio Issues

    I recorded the interview because I wanted it to be accessible in multiple forms—and I wanted people to be able to hear my aunt in her own words. However, I didn't think through recording it well and tried to just record off my laptop without a mic (which I do sometimes for the podcast). It ended up with pretty poor sound quality. I took notes while we were chatting, just in case the sound was poor quality, but that actually made it worse because you hear me typing! 🤦🏽‍♀️ So, below is a transcript of my aunt's answers and please pardon the audio.

    The Interview


    Who is your favorite heroine?

    Esther.

    She had the courage to come out to the king when Mordecai wanted her to talk to the king about what's his name was going to kill up everybody (all the Jews). He told her she needed to talk to the king and she said unless he invited her, if she just walked in there, she could be killed. Somehow, I guess, she came to the realization that she needed to help save other Jews. She was very courageous in that.

    I guess she would be one of my favorites. Then theres Deborah, and there's Ruth, she left her country and followed her mother-in-law. But you just want one, right?

    If you could speak to any woman in the Bible, who would it be?

    I would probably speak to Mary

    That was just awesome, the angel has come to tell you you're going to have a baby and there's been no relationship with a man. She took it all with stride. She went on and did without a lot of questions and all of that. I guess that takes humility. I just can't imagine how she took it so easy... And then Joseph was going to put her away, but the angel told him no don't do that. At that time for someone to be pregnant it would have been ostracized without a husband.

    I remember when I was growing up and there were one or two women—I mean younger women—that got pregnant. They had to come up and I guess like you confess to the priest, they had to come up and say they were sorry for what they had done. It's not like that anymore. You single and gonna have a baby, you get just as much attention as a married person. Then the baby gets all these things they need. You can't be upset with the baby. And they don't stop with one, you know how many they have. But no, they would have to come up in front of the church and say they were sorry for what they had done. That was something.

    What do you think we could learn from Eve?

    Well because of the circumstances and all the things that went on afterward, I guess you would learn to listen and not disobey God, because that brought it on.

    God had made the man first and he was over everything; and then He made Eve. Well, the serpent came to her anyway, but it was as if she was running ahead of Adam. And then—I don't know how you read it—but it says she gave it to her husband who was with her. And he didn't—have you read it? That's kind of strange that it says she gave it to her husband—and he knew what God and said too. So, yeah, she was disobedient. She didn't listen to what God told her to do.

    I don't know what else... Well, she was named Eve because Adam said she was the mother of all living things.

    This is probably my first time thinking, but if he was there with her why didn't he tell her no? [1]

    The other thing I found out... That was the first time—well there were only two people—but blame was really... Because Adam said "well the woman you gave me. If you hadn't given me this woman, I wouldn't be sinning." That's what I thought&mdahs;that's where the blame game started. Well the serpent, you know, deceived her. But then , it's just amazing that Adam would say, "well the woman you gave me gave me the fruit so God if you hadn't given me this woman, I wouldn't have eaten the fruit." Men are something else. 🤣[2]

    Have you ever heard of Huldah?

    I'm sure that I have.[3]

    So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (and she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her.
    2 Kings 22:34 NASB

    Ok, now the king they took [the scriptures] to was little Josiah, wasn't it? He was young, about the youngest one.

    I'll have to go back and read that. I've been there, but you know how you read and it comes back to you. I can't just point and go back to it right now. But I know about Josaih and them finding the original work and all that.

    [She was] like Deborah—wasn't Barak afraid to go and Deborah went with him?[4]

    Have you had women mentor you in the faith?

    Hmm... That's tough. I don't know, somebody that had influence...

    Well we had to figure out alot of things on our own. I can't think of anyone outside of the family. It would have to been Mother or aunts or somebody that did that.

    What (if anything) is something you wish the Church (or the Bible) did better in term of addressing women?

    Well. You're not in church like I am alot. It seems as if men are on the back burner, and women are leading and running things. That's what it seems like. So it's hard to think of something... I don't know what they would do differently. They are preaching; they are elders; they are bishops. And then, like in your local church, they're the people who are leading.

    Do you think more can be done to bring men back into the church?

    Have them take a role and stand up and look like men.

    Conversation about Women in the Pulpit

    You know they had the sacred desk and whatever, but if you go back to the Temple, they had the Holy of Holies back there. And they tied a rope around your leg, so if you died back there they had to pull you out.[5][6] There weren't any women going back there, and there were very few men going back there. So for a long time, the women didn't preach, but now they're the leaders.

    But that doesn't really answer you question, does it? I can't really think of anything they're left out of.

    Politics and the Church

    You know the church is very political. The church is as political as the government so when our bishops run, they have to raise money and they spend a lot of money. People give it in the churches and so forth. And almost any office—if you're a general officer or high up in the church—you have to run for that. The internet was full of people running before General Conference. It must have been 25 or 30 people just running bishop and they all have to have money to do that. I don't know if the government follows the church or the church follows the government, but it's all run like that. We have legislative bodies, executive bodies, the group in there that makes the laws for the church.

    If you could leave a message for future believers, what would that be?

    The main thing would be to pray and hold on to your faith. You know we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but faith is the key. You have to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Son of God and you'll be saved. Faith is believing and trusting. So that would be my thing,

    References and Footnotes

    1. In this discussion I mentioned a verse that confirms Adam was not deceived and was fully aware of what was happening. This verse is 1 Timothy 2:14; it is not in Romans.
    2. My dad and my aunt's son walked in right at that point making us all laugh.
    3. Huldah is discussed in 2 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 34
    4. Judges 4
    5. "Did the high priest have a rope tied to him when he entered the Holy of Holies?". GotQuestions.org; visited January 2025
    6. Terry Harman, D.Min, PhD. "Discover the Shocking Truth about the Rope Tied to the High Priest's Ankle pt 1".The Tabernacle Man. June 29, 2024; visited January 2025
    Published on Saturday, January 25, 2025
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