The Message of this Book
Through time spent at His feet and many experiences over the years, God has fine-tuned for me a biblical truth that is foundational for the message of this book: God requires us to do our part in having and maintaining right relationships with Him and with others in the body of Christ. Offenses among believers must always be biblically addressed with the goal of reconciliation. When they are not, the parties involved are left with broken relationships with each other. Our heavenly Father is not pleased when there are such problems in His family. He considers failure to address such relational offenses to be sin. His Word requires that all believers involved in any relational conflict, whether they be victim or perpetrator, take biblical steps to remove the offense. Failure to do so leaves the unaddressed offense like a spiritual cancer in the body of Christ. It silently grows and gradually spreads. It interferes with the normal function of the body and brings death. Prayers go unanswered because ongoing sin among God’s people always hinders God’s answers to their prayers (Isa. 59).
A Woman of Chayil [khah’-yil] takes an in-depth look at a huge, long-term relational sin in the body of Christ. This sin has gone basically unidentified, unrecognized, and unaddressed. This spiritual cancer began at the time of the Fall and has been growing and metastasizing among human beings for several millennia. In the Body of Christ, it is found in the improper relationship that exists between Christian women and Christian men. Since the early beginnings of the church, the devil has been able to use Christian men who hold errant beliefs to carry out his hatred of women, hatred which began at the time of the Fall, by stifling, subduing, and abusing them under the mantle of male authority. Christian women also have been used to silently enable abusive men and, thereby, perpetuate their own mistreatment. Thus, both genders are responsible for the cancerous state of affairs that has hindered and blocked much needed answers to the prayers of the body of Christ. Both genders are responsible for grieving the Holy Spirit and frustrating the work of the Holy Spirit on the earth.
I believe that when both men and women begin to acknowledge and correct the part they each play in the perpetuation of this great offense, healing will begin. The church and the earth will begin to experience a fresh outpouring of spiritual life. There will be a spiritual revival the likes of which have never been seen. Such a revival is certainly needed in the times in which we live.
I am not a feminist. I am a free woman in Christ. I have written this book from my perspective as a Christian woman who spent many years in enabling silence, having been subdued and suppressed by numerous Christian men. I have since learned to a large degree to overcome my sin of enabling my fellow believers. Enabling comes naturally to many women and thus remains unidentified as a sin. It is fitting that I do my part to help other women recognize this sin and learn how, by walking with Christ, to end their silence and stop enabling the Christian men who sin against them. In this way they will begin to do what God requires of them towards the removal of a deadly spiritual cancer from the body of Christ.
A Controversial Topic
In many Christian circles, women cannot speak about the subject of this book without facing criticism, opposition, and even shaming from those who have historically played a major role in silencing them. For Christian women to break silence and question the validity of their traditionally-defined place in the family of God is, in itself, an act outside the boundaries which have been established for them over many centuries. This sad situation is made even sadder by the fact that many God-fearing Christian women don’t even venture to think about the topic, much less pose questions about it, lest they be found guilty by God of questioning what the Bible appears to spell out plainly. I was such a woman until God set me on an unexpected and unsought-after path that, to my great surprise and joy, led me into the discovery of the wonderful freedom I had in Christ, freedom that I had no idea was mine.
I pray God will bless this writing and use it to convict both men and women of improper gender roles they play which further the purpose of God’s enemy. I pray they will find the way to full freedom in Christ in their relationships with one another. I also pray that all who read this book will be challenged to rethink and re-examine its crucial topic—and be changed for the better!
A Woman of Chayil: Far Above Rubies by Jane Carole Anderson
Nell