No Longer Silent

However, religious tradition and Jewish custom have been
relentless in their suppression of women. Even those extraordinary
women who have overcome female subjugation and have launched out and
done exploits in Christ’s name have had little recorded about their
triumphs of faith.

Most of the world today represses female initiative,
restricting women to one level or another of servitude, subordination
or outright female bondage. From Moslem nations in which women must
cover their faces and bodies with long flowing robes, to uncultured
tribes in which tradition relegates them to a status little above
animals, the role of women is one of subservience and inferiority, and
it should not be.

In the Christian church worldwide, traditional theology
has extracted two statements by the apostle Paul out of their context
and used them to establish a doctrinal absolute that consistently
restricts women to silence in the church and prohibits them from
initiative and leadership (see 1 Cor. 14:34; 1 Tim. 2:11-12). But God
never intended for women to sit on the sidelines while men did all the
work of the ministry. He wants every woman to know that she is His
special child, equal to anyone else in the world and designed by Him
with unlimited potential.

My husband, T.L. Osborn, and I have spent more than five
decades proclaiming the gospel to millions, face to face, in more than
70 nations. As a woman, my role has been unlimited, and yours can be,
too.

It has been my privilege to organize crusades, meet heads
of state and other government officials, secure permits, arrange for
contracts for stadiums and grounds, install equipment, negotiate with
businesses for tons of literature and purchase thousands of
evangelistic tracts. I have organized the cooperating pastors, set up
workers’ institutes and convert schools, and presided over the
crusades. While the crusades are taking place, I alternate with my
husband, teaching and preaching daily in the meetings.

In addition to all of that, as corporate president of
Osborn Foundation, or OSFO, International world headquarters, I oversee
all our international offices, with our enormous worldwide missionary
outreaches.

Being a woman does not alter my status as a believer, a
disciple of Jesus Christ, His follower, His servant. What He said to
all believers, He says to me—and to you also. His Great Commission
applies to women in the same way it applies to men, and the power of
the Holy Spirit in a woman’s life to accomplish it is no different than
it is in a man’s life.

Biblical Examples
Eve, the first woman God created, has inspired many a
discourse that has resulted in the institution of ironclad church
doctrines that put women “in their place,” silent and nonassertive in
God’s No. 1 job. But if a woman’s disobedience resulted in the fall of
the human race, let’s not forget it was a woman’s obedience that
resulted in the redemption of humankind.

God chose a woman as His channel for redemption,
forgiveness and eternal salvation. A woman was used to bring joy,
peace, love, comfort and fulfillment to the human race.

And don’t forget these other biblical facts related to women:

• Women were active in the ministry of Jesus (see Luke 8:1-3).

• The last person at the cross was a woman (see Mark 15:47).

• The first person at the tomb was a woman (see John 20:1).

• The first person to proclaim the message of the resurrection was a woman (see Matt. 28:8).

• The first preacher to the Jews was a woman (see Luke 2:37).

• Women were at the historic prayer meeting following Christ’s ascension (see Acts 1:14).

• Women were in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost
and were given power to be witnesses of Christ, the same as the men
(see Acts 2:4; 1:8).

• The first people to greet the Christian missionaries Paul and Silas in Europe were women (see (Acts 16:13).

• The first European convert was a woman (see Acts 16:14).

Are these facts important? Do they have a message for us? Do they relate to women today? I believe they do.

There is no better example for us than Mary of Magdala, a
demon-possessed business woman who came to Jesus, was delivered by Him,
became His follower and supporter, assisted in the business
arrangements, was at the cross, helped prepare His body for burial, was
there when Jesus arose and was visited by Him, received His message,
delivered it to the apostles, was filled with the Holy Spirit on the
Day of Pentecost, and was an anointed messenger and witness of Jesus
Christ in the early church.

Mary had seven demons. But Jesus cast those demons from
her so that she could have life, real life, eternal and abundant life.
She was completely delivered.

Jesus took the good in Mary—her God-given ability—and
made her a useful, successful person. She became a minister to human
needs.

According to respected Bible commentaries, Mary was on
Jesus’ team as He went from village to village (see Luke 8:1-3). Her
experience proves that Jesus came to redeem women and to use them as
His co-workers, disciples, messengers and representatives just as He
came to redeem and use men.

Since Jewish religion traditionally suppressed women,
writers of the Scriptures dared not make much mention of their acts of
faith, but a close study of women in New Testament history clearly
shows them in places of great influence and action, carrying out the
new role of the redeemed woman in the church of Jesus Christ. When
Jesus becomes Master of your life, you as a woman can do anything God
puts in your heart to do.

Delivered From Tradition
I have a friend in Africa who is the wife of a prominent
evangelical leader. Until she attended one of our women’s conferences,
she was timid and non-expressive and did little more than warm a church
pew.

Her husband was revolutionized by our conference. He saw
that his own male superiority complex had made no allowance for his
wife’s ministry to develop. Her potential was totally uncultivated.

As a successful leader, my friend’s husband was inundated
with calls to preach and minister. He drove himself day and night,
almost to the breaking point, while his allegiance to archaic religious
tradition kept his wife’s powerful personality and energy shackled and
restrained.

They both got their eyes opened at the conference. He saw
the terrible waste of human energy and influence that church tradition
had imposed by keeping the women of his congregation in silence. And
she realized how ridiculous it was for her to allow herself to be
subdued by chauvinistic prejudice.

That African woman, with the encouragement of her revolutionized, soul-winning husband, began to realize· that
she was filled with the Holy Spirit just as her husband was and that
she had the same anointing, the same faculties and the same
responsibility to share Jesus with the world that he has. She not only
became a powerful voice and influence in their rapidly growing church
but also began to organize the women of the area.

Since attending the conference, they have given birth to
an African women’s organization of preachers, evangelists,
church-builders, convention-speakers, community promoters,
home-builders, school and clinic organizers. They have built a
Pan-African Women’s Headquarters Building and Teaching Center. They
have done their work so well that even the government is recognizing
their influence and their contribution to their nation.

Mary Magdalene was completely delivered by Jesus
Christ—not only from demons but also from religious male domination. I
pray that every woman who reads this will have a miracle
deliverance—not only from sin, disease and negativism, but also from
the tradition of churchmen that locks God’s army of women in a pious
world of silence.

This world is lost. The gospel must be proclaimed by
every voice and instrument possible. Christ’s commission is to all
believers, regardless of gender (see Gal. 3:28). The church can no
longer afford the silence of two-thirds of its constituency.

Mary Magdalene is a symbol of what Jesus came to do. He
defeated death, hell and the grave. He broke down the walls of
division. He annulled the laws of segregation. He abolished the curse
of racial or sexual prejudice.

By His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus defeated
Satan once and for all. The new, liberated church was born. The
Jesus-woman for the Jesus-church emerged as a redeemed, Spirit-filled,
powerful woman to fill the role for which God created and destined her.

Now you have a choice. You can choose to love, obey,
follow and serve your Lord. You can determine to accept your true
identity as God’s child—a co-heir with Christ—and fulfill His dream for
your life.

Your future, your new status, your new life of love and
happiness and success and achievement all depend on your willingness to
make a decision right now to say to yourself and to God, “From this
moment on, I will recognize—and walk in—my understanding of my worth as
a woman in the kingdom of God.”

I made this choice long ago when it became apparent God
was calling my husband into worldwide ministry. I didn’t want to stay
home and hear about his exploits secondhand; I wanted to be a part of
them! How about you? Are you ready to get off the pew and step into the
exciting future God has for you?

Daisy Washburn Osborn (1924-1995) was a fiery
evangelist who traveled the world with her husband, T.L. Osborn, for
more than 50 years, sharing the gospel and bringing healing and
deliverance to multiplied thousands in more than 70 countries, often
through huge crusades. She had tremendous administrative gifts and
served as president and chief executive officer of Osborn Foundation
International, the couple’s Christian missionary organization, which
had headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In this role, she often went to
each country they ministered in before a crusade began to do all the
“front-end” work: meeting with pastors, government leaders and the
press and finalizing technical details. Then, at the actual crusades,
she alternated with her husband as preacher and teacher.

Daisy Wasburn Osborn firmly believed that in Christ we are all equal,
regardless of sex, race or color, and she devoted much of her energy to
encouraging women to become all God intended for them to be, in spite
of opposition from their churches, families or inner selves. Author of
several books and a sought-after speaker in her day, she was
responsible for countless conversions and transformed lives.