Reverend (Dr.) Lizzy Suleman, woman of God and wife of the founder and head pastor at Fire and Miracle Ministries Worldwide, Apostle Johnson Suleman, speaks with one of our correspondent on the roles of woman as wife, mother and diligent company to her man, as well as her place in the society.  Excerpt…
How do you reconcile the notion that women are not called to be pastors or church elders and the great works many women like you are doing in the Lord’s vineyard?

The call of God on women is not restricted to just being woman without having anything to do with the pulpit. The general notion that women are not called to be a pastor or into church leadership is a wrong and misleading notion. Biblically, it’s not so. From the Bible days to this contemporary world, we have women at the helms of affairs in the church setting. To start with, Deborah, the judge in Israel, the wife of Lapidol who ruled Israel for years is a woman, Judge 4. Esther, the wife of king Ahaswerus saved the race of Jews from being exterminated. And in the contemporary world of today, Aimee  Semple  McPherson, the Founder of FourSquare Gospel  Church and many others. Though Apostle Paul said women should be silent in church, this is peculiar with the church in Corinthians because of the behaviour of the then women. This is not a general situation.

1 Corinthians 14: 34-35 do not prohibit women from speaking in the church in either pulpit ministry, teaching, preaching, praying, prophesying, or any other speaking function.  The focus of Chapter 14 is on the proper use of spiritual gifts, tongues and prophecy.  Apostle Paul’s closing exhortation, beginning in verse 39, is a fitting conclusion. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.  But let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner.

The notion that women should be silent in the church or not called to be a pastor or leader of congregation is wrong because of lack of total understanding of the scriptures.
There are women in places of authority. As a woman of God, how would the privilege not hinder her positive roles as wife and mother?

Every woman made by God is designed to be a wife to her husband and a mother to her biological children. And if the woman is in church setting, she will have spiritual children (protégées). One thing that is common that would make any woman a good wife and a good mother is humility, large heart and submission. Without true application of these Godly virtues, any woman in the place of authority would mix things up to the detriment of the society.

Abortion is the taking of life.  It is prevalent among our women. It has become an industry, a solution, and an excuse to avoid responsibility because those engaged in it will say it is because they have no money to care for the baby. How do we deal with it the Christian way?

To start with, abortion as you rightly put it is taking of life deliberately either from the stage of zygote or embryo or foetus, the moment of fertilisation is an entirely logical point to choose as the beginning of human life. Abortion is not the act or the way of God but of man and in no way is a Godly step that the society at large should emulate. Great stars, generals, professors, helpers of destinies have been sent into early extinction because of the evil work of blind mothers and fathers in the society. This evil vice can be dealt with in a Christian way first by having the fear of God. If every mother, would-be-mother, father and would-be-father should have the fear of God, the evil act of abortion would be curtailed because the Bible says ‘you shall not kill’ either from the stage of zygote or embryo or foetus or a full grown up human being, killing is killing. Before parents embark on the act of abortion, they should ask themselves the great question of life ‘assuming my parents aborted me when I was a zygote or embryo or foetus, would I be what I am today?’ That would be a good guide to solving this problem.

Marriage is God’s design. But even in Christian homes, it is not all rosy. What are the best tonics to having a lasting marriage?

Marriage is a journey. Most times, some journeys in life are full of challenges while some are rosy depending on the factors put in place before the journey started. Frankly speaking, there is no perfect marriage on earth because two people with different backgrounds are coming to stay together. Perfect marriage is in heaven between the bride (the church) and the groom (Jesus). However, if any marriage must work, it must be the joint effort of the couple. So the best marriage tonic in my opinion is having marital understanding, that every husband should love his wife and every wife should submit to her husband.

Please, tell us about the International Women Conference 2016 and the glory of the wonders and signs there.

The International Women Conference was a galaxy and compendium of power, testimonies and word depth. This is a conference where people converged from various continents of the world to be influenced positively by the new anointing which is the conference theme. The three days conference was packaged and summed up in word depth manifestation, healings, deliverances, restorations, accurate prophetic utterances, singing, drama etc. The conference was capped up with Thanksgiving. To the glory of God, testimonies are still coming in.

Some Christian women are confusing the fact that men and women have equal rights and access to salvation, with the need for submission to the leadership of men. What do you have to say about this?

Every man and woman on earth has equal right and access to salvation which is based on their faith in Christ and it is a divine gift offered to mankind by God. As regards women submitting to the leadership of men (at home) is not debatable or contestable because it’s divine instruction according to Ephesians 5:22 “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord”. However, when a woman is in position of authority, both men and women under her should submit to her.

How do you really inspire women under your watch in the church?

Inspiration for timely and purposeful leadership is from God. When it is time to lead, the capable and the needed resources to accomplish the due delivery of the exercise would be made available by God.
As a leader, the best way to inspire your followers is to inspire yourself first. In other words, when a leader is inspired, the followers would be inspired. A deliberate attempt to live an exemplary life is another source of motivation and inspiration for our women.

What are some of the qualities that describe a Godly woman in this time of vices?

The best way of describing qualities of a Godly woman is by aligning it with what the Bible says. A Godly woman must be a born again child of God whose life is a blessing to others. She must of necessity be engrossed with the duty of submission at home to her husband. A Godly woman can also mean a virtuous woman whose attributes are in Prov. 31:10-24. They are: industrious, tact, not wasteful or extravagant in life, not wicked in mind, good mothers indeed and not notorious in their approach to life.

In nutshell, a Godly woman does not live all her life on the things of this world. She believes that we are pilgrims or strangers in this world that sooner or later, Jesus will come back again to judge both the living and the dead. As a matter of fact, she knows that the every daily activity of human being is either pointing him or her to Heaven or hell.