Text: "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." Genesis 3:16

God has just told Eve about the pain of childbirth she would endure--and then He describes the relationship she is to have to her husband: Her desire, God says, will be directed toward him, and he will rule over her.

For the most part, that is the way it has been down through history. Muslim women, often wholly covered and confined to their quarters, are certainly among the world's most dominated and controlled women today.

In fact, almost every culture around the world has a subservient place for the female gender--with one exception. Christian culture has dramatically freed and elevated womanhood everywhere it has reached around the world.

Mary and Martha were two of Jesus' closest friends. And He even associated with a sinful but repentant harlot named Mary Magdalene. However, our Lord did not choose a woman for membership with the twelve. The scriptures also note that elders in the Church are to be "the husband of one wife."

Apart from these few restraints, the promise is that in the Church the Holy Spirit is to be poured out not only upon men but also upon "your sons and daughters" who shall prophesy.

Feminism as it has emerged in the West could be likened to a Christian heresy. Its hurtful presence should not deflect our eyes from the dramatic freedom Jesus Christ brings to women everywhere. Just ask any missionary you know!