Category: discernment

By Elizabeth Prata

For sale (in 2016): Gorgeous waterfront Home on Galveston Bay. This stellar property comes with TWO lots! One includes very rare private sandy beach for total land of 10,000 square feet.

Deep water right up to the dock, four bedrooms, and a guest suite downstairs. The Master bedroom has its own fireplace, wait, there are TWO Master bedrooms! Ensuite bath, whirlpool tub, double sinks, kitchen has granite countertops. There’s a fireplace in the living room, too. Screened-in porch, showers outside, covered patio, on a cul-de-sac. A must see! Listed for $827,001 – $947,000.

That property I described, based on publicly available information, sold on June 21, 2016. Guess who bought it?

When Beth Moore tweets fun tweets like that, about being unglammed in A bay house, she isn’t telling you the whole story. It’s not “a” bay house, it’s Beth Moore’s bay house. A fact she neglects to mention in her carefully crafted tweet. At the date of that tweet, they had bought the home just three weeks prior.

When you think of the outrageously wealthy televangelists and preachers, your mind would likely go to Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, or Creflo Dollar. Those are some of the guys that have been under investigation by Congress. Those are the guys who flaunt lavish toys, private jet travel, and multiple homes sprinkled around the US. You likely wouldn’t think first of … Beth Moore? But you should. She is climbing up to their level, and fast.

Beth Moore’s errant doctrine is well established and well known. She channels books, an occult activity. She blasphemes. She preaches to men. She twists the Bible. She claims direct revelation & visions from Jesus and comes back to teach what He “said,” (making herself a prophetess.) She is all about man-centered, pop-psychology, self-esteem preaching. These statements are supported, with proofs. They are not made up out of thin air.

She is a false teacher.

But part of discernment is knowing that false teachers who teach false doctrine also have lifestyle issues. Always. Where one sin exists, the other will exist. I wrote about this phenomenon with mega-rich pastors before. See additional note below in the quote about heresy and vain living.

That got me thinking. How well is Beth Moore doing? How much do these royalties pay? How much is she earning in salaries and gifts from Living Proof Ministry?

Apparently, a LOT.

Let’s examine the benefits Beth Moore and her family enjoy from her Non-Profit company and her royalties, gifts, and honorariums. First, the salaries.

Beth Moore’s Living Proof salary is about $250,000. The ministry received $500,000 in honorariums last year. Royalties came in at about $400,000 last tax year. Sponsorship income came in at $520,000. Investment income was $127,000. (Apart from salary, the other figures don’t go directly to Beth Moore but are funneled through Living Proof for operating expenses etc.) Living Proof total assets on the latest Tax Return is $14 million dollars.

The personal royalties separate from Living Proof that Beth Moore earned from her movie appearance in the War Room movie is unknown.

Note: Beth’s daughter Melissa is also supported by the ministry, her salary is about $130,000.

Note: The Vice-President of Living Proof Ministries, Ivan Keith Moore, is Catholic.

A woman who said she works for LifeWay, tweeted,

“No one’s products provide as much revenue as Beth Moore’s.”

Luxuries:  She owns a boat. When she travels, she travels by first class or, private jet.  On the 2014 tax return, it stated that when Beth Moore flew to Houston with her daughter Melissa to preach at Hillsong, she bumped herself and Melissa up to first class cabins. Hillsong paid for the coach fare, the Ministry paid for the extra luxury to go first class. After that, she began to fly in a private jet, with LifeWay paying half and Living Proof Ministry paid the other half. The Tax returns state they fly in a private plane “as the ministry sees fit.”

Houses/Property

–House #1: on 45 acres in wealthy Tomball TX. Many custom builds both indoors and out, several toys such as golf cart and multiple tractors.

–House #2: on 45 acres in Tomball TX. Keith Moore’s parents lived there, his dad passed away in 2015. Total home square footage is about 6600 between the two.

–House #3: Menard TX, a newly remodeled ranch with farmhouse and large barn. The Assessor parcel information states, “No building information on record for this property,” so, determining square footage or how many structures are on the lot was not possible.

–House #4: Waterfront double lot with rare private beach in Galveston. Also, a boat. House is, 5500 sf, not including the land or the lot next door with the beach.

–Three storey office building in Houston: 8000 sf, tax exempt.

–Previously owned (sold in 2013) cabin in Jackson WY at gateway to Yellowstone at foot of Tetons. Turpin Meadow Loop subdivision. At the foot of the Tetons in Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Four homes and a huge office. Let’s take a photo tour at all of Beth Moore’s homes.

House #1: The Moore’s main residence, Tomball TX. (*see note at bottom)

House #2 Tomball TX. This home is also on Beth Moore’s 45 or so wooded acres in Tomball.

On her blog Beth Moore talks of a ranch they own. That’s in Menard, TX. The deed is dated 9/9/2015. It’s actually two lots, 3.3 acres and 2.8 acres for a total of about 6 acres. The property has a ranch house and a barn. The photos are from Moore’s twitter account. She tweeted the pics out when boasting of her husband’s talent in restoring the German farmhouse on the property to pristine condition.

House #3- Menard TX. House #3 property has large barn also. In the second picture, notice the two satellite dishes by the tree.

Living Proof owns a large office complex in Houston, for which she is exempt from paying taxes due to the listing of it as religious use. It is three floors and about 8,000 sf.

Nice boat. This was taken at the Galveston bay house.

House #4: Galveston. The white house. Waterfront, double lot. Also see photo at top.

House #5 (sold in 2013)

These cabins are on National Forest Service land at the opening of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Moran, Wyoming (near Jackson). The homes are privately owned but the land they sit on is the Forest Service’s.

Abusing the Gospel has brought Beth Moore a best life now. False teachers are greedy. We know this from 2 Peter 2:3,

And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:3)

For such as these are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. (Romans 16:18a).

As you know, we never used words of flattery or any pretext for greed. God is our witness!(1 Thessalonians 2:5).

Heresy, of course, involves the teaching of false doctrine, but false teaching always extends itself into the behavior of its adherents. It will always have a negative impact on the lifestyle of those infected “for as a person thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). As these false teachers stand in opposition to the truth, so they will lead lives that are “detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed” (1:16). Source

Beth Moore’s Living Proof Ministry is a non-profit organization. It is exempt from paying certain taxes because they are listed as a religious organization. As such, there are some ethical considerations that non-profits should adhere to, especially the religious ones.

Appearance of Impropriety- “Sure, it’s not illegal; but that doesn’t make it right.” There may not be an express law or rule prohibiting certain conduct but “the sector would look down upon the behavior” or it “might be perceived in the wrong way.” There are certain examples; for instance, the AFP Code gives the example of “a fundraiser directly benefiting from a benefactor’s estate gift.” Otherwise, it requires an intrinsic moral compass. Sadly, not everyone has that these days. Source

Here are the IRS rules for personal gain in a non-profit:

IRC 501(c)(3) provides exemption from federal income tax for organizations that are “organized and operated exclusively” for religious, educational, or charitable purposes. The exemption is further conditioned on the organization being one “no part of the net income of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.” This article examines the proscription against inurement and the requirement that an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes by serving public rather than private interests.

I don’t know from which sources Beth Moore has amassed all this property and wealth. Perhaps her husband’s father’s fabulously famous plumbing business brought in millions. Perhaps the royalties from the War Room movie are more hefty than we know. All I do know is the real property, the income, and the lifestyle. Given that her life and occupation are based on false doctrine, the lifestyle is also a cause for concern.

Does this matter? Of course it matters. It matters to Congress, who has investigated seemingly-too-wealthy non-profits. It matters to the IRS, who audits non-profits when the accumulation of wealth seems out of whack with their stated exemption. It should matter to Christians. Any ministry whose main figurehead seems to be using the Lord’s monies for personal luxuries or exhibiting a lifestyle that could cause a stumbling block to believers, is a concern.

But Moore is private and coy just at a time when fame and celebrity should being openness and transparency in order to alleviate suspicions of an extravagant lifestyle. Ministers and teachers of the Gospel should be extra eager to be seen shepherding the Lord’s blessings carefully and generously. Her 2-year-old tweet sharing her 4th of July vacation at “a bay house” tells you of her coyness. Her blogs about her new home in Tomball explicitly downplayed the wealthy aspect such as the enclave-like atmosphere, the fact that it’s the largest lot in the area, and up-played the ‘smelly brook,’ dusty roads, etc.

In 2010 Moore was interviewed by Christianity Today. One would think that any minister of the Gospel would be eager for publicity for His name and fame. Not Beth Moore. The reporter wrote:

Each question had to be submitted and approved beforehand, I was told, or Moore would not do the interview. Follow-up interview requests were declined. I was permitted to see the ground level of her ministry, where workers package and ship study materials. But Moore’s third-floor office, where she writes in the company of her dog, was off limits.

But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2)

Her image is a careful one. It has gotten her to a place where just last month people were clamoring for her to become President of the largest Protestant denomination in the world. If they knew of her false doctrine, they never said. If they knew of her lavish lifestyle, they never said. But now you know.

It matters because this video taken in March 2018 at the Holmes Center in Boone NC at a Living Proof conference is devastating. These 9000 people (mostly women) at this conference are having poison poured into their spirit. Repeat that scene throughout all of 2018. Beth Moore’s influence is NOT passe. It is actually growing. If only one woman comes out from under her false teaching, the angels would rejoice, as would I.

Friends, we need to shepherd our resources carefully, no matter if they are a little or a lot, so as to appear as we are- earnest workers for the glory of God’s name. Sadly, Beth Moore appears to be on a different path, one that Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, and Creflo Dollar are taking.

From Joyce Meyer up, the wealthiest American pastors, in order. Copeland is nearly a billionaire. This is not a Board you want to be on.

Further Resources 

True or False? How to Discern between False Teachers and Genuine Servants, Pt. 1 (Mike Riccardi) 

*Google Maps and Google Earth allow reposting of their material/photos/maps as long as proper attribution is made. They even have tutoring pages on how to export maps, edit, add labels, and ‘save as’. I read their terms of use very carefully.