discernment – Page 50

Amanda Bible Williams, Ann Voskamp, discernment, IF:Gathering, liberal, Raechel Myers, She Reads Truth, social justice

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women bible teachers. Part 1

Posted on December 29, 2014January 10, 2026 by elizabethprata

This is a four-part series. I’ll examine the website, teachings, and women of “She Reads Truth” in 2 parts (What They Say, and What They Do). Part 3 will take a look at the conference known as the “IF:Gathering” which many of the She Reads Truth women are involved in. In part 4 I will discuss women teachers in general from a biblical perspective, and provide a list of solid teachers (men and women) of the Word.

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 1 (What They Say)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 2 (What They Do)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 3, (the IF:Gathering)

She Reads Truth, IF:Gathering, and women Bible teachers. Part 4 (Women Teachers)

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She Reads Truth

A younger sister asked me about this website, in which six women write devotional bible reading plans and encourage women to gather to read the bible via their (free) plans. The women are Raechel Myers, Amanda Bible Williams, Diana Stone, Hayley Morgan, Rebecca Faires, and Debbie Eaton. The website is beautifully designed. It is good looking AND easy to use. The women’s bios are located in the easy-to-find “About Us” section. By the look of the photos and the words used to describe them they come across as healthy, wholesome farm women, apple-cheeked and devoted mothers to happy, wholesome, apple-cheeked farm children with smiling husbands on the side. Simple lives, just struggling wives doin’ laundry (like us, just like us!) trying to know Jesus in the best way possible.

LinkedIn photo

The women assure the reader that they have husbands who look over their theological work and pastors who do the same. They write that they are humble, submissive wives, creating bible reading plans for like-minded women almost by accident, and gee, needing to morph their growing-popular website into a Limited Liability Company before they knew it.

But are they?

Not so much.

When you look into a teacher to determine whether he or she is credible, there are two things to look at.

–What they say (the doctrine they teach)
–What they do (how they live out their doctrine)

The bible warns us that many will come in His name (claiming to be one of His children) but many will not actually be, according to what they say.

Amanda Bible Williams, Editorial Director
of SRT. Twitter profile photo

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. (Romans 16:17)

The division comes when teachers try to pry you away from Jesus’ side, dividing you from His once for all faith and separating you from His doctrine, not by what they say, but by what they do.

Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. (Hebrews 13:9)

Therefore it’s important to look at what they do, not just what they say on their statement of faith page. How do they act? What is their life? Many, many church or Christian websites put up a statement of faith, and many, many of them don’t live what they say.

The Gospel Coalition published an interesting article on this exact topic the other day titled “Is Your Church Functionally Liberal?”

The liberal churches I’ve known are not openly hostile to the Bible. They like the Bible. They want their preacher to use the Bible. They have home Bible studies. What makes them “liberal” is that the Bible alone is not what rules them. They allow into their doctrine, their ethos, their decisions, other complicating factors. The Bible is revered, in a way. But it is not the decisive factor. It is only one voice among others.

Doctrinally conservative, but functionally liberal. What they say, vs. what they do. Both matter, when it comes to examining a teacher for credibility.

So in She Reads Truth (SRT) you have an attractive website, run by attractive ladies, with a statement of faith that is as sterling as it gets.

In just one of their statements, with which I agree, because it is from James 1:22, they write that they believe we should be doers of the Word, not just hearers. So for them it is not just about reading the bible together, it is about what we do after we read it, our response. So far, so good.

However, thinking it through, don’t leave it there. Exactly what response do the administrators and writers of SRT believe are we being called TO? What do they say we should do in living out the Word that we receive?

Social Justice. They are believers in a response to God’s word that includes “social justice“. Back up for a moment…social justice?! What is social justice exactly? Isn’t that were we help poor or oppressed people? That’s biblical, right?

Well, there are two kinds of movements that address poverty and injustice in the world. The biblical one, and all the others, including the SRT women. Here is what the modern-day notion of what “social justice” is.

According to the National Association of Social Workers,

“Social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities. Social workers aim to open the doors of access and opportunity for everyone, particularly those in greatest need.”

There is much more to it and more that is behind the modern movement (not the biblical movement). GotQuestions discusses the modern-day notion of social justice and its politically charged activists.

Social justice is often used as a rallying cry for many on the left side of the political spectrum. “Social justice is also a concept that some use to describe the movement towards a socially just world. In this context, social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality and involves a greater degree of economic egalitarianism through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property redistribution. These policies aim to achieve what developmental economists refer to as more equality of opportunity than may currently exist in some societies, and to manufacture equality of outcome in cases where incidental inequalities appear in a procedurally just system.” (Source)

Woman carrying leeks to market in the Andes. EPrata photo

It’s based on a false premise that in all cases the rich have oppressed the poor in order to become rich, an injustice that needs to be rectified through income redistribution and other government programs and activist political means. So what is the biblical call to address the poverty problems and the oppressed? Because the bible does speak to it.

The Christian notion of social justice is different from the contemporary notion of social justice. The biblical exhortations to care for the poor are more individual than societal. In other words, each Christian is encouraged to do what he can to help the “least of these.” The basis for such biblical commands is found in the second of the greatest commandments—love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). Today’s notion of social justice replaces the individual with the government, which, through taxation and other means, redistributes wealth. This policy doesn’t encourage giving out of love, but resentment from those who see their hard-earned wealth being taken away. (Source)

The true Christian response to stewardship is an individual one, not an activist one. So which does SRT promote? The latter. More of the activist social justice, less of the biblical, individual call to personal stewardship. Therefore, their ‘what we believe’ is an unbiblical call to an incorrectly interpreted response to the bible’s demands regarding the poor.

Basically, there is a tension between a God-centered approach to social justice and a man-centered approach to social justice. The man-centered approach sees the government in the role of savior, bringing in a utopia through government policies. The God-centered approach sees Christ as Savior, bringing heaven to earth when He returns. At His return, Christ will restore all things and execute perfect justice. Until then, Christians express God’s love and justice by showing kindness and mercy to those less fortunate.(Source)

Does the SRT website say all that? No. It only mentions social justice once in the What We Believe section. So how do I know the women promote the unbiblical view of social justice and not a correct notion of stewardship? From what they do. That will be part 2.

But first, one other mention of ‘what they say’. I read many of their reading plans. Some are good. Many of the books they promote are good too. Many are reformed. Many are solid. Nancy Guthrie is promoted, as well as Reformed classics like the Valley Of Vision and Matthew Henry’s commentary. On the down side, Billy Graham is promoted, as well as panentheist Ann Voskamp, and pragmatist Rick Warren, which are negatives. One of the editorial staff, Debbie Eaton, used to be a woman ministry leader at Warren’s Saddleback church, so the Warren book isn’t surprising. The SRT ladies promote several books by Gary Haugen, who is also a writer for She Reads Truth. Haugen is CEO of International Justice Mission. There’s that personal agenda again.

Under the “What We’re Reading”, they promote one of Lysa TerKeurst’s books. Last February, Lysa preached an entire Sunday at Perry Noble’s church. Perry Noble is a false teacher. Women are not to be preaching the church service. (1 Timothy 2:11–14). Lysa attends Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church, which is not a church and Furtick is not a true preacher. Lysa is an undiscerning usurper and She Reads Truth has no business promoting Lysa’s books.

As for the specifics of the reading plans, in looking at just a few of them I saw the usual mistakes many women make when they interpret the bible. Here are two issues as just a sample. In their Day 25: “The Shepherds go To the Manger” Christmas devotional, author Raechel Myers stated that Jesus is the Prince of Peace. She wrote that Jesus came to make wars cease. She wrote that Jesus came for peace on earth.

Um. No.

Connecting the Prince of Peace with making wars cease is incorrect. We are at war with God because we are sinners. His peace is reconciliation through justification. She did mention reconciliation a bit further on, but her approach is not the best because she connects peace and war wrongly in this devotional. In Mt 10:34 Jesus says “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword!” In His first incarnation, Jesus came to bring a sword that will divide even families. Wars and rumors of wars will characterize the age of his post-Incarnation. Wars will not end until after the church age ends, after the Millennium Kingdom ends (Revelation 20:7-8) and it is only after eternity begins that wars cease.

Later in the devotional Myers says that God asks us (asks? not commands?) to be still and know that He is God.

Um. No.

“Asking” us to be still and know he is God is a total misrepresentation of the verse from Ps 46:10, which is commonly misused by women, especially young women. He does not ask us to be still. He commands us to believe in the Son, “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (1 John 3:23).

The ‘be still’ verse is from Psalm 46:10, and what it means is this–

“Let his enemies be still, and threaten no more, but know it, to their terror, that he is God, one infinitely above them, and that will certainly be too hard for them; let them rage no more, for it is all in vain: he that sits in heaven, laughs at them; and, in spite of all their impotent malice against his name and honour, (Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible.)

The overall approach of taking snippets of verses on a topic or theme from the NT and the OT and building reading plans from that is not the best. It’s common, but it is not the best. First, mixing OT and NT is a dangerous hermeneutic. Often, OT verses are for Israel only (Jeremiah 29:11, for example, is often misused (I know the plans I have for you… so is Psalm 46:10, Be still)… Expositional teaching is best.

Gary Haugen
of International Justice Mission (IJM)

What happens with plans like these developed by liberal women like these is that verses get misused because they are stripped from context. It is actually the Beth Moore hermeneutic approach. Strip out-of-context verses and use them to make your point, like the Psalm 46:10 verse or Isaiah 55:1 I mention below. Mix in between the verses some personal stories and with them, personal agendas (i.e the social justice devotional written by Gary Haugen, founder of International Justice organization). It is best to offer a passage, and explain what it means in context and according to the culture at the time. Sometimes they do this well. Other times they don’t.

Here is a second example of “What They Say.”

At SheReadsTruth, in the Reading Plan for Day 28 of the “O Come Let Us Adore Him” devotional, writer Amanda B. Williams mentioned (but didn’t paste) Isaiah 55:1a. The verse reads,

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;”

Williams equates the verse’s ‘being thirsty’ with women who are needy, have longings, are broken, need to be accepted, have a blessed ache, need to be loved, and driven into His arms. Those are direct phrases from the devotional. These phrases appeal to women. They are phrases that include such language as “sweet reminders” or “whisperings” crafted subtly to be a catalytic connector to our sensitive, emotional side. In this way, their devotionals do not appeal to the mind. They strive to appeal to the heart, the emotions. The devotional’s language creates a sense of romantic intimacy with the Lord through a female emotional yearning that sets Jesus up to be lover and filler of needs.

Except, that’s not what studying the Word is all about. (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23).

Except, that’s not what Isaiah 55:1 means.

Gill’s Exposition says of Isaiah 55:1, the sense is not an emotional one but

a spiritual one; thirsting after forgiveness of sin by the blood of Christ; after justification by his righteousness; after salvation by him; after more knowledge of him, more communion with him, and more conformity to him;

The thirst in the verse is not having “longings” – another example of feminine vagueness these types of blogs promote. The ‘thirst’ is not to “be accepted” (whatever that means or meant in junior high), the thirst is a desperation for forgiveness of sins. It is the universal invitation to Gentiles for salvation, not satisfying “needy women”. In this way the SRT women trivialize majestic verses. These verses are spiritual truths, not emotional satisfactions. They’re definitely not romantic longings.

SRT plans are not really study. At SRT, it isn’t really ‘digging into’ God’s word. They are more like breathless romantic reactions to out-of-context verses written by liberal women who have an unbiblical approach to the Word.

I hope I was clear.

Part 2 here.

Part 3 here.

Part 4 here.

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Further Reading

Six months after the conclusion of this series, Lighthouse Trails researched the IF:Gathering also. Please read their extensive research here

discernment, false teachers, false teaching

People who believe false teachers will be judged, too.

Posted on December 26, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Jeremiah is told by God to prophesy against the false prophets. God said He did not send them in His name nor did He give them any message. They are prophesying deceit from their own mind, God said. (Jeremiah 14:14).

However, God also told Jeremiah to prophesy against the people to whom the false prophets were preaching.

And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them. (Jeremiah 14:16)

Why would God be so hard on the people? Aren’t they just helpless victims of lying religious preachers? No. According to that verse, listeners to and followers of false teachers are doing evil.

TWISTED SCRIPTURE. Jeremiah 14:14

Throughout the ages, self-proclaimed prophets such as Joseph Smith, Jeanne Dixon, and Edgar Cayce have claimed to speak for God. Jeremiah, an authorized ambassador of God, identified false prophets as “prophesying … a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their own minds” which is “spoken … presumptuously” (Dt 18:22).

The people were to be punished because they listened to the false prophets. It was their responsibility to test the prophets (Dt 18:21–22), not just to accept whatever they said without question, but they failed to do so. They may have known that what the prophets said was not in line with God’s will, but because they liked what they heard, they condoned it (Jer 5:31; 23:16; 29:8; 2 Co 11:4; 2 Tim 4:3). We are also obligated to test the messages we hear and reject those who preach a false message in God’s name (Acts 17:11; Gl 1:6–9; 1 Jn 4:1). See notes on Lam 1:5; 2:14.

Cabal, T., Brand, C. O., Clendenen, E. R., Copan, P., Moreland, J. P., & Powell, D. (2007). The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith (p. 1110). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Sisters, be aware of who you allow into your home, heart, and mind. Reading that certain book, or listening a certain teacher, or attending so-and-so conference, can be deadly to you.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

discernment, false teachers, jesus, spiritual armor

The most dangerous people in the world

Posted on December 13, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

There are dangerous people in the world. We know that some are more dangerous than others. Some people are extremely dangerous. Dictators can be considered among the world’s most dangerous people. Pol Pot, Hitler, Lenin, Idi Amin, Muammar Gaddafi among many others through time go down into the history books as heinous criminals committing mass murder.

World Trade Center on 9/11

Terrorists are certainly dangerous. The 9/11 terrorists who killed 3,000 people by suicide bombing via airplane were shockingly absent of any sense of conscience whatsoever. The 9/11 terrorist leader who organized the US terror attack Osama Bin Laden was supremely dangerous.

The ISIS militants are a dangerous group, beheading with impunity and terrorizing populations all throughout the Middle East.

Sociopaths/serial killers are among the most dangerous people on the planet, also. We shudder at the very thought that we might be captured and tortured all for the corrupt whims of a conscience-less, evil mastermind.

Throughout history, the names of Ted Bundy, Adolph Hitler, bin Laden, Jack the Ripper, Al Capone, Charles Manson remain shudder-worthy because their crimes of evil were so shocking.

But none of those are the most dangerous people on the planet. It seems crazy to even think that there is a more dangerous class of person more devastating than a war-starter, dictator Hitler. That there is a more sinister evil among a community than serial killer Ted Bundy. There truly is is a more dangerous person in the world.

Who could it be? Who is worse than the man known for burning millions of people alive in a gas oven? Worse than the serial killer’s evil at the end of a sharp knife? Worse than a terrorist whose very name indicates their putrid heart filled with terror and crime? Who??

Beth Moore.
Pope Francis.
Rick Warren.
Billy Graham.
Ellen G. White.
Creflo Dollar.
Aimee Semple McPherson.
Joel Osteen.

False teachers within Christianity. No dictator, serial killer or terrorist can hold a candle to the evil that false teachers do. Why?

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28).

All a dictator can do is oppress you or kill your body. Jesus is life giver and eternal Judge, and it is He who determines where your immortal soul and resurrected body will go when your short life on earth is over. Fear THAT. What false teachers do is nudge you, compel you, jostle you down the eternally broad road to hell. They appear as pleasant sheep but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. They’re soul killers, and that is eternally worse than anything any dictator or terrorist can do.

Some of the harshest language in the New Testament is reserved for false teachers. The damage they do to your soul is likened to gangrene, a stealthy and putrid killer of the body. Except, what false teachers bring is death to the soul. False teachers are a serious problem.

Was Jesus polite to false teachers? No. See video- 2 min.

How can we spot false teachers? The bible mentions them frequently (as false prophets, wolves, sons of hell, spies, hypocrites etc) The bible condemns them frequently. So let’s take a look.

First as mentioned above, they come in disguise. They look like sheep but they are actually preying on you as a vicious wolf. (Mt 7:15). They won’t look like a false teacher and they won’t sound like a false teacher. Galatians 2:4 reminds us that false teachers come in as spies, stealthily. (2 Peter 2:1).

False teachers substitute the call of God with their own made-up call, whether it is to self- esteem, or pride, or earthly gain, false teachers always shift your gaze from Christ as the central point of life. They can speak well, mesmerizingly sometimes. If we take the most extreme example of a false prophet, the antichrist, he appears at first to give everything to everyone what they want, and insinuates himself into a solid position of influence by smooth speech and flattery. (Daniel 11:32). False teachers are good at what they do.

Another way false teachers shift your gaze from the Holy One is to substitute empty rituals for the simplicity of the grace of Jesus. Walk a labyrinth. Meditate contemplatively. Pray in a circle. Fast in this way and this often. Light a candle, confess to a priest, speak the rosary. John MacArthur said in his sermon “How to Evangelize Religious People“, that the more a religion has symbols, (and by extension, rituals) the more false it is.

And this is how it is, my friend, with false religion. They love the symbols. When we were in Moscow a few months ago, slipped into a Greek Orthodox church–literally repulsed by extravagant symbolism. You stand in one spot and this parade goes on of people with all these elaborate dressings and head dresses and waving censors, and icons all over everywhere. It literally blasts your senses; it’s so garish, bizarre, and people walking in endless circles and mumbling incomprehensible drivel and waving things in the air–and these poor, sad souls trying somehow to connect with the external. But religion that has nothing inside proliferates the symbolic. Look at the Roman Catholic Church, just full of it…full of it. False religion loves symbols.

False teachers bring false rituals along with the eventual religious symbolism as their doctrines mature.

The nursery for false religion is false teachers infiltrating the real religion, Christianity. If it comes to your church, stop it before it gets to that point.
“Suppress the heretics while they are young, that is, when they begin to show their malice and destroy the vine of the Lord.” Geneva Bible, on Song of Solomon 2:15

Third, their teachings spread like gangrene. (2 Timothy 2:17). Gangrene develops when the blood supply to an affected part is cut off. Gangrene is caused by interruption of blood supply to an area which causes tissue death. Left unchecked, gangrene kills all the living tissue it touches. In Galatians 5:9 Paul wrote of false teachers again, saying, “a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” In both the yeast and the gangrene examples we understand that the negative influence of false teachers and their doctrines will leave no part of the body untouched if not dealt with swiftly.

Source

Next, think about this- if faith brings joy, then its opposite, doctrines of demons, bring confusion, fear, discouragement. (Galatians 1:7, Acts 15:24). Pastor Justin Peters often shares during his discernment conferences how discouraging it was to follow the false faith healers. He did so as a youth, hoping for a healing from his Cerebral Palsy. Others who follow Joyce Meyer and her ilk eventually become despondent when their abundant life doesn’t show up, or those who follow Joel Osteen find that no matter how hard they try, nothing they’ve declared has come true and every day is not a Friday. Then they either redouble their efforts at trying pointlessly to find peace through false teachings or they become angry and leave the faith, blaspheming it. (2 Peter 2:2).

In Matthew 23:15 Jesus remarked to the false teachers of the law that they made sons of hell twice as bad as they were. The next generation of disciples learning at the feet of the false teachers are always worse than the generation before. (also, Revelation 2:21-23).

One extremely telling indicator of a false teacher is that they diminish the offense of the cross. Their message will increasingly speak of anything else except that. Oh, they’ll mention Jesus, they’ll fling around some bible verses (out of context and incorrectly) but they cannot bear to dwell on the cross. (Galatians 5:11, Galatians 3:1). The cross is an offense to a false teacher, because false teachers are not saved.

There are other ways to detect the false ones who creep in among us, but suffice to say, they are there. They are dangerous, extremely so. False Christian teachers are the most dangerous people on the planet.

False teachers are not committed to Scripture. They may speak of Jesus and the Father, but the heart of their ministry will not be the Word of God. They will either add to it, take away from it, interpret it in some heretical fashion, add other “revelations” to it, or deny it altogether.

Let’s compare Hitler to Pope Francis. Or Muammar Gaddafi to Benny Hinn. It is an unutterable tragedy what Hitler did, its reverberations are still like an open wound on the world’s conscience and heart. He killed 6 million Jews, and others too, including the mentally retarded, gypsies, and homosexuals. Yet Pope Francis is enslaving 1.2 Billion people. And that’s just the Catholics right now, not even mentioning all the previous generations of people unfortunately deluded by empty ritual and false teaching. Billions upon billions have gone to hell under the false teaching of the Catholic church.

Or how about Benny Hinn and his charismatic gospel of healing and wealth. It is sweeping Africa and India right now, not to mention America. There are over 500 million people in the world at this moment who self-identify as Charismatic.

There was an independently produced documentary about middle school students in Tennessee who appealed to the world to send in 6 million paper clips to their classroom. They were doing a project on the Holocaust, and one student asked, ‘How much is 6 million? I can’t picture it.’ So the paper clip project began. They eventually gathered over 6 million clips. The stark reality of seeing with their own eyes the representation of that many people lost to the gas chambers was shocking and brought the reality of all those lost souls to the fore.

But what if you gathered 500 million clips representing the Charismatics under the influence of that false ‘Christian’ doctrine? And then gathered 1.2 billion clips representing the Catholics? And 3 billion more, the estimates of how many lives and souls of people in the world right now are influenced by Joyce Meyer’s doctrines of demons. Plus Joel Osteen, whose message reaches 28 million people a month. This number doesn’t even count his books, podcasts, and conferences. Add to that total the 30 million copies of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life, a book that was named several years ago as one of the top 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. Add some more, the 215 million people in over 185 countries who have heard Billy Graham’s messages, and those who ‘came forward’ only to be assigned to a Catholic counselor, or a rabbi.

All the teachers I listed above claim themselves to be part of Christianity. You see the magnitude of the problem.

False teachers are the most dangerous people on the planet. The spirit of antichrist is alive and well and working its way as leaven through the bread. But there is manna from heaven, bread from heaven that is gloriously more potent than any piddling false teacher. Jesus Christ and His truth.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26).

The safeguard against false teachers is the Word. All truth is there, all joy, all faith, all hope and all peace. Read His word and pray to have it applied to your mind and heart. The Spirit will teach you and in so doing you will be able to withstand the detect the false doctrines when they appear. Wear your spiritual armor.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, (Ephesians 6:14-18).

Wearing your armor even the most dangerous person on the planet cannot harm you. There is One who is more dangerous than any and He is your defender and your avenger:

and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. (Revelation 1:13-16).

The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? (Psalm 27:1)

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Billy Graham: a wolf who offers only dreams of meat to those who are starving

Posted on November 21, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

On the occasion of Billy Graham’s 96th birthday on November 7, Orthodox bishop Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of the Russian Orthodox church was ushered in to Billy Graham’s living room at his home in North Carolina in order to offer the elder man well-wishes.
The Press Republican stated of the photo-op,

“The photo-op on Nov. 7 was symbolic and, for many, historic. The elder statesman was the Rev. Billy Graham, and rather than an evangelical superstar, the man who met with him at his North Carolina mountain home was Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev. This visit was linked to a Hilarion address to a Charlotte gathering of Protestant and Orthodox leaders, organized by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. (BGEA)

The Russian Orthodox Church is not a true church because it adheres to orthodoxy that is false. They were a schism church formed after splitting from Roman Catholicism. The Orthodox group of churches (Greek, Russian, etc.) do not believe in justification by faith. They believe in part:

The equal authority of church tradition and Scripture
Discouragement of individuals interpreting the Bible apart from tradition
The perpetual virginity of Mary
Prayer for the dead
Baptism of infants without reference to individual responsibility and faith
The possibility of receiving salvation after death
The possibility of losing salvation

Therefore it is unfortunate to read that the BGEA organized a conference this month and invited a mix of men who preach a different Gospel with Protestant leaders, for what has darkness to do with light, For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

From Twitter. Met. Hilarion Alfeyev visiting Billy Graham on his 96th birthday.

Though Billy Graham has for decades made public statements confirming his place in the pantheon of destructive wolves, there are many today who still don’t believe that such a man could be a false Christian. To that end, here are some quotes from Billy Graham, from newspaper media, books, and transcripts from interviews, which show clearly that such a man is not of the faith. Graham said these things throughout his life, not simply in his advanced years. Some claim he was ‘confused’, but no such claim can be made of a man who has made assertions contrary to the bible in each decade of his life. Some of these things he said as far back as 1948, at the beginning of his television crusade career.

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On Evolution:

Graham: I personally believe that it’s just as easy to believe that God took some dust and blew on it and out came a man as it is to accept the fact that God breathed on a man and he became a living soul and it started with some protoplasm and went right up through the evolutionary process. Either way is by faith, and whichever way God did it makes no difference as to what man is and man’s relationship to God. (Billy Graham: Candid Conversations with a Public Man By David Frost)

Here we begin with a basic tenet: Hath God said? The original question in the Garden to Eve which she answered incorrectly and led to the Fall of man, is here again posed to Mr Graham. Hath God said he formed man from the dust of the ground? (Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 2:7). Or not? Indeed, God hath said how He made man and it is only a man without the Spirit in Him who finds it easy to dismiss the plain words of God and accept “arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God,” (2 Corinthians 10:5). “Either way” that man appeared on the earth, as Graham believes, is NOT by faith. One is by faith and the other is by satan.

Are you in favor of the ordination of women?

Graham: It would be according to the circle I was in, because I feel I belong to all the churches. I am equally at home in an Anglican church or a Baptist church or a Brethren Assembly or a Roman Catholic church and I would have to say that I would identify with the customs and the culture and the theology of that particular church.
But do you welcome that development? (ordination of women]
Yes. … from my study of the scriptures there were many women preachers in the bible. Candid Conversations with a Public Man, David Frost

Once a man accepts man-made opinions and not God’s word, all else falls from there. Here we see Mr Graham accepting culture and bowing to tradition, the way reeds are swayed by the wind. (Matthew 11:7, Jude 1:12). Whatever the people around him believe, Graham believes. That is what he is saying here. The bible says pastoring is for men only. Finally, Christians belong to Jesus, not “all the churches.” A man who “feels” he belongs to all the churches, including RCC, is not a man who has the Spirit in him.

On salvation

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Graham: I used to think that pagans in far-off countries were lost–were going to hell–if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer believe that. … I believe there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God–through nature, for instance–and plenty of other opportunities, therefore, of saying yes to God. (James Michael Beam, article “I Can’t Play God Anymore,” McCall’s Magazine, 1978)

Only a man without the Spirit could deny that Jesus is the only way, and to say that other opportunities exist for men to say yes to God. Additionally, many say yes to God but deny the Son. Mr Graham did not speak of Jesus as the exclusive way to Christ, but spoke only of a nebulous allusion to nature.

In fact, the method of recognizing God through nature which Mr Graham is alluding is a verse about the wrath of God upon those who plainly see the existence of God in nature but suppress this truth in their unrighteousness. (Romans 1:18-20).

It could not be clearer: a man who disbelieves that those in countries who do not hear the word are not going to hell is not in the Spirit. This means that Mr Graham disbelieves the first and last condition of man: sinner born from the womb and being condemned already. (John 3:18)

On follow up after the Crusades

Graham: Anyone who makes a decision at our meetings is seen later and referred to a local clergyman, Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish. -Billy Graham, San Francisco News interview on Sept 21, 1957.

Many of the people who reach a decision for Christ at our meetings have joined the Catholic Church and we have received commendations from Catholic publications for the revived interest in their Church following our campaigns. This happened both in Boston and Washington. After all, one of our prime purposes is to help the churches in a community. If after we move on, the local (sic) churches do not feel the efforts of these meetings in increased membership and attendance, then our crusade would have to be considered a failure. (Billy Graham, Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, 1952)

No man in the Spirit would celebrate the consignment of a seeking soul to the church of the spirit of antichrist! The Roman Catholic Church is not a local church but a synagogue of satan. No one who seeks Jesus will find him in a Jewish synagogue either. If Mr Graham’s “prime purpose” as he states, is to add souls to the number of those who are bound for hell, then Graham is of hell and making sons of hell twice as bad he is. (Matthew 23:15).

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On infant baptism

I do believe that something happens at the baptism of an infant, particularly if the parents are Christians and teach their children Christian truths from childhood. We cannot fully understand the mysteries of God. But I believe that a miracle can happen in these children so that they are regenerated, that is, made Christians through infant baptism. If you want to call that baptismal regeneration, that’s all right with me. (Wilfred Bockelman, “A Lutheran Looks at Billy Graham,” Lutheran Standard, 10 October 1961)

No person is made a Christian by having water sprinkled on their infant body. We are made Christians by the way God said we become Christians:

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? (Galatians 3:2 )

Can an infant believe what he has heard?

Graham on hell being metaphorical and not real

The good folks at Answers in Genesis are right: once you chip away at the word in the first few chapters of the bible, all other doctrines crumble.

Graham: I think that hell essentially is separation from God forever. And that is the worst hell that I can think of. But I think people have a hard time believing God is going to allow people to burn in literal fire forever. I think the fire that is mentioned in the Bible is a burning thirst for God that can never be quenched. (Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, Florida, April 10, 1983)

You see the connection here: Graham says that “people have a hard time believing” about hell being eternal punishment. Rather than Mr Graham teach it clearly and scripturally, he bows to the wind of doctrine like a broken reed: therefore he says, “I think”. Notice he does not use scripture to support his view. It’s always, ‘I think’, or ‘I feel’… However the bible is very clear on the fate of the unbeliever.

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice

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magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

Hell IS separation from God forever, though not separation from His wrath. However, the unbeliever was already separated from God before he went to hell. The fiery lake of burning sulfur is very specific about the hell the unbeliever will endure. Hell is not only separation from Jesus, but it is fire, sulfur, and physical torment (Luke 16:24; Jude 1:12-13, Revelation 14:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:9)

These are just a few, certainly not all, of the shockingly aberrant doctrines Graham has held during his life and has espoused publicly. We must not fail to mention the doctrines he does NOT preach about, either. When a person looks at the life of a man like Billy Graham, 60 years of seemingly tireless promotion of Jesus to the masses, they cannot believe that such a man would not be saved. They won’t believe he is a wolf, one of the pack that was prophesied to come in after Paul left the earth. (Acts 20:29)

Yet Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)

In sheep’s clothing means that the exterior will be molded to look like a believer, but inwardly they are not. It takes time, prayer, maturity and skill given by the Spirit to detect the wolves. And yet, is it really so hard after all? A man who denies basic doctrines, diverts seekers from Christ, and partners with all religions as equal is not so hard to see is a wolf. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says,

Beware—But beware of false prophets—that is, of teachers coming as authorized expounders of the mind of God and guides to heaven. (See Ac 20:29, 30; 2Pe 2:1, 2) which come to you in sheep’s clothing—with a bland, gentle, plausible exterior; persuading you that the gate is not strait nor the way narrow, and that to teach so is illiberal and bigoted—precisely what the old prophets did (Eze 13:1-10, 22) but inwardly they are ravening wolves—bent on devouring the flock for their own ends (2Co 11:2, 3, 13-15).

Gilbert Tennent (February 5, 1703 – July 23, 1764) was a religious leader, born in County Armagh, Ireland. Gilbert was one of the leaders of the Great Awakening of religious feeling in Colonial America, along with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. His most famous sermon, “On the Danger of an Unconverted Ministry” compared anti-revivalistic ministers to the Pharisees described in the gospels. (Wikipedia)

Gilbert Tennent, On the Danger of an Unconverted Ministry

I may add that sad experience verifies what has been now observed concerning the unprofitableness of the ministry of unconverted men. Look into the congregations of unconverted ministers, and see what a sad security reigns there; not a soul convinced that can be heard of for many years together, and yet the ministers are easy, for they say they do their duty! Aye, a small matter will satisfy us in the lack of that which we have no great desire after, but when persons have their eyes opened and their hearts set upon the work of God, they are not so soon satisfied with their doings, and with lack of success for a time. O! They mourn with Micah that they are as those that gather the summer-fruits, as the grape-gleaning of the vintage. Mr. (Richard) Baxter justly observes that those who speak about their doings in the aforesaid manner are likely to do little good to the Church of God. But many Ministers (as Mr. Bracel observes) think the gospel flourishes among them when the people are in peace, and many come to hear the Word and to the Sacrament. If, with the other, they get the salaries well-paid, then it is fine times indeed in their opinion! O sad! And they are full of hopes that they do good, though th ey know nothing about it. But what comfort can a conscientious man, who travails in birth that Christ may be formed in His hearer’s hearts, take from what he knows not? Will a hungry stomach be satisfied with dreams about meat? I believe not, though, I confess, a full one may.

That is what Mr Graham offers: dreams of meat, while they spiritually starve. Tennant again:

And more especially, my brethren, we should pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth faithful laborers into His harvest, seeing that the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. And, O sirs, how humble, believing, and importunate should we be in this petition! O! Let u s follow the Lord day and night with cries, tears, pleadings, and groanings upon this account! For God knows there is great necessity of it. O! Thou Fountain of mercy and Father of pity, pour forth upon Thy poor children a Spirit of prayer for the obtaining of this important mercy! Help, help, O Eternal God and Father, for Christ’s sake!

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Atheists, unbelievers, the foolish: Of pastafarianism, spaghetti monsters, and wearing a colander on one’s head

Posted on November 19, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I was once all of the above. Though I never went so far as to declare my godlessness to the world by wearing a colander on my head as a spaghetti monster statement, I very likely did just as many foolish things that blasphemed my God that were just as evidently foolish to the believers around me as wearing a strainer on my head.

Asia Lemmon, whose legal name appears on her driver’s license as Jessica Steinhauser, is shown wearing a metal colander on her head on her Utah driver’s license in this undated photo. Lemmon says the pasta strainer represents her beliefs in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and says state employees took the photo after she presented them with documents on religious freedom. (AP Photo/Utah Department of Motor Vehicles via The Spectrum). Source

Woman wears colander for driver’s license photo

The Flying Spaghetti Monster movement, also known as “Pastafarianism,” started in 2005 as a protest against teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in Kansas schools. … Hats and headgear are not allowed for driver’s license photos unless they’re religious garments, Rolfe said. After the first few Pastafarians came in about two years ago, state officials determined the church is a recognized religion and its members don’t require any special paperwork, she said.

Wikipedia’s write-up of the Flying Spaghetti Monster movement/religion/parody.

On the one hand, it is difficult to live in a time where God is maligned on every side and at every turn. It hurts to see and hear our precious Savior mocked so badly. It just hurts.

To the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. (Psalm 14:1)

On the other hand, it is wonderful to see people turn from their blaspheming ways, repent and be saved. We know those who are not saved are in darkness, and they are in despair. They would deny it, but they are. Being in Jesus is refreshing to the soul-

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, (Acts 3:19)

I often cry out to the Lord to come and get His Bride. It is hard to be around so much sin, and worse still, to sin myself. But then again, I am sure people were crying out to the Lord in 2003 for Him to return and I’m glad He didn’t then because I wasn’t saved until the end of that year. There are many we are praying for who aren’t saved yet.

At some point though, He WILL return and leave behind many unsaved people, some of whom may be wearing a colander on their heads. Meanwhile, two things. First, let’s be patient with them. They can’t help wearing a colander on their head. They think they are doing something good and wise and funny.

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? (1 Corinthians 5:12)

And second, witness with urgency. Jonah preached,

But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. (Jonah 3:8)

Yes, let everyone urgently call on God.

discernment, elijah, encouragement, eternity, moses, personal revelation, transfiguration

Talking with Jesus

Posted on November 15, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Not the ‘Mount of Transfiguration’. Source

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. 3And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. (Matthew 17:1-3)

A spiritually awe-filled scene, as we mentally behold it and picture Jesus glorified and being fully God. However, today I am picturing Moses and Elijah, talking with Him.

Imagine, in the Millennium Kingdom and in Eternity, we will do the same! We will stand casually on a mountain and talk with Jesus! My mind veritably breaks apart just thinking of this. What will I say? What were Moses, Elijah and Jesus talking about? What could I possibly have to say to Jesus, except only “thank You!”

But we are His friend. We will talk with Jesus, and He will talk personally and directly to us.

The Graphics Fairy

For all of you who envy Beth Moore and her personal conversations with a different Jesus, and for all of you who covet the personal touch Sarah Young claims to have had with Jesus Calling her, I have this to say. Those women and all those like them are having the only talk with “Jesus” they will ever have, except at the Great White Throne Judgment when He says “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” Will they then wonder, were the five or ten or fifty chats they thought they’d had with ‘Jesus’ worth an eternity of missing the real Him, and never speaking to Him again?

Yet for the persevering and patient Christian who clings to Hebrews 11:1 and believes that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (and not heard), we will be talking with Him just as Moses and Elijah were.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (John 3:2)

We will join Moses and Elijah and be talking with our wonderful Savior, Friend, Shepherd, every ‘day’ throughout all eternity.

Hallelujah.

discernment, encouragement, gossip, paul washer

Paul Washer on persecution in America, the bible is complete, salt makes a person thirsty, gossip

Posted on November 12, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

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On Monday we had an 80-mile widespread internet outage here. A fiber had been cut on “some very important lines” the tech person told me. It lasted 14 hours. Otherwise known as an eternity. I’ve been playing catch-up ever since.

I love me some internet. I make no bones about it. I did enjoy the opportunity to read my new John Grisham book distraction free, but overall, I realized that I enjoy and depend on the internet for my theological studies quite a bit.

I have some commentaries, atlases, a book of biblical natural history, and several bibles as well as other books, but for overall fast access to all of the above and more, the internet cannot be beat. And what a grace-filled gift the Lord gave us when laying the path to the birth of the internet and now I can listen to so many sermons. That is what I missed the most- sermons.

Of course I enjoy using my laptop for all my entertainments, movies and tv shows and Youtube clips etc. I also play with my photos and sometimes use a photo editor to make digital collages or even photo gifts from Snapfish. I’m trying to make bookmarks out of some of my photos for stocking stuffers.

I’m not in any different of a boat than anyone else who has become dependent on technology and an online access point for work, entertainment, and communication. Perhaps I’m less stressed when it goes off because I don’t have a business that depends on active and reliable internet connections.

Anyway I am still catching up. I surely would not be a good pioneer woman. I hardly know how to do anything except light a candle when the power goes out, or read a book when the internet goes off, lol.

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I have a few different thoughts for this blog essay. Not one big point but a variety of different thoughts that I re-read in my spiritual journal. I re-read it because I wanted to use the journal for note-taking at school and I ripped out the written-in pages. I read them before I tore them out, and there were some pretty good thoughts in there. I think they’re good thoughts. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you agree.

You know how we are called to be salt and light?

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. . (Matthew 5:13-14a).

Being salt, to me, means adding seasoning to a bland world by sharing His word and doing His works. Of course there is more to it but this is just a quick notion here tonight.

Here is the thought about salt: salt promotes thirst. Salt makes people thirsty. Jesus is the Living Water. If we are truly salt, even if what we are saying or doing in the world causes aggravation or offense (Gospel offense, not rudeness) then the recipient will become thirsty, one hopes. And in their seeking to slake the thirst, they will turn to the bible, to Jesus, to God, to the Spirit…(one hopes).

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Pr. Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society

Paul Washer had a good word one year ago on truly knowing the Lord. As the synopsis states, “It was a sermon delivered to a body of students at the Master’s College, headed by Dr. John MacArthur. Brother Washer doesn’t allow these students to hide behind their school or association with Dr. MacArthur. Everyone must know the Lord for themselves, and be known of Him. Adam knew his wife and she bare him the fruit of the womb. Has Jesus so known you that you bear fruit? Included was a statement about persecution in America. His words are coming true. Here are just a few excerpts.”

“The church in America is going to suffer so terribly and you laugh now but they will come after us, they will come after our children, they will close the net around us while we are playing soccer mom and soccer dad, when we’re arguing over so many little things and mesmerized by so many trinkets. The net even now is closing around you and your children and your grandchildren and it does not cause you to fear. You will be isolated from society as has already happened, anyone who tries to run for office who actually believes the Bible will be considered a lunatic until finally we are silenced. We will be called things that we’re not and persecuted not for being followers of Christ, but for being radical fundamentalists who do not know the true way of Christ, which of course is love and tolerance. We’ll go down as the greatest bigots and haters of mankind in history.”

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The holy Bible is perfect. It is finished! There is no more to add, nor should any be taken away. People who have allegedly been to heaven, and come back with “a message”, or who have heard God speak to them with a word and told to declare it, are wrong, deluded, and dangerous. The perfect, and complete bible says, via the Spirit:

“You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)

“Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:6)

“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32)

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19)

It is clear! The bible is finished and we are not to add new revelations to it. Besides, it is perfect. Why would a person want to add to it?

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Gossip. It does a body harm.

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For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. (2 Corinthians 12:20)

The Greek word for gossip here is psithurismos, a word that means “a whispering, secret slandering.” Moreover, it is an “an onomatopoetic word for the sibilant murmur of a snake charmer.”

Think of that the next time you (or I) want to spread gossip about someone…our mouth making the sss of the snake as we gosssssssip.

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I am studying the glorified body. I’ll be writing on that soon. Just think of it, a body that has no aches and pains, eyes that can behold Jesus face to face without bursting apart, never getting old, a body that can transcend matter and perhaps…even fly. Won’t that be wonderful!

discernment, false teachers

Discernment: Faked out by fake leaves

Posted on November 11, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

It’s fall and the leaves are turning. Fall comes late to Georgia, and gently. The daytime temperatures decrease slowly by one degree or two, lower and lower until you notice that you need a sweater if you’re going to be outside for any length of time. You barely need the heat turned on inside, and if so, only to take out a chill. I love this about Georgia.

The one thing that is different than in the northern climates where I’m from, is that the leaves do not turn as vividly red, orange, or yellow here as they do up north. They turn, but it’s a duller kind of foliage. It brightens when the strong sunlight streams through, but overall, foliage down here is ho-hum.

That’s why I was surprised when I walked out of the church doors Wednesday night after prayer meeting, and spotted on the ground a twig with several very red leaves attached. I love leaves, especially if they are large (fig leaves) or unusually shaped, (maple!) or a great color (bright red!). I take photos of them, look at them, put them in art collages, press them, enjoy them. The ones I saw on the ground were a great color red, deep and bright. I stooped down and picked them up immediately.

I had a few things in my hands as I entered my front door, including the twig with leaves, so I dumped them all on the table and then went to the other room to finish unpacking. Excited, I returned to the kitchen and looked at the twig with red leaves in the better light than I had seen them in the gloaming when I first picked them up.

They were fake.

I’d been totally taken in by the extreme resemblance they had to real leaves. Fake!

I thought about this for a long time. It’s like false teachers. I was faked out because I’d made two mistakes.

The first was the obvious one: I hadn’t looked at the item carefully enough. I only made a quick glance, and picked up the twig with leaves and brought it home because it looked close enough to the real thing. A surface glance, though, won’t do when sitting under a teacher of the bible.

In Acts 17:11 we learn that the Bereans were called ‘noble’ because after listening to Paul, they “searched the scriptures” to see if what Paul said was so. They did not skim the scriptures. They did not glance at the scriptures. The word ‘searched’ indicates they spent some time comparing the words of God to the words of Paul. After a period of time doing this, one would know that the words of God were indeed emanating from Paul. But it takes time to search and compare and make a determination.

It also takes effort. Admittedly it was easier for me to simply stumble over the item and pick it up. If I really wanted cool leaves to play with, I’d have to walk, and go, and look, and maybe climb. But no, I walked up to a spot on the ground and with minimal effort on my part, I stooped down and thought I’d gotten myself a prize. In the end what I had was a pale imitation of the real thing, and I was disappointed. Minimal effort usually means maximum disappointment.

The second mistake I’d made was more subtle. It is about context and expectation. If it had been summertime, I would not have expected a twig with several leaves attached to be on the ground. Fall winds make this a common sight. Summer’s gentle air doesn’t. If it had been summer, the red leaves would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Leaves aren’t red in summer. They’re green. They’re red in fall. The context I had for seeing these leaves was appropriate and the expectation I had matched what I thought was the reality. Fall leaves on the ground in fall. This expectation formed a preconceived notion in my mind and I didn’t stop to investigate. I just went with it. I had not expected them to be fake.

In church, one expects a pastor or teacher or deacon to be many things. Because of the context of the place in which they appear, one would expect them to be saved. One would expect them to be qualified. One would expect them to behave in the way the bible says they must. One would expect them to handle the word rightly. One has a preconceived expectation of all these things due to the context in which the teacher labors: church. This expectation means we tend to extend trust to the teacher in great amounts and almost immediately.

Trust is different from respect. I respect my elders as the bible says we should. And I do extend more trust to a guest speaker or a teacher that the pastor brings in, because I trust him to make good decisions on behalf of his sheep. But it isn’t a blind trust. It isn’t a mindless trust. I listen respectfully, but alertly. I go back and compare what has been said to the bible.

If the situation is that a teacher of the bible hasn’t been introduced by my pastor and is a television or celebrity personality without a church (and it seems there are more and more of those lately) then the context is a bit different and thus my expectation is different. My immediate trust level is lower. It doesn’t border on skeptical, that would be rude I think, but I do listen with all discernment cylinders firing. I put a higher guard on my heart and mind while listening to this itinerant teacher or celebrity pastor etc., and then I go back and check it out. All of this of course is bathed in prayer.

My point is that one should look deeply and carefully at a teacher you’re going to sit under, and look hard. Do your research beforehand. Don’t relax your guard just because they are a teacher of the bible. We know from scripture that the church isn’t safe from predators. Wolves will come in and they have come in, not sparing the sheep. What a false teacher brings is death, so the stakes are high.

As for our expectations in the context, I am sure that the Bereans had an expectation that Paul would teach rightly. He was famous, had studied under famous teachers, and was known to be brilliant. However, they still searched. Their searching did not mean they didn’t respect him, they likely did. However, they respected God more. They wanted to be sure what they were hearing was not contradictory to His word.

One last piece of discernment advice: just because you searched out a teacher and found them to be sound 20 years ago, doesn’t mean you stop comparing what they say to the word. Over time, teachers fall prey to false doctrines or twisted interpretations, or fads. Over time, the teachers (being human like us!) stop being vigilant, and they teach wrongly instead of rightly. Just because they were great three years ago doesn’t mean they are great now. Keep searching the scriptures to see if the things they say are so. There is no rest for the weary soldier, not yet anyway. Not yet. But soon? Dearest Lord, I hope soon. Won’t it be wonderful to sit under the greatest Teacher of all? We will never have to check what He is saying against the Word, because He IS THE WORD!!

beth moore, discernment, doctrine, false teacher, Joyce Meyer, unity

Discerning Beth Moore and Joyce Meyer’s discussion on "Enjoying Everyday Life" about "unity"

Posted on November 2, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

On August 18, 2014 I published an essay regarding the joining of Beth Moore and Joyce Meyer on Meyer’s television program, “Enjoying Everyday Life”. Moore and Meyer, along with friend Christine Caine, had tweeted excitedly about Moore’s interview on Meyer’s program and upcoming broadcast of that interview. The topic was “unity.”

Most discerning Christians know and understand that Meyer is a false teacher. She does not preach the same Jesus as revealed in the bible. Some discerning folks know and understand that Moore is also false, but many more were until lately reluctant to declare her so, instead of being just wayward, misguided, or temporarily mistaken.

Wheat or tare? Emmer wheat, Persian, darnel?
A skilled eye can tell. Public domain

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-18)

It takes time for fruit to ripen. And so Moore’s has ripened to the point where we can now detect whether her fruit is bad or good. For the record, it’s bad.

When Moore joined Meyer on Enjoying Everyday Life, it was another nail in the coffin, so to speak.

The actual program aired yesterday, October 31. It is currently available here.

I watched it, and here is a review of the program.

Meyer opened the show by saying “Today we’re going to talk about unity and peace and getting along, what could be accomplished if we could all get along and work together? How can we avoid allowing our differences to hinder us in bringing the gospel to a lost and hurting world?”

Meyer included Moore’s bio in her opening introduction, saying in part, “She ministers to women of all faith backgrounds. She has a heart for unity in the body of Christ and a vision to reach women of all denominations.”

This sounds very good, and is actually fairly biblical – unless you know that Moore includes Catholics as a regular Christian denomination. This fact is not stated in the video.

Joyce Meyer gave a personal anecdote to start, beginning the discussion of unity as unity within the home. Meyer said she has learned to “Keep the strife out of your life. I’ve discovered Jesus works in an atmosphere of peace, not turmoil and anger. What have you discovered [Beth Moore] along these lines in your walk with God?”

For those who may be anticipating an essay full of biblical debunkings of plainly heretical or false statements either or both ladies made during the interview, you will be disappointed. They made no outward heretical or false statements, except the one above and perhaps one other.

Rather, they alluded to things, they skirted issues, they were cloaked and guarded, they were non-specific; so that if one was unaware of the previous contexts in which they taught, or previous situations in which they had been called to account, nothing untoward seemed to be said. This is even more dangerous than plainly speaking heresy, because satan is subtle. (Genesis 3:1)

This will be a discernment lesson on how to be discerning not with what a false teacher says, but on what a false teacher does NOT say. False teachers have to be right some of the time. Even a broken watch is right twice ever 24 hours.

As for the ridiculous opener from Meyer stating that Jesus worked in an atmosphere of peace, it can be plainly seen from scripture that Meyer is totally wrong.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. (Matthew 10:34-3).

Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. (Luke 12:51)

The “atmosphere” in which Jesus worked was filled with anguish, strife, perplexity, anger, and death. The Pharisees tried to kill Jesus a number of times. They even tried to kill Lazarus. (John 12:10). Even though Jesus healed the terrible demoniac the Gadarenes were all so afraid of, they asked Jesus to leave town! Meyer’s assertion is biblically unfounded and patently ridiculous.

The first part of the discussion the two women had was about their own coming to terms with how to biblically nurture peace and unity within the home, as wives. Moore said that she harangued her husband (who had come from “a different background spiritually” and “accepted Christ” when he and Beth were dating) to go to church, and it was when she prayed and left it to Jesus that her husband started coming around. She said that she stopped trying to control him and quit trying to change him and began respecting the man God had sent to her life. Meyer said the same, that when she concentrated on being a godly wife instead of trying to change her husband, peace reigned in the home. These are good thoughts and actions for women to take. I agreed with them.

The second part of the interview was when the two women began to discuss unity in the body of Christ. However, they never defined the body of Christ. We know from following Moore that Moore considers Catholics part of the body of Christ. A person who came in cold to the broadcast or was otherwise unaware of this belief of Moore’s would never know this.

After the break Meyer asked, “How can we have more unity in the Body of Christ? Or even unity within one church?”

A good question. There is nothing wrong with and everything right with unity among the brothers. 1 Corinthians 1:10 makes an appeal for unity among the brothers. Psalm 133:1 promises blessings for those who dwell in unity.

Moore replied: “Even the topic of unity causes division! Disunity is not the heart of Christ, it is the will of God to be unified.”

Sometimes the topic of unity does indeed cause division, lol. However neither woman biblically defined unity. Meyer said that though she married a Lutheran and was involved in the Lutheran church for years, and Moore is a Baptist, and they might not agree on “every little point of doctrine” they would still consider themselves loving sisters in the faith.

There was only vague talk of denominations, but no declaration of the biblical standard under which someone would be considered in the body of Christ.

Here is where they strayed from the center line of biblical truth, though. Meyer said even though she might disagree with Moore over doctrine,

“I agree with your heart and your spirit and with your teaching in the Body of Christ. People disagree over little things.”

Doctrine isn’t a little thing.

Moore replied, “The witness of our disunity is deplorable. Throw down those denominational lines. It is insulting to Christ to be separate. … We love the same Jesus. We love the same scriptures. … Even if we did not have that in common, if we could say our salvation is found in Christ if He died and rose again and how to be saved and Jesus sits at right hand of God, then that is my sister, my brother.” “I would serve anywhere and anybody even if they didn’t have close to the same belief system.”

And here is the danger. Mormons claim Jesus is the source of salvation and that He died and rose again and is sitting at the right hand of the Father. So do Jehovah’s Witnesses. So do Catholics. Their discussion alluded to the fact that we must be united at the expense of doctrine. They intimated that we must have harmony with anyone who simply claims Jesus. Even if they “don’t have close to the same belief system.”

So one wonders, how far afield does one go in order to unite, and where does one draw the line? Does one even draw a line? One could not tell from their discussion. The bible is clear, there MUST be divisions. There must not be an unequal yoking in service. Neither woman made that distinction which of course is totally unhelpful. The statement of Moore’s that she would serve alongside anyone even if they don’t have close to the same belief system is unbiblical. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says,

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

There are supposed to be divisions along doctrinal lines. It is what makes us Christians. The women taught during their discussion that the only doctrinal line is whether someone mumbles the magic password: ‘Jesus’ and that’s it. The Pope invokes Jesus. Muslims invoke Jesus. Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, even Presbyterian USA denomination invoke Jesus. But it is not the same Jesus.

There are many who “claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” (Titus 1:16)

Good fruit? Bad fruit? Worm in fruit? Inspect before ingesting!

Over the years, both Meyer and Moore have made unbiblical statements, and they have been soundly criticized for it. Neither woman likes that. For a while the pair discussed rebukes they’ve received and they condemned these rebukes as disunity within the body. Using cloaked and non-specific language, Meyer said,

“How can we possibly say we love one another if all we do is find fault and differences and be judgmental and critical and say things about people when we have no knowledge of what they’re talking about? I know of you, I know your reputation, but I don’t know YOU yet, in order for that to happen time has to be spent together. It’s unfair for people to have an opinion when they haven’t spent time. People have so many opinions they don’t know anything about me or even you and they know nothing about. They don’t know me at all. They’ve never asked me a question. They think something that is uninformed and they pass it along from person to person. God doesn’t agree with me about everything but we have a good relationship.”

The context for her comment was that people see her on TV or read her books or see something she said and are critical of it and she believes this unfair. Why is this unfair, according to Meyer? Meyer used the verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:12 Amplified Bible, which says,

Now also we beseech you, brethren, get to know those who labor among you [recognize them for what they are, acknowledge and appreciate and respect them all]—your leaders who are over you in the Lord and those who warn and kindly reprove and exhort you.

Her point was that unless one has “gotten to know” her, they cannot and should not reprove her. Of course, the standard translations do not translate it “get to know.” They all say, honor, or respect, or acknowledge or appreciate or know or recognize. The commentaries explain:

Matthew Henry: The people should honour and love their ministers, because their business is the welfare of mens’ souls. And the people should be at peace among themselves, doing all they can to guard against any differences. But love of peace must not make us wink at sin.

Meyer’s statement is even more ridiculous considering that she is NOT submitted to a pastor and does NOT attend a church where a pastor could get to know her and rebuke her if differences in doctrine arose. The only church she ever attended was a Lutheran church for a few short years, then shortly switched to a non-denominational church where she taught a bible class, and then became associate pastor. We know from the bible that women pastors are unbiblical. When her class grew large, she quit the church and founded her own ministry, first on radio then took it to TV. Her statement about getting to know someone and spending time before criticizing was hypocritical in the extreme. Why? She has insulated herself from being able to be gotten to personally, and therefore has added a barrier over which no one would ever be able to reach in order to even begin to criticize. A neat trick. (Source below)

“We command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you stay apart from every brother who leads an unruly life, not according to the tradition which you received from us.” (2 Thessalonians 3:6) If you have someone in your church who is teaching error, you cannot have unity with that individual. If you have someone who is leading an unruly or sinful life, you cannot have fellowship with that individual. So what we’re talking about here is the pursuit of the true unity of the Spirit, that belongs to those who surround the truth, and affirm it, and who live godly lives. ~John MacArthur

Moore agreed with Meyer. She said, “I get weary at things taken out of context, that people have quoted me about…even when WE choose to love one another and unite together people in those camps will be disunified. This is the time on the kingdom calendar to come together.”

Matthew 18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:12 have no application to a public leader and his or her public writings. Whatsoever.

Both women are public teachers, and their teaching must be examined. Both teach unbiblical things, and both have been reproved, rebuked, judged, and criticised. This is biblical. However, in their pursuit of unity, they include themselves under the overly-large doctrinal and denominational umbrella, and claim that to even criticize at all is ‘unfair’ and promotes ‘disunity.’

Moore and Meyer discussing the ‘unfairness’ of being criticized

“If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain” (1 Tim. 6:3-5).

Their discussion was pointed about including any and all ‘denominations’ (and we know they mean Catholics) into the fold, disregard doctrinal differences, and claim that love will triumph over all.

Here is what John MacArthur said about the kind of false unity Meyer and Moore promoted:

There is a drive today in evangelicalism – and what a bland term that has become. But there is a drive in evangelicalism for an ecumenism that ignores sound doctrine, that overlooks error, and accepts even what we would deem as heresy. There is a kind of evangelical ecumenism that says we’re all one, and we need to enjoy one another without regard for any of our doctrinal differences. That is a false, and unbiblical, and displeasing unity, if indeed it is unity at all, in the sense that it dishonors and displeases the Lord. There is another kind of striving for unity that wants to disregard iniquity, and embrace everybody no matter whether they are walking in obedience to the Word of God or not, overlooking their sin and their iniquity.

But quite the contrary – the Scripture says if there is someone in your midst, according to Titus chapter 3, teaching error, if there is a heretic there, admonish him once, admonish him twice, and then put him out. He’s forfeited a right to lay any claim to acceptance within that unity.

The discernment lesson comes where we understand that in their televised discussion, Meyer and Moore taught unity through love, but not in doctrine. They failed to mention that there are many scriptures, and the above is just one, where the one preaching a different doctrine is to be put out…not tolerated…called to repent…confronted…handed over to satan. They failed to mark their discussion by presenting scripture on both sides of the scale. The failed to define unity, did not define the Body of Christ, and did not warn listeners about the dangers of overlooking sin and false doctrine. Discernment is about what false teachers say and what false teachers don’t say. That is the true both sides of the scale.

For example, both women talked about Luke 10, where Jesus sent 72 disciples out two by two. They said that if the disciples came to a town and were received, that was good. But it was so peaceful if they were not received because all they had to do is shake the dust off their feet. How peaceful and non-confrontational … but they did not read to the end of the passage, where Jesus said, “I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.”

Not so peaceful after all, when Jesus said that those who reject Him and His doctrine will be judged more severely than the town that was burned to the ground in fire and brimstone.

Matthew 11:20-23 expounds more:
Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.

Jesus was warning those towns that failure to accept His doctrine and truths by repenting of sin and believing on Him would result in hell and permanent cursing of their town. Jesus was drawing the lines of division: who would be cursed and who would be blessed and which behavior results in both. The townspeople had accepted the miracles but rejected Jesus. Standing with one foot on both sides is not unity. Jesus was all about one or the other. Yet Moore and Meyer taught that love while overlooking doctrinal differences is all one needs to be unified. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In conclusion, Moore and Meyer taught that unity above doctrine was paramount, blindly accepting anyone who says “Jesus” is our duty, serving alongside anyone even if they have a wildly divergent belief system is OK, pursuing peace and love across all denominational lines without regard to the nuts and bolts of a person’s adherence to the bible is a given, and that to criticize one’s doctrine without spending time to get to know them is unfair.

All of the above was cloaked in loving language and even some tears at times. It seemed Christian-y, it was kind of bible-ish. But it wasn’t. It was what they did not say that was the problem.

How can a person know what someone is not saying? Know what the bible says. And listen for the whole story from your teachers.

At the end of the discussion, Moore laid the syrup on Meyer. Moore said,

“I’m astounded at the magnitude of what you’ve done, through God. I asked God how to bless you, Joyce, in my hotel room this morning. I offer you my respect. I offer you my esteem. I say to you, you are a mighty woman of God, you have run a race well.”

This should nail it for those who still may be unsure of Moore’s proclivities. Meyer is an obvious, rank heretic. For Moore to publicly lay on her esteem, respect, and proclaim Meyer a woman of God shows a massive lack of discernment or else a massively pragmatic conscience in unbelief. (2 Peter 2:3).

As an aside, we know that the last few years Moore has been reaching out to Catholics. I got curious as to what the Catholics think of Moore. There are many women Catholic forums and there is often a question from one Catholic woman to another as to the value of Moore’s studies or as a Catholic, whether one should partake of Moore’s studies. The verdict from most forums I scanned? Catholic women see Moore as biblically shallow, overly sentimental, given to emotionalism with not much bible. Their general consensus was that Moore is a motivational speaker but in no way a bible teacher. That is pretty discerning for women who aren’t even saved. Here is what one Catholic woman wrote:

Let me stress, her underlying message seems okay, but her delivery bothers me. She could write some great self-help books from a Christian perspective but her Bible study method is lacking. What bothers me: She comes up with a theory and then searches for scripture to back-up her theory. Seems backwards, but whatever. At the end of lesson 5 she asks everyone to stand up and repeat a pledge/prayer. If I’m going to make a pledge before the Lord I’d like to know what I’m pledging.

Interesting. Would that all women who are genuinely saved be so diligent about who they should follow into studies and so discerning about Beth Moore.

Another lady said Moore taught that,

“The Bible is Complete and Fully Sufficient.” Ironically, she can’t make this point without referencing 8 sources outside scripture.”

One Catholic woman on a forum inquisitive about Moore and whether her study would be profitable for her, a Catholic, said “I looked her up on Google, and found that she is a Southern Baptist speaker. The Statement of Faith of her organization was quite encouraging, as she does not include a “Bible is the Sole Source of Authority” point.”

And that says it all. If a teacher’s statement of faith page encourages people outside the faith, the teacher is doing something wrong. What is NOT there in a person’s teaching is just as important as what is.

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To gain discernment, just ask!

Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments. (Psalms 119:66)

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From a news article about Joyce Meyer from 2003:

It was while at Life Christian that Meyer began one of the more unusual chapters of her early ministry.

In an audiotape series called “How to Fight the Devil and Win,” Meyer recalled how she read a book on freeing people from demons. She saw the book as a revelation from God and began what she called a “deliverance ministry,” much of it out of the family’s home on Codorniz Lane in Fenton.

“I had every person, I think, anywhere within 10 miles who had a demon come knocking at my door wanting deliverance,” she said. “And I was staying up half the night, almost every night, Dave and I were, casting out devils.”

She said she got on people’s backs and rode them “all over the house, with these demons of anger and fear and violence … you know our kids are back there sleeping and we’re in the living room screaming at demons half the night. …

In November 1998, Meyer made the big time with a cover story in Charisma & Christian Life magazine, one of the nation’s leading publications for followers of the charismatic movement. On its cover, the magazine called Meyer “America’s most popular woman minister.”

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For Further Reading:

At what point does one declare a teacher like Beth Moore false? Here’s some help.

John Stackhouse: Why I Criticize in Public

christian liberty, discernment, fall festival, halloween

For Christians, is Halloween a trick, or a treat?

Posted on October 31, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Halloween: demonically evil, or harmless fun?
(EPrata artwork)

Here are some different views on Christians celebrating or not celebrating Halloween.

Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry: What is Halloween? | Can Christians celebrate Halloween? / Origins of Halloween

Al Mohler: Halloween and the Dark Side: What should Christians Think?

Grace To You/Travis Allen: Christians and Halloween

GotQuestions: Should Christians celebrate Halloween?

Kirk Cameron Called to ‘Repent’ for Encouraging Christians to Celebrate Halloween

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween? Kirk Cameron & John MacArthur Think So [VIDEO]

Brent Larson at Crosswalk: Trunk or Treat?

LifeWay: Fall Alternatives to Halloween

EPrata photo

News Stories in the culture about Halloween

Women beheaded in what observers thought was a gruesome Halloween prank
[Ed. Note: There’s something wrong with a society that cannot figure out the difference between a grisly live murder and a holiday prank]

Good Girls Go Bad, For A Day
IN her thigh-highs and ruby miniskirt, Little Red Riding Hood does not appear to be en route to her grandmother’s house. And Goldilocks, in a snug bodice and platform heels, gives the impression she has been sleeping in everyone’s bed. There is a witch wearing little more than a Laker Girl uniform, a fairy who appears to shop at Victoria’s Secret and a cowgirl with a skirt the size of a tea towel. Halloween is a day to flaunt your inner vixen. Anyone who has watched the evolution of women’s Halloween costumes in the last several years will not be surprised that these images — culled from the Web sites of some of the largest Halloween costume retailers — are more strip club than storybook.

Millions spent on pet Halloween costumes
[Oy is all I can say]