I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
Isn’t that an evocative and a sweet description of how we fall asleep! I’ve always loved it.
Apostasy is like that. It shows up slowly, then all at once.
In Philemon 1:24, Paul called Demas a fellow worker. By 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul had declared him a friend of the world. There was approximately an 8-10 year span between the two verses.
Judas was never in the faith. For three and a half years, he followed Christ. But unknown to the disciples, Judas held secret sins in his heart, he stole from the group purse, he met with Pharisees…By the end, he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Demas and Judas never abandoned the faith, because they never were in it in the first place.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (1 John 2:19).
A tweet by Joyce Meyer and Beth Moore this week is causing dismay and consternation. I wrote about it here. Here is the tweet:
Beth Moore and also Christine Caine on her Facebook page, confirmed the partnership. The topic of the program series will be “unity,” Moore tweeted. Meyer said on her own Facebook page that they haven’t scheduled the programs for broadcast yet. But that the programs will be on soon.
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| From Christine Caine’s Facebook page |
Since Meyer is well-known heretic who teaches unorthodox and unbiblical doctrines, Moore’s partnership on Meyer’s program has disappointed many. Yet for others who have been sounding the alarm about Beth Moore for many years, (including myself) this comes as NO surprise. We are hopeful that at last, this will be the evidence your church needs to root out FALSE TEACHER Beth Moore from your church.
In Numbers 32:23 we read that our sin will find us out. Can any apostate keep their position hidden forever? Of course, Jesus knows all. He knew Judas was not of the faith, because Jesus sees the heart. He knows what is in a man. (John 2:24). But what about us, who cannot see the heart, but only the fruit?
Apostasy is a funny thing. It is like a chain that keeps lengthening. At which link does a person declare a false teacher false (if they are)?
No sensible person will declare a teacher false after only one link appears. That is not discernment, it is Pharisaical judgment. But how about after four links? It depends on the link. It depends on what they have said or done. If the teacher has said “Jesus never came in the flesh” then that’s good enough, because the 2 John 1:7 declares that people who say that are deceivers and antichrists.
If a person declares that they do not believe in Jesus as the Resurrected Son of God, and are in fact an atheist, as the Christian metal band singer Tim “I was faking faith the whole time” Lambesis said recently, then one need not wait for more links in the chain in order to know they are false.
But what of Beth Moore, who has been on the forefront of the Christian scene teaching and preaching since 1997? At what point in the chain does one say, ‘cut it off, I know she’s false?’ Some said it early and some say it late and others say it not at all.
As Justin Peters said on Brannon Howse’s World View Weekend radio program this week, a person can follow a false teacher for a season. It stands to reason that a false teacher can teach a false doctrine for a season, too, but correct it. That is why we must be vigilant, but not hasty.
For me the final straw that broke the camel’s back moment came when Moore claimed to have been visited by Jesus. Moore said he lifted her into another dimension to see the church as “He” sees it. Moore claimed that during that vision, “Jesus” told her “My Bride is paralyzed by unbelief”. “Jesus” then told Moore to return and teach this new revelation to the church.
Jesus would never say His Bride is unbelieving. To be part of the Bride, one must believe. If one doesn’t believe, they are not the Bride. Moore’s supposed revelation is an internally contradictory statement. And since Jesus doesn’t contradict Himself, it must be Moore who is false.
Others gave the benefit of the doubt for longer periods. And still other things that we could add to the pile of proof, links in the apostasy chain as it were, stayed mostly hidden. Unless one cared to look. I did.
When the bible says to be vigilant (1 Peter 5:8, 1 Corinthians 16:13) it means be vigilant. Observant. Watchful. Once the alarm bell went off about Moore, I listened closely and I researched for evidence. This is so one can either confirm or exonerate.
For example, Non-profit tax returns are public. I read all of the tax returns from Moore’s Living Proof Ministries, as far back as they were available, to 2000. That was how I discovered that Moore donated significant money to Lakewood Church as long ago as ten years.
Or when Moore made a statement that though she travels a lot, that she is a biblical wife and leaves Friday night and is home by Saturday afternoon, thus retaining her stay-at-home status, it hit me wrong. So I researched her schedule. I knew that she had many Living Proof conferences that year, and was on a book tour that year, spent time writing alone in a cabin in the woods, and did weekly TV shows. So I looked through her public calendar, pieced together the weekends, and found the truth was the opposite. But unless one did the research, one would not know she had told a falsehood.
Link by link I built my case.
So, when did Beth Moore’s apostasy show through? For me, early. Others, later. Still others do not have ears to hear, so they don’t remain vigilant. They are not watchful. When does the tip of the iceberg of apostasy show above the surface?
Jude 1:4 says,
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Unnoticed…Yet at some point, they stumble, their sin shows. They are seen by the discerning. The discerning raise the alarm. Some don’t see it. The wolf remains unnoticed still.
Was it in 1994 when she founded Living Proof Ministries and set herself as President, (and her husband as Vice-President) and claimed on her (2000) IRS tax form that she worked 50 hours a week, yet said in interviews she was a stay at home mom at the same time?
Was it in 2003 when she donated $1000 to Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, for “ministry support?”
Or in 2003 when she described writing her book “When Godly People do Ungodly Things” as having been taken over by a force which wrote the book FOR her? (a process known as automatic writing/channeling the occult/Spiritism)
Or in 2004 when she donated $34,429 to Joel Osteen’s church for “ministry support”?
Was it in 2005 when Moore claimed to have been visited by Jesus, who lifted her into another dimension to see the church through His eyes, at which time He told gave her new revelation- that, and I quote her quoting Jesus, “My Bride is paralyzed by unbelief”, and that Moore was to return to earth and teach this? (Jesus would NEVER say His Bride doesn’t believe, it is an internally contradictory statement!!)
Or in 2006 when Moore participated in a DVD program called “Be Still” and promoted the Catholic mystical practice of contemplative prayer?
Or in 2008, when her pop psychology tainted with faith conditions (legalism) began to show through, when she wrote for example, in her book Looking Up When Life Is Looking Down, that “I believe God has scheduled a time and a way for you to get out of our pit. You’re going to need to show up for the appointment, though.”
Or in 2009 when Moore taught from Deut. directly and blatantly allegorized the passage, twisted it, and made it about ourselves when the verse was clearly about God? (which she does with all her verses in all studies?) [Living Proof Conference, Charlotte NC]
Or again in 2010 when Moore taught a passage from Hebrews in one of her studies and completely allegorized it, twisted it, and made it about ourselves, beginning an obvious pattern of bible eisegesis?
Or in 2011 when her programs on Life Today with James Robison became more about “mistakes” and not sins, and more about pop psychology and earthly desires than honoring God and learning His word? When she said “I believe” more than “The bible says”?
Or in 2012 when at the Georgia Passion conference when she led the youths in the Catholic Mystical practice of Lectio Divina and prayer walking?
Or perhaps 2013 when her language while teaching included much more of “God told me to teach you this” or “I heard God say to me” and taught from her own vain imaginings and visions than the word itself but called it ‘teaching the word’?
Or in 2013 when she praised Catholic Mystic Roma Downey and Word Faith prosperity teacher Victoria Osteen at Lakewood Church during women’s conferences they did together?
Or in 2014 when Moore said “God told her” that there will come an awakening and an outpouring, and that she and others who speak “the genuinely prophetic” will be called false, but not to believe them, the people (us) who will say she is false will be bullies?
Or finally in 2014, when she linked with heretic Joyce Meyer?
Justin Peters is a pastor, teacher, and has been invited by John MacArthur to participate with him in several conferences. Peters teaches discernment. He spoke about the Joyce Meyer/Beth Moore partnership this week. He said in the past he has declared Moore’s teachings bad, her bible hermeneutics terrible, and her approach too casual. He has said she is not qualified to do the things she has been doing. He said he’s urged women to study under other women, like Susan Heck, rather than Moore…but has been hesitant to say outright that she is false. However, this Moore-Meyer link has pushed him over the edge, and unfortunately Moore can be seen to be a wolf. Many others are finally saying the same.
Those of us with the gift of discernment who spot it early, it is often a mournful time. It’s hard to be practically the only ones saying “watch out, Moore is false” not because we want everyone to see we’re right, but because we can see the wolves carrying off the lambs and the sheep! It hurts to see women impacted negatively by false teachers. It is a grief to see them absorb and adopt the false hermeneutics Moore teaches, false approaches to the bible that these women carry with them. It is a pattern of destruction that Moore embeds, which women then use as the filter to see God’s word and His attributes. The Spirit in His will gives gifts, one of them is discernment. If you have a discerning person in your church, please understand it is a gift from Jesus, not a harassment to torture you in your love for certain teachers.
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“Plate facing page 10, An Argosy of Fables” by Paul Bransom,
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. 1921. Wiki CC |
You would not believe how wide Meyer’s sphere of influence is. Meyer’s social media influence is huge too. Meyer has 7.6 million followers on Facebook.
Moore is extremely popular. Women trust Moore and trust what she says, so when Moore promotes and endorses books like Jesus Calling, teachings like heretic Meyer’s, and practices like direct revelation as normative, women believe it. Then women get defeated because they aren’t hearing directly from God, they aren’t climbing ‘out of their pits’ in their own strength, and they aren’t having visions where all these lively experiences happen. “Why Beth Moore and Not Me?” Moore’s sphere of falsity widens ever larger, but the more women trust her the more they are entrapped into sin and bondage.
Justin Peters said this week in an interview with Brannon Howse on World View Weekend, “If the SBC had a pope, it would be Beth Moore.”
Moore and Meyer are the two most followed and best selling women bible ‘teachers’ in Christendom. In partnering, they have become the face of falsity for most women who claim to love Jesus. It is a dangerous time.
You might be familiar with the good Christian movies Flywheel, Facing the Giants, Fireproof, and Courageous. They were made by the Kendrick Brothers at their home church in South Georgia, Sherwood Baptist. Did you know that the Kendrick Brothers are now making a fifth movie, but have have struck out on their own, apart from Sherwood church? Their new movie is about prayer…and did you know Priscilla Shirer AND Beth Moore appear in it?
Discernment is a never-ending process. It is important to be vigilant! (1 Peter 5:8, 1 Corinthians 16:13)
Why am I saying all this? Because women in our church have to know. They have to be told that Moore, Meyer, etc are destructive to their walk. We have to gently approach our sisters, to tell them. We ask the husbands and the leaders to be attentive to discernment issues. It seems to me that the noose is tightening and that false teachers and false doctrines truly abound.
Because of these verses:
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1)
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)
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Further Reading:
Here is a tremendous article from Dan Phillips, called Red Lights. He is referring to the red light warnings we can see in teachers or pastors who are not yet false but heading that way. He listed 24 of them, with scripture attached to each. Red Lights
the-end-time.org 