Last week I wrote a series on discernment in 6 essays. They are below. I called it “Wolf Week” because false teachers are called wolves in scripture. My own version of Shark Week, lol.
A short follow-up series I am publishing contains 4 more essays in short form focusing on 4 influential ‘Bible’ teachers. I have written discernment essays on these four previously in years past, but those essays were longer. In articles like that, I include sources, explain the teacher’s errors thoroughly, and provide examples. All this make the essays longer. Nowadays however, people like to read less lengthy material. So I cut to the chase and made shorter essays showing why these folks are false.
Today I look at 4 reasons not to follow Lori Alexander, half of the duo behind godlywomanhood/ The Transformed Wife.
Beth Moore speaking at a race conference at Baylor in 2022.
Just out is Beth Moore’s third memoir, “All My Knotted Up Life.” (The first two were Feathers from My Nest: A Mother’s Reflections and Things Pondered: From the Heart of a Lesser Woman.)
Moore is a great oral storyteller and she is also good writer. She has written over 25 Bible studies beginning in 1999 with A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place, three memoirs, a novel, and numerous other books. For most of her publishing life, Moore has been with Lifeway, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2021, when Moore left the publisher, it was stated,
Moore was Lifeway’s best-selling author, with a reach far beyond the SBC to conservative believers of many denominations. Her books and related materials “kept the Nashville-based publisher afloat,” according to Baptist News. At her peak, she generated more than $30 million a year in revenue.
Her current memoir, published by Tyndale, is accompanied by the ubiquitous book tour. Moore is sweeping the south with her book signings. Interest is high in her book’s contents and with that, interest is high on her in general. Her opinion on various topics is being sought. And Beth is happy to give it.
Moore is capitalizing on this widespread interest by speaking up about “white privilege”, “white supremacy”, and “racism” “in the church”. Earlier she jumped on the “misogyny” bandwagon when the #MeToo movement surfaced, and previously jumped on other Christian trends and fads, speaking out on them when they were popular.
From the beginning it must be stated: Beth Moore is a false teacher. Her skill in storytelling, her rough life, and her emotional appeals notwithstanding, when she teaches the Bible, her teaching fails the Berean test. When comparing it to scripture, these things are not so. (Acts 17:11).
When I attended a Living Proof Live event in 2011 at an 18,000 seat filled arena, I spoke with women in the lobby as we waited to get in. Many of them traveled long distances to hear Beth. Some, I discovered, follow her from venue to venue. One boasted she’d seen Beth at more than 20 LPL events. I’d used the word groupie to describe them in a previous essay, and it’s how some describe themselves, but my concern is her groupies that have heaped Beth up are now a cult – and she is their idol.
Think I’m kidding? Nope. See some of the recent comments about Beth Moore. These aren’t cherry picked. There are frequent comments like this.
Beth Moore’s recent elevation by her ticked-ears followers is a concern. Moore has millions of people whom she influences between social media, interviews, LPL events, and book signings.
Therefore the following issues are important to state:
Beth Moore does not speak for the church.
No one elected Beth Moore spokesman for “the church”. Moore is making numerous allegations, sweeping assertions, and accusations about “the church”. She has not defined the church of which she speaks. Her own church? The Baptist denomination church? The church in America? The global church? The only church of which she should speak is her own. And even then, nasty public accusations are not God-honoring. (Exodus 20:16, 1 Peter 2:1, Proverbs 11:9).
Beth Moore does not speak for the church. Beth Moore does not speak for you. Or me.
1. Making categorical, unqualified and vague accusations that are sweeping in scope causes division.
For example, Moore stated at a recent conference at which she was an invited speaker:
“How do people who claim to love God and place such a high value on Scripture place such a low value on justice?” (Source)
Which people? Where? How can she make such a sweeping claim?
Also: “At that time, such things as the titanic need for criminal justice reform had not even registered with me” (Source).
“What became increasingly and startlingly clear was that our politics informed our faith, rather than our faith informing our politics,” Moore said. (ibid)
“Our”? Whose faith was being informed by politics? Hers? Yours? Her church’s? What are some examples? None are ever given, just constant nebulous assertions.
She did the same in 2018 in a “Letter to My Brothers” which talked of “skewed attitudes.” She asked that her brothers (not named, not defined) “would simply have no tolerance for misogyny and dismissiveness toward women in your spheres of influence.” She talked of being a female leader and having to “work within ‘the system'” (instead of saying ‘I joyously submitted to God’s hierarchical roles for men, women, youths and children? Her church was ‘a system’?).
Her insinuations in the Letter to My Brothers again were vague and unclear. Did she meant the men in her own church, men in the global church, or men everywhere?. Michelle Lesley wrote of the Letter to My Brothers’ unsubstantiated accusations,
How is anyone supposed to agree with or refute the facts of what Beth is saying unless she gives clear explanations and details? What Beth has done in her blog post is to throw out unsubstantiated, generalized accusations against a wide swath of nameless Christian men and churches and she expects us to take her word for it that there’s some epidemic of misogyny across the board in the church.
The Bible says about people like Moore who make unsubstantiated assertions:
Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, (Titus 3:10).
The word factious here (or divisive in other translations) means, according to Strongs-
hairetikós – a factious person, specializing in half-truths and misimpressions “to win others over” to their personal opinion (misguided zeal) – while creating harmful divisions (used only in Tit 3:10).
How aptly this verse applies to Beth Moore! One person tweeted an even more pointed comment after watching her recent woke/racism interview,
“all I saw was emotion with buzz words attached.”
Friends, avoid Beth Moore, because the Bible says-
“You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. (Exodus 23:1).
2.Beth Moore hops onto fads. She copied Joel Osteen’s mantra for a while, copied hearing from God from Henry Blackaby, contemplative prayer, blue bracelets, home altars, lectio divina, #metoo, misogyny, woke, diversity…
Moore is just like the “the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something newer.” (Acts 17:21). Chasing after the latest trend is as old as the hills. And it’s not new to Beth Moore. Whatever’s popular, she goes after with misguided zeal.
3.She variously minimizes or exaggerates herself or her living situation to fit the current atmosphere.
Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. (Ephesians 4:25)
In the quote below, Moore used the language of woke, saying that she lived in white privilege,
“I was in a very privileged part of the world and a very privileged part of the church,” she conceded. Awareness of her privilege began to dawn on her just over a decade ago…” (Source).
She was born in 1957. In fact checking her statement about growing up privileged, a word she did not define, according to the 1960 census the median income for her county was $3,100 and her specific city’s was $3,800. That is $38,000 today. Wealthy salary it ain’t. Unemployment was 8.6%, one of the higher unemployment numbers of all the counties in Arkansas. Only 4.3% of female white women completed four years of college at that time. That’s not privilege. It’s poverty, poorness, and/or underprivilege.
She constantly uses language to shape a narrative she wishes a particular audience to resonate with. Moore either exaggerates (the privilege example above) or minimizes it. Here are examples of how she minimizes her situation when it suits her-
We have a tiny little sliver of water not far from us that you could call a creek if you were in a particularly generous mood. It’s got some sand by it that the kids really like. Be blessed that this is not a scratch and sniff picture because the creek doesn’t always smell all that good, especially if it hasn’t rained in a while. But if your nose is slightly stuffy, it can be pretty fun.
Moore was describing the creek that runs through her estate. It’s Spring Creek, and it begins near Waller Tx and runs about 45 miles to drain into the San Jacinto River. It divides Harris and Montgomery County. Spring Creek is the only natural creek in both Harris and Montgomery County. It is known for “its sandy banks, undisturbed natural surroundings, and clean water, and it serves as home to many animals, including deer, otters, raccoons, opossums, and alligators. Many species of fish, including white bass, catfish, crappie, largemouth bass, and bluegill inhabit its waters. It is also known for its occasional Swainson’s warbler sightings and for being the easternmost sighting of the green kingfisher, as well as bald eagles, herons, egrets, and other birds.” (Wikipedia)
Along the way there are many parks and greenways which attract locals and tourists. Spring TX, home to Moore’s church, was named after the river. Hardly the dirty smelly creek she described. At all.
Here’s her description of her home she moved into several years ago:
So, three years to the day later, we’re making it out in these modest woods. These acres would not be beautiful to everybody but they’re beautiful to us. Life has been brand new out here. I won’t kid you. It’s been an adjustment. A lot less eating out. A lot more cooking. A lot more driving to work. The cars stay filthy. The raccoons won’t stay out of the trash. Fed Ex never can find us. But we don’t mind. Because it was time to make a move. For us, it was out where the dawn breaks to the crow of a rooster.
Evokes an image of the Ingalls dirt hut out on the prairie, doesn’t it? What Moore doesn’t tell you is that the Moore Trust property in Tomball TX, are not “modest woods” that “would not be beautiful to everybody.” Her property is a 46 acre forested enclave with its own road, two houses with total of 7 bedrooms and 7 1/2 baths, custom outdoor kitchens and fireplaces, a combined square footage of 6600 sf, and assessed by Harris County TX at over $2 million dollars.
She plays white privilege when it suits her. She plays regular sista when she wants to hide her then-4 houses, large home estate, and flying to her venues on a private jet, even to Australia.
4. Beth Moore is an expert at using political rhetoric to her advantage.
Political rhetoric is deliberately vague. You know the kind, the candidate speeches that roll around every election cycle that fling around words like liberty and freedom and prosperity, that each different person listening has a different idea of its meaning.
“Political language is vague because politicians are shrewd and desire to build a winning coalition of people who hold different views“, said Larry Etheredge of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
That’s Beth Moore. Not desiring to speak unadulterated biblical truth, but to build a coalition of people who hold different views- so as to make merchandise of them (2 Peter 2:3).
Vagueness is why Moore refused to answer when I and other ladies asked her point blank if homosexuality was a sin. It’s why she has never come out in support of the Roe v. Wade overturning, or said clearly that abortion is bad. It’s why she never has to my knowledge taught a Bible lesson on 1 Timothy (you know, the book that says a woman may not preach to men or have authority over them?) It’s exactly why Moore makes vague claims and will never stop making them-
There are also certain advantages in the use of fuzzy concepts and vague boundaries, because they extend the range of options open to a speaker, offering a chance to express many grades of truth and many different attitudes towards propositions without the speaker having to be pinned down to just one position. (Lakoff, “Hedges: A study in meaning and the logic of fuzzy concepts. Eighth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society, 183-228, 1972).
That’s Beth Moore, expressing many grades of truth.
I deliberately chose the above examples of how Beth hops onto fads, chooses vague language, and changes her own narrative to suit the situation, because the facts add up to this conclusion: she cannot be trusted in what she says.
I’ll repeat: Beth Moore cannot be trusted when she speaks. You can’t trust her words.
She is riding a high wave of widespread approval due to the sad and tragic revelations of her autobiography. I empathize with her various tragedies. But remember, many Christian people have had those tragedies and worse, but they do not slander, make sweeping accusations, become hardened and unteachable, and tacitly accept their cult status.
Beth Moore is a false teacher deceiving and being deceived. While she has her reward now, judgment awaits for her many sins. I plead with women reading this, do not give an inch to the false teachers or you will become part of the evil they do:
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned. (2 Peter 2:1-2).
Recently, it was shared that Pastor-Teacher John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA became short of breath while ascending to the pulpit during a Sunday sermon, and appeared for several moments to struggle for breath. He later asked the elders if he could rest instead of preach the second service, and these two facts sparked a worldwide concern and prayers for the 83 year old.
Grace Community Church (GCC) elder Tom Patton said at the second service: “Just so you know, Pastor John had a bug this week and preached our first hour but asked if he might be able to take a break for the second hour. So Mike Riccardi is going to be answering the call.“
Since the Pastor usually preaches 2 services and is quite active elsewhere and everywhere, and since MacArthur said he plans to preach and not retire, and is committed to preaching if at all possible, the news that he requested absence from the pulpit that morning sent shock waves around the world.
The incident was reported by news organizations from Fox News, Black Christian news, Christian Post, and many others. The news was tweeted and retweeted, shared on Facebook, and posted on many other social media outlets. It was a big deal.
Most of the commotion was centered on the fact that MacArthur, or JMac as he is affectionately known, is beloved and/or respected. He has preached through the entire New Testament verse by verse, a feat only completed by John Gill in the 1700s. He has led GCC as its main pastor-teacher faithfully since 1969 – 54 years! He has stood firm on the scriptures without wavering or compromise for 5 decades. He has had a global impact with his study Bibles, his complete New Testament commentary, and ~4000 sermons. His material has been absorbed from north of the Faroes at the Arctic Circle, to rural Nigeria, to the south at Patagonia, and from China in the east to Europe in the west.
His other main commitment after preaching, is to raise up men to preach, and in this, he has led The Master’s Seminary for decades. These are just a few of his accomplishments, ones he’d be the first to attribute to the Holy Spirit’s feeding and sustenance.
In other words, many see him as the Spurgeon of this century and the last, and rightfully so. His positive impact for the kingdom has been tremendous.
Thus the deep concern and prayers for this faithful elder statesman of the faith when people heard he was ill. Fortunately the Grace Church Elders issued a statement to their church members:
Dear Grace Church, Many of you are praying for Pastor John’s health as he felt lightheaded on Sunday morning in the pulpit. We are pleased to report that he is doing well. He was under the weather last week but after seeing a doctor on Sunday and getting much needed rest from a busy holiday week, he is now much improved and feeling fine. We are grateful for your continued prayers for our pastor. The Grace Church Elders.
And another statement was posted for the general public. A great sigh of relief went up along with more prayers in thanks to the Lord for gifting us this solid pastor a while longer.
Yet I’d said at the top that most of the commotion was centered on concern for his health due to this positive contributions to the faith. But not ALL the attention stemmed from that. There are JMac detractors. Vocal ones. Vicious ones. They too flooded social media with their unified scornful chorus: “John MacArthur leads a cult!” “Just look at all the idolatry!” These folks believe that the folks who love JMac are deluded idol worshipers, and they say so at every opportunity. They seized on his absence from the pulpit and subsequent concern, flocked to social media to callously push an agenda so obviously laid upon a foundation of hate.
Due to JMac’s age, one is always concerned that an illness might be the last illness and the man may depart from the earth. Of the detractors, their attitude betrayed a barely veiled glee that this might indeed be the case. They charged his pastorate as a cult, claimed the elders were making up lies, and accused the people praying for him and the church as deceived cultists.
Indeed when the elders did publish the “He’s OK!” post later in the day, they refused to believe it, publicly calling them liars.
During the hubbub, I was asked by a reader if I believed the people spewing such venom against a godly pastor were saved or not. I said probably not, but I can’t be sure of course. Here is why I believe it. Let’s unpack this.
The lesson here when interacting with people who hold a view that seems angry or ‘off somehow’ is to ask one’s self some questions. Listen not only to their words but look at the way they behave- and whether their behavior contradicts their profession of faith.
If they say the church is a cult, and in fact it is NOT a cult, then they are speaking against the Spirit who raised up the church and the man leading it. Would a person with the Spirit in them speak against the Spirit’s work?
Cults usually tend to isolate their members from society by employing polarizing views, such as ‘us vs them, and become myopic, looking inward,
Cults tend to have a leader who lies and manipulates so as to attract and retain members,
Answer: No. The outpouring of love & respect for JMac is what double honor looks like-1 Timothy 5:17.
The elders who lead well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor at preaching the word and teaching. (1 Timothy 5:17).
“The honour due to those who were not idle, but laborious in this work; they were worthy of double honour, esteem, and maintenance.” Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2357). Hendrickson.
Double honor exists in many churches, of course, not solely GCC. But not many churches have such a public presence as GCC. So we see it more there. Was Paul nurturing a cult of personality when he prepared to leave Ephesus? Look at the scene when he left and they knew they would likely never see Paul again:
Paul was beloved this way: Acts 20:36-38 “When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.”
Cults of personality is defined as “the result of an effort which is made to create an idealized and heroic image of a leader by a government, often through unquestioning flattery and praise.”
Shepherds are supposed to be humble, teachable, and respond to constructive criticism in a godly way. Cult leaders do not. Are you able to speak with your pastor or deacon or elder genuinely and naturally? Or do you have to pick your words and couch everything in a flattering manner? Is doubt or criticism punished?
Cults do happen in religion, even ones that start out as a normal church or para-church organization. The Pharisees were a cult. They twisted the word, forced people out of the synagogue, made people afraid, punished criticism, centered around one man (Annas), and their views caused them to become twice the sons of hell they themselves were.
Cults of personality occurred too. The Church at Thyatira hosted a woman who prophesied falsely, taught deception, and lured the church members into sexual immorality, and she was tolerated! She must have been a powerful personality to have formed such a cult around her that the church in cowardly manner tolerated all her sins. So ask, is the person being honored luring people into dark sin, or is his/her teaching bringing people to the light of the true Gospel?
People who claim to be Christian yet chortle with glee at a brethren’s potential demise, or who discredit a good church and its people, who call brethren liars in the face of facts, are fighting against the Spirit of Christ. No, these people are aligned with the spirit of the age, and thus most likely, are not saved. Their words betray the darkness of their heart. Anyone who chooses to publicly deride an aged Christian in ill health and wish for their death, instead of praying for their good, betrays the evilness of their heart. If they truly believed GCC was a cult and were truly Christians, would they not instead pray for their deliverance? That is the difference between a heart of light and a sinful heart.
Further Reading
Below are some links to true cults and their leaders. These men were very dangerous. If you believe you are in a cult, please refer to these articles:
Focus on the Family has an article aimed at family members who have joined a cult: “My Child Has Joined a Cult“
Recent Cults: (Personally, I’ll never forget the shock at the first images emerging on the news from Guyana of the 909 dead in the Peoples’ Temple. They drank cyanide laced Kool-Aid, parents gave it to their children. Heartbreaking. It’s where we get the phrase ‘Don’t drink the Kool-Aid’)
Please forgive the length. I researched scrupulously and collected a good amount of original source material. I put it together in a way I have not seen widely on the internet, barring one or two books for purchase one might buy. Though a plethora of positive reviews abound, any concerns regarding the Cursillo movement are not as readily available. My goal is to present enough information so that people who are aware of or who have been invited to one of these events can assess the invitation by the information gathered here or going to one of the links provided. It is intended to be a resource for discerning persons making decisions about Cursillo weekends in all its forms.
From this statement, one might surmise that my assessment of the movement is largely negative. This saddens me, because of course one would like to see movements tied to the Bible, founded on teaching grace, and working to revive the saint. This, the Cursillo movement claims to do, but unfortunately its methods are dubious and its ties to the Word shaky. I also have a bias against any para-church movement that draws congregants away from their home church in time, attention, or energy.
The emotional high it produces in participants does not last, and the let-down for some is not only unhelpful, but harmful. For those whose positivity toward the movement say it is personally fulfilling and life-altering, it creates a seed pocket of believers whose loyalties are divided between the movement and their own church. Some even say it creates more of a loyalty to the movement than it does to Christ.
Recap
In Part 1 I looked at what The Great Banquet/Walk to Emmaus/Tres Dias AKA Cursillo actually is. I examined its theology from Cursillo press releases and from online published scripts of talks given at the three day immersive event.
The weekend is touted as a time for ‘pilgrims’ (who have been observed, selected by a ‘sponsor’, vetted, and accepted into the program) to renew their spiritual fervor, re-orient their priorities, and to focus on a life of Christian service. It is a para-church ecumenical program that continues beyond the weekend by pressuring the participants to gather even more attendees, and to work future weekends away from their own church.
I noted that the theology of the weekend is structured by successive talks given by trained Cursillo lay-people and clergy. Some of these clergy may be female. Each talk builds upon another, and the overarching theme is grace.
I’d noted theological concerns with the Cursillo notion of prevenient grace, heavy Arminianism, strong emphasis on God’s love to the exclusion of wrath, watered down/one size fits all theology, ecumenism, the direction for leaders to refrain from mentioning God, Christ, Salvation or other theological words in the first talk because that ‘sets the tone’ (and organizers want the tone to be ‘light and humorous’), separation of husbands from wives, and Cursillo’s Catholic roots which haven’t been adjusted for Protestant believers to any observable degree. Here is one example of the script to leaders to downplay scripture and focus on personal experience:
Rather than talking about God’s mercy, share how you have experienced God’s mercy and love.
I’d said that while catalyzing attendees for service is a good thing, the program could and does have latent negative impacts on the ‘pilgrim’, something I’ll explore more deeply in part 3.
The Purpose of the Movement
How it works is, a sponsor is urged to select a candidate for participation in the program. It aims to be a multiplying program. Once a Cursillo participant has observed their candidate and leaders OK their invite, candidates are formally invited to the Walk/Banquet/Three Days etc. The candidate must then apply and be accepted.
This is because the program is recruiting for specific kind of people. Cursillo is not transparently offering a helpful revival weekend to just anyone. So, who are they looking for?
Not anyone can join
(Only those deemed leadership material)
Unlike normal Christianity, the movement is selective as to who gets in. The ultimate goal is-
1) locating the people who are the “backbone” of various “environments,”
2) “converting” them into leaders during the Cursillo weekend, and
3) turning them back to evangelize their environments, all the while connecting them and supporting them through continued Cursillo group reunions and ultreya meetings. These three phases are called respectively the Precursillo, the Cursillo and the Postcursillo. Source here and here.
The seed-leavening of environments with the Gospel, which is the public purpose of the Cursillo Movement, is sought not by means of a direct and global action on all Christians as the Spirit does, nor by various churches supporting one another’s efforts in local environs as pastoral leaders do, but by choosing from among them those who have the required characteristics according to Cursillo, and giving promise of being the living vertebrae (as backbone of the faith) that animate communities. [underline mine]. (Source here).
Not everyone should be invited to attend a Cursillo weekend. Those sought out are “the vertebrae of their environment,” those with “deep personality,” who exhibit the potential for “effectiveness: The effectiveness [they] will have as… vertebrae in Christianity.” Eduardo Bonnín, Bernardo Vadell, and Francisco Forteza, Structure of Ideas:[Vertebration], 14-15.
Of course this selection process raises serious questions. What place do these “backbone” people have in their local churches once they are “converted” through Cursillo? Is their primary loyalty to their Cursillo community or the church? And how can they be expected to submit to their church leadership who may be perceived as “non-backbone” pastors or elders if these have not “made Cursillo”? (Source)
Far be it for people to wait for the Holy Spirit to direct them as which part of the Body they will become. Cursillo wants and seeks people specifically to be the spine, seeing that as a superior position for them to grow future leaders for various churches, regardless of denomination.
However, the Bible says we are to submit to our own pastors, whose task it is to raise up leaders for their own ‘environments’ AKA local congregations. (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12; Hebrews 13:7; 2 Timothy 2:2). Paul did not round up leadership candidates from Galicia to train secretly as super-Christians and sent them back seeded into their own congregations with continued associations and accountability to the para-church super-group. Sometimes he left behind a leader to continue his work in the nascent church, as he did with Titus on Crete. But he didn’t cherry-pick ripe candidates from other churches for his own ecumenical purposes with ongoing extra-congregational training and growing loyalty.
What Occurs on a Cursillo Weekend?
As candidates AKA pilgrims arrive for their weekend, the Leaders have been preparing. The entire program is highly scripted. Leaders are told how to walk, where and how to sit, when to make eye contact, and what to say. One example is as the candidates are walking in to the main room for the first time, leaders are told in the “Minute By Minute” schedule,
Position yourself BEHIND the pilgrims closest to the doors. LD will direct pilgrims.
Lean forward in your chair and make eye contact during the discussion … You will sit with your back to the speaker at all times.
WAIT ABOUT 5-10 minutes – Then speak: 1st and I will now model the introductions.
The candidate partners begin. The rest of the Saints table introduces each other as their “NEW BEST FRIEND”.
If the weekend is highly scripted for leaders, it is even more so for participants. They are even told what to do on their break, as in this example of when to brush their teeth or go to the bathroom.
Now you may have a short break (measure time with finger and thumb –15 min.) You will have time to return to your cabin to brush your teeth and use the restroom if you wish.
Ladies, we will now go for a group photo outside the Conference room. After the photo session, we will have a break this long (15 minutes) before we meet again in the Conference room. During your break you may go to the restroom and enjoy food from the snack table. Please stay in this area, do not go to your cabins.
As Tables finish poster, they may take a short potty break; if time permits. [underline mine] Source: Minute By Minute
Scripted Manipulation
During the 72 hours participants are highly controlled. For example, pilgrims are not allowed to drive to the venue, they are driven there by their sponsor, who leave on Thursday night after ceremonies. If you are a wife, your husband is not present. He participated the previous weekend. Candidates must not bring watches or time pieces or hand them over if they do, they must give over cell phones and other electronic devices, and even hand in their medications! One set of instructions given to the pilgrims says,
If you are taking any medication at a particular time, please give the containers in a Ziploc bag (marked with your name and when you need to take your meds) to a team member. The team will make sure you receive your medication at the appropriate time.
I know of no other mainstream religious program or retreat where such an amount of personal autonomy is required to be suspended. As we read on, we see there is even further control over the participants. This is a concern.
Because the entire weekend is scripted to the minute, participants are told at the outset to discontinue rational and critical thinking, which ends up easier to do when one is hustled to and fro for 18 hours at a stretch. To that end, during the main part of the weekend, participants are not allowed alone time to think or process or even discuss it until the very end, outside of the close monitoring of leaders. Here is part of the script for the Walk to Emmaus (and remember, the scripts are largely the same for Great Banquet, Tres Dias, etc):
*Never leave a pilgrim at the Table alone. During breaks, if a pilgrim stays, then the TL [Table Leader] or ATL [Assistant Table Leader] needs to stay with her.
In the morning, check for stragglers, count to make certain all present. (check rest rooms too)
Stand at Chapel door – count as they come in. Alert LD when all are present and accounted for.
Participants are hustled from one scene to the next and are directly told not to think as seen here, except the words prejudge, worry, and anticipate are used instead of ‘think,’
Please don’t PREJUDGE or ANTICIPATE during the next three days. Let’s simply do what is asked of us at the time it is asked. Let’s not worry about the next day, or the next hour, or even the next minute. Instead, let’s live in the moment… I believe you’ll find The Walk to Emmaus a moving experience. Don’t anticipate what the next part will be. Don’t judge Emmaus based only on part of the experience.
I would have an issue with submitting uncritically to anyone, let alone unknown leaders I’ve just met. Paul urges all of us to be Bereans, (Acts 17:11), not to join blindly in ecumenical immersion weekends with unknown curriculum, nor to follow unthinkingly along.
The weekend is purposely disorienting. This is because organizers want pilgrims to experience an intense time of emotional breaking down and building up. That is the point. Leaders are urged to follow the schedule scrupulously to the minute and not to allow anyone to get off track. The talks are broken up by times of entertainment, skits, songs, and there is even a scripted “joke time” in the program. Leaders continually ply the participants with small love gifts all weekend. This is to soften the pilgrim. “Agape Letters” are given out. These are pre-written letters collected from friends and family, unknown to the participant, and given to them as a surprise at pointedly emotional moments in order to heighten the emotional breakdown and catharsis.
The apex of the catharsis occurs at the “Dying Moments” part of the weekend, which is near the end. Dying Moments has sometimes been renamed Candlelight or Conclusion. Participants are told to think of a particular sin that needs forgiveness, and to confess it aloud.
How are the Dying Moments and Holy Communion Service carried out? The Weekend Spiritual Director explains and personally illustrates dying moments in a Communion meditation and invites the pilgrims to get in touch with a part of their lives that needs to die or be released in order to make space for new life … the Weekend Spiritual Director invites the pilgrims to break off a piece of bread as a sign of their own brokenness as they name aloud their dying moment…Just as Jesus used the broken bread to represent his broken body, the pilgrims are invited to break a piece from a loaf of bread and to name some aspect of their own brokenness giving our brokenness to God in the presence of others. Sharing aloud in the sanctity of the cloistered environment is another step in the process of building community. Source
The intent of the weekend is to create an emotional bond with pilgrims among so-called ‘Cursillistas’. The leaders desire to show the pilgrim a deep love that God has for us (but not the love we should have for Him). They show this love via experience, not by the Bible.
Is it a Cult?
The Cursillo movement in all its forms (Tres Dias, Walk to Emmaus, Great Banquet, etc) have been charged with cult-like behavior from various quarters. From my observation of the source documents and the experiences of participants, this is true.
Brian V. Janssen has written a book examining the movement. He said of its manipulative techniques,
[T]he Cursillo method employs such powerful psychological elements so skillfully that God is practically unnecessary. Cursillo: Little Courses in Catharsis
Janssen’s book proposes the theory that the weekend was designed specifically according to psychological techniques to produce a strong cathartic effect at the end. I’ve read several leaders’ manuals, and those techniques include lack of solitude, lack of sleep, constant stimuli, emotional pressure, secretive techniques such as ‘spies’ at the table (unrevealed staff members who report to leaders), disruption of normal physical habits (rest room, eating, talking, etc). For example, one participant said that after arriving and while unpacking in her cabin, she was instructed not to speak to her roommate, a woman unknown to her. They unpacked in uncomfortable silence until the other woman said she hoped the participant didn’t mind being awakened at 6:30 due to her having to take medication. Both women breathed a sigh of relief but both also felt that they had ‘broken the rules.’
As one past attendee online stated, the main techniques cults use are absent, for example, asking for money, long-term control, or serious abuses. At present, the movement is not a cult. It does use cult techniques though.
What Do Past Attendees Say?
In part 3 there will be first person excerpts of stories from people who have attended Cursillo weekends. They speak to the cult-like techniques.
Though many people report glowing experiences, life-altering or shattering in its depth, the purposeful off-balance nature of the program, its heavy manipulation, the secrecy and indoctrination, contribute to the negative air many other pilgrims feel as the weekend concludes. I’m speaking for them.
As I have read in many Cursillo websites and newsletters, leaders report a fading of the experience, which they expect, but with that comes a dearth of attendance at reunion meetings. The reunions are supposed to revive that initial spark and keep the experience going, and also is designed ‘keep them accountable.’ But remember, we submit to our own pastors for accountability, not para-church retreat leaders or people outside our own church membership. Otherwise, any random person could claim accountability over us, to whom by definition we’d have to submit. Accountability is what church membership is for- to clearly delineate member responsibilities, and to whom, according to the Bible.
Christianity does not need these manipulative techniques to produce sanctification. The Holy Spirit guides each person into long-term growth. Christianity does not need secrecy to force a catharsis. Doctrine according to the Holy Word does that.
Part 3 will look at first person experiences, conclude with warnings, and offer further resources.
the-end-time.org 