AIMEE BYRD is a woman that has been in spiritual decline for a few years. At least, public evidence of a decline has been observed for a few years, the inward decline was probably a lot longer. Her 2020 book, Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose was a huge red flag.
‘There are significant problems with Byrd’s interpretation of the important passages about biblical manhood and womanhood, passages she does not even address in the book. Worse, the entire thrust of Byrd’s book is in the direction of feminism”, as this reviewer (and many others!) noted.
A month after her book was published, her long-time broadcast/podcast partner, Reformation 21, announced they had dropped her from the podcast.
There are people who train in meteorology. They are experts who watch the ground conditions and air currents, check the radar, and put their training together to issue a watch when the tornado might come.
What if some people reacted like this: “I don’t believe it”. “Who made you judge and jury?” “Weathermen are morons.” “Mind your own business.”
If conditions worsen, the trained meteorologists publish a tornado warning, issue stern instructions regarding health, life, and safety, and make the tornado siren go off in the neighborhood. It is almost too late. You might have seconds to dive into a closet or get to a bunker.
Still. What if some people reacted like this: “I don’t believe it. What gave you the right to talk like this?” “Tornadoes are nice, why be so negative against them?”
Of course, most sane people don’t ignore tornado watches and certainly don’t say those things about tornado warnings. They heed them, relying on the expertise and training of the weather folks. They don’t want to get caught in a tornado. Tornadoes destroy and kill.
But that is how many people react to discernment watches and warnings. Discernment folks see the radar, are trained in discernment, and/or have a gift of discernment. These are the people who are the early warning alarm for your local church who issue watches and warnings about a false teacher, a false trend infiltrating the church, or give the all clear, sunny skies bulletin.
Matt Chandler has been pastor of The Village Church since 2002. It is a megachurch of about 14000, and aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention. He is also President of the Acts 29 network. He started seminary twice but felt he had already attained all the tools he needed for being pastor so he dropped out both times and never finished.
It is no small thing when a pastor of this notoriety and visibility falls below reproach.
It was revealed this week that Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound TX and the President of the Acts 29 Network, was stepping down from his position of pastor. He had apparently been in an inappropriate relationship online with a woman. Monthsago, a friend of the woman confronted Chandler about the online relationship. Chandler said he did not think he had done anything wrong, because his own wife knew and the woman’s husband knew. However the chatting had become frequent, familiar, and included coarse jesting inappropriate for someone in Chandler’s position.
Matt stated he didn’t think he had done anything wrong. Despite careful wording in both the Village Church statement and Matt’s own speech at his church making it sound like Matt immediately went to his elders himself, the woman had confronted Chandler months ago and eventually recruited some senior staff to help her continue the process. See excerpt from Relevant Mag:
Chandler says that months ago, he was approached by a woman in the church building who expressed concern about his communications with a friend of hers. According to Chandler, his wife was aware of his online communications with the woman. The woman’s husband was aware of the communications as well. But the friend still thought the conversation was bad and, after recruiting a fellow senior pastor and elder to take a look at the messages, they agreed. (Source Relevant Magazine)
The elders concluded that:
Chandler had been in an inappropriate and unwise relationship, hadn’t instituted proper boundaries with the woman, had engaged in coarse and foolish joking, and behavior unbefitting a pastor. The elders insisted Chandler step down for an undetermined period of time. The demand was predicated on the fact that it was “disciplinary and developmental.” They stated that Matt had lived a life above reproach but “he failed to meet the 1 Timothy standard for elders of being “above reproach” in this instance.”
Further, the elders hired an outside law firm to review the church’s policy on social media and compared it to voluntarily produced texts and direct messages Chandler gave, and the law firm found that Chandler had violated it.
I’d like to remind us in these liberal times, that if the departure from the office of pastor is “disciplinary” as the elders said, and that if Chandler “failed to meet the standards of being above reproach” as the elders said, he is now below reproach. “An overseer, then, must be above reproach…” (1 Timothy 3:2). The verse doesn’t say it’s OK just this once, or in just this instance. It doesn’t say that if the elders believe otherwise it’s OK. Falling below is falling below. When a pastor destroys the purity of his office by falling into scandal, he is done.
Pastors who fall below reproach must step aside permanently. It’s like being a little bit pregnant, or a ‘kind of’ a virgin. You either are or you’re not. Once does it.
But the optics these days are to step aside, go on a weepy apology tour, (without uttering the word ‘sin’) and after the short attention spans of the watching public drifts off to another scandal, then come back, and everything is hunky dory again.
But this approach fails to take into account the gravity of the issue- that a pulpit was defiled, the name of Christ was defiled, a woman was defiled (though the elders claim the communication was not sexual in nature, the verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says to abstain from all appearance of evil).
Tornado: Early watches & warnings about Matt Chandler
Warning signs come with, well, signs. It is not often that a public Christian persona suddenly falls. There are always clues, they begin privately but then the public begins to see them. People with discernment can detect these signs earliest. Here are three signs about Matt Chandler people raised over the years:
Charismatic
Folks with discernment warned about Matt Chandler years ago. They, and I, warned about his charismatic pursuits in 2018, when Chandler said he and his church came out with a belief that the sign gifts continued (miracles, prophecy tongues etc). Chandler then also described what he termed as a mini-prophecy given to him and in turn, encouraged his congregation to speak prophecy to each other, but it was confusing. I’ve never seen a charismatic believer stay in one spot. Either they repent and return to the cessationist position, or they continue down charismatic tracks and then go off the rails. Continuationists’ beliefs open the Bible when it is a closed canon. It degrades the perfection of the word and eventually degrades the soul.
Beth Moore
Beth Moore, left. Lauren Chandler, right
His wife Lauren partners with Beth Moore. Lauren has been theologically partnered with Beth Moore for many years. In this, Matt Chandler has been derelict in his pastoral and husbandly duty. They support each other online and also appear on each other’s videos. Either Matt lacked the discernment to steer his wife away from such a wolf, or he lacked the courage to demand it of his wife.
Jen Wilkin
Matt Chandler supported now-feminist Jen Wilkin in her trajectory away from orthodox Christian faith. She was Executive Director in The Village Church of Curriculum and has functioned in leading roles since. Wilkin preached a message to men at a pastor’s training, preached a terrible message about Rahab in 2014 and again in 2018 and let us not forget the menstrual blood issue in one of her sermons. At no time did anyone see Pastor Chandler issue a public repudiation of Wilkin’s office-usurping, preaching, or her feminist tendencies. Chandler again is held to account for this, being her pastor.
When these and other issues were raised, people reacted to the discerning in the ways I’d noted at top about the tornado warnings. “Who are you to judge?” “Why are you so mean?” “Nobody is perfect!” Perhaps if the watches and warnings had been taken to heart, Matt Chandler would not have fallen below reproach, destroying his credibility as a pastor and bringing reproach onto his name, the church’s name, his wife’s name, the anonymous woman, and Jesus’ name.
Discernment is important. Please wisely listen to your discernment people and compare what they are saying to scripture. As for Mr Chandler, it breaks my heart, absolutely and totally, when this happens. The elders said the messaging wasn’t sexual but included “coarse joking.” That sounds sexual to me. I feel for Lauren, I feel for their church. It is a sad, sad, state of affairs for all involved.
In 1558, Scottish Reformer and minister John Knox wrote a treatise called “The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women“. In it, Knox proffered the argument that it was unnatural for women to rule and it was contrary to the Bible.
The archaic word monstruous meant “unnatural” and is often written “monstrous” today, meaning hideous or frightful. Regiment meant rule or government.
“The following video (40+ minutes) is from the recent Psalm 119 Conference in Keller, TX, sponsored by “Wretched,” featuring Todd (“Freakishly Tall”) Friel. Todd dragged me on stage to discuss the Elephant Room and other issues related to wall-building, biblical discernment, bad discernment ministries, shrill-and-sharp-tongued women who fancy themselves called to ministries of full-time criticism—and a few other interesting topics.”
Sadly, that video is no longer available, but the lengthy comment section is interesting.
Johnson apparently spoke spontaneously at that conference about the influx of women claiming the gift of discernment but not employing it in charitable – or even biblical – ways. He said, and I excerpt some of the comments,
In short, I was referring to those very vocal (mostly, but not all female) self-styled “discernment” specialists who seem to think screeching, angry emotions are as good a response to heresy as carefully reasoned, biblical answers.
The pejorative that was floating in my mind during that conversation with Todd is actually a biblical term: busybodies.
[They] relentlessly pestered me with everything from silly taunts and insults to the crassest sort of slander.
[Their] watchblog-style criticism consisting of raw passion or verbal hysterics instead of rational or biblical arguments…are especially prone to fire off rabid posts and caustic comments without sufficient forethought.
Furthermore, these Discernment Divas tend to be incorrigible when you try to point out that this is not a good thing. In fact, they seem to like to drum up campaigns and comment-flurries and virtual tar-and-feather mobs when anyone questions their technique.
Mr Johnson has a way with words. And he got his point across. That discussion, both at the conference and afterward on his blog, made waves.
Eleven years ago was only a few years after the Year of the Blog, 2003. That was when Google bought Blogger’s platform and made it available to the whole world. WordPress launched that year too.
Anyone and everyone suddenly had a blog and could publish anything they wanted, for better or for worse.
In the Christian realms, people found blogging a wonderful way to propagate Christian principles, theology, practical Christian living ideas, and more. Just being able to publish scripture alone, was a revelation. Yay!
But with great visibility, great foolishness is often revealed.
One who withholds his words has knowledge, And one who has a cool spirit is a person of understanding, says (Proverbs 17:27).
Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent. (Proverbs 17:28).
Fools are fools for a reason. They do not know when to remain silent. When blogs became a thing, there was also a sudden birth of discernment bloggers. People, women included, who misjudged their supposed ‘gift of discernment’ and used their “gift” as an excuse to tear down, destroy, slander, and simply be cruel. They do not display the gifts of the Spirit nor do these people exemplify the virtues of a Godly woman.
This week, G3 Ministries leader and Pastor of Prays Mill Church Josh Buice had an interaction with Beth Moore of Living Proof Ministries. It did not go well. Moore had said in a previous tweet that she was pleased with her vines producing grapes, and “If Jesus is trying to get me to have a crushon him, it’s working.” Hers was a blasphemous statement, and Buice chided Moore for it. THAT is why the interaction devolved immediately. Moore did not take the chiding to heart (shocker). Her followers, for which this essay is titled, dove immediately into mob mentality with screeching that could be heard from pillar to post.
Those were the PG rated responses. Of the defenses I’ve seen this past few weeks, particularly surrounding Beth Moore but also others, I stand amazed at how yet again the Bible is real. I see the verse from Genesis 6:5 brought to life before my very eyes-
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.
I am truly amazed that people who profess Christ would be so free to slander and condescend and make tirades and say such awful things. But of course, most of them only profess, but do not possess the Spirit, and sinners are indeed ugly and sin is indeed rampant.
Instead of being shrieking feminist harridans, instead of unteachable snarks & uncorrectable mockers, instead of slanderers and harpies, women in God’s economy can and should be so much more. We have the Holy Spirit! With His help, we can be what God has called us to be: gracious, modest, wise, hospitable, kind, discreet, humble, respectful…
In one sense, as ugly as it is to read such comments, and as harsh as they are against their intended recipients, these women help me to see the contrast between worldliness and godliness. Not that I need such illustrations to obey God, but their behavior motivates me- in the other direction. Seeing such ugliness on display illustrates the ugliness of sin and the importance of kind speech, the beauty of submission, the elegance of humility.
Virtues that God wants us to cultivate ARE beautiful. They ARE for the common good. I don’t need to test God in this, but trust Him in this.
There is no in between. We can be a crone, or a queen.
Every translation of this verse begins with the warning not to be deceived.
In context, Paul had been “addressing problems regarding their worship practices (11:2–14:40), Paul continues by addressing reports about the Corinthians’ beliefs. In this chapter, he focuses on the issue of resurrection.” Source Faithlife Study Bible
Paul sends them a strong warning about their beliefs, which had been and could continue to be corrupted by smooth talkers. Barnes’ Notes explains so clearly:
Be not deceived – By your false teachers, and by their smooth and plausible arguments. This is an exhortation. He had thus far been engaged in an argument on the subject. He now entreats them to beware lest they be deceived – a danger to which they were very liable from their circumstances.
Evil communications – The word rendered “communications” means, properly, a being together; companionship; close contact; converse. It refers not to discourse only, but to contact, or companionship. Paul quotes these words from Menander, a Greek poet.
It is implied in this, that there were some persons who were endeavoring to corrupt their minds from the simplicity of the gospel. The sentiment of the passage is, that the contact of evil-minded men, or that the close friendship and conversation of those who hold erroneous opinions, or who are impure in their lives, tends to corrupt the morals, the heart, the sentiments of others.
It is always true that such contact has a pernicious effect on the mind and the heart. It is done: (1) By their direct effort to corrupt the opinions, and to lead others into sin. (2) by the secret, silent influence of their words, and conversation, and example.
We have less horror at vice by becoming familiar with it; we look with less alarm on error when we hear it often expressed; we become less watchful and cautious when we are constantly with the frivolous, the worldly, the unprincipled, and the vicious. Hence, Christ sought that there should be a pure society, and that his people should principally seek the friendship and conversation of each other.
It is in the way that Paul here refers to, that Christians embrace false doctrines; that they lose their spirituality, love of prayer, fervor of piety, and devotion to God. It is in this way that the simple are beguiled, the young corrupted, and that vice, and crime, and infidelity spread over the world. –End Barnes Notes
This is why we do not ‘eat the meat and spit out the bones’. We avoid false teachers altogether. We avoid close continual contact with those who are morally corrupt, unsaved. You see the processes Barnes outlined: the secret silent influence of a corrupt person’s words will infiltrate and dampen our horror of sin, make us less watchful, and then we begin to think and act impurely.
It’s why Jude 1:23 says And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh
Jude is saying we should be careful if we choose to help a doubter or one that’s involved with false teaching.
even the garment—do not let pity degenerate into connivance at their error. Your compassion is to be accompanied “with fear” of being at all defiled by them.Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
It’s because the risk is so great. Our society has fallen into a tolerance of sin. Many have no horror of it. Worse, we believe that if sin comes in soft words and flattering or charming packages, is is to be accepted. When you look up flattery in Nave’s dictionary, the entry says –
DECEIT : See FLATTERY FALSEHOOD : See FLATTERY DECEPTION » SELF » See FLATTERY SPEAKING » EVIL » See FLATTERY
God considers flattery to be an evil deceit! Yet we think of it as a ‘respectable sin‘ as Jerry Bridges would call it. This should not be so. But it works because the false teachers use words of flattery to deceive the simple. (Romans 16:18)
Flattery is defined as: “Insincere and undeserved praise or words of encouragement, used with the intention of gaining favour with others.”
Flattery is deceitful Ps 12:2-3 See also Ps 5:9; 55:20-21; 62:4; Pr 27:6; Jer 9:8
The results of flattery are ruinous Pr 26:28 See also Pr 29:5
Flattery is rejected by godly people Job 32:21-22 See also Gal 1:10; 1Th 2:5-6
Honesty is preferable to flattery Pr 28:23 See also Pr 16:13; 27:9
False teachers use flattery Ro 16:17-18 See also 2Ti 4:3-4; Jude 16-19. Source: Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. Martin Manser.
Hanging around worldly people, flatterers, gossips, charmers with twisted doctrine is bad for your soul. Commune with the believers who are pure, strive for holiness, and enjoy refreshing, Godly conversations. You will be the better for it!
One of the most surprising things to me after my salvation was that there were people claiming to be Christian who would try to draw me away from the truth. I had been relieved to enter the kingdom, and I felt literally like I was stepping into a safety zone, an oasis of calm after having lived in turbulence and chaos for 42 years. It was a jolt to my system that though peace reigned between me and God, turbulence between false professors and true believers was abounding.
False professors are people who profess Christ but do not possess the Spirit. I.e., false believers.
Colossians is a tremendous book. Of this verse in Colossians, let’s first focus on the first five words, Paul’s warning, underline mine-
Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, (Colossians 2:18, NASB).
Other translations say let no one disqualify you from the prize.
There were some spiritual elites going around Colossae, intimidating the new believers there. They threatened them with disqualification from the faith, and the newbies were buying it. Now, a true believer can never actually be separated from Christ, but the elites claimed the newbies were under a threat of failure in the faith if they did not believe and practice things in addition to Christ. This is what the book of Colossians is about- Paul re-teaching that Christ alone is sufficient.
Christ was not all-sufficient to these elites. They said the new believers must also practice one or more of three things: self-abasement (humility), worshiping angels, and visions.
True humility is a true virtue. The elites in Colossians were not practicing it though. They evidenced a prideful humility that pointed to themselves. Which isn’t humility at all, of course. They delighted in their humility, in effect, saying, ‘Look how humble I am! I’m sooo godly! I’m sooo faithful!’
Secondly, worship of angels in Colossae was an issue well into the fourth century. Worship of angels destroys the one thing believers are commanded to do: “worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” (Matthew 4:10b).
And visions. Oh, my, let’s talk about visions. They were a problem in the first century and they are a problem in the twenty-first century. People who are errant in their beliefs and know there is no biblical support for these beliefs, (if diligent believers go looking) the false professors instead try to buttress their beliefs with experiences and visions.
John MacArthur preached,
What is he [Paul] saying? “Don’t let anybody tell you you’re disqualified from attaining the prize of spirituality because you haven’t reached the level of self-abasement, you haven’t understood the worship of angels, you haven’t had the right visions.” … They’ve said, “It’s Christ plus my visions; plus my experiences with the angels; plus my deeper experience, my higher experience.” (MacArthur, “Spiritual Intimidation, part 1“)
No. Just…NO. Christ alone. Satan’s wiles have always been to sway a believer from the path to Jesus feet, and bundle belief with other beliefs, actions, rules.
THERE is an allusion here to the prize which was offered to the runners in the Olympic games, and at the outset it is well for us to remark how very frequently the Apostle Paul conducts us by his metaphors to the racecourse. Over and over again he is telling us so to run that we may obtain, bidding us to strive, and at other times to agonize, and speaking of wrestling and contending. Ought not this to make us feel what an intense thing the Christian life is—not a thing of sleepiness or haphazard, not a thing to be left now and then to a little superficial consideration?
These elites have “fleshly minds” as the verse indicates. They were puffed up with their visions and boasting of humility and spiritual pride of ‘knowing more’ (mysticism). They had no reason to be secure. Their minds were flesh, not of Christ.
“There is a tendency in human nature to move from objectivity to subjectivity-to shift the focus from Christ to experience. This has always intimidated weak believers and threatened the church.” (MacArthur, Commentary on Colossians & Philemon.)
False doctrine is not only a corruption in the church, it does damage to you individually. One way false teaching and false teachers harm you is that following them even temporarily and certainly for a longer period disqualifies you for the prize. It is the false teacher’s intent to try and disqualify you. Even if they make you doubt, they have succeeded. Even if they make you wander, thus diminishing your effectiveness for a time, they have succeeded. That is why Paul wrote such a strong warning.
For the strong believer, what is inferred is a stronger believer’s responsibility to our brethren who are following a false teacher. How will it be when they are judged, when told to give an account of themselves (Romans 14:12, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15) and we hear Jesus say that a friend has lost some prizes because they followed a false teacher and thus were disobeying Jesus, while we knew all along and never said anything.
Jude says, But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.
Catch that. They are devoid of the Spirit. This means they do not possess the Spirit. i.e. unsaved. But Jude goes on in Jude 1:22-23,
And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
This means, snatch them from wandering, grab them to prevent disqualification, help them understand in love and in discernment the person they are following will lead them AWAY from the prize.
Let’s end where we started. Don’t let anyone defraud you of the prize. The ultimate prize is Jesus, His faith, His comfort, faith in Him and Him alone.
A reader took issue with me recently, saying that me pointing out things related to a teacher’s lifestyle is hitting below the belt, is wrong, and now she has to wonder at my heart motivations.
This kind of discussion often comes up when I post about a false teacher’s lifestyle. People seem to think that their lifestyle is off-limits while only comparing their doctrine is acceptable. That is what being a Berean is all about, look at doctrine only, they say. Lifestyle is off the plate and not our business.
“As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.” (Acts 17:10-12).
How many times have we heard some celebrity caught in a traffic stop or in an indiscretion and when called to account on it, says “Don’t you know who I am?” They balk and they yell and they squirm and try to escape accountability due to their position. Quite often, their ego is inflated to a large enough degree that they never expect they’ll be asked to support their views or explain their mistake. Even more often, the person calling them to account are seen as the ones with the problem. “Don’t you know who that is?” they are told. “Don’t ask him to explain himself!” as if there ever comes a point when someone is above the law.
On April 4 I posted a blog reacting to Jackie Hill Perry’s (JHP) coming out as a prophet. In a multi-tweet thread she announced that God deals with her in dreams, speaks to her, gives her information about other people for JHP’s intercession. My examination of her statements is here.
I am not all that familiar with JHP. I don’t follow her on social media nor have I listened to her raps, songs, or sermons (Yes, she is a preacher too). But I know a false teacher when I see one. Or when I hear one… preach to men or claim direct revelation from God. These are easy. You don’t need a nuanced or advanced discernment radar to know the bells are going off when a so-called Christian says that.
Her following is huge. She has 688,000 on Instagram and 211,000 on Twitter and I’m sure more on TikTok. Let’s say north of a million followers. So what she says and does matters, because numerous impressionable and undiscerning women are being impacted by her consistently unbiblical example.
When I posted about her admission that she is a prophet, that blog got a lot of views. See chart below. You can guess which hits are the days when my JHP essay dropped. People are influenced by influencers, and JHP is an influencer. My job is to praise the ones the Lord has raised up and warn people about the others. My job is to tell the truth using the gift of discernment for y local church and the wider body, to warn, admonish in love. And I mean it in love. No one is happy to see someone drift away from Jesus.
Jackie Hill Perry does not like “discernment bloggers” (I purposely used scare quotes). She certainly didn’t like that many have called her false. So, she posted an Instagram video pushing back. She did not address the scriptural issues raised by me or other discerners. Of course. She cannot: there is no scriptural basis for denying the spiritual gift of discerning of spirits, no basis for receiving direct revelation nor of scriptures allowing females to preach to men. So, JHP’s push-back was against discernment as an activity.
She raised the usual canards about discernment: It’s unloving. It’s unwarranted. It’s unbiblical. Well, I’ll just let you take a listen yourself. It is 52 seconds.
JHP: “If you follow somebody or something and literally all the content they produce is talking about other people, you don’t need these people to teach you how to spot false teaching or error.”
EP: I agree with this. When authors, bloggers, preachers, teachers etc get ‘stuck’ on one topic and that is ALL they ever “literally” produce, speak of, write about, their perspective becomes skewed. We must focus on Christ and employ the spiritual gifts for His glory and the good of the body. A skewed or myopic perspective won’t accomplish that. We should be balanced.
But while I agree with her general point, her comment is a straw man, because only a few discernment bloggers produce ONLY content that is “talking about other people.” She deliberately focused on only the fringe bloggers and lumped the bad ones in with the good ones and denied the total use of the gift of discernment. JHP says people who focus too much are not to be followed. So, opponents will find a reason to try and dismiss your warning or admonitions and then just focus on the emotional.
JHP: “You need the Spirit, you need the church, and you need your Bible.”
EP: I agree with this. However, her list is not complete. You also need the gifts of the Spirit. The Spirit dispensed gifts to believers. One of them is discerning of Spirits. All gifts that are in use today are for the edification of the body, which is the church. (1 Corinthians 12:7-10).
Now this is interesting. JHP maintains that she is a charismatic (not in those terms, but yes). She believes the gift of prophecy is in use today, and tongues, and hearing from God etc. So does she not believe that the gift of discerning of spirits is also in use? Did it go away? We don’t need believers with that gift anymore? But miracles and tongues and the rest we do need?
Or does she believe that NONE of the gifts are in use today, all we need is the Bible and the Spirit and the church?. And what does she mean by needing “the church” to discern? Are not believers with gifts the ones who make up the church?
You see when Peter in 2 Peter 3:16 wrote that the untaught and unstable distort scripture, this is one way they do it. JHP is giving us an example here. They move your eyes from scripture to emotion. They use church-y verbiage like Bible and Spirit and church. They use verses but omit the parts they dislike. There’s another example of twisting coming up in a second.
JHP: “You don’t need a constant diet of someone tearing down the body to teach you how to contend for the faith”
EP: Contending for the faith is messy. It involves a fight. Not that we are pugnacious. Not that we look for it. But if you contend for anything, it gets painful. Paul contended and in almost every city he went to there were riots. All the apostles contended, and they were killed, or exiled.
I already addressed the ‘constant diet’, but now here is a common phrase, ‘you’re tearing people down.’ Well yes and no. We love people and pray for the ones like JHP. But we also tear down. We are commanded to tear down philosophies that oppose Christ.
We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5 Berean Study Bible)
We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB).
We’re supposed to tear down anything that opposes Jesus, any teaching that is abhorrent to Him. Wolves always agree in principle that false teaching should be rejected. But wolves always say, “It’s not me. I’m not false. You’re so unloving”.
JHP: “That’s not what Jude offered he offered the old testament to them to give them some context for how to discern false teaching in their presence.“
EP: That is exactly what Jude offered. He was soooo upset about false teaching he abandoned his original point of his letter about salvation so that he could teach them to discern.
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints (Jude 1:3).
Jude is the only New Testament book whose entire focus is devoted to confronting apostasy, meaning people who have defected from the true, biblical faith. Jude gave some examples from the Old Testament about their judgment, not about ‘how to discern’. He also described in detail the immoral and unconscionable character of these false ones who were infiltrating the church. He contended, and bluntly.
JHP: guard your heart and guard your mind from those who would tempt you and disciple you into lovelessness.
EP: Jude is the only book in the Bible written by Jude. His only focus is discernment. But JHP’s standard of discernment bloggers, of which Jude is one, we should avoid Jude since “literally all the content they produce is talking about other people.”
Was Jude loveless? Did the Holy Spirit include Jude’s book in the canon as a “temptation to lovelessness”? Of course not. You see the holes in Jackie Hill Perry’s talk by now, I’m sure.
Jude continued in his book describing in detail the immoral and unconscionable character of these false ones who were infiltrating the church. He ‘talked about other people’. (And so did Paul – and by name). Jude said the false ones were:
hidden reefs (which kill ships) selfish dead wild shameful bound for hell grumblers fault-finders lusty arrogant flatterers self-aggrandizing
By JHP’s standard, isn’t that “loveless” talk?
Yes, do guard your heart and mind saturate it with truth. That way you won’t be twisted by the unstable who distort it.
Sinners never allow you to point to them. The lawyer tried to justify himself. The woman at the well tried to distract Jesus from talking of her sins by switching the conversation to worship. The Rich Young Ruler tried flattery (“Good teacher“) and arrogant knowledge (“I have kept the commandments”). A false teacher will never say, “Let me take a look at what they’re saying against me to see if there is any merit to it”. A Christian will do that. A wolf won’t. A wolf will use the Bible to justify herself, distract you from her sin, and pretend to be humble and kind. But inwardly they are ravenous. Don’t feed them.
Here is a question: Can a person be too critical or too cautious in discernment?
I was asked this recently. I answered: yes. And no. It depends on what the person saying ‘you’re too critical’ or, ‘you’re too cautious’ means by the words cautious and critical.
The Bible says we are to test everything and hold on to the good. but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good, 22 abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
Whenever I make a comment that a certain person is a false teacher, I do not do it lightly. It is based on years of observation, comparison to many teachings of that person over time to the Bible, and a heavy heart.
What we are supposed to do in discernment, is ask. If someone says my favorite teacher is false, let’s ask why they believe that. Spiritual conversations are, at root, about Jesus. We are either impugning His honor, or promoting His honor. We need to be sure we are in the latter camp, not the former. Therefore, we can either educate that person as to why my favorite teacher is not false or we can listen to her and be educated as to why he or she is fact, false.
Spiritual conversations are supposed to edify. If Jesus is the reason we’re having the conversation, then we should be sure we are in truth, and if it is done properly, we are spiritually energized and more knowledgeable than we were before we began.
Sadly, most people who reply to discernment comments or engage with discerners in discussions rarely ask questions. They rarely use scripture to back up what they are claiming. What they DO do, is, make moral judgments and slanderous accusations under a guise of “sadness” and pietistic babble. Here is one example I received in an email.
“As a former atheist and now a devout follower of Christ and not people or denominations of men who believes the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, I have to say that it’s people like yourself that drove me away from Christianity for so many years. Where is your love for your brother? Where is your forgiveness? Where is the unity of fellowship? Where is your humility? Do you really think you have it all figured out with regard to the book of Revelation? Rather, I see jealousy, envy and strife. See 1Chorinthians and what Paul had to say about it. Or is Paul also a false prophet according to you?”
Let’s unpack this.
This person is using the same talking points that most every other defender of other false teachers use. Probably unwittingly. But comments like these are remarkably similar. Weirdly similar.
“People like you drove me away from Christianity“. People who leave Christianity don’t leave because some old woman like me on the internet said something about some other woman on the internet. No. They ‘leave Christianity’ because of their sin. They do not want to hear messages calling out their sin, or they want to continue to be in sin, or they desire to protect their sin. They leave because they sin and they want to stay in sin.
Remember, no one leaves Christianity. If they leave they were never in it. Their leaving proves that. All the commenter is doing is trying to make you feel guilty. Don’t fall for it.
They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us. (1 John 2:19)
“I’m a devout follower of Christ, and you…” No they aren’t. They most assuredly aren’t a devout follower, maybe not even a follower at all. People who are devout followers of Christ seek His glory and stand on scripture. They don’t use fake names or anonymous accounts to email or post judgmental, slanderous insinuations, and otherwise misuse the name of Christ in order to feel better about following their favorite (false) teacher. They seek to educate, edify, learn, or ignore. They give grace and charity. They don’t make claims of being “devout” then destroy that claim with mocking and sarcastic behavior.
“Why don’t you love them?” Another guilt trip, this time misusing the word love. First, the word love gets thrown around too much without a proper context. Jesus called his religious educators the priests, Pharisees, and scribes, vipers. Did He not love them? Jesus mourned them! He cried over Jerusalem and its lost people. Yes He loved them. Correction or rebukes or warnings to someone does not mean an absence of love. In fact, it often means the opposite- we DO love them.
“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Hebrews 12:6).
My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke; (Proverbs 3:11).
We must let our Christian family know that the false teacher is hurting them with their lies and opposition to Jesus. Most of us indeed do it in love and for love.
“I’m disappointed in your tone” – Talking about a false teacher usually calls down the Tone Police. They’ll come into a thread to voice their disappointment in the “tone” of your comments. They won’t address any scripture you’ve shared, they won’t use any scripture themselves, they won’t reply on a biblical stance, but instead will try to guilt you into not making comments about a false teacher. They’ll try to convince you that you sound like a harridan. And heaven forbid you’ve actually named that false teacher, which makes them even more “disappointed”. They will simply camp on an emotion. ‘I’m disappointed you’ve…I’m sad that you…’ “What people are saying doesn’t seem to matter [to the Tone Police] half as much as how people are saying it.” said Mike Riccardi in his article “A Sanctified Rant about the ‘Tone Police”.
If you went to a potluck dinner, and I said I knew one of the dishes had poison in it, but since I don’t want to name names, and we want to only focus on the poison-free dishes, I wasn’t going to tell you which dish could kill you? Does that make sense? No. False teaching is poison. We must point it out. Unashamedly.
Staying in the word of God is the best way to remain unswayed by opposers of the truth – either the false teachers themselves or their defenders. Stay strong in the Lord.
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