** Editor’s note, this post first appeared at The End Time blog, and is being reposted here with permission.
I appreciated my friend Seth Dunn’s warning about Beth Moore. He wrote on Facebook,
Here is what Moore wrote on Twitter, a bit larger,
Moore is referring to the following verses,
Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. (Matthew 18:18–20)
These are verses which are frequently abused by the charismatic crowd, of which Moore is part of. Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer also frequently refer to binding and loosing in the same vein as Moore did on Twitter, this is noted in the below-linked essay. Moore’s theology is often wrong on many counts, and incorrectly referring to binding/loosing is another example. The sad part is the number of “likes” her references have already garnered. Hence, the warning from Mr. Dunn. Women, be wary of Beth Moore. She is a false teacher.
These verses from Matthew 18 about binding and loosing are so frequently abused that Dr John MacArthur included them in a blog series titled appropriately “Frequently Abused Verses Can Believers Manipulate the Power and Presence of Christ?” Of binding and loosing, we see from this excerpt from the blog’s author Cameron Buettel,
As with previous posts in this series, the first thing we should check is the context of our passage. What do the surrounding verses tell us about the meaning of our text? In this case, the preceding verses are likely just as familiar as the passage in question:
If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (Matthew 18:15–17).
Just a simple reading of the text makes it clear that the focus is not spiritual warfare, unity in marriage, or empowering your prayer meetings. Instead, verses 15–17 speak exclusively about church discipline.
Therefore, all of Christ’s instructions about binding and loosing, unity, and the promise of His presence come in the context of church discipline. In other words, Matthew 18:18–20 means that when church leaders gather together to deal with unrepentant sinners, they have heavenly backing.
Please read the rest of the essay for an excellent explanation of exactly what binding and loosing are about.
And, it doesn’t take much thought to see that the manner in which Moore used the binding prayer is faulty. As she said in her tweet, If she “often” has to deal with spine pain, one must ask why didn’t her binding prayer against her pain “work”? The Word/Faith crowd will tell you that it’s because you do not possess enough faith. From there, the downward spiral of incorrect interpretations continue.
Think about it, Paul didn’t pray “binding prayers” against his own continuing pain from the thorn in his side (AKA messenger from satan). He instead prayed to Jesus to remove it. (2 Corinthians 12:5-10). Timothy didn’t pray “binding prayers” to remove his nausea and frequent illnesses. (1 Timothy 5:23). As a matter of fact, he was told by Paul to stop drinking only water (bacteria-laden) and to take wine (antiseptic). Binding prayers are not mentioned in either remedy. Just those two quick examples reveal an absence of binding prayers from the actual Apostles, and another Jenga slab comes out of the wobbly charismatic doctrinal tower.
At root, what people who speak prayers to bind their pain are really believing is that they have power over demons and that they have power to manipulate God, (i.e ‘if I have enough faith then God HAS to perform this for me’).
Pretty “audacious” if you ask me.
[Guest Post by Elizabeth Prata]
