Coming on the heels of her “Audacious” teaching series, which should’ve probably been correctly titled “mendacious,” StrifeWay’s … err … LifeWay’s favorite false teacher and cash-cow, Beth Moore, is releasing a new series. Entitled “Entrusted,” false teacher Moore will presumably expound on Paul’s epistle of Second Timothy.
The pre-order hype and hoopla generated by the doctrine-avoiding marketing wizards at LifeWay include, for a limited time, an extra bonus if Moore’s cadre of discernment-free groupies “BUY NOW“. Free “Entrusted Scripture Cards” to help in memorizing Scripture. To impress you further, the marketing savvy, but Bible … ehh, not-so-much, money grubbing, heterodoxy adherents at LifeWay point out that “Beth memorized all of 2 Timothy, and these free cards will help you do the same.”
Yippee.
Here’s the problem. Well, here’s the problem right now. The plethora of problems surrounding this false teacher are countless, but we’ll stick with the matter at hand.
Scripture memorization is a noble, worthy, and edifying endeavor. Every believer should be regularly committing Scripture to memory. “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you,” (Psalm 119:11) is merely one very powerful motivation for Scripture memorization.
“If we once get above our Bibles and cease making the written Word of God our sole rule as to faith and practice, we shall soon lie open to all manner of delusion and be in great danger of making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.” George Whitefield
Another great motivator is that Scripture is the SOLE mechanism through which God speaks to us. But, as you may know, Scripture isn’t the only way God speaks to Beth. Oh, no. She claims some special, mystical conduit through which the words of God come to her in prophetic/apostolic fashion. Beth gets revelations.
The problem, then, isn’t with Beth’s otherwise admirable Scripture memorization. The problem with Beth is that, with regards to Scripture, she exhibits a fundamental mark of a false teacher. It’s one thing to know and recite the Words of Scripture. It’s quite another to know what they mean, and then to obey them. Beth does neither.
We know she does neither because she’s admitted to receiving revelation from God. This revelation, mind you, not only comes after the closing of the canon in direct conflict with the commands of Scripture not to add to or take away from it, but also in direct contradiction to what Scripture itself teaches.
Beth’s revelation is not only extra-biblical. It is anti-biblical. Claiming to an ecumenical revelation that unites false religions, like the apostate Roman Catholic Church, with Christians, Beth’s revelation offers something Scripture itself has deemed anathema. “Do not be unequally yoked” (2 Corinthians 6:14) jumps to mind. Umm, folks, God wouldn’t endorse such a thing. He doesn’t contradict Himself for Beth Moore’s, and LifeWay’s, financial benefit.
In a sample lesson from her latest series, Moore expresses some angst at those who rail against her anti-biblical, ecumenical entreaties. Her comments reveal her fundamental misunderstanding of Scripture as it relates to doctrinal integrity, the exclusivity of the Gospel, and the patently unbiblical pursuit of ecumenism.
“A belief system that will not tolerate respectful debate and disagreement within its ranks is terrifying.” Beth Moore
Well, with regards to her heretical, ecumenical revelation, Scripture is replete with warnings both about avoiding false teachers proclaiming “other” gospels, and alliances between the church and the world.
“If everything that is called Christianity in these days is Christianity, then there is no such thing as Christianity. A name applied indiscriminately to everything, designates nothing.” B.B. Warfield
We are told to “contend for the faith,” not to willingly join hands with anyone and everyone who self-identifies as “Christian.” Stay terrified, Beth, I guess. Faithful, biblically astute believers will not commingle with heretics or apostates. Instead, we will contend.
“We don’t have to have matching plates to sit at the same table as long as Christ is seated at the head. I tend to like having a person next to me with something different on her plate. Don’t you? If we stare at it long enough, she might offer us a bite and who knows? We might come to appreciate a whole new taste at the broad and beautiful table of Jesus.” Beth Moore
Well, sure, if you’re talking about authentically regenerate believers of any denominational stripe. Denominations do not save, but denominations can, as they increasingly do, mislead “many” (Matthew 24:11) with false doctrine. Again, based on her “revelation,” Beth is all too eager to usher in apostates to a seat at the table, a seat they assuredly will not have. We happen to know this because, unlike Beth, some of us not only can recite Scripture, but we know what it means by what it says, too.
One other point … what Beth calls a “broad and beautiful table,” Jesus called something entirely different.
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13-14)
I remember when I was in junior high school. I had to memorize the Gettysburg Address, then recite it in front of the class. I did it. Got an “A.” But it didn’t make me Abraham Lincoln. Or that time, in college, when I committed to memory a large chunk of “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God” for a collegiate oratory competition. Sadly, my successful performance didn’t make me Jonathon Edwards.
And, in Beth Moore’s case, reciting Scripture doesn’t make her a reliable teacher, either. In “rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), it’s important, not only to know what it says but to know what it means. And the false fodder this woman churns out is clear evidence that she takes the decidedly unbiblical hermeneutical technique of “what does this verse mean to me” to seriously new levels of deception.
Curiously, why wasn’t Beth promoted as having committed the FIRST epistle to Timothy to her memory banks? Why could that be? Could it be because, in that prior letter from Paul, we find those, oh, so harsh words that deem what she does as thoroughly unbiblical?
“Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” 1 Timothy 2:11-12
Whether she’s hanging out with fellow heretics, getting anti-biblical, extra-biblical revelations, praying unbiblical “binding” prayers, or just doing that same old same old Scripture twisting act of hers, Beth Moore should serve as a vivid reminder to us of a pithy, pointed, Pauline portion of Scripture:
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
Pastors, please … please … just say no to this false teacher. Remember that, while edifying the sheep is a part of your job, your duty to ward off the wolves is equally important.
There is simply no church, nor any believer, who should be “entrusted” to this wolf. Indeed, this wolf? Well, she definitely qualifies to be “Mistrusted.”
For more on the many problems of Beth Moore, see HERE.
Be sure to go here to like us on Facebook.
[Contributed by Bud Ahlheim]
