**The following is a testimony sent to Pulpit & Pen for publishing.
My name is Jill. I live in Kansas with my husband. He and I are going through the steps of joining a church that is part of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. I have broken free of Beth Moore.
I was raised Roman Catholic. In 2006, while stationed in German with the military, I became a believer. During my deployment, I was a part of a Christian group known as “The Coffee Mill”. Not long after I had gotten saved, the Coffee Mill started an ongoing women’s Bible study which was facilitated by the wife of the couple that oversaw the ministry. Please understand that by “women’s Bible study” I mean that we watched a DVDs and filled in the related study guides. One of the DVD studies we went through was Beth Moore’s Believing God. This was my first experience with Beth Moore. She intrigued me. I was a new believer and there were not many mature female Christians in the area to disciple me. I was interested in diving in and learning in as much as I could about God’s word. Beth seemed intelligent, driven, personable, and amusing– she was someone I thought I could learn from easily and quickly. She was someone I thought I could look up to; I wanted to learn from her. I bought a few more study guides of hers from our local “Christian” bookstore, but as I am someone who often procrastinates, I ended up not completing them. I did, however, finish one of the Beth Moore books that I purchased – So Long Insecurity.
I grew up with a mother who was…less than loving on most days. At the same time, my mother was incredibly jealous of any relationship I had with anyone other than her (I could never have a mentor or role model who was female who wasn’t her). On more than one occasion my mother hit me, slapped me, smacked me, pulled my hair, and threw things at me. She would tell me how much she hated me. My parents divorced when I was 16. Two years later, as soon as a I could, I moved out of my mother’s house. At age 18, I was living in my own apartment as a barely functional adult. I had incredibly low self-esteem. I did not think I could be loving towards anyone. I could not constructively or calmly disagree with others. Any conversation that required me think was incredibly hard. I felt just plain dumb. The blurb for So Long Insecurity reads as follows:
“Every woman is insecure about something―her looks, her relationships, her career, you name it. The problem is, not only does insecurity make us miserable, it cripples us and makes us feel worthless. But no woman is ever worthless―especially in the eyes of God. Join respected Bible teacher and bestselling author Beth Moore as she encourages you to say, “So long!” to insecurity and embrace all the wonderful traits and characteristics that make you the unique, beautiful, and amazing woman of God you are.”
After reading the purpose for this book I thought “Why not? I like Beth Moore, and I think this might help me”. I read it in just three days. When I had finished it, I felt like a better person for having done so. I liked it so much that I didn’t keep it; I passed it along to someone else in the hopes of helping her, too.
The last interaction I had with Beth was through a live simulcast that happened back around 2010 when I was living in Alaska. As I listened to her words something felt off. I went home and didn’t think anything else about it until some time later. I came across an article on the internet which questioned what it was that Beth Moore had said in her simulcast. I don’t remember the name of the article or the name of the author that wrote it but I do remember my reaction to reading. It caused me to go back and look through the study guide books I had. I noticed, after reading through them again, that the person that wrote the article was right. Beth Moore was claiming that God was speaking directly to her outside of the Bible. I continued to look into who Beth Moore was and what she said. I realized that who I thought she was wasn’t real. She speaks as if she’s some sort of prophet, as if she’s still talking back and forth to God directly and receiving authoritative message for the body of Christ. The power in her “teaching” seems to come more from her claims of direct divine revelation than from her understanding and ability to communicate the message of scripture. For someone who talks about knowing the Bible so intimately, she sure misses a lot (like for example: the parts of the Bible that explain all we need for God’s word is the scriptures). By 2012, I had walked away from Beth Moore completely. I have spoken to some friends of mine whom I know listen to and like her, but have not received any feedback from them. At the time when I first listened to her, I wasn’t aware that she had befriended and partnered with prosperity preachers like Christine Caine and Joyce Meyer. It saddens me to know that that has happened. I can only pray that Beth Moore changes direction. She’s on a dangerous path, and so are the women (and any men) that continue to follow her and her teachings.
If I can say one thing in relation to all of this it would be that it is important to evaluate who you let influence your life, especially spiritually. You must be in the Word, you must pay attention, you must ask questions to those you find to be more discerning than yourself when necessary. Don’t just jump on any bandwagon because someone is relatable. Do some research, find out who she is and what she really believes. Ask yourself if she is someone who can be described as a Biblical follower? I do these things and that’s why I’ve broken free of Beth Moore.
For more testimonies like this of people who have broken free of Beth Moore, see here.
[Edited by Seth Dunn]
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
