My name is Karen. I live in Montana. My husband and I are members of a Baptist church that adheres to the 1689 London Baptist Confession. I have broken free of Beth Moore.
The Apostle Paul told the Colossian church,
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8 NIV)
This is the first verse I memorized as a new Christian many years ago, but I don’t think I fully grasped its meaning at the time. Through naivety and not reading the Bible for myself, I followed some very unbiblical teaching over the years. Much of that bad teaching was from Beth Moore. I read many of her studies. Thankfully, my days of Beth Moore Bible studies are over, but, wow, what a process it has been. I was recently asked to give an account of my days as a Beth Moore acolyte. This caused me to go back and look for any Beth Moore literature I still had on hand. Thinking I had thrown away all of my Beth Moore books, I dug into a few cupboards in my basement and found three old Bible study workbooks and her book entitled “Jesus the One & Only.” I recall getting it as a gift from a friend in 2004 on the 2nd anniversary of my mother’s death. My friend’s sentiment is the only reason I kept the book. I hadn’t read it since she gave it to me but since I had thrown my other Beth Moore materials out, I decided to peruse it once again.
In the first words of the first sentence of the introduction Moore uses the phrase, “My romance with Jesus Christ…” She actually repeats the phrase on the same page! Reading back over these words instantly befuddled me. I know they are absurd but I wonder what those words mean to her. Why does she use that language? Upon reading that phrase, I knew there was no need to go any further in the book. I’ve done enough of her Bible studies to know that Beth’s usage of emotional words is her way to grab attention and draw women into her videos, books and Bible studies. She is a very charismatic personality but mostly to a fault. I will admit when I first watched the video that accompanied the study I took years ago, I was instantly taken in. I thought to myself, “Oh, isn’t she cute and bubbly, dramatic and so deep.” What a package right? However, as I continued to watch her videos with all of her big stories of God speaking to her and how she and the Lord would discuss all these life situations I would think,”Gosh, He doesn’t need to talk to me like that but I wish He would just say something!” Women actually believe God speaks directly to Beth Moore. She gets very detailed about her conversations with God but then, sometimes, has to remind her audience that she doesn’t mean she really hears His voice but that she senses it or He drops it into her heart and so, by her example, many of us women have learned that exact bizarre talk. After consuming Beth Moore products, I felt like everything had to be an “experience” with God and if it wasn’t then certainly something must be wrong. I went on and on to the next Beth Moore Bible study, hoping that maybe I would finally find what I kept missing.
Out of the five Beth Moore Bible study workbooks I found in my basement only the Daniel study was completed. In the others, Living Beyond Yourself, A Woman’s Heart, Stepping Up, and Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed (which Beth did with Priscilla Shirer and Kay Arthur), the questions were redundant and I simply got tired of filling in all the blanks. I liked the Daniel study, perhaps because of my interest in historical biblical details. The Daniel study included many but more often Beth likes to insert herself into the Bible text she is teaching. Her audience ends doing the same. Looking back, I understand why doing so is wrong and dangerous, especially to the new Christian. After I had taken a few of Beth’s studies, I got frustrated because I wasn’t experiencing all of that Jesus stuff that Beth always talks about. The main claim of the Lord speaking to her, usually in full, specific sentences, became annoying to me. So I quit
Women’s studies altogether. I continued attending church started helping with the youth group. The funny thing is a neighbor of ours was the women’s Bible study coordinator at our church and she hounded me for years to get back into a ladies group, get involved in all the activities! Every time I would cringe as Beth Moore studies were a central theme in the group. Several years later through some legislative work at our state capital I met a group of Christian ladies that I really connected with; they invited me to their women’s gathering at their church back home. I remember thinking, “Why not give this women’s Bible study thing another try?? The short of this long story is after several Bible studies (one written by the leader of the study group and others including authors Joyce Meyer and Lysa TerKeurst) and then a showing of the movie War Room, I was beginning to wonder, “What am I doing here?”
Something just wasn’t right but I kept thinking, “I really like these ladies, what is wrong with me?” and returning for a repeat the following week. All the while I kept attending I was asking the Lord for discernment, help to understand what the problem was. I prayed to be able to decipher truth from error. Then, it happened. At some point in one of our group discussions the leader asked “Who says women can’t be preachers?” Under my breath I said, “The Bible does.” That single question is the very thing that catapulted me out of that church and its women’s study group and into a year of in-depth research of women Bible teachers and those who like to call themselves “pastors”. I had always believed that it was okay for women to teach women but even
though I hadn’t thoroughly studied 1 Timothy 2:11-12, I was never comfortable with a woman giving a sermon in church. Honestly, I just thought I wasn’t quite “with it”. Because I was most familiar with her, the first woman I began researching was Beth Moore. I had never used the internet to do anything like this before but the information I found totally engulfed me and led me to dig into the teaching of countless women who make a living out of instructing and preaching.
One of the first resources I found was an audio from Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio. I hadn’t heard of him and didn’t even know there was this type of resource on the internet. The audio was from the Life Today program with James and Betty Robison. Beth Moore is regularly featured on their program in the “Wednesdays with Beth” segment. In the audio Rosebrough provided, Beth went into great detail teaching on Hebrews 10:35-36, which says:
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” (NIV)
I was familiar with the Robisons’ show and was very interested as to what Mr. Rosebrough had to say by way of critique. He was absolutely spot on with his analysis. Beth Moore took the text of Hebrews and twisted it. She positioned herself into the text while leading the audience to do the very same thing. In taking those verses out of context Beth negated the fact, as Rosebrough explained it, that the entire chapter of Hebrews 10 is a comparison of the Mosaic animal sacrificial system to the once and for all sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He taught that verses 35 and 36 highlight the amazing truth that our confidence to draw near to God is because of Christ’s sacrifice and His blood shed on the cross for our sins. Beth used those verses to teach a worldly notion of self-confidence. At one point, she even said to the audience “I demand, in Jesus name, my confidence back”. All the while she is butchering the very Word of God to an oblivious audience. There sat a pastor, James Robison, who basically congratulated her on such a wonderful teaching. He then puts his own spin on those verses.
I don’t know who Beth’s pastor is (Editor’s note: It is her son-in-law), but I ask, “Where is he? Where is her husband?” (Editor’s note: He works for Beth Moore at Living Proof Ministries). Beth is funny. Beth is captivating. Beth is very dangerous in her teaching. Beth has become the inspiration of a group of women who teach and preach aberrant human ideas and opinions while adding a little Bible here and there. Millions of people, both men and women, buy her products. It is my belief that Beth Moore does more harm than good in her teaching. Her blatant misuse of Hebrews 10:35-36 isn’t just a red flag, it totally disqualifies her from teaching the Bible.
Beth needs to stop peddling herself as an expert on God’s Word. Unfortunately, many people are blindly following her. I cannot diminish her responsibility to correctly teach the Word, nor will I make light of the holiness and righteousness of God. He demands right teaching of His Word. Each of us is accountable in our walk with Christ. We have no excuse! The truth must be upheld and heretics exposed. Thanks to sound teachers like Chris Rosebrough, Justin Peters, John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Jordan Hall, Seth Dunn and the great websites of Michelle Lesley, Elizabeth Prata, and of course Pulpit and Pen, God has helped me gain wisdom and discernment, which He graciously allows me to share with other women.
If you are a fan of Beth Moore I encourage you to pray for discernment, do your homework, compare her instruction to the Bible and rid yourself of this heresy headache.
“They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.” Titus 1:11 ESV
[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.
