God's Purpose Still Served With False Teachers?

Have you ever sat and watched a sermon by a pastor like Steven Furtick, or Andy Stanley? Have you ever really just sat and listened to them preach. It's easy to be drawn in to the charismatic mood changing, emotionally driven style of speech or worship. They quote from Scripture, and speak with such compassion that you wonder, how could someone so passionate about what they're saying be so off? Someone that seems so dedicated to their teachings, so caring and so loving towards their congregations, how can they be so far removed from the truth? Does God actually allow teachers who are truly dedicated to him and his word to be raised up, undisciplined, and allowed to shepherd a flock of such magnitude, but without any accountability to his truth? Can a false teacher be saved, and just be wrong, or are these truly wolves in sheep's clothing who are on their way to Hell?

Ever since the fall of God's creation through Adam, man has been a slave to sin (Romans 5:12). Sin affects every aspect of our lives. It affects the way we think, the way we feel, and the way we perceive things, understand things, and communicate. It affects our desires and our motives and our purposes. Apart from Christ, we are inseparable from sin. Yet God has chosen to allow sin to flourish, without an immediate end to it. Instead of instantaneously stopping sin, he has chosen to redeem us through Christ, yet allowing sin to continue, while we suffer the temporal consequences of it. As a result of our sin, 1 Corinthians 2:14 says "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." Apart from God, man in his own state of sin will not, can not, accept the truth. 

So why do so many false teachers seem to be so caring, passionate, and sincere?

Steven Furtick: Taking a defensive stance against Bible-belivers

One thing you will notice with false teachers, is that they always want to downplay the importance Scripture places on warning against false teachers. You may hear defenses like "The Bible doesn't say a whole lot about false teachers, so we really shouldn't be too concerned with it," or "Christians need to stop bickering and judging each other, and just be more loving and Christ-like." Some false teachers, like Beth Moore, will refer to their critics as "scoffers," who are "stopping unity." Christine Caine twists Scripture to make a point about an unbiblical form of unity. Steven Furtick (left) refers to them as "haters," and says that they are afraid of change, or afraid of anything that is "new" and "different." But they always make it sound like anyone that is against them, or their unbiblical teachings, are somehow working against God and his people. However, this common unifying trait among false teachers is necessary to be able to survive, and to even thrive within the visible church. They have to devalue the importance of biblical discernment while making it look like they are being more discerning by doing so. It's trickery.

They must also maintain control and dominion over their congregations. If you remember the story of Jezebel, one of her characteristics was to maintain spiritual control over people. When she became queen, she eradicated all of God's prophets, and replaced God's altars with those of Baal (1 Kings 18:4, 13). But she didn't just take control of people by force. She was cunningly deceptive. Her doctrine (1 Kings 21:1-29), cleverly penned The Jezebel Doctrine, is strikingly similar to what we know today as the Prosperity Gospel. This false  prophetess seduced her husband Ahab by only "prophesying" good things, and endorsing covetousness. Teachers and pastors who are seduced by these spirits maintain that they are 100% right, and can not be corrected.

These people can stand in front of crowds, and draw real emotional responses—tears. They appeal to the worldly senses of people, and carnal desires of their nature. Their impassioned speeches are often intertwined with a seemingly supernatural sense of urgency, co-opted with breathlessness, sweating, and even cracking voices that to the average person, seems surreal in nature. This person "must" be passionate about God, one thinks. But the Bible says that even Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). False teachers are very good at deception (Matthew 24:23–27), and have many tactics that they use to carry out their sinful desires (2 Peter 3:3), and more often than not, they don't even realize they are false teachers, as they have been deceived themselves (2 Tim 3:13). The fact of the matter is, they are passionate about what they are saying, and they do, for the most part, believe it. They are in fact so passionate about it, that they will use whatever method they deem necessary to get you to believe it as well, and this most often involves evoking your emotions through deceitful tactics.

Can false teachers be saved?

First, I want to be clear, I'm not referring to the average preacher, or bible teacher, who sincerely has a desire to see people be saved, but has some minor doctrinal errors that don't affect one's salvation. I'm referring to those who deliberately and unrepentantly teach a message contrary to the Gospel of salvation by grace. Those teachers who, for example, would lead people into believing that they are saved, apart from Christ's teachings. Like Beth Moore who leads Catholic's into believing they are part of Christ's church, or Steven Furtick, who leads people to believe they are saved when they pray a prayer or are spontaneously baptized. The Bible teaches that those teaching these doctrines are the enemy of the Gospel. 2 Peter 2:1 says:

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

Scripture also teaches that those who are truly saved do not depart from the faith (1 Cor. 15:1-2). It seems to me that teaching a false teachings would be a departure from the faith. The Bible refers to saved people as "believers" (Acts 5:14; 1 Tim. 4:12). But if you are teaching and/or believing something contrary to the truth, how can you be a believer? This isn't to say that a false teacher can't ultimately repent and be saved, but you can't be teaching a false Gospel while believing the true one. One of the attributes of a saved person is the act of God's discipline on his children.

Hebrews 12:7-8 says:

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

God disciplines his children, his believers, just like we discipline our own children. We don't generally go around disciplining other people's children. As with God, he doesn't go around disciplining those who are not adopted into his family through Christ. I'm not saying he doesn't punish, but punishment and discipline are two different things. Discipline is to correct inappropriate behavior. False teachers generally do not correct our behavior, they generally breed more deception.

Punishment, on the other hand, is God's wrath. God hates those who are contrary to his nature (Psalm 5:4-6; 11:5, Proverbs 6:16-19), and desires to take his wrath out on them. The Book of 1 Kings, Chapter 11, Solomon's heart was turned against God, and God raised up an adversary against him. This was for the purpose of tearing Solomon's kingdom away from him. So we know that God does raise up enemies, but this enemy was raised up for the purpose of God's wrath. Do false teachers serve the purpose of God's wrath? Does God raise up false teachers to serve his purpose of turning over the unrighteous to their sinful lusts and desires? I'll leave it with this Scripture, Romans 1:18-31:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

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The Devil's Old Manifesto: Enter the New Age

"I don't think I'm evil," she says, irritated that she is being pressed on her beliefs. "The heart of man is not wicked, and being taught that will definitely keep you from seeking it." She goes on to say that God has given us an "inner compass," and that we are not encouraged to follow it, because of religious beliefs. This was a conversation I had with my beloved mother not too long ago. She has come to the conclusion that human beings are not inherently evil, and therefore, do not need a savior. What Christians would view as evil is generally rationalized as illusory, or ignorance, and not the fault of humankind.According to her belief system, all we have to do is get in touch with our inner "God," and we can move on to the next level of consciousness—Christ-consciousness. God is in us, God is us. We can become one with God, a God who is an unconscious, impersonal, creative force, in which manifests itself in nature and material, and various gods throughout history. 

This is the typical thought process of those who have been seduced and indoctrinated by the New Age. But is this really a "new" concept? Satan has been using this line of deception since the beginning of creation. When God created Adam and Eve, and placed them in the Garden of Eden, he told them that they could eat from any tree, except for one. God told them that their disobedience to him, the fulfillment of their selfish desires, would cause them to die. But the serpent beguiled them into trying to find satisfaction apart from God, and they disobeyed and ate. Satan told them that God wasn't being truthful with them, and that by eating the fruit, they would become like God himself, that eating of the fruit wasn't evil, but good, and that God was trying to hide this "truth" from them. This lie in the Garden forms the basis of all false religious systems today, including the New Age.

This seduction into this esoteric (hidden) knowledge is central to most cults, Eastern mystic religions, and the New Age.  This idea that man is becoming God, is God, or God is in man is taught in Hinduism, Taoism, and even Roman Catholicism, a false religious system masquerading as Christianity. Even Buddhism and Atheist religions to a certain extent teach a type of humanistic self-worship. This concept is known as pantheism. As part of this teaching, evil is usually said not to exist or is rationalized as ignorance, caused by evil spirits rather than man, and should be warded off using mystical means. It's also taught to be part of a dualistic oneness composed of good and evil, a Yin and Yang, so that in reality there is no good or evil, just opposing equal forces. But the Bible teaches that evil is sin, a rebellion against God the creator, a pursuit of satisfaction apart from him (Matthew 5:19, Proverbs 8:13, John 3:19-20, John 8:44, 1 John 3:8).

Sadly, even prominent Evangelicals are dabbling in this divination. Rick Warren is probably one of the most well known Evangelical pastors of today, yet his ministry tends to lead people into the practice of forbidden things. He encourages the use of Breath Prayers in his book, The Purpose Driven Life (pp. 89, 299) and on his web site, Pastors.com, contemplatives Richard Foster, Philip Yancey, Charles Stanley and many more are recommended. He has had well known New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet train pastors at his church, and another in Atlanta in 2008. Other prominent Evangelicals that practice divination, and claim to channel direct revelations from God are Matt Chandler, Beth Moore, Mark Driscoll and Steven Furtick (2 Peter 2:1). Yoga is now regularly practiced in many Evangelical churches and accepted as normal (2 Timothy 3:5).

The creative force, or principle, the God of the New Age who has deceived so many is generally believed to be unrelational, that is, it doesn't deal directly with it's creation, or "manifestation," and that the various gods, or ascended masters are responsible for the relations with creation. God is not a conscious being, and cannot be known. As part of this philosophy, man can achieve his own "god-hood" by following the paths of these god-manifestations and by simply becoming aware of your inner-god. When one becomes aware of his own inner-self, he becomes one with God. This is also a teaching of the Roman Catholic Church:

460 The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":78 "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God."79 "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."80 "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."81

Image of the False 'New Age Jesus'

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus Christ became man so that man can become God. This brings us back to the original lie of the serpent, that we can be God. This is the same concept that the New Age religion teaches. It teaches that Jesus Christ, among others like Buddah, Krishna, Muhammed, etc., were all teachers who had achieved their god-hood by becoming aware of their inner-self, and becoming one with the divine, impersonal creative force.

However, the practical methods of achieving this self-awareness is subjective, and is accomplished in a multitude of ways. Among the easiest of these ways is through the use of hallucinogenic drugs. This is typically an introductory way of achieving an altered state of consciousness that leaves the user curious, and longing for more. Some of the more advanced techniques, however, require much practice and self control, and involve the use of meditative techniques, such as Yoga. When entering into these altered states of consciousness, the person will usually have an euphoric spiritual experience, which leads them to believe that they have uncovered some kind of spiritual truth. But this "truth" is a deception. What New Agers fail to realize is that even the human desire for hidden knowledge is a result of our fallen state.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." This isn't because God is trying to hide good things from us, he is simply protecting us. He knows that the spiritual realm is filled with demons who want our souls. This is why he tells us to stay away from practicing divination or other spiritual paths that he has allowed (Deuteronomy 18:9-12, Leviticus 19:31, 2 Kings 21:6). It is our natural desire as sinful human beings to try to find fulfillment outside of God, and guess who's there to exploit our sin? Satan.

Satan knows that our fallen hearts are deceitful, and wicked, and he will never miss an opportunity to pounce on that. Satan desires the worship of humans and will do anything to get that. The Bible says that Satan masquerades around as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). Satan has created an entire world full of religious systems that are devoted to worshiping him. One of the common beliefs between all of the world's religious systems, including Buddhism and the New Age is that there will come another "Christ," known as the Maitreya, who will lead the world into the Age of Aquarius. The general consensus among the followers of this religion is that we are on the verge of this right now, and this Maitreya is actually already living in the world right now, waiting to be called out by his people. He is allegedly making private appearances to people, and performing miracles. But the Bible teaches that this Maitreya is the Antichrist. The bible says about the antichrist:

He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. - Revelation 13:13-14

After the rapture, those left on the earth will be conditioned to believe in the lying signs and wonders he performs. He will perform a fake resurrection, which will bring awe to the world, and since the world has rejected the true Savior, Jesus Christ, they will readily accept Satan's substitute, the Antichrist, and the world will worship him.

5And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,a that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.b And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. - Revelation 13:5-8

So many people have been deceived into believing the lie, and unfortunately many will take this lie to their grave. This is exactly where the Devil wants you; he wants you to believe that you are a good person, and that you don't need a savior. He wants you to believe that Christianity is a dark force that tries to keep you from following your "good" heart. He wants you to trust in your self, rather than in Christ Jesus, because he knows that Christ Jesus is the only true path to eternal life.

7Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 or the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

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Unity in the Church

I often hear church people say that we need to have more unity in the church. Unity, what does that mean? Well, it depends on who you ask. There is no question that the Bible teaches us that Christians are to be united, without divisions among us (1 Cor. 1:10), and that we are to be as one, as Chris is with the Father (John 17:21), and to be willing to maintain that unity peacefully (Eph. 4:30. But how are we suppose to apply this as Christians. There is certainly a great deal of bickering in the visible church. We have historically the Protestants arguing with Catholics, the charismatics arguing with the cessationists, the conservatives with the liberals, etc. Is this edifying to the church, or is it a distraction that draws attention away from the Gospel. Well, the short answer is both. Here's why.

First I'll start with what "unity" is not, as defined by the Word of God. Biblical unity among believers is not compromising the Word of God for the sake of apparent peace. In the High Priestly Prayer in John 17, Jesus prays to the Father, asking him to grant unity among believers so that the world will see that unity, and know that believers are one with each other as he is with his father. But the key phrase here is "among believers" (John 17:20). He is not asking that we set our significant difference in beliefs aside, and join hands together in ecumenical prayer. No, he's asking that we all be united in the truth, being in full accord and of one mind (Phillipians 2:1-3), believing the same doctrinal truths, and taking these truths to the world.

There tends to be a great amount of backlash towards believers who are quick to rebuke other Christians who are in sin, or even false believers who are masquerading as Christians. The argument is that it distracts from the love of Jesus, but love is not the only quality of Jesus. Jesus came to bring truth, a sword (Matthew 10:34). Jesus did not come to tell everyone that they could believe what they wanted to believe, worship whatever idols they want to worship, and seek whatever God they wanted to seek, and as long as we stand in unity, everything would be fine. Jesus commanded us to expose false teachers within the church (Eph. 5:11), that they aren't really Christians, but ravenous wolves dressed in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15). But sadly, there are many of these wolves running rampant in Evangelicalism, with very few willing to stand up and call them out. Yet, when they are called out, the talking heads of mainstream evangelicalism tend to bark back at the discerning Christians trying to obey God.

The Bible tells us not to have fellowship with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14). This means, we don't join hands with the false church of Rome, giving the appearance that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, in order to advance and protect the sanctity of marriage, or to protest against abortion. While these may be good things to stand up for, we must not compromise the Gospel in doing so. We must stand up against the atrocities of abortion, or protect the sanctity of marriage by taking the Word of God to the lost, condemning all sin, and proclaiming the good news of the cross to everyone. Being united in error is not what Christ wants for his church, and being united on false premises is not being united at all.

So what creates disunity in the church then if it's not the bickering and quarreling and the argument? Error. Error is what creates disunity in the church, and error must be corrected to regain that unity. Paul says in Romans 16:17, "I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them." Notice, he doesn't say to avoid the ones correcting the false doctrine, he's saying avoid those bringing false doctrine because they cause disunity. He doesn't say turn a blind eye and join up with them at prayer rallies to promote a political agenda. No, he says stay away from them, expose them for what they are—tools of Satan that cause disunity.

Lack of knowledge also creates divisions. According to the prophet Hosea, people are destroyed because of their lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). If we stand around, and allow people to believe whatever they want to believe, never correcting them, and never confronting their sin, the end is ultimate destruction. Although this may temporarily give the appearance of unity, it's a deception. In order to be united the way Christ wants us to be united, we must be constantly reproving error, and constantly drawing people closer to the truth according to the Scriptures (2 Tim 3:16). We must correct those who mishandle Scripture, just like Jesus corrected Satan when he mishandled Scritpure (Matt 4:5-7).

Jesus says that those who teach and hold to false doctrines are worshiping him falsely (Matt 15:9). If we're standing in prayer with those caught up in false churches, false gospels, or a false Jesus, we may as well be holding to these false beliefs ourselves. The signers of the ecumenical document, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, obviously don't understand this concept. The signing of this false unification document has resulted in a watered down Gospel, and has led many unbelievers to believe that they are in right standing with God, regardless of their belief in another gospel (2 Cor 11:4).

We must unite around the truth alone. The truth of Scripture, the Word of God is the means of our unity, and Jesus Christ alone is the object of our unity. We can't know Jesus outside of his revealed word to us. The Church should be a pillar and a buttress of the truth (1 Tim 3:15). In this we must remain united. We must remain united in protecting that truth, and standing up for that truth. We must remain united in exposing the false teachers, and false doctrines. And we must remain united in our condemnation of sin, for without condemnation of sin, there is no salvation (Romans 6:23; Revelation 21:8). Finally, we must remain united in taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the nations, and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and passing the torch.

How good and pleasant it is
    when God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
    running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
    down on the collar of his robe.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
    were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
    even life forevermore. - Psalm 133

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Lifeway Promoting False Teacher Priscilla Shirer Experiential Event

We all know how critical many have been of Lifeway "Christian" Stores lately, and for good reason. Lifeway, as an extension of the Southern Baptist Convention, and representing the larger section of conservative Evangelical Christianity, seems to have a knack for peddling heresy for profit. First, there was the uprising against well known heresy such as heaven tourism, modalism and Word of Faith, then there was a public retraction by Alex Malarkey that his story in his book, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, was false, which finally prompted Lifeway to acknowledge years worth of criticism by pulling it from the shelf. And now, for 39 bucks, you can purchase tickets from Lifeway to another False Prophet event, Priscilla Shirer Live.

Priscilla Shirer is a good friend, and a disciple of well known prophet-preacher Beth Moore. Besides the fact that women preaching and teaching men in the church is unbiblical, these two women regularly claim to receive extra-biblical revelation from God, and promote other unbiblical practices such as mysticism, and contemplative prayer. However, the first red flag I see that goes up in the promotion of this event is on the flyer it states. "You know her studies. It's Time To Experience Her Event." The word, "experience," is a buzz word in Charismatic Christendom that usually entails some type of extra-biblical engagement with God through emotions, visions, signs and wonders, and unorthodox practices of mystical prayer. This is no different with Priscilla Shirer. Priscilla Shirer was a participant in the heretical DVD on contemplative prayer, Be Still, and she even addresses this criticism on her web page. Though at first glance it may sound like she supports a biblical view of prayer, looking deeper into what she is saying, it becomes clear that she doesn't understand what biblical prayer and meditation means. In her FAQ she says, "By participating in the Be Still project, we by no means meant to convey our agreement with the theological viewpoints and positions of other participants yet we did believe (and still do) in the over-arching theme of the resource and that is why I agreed to do it." This is a contradictory statement. The theological viewpoints and positions of the participants IS the over-arching theme of the DVD, and she says she supports it. She then goes on to say
 "The Psalmist himself said that not only would he bring his requests to God in prayer but then 'wait expectantly' (Psalm 5:3) for God’s response. The prophet Habakkuk mirrors this philosophy of prayer when he says that after speaking to God he would then “climb up on the watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will say to me.”

The Psalmist himself said that not only would he bring his requests to God in prayer but then “wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:3) for God’s response. The prophet Habakkuk mirrors this philosophy of prayer when he says that after speaking to God he would then “climb up on the watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will say to me.” (Habakkuk 2:1). We are a proponent of the Christian encountering God in a fresh way that is relevant to his or her life, and we believe this can occur when we wait for God quietly with our Bibles outspread before us. As we ponder His Word, the Holy Spirit applies it to the circumstances of our lives.

Here, she seems to be equating the way Old Testament prophets received revelation from God to how Christians are meant to study God's Word--by being still and waiting. The fact that she goes on to say that we do this with our Bibles open before us doesn't change anything. Yes, it is true that we receive our revelation from God ONLY through Scripture, if you look closely, this is not what she's saying. We don't study God's word by opening it and pondering a piece of Scripture, and sitting silently waiting for God to speak to us, we study Scripture through vigorous intellectual reading, one-way prayer as taught in Scripture, and application of his Word in our daily lives. Meditating on God's Word, by Biblical definition, means to fill our minds with it, memorize it, and study and practice it regularly so that it becomes ingrained in who you are. A golf player does not become a better golf player by sitting down in front of a ball, meditating over it and contemplating it. He becomes better by actively practicing it, and applying his knowledge daily.
Despite her attempt to brush off the accusations of promoting and practicing mysticism, this isn't the only time she's been involved in this activity. She has written at least two booklets in which she claims that mature Christians should be able to hear audible voices from God. In her booklet, Is That You God, she writes:

Before you read any further, let me assure you of an important point. To not speak contradicts God's nature. The second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, is called the Word (see John 1:1). That designation stands at odds with silence. God loved you enough to die for you; He loves you enough to communicate with you. The Lord can and will speak to you if you've placed your faith in Jesus. First, however, you must expect and anticipate that the divine voice of God can ring in your ears and heart. 

Nowhere in Scripture am I aware of does it teach that we must expect and anticipate the divine voice of God ringing in our ears and heart. Scripture is clear that the Word of God, as once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3), in sufficient for our salvation and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). But apparently that's not enough for Priscilla. In Day 4 of Week 2 in her Bible study on her Book, He Speaks To Me, she writes:

How can we consistently hear God’s voice? We must take the focus off ourselves, looking instead to His glory and priorities, meditating on His attributes. To worship God appropriately, we also need to grasp His acceptance. As long as we feel condemned, we will have difficulty hearing God speak. 

Again, she seems to believe that God speaks to our hearts in other ways besides Scripture. The Bible doesn't teach us that we can hear God speak to us as long as we don't feel condemned, and focus on his priorities and attributes. Paul says in Hebrews 1:1-2 "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world." The key here is the past tense, "has spoken." God has already spoken to us through the revelation of Jesus Christ, and his revelation has been recorded by the writers of the New Testament canon. Though God uses the Holy Spirit to illumine the Word of God for us today, and interpret it for us, he does not speak directly to us through any other means than the closed canon of Scripture.
 
Shirer also regularly travels and speaks at events with other well known false teaches, like Christine Caine, Beth Moore, Sheila Walsh and Lisa Harper. It's no doubt that she is a disciple of these women, as she speaks so highly of them. She says of Christine Caine in an interview with the Christian Post, (where she also seems to believe that women speakers are persecuted in the Church), "Christine Caine would be at the top of my list [most influential and unique voices in Christianity]. She is a brilliant communicator of God's word, but not only that, this is a woman who's on a mission to see His kingdom come on earth," and of Beth Moore, "Then also Beth Moore. Beth Moore is a fantastic communicator of God's word. I have the utmost respect for her. She's a friend and mentor, a woman of integrity. I have rarely heard someone teach the Scriptures the way Beth Moore can." She also tweets about Caine,

So grateful for the powerhouse, phenomenon that is....Christine Caine. http://t.co/1Aml7f1O
— Priscilla Shirer (@PriscillaShirer) April 28, 2012

Yet, despite the fact that these "teachers" are unsound, Lifeway continues to promote their events, and sell their literature. If Lifeway is going to continue in this practice, is it really necessary for them to be a part of the Church? Should the SBC continue in ownership of a company that does not represent the Biblical standards mandated in Scripture, and ascribed to by the Church? What is it going to take to get this garbage out of our bookstores and out of our churches?

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Osteen: Speak Victory Over Your Life! Huh?

When you have an attitude of faith and speak victory over your life, God will show up and do amazing things.
— Joel Osteen (@JoelOsteen) January 14, 2015

World famous Word of Faith preacher, Joel Osteen, says all you have to do is have faith, speak victory over your life, and God will show up to do amazing things. What say Joel to the Christians around the world who are being persecuted on a daily basis for their faith? Is there faith not strong enough? Does this only apply to American Christians? Do these people not "speak enough victory over their lives?"

Perhaps Joel Osteen has no idea what it means to be a Christian. In fact, if you aren't suffering in some way for Christ, you very well may not be a Christian. Paul says in 2 Timothy, "¹²Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." I'm not saying that you can't be a Christian, and also be financially successful, or in some ways be blessed, but the Bible does not, in any way, teach that you can speak victory over your life. If you are blessed by God, it is by God's providence alone that he has given you success, and it's not based on anything you have done (Job 1:21).

If you live in a country where, for the time being at least, you are freely allowed to practice your Christian faith, you should be on your knees thanking God for that daily. There will come a time when any mention of the name of Jesus can get you killed. The world hates Christians (1 John 3:13), but we are to count it all for joy (James 1:2-4), because Jesus Christ is the one that has spoken victory over our lives at the cross (John 16:33), and he alone shall take away all of our suffering and wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4). Paul says in his letter to the Romans in Chapter 5:

³Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

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Beth Moore's followers don't understand the Gospel. #WhyWeContend

Last week, Beth Moore of Living Proof Ministries declared that it was "hunting season for heretics" in her blog, where she likened a discerning 22 year old wife of a pastor to a witch hunter, and questioned this young lady's ability to differentiate truth from error.  This young lady sent out a tweet basically calling Beth Moore the false teacher that she is.  After she found out she was the target of Moore's rebuke, she reached out, and Moore responded via email. After a few rounds of back and forth of Moore attempting to rationalize her "revelations" and "visions" to a young woman she thought she could convince, Moore realized the young lady was more grounded in Scripture than she thought, and as she was challenged to answer questions and defend her position, Moore abruptly ended the exchange without answer.  This just goes to prove that Moore, and people like her, are only comfortable engaging people who are undiscerning, and unwilling to stand on the truth of Scripture as their final authority, just like most of her followers.

Let's take for example some of the comments posted by Beth's followers on her "hunting season" article. Now, I can't examine the hearts or minds of any of these people based on any internet posting, nor can I judge their salvation, however, I can say for sure that if they actually believe some of the things they are posting, they could be in serious trouble with their beliefs.  The following comment by "Rhonda" on January 11 states:

No one knows which way the Spirit’s wind blows. It’s all going to be washed out in the end and once we walk over the finish line into the doorway of heaven all of our eyes will be opened to see how off all of us were in various degrees. Only God knows our hearts. That’s the thing that’s the most important. Whatever people think or judge or condemn is between them and God. If they feel they need to call us false teachers and false followers out, then I’m not going to spend my time arguing with those whose ears the Lord himself allows closed or whose mouths and fingers he allows to criticize. David had the same problems with his critics and he just let God be the judge. (Come to think of it, I think Jesus did too.)

I'm not even sure I know what the first sentence means.  But let's assume it's a reference to John 3:8, that wind blows where it pleases, as does everyone born of the spirit.  This is not saying that we can just go around saying and teaching whatever we please, and not be accountable for it.  This is a reference to the Holy Spirit bringing life to those who are born again.  Yes, our eyes will be opened to "how off" we are one day, but unfortunately, there will be many who don't cross that "finish line" into heaven.  Those who have not heard the truth can easily be led astray, and God does not save people through a false gospel (Romans 10:14). Beth Moore is not teaching her followers essential doctrines such as Grace Alone through Faith Alone, and the exclusivity of Jesus Christ.  She is giving Roman Catholics a false sense of security by referring to them as "sisters in Christ," rather than calling them to repentance from their idolatry, and false gospel of works.  Rhonda, do you really think that Jesus just left his critics alone, and let God be the judge?  First of all, Jesus IS God, and Jesus does judge his critics.  But to say that Jesus didn't spend any time "arguing" with his critics is blatantly false.  Jesus' entire ministry consisted of correcting false beliefs, false teachings and rebuking false teachers.  Jesus regularly confronted his critics openly, publicly, and directly, and even resorted to anger and name calling at times, comparing his critics to the offspring of serpents, (Matthew 23:33), a fox (Luke 13:32), wolves (Matthew 7:15, 10:16, etc.), and dogs (Matthew 15:26). This is how Jesus chose to confront error, because it was effective to those who had an ear to hear his words, however, those who do not, will not hear him, because they are not his sheep.

Another commenter, Laverna, says:

It grieves me as I’m sure it grieves the Lord’s heart to see how those that call themselves Christians speak of each other. That would never be his heart. It saddens me to see it happen again here.

Laverna is insinuating that it is our Lord's heart for us to just be quiet, and accept false teachings in the Church, but Jesus makes it very clear that we are to expose the false teachings of others, not accept them.  Jesus himself says to beware of these people (Matthew 7:15) and Paul says in Romans 16:17-18, "I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive."  Many of Beth's followers are very naive.  Beth Dunn, another commenter, believes that Moore's differences are only "denominational differences." Either she is completely oblivious to what Beth Moore teaches regularly, or she isn't grounded enough in Scripture to see the damage that Moore's teachings can cause. Moore regularly teaches that God reveals extrabiblical things to her, and they often contradict Scripture, creating a doubt in the sufficiency of Scripture among those who aren't discerning.  Though Beth Moore may not be directly teaching a false soteriology, she does create doubt in the Biblical doctrine by claiming God has given her a vision he wants true believers and Roman Catholics to be united under her vision.  Point blank, either she is deceived by a demon, or she is out right lying, because, and let me be clear, God DID NOT give her that vision.

Another comment, by Beverly says:

...This isn’t about a 22 year old, a 60 year old, or a 90 year old man or woman….it is about a far more powerful prince of this world who will do whatever he can to sidetrack, stumble, humiliate or destroy you and the ministry He has entrusted you with...

Sadly, Beverly doesn't see the importance of doctrinal and Biblical accuracy, the way Jesus and the apostles taught. She, as well, likens discerning Christians who are concerned that people may be led astray with false teachings to those who are followers of the devil. But the Apostle Paul repeatedly says that those who are teaching anything contrary to Scripture are accursed, and should be exposed (Galatians 1:6-9, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, 2 Cor 11:13-15).

There are many more, but I can't possibly cover them all, but I'll lastly respond to this one, from Janet:

I would imagine that Jesus is crying over the way Christians are fighting, blaming, and name-calling, instead of loving each other. His prayer was that we are known by the way we love each other, and that we have the same unity the He and the Father have. Wow! We seem to be going backwards.

Because, I'm sure Jesus is just sitting up there weeping, saying to himself, "Oh, how I regret telling my sheep to expose false teachers.  Oh, how I wish they would just not worry about the truth, and just love one another."  I have not heard anyone thus far unlovingly rebuke Beth Moore.  While I'm sure there are plenty out there whose motives are less than Godly, the majority of her critics are sincere Christians who have repeatedly asked Moore to clarify her teachings, and back them up with Scripture, which she repeatedly refuses to do.  Jesus taught us to publicly rebuke those who are openly in sin, and unrepentantly teaching error.  Moore is not open to correction, as she has shown on several occasions. Janet, you are mistaken in your understanding of the unity Christ wants us to have. Jesus and his father's unity is not, under any circumstances, based on any difference in their theologies. Not only are Jesus and the Father's unity based on love, but it's also based on truth. Absolute truth.  God is the standard of truth, and if we, as Christians want to come closer to having that same unity, first thing we must do is get rid of the error.

For years we have attempted to build Beth Moore up, and confront her error, and have refrained from calling her a false teacher, but year after year she has refused to address the issues confronted her, and support them with biblically sound theology. She can't, and she refuses to repent, and sadly this makes her a false teacher, regardless of how subtle or extensive it is. The fact that her followers have flocked to her blog in droves to comment and support her means nothing except that her followers are not well versed in Scripture, and are likely to believe whatever she says God revealed to her, be it audibly or through a dream, or whatever "unathoritative" manner God has chosen to "speak" to her that day. Regrettably, Beth Moore did not correct any of her supporters who obviously did not understand Scripture, nor did she address any of the few critics that raised issue with her in her comments.  She just repeatedly indulged herself in the sorrowful praise and exaltation of her by her followers, in contrast to Scripture (1 John 5:21) and regardless of their misunderstandings of the teachings of Christ and his apostles. The misunderstanding seems to be that the arguing and the exposing of error is what causes divisions, but that's not true.  It's the lies and the false teachings and the unrepentant sin that causes the disunity (Romans 16:17), and until that sin is confronted, and corrected, there will always be division. I would have that this is the reason we contend for the faith.

To Beth Moore's followers, if you read this, I leave you with this passage:

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. - (1 John 4:1-6)

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