In writing about Beth Moore and the serious problems with her teaching, I realize my inability to present any new information. It’s not my intent to replicate research that other discernment bloggers have presented for the mere sake of joining the chorus. However, to reassert what I said in my last post, I’ve mentioned this woman many times on this blog, always identifying her as a false teacher. Lately I’ve been convicted that I should substantiate my remarks by demonstrating why I believe she teaches falsely.

Please understand that, although I firmly believe Beth Moore has caused tremendous harm to the Body of Christ, I don’t believe she realizes that she does so. After watching numerous videos of her sermons and reading her blog posts and Tweets for years, I’ve concluded that she honestly believes she’s serving the Lord. Therefore, I definitely pray that He will mercifully lead out of deception, just as He mercifully led me out of deception. I have no interest in writing articles simply to bash Beth. I dearly hope you’re not reading these articles looking for ammunition against her, but that God will motivate you to join me in praying for her repentance.

That said, we bear a responsibility to examine her teaching in light of God’s Word, and to call her out on deviations from it. Along with that, we must help women understand how Beth Moore misrepresents the Lord, and then offer correctives to her errors.  Obviously, I can’t adequately address all the problems with Moore in a single blog post. Actually, I don’t intend to address all the problems anyway. But let’s look at one today, just to begin establishing why Beth Moore poses such a danger to Christian women.

As I said Wednesday, perhaps the most disturbing problem with Beth Moore is her repeated dependency on personal revelations. Despite her protestations to Jessica Lam, she does tend to “hear” God “speak” in actual words. Whether she admits it or not, she is adding to the canon  of  Scripture because God cannot speak less authoritatively depending on the venue. If He truly speaks to her directly, His words are every bit as authentic as they are in Scripture.

Here is her most popular story. I post it to draw your attention to her claim that God “spoke” directly to her. In words. You’ll find this claim at the 3:08 mark of the video.

Certainly, the fact that Beth Moore ended up witnessing to the flight attendant lends credence to the notion that God told her, in clear words, to brush that old man’s hair. But ask yourselves, ladies, if the happy result of the story — which undeniably points to God’s wonderful providence — necessarily means that He would violate His own Word, which explicitly says that He finished His revelation in sending His Son (Hebrews 1:1-4) and sternly warns against adding to His Word (Revelation 22:18-19).

Twenty years before I’d ever heard of Beth Moore, I had a similar experience of believing God “spoke” to me, in words, telling me to do something that seemed ridiculous. Like Beth Moore, I argued. And like Beth Moore, I eventually obeyed, seeing a good result. But now I understand that I simply had an idea, debated against it, and eventually tried it. Providentially, my idea worked so well that I began telling the story, embellishing it as the years passed. I honestly believed the Lord had spoken to me personally until I learned that Scripture is His final word. I’ve since repented of telling that, and other, stories of God speaking to me.

Perhaps Beth Moore brushed that man’s hair because she subconsciously remembered Scriptures about doing good to those who can’t care for themselves. In that respect, we might say that God spoke to her as she remembered Scriptures. But that’s not what she’s claiming, is it? Rather, she couches the story in a way that enforces the teaching that God speaks directly to Christians (or, to be more precise, to Christians who are “filled up” with Him). We are to be like her, hearing directly from Him, in order that He can work through us.

Sisters, it’s perfectly fine to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit brings Scriptural principles to mind and prompts us to act on those principles. But claiming that He speaks directly and personally to us flies in the face of God’s Word. Rather than seeking to emulate Beth Moore, godly women should depend only on Scripture as the way to hear His voice. Please avoid the false teaching that God speaks apart from His Word.

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