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I get lots of questions about particular authors, pastors, and Bible teachers, and whether or not I recommend them. Some of the best known can be found above at my Popular False Teachers tab. The teacher below is someone I’ve been asked about recently, so I’ve done a quick check (this is brief research, not exhaustive) on her.
Generally speaking, in order for me to recommend a teacher, speaker, or author, he or she has to meet three criteria:
a) A female teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly preach to or teach men in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12. A male teacher or pastor cannot allow women to carry out this violation of Scripture in his ministry. The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be living in any other sin (for example, cohabiting with her boyfriend or living as a homosexual).
b) The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be partnering with or frequently appearing with false teachers. This is a violation of Scripture.
c) The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be teaching false doctrine.
I am not very familiar with most of the teachers I’m asked about (there are so many out there!) and have not had the opportunity to examine their writings or hear them speak, so most of the “quick checking” I do involves items a and b (although in order to partner with false teachers (b) it is reasonable to assume their doctrine is acceptable to the false teacher and that they are not teaching anything that would conflict with the false teacher’s doctrine). Partnering with false teachers and women preaching to men are each sufficient biblical reasons not to follow a pastor, teacher, or author, or use his/her materials.
Just to be clear, “not recommended” is a spectrum. On one end of this spectrum are people like Nancy Leigh DeMoss Wolgemuth and Kay Arthur. These are people I would not label as false teachers because their doctrine is generally sound, but because of some red flags I’m seeing with them, you won’t find me proactively endorsing them or suggesting them as a good resource, either. There are better people you could be listening to. On the other end of the spectrum are people like Joyce Meyer and Rachel Held Evans- complete heretics whose teachings, if believed, might lead you to an eternity in Hell. Most of the teachers I review fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum (leaning toward the latter).
If you’d like to check out some pastors and teachers I heartily recommend, click the Recommended Bible Teachers tab at the top of this page.
Rebekah Lyons
Not Recommended
Rebekah and her husband Gabe (who previously helped co-found the Catalyst conference, which has featured false teachers such as Beth Moore and Christine Caine) are the founders of “Q,” an organization which attempts to join Christians with secular cultural and governmental leaders as well as other non-Christians, including Muslims, in order to make a Christian impact on culture through “The 7 Channels of Cultural Influence.” These “7 Channels” are identical to the seven mountains found in the Seven Mountain Mandate of the New Apostolic Reformation’s false teaching of Dominionism. Scripture does not tell us to partner with non-Christians to impact culture, in fact, it explicitly tells us not to. Furthermore, Q states “Our long-term goal is to see the Christian faith become increasingly attractive, credible and influential in the church, our communities and the next generation.” Although this goal might be realized by those who claim the name of Christ but whose hearts are far from Him, this line of thinking is patently unbiblical and therefore practically unattainable within biblical Christianity.
Since the first publication of this article in 2016, Rebekah and Q-ideas have scrubbed from their websites and social media platforms much of the material I originally linked to, including:
- A link to a talk given by a Muslim at Q entitled “How Can Christians and Muslims Work Together?” original link
- A video of Rebekah and IF:Gathering founder Jennie Allen at Q discussing and promoting unbiblical ideas regarding the role of women in the church. original link
In the original article, I commented on this video: “You’ll notice that Gabe commends IF for not ‘getting into doctrine’ when it comes to women’s roles in the church, and virtually no Scripture is cited in the entire talk, only opinions.” - A link to a talk given at Q Denver 2016 entitled “My Struggle with Gender Dysphoria,”by Melinda Selmys, a Catholic blogger and author who “encourages faith communities to provide trans people with the social, emotional, and spiritual support that they need in order to heal.” original link
- A link to the transcript of one of Rebekah’s speeches at IF:Gathering entitled “Confessions for the Church” original link
In the original article, I commented on this speech: “[The speech] is Ann Voskamp-esque sloppy theology at best, emergent at worst.”
I would like to believe that these materials have been scrubbed because Rebekah and Gabe have repented of these unbiblical teachings and have begun to teach sound doctrine, but the evidence of their continued false teaching, ties to false teachers, and unequal yoking with unbelievers belies that notion.
Featured speakers at Q have included false teachers Bianca Olthoff, Lisa Bevere, Lysa Terkeurst, Ann Voskamp, and New Apostolic Reformation leader, Phyllis Tickle, all of whom were allowed to preach to Q’s co-ed audience. (And, of course, Rebekah herself always speaks at Q and consequently preaches to men.) If you look through the videos at this link, you will notice that nearly all of them are under two minutes long (many under one minute), making it impossible to properly critique the substance of what the speaker taught, and leaving one to wonder if these particular snippets were chosen because they were innocuous enough not to offend the majority of Christian viewers.
One video at the Q-ideas web site features Kadi Cole saying that what we believe about women leading in the church is moot, we just need to look at what they’re gifted to do, and that we need to stay culturally relevant by elevating women to unbiblical positions of leadership in the church. Q 2019 included a talk entitled “Can AI be Intimate?” and touched on the idea of sex with robots. Also included at various Q conferences have been talks on the Pope, gender dysphoria, race and “privilege” (including “Confessing America’s Sins of Racism,” “America’s Racist Origins,” and “Are You a White Supremacist?“), “Ending the Death Penalty,” a variety of social justice issues, and included at least one practicing homosexual, Miriam Ben-Shalom, who was “the first openly gay person to be re-instated to the military after being discharged under the policy excluding gay individuals from serving,” and who considers it part of her calling to “educate” Christians on how to relate to homosexuals. Again, most of these video clips are under two minutes long (unless you want to pay for a subscription to the website), so it is impossible to fairly critique the content of the teaching.
(Note: If you wish to further research Q, please be aware that if you Google “Q Conference” you might get some hits for a “gay Christian” conference. This is an entirely different organization from the Q Conference that Rebekah and Gabe run. Be sure you’re looking at the right organization.)
Rebekah has appeared at, and is heavily involved with, IF: Gathering. An endorsement by Jennie Allen, founder of IF, appears on the home page of Rebekah’s website.
Rebekah called called Rachel Held Evans‘ death “a heartbreaking loss,” and said of her: “She was a gift to the church, a passionate advocate for so many.” If you’re at all familiar with RHE, you know that the people she “advocated” for were female preachers, pro-abortionists, “gay Christians,” mystics, false teachers and just about anyone else who stood diametrically opposed to Scripture and biblical Christianity, while attacking doctrinally sound Christians.
Rebekah also invited Rachel Held Evans and Shauna Niequist to a “Q Focus: Women & Calling” event and participated in a panel discussion with them.
Rebekah preached the Sunday morning sermon (co-ed audience) at Bethel’s Jesus Culture “church“, and has appeared on the Jesus Culture podcast. An endorsement from Banning Liebscher, founder/”pastor” of Jesus Culture appears on the home page of Rebekah’s website. Rebekah has also preached the Sunday morning sermon at Bethel itself.
The few citations in this article only scratch the surface of Rebekah’s multiple relationships with false teachers and the false teaching that takes place at Q Conferences and on the Q-ideas website.
Rebekah does offer several free teaching series through her website which I would encourage you to vet if you need to critique her actual teaching. However, considering the way Q’s YouTube channel and website present only a snippet of their tamest teachings while the more in depth or controversial teachings are behind a paywall, take into account the possibility that Rebekah’s free teachings may be less theologically problematic than those you have to pay for.
But, with Rebekah so deeply saturated in ministry partnerships with some of the worst of the worst false teachers, yoking with unbelievers, promoting unbiblical teaching through Q, and preaching to men, do you really need to vet her materials to know that you and your church shouldn’t be associating with her in any way – especially using her teaching materials?
Michelle Lesley 