Michelle Lesley

It was the shot heard round the ~~world~~ online Christian neighborhood I hang out in. (I’m sure most of the actual world couldn’t care less.) On Tuesday, March 8 – in a hit piece from RNS (Religion News Service) that came thisclose to libeling everyone who has ever biblically called for her de-platforming – Beth Moore announced she had broken ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, and flounced out the door, smearing the institution that made her what she is on her way out. Classy.

What does this mean for Beth? For you? For Southern Baptist churches? For the SBC?

For Beth personally…

For Beth, personally, it means she no longer has to keep her church membership at a Southern Baptist church. A few months ago, when Beth mentioned that she was looking for a new church, I figured she was probably looking for something much less biblically restrictive than her Southern Baptist home church (which already plays fast and loose with the Scriptures by allowing Beth – a woman and a false teacher – to preach). Something progressive. Politically correct. A church that would fit Beth’s unbiblical worldview on whatever the hot political / social topic du jour might happen to be, be it Critical Race Theory, egalitarianism, social justice, the perversion agenda, abortion, and so on. A social media follower, who knows which church she’s trying out, described it to me, and it sounds like she found the progressive church I imagined she would be looking for.

It also means, assuming she doesn’t tie herself down to a publisher or other entity that places restrictions on her (you know – expects her to act, speak, and teach like the Christian and Bible teacher she claims to be) that she will feel much freer to clearly express exactly what she thinks about those hot topics.

Anyone who has followed Beth on social media for any length of time knows that she can be cryptic at best, and borderline incoherent at worst, when expressing a significant thought – especially a thought on a controversial issue. Which has likely been due, at least in part, to trying to walk the tightrope between expressing her true thoughts and not crossing the line with the powers that be at LifeWay (an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention).

This was abundantly clear during the Open Letter to Beth Moore debacle two years ago. Beth clearly did not want to (and indeed, never did) come right out and flatly say that homosexuality is a sin. Yet because of her financial and contractual relationship with LifeWay (which has a policy and history of dropping authors who affirm homosexuality), she could not come right out and say that homosexuality is not a sin (which, I’m sure, disappointed her homosexual / homosexuality-affirming fans). I have suspected from the day it happened, that LifeWay somehow forced Beth into publishing her final statement on the matter as well as her month-long Twitter hiatus which immediately followed. It will be interesting to see whether she spills the tea about things like that or keeps them to herself. Personally, from a writer’s perspective, I’m very curious to see if she has used this cryptic style of writing as a way to veil her true thoughts just enough to pass LifeWay’s “smell test” and will now feel free to speak clearly and forthrightly, or if “cryptic” is just the style of writing with which she feels most comfortable.

But the darkest, most devastating consequence of this move for Beth is that she is purposefully casting off the last vestiges of biblical restraint God’s common grace has, until now, provided her. You see, there are still biblically faithful people, processes, and provisos in place in the SBC that have acted as guardrails for Beth, keeping her from careening over the cliff of sin and rebellion she’s been so desperately gunning for. The RNS article shamefully makes it seem as though a bunch of petty meanies have long been picking on poor little Beth, and she’s (once again) a victim, pushed out by heartless bullies who just wanna keep a good woman down.

That’s not the case at all.

Beth is not leaving the SBC because people were mean to her for not liking Trump, or for speaking out about abuse, or for taking a stand on racism. That’s just the window dressing diversion she has created as she makes a break for it out the back door.

Beth is leaving the SBC because she chafes at Scripture’s rebuke of her sin.

And in the SBC – even as biblically off track as it is in so many ways – she meets that rebuke at every turn. Beth is leaving because she wants to go somewhere where she can openly sin in peace, with nary a flicker of conscience or whisper of reproof to plague her.

And that’s an extraordinarily dangerous place for anyone to be.

Time after time, God sent Moses to warn Pharaoh. Time after time, Pharaoh hardened his heart. Finally, God gave Pharaoh over and hardened his heart, and Pharaoh cast the last vestige of godly warning and influence out of his presence for good. There was no turning back.

When a person repeatedly hardens her heart against God’s admonitions and commands – come they through reading His Word, circumstances, or the call of faithful Christians to repent – God’s time of forbearance with that person eventually comes to an end. Perhaps he takes the person’s life, or perhaps He takes away His restraining hand and turns her over to a reprobate mind, to “do what ought not to be done,” but continued contumacious sin comes at a steep price.

For Beth’s sake, I dearly hope I’m wrong, but I fear this is what may be happening in the spiritual realm while we sit mesmerized by the trappings of the temporal realm.

For the average Beth Moore fan…

Beth’s average fan isn’t going to see much of a difference in terms of her availability. LifeWay’s publishing arm will no longer be publishing her materials, but LifeWay Retail will still be selling them in their online store. LifeWay’s conference division will no longer be hosting and platforming Beth’s conferences or other live events. But I’m sure Beth has other publishers (maybe Zondervan or Thomas Nelson?) and conference promoters lined up around the block – probably in a bidding war – to offer her their services. So, she’s not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, you may see an increase in the availability of her materials and conferences, depending on how much (if at all) she felt her contractual obligations to LifeWay may have been holding her back.

But you’ll probably begin noticing some much more important changes. I’m not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but here’s an educated guess based on observing Beth’s ministerial trajectory over the last twenty or so years: You’re not going to see a sudden uptick in holiness, humility, and obedience to Scripture. With God’s gracious hand of restraint via the SBC cast off, what you’re going to see is a continued downward spiral – now at breakneck speed – into sin, heresy, and rebellion. More preaching to men¹. More yoking with other false teachers. More Scripture twisting. More CRT. More liberal politics. More social justice. More “God told me…”. Clear approval of homosexuality, and maybe even abortion at some point, too.

If you’re still a Beth Moore fan, I urge you, for the sake of your own spiritual well-being, to divorce yourself from her immediately. This is not going to be pretty.

For the discerning Christian…

Some have jokingly speculated that Beth’s announcement of her split with the SBC will be followed by her heeding John MacArthur’s admonition to “Go home.” I can’t see that happening. As I said, if this move affects her availability at all, it will most likely make her more prolific. And even though she is in her 60’s, I would be very surprised if she voluntarily retired any time soon.

You will have to continue to warn your friends and loved ones about Beth, though this shift of hers may prove conducive to that in a couple ways:

With this being a hot story for the moment, some of her followers, and some pastors, are beginning to ask questions. “Why would Beth want to leave the SBC?” “I’m seeing Beth Moore’s name trending online and people saying there are biblical problems with her. What are the issues I should be aware of?” That’s an open door for you to lovingly explain and present evidence for Beth’s false teaching and sinful behavior. (Need a little help? Use my article Living Proof You Should Follow Beth (No) Moore.)

As mentioned above, Beth will most likely become much more open about her false teaching, sinful behavior, and approval of others’ sin. The average evangelical in the pew may not understand the reasons that, say, extra-biblical revelation or preaching to men is unbiblical, but they know homosexuality is a sin. They know Christians are supposed to be 100% against abortion². And so, if Beth stays on the trajectory she’s on and begins to publicly take an unbiblical stand on these things, it may be easier for you to point to, and for her followers to grasp these polarizing issues as reasons they should stop following her.

For Southern Baptist Churches…

In terms of the availability of Beth’s materials, I wouldn’t think any church who has a purchasing relationship with LifeWay would see much, if any difference when they log on to place an order. The main difference in availability will be for churches that simulcast or purchase blocks of tickets to her live events. They’ll no longer be able to do this via LifeWay. They’ll have to go through whatever platforming agency is handling her event sales. It shouldn’t be too much of an obstacle for any church or women’s ministry that’s determined to keep following Beth, unfortunately.

I had hoped that for Southern Baptist churches Beth’s departure would serve as a wake up call to spur pastors to vet Beth more carefully and stop allowing her to destroy the women of their churches. And, perhaps, for a few, it has. But if comments like this one…

…from Ed Litton (a presumptive nominee for SBC president at the 2021 annual meeting) are any indication, most will remain willfully clueless and derelict in their Titus 1:9 duties.

The impact Beth’s departure should have on the local church is to get pastors and church members alike to start thinking critically – not just about Beth, but about the authors of all the materials they use and about the issues the SBC is currently embroiled in at the national level. Because each SBC church is autonomous, there’s a tendency among a large swath of church members (and even some pastors) not to pay any attention to what’s going on at the national level.

So I imagine, first of all, that a sizable portion of Southern Baptists don’t even know Beth has left the SBC, because they don’t make any effort to keep up with what’s going on in their own denomination³. Also because of that, many of the ones who do know are likely baffled by the issues she’s citing as reasons for leaving, and what is and is not the biblical position on those issues in this hot, chaotic mess.

Southern Baptist churches should take this situation as a Providential Gibbs slap…

…and henceforth stop being so lax about false teachers and so uninformed about current events in the SBC.

For the Southern Baptist Convention…

Beth’s departure isn’t going to change the Southern Baptist Convention in any noticeable way that I can think of. Some have observed, “Well, at least this puts the issue of her being elected SBC president to rest.” I don’t think there was ever much chance of that happening. Not that she couldn’t have been nominated. Not that people wouldn’t have voted for her. I just don’t think she would have accepted the position. It’s a lot of work, and she’s already monumentally busy. Plus, she doesn’t strike me as someone who enjoys administrative work. (I guess that’s one thing we have in common.)

While they will still earn revenue by selling Beth’s materials, LifeWay lost a chunk of change when she decided to take her publishing and live events contracts elsewhere. And the sad and shameful thing is, that’s all they’ve been concerned about all along. Money.

LifeWay didn’t care about Southern Baptist women whose spiritual lives they crippled by the thousands through Beth Moore’s false teaching and ungodly example. They didn’t care about the Southern Baptist churches they sowed division into by peddling Beth’s poison to them. They didn’t care about the discerning Southern Baptist women who have been forced out of their churches and spiritually abused by Southern Baptist pastors, pastors’ wives, and women’s ministry leaders deceived by Beth.

And you know who else LifeWay didn’t care about? Beth. They didn’t care enough to look into her teaching, her beliefs, and her behavior, compare them to Scripture, and go, “Something is off here. This is not the fruit of someone who is saved, much less of a sound teacher. We love this woman as a soul created in the image of God, and we’re not going to help her continue down this road of destruction. She needs the gospel. She needs Christ. And for the sake of the judgment she’s going to face, she doesn’t need to be teaching anybody.”

But, no, they were making money off of Beth, so they just kept building her empire. Why let a little thing like her eternity get in the way? The time came to choose between serving God and mammon, and they picked mammon. They sold Beth’s soul for thirty pieces of silver.

Strong words? Not nearly as strong as they’ll hear when they have to answer to God for caring more about money than they cared about the priceless soul of this precious woman.

I pray God uses Beth’s departure to graciously open the eyes of those at LifeWay and in SBC leadership who have been complicit in encouraging Beth in her false teaching and in gilding the chains that bind her to her sin. I pray He mercifully puts them on the ground in the sackcloth and ashes of repentance, that they might be forgiven. And I pray that they would then reach out to Beth again, this time with a call to turn from her sin and believe the gospel.

Beth Moore, and those in SBC leadership who helped make her what she is, have played no small part in creating, contributing to, or paving the way for the morass of unbiblical issues festering in the SBC today: CRT, women preaching, false doctrine, false teachers being made into celebrities, political posturing, maneuvering, and intimidation, pride and impenitence, and much more.

May Beth’s departure be an opportunity for the SBC to examine itself against Scripture and right the ship.

Indeed, may we all take this opportunity to examine our denominations, our churches, the teachers we learn from, and our own hearts.

¹A few have speculated that now that Beth is no longer beholden to the Baptist Faith and Message (the SBC’s statement of faith) which disallows women from holding the office of pastor, that she may decide she wants to pastor a church. If they mean a typical, existing church, I find this extremely unlikely. From Beth’s position and perspective, becoming a pastor would be a huge step down. It would mean less money, less celebrity, more responsibility, and more accountability. I don’t see it happening. But, I guess anything’s possible.

²Beth has not made any pro-abortion statements yet that I’m aware of, but I sense that, as with her devolving unbiblical stance on homosexuality, this is coming. Even before leaving the SBC she had already adopted the liberal “I’m pro-all of life” mantra.

³Yes, I’m aware that the SBC isn’t technically a denomination, but a voluntary cooperative of autonomous churches. But if it looks like a denomination and often functions like a denomination, it’s going to get called a denomination sometimes.

Sermon on the Mount Bible Study

The Sermon on the Mount ~ Lesson 7

March 10, 2021March 9, 2021 Michelle Lesley

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Matthew 5:33-37

Questions to Consider

1. Briefly review the “middle parts” (ex: merciful, poor in spirit) of the Beatitudes, the “salt and light” passage, and the “heart of the law” passage in Matthew 5:1-12, 13-16, 14-20. Now read 33-37 in light of those passages.

2. Summarize, in your own words, the main idea of 33-37. Are all oaths inherently sinful? How do you know? Is this passage mainly dealing with swearing oaths to God or to people? Does this passage forbid all oaths, such as a politician’s oath of office, the oath of enlistment for the military, being sworn in as a witness in court, etc.? How do you know this?

Explain the difference between the formal oath of a covenant (such as the oaths God made as part of His covenant with His people) and the casual, reckless oath of someone in a trivial situation who invokes something higher than himself as a guarantee: ex: “I swear by Heaven I’ll be there at 6:00 tomorrow,” or “I swear to Jerusalem, that pig really did fly!”. Would the oath of office / military / court / etc. fall under the category of a formal, covenant-type oath, or a casual, reckless type of oath? Which type of oath does this passage prohibit?

Think about the character of a person who goes around tossing out casual oaths all the time. If you had to swear to something higher than yourself that you really would be there at 6:00, that the story you were telling really was true, that you really would do what you said you were going to do, and so on, in order to convince people to believe you, what would that indicate about your trustworthiness, reliability, honesty, and integrity?

3. In the Beatitudes, Jesus lists the traits that define Christian character. In much of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount He fleshes out what many of these character traits look like when walked out in “real life”. Which of the traits (the “middle parts” – there could be several) listed in the Beatitudes is Jesus expanding on in 33-37 as we think about being trustworthy, reliable, honest, and a person of integrity? How?

How do dishonesty and failing to be a woman of your word bland your saltiness? (13-16) How can being honest, reliable, trustworthy, and a person of integrity make you saltier and brighter?

4. Review from our previous lessons (links above) the idea that the Sermon on the Mount is to the New Testament / new covenant what the Ten Commandments were to the Old Testament / old covenant.

Though taking oaths is not mentioned in the Ten Commandments (it is dealt with elsewhere in the law), which of the Ten Commandments does Jesus touch back to and expand on in verses 33-37? Explain how swearing by God and could end up as taking His name in vain. How is lying connected to the instruction not to take casual oaths in order to convince or deceive people?

How do Jesus’ phrases “You have heard it said…but I say to you…” verbally transition the people from their focus on outward obedience to the letter of the law to zeroing in on the attitude of their hearts and the spirit of the law? Explain how being honest, reliable, trustworthy, and a person of integrity are the heart of the law behind the ninth Commandment. Explain how reverencing God and His name by not invoking Him in a casual or deceptive oath are the heart of the law behind the third Commandment.

5. Review: Examine again the “You have heard it said…but I say to you…” proclamation. Who had the people heard it (the law) said by? Who taught them the law? How does Jesus saying, “But I say to you…” establish Jesus’ supremacy over the Pharisees, scribes, priests, etc. Imagine you’re one of these Jewish leaders and you’re hearing Jesus say this. What might your initial reaction be?

Recalling our Sermon on the Mount / Ten Commandments motif, how might Jesus’ “You have heard it said…but I say to you…” proclamation have evoked images of Moses as lawgiver, and signaled to the Jewish leaders and people that the better Moses was here?

6. Carefully examine verse 33. Is breaking your oaths to people OK as long as you’re keeping your oaths to the Lord?

How would swearing to the things in verses 34-35 be similar to our modern day phrase, “I swear to God,” (when making an oath to a person, not to God)? How would taking an oath “by your head” in verse 36 be similar to our modern day phrase, “I swear on my mother’s grave / life,”. Who or what is being invoked in each oath? Why is it sinful to invoke God or His name in a deceptive or casual oath? Why is it pointless to swear by anything earthly or lesser than God? How do such oaths trivialize God or whatever you’re swearing by? Compare these thoughts and conclusions to what Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:16-22.

Why does making the types of oaths forbidden in this passage instead of just saying “yes” or “no” come from evil (37)?

7. How does James emphasize this passage in his epistle?

How should Herod have applied this passage on oaths? What can we learn from his story about the consequences of making rash or casual oaths?

Homework

Oaths and vows are closely related in Scripture. Look up and read all of the passages in Scripture regarding oaths and vows. What are the differences between oaths and vows? What are the similarities? Look at where the passage on oaths falls in Matthew 5. What topics does Jesus deal with immediately before and after the passage on oaths? How does being honest, reliable, trustworthy, and a person of integrity lend itself to keeping your marriage vows? How does refraining from deceptive oaths and being honest, reliable, trustworthy, and a person of integrity connect to retaliation (38-42) and loving your enemies (43-48)?

Suggested Memory Verse

Share Your Testimony

Testimony Tuesday: Carol’s Story

March 9, 2021March 8, 2021 Michelle Lesley

Carol’s Story

My name is Carol and this is a story of how God can and does work for those who love him and seek after him. Our journey in various churches is a reflection on how immature and ignorant of God’s word my husband, Bill and I have been. We would join a church on nothing more than a feeling, then eventually would see false teachings or unfruitful behaviors, then confront the leaders, then get abused by them, then leave. This became a pattern for us. Each time thinking, “This is the right one,” then each time the same pattern as mentioned above emerged.

Each time thinking, “This is the right one,”…

As a talented guitar player, Bill would always join the worship teams. At one point we actually did find a decent church based on our feelings. However now looking back I can see a whole bunch of lukewarm error, not exactly deceptive, yet they allowed some questionable popular Bible studies in, and the teaching was more experiential than exegesis. It was a nondenominational church as were all the previous churches we had belonged to. The worship leader became a good friend and we were pretty happily going along until he and his wife decided to become missionaries in Romania.

Before they departed, Bill made them a promise that if or when they came back, he would help with the music wherever they landed. Once again, making decisions based on our feelings of devotion to a person and not on biblical foundations. So as promised when they arrived back we left our lukewarm church to help him start a worship team. It was a Baptist church much further away for us to travel to. But we made a promise and we were excited to embark on this new journey with our good friends.

After five years, we began questioning whether we should be playing Bethel music as worship. Our friend’s reply was that as long as the lyrics were okay, it was okay to play it. Then one day I heard a podcast in which a young lady had gone to Bethel and through SOZO counseling became convinced that she suffered abuse from her parents. Bethel leaders denied her parents visitations or any kind of communication with her. I was so moved by this that I asked my husband to help me do some research into Bethel and their musicians. I also wrote to Jan Markel asking her views on playing their music in church. Her response was “No church should ever allow their music”. Thus began many email exchanges between us.

The more research we did, the more convicted and convinced we became and while we kept mentioning our research to others in the church, it was always shrugged off as nothing important at all. Eventually we put all of our research into a paper entitled “Why Our Church Should Not Play Bethel Music as Worship” and we presented it to our dear friend, the worship leader. We presented facts, Scripture, resources from various pastors including John MacArthur, Justin Peters, Todd Friel, Jan Markel, and I had just discovered Michelle Lesley as well. We provided links to sermons and videos, etc…. It was all impersonal facts, and we prayed fervently over it as we wrote it, then again as we delivered it.

We prayed fervently…

Several weeks later we received an email from the pastor. He implied that we may have committed blasphemy, then told us we were very weak in our commitment to the church and that we were church hoppers looking for the perfect church, which doesn’t exist. This from a pastor who was there as long as we had been and whose church history is fairly similar to ours. I won’t even go into the ridiculous threat of committing blasphemy as there are plenty of good solid studies on it which refute his use of it. As far as our commitment, I will say that at one time during those five years, our twelve year old grand daughter’s bone cancer returned and we focused our attention on her and getting her through the painful surgeries. We still served the church to the best of our abilities during that time and after her recovery. So his response was a severe gut punch for those reasons as well as the fact that he revealed so much about himself that we had not seen before. Oh, our dear worship leader friend? We asked if he agreed with the pastor and it has been crickets from him ever since.

Heartbroken is a complete understatement, yet I think the Holy Spirit finally got through to our thick skulls. We finally came to the conclusion that we would never attend another church without a thorough vetting. So we sent an email out to multiple area churches with one question as the entry question. It was “How do you handle Bethel music as worship in your church?”

I think the Holy Spirit finally got through…

None replied. However in God’s sovereign grace he arranged for us to serve in a disaster relief program for some flood victims in a different church. During our service we met the Pastor who was new to this church. At one point during our conversations he asked if we had sent him an email about Bethel music. He had not replied to our email as it hit his inbox at a time when the flood had hit and he himself was busy with disaster relief. But he had intended on getting back to us eventually. He said he had not considered anything at all about Bethel, until that email which got him into doing some research and he became convicted by the extent of their heresies. He then asked us to help him put together a sermon about Bethel in which he would be denouncing their teachings and their music and making it very clear why it would not be played in his church anymore.

I will never forget the day he preached that sermon. In all the years and all the churches we had been in, we had never heard one like it. He mentioned the random email he had received and how it got him to question why someone would ask it? I still fight back tears when I recall how blessed we have been to finally be in a place where God’s word is revered above all else. No, there are no perfect churches, but some are grounded in the word of God and some are not. Some are willing to protect the flock from wolves in sheep’s clothing and some are the wolves. We finally found a true shepherd! We are now members of this church serving on the worship team, the media team, the youth group and eventually will be hosting a home group focused on discernment.

I still fight back tears when I recall how blessed we have been…

I wanted to share this testimony because we have gone through some very dark and depressing times, but God has been there in those times and has guided us toward him and his glory. If you are going through something similar, as long as you are on the solid rock of his word, nothing and no one can prevail against you. Keep standing on the rock of his word. He will be honored and glorified no matter how much it hurts in those dark times.

God Bless!

(P.S. – Since then, we have been on Jan Markell’s podcast Understanding the Times, in a two part show entitled “Worship Wars”, she also played a clip of our new pastor’s sermon. I have started my own blog as an outreach to the lost and to those lost in deception. It’s called Berean Real.)

Ladies, God is still at work in the hearts and lives of His people, including yours! Would you like to share a testimony of how God saved you, how He has blessed you, convicted you, taught you something from His Word, brought you out from under false doctrine, placed you in a good church or done something otherwise awesome in your life? Contact me, or comment below. Your testimony can be as brief as a few sentences or as long as 1500 words. Let’s encourage one another with God’s work in our lives!

Mailbag

The Mailbag: Potpourri (Unfollowing iffy teachers, Teacher training, Church search & 9Marks, Charitable giving, SBC21, AWFS transcripts)

March 8, 2021September 9, 2024 Michelle Lesley

Welcome to another “potpourri” edition of The Mailbag, where I give short(er) answers to several questions rather than a long answer to one question.

I like to take the opportunity in these potpourri editions to let new readers know about my comments/e-mail/messages policy. I’m not able to respond individually to most e-mails and messages, so here are some helpful hints for getting your questions answered more quickly. Remember, the search bar (at the very bottom of each page) can be a helpful tool!

Or maybe I answered your question already? Check out my article The Mailbag: Top 10 FAQs to see if your question has been answered and to get some helpful resources.

I’m currently listening to a [Bible study] podcast. I have enjoyed it so far because after I read, I’m able to hear a different perspective, maybe the speaker goes over something I didn’t catch, or maybe the speaker says something that isn’t how I interpreted the text. I always go back to the Scripture and compare when her opinion and mine differ to see what the scripture says. There’s now been two issues that I just believe she is plan wrong about. At what point would you cut ties? My husband has told he wants me to really ponder if the teacher is trustworthy if she adds to Scripture or changes God’s intent. I’m all for testing everything I read/listen to against Scripture, but at what point would you consider not following a teacher due to misleading or just plain wrong information?

At the point at which my (doctrinally sound) husband expressed concern, if I hadn’t already unfollowed her on my own.

Ladies- if you have a godly, doctrinally sound husband who knows his Bible, be thankful (as I’m sure the reader who sent in this question is). What a wonderful gift God has given you! He’s able to give you a biblical perspective on things you might not have thought about before, he can give you godly counsel on those things, and he cares about your spiritual life and growth in holiness.

If you have a husband like that and he’s saying, “I don’t think you should listen to that podcast, read that author, etc.,” I would urge you to give serious thought to what he’s saying. I would also recommend heeding his leadership and unfollowing that person, even if you don’t totally agree with him. It’s very likely that one day, you’ll look back at that author or podcaster and see your husband’s concerns more clearly, and be glad you took his advice. And even if you don’t, or even if he turns out to be wrong, you’re still demonstrating respect for, and submission to his spiritual leadership – and that’s worth way more to your marriage and to being a godly wife than any podcast, book, YouTube channel or anything else.

If you’re in a position in which you’re having to decide for yourself whether or not to continue following a certain “iffy” teacher, here’s what I’d recommend:

Make sure the “red flags” you’re seeing are actually biblical issues (as this reader’s red flags were), not personal preferences. You may not like that a pastor likes hymns instead of more contemporary (doctrinally sound) worship music or that a (doctrinally sound) female teacher has really short hair, but that’s personal taste, not being unbiblical.
Be sure you understand and can rightly handle Scripture well enough to make sure it’s the teacher who’s the one in error, not you.
Make certain that what you’re hearing as a red flag wasn’t just a “one and done” instance of the teacher accidentally misspeaking, flubbing her words, or not being as clear as she could have been.
If you’re seeing red flags and you’re a new Christian or you know yourself well enough to know you could be easily swayed by this teacher into believing something wrong, stop following her.
Consider that for every red flag you’re seeing, there could be another red flag that your’e not recognizing or that this teacher hasn’t revealed yet.
If you’re a mature Christian who’s following this teacher for biblical instruction and you’re increasingly seeing red flags, that’s God’s way of telling you -through what you know from His Word- that you don’t need to be receiving teaching from this person.
If you don’t want to follow or are uncomfortable following a certain teacher, that doesn’t require you to make any sort of public declaration that others shouldn’t follow her or that she is a false teacher. You can simply make the quiet, personal decision to stop following her.
Remember, there’s no law that says you have to follow any particular teacher, or any teachers at all for that matter. Christians have been doing just fine for 2000 years simply being taught by their own pastor, elders, and teachers at church.

While reading your article, McBible Study and the Famine of God’s Word, I finally realized my struggle with leading the women’s study is because I haven’t been trained to teach. Unfortunately, there aren’t any strong teachers in my church – a big problem. Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for learning how to learn? Online, books, etc.?

The first thing I would recommend is that you explain your dilemma to your pastor and ask him to train you (and others in your church – One on one meetings between a pastor and a woman are not a good idea. Plus, it sounds like a lot of people in your church need to be trained.) to teach.

If your pastor is not a “strong teacher” or is incapable of training others to teach, you probably need to start looking for a new church. One of the biblical qualifications for pastors is that they be “able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2) and be “able to give instruction in sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9). Paul exhorted Pastor Timothy: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” Pastors ought to be able to teach others to teach.

As your pastor is training you, you may wish to work through some of my Bible studies, or use them as studies for your women’s class. My studies are designed to teach women how to study or teach straight from the text of Scripture in a “learn by doing” sort of way. Once you get a feel for the kinds of things you should be seeing in the text and questions you should be asking of the text, you can take off those “training wheels” and fly solo.

Are you suggesting that the churches listed at the search engines at your Searching for a new church? resource are the only churches that are teaching biblically?

Not at all. That resource is not, nor is it meant to be, a comprehensive list of every doctrinally sound church on planet Earth. That would be impossible. I’m sure there are thousands of other perfectly doctrinally sound churches out there (and if you are personally connected to any others, please let me know.) That resource is merely a suggestion of some of the doctrinally sound churches in various areas of the world that Christians can check out if they’re looking for one to join.

I would like clarification on 9Marks website.

It’s a little hard to “clarify” when I’m not sure what the question is. :0) I can only infer that, like others, you’ve noticed Mark Dever and a few other pastors/teachers in that circle who, over the past few years, seem to have occasionally dipped a toe into the social justice waters.

I added the 9Marks “church search” to my list of church search engines several years ago before that became an issue. I believe that the majority of churches that are listed at the 9Marks site probably also applied to be listed before this became an issue or are not aware that it is currently an issue.

So far, as far as I know, Mark Dever and 9Marks haven’t turned rabidly woke, given a full-throated endorsement of Critical Race Theory, spoken out in favor of clear progressivism or liberalism, etc. I’ll continue to keep an eye on them, and if and when that happens, I’ll remove the 9Marks church search. But right now, they’re still at the stage of being decent brothers in Christ who every once in a while make an iffy statement or two. The churches on the 9Marks list aren’t required to agree or align with everything Mark Dever and 9Marks say, and, at the moment, I believe that the majority of the churches on that list are doctrinally sound.

If you have misgivings about 9Marks, by all means, skip that church search engine and use the others I have listed. And, as the disclaimer on that page says: “Please use this list only as a suggestion of churches to check out using biblical wisdom and discernment.” You are responsible for personally vetting any church you choose to visit or join.

Do you know of, and/or recommend, any particular causes or charities that are… well, Godly (moral and ethical)? There are so many charities that don’t use their donated funds for their advertised causes (you know, instead the donations go to support the CEO’s million dollar mansion and such). I want to give, I just don’t know to whom or what.

The first place you should be giving is to the offerings of your local church – to support your pastor and staff, pay the bills, contribute to the upkeep of the church, support missionaries, etc. This is part of being a faithful church member.

If you still have money left over after that, ask your pastor about the missionaries and other Christian organizations (ex: a local crisis pregnancy center, orphanages, church plants, etc.) your church supports financially, and give more money directly to these organizations. You should follow your pastor’s leadership and work hand in hand with your church in supporting these entities.

And if you still have money left over after that, would you adopt me? :0) Just kidding. If you follow any doctrinally sound podcasts, pastors, teachers, or authors, find out which parachurch organizations they support. For example, two of the ministries I follow are Grace to You and Wretched. I would love to be able to support The Master’s Academy International, which trains indigenous pastors all over the world to minister in their context. One of Wretched’s sponsors I would contribute to is Pre-Born, a pro-life ministry that emphasizes sharing the gospel.

(And just FYI: I do not recommend Samaritan’s Purse / Operation Christmas Child.)

May God bless your generosity.

Will there be a 2021 version of the Arrive Prepared resource for this year’s SBC Annual Meeting?

I thought about that a couple of weeks ago, but to be perfectly transparent I am so disillusioned with and depressed by the state of the Southern Baptist Convention at the national level right now that I just don’t have the heart for it.

Last year, I was in more of a “Let’s charge into hell with a water pistol and DO this thing!” frame of mind. This year, that has been replaced by a heaviness of spirit. Though there are many individual (and autonomous – for those not in the know, all SBC churches are autonomous) doctrinally sound SBC churches out there, including my own (and I’m so thankful for all of them), I just don’t have any reason to believe that anything is going to change at the national level. I think it’s just going to continue to get worse – more false teachers, more false doctrine, more egalitarianism, more Critical Race Theory, more liberalism, more biblical ignorance, more tolerance for sin, more 11th Commandment, more erosion of the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, and continued disdain for those of us in the Calvinist ghetto of the SBC.

I have never in my life more fervently hoped to be proved wrong, and I completely support my doctrinally sound brothers and sisters who are still standing in the flames brandishing their water pistols. But I’m shell shocked. That’s honestly just where I am right now.

In my estimation, about 85% of the information in the “Arrive Prepared” article is still accurate and relevant for this year’s annual meeting. Since the 2020 annual meeting was canceled due to COVID, my thinking is most of the same issues will be addressed this year, particularly abuse and Critical Race Theory / Resolution 9 (if you haven’t yet checked out the CRT video series I posted a few weeks ago, that would be a great resource).

I imagine issues surrounding COVID and the vaccine, the Equality Act, and persecution of the Western church will also be brought up. I hope the issues with NAMB (the North American Mission Board), including their church plants that have employed female “pastors” and co-“pastors,” will be biblically addressed, but my guess would be that that issue will be tabled or sent to committee or buried under procedural regulations and nothing will really be done about it clearly and publicly.

If you want to keep up on the issues, I would suggest following the people and organizations listed at the end of that article.

Sorry to sound like a Debbie Downer. I promise I’ll continue to think and pray about it, and if the Lord changes my mind, I’ll write a piece on it.

Could you please provide transcripts for each episode of A Word Fitly Spoken?

No, but we can come really close in two ways:

Amy has started uploading our episodes (audio only) to our YouTube channel. There’s a “CC” button at the bottom of each YouTube video that allows you to turn on captions. (She has posted several of our past episodes as well.)
All of our episodes are scripted, and we stick pretty closely to the script. Going forward, I’ll be posting the link to the Google Doc of our script for each episode in the show notes of that episode. Just click on “(Tran)Script” in the show notes. Many of our earlier episodes have been scripted from one of Amy’s or my blog articles, and if you’ll look in the show notes for that episode, you’ll find the link for that article.

If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.

Christian women, Church, Complementarianism, Rock Your Role

Sisters Are Part of the Family of God, Too!

March 5, 2021March 4, 2021 Michelle Lesley

I’ve got some wonderful, godly male friends and acquaintances on social media. I’ve learned from their wisdom, referred people to their churches, and had a great time joking around with them.

But every now and then there are men who stumble across my social media accounts or blog or podcast, seemingly drunk with biblical ignorance, who clearly don’t think women should have any sort of a voice when men are around – or at all, I guess. In my mind I call them the “Shut up and go sit in the corner” guys, because that’s what it feels like they’re saying to me, and to women everywhere.

One of the errors of the Pharisees’ legalism was that they stretched the boundaries of God’s laws farther than God intended them to go. This is why, when we see Jesus and the disciples walking through the fields and picking kernels of grain to eat in Matthew 12, the Pharisees accused them of “doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath”. Because this was, ostensibly, “harvesting” and “threshing” – working on the Sabbath.

But as Jesus went on to explain to them, this kind of unbiblical overreach of the fourth Commandment was never God’s intent. The Sabbath was a gift of rest meant to benefit God’s people, not to oppress and enslave them to nitpicking, nor to keep them from enjoying God’s blessings.

Today, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme, and antinomianism, rather than legalism, is the false teaching du jour. Antinomianism stretches the boundaries of God’s grace farther than God intends it to go. That’s why we have to spend so much time teaching and explaining that the Bible prohibits women from being pastors and elders, and from preaching, instructing men in the Scriptures, and holding authority over men inside the biblical boundaries of the formal gathering of the church body. Because, for the antinomian, practically anything, anywhere, goes.

But the “Shut up and go sit in the corner” guys help us to see that the same type of legalism the Pharisees practiced – though not as prolific – is still alive and well today. They stretch the boundaries of God’s command for the role of women in the church gathering to all other venues in which women might have a voice – to anyone, about anything. Some even say women aren’t permitted to teach other women and children, which is clearly at odds with Scripture.

The God who consistently values women holistically – their skills and talents, their intelligence, their contributions and hard work – throughout Scripture never intended this kind of unbiblical overreach of His commandment regarding the role of women in the church. This command was a gift meant to benefit God’s people, not to oppress and enslave women nor to keep us – or our brothers – from enjoying God’s blessings, especially the blessing of each other.

God consistently values women holistically – their skills and talents, their intelligence, their contributions and hard work – throughout Scripture.
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Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that there’s a difference between the “set apartness” and formal structure and hierarchy of God’s house for worship and instruction, and the informal, unstructured “family time” around the table, around the living room, around the Twitter machine. And we forget that these two different environments serve two different purposes.

Worship and instruction are vital and primary. But we are the family of God. Brothers and sisters. Siblings. We need each other. The give and take. The back and forth. The jokes and laughter. The sharing, advice, support, encouragement, and yes, even the occasional, biblically appropriate brotherly or sisterly reproof. We’re to relate to each other as family – especially during “family time,” which is different and discrete from worship and instruction time.

We are the family of God. Brothers and sisters. Siblings. We need each other.
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How dysfunctional would a family be if, during informal times of fellowship all of the sisters were prohibited from taking part in the discussion, sharing thoughts, offering insight, setting an example, and even proffering loving words of correction?

Normal, healthy, natural families don’t operate that way. And God uses the natural family as the metaphor for the way He relates to us: Father to child, the way we relate to Him: child to Father, and the way we relate to each other: brothers and sisters.

We’re to love one another and draw strength and help from one another, not amputate half of us from fellowship. When legalistic men unbiblically silence women…

…they’re out of alignment with the God who values women.

God showed us that women are valuable by purposefully and intentionally taking the time and effort to craft a woman in the first place. He could have stopped with Adam, but when He finished forming man, for the first time in Creation, He said, “It is not good…”. And the crowning glory, the final masterpiece of His world, was woman.

Throughout Scripture, from Sarah, Hannah, Esther, and Deborah, to Mary, Anna, Priscilla, Phoebe, and so many more, we see God using women to glorify Him and further His Kingdom.

Jesus and the epistles instruct men to love and protect women, to respect women, and to treat them with honor and dignity.

The God who sees women as a valuable part of His creation, who requires the respect of their worth, would never shut them out of family life, treating them as though they don’t matter.

…they are rebelling against God’s complementary Creative design.

Why did God say at Creation that it wasn’t good for man to be alone? Because he needed a helper “fit for him,” or “corresponding to him”.

Yes, God was speaking of that particular man, Adam. Yes, God was speaking of all husbands yet to come. But there’s a very real sense in which God was also saying, “It is not good for male humanity to be alone on planet Earth. Therefore, I’m going to make women as well.”.

Mankind needs the complementarity of womankind. He’ll be strong where she’s weak and she’ll be strong where he’s weak. He will fill out Creation with masculine beauty that she can’t contribute and she will fill out Creation with feminine beauty that he can’t contribute. He’ll see things from one perspective, and she, from another. It’s like two gears in a machine that fit together perfectly and work together perfectly, yet each doing its own distinct part.

God wasn’t finished with Creation when He created man. Something was still missing that God wanted to supply, and He filled in that hole in Creation with woman.

God wasn’t finished with Creation when He created man. Something was still missing that God wanted to supply, and He filled in that hole in Creation with women.
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And when you basically tell women, across the board, to sit down and shut up, you’re denying and suppressing God’s Creative design for women… and men.

…they are crippling the church’s ability to carry out the “one anothers” in a healthy way.

Love one another. Comfort one another. Forgive one another. Serve one another. Bear one another’s burdens. Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.

Because men and women complement one another in our strengths and weaknesses, we need both men and women to minister the one anothers to each other in the church. Otherwise, the balance is completely thrown off. Without the compassion and nurturing God has uniquely wired into women, a man’s “Comfort one another,” could turn into, “Suck it up and rub some dirt on it. You’re fine.” “Forgive one another,” might become, “I’ll forgive you….but first I’m going to punch you in the mouth.” Without the dispassionate objectivity and firmness more common to men, women’s comfort might turn into enabling, and forgiveness into being a doormat. And how can a woman properly bear the burden of a man who’s struggling with lust, or a man the burden of a woman facing infertility?

We minister to one another together. We need both halves of the church for it to be healthy and whole.

We’re family, folks. We sisters need you brothers, and, yes, you brothers really do need us sisters – even you “Shut up and go sit in the corner” guys. That’s not feminism, it’s not rebellion, it’s not sin…it’s family. When we understand and embrace this, we’ll discover what a precious gift God has blessed us with.

The gift of each other.