Michelle Lesley

2023 Update

As you can see from the “Additional Resources” section that follows this article, a number of concerns have been raised since (and even before) I published it in 2016. My podcast partner, Amy Spreeman, and I recently heard from a listener who has resigned her leadership position in BSF due to some of these same concerns. With her permission, Amy has published her letter to us at Berean Research. I urge you to read it, especially if you are considering signing up for BSF: Leaving BSF 2023: Testimony from a former teacher.

Here is our podcast interview on A Word Fitly Spoken: Leaving BSF with Lara Swanson

On the whole, I would not recommend BSF as an entity for all of the reasons cited below and in the podcast episode above. I would also not recommend BSF or any other parachurch Bible study organization (e.g. Community Bible Study, The Daily Grace Co., etc.), particularly those run by women, for two main reasons. First, Bible study is the purview of the local church, not parachurch organizations. Biblically, it should be conducted in the context of the local church so the pastor and elders can oversee it and make sure only sound doctrine is being taught. Second, I have yet to see a popular parachurch organization run by women that isn’t theologically wonky in some aspect (usually several aspects).

You may believe your particular BSF group is doctrinally sound and that the false doctrine discussed here hasn’t trickled down to it yet. That may be the case, and you will have to use your own judgment on that. However, I would encourage you to consider what I’ve said above about the biblical context for Bible study, as well as the fact that the false doctrine taking place at the national level will almost certainly trickle down to your group at some point, and you may not notice when it does.

What are your thoughts on BSF (Bible Study Fellowship)? Is it doctrinally sound? Is it a good way of studying the Bible?

According to the BSF web site, “We believe people discover their true purpose and identity by knowing God through His Word. That is why BSF offers free, in-depth Bible studies in community for people of all ages around the world.” BSF Bible study groups are held in various local churches and are open to anyone.

I have never participated in BSF myself, but I am somewhat familiar with it through a couple of friends who have been very involved.

While I totally support the idea of delving deeply into the Scriptures with other women, there are a few of aspects of BSF that concern me. Let me start off by saying that every BSF group is different, so I’m sure these may or may not be issues with every group depending on the leaders and participants.

First, the amount of time required for BSF homework and other responsibilities may not be a fit for every participant. Some women have the hours required for these things and embrace it, but many do not. For the women who do not, this can become discouraging. They may come to view studying the Bible as a chore. They may sometimes neglect their husbands, children, homes, churches, friends, etc., in favor of completing the assignments. They may even give up on organized Bible study all together, assuming that all classes require the same investment of time as BSF. For these reasons alone, I would probably not recommend BSF for a new believer.

Next, BSF is limited to studies of only ten books/topics. I understand why BSF may have to do this from a logistics standpoint, but if BSF is a woman’s only form of personal or group Bible study, that’s leaving out a lot of the Bible. We need all of the Bible for all of life.

Concerns have also been raised by BSF participants and leaders that BSF may be headed in an Emergent and/or contemplative direction considering BSF’s recommendations of materials by authors who subscribe to these false teachings and BSF’s increasing use of The Message (a very shoddy paraphrase of Scripture) rather than a reliable translation.

Finally, my major concern with BSF is that it is ecumenical. It is my understanding that BSF is open to, and led by, people from all denominations (and non-denominations) that call themselves Christian. This is a problem because there are many churches and denominations which call themselves Christian but whose doctrine is not in compliance with Scripture (for example, Catholics, Oneness Pentecostals, Mormons, and New Apostolic Reformation).

BSF could be very helpful in this regard if it would require its leaders to hold to sound doctrine (our doctrine colors the way we teach Scripture) and would allow its leaders and members to discuss correct biblical doctrine, but the way it has been explained to me, “BSF doesn’t teach doctrine, it just teaches the Bible.” That statement, if an accurate representation of BSF’s stance, demonstrates a fundamental flaw in their view of Scripture and its regulation of the church. The Bible is doctrine. There is no way to teach the Bible without teaching doctrine.

What if, during a discussion of that day’s lesson, one of the Catholic members says, “This verse seems to say that praying to Mary would be wrong. Have I been sinning all these years?” or a Mormon says, “This passage indicates that we can be baptized for the dead. We should all be doing this.”? These are doctrinal issues, whether BSF sees them as such or not, and from a biblical standpoint these members need to be taught that praying to Mary and baptism for the dead are unscriptural and sinful. But, according to what I’ve been told, BSF will not correct people’s false doctrine in order to remain open to people of all “Christian” faiths. In fact, I’ve been told it’s against the rules for members/leaders to even disclose which church they belong to. Nor, for the same reason, can anyone recommend (or warn against) any pastor, author, or teacher, despite the fact that his/her materials might be very helpful (or harmful) to someone in the group. BSF leaders are also told not to use any Scripture other than what is being studied that day, which is most unhelpful, as one of the basic tenets of sound hermeneutics is that “Scripture interprets Scripture” and that unclear passages are to be understood in light of clear passages. Cross-referencing Scripture could help clear up doctrinal issues.

The Bible tells us that the job of a pastor (and by the extension of this principle, Bible teachers) is to “give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9b). It also says Christians are not to yoke ourselves together with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). Those who claim to be Christians yet deny the essentials of the faith (the Trinity, salvation by grace alone, etc.) are just as much unbelievers as atheists and agnostics (Matthew 7:21-23). It seems to me that there is something foundationally wrong with a Bible study in which genuine believers and false converts, people who hold to sound doctrine and people who hold to false doctrine, can sit side by side with neither being offended or corrected.

Mature, discerning believers can probably attend BSF without being swayed to believe any false doctrine (and, just to be clear, I’m certain it’s not BSF’s intention to teach false doctrine). However, I imagine that those mature, discerning believers would find it difficult to abide by the rules of keeping quiet on issues of sound doctrine as those issues arise.

Additional Resources

Leaving BSF 2023: Testimony from a former teacher at Berean Research

BSF Leader resigns; warns members about 2018 Study at Naomi’s Table

BSF, Jesus Calling and a plea from the heart at Berean Research

BSF as a “Vision-Casting” ministry? An open letter from a leader at Naomi’s Table

If you have a question about: a well known Christian author/leader, 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.

UPDATE: I’ve received numerous comments on this article. About half have disagreed with some or all of it and the other half have said it’s spot on. As mentioned in the article, “every BSF group is different, so I’m sure these may or may not be issues with every group depending on the leaders and participants.” Comments are now becoming redundant, and some of them downright ugly, so I’ve closed comments on this article. (Just to save you some time, please don’t go to another article’s comment section and attempt to comment on this article there. It won’t be published. I also will not be responding to e-mails/social media messages about this article.)

Discernment, False Teachers

Is She a False Teacher? 7 Steps to Figuring it Out on Your Own

July 22, 2016March 25, 2025 Michelle Lesley

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Ezra Bible Study

Ezra: Lesson 6

July 20, 2016April 3, 2019 Michelle Lesley

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

Ezra 5

Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. ²Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

³At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” ⁴They also asked them this: “What are the names of the men who are building this building?” ⁵But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it.

⁶This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the governors who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king. ⁷They sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace. ⁸Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. ⁹Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ ¹⁰We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders. ¹¹And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. ¹²But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, hegave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. ¹³However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. ¹⁴And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; ¹⁵and he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” ¹⁶Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is not yet finished.’¹⁷Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”

Questions to Consider:

1. Ezra 5 continues the story of events from chapter 4. Review Ezra 4:1-5, 24 (you may also wish to review lesson 5, link above). What event or activity is this passage dealing with? Cyrus issued the decree to rebuild the temple in 538 B.C. According to Ezra 3:8, how many years did it take the people to get started? What year would it have been when they started? What does 4:24 tell us happened to the work on the temple, and when did this happen? The second year of Darius’ reign was 520 B.C. How long had work on the temple been at a halt as chapter 5 opens?

2. Which two prophets declared the word of God to Israel? (1) (You may wish to stop and read their books right now to grasp God’s message to His people.) What was Zerubbabel and Jeshua’s response to the word of the Lord? (2) How is this an example of God’s instruction to Christians in James 1:22? Do you approach Bible study and the preaching and teaching of God’s word with the willingness to be a doer of God’s word and not a hearer only? What is the most recent action you have taken as a result of hearing or studying God’s word?

3. What happened once the rebuilding of the temple started up again? (3-4) What did the elders do despite this opposition, and why were they able to do so? (5) What attribute(s) of God’s character and nature does verse 5 display? How do these attributes apply to Christians today? Take a moment to thank God for His love and care for you.

4. How would you characterize the tone of the letter Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai sent Darius (businesslike, attacking, deceptive, etc.)? (6-17) In verse 8, they refer to God as “the great God.” Why might they have called Him that in light of the thousands of other gods worshiped in the ancient world? How might their view of God have been a cause of concern that Israel was building a house for Him?

5. Re-read verses 11-16, keeping in mind that this was a “might makes right” world. How might the leaders of a secular nation, wishing to make a show of strength to neighboring nations, have responded to these inquiries? Yet, how do the elders of Israel respond? What do they lead off with in their response? (11) How might verse 12 have made Israel look in the eyes of their neighbors? For what spiritual reasons might the elders have chosen to respond this way? Political reasons? What are some ways we can point our adversaries to Christ through humility and by crediting God and His sovereignty in our lives, churches, and the world?

Politics, Tragedy

Eternal Lives Matter

July 19, 2016June 10, 2020 Michelle Lesley

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As many of you know, I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the Alton Sterling shooting took place two weeks ago. Since that time, multiple intense, but peaceful, protests have been conducted.

On the coattails of these events, Sunday morning, as you may have seen on the news, we had an ambush shooting about seven miles from my house in which six law enforcement officers were shot and three were killed. Investigators subsequently discovered that the shooter had traveled to Baton Rouge from out of state with the specific intent of killing police officers.

I haven’t commented on these events until now because I really haven’t known what to say. Like everyone else, I’ve had emotional, gut level reactions to these tragedies, but it’s not always wise, or necessarily godly, to express those raw reactions in a public forum. I couldn’t think of a way to share my thoughts in a way that would build y’all up in Christ, so I just remained silent.

But now, having had a little time to process everything, I wanted to share the following thoughts and observations with you:

• Pour the gospel into your children, grandchildren, children at your church, and any other children in your circle of influence, that they might come to know Christ as Savior at an early age and walk in His ways all the days of their lives.

The same day Alton Sterling was killed, my 20 year old daughter was in a serious car accident. She could have been killed. It struck me later that, in a moment, my child was spared while, in another moment, another mother lost her child that day. If my child had died, I know she would have stepped into eternity with Christ. I don’t know if Alton’s mother had that same comfort.

We can’t guarantee our children’s salvation, but we should do everything we can to raise them in a Christ-centered way. We never know when their last day will be.

• When someone loses a loved one – whether that loved one is sinner or saint, cop or criminal, black or white – it hurts. Deeply. Those of us who belong to Christ must reach out to people who are hurting and minister the love, peace, and comfort of the gospel to them, regardless of their circumstances.

• “Herd mentality,” so to speak, has to stop. We have to stop seeing people – whether we’re talking about “the black community” or “the police” or any other segment of our culture – as groups and start getting to know, love, and share the gospel with people – one on one – as individuals.

One of the things I’ve observed in the past two weeks is intentional, proactive acts of love, kindness, friendship, and neighborliness between individual protesters and police, between individual citizens and police, and between individual black and white citizens. Viewing people as impersonal groups rather than as individuals distances us from them and even allows us to feel superior to them. Christians view people as Christ views people- individually created in the image of God, individually loved and cherished by God, and individual sinners in need of a Savior. We must – individually – invest in the lives of other people, loving them, caring for them, sharing the gospel with them, discipling them.

• The election isn’t going to solve the problems we’re seeing in our communities. Neither are laws. Neither are protests, speeches, community unity events, ecumenical prayer vigils, care packages, celebrity opinions and appearances, community improvement grants, or any of the other usual responses to these kinds of events, even though some of them may be temporarily helpful.

We seem to have the idea that, “If we would just _____, the world would be fixed.” And I’m not so sure that’s the case. As I mentioned in this recent article, the world is the way it is because of sin and the Fall, not because of our failure to “do something”. No matter how busy the church gets, the world is generally going to continue to get worse. Our job as Christians is not to fix the world, it’s to stand firm in Christ wherever He has planted us and to rescue as many people around us as we can with the gospel. Our message to our neighbors is not that we can make the world a better place, but that Christ is our only hope regardless of the state of the world.

In these perilous times, Christians must be completely focused on Christ. Worshiping Him, trusting Him, proclaiming Him, and reaching out to others in His name.

Mailbag

The Mailbag: I’ve been asked to teach a Beth Moore study…

July 18, 2016June 8, 2019 Michelle Lesley

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I’m part of the women’s ministry leadership at my church. We did a Beth Moore study last year. A lot of things bothered me about it, but I kept my mouth shut because all of the women who participated loved the study. Now that I have read your article, and others, on the theological problems with Beth Moore, I understand why I had so many issues with the study. Today, I was given a copy of another Beth Moore book so that I could prepare to teach it in the fall. I can’t do it, and I feel like I’m the only one in my church who sees a problem with Beth Moore studies. How should I handle this situation?

I always want to be very careful about making definitive statements about how people should or shouldn’t handle specific scenarios with people I don’t know and circumstances I’m not familiar with. Instead, I’d like to share with you what I would do in a similar situation. I encourage you to think and pray about it and ask God to help you decide if this would be the wisest approach for your situation.

First, I would spend some serious time in prayer. I would pray for the the other members of the women’s ministry leadership, as well as my pastor and elders, and ask God to open their eyes to see, their minds to understand, and their hearts to embrace and desire biblical truth. I’d ask God to give me the wisdom to know how best to approach this situation and the right words to say. I would ask Him to make my motives pure, biblical, and loving.

Next, I’d gather the leaders group, or the main leader, or whichever people I felt were appropriate, and kindly, gently, and biblically explain the problems with Beth Moore. At some point before or after this meeting, the pastor or appropriate associate pastor or elders would need to be given a heads up as to what was going on.

Finally, I can’t tell you how often I hear from women who say things like, “My church is offering six small group Bible studies right now and they’re all using book studies (Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, etc.). I just want to study the Bible itself, but they won’t offer a class that just studies the Bible.” I would express that to the women’s ministry leadership during the meeting and, if they continued to insist on using a Beth Moore book, offer to teach a class on a book of the Bible as an alternative for women who might prefer studying the Bible itself. Churches usually like to be able to offer various options to their members.

I would also be prepared for strong opposition. While I would be hopeful that the women of my church would love Christ and His word more than they love Beth Moore, this, sadly, has not been my experience when dealing with diehard Beth Moore disciples. My experience has been that when you topple an idol, her worshipers will defend her at almost any cost.