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Top 10 Articles of 2017

 

I always enjoy the annual “year in review” articles and TV shows that run in abundance in late December, so I thought I’d contribute my own. Here are my ten most popular blog articles from 2017:

Do you recommend these teachers/authors? Volume 1

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.
Below are some others I’ve been asked about…

 A Few Good Men: 10 Doctrinally Sound Male Teachers

Let me introduce you to a few of my favorite male authors of Bible studies
and other great Christian books and resources…

The Mailbag: BSF (Bible Study Fellowship)

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,
and will not be responding to e-mails about it…

Five Reasons It’s Time to Start Exercising “Moore” Discernment

This is not a request for you to believe me or agree with my personal opinion. I’m asking you to take a discerning look at the evidence and compare with Scripture what Beth Moore is currently doing and teaching. If you do, I think it will be obvious to you that, whatever she may have taught in the past, something is seriously wrong now…

Women and False Teachers:
Why Men Don’t Get It, and Why It’s Imperative That They Do

There’s at least one biblical issue women respond to differently at the core level of their spiritual DNA than men do. And men, it’s crucial that you get it on this one. You’re the pastors. The elders. The husbands. The fathers. The ones responsible before God for leading your churches and your families in doctrinally sound spiritual growth. You’ve got to get this for the sake of the girls and women you lead…

Answering the Opposition:
Responses to the Most Frequently Raised Discernment Objections

There are also occasional comments and messages from women who are disciples of the false teachers I warn against, who take me to task for doing so. The same unscriptural accusations are raised again and again against me and against others who take a biblical stand against false teachers and false doctrine. Here, in no particular order, are the most frequently raised objections to my discernment work and my answers to them…

Watch Your Language! 10 Christian Terms that Need to be Cleaned Up

“Well, she knows what I meant,” doesn’t cut it these days, as anyone on social media can attest. Sometimes, even as perfectly doctrinally sound Christians, we get a little sloppy with our phraseology, which can,
at best, confuse people, and, at worst, defame God…

 10 Biblically Sound Blogs and Podcasts by Christian Women

False teachers. You can’t throw a rock out the window these days without hitting one. But are there any “good guys” out there who are getting it right? Discipleship, Bible study,
and theological issues bloggers who rightly divide God’s word? You bet…

Going Beyond Scripture:
Why It’s Time to Say Good-Bye to Priscilla Shirer and Going Beyond Ministries

Should she repent in these areas in which she has broken Scripture and align herself with biblical principles, she would have no bigger fan than I, and I would rejoice to be able to point Christian women to her as a doctrinally sound resource. Until that time, however, it saddens me to have to recommend that Christian women not follow Priscilla Shirer or any materials or activities from Going Beyond Ministries for the following reasons…

Leaving Lysa:
Why You Shouldn’t Be Following Lysa TerKeurst or Proverbs 31 Ministries

For these reasons, plus her habitual mishandling of Scripture, unfortunately, I must recommend that women not follow, support, or receive teaching from Lysa TerKeurst or Proverbs 31 Ministries
(including any writers or speakers affiliated with Proverbs 31 Ministries)…

What was YOUR favorite article of 2017?

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Upcoming Events: Let’s Meet and Greet!

It’s always so much fun for me when I can get out on the road and meet some of my online brothers and sisters face to face. Here are a couple of upcoming events where we might be able to do just that!

January 18-20, 2018
G3 Conference
Atlanta, Georgia

For almost a year, I’ve been desperately hoping to attend the 2018 G3 Conference, but travel expenses plus the cost of the conference put that event out of my reach. Recently, I won complimentary tickets to G3 in a Wretched Radio contest, which will allow a good friend to travel with me and split expenses. What a blessing! I am THERE!

The biggest reason I had been wanting to attend this conference is the theme: discipleship. Since my ministry centers around women’s discipleship, I see this as sort of an “in service” training event. An opportunity to sit under fabulous teachers like Steve Lawson, Phil Johnson, Justin Peters, Martha Peace (and many more!) and learn how to serve you, my dear readers, as well as the ladies of my own church, better.

I’m hoping to do a very informal, low key, meet and greet time for my readers at the conference venue (The Georgia International Conference Center) either before or between sessions on one of the three conference days. I probably won’t be able to give much advance notice on the blog, so be sure to follow me on Facebook or Twitter for the time and place.

I’ve only been to Atlanta once, briefly, so if you live in the area and have any travel, traffic, hotel, or restaurant advice or if there are any discounts you know of that would be helpful, I’m all ears! Please comment below or e-mail me at MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com. (We will be driving in, not flying.)

If my ministry has blessed you and you’d like to be a blessing in return by helping to defray the costs of my trip, your generosity would be much appreciated. Please click here or on the “Financial Support” tab at the top of this page.

Hope to see you at G3!

(Save the Date card courtesy of Providence Baptist Church)

February 24, 2018
Providence Baptist Church Women’s Conference
Arlington, Tennessee

Sorry guys, this one is just for the ladies!

Ladies, Providence Baptist Church of Bartlett would like to invite you to attend their Women’s Ministry Spring Gathering where I’ll be speaking on the authority and sufficiency of Scripture in the morning and afternoon sessions:

Saturday, February 24, 2018
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Providence Baptist Church of Bartlett

Tickets are $15 for members of PBC, $20 for for non-members. A catered lunch is included in the cost of your ticket. Space is limited, so call (901-937-5115) or e-mail (info@pbcbartlett.org) the church today for further details.

I’m looking forward to meeting the ladies of Providence Baptist, and you too!

Sometime
Somewhere in YOUR Area

I’d love to come meet and speak to the ladies of your area, too! Putting together a women’s conference, banquet, or other event for 2018 and need a doctrinally sound speaker? I’ve got several slots left on my calendar. Check out the Speaking Engagements tab at the top of this page for more info. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you soon!

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Our Next Bible Study…And a Contest!

Happy Wednesday, Ladies! I hope you all enjoyed our study of the book of Mark. I’m not starting a new study today for a couple of reasons:

1) To allow a bit more time to catch up for those who might be behind in Mark.

2) I wanted to do something a little different to kick off our new study, the title of which is…


The Women of Genesis
☙☙☙☙☙☙☙☙☙☙☙

Over the next few months, we’ll read through the entire book of Genesis, stopping along the way to give special attention to women like Eve, Sarah, Rachel, and others. We’ll examine their roles in biblical history, how their stories point us to Christ, and what we can learn from them as Christian women, wives, or mothers today.

Here’s where you (or maybe a friend) come in…

You’ve probably noticed that I design a title picture for each Bible study I write. Here are a few past title pics:

(You can see the rest of them at the Bible Studies tab, if you like.)

And as I was contemplating a title pic for The Women of Genesis, I thought it might be fun to get some of y’all involved in the design process.

Do you enjoy and have a knack for photo editing? Know someone who does? If so, I’m accepting submissions for title pictures for The Women of Genesis study. If your submission is chosen it will be used each week of the study, and you’ll be credited (name or web site) by watermark. I’d love to be able to offer a huge cash prize, but, hey, we’re small potatoes here. This is just for fun and maybe a little publicity for your site, if you have one.

Contest Guidelines

☙ You must use images that don’t require attribution. Pictures you’ve taken yourself are fine, as are images from sources such as Pixabay, Pexels, Freely, Unsplash, StockSnap, or other free stock photo web sites. Please include the image source web sites you use along with your submission. (You cannot just grab and use any old picture off the internet. Photographers own their images and usually require permission, attribution, and often a fee, for their use.)

Title pics should be landscape (a horizontal rectangle) with a width of 640-1500 pixels and proportionate height. I prefer JPG images, but PNG is fine, too, if necessary.

☙ Your title pic must contain the full title of the study: The Women of Genesis.

☙ If your submission is selected, I’ll be glad to watermark it with your web site address (please submit your picture without any watermarks) as long as your web site doesn’t conflict with my statement of faith or my beliefs outlined in the Welcome tab.

☙ Deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. Monday, November 6, 2017. 

E-mail your title pic submission along with your full name, web site address (if any), and the source(s) you used for your image(s) to MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com.

☙ Please don’t be offended if your submission isn’t selected. If I peruse all the submissions and I’m just not “feeling it,” I may still elect to design one of my own.

Feel free to share this around with friends who have an interest in photo editing. If you want to take a whack at it for fun but don’t know where to start, play around with Be Funky, PicMonkey, or Canva and see which one works best for you. Think about the book of Genesis and try to capture the feeling of the title, The Women of Genesis, in your image.

Happy designing!

 

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Blog Orientation for New Readers and Old Friends

I try to run this article every so often to orient new followers (and old friends who haven’t yet explored all the nooks and crannies of the blog) to the various features and information available here. I hope you’ll find these resources helpful.

Welcome Tab If you haven’t had a chance to read the Welcome & FAQs- Start Here tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page, it’s a good way to get acclimated to the blog quickly. You’ll learn some fast facts about me, my comment and e-mail policies, and more.

Comments, E-mails, Social Media Messages If you’ve sent me an e-mail, submitted a comment on one of my articles, or sent me a private message on social media and I haven’t responded to the message or published the comment, this is why: E-mail, Messages, and Blog Comments Policy (Plus additional helpful information)

The search bar is your friend. If you want to know my take on something or whether I’ve written on a particular person or topic, the search bar is the best place to start and much faster than e-mailing or messaging me. The search bar is located at the very bottom of every blog page. There’s also a tab labeled Search Bar in the blue menu bar at the top of the blog.

The tabs at the top are your friends, too. The tabs in the blue menu bar at the top of the blog are designed to provide quick information to many of the questions I’m most frequently asked.

“What do you think of Teacher X?” Probably the largest volume of questions I get is readers wanting to know my take on particular teachers and ministries. I would love to be able to respond immediately to each one, but it takes a tremendous amount of time to research these folks. Because I know you need answers right away, and because every Christian should know how to research teachers for herself (you should never just blindly take anyone’s word {including mine} that someone is a false teacher), if you can’t find the information you’re looking for on a certain teacher at the Popular False Teachers & Unbiblical Trends tab at the top of this page or by using the search bar, I’ve written this article to help you research teachers for yourself: Is She a False Teacher? 7 Steps to Figuring it Out on Your Own.

“Discernment is for doody-heads!” I understand it’s not easy to be told that a pastor/teacher/author you’ve grown to love is a false teacher. I’ve been in that position myself. But Christians are people of the Book. That means we measure everything by Scripture, not by our personal preferences, feelings, or opinions. I’ve written numerous articles on teachers and ministries which can be found under the Popular False Teachers & Unbiblical Trends tab (and, just a few of the many awesome teachers out there are under the Recommended Bible Teachers tab). I don’t warn against false teachers because I’m a hater. I do it because it’s Scriptural and because I love the Christian women who are being victimized – often without even knowing it – by false teachers. I tend to hear the same objections to my discernment articles over and over and over again. Answering the Opposition- Responses to the Most Frequently Raised Discernment Objections answers, from Scripture, the objections people raise to my discernment articles. (I don’t answer e-mails or publish comments that are answered by this article.)

Church Ladies Complementarianism can be difficult to navigate in a feminist world and an increasingly feminist church. You might find my Rock Your Role article series helpful, since it deals with the Scriptures governing women’s roles in the church. I keep Rock Your Role FAQs updated, so long time readers might be interested in giving that one a re-read.

Searching for a new church? It can be really hard to find a doctrinally sound church these days, and I’d like to do everything I can to help. Check out the Searching for a new church? tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page. You’ll find tons of resources on what to look for in a good church, several church search engines, and churches recommended by readers.

Podcast Need something to listen to? Amy Spreeman and I have a weekly podcast called A Word Fitly SpokenClick the Podcast tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page to check it out.

Conferences/Events Want to see if I’ll be speaking at an event near you? Check out the Calendar of Events at my Speaking Engagements tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page for more information.

Speaking Engagements/Podcasts I’d love to come speak at your Christian women’s conference, to the ladies of your church, or on your Christian podcast. Check out my Speaking Engagements tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page for more information.

Let’s Get Social Join me on social media! All of my direct links are at the Contact and Social Media tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page. I’m currently on Facebook, X, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. I’m most active on X, least active on YouTube. (I maintain accounts at MeWe and Gab in the event I’m kicked off Facebook and Twitter, but I don’t interact or post on those platforms any more.) At the moment, I have no plans to get on any other platforms. New ones are popping up every day, and it takes an enormous amount of time to maintain the ones I’m already on.

Financial Support I don’t receive any income or compensation from blogging. But if you or your family have been blessed by my work and you’d like to be a blessing to me and my family in return on an ongoing, occasional, or one time basis, please click here.

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This Week’s Blog Schedule

This week, I have the honor and responsibility of teaching God’s word to a very important group of people- people who will shape the future direction of the church – the third and fourth graders attending my church’s Vacation Bible School. I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I teach, that the gospel would be clear to these little hearts and minds, and that God would graciously save souls.

If you’ve ever participated in VBS (and if you haven’t, you should!) you know that it takes a lot of time and energy. I’m not going to have much left over for blogging, so the schedule this week will be a bit different. I’ve got some great guest posts and posts from the archives scheduled that I think you will find edifying.

Have a great week!