Discernment, False Teachers

Todd White

Michelle Lesley

If you are considering commenting or sending me an e-mail objecting to the fact that I warn against certain teachers, please click here and read this article first. Your objection is most likely answered here. I won’t be publishing comments or answering emails that are answered by this article.

This article is kept continuously updated as needed.

This article is what I call a “clearinghouse article”. It is a collection of articles written by others on the teacher, ministry, or unbiblical trend named below. Either I have not had the time to write a full blown article on it myself, or I felt that the articles listed did a fine job of explaining the biblical issues and there was no need to reinvent the wheel.

Disclaimer: I did not write the articles below, and I am not thoroughly familiar with all of the websites used in my clearinghouse articles. I do not endorse anything on these sites that deviates from Scripture or conflicts with my beliefs as outlined in the “Welcome” or “Statement of Faith” tabs in the blue menu bar at the top of this page.

Here are the  biblical criteria I use when deciding whether or not to recommend a teacher, ministry, etc.:

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 recommend against any teacher or ministry who violates one or more of these biblical tenets.

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.

Todd White
Not Recommended

Primary issues with Todd White: New Apostolic Reformation heresy, fake faith healing, yokes with numerous false teachers

‘Open Letter To Todd White’ Alleges Years of Lies, Abuse, Theft, and Domestic Violence at Protestia

New Apostolic Reformation

New Apostolic Reformation articles

The Mailbag: What is the New Apostolic Reformation?

The Mailbag: Should Christians listen to “Reckless Love”? (Contains videos and discussion of blasphemous NAR music, practices, and beliefs)

Other Theological Issues

Todd White Flips the Gospel Upside Down at Messed Up Church

Are Bethel Church and Todd White False Teachers? at WWUTT

Todd White Said the Cross Determined Your Value? at WWUTT

Responding to the False Teaching of Bethel Church, Jesus Culture, and Todd White by Gabriel Hughes

Todd White False Healer Witchcraft New Age Agenda by Justin Peters

Faith Healing

Todd White Exposed-Fake Leg Lengthening Trick! an excerpt from American Gospel

Fake Healing Videos Evaluated: Todd White, Tom Fischer and more by Mike Winger

Todd White Doubles Down on False Leg Lengthening Miracle at Fighting for the Faith

“I’m sinless.”

Todd White Says “I Am Sinless” (Just Like Jesus) by Steven Kozar

Does Todd White Claim to Be Sinless? by Popular Gospel

Mentored by Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn

Todd White’s Mentor is Kenneth Copeland! Be Careful of Todd White’s False Gospel Teachings at Berean Perspective Apologetics & Evangelism Ministry

Todd White’s Experience At A Benny Hinn Meeting at Nathan Griffith

“Encounter Gospel”

The Fortune-Telling “Encounter Gospel” of Bethel & the NAR Explained at Messed Up Church

Specific Incidents with Todd White

Todd receives American Gospel movie and letter from Costi Hinn

Todd calls American Gospel “demonically inspired” and “persecution”

Todd’s “Repentance” Sermon

Discerning Todd White at A Word Fitly Spoken

Has Todd White Repented? by Justin Peters

Todd’s Wealth

Todd White: How Much Money Does He Actually Make? by Steven Kozar

Collections of Articles/Episodes

The Todd White Cornucopia of False Teaching at Messed Up Church

Todd White at Fighting for the Faith

Todd White at Berean Research

Discernment, False Teachers

Ann Voskamp

Michelle Lesley

If you are considering commenting or sending me an e-mail objecting to the fact that I warn against certain teachers, please click here and read this article first. Your objection is most likely answered here. I won’t be publishing comments or answering emails that are answered by this article.

This article is kept continuously updated as needed.

This article is what I call a “clearinghouse article”. It is a collection of articles written by others on the teacher, ministry, or unbiblical trend named below. Either I have not had the time to write a full blown article on it myself, or I felt that the articles listed did a fine job of explaining the biblical issues and there was no need to reinvent the wheel.

Disclaimer: I did not write the articles below, and I am not thoroughly familiar with all of the websites used in my clearinghouse articles. I do not endorse anything on these sites that deviates from Scripture or conflicts with my beliefs as outlined in the “Welcome” or “Statement of Faith” tabs in the blue menu bar at the top of this page.

Here are the  biblical criteria I use when deciding whether or not to recommend a teacher, ministry, etc.:

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 recommend against any teacher or ministry who violates one or more of these biblical tenets.

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.

Ann Voskamp
Not Recommended

Primary issues with Ann Voskamp: False doctrine (New Age mysticism, panentheism, “theological erotica”), twists and mishandles Scripture, yokes with numerous false teachers, preaches to men

Theological Issues

Mystical Estrogen at Fighting for the Faith

Panentheism

One Thousand Gifts at Christian Answers for the New Age

Panentheism and Hollow Words by Marcia Montenegro

“Theological Erotica”

One Thousand Gifts at Christian Answers for the New Age

Book Reviews

Romantic Panentheism: A Review of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp by Bob DeWaay

Interview With Marcia Montenegro: “One Thousand Gifts” Review with Steven Kozar

One Thousand Gifts by Tim Challies (please see also this companion piece: In which Tim Challies realizes Ann Voskamp is a real person by Elizabeth Prata)

Examples of Ann Voskamp Preaching to Men

Hillsong Sunday sermon (Hillsong/Brian Houston)

The Way of the Lamb (instructing pastors at a pastors’ conference)

Founder’s Week at Moody Bible Institute (Other problematic speakers were on the roster, but normally at an event like this, each speaker comes in on a different day, they do not share a stage, and they have no contact with one another. I do not consider this “partnering” with other teachers.)

The Justice Conference (social justice)

Evangelicals for Life

Examples of Ann Voskamp Partnering with False Teachers

Women of Joy Conferences (Sheila Walsh, Chrystal Evans Hurst, Jennie Allen)

Hillsong’s Colour Conference 2020 (multiple) (Hillsong/Bobbie Houston, female “pastor,” Leanne Matthesius)

Q-Conference/Q-Ideas (multiple) (Rebekah and Gabe Lyons, Francis Chan, Priscilla Shirer, Jennie Allen, Bill Johnson. others)

Beth Moore: Guest post on Ann’s blog

IF:Gathering (Ann is on the leadership team of IF and has spoken at IF numerous times alongside false teachers and female “pastors”/preachers)

Thrive 2017 (Lysa TerKeurst, Bianca Olthoff, female “pastor,” Carolyn Haas)

Specific Incidents with Ann Voskamp

Ann Voskamp: Whoever Tells the Church Mothers to Go Home Are Homewreckers in Our Father’s Church at Relevant (not a recommended site) – After John MacArthur’s 2019 remarks that false teacher, Beth Moore, should not be preaching to men and should “go home,” Ann apparently wrote a response in support of Beth and some form of egalitarianism. She has since deleted the article.

Social Justice/Racial Issues

Ann Voskamp Among Protestors Outside the National Prayer Breakfast at Church Leaders (not a recommended site)

Ann promotes Black Lives Matter, White Fragility, and other unbiblical teachings (and teachers) on race on her blog

Uncategorized

Spring…er…Summer Cleaning

Michelle Lesley

In case you missed this article last week and the week before,
here’s what’s going on.
I’m posting the last two articles of this “summer cleaning” today.

 

If you’ve been bearing with me through Project Breakdown for a while, you know I’ve been revamping some of the articles that appear on my Popular False Teachers and Unbiblical Trends tab.

I’ve also wanted to reorganize the layout of that entire tab to make it more user friendly, so I got started on it yesterday. I hope you’ll find it easier on the eyes and easier to find particular teachers, ministries, etc.

Eventually the “Other Resources” section at the end will be absorbed into the alphabetical listing and deleted. But in order to do that, I’ve got to give each of those other resources its own separate article.

Why am I explaining this boring blog stuff to you? Because if you subscribe to the blog via e-mail, you’re going to be receiving an e-mail about each and every one of those articles (approximately 15). I apologize for flooding your inbox, but at least it will probably be spread out over a minimum of a few days (I think? Maybe?). And, even if you’re not a subscriber, you’ll be seeing these articles on the blog and on social media at random intervals throughout the coming days.

Anyway, just wanted to let y’all know.

Ezekiel Bible Study

Ezekiel ~ Lesson 8

Michelle Lesley

 

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Read Ezekiel 15-16

Questions to Consider

1. Review your notes from last week’s lesson and be reminded of the things that lead into, and set the stage for, this week’s passage. Does it seem like any time elapsed between the end of chapter 14 and the beginning of chapter 15? Why or why not?

2. Read chapter 15.

Have you ever seen grape vine “wood”? Take a look at some of these photos. How does God describe this kind of wood in chapter 15? Think about the things people would have used wood for. Why was vine wood useless for these things? We might say that vine wood looks like wood, but doesn’t “act” like wood, and is therefore good for nothing. Explain why this is an appropriate comparison to the people of Jerusalem.

Compare these “good for nothing” Israelites who look like God’s people but don’t act like God’s people to Paul’s description of people in the last days. Focus especially on the phrase in verse 5: “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”

What did it mean for the Israelites to “act faithlessly”? (8) What does it mean for God’s people today to act faithlessly?

3. Read chapter 16.

In chapter 16, God tells a metaphorical story of Israel’s history with Him. Take a moment to think back through the timeline of Israel’s history, recalling the major events along the way, or examine the Old Testament timeline in your Bible (or Google “Old Testament timeline” and find a good one online). And don’t forget to use your cross-references!

16:1-5- When was “the day of [Israel’s] birth”? What historical event or time period is God talking about here? How does God describe Israel at her “birth”? Does Israel really have anything going for her at this point?

16:6-7- How did God care for Israel when she was a newly established people? How does this demonstrate God’s compassion, care, and provision for His people? Explain how the blood represents both birth and death in this passage.

How does 16:1-7 point ahead to sinners today being being “born again“? Or to “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,“? Or to “even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ”?

16:8-14- What historical time period is God referring to here? What kind of relationship does “spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you” (16:8) signify? Which covenant is verse 8 referring to, and what did that covenant basically say? Who is performing all of the action in this section? What is Israel doing for God here? What effect did God’s blessing and care have on Israel’s reputation to the rest of the world? (16:14) Why?

Explain how the marriage-like covenant in 16:8-14 points ahead to the covenant of grace God makes with sinners when He saves us. How does it foreshadow Christ as the bridegroom and the church as the bride? What do, “I bathed you with water” and “anointed you” (16:9) point to?

16:15-22- If the previous passage centered around a marriage covenant motif, what is the motif of this section? What sin does God consider spiritual “adultery”? In what ways did Israel forsake and betray the Lord? If Israel had remembered “the days of [her] youth” (16:22) and how God had graciously rescued and blessed her, how might her idolatrous behavior have been different?

Following the motif of this passage, describe the kind of sin Christians can fall into when we “forget the days of [our] youth” (16:22) when Christ first saved us.  In what ways might we – as individual Christians, or as a local church – “trust in our beauty” (16:15)? How might we sacrifice “baby Christians” to be devoured or slaughter those weaker in the faith and deliver them up as an offering to idols? (16:20-21)

16:23-29- Describe the depths of evil and idolatry to which Israel sank. Why does God mention pagan nations like Egypt, Assyria, and the Philistines in this passage? What did it say about Israel (God’s people) that the daughters of the Philistines (a pagan nation) were “were ashamed of [their] lewd behavior” (16:27)? What did God mean that Israel was “not satisfied” with her evil and idolatry? (16:28-29)

Have you ever seen a professing Christian sink to a level of evil so debasing it made heathens blush? Was that person ever genuinely saved?

16:30-34- Explain how Israel’s whoring after idols was so abominable that they couldn’t even rightly be compared to a prostitute. Going back to the marriage covenant motif, describe the level of hatred and contempt a wife (Israel) would have to have for her husband (God) in order to treat him in such a way.

Are there any ways in which you see evangelical “churches” whoring themselves out to idols?

16:35-43- Some people are uncomfortable thinking of God as wrathful, but considering this passage and all the previous passages we’ve read about Israel’s sin, did God have a right to be “enraged” (16:43)? Did Israel deserve God’s wrath after all He had done for her and the blackness of the evil she had committed against Him? How was God eventually going to execute judgement on Israel?

16:44-52- Review this passage through the lens of 16:23-29. How did Israel’s sin affect her reputation in the eyes of the pagan nations around her?

How does it affect the reputation of Christ and the church when a high profile Christian is publicly exposed in his sin?

16:53-58- How is God using shame as a tool in this passage? Explain “how the mighty have fallen!” in 16:56-57.

16:59-63- What is God’s overall goal for all this wrath, shame, and punishment? List and explain each of His objectives in this overall goal:

60a-

60b-

61a-

62a-

62b-

63a-

63b-

63c-

 What is the “everlasting covenant” God makes with those who, by faith, are truly His children?

Homework

• Add 15:7, 16:62 to your “And you/they shall know that I am the Lord” list. Write down who will know that He is the Lord, what will cause them to know He is the Lord, and why God wants them to know He is the Lord.

• Take a moment to “remember the days of your youth,” when Christ first saved you. How did Christ bring you from death to life, cleanse you, and bless you “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”? For the next week, take a few minutes every day to reflect on the gospel and what God has done for you in Christ. (Some people call this “preaching the gospel to yourself”.) How might “remembering the days of your youth” in this way help you to walk in humility and gratitude to God instead of straying off into sin and idolatry?

Suggested Memory Verse

Sermons

We Must Obey God Rather Than Men

Michelle Lesley

Sometimes the evangelical news stories du jour aren’t worth keeping up with. Sometimes they are. I think this one is worth examining, because it’s one that can help us look at a similar situation we might be in ourselves through a biblical lens – even if we, or our pastor, ends up making a different, yet biblical, decision.

As you may know, the governor of the state of California has issued an edict stating that, due to the Coronavirus, churches may not meet indoors in person (there are also prohibitions on businesses and other gatherings).

Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California (pastored by John MacArthur), released a statement on July 24 entitled:

Christ, Not Caesar, Is the Head of the Church,

which respectfully and biblically explained why GCC would not be abiding by the governor’s restrictions on churches. (By the way, if you read the statement between July 24, and July 31, you might want to read it again. An addendum has been attached, and there is now a signatory page.)

I would like to ask you to read it as an exercise in apologetics. Examine the Scriptures presented. Are they handled rightly and in context? Objectively consider the arguments made. Do they make sense, and are they logical (even if you don’t agree with them)? How would you present a biblical case for another church to make a different godly decision? Which Scriptures and objective, logical arguments would you use to make your case?

One of the phenomenal ways God has uniquely wired women, generally speaking, is the emotional passion He has knit into us. We tend to feel things deeply and strongly. We bring compassion and zeal and kindness and bravery to situations in which they are desperately needed in special ways that God has only equipped women for. But with this beautiful gift He has given us comes the challenge to harness it and use it only in the situations it’s appropriate for. Not in situations such as making a dispassionate, objective, logical, reasoned apologetic argument. Allowing our passions and emotions to run wild in that situation would be using the wrong tool for the job.

I don’t know about you, but I need practice at that. Practice at letting thinking, not feelings, take the lead. And so, the particular issue of meeting/not meeting aside, I found GCC’s statement very helpful in that regard. It’s a good example of how to make a biblical, well-reasoned argument.

On Sunday, July 26, GCC did, in fact, meet together for worship, and Dr. MacArthur preached the following sermon, which I highly recommend:

We Must Obey God Rather Than Men

 

I was remarking to someone the other day that this will probably forever hereafter be known as the “Fresca Sermon” (you’ll see why when you watch it). If you don’t follow me on social media, here are a few of the funnier Fresca memes I came across (if you can’t handle humor, please look away):