Podcast Appearances

Interview with Doreen Virtue on Beth Moore

It was such a pleasure to once again appear on my friend Doreen Virtue’s videocast. We had a warm time of fellowship around the Word discussing Beth Moore, false doctrine, the sufficiency of Scripture, the role of women in the church, and more.

I encourage you to check out Doreen’s website, and follow her on social media. Doreen is most active on Instagram, but you can also catch her on Facebook. Be sure to subscribe to Doreen’s YouTube channel so you won’t miss any of her videos. I also highly recommend Doreen’s book, Deceived No More.

Articles / resources mentioned or touched on in the videocast:

Basic Training: The Bible Is Sufficient

Living Proof You Should Follow Beth (No) Moore

Rock Your Role: Jill in the Pulpit

The Mailbag: Counter Arguments to Egalitarianism

Rock Your Role: Oh No She Di-int! Priscilla Didnโ€™t Preach, Deborah Didnโ€™t Dominate, and Esther Wasnโ€™t an Egalitarian

Rock Your Role FAQs

A Word Fitly Spoken Podcast

The Mailbag (This isn’t a newsletter, but a weekly {Mondays} blog article.)

Popular False Teachers & Unbiblical Trends

Recommended Bible Teachers

Bible Studies

Speaking Engagements


Got a podcast of your own or have a podcasting friend who needs a guest? Need a speaker for a womenโ€™s conference or church event? Click the Speaking Engagements tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page, drop me an e-mail, and letโ€™s chat!

Podcast Appearances

Sharing the Journey Podcast Guest Appearance

Last week I had a wonderful time interviewing with Melissa Morris on the very first episode of her Sharing the Journey podcast. Listen in (and watch!) as we chat about biblical womanhood, Beth Moore, discernment, and how women can and should serve the local church.

We also talked a bit about the women’s conference I’ll be speaking at this fall at Melissa’s church. It’s going to be on the topic of biblical womanhood, and we hope you can make it. Here’s the info (from my Speaking Engagements tab):

October 22-23- Womenโ€™s Conference,
Pop-Up Church inย Faber, Virginia.
(This conference will be open to women in the surrounding
areas, but youย must contact the church directlyย for details.)

You can subscribe to Pop-Up Church’s YouTube channel to catch future episodes of Sharing the Journey. And be sure to check out the Sharing the Journey website, too.

Articles / resources mentioned or touched on in the interview:

A Word Fitly Spoken Podcast

Bye-Bye Beth: What Beth Mooreโ€™s Split with the SBC Means

Living Proof You Should Follow Beth (no) Moore (includes AWFS podcast episode links)

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

Has Beth Moore only recently drifted, or has she always been false? by Elizabeth Prata (My apologies to Elizabeth for mangling the title of her article during the interview!)

Let Me Count the Ways: 75 Ways Women Can Biblically Minister to Others

Putting on the โ€œYou Can!โ€ of Complementarianism

Unforbidden Fruits: 3 Ways Women MUST Lead and Teach the Church


Got a podcast of your own or have a podcasting friend who needs a guest? Need a speaker for a womenโ€™s conference or church event? Click the โ€œSpeaking Engagementsโ€ tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page, drop me an e-mail, and letโ€™s chat!

Southern Baptist/SBC

Bye-Bye Beth: What Beth Moore’s Split with the SBC Means

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.

Christian women, Church, Discernment

Throwback Thursday ~ Do You MIND? : Five Reasons for Pastors to Mind What Their Brides Are Reading

Originally published May 27, 2016

A while back, my husband and I were driving down the road on the way to the store discussing various aspects of ministry. At some point the conversation turned to a pastor with whom we were both vaguely familiar. Neither of us knew much about him, so we decided to look him up on Facebook to see if we could get a better handle on where he was coming from, theologically. Aside from a couple of mildly iffy posts that it wasn’t a stretch to extend the benefit of the doubt about, it didn’t seem as though there were any major doctrinal red flags. He just seemed like your average, Bible believing pastor who needed to brush up a little on his discernment. (Hey, who doesn’t, right?)

I was actually more interested in the pastor’s wife and what kind of ministries she was involved in that I might also like, so I clicked over to her page. I was pretty disappointed by what I saw. She had posted materials from several major false teachers- the female equivalents of people from Joel Osteen all the way down to Benny Hinn.

I remarked to my husband that I thought there might be some concerns about this pastor’s theology if he was OK with his wife following and sharing materials from high profile false teachers. And my husband gently reminded me that wasn’t necessarily the case:

“He probably doesn’t even know those women are false teachers.”

My husband went on to say that he wouldn’t have known that people like Beth Moore and Joyce Meyer are false teachers if I hadn’t done the research and filled him in. Not because he doesn’t care whether or not I read sound doctrine, but because pastors and Christian men in general don’t often pick up and read books written for Christian women to examine the theology we’re feeding on.

Until the last few decades, they haven’t always needed to. If your wife went shopping and came home with a book from LifeWay, it never crossed your mind to question whether or not it was biblical. It was LifeWay for heaven’s sake. LifeWay is run by pastors and theologians with years of experience and doctoral degrees from seminary. Of course it was biblical.

Well not any more, it isn’t. The majority (and that’s not an exaggeration) of the “Bible” studies and other materials marketed to Christian women by Christian retailers are authored by false teachers.

what rose reads_kindlephoto-19662398

Pastors, on behalf of Christian women everywhere, I plead with you: check out the theology of the authors and bloggers (including me) your wife is reading and the Christian personalities she follows and shares on social media. Please thoroughly vet the materials your Sunday School/small group/Bible study classes and women’s ministry are using. Find out about the speakers headlining the women’s conference or simulcast your ladies are attending. Make sure guest speakers appearing at your church’s women’s event teach sound doctrine.

Why?

It’s not my place to instruct you (and I’m sure you already know, anyway) in what the Scriptures say about being the spiritual leader of your family, responsible for its theological health or your obligations as a pastor to guard your church against false doctrine. I’ll leave that to godly men, fellow pastors, theologians, etc. What I’d like to do is to offer you some practical insights (in no particular order) from the pink side of the pew that you might find to be helpful tools as you think about and pray through how to handle vetting the teachers your wife or church ladies follow:

1. Your wife’s decision to follow false teachers could cost you a job. There are women out there like me who are familiar with the “twisted sisters” your wife is sharing on social media. If I could wrongly make assumptions about the theology of the aforementioned pastor based solely on his wife’s Facebook activity (because wives can be a reflection of their husbands’ spiritual leadership), others could do the same – maybe even those on a pulpit search committee – and that could impact your search for a pastoral position.

2. You don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot. A pastor’s wife can have a huge influence on her church. She is often the one teaching the women’s Bible study or heading up the women’s ministry, and even if she doesn’t, her input on curricula, guest speakers for women’s events, etc., is usually seen by the women of your church as carrying the weight of your approval or preferences. If you’re up in the pulpit preaching sound doctrine every week while your wife or women’s leader is importing false doctrine into the women’s ministry, it’s like bailing water out of a boat with a hole in the hull.

3. Your wife or (women’s ministry leader) may be chasing off spiritually healthy church members. (If you’ve stuck with me thus far, what follows is unlikely to describe your wife, but I’m going to go ahead and throw it out there for awareness’ sake.) I have heard the following prototypical scenario from dozens of Christian women (and experienced it myself):

“My pastor’s wife is in charge of our church’s women’s ministry, and is a big Beth Moore fan. We only do Beth Moore studies in our small groups, and last year our church hosted a Beth Moore simulcast. I participated in a couple of the studies, but they just seemed “off” biblically, so I started doing some research.

I discovered Beth Moore was teaching false doctrine, preaching to men, partnering with false teachers, and doing other unbiblical things. I went to the pastor’s wife and very kindly, humbly, and patiently showed her the scriptural evidence of Beth Moore’s false teaching. I couldn’t believe it when she flew into a rage, screamed at me, and accused me of trying to create disunity in the church! My husband and I tried to talk to the pastor about it, but he seemed completely unaware of what goes on in the women’s ministry or any problems with Beth Moore, and backed up his wife. We are now looking for a new church.”

This is not an exaggeration or isolated case. I don’t know what it is about Beth Moore’s disciples, but they (especially the ones who are pastors’ wives) seem to be some of the most vicious defenders of false teachers out there. And if your wife or women’s ministry leader acts like this it could cost you godly, spiritually mature church members.

4. Your children’s spiritual lives are at stake, both at home and at church. As with any dad who works long hours, your wife probably has more of an influence in the moment to moment aspects of your children’s lives than you do, even when it comes to training them in godliness. If her spiritual diet consists of false teaching, that’s what is being imparted to your children on a daily basis.

The same goes for the children at your church. The majority of children’s Sunday School teachers and children’s ministry workers are women. The false doctrine these women consume today will be taught to the children of your church on Sunday.

5. When women are spiritually healthy, the whole family benefits. Statistically, women make up about 60% of church attenders, and, of course, 50% of a marriage. That is an enormous influence on your own family and your church family. You want those women spiritually healthy. It’s not only biblical and good for them personally, but everyone they influence and interact with benefits.

When women are taught sound doctrine, they grow to Christlike maturity. They exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. They want to share the gospel. They walk in humility, patience, love, repentance, forgiveness, and biblical submission. They encourage their husbands toward godliness. And you know what else they do?

They teach other women to do the same. They train up children who are godly. They’re self-replicating.

Spiritually healthy, mature, godly women make your life easier, more peaceful, and more of a joy, both at home and at church, because they’re working with you, not against you.

But your wife and the women of your church are not going to get the pure milk of the Word they need to grow in Christlikeness from the pantheon of divangelistas lining the shelves of your local Christian bookstore. And most of those precious ladies you shepherd are completely unaware of that fact. So they need your help, Pastor. Your bride, and the Bride, desperately need you to mind what they’re reading.

Share Your Testimony

Testimony Tuesday: Katie’s Story

Katie’s Story

Hi, my name is Katie. I am a wife to a great husband and mom to young children like many of you; loving the Lord and trying to live for His glory, and this is my story…

I became a believer in the summer before eighth grade. I had lived in the โ€œBible Beltโ€ south all my life, but had not heard the full gospel until then. My family did not attend church. It was only my older sister who had started going to church, became a believer, and relentlessly kept inviting me until I at least starting going to youth group meetings. Once I finally came, I realized that the youth there were different from all the other kids I had met moving around and going to a few different public elementary schools. I was intrigued, and quickly became a regular in youth activities at the church. I started going to the Sunday morning services too. At a back to school rally, it finally all clicked for me and I fully understood the gospel and fully and completely gave my life to the Lord, asking Him alone to save me from my sin, and grant me new life in Him.

It was such a transformation! The Lord gave me a newfound desire to read His Word; to try and understand better who I was now as a believer.

It was such a transformation!

Fast forward a couple of years to about age 21. I started reading the โ€œChristianโ€ books for women that I was finding at LifeWay and other Christian stores. I found Beth Mooreโ€™s materials, and her style of writing and speaking was very interesting to me. She had a very likable persona when she spoke. She seemed like the coolest Christian woman ever. Always smiling and joking, telling stories with spiritual messages. Always seemed well put together. โ€œWho would not like to be her?โ€ I thought.

I just did not know that her Bible teaching was not exactly rightly dividing the Word of Truth. I quickly accumulated a bunch of her studies, books, and started going to some of her events. I became a regular on her blog on her ministry website too. I would check her blog everyday, comment on virtually anything her or her writing staff posted. I know, I had completely bought into her teachings. I even met her once at an event, very briefly, and she recognized who I was by my screen name on the blog. She even gave a shout out to me on her blog once.

The red flags started popping up…

I did not want to think that there was anything wrong with her teachings. That is, until the โ€œred flagsโ€ started popping up. I came across some critiques of her on the internet on discernment blogs of various kinds. Some of them were written thoughtfully and fairly I thought, but some were just downright mean and hateful. Did they even know her or follow her teachings all that much? I didnโ€™t think any of these critics knew her personally.

I started to see it though. She wasnโ€™t actually dividing the Word of Truth very accurately. She would not listen to anyone either that tried to alert her or warn her. Not enough to change the theological direction she was heading in anyway. It concerned me that she seemed to be trying to bring in the Catholic Church into fellowship with Protestant denominations in her Believing God study videos. It concerned me that she seemed OK with preaching to men. I tried writing many letters to her, but the replies I received, just a few sentences from her or a pre-made letter from her writing staff did not satisfy my questions about what she was teaching or doing at her events and in her Bible studies. It really broke my heart because I think that Beth and her staff really cared a bunch for me, and I for them. I had followed the blog so closely that I felt like I โ€œknewโ€ Beth as a friend. As a spiritual mentor even. She seemed almost like family.

I felt like I knew Beth…She seemed almost like family.

However, after Beth appeared on Joyce Meyerโ€™s TV show and endorsed her to her face, I knew enough to know that I couldnโ€™t follow her blog anymore or recommend her or her teachings to anyone. I, who had actually facilitated her studies at my church, now did not want her studies at my church. I wrote to her by hand to tell her that I could not follow her or recommend her anymore, but I would at least pray for her. I had told her on her blog that I would always pray for her and her family, and I wanted to keep my promise. I truly meant that. She had been through such an awful childhood experience and I felt such sadness that she was so deceived, and was now deceiving others, not rightly teaching Godโ€™s Word. I told her I really wished it was not her who was doing and teaching these things. I still pray that one day, if it is possible, that she would repent.

It has taken a few years now for me to separate myself from who I was and how I thought that I should relate to God to who I am now, and how to truly, biblically relate to God and His Word as a true believer. It has been a journey of sorts, having to go back to the pure truths of Godโ€™s Word. I became legitimately depressed because, come to find out, not just Beth Moore; but quite a few of the women authors who sold studies and books at Lifeway and other Christian bookstores are not rightly teaching Godโ€™s Word either. I had no idea. Naive? Yes, for sure, I think, looking back now.

But I can warn other women…

But, I can warn other women like myself. Other Christian young or older women need to be told to be Bereans. Research the teachers that you listen to! Even look into the Christian music that you listen to! You need to know Godโ€™s Word. The Bible is truth without error. Do not be ignorant of the Scriptures and proper hermeneutics- how to properly understand and interpret the Scriptures. Do not just blindly follow any so called Christian celebrity teacher that you think is interesting. Really look into what they believe and teach and see if it does square with the Bible or not. If it doesnโ€™t match up, even if you love their personality, donโ€™t follow them anymore.

Hopefully, my story can help you in your walk with the Lord, my sisters in Christ.

With much love, Katie.


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. Letโ€™s encourage one another with Godโ€™s work in our lives!