If your theology pretty much matches up with mine (as outlined in the “Welcome” and “Statement of Faith” tabs) and you’d like to contribute a guest post, drop me an e-mail at MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com,
and let’s chat about it.
What I Want in a Church by Lisa Engel
1. I need the FULL counsel of God preached. I don’t need a preacher who tip-toes around certain parts of the Bible because he’s afraid to offend or appear judgmental (to those who don’t understand Matthew 7 in its context)
2. I want a church whose preacher and (male) elders warn the flock about apostasy and wolves in sheep’s clothing. They need to instill the importance of discernment because the internet and broadcast television, especially, are rampant with heretical teachings.
3. I want a church that isn’t focused on appealing to my flesh and “feelings”. I don’t need a “seeker-friendly” church. Church is a meeting place for the believer, no? We are there to be equipped to go out and seek the seekers and THEN bring them into the fold. What people are fed is what they’ll return for. The main thing needs to be the main thing and it mustn’t be entertainment and amusement.
4. After sound preaching, I need fellowship, accountability, sharpening, edification, and hopefully rebuke when necessary.
5. I’d like women’s Bible studies to be overseen by the male leaders of the church. I believe they need to use biblical discernment regarding study materials the women use. (This goes for any material any other group within the church might use) Too often, women choose their own material and choose the latest fad study that can likely be from a false teacher. And what’s wrong with just studying the Bible on its own anyway???
6. I’d like a church library where books are reviewed and discerned BEFORE being made available to the flock. There are a LOT of heretical books on the market that fill church library shelves. This shouldn’t be! Books on meditation and extra-biblical revelation are rampant. Warnings regarding so-called “Christian films” would be wise too. People are feeding on all sorts of heresy outside of their local church. Why not ongoing classes on discernment and how to to be good Bereans?
7. I need a prayer-minded church, not one where it’s more about potlucks.
8. I need a church that knows doctrine matters and makes clear their views on theology.
9. My church needs to be clear on where it stands on social issues such as gay marriage and the sanctity of life. The flock needs to hear preaching on such subjects from time to time. Too often the pulpit never touches on these things. It’s very important these days for a pastor to speak out on the issues of the day. It would be nice if the church, on its webpage, would acknowledge that it believes in the sanctity of life and traditional, biblical marriage.
10. God is Sovereign. I need my church to understand this.
11. Easter eggs and bunnies. We are to be in the world and not of it. Isn’t there enough of the Pagan Easter celebration in the world? Why on Earth would a church host Easter egg hunts??? To get the unsaved kids and their families in the church door? A terrible marketing scheme, wooing people with something OTHER than Gospel message. Is not the Gospel message enough without having to incorporate the nonsense of eggs and bunnies? It makes zero biblical sense. But churches will find a way to incorporate the eggs and bunnies into the Gospel message because they obviously don’t think the Gospel message can stand on its own. Churches only add to the confusion in doing Pagan celebrations. Scrap the eggs and bunnies for the Cross.
12. Yoga. Christianized yoga. Whatever twisted name it is given, a church that supports this Eastern religion practice is ignorant. I wouldn’t attend a church where this was endorsed or offered, any way it’s labeled.
Lisa is a wife, mom and grandma who loves her Lord Jesus Christ and wants to contend as earnestly as she can for the faith.
ALTHOUGH I DO MY BEST TO THOROUGHLY VET THE THEOLOGY OF THE BLOGGERS WHO SUBMIT GUEST POSTS, IT IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE FOR THINGS TO SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS. PLEASE MAKE SURE ANY BLOGGER YOU FOLLOW, INCLUDING ME, RIGHTLY AND FAITHFULLY HANDLES GOD’S WORD AND HOLDS TO SOUND BIBLICAL DOCTRINE.
If you are considering commenting or sending me an e-mail objecting to the fact that I warn against false 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.
Christine Caine is “an Australian born, Greek blooded, lover of Jesus, a sought-after international speaker, author and activist. Known for her ability to effectively communicate a message of hope, Christine has a heart for reaching the lost, strengthening leadership, and championing the cause of justice.” Over the last several years, Christine has become a popular conference speaker, a prolific author, a podcaster, and a social media darling.
This is due, in no small part to Christine’s engaging personality. A native of Sydney, Australia, her charming accent, quick wit, and lovely smile immediately capture the attention, and her love and devotion to her husband and children are obvious and endearingly sincere. Unlike some of her over-made, over-coiffed, and overdressed peers, Christine radiates a natural, simple, unpretentious beauty that makes “middle aged” look good, and is a tacit encouragement to distinctly unglamourous women like me.
Admirably, Christine seems to have a true desire to impact the world beyond merely achieving fame and selling books, again, setting her apart from (and, in my opinion, above) many of her cohorts in evangelicalism. She and her husband have formed several different organizations for helping others both inside and outside the church world, such as Zoe Church (church planting in Europe) and Propel Women (success-building for women). But the helping organization Christine is best known for is The A21 Campaign, “an anti-human trafficking organization dedicated to abolishing injustice in the 21st century.” Human trafficking is a horrific evil, and I deeply appreciate Christine’s desire to right this wrong.
I like Christine a lot, as a person. She says she loves Jesus. She has a passion for fighting injustice, and seems like a genuine, down to earth, nice woman who would make a great friend and would be fun to hang out with. And if that’s all it took for me to recommend her to you as a teacher of God’s Word, this article would end here with a ringing endorsement.
But, as James 3:1 tells us, those who teach will be judged with greater strictness. At a bare minimum they must be expected to teach what accords with sound doctrine and to tangibly demonstrate that they love Jesus by keeping his commandments. Unfortunately, Christine’s teachings and some of her actions do not meet even these basic biblical standards, and it is my sad duty to recommend that you not sit under her teaching for the following reasons:
“Pastoring” and Preaching to Men
Christine Caine habitually and unrepentantly rebels against Scripture by preaching to and teaching men. God is abundantly clear in His word that women are not to preach to, teach, or hold authority over men in the gathered body of Believers. And though this simple instruction should be sufficient for us, God also graciously explains to us whyHe has issued this prohibition- reasons which are still in effect today. Refusing to obey God’s word is sin. And in the same way you should not follow a male pastor or teacher who lives in intentional, unrepentant sin, you should not follow a female teacher who lives in intentional, unrepentant sin.
As I have mentioned previously, teaching men is a good, fast, and easy litmus test for ruling out most female false teachers, because, almost without exception, women who have no qualms about disobeying Scripture by teaching men also teach other false doctrine. If you walked into a church sanctuary and the male pastor who got up to preach was dressed in drag or was wearing a pro-abortion t-shirt or littered his “sermon” with profanity, you would know right away that this is someone who is in disobedience to Scripture and someone you should not listen to. It’s the same way with women who preach to men. It’s easily observable disobedience to Scripture that should quickly tell you this isn’t someone you should be listening to or following, and Christine Caine’s doctrine and practices in other areas bear this out.
Currently (2022), Christine is on staff as “Teaching Pastor” and “Women’s Leadership Pastor” at Mariners Church, a multi-site organization (which employs several women “pastors”) in southern California. View her “sermons” here.
If needed, you may view additional evidence of Christine preaching to men in the “Additional Resources” section at the end of this article.
False Doctrine
In addition to the false doctrine of women pastoring / preaching, Christine Caine subscribes to and teaches Word of Faith (prosperity gospel) heresy. She is a product of, has held leadership positions at, and is closely affiliated with Hillsong², which is, undeniably, a Word of Faith “church.” Christine is a contributor to the Hillsong blog page, the Hillsong web site maintains a bio page on her, and she is a regularly featured speaker at Hillsong’s Colour Conference for women and other Hillsong events.
Formerly a pastor on staff with Hillsong, Christine still appears to maintain some sort of partnership with this organization. In 2021, she preached at the former Hillsong Phoenix (Christine Caine : Heart for the House – 2021 Year of The Bible), and said in her introductory remarks (1:17), “I’ve been part of the team at Hillsong Church in Sidney [Australia], and now kind of around the world, for the last 27 years, and second only to my salvation…that was the greatest thing in my life…”
Part of Word of Faith heresy is the habitual mishandling and twisting of Scripture while teaching: taking verses out of context, attempting to make the Bible say things it does not say in order to fit the “theology” of the teacher, and reading oneself, one’s audience, or one’s own ideas into Scripture (eisegesis). You will find multiple examples of Christine Caine teaching this way in the “Additional Resources” section at the end of this article.
Partnering with False Teachers
Christine Caine regularly associates and partners in ministry with false teachers. The Bible clearly forbids this in a number of passages. She has preached at the aforementioned Hillsong on far too many occasions to enumerate, T.D. Jakes events events, Joel Osteenevents, Bethelevents, at Robert Morris‘ church, Rick Warren’schurch, and Steven Furtick’schurch (all to co-ed audiences) just to name a few. Paula Whiteconsiders Christine a friend. Additionally, Christine has close relationships with Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer, frequently sharing the stage or partnering with both.
Christine Caine speaking at Bethel
But perhaps Christine Caine’s best known and most worrisome bond is with false (Word of Faith) teacher Joyce Meyer. Christine considers Joyce her “spiritual mother”:
“Oh yes I did lay my own hands on Joyce Meyer’s Bible and teaching notes and prayed for an impartation of that teaching anointing and revelation. It was a privilege and honor to shadow her this past week. Far more is ‘caught’ than is ever ‘taught’ in life!”
Christine Caine on the January 21, 2022 episode of Joyce Meyer’s show, Enjoying Everyday Life: Confronting Your Past
Featuring Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Lisa Harper, Christine Caine, Chris Tomlin, Tauren Wells, Brandon Lake, Phil Wickham Love Life 2022 Website
No one who immerses herself in the company of, and partnership with, so many false teachers, even considering one of the most egregious a spiritual mentor, can be trusted to teach the truth of Scripture and sound doctrine.
It’s true, Christine Caine is a lovely, charming woman with an admirable passion for helping people. But this does not excuse or make up for her disobedience to God’s word and teaching false doctrine. These are not minor “differences of opinion” that can be blithely swept under the rug. These are rebellions against the holy God of the universe.
I very much dislike having to warn women away from popular evangelical teachers, thus, it is my hope and prayer that Christine will repent of these sins, learn sound doctrine, and begin to teach it to the women in her audience who so desperately need it. Until such time, however, I regret that I must recommend that neither women nor churches receive teaching from Christine Caine or any of her ministries or materials, nor (in obedience to Scripture) participate in any way with The A21 Campaign or any of her other organizations. Do not have regard for Caine’s offerings.
Additional Resources:
Disclaimer: The specific links below are provided and endorsed as evidence pertaining to this article only. I do not endorse any of these sites in so far as any of them might deviate from Scripture or conflict with my beliefs as outlined in the “Welcome” or “Statement of Faith” tabs at the top of this page.
Preaching to Men
(See also “Partnering with False Teachers” below)
Events– The “Events” page at Christine’s website frequently lists her as preaching the “Sunday Service” or “Worship Service” at various “churches”.
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If your theology pretty much matches up with mine (as outlined in the “Welcome” and “Statement of Faith” tabs) and you’d like to contribute a guest post, drop me an e-mail at MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com,
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How to Survive a Wimpy Women’s Ministry by Kim Wine
Vanessa was excited to attend the weeknight women’s ministry event. A new friend had recently invited her to their annual women’s conference. Vanessa’s own church was extremely small and had no women’s ministry, so she was excited to attend an event that would edify her and train her in righteousness through the Word of God. She walked in with joyful expectation of tools to help her in her spiritual growth.
Upon entering the event, Vanessa was given her itinerary. The day was filled with craft projects, networking activities, and tips on how to create a more hospitable home environment. Vanessa maintained an optimistic attitude, still looking forward to the keynote speaker. Unfortunately, Vanessa left weeping, feeling discouraged and disappointed and even emptier than she felt when she walked in the event. The speaker delivered a highly motivating speech that “empowered” women and made them feel loved and accepted and “at peace” with God and each other…. And it was woefully devoid of Scripture, the gospel, or any mention of sin or repentance.
Maybe you’re like Vanessa and have experienced something similar? Have you walked away from women’s events at churches and wondered “what on earth just happened? Wasn’t I supposed to know more about my Lord at the end?” How do we change the culture of women’s ministry in today’s churches? I believe the solution lies in the discernment developed in the lives of both the ministry leader and the participant. Both participants and leaders must have a discerning mind and heart about what they’re allowing to be taught.
The Participant
Let’s assume you’re just like Vanessa. You don’t feel led by the Lord to be a women’s ministry leader, but you’re desperately hungry for more from your women’s ministry. What do you do to encourage your leader to be discerning in the teaching choices she makes?
1. Become discerning yourself. It is your responsibility to be knowledgeable about the Word of God. No one else is responsible to spoon-feed you. (1 John 2:27) You have the Holy Spirit indwelling you to remind you of the things you have learned (John 14:26), but you must learn them first in order to recall them.
2. Be an active participant. (Hebrews 10:23-25) You may not like what’s going on in your women’s ministry. Tea parties and testimonies may be the last thing you want to spend your time doing. But as long as the teaching you are receiving isn’t heretical (of course you shouldn’t stick around for false teaching), being active is the only way to develop a good relationship with your ministry leader. Ladies, I realize this is a hard one. I don’t like wasting my time and I’m sure you don’t either. But developing relationships takes your presence. It is not a waste of time to form a relationship that could give you future opportunity to disciple another woman to more depth and discernment.
3. Become a trusted friend of your women’s ministry leader. Take her to coffee and get to know her with no agenda. Be a support for her. Offer to help with events. You just might find out you both have the same heart for depth and discernment and you’re striving for the same goals. Maybe she’s working toward the same things you long for as well.
4. Be patient and consistent. It takes a while to turn a whole ship around. Give her time and space to work toward something new. Depth and discernment could be something the women in your church are unfamiliar with. As long as you’re seeing growth – even if it’s incremental – stay plugged in and be her biggest cheerleader. Show her that you can be trusted. And gently, as the Lord opens doors in your relationship with your leader, make good suggestions about teachers, authors, and materials.
The Women’s Ministry Leader
If you have been given the task of leading women, you have been given a very critical role in the life of your church. Women are very easily deceived by false teaching. (2 Timothy 3:6-7) Your job is to be a second line of defense after your pastor to protect these women. Don’t take it lightly. What can you do to train your women to be discerning?
1. Bring in great speakers. Only allow speakers who saturate your women in the Truth of the Word of God. Do not allow women to hear false teaching. Test your speakers against the Word of God. (1 John 4:1) Testimonies are empowering and emotional. But testimonies can never edify like the pure milk of the Word of God. (1 Peter 2:2) Make sure your speaker is faithful to the text.
2. Spend more time on Scripture than you do on activities. Make the Word of God the central part of your ministry. Women should be able to come to any event scheduled and know that whatever the activity is, it will be secondary to the Word of God. Teach your women to crave the Word by making it the main course of every event. Always. Be consistent with this and you will start to see your women change from the inside out
3. Schedule and attend sound Bible studies within your church. Leaders, if you want your women to learn to be discerning, you must offer in-depth Bible study. You may not be able to commit to being the teacher, but you can assign a godly, mature woman to teach the study. Maybe someone like Vanessa? If you are not the teacher, make it a priority to attend at least one of the women’s studies within your church. You must lead by example. The women in your church will take their cues about what’s important from two people – their pastor’s wife, and the women’s ministry leader. Be a great example so that you can echo Paul when he told others to follow his example. (1 Corinthians 11:1, 1 Corinthians 4:16, Philippians 3:17)
4. Get involved in the women’s lives. In order to discern where your women are spiritually, you must know them well. Make yourself available for the ladies. Be approachable. If you see someone struggling, ask her how you can pray for her. Just be there. You are not going to know what to offer your women if you don’t really know your women. Acts 2:43-47 gives us a beautiful picture of the church simply “doing life” together. Emulate that in your women’s ministry.
Whether you are a participant or a leader, you can make a huge difference in the women’s ministry of your church. Be consistent. Be faithful. And, by all means, be discerning. Then teach others to replicate the pattern.
I know there are many godly women reading this post who have been “in the trenches” of women’s ministry leadership for many years. Please comment any other insight you have that would help edify our women’s ministries.
Kim Wine is a Bible study teacher and speaker whose passion is to teach women how to study the Word for themselves. She is the Women’s Ministry Director at Glory Books, a Bible study equipping website. She also co-hosts the Women’s Hope Podcast each Wednesday at Glory Books, which offers biblical solutions for tough women’s issues. You can read more from Kim on her personal blog. Connect with Kim on Twitter, Facebook, or by emailing womenshope@glorybooks.org.
ALTHOUGH I DO MY BEST TO THOROUGHLY VET THE THEOLOGY OF THE BLOGGERS WHO SUBMIT GUEST POSTS, IT IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE FOR THINGS TO SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS. PLEASE MAKE SURE ANY BLOGGER YOU FOLLOW, INCLUDING ME, RIGHTLY AND FAITHFULLY HANDLES GOD’S WORD AND HOLDS TO SOUND BIBLICAL DOCTRINE.
Social media and the internet are a gold mine for inspirational quotes, and today’s most popular divangelistas post a lot of them. But, does inspirational always equal biblical? Shouldn’t you be able to tell the difference between a line from a Disney movie, a platitude from the Dalai Lama, and biblical truth from a Christian leader? In homage to Tim Challies’ Joel Osteen or Fortune Cookie? I give you Disney, Dalai, or Divangelista?. Try to guess who said it, then click on the link below the quote to see if you were right.
1. All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.
What was your score? 0-3: You spend waaaay too much time reading your Bible and listening to sermon podcasts to keep up with the latest fluff from divangelistas or to get out and see a movie. The Dalai Lama? Is that the Thursday special at that Asian restaurant down the street?
4-10:
Cut back on the “inspirational” Pinterest boards and trade out your kids’ DVD of Frozen for an Awana CD. Read some books by the old dead guys like Spurgeon or Ryle, and learn how different (and how much better) Christian doctrine is from Buddhism.
11-15:
Would you consider yourself a good person?
(I kid! I kid! You probably just have a photographic memory!)
Since I’ve had to temporarily cut back on blogging I’ve asked some friends to contribute guest posts. If your theology pretty much matches up with mine (as outlined in the “Welcome” and “Statement of Faith” tabs) and you’d like to contribute a guest post, drop me an e-mail at MichelleLesley1@yahoo.com, and let’s chat about it.
Itching Ears by Michael Coughlin
Itching ears abound in 2016. If you are reading this blog, you likely value discernment to a great deal. Consider a section of Scripture such as 2 Timothy 4:3-4:
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
What we see here is the contrast between those who will desire sound teaching and those who will not. False teachers will be propped up by people with ‘itching ears’ to satisfy their own lusts.
The picture painted is striking. As I write this, I am imagining if my ears were itchy how I’d be unable to avoid scratching them. In fact, just thinking about it made my ear tingle, and I had to satisfy the itch! The analogy extends to other activities as well. There is a nearly unavoidable response by unregenerate man to his or her lust to attempt to satisfy those passions. The only mode of satisfaction which must be avoided is that of repentance toward sin and faith in Christ. Anything else goes.
In comes your friendly neighborhood spiritual leader/false teacher. You know the type. He or she is likable in some important way, speaking in a way which boosts self-esteems, smiling a lot, and using the word “God” or the phrase “God’s Word” like they were called to it! This false teacher may even proclaim the name of Jesus unashamedly. These folks are like a fingernail on the itch…they possess exactly what is needed to temporarily satisfy the longing!
So, good, discerning people like you and I investigate them. We watch a few sermons, read some of their websites or publications, and we write a post on a blog warning the brethren of the insidiousness of the false teacher. Maybe we throw out a tweet or two reminding people we love that this teacher will lead them away from God. Who knows, a Facebook group could ensue…and even be warranted. We use phrases like, “love rejoices in truth!” And we really believe that and mean it.
But I have noticed something which occurs once in a while which I think is ungodly and detracts from our real message. It seems to occur in media where shorter quips are thrown out, like Twitter, but can happen everywhere. Now I’m going to say something that to some people will be difficult to swallow:
Not every time a bad or false teacher says something are they wrong.
Yes, you read that right. Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, TD Jakes, Benny Hinn and Paula White are all right sometimes. Each of the examples above are folks who, made in God’s image, cannot help but agree with at least some things God has said. Just like the atheist who actually lives according to God’s precepts which are written on his heart…these people have an understanding of some of the things of God. Think about it…when they actually do quote Scripture they are saying something true.
I know, I know…”but they twist it,” you say! Yes, often they do. But not EVERY TIME, to be sure. The trend that most concerns me is the trend I see which is to take a single sentence or two out of the context that was given and absolutely lambaste a false teacher for their heretical beliefs. If anyone did that with the theologians you like and I look up to as well, we’d be annoyed. Good men (including Jesus, John, Paul) have made statements that, out of the context the statement was uttered, would be terribly evil or at least inane.
How many times has someone reminded you Jesus said “Judge not?” It would be easy to make a case for sinless perfection being taught by the Apostle John from 1 John, if you take a few verses out of context. And Paul? I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the ‘Paul was a misogynist’ argument based on a handful of instructions concerning women. And honestly, I can see how it would sound like it out of context.
My point is this – we ought to give the most ardent false teacher the same treatment as we give the Bible and good teachers in regard to judging the things they say in context. Not because they deserve it, but because it is the right thing to do. When we attack something that someone didn’t exactly say, we commit an error which is easily refuted by those who are being led astray by these folks, and we come out looking like the fools who can’t even be honest about what the person we are attacking really meant.
We owe it to our great God and Savior Jesus Christ to honestly present and assess opposing teachings to His wonderful doctrines. It is scholarly to make cases for biblical teaching against the best possible arguments against it. It is immature and dishonest to mischaracterize your opposition’s argument, and no honor is given to God in that process.
Application: So what do we do with this knowledge? Commit with me to ensure that you will treat false teachers’ statements like we would treat our favorite preacher’s statement, evaluating them in context. It may take a little effort, but it will be worth it. Most of the world’s false teachers say enough wicked, contradictory-to-Scripture things that you don’t have to reach too hard to find something to expose them for what they are!
Michael Coughlin is a street evangelist from Ohio. He and his wife, Erin have 5 children. You can find him on Twitter, at his blog, or on Sermon Audio.
ALTHOUGH I DO MY BEST TO THOROUGHLY VET THE THEOLOGY OF THE BLOGGERS WHO SUBMIT GUEST POSTS, IT IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE FOR THINGS TO SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS. PLEASE MAKE SURE ANY BLOGGER YOU FOLLOW, INCLUDING ME, RIGHTLY AND FAITHFULLY HANDLES GOD’S WORD AND HOLDS TO SOUND BIBLICAL DOCTRINE.
Social media and the internet are a gold mine for inspirational quotes, and today’s most popular 
