Are you familiar with Rick Warren and his books from several years ago, The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church? Today’s Movie Tuesday feature, Church of Tares, takes a look at Rick Warren, his materials, programs, and his mentors, and demonstrates how the “Purpose Driven” movement grew into the seeker driven and church growth / megachurch movements, and how they may eventually terminate into a one world religion.
Sound a little “out there” or borderline conspiracy theory? Well, we’ve been seeing a lot of “out there” things come to pass lately. Grab your popcorn, snuggle up on the couch, and watch and judge for yourself.
“What are your thoughts about _____? Is she doctrinally sound? Is she a false teacher?”
That’s probably the number one question I’m asked by readers. It gives me so much joy each time I receive that question because it’s encouraging to hear from Christian women who don’t want to be led astray and want to worship Christ in spirit and in truth.
I’m delighted to answer readers’ questions about various teachers (You can find information about many of today’s best known evangelical personalities and ministries under my “Popular False Teachers & Unbiblical Trends” tab at the top of this page.) but, unfortunately, my answers often take a while. I’ve never heard of many of the teachers I’m asked about, and, even with the ones I’m familiar with, in order to give a fair and biblically accurate answer, I have to research each of them. That frequently takes at least several days of work. The less famous the teacher is, the less information there is out there about her, and the longer it takes. And that weighs on me because I know a lot of you, when you write to me about a certain teacher, need answers now.
It also weighs on me because I don’t want you to just take my word for things. I am a fallible, sinful human being. I get things wrong. I miss things. I make mistakes. Also, I’m not going to be around forever (well, not on this planet anyway!)
For these reasons, and because the ability to vet the personalities and teachers you follow is an important spiritual skill every Christian should hone and teach others, I want you to be able to research these people for yourself. “Teach a (wo)man to fish…” and all that, you know. Here are the seven steps I take to discover whether or not a teacher is doctrinally sound.
1. Know your Bible
This. is. not. optional. Get a trustworthy translation (read: notThe Message, The Passion “Translation,” a Joyce Meyer Study Bible, etc.) and study it forwards, backwards, and upside down if you have to. Find, join, and faithfully attend (also not optional) a doctrinally sound church that will immerse you in the depths of God’s Word through its preaching and teaching. Listen to good sermon podcasts or an audio Bible during the week. Memorize Scripture. Learn good hermeneutics. Every Christian should be doing these things by default anyway, and one by-product of knowing your Bible is that when you see or hear a statement by a teacher, you often won’t have to do a lick of research to determine whether or not you’re being taught biblical truth. The Scriptures will already be in your heart and mind for comparison.
2. Pray
One of the things I ask of God during my regular prayer time is that He would protect me from being deceived by false teachers, that He would continue to grow me in wisdom and discernment, and that He would develop the mind of Christ in me. It’s also a good idea to pray for wisdom and discernment, and for trustworthy information, before researching a teacher.
3. Know your criteria
One of the arguments I frequently hear when warning people away from a false teacher is “But every teacher makes mistakes!” (see #7 here) Of course every teacher makes mistakes in her teaching, and every teacher sins. A sin or a mistake doesn’t qualify someone as a false teacher. What you’re looking for is repentance and correction.
A trustworthy, biblical teacher teaches sound biblical doctrine and avoids known sin nearly without exception. When those exceptions occur and someone brings it to her attention, she listens, is teachable, repents, and corrects her error (Apollos is a great biblical example of this). False teachers, on the other hand, unrepentantly persist in sin or teaching false doctrine despite biblical correction. Often, they exhibit complete unteachability (as do their followers), deriding those biblically calling them to account as haters, divisive, slanderers, scoffers, jealous, etc.
When I research a teacher, I examine three fundamental areas of her life and teaching: a) Does she currently and unrepentantly preach to men? (Or, if the teacher is male: Does he allow women to preach to mixed audiences from his pulpit or in his stead? Is his wife co-pastor of the church? Are there any women on his church’s staff in pastoral positions?) b) Does she endorse and/or partner with known false teachers or ministries? c) Does the doctrine she teaches and practices line up with Scripture? These aren’t the only things that make someone a false teacher, but they’re three of the most prominent and important.
4. Criteria a: Women teaching men
This is a scriptural litmus test that can help give you a quick answer as to whether you should be following a certain teacher or not. The Bible tells us that women are not to preach to, teach the Bible to, or exercise authority over men in the gathered body of believers. Not in the four walls of a church, not on a simulcast, not at a Christian conference. Period. (Click here for more information.)
And it’s not a so-called secondary issue, either. It’s a sin. A preacher or teacher who unrepentantly disobeys this Scripture is no different from one who disobeys Scripture by viewing pornography, embezzling church funds, or teaching that homosexuality or abortion are OK. Scripture is Scripture. It’s all inspired by God the Holy Spirit. There aren’t any instructions to the church that it’s OK with God if you twist their context, brush them aside, or disobey them. If a female teacher currently and unrepentantly preaches to men or a male teacher allows women to do so in his church or ministry, that’s not a teacher you should be following.
Furthermore, a woman preaching to men is itself false doctrine. When a woman preaches to men, her behavior is teaching the false doctrine that it’s perfectly fine to disobey Scripture if you want to. That if you don’t like a certain command of Scripture, it’s OK to just ignore it. If your pastor stepped into the pulpit Sunday morning and said in words that it’s OK to disobey or ignore Scripture’s commands, your church would run him out of town on a rail, and rightly so. There’s no difference between your pastor saying it in words and a woman acting it out with her behavior.
Finally, women teaching men and women teaching other false doctrine are highly correlated. I have researched scores of women teachers. Every single one of them who unrepentantly teaches men also teaches false doctrine in some other aspect of her theology (usually progressivism, Word of Faith {prosperity gospel} or New Apostolic Reformation). In other words, if a woman teaches men, you can just about take it to the bank that she also teaches additional false doctrine.
How to find out if the teacher is disobeying Scripture in this area?
Check YouTube and Vimeo for videos of the female teacher speaking at various events. Are men clearly present in the audience?
Consider the events the female teacher speaks at. Does she speak exclusively at events for women, or does she also speak at co-ed events?
Examine the speaking engagement calendar on the female teacher’s web site. Is she scheduled to speak at Anytown Baptist Church at 11:00 a.m. on a Sunday? She’s probably giving the sermon that morning. (Some female teachers purposely leave these preaching engagements off their events calendars and social media to avoid biblical rebuke.)
For (male) preachers / pastors, check the sermon archives and the “meet our staff” sections of the church web site. Are women serving on staff as “pastors” or in positions of authority over men? Do the sermon archives feature female speakers who have preached to the whole congregation?
5. Criteria b: Partnering with false teachers
Scripture is abundantly clear that we are to have nothing to do with false teachers. Nothing. John tells us that even to greet them is to take part in their wicked works. To publicly praise, point people to, or partner with false teachers is even worse.
Finding out if the teacher you’re researching praises or partners with false teachers is another biblical litmus test that can help quickly determine whether you should be following her or not.
The easiest way to do this is with an internet search engine. Type the name of the teacher you’re researching into the search bar followed by the names of at least a few well known false teachers or ministries (for example: Jane Smith Joel Osteen). You may wish to try names like Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Andy Stanley, Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, Christine Caine, Hillsong, Bethel, IF: Gathering, Proverbs 31 Ministries, etc.
Examine the results. Are there a lot of connections between the teacher you’re researching and known false teachers? Does she frequently and favorably quote, comment on, or re-post false teachers on her social media pages? Does she make a habit of sharing the stage with or appearing alongside false teachers at conferences and other events? Do false teachers praise her, invite her to speak at their churches and conferences, or write endorsements of her materials?
Birds of a feather flock together. If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. Bad company corrupts good morals. It’s all true. A teacher who frequently, favorably, and unrepentantly associates herself with false teachers should be avoided.
6. Criteria c: Biblical doctrine
If a teacher has failed criteria a and/or b, that’s sufficient. You should not be receiving teaching from that person. Those two criteria will quickly weed out about 90% of false teachers out there today. However, “passing” both criteria a & b, while a fair indicator that you’re probably dealing with a doctrinally sound teacher, is not sufficient. A teacher can operate biblically in those two areas and still teach or practice unbiblical doctrine. You must examine the doctrine and practices of the teacher you’re considering following to see if they’re biblical, and that can take some time and energy.
Does the teacher have a statement of faith or “what I believe” section of her web site? Examine it. Are all of the tenets biblical and backed up with chapter and verse Scripture? Are the tenets specific, detailed, and clear cut as opposed to general and nebulous? A solid statement of faith can be helpful, but keep in mind that a significant number of churches and ministries have perfectly biblical statements of faith “on paper” yet do not faithfully adhere to to those principles in teaching and practice. (Another red flag that can be helpful to look for on a teacher’s website: Does s/he go by the title “Apostle” or “Prophet/Prophetess”? If so, s/he’s a false teacher. There are no more apostles and prophets. Furthermore, people who go by those titles are New Apostolic Reformation heretics 99+% of the time. While the term “bishop” is sometimes used in doctrinally sound theological camps, most of the time this title is going to indicate Catholic or New Apostolic Reformation heresy.)
Ask doctrinally sound, trustworthy friends if they’re familiar with the teacher’s doctrine. There are also many theologically solid Facebook groups you can join and ask your fellow members their impressions of various teachers. There are a lot of Christians out there who have read a lot of books and listened to a lot of teaching. They can be very helpful resources.
What do reputable, doctrinally sound teachers and ministries have to say about the teacher, her teachings, or the Scripture or doctrine in question? I regularly use and highly recommend the following sites1:
(Some of these folks vet teachers in more than one category, so check them all if you need to. And note that many below have more than one link.)
(Mostly) Word of Faith (prosperity gospel) / New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Teachers & Ministries:
Here’s what you should be looking for in preaching and teaching. Read the person’s materials or listen to her teaching. Take notes. When the teacher makes an assertion, ask yourself, “Where, in context, does the Bible say that?” When the teacher cites a passage of Scripture, look it up and see if she’s using it in context. Does the teacher primarily use one reliable translation of the Bible when teaching, or does she skip around through various translations and paraphrases while teaching to make sure the verses use certain words that fit with the theme or idea she’s teaching? Does she engage in gimmickry or does she simply teach the Word? Is the centerpiece of her teaching a correctly exegeted passage of Scripture, or does her teaching revolve around a story, movie, prop, idea, theme, topic, or illustration that comes from outside of Scripture? Does she frequently allegorize Scripture? Does she make every Scripture about you, your hopes and dreams, your experiences? Does she spend more time correctly handling and teaching Scripture or telling stories, jokes, and illustrations? These are all things to watch and listen for. If a teacher consistently mishandles, misunderstands, or misapplies Scripture, she’s not a teacher you should be following.
7. Check the date
When you’re researching a teacher, check the date on the evidence you’re examining. Is it old or fairly current? We all grow and mature over the years in our walk with the Lord. Are you seeing red flags in the teacher’s older materials? Try to find out if she has repented and corrected those unbiblical teachings or behaviors. If so, and she’s currently teaching and behaving in a way that lines up with Scripture, forgive her. It is not fair or biblical to hold past sin against someone when she has repented and Christ has forgiven her. She, and her recent materials, should only be avoided if she is currently and unrepentantly teaching and/or practicing false doctrine.
Before receiving teaching from anyone, it’s important that we examine that teacher’s doctrine and practices in light of Scripture. God commends the Bereans for receiving Paul’s word with eagerness, yet examining the Scriptures to see if what he was teaching them lined up with the Bible. May we be as vigilant and noble as they in our quest to know Christ and His word.
1These sites are run by fallen human beings. They sometimes sin or get things wrong. Do your best to double check their evidence and conclusions. If you have a question or concern, contact the ministry. I do not personally always agree with every single piece of information published by any of these ministries, but they are all generally doctrinally sound.
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.
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. The teacher below is someone I’ve been asked about recently, so I’ve done a quick check (this is brief research, not exhaustive) on her.
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 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.
Tara-Leigh Cobble, The Bible Recap, & D-Group Not Recommended
Tara-Leigh Cobble, or “TLC” as she likes to be called, “began her ministry as a singer-songwriter, performing her own songs and leading worship around the globe. After her first book was published, she added speaking to her repertoire. As a musician, writer and speaker, she spent more than a decade touring internationally before creating D-Groups and finding a home and community for herself in Dallas, Texas.”
More from Tara-Leigh’s bio: “I started D-Group (Discipleship Group) [with] a handful of college students in 2009 and it has grown into 250+ groups around the world…I love to speak to audiences about God and His Word, and I’ve written a few books with an aim to point others toward Him through my story as well as their own. I also write and host a daily podcast called The Bible Recap, which aims to keep people connected to reading the Bible when they’re tempted to quit for lack of understanding, as well as a daily radio show called The God Shot.”
In late 2021 / early 2022, requests started flooding in for me to review Tara-Leigh, mainly due to the fact that many were preparing to begin a “read through the Bible in a year” plan in January. They wanted to know if the suddenly popular program, The Bible Recap (TBR) – Tara-Leigh’s brief daily podcast “recapping” each day’s reading in a one-year chronological reading plan – was doctrinally sound and whether or not they should use it. To that end, I began listening to TBR and researching it, Tara-Leigh, and D-Group.
The Bible Recap (TBR)
I listened to about two dozen of the first 60 episodes of the “year 4” TBR season, making notes along the way. In each 5-10 minute episode, Tara-Leigh briefly summarizes that day’s reading and adds a few comments, ending with a “God Shot” – a point from the reading that stood out most to her, personally.
For the most part, I didn’t hear much that was biblically problematic in the TBR episodes I listened to. But someone spending eight minutes basically reiterating the primary facts from a passage of Scripture and getting it mostly right isn’t an automatic indicator that she’s doctrinally sound. False teachers can do that. Atheists can do that. Perfectly doctrinally sound pastors and teachers can do that. People everywhere on the spectrum between those two extremes can do that.
There were several times I thought that the way Tara-Leigh worded something wasn’t necessarily wrong, but also wasn’t as clear or precise as it should have been, and that people who were new to reading the Bible (a significant portion of her target audience) could have easily misunderstood. I didn’t make any notes on those instances because they didn’t rise to the level of false doctrine, and we’ve all had times when we could have worded something better.
I did make some notes on several other points. Here are just a few:
Day 002 episode: “We don’t want to scream where Scripture whispers.“ An unfortunate choice of words, or was she echoing the sentiment from J.D. Greear – “We ought to whisper about what the Bible whispers about and we ought to shout about what it shouts about.” – that Southern Baptists in the know are all too familiar with? (TBR does include resources from Greear.)
“God let Noah know that this was only the beginning of their relationship.“ (Referring to Genesis 6:18). This is probably just a poor choice of words meant to indicate that this was the beginning of the Noahic covenant, or that God was reassuring Noah that he wasn’t going to die, but this is technically incorrect. Noah alreadyhad a relationship with God. That’s indicated by the fact that God had a conversation with Noah in 6:13-22, and it’s also why God found Noah to be the only righteous person on earth.
Day 003 episode: After the flood, the earth was not “muddy and gross“ as Tara-Leigh describes it. Genesis 8:13-14 is clear that the land dried up completely. Furthermore, in the flood, God re-created the earth. It may not have had the holy perfection of Eden since this was post-Fall, but the God who deemed His Creation “good” in Genesis 1 didn’t re-create a chaotic and disheveled world that looked like a natural disaster had just hit it, either.
Day 008 episode: “Are there times when God speaks to us? I believe God’s Spirit does give impressions to His children. After all, one of His names is ‘Guide’…Saying, ‘God told me X,’ carries a lot of certainty with it. I’d be more likely to say it this way, ‘I feel like God was saying X,’ or, ‘I feel like God was impressing this on my heart.’.”
Tara-Leigh is teaching extra-biblical revelation here because she’s a continuationist (more below). Extra-biblical revelation undermines the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. Of course, God guides us. And the way He guides us is through His all-sufficient written Word, as He tells us Himself. Reading, believing, following, and obeying the written Word God the Holy Spirit breathed out is being led, or “guided,” by God.
Furthermore, all throughout Scripture, when God spoke, there was absolute, stake your life on it certainty. If you weren’t certain it was God speaking to you, you’d better keep your mouth shut or risk execution. If you were certain it was God speaking to you, you’d better open your mouth and boldly proclaim exactly what He said, or risk execution. If the holy God of the universe is speaking to you, you dare not mealy mouth or equivocate. And if He’s not, you dare not say He is. There’s no fence-sitting on this one.
Finally, this “I feel” language again undermines the sufficiency of Scripture, and reinforces an all too common false doctrine in the church: believing, trusting, and obeying our subjective feelings and personal experiences over God’s written Word. And because that is a place and position only Scripture should occupy, that false doctrine, believed and practiced by so many, is idolatry. (Hear me clearly: I’m not saying that Tara-Leigh believes in, practices, or holds to this form of idolatry herself, only that this type of “I feel” language reinforces this sort of idolatry that others cling to.)
Day 043 episode: Tara-Leigh talks about the glory of God filling the tabernacle as a cloud, and the fact that Moses could not go into the tabernacle because of that glory cloud. She says there was a “density“ to God‘s glory, and gives the example that she has never been in a plane that had to fly above a cloud because it could not physically pass through the cloud.
This passage does not mean that God’s glory was a tangibly impassable barrier, like a brick wall. It means that God’s manifest glory was so magnificent and intensely powerful that it was too overwhelming for Moses to go into the tabernacle. It’s possible Tara-Leigh didn’t mean to convey that God’s glory was physically tangible, but I think that’s what most people are going to take away from what she said.
TBR recommends and partners with the YouVersion app. Although many people do not realize that YouVersion was created by and is maintained by false teacher Craig Groeschel’s LifeChurch.tv (it also features devotions and other materials by numerous false teachers), Tara-Leigh apparently does, and has partnered with YouVersion by platforming TBR there:
Tara-Leigh teaches the Bible to men, without reservation, through TBR. It is one thing for a woman to have a Bible teaching program or materials specifically for women available to the public and not be able to control who uses it. It is another thing all together to welcome and encourage men to be taught by a woman, especially in the gathering of the church body. This just validates and encourages the sin of women violating Scripture by teaching men.
TBR frequently features The Bible Project videos and podcast episodes in its episode show notes as supplementary materials, and TBP overviews of each book of the Bible are used exclusively. To be fair, many supplementary materials from doctrinally sound sources are provided, but they’re provided right alongside materials from false and/or problematic sources like Tim Keller (Day O16), Kay Warren (Day 038), J.D. Greear (Days 050, 323, 352), The Village Church (Matt Chandler’s church, Days 125, 291- Sam Alberry, 317), The Gospel Coalition (Days 133- Article: Did David Rape Bathsheba? answer: “David was a rapist.”, 213, 260, 277 & 352- Thabiti Anyabwile, 286, 315, 322, 323, 336, 345, 363) Skye Jethani (341).
D-Group
“D-Group = Discipleship Group. We are men’s and women’s discipleship and Bible study groups that meet weekly in homes around the world.” D-Groups are gender specific and meet for eight sessions of study per year. Each session lasts six weeks and centers around a different book or curriculum. (D-Group is discrete from The Bible Recap, related only by the fact that Tara-Leigh heads up both.)
D-Group exists in three venues: church groups, home groups not connected to churches, and online groups. Commendably, in policy, D-Group requires that participants be members of, or actively seeking membership in a local church, and discourages participants from treating D-Group as a substitute or replacement for the local church…
…but the very fact that it establishes and encourages home groups and online groups not connected to a local church undercuts this commitment in practice. No doubt there are many online and home group members who eschew or are lax about membership in a solid local church, considering D-Group to be their church instead. Indeed, the Why D-Groups page of the website says that one of the results of being involved in a D-Group is: “And those who lack rich relationships with other Christians have found a place of encouragement and challenge.” Although it’s certainly not wrong to be encouraged and challenged by Christian friends outside your local church, the primary “place” this sort of thing should be happening is in the context of your local church. Additionally, group leaders are trained by the D-Group organization, not by the local church. Again, this sort of training should be taking place in the local church and under the authority of the pastors and elders there.
It’s an unbiblical structure and methodology. Discipleship proper is to take place within the context of and under the authority of the local church, not in parachurch ministries or groups, and certainly not in online “groups”. There is no provision, allowance, or instruction for parachurch discipleship in the New Testament. And if D-Group is Reformed, and as committed to “living out the truths revealed by God in Scripture” as they claim to be, they should already know this and work through local churches exclusively.
D-Group holds to continuationism (which explains Tara-Leigh’s aforementioned stance on extra-biblical revelation, and TBR resources from continuationists such as John Piper, The Village Church, etc.), and cites The Village Church’s position paper on continuationism as part of their Beliefs.
D-Group claims to be complementarian, but, apparently, they mean – without clearly saying so – so-called “narrow” or “soft” (essentially: anything goes except women as senior pastors) complementarianism. As I’ve explained in the past, so-called “soft/narrow complementarianism” is not complementarianism, but functional egalitarianism.
Under the Beliefs section of D-Group’s Resources page, two of the resources cited on complementarianism are from The Village Church and Mary Kassian. TVC is where Jen Wilkin, who preaches to men at conferences and other events is on staff as the director of family and student ministries, and where pastor Matt Chandler has publicly praised women who preach to men, like Beth Moore. The short TVC article cited isn’t very substantive, and merely states that they don’t allow women to be elders. I briefly reviewed the Mary Kassian article when it first came out in 2016. Long story short, she believes it’s OK for women to preach to and teach men except in the Sunday worship service (unless it’s Mother’s Day or another special event, then it’s OK).
Tara-Leigh herself preaches to and teaches men in person at her speaking engagements (see below).
D-Group is governed by women. Of the 36 members of D-Group’s “team,” all but four are women. These four men are under the authority of – among other women – founder and CEO Tara-Leigh, of course, as well as a female “Theology + Content Director”. This is not a direct violation of Scripture, since the D-Group organization is not a gathering of the church, but this does align with and point to their “soft complementarianism” posture.
D-Group recommends many of the same false and/or biblically problematic teachers and resources as The Bible Recap, and more:
In the Diversity and Racial Reconciliation section of D-Groups Beliefs page, resources are cited from woke and racialist sources such as Eric Mason, Latasha Morrison’s Be the Bridge, and The Witness, a list of theological works by black theologians and pastors, including Jarvis Williams, Anthony Bradley, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Raphael Warnock, the horrifyingly liberal “pastor” and Democrat senator who endorses the torture and murder of unborn children. (TheWitness also includes a book on homiletics written by a woman.)
The LGBTQIA section includes resources from Living Out founder, Sam Allberry, and Jackie Hill-Perry.
I don’t want to overstate this point, but it’s worth noting. Are worldly terms and constructs like “diversity,” “racial reconciliation,” and “LGBTQIA” congruent with a doctrinally sound Christian ministry? Where does the Bible use these terms or teach such constructs?
Tara-Leigh Cobble
As founder and leader of TBR and D-Group, Tara-Leigh’s theology concerning continuationism, functional egalitarianism, extra-biblical revelation, and social justice issues is evident.
In addition to her organizations holding to a functional egalitarianism position, Tara-Leigh personally teaches men via her speaking engagements.
The following two videos are currently featured on her website’s “Speaking” page, as exemplars of her teaching.
Unfortunately, Tara-Leigh also has an affinity for false teachers and false doctrine.
This is the pinned tweet – the first thing you see – on Tara-Leigh’s Twitter account. Apparently, Beth is a “fan” of TBR and Tara-Leigh “learned approximately 90%” of her Bible teaching from Beth Moore.
Here, she calls Jennie Allen one of her “favorite” leaders.
And since she brought it up in this post, I’d like to address another issue here. Tara-Leigh refers to her own “therapist” and also says, “I can’t think of a teacher/preacher I respect (in modern times) who hasn’t openly talked about seeing a licensed therapist…I believe in it so much that I’ve even paid for therapy for my team members. It’s VITAL.”
While everyone faces difficulties from time to time, and some of those difficulties are intense enough that a time of pastoral or biblical counseling is needed, routine or ongoing “therapy” from a “licensed therapist” (which, in the common vernacular, and at “trauma” events like this one, usually refers to a secular psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health professional) is no more “VITAL,” or even indicated, for normal, healthy individuals – even for non-Christians – than a weekly trip to the doctor for someone who isn’t sick.
The idea that Christians, across the board, need to be in therapy on a regular basis as though that’s normal or vital is found nowhere in Scripture, and undermines the Bible’s teaching that Scripture alone is sufficient for life and godliness.
Tara-Leigh’s notes from a “conversation” with “black and white Christian leaders and pastors” about “what the church’s role might look like in the midst of our current civil rights movement.”. You’ll notice the concepts of white privilege, systemic or “covert” racism, that white people need to “just listen,” etc. (Several pages. You’ll need to scroll through.)
Tara-Leigh seems like a very nice person with a sweet heart and genuine motives. She has some good ideas, and I’d like to be able to heartily recommend her to you. But unfortunately, even though she’s much closer to the “Nancy Leigh DeMoss Wolgemuth / Kay Arthur” end of the spectrum than the “Joyce Meyer / Rachel Held Evans” end of the spectrum that I mentioned in the introduction, I can’t proactively recommend her or any of her ministries or materials to you either. There are better people you could be listening to.
Additional Resources:
☞ Since the original publication of this article, a number of readers have asked if there is a program similar to TBR that takes followers through a chronological Bible reading plan with a daily recap of each day’s reading. I am not aware of any other program or podcast exactly like that, but let me give you a couple of resources.
In 2014, I led my ladies’ Sunday School class through the chronological plan and taught a weekly lesson selected from that week’s reading. If that’s of interest, you can always find those lessons at the Bible Studies tab in the blue menu bar at the top of this page (at the very end under “Miscellaneous”).
My friend, Pastor David Schrock, has recorded a podcast for daily readings through the New Testament called Via Emmaus on the Road (also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts). It’s in canonical (Matthew – Revelation) order, but God arranged the New Testament canon much more chronologically than the Old Testament. (Plus, if you want to, you can follow a chronological plan and just look up the podcast for each day’s passage.). (David wants you to know that he plans to re-record the episodes on Matthew to improve the sound editing, but if you listen “as is” the sound does get better after the first month.)
☞ Other readers have said they were listening to TBR, but stopped when something seemed “off” to them. Now, they just use the TBR podcast episode titles to tell them which passage to read for the day. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but if you’d like something that’s a little less cumbersome, I’ve got a printable of the entire year’s readings for you. Every year around New Year’s I publish a “round up” of Bible reading plans. The chronological plan is always first on the list because I recommend it so highly. Go to the Bible Studies tab and click on “Bible Reading Plans,” then click the link on #1, and print it, bookmark it, screenshot it, etc.
Good Monday morning, readers. It is an honor and a joy to serve you in Christ. Welcome to all the newbies and to you seasoned veterans of the blog.
Because some of y’all are new, you aren’t yet aware of all of the resources here to help you. Or maybe you’ve been around a while and haven’t noticed something that might be helpful. Let’s remedy that!
Second, be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the tabs in the blue menu bar at the top of the page. That’s where I keep the info I’m most frequently asked about.
Third, there’s a search bar at the bottom of every page (and one in the blue menu bar at the top of every page) which might help you find what you need.
And finally, let me get you new readers some answers to the questions several of you have asked. Some of you long time friends may have missed these along the way, so I hope they’ll be helpful to you, too!
I’m a man who wants to use one of your Bible studies for my personal quiet time. Is that OK?
Is it OK for a man to teach one of your Bible studies to a co-ed class?
I don’t get this question frequently – maybe a handful of times a year – but that’s enough that I’ve added this statement to the Bible Studies tab (in the blue menu bar at the top of this page):
“From time to time I receive inquiries from men about using my studies for their personal quiet time or for teaching a co-ed or men’s Bible study class. It is my personal conviction that it is more in keeping with the spirit (though not the letter) of 1 Timothy 2:12, Titus 2:3-5, and related passages for men to use Bible study materials authored by men rather than by women. Therefore, on the honor system, I would request that men please not use my studies for personal use, or when teaching a class with male members. (Vetting the studies for your wife, daughter, or the women of your church, is, of course, fine. Encouraged, actually.)”
Is it biblical for a woman to pray at the opening of the church service?
Is it biblical for women to participate in gathering the giving on Sunday morning?
Is it OK for women to ask questions in a co-ed class or group if the pastor or teacher invites those present to do so?
Great questions! I’ve answered all of them in my article Rock Your Role FAQs. Numbers 15, 22, and 4, respectively.
Is The Bible Project a doctrinally sound teaching resource?
You seem to be saying we should talk to God during prayer, but we should not try to listen for God’s guidance during prayer…But are we not supposed to pray about big decisions before we make them? If someone is deciding on taking a different job, or moving to another state, or getting married, isn’t that person supposed to pray about making the right decision? There isn’t a passage of Scripture that says “Jane Doe should marry John Smith in AD 2022.” What about pastors, who say God “called” them into ministry?
Do you think instead of praying specifically about a decision, we are supposed to pray for wisdom according to James 1 and then make our own decision, trusting God has given us the wisdom to choose correctly?
You’re circling the bullseye. I think my article Basic Training: 8 Steps to Finding God’s Will for Your Life will help. I didn’t specifically address pastors having some sort of Damascus Road-type “calling” to the ministry in that article, but the same principles apply. The Bible doesn’t say men will receive some sort of supernatural calling to the ministry. It says, “If any [man] aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task,” (1 Timothy 3:1) and that he must meet certain biblical qualifications. If a man desires to be a pastor and he meets the biblical qualifications, he should start prayerfully putting the principles in that article into practice, trusting God to guide him in his pursuits.
As Christians, do we participate in celebratory life events of sin? For example- I had a family member (professes to follow Christ) throw a housewarming party for another family member living with her boyfriend. They bought a home together & are not married. I also had another family member (professor of Christ) become pregnant outside of marriage & naturally my family wanted to throw a big baby shower. How do those of us who honor Christ with our life handle such events?
It can be an uncomfortable invitation to receive, for sure. I’ve addressed the baby shower question in my article The Mailbag: Should I Attend the Baby Shower?. And let me just clarify a distinction between a shower for a woman who conceived out of wedlock and these other scenarios. A woman who conceived out of wedlock sinned – past tense. She may have since repented. Also, the purpose of a shower is to give her things she will need for the baby, not to celebrate or help perpetuate an ongoing sin such as the ones mentioned below. That is something to weigh if you’re trying to decide whether or not to attend a shower.
Let’s get things kicked off with a question that really came to the forefront a couple of years ago when same sex “marriage” became legal: Should Christians attend homosexual weddings?
And really, this answer also applies to any sort of event that celebrates, normalizes, or helps codify an ungodly union: events celebrating transsexualism, homosexual wedding receptions or showers, housewarming parties for a homosexual couple or even for a heterosexual couple that’s going to be living together, a celebration of adoption for a homosexual or non-married heterosexual couple, or even – I don’t know if these are still a thing or not, but divorce parties.
The short answer is, Christians should not be helping people celebrate their sin. We should be sharing the gospel with them so they can get saved out of their sin.
Attending a wedding or any of these other events implies that a person is in favor of the union or the sin that’s being committed, and no matter how much we love the person, Christ calls us to love Him more and not participate in or give approval to sin.
You regard John MacArthur as someone who is biblically sound – I beg to differ with you, as he claims (and directly answered a question asked of him) if after taking the mark of the beast, can a person change their mind (claim Christ) and still get to heaven….his response was “yes.” Absolute unbiblical doctrine….that’s all I’m bringing up at this point – he is leading people to HELL!
No he isn’t “leading people to HELL!” and you’re making a slanderous false accusation against (assuming you’re a genuinely regenerated Believer) a brother in Christ. Repent.
This claim against John MacArthur is the urban legend that will not die, no matter how many times it’s clearly and biblically refuted (I guess because people with this attitude want to discredit him and will grasp at any straw to do so, no matter how flimsy.). It’s been going on for over ten years now. I get some form of the screaming neemie “JOHN MACARTHUR IS A FALSE TEACHER!!!!!” email or message several times a year. I’ve heard it all before and it’s all still a lie. No need to send me any more messages about it.
I was wondering if you have any info on homeschooling on your site that is biblical?
Yep, on both of my sites. Amy and I recorded an A Word Fitly Spoken podcast episode on homeschooling called NOW are you ready to homeschool? And, a while back, my readers suggested some Christian homeschooling blogs here.
If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.
In your articles about false teachers you state as one of your reasons for recommending against a teacher: “The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be partnering with or frequently appearing with false teachers. This is a violation of Scripture.”
You seem to be advocating what our church calls, ‘Second Degree Separation’. An example would be, “We separate from Joel Osteen because he is a false teacher and we separate from Bob because Bob often appears with Joel Osteen.” Are you advocating Second Degree Separation?
I’ve never received this question before, but I thought it was a really good one, not just for those who might be wondering the same thing, but to explain a doctrine the average Christian probably isn’t familiar with.
If you’re not familiar with “Secondary” or “Second Degree” separation, the person who asked the question gave a very clear example of the gist of it. Got Questions provides a similar example, goes into a little more detail, and makes some very good points. (We’re going to circle back to that article in just a minute.)
The short answer to the reader’s question is “No.” I neither subscribe to, nor apply, the law of secondary separation when considering whether or not to recommend a teacher. I do exactly what I’ve always encouraged all of you to do: compare a teacher’s teaching and behavior to rightly handled Scripture.
Here is why I recommend that you not follow “Bob” (teachers who yoke in ministry with false teachers like “Joel Osteen”):
1. When “Bob” yokes with people he knows or has been biblically warned are false teachers, he is willfully and unrepentantly disobeying Scripture. I would warn women not to follow any teacher who’s willfully and unrepentantly, despite biblical warning and correction from others, participating in any sin. If, for example, Joyce Meyer were 100% doctrinally sound and yoked with no other false teachers, but were living in unrepentant adultery or embezzling, I would still warn women away from her.
And, I’d like to emphasize regarding all the “Bobs” I recommend against:
Yoking with false teachers is not a one time “oopsie” for “Bob”. All of these “Bobs” frequently yoke with false teachers. (Alistair Begg spoke at a 2019 conference that Beth Moore also spoke at, either because he didn’t realize the depths of the issues with her, or he didn’t know she was going to be asked to speak at the time he agreed to speak, or because once he found out she was going to speak, he considered it too late to cancel. To my knowledge, he hasn’t done so since, and he’s on my list of recommended Bible teachers1.) Doctrinally sound teachers make the occasional honest mistake. That’s not what we’re dealing with here. “Bob” doesn’t think yoking with these teachers is a mistake or a sin, and he keeps on doing it.
Even if “Bob” didn’t initially know “Joel Osteen” was a false teacher when he yoked with him the first time (which, as a responsible Bible teacher and Christian, he should have), he’s been informed, warned, and rebuked by multiple people. (When Alistair Begg1 decided to go through with speaking at the aforementioned conference, his followers came absolutely unglued, and he heard about it. I personally witnessed many people telling him he shouldn’t be appearing with her and why.)
2. On top of directly disobeying Scripture, habitually and unrepentantly yoking with false teachers demonstrates that “Bob” either does not understand Scripture and doctrine well enough, or does not care about Scripture and doctrine enough to be teaching it to anybody. Why? Because he either does not know or is ignoring the Scriptures that the false teachers he’s yoking with are violating. He is not doing his best to “present himself as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), and he’s one of the “many” who should not become teachers because he can’t stand up to the stricter judgment James 3:1 talks about.
3. Particularly for pastors (but I see no biblical reason not to apply the same standard to other male and female Bible teachers), yoking with false teachers disqualifies him from the pastorate / eldership, and that’s not somebody I’m going to recommend that anyone follow. Titus 1:9, part of the biblical qualifications for pastors / elders, says: “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” When “Bob” partners with false teachers, he’s not rebuking those who contradict sound doctrine, he’s giving approval to them and their false teaching. He is committing pastoral malpractice and betraying the God-given duty of his office. That’s not the kind of person anybody should be looking up to, following, or receiving teaching from.
4. False teachers influence those who keep company with them. When “Bob” yokes with “Joel Osteen”, “Joel’s” false doctrine is influencing “Bob”: Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 Birds of a feather flock together. When you lie down with the dogs, you get up with the fleas. I haven’t run across a single “Bob” who is doctrinally sound in all areas except for yoking with false teachers. All the “Bobs” I recommend against are biblically problematic in other areas of their theology as well.
And just to be clear, the “Bobs” I recommend against are not appearing at a conference with “Joel Osteen” or preaching at his “church” and rebuking him or correcting his false doctrine (see #3 above). “Bob” is either preaching basically the same thing as “Joel,” or his preaching is flying enough under the radar that “Joel” doesn’t think “Bob” is disagreeing with him. If “Joel” thought “Bob” was rebuking him, that would be the last time “Bob” was ever invited to speak at “Joel’s” conference or “church”.
And that’s what I want to circle back to in the Got Questions article linked above. The example of secondary separation they give is this:
Secondary separation works like this: a) Mr. False is a heretic, teaching a false gospel. b) We refuse to associate with Mr. False (and rightly so). c) Mr. True, who is a sound, biblical teacher, speaks at a conference where Mr. False is also speaking. d) We now refuse to associate with Mr. True, because of his association with Mr. False.
Point “c” is a false premise, because Secondary Separation assumes “Mr. True” is doctrinally sound. First of all, if “Mr. True” is known to be a doctrinally sound, Titus 1:9 preacher, he doesn’t get invited to speak at conferences that also invite heretics. Outside of debates (which are different from conferences), it just doesn’t happen. Second, I would challenge anyone to show me a “sound, biblical teacher” (“Mr. True”) who would knowingly (see #1 above) agree to speak at a conference with a heretic. Part of being a “sound, biblical teacher” is being discerning and obeying Titus 1:9 and all the other Scriptures that command us to rebuke, expose, and stay away from false teachers. In other words, if “Mr. True” is knowingly and non-rebukingly yoking with false teachers, he is, by definition, not a “sound, biblical teacher”.
5. Yoking with false teachers introduces “Bob’s” followers to those false teachers. When “Bob” yokes with “Joel Osteen,” his followers understand him to be saying, “I approve of Joel and agree (or at least don’t disagree much) with his teaching.”. “Bob” has just introduced his followers to a false teacher, and many of them will start following “Joel” and being deceived by him. This is one of the foundational reasons why Scripture tells us to stay away from false teachers – it’s confusing to others and can lead them astray.
So when I warn against “Bob” for yoking in ministry with “Joel,” I’m not making the statement, “I believe in and apply the law of Second Degree Separation.” It’s much more an issue of, “Is the type of person who habitually and unrepentantly yokes with false teachers really the type of person you should receive teaching from and be influenced by?”. I think the Bible’s answer to that question is a clear and resounding “No.”.
1UPDATE: Since the original publication of this article, I have removed Alistair Begg from my list of recommended teachers, not because of this incident, but because it has come to my attention that he believes it’s OK for women to preach to / teach men as long as they’re doing so “under the authority” of the pastor / elders. Although he still seems to be a generally doctrinally sound teacher, this idea is unbiblical, and I cannot proactively recommend someone who holds to it.
If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.
