Discernment

Jen Wilkin

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.


Jen Wilkin
Not Recommended

Jen is a womenโ€™s Bible study author, blogger, and conference speaker, and until 2023, when she left to focus on her own ministry, was on staff at The Village Church as the Executive Director of Next Gen Ministries (TVC’s ministry to “children and students ages 0โ€“18”).

Link / Screenshot

Jenโ€™s older books and Bible study materials have a reputation for being generally doctrinally sound. Iโ€™ve published a review of Jenโ€™s book, Women of the Wordand here is one readerโ€™s take on her book 1 Peter: A Living Hope in Christ:

โ€œโ€ฆin the foreword Jen wrote, โ€˜a paraphrase, such as the NLT or The Message,* can be useful but should be regarded as a commentary rather than a translation.โ€™ However, aside from that, I have found no other problems with the book at all. It is an eight week long study of 1 Peter based on the method of Bible study that she writes about in Women of the Word. My favorite thing about this study is that it causes us to focus on what the text is telling us about God. I love how Jen Wilkin is teaching women to study the Bible properly. I wish she would be more discerning about who and what she endorses though. There are so few women who bring us solid teaching and discernment.โ€

*Please see “February 2026 Update” at the end of this article. Jen Wilkin herself brought to my attention that in later editions of this book, she removed her reference to the NLT from this sentence. She did not explain why, but my guess would be (and she has thus far not corrected me) that she removed “the NLT” because The New Living Translation is considered to be a translation, and Jen mistakenly referred to it as a “paraphrase”.

The reader’s concern (and mine, too) in mentioning this quote, however, is not that Jen mistakenly called the NLT a paraphrase, but that Jen recommended The Message as an acceptable paraphrase. You need only to click on the link above to see why this is concerning.

Also in the past, Jen limited her speaking engagements and teaching to audiences of women, which is the biblical parameter for Christian women teachers. And although her website speaking engagement request form says she is a โ€œteacher who helps womenโ€ฆโ€ she has been increasingly preaching to and instructing men in recent years.

For example, Jen’s former staff position as TVC’s “Executive Director” of children’s and student ministries, depending on the exact nature of her job responsibilities, probably (I am making a reasonable inference, as TVC’s website does not explicitly say) required her to teach Scripture to, or exercise improper authority over young men in the student ministry (which includes students through age 18) and men who teach or volunteer in the student ministry. The title “Executive Director” makes it sound as though she was over the entire ministry and everyone in that ministry was under her purview.

A more recent example demonstrating Jen’s increasing rebellion against Scripture regarding the role of women in the church is the Gospel Centered Discipleship “Preaching Cohort” in which Jen is a “Coach”. She (along with the other coaches) is described as a “seasoned Bible preacher and teacher,” and will be coaching pastors “on the calling and craft of preaching”.

In the past, there have also been questions about exactly where Jen stood on the biblical role of women in the church. She presented herself -and still does- as a complementarian, stating clearly that women are not to hold the office of pastor. What she did not make clear in the past, but what has become abundantly clear in recent years, is that she is (or has developed into) what’s often called a “soft” or “narrow” complementarian. This is the belief that women can do anything men can do in the gathering of the church body except hold the office of “senior pastor” – women can preach the Sunday sermon, hold any other office in the church (for many that includes the office of elder, “associate pastor,” etc.), exercise authority over men in the church, and so on. This is unbiblical. And what’s dangerous here is that Jen doesn’t call herself a “soft/narrow” complementarian, she just calls herself a complementarian, leading Christians who haven’t kept up with her to think she holds a biblical position and practice of the role of women, when she, in fact, does not.

As an example of Jen’s murkiness on the role of women, in the video* below (~32:05), she says:

“We need [women’s] visible leadership. How visible? As visible as your church’s complementarianism allows.”

This remark is at best, unhelpful, and at worst, opens the door for women and pastors to rebel against Scripture. The biblical answer to this question (aside from the fact that the church should be far more focused on servanthood than leadership) is: Women may serve in any position in the church that does not require them to preach to, teach Scripture to, or exercise authority over men, and which does not violate any other principles of Scripture.

Whatever position on the role of women Jen may have held in the past, she is now a “soft/narrow complementarian,” which is, in reality, a functional egalitarian.

In addition to the aforementioned preaching cohort in which Jen instructs pastors, she has spoken at several co-ed conferences in recent years. Give the first 15 minutes of the video below a listen*. Despite the fact that Jen’s very first remark is that she is not teaching the Bible in this session for pastors and church planters, she almost immediately goes on to quote and allude to the opening chapters of Genesis (and later in the video, other passages) and teach on them. I would challenge you to listen to what she says and ask yourself, “If I heard a pastor give this type of instruction, would I consider it a sermon/Bible lesson?” I think most of us could easily answer, “yes”. *(Unfortunately, the full length video of Jen’s complete teaching session has been removed from the internet. The video below is an excerpt of the full length video.)

(This is also the teaching session in which Jen made her infamous remarks about menstruation helping women to understand the gospel differently from men, which is not only a private and potentially uncomfortable subject to address in public – especially for an audience of men – it’s a patently ridiculous teaching. Menstruation teaches us nothing about the gospel. The two subjects are completely unrelated. Also, aside from Jen, I’ve never heard a single woman say her period helped her better understand the shedding of Christ’s blood.)

In another instance of preaching to a co-ed audience, Jen has been featured as a speaker multiple times at The Gospel Coalition’s national conference* at least as far back as 2017. (In the opening seconds of this 2017 TGC conference session, Why Itโ€™s Good that God Is Different from Us, Jen acknowledges and welcomes the men in her audience.) TGC, as many have noted, has been on a woke / social justice trajectory for years. Jen has been featured on TGC’s site numerous times.

*Jen has also been a featured speaker at TGC’s women’s conference (TGCW), not to be confused with TGC’s national conference, which is co-ed.

Again, one of the reasons it’s especially problematic for Jen to be teaching men, or to even to seem to be teaching men, is that she openly and unashamedly wears the label of complementarian. Boldly proclaiming complementarianism while teaching men muddies the waters and confuses the women who follow her as to what the Bible truly teaches about the role of women in the church. Are there times when it is technically not a violation of Scripture for a woman to speak with men in the audience? Yes (see #7 here). But weigh the impact Jen has on the church by speaking to men against the counter-evangelicultural impact someone of her stature could have by flagrantly refusing to teach men. Which would cause more people to sit up and take notice, set a better example for Christian women, and have a more biblical influence on the church?

Another concern about Jen is that she seems to be increasingly associating and appearing with false or problematic teachers.

In 2013, Jen wrote a blog post entitled, The Next Beth Moore in which she spoke glowingly of Beth Moore, her teaching, and one of her books. She has also had several friendly and/or affirming interactions with Beth on X, and has pointed women to Beth’s writing. Jen has appeared on the IF: Gathering podcast with Jennie Allen (to discuss and promote Women of the Word), and has written a devotional for Lysa TerKeurstโ€™s Proverbs 31 blog.

(Screenshots: 1, 2, 3 {page 1}, 4 {page 2})

During LifeWay’s 2018 Abundance conferences, Jen appeared alongside Lisa Harper, Raechel Myers, Amanda Bible Williams, Christine Caine, Jennie Allen, Kelly Minter, Whitney Capps (of Lysa TerKeurst’s Proverbs 31 Ministries), and others.

L-R: Christine Caine, Lisa Harper, Raechel Myers, Whitney Capps, Amanda Bible Williams, Jen Wilkin, Jamie Ivey

In August 2020, Jen appeared at LifeWay Women Live with Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Jackie Hill Perry, Kelly Minter, Angie Smith, Jennifer Rothschild and Kristi McLelland.

LifeWay Women Live 2020 Speakers

Several years ago, Jen was added to LifeWay Women’s stable of Women’s “Bible” study authors including many of the aforementioned teachers and others. In addition to my normal concerns about someone yoking with false teachers (i.e. the Bible says not to, and disobeying God’s Word is a sin), I’m guessing LifeWay Women may have initially signed Jen in order to use her – that is, her reputation for being a doctrinally sound teacher and a complementarian – to lend credibility to the false teachers they promote. And, of course, Jen’s previously perceived good reputation has suffered by being associated with these false teachers.

In March 2021, when Beth Moore cut ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, Jen offered this glowing farewell…

In a strange irony, in the midst of unbiblically partnering with these false teachers, in her session, The Gospel and The Future of Bible-Centered Discipleship at the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention Pre-Conference (also to a co-ed audience), Jen teaches the following…

[Biblical literacy] guards against false teaching…Basic comprehension-level mastery of the text guards against false teaching. (~30:12)

You know what our [discipleship] formula has been for the last 20 years? [We’ve said], ‘We’re going to keep making [the level of biblical teaching] lower and lower’…It is our high calling, in the face of a biblical literacy crisis, to raise the bar in an age of low expectations. (~43:40…44:39)

And yet, Jen’s level of “mastery of the text” – to the point that she is instructing people in the text and teaching them how to improve discipleship – has not sufficiently guarded her against partnering with women who are largely responsible for the bulk of false teaching aimed at women today, who don’t teach “basic comprehension-level mastery of the text,” and who have continued to lower the bar and perpetuate low expectations for biblical literacy. Jen has associated with, talked to, and listened to the teaching of these women far more than I have, I’m certain. How does she not see this?

Finally, in the same way that the influence Steven Furtick has on Lysa TerKeurst as her pastor is worrisome, Iโ€™ve seen some things over the years with Jenโ€™s pastor, Matt Chandler, and his wife, Lauren Chandler (with whom Jen has appeared at conferences; screenshot), that have given me pause.

As a member of The Village Church, Jen is pastored by Matt, and as a ministry leader there (though no longer a staff member), she works under his direction and influence. Over the past few years, Matt has publicly praised or affirmed false teachers like Ann VoskampBeth Moore, and Jesus Culture. He has raised some questions about the extent of his continuationism with His notorious “pirate ship prophecy“. He allows Bethel and Israel Houghton (Joel Osteenโ€™s former worship leader) music to be used for worship at his church. Matt allows his wife, a worship leader at TVC, to select this music, and to yoke with and be influenced by numerous false teachers. Matt and Lauren and their associations with false teachers have undoubtedly influenced Jen. Additionally, Matt’s character and personal integrity were sullied in 2022 when he had to take a leave of absence after admitting to an “inappropriate” texting relationship with another woman.

(Screenshots: 1, 2, 3. 4)

In addition to the issues of Jen’s unbiblical views and teachings on the role of women in the church, and the fact that she yokes with false teachers, more information is beginning to come to light about the content of Jen’s books, her poor handling of Scripture, and some of her teachings that conflict with Scripture:

Two of my followers who have participated in Jen’s studies (which included her teaching videos) have informed me that if you only use her books, and not the videos, you may not have encountered some of her troubling teachings.

One follower said: “A few months ago I asked my Facebook friends if they have noticed any recent changes in Jen Wilkinโ€™s teaching. Many of them are Christians.

My churchโ€™s Womenโ€™s Bible Study group recently finished 3 of her latest Lifeway publications. After this last study of โ€œJoshuaโ€ I have firmly decided I will never again do one of her studies. While the workbooks are apparently edited, her videos are not. It is in her videos (over the last few studies) where she gives false teachings and LOTS of conjecture and assumptions.

Perhaps youโ€™ve heard about her โ€œmythological backstoryโ€ of Rahab. In Jenโ€™s drama style presentation, Rahab is displeased with the Israelites because she has been waiting for so long for them to come to save her from her vocation. It was like she was forced into prostitution because the Israelites were disobedient and thus were made to wander in the wilderness for all those years while she was made to live in sin.

I asked my class โ€œWere the Israelites LATE getting to Jericho? Was God late in getting to Jericho? I rejoice at Godโ€™s mercy to Rahab and her family. Her testimony about Him is stunning!!! Thereโ€™s sooo much more that is less dramatic but equally fictitiousโ€ฆbordering on heresy. They really need to take a hard look at her videos.”

Another follower agreed: “If you are only doing her workbooks you are not getting a full picture. My first red flag for Jen was in her 1 Peter study which was many years ago when I was a young mom. (2016) The workbooks were fine but the videos was where she offered every single excuse in the book as to why women should not submit to their husbands. And her Genesis study leaves the welcome mat out for evolution and not upholding the authority of Scripture.”

(More info still coming in on this. I’ll update this section as I receive it.)

In summary, I would urge you not to follow Jen Wilkin, attend her conferences, or use her materials due to her trajectory of increasingly unbiblical teaching and behavior.


Prior to February 14, 2026, this small section appeared in the above indicated area of this article:

On February 13-14 Jen Wilkin and I had an exchange on X in which she said, โ€œI have never said the Bible whispers about sexual sin.โ€ (see image 2 below)

I looked into it, and Jen appears to be correct. Here’s what J.D. said:

The first part of J.D.’s statement, “We ought to whisper about what the Bible whispers about and we ought to shout about what it shouts about,” was a quote of Jen. J.D. then added his own opinion, “…and the Bible appears more to whisper when it comes to sexual sin…” to the end of the quote of Jen, making it sound like the entire quote was something she said.

I apologize – to Jen and to my readers – for making this mistake, and ask your forgiveness. I hope my character speaks for itself when I assure you that this was simply a misunderstanding of an unclear statement. It was not a fabrication, nor was it done maliciously. But I am still sorry for making the mistake and for any negative consequences it resulted in for Jen or anyone else.

This point, however, was not the only thing Jen took issue with about this article, as you can see from the images in the slideshow above. Here is the original exchange. My response to Jen’s allegations is below in article format for ease of reading:

Hi Jen- Iโ€™m the author of the article, and Iโ€™m happy to correct any factual or biblical mistakes. For others reading this whoโ€™d like to follow along, Jen is saying my article on her contains โ€œbasic factual errors in it … To say nothing of something that misrepresents a fellow believerโ€™s character and actionsโ€.

I apologize for the length of this answer, but I wanted to address all of your concerns clearly, accurately, biblically, and citing sources:

โ€œComment re: the NLT is inaccurate. I have said that in ref to earlier versions (pre-2004), but havenโ€™t said it in years.โ€

First, this is a quote from an email I received from a reader commenting on your book 1 Peter: A Living Hope in Christ. I introduced the quote by saying, โ€œJenโ€™s older books and Bible study materials have a reputation for being generally doctrinally sound.โ€ (I also linked to a positive review on my blog of your book Women of the Word in which I actually recommended [at that time] that my readers buy themselves a copy of it. The readerโ€™s quote begins:

โ€œโ€ฆin the foreword Jen wrote, โ€˜a paraphrase, such as the NLT or The Message, can be useful but should be regarded as a commentary rather than a translation.โ€™…โ€

I checked the most recent version of your book (2024 edition; sample on Amazon), of 1 Peter: A Living Hope in Christ, and youโ€™re correct, youโ€™ve removed the part about the NLT. The quote now says, โ€œa paraphrase, such as The Message, can be useful but should be regarded as a commentary rather than a translation.โ€. 

My guess is that you removed โ€œthe NLT [New Living Translation]โ€ because itโ€™s considered a translation, not a paraphrase. Is that correct? If not, please feel free to explain. Iโ€™m glad to add a note to the article saying that youโ€™ve removed the phrase โ€œthe NLTโ€ from that sentence in later editions, and if you have a link to an article or other material that explains why you removed it, Iโ€™ll be happy to add that link as well.

So just to clarify here, the quote from your book (in which you mistakenly called the NLT a โ€œparaphraseโ€) actually is accurate. You are the one who changed it in later editions, presumably to correct your error. So this is not, in fact, a โ€œfactual errorโ€. The readerโ€™s quote was accurate.

However, the primary concern here is not that you mistakenly called the NLT a โ€œparaphraseโ€ instead of a translation (if thatโ€™s why you removed the part about the NLT), or even that you recommended the NLT. The primary concern is that you recommended – and, apparently, STILL recommend- The Message, one of the worst, most grossly inaccurate โ€œparaphrasesโ€ out there, written by Eugene Peterson, who, along with mangling the text of Scripture, wrote a cover endorsement for the heresy-laden book, โ€œThe Shack,โ€ and said he would officiate a same sex wedding.

But you still cite The Message as an acceptable paraphrase to use. So that part is factually correct.


Your next concern was: โ€œI am not described as a preacher on the GCD website.โ€

Here, youโ€™re misquoting me and either misunderstanding or misrepresenting what the article actually says (so youโ€™re the one guilty of a โ€œbasic factual errorโ€ in this case).

The article contains a screenshot of the GCD (Gospel Centered Discipleship) web page picturing you and describing the event, and quotes directly from that web page. This is the actual quote from my article:

โ€œ…the Gospel Centered Discipleship โ€œPreaching Cohortโ€ in which Jen is a โ€œCoachโ€. She (along with the other coaches) is described as a โ€œseasoned Bible preacher and teacher,โ€ and will be coaching pastors โ€œon the calling and craft of preachingโ€.

The point of these two sentences is that you will be instructing pastors on how to be better pastors/preachers, when this is unbiblical and you have no place doing so. Neither of these sentences says that GCD called you, specifically, a โ€œpreacherโ€. (Additionally, albeit tangentially: just from a logical perspective, why would GCD engage someone who isnโ€™t a pastor and isnโ€™t qualified to be a pastor to instruct pastors about being better pastors? Thatโ€™s like a hospital hiring someone who isnโ€™t a doctor and isnโ€™t qualified to be a doctor to instruct doctors about being better doctors.)


Finally, you said, โ€œI have never said the Bible whispers about sexual sin.โ€

In this instance, youโ€™re correct. Hereโ€™s what I said in the article: โ€œAnd remember when J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, got himself into all kinds of hot water for saying in a sermon, โ€œThe Bible whispers about sexual sin.โ€œ? He was quoting Jen Wilkinโ€ฆโ€ 

My statement was based on a misunderstanding of JDโ€™s quote in the video of his sermon. He was quoting you when he said, โ€œWe ought to whisper about what the Bible whispers about and we ought to shout about what it shouts about,โ€ but then added HIS OWN thought to the end of that quote, and HE stated his opinion that โ€œthe Bible appears more to whisper when it comes to sexual sin compared to it shouts about materialism and religious Prideโ€.

I apologize for getting that wrong. Iโ€™ll be glad to remove that small section entirely. Iโ€™ll make a note in the article, and explain publicly on social media, how I got that wrong, along with a public apology to you, both in the article and on my other social media platforms. Iโ€™m very sorry for my mistake there.


โ€œIโ€™ve also been clear about my complementarianism on more podcasts than I can count.โ€

Yes, youโ€™ve said youโ€™re a complementarian, but as I accurately explained in the article, youโ€™re not using the original definition of โ€œcomplementarianโ€. Youโ€™re using the current, twisted definition of complementarian, i.e. women can do anything in the church that men can do except hold the office of pastor. Thatโ€™s what used to be called โ€œsoft complementarianismโ€ or โ€œnarrow complementarianismโ€ and it is functional egalitarianism. Iโ€™m not the one in โ€œfactual errorโ€ here.

Calling yourself a โ€œcomplementarianโ€ and using that twisted definition is -whether you intend it to be or not, and Iโ€™m assuming โ€œnotโ€- deceptive and misleading. Itโ€™s similar (Iโ€™m using this strictly as an analogy, not accusing you of heresy) to Mormons saying, โ€œWe believe in Jesus,โ€ when the Mormon version of Jesus is very different from what Scripture says about Jesus.

Furthermore, as a Southern Baptist, Iโ€™m sure youโ€™ve heard (as have I), our leadership say regarding women preaching to men, โ€œThe function IS the office,โ€ meaning that a woman functioning in the role of pastor -i.e. preaching- is usurping the office of pastor, as Dr. Albert Molher explains here in refutation of the definition of โ€œcomplementarianismโ€ you espouse, namely, that โ€œa woman ought to be able to doโ€ฆor authorized to do everything a non-ordained man can do.โ€


โ€œThereโ€™s an assumption of motive in several places, a tendency to sensationalizeโ€ฆโ€

This is your personal, subjective opinion, not a โ€œfactual errorโ€. 

Youโ€™ll need to specifically quote at least one of these โ€œseveral placesโ€. And I would remind you that what you characterize as โ€œassumption of motiveโ€ the Bible would likely characterize as, โ€œout of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaksโ€ (Luke 6:45) and/or โ€œYou will know them by their fruitโ€ (Matthew 7:16, 20). But until you cite a specific โ€œassumption of motive/tendency to sensationalizeโ€ we canโ€™t know for sure, I canโ€™t apologize if something is, in fact, an unbiblical โ€œassumption of motive,โ€ or โ€œsensationalism,โ€ and this is an unsubstantiated accusation. 


โ€œan extremely broad use of the term โ€œpreachโ€

No broader than the Bibleโ€™s definition. The actual prohibition in 1 Timothy 2:12, as Iโ€™m sure you know, is against women โ€œteachingโ€ men. Preaching is just one form of teaching. 


โ€œI donโ€™t expect that we would agree on the definition of preaching, but I do have one that falls well within comp boundaries.โ€

As evidenced by the fact that you preach to men, your definition of preaching falls well within the aforementioned current twisting of โ€œcomplementarianโ€ boundaries: functional egalitarianism, which unbiblically allows women to preach to men. 

There is no definition of women preaching to men that falls within traditional complementarian boundaries because traditional complementarianism – which simply describes what the Bible says about the role of women in the church- does not allow women to preach to men.


โ€œRather than engage with those differing definitions,โ€

I did โ€œengage with those differing definitionsโ€. I compared your so-called โ€œcomplementarianโ€ definition of preaching to men – i.e. โ€œitโ€™s OK for women to preach to menโ€ – to Scripture. Scripture forbids this. Engagement over.


โ€œshe simply characterizes me as โ€˜preaching to menโ€™โ€ 

I didn’t “characterize” you as preaching to men, I flat out stated a fact: You preach to men. Thereโ€™s plenty of evidence of it in the article. If youโ€™re going to preach to men why not just proudly and unashamedly say so and clearly enumerate your reasons for doing so, rather than preaching to men and then going around and saying, โ€œIโ€™m not really preaching to men, Iโ€™m really a complementarian.โ€? If itโ€™s OK for you to preach to men, you should be able to easily back up that assertion with clear, rightly handled (2 Timothy 2:15), in context Scripture.


โ€œand a โ€˜functional egalitarianโ€™โ€ 

You are. When you function like an egalitarian by preaching to men, youโ€™re a functional egalitarian.


โ€œin an effort to discredit my ministry to women.โ€

Your โ€œministry to womenโ€ should be discredited because youโ€™re teaching them to disobey Scripture. Every time you stand up and preach to men, your behavior is teaching women (and men) that if they come to a command of Scripture they donโ€™t like (like 1 Timothy 2:12), theyโ€™re free to ignore it and disobey it. That teaching is false doctrine and a defiance of Scripture, and should, therefore, be discredited (and thatโ€™s only one of the points in the article – Iโ€™ve cited many other reasons why your ministry should be discredited).


โ€œThis is, at best, a shallow engagement with my position.โ€

No it isnโ€™t. Your position is in direct conflict with the plain and clear teaching of Scripture. Concisely demonstrating that (and linking to two other articles refuting your position and explaining at length what the Bible says about the role of women in the church) is not โ€œshallow engagementโ€.


โ€œPreaching is done by a particular person in a particular context, that is, by the pastor/elder/qualified man in the Sunday gathering.โ€

Where does the Bible specifically say that, rightly handled and in context? Chapter and verse, please.


โ€œMy perspective is that I should be in glad submission to my elders. Here is the position paper that informs their approach:โ€

Christians are first and foremost to be in glad submission to Scripture, because Scripture is infallible and perfect, and elders – as your pastor, Matt Chandler, has amply demonstrated over the last several years – are not.

So if your elders are not upholding what Scripture teaches, and you are submitting to them, both you and your elders are in disobedience to Scripture, which is the standard for Christians.

Nevertheless, in the document you cited, your own elders say this:

So your own elders say that publicly preaching the Word to the gathering of the church is restricted to men.

We often have to clarify to Believers and unbelievers alike that the โ€œchurchโ€ is not the building we meet in, itโ€™s the people – Christians. So whenever Christians are gathered for the purpose of worship, instruction in the Scriptures, etc., it is a gathering of the church, and the prohibition of women teaching men applies.

But, in any event, the document makes clear on p. 55 that this is the position of โ€œthe role of women at The Village Church.โ€ My article doesnโ€™t deal with you preaching at TVC, but at other gatherings of the church outside TVC, so TVCโ€™s policy for TVC is irrelevant to those events.


โ€œThe short version [of the TVC document] is that any gathering that is not the Sunday gathering does not require to be taught by an elder.โ€

I didnโ€™t see that statement or any statement similar to that in the document, but I may have missed it. What page is that on? 


โ€œThat being said, my ministry is primarily to women, so mixed gatherings are pretty rare.โ€

1. โ€œRareโ€ does not equal โ€œnot sinfulโ€. You still need to repent of preaching to men and stop doing it.

2. It doesnโ€™t look โ€œrareโ€ considering all of the instances Iโ€™ve cited in the article (and including any instances I may have missed and havenโ€™t included).

3. It isnโ€™t โ€œrare,โ€ as though you used to preach to men and no longer do. This is something youโ€™re continuing to do and currently doing. The GCD Cohort in which youโ€™ll be unbiblically instructing pastors started less than three weeks ago.


So, to summarize, you found one actual error of fact in this entire, lengthy article (which I apologized for and will gladly delete and explain to my audience). The remainder of the article – dealing with far more than youโ€™ve brought up here – is correct and is not โ€œbasic factual errorsโ€ or a โ€œmisrepresentationโ€ of your โ€œcharacter and actionsโ€.

And by implying that the article, overall, consists of โ€œbasic factual errorsโ€ and โ€œmisrepresents [your] character and actions,โ€ you have actually misrepresented my character and actions.

But all of that aside, whatโ€™s more important here is you. I care about you, and I hate to see you going down the same road that so many of your Lifeway Women compatriots – like Beth Moore, Lysa TerKeurst, Priscilla Shirer, etc. – have gone. 

I have taken a moment to pray for you, and, in love, I urge you to repent of the sins of preaching to men, yoking with false teachers, and the other things Iโ€™ve cited in the article, for the glory of God, for the good of your own soul before Christ, and for the biblical discipleship of your followers.


Additional Resources:

The Troubling Trajectory of Jen Wilkin at Center for Baptist Leadership

Talk Back: Jen Wilkin and The Gospel Coalition at A Word Fitly Spoken

TGCW24- Mark and Avoid

Articles on Jen Wilkin by Elizabeth Prata

Lifeway Women

Discernment

Kelly Minter

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.


Kelly Minter
Not Recommended

The โ€œaboutโ€ page of Kelly Minter’s web site used to describe false teacher, Beth Moore, as โ€œone of [Kelly’s] favorite bible [sic] study teachers.โ€ Kelly also said, โ€œBethโ€™s teachings were much of what God used in my earlier life to teach and transform meโ€ฆโ€.  (This information has been removed from Kelly’s website since the original publication of my article on her in 2016.)

And, indeed the most glaring theological problem with Kelly is that she considers Beth Moore to be “one of my spiritual mothers.”

The “particularly unkind week on Twitter” Kelly is referring to is doctrinally sound Christians biblically rebuking Beth Moore for coyly announcing that she would be preaching the Sunday morning sermon at her home church on Mother’s Day 2019. Where Beth Moore…

  • preaches to men in violation of Scripture
  • consistently allegorizes, mishandles, and takes Scripture out of context
  • partners with demonstrably false teachers and heretics
  • is on a trajectory toward affirming homosexuality
  • not only refuses biblical correction in all these areas but publicly taunts, insults, and name-calls those who rebuke her…

…Kelly thinks Beth has taught her “the whole counsel of God,” “brings glory to Jesus,” and is worthy of being her “spiritual mother.” If Kelly thinks these things, she is at the very least so undiscerning, or so unknowledgeable of the many Scriptures that condemn these things, or she knows that Scripture condemns these things but disregards Scripture in favor of her love for Beth, that she should not be teaching anyone, but should be sitting in a good local church under the teaching of a solid pastor so she can learn Scripture and sound doctrine.

More of Kelly honoring Beth:

If Kelly has such a fundamental misunderstanding of biblical obedience that she thinks Beth Moore – who defies Scripture in a myriad of ways – has taught her (“and countless others”) to obey Jesus, do you think she is qualified to teach the Bible to you or the women of your church, either in person or through the use of her materials?

Beth Moore is also fond of Kelly, (“I LOVE HER, I LOVE HER, I LOVE HER, I LOVE HER!!”) and has featured three of Kelly’s Bible studies during her summer Bible study series on her LPM blog: No Other Gods, Ruth and Nehemiah.

Since Beth Moore preaches to men, it is not surprising that we would find Kelly has preached to men as well. While it is commendable that Kelly doesn’t seem to preach to men often, and the FAQ page for her “Cultivate” conferences specifically says that these conferences are for women, it is troubling that she has preached in a Sunday worship service as recently as 2019 and that the woman she considers her mentor has no qualms about preaching to men.

Kelly seems to have unbiblical ideas about how people should study the Bible. In this video she recommends that people who want to understand the Bible need to get a study (in addition to her own, she recommends Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer) and โ€œif you feel comfortableโ€ get involved in a church to study โ€œin communityโ€. The biblical model for being taught Scripture is to join a church โ€“ this is not optional โ€“ and be taught the Word by the pastor, elders, and teachers. Doctrinally sound studies can sometimes be helpful, but they are supplementary to church instruction, not the primary source of instruction.

Kelly maintains friendly relationships and/or ministry partnerships with a plethora of false and problematic teachers. Here, Kelly recommends not only Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer, but also Jen Hatmaker, Jennie Allen, Jennifer Rothschild, Lisa Harper, and Margaret Feinberg. Kelly has guest blogged for Priscilla Shirer, and is an admirer of Christine Caine. Kelly has been featured on Angie Smith’s blog, is a fan of Catholic mystic, Henri Nouwen, and was included in The Faithful, a book of collected Bible studies by Kelly, Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, Jennifer Rothschild, and Lisa Harper. Kelly will be partnering with Lysa TerKeurst at a conference in October 2019, with Christine Caine at a LifeWay women’s leadership forum in November 2019, and with Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Jackie Hill Perry, and Jennifer Rothschild at LifeWay Women Live in 2020 (Kelly also appeared at the 2019 LifeWay Women Live with Christine Caine, Lysa TerKeurst, Lisa Harper.) Kelly has partnered with these and other false/problematic teachers at various other events, but I don’t wish to belabor the point. Kelly has little discernment and is disobeying Scripture’s admonition not to partner with false teachers.

When a women’s Bible study teacher is willing to preach to men and shows such a dearth of discernment, she is not someone you or the women of your church should follow or receive teaching from.

Homosexuality

The Peterson Predicament and LifeWay’s Peculiar Policies

Last week, the news broke that Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, (a popular mutilationย paraphrase of the Bible) has, for quite some time, held the position that there’s nothing wrong with homosexuality, that he was on staff at a church that considered hiring a homosexual minister of music, and that he would perform a homosexual wedding if asked. (It was quite the kerfuffle. Play by play at the end of this article if you’re interested.)

LifeWay quickly – and rightlyย – released a statement saying that if they could verify that these are, in fact, Peterson’s beliefs, they would pull “The Message” and all of his other materials from their stores.

The next day, Peterson publicly retracted his statement about being willing to perform a same sex wedding – saying he affirms the biblical view of marriage – and LifeWay said they’d keep his materials on the shelf.

I commend LifeWay for pulling authors who support homosexuality. That’s a good and right thing and I don’t want to minimize it. This is absolutely something they shouldย do, and I’m glad this is their policy.

However, what about the fact that The Message is such a poor and misleading paraphrase that, as many have said, it should never have been on the shelves at LifeWay in the first place?

What about the fact that Eugene Peterson wrote a front cover endorsement for The Shack– a book that teaches the heresies of universalism, patripassianism, and blasphemies regarding the Trinity? Why was that sin not grievous enough, but his endorsement of homosexuality was?

When LifeWay only makes a splash in the media about removing books whose authors endorse homosexuality, they’re sending two very important messages:

1. Things like false doctrine, female authors/celebrities who defy Scripture by preaching to men, and teachers and authors who disobey God’s word by partnering with false teachers, don’t matter. All that matters is if you’re on the right side of homosexuality.

2. It sends the message to homosexuals and the rest of the world – not to mention members of our own SBC churches – that Southern Baptists think homosexuality is the worst sin out there and the only one we really care about people repenting from.

How hypocritical that LifeWay will turn a blind eye toย Beth Moore’s sins of teaching false doctrine, preaching to men, and partnering with false teachers, and make her a wealthy celebrity, but will take a stand against other authors (whose materials don’t sell as well as Moore’s) for the sin of endorsing homosexuality.

Sin is sin in God’s eyes, but not in LifeWay’s, apparently.


Play by Play of the Peterson Predicament

Wednesday, July 12:
โ™ฆ News breaks that Eugene Peterson has “changed his mind” regarding the biblical view of marriage.
โ™ฆ LifeWay announces that if Peterson’s remarks can be confirmed, they will cease selling all of his materials includingย The Message.

Thursday, July 13:
โ™ฆ Peterson retracts his original comments about same sex marriage and says he “affirms a biblical view of marriage.”
โ™ฆ LifeWay announces that, due to the retraction, they will continue to carry Peterson’s materials.
โ™ฆ The reporter (Jonathan Merritt) who originally broke the Peterson storyย offers his takeย and behind the scenes insights on the retraction.
โ™ฆ In an additional article, Merritt offers evidence that Peterson made statements affirming homosexuality as recently as 2014.

Discernment, False Teachers

Perceptions of Kay Arthur and Precept Ministries International

I want to be clear from the outset of this article that, while I regret that I cannot endorse Kay Arthur’s materials or conferences, I do not believe the content of her written or verbal teaching contains or promotes false doctrine, and I am not labeling her a false teacher or a heretic.


This article is kept continuously updated as needed.

perceptions kay arthur

Kay Arthur might be considered, and deservedly so, one of the “founding mothers” of women’s Bible study. Kay and her husband Jack served as missionaries in Mexico for 3ยฝ years before returning to the United States and founding Precept Ministries International in 1970. The teaching goal of Precept is to instruct Christians in the Bible “book by book, verse by verse, using the Inductive Bible Study method.” Now in her eighties, Kay is still going strong. She has written numerous books, teaches all over the world, and hosts Precepts for Life, a daily television, radio, and on-line Bible study program.ยน

Kay seems to be a lovely person with an almost tangible passion for people to study and rightly handle the word of God. She is a fine role model for younger women, showcasing growth to godly maturity, and a solid example to older women that serving Christ is something we never retire from. Kay comports herself like a lady and exudes warmth, grace, kindness, and a sort of motherly love towards those under her teaching. She is the kind of woman I aspire to be, and I would very much like to be able to wholeheartedly endorse her.

Because of the plethora of false teachers in the women’s Bible study realm, and due to other issues in question, several readers have written to me asking if I recommend Kay Arthur as a trustworthy Bible study author and speaker. With most teachers this answer comes easily, because there is ample evidence of the teacher’s Bible twisting (or doctrinal soundness) and/or sinful (or godly) behavior. Kay’s case, however, is more complex, so I would like to address the issues which are components in whether or not I endorse a particular teacher.

In order to address these issues, on top of my usual research, I have attempted to contact Kay Arthur with some questions (at this time she has not responded). I have also interviewed a doctrinally sound, discerning source who has been a Precept leader for several years and taught many of Kay Arthur’s studies. She has sat under Kay Arthur’s teaching in person at various Precept meetings and conferences, and has interacted with many other Precept leaders. For personal reasons, my source prefers to remain anonymous, so I will refer to her as “Jill.”

When evaluating a female teacher or author to determine whether or not I will recommend her, I research her teaching and habits in three main areas: her doctrine and hermeneutics, her ministry partnerships and associations, and her behavior. Another major consideration is whether or not any problems in these three areas are current, ongoing, and unrepentant, or if there were issues of sin in these areas in the past that have since been repented of and corrected. We need to remember that even the godliest teacher is still a human being who sins as well as a Christian who learns God’s word and grows to maturity over the span of her lifetime. The issue is not whether a teacher has ever sinned in these areas, but whether a teacher knowingly persists in sin or is teachable, repents, and avoids sin when it is pointed out to her. Let’s examine Kay Arthur’s teaching and habits in these three areas.

Doctrine and Hermeneutics

Kay Arthur has been publicly teaching the Bible for nearly fifty years. That’s an extremely large body of teaching, books, and materials. Yet citations of biblical error in her doctrine and teaching from credible sources are nearly non-existent in comparison.

The one major red flag that has been raised by discerning sources about Kay’s doctrine is her endorsement of Neil Anderson’s books The Bondage Breaker  and Victory Over the Darkness. Neil Anderson teaches an unbiblical view of spiritual warfare, and Kay should not have endorsed his books. It was unwise, undiscerning, and may indicate that she, herself, holds to an unbiblical doctrine of spiritual warfare.

That being said, Id like to point out that Victory Over the Darkness was published in 2000. Sixteen years ago. The Bondage Breaker was originally published in 1990, and a revised, second edition of the book came out in 2000. Does the revised edition of the book still carry Kay’s endorsement? Does she currently teach the aberrant view of spiritual warfare Anderson is known for? In the last sixteen years has Kay grown in her discernment and knowledge of the Bible to the point that she would never consider endorsing Anderson’s books now? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but I’m not seeing any accusations out there that Kay is currently teaching unbiblical doctrine concerning spiritual warfare or any other essential tenet of Christianity.

Jill comments:

“The association with Neil Anderson…I am completely unaware of that. I will say in regard to her teaching on spiritual warfare that I have led the Precept Ephesians study and read the book Lord, Is It Warfare? and I see nothing out of line in either of those. She is very clear that we are not to engage the enemy (my words, not hers). That our line of defense is the sword of the Spirit – the Bible – just like Jesus defense against Satan when tempted was the Word. She brought out passages like Jude 9 where even the archangel Michael didn’t rebuke the devil.โ€

Jill’s experience is puzzling in light of another citation of unbiblical teaching on spiritual warfare in this quote from Kay’s 2006 book, Lord, I Give You this Day: 366 Appointments with God:

“When I deal with recurring thoughts that are contrary to Philippians 4:8, I often will say something like this: โ€œSatan, those thoughts are not from God. You have no place in me. Therefore, in the name of Jesus Christ and by His blood, I command you to leave me alone.โ€ Why address Satan? Jesus did. He rebuked him and told him to leave.

If youโ€™re harassed by persistent evil or demoralizing thoughts, then verbally address Satan in this way. Claim the blood of Jesus Christ, which defeated Satan. The devil may come back with a second round of fireโ€”and maybe more. But when you continue to hold your ground in faithful obedience, youโ€™ll know the joy of victory.โ€

Just because Jesus said or did something doesn’t mean we’re to say or do that same thing (Jesus also equated Himself with God and rebuked a storm, for example.). Jesus, being God, has the authority to address Satan directly. We do not. Scripture doesn’t teach us anywhere to address Satan. We don’t see any of the apostles addressing Satan. Jude 9 indicates that even Michael the archangel wouldn’t presume to address Satan. In this quote, Kay has not only taught an unbiblical premise, she has demonstrated poor hermeneutics, taking a descriptive passage (Jesus addressing Satan) and making it into a prescriptive passage (a command to follow).

Again, this book was written over ten years ago, in 2006. The Ephesians study Jill cites was published (revised edition) in 2012. Is it possible that, some time in those six years, Kay repented of this false teaching on spiritual warfare and is now handling God’s word correctly in this area of theology? This may be the case, but the elementary hermeneutical mistake of confusing descriptive and prescriptive passages should certainly warn us to examine all of her teachings extremely carefully.

Ministry Partnerships and Associations:

This is the area that seems to be of most concern to the average Christian woman who is trying to decide whether or not to follow Kay Arthur. For four years, Kay partnered with false teachers Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer in LifeWay’s Deeper Still women’s conferences. The last of these joint conferences took place in June 2011. During that time LifeWay “packaged” the three women together in a variety of ways. I, myself, recall quipping that they were LifeWay’s “holy trinity of women’s Bible study.” However, I cannot find any evidence of Kay partnering with either Beth or Priscilla in the last five years. So far as I can tell, they have not shared a stage or co-authored any materials since 2011. (Kay does, however, still sell the two Deeper Still companion books she co-authored with Beth and Priscilla on the Precept web site.)

Jill comments:

“Concerning the yoking with Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer – she has said that her hope in doing that was to take these young women under her wing and teach them as an older woman. That was not what happened, so she distanced herself from them.”

“I can tell you that I have heard her caution women against following people who teach contemplative prayer without naming those people directly. But it was very clear the way she described the people she was cautioning against that she was describing Beth Moore (and probably Priscilla Shirer, too). She used words like “great influence,” “large following,” “thousands of people are listening to these women.” She also said specifically about the book Jesus Calling without saying the title itself.. .”Jesus only spoke in the first person in one book and this (held up her Bible) is it. If you are allowing that sort of stuff in your life, you need to stop.”

In 2002, Kay was one of the featured speakers at THRIVE: Becoming a Woman of Influence, a women’s conference simulcast. One of the other speakers was Joyce Meyer. As far as I can tell, they have not shared a stage since.

Jill comments:

“Concerning the speaking at the Joyce Meyer conference many years ago – what is MUCH harder to find is what she actually said at that event. She actually went behind Joyce and corrected her false teaching… She wasn’t invited back.”

In 2011, a staffer with Transform Student Ministries (an arm of Precept ministering to college students) posted a blog article on the TSM site containing an excerpt of false teacher Steven Furtick’s book Sun Stand Still. The article encouraged readers to put Furtick’s teaching from the excerpt into practice. When this was brought to the attention of TSM’s leadership, the blog post was removed and there have been no reports of TSM, Precept, or Kay Arthur using Furtick’s materials since that time.

More recently Kay has appeared at Break Forth Canada in 2013 and 2015 as well as in earlier years (she is not scheduled to appear in 2016). Break Forth Canada routinely features contemplative and Emergent speakers such as Tony Campolo, Erwin McManus, and Leonard Sweet.

Kay Arthur’s position has long been that she will speak anywhere she is invited in order to get her message out. To my knowledge, her messages in all of these venues have been doctrinally sound and possibly even correcting of false doctrine taught by some she shared a stage with. It does not seem that she acquiesced to any false doctrine of the sponsors of these conferences or of others on the dais. What is in question is her decision to appear along with those who are false teachers.

While the desire to speak biblical truth anywhere you’re invited is admirable, it is not always necessarily biblical. God’s word is abundantly clear that we are to mark and avoid false teachers and that we are not to partner with them. The Bible doesn’t say avoid false teachers and don’t partner with them unless you’re teaching a doctrinally sound message alongside them or at their conference. It just says “don’t.”

Because Kay has chosen to speak alongside false teachers, we now have an illustration of why the Bible says not to do this. First, because Kay is regarded as a doctrinally sound teacher, she lends credibility to the false teachers and doctrine she is associating herself with. Second, Kay’s own reputation as a doctrinally sound teacher is being called into question by discerning Christians who are knowledgeable about the false teachers and doctrine she is associating herself with.

Kay and her staff need to do a better and more discerning job of vetting the people she shares a stage with and the doctrine of the conferences she speaks at. Her policy regarding accepting speaking engagements should be modified to line up with God’s word.

Behavior

While, as I’ve already stated, Kay is the quintessence of ladylike behavior, grace, and kindness, there is a major area of her behavior which is unbiblical. One of the important things I look for when evaluating a female teacher is whether or not she teaches men (co-ed audiences) in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12. I do not endorse female teachers who unrepentantly persist in this sin any more than I would endorse a male pastor or teacher who unrepentantly persists in another sin.

Jill comments:

“In regard to how Kay handles teaching over men…. When I have watched a Precept-produced video, I have seen men in the audience of Kay’s recordings. But only the men that are on staff. Usually one or two. The only time I have been on campus is for a women’s conference. There are men floating around, but they’re usually popping in to handle facility matters – or audio visual technicians and that’s about it. Every now and then her son or husband would sneak in the back and sit and listen. But the women pretty much take over the whole campus…They offer both male and female video lessons for their studies so that mixed audiences can have a male teacher. The male teachers are an assortment of men on their staff and the female are always Kay. I will agree that she does not say “women only” on all her speaking engagements in churches she goes to speak to.”

If it were only a matter of male staff members, her son (who is the CEO of Precept), or her husband (who is also on staff at Precept) sitting in on Kay’s teaching sessions occasionally as part of their jobs, there would be no problem. As I have written in the past, there are some biblically legitimate reasons why a man might be present when a woman is teaching, and this is one of them.

Unfortunately the men in Kay’s audiences are not limited to her male staff members, and she goes beyond merely failing to indicate that her lectures are for women only. Kay seems to have no qualms about speaking at co-ed events and conferences (such as the aforementioned Break Forth Canada), and the Eventbrite page for the June 2016 Prepared for the Days Ahead conference, which the Precept site links to, actually invites men in the very first sentence:

Screenshot_2016-05-02-07-53-22

Ladies, when the Bible clearly says not to do something and we do it anyway, justifying our behavior with excuses and caveats, that is sin. And when we have lots of eyes on us like Kay does, we have an even greater responsibility to set a godly example with our behavior. As good an example as Kay sets in other areas of her life and teaching, she sets a very poor and damaging example by unrepentantly persisting in the sin of teaching men.

Because her doctrine seems to be generally sound and she handles God’s word correctly for the most part, I will not say that Kay Arthur is a false teacher or a heretic. However, because she continues in the sin of teaching men and doesn’t see that speaking at conferences which use her good name to promote false doctrine is biblically problematic, I cannot commend her or her materials and conferences to others. There are many other fine Bible teachers and authors out there, both male and female, whose doctrine is sound and whose behavior in these areas is not in question.

It is my hope that Kay will repent where repentance is needed and bring these areas of her life and ministry into submission to and alignment with God’s word. It would then give me great joy to enthusiastically endorse her.


ยนKay Arthur – Co-Founder of Precept Ministries on the Precept Ministries International web site.


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.
Additionally, I would urge you, when examining these resources, to take note of the dates of the events referred to and consider whether or not Kay Arthur is still engaging in these beliefs and practices.

The Question of Recommending Kay Arthur by Lori Williams

Women Teachers? Kay Arthur, Beth Moore, and Priscilla Shirer Believe In Teaching Men Too at Surph’s Side

The Bomb Was Bound To Burst About Kay Arthur From Precept Ministries International at For the Love of His Truth

Kay Arthur to Join Contemplative/Emergents at Canadian Conference Breakforth Again this Month at Discern the Time

Is Kay Arthur More Biblically Sound? at Branded

Kay Arthur at Apprising Ministries

Happy Birthday, Kay Arthur! by Elizabeth Prata

Precept Ministries Infected by Contemplative Poison at Christian Answers for the New Age


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.

Church

10 Things I Wish Southern Baptists Knew About Southern Baptists

sbc 10 things

Earlier this week, Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission published a nifty little article called “10 Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Southern Baptists“. Althought I disagree with Dr. Moore on a number of things, I thought the article was pretty good, overall.

But it got me thinking. Yes, there is a lot of ignorance about Southern Baptists out there among those who aren’t part of our denomination. However, there’s also a lot of ignorance insideย the SBC about what’s really going on in our denomination, our doctrine, practices, leadership, and so on. These are ten SBC realities I wish the average Southern Baptist church member were more aware of.

1. LifeWay sells lies and heresy, and they don’t want you to know.
Now I’m not saying everything they sell is lies and heresy. I’ve bought lots of good doctrinally sound materials from them over the years. However, the fact remains that they continue to sell books and materials from false teachers like T.D. Jakes, Sarah Young, and Andy Stanley on their shelves. They will order books by false teachers like Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen for you if you just ask at the counter.ยน They continued to sell The Boy Who Came Back from Heavenย (a book recounting Alex Malarkey’s supposed trip to Heaven after a car accident) for nearly a year even after Alex, his mother, Beth, and respected SBC pastor, speaker, and author Justin Peters repeatedly told LifeWay leadership that the story was a lie. Emails and phone calls about heretical materials at LifeWay are either ignored or the caller placated (I know this from first hand experience). Questions from the floor at the Southern Baptist Convention about LifeWay carrying false doctrine are quashed.

This entity of your denomination which purports to love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ is selling lies about Him to make a fast buck, and they need to stop.

2. There are plenty of apostate Southern Baptist churches, and we have no mechanism in place for kicking them out of the SBC.
This is a verbatim quote from the FAQ section (5th question from the top) of the SBC’s web site:ยฒ

“According to our constitution, if a church no longer makes a bona fide contribution to the Convention’s work, or if it acts to ‘affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior,’ it no longer complies with the Constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention and is not permitted to send messengers to the annual meeting. These, however, are the only explicitly stated instances in which the SBC has the prerogative to take action.”

What does that mean? As long as your church doesn’t affirm homosexuality and gives to the Cooperative Program, you’re in. Never mind if your pastor twists God’s word until it’s unrecognizable. Or lets women and false teachers get behind the pulpit like Steven Furtick does. Or plays AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” on Easter Sunday and says he probablyย wouldn’t have strippers on stage like Perry Noble does. Or any of the other ridiculous and blasphemous shenanigans so many of the seeker sensitive types in our denomination pull. Nope, as long as you give your money and stand on the right side of homosexuality, you’re good to go.

3. Beth Moore is a false teacher.
That’s right, the queen of SBC women’s Bible study, divangelista Beth Moore, does not rightly handle God’s word, partners with false teachers, and violates Scripture by preaching to men, among other things. And Priscilla Shirer is right there with her.

4. Having a small church isn’t a sin and it doesn’t necessarily mean your pastor (or your church) isn’t trying hard enough.
The average church size in America is 186 members, and 94% of church goers attend a church of 500 or fewer people, yet the constant drumbeat of SBC leadership is “bigger is better.” Countless articles harangue exhausted pastors about breaking the 200 or 250 or 300 member attendance “barrier.”

Listen, if your pastor is faithfully preaching and rightly handling God’s word and your church members are serving one another and carrying out the Great Commission in their daily lives, that’s what counts in God’s eyes, not how many butts are in a pew.

5. The Bible doesn’t require you to tithe, and neither should your church.
The tithe is part of the Old Testament law that Christians today are no longer bound by because we are under the covenant of grace, not the Mosaic covenant. Christians are to gladly give the amount we determine in our own hearts to give out of love for our Savior and a desire to serve Him- not under compulsion from someone else.

6. The “sinner’s prayer” won’t save you.
If you think you’re saved because you parroted a prayer someone led you in when you were five but your life shows no love of Christ and no evidence that you belong to Him, then your faith is in the prayer you prayed, not in Christ, and you are not saved. The evidence that you’re a Christian is that you love the Lord, and are growing in holiness, not that you once repeated a prayer (or that you were baptized, attend church regularly, are a “good person,” etc.) Examine yourself to see if you’re really in the faith.

7. Your church probably has a significant number of lost people in it.
Jesus Himself said, there are fewย who find eternal life and that there are manyย who call Him “Lord” whom He does not know and will turn away on the Day of Judgment. This is why it is absolutely imperative that pastors, Sunday School teachers, and all other church leaders know the gospel inside out and teach it incessantly, even to people who claim to know Christ.

8. Lots of Southern Baptist churches violate 1 Timothy 2:12ff.
We do fairly well at not permitting women to serve as pastors, but beyond that there are plenty of churches and pastors who sin by allowing women to serve in positions in the church that are restricted to men. Do women in your church teach co-ed Sunday School classes? Do they head up committees or ministries that put them in authority over men? Do they, as worship leaders or in some other capacity, stand before the congregation and instruct or exhort them? Then your church is in sin.

9. Politics won’t save America.
This country is imploding. You don’t have to be a prophet to see that. Voting according to biblical principles, running for office, working through the system to right wrongs, signing petitions, and other political activity is fine, but don’t put your eggs in those baskets. The Titanic has hit the ice berg, and Christians in this country will soon be facing real persecution like we see overseas. We need to rescue the perishing with the gospel. It can’t be done with the White House or the state house. When is the last time you shared the gospel with someone?

10. Jesus wins.
Things are bad and getting worse. In our world, in our country, in our denomination, in our churches. But the good news of Scripture for all people is that, in the end, Jesus is coming back for His bride. He will conquer evil and those of us who truly belong to Him will spend eternity with Him. This world is not all there is. Jesus wins.


ยนUpdate: It is possible LifeWay has changed this policy. I called my local LifeWay last week (Jan. 2017) and asked them to order a Joyce Meyer book and a Joel Osteen book. I was told the store could not order books by either of these authors. I applaud LifeWay for this step in the right direction.

ยฒUpdate: As of 2019, this verbiage has been removed from the FAQ section of the SBC website. Conceptually similar language can be found here (see Article III: Composition).