“What happened to Beth Moore?”
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
Discovery of a new discernment critic happily surprised me as his writing was excellent and the structure of the 2 videos I listened to were well-done. Today I share his critique of Beth Moore and make a few comments.
A reader sent me a link to a Youtube video about discerning Beth Moore. I appreciate when readers think of me and send me items of interest. I watched the video because I am interested in how Beth Moore’s negative influence is impacting the faith, and I was happily surprised. The writing of this person’s scripts are concise and clear. I watched two of his videos and they were well structured and well-written. He describes himself as-
Just an ordinary Christian exploring theology, politics, and apologetics through a biblical lens. Sharing what I’m learning to help others seek truth and avoid deception.
His channel is called Fight for Truth. He comments on Christian faith and celebrities, cultural influences, and movements (he doesn’t list his name, his church or his denomination, and I wish he did, at least one of those).
He had several points about why Beth Moore is a false teacher, and I agreed with all of them. In fact, I’ve commented myself on several of these points previously. Several of his points were new to me and I appreciated that. Here is what he said about Moore-
Me-Centered teaching: “Beth Moore often takes rich God- centered narratives and reframes them around your personal journey. In doing so, she distracts from Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of the passages and subtly makes you the main character. That’s the problem.” Fight For Truth, https://youtu.be/R777MSCGsLg?si=aFyBiyyovqkCUd0w
Yes. I agree with this.
In 2011 I wrote, “My conclusion to the Beth Moore ministry is that it is led by a troubled woman having extended therapy sessions about herself. I learned nothing from her ‘Hold Fast’ Live teaching from Deuteronomy, except that she took the most God-centered, exalted words in the whole chapter and made them about us.”
In 2011, I wrote: “Beth said, ‘When we latch back on [to Jesus] we have life more abundant here on earth. .. Our life has purpose and life is working with a measurable form of victory.’ We-we-we, I-I-I. She did not define victory nor by which tool we measure it. All we know is, IF we don’t do what she said, we WON’T get something good. Those are her nebulous threats. She creates a feeling of me-centered, amorphous uneasiness that pervades her talks.
Direct revelation: Fight for Truth said, “By the way, this quote from God has actual quotation marks around it in the book, as if she interviewed God himself and wrote down word for word quotes from him.” Fight for Truth.
In 2011 I wrote, In her book “The Beloved Disciple: Following John to the Heart of Jesus” she wrote that God said, “My child, in between more intense rests, I want to teach you to take Sabbath moments.” It is nice that God speaks in such complete sentences to her. She puts ‘his’ words in quotations, no less!”
In 2013 I wrote, “She uses personal revelation and biblical language about the context of her supposed revelations to teach people that she is hearing from God and has a message from Him to proclaim.”
Fight for Truth summed it up so well here! “Regardless of what your belief is on spiritual gifts, if you believe that they continue today or you believe that they’ve ceased, I think most discerning Christians on both sides will agree that flippantly saying ‘God told me’ all the time is extremely unwise. Even passionate continuationists like John Piper or Wayne Grudem would not encourage this kind of presentation at all.”
Soft on LGBTQ issues: Fight for Truth said, “Beth removed a section of her book that was promoting biblical truth on the topic of homosexuality, and the reason she gave for it simply doesn’t add up. To be fair, I don’t think Beth Moore is pro-LGBT, but I do think she’s soft on the issue, and that is just another example of why her teaching and leadership are seriously lacking.”
In 2019, six ladies, including myself, in tandem on our individual platforms, released an Open Letter to Beth Moore asking 5 simple questions about Beth’s stance on homosexuality. It caused an uproar, because Moore refused to answer. The longer she refused to answer, even her supporters became perplexed. The 5 questions we asked were simple, yet her refusal to address what any Christian would be quick to proclaim, made the controversy bigger.
In the hubbub, it was discovered by an eagle eyed reader that Beth Moore’s Kindle version of her book Praying God’s Word and the chapter called “Overcoming Sexual Strongholds” used to contain a clear statement that homosexuality was a sin but repentance and submission to God’s standards would bring the homosexual sinner to a reconciliation with God. This chapter was still in the hard copy, of course, but the Kindle version can be edited post-publishing, and it turned out in that chapter any mention of homosexuality being a sin had been scrubbed. This is a deliberate and conscious act that can’t be performed without the author’s knowledge. It is a huge indicator that Moore is soft on the sin of homosexuality and prefers to conform to the culture.
Political Issues: Fight for Truth said,”Over the years, many people have noticed that there was a very sudden shift in Beth Moore from charming southern female Bible teacher to something of a raging political activist against what she sees as rampant sexism and racism in the conservative church.” Fight for Truth
I was so glad to see that Fight for Truth addressed Moore’s political shifts. I searched to see if Moore is a registered Democrat or Republican, but in her home state of Texas while voter rolls are publicly available, the State does not list party affiliation.
Fight for Truth said, “Moore decided to completely and totally dissociate with conservative Southern Baptists and indeed the entire Southern Baptist Convention because they’re systemically sexist and racist. These are sins that she is utterly unwilling to tolerate, and yet at the same time she has no problem whatsoever endorsing and associating with someone who is outwardly pro-LGBT. [Ally Henny]. This blatant double standard is very telling.” Fight for Truth
Fight For Truth noticed that Beth Moore’s Teaching on Immodesty has changed too.
“And Beth Moore used to take a very hardline stance on immodesty. Here’s some vintage audio from a series she did on the book of Esther a long time ago. ‘Mean girls dress provocatively around other women’s men. You keep your breasts to yourself!'” Fight for Truth
Yet recently Moore replied to Brian Sauve’s statement that women should not show much skin by wearing low cut shirts, bikinis, or bras or underwear in public for any reason. This triggered Moore, who ranted, “Dude, there is no world in which we ever want to hear the word bra from you again. Mind your own unders.”
It is better to live in a desert land Than with a contentious and irritating woman. (Proverbs 21:19)
Gender roles: Fight for Truth said, “Beth Moore goes directly against this (verse in 1 Timothy 2:12). While her career began as just a female Bible teacher teaching other women, it eventually melded into becoming sort of a traveling female Bible expositor, one who preaches official Sunday sermons as a guest speaker, which she proudly advertises on her Twitter.“
Conclusion
This is the one spot where I disagree with Fight for Truth. He says there is no one smoking gun which would point to her being a false teacher. While I agree that there are numerous issues with Moore’s teaching that pile up, and I agree there is no one blatant heresy, there are not just one but two smoking guns. In my own opinion, Moore’s claims that God speaks to her and gives new teachings apart from the Bible puts her in the false teacher camp.
Secondly, persistent rebellion in any sin is also an indicator- and her preaching in church is just that, sin. We would say the same about any teacher who obstinately fails to heed calls to repent, say, of adultery or financial malfeasance.
Some people say ‘Beth Moore used to be good, but she drifted.’ When a teacher is false, they have always been false, they just used to hide it better. Sin always grows. Beth Moore was false from the start, a topic I covered by looking at her public comments about her testimony and examining her very first published Bible study in 1995. There were indicators even then. There is true and there is false. There are thorns, and there are figs. There is a narrow path and a broad one. She’s always been false.
Has Beth Moore only recently drifted, or has she always been false?
Beth Moore’s spiritual biography
Fight for Truth’s conclusion- “Conservative Christians no longer listen to Beth Moore is because, frankly, she started promoting a bunch of things that they disagree with, things that they think are deeply unbiblical. [T]here is a distinct pattern, one of pulling the church in a leftward liberal direction on virtually every controversial issue.“
YES.
Avoid Beth Moore. Avoid the people she promotes and the causes she is involved in. Beth Moore is not good for the church and certainly not healthy for your soul.
