Beth Moore Walked Away, Now Say Goodbye

Beth Moore is an incredibly gifted speaker. She is funny, engaging, and passionate. Moore understands her audience and makes sure to hit them directly in the feels. She is open and vulnerable which only enhances women’s trust for her. All that may sound wonderful, but, despite her speaking skills, women need to walk away from Beth Moore. She’s a dangerous teacher who mishandles Scripture regularly while influencing countless Christian women, and now she’s left the only people trying to keep her somewhat accountable.

Moore announced she has left the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), though still remains a Baptist. It was the least shocking “surprise” the Christian community has had in a long time. The writing was on the wall for years. I’ve always wondered why the SBC didn’t boot her out long ago. I’ll get to the reason, but first let’s look at Beth Moore a little more closely.

Preaching To Men

Beth Moore preaches to and teaches men. The most common argument to that criticism her supporters give is that she can’t help if men show up to her speaking engagements. All right. I understand that. Men may read women’s blogs, listen to their podcasts, or show up to their conferences. Moore, and other female Bible teachers, can’t stop men from sitting under them in those platforms. All they can do is explicitly state to whom they intend to teach. You’ll find she undermines this argument when she preaches Sunday morning services, though.

Beth Moore has preached to churches at the main service (with men and women present) unrepentantly and without shame. There was quite a controversy a couple years ago after she said on Twitter she would be preaching on Mother’s Day at an SBC church. Christians were, understandably, upset. Her response?

I need you to at least get the right ratio in your head here. I have brought a message from a pulpit in an SBC church service about 15 times in 40 years. If your track record of “obedience” tops that, more power to you. This is over me speaking at an SBC church on MOTHER’S DAY.

— Beth Moore (@BethMooreLPM) May 9, 2019

So, folks, she admits she preaches to men. And it sounds like she knows it’s sin because she insinuated in that tweet that she was in disobedience. I will assume, as well, that as a Bible teacher for over 40 years she has encountered 1 Timothy 2:12. In fact, she likely cannot escape that verse because I know people share it with her often.

“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”

If you still don’t believe Beth Moore takes the pulpits for Sunday morning services, hop on YouTube. You’ll find that she has preached those 15ish times in SBC churches, but she has also preached in churches outside the SBC, as well.

Moore Yokes With False Teachers (Birds of a feather, I suppose.)

Beth Moore has attended Lakewood Church which is pastored by Joel Osteen and his wife, Victoria Osteen. Other than the issue of Victoria Osteen being a pastor, Lakewood Church is a full throttled prosperity gospel church. God wants you to be happy and give you things, so just have faith and tithe to this church… The Osteens rarely, if ever, address sin, judgment, or Hell. They focus on the positive, but inevitably, are negligent in the duty of shepherding. It’s a hot mess.  

Unfortunately, the Osteens aren’t the only poor influences she allows in her spiritual life. Before her tragic death in 2019, Moore was sort of “frenemies” with Rachel Held Evans. Evans was best known for her wildly popular and unbiblical book A Year of Biblical Womanhood, and for embracing LGBTQ lifestyles as a part of God’s will. In the same vein, Beth Moore can be seen shifting her stance on LGBTQ issues through conversations with Matthew Vines, author of God and the Gay Christian. Undoubtedly, these two LGBTQ affirming “Christians” have had some level of influence on her. Here are a couple of tweets regarding LGBTQ.

Respectfully, Beth, I think you owe LGBTQ people a conversation at the very least. I appreciate that you regret the very hurtful things you've said about us, but rather than telling that to straight allies like Rachel, it would be much more meaningful as a direct apology to us.

— Matthew Vines (@VinesMatthew) May 7, 2018

I'm grateful for @BethMooreLPM's decision here. I've heard from LGBTQ Christians in recent years whose parents were still citing this now-deleted section to justify rejecting their children, so I appreciate Beth's willingness to listen to their stories and make this change. https://t.co/RXOUcIlNvV

— Matthew Vines (@VinesMatthew) July 6, 2019

I’d encourage you to follow Moore’s Twitter account to see the transformation on LGBTQ issues, but her account reads like a high school girl trying to make a statement on social media without giving any details. The classic, “I won’t name names, but you know who you are and what you did. I’m gonna do me, girl! And no one ask me about this. It’s my business.” Other times her tweets are just verbal diarrhea. So, if you want to check out her Twitter account…good luck.

If you thought that was enough poor company to keep, then you’d be correct. However, Beth Moore clearly wasn’t satisfied. She has also gone to watch and support Christine Caine preach at Lakewood Church. Caine was once in leadership at Hillsong, a prosperity gospel church.

For good measure let’s toss in Andy Stanley. Now, he’s a complete mess as a pastor. Moore has been invited to preach at his church (and gladly accepted). So, Stanley approves of female pastors. He’s also known for affirming LGBTQ lifestyles, railing against small church membership, playing secular music in church, and promoting that Christians should separate or “unhitch” from the Old Testament. Michelle Lesley has a great page full of resources about Stanley here. Check it out!

Ya’ll there’s so much more to unpack here and so many more false teachers to discuss, but that’s not what this post is about. I need to move on, but this topic alone should give anyone pause about Beth Moore. As 1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals” (ESV).

Beth Moore Receives New and Direct Revelation From God

Nope. She doesn’t. I believe she thinks she does, of course, but that’s not really how it works. God gave us His Word, the Bible. Over 1,500 years God’s inspired Word (2 Timothy 3:16) was written by approximately forty men. Revelation 22:18-19 informs us that the Scriptures are now closed.

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

That is quite a warning to us! Proverbs 30:5-6 also warns us not to add to His Word.

“Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”

You might be thinking, “Julie, Beth Moore isn’t adding to Scripture, she’s just hearing extra information.” True. As far as I am aware Moore has not attempted to add an extra book to the Bible, but claiming that God has told her things to teach that are not found in Scripture or are even contradictory to Scripture is adding to His Word. When she claims she has a direct message from the Lord, she’s putting her words on equal footing with God’s Word.

At best, Moore has thoughts and assumes, because she feels strongly about them (and, oh, this woman feels strongly as a rule), that it must be from God. At worst, she’s a liar. Frankly, I recommend steering clear of people who attribute their ideas to divine revelation and liars. Life’s easier that way, ya know?

Beth Moore Is Woke

Simply put, “woke” suggests a hyper-awareness of social injustices. I would add injustices either real or perceived. Beth Moore is woke as we clearly see in the “what we believe” section of her website, but I sort of get it. She has a history of sexual abuse, and I am happy to see that she has taken that awful story in her life and used it to create awareness. To fight against it. We should never belittle any person’s experience with that trauma, let alone a person who is brave enough to speak out against it. On the other hand, we can’t give them carte blanche to make any claim about anything without some level of scrutiny.

Feminism

For example, Moore penned a letter in 2018 calling out the sexism and misogyny in the Church. She has a lot of vagueness in her accounts partly because there’s no firm definitions to words like “misogyny” and “objectification.” What does she mean? The letter certainly contains some concerning accounts. I, without a shadow of a doubt, know there are individual men in every sphere of life (churches included) that are just gross. Or worse. Much worse. Look no further than me if you’d like some stories. But, in fairness, she does come to the scene with a heavy bias.

Beth Moore appears to see the world through feminist glasses. She, perhaps from her background with abuse, seems to view everything with a tint of victimhood. Maybe, in part, it’s due to the fact that she is often called to task for unbiblical teaching. That might make her feel victimized. The mere fact that she is often surrounded by men in positions of authority may have affected how she sees things. Additionally, some of her critics are overly harsh and land some low blows.

Possibly, she is catching a nasty vibe from groups of men in ministry when she shoehorns herself in where, according to God’s Word, she doesn’t belong. Is she seeing misogyny where, in fact, men’s discernment about her is present?

Critical Race Theory

In addition to her modern-day feminism, she is also in favor of Critical Race Theory (CRT). If you aren’t familiar, study up. It’s coming to a church near you. CRT pits the races against one another. It’s a worldview that sees each race of people in competition with the others. So, for one group to be successful (or winning) the others must be held back (or losing). You might recognize this theory as the groundwork for all the white guilt being tossed around, and for the “mental giants” thrust upon us like Robin DiAngelo. Who’s she? Oh, just a white woman who wrote the book White Fragility to tell the white community what people of color need, want, and experience. Take a moment and let that irony set in.

CRT is simply not compatible with the gospel. No, I’m not promoting racism or white superiority. I’m not even suggesting that churches ignore racism. It has no place in society, least of all in churches. We stand EQUAL at the cross. The color of my skin, his skin, her skin, etc. make no eternal difference, and it should make no earthly difference, either.

We can’t fix racism by legislating people or swapping who has the power in society. Racism has one fix. Jesus Christ. The heart of man cannot change without salvation through the Lord. So, no, I won’t be supporting a Bible teacher who promotes a divisive and anti-gospel worldview. Nor should you.

To read more on CRT, read my post called Christian, It’s Time To Reject Critical Race Theory.

Why Did The SBC Keep Her?

Considering all the concerns involved with Beth Moore, it is a little concerning that the SBC didn’t boot her out before she could stomp out with her charming Southern accent and fashionable heels. I believe the answer lies with LifeWay.

LifeWay is the publishing arm of the SBC. Bible studies, books, digital media, events, and more are sold through this company. Here lies the main problem with yoking churches to a store. Money. Stores want it. Publishers want it. Churches want it. And Beth Moore, for LifeWay, was a walking blank check.

Somewhere along the line LifeWay saw that women flocked to Moore. She was the SBC darling because she kept women in the Southern Baptist churches and books flying off the LifeWay shelves. Because of her success LifeWay now has several prominent female speakers and authors that are following in the Beth Moore mold. Be relatable. Have charisma. Tell jokes. So. Much. Passion. Women eat this up.

The SBC should have seen what was happening. They may have, but how do you admonish a woman who has so much sway over the ladies in your churches and over the sales from your publisher? Thanks to the SBC’s lack of discernment or cowardice (you decide), not only have countless women been pulled in by this false teacher, but now they crave that kind of teaching.

They crave Moore’s enthusiasm paired with proof texted messages. They want anecdotes and incorrectly taught Scripture with a message that makes them feel good. I fear the damage is beyond repair. Try telling Beth Moore fans about some of the issues with her teaching, and they will fight you to the death about how she has changed their lives and how wonderful a woman Moore is. It would be novel to see that kind of passion about Jesus, you know?

Final Thought

You’re not a bad person if you have followed Beth Moore, but it’s time to step away. It has been time. Let her exit from accountability and conservative headship be the warning you needed.

Encourage your pastors to take an interest in what the women’s ministries are doing in their churches. Too many pastors just brush off what the women are studying. It’s not a benign issue! Maybe even encourage women to drop the books for awhile and study the Bible, itself. Every Christian ought to do that anyway. Let’s remind each other that we are able to read and understand Scripture as well as men. We don’t need another flower-covered book talking about being a mom and cooking (though, those have their place). We need the WHOLE Bible, not just the bits about women.

Lastly, don’t forget about Beth Moore. She needs our prayers. She has spent 40+ years in ministry with people getting rich off her work. They refrained from disciplining her and permitted teachings and behaviors they knew were unbiblical. She ministered unchecked and unchallenged. She was encouraged. No one suffers more from Beth Moore than herself, and the SBC holds a great deal of guilt for it.

Image courtesy of Hannah Busing via Unsplash.