For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. -- 1Corinthians 14: 33-35 (ESV)
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. -- 1Timothy 2: 11-14 (ESV)
It seems a great portion of the church has been distracted over the past week regarding the open letter written by Beth Moore regarding poor treatment she feels she has received over her career as a pastrix. I can only assume motivated by the women's liberation "me too" movement, Moore tries to drag Evangelical Christianity through the same mud. Now let me be clear. No man should abuse his position of power on anyone. To do so is certainly not Christian nor Christ-like. It should not be tolerated because it violates how we are taught to treat one another. That said, it appears amidst the egg shell walking and political correctness that has seeped into the church that people are avoiding the real subject here. Once we get past the obvious truth about treating each other with dignity we are left with two glaring unaddressed problems. The first is that Beth Moore should not be teaching in the body of Christ because God forbids it and secondly, she should be rebuked and marked for she is a false teacher poisoning the body of Christ.
Beloved there is a movement afoot to ignore the Word of God or twist it beyond recognition to allow what we know the Bible plainly disallows. We need to be clear here because one of the tactics often used by the other side of the argument is to muddy the waters and argue things no one would disagree about. The Bible teaches that women are not to teach/preach within the church in authority over men. That is found in the two separate scripture references above. These are what are known as clear instructive scriptures. There is no ambiguity at all in what is being said and they give direction to their listeners and to us today. I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Not only is that clear but God provides His reasoning! Because Adam was formed first and Eve was the one who was deceived and became a transgressor. In the face of such blatant and crystal clear Scriptural instruction, one would not expect much resistance but you would be wrong. Very briefly, let me respond to the usual canned talking points from the Christo-feminism camp:
* Paul hates women -- or some variation of this argument. Essentially that since both verses were written by Paul, he must have had a personal issue with women. This argument is of course eviscerated by our belief in divine inspiration. Paul did not write his books, God did.
* Cultural arguments -- these essentially posit that at the time of the writing, the role of women was vastly different than today. While this is true, the Bible transcends all time and culture and remains unchanged and unflinching. Think about the Pandora's Box you open by saying culture defines biblical truth.
* The "look at all these other women" arguments -- this is where the Bible is usually mangled to try and desperately prove that women should be allowed to do what the Bible says they cannot. We are often shown plenty of female prophetesses and co-laborers to which I say Hallelujah! No one is saying a women cannot prophesy because when one does they do so under the authority of God Himself! No one is saying they cannot co-labor for the kingdom. They just cannot preach or teach men as an authority within the church. In the entire 6000 + years of the Bible there is only one example of a woman holding authority over a man and that is Deborah. She should be celebrated. She should be remembered. She should be used as an example of anything other than an outlier. You have two directive Scriptures in your hand and we do not toss them aside for a one time historical fact in a 6000 year history.
When you properly deal with these objections you are left with the clear direction provided by God for these matters. Beth Moore should never have been given the platform she has enjoyed for several decades now. A platform that has seen her preach around the world and earn an estimated net worth of 15 million dollars. The second problem however with Beth is more serious in that she is a false teacher as well. Here are the particulars:
* Direct Revelation -- Beth Moore is constantly claiming direct revelation from God. This is not uncommon for false teachers as this allows their claims to go unchallenged by many because by claiming direct revelation you are in fact elevating your teaching to the same level as Scripture. Not to mention in the case of Beth Moore one must ask if God were really speaking to her why wouldn't he first tell her to stop violating His Word by exercising authority in preaching and teaching over men? When confronted, she denies elevating special revelation to Scripture but what are listeners left to think.
* Running With the Wolf-Pack -- the company you keep does matter. I constantly bring up Dr. Michael Brown for the people he insists are brothers and sisters in Christ but are obviously voracious wolves and the same applies for Beth Moore. Now I understand the desire to link up with other female preachers so you can feel better about your disobedience but the result is aligning yourself with more people who are false by definition. When you are so closely in league with Victoria Osteen, Joyce Meyer and Christine Caine it is no wonder you do not bother discerning about preaching at Lakewood, Hillsong, or IHOP. Beloved, please do not miss this point. There is only way to heaven and it is narrow with few finding it. The Bible says we are either gathering people to Christ or scattering them away. There is a reason why the Bible urges us to mark those that cause division through false doctrine and have nothing to do with them. This is the error Michael Brown never sees and maybe the same applies to Beth Moore. There is plenty that Moore preaches that is correct but that only serves to make her more dangerous.
* CARM diagnoses -- the Christian Apologetics site has a terrific breakdown of the errors in exegesis as well as some of the more disturbing teachings she has embraced such as contemplative prayer and ecumenicalism. She actually claims a direct word from God that was about unifying with false denominations and doctrines.
Beloved, it is things like this that never bring us joy. It certainly seems as if Beth Moore is genuine in her belief that what she is doing is being directed by God but so much screams the opposite. Her entire role is prohibited by scripture and even if you take umbrage with that one needs to only look at who she openly embraces to know that she is false. Even if after all of that you remain unconvinced then look at her extra biblical teachings and claims of direct revelation from God along with her doctrinal errors that are significant. She is a false teacher who should be avoided at all costs. If she has genuinely faced poor treatment from men within the structured church system that is most unfortunate but the larger issue remains that she should not be in the position to even be treated that way. The larger issue has to be the sheep that are being led astray.
In the real church of Jesus Christ there is neither time nor need for a "me too" movement. Women are to be loved as Christ loved the church. Respected as equals within the body of Christ. God has allowed women the same roles as men with one exception and that is preaching/teaching with authority over men within the church system. Even though He did not have to, God even gave us His reason. Yet for many that reason is not good enough and Satan holds out that fruit to Eve over and over again and says, surely God did not say?
Yes my sisters in Christ He did. He most certainly did.
Rev. Anthony.
