The largely pretending to be Protestant evangelical community continues its pilgrimage back to the legalistic spiritual bondage of apostate Roman Catholicism and its evil author the Church of Rome.

As an online apologetics and discernment work Apprising Ministries does what we can to document this woeful walk away from the truths recaptured during the Lord’s Reformation.

How sad He must be to see James Robison And Rick Warren Working To Reverse The Protestant Reformation. Bottom line is this: If sinful ecumenicists like Robison and Warren are right, then the Reformers were wrong.

Beyond question Southern Baptist Bible teacher Beth Moore still remains enormously popular within today’s anything goes evanjellyfish.

Not unlike charismatic megachurch pastors such as PDL Pope Rick Warren, Moore is also an SBC figure apparently receiving direct revelations from God. As I’ve been pointing out lately, this kind of thing is becoming a real problem in evangelicalism as virtually every other sentence or two out of the mouths of e.g. Rick Warren or Beth Moore is “God told me” this or “the Lord said” that to me.

The main point being, we’re finding ourselves heading right into the very type of neo-Gnosticism that so infected the theology of the Church of Rome that it would anathematize the very Gospel of Jesus Christ. This liver shiver theology, where doctrine is being decided by what someone feels God is saying rather than by what the Bible tells us God has said, has also given rise to attractional Prophet-Führers like Steven Furtick.

We’re reaching the point in the mainstream of the visible church where charismania is beginning to rule the day, which is going to lead to our having to deal with dueling revelations. Oddly enough, the Southern Baptist Convention, which seems to stand for Slowly Becoming Catholic (SBC) is said to frown upon charismatic practices; but I guess they’re okay as long as someone isn’t a Calvinist. I mean we can’t have that.

Yet aside from Warren and Moore in the SBC, for example, there’s the neo-Gnostic Henry Blackaby. His mysticism-lite Experiencing God mythology has attained near Scripture-like status within. This is another area where the SBC Idol of Autonomy comes in so handy; leaders simply hide behind it and say nothing. Some talk about how autonomy of the local church stops when proper Biblical doctrine is violated, but that’s all it is.

At this point I remind you again that the work of Beth Moore has received quite a boost from the aforementioned ecumenicist James Robison. Every Wednesday she appears on Robison’s LIFE Today—TV program in a segment entitled Wednesdays With Beth. Right now that website is “getting a makeover” so the segments are currently found at LightSource:

(Online source)

What is the concern here is the book that Beth Moore recommends for her followers this past Wednesday December 14, 2011:

You may also find it interesting to know that Jesus Calling (JC) by Sarah Young, which is said to be “Devotions for Every Day of the Year,” is published by Thomas Nelson publishing:

(Online source)

As I pointed out previously, in the case of Beth Moore and JC, this is not a matter of guilt-by-association, this is guilt-by-endorsement. Moore is absolutely recommending Sarah Young who is herself making the clear claim that she has received direct revelation from God and Jesus; though in a postmodern fashion she insists it’s really not. It kind of depends what audience she’s speaking with and the direction of the theological winds.

For example, Young tells us in her Introduction:

I began seeking God’s Presence in earnest. My days started alone with God, equipped with Bible, devotional book, prayer journal, pen, and coffee. As I waited in His Presence, God began to reveal Himself to me.[1]

You hear that type of language in charismatic and mystic circles, which are now overlapping with the spread of neo-Gnostic so-called “spiritual disciplines” of Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) under the guise of supposed Spiritual Formation. However, this is a form of divination, the occult; it is the attempt to gain knowledge of God outside of the Bible, a means of grace He has prescribed as the way to come to Him.

Beth Moore is on record below including herself among those who practice the crown jewel of CSM; a form of meditation in an altered state of consciousness commonly known as Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP):

In fact, CSM and CCP are the same practices employed by apostate Roman Catholic mystics. It’s a very dangerous thing to do because God reveals the only means by which we can legitimately come to Him; and so-called “listening” isn’t part of them. With this in mind, some time ago CBN ran Q & A with Sarah Young where she’s asked how she learned “to ‘dialogue’ with God?”

Her answer should disturb you:

My journey began with a devotional book (God Calling) written in the 1930’s by two women who practiced waiting in God’s Presence, writing the messages they received as they “listened.” About a year after I started reading this book, I began to wonder if I too could receive  messages during my times of communing with God. (Online source)

There’s nowhere in the Bible that we’re taught about waiting in God’s Presence in order to write personal messages we allegedly receive from God. The lives of the writers of inspired Scripture are not normative for the Christian. In fact, this all begins to sound like what’s known as occultic automatic wriitng; and yet, Young still tells us “this little paperback became a treasure to me.”[2]

However, these two women listeners tell us they were personally receiving direct revelations from God Himself to instruct them, unlike us mere mortals who go to Scripture:

with my friend a very wonderful thing happened.  From the first, beautiful messages were given to her from the Lord Himself, and every day from then these messages have never failed us.

We felt all unworthy and overwhelmed by the wonder of it, and could hardly realize that we were being taught, trained and encouraged day by day by Him personally, when millions of souls who are  far worthier, had to be content with guidance from the Bible, sermons, their Churches, books and other sources.[3]

As you can plainly see, they do claim divine inspiration for their writings; and like her listening mentors, so does Sarah Young. CBN asks her how “awkward was it initially to begin a ‘dialogue” with God?” Young replies:

It felt a little awkward the first time I tried it, but I did receive a short message… at that point my journaling changed from monologue to dialogue. Day by day, messages began to flow more freely. This new way of communicating with God became the high point of my day.
(Online source)

Now she realizes she’s describing divine inspiration for her messages so Young tries to add this caveat, “I knew that my writings were not inspired (as only Scripture is).” But she can’t have it both ways; when God speaks, it is Scripture. Or are we supposed to believe He also speaks non-authoritatively. Here the following from my friend Dr. Gary Gilley will prove helpful when he tells us people like Sarah Young:

would claim that while they believe that God speaks to His people apart from the Bible today, that these revelations are not on par with Scripture. That is, God speaks today but not with the same authority as He did in His Word. So do not accuse us of adding to Scripture, they would say.

Interestingly enough, this brings up another issue. We find in the Bible that God did speak, either orally (including through His prophets) or through the written Word, but in both ways — always, His Word is authoritative. It was nothing less than a word from God — one that must be obeyed and heeded! (Online source, emphasis his)

Like I said before, that supposedly conservative Southern Baptist Bible teacher Beth Moore would recommend her readers buy this book by Sarah Young ought to be cause for serious concern about her discernment. In his review of Jesus Calling Tim Challies now gets to the heart of the matter concerning this kind of neo-Gnosticism of these supposedly superior listeners:

As I have spoken to others about the book, I’ve heard some people say that this book is written as if Jesus is speaking to the reader. But it’s important to know that Young makes a far more audacious claim—this is Jesus speaking, through her. The messages he has given her, she now passes on to us.

This is a very good time to pause and consider this claim. Sarah is claiming some kind of new revelation from God. She is saying that God speaks to her and that she then passes these messages to others. Immediately we need to ask what she believes about the Bible. Is she claiming that these messages are equal to Scripture? That they trump Scripture?…

Young begins to share those words of God as daily devotionals, saying “I have continued to receive personal messages from God as I meditate on Him. The more difficult my life circumstances, the more I need these encouraging directives from my Creator.”

James Montgomery Boice once said that the real battle in our times would not be the inerrancy or infallibility of Scripture, but its sufficiency—are we going to rely on the Bible or will we continually long for other revelation? In Jesus Calling we see this so clearly. Young teaches that though the Bible is inerrant and infallible, it is insufficient. It was not enough for her and, implicitly, she teaches that it cannot be enough for us…

Jesus Calling is, in its own way, a very dangerous book. Though the theology is largely sound enough, my great concern is that it teaches that hearing words directly from Jesus and then sharing these words with others is the normal Christian experience. In fact, it elevates this experience over all others. And this is a dangerous precedent to set. I see no reason that I would ever recommend this book. (Online source)

Again, quite obviously, Beth Moore does not agree with this sound Biblical position expressed by Tim Challies.

UPDATE: This also appears at the blog of Apprising Ministries special correspondent Erin Benziger with a comments section if you want to join in the discussion right here.

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End notes:

[1] Young, Sarah (2004-10-12). Jesus Calling: Seeking Peace in His Presence . Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Location 658).

[2] Ibid.

[3] A. J. Russell, ed., God Calling [Uhrichsville: Barbour Books, 1989], 10, emphasis mine.

See also:

BETH MOORE: GOD’S VISION FOR THE CHURCH INCLUDES THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH “DENOMINATION”

GOD SHOWS BETH MOORE A LITERAL VISION OF CHURCH IN THE DIMENSION JESUS SEES IT

HENRY BLACKABY “EXPERIENCING GOD”