Beth Moore Goes Off Like a Bottle Rocket

Yesterday, Beth Moore went "off like a bottle rocket." Her words. What was the thing that set her off? An article by Dr. Owen Strachan of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in which he argued from Scripture that God has appointed men to be the overseers of the preaching and teaching in the church, a role He has not granted to women.

Pastors are to be men—tested, approved, and qualified according to Scripture. The Spirit of God is clear that women are not to have teaching authority over the men in the church (1 Timothy 2:11-12) pointing to the order of creation (v.13-14) and the Law (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). This applies to all people, in all cultures, at all times.

Lest that develop into any feelings of superiority, to be a pastor is to be a servant. In fact, it's to be a servant of servants. Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all" (Mark 9:35). Again, He said, "If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you" (John 13:14-15). As He said to Peter, "Feed my sheep" (John 22:17).

This is not a fight for the best seat at the table. A pastor must serve. The primary role in that service is to oversee the preaching and teaching in the church. Of course, all men and women in the church are called to serve. Women can even teach. Get this: they are commanded to teach! (See Titus 2:3-5.) But that doesn't mean you hand them the pulpit. God has ordained specifically men for the role of pastor. On this point the Bible is unequivocally clear—from creation to Law to living in the new covenant.

Oh, but Beth Moore will have none of that. In a response to Dr. Strachan on Twitter of all places, Mrs. Moore openly stated the following:

Owen, I am going to say this with as much respect & as much self restraint as I can possibly muster. I would be terrified to be a woman you’d approve of. And I would have wasted 40 years of my life encouraging women to come to know and love Jesus through the study of Scripture.

One wonders what she would have said if she wasn't exercising self-restraint! Beth Moore is "terrified to be a woman you'd approve of." What an insult to Dr. Strachan's wife. Contrary to Beth's overreaction, Dr. Strachan was not telling Mrs. Moore women can't teach women. Strachan would praise such an effort (if what Beth Moore was teaching was actually sound doctrine). He was saying what the Bible says: women can't be pastors teaching in the congregation of the church proper.

Like I said, Beth went off like bottle rocket, and there was an overflow of comments beyond that one. To Mike Cosper of Harbor Media, she said:

Mike, I've been so grossed out. Tell you this, brother. If each of us were more attentive to applying the Scriptures to ourselves than others, revival would break out. Furthermore, when a man's life verse appears to be one of the submission of women, I'm throwing up in my mouth.

Beth is "grossed out"? As if Dr. Strachan is some kind of pervert? So much for all that self-restraint she was exercising. She said, "If each of us were more attentive to applying the Scriptures to ourselves than others." Oh, the irony. Everyone else has to apply the Scriptures to themselves, but she doesn't have to apply it to herself.

By the way, in case I forgot to tell you, Beth Moore is preaching in front of her church congregation this Sunday. To a concerned supporter who asked Beth if her ego was getting in the way, Beth replied:

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.

As Michelle Lesley pointed out, "This is like saying, 'I've only committed adultery or lied or coveted or slandered or murdered or gotten drunk 15 times in 40 years.' This is sin. And we don't boast about how few times we've sinned and how obedient we are for it, we grieve over how many times we've sinned, and we repent!"

Further in her rocket rant, Beth said to Marty Duren at Lifeway:

Marty, I need to know, what do some of these dudes propose that single women and childless women who love Jesus with all their hearts and want to serve him ought to do with their lives?

Hysterically, Beth argued that single Christian women have nothing to do if they're not allowed to become pastors. Beth reiterated again that she's about to spew:

I am nauseated. I need to see their wives in their head coverings and I don't want to see any jewelry on them either or make up or any braided hair on their daughters and I want to see these men praying, lifting up holy hands. And I need them to pray for my heart as they do.

And she's a Bible teacher? That terrible exegesis alone would be enough to disqualify her. I said in a recent video that Beth makes the Bible about you. Well, I'd like to take that back—apparently she makes it about herself. If you think I can't be a pastor, she says, you better be making your wife wear head coverings and don't let your daughter braid her hair. You take the Bible too literally, and that makes you a pharisee. She said:

Marty. No kidding. Honestly, the blind spots are outrageous. This is the very thing, precisely the same thing, Jesus called out in the Pharisees. Meticulous attention to the letter of the law to protect self interest.

So a moment ago, we needed to be more attentive to applying the Scriptures to ourselves. Now meticulous attention to Scripture is Pharisaical. Which is it? The problem with the Pharisees wasn't "meticulous attention to the letter of the law." They didn't understand the law and added to the law. Again, how does anyone consider this woman a credible Bible teacher?

The only correct thing she said in her online rant yesterday was that she was going off like a bottle rocket. She's just whipping through the air with no direction or grounding. Dr. Strachan based his teaching on Scripture, in a gentle and loving manner. Beth Moore responded like a petulant teenage girl putting her finger down her throat and making throw-up sounds. Accusing Dr. Strachan or anyone else who believes as he believes that they're only trying "to protect self-interest" is slander. She's claiming she knows their motivation, and it's not a deep love for the word of Christ.

As for protecting self-interest, Beth again needs to examine herself. She's one of the most bankable evangelical women celebrities. Joyce Meyer and Victoria Osteen might be the only names bigger than hers. Beth has her brand to protect. Between her and Dr. Strachan, she's got way more to lose and was definitely more unsettled, considering how "terrified," "grossed out," and "nauseated" she became. The reason Beth is terrified might be because she knows she's deliberately disobeying God.

The Apostle John wrote, "God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love" (1 John 4:16-18).

Abiding in God means that we abide in His word. Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32). He said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments... If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples" (John 14:15, 15:7-8).

Is Beth "terrified" because she knows that she is not abiding in the word of Christ, a twister of the word to serve her own self-interests? I suggest she examine herself and repent, lest something worse happen to her than an article by a seminary professor. In the meantime, Beth Moore has fully revealed herself to be in opposition to God's word. Of teachers who stray from sound doctrine, the Spirit warns:

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. (1 Timothy 6:3-5)

Apply this passage this way: Avoid teachers that go off like bottle rockets.

Extra resources:
Why Your Pastor Should Say No More to Beth Moore by Josh Buice
Why We Still Warn Against Beth Moore by Justin Bullington
Should Women Preach in Church? (video) by Albert Mohler 

Edit: The "Mother's Day" tweet and Michelle Lesley's follow-up comment were a later edition not included in the first draft of this blog.

RIP RHE

Regarding the passing of Rachel Held Evans, I express my deepest sympathies to her family and anyone else whose heart is broken over her death. Mine is, too. I cannot imagine how devastating this is to such a young family. As her husband, Dan, said, "This entire experience is surreal. I keep hoping it's a nightmare from which I'll awake."

I prayed for her while she was in a coma. Alone in my church, I walked up and down the center aisle of the sanctuary asking God to heal her, physically and spiritually. My wife and I heard about her passing before 8:00 Saturday morning, hours before the news broke to the public. I relayed the message privately to a few people, and made the decision not to say anything else outside of members of my congregation.

However, some have recognized that the last rant Mrs. Evans made on social media was in regards to a video I had made. I've been contacted and asked if I'd like to respond (I'm also still receiving scathing criticism from her followers). I had prepared a response weeks ago, but once Mrs. Evans went into the hospital, I decided the timing wasn't appropriate. I'm breaking my self-imposed moratorium to say there will be time for that later. I will wait until next month to share what I was going to share when Mrs. Evans first rebuffed my video.

For now, I'm asking that the saints join with me in prayer. Pray for Rachel's family. I pray that the gospel comes to them and the peace of God through Christ Jesus our Lord will fill their hearts. I also ask that you pray for the many fans of hers mourning the loss of such an influential figure. Pray that in their grief, the gospel will also come to them, and they will repent of their sin and live.

Evans taught many damning and dangerous doctrines and doings—things that will keep a person from the kingdom of God. Some will think of me as acting inappropriately for saying so. "Can't we just set our doctrinal differences aside and weep with those who weep?" they are saying. I tell you we should never set our doctrinal differences aside. Hold fast to the truth always—especially in grief. Pray for all, including those who hate the truth that they will repent.

Over the weekend, Rachel Held Evans' followers have been thanking her, in memoriam, for encouraging them to be gay, feminist, a woman pastor, to worship a female version of God, to not feel guilty about voting for a woman's right to choose abortion, to celebrate doubt, and to cut essential doctrines out of the Christian faith. What she taught in life, she's being celebrated for in death. And yet we who know the truth are expected to remain silent about the danger they are in? We're supposed to hide our light under a bushel until—when, exactly?

Someone might say, "Well, you can just pray quietly and not have to make a public statement about it." How as a pastor am I to shepherd the flock of God without instruction? (I did speak about these things with my congregation yesterday before coming to a blog post today.) Among the qualifications of a pastor, he is to "hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it" (Titus 1:9).

Someone might say, "Well, Jesus rebuked those who pray publicly, so keep it private." He rebuked those whose motivation was to be seen by others, not that prayer should never be public. The Spirit says to pray for everyone in every place, and men should lead lifting holy hands (1 Timothy 2:1, 8). I'm not trying to score theological points with anyone. Do you know the heat I took when I first said to her followers that if they truly cared for Rachel's well-being, they should repent of their sin lest the Lord ignore their prayers (Psalm 66:18)? Some prominent figures who fancy themselves preachers called my appeal "antichrist."

I desire that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. Galatians 1:10 says, "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." Ezekiel 18:23 says, "Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?"

Never at any point have I issued a condemnation of Mrs. Evans' soul. Perhaps in the depths of her coma, she was conscious enough that the Lord granted her a thief-on-the-cross moment. Perhaps she realized, "I am receiving the due reward of my deeds," and she was able to cry out, "Jesus, remember me!" (Luke 23:41-42). Friends, I want that ending for Rachel. I have never wanted anything else for her but that.

I have wept with those who are weeping. It is with tears that I tell you to repent. Hebrews 12:14 says, "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." With the pursuit of holiness comes the call of our Lord Christ to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15). I love you too much not to say, "Repent, or you will likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).

Pray for peace for Rachel's family, and pray for repentance for her fans. May the Lord show mercy to Rachel Held Evans, and may she rest in peace.