Wednesday, November 6, 2019

John MacArthur, Beth Moore, & Truth Matters

Not long ago, a number of people criticized John MacArthur after the Truth Matters Conference due to his saying "Go home" as a first short response to "Beth Moore" in a word association Todd Friel did during a Q & A time.
John later made the point that women are not qualified to teach church (the Scripture proves him right).

"I think the church is caving in to women preachers." - John MacArthur

Beth Moore has actually taught once or twice at churches on a Sunday morning, so she has gone even further than she had in the past.

Here are just some of the issues and observations I have with Beth Moore:

She does not accurately handle the Scriptures.

She has connected herself with known false teachers.

I saw a video once where she included Roman Catholics as another denomination.
(Perhaps she just has not been taught well, but should someone not taught well be teaching lots of women?)

She also has taught contemplative prayer (which is not Biblical) and often claims the Lord told her things (although she hasn't heard Him audibly).

She does not respond kindly to questioning or attempts to correct her.

She does need to stop teaching and to start listening to some sound Biblical teaching.

Back to the Q & A topic:

Being good at speaking doesn't qualify one as a Bible teacher or church leader.
Not even all men are qualified (1 Timothy 3 & Titus 1).

Paula White was also mentioned in the segment of the Q & A, and so it went on from just being about one person.  CRT infiltrating the church (esp. Southern Baptists) was also brought up.

Some people in response to what they saw online about the conference have made wrongful assumptions about the hearts & motives of the speakers and hearers and simply want to judge their impression of the "tone."
Some don't even seem to know the context at all, and have made erroneous conclusions entirely.
Others probably didn't watch most of the conference. 
I wish they had!
Sadly, Beth has not heeded the concerns of many (even some I know of who used soft words).
In the Bible, those who led others astray were warned about quite strongly.

Sure, giving such a short simple answer in the word association amused the people listening, but that wasn't about mean-spiritedness.  I thought it was fairly mild of John.  Phil was a little stronger, but we shouldn't minimize the harm of wrong teaching.
He had previously given a mild critique of what she had taught.
There was serious talk and pointing out of truth in the answers in that segment of the Q & A alone, and the problems going on today mentioned went beyond Beth Moore.
Christians don't have to have people be too soft when trying to protect the sheep, but John MacArthur was not what I would call harsh...just simple and to the point.  His comments were more about the qualification issue.

John MacArthur gave a further explanation on women's role in the church from Scripture on Nov. 3, 2019 at Grace Community Church.
The title was:
"Does the Bible Permit a Woman to Preach?" 
He used OT and NT texts.
The primary text was 1 Cor. 14:33-28.
You should be able to hear for yourself a more comprehensive Biblical explanation of what John was trying to say.
UPDATE:  Click HERE for the message link or HERE for the video.

The taking over of pulpits and preaching by those the Scripture strictly forbids to do it is a serious problem, and trying to put popular cultural theories and practices in the church is a corruption that is destructive.

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