The first was my attendance at a Beth Moore Living Proof Conference. Two pivotal events caused me to snap out of my funk as a Beth Moore groupie. I can’t say there was any false teaching in the study, but, the videos time and time again just left me walking away wishing I was more spiritual and as close to God as Beth. (I believe this is the study where she talked about her vision from God the one where she lumped in Roman Catholics with Protestant denominations.) Where was my brain? Why did no one in my women’s bible study groups ever ask the question, “Did God really speak to her like that?” After doing her online study, I went on to facilitate her Fruit of the Spirit study. I wore the blue bracelet she told the participants to wear. On my own, I completed the Believing God online study. Being the wife of a wonderful, yet undemonstrative husband, that made me cry I just loved Beth for “teaching” us that. Beth said Jesus would look at us and tell us we were beautiful. “Well, that’s different,” I thought, “but cool!” In one study she talked about how Jesus was our Prince and we were his princesses. For example, she would pray while walking around with her eyes open. But that’s awesome!!”īoth Moore broke conventions. “Wow,” I thought, “God talks to her like that? He calls her ‘girlfriend’? I’ve never heard of such a thing. I didn’t question it, but it stood out to me. I also remember, very clearly, that Moore often talked about the direct revelation she received from God. I do remember, though, that I never questioned a word Beth Moore said. Honestly, to this day, I cannot remember much about its scriptural content or the scriptural content of any other Beth Moore study in which I participated. The first Beth Moore study I ever participated in was The Beloved Disciple. So, I eschewed inductive Bible study in favor of the Beth Moore route. Her Bible studies had videos and other such resources. Beth Moore, on the other hand, seemed a lot more fun. For a fun-loving person like me, Precept studies sounded boring. My friend who enjoyed Precept Study found Beth Moore annoying. Some of my friends loved her yet, my best friend told me that she preferred Precept Ministries-style inductive Bible Study. “Who is this Beth Moore person?” I wondered. At that point, everything faith-wise was still “Kumbaya” in my mind. It was there that I was introduced to Beth Moore. When I left my parent’s household and began a family of my own (in addition to a loving husband, I have two daughters), I became involved with the women’s bible study at my local Baptist church. Basically, if someone said she believed in Jesus, I believed her and trusted her.
I never knew there was anything like false conversions or that Roman Catholic doctrine was not true Christian doctrine. I can say that, growing up, I never questioned anyone who said they were a Christian. I attended a Baptist church at a minimum of three times a week and I really loved that lifestyle. My father was a Minister of Music for basically all of my formative years. I was granted faith in Christ at an early age and baptized as a middle-schooler. I often joke that I have been attending church since I was a twinkle in my father’s eye. I am truly blessed to have been raised by godly parents and grandparents. In times past, my husband lovingly and correctly labeled me a “spineless jellyfish.” Thankfully, I grew up in solid churches and cannot think of any false teaching or heresy to which I was exposed. By nature, I hate confrontation and seek to avoid it at all costs. Like many other lifelong Christian women, I grew up extremely trusting and non-questioning. I have gone from completely undiscerning and unquestioning to something so much better, yet so much harder for me. In this guest post, JoAnne Elizabeth of Vancouver, WA recounts her experience of going from Beth Moore Groupie to warning every woman she knows to stay far, far away from Beth Moore.
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