Beth Moore: a type of false prophetess of the church at Thyatira?

By Elizabeth Prata

I want to explore several concepts from scripture as they relate to prophecy and the church today. The main word to take from this essay is "TYPE."

The first concept is the type of churches depicted in the seven letters to seven churches as we read in Revelation 2-3.

These were actual churches that actually existed, had actual congregations and actual praise and condemnation from Jesus. These churches are each also a type of church that existed and still exists throughout the Church Age.

And now the main theme of this essay, the type of False Prophetess of Thyatira. There was an actual woman Jesus condemned who was corrupting the church at Thyatira. However we know from the previous examples that though there was an actual false prophetess corrupting the church at Thyatira, there will be again a type of false prophetess who corrupts the church.

Jesus's letter regarding Thyatira was the longest of the seven. It enumerates a number of issues with that church, however I'll focus on the teachings of the false prophetess who was corrupting the sheep.

Church at Thyatira

Thomas Allom's "Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia"

Here is the text:

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. 

“Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’  Revelation 2:18-29)

This church was tolerating sin and idolatry (also sexual immorality). Worse, it was tolerating a woman teacher who was promoting idolatry and not only were they tolerating it, but she had risen to such a point of prominence so that Jesus called her "Jezebel" (who was a queen who led the people into idolatry and immorality). Now, it should be noted that this corruption was coming from a woman who was teaching the brethren, not from an outside influence. She was regarded as a sister in the faith. A prominent sister. So much so that she was given to teach and had gathered quite a few around her who were followers of her false teaching. And the rest were tolerating it.

God wants a pure church. He wants Jesus to have a holy and virginal bride, and toleration of idolatry and false teaching is the opposite of that. This church at Thyatira was mightily besmirched.

Charles Eerdman (1866-1960) wrote a summary of the churches in The Revelation of John: an exposition. Speaking of "the case of the church at Thyatira, as of the churches in Sardis and Laodicea, the situation was far more serious. Here not merely a small minority was indifferent but large numbers had actually yielded to the demoralizing influence of false teaching, and I might add of sin."

However, to complicate matters, the verse in Rev. 2:19 says "as for your works, the last are more than the first." They were loving, working and doing more that they had at the first. This makes it incredibly hard to separate the sinful idolatry from the loving works. They were not loveless, but they were tolerating sin, which would eventually eat them up. It did. By the second century there was no church at Thyatira any more. It had died. So obviously loving works alone are not enough to carry a church through. There must be solid doctrine and discerning elders properly addressing false doctrine.

In Thyatira, they were tolerating a false teaching. They were accepting of a woman who had taken a place of leadership in teaching, she was even preaching and prophesying. The church congregation was tolerating the evils of idolatry. Though the verse above calls them out for eating foods sacrificed to idols, nowadays, we do not sacrifice food to idols. However the notion there was of spiritual adultery, and spiritual adultery is certainly an issue today.

Idol worship in the Bible days was worshiping a cut piece of wood or stone, imbuing it with certain godly properties etc. We don't bow down to idols and images these days. Instead we worship at the altar of the god of self. The current preaching of the false teachers in the church teach and preach not the bible through exegesis which is to take from the Word based on the Spirit's truths, but instead read one’s own life experiences into the text of Scripture, called eisegesis. Instead of drawing out Jesus from the text, we read ourselves into it. False teachers teach the need to make the Bible all about ourselves.

With all of the above said, and with the idea that a type of false prophetess will become prominent and corrupt the such into spiritual adultery, can you think of one woman who perhaps fits the type that is described in the Letter to Thyatira?

Beth Moore?

John MacArthur, in his sermon The Pathology of False Teachers, defines what false teaching IS: "It could be error about Christ, error about His lineage, error about His virgin birth. Someone who teaches contrary to the sinless perfection of Christ, contrary to His substitutionary atoning death on the cross, contrary to His resurrection, contrary to His miraculous life and works, His perfect teaching, His Second Coming, His high priestly ministry of intercession, His eternal reign, any of that. Anyone who teaches differently than that. It could be a denial of the authenticity of Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, the inerrancy of Scripture. It could be a denial of the work and ministry and person of the Holy Spirit as revealed on the pages of holy Scripture."

In Mrs Moore's case her falsity comes in "a denial of the authenticity of Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, the inerrancy of Scripture." If you are just reading for the first time that there are concerns with Mrs Moore's teachings, please note that I have many examples of these concerns on the sidebar to your right. Other bloggers have also listed their concerns here, here, here, and here. Personally, I state unequivocally that through spirit-led study and discernment that my proposal is she is currently Christianity's greatest counterfeit.

Her teaching denies the inspiration of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, the inerrancy of Scripture by inserting herself as another Authority by reception of divine revelation outside the Bible. She has been subtle. However, her false teaching is rapidly becoming more bold. She says that she hears God personally telling her to do things or to teach things, this is a denial of the authority of scripture when you receive direct revelation and teach it as authoritative. She said she was lifted up to another dimension to see the church from Jesus's perspective through Jesus's eyes and returned to tell what she saw. This is prophetess. She says a book was delivered to her heart in toto by God with a force as compelled to put ink on paper. This is spirit writing, an idolatry that consorts with the devil. More here.

All false teachers gather to themselves followers who exhibit excessive devotion. These followers defend their favored teacher almost violently. Many call themselves a "Beth Moore groupie." Traditionally, a groupie is a person who seeks emotional or other intimacy with a musician or other celebrity or public figure.

In Mrs Moore's case it is the emotional intimacy they seek, because Mrs Moore is a self-help guru using the Bible as a platform from which to read ourselves into the text for temporal help with astray emotions, rather than a sacred text to discern more about Jesus. In the groupie's mind they seek more intimacy with the false teacher than with Jesus. Any person who has become the substitution of adoration aside from Jesus is worshiping an idol.

The verse from 2 Timothy 4:3 applies best here: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears..." Let's unpack this phrase by phrase.

First, these ladies do not want sound doctrine. They have already rejected it.

No, Moore does not call herself a prophetess, but she acts in the prophetess role when she says she received a word from God audibly, directly, or through a vision and was 'told' to go out and speak it to the people. Defenders of Mrs Moore pick at points such as the aforementioned, but in looking at false teachers and the type of false prophetess described in the letter to Thyatira, we look at what they do, not just at what they say. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck.

I believe that Beth Moore is a type of false prophetess so deeply embedded in the body of the true church that her deep things of satan are corrupting it.

Meanwhile, Jesus said to those who do NOT hold to this false prophetess's teaching, this or any false teaching, I remind us of Jesus's words, "Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come."

Hold fast to the truth! He knows who does not fall to the deep things of satan, and has their reward in mind. One stays fast to the truth by continually studying the real thing, praying, and submitting to the Spirit's generous leading into discernment. If you know the real thing, then you can spot the counterfeit. Watch out for popular false prophetesses, and hold fast, Jesus is coming!