(UPDATED) Here come the female prophetesses! Thanks a lot Henry Blackaby, Beth Moore, and continuationists

Update at bottom.
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Thanks Henry Blackaby.

Thanks Beth Moore.

Thanks, satan.

/sarcasm.
Lifetime television Network has ordered a docu-series about female preachers. This from TV Insider.
Lifetime is looking for an "Amen" with its new woman-preacher-focused docu-series. Preach follows four Ohio "Prophetesses" as they tend to their respective flocks, healing wounds both physical and psychic.

Prayers are about to be answered with Lifetime’s all-new docu-series Preach, premiering Friday, June 5th, at 10pm ET/PT. Produced by CORE Media Group, the show follows four powerful female leaders who believe God has given them the ability to heal the sick, see the future and rid people of their addictions. Known as “Prophetesses,” these women speak as interpreters through whom the will of God is expressed. In order for their legacy to continue, they must enlist protégés and teach them how to carry on their gift. These “Queens of the Church” each have different styles and their own special way of delivering God’s message, but all are united in their love of the Lord.

The Prophetesses and protégés featured are:

Belinda Scott (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) – Belinda considers herself a Major Prophetess who has given council to politicians and celebrities across the country. She has the ability to predict child birth and specializes in blessing the wombs of barren women. Belinda’s protégé, Hadassah Elder, grew up Muslim so adjusting to new life as a Christian protégé will have its challenges.

Taketa Williams (Columbus, Ohio) РTaketa has been called the "Beyonce of the Preaching World" and touts a global following. She trains her prot̩g̩ with a strict hand and isn't afraid to drop someone if they don't come up to her standards. Her prot̩g̩, Rebecca Hairston, is a single mother with three children.

Linda Roark (Trenton, Ohio) – Linda's specialty is delivering people from the street and bringing them to God. Known as the “Blue-Eyed Soul Sister,” she has been told that she "looks white but preaches black,” and is admired in African-American churches for her ability to roar and get the room standing on their feet. Linda’s protege, Angel Pound, had a rough start in life. A former drug addict who has now turned her life around, she is still haunted by a past that threatens her chances of becoming a Prophetess.

Kelly Crews (Cleveland, Ohio) – Kelly is Belinda’s former protégé who is now building a ministry of her own. The only single Prophetess in the group, she has trouble finding a man who can handle her gift. Kelly’s protégé, Stacey Williams, is newly married and pregnant and struggles with making her prophetic training a priority.
Back to Blackaby. In October 1990, Henry Blackaby and Claude T. King published a book called “Experiencing God.”

Here is the blurb:
“Revised and expanded, this classic study guides readers to experience a relationship with God through which they come to know and do His will by learning to recognize when He is speaking.”
Blackaby had opened the door to Mysticism and it swept the conservative churches like wildfire. His book, and Blackaby’s influence through it, cannot be underestimated. Lifeway published this in 2013:
Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, the best-selling LifeWay resource first released in 1990, was written by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. Experiencing God has touched and changed millions of lives and thousands of churches around the world. The workbook has sold more than 7 million copies, is available in more than 45 languages and has been used in almost every denomination.
They are even making a film about the impact this book has had.

Gary Gilley reviewed Blackaby’s book in three parts, examining Blackaby's misuse of scripture, his neo-Orthodoxy, and his mysticism. Experiencing God cannot to be consumed safely, brethren. Here is Gilley-

The appeal of Blackaby's ideas is that we can experience a deeper reality of the presence and voice of God. Unfortunately, Blackaby does not derive most of his thoughts from Scripture. ... Experiencing God is a book that is full of errors, biblically unsupportable assertions, incredible statements and story-theology (views based upon anecdotal accounts rather than upon Scripture).
Here are a few quotes about the emphasis Blackaby puts on experience over the Bible-

"Knowing God only comes through experience as he reveals Himself to me through my experiences with Him".
"If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience".
"If anything is clear from a reading of the Bible, this fact is clear: God speaks to His people...God does speak to His people, and you can anticipate that He will be speaking to you also."

However the impact of this door Blackaby cracked open led, for example, to Beth Moore's widening it with her prophesying. Just as Experiencing God was gaining traction, Beth Moore's rise to popularity began. Moore began to say "I believe" more and more often, rather than "scripture says." As time went on and she was not corrected for her own misuse of scripture, her neo-Orthodoxy, and her mysticism, she got bolder. Now Moore is flat-out prophesying, and her actions on stage or in church do not differ one bit from the ladies who are going to be featured in the upcoming docu-series. Except ... Moore is accepted by conservative circles (as areBlackaby's lessons on how to "listen to God").

Why do I say thanks Blackaby, thanks Moore? Because they opened the door to this continuationism that even the most conservative, evangelical corners of the faith are now accepting. Because two credible teachers with bona-fide credentials and the Southern Baptist Convention behind them, prophesied, taught prophesying, and continue to demonstrate prophesying. They normalized it. They were early mystics infiltrating the most conservative quarters. Were they the only people prophesying in the 1990s? No, but they were the most credible. The thought was, 'If it is OK for them to prophesy, receive direct revelation, if it's a normal Christian thing, then it must be all right, notwithstanding the nutcases flopping around on the floor over there in Charismania-land."

There are/were/will be three sets of spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit to the believers. One set are works kinds of gifts, the gifts of mercy and helps and administration, for example. Another set given are those involving words, such as preaching, teaching, and exhorting, for example. A third set were tongues, interpreting tongues, miracles, and prophesying. It is this third set that is under contention by continuationists vs. cessationists.

The group of people who say the SIGN gifts have ceased (and sign gifts only have ceased) do so based on the authority of scripture, explaining that these particular gifts were given to lay a foundation of the church through the apostles. Those gifts given were not in and of themselves for the body of believers for all time, but to authenticate the apostles' authority in having been sent by God. Even as the apostles were dying out, and the New Testament progressed, the "sign" gifts were ending. This was all explained in detail in the Strange Fire Conference held at Grace Community Church in fall of 2013.

Continuationists believe that the sign gifts have continued unabated since the first century church. They believe they are the same in quality and quantity as occurred when Peter raised his mother-in-law to life or when Paul healed the sick. And that they are going on now.

One of the charges that continuationists make is that the kind of prophesying Moore does is in line with the Bible, but that the kind of prophesying (and healing and tongues) that a Benny Hinn type does is not. That when a statement is made like Blackaby offers ("God told me"), it's simply one of a long line of continuing statements Jesus is continuing to make personally to those whom He chooses, but when a prophetess from Ohio lays hands and 'heals' a barren womb, it's not.

The only problem is, the barn door is either open or closed. Once you open the door to the notion that God is continuing to speak, you open the door to ALL of it. As Phil Johnson said, there is no safe zone regarding extra-biblical activity. All those who accepted Blackaby and Moore' sign giftings must now look in the mirror and see these 4 prophetesses and all their kind...and answer to scripture for "providing cover for aberrant people and movements in some of the most problematic districts of the charismatic community".

The continuationist- cessationist discussion aside, one would think it wold be obvious that the 4 prophetesses documented in the upcoming series are easily seen to be false. I used to think that it'd be obvious that a devotional claiming to be written in 1st person Jesus is false too, but Jesus Calling has been on the best seller list for ten years, so I take nothing for granted anymore in the discernment department.

So here it is: the women featured on the Preach docu-series ARE FALSE and in no way represent CHRISTIANITY. They are wolves come to get your money and destroy your faith. A side benefit for satan is that they tarnish the Christian faith altogether.

How can I say that? The Bible says women are not to preach.

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. (1 Timothy 2:12)

In listening to Alistair Begg last weekend he mentioned about the false teachers and prophets. This verse,

Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.  (Titus 1:11)

The phrase their mouths must be stopped is actually referring to a muzzle, like one puts on a dog, because false teachers are dogs and worse.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary: 
mouths … stopped—literally, "muzzled," "bridled" as an unruly beast (compare Ps 32:9).
subvert … houses—"overthrowing" their "faith" (2Ti 2:18). "They are the devil's levers by which he subverts the houses of God"
This is where unchecked mysticism gets us. The rampant Charismania won't stop with these four women, it didn't stop with Blackaby and Moore, after all. It will go on and get worse and worse.

Lord, please stop Belinda Scott's, Taketa Williams', Linda Roark's, and Kelly Crews' mouths.

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UPDATE

Between prayer and civic activism, it seems that Lifetime has canceled the show.

Controversial Lifetime Show 'Preach' Canceled After 15,000 People Sign Petition; Prophetess Reacts


Tachina Carter posted a petition on change.org. She said:
"The IMAGERY on this show is a TRAVESTY to the Christian Community. The women aka prophetesses are making a MOCKERY of the church and promoting foolish behavior that is not necessarily a true representation of the REAL power of God," noted Carter's petition. "Cameras do NOT belong in the church filming the 'spiritual' things that society as a whole does not understand. By airing this show it will cause more harm than good to the Christian community who already has a difficult time in sharing 'The Good News' of Jesus Christ to the masses."

"Prophetess" Belinda Scott reacts:

"... I watch hateful people who say they love the Lord, type like that FROG typing at that machine. ...TURN UP ON ‪#‎PREACHTV‬! A show that is not mocking the church, but exploring the lives of believers in the Church and hear me out first," Scott wrote. "The word reality is this: the state of being real, a real event or state of affairs, One, such as a person, an entity, or an event, that is actual. Now, do I hear from God? YES, did He call me to be a PROPHETESS. YES, have I and Do I hear God's voice concerning events, people and issues? YES! Did I see these attacks against us coming? YES! Is there a harvest on the way? YES!!!"

Yes there is a harvest. It will be very dire, bloody, and heartbreaking for the false prophets. And false prophetesses. Titus 1:10-11,

For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.

Comments

  1. Thanks again, Elizabeth, for clearly pointing out the difference between true and false. Your blog has helped me tremendously to see, spelled out, why I was having issues with the Beth Moore studies in which I used to participate. It was when I began to search out what was up with her teaching that I discovered your blog and I have appreciated the broad coverage of topics ever since.
    What a ridiculous program. It makes me curious as to what is going on out there but mostly very sad.
    Here is a question. I had a discussion with someone about a woman not being supposed to teach over a man and I was asked why I do not cover my head. What is the answer to this?
    Melissa

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    1. You're welcome Melissa.

      With the question that was posed t you, I'm sure you already know that question are usually only looking for reasons NOT to submit to the scriptures. We cold just as easily reply to them in asking if they eat meat sacrificed to idols of if her husband has long hair or not.

      But...since the Bible says to patiently instruct, here are three links which discuss the reasons that head coverings are mentioned. GotQuestions, Compelling Truth and John MacArthur.

      http://www.compellingtruth.org/head-coverings.html

      http://www.gotquestions.org/head-coverings.html

      http://www.gty.org/resources/bible-qna/BQ022713/head-coverings-for-women

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    2. I disagree with your sources in regards to head coverings. They refer back to cultural issues (which have no contextual bearing), claim that hair is possibly the covering spoken of, and continued repeating of questionable historical connections.

      Many years ago (1999) my family got involved with another family who were "whole hog" on women's head-coverings so I spent a couple months studying the issue. Five years ago I wrote a fairly short summary of my findings here:
      http://watchmansbagpipes.blogspot.com/2010/05/let-her-be-veiled.html

      A couple years ago Pastor David Phillips was researching the subject and found my blog, which led to some back and forth communication. He had come to pretty much the same conclusion I came to, but he wrote a much more in-depth study which I highly recommend:
      https://sites.google.com/site/coveredgloryheadcoverings/

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  2. Thank you for posting those links; I plan on reading them.
    In this particular instance, I think the person was asking an honest (ok, let's say half-honest) question bc the command for a woman not teaching over a man and the instruction to cover the head are both given in the New Testament and the person was wondering if both could be considered a cultural difference that we might not apply to today, like the braiding of the hair being associated w prostitution--unlike today, if someone's hair is braided it doesn't carry that connotation. I was being asked how I choose what to follow from these kinds of statements found in Scripture. The OT commands I understand more--now getting that sacrifices, etc., gave a picture of what was to be fulfilled by Jesus. If a woman would have taught a man back then, I'm sure the person would say, it would have been considered shocking in that culture but not so much today. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with the command to not teach over men. If that is what God expects, I am for submitting to it--and to covering my head, even, if that's required (!) but I haven't learned the difference on this one yet. I am sure that the links you gave me will bring clarity.

    Also, I met someone who is involved in the Hebrew Roots Movement recently. She said that Jesus never told people to stop celebrating the feasts, etc., so her family is attending a church that is observing these things now. It seems to go along with what we've been discussing. Maybe you have posted about this before or maybe it's something you could write about in the future. :)

    Melissa

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  3. Spiritual gifts is our topic for Sunday School this coming Sunday. The Scripture is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. We use the David C. Cook curriculum. The emphasis of the lesson is that the Spirit's gifts are for serving each other and building each other up so everyone in the Body of Christ will grow to maturity in the Lord.

    This is a study I'm still working through, myself. I don't believe this lesson brings up the cessationist/continuationist debate. I know some in my class would side with continuationists, because I've heard a fellow tell stories of other churches he's been in: "That church we were in, one man stood up, spoke in tongues, boom, as soon as he finished, another stood up and interpreted. I can't say that wasn't the Holy Spirit moving!" <---that's usually what I hear when the gifts talk arises.

    I'm going to try to stick to the lesson, and urge everyone to continue reading the 1 Corinthians letter so that they can see ALL that Paul has to say about Spiritual gifts.

    If I may, I ask for prayer for my church who seem to embrace the likes of Henry Blackaby and Beth Moore, but believe John MacArthur to be a false teacher.

    As for the women prophetesses, I pretty much just snorted through that whole read.

    Grace and peace in Christ Jesus!
    - Lesley

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  4. Oh my, they're all from Ohio. Thank God, I have a Bible believing, Bible preaching male pastor!

    Kim

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  5. P.S. Just read through those links and also linked to other posts about women not teaching over men. Very helpful. Thanks again, Melissa

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  6. Melissa,

    like the braiding of the hair being associated w prostitution--unlike today, if someone's hair is braided it doesn't carry that connotation

    From my studies I found no such thing about braiding of hair. The reference 1 Peter 3:3 makes to braided hair does not forbid it, rather he just says don't let all the external adornments be one's beauty. From my studies, wealthier women did most of the braiding, and would often have bright materials braided into the hair. Since adornment was considered as enhancing beauty, most probably prostitutes would also braid their hair and wear jewelry, but that does not mean braided hair was associated with prostitution.

    The Hebrew Roots movement is legalistic and often cultic nonsense. Don't even pay attention to them.

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  7. Thanks, Glenn. I thought I remembered reading that somewhere but I very well may have made that up in my own head.

    Kim, I'm in Ohio and was surprised to see that, too!

    Melissa

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    1. Melissa, you didn't make it up. I came across that claim while researching the head covering issue, but since braiding wasn't condemned by Peter, I did more investigating to learn the facts. A lot of those people who are anti-headcovering totally (and, as I demonstrate in my article, covering the head is only for public praying or prophesying vs 24/7) would appeal to culture and make all sorts of claims about women and hair, yet the teaching from Paul specifically addresses creative order and NOT culture. Funny thing, the pro-headcovering people (Amish, Mennonites, et al) who think 24/7 veiling is proper also appeal the claim of how prostitutes did their hair. It's like someone started something and everyone else kept copying it and no one bothered to actually research.

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  8. BETH MOORE-here is a link to an interview with Pr Christopher Hull who became a new pastor at a church that already had BM’s teachings in place for the women. After diligent research he was able to remove all BM’s material from their church while teaching the congregation why it was important for them not to partake in any of her studies.

    http://issuesetc.org/2012/11/14/1-the-teachings-of-beth-moore-and-living-proof-ministries-pr-christopher-hull-111412/

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    1. Thank you! Thank you! I listened to the interview in its entirety, read both parts of his essay series, and then I posted a blog piece here

      http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2015/05/lutheran-pastor-on-beth-moore-shes-wolf.html

      with lengthy transcripts of his issue with Moore. I liked how he described his process and reasoning for deciding to remove Moore studies from the church. I really liked how he used clear language to state the facts and didn't waffle in the name of "tolerance."

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  9. This is disgusting. These people are putting on quite a show. shame on them the lies they tell and the clueless who don't have the mind to follow these folks and their.. I dream of jeanie shenanigans. This is not the only reason but contribute to why people like me steer FAR away from churches. I wonder what a person could offer that would sound appealing enough to agree to this.

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    1. I agree Rasheda, such displays disgust and make one want to run from church in general. However we are not to give up assembling with the saints (Heb 10:25, Acts 2:42). If you avoid churches, how do you worship with brethren?

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