Why Say No To The Alpha Course

One of the most popular evangelistic tools employed by Christian leaders across the globe is the Alpha Course, a product of a highly Charismatic Anglican church. Alpha Course claims to be an evangelistic Bible study series aimed at teaching the essentials of the Christian faith. Though its intention is good, there are major theological and doctrinal flaws in its teachings. It is hoped that all thoughtful Christians, even those who are Charismatics, who love the gospel would find the below reasons compelling enough to say no to Alpha Course.

Firstly, whatever little gospel it preaches, it preaches a very faulty one. This should make even those churches which are Charismatic to stop using Alpha. The gospel which Alpha preaches is one that says “God loves each one of us so much and longs to be in relationship with us as a human father longs to be in relationship with each of his children.” Coupled with it, guests are told, man leads a meaningless and irrelevant life simply because he has no relationship with God. Now there are elements of truth in these, however what is astounding is not what Alpha is saying here, but what Alpha is not saying here. Through out the course material, there is no mention of God’s wrath hanging over unrepentant mankind. There is no mention of how we as sinners have incurred His wrath and how we need to seek peace with Him. Thus the problem to which the gospel is the answer in Alpha’s understanding is not God’s wrath against sinners. It is rather, poor human beings leading a meaningless life, when they can have fullness, significance and relevance if they have a relationship with God. This is a very faulty understanding of the character of God, the gospel and even man. God is not just love, He is also Holy. The gospel is not just satisfying to our hunger for meaning in life, but one which propitiates the wrath of God against us. Man is not just empty, but is in his very nature sinful and thus the object of God’s wrath. These fundamental truths of Christianity are never once taught by Alpha. Thus the gospel it preaches is a very faulty one. Alpha does not seems to be convinced that it is in light of God’s matchless holiness and furious wrath, that His free grace towards sinners in Christ is most loving, most satisfying and most meaningful. Indeed when God’s holiness is removed from our proclamation, we remove His love too.

Secondly, since God’s holy wrath is never taught as mankind’s biggest problem, Alpha teaches a Cross which lacks the full glory it deserves. The lack of teaching on penal substitution results in Alpha getting in a muddle at this stage. For it wants to teach that Christ died as substitute, and indeed does teach this, and yet because it is not taught that Jesus died as penal substitute, bearing upon himself the wrath of God, we are left without any understanding of why Jesus had to die at all. Thus the cross of Christ ends up being little more than a visual aid that proves that God is self-sacrificial and loving. As Hand says, 'Christ's work on the cross is demoted to being a rescue act to save us from our problems rather than fulfilling the righteous demands of the holy law and appeasing the wrath of God'. The death of Jesus is presented as an act of love but without any connection with the reality of God's holy anger. We are left thinking that Christ sacrificed Himself to rescue us from the consequences of sin because that was required by some impersonal and rather arbitrary justice system. [1]

Thirdly, for those who have no idea, from where Alpha is coming, its history need to be told. Alpha Course began in UK, when a member of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), Charles Marnham, set up an informal home group to present answers to basic gospel questions. Nicky Gumbel, HTB curate, transformed the course into what we see today. Holy Trinity Brompton is an exteremely Charismatic Anglican church, well known for importing the weird manifestations of the Toronto Blessings to the UK. For those who blindly give a green signal to the Alpha Course, not knowing from which camp it is coming, you need to watch the below clip, taken at the Toronto Blessing.

In the Alpha Course, substantial amount of time is spend on HTB's experiences of the Toronto Blessing and associated ministries, novel exegeses of various Biblical passages common amongst pro-Toronto preachers, calls for unity despite truth and an over-emphasis on the Holy Spirit, all of which are less than helpful, to say the least, to potential Christians. [2]  Eleanor Mumford of the South-West London Vineyard church brought the Toronto Blessing from the Toronto Airport Vineyard church in Canada to HTB through Nicky Gumbel in May 1994. In video 3 and talk 9, Gumbel says, "Ellie Mumford told us a little bit of what she had seen in Toronto... .it was obvious that Ellie was just dying to pray for all of us.. then she said 'Now we'll invite the Holy Spirit to come.' and the moment she said that one of the people there was thrown, literally, across the room and was lying on the floor, just howling and laughing....making the most incredible noise....I experienced the power of the Spirit in a way I hadn't experienced for years, like massive electricity going through my body... One of the guys was  prophesying. He was just lying there prophesying. . ." [3]  Alpha participants are told all of this as the normative in Christianity, with no caution or warning to test the spirits and be discerning. Alpha, though claiming to be evangelistic spends less time on the gospel and more on such freaky manifestations of the Third Wave. The overtly Charismatic agenda of Alpha can be seen by comparing the amount of pages it has dedicated for each doctrine. It has one small paragraph on “Baptism”, two pages on "Holy Communion," eight pages on "speaking in tongues" and sixteen pages on "healing," [4]

Fourthly, after the initial two evangelistic session, Alpha considers most of its guests as Christians and changes the tone to that of discipleship. They are told to seek the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues, seek assurance etc without any careful examination of whether or not they are regenerate. The supposedly successful evangelistic tool produces testimonies like the ones below.  The lack of focus on Jesus is seen very clearly in the testimonies people give, testimonies. which Alpha quotes with approval in its literature. The first of five main Alpha testimonies in Telling Others is particularly revealing. It reads:"The one thing that stuck in my mind was how the work of the Holy Spirit was described as of paramount importance. I knew in my heart I had to have this power in my life at any cost so I found out where the church was, enrolled on the course and focused on the weekend. I felt like a dying man waiting for a life-saving operation. Never mind the weeks o f pre-med, I just had to get into the operating theatre ... I looked at the order of play, saw that the third session (which I had identified as the main one) was at 4.3O pm and simply hung on like a marathon runner weaving his way up the final straight with nothing but the finishing tape as the focus of his attention. I'll never forget that session. I felt as though I was being torn in two. Halfway through I just couldn't stand it any more. The prize was so near but we were getting there so slowly! I literally wanted to scream out, 'Do it now! Do it know! I couldn't hold out any longer. I'm not exaggerating when I say I was in agony. Then God came and then came the relief'. Having no idea who this person is, we have to say that this is deeply troubling. They regard the talks on 'Who is Jesus?' and 'Why did Jesus die?' as 'pre-med'. The focus of their attention is specifically identified as being not the Lord Jesus, not the Cross, not even the Holy Spirit, but the third session, 'How can I be filled with the Spirit?' Sadly such a testimony is repeated again and again. This is hardly surprising given that guests are taught, 'Physical heat sometimes accompanies the filling of the Spirit and people experience it in their hands or some other part of their bodies. One person described a feeling of 'glowing all over'. Another said she experienced 'liquid heat'. Still another described 'burning in my arms when I was not hot'. Still another said, 'I didn't want to come to the weekend and I did. But I would call myself a Christian now. I would say that I felt the Holy Spirit. I was feeling I was loved. It was really a tremendous overwhelming feeling of love'.  [5]

Thus Alpha teaches a God who has no wrath, a Jesus who simply dies to communicate how loved we are and a Spirit who gives a feeling of being loved. Whereas the Bible teaches God who is not just love, but Holy and Just, Whose righteous wrath against us was borne by the Son, Jesus to redeem us and the Spirit who comes to glorify the Son. How different a gospel and Christianity the Alpha breeds. The doctrine of freewill has lead many a ministers to seek man-made methods and manipulations in evangelism rather than simply trusting the efficacious working of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the undiluted Word. Alpha is just another man-made alternative to the true Spirit-breathed evangelistic proclamation.

Listen to pastor Chris Hand of Crich Baptist Church, UK, for a more in-depth analysis of the Alpha Course. His address is very gracious, straight forward and illuminating.

The Alpha Course - A Critique (1)  Listen | Download

The Alpha Course - A Critique (2)  Listen | Download

Footnotes  

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[1]  BEC, The 'Alpha' and the 'Christianity Explored' Course, "Foundations", Issue no. 47 Autumn 2001 pp.36-44

[2] Tricia Tillin, Looking at - THE ALPHA COURSE,  Banner Ministries

[3] Ibid

[4] Questions of Life, pp. 155-163; pp. 199-215.

[5] BEC, The 'Alpha' and the 'Christianity Explored' Course, "Foundations", Issue no. 47 Autumn 2001 pp.36-44 

Contending For Truth : History of the Modern Gospel - II

History of the Modern Gospel is a video series from RTM ministries, which tracks the history of the modern, sub-biblical gospel, espoused by a vast majority of Evangelicals today. As it tracks the history of the Evangelical church, it highlights key theological compromises committed by Christians of the previous century. Hosted by Michael Durham, this video series also presents a biblical response to these errors in the popular understanding of the gospel. Presented in a very interesting manner, these videos are both entertaining and enlightening. Watch the first three parts here. Here are the next 3 episodes from this series.
 

4. Session#3 :  Welcome To The Circus



5. Session#4 :  I've Got a Feeling!

6. Session#5 :  Repeat After Me..

Contending For Truth : History of the Modern Gospel - I

History of the Modern Gospel is a video series from RTM ministries, which tracks the history of the modern, sub-biblical gospel, espoused by a vast majority of Evangelicals today. As it tracks the history of the Evangelical church, it highlights key theological compromises committed by Christians of the previous century. Hosted by Michael Durham, this video series also presents a biblical response to these errors in the popular understanding of the gospel. Presented in a very interesting manner, these videos are both entertaining and enlightening. Here are the first 3 episodes from this series.

1. Introduction

2. Session#1 : Departing from Scripture: The Root of Error

3. Session#2 : Toxic Intelligence

Contending For Truth : Word of Faith Exposé – III

Basilius M. Kasera, an young theologian based in Namibia, has written an excellent booklet called “Heresy Unmasked”, which skillfully unveils the core teachings of the Word of Faith movement. Having been a WoF preacher himself, he is able to take the scriptures that are commonly used to support their heresies and give the true meaning of the verse in context. 

For about 10 years of his life, Kasera was a follower and propagator of WoF teachings, while being involved in key leadership roles in these circles. Kasera currently is a Reformed preacher and works as a lecturer at the Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary.  He blogs at Reformation Searchlight.

Dealing with such subjects as Positive Confession, Divine Health, Prosperity etc, Kasera shows his readers not only the dangers and source of these doctrines, but brings solid biblical truth to correct such errors. In the booklet, Kasera analyzes ten major doctrines of the WoF movement. They are :

1) God in the WoF movement

2) Jesus Christ in the WoF movement

3) Positive Confessions

4) Divine health

5) Material Prosperity

6) Little gods doctrine

7) Wealth Transfer

8) The wealthy Jesus of WoF movement

9) Prosperity scriptures in light of scriptures

10)  Scripture versus the prosperity gospel

In conclusion, Kasera also has three appendixes where he explains what true saving faith is according to the Bible, whether God has faith, as taught by the WoF preachers and finally on the implications of WoF teachings on theology, ecclesiology and eschatology.

This booklet is a must-read for those currently or previously involved in WoF. These doctrines and practices must be repented of and diligent study must be given to remove such teachings that make up an entirely different gospel.

Heresy Unmasked – Analysis of WoF Doctrines (95 Pgs)   Read | Download

Contending For Truth : Word of Faith Exposé – II

Last week, in our Contending For Truth, Theoblogy introduced its readers to the ministry of Justin Peters and his seminar "A Call for Discernment", exposing the dangerous teachings of Word of Faith (WoF) movement. Through four small videos, an overview of the seminar was presented in it. This week, Theoblogy has the actual recordings of this seminar, which Justin did at BMA Theological Seminary, Jacksonville, Texas,  in the month of October 2010. 

In addition to the introductory session, where Justin speaks on the duty of discernment, the seminar has three main sessions. The first session deals with the metaphysical cultic origins and the dangerous doctrines of WoF movement. In his second session, Justin deals with mangled manifestations like abuse of tongues, heavenly encounters, slaying in the spirit, divine revelation knowledge etc.  The final session is on the hurt of healing, dealing with healing and investigating whether is it always God’s will, is healing in the atonement, what about the biblical record etc. Each session is approximately 70 to 75 minutes in length.

Concerning the seminar, Justin is quick to clarify that “It would be easy to make the assumption that this is an anti-charismatic seminar. Such is not the case. When it comes to the fundamental tenets of orthodox Christianity, charismatics are in agreement with me as a Southern Baptist. I am not charismatic, but neither am I anti-charismatic. The Word of Faith Movement, however, does at times denigrate and even deny some of the fundamental, non-negotiable truths of the Christian Faith (as documented in the seminar, especially in Sessions 1 and 2). It may be said that all Word of Faith adherents are charismatic, but not all charismatics are Word of Faith. I have had a number of charismatic pastors to attend my seminars and, to a man, they have found little, if any, with which they would disagree.”

A Call for Discernment is not intended as a personal attack on anyone, it is simply, as the name implies, a call to the church for discernment.

A Call for Discernment  - 2 disc DVD set  Seminar Outline |  Buy

Introductory Session: The Duty of Discernment  Listen | Download | Handout

Session 1: Dangerous Doctrines  Listen | Download | Handout

Session 2: Mangled Manifestations  Listen | Download | Handout

Session 3: The Hurt of Healing  Listen | Download | Handout

Contending For Truth : Word Of Faith Exposé

Justin Peters gives his seminar called, "A Call for Discernment", a fair, comprehensive and biblical critique of the modern Word of Faith movement. Word of Faith theology (WoF) dominates most of today’s Christian satellite and cable television and is making alarming inroads into many of our churches. This seminar contains dozens of audio and video clips (primarily the latter) of various WoF leaders such as Benny Hinn, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Jessie Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, etc. incorporated into a PowerPoint format. This format allows people to see and hear for themselves what these individuals are actually teaching. Everything then is, in turn, balanced with Scripture. Peters make a clear distinction between WoF and clear thinking Charismatics, for he believes that WoF is not even Christian in its origin. In his seminar, he expounds these heretical views of this movement. Below is the overview of this seminar in 4 parts (total time: 35mins). 

Contending For Truth : Beware of Christian Mysticism

Most Christians are unaware of the onslaught of mysticism upon them in these days. For most of the movements that promote mysticism do so very subtly and with a veneer of orthodox language.  Perhaps you yourself have confronted it and yet had not recognized it as unscriptural. You might have taken part in meetings where everyone seeks to know God through mystical experiences like “listening prayer” or “contemplative prayer”. May be when everyone has done their breathing exercises and have reached a state of trance, they read a word from a verse or a verse in full or a passage, to get a response from your soul and make resonance sentences. It could also be those movements which teach its people to write down their dreams and interpret it for hidden messages from God. There are others who are very open about their association with Eastern religious concepts like those who promote Christian yoga.

Whichever group and whatever methods they employ, whether subtle or explicit, they all fall outside the boundary of orthodox Christianity. In this week’s Contending For Truth, Theoblogy has a series of resources helpful in unmasking the dangers of these movements.

Articles on Christian Mystics and Mysticism :

What is contemplative spirituality?  Read

What is contemplative prayer?  Read

Who  Is Henri Nouwen? Read

Henri Nouwen and Buddhism Read

Richard Foster—Celebration of Deception Read

The Subtle Body — Should Christians Practice Yoga? Read

General Articles:

Mysticism and Christianity by B.B Warfield  Read

Heresies by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones  Read

Contending For Truth : The John C. Maxwell Exposé

John C. Maxwell

Author and speaker John C. Maxwell is considered to be an expert in leadership and people from all walks of life look to him for wise counsel in becoming great leaders in their field of work. Maxwell is looked upon by many pastors as an expert in church leadership too. However what most of these pastors do not take into account is the lack of any serious theological or biblical character of Maxwell’s principles of leadership.

Dr. Richard G. Howe, Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics and Director of the Ph.D. program at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, NC has written a very excellent paper on these dangers of Maxwell’s teachings. Dr. Howe says his paper is an “attempt to alert the reader to the explicit and implicit dangers in the writing of John C. Maxwell.”[1]  Dr. Howe humbly affirms that he does not doubt whether Maxwell is a sincere Christian, “but his misuse of Scripture, his tacit endorsements of New Age writers and doctrines, and his questionable doctrines of psychology and theology should give any Christian concern in the use of his material in otherwise legitimate local church initiatives. It is with that concern that this paper is offered.”[2]

Dr. Howe’s “main concerns about the Maxwell material, broadly speaking, are:

First, the manner in which Maxwell handles the Scriptures to "teach" his principles is sometimes egregiously mistaken. It is my contention that the Bible is not necessarily teaching the principles that Maxwell thinks. His handling of the Scripture indicates that Maxwell does not know (or at least is not utilizing) the proper methods of biblical interpretation. This is not to say that I necessarily disagree with the principles themselves. I might agree with some of them and disagree with others. But I believe that it is of paramount importance that we let the Bible teach what it does and not try to justify our own ideas (even if those ideas are true) by a violation of sound principles of biblical interpretation. I regret that the use of Maxwell's materials sends the wrong signals to the church family as to how to use and interpret the Bible. This is especially of concern regarding the younger Christians in the church family.

Second, Maxwell either implicitly or explicitly endorses some New Age teachers and doctrines. Even if Maxwell himself (or the church leadership) understands the dangers of New Age doctrines, it is a dangerous thing to give such tacit endorsement in front of a church family, especially considering those who are younger in their faith.

Third, in addition to the New Age elements that are peppered throughout his material, Maxwell also employs questionable theological doctrines such as a mistaken notion of the miraculous, a conspicuous absence of the cross and questionable psychological doctrines including self-esteem psychology and temperaments psychology. It is to each of these concerns that I would now like to direct my attention.” [3]

First, Dr. Howe enlists some of the common verses used by Maxwell to “teach” his principles, shows how what Maxwell is saying from these verses cannot hold under a proper examination of the verse and its context. Some of these texts are just part of a verse and when quoted in full, has little to do with what Maxwell is teaching.  After working out on these texts, he enlists the New Age teachers and their doctrines which are endorsed by Maxwell. Dr. Howe here gets into discussing each of these New Age teachers and shows how their doctrines are unscriptural and dangerous. The paper then moves to the third section where key theological problems of Maxwell are discussed briefly.

Dr. Howe’s paper employs a language that is both gracious and perspicuous. His arguments are for preserving biblical fidelity in matters of theology, doctrine and practice. Unlike some of the cheap discernment ministries available on the internet, Dr. Howe does not appeal to any ad hominem arguments. Dr. Howe rather employs his scholarship in a wise and pastoral manner to serve the church in discerning the dangers of one of the most popular leadership gurus of our time.

Recommended for  everyone, especially pastors.

Some Concerns about John C. Maxwell  Read | Download

Footnotes

-------------------

[1] Some Concerns about John C. Maxwell,  Dr. Richard G. Howe.  Pg 20.

[2] Ibid, Pg 20.

[3] Ibid, Pg 2.

Contending For Truth : The Finney Heresy

Most Evangelicals are unaware of the fact that the “famous” revivalist Charles Finney vehemently denied cardinal doctrines of the faith like Original Sin, Justification by Faith Alone, Substitutionary Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ and was above all a Pelagian (a person who does not even believe in the necessity of grace in salvation). Yet he is considered to be a hero by many. However any honest study of the theology of Finney will prove his unorthodox beliefs. Not only did he have such heretical beliefs, he devised many methodologies for achieving results in mass evangelism, which have only corrupted the Evangelical witness than foster it. His  faulty understanding of man, grace, gospel and salvation led him to devise erroneous means to attain spectacular yet short lived and spurious conversions. Sadly much of Evangelicalism  has only aped and developed upon these unbiblical methodologies of Finney.

Finney’s pragmatic methodologies has lead much of the Evangelical world into the pathetic state it has declined to in our day. Mere decisionism that runs rampant through most evangelism strategies can be traced back to Finney. Most of our fellow brethren in Evangelical circles who merely follow these methodologies are ignorant of the theology of Finney which lead him to develop such techniques. Here is a quote which explains the God-belittling and man-exalting understanding of Finney regarding religion, revival and massive conversions it claims to produce : 

“There is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature. A revival is not a miracle, nor dependent on a miracle, in any sense. It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means—as much so as any other effect produced by the application of means. . . . A revival is as naturally a result of the use of means as a crop is of the use of its appropriate means” [1]

Finney thus had a very natural religion – a religion of mere human cause and effect. God was reduced to a mere beneficiary of all these morally upright human endeavors.  Since he did not recognize the efficacy of God’s grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ, he was forced to have a powerless, fruitless theology and ministry. At the end of his revival days, he looked at his own converts and lamented that “the great body of them are a disgrace to religion“ [2]

Finney was a man who sought to rewrite historic orthodox faith with his own novel concepts and methods. It would be wise for Evangelicals to recognize him as a heretic and stay away from his theology and methodology. Below are two good articles and one video for those who want to know more about the heretical views held by Finney. First Phil Johnson, the executive Director of Grace to You, the Christian tape and radio ministry of John MacArthur, has written a wonderful article on Finney where he surveys the unorthodox views held by Finney.  The second article is by Dr. Michael Horton, Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. Horton explains how Charles Finney distorted the important doctrine of salvation and how his "new measures" created a framework for modern decision theology and Evangelical Revivalism. The video is a 43 min section from Mark Kielar's Cross TV on "How God converts a Soul". It is an excellent video on the topic of decisional regeneration, which also  explains in depth what Finney taught and practiced. It uses what John MacArthur wrote on Finney, in his book "Ashamed of the Gospel".

Articles:

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing How Charles Finney's Theology Ravaged the Evangelical Movement

The Disturbing Legacy of Charles Finney

Watch:

The Dangers, Results and History of Decisional Regeneration

Footnotes

--------------

[1] Charles Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, n.d.), 4-5

[2] cited, B. B. Warfield, Studies in Perfectionism, 2 vols. (New York: Oxford, 1932), 2:23

Contending For Truth : The Hagee Heresy

It seems that Hollywood understands the Bible better than the popular preacher on TV, John Hagee. In his book, “In Defense of Israel”, he denies the elementary truth of Christianity that Jesus came as the Messiah. The following video will show first his blurb followed by the answer of Hollywood to his charges .

Being an old school Dispensationalist, Hagee interprets the word Messiah as some physical king who would rescue the Jewish nation from the tyranny of Gentiles. Thus he cannot see Jesus in His first advent as any way close to being a Messiah. Hence he reasons that Jesus did not come to be the Messiah and thus the Jews of his day cannot be charged with denial of the Lord. Hagee puts the blame on the church Fathers for these perversions of the truth regarding Jewish people. Hagee also believes that Jews do not have to believe the gospel to be saved, but the Messiah will save them when He appears in His second advent.  Hagee reasons as follows “Five major points must now be made that are crucial to understanding that the Jews did not reject Jesus as Messiah.

1.             Jesus had to live to be the Messiah

2.             If it was God’s will for Jesus to die from the beginning. . .

3.             If it was Jesus intention to be obedient unto death.

4.             If there is not one verse of Scripture in the New Testament that says Jesus came to be the Messiah..

5.             And if Jesus refused by his words or actions to claim to be the Messiah to the Jews, then how can the Jews be blamed for rejecting what was never offered?" [1]

Pastor Kendall Adams has written a good review of this book, where he answers these objections raised by Hagee. It is available at his blog – Always Reforming To Scripture.

Adams also did a radio interview for Kevin Boling which can be heard or downloaded as follows :

Hagee Heresy  Listen| Download

Footnotes

-----------------

[1] In Defense of Israel, John Hagee, Pg. 135-136

Contending For Truth : Joyce Meyer Exposé

The Bible is very clear that one of the duties laid upon all true believers is to so love the truth of God that one is even willing to contend for it. In Jude 3, the apostle exhorts us to earnestly contend for the faith (not subjective believing, but rather in the objective sense, the body of truth we believe) which was once was for all given to the saints. It is interesting that the word used in Greek for contending is the same word from which we get the word “agonizing”. Thus the apostle is asking us to agonize for the truth. Yes to suffer acute and excruciating pain to safeguard the purity of God’s truth from being polluted by false prophets and false teachers. It is after this introduction in verse 3, that Jude spends the rest of the book in describing and warning against false prophets and teachers. 

In keeping with this end, we are to stand against heretics of our day and age. We should show no mercy in calling that which is error as error. Yes this does not give us any sanction to be bitter with them or air our own personal vendetta against them. Thus being humble yet making no compromises, we need to test every spirit and make sound judgments regarding every single preacher we listen to. 

At present there are many who are involved in what is called discernment ministries. They write and speak about popular preachers, examining and critiquing the teachings of these men and women. They are like watchmen giving warnings to the church. The main difficulty one encounters with these discernment ministries is that the vast majority of the materials, though has very accurate criticism of false preachers of our day, presents these in a very legalistic or elitist spirit. It does not seem to be presented primarily as a help for true believers, but rather as a gloating over the ignorance and falsehood of the false preachers. 

Fortunately there are exceptions and the following criticism is one which certainly is a humble, straight forward exposé of Joyce Meyer. The following link is shared out of two main reasons. First of all, as stated so far, it is difficult to find humble, straightforward criticisms. Secondly, it is rare to find clear criticisms of Joyce Meyer. Everyone seems to be saying things against her in broad terms, like she believes in Word of Faith theology or that she supports Prosperity Gospel etc. However in the following audio by Fran Sankey, you will hear a very clear articulation of the particular doctrines of Meyer which are to be deemed as rank heresy. 

The key areas where her understanding of the Bible is heretical are : the atonement of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the justification of sinners by God in Jesus Christ. At least those are the fundamental areas where she is wrong. Though there are many more things in her theology and ministry that could be questioned, the below exposé focuses only on these three core doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Like all Word of Faith (WOF) preachers, Joyce has a faulty understanding of the atonement, commonly known as the Spiritual Death of Jesus. In this whole theory it is the Devil and his sensational killing of Jesus in hell that somehow attained our salvation. God is just a weak spectator in this whole theory. It is not the wrath of God that Jesus bore, but the cruel torture of the devils in hell. Joyce then makes a really funny twisting of scriptures to get over some of the biblical obstacles to preach this theory. She also makes a really common Charismatic claim that she got all these information not from the Bible, but from special revelation. Thus she assaults the sufficiency of Scriptures and makes it plain that she indeed is preaching an extra biblical truth. 

When it comes to resurrection, she mistakes resurrection with the new birth and like all WOF teachers, she calls Jesus the first human to be born again. Fran Sankey shows how only humans born with the original sin need to be born again and Jesus being sinless need no such new birth. 

Finally there is another shocking audio clip of Meyer yelling about her sinlessness. She again goes wrong in her understanding of what justification means. She mistakes sin to be merely the external deeds and forgets that we still carry indwelling sin in our nature. Thus there is no category of imputed righteousness in her theology and this forces her to think, she is called righteous by God because she indeed is righteous. 

Thus her theology – whether it be regarding the atonement or the resurrection or her own justification, it is all built on faulty premises.

Fran Sankey uses actual audio clippings of Joyce Meyer and makes a clear case of heresy against her in a very straight forward manner without any ridicule or gloating over her. All these clippings are from the 90s. It seems most of today’s Christians are unaware of these convictions of Meyer as she now focuses much on practical things like managing emotions or having a healthy body etc.

It is easy to criticize people but let us go a step further and pray that people like Joyce Meyer will be spared of God’s wrath and be saved by Him. Let us pray for the illumination of her mind and for her repentance.

Highly recommend this for all women (and even some men) who listen to her.

Joyce Meyer’s Shocking Doctrines  Listen | Download