This is the first in what I hope will be monthly (or bi-monthly) articles exposing you to false teachers. My aim isn’t to be rude, but truthful and defensive of the gospel of Jesus Christ and those I’m called to shepherd in my local church body. There are wolves pretending to be one of us and wolves are dangerous. These articles aren’t about brothers and sisters in Christ we disagree with. Consider these articles danger signs, telling you ‘these people aren’t a part of us. They don’t believe as the Scripture teaches. Their aim is to lead you away from God and the gospel. Run! Don’t read a single book. Don’t listen to a single sermon. Do not trust them with your soul- at all. Why Articles Like This Are Needed Before we dive in, consider these passages below to understand why articles like these are needed. I will include these passages in each of these articles I write in an effort to keep us biblically grounded on the necessity of the articles and demonstrate the need for us to call out false teachers. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” (2nd Peter 2:1-3 ESV) 17 “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” (Romans 16:17 ESV) 8 “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8-9) “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4) As you see, I want to be faithful as a pastor. I want to warn you of those who may have crept into your life un-noticed. I want to warn you of those who are creating obstacles to your faith. I want to warn you of destructive heresies. I want to expose those who pervert the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, I want to be faithful to the Lord and jealous of His Scripture and gospel. So, I’ve decided to dedicate a significant amount of time (and energy) into research and writing for this series. I pray this is read broadly by those in my local church (and certainly those outside) so that we may be edified toward the God who is unchanging and His unchanging Word. Joyce Meyer is a False Teacher Now on to the teacher this article is crafted about. As I began thinking through this series, I thought, ‘I don’t need to expose Joyce Meyer, she has already been discredited enough by people way more skillful at this kind of stuff than me. But I am always shocked by the book donations people drop off at my local church- there is always a Joyce Meyer book in there. Then I look at her social media influence or hear someone speak positively about her ministry and I am reminded that like cockroaches, it’s difficult for the influence of a false teacher to die. So although much has been written, I will write to my local church. Now, I want this to be constructive, so I’d like to deal with Meyer’s teachings, position/education/theological/ background, and her character so that we may dismiss her as the false teacher she is. I certainly pray
