'Christians Need to Stand Up Against Injustice': Beth Moore Calls for Reform, Repentance in Evangelical Church - CBN News Emily Jones

'Christians Need to Stand Up Against Injustice': 

Beth Moore Calls for Reform, Repentance in Evangelical Church

04-07-2018

CBN News Emily Jones

Evangelist Beth Moore is calling on the church to repent and renounce what she calls
"pampered gospel."

The author and minister participated in a panel discussion on "Evangelicals and the Future of 

Racial Unity" at the MLK50 Conference on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 

assassination.

Moore said Christians need to stand up against injustice, even if it costs them their popularity 

or forces them out of their comfort zone. 

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"What I think has happened here is that in our discipleship, we are not teaching what is normative 

in the believing life," she said. "When we carry our cross and we follow Jesus, we are walking 

into a storm. We were told that in Luke 10, Matthew 10 we will be 'sheep among wolves,' not 

wolves among sheep."

Moore explained that "sheep among wolves" means Christians will be "persecuted," "criticized," 

"imprisoned" and even killed for speaking the truth --.something she believes few American Christians 

truly experience or understand.

"We have been very proud of the fact that we have not subscribed to a prosperity gospel. But what 

we have subscribed to is a pampered gospel where we are so afraid of suffering and we are so afraid 

someone is going to criticize us and hurt our feelings," Moore said. "This is the Gospel work of 

Jesus Christ and we are going with Him. Whatever it takes, no matter how unpopular it is. He was 

hated. We have to have thicker skin than that."

Before the conference, she took to Twitter to encourage the church to repent of its failures.


Beth Moore
✔@BethMooreLPM
27 Mar
Replying to @BethMooreLPM

I think some of us haven’t had enough practice at colossally blowing it. Listen, I’m not an expert 

on many things but I am an expert on colossally blowing it. It’s not hard to repent. You just get 

down on your face and go, God, I’ve colossally blown it. I’m so sorry. Please help.


Beth Moore
✔@BethMooreLPM

Evangelicalism is in humiliating need of reform but the thing is, it’s possible. In OUR lifetimes. 

All that stands between us & an astonishing work of the Holy Spirit is repentance. Quit being 

scared of rocking a boat that has run aground on an island of compromise.Walk on water.

"Why on God's green earth are we expending untold energy still defending ourselves when we 

could just repent of placing trust in man to save & champion us, defend our principles & meanwhile 

keep us privileged & empowered instead of trusting God to help us?How hard is it to repent?" she said.

"I think some of us haven't had enough practice at colossally blowing it. Listen, I'm not an expert 

on many things but I am an expert on colossally blowing it. It's not hard to repent," she continued. 

"You just get down on your face and go, God, I've colossally blown it. I'm so sorry. Please help."

"Evangelicalism is in humiliating need of reform but the thing is, it's possible. In OUR lifetimes. 

All that stands between us & an astonishing work of the Holy Spirit is repentance. Quit being 

scared of rocking a boat that has run aground on an island of compromise.Walk on water," 

she concluded.

Many Twitter users agreed with her, but one warned her against putting too much blame on the church.

" As you travel this journey, please do not take on the anger of our culture against the church or 

our nation. There are many wrongs. Wisdom and truth needed," Pam Anderson tweeted.

Moore responded by saying, "Not at all resistant to that word of caution."

How Beth Moore Is Calling Down Pentecostal Fire - J. LEE GRADY CHARISMA NEWS

Beth Moore (Kelly King/IPHC Ministries)

How Beth Moore Is Calling Down Pentecostal Fire

 8/3/2017 J. LEE GRADY  CHARISMA NEWS

I've been in countless Christian meetings over the years, but last week, I witnessed one of the most remarkable spiritual moments of my lifetime.

I was attending a gathering of Pentecostals held at a convention center in Orlando, Florida. When the speaker concluded the sermon, people began to stream to the altar. Many of them—including pastors—lay prostrate on the floor. Many were sobbing uncontrollably. Some people wept and prayed for an hour after the meeting was dismissed.

You may ask, "What's so remarkable about that?" This meeting, held on July 26, was unique because the speaker was a Southern Baptist—and a woman. Yet her message was so convicting and so saturated in the Holy Spirit that people ran to the stage even though she didn't even invite people to the altar.

The woman was author and popular women's speaker Beth Moore, and the occasion was the 28th General Conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. Leaders from the Assemblies of God, the Church of God and Nigeria's Redeemed Christian Church of God were in attendance, along with thousands of Pentecostals from all over the world.

Moore based her message on Jeremiah 12:5: "If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?" Without a tinge of self-righteousness or condemnation, Moore lamented the powerless state of the modern church and called us back to the raw authenticity of New Testament faith.

"We are settling for woefully less than what Jesus promised us," said Moore. "I read my New Testament over and over. I'm not seeing what He promised. I'm unsettled and unsatisfied."

She added: "I want holy fire!"

I don't know what is more fascinating—that a Baptist challenged Pentecostals to embrace Pentecostal fire or that a woman who is not supposed to preach to men in her own denomination brought male pastors to their knees in repentance.

"We've lost our tolerance for pain and given ourselves to whining," Moore declared. "We have settled for the spiked Kool-Aid of cool, cultural Christianity. What will make us relevant is not our cool factor. It's time for leadership to repent."

I've heard a lot of excellent preaching over the years. But listening to Beth Moore was uncanny because her sermon was not about her, and it didn't draw attention to her. There was no swagger. There was no pretense. The sweet dew of heaven rested on this woman.

I could hear the Holy Spirit speaking loud and clear through a broken vessel.

That's why people responded so dramatically, even though Moore simply closed her Bible and sat down when she finished her message. Everyone in the room knew they had heard God speak. They hit their knees because the anointing of the Holy Spirit wooed them to surrender pride, complacency and man-made religion.

What is baffling about this whole experience is that there are large numbers of Christians today who don't believe Beth Moore should be preaching to audiences like the one in Orlando. In fact, some fundamentalists have launched attacks on her because she preaches authoritatively from pulpits. One online blogger says Moore "puts the 'her' in heresy" simply because men listen to her teaching. It grieves me that this anointed sister in Christ has been subjected to such disrespect.

The old argument employed by some conservative fundamentalists is that Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:12, forbid women to preach. They seem to ignore the fact that 1) Paul empowered many women in other locations to speak and that women such as Phoebe, Priscilla, Chloe, Euodia and Syntyche were on his ministry team; 2) that the Bible offers other examples of godly women leaders and prophets; and 3) that Paul's unique concern in 1 Timothy 2:12 was about women in Ephesus who were "usurping" authority and teaching twisted doctrines.

The New Testament is clear that God has called all Christians to be His witnesses, and that both "your sons and your daughters" will prophesy in the last days (Acts 2:17). Our passion should be to see everyone empowered—regardless of race, class, age or gender. If we truly want Pentecost, we should want to see the flame of the Spirit resting on the heads of every person—not just white males over 50.

We really shouldn't be too worried if God wants to use a woman today to call people to repentance. If He used Catherine Booth to shake England in the 1800s, or missionary Mary Slessor to plant the gospel in Nigeria, or Sojourner Truth to challenge slavery through her powerful preaching, or Kathryn Kuhlman to spark a healing revival in the United States in the 1970s, why are we still arguing about this?

We need an army of women like Beth Moore, and my prayer is that more women will seek the Lord and dig into His Word with the same passion that Moore has. I believe she is a forerunner for a new generation of both men and women who will carry a holy Pentecostal fire that cannot be restricted by gender. 

J. Lee Grady was editor of Charisma for 11 years before he launched into full-time ministry in 2010. Today he directs The Mordecai Project, a Christian charitable organization that is taking the healing of Jesus to women and girls who suffer abuse and cultural oppression. Author of several books including 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, he has just released his newest book, Set My Heart on Fire, from Charisma House. You can follow him on Twitter at @LeeGrady or go to his website, themordecaiproject.org.

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The Least Likely to Succeed by Joni Ames Identity Network

The Least Likely to Succeed by Joni Ames

Identity Network

June 28, 2017

 

 

 

 

Discerning Your Call of God

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The least likely to succeed = the most likely to succeed, in Jesus.

 

One of the things the Bible is clear about regarding God choosing those He can use is that you do not have to be professional, just available.

 

The condemning voices of the enemy are constantly trying to discourage God's people from being what God called them to be.

 

It seems that every time God wanted to use somebody in the Scriptures, it was the most unlikely of people He used to do the most exceptional things. Perhaps the reason is because He would then truly get the glory.

 

When God called Gideon, he argued that he was too poor to be used. He said that he was from the poorest clan in all of his region, and he was the poorest one in all of his clan.

 

Apparently God decided that was a not a good excuse, because He still used him. God knew what he had put inside of Gideon. He knew that, in his humility, Gideon was a lot more capable because he would truly have to be trusting in God to accomplish the task.

 

"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord." (Zechariah 4:6)

 

Sometimes there are people that think way too much of themselves, and other times there are people that are far too humble.

 

True Humility

 

As one man said, "True humility is agreeing with God." God is the one who knows what He put on the inside of His people. It is like a baker that is making a cake. They know what ingredients they put inside. God knows what ingredients He has put inside of you.

 

Even if you do not believe in yourself, you can believe in God who made you, called you, and is sending you forth.

 

One of the most unlikely heroes of the Bible is the apostle Paul. He murdered Christians. When you think about that, it must have been scary for Christians to trust him when he started ministering. Most likely there were those that were concerned that he was just pretending so that he could get inside their group and kill them too.

 

Fear is a terrible and debilitating thing. It can cause you to be trapped in the paralysis of analysis and totally halt your faith and all that you are called to do.

 

One of the big causes of fear is listening to other people's opinions. It is interesting that one would hear from God, and then ask other people what they think about what He has to say. When you think about it, it is ridiculous to ask a human being to verify what God is saying rather than to ask God to verify what a human being is saying. God is, after all, God. People are mere human beings. Imagine what all could be accomplished if God's people would just believe Him in the first place.

 

When you think of it, it is interesting that the prophetess Debra was the very first female political leader ever known. Because America now has some females in the political arena, it thinks they are advanced, but it has been done long before this. Other nations have had females in leadership very far back in history. There have been many queens, for instance, in England.

 

So many women, even today, feel like a "lesser being" and are afraid to step out into what they are called to in the area of ministry. But the women who were willing to take a chance and who didn't look at those lies succeeded, so why not you? After all, God has mightily used women like Aimee Semple McPherson, Kathryn Kuhlman, Maria Edworth Etter, Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, Paula White, Juanita Bynum, Marilyn Hickey, Mother Theresa, Mother Angelica, Lisa Bevere, Joni Lamb, Kay Arthur, Jan Crouch, Tammy Faye Bakker, just to name a few.

 

So many of the women mentioned above had serious situations in their lives that others would use to disqualify them. Even divorce. But if people would disqualify someone because of divorce, they would disqualify God because He divorced Israel.

 

Often times when one steps out into ministry, one of their children begins to go astray. That happened to Oral Roberts with his son Richard who was astray from God for quite a while. But God let Oral know that did not disqualify him, because a lot of God's full-grown kids are astray, and that doesn't disqualify God. Eventually Richard also returned to God and his calling too.

 

Disqualified by the World

 

Just the other day, there was a story on television about a young man that had started to get in trouble with the law in his early teens. He got involved in a program through the Police Department, which a judge made him participate in. That program caused him to go forward into law enforcement and eventually become the police chief in a major city in America when he grew up. No one would have thought that would happen when he was a young troublemaker.

 

Opera Winfrey is one of the wealthiest people in America. She certainly had one of the most lucrative television careers. When she tells of her early childhood years of being poor and from a dysfunctional family growing up, as well as how shy she was, you realize what a miracle she is. Not only is she a successful woman, but she is a successful black woman. Truly a pioneer in her day. In spite of what some people may think, her original concept of faith is what got her where she is today.

 

While "the world" would often disqualify people, God forgives, accepts, and uses those who have failed. There are some greatly famous televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker, who "fell" in front of the whole world to some degree. Yet better days were yet ahead as God continues to use them.

 

There are awesome testimonies throughout the Body of Christ of the things God has saved people from. Alcohol, prostitution, drug trafficking and abuse, robbery, murder. The list goes on.

 

The word testimony means, "a formal statement, evidence of proof of something; a public recounting of a religious conversion or experience."

 

Rick Joyner says, "In the very areas where you have been wounded, once healed, you then have the authority to heal others."

 

The Bible puts it this way, "Satan is defeated by the Blood of the Lamb and word of your testimony." (Rev. 12:11)

 

Too often, people shrink in shame over what they have been through in their past. The enemy will try to constantly condemn you and threaten you that, if others find out about what you used to do or who you used to be, you should be rejected and forgotten.

 

Forgiveness Leads to Authority

 

While your past may not be something to be proud of, it is something to be proud that the Blood of Jesus saved you from.

 

In essence, while the enemy would like to try to use it as a sword over your head, when you have repented and gotten forgiveness, it becomes an area of authority for you. You are then able to use it to bring salvation and deliverance to others through the testimony that God gives to you because you have been through it and gotten saved. There is no one else that understands and has authority in that type of situation like you can because of your experience.

 

The key for you is to not allow the enemy to blackmail you with it. Be ready to speak it out in the realms of giving God the praise and glory for having saved and delivered you from it. That totally overturns and takes the authority out of the condemning voice of the enemy who would like to use that thing to shame and defeat you. Instead, it becomes your weapon to disarm, subdue, and defeat the enemy in your life as well as the lives of others.

 

Jesus accomplished victory at the cross for all mankind so that you may be able to walk in it also. The Word tells us, "Having disarmed the powers and authorities, He (Jesus) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." (Colossians 2:15)

 

When you research everyone God used mightily in the Bible, most had something "wrong" with them, some sort of "disqualifying" marker. However, when they took it to the Lord and admitted to it, they were forgiven and mightily used.

 

Qualifying the Called

 

It appears that God delights in using those, which others would deny.

 

There's a saying, "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called." It appears as if God, for some reason, is "loser friendly." Apparently, the greater our afflictions or even our failures are, the more miraculously God can use us.

 

Case in point regarding physical afflictions is Joni Erickson Tada. In 1967 at age 17, she had a diving accident, which left her as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. However, she has had an incredibly successful ministry since then and still does. She is an amazing singer, artist, and speaker throughout the world.

 

The truth of the matter is, in God's economy, the "least likely to succeed" are actually the most likely to succeed. Why? Because in your weakness He is strong. And there is nothing that's impossible for Him. You are the right material to become someone's hero.

 

Recently in the news, a McDonald's drive through clerk was attentive and recognized the face of a most wanted killer as he ordered chicken and fries at her window. She remained calm and told him the fries were not ready, but to pull forward and she would get them to him as soon as they were up. As he did so, she called the police and he was soon apprehended. A McDonald's drive through clerk became America's hero that day.

 

God has chosen the most unlikely to be His heroes. Today it just might be you.

 

Love and blessings.

 

Joni Ames

joniames@aol.com

www.joniames.com

 

Go here to read more articles by Joni Ames.

Passion 2017: 55,000 Reasons to Believe in Millennials Again - CALEB PARKE CHARISMA NEWS

Passion 2017 was held at the Georgia Dome. (Passion City Church/Facebook)

Passion 2017: 55,000 Reasons to Believe in Millennials Again

1/9/2017 CALEB PARKE  CHARISMA NEWS

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that only four in 10 millennials care about religion.

But I've got 55,000 reasons to believe they may be wrong.

Passion 2017, a Christian conference, kicked off with that many millennials packing out the Georgia Dome in Atlanta for one reason—to be the generation that says yes to the call of Jesus.

You won't see this story trending on Twitter or Facebook because these young adults were not looting or rioting in the streets, but they are making a difference.

They came from 90 countries and more than 1,600 colleges—and several of them happened to be my friends.

Dalton Glasscock, of Wichita, Kansas, told me "millennials are ready to carry forward the baton of faith."

He said the conference was an indicator of "revival" and "a mountaintop experience that should give hope to the millions of Christians across this country and world."

Passion began 20 years ago as a Bible study in Texas started by Louie and Shelley Giglio as a way to reach college students.

And to celebrate, they gave a few gifts to the 18-25 year-olds, including early copies of The Jesus Bible and a surprise visit from country singer Carrie Underwood.

Passion literally gave students an out-of-this-world perspective when NASA astronaut and former Passion attendee Shane Kimbrough addressed them from on board the International Space Station. He shared about reading the story of Jesus' birth from the station on Christmas day—the first time it's been done.

Louie and Shelley had an incredibly inspiring afternoon discussion with Katherine and Jay Wolf, the authors of Hope Heals. The book tells the story of Katherine's recovery from a stroke.

Their message was especially encouraging to my friend Megan DeGruy, who is battling cancer and other health issues.

"This year was the best because, I felt like I was able to relate on so many levels with dealing with pain and suffering, how to cherish it and use it for good, even when it hurts," said Megan.

"Everyone spoke about the cross, and how our pain relates to Christ, how to let God use it for his glory, even when we don't see the good in it!" she added.

Students also heard from Christian powerhouse preachers and speakers Christine Caine, Beth Moore, John Piper, Francis Chan and Levi Lusko.

And if the speakers weren't enough, the worship was powerful; led by Passion Band, Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Crowder, Matt Redman, Jimi Cravity and Hillsong United.

Seeing a stadium of millennials singing their hearts out and lifting their hands in worship wasn't all, though.

As a Passion veteran, my friend Shaina Morrow, a student ministry director from Curtis Lake Church in Sanford, Maine, went for the first time as a leader —no longer a student.

"Regardless of fashion trends, social media, politics, speakers and music genres, Passion will always be focused on Jesus," adding that "Passion rallies around a cause every year."

Passion partnered with Compassion International, a Christian humanitarian aid child-sponsorship organization dedicated to the long-term development of children living in poverty around the world, in an initiative called "Make History Together."

Sure enough, they made history. The students sponsored every child on the waiting list in the countries of Rwanda, El Salvador, Indonesia and Tanzania. Just to give you an idea of how many little ones that is, in Rwanda alone, there were 2,013 children. They also sponsored some of the children in Bolivia.

How incredible is that? Passion played a video of children on the waiting list in Rwanda getting the news of their sponsorship. The joy on their faces was priceless.

"My husband and I committed to sponsoring a little girl named Agnes who lives in Tanzania, and it already has made an impact on our lives—knowing we are giving her a better future. Millennials are cause-driven, and when you combine a focus on Jesus and a chance to be a part of something bigger than themselves, this generation responds," Shaina said.

A stadium full of millennials just gave poor children all across the world food and clean water, medical care, education, life-skills training and spiritual guidance. An act Dalton says can only be explained by the power of the gospel.

"Personally, I am always blown away by the way each communicator has an incredible love and knowledge of scripture," Shaina said. "It has challenged me to commit to knowing Jesus and Scripture more. As Ben Stuart said in our group, 'we exist to know God and make Him known.' That was the biggest challenge that I will take away from Passion 2017."

So, in the heart of Atlanta, thousands of young people stormed out of a stadium, not to loot or riot in the streets, but to bring the light of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to their campuses, their communities, and to our world.

As one of the speakers, Christine Caine, put it on her insta-story: "Millennials love Jesus," and I've got 55,000 reasons to prove it. 

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