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False teachers

Priscilla Shirer’s dangerous and false teaching

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Priscilla Shirer is a famous Christian author, and far too many people (primarily women) buy her books and believe her nonsense. She equates the Bible with hand-me-down clothes and insists that God must give you something fresh and new. And even if you get it wrong, you should keep claiming to speak for God. You’d have to be biblically ignorant not to immediately dismiss her false teachings. She’s a clever wolf, actively teaching you to ignore the Bible and go with your own feelings of what God is supposedly telling you directly.  That won’t turn out well.

Years ago we were members of a generally solid Bible-believing Baptist church.  However, the women’s group studied one of Shirer’s books that claimed to teach you how to hear from God. That’s nonsensical on its face, of course, as if God isn’t speaking to you, there is nothing to hear, and if God is speaking to you, then you couldn’t miss it if you tried.  She turned the story of Samuel on its head, claiming that Samuel needed to learn how to hear from God.  Sadly, the pastors were reluctant to get involved and correct the women.

Shirer has made a career out of her false teaching.  Via Priscilla Shirer Attacks the Bible as ‘Hand-me-down Revelation’:

In the clip, she is saying that having a preacher teach the scripture is insufficient and not personalized enough, that it gets stale, old, and is a mark of immaturity to not seek more. In contrast, it is a sign of growth and wisdom to want more than that, and so seek some “revelation” that is new, fresh, and personalized just for you.

Speaking within the context of receiving clothing hand-me-downs, Shirer creates the analogy by recounting how one year as a young girl she was not excited to get hand-me-downs, because the clothes “had not been specifically chosen for me.”

“And I’ve been okay with hand-me-downs with secondhand clothes all of these years, but all of a sudden I want of my own stuff. I wanted something to come with my name on it that had specifically been chosen for me. There ought to come a time in your relationship with the Lord, when hand-me-down revelation just doesn’t do it for you anymore.

There ought to come a little bit of disconcerting, a little bit of maturity in your walk with God where you become a little bit unsettled to only be spoon-fed the Word of God from someone else to you.

Now, we thank God for our pastors and our teachers and our leaders that help us to rightly divide the word of truth *but* there ought to come a time in your life where you’ve decided, “You know what? I want fresh revelation with my name on it that has come straight from God’s Spirit for my life.”

As with most false teachers, Shirer doesn’t want you to read the Bible.  Why?  Because you might realize how anti-biblical her teachings are!  The more you read the Bible, the more you’ll realize how awful she is. 

Pray for discernment in the church and that people would read the Bible more.  And never trust Christian bookstores.

Here’s my lesson on decision making and the will of God and hearing from God.

Bible, Christian living

Beware of Christian bookstores

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And that goes double for newer Christians.

Why?  Because the more popular the book, the more likely it has lousy theology and the more likely they will sell it.  Lifeway, etc. are businesses.  They are sort-of Christian in that they sell Bibles and some good books, but mostly they’ll see anything with a Jesus veneer.  People gobble up the “I went to Heaven” books and other fads, not noticing that they disagree with the Bible and with each other.

Another example: Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, which I’ve written about previously, is a wildly popular book.  Here is the type of content that book has (the author is claiming to quote Jesus here, putting her book on a par with scripture).  Via Book Review and Serious Warning: Sarah Young’s ‘Jesus Calling’

When you are with other people, you often lose sight of My Presence. . . When you realize this has happened, whisper My Name; this tiny act of trust brings Me to the forefront of your consciousness, where I belong. (May 2)

Let Me infuse My Presence into your thoughts. As your mind stops racing, your body relaxes and you regain awareness of Me. . . . There are actually more than four dimensions in this world where you live. In addition to the three dimensions of space and the one of time, there is the dimension of openness to My presence. (May 24)

For years you swam around in a sea of meaninglessness, searching for Love, hoping for hope. All that time I was pursuing you, aching to embrace you in My compassionate arms. . . I sang you a Love song, whose beginning and end are veiled in eternity. (June 14)

That sure doesn’t sound like Jesus.  If you read the Bible much at all you should recognize how made-up her claims are.

While she tries to deny that she is putting her words on a par with scripture, the accusation stands. The title itself claims that Jesus himself contacted her.  How can she then deny that she was claiming to quote him?  Does the King of the universe make contact and then not speak clearly?  And just look at the quotes above.  They are unusually specific, telling Young about the number of dimensions in the universe.  So Jesus either really told her those things, or she made them up (or a demon told them to her).

As the link explains, there is one entry after another with New Age nonsense like that.  Any resemblance to the Bible is coincidental, but there is a strong correlation to what Young writes and what New Age mystic Eckhart Tolle writes (Oprah loves Eckhart’s teachings, if that tells you anything).

This is why understanding Decision making and the will of God is so important.  Those who claim special revelation from God are making the same type of statements that Young does, namely that God spoke to them directly with a personalized message.  While He could do that, it isn’t normative, and the burden of proof is on those who claim to have received his messages.

Avoid that book, warn others, and pretty much avoid any best-sellers at Christian bookstores (if you must go there).  Try to read more older, established books than the trendy ones.