The Real Problem with Joyce Meyer

I have received a lot of great teaching and insight from Joyce Meyer. I admire that she overcame a great deal of abuse and trauma in her life, that she  was able to care for his abusive father in his final days, even sharing the gospel with him.

Yet the teachings of Pastors Joseph Prince, Paul White, and a lesser known yet very dynamic Bob George have brought to my attention an element of the gospel which is damnably and dangerously missing from our churches. Not only did Jesus die for all of our sins, past present and future, but He died as us, granting us a final release from the curse of the law and granting us the power to become the children of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to give us life, and that more abundantly. He did not foist on us a set of demands that we had to carry out on our own, despite knowing that we will go to heaven when we die.

Pastor James Robison has also received this revelation. The Gospel does not just provide us a ticket to heaven, but an entry into life everlasting here and now on earth, which God asks us to work out with great humility and joy.

Like many preachers on TV, Joyce Meyer does not share this element at length with her audience. She spends more time doling out daily advice for living, when every believer has the Holy Spirit already, and does not need that anyone should teach them anything. Instead of teaching about God’s love for us, Meyer has made a point of indicating to her viewers that they have to find more ways to love others. If we walk in the Spirit, then we do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, in fact we love, and to love is the fulfillment of the law.

To state the matter plainly, Joyce Meyer is an elevated church lady who teaches other church people how to be better church people.

In her book “Approval Addiction”, not once does she mention that through the Cross we become accepted in the Beloved. If there is any cure for seeking the approval of man, it is both growing in grace, knowledge, and belief in the love that God has for us. And to know this love best, we need to understand how much God loves His own Son, and that notwithstanding this infinite love He was willing to send His Son to die for us. If we struggle with fear, anger, jealousy, bitter rivalries in church or at the work place, it is due to the fact that we do not know how much God loves us, how much he has forgiven us.

In her bestseller "Battlefield of the Mind," she gives the impression that there is still a war going on. In fact, God has already disarmed prince of darkness by nailing the ordinances against us at the Cross (Colossians 2: 15). We are called to bring all thoughts into captivity to the obedienc of Christ (2 Corinthians 10: 5)". This verse does not suggest that we have to work at it. In fact, every time that we get scared, upset, or sad, we can simply point ourselves back to the Finished Work of Jesus Christ, bu which we have peace with God. There is no further need for us to force our thinking into a certain line. We have peace with God already (:Romans 5: 1); we do not have to maintain an attitude of peace in order to retain this peace, but rather that our still fallen minds may be renewed to the eternal truth of who we are in Christ.

If Joyce  spent more time teaching people the love of God, if she spent more time revealing the majesty of Christ’s Finished Work, if she spent more time infusing her hearers with the knowledge and power that they have in Christ, she would bring her  viewers out of bondage, she would prosper the body of Christ. Perhaps out of fear of losing a dedicated market, Meyer shares her parochial life experiences, telling people about the mistakes and mishaps that she has endured in her life. We need less experience, more eternity, we need less caring, more Christ Jesus!