Friday, April 13, 2012

The Real Problem with Joyce Meyer

UPDATE (July 18, 2024):

I am happy to report that I have learned more about Joyce Meyer's ministry in connection with all the things that have been revealed to me about the Gospel and the Grace of God.

I am learning to see that there was so much wrong believing in my own life, and that colored my misunderstanding for other preachers as I learned more about the Gospel of Grace.

I am grateful for Joyce Meyer's ministry, as much as any other preacher or minister who shares the full Gospel of Grace.



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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!

10 comments:

  1. I like Joyce because she teaches us how to live on this earth and get along making the world a better place. I want something useful. I know the story of Jesus. I want to apply His teachings to everyday life. Joyce shares her humanity, her flaws and how she works to overcome them. We all fall short. She is positive and prosperous--a good teacher/Christian role model--far more than "church lady."

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  2. Jesus did not come to help us live better:

    He came that we might have life, and that more abundantly.

    Instead of getting tips piecemeal, the Holy Spirit lives and guides us by His peace:

    Please read Hebrews 8: 10-12 -- The New Covenant

    Christ's rules in us -- Colossians 3: 15-16

    I am not interested in tidbits and life lessons. I want to know Life Himself: Jesus --

    "Grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord" (2 Peter 3:18)

    Meyer never taught on righteousness and grace, and those two gifts make all the difference for a Christian. {Romans 5: 17)

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  3. I am amazed at your statement, "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." First you show that you have not really listened to her. Her newest book is "God is Not Mad At You: You Can Experience Real Love" She has many, many teachings on God's love for us! The second part of your statement flies in the face of Jesus who tells us that we must love our neighbor as our self. Are you really saying that we should not find more ways to love others????!!!! And, yes there is still a battle going on! Jesus has won the war, but Satan still is active and still wars against our minds. Paul said he had to die daily to his flesh and for us to daily take up our spiritual armor. If there is no longer a battle going on then why must we put on the Armor of God? BTW, Jesus did not "die as us", He did die for us and took upon Himself our sins, becoming sin FOR us, but not AS us.
    Surely you have read Ephesians 2:10 10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." We must DO in the kingdom of God, it is not automatic. Jesus said "If you love me you will keep my commandments"
    Arthur, you must have missed Joyce's book "If Not For the Grace of God" or her teaching on "Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness", or "The Robe of Righteousness", or "The Righteousness of God in Christ". It is very

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)

      We do not add anything to all that Christ did, because we have nothing but our dead in trespass selves (Ephesians 2:1-6)

      The lack of teaching on our being taken from dead to alive is still missing in many churches.

      If Joyce Meyer is proclaiming Christ and Him Crucified in greater fashion, fine.

      I once heard her say, this was just last week: I have been studying the Bible for the past thirty-seven years, so I think that I qualify as an expert."

      Preachers need to reveal Jesus, not themselves in our pulpits and our churches.

      Thanks for reading and sharing!

      God bless you and keep you!

      Delete
  4. It is very easy to criticize something you have not really listened to.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, Jesus did dies as us, too:

    "20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:20-21)

    By His death on the Cross, Jesus condemned sin in the flesh, too (Romans 8: 3)

    We receive a new life, a new identity, because of Jesus!

    ReplyDelete
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