Unbiblical Trends
Out of concern for my sisters in Christ I also biblically, boldly and unashamedly warn against and expose unbiblical trends in the church.
This page is dedicated to doing that.
This page is dedicated to doing that.
Courts of Heaven:
Early on in my walk with Jesus Christ I was invited to become a part of a group that was lead by a self professed ministry leader from South Africa, Michelle Manders. I spent four months listening to Michelle's teachings. As my ability to biblically discern truth from deception grew by the grace of God, I became more and more alarmed at what Michelle was teaching to her followers.
I was lead in October to address her privately and head on with regard her false teachings. All that I brought to her was fully substantiated as being incorrect with Scripture.
When following God's process for dealing with false teaching outlined in Matthew 18:15-17 failed to bring about the necessary public repentence and change of mind in Michelle's I took the matter public as a warning for others, as instructed in this scripture.
The result was the following video.
I include this video as an exercise in leading my sisters in Christ through a process of discernment.
Though for the sake of brevity I have not read all of the scripture that I stand on in my expose, all of it is available for review and study HERE.
Update: Recently after an email exchange with Michelle I requested a live conversation with her to try to sort this situation out which she agreed to. That happened on Feb 27, 2020 .
What I had hoped would be a constructive and transformative experience with her turned out to be unfruitful.
The matter is VERY simple: All Michelle needs to do for this video to be removed from the public is to repent publicly for her false teachings and stop teaching in deception, in a manner that goes against the Word of God.
She has refused.
Our conversation was recorded and should Michelle attempt to misrepresent what transpired between she and I, twist my words or or retaliate against me in any way for having brought her the Word of God in correction, the full recording will be put into the public so that people can witness first hand and judge for themselves.
I was lead in October to address her privately and head on with regard her false teachings. All that I brought to her was fully substantiated as being incorrect with Scripture.
When following God's process for dealing with false teaching outlined in Matthew 18:15-17 failed to bring about the necessary public repentence and change of mind in Michelle's I took the matter public as a warning for others, as instructed in this scripture.
The result was the following video.
I include this video as an exercise in leading my sisters in Christ through a process of discernment.
Though for the sake of brevity I have not read all of the scripture that I stand on in my expose, all of it is available for review and study HERE.
Update: Recently after an email exchange with Michelle I requested a live conversation with her to try to sort this situation out which she agreed to. That happened on Feb 27, 2020 .
What I had hoped would be a constructive and transformative experience with her turned out to be unfruitful.
The matter is VERY simple: All Michelle needs to do for this video to be removed from the public is to repent publicly for her false teachings and stop teaching in deception, in a manner that goes against the Word of God.
She has refused.
Our conversation was recorded and should Michelle attempt to misrepresent what transpired between she and I, twist my words or or retaliate against me in any way for having brought her the Word of God in correction, the full recording will be put into the public so that people can witness first hand and judge for themselves.
Scripture I am standing on regarding my nine concerns about
Michelle Manders False Teaching
God takes this false teaching stuff VERY seriously and we are biblically instructed to expose false teachers.
Here is the scriptural substantiation refuting the serious concerns about Michelle's teaching:
Concern 1. Michelle fosters a dependency of her followers on her, rather than on the Word of God.
Psalm 121:2 - My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 130:6 - My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
Isaiah 26:4 - Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.
Isaiah 41:13 - For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.'
Philippians 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Hebrews 13:5-6 - Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
1 Peter 5:6-7 - Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Concern 2. Michelle consistently claims to receive personal revelations from ‘the Lord’ that are in contradiction to Bible scripture. She shares these revelations with her online group, in her YouTube videos, on her blog and on her other social media.
2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Romans 15:4 - For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
2 Peter 1:20 - Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 - But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
1 Corinthians 4:6 - I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
Matthew 4:1-11 -
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and“‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Acts 17:11-12 - Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
1 Timothy 4:13 - Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
Concern 3. In her recordings and videos Michelle consistently recites long, drawn out, repetitive prayers, some of which I have timed at over 30 minutes in length. Jesus taught us how to pray. Michelle does not follow Jesus’ guidance in any way regarding prayer. In fact she embodies exactly what is instructed against in Matthew 6:7-8: “And when you pray do not heap empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Matthew 6:5-15 - And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Mark1:35 - And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Matthew 14:23 - And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone...
Concern 4. Michelle mixes both lies and some truth into her teachings. Once deception has been woven into something a teacher says then everything that teacher has said needs to be completely discounted. Partial truth is not truth.
Galatians 5:8-9 - This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
1 Corinthians 5:6 - Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
Jeremiah 23:16 - Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 - For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Acts 20:30-32 - And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
2 Peter 2:1-2 - 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. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
Titus 1:9 - He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Concern 5. Michelle consistently asserts and perpetuates in her followers a belief that people in the New Age have different and special needs in coming out of the New Age to Christ than those who have been saved out of other life circumstances. This is a huge deception that is a belief straight out of the New Age. Everyone, in God’s eyes, is on the same level regardless of what types of sin that they have engaged in and been saved from. Sin is sin in God’s eyes and no one has needs that are more special than anyone else.
Galatians 3:28 - There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Acts 10:34 - So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality”
Colossians 3:9-11 - Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Romans 2:11 - For God shows no partiality.
Philippians 2:3 - Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
James 2:1 - My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
1 Peter:1:17 - And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds
Romans 12:3 - For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Concern 6. Michelle uses, and teaches others to use what I refer to as the “Bible 8 ball” method for consulting Scripture. She says repeatedly in her teachings that she asks God a question then randomly opens her Bible to see the answer that God has provided to her. This method, usually used by newly saved teenagers, is disgraceful in a teacher. At the very least it is an ignorant practice, and at its worst it is a New Age practice which treats the Bible as an oracle.
Proverbs 2:1-6 -
My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
2 Timothy 2:15-16 - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
1 Timothy 1:6-7 - Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
1 Timothy 1:8 - Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully...
Joshua 1:8 - This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Concern 7. Michelle’s hermeneutics - that is to say her interpretation of scripture - is consistently just plain wrong. She takes scripture out of context and does not understand how to interpret it or, as it is commonly referred to in Christian Apologetics, to rightly divide the word.
2 Timothy 2:15-16 - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness
1 Timothy 1:6-7 - Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
1 Timothy 6:3-5 - If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
1 Timothy 1:5 - The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
1 Timothy 1:8 - Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
1 Timothy 6:20-21 - Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.
2 Ephesians 5:27 - so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
2 Timothy 2:19 - But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.
Proverbs 4:6-7
Get wisdom; get insight;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
Concern 8. Michelle practices what is known as Narcissistic Eisegesis which means forcing the Bible to mean something you already want it to mean by superimposing yourself into the meaning of the passage, rather than interpreting Scripture for what it means and says about God, and letting the Scripture simply speak for itself. In other words Michelle reads herself into the Bible. She did this to defend herself against my concerns, reading herself into the story of Jesus during his 40 days in the desert and comparing herself to Job in the Book of Job. This treatment of the Word dishonors God in the extreme.
2 Timothy 2:15 - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
John 5:39 - You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me
1 John 2:22 - Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
Luke 17-21
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
9. And finally I see potential evidence of false conversion to Christ in Michelle’s presumed testimony of salvation. In several private conversations with Michelle, the dates that she was seemingly claiming to be born again, changed. She first offered a date in August 2017 then a second date in October 2018, then a date in February of 2019. A person genuinely born again in Christ is easily able to pinpoint at the very least the month and the year (usually the day as well) that this happened and this date does not shift and change. Michelle’s date of salvation is a moving target. There are several videos that she has up on YouTube that she calls testimonies but none of these points to a genuine born again experience with Jesus Christ. I have come to wonder, from listening to Michelle for a number of months if she is confusing being born again with her having given up her New Age practice. Which she actually clearly hasn’t done completely based on her behaviors and the way she is approaching things. This is very dangerous, indeed, because she might not be saved, yet she is claiming Christ in her ‘ministry' and is potentially misleading others into believing that she is a born again Christian.
1 Peter 1:13-15 - Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
2 Timothy 2:19-21 - But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
James 4:10 - Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
1 John 2:5-6 - But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1 John 3:9 - No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
1 John 5:4-5 - For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Here is the scriptural substantiation refuting the serious concerns about Michelle's teaching:
Concern 1. Michelle fosters a dependency of her followers on her, rather than on the Word of God.
Psalm 121:2 - My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 130:6 - My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
Isaiah 26:4 - Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.
Isaiah 41:13 - For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.'
Philippians 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Hebrews 13:5-6 - Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
1 Peter 5:6-7 - Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Concern 2. Michelle consistently claims to receive personal revelations from ‘the Lord’ that are in contradiction to Bible scripture. She shares these revelations with her online group, in her YouTube videos, on her blog and on her other social media.
2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Romans 15:4 - For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
2 Peter 1:20 - Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 - But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
1 Corinthians 4:6 - I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
Matthew 4:1-11 -
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and“‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Acts 17:11-12 - Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
1 Timothy 4:13 - Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
Concern 3. In her recordings and videos Michelle consistently recites long, drawn out, repetitive prayers, some of which I have timed at over 30 minutes in length. Jesus taught us how to pray. Michelle does not follow Jesus’ guidance in any way regarding prayer. In fact she embodies exactly what is instructed against in Matthew 6:7-8: “And when you pray do not heap empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Matthew 6:5-15 - And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Mark1:35 - And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Matthew 14:23 - And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone...
Concern 4. Michelle mixes both lies and some truth into her teachings. Once deception has been woven into something a teacher says then everything that teacher has said needs to be completely discounted. Partial truth is not truth.
Galatians 5:8-9 - This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
1 Corinthians 5:6 - Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
Jeremiah 23:16 - Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 - For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Acts 20:30-32 - And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
2 Peter 2:1-2 - 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. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
Titus 1:9 - He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Concern 5. Michelle consistently asserts and perpetuates in her followers a belief that people in the New Age have different and special needs in coming out of the New Age to Christ than those who have been saved out of other life circumstances. This is a huge deception that is a belief straight out of the New Age. Everyone, in God’s eyes, is on the same level regardless of what types of sin that they have engaged in and been saved from. Sin is sin in God’s eyes and no one has needs that are more special than anyone else.
Galatians 3:28 - There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Acts 10:34 - So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality”
Colossians 3:9-11 - Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Romans 2:11 - For God shows no partiality.
Philippians 2:3 - Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
James 2:1 - My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
1 Peter:1:17 - And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds
Romans 12:3 - For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Concern 6. Michelle uses, and teaches others to use what I refer to as the “Bible 8 ball” method for consulting Scripture. She says repeatedly in her teachings that she asks God a question then randomly opens her Bible to see the answer that God has provided to her. This method, usually used by newly saved teenagers, is disgraceful in a teacher. At the very least it is an ignorant practice, and at its worst it is a New Age practice which treats the Bible as an oracle.
Proverbs 2:1-6 -
My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
2 Timothy 2:15-16 - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
1 Timothy 1:6-7 - Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
1 Timothy 1:8 - Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully...
Joshua 1:8 - This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Concern 7. Michelle’s hermeneutics - that is to say her interpretation of scripture - is consistently just plain wrong. She takes scripture out of context and does not understand how to interpret it or, as it is commonly referred to in Christian Apologetics, to rightly divide the word.
2 Timothy 2:15-16 - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness
1 Timothy 1:6-7 - Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
1 Timothy 6:3-5 - If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
1 Timothy 1:5 - The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
1 Timothy 1:8 - Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
1 Timothy 6:20-21 - Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.
2 Ephesians 5:27 - so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
2 Timothy 2:19 - But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.
Proverbs 4:6-7
Get wisdom; get insight;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
Concern 8. Michelle practices what is known as Narcissistic Eisegesis which means forcing the Bible to mean something you already want it to mean by superimposing yourself into the meaning of the passage, rather than interpreting Scripture for what it means and says about God, and letting the Scripture simply speak for itself. In other words Michelle reads herself into the Bible. She did this to defend herself against my concerns, reading herself into the story of Jesus during his 40 days in the desert and comparing herself to Job in the Book of Job. This treatment of the Word dishonors God in the extreme.
2 Timothy 2:15 - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
John 5:39 - You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me
1 John 2:22 - Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
Luke 17-21
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
9. And finally I see potential evidence of false conversion to Christ in Michelle’s presumed testimony of salvation. In several private conversations with Michelle, the dates that she was seemingly claiming to be born again, changed. She first offered a date in August 2017 then a second date in October 2018, then a date in February of 2019. A person genuinely born again in Christ is easily able to pinpoint at the very least the month and the year (usually the day as well) that this happened and this date does not shift and change. Michelle’s date of salvation is a moving target. There are several videos that she has up on YouTube that she calls testimonies but none of these points to a genuine born again experience with Jesus Christ. I have come to wonder, from listening to Michelle for a number of months if she is confusing being born again with her having given up her New Age practice. Which she actually clearly hasn’t done completely based on her behaviors and the way she is approaching things. This is very dangerous, indeed, because she might not be saved, yet she is claiming Christ in her ‘ministry' and is potentially misleading others into believing that she is a born again Christian.
1 Peter 1:13-15 - Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
2 Timothy 2:19-21 - But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
James 4:10 - Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
1 John 2:5-6 - But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
1 John 3:9 - No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
1 John 5:4-5 - For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?