Reblogged from: Elizabeth Prata The End Time
It happened at the Women of Faith "Unwrap the Bible" Conference.
But first, some background.
This past February, just weeks ago, Beth Moore and four other women concluded the Unwrap The Bible event in Houston, and closed it with what the sponsor of the event, Women of Faith, called "A Commissioning". (??)
"Unwrap the Bible" was touted as America's largest bible conference, sponsored by "Women of Faith." (WOF) It was held for two days at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church. In addition to five women who were to teach and preach their way through the weekend, WOF used clips from Catholic Mystic Roma Downey's "The Bible" series to punctuate the biblical "truths" the lineup of teachers was to teach. Downey also promoted the conference prior to its inception. Christine Caine, Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Lisa Harper, and Sheila Walsh were the 5 scheduled bible teachers. Joel Osteen's wife Victoria opened the conference with a prayer. Lisa Bevere was on hand too. Eleven-thousand women attended. Here is a photo of Lakewood Church with Beth on the jumbotron-
At the very end of the conference, Beth Moore did not offer a benediction for the women, she did not sing a song for them, she did something peculiar. Very peculiar. She held a "commissioning". At Moore's insistence, telling women to grab the person next to them, and repeat after her, Moore led the 11,000 women in a ceremony whose likeness I can't find anywhere in the bible.
At Moore's command, the 11,000 women dutifully paired up, hugged up, listened and then spoke in unison in call-and-response style with Moore leading them in this "commissioning." If you've never heard of a "commissioning" like this, I haven't either, because it doesn't exist. Moore has ripped the normal word from any biblical context and any known ceremony and has redefined it into something a seeker sensitive, New Age, pop psychology, comfy feminist would love. And love it they did.
I am not making this up- the Women of Faith intended for the last segment of the conference to be called a "commissioning." Here is the WOF title card for the video segment:
"Women of Faith Commissioning"
Monday, March 17, 2014 By Beth Moore
At last month’s Unwrap the Bible event in Houston, Beth Moore wrapped up the weekend with a “commissioning.” She gathered major points from all the speakers’ messages and had the women in the audience speak them over each other. We loved it and thought you would, too.I'm sorry, but I don't love it. Not one word "spoken over the women" at the end of WOF Unwrap the Bible conference that Moore was "commissioning" was scripture. Not one. Many of the concepts in the ceremony were unbiblical, to boot.
How Moore introduced "the commissioning" to the women was:
"This is our way of sending you out with this truth embedded in the marrow of your bones."
Sounds painful.
It was then that Moore told the women to grab a women next to them and repeat what Moore said to the women they'd grabbed. She would say a line, the 11,000 women would repeat it to the partner they'd grabbed, whether they knew the woman or not, not knowing whether the woman was even saved or not. That's why there is a space for pauses after each phrase. Here is the transcript.
My dear Sister Be confident this great day That your God has chosen you He can make a miracle Out of your big mess He can stand you up straight And set your feet upon a rock No matter where you’ve been Or what you’ve done You are not dirty The power of the cross Has made you clean When you run out of what it takes Girlfriend, run to Jesus Let Jesus turn water into wine Never forget You have an enemy Hell-bent on destroying you But you have a Savior Who became earthbound to deliver you There is restoration and divine destiny for you Throw your arms wide open and receive in Jesus’ Name Rip off those expiration dates God’s promise to you will be fulfilled Quit just eavesdropping on God Start leaning in and believing what He says Impossible is where God starts! Your God is faithful He will do it Do NOT retreat in fear Now, girlfriend – get out there in that lost world And show them what a woman looks like When she unwraps her BibleAnd thus, these women have now been "commissioned." Did you notice the focus of the commissioning was on the women, and not the Lord? I did. In the bible, men are commissioned to go to the lost world and show Jesus to it by preaching His word. Beth Moore told 11,000 women to go to the lost world and show themselves to it.
But what exactly had happened at this commissioning? Was "the commissioning" at Unwrap the Bible an authoritative sacramental ceremony like baptism? Were they sacred vows like marriage? Was it an ordination ceremony? Unknown.
Was there a responsibility the women must now adopt because they'd uttered a creed and been "commissioned" by someone they consider a leader (and by some random women next to them)? It seemed so, because Moore said that she was "sending them out." Therefore was it a Missionary Commissioning ceremony, akin to when Timothy had been laid hands on and sent out? (1 Timothy 4:14). Unknown.
Picture Moses standing before 11,000 Israelite women, raising his staff, and telling them, "Start leaning in and believing what He says. Now, girlfriend – get out there in that lost world" Continue Reading for Biblical Truth about feminism in the "Church"
