To those who are aware of Joyce Meyer’s ministry, I need to inform you of some things God has prompted us to perceive.

One of the greatest dangers to Christians is that which Paul warned about in Acts 20:30, where he said:

I don’t think anyone deliberately distorts the truth, but it happens. And the effect is to draw away disciples after themselves instead of after Christ.

Last night, my wife mentioned something about Joyce Meyer’s ministry as I was going to sleep, and at that moment I was given some words of knowledge. These words came into my mind — that Joyce’ ministry is now a ministry of self-help, and her teaching one of Christian humanism.

If you read her magazines it does not take much insight to see that she heavily promotes herself. Her picture is everywhere in its pages; her articles, while containing some truth and usefulness to many people, end up pointing people to her. Surreptitiously, she can easily become a mediator before God in place of Christ, and end up as an icon in her sector of the Church. Pages in her magazine are devoted to advertising her wares, rather than teaching the Word of God. Her magazine is not much different from a commercial catalogue.

Ministries are embarking on a wrong route when they exploit the Word of God through commercialisation. In every magazine there is a strong emphasis on contributing financially to her efforts for the Kingdom. And she refers to her work as if it were the only part of the Work of God that matters. There is little or no mention of others’ work. Where are the apostles, prophets, and other evangelists? They have a part in building up the whole body of Christ, too, but it seems she is only intent on focusing the attention of listeners to her and what she has to say.

On a taped message some time ago, she mentioned how she was challenged by a prophetic word that said something indicating she should withdraw from too much involvement in festivities to do with Christmas. But she dismissed that word with some rational explanation and justified her continuance in Christmas celebrations with a good dose of humanism.

I wrote to her some time afterwards, hopeful that she would be willing to see that Christmas has no biblical foundation and should not be observed by Christians. Whether my communications reached her, I don’t know. It is hard reaching evangelists who are located behind such thick walls. There are so many layers of human organisation to penetrate before you reach the person you are sent to.

Emphasis Moving From Spiritual to Physical

Perhaps since that time she has veered off on a tangent. Her emphasis is now placed on the need to physically establish the superstructure of Joyce Meyer Ministries, and overlooks the spiritual composition of the body of Christ – that God’s people are joined by the Spirit across denominational and organisational barriers.

The physical is not the Church. The Church is the people of God. And the people of God are those in whom God’s Spirit is at work, where God is preparing the character-imbued individuals who will reign with Christ in the era to come on earth. Thus, the Church is a spiritual organism. But Joyce no longer emphasises this in her bid to physically establish her ministry and invite more donors.

For example, on page 8 of the February 2000 Life in the Word magazine, she writes: "Remember, as you help build God’s house, He will build your house." The subtle implication is that the establishment she is constructing is God’s house. This emphasis is not foreign to the cults. It is what has cloned millions of people into becoming dutiful automatons, faithfully (often blindly) giving their support to a human enterprise that is outside the ideal purposes of God.

On page 7 of the January 2000 issue of Life in the Word she writes: "This is PARTNER MONTH [whatever that hype means]... If you have not yet joined Life in the Word partner family, please do it now. If you are already a partner, this is the perfect time to consider increasing your partnership commitment. This is a new year, a new move up to a new level with God."

What is that if not a very subtle insinuation that the more you give, the more you will be blessed spiritually? It encourages the false doctrine of the Pray-and-Pay (‘prosperity gospel’) evangelists who interpret physical giving with spiritual getting. It leans right into the devil’s lap which Benny Hinn once warned about, saying "You don’t give to get!" Indeed, you don’t. But the effect of this emphasis is to inadvertently lead gullible people to feel guilty if they don’t increase their physical support of her ministry.

It is akin to the teaching of the Catholics in the Dark Ages, who promoted indulgences to redeem themselves from purgatory. Just pay more to the Church and you will spare yourself the penalty of some sin. The Church even put prices on various sins according to their dastardliness in their eyes! That is how the Catholic harlot became the wealthiest Church in the world. Through fear and intimidation she coerced people into parting with money.

While I am not suggesting that Joyce Meyer’s tactics are this cheap, what I feel God is pointing out is that the emphasis has veered off on a tangent, which, if unchecked, will cause the Holy Spirit to be quenched and her teaching to be compromised further.

She is a very effective speaker, but if that is continued alone without the guidance of the Spirit of God, another relatively worthless denomination will be the end result, not what God originally intended. When men and women stand in the limelight the holy Spirit gets less of a look-in. It is hard finding a correct balance in handling mass publicity and demand. Jesus often responded by withdrawing to a mountain alone. He never planned how He would make His ministry great.

Audio Tapes

When we first bought some of Joyce Meyer’s tapes, there were several that contained some valuable information to those on our mailing list. In Africa, particularly, there is so much hunger for truth and teaching. The need for teaching materials is colossal! You could ‘dump’ everything you have to try and satiate demand there, and it would seem like a drop in the ocean!

I wrote to Joyce, asking for permission to copy her tapes to send to the African brethren. I made it clear that the object was not to make any profit. (We get nothing from Africa except requests for materials, and news of God moving there.) It was to supply their needs.

She responded personally by saying that she would permit us to make one copy only for them. In other words, we would have had to buy all her tapes over and above the one copy, to send at our expense to Africa. The expense would have been astronomical, and her profits would have been equally large!

I’m sorry, but that is commercialisation of the gospel. It does nothing for the true furtherance of the Kingdom of God.

By contrast, David Wilkerson’s ministry, equally large in its outreach, has the excellent policy of permitting others to copy his tapes for free distribution. That is the way it should be! No restrictions should be placed upon the spreading of truth.

In our ministry, I mention that people are free to copy and distribute anything we produce, so long as it is not plagiarised and credit is honestly given to the source, and it is not done for profit. If anyone abuses these provisos, they have to answer to God not me for their violation of my trust.

Once, when I was considering another ministry, God spoke to me and said "I am not found in the institutions of men." This was to do with Derek Prince Ministries becoming an institution. The same can be said of any large ministry, when it forgets its calling and becomes a business or an institution governed by men instead of the lead of the Holy Spirit. And the larger these corporate structures grow, the more satanic elements are able to infiltrate them.

I hope this little explanation is helpful to you. It is not meant to be hurtful to Joyce Meyer, or unduly critical of her activities. But it is always worth remembering that if we are not in the will of God, we are giving place to the devil. And he has done more than enough damage in the Church of God!

Malcolm B Heap, 22nd January 2000