Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

It is not grace, humility, or courage when a woman stands before you in spite of her insecurities, doubts, and fears, believing God has given her a word for you through her own experiences. She may be gentle in tone. She may push past her discomfort and speak what she feels you need. But she believes her experiences have granted her special revelation from God, revelation other women need.

She is not prepared to stand before you, open the text, exegete it, and submit herself to what God has said. Instead, she brings her experiences to Scripture and seeks her own word from God, her own revelation. She is ready to exegete her life and then use Scripture to support it.

By the time she steps behind the podium, she has already gained your trust. She is introduced as anointed, as powerful, as one to whom God has given a special word just for you. Every part of the introduction directs your heart away from the more sure Word of God and toward her, toward the idea that she uniquely hears from God, that she carries an anointing not given to you, that she has access to something you do not. You are told you must not miss it. If you are absent, you will miss what God is doing.

Consider the implication.

God is now giving her revelation He withheld from the church for two thousand years. Revelation withheld from His bride today. Revelation available only to those present to hear what she has to say. You feel special. You were told not to miss it. Your expectations are high. When she delivers that word, and perhaps individual words she claims God has for certain women, you believe it. You do not test it. This is what you wanted. You are getting exactly what you asked for.

And it is not God.

It is not His Word.

She is scratching your itch.

That is not humility. It is pride. That is not faith in God. It is dissatisfaction with God and with what He has given. That is not courage. It is disobedience. That is not faithfulness. It is rebellion.

Many women look to other women for their stories, testimonies, and experiences, treating them as uniquely inspired and inherently revelatory. They are told these women carry a special anointing. Their suffering proves it. Opposition confirms it. The enemy is threatened by them, they are told, because they have a word for you and he is trying to silence them before it is delivered.

And you cannot see it.

Your eyes are not on Christ. Your heart is not satisfied with His Word. Your faith is not in Him. He is good, but not enough. You crave something more.

She is not leading you to Him. She is leading you away from Him. The more you listen, the more your heart turns against Scripture. The Bible becomes a prop, just as it is for her. You see it displayed on the podium, but you hear her heart exalted and interpreted. Her words must be received. They must be honored. They are called powerful because she is called anointed.

You are not following Christ. You are following false words from women who have deceived themselves. They believe they are humble and courageous, but they are prideful and disobedient.

Is His Word enough?

You say it is, but your life testifies otherwise. You are never satisfied with what He has said. You long for more.

And you will find it. You seek it. They provide it.

There is no shortage of those ready to lead your heart astray, and you love it.

Oh, that you would repent. Oh, that you would turn from every false word and every false teacher you love. Oh, that His Word would be enough. That you would sit under teaching where Scripture is opened, exposited, and applied, and where the Holy Spirit works through those ordinary, God ordained means.

It is painfully evident that many do not love His Word. They justify their sinful craving for more. They cannot endure sound doctrine. They will not tolerate it. And so they seek and find what their sinful hearts desire. They ask for their own word, and they get it. What God has given is not enough.

There is no shortage of false teachers and false prophets, and they are not only men.

There are many women teaching other women and leading them away from God. They are small group leaders, Sunday school teachers, prayer group leaders, women’s ministry coordinators. They speak often of faith. They are called powerful prayer warriors. They are said to have authority and anointing so special it draws crowds. And many are led deeper into deception, rebellion, and disobedience to the God they claim to love.

Their lives are marked by dissatisfaction with God and His Word, but you cannot see it. They are what you aspire to become. You want that anointing. You want that courage. You are willing to pay the price.

And it will cost you.

They make it sound worth it, to gain a greater anointing, to hear God continually, to speak new revelation. You do not realize that you stand not with Scripture or the true prophets, but among those Scripture warned the bride about. You are deceived and being deceived. You cannot see yourself rightly because God’s Word was never enough. You will not submit to its authority. You crave authority. You crave power. You crave anointing. You crave what she has.

You may obtain it.
The cost is far greater than you realize.
It is not worth it, but you are willing to pay the price.

Is that you?

Is He enough?
Is Scripture enough?
Will you repent?

Or will you despise such warnings and go harder into deception?

I pray you repent.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

They did not hurt you. They told you the truth, and your heart was set against it.

It felt like harm because the truth stood in direct opposition to your feelings and your delusions. It exposed your pride. It spoke what Scripture says about you, not the Joel Osteen version of you, where you affirm yourself, speak your fantasies into existence, and nurture delusions of grandeur. No. It spoke what Scripture says about all of us, and about those who are deceived and who deceive others.

You do not love the truth. You believe that you do. But when confronted with it, you immediately posture yourself against it. You regard those who proclaim it as beneath you, less anointed, less spiritual, unable to touch you because you believe yourself to be above them. You imagine that you possess an anointing they lack, a level they cannot reach. You hold an inflated view of yourself, and you despise having it exposed.

From your lofty position, built on sand, you slander those who warn you. You feign pity for them. You tell your followers to forgive them because they just do not understand what it costs to get where you are. You frame yourself as misunderstood, persecuted, and spiritually superior.

You are wrong.

They understand the cost. They are simply unwilling to pay that price because it stands in direct opposition to God. What you are building is not founded on truth. And truth exposes both you and your work for what they are.

Those who love the same delusion encourage you, flatter you, and inflate you further. You refuse to come down from what you have built long enough to hear the truth, so that by God’s grace you might repent. Why? Because repentance would cost you everything.

It would cost your reputation. It would cost your inflated self image. It would cost your false anointing. It would cost your false authority. It would cost the loyalty of those who follow you because they love what you say. That cost is more than you are willing to pay. And you do not realize that it may cost you your soul.

Those who are in Christ have counted the cost as well, whether coming out of the world or coming out of deception like yours. It costs them much. But He is worth it. They have forsaken all for Him, their pride, their reputation, and even relationships.

You, however, are building by using His name for your own elevation. Scripture warns about you. You are under delusion. You are deceived. And you love it.

You have many who encourage your delusions of grandeur because they love them too. Tell them smooth things, and they will devote themselves to you with fierce loyalty.

Christ is building His church. His Word sanctifies her, builds her up, joins her together, unites her, and sets her on a firm foundation. She is set apart not only from the world, but from every false professor who works lawlessness in His name, blaspheming Him while leading many souls to hell. Those who follow you are not victims. They love it.

You are surrounded by women who cheer you on, who tell you how amazing you are, how anointed you are, how valuable and untouchable you are. They convince you that everyone else is the problem. They lead your heart further into rebellion.

You were born in sin. Your heart is naturally hostile to God. You love words that appeal to that sinful heart, words that flatter and inflate. Worse still, many are willing to speak those words in Jesus’ name. They lace lies with just enough Scripture to make them sound spiritual.

They tell you that those who cling to the Bible lack the Spirit. And so your heart hardens against anyone who warns you. You look down on them as pitiable, inferior Christians because they do not have what you have.

But your heart is in rebellion against God.

You believe you are doing great things in His name. And you are doing things in His name, but what you call good is evil. Every time you attach His name to your wicked words and works, you blaspheme Him.

You will not submit to Scripture. Your desires are against it. You claim to love the Word, yet when you speak, you speak from your heart, not from the text. You feel the rush, the tingle, the spiritual high, and you believe God is speaking through you in that moment.

You cannot be bound by what He has already said because you believe He is saying something new. You think your words are powerful. You believe your impressions are revelation. You believe God is speaking through you, and therefore Scripture must make room for you.

You do not love the truth. You prove yourself its enemy.

You seek a new word because you have no appetite for the “old one”. You refuse to give God rest until He gives you something, your breakthrough, your healing, your miracle, your promise. Your prayers and worship revolve around your anointing, your authority, your desires.

And then you hear something in your heart. And you obey it. And you believe it is God.

You do not know that your prayers were amiss, that your desires were governed not by the Spirit, but by the flesh. You do not submit your will to God. You attempt to bend God to yours.

And yes, you may get what you desire. But it is not a blessing. It is not proof of faithfulness. It is not evidence of anointing.

Sometimes God gives us over to what we demand, and what we mistake for blessing is judgment.

You ask amiss because your heart is in rebellion. You refuse to admit that what you want does not please God. You abuse His promises, demanding that He fulfill words He never spoke.

Your heart is sinful. Your desires are not from the Spirit. Your will is not transformed.

Your speech is cloaked in spiritual language, and your works boast of how special you believe yourself to be. You do not know what manner of person you truly are.

You have believed a lie. You love it. You guard it. And you close your ears to the truth.

Unless you repent, you have made sure your path. Deception will encounter true holiness, and what a terrifying revelation that will be for many.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Scripture does not change. That is beautiful. It is such comfort. It does not change for me. It does not change for my circumstances. It does not change for my whims and desires.

I am prone to change. Sometimes that is good. Sometimes not so much. But what stands firm, unchanging, unyielding, and never with any consideration for manipulation is God’s Word. It says what it says. It means what it means. It is the same message for the early church as it is for me today.

I am not special. I do not hear God giving me my own word, my own revelation, my own whispers. He has spoken. Clearly, plainly, and finally. That disrupts my sinful heart’s desire to think I need something fresh, something new, something just for me, my own word. What He has said is better, sufficient, final, and unchanging. He said what He said. He means what He said.

I can trust it and submit to it and find the greatest assurance and comfort in it, or I can show myself in rebellion to it and seek something just for me.

I have done both.

I began hearing that there is the logos word and a rhema word, a supposed distinction where one is the Word of God and the other is a private, ongoing revelation from God. But Scripture does not make such a distinction. Logos and rhema are used interchangeably throughout Scripture to describe the same sufficient, final, authoritative, and immutable Word of God. There is no biblical support for the idea of a “personal word” apart from God’s written Word. Scripture does not encourage dissatisfaction with God’s Word or the pursuit of a private message.

It is deeply saddening that many who claim to always hear from God and are faithful and obedient to whatever comes to their mind or heart may never know the true assurance and peace that comes from knowing that God’s Word is final, sufficient, authoritative, and immutable. They may give verbal assent to that, but they functionally disagree.

The Word of God does not only stand outside of the believer as final, authoritative, sufficient, and immutable. It is the means by which the Spirit of God works in the believer, changing us and conforming us to the image of God. We sit under the Word. Not alongside it. Not over it. Not with a word of our own equal to it or standing over it. We have the more sure Word of God. It does not change. It changes us.

That is deeply and profoundly encouraging, even when it is sobering, humbling, and unyielding in what it says about us, showing us our sin, our error, and our need to repent.

We do not need a new word. God has spoken. He has not failed to speak perfectly what we need today. The church today is not special and in need of its own word. The Bible is not outdated. It is just as authoritative today as it has always been. The problem is not with what God has said. The problem is with us when we do not like what He has said or when we desire something more and demand that He give us our own word.

Many will never open Scripture and truly hear God. They open His Word seeking something for themselves, something to affirm what they already feel or believe, and they rip Scripture out of context to support their desires. Some will never hear God because their hearts long for more and are unwilling to trust that what He has said is perfect and needs no additions, not even for them.

Many set themselves apart from the church through the ages, thinking themselves wiser, special, and more anointed than they. They think themselves to have recovered what was lost and to restore what the church needs for this time. They are dissatisfied with the foundation built upon the Apostles and Prophets and seek to build a new foundation with their own apostles and prophets. They do not see that what they are building is in direct opposition to Christ’s church, and He warned His bride of them. She will listen. Even if for a time she may be led astray, He will bring her out and to the truth. He is faithful.

Many men claim to hear God speak to them. They have been trained to listen to feelings, impressions, and inward thoughts said to be God speaking. Many pulpits fail to preach the Word and have compromised in an effort to win the lost by means contrary to Scripture. Many today who claim to love God and His Word functionally deny that claim. In one breath they speak highly of Scripture. In the next they lead men by what they feel God told them.

This “God told me” language and its variations are so common that even the unbeliever has taken it upon his lips with no fear of God as he blasphemes the Lord. There is no correction from those who profess the name of Christ because they fear quenching the Spirit. They think, who are we to say God is not speaking to him?

There is no fear of God, not only among those in the world but among many who profess to belong to Him. It is nothing to them to blaspheme His name, to take His name in vain, bringing it to worthlessness as they speak words in His name that He has not said.

Careless. Reckless.

They speak boastful words of what they profess God told them. They feel special and set apart from those pitiable Christians who only have a Bible. How lowly they think of God’s Word, that which the Spirit inspired and by which Christ sanctifies His bride and God draws the lost.

They are special. They hear God speak to them with such regularity that they boast of the things He has said. It sounds spiritual to them. They feel so special that they believe others need to hear what God said to them. Anyone with a Bible, a regenerate heart, biblical discernment, and a high view of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit cannot bear with the blasphemous foolishness falsely attributed to God.

They do not tremble. They do not fear. They think they do. They do not submit to Scripture and to what God has said. They want their own word. Like Priscilla Shirer they don’t want hand-me-downs. They want something with their name on it. And like Sarah Young, they believe the Bible is good but they “yearn for more.”

It is one of the most devastating and sobering experiences to hear the truth as God has said it and see yourself rightly. To understand that you blasphemed God. You. When you stop resisting the truth and let it speak, you hear the truth about yourself, and it is not all the flattering words you heard in your heart or that others spoke over you. It is powerful. It is authoritative. It says what it says and it means what it means. It is not going to change for you.

It is terrifying. It is sobering. I do not say that lightly. Many are so caught up in false teaching and the music that fuels their constant chase for that high, that when the truth finally speaks and they truly hear it, it is terrifyingly holy and immediately sobering.

And then grace. True grace. It says what it says. It is not going to change. Not even for you. It is perfect.

Perfect holiness. Perfect grace.

God’s Word is perfect. I do not need a new word. His Word is sufficient.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Twisting Scripture to Avoid Correction

In an effort to avoid biblical correction and accountability, those who preach false doctrine will often cite verses—sometimes only in part—like John 15:20 to make themselves appear as victims of those warning of their false teachings.

John 15:20 says,

“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

John 15:20 is regularly misused by false teachers who know their followers will not test their claims against Scripture. They weaponize Jesus’ words, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you”, to maintain loyalty and avoid scrutiny.

Richard Baxter:

“The greatest cruelty is to pervert the Word of God, turning it into a snare for souls rather than a guide to life.”

The Victim Narrative of False Teachers

False teachers love to claim that those who warn against their false teachings are “persecuting” or “attacking” them. They often cite John 15:20—“If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you”—to defend themselves, followed by applause and amens from their followers.

Notice the last part of that verse that they do not explain and often fail to mention: “if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

• “It is a comfort to the greatest sufferers, if they suffer for Christ’s name’s sake. The world’s ignorance is the true cause of its hatred to the disciples of Jesus. The clearer and fuller the discoveries of the grace and truth of Christ, the greater is our sin if we do not love him and believe in him.” ~ Matthew Henry Commentary

Jesus had much to say about false teachers, and this verse was not given to protect false teachers from rebuke; it was given to comfort true disciples who will indeed face persecution for proclaiming the truth.

Charles Spurgeon:

“We are not persecutors because we warn men of their errors. To be silent would be cruelty; to speak is the truest charity.”

A Heartbreaking Deception

It is heartbreaking! These deceived people have no idea how deceived they are. They think themselves wise, more spiritual, even validated by the criticisms of faithful believers.

Like Paul’s words to the Galatians, “O foolish Galatians!” (Galatians 3:1), my heart echoes: “O deceived followers!” You think our warnings are proof you are on the right path. But I have no pleasure in your deception—I am grieved for you.

Martin Luther:

“Nothing is more poisonous than to pervert the Word of God; for then the soul perishes under the guise of truth.”

Appeals to the Deceived

I know how my appeals fall on deaf ears. I was once there. And I know it must take a work of God to separate you and bring you out of such delusion. So, I write and pray that God may bring you out and into the truth.

Should you think in your heart, “Don’t waste your prayers on me; I’m not going anywhere—if anything, I’ll go harder and deeper,” I believe you. I do. And that is why I pray! Because God is sovereign. I trust Him, and I care for you.

John Owen:

“Only the Holy Spirit can dislodge the mind from the snares of error and bring it under the power of the truth.”

Grace and Peace, y’all

Soli Deo Gloria

Written by: April J. Buchanan

The Danger of Universalism in Times of Grief

When we imagine men in heaven who lived their lives in rebellion toward God, who gave no evidence of regeneration, who treated God’s Word as a mere object to appreciate rather than as the authoritative Word of God, and who reduced God to a mere higher power—call Him what you will—what does that say to those still living when we tell them that the Gospel commands them to repent and be saved?

What mockery do we make of the Person and work of Christ when we paint in men’s minds images of those in heaven whose lives demonstrated that they were enemies of God? When we change the Gospel for those who die in rebellion to God, we betray in practice what we profess with our lips; we become Universalists. When men die, the world observes the consistency of our message. What do they hear? What do they see?

The Peril of Comforting Words Without Truth

When someone famous dies, or a loved one, or a friend, or someone who did many good deeds, or even someone who would have given you the shirt off their back—but never gave any evidence of being born again—many Christians unconsciously embrace Universalism.

It has long troubled me how the truth is so perverted in the death of those who give no evidence of saving faith. I think of the living, though dead in sin, hearing professing Christians console themselves and others with a perversion of the Gospel. At such times of immense grief, it would be far better to be silent than to mislead many into a false sense of security.

As J. C. Ryle observed:

“It is better to speak the truth in sorrow than to comfort men with lies. False comfort is cruelty cloaked as love.”

Grieving with Truth

How grievous! How damning is such a message! May we be mute if speaking would comfort ourselves at the cost of misleading others. May God grant us grace and courage to weep with those who weep, yet stand upon the truth.

The truth is the greatest comfort in grief, though not all desire it. The truth changes our hearts, our wills, and our emotions, and it does not bend to our desires. It is only a comfort to those who have been born again.

Romans 3:23-24 reminds us:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

The Test of True Faith in Times of Death

Many will declare the truth of the exclusivity of Christ in words, but in practice—when someone we love dies who gave no evidence of being truly born again—do we still hold to it, or do we become Universalists?

Burk Parsons captures this danger vividly:

“I find it fascinating how many Christians are puzzled by the question of who’s a Christian. And sadly, it often comes when a loved one has died. You might have a loved one who never went to church, never worshiped God, never talked about their love for Christ, never spoke of the Gospel, and when they die their loved ones say, ‘Well, you know… I can only hope that he’s in heaven.’ What evidence did they give you? What fruit did they give you that they knew the Lord Jesus Christ? It’s like we turn into Universalists when friends die. And we love them, but let’s not forsake the Gospel because we love someone—even though it might be our own child.”

R. C. Sproul adds:

“We must not bend the truth of God’s Word to soothe our hearts. The Gospel is not negotiable, and the consistency of its message is our witness to the world.”

Standing on Truth in Grief

In grief, let us weep with those who weep, but let us never compromise the truth of the Gospel. Let us remember the eternal weight of glory and the reality of God’s justice alongside His mercy. Only the Word of God, not sentiment or emotion, gives clarity and hope in the face of death.

Grace and peace, y’all.

Soli Deo Gloria

Written by: April J. Buchanan

A Friendly Reminder

A friendly reminder, saint:

Turn on the lights, turn off the music, and separate yourself from the antics that seek to hype you up and disengage your mind. Now, read the transcript.

If you were to read the words that have been spoken, would it produce in you the same emotional response?

Testing Our Emotional Responses

How can we know if our emotions are being manipulated or if our feelings are truly a response to God’s Word being rightly handled and the Holy Spirit working in us?

One way is to separate ourselves from all the hype—the screaming, the manipulative words that tell us what we should expect and should experience—and simply read the transcript.

Was anything of substance actually said? Was God’s Word rightly exposited? Not merely used or mentioned, but opened and faithfully explained? Is it truly the work of the Holy Spirit, or is it hype leading you to experiences falsely attributed to Him?

John Owen wrote:

“Unless the Word is rightly divided and applied, the soul is never rightly affected. The Spirit works through the Word, not through emotion or spectacle.”

Test Everything Against Scripture

The Apostle Paul instructs:

“Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Saint, always measure what you hear against the authority of Scripture. Emotional highs are fleeting; truth is eternal. Hype can excite, but the Word of God transforms.

J. C. Ryle observed:

“A sermon is not judged by the tears it produces or the thrills it excites, but by whether it faithfully delivers the Word of God and pierces the heart with truth.”

Grace and Peace, y’all

Soli Deo Gloria

Written by: April J. Buchanan

The Danger of Pride in Belief

If you think, “I could never be deceived,” you reveal that you think far too highly of yourself and far too little of the warnings God gives in Scripture. Pride whispers, “I could never.”

If we believe we could never be misled, we will not test anything against God’s Word to see where we are in error. Instead of seeking correction, we may look for what confirms us. Some even go so far as to pervert the truth to defend a lie. Some embrace heresy and defend it with fervor.

John Owen wrote:

“The heart that trusts in itself is the most deceitful, and the soul that thinks it cannot err is already enslaved to pride and deception.”

Humility and the Pursuit of Truth

Humility embraces the truth. It acknowledges that we are constantly learning and that our hearts and minds are being shaped by God’s Word. As we study Scripture, we defend the truth as God has revealed it, allowing it to transform us.

J. C. Ryle observed:

“We are not to love our opinions more than the Word of God, for the mind that refuses to be corrected by Scripture is in rebellion against God Himself.”

The Danger of Subjective Experience

If we approach Scripture to defend what we feel or believe because we feel strongly about it, because of subjective experiences, “prophetic words”, or our own biases, then we do not care what the text actually says or means.

In such cases, we reveal that we do not desire truth. We use God’s Word to defend what we really love—and it is not the truth as God has revealed it.

James 1:22 warns:

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Are We Teachable?

Friend, do we desire truth, or do we stubbornly defend our beliefs even when Scripture clearly shows we are wrong? Are we correctable? Are we teachable? Are our experiences and feelings more authoritative than God’s Word?

Just because we strongly believe or feel something does not make it true. We must test all things according to Scripture. Our cherished beliefs may be challenged, but what we gain—alignment with God’s truth—is infinitely more valuable.

R. C. Sproul reminds us:

“It is far better to lose our cherished ideas than to lose our souls. Truth is what frees, not what comforts.”

Do we truly desire truth?

Grace and Peace, y’all

Soli Deo Gloria