The very first sentence in the preface of this book has a red flag. Bevere writes:
The book you hold is quite possibly the most important confrontation with truth you’ll encounter in your lifetime.
Say what? Why didn’t he just say “I am”? The author’s arrogance, heresy and thinly veiled narcissism is already screaming. It gets worse. The author goes on to state,
If you stay free from offense you will stay in God’s will. If you become offended you will be taken captive by the enemy to fulfill his own purpose and will. Take your pick. It is much more beneficial to stay free from offense.
He fails to actually define “beneficial”, but it is safe to say that for himself at least, the author would define “beneficial” as “monetary gain”, as in moneychangers in the temple, narcissists in pulpits. Bevere has made millions with this false gospel, and like Piper and others, has sold numerous books, videos, study guides and seminars all designed to enslave.
Bevere uses the classic snake ploy of taking a text out of context.
Using Luke 17:1a as a basis Bevere builds a very convoluted, errant thesis. He fails to quote this verse in its entirety for he quotes only, “It is impossible that no offenses should come” and stops there. He never completes the verse, “….but woe unto him through whom they do come.” He does not include the context of causing the vulnerable to stumble, and what we should do about it (as in Luke 17:2).
Let’s recall the first three verses of Luke 17:
(NKJV – the version Bevere quotes) Jesus Warns of Offenses
(1) Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!
(2) It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
(3) Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.”(ESV) Temptations to Sin
(1) And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
(2) It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
(3) Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,”
But rather than pay attention to this context, Bevere gets out his scripture-twisting monkey wrench and defines “feeling offended” or bait in a trap, and being caught by it — offended — is “a tool of the devil to bring people into captivity”. He actually says being offended is due to the “heart’s true condition” — pride, which is sin. And the cure? Yep, you guessed it; trial by fire and tribulation — becoming purer gold by being reminded and tested by fire. So, if you are offended by abuse, it is due to your own sin of pride. And that is just Chapter 1.
He goes on like this for 14 miserable chapters. I had to force myself to read this book, and I did so only out of respect for my soon-to-be-ex-friend who gave it to me with a note saying: “Friend, few books have impacted my thinking as much as Bait. May the HS (Holy Spirit) use it in all the best ways. Hugs.”
After the preface and chapter one, I began to research the author and I discovered that the original book was printed in 1994 (titled The Bait of Satan: Your Response Determines Your Future) with a preface written by none other than Benny Hinn. I had to blink and re-focus. The 10th Anniversary 2004 edition which my friend had given me had a different subtitle (Living Free From the Deadly Trap of Offense) and the original preface was replaced with one written by the book’s own author, John Bevere. Not a big deal, perhaps, but a glaring deception if you have written a book about NOT being offended, but then change the title and remove a previously written preface by someone who clearly WAS offensive (and has since fallen from grace). Isn’t that rather duplicitous, er….offensive????
More research revealed that John Bevere had been a protégé of Benny Hinn’s, a fact that Bevere conveniently excludes in Chapter 5 and elsewhere when he relates a story about “serving this pastor”. And note, mind you, that Bevere doesn’t say “serving God”, but serving this man. Bevere described how he was close enough to this pastor to “see his flaws” and questioned some of his ministry decisions. Bevere became “critical and judgmental, and offense set in.” He goes on to say, “….I sensed no inspiration or anointing. His preaching no longer ministered to me”. So Bevere left this particular church, but returned later to meet with the pastor (Hinn) and “repented of being critical and rebellious”. Bevere says that Hinn “graciously forgave me”.
Ah, the “King of Anointing”, the “chosen one”, the “almighty-pastor”, decreed his minion forgiven. Forgiven of what exactly?
Perhaps Bevere had a genuine nano-second of clarity, realizing that Hinn was a charlatan who needed to be exposed. Instead, he rather quickly regretted his decision (after all, it wa$ more beneficial) and twisted reality into an offense from which he needed to repent. Like many patriocentric and other abusive churches, Bevere had left without the blessing of the pastor. This too was an offense. In fact, Bevere was now opining that to be openly critical of church leaders is offensive to God. Claiming that God is the One who puts pastors in authority, only God can remove them and that God will use corrupt leaders and it is not up to others to expose their corruption. Bevere then twists scriptures to fit the narrative and uses the example of Samuel’s wicked sons as evidence that God alone should remove evil ones. Bevere actually claims to be in the will of God by staying in a church with a corrupt leader. I guess his Bible omitted Jude and 1, 2, 3 John, Titus, Timothy, and Paul and Jesus and the prophets.
Obviously the Word of Faith doctrine is being used here in all its abusive heresy. This book is filled with so much heresy, on nearly every page, that it is hard to pare it down. Bevere has written many books, including “Under Cover” and “Honor” and they each teach this same notion of being under the authority of others, even corrupt pastors.
Trigger warning: the following paragraph contains an account of multi-dimensional abuse via “spiritual counseling” of a woman.
In The Bait of Satan, Bevere goes on to say that seeking justice is seeking revenge. In Chapter 12 he tells the story of a woman who had forgiven her ex-husband….“but as she listens to me talk about releasing offenses, she realized she did not have peace inside.” When this woman tearfully approached Bevere, he immediately accused her that she had not truly forgiven her ex-husband. When she protested in tears he then asked her, “Well, what did he do to you?” She went on to describe a familiar story of abuse and abandonment as her pastor / husband left her and their three sons for a prominent woman in the church, who was an “asset to his ministry” while she had not been. Her ex placed all the blame on her and never admitted his sin of destroying his family and marriage. But Bevere told her SHE was offended and unwilling to forgive him, thus in bondage to human justice. In the quaint way of the Pharisees, Bevere placed the heavy burden on her shoulders and lifted not a finger to ease it! Furthermore, this poor woman was never affirmed for desiring biblical justice, but rather scolded for being unforgiving and vengeful!
The obvious, errant theology Bevere proclaims is this: stay free from offense if you want to stay in the will of God. Can you imagine the abuse that will occur? Can you see the abuse that will be excused, based on that ridiculous notion? How many abusers will falsely accuse their victims of seeking revenge, holding a grudge, being unforgiving or demanding retribution? It is so spiritually abusive in its scripture twisting followed by foolish theology and poor Biblical knowledge that I was in knots while reading it. Bevere (unwittingly) gives numerous narcissistic examples of bestowing his own forgiveness and reconciliation on various unrepentant people, in which he then described in great detail how it benefited HIM. But how do you reconcile with the unrepentant? Even Jesus can’t do that.
What fellowship has darkness with light?
Needless to say this book is not only bad, but dangerous. Men, women, and children could be seriously harmed or killed if they were to take this nonsense to heart. It is anathema. If it hadn’t been given to me by someone that I know and I thought I trusted and admired, I would have trashed it after the preface. And that same person is in an influential position in a huge mainstream evangelical church. I answered her with copies of A Cry For Justice and Not Under Bondage with a note that said, “Praying the truth of scripture contained within these books will clarity much and stand in opposition to Bait“.
I never heard back from her. I suppose I “offended” her, but if so, then she, too is duplicitous. No? We had a friendship dating back forty years, but she fell victim to falsehood and heresy, and her counsel regarding my abuser was based on not being offended. Abuse was not the problem. I was the problem for being offended by abuse. Can you imagine the guilt-tripping Christian counsellor who would burden a victim with that nonsense?
So the very person who believes the false theology that being offended (abused) is a greater sin than actually causing the offense (abuser) is now offended that I have pointed out the error of that doctrine, but refuses to reconcile or forgive me of such sin and has instead discarded a 40-year friendship on the altar of offense so she can stay free from offense in order to stay in the will of God and…. Well, you get the idea. Sigh….
[April 27, 2022: Editors’ notes:
—For some comments made prior to April 27, 2022 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be an exact match.
—For some comments made prior to April 27, 2022 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be found in the post.
If you would like to compare the text in the comments made prior to April 27, 2022 that quoted from the post to the post as it is now (April 27, 2022), click here [Internet Archive link] for the most recent Internet Archive copy of the post.]
A Cry For Justice 
We used this book at ladies Bible study! If I knew then what I know now! I still have that book, I will NEVER read it again. Into the garbage it goes! I’m also reading another book which I am being offended by that we are using for Bible study, again. Its called STUCK by Jennie Allen. (I’m not sure I’m allowed to mention books here, if not, I’m sorry) please remove! 🙂 But, we are on the 2nd chapter about anger and I’m offended by it! Now, I have no desire to study the book.
Thank you ACFJ for bringing to light the darkness that is lurking out there!
Round*Two, I find such joy in hearing you speak so boldly with such confidence of the lode-star: the truth about abuse.
Feelings of anger or offense may be a red-light indicator that something is seriously wrong, that boundaries have been violated. To advise people to ignore those feelings is ridiculous and dangerous. Confronting an abuser is actually the kindest and most loving thing you can do for him or her. It gives them an opportunity to repent!!!
well said, Debbie!
Btw, if you are new on the blog, I encourage you to check out our New Users Page (see the tab New Users in the top menu). 🙂
Guest Writer – This is an excellent book review. Ps 89:14 states:
Balance is key. Righteousness AND justice, mercy AND truth. Much teaching in today’s church seems to relay that forgiveness means to neglect seeking justice. Wrong.
Micah 6:8 states:
Those who would discourage us to keep this balance clearly seen in Scripture could possibly be those who have “…crept in unnoticed…ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness…these are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves…” Be on guard. Seek the WHOLE counsel of God. God is a God of justice and mercy.
I’m curious to know what John Bevere would do if a burglar came in his house to steal while he was there. Would Bevere seek justice and call the police or tell the burglar he is forgiven and allow him to continue his misdeeds?
Bright, my favorite scripture has always been Micah 6:8! It has never meant more to me than it does today!
He basically says the same thing on his blog, using Joseph as an example of long suffering at the hands of one’s abusers.
And just exactly what would this woman or Bevere say about Christ’s very obvious offense to the money changers fleecing the poor in His Father’s temple?
Such abuse of God’s written word, and worse, of His Living Word!
Thank you for taking the time to read and review the book. Yes, it is a tactic of narcissists to protect the guilt of their despicable behavior on the person injured by it. They hit me in the face with a board, I cry out in pain, they reply “something is wrong with you for expressing pain”. And then the church chorus chimes in “if you were a good Christian you would not be offended”. Tidy enabling of offenders.
You describe my old church I attended for nearly 30 years.
I was looked upon as emotional and not really trusting God like I should. I was dealing with abuse at home from my husband and then teenage daughter. The Pastor of this church I believe is Narcissus. He lives Bevere’s teaching
I wanted to laugh and scream at reading this junk. Laugh because to me it seems the writer is being self-serving but disguising it as helping others. I can’t tell you how many times my husband has talked on the phone loud enough for me to hear about some issue he was mad at me for but he’d present it to his listener in an easy-going, likeable manner all the while I knew it was a message to me.
I wanted to scream because this is the kind of stuff not appropriate for abused spouses but they’re the very people who will take it to heart (if not forewarned). My mother should read a book about not taking offense–that’s one of her hobbies–but someone like me who worries about doing the right thing while being abused doesn’t need the help of an author like this.
What a good example of covert aggression! Only the target knows she is being aggressed against. All others who hear about this little phone conversation would think it was innocuous, benign, chit-chat humour.
But….it’s impossible that no offenses should come!! How are we supposed to stay free from the inevitable in order to be in God’s will?! Sigh. I guess we’re all sunk. 😦
Brilliant observation, BIT! What the author is saying contradicts Jesus’ very words.
Bravo–you are so good at cutting thru the nonsense and getting to the truth!
This is an example of using someone’s religious beliefs to manipulate them into staying in a destructive / one sided relationship. I hear people say that ,”marriage is hard.” There are some days that may be difficult but the overall tone of the relationship should be loving and kind. I see relationships limping along for years because the wife thinks that God wants her to show God’s love to a brute. The man merely loses respect for the woman, makes her miserable and sometimes leaves her, when he gets bored.
I am seeing a common trend with these false teachers. They take scripture clearly directed at abusers and false teachers and twist them so that they now apply to everyone else. So when the true believer begins to throw off the yoke of oppression, false teachers cry, “See! See! They’re giving into rebellion!” And those who are still blind take up the chorus.
Yes April, it is called projection.
Seems to be a popular tactic of abusers.
To accuse others of what they themselves are guilty of, and shift the blame away from themselves and on to the innocent victim.
Then try to send her off into the wilderness as the scapegoat for their sins.
They are guilty of twisting the scriptures, to their own destruction.
I don’t have to imagine – I knew him! When I turned to him for help, he told me I was “bitter and unforgiving” because I would not submit to the “godly leadership” of my abuser (a fellow church leader) 😛
BTW, you are absolutely correct about this teaching – it DOES “seriously harm” people! I experienced that harm – to the point of wishing I was dead!
John Bevere: “When we oppose God’s delegated authority, we oppose God Himself.”
Bevere means “to drink” in Italian. In his case, he’s hoping we drink his “Kool-Aid”.
Read this book and found it to be as abusive as anyone I’d met or whose hands I’d suffered spiritual abuse from –but a favorite of the name-it-and-claim-it crowd who embrace spiritual abuse as a baby desires milk! Disgusting!
Thank you for this review! Eyes wide open! My abuser h read this book and tried to get me to read it, I never did, much to his “offense!”
I actually have a situation I need some help with, thank you in advance if you feel you have some wisdom to pass along to me.
I previously wrote a post about trying to call a church I had visited and wanted to attend, to let them know my situation, (separated from my abuser h), after getting passed around on the phone, the connection was lost and I never received a call back. Fast forward about a month or so, I get an email from this church inviting me to a Pastor’s Dinner. I had never been to one, but had heard what they were about from my best friend. At first, I thought it was a mistake, but my bf urged me to go and check it out, what can it hurt, at the very least it’s dinner!
Well, it was amazing! I heard more integrity from those pastors than in all the years I have been going to church. Transparency, humility, dedication to God and scripture and truly shepherding (protecting) the flock and keeping the wolves out! I went to the second meeting on Sunday which was all about what we can expect from them and vice versa. Again, amazing! Just real talk about churches and how they should work like a family with problems, issues, and solving them together and so much more! I spoke to the Pastor’s assistant afterwards and said I wanted to make an appointment to speak to him before I make a decision about becoming a member of this church. I want to get involved in serving, etc., but I feel I should tell him of my current situation. Has anyone attempted this type of scenario before? I know how I want to approach this meeting, brutally honest, but it is uncharted territory with any positive result.
In the past, I have been ganged up on by pastors, bullied, patronized, and totally disbelieved. I ended up leaving in humiliation, disgust and defeat. How can one feel like something like this is real and true, when all evidence is to the contrary?
Since I picked up a job dealing with the public, to help free myself from my abuser, I met a woman from a new small church that I was impressed with upon talking to her.
She seemed like the last person in the world that would tolerate abuse from her spouce, who also just happened to be the pastor of this church.
She gave me her church card and invited me to come to their next service.
After my history of being spiritially abused, and shunned by my previous church, and NOW thouroughly educated by ACFJ,
(Thank you so much ACFJ team!) I decided to go there with mostly with a “mindset of quiet investigating”, (by myself) to just see how much truth they actually embrace, by observing what they preach.
(The proof might be in the pudding right?)
Well the message was about “spiritual warfare” and how evil tries to make us believe the lies. Sounds good right?
Afterwards I decided to test the waters and asked her how she felt about divorce in abuse cases.
She seemed to adamantly support the idea of divorce for abuse.
But I also could tell she had no understanding about what “covert marital abuse” was -that happens behind the scenes at home, to destroy a marriage and family, while never showing its true colors in church or public.
The next time they invited me I came armed with Jeff Crippen’s book “A Cry for Justice”, and some business cards , to loan to the pastor to read, as he showed intrest in understanding more about this sinister problem I claimed was damaging Gods people within the church.
I got the impression that this church had a “heart for rightousness, and justice”, but just did not know or understand who the enemy was, and where the battlefront was.
Which can be a sign of immaturity and blindness. (You cant fight a battle unless you know who the enemy is)
I cannot help but wonder in their present ignorant state, if my covert abuser walked in and befriended them, he might soon end up having them siding with him as allies.
So hopefully the pastor will take the book to heart, and time will tell if he wants to roll up his sleeves and join forces with this battle against evil within the churches.
I have their e-mail and intend to check in to see if they are embracing this truth, or glossing over it.
And my membership from now on is with the “true church of Jesus Christ”, and not with any of mans organizations.
Thank you SFT for saying this out loud. Helpful to hear it laid out this way about a church. I’m very very cautious about the next one I choose. Thank God I know now that there are lots of fake ones out there. Watch out! Watch closely. Ask questions. If they shrink back they are hiding something or they are asleep.
I’m very scared right now and the walls of truth and strength I had are crashing down. I’m growing weary and can’t think as clearly as I once did. Seems like way too much to bear from every single angle. Too much. That old feeling of wanting to die is familiar. I’m up against a huge battle and I’m terrified of the abuser and the disgusting lack of advocacy. I know people are responsible for what goes on here on earth and for the wicked things they do. I thank God He paid to forgive me for the wicked things I’ve done and I won’t do them again or say that they were justified. They were sin. All sin.
I know God can do anything and that He is just and good. I know He sees everything. I know He will help. I just don’t know how and I’m scared because the lying evil doers are so many!
Seems Jesus had a real friend in Lazarus from what I’ve read. How lonely Jesus must have felt and often. He had a real friend. I think that must be why He wept. A real friend who stands for what is right. Who you are at home with. Who DOESNT ABUSE YOU! To lose a real friend even for a moment while in a completely evil world is just too much to bear. That just what I think.
Anonymous, yes, when the chips are down, and those that we once thought were our friends are not there for us anymore, we have to remember that our true friend is Christ who’s spirit lives in us.
And just perhaps, just like how the battle was won between Gideon with his 300 men, against the 135,000 enemy troops, God may want to display his redeeming power in us by delivering us “against all odds” from the multitudes that be formed against us when we are left by ourselves.
How about that for bringing glory to God?
(When my supporters turned against me, God still delivered me!)
Just perhaps this is the place where we will and can have a testamony that gives Glory to the power of God..
Anyway as an update regarding Pastor Crippen’s book that I left with that church a while ago.
After many weeks I tried unsuccessfully to contact them through e-mails and phone calls,- to see what they thought, or if they had read the book,- with absolutely no reply from them.
Not a good sign.
Finally I just wanted to get the book back, but they never thanked me or commented about the content, but seemed annoyed at my persistence on the subject, and emphasized all the many ministries that they were already involved in and were very busy with.
(Maybe this was a case of me wanting them to embrace a truth that they did not have any heart or time, or interest in.)
So now this book is in the hands of a Charismatic Jewish church that helps abuse victims by giving out food boxes, and I’m hopeful that it will actually be read.
It would be great to see even a small network of churches honestly working together for abuse victims on this issue.
Until then, I am content to come here, and share in the fellowship, and tune in each Sunday for the weekly message.
Because you asked other survivors for input I will respond with the perspective of a survivor that looked for sanctuary in the church both during the abuse and when I left. There is a very big difference between words and deeds. I’ve been amazed before at the words of church leadership, their humility, their passion for the word, the true shepherds heart. Amazed until I found out I’d aligned myself with another dysfunctional narcissistic system in which I was spiritually beaten up. In the end I realized, I gave my trust and my heart far too easily to people that had not proven themselves to me by their ACTIONS over time.
I don’t want to be the “church” problem or project where people feel entitled to take potshots giving judgmental harsh advice and try to fix me. It creates a scapegoat, when the only difference between me and those “fixers” is that I’m honest about my life and they are not. Being honest makes you a second class citizen in these types of churches where the status qua is to present a perfect family.
Sometimes “protecting sheep from wolves” is a warning that you at some point you will be the wolf because you asked an honest question about doctrine. Sometimes its code for a control freak leadership that wants to create clones that all look like the Stepford wives. I don’t want to discourage you in looking for a church but I’ve learned the hard way, walking in vulnerable by needing them to be something they aren’t sometimes puts blinders on the eyes. In addition talk is cheap, and narcissistic systems are truly brilliant at presenting the image you want to see but not living it out. Don’t let people into the inner sanctums of your soul until they have truly proven themselves worthy of that by actions. And I’d pay attention to the fact they didn’t get back with you for a month.
So totally agree! As one who has trusted too easily in the past, I know that words mean nothing if actions don’t back them up.
Needed to hear this tonight. Thank you.
sorry to take so long to respond to your request, SurvivorThrivor2.
Here is a comment I wrote in another thread. You might find it helpful to read it and the comments round about it.
Losing friendships because of the stress of abuse
More links that may help you:
Interviewing the pastor of a prospective new church
Abuse by Churches: Cultic Characteristics to Watch For
Abuse and Politics: How Christians Have Created an Abuser-Friendly Social Context — From Judith Herman
Thank you Barbara, no apology necessary. I read them all and they were very helpful. I took some notes and prepared an interview and have an arsenal for my meeting with the pastor, should the need arise. It is difficult to be hopeful, but I am staying positive and alert. Thanks for all your help, always…..
Hi survivorthrivor2, I have fixed the glitch with your screen name in another comment. We don’t know why it happened. It may be somethign to do with how you have your WordPress account set up. If you need further help with that please email twbtc. Her address in on our About page (see tab at top menu) .
I am so pleased to read this!!!
I have read some of this book but something didn’t sit right with me so I put it away. I just didn’t agree with him on certain aspects.
My old church had his DVDs and played them. The Bait of Satan was one. This church agreed with Bevere’s teaching.
Thank you for this post!!
Earlier this month, Ps. Jeff wrote about NOT quenching the Spirit, but rather being led by the Spirit through truth of HIS word, not man’s.
This book is an obvious example of quenching the Spirit.
Well, I suppose I could avoid all offenses if I could just avoid all other human beings. 😛
Thanks for reviewing this book…can you review Under Cover…I read this book while I was at an abusive church…and felt so convicted about my rebelious heart…but there was so much conflict with some of it …. I felt there was issues with him and his teaching …but was told by leadership in my church that it was my rebelious nature that couldnt except it….I feel really confused and fed up with religion. Help
Hi Nessa, I don’t think we will be able to make time to review the book Under Cover. We’ve done a quick google about it and because it doesn’t seem to be directly about domestic abuse, we won’t be able to give it much attention.
If you do a google search you’ll quickly find sites that explain what is dangerous and wrong with that book. 🙂
Nessa3, the website Melody mentions below has a lot of really useful information and addresses the errors in that particular book.
Hi nessa3,
Avid Reader, who has done several book reviews for us, has a review of Bevere’s book, Under Cover: The Promise of Protection [Internet Archive link] at Amazon that you may find helpful.
This is the same Bevere whose book is exposed as unhealthy at Covering and Authority [Internet Archive link] I assume. Sounds the same. Interesting website.
Melody, it is the same guy.
This is interesting, I was given a copy of this book when it first came out. I was still married to my abusive first husband and it was right about the time I was realizing I had to leave him, although I hadn’t told anyone yet. I found myself restlessly skimming through it and then put it down. I had heard a lot of similar teaching so it sounded familiar, yet I couldn’t bring myself to even concentrate on the book. I think that was the Holy Spirit protecting me. I think I still have that book in my garage somewhere, time to purge, I guess!
Thank you Guest, for this insightful review. John Bevere has been off my radar for a long time, I didn’t even remember his connection with Benny Hinn. Your exposure of the scripture twisting startled me a bit because I had completely missed how he left out parts of the scripture. I wonder how often I have been tricked by that?
I skimmed through this book one time and read the story about the pastor as well as the warnings against being a “spiritual vagabond” who moves from church to church because you’re always offended by someone. My first thought was “Yeah, but what if that pastor or those people in the church are truly abusive?” Thanks for confirming my suspicions that the book is dangerous.
I actually knew a young lady who tried to get help from her church because of verbal abuse only to be told “you feel hurt by his behaviour because you haven’t died to yourself”. Hearing that made me feel pretty angry on her behalf. I’ve also been in churches where I was told “Christians don’t have rights. We have surrendered them all”. I realise we are not to be more focused on our rights than on Jesus but I think safety from abuse SHOULD be a right
You are spot on — safety from abuse should be a right that all godly people try to uphold, whether it is abuse that others are suffering or abuse they are suffering themselves.
And in seeking safety from abuse, we may exercise our rights under the law of the land – we may demand justice. Paul did this when he questioned the Roman centurion who was about to have him flogged. It was not lawful to flog a Roman citizen without him having been properly tried and convicted of a crime.
It is not biblical to say “Christians don’t have rights. We have surrendered them all.” That is a distortion of the gospel.
We do have rights. Everyone has rights. Our rights are tempered and held in balance by the rights of others. That is what it means to live in a civil society. Those ‘c’hristians who say that believers have no rights are very misguided at the least, and many of them are outright abusers.
Abusers who hide out in the church passing themselves off as christians LOVE the notion that no believer has rights. They spread this notion and use it to intimidate and trample on the people they are abusing. These people are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They feed greedily on the sheep and they hide their wickedness so that bystanders will think they are such fine examples of godliness. Ugh.
When Paul’s reputation was being trashed and dragged through the mud by the false apostles who roamed around the early churches, he defended his reputation and denounced the tactics of the false apostles. This means he defended his rights. 🙂 Read 2 Corinthians and you’ll see how much of it was about Paul defending his right to a good reputation. He had the right to a good reputation because he merited it. Abusers do not have the right to a good reputation because by their behaviour they do not merit it.
Thank you for saying this, Barbara.
Hello all. I have not commented in a while but I came across this post and wanted to chime in. I have been through such an amazing journey of healing and hope since escaping my covert, wolf in sheep’s clothing abusive ex anti-husband. As I continue on the healing journey, the Lord is in fact teaching me about forgiveness and not taking offenses. Now, I must clarify that I am in NO WAY victim blaming or shaming. I am sharing what God has been showing me which I hope, in turn, might minister to and help someone else. The verse the Lord gave me (among others) is Psalm 119:165:
We also have to look at the VERY DIFFICULT saying of Jesus to forgive others as our heavenly Father forgives us. I think if we are not walking in forgiveness toward anyone who offends us, we are not walking in peace. And is that not what we all seek after being through abuse? I am not advocating staying in an abusive situation as proof that one has forgiven the abuser. That is not wise and could be deadly. But when we have been able to put space between ourselves and our abuser, then we can work on this very hard requirement of Jesus. Jesus will give us the grace if we ask Him for it. I really think this is a key to our well being, spiritual maturity, and peace.
I do hope this is taken in the spirit in which it is meant. I am a survivor of horrific abuse like you all are. I was married to a covert abuser for 17 years, went through 3 horrendous psychiatric hospitalizations, was suicidal, shunned, disbelieved, and marginalized by my church, and lost my marital home and almost lost my [number of children redacted]. I suffered horrible financial abuse as well as the psychological warfare and mind control that these abusers are famous for. I just wanted to share what God is doing in my life and in my heart. God bless us all as we continue on our healing journey.
Oh, and I have not read the book and do not plan on reading it. It does sound like there are a lot of problems with it and with the author.
Thank you, Overcomer 🙂
Hi Overcomer, you said:
I guess this statement could be interpreted in a number of ways. I’m sure you were referring to something which has resonated and helped you in your own journey, so I don’t want to take down any insights you have had for yourself. However, I’m aware that your sentence might be interpreted as a ‘should’ by some other survivors.
I guess it depends what one means by ‘walking in forgiveness toward one who has offended us.’ Some / many everyday Christians think that means letting the offender, with no reformation in his character, back into our life where he can re-harm us. That, as I’m sure you know and agree, is foolish naivety and the kind of thinking that exposes victims of abuse to more abuse.
I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way. 🙂 I’m just wanting to clarify a bit, in case other readers might have got confused or triggered.
If you are interested, we have more posts on Forgiveness. In fact, we have a tag on Forgiveness which currently has 43 posts in it! I wouldn’t expect you to want to read them all (!) but you might like to read these two (if you haven’t already read them) —
What Does Forgiveness Require?
Christians are Very Confused About Forgiveness
Ok so x anti husband owns this book and many others warned about on this site. ITS NO WONDER. Thank you for spelling it all out about the book in this post. The jerk actually studied up on being evil. I pray oh God have mercy and destroy this evil man!
Thank you for this review.
This book was the one a local church picked as their reading material about the time that I started to come to their mid week meetings. A couple who was a part of this church raved about this book, so I decided to pick it up at the local library. It was the worst book I’ve ever read. It is very triggering especially if you have suffered from any form of abuse whether spiritual, physical or sexual. You can sense a manipulative and controlling tone throughout the book that is disguised as humor and lightheartedness. (At least that’s what I sensed.)
I did not know at the time, but I was being spiritually abused by many different ministries and it is those who are spiritually abusive WHO TEND TO RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. I write that in caps because it is SO important to recognize that. They want you to read this book, so you are groomed and ready to submit to them in fear of being in offense and in sin. The end game is that you submit, honor them and never disagree with anything they do.
As I read this book, I took pages and pages of notes and was going to write my own review on Bevere’s book, but figured it was a waste of time…Biblically speaking it is a travesty! Scriptures are taken out of context and he conveniently switches translations and leaves things out on purpose. I was not aware that Bevere was talking about Benny Hinn in the book. WOW!
The local couple who was holding mid service meetings (which loved this book) became offended at me and my husband after I was vocal about my disagreements with theologies and teachings that they believed in.
I don’t want to get too detailed in fear they read this. But the Lord started to show me their spiritually abusive ways. Instead of agreeing to disagree (and letting me be free to write whatever I want), they demanded everything was my fault and that I need to forgive them and not be offended etc. They were always quick to put offense, unforgiveness, soul ties, generational curses and other unbiblical concepts on others, but they never looked at themselves with the same lens. They saw the sickness in my body and my boldness coming out against certain teachings as proof that I was offended and in unforgiveness. It was demonic.
After some time God said to let them go and I did. It was the best day of my life when I unfriended them. I am still working through some of the hurtful things that were said to me during the fallout though and it’s been over a year now.
My take away point is:
If someone is recommending this book to you, RUN. If they are in a position of power or in a position of leadership over you, they may use this book as a grooming tool to spiritually abuse you.
Thanks for your comment, Sarah, and blessings to you for writing it.
May your testimony about this book be used by our Lord to save other people from falling into the abyss of self-condemnation, false guilt, and bondage to wolves in sheep’s clothing which this book induces.
Thank you so much for sharing this story and your thoughts. They are very clear and helpful. I would love it if you did actually take time to write out your review. This book damaged me almost 20 years ago, and I thought I was over it, but this year it has come back to haunt me and I’m on a journey to try to shake free.
I’ve read this post more than a few times already, but today, this day, a light bulb came on. I’ve read this book. I could not understand why I felt worse after reading it.
It was “DESIGNED TO ENSLAVE”! Repetition is good!
THANK YOU Pastor Crippen for just one of many enlightening posts. 🙂
I read that book as well, Bait of Satan. I think he has some valid points, in the sense that resentment or bitterness are things that are spiritual poison. But I also got a sense that he was quite full of himself. There is an account in one of his books where a woman comes to him to disclose that she suffers from low self-esteem. Now, that’s probably the terminology she thought she should use to give a short, pithy identification to her problem. However, Bevere pounces on it in the most snotty and graceless fashion. He says to her “Where in the Bible does it tell you to have good self-esteem? I get it that our problems are far deeper than having a poor self-image, but honestly, I don’t know anyone who does well feeling like worthless human garbage either.
I can’t remember the rest of what he said to her, but it sounded like he really shamed the living daylights out of her. He then commented that he thought she expected to have a long counselling session where she would be pitied and prayed over, etc. I’m thinking that if Jesus didn’t speak to women with such snot dripping from His attitude even when one of them was half naked in front of Him after being caught literally rolling in sin, Mr. Bevere had no right to talk like that to anyone either.
I recently had an encounter with a man per your description in your comment (dressing-down the woman who came to him for help and direction). This man was a healthcare professional and I went to him after a horrible incident that happened somewhere else. I told him the situation and he started blustering and saying that he couldn’t understand how this could happen (that he didn’t believe me) and proceeded to try to “help” me by denying the existence of such circumstances and threatening me by saying he wouldn’t help me if I didn’t get over it. (I had gone to him on a recommendation online). Of course this did NOTHING to help me and only traumatized me further. BUT, you can BETTER BELIEVE that I “got there faster” than I would’ve in the past. I realized what he was, went into stealth mode (no big movements, acting like I saw his point) and then I STEPPED.
And I have very little doubt that both John Bevere and the HCP I went to, REALLY BELIEVED THAT THEY WERE ACTING IN THE “RIGHT” WAY. That Mr. Bevere wrote this in his book shows this and the HCP was so rude and condescending that I could tell he thought he was god. Big fish, little pond.
A little levity, tongue-in-cheek:
Q: What’s the difference between God & a doctor?
A: God doesn’t think He’s a doctor.
Thank you for giving me confirmation on what I was thinking about. A friend of mine gave me and some other ladies the book. I was reading it and it left me unsettled. I finally made it to chapter 5 and put the brakes on. Whoa! God doesn’t learn anything, and needs no permission from His creation to do anything. This author has a low view of God’s sovereignty. And anyone who doesn’t have that down, can’t be trusted to teach anything from the Bible. Sad to see this man is still putting out more and more heresy. May God cause him to repent.
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This teaching has been going around especially in the circles I was in (Charismatic), giving a free pass to the pastors and leaders to act in any way they pleased, with no accountability.
Even the kings in ancient Israel were not supposed to be tyrants, but they were accountable to their advisors, military officers, prophets, even ordinary citizens, who had the right to voice their complaints.
This kind of ‘submit and don’t be offended, if you don’t you are in sin’ crap is similar to what i recently saw in a YouTube video.. claiming that narcissistic evil people are angels in disguise, sent to us to expose our wounds, so we can heal..! How twisted is that??
I agree with you. first, I’ve seen many instances of people’s preference for blaming the victim and many times it is because they do not want to offer sympathy or help, and second, religious Christians are among the least forgiving people I know. just a small offense that is not even meant to be an offense and they can give you the silent treatment for years. I’ve Christians push unscriptural books to me before and I just junk them (without telling them of course). before I came to this website, I was attempting to listen to John Bevere (not on the topic of abuse, fortunately), but stopped halfway as my spirit sensed something wrong somewhere and I think you have got it right by saying he twists God’s word to fit his doctrine.
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Thank you!! I was struggling reading this book and I said this seems like victim blaming…my friend who referred this book to me didn’t understand. Your critique is exactly what I was thinking. Thank you for the validation!
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I changed your screen name to Antennae Up as a precaution for you safety as it looked like you had given your real name. If you want us to change it to something else, just email TWBTC (The Woman Behind The Curtain). Her address is twbtc.acfj@gmail.com.
I’m glad someone has been writing about this abuse, as I have been directly impacted by this very book. Well, I should say, nearly destroyed because of it.
I’m in a small town, so word gets around very quickly. I’ll explain by saying there was a church which was formed from a split from my first church. The second church, the one formed, had later gone through a split, and I wasn’t there when that split happened. A great deal of offences took place, and I unfortunately later learned the blame was placed on most of the members who left the second church. So, when I and my family started attending church #2, we were immediately “marked” as suspect, because we came from that church #1, who brought their demons with them when church #2 was formed….long, screwed-up story….so I wasn’t aware of the suspicions already set against me for a while. And they started getting real pushy with the book Bait of Satan.
We started opening our home to a home Bible study group, headed by two young “leaders” who were accepted as prophets, by the pastor of church #2. In short order, I began to smell a rat….then several more rats….and lots of lies. I finally brought it up to the pastor, but I didn’t realize these leaders were the pastor’s best friends. That fact was being hidden from most of the church members, actually. My mistake was that I first brought it up in a women’s intercessory group, but didn’t mention names. Someone from that group went behind my back and “reported” me. So, the pastor didn’t deny his knowledge that his leaders were lying, and said he expected me to “forgive that”, that “this person” was just insecure and had a need to feel more spiritual than others. Well, he was blaming only the wife in this situation. Her husband, a deeply narcissistic liar, was off the hook.
What happened was the pastor sent me a letter, on church letterhead, saying he appreciated that I “admitted” that much of my “misconceptions” about these lying leaders were based on my own “wounds from my past”….I never said any of that. He went on to say he expected me to go back to the intercessors and apologize for the damage I caused those leaders. The pastor also cited in his letter, frequent references to me being a gossip, citing scriptures from Proverbs about gossips. He then went on to throw me under the bus, labelling me “offended”, and preached a sermon in church about a Jezebel spirit, looking at me the whole time. And the lying leader’s wife kept gouging me with that very accusation, that I was operating in a Jezebel spirit. I finally left, with some rude comments directed at me about that. I even got blamed for the gossip the members there were spreading about what I had said, after I had left. One woman even called me at home to blame me for what was being said there.
This happened many years ago, and to this day, there are people who scowl at me when they see me in public, people who should not have heard anything at all about what happened, if the church had not gossiped about me in the first place. The narcissistic turning of the tables. So, the talk has apparently ventured out to other churches in this area, as I have since run into more of the same attitude and the same Jezebel accusations when I returned to church #1, an Assemblies of God church. That church has a long history of problems anyway. But I will say this: I prayed for a long time about the wrongs and lies which took place in church #2. The pastor there has since not only left that church, he has left ministry, and has moved out of my state. Honestly….I’m glad. There, I said it. I have no remorse about how I feel. When I tried to tell another pastor about what happened at this church, he shut me down and right away started talking about Bait of Satan. Oh, gee! This was my mother’s church in another state. And what did her church teach? Every one of their leaders were heavily indoctrinated with John Bevere books, Chuck Pierce, Dutch Sheets, all those in that same circle.
I have been so damaged, not only emotionally, but by reputation / gossip, that I no longer attend any church. It has taken me years to get over all this pain. And I’m finally in a place where I no longer feel guilty for being offended. I didn’t do this; THEY did. And seeing ministers walk away tells me there was definitely something wrong in the first place.
I will say this; I absolutely believe in hearing the voice of the Lord and that He is very active in guiding us. All through this painful event in church #2, the Lord had been speaking to me and showing me in scripture what I need to know about false prophets and priests who were defiled. I didn’t like it at the time, it was painful. I wanted so much to be a part of a spiritual family. But the fact is, God doesn’t sugar-coat falsehood for us to feel good.
I’m now glad to know He loves me enough to tell me the truth, and not leave me under a warm, fuzzy lie. So regardless of the slander by so-called “spiritual authorities”, I can finally get some peace knowing God never abandoned me, just because I walked away from church, as those leaders said would happen. No one listens to me here. No matter what I say, I’m discredited. So, thank you for publishing your statement. Keep up the good work….there are LOTS of deeply wounded souls who need to know we’re not crazy, and we are NOT under the spirit of Jezebel….which, by the way, is another messed up doctrine that needs to be addressed.
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Dear sister, I feel for you! The kind of spiritual abuse you’ve endured is so very common. As you said:
You might like to look at our post about how the Jezebel accusation is misused: Jezebel as a Picture of Abuse
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I changed your screen name to Anon# as a precaution for your safety. I get the small town dynamic. And although your story has features that many other people have experienced, the smaller details in your story might have helped identify you to the folks in your town if they saw the screen name you’d given.
I am so sorry for your story, but am amazed by your resilience. Actually I am amazed by the resilience of everybody here. I am even more convinced than ever of the evil of this book and of the false-teaching of the author. At least we know who to stay way from and when to sound the alarm.
[…] My copy of The Bait of Satan is from 1994. However, there have been some updated versions of this book printed. Because of that, there is a lot more information in the newer books. This website does a much better job than I can at discussing some of the other errors in The Bait of Satan. Book Review on The Bait of Satan […]
Thank you for this review.
So my husband and I separated from two of my siblings due to intense emotional abuse that had been occurring since I was young. We didn’t do this lightly but found in Scripture God’s call to the Corinthian believers that if anyone was caught in specific sins and unrepentant, to disassociate from them. We confronted them and they have denied this sin and tried to manipulate us by suddenly claiming we were the abusers and the issue.
They went around to my whole family and some at our church, telling them my husband abuses me and our children. My husband is a church Elder and I lead the women’s ministry. Thankfully our pastor knew us well because of our positions and he knew our situation with them prior, so after a talk about the matter things were cleared up and they trusted us. Needless to say when our pastor tried to even contact my siblings to talk they decided they had no interest in following up with him. They just wanted to accuse us but then avoided him after. This spoke volumes.
The whole thing was a mess all because we confronted them quite gently too, about a major sin of theirs. They cannot accept one sin but send me messages with my sins often. One message had over seventeen sins of mine, at least they were claiming them to be my sins. Yet at the same time saying how dare I call them out for this one sin. It’s kind of laughable how backwards the thinking is.
Anyways, we have stayed separated from them but still get messages questioning us as believers, calling us all sorts of names and saying we’re unforgiving and hateful. They make claims that we cannot have Jesus and do this to them. I just got this book in the mail with no name of sender. I know it’s them as not many know our address, they already gave us another book from John Bevere and I see his quotes on their social media too. I just laughed when I saw how the book was about it being wrong for someone to feel offense. It’s just like them to outright believe I am in the wrong because I don’t just let go of their abusive ways and “forgive”.
I am looking through the book but I wanted to hear some outside opinions. Yours is a great review. This book is trash and I think written not for the victims but the abusers so they can feel justified and like my sibling, send it to the victim to show how wrong they are. I am all for forgiveness when someone is repentant. I am all for not allowing the seed of bitterness to grow when someone is unrepentant. We pray for my siblings and we ask God to grow them and help them turn away from this sin. This isn’t even ultimately for our good but for their own souls the Bible says in 1 Cor 5. We are moving on from them but they can’t stop contacting us because they want to feel totally justified and they can’t while we remain separated. They send messages saying they are so thankful they are guiltless before God. I pray that they realize the truth before it’s too late but the denial has led them further into sin. Anyways, keep speaking the truth!
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Thank you!
I was recently speaking to a sister in Christ and she was speaking to me about the Bait of Satan, and I knew something was wrong! He is in doctrinal error, and confuses several fundamental truths of Scripture! To be sinned against and acknowledge the truth, agreeing with God Himself is not unforgiveness! To confront a brother who sinned against you is not unforgiveness! To sever a relationship when a brother / sister is unrepentant, according to Scripture, is not unforgiveness!
Reconciliation is not the same thing as forgiveness! In order to reconcile both parties must be willing and if one of those parties sinned against you, they must repent before reconciliation can happen! The doctrinal error throughout this book is the reason why so many Christian’s walk around wounded and bitter, because they have been convinced that to acknowledge another’s sin against you is a trap!
To hold one another accountable by the leading of the Holy Spirit and direction from the Word of God is not sinful, rather it is commanded!
This is a dangerous doctrine that teaches believers never to hold one another accountable, not to seek true peace in relationships, and to live a life disconnected from reality!
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Hi, Charissa, welcome to the blog 🙂 and thanks for your comment.
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It is mind boggling that J. Bevere’s books have been in circulation for so many years yet very few people have raised any concerns about his teachings. One has to do a thorough search in the internet to find any questioning about this teaching. And his own website doesn’t give any information as to what he believes. Indeed, no statement of faith is to be found on [website redacted] or on his ministry website: [website redacted].
His book “Bait of Satan” propelled him to popularity in spite of the fact that, in it, Scripture is often quoted out of context.
For instance on p. 9 he states:
Here Mr Bevere applies Christ’s message, which was meant for the lukewarm, rich church of Laodicea, to victims who have been hurt! And he [Mr Bevere] tells them to repent….repent of what? It’s not clear here but as the book progresses one slowly comes to realize that being offended = being hurt = sinning. Here he advises victims that the only way to repent is to stop blaming others. If victims defend their position, they are blind! If we follow Mr Bevere’s reasoning, the apostle Paul must have been blind when he defended himself in front of governor Felix! (Acts 24)
In another passage, p. 69, JB says:
This verse is misinterpreted as it is taken again out of context. Jesus never said that “retaining the sins of any” means harboring resentment.
These are some examples of misuse of Scripture but the book is full of other examples! Mr Bevere has a specific narrative that he wants people to embrace and he throws in Bible passages that will fit that narrative. The ramifications of such teaching leaves the broken and vulnerable endangered, potentially exposed to further abuse, while predators are not held accountable, particularly if they are in leadership.
JB shows this mindset in p. 45 when he recalls a leader with a position of authority over him who needed to be exposed:
My husband and I are part of a Bible Study group in an AG [Assemblies of God] church. It’s the first time that I’ve come in contact with this book but my small group leaders told me that the church has been using it frequently in small group settings. I don’t know if there has been any other concerns voiced in the church but we are hoping to meet with the Elder who has been recommending this study for years.
Thanks for keeping us posted if you hear of any other resources to help us stand for the vulnerable against this teaching.
[We removed the links to John Bevere’s websites from Val’s comment. To enhance readability, we formatted Val’s comment to match the quotes Val quoted from John Bevere’s book, The Bait of Satan. Editors.]
Thanks for your comment, Val. I doubt that the Assemblies of God church will heed your feedback. If the leaders in that church have been using that book for years, they will be far too prideful to listen to lowly folks like you.
In my view, John Bevere is not equipping people to recognise and resist Satan’s bait, rather, he is brainwashing people with Satan’s lies.