The Judgment of Christians - Joyce Meyer's False Teaching

The following article is a transcription of Meyer's show Life in the Word which aired on TBN, Sunday, 2-8-04 which is from tape 3 of her 4 tape series, "Closing the Door to Satanic Attack". I have only included those portions that I intend to comment on.

(False teacher/prophet quotes are in purple and indented, my
comments are in plain text and scripture is in teal. False teachers rarely use scripture. I have only included those portions I intend to comment on.)

Joyce believes that Christians will face the Great White Throne Judgement

Most of what Joyce Meyer said "appeared" to be sound biblical teaching at first glance but this first part is what she bases the rest of her speech on, and, as I will show below, is in error.

"they have grown fat and sleek, yes they surpasse indeed the wickedness, they do not judge and plead with justice the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper. They do not defend the rights of the needy."Jeremiah 5:28, 29 (Amplified Bible)

"Now I want you to hang onto this because we're gonna preach for a little while in this one area about making sure that we're ready for judgment day and realizing we're all going to stand before God in what's called the Great White Throne Judgment and you'll see in a little bit the Bible says books will be brought out, and a book. Books and a book.

The book is the book of life and if our name is found written in that book then we have entrance into heaven and our name is only put into that book because we are true believers in Jesus Christ. And I'm stressing "true" believers. And there are other books where we will be judged based on our works--not according to salvation but for rewards that are waiting for us in heaven. We'll look at that scripture in a minute (see next tape)."

Please notice that Joyce Meyer doesn't say what verse she is referring to but it has to be Revelation 20:11-15. Here is what the scripture says:

"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw THE DEAD great and small, standing before the throne and books were opened.

Another book was opened, which is the book of life. THE DEAD were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up THE DEAD that were in it and the death and Hades gave up THE DEAD that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done (THE DEAD).

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Please notice that it doesn't mention anyone alive here. And neither does it mention anyone praising God like we see when believers are in the presence of God, in the book of Revelation. After believers are resurrected they are stated as being alive with Christ and yet everyone present at this judgment are allllll DEAD . So this rules out judgment after the rapture - whether pre trib, post trib, pre wrath or any other rapture.

And everyone at the Great White Throne Judgment is judged by their works--which we all know works cannot save so this can't be referring to believers. And the book of life is opened to see if their name is in there--and it can't be if these are all unbelievers. So this judgment is only for unbelievers.

If you read back to the earlier verses of Revelation 20, you will see the Great White Throne Judgment didn't occur till after the thousand year millennium and yet Joyce Meyer is saying that believers will be in attendance at this judgment.

This understanding of the endtimes is called amillennialism — there will be no thousand year reign of Christ after he returns. And this is in spite of what Revelation 20 says where an angel, comes down out of heaven (after Christ returns to the earth) and throws the dragon (satan) and binds him for a thousand years to keep him "from Deceiving the nations." Then it says that believers will rule and reign with Christ during the thousand years (vs 6).

Who are the nations? They are those that inhabit the Millennium in live bodies. There are several references to this in the Old Testament because the Millennium is mainly for the Israelites who have been promised an earthly kingdom:

"No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days for the child shall die a hundred years old--for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be." (Isa 65:20-22)

Please notice there is birth and death in the verse above. There are plenty more verses like this in the Old Testament. This is not eternity because there is no birth, i.e., procreation in Heaven. It's only the Millennium where this occurs after Christ returns. There will be more death after the Antichrist is released at the end of the millennium and deceives many (like the sands of the seashore) and they will be put to death also (Rev 20:7-10).

What did Paul teach about Christians being judged?

"We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

For we must all appear before the judgment (Bema) seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:7-10).

Paul had already told the Corinthians in his first letter about this judgment:

"If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day (Day of the Lord) will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.

If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." 1 Cor. 3:12-15

Please notice that the works don't determine whether one will be saved or not. This judgement is only to hand out rewards to believers.

The phrase the "Day of the Lord" can be either Christ returning in judgment or when he hands out rewards at the Rapture. The way to tell which is which is to pay attention to what is happening. Rewards = Rapture. Judgment = White Throne Judgment for Unbelievers.

Therefore the Bema Seat Judgment cannot be the Great White Throne Judgment. So Joyce Meyer's teaching that believers will appear at the Great White Throne is false doctrine and it will affect all her teachings on judgment and thus salvation also (which goes along with her theory that Christ was born again in Hell), a false gospel teaching.

Joyce Meyer is a False Preacher

Any preacher who does not understand the most basic truths of salvation should be ignored.