Get Out of That Pit: Straight Talk about God's Deliverance by Beth Moore
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Book Reviews of Get Out of That Pit: Straight Talk about God's Deliverance
Book Review: Beth is at her best!
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book when I was in a pit, myself. Beth's bubbly personality came shining through in this book and made me laugh when I didn't especially feel like laughing. She has the ability to make you feel as if she's talking to you like a true girlfriend and you come away with the feeling that, "Yeah, she's been in a pit too and came out victorious." I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a good pick-me-up and a catalyst to turning to God for guidance in those times in your life when things seem overwhelming.
Becky Hester (Eastman, Ga)
Book Review: Former Pit Dweller
Summary: 5 Stars
This book helped me to change my life for the better. If things don't seem "quite right" in your life, you need to read this book. It can help you too! I have heard that Beth Moore is a good writer and speaker, now I can agree.Book Review: This is not God's deliverance
Summary: 1 Stars
"It takes one to know one." Isn't that what we said in retaliation to a schoolyard taunt? Yet Beth Moore turns the phrase, using it to imbibe hope in those Christians who are "living" in pits. Having lived so much of her life in one pit after another, it is her pleasure and passion to show other pit-dwellers the way out of their own personal pits in her latest book, Get Out of that Pit: Straight Talk about God's Deliverance.
As with her Bible studies and other books, Moore shares so much of herself that the reader feels like Beth is her new best friend. She seems willing to share anything if it would help another sister experience freedom in Christ. Yet all of her anecdotes seemed to slow things down. She is funny and so very likable, which makes it quite difficult to come to the reasons why I cannot recommend her book.
Similar to When Godly People Do Ungodly Things, this book was born from "something a number of people recently told me," and a subsequent prompting of God to do a word study. Though she refers to it as biblical analysis, most of the book is based on word study, and, consequently, one prooftext after another. While she says a lot of good in this book, she also relies heavily on her own personal experience, which, sadly, seems to trump the very Scriptures she dearly loves.
The bulk of the book is devoted to evaluating how one got into her pit and how to get out of it. Based on her word study, Moore discovered three ways in which believers end up in a pit: they can be thrown into a pit, they can slip into a pit, and they can jump into a pit.
I think at least one important pit is missing. Moore does not mention the fact that we are all born in a pit. Indeed, we are sinful from the time of conception, as David put it in Psalm 51. We are born into this world in need of a Deliverer. It is this omission, I think, that allows Moore to believe that most people are not having fun in their respective pits and really would rather get out. It seems to me that she believes that people are basically good and really want to be successful, effective, and healthy. We all want to get out of sin before total destruction comes, right? I mean, it just doesn't make sense to her that people would want to ruin their lives on purpose. However, the Bible tells a different story about our fallen state and the lengths we will go to satisfy our sinful desires. John 3 makes it very clear that "people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed." And Paul wrote to the Romans that men would rather suppress the truth about God and exchange "the truth about God for a lie." Though Moore would disagree, left to ourselves, we would choose sin over God every single time.
Graciously, God does not leave us to ourselves. After discussing the three ways we get into pits, Moore moves to getting out of the pit. Make no mistake, Moore says that God is the only one who can pull us from our pits. However, she does not explain how He rescues us from the pit. Instead, she spends the rest of the book sharing her own experience and giving three steps for deliverance. In her quest to be "more than just spiritual. Please, Lord, I'm asking to be practical," she sacrifices sound doctrine and glorious gospel truth in favor of a "system" (her word) that works. That sounds really harsh, so please allow me to try to explain what I mean.
In a book entitled Get Out of that Pit you might expect to find a few chapters on salvation, repentance, and maybe even the doctrines of justification and sanctification. But I was hard pressed to find one instance of the word 'repent,' or even the phrase 'turn away from your sin.' In fact, though she writes that faith is critical to the process, she believes all you really need to get started on your path to freedom is your mouth. She bases this on her interpretation of Romans 10:17, which says, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." All you need is your mouth, saying the word out loud, and then your faith will grow. She even included a section of scripture prayers for every day of the week to help get you started. But I've gotten ahead of myself. Before one can repent, she has to first realize she is a sinner, right? Absent is the looking into God's perfect law to see that I am a sinner who has offended a holy God. Rather I am encouraged to look at my situation and decide that I want a different kind of life. Absent is the gospel. You won't find it in this book.
After I finished the book and began to consider the good and the bad, I realized that there is not even one mention of Jesus' work on the cross. The one event that ensures that God can and will lift us up out of the pit is not even addressed. Without, at the very least, those two doctrines (salvation and repentance) you have a system that people can perform without Jesus and get pretty far in their religious life.
As with most of her books, Moore votes for what works for you in your own walk with God over what the Scriptures clearly teach about knowing God and following Him. This book is not worth reading if you are earnestly, seriously, desiring to live on the path of life.
Rather than read Get Out of That Pit, please consider Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life. In this book, Elyse Fitzpatrick explains with solid, biblical truth how Christians can indeed climb out of their pits. The answer is the gospel! We are never so spiritually mature that we move past the gospel as our singular hope every single day of our lives. While I appreciate Beth Moore's ministry, her three-step plan presented in Get Out of That Pit does not exalt Christ.
Book Review: Are you stuck? Get this book now!
Summary: 5 Stars
Beth Moore is a powerhouse, but a compassionate, authentic dynamo for the Lord and for the objective of women finding, living and consistently BEING their ultimate best with joy.
As other readers have said, after I'd read Beth's "Breaking Free" and doing the workbook, I thought I was free. But there were still troublesome areas in my life I'd uncomfortably bump up against when I'd least expect it. Time and again I'd thought I'd prayed it through and given it to God, only to careen hard and painfully against something left buried inside.
A friend invited me to her church's women's Bible study group when they were doing Beth Moore's "Fruit of the Spirit" and attending this study left me realizing I wanted more and needed more of what Jesus had for me. Still, though, I veered away from this book because I was afraid of what I might find inside myself if I really looked hard enough.
Apparently the Lord really wanted me to have this same freedom I was thirsting for as this same friend gifted me with "Get Out of That Pit" and I took some deliberate time to work through it. I'd previously been concerned about that "deliverance" word. Often it's used with painful and rather violent illustrations. But in this book, it's gentle, true and filled with a soothing and healing balm.
I should have known better than to hesitate, though, as this is filled with the love of Jesus and His desire that we be free of all the old ties that keep us in bondage.
So, if you're bumping into things that leave you feeling wounded or know you are stuck and in bondage, do not hesitate! Become your own best friend and get this book. True freedom is not far away. I am so grateful and it just might be what your spirit is craving, too.
Book Review: Sad that I'm a little disappointed
Summary: 3 Stars
I really wanted to get something out of this book. It just didn't help me. Maybe it's just my personality, but I am one that doesn't like to be a burden to others. Maybe I put too much emphasis on the writings about being dragged into other's pits. It just makes me feel like I shouldn't share my struggles with others for fear of dragging them into my pit. I have enjoyed the other Beth Moore studies I've done, just not this one.