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| Bride of Christ equipped with the Sword of the Spirit |
One of my most read blog entries is about Steven Furtick. I'm not sure why, his style of preaching is abrasive, he disdains doctrine and he loves to insult and berate the saints who worship biblically rather than follow his method of evangelizing those that shouldn't need evangelization.
When I researched the article I originally thought I was researching something special, instead I found I was researching a cult. And, as I'm sure Glenn Chatfield can attest, when you expose a cult you open yourself up to some... interesting... responses. Luckily I received few responses containing foul language which I immediately deleted for the reasons outlined in James 1:26.
However a recent response implored me not to "Bash" Mr. Furtick.
There's no "bashing" of Mr. Furtick going on here, unless you consider reporting on what he says and what he does "Bashing". My main concern with Mr. Furtick is that his idea of the church and God's idea are two different things. Why on earth would a supposed man of God publicly tell a Christian "you need to leave this church because we ONLY do evangelism"?
What Mr. Furtick said here is that if you don't agree with him then you're not a Christian. I say this because because the church is not a building with a preacher at one end connected to the audience at the other end via a collection basket. The Church is the congregation, the people, those called out by the Holy Spirit to love Christ. All of the Believers. And this is something that Mr. Furtick knows and I'm sure he didn't mean to tell his listeners to leave the body of Christ, but that is what came out of his mouth.
Then again maybe that's exactly what he meant.
As for his "we ONLY do evangelism" - evangelism is what Christians are to do OUTSIDE of the worship service, evangelism is reaching out to unbelievers because unbelievers are not part of the church. Inside the worship service it's completely different. Believers do not need evangelism, they need revival. Church does not include unbelievers, it's purpose is to edify, equip, and encourage the believers to go out and bring the Gospel to the unbelievers. Only then, when the unbeliever becomes a believer, are they part of the church.
God has given us teaching elders, who are called pastors, so that the church can Equip the believers
for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12).
The term "body of Christ" is another name for the Christian church. Additionally 1 Corinthians 12:28 tells us
And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.The Bible reveals additional aspects of the purpose of the church:
• To disciple believers - (Matthew 28:19-20)
• To nourish those new (lambs) in the faith - (John 21:15-17)
• To feed those mature (sheep) in the faith - (John 21:15-17)
• To guard the correct teachings of the church - (2 Timothy 2:1-2)
• To discipline believers - (Matthew 18:15-17)
• To become more like Christ - (Ephesians 4:15-16)
• To be subject to Godly pastoral leadership - (1 Peter 5:1-3)
• To be unified in Christ - (Galatians 3:28)
And that one last purpose, unification in Christ, is a sore sticking point with me, especially with a supposed pastor who tells Christians to get out of his building for having studied God's word. If there's any bashing going on, it has been by Mr. Furtick calling people who know Jesus a "fat lazy Christian" and tells them "you need to shut up". Would a shepard drive sheep from the flock? Furtick also denies spiritual food, the living bible, from his flock, starving the sheep and malnurshing the lambs. He rails against doctrine such as the doctrine of Grace but his rage against doctrine is actually anti-biblical
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)
In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. (1 Timothy 4:6)
Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (1 Timothy 4:13)
Church service is to edify the saints, to sharpen the only offensive weapon God gave us - the sword of the Spirit. As iron sharpens so one person sharpens another, but unbelievers are not iron.
The church is the bride of Christ, and what Mr. Furtick is saying is "I love Jesus, but his wife sucks"
I pray for Steven Furitck, but I also pray for his followers who fall for his spiritual junk food, his anger, and his love for proven apostates and false teachers such as Joel Osteen and TD Jakes.
For more information on the Cult of Furtick see the following:
Emergent Monday - Getting Your Ears Tickled by Steven Furtick
Doug,
ReplyDeleteThis was the first time I read your post on Furtick. (Excellent, by the way.) What fascinates me is the exposure it gives to the ignorance, arrogance and aggressiveness lurking just below the surface of the modern Christian experience.
Who exactly are some of these people who left comments? Jessica Snyder at lease seems to be a real person. Her comment is just confused enough to be authentic. I wonder if anyone has ever explained to her that the Holy Spirit will never, has never, and can never contradict the Bible. If a teacher like Furtick speaks contrary to Scripture, as you've shown he has, he's wrong. Appealing to the Holy Spirit will do nothing to exonerate him for his error. It's a red herring at best.
Then we have commenters like "do pr", and "casey dean". They start bad and often become worse. Some are just boors. Others are [spies](http://alecsatin.com/internet-troll/). In this case, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that "do pr" and/or "casey dean" work for Elevation Church either directly or as paid consultants/public relations hacks. Posing behind an array of fake identities, these sock monkeys scour the internet doing "damage control" against blogs like yours who seek to expose their clients/bosses. This is less unlikely than it sounds. Consider: The internet is the last bastion of uncontrolled information. Comments are one of the only ways free speech criticism online may be at least partially derailed.
If you ever in future get comments that are suspect, thinking about asking the writer "offline" if they work for or have any connection with the subject of the article. They will either evaporate, the email will bounce, or you may be surprised at what you learn. Of course, if they are truly nefarious, they may lie to you. But even that can be revealing.
Doug, well done. You've stepped on the toes of one of the bad guys. Who knows how many sheep may be spared heartache because of your post.
Alec
Sadly, Mr. Furtick is just one of many. I want to write on doctrine, what I have learned when I read the Word. However the Holy Spirit knows me better than I know me, and for some reason I've always learned more from bad teachers. I'd love to do something on prophesy but the Holy Spirit leads me in a different direction. Names come 'across my radar' that I have never hear before: Gretta Vosper, Steven Furtick, Mark Sandlin, John Shore, Marcus Borg... and I've learned a lot from researching their poison, mostly the importance of the Church and it's major role in God's plan of Salvation.
DeleteI've reported on Furtick's false teaching (as well as rank arrogance) many times, and can never understand where the discernment is in the people who follow him. Yes, very cultic following, just like those who follow Beth Moore. They really don't like their favorite wolf exposed.
ReplyDeleteI wrote an article about what the church assembly is for, which demonstrates (as you did) that Furtick has no clue.
http://watchmansbagpipes.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-is-church-for.html