As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. -- Titus 3:10-11 (ESV)
https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/74157-francis-chan-are-you-destroying-the-church
There is a verse in the bible where Paul says that he has finished the race, fought the good fight and kept the faith. It is always so sad to see someone strong in the Lord not finish strong. To see someone once revered for being a solid teacher fall for the popular heresies of the day and seemingly dismiss all they had known regarding doing the work of a Berean. It always seems to start with the acceptance of false doctrines of others forgetting that a little leaven eventually spreads through the whole batch. It is with requisite sadness that we revisit the fall of Francis Chan. I have said previously that it is time to mark him as false. The above linked article from Charisma sees the fall of Chan go even further as his doctrine is now unraveling to fit his desire to stand with rank heretics. Let us reason together once more beloved to further understand how much we need to avoid Francis Chan.
"Over three years ago, God started to speak to me deeply on the great sin of division, slander and gossip in the body of Christ. God started to have me in situations where great hurt was being done, and I saw firsthand the way the enemy used these tactics to destroy and hurt the testimony of Jesus Christ in others' lives. One of many devotional articles I wrote during that time was called "God's Church Is Sacred in This Earth." The premise of the devotion was a warning that when we speak against the body of Christ, we speak against God's sacred church, of whom we are all a part. Recently, God spoke to Francis Chan on that same verse (1 Cor. 3:17) to give us a loving warning to the body of Christ against division. Here is a recent statement Francis made in regards to people who divide and leave church fellowship." -- Greg Gordon
The article was posted by Greg Gordon, who will soon quote Chan. Let me start by saying that dividing the body of Christ is one of the things god actually hates. The bible also speaks strongly against gossip and slander. These facts are not up for debate. The problem with most people who think they have to worry about these things is that they cannot properly discern what they actually mean. Correctly disagreeing with false doctrine for example is not gossip. Properly naming the names of the wolves in the pulpit is not slander. You cannot hurt the witness for Christ by pointing out who is actually not preaching Christ. So yes Greg -- God's church is sacred on this earth. So sacred He does not tolerate wolves tearing His sheep apart, nor your enabling them to do so.
The error of Francis Chan in misusing the 1Corinthians verse is in extrapolating it out from its context. The verse deals with our own body being the temple of the Holy Spirit. Even if you wish to apply it to the actual church, Chan jumped off the theological cliff by declaring you were taking a wrecking ball to the church if you dared to criticize Rick Warren or Mark Driscoll! Mark of course robbed his congregants of $200,000 in tithe money to cheat the NY Times Best Seller list and no one has done more damage to the church in this generation than Warren. Now let us turn to what Francis has to say:
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