"There is this terrifying verse in 1 Timothy where Paul talked about two men who rejected the faith. Paul said that he had handed them over to Satan, by which he meant that he'd put them outside of the church (1:20). Basically, these men were actively opposing the works of God, so rather than pretending everything was fine, Paul removed them from the safety and blessings of the fellowship of believers. He was hoping that the misery of being separated from the church would lead them to repent. Are you catching the weight of this? Paul equated removal from the church with being handed over to Satan! It is crazy to me that we live in a time when people are voluntarily doing this to themselves! No church has placed them outside of the fellowship; instead, they've handed themselves over to Satan!" -- Francis Chan
This tends to happen to false teachers. In their desperate attempt to make a preconceived point they proof text verses with wild inaccuracy. They essentially stop listening to what God might say in order to prove their own point instead. Let's examine the context of the verse from 1Timthoy Chan is referencing:
This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. -- 1Timothy 1:18-20 (ESV)
The sleight of hand Chan tries to pull off is in taking two false teachers who had been thrown out of the church and pretending they represent God punishing people who dare to call out false teachers. Their false teaching rose to the level of blasphemy! It says it right there in the text! The rest of his summation is pure conjecture. There is nothing in the text to suggest that Paul hoped that some level of misery of not being in church would lead them to repent. The issue Paul handed them over to Satan for was to learn not to blaspheme, not to miss being in church.
"Nowadays, people in North America are critical of so much that is called Christian, but they should be doing what the apostle Paul told Timothy to command others to do--repent of their pride and sins. What a sobering thought! We are living in a day where we are judging others and not ourselves. We are finding it easy to be critical of everything but our own sins we ourselves struggle with. Francis again shares on how God wants to send real unity to the body of Christ:" -- Greg Gordon
The next strawman argument is to claim we can't judge because we do not judge ourselves. The bible is very clear we are to judge within the walls of the church. We are our brother's keeper. We are to test everything and discard what is not of God. What Gordon and Chan are advocating for is absolutely terrifying and is how the end times one world church will form. To turn a blind eye toward false teaching in the church is inherently dangerous. To allow wolves to run wild tearing apart the sheep is now what Francis Chan stands for.
"Real love, unity and blessing were supposed to be found in the church. Many are having a hard time finding that, so they're setting off on their own. Jesus said that the world would see the supernatural unity and love we share in the church and believe in Him through that. But we're not experiencing it. We've given up on it. We no longer believe it is possible." -- Francis Chan
In the current apostate church, which Chan promotes, true biblical unity is not possible. This is the tradeoff Chan and Gordon seek. To trade biblical authority for false unity. You cannot experience the love of God while ignoring what He has said in His Word. Extra-biblical blessings are false by nature. Jesus did not say that the unity was supernatural -- faith in Him through His Word is. If all the people in the church hold hands and agree with the false gospels of Rick Warren or Joel Osteen - that is not biblical unity. It is people like this as well as Francis Chan who are the biblical definition of causing division:
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