Francis Chan has decided to align himself with Mike Bickle, Rick Warren and Mark Driscoll...are you crazy Francis?

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"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. -- Matthew 7: 15-20 (ESV)

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. -- Acts 17: 10-11 (ESV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. -- 1John 4: 1 (ESV)

Beloved the Bible cannot be clearer on the subject of false teachers and prophets. Everyone from Jesus through the New Testament authors all warned about them. Jesus knew full well that after He left this earth, many would be led astray down the broad path that leads to destruction by those that twist and distort the word of God. It seems in these end times, with the proliferation of social media, that false teachers have grown exponentially leading untold numbers of people to the eternal doom. What is truly sad however is that often sound doctrinal preachers side with the ravenous wolves over the slaughtered sheep. In some cases they simply stand aside and let the wolves into the sheep pen. In other cases they support the wolves completely against the very people they were charged with protecting. It is not a mystery why Jesus chose the sheep-shepherd-wolf imagery. The sheep are portrayed as helpless and easily susceptible to being led astray. The wolf is depicted as voracious and predatory because that is what they are. The man of God is portrayed as a Shepherd because Christ expects them to love the sheep, tend to the sheep and protect the sheep. The shepherd carries a crook, or staff, to help direct the sheep. He also carries a rod, which is a weapon designed to beat away the predatory wolves. In these end times, too many pastors wield the rod against the sheep to protect the wolves.

Let us quickly review the key verses which help provide some scriptural support for this. The first set of Scripture is from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is instructing the people, not just the leadership, how to spot false teachers. This implies a few things most notably that we are absolutely supposed to judge the teaching we sit under. Do not hand me the twisting of touch not God's anointed! The wolf is not anointed of God. Standing in a pulpit makes you no more a shepherd than standing in a garage makes you a car. Titus teaches us that if we are minsters then we are REQUIRED to rebuke false teachers. Note that I said teachers and not teachings. It does no one any good to rebuke a teaching and let the wolf into the pen by not calling them out by name. The second set of Scriptures denotes that the Bereans were judgmental for making sure they were being taught correctly. Wait a minute, that's not right. They were considered disruptors of the unity for daring to check the word of God against what they were being taught. No, that doesn't sound right either. No beloved they were considered more noble for ensuring what they were receiving was indeed from God. This coincides with the final key verse for today that implores us to test the spirits because many false prophets have gone out into the world! Because we know the wolves are out there we need to test everything we hear to make sure that it is from the spirit of God and not the devil. How do we test? By doing the work of a Berean and holding the Word of God up to the teaching. When we have done out due diligence we should know what is false and what is true and hold onto the good. By their fruit we will indeed know them beloved.

So we come to the rotten fruit of Francis Chan. It gives me no joy to say that as Chan was once the darling of the Gospel-centric preachers. He used to be a no nonsense, heaven and hell preacher. Then he met Mike Bickle. Chan spoke at the IHOP annual conference and suddenly the descent down the slope of compromise began. He gushed at the first conference that he loved Mike Bickle. The same Mike Bickle that has offered direct revelation from God that has proven false. The same Mike Bickle that presides over one of the worst youth indoctrination centers of false teaching in the world. The same Mike Bickle that fully supports the NAR and the Kansas City False Prophets. The same Mike Bickle that endorses dominionism, Joel's End Time Army and the Bridal Paradigm. This heretic, destroying the work of God, was embraced nationally by Chan and as a result, Chan has been invited back every year. You cannot continue to hang around with false teaching and not think it will affect you. We started to see cracks in the theology of Chan's teaching. He started turning on the sheep, calling American Christians the "fattest on the planet." I was afraid of what was coming and this past month Chan indeed went full heretic on us. In a recent sermon, Chan was preaching on unity but his free-flowing preaching style led him to some dark, disturbing, and regrettable places. The Bible explains who really causes disunity in the church:

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. -- Romans 16: 17-18 (ESV)

It is the wolves that cause division by inserting doctrines that are false into the body of Christ. Another translation of these verses says we are to mark them and it is sad to say but we must mark Francis Chan now. In a recent sermon Chan speaks about unity by discussing various times in the Bible when God was wrathful. When He struck Uzzah dead for touching the Ark of the Covenant. When He refused to allow Moses to enter the Promised Land for striking the rock. When he slay both Ananias and Sapphira for lying about the value of a piece of land they sold. Then he dives off the theological cliff to defend some of the most obvious wolves on the planet. Let us reason together through the low lights:

"Are you gonna bash Rick Warren? Are you crazy? This is a guy who loves the Lord. You may not agree with everything he does, but man I'm telling you he loves Jesus-everything I can tell, a supernaturally spirit-filled man." - Francis Chan

No Francis, I am not crazy and I will beat back Rick Warren with the shepherd's rod every chance I get because no one has more damage to the cause of the Gospel than Rick Warren. The Purpose Driven Church is followed by nearly all up and coming pastors. Warren is responsible for the mega church movement that has left so many wolves in the pulpits and sheep scattered across the land. I do not even need to get into his obvious ecumenicalism. Today's church is fully compromised because of the teachings of Rick Warren. It has abandoned the true Gospel because of the teachings of Rick Warren. The church caters to goats, starves the sheep and turns shepherds into CEOs and that is all because of Rick Warren. That is not an attack on Rick Warren but an exposition of his false teachings. Notice Chan has no biblical basis for his position and essentially he is saying, believe me because I know him. Well, I do not have to know Rick Warren to be able to evaluate his teachings. We can be sincere and sincerely wrong. This is a guy who loves the Lord? Says who? Mormons will swear they love the Lord and so will Jehovah Witnesses. The people who stand before Christ at the end in Matthew 7 appear to have believed they loved the Lord yet He never knew them. Perhaps Chan has been so busy fawning over other leaders that he had forgotten scripture:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. -- 1Corinthians 15: 1-2 (ESV)

Unless you have believed in vain. It is wholly possible to have believed entirely in vain. So please, do not hand me your personal anecdotes when we are discussing doctrine because they are irrelevant. Evaluate the teaching Francis.

"Are you gonna attack Mark Driscoll? Are you gonna attack John Piper? Are you gonna attack Mike Bickle? -- Francis Chan

Mark Driscoll? Seriously? The guy literally stole $200,000 from his tithe monies so he could pay a company to cheat the NY Times Bestseller List. That is your paragon of Christian virtue that no one should challenge? Now, Driscoll will insist that the board approved the expenditure but he hand selected the board. Try standing before Christ and explaining how you really didn't steal it. Driscoll is such an adherent of Warren that he once joked in a sermon regarding the Warren concept of blessed subtraction that there was a "pile of bodies behind the Mars Hill bus and by the time he was done it will be a mountain." These were people that dared to disagree with him. The interesting thing with Driscoll is you do not even need to get into his teachings because his behavior disqualifies him from ministry. Lest we forget, Mark Driscoll is also a fugitive from church discipline as he fled Mars Hill right when they were going to discipline him for his abusive behavior towards people. Very pastoral.

Discussing John Piper is the one that brings me the least joy. Outside of typical Calvinistic errors, Piper has always been a source of solid preaching but signs are he is not finishing strong. It starts with who you support and de facto endorse. Just as Chan is exposing himself here by endorsing some of the most egregious false teachers today, Piper is guilty of the same as he has staunchly defended both Warren and Driscoll. He has started to be featured at Charismaniacal conferences and shared the stage with the likes of Louis Giglio, Christian Caine, Levi Lusko and Beth Moore. We can only hope that at some point Piper will realize the grievous path he is on but until then the Bible says to mark him because he is bringing division into the body of Christ. Mike Bickle has already been discussed but the overarching theme here is that Chan listed no less than three of the most egregious false teachers on the planet today and defended them. He actually calls those who would speak against these wolves "crazy" and accuses them of talking a sledgehammer to the temple of the Lord. What utter nonsense. It is false teaching that divides the body! Chan must have also conveniently forgotten that Titus 1:9 commands us as ministers to rebuke those who are false! Unfortunately, Chan has not hit bottom yet:

Are you gonna attack some of these expressions in the body of Christ that may look a little different? I've met these people and I see their hearts and I hang out with people from these different denominations and I'm like 'they love Jesus,' it looks different to me but I can see the spirit in them, so we better be careful." - Francis Chan

Whoa. Did Francis Chan just go full ecumenical on us? Beloved this is how the one world religion will come to be. With smooth and reasoned sounding men like Francis Chan singing Kumbaya all the way. Our job as discerning Christians is not to assess the sincerity of people, the depths of their hearts, or how convincing their vocal exhortation for Christ is. The Bereans did not judge the heart of Paul - they measured his teaching against what Scripture taught them. When Simon the Sorcerer tried to buy the power of God, Peter did not dismiss it because he claimed to love the Lord. There are not "different expressions" of the Gospel. There is only one. Everything else is believing in vain. So you better be careful Francis because you are putting a lot of faith in the hearts of men and your ability to read those hearts despite the fact that the Bible assure us that the human heart is desperately sick and the most deceitful thing ever made. Just saying.

"And I'm reading this and I'm like 'God, how come more people aren't dead?' And here's what I heard from the Lord: THEY HAVEN'T BEEN WARNED." -

"...And now He says 'you're that temple.' And if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. You wanna be on the right side of His protection."

Francis Chan

No Francis, you did not hear that from God. You heard it from your wickedly deceitful heart. You see beloved, this was the set up. He first talked about the wrath of God upon people like Uzzah and Ananias and Sapphira. Then he tried to make the point that people are the temple of God in the New Testament and thus attacking God's leaders is like taking a sledgehammer to the temple of the Lord and now apparently, Francis Chan is threatening anyone showing an ounce of discernment with death if they dare point out the truth. After all, now we have been warned that God will kill us if we point out that Rick Warren has done more damage to Christianity than anyone in history. Or if we point out that Mark Driscoll is a thief escaping church discipline. Because Chan has apparently turned in his bible let us not forget that Uzzah was killed because he was disobedient. He never should have been in position to touch the Ark to begin with. Likewise, Moses was disobedient when he struck the rock. Ananias and Sapphira were being disobedient in that they thought they could lie to the Holy Spirit. Are you sensing a pattern yet Francis? You are defending man over doctrine. You are overlooking false teaching in favor of knowing the hearts of these leaders. It is you who is being disobedient. You have aligned yourself now with the man who destroyed the western church in Rick Warren and a fugitive from church justice in Mark Driscoll. Not to mention the guy you love, one of the falsest prophets in the past 30 years, Mike Bickle. Maybe you did hear this warning from God after all. Maybe He was talking to you.

"It's gonna be the unity of the Church that's gonna get the world to believe." - Francis Chan

No Francis it is not. Unity is what will bring about the antichrist and the one world religion. There is only one thing that can get people to believe and that is the Gospel. Not the gospel according to Rick where you preach banal self-help sermons and empty motivational seminars. It is not the gospel of Passion Conference. The unity of the church is what is going to lead so many down the broad path that leads only to destruction. Everyone holding hands, skipping along, shouting "touch not my anointed" should anyone get to close with the truth. Much of the church today is already skipping down that path. We can be assured now that Francis Chan has joined them.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- April 13, 2018

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.