Andy Stanley's descent to the heretical abyss continues - doctrine? We don't need no stinkin doctrine...

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And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. -- Ephesians 4: 11-14 (ESV)

We must be diligent beloved in these end times. We must realize that the battle lines are being drawn. God has already told us that there will be a great falling away, which we are witnesses to. He has told us that there will be a movement towards a one world religion, which we are witness to. He has told us these things that we might discern what is from the spirit of God and what is from the spirit of antichrist. That we not lose our footing and fall once we think too highly of our ability to stand. There are many architects of this grand movement. The Rick Warrens of the world get the lion share of the credit for postulating the schemes of the enemy into church speak, slapping a Jesus fish on it and selling it to the masses. Warren however cannot operate in a vacuum or alone. He needs adherents, minions and lackeys. People who lap up his teaching as if it were on par with scripture and then choose to teach it over the Bible to their sheep. One such lap dog is Andy Stanley, whose fall from grace has been nothing short of meteoric. What started out small a decade ago has seen the leaven spread throughout his ministry like a cancer. Remember this is the man who once said that we should use the word shepherd anymore because it is not culturally appropriate. Then we saw him compromise worship by having an all boy-band worship set. Next thing we knew he was up to his neck in abhorrent heretical teaching. Last year, Stanley did a sermon series dismissing the concept of an inerrant Bible. This year he is back again as a speaker at a conference for pastors and what he is teaching them is straight up false to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's review the lowlights according to Christianpost:

1) Stanley asserted that church unity is more important than "theological correctness"

Beloved this is ground zero for the coming fight; make no mistake about it. People who side with doctrine will be castigated as dividers within the body of Christ. We will be branded as legalists who are causing disunity within the church. Romans teaches us however that it is false doctrine that actually causes the disunity -- not those who stand in the gap and point out what is false. Why? Because teachings that are outside of the Gospel of Jesus Christ set people opposed to those who insist on a pure Gospel presentation. Just look at the battle in Galatia! The Judaizers were insisting on circumcision in addition to faith in Christ. The church became divided between those who insisted on being yoked to the law through circumcision and those who correctly stood by faith alone. Who did the dividing? The people who brought in contrary doctrine!

The key verses today summarize beautifully the desire of God for how the church is to be built up and mature in Christ. First He gave the leaders of the church. Do not fall for the false idea that everyone is somehow equal when it comes to rightly handling God's Word. They are not. We all are responsible for doing the work of a Berean for our own walk with God but teaching the sheep doctrinal matters? No. God provides these people to lay the doctrinal foundation upon which the body of Christ will be built. This construction continues until when? Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. If your clamoring for unity is not based upon unifying around our faith in what we believe than it is a false unity by definition. God further clarifies though to say that He desires this so that we will mature into manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ -- why? So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by what? Every wind of doctrine beloved. Every wind of doctrine. God warns us that these other doctrines, such as Andy Stanley's false unity, are actually nothing more than human cunning and craftiness in deceitful schemes. Beloved the Mormons have excellent church unity. So do the Jehovah Witnesses. Is Andy Stanley really making such an asinine argument that agreement is better than being correct when it comes to salvation? It sure seems so.

2) Stanley spoke about the importance of Christians of different denominations being "one" in their mission.

This is the blueprint for the one world religion prophesied about in Revelation. The flawed underlying assumption is that every denomination has the same mission and they most certainly do not. Under the purpose driven schemes of church growth the same "mission" is simply to grow a business. Sure it is all couched in pious sounding Christianese but remember the very simple facts of the Gospel. According to Romans, only the Gospel has the power of God unto the salvation of man. That means only the Gospel saves. Not your marketing gimmicks. Not your cult of personality preachers. Just the Gospel. Taking this further, according to Acts, only the uncompromised Gospel, the full will of God, will save anyone. Now, according to Galatians and 2Corinthians, it is wholly possible to believe in a different gospel -- a false gospel. The Bible calls this believing in vain because your belief alone does not save you! Go back to the key verses! It must be faith and doctrine! In regards to this call which we will hear increasing as the end times deepen I want us to remember the little story tucked away in Matthew 12. The mother and brother of Jesus are trying to get in to see Him through a large crowd. When someone informs Him of this He replies -- who are my mother and brother except they that do the will of my Father. This is not a diss on His blood family but a teaching point for us. The majority of people who sit next to you in a purpose driven church are not your brother and sister beloved. Saying amen does not make you Christian. Only correct faith and doctrine does.

3) Stanley centered on John 17, in which Jesus prayed that His followers "may be one as we are one -- I in them and you in me -- so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." Stanley said that he found it significant that Jesus prayed for the disciples to be one, rather than for other things, including good health and being theologically accurate.

It is difficult to tell at this point if Stanley is being disingenuous or flat out deceitful. This is of course the problem todays pastors run into when they proof text; that is use the Bible to defend their pre-decided positions. Let us deal with this from a standpoint of being disingenuous. There are countless times during His ministry that Jesus prayed for the disciples, yet Andy chooses this one because he thinks he can wrest it out of context enough to prove his "doctrine doesn't matter" theology. Now it is true that this is considered the high priestly prayer from Jesus and He covers quite a large amount of ground. Not just the verse fragments Stanley is alluding to. In fact, let us just go up a couple of verses to discover that God did in fact pray for doctrine to be grounded in His followers:

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. -- John 17: 15-19 (ESV)

Not only does God pray for doctrine to be grounded in His followers but that through His Word alone may they be separated from the world. Sanctify means to set apart. Now Andy doesn't really preach sanctification anymore because his church is too busy playing footsie with the world and unifying with anyone who spells Jesus correctly. Jesus does not pray that His disciples be theologically accurate? He prays that they be sanctified from evil and this world through His Word! Through doctrine! The "being one" is entirely about being unified in faith and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

4) Stanley went on to say that Jesus prayed for our oneness, that we'd be on the same page," According to Stanley, "This is mission critical. If they are not one, we will not win ... unity is mission critical and disunity disrupts the mission."

Yes but what is that page! If Andy had bothered to read the entire prayer he would have seen that the page we all need to be on is called correct doctrine. As for this mission critical blather we are again left to ask -- what is the mission? For centuries it has been to present the Gospel to the lost knowing only God can draw the unsaved. The purpose driven church taught Andy Stanley that the unsaved are merely unchurched and this switched the focus from their salvation to their church attendance. Rick Warren, the purpose driven father, has spent a great deal of time, energy and resources into outreach to the Catholic Church and those of Muslim faith. Not to share the Gospel but to share the stage. To sing Kumbaya, achieve mission critical and forge the way towards the one world religion. Romans 16:17 makes it abundantly clear that the Gospel is mission critical and false doctrine is what disrupts the mission.

5) Stanley spoke of how he came to believe that believing in Jesus Christ was more important than theological arguments like how communion should be served or if babies should be baptized. "Will we prioritize our oneness over our doctrinal peculiarities? Our baptism, our communion, our style of worship, our preaching?" he posed. "Will we prioritize our oneness over our politics? Will we continue to allow the kingdom of the world to divide the Kingdom of God that is in this world because of politics?"

Now Stanley goes full board to try and muddy the waters by introducing smaller doctrinal matters and pretending that this is what people are disagreeing about. He lists four things, so let's go through them to see his duplicity. First up is baptism. Now the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding infant baptism are pure fantasy regarding the removal of original sin but I have never seen any discernment ministry hang their hat on this issue. What Stanley is trying to do is present red herring arguments that make him sound reasonable but in the end they are strawman arguments because no one is making them. The same if not more goes for communion. Again, the Catholic beliefs of transubstantiation of the Eucharist are not grounded in Scripture but no one is suggesting on this element alone we should walk away from each other. These first two were nothing more than smoke screens to try and lump the second two matters with inconsequential subjects.

Let us start with worship. The issue is not style. This is a direct response from Stanley to the criticism he has faced for turning worship into a secular concert experience. There was one Sunday last year where his worship team did nothing but boy band songs from the 1990s. In another week he had them do a Beatles medley. Now I like Hey Jude as much as the next guy but not only is this an affront to God; it should be anathema to the church that considers itself His body. Let us not lose sight that this is worshipping Almighty God. What we sing becomes our theology. Consider we have an entire generation of churched people convinced they are friends of God even though they are probably not saved to begin with. We should not be unifying with people who think so little of God that you cannot tell the difference between when they are worshipping or doing karaoke.

The larger point is the final one. Preaching is not a "doctrinal peculiarity." If you preach that God wants us rich beyond our dreams of avarice then you are not my brother. If you preach that we are little gods and that we have the power of creation in our own words then you are not my brother. If you fake signs and wonders, falsify healings, or fleece the flock of God for a living then you are not my brother. If you, like Andy Stanley, teach that the inerrancy of the Bible is passe' then you are not my brother. Why? Because you are not doing the will of my Father. If you sugar up, water down, or purpose drive the gospel of Jesus Christ then you are not my brother. Why? Because only the true Gospel has the power of God to save people. I weep when I think how many will stand on the last day and say "Lord Lord" because of these hustlers and charlatans. Preaching is not a doctrinal peculiarity Andy. It is the difference between heaven and hell for millions.

6) Stanley argued that oneness in the faith was "more important than being theologically correct," adding that he believed when Christians of various denominations get to Heaven "we will discover that when it comes to theology, we were all wrong about something." He cited the Jerusalem Council, as described in Acts 15, in which the early church decided that Gentile converts did not need to strictly observe Jewish law to become Christians. Stanley argued that the passage showed that the early church was willing to make "theological and cultural concessions for the sake of unity and so should you and so should I."

Wow. How desperate one becomes when trying to lie while using the Bible. His statement here is a biblical absurdity. The problem faced by the Jerusalem Council was similar to the problem in the church at Galatia. Some from the Old Covenant were still yoking themselves to the law. They were insisting on circumcision in addition to faith in Christ for salvation. There was no theological concession made here beloved. What this was however was a theological correction. Those that were insisting on circumcision were wrong and they were being corrected. Consider Paul's explanation to the Galatians:

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. -- Galatians 5: 2-6 (ESV)

Can these verses be any clearer beloved? If you insist on circumcision or any part of the law for your salvation then you sever Christ from you! He is of no advantage to you! You will be obligated to keep the entire law! You have fallen away from grace! Andy Stanley is not stupid beloved. He knows these verses exist yet he still tried to make the case that the Jerusalem Council decision was an example of theological concession for the sake of unity. No Andy it was not and you know it.

Beloved, writing this bring no joy. The fall of Andy Stanley however cannot be ignored. A little leaven eventually leavens the entire batch. One day you don't like the term shepherd and the next you think the Bible is no longer inerrant. One day you think having a Beatles montage during worship would be really cool and in the next breath you teaching that doctrine is just a peculiarity and that unity for unity's sake is the new great commission. How truly sad but we must continue to mark Andy Stanley as an agent of disunity by bringing such heretical teachings into the body of Christ.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- May 2, 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.