The fall of Francis Chan continues to new depths...

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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:

"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:

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)

Did you get that beloved? Division is caused by those who teach doctrine contrary to what Christ has taught. When you think about the charlatans who occupy the public pulpits today the words "smooth talk and flattery to deceive the hearts of the naïve" is a perfect summary. Before you start excusing Chan from this realize he is asking his followers to join him for the 2019 "Send" Conference. This wolves den is filled with the likes of Bill Johnson, Lou Engle, Todd White, Mike Bickle, and Heidi Baker. Bickle and Engle are world-renowned false prophets. Todd White is a false healer using psychic tricks and confidence scams. Bill Johnson promotes nearly every heresy known to man and Heidi Baker is demonic. That is not being divisive beloved. It is pointing out who is being divisive and explaining how they are dividing the church. People like Chan keep promoting unity without caring what we are unifying around. Is that biblical? Absolutely not. When Jesus saw the Pharisees were not promoting sound doctrine He called them a brood of vipers. When He saw them robbing people in the temple He overturned their tables and drove them out with a whip. When Elijah was exposing the false prophets of Baal he mocked their false God by saying he must have been in the bathroom instead of answering their cries. The Gospel itself is meant to divide brother against brother. Thankfully, Gordon concludes:

"Perhaps we can start to change our minds and start looking towards others with seeing their good and not bad, speaking blessings over others and not curses. Remember we are fitted together in a temple of God with all saints of all ages. And Francis gives the example of someone taking a sledgehammer to this temple. What a fearful thing to do, of course we would depart from such an individual for fear of what God Himself would do to him. As the Scripture says, "Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them" (Titus 3:10, NIV)." -- Greg Gordon

There is so much Francis Chan simply does not understand or discern. There is nothing good to see in a false teacher. There is nothing redeemable. According to the bible their destruction does not sleep. By speaking the truth about them and freeing their potential victims we are speaking blessings. There is nothing "blessed" about continuing to allow wolves to devour the sheep of the Lord. The next point of confusion is that Chan seems to believe that a church building is the temple of God. It is not. The bride of Christ are the believers across the world. We are fitted with them as one body as the bible teaches. We are not bound by this silo-version of the purpose driven church. The sledgehammer analogy from Chan is asinine. He claims that if you point out that Bill Johnson is a heretic you are taking a sledgehammer to the body of Christ. Bill Johnson promotes the prosperity gospel, false signs and lying wonders, angel feathers, gem stones, gold dust, glory clouds, grave sucking, the dead raising team, the NAR, Todd Bentley, experiential Christianity and operates a school where he pretends to be able to teach you the gifts of the Holy Spirit. That is who Francis Chan thinks the body of Christ should be untied with. I say no. The bible says no.

The key verse is the verse Gordon closes with. Scripture is meant to be taken as a whole beloved. Scripture confirms scripture. When we place the key verse next to the earlier verses from Romans we get a total picture of not just what to do with the divisive person but WHO that divisive person is:

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)

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)

Beloved the person who brings in false doctrines to the church is indeed the divisive person. That person needs to be warned one time. Chan was warned in 2014 when he first appeared with Mike Bickle at IHOP. He admitted that many of his friends warned him against going to that conference and he refused to listen to them as he gushed on stage that he loved the Kansas City false prophet. He was warned a year later when he returned to IHOP. Now that little leaven has spread beloved to his own theology which condemns those who stand in the gap and scream wolf! It has spread to the point that he embraces Heidi Baker who rolls around on the ground babbling incoherently and exclaiming "whoa!" The key verse is very clear beloved. We are to simply no longer to have anything to do with him. It gives me no pleasure to say it but he is warped. He is dangerous to the body of Christ for the division he sows through the various false teachings he spews and heretics he unifies with. Mark him beloved and as Charisma News has just taught us inadvertently, have nothing more to do with him.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- November 21, 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.