Andy Stanley Defends Female Pastors / Rick Warren vs SBC - Claims to be Conservative LOL

Hello. In this video, we're going to be covering Andy Stanley. He has defended Rick Warren. This apparently was in a sermon from this past Sunday. He defended Rick Warren and his ordination of female pastors.

So this is, there's a lot to get to here. And this is an article that I saw today on the Dissenter website. It says, Andy Stanley referring to himself as theologically conservative. I mean, get this, Andy Stanley, you're going to hear it.

He's going to say, I'm conservative. I'm theologic. I'm, I'm so theologically conservative and I'm politically conservative. And what is this? This is gaslighting. Okay. This is a new term for some people gaslighting.

Like if I told you, Hey, I'm, I'm not wearing a white striped shirt right now. Okay. My shirt is not white and there's not stripes on it. This is actually a solid purple shirt that I'm wearing. You're just crazy.

That would be gaslighting. So when you say things that people, they see that they know this isn't true and yet you're saying it anyways, that's gaslighting. And Andy Stanley is going to, you know, gaslight his congregation and his audience.

So he claims to be so conservative and it's like, okay. But this is the article from the dissenter, Andy Stanley referring to himself as theologically conservative, defends Rick Warren because Rick Warren got kicked out of the Southern Baptist convention over what?

Over the issue of female pastors. So let's play the clip.

Andy Stanley Claims to Be Theologically Conservative While Defending Rick Warren

Unfortunately, this is why I'm talking about this. Unfortunately, much of that progress that you were a part of creating and other churches, not just us, much of that progress is being undermined and reversed like crazy right now.

With all the political nonsense in the last few years that has picked up speed like crazy. And here's what happened. The people feeling it are conservative and I'm so, I'm so theologically conservative.

I'm even politically conservative.

Okay. Let's just stop here for a moment. He's talking about how conservative he is, right? But at the same time, he's talking about all the progress we've made. Well, we know that the word progress, like progressive, you can't talk about being progressive and making all this progress.

And Andy Stanley, we know his church has gone pro-gay. That's part of the progress he's talking about. And Rick Warren, he's going to defend, Andy Stanley is going to defend female pastors. You can't hold these progressive views and then call yourself conservative.

I mean, this is crazy, but let's continue.

And I'm so, I'm so theologically conservative. I'm even politically conservative. But this whole thing has been fueled by conservative, fearful, fundamentalist, don't have time to define that, academics and pastors and churches.

Church leaders are resurrecting old barriers that we spent years tearing down and they're adding new barriers. Now I'll give you a quick example. I texted him this morning, told him I was going to talk about him in church.

One of the two people who really launched this movement way back in the late seventies is Rick Warren with Purpose Driven Life. Before he wrote the Purpose Driven Life, he wrote the Purpose Driven Church.

That book sold millions of copies to pastors. And it was a book about how to create a church that's for outsiders, for unchurched people. I mean, he inspired so many of us, right? To get, to help get the church back on mission.

He is a modern church reformer. There's no way around it. Last year, some of you know about this. Last year, his denomination kicked him out of the denomination for something immoral. No, something illegal.

No, something that had to do with money. No, because he's had some addiction. No, none of that, you know, glamorous stuff, right? They kicked him out because he had the nerve to ordain three female staff members who were functioning as pastors.

He ordained them as pastors, which is actually a legal status. It gave them a tax benefit. They're doing the work of all the other male pastors. He's like, well, why in the world would we not make them pastors?

They're pastoring. And they weren't going to go out and lead a church. They were working on his staff. He ordained three women and they kicked him out of the church. You don't get any more insider focus than that.

And there's example after example, after example, after example, after example. And here's the problem. Evangelical leaders, and I consider myself evangelical, not evangelistic. That's different and evangelism, but evangelical.

Evangelical leaders are prioritizing politics over mission. And the people in their churches are buying it hook, line, and sinker and globbing on all their political views. And my political views are as strong as your political views.

And mine are right. Okay. Just want to let you know right up front. Okay. You think yours are not right because we all feel that you wouldn't have a view if you didn't think it was the right thing to do, right?

But they have elevated politics and here's what they've done. They've taken old Testament or old covenant terminology, old covenant stories, blended it with their politics and globbed it onto the message and the person of Jesus.

And it's just sick. And they're, they're, they're prioritizing politics over mission. Okay. So Andy Stanley talks about.

The Church, Progress, and the Loss of Biblical Distinctiveness

Progress. And we know that he has gone, you know, full inclusion of so-called LGBTQ, right? But mainly he's focused on female pastors. And the first thing I would say, he says about his critics, you know, they're too political.

It's all about politics with them. More on that in a moment that doesn't, that doesn't add up. It's actually the opposite of the truth. I'll show you that. But as for Rick Warren, this claim that Rick Warren is a great reformer of the church, it's probably not how you think of him.

Like there's Martin Luther, John Calvin and Rick Warren. No. But Rick Warren actually has changed the church. He has changed Bible-believing churches into rock and roll fun centers, right? The seeker-friendly, seeker-sensitive movement.

Rick Warren has helped along with Bill Hybels and people like that. Rick Warren has done a lot to change the church. If you want to call that reform, okay. But it's not a good reform ever since the church or churches have adopted this.

Churches since the 1980s, when this really started to take hold, churches have been in steady decline ever since. Things are not better today since Rick Warren and the seeker-friendly movement got started in the 1970s, 1980s.

Churches are worse today. You can see that across the country. Why? Because once a church adopts all the stuff from the world, the rock and roll and getting into female pastors, you're caving into the feminist movement.

And then you're dabbling in LGBT inclusiveness. And once a church gets into all of that, a church loses its distinctiveness. And once a church becomes like the world, what good is it? I mean, we are supposed to be holy, meaning we are to be set apart.

Once the church becomes like the world, yeah, it becomes good for nothing. If the salt loses its savor, it's thrown onto the ground and people trample it underfoot. And that's kind of what's happening.

Andy also mentions in a negative way, he mentions Old Testament terminology and how some people are taking Old Testament stuff and kind of globbing it onto Jesus, as he says, and he says it's sick. We know that Andy Stanley does not like the Old Testament.

Remember what he said, Andy Stanley says that Christians must unhitch from the Old Testament. Well, how does that line up with what Jesus thought about the Old Testament? Well, Jesus, Jesus said about the Old Testament in John 5, 39, Jesus said that the Old Testament speaks of him.

Jesus said about these scriptures in Matthew 4, 4, that man shall live by every word of God. And the only scriptures people had at that time was the Old Testament. The apostle Paul said that all scripture, including the Old Testament is profitable for doctrine.

Andy doesn't seem to agree with this. He seems to have some disdain for the Old Testament scriptures. Now it's true, the old covenant is no longer in effect, right? Romans 6, 14, we are not under the law.

We are under grace. So yes, we are no longer offering animal sacrifices. We don't celebrate the Jewish feast days. We are not under the law, but here's the thing. Jesus did not come to unhitch people from the Old Testament scriptures.

Jesus did not come to destroy the law as if to make it irrelevant. Jesus came to do what? To affirm. Jesus affirmed Moses and Jesus came to fulfill the law. Jesus said in Matthew 5, 17, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.

I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. So Andy wants the Christian church to kind of leave behind the Old Testament. And yet, if you look at the New Testament, read the epistles of Peter and Paul and John and Jude, they're constantly quoting the Old Testament as their source, one of their sources of authority, that and the teaching of Jesus and his apostles.

So Andy Stanley is way off base to say the least. And Andy seems to imply, if not come right out and say that the bad guys, you know, the people who don't agree with his version of Christianity, you know, the rock and roll contemporary inclusive version of Christianity, the people who don't agree with the ordination of women, you know, Rick Warren is a trailblazer ordaining females.

Isn't it wonderful that these bad guys who don't agree with all that, basically, listen, no Christian agreed with that, the ordination of women until the 20th century. But Andy Stanley seems to say that these bad guys, whoever they are, the fundamentalists, more on that in a moment, but he says that they're just too focused on politics.

Like this is really all about politics. I mean, why can't they be more like Rick Warren? Well, here's the thing, and I'm not exactly sure what Andy Stanley is referring to, how any of this has anything to do with politics, but let's talk about politics for a moment.

Rick Warren is far more political than Andy Stanley wants to make out. Remember, Rick Warren held that debate between Obama and John McCain. I mean, what kind of pastor moderates a presidential debate?

I mean, I think that was the first time that ever happened. So how can Andy Stanley call, you know, his critics too political when Rick Warren does stuff like that? And I'm not even saying that it was wrong.

It just doesn't really fit. It negates Andy Stanley's argument. It just doesn't make sense. Besides, Rick Warren, if you remember, he was the one who ran interference for Obama. When Obama ran the first time around, Christians were not supporting Obama.

But what did Rick Warren do? Rick Warren helped many Christians to say, Oh, Obama's saved. Obama's born again. Obama's a good Christian. So Christians can vote for Obama. So how did that turn out? I mean, look at our country now.

So Rick Warren basically ran interference for Obama. He supported Obama's presidency. If you remember, Rick Warren was the one who gave the prayer at Obama's inauguration. So Rick Warren, the point is, Rick Warren has been deeply involved in politics, but Andy Stanley wants to make it out like these fundamentalists or these conservatives, they're just too political.

Talking about female pastors, I mean, if he's talking about Trump supporters, Donald Trump supports female pastors. So I don't even know what he's talking about. But more on Rick Warren, Rick Warren has been deeply involved in the World Economic Forum.

He's flown to Davos, Switzerland, and he has his hands in all of those political reforms, which many believe is helping to usher in the new world order. Maybe you don't buy into that. Maybe you do. But Rick Warren has been involved in that.

I mean, that's very political if you're going to the World Economic Forum and supporting all of that trash. During 2020, when the government was shutting down churches and trying to force people to get the jab, Rick Warren, he shut down worship at Saddleback.

I kind of wish he kept it shut down. But what did Rick Warren do at Saddleback Church? He turned Saddleback Church into a government-run vaccination center. But no, no, it's these other people who are against female pastors.

They're too political. I mean, give me a break. This is, it really is gaslighting. And again, I have to assume that Andy Stanley is talking about people that he thinks are too conservative, too much fundamentalists, and they're Trump supporters.

I don't really know, but he's talking about all the political mess of the past few years. So you have to assume that he's talking about Trump supporters, because Biden supporters don't oppose female pastors.

But again, do Trump supporters oppose female pastors? Well, many of them do. But again, Donald Trump himself had Paula White as one of his top advisors. So none of this really makes sense to me. It's very hypocritical.

It's the opposite of the truth. But of course, again, the progress that Andy Stanley is talking about, he's saying that female pastors in the church, the ordination of women, this is progress. And it's not progress.

You're openly defying the Word of God. 1 Timothy 2 .12 is in the context of a pastoral epistle. And Paul clearly says that he does not permit a woman to teach, nor to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

And then chapter two rolls right into chapter three, where he gives the qualifications for a bishop or a pastor. And there were no chapter divisions in the original letter. So clearly the apostle Paul did not allow for, because none of the apostles allowed for female pastors or female bishops, because Jesus chose 12 apostles and they held what was called a bishopric and they were all men.

So it has nothing to do with politics. It's that Rick Warren and Andy Stanley, they are openly defying the Word of God. That's the issue. And of course it gets worse than that because we know Andy Stanley has been working overtime to make churches more inclusive of the so-called LGBTQ agenda.

If you followed Christian news over the past three years, Andy Stanley, I think every news story about Andy Stanley has been demonstrating again and again that Andy Stanley, yeah, he's very inclusive towards trans lifestyles and all of that.

But again, it's his critics who are too political, even though the LGBT agenda is a top-down agenda being pushed by the government. Andy supports it, but we're too political. I mean, it's just so dishonest, so dishonest.

Those who oppose so-called LGBT, those who do not support female pastors, again, has nothing to do with politics. Politics literally has nothing to do with it. We hold these positions because they are biblical.

Homosexuality, we could turn to Romans 1, female pastors, again, 1 Timothy 2 -3, also 1 Corinthians 14, 34 -38. And Andy will just dismiss all of those verses. He calls them clobber passages. He just dismisses those out of hand, and apparently he wants to discount the Old Testament as well.

Now we're just all making progress, and Rick Warren is leading the way, and we need to follow Rick Warren. But again, I agree that Rick Warren has made many reforms or changes to evangelical churches, but it's not for the better.

It is for the worse. Guys like Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, they, along with the charismatic movement, they are responsible for bringing in that seeker-sensitive contemporary worship, replacing the hymns with rock and roll, replacing Bible preaching with motivational speeches where it's more like a TED Talk than a sermon.

And ever since this movement started in the late 1960s and early 1970s, where, remember, even Billy Graham endorsed all this when he endorsed the Jesus People movement. If you saw the movie, the film, Jesus Revolution, produced by Greg Laurie, who was a disciple of Billy Graham, you remember Billy Graham endorsed all of that.

And because of that, it really took hold within evangelical churches in the 1970s. And by the time the 1990s rolled around, it had taken over half the churches in the country to where now, today, most churches have gone contemporary.

They are seeker-sensitive. They're going seeker-sensitive. And I could tell you stories and have told stories about Baptist churches that I know of locally, how Baptist churches and independent, non-denominational Bible churches, they went contemporary.

They brought in rock and roll and that, you know, the pastor used to wear a shirt and tie, a sports, he used to dress up and now he's got skinny jeans and a t-shirt. And, you know, if it was just that, because someone's going to complain and they say, oh, that's just superficial.

It doesn't matter. Listen, if it was just the superficial things, I would not be making an issue about it. But nine times out of 10, 99 times out of 100, when a church goes in that direction, they almost always stop Bible doctrine.

They stop preaching Bible doctrine. And once that happens, it's only a matter of time before the church goes liberal. And I've seen it again and again and again. One last thing. Andy Stanley, he rips on his critics and he calls them fundamentalists.

Ooh, scary fundamentalists. Ooh, right. The other derogatory term that people use, they call them legalists. Ooh, scary. Legalism. Actually, you know, legalism is a real thing. Legalism is a real problem.

Legal, you think, what is legalism? Legal refers to law, right? The law of Moses. So true legalism is when you teach that salvation comes through law keeping. So salvation through the works of the law.

That's wrong. It's heretical in fact. But the fundamentalist that Andy Stanley is talking about, they're not actually legalists in that sense. Andy Stanley is just ripping on them because they're traditional, because they believe what everyone believed 50 years ago.

And he calls them fundamentalists because part of that term fundamentalists is that it's implied that fundamentalists are always fighting. And I admit there is a bad type of fundamentalism where, you know, every issue is turned into a salvation issue.

So for example, there are fundamentalists who, if you don't believe in the pre-trib rapture, you're not even saved. You're going to hell because you don't believe exactly like I believe in every single point.

That is a bad type of fundamentalism. But again, people that Andy Stanley is referring to, that's not who he's talking about. And the legalists, I mean, if anyone's a legalist, it's people teaching salvation by faith plus works, and that's not evangelical.

So who is Andy Stanley talking about? He's talking about people who oppose female pastors. He's talking about old, I don't even want to call it old-fashioned. It's just people, yeah, they're traditional.

They believe what everyone believed just 40, 50, 60 years ago. So Andy Stanley, he's kind of new age, contemporary, rock and roll. So anybody who is more traditional, you sing the hymns, you preach the whole counsel of God.

These are horrible fundamentalists and they oppose the ordination of women. And why can't you be more like Rick Warren? Rick Warren, you're too political. You vote for Trump or something, and you're a terrible person.

Why can't you be more like Rick Warren and be favorable towards Obama? And then Andy Stanley has the audacity to call himself conservative. So hopefully you see the issue. It's obvious if you have any discernment at all, it's obvious.

Contemporary Church Style, Fundamentalism, and the Gospel

One last thing. Again, these churches that have gone rock and roll contemporary, I'm sure there's still some churches that are contemporary and have a praise team and they still preach the gospel. And I'm not against them, just to be clear.

But is Andy Stanley really preaching the gospel of Christ crucified and risen? Is Rick Warren or Joel Osteen, are they really preaching the gospel of Christ crucified and risen? I mean, the gospel for Joel Osteen at best is a footnote at the end of his sermon, just to try to make him appear somewhat biblical when he's not.

No, these people are almost always, they're not preaching the gospel because in order to preach the good news, you first have to tell people the bad news that all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin is death.

And it's not just physical death. It's the second death in the lake of fire. And people are actually, if they reject Christ, they are actually going to go to hell. These churches aren't preaching that.

If a church has a drum set up on stage, again, you say that's superficial and that one church out of 10 that still preaches the gospel, God bless you. I want to be clear. I would not condemn a church because they have a drum set on stage.

I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. But again, nine times out of 10, this is a package deal and Bible preaching goes out the door. They stop preaching on sin. It becomes the motivational, it's a rock concert followed by a motivational message.

So churches like Andy Stanley, you're not hearing the gospel from Andy Stanley. It's a corrupted gospel if he preaches the gospel at all. So in conclusion, guys like Andy Stanley are to be marked and avoided.

And if Andy Stanley thinks Rick Warren is amazing and fantastic because he ordains women, I mean, what does that tell you? So any church that ordains female pastors, anyone who thinks that Rick Warren is a great Bible teacher, anyone who's listening to Andy Stanley, warn those people.

If you have any friends, loved ones who are into all of that, you need to warn them, send them this video. I'd be happy to talk with them, have them send me an email. But this is dangerous stuff. It is the road to apostasy.

And I've seen too many churches go from a good local Bible-believing church, they're singing the hymns, they're glorifying God, they're preaching the whole counsel of God, and then they go contemporary.

And then it's rock and roll, motivational speeches, Andy Stanley, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen type of sermons, your best life now, your purpose-driven life. And people who listen to that for a generation, they no longer tolerate true Bible preaching.

So souls are at stake, but thanks for listening. And until next time, may the Lord be with you and have a great day.