It's good to deconstruct your faith? Andy Stanley redefines deconstruction in recent sermon.

So, let's ask the question, is deconstruction a good thing? Well, Andy Stanley says, yes. Yes, it is. So, we're going to talk about this and play a video from Andy Stanley's most recent sermon, how he redefines so-called Christian deconstruction to make it out to be a good thing, if you can believe that.

So, again, deconstruction means leaving the church, entering into the process where you no longer believe, you're leaving your old traditional beliefs about the Bible and Jesus and kind of that biblical Christianity, kind of turning your back on that.

Deconstruction, bottom line, it means apostasy, falling away from the faith, leaving biblical Christianity behind and adopting new progressive ideas, which is really just worldliness. Now, just to put this out there up front, the reason why Andy Stanley is defending all this, the reason why anyone defends deconstruction is because they themselves have or are in the process of deconstructing.

So, Andy Stanley, we've talked about this before. He grew up in his father's church, Dr. Charles Stanley. Andy heard the truth. He then went to Dallas Theological Seminary, which had and still has, I think, a traditional view of sexuality and a literal interpretation of the Bible.

But Andy has left all of that behind. He has deconstructed. So, now he is trying to justify himself and he wants others to join him. So, if you've deconstructed, great. On one video, he said, if you've deconstructed, you know, good for you.

That's honest of you, mature of you. So, basically, the message is, yeah, deconstruct, leave that Bible-believing, evangelical Christianity behind and come join us. Or another implication, if you're still in one of those traditional churches, I suppose the implication is, leave that church and come join our movement.

Come join our pro-gay megachurch, which really, and I want you to hear me on this, Andy Stanley's pro-gay megachurch, it's really an anti-church. You've heard of the anti-Christ? Well, this is the anti-church.

So, leave your church, you know, where the pastor opens up the Bible every Sunday. I mean, can you believe that guy? Leave that church and come join us. That's his sales pitch. And really, Andy Stanley is a businessman.

You can go to his YouTube channel right now and see his most recent uploads. They're business seminars. Go check it out if you don't believe me. He has business seminars. This is what he does. He gets up in front of a crowd and he talks about how to build a resilient business, a resilient organization.

And he's giving tips to CEOs and corporate leaders in the business world. Well, how would he know about that? Because that's what his church is. It's a business. Here's why it matters. You say, well, I don't care about Andy Stanley.

Why should I care about this? Here's why it matters. Because hundreds of thousands of people professing evangelicals are following this guy. This is sort of the spirit of the age. This is the zeitgeist.

This is what's happening right now. And it's happening locally. Even local church pastors are buying into this and leading their flock astray. So if Andy says or does something, it will trickle down eventually into the local churches.

And if you are not aware of it, and if you don't know what's going on, and you don't know how to defend it, this could happen to your church. It could ruin your church. That's why it matters. Rick Warren, who is very much of the same mindset, he once said, in order to build a successful church, in order to be successful in ministry, you need to find that current wave breaking in the culture, and you need to pick up your surfboard and ride that cultural wave for all it's worth.

Find out what the people want, and then give it to them. And this is where deconstruction comes in. It's a massive movement in the culture right now. Isn't that true? We are living through the dechristianization of America right now.

Europe has almost completely fallen away from Christ. The churches in Europe are mostly empty. Everything is secular. And now that is starting to happen here in the United States. And by the way, secularism is a religion in its own right.

It has an origin of where we came from. We have Genesis. They have evolution and the Big Bang. We have where the world is headed, the book of Revelation. They have their end of the world apocalypse with climate change.

We have our morality, traditional marriage. They have their version of morality, which is gay marriage and trans and everything else. Listen, it's a religion. It's just replacing all the things that we believe with their corrupted view of the world and the way things should be.

So don't fall for that. But guys like Andy Stanley, they take Christianity and they take the world and they try to blend the two and create sort of like a hybrid religion. And again, it's the anti-church.

So here's the thing. You still have the majority of Americans identifying as Christian. Even though we are living in the dechristianization of America, the majority of Americans still will say that they're a Christian.

Now, are they? Probably not. But they say they are. But most do not go to church. Most professing Christians are not practicing. They say they believe in God or Jesus and they may say positive things about the Bible.

But other parts of the Bible make them really, really angry. That's not faith.

What's happened?

Many people have deconstructed. Maybe they're not even aware of the term. And the word doesn't even matter. But they're still saying, Well, I believe in God, but they believe all this worldly junk. So even if they've never heard the term deconstruction, that's what's happened.

Those traditional beliefs they were taught when they were young, they've walked away from that. And now as an adult, the stuff that they learn from the Bible that doesn't fit with our gender-bending culture outgoes their traditional biblical beliefs.

In comes all the propaganda from government and corporate media and all the rest. They no longer live by the word of God. They live and think the way everyone else lives and thinks. They have deconstructed.

They have been conformed to this world. So this describes just tens of millions of people. So Andy Stanley and people like him, they seek to capitalize on this and draw these people in to his anti-church movement.

So let's play the video.

And remember, Andy Stanley is defending deconstruction. And in order to defend it, he has to redefine it. And this is what the world always does. They use language, right? They redefine terms. They say things that are obviously not true.

You know, the term, one term is gaslighting. Some people like that term. Some people don't. But they're saying things that are ridiculous, but they expect you to believe it. So have you ever thought to yourself, you know, am I crazy?

Or is the world crazy? Well, you're not crazy.

They are.

But they're trying to make you think you're crazy for believing the Bible. So Andy Stanley is trying to tap into all this, defending deconstruction, redefining deconstruction. Andy Stanley, in this clip, he is going to tell you that deconstruction really isn't such a bad thing.

If you've left your church, he's going to twist that into, hey, wow, you're smart. You're sincere. You're just trying to do the right thing. So let's listen and see how he redefines deconstruction.

They step away not because they quit believing in God, and they step away not because they quit honoring the Bible. They step away not because they don't believe what they've always believed about Jesus.

They step away because something about their faith tradition, their expression of faith, the Christian faith, just doesn't seem right. And in some cases, they begin to deconstruct, deconstruct their faith, which basically means they step out of organized religion to kind of sort out the essentials from the non-essentials, to figure out what's actually fundamental, what's actually foundational, what truly represents first-century Christianity.

Okay.

Now, as a pastor, I can tell you, when people leave the church, they almost never leave the church because they're just trying to seek the truth. They're just trying to find the true fundamentals. They're just trying to find that authentic first-century Christianity.

That almost never happens. That's almost never the reason why someone leaves a church. When people deconstruct, when they leave organized religion, as he puts it, you know, people usually leave a church because they want to sleep with someone that's not their spouse, or they get mixed up in some sinful behavior, or they just lose faith, and they walk away.

Oftentimes, it's a personal grudge against someone. So this whole idea that, well, people are leaving the church, and they're deconstructing because, man, they're just so sincere, and they're just trying to find the truth of Christianity.

I mean, that is so bogus. It's not even funny. I think that has to be said. That is absolutely bogus. Now, are there always exceptions? Are there a few people out there who have done that? I mean, maybe.

But 99 of the time, that is not what's happening. And are there churches that people attend where, hey, you should leave the church you're going to and find a better church? Well, absolutely. You know, there's that.

So, I mean, there's always exceptions to the rule, I suppose. But, I mean, just that's not really what's happening. So the way he's framing it is just so dishonest. But, yeah, I mean, there are some people that are attending a church.

They should leave that church. I've made reference to this in the past, how locally, right? Locally, there was a pastor who was gaslighting his congregation because that church was always taught the Bible.

You know, they had their problems, but they were taught the Bible. And then all of a sudden, the pastor deconstructed. And he started preaching that Christians must support LGBT and Jesus would march in gay pride parades.

And the people in the church were like,.

What?

What is going on?

That is not what the Bible teaches. That is not what we believe. But the pastor insisted, no, that's what the Bible teaches. And people left that church, and rightfully so. So, obviously, there are examples of churches you should walk away from.

And there are probably people who have left organized religion to seek the truth. But, in general, people that turn away from Christianity, leave the church, it's a sin issue. It's not virtuous. Again, 95 of the time, 99 of the time.

Now, I want to play that clip again and just kind of hone in on some of the things that he says. Because, again, this is just so dishonest to redefine deconstruction that if you walk away from your church, if you deconstruct, man, you are just doing the right thing.

You're just seeking the truth. I mean, what is this? This is flattery. People are in sin, deconstructing, and Andy Stanley's like, yes, good for you. It's flattery, and that's what false teachers do. So, let's listen in again.

They step away not because they quit believing in God, and they step away not because they quit honoring the Bible.

Okay, stop.

Honoring the Bible? What does that mean? Do you honor the Bible by placing it in a prominent position on your bookshelf or coffee table as it collects dust? What does it mean you're honoring the Bible?

Are you honoring the Bible by giving it lip service? Are you honoring the Bible by putting it up here and people go, oh, that's the Bible. You can watch any Andy Stanley sermon, and he literally never opens the Bible.

I mean, he might honor it once in a while by calling it a sacred text, but a lot of the times he undermines the Bible, which is what all deconstructionists do. They have to.

Why?

Because they are postmodern. They live as though everything is subjective. They live as if there is no such thing as absolute truth. Now, they do and they don't, right? When it comes to Jesus being the only way to God, oh, man, I don't know.

We can't really know that. Now, when it comes to gay marriage support, oh, we know that. We have to do that. But is the Bible, is it all true? Well, you know, we just can't say. So they play this little game.

But honoring the Bible, yeah, what does that mean? But this is their mindset. The postmodernists, they don't want preaching where you just declare what the Word of God says, thus saith the Lord, because that way you can hold people accountable.

No, no, no.

Instead, they just want to have a conversation. In their anti-church, the pastor doesn't get up and open the Bible and preach. He gets up there and he just starts talking about whatever he thinks. That's the difference.

It's a dialogue. And the purpose is to kind of get you trapped. Don't look at the Bible, because then you might find the truth. But listen to this talk. And that way you might get trapped in their clever arguments as they manipulate you into thinking that good is evil and evil is good.

Listen, bottom line, anyone who tells you that deconstruction is a good thing, they are either deceived or they are an enemy of Christ.

Maybe both.

But the point of this podcast or lesson or radio broadcast or YouTube video, however you're listening right now, the point of this isn't to just critique Andy Stanley. The point isn't even just to tell you what's true, although that's a big part of it.

My motivation is I want to help. The book of Jude says in verses 3 and 4, Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

So when a pastor, whether it's Andy Stanley or some local guy, when they say that deconstruction is a good thing and then they come out affirming transvestites or whatever, that truly is turning the grace of God into lewdness.

If that doesn't describe what Jude is talking about, then nothing does. So my motivation is to warn people of this.

Don't get me wrong.

When I bring up some of these things, because you know the critics, oh man, you're just a hater and blah, blah, blah. Listen, many young people who are caught up in all of this, the Pride Month stuff, the trans stuff, even kids who are brought up in church, I want you to hear me say it, many of them are victims.

I'm not against them. Even some of the young adults, I don't know what they've been through. Being a teenager can be a confusing time. This has nothing to do with hate. I mean, just tune those people out.

I mean, they're liars. Don't even listen to them. So while this message is to warn against false teachers and it's to speak what's true, I want to preach the gospel and the love of Christ. I want to share these things to try to save people.

I want Jesus to save people from this deception. I want people to know that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son. Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn the world. He came to save it, but the world is already condemned.

So when people follow after the world, and let's face it, a lot of these young kids that are being pushed into the trans movement, it's their parents pushing them into that. It's the school teachers pushing them into that.

It's the drag queen story hour at the library. It's the culture. It's Joe Biden, and it's the media, and it's Hollywood, and these people are all pushing them into this movement. These children, these young adults, I believe they're victims.

Now, at some point they grow up and you become responsible for your own decisions, but I am for them. I want them to be saved because lives are being destroyed, and pastors like Andy Stanley are just throwing fuel on the fire.

Jude continues in verse 22.

He says,.

And on some have compassion, making a distinction, but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. So the victims of apostate teachers, these deconstructionists, their victims need mercy.

They can be swayed. They can be reached, and we want to reach them, but others who are so committed to their error, that especially when they start trying to proselytize others into their unbelief, that requires a very firm and decisive response, and that's what I'm trying to do here with false teachers like Andy Stanley.

He needs to be marked and avoided. As Paul said in Romans 16,. Those who are being led astray by him, we need to be patient and merciful to them, hoping to persuade them, but if we truly love people, if souls are at stake, which they are, then we need to love people and say, Deconstruction, that's a road that leads to hell.

It's not good, and when a pastor says, Oh, deconstruction, you know, you're just trying to do the right thing. This is very, very dangerous.