The REAL Problem With Elevation Church…

Fight For Truth

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

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Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. So as we've covered before,

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Elevation Church is led by false teacher Stephen Furtick and his pastor -wife Holly Furtick.

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Unfortunately, that church does not have one person there who's qualified to be a pastor. Think about that.

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But in any case, many people have wondered, in addition to myself, why have they created their church the way they have?

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Why does Elevation Church operate in the way that it does, and what was the origin of this whole charade?

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The answer to those questions, at least in some small part, will be offered in this video. You see,

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I recently found a video clip of Holly Furtick, Stephen Furtick's wife, giving an account of why she and Stephen founded the church and what exactly their goal was in doing so.

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The video, like most of Elevation Church's content, seemed to be totally benign at first. It seemed to be totally okay.

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You walk away from this video thinking there's nothing wrong with it, unless, of course, you know what to look for. And that's what today's video is all about.

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So without further ado, let's take a closer look at the origins and mission statement of Elevation Church as offered by Stephen Furtick's wife,

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Holly. Watch this. Pastor Stephen and I started this church so that people could have a place to find help and healing.

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Everyone comes with their own story, their own baggage, their own mistakes, their own secrets.

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And we hope that when you come into this place, you feel nothing but love and acceptance and support for whatever you're going through.

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So we're going to review that video piece by piece, and I'm going to show you conclusively what's going on under the surface.

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But you don't need me for this, folks. If you really start comparing their ministry, their sermons, their teaching to Scripture, you can see how totally misleading this truly is.

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But in order to show you this, we've got to play the first part of that clip again. So watch this. Pastor Stephen and I started this church so that people could have a place to find help.

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The first thing I want you to notice here is that she doesn't say, when Stephen started this church, or when

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Stephen and a group of responsible elders started this church. That would have been ideal. No, she says, quote, when

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Stephen and I started this church, end quote. And this is very, very telling. This, in and of itself, shows you that they do not have a

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Biblical understanding of how to go about planting a church in the first place. In fact, I would make the case that this really shows they don't even have a

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Biblical concept of how marriage is supposed to work in the first place. But that's a topic for another video.

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The Bible makes it abundantly clear that the founders and leaders of every church must be male and not female.

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1 Timothy 3, 2 says that, therefore, quote, an overseer, that is, a pastor, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober -minded, self -controlled, respectable, etc.,

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end quote. The fact is that every reference to leaders in the church in the New Testament either directly states or implies that that leadership is male.

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There is no female pastor in the New Testament. And for a woman to occupy such an office is sinful, unbiblical, and high -handed disobedience and rebellion to God.

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There's a few options here. Either Stephen Furtick does not know these things, in which case he's unqualified to be a pastor.

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After all, 2 Timothy 2, 24 says that a pastor must be apt to teach. And how can you be qualified or apt to teach if a pastor doesn't even know what a

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Biblical pastor is? And the other option is that Stephen simply does know that church leaders should be male, and he really just doesn't care, in which case he's also unqualified to be a pastor for the same reasons.

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Again, how can you be apt to teach if you ignore the clear teaching of God's Word about female pastors?

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Either way you slice it, Stephen and his wife are leading their church, and from the very beginning,

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I might add, they've been doing this in an unbiblical and sinful way, and they should stop immediately. But this is just the tip of the elevation iceberg, folks.

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By the end of this video, you're going to see the deeper, more underhanded problem that strikes to the very heart of Elevation Church's ministry.

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Watch this next clip. Pastor Stephen and I started this church so that people could have a place to find help and healing.

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So Holly goes on saying that they founded Elevation Church, quote, so that people could have a place to find help and healing, end quote.

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And I totally agree. As a matter of first priority, our goal as Christians is to provide help and healing through the

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Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's really what we want to do. That should be our heart. Matthew 5 .16

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says, quote, In the same way let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glory to your

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Father who is in heaven, end quote. Yes, as Christians, we want to help others, even in small practical ways.

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Most of all, though, we want to help them by giving them the Gospel. That's true. The million -dollar question is this.

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How do we go about accomplishing that goal? Do we tell people that they are wicked and depraved and in need of a

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Savior? At least, do we say that to any extent at all? Do we tell people that they're sinning against a mighty and holy

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God who will one day cast them into outer darkness if they do not repent? Is any of that biblical message coming across in our ministry whatsoever?

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You see, we could say those things, although they sound harsh, or we could just tell people how beautiful and special they are, and how awesome

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God thinks they are, and what His plan for their life is. And that, my friends, is the fundamental difference here.

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Every normal Christian wants to offer help and healing to people. We should. The question is, how do we do that biblically, and does the biblical standard align well with the methods being used at Elevation Church?

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And of course, to answer that, we've got to keep watching to find out. The next thing Holly Furtick says is very important, so pay attention.

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Watch this. So that people could have a place to find help and healing.

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Everyone comes with their own story, their own baggage, their own mistakes, their own secrets.

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So here Holly says this, quote, everyone comes with their own story, their own baggage, their own mistakes, their own secrets, end quote.

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This is an essential piece of the puzzle. You must understand this. Are they coming with baggage, mistakes, and secrets because they're awesome and special and God has a plan for them?

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That's so often the message at Elevation Church. I'm so sorry about what you're going through. I'm so sorry about what people did to you.

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I'm so sorry about what the devil is doing to you. I'm so sorry about the fact you're struggling with that.

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I'm sorry. The day's going to get brighter, the sky's going to get clearer, and things are going to get better.

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Seriously, listen to Stephen Furtick preach. I made all of that stuff up, and it might as well be a direct quote.

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If you listen to Furtick, you will most likely come to the conclusion that most of your baggage, mistakes, and secrets, as his wife just said, come because you're just a poor little unassuming pile of awesomeness made in God's image that simply can't help how unique and special you are.

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And you shouldn't have to apologize for that. No one should. But the Bible seems to make a totally different case.

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The Bible seems to say much more often that if someone comes to your church with baggage, mistakes, and secrets, it's because they're a depraved wretch of a sinner living in rebellion against God.

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Or maybe they're even a Christian who's backsliding and in need of rebuke. You see, in Stephen Furtick's church, you hear an awful lot about the consequences of sin.

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But you won't hear very much about the source of sin, and that is, of course, the fallen and unholy heart, the unholy nature, located in the person that you see in the mirror.

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You won't hear that stuff at Elevation Church, because that would require actually asking people to take responsibility for their actions and repent.

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And that's not a good way of growing your church, is it? There are many passages that say these things, that would defend what

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I'm saying. But one such passage is Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, which clearly says the following, quote,

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And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind, end quote.

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Does this sound like you're just a little pile of sunshine and rainbows who's so awesome and unique? No. It sounds like you're a wretched sinner who is undoubtedly a big part of the problem.

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But you will pretty much never hear that in Stephen Furtick's church. Again, that's not a good church growth strategy, so they just don't use it.

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So with that said, this whole Furtick philosophy of ministry will come to a crescendo in the next clip.

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Watch this. Everyone comes with their own story, their own baggage, their own mistakes, their own secrets, and we hope that when you come into this place, you feel nothing but love and acceptance and support for whatever you're going through.

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Here Holly says this, quote, and we hope that you come into this place, that is Elevation Church, and you feel nothing but love and acceptance and support for whatever you're going through, end quote.

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First, notice the exclusivity of the statement. We, the leaders and representatives of this entire church body, hope that you feel nothing but support and acceptance.

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That is all we want you to feel. That's the whole extent of what you should experience when you come to Elevation Church.

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And that, my friends, is what Holly Furtick just said. Again, let's go back to the first question. Yes, we want to offer help and healing, but again, how exactly are we supposed to do that biblically?

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That is the issue. Offering unwavering acceptance and support is most certainly not the way that we are called to minister to people as Christians.

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And by the way, I'm sure some of you singled in on her statement, what you're going through, what she said at the end.

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And some of you might take that to mean that she's not referring to sin at all in her statement. Rather, she's just referring to trial and hardship and difficulty.

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But if you think that, you'd be wrong. If you think sin is not included under the umbrella of what she's talking about,

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I'll remind you that just before this, she talked about, and I quote, baggage, mistakes, and secrets.

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And if those categories are not somehow referring to sin, at least in some indirect way at all, then I think we can officially say the word sin has no real meaning anymore.

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So the fact is, the implication of what she's saying is that no matter what your situation is, no matter what your level of rebellion against God is, we are here at Elevation Church to support and accept you no matter what.

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No matter what you're doing, no matter what the context of your situation is, we want you to feel acceptance and support only, nothing else.

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That's what the Furtick philosophy of ministry is, from his wife's own words. And my question to that is this, quite simply, does

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Jesus talk this way? Does the Apostle Paul talk this way? Did Jesus and Paul respond to every person with unwavering acceptance and unwavering support, as Holly Furtick is suggesting?

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And the answer to that is absolutely not. Let me give you a few examples to illustrate. In Matthew 23, verse 15,

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Jesus says, quote, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites! For you travel across the sea and land to make a single convert, and when he becomes a convert, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves, end quote.

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Here he calls them hypocrites and children of hell in public, in front of everybody. He even says that their evangelistic efforts are all in vain, their whole ministry is nothing.

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Does that sound like unwavering acceptance and support, regardless of the Pharisees' baggage mistakes and secrets?

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No. Then in Matthew 18, Jesus tells you to call your brother to repentance if he sins against you.

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But Jesus specifically says in Matthew 18, 17, something that people think is uncharacteristic.

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He says this, quote, If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen to even the church, let him be to you as a

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Gentile and a tax collector. Does this sound like acceptance and support, regardless of your brother's baggage mistakes and secrets?

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No. It doesn't sound like acceptance at all. But maybe the Apostle Paul will be a little more sweet.

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Let's take a look. 1 Corinthians 5 .11 says, quote, But now I am writing to you, not to associate with anyone who bears the name of a brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler.

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Do not even eat with such a one. End quote. He literally tells the church to entirely withdraw from a supposed brother who is living in high -handed sin and who refuses to repent or battle that sin at all.

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But you know what he doesn't say? He does not say what Elevation -type churches almost always say in these situations, which is just walk with your brother through this.

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Just keep walking with him. No, he says do not associate with him anymore. Does that sound like unconditional acceptance and support to you?

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It certainly doesn't to me. But let's look at another example. Paul says in 1 Timothy 5 .20, quote,

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As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.

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End quote. Not only does he say to rebuke them publicly, but he says to do this so that the rest of the congregation will be fearful.

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Does that sound like him wanting everyone in the congregation to feel acceptance and support regardless of their behavior?

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No, it doesn't sound like that at all. So the question then becomes, ladies and gentlemen, if Stephen Furtick's church is so biblical and so Christ -like, then why on earth does it not follow the pattern of the

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Bible or of Jesus Christ? You see, many modern churches have become hyper -fixated on acceptance and support,

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Elevation being a prime example. But they do this because they have forgotten that true love and true support come from true justification and right relationship with God.

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And that means that when people are living out of step with God's Word, that behavior must not be accepted or supported, nor should be the person who is participating in that behavior according to Scripture.

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But of course, the ultimate goal is correcting them so that they would repent and come back into the accepting and supporting arms of their brothers and sisters.

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That's the goal. Galatians 6, 1 says, Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

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My point in the video is not that I don't want to aim for reconciliation, help, or healing. Of course

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I do. My point is that we are commanded not only to use acceptance and healing, but also to rebuke, correct, and separate when necessary.

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This one -size -fits -all acceptance and support model of ministry being offered by Furtick and his wife and the rest of the seeker -sensitive gang entirely is simply unbiblical.

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It does not fully reflect the ministry of Christ, Paul, or of the Christian Church across history. Their ministry, at Elevation Church that is, is of man -centered, candy -coated falsehood.

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And the video you watch today is just one small example of that. So let's earnestly pray that Furtick and his whole church would repent of this and return to the truth of God's Word.

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And until next time, fight for truth, never surrender, and keep your eyes open.