Steven Furtick STILL Believes His Deleted Post!

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 Stephen Furtick is the pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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He consistently mishandles the Word of God and preaches false doctrine. Case in point, recently

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Stephen Furtick posted an extremely unbiblical social media post that received tremendous backlash, and for good reason.

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Here's a screenshot of the post, and it said the following, quote, Following Jesus doesn't change you into something else.

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It reveals who you've been all along. What would it be like to see the you that God sees, end quote.

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The post was later deleted. So using three biblical points, let me demonstrate to you why I think

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Stephen Furtick still believes every word of what he said in that post, and why this whole situation is not a singular mistake, but rather, it's actually a fundamental aspect of his ministry which remains to this day.

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Number one, how should one decide biblically about whether or not to make a formal comment or an apology when they delete a particular post or message?

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Well, I really think it has to do with how false the message they posted was, and how many people saw the message.

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The heart of the matter is protecting the Church from false teaching. Acts 20, 28 says this, quote, Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the

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Holy Spirit has made you overseers, that is, pastors, to care for the Church of God, which he obtained with his own blood, end quote.

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This passage tells us that Christian leaders should pay attention to their flock and care deeply for them.

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Part of fulfilling this command is keeping your flock from consuming false and unbiblical information, even if you're the one who brought it to them.

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Titus 1, 9 says this, quote, He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he might be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, and also rebuke those who contradict it, end quote.

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So a pastor must care for the Church, and as a result, he must rebuke false doctrine, even if he is complicit in false teaching himself.

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So again, I ask this question. Should Stephen Furtick have made a statement after deleting this tweet?

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Should there have been a formal apology? Well, based on the biblical principles I've just described, yes, I believe there should have been.

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If the message had only been seen by two people before he deleted it, perhaps no statement would be required. If the message was only superficially false with regard to an inconsequential teaching or doctrine, perhaps no apology would be necessary.

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Although again, those two statements are still up for biblical debate, because it's important that we maintain accuracy.

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But I think it's safe to say that to suggest, as Stephen Furtick did, that following Jesus doesn't change people, well that is just completely unacceptable.

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The idea that following Jesus does not change a person is an idea that strikes at the very heart, the very core, of the

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Gospel, and therefore at the very heart of the Christian faith. But more than this, besides being an extremely unbiblical comment that damages essential

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Christian doctrine, the post was liked by over 18 ,000 people, most of whom you'd have to assume are professing believers.

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So just to recap, Stephen Furtick put out a post that contradicts the Gospel message itself, which is the most important message we have as Christians.

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Romans 1 16 says this, quote, I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

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The Gospel is the idea that Christ's perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection can be believed and received by mankind in a salvific way according to God's will.

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It is the message of Christ's Gospel that is, quote, the power of God unto salvation, as the passage says.

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To say that Jesus' work cannot change a person is the exact opposite of the Gospel message, but that's what

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Stephen Furtick said nonetheless. And more than this, his post was seen by tens of thousands of Christians, 18 ,000 of whom actually agreed with the post to the extent that they liked it.

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Now, I do not believe that a pastor must apologize publicly for everything he does wrong, no matter how small, but if a pastor posts an unbiblical message that contradicts important Christian doctrine, then he must apologize and correct this for the sake of the church he claims to love, especially if that message has been seen by thousands of people.

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Stephen Furtick, on the other hand, simply quietly deleted this post and has not put out any statement about it, which

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I can find. And the majority of the 18 ,000 people who liked this post are probably unaware that it has been removed, and may still believe the message that Jesus doesn't change people, the message that Stephen Furtick has convinced them of.

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This brings me to point number two. Did Stephen Furtick delete this post because a lot of people complained about it, or does he actually believe that it was wrong?

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Right now, we have no idea, because he simply deleted it without telling his audience if the statement was false or not.

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But I will make the case for you in this video today that we can be fairly certain Stephen Furtick still believes the unbiblical statement he deleted.

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Why? Well, because it's a message that he has preached on several occasions before, unrepentantly.

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Here's a clip of Stephen Furtick from a sermon called, It's Always Been In You. This sermon was given in 2021, and in it, he defends pretty much the exact same message that he preached in the deleted post.

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Watch this. It's always been in you! Because if you believe it's in you, there's nothing anybody can put on you that can cancel what

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I put in you before you were born, I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

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It's always been in you. It's always been in you. Now, if you're wondering, yes, this sermon is, in fact, the infamous

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I Am God Almighty sermon that you've heard so much about, but that's a topic for another time. The point is,

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Stephen Furtick says in the sermon that the whole point of his message is to get you to recognize what, quote, has always been in you.

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According to Furtick, God is helping you really remember and recognize what has always been in yourself from birth.

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But if you listen closely, as I said before, you'll realize that this message isn't really any different from that of the post he deleted.

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Jesus isn't trying to change you, according to Stephen. He's trying to help you be more of who you've always been, because, again, there's a whole host of positive things that have, quote, always been in you.

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If this sounds familiar to you, it should, because, again, the two messages are pretty much identical. This brings me to point number three.

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Here is my whole point. This unbiblical social media post is not the bug of Stephen Furtick's ministry.

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It's the feature of it. It's not a mistake. This is actually what Stephen believes, and all the sermons he's preached with this exact message are a testament to that fact.

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In other words, this deleted post is not a momentary lapse in judgment where Stephen Furtick forgot the message he truly preaches.

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No, this deleted post is the perfect example of precisely what Stephen Furtick has always been preaching.

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I'm trying to help you guys understand this. If you think that deleting this post is helping his case, you're wrong.

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The problem here is that we have not gotten down to the roots of the matter. This self -centered teaching of Stephen Furtick must be pulled fully out of the ground like the weed that it is.

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Colossians 2, 6 -7 says this, Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

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The message of this scripture is that we ought to be rooted and built up in Jesus Christ the

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Lord. Stephen Furtick shows us time and time again that his message is to be rooted in, quote, who you are, or rooted in, quote, what's always been in you.

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To put it in one sentence, the root of the Bible's message is Christ. But the root of Stephen Furtick's message is self.

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And that is fundamentally the issue here, and we must not forget that. So in conclusion, Stephen Furtick offered an unbiblical and terribly false post about the work of Jesus not changing people.

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He suggested that the work of Jesus only makes people more of who they truly are in the first place.

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In response to misleading thousands of people with regard to important Christian doctrine, he deleted the post but has not formally apologized or condemned it.

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And finally, there is very good reason to believe that this post was not a single out -of -character mistake from Furtick, but rather, it is a post which reflected precisely what

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Stephen Furtick's message ultimately is. So Stephen, if you're watching this, just know this is not an attack on you.

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This video is meant simply to protect Christians from false teaching. This is not a hopeless situation for you.

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You can always repent of this and be forgiven by the grace of Christ. So let's pray for Stephen Furtick, that he would repent of this and believe the truth of God's Word.

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Thank you so much for watching. If you liked that video, please like, comment, share, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so that you never miss another one.

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If you didn't like that video for any reason, then I invite you to watch my Frequently Asked Questions video, link in description, where I deal with common objections and define the purpose and goal of my channel using

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Scripture. This channel is funded by generous donations from my amazing patrons. If you'd like to help us put out more videos just like this one, hit the link in the description or go to patreon .com

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slash Colin A. Miller. You can donate to my ministry there and earn tons of rewards just like these.

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