Andy Stanley says Christians can deny ALL the miracles in the Bible, except two

Hello, in this video, we're going to be covering Andy Stanley in his new sermon series on miracles. He basically came out and said, you can deny the entire Bible. You can deny all the miracles of the Bible except two.

Andy Stanley’s Claim That Only Two Miracles Must Be Believed

So here you have a supposed preacher of God's word attacking the word of God. So this made headlines. And here is a article from the Christian Post says, Andy Stanley claims that Christians only have to believe in two miracles, which means what he's saying is you can deny all the others.

So Andy Stanley, well, let's just listen to the video and then we'll come back and comment. Listen.

So at the end of last week, we ended with this. We asked the question, how many miracles do you have to believe in in order to be a Jesus follower? And I made the case, there's just two that you have to believe in to become a Jesus follower.

And I got some pretty harsh feedback from people outside of our congregations who watch online and just love to kind of catch me. And they listed all the other miracles you have to believe to be a Christian.

So we can agree to disagree on that. But for sure, if you decide, or you're considering becoming a Jesus follower, you're going to bump into these two pretty quickly. That's why I made a case last week that miracles are in fact possible.

And the two miracles that you pretty much have to grapple with if you're going to become a Jesus follower is number one, the miracle of the universe. So you're kind of stuck with that one. The second miracle we said that eventually you kind of have to grapple with to follow Jesus is the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus, because this is the foundation of our faith.

Okay. So you notice how he says that you're kind of stuck with creation. You have to believe in creation and the resurrection, and you're stuck believing in the creation because Andy Stanley, um, quite frankly, I, I wonder if he even believes that, but his whole apologetic, and this is what he claims that he's actually defending the faith.

That's what apologetics is. But of course, like the devil, you know, exchanging sweet for bitter and redefining words and calling good evil. This isn't an apologetic. It's the exact opposite. Andy Stanley is not, uh, apologize.

That's not what it means. Apologetic doesn't mean you're apologizing for the faith. It means you're defending the faith. But Andy Stanley is obviously attacking the Bible. He's attacking the historic Christian faith.

So Andy Stanley in this article in the Christian post, I'm not going to read it all, but he says you only have to believe in these two miracles. The article, this is what bugs me about the Christian post.

They never point out the obvious that, Hey, this is wrong. They never rebuke Andy Stanley. You would get the idea at times that the Christian post thinks Andy Stanley is great and they support him. I don't know if they do or not, but, uh, this article, it's a lousy article.

I mean, they tell you what's going on, but they don't, they don't refute his error. So in that sense, they're just, they're just helping Andy Stanley get the word out as far as I'm concerned, because the article ends on the Christian post where Andy is advocating for, you know, so-called LGBTQ Christians.

He says, you know, basically they're amazing and they should be embraced by the church. I mean, great job Christian post, but you know, it's just more of the same, unfortunately. And Andy Stanley, he gets promoted by everybody.

So if you're going to talk about Andy Stanley, you need to be clear that this guy is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I mean, if Andy Stanley is not a false teacher, then that term literally has no meaning.

The Virgin Birth, the Deity of Christ, and the Gospel

So let's go through the clip again and I'll comment because obviously you have to believe in more than just the resurrection and the creation. For example, the virgin birth, you have to believe in the virgin birth.

If a person denies the virgin birth, without that, you will lose the deity of Christ. Without the virgin birth, then Jesus is the son of some guy and Mary did commit fornication and Jesus has the sin nature and he's a man just like us.

So the virgin birth is obviously a necessity because again, you lose the deity and sinless nature of Christ, which would mean you lose the gospel. So why doesn't he include the virgin birth? Because theological liberals have usually, you know, typically denied the virgin birth.

Theological liberals historically at times will cling to the resurrection if they cling to any truth, they'll cling to that, but they want to pretty much deny everything else. So let's listen along and I'll comment.

So at the end of last week, we ended with this. We asked the question, how many miracles do you have to believe in, in order to be a Jesus follower? And I made the case, there's just two that you have to believe in to become a Jesus follower.

And I got some pretty harsh feedback from people outside of our congregations who watch online and just love to kind of catch me. And they listed all the other miracles you have to believe to be a Christian.

Why This Is Not a Matter for Agreeing to Disagree

All right. First of all, people are not just watching online to try to catch Andy Stanley in some sort of mistake. People watch because they know what he's doing. They know that he is leading people astray.

So a pastor and anyone who cares about other believers and they want people to be, you know, encouraged and taught in the faith and not continue in this deconstruction nonsense. People are watching to keep tabs on Andy Stanley so they can protect the flock.

I mean, this is what a pastor is supposed to do, feed the flock and teach, but also to guard the flock, be a watchman on the wall, protect the sheep and to fight off the wolves. That's the job of a shepherd.

But that's not what Andy Stanley is doing. He's leading people into deconstruction. So let's deconstruct the faith and reduce it down to just two things. You only have to believe in two things. Well, is that what the Bible says?

No, it's what Andy Stanley says. So Andy Stanley is not in line with God's word. Let's continue.

And I got some pretty harsh feedback from people outside of our congregations who watch online and just love to kind of catch me. And they listed all the other miracles you have to believe to be a Christian so we can agree to disagree on that.

All right, so let's stop again, because, no, we can't agree to disagree. This isn't some trivial issue that you can have your opinion and I can have mine. No, this is this is core Bible doctrine. Now, if it was and I do believe this is important, but let's say he was talking about eschatology and somebody is pre-trib versus mid-trib or something like that.

Well, OK, maybe you can agree to disagree on that because I don't think a person I think it's very important, but I don't think a person's salvation depends on their view of the timing of the rapture.

But this that you don't have to believe, basically, you can deny all of the miracles of the Bible. You can deny the whole Bible as long as you just believe these two things. No, we can't agree to disagree.

So we can agree to disagree on that. But for sure, if you decide or you're considering becoming a Jesus follower, you're going to bump into these two pretty quickly. That's why I made a case last week that miracles are, in fact, possible.

And the two miracles that you pretty much have to grapple with if you're going to become a Jesus follower is number one, the miracle of the universe. So you're kind of stuck with that one. The second miracle we said that eventually you have to have to grapple with to follow Jesus is the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus, because this is the foundation of our faith.

OK, so I already commented on the fact that he said, you know, you're sort of stuck with the creation as though he wishes he could deny that as well. But no, you have to believe in that and the resurrection.

And he calls the resurrection the foundation of our faith. Well, let me just back up a little. Here's another miracle you have to believe in. Regeneration. You have to believe in the miracle of regeneration.

This is, in other words, salvation. I would say that the foundation of our faith is not the resurrection. I could see that being an argument, so I'm not going to object too strongly. But I would say the foundation of our faith, based on Jesus's words in Matthew 16, the foundation of our faith is our profession of faith, the profession of faith that Jesus is Lord.

He is the son of God. Notice what, because this is the gospel. This is how you are saved. Faith alone, right? Grace, grace alone, faith alone. Let's read Matthew 16, 13 through 18. Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples saying, who do men say that I, the son of man, am?

So they said, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah and some Jeremiah or one of the prophets. And he said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

That has always been considered the foundation of the Christian faith. This is how the church is built. People professing faith in Jesus. And then when you believe, you believe the gospel, you are regenerated.

Your dead spirit is made alive by the Holy Spirit. We see this in verse 17. Jesus, upon hearing that Peter's confession of faith, Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, that is Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven.

And I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. So the, the foundation of the faith is Christ himself. It's not just the resurrection, it's Christ himself.

And then the way we are saved is we put our faith in him. And it's the doctrine of Sola Fide, salvation by grace through faith. Faith alone, not of works. So if somebody is listening to Andy Stanley and you think he's a solid Bible teacher, I would have serious questions of whether or not you understand the faith.

If you think Andy Stanley is solid and he's teaching the word of God, I would, yeah, I would be worried that I don't think you really understand what Christianity is all about. Because if Andy Stanley says you can pretty much deny everything except for these two things, he's also saying you can deny the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.

You can deny the entire Bible, which part of the Bible is that you need to put your faith and trust in Jesus. Faith alone. This is the whole rally cry of the Protestant Reformation. And this is what the gospel is all about, that we trust in Jesus alone for our salvation.

So we acknowledge we are a sinner. We need to be saved by grace and we put our faith, you know, faith alone in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. If you've never done that, would you do that today and confess your sin to God?

Repentance, Sin, and Rejecting False Teaching

Andy Stanley, I mean, he's constantly making excuses for sin. He's affirming sin. He's affirming homosexuality and all sorts of other things. So he says you only have to believe two things. No, you have to recognize you're a sinner.

You need to confess your sin to God, ask God to forgive you. You need to place all your trust in Jesus. And Andy Stanley is leaving all of that out, which means he's really leaving out the gospel. He's denying the gospel because he's saying you can deny everything.

Just affirm these two things, these two miracles. This is false teaching at its worst. And if you are a follower of Andy Stanley, especially if you are in his church, you need to get out because quite frankly, your soul depends on it.

Thanks for listening. And until next time, may the Lord be with you. Have a great day.