The Problem with Steven Furtick

Hello, just a quick video here about the problems with Stephen Furtick. Stephen Furtick is one of the most popular pastors in America, and it's been argued by many that he's not really running a church, rather he's running a cult, and that Elevation Church, while it's not a cult in the sense of like Jim Jones or something like that, their teachings are certainly outside the bounds of Christian orthodoxy.

So on this channel, I've talked about this before, how there is a certain cult in our area that started up, and someone pointed out how one of the only churches that they follow on Facebook is actually Elevation Church, which really kind of got me looking into Elevation and what they teach.

Stephen Furtick, Elevation Church, and Prosperity-Style Influence

So basically, let's start out by asking a question, who is Stephen Furtick? Well, Stephen Furtick is a disciple of prosperity preacher T .D. Jakes. T .D. Jakes is known for affirming Oprah Winfrey, and Oprah is a New Age teacher.

T .D. Jakes said his view of homosexuality has evolved, and it's currently evolving, so he seems very open. He said churches can pretty much do what they want concerning LGBTQ. That tells me everything I need to know.

T .D. Jakes, remember, Jakes is the mentor of Stephen Furtick. T .D. Jakes teamed up with the government and Dr. Fauci, where his church, the Potter's House, pushed and promoted the jab, and T .D. Jakes, he just says absolutely perverse things from the pulpit.

So here's a video of him telling his church that his wife, at age 70 or whatever, still twerks for the Lord. Yeah, you heard me right. T .D. Jakes' 70-year-old wife is twerking for Jesus. Watch.

My lovely wife celebrates. You stand up, honey. Sure, I did too. I haven't done this all my life. Kids are still rockin' it. She can still twerk for the Lord. Give God a praise.

Okay, so that's the mentor of Stephen Furtick. Yeah, that's pretty bad. So Stephen Furtick, he is, again, the pastor of Elevation Church, but many would argue that Elevation is not a New Testament church.

Rather, it's run like a cult. Stephen Furtick is really unaccountable. It's his business, his group, to enrich himself. He lives in a mansion, just like all the other prosperity preachers. Now, Stephen Furtick isn't as obvious with the prosperity gospel as someone like Benny Hinn, but he does share their theology, at least to a certain degree.

I'll demonstrate that in a moment. Stephen Furtick, like T .D. Jakes, he believes in the heresy of modalism. So that's a denial of the Orthodox teaching of the Trinity. Furtick claims that God broke the law.

Now, you have to be consistent because, according to the Bible, sin is defined as the violation of God's law. But according to Stephen Furtick, he claims that God broke the law, which would make God a sinner.

But listen to what he said. What God did when he sent his son, and this is why we get excited in church, and this is why tears fill our eyes when we think about Jesus, and this is why the gospel is still good news in the world today, because God broke the law for love.

I said to every sinner, God broke the law for love.

All right, and if that wasn't bad enough, Stephen Furtick actually claims to be God. Yeah, he said in a sermon, I, referring to himself, I am God Almighty. Watch.

And there's nobody that can leave my life, that can keep God from keeping his covenant with me. I'm not in covenant with a person. I'm not in covenant with a political party. I'm in covenant with God Almighty.

I am God Almighty.

Okay, so you're getting the idea. Stephen Furtick, here's another thing. He also preached a sermon, and they're not really sermons, but he preached while wearing a T-shirt with a cross dresser on it.

Okay, David Bowie dressed as Ziggy Stardust. There's all sorts of stories about David Bowie and cross dressing and other things that we're not going to get into on the channel, but it's quite perverse.

But, hey, during Sunday morning sermon, he has no problem wearing a shirt with David Bowie dressed like a woman. I mean, seriously, while preaching a sermon? Yeah, it's not a sermon. This is not a church.

Stephen Furtick is not a pastor. What is he doing? Well, he's not preaching the word. This is maybe the most obvious problem with Stephen Furtick. He doesn't preach the word. When he does bring up the Bible, it's out of context.

So that verse about I am, I am God Almighty, where Furtick takes the holy name of God and he applies it to himself. No, Stephen Furtick, you're not God Almighty. Far from it. And we need to pray for his repentance, but he is leading many astray because what he is teaching is just not biblical.

So this is in this whole idea of I am God. You say, well, that's not what he meant. A lot of people tried to defend him. But yes, it is. You have to understand where he comes from. Stephen Furtick. Remember, who's his mentor?

T .D. Jakes. Who has T .D. Jakes work with? This is prosperity gospel word of faith. You know, it's not charismatic because there's a lot of charismatic out there who love God and believe the gospel. This is a hyper charismatic.

It's called the word of faith movement, where if you are part of this belief system, which Furtick is part of this called word of faith. This is the idea. If you are in covenant with God, that means you can do whatever God does.

So this is the little God's doctrine. Name it and claim it because you are in covenant with God. You are a little God. Therefore, you can speak things into existence. So that's what Stephen Furtick was saying.

When he said, I am God almighty. You know, there's no distinction between me and God. Here is Kenneth Copeland, arch heretic, Kenneth Copeland, talking about this.

Do you know what else there's settled in tonight? This hue and cry and controversy that has been spawned by the devil to try and bring dissension within the body of Christ. That we're God's. I am a little guy.

Yes. Yes. I have his name. I'm one with him. I'm in covenant relation. I am a little God critic. You are anything that he is. Yes.

Okay. So where did Stephen Furtick learn this word of faith, charismatic doctrine? Did he get it from TD Jake's his mentor? Well, wherever he got it from, it doesn't really matter. Again, Stephen Furtick sermons.

They are not sermons. They are motivational speeches, elevation church, you know, church. It's not a church. It's a money-making endeavor masquerading as a church meant to enrich Furtick and his family.

His son put out a rap video where he was talking about things that I can't even mention they're so, uh, perverse and violence and, and his mother, Stephen Furtick's wife, Holly, who also preaches at elevation.

So they have no problem with women, pastors and women preachers. But she went on social media and praised up her son in his rap video, which he's talking about getting drunk and shooting people and committing sexual acts.

And here's the pastor's wife on social media saying, this is so great. I'm so proud of my son. And there's some reports. I haven't been able to confirm this, that they use church, uh, money in video equipment to film the video.

But even if that's not the case, um, for her to be praising that. Yeah. It's bad. And the more you dig and the more you look, which, you know, a simple internet search will bring this stuff. It's bad.

And he dropped two songs.

The first song wasn't that bad. It was like a love song. I was like, ah, this isn't bad. And my buddy Cole sent this to me on Instagram. I was like, what do you think about his music? You should react to it.

And I was like, oh, I really don't want to. So I actually reached out to Stephen Furtick. I reached out to Holly Furtick. I even reached out to Elijah to engage. He was the only one that got back to me.

And I'm gonna tell you how that went after we react to this video. Hopefully you guys are ready. Yeah. Let's check this out. Playing at 0 .75 speed. So it sounds chopped and screwed on purpose because I want to make sure we catch the entire song and all its glory.

So out the gate, there's, there's a couple of revelations here. One says the only 16 songs are pants are from Ricky. I'm guessing that's a designer brand. And, uh, he says his bro keeps a blicky. Now here's the issue with that.

I don't know if the verdicts know what a blicky is, but I went to the trusted urban dictionary. A blicky is slang for a firearm. Now, maybe he's on his second amendment rights. Maybe they go and they, you know, go hunting in the woods.

I don't know what it is, but out the rib, he's talking about his buddy carrying firearms. Okay. This is a pastor's kid rapping about carrying firearms or his buddy carrying firearms. It gets better or worse depending on how you look at it.

I'm tripping infinity. So there's a designer brand reference here. Perhaps just like Mickey. I keep me a baddie like Demi. I think this is a reference to Demi Lovato, the non-binary girl. I'm I'm confused here, but that's who Demi is.

Just walked into the party. They're sipping on any, but in the first bar, he said he was 16. So what are you doing at parties where they're sipping at Henny? I ain't dabbing you up. I'm friendly. Okay.

You know, sometimes kids be a little antisocial. He's busy. He's very busy. By the way, he has YouTube channel. He does beat tutorials and his beats are actually pretty good. The intro to be fully honest was Furtick shouting out his beat tutorials.

Not this song. He did not play this elevation, but it would have been even more hilarious if you did. Hold on. I gotta I gotta pull that bar back. Is this the bar? Going around the block. I'm getting busy.

Liquor one time. Now she missed me.

Okay. But I ain't worried about that. I ain't got time to check. Dripping like Lucas.

Breaking the bank. So he's he's breaking the bank. He got drip. How many ice references do we count in this song?

Zach, we counted like 12, maybe 11, but outfit drip designer clothing with diamonds and ice references probably total of 15 or 16.

15 or 16 ice references and missing how tone death it is. If your dad is a mega church pastor and you're flaunting wealth that was acquired through book sales preaching and running a shirt like like the level of just detachment from how this will come across is next.

And again, I don't blame him. He's a kid. This is not his fault. This was co-signed by his mom. He posted this and the mom was like, yeah. Okay, endorsing it. There's another reference to ice on his neck and Gucci.

Diamonds clear. You can see. Okay. Again, again, again, again. Another gun bar. We light in your block up like a cigarette. That's the bar as he points guns in to the camera. Now the issue to me is like, but you grew up here.

You grew up here. Whose block are you lighting up like a cigarette?

Why Stephen Furtick's Teaching and Lifestyle Are Dangerous

This is bad stuff. So this will lead you away from Christ and the true gospel. So this is all making them a ton of money. They're living in a mansion, leading people astray, teaching false doctrine. And I'm just going to close with a video that displays the cult-like nature of Elevation Church.

But just do one last appeal to anyone who watches Stephen Furtick or follows them. Paul said in Romans 16 17 and 18. Now I urge you brethren. Okay, I urge you. This is at the utmost importance. Note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine, which you have learned and avoid them for those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly and by smooth words and Stephen Furtick.

He's is he is a smooth communicator. Paul says by smooth words and flattering speech. They deceive the hearts of the simple. So that's the type of thing you're going to hear at Elevation smooth words and flattering speech.

You are God Almighty. Stephen Furtick and his church should be avoided.

Vision Casting, Direct Revelation, and Spiritual Abuse at Elevation

Vision casting is a completely unbiblical practice. First of all, nowhere is the concept mentioned in the Bible. Secondly, it implies that the pastor receives direct and new revelation from God. The assumption that the pastor's vision is divinely inspired carries with it prophetic implications.

For example, in an infographic from Elevation Church called the best place to work. It says we serve a lead pastor who seeks and hears from God. This conveys a top-down leadership hierarchy led by one man who claims to have a direct line to God.

This is a recipe for all kinds of spiritual abuse and historically has led to disaster.

We are united under one vision. Elevation is built on the vision. God gave Pastor Stephen. We will aggressively defend our unity and that vision.