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Ravi Zacharias and the Problem of an Empty Gospel

Let's talk about whether Ravi Zacharias, Francis Chan, Ray Comfort, Joel Osteen, and Billy Graham are false teachers. We'll talk about the notable aspects of each of these teachers and then we'll share what we think about them.

Teacher number one is Ravi Zacharias. Ravi was a popular apologist who founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. Let's look at four things about Ravi. Obviously, the big news about Ravi is the accusations of sexual misconduct against him after his death, which have been basically confirmed.

Ravi concealed his sin from the people around him. We wouldn't say Ravi's theology is heretical, but there are some troubling things about it. For example, this is how he summarizes the Gospel.

But the fact of the matter is the Gospel, talking about it literally means the good news. It is the good news of God. And what is the good news? Every young person knows life is actually completely empty.

No matter what you do, no matter how you pursue it, no matter which direction you go, you come away empty handed.

Ravi says the big problem people face is that life is empty. He doesn't say the problem is that people have sinned against the holy God and therefore deserve punishment for their sins.

Just recently, I was watching a documentary on the life of Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide at the age of 27. He'd been there, done that, done everything. In his last album, he wanted to call, I want to die.

That's precisely what the Gospel addresses. It addresses the fact that the human heart in its own pursuit will end up empty and lonely and destitute. And that destitute situation comes from being in a situation where in this body and in your mind, life does not ultimately bring you satisfaction.

Ravi says the Gospel addresses the fact that the human heart in its own pursuit will end up empty and lonely and destitute. That our own pursuits won't bring us satisfaction. No, the Gospel addresses the fact that the human heart is sinful.

That we have rebelled against the infinitely holy God who created us. And that we deserve eternal punishment for our infinitely serious sin against this God.

We don't like the word sin, but we'll use words like evil and wicked and conniving and scheming and bad. And what it really means in Gospel terms is that we're alienated. We're alienated from God. We're separated.

It's the same way we see it in the world.

There's an alienation. There's a separation. There's an isolation. But sin is more than just alienation, separation and isolation. We're alienated because we've rebelled against God's law. And our sin doesn't just separate us from God.

We deserve punishment for our sin.

And when you're separated from God, the good news of the Gospel is that in your own effort and by your own good works, you cannot rebuild that bridge. It is God who has reached out to you and to me in the provision of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is able to offer forgiveness to you and me and help us to rebuild a life in that sacred relationship with Him.

That's the good news. Yes, the good news is that we rely on Jesus Christ and not on our own good works to be forgiven and to be in relationship with God. But Ravi isn't really clear about what we're forgiven of.

If the problem is that our own pursuits leave us empty, why do we need to be forgiven of that? Also, Ravi never mentions repentance or hell in his explanation of the Gospel.

At this moment, God commands all men to repent and believe that today is the day of salvation. That you are to flee from the wrath to come, to flee from the law of Moses that condemns you into the city of refuge, who is Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Run to Him.

Ravi gave a very unhelpful answer about Roman Catholicism.

My question to you is, is Roman Catholicism another example of how unity does not equal uniformity within the Christian community, or is it a derivative, or is it at its core a derivative from true Christianity?

And the bill did say something about this.

It's like saying, do you want to be axed or do you want to be hanged, you know?

Ravi says it's like saying, do you want to be axed or do you want to be hanged? Well, actually, the answer isn't that difficult. Roman Catholicism officially teaches doctrines that are antithetical to the Gospel.

In order our Catholic friends, listen to this, the Council of Trent, Session 6, Canon 9. If anyone says that by faith alone the sinner is justified, so as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, let him be anathema.

They do not preach the same Gospel. Ravi then goes on and says this.

God will be the ultimate judge of what groups went wrong in which direction. I have a hard enough time dictating whether my family has been right in every way, leave alone historic five, six hundred years of denominations.

So I'm not dodging the question.

But you are kind of dodging the question. God has already told us what the Gospel is, and the official position of the Roman Catholic Church is antithetical to the Gospel. Ravi also teaches a kind of free will that isn't biblical.

If love is the supreme ethic, and freedom is indispensable to love, and God's supreme goal for you and for me is that we will love him with all of our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves, for him to violate our free will would be to violate that which is a necessary component so that love can flourish and love can be expressed.

But freedom isn't indispensable to love. What's amazing about the Gospel is that all who repent and believe in Christ were chosen by God before the foundation of the world to be saved. God's initiative and actions are what's indispensable to love, not our freedom to choose God, which we would never do in our natural state.

So what's your conclusion about Ravi Zacharias? We wouldn't say he's a false teacher, but we have several serious concerns about his theology. We would recommend staying away from his theology, although some of his apologetics resources can be helpful if you liked his style of apologetics.

We're uncertain about the final state of his soul, since he died without repenting of his serious sin. Teacher number two, Francis Chan. Francis is a former pastor, author, and teacher. Let's take a look at three things about Francis.

Francis Chan, The Send, and Catholic Unity

In his early years, Francis was considered to be pretty solid and orthodox in his teaching. More recently, however, Francis has done some things that have raised concerns. Francis spoke at a conference called The Send, which is deeply associated with several extremely problematic teachers, such as Benny Hinn, Todd White, Mike Bickle, and Bethel Church.

Francis later explained that the reason he did this was to be able to preach to a broader group of people. I think this might be acceptable, as long as he doesn't communicate approval towards the false teachers at the event.

Unfortunately though, Francis did just that.

The other thought I had as I'm watching all this, gosh, there has been some amazing teaching today. Man, that was the first time I heard Daniel, I was like, whoa, he is brilliant. That's the first time I heard Todd preach live, and I'm going, oh my gosh, these are bold, bold men of God.

Francis explained that he'll try to do more research into teachers that he'll be teaching alongside of in the future. But at the same time, he abstained from naming or criticizing any of the teachers he spoke alongside of at The Send conference.

Francis also took these pictures with Todd White and Benny Hinn, which suggests that his priority wasn't to warn people about these teachers. Maybe Francis didn't know much about Todd White, but it would be surprising if he was ignorant of Benny Hinn or Bethel Church.

At best, Francis recognized his mistake and will be more discerning in the future. At worst, Francis actually does think there is Christian unity with people like Benny Hinn, Todd White, and Bethel Church.

Francis isn't a Catholic, but he has said and done some questionable things related to Catholicism. He spoke to a group of Catholics and emphasized that God cares a lot about unity.

I care very much about unity in the family of God, which seems like everything Jesus was praying for at the end of his life.

However, Francis never mentioned that Protestants and Catholics really can't be unified because of their fundamental disagreements concerning the gospel and salvation. Even more troubling, during this event, Francis participated in a foot-washing and prayer event in which Catholics prayed over him.

It seems pretty problematic to accept and receive prayers from people who profess belief and doctrines that are clearly outside of biblical orthodoxy. Francis also said some questionable things about church history and communion here.

What does this book tell us clearly? That he does not want any divisions in his church. And for a thousand years, there was just one church. You know that? We're so used to growing up in a time when literally there are over 30 ,000 Christian denominations right now, but for the first thousand years, there was just one.

There definitely was plenty of division within the church in the first thousand years.

I mean, wow. There was no Donatist controversy. There were not 700 Donatist churches in North Africa. Nope, they were not there. All those divisions you had over persecution in the early church and stuff like, no, nothing.

There was nothing there.

And here, Francis opens himself up to the possibility of transubstantiation, the Catholic view of communion, which is unbiblical. Some of this stuff I didn't know.

I didn't know that for the first 1 ,500 years of church history, everyone saw it as the literal body and blood of Christ. And it wasn't until 500 years ago that someone popularized a thought that it's just a symbol and nothing more.

I didn't know that. We won't debate this topic here. We just want to point out for now that Francis seems to be very friendly towards some Catholic concepts. So, what's our conclusion about Francis Chan?

Again, like with Ravi Zacharias, we wouldn't say Francis is a false teacher. And in general, Francis' theology is much more solid.

And here's another lie that maybe some of you were told. Just pray a prayer. Just pray a prayer and receive Jesus. And I'm saying, read this book. Do you see that anywhere in this book, where they're told to just close their eyes and pray a prayer?

No, what it says in Acts chapter 2, the very first sermon, it says the people heard the message and it said they were cut to the heart. And they looked at Peter and the apostles and they said, what do we need to do?

And Peter says, repent, be baptized, and you'll receive the Holy Spirit. This is what the scriptures say.

Again, read it yourself. You can definitely benefit a lot from Francis' teachings. At the same time, we would recommend listening to Francis with a lot of caution, since he has demonstrated an openness towards several things that we would consider pretty dangerous.

Ray Comfort and Repentance, Faith, and Sanctification

Teacher number three, Ray Comfort. Ray is an evangelist and the founder of Living Waters. Let's take a look at two things concerning Ray. Some accuse Ray of teaching works-based salvation.

There are two things you must do to be saved. You must repent and trust alone in Jesus.

Make no mistakes about it, folks. This man is a little devil. He's a wicked false prophet that preaches a blatant works-based salvation. I mean, he doesn't even disguise it. I'm against the repent of your sins false gospel that says, well, you have to turn from your sins to be saved.

Salvation is by faith and faith alone.

Ray has responded to the accusation.

Salvation is by faith and faith alone. Actually, it's not.

It's not by faith and faith alone. We're saved by grace through faith. The famous hymn doesn't say, amazing faith, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. It says, amazing grace. And that's the basis for this man's error.

He thinks you have to do something to be saved. You have to have faith. That's works salvation. Salvation is by grace alone without works.

Ray is right. We're saved through faith alone. But true saving faith is always accompanied by repentance and a new transformed life that desires obedience to God.

Again, it goes back to regeneration and the providence of God. If God truly converts a man, he will continue working in that man through teaching and blessing and admonition and discipline. He will see to it that the work he has begun will be finished.

And that's why the writer says without sanctification, without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Why? Because if there's no growth in holiness, God's not working in your life.

So what's our conclusion about Ray Comfort? In general, we think he's great. We probably have some relatively small disagreements. But Ray boldly teaches the full gospel message that salvation involves both repentance and faith.

And he's an excellent example of someone who boldly and unashamedly evangelizes to the lost. Teacher number four, Joel Osteen. Joel Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Church, one of the largest churches in the United States.

Joel Osteen, Sin, Hell, and the False Gospel of Human Goodness

This channel has already made two videos about Joel. But let's take a look at a couple of notable highlights. The statement of faith on Lakewood's website is generally pretty orthodox, although it's really sparse.

Probably intentionally so. It doesn't define sin. It doesn't mention repentance at all. And it doesn't mention eternal life or eternal punishment at all. We could say a lot here, but we'll just point out three things here.

To learn all we have to say about what Joel teaches, check out the two videos we mentioned, which are in the description below. Joel says he doesn't teach people that they're sinners. In response to Larry King's question, you don't call them sinners?

Joel answered, I don't. But most people already know what they're doing wrong. When I get them to church, I want to tell them that you can change. There's a guy down my way, down in Houston, smiling Joel.

Smiling Joel says, sinners don't need to be told they're sinners. They know they're sinners. No, they don't. They don't. They don't. They look at the guy on the news who hacks somebody up and they say, that's a sinner, not me.

Joel doesn't teach people about hell.

Do you feel like you're cheating people by not telling them about the hell part?

No, I really don't because it's a different approach.

Joel teaches that most people are good.

In dealing with people for several years, thousands of people, one thing I can tell you is 99 .9 of people are not bad people. They may make poor choices, but deep down, they've got a good heart.

So what's our conclusion about Joel Osteen? We would say that he is clearly in the category of false teacher. If you don't teach about sin or repentance or hell, you're not teaching the full gospel message that saves sinners.

If you don't teach the biblical truth about the sinfulness of our human nature and instead tell people about their goodness and potential, then you've distorted a fundamental truth of the gospel and of the Christian faith.

There's a lot more we could say about Joel, and we have, so make sure to check him out. We're not saying that nobody who follows or attends his church is saved, but we are saying that people are saved in spite of Joel's teachings, not because of them.

We would recommend staying far away from Joel's teachings. Graham was an evangelist who has been called among the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century. Let's take a look at three things concerning Graham.

Billy Graham, Repentance, the Sinner's Prayer, and Later-Life Concerns

Graham's teaching about repentance is generally good.

Repentance means that you change your mind about God, about yourself, and about your need. You change your mind, and Christ will transform it. We've all sinned. And that's the reason he sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross.

You say, well, what do I have to do? You have to be willing to repent of your sins. That means to change your mind, to change your heart, to change your attitude. That means that you say, Lord, I have sinned.

I'm sorry. It means that you're saying to God, I'm willing to change my way of living and turn from sin. That's repentance. Change your mind. He'll change your heart. Change your mind, and He will come in and regenerate you, and you will be a born-again person.

Today is the day of salvation. Come now while you can. Don't wait.

It's good that Graham teaches that salvation involves recognizing your sinfulness before God and repenting of, or turning away from, your sin. It's good that Graham teaches that salvation involves regeneration and being born again.

That it involves living a new, transformed life. Of course, it's faith alone that saves. But true saving faith is never alone, but is always accompanied by regeneration and repentance. We would disagree that God regenerates sinners after they repent and believe.

Rather, we believe that God, regenerating sinners, comes first. In other words, we repent and believe because God has chosen, called, and regenerated us. Second, Graham popularized the sinner's prayer, which isn't a good thing.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with the words of the sinner's prayer, a huge problem with the sinner's prayer is that so many people think that they are saved simply because they prayed the prayer, not understanding that the evidence of true saving faith is a life that now pursues and desires obedience to God.

I'll tell you, that sinner's prayer has sent more people to hell than anything on the face of the earth. You say, how can you say such a thing? Go with me to Scripture and show me, please. I would love you to stand up and tell me where anyone evangelized that way.

The Scripture does not say that Jesus Christ came to the nation of Israel and said that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Now, who would like to ask me into their heart? I see that hand.

It's not what it says. He said, Repent and believe the Gospel.

Later in his life, Graham started teaching some things that are very concerning.

They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their heart that they need something that they don't have and they turn to the only light that they have. And I think that they are saved and they're going to be with us in heaven.

This is fantastic. I'm so thrilled to hear you say that. There's a wideness in God's mercy. There is. He said that non-Christians who don't have faith in Christ can be saved. Similarly, Graham refused to say that non-Christians are not saved, saying that only God can judge.

But what about those faiths, the Mormons and the others that you mentioned, believe in Christ, they believe they will meet Christ. What about those like the Jews, the Muslims, who don't believe as you believe?

It's in God's hands. I can't be their judge.

You don't judge them? No. I don't say you're going to hell.

How do you feel when you see a lot of these strong Christian leaders go on television and say, you are condemned, you will live in hell if you do not accept Jesus Christ? And they are forceful and judgmental.

Well, they have a right to say that and they are true to a certain extent, but that's not my calling.

So, what's our conclusion about Billy Graham? We would say that Graham in his later years may have been dangerously close to false teacher territory, if not in it, since it's extremely problematic to be teaching that sinners can be saved apart from faith in Christ.

We recognize the enormous impact that Graham has had in the evangelical world. Some of Graham's impact has been good, since Graham did teach about sin, repentance, and salvation. Other aspects of Graham's ministry weren't so good, such as the popularization of telling people that they are saved because they prayed the sinner's prayer.

While we wouldn't say to stay away from everything Graham taught, we are extremely concerned about his slide into unorthodox teachings later in his life.