F4F | Stacie Wood Twists Joshua Chapter 3

Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseboro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. Well, have you heard that Rick Warren has resigned?

He has decided it's time for him to retire and so he's passed the baton to a fellow by the name of Andy Wood.

Back in the days when we did a daily podcast of Fighting for the Faith, we reviewed several of the sermons by Andy Wood and I would note he couldn't handle a biblical text properly to save his life.

Even if I were to like write the sermon for him and all he had to do was read it, he'd still find a way to twist up the scriptures.

And so Andy Wood is a scripture twister. It's also, there are allegations that he's very abusive and narcissistic in his leadership style.

But all of that being said, now with the baton being passed to Andy Wood, Andy Wood has decided that he's going to take things a little further than the

SPC is prepared for because the Southern Baptist Convention, we'll note, is primarily made up of people who desire to follow

God's Word. And as a result of it, women pastors are not permitted by SPC policy.

But Saddleback Church is an SPC church. And so, we're going to take a look at a recent news story, and then we're going to take a look at a recent sermon preached by Andy Wood's wife,

Stacey Wood, and she is put forward as a pastor there.

So, let's just say that in the convention coming up in the summer of 2023, which

I think is going to be in Louisiana, there's going to be a fight and Andy Wood is going to be kind of the center of that particular controversy.

And Albert Muller has already kind of drawn up the battle lines. In fact, I actually was able to have a conversation with Albert Muller privately about this back in June of this year.

Albert Muller and I were speaking at the same conference and we were talking about Rick Warren's shenanigans as it relates to ordaining women and things like this in the

SPC. And Albert Muller basically said, this thing ain't going to fly. And so, we'll kind of let you in on what's going on.

So, let's whirl up the desktop and let's start by opening up our web browser here.

And this was a news story that was released on October 24th of 2022 from the

Associated Press. New Saddleback Pastor Sees Women Clergy in Church's Future.

Now, I would note something here. Why has the church gone for 2000 years without having women pastors until like really recently?

Why? Because the Bible doesn't permit women to hold the pastoral office.

Now, that's not the focus of our video today. So, I'm going to refer you to a video that I did a while ago.

Now, it's three years ago. I can't believe it was three years already. And the name of the video is

Living Proof Beth Moore is an Autonomian. Living Proof that Beth Moore is an

Autonomian. And I walk through all the biblical texts as it relates to who can and cannot be a pastor and note that women are forbidden to hold the pastoral office.

Now, that doesn't mean that women can't teach. Oh, they can, just not in church. I would note,

I was trained by a very, very famous Christian apologist, a woman by the name of Gretchen Pasentino.

She was one of my mentors. And she taught the church all kinds of great doctrines and taught the church how to defend itself against false teachers and heretics and the occult and things like this.

In fact, she was oftentimes the ghostwriter for Walter Martin and was very instrumental in helping him put the books out that he published.

All of that being said, she was a woman, but never once did Gretchen Pasentino preach a sermon.

She recognized the scriptural prohibitions along those lines. So again, the video, we'll put a link to it down below,

Living Proof that Beth Moore is an Autonomian, walk through the biblical texts there. But let's come back to our AP News story here.

Lake Forest, California. On a recent Sunday morning in the Sanctuary of Saddleback Church, Lead Pastor Andy Wood opened with a shout out to the congregation's newest female teaching pastor.

In other words, fights coming in the SBC. And it was

Rick Warren who legitimately paved the way for this fight. He wants it to happen. All right.

And so he, Andy Wood introduced the newest female teaching pastor, his wife, Stacey Wood. And you'll note, this is a bad development.

It's been about a month since Andy Wood, 41, succeeded Pastor Rick Warren, author of the blockbuster bestseller,

The Purpose -Driven Life. And one of the most renowned figures in the evangelical Christianity who founded Saddleback in California's Orange County nearly 43 years ago before Wood was born.

Today, it's a multi -site ministry reaching about 40 ,000 people worldwide. Despite the difference in age and experience, what

Warren and Wood have in common is their commitment to a global church and nurturing female pastors.

And that's the thing. Will the SBC hold the line? We'll have to see.

But the Bible clearly forbids women from holding the pastoral office. All right.

So let's see here. Woods has also had to deal with allegations of authoritarian leadership and hostile church mergers in the

San Francisco Bay Area where he led Echo Church, a 3 ,000 -strong multi -site congregation for the past 14 years.

He has denied those allegations and was cleared by the search firm that Saddleback retained for the hiring process.

The SBC was one of Echo Church's supporters, which now adds the awkwardness of Saddleback's position on female pastors.

In 2021, Warren ordained three women as pastors, prompting the denomination to consider expelling the megachurch.

And that's still a possibility. The second largest in its fold, Warren made an emotional speech in June at the

Southern Baptist Annual Convention in Anaheim. Standing by his ordination of women, he told delegates who debated the issue, we have to decide if we'll treat each other as allies or as adversaries.

But the thing is, is that he is the one who's disobeying what Scripture says. Wood told the

AP that the Bible teaches that men and women were given spiritual gifts by God.

That's true, but women are not permitted to hold the pastoral office. The quote, the church should be a place where both men and women can exercise those spiritual gifts.

This, by the way, is an unsequitur. The question is, what does the Bible say regarding who's qualified to hold the pastoral office?

And you'll note that women are not permitted to hold that office. All right.

So, he said, my wife has the spiritual gift of teaching and she's really good. And people often tell me she's better than me when it comes to preaching.

And I'm really glad to hear that. So, Wood's whole argument is that his wife has a spiritual gift, the spiritual gift of teaching, and she's even better than he is.

And so, now Saddleback has Stacey Wood listed on their

YouTube channel as Pastor Stacey Wood. And she preached the sermon, and this was back about a month ago.

And we're going to test to see whether or not she really has a teaching gift, because Scripture is really clear in this regard.

Let's see here, 2 Timothy chapter 4, chapter 2, verse 14, remind them of these things, charge them before God not to quarrel about words which do not, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

You see, in order to be a pastor in Christ's church, you must rightly handle a biblical text.

And we'll note here, Titus chapter 1, this is what Paul, under the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit, writes to Titus when it comes to choosing people for the pastoral office. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained in order.

Appoint elders in every town as I directed you, if anyone is above reproach. Husband, husband of one wife, note the masculine things here, husband of one wife, his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery and insubordination.

For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He, he, he, he, note the masculine pronouns, hmm, he must not be arrogant or quick -tempered or drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self -controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

He, again, masculine pronoun, must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he might be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

So, what are the qualifications for a pastor, aside from all the masculine pronouns, is that he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.

He must be able to rightly handle the word of truth or rightly divide the word of truth, okay, and give instruction in sound doctrine and to rebuke those who contradict it.

Okay, this is, this is just a couple of the texts as it relates to who's qualified to holding the pastoral office, but you're going to note duties of the pastoral office, you must be able to rightly handle

God's word. So, Andy Wood claims that his wife has a teaching gifting and God wants her gift to be exercised in the church, despite all the biblical prohibitions that would say otherwise.

We're going to test to see whether or not Stacey Wood legitimately has a teaching gift, and if she is studied and shown herself approved, and she can rightly handle biblical texts.

So, with that, we're going to listen to a portion of the sermon, The Courage to Slow Down, from just about a month ago at the

Saddleback Church in El Toro, California. Let's take a listen.

So, the last few weeks, we've been looking at the story of Joshua in the Bible, and there have been so many moments where courage was needed in this story.

Like, for example, Joshua is taking over leadership for this legendary leader, Moses, and that's a call for courage.

And then last week, we talked about how the priest had to pick up the Ark of the Covenant and walk straight out in the

Jordan River at flood stage, and that was a call for courage. Call for courage, because the priests were ordered to step out into the

Jordan River at flood stage. That's a call for courage. I know a thing or two about that biblical text, but we'll let her spin this out a little bit more.

And then the Israelites are all going to have to cross over into the promised lands, and they've got war in front of them, and there's enemies and obstacles, and that's a call for courage.

So many calls for people to step out into courage. But, you know, sometimes courage looks different than stepping out.

Sometimes courage can be waiting in the present moment. Andy said it this way. He said sometimes courage looks like working, but sometimes it looks like waiting.

And sometimes God gives us the courage to get going, but sometimes we need to have courage to start slowing.

Slowing our life down a little bit so that we can pick up all the faithfulness of God, so that we can notice what

God is doing around us, and that in itself builds the courage within us. So today, we're going to pick up that story again, and those priests are standing in the

Jordan River with Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders. Okay, so this is from Joshua chapter three.

In fact, let's do this. Let's take a look at the actual biblical text first, and see if we can figure out what's happening by applying the three rules for sound biblical exegesis, which are context, context, and context.

All right, so Joshua chapter three. Here's the account. Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Shittim.

They came to the Jordan, and he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

At the end of three days, the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, as soon as you see the

Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it.

Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits in length.

Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way that you should go, for you have not passed this way before.

Then Joshua said to the people, consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you.

And Joshua said to the priests, take up the Ark of the Covenant, pass on before the people. So they took up the

Ark of the Covenant and went before the people. Yahweh said to Joshua, today

I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all of Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

And as for you, command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant, when you come to the brink of the waters of the

Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan. And Joshua said to the people of Israel, come here and listen to the words of Yahweh your

God. And Joshua said, here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will, without fail, drive you out from before you, the

Canaanites, the Hittites, the Thivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the

Jebusites. Behold, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all of the earth is passing over before you into the

Jordan. Now therefore take 12 men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man.

And when the souls of the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of Yahweh, the Lord of all of the earth shall rest in the waters of the

Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.

So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the

Ark of the Covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the Ark had come as far as the

Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the Ark were dipped in the brink of the water, now the

Jordan overflows all its bank throughout the time of the harvest, the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethon.

And those flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the salt sea, were completely cut off, and the people passed over opposite Jericho.

Now the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the

Jordan, and all of Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the

Jordan. Okay, so I don't see anything here calling for courage, and the reason

I say that is because God made it very clear ahead of time what

He was going to do. He set their expectations and explained very clearly, when the feet of the priests touch the

Jordan River, it's going to stop flowing, and He was going to perform a miracle.

All of this was communicated in detail prior to the children of Israel striking camp and then moving into the

Jordan, and they crossed on dry ground, and at no point do you see any hesitation, any wondering what's on here, or anybody saying, well, take courage, folks.

No, this is Israel acting on faith, trusting the

Word of God that God had given to Joshua, and then Joshua communicated to the people.

Okay, so already we've got a pretty big problem, and I would note here, this is the beginning portion of the teaching part of her sermon.

This is the first biblical text that she is touching, or trying to handle, in the very first sermon after she has been presented as one of the new teaching pastors of Saddleback Church.

First text, and I can tell you already, she's setting this up for a twist.

Let's continue. They have been standing there all week long. We left them there last weekend, and they are tired of standing in the same place, so we are going to get them out of the

Jordan today. So, in case you have missed the last couple weeks, let me just give you a quick recap. The Israelites have been wandering around in the desert for like 40 years, and they have finally reached that moment in time where they are going to cross over into the

Promised Land, but in order to get there, there is this huge obstacle in front of them. They've got this

Jordan River, and there is no boat, and there are no bridges, and it is at flood stage. So, they've got to figure out, how are we going to get from here to there?

No, they don't. God explained to them very clearly what wonder he was going to do among them to bring them across the

Jordan. They didn't have to wonder at all. God said he was going to perform a sign and a wonder for them.

Of course, Joshua goes to God, and he says, okay, God, what's the plan? And God says, okay, here's the plan.

I want you to have the priests pick up the Ark of the Covenant, and they're just going to walk straight out into the river. And Joshua's like, um, that river?

When did Joshua ask God that river? She's adding to the biblical text.

Yahweh said to Joshua, today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all of Israel, so that they may know that as I was with Moses, I will be with you.

As for you, command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant, when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the

Jordan. And Joshua said to the people, come here, listen to the words of Yahweh, your God. She just added to the biblical text.

She's added to it by having Joshua say, God, which one? You want me to, you want us to cross that river there?

Let's listen, let me back this up just a little bit and listen again. And God says, okay, here's the plan.

I want you to have the priests pick up the Ark of the Covenant, and they're just going to walk straight out into the river. And Joshua's like, um, that river?

No, he wasn't. He didn't do that at all. And God's like, yeah, that river. God didn't say that either. Do you have no fear of God?

Is it the one that's at flood stage right now? No, Joshua didn't say that either. Yeah, that's the one,

Joshua. No, God didn't say that either. In fact, I would note that as horrible as the passion translation is, and it's an abysmal, horrible wreck of anything that even calls itself a

Bible translation, even it doesn't add this, this dialogue to Joshua chapter three.

And it sounds so crazy. No, it doesn't. Notice she didn't read the text out ahead of time.

And there's a reason for that. Had she read the text in context, she wouldn't be able to say the things that she's saying right now.

She is trying to put her own message forward and make it appear that the

Bible is teaching it. But believe me when I tell you, this text cannot be used this way, because once you read it in context, you see what's really happening.

And you can see that she's adding to the text, the whole narrative that she's weaving around it to understand what

Joshua chapter three is saying and teaching. Her whole narrative is false. It's fabricated.

I thought you said, Andy Wood, I thought Andy Wood said that she has a teaching gift. Hmm. Okay.

Because you guys, we know the end of the story. We know that God is going to perform this miracle and that the water is going to stop flowing and that they're going to get through on dry ground and it's going to be one of the coolest miracles in all of the

Old Testament. Right. And they knew the end of the story too, because Joshua told them the end of the story before they even got started, because God told him what was going to happen.

Again, if you had just read the text, you would have known that. But they don't know that. Yeah, actually they do.

Let me back this up. I mean, we just read the text. The people of Israel knew exactly how this was going to go down.

Oh, that God is going to perform this miracle and that the water is going to stop flowing and that they're going to get through on dry ground and it's going to be one of the coolest miracles in all of the

Old Testament. But they don't know that in this moment. They just got. Yes, they do.

Did you read Joshua chapter three? They knew exactly what was going to happen. Two million people standing on one side of this rushing river and God says, just start walking.

No, he didn't. God didn't just say start walking. That is not what this text says.

God told him exactly what he was going to do. That feels crazy. Don't you know that there were some people in the crowd that were just kind of Is there an option

B? No mention of anybody in the crowd going option B, please. He's very interested in learning more about that one.

But you know what Joshua has going for him in this moment is that he has a whole history of the faithfulness of God.

He has the clear direction of God explaining to him what God's going to do in detail right there regarding the

Jordan River. Yes, he has all the backstory too. Joshua just happened to be there when the people of Israel crossed the

Red Sea. He saw all of that. But in this account in Joshua chapter three,

God said, here's what's going to happen. It's going to go this way, do this, this, and this, and then this is going to happen. And then that he knew exactly what was going to go down.

He didn't even have to guess. He has seen God up close and personal. He had a front row seat to all the miracles that God has performed on behalf of Israel the last 40 years.

See, he was Moses's assistant. And so he was right there side -by -side with Moses. He walked across the Red Sea on dry ground.

He ate the manna that fell from heaven miraculously. He saw God send fire from heaven and then take it back at his command.

So his history had prepared him for this moment. Joshua had seen... No, God's words prepared him for that moment.

It's right here in the beginning part of Joshua chapter three.

Yahweh said to Joshua, today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of Israel so that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

As for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant. When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the

Jordan. And Joshua said to the people, come here, listen to the words of Yahweh, your God. And Joshua said, here is how you shall know that the living

God is among you. And he will without fail drive out from before you all of the different ites, right?

Behold, the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, your God, of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.

Now, therefore, take 12 men from the tribes of Israel, from each a tribe a man. And when the soles of his feet of the priests bearing the ark of Yahweh, the

Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of the Jordan. The waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.

God laid this out in detail ahead of time. Why is she acting like Joshua had no information like this?

In the faithfulness of God, and it gave him a faith to build upon. And I think this is such a critical point for us in our own lives, as we're thinking about this concept of courage and building the faith inside of us.

The concept of courage. Why are you twisting this text? It's that God's faithfulness is our foundation for courage.

God's faithfulness is our foundation for courage. It's not wishful thinking. We're not just hoping that some cosmic power out there comes through for us.

No, we serve a God with a track record. This is most certainly true.

And his past faithfulness is a sturdy foundation for which we can build our faith upon.

Yeah, our faith is in the God who fulfills his promises and never lies. That's for sure.

Why did you have to twist his word in order to make this point? That doesn't make any sense.

So the priest, they pick up this Ark of the Covenant and they go first, and they just start walking.

And I want you to get this image in your head with me, what the scene would have been like as it unfolds. Just imagine that you're one of those two million people standing on this side of the

Jordan, and you're just watching these priests walk out. So we're not engaging in exegesis. Now we're just engaging in imagination.

And the thing is, is that you can legitimately fill some data in in scripture that isn't there using a little bit of imagination, but you have to stay within the bounds of the text itself.

And you cannot go beyond or twist up the entire narrative. She has completely evacuated this text of what it actually says, created a narrative and dialogue that isn't there, and has overtly avoided what that text actually says.

You can't do this. And nothing is changing. Like they're just walking and they're getting closer and closer to the edge of the

Jordan and nothing has changed. That's not in the text either. They knew exactly what was going to happen.

You know, in their hearts, they're saying, okay, let's have faith. He's done it before God. No, they already had a clear word from God.

They knew what God was going to do and do it again. But they're there at a crisis moment.

They're at that moment that if God doesn't come through, that all where was the crisis moment again in Joshua three.

Can you point it out to me in the actual biblical text will be lost. But you know what happens is as soon as they step foot into the

Jordan, God comes through and the water stops flowing. And can you imagine the way you tell the story?

They just presumptuously thought that God was going to do something. Whereas the actual biblical text says that they knew exactly what

God was going to do because God told them ahead of time through Joshua. I didn't being there on that shore and like realizing what just happened and the shouts of praise that must've happened and say, oh my gosh, he did it.

God did it. He did it again. The water stopped flowing. We're going across on dry ground. Can you believe that we are a part of this moment?

What I can't believe is that you have created your own version of Joshua chapter three and you are painstakingly avoiding reading the actual passage itself because the actual passage, if you would just read it, wouldn't agree with anything that you're saying here.

That shows that you are a Bible twister, that you are interested in teaching your doctrines, your theology, your speculations, your opinions, rather than actually preaching the word of God.

You know, your husband said that, let's see, how did he say it? My wife has the spiritual gift of teaching. No. If she had a true spiritual gift of teaching, she wouldn't be twisting

God's word. And she's really good. No, she's really good at twisting and adding to God's word.

That's what I saw. People often tell me she's better than me. Is she a better Bible twister than you are,

Andy? And I would note, if you would like to hear the sermon reviews I've done in the past of Andy Wood's sermons, we'll put a link down below too.

You can listen to the archives of Fighting for the Faith and the sermons I've reviewed of his. But I can legitimately say,

Stacy Wood, she doesn't have a spiritual gift of teaching unless she has a spiritual gift of twisting

God's word. But the Holy Spirit doesn't give a gift like that. She hasn't studied and showed herself approved as a workman who need not blush with embarrassment, who can rightly handle the word of truth.

The first biblical text she handled in the very first sermon she preached as a pastor of Saddleback Church, she twisted it and added to it and made it say things it doesn't say.

Spiritual gift of teaching? Nah. Nah. Not even close. There's no visible evidence that that's true at all.

So, hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share the video is down below in the description. And until next time, may

God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ, his vicarious death on the cross, for all of your sins.