Steven Furtick Calls The Apostle John A “Creepy Stalker”!

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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 head pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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He's one of the most popular pastors in the United States, and his influence grows pretty much every day. Most solid, good, sound preachers will never have one percent of the influence that Stephen Furtick has, and that's a big responsibility, there's no doubt about it.

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But Stephen Furtick does not bear this responsibility well. Instead, he uses his massive platform to promote false teachers like T .D.

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Jakes and Joel Osteen, and he even offers his own false teaching as well. And all of this accumulates in having a large number of people who are professing

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Christians who attend Elevation Church and are being deceived every single week. And this is a serious problem.

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Among other things that Stephen Furtick does irresponsibly, he sometimes makes jokes that aren't very well thought out, to say the very least.

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And we all make mistakes, that's true, we've all said a joke that we regret, but when these mistakes happen pretty much in every single sermon, maybe it's no longer a mistake.

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Maybe at that point, it's you being irresponsible and undiscerning with a position that you're really not qualified to have.

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In this video, I'm going to show you yet another example of Stephen Furtick taking things in an unbiblical direction.

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Watch this. Fourth Peter. Peter means Petros. Peter means rock. Peter means solid.

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And that's you. Yes? You. Not John this time.

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I don't think Peter ever really understood this, though, because after Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus looked back at John, who was kind of like stalking him, because John's kind of creepy, you know, he ain't saying something a lot of the time, calls himself the one

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Jesus loved and stuff like that in the Scripture. And the Lord is telling Simon Peter, he's still both.

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So let's talk about this comment here using three biblical points. Number one. So Stephen Furtick calls

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John creepy and a stalker. He paints him out to be this weirdo who's following Jesus and peering out behind corners with wild eyes and odd intentions.

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And of course, it's always worth mentioning, guys, that this comment isn't meant to be taken seriously. Obviously, he's joking.

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So my point in this video is not that Stephen Furtick literally meant to insinuate that John the Apostle's a creepy stalker.

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Rather, my point is that Stephen Furtick makes this unbiblical joke from the pulpit, and it's highly irresponsible.

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So why do I think this was a bad idea? Well, there are a few reasons. The first reason I think this was a bad idea is that it's not true.

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We have no evidence in Scripture to demonstrate that John was creepy or a stalker -type person. Even as a joke, this undoubtedly paints

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John in a negative light for absolutely no reason other than to get a laugh from the audience during a sermon.

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The second reason I think this was a bad idea is that it misrepresents John as a person. Think about this.

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He calls John, who is a great man of the faith who we should all look up to, a creepy stalker during a sermon, and simply on the basis of John saying that Jesus loved him.

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Even for a joke, it's pretty weird and it's kind of reaching. The ultimate problem here is that this is an inaccurate and negative comment made about the

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Apostle John that is entirely unhelpful to the congregation and really has no evidence for it in Scripture.

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2 Timothy 4 .2 says, I don't believe that a pastor can never make a mistake from the pulpit.

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That's a ridiculous standard. Rather, I believe that this passage indicates that the main thrust of one's teaching ought to be instructing the body of Christ with Scripture in a faithful way.

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But as this video and my other videos on Stephen Furtick will demonstrate, he has a distinct habit of getting seriously off the beaten path when it comes to talking about the

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Bible. He looks for any and every opportunity to make a joke, even if it's an ill -advised one that's offered in the wrong place and time.

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And this particular joke definitely fits under that category. This brings me to point number two. Because Stephen is so intent on making this joke, he actually loses a fantastic opportunity to teach and encourage his congregation.

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This is yet another problem with the statement he made. He calls John a creepy stalker because John calls himself the disciple who

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Jesus loved. But let's think about this for a second. John the Apostle, he relished in being a friend of Christ.

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After all, it was John who quoted Jesus in John 15, 5, when he says, John wanted to be as intimate and close with Jesus as he possibly could be.

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After all, he knew, as Jesus said, that apart from Jesus, he could do nothing. John took great pleasure and great honor in being personally close to Jesus.

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That's why he calls himself the disciple who Jesus loved. That's why he seems to do it so often. So let me ask you a question.

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Is that really something we want to discourage? Is that really something that we want to make light of during a sermon?

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I think it would be infinitely more helpful to encourage others to long for a relationship with Christ the way that the

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Apostle John did, but instead, Stephen feels the need to call John a stalker, and the opportunity is altogether missed.

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Because again, Stephen's main goal seems to be to get people's attention and look cool and funny and clever, rather than offer them the

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Word of God. He makes that very clear if you watch his sermons. Keep in mind, I don't think that one ill -advised joke is something that we should use to classify a pastor as a bad teacher.

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I've watched a lot of Stephen Furtick, and if you're ever unlucky enough to do the same thing, you'll find that this is not a rare occurrence.

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His sermons are riddled with man -centered teaching and unbiblical comments. That's why I feel confident enough to make these statements about his overall teaching.

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Again, this is not on the basis of one joke. It's based on a habitual practice of bad preaching to his church.

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And this brings me to point number three. I want to answer an important question. How far is too far when it comes to making a joke as a pastor or even just as a

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Christian? And I'm not talking about coarse or sinful jokes, because we all know that those are bad. I mean, what do we do with these seemingly benign jokes, like the one

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Stephen Furtick offers here about John? Well, here's my advice to Furtick and all of you who are wondering about this joke.

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When deciding whether or not to tell a joke from the pulpit or as a Christian, let's do a little risk -reward analysis, shall we?

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Let's ask two diagnostic questions. First, let's ask ourselves, is there any chance that this joke is a bad one to make biblically speaking?

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And second, let's ask ourselves this. Is there any positive biblical outcome that could possibly come from this joke?

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In other words, if the joke could not be considered sinful or unwise in any way, then feel free to tell the joke and have fun.

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Ephesians 4 .29 says, quote, Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear, end quote.

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And if the joke could brighten someone's day or encourage them or explain something to them in a new and enlightening way, then that joke may be worth telling if all other things remain equal, because it's useful to some extent.

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Ecclesiastes 3 .4 says that there is, quote, a time to weep and a time to laugh. Laughter's a good thing.

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Christians are allowed to have fun. They're allowed to be humorous. We're not Stoics. We're Christians. But let's ask ourselves these important questions with regards to Stephen Furtick's joke about John.

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Question one, is there a chance that this joke is unwise or unbiblical? Well, yes, there's a really good case to be made that it's both of those things, especially if given in a sermon.

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Question two, is there any chance that this joke is positive or encouraging to anyone in any discernible way?

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Well, I would say no. There's pretty much a 0 % chance that anyone walked out of that sermon serving God anymore because of the joke or having a better day because of the joke.

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So the potential risk here is that you dishonor John, that you misinform your audience, and that you distract them from the important message of the

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Word. And the potential reward is, well, nothing. Therefore, common sense should tell you that the joke is either a really bad idea at the very best, and at worst, it's actually unbiblical and wrong.

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So in summary, Stephen Furtick joked in his sermon that the apostle John was a creepy stalker because he calls himself the apostle who

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Jesus loved. This is an unwise, if not entirely unbiblical comment, and a distraction from God's Word while he claims to be preaching from it.

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And Stephen, if you happen to be watching this video, please know that I love you, and I really would love nothing more than to see you repent of this and live in a better way.

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So let's pray for Stephen that he would repent and turn to the truth of God's Word. Thank you so much for watching.

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