Steven Furtick: When A Wolf Becomes An Antichrist
Two years ago, I wrote a piece titled "Steven Furtick: A 'Profit' of False Doctrine" about a so-called "Pastor" named Steven Furtick and his "Elevation Church" and warned other Christians that they should stay far away from this wolf in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:29).
What I just saw leaves me -- me of all people -- at a complete loss for words! I'd say, "Take a look at this video that his congregation produced and released in honor of 'Pastor Appreciation Month' for the god -- err, I mean, Pastor -- Steven 'Antichrist' Furtick!" but i can't because the video's been made "Private" after all the controversy and heat it was generating.
That's a still image of the church's Hip-Hop/Rap parody based on the hit "Downtown" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Unfortunately, it's all I have in the form of "visual proof" (besides the article by the Charlotte Observer).
Yes, it's another sad attempt by Christianity to be "relevant" to the masses of non-Christians they're looking to court. Yet, all it does is end up being blasphemous, un-Biblical nonsense that supports all the accusations that people like me have been making about him and his supporters for years now.
One Christian website wrote a brief review of the promotional video rightfully calling it pure idolatry. As Rev. Todd Wilken from Issues, Etc. commented in response on Facebook, "Steven Furtick is such a awesome pastor, his people forgot all about Jesus."
My dear friends, do not shun spiritual maturity and ignore 2 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 5:12-14, 1 Peter 2:2, 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 just because cool, flashy guys like this and all his colleagues who have a Degree in Wolfology say that you should.
In a Lutheran layman's terms, this is what happens when a "Cult of Personality" replaces Christ's Church of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
NOTE: Please understand that I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or just a regular Christian, Executive Recruiter, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this disclaimer/note, please understand that I'm also a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism a little more than 2 years ago now. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with our Confessions and Lutheran doctrine (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and repeatedly point us back to over and over again) so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1). Also, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier pieces I wrote for this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that "Old Evangelical Adam" category since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). This knowledge of the Lutheran basics was completely foreign to me even though I was baptized, confirmed, and married in an LCMS church! So, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because they are not blasphemous/heretical, because we now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse notes from my Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I defer to what other Lutheran Pastors both past and present have already preached and taught about such passages since they are the called and ordained shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries (this disclaimer/note is a perfect example of what I mean! haha). I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a "Christian Dude's Diary" in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#trending" at the time, but is instead all the things that I'm studying myself at the moment. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Feel free to comment/email me at any time. Grace and peace to you and yours!
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What I just saw leaves me -- me of all people -- at a complete loss for words! I'd say, "Take a look at this video that his congregation produced and released in honor of 'Pastor Appreciation Month' for the god -- err, I mean, Pastor -- Steven 'Antichrist' Furtick!" but i can't because the video's been made "Private" after all the controversy and heat it was generating.
That's a still image of the church's Hip-Hop/Rap parody based on the hit "Downtown" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Unfortunately, it's all I have in the form of "visual proof" (besides the article by the Charlotte Observer).
Yes, it's another sad attempt by Christianity to be "relevant" to the masses of non-Christians they're looking to court. Yet, all it does is end up being blasphemous, un-Biblical nonsense that supports all the accusations that people like me have been making about him and his supporters for years now.
One Christian website wrote a brief review of the promotional video rightfully calling it pure idolatry. As Rev. Todd Wilken from Issues, Etc. commented in response on Facebook, "Steven Furtick is such a awesome pastor, his people forgot all about Jesus."
My dear friends, do not shun spiritual maturity and ignore 2 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 5:12-14, 1 Peter 2:2, 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 just because cool, flashy guys like this and all his colleagues who have a Degree in Wolfology say that you should.
In a Lutheran layman's terms, this is what happens when a "Cult of Personality" replaces Christ's Church of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
NOTE: Please understand that I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or just a regular Christian, Executive Recruiter, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this disclaimer/note, please understand that I'm also a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism a little more than 2 years ago now. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with our Confessions and Lutheran doctrine (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and repeatedly point us back to over and over again) so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1). Also, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier pieces I wrote for this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that "Old Evangelical Adam" category since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). This knowledge of the Lutheran basics was completely foreign to me even though I was baptized, confirmed, and married in an LCMS church! So, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because they are not blasphemous/heretical, because we now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse notes from my Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I defer to what other Lutheran Pastors both past and present have already preached and taught about such passages since they are the called and ordained shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries (this disclaimer/note is a perfect example of what I mean! haha). I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a "Christian Dude's Diary" in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#trending" at the time, but is instead all the things that I'm studying myself at the moment. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Feel free to comment/email me at any time. Grace and peace to you and yours!
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