Beware of Wolf

The Apostle Paul was an inveterate traveler. He was driven by the knowledge that God had given him the task of bringing the gospel before the Gentiles. Many Bibles have a map of the Mediterranean world dedicated specifically to showing the path of Paul’s missionary journeys. Yet Paul was not always on the move. The book of Acts tells us that the apostle spent almost three years in the city of Ephesus in the Roman province of Asia.

Paul experienced great success in Ephesus. As the result, “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” But Paul also faced tremendous opposition, culminating in a massive riot. Acts chapter 20 records the poignant scene when Paul finally departed Ephesus. The apostle would never return; he intended to push on to Rome & then Spain.

Before departing, Paul gave a valedictory speech to the Ephesian elders. He sternly warned them: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!”

Paul’s words often come to my mind. It is sadly true that, from that day to this, the church has been relentlessly under attack by dark & deceitful powers which seek to destroy the people of God. Even more tragically, sometimes these malign forces arise from within the church itself: “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth.”

Andy Stanley has been a leading figure in the evangelical church. It could be said that, from a ministry standpoint, Andy Stanley was born with silver spoons in his mouth. His father Charles Stanley pastored First Baptist Church of Atlanta for almost 50 years. Charles became well known through In Touch Ministries, which broadcast his sermons through TV and radio. Apparently cut from the same cloth, Andy Stanley founded North Point Community Church near Atlanta, Georgia in 1995. The church grew rapidly and now boasts thousands of attenders at multiple campuses. In 2017, a survey of US pastors named Andy Stanley as one of the ten most influential living pastors in America.

Andy Stanley’s success is hardly surprising; he is an outstanding communicator. Unfortunately, sound thinking has never been one of his strengths. Stanley has never grasped how the New Testament fulfills the story of the Old Testament. This has often led him to minimize or even dismiss the OT as irrelevant. His pronouncements in this regard would leave the writers of the New Testament aghast.

But in more recent years, Andy Stanley has gone far beyond just poor judgment. He has veered far off the path of orthodox Christianity and put himself in a very dangerous position. As is often the case, the key issue is homosexuality. Stanley has clearly brought himself to a place where he affirms homosexuality. Under his leadership, North Point Community Church has followed suit. The church recently hosted a family conference with numerous “Christian” speakers. Yet the large majority of these speakers openly affirm same-sex relationships.

The seriousness of this matter simply cannot be overstated. Andy Stanley has put himself in flagrant rebellion to the one true God, to the Lord Jesus, to the Holy Spirit, and to the scriptures. Having been a pastor all his life, he knows full well that the Bible consistently condemns all forms of same sex behavior. Stanely knows the words that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don’t be deceived! …practicing homosexuals of whichever sort…will not inherit God’s kingdom!” Moreover, he also knows the historical record: Christianity has at all times and in all places rejected the notion that homosexuality can be reconciled with Christian faith.

Yet here we are. It has become obvious that Andy Stanley is no longer a shepherd watching faithfully over the flock of God’s people. Despite repeated warnings from fellow Christians, he has embraced the role of the wolf. His trajectory now resembles an episode of the hit TV series “Breaking Bad.” And while it’s discouraging to watch the corruption of a leading evangelical figure, we should not be shocked. After all, Paul did warn us that treachery would come from within the church itself: “Men will arise from your own number.”

Having left true Christianity behind, Andy Stanley has continued to unravel in other ways. His acceptance of homosexuality has – very predictably – forced him to undermine the authority of scripture. Stanley is by no means the first to walk down this road; it’s a wide & well-trodden path for liberals who wish to retain some vestige of their Christian faith while insisting on approving same sex relationships. Sadly, it’s a path which always lead to disaster.

This hasn’t prevented Andy Stanley from making yet another futile attempt. He has now developed somewhat of a stump speech which he frequently delivers. Stanley’s main argument goes like this: “We must tether the faith of this and the next generation to the resurrection rather than to the inspiration, infallibility, and the authority of the Bible.” Hearing Stanley speak like this is much like watching your five-year-old kid attempt to dazzle you with a clumsy magic trick they just learned. It’s not difficult to see the trickery, despite all of Stanley’s rhetorical smoke and mirrors. Like all progressive “Christians,” Andy Stanley wishes to craft a Jesus of his own choosing; a savior who only proclaims grace and acceptance.

Stanley will no longer abide the true Jesus of Nazareth found in the Bible. He wants to sweep away the Jesus who affirmed the wisdom of marriage between one man and one woman. (Matthew 19:4-6) He wants to forget the Jesus who condemns the sickness which dwells deep in human hearts and leads to sexual immorality. (Jesus’ Jewish listeners unquestionably would have understood “sexual immorality” to include homosexual practice.) (Mark 7:21-22)

Andy Stanley’s deceptions have no room for the Jesus who Paul proclaimed in Athens, the Messiah who will one day preside in judgment over the world & the one who demands repentance and loyalty from all humans. “Now God commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has established a day on which he intends to call the world to account with full and proper justice by a man whom he has appointed. God has given all people his pledge of this by raising this man from the dead.” (Acts 17:29-31)

Stanley wants nothing to do with the Jesus who fully embraced the authority of the scriptures. “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Indeed, Jesus saw himself as the very climax of the story of the Bible. After the resurrection, while walking on the road to Emmaus, Jesus emphasized this point: “So [Jesus] began with Moses, and with all the prophets, and explained to them the things about himself throughout the whole Bible.”

Above all else, Andy Stanley presents Christians with a false dilemma. EITHER your faith rests in the resurrection of Jesus (thereby allowing him to propose a false Jesus who celebrates homosexuality) OR your faith is the in scriptures. The bizarre position is wholly contradictory to Christianity. To become a Christian means putting your faith in the triune God – Father, Son & Holy Spirit; it also means accepting the authority of the scriptures which bear witness to the mighty acts of God in history.

Nor is our faith limited to the resurrection of Jesus. Is it not also in his atoning death? Is it not also in the life he lived, the commands he taught and the powerful deeds he performed? And do not all of these things come down to us through the Bible?

Stanley surely recognizes his own lies even as they pour forth from his mouth. He knows that the resurrection and the scriptures go hand-in-hand. Just as Paul wrote: “Jesus was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.” In other words, the meaning of the resurrection can only be found within the context of the Bible, as the climax of the long story of God, creation & Israel.

Two brief closing observations on this unhappy turn of events. (1) Like a dangerous infection, erroneous teaching spreads quickly. When people go astray on the issue of homosexuality, they quickly become untrustworthy on other matters. (2) Andy Stanley’s rejection of the scriptures is tantamount to a rejection of Christ. God does not look kindly upon those who bring harm to his church. I pray that Andy Stanley repents, both for his sake & the sake of those who are misled by his siren song. God’s judgment hangs over his head. “It’s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”