The Fall of Francis Chan and Why He Should Be Avoided
You may wonder why I believe Francis Chan has fallen and needs to be avoided. Isn't he orthodox? Doesn't he preach the true gospel? Isn't he, well, doctrinally sound?
Well, Chan is a graduate of both John MacArthur’s Master’s University and Seminary, an unusually solid, seminary that teaches rightly on such important doctrines as the sovereignty of God, the inerrancy of Scripture, and the cessation of the apostolic sign gifts. He was the founder and former pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California. Chan is now a well-known conference speaker, regularly preaching alongside questionable, at best charismatics such as Mike Bickle of IHOPKC and many others.
Chan, despite his solid theological educational background, is highly compromised in many ways, and not just because he regularly shares the stage with heretics. While that, in and of itself, is problematic, Chan’s compromises are much deeper and stem from a serious lack of discernment.
Chan aims to be a people-pleaser. It’s understandable that a man in the flesh would desire the praise of other men, but God dislikes this attitude and the Apostle Paul warns against it (Galations 1:10).
When Chan decided to leave his church several years ago to begin his charismatic crusade, he announced to his congregation “God was leading him elsewhere.” Then, two years ago, while speaking at a gathering, speaking of his former church, he told the audience that they were all a “bunch of losers” who didn’t exercise their spiritual gifts.
Francis Chan, for several years, has been on the speaker circuit for several heretical crusades. On of the most popular crusades he’s frequented has been IHOPKC’s annual One Thing conference alongside such heretics as Todd White, Michael Brown, Joyce Meyer, and Seventh Day Adventist, Ben Carson. This conference is not only heretical due to it’s theological grounding steeped in New Apostolic Reformation ideology, it’s also ecumenical, and holds a Catholic track.
But Chan is no stranger to ecumenism. In 2003, Mike Gendron, a Christian apologist best known for his polemics and evangelistic resources for Catholics, was invited to speak at Chan’s church. Gendron, a man who knows and loves Catholics enough to speak truthfully about the serious and damning theological errors they hold to, spoke to Chan’s audience truthfully about the errors of purgatory, Mary, the Eucharist, and the biblical way of salvation. This prompted Chan to rebuke Mike Gendron in front of the entire gathering, stating that it “was a mistake” to host Gendron.
Chan’s obvious discontent with biblical truth shows that he is not only theologically inept and lacks serious discernment, but that he also seeks to not offend man, effectively offending God much worse.
Francis Chan with Heretic, Mike Bickle
Francis Chan with charlatan, Benny Hinn
Francis Chan with faux faith-healer, Todd White
In his never-ending crusade to please the world, Chan continues to praise well-known, well-liked heretics while throwing solid men of God under the bus. Chan knows that men like Gendron are less popular with the world and the culture because they see the truth of Scripture as black and white — without compromise.
This weekend, Chan, at Lou Engle’s 2019 Send Conference, Chan was noted praising arch-heretics, Todd White and Daniel Kolenda. Todd White is a fraudulent “faith-healer” who claims to have healed hundreds of people of various ailments without a shred of evidence. Todd White holds to the Word of Faith heresy, “little God” theology, and is largely into the heretical New Apostolic Reformation movement that teaches that the office of Apostle — like the original 12 — has been reinstated and Apostles and Prophets exist today. Besides the fact that every single “Apostle” and “Prophet” in this movement is morally compromised in some way, not a single one has ever prophesied the way the biblical prophets have done. You can see Chan praising these men in the video below, toward the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn69zv5DNkg
Francis Chan, though he may occasionally speak things that sound right and biblical, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing to be avoided at all costs. Because of his associations with heretics and false teachers — and his considerable lack of discernment — Chan leads his people astray. He is not a shepherd to be followed, as he feeds his sheep directly to the wolves.
Can two walk together except they be agreed?
Amos 3:3