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Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Francis Chan: “One Hundred People Saved in One Year is Not a Success” - BY RICHARD HAAS


Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Generally speaking, we're glad there are groups like Pulpit and Pen who are willing to courageously defend the truth of the Gospel. However, this good work is often overshadowed by hyperbolic cries of heresy. The Doctrinal Police are quick to their outrage. 

Here is such an example. 

Here Francis Chan is lined up in P and P's cross hairs. This is a 47:56 minute video, where Chan is explaining why he gave up his multi-thousand member mega church. You can see the depth of his desire to reach the lost as he speaks. His anguish is that a church of thousands ought to be mature enough to actually act on their faith and not need to be spoon fed more teaching year after year.

So Chan stepped down from his church, one that many of us would think is hugely successful. He now is working within home groups, which he thinks should encourage greater maturity and reach the lost better.

That is the context of his remark about what he considers to be the failure of seeing only 100 salvations in such a large church. Chan believes that this many people should be more fruitful.
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Recently, we posted an article on the topic of IHOP and the “Onething” Conference,where we pointed out that Francis Chan was one of the main orators at this modern-day Montanist heresy fest. We also pointed out that here at Pulpit & Pen, we have been critical of Francis Chan as of late, concerning his slide into the sub-Christian sect of Charismatic beliefs. Recently this has been made even more evident in a news article that was posted at Charisma Magazine on December 29th of this year.

The article highlights a video with Francis Chan “preaching” that was recorded about two years ago at the Jesus Center. This video only goes to add to the many problems with Francis Chan’s theology and particularly in this video, his complete disregard for proper biblical Soteriology.

One hundred people saved in one year is not a success if it took 4,000 people to do it.

In reality, four thousand people didn’t “do it” if salvations were made at all. Only God does that. This is Finneyism. (The author takes Chan's loose comments as if Chan was making a doctrinal treatise, when the remarks are clearly casual illustrations of what he considered wrong with the large church he pastored. 

It's this kind of micro-parsing of every single word spoken that really irritates us. No one should have to be subject to such scrutiny. And in fact, Pulpit and Pen reserves such scrutiny only for charismatic preaching, and bristles when on the receiving end of discernment.)

The mere fact that Francis Chan would consider anyone’s salvation “not a success” is ludicrous. (Which of course Chan wasn't doing. We sincerely doubt the author listened to the entire presentation. Our guess is that he never watched the video at all. We think he found the isolated quote on some other "discernment" website and ran with it.)

Who is Francis Chan to question the workings of God? (Which he did not do.)

The fact that God chooses to save one person is a blessing on its own, never mind a hundred. (Which Chan does not contest.)

If Francis Chan truly feels that it’s “not a success” that God saved 100 people because it may take more manpower than Chan arbitrarily deems necessary, why is Francis Chan even in ministry? (Wow, embarrassing. Here is the proof the author did not watch the video. As we noted, the entire video was about why Chan is no longer pastor of this church. )

Who is Chan to question how many it takes to save a few? (He is the former pastor of a church explaining why he left that church.)

The Bible in Luke 13:23 is clear that many will perish, and few will be saved, but we are to rejoice in the Lord for those that are saved. (Finally a Bible verse, though not relevant to the matter at hand. And this passage does not teach that only a few will be saved.)

We should not be going about “preaching” that the few that are saved are “not a success” as Chan has declared. (This Bible verse does not speak to this assertion. Frankly, there is no verse that suggests that someone shouldn't be dissatisfied with the number of people being saved.)

This video only goes to prove once again that Francis Chan has been on a bizarre and charismatically strange trajectory. (No, it proves the author cannot see past his hatred of his caricature of charismatics. It proves the author never troubled himself to actually watch the video. It proves that the author is straining at gnats regarding a very minor point. It proves the author is so desperate to impugn Chan that he will take a casual comment and impute to it the status of a major doctrinal pronouncement. 

It is despicable he would do this.)

Assuming that one hundred people were brought to penitent faith, (as opposed to false converts) this is something to be celebrated. (Oh, my. Here the author himself does not "celebrate" salvations, he doubts them.)  

Conversions, wrought by the Holy Spirit, are not a mathematical formula. They are supernatural works of the Third Person of the Trinity. (Points which Chan does not violate.)

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