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"Take
Heed" Ministries
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Cecil Andrews, PO BOX 13, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AL, Northern Ireland. Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEB-SITE - http://www.takeheed.net |
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Steve Chalke’s hypocrisy and
heresy ‘rise up’ to new heights
on ‘Resurrection Day’ |
Those familiar with articles
posted to the ‘Take Heed’ ministry website will know that in the last
year or so I have publicly expressed concern about the heretical, gospel-destroying
views expressed by Steve Chalke in his book ‘The Lost Message of
Jesus’.
In the
most recent article posted to the website entitled
‘Radio 4’s
Daily Service denies Christ’s Substitutionary Atonement’
[http://www.takeheed.net/Radio4&Penal%20Substitution.htm]
I made
reference to the various articles that can be accessed on the following links –
On Sunday morning, 16 April 2006,
BBC 1 Television broadcast a programme from the ‘Spring Harvest’
festival in Minehead called ‘He is risen’. The guest presenter
and preacher was none other than Steve Chalke.
Steve Chalke’s appearance
on this programme raised his ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘heresy’
up to new heights – heights that unfortunately would have been broadcast into
millions of homes in the UK. Probably many viewers would have been unaware of
his ‘hypocrisy’ but Steve Chalke himself would have been
fully aware of it as he listened to, and who knows, perhaps even sang some of
the words of some of the hymns that were included in the programme.
Given Steve Chalke’s public
denial of ‘Substitutionary Atonement’ by Christ on the cross and
his denial of the biblical truth that this was in fact ‘Penal
Substitution’ – the Father punishing His sinless Son as a substitute
for sinners so that they, through faith alone in Christ [crucified] alone might
be fully justified by God [released permanently from every penalty and punishment
due to them because of sin] – IT WAS hypocritical of Steve
Chalke to be both a presenter of and preacher at a meeting where these
words were sung. The opening hymn of the programme was ‘How great thou art’ and
verse 3 of that lovely hymn reads as follows -
Sent Him
to die, I scarce can take it in,
That on
the cross, my burden [the punishment by God for my sin] gladly
bearing
He bled
and died to take away my sin [penal/substitutionary atonement]
Later in the programme, the hymn ‘In
Christ alone’ was sung and the second half of verse 2 reads as
follows –
‘Til on
that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied [penal substitution]
For every sin on Him was laid [penal/substitutionary atonement]
Here in the death of Christ I live [salvation by Christ’s death]
Not only was it hypocritical of
Steve Chalke to be a willing participant and preacher in a programme
where such theologically correct words were sung in his presence but it would
have been ultra-hypocritical of him to join in with the singing of these words.
Whether or not he did I cannot tell as there were no camera shots of him during
the singing of these hymns but perhaps someone will be able to ask him what he
actually did during the singing of the quoted words of these hymns.
Moving on from his ‘hypocrisy’
I want now to focus on his ‘heresy’. When you keep in
mind Steve Chalke’s denial of what actually happened on the cross it
sheds a whole new understanding of what he said in his ‘sermon’.
He began his ‘sermon’ by
mentioning his ‘friend Tony Campolo’ who according to Steve
Chalke is ‘a brilliant preacher’ and of how he had
popularised the saying ‘It’s Friday but Sunday’s coming’ [Steve
Chalke during his ‘sermon’ whipped up almost frenzied reaction
from the audience by getting them to repeat this phrase many times during the
course of his ‘sermon’].
For most Christians we would
understand this saying as meaning that the events of the day of Christ’s
crucifixion seemed at first to be a disaster. However subsequent events would
go on to show the error of such thinking and, as I will explain later, the day
of Christ’s crucifixion should be a day of great rejoicing for God’s people.
This aspect of rejoicing has been emphasised by the Lord Himself who commands
us to remember His crucifixion and the events of that day as we meet around His
table to break bread and drink wine.
The following are some extracts
from the ‘sermon’ that Steve Chalke delivered during this
programme.
‘The truth is this and
Easter Sunday is all about this, it doesn’t end here [the
crucifixion], it does not end here. The message of Jesus is this,
the message of Easter Sunday is this, it doesn’t end with despair, it doesn’t
end with humiliation, it doesn’t end here, the message of Easter is this, it
ends with resurrection, it ends with hope, it ends with forgiveness, it ends
with liberty, there is a new beginning, there is a new beginning, the message
of Easter…
At this point Steve Chalke related
an amusing story of a foreigner on the London Underground who, no matter how
hard he looked at the map in his diary, couldn’t figure out where he was – in
other words, according to Steve Chalke this man was ‘lost’
– and the reason he hadn’t been able to figure out where he was was because the
map in his diary was actually of the Paris Metro. Steve Chalke then
continued –
Psalm 24 says “The earth is
the Lord’s and everything in it”. When we live our lives in God’s world as
though God wasn’t there we’re going to get lost. When we live our lives
as though Easter Sunday doesn’t exist, we’re going to get lost, we’re
going to end up in despair, we’ll be overcome, overwhelmed by grief,
overwhelmed by tragedy and the pain and the suffering of life. We cannot survive,
we need Easter Sunday because
Easter Sunday says a different word to us – it
says that Jesus is risen from the dead, there is hope in the universe, God is on our side [loud
applause]. Good Friday, Good Friday was a disaster, a dying God on a
cross is no God, a dying Saviour is no Saviour, a dying Saviour is no Saviour.
Jesus gasping for air, gasping for breath, gasping for water, gasping for
dignity is no Saviour at all. The people are in despair, they’ve got their
heads down, the people that have followed him think it was good, it was a good
story, it was a great story, but this is the end of the road, there is no way
forward. But the message of Easter Sunday is this is not where it ends – it
doesn’t end here. Sunday is coming. Sunday is coming.
In this portion of his ‘sermon’
Steve Chalke has painted a picture of the despair that the followers of
Jesus might well have conjured up in their minds as they watched the
crucifixion unfold – indeed we do know that this was precisely the despair that
some of them experienced as I will show shortly. Steve Chalke has
painted ‘Friday’ as being a day of despair but by what he then
goes on to say Steve Chalke wants to immediately correct any possible
‘dead-end’ thinking about Christ having been crucified. In his sermon he has
painted a bleak portrait of that event but instead of taking time to explain
Christ’s crucifixion and to give a biblical explanation of what really and
gloriously happened on the cross he instead turns all attention to the
resurrection and identifies it as being our real source of ‘hope’ and he then
takes time to explain the nature of that ‘hope’. In his ‘sermon’ Steve
Chalke said –
‘When Jesus rises from the dead, not just in the hearts of his followers, but in actuality, as fact, he reverses the curse, he reverses the curse of death and despair
Comment by
Cecil: 1st Corinthians 15: 20-26 tells us “But
now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that
slept…But every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; afterward they
that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end…For he must reign till [future]
he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be [future]
destroyed is death”
and voom there is a way
forward. On Friday, on Friday we feel as though there is no way forward but
this is not how it ends, this is not how it ends. Sunday is coming! On Friday
we can feel that there is no hope for us as individuals but this is not how it
ends. On Friday we’re in pain, in suffering but this is not where it ends.
Sunday is coming!’ [Loud cheers].
When the cheering died down Steve
Chalke then went on to make some personal applications for the listening
audience in relation to what he had been saying – to explain or clarify the
‘hope’ that he sees coming from Sunday. He said –
‘On our Fridays we wonder about our job, redundancy, our marriage failing, our relationships broken, our money issues, our scares over health, coping with life itself. On Friday we can feel lonely, forgotten, depressed, our friends have abandoned us, life just doesn’t seem worth living and some of us live at Friday even though it’s Easter Sunday. We’re still at Friday, we’re still struggling but here is the message of Jesus that resounds across history. Here is the message of Jesus that changes the world. Here is the message of Jesus that changes the universe. We are not on our own. We are not alone. God is with us. We are not abandoned, because it was Friday, but Sunday is coming. There is hope for us all’.
Earlier in relation to Steve Chalke’s telling of the story of the man on the London Underground I underlined where he stated that the man was ‘lost’ and then he went on to warn listeners about how they too could end up ‘lost’. Here we see that for Steve Chalke being ‘lost’ is to be ignorant of the message that he claims emanates from the events of ‘Sunday’ and I have highlighted this ‘gospel message’ of Steve Chalke in red. As you will see there is no mention or proclamation of people being ‘lost’ because they are unregenerate, unrepentant, unconverted and still “dead in trespasses and sins” [Ephesians 2:1]. Friends, this is ‘another gospel which is not another” [Galatians 1:6-7].
‘For
Steve Chalke, the resurrection of Christ has apparently rescued the mission of
Christ from the disaster and despair of the death of Christ instead of, as the
bible teaches, the resurrection of Christ being God’s vindication of His
acceptance of the sacrificial and atoning death of His Son. Christ’s loud cry
on the cross “It is finished” at which the veil of the Temple was rent in two
was a cry of victory, not a cry of defeat!’
Earlier I wrote ‘the day of
Christ’s crucifixion should be a day of great rejoicing for God’s people’.
There was, at its time, wrong thinking about the crucifixion of Christ as was
shown for instance in the story of the 2 downcast disciples on the road to
Emmaus [see Luke 24:13-32]. However when Christ Himself joined them and
explained to them, by His teaching from the Old Testament scriptures, just what
had happened on the cross [penal/substitutionary atonement to save
sinners] then they realised that the crucifixion, far from being a
disaster, had in fact been a glorious redemptive triumph. It had been the
culmination of all that God had promised, in the Old Testament, to accomplish
through His Messiah and they rejoiced [their hearts ‘burned’ within them] when
they understood what had truly been accomplished by Christ’s crucifixion.
When properly understood, genuine
Christians join with the Apostle Paul in saying “God forbid that I should
glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” [Galatians 6:14].
But Steve Chalke in his ‘sermon’
focused on man’s perceived ‘felt needs’ [man’s worries about loneliness,
finances, health etc] as being the important and over-riding problems that
Christ’s resurrection can deal with instead of focusing, as Christ did with the
2 on the road to Emmaus, on how His crucifixion had dealt with man’s greatest
need – his need of having his sins forgiven by God and of being clothed in the
very righteousness of God.
The reason Steve Chalke focuses
on every need other than that caused by man’s sin is that he does not accept
the biblical truth that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was a “propitiation”
of God’s just wrath and anger against man’s sin – please remember that
according to Chalke God is only a God of love and nothing else – and
that Christ’s sacrifice was also an “expiation” of man’s guilt before
God because of man’s sin.
As far as Steve Chalke is
concerned, everyone in God’s world [and presumably this was his reason for
quoting Psalm 24] is now automatically back ‘in harmony’ with God [God’s ‘curse’
has apparently been reversed because of ‘Sunday’] and our
problem is that we don’t live in the light of this supposed ‘lost message
of Jesus’.
The heresy of Steve
Chalke that he was peddling in his so-called ‘sermon’ is best
summed up on pages 98-99 of his book ‘The Lost Message of
Jesus’ when he wrote –
‘The lost
and revolutionary heart of Jesus’ message is simply this. God accepts us as we
are, without judgement or condemnation and gradually through his love and
acceptance, draws us ever closer to understanding and living out his shalom in
our lives. IN OTHER WORDS ACCEPTANCE PRECEDES REPENTANCE – NOT THE OTHER WAY
ROUND’ [EMPHASIS MINE].
The following verses, just some of
many that could be quoted, identify what Steve Chalke has written here
as being nothing less than a false ‘gospel’ that is under the
very curse of God [see Galatians 1:6-9]. Steve Chalke wrote ‘acceptance
precedes repentance’ – God’s infallible word declares –
It is most important to note, in
the light of what we are considering, that these commands by God for men to “repent”
were made AFTER the resurrection of Christ, which, according to what Steve
Chalke has implied, absolves men from any ‘judgment or
condemnation’. This lie is further exposed by what Paul went on to say
in Acts 17:31 where we read “Because [following God’s
command to all men to repent] he [God] hath
appointed a day in which he will JUDGE the world in righteousness by that man [the Lord
Jesus Christ] whom he hath ordained; concerning which he hath given
assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead”.
In a little Bible Study book
on Acts, R P Martin, M.A., Ph.D wrote concerning this verse ‘As
Lord of history and of the Universe, it is His design to bring the world to its
consummation at the final day of reckoning. The proof of this final judgment
has been given in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead’.
According to this verse, Christ’s
resurrection actually guarantees and underpins God’s future JUDGMENT of the
world – it does not absolve all people from future judgment as Steve
Chalke’s false teaching implies.
Earlier I made reference to ‘the Lord
Himself who commands us to remember His crucifixion and the events of that day
as we meet around His table to break bread and drink wine’.
It is my sincere hope that Steve
Chalke does not compound his ‘heresy’ by participating in
Communion or the Lord’s Supper. That ordinance from the Lord would, in Steve
Chalke’s understanding and teaching, be calling on us to remember a day of
death, disaster and despair and surely what Saviour in His right mind would
want His followers by their actions to draw attention to such a humiliating ‘Friday’.
After all, according to Steve Chalke, the much more significant event
that, ‘changed both the world and the universe’ happened on ‘Sunday’
and yet, in the Lord’s wisdom, it is the events of ‘Friday’ that
He calls His people to “show” [1 Corinthians 11:26]. In Vine’s
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words we read this concerning the
meaning of “show” in 1 Corinthians 11:26 – “in the last passage the
partaking of the elements is not a ‘showing forth’ of it but a PROCLAMATION of
it” [Emphasis mine].
It would appear that Steve
Chalke foresees no problems for those who die unregenerate, unrepentant and
unconverted for, according to his teaching, we are all already ‘accepted
by God as we are, without judgement or condemnation’.
If the crucifixion of Christ,
according to Steve Chalke, pales into such insignificance in the light
of the resurrection of Christ, we must wonder why those early Saints of God
wrote such inspired words as we find in the following –
Paul:
“For the preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of
God” [1 Corinthians 1:18].
“But we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the gentiles foolishness. But unto
them who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ [crucified]
the power of God and the wisdom of God [1 Corinthians 1:23-24].
“And I brethren, when I came to
you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the
testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you except Jesus
Christ and him crucified” [1 Corinthians 2:1-2]
Peter:
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold…But with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” [1 Peter
1:18-19]
“because Christ also suffered for
us…who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree” [1 Peter
2:21&24]
“For Christ also hath once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” [1
Peter 3:18]
John:
“Behold the [sacrificial]
lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world” [John 1:29]
"I am the good shepherd, and know my
sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the
Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep" [John 10:14-15].
“Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” [1
John 4:10]
“John, to the seven churches…Grace be
unto you…And from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first
begotten of the dead…Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his
own blood” [Revelation 1:4-5]
“And they sang a new song saying, Thou
art worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; for thou wast slain and
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood” [Revelation 5:9]
The
writer to the Hebrews:
“But
Christ…neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he
entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us…How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God” [Hebrews 9:14]
“Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many” [Hebrews 9:28]
“But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right
hand of God…For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified” [Hebrews 10:12&14].
“God…hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son…who…when he had by himself purged our
sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” [Hebrews 1:1-3].
Steve Chalke has, by his teaching, so diluted and watered down the
significance and saving power of the shed blood of Christ [in reality he is preaching what I would describe as ‘an
anaemic gospel’] that
he would do well to ‘take heed’ to these warning verses in Hebrews
10: 28-29 “He that despised Moses’ law, died without mercy under two or three
witnesses; Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood
of the covenant, with which he [Christ]
was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done
despite unto the Spirit of grace”.
These verses warn of the intensity of the suffering in hell for those
who treat with unbelieving contempt the saving power of Christ’s shed blood on
the cross of Calvary.
The hypocritical behaviour and heretical teaching of Steve
Chalke should engender a
prayerful intensity in the hearts and lives of God’s true, believing people.
Cecil
Andrews – ‘Take Heed’ Ministries – 18 April 2006