Narcigesis – A biblical hermeneutic where one reads themselves into the bible and writes God out of it. [Source]
Steven Furtick is internationally recognized as King of the Narcigetes for a good reason: he seems to only read himself into the biblical text. The problem with this hermeneutical approach is that Jesus says that the scriptures point to Him.
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” John 5:39-40
Because of this, many people consider Elevation Church a cult because how Steven Furtick elevates himself to a messiah-like status. The below video snippet futher strengthens the case that Elevation should be avoided.
This linked video below was uploaded by Elevation Church onto Steven Furtick’s Facebook account.
Learn to prepare yourself in advance for the temptations you will face. http://sfm.cta.gs/034
Source: Steven Furtick, FaceBook, https://www.facebook.com/StevenFurtick/videos/1139336036087810/, 26/05/2016. (Accessed 30/05/2016.)
Remember, Steven Furtick is reading himself into the passage where the devil tempted Jesus to turn stones to bread. Remember what Satan said to Jesus: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (See point 6 below.)
RECOGNISING A SERVANT OF SATAN
“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness…”
2 Corinthians 11:14-15
A few observations:
- Furtick is talking/preaching to the devil (not wise). (Jude 1)
- To those he acknowledges in his sermon who don’t believe in the devil, we can only conclude that they are to assume that they have the devil within themselves to speak to.
- Furtick applies the title ‘the Son of God‘ to himself. This can be considered a slip up. But…
- Furtick claims the “Father” spoke to him that morning, reminding “me that He loves me and that He’s pleased with me”. So Furtick is NOT talking about Jesus here – he is talking about himself. The Messianic Furtick is the one on stage now speaking.
- When he is about to slightly declare the good news that he is forgiven by God – he snuffs the gospel nugget out by changing the subject: “help me preach!”
Why did he do this? We can be considered sons of God if we are forgiven through Christ’s atoning work and born again by His Spirit. Why did he change the topic? - Finally – and the most important: It was Satan that tempted Jesus to turn the stones to bread. Although Jesus claimed the scriptures and did not follow Satan’s instruction, Furtick is doing the exact opposite to Jesus and says his god will make him do it: “I’m not going to do it because I think I can, I am doing it because God says I can!”
We’ve often observed in the church how Satan is using ministers to tempt the body of Christ to speak to their circumstances (turn stones to bread); to step out in faith (or off the boat) so God can work the miraculous to make their testimony powerful (step off the temple); and to submit to “the vision” so you can expand your ministry through the nations (bend the knee to Satan to gain the world).
In this snippet that Elevation Church uploaded, Furtick isn’t even hiding it. He is claiming his (lower case) “god” will turn the stones to bread “because god says I can”.
At least Furtick has made it clear who his god is.
Steven Furtick says the following to Satan (Satan asking Furtick to turn stones to bread),
“If you are the son of god? You don’t have to tell me who I am! I know who I am. I’ve always been the Son of god. I’ve always been a child of god. In fact I just spoke with my Father this morning and He reminded me that He loves me and that He’s pleased with me!
I’m not the ‘son of god of god+’ that you say I am! I’m a son of god because god says I am. I’m not confident because of what I can do, I am confident because of what god says He WILL do! I’m not forgiven because I’ve earned acceptance, I’m forgiven because god says He has forgi- help me preach!
I’m not going to do it because I think I can, I am doing it because god says I can!”
Source: Steven Furtick, Whatever, Whatever, Elevation Church, http://elevationchurch.org/sermons/whatever-whatever/, Uploaded 09/02/2014. (Accessed 29/05/2016.)
Email all comments and questions to c3churchwatch@hotmail.com.
Categories: Elevation
regardless of how anyone interprets whatever furtick was trying to say or did say, one thing is clear….
furtick always gives a muddied message and regardess of whatever day you tune in to hear him…. its ALWAYS BIZARRE.
i cant stand to listen to the guy for more than a few minuste.
Reblogged this on Sun & Shield and commented:
Steven Furtick displays in the video here how false teachers with their false doctrines can be so subtle, especially when they churn up emotional hype around their message. Furtick calls himself “the son of God” and says he’s “always been the son of God.” This post comes thanks to the vigilance of the folks at the Church Watch Central blog.
Furtick takes all his cues from the WoFers. Its the same rhetoric they spew. If you have watched one, you have watched them all. The typical catch-phrases, one-liners, and organ music in the background is so predictable.
Anyone else notice how skinny he was? He’s huge now. Oh and he still preaches false doctrine.
Get a life people. I don’t see you out there preaching and trying to reach people. Instead you focus on”defrauding” people that are actually doing the will of God. I seriously doubt God called you to bitch and complain. Like I said, get a life. Life is too short to be so bitter. If you don’t like him, don’t listen to him. Plain and simple.
“I don’t see you out there preaching and trying to reach people.”
This site is reaching people. So much for seeing…
“I don’t see you out there preaching and trying to reach people.”
how do you know? you dont even know what we look like you idiot.
This is a misrepresentation of Furtick.
Furtick was not talking about himself. He was talking about the discussion between Jesus and Satan. What you have quoted above (“If you are the son of god? You don’t have to tell me who I am! I know who I am…” etc) is actually Furtick paraphrasing Jesus’ reply to Satan.
Furtick is not claiming to be the Messiah. He is merely speaking as though he were Jesus speaking back to Satan in Matthew 4.
Of course such a reply is problematic. Jesus doesn’t say all the stuff that Furtick goes on to say. Furtick’s ability to preach the word has serious problems – assuming of course he didn’t qualify his statements after the video ends. You don’t place words in God’s mouth.
But was Furtick claiming to be the Messiah? No. Watch and listen to the video carefully.
I’m certainly no fan of Furtick, but on this one, I agree with Neil Cameron – I took it the same way Neil did. At worst it may be a bit ambiguous in that Furtick did not make a clear distinction as to when he was quoting scripture and just speaking. There’s plenty of other dodgy things he says to call out; I would have let this one slide because it’s not clear cut.
I agree with Neil Cameron and TheOracle. I came here looking for sketchy stuff about Furtick and was disappointed to find this instead. He clearly wasn’t claiming to be Jesus. If Furtick is preaching sketchy stuff, then this should be the place to expose it so people can avoid false doctrine. Instead people who might actually click on this page due to concern about who they are listening to are going to leave this page feeling justified that Furtick must be ok if there was nothing better to call him on.
Thanks for commenting Matt. We do have other articles on Furtick.
https://churchwatchcentral.com/?s=furtick
https://hillsongchurchwatch.com/2014/07/10/brian-houston-loves-super-apostle-steven-furtick/
https://c3churchwatch.com//?s=furtick&search=Go
Cheers, Team Churchwatch
Furtick says Jesus was the ‘second Adam”. Wrong. He is the “last Adam.” I Corinthians 15:45
He also is the 2nd Adam just like Furtick said.
Wow! Are you serious? You really got that, Pastor Furtick claims to be the son of god by watching that clip? You sir, are a complete moron and I use the word sir loosely.
It is very clear to me in Mat. 7:15-20 that you will know G-ds disciples by their fruit. Im sure you will pervert that passage to mean something different as well.
I challenge you to put your fruit against that of Elevation and Pastor Furtick. I have no doubt that your fruit is rotten…how many people have you lead to Christ in the past 12 months with all your efforts? How many lives have you impacted for the cause of Christ? Impacted as in marriages restored, drug addicts and alcoholics cured, millions of dollars given to outside ministries, tens of thousands of meals for local homeless. I can go on but you’re not worth it.
Sincerely,
a broken man who’s life is changed because because of Elevation Church.
Joe Peso – it is no stretch to make the claim that Steven Furtick has cult-like Messianic complex. This is the same Furtick that allowed a message be preached about him by Perry Noble that Elevation Church was blessed to see and hear Furtick and his teachings. Noble replaced Jesus with Furtick when Jesus was in fact talking about himself.
“how many people have you lead to Christ in the past 12 months with all your efforts?”
Why would you send pagans to Elevation? Furtick said it himself, “If you know Jesus, then I am sorry to break it to you, this church is not FOR you. You’re in the army now.”
Why are you defending those Jesus calls “lawless ones” and in the same comment accuse us of not evangelising?
That’s like a nazi in Nazi Germay defending Hitler and taking issue with Churchhill for not seeing how amazing Hitler has been for Germany. You should be offended by the fact he uses evangelism to justify the expansion of his narcissistic empire.
The bible is about Christ NOT Steven Furtick. He is not the Christ. In fact your God WARNS you to avoid Steven Furtick – but you zealously defend and show your hatred towards Jesus Christ in the process. Either get out of the Christian and join the goats or repent of your sins and submit to Christ’s Word.