The departure of Chuck Smith into heresy.

Back in the era when hippies did their thing, Chuck Smith was one of the leading lights in drawing people to God.  His teaching tapes were very well-known.  I have most of his collection stored somewhere in the house.  Today it would seem that Chuck Smith now joins the vast numbers who have chosen to join with others on the heretical list of people not to be associated with.  His church has quite recently endorsed the Emergent Church movement which is nothing more than unbelief by a pseudo name.  In the video you are about to see Chuck Smith openly endorses Rick Warren.  A man who has been openly exposed as a liar and a heretic.

Chuck Smith and his son found themselves a few years ago according to TODAY magazine Battling in court over control of their own Satellite Network’s.  The litigation involved allegations of financial mismanagement of ministry assists.  Further allegations from senior Pastors have further revealed that Chuck Smith as well as others in Calvary Chapel are dangerously lax in maintaining sexual standards among its leaders.

The quote reads :

“These men cannot call sin sin,” says one 20-year veteran pastor. Easy forgiveness, insiders say, has created an atmosphere of sexual license, where some unethical pastors sense that there are few consequences for sexual misconduct.  Additionally, former members and some pastors say Calvary Chapel fosters an authoritarian culture, where pastors believe they are accountable only to God. It has enticed some leaders to become power-hungry, avoid financial oversight, and, at times, become spiritually abusive, according to Calvary insiders.

Roger Oakland a well know advocate of truth has made this comment concerning this issue of Calvary Chapel displaying of Rick Warrens book

“Therefore, my 25 years of experience within the Calvary Chapel movement has provided the opportunity for me to be able to make observations about the Calvary Chapel movement. While this movement is made up of individuals who have various ideas (some are even supportive of Purpose Driven), the leader, Pastor Chuck Smith has made it clear on several occasions that he does not agree with the direction the Purpose Driven movement is headed.”

Yet as we see in this video Chuck invites his “friend” up to the platform.  So whatever Smiths previous concerns regarding Rick Warren, he has changed his position.

 Roger goes on to say

 “Further, pastors who attended the nation-wide Calvary Chapel Pastor’s Conferences held at Murrieta, California in either 2005 or 2006 would have heard Pastor Chuck explain in detail that Calvary Chapel pastors are not to be “Purpose Driven”. While there were some in attendance who were leaning towards Purpose Driven methods, Pastor Chuck emphasized Calvary Chapel was not going in that direction “

Yet by the evening August 16th 2009 on this video we see a complete U-turn.  That is less than three-year. What has happened in that time?

It has been reported that “on May 5^th 2009, Paul Smith, brother of Chuck Smith (the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement), was fired from his position in the Calvary Chapel (CCOF) organization during an unscheduled meeting that day. The motion to fire Paul Smith was made by board member Roger Wing and seconded by Chuck Smith’s son-in-law, Brian Broderson. Other board members affirmed the motion, and Paul Smith was dismissed.

For some time now Paul Smith, who has been in full-time ministry since 1951, has been putting forth tireless efforts to help keep contemplative and emerging spirituality out of the Calvary Chapel movement. At times, this caused conflict with other Calvary Chapel figures who did not resonate with these efforts.

A statement reads:

“Smith’s desire to codify and enforce not only the “Distinctives,” but positions on such matters as “The Shack” and secondary doctrinal issues was at odds with other people in leadership and that eventually cost him his job. Smith was working out of a deep desire to see his brothers legacy remain intact and define what was and wasn’t “Calvary Chapel.”

Another well-known chapel speaker Gayle Erwin has also come out in favour of the new age book the “SHACK” stating

  ““Riveting, with twists that defy your expectations while teaching powerful theological lessons without patronizing. I was crying by page 100. You cannot read it without your heart becoming involved.”

 While previous positions by Smith and Calvary Chapel against such teaching existed in 2006 there appears to be a total turn around by 2009. 

 For those of you that don’t know the SHACK is a deplorable book that presents God as three women.  The Holy Spirit being the name of some Hindu River.  The appeal of the book is that God would take a man back to the shack where his young daughter was raped and killed.  As if God was into more physical abuse.  Its appeals has more to do with the books emotional appeal than any doctrinal accuracy

It has also been stated that while Calvary Chapel denounced the “SHACK”, Gayle Erwin continues to speak at Calvary Chapel

In the summer of 2008 it was also reported that Greg Laurie another well-known speaker and pastor connected to Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel gave financial support to Rick Warren’s New York Crusade and called the Purpose Driven Movement a move of God.  While this was denied in a statement we can see from the following video dated August 16th 2009 that this was a lie.

It is also believes that what is happening at the Calvary chapel is not a mere accident.  The same thing is happening to almost every evangelical denomination and organization of any size in North America.  The rise of the new spirituality is partly because of the rise of emergent spirituality across Christian colleges and universities.  Biola University, for instance, where many Calvary Chapel pastors have attended and graduated, is deeply involved in this “new spirituality.”

It is also partly due to the influence of such men as Rick Warren and Bill Hybels and the Emergent Church movement.  All of which are heavily trenched in Holistic and mystical practices.

DR Rick Levy has revealed  that in 2008 17 million Americans were practicing meditation (eastern-style). That number is up from 10 million in 2003. At that rate, in another five years it will probably be somewhere between 20 and 25 million. There is no doubt that this surge of mysticism will have a profound effect on virtually every North American family. This statistic is sobering when you consider what Richard Kirby observed:

“The meditation of advanced occultists is identical with the prayer of advanced mystics; it is no accident that both traditions use the same word for the highest reaches of their respective activities: contemplation.” (Mission of Mysticism, p. 7)

Mysticism (i.e., the occult) is overtaking all segments of society, and this means that the world is falling under the spell of sorceries (magical arts) that according to the book of Revelation will deceive all nations (Revelation 18:23). 

We close with this: In Reimagining Christianity, by Alan Jones  he talks about a mystical spirituality in which not only all the world’s religions will be united but all humanity will be united whether religious or not. On the back cover of Jones’ book, Brian McLaren claims that this view “stimulates” and “encourages” him “deeply” and that Christianity is moving away from “dogma” (doctrine) toward “authentic spirituality” (mysticism).

With the termination of Paul Smith and the embracing of and teaming up with an emerging church there can be no doubt which road Calvary Chapel is heading down

All of this makes for frightening reading however the worse this appear to get the closer  the return of the Lord Jesus is,  Prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes.