Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and co-founder of the Calvary Chapel movement. His daughter is reporting his lung cancer has moved from Stage 3 to Stage 4.
A Facebook update and now the Christian Post is reporting that Chuck Smith, the co-founder of the Calvary Chapel movement / denomination and pivotal player in the Jesus People revival…has had a set-back in his battle against lung cancer.
From the Facebook update:
“Update on my dad: Prayer warriors, it is time to put on your armor and fight in the spiritual arena. Dad’s doctors just upgraded his lung cancer from Stage 3 to Stage 4, due to the fluid in his lung. This fluid contains cancer cells. He just had the fluid removed for the second time. He will enter the hospital on July 1st to have more fluid removed (which will take two days) and a CAT scan to see if his lung is expanding. If his lung does not expand, he will have to have a catheter installed in the lung area to help him to empty the fluid at home. If his lung does expand, they will put talc into his lung to keep the fluid from forming. The talc procedure is simpler and preferable for various reasons. Please ask the Lord for His perfect plan for Dad to be accomplished. We trust our Heavenly Father to know best. Thank you eternally for praying.”
The Christian Post reports on the Chuck Smith Cancer Watch here: http://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-chuck-smith-suffers-setback-in-battle-with-lung-cancer-98610/
Before I launch into a massive philosophical point for consideration, I wish Chuck Sr. the best and my prayer is not so much that he’s healed…the dude is pushing 90…he’s gotta die of something….my prayer is that he passes peacefully and without pain and that his family has a little more time with him and that their grief over his passing, while painful, will be mitigated by their mutual love for each other and remembrance of the good things about their pops.
I will give a prophetic word: Chuck Smith Sr. is going to die.
I grew up a Calvary Chapel Pastor’s Kid (CCPK). I’ve observed the teaching, rhetoric and actions of many in leadership my entire life. Some of the most disappointing moments have been as a result of observing the head-honcho/Guru/Prophet Chuck Smith himself.
Over the years, Smith’s poor leadership has led to a rather pervasive belief (both articulated and exampled) of a dangerous Doctrine: The Doctrine of Divine Retribution.
I’ve been told my Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa insiders and many others inside the CC Bubble (former and current) that Smith believes God has zapped/nuked/punished even killed some folks who have “touched God’s anointed” and opposed, what Smith believes, is “the work of the Lord!” in the form of Smith’s Calvary Chapel ministry.
There are a couple of anecdotal examples, almost lore, of a couple of people dying not terribly long after challenging Smith. When you’re a magnet like Smith and Calvary Chapel and when you are dealing with literally millions of people in a 2,000 church non-denomination denomination, odds are there will be a ton of people who give you some perceived trouble and odds are, a few of them are going to die at some time proximate to your perceived slight.
Well, as is Smith’s and Calvary Chapel’s tendency, they “see” what they want to see and ignore the rest. They read the headlines with an ever-changing and rather selective prophetic eye with a penchant to embrace what fits their narrative and ignore the vast amount of information that contradicts it. Similarly, Smith and Calvary Chapel latch on to a couple of very rare examples in their history as “proof” that God zapped/nuked/killed an “enemy of God’s work!” who challenged them…and this myth is still quietly embraced to this day.
So much so that this toxic mythology spilled over into Calvary Chapel Land itself…I am told by several sources that it was widely believed in Calvary Chapel circles that Greg Laurie’s son died in the car accident as a punishment from God for Greg moving in on the lucrative Southern California Orange County market with his Harvest franchise. Pretty sickening stuff…but it’s true.
Chuck Smith’s and Calvary Chapel’s Doctrine of Divine Retribution is articulated very soberly by Chuck Smith here in a warning to a Christianity Today reporter here:
During the investigation for this article, Smith cautioned CT’s reporter: “The Lord warns, ‘Don’t touch my anointed. Do my prophet no harm.’ I think that you are trying to do harm to the work of God. I surely wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”–Chuck Smith, Christianity Today article investigating Calvary Chapel 2007.
Chuck’s message? Mess with “God” (which equals Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel in his deluded mind) and God will get you!
OK, live by the sword, die by the sword. If God is real, I think he has quite a sense of irony.
Chuck Smith lied, misrepresented, mishandled, covered over, went against his conscience, attacked me using his overwhelming advantage as a very powerful and influential public figure, hurt me tremendously…and back-handedly threatened me with God’s judgment from the Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa pulpit here: http://youtu.be/n6ydHm_lwKs
I commented shortly after (on this very blog) that something innately told me that Chuck Smith had just called down judgment on himself.
A month or so later, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer. It’s now back with a vengeance.
“Touch not God’s anointed, do my prophet no harm!” says Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel.
Doctrine of Divine Retribution? Ananias and Saphira exampled today? Or, shear coincidence?
I can GUARAN-FRICKIN-TEE you that if I had come down with lung cancer a month after Chuck’s fatwa from the CC Costa Mesa pulpit….Chuck and his cult-followers would have claimed “God GOT him! Praise God!”
It’s a dangerously vindictive, unloving, non-unilateral forgiveness, non-gracious, non-merciful, non-Jesus of the Gospels Doctrine…and it is the Doctrine that Chuck Smith and much of Calvary Chapel examples over the years…which is more a statement of their true belief and doctrine than professions of “Love” over and over in an attempt to PR their way into a softer side.
Don’t buy the Smiley Papa Chuck persona. Underneath the veneer is a man who truly believes he’s a prophet and that God is on “his side” and that God will get you if you challenge his “ministry”…his “ministry” which is his god.
Aspiring Calvary Chapel Pastors out there who read this: Don’t be like Chuck Smith, Raul Ries, Bob Grenier and many others of the bad CC pastors out there who embrace and example this anti-Jesus of the Gospels Doctrine. God is not in the business of “destroying his enemies!” (which oddly seem to be whoever your enemies happen to be, how convenient). If the Law of Love, if Love Your Neighbor, if Unilateral Forgiveness are the “New” Testament…if Jesus Christ of the Gospels is truly God’s Logos (his utterance)…then this Doctrine is Old Testament driven error and more a function of man’s desire to conquer those he considers his enemy while pinning it on God.
Chuck, God truly loves you despite your error. May those you’ve inspired learn more from your mistakes than from your perceived successes.
The right example: I disagree with you, I think you have wronged me and my family terribly and misused your immense power. I forgive you unilaterally and wish you well and I hope God will have mercy on you and give you peace and give your family a bit more time. God, have mercy on Chuck Smith. If you are truly a God of Love, do not judge him, do not enact vengeance upon him. Stay your hand and accept the sacrifice of your own Son, Jesus Christ, as payment for “all” of our sin both past and present and to come. Amen.
