In previous years, Max Lucado, pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, TX, has always been thought of as a fairly orthodox teacher with a few issues, including a watered-down view of sin and the gospel. Lucado has always been soft on these issues, but in the last few years, he has taken a sharp turn to the left and is embracing a form of spirituality that attempts to bridge the gap between biblical Christianity and progressivism.

Lucado’s drift began several years ago as he began shifting his views on homosexuality. In 2020, he gave a glowing endorsement of the pro-gay, far-left feminist and professing Christian, Jen Hatmaker. Hatmaker has made campaigning for the normalization of sexual immorality her primary mission in life and has a massive following of lost people who endorse her. To make matters worse, she also partners with pro-abortion political groups to advocate for “women’s rights” — read, abortion rights. Bottom line; Jen Hatmaker is nothing more than a voice for Satan himself disguised as an angel of light.

Yet, Lucado joined her in a podcast and sang her praises, stating, “I think so highly of you. You energize me,” and “You bring me in touch with a circle of believers that I might not typically have contact with, you know?”

One could argue that Lucado was just trying to be cordial with her, but doesn’t necessarily agree with her views on these issues. But that simply cannot be the case. He referred to Hatmaker and her circle of people as a “circle of believers”–these people are anything but believers.

Further, it wasn’t much longer before Lucado softened up even more on homosexuality. Earlier this year, Lucado issued an apology to homosexuals for previously preaching against their lifestyle. After he was invited to speak at the Washington National Cathedral, a pro-LGBTQ professing church, he issued a letter of apology asking for forgiveness for his words which he says “have hurt or been used to hurt the LGBTQ community.”

“Faithful people may disagree about what the Bible says about homosexuality,” Lucado says in the letter, “but we agree that God’s holy Word must never be used as a weapon to wound others.” He also said that he believes in a “God of unbounded grace and love” and that “LGBTQ individuals and LGBTQ families must be respected and treated with love” because they are “made in the image and likeness of God.”

To make matters worse, Lucado also preached a heretical view of the Holy Spirit at this same event, referring to the Holy Spirit as a female, referring to Him as “the mother heart of God.”

Lucado also takes an unorthodox view of the doctrine of sin and has completely embraced the heretical “woke” movement. At a prayer event that he led in San Antonio, Lucado knelt before a crowd of people and begged God to forgive him–him personally–for his ancestors possibly owning slaves.

Lucado’s continual slide into progressivism is a clear indicator that he is not being sanctified in the truth by God’s word (John 17:17), but rather leading people away from the truth. He should not be considered a reliable Bible teacher by any biblical standard.