Last year, Saddleback Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch formerly pastored by Rick Warren, made headlines after Warren ordained three women to the pastorate at his church. Warren justified his actions by pointing to Acts 2:17-18 which has nothing at all to do with the office or the function of a pastor or elder in a local church.
Since then, Warren retired and has been replaced by Andy Wood, former pastor of Echo Church—another Southern Baptist megachurch of a similar mind as Saddleback. Like Saddleback, Echo Church also ordained women to the pastorate and as soon as he took over the pastorate at Saddleback, he named his wife, Stacie, “teaching pastor.”
In 2019 and in 2020, both former Southern Baptist Convention presidents, Ed Litton and JD Greear made headlines after their tandem preaching sessions teaching that the Bible whispers about homosexuality. In those sermons, which Litton plagiarized from Greear, they both stated that the Bible condemns greed far more than it does homosexuality.
JD Greear praised Rick Warren and congratulated him for finishing well after he announced his retirement earlier this year. But finish well, Rick Warren did not. Rick Warren is a complete and total apostate false teacher with absolutely no qualifications to teach or preach the Scriptures.
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So it should come as no surprise that his replacement will be just like him, JD Greear, and Ed Litton—particularly on homosexuality. Warren named Andy Wood, former lead pastor of Echo Church, to be his replacement. And Andy Wood, like Litton and Greear, also believes that the Scriptures whisper about homosexuality.
But that isn’t Wood’s only heresy. Wood appears to be some kind of modified universalist who denies the necessity of repentance and faith for salvation. Much like his predecessor, Rick Warren, Wood preached a sermon recently claiming that Jesus came to eat with sinners not for the purpose of calling them to repent and believe, but in order to “show his true heart” for these people and accept them, love them, and “invite them to the party.”
“Some of the best parties are parties with a purpose, and some of the worst parties are parties where we were trying to avoid reality,” Wood said. “But what I want to tell you today is that God actually wants to invite you to a party. And from the beginning of time, God has been working to throw one massive party for humanity to experience his heart.”
Wood then offered three ways that you could come to the party, none of which included repentance, faith, or the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The three ways included “reconsidering my understanding of God,” “re-evaluating my source of fulfillment,” and “return to my heavenly father” which included “coming to him” and “recognizing that there is love and compassion.” Not a single word about sin, repentance, faith, or being born again, which Jesus says one must do to enter the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said not once, but twice, that unless you repent, you will perish in Luke 13:2-5:
And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
The Scriptures are not ambiguous in any way—Jesus and the Apostles did not mince words when they talked about turning from sin and coming to Christ. God does not have compassion on unrepentant sin.
Andy Wood is a false teacher, a blasphemer, an idolater, and a perverter of God’s word who will happily lead multitudes straight to the pits of hell with his false teachings—and the Southern Baptist Convention seems to be on track to once again endorse him as they always have.