The TRUTH about chuck smith and his CULT

Chuck Ward Smith graduated from LIFE Bible College (a Foursquare college) and was ordained as a pastor for the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. In the late 1950s Smith was the campaign manager and worship director for healing evangelist Paul Cain. He pastored several churches which did not grow under his pastorship. After being a pastor for a different denomination, he left his denomination to pastor a non-denominational church plant in Corona, California, and eventually moved to a church called Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California in December 1965. It was the only church on Church Street in Costa Mesa. The church had been planted by Pastor Floyd Nelson as a ministry to shut-in's begun with a small group of people in a mobile home park populated mainly by senior citizens. From there they moved to a Girl Scout building and eventually to Church Street which is where the church was meeting when Chuck Smith was hired as the "pulpit pastor."

In March 1968, Smith brought into his home pentecostal evangelist Lonnie Frisbee. Lonnie was 18 years old. Chuck Smith paired him up with John Higgins who already had a Bible study going for youth and they started a Christian commune called "The House of Miracles." John and Lonnie went out into community to reach the youth with the gospel during the early days of the Jesus movement.

Lonnie Frisbee is the "Founder" of the Calvary Chapel Movement Cult. He was the one who drew the hippies, drug addicts and bikers in. He grew the church from a few hundred to a few thousand. Once Smith had a church of a few thousand he fired Frisbee and hired a man to be his assistant pastor. He never paid Frisbee for his work and passed him over when he hired his first assistant pastor. That's gratitude for you. He had to fire Frisbee because Frisbee was Calvary Chapel, not Chuck Smith.

The church in Santa Ana grew, and more than 35,000 people attend services each week. Over 1,500 churches have branched out from his church. Some of these churches are led by those whom Smith discipled including: Greg Laurie, Jon Courson, Mike MacIntosh, Joe Focht, Raul Ries, Xavier Ries, Skip Heitzig, Bill Gallatin and Malcolm Wild.

Smith is the author and co-author of several books. (It is highly likely that most of the books with his name on them were written by ghost writers. If some were written by ghost writers he should say so otherwise he is being dishonest.) Titles of his books include Answers for Today; Calvary Chapel Distinctives; Calvinism, Arminianism & The Word of God; Charisma vs. Charismania; Comfort for Those Who Mourn; Effective Prayer Life; Harvest; Living Water; The Claims of Christ; The Gospel According to Grace; The Philosophy of Ministry of Calvary Chapel; Why Grace Changes Everything; Love: The More Excellent Way; The Final Act; and others. All of his books on eschatology contradict Scripture and they are riddled with errors. He also makes some false prophecies as noted below.

Charles Ward Smith is a false prophet!

Chuck Smith made a clear statement in his book, Future Survival, that the Lord would Rapture the Church before the end of 1981:

From my understanding of biblical prophecies, I’m convinced that the Lord is coming for His Church before the end of 1981. I could be wrong, but it’s a deep conviction in my heart, and all my plans are predicated upon that belief. (p. 20, emphasis mine)

Deep convictions should not be the basis for doctrine. Scripture is the only basis for doctrine, never feelings or convictions. If he truly believes the Rapture can take place at any moment all of his plans should have been predicated upon that belief.

We do not know why he chose 1981 for the date of the Rapture, but it’s possible that he believed the teaching of Hal Lindsey. In his book, The Late Great Planet Earth, Lindsey speculated that a generation was 40 years. He believed the Lord would return 40 years after the establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948 because the Lord said that everything mentioned in the Olivet Discourse would take place before the “generation” that sees Israel become a nation again passes away (Matthew 24.32-34). Since the Rapture takes place seven years earlier it should have taken place in 1981.

Besides thinking 40 years was the Biblical length of a generation, he thought the return of Haley’s comet might be a fulfillment of prophecy. He speculated that the return of Haley’s comet might be one of the “signs in heavens” that Jesus spoke of:

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, man fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (Luke 21.25-27)

Smith went on to speculate that the tail of Haley’s comet could “affect the balance of the earth’s ozone blanket” and “the sun’s ultraviolet rays would begin to scorch people upon the earth” (Ibid., p. 20). Then he wrote:

The Lord said that towards the end of the Tribulation period the sun would scorch men who dwell upon the face of the earth (Rev. 16). The year 1986 would fit just about right! We’re getting close to the Tribulation and the return of Jesus Christ in glory! (Ibid., p. 21, emphasis mine)

We are 30 years further down the road from when Smith wrote his book, Future Survival (1980), and there are still many things that must happen before the Rapture takes place. He continued to exhort the Church to be ready for the Rapture:

All the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. God is warning you. (Ibid., p. 21)

Smith did not stop there. He noted how Jesus had rebuked the Pharisees for not knowing “the signs of My coming.” He also quoted Paul’s exhortation that Christians are not “children of darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5.4). He concluded that chapter by saying:

    Christ’s return shouldn’t come as a surprise to the child of God. God has given us plenty of evidence to look for – and that evidence is here now!  We can      see it! And so, with Paul the apostle I say to you that all of our futures are foreshortened. We don’t have time to be involved in nonessential things. The time has     come to let out all the stops and go for it – because our Lord is coming very soon! (Ibid., pp. 21-22, emphasis mine)

 The Rapture should not come as a surprise to Christians who know what warning signs to look for. The problem is that too many Christians do not know the specific warning signs that we should be looking for to know when the Rapture is near. We encourage every Christian to memorize the What (those warning signs), and to diligently look for them to know the When (time of the Rapture).

Smith made another prediction of sorts in 2010 on his “Pastor’s Perspective” radio program:

 I do think that the Antichrist is in the world. I think that he is alive, and I think that he is chomping at the bit to take over the reins of the world. (1.14.2010, emphasis mine)

 When the Antichrist is revealed and it is shown that he was not an adult in 2010, it will mean Smith was wrong in his belief that the Antichrist was ready to take rulership of the world.

Charles Ward Smith is a false teacher!

Smith teaches numerous false doctrines. The primary one is that a true believer can walk away from his salvation. Smith uses the example of Charles Templeton, an evangelist from Canada who toured Europe with Billy Graham preaching the Gospel. n 1948 he attended Princeton Theological Seminary and fought a long struggle with his faith. He finally declared himself to be an agnostic and in 1995, he described his eventual rejection of his faith in his final published work, Farewell to God : my reasons for rejecting the Christian faith. According to Smith if a true believer stops abiding in Christ he walks away from his salvation. The Bible is explicitly clear that everyone who trust in YAHSHUA of Nazareth to save them has eternal life (John 3.16; 5.24) and cannot lose, give up, forfeit or walk away from it (John 6.37-40; 10.28-29; Romans 8.38-39; 1 John 5.11-13).

Smith teaches that during YAHSHUA'S incarnation He gave up His deity and was no longer a member of the Trinity:

"The Father was not put in subject to the Son, but the Son willingly to the Father. Now, when this purpose is accomplished then Jesus will once again take His place in the Triune Godhead. And no longer will there be that, uh, position of a little lower than the angels, but now returned in the glory and as he prayed Father, glorify me with the glory I had with thee before the world ever was. When God said "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness". And so, uh that's the way that things are going to progress until there is just one God, the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ruling over the universe. All things then in subjection to Him. That God may be all and in all." (Chuck Smith)

The truth is that YAHSHUA has never left the Triune Godhead. Colossian 2:9 says, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Jesus was deity when He was here on the earth. He said that was a test for salvation: John 8:24 "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."

Smith teaches the "Young Earth" hypothesis. This heresy has been refuted by real theologians and scientists. For absolute proof that this hypothesis is NOT biblical and heretical. Take the Young Earth Challenge - http://www.freeworldfilmworks.com/hh-youngearthchallenge.htm

Smith teaches that Christians will not identify the Antichrist prior to the Rapture but Scripture says just the opposite: