Francis Chan has been on a downward spiral for a long time. Chan is a graduate of both John MacArthur’s Master’s University and Seminary, an unusually solid, seminary that teaches rightly on such important doctrines as the sovereignty of God, the inerrancy of Scripture, and the cessation of the apostolic sign gifts. He was the founder and former pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California. Chan is now a well-known conference speaker, regularly preaching alongside questionable, at best charismatics such as Mike Bickle of IHOPKC and many others.
Chan, despite his solid theological educational background, is highly compromised. Earlier this year in April, at an ecumenical gathering of charismatics and Catholics, Chan removes his shoes on stage while several Catholic priests pray over him. At the same event, Chan declines to share the gospel with a Catholic, stating “I don’t believe the Holy Sprit wants me to.”
It appears that Chan is now embracing Roman Catholic doctrine on a deeper level than most people previously would have expected. Chan — who once referred to himself as a Calvinist — several years ago rebuked an apologist who spake at his church against the errors of Roman Catholicism. Now, Chan appears to be embracing one of the most horrific and idolatrous doctrines of the Roman Catholic Mass, transubstantiation.
Transubstantiation is a doctrine that teaches that the bread and wine of communion are not symbolic — as the Scriptures teach — but the literal and actual body and blood of Jesus. And further, by eating it, you are consuming the literal flesh of Jesus as a means of salvation. The bread and the wine in the Roman Catholic Church are worshipped literally as though it is Jesus Christ himself.
In the video below, you can hear Chan beginning to embrace this and acting as though this is a historical and biblical practice of the Church. In the video, he blames the “error” of viewing communion as symbolic on the Protestant Reformation stating that “it wasn’t until 500 years ago that someone popularized the thought that it’s [communion] just a symbol and nothing more.”
It is really fascinating to watch the direction Chan has taken. See the video below for yourself.
