The Thoughts and Writings of Chris Hodges

Quick Thoughts: The Church of the Highlands and Chris Hodges

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I would like to know more, sincerely, of how you think they are being taken out of context.

I also did not hear in that message anywhere that it says hell is waiting for those who are poor. You mention his pull quote: I also am not attacking you or saying you are wrong. Which leads me to your thoughts on Highlands College — in this point I could not agree with you more. I see it as a next steps for people who want to be on staff at church. Especially a church that is ministering to thousands of people a week. I appreciate your thoughts and critiques because I think through tension we grow as individuals. If that shocks or alarms you, I understand.

Then, at around God does not give a guaranteed set of principles to bring about financial abundance in the Scriptures. The take that Chris Hodges has on Habakkuk 1, 2 Cor. I imagine that you, like many, have a rather caricatured misunderstanding of what the prosperity gospel entails. They only talk about all the opportunities, promises, covenant-provided blessings, etc. Chris Hodges teaches gospel plus. Jesus talked about that in Mark 4 with the parable of the sower, among other places.

I just loved the music and it was a church I could bare to sit thru for a little over an hour. They operated out of a conference hall and were totally portable at that time. Another thing I liked is Chris very rarely asked for a tithe. There is an offering of course, but never did they pump it up and pressure you to give. A few years later I hit rock bottom. A month later, a friend of mine got me to go out and party, drink, and do cocaine. It was my ex and she had a bad accident. She told me her phone was lost in the wreck and she used a phone from a lady at a gas station.

She also said my number was the only one she could remember. I raced to her and ended up in the hospital with her. She only had a few cuts and bruises even though her car flipped a few times. I believe God used that wreck to speak to me.

…for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers – 1 Timothy 4:16

He knew I was about to be headed in the wrong direction. The next day, I went to Highlands on Easter by myself. I burst into tears during his invitation and asked Jesus to come into my heart. I never fee pressured to give money.

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As Christians, we should all come together and stop fighting with each other. You can live in a mud hut and be rich. Rich with life, compassion, and happiness. Keep studying the scriptures and try hard to learn to interpret them properly. Learn about things like hermeneutics and exegesis and build your skill in handling the sword of the Spirit. Read the Scripture and obey it. As you continue to grow you may also move on to somewhere else. Everything was slickly packaged. The people were as nice as they could be.

My wife and I, after handing off our children to childcare, were given keyring cards to reclaim them. There was no room for us to sit in the sanctuary. As a matter of fact, there was no sanctuary at all. Church as pop art. And why should he reference Pastor Haggard as frequently as it seems you sound to think he should. The creator of all things. Pastor Chris is very realistic and very down to earth. He teaches straight from the Bible and gives more biblical references in one sermon than I have EVER hear Osteen mention in the multiple times I have watched him on t.

He backs everything he teaches us up with scripture. Therefore I think you have not done your research very well. Had you truly researched for you derogatory opinionated article of a body of Christ who loves you and every single person in this world, you would have maybe made an appointment with him or one of the associate pastors that hold him accountable.

Or perhaps if this article were truly important to present proper information, maybe you would have joined us for service in person. There are definitely people who disagree and even say they hate our church. Because we still love you and them. And we welcome you to any of our campuses anytime. We would be honored to welcome you, serve you, and pray for you in any way that you needed.

Again, I hold nothing but love for you but you have gotten every aspect of your article in presenting it to the public wrong. God bless you and have a blessed and prosperous day and life! I really hope you take John up on his offer to bring you down here. I know you will change your mind about the church and Pastor Chris. None of you COTH people seem to even have a clue what is going on here. However, if you actually wanted to find out the truth about the place and the person you have blogged about then you would take him up on his offer, it costs you nothing.

However, to proclaim Christ and then bash a church and person with little knowledge of the church or person is just as wrong of a representation of who Christ is as the allegations you made in your blog. Nothing in this blog says come follow Jesus. However, it would be wise to think and research before you speak.

I am going to have to disagree with you on this one. I listened to the sermon you linked, and it seems to me like you took one statement from that sermon and used it out of context. That sermon was not a presentation of the prosperity gospel. If anything it was a presentation of a generosity gospel. Never once did Chris Hodges say God wants us wealthy for our benefit. That message was all about being a good steward of whatever God blesses you with for the sole purpose of having excess so that you can bless others. For scripture on living in the margin and being a good steward of Gods money, see Proverbs.

And it is true not only of our finances but also of our time, our emotions, or energy, etc. This is the same promise God gave to Abraham in Genesis- you will be blessed so that you may be a blessing to others; use the blessings to fulfill the Great Commission. Jesus tells us that he came to earth to give us a full life.

That is the opposite extreme to the prosperity gospel, and neither are accurate. In that sermon, Chris Hodges dos not preach from either extreme. In fact, his focus was not even on what God could give us but rather what we should do with what He gives us. God is joy, freedom, blessing, and goodness. To say He wants something less than that for his children is to deny Him the glory He deserves by being a good Father who goes above and beyond for His beloved.

Now, Jesus does say to take up your cross and follow him, to deny yourself of your wants in order to place Gods wants first. It just means we must be prepared and willing to lay aside our desires and suffer through persecution if that is what it takes to put God first. To call someone a false teacher because he says God wants to bless us and then in turn use us through that blessing to fulfill the Great Commission…well, that is a little extreme to me.

I feel that this sermon, this pastor, and this church was misrepresented. Further, to claim that attending a church and listening to a pastor will certainly lead to spiritual death is a very bold and potentially damaging thing to say. Especially when you have done the minimal amount of research on the place. I am not trying to say you did anything malicious, but I am arguing that you spoke on things you know very little about. Everything you mentioned could be found out through a quick google search of personal blogs and Reddit threads, and we all know how factually sound those things are.

I think you made some very dangerous claims that could potentially harm the body of Christ. And that should never be taken lightly. See the comment to Marine07 above where I address the prosperity gospel issues in the message. So we have a calling to honor Christ through that good fortune. I encourage you to explore all the messages instead of seeking a confirmation bias so you can pat yourself on the back for fighting the good Pharisee fight. You claim to have heard Hodges speak out against prosperity theology. That means you watched the same link that I did.

He cleverly mis-defined prosperity theology by sticking to the purpose of the prosperity being rich for its own sake. No prosperity teacher says such things. They all talk about being generous and giving. I can make irrational demands of you too. Thanks for calling me a Pharisee: I am glad that God blessed my wife and I by giving us Church of the Highlands as our church home.

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I pray that God will bless your ministry and that you will find it in your heart to honor churches who are trying to help the lost come to Christ and help those people discover their purpose and to put that purpose to use for the purpose of serving others. You have a great platform that you should use to speak well of others instead of tearing people down. How exactly does a change in geography make a propositional statement change from falsehood to truth? So I am saddened to see such libelous words coming from a self-appointed critic in another country, who would not have an opportunity to take such a shot a Chris Hodges and Highlands except for the existence of the internet.

In other words, stop hiding behind your computer screen and the distance and man up to your accusations. I am pretty sure I know John, and he can even afford to bless you with a round trip ticket. But enough with the sideshow, and to the main topic —. The Pharisees were obsessed with doctrinal purity and the posturing that comes from so-called scholarly knowledge. Yet we find the New Testament was written largely in the common Greek vernacular of the day — in other words, the language of the people of the street.

Imagine that — ordinary people doing extraordinary things as led by Christ and empowered by the living God. But enough — the Kingdom work of the day calls …. Also, how about you take a week off work and fly up here to Canada to man up and face me? Then you can have a few days to tear a strip off me…in Christian love. Are you going to do that? Members of COTH tend to justify their positions with further false ideas apart from the Bible which are taught by Chris. One leads to the other, rather than them being in opposition.

I fear for the amount of inoculation against the actual gospel that Christ Hodges will have to give account for when he faces Jesus. Mennoknight, You have some very grave misunderstandings of the teachings over our church. All it would take is you actually listening with an open mind to the messages preached by pastor Chris. Yes he taught about being rich and having more than you need. He was talking about multiple things in life. To be rich in love, family, experiences in life, giving and not just money. Be rich in all things in life so that you can share your wealth not just money with the world.

His need to clarify his meaning is due to the use of the word rich. As obviously you needed the clarification but did not pay attention. I was in attendance for that sermon and not one time did I ever feel the obligation to give money. We do an offering every year that is the legacy offering. This is the only offering that Pastor Chris ever really preaches about.

The legacy offering does not stay in the church. It goes out into our community. We have a team of volunteers that are in our outreach. A few times a month these people volunteer their time and effort to go out in our community and make it a better place. They pray with people and spread the love and word of God.

Also, you misunderstand the idea of not being judged. Pastor Chris in no way tells you that if it feels good that it is right. He preaches to live your life through the bible. He very clearly lays out what is right and what is wrong. However he does so in a way that clearly says that God loves all his children, including sinners, for we are ALL sinners. Pastor Chris is also not ashamed that he deals with things and struggles at times as well. Which is the truth and nice to hear from a pastor because anyone who says that they do not struggle at times is only lying.

By the way, this is why the church has a council of pastors that oversee the church and Pastor Chris. Who does a pastor go to when he needs council? That is the reason they are in place. And while we are on that subject yes, Dino Rizzo is a friend of the church. Because if we do not forgive as Christians how can we expect to be forgiven as followers of Christ?

Dino has repented and has repaired his marriage through Christ. I too am very familiar with the prosperity gospel. I understand all about being judged. And no one sees a problem with that? Does anyone who attends COH have a ballpark figure on how many is too many? One pastor and 32, isnt it… so what is? The model is fundamentally and biblically flawed. It is a set up for a colossal melt down.

You talking about a power struggle! It will make the election look like a Cub Scout Den Mother election. Highlands believes in the local church. Do you think pastor Chris expected highlands to get this big? Nowhere in the bible does it give a limit to the amount of people one person can shepherd. Not all mega churches are bad because they are big. Jesus himself spoke to massive crowds and said we would do greater things because we have the Holy Spirit.

I agree with many comments that say that you should visit the church and ask questions directly to the staff that can give you answers and insight to your accusations and concerns.

However, I am going to assume you will not choose to visit a campus service in person and that is okay. I am not going to angrily argue with you like I easily could, but instead I want to encourage you to concern yourself less with judgement of other and more with Christ and the Gospel. The cross has brought an offer of atonement to all who seek redemption and we are clearly instructed not to pass judgement on other, especially their past which is paid for hence why you should study the Gospel. I have a job, a family, etc.

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I cannot and will not take a week of my holiday time off to fly to Alabama just because a bunch of people on my blog got angry that I critiqued their pastor. You could simply call and plan something for the future. With technology today, you can easily set up a phone conference or video conference. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correct those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

Shut down the blog until you have reached out to the men of God that you have found fault in. If you humbly correct their doctrine and they still are in opposition to sound biblical doctrine… crank the blog back up and expose them. Paul condemned several individuals with a blanket condemnation, without even mentioning their names though he also named names on several occasions — 2 Tim. Seeing that you brought up 2 Tim.

Excellent passage for proving my point. An indirect public response is not what Paul did here with Peter. Paul is urging Timothy to remain at Ephesus so that he could make the charges. Paul did not write a letter and post it in a public place where his target may or may not ever read it. Why are you asking me to talk to Mr.

I am not the one publicly condemning his teachings or his actions. The very fact that Paul describes the whole situation in an epistle written to secondary parties should provide a little hint of allowance for public refutation of publicly offered errors. I will continue to make public critiques of publicly available information that is presented to the public. But the important thing here is that he actually confronted Peter. He did not announce it to a public forum in an indirect manner.

Have a good one. You just showed up, guns blazing and demanding that I meet an arbitrary standard that a random person declared as necessary and is completely absurd. I have given you my suggestions and advice for dealing with people you find fault with concerning biblical doctrine. You even gave Scriptural evidence that supported my position.

I am literally having a discussion with you right now…. A few quick questions. Did you watch the message that you linked in its entirety? Have you watched any other Church of the Highlands messages? And lastly, in your own personal life do you think that God is pleased when you assist others that He brings to your awareness that are in need financial or otherwise? Would like to forward you another article in this subject. I think you would find helpful. How can I do that privately? The part that angers me the most is where the author says attending highlands is almost certainly going to be a spiritually fatal decision.

The enemy is going to speak that to someone and give them a negative picture of highlands when in reality they are a phenomenal, gospel centered church. We all fall short of the glory of God. I used to be the biggest skeptic of highlands. But I remember the day I felt God tell me to stop being so skeptical bc He is doing something special there. I consider myself to have sound, conservative theology. I was raised southern baptist and I plan to attend a SB seminary in the future.

But I have not grown more at a church than at highlands. My life was forever changed. Does highlands college need more theology classes? Is Robert morris a little iffy? Also, if you go on to read in the highlands statement of faith the writer left out a detail. Money is not the object of their devotion and its evident in that entire series, which you should watch as a whole. Watch a different sermon from a different series and then make a judgement. Caught Me A Big 'Un. On the Road with Bob Marley: The Fastest Man In the World.

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