Number four in their Code has probably been the most incendiary thing that has ignited much criticism toward them and has warranted the label of "cult." It seems however that they have buckled under the pressure, revising the code twice since their humble beginnings. However, in doing so they have created yet another enormous problem.
Here is the issue. Steven Furtick claims to have had a vision from God on how to "do church" differently and reach the new generations with a new hip, cool, techie driven approach that sits better with our modern society which I basically have no problem with. The "vision" was published originally as twelve (how coincidental) points with number four stating: "We are united under the visionary." and "We will aggressively defend our unity and his vision." Immediately, many rightly cried "cult."
That criticism has persisted, but under immense pressure they quietly changed the wording to: "We are united under one vision." with the same ominous promise to "aggressively defend" Steven's vision.
That seemed to be it for The Code until the firestorm erupted over the now infamous coloring book for the kiddies telling them they should submit themselves to the authority of the "visionary" in a grossly misappropriated verse found in Romans 13:1-5, which discusses governments. If little ones were to read that verse with Steven Furtick as the "authority" then they would also understand that rebelling against him would bring God's judgement upon them! That is unnerving to say the least. As the video below illustrates getting children to memorize The Code was an integral part of the churches "indoctrination" process. In most churches, children are taught to remember Scripture verses, but at Elevation they deem it more important to learn some man-made code that is centered on its leader and the church brand. What happens now that these children have committed all this to memory and it has suddenly changed? This illustrates only a fraction of what is wrong with a church that is based on the cult of personality and has as its main focus brand promotion rather than Christ.
With that revelation hitting social media like a tsunami the "cult" chatter was ramped up to even higher levels. With the heat now reaching blue- flame hot, the Code has been completely revamped with no direct mention of "the visionary" or even their much maligned laser focus on "we are all about the numbers" and the burn and turn mentality of the "we need your seat" nonsense. There are some vestigial ideas still there, but is much more ambiguous. But, why the ambiguity? What are they trying to tone down or hide? One accusation leveled at them has been how Elevation the brand and Steven seem to be front and center instead of Christ, but now the Code includes a rather ambiguous point that says "Jesus is the center. It's about: integrated priorities." Huh? Jesus should be the only priority. He needs no help from Stevie or Elevation Church. Believing that you are somehow the chosen one to move the church into some modern day world-wide movement smacks of cultism yet again. That statement makes it sound like Jesus is included in the priority list and has been given the center, but is integrated into all the other Elevation expansion and brand building plans that Steven has in mind. As I have stated before, Jesus is at Elevation but He is wrapped in an orange box with the ubiquitous chevron logo on it.
Now, back to that vision that God gave Stevie. If that vision was articulated in the Code and the Bible tells us that "God never changes" (Malachi 3:6 and Numbers 23:19), then why is The Code changing? Public pressure, criticism, scrutiny...who cares if it is from God. Furtick, and many of his ilk such as Perry Noble, who proclaim "thus saith the Lord" or claim to have been given a vision, back themselves into a very tight corner from which they cannot escape. As long as visions, sermons, teachings...go unchallenged all is well, but when the criticism arrives and they are forced to change or recant, they have discredited themselves, and worse, called God a liar! The only other option is to stick to their guns. It is a kind of damned if you do and damned if you don't quandary. Now, for the biblically illiterate that sit in his church each week and fawn over his oratory prowess they may fall for the "God is doing a new thing" (Isaiah 43:19) explanation or some far-flung application of dispensationalism to explain the evolving Code. Sorry, but that does not fly.
Changing The Code constantly to obfuscate what they really believe about Furtick is just more manipulation and quite frankly more subtle brain washing. I know many, many people that go there. I listen to them talk. I see their Facebook posts...Elevation this...Elevation that...Steven this...Steven that... to which I reply "What about Jesus?" "What about the sin in your life?" "Have you repented?" "Do you think that raising your hand, signing a card or being baptized saves you?" The reply back is usually something like "yeah, you know what I mean." No. No I don't. Please explain it to me. And, doesn't the need to explain speak volumes about the problems?
Here is something to consider. Demons believe Jesus exists, they believe He rose from the dead, they believe that He is the Son of God, they recognize His authority to judge, they believe there is only one true God, yet they shudder/tremble at their coming judgement,(Matthew 8:29, Acts 19:15, James 2:19). Why is that? Do Steven's sermons answer any of these questions? If not, then the Gospel is not being preached and "salvations" are being measured by the wrong metric. A very dangerous place to be.
