By Mark Christy, PhD
A review of Steven Furtick, Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah, 2010).
Furtick’s work, Sun Stand Still, is praised by Craig Groeschel, Andy Stanley, and Ed Young among others. In this book, Furtick hopes to teach all believers to manifest an “audacious faith” that trusts God for the impossible. From the prologue, the author demonstrates that his understanding of seeking God for the impossible arises from his having believed that God would accomplish his “dream to start a church and change the world” (2). Now, with “well over ten thousand people in the largest venue in [his] city” in attendance to hear him preach, he believes that his prayers have been answered and his faith has been rewarded (2). This connection between his faith and the outcome (albeit amazing at least on the surface) as a means to validate his faith raises a problem for the discerning reader. Specifically, a true believer’s faith is grounded in the Word of God and made apparent by his/her obedience to that Word. Using Furtick’s validation method, all false teachers who enjoy outward success could easily argue that God has blessed their “Sun stands still” faith.
Furtick’s ‘success’ as a church planter is commonly known. With such success, many seek to learn from him and emulate him so as to replicate his success. Should one have this vision, Furtick would no doubt advise them to begin praying a “Sun stand still” prayer while maintaining a “Sun stand still” faith. Given his successful implementation of this, he seems to catapult from his experience to what he believes to be a solid biblically based formula for others to follow so as to achieve their audacious visions.
To activate such audacity, Furtick offers a “theology of audacity” which “directly connect[s] the greatness of God with your potential to do great things on his behalf” (7). For those who wish to question Furtick’s theology, he brazenly charges them with heresy (7). Unfortunately, Furtick’s theology suffers from what seems to be a serious misunderstanding of the Scripture. According to 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NASB, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” While Furtick may find some way to do a theological juggling act which is made possible by his theological imprecise language, a cursory glance at his “theology of audacity” seems to suggest a higher view of humanity’s potential than what Paul suggests. He could have improved his statement simply by adding “by relying on His grace” at the end. If he had this, an objection would most likely not be forthcoming.
As Furtick continues to unfold his understanding of audacious faith, it seems that for him this kind of faith is different from the saving faith possessed by the believer. This type of faith “produce[s] the kinds of results in your life that you read about in the biblical stories of men and women of faith” (8). To provide this type of faith with a biblical warrant, Furtick demonstrates severe hermeneutical ineptness by appealing to Joshua’s prayer for the sun to stand still in Joshua 10:12. Furtick’s failure lies in his willingness to support his propositional truth claims regarding the biblical fidelity of his theology of audacity with obscure historical events that are found in biblical narratives. While these narratives can and should be accepted as historical facts, mining objective truth claims from them without the assistance of other truths proclaimed in Scripture allows the human interpreter to surmount the Holy Spirit’s role in declaring the truths of God’s Word to the human mind. Surprisingly, Furtick seems to be aware such hermeneutical pitfalls: “faulty interpretations of isolated verses have resulted in shaky foundations of faith for many Christians” (40).
With an unbelievable allegorical leap of faith, Furtick informs his readers that all Christians are “called to be a Joshua” (19). For many believers who find themselves living an ordinary and even an unsatisfying life, this call to be a Joshua may be just the thing they have been waiting to here. That being said, perhaps they should first consider Paul’s words to slaves in 1 Corinthians 7:21-24 NASB where he advises them “to remain with God in that condition in which [they] were called.” While Paul suggests that believers should remain content since God is with them in their ordinary and daily struggles, Furtick would have them focus their attention toward impossible hopes of a better future. In his words, believers should “regularly activate faith by asking God for giant outcomes, taking giant steps” (19).
As believers become more audacious in their prayers, Furtick proclaims that God becomes capable of doing amazing works in and through their lives. According to him, “If we have the audacity to ask, God has the ability to perform. That’s how God turns his amazing promises into everyday reality in every generation” (19-20). Jesus, however, sought to build his earthly life on the will of God as opposed to audacious requests (Heb 10:7). At times, Furtick does acknowledge the primacy of adherence to the will of God (80). Unfortunately, he spends very little time developing a detailed understanding of what it means to be in obedience to God’s will and how this relates to the rest of his contentions. Instead, he prefers to spend more effort on helping his readers come to know the audacious vision that God has for each of them.
Knowing this vision, Furtick contends, is paramount to engaging God in audacious prayer: “If you’re going to ask God to do something impossible in your life, you’ve got to have some clarity about what you’re asking for” (25). To ensure that the request will be proper, he says that it should be “biblically based, focuses on Jesus, affirmed by key people in your life, and tethered to your passions, gifts, and life experiences” (25). Of these four factors, affirmation of people and connection to one’s “passions, gifts, and life experience” would be seen contentious by those more well-versed in Scripture; regrettably, Furtick fails to offer biblical warrant to support his contentions on this matter.
If one assumes that the request is indeed biblically valid, then presumably their vision becomes a prayer-worthy endeavor or so Furtick leads his readers to believe (25). As the believer develops clarity concerning such a vision, he claims they become more able to interact with God and to seek Him to render His response (25). By focusing believers on the task of vision acquisition, it would seem that Furtick is leading God’s people to focus more on what God can do than on God Himself. Such a faith will quickly become depersonalized and self-serving.
While Furtick fails to speak about the potential for the depersonalization of God in his argument for audacious praying, he does affirm that such prayers should be “in alignment with God’s will” and should not be used “for selfish purposes” (37). He then offers a helpful list of things commonly mentioned when making audacious prayers: “broken relationships”, “financial provision”, “career aspirations”, physical and emotional healing”, “achieving important life goals”, and “finding and embracing purpose” (37).[i] After reviewing this list in detail, it seems obvious that many of these requests could easily arise from a selfish motive and determining God’s will on these matters would not be so clear cut as Furtick appears to suggests. Despite this difficulty, he neglects to offer his readers guidance on this problem.
Instead, he moves toward a familiar claim among those associated with the prosperity gospel: “Before you can pray a Sun Stand Still prayer, asking God to do the impossible, you’ve got to set your sights on the specific impossible thing God wants you to trust him for in your life” (37). Apparently, Furtick would have his readers name it (“set your sight on”) before they claim it (“pray a Sun Stand Still prayer”). As one learns to audaciously pray according to Furtick’s prescription, their audacious faith is activated and that faith “becomes a channel God uses to override [their] impossibilities with his power” (39). In response, one must ask whether or not the Bible would support such a view.
According to Acts 1:8, Jesus declares that believers receive power when they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2: 5, Paul says that faith rests on God’s power. From Hebrews 11, one learns that biblical faith can be defined as holding onto God’s Word irrespective of one’s experiences. Such a faith is rooted in a trusting relationship with God whereby the believers obey God’s word and grow in their knowledge of God as they do so. To put this another way, biblical faith holds onto God while God accomplishes His will even if this means he chooses to do that which is seemingly impossible in the eyes of the believer. Irrespective of the level of impossibility regarding God’s endeavors, the believers merely focus on the person of God and seek to remain in right relationship. They do not, as Furtick suggests, use their faith as a tool in such a way that God becomes inclined to do their bidding even if that bidding appears sanctified. Furtick may agree on this last point, but his positing of the believer’s vision acquisition as a necessary step to unlocking God’s miraculous provision seems to align with it.
A believer’s vision, Furtick explains, “begins when [he/she] hear[s] the sound of God’s voice speaking something to [his/her] heart. It’s not an audible voice. It’s more like an unshakeable impression, an inner sense” (187). When such a vision is introduced as “God’s vision”, one will become guilty of proclaiming new revelation (187); in other words, one will be guilty of adding to God’s authoritative revelation found in sacred Scripture. one who builds his/her walk with the Lord on such vision by “stay[ing] tuned in to what [he/she has] heard when [he/she] can’t see any proof” is one who has taken their eyes off of their first love, Jesus Christ, and placed their full attention on themselves (cf. Rev 2:4).
As Furtick presses on, he discusses his own application of audacious visioneering. At times, he shares a vision to his church, declares that he received it directly from God, and then admits to his readers that he is never quite sure that such visions were indeed from God (69). This admission is a declaration by Furtick himself to being a misleading and lying messenger of God who willingly makes false claims as God’s messenger when tasked with the biblical duties of a preacher to proclaim God’s Word to His Church.
Perhaps Furtick is willing to treat his call this way because of his lack of understanding of biblical precepts. Afterall, he tells his readers that ‘[g]reat people of faith simply get a grip on a handful of essential truths—and then they hold onto those truths for dear life as they follow Christ in faith” (96). Instead of advocating Paul’s charge to Timothy to “watch [one’s] life and doctrine closely”, Furtick prefers to direct readers to develop their audacious faith by focusing on a few select qualities of God (1 Tim 4:16 NIV84). For him, these qualities are the “two most important truths you need to know about God” (96). Specifically, these two aspects of God’s being include His greatness and His goodness (97). Apparently, Furtick is willing to make this bold claim without Scriptural warrant while affording for himself the role of interpreter for those willing enough (or ignorant enough) to come under his tutelage.
Granted, God’s greatness and goodness can serve as a relatively large umbrella under which much of the biblical teaching can be housed. While this may be true, Furtick has already informed his readers that they only need to focus on these “two facts alone” instead of pouring over the many pages of Scripture which may contain various sub-categories of these two divine characteristics. After explaining how a simple knowledge of these two aspects of God’s being can buttress one’s audacious faith, Furtick’s sets out to help his audience develop that faith.
Relying on Romans 10:17, Furtick announces that “[h]earing the Word initiates faith.” Unfortunately, he should have applied his own warning (see paragraph 3) and avoided using the Bible to prooftext his own thoughts. In Romans 10:17, Paul is saying that salvation comes by hearing the word of Christ (i.e., the gospel), and having faith in it. Hearing (i.e. understanding) is the means through which one encounters the gospel, but it is not the origin or initiator of faith. Rather, God initiates faith: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8 NASB).
After admonishing his readers to become familiar with the Scriptures so as to properly initiate their faith through adequate hearing (i.e. understanding and/or knowing), Furtick borrows from the Word of Faith movement and tells his readers to “activate” their now informed faith by “speaking God’s Word” (111). To support his contention, he appeals to the first half of Joshua 1:8: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night” (NASB). Explaining this verse, he says, “[God specifically told Joshua to keep His Word in his mouth. Before Joshua could make his Sun Stand Still prayer, he had to make the ways and words of God a natural part of his vocabulary—in speaking to others and speaking to himself” (111). Essentially, Furtick seems to be suggesting that the Bible’s words themselves have power irrespective of their meaning or any divine intention for these words to be used to “correct, rebuke, and exhort” (2 Tim 4:2 NASB). Furthermore, he also comes dangerously close to suggesting that Christians need only to use the words within the Word to whip themselves up into a frenzy so as to activate their audacious faith. If so, such an act would associate his message with that of cults who attempt to dumb down the minds of their adherents while leading people into an emotional stupor.
Returning to Joshua 1:8, a discerning and biblically astute reader should be aware that Joshua was a prophet and leader of God’s people and was, therefore, tasked with declaring God’s word to His people. With this in view, Joshua was divinely tasked with declaring God’s Word in such a way that His Word remained unmolested in its delivery. Like Joshua, today’s preachers have the same obligation, and even Furtick himself falls under this obligation as a preacher. Given this, perhaps he should be more careful how he handles God’s Word less he fall under stricter judgement: “Do not become teachers in large numbers, my brothers, since you know that we who are teachers will incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1 NASB).
[i]This list is only partial. Furtick also included prayers for others, ministry, and spiritual matters.