Well now we weren’t planning on starting out with John Crowder. But since we quoted him in our previous post, we thought we may as well go with that. Crowder was not our top pick to start with because he seems a bit more extreme than men like Tullian Tchividjian and Tim Keller or even Joseph Prince. Tullian and Tim Keller, have a reformed background and therefore know better than to say certain things.
John Crowder is of the Toronto Blessing bunch. This explains his delivery style. We cannot picture Lanning or Rev. Langerak using this style. But then, we didn’t think they would ever say things like ‘I am Christ and Christ is me’ or ‘you must become an unbeliever’, and ‘it doesn’t matter if you sin a little or if you sin a lot’.
Therefore, starting with John Crowder sits well with us.
The more we dug into John Crowder, our contentment to start with him grew because Nate Langerak recently did make the statement that ‘he was Christ and Christ was him’. That sounds very much like what John Crowder said in this video. His statement in this ‘Halos of Antioch’ clip (video length 8-9 mins) was, “You are a sea of endlessness”, “You are that city of Jerusalem, a city without walls”. He also states, “The kingdom of heaven is within, you have Almighty God inside of you”, further explained with: “the fullness of the Godhead (Col 1) dwelt in Jesus Christ in bodily form and now you are partakers of the same fulness. That means you’ve got the fullness of Daddy in you”.
This is the lie of Satan in Genesis where he said that mankind could attain a God-like nature. Genesis 3:4-5 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Videos affirming passivity like unto Lanning and Langerak
And, similar to Lanning and Langerak, John Crowder has a message of passivity of faith and life in this video. (video length 8-9 mins)
And in this this video (video length 22 mins) he speaks of the “effortless holy happy life” which sounds an awful lot like Langerak when he says things like, ‘you don’t need commands or exhortations, I know you will live as the believer that you already are.’
John Crowder is a very popular guy
One can hear in the background of his videos many an ‘amen’ and such like. Plenty of his followers include gray-headed people. Some hyper-grace leaders consider Crowder to be somewhat fringe in his views. Yet, he is widely received in many hyper-grace circles. They happily accept his endorsements on their books . And his views, while more extreme at times, are quite representative. He also works together with a number of key hyper-grace teachers. Additionally, he quotes Romish mystics with affirmation; and he relies on these to prove portions of his ideology rather than scripture.
We will allow Crowder to speak for himself.
Here are several quotes out of his book Mystical Union, (Santa Cruz, CA: Sons of Thunder Ministries & Publications, 2010). We listed the page numbers before each quote. The 5 divisions of the book are: The Myth of the Flesh, Sanctification is Not a Process, New Creation Realities, The Galatian Bewitchment, Uninterrupted Union.
Crowder on sanctification and sin
The intro, “your old self has already died with Christ on the cross”. Crowder’s understanding of Gal 2:20 as he teaches that there is no ‘old man’ of sin later in the book.
More from the intro, “God destroyed the governing entity called ‘sin itself’. Sin is not an action. It is an inward element, hamartia. … You died to sin. This means it is no longer a part of you. You are not a ‘sinner saved by grace’. You are a saint. Take the word sinner completely out of the equation now. … The old you doesn’t exist any longer. It was an unseen death. Sin is extracted.” [emphasis Crowder]
Page 9 More bluntly, John Crowder states, “It is high time the church gets delivered from God pleasing.”
Page 13 “We are not climbing an unseen ladder. We have already arrived.”
Page 42 from the chapter titled ‘Sanctification is Not a Process’, “The moment you decide to do something to be holy, you have trusted in yourself, instead of Christ, for salvation.” [The Team reminds us that, granted, we can’t make ourselves holy, or more holy, through obedience by our own decisions, or effort and strength; but we are called to do holy things, behave in holy ways and grow in holiness].
Page 54 “I no longer even have an independent self that is capable of pleasing God. It is no longer I but Christ. … There is no separate, individual you. Christ has replaced you. … Saved people don’t sin.”
Further, a couple Kindle references
Kindle version location 397, “The truth is that the old appetites have already died. Stop trying to shadowbox something that doesn’t exist. Agree with the truth, that you are a new creation. You don’t make yourself new. Stop striving. Rest in the reality that the old you is dead and powerless. It was nailed to the tree”.
Kindle version location 596, sin is “a momentary lapse in judgment”. For Crowder, sin is redefined and the solution is not to confess your sins to the Lord and ask forgiveness. Rather, the solution is to realize your way into holiness, simply “be who you really are” and go along your way. [emphasis ours]
Crowder on union with Christ and effort
The intro, “you’ll be set free from being plagued with a nagging pressure to annihilate something that doesn’t exist, the old sinful self has been eradicated once and for all. The new you is in perfect cohesion with him, you are a Siamese twin with Jesus! … Your complete merger with God took place on the cross, and thanks to that work, you are now an inseparable entity with him.”
Prayer as the human attempt to find union with God
His intro continues, “Prayers and supplications to that effect [union] are in vain, because the act is done and accomplished. In fact, your efforts to achieve union are a despicable reproach that can alienate you from grace. You’re attempting to approach God on your own [in prayer] is the self-righteousness of which Christ and the apostles warned us about. … You are trying to re-achieve, or further that eternal, inexhaustible union. His perfect sacrifice accomplished a perfect bond.”
But Crowder goes even further, claiming that the believer has no sinful nature, and the only reason we struggle with sin is because we believe the lie that we are still partly sinner and partly saint.
Crowder on the reformer’s ‘inadvertent corruption’ of the gospel
The intro, “The reformers did not go far enough. Their theology on faith was revolutionary. But they missed it on the topic of indwelling sin in a believer. … Perhaps I should say that the reformation is not yet finished; even the reformers were not Reformed enough. You will see how the cross united us to Christ, not just positionally, but effectively. It doesn’t just cover our sins, but eradicates sinfulness itself from us. … There is a 2000-year-old heresy … that has made the gospel a nongospel. It had exchanged the Good News for a ‘do-it-yourself’ morality program. It complicates childlike faith. … the heresy is this: the idea that you, as a believer, still have a sinful nature” [emphasis Crowder].
He continues in the intro, “… the gospel invalidates every ministry aimed at improving people. God didn’t come to fix anybody. He came to kill them and resurrect them from the dead. … you’ve been taught that your entire life is a struggle to overcome your fleshly desires, battle off temptation, and somehow to wrestle down and overcome your ‘old man’.” To John, “this is the biggest crock of baloney in Christendom”. Crowder claims this ‘heresy’ is the result of a commonly accepted religious spirit, as in ‘religiosity’ for religion’s sake.
He is a ‘better’ reformer than all that went before him
Page 17 “The good news will be preached with such clarity that, even the days of Luther will seem utterly primitive in its concepts of grace and faith.” Yes, John continues, “Even the reformers were not reformed enough. You will see how the cross united us to Christ, not just positionally, but effectively. It doesn’t just cover our sins, but eradicates sinfulness itself from us.”
Page 94 “What I am telling you here is one of the most revolutionary principles in Christendom. I am preaching reformation clearer than it was preached 500 years ago. Martin Luther, you didn’t go far enough. God didn’t just cover your sins; He erased sinfulness from you … The good news will be preached with such clarity that, even the days of Luther will seem utterly primitive in its concepts of grace and faith. [emphasis Crowder]
Crowder doesn’t use the entire Bible
McClymond says about Crowder: “John Crowder goes so far as to claim that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are “not the gospel,” which is found only in the letters of Paul, and really only in what we might call the “finished work of Christ” passages and not the “work out your salvation” passages. Thus, Crowder offers a shrunken version of the Bible—a bit like ordering a full meal and being served a plate with three green peas and some parsley on the side.” ~Michael McClymond (PhD, University of Chicago) Modern Christianity at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. Author of The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism (Baker Academic, 2018), a 1,300-page history and critique of universalism. This quote is from an interview of the author with Justin Taylor at Gospel Coalition.
John tries to redefine mysticism in the intro of his book
- “I define mysticism as: an experience of union with God, a consciousness of the reality of God. The belief that the reality of God can be infused with subjective experience”.
- “The mystic secret of God is Christ. [based on Crowder’s understanding of Col. 2:2]
- “I am a Reformed mystic. I believe that my union with God happened 2000 years ago on the cross of Christ.” He also states, “A real and vital oneness with God was achieved and completed on Christ’s cross. Nothing was left undone.” And, “[My] new mysticism relishes the intimacy and supernatural experience of the saints.”
- “I make the case that reformation and mysticism are not mutually exclusive. Rather, the faith approach of the reformers should be the true gateway into the supernatural heights of mystical experience.”
- “The old mystics relied on spiritual disciplines and the grace of Christ was bypassed. I am not about that kind of mysticism, … that’s all your own endeavors to find favor with your father.”
- “I am teaching that we can experience the union we already have … trusting in Christ’s work can and should produce all manner of supernatural manifestations.” [emphasis ours]
He also knows he is radical
Ouija board? Original message of the Bible? Watch this 3 minute video of his own explanation!
Page 10 “I want to warn you here from the start that much of your existing theology is going to be flushed down the toilet as you read. Areas where you assumed to be an expert on the ‘basics’ of the faith may prove to be areas of borderline apostasy in your theological suitcase.”
The Team reminds the reader that this thinking indicates that in John’s opinion, most everyone else is wrong—borderline apostates, in fact—and John Crowder and his followers are right. Consequently, when you oppose their message with the truth of the gospel, that is proof and validation to them that they are preaching grace as Paul did.
Dig deeper here:
For further understanding, check the one and three star reviews on Amazon of Crowder’s book, especially the very in-depth one by Matthew Mcguire found here.
We quote part of his review. “Instead of admitting your sins in prayer, asking for power to overcome temptations in the future, the “finished work” believer is exhorted to realize that such behavior is not who he or she really is. One must realize that they are holy, and by doing so he or she will act in holiness in the future. Instead of growing more practically holy, we are growing more mature. This is Crowder’s understanding of “renewing the mind”. No confession or repentance is necessary. In fact, such would be an insult to the finished work of Christ!” [italics added by the Team]
The Team agrees with Mcguire’s summary here: “Yet this process of “realization” and self-affirmation after instances of sinning becomes its own version of the “penance” that Crowder derides so vehemently. So we end up back at square one, and now we are perhaps worse off, as we are no longer able to take comfort in the many Scriptural prayers of repentance, which are solely to be employed by unbelievers—and only once!”
Also of interest are the one star reviews.
If you are thinking that some of what Crowder says sounds right, please access some very recently preached sermons to get things straight in your head. We found Rev. McGeown’s sermon very helpful regarding the biblical understanding of the mystical union with Christ. Find these on YouTube at min. mark 39.58 and at Sermonaudio. And Rev. B. Langerak here in Sermonaudio regarding the ‘fullness of God’ (as found in Eph. 3:19) at about min 40ff, (hint, it has to do with faith).
Have quotes that reflect similar teachings by Langerak or Lanning? Then please make note of them in the comments, and please cite it if possible. Thank you.
