Category 5
Verdict: Michael Todd preaches the Prosperity and Popularity Gospels. His potential danger is one of Joel Osteen levels.
Preface
At the request of one of our readers, we have been asked to investigate whether Michael Todd is a false teacher. You can make a request here, and we will honor it. It is a source of joy to be trusted in such a way. Part of what we want to do in our Discernment ministry is to go beyond the low hanging fruits like a Joel Osteen or Paula White.
Background
Michael Todd AKA Mike Todd is a megachurch pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He went viral from his sermon series “Relationship Goals” which he turned into a book and study. He pastors at Transformation Church, a church founded by Gary McIntosh. Michael Todd began as the protégé of Gary McIntosh. Transformations Church bills itself as a “dynamic, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, non-denominational inner-city ministry in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It embraces the spirit of its founder as it expresses a radical, diversified, progressive, 21st century technological church.” The fact that they use the word progressive in their church description is foreshadowing what’s to come.
Transformation Church
Is Transformation Church a legitimate church? Let’s perform the website test. Transformation Church when this verdict was first published had their statement of faith quoted as it is below. However since the original publish date, Transformation Church removed their statement of faith from their website sometime around May 2020, likely because of the link traffic from this site. However, the archived page containing their faith statement can be found here. The ministry positions considered valid according to Transformation Church are:
THE FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY POSITIONS OF APOSTLES, PROPHETS, EVANGELISTS, PASTORS, AND TEACHERS ARE GIFTS GIVEN TO EACH LOCAL CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH. THESE GIFTS ARE FOR THE EQUIPPING OF BELIEVERS TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. WE BELIEVE BOTH MEN AND WOMEN ARE SOVEREIGNLY CHOSEN BY GOD FOR THESE MINISTRY POSITIONS.
At a minimum, its unbiblical to exclude deacons as a ministry position. It’s absolutely arrogant to elevate oneself to prophet or apostle. The title is void of meaning, in doing so. Furthermore, churches that proclaim such titles usually bend on more passages. This portion will be addressed in greater detail below because of its homage to false apostolic movements, such as NAR.
The statement of faith goes on to insert the Prosperity Gospel. Learn more about why the Prosperity Gospel is heretical here. We bolded the text that in no way support their following claims.
WE BELIEVE THAT, AS PART OF CHRIST’S WORK OF SALVATION, IT IS THE FATHER’S WILL FOR BELIEVERS TO BECOME WHOLE, HEALTHY, AND SUCCESSFUL IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE:
- SPIRITUAL
(John 3:3, 11: Romans 10:9-10, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
- MENTAL & EMOTIONAL
(Isaiah 26:3; 2 Timothy 1:7; Romans 12:2)[1]
- PHYSICAL
(Isaiah 53:4,5; Matthew 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24)[2]
- FINANCIAL
(Deuteronomy 28:1-14; Joshua 1:8; Psalm 34:10, 84:11; Malachi 3:10)[3]
The statement of faith inserts the Prosperity Gospel as well as some NAR language. This is enough to not recommend this church at a minimum. It’s is also safe to assume that the Prosperity Gospel is preached there. Transformation Church also ordains female ministers. We would not consider Transformation Church to be a legitimate local church.
It’s worth noting that Transformation Church has a robust YouTube page which boasts both the influence and the need for discernment.
Popularity Gospel
The supposedly famous “Relationship Goals” series which went “viral” according to Transformation Church is littered with the self-love Popularity Gospel which looks to make people feel good rather than be confronted with the realities present in a Christian worldview.
In part two[4] of the endless series, Michael Todd inserts a commandment in Matthew 22. For reference:
36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the great and foremost commandment. 39The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Michael Todd preaches that loving your neighbor as yourself is conditioned upon loving one’s self. This unbiblical insertion into this passage ignores human nature preestablished in Scripture that Jesus is referencing. According to the Bible, self-love is assumed. Therefore, Jesus has no need to preach on self-esteem. Self-love is assumed because we are inherently selfish and sinful because of our nature.[5] Yet Michael Todd uses this passage to say that we need to love ourselves. If anything, this passage is not about loving ourselves. Love your neighbor as you love yourself is far easier if we take ourselves down a few notches. It’s about loving yourself less not more and loving other people more. He goes on to say your love for Jesus should be equal to your self love. This is an anti-biblical message meant to tickle people’s ears. The easiest message to hear is you need to love yourself.
To the loneliest generation, Michael Todd preaches that singleness is the most important time in one’s life.[6] This ignores the long human history of there not being a gap between youth and adulthood. But prolonged adolescence is good for growth because human nature is somehow different in the twenty-first century than in any other. Another note on these sermons is that they are eisegesis in action. He is making his relationship points and occasionally finding Scripture that backs his point. And a lot of his points are not biblical like the singleness passage above and some simply aren’t remotely profound ie dating not wrong if God is in the middle. And for the most part throughout my observations, he relies on paraphrased translations of the Bible and sometimes whatever The Message counts as. In Part eight of this sermon series, he claims we should end relationships that slow us down. This could easily be construed as getting rid of “negativity” in your life, a very secular mindset.[7] His messages are meant to make people feel good and contain little biblical substance.
New Apostolic Reformation
The faith statement of Transformation Church affirms the teachings of false apostolic movements such as the Ladder Rain Movement of 1948 and the present New Apostolic Reformation. The former of these Pentecostal movements was denounced by the Assemblies of God in 1949. Upholding the modern mantel of this ideology was C. Peter Wagner who coined the phrase “New Apostolic Reformation.” The connection between Michael Todd and the NARpostle, C. Peter Wagner, is indirect. Transformation Church was built with the megachurch infrastructure of Gary McIntosh. Gary McIntosh and C. Peter Wagner were quite familiar with one another. Gary McIntosh is well documented in his writings for affirming the ministry of C Peter Wagner. Likewise, C. Peter Wager is well documented endorsing McIntosh’s work.
In 1986, C. Peter Wagner founded the American Society for Church Growth. Gary McIntosh would later serve as its president. This organization is currently named the Great Commission Research Network. The organizational connection between C. Peter Wagner indicates an alignment of theological views, as it relates to NAR. It is likely that C. Peter Wager would have considered Gary McIntosh to be an apostle. However, Gary McIntosh has adopted the subtler title of “Bishop.” The New Apostolic Reformation is more of a movement with regards to church leadership than an official organization. One of the “legitimate” fronts for this movement is the International Coalition of Apostolic Leadership (ICAL). No connection between Gary McIntosh and ICAL have been found.
The theological likeness of Gary McIntosh to C. Peter Wagner means that in his mentorship, these unbiblical views on church leadership and the adoption of titles were instilled on Michael Todd and remain in Transformation Church’s faith statement.
Trinitarian Heresy
In a sermon that only recently went viral, Todd explains his view of the Holy Spirit. The analogy that got many people’s attention is when he used the three states of matter using water as an example. This got panned because Michael Todd used dry ice to represent water in a gaseous form. One would think that a pastor with fog machines in his church would know that that the dry ice used to make fog is actually frozen carbon dioxide.
However there is a glaring problem with this analogy to explain the Trinity. Water cannot be liquid, solid, and gas at the same time. A water molecule is always going to be in one state. This analogy lends itself to modalism because modalism teaches that God changes forms.
However, Michael Todd does believe all of the Trinity exists at one time. The way that he explains this is wrestling, whereby partner wrestlers tag each other in. This off course presupposes that only one of the godhead is active at a single time. According to Todd, God The Father worked seven days of creation before tapping out, pretty much ignoring God’s active hand in the Old Testament. Then Jesus was active for 33 years in which when He uttered the words, “it is finished.” on the cross, He tapped out despite still rising from the grave, spending another forty days on earth and promising a second coming. Ever since, it’s been the Holy Spirit who is active while the Father and the Son are seated.
The Lord’s Prayer in which Jesus modeled praying to the Father, shows that even though He is seated on the throne in Heaven, He is still sovereign here on earth. Mike Todd’s underlying premise is that if Jesus is not here on earth, He has no power here on earth. This premise is both incorrect and heretical. Perhaps Mike Todd’s beliefs don’t fall neatly into modalism, but this is a trinitarian heresy, nonetheless. And it is a heresy made both out of stupidity and a carnal mind.
Association With False Teachers
In 2019, Michael Todd was a headline speaker at Lakewood Church’s Hope & Life Conference. This is just the culmination of the well-established link between Michael Todd and Joel Osteen. If Michael Todd is this in bed with Joel Osteen, it would be because he does not preach the true gospel.
In addition to Lakewood Church, he has also preached at Steve Furtick’s Elevation Church. He is widely recognized to be a false teacher by ally publications.[8] He also spoke at Vous Church in Florida where Rich Wilkerson Jr preaches.[9] On a more topical note, Michael Todd is one of the preachers that rushed to surround Kanye West following his actual? conversion.[10]
Conclusion
After surveying his sermons online, it’s clear that Michael Todd’s ideas are neither profound nor is his exegesis admirable, intellectually stimulating, or otherwise not found on an Instagram post. Aside from taking the reins in a megachurch, the only reason he has achieved the popularity as he’s accumulated is because he sounds like Kevin Hart while preaching the Popularity Gospel and the Prosperity Gospel. Thus, his potential danger of Michael Todd is as the next Joel Osteen.
The evidence shown denotes that he preaches a counterfeit gospel, one of self-love and personal gain. We rate Michael Todd a Category Five for his various heresies, including but not limited to the Prosperity Gospel, Modalism, and possible involvement in the New Apostolic Reformation.
Updated 04/2020 to include link to white paper on Prosperity Gospel
Updated 05/2020 Transformation Church removed their faith statement from their website entirely. The link has been updated to an archive version. On that note the font on the archived statement of faith is white on a white background.
Updated 10/2020 Research on a the New Apostolic Reformation and Michael Todd and his predecessor, Gary McIntosh, were added to the compilation of evidence.
Updated 10/2022 Included section on Trinitarian Heresy
[1] There is some validity to the Holy Spirit renewing our minds, but this does not mean we are immune to mental health issues. 2 Timothy 1:7 does not support this claim.
[2] These three passages are all in reference to Jesus, not the followers of Jesus. Jesus was foretold to perform the miracles of healing. This is not a promise for his followers. After all, many of those healed or did not hear the Word. None of these passages in context support this claim.
[3] The passage in Deuteronomy 28 is about the Protestant work ethic as it’s called. Transformation Church assumes that “make your way prosperous” refers to our estate rather than “way” as when early Christians were called followers of The Way. Psalm 34:10 is about the Lord providing daily, not becoming wealthy. The context of the Malachi passage is tithing.
[4] Single, Not Alone: Relationship Goals (Part 2) Aug 14, 2017 Time stamp 13:00-16:00, 20:45-21:10
[5] Genesis 3. Adam and Eve wanted to be like God in rebellion. Human nature has been selfish ever since.
[6] The Myth Of Dating Relationship Goals (Part 3) Aug 21, 2017 Time Stamp 5:30-6:00
[7] Does “It” Need to End? Relationship Goals (Part 8) Sep 25, 2017
[8] Short list of evidence of Steve Furtick on Pirate Christian. We may do our own verdict on Furtick.
[9] We covered Rich Wilkerson Jr. in a previous article where he gave a sermon at Kanye West’s Sunday Service before Kanye West said he was saved. In this sermon, the Popularity Gospel was preached.
[10] Kanye West’s association with false teachers is reason to remain skeptical. However, baby Christians are very susceptible to false teachers.
36 Responses
Be careful having a ministry judging what another is called to do. Be careful to listen objectively and pray for insight from the Holy Spirit if this is what you’re called to do. To give a little insight into an example you gave of false teaching, If you don’t love yourself it is impossible to love someone else. I believe this is what Mike Todd meant.
I though what Todd was saying about loving yourself was obvious. It appears we understood the same thing. However, this does not change the fact that Todd’s interpretation of that passage is antithetical to the meaning.
God is not a sky genie or money doubler
Hello. I appreciate everything you are doing here. But self love does not always mean pride or sin. Especially in this day and age. So many people struggle with self image and loving ourself (bc of our pride- since insecurity is also a pride issue), but saying that self love is unbiblical, I believe is missing the point. That God created is in His image, we should love ourself according to His love for us. How can we love others if we do not believe we are His prized creation. Our love would be tainted by our hate for ourselves, and fail to show others God’s perfect love made whole in us.
There are too many respectful responses to this ridiculous article. Clearly the individual writing it has no feel the living word. I have completely giggled reading each word and seeing the judgement and evil in it. Basically who cares what you think about about feels they are called to do. I’m not a Mike Todd follower and don’t attend church there but I will say all the fingers you’re pointing shows the underlined problem in you. I do not fear you or the evil in you that try’s to tear a spirit trying their best to do what they believe.
Your words wreak of theology and knowledge without love and relationship. Thankfully you can’t stop anything God is doing in this hour.
What is wrong with being respectful? God gave us the Bible so we can know who He is. The idea that He speaks to us in a quiet voice inside is based off of one verse, if one squint hard henough and ignores the rest of the verse. A likely reason God gave us the Bible in written form is to protect us from the likes of Michael Todd and others who say if we give him money, then God will give us more. Since the Bible is God’s word, then it takes precedence over us and our feelings. Love is an action, not a feeling. That is also important to consider.
Michael Todd is a heretical teacher. He has blasphemed the name of God many times, not to mention this incident in his church which was beyond disrespectful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qh3Tp0jwj0&t=8s
Hi Tera👋🏾 I just watched it and I don’t listen to Mike Todd because I was suspicious of him some time ago I think it was the Holy Spirit one time I was listening to him and he just said something that didn’t sit well with me and I searched it up and found what I needed and I’m not gonna take the chance thinking maybe it wasn’t the Holy Spirit and Satan instead but I will not take the risk and trust that it was the Holy Spirit as well as why did he make that illustration with the spit that was so weird and a little unnecessary. I really don’t want to judge him who am I to judge? Only the Lord Jesus can and even didn’t when He came on earth, but as well do think he could have just said his message without doing that.
Happy Tuesday.
I found your article on Tuesday and it’s been on me to respond. I respect all of your points but I believe in every perception, there exists an alternative. Thus, in love, I come to you hoping you would look to Pastor Mike, not as a critique but as a Christian, whether lost or found.
To start – while Pastor Mike gained newfound popularity in late-2018, it’s important to know that it was not always this way. It appears your perception maybe he’s a Popularity Pastor, but it disregards how he was handed the baton of Transformation Church. TC has not always been a “mega” church. When Pastor Mike inherited the church, there were only a few hundred members. While he’s viral now, that shouldn’t be used as a nudge against him. He’s a popular pastor, now, because that’s just the way it worked out for him when the series Relationship Goals went viral months after the sermon series was actually taught.
I understand you believe your purpose is to portray whether you believe a teacher is a false teacher, however, this may simply tailor to what your style of learning may be. For those of this generation, a “progressive” style is necessary. Progressive meaning adapting the method of teaching to the audience. For example, a teacher would not teach an advanced, AP, or honors in the way that they would teach a group of students who are not on that level. The current generation may not receive the Word as simply as reading KJV. While it would work for some students, when you’re teaching a wide audience, it’s important to break things down and be inclusive to the entire audience. A generation of people around the globe tune-in to TC because they see a place where they belong and can learn how to apply the Bible to our daily lives. This is an important thing that you may not know, and may not understand about TC. This is not a church that will give you a message about the bible back then. It’s not storytime. TC is a place of learning through biblical application. This is why progressive is important. The world is evolving, but God IS and always will be. God doesn’t evolve. We do. TC applies the Word to make it applicable to the daily lives of people, old and young, black, white, brown, or anything in between.
Prosperity Gospel is “woo, just trust in the Lord and everything will be alright. always.” “Don’t worry about the money. God will bless you.” “Don’t have a car? It’s alright, God will drop one from the sky.” Pastor Mike and TC do not teach this nor give false hope. That’s the prosperity gospel. While it may appear that their quoting of scripture at face value looks like false prosperity, OF COURSE, we are not immune to anything and God is not a magician (although sometimes we wish He is). Thus, the root of TC’s teaching is to have faith in God in our daily lives, one day at a time. It’s to live a life (through the choices we make) of wholeness WITH GOD. That’s a choice and that your choice and my choice. Is true “wholeness” and immunity from diseases and problems in this life realistic? No. We all know that. There will be sufferings… Pastor Mike doesn’t teach prosperity. However, what he does teach is – there are mountains and there are valleys. The only wholeness we will ever achieve is spiritually through God the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. BUT while we are HERE, trust God and His process, Also Pastor Mike teaches that through the choices we make and even sometimes we’re born into unfortunate circumstances that were not our choice, God is always with us. And He only wants our hearts and trust in Him. He teaches, despite how it looks, don’t give up on God. Keep going and have faith through your individual relationship w/ God, as He wants us to live the life He planned for us. This may sound prosperous, but living a life that God has for us won’t always be what WE, humans, define as “good.” Our definition of Good and God’s definition of Good is different. So I’ve learned while watching TC is that each plan is different for each person on their journey and walk with God. It won’t always feel good, and it won’t always look, but trust the process.
As a person who deals with depression and anxiety, I’ve never once felt like TC has led me to believe that counseling is negligible and to just trust in God. No. That’s reckless. Instead, I’ve learned you take what you learn from each message and each story in the bible, and realize that your actions WITH the grace of God and the salvation from Christ will make you as whole as you can possibly be in this life, but “there will be sufferings.” TC gives the courage to keep on keeping on. It’s not prosperity. Everyone won’t be rich. That’s not real life. Also – to their mention of scripture for the “Physical,” it represents that through all the things Christ took up for US and to have courage to keep on going. He died for us. Even if I get sick, He STILL died for me. If I lose a leg, He STILL died for me. If I was raped, molested, taken advantage of, He STILL died for me, and you too. Who said that a person with cancer or a person who’s lost a limb or even born without one is not physically whole in God’s eyes? That’s not prosperity. That’s trusting God, no matter what. This is life. Lastly, mentioning financial, people’s butt cheeks tighten when the church talks about money. TC doesn’t preach that we will be rich. In fact, all fall, TC stated: “All you have is all you need” getting people out of the mindset of always wanting “more” in greed or in the spirit of comparison of someone who has more than them. They preach that God will meet our needs. Does He not? All of those verses mentioned literally speaks to being blessed and having enough if we trust in God and are obedient. Each verse speaks that through God with obedience, we will lack nothing. Meaning, we will have what we need. It’s easy to misconstrue the uses of these verses when you don’t know the hearts behind it and how it’s taught.
To your point of mentioning their reference to their mentioning of the “APOSTLES, PROPHETS, EVANGELISTS, PASTORS, AND TEACHERS” is directly from Ephesians 4:11. Bishops were not mentioned on their site in that context, because Bishops were not mentioned in the passage of Ephesians 4. Therefore, it’s not unbiblical.
Whew – man. You were Michael Jordan from Space Jam reaching on Relationship Goals. But I still love you as my brother in Christ. Ok – Jesus says to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. However, let’s take a step back Ray. Is it truly unbiblical to focus on this commandment and focus on the piece on loving ourselves? I’ll tell you why it may not be. Break it down. If you are responsible with the purpose of loving your neighbor as much as you love yourself, why focus on this? Because there’s people out here not loving themselves, Ray. Furthermore, there are people who SWEAR they love themselves but fail at loving their neighbor. Why? Their heart’s posture. So if our heart’s posture is poor, and we can only manage to love ourselves but not love our neighbor, do we REALLY love ourselves? This is an important teaching. As you’ve stated, you think it’s negligible to focus on the loving yourself “piece.” So as Christians, we skip over that part and say “Ok God, sure” when it comes to loving our neighbors. But the fact is, Jesus said to love our neighbors – and there are zero conditions written as to why we cannot, EXCEPT “as you love yourself.” So, as humans, this very simple and direct commandment is always broken – because as humans, maybe we subsequently actually suck at loving ourselves, truly. Maybe if we loved ourselves more, it would be easier to love others. But why do we try to love others without loving ourselves? The commandment cannot be broken up. In order to love your neighbor, “as yourself” requires that you love yourself too. Therefore, if you didn’t love you unconditionally, you couldn’t love your neighbor unconditionally. Which says, Jesus is literally requiring you to love yourself because this is the ONLY condition that loving your neighbor is dependent on.
Self-esteem and self-love are not the same as selfishness, Ray. If we loved ourselves, we wouldn’t be selfish. To love yourself would make you secure in yourself and therefore would have no reason to be selfish. If you loved yourself, you would instead be SELFLESS. Adam and Eve were selfish and therefore did not love themselves because they would’ve been secure in everything they already had. However, it was the greed and desire to be more like God that made us be where we are now. They didn’t love themselves as much as they should’ve, or else they wouldn’t have wanted to be like God.
Singleness is INDEED the most important time of your life because it’s the time you can become one with God before trying to become one with someone else. He never stated that you should be single forever. However, in our time of singleness and obedience to God’s word, we learn a TRUE relationship – and that relationship is the most powerful relationship with God. How could we ever learn to love and be in a healthy relationship God’s way if we failed at having a relationship with Him if He is the most important thing of all of life? Again, Michael Jordan, Space Jam reaching Ray. There is no gap between adolescence and adulthood but in adulthood means you should just get in a relationship right away because you’re an adult? Next, the point of ridding yourself of relationships holding you down – you’re projecting Ray. He never said get rid of all negativity. You said that. He did say bad relationships may not be in God’s will for you. But that is between the person and God. As always, earlier in the series he stated just don’t get in a relationship because you feel like it, you also shouldn’t just up and quit one because you feel like it – because you feel it’s bad. That’s selfish and Pastor Mike didn’t preach that. He was preaching on being mindful of if a relationship you’re in is of God’s will. And if you’re not married, you’re not bound to staying if it’s not for you. But of course, you pray about it before making a rash decision.
Pastor Mike is not Steven Furtick nor Joel Osteen. Preaching to their congregation isn’t a bad thing because of his heart to teach those who are lost and found. Also – is Kanye unforgivable to God? Who are we to not forgive him? Do we still love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves or only sometimes? Kanye can be saved too, and his salvation is between him and God. As his song said, [Christians]’ll be the first ones to judge me.” Heart check, Ray. My friend was murdered two years ago in a known mass shooting by a gunman with an assault rifle, but I’ve found the courage to forgive and love her killer even though it hurts my heart to this day that she’s not here. This is an extreme case, but loving Kanye even through all his antics since the death of his mother is no different.
Lastly, just to add a point – your reference to Pastor Mike as sounding like Kevin Hart because of his humor is offensive and comes off racist. Many pastors use humor in their messages. And Pastor Mike literally sounds NOTHING like Kevin Hart. With this point alone, you cracked open a door to your heart and I can see where it is. But I hope it can be changed. I truly do.
In summary, I’ve read all your points and I understand where you’re coming from. I hear you. I hear your concerns. But I think you have to open your heart to God reaching people in more ways than one. It may not be conventional and it may not be your style, but people are falling in love with God and getting on fire for God because of Transformation Church. I’m not embarrassed to invite my friends to tune in because I know Pastor Mike will teach the gospel in a way they will understand it AND be able to apply it. Daily Faith.
Anyways, I love you. I’ll pray for you. And I hope one day you can see that this form of critique is not of God. It’s better to address certain points and allow readers to come to their own conclusions. That – I could understand. But delivering your opinion through pure judgment doesn’t feel like I was reading something written by someone with the heart to love another. God will judge teachers so much harsher than any of us ever could – so it’s not for us to do so. It’s my hope that you will one day be able to watch Transformation Church and see it for what beauty it is. It saved me. The body. The organism. The community. It saved me from myself and helped me get back close with God and I’m closer than I’ve ever been…
“Luke 6: 37-42
Do Not Judge
(Also Read Matthew 7:1-6; Romans 14:1-12)
37Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
39Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
41Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? 42How can you say, ‘Brother,b let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while you yourself fail to see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Love + Light,
Dani
Dani,
What a beautifully written, well thought out reply and agree whole heartedly with everything you said.
Amen,
Nancy
Wow! This was an amazing response.
Thank You because I literally felt like people were reaching with saying that he is false teacher… and he’s not tho.
Dani – you nailed it. I’m a former member of TC and believe Pastor Mike to be a good man and effective, responsible leader. I left due to something he said that I disagree with (political) but that’s how it goes sometimes. I was a member when TC only had 400 members and he had been at the helm about 6 months. We could feel it as his popularity was taking off, and used to say, “whoa…what’s happening with TC? Are we going viral?” Literally within 2 years the church – and Pastor Mike – went from obscurity to celebrity. It was surreal and uncomfortable. Pastor Mike has always had dreams of making it in show business, specifically music, and I feel that celebrity life is his biggest temptation. God is working on him in this regard, make no mistake. PM struggles with attraction to material worth and personal vanity. I do feel he will rise above these issues and thrive in the long run, but getting there will be a journey.
Regarding this analysis, I feel it’s loaded and biased, without any real knowledge of TC or PM. Pastor Mike isn’t a false teacher…he’s human.
Dani,
I first want to thank you for taking the time to respond. You put a lot of effort into it and I appreciate the willingness to do so. You deserve a response, so let me go point by point.
1. You may be very correct on the retroactive success of sermons he gave before he was famous. In going these, I try to research why someone is famous, but that does not mean that someone is an overnight success. Megachurch is also consistently used on this site to describe a motif rather than the size of a congregation.
2. The use of the word progressive is rightfully suspicious. In the last hundred plus years, liberal and progressive theology have infiltrated churches and denominations. The use of that word should not be assumed as accident, in the context of a ministry or church. Your definition is more benign but in any church it would be unnecessary to call not being KJV-only progressive. The terminology that would best fit your definition in this context is “seeker-friendly” which is widely used terminology in churches today. I would agree that Transformation Church is seeker-friendly.
3. It is flat out incorrect to say that Michael Todd does not teach the Prosperity Gospel. Your definition of the Prosperity Gospel is rather extreme, but let’s revisit Trnsformation Church’s statement of faith.
“WE BELIEVE THAT, AS PART OF CHRIST’S WORK OF SALVATION, IT IS THE FATHER’S WILL FOR BELIEVERS TO BECOME WHOLE, HEALTHY, AND SUCCESSFUL IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE:”
They list four area, among them are wealth and health. This is the Prosperity Gospel entrenched in their faith statement. And its language is far more aggressive than Chris Hodges’ church which also dabbles in Prosperity Gospel teaching. Because they believe that part of salvation entails wealthy and healthy, these metrics can be used as evidence for one’s salvation. For instance, orthodox Christians believe that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is evidence of someone being saved. If someone bears no fruit, it’s not unfair to question their relationship with God. Likewise, according to Transformation Church’s beliefs, if a person were to deteriorate in health (mental or physical) or wealth one could rightfully question a member’s salvation because they believe that these events go against the Father’s will as part of our salvation. This is the Prosperity Gospel and this is why it’s a heretical false gospel. On this there can be no compromise. And since Todd is the pastor at this church, it should be assumed that he falls in line with its faith statement.
4. There’s a lot of ecclesiastical debate surrounding offices of the church. For the record, bishop = pastor = overseer = elder. I never used this to conclude whether he was a false teacher.
5. The Bible does not instruct believers to love themselves much less as a precondition for loving others. This message was antithetical to the Bible. The solution to “love your neighbor as you love yourself” isn’t to love yourself more, it’s to love your neighbor more. The commandment was given with the assumption of self love. Now it appears that you view self-love as more equatable to self esteem. This is not a precise definition. A better definition would be assumed self-love is psychological egoism, a philosophical concept whereby people act how best suits them. Furthermore Scripture tells us to follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves. This self-denial that Jesus calls us to is about us not acting on our own psychological egoism.
Now it’s imperative to remind you why Jesus ranks “love God” and “love your neighbor” as #1 and #2 of all the commandment. These commandments are a summation of the moral law. If we look at the 10 commandments the first four are “love God” and the last six are “love your neighbor.” None of the ten commandments necessitate loving yourself as a prerequisite. None of the Old Testament does either. To add to this point can one sin against one’s self? The answer is yes but only with sexual immorality.
Now if we as Christians, applied love your self more to love your neighbors more, we would be encouraging selfish behavior because we would be ignoring the context of this passage and thus misapplying it to our own lives. Instead Scripture tells us to deny ourselves.
6. Singleness is never viewed in Scripture as the most important time in someone’s life. The ideology espoused by Todd is one that embraces the prolonged adolescence of today’s age. It’s worth noting that throughout human history, the transition from child to adult was quick. For the most part people did not “find themselves” in their 20’s like they do now. While one should have a firm relationship with God prior to marriage, Michael Todd is embracing post-modernism and its trend of glorifying singleness, which in turn has led to a more lonely generation. This point also lacked any reals Scriptural support.
7. The point about relationships could easily be construed as “removing negativity” from one’s life. Furthermore there was no Scriptural backing for this claim.
8. Associating with false teachers is a sign of being a false teacher. The Bible instructs us to not associate with false teachers (Ephesians 5:11) but instead to expose them. It wasn’t a church service that I had linked Michael Todd preaching at Lakewood rather a conference. These actions were unbecoming of a man of God, as he was helping to enrich a false teacher. Now if, you want to reject the premise that Joel Osteen is a false teacher, that would be a consistent argument, on your part. But you do not do that. Furthermore, Joel Osteen is the most notorious false teacher in America present day.
9. You brought up Kanye, but I believe you misconstrue my tone towards him. I do care about Kanye and his past antics are not of concerned. I do not know if he is saved. There is nothing he has done that is beyond Jesus. What I have seen is how so many false teachers rushed to grab Kanye by the hands. I have an endnote where I address this [10] that links to how baby Christians are vulnerable to wolves. (Matthew 24:24). Further reading on that matter.
10. You seem caught up on the Kevin Hart comment which I think is accurate. If you don’t, that’s fair. But it’s not racist, just because it offends you. A lot of pastors are really a mix between motivational speakers and comedians. The Relationship Goals series, for instance weren’t even real sermons. A sermon is where a pastor applies exegeses to Scripture to teach to the congregation. Michael Todd uses eisegesis where he has a topic in mind and selects bible verses to support his message. This isn’t a matter of style rather it is how you teach Scripture in context.
11. I want to go through the rest of your response all in one final point. It appears to me that you reject the spiritual gift of discernment (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). This form of critique is biblical. The Bereans in Acts 17 tested Paul’s words against the Scriptures as a result of their eagerness to hear the gospel. To assert that testing a teacher’s words and actions against Scripture is not of God is to proclaim many false teachers as brothers and sisters in Christ, giving wolves a free pass to ravage the flock. Your feelings on a matter do not determine whether something is biblical or not. This is true for discernment as well as other spiritual gifts. You then apply a most common misconception of Luke 6 to support your feelings about whether discernment is biblical or not.
To address Luke 6, if you are holding people by the standard of Scripture, that measure will be applied to me, in this case. I welcome judgement on the basis of Scripture. The emphasis in verse 41-42 is about repentance. Calling out someone’s sin when you refuse to repent is feigned care for that person. The harshest words of both Jesus and Paul are in regards to false teachers. Jesus flipped tables. Paul urges excommunication. In both cases, the deferred judgement that the Father will render was not applied as the remedy for the situation at hand. Pastors are to protect the flock, from wolves. This pastoral metaphor is in regards to false teaching.
To conclude, the process of this is simple. A reader asks me to look into a teacher and I do. Often, as was the case with Michael Todd, I don’t know ahead of time who they are. So I did not target him out of some vendetta of sorts. During this process, it’s often the case that a person is not a false teacher, as was the case with Larry Osborne. Osborne wasn’t a false teacher, from the evidence compiled. He was just wrong on a few things. However in investigating Mike Todd, it was readily apparent that he was a Prosperity preacher from Transformation Church’s statement of faith. It denotes heterodoxy that undermines his credibility as a pastor. Once it became obvious that Mike Todd was heterodox and apparent that he was a rising star, it became imperative to publish this verdict.
In these uncertain times, God is very appreciative of those bringing his children to him. I’m grateful for God’s word and I’m grateful for the TC ministry. They are helping me to understand how much God loves me and I want to love like he does. I want to be a better version of me, because I now know God wants nothing but the best for me. Sometimes it’s that simple. TC has taught me about faith, not faith in one day being rich or famous or getting whatever I want, but faith that God loves me no matter what, and I can trust I’ll be ok. God bless you.
I am not very smart when it comes to knowing all the biblical facts that I’ve been reading on these article’s. Shoot, I can not even qoute a scripture or reference anything other then what I feel from the holy spirit and my number one source,God. We are not stupid people. Our understandings are not to be trusted. Our minds can not grasp the timing or teachings of God. Ok, I’m getting to my point…because we are not stupid…why are we doing one of things God clearly tells us not to do…JUDGE! Only he can. Maybe the way these new preachers are speaking is not what we are used too…we are not to decide personally and then throw it out there, like we are Gods, to influence or judge how someone touches a lost soul to bring them into faith and trust God…so who really is the false one..them or is it truly you?
Would like to thank you on your research and commitment to the true gospel and dedication to the true intentions of the church Christ died for
I see these types of blogs all the time. Such and such is not preaching the Gospel, or is a false whatever. Question then – who is “on the mark?” What preacher is 100% laying it out like it should be?
Apparently the answer is no one because everyone gets the same review. That’s a bigger tool of the enemy that his actual tools – discredit every one.
If a man teaches poverty, that can’t be right, However, teaching prosperity is wrong too.
Idea – why don’t you start preaching and teaching the true Gospel? SInce you obvious have the corner on truth, why not? That way, someone can come behind you and tell you how false a teacher you are too.
The Gospel is presented on this site in several articles. And if you think everyone gets the same review, you’ve clearly not read the ones where I write that someone is not a false teacher or there is not enough evidence to say that they are. You are making sweeping judgements without proof.
Excellent response!! I always find these kinds of sites to be counterproductive. If one is spending all of their time denouncing the work of others, they should be showing us how to do the work correctly. So, Ray Fava, is every famous preacher with a large following (interesting) is preaching wrong, show us how it should be done correctly. I always stand on the idea that none of us (yes, I’m a preacher) have got this thing 100% correct, so none of us should sit on the seat of judgment toward others. God is the ONLY righteous judge. Also, God showed me that you have a secret addiction to pornography. Maybe you should continue to pray about that issue rather than spending so much time pointing out the flaws in others.
You should really spend your time humbling yourself and stop being a fruit inspector. All your posts at most are finger pointing as you share your perspective on the lives of other people. What you are spending time doing is unfounded. Love is the commandment we are suppose to be adhering to not give reviews of other people’s faith walk. if someone want’s to know about a church or ministry they should simple seek God and not the opinion of a someone who has a completely different view point of what is biblical.
How can you love others and not warn them about the wolves that seek to lead them astray. Or are we supposed to ignore whole epistles of the New Testament that address false teaching and false teachers. Todd preaches a counterfeit gospel. Furthermore these verdicts are only a fraction of the posts.
I came across this article by accident. I am ever so grateful that I’m out of these circles that spend great lengths of time critiquing other believers. He teaches sound doctrine of Jesus Christ. We may not agree with all the other particulars, but he is YOUR BROTHER IN THE LORD! Y’all find something more spiritually beneficial to do and oh go read Romans 14:4-13. Be bless!
Is Marcus Rogers preaching the Gospel and is he legit?
Go here to submit a request
https://evangelicaldarkweb.org/request-a-verdict/
He called Beyonce a prophetess in his relationship series….that’s when I knew something was not right. The church also has female pastors which is not biblical.
I don’t remember that line. That’s some cringe attempt to be cool.
Say what?! I do believe he was making a joke – an age appropriate joke that the demographic of his congregation would understand. Plus, I’m pretty sure that God doesn’t discriminate against any people who spread His word and help others find their way to Him. In fact, I believe that God doesn’t discriminate at all – we are His children (all of us). So, I suggest you leave your sexist views at home and seek God’s word on this, soldier. I did, and God showed me a pastor that didn’t make me want to fall asleep during a sermon, a man that helped me seek God deeper, with more understanding and passion, and a sermon that made me actually want to enter into a relationship based on God’s precepts. Many of the viewpoints mentioned above are based on opinion only. I never once heard Mike Todd preach the prosperity gospel – he straight out says that you have to work for what God wants to give you. And I agree with everyone that says that it’s God’s job to judge. Not ours. Take the log out of your own eye before you take the splinter out of Mike Todd’s. And don;t be jealous because he is leading a new generation to God while you’re still stuck on the “female pastors aren’t biblical”n thing.
If you think SD is being sexist here, you must not have read the Apostle Paul. Elder/Overseer requirements are laid out in Titus or 1 Timothy. I don’t believe egalitarianism is heresy but it is error.
Secondly him straight out saying “that you have to work for what God wants to give you” is completely in line with the Prosperity Gospel. It’s not like prosperity preachers never talk about work ethic. “Name it and claim it” doesn’t always mean sitting around and doing nothing. Your summary of his teaching implies an entitlement we should expect as a result of our works which has a high probability of being Prosperity Gospel.
Where in the bible does it say that females cannot be ordinaned? Be careful that you are not falsely teaching people the traditions of men. Search the scriptures in order to accurately define the role of women in the spreading of the gospel.