Is Sadie Robertson Huff A False Teacher?

Category 2

Verdict: Sadie Robertson Huff is being groomed to be a false teacher and is ultimately a product of megachurch culture.

Preface

Part of how this Discernment ministry operates is taking in reader questions about prevalent teachers. Sadie Robertson Huff was tied for most requests and a won a subscriber tie-breaking vote. Therefore, this investigation into his teachings was undergone. You can make a request here and see our answered verdicts here.

Scope

This verdict is outside of the norm as to what Evangelical Dark Web does, because Sadie Robertson Huff does not bill herself as a pastor, but because she has vaulted herself or been vaulted into this role by others, this becomes a very legitimate question. Additionally, the online demand for answering this question exceeds the supply of resources willing to tackle a celebrity figure from a highly celebrated background. This verdict will not examine the legitimacy of teachers related to her, like Phil Robertson, in order to draw conclusions. Instead, this verdict will provide groundbreaking findings on Sadie Robertson Huff alone.

Background

Sadie Robertson Huff is the daughter of Willie Robertson, of the Duck Dynasty clan. She accrued celebrity by being a prominent character in Duck Dynasty. Between that and being attractive, she was able to sustain a celebrity brand after her time on the hit show. She used her celebrity to sell products and gradually went into producing Christian content, including sermons.

Preaching

Preaching in front of men is the most readily apparent red flag when it comes to Sadie Robertson Huff. The Bible explicitly forbids this practice:

12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. 13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. 15 But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.
1 Timothy 2:12-15 NASB1995

Sadie Robertson Huff does not identify as a pastor, but this is moot because she allows herself to function as one whether being a guest pastor at churches, doing interviews during worship services, or doing sermons at campuses and conferences.

Egalitarianism is worth dividing over, as every denomination that embraces female pastors has embraced further theological liberalism or the Prosperity Gospel. However, being raised in an egalitarian environment does not disqualify one’s faith. But coming from a theologically conservative environment and then becoming an egalitarian, like Beth Moore, is a sign of deconstruction.

Overall, this is not enough to conclude that Sadie Robertson Huff is a false teacher. However, she is in definite error.

Handling of the Text

Sadie Robertson Huff’s handling of the text raises additional concerns.[1] Evangelical Dark Web agrees with the conclusion of Honest Youth Pastor in part one[2] and part two[3] of his reviews of Huff’s sermon “What is truth?”[4] Honest Youth Pastor notes that what she’s saying is not connected to the text she’s teaching from. This sermon did have some good points.

At VOUS Church, a notoriously carnal church, Sadie Robertson Huff gave a sermon titled, “Keep Running.”[5] Huff clearly reads herself into the text of Mark 5. This sermon, keeping with the teachings of host pastor, Rich Wilkerson Jr. presented an Algorithm Christianity, whereby the gospel was communicated at overcoming life’s obstacles. Most of the sermon was her recounting a two-mile run at a track meet. This sermon was a motivational speech and nothing else. The gospel was not presented.

In a sermon titled “Guided by the Spirit,” Huff reads herself into Acts 27 to talk about how we need a “fresh wind” in our lives.[6] This sermon had some good points about forgiveness, but they weren’t from Acts 27.

A recent sermon given at Passion 2022, titled “Who Is God?” Huff focuses more on who we are. She starts off in Matthew 10 and never really returns to the Bible.[7] In her most recent Live Original Conference, Huff preached from The Message instead of the Bible.[8] She claims that she did an altar call at the beginning of the message (unshown on video) so that everyone at the conference would “feel anointed.” This sermon dangerously presupposes that the entire audience is saved. Additionally, in a sermon on David and Goliath, Huff seemed unaware of the practice of single combat or what a sling was. Moreover, she employs a narcissistic amount of metaphor on David keeping the sheep (1 Samuel 16:11) ignoring how the Bible demonstrates that David’s anointing was God’s will and not Jesse’s or Samuel’s will. This is a clear deviation from the text in order to give a motivational speech.

Association With False Teachers

There is no shortage of false teachers that Sadie Robertson Huff associates with. On her podcast alone she has associated with: David Platt, Bianca Olthoff, Max Lucado, among others. Elsewhere on YouTube, she hangs out with Mike Todd, Craig Groeschel,[9] and Levi Lusko. So, there is not a discerning bone in her body.

Conclusion

What qualifies Huff to preach? Being a celebrity. That’s it. She does not sound knowledgeful of the text. She has extremely lengthy personal stories, speaking incredibly slowly. The filibuster’s pace just demonstrates how little she is actually saying.

Sadie Robertson Huff is greatly influenced by Big Eva topical sermon preaching by megachurch false teachers. She went to Passion Conference before being a frequent speaker there. Now she has a career creating mostly relationship content based on her family life and doing Big Eva conferences. The banal content is the majority of her YouTube channel as well as collaborating with a long list of mostly false teachers. Yet when she does step into the realm of preacher, she does so in disobedience to Scripture and poorly. Sadie Robertson Huff is doing what she has been brought up to do by people like Louie Giglio.

The result is a hyper-emotionalist version of Christianity which is why you have videos of her singing “Reckless Love”[10] and self-help sermons.

The last factor to consider is age. Being 24, spiritual immaturity is a factor to consider, despite her having famously grown up in a Christian environment. Evangelical Dark Web holds the position that those who leave theologically conservative traditions to pursue egalitarian ones, of which Huff’s Churches of Christ upbringing would imply, are on a path of faith deconstruction. However, despite the denominational doctrine, the actual church she was brought up in may have been a generic suburban seeker-friendly wannabe megachurch.[11] Additionally, it’s worth wondering how much her family has or has not taught her the qualifications of a pastor.

One of the marks of a false teacher is refusing correction. There is little evidence that Sadie Robertson Huff has been seriously confronted. Additionally, it is generally understood that if family members disagree with her preaching in churches on Sunday, they may also remain reticent to call it out and certainly not publicly.[12]

Sadie Robertson Huff is a product of Big Eva youth, specifically the more Prosperity Gospel side of Big Eva. At best, Christian celebrity culture has led a genuine believer of Christ astray. At worst, she is the next iteration of Victoria Osteen and Joyce Meyer built upon the legacy of people who are very popular within Evangelicalism. Although Evangelical Dark Web will not yet mark Sadie Robertson Huff as a false teacher, her trajectory is apostate. At the present moment, Sadie Robertson Huff is the epitome of a Category 2 for failing to meet ministry standards in an egregious way and associating with a plethora of false teachers.

[1] The following sermons mentioned were not the only sermons surveyed for the following assessments.

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piZep_8kBWM&t=0s

[3] https://youtu.be/ixKaP4CAPs4

[4] What Is Truth? | Sadie Robertson Huff at 2021 LO Sister Conference Sep 2, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G8CfPu2Hl4

[5] Sadie Robertson – Keep Running Dec 17, 2018

https://youtu.be/1mvTrp9w9OU

[6] Guided by the Spirit | Sadie Robertson Huff Preaching at Auburn Community Church Sep 24, 2020
https://youtu.be/wx7siii6IKw

[7] Who Is God? | Sadie Robertson Huff at Passion 2022 Jan 7, 2022
https://youtu.be/9mH8CLZF4Co

[8] Anointed Right Now | Sadie Robertson Huff at 2022 LO Sister App Retreat Feb 22, 2022
https://youtu.be/PhRMYeizpeA

[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKCCmBSiYm0

[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB1I8OfoxJk

[11] https://www.wfrchurch.org/

[12] This is not intended as a justification, rather an explanation.