Chuck Swindoll (b. 1934) is an extremely influential evangelical leader and nationally syndicated radio personality.. He was the senior pastor of First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, California, from 1971-1994, president of Dallas Theological Seminary from 1994 to 2001, and founder of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, in 1998. In April 2024 he stepped down as senior pastor but continues to preach as health allows. His Insight for Living ministry hosts his web site, publishes his 70 books, and airs his radio program on about 2,000 stations in 15 languages. Swindoll’s wife, Cynthia, serves as president and chief executive officer of the ministry and its 90 employees.
In 2006, Christianity Today listed Swindoll as one of the top 25 influential preachers in the past 50 years. In 2009, a Lifeway Research survey of 800 Protestant pastors found Swindoll America’s most influential preacher after Billy Graham.
Swindoll was in the U.S. Marines, but he is not a spiritual warrior. His preaching contains doctrine and some exhortation, but almost no reproof and rebuke, contrary to God’s command in 2 Timothy 4:2 but in perfect accord with soft, wishy-washy, broad-tent evangelicalism today. There is very little by way of warning in Swindoll’s ministry. We have found no practical warning about apostasy, very little about false teaching in general, nothing about the Roman Catholic Church, compromised evangelicalism, theistic evolution, contemplative prayer, Christian rock, and a slew of other dangers facing God’s people today. Swindoll does not preach repentance. He does preach a lot of psycho-babble under the guise of biblical counseling.
In typical evangelical fashion, Swindoll recommends and uncritically quotes from the writings of a wide variety of false teachers. He devoted an entire edition of his Insights for Living publication (April 1988) to uncritical promotion of the German neo-orthodox Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Swindoll calls Bonhoeffer “a saint bound for heaven”; but this “saint” wickedly promoted the “de-mythologizing” of Scripture. Cornelius Van Til documented Bonhoeffer’s dangerous theology in The Great Debate Today, but Swindoll sees only the positive. Swindoll has also uncritically praised the Roman Catholic Mother Teresa who taught that Hindus and Buddhists can go to heaven by their own religious faith. In his book The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Swindoll quotes Robert Schuller with no qualification, in spite of the fact that Schuller preached a false gospel of self-esteem. (See “The Ever Present Danger of Neo-Orthodoxy” and “Evangelicals and Modernist Robert Schuller,” www.wayoflife.org.)
Swindoll is an ecumenist who has spoken at Promise Keepers conferences and other forums that bring together Protestants, Baptists, Catholics, Pentecostals, Charismatics, etc. In November 1996, he spoke at apostate Baylor University, which is home to many theological modernists who question and openly deny the infallibility of the Holy Scriptures. There have been teachers at Baylor who hold to the heresy of evolution since 1921, when Grover Dow taught the evolution of man from apes in a textbook entitled Introduction to Sociology.
Swindoll’s book The Grace Awakening (1990) has had a powerful, widespread influence among evangelicals and beyond. He teaches that “fundamentalists” who strive for doctrinal and moral purity are legalists who need to learn grace. He claims that it is legalistic to make prohibitions against immoral movies, immoral music, sensual dancing, drinking, etc. Actually Swindoll redefines grace as a form of license. He promotes a largely non-critical participation in the pop culture. His “judge not” position negates biblical practices such as exhorting fellow believers about sin (Heb 3:10; 10:25), reproving and rebuking sin and error (2 Ti. 4:2; Tit. 2:15), marking and separating from heretics (Ro. 16:17; Tit. 3:10-11), separating from apostasy (2 Ti. 3:5), and church discipline (Mt. 18:15-17; 1 Co. 5).
Swindoll caricatures fundamentalists as being “squint-eyed legalists spying out and attacking another’s liberty” and “a group of cramped, somber, dull and listless individuals.”
Calvary Contender editor Jerry Huffman observed that Swindoll’s book leaves “the impression that rules or restrictions upon the believer steal from him the exuberance and joy of the Christian life and relegate him to a morbid and dreary existence.”
In his excellent reply to Swindoll’s book (Are Fundamentalists Legalists? 2004), Dr. Ernest Pickering wrote, “After many years of ministry among thousands of churches both in this country and others I believe I can say with confidence that I have never met a pastor or Christian leader who believed this [Swindoll’s caricature of fundamentalists]. God’s acceptance is gained by grace not through the observance of rules (even biblical ones!). This is an exaggeration which we believe does great disservice to many Christian leaders. … It presents strong, godly men … as scheming, bitter, and vengeful souls. This is absolutely false.”
We are not left to figure out what Biblical grace looks like in practice. It is described in plain words in Titus 2:11-12. Biblical grace teaches God’s redeemed people “to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts” and calls upon them to “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” That is a perfect definition of biblical separation, which Swindoll does not practice. To live according to Titus 2:11-12 requires constant judgment and the extreme caution pertaining to all forms of entertainment, etc. “And have NO fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). We are to not to befriend the world and not to love the world neither the things that are in the world (Jas. 4:4; 1 Jo. 2:15-16). That is a VERY narrow walk.
At the July 1994 Promise Keepers conference in Boulder, Colorado, Swindoll entered the stadium on a motorcycle to the blaring strains of the rebellious rock song “Born to Be Wild.”
In The Grace Awaking, Swindoll says, “I’m not a charismatic. However, I don’t feel it’s my calling to shoot great volleys of theological artillery at my charismatic brothers and sisters. … My encouragement for you today is that each one of us pursue what unites us with others rather than the few things that separate us. … More than ever we need grace-awakened ministers who free rather than bind” (Grace Awakening, pp. 188, 189, 233).
This is the popular evangelical position that refuses to deal plainly with theological error, lets wolves devour sheep without interference from biblical preachers, and purports that only a few “fundamentals of the faith” or “cardinal doctrines” are worthy of making an issue over (and a great many evangelicals don’t make much of an issue even of those). Swindoll says, “I have always loved this saying: ‘In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.’”
There is no support for this from Scripture. The Lord Jesus instructed the disciples to teach the new churches “to observe ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:20). There is no hint here that Christ would be pleased if His people pass over a large portion of New Testament instruction as “non-essential” and exalt unity over doctrine. Paul followed in his Master’s footsteps, instructing Timothy to allow “NO other doctrine” (1 Ti. 1:3). That is the narrowest possible position on doctrinal purity. Paul’s program was to instruct his converts in “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) and to train faithful men in such a manner that they would impart “THE SAME” to the next generation (2 Ti. 2:2). Men like Swindoll and the popular evangelicals of our day who want to water the faith down to a few essentials for the sake of a broad unity could not be described as “faithful” by the New Testament definition. Paul instructed Timothy about church matters, such as pastors and deacons and women’s attire and women’s ministries and discipline (1 Ti. 2-5), and at the end of that instruction Timothy was exhorted to “keep this commandment WITHOUT SPOT, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Ti. 6:14). A “spot” is a small thing. Paul was teaching Timothy to pay careful attention to every detail of Scripture. This is indeed the very “jot and tittle” rigidity that Swindoll has rejected in his own ministry and promoted far and wide.
Swindoll promotes the heretical practice of contemplative prayer. In So, You Want to Be Like Christ? he favorably cites Richard Foster, Catholic priest Henri Nouwen, and Dallas Willard. He calls Foster’s work Celebration of Discipline “meaningful” and has an entire chapter on “Silence and Solitude.” There is no warning that Foster builds his contemplative practice upon the darkness of Roman Catholic monasticism, with its false sacramental gospel, veneration of Mary, the Host, purgatory, outrageous asceticism, extra-scriptural revelations, etc.
Dave and Deborah Dombrowski of Lighthouse Trails describe their efforts to warn Swindoll:
“In September 2005, we were informed that Chuck Swindoll was favorably quoting Henri Nouwen and Richard Foster on his Insight For Living program. We contacted Insight for Living and spoke with Pastor Graham Lyons. We shared our concerns, then later sent A Time of Departing [by Ray Yungen] to him and also a copy to Chuck Swindoll. In a letter dated 10/3/05 from Pastor Lyons, we were told, ‘With his schedule I doubt he will read it.’ We are sorry that Chuck Swindoll has time to read Henri Nouwen and Richard Foster but no time to read A Time of Departing, especially in light of the fact that thousands of people will read Chuck Swindoll’s book, listen to his broadcasts and now believe that the contemplative authors are acceptable and good. Incidentally, Swindoll quoted these men, not just a few times, but many times throughout the book.”
Swindoll quotes Henri Nouwen’s claim that contemplative meditation is necessary for an intimacy with God: “I do not believe anyone can ever become a deep person without stillness and silence” (quoted by Swindoll, So You Want to Be Like Christ, p. 65).
In Demonism (Multnomah Press, 1981), Swindoll promoted the unscriptural idea that a child of God can be indwelt by a demon. He wrote: “Can a Christian Be Demonized? — For a number of years I questioned this, but I am now convinced it can occur. If a ‘ground of entrance’ has been granted the power of darkness (such as trafficking in the occult, a continual unforgiving spirit, a habitual state of carnality, etc.,), the demon(s) sees this as a green light okay to proceed. Wicked forces are not discriminating with regard to which body they may inhabit. I have worked personally with troubled, anguished Christians for many years. On a few occasions I have assisted in the painful process of relieving them of demons. The alien, wicked spirit certainly cannot claim ‘ownership’ of the Christian. He is still a child of God. But while present in the body (perhaps in the region of the soul) the evil force can work havoc within the life, bringing the most extreme thoughts imaginable into his or her conscious awareness. Couldn’t this explain how some believers can fall into such horrible sins?”
In light of this error, it is not surprising that Swindoll gave the highest recommendation to Neil Anderson’s book Setting Your Church Free (Anderson and Charles Mylander, Regal Books, 1994). Swindoll’s recommendation appeared on the book’s dust-jacket as follows: “Neil Anderson is one of the most experienced and dependable authorities in America today when it comes to knowing what the Bible says about: the methods, goals and destiny of our adversary, the devil; what our super defense system is; how to make the correct diagnosis in order to find deliverance from demons; and how to implement a calm, practical, workable plan from Scripture that results in freedom and victory for the child of God.”
While some of what Anderson teaches is scriptural, it is intermingled with some very dangerous errors. He teaches that believers do not possess a sin nature, that they can be demon possessed, that they should speak directly to the devil, that generational and demonic curses are real, that ritual prayers can be effective, that “demonized believers” must pursue a seven-step deliverance plan, etc. The refutation of these errors is not difficult, for the simple fact that the New Testament gives absolutely no support to such things. When the apostles and prophets address the problem of sin in the Christian life, which they do in most of their Epistles, they never raise the issue of such things as demonization or generational curses or multi-step deliverance plans. The reason that generational curses and such are not dealt with in the apostolic Epistles is that they were dealt with once for all at Calvary and the believer is complete in Christ! It is that simple. When we see that a man is not teaching according to the Word of God the wise path is to avoid him (Ro. 16:17; Pr. 14:15), yet Dr. Swindoll recommends him.
Swindoll would have done better to have recommended the many Christ-honoring warnings that have been given about Neil Anderson, such as the one by the Christian Research Institute or the one by the late Miles Stanford, who observed: “These demonization ministries are Satan-centered, with Christ brought in to save the situation. If they were Christ-centered they would seek to minister the two aspects of the Christian life: death to sin (the old man, the law, the world, and Satan), and Christ as Life, with the Christian life hidden with Christ in God. Romans. 5-7 comes before Romans 8. All ascended life is predicated upon death. The believer is to be taught to count himself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God in Christ Jesus (Ro. 6:11). Then, if there is to be any dealing with Cross-defeated Satan and his demons-all of whom are under the Sovereign Father’s control at all times–it is simply to stand, and resist, upon the basis of his total defeat at Calvary” (“Neil T. Anderson: Setting Your Church Free — Living Free in Christ,” www.withchrist.org).
In 1990, Swindoll promoted the corrupt Living Bible, saying: “The Living Bible is like a stream of sparkling water wandering across life’s arid landscape: intriguing, refreshing, nourishing, comforting. My thirsty soul is often satisfied by this invigorating wellspring” (Charisma, December 1990). This is a very misleading recommendation. Actually, the Living Bible is crude, inaccurate, and promotes false doctrine. In 1 Kings 18:27 the Living Bible says, “Perhaps he is talking to someone or else is out sitting on the toilet.” A footnote in the Living Bible at Zechariah 13:6, which refers to the wounds on Christ’s hands, claims that the passage is not Messianic. A footnote in Genesis 1 says “evening and morning” could be translated “a period of time,” which is a wrong-headed capitulation to the heresy of theistic evolution. The Living Bible in 2 Corinthians 5:21 says our sins were poured into Christ, which is a false doctrine. A footnote at 1 Peter 2:2 says an alternative translation is, “Eat God’s Word—read it, think about it—and grow strong in the Lord and be saved.” This was the actual reading in the text in early editions of the Living Bible, until it was transferred to a footnote. 1 Peter 3:21 says, “in being baptized we are turning to God and asking him to cleanse our hearts from sin.” This is false doctrine, because in being baptized properly and scripturally the candidate is not turning to God and asking for forgiveness, but is merely showing forth publicly the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
In an interview with Christianity Today for October 25, 1993, Swindoll made the following statement:
“I don’t believe we would view the charismatics as enemies. … if you’ve read my newest book Flying Closer to the Flame, you’d probably think it sounds like a softening of my position on the Holy Spirit. I think the school [Dallas Seminary] without knowing it has probably operated from a standpoint of fear. … There’s wider room for interpretation than we may have followed.”
Swindoll said Dallas Seminary had been operating from a position of fear in its rejection of the charismatic movement, as if that were a bad thing, but it is not wrong to fear and avoid heresy and demonic delusion! There should be no room for the charismatic interpretations of Scripture!
Dallas Seminary was a perfect fit for Swindoll. The Seminary’s National Pastor’s Conference in 1992 featured Chuck Colson, one of the fathers of the dangerous Evangelicals & Catholics Together venture. Ecumenist Leighton Ford was the Dallas Seminary commencement speaker in May 1997. Dallas Seminary entertained Bruce Metzger in 1992. In the New Oxford Annotated Bible, Metzger claimed that the Pentateuch is a mixture of myth and legend that gradually evolved over a period of hundreds of years, that Job is a “folktale,” that Jonah is a “popular legend,”and that the biblical account of a worldwide flood is merely a “heightened version of local inundations,” etc.
Dallas Seminary professor Daniel Wallace supports the redaction approach to the four Gospels, which teaches that the Gospels were not written by direct inspiration of God but by copying and modifying material from secondary sources. Wallace’s report entitled “The Synoptic Problem” is an uncritical rehashing of Robert Stein’s book “The Synoptic Problem: An Introduction.” Wallace says, “Indeed, I have found Stein’s book so helpful a synthesis of the issues involved, that to some degree our comments here will be merely a distillation of his work.” Wallace says, “It is quite impossible to hold that the three synoptic gospels were completely independent from each other. In the least, they had to have shared a common oral tradition. But the vast bulk of NT scholars today would argue for much more than that” (page 1). This approach to the Gospels, now parroted by scholars claiming to be “evangelical,” was devised by unbelieving modernists who deny the infallible inspiration of Holy Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ promised that the Holy Spirit would guide the disciples into all truth and remind them of past events concerning Himself (Jn. 14:26; 16:13-15). It would have been humanly impossible for the Apostles to have recalled the exact words of Christ’s sermons, the various conversations, and the details of the various events infallibly, but the Apostles were not dependent upon their own fallible memories in the recording of the Gospel accounts. They were not dependent upon their own thinking to select which material to present and how to present it. They wrote by direct inspiration of God. They did not copy from one another. They did not need secondary materials, and there is no certain evidence whatsoever that they used any such materials. Redaction theology is based purely on surmises, and it is an exercise in vanity at best. The Holy Spirit guided each Gospel writer to portray Christ in a special way via the manner in which the material is presented.
That Dallas Seminary has not disciplined Wallace is indisputable proof of its apostasy. (See “Dallas Professor Denies Biblical Inspiration,” April 7, 2000, www.wayoflife.org.)
The most frightful part of this is that many fundamental Baptist college and seminary professors have attended Dallas Seminary to obtain their educational credentials. Wallace has also written a Greek textbook which is used in many second year Greek classes at fundamental Baptist schools.
It was the refusal to separate from modernism in education that helped destroy the New Evangelicals 40 years ago, and it will do the same to today’s fundamentalists if they continue down the same path.