Chris Rosebrough over at Fighting for the Faith calls the annual Code Orange Revival at Steven (COR) Furtick’s Elevation Church the “Heresy Olympics”. Not only does he review ‘sermons’ delivered at the auspicious event, he provides audio clips of advertisements and ‘man on the street’ interviews concerning the assumed expectations of the event promoters at Elevation Church and some of the attendees.

• During the ‘pre-game’ show for night one, ‘Code Orange’ was defined as an eruption similar to volcanic activity – an ‘eruption’ of faith – 10 days and nights of celebrating and believing God for ‘breakthroughs’ for Elevation Church and for individuals.
• In a short interview with someone who had travelled from London, when asked what she was expecting God to do in her life, a lady said she expected to get a new passion to go into her patients’ lives (she is a paramedic in London), so God could shine through her in her work as a paramedic.
• Holly Furtick said she was looking forward to God speaking to her personally and she loved to watch God speaking personally to those around her. She also loved hearing stories from those who travelled to attend COR. She again emphasized ‘breakthroughs’.
• The last point shared by Chris Rosebrough from the ‘pre-game’ show (2 minutes before ‘show’ time) again reinforced the ‘breakthrough’ theme, coming into God’s presence, and God doing something specific in every life. The announcer said “we’re going to have a lot of fun; we’re going to have a lot of guests here”.

Chris Rosebrough described the above ‘breakthrough’ rhetoric as the theology of’ triumphalism’, or ‘self glory’, and I for one agree with him.

Also part of the ‘pre-game festivities’ attendees/listeners are informed of all the ways they can participate with their giving, since it is important that we trust God in all areas of our lives, including our finances. Giving is ‘worship’ and folks can give online, on an App, and via texting, all of which will result in God’s blessings for the one giving.

Following the account of the ‘pregame’ festivities, there was a recap of Steven Furtick’s (contestant #1 in the 2016 Heresy Olympics) sermon, allegedly received by direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. Needless to say, during the sermon, Mr. Furtick correctly described Code Orange as ‘our’ revival, since it certainly isn’t God’s.

You can find Chris Rosebrough’s comments and critique of the Code Orange Revival here. You can find an interesting ‘Code Orange Bible Challenge’ here, as well as a recap of COR night one in the ‘Rhythm of Heresy’ podcast here. Stay tuned to Fighting for the Faith for other COR recaps and commentary.