Celebrity “Christians” to avoid: Joanna and Chip Gaines
Check out our podcast episode that goes along with this post. If you prefer video, you can check it out on in YouTube here.
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Writing this hurts. This post is so hard to write, but it is necessary. We use to love to watch Chip and Joanna Gaines. They are so sweet with cute little kids (at the time - they are much bigger now) and just seem like people who you would want to be around. Add in that they said they were Christians, and it seemed like a great family to follow for wholesome entertainment.
And then, the Lord helped us begin to see the cracks in their theology and our logic in following and supporting them.
So before y’all come after us with your pitchforks, let us lay out our argument by comparing them to another well loved by millions “Christian” personality: Oprah.
Oprah, like the Gaines’, seems like someone who you could enjoy hanging out with and talking about all kinds of things. But, it’s no secret that Oprah has helped lead millions of people astray over the last few decades. She claims to be a Christian while denying Christian doctrine and supporting false teachers and heretics. She has promoted Richard Rohr, who helped make the Enneagram popular with churches, as well as William Paul Young and his ”Christian” book The Shack (FYI-it’s not Christian AT ALL, stay away from it!). She loves, supports, and recommends Joel Osteen as well as platforming many other false teachers that she supports and recommends to her followers and audience. We think we could all agree that when we lay all this out that Oprah is a dangerous person for any Christian to follow and has helped spread false teachings because of her popularity.
Now, let’s compare that to Chip and Joanna Gaines. At this point, we think it’s fair to say that Joanna has emerged as the main personality and driving force behind their success and popularity. Don’t get us wrong, Chip has a great personality and is very smart, but Joanna is the one most people think of first and follow most. We use to watch their shows ALL THE TIME. After all, it was wholesome and that’s hard to find these days. They said they were Christian and seemed to be conservative in their views, but one of the first cracks we noticed was that they did not make their faith a primary focus. It was rarely talked about and hard for you to research. We just assumed that was because they tried to keep things private to protect their family or the network told them not to talk about it. But that is a bit of a problem because our faith shouldn’t be a question. No one should have to wonder what you believe and as a Christian, we should be using whatever opportunities the Lord gives us to spread the Gospel. Even if they were told not to share about their faith on the show, what about their personal social media pages which were growing so quickly? But I digress… Early on, this was the only little issue we noticed so we left it alone and gave them the benefit of the doubt.
The next issue that was a BIG red flag was in a video testimonial by Joanna. She stated in the video that God spoke directly to her (which isn’t biblical AT ALL) and told her that she wouldn’t have to be a stay-at-home mom forever and that she was going to be given a platform and that Magnolia and her dreams would go farther than she could imagine (paraphrase).
Now, “direct revelation” I.e. hearing God speak to you is a widely held false belief. God only speaks to us today through His Word and we are not to add to it or take away from it (Deut. 4:2, Rev. 22:18, Heb. 1:1-2). If God is still actively talking to people, then shouldn’t they be a prophet or something? And shouldn’t the “word from God” be about more than you personally? And wouldn’t that mean that you were adding to His Word and that the canon wasn’t truly closed? When God spoke to people in the Bible, even if it had an element of helping someone personally (like Jeremiah), it was for His purposes and His glory, not ours. And it was usually done so His Word could be proclaimed to Israel and/or the nations. And then God, in His mercy, ensured it was written down for us to be able to read. As several solid teachers have said, if you want to hear God speak, read your Bible. If you want to hear Him audibly, read your Bible out loud.
So Joanna Gaines in her testimonial is spreading a false teaching. And what she says “God” told her led to something else: it led her family to go against the biblical model of the home. At the time she said she received this "message from God,” she was a stay-at-home mom to her first two children. She was helping with the business, but was primarily a wife and mother. Then she believed God called her away from being primarily a wife and mother to her then 4 children to go back into working a ton of hours away from her children and home to build a platform and Magnolia. Are women allowed to work? Yes. Are there times when a woman has to work full time while she has kids at home? Yes. These things are not in question; there are times when we know women worked outside the home from Scripture. The problem is the Gaines’ had the ability to model their family after the Biblical structure we are given, something that many today pray and strive for. And Joanna gave that up willingly for what she says “God” told her. This is a true mark of the message NOT being from God. It goes against Scripture. That little voice that people who believe this false teaching think is God usually sounds a lot like our hopes and dreams. Then, if the person is convinced it’s “God” affirming those hopes and dreams, it really helps that person break away from what they truly should be doing according to the Bible. And we say this with love and understanding because we were people who believed this falsehood ourselves until we read through Scripture and found sound teachings to help us see our error.
Also, when you really think about the show, it’s evident that the work outside the home comes first. It’s primary. They and/or Joanna are often shown leaving the kids to go to work and bringing the kids to see mom at work. Biblically speaking, for a wife and mother, the family should be primary! Always. If a woman has the opportunity to stay at home it is a blessing that should not be casually thrown away. And if she has an opportunity to earn something to help her family there is nothing wrong with that—as long as she has taken care of her family and household FIRST. The key to that is AFTER TAKING CARE OF HOME AND FAMILY, not before. That is the model we see in Proverbs 31.
Now, fast forward to more recent events. They have launched the Magnolia Network as well as running an empire that stretches into so many different markets. And who ends up interviewing them? Why, none other than Oprah, our example of a “Christian” personality who likes to support other “Christians” whose beliefs she likes.
Here is a link to the clips we will be discussing from this point forward. We have not vetted the pages that have shared these clips. These were the only clips available at the time of writing this article. We do not know their beliefs and we wanted to be upfront about that. We are sharing the link for y’all’s research benefit. We are not endorsing the channel(s) the links come from.
In this interview, their faith does finally come up and is discussed. Joanna discusses the MANY times God has talked to her. We won’t rehash why that’s a problem since we have already discussed that, but we want to highlight that it seems these divine instructions always align with her wishes. From business to personal, not a single example she gave resembled the few examples we have in Scripture of when God actually audibly spoke to someone.
Also in the interview, they state they have drifted away from church and attending a gathering of believers regularly. Chip actually said that he wasn’t a theologian and didn’t enjoy or have much interest in reading the Bible for hours. Now don’t get us wrong, most people don’t have hours to read each day, but we would love nothing more than to be able to study His Word for hours each day to know, love, and obey Him better! It’s a yearning that’s hard to explain, but believers should long to learn more about God and what Jesus did for us! Also, every Christian is supposed to be a theologian! We are to study God I.e. theology. To be a Christian is to be growing in our theology.
Also, Chip saying these things shows he isn’t leading his family. He should be leading them in studying God’s Word, teaching them biblically, and taking them to church. Since he isn’t and doesn’t seem to have an interest in doing so, he is going against what the Bible says a husband and father should be doing and is responsible for.
Joanna also addressed her Faith saying she is not religious at this point, but has a special relationship with God. She has no interest in being religious as she puts it. So, her “relationship with God” has very little to do with Him. She (not Chip) doesn’t have a real yearning or want to attend church regularly and/or be part of a body that could hold one accountable and they have no interest in learning about God from His Word, which is how we learn about Him out side of church which—as already stated —they have little to no interest in. The only thing about God Joanna seems interested in is God telling her that her hopes and dreams will come true, whether they are biblical or not.
In conclusion, we wanted to say this was a hard post to write. This is not a bash the Gaines session. That is not our intent at all. We simply wanted to share this with others. In hind sight many have seen the issues with Oprah from years past that now the Gaines are repeating without us as readily noticing. Full disclosure, we have loved their show in the past. We have since stopped watching due to personal conviction and no longer purchase things from them. They seem like such kind and caring people. They seem to love each other and their family very much. We pray their eyes will be opened by the Lord! But, since they are claiming to be followers of Christ and are public figures, we have to look at what they are saying and sharing with their followers. We are to test everything and always check everything against what the Bible says. They claim to be Christians and followers of Christ. That means their should be fruit to examine. And we know from Scripture if we love Him we will keep His commandments. Can we say from their fruit when examined that they are following the Bible and sharing the Gospel and doing everything to the glory of God? There are serious issues when comparing what the Bible says to what the Gaines say they believe. And, as we see with Oprah, a celebrity “Christian” personality who is likable and has a large following can contribute to the spread of false teachings to millions of people. Pray for them. Pray their eyes will be opened.
Side note: many will object to this using Matthew 18. See this video for why that does not apply to prominent Christians that people can’t easily or readily access and have a one-on-one conversation with.
We also wanted to include some resources that refute what they claim better than we can. These links explain in more detail these and other issues with the Gaines. We are very thankful to Elizabeth Prata. She has written several articles about this and helped us learn about more issues with the Gaines’ we were unaware of.
Disclaimer: We did not create the resources linked below, and we have not thoroughly vetted every website/podcast/YouTube Channel these links come from. We do our best to only share links that are from sound sources, but sometimes things could get missed. We do not endorse anything on these sites that deviates from the Bible or with our beliefs listed on our “What We Believe” page or our “Who We Are” page.
Elizabeth Prata - The soul-endangering problem of direct revelation: Exhibit A - Joanna Gaines
Elizabeth Prata - Looking at HGTV’s Fixer Upper Joanna Gaines’ testimony: Christianity, or prosperity gospel?
Elizabeth Prata - The Hypocrisy of HGTV’s Chip and Joanna Gaines of ‘Fixer Upper’
G3 Ministry podcast - episode 41: Beth Moore, Joanna Gaines, and the Sufficiency of Scripture
Elizabeth Prata - A loud voice told her…She heard a whisper
Jim Osman & Justin Peters - God Doesn’t Whisper part 1
Jim Osman & Justin Peters - God Doesn’t Whisper part 2
Jim Osman & Justin Peters - God Doesn’t Whisper part 3
Jim Osman & AGTV - God Doesn’t Whisper series episode 1 (free)
Justin Peters - Still Small Voice
Justin Peters - My sheep hear my voice
Elizabeth Prata - Many Christian celebrity moms are distorting biblical motherhood part 1
Colin Miller - The problem with celebrity Christianity
Justin Peters - Hearing the voice of God
Fighting for the Faith - Hearing the Voice of God Part 2