Posted on 12/31/2006 8:41:18 AM PST by Gamecock
The facade is beginning to peel back from the so-called ministry of Southern California Pastor Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Church" and "The Purpose Driven Life." Unfortunately, many among his ample flock have far too much invested in him, both emotionally and otherwise, to admit their mistakes and cut their losses.
Moreover, he certainly faces no possibility of in-depth scrutiny from the "mainstream media," as his brand of "Christianity" poses little or no threat to their liberal social agenda. Yet to the degree that anyone at all questions Warren as anything less than authentic, his response is thoroughly telling as to his true character, as well as the nature of his "ministry."
Joseph Farah, editor-in-chief of the Internet news site, "World Net Daily," opened a can of worms by calling Warren to account over his fawning praise of the terrorist stronghold of Syria. While there, Warren lauded the brutish dictatorship as "peaceful," claiming that the Islamist government does not officially sanction "extremism of any kind."
When confronted by Farah, an American of Middle Eastern decent who knows too well the history of horror and tragedy faced by persecuted Christians in that region of the world, Warren immediately denied ever making such statements.
Subsequently, Farah offered as evidence a "YouTube" video from Saddleback Church, where Warren is pastor, inarguably proving Farah's statement. So Warren's church simply pulled the video from circulation and continued the denial, being unaware that a copy of the video file had been downloaded and is still in circulation. Warren's follow-up to this inconvenient circumstance is perhaps most telling of all.
In a concurrent set of moves, Warren sent a seemingly conciliatory e-mail to Farah while distributing another to his "flock," in which he characterized Farah's pursuit of the incident as nothing less than "doing Satan's job for him." Throughout this sorry episode, Farah's only error has been to suggest that Warren's disturbing behavior represents some new departure from consistency.
In fact, Warren is actually being entirely consistent. Whether his audience might be Farah himself, Syrian despot Bashar Assad or the Saddleback congregation, Warren tells each exactly what he believes they want to hear.
This pattern is the essence of what Warren is and what has made him so "successful" from a worldly perspective.
For those among his congregation who sincerely want to know the truth, the evidence is ample. Unfortunately, it always has been available, and any present "confusion" merely results from past decisions to ignore that evidence.
For example, his letter to the congregation decrying the "attack" and making his defense by invoking Scripture is barely four paragraphs long. Yet in those four paragraphs, he employs three different "translations" of the Bible. Why, it must be asked, does he not trust any single translation to convey God's message to humanity?
Could it be that he has his own message and agenda to advance, and that he has found it very convenient to utilize different wordings of different passages, not because they better convey God's purpose, but rather his own?
It would be better to ask, could his motivation possibly be anything else?
As Farah has refused to let this indefensible situation simply drop, Warren has responded by taking it to another realm, making personal attacks against Farah in an interview with the magazine, "Christianity Today." But once again, by so doing, Warren succeeds in revealing much more about himself than about his adversary.
Warren, who has not to date been known as any sort of standard bearer for Christian principle in the political arena, decries Farah (whose societal and moral views fall unambiguously on the right) and his ideological allies as part of a wrongful "political" encroachment on the faith.
In contrast, Warren's forays into the political realm prove, not surprisingly, to be decidedly leftist. At a recent conference on the African AIDS epidemic, Warren invited the very liberal Senator Barak Obama (D-Ill.) as a keynote speaker. He justified the inclusion of Obama, who avidly supports abortion and same-sex "marriage," on the grounds that Obama offered a worldly solution to ostensibly curb the spread of the disease through condom usage.
The morally ambiguous message conveyed by the advocacy of condoms, along with their inherent unreliability, make them nothing less than iconic to the abortion industry, which fully understands how much new business they generate. In the face of such pragmatism, one has to wonder what will be next. Perhaps Warren's church will sponsor a "designated driver's ministry" at every bar in its locale.
Appalling though Obama's inclusion in the conference may be, it is nonetheless entirely consistent with Warren's behavior from the beginning.
Leading a megachurch in the culturally disintegrating landscape of Southern California, Warren certainly knows that his prospects of maximizing the "flock" will be greatly enhanced as long as he shows proper deference to the real religion of the area, "political correctness."
In this, his Christian populism movement has proven to be far more palatable to the God-hating secularists of the surrounding communities than such stodgy, old-fashioned and "intolerant" notions as "Thou Shalt Not." And the Warren influence has been predictable wherever it can be found.
If other churches that abide in the Warren philosophy, such as Chicago's gargantuan "Willow Creek," were to truly uphold Christian values among their enormous congregations, they would certainly be a constant "thorn in the side" of their surrounding populace, acculturated into the modernism as those communities certainly are. Yet an amazing degree of compatibility and congeniality exists between the Warren Church model and the social structures of Chicago and Southern California.
The tradeoff between true Christian principle and acceptability to the locals is apparently worth the spiritual sacrifice it entails, with expanding parking lots, increasingly lavish facilities and, of course, fuller collection plates bearing witness. Meanwhile, such churches offer ever less of a worthwhile and much-needed alternative to the ailing world around them.
Ultimately, Warren gives conformist Christians, wearied from their ongoing battle with a world that is increasingly hostile to true Christian faith, an apparent "out" by offering a version that the modern world can find more acceptable while remaining in its present spiritual darkness.
Many among Warren's vast following have made the mistake, in light of his "purpose driven" ministering, of presuming, at the heart of the movement, a Christ-driven purpose. Yet as Warren's real character continues to be revealed, it is becoming apparent that members of that following are presuming too much.
(Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer and staff writer for the New Media Alliance. He lives in southeastern Wyoming and has been active in local and state politics for many years.)
Still showing us all more of what is in your heart Don. Not looking very good for you...you dig yourself deeper and deeper.
You haven't nor can you quote even one valid heresy or unAmerican thing Warren says in this interview. It is simple , use your keyboard as you have been to slander this guy with nothing but unsubstantiated accusations. I know you are too busy replying with nast'ies to answer my challenge. You are exposed and anyone who has bothered to read the interview I am sure would agree.
So you are what God's fruit-inspector? If you belong to Christ then start to act like Him, because so far you judge yourself with your words of attack.
Maybe you and those like you are the false prophets the Lord warns us of. Lets see...fall away...betray one another...hate one another...mislead many.....lawlessness increased.....AND...love grows cold.
Sounds more like you than Warren. It is you who is accusing, spreading hatred, betraying the faith by doing the work of the enemy. Where is your love?
Now I know pretty strong words on my part. More likely you are just a misguided immature lad following the wrong spirit(s). May you get your heart right. Try 1cor13 and John 3:19-21...practice the truth and walk in love.
Mat 24:10 "At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Mat 24:11 "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Mat 24:12 "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. Mat 24:13 "But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
You can take your pantload of personal attacks, and... well, use your imagination.
Sorry, son (the closer I get to my 60th year on this planet, the more young tykes I seem to find nipping at my ankles), but I do NOT "git down an' dirty" with some young tough who decides to fling a megaload of accusations and insults in my face.
I'm not gonna play your games with you.
As I've said, your Master has been debunked. End of story. I'm NOT going to assist you in rehabilitating his image. His cover is blown, and no amount of accusations, insults, threats, or (LOL) brush-league intimidation is going to succeed in baiting me into diving into the thick of it with you.
Grow up already. If your Master is SO [insert accolade of choice], then he doesn't need YOU bzzzzz'ing around like a King Bee to Defend his Honor, ROFLOL!
May God work His grace and Love into you Don. God Bless.
How does it feel to be an accuser? And a hypocrite, doing that which you accuse others of doing?
How does it feel being made the object of accusation?
LOL!
You still have not and obviously refuse to quote even one thing Warren said in interview that was heresy or unAmerican!
Once more (with laughter restrained), your boy has had his racket exposed ad nauseum. It's over, sonnie. I'm not gonna give you a "re-do" this late in the game.
If you really want to see HOW he was debunked, then I suggest you pull your incisors out of my ankle, and READ THE THREAD (what a concept!), instead of making a spectacle out of yourself by pestering me over and over.
Arf! Arf! Shoo, little pit-yorkie! LOL!
What's that, a fatwa or something?
Your done!
Get over yourself, Torquemada.
Nobody has said so. Learn to read Poindexter! There is a hell of a lot of difference between:
Now get a grip.
You may want to check into the 15th paragraph and Warren's statements concerning the third leg of the stool.
The three-legged stool is Peter Drucker's, a non-Christian and a futurist business management guru, communitarianism through which the world is globalized into a community through the partnerships of government, business and churches.
Drucker's communitarian theory details how organizations need to become agents of change for the world of the future, which he called the "Next Society".
Drucker was proud of Warren, Saddleback and Purpose Driven and how it proved the effectiveness of his management theory and business model. Drucker said that Warren was the author of "perpetual revival".
Warren said that Drucker was his mentor for twenty years..."He's my mentor...I've spent 20 years under his tutelage learning about leadership from him." (Pew Forum on Religion, Warren was a panelist speaking on mega churches, May 23, 2005)
(Strange mentor for a pastor.)
Warren also has stated that he sat at Drucker's feet.
At the Pew Forum, Warren, true to Drucker's mentoring, also stated that the church can't succeed without the governments help.
Warren also said this: "Who's the man of peace in any village - or it might be a women of peace - who has the most respect, they're open and influential? They don't have to be a Christian. In fact, they could be a Muslim, but they're open and they're influential and you work with them to attack the five giants. And that's going to bring about the second reformation."
Wow...If you can't see the unbiblical nature of Warren's method here, then you will never see it!
Warren says that he is going to work with non-Christians, and even Muslims, to slay the world's five giants and thereby bring about the second reformation of the church.
Remember...in the Meet the Press interview, Warren says, "...for the last 50 years, the hands and the feet have been amputated. And all we have been is a big mouth."
(gain public approval by attacking the church)
Yep...the church has never sent a missionary over seas, nor fed the hungry, nor clothed the poor, nor healed the sick, nor spread the Gospel before...But, now, Warren through Drucker's management system, and philosophy, is going to change the world with the help of non-Christians and Muslims!
According to the interview, the five giants are: spiritual emptiness; egocentric leadership; exetreme poverty; pandemic disease; illiteracy and poor education.
(What is spiritual emptiness...let me count the thousands of definitions? Why no mention of the need for Christ?)
Why does the church need the help of non-Christians, Muslims, governments, business and Drucker's theories?
Is this what the church is to be about (slaying the five giants. where is the spread of the Gospel)?
And I thought that a pastor's job was to feed and protect the sheep...not help usher in the "Next Society".
Purpose Driven Rwanda is the incubator for Warren's plan. There, he is doing exactly what he said he was going to do. Work with businesses, "men and women of peace", non-Christians, governemnts and churches to bring about the next reformation.
Given Warren's methods and goals, his membership on the Council for Foreign Relations only makes sense. He doesn't see it as wearing another hat, in addition to his pastor hat. He sees it as part of his role as pastor, a change agent bringing about the new reformation through global partnerships.
When Warren goes to a leader of his country, per Warren, he asks are you going to steal my money? Why is Warren a gateway to corporate, and other, funds to capitalize countries?
What happened to asking, "Do you know Christ as Savior?"
What happened to saying, "Scripture says..."
I think that another Luther needs to stick something on the Saddleback doors...today's counter-reformers are making some ill-gained progress.
Screwtape & Wormwood
Lenny & Squiggy
Boris & Natasha
Moriarty & Blowfeld
Cassidy & Sundance
Bonnie & Clyde
Name a false teacher in the Bible that lead others to Christ.
Dear, it's YOU who needs to "get a grip!"
Now there are some names I haven't heard in a long time! Well, except for the first line...
C. S. Lewis was commissioned to write something to encourage the troops during WWI. "Screwtape Letters" was the result.
It is a series of letters from an experienced devil (Wormwood) advising his young, inexperienced nephew (Screwtape) on the best ways to corrupt the soul of the human to whom he has been assigned as guardian devil.
Don Joe. You really must learn to express how you truly feel. You seem restrained.
Sorry... my post wasn't clear. I need to be careful posting when it's so late. I've heard the names Screwtape and Wormwood a lot recently, having read the book last summer and we still talk about it in our small group. The other names I haven't heard in a while but I'm definitely familiar with all names.
Gotcha. I figured you would be up to speed. Reiteration never hurts.
Indeed.
Now, Dear Heart . . .
you should know . . .
"getting a grip"
is the opposite of the customary doctrinal compulsive SOP requirements for the postings hereon by the Jr Accusers.
LOL.
Hmmmmm . . .
there do seem to be some very redundant patterns on such Jr Accuser threads.
Fronkenstein & Eyegore. LOL!
Nitro & Glycerine
Well, go ahead and judge him. God plainly says that HE will judge those who judge others. I won't be standing near you when the thunder and lightning start. I'm not saying I agree with Rick Warren's approach. But I am really tired of the mean spirited christianity I'm seeing here. Whether you like it or not, the man IS a brother, a Christian brother. If he's in error, don't worry, God won't let him get away with it for long. He'll bring him down just as He has many others.
Refute them to their faces, not behind their backs. If a brother is in sin, GO TO HIM. Write a letter, e-mail him, but this continual mean-spirited hatred of the man by other Christians is sickening.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.