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.)
Thankfully,
God's perspective is assuredly quite different about RW's giving.
a.) a church and a foundation are equal
b.) the church government was complete pastor rule (verses congregation or elder)
since neither is true...Your response doesn't make any sense.
It still stands...You were wrong when you posted that he tithes 90% of his income to his church.
And you obviously don't want to discuss the issue of giving to self-controlled foundations and calling it tithing.
Are you reading the same thread? I think you took a wrong turn somewhere.
"...Rick Warren is a Christian AND successful in business..."
Now we're getting somewhere. Rick is successful in business...I agree.
It is post# 1106...I mentioned that to you in post# 1168, as well.
Not at Synagogue 3000.
What happened there?
Is it accurate to say that he tithes 90% to his church?
Thank you for your service.
It is accurate to say
he 'tithes' 90% as a joyful giver
to the Church of Jesus Christ Universal.
I think that's the one God does the accounting on.
Praise God for RW's heartfelt, earnest, honorable, honest, exemplary example.
Thank you.
No comment and Warren and his Purpose Driven "ministry" to Synagogue 3000, Quix?
WRONG.
Given that the CHURCH he is SOLD OUT TO
IS
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
I'd say it was HIS PRIMARY CHURCH and the church of all his focus and energy.
Saddleback is merely the glove or hand or some of the baskets he uses to distribute to
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
along with such other groups of people as GOD has led him to use.
Are you saying that the membership of the above-mentioned body is made up of Muslims, non-Christians, businesses, governments and other faiths?
That is what the the funding for his foundations and PEACE plan is doing...partnering with those in order to slay the five global giants.
The Church you say?
I don't think so.
Praise God for his building bridges with the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Clearly he is obeying the Scripture about those who bless Abraham's seed will be blessed.
Praise God for that.
Should be exciting to see where such humble beginnings lead and what fruit they result in.
I wonder how many of the 144,000 Jewish missionaries will come out of that group.
God led Rick to use Muslims and non-Christians?
I don't appreciate folks brazenly putting wholesale distortions, half-truths and untruths and their words in my fingers.
God knows what I wrote. God knows what I meant.
Praise God for that.
Scripture makes clear that God uses satan.
God is Rick's boss. I suspect God knows well how to use Rick for God's purposes. I'm quite comfortable with avoiding trying to give God oversight about that.
I hope to God I'm never so arrogant as to try that.
No...It wasn't wrong. Warren does not tithe 90% to Saddlback (That was the statement).
AND
they yelled with a loud voice
CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!
How touchingly Biblical.
Did you read the article that Synagogue 3000 put out about the advice Warren gave them?
...The addition of disco balls, updated music, more hip events and so forth.
Bridges?
C'mon.
From my persepctive, that's a pretty silly, useless question.
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