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.)
Well put.
Those with such a blood lust after RW's hide are treading on thin ground.
Aspiring to be chief Jr-Accusers-of-the-Bretheren is not wise. It's not Biblical. It's not the heart of Christ.
I dare say that if we plastered every written and spoken word of all the accusers on all these threads, there'd be plenty unBiblical to dissect, shred and pontificate about vis a vis it being evil, destructive to The Church etc.
The fact of reality and Scripture is--God hates such attitudes, such judgments, such assaults. The self-righteousness, haughtiness, smugness etc. in such assaults is dripping--dripping thick oozing blood of the bretheren. God is not amused.
God is well able to deal with RW's errors, sins, misperceptions etc. as well as He is all of ours.
Unless and until I see brazenly bluntly and clearly from Rick's own mouth his clear support of globalism and the antiChrist--I expect to continue to support him as a flawed brother seeking to do and overwhelmingly doing the work of The Gospel better than average.
And, I continue to caution all the Jr Accusers of the Bretheren that God has no such duty stations; no such titles; no such roles in HIS army; in His Kingdom.
Absolutely correct.
And far more from the heart of God than all the accusers' pontifications, imho.
I suspect that the main advantage of Christianity, in this world, is that it gives you the strength to endure, especially after you have been hurt or harmed for doing the right thing.
== = ==
. . . ahhhhh . . . . somewhat as RW is experiencig these days.
Good point.
The pastor of our church has called incest, a moral failure.
= = = =
Maybe I'm dense this afternoon.
Are you asserting it's NOT a moral failure???
Sure misses the mark by a wide margin, in my book.
Works count, but are not either necessary, nor sufficient, for salvation
The statement of faith is fair, but I have learned the hard way you cannot place your faith in the statement of faith posted at a church website. It's all about what they actually teach, and Warren is not solid. If he were actually presenting a clear and complete gospel I would feel differently. Also, he nearly ALWAYS makes a statement only to completely contradict it with the rest of his words and actions. I'm sorry but that is flat out bad character. We aren't stupid and he can't have it both ways. He cannot claim one thing and then do the opposite and expect everyone to not notice. We would be irresponsible to not speak up. Perhaps some criticism goes too far, but where is Warren's humility and correction on the legitimate criticism? Is he above being wrong?
I gotta make a note of that. Thanks!
Well, your trip isn't over yet - you still need to discover the Catholic Church. I hope I'm not sounding egotistical, BUT, did you know that the Catholic Church is the only Church NOT instituted by man? EVERY other religion on this earth has been created by man. Christ came to this earth to institute HIS Church, the Catholic Church. I invite you ALL to look into it - you might be surprised when your journey ends with the Catholic Faith, the Fullness of Faith.
Moral failure is a pretty sugar coated name for SIN!
One view of the place of works in the Christian life is given in a very central hymn of the Lutheran faith called "Salvation Unto Us Has Come". Here is the relevant passage:
"Faith clings to Jesus' Cross alone and rests in him unceasing; and by its fruits true faith is known with love and hope increasing. For faith alone can justify; works serve our neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living."
Classic Lutheran hymns are very carefully written because they have a strong didactic purpose. They tend to be "rich" in doctrine. In the verse above, the word "justify" means "save". I'm not sure all denominations use the term, but Lutherans do. Anyway, it's clear that works do not save, but they DO provide proof of faith. Also note the earlier statement regarding the "fuits" of faith ("by its fruits true faith is known"), another reference to works.
Certainly denomination may have differing positions on the relationship between faith and works, but this, at least, is the classical Lutheran position stated in one of its most important hymns.
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/pd-deception.htm
Here's a link that will give you alot more info on Warren!
Your Welcome!
Oh yes he is . . . maybe not 100% but in many cases.
It just happens to be right things that fall outside the narrow rigid prissy strictures of some folks constructions on religious reality.
Christ didn't have time or patience for such constructions on spiritual reality in His dusty pathed days.
Oh.
Have you been there? When you were there, did you feel it was a sugar coated label?
If you haven't been there, does your lofty righteous position give you a Biblical platform to have such an attitude toward someone who has?
Of course it's sin. That's obvious.
And SIN = MISSING THE MARK OF PERFECTION AS IN AN ARCHER'S BULL'S EYE.
I guess that definition is sugar coated as well?
[...And if that church were to disappear, along with Rick Warren, the question is -- would they be following Christ or would they look for another like Rick Warren to follow. I think that a great number of them would look for another one similar to Rick Warren and never find out what Christ is all about...]
And so defines the constituency of the modern church.
One of my favorite pastors told me most evangelism is
toward church members.
Quix, you are a sweet person and everything but in this case it isn't Christ you are defending. Beware of worshipping men rather than God. It is only God's truth that matters.
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