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.)
I could not believe FNC delivered his divide and conquer leftist brand of christianity.
He is definitly not trust worthy.
It is the same left wing manure that encompased the "random acts of kindness" left wing BS.
The more I hear the more I believe he is a leftist trying to push conservatives out of christianity.
In Billy Graham's heydey there was a thing called "The
Jesus Movement" and a great movie produced by him called
"A Thief In The Night". The media were reporting Vietnam,
Watergate and the Jesus phenomenon, lead by none other
than Billy Graham. The media were liberal, but not as
rabbidly hate filled anti-American as they are today.
http://www.objectivismonline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=106&Itemid=34
Now as to his friends, He has been a Spiritual counselor
to nearly every President in his pastoral lifetime from
Truman to GW. Graham calls himself a Democrat. I was
at his crusade in Los Angeles at the Colliseum in the
60's. I was about six years old and found that experience
unforgetable.
Pastor's like Warren and Graham have the opportunity to
influence wayward people like Obama and Clinton. If
at all possible and no matter who brings the message, pray
they would have ears to hear the Good News that Jesus
Christ is Lord and then fall into obedience to His Word.
BTW, I have visited Rick Wyble's Willow Creek and found
it to be far from "Seeker Friendly". It was grounded in
the Word of God in a way any Berean would find acceptable.
Lutherans, on the other hand view Holy Baptism as a sacrament, a work of God, not of man. In Holy Baptism, the baptized person is cleansed of Original Sin, given the name of Christ, and taken into the Body of Christ. Babies are baptized because they are part of the "all nations" quotation in the Bible (Matt. 28:19), because Jesus invites little children to come to him, because as sinners, babies need what Baptism offers, and because babies indeed do have faith (John the Baptist had faith even in his mother's womb when he leapt in response to the visit from Mary). No one can show that babies can't have faith just because babies can't speak, and we can't read their minds, for instance, and faith is not an intellectual exercise, in any case. The Bible speaks of whole households being baptized with no indication that babies and small children were left out.
The Lutheran position is that faith is not a choice by man (no matter how many people tell themselves that they have made this "choice") but a gift from God and that God gives this gift, along with cleansing from Original Sin, in Holy Baptism, and God wants everybody to have this gift, not just grownups.
Lutherans also, would not re-Baptize. If Baptism works, it works. Getting re-Baptized indicates one believes that it didn't work the first time. (Lutherans will baptize if the person is not sure he/she has ever been baptized, however.) If Baptism is indeed God's work rather than man's work, it works every time and on everybody, not just grown-ups, and no specific amount of water is needed; given that "Baptism is the water included in God's command and combined with God's Word" (from Luther) any amount of water is sufficient because it's the Word in the water, and not really the water itself which is significant.
Apparently SIN is a touchy subject these days. What else would we expect, since they don't teach against it any longer? The Ten Commandments are now the "Six Suggestions". (/sarcasm)
Father... wrap your arms around your faithful servant James Kennedy. He has blessed so many. Please, if it is Your will, extend his days and restore his health. If no, then we praise You for Your promise of eternal life with You for those who confess and believe on the name of Jesus Christ.
His always... Jo
You said -- "If you visited conservative christian sites, Rick Warren was "outed" a long time ago. Olive Tree Ministries or Crossroads does an excellent job of "outing" wolfes in the pulpit!!"
I like that Olive Tree Ministries with Jan Markell. She is great and has great guests on it. You can learn so much on her program. I would recommend everyone tune in (on the Internet, for those not in Minnesota).
http://www.olivetreeviews.org/
And, actually, Dave Hunt's book, The Seduction of Christianity, showed how these things were infiltrating the Christian church decades ago.
http://www.amazon.com/Seduction-Christianity-Dave-Hunt/dp/0890814414
Regards,
Star Traveler
God says that His Word will not return void. He will use a monkey if that monkey can read from the scripture.
BTW, I attend a huge mega mega church, and still do not like Rick Warren. No jealously here.
BTW, I have visited Rick Wyble's Willow Creek and found
it to be far from "Seeker Friendly". It was grounded in
the Word of God in a way any Berean would find acceptable.
= = =
AMEN!
And your last paragraph is far too accurate for anyone . . . well . . . for comfort of the wise and guilty.
Dr. Kennedy is a great friend of this country.
And your last paragraph is far too accurate for anyone . . . well . . . for comfort of the wise and guilty.
But then, the wise usually aren't so guilty.
Amen.
In lots of areas, I think
DAVE HUNT has gone off the cliff and is rabidly off the wall.
And no amount of arrogant, smug, self-righteous etc.
Some of his stuff is good warning and caution but he went way too far, imho.
bump
I believe that is BILL HYBLE, not Rick Wybel.
From my perspective and vantage point, I see, discern him doing a LOT MORE RIGHT THINGS OUT OF A LOT BETTER HEART AND MORE BIBLICALLY
than a long list of his Jr-Accuser-Of-The-Bretheren detractors.
Warren is another star of the "cult of personality." Watch as his ego supercedes his common sense and his career meets its end in scandal. It's an often tradden path for these types, to be sure.
Yes, sin ought to be called sin.
imho, MORAL FAILURE is virtually that only, in some respects, more harsh because it limits the possibilities to those sins most hideous or near most hideous to most Christians.
Therefore, I think all the fuss about "moral failure" is nonsense, snooty, shallow.
Thanks for your kind words.
God knows I worship no person.
And, I'm annoyed with a number of things regarding RW's recent activities.
But he's still worth standing up for as a Brother who believes and practices the basics of the Christian faith better than a LOT of others.
yeah.
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