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.)
Most of us aren't good enough to shine Quix's shoes when it comes to his life in Christ.
Gee, the people he mentions are pretty good folks. Isn't anyone good enough for some of the FReepers here? Wonder if Jesus would have a chance on FR?
If you're talking about Quix, HE is a humble and dear man of God. He isn't asking you or anyone else to invest in any pastor. He's just tired, as I am, of all the Christian bashing that goes on between Christians. Where is GRACE these days? SHE must be hiding under a bed someplace, too scared to come out. Cheez.
Joel Osteen reached my son and his wife and I will be eternally grateful for that. I'm a bit tired of all the mean spirited stuff that goes on in these threads. Argghhh!!!
That was in his book and the study we did at our home. Two people in the group were greatly blessed by that statement: one was a woman who had a child out of wedlock many years ago, and one was a man who was born out of wedlock and had carried that shame for 70 years. A lot of freedom for them came that night.
No, I noticed the quote and I'm sure others did as well. Overall, the book was okay. Like I said, it didn't bring about any big changes in anyone but the small group was helpful and brought us closer together as a group, with or without the book. I'm not going to agonize over it.
Interesting! Thanks.
You're welcome, and God Bless you! Oh, and Happy New Year!!!
*Purpose Driven Life*
Another one bites the dust .............. FRegards
thank you for this thread and the link to crossroad. i now understand why a "purpose-driven" church treated our family the way it did three years ago.
Another accusation against us by you.
I'm convinced that you are just too naive Quix to see what is going on with Mr Warren. I'm sorry about that but it's only something time and being burned by your own mistakes will fix.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! Darn that little terrier ...
Minus the sexual escapades and life of lust, yes. He's a double minded man, at least it sure appears that way. Too many people with wildly opposing viewpoints think he agrees with them.
Leg is looking good!
I'll make a deal with you. Make an effort to actually discuss the material and stop with the short snippy comments and I will respond in kind.
To be a traveling evangelist, all that a fellow needs, is three (3) sermons, and a can of hair spray!!
RW doesn't 'feel right' to me; perhaps I'm wrong but I don't understand the need to compromise on things that are Scriptural...
I am sorry that your family has been victimized by this heresy. I have mad it my purpose to expose as much of this anti-Biblical nonsense just because people like you have been burned by this foolishness. Many here think I am bashing Warren. I don't know if he is a Christian or not, that is for God to know. But we are to be wise and be able to discern truth.
I pray you and your family have found a church built on Christ, not man.
If you are looking for a solid denomination, FReeper TonyRo76 has a great list on his FR homepage. Unfortunately some local bodies in even sound denominations have fell victim to this nonsense, but I think that list is a great start point.
Anyone have a link to that video????
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