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, TommyDale, since you don't know me I won't reply to your statement because you wouldn't believe me anyway. Have a great year.
I don't go around looking for faults in all these people. If they're not doing what's right in God's eyes, HE will take care of them. I can enjoy reading a book or seeing a program without delving into all the ramifacations of it. Anything that's not right will be revealed eventually anyway. I don't live my life around what TV pastors say. I don't send anyone money except for 700 Club, but if they have something that's worthwhile to contribute to what I'm going through at the moment, that's fine. Joel Osteen has been a real encourager to me and to my family and I'm grateful for that. I don't watch him all that much but when I do, his words are a blessing to me. Rick Warren's book was a good read but it's not my Bible. I think folks need to take a break and quit criticizing EVERY pastor who writes a good book (or even a not so good book) and take care of their own problems.
And the same to you, jacki. Love, Mxxx
I don't go around looking for faults in all these people. If they're not doing what's right in God's eyes, HE will take care of them. I can enjoy reading a book or seeing a program without delving into all the ramifacations of it. Anything that's not right will be revealed eventually anyway. I don't live my life around what TV pastors say. I don't send anyone money except for 700 Club, but if they have something that's worthwhile to contribute to what I'm going through at the moment, that's fine. Joel Osteen has been a real encourager to me and to my family and I'm grateful for that. I don't watch him all that much but when I do, his words are a blessing to me. Rick Warren's book was a good read but it's not my Bible. I think folks need to take a break and quit criticizing EVERY pastor who writes a good book (or even a not so good book) and take care of their own problems.
= -= = =
Anointed wisdom in that post, Mary.
PTL.
Wish I could make it a header on all the religion forum posts about other people.
Rick Wyble = Bill Hybel
See Posts #162, #175
Thanks for the ping....just catching up on the news.
"Softening up. Watch for the "official Rick Warren bible" to come out next."
Oooooooh. I smell MONEY for Rick Warren. Ka-ching ka-ching.
<\sarcasm>
Many churches in our area had several services, including
Saturday night, which more than compensated for Sunday
morning. I find this to be a matter of practicality.
How wonderful that Jesus released us from the shackles of
legalism that now allows His church to worship "flexibly".
See Post #388
Paul might have something to say about this
1 Corinthians 19-23
Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Exactly. In order to reach the alcoholics, we don't have to BE alcoholics.
Excellent!
Sums up my sentiments for fraud who is nothing more than a self serving FRAUD using the cloak of Christianity to motivate the ignornat. Rick Warrenis an abomination.
"You mean, "How can we fool 'em today?" Sounds more like Clinton to me. Or Romney. (Is Giuliani waffling or denying his previous statements? I thought he was an in-your-face liberal.) I'm really not up on my evangelical who's who and haven't read this guy's book (only heard of him and it because of the girl in Atlanta who read to the courthouse murderer,) but he sounds like another "religious" cult leader from what I have heard."
Later it turned out she and the murderer shared either crack or meth together. This appeased him and she felt good about the "new creature" she became through this Purpose Driven nonsense.
An experience of spiritual abuse is devasting. I pray that you have found a church home that nurtures and strengthen you through their commitment to Jesus and His Word.
DO you really believe Christ would change His teachings to accommodate the world? I don't and He didn't. THIS is what Rick Warren is doing - making up his own religion.
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because
you know that we who teach will be JUDGED MORE STRICTLY.
(James 3:1)
I thought this Scripture meant God was going be the judge.
But now that I've read some of the comments on this thread ...
+
Actually, Rick Warren is the self-proclaimed teacher.
I'm not judging the man's eternal destiny -- just his business practices.
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