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.)
And we are warned to watch out for false teachers.
How do you propose we do that?
Every church has a "gimmick" to bring unbelievers ...
children's event, free food, whatever ... it's OK with me.
Warren's gimmick is a book that happens to appeal to those
who otherwise would reject God. It's just possible that
God has used Warren's book to bring people back to the
"Good Book". Perhaps a great percentage of those people
will develop roots. Some will not. But then that is the same
with all churches.
Maybe you need to find a church who's only gimmick is the preaching of God's word.
You are so right!
[... not judging his eternal destiny -- just his business practices...]
Sounds like Warren is a brilliant businessman.
Add me to the ping list...thanks!
I know what you are saying. I think that once you have them attending, you need to at least feed them with something other than the milk. They need meat eventually.
Actually, I think "gimmicks" to get people to attend church is a miscalculation for those who want instant growth or instant gratification as we refer to it these days. What is wrong with just teaching the Bible as it is written, and let God fill the pews? There are no shortcuts, it is not an easy path, nor should it be easy.
The only church's with "gimmicks" are ones that quit preaching the word
You said -- "Every church has a "gimmick" to bring unbelievers ..."
What's God's gimmick? The last I heard the cross was an "offense" to those who don't believe. Is that the gimmick that we should be using? Just wondering, since God uses it...
Regards,
Star Traveler
He not only uses translations, but worse, he often uses paraphrases which bear little or no resemblence to the original...but which suit his needs for wording that substantiates his "purpose".
Jesus gimmick was story telling and feeding people.
This is what he told us to do about false teachers.
Matthew 13:25-30
... The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which
sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his
enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his
way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth
fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of
the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not
thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath
it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The
servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and
gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather
up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let
both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of
harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together
first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them:
but gather the wheat into my barn...
Just including you in the discussion. Please don't
take it personally. Many, including yourself have
not been judgmental at all.
Amen.
[... What is God's gimmick??? ...]
Outstanding question.
God's gimmick is His unconditional love toward me.
This is almost more than I can fathom. That God
loved me and reached out to me through the cross
and the blood of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ...
all while I was yet a sinner.
(Happy to hear that you got back safely)
No one is presuming to be a teacher. Just watching out for the false ones. And there's nothing wrong with pointing that out.
[... There are no shortcuts, it is not an easy path, nor should it be easy...]
Great points Tommy.
See Post #401
A "gimmick"? Good grief. The gospel of Jesus Christ needs no "gimmick".
You are correct. Just including you in the discussion.
You said -- "This is what he told us to do about false teachers."
Well, the Apostle Paul did a lot more than ignore them. He would name them and say a lot more than that. And, unless you have others who can report these things, analyze them, put them down for other to read and be warned of it -- it leads to many others being misled.
What he was saying was not to go and cut off their heads (like the Muslims do). He wasn't saying to allow them to continuing teaching without being reproved. And *definitely* we are to warn others to not fall for the deception.
You see, when they gather up the tares at the end of the age, they are burned (that means "dead"). We're not burning them. We comply with that. But, we are reproving false teaching.
Regards,
Star Traveler
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