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.)
There's nothing wrong with discernment, which all Christians are called to exercise. Without it, soon you will have a Christian religion that thinks loving one's neighbor is all important, and in loving him, then we accept all his idiosyncracies, all his false beliefs, and next thing you know we're all singing "We are the world" and "Imagine" with the Dalai Lama and Cheepak Dopra" Abd hawking "Get rich" books on Oprah and Larry King.
Guess that you made it to Tulsa ok last night!
Warren is a brilliant businessman.
Of that thereis no doubt. On the other hand, simony is such an ugly word...
As for how we go about telling about false teachers, that is what we have been doing here. It seems that Rick Warren wants to jump in front of a TV camera, a microphone or a newspaper reporter on a daily basis. Of course he is merely getting publicity so he can sell more books, because he rarely gives a Gospel message when he gives his interviews.
Some of us, including myself, have been injured deeply by the false doctrines being fomented in the modern day churches. If I can help but one other person find the truth, I will continue to point out that Rick Warren is on his own tangent, not the mainstream Gospel message.
[... we are reproving false teaching...]
As we should. My concern is all this bickering among
the brethren could drive the baby Christian back into
the world. I suppose I was equating the tares as watered
down teaching and the wheat as baby believers.
What do you think?
You said -- "Happy to hear that you got back safely"
Thanks. I've still got more driving to do, however. I'll be around in Tulsa for a short while and then back again to take care of family business. Eventually back up to Oregon again (later on).
Regards,
Star Traveler
And I'm afraid this is exactly where the church is headed.
How do you propose we do that? "
Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Galations 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
And here is the Gospel refered to in Galations 1:8-9... It can be found in:
I Cor 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2: By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4: And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
(Bold emphasis added by me)
FReegards,
DocRock
Yep, and later, back down again... :-)
Regards,
Star Traveler
Yes, it is, and that's why the media loves a Rick Warren. He accepts everything, under the guise of "love".
The "New World Order" church is already here. But
thanks to the ACLU any prudent and instinctual tendency
to be INTOLERANT has been litigated out of our DNA.
I am a fundamentalist Christian. The Word. The Word.
The Word. It is my job as a grounded believer to be a
net for those who are attracted to church by "feel good"
preaching from the likes of Warren and Schuler.
We (you and me) need to catch those babies, teach them,
get them on meat as soon as possible and get them standing
on their Gospel feet.
The hate crimes laws are here. We will accept homosexuals, wiccans, Satanists, all antiChrists,etc. or we will find our little heinies in prison, maybe here, more likely in some other country. Memorize the Word, for like the times, and with the help of people like Warren, it is a'changin'.
You said -- "I suppose I was equating the tares as watered down teaching and the wheat as baby believers."
Well, fortunately for us, Jesus explained it --
Matthew 13:36-43
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."
37 He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.
41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
I think that pretty much covers it...
Regards,
Star Traveler
My number one problem with Warren is his dismal presentation of the Gospel, as you demonstrate. Fooling people into thinking they are saved, when they are not, is the worst thing you can do.
My church's "gimmick" is to exalt Jesus. He said, after all, that if He be lifted up He will draw all men to Himself.
and if they have no teeth, some will be provided.
Fortunately, the Christians rarely look to the MSM for religious council.
That is the crux of the problem - he is NOT Biblically sound. His theology is an inch deep and two miles wide!
First off, Jesus is God. The stories were deep truths that helped unpackage many OT points, or to expose hypocrisy among the religious elite of the time.
The "feeding people" was not a "gimmick" but miracles that validated His claim to be God.
[... Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!...]
Beautiful! Thank you for the blessing of Scripture.
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